Staying Focused

The difference between working on and in your business can become very skewed when you get caught up in the day to day activities of operating your business.   Training clients, record keeping, book keeping, returning phone calls/emails, program designing, managing trainer issues, etc can simply just wear you down.  At the end of the day you more than likely find yourself in a position where you have not done the items need to grow (working on your business).  Items such as developing and implementing new programs to market your business, hiring trainers, etc.   If you have any awareness and realize you have these issues you are not alone.  Like most I am willing to bet you have sought out means of helping you organize you time.  This could be through any number of versions of time management techniques and task list.  I wish I could point you to the one and only method of doing so, truth is this is where you individuality comes into play.  As with nutrition and exercise design one method doesn't fit all.

But here is what I can tell you, pick a method and stick with it for a reasonable amount of time.  Dedicate yourself to the system for 30-60 days and evaluate the results based off your productivity.  A good time management program will increase your efficiency and productivity.  You should be able to get more done in less time.

So when you are working on setting up your time management plan ensure that you set time aside to work on growing your business.  Hold to this time just as you would a workout time or one of your kids event.  Bottom line, 'Make It Happen'

Hiring Bad Trainers

Hiring trainers is one of the quickest ways to bring monies into your business. In fact not many business owners realize that hiring trainers is a revenue stream. In fact it is often looked at as one of the business headaches. Here are some quick pointers to identify if you are in fact ‘Hiring Bad Trainers’. Do your trainers:

 

• Consistently making excuses for low or no sales?
• Procrastinate on performing sales or marketing-related activities?
• Ignoring directions and only doing what they feel comfortable doing?
• Measuring success not by the number of sales closed, but by how much time or effort is put into something?
• Creating conflict with others in order to deflect attention from their own non-existent or low production/performance?
• Sabotaging co-workers or stealing prospects and sales leads?

Do your trainers work the training room floor, speak with prospects and go the extra distance. Are the:

 

• Trainers sitting at their desk or on the internet?
• Studio floor is cluttered with weight or weights not be racked?
• Fitness equipment is dusty or not working properly?
• Engaging the members on a first name basis?

 

Mind you this is certainly a short check list. But the point here is that there if far more to being a successful trainer. As the owner or department head that hires trainers expectations need to be clearly stated. The end goal would be to have the trainers develop a clients list and earn a good living. This would make both the trainer and owner happy. But often time what gets lost is what the expected of the trainer that will lead them down the road to ultimate goal and that is obtaining clients.

Take a moment and evaluate your current trainers to see if they are meeting the minimum requirements list above. Tune in next time for some tips on how to set up the expectations for your training staff.

 

Do You Have Control Over Your Time?

The answer to this question for the vast majority is, NO! We seem to be a slave to time. But this need not be the case. If you take the time to plan out your day in detail and create a start and end time to your day you will find that you can in fact have control over YOUR time.


Breaking your day up in to manageable sections will help you be more effective, efficient and productive.

First Step
Take a realistic view of your business and define the needs of the business. Once you have defined the needs categorize the needs into 3 or 4 sections. For example the sections could be broken down by departments; In-Home Personal Training, Corporate Fitness, and Bootcamps

Second Step
Create a weekly Calendar and insert all known weekly appointments or commitments. Such as; personal training sessions, bootcamp class, and Corporate fitness.

Third Step
Identify all unused time(s). On Monday’s you find that you have a gap in time from 10-1pm. You have three hours to commit to growing you business. This time can be used to address 1 or 2 of the defined sections of your business. So for example if you decided to commit 2 hours to the business side of In-Home Training and 1 hour to Bootcamps.

Fourth Step
Once you have identified your available times and plugged the time(s) you plan to dedicate towards specific sections you can not create a ‘To Do List’ for each section. With in the ‘To Do List’ would include follow up emails, phone calls, marketing and program developments.

Once you have this system set up the goal is to use focused effort on each specific section in to increase your effectiveness, efficiency and production. Hold firm to the time you have allotted. Exceptions may arise and in fact can be account for as you implement this system. Feel free to give it a try. If you have additional questions or something better feel free to share it.

Are we 'Too Focused' on the Bad Economy?

There is no doubt that if you have watched the news, chatted with friends and talked with fellow business owners, the economy is certainly a heated topic.  The fact is we are seeing higher rates of unemployment, forclosures, and businesses going under.  Everyone has an opinion as to what is the cause of thie 'Bad Economy' and what might be the solution.  The truth is, no really knows.  In fact, even the smartest and most influential minds in our country can't seem to come to an agreement to fix our current economic situation.  Is this maily due to political issues? That's beyond the scope of this article.  Despite the variety of opinions you may have or have read, you need to take a hard look at your business. Don't soley focus on this economic situation and "Ask yourself" the following questions:

1. Is my business still meeting the needs/demands of my clientele?
2. If yes, can I continue to improve?
3. If no, how have the needs of my clients changed?
4. What services/products can I add to my business to generate additional revenue?

