Fitnesspreneur's Life

Client retention. Zzzzzzz   Sexy? No. Necessary? Absolutely.    In this episode of the Fitnesspreneur’s Life podcast, Alex Armstrong and I hopped on the mic to jam on proven strategies to boost member retention.   I know what you’re thinking: I want new leads, V.    Listen, leads are important, but retention is the freakin’ lifeblood of your business.   No, it’s not sexy, new, or cutting-edge. But the ridiculously simple nuggets shared below can exponentially increase your retention. Imagine the impact that will have on your bottom line.   Do yourself a favor. Jump over and listen to this month’s podcast to stop losing members (and money) and start maximizing your member retention…and profit!   Cheers,   V

In this episode The FitnessPreneurs's Life Show I had Nicole Spencer, creator of the Authentic Conversions.   Now check this out. What is authentic conversions about?   It's about how to build powerful connections so you grow organically, get more referrals, retain more clients and dramatically increase your revenue with integrity and authenticity.   Who doesn't want that?   Below is the transcript of the whole episode so if you’re like me, you like skimming along with a pen or highlighter so you can underline the key pieces you need.   But, just in case you’re one of those give me the Cliff Notes version I got a quick hit list of…   How to Create Authentic Conversions That Lead to More Money By Simply Having More Authentic Conversations.   Here they are, you ready?   What are authentic conversations when it comes to your business, content, emails, posting, etc.   Being vulnerable and transparent and not trying to portray this image of perfection. Fully disclosing the things that are hardest to share for yourself. Not doing what everyone else is doing also because everyone is sharing fitness advice and tips and everyone is sharing nutrition stuff. Being controversial and calling out things Being clear on the things that you stand for and against. Being polarizing and not being afraid of upsetting people. Not giving a crap about negative feedback and things like that. Actually looking to say I am for some people and I am not for other people and that's okay. Saying what's on your heart and mind so you can attract the people that you want.   So many people avoid this because they are afraid of repel marketing. Repel marketing is where you create a distinct message and voice that keeps the people you don’t want out, and draws the people you do want in.   You don’t need everyone to build a lucrative income, you just need the right people.   You're goal in business it too always keep finding your right people so that you can build a tribe and be at the center of that and then serve that audience well.   If you do that you will grow a business you love. With people you love. With a bank account you love.   Now enjoy the podcast and dig into it!

Want a quick insider’s fast track to getting online faster? I had Matt Walrath, from BeyondMacros.com on the Fitnesspreneur’s Life Show.   Matt went from busy CrossFit trainer to owner of BeyondMacros by using 4 smart steps that took him from offline to online. Listen in on how he did it in this month’s episode.  

Australian legend Jono Petrohilos, the man behind Fitness Education Online and host of the Bootcamp Blueprint, recently joined me from Down Under to reveal exactly how he’s built a revenue-generating empire through Facebook Groups. The fitness superstar has developed a handful of secret strategies and tactics that have thousands hooked on his Groups... but there’s more. He’s mastered the seemingly impossible process of nurturing these Group members into loyal, paying subscribers … and he even unveiled the step-by-step process he uses to do this. If you think Facebook Groups aren’t what they once were, you’re wrong. Jono’s doing it and he’s doing it big. Strap in for his modern tactics and strategies to turn Facebook Groups into cold, hard cash...

Guides, Google, coaching, and courses will only get you so far. If you want an online business that delivers on your dreams, there are 5 secret traits you must have to push through plateaus and unlock elite levels of success in the age of the entrepreneur.

Are you getting less than what you deserve because you’re struggling to figure out the make more money game?   I see so many people living on the edge of their finances, always in the paycheck grind, the end of month is there enough money madness.   Why the heck aren’t they just learning how to make more money. I know I wasn’t taught this in school. There was no make money courses I could register for. Church never taught me. My parents did the best they can. My bosses didn’t care to share their secrets.   I figured it out by studying others.   It’s why I get fired up to share 3 simple ways you can go earn more in this month’s Fitnesspreneur’s Life podcast so you can…   ...change your financial situation and live with confidence each month ...banish money fears, ...create e a safe and secure home for your family.

Wondering if you need a website for your online business? The truth might surprise you. Find out what you actually need before you invest thousands into a brand new website.

Would you like to see more money in your pocket? What about a business that has more raving fans and people getting the results you promise?   Yes, right?   Well, then sit back and enjoy this month’s podcast with my guest Scott Rawcliffe, because it all started with a conversation, a little too much wine (is there such a thing?), and some winery experiences that turned into 9 money-making lessons for you.

Recently I had PopSugar Host, Anna Renderer on my podcast, and we talked about how she made her transition from in-house personal trainer and studio manager to host of a show online and built her own brand with time freedom.   Check it out, she shares a few smart tips on how to get started transitioning your business online.   Like many of us, Anna started out trading dollars for hours. And she made many mistakes on her way to building an online business.   She created some DVD programs hoping to make some extra money on the side. And ended up with a garage full of DVD’s.   Then thanks to YouTube videos she became the host for PopSugar.   And as much as you think that was the dream, it wasn’t.   It’s when she built her own online brand, that her whole life changed.   Listen in.

Don’t change your programs, instead, change your marketing. Did your face just frowned? Bare with me! What if you could avoid that salesy kind of marketing and make it more user friendly? Would you love doing it? Friendly marketing starts with the understanding that marketing is really about nurturing a relationship and adding value over time. Here’s a marketing truth that Dave White, my guest on this episode of Fitnesspreneur’s Life Show shared with me:   “The most dangerous myth that you can have, or the most dangerous belief that you can have about marketing is that people are ready to buy from you right now.”

Here’s a quick tip to grow your business and be more of the Go To Authority in your niche: Make a list of the problems your audience is struggling with and go create content for that with a call to action to a landing page where you can capture the lead. Marketing hasn’t changed.   We just have more tools.   We have new ways of getting in front of our audience.   Your job is to focus on the content the leads people to know, like and trust you enough to buy! Then go optimize how it gets out to the world and get seen.

On this week’s episode of the Fitnesspreneur’s Life Show,  Anthony Trucks, former NFL athlete, and creator of Trust Your Hustle. 

We both have backgrounds of feeling different and misunderstood in our hustle.  

TRUST IT. 
TRUST YOUR HUSTLE. 

Anthony stops by, and we talk about: 
- Anthony’s story and how he got where he is today (you’d be surprised and shocked how he has made it) - What it means to Trust Your Hustle - and so much more.  

Travis Barnes spent 10 years locked up, has paid his dues and in the 5 years since he’s been out of jail, he has built a soon to be franchised fitness business, called Journey 333. Currently an owner of FIVE studios Travis has a few insights into what it takes to scale your business fast, with heart and profit in place. Most people can’t build one business let alone five in 5 years, so whether you want to go that big or not, these lessons below can be applied to the next level of your business because if Travis can overcome the 10 year jumpstart most people had on him, you can too. Travis was meant to be in the fitness industry. By age 12 he began his first training job in Vegas. But as so often in life, especially in a city like Sin City, along the way Travis made some bad choices that lead him to a decade of incarceration.  Yes, a decade.   That didn’t stop him, it focused him. TUNE IN FOR MORE on his positive, uplifting story and how you can scale your message and business TODAY! 

I saw my dad for the last time July 4th. He died on Nov. 7th, 2017. I was reflecting all the top lessons my dad taught me growing up that I still live and utilize as life’s rules and principles that dictate the choices and decisions I make. I’ve used these principles to live what I hope will be remembered as a good life. I hope they can help serve you in your pursuit of a well lived life. 1. Always Work With An Immigrants Work Ethic. 2. Do Your Best Work No Matter What It Is. 3. Take care of your family. 4. Take care of and give to your guests. 5. Love the simple things. 6. To honor our heritage. 7. Sacrifice for what you believe in. 8. Sense of Humor. 9. Patience and Tolerance. Check out the full episode to get the full lessons and my one regret.  Love you, Dad.  

Fit pros and business owners. This applies to you. Would you ever build a fitness program for a newbie without, in some way or other without teaching and including: The Squat. The Push-Up. The Crunch. No. You teach those fundamentals as the basics of exercise science. You teach those moves as the principle foundations that all future complex movements are based on. www.clearvisionplanner.com  It would be considered bad training if you didn’t impart these “best bang for your buck”exercise moves, right? You invested a lot of time, money, pride, ego, discipline, belief, and teaching to be the best at what you do as a trainer or fitness coach. Yet, the moment you decided to become a business owner, did you start investing time, money, experience, brainpower to learning the fundamentals and basic principles of business. I know I didn’t when I opened my studio and that critical mistake cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars, near bankruptcy, and a few girlfriends along the way. When I made that first leap to a business owner, I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t have the knowledge I have now. I know you hear a lot of advice, there are tons of resources for you, especially from the many mentors you have to choose from. I want to give you the no fluff, right to the point, fundamentals of building a successful fitness business, or what I like to call, The 7 Fundamentals For Fitness Business Mastery. Get in there to see what fundamentals you need to excel your business.  Then check back here to see what we are talking about over at www.clearvisionplanner.com

What’s the most successful diet? Is it Paleo? Ketogenic? Portion Fix? Mediterranean? Atkins? Grapefruit? Hot Dog? LOL...just checking to see if you’re paying attention. One of my students told me there is a REAL diet out there based around the Hot Dog Diet. We all need to read this article to prevent more of that going on in the world. In all seriousness, crap like grapefruit diets, miracle pills, and one size fits all solutions are assailing the consumer, your clients, all the time. People are so desperate for something to help them, that they will almost believe anything anyone says that promises the quick fix to their problems… especially their trainer. This is why, more than ever, you need to be a trusted resource people can turn to for help and guidance. You better know your stuff. Being up on, and having the know how to talk about sound nutrition practices and behavior change for your clients is a must today in the industry. That said, what’s the most successful diet you should recommend? I’ll give you a hint- the answer isn’t above, or is it? I recently had Chris Mohr, a leading dietician in America, on The Fitnesspreneur’s Life Show Podcast and he shared that the data shows that the most successful diet is the one that people stick with, plain and simple. Here are 5 quick takeaways from this article: 1. Become a trusted long-term solution person instead of a short-term fixer. 2. Run a business that's based upon trust and education. 3. Educate yourself on nutrition so you can have intelligent, meaningful conversations with your clients. 4. Establish a business and health practices based on good science. 5. Stay within your scope and know how to refer out, and build everything on good habits and behaviors that we can teach society. Check out the FULL article here: http://vitobiz.com/KetoDietInsights. You won't want to miss it. It is a much needed debate we to keep on going. -V

