18th October Instructor Newsletter

Choreographytogo Newsletter 18th October with Rachel Holmes from Rachel L Holmes on Vimeo.

Click here to play the newsletter

Hi from Rachel
A week away doing what you really love and enjoy with like minded people really gives you clarity. Clarity, personally and professionally. I have been teaching in Turkey on a new Fitness and Fun week. I managed to get though 3 books, listen to loads of old and new audio programmes, and reorganise my huge musical mess that has been masquerading as itunes for the last million years. I’m a massive fan of Brian Tracy and enjoyed listening to the old classics – Eat That Frog and Goals. Hence, I have spent time reorganising my prorities, my 12 month goals and weekly todolist. So, as I’m in that zone right now I thought it would be a cool newsletter to highlight some of the old tricks I rediscovered this week, pass on some new ones that jumped out at me and have been trialling over the last few weeks.

Your 12 Months Goals

Where do you want to be in 12 months time? It’s the big question that many Instructors and Fitness business owners shy away from, I think, because our industry moves so fast. New trends, new classes and concepts come steaming along that we think if we lay too many plans we won’t be able to react quickly to the new opportunities that appear. Be the leader not the follower, create the new trends, create the changes and think on a much bigger scale.

Write down 10 big goals that you want to achieve by this date in 12 months time. Be so clear and so specific down to every last detail. Don’t just write “I want to have more free time” or “I want Instructors working for me delivering my programme”, or “I want to be a presenter”. Be more descriptive, so you may say, The new group X programme that I created and developed called XXXXXXX is now being taught in 20 counties of the UK with 20 Instrctors who I have trained in XXXX. The more descriptive the better, really feel and live the goal, act, speak and think as if you had attained this.

Your Daily To Do Lists

A new tip I’ve been trialling for a month now is my daily todolists. Just like you and most Instructors I meet, I am a prolific list writer and to do list person. I’ve got note books full of lists and goals; there’s nothing I love more than getting a brand new plain note book and taking a loveley pen and writing my daily to do lists. It can’t be lined as I it doesn’t work for me if it is, it has to be plain. I have my note book with me in my bag and on my desk as I eagerly work down the list ticking everything off and, of course, carrying loads of the items that I don’t manage to get to over to the next day/week/month or even year.
A month ago I made my note book redundant and have transferrd everything over to my phone and I promise you it has changed my life. I’ve powered through my daily to do lists and am now making steps to achieving my big 12 month’s goals.

Why?

I know it’s something so simple but if you do this I know you will find the same as I have. Think about how many times you take your phone out, probably 10/20 times and hour. You have your phone with you at all times, you protect it with your life, it’s as important to you as your house keys, your credit cards, even your cash, so by writing your 12 month’s Goals and your daily to do list on your phone, your lists are always there. You can add to them, edit them, it will help you stay totally and utterly focused. Because you see them every time you look at your phone they stay at the forefront of your mind. When faced with a daily decision because you look at your goals/list throughout the day you always make the right business decision because you are totally focused. But this method can be so demoralising, as you never get to the end of your daily list and we continually keep adding and adding more things than is humanly possible to complete in a day.

Tips to Creating the Perfect Daily To Do List on Your Phone.

Most time management books and programmes were written years ago and they don’t take into consideration that we are now living the digital age. Harness the power of your phone and keep your goals and daily lists in the fore front of your mind.

1.Choose a time to create your list and do this at the same time every day. Like you would clean your teeth or remove your make up. Take 15 minutes every day and create the list when you have silence to completely focus.

2.Divide your tasks into a weekly list and a daily list. Only put items on your daily lists that you HAVE to get done that day. If you get through them great, then go to your weekly list and start working through that. The great thing about using your phone is anything you don’t do will carry over to the next day without you having to write it up again.

3.Look at your 12month’s goals and add a few small daily steps on your to do list that edge you closer to your big goals.

4.EDIT your lists. Remove items that you really don’t need to do that day. Only focus on the important tasks. We spend so much time faffing about doing menial stuff. Eat those frogs and get to the big, important tasks first.

5.Carry your list wherever you go, which is perfect as it’s on your phone.

The one thing we all want more of is time. You can earn more money, of course, but you can’t earn more time so make sure you plan your days in advance, allocate time and don’t waste a minute. Decide on your prorities, 12 months goals and daily lists and then focus…Really focus like a laser beam to power through your goals.

