How was 2012 for you? Okay? So-so? Better? Worse? Rockin’? Or really bad?
These 14 “Things” (aka: ideas, tactics, strategies, plans, principles) will make 2013 far better than 2012.
I want to make some quick points before you read the rest of this blog post. First, everything I am sharing with you is proven over time, and I use these ideas, strategies and tools in my own fitness business. Next, realize that you must take action and take control. No excuses. ALL 14 ITEMS will work with all businesses. Get it? Cool! Let’s go!
1. Let go of the crap (that’s a technical term). Stop doing anything that is a waste of time, isn’t fulfilling, helpful, or doesn’t increase your happiness or bank account. PERIOD! This is really important! And you have to do this first!
2. Get clear! Decide EXACTLY what you want. “I want to make more money” SUCKS as a goal. You will not make more money with a goal like that. “I will increase my business income by $4,000 per month through my new group fitness system. And, I will have fun and be open to learning everything along the way!” This is far better. And, it goes well beyond this. Think about how that $4,000 feels in your hand. How do you feel with your greater financial security? How proud are you of your new accomplishment? How do others perceive it, and how does that make you feel? Get it????
3. Fire people. Fire (okay, remove or eliminate) ANYONE who is a pain in the A## in your life. Eliminate any B or C player in your personal or professional life. They will suck the life out of your passion and your pursuit. DO THIS!!!
4. Automate as much of your business as possible. Do this through http://www.fitnessbusinessninja.com. You can automate billing, scheduling, evaluations, transformation contests, online training and nutrition planning. Yes, automate it all and make far more money with far less time. Leveraging your time is the most important thing you can do on a daily basis.
5. Get your blog rockin’. It doesn’t matter what kind of fitness business you have. You MUST have a great blog which is easily found on google and gets people to return again and again and buy and buy. Here’s a video that explains how to make a killer fitness business blog.
6. Build better relationships. This included building better relationships with other fitness pros and better relationships with your clients and potential clients. New fitness trainers are so reluctant to build relationships and become good friends with other trainers. It’s a scarcity mindset. All too often trainers think that if they say too much, or share their thoughts with other trainers they will steal their clients and steal their business ideas. I suppose this does happen on occasion. If this has happened to you, revisit number 3 on this list. You need to share, support and encourage each other. All successful fitness pros know this and do this. As for building better relationships with clients; you do this by being kind, LISTENING, and adding more value to their experience with your company.
7. Add value. This was mentioned in number 6. You should strive for at least 300% value. What do I mean? I mean that if someone pays you $50/hr for a session, you should be giving them $150 in value. Value is added by enhancing your education so you can offer better training and coaching. You can also add value by LISTENING BETTER. Yes, just listening. I see too many training spacing out and texting while in a session. That’s just dumb. There is no other word that fits. Listen and pay closer attention and show you care. This adds value. Value can also be added by creating a sense of community, rather than just a revolving door with people who scan cards.
8. Be anything but typical. Typical is boring. Typical is forgettable. Typical cannot be a solid fitness brand. Typical does not interest the media or clients. Typical is just so typical. Be unique. Be irreverent. Be opinionated (and still kind). Be bold. Take a stand. Be anything but typical.
9. Add nutrition to your business offerings. Yes, I’m inserting a shameless plug for ISAGENIX here. I belabored the idea for a year before I jumped in. I’m pretty flexible and was able to kick myself in the butt for waiting so long. Now that I have developed a successful ISAGENIX business, it pays the mortgage on my new home in Las Vegas (true story). So, you can choose any nutrition company to align with……. I have reviewed about 40 over the years. Choose a company that resonates with you. It’s your choice. You help your clients lose fat, detox and shed unwanted pounds while making good passive income. With ISAGENIX, it just makes it really easy for me. I’m all about leveraging my time so I can train more and have fun with my family.
10. Get in awesome shape. I know that may sound nuts, but I cannot tell you how many over weight and sloppy trainers I have seen. I totally understand we are all unique and on different paths in the fitness industry. Unless you are focusing on the morbidly obese, you are not going to “appeal” to your clients more because you are more like them. They want you to be the perfect roll model (mind, body and spirit). That’s the way it works. Heck, if you are really smart and really fit, you can often be more successful that someone who is sloppy, overweight and has minimal education (even if he/she has 3x your marketing skills). TRUE!!!
11. Be relentless. Growing your fitness business is not a “one and done” kind of thing. It begins and never ends. You have to work on it every day (in one way or another). Personally, I dedicate certain days to completing certain tasks. As an example, I focus on each of the following areas one day each week: SEO (search engine optimization), social media, blogging, education, management and thinking/pondering/planning.
12. Communicate with your tribe (aka: list, clients, prospects, leads) on a regular basis. The easiest way to do this is with your own fitness email newsletter. Think about it… aren’t you more loyal or more in touch with any company that communicates with you via email on a regular basis? This is – by far – the easiest and most affordable way to build your list of clients and prospects and grow your business in 2013.
13. Leverage your time. It has been mentioned in various ways within this post. Maybe that’s because it’s really important. Think about it….Time is the ONLY THING in your life you can never get back. NEVER! A moment lost is never regained. Why would you waste any of it? Don’t waste it on bad people. Don’t waste time being angry. Don’t waste time on things you know don’t work. Use efficiency with everything you do. NEVER multi-task. I don’t care if you say “I can multi-task better”. It’s not true. NO scientific study ever done (on a wide variety of people) has ever shown that multi-tasking increases efficiency, productivity, comprehension, or anything else worth a darn.
14. Add personal development or coaching services to your fitness business. I predicted this trend years ago (that’s why I formed The Spencer Institute). If you have been a trainer for any length of time, you know that every client wants or needs some type of motivation, coaching, support, clarity or lifestyle enhancement as part of their overall success strategy. Why refer this to someone else? Why not earn the credential, help your clients attain higher levels of success and happiness while you earn more money? Sounds logical to me!
Obviously there are 100 more ideas you can implement to improve your business in 2013. Why didn’t I give you more right now? Because after 20+ years of helping fitness business owners, I know that most people will not apply one damn thing I just posted. Those are the same people who will complain in December of 2013 that they just cannot make it. Blah, blah blah….
So, I figured I would just give you 14 things to do, think about, apply, register for, or adopt to make 2013 your year to shine. It’s manageable. Get started now!
Be the minority of successful fitness business owners who read, learn, APPLY and BENEFIT from this post.
Thanks and please leave your comments below and give it a “LIKE”.
JSE
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