When Danielle Hagenrader, The Diabetes Dominator, stopped by the latest Fitnesspreneur’s Life Show podcast she shared some valuable advice about how she used her struggle with diabetes to become the Diabetes Dominator and create an Amazon Best Seller.
Here’s her advice about the importance of taking your expertise to the next level within your own communities. Check it out!
1 - Change Your Mindset
The most important battle that may determine your success from the get-go happens inside your mind. Because things emanate from intention, if you don’t believe in your success, it’s unlikely that success will find you.
In Danielle’s case, this is very much a matter of life and death.
You see, diabetics are often told the entire story of their disease taking over their body. Being told how your life will play out is enough to make you want to give up.
But Danielle didn’t give up she changed her mindset.
She reasoned that the outcome of her life would be significantly altered if she changed her mindset into a positive one. Rather than think of herself as this passive being having these things happen to her, she took charge of her destiny and decided to live a healthier happier life.
How she did that became the backbone of her wellness system, The Diabetes Dominator.
2) Become an expert in the community
It’s one thing to be told what to do by a doctor. It’s quite another to get advice from someone who’s living the experience.
That’s exactly why Danielle realized that not only does she bring a lifetime of experience handling her diabetes to the table, but also that her experience gives her credibility within the diabetic community.
Communities are often built around shared struggles and that’s where niche markets spring up. You should look for opportunities to engage the very community of people that your programs help.
Danielle created a series of web interviews with thought leaders that helped her build credibility by leveraging their tribe. You should look for ways to establish your authority and expertise in similar markets.
3) Build Your Community
Once you’ve gained a foothold in the respective community that you’re trying to help, engage in the law of reciprocity. Basically, put out a lot so that you get a lot in return.
That help and desire to help will come back to you in the forms of everything from email addresses, cross promotion, to sounding boards for your new ideas.
Stay engaged and follow-up on your interactions. A year after her interviews, Danielle asks guests if they want to blog on her site. They jump at the opportunity. She exposes them to her followers and the guests bring their followers with them and that grows her list.
Communities grow in such ways. It’s up to you to capitalize on them. Nowadays with so many social media outlets, the chance to build your community is easier than ever!
You’ve got that good idea and now find the community that needs it and go from there!
It’s funny how life works.
Just recently I was asked to give a presentation on how to build, maintain and sustain confidence, I’ll share with you some of the highlights of that process below.
Putting together that presentation got me thinking back to the first time I ever stepped on stage.
That guy, way back in 2010, knew nothing about confidence.
I can honestly say that I remember the feelings I had like it was yesterday because it was in front of five hundred people, my very first time, no easing onto things, huh, and I had very little clue what I was doing.
I got at least one thing right, that I would recommend you do from now on when you thrust yourself into the unknown- get a coach or mentor.
When I got the call to present and take this next leap in my career, I jumped first, looked for a parachute second.
I remember hanging up the phone with Bedros, there was excitement and nerves all at once, so I did the only thing I could think of; I called my mentor to get his advice.
Alex gave me some really good instruction and I felt prepared, but the minute I took that stage most of that went out the window as I began to pace the stage like a caged lion.
Somehow I survived that day and got some good feedback. I guess people hadn’t seen many presenters yet. HA!
I remember most this one thing Alex said to me after the talk. He asked: “how did you feel?” I responded that I “thought I was confident.” And he said something that has always stuck with me, he said” “Vito, don’t just say it, BE it.”
I don’t think it dawned on me until years later the difference between saying something and BEING something. One is momentary and can come and go, but being something means it’s who you have become, who you are.
I know from that day on I wanted to BE confident, not just think I was, feel I was, or hope I was- I wanted to BE it.
Flash forward to today and many years of study later working on how to master the art of confidence, I’ve put together a little blueprint for you how to generate the kind of confidence that kills every time.
That last part surprises people. Generating confidence? Isn’t confidence something that you’re born with?
Doesn’t confidence come from money or good looks or some other thing that some are just lucky to have inherited? Nope.
Confidence, like any skill, requires work and practice. It’s like a muscle that you need to work on constantly. To build something that is going to constantly help your brand and business, you need to work at it.
I’ve put together something I call the Confidence Ladder.
It’s a series of steps that provide a framework for putting your confidence front and center.
Step One: Build and Decide.
This very first step of building confidence happens in the smallest synapses of our brain. It is a very basic thing, and yet so complex. It’s easier said than done…to build confidence we need to simply DECIDE to be more confident.
You’d be surprised at how effective and important that one belief becomes. Too many times, we go through life expecting bad things to happen or letting a negative thought derail our whole day. Let that go and embrace your confident future.
A simple exercise I have all my high performance students do is to set a daily reminder on their phone.
Most people now live and die by their phone, so I have them put a little reminder in their calendar that is set to go off at 9am, everyday, with an alert, that reads ‘Be More Confident.”
This way no matter how bad the morning was going, they get a jolt, at 9am that snaps them back into their confidence and they can course correct the day and get a few more hours of productive living back in.
Little by little that daily reminder becomes the person.
It’s all about intention.
It’s a crucial first step and one that determines your success moving forward.
Step Two: Sustain. Have a North Star.
It’s not enough to just decide to be confident. You have to be able to weather the storm of uncertainty and worry. That’s where many people fall or lose momentum.
And momentum is a confidence builder.
If you are constantly being derailed in life you can never get a full head of steam behind you to really push things through to heightened and sustained levels of action. Heightened and sustained levels of confidence are necessary if you want to achieve greater things in life and take your business to the next level.
The key to sustained confidence is an understanding of your purpose in life or what I like to simply call “Have a North Star.”
