Every course tells you to copy the top trainers' hooks. That's exactly how you get **skipped**. You're like, 'copying the best is how you learn - how does that get me skipped?' Because copy them and you end up posting what I call Twelve Identical Thumbnails.
Put simply: It means your reel opens like every other trainer's, so nobody scrolling can tell it's you. And every course out there is actively teaching you to do it.
Picture three trainers in the same town who bought the same course. All three film in the gym mirror, hat backwards, and open with 'three tips for a bigger squat.' Online, the person scrolling has already passed that exact open all week.
So their thumb doesn't stop. It keeps **going**. Your squat tips could be the best in town. But nobody finds out you're good if you look the **same**. And somebody actually tested this. In 1933, a German psychologist named Hedwig von Restorff gave people lists where every item matched except one.
The one that didn't match is the one people remembered. Your feed is that list. It's a wall of mirror selfies, and the open they remember is the one that **doesn't** match. Now, you might push back: 'The top trainers' hooks already work. Why not just copy them?'
You're right, the top trainer's hook did prove it works. Now look at it from the other side. By the time that hook reaches you, every trainer who bought the same course is using it too. So it's not a tips problem. It's a **wrapper** problem.
Keep the squat tips, because they're good. And if you love the backwards hat, keep the hat. Change only the wrapper. Copying isn't the crime. Copy to learn how a good hook is built, then make yours look like **nobody** else's. So instead of 'three tips for a bigger squat,' here are three opens built on the exact same tips.
One: 'I made this guy's squat worse on purpose. Here's why.' Two: 'Your squat isn't weak. Your feet are in the wrong spot.' Three: open on your client's face mid-rep, straining - not on yours in the mirror.
Same tips underneath. And not one of those opens looks like the other trainers in town. Now, there is a trade-off. Some of those opens won't land, and copying feels **safer**. But safe just makes you one more mirror selfie on the wall. Curious whether you're posting Twelve Identical Thumbnails?
Try this today. Hit pause, or make a note and finish it tonight. Pull up your last five reels and three reels from other trainers in your area. Hide the names, and look only at the cover and the first line. If you can't pick out which ones are yours, you're posting Twelve Identical Thumbnails.
So take your best reel and keep every tip exactly the same. Rewrite only the cover and the first line, until nobody could mistake it for another trainer's. It's hard to see what's different about you from the inside. In the 90-Day Build, that's the piece we dig out together before anything gets posted.
In the 90-Day Build we make and post your content, answer your leads and close them on sales calls.
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