Are you struggling to stay committed to an intention that you set?   You are not alone. We've all done it.    The pain is this- we know if we pursue this goal it’s got the opportunity to better our lives.    We know it’s got the ability to help us move forward, and yet, we allow ourselves to get derailed. And then we blame ourselves.   Here are seven hacks to help you finish what you start.   1) Celebrate your commitment.    Right here, by reading this, YOU are taking the first step.    Don’t worry about that you didn’t do anything yet, just for a moment celebrate the fact that you’ve made a commitment.   2) Get clarity of the ambitions, principles, and philosophies that you will stand for.   When we can make our actions matter to something bigger than ourselves plus our external wants we add ‘sticking power’ to our ambitions, as in you will STICK to what you set out to do.   That kind of burning desire is a gateway to having the focus to finish what you start.    3) Create White Space In Your Day   You’ve got so much busy work going on that you don’t have enough of life’s work going on.    That’s why I want you to get clarity on those ambitions and those principles and those philosophies and what you want to stand for in life, because then you’re going to make space for it.    4) Play the long game.    Quick wins are important for confidence for sure and they help to keep the energy going, but you have to understand the principle of life that says whatever you’re pursuing, whatever that interest is that matters, whatever that commitment is, whatever that thing that you want to do out there is, even if it’s just your health or to make more money, you’ve got to play the long game.    5) Get more fascinated.   A lot of people are just not fascinated with the right things that they need for the skill they’re trying to obtain.    What are you going to get fascinated with so that you’re willingly going to go deep in the study, deep in the practice of, so that you can move forward?   6) Be more deliberate and be resilient.    In order for you to achieve what you want to do, you need to put yourself into more deliberate practice and process.    Get your mindset into practice, back to why I want you fascinated, why I want you playing the long game, why I want you knowing what your ambitions and aspirations are.    7) Accept control and responsibility.    When we don’t take responsibility, we feel that the control is not in our hands, yet, if we understand the fundamental principle and law of nature of life that we can take responsibility and if we do then we are in control of our efforts and our results.    If we’re in control of our efforts and results, we take responsibility for what we get.    I’m not saying it’s going to happen fast.  I’m not going to say it’s going to happen perfectly.    But, I’m saying, with these seven things, you can go out and finish what you start and if you finish more of what you start you could just end up being part of changing the world.   Peace.    - V  

Are you sick of running a business by the norm?   Do you want different as in WAY more, but are just stuck?   On my latest podcast, I sat down with Pat Rigsby, author, fitness biz coach, and creator of, “Build Your Ideal Business.”  He shared some killer strategies that I can’t wait to share with you!   Get out your pen today- we’re going to be journaling. Let’s dig in on how to start OWNING YOUR LIFE instead of letting LIFE OWN YOU.   STEP 1: BRAIN DUMP   Take some time to brain dump the following: - What do I want my business to be like?  - Who do I want to work with?  - What kind of role do I want to play in the business?  - What kind of role do I not want to play in the business?  - What kind of income do I need to generate to meet both my needs today, but then security needs down line?  - What do I want to be spending the bulk of my time doing? - What kind of schedule do I want to work?   STEP 2: VISUALIZE WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE TO YOU   Answer this: - I’ll be successful when _______________________. - What am I willing to do to get there? - What am I NOT willing to do to get there?   Now, lets think. Does what you do right now get you to those things? If not, it’s time to find a different approach to get to your desired destination.    If not, change it fast.   STEP 3: LEAD WITH PRINCIPLES   Get intentional about your roles in life and live by that. Let others know that’s how you live too.   Be SO clear on what you want your life to look like that the things you don’t want to matter won’t.   STEP 4: EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY   You are not in the “I host workouts” business, the “kettlebell” business, or the “deadlift” business. You’re in the “Hey, I helped somebody become the best version of themselves” business.   Who do you want to be?    I choose visionary every time.   STOP being in the business of hosting classes and START being in the business of VALUE.   STEP 5: GET FASCINATED WITH SALES AND MARKETING   Sales and marketing aren’t going anywhere.. kind of like the internet. You own a business- start doing it right.   At the end of the day, nothing happens until you make a sale. You can’t help anybody and if you are unwilling to get good at that stuff, then this isn’t a career, this isn’t a business, this is a hobby.    STEP 6: MARKET WITH VALUE   See the world from your tribe’s eyes. Step into their shoes and start painting a picture.    Deliver a great experience and make sure that every day more people try your experience.   Create your life and your business.  Go out there and keep thinking about how you can imagine and reinvent and do the things that are going to push you and your dream and your vision forward.    You can create anything you want so that we can go out there and illuminate the lives of the people that are looking for us to help serve them.    If you like this and want to hear more, head over to my   And don’t forget to go give my man, Pat Rigsby some love over at PatRigsby.com.   See you next time. - V  

Are you getting caught up and stuck in the objection that people say you are too expensive?   I hear you!   I came from the fitness industry myself and used to hear that all the time.     People didn’t want to pay so they didn’t make the commitment and I lost out on the business. Or they paid small, so I struggled with making enough profit to keep the business growing.    Here are three ways to get yourself out of the too expensive rut and to start making more money:   1) REFRAME YOUR MIND   First, you have to reframe your mind.  If you think you are expensive, you are.  You’re limited scarcity mindset about money will be as transparent as a pane of glass.  People will see right through your feelings.  They will think you are expensive because YOU think you are expensive.   2) STOP SELLING PROGRAMS, START SELLING RESULTS.   Go out there and recognize that you can't be trying to market or sell your programs and products by features.   "Ah, it comes with training sessions and a membership and classes and a PDF and guides and blah-blah and recipe books.”  Blah blah blah- NOBODY CARES! Those are commodities out there. What a person is shopping for is the transformation; the result, the value, the meaning, the solution to a problem.  What pain can you take away?   Break out of the commodity market and step into the value delivery market.    3) Change the Perspective of the Conversation.   Instead of worrying about other’s thinking you are too expensive, start having a new conversation and challenge them to think about things differently. Create a new comparison in their minds.    “Let’s talk about doctors- that's expensive.” “Let's talk about your meds- that's expensive.” “Let's talk about the gym memberships you don't use- that's expensive.” "Let's talk about those late night infomercials that you bought the Shake Weight, the Thigh-Master and the Gazelle from that simply didn’t work and how those ideas are now sitting in your house not doing anything for you- that’s expensive." “Promises, false hope, gimmicks, and fads- that's expensive.”   Help them understand that you are giving them the process, the principles, the ability to play the long game, along with the community, mentorship, and accountability to finish strong every day.    Do your research, understand these conversations, figure out how to make this happen in your marketing, newsletters, emails and videos so that you are always putting this conversation in front of your audience and challenging them to say, "We can all do better."   Get out there and get after it! - V  

Are you stuck when it comes to Facebook and running your business?   Does the social media world have you pissed off at the market, lost, or feeling like you’ll never be able to reach anyone? Make more sales for your business?   People often come to me with questions about Facebook: - What do I market? - How do I market? - How can I gain more leads? - Should I be doing videos? - Does my image matter? - Should I run ads?   Even worse… ”How do I get my product out there?” And I ask them, “How strong is your presence online?” “Are you creating content that leads to sales?” Crickets.    That’s why I called on my main man, Scott Rawcliffe, when he was in town.    The man KNOWS his shit when it comes to social media.    I asked Scott how to best help you all run your business through Facebook and he gave me a few pieces of advice to share with you.    TIP 1: Be Different   You don’t want to be playing the price game with everyone else. Offer them something better and you will be ahead of the rest.   TIP 2: The Image is Important     You need to capture people’s attention with your images so don’t make them boring.    Hop into my Social Media Content Generator to see how you can get entertaining, engaging, empowering, and educational social media out there.     TIP 3: Have a Plan Don’t just put out an ad and expect people to come. Did you give them any value beforehand?   Stop giving up after the first no. You are at least a few more ‘nos’ away from a ‘yes’. Research shows that most people stop at the 3rd no. Just creating a system to go for the 4th No, will lead more sales and grow your business.     TIP #4: Video is Your Friend   Your best friend to be EXACT. You better be sleeping with video more than your wife. Alright. Extreme. But you get the point, right?    TIP #5: Don’t Over Complicate Video   You can do your testimonials, quick tidbits like who you are, a short piece of adding value, or a small tip that you have.   TIP #6: Add Value   If you are looking to run a business through Facebook, start giving value.   TIP #7: Be Patient   If you’re running your ads and you can get people in and you break even zero dollars, you’re running great ads.   Your offer is continuity. Your offer is typically a membership, so you might not make it month one, but by month two, you’re starting to now make the money and if you can keep them six months, a year, whatever it is, that’s where your real money is, not that first time just to get them in.   TIP #8: Follow Through   If there’s no follow up, there’s no sale and no retention. Personalize, get specific, get in their heads and seek to understand above all things.   MAKE THIS YOUR #1 TO-DO IN YOUR BIZ.    Need more help on social media? I’ve got your back!   We have our Social Media Content Generator! Click here to grab your copy.   Go after it, market, and get your name out there FPL nation.   Until next time… - V

Do you have a bad taste in your mouth about network marketing companies?    Still think it's all about getting your friends and family to sign up?   Just like not all businesses are created equally, neither are network marketing companies.    It's time to change your mindset and see that thanks to online marketing and social media you can build a network marketing business without a single friend or family member.    I’m gonna show you four steps on how to go out there and choose the right network marketing company for you that’s going to align with who you are, be congruent with your values, and help you get started on the right way.    Number One – BELIEF IN THE PRODUCT   If you believe in the products that that company is out there bringing to the market, you’re gonna have element #1 in place to make the right choice for you.    Number Two – BELIEF IN COMPANY    Don't just blindly accept the parent company of the MLM, that's a recipe for potentially buying into a fly-by-night company.   And that's a recipe for blaming MLMs for letting you down.   Instead, do your research to check out the company that’s behind the products.    Number Three – BELIEF IN TEAM   Take the time when somebody’s inviting you into a network marketing business and you checked out the product, you checked out the company, now you’re gonna ask yourself, “Hey, what do I know about you, upline person, that’s gonna mentor me, take me under their wings and bring me in. What do I know about you? What have you been doing in the world? How do you stand in your values? How much do you believe in these products and in this company? What kind of systems do you have? What kind of trainings? What kind of support do you have?”    Lastly--- BELIEF IN SELF.    You gotta have belief in yourself. If you don't believe in your ability to change or move into a new field of interest, to evolve into a new style of work, to get out of your own way, then network marketing isn’t for you.  That’s a simple little checklist system for you to go out there and choose the right network marketing company for you and go out there and know that you’re gonna have the ability to crush it and be successful with it. Any time you want, you just use that checklist.      For now, this is Vito La fata with the Fitnesspreneur’s Life. Peace.   

