Formerly Future PLC‘s head of training, Simon Hares has now established himself as a personal trainer in his own right. Simon is currently operating a successful company in Bath, and goes by the moniker Serial Trainer 7. We caught up with Simon to speak about the advantages of being your own boss, working in Bath and what the training ‘journeys’ he takes clients on involve.
Initially, starting up on his own was a scary task. Simon told us that although it felt right for him to be going solo, it still felt like a big step.
Plenty of help from his former colleagues has helped him to establish a busy roster of events, however, and with a Twitter account boasting over 2,300 followers Simon has clearly made an impact since breaking out on his own.
Simon’s aim as Serial Trainer 7 is to “deliver learning, development and training to people in a way that gives them relevant skills that can applied to give the best results short and long term”. The training events he runs are very diverse, ranging from Understanding the Buyer’s Psychological Perspective to Creating an Effective Proposal, and you can read about training tips and tips for trainers on his pleasingly amusing blog.
Although the topics he covers range far and wide, Simon specialises in sales, management and coaching communication skills. In fact, you can hear about this in his own words in the video below:
On top of his expertise and general loveliness, Simon’s dedication to his job gives another reason for clients to pick up on his training. Simon explained to us that he calls his training courses ‘journeys’ because ‘…they are not simple a course that I deliver and walk away from.
“I want my clients to use the training as a developmental process over time, so that improvements can be noted and recorded and the benefits reward not only the business but the individual”
“I want my clients to use the training as a developmental process over time, so that improvements can be noted and recorded and the benefits reward not only the business but the individual. Many of my ‘journeys’ will involve a classroom style session with one to one follow up which creates a higher level of ‘buy-in’ and engagement.”
But why do it in the first place? And what’s with the 7? Simon’s personal experience of studying at university in his 30s “cemented a belief that learning is continual and we can surprise ourselves with new skills and knowledge”.
In fact, Simon told us that he has wanted to teach adults from a young age and that he loves to learn himself, so personal training was a no-brainer. The ‘7’ is taken from Steven Covey’s famous 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which Simon said he “tries to live my life by as best I can”.
When we asked Simon about his greatest success to date, intriguingly, the subject of business cards came up first. On the subject, he said “This is going to sound odd, but my strange sideways head on image (pictured below) that adorns my site, social media and business cards. It was created for me by Benedict Brain a most excellent and talented photographer in Bath. He had his photo done that way and I wanted it too.
“‘The result of having such a creative image is that it is rapidly evolving into quite the conversation piece and forms part of the SerialTrainer7 brand. I am very grateful to Ben for creating this for me and is itself a success. ”
Of course, Simon has also found success outside of his networking tools. Speaking about the London Accelerator Academy, at which he was recently invited to speak, he said, “It was a true privilege and honour. There are so many talented entrepreneurs in the digital sphere, and they turned up to listen to me.
“They were an amazing audience, very engaged and it made me realise that my hunch about the training I offer being relevant was true. I was also offered a position on one of the Entrepreneurs’ Board in Israel, which was very flattering.”
If this has stoked a burning interest in Simon’s work, you’ll be pleased to know that he is about to launch the Serial Trainer 7 sales school at the Bath Guild Co-Working Hub. These courses run for six weeks and offer clients an opportunity to ‘dip in and out of whichever module they want’.
“Who wouldn’t want to work in their home town or city and actually be contributing something of value and relevance to the business community?”
Naturally, Simon also had a word to say about how wonderful it is to be working in Bath: “I spend a lot of time in London, it is where many media houses are, but being in Bath means that I get to work with businesses large and small that have a focus on the local area. Being able to do that is very rewarding. Who wouldn’t want to work in their home town or city and actually be contributing something of value and relevance to the business community?”
You can keep up to date with Simon on his blog and Twitter feed. To check out his courses, take a look at his website.
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