Ladies Golf Day Tomorrow – Wanted More Female Fitpro Golfers to Play

I’m on a quest to get more female Fitpros into golf.
If you can get to Derbyshire tomorrow. I’ll be hosting a ladies Golf day at Morley Hayes from 930am – 1230 with the Golf Pros. If you are interested in learning to play do come and join us. Here are the details


2013 Fitness and Fun Week in Turkey

It was an amazing week at the beautiful 5 Star Gran Premier Gural Resort in Tekirova. We offered a full daily programme of classes, evening entertainment and unbelivable food. Next year we will be running a week from 12th May and 6th October. I’ll be bringing groups from the UK so if you are interested then check out all of the details here Click here.

New Downloads

I have uploaded this week 2 new choreography downloads. Another Ab Ladder as the last one was such a popular download and SuperSculpt 4
Click here for SuperSculpt 4
Click here for Ab Ladder

New KSFL 7 Day Detox

I’ll be launching a new 7 day Detox next Monday with Kettlebell workouts. So if you would like to jump in all the details will be online by this evening.

Online Level 2 Exercise to Music and Level 2 Gym

I have these 2 qualifications on offer until the end of today. If you have someone in your class that you feel may benfit from gaining one of these qualifications, perhaps someone who could potentially work for you, that you could mould and mentor then get grab these courses.

Fitness Pilates Certification

There are a couple of spaces on the December course and I’ve now uploaded the new 2013 dates for those who are keen to begin teaching FP in the future.
We have another packed newsletter for you today with articles from Jayne, Jill, Cori, Claire, Vikki and Andrew. I hope you enjoy and, of course, please keep your feedback coming in via Twitter @RachelHolmes and Facebook.


Jayne Nicholls I have a dream
”I have a dream” by Martin Luther King 1963 on his dream for racial equality and a peaceful nation.

In 2012 this is a key note quote and is also a benchmark for those who dream of global change and making a bridge towards passionate goals and ambition. Imagine if MLK had Facebook at his disposal. His dream would have become a reality in seconds, as one of his many friends post yes absolutely I envisage a world where ”little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” – job done, I now have at least 500 ”likes”.

Passion and passionate are 2 of the most key adjectives used in our industry at present, we are all so passionate about what we do in real terms, BUT when we look at reality and what it translates into, it is without doubt either – exercise to music or some version of exercise prescription for large, small groups and 1 to 1, the very things that we qualified in and the very things that our clients want from us. My message this week, is that if we are in danger of sidelining the very essence of what brings us together on this newsletter, facebook and other groups, in favour for what we perceive is our destiny or what we want to be in reality, then we are in for a very short term and un profitable business.

No matter what you call it whether it is Cross Fit, Zumba or Step, the key to its success lies 100% in whether your target market want or need to do it. The very essence of group training is that we out of the entire fitness industry generate long term adherence. This is created ”fortunately or not” by:

· The other people in the group
· The music
· The environment
· You the instructor
· The time
· The price
· The result – (in very small letters and most likely forgotten after session 1)

If we keep this in mind all of the time and capitalise upon the massive gain that we have from utilising all of these points, then our dreams and our passions can be played out as a niche market. In this case, despite it being, less than a huge success, we can enjoy the rewards that it brings us as professional, goal driven human beings without the de-motivation that invariably occurs when we try to sell what is important to us to a mass market who are in the first instance at least disinterested.

This is not to say that our dreams, like MLK cannot become a reality, BUT before the materialise, they inevitable must go through the process of:

· Ground work
· Generation of an interested data base of like minded professionals
· Evidence that what you provide actually works from points A – Z
· Testimonials
· Generation of future business

2013 has massive potential for anyone who puts in the ground work and can stand up for what they believe in. Here is the final point for this week – successful people share their success and will always guide others to be successful. Inspiration and information does not always come at a price. If you look at the years of articles and ideas shared by C2GO, you could archive an entire cyclopaedia of coaching to last you a lifetime.



j a y n e


Are you a victim in your business?……Jill Gardner

I’ve learnt some massive tools for success from networking with others. One of the biggest lessons I learnt was to stop being a victim! So take this example:

Class numbers are dwindling and people are leaving to go gyms, other instructors or just can’t be bothered to show up.

There are two ways you can go with this:

1. Complain about it and blame everything and everyone but yourself:

It’s raining
There are bugs going around
It’s nearly Christmas
It’s darker now
My competitors are cheaper
They are just lazy……

Some of this may be true. But while we point out the negatives and highlight the problems we are acting victim! When you are acting victim you are powerless to do anything about it.