Which just means, have that thing that is up in the night sky always calling to you, beckoning you on, just out of your reach that is bigger than you. Something you might not ever attain, so that when the moments of doubt come, you can always remember you are living for something more important than doubt, worry, criticism, and fear.
Aim Your Skills.
If you’re one of those people who sit around saying “I don’t know how to do that?” Or “I don’t know what to do.”
Have you heard of Google?
If there’s something you’d like to know more about, look it up, take a course and work on your professional and personal development versus sitting there thinking you don’t know what to do or how to do something. That’s just the lazy man’s excuse today.
Anything can be learned, researched, and studied if it’s important to helping you achieve your dreams and marching towards that North Star.
Are you willing to create a learning plan? Stick to it? Invest in it?
Arm yourself with as much knowledge and professional experience as you can. Earn the skills that will take you to the next level.
Step Three: Teach
Sharing is caring…and what better way to share your experience and knowledge than teaching?
Teaching, whether it’s online or in person, is a great way to showcase your confidence. It’s the natural culmination of your expertise and it, in turn, feeds your confidence further because your knowledge has now been tested.
Let today be the day that you assume the mantle of a confident leader.
Build, sustain, and teach that confidence in order to keep the train of your life going.
There is no telling where you will end up if you apply my framework. I can tell you this: you’ll leave behind any other fit pros that aren’t so sure of themselves.
People that don’t invest in themselves and don’t put in the time to be the most advanced and confident fit pros in the market aren’t going to have clients or business gravitate toward them.
In today’s ever expanding marketplace, where time and money are getting scarcer by the day, clients will head towards the men and women who project confidence and value.
Those people aren’t the ones who were born confident. They are the ones who work on themselves and ignore the negative frequencies that trip us up in our everyday lives.
It’s inside you, so get to work on bringing it out to the world. There is no greater purpose.
You can’t build a business without customers. And you can’t keep customers if you’re not getting results. Nowhere is this more obvious in our profession than in weight loss.
Customers who don’t lose weight, move on to someone who can truly help them. The problem, though, is usually how fit pros go about helping their clients. They think training is enough.
Actually training is only one-third of the program. I’ve developed a trifecta of fitness that adds two other elements to the regimen. Using all three not only helps clients keep the weight off, but it adds important revenue streams to your business that don’t add man hours or overhead to your costs.
Training
This is the easy part. It’s what most fit pros know and do well. The issue is when they don’t do much beyond training sessions.
I personally don’t like spending hours on the floor. It’s not a good use of my time and it puts me in the vulnerable position of depending on one person. If I’m sick or my client goes on vacation, I don’t make money.
Worst of all, training alone doesn’t keep the weight off. That’s because human behavior is all about what we do when no one’s looking. A client will train hard in front of you, but then will have some unhealthy habits. You need to fix those if you want any lasting results.
Nutrition
The days of feeling like nutrition and nutrition coaching are beyond the scope of what we do are over. Nutrition is an essential component to keeping your clients on the weight loss track.
Instead of sending them to GNC or wherever to spend their money, find what nutritional products align with your beliefs and offer them. You don’t need to keep stock handy, everything can be done online.
Bad eating habits can cancel out whatever gains you’re making in your sessions, but make sure your clients are eating the right products that you provide. No body transformation is possible without it. Just remember to keep it simple.
Accountability
In your life, you need support. Supportive friends, spouses, and co-workers are essential to healthy living and happiness.
It’s because of that same idea that you need to have accountability programs in place to help clients keep the weight off. Remember that the struggle against weight gain is largely in the mind. By creating a supportive environment where people can check in, monitor, and learn about their progress, you’re significantly increasing the likelihood of success.
Everyone has a phone, so everyone can have these accountability programs ready at all times. You’re giving your clients the ability to work on themselves at home, work, or really anywhere.
These three parts of the trifecta deliver results as well as additional revenues to your business. Use them to make a difference in everyone's (including your) lives.
The Four Mountains to Scale for a Successful Fitness Business.
The latest guests on my podcast know exactly what it takes to build a successful gym. The name of their business should let you know just how serious they are: Million Dollar Gym.
Vince Gabriele and Paul Reddick are business partners, but they couldn’t be more different from one another. Their two-pronged attack on most problems has led to some interesting insights into how a gym business should be run and what to expect during the life cycle of the business.
They shared the four mountains that a successful fitness business owner should expect to climb. Let’s see if they ring true for you.
Survival
The name of the game is survival, am I right?
So the first, and most important, mountain to climb is survival. You can’t get to the other ones without conquering this one.
This is basically your startup mode, the mentality that every entrepreneur faces when they kick things off.
I don’t care if you’re putting together a super fancy gym or simply your own sessions on the beach. The mentality remains the same. You’re just trying to survive and because you’re at the beginning with limited resources and know-how, you’re doing everything all by yourself.
This is you going full-tilt, non-stop, make it or break it probably around the clock.
During this period, you’re doing everything so you’ll feel overwhelmed. This is normal and it quickly becomes a test of how badly do you want it.
The good news is that it doesn’t last forever. The bad news is that it lasts up to the first three years of the business. Push through this important part and good things await.
Stability
You get a breath a little easier at this point but only if you do it right. Mismanage this part and you’re right back to survival.
The key in this part is to delegate responsibilities to the right people. That begins with hiring and continues through to leadership. Here is where you design the right systems for the longevity of your business.
There’s long-term strategizing, marketing, and a whole host of other things that require your attention. You can’t be expected to change the toilet paper five years in. I know studio owners, who still do this to save on expenses- when in fact that’s what’s bankrupting them,
But that doesn’t mean that you should just delegate the work in your business to anybody.
Hire the right people and learn how to lead.