Does your tribe know your story?    Heck, do you even know what your story is?   In this weeks Fitnesspreneur's Life Show, you're going to learn 3 ways to improve your story and improve your business.   Mark Fisher, owner of Mark Fisher Fitness and the leader of the Ridiculous Humans (his gym members) was so intriguing to me at NorCal Fitness Summit that I had to learn more about how he tells story to build an insane culture most people would never dare attempt.   Mark is well-read, insanely smart, and pretty frickin’ cool.    The latest guest on my podcast, Mark Fisher, teaches you how to create a ninja style culture and environment, how to get feedback, and how to best tell your story.   Feedback from Ninjas   Mark is crazy about constantly getting feedback from the ninjas (what he calls his tribe), about what is working and what is not working.    If you can develop a culture where your clients and your customers are constantly giving you feedback, you can continue to steer the ship and make sure you’re honoring both of those.    1) AUTOMATED EMAILS When someone joins, set up an automated series of emails they get over the first two months. This is a new opportunity to on-board your clients into your brand, welcome them to valuable information, make them feel special and indoctrinate them into your culture.   2) THE EIGHT WEEK CHECK UP Eight weeks into their new agreement, send them an email with the subject line, “QQ -- Quick Question.”   In that email, use the net promoters score (look it up), it's a simple system of evaluating the happiness quotient and likelihood that your members will refer, to see how you are doing.   Follow up with everyone, but change what you say depending on the score.  If they aren’t happy, see what you can do to make it right and really build some value so that they don’t go running to that sale down the road.   3) TELLING YOUR STORY   All marketing, fundamentally, is a story.   It’s important to know your own story.    Where were you before fitness? What was your journey like that you chose fitness as a way of life? What was the turning point in your story? .  Sometimes, we lose perspective and use where we are as motivation for others, but our members don’t always see it that way. Instead, they feel intimidated, like they can never workout with you, and that you are going to judge them.    Keep on your mission to help go change this world one person at a time so that we can create a world that leads by example and not by opinion.   Don’t stop getting after it.    You’re the visionaries that are going to change this world.    V  

Do you have massive amounts of great content, but your bank account isn't growing because of it?   The point of putting out quality content is so that you can create enough authority and credibility that it positions you as an expert that people would be willing to buy from you.    If your content isn't helping you build authority or position you as an expert, it's not effective, because your people will head to Mr.Googs and social media engines for better content.        How do you create content that builds authority?      1. Start with knowing who your specific audience and intended niche are.   If you aren’t making sales, people don’t know that they should come to you, and sometimes that’s not because you haven’t established authority, but maybe because you haven’t established the right authority.   2. Know where to place content so it converts.   Your content converts better when you put it in front of the right people.   That's why knowing specifically who you want to target is so key. Once you got that nailed down, you can make better strategic decisions of where to place your content so it has a higher chance of converting to leads or sales.   3. Create relevant content.    People are busy. They want useful and helpful content if they're going to carve out any time in their hectic days to read or view your stuff.   They want relevant and specific content to their needs.   4. Ready, Fire, Aim   One of my mentors, Todd Durkin, taught me a skill a long time ago to overcome perfectionism -- Ready, Fire, Aim.     Don’t harp over perfection; just get it out, because there’s nothing better in the market than feedback so you can course correct.     5. Speak Their Language.   If you speak absolutely no French and walk into a dinner party where everyone speaks French, chances are that you will feel uncomfortable.  The same goes for your content.  Don’t speak French if they speak English.     People won’t care what degree you have if you don’t solve their problems.  Speak their language and they will choose you every time.     6. Target their Mindset.   I know that a lot of fitpros lose interest when I talk about helping their clients with mindset, but let’s be real, if your people are not getting the results they want, there’s a big chance that you aren’t tackling their mindset.       7. Create a Call To Action.   If your content is actually going to make you money, you have to lead people to an offer.    Are you creating a call to action for your people?    Now is the time for you to step up and create a higher quality of content that will pull you out of the herd, and get you rising above others.      I believe everybody in the fitness industry deserves a 6-figure plus lifestyle to go live with freedom and to have the ability to give back, and add value the way they want in the world and frickin’ enjoy it in a short life.   Get out there, create content, and earn those 5 freedoms. -V

The future’s coming faster than you think. And those of us in this industry that are stuck with some old ways of thinking are bound to get left behind.    I’m amazed at all the people I encounter who don’t want to evolve their business. They’re like the people who kept buying CDs when the iPods came out. Move with the times!    1) Geography Doesn’t Matter    The internet has made borders a non-issue. You can do business now with anyone around the world at any time.    But some people still think that doing online courses, for example, isn’t “real” training. They must like working more hours for less money.    But relying on brick and mortar revenue is no way to make money. Too many factors can mess you up.    Stick to the future and go online. The world, and its money, will open up to you. Geography just doesn’t matter anymore.    2) Leave the Sea of Sameness    Take a look around. Everyone has a gym. Everyone has a boot camp. With so much of the same old same old being offered, isn’t it time to leave that sea of sameness?    Having too much of the same thing means you’ll have to drop the only thing that will keep you competitive: price. That’s a race to the bottom. No thanks.    See, we’re not providers to the general market. Being different is what will make you real money.    Niche markets is where it’s at. Niche used to be a bad word. But the fact is, niche doesn’t eliminate potential customers, it attracts the right customers.    Get out of that sea of sameness and offer the programs you want. Get out now.    3) Give some value in advance    Building trust and authority at first is a big part of big sales down the line. And the best and simplest way is to make content.    Don’t know how? Use your phone. There’s a camera in there. Pick a topic and talk for a while about it. Presto, instant content!    But how to decide what to offer your niche market?    Put yourself in their shoes and solve a problem.    What are their wants? What do they need? What’s not out there already?    There’s tons of stuff you can be doing. Creating content like this is a way to let your tribe know that you’ve about and value them. That simple act of providing value to them will build a bridge to income you won’t believe.    Forget about brick and mortar stores. That’s the past. The future and your tribes are all online.    The future is all about getting control of your business. Meet it head-on.

5 Steps to Easily Create Replicatable Systems for Your Business   If you are trading dollars for hours, struggling without systems in your business, and constantly finding yourself sucked into repeated tasks that drain your energy, this is for you!   If you feel that you have no freedom, you MUST read this article.     Even better, read it and then go listen to my podcast where I interview Alicia Streger, founder of Fitpro Essentials, because we break down 5 steps on how to create system for your business to get you more personal time and more money flowing through your business.    When Alicia Streger stopped by my podcast, she shared how she ruthlessly cuts anything from her life that isn’t advancing her business.    It’s all about growing, right? Well you can’t grow if your day is filled with tasks that slow you down!    Here are three great ways she manages her business:    1. Five Step System Automation      Alicia farms outs the parts of her business that don’t require her full attention. These include menial tasks like administration and billing.    How does she determine what’s important? These five steps help.    Her first step is to "Identify Your Client Experience"    Like any good traveller, Alicia sees her goal and works backwards. She creates the experience that she wants her client or prospect to have.     Her next step is to “Write Everything Down”.    Alicia makes a checklist of things she'll need to build out that experience. Alicia writes this stuff down so she can visualize it clearly.      Step three is “Eliminate Unnecessary Things”.    She viciously slices away anything that doesn’t support her ideal client experience.    That mundane busy work can eat up your time and bandwidth fast!      Step Four is to “Delegate and Automate"    Can someone else do it? Alicia looks for ways to make it happen.    She’s the CEO, she doesn’t need to deal with every little detail. Her job is big picture stuff and strategy! That’s your job, too.    Don’t put obstacles in the way and clutter your CEO experience.     And finally, step five is “Tweak and Refine”.    This is a system. And part of the system is re-assessing if the system itself is working.    Your process is going to require tweaks and adjustments constantly. It’s your absolute duty to do this. And do it again. And do it again...     2. Five Percent Genius    We can only fit so much stuff in our minds. And there are just 24 hours in the day. So why do so many of us waste time with menial tasks that can be farmed out?    Alicia points to the five percent of work that you MUST focus on because, as CEO, only you can do it.    Don’t waste time doing things that lie beyond what you’re trying to accomplish.   Know how to prioritize.       3. Four Checklists    I thought my to-do list was thorough! Alicia’s got four!    First, there’s the “Today” list.    This list should have three things you need to get done today. These are things that move your business forward.    The next list is the “This Week” list. Don’t put too many things on this list! You’re not allowed to have more than five or seven things to do on this list.    The third list is the “Month” list. Here you could maybe include a project that has several steps.    And the fourth list is the “Backburner” list. This is for stuff that is important but not necessarily urgent.    This kind of organization pays off so well over time. Your time is valuable! Manage it wisely!   The freedom lifestyle is waiting for you!

