Identifying Opportunities

“Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity”
~Henry Hartman

Change happens.  It’s a given, particularly in business.  If its not your market, it’s your customers’ needs and preferences, or the technology and equipment you use, or your sales channels, or the way you deliver your products/services.  It can sometimes prove to be scary when potential threats materialize, but also rewarding when new opportunities present themselves.  Therefore, it is always important to periodically step back and evaluate your business to ensure that you are addressing those threats, but also grabbing those opportunities.

Identifying potential opportunities can sometimes prove difficult.  Occasionally, we are also too late in seizing an opportunity before its time has past.  One way you can ensure that you are spotting opportunities as they arise is to follow trends that will affect your business. Try to identify the trends that are affecting your business now, and over the next 12 months.

Other ways to identify opportunity include:

Evaluating your existing customers to attract new customers.  Do you know why your customers choose to buy your services and/or products?  Have you historically used more than one method for attracting and securing those customers?  If so, take a look at the different ways used and see if one has proven more successful than others and attempt to duplicate it to attract new customers.

Hold on to your existing customers.  Explore opportunities that will generate or increase a higher level of sales among your repeat customers. You might consider offering new products, or versions of products, or upgrades of your existing service.

Expand your current customer base.  Are there customer groups that you do not sell to currently, but who you believe would benefit from your products/services?  Make a lit of the characteristics that made this group distinctive, for example their age, gender, race, occupation, income, hobbies, membership of clubs and associations, etc. Then, identify the benefits that your products or services could provide to these individuals. 

Using your uniqueness.  Its difficult to take advantage of your opportunities if you offer the same products/services at the same prices and in the same way that your competitors do. There must be something about your business, products, or the way that you market your service that sets you apart.  Identify what that is and learn to use that uniqueness to your advantage.

Pursue partnership opportunities.  Often, working with another business that offers complementary services or products to your own can prove both beneficial and profitable.  By partnering with others, you can open the doors to opportunities for your business that you may otherwise be unable to develop due to a lack of resources or money.  These “piggyback” style marketing relationships are becoming increasingly more popular, and can help businesses develop opportunities more quickly.

Mind Set

Through my years of experience as a coach, trainer, athlete, and parent I have dealt with the issue of mind set on a daily basis.  My journey on the path to improving my own mindset came approximately 13 years ago when I went through a tough personal decision.  The decisions that followed lead me to down a path of self doubt, low self esteem, and questioning life as I knew it.  I have never been one to sit around and sulk for long periods of time but found myself with out motivation and direction for the first time in my life.   Something had to change.  I started by going to the library and meandering through the isles of books.  One book jumped out at me:  NO EXCUSES!

This book started me down a path of understanding the importance of cultivating a positive mindset.  I mention cultivating because it is truly an on going effort.  You can never get away from continuing to seek out ways to maintain and improve the mindset.   We are all prone to moments where we give into the dark side.  Moments where we are far more; negative in our thoughts, spiteful in our actions, or just down right rude. Cultivating a positive mindset will help us better identify the moments that are pushing us over to the dark side and permit us to take corrective actions or in the case you are on the dark side to recognize the destructive nature and take the appropriate actions to return to a positive mind set.

Since my digesting of the information presented in the book NO EXCUSES! I have been enlighten through may additional resource such as Think and Grow Rich, The E-myth, The Laws of Success, How to Win Friends and Influence People, If you don’t’ know where your going how will you know when you get there, and many others.

 

Here is what I have learned:

• Don’t ignore issues.  When you ignore issues they begin to eat at you and the more you ignore or procrastinate the less likely you are willing to deal with the issue as time passes you just hope it goes way.  The truth is, it isn’t just going to go away.  It will come back to haunt you.  So dealing with issues or at least addressing issues in a timely fashion will save you.
• Have Direction.  Know what it is that you want to accomplish.  What do you intend to accomplish as a result of your career?  What do you intend to accomplish this year? Month? Week? Day?
• Have a Plan.  This goes hand in hand with direction.  The plan provides the means to stay on course and headed in the desired direction.
• Read something Positive everyday.  Take 30-60 mins each day.  Preferable before you go to be to read something positive.  I have personally found that when I consistently do this that my creativity increases and I am more keenly aware of the opportunity that surrounds me.
• Partake in an active outside of your career.  You need a break from the day to day functions of the job.  Taking time to pursue hobbies or other outside interests serve as a means to recharge your mental batteries.
• Listen More and Speak Less.
• Challenge Yourself.  Try something new, don’t get comfortable, push the envelop and step outside of your comfort zone.
• Spend time with others who are successful.
• Be humble.  Admit when you have made a mistake and own your actions
• Most importantly take time to enjoy life