That team growth should be your focus on this particular mountain.
This is the heart and soul of your entrepreneurial life to live it!
Success
Your baby is off and running!
This is the biggest mountain because it’s the one that most people can’t achieve.
You’ve got the systems in place that keep you running efficiently and smoothly.
You’ve got the right managers in place that handle every catastrophe that comes your way.
Your marketing is tight and conveys exactly the messaging that you want.
With such a tremendous emotional payoff, what’s keeping fit pros from getting to the success mountain?
Well for one thing, most fit pros don’t understand what it takes to get to this point. It’s all about systems. That’s so key, it’s worth mentioning again. It’s all about systems.
Significance
Building a business is great in itself, but building something that can sustain itself without your involvement is an achievement that few people experience.
When this happens, your business takes on a greater significance. You are free to explore new worlds or start new businesses.
You’re able to create more things that carry the same energy, message, and ethos of what you’ve created. Being here is proof that what you’ve done is truly special.
These aren’t small mountains. They require your dedicated attention and endless energy. Many people don’t experience all of them, but know that you know they’re there, they are easier to climb.
My thanks for Vince and Paul for stopping by and sharing their insights. Check out the whole podcast for more info and subscribe so that you don’t miss any future guests!
Vito LaFata interviews Jill Tomich who is an Award-Winning entrepreneur that is helping fitpros strengthen their business at Fitness Marketing Foundry.
To earn your dream income in the fitness industry, you’ll need to change a big part of how you think of yourself.
Everyone’s a trainer and a technician. You need to also think of yourself as the CEO of your own business.
That mentality is easy to develop when you follow these three steps.
Dream Big
We all have dreams. But few of us dream big.
You can tell that people don’t do this because so often I see trainers that are content with just being on the floor. You can’t make any real headway working like this and you certainly won’t achieve your dream income.
Dreaming big means envisioning the life you want to live. It doesn’t have to be big time diamonds and mansions (although if that’s your thing, go for it). But whatever it means to you, have an idea in your head.
Big dreams means big work from you. Those big dreams are possible. Just look at me.
Set a Target
Do you leave your house without having a destination? Of course not. So why not have a target if it’s your life we’re talking about?
Hope is not a strategy to have. To achieve your dreams, you need concrete numbers.
That’s right, plural. It’s numbers I’m saying because we’ll be looking at different programs to get to that number.
What this does is diversify things. Now if the market falters, for whatever reason, you can just increase the numbers in another area of your business.
Scale and Automate
We are in a unique time in our history. Now businesses aren’t limited to the foot traffic that the surrounding area brings. With the internet, we now have a marketplace with billions of customers.
And the fitness industry is no different.
So scale up your programs and anticipate the limitless potential of the internet. Make sure you articulate your programs in easy bite-size pieces for your customers.
Whether you are marketing through email, apps, or Facebook, you’ll quickly discover the benefits of letting technology doing the heavy lifting. Now you can be anywhere (including asleep in your bed) and still make that money.
You’re no longer dreaming. The dream is the reality.
The final step in my Value Ladder series deals with taking the concepts behind the previous steps and applying them to working with groups of fellow trainers.
When we look at top dollar income, it’s all about reaching the most number of people. All of the steps leading up to this have explained how to do that very thing.
Feeder programs, automation, scaling, nutrition programs, online coaching, and specialty programs are all about getting the message out there. More people means more income naturally.
These last two parts of the final step show you how these principles can be applied to the Value Ladder itself. Instead of focusing on a specific program or info product, we turn the Ladder itself into the message and reach even more people exponentially worldwide.
MASTERMINDS AND INFO PRODUCTS
My message all along has been to broaden your scope. The internet allows us to take our programs and training to every corner of the globe.
There is a value in this lesson and now here’s your chance to turn the message itself into a money-making opportunity. Because you’re unlocking their potential to make top dollar and reach millions, this message has a huge value.
The key is to notice how a trainer is doing their program and help them scale and automate it.
Packages can include creating different levels of the same program. With only a few people a month, you can create six-figures for trainers.
Show them how and make money from that.
LEGACY BUILDERS
Some of the most hungry and ambitious people I’ve ever met are fitness professionals. But because they’re locked into that limiting modality of thinking, they can’t see what their services are truly worth.
My Legacy Builders program helps these people become independent by creating a business where the revenue streams support one another. They prop each other up and deflect any turmoil that the market may bring.
It’s the concept in finance that people call diversification. It doesn’t matter what happens to one thing because there’s safety in numbers. And showing this to fit pros can save their lives, families and businesses.
I’ve taken many people from the price they were charging to unimaginable heights.
Remember way back when when you barely got by and depended wholly on one-on-one training? Those days are gone and you’re heading for success!
It’s how I did it and you can, too!
The final step in my Value Ladder series deals with taking the concepts behind the previous steps and applying them to working with groups of fellow trainers.
When we look at top dollar income, it’s all about reaching the most number of people. All of the steps leading up to this have explained how to do that very thing.
Get the full article and the worksheet for this episode: http://vitobiz.com/MakeYourFitnessBusinessUnstoppable
Feeder programs, automation, scaling, nutrition programs, online coaching, and specialty programs are all about getting the message out there. More people means more income naturally.
These last two parts of the final step show you how these principles can be applied to the Value Ladder itself. Instead of focusing on a specific program or info product, we turn the Ladder itself into the message and reach even more people exponentially worldwide.
MASTERMINDS AND INFO PRODUCTS
My message all along has been to broaden your scope. The internet allows us to take our programs and training to every corner of the globe.
There is a value in this lesson and now here’s your chance to turn the message itself into a money-making opportunity. Because you’re unlocking their potential to make top dollar and reach millions, this message has a huge value.