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” – Henry Ford   What type of people do you think are making the big bucks today?  Who are the visionaries?  Who are the people living the freedom lifestyle?     It’s the Henry Fords of the world- people that are willing to think outside the box and take a risk.     My latest guest on The Fitnesspreneur’s Life Show podcast, Craig Parravano AKA the Knee Pain Guru, found a problem, actually he fell into a problem in his own life, and he solved it.  Not only that, the problem turned into a 6 figure online business that he can run from anywhere in the world.   Now that’s what I call a Henry Ford, and that’s what I call the freedom lifestyle!     Bill’s brand name is why I approached him.  The name is so precise, speaks exactly to what he does, and focuses on a specialty niche.  Does yours?  If not, it might be time for a change.     It’s always enlightening to encounter someone who knows his shit.  So many people shun the idea of having to market themselves or their businesses.  Bill jumps right in.    No one wants to build a business because of 4 knee dislocations, but, often the best brands and systems are built out of our own journeys and need to fix a problem.      After tearing his ACL and going through therapy, Bill saw a gap between his therapy was and where he wanted to be.    Now, while Bill wasn’t looking for a business opportunity, he found one because he realized that what he was looking for wasn’t readily available to the average Joe. He would need to create it!   In order for Bill to progress physically and do what he wanted to do, he needed to go beyond the structural therapies. Bill saw the need for something and he acted on it.    Here are three valuable lessons direct from The Knee Pain Guru that you can use in your business. Let the personal attention that Bill has developed over eight years be a guide to your future success!   1. Make connections   Bill doesn’t wait for something to come to him, and instead he looks for connections.  He is looking for threads that connect worlds, like fascia does to our tissues.      2. Package your message   Bill saw that not only was this a fertile market to capture, but that the problem wasn’t being discussed in a way that was easily accessible.   Having that first-person experience with knee surgery and its recovery gave Bill the tools to craft his message because he had a personal story and a journey.    He packaged his message in a way that showed he understood his niche market.    3. Be the authority.     By the time a potential client gets to Bill, they've been through a series of automated content, questionnaires, videos, and processes to warm them up and prepare them to know why Bill is the knee pain guru. He backs his content, educates at every step of the funnel, and delivers more value than his competition does in a multiple live sessions.    All of this matters because greater value means greater fees.  Greater fees equate to greater profits- right?   When you listen in to the podcast, pay attention to what he's actually selling.  He has three tiers to his product- all similar, all offer value, and all solve his niche’s problem.    The markets are out there. There are a million difficulties that people live with every single day. Your expertise and experience can help alleviate those problems. I always say that we are health care providers today, and more than that, we are thought leaders who can change this world!       Keep living that Fitnesspreneur’s Life!   Get after it!   - V  

From the person who cut you off in traffic to the person you come home to at night, we affect one another.    So why wouldn’t you want to put the best people in your life?    That’s people freedom and here’s how to achieve it.    1 - Understand The Power of People Freedom    For many people, it’s actually not a choice. A lot of people are stuck (and unhappy) with the people in their lives.    Worse, they think this is the way it has to be. Nope.    You can have people freedom. You deserve it, because life is short.    That’s the power of people freedom.        2 - Decide You Want It    Deciding is the concrete step that puts you on the path to success.    Once you decide that people freedom is indeed worth your peace of mind, then your whole outlook changes.    There’s the life you have now, with the people imposed upon you by life and work and other things that don’t care about you. And then there’s the life that awaits you, surrounded by people that you put there.    And the turning point, is deciding.        3 - Change Your Environment    Environmental psychology is the study of how our environments affect our moods and ability to think!    Changing your environment is a great way to gain people freedom.    In your new environment, you’ll meet new people that can help you unlock your full potential.    Each environment (whether its work, the beach or some social club) brings a certain type of person to it. So find out what those people can be to you by changing your environment.      4 - Seek a new opportunity    It’s time to seek a new opportunity. Only you can know what that looks like.    Take your workplace. As an employee, you’re at the mercy of whoever is doing the hiring. They pick the team. They pick the players. Sometimes they even pick exactly who is sitting next to you.    That’s too much to leave to chance. Be your own boss. Seek new opportunities.    Find the people you were meant to have in your life.      5 - Be With Others    If you do find yourself in a situation where you’re surrounded by people that you know aren’t doing you any good, resist the temptation to retreat. Instead, be with others.    That instinct to socialize isn’t what’s wrong. It’s the sacrificing our own joy that’s the problem. When you put other people ahead of your feelings, you’re bound to be let down.    So instead of disengaging, move forward. Be with others in new situations to find the right people that align with your values.    Be with others to learn about yourself and your boundaries. Where are the areas of your life that you’ve become complacent? How can others inspire you to break through?

    I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this fear of sales, lack of marketing know how, and poor business skills is killing us.    We don’t have enough people in the industry hungry, and I mean hungry as though they are salivating to learn how to think and be CEO’s.   We need more CEOs.    CEOs have vision and vision is what’s going to be needed to change this world right now.      I’ve put together four huge shifts on thinking like a CEO. Do these and you’re going to be an unstoppable force to be reckoned with.    1) Embrace Sales   You can’t do your job if you’re not honest about what you’re doing.    Like it or not, sales is the name of the game. Our economy would stop without it. To think otherwise, is to deny the nature of success. The most influential people are all selling.    Start thinking like a CEO and train your brain to love and master the sales process, and you will come out on top in ANY industry.   As Grant Cardone says, “Sell or be sold- only options you got.”      2) Let go of the MLM hang-ups.      The mindset of the winner is that of a CEO.   A CEO goes in and studies the model, works the systems, develops a team, mentors their team, believes and knows their product, get outs and sells it!    I’ve seen more lives turned around in the fitness industry by the people who bolt MLMs onto their existing businesses than any other tool, outside the online visionary brand game. And then I would still coach them to have both an online brand and an MLM business working together.      3. Become the Marketer.    You need to become the MARKETER.   If you want to be a business owner, then you need to fall in love with the idea of marketing what your team does! Sure, go clock in 5-10 hours a week of being on the floor because it fills your cup- cool. But, the other 30-40 need to be you out there crafting and working on the story, the vision, the sales message, the marketing plan, the team. No marketing means no one knows about you. You’re the best-kept secret that went broke like millions of others who didn’t shift their education and time to studying marketing.      4) Build and Know Your Automated Systems    The biggest block to your income potential is you.   You need to have marketing systems for how you share your message, develop your content, grow your tribe, build your courses, and more.   You have to have productivity systems for how you get more done with less time, like working only on projects that you can do and outsourcing the rest.   CEOs don’t have the chance to mess up. It all rides on them. They are the leaders. They inspire. They kick it off and keep the engine going. You need to think like that.   Get past any hang-ups you have. Your competition isn’t sitting around thinking about if sales or MLM is right for them. They aren’t debating- “Should I set up systems or market?” They are doing it. If you hesitate for a minute in today’s fast markets, you’re done.    So don’t let your brain drag behind. Don’t let it hold you back. Don’t cripple your success.   The more you embrace your love of sales, marketing, systems and let go of silly hang ups the greater effect you have in this world. Go out there and serve. Like a CEO.    

A lot of people avoid thinking about sales. It isn’t sexy.    But you know what’s really not sexy? Being broke. And the time you put into executing a sale directly impacts how much profit comes from it.   So sell, sell, sell!   Here are three great tips that Mike Arce, the CEO of Loud Runner, recently shared on my podcast. He loves the psychology of customers and makes selling a game! You can, too!     1) Match Offers to the Avatar   Understanding your avatar is the crucial first step. This involves not just knowing who they are, but what their needs will be.   I find this part to be tons of fun! In a way, you’re role playing and get to imagine people’s lives and what they require.   Know your avatar and then craft everything around that.   With platforms, the usual social media channels will probably work. I’m talking Facebook, Instagram and/or Pinterest. Make solid content, but target it for your avatar.   You won’t be making videos of huge muscly guys doing free weights if your avatar is working women who just had a baby. Think it through and match the offers and programs to your avatar.     2) Make Your Offer Appetizing   Mike mentioned the importance of control when working with clients. You are leading them, not the other way around.   Since you’re in control, you can control just how attractive your offer can be. To do that, you simply choose the right words and images.   Smart wording can include making something exclusive or popular. You can add a time constraint (“Act now before this offer expires!”) in order to activate the sale.   All of these things, and more, can be used to make your offer more appetizing to people. They are simple and quick ways to press the relationship further and funnel your customers along to the next steps.   3) Make every impression count   I see so many businesses that aren’t prepared for every possible interaction. That simply means that they didn’t plan ahead.   Every detail, especially since stuff now lives forever on the internet, can be looked over. You don’t want to give a client a reason to walk away.   So if you’re shooting videos, make sure the right stuff is in the shot. Don’t leave ugly things like trash-cans in the background. You don’t want people to think of trash when they think of your gym, studio or boot camp.   Pay attention and apply that level of attention whether people are looking at your website or walking through the door of your establishment. One mistake and that person can head right to the door and go elsewhere. Do you want that to happen? None of us do. Make every impression count.    Use these methods and embrace the psychology of selling. Read up on Mike and others like him who have thought of every situation.    Preparation is what will lead to success. And that preparation means less work down the line.   Are you prepared?

It seems like the moment you walk out the door you’re hit with a wall of negativity. The news, the traffic, people’s attitudes. Nothing seems good anymore.   And when you’re working hard at building a business, even the tiniest drop of negativity can pull you off your game and change the course of your day.   Don’t let it!   I’ve got a three step system that flips the script on the haters and naysayers of the world. Check it out!     STOP   When someone comes at you, your first instinct is usually to go right back at them. Resist this.   Don’t let your emotions get the best of you and put aside your gut reaction. I know, that’s easier said than done, right?   You have to see that someone’s negativity usually comes from a place of judgement. They’ve got this attitude that they’re looking to unload on someone.   Stop that train right in its tracks. You don’t need that negativity and going negative right back only makes the situation worse. Be your best self by getting back to a space of positivity.   Expect that someone, somewhere, is going to bring some b.s. into your life. Be prepared so when it arrives, you stop it in its tracks.     LOOK   It’s time to take a look so you can try to figure out exactly what’s going on. Once you stop, take a look at what’s really going on.   Okay. You have to chill and be the bigger person. You have to determine why this person is acting this way.   These negative encounters are a way to learn and guide the situation. Maybe the person needs help and doesn’t know how to ask for it.   Diffuse the situation and get to a place where this negativity can be the foundation for a deeply positive experience. If you stop and look, you’ll learn a lot.   LISTEN   Listen to what they think is driving their actions.   Maybe that person is having a bad day, maybe they got some bad news right before they saw you, or maybe just life happens.   It’s all about your focus. When you seek to understand first and really listen to what someone says, you can get a better chance to help them and yourself.   Get a read of their body language. Negative people hold their bodies in a weird way. They’re tense. They practically vibrate with the juice inside them.   I like to turn these people around by making jokes. I love making jokes and making fun of myself. You’ll discover your own way to turn negative people into lessons for how to deal with adversity in your own life.   Just like that, the negativity can become positive- and it can be all from you!