2. Ask yourself :

What am I not doing
What can you do different to change it?
What are my competitors doing that I am not?
How can I make my customer service SO great they would never leave?
How can I give more great value to their experience?

The moment you take ownership and take charge, you are then free to find solutions or to try different things.

The same is true for fat loss: There will always be a reason why you can’t start a diet, or why it’s harder to lose weight for you. But the moment you change your language – for example: “this way isn’t working, so what other ways can I try?” You free yourself from being a victim to a victor, controller and a success!

Which one are you – Victim or Victor? I know which one I am #Victor – tweet me!

Big love, small tummies!

Jill – The Fat Controller www.facebook.com/hateitchangeit @itsjillgardner www.hateitchangeit.co.uk


Jill Gardner – The Fat Controller
Managing your journey together



Opportunities by Yvonne Radley

This week I was invited to speak at my local Supermummy group. Check them out on Google as there’s probably one near you. It’s a business group for mothers who like to network and exchange ideas.
I was invited as a guest speaker to go along and give some media tips as many of the members have small businesses and small budgets so can’t afford a PR or marketing person themselves.
It was the first time I’d done a presentation and they wanted an hour!
I decided to create a PowerPoint Presentation and talk them through the slides which worked really well.
Here is my step by step guide for creating your own presentation.
1: Thank your audience for coming
2. Give them a little bit of background on who you are and how you got to where you are now – your story.
3. Explain if you want them to ask questions along the way or at the end.
4. Tell them what you are about to tell them
5. Take them through your main presentation
6. Then recap and tell them what you have told them
7. If you have a product to pitch do it now
8. Any questions.
I’m happy to say the hour flew by and I never got stuck for words as I had everything on my slides and just stuck to this easy format. If you fancy trying out public speaking I would suggest going along to your local Supermummy Group and introducing yourself and then offering your services.
Yvonne Radley
YvonneRadleyMedia.com
@yvonneradley on Twitter
Find me on Facebook
Email me with any queries Radley@yvonneradley.com

Baby Show fever by Claire Mockridge

Hi there,

I hope you’re having a good week and your fitness business is doing well. I’ve just come back from 18 wonderful days travelling around Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro with my other half. The weather was fab, the scenery stunning and I think I was ready for a break, because it took me all of about 2 hours to relax!

We touched down on Saturday afternoon, and I was straight back to work the next day! I exhibited my pre/postnatal services at the East Midlands Baby & Toddler Show on Sunday. It’s a full-on day for visitors and exhibitors alike, but a MUST event for my business. Why? Well, it exposes my services to my exact target market, for an intense period of time and it’s all under one roof.

For those of you who’ve recently launched pregnancy/mum and baby classes, you’ll realise pre/postnatal is a tough market to crack in to, but I’d urge you to find a similar event close by to exhibit at, because it really will be worth your while.

If, after you’ve found the perfect event, you realise you can’t afford the price of a stall, you have three options:

consider contacting the organisers asking if you could get a discount for a smaller table because you’re a new start-up and funds are tight,
team up with another baby-business and share the cost of the stall, or
buy a ticket to the event and go along primarily to network with the other stall holders to spread the word about your classes.

Not sure if the Event you’ve found is for you? Want to know if it’s worthwhile you attending? Well, all you need to do is contact one of the service-based exhibitors who’ve already booked the Show (you’ll find this on the list of stall on the Event’s website). Now what? Well, you phone them, introduce yourself and ask them for some honest feedback about their experience of past years exhibiting. Simples.

You don’t need to attend a slick Baby Show like the one I attended. Think outside the box a bit, and consider a Craft Event, local Baby Show, Christmas Market, Wedding Fayre. These will all have a good amount of foot traffic, and more than likely some pregnant, newly postnatal, or soon to be pregnant women.

This weekend, I’m really excited to be travelling down to Somerset on Sunday 21 October to deliver my “Bridging the Gap” Pre/Postnatal Exercise & Marketing Workshop. If you’d like to book a last-minute space, click here: www.clairemockridge.com/workshops, or connect with me below:

Closed Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/clairemockridge/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/clairemockridge1
Twitter: www.twitter.com/clairemockridge
Blog: http://clairemockridge.wordpress.com/

Claire Mockridge
Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert


Do you take care of you? Cori Withell

More and more I am seeing fit pros stressing about low numbers in class, putting on extra classes despite injuries, working longer, trying to do more and more and more to keep the money coming in. People are tightening their purse strings and this does make it hard in our industry but where are you going to draw the line? How many injuries will you sustain before you realise that you cannot carry on as you were? When are you going to get outside of your comfort zone and look at alternative ways of making some money? Fit pros that take care of themselves seem few and far between these days and I don’t mean training, I mean time out for you, being kind to yourself just because you can and doing so without guilt! These are my top then that I do for myself every day and definitely feel it if I don’t do them!