The key is to notice how a trainer is doing their program and help them scale and automate it.
Packages can include creating different levels of the same program. With only a few people a month, you can create six-figures for trainers.
Show them how and make money from that.
LEGACY BUILDERS
Some of the most hungry and ambitious people I’ve ever met are fitness professionals. But because they’re locked into that limiting modality of thinking, they can’t see what their services are truly worth.
My Legacy Builders program helps these people become independent by creating a business where the revenue streams support one another. They prop each other up and deflect any turmoil that the market may bring.
It’s the concept in finance that people call diversification. It doesn’t matter what happens to one thing because there’s safety in numbers. And showing this to fit pros can save their lives, families and businesses.
I’ve taken many people from the price they were charging to unimaginable heights.
Remember way back when when you barely got by and depended wholly on one-on-one training? Those days are gone and you’re heading for success!
It’s how I did it and you can, too!
Adding value to your services on the way to earning a top dollar income means coming to grips with the fact that your clients are on the go.
In order to stand out and provide value to them, especially when you’re not there to guide them, means adding programs that respond directly to what they need.
Get the worksheet for this episode: http://vitolafata.com/h_valueladder-step1
Here are some more ways to lose the old mentality of trading hours for dollars and get on the path to making what you deserve.
NUTRITION PROGRAMS
Fitness professionals can diagnose and prescribe anything to our clients. But what we can is help them manage their relationships to food.
Anything that has to do with behavior is fair game. And as you get to know your members, you’ll see what there habits are and what needs adjusting.
Do your research and find the products that align with your philosophy. Integrate those products into your programs and the right results will follow.
Oh, and if you’re one of these trainers that doesn’t do nutrition coaching because you think it’s not your thing, then you’re letting money walk out the door. Is losing money your thing, then?
ONLINE COACHING
You can’t expect your clients to be in the gym, on the floor, by your side, all the time. You don’t want that either (remember, working hourly is limiting!).
So create programs that your clients can utilize on their own time. This can include Facebook groups, videos on YouTube or any other program that you can think of.
Once you set it up, you don’t have to keep doing it. You just collect money with each new member that uses it.
The future is technology. Embrace it!
SPECIALTY PROGRAMS
You’ve a ton of knowledge swimming around in your brain and an infinite number of ways to use it with specialty programs.
These are programs you set up to help the various demographic groups that form your customer base.
Runners, new moms, anyone trying to lose weight after the holidays…these can all be groups that you tailor your programs towards.
They create a feeling of exclusivity and underscore the fact that you’re constantly providing ever-evolving value to your customers. The results they get will keep them hungry for more and that’s great news for your business!
Step Two of the Value Ladder that I’ve developed to help you earn top dollar is where you keep your customers moving along the programs that are going to transform their lives.
The traditional models of training don’t work if you want to build wealth. One-on-one sessions are inherently limited. Shaking off these old ways is essential if you want to live the Fitnesspreneur life.
Follow these steps if stability is what you truly want.
Help the Transformation
Your ability to make money is directly linked to your ability to articulate to your customers how transformative your programs are.
With so many types of fitness services, you’ll need to speak specifically to what your clients’ needs are.
Everyone wants to be better. Be clear about your ability to get them there.
Have a young athlete? Point out how you can help them land scholarships. A mom just gave birth? You are the one to help her lose the pregnancy weight and strengthen the specific muscles she’ll need.
Your ability to convey specific solutions is key.
30, Not 60
Cutting a session down to thirty minutes takes away two excuses: time and cost. That’s a great deal any way you slice it.
A hour is long time to go without making much money. Cut the amount of time you’re working in half, reduce the price, and increase how many people you train.
So let’s say you used to earn $250 in one hour with one client. Cut that down to 30 minutes, charge $50 and make it a group class. Now six clients nets you $300 in half an hour. Do the other thirty minutes, and you’ve got $600!
By switching over to a 30 minute group class, you’ll be able to not only develop a pool of dedicated customers that know the value that you’re bringing into their lives. But you’ll also be able to break them off into feeder programs that target the help they need.
Feed the Feeders
Once you’re communicating with your clients just how valuable you are, it’s time to retain them by continuing to provide value in their lives. Think of how you can further break off the clients from your sessions into groups whose members have the same needs.
Have three programs ready and articulate how these programs will take them exactly to where they need to be. Again, paint that picture for them of a life with increased productivity at work or without neck pain. The richer the detail, the more they are likely to buy.
And then provide that value. You’ve developed a great relationship that will only get better as your clients’ lives do.
How can you make top dollars as a fitness professional? You’ll need to stop tying your future to two popular, but limited factors, and get on board with the only one you can control.
GET FREE TRAINING AND WORKSHEET ON HOW TO MAKE TOP DOLLARS AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL HERE!
Time
Did I miss something? Did someone add more hours to the day? No?
Then why are so many trainers still doing one on one sessions and then wondering why they don’t get anywhere.
Forget that there’s only twenty-four hours in a day. You’re not even working all twenty-four. But what happens if you get sick? Or maybe your client goes on vacation. There’s a million things that will stop your income cold when you rely on hours for a paycheck.
That’s not smart.
Price
Your fees have ceilings. I don’t care how good you are, you are only going to make so much money.
More training, more specialties, doesn’t matter. You’ll top off at $200 or $300. Then what?
Forget what you think other people make per hour. That is no way to build wealth.
Value
Your best hope is to develop what I call a value ladder. This is a sequential series of programs that your clients can hop on and off they go.
I learned this principle from a mentor of mine. He was charging $100,000 for a sales letter. One letter!