Storytelling is useful when you’re working on your brand.   What does your brand story say about you and who you serve?   Recently on The Fitnesspreneur's Life Show podcast I had Mike Murphy, co-creator of the Visionary Planning System and we talked about the path a good brand takes their audience on.    Here are some tips he shared.    Your Brand Won’t be Built in a Day (or week or month or year…)    Success is a marathon, not a sprint. So drink lots of water and get ready for at least a year and a half of work.    In order to stick in people’s minds and have them come back to you, you have to be rock solid and steady for a long period of time. How else can you gain credibility and trust?    All the great brands (Coke, Nike, Ferrari) gained credibility because the message was the same, everywhere on earth, over huge periods of time.    Settle in and get some comfortable shoes. You’ve got work to do.      Connect with your actual audience    Forget being everything for all people. If you’re generic in your approach, you’ll be missing out on the real people that need you and your brand.    Sometimes the people you think you’re supposed to help aren’t the ones you’re meant for. It’s like dating! You think you know what you want, but then you meet the real love of your life and BAM!    Understand who your actual audience is because you may be attracting the wrong kind of customer and, thus, creating the wrong kind of business for yourself.      Don’t Reinvent the Wheel    When making content, don’t hurt yourself. Do what’s already out there but do it better!    Find out what people are talking about. Find out what books they’re reading. Find the pages on Facebook that are similar to what you do. Then take those topics and make content about that.    If you get too out there and make stuff that doesn’t interest anyone, you’re wasting time and money.    We call this verifying your audience. You’re inserting yourself into the conversation and not starting some new thing that maybe no one wants to join you in.    Just find out what other similar brands and topics are doing and do that.   These few tips can save you a lot of time, money and frustration so you can carve out faster more effective path to your ideal audience.   For more info on getting in the Visionary Planning System, click here http://vitobiz.com/VP_SneakPeak  

The human being craves freedom. So why then are so many of us stuck with jobs that feel like a ball and chain?   It’s because we believe that time is money and that we should be rewarded for all the hours we work.   Work smarter, not harder. And find the right career that gives you these five essential freedoms.   1) Time Freedom   The clock itself is broken. It’s only got 24 hours in it.   If you don’t maximize those hours, you lose the potential for making money.   The stars have to align to get paid. You and the client have to be there together. Your schedule may not work. Their schedule sometimes goes out the window.   This is no way to live!   Find time freedom by working in something that you control, not the other way around.       2) Location Freedom   We are will still doing business like we did a hundred years ago?   It used to be that location mattered. Foot traffic determined how much income your business generated.   The problem of course is that now there’s a gym and studio everywhere! Parks are being overrun by boot camps!   Wanna stand out? Go global!    Free yourself from the shackles of geography. Let others fight for a finite amount of customers.   The world is your marketplace!     3) People Freedom   If you love your employees and co-workers, congrats. But a lot of times the people we work with can be a little uninspiring.    That’s because you don’t have the best of the best working alongside you. You have the people that can commute or that are doing this job because it’s convenient.    Don’t you want specialists who want to succeed as much as you do? What if they’re far away?   So what! You can now bring anyone from around the world to you in an instant when you automate your business.   You now have the freedom to work with the people you want, not just the people you have near you.     4) Financial Freedom   Does this sound like you? The modern person living in today’s world is living in a hamster wheel, always turning, going nowhere.   I’ve seen so many fit pros struggle with finances because they’re not making any serious money and they don’t know how to turn what they do into larger earnings.   Having absolutely no financial freedom can seem like being stuck. You’re go, go, going in that hamster wheel but getting nowhere.   Starting a business or striking out is hard work. And if you’re not savvy enough to stay afloat, you’ll become like the millions of fit pros who have gone underwater.   Don’t be a statistic. Find a way to get the financial freedom you and your family deserve.   5) Purpose Freedom   This one is as big as it gets. Simply put, what is the purpose of your life and does your business allow you to achieve it?   We all have a purpose. From big reasons to little reasons, you are meant to do something.   So why waste time doing something that doesn’t get you to that?   Isn’t life short enough?

“You can build a dream in just 15 minutes.” – Craig Ballantyne   The above quote is just one of the many nuggets that I took away from my latest interview with Craig Ballantyne, productivity guru, editor of Early to Rise and Fitnesspreneur, when he came on The Fitnesspreneur’s Life Show podcast and after reading his book, The Perfect Day Formula.   If you want to have the future you desire, you’ll make the time now.   Focus and productivity all start with the night before.   Craig teaches us how to deal with random and instead turn it into focus.   The system that Craig puts forth is a framework that can get anyone to work on their top priority project.    1 - Start the Night Before… and then Keep Going.   At the end of every workday, Craig does a brain dump.     He writes down everything that he needs to do the next day.     Then, he prioritizes his list so that he doesn’t spend the precious moments of the next day wasting time.     Then, he spends the first fifteen minutes of every day focused on his top priority- nothing else.     2 -  Control your Life. Set up Rules.     Little by little, you can set Rules of Life that encompass all the things you value.   You want more health?   Create rules of life that control your health like, “I won’t eat 3 hours before bed.”   You want more wealth?   Create a rule of life that says, “I will spend 15 minutes every morning working my top priority.”   Just taking the time to think about what you value most, and creating rules of life and you will find yourself gaining control of your choices.     3 – Push Past Your Comfort Zone.   Whether it’s physical work, like losing weight, or creating your brand, success all happens all in the mind.   It’s going to require you to move beyond your normal routine and find out what you’re made of.     You become more comfortable with being uncomfortable by developing your skills, getting a coach, and putting yourself in the environment of people who are willing to challenge you!      4 – Put Your Ego Aside.   Pushing that comfort zone means you need to be able to take criticism.    If you’re looking for non-stop praise and people to blow sunshine up your you-know-what, then you’re not looking to make a change.   Analyze what you’re doing, and be honest with yourself. It may not feel good, but it’s truly necessary.       5 – Be Descriptive in Your Life Plan.   Ambiguous goals get ambiguous results.   Whatever the goal is, be specific and clear.     Make sure you can smell it, feel it, and breathe it.  Then you are on the right path to making it a reality.   What you can control is your destination and the rewards that await you.      6- Live a Life by Design, Structure Creates Freedom.   We need more structure to have more freedom.   This is why we have rules, laws and agreements. They give us all the opportunity for a safe, happy life.   It’s the lack of structure with our days and our plans for success that have led us to missing the mark in our lives.  

When I was younger, I accepted the fact that as a trainer, I wasn't going to make any money and that I was stuck.  I accepted that working on the floor was going to be something that I'd live with for the rest of my life and that I was stuck cutting corners on my life in order to do a job that I loved.  As life happened to me, I realized that I needed to start taking ownership.  I needed to start creating a life instead of letting it happen, and so I did.    As a trainer, a million things can get in the way of you actually training your clients. If that happens and there’s a no show, there’s no dough.   So, I've decided to do something about it in my life.  You can too- or you can choose to stop here and live on the floor for the rest of your life.      Nutrition   Do you want to help your clients even when they’re not in the gym? Then help them establish healthy behaviors. The best way to do this is to make sure they’re buying their nutritional products and supplements from you.   You don’t need to physically carry these products. No inventory is needed. You simply provide an online store with links and let the automation handle the billing and shipments.   Online Coaching   Use the internet for online coaching and spend little to no money at all.   Everyone is doing it. Universities are even doing it. But for some reason, our industry is slow to catch on, so YOU need to pounce!   Put a series of videos up in a Facebook group and invite users who pay a monthly fee. Simple, right? So do it!   High-end coaching programs   Authority is important. When you become a subject matter expert, that is what people value and are willing to pay top dollar for.   Everyone is looking for new esoteric information. Everyone wants to dig deeper and go beyond what the everyday person gets.   So become an expert by getting published and getting your name out there. Once you’re an established presence, you’ll be able to command a higher price for your services.   Network Marketing   The boogeyman is here!   Nah, I’m playing. I swear that’s what some people think this is. I get it, people have been burned, but you don’t throw out the idea of small businesses because one small business was terrible, right?   Network marketing, for my money, is the best model there is. People just don’t know how to do it right.   It’s about building teams and building culture. You’ve got each other’s back because you’re all in this together. No one allows one person to falter because the shared goal is the most important thing.   Go in on network marketing and make big bucks.   Mobile Apps   By the year 2020, an estimated 5.3 BILLION people will have smartphones. Crazy, right?   You need to be ahead of the curve and provide some apps for those people on the go.   Look, the idea is to be there for your clients and being in their phone is like being next to them.   Apps are a great way to extend your sessions and compliment them. I give my clients fitness homework, checklists, and meditation reminders on my app. If there’s information you need them to have, you can put it in an app.   Being on the forefront of something like mobile apps impresses your clients. That means more referrals and more money.   You are the future of this industry, so use the technology to get us all to that next level!

