The Value of Personal Training

Recently, a prospective student emailed me the following message:

Hello, I’m just curious what your cfot training covers. I’m interested to see the difference between the course offered at NAIT and yours. The fee you have is significantly more than NAIT. Does the registration fee include the use of the tools we will need during the course. Any info would be great.

What an excellent question!

I am certain that many of you might be wondering the exact same thing.

So here is how I responded to this question.

While both courses sprout from the same kernel of course curriculum and exams from the Fiber Optic Association, they differ significantly after that.

Yes. There is definitely a difference between the NAIT CFOT course and the Nine Micron CFOT course.

Yes. The tuition fee is higher than NAIT’s but it is an all inclusive fee. There are no hidden fees and unexpected gotcha’s. The last time I added up all of NAIT’s fees the total was around $1500.

With Nine Micron, the class size is capped at six students maximum. Not so with NAIT. Their class size can be as big as 20 people.

The small class size allows constant one on one attention from the instructor. The experience that you have is far more personal, intense and in depth. You will be encouraged to ask questions because that is the only way to process the vast amount of knowledge that will be flowing into your mind.

Since many of the students that attend the course are self-employed, there is also plenty of opportunities to talk about the business side of operating a fiber optics business. We talk about many of the business decisions needed when considering purchasing equipment, bidding on contracts, understanding the customers’ needs and figuring out how to succeed when asked to do work that you’ve never done before.

When I teach the course, I pour myself completely into each student that comes to the class. I service the Oil and Gas industry when I am not teaching and I bring that field experience into the classroom. I have tons of photos and videos that I share with the class. I put you into my boots so that you can experience a little bit of what I went through in order to succeed on various jobs.

I bring all of my own tools into the classroom. I show you what tools that it will take to accomplish any field job that you may face. I ask you to use my tools to practice and to learn all the skills that I will teach you. I will mentor you through all of the procedures and I will help you be confident with each of the procedures.

In the Oil Patch, safety is huge so I will often share my personal experiences of working in that environment. While working in the Oil Patch is very stressful, it can be extremely rewarding. I share with you my secrets of what it takes to make it in The Patch.

In addition, I show you something incredibly important – how to compose the right kind of documentation that will help you get paid by the client. You cannot get paid without it. I will give you samples of my own documents that you can embrace and make your own. I will encourage you to use them to complete your jobs.

So, in my opinion, the only commonality between NAIT’s course and Nine Micron’s is the FOA exam and certification.

When you come to Nine Micron’s course, you will be transformed into a confident and competent Fiber Optic Technician who is equipped with the practical knowledge and skills and who is prepared to succeed on whatever fiber job is thrown at them.

If you like, I can connect you with a few of my past students who would be happy to talk with you about their experience in the class. I am confident that they will be brutally honest with you.

I am more than happy to talk with you on the phone if you have any follow up questions.

I personally want to thank you for asking me challenging questions about my offering. It shows me that you are serious about investing in your own future and that you want to make the best decision with the available information. I want to work with people like you!

When you come to my CFOT class, I will do my best to transform you into the confident fiber tech that you want to be.

I’m here to help you succeed.
John

PS: Just so you know, I personally took the CFOT course at NAIT many years back.

So, how did this person respond?

They signed up immediately for the CFOT course.