But people paid this because of the life-long benefits that the letter provided. They spent $100K but had the potential to reap millions from it.
You’re no different. Instead of seeing your client as someone who comes in for sessions, think of them as a bunch of problems that need solving. Link the solutions that you provide to larger benefits for them.
You’re basically there to help bring about a better version of themselves. You can’t put a value or price on that!
So get programs ready that will address the most common problems and have more programs to follow-up with.
That first step onto the value ladder is the most important one you and your customers will ever take.
There are three stages to the Fitnesspreneur Life and where you choose to reside within those levels will determine the how far you’ll succeed in the fitness industry. Choose your future from these three stages.
Stage One: The classic trainer technician
This is where we all start. We work with clients and do our sessions or classes. Maybe you’re really good at running sessions.
But let’s be honest, how much can you make doing this? There’s only one of you and a mere twenty-four hours in a day. Worst of all, you’ll top out at how much you can make hourly.
Do you really want to be at the mercy of your clients’ lifestyles and schedules?
If you insist on just being a trainer, make sure that you’re not wholly dependent on your physical presence. Package your sessions as mobile programs, either on an app or on social media like Facebook or Instagram. Also add nutrition training and programs.
Stage Two: Classic Studio Owner
Want to own your own business? It feels great, but stop and look at the whole picture.
Being THE boss is exhausting. It’s risky and adds a huge amount of stress to your life. Believe me.
I’ve seen lots of people go underwater and suffer greatly from crushing debt.
To do well at this, you have to love marketing and business. Word of mouth isn’t enough. You have to generate new people walking through your doors.
MLM is a great way to offset the costs. Bring aboard trusted trainers who can sell your services and you’ll create a supportive ecosystem of people who truly want to move beyond the traditional model.
Stage Three: The Fitnesspreneur
I love being in this stage. To me a Fitnesspreneur is someone who’s looking at the potential of what’s out there. We incorporate technology and find new ways of doing business.
Information flows in every direction. We put together comprehensive programming and integrate into our apps.
And the best part? You let the programs work for you. It doesn’t matter where you are, the revenue streams practically operate themselves. So I have time to travel and be with my loved ones. Is there anything better than that?
What stage do you want to be at?
In this podcast Vito La Fata and Brent Gallagher are discussing the 30 Minutes Business Model that will help you that will help you double the clients in half the time. Brent Gallagher is coaching high performing leaders & challenging fit businesses to come to blows with the status quo by redefining what’s possible.
Does your fitness business feel stuck?
Is your mind constantly thinking: “Where is my next sale coming from?”
Getting new bodies in the door will grow your fitness business but it requires a large chunk of dollars. And you need to sell more than one thing.
You want to do it in a non-salesy, cheesy way, right?
Welcome to The Stacking Revenue Model.
The Stacking Revenue Model is a systematic way of progressing your clients through their unique problems, needs and ambitions using a suite of your products and programs to deliver a measurable, tangible result or transformation that also builds your business profit.
Stacking Revenue may sound complicated at first, but it’s super simple when you start breaking it down.
If you know my TPS Framework, this is easy for you.
If not, go back and read the TPS Framework, but as a light introduction let’s look at some steps and examples.
1. Define Your Tribe. (T)
When choosing a tribe the more specific, the better.
Here’s an example: the college kid that’s going off to college for the first time.
The Tribe- male freshman college kid (T)
Once you have your tribe, you need to know their first problem.
2. Define their first problem. (P1)
Remember you are in the business of solving problems.
As a college freshman he has a problem- he’s never shopped before. He doesn’t even know what to do in a grocery store because his mom always shopped for him.
His problem- no idea how to shop a grocery store. (P1)
3. Create the first solution. (S1)
The solution is teaching him how to shop in a grocery store.
This guide might be a PDF, a report, a first video series or webinar. There are many different ways you can package it.
But, you come up with: 'The Freshman Shopping 101' guide. (S1)
You set it up as a lead magnet to get him on your list.
With that shopping guide he just went and shopped at the store.
Problem solved.
He’s now got cupboards full of food.
4. Define next problem. (P2)
With all that new food, problem number two just opened up- he doesn’t know basic cooking. (P2)
Guess who can teach him? You!
5. Create Solution #2. (S2)
“The Freshman Cooking Course: How to Not Starve Yourself and Still Feel Good.”
That program becomes your next paid program in your business.
That solves the second problem.
6. Repeat the PS Framework as far as you like.
Once you get into this frame of mind for growing your business, you can keep looking at problems and solutions framework as far out as you want and keep building programs based off clients' needs.
Keep It Simple
As you build your programs, don't overwhelm your clients with too much information in each program.
Give them just enough to solve each problem then you present the next thing.
That is how you continue to deliver results and grow your business with a suite of offers!
The Power of Bridge Marketing
Are you marketing your Fitness Business correctly?
How do you know what to actually say to your clients to get them to make the decision to buy? In order to motivate your clients and prospective clients to open up their wallet, you need to communicate what your programs can really do for them.
Bridge Marketing is taking your clients and prospects from their unhappy 'before state' to an extremely happy 'after state'.
Determine the Outcomes that You Want for Yourself
Whether is an email, a flyer, a program or a script; you need to be strategic about what you want to accomplish with each piece of marketing.
Think about what needs to go into it and don't just hope that throwing a whole bunch of information together is going to work. You need to think about specific outcomes you want for your business. Determine the outcomes you desire so you don't write your entire sales process on every piece of marketing material.
Identify the Outcomes that You Want for Your Prospect or Your Customer
Do you understand what your customer wants?
For your Fitness Business to succeed, you need to be able to articulate the value of the programs that you have to offer. You need to articulate that value in a way that motivates the customer to take action.