Culture has become a big buzzword in many industries. And when my latest guest, Ashley, came by my podcast, she shared some incredible tips on created a positive (and lucrative) workplace culture.    Whether you’re a small staff just starting out or a whole floor of specialists, your business can find success by following these three important tips.   -----> GRAB FREE CHEAT SHEET: http://vitobiz.com/building-the-right-culture-in-your-business-cs    Find People That Care    You need people that care about being at work. Everyone knows when you’re phoning it in. Everyone can tell if you’re distracted or frustrated.    As Ashley mentions over and over again, leadership and intention begin with you. Your values are your business, so set the tone of how you want your employees to behave and speak.    People make choices based on how good they think they'll be taken care of. So make the values of your company specific to them. People want direction. People want to learn. Guide them.      Create a Killer Environment    Putting together a killer workplace environment that brings out the best in everyone should be a priority. The facility itself needs to be of a high quality.    An environment for better living needs to look and feel nice. Your employees will feed off the energy of your environment, and in turn will add to it. We can serve more clients by having a diverse philosophy of training within that facility. But it has to be right.    The environment that houses your community makes your trainers’ jobs that much easier. It creates a level of morale that’s clearly different. Imagine how much more they’ll want to market and spread the word for you if they know what a welcoming facility they have!    Have Programs The Reflect Your Business Principles    Your programs are the backbone of your income. They are the most essential part of your mission. You need to have ways to generate income that your employees will want to sell.    A quick way to think of this is, “Does this program excite me? Would I buy it?"    So if you're going to have nutrition programs, have the ones that people are going to want to do. Have products that you and your staff use!    And don’t think everything is set in stone once you open your doors. Talk to your employees and see what skills they bring to the table. See what they want to get going. Encourage them to use technology, apps and social media. Some of that stuff costs nothing! But the empowerment you give to your employees can't be measured!    

When I was a kid I remember going to the circus and being impressed by those tightrope walkers high above my head. Those dudes really took their lives into their own hands and that’s a powerful thing. It stays with me to this day.   I’m always encouraging my coaches to live like those guys, with their lives on the wire. Nothing brings your mission into sharper focus than realizing that one false move can throw your balance off and   You too can life like those tightrope walkers. All you need are these three things to live your authentic self on the wire.   Courage   We talk a lot about courage and think that only firefighters or soldiers have it.   Courage is doing something when it’s not easy or convenient. It’s all about putting yourself out there without getting too worried about the consequences.   Even the dangers we think are out there really aren’t. We get in our own way and courage is putting all that junk aside.   Courage is important because it inspires. It challenges you and those around you. Having courage is necessary if you’re going to step out onto the wire.   You have to be willing to put yourself out there. You can’t care what’s going to happen. Great things will happen if you have courage.     Conviction   Courage puts you on the wire, but conviction keeps you there.   Conviction is a willingness to stand for something more, like a set of principles that you would die for. It means not being satisfied and being driven by those principles in everything you do.   The people with the most conviction will fight tooth and nail for those principles. Is that you? It better be if you want to stay balanced on that wire.   You’d be surprised how many people watch your actions. Having conviction is not only important for you, but the people you’re inspiring. Have conviction and see how much easier being a leader becomes.     Commitment   When you walk the wire, you have to commit. Day in and day out, you have to be there. You can’t stop and go whenever you want.    We all know those people or clients who shortchange themselves and cheat on their workouts. They don’t get healthy and they let excuses drive them.   You can’t be that. You’re on the wire and if you falter, you fall.   You have the power to make your story an integral part of your business. Having commitment is an important aspect of that. Commitment is what keeps you moving on the wire toward success.

Being a fitness coach isn't as easy as you might expect. A lot of hard work goes unnoticed and since this industry is competitive like any other. Only the, best can reap the fruits of success. Mandy Ingber is an author of two books. She has been a fitness coach for twenty years, and during that time she has had the pleasure of working with film superstars such as Jennifer Aniston, Brooke Shields and Helen Hunt. What makes her approach so special is that she believes that you need to teach your students from your own experience and that speaking as your authentic self attracts people towards you.  GRAB YOUR FREE WORKSHEET: http://vitobiz.com/H_EmbraceSelf-LoveWithMandyIngber Turning vulnerability into a strength We all go through periods of self-doubt in which we battle low self-esteem and negative self-image. Mandy has dedicated her life to discovering ways to use these emotions as a fuel for exercise and a motivation to improve yourself. By sharing personal stories from her own life, she bonds with her students on a much deeper level than most fitness coaches out there. This makes her class more dynamic, while her students learn the most valuable lesson of all- to open up and use the energy from within to achieve the things they want in their lives. Her approach is rather unique because she addresses people with kindness when they are most fragile.  By doing so, she plants a seed of self-love in their hearts and minds. Mandy encourages her students to seek their true selves because that is one of the most important ingredients for success.     Yogalosophy   Mandy is currently on a book tour promoting her second book 'Yogalosophy for Inner Strength,' but this success didn't come overnight. Her first book Yogalosophy came out in 2013. She sees both of these best-selling books as a continuation of her growing popularity.  She made the first steps by starting her own website almost ten years prior to the publication of her first book. Mandy made it her calling to share her philosophy with the world.  Not only did she want to share with her students, but she decided that she wanted to share her ways with people that she could not reach in class. A DVD that she released got her one step closer to realizing her full potential of becoming a best-selling author.    Devote yourself to your goals   Ideas are cheap.  In fact, they are free. The best way to get things done is to create habits that will make you productive. If you dedicate two hours per day to take care of your body, you can dedicate the same amount of time to the goal you want to achieve.    Mandy wrote both of her books by devoting two hours a day to writing. After 5 and half months, she had a manuscript. If you really want to accomplish something, you will find time, regardless of the obstacles you are facing.  

Nothing will kill your sales faster than being generic. If you’re like everyone else, why would people stop at you specifically to buy your products? Can’t they move on the next person whose the same?   Social media is the perfect tool to showcase your uniqueness. But most people don’t know where to begin. Here’s five places.     Step 1: Share Your Personal Story   We all have a personal story. We’re all unique and telling that story through social media is compelling stuff to your tribe.   The origin of you, how you got to where you are, is a great way to make yourself relatable. It shows your emotional connection to your subject matter and is way more powerful than certifications and equipment.   You’ve got to put your personal story out there and show how it changed your life. It illustrates that you, too, are a work in progress, looking for people on a similar journey.   Step 2: Understand a Niche Problem   Find your tribe. Find that collection of people who have a specific problem or are looking for a specific lifestyle change that you feel compelled to serve.   Understanding their problems is at the heart of how you can interact with them online. You have to recognize the problems your niche faces and then dig deeper. Find niches within the niche.   Digging deeper and understanding your niche’s problems will lead you to incredible revelations. And it’s valuable content.    Step 3: Make a revelation/solution   Let’s now attack those problems with workable solutions that will benefit your clients by finding revelations and sharing those on social media.   Revelations come in all forms, from the most unexpected places. But they won’t reveal themselves without that exploration that comes with interacting with your tribe.   It’s all about relationships, and peeling back the layers can take you and your tribe to great places.   Step 4) Challenging Question   With so much content coming at your tribe, how can you interact with them in a way that shows they’ve understood your message? Ask a challenging question.   This is the call to action that encourages more engagement between you, your tribe, and the work that binds you.    That phone has changed the game. So interaction is key. A challenging question is a great way to fire up that interaction.   You end with a challenging question.     Step Five) Attractive Visuals/Video   Content is more than words. There’s a visual component to all of this that you can’t forget about.   Be sure to include attractive visuals.   Think about it, your average client is bombarded with content. And studies have shown that you need more than double the amount of pieces of information to make decisions than what you used to.   So be bold and colorful with the graphics (or videos) that you’re including in your posts. Social media needs to engage the senses and an attractive visual is a great way to do that.   Be memorable. Build your relationship with your tribe.

Anna Renderer is beautiful and brilliant. I’m not just saying that because she’s my wife. Her own brand, Sexy Confident Woman, has a million downloads on PopSugar Fitness. She shared three places that she consistently goes to when looking to create her content. Take a look.    1 ) Frequently Asked Questions   Knowing your niche is everything. Their mindset is exactly what you’re trying to tap into. So why not use their very words to generate content?   During the course of several interactions with your tribe, you may start to notice that the same questions keep popping up. That’s because your tribe has a specific set of needs that they are hoping to work on.   By paying attention to those questions, you create a Content Cyclone of material that comes directly from what your audience is looking for.    The best part is, once you have that content, if anyone continues to ask those same questions (which they will because they’re so frequently asked), you can turn around and link to your articles that address those very concerns. It’s what Anna does and it brings her a ton of respect from her tribe.   2) The Questions That Should Be Asked   Of course, people don’t know what they want. That’s the very nature of your expertise. You know stuff and they don’t. So obviously their questions aren’t everything since they don’t know what components they’re missing. If they did, they wouldn’t need you.   So plug those gaps, by doing what Anna does: point out the questions that should be asked.   You are the expert. You are the one who’s seen things and experienced the very cycle that your clients are going through. So take this time to point them in the direction that will help them along their journey of change.   People need to be taught what to look at. That’s why they’re here, they’re looking for your exact expertise. Guiding them to the right direction is essential and creating content from questions they should be asking is a great way to prepare them for the things they haven’t considered.   Best of all, those questions make great titles for articles and newsletters. Shock them if you have to. The sky’s the limit!   3) Survey Your Tribe   Stop playing guessing games! Survey your tribe to find out what they’re looking for!   Hey, anything that takes the guesswork out of planning is aces in my book. And Anna simply asks her clients, through surveys, what kind of content they’re looking for. You don’t ask it explicitly, but you use their feedback to create that content that speaks to them.   Whenever a client joins her Small Steps Planner, a little questionnaire is included. They respond to that and, presto, she’s provided with lots of great comments and feedback.   That kind of feedback is invaluable. Not only is it a great source of content creation, it prevents your programs and services from gathering any rust. You evolve directly with their needs. That’s gold, baby!