What Fitness Business Owners Should Know About Non-Compete and Non-Solicitation Agreements

The use of non-compete and non-solicitation agreements are becoming a staple in just about every business.  The fitness industry is no exception.  In fact more and more small fitness businesses are using non-compete agreements when hiring trainers regardless if the trainer is an independent contractor or an employee. 

Now I am by no means a legal expert and would strongly recommend speaking to a lawyer if you have specific questions regarding a non-compete and/or non-solicitation agreement.  So, don’t substitute what I am about to say as legal advice.

Although the two terms non-compete and non-solicitation are often used together they have two distinct meanings.  A non-compete agreement is a contract between employer and employee/IC whereby the employee agrees not to enter into competition with the employer after employment has ended.  The non-complete typically takes effect after employment has ended and will last for a pre-determined time set forth by the employer. The non-solicitation agreement restricts the employee from soliciting (a) employees or (b) customers of the business after departure.

The intent of using the non-complete and non-solicitation is to provide reasonable protection for the business.  When a fitness business owner hires a trainer there is an assumed risk that the business owner takes.  The primary risk is the effort and resources the business has provided the trainer to develop a client base.  If the trainer was to just up a leave and take the clients with them: this could lead to a devastating impact to the business because of the loss of income.  The use of agreements is permitted by the courts in an effort to protect the intellectual rights and any proprietary information the company has provided the trainer.

The use of non-compete and non-solicitation agreements vary by state.  In fact in California the use of non-compete agreements are deemed unenforceable.  However, most courts favor non-solicitation agreements.  Check with your local state laws for additional information.

Also important to note is that the terms of the agreements must be deemed reasonable.  Unfortunately, reasonable is a very loose term and if you end up in court it will be up to the judge to determine what is or isn’t reasonable.  Here is what you need to keep in mind.  The purpose of the agreement(s) is not to prevent the employee from working in their choosing career field and to limit their ability to earn a living.  So although the intent of the agreements are to provide reasonable protection for the business regarding their customers and confidential information, they also provide protection to the employee for his/or right to earn a living.

There is one last point I would like to make; the non-compete and non-solicitation agreements are generally in place for the position and time at which they were signed.  This means if you hire a trainer, and have them sign the agreement(s) and then later promote them to a management position the previous signed agreement(s) may no longer be in effect.  So, error on the side of caution and make sure to have trainers/staff sign a new set of agreements whenever there is a change is positions or status.

 

Mental Gardening

When we are born we are born with a clean slate. Void of any presumptions and influences.  We are totally dependent upon our care takers.  Because of this early dependency our slate begins to fill based on the influences of our care takers.  Are we encouraged to take chances and risks? Are we prohibited in taking chances because of the fears of someone else? Are we bombarded by the word ‘No’?  Were we praised for good actions and decisions?  Were we criticized for poor choices?  The answer to these questions and many more is the information that begins to fill in our slate.  It is from these early influences that our current decisions are made.