There are four categories that you need to focus on where you can demonstrate your value.
1. What does this person have?
Your program is going to appeal to your customers if you can paint the picture of what they'll have once they're done with your program.
2. What do they feel?
You have to understand the emotional states of your customers.
3. What is their average day like?
People want their average day to be better than it is.
4. What is their Status?
This is the most powerful piece of marketing. People want to know that their status has been elevated.
The trick with these four categories is to always look at them through the lens of your customers. What is their current 'before state' and their desired 'after state.'
When you put a combination of these four categories together, you are creating the most value and you’re getting good at articulating what your program can do for people beyond just features.
This is Bridge Marketing.
With this strategy, you can sit down and start to intelligently map out what you want to say. You can determine how you want to speak to your customers so you're not hitting them with too much information all at once. And you'll start motivating people to take action on your programs.
Online Content Principles
Have you ever wondered why your blog doesn't have any comments or shares?
Or why your Twitter account doesn't have any followers? What about your email marketing? Are you getting responses? Is your website getting the hits you want it to?
What are you going to do when no one is accessing your content?
Have you ever sat down and thought about the principles that go into the content that you put out there? You want people to engage with your content. You want them to feel like it hits a chord and means something to them.
The bottom line is that without engaging content, you are never going to be able to turn around and make courses, products and programs that will sell.
There's a sequence to moving people to making a buying decision.
When sitting down to create your content, there are a couple of things you need to understand as principles.
The Three Pillars of Content
1 – You Need to Educate
You need to educate people about whatever your niche or specialty is.
When you create PDFs, reports, videos and blog series; these are your opportunities to start moving people along their journey of understanding and knowledge. What you have to teach should be relevant to their struggles, frustrations, ambitions and aspirations.
Educate your tribe about how you can take them from their present state to a future self they're craving.
2 – It's Time to Automate
Automation will save you time when creating your content. Do the work once and then automate the distribution of the content.
Do you have an email management system that allows you to automate your emails? Do you have a digital newsletter platform with a template where you can cut and paste content? Do you have a website that is easy to update?
Automation of content will free up your time for more important tasks like focusing on the marketing and sales tools that will lead to sales.
3 – It's Time to Commit
You’ve got to strap in and set aside the time to learn what it takes to be successful online.
You’ve got to decide not to dabble and to make a commitment because there's a learning curve you have to work your way through.
Do this, and you can set up your fitness business to run on autopilot and give you the lifestyle you've always wanted, the fitnesspreneur's life. You can launch your income and make a difference but you've got to commit to learning the tools that you need.
The time to get started is now.
What are the online tools that you need to get your online fitness business rocking and rolling?
Nowadays, it's not as complicated as you might think to get email marketing up, to get a website set up, to get a newsletter going, or to get a blog on social media. With the technology available today, there are a lot of templates available so it's very easy to get these things up and running.
To set up your world stage, you'll need to set up your Five Media Platforms. From these platforms you can start the process of getting your content distribution out to the online world. This is how you'll set up your authority in the fitness business and position yourself in the market.
Blogs
There are a lot of services out there that you can use, but what's most important is how you present your content.
You know your tribe. You know who you are trying to talk to and serve. Start creating content and articles that are based around that tribe and don’t try talking to everybody out there. You have to focus in to your niche, your tribe because otherwise nobody will hear you.
Newsletter
It's important to vary the content of your newsletter so it’s not just boring technical stuff.
Just like with your blogs, the most important thing inside your email newsletter is to Educate, Entertain, and Empower. You can include stuff about travel, high performance, marketing, leadership, communication and even little puzzles.
Social Media
Pretty much anybody can set up a Facebook, Instagram and Twitter account.
Ensure that you're creating business pages in Facebook and your other social media. Compared to your website, setting these up is free to do and the only expenses you'll have will be to drive traffic to them with ads and content. Remember to focus on creating, branding and establishing your tribe.
Websites and Opt-ins
These can be more costly and can be a little bit more of a pain. They can range from a couple grand into the tens of thousands of dollars. Unless you really know how to go in and create those yourself, it’s better to go with the template version.
AOL, Yahoo and Gmail are great for personal use but not for your business
You'll want to utilize a professional service when building your business email servers so you can automate your email management systems. You'll want to create auto-responders as you start to build email sequences. So once someone opts in to your content, the funnel of communication they receive is on autopilot.
So go out there and make a difference in the online world. Six billion people are waiting for your message.
It's time to take your fitness business online.
But before you can dig into the question of 'How' you're going to do that, you need to understand a more important question first. 'Why?' If you own a brick-and-mortar studio, you're competing with all the other gyms in a 3 to 5 mile radius for the same people in your community as potential clients.
Right now there are 3 billion people online.
The current estimates are that an additional 3 billion more people are coming online in the next five years. Do you want to be marketing to 6 billion people over the next five years or do you want to always be competing within your 3 to 5 mile radius?
It's easy to feel overwhelmed when transitioning to an online fitness business but once you understand the necessary principles and fundamentals of going online it makes it a lot easier. So it's important that you understand why it is critical to have your business online.
1 - The number 1 reason to be online is to build a list.
Your list is your collection of emails and addresses for your current and potential clients.
Think of your list like an ATM machine, an insurance policy. If your business burned down but you still have your list, you can rebuild that business within a certain amount of time. You want to grow that list so you can make money on the backend of that list.
2 - Going online is about spreading your message.
You have a message that you want to communicate to clients, to prospects, and to the world about the differences you can make in their lives. And if no one knows your message, you're not as successful as you could be.
