22 September 2011 Instructor Newsletter

22 September 2011 Choreographytogo Instructor Newsletter
From Rachel Holmes

Good Morning!

Firstly, I want to update you all with what’s happening on Choreographytogo as I know some of you have had a few problems logging in and getting your Choreography this week.

We began upgrading the whole C2Go site over a year ago now and we have been changing things a section at a time. It’s a mammoth task as the site is so huge.

This week we have been upgrading the membership sections and videos, the work is ongoing as we are working every day on various parts of the site. If you do SEE a snag, a problem or something isn’t working then PLEASE email me. Rachel@Choreographytogo.com and we will do our level best to get it right for you.

Lots of you have been emailing me with suggestions to make the site easier to use and snags you have spotted. This is massively helpful to us all here at c2Go, so please keep them coming in. I look at the site so often that sometimes you don’t spot things, so I am eternally grateful for your feedback and comments. We have now changed the card processing in the shopping cart so you dont have to add a password any longer.

If you do log in and you can’t find your choreography “Don’t panic” just email us and we will check your account has been enabled. You haven’t lost any of your purchases, they are all there intact, we just need to double check they are enabled and your account is live.

I have also moved house this week (How stressful is moving house?) and the sparkly new Choreographytogo filming studio is all kitted out with new gym equipment ready for the next generation of downloads.

You can check out my latest Super High and Super Fast Aerobic Choreography download here Click here. Again I’d love your feedback on what downloads you would like.

You can email me or Tweet me http://Twitter.com/RachelHolmes or Facebook me

Fitness Pilates 2 day Training in Derby – Due to illness I have 1 remaining place on the December date Click here to book

Future Projects Coming Soon on Choreographytogo

DVDS – This week new DVDs will be coming on line including The Fitness Fatburning and Functional Workshop.

New PPL Free Music – I will be launching a brand new Rachel Holmes/Choreographytogo New Music PPL Free Music Line very soon. You will able to get your music and choreography direct from the C2GO website. This will be brilliant for advanced members who get 10% discount on all products, which will also include the new music section.

Blogs and Vlogs Are you reading and watching my Blogs and VLOGS – I’m updating most days with 3-4minute VLOGs. You can check out this week’s here.

New Online Bootcamp Qualification 8CPD/REPS points coming soon.

Business Builder Seminar Day

I launched the first Business Builder Day last week in Bristol and I think I was more exhausted than teaching a practical workshop. We covered SO much info and it was great to impart all of the Business Builder material. I enjoyed the day so much and judging by the positive feedback and response from the Instructors it was very well received. If you are ready to leap forward with your fitness business or are looking to get started, then come along. I will be running Edinburgh/Manchester/London/Southampton/Birmingham and the dates now are almost fully booked. You can book online here.

Plan for 2012 – Are you ready for The Olympics? By Rachel Holmes

If you haven’t started already then you have to plan for 2012. Like, now. period.
You really can’t leave it to chance as there are a lot of additional factors that have never come into the Fitness Instructors Calendar before.

Planning Hit List

1. Buy a 2012 Year planner and firstly highlight all of the bank holidays. There is another extra one due to 2012 being Jubilee year.

2. Highlight school holidays in your area.

3.Highlight the Olympics dates and Paralympics dates.

4. Find out if any countries will be in your area training or using your local facilities during the build up and during the Olympics and Paralympic Games.

Plan your Quarters

Divide the year into 4 quarters:
Quarter 1 = January – April/Easter
Quarter 2 = April/After Easter to June
Quarter 3 = June – August
Quarter 4 = September – December/Xmas

Historically we know that Quarter 1 is always huge, Quarter 2 you may need to add new classes to continue momentum, Quarter 3 you may streamline your timetable or do Summer Specials and Quarter 4 is another big one as we gear up to the Xmas season.

Take a leaf out of Les Mills/BTS and why not do a new launch or release every Quarter? The buzz around a new quarter release is always HUGE and you can do the same with any of the classes that you teach. New Routines, New Music, New timetable etc and build the buzz at the beginning of every Quarter.

If you are not prepared for the Olympics it could be commercial suicide.

I don’t want to be the voice of doom and gloom, I might be totally wrong here and of course I can’t see into a crystal ball here BUT I’m willing to bet that class numbers will take a massive nose dive as soon as Olympic fever hits us.
Many of our lovely class members and clients will want to be watching the games and not coming to class.

Plan ahead.

Get your policies and procedures ready now. It could be a great time to switch from pay as you go to courses and direct debits OR run paid up front courses for this period. The last thing I want is for you to be hiring expensive venues with low numbers, which pulls on your profits.

