In 2009, author and leadership expert, Simon Sinek started a movement to help people become more inspired at work, and in turn inspire their colleagues and customers. Since then, millions of people have been touched by the power of his ideas, including more than 50 million people who’ve watched his TED Talk based on Start With Why—the third most popular TED video of all time.

People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers had little in common, but they all started with WHY. They realized that people won’t truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it.

About two years ago, the Exercise Inc team spent a good deal of time discussing and understanding our WHY. As the owner of the company, I certainly have a strong belief and a tremendous amount of passion behind why our company exists. Our mission is to help people become stronger and healthier in 20 Minutes A Week through strength training, simple nutritional habits, and one-on-one coaching. Because everyone deserves a healthy life. My WHY is embodied in that mission.

But my WHY is no more important than the WHYs of the amazing coaches who work at Exercise Inc every day. Coaches who start work as early as 5 am and who stay as late as 9 pm. Coaches who have been with our company 10 years plus. Why do they come to work every day? Here’s how they describe their WHY:

• Every day I get to wake up knowing that at some point in my day I am going to do or say something that is going to click with one person, and possibly change their life. Every day I get to play a role and share the excitement in someone’s success story. Every single day I get to help someone reach goals that they weren’t sure were even possible.

• I get asked all the time, “Why do you wake up at 5 am every morning?” It’s an easy answer. I get to help people change their lives. I’m going to work to help clients become stronger, healthier, and more energetic so they can enjoy life. To help overcome diabetes, get off blood pressure medicine, reduce cholesterol, get their knees or back healthier, or just help someone move in a positive manner and actually have a trained coach help them feel confident in themselves.

• Every person who walks in the door is seeking my help. This is my why.

• I just had a client tell me they absolutely love using the lower back machine every week. They haven’t felt this good in over 15 years. MY WHY. Mike just got news that his BP meds have been reduced and is ecstatic. MY WHY. Jessica just got back from having her baby 3 months ago. She was able to train up until a week before the pregnancy. She credits Exercise Inc with how easy and smooth her delivery went. MY WHY. Jimmy has lost 40 lbs. in his first year at the gym. He is now able to play basketball again. MY WHY. Rick is 80 years old and still likes to golf a few times each week. He credits our program with keeping him strong enough to consistently beat his friends. MY WHY. Michelle has Osteoporosis. After 2 years on our program she got a positive report from her Doctor. She has stopped the decrease in bone density. MY WHY. I get the most out of seeing my clients hit their goals and succeed. This is my why!

• One of the reasons I get out of bed and go to work at Exercise Inc is because I think it is important to have a healthy lifestyle. Exercise Inc is about making positive choices so that people can be healthy in all aspects of their life. Helping people and encouraging them to reach their goals is more fulfilling than most jobs. Most people come into Exercise Inc looking for us to help. I like being a positive influence on that person in a world where there is already so much negativity.

• I get to help people make positive changes in their lives. When they struggle, they know they can lean on someone who not only knows what they are talking about, but someone who can empathize with them, as I have been through the weight loss process myself. I try my best to reach people, let them know that I know the hardships, let them know this is not easy and that if it was, everyone would be able to do it.

• When a client tells me that they were able to pick up the newspaper off of the driveway without having to go to a knee, and they haven’t been able to do that in a long time, it is incredibly rewarding. Losing weight is just a small part of the equation, and for me, giving clients back the mobility they once had is the most rewarding thing possible. Clients who are able to pick up their grandkids, work outside without getting tired, or go on vacations to places they never thought they would, are all incredibly rewarding. That is what keeps me motivated daily.

• I know that when people meet with me, they are at that point of frustration that they are asking for help. They don’t know what to do. All they do know is that something has to change. As their coach, it is my job to get to know them, how to push them, how to educate them, and how to encourage them. Everyone responds differently, and I don’t do the same things for every client. While all of my clients come in for different reasons, I know that they are here because they value their health. While I thought I knew a lot about that, it took me getting to a rough place to understand the desperation some people may be feeling. I think this has helped me listen. I think that this has helped me coach.

• I do it because I love to help people! I love to help people with their weight loss goals. I love to help people with their strength goals or whatever personal goals they may have. They come here for a reason, a goal, and their goals are my goals. I get so much satisfaction from helping clients meet and exceed their goals that sometimes I think I enjoy it more than they do! Like they say, “If you love what you do, you don’t work a day in your life”!

• A 78-year-old woman, who lives in the country by herself, came in wanting to gain weight and get stronger. She barely weighed 100 pounds and just didn’t have any strength anymore. She also worried that if she got sick, she wouldn’t have the strength to fight off whatever her ailment was. Several months later, after putting on several pounds of muscle, she came into the gym smiling from ear-to-ear. When I asked her why, she told me that for the first time in years she was able to pick up her 5-gallon gas can and fill her mower by herself and not have to call a neighbor and wait for them to come over. Something like that, that seems so simple to us, meant the world to her! That’s my WHY.

• I do this because I have always had a passion for helping people with fitness goals. The United States statistics are horrible when it comes to health and nutrition. I myself do not want to fall into those statistics, nor do I want my clients to be a negative statistic. You get to meet people on a weekly basis and help better that individual’s fitness and health.

As you can see, our coaches are passionate about what we do. We simply love to help people! We love helping people reach their goals. We love teaching people that there is a simpler way to be strong and healthy. We love showing people that you don’t have to spend hours in a gym or go on a crazy diet to have the health you want.

Thank you to all of our clients—past, present and future—for trusting us with your WHY to reach and exceed your fitness goals, which allows us to live out our WHY every day.

Change Your Life in 20 Minutes A Week!

Bo Railey