3 - Going online is about Making Money
To start making big dollars and start making a big impact you have to stop the one to one selling, marketing, and communication. In the online world, you can stop the one to one selling and go to the one to many.
Going online takes your voice and amplifies it so you can go out and make a bigger difference.
So 'Why' are you going online?
You are going out there so you can actually solve people's problems and frustrations. You are there to help them move closer to their wants and desires. And today, with a camera and a few tools, you can set up multiple platforms to build your own stage so you can reach those people.
If making a bigger impact and making more money appeals to you, stay tuned when we tackle the Big Five Platforms you need to succeed online.
As a fitness professional in the industry, you want to go out there and serve your clients. You want to help people get fit and healthy. You want to help them live an extraordinary life.
For you to be able to do that, your fitness business needs to thrive.
There are a lot of challenges on the road to success in the fitness industry. One of the biggest problems that trainers and fitness professionals experience in the business is the feeling that 'nobody knows you.'
If no one knows about you, then people aren't going to come to you to help them on their journey into fitness and into leading a healthy lifestyle.
If you are going to go out there and get people to invest in you and sign up for your programs and fitness business, you’ve got to be ahead of the game with your marketing and how you are designing out your programs. It's getting tougher out there.
The competition is getting fiercer. People are getting smarter. If you are not keeping up with the times and digging into the marketing side of the fitness industry, you are going to see others passing you by. It's going to be frustrating to you and it will limit your business.
Don’t be one of those people who just sit there and ignore their marketing just hating it because they don't want to feel 'salesy' because most trainers only last 3 to 5 years and make no more than 42,000 dollars.
Before you even go out there and build any sort of a business or suite of products, you've got to know who you are talking to, who your tribe is. You need to find and speak to your specific tribe that you want to serve in a way that makes them jump at the chance to work with you. The best way to do that is; to solve their problems. You need to give them the solution that they are after.
Don't make it a complicated thing.
You're starting here with an unhappy, sad-faced person. This is their before state and you have to understand it completely. Who are they? What's going on in their life? What problems are they having?
And then there's this gap to the other side, where they want to be.
Over there, you have a happy person with a big smile on their face and they're feeling good about life. They feel accomplished. They've reached some goals. This is the after state they're heading towards.
Your business is creating the bridge to overcome the gap.
When you can be this bridge, your business wins. When you are solving people’s problems, they will flock to your door. Your name will start to be known because you found the solutions to people's problems.
Digging Into Your Clients Problems.
By now you understand how important it is to fall in love with the marketing side of your fitness business. Only by deepening your understanding of how to reach your clients can your business grow and be profitable and sustainable so that you have the means to serve your clients.
Marketing to your tribe.
You need to know who it is you want to serve. You need to narrow your focus and speak to a specific group of people instead of trying to talk to every potential client out there. If you're trying to reach everyone, you'll be heard by no one.
And you'll be stuck being the small fish in a big pond.
But instead you can start carving out the exact tribe you want to serve. That way, you can become a big fish in a little pond. And once you start to serve the people who you truly care about, the real fun begins because day in and day out, you'll be helping those people you enjoy serving to reach their goals.
Understanding the Problem
To really know your tribe, you need to know their problems.
You might argue that in the end all of your clients want the same thing. They want to be more physically fit and healthy. In the end, that's the service you're providing. Shouldn't selling the solution be enough to bring in the clients? The problem is that's not where your client starts.
When it comes to the desire to improve one's physical fitness, your client is starting with their problem.
Sure, your client has known all along in the back of their head that they need to be healthier, that they need to exercise more, and that they need to improve their nutrition. But that's not where they start. They start from the problem.
They only decide to find a solution in order to move away from their problem.
People want pleasure. They want to be healthy and have a body that's physically fit. But the thing that is going to motivate them is the pain. When someone has back pain, their first desire is to end that pain. That's what's going to get them into the gym to start making the positive changes that will improve their health. And alleviate the back pain.
The problem is the key to understanding your tribe.
Your marketing will reflect their needs and instead of trying to sell to them, they'll come running to you.
Dig into their problems, develop solutions, increase income and start living the Fitnesspreneur’s Life.
Building Your Tribe
Everybody is trying to talk to everyone.
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot before the race has begun. From a business and marketing perspective, this is a lazy approach that won't provide a useful answer. Do you have an unlimited budget to go out there and market to everyone?
If you try to compete with everyone, you're in a race to the bottom.
And at the bottom there's nothing unique about what you're trying to offer. You don't have a specialty because you haven't created one, and you'll have no chance to rise up as an expert in any area or niche. You are swallowed. Gone. Lost in the big sea of everybody else.
Discover Your Tribe
Discover what your tribe is so you can lead, corral and herd people to it and show them how to live the lives they want.
It's not about creating more products or services. Instead, it's about bringing people together around a mission or a movement. A purpose. Who are the people you are going to bring into this tribe? What do you want this niche to look like.
Because once you create the tribe, you are positioned to take the lead as their chief.
So who is your tribe? Who do you want to motivate? Who do you want to elevate? Think about it. Maybe you like working with mothers. Great. But you need to be more specific. Pregnant moms? Moms with infants? Stay at home moms? Executive moms?
The more specific you can be in identifying your tribe, the more specific you can be in addressing and solving their problems.
If you can't identify their problems, you can't identify the solutions. And you won't know what programs to create that will speak to your tribe.
Less is More
You might be thinking to yourself, 'I have ideas for 5 different tribes right now!' No. This is the mentality that will slip you right back in to being a little fish in a big pond. How many tribes do you think you can serve? At one point are you spreading yourself and your messages too thin?
Focus on serving one, maybe two tribes, at the most.
