Yes, I am speaking to a group of high school students about life. About the expectations that adults mistakenly project on them sometimes, but how they can take responsibility for their own lives and re-create expectations for themselves. Doesn’t that sound like something your clients may need to hear? That no matter how many cool exercises, training methods or PB’s you help them aspire towards, if their own internal compasses are not set with the expectations that are required for them to make the wholesale changes they’re looking for, no amount of training magic is ever going to be enough. That no matter how society has decided to view them, the way they choose to view themselves as vastly more important. Do your clients take responsibility? Do you? 16 years in the fitness industry and I can tell you without question that this may have been the very best lesson I ever learned….  

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I am writing this per the request of Sam to share my story. The dates, numbers and specifics are to the best of my recall and are ROOTED IN FACT. There has been much discussion about ethics and integrity in the fitness business arena for many months to many years. I personally cannot substantiate all of the claims (well over 100 I’ve heard/read myself) but I have no reason to disbelieve them either. Many people have asked about my prior association with, let’s just call him “B”. This is my “ethics-lacking encounter(s)” with “B”…. Back in 2006, when the Fitness Business Summit was just an idea, I was involved from its inception.  I am not claiming I came up with the idea or had ownership.  I did not.  However, I was intimately involved with many, many aspects of its launch and facilitation. I learned a lot from the experience.  I learned that all though my intentions were always good, I came across arrogant to some.  I think I was.  Stupid, yet, it was true. It was a great lesson and the beginning of a dramatic and important shift in my thinking and my life.  The rest I owe to my [...]

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The difference between “love” and “like” can be subtle. One day you could be best friends with someone and the next day you find yourself wondering, “How can I live without this person?” In the fitness world, someone who likes your brand will come back to you each week, put in their workout, go home and not really think twice about it. Yet, someone who loves your brand will become your good ambassador – a walking billboard who shares his or her experience of your brand with friends, family and even random people on the street! Here are 10 ways to make your clients fall in love with you (without using voodoo magic!) Innovate. Push the boundaries of what everyone else in the industry is doing. If the guy down the street gave his clients free smoothies one day, take your clients out to dinner. If another boot camp has created an outdoor obstacle course, make yours better. Do things that no one else is doing. Offer webinars, grocery store tours, and invitations to local community-sponsored events — and transform your little studio into a social club. Be A Trusted Authority. Keep up your community appearances and keep those press [...]

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Launching a fitness business is terribly exciting at first. Your dreams of earning tons of money and flexing your creative muscle to create a unique brand will take you pretty far. Yet, soon you find that money and time are in short supply. Suddenly, your dream turns into a nightmare where you feel you no longer have control over your life. There are five tricks to ensure your fitness business launches without a hitch and that you are still in the driver’s seat.   How can you tell if your marketing efforts are working? Luckily, online marketing is very easy to measure. Track at least five sources of leads. Some examples of Key Performance Indicators you may track include: new customers acquired, client turnover, the number of paid-in-fulls you receive, and how much each client is spending. If you want to transform your desires into action, you must first set short and long-term goals. They need to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. You’ll want to ask yourself questions like: What do I want to accomplish? When do I want to accomplish it? How can I measure my progress? What smaller steps can I take to get there? Do [...]

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If you’re designing a boot camp workout program then you want to make sure that it’s as safe, productive, and entertaining as possible for your clients. That’s not always as easy as it sounds but it’s definitely important. In order for your clients to get the most out of your program you might need to do some creative organizing on your part. The following are the top 6 common boot camp workout mistakes that you should avoid and why you should stay away from them. By avoiding them, you can create a healthy, fun, and productive environment for your clients to exercise in. Before I get into the top 6 I will emphasize that NOT PLANNING is the Number 1mistake with planning a bootcamp as well as planning a bootcamp program as I have mentioned in previous articles. Not warming up.Duh! Even though you are optimizing workout time for your clients you still need to provide a warm up time. When you don’t provide a warm up time for them, it can cause possible injury. Injuries aren’t good for the client but they aren’t good for your business either. Muscles need adequate time to warm up, especially considering the intensity [...]