As we enter into adulthood it is our ability to look back on our youth retrospectively and learn from our experiences good or bad and move forward. Each of us has a choice regardless of upbringing.  It is the wise man who can look back on his life and sort out the good from the bad and take corrective actions to improve or enhance his position.  Taking this corrective action can be done through ‘Mental Gardening’.  When one thinks of gardening one tends to think about tending to plants (vegetable, flowers, and grasses) and create the best environment to permit the plants to prosper. When conditions are just right the plants grow with what seems like little effort.  When the conditions are poor one strives to improve the conditions. One may consult the local nursery, read how to books, speak with neighbors, and search the internet all in an effort to gain the knowledge on how to improve the conditions so that the plants can prosper.  The term ‘Mental Gardening’ refers to ones mind.  In order for one to be successful they must tend to their mindset just as a gardener tends to the garden.  When the conditions are right we can see exponential growth both personal and professional.  When the conditions are poor one needs to put the effort in to improve the conditions.  One needs to seek out information that will help improve the mindset.  Negative thoughts regardless of the cause can take the momentum quickly.  No one is immune to negative thoughts, but those who have invested the time into cultivating a positive mindset are more likely to overcome the negative thoughts.  They have a higher purpose and negative thoughts do not serve a purpose.

There are any number of ways to improve ones mindset which way is best for you, well that is part of the cultivating process.  However, here is the method that has worked best from me through the years.  When I am operating at peak capacity both personally and professionally I choose to read something geared towards self improvement for at least 30 minutes every day.  I am choosing to pursue activities outside of my chosen industry.  I choose to take an active roll in the lives of my family. Finally the most important things that I do is take time for myself.

Business Coaching

What exactly is a business coach? And more importantly what can a business coach do for you and your business?  These are two important questions.  First let us start with a brief understanding of a coach.  When the term coach first comes up for most of us this can bring back an instant memory of a youth sports coach, drama coach or even a music coach.  The job of the coach was to provide direction, guidance and a game plan to help us maximize our talents.  There is not much variation when it comes to the defining a business coach.  The job of a business coach is to provide direction, guidance and a game plan to help you maximize your talents.  In addition a business coach will provide resources and assets to expedite the learning curve.

Let us briefly review the topics of direction, guidance, game plan, resources and assets.

Direction is an area that we all need from time to time and as a business owner it is imperative that one has a sense of direction.  With all the obstacles and challenges that lie in front of each business owner, having a sense of direction will help you steer clear of any number of obstacles.  For these obstacles that one can not steer clear of a business coach is there to help you develop strategies to tackle the obstacles.  Direction is developed between the business coach and owner based on a clear understanding of what the business owner intends to accomplish.

Guidance is an extension of direction.  Once the business coach has a solid understanding of what the business owner intends to accomplish the business coach will tap into his/her experience to provide the business owner a readily available resource to help guide them through the easy and tough decision that lie ahead. Touching upon a few of the decisions, ‘When do I hire?’, “How do I expand?’. ‘Am I ready to expand?’, ‘How do I set up a compensation plan’ and ‘How do I handle a trouble employee/IC?’ are all questions every business owner will face.  These are but a sample of situations that a business coach can help you overcome.

A business coach will take the information obtained from the business owner and help them create a game plan to achieve success.  This is where things can get a bit tricky, it is not the goal of the business coach to create your business plan or directly give you the information to complete you business plan.  In fact it is not the business coach’s duty to give you all the answers.  There are some instances where the coach should give you the answers, but for the most part giving the answers doesn’t help the business owner in developing the confidence to make sound decisions and to grow their business.  If you are always given the answers one never learns.  Part of the growth of the business comes through the process or journey of exploring and challenging what the business owner already knows (or thinks they know) and provided direction, guidance, resources and assets to fill in the blanks. It is for this very reason that every business owner is different.  Each owner comes to the table with a different knowledge base and skill set.

Resources and assets are an important part of the arsenal for every business coach.  The information available in arsenal has been developed based on the experiences of the business coach.  The experiences both gained through personal experiences and coaching experiences.  It is through these experiences that business coach can deliver information that is both valid and applicable.  The resources and assets available through the business coach are geared specifically to maximize the time investment of each business owner.  Inefficient use of time is a wasted resource and something business owners can’t afford.

Getting back to the questions asking in the beginning; ‘What is a business coach?’ and ‘What can a business coach do for you?’  A business coach is a coach.  A person that will help you develop and solidify a sense of direction, to provide guidance through the good and bad times, to help you develop a game plan to achieve your goals and to provide resources and assets to help you maximize your time.  A business coach can move your business light years ahead of where you are right now.  A business coach prepares you to play game.