Most healthy people can train. That’s not a problem. They don’t know how to tell the story.
That’s what stood out in a conversation with author and keynote speaker Jen Gottlieb. Before he was a speaker and entrepreneur, he was a personal trainer – someone who understood the job well, but struggled with the part that gets people in the door: communication.
“You stop being able to hide behind a role,” he said Muscles And Fitness, “to be yourself, and you risk being judged.”
For many trainers and fitness creators, that fear manifests itself in familiar ways—overthinking, doubting, or waiting until everything feels right before posting anything. But as Gottlieb sees it, finding your voice isn’t about showing confidence first. It’s about putting in the reps until it happens. And in a space where attention is directly linked to opportunity, learning to communicate may be as important as being able to coach.
Why Do People Stay Silent?
Gottlieb doesn’t think the issue is a lack of talent. It’s an internal thing.
“There’s a lot of noise coming in,” he says. “I actually call them signs of fear.”
That “noise” manifests as perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and the persistent feeling that someone deserves better. Ideally, that is nurtured by nature. It’s a results-driven environment. People are used to measuring progress, seeing progress, and knowing when something is working.
But communication doesn’t work that way.
He says: “You risk people thinking you’re tired or saying, ‘Who do you think you are?’
So instead of posting, people doubt. They are correcting. They are waiting. In most cases, they end up doing nothing.
Ironically, the same mentality that helps people achieve physical success—attention to detail, discipline, the desire to get it right—can actually hold them back when it comes to being seen.
Why Playing It Safe Doesn’t Work Anymore
A few years ago, you could grow by just posting consistently and staying within the lines. That has changed.
Gottlieb calls it a shift from social media to “interested news.” Content is no longer only shown to your followers—it’s pushed to people based on what they’re engaging with.
Which means if you don’t give the algorithm something to stick to, your content disappears.
His name for what doesn’t work: vanilla content. He says: “It’s actually a satisfaction that everyone would love. “Just good content. It doesn’t really mean my choice.”
The problem is, no one cares about beauty.
He explains: “You want people to say one of two things. “You want them to say, ‘Oh my God, me too…’ or you want them to say, ‘Not me. I hate you.”
That’s not good for a lot of people, especially in an industry where popularity feels important. But sitting in the middle—trying to appeal to everyone—is what gets overlooked.
With a space as crowded as fitness, neglect is a serious risk.
Reps Matter—Even on Camera
For anyone who’s ever hit a record and felt instantly uncomfortable, Gottlieb’s take is simple: those negative emotions don’t go away on their own.
He says: “It’s the strangest thing in the world to talk to a camera.”
Even for someone with a background in acting, it took time. The difference is that he was taking it as training.
“I do a live stream every morning while I’m putting on my makeup,” she says. “I practice talking to the camera like a normal person.”
That idea of treating communication as a skill you train is where most people fail. They wait until they feel confident before they start, instead of understanding that confidence is a result of repetition.
He also offers a practical fix for the robotic tone that many people get into when they’re on camera.
“I think about someone I like and I think I’m sending them a video message,” he says. “So, I’ll be like, ‘Hey, [name],’ and I just typed ‘Hey, [name] part.”
It’s simple, but effective because it changes focus.
He says: “When you think about how you look or sound, you’re thinking about yourself. It shouldn’t be about you—it’s about the person on the other end of the phone.”
Consistency Is The Real Differentiator
In fairness, the compromise is understandable. You don’t expect results after one workout.
But on the Internet, people expect instant downloads. If it doesn’t happen, they quit. This is one of the biggest mistakes Gottlieb saw.
“You might be posting too long before you get your first hit,” he said.
His method is to remove emotion from the process and treat it as a habit.
“Posting once a day… needs to be a non-negotiable practice,” he said.
Not because every post will work, but because eventually, someone might.
If it happens, it could change everything.
He says: “It seems like an overnight success, but for me it took years.”
That’s the part that most people don’t see.
Authority Is Not Mastery
One of the biggest obstacles for creative creators is the idea that they are not “ready” to speak yet.
They haven’t been doing it long enough. They don’t have enough clients. They are not the best in the room.
Gottlieb is pushing back on that completely.
“You don’t have to be an expert per se,” he says.
Instead of trying to position yourself as an authority, he suggests documenting the process.
He says: “You can be on a journey. “Come with me on a journey like I did.”
That change, from teaching to sharing, is what is still felt now. People don’t want to be perfect. They want the real thing.
Growing people don’t wait until they have it all figured out. They are the only ones who start talking while still thinking.
Responsibility Comes with Recognition
At the end of the interview, Gottlieb pulls back on something that reframes the whole idea of online dating.
“If you have a service, a story, or a product that helps people, visibility is your responsibility,” he said.
It’s not about ego or attention for its own sake. It’s about access.
Every day someone doesn’t share what they know, someone else fills that void. Sometimes with little knowledge. Sometimes with little care.
This is the real cost of staying silent.
In a space like fitness, where the barrier to entry is low, but the impact is high, being good at what you do isn’t always enough.
People have to know about it, and that only happens if you are willing to be seen and heard.
Follow Jen on Instagram @jen_gottlieb