Plan 2012, your classes, marketing and your quarter launches. Get your timetables printed and set out your stall well in advance

At the end of the day I could be totally wrong but let’s hedge our bets and plan 2012 with military precision.
I’d love to know what you think about this subject. Tweet me http://Twitter.com/RachelHolmes

Breakfast – who knew it could be SUCH a problem by Sally Ghafoor
Oh yes, breakfast for my clients is the BANE of my life, the minute we tell them what needs to be removed from their diet, they seem to go crazy about breakfast.

Now, you will find they probably don’t even vary their breakfast day to day – it will be porridge, milk and toast and a cuppa in the morning every day. But the minute your remove this, they all of a sudden feel the need for variety – now variety in nutrition is awesome, but for the most here, they are being awkward because you have taken away their comfort blanket if you like, they don’t like change and you are making them change.

I get asked this all the time – “what do YOU eat for breakfast then” (it’s always asked very sarcastically) when I tell them I may have a salad, I may have an omelette with tons of veggies, or scrambled eggs and asparagus, I may heat up yesterday’s dinner that I made extra of, their mouth just falls open – oh no way I couldn’t eat that. However, they are quite happy to eat sugar filled chocolate covered processed cereals, which will give them a huge insulin spike to set them up for fat gain throughout the day.

It’s of the utmost importance they understand why you are removing their morning cereal that they have eaten for the past 25 years and replacing it with foods they associate with being unable to eat first thing in the morning. The emphasis should always be not on removing food but replacing them with healthier choices. For me everything else is a breeze, people seem to get completely and utterly stuck on breakfast, so ensure you have some choices and most of all make sure you’re doing it yourself!

Sally Ghafoor
www.gethealthsavvy.co.uk

You get what you pay for You Get What you pay For by Jayne Nicholls

Today in my busiest Freestyle Fitness yoga class and with 2 minutes before its start, someone I had never met before turned up. i took time to welcome her and asked the boring but mandatory question, do you have any injuries? ‘yes’ she replied, ‘I have a hernia and my abdominals are split in 2 places. I have been advised to come to you by a friend who told me that you are a great instructor who teaches around the UK’. I told her that FFY is not a good class for injury, especially not her type of injury, to which she said, ‘my friend must be wrong then!’ May be so, maybe turning this woman away from my class makes me a less than brilliant instructor in her eyes, but i made clear that no instructor anywhere should take her into a group class without full screening, a letter from her doctor stating what she can and can not do and to re iterate Yoga is not the class to take part in with a hernia and abdominal issues.

So my point here today is what do the public want for their class fee? if i did offer her the full screen and expert advise, i would only do this in a 1 to 1 environment at a fee that warrants my ‘expert’ advice. Did she expect the usual modifications that we offer to anyone with injury, the typical knees bent and rolling through the spine, all of the things that could aggravate her condition at any time. Why do the general public feel that we can offer physio or medical information related specifically to their condition?

it was brought to my attention at the weekend that many people feel obliged to take this type of client into their classes to make up numbers required by the club chains, however it is important to understand that once we turn the music on we are responsible for their health and safety – no one else.

For me it is just not worth the risk

J a y n e

IS YOUR NETWORKING? – Jill Gardner. Hate it? Change it!

I don’t print flyers or leaflets and I have one small add in a local flyer once a month. So how do I fill my classes and courses and generate lots of great business leads? Read on!

Networking is your lifeblood to success

Do you network? Do you know how to make an impact? How do you network? Is your networking working and why should you do it?

Do you network? Whether you like it or not you are networking ALL the time.

Every time you speak, smile or pass someone in the street it is your chance to network wither brilliantly or badly! It’s your chance to build trust and rapport.

That first encounter is THE most important encounter.

How to make an impact? You will rarely gain huge success in your first few networking opportunities/events. You need to be consistent with your attendance. It took me a number of months before I was able to pitch my products/services almost effortlessly. I had followed the golden rule of networking! I never went with an intention to sell! But more importantly I was myself and I made a point of standing out with my introductions and elevator pitches (your 60second slot that allows you to say what you do) and I spoke with passion that people could genuinely feel and see.

Sarah Setterfield from ‘Impact for Success’ says “It works best when you develop relationships with people who you think you can get to like, because it is easier and it will be genuine. Remember; people buy into people who are like them!”

Sarah taught me the importance of getting that introduction right. In my early days I was simply a fitness instructor or personal trainer. I would see eyes glaze over. From that moment people had already decided they knew what I did before I had a chance to explain. Now I have learnt how to really stand out. Now my introduction goes something like “Hi! I teach people to eat well, live well and burn fat – I’m Jill, The Fat Controller!” This always raises a smile and an eyebrow or two and of course gets you remembered! This goes hand in hand with a smart appearance. I never attend networking events in my fitness gear.

Why network? It gets you known and it establishes rapport with other companies. Your face gets seen and your brand gets recognised. You are in the forefront of people’s minds. You may not make a sale or strike a business relationship that day, but months or even years later an opportunity could come your way.