1) Yoga first thing in the morning – even if it is only 5 minutes – you could also do meditation or relaxation.
2) My training before 9am so I am not stressing about fitting it in all day!
3) Walking – I walk at least three times a day, they joys of dog ownership means you can never not, but this could be a jog or a fast walk.
4) ‘me’ time – I always have at least 30 minutes per day that are purely for me. Now, you may argue that you can’t fit in – you can, just plan it in.
5) Relaxation or meditation before sleep. I either just send thirty minutes winding down or I go to bed early and put on a CD to fall asleep to. Not only do I fall asleep easier, I sleep better and deeper and so feel more refreshed.
6) Positive affirmations – worrying constantly about the what if’s, is NOT going to make you feel any better. Be proactive and talk as if everything is okay – this will have a massive impact on how you feel.
7) Eat clean and eat well. We are becoming a nation obsessed with fat loss and whilst it is important, so is feeling good. Eat the Mood Food way and your size and shape will not be an issue anyway!
8) If something is not working, do something about it – thinking about it is not going to fix it. If there is a class that you dread teaching, put something else in it’s place – this will drain you of every ounce of energy otherwise.
9) Accept help. Sometimes we are too stubborn to admit that we need a little help, a shoulder to cry on, support, a virtual hug! You can get all of that and more at https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindfulhealthandwellness/
10) Accept the imperfect – sounds so simple but can be one of the hardest things to do.

Implement something along those lines every day and you will notice the difference immediately. If you need inspiration on Mood Food then you can check out my e-books here www.cwfitness.co.uk/shop
I am also putting the finishing touches to the FitPro Mind Audio Series looking at the five most common issues for fit pros looking at competition, depression, procrastination and more 🙂

Health and happiness x
Best wishes
Cori x

Web www.cwfitness.co.uk
Facebook www.facebook.com/cori.withell
Twitter www.twitter.com/CWFitness
Blog www.cwfitness.co.uk/blog


Viki Scovell

I’m sat here on the sofa with the lap top on my- yup you guessed it, on my lap, and I have a gut-full of painkillers which I am praying are going to start working some time real soon before I start to whimper. Ok don’t expect me to write anything useful here, as I am merely appealing for sympathy. For the last ten years I have been wooping it big time with my fitness; harder, faster, heavier. Oh god I love it. I have bought on some of my classes to the point where they are seriously getting fit, and not just in a Legs Bums and Tums way, but I mean SERIOUSLY fit. Last summer, I was at home for most of the time and continued with classes over the usually quiet break. There were still plenty of people attending, and a little more space than usual, and we went NUTS, and I mean NUTS. The thing was, when September arrived with the usual over-kill of people who have misbehaved at barbeques for the last two months and basically done NOTHING, we were properly SAVAGE, and had lost all perspective on what an exercise class should be. (You will notice that I am spreading the blame here by saying WE when actually it was all my responsibility). So when the rest of the class, and the important new people came back, they were basically annihilated and decamped to Zumba quick-smartish to avoid my nasty hardcore attitude. I have to say that I have learnt this lesson now and AM more understanding. I have recently started teaching a class out in the sticks with a totally different demographic than I am used to. We have been practicing some fairly gentle Pilates and Yoga; I have failed to break a sweat or get out of breath once, but some of these lovely people have found it a challenge, and risen to that challenge. I find it a lovely break in my week, where I can enjoy all of the great things about teaching, but without half-killing myself in the process.
But anyway, at the moment I am BROKEN. Actually nothing is working properly at all. I have ignored every single niggle (can’t stop, have to push through, have to earn, have to keep going). I have entirely neglected looking after myself; no sports massage, no foam-rollers, no taking it easy when I know I have an injury, NO NEW TRAINERS (gasp). I am now basically stuffed. Why am I telling you this? Because, you need to LISTEN to your body, if something hurts: take care of it, rest it if you have to, and invest the time and/or money to get some expert advice. I have refused to acknowledge that I am doing a full-on job on top of a serious injury, and it was a matter of pride for me to keep going, and to go as hard as possible to prove to myself that I could, and that I wouldn’t be beaten. But everyone has been telling me that it is only a matter of time, and here I am now; BEATEN. So all I can say to you, is, please send grapes and messages of love and support. Feel free to offer a massage or a word of advice, but please, please, please take care of yourself, because brand YOU needs YOU. This is the best job in the world, but it can be quite punishing too; we may lose perspective on what ‘normal’ levels of intensity are, what the public needs, and what they can cope with. Take a step back, and make sure you care for your body, and those of the people who are in YOUR care.
Vikki Scovell @fitbite

