Here’s why you’ll find the best quality comes from those whose children’s ability to eat hinges on the quality of their efforts 365 days per year.
“In the private sector, you do your job at an extremely high level. If you don’t, your family doesn’t eat.
The reason you’ll often find higher quality in the private realm is because the investments, risks, & stakes are exponentially higher.
Our livelihoods are on the line.”
-Ray Zingler on X
I was recently talking with a coach about the whole public/private sector as they relate to strength & conditioning.
It was a great conversation that I believe has many parallels to many fields outside of S&C as well.
While both public and private sectors are important and serve valuable purposes, there are stark differences.
And the point of this message isn’t to say one is better than the other.
On the surface, public and private sector coaches may appear to do the same things:
Work on improving the performance of athletes.
But despite having similar job descriptions, the upside for the private sector gym owner is going to be exponentially higher (it’s why many coaches in the public sector who lack self-awareness will tell kids, “those private guys only want your money..)
And the reason is because of the investments and risks involved.
The greater the risk, the greater the reward, remember.
To work in the public sector, you get (any) bachelor’s degree in PE and then get a teaching certificate.
Voila, you are immediately qualified to have athletes appointed to you in a room full of equipment you didn’t pay for.
On the private side you shell out a minimum of $100,000 (this number increases exponentially as you get going) of your own liquid cash (loans = death in S&C), not to be appointed anything.
But to simply gain access to mere ability to start working.
That isn’t your ticket into the game. These are the costs to learn the address of the venue.
Once you invest massively in yourself, a brick & mortar location, equipment, liability insurance(s), etc. then and only then can you start working 365 days per year to EARN access to serving others so that you can feed your family.
And guess what, even if you are INCREDIBLE at what you do, you still walk through every single day with extreme levels of volatility in your business. Unpredictability is the name of the game.
Are you ready for entrepreneurship? Go get ‘em tiger.
You can see why folks in the private sector with this type of skin in the game are often going to offer a higher quality product than someone with low risk and low accountability.
They have to.
Their children’s ability to eat hinges on the quality of their efforts.