Content is what separates one business from another. It’s your authority, your expertise, your positioning in the market.   But, most importantly it’s how you serve your tribe, deliver value far in advance of ever asking for a dollar, and how you build a relationship that eventually earns your more sales.    The number one excuse I hear about not wanting to put out content is “I don’t have the time to go out and put content on all those different platforms.”    So, today, I’m sharing one of my best strategies for getting more done in less time, while creating 10x the value by serving in more places than you thought you could ever be.   Here’s my Content Cyclone, a simple 10-step system, which lays out the steps needed to generate the maximum amount of content with the minimal amount of tech expertise.   1) Find your tribe   First of all, let’s begin with some real talk.    You can’t deliver your message to everyone. Everyone is not going to be your customer. You don’t want everyone to be your customer.    Let alone you don’t have the money, time or expertise to be something to everyone.    Getting specific about whom you want to serve is the first sign of a World Class Expert.    The choice is yours, just look at the intersection of your expertise and knowledge and your passions, and your tribe avatar is waiting for you to uncover.    In order to rise as an authority in a field, you have to choose the kinds of people you’re speaking to.    This is the essential first step toward creating content.    2) Verify   When I talk about creating content, I don’t want you to pull topics out of thin air.    There’s no need for guesswork anymore, Mr. Googs and search engines exist!   Google, Buzz Sumo, YouTube and other massive search engines exist today that allow you to see what people are specifically searching for, what’s trending, and in need of an answer.    You’re mission is to research and verify what people are searching for and THEN GO make content that’s specific to the needs of the people you’re trying to serve.    3) Shoot a video   Don’t make things complicated. Keep it simple. Writing a blog post, recording a podcast, or setting up a website are all way more complicated than shooting a video. So do it.   All you have to do is turn on the camera, hit record, and start talking. We’ll carve it up later, for now, just shoot something.   The technology today is so advanced and looking sharp that even your phone has a great camera. You can spend about a couple hundred bucks to get a quality HD camera, some of which even upload the videos directly through Wi-Fi.    Do a little research, but don’t get hung up on the specs. What matters is what you say in front of the camera.   4) Transcribe   Now you’ve got a whole video on whatever topic you’ve chosen. Now what? It’s time to get it transcribed so you can get ready to chop it up.   Transcribing your content goes a long way toward carving it up.    There’s an app for that. It’s called RevRecorder, but honestly I prefer rev.com for my money. It’s super duper cheap and easy to use.    Having that final transcript is important because now you have a quick version of what you can put out there.    The next step is…     5) Carve it up.   Different channels and outlets require different formats.    Once you have the transcript of your video simply start carving it up into quotes, blog posts, newsletters, Tweets, video snippets and on and on.    For every outlet, there’s a format so you’ll be carving it up in many ways.   Use a spreadsheet to keep things organized. If you’d like a copy of our Content Cyclone Spreadsheet you can grab it right here.   Now that you have a bunch of content born out of one single video you’re ready to serve and distribute.   6) Serve & Distribute   Content on your hard drive isn’t serving anyone. Distribution is how you get the content out there.   You have to know what the different channels are to carve up your video transcript so this is where you’re going to repurpose all that content into more content by putting it out there in new and exciting ways.   Here are a few examples:   ï Take your transcript and condense it into a quick and painless 500-word blog post.    ï Take your video and post it to YouTube, create a 250-word synopsis and use that as the copy under your YouTube post.    ï Strip out the audio from your video and post it as a podcast.   ï Create a few images and add them to quotes from your transcript and you got Facebook posts.   ï Take another part of the video transcript and now you have an email blast that mentions what you’ve covered in the video.   You do all this for all your various channels and medias your active on and you just saved yourself dozens of hours every month by shooting just one video and using this repurpose method to disperse it all over which is exactly where I got the name Content Cyclone!   7) Drive Traffic   Your mission is to grow your tribe.   That means learning how to run some ads, improve engagement, boost some posts, and get eyes on your content.   The name of the game is to drive traffic back to you. Include a call to action, something like, “You want more? Check out this video.” or “Check out this blog!”.   8) Capture Leads   If you’re going to spend all this time creating content, you have to capture the leads. Don’t let any curious visitors walk away.    If you’ve created this great content, be sure to include an email opt-in so that people can download free gifts and lead magnets you created that help you keep delivering more value and build the relationship on autopilot.     You create a greater value to your customers this way.   9) Nurture The Conversation   Any salesperson will tell you that you usually don’t make a sale on the first try. The key is to stay engaged and build on that trust you’ve established.   Studies have found, get this; that the average visitor needs 10.4 online interactions with you before they’re willing to buy anything. What does that mean? It means you need to be everywhere!    That’s what this Content Cyclone is for.    Doing the steps above will get you out there and prepare you to nurture the conversation on the back end.    10) Targeted offers   To bring this home, there’s one thing I would suggest that will immediately put you in a Class of One.    Go beyond a generic ask and instead anticipate the needs that your tribe will have and package your solutions as specific to the needs of why they got on your list.   If they got on your list because they read your content about running a 5K, they want to run a 5K, create and offer them that specific offer. You will make more sales, serve more people, and they will love you for it.   Well, there you have it, the Content Cyclone ready to go.   All that’s left to do is for you to:   Find your tribe. Shoot your videos. Distribute them in every way possible.  Nurture the relationships.  Give them what they want.   Content is king. Get your kingdom ready.  

Trish Blackwell isn’t your average trainer. She believes that sustainable change comes from within. If you’re not dealing with the stuff that’s underneath, that mental game, then your chances for success are much harder.   I was honored to have her stop by my podcast and share her story. She proves that anyone who comes across a great idea can take it to the masses via lots of platforms and finding their tribe.   Here are four tips she discovered along the road of her unique journey that can help you launch your brand.   Forget Perfectionism   Let’s get rid of the idea that perfectionists are this close to perfect. That’s false. There’s no such thing as perfect. And people who waste their time trying to get to perfect are actually making it harder on themselves.   That quest for perfection can sometimes be used as a crutch. It can keep us from trying things or implementing ideas because we won’t make a move until it’s perfect.    Instead, just deal with what’s in front of you and move forward.   The saying “Perfect is the enemy of Good” is so true. Don’t be a perfectionist. You’ll let the best in life pass you by. Believe me, your competitors aren’t waiting for perfect. They’re going after it and giving it the best shot they can.   Build Your Platform   If Rome wasn’t built in a day, your business empire won’t be either. That doesn’t mean don’t dream big. It means build it one brick at a time.   Too often we want to jump right in and charge! But what that really does is take us off our game.    Trish eased into what her business would be. She started simple. She wrote a blog. By the time she decided to make the big push and self-publish, she had a year and a half of writing under her belt.    Then the floodgates opened and now she has apps, books, detoxes and more.   So build that one thing and do it well. Then the world is yours.   Be Direct With Your Brand   Even for someone as special as Trish, it took her a moment to realize that she was central to her own brand. When I met her, she was putting together Body Beautiful Bistro. That’s a perfectly fine name but once she embraced her own name and put it up on her website, she was able to really distinguish her unique message.   Too many times we think a really clever name or obscure brand will make us seem funny or mysterious. We think people will say to themselves, “I wonder what they do?” and be intrigued enough to find out more.   But those kinds of questions are branding poison. You should never leave it up to a client to figure out what you’re all about. You should have everything ready to be understood in a clear and concise manner. Take the guesswork out because you’ll likely frustrate people that way.   Tighten Up Your Niche   Better to be a big fish in a small pond, than a small fish in a big pond.   Trish provides the perfect example of going for a niche market and solving their unique problems.   Once Trish figured out and locked into the idea of addressing the mindset struggles of women dealing with insecurities and learning to accept yourself, she became a thought leader and a voice that was different than every other fit pro showing up out there. And that made her unique.    Once you can tighten your message you can transcend training, and go more global. Then your business can touch people anywhere in the world, because it’s not about just training, it’s about changing their story.   Tightening up your branding to go more niche, which contrary to popular belief, doesn’t mean you’ll exclude people, it just means you will rise up to be heard more by the right people is how you can build a business serving the people you love.      There you have a sweet tight little recap of my time with Trish, but no article can replace hearing us live. Jump on over to The Fitnesspreneur’s Life Podcast in iTunes and soak it all in.  

Clarity isn’t something you’re born with. It’s a part of life like any other that can be cultivated.   People only remember the clearest, most streamlined brands. They stand out in an ocean of fitness products and services.   Make clarity an important part of your business and personal well-being by incorporating the following seven tips into your business plan. You’ll feel the difference and your work will benefit.    Step 1: Mission Clarity   The fundamental question of why you’re doing what your doing must be crystal clear in your mind. If you waver on this, so will your ability to maneuver your business.   By getting clear on exactly what your mission is, your journey will gain a roadmap for the hard work ahead.    Step 2: Goal Clarity   Once you’ve achieved clarity on what the mission of your life’s work is, you'll need to figure out how to get there. Setting fixed goals with concrete timed deadlines is a great way to stay on target.   By attaching your goals to your mission in life, you create an emotional charge and stay motivated. Map out a plan today.    Step 3: Roadblock Clarity   You know the roadblocks in front of you and feeling good is not the same thing as doing something good for your business. Don’t let distractions delay your success.   Get clear on what’s holding you back and attack.   Step 4: Strength Clarity   We all know what we’re good at. Focus on highlighting those strengths in your quest for success.   Don’t waste time on things that other people can do for you in better ways.   Step 5: Skill Set Clarity   You wouldn’t tell a top athlete to work on their cooking skills. You’d tell them to work on their game!   Likewise, you need to acquire skill sets that help your business directly and disregard the extra stuff. Don’t waste your time learning about generic self- improvement, focus on specific skill sets.   Step 6: People Clarity   Your values aren’t just what you say. They are shown in the people that you surround yourself with.   Make sure your business and brand is connected to people that understand your mission and are aligned with it. Make a conscious effort to stock up on those people. They’ll boost your credibility immensely.   Step 7: Action Clarity   Once you’ve done all these things, and not before, it’s time to test your mettle. Nothing shows the importance of your mission more than taking the necessary small steps toward success.   Achieving clarity in these seven ways makes all the difference. Are we clear?