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As you may have noticed, Facebook “screwed up” your social media page. Suddenly, your information may look chaotic and the beautiful page you went through great lengths to design has been obliterated. While the changes may seem egregious at first, take a deep breath and keep in mind that this design is meant to help you. The popularity of sites like Pinterest, SlideShare, Instagram, Flickr and YouTube confirms that fact that people are looking for VISUAL content that they can share with their friends. Written content is still important for search engine optimization, but it’s the photos, videos, coupons and visual items that people want to share with their friends. Here is a quick guide to the new Facebook Timelines for fitness professionals. New Features The Cover Photo: You will now have to create an 851 x 315 pixel banner ad to display across your screen.    Zumba Fitness used a crowd of enthusiastic exercisers to build hype for their brand.   Bally’s Atlantic City used an attractive cityscape to show off their impressive exterior.   Finest Fitness wants to show people what they can do in their sports club.   Wild Iron Gym wants to show off their weight [...]

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We’ve come a long way from the days of direct mail catalogs, letters and infomercials. Today’s main marketing tools include mobile messages, email marketing and website creation. Yet, not everything from “the olden times” should be forgotten. There are a few core marketing rules that every fitness marketer should know. According to the 40/40/20 Rule, 40 percent of your campaign’s success is due to the audience, 40 percent is due to the offer or product, and 20 percent is due to your creativity. This rule has been tested, tried and true since the 1960s. Often you will find it’s just a matter of getting the right message to the right person at the right time. Design, colors, fonts and medium are all important, but they take a backseat to your pitch and how ready your prospect is to buy. When was the last time the prospect bought from you or bought this type of service? How often have they purchased this service? How much money have they spent? By assessing this formula, you can prioritize your leads. Consumers who bought recently, who buy often and who spend a lot are obviously your top tier people. Keep in mind that not [...]

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If Lady Gaga were a fitness trainer, you can be rest assured she’d be banking serious cash. Even though she is obviously an eccentric, she has built an appealing brand that brings her close to $100 Million every year. She grew up the daughter of wealthy internet entrepreneurs, but she decided to carve her own niche in music without her parents’ help. It took years of waitressing and dancing in cabaret clubs before she was signed with Def Jam Records – and later, Interscope Records. Now her 60+ million record sales have put her in a category with Enya, Def Leppard, Green Day and Kenny G as one of the best-selling artists of all time. Fitness trainers can learn a lot from the way Lady Gaga approached her burgeoning career. First, trainers should be themselves. I always tell people that we are in the business of “personality marketing.” If you’re an outgoing and charismatic “people-person,” you will do well in this industry. If your clients look forward to your funny jokes, your warm-hearted dialogue and thoughtful advice, then you are likely to keep the same people for years and spend very little on marketing. Gaga has a rabid following because [...]

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Many people mistakenly think that all entrepreneurs are hustler dirt-bags. You probably have noticed some prospects’ eyes glaze over and you can read it on their face that they think you’re trying to scam them. No matter what you say, some individuals will put up a wall to anything that sounds like a sales pitch. If your products and services are truly exceptional, you can lay off the hustler routine and let your offerings sell themselves. Every once in a while, it’s good to assess yourself and make sure you’re acting like a Fitness Professional, not a Hustler. Lacks long-term vision. Hustlers are used car salesmen, not car dealers. Hustlers are house-flippers, not realtors. Hustlers sell stocks, rather than offer the IPOs. He may have a few big paydays, but he needs to keep hustling non-stop to keep earning. Is in the lowest tax bracket. Hustlers must constantly run the rat race to keep his wheels greased. The desperation shines through his every transaction. Only cares about making the next sale. He’ll do anything to get that revolving door of customers. Unfortunately, his level of service doesn’t match the hype he’s spewing, so his turnover rate is extremely high and [...]

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Your fitness business can become just like a weight loss plateau. Think about it: there is always that one client who says, “I don’t understand it… I run on the treadmill for an hour, five days a week, and I still just can’t lose weight!” Of course, you know that the problem is not this exerciser’s passion, purpose, goals or commitment – but rather, there is a lack of knowledge about what it takes to get past the plateau. You may find that your own business has started stagnating – that you are doing well (in that you are not hemorrhaging money), but you know you could be doing better. So how do you take it to the next level? Here are a few trade secrets to help you grow. Looking back at the treadmill runner metaphor, you know that this client would have no hope of losing weight if he or she was inconsistent. You know you can help this person get to the next level because the individual has already made the commitment to work out five days a week. Change isn’t so hard from this point – all your client needs to do is vary the workout [...]

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