Sometimes you have to go back to basics.
We all get caught up in “the bright shiny object” syndrome. We get distracted. It’s human.
You need to ensure you have all the business basics in place, and working seamlessly, before you go nuts with anything else.
Here are the 7 steps you must follow to set up your successful fitness business:
Step 1: Understand who you are and what you want to accomplish. This is an essential first step because not doing (or understanding) this will take you far off course and cause incredible frustration for a long time. Maybe forever!
By knowing who you are, you will remain more focused and consistent in your efforts over time. When you know what you stand for, you also know what you will NOT stand for. This is even more important. Clarity.
When you have clarity of what you want to accomplish, you have fewer deviations, and will have more career satisfaction. Do not choose a career path because someone told you to do it. Choose a career path that serves your deepest core values and is based on how you want to live each day of your life.
Step 2: Get your initial education. I emphasize “initial” because there is just way to much to know, too much to learn, and to much industry evolution each year. You must always, always, always continue your education. Start with fundamental education such as a Personal Fitness Trainer Certification regardless of your niche. For any fitness pro, this is a baseline of knowledge. It shows you have acquired the fundamental understanding of a wide range of health and fitness training topics. Of course, if you already have your initial education, you need to get busy on continuing education and specialized credentials.
Step 3: Niche and Brand Development. Obviously, this could be a major blog post by itself, if not a book. However, let’s cover some basics here. This is why you need to know yourself, what you want, and where you want to be in the future. Your niche is vital to your success. Personal training is not a niche. Strength training is not a niche. Women’s fitness is sort of a niche. Fitness for women over 40 is a niche. Men’s martial arts flexibility training is a niche. Get it? Drill down until you have a unique perspective and a focused group of potential customers. And, most importantly, you like these people, enjoy working with them, know where they are, and you know how to get in contact with them easily.
Your brand is based (in part) on your niche. Your brand is far more than your logo. Your brand is everything about you, your company, your products, and your services. It is how people perceive you and what you stand for.
REMEMBER: If you do not tell people what your brand is…. they will create the perception and identity for you. It may not be want you want, or what serves you best. Watch this video I made a short while back on building your fitness brand.
Step 4: Getting your technology in place. Regardless of how you run your business and serve your clients, you need to have a seamless and streamlined operation. Make your life easier with a smart approach to operating, managing and marketing your fitness business. First, get your web address (AKA – URL or domain name). I suggest you use http://www.myfitnesscompany.com. Next, build your fitness website / blog. My web designer, Scotty B, is awesome, fast, ethical and talented. Once you have your site up and running, you need a way to collect data from potential customers. I’m sure you’ve opted in for a special report, ebook, video series or mini course of some type. You got it for the exchange of information (likely your email). You have also likely received a series of automated emails in a sequence that give you more valuable information and perhaps an opportunity to buy something you like. This is all part of email marketing. It’s vital to your fitness business growth. The system I use is http://www.fitnews.tv. It also included the opportunity to collect a prospect’s cell number so you can send text messages as part of your marketing campaign. Really cool!
You also need to manage client payments, scheduling, and progress. I use http://www.fitnessbusinessninja.com for this. It also includes transformation contest software, an exercise library, nutrition software and much more. Check it out. You will save A LOT of time, money and aggravation. Make your business run smoothly.
Step 5: Your sales funnel. A sales funnel is a sequence of processes where you gather leads, make contact with potential customers, make an initial offer, move clients to long-term agreements, and then have them refer friends and family.
At the top of the funnel, you gather as many leads and contacts as possible from all of your marketing efforts, you then offer them “THE IRRESISTIBLE OFFER” which only “a fool” wouldn’t take. Now they are in the door. You then thrill them, over deliver and get them results. Then offer them the opportunity to convert to your premium service such as an annual plan, bonus diet plan, platinum level service, etc. This is where the real results and quality business relationship develops. And, it is at this time, that the best friend and family referrals happen. Of course, you can and should ask for referrals all along the way. Next, the customers renew and refer again and again.
Step 6: Fine tuning. This is how you take your business and your life to the next level. What is working? What is horrible? What is troubling? What is disjointed? What is taking too much time? Who is a pain in the ass? Who can you eliminate? Who is missing from your circle of friends or influence who can help? What is working well? Why? What is missing? How can you cut costs? What skills are you lacking? What book do you need to read?
I think you get the idea. Figure out what’s good…. make it better. Learn what is horrible. Stop doing it. Eliminate anyone is your life who is not supportive of your efforts.
Step 7: Making sure everything you do has a future benefit. This is the one thing that fitness pros do the least often, and then complain about the most later. That’s because they do not have the life or business they want.
Think of it like this….
If you train 4 clients today, what is the long term benefit from the sessions? I’m not just talking about your client having fun and getting great results. That should always be there. I mean, if you train people for a full day, how does that help your business 1, 2 or even 5 years later? Are you gathering information for a case study? Did you get testimonials? Did you feature their success online?
If you write a blog post, aside from adding value for your reader, what are the additional long term benefits? Did the post get indexed well in Google? Did the blog post give you an idea for an ebook? Can you make the post into a lecture?
Are your daily actions moving you closer to your ultimate goal, or are you just busy and not getting any closer to what you ultimately want for your life and career?
This may seem like a simple question, but one that is one of the most important questions you can ever ask yourself. What if you worked for 20 years and NEVER got any closer to what you want. That would be a bummer! What do you want? To become a successful celebrity trainer? A best-selling author? A multi-millionaire? An online entrepreneur? A gym owner? A professional athlete? A global thought leader?
You can and will accomplish even more than you think right now. The essential element to making this a reality is gaining absolute clarity of what you want. Ensure each day you work moves you closer to your goals, and not just closer to the end of the work day.
I’m here to support and help you any way I can.
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Thanks
JSE
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