You need to commit the next couple of years to understanding your tribe. With one or two tribes, you can dig in and penetrate the market. By keeping your focus consistent over time and making your message clear and specific, you won't have to sell yourself because you'll already have made a name for yourself.
Your new clients, will search you out.
Start living the Fitnesspreneur’s Life!
Marketing is really as simple as 1,2,3 - The Trifecta of Marketing.
The Trifecta of Marketing is really going to help you go from a frustrated business owner to one who is in the know. It will help you get outside out of the textbook definition that's in all the school books.
It's time to put on the overalls and gloves and get into the trenches of what marketing really is. It's getting your message, the right message, to the right people with the right media. And doing it efficiently, effectively and profitably.
Marketing works but it’s all about knowing good marketing from bad marketing.
So let’s dig in to what the Trifecta of Marketing really is.
1 - Your Market
Your market is the “who.” Who are you trying to talk to? Who do you want to work with? This is more about understanding your ideal client so you don't have to take just anyone and everyone.
It's time to understand that you can work with exactly who you want to work with and start building a business around those people.
It comes down to you identifying that ideal client. There is a big difference between the needs of just athletes and football athletes. There's a big difference between the needs of baseball athletes and soccer athletes. The more unique you can tailor your client base the better.
2 – Your Message
The second M in Trifecta is Message.
What are you trying to say? What's the message that your going to work into everything that you market? There are trainers who have taken the stance that cardio is the devil. Other trainers may decide to focus on motivating pregnant mothers to start focusing on their exercise and nutrition plan throughout the duration of their pregnancy instead of waiting until after their baby is born.
You need to start focusing on your message and what you want to get out there.
3 – The Media
Once you know who you are going to talk to, your market, and what you're going to say; you will start to understand the third M of the Trifecta, Media.
Media relates to the “how” and the “where” and it's how you are going to get the message out there.
You can get the message out via email, social media, ad or affiliates. Then you need to figure out the where. Is this going to be in a newsletter, a TV spot, a radio ad, email, social media? Some things have crossed over that but it’s still all about the how and the where.
Why do most fitness businesses fail?
If you own your own fitness business or are considering starting one, this is a question that you need to consider. Because when you look at the statistics of how many studio owners and small fitness businesses are actually making it, the numbers don't look good.
In fact, only about 50% of all new businesses are still open at the 5 year mark.
You need to ask yourself this question. What is the fundamental reason why your fitness business exists? Is it to make you money? Is it because you've always wanted to be a business owner and now you'll be able to cross that off your bucket list? Or it it because you want to help your clients?
If you don't understand the fundamental reason why your business exists, it will fail. For a fitness business to succeed, it needs to exist to be of service to others.
What do you want? A Business or a Hobby?
A lot of people are unaware that instead of running a business, they're more interested in running a hobby.
The biggest mistake you can make is to become a business owner when that’s actually not what you want to be.
If you understand what you truly want now, you can make the decision for your future of whether you should stay a hobbyist and work for other people or go forward and begin your own business. And it's fine if you don't want to be a business owner. Our industry needs people who love being the technician and are helping clients on the floor.
Avoid the reason most fitness businesses fail.
If you prefer to remain a hobbyist and you can determine that for yourself now, you'll save yourself a lot of heart-ache and money.
If you're starting to fall in love with the complexity of being a business owner. If you're excited when challenged to figure out the business and the marketing aspects of your business to meet the needs of your customers and turn a profit, then you've come to the right place.
It's time to change the trend of fitness businesses lasting only three to five years.
It's time to become one of the best businesses in the industry. If you want that to be your business, let me know. Check out my blog and newsletter because I have a ton of stuff available and more in the pipeline. Let's get after it!
Trina has 3 core values that has changed her business & life. Personal Development, Sharing her story and having them both resonated in all different points in your career.
Hey there! It’s Vito here and today I’d like to address the hate that services like ClassPass and Groupon are generating.
To hear some people tell it, these marketing services are the death of our industry. No way!
Our failure to evolve and not understand marketing poses a way bigger threat to us than marketing services.
That's all these services are: lead generator. They bring people through the front door that normally wouldn't have come in. What you need are solid strategies to turn those low margin packages into big margin sales!
Sales is the name of the game. I know some of you are cringing at this.
But you can’t help people if you can’t sell them a service. If you want to survive or, better yet, thrive in this day and age, you better fall in love with the sales process.
Here are four strategies to combat and, in some cases, use these services to grow your fitness business
Strategy #1: Have multiple streams and offers
If you only have one of something, you are setting yourself up for failure. So build other revenue streams.
By creating other revenue streams, you increase the value of each member that walks through your door. And ClassPass might be a good way to get them to you. Once they’re hooked, you can tap into higher margin services.
Whether you use something like ClassPass to bring people in to your business or not, diversify if you want to stay alive.
Strategy #2: Be willing to acquire clients at loss or break even…at first
It doesn't matter that people use Groupons or whatever. That's not where your profits lie.
Get them through the door and then offer them personalized programs and services on the backend. That's where the high margins are anyway.
Get them through the door. No people, no sales. It’s that simple. A service like ClassPass can get you those people.
Strategy #3: Develop a Stacking Revenue Model
Stacking Revenue is the business practice of anticipating your customers' needs and having a wealth of products to offer them.
You need all of those solutions in place before they walk through the door. Once they come in because of ClassPass or attendance in a class of yours, address their specific needs each and every time. You bring people in through the low margin front end offer (like ClassPass) and into your higher margin backend offers.
Strategy #4: Create Specialty Programs
Specialty programs are programs designed to speak to a specific audience about a specific problem and deliver a specific solution.
These programs speak to a specific person who is looking for a specific solution. That's something that ClassPass can never offer.