Virgin or Wh*re
By Andrew Crawford

Unknown brand. New unchartered territory, never been used before …new…versus well-known brand , well chartered used by many….old.
If you had a choice, which would you go for?
Virgin is a well-known brand used by many

The other day I ventured into virgin territory….I had never touched this part of the country before…. A small scenic village called Ilkley in North Yorkshire. I spent most of the afternoon with the cute Amber MacShane.
On the way home I stopped in a petrol station where I was ‘hit’ by 9 different full frontal page news of the infamous Jimmy soVILE….wtf…!!

What will happen to Jimmy?…Nothing…What does he care?…Nothing….Who will foot the unnecessary extortionate Solicitors, Lawyers, Judges, Researchers, 120 Police Officers, Criminal Investigators, CPS, MI5, Independent Inquirers (‘Controlled’ by the state), Photographers, Historians bills yet to come?…Why..you and me of course….Will Jimmy soVILE take the bench?…..No…Jimmy ain’t here to answer any allegations….Who will they charge?….Noone…..Will Jimmy care whether ‘Sir’ gets stripped from his title? (excuse my bear faced pun)…..not on your Nellie…Is the BBC guilty? …..Certainly yes…..Will any paperwork or hard evidence be ‘found’….No, it will all be destroyed or being eradicated as I write…..BBC’ll fix that..!!

I say….Just fine the mofo’s £100m for ‘covering up’ the stories relating to the wh*re named Jimmy soVILE, revoke their licence, close the case and shut down the BBC….(it has dragged on too long….I don’t want to see anymore headlines or front page news or NEW discoveries already reported of people coming forward after all this time…..it’s too flipping late….!!). Stop wasting public money on this b*ll*x…!!

Sorry but I’ve given this too much space……..our attention is being drawn to this by the media…..watch out…..something is going on..!!!!

So Andrew…..

What has Virgin and Wh*re got to do with Accountancy and Tax…eh??

Well…there has been lots of UK virgins imigrating to the UK thus coming into the old tax regime, existing for many years. In determining whether a person is liable to UK income tax we must look at their residence status.

If you are a UK resident person, you are liable to be taxed on your worldwide income. If you are non resident, you will only pay tax on your UK income.

If you are a visitor and was in the UK for 183 days in the tax year you will be UK resident.

If you leave the UK permanently, which is 3 years or more, you will be treated as a non resident from the date of departure. Your UK visits must average less than 91 days per annum over a 4 year period .

If you come to the UK permanently, 3 years or more to live in the UK, you are resident from the date of arrival.
With companies, it’s about the same.

There has been lots of talk lately because the likes of Starbucks and Amazon paid no corporation tax. Other companies like Facebook and Google paid very little compared to their income.

I’ve said this once and I will say it again, a company is resident in the UK if it is registered here or its central management and control in located in the UK.

If proved to be resident, it pays UK tax, otherwise…..no UK tax is payable.

So for instance, if you was to open up a company in Cyprus and all decisions and meetings are held there and you only have a subsidiary in the UK …..you will only pay UK corporation tax If you carry on a trade through a ‘Permanent Establishment’………question…..would your operation in the UK be a permanent establishment?……………Exactly……No UK tax….!!

Make sure all you ‘major’ decisions and meetings are done on a beach ‘outside ‘ the UK…..you get me..??

How do the ‘Big Boys’ do it? They finance their UK operations by loans or licences. So when turnover is reported they can reduce the income considerably…like Starbucks did. It made sales of £398 million but made a £33 million loss….!! Not a bean of tax was paid….genius..!!

If you’re familiar with Microsoft word…..’Copy, Cut , Paste……Rebrand….’

Finally
It is a strange phenomenon that the older one is…..you want to delve into a little something new……the younger you are, you want to get stuck into something old, proven and well tested.
Go figure.

Andrew Crawford
There are more FREE resources, downloads and tax advice at our site, visit
www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com www.facebook.com/fitnessindustryaccountants www.facebook.com/andrewjamescrawford
www.twitter.com/tax4fitness
www.fitnessindustrygossip.com (launches 27th October)


Happy Thursday

Love Rachel xx