Who to network with? EVERYONE! I learned quickly that there is a potential business lead, connection or sale to be had with every person you interact with. Whether indirectly or directly.
Sarah says
Most people have between 250 and 500 contacts
Referral is 80% more effective than a cold call
Most people you ever want to meet are only 4-5 people
away from you
There are over 300 active business networks in the UK

You never know when there could be the most unlikely business lead. Never leave it to chance. Treat every encounter as a potential business lead.
Sarah says “Many business people think that taking time out of a busy day to ‘network’ is a waste of time, when in fact it is the most cost effective form of marketing you can do”

In summary you should network because it gives people the opportunity to:
Meet and get to know you
Hear about what you are passionate about doing and how it has benefited others
Listen to what others do and where their passions lie
Build relationships with people who may not be your direct customers in the future but may well come into contact with the types of companies who would be your ideal customer

Through my networking I have established business relationships with other fit pros, local shops and restaurants, cookery schools and key local businesses and charities. I have networked my way to success locally and am now using the power of social media, events and exhibitions to grow my network nationally. I now find people approaching me to work with them and often they know what I do before I even speak!
I met Sarah through networking. Sarah is international expert on branding, image and marketing yourself. For more tips on how to make an impact for success, be sure to follow Sarah on facebook http://www.facebook.com/impactforsuccess

Do you ever feel that everything is getting too much and you want to give up? Sit back, reflect and get yourself back up on your feet by Becky Lane

I felt exactly like this a few days ago. It felt as if everything was building up and that there weren’t enough hours in the day. My little girl was poorly (and if you have children you will know that you can’t get anything done). I was working til 1am / 2am in the morning as she was asleep and it was the only time I had to get my work done. I was up again at 6 to workout, see to her, go and teach classes and then the cycle started all over again. The one thing that really upset me was that I missed my mentoring call with Rachel. This is the one thing that gets me feeling positive and back on track every couple of weeks. I was devastated! Instead of feeling sorry for myself I made a plan / mind map of everything I wanted to achieve in the next month, then the next 1/4, and the 1/4 after that and so on. I had never sat down and analysed my business like this before and clearly this was a flaw on my part! Overnight my ‘job’ changed into a ‘business’. Unfortunately it won’t happen overnight but I can now see the paths in which I have to follow. I feel that with this guide everything seems within reach and much more achievable. I have a clear plan of all my business elements and how I want to push forward.

If you haven’t written down where you would like your business to be at every 1/4 of the year DO IT without delay. It really works and gets you motivated again! I can’t believe I have only just done this, perhaps I am the only one? You get so bogged down with day to day tasks and classes you tend to forget about where you want your business to be and how long it will take you to get there.

There are so many perks of working for yourself but the important thing to remember is that you are the only one who is going to make yourself successful. No one else will or can do it for you.

Check out Beckys Movin Monkeez Programme click here

Thank You For Such A Huge Response by KBC
Hope you are having a great week!

I’ve had a huge response to the articles I’ve written over the past month about my Little Black Dress Club; a 6 week small group personal training concept I created which has been a major game changer for my business.

The results my members have achieved have been nothing short of outstanding! In many cases better that on a 1:1 basis because the accountability is huge…not only are members accountable to me but also to each other!

Running this concept has also meant can leverage my time…I can train 5 people at once…meaning I’m out working a LOT less and have more time to spend with my little Heidi as well as working on other projects within my business, e.g. setting up new classes, developing online products etc.

So, like I said I had a huge response from fellow group exercise instructors and personal trainers which has been great, and I have tried my best to answer all of your questions individually but I thought perhaps the best way to answer everything would be to run a FREE webinar.

The webinar will cover exactly how the LBD Club format works and is delivered, from week 1 through to week 6. I’ll reveal want the client receives for their investment, how to price the product, what results the plan yields and how to set up your very own!

I’m only opening this up to C2Go readers as a thank you for your lovely feedback and support, so if you’d like to be the first to get the link to next week’s webinar, there are only 50 spaces, then please visit

http://katiebulmer.com/lbd-club-webinar

Who could really benefit from this info???

Do you feel exhausted and would like to have more time to yourself without sacrificing your income?

Do you want to deliver ‘off the map’ results to your clients?

Are you a group X instructor who wants to offer your class members something totally new?

Are you sick of trading time for money?

Do you have packed Zumba classes and are looking for something to feed you members through to?

Do you teach Zumba and are looking for the next big thing that’s gonna help you retain all the clients Zumba brought you?

Are you a PT who wants a proven template and method that gets insane results?

If you answered YES to even one of these questions then you don’t wanna miss this webinar!

I can’t wait to share this concept with you,
Thanks for reading,

Katie xx
Ps. add me on Face book and Twitter (Katie.bulmer1 and katiebulmer1)

Have a wonderful Week everyone
Love Rachel xx