As business owners, we need to be able to filter out the negative information related to the bad economy and our own businesses.  Don't be so quick to blame the economy as the reason your business is declining.  As you read this article right now, businesses are making money and you can be making money too!!  Take the time to evaluate your current business.  Be sure that you are meeting the current and future needs of your clientele base.  Seek out additional opportunities to add revenue streams to your business.  And never stop looking for new and creative ideas to build clientele and your business profit margin.

Remember, don't focus on the economy, focus on you and your growing business!

How Much Marketing is the 'Right' Amount?

When you begin to market your services and/or products, consider using multiple methods of marketing.  not one method of marketing is giong to deliver all the desired results.  The best results will come from multiple market strategies that enable the services and/or products to be exposed to the maximum number of people.

Listed below are 10 ways to market your services and products:

• Word of Mouth
• Referrals
• Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• You Tube
• Flyers
• Posters
• Workshops
• Groupon / Living Social

The more marketing methods that you use the more likely you will succeed.  Be aware that the speicific methods you 'choose' to market your products must be unified and cohesive.  Make sure your marketing efforts are not confusing or incomplete.

Remember, the goal of any marketing effort is three fold.

First, using the methods listed above, drive the customer to your products and services building awareness and recognition.  Second, convert tehm into a paying customer and third, make them repeat and loyal customer.

As we have discussed before, it is better to have 60 clients who train once a month than 12 clients who train five times per month.  In effoct, the more people who understand and appreciate your product/services, the more successful you will be each month.

Most importantly, treat all your marketing strategies the same.  You will be far more successful using multiple marketing approaches to secure a profitable business for years to come!

Preparing For A Leave Of Absence

Taking vacations or time off is a necessity to maintain your sanity and to refresh your mindset both in life and in business. The difficulty in taking this time is preparing your business for when you are gone.

This brings up a very important concept. The concept of “automation”. Simply put this means that you need to your business set up in such a matter that the majority of the day to day activities can take place with out your direct involvement.

For you to be a true business owner and not just someone that owns a job you need to be able to take time away from the business and the business should create money. Does this describe your business? If not, you have work ahead of you.

Make a list of all the day to day activities that you as the business owner currently handle. Once you have prepared the list it is time to go over the list and identify what tasks can either be delegated to other staff or outsourced.

During the first round of evaluations place an “x” by all the activities that take 20 minutes or longer to complete.

Re-evaluate the list a second time. This time place an “*” by all activities that you wish you didn’t have to do.

Re-evaluate the list a third time. This time place an “+” by all activities that cause you to procrastinate doing the activity.

For each activity that you placed a symbol “x, *, +” write down what it would take for you to delegate or out source this item.

Hold on to your list, next week I will share with you how to begin delegating and/or outsourcing those activities.

Implementation VS Procrastination

Implantation
Business Success
Creative Thinking
Taking Action
Ownership
Responsibility
Go Getter
Motivated

Procrastination
Wait and See
Non Committal
Criticizer
Fault Seeker
Excuse Maker
Slacker
Lack of Knowledge
Seeking Perfection

The battle between Implementation versus Procrastination resides in the minds of every business owner. This is a battle upon which must be won if the business is to survive and succeed.

In my experience I have found two major reasons why business owners are losing the battle.
1. Lack of Knowledge
2. Seeking Perfection

The first, “Lack of Knowledge,” is a simple concept to address. In today’s world, we have instant access to information. In most cases, the initial information is available to us at little or no cost. As a Fitness Business Owner, more than likely you are getting constant email blasts from resources that can help improve and/or grow your business. The key is to determine what resources really speak to you and that are relatable. For instance, through many years as a fitness professional I have sought advice from books by Phil Kaplan, Jamie Atlas, Bedros Keuilian, Pat Rigsby, Scott Colby, Eric Ruth, Mark Cibrario, Paul Chek, Annette Lang, Rick Olderman, Charlie Hugo, Melissa Mantak, Linda Burris, Len Kravitz, Doug and Patti Glock, Jeremy Silage and Peter Twist (just to name a few) to guide me in my development. As a business person, you need to make it a daily habit to improve your knowledge. Face the facts… you don’t know everything! Luckily everything you want to know is at your finger tips.

The second reason, “Seeking Perfection,” was a huge hindrance early in my career and the reason I often struggled. Several times, I wanted to know all the details. I had to learn that sometimes “the goal” needs to be good enough. One doesn’t need perfection to be successful.
Signs of a Procrastinator:
 You want to avoid an unpleasant activity
 You make excuses
 You look for distractions
 You don’t manage time well
 You don’t feel confident about the task

When you find yourself in a position of not getting the task done, take a quick moment and see if any of the signs above can explain why the task isn’t getting done. If so, then you know what needs to be done.

Will you win every battle between Implementation and Procrastination, probably not. But the quicker you can identify when you are procrastinating the better your chances of gaining the knowledge needed to overcome your own adversities to be on the winning side!