I love the different kinds of people I meet in my work. Everyone has a story and everyone puts a different meaning on the work they do.    My latest guest, Khaled El-Masri, is a man who’s taken the bull by the horns and really made an impact in the Northern California fitness business region.    There’s nothing he hasn’t encountered and he shared three big pieces of advice for anyone looking to make a breakthrough in their own entrepreneurial endeavors.   Get Over Yourself   A lot of us carry around the limiting belief that sales are bad and beneath what we do. We want to help people so we think being a salesperson is something else entirely.   Wrong. If you’re not selling, how exactly are you getting your message out?   Too many of us have been conditioned to believe that sales are a bad thing. We either had a bad experience with salespeople or grew up with little money and see buying things as bad.   But the people who come to fitness experts for help are looking for a significant change in their lives. That outcome is worth more to them than money. It can sometimes even be a matter of life or death.   You are providing them with solutions. You are giving them options. You are saving their lives. But you can only do this if you sell.   So drop that limiting belief. Get over whatever imaginary hang-up you have.    Embrace your destiny as a salesperson. You have to do it anyway, why not love it?   Find Your Hyper Niche   Everybody that works in every kind of gym, studio or bootcamp is chasing the same dollars. From a consumer’s perspective, it can all seem a little overwhelming.     If you want to remain competitive, you have to lower your prices. That’s a race to the bottom and a recipe for disaster.   Instead of offering more for less, how about offering more for more?   Niche markets are for specific things that people are looking for. The more specific, the better. Once you have that personalized service, you can charge more because your program is so targeted and so exclusive, you simply can’t get it anywhere else.   Dig deep and find a hyper niche now. The deepest corners that provide the deepest results can yield the highest dollars.    Know Where Your People Hang   Now that you have a niche in your hand, don’t waste your time advertising in places that your market will never see.   This is the marketing version of your hyper niche. Your audience isn’t a general audience, so why should your marketing be in general places?   Put yourself in the shoes of the people you’re trying to reach. Where do they go? What sites do they visit? What apps do they use?   CEOs aren’t spending loads of time on Snapchat   Know your market and where they hang out. And then go after them right then and there with targeted content that fits their lives and drop your message right in front of them so you can go out and serve the world with your gifts!  

Lots of people want to become influential and gain followers. But they don’t have a plan on how to do that.   Here are six different practices that you can incorporate into your life, together or separately, to increase your circles of influence.   1. Show Up   Day in and day out, you have to show up and do the work. Even when it’s not sexy. Even when it’s not fun. Even when no one’s looking and you won’t get credit for it.    You have to grind no matter what and have the discipline to make the struggle personal. It can’t be something you’ll easily walk away from. Making a commitment is what inspires and influences.   2. Be Present   Tune it and don’t get distracted in your personal interactions with people. If you’re face to face with someone, look them in the eye. If you’re on a call, don’t check on your social media during it.   Everyone knows when someone isn’t present or distracted. Give people your full attention if you want to have credibility and influence with them.   3. Be The Success   Your life is ever evolving. So don’t judge it or let yourself get bogged down by unimportant obstacles.   Even when things aren’t going your way, your struggle continues. Others are watching and looking to see how you’ll react. Because they are looking for help too and you might be the one to show them the way. Be the success in order to influence.   4. Teach Them How To Think   People’s minds need as much caring as their bodies. So you need to help them understand their thought patterns as much as their physical progress.   You especially have an obligation if they’re not doing very well in life. Working on details can seem important, but teaching people to understand themselves better is more valuable. Sharing your life’s value, perspectives, discoveries of how you overcame the common obstacles of life are the real gold in the influence mountain.   5. Help People Out Of Their Own Way   Similar to the last idea, help people get out of their own way by observing how their lack of success may be self-inflicted.   Many times we can’t see what’s right in front of us. Our habits and biases keep us in endless cycles of repetition that allow life to pass us by. Your outside viewpoint can help people work on the obstacles put there by them. When you can open someone’s eyes, and then give them a plan on how to get to the next level, you become an influence in that life.    6. Serve   This one’s the most therapeutic. Help out whenever you can. It’s a great lotion for the soul and you’ll never lack for people to be around.   The mental change that occurs when you serve and help others is alone worth doing this. Practicing this and gratitude will attract the kinds of people for whom those values are considered important. Those are the good people you want in your life.   Gain the spiritual high ground and roll all these steps together. You’ll find your influence and circle of friends growing in no time and the tribe you’re looking to build will pitch a tent and stay right beside you.  

Steve De La Torre stopped by my podcast and gave great advice on connecting with your ideal client.   Rather than going after the same general market that everyone else does, he explained the future of niche markets. You should focus on a niche market like a laser and become a leading authority.   Your ideal customer is looking to find someone just like you! Here’s how you set the table and lead them to your specialized (and higher priced!) services.   1) Become a niche authority   There is no limit to the number of niche industries that are out there. So find them!   Don’t get caught up in the rat race of chasing the general market. With so much of the same kinds of gyms, studios and bootcamps offering the exact same services, you’ll quickly stand out by offering a specialized niche program.  Position yourself as the de facto expert on this market. Align your programs to your interests and expertise.   Be as specific as you can and you’ll be well-positioned in no time. And remember, the amount of money you can now charge is directly proportional to how specific and unique your programs are!   2) Become an expert on them   Once you’ve settled on a niche market, you have to anticipate all the concerns that will come from customers in that market. In essence, you have to become an expert on people that you haven’t met yet.   How is that possible?   It requires a little thinking on your part. What are the challenges and obstacles that the people in your niche market face? How will you address them? That ability to foresee the concerns and solutions of your clients will make you seem like a mindreader, but it’s all in the service of becoming an expert.   In addition to that, publishing articles in places like Forbes, LinkedIn and Huffington Post are great places to boost your profile. But make sure you’re posting in places that your tribe frequents. Don’t waste time, money or energy convincing people outside of your market about things they’ll never use.   3) Go deeper   Don’t push generic phrases like “lose weight” or “get fit”. Be specific in your messaging and go deeper.    Make a list of ten things that your clients will need, and come up with three to five sub-topics off of that original list of ten. Whenever you find yourself at the limit of what can happen, go deeper!   Smaller concise content will go farther than larger pieces that people won’t read anyway. Pack your content calendar with this and your clients will truly see what an expert you are!   Both Steve and I agree that niche markets are the future and have a tremendous upside on what you can charge them.   Your standing and expertise are waiting to be enhanced within your tribe, so get to it!

Crazy is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. Like when a trainer only does one-on-one sessions but wonders, “How come I’m not making any real money?"   I want to scream, “Because being on the floor, trading your hours for dollars, is not a realistic path to wealth!"   Taking your services online, however, changes the game. It grants you four essential freedoms that you can’t get from sessions.   Do these things sound like what you’re needing in your life?   1) Time   Going online means you neutralize the effects of the clock. Simply set up programs that run non-stop, whether you’re awake or not.   People from around the world (that’s around the clock) can now see your programs from their smartphones or computers and purchase them. There’s no extra time commitment from you and you’re not draining yourself from all that unnecessary work.   Time freedom becomes your reality when you automate your systems.   2) Location   For brick and mortar businesses, location is everything because they depend on people walking through their door. That’s an extremely limited market we’re talking about. That's people that live within three to five miles of your business. And every bootcamp and gym in your same area is angling for those same people.   Going online means there’s nothing limiting your market. The whole world is your marketplace. Local trends and demographics become irrelevant.   The map itself no longer matters. The only limit is your ambition.   3) People   Automation and scaling of your services also means that you can look for collaborators beyond the geography of your business. Like location freedom, you gain people freedom, too.   With the world at your fingertips you can reach out and connect with anyone. That means you can bring aboard like-minded individuals who share your passion and worldview.   And because the technology allows for new ways to collaborate, you can work as easily with individuals half a world away as you can for employees that report to work in your building.   Why is anyone satisfied just training one person at a time?   4) Money   Let’s face it, this is the most important freedom to gain. This is the name of the game. Money.   We provide a valuable service, literally saving people’s lives. But when it comes to demanding the right compensation, a lot of trainers get weird.   What?!   This is a business and you’re a businessperson. More money means the ability to reinvest in your business. Not having money means you have to work harder. That's stressful and it doesn’t allow you to make sound decisions for your business.   Automating and scaling brings in more money because your programs don’t get tired, they don’t sleep, and they can’t get sick. Day in and day out, people lock into your services and putting money into your vision.    These four important freedoms await you. Stop driving yourself crazy by expecting new results from the same old game plan.

My latest guest on The Fitnesspreneur’s Life Show podcast, Dennis Dumas, went from working in a big box gym to owning three businesses and helping fit pros increase their incomes.   He understands that the opportunity to create wealth in our profession is available to all us if we let go of some limiting beliefs.   Here are Dennis’s three steps for unlocking your full earning potential.   Step One: Know Your Value   Doctors, lawyers, and electricians know they’re worth every penny, so why don’t fit pros? Too many of them undervalue what they do and lowball their fees.   Well, guess what? If you don’t value what you do, no one else will.   Before you open your mouth with a customer for the first time, you arrive with knowledge, training, and experience. That in itself is so valuable.   The services you offer are life-changing, and until you see the importance in what you do, you can’t begin to achieve your dreams.   Just make sure you have the training and bona fides to back that claim up. If you don’t (like you’ve just started out) get to learning!   Step Two: Find Your Goal Number   Making money isn’t a real goal. It’s a generic thought that everyone has.   Just like you wouldn’t take a big road trip without a destination in mind or plan to get there, you need a concrete goal if you want to succeed in this industry.    Most trainers think that just working hard will get them to the and of milk and honey. But smart trainers reverse engineer their success by coming up with a number and then breaking it down by month, week, and even down to the hour.   So sit down and generate that number for yourself.       Step Three: Figure Out Your Services   You’ve got your hourly target. Now it’s just a matter of finding the right combination of services that will get you to that number.   Combination is the key. Remember, we’re getting rid of the idea of one client, one session. That’s too risky.   For Dennis, his success came naturally once he put together group sessions. Smart move because he’s providing value for his customers in ways that most trainers don’t think about.   Most trainers think that by getting more certifications or learning the latest trends, they’ll provide more value to their clients. But clients find value in things they need, like systems where they can keep up with and push each other. Think outside the box when you’re putting together services.    That’s added value. That’s money in your pocket.   So whether you’re working in a park with your own boot camp or, like Dennis, you’re training in a well-known big box chain, the opportunity is there for you to take control of your financial well-being. Wealth and happy entrepreneurship are both waiting for the trainers who are willing to go that extra mile and plan their future.   

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!