4th April 2013 Instructor Newsletter

Thanks for all the great feedback on last week’s IFS edition of the newsletter. As we are still right in the middle of convention season, Jayne, Kelly and I are all prepping now for Fitpro LIve, which is on next weekend at Loughborough University. It’s a completely different event to Blackpool in so many ways which I think is awesome; the two events totally compliment each other as they are very different. Conventions are so much more than taking classes and doing workshops. It’s great to network with your peers, listen to the business lectures, see what people are wearing and saying, and I guarantee you ALWAYS pick up a 1st class idea to implement. Something will spark you, a conversation you have in passing or a comment in a session and the light bulb will go off and you will have the answer to something you have been pondering for ages. If cash is tight or you are stuck in a bit of a teaching rut or perhaps you just haven’t made it to a convention for a few years, then go for a day, you will reap the benefits 10 fold. I cannot recommend it enough for motivation and a shake up on what you are currently doing.

I could easily attend a convention every week. I adore the giddy feeling I get when packing. I love catching up with everyone and seeing all the overseas presenters and I endeavor to see sessions and presenters I’ve not caught before, as you always gain brilliant nuggets you can weave into your own classes and business.

This year, Jayne, Kelly and I are team teaching the HIIT Fitness challenge, plus I’ll be doing Plyometric Fitness Pilates and a round table discussion on the future of group exercise and, of course, the Fitpro Dinner is always great fun. My hot session recommendations include Jay Blahnick, Bobby Cappuccio, Zosha Piotrowski, Geoff Bagshaw and Michol Dalcourt and, of course, from the UK Andy Wake, Delvin Clarke, Kevin Mclernon, Richard Callender, John Shehan. There are some brilliant business, nutrition and PT sessions and, of course, loads of great Group X and Small Group Training workshop.

You can still grab a last minute place by heading over to www.Fitpro.com

New Fitness Business DVD – Mentoring, Coaching and Consulting with Rachel Holmes & Andrew Crawford

Have you thought about offering coaching and mentoring to your customers? All fitness Instructors reading this newsletter have amazing skills, knowledge and content to could be helping more people get to their goals faster and more effectively.

You don’t have to have a string of academic qualifications, you just have to have lived, breathed and DONE IT to be a brilliant, relevant and credible mentor.
PLUS, there is MASSIVE potential for you to create a super successful passive income that you can do from anywhere and work it round your home life, family, classes and commitments.

Brainstorm all of the thing you know about and love that other people also want to do:

*Running a 10k, Half Marathon, Full Marathon
*Training for a Triathlon
*Setting up successful community classes
*Running your own studio
*Losing weight
*Creating an online Pilates programme
*Getting fit at home

You probably can come up with a list of 20 items that you know inside out and back to front. It could be anything that you are skilled in and have had great success with.
All you need is to create a comprehensive course or package and that could be as simple as daily emails and a skype coaching call once a week. Or a Facebook group that you drop content into every day, or week, and have group conference calls. You can set up your coaching and mentoring exactly how you like to suit your clients and your delivery style.

Andrew Crawford and I have created a step by step DVD showing you exactly how to create your own bespoke coaching services. I go through in detail how to start off with small, shorter products and move into more long term coaching courses. Andrew looks at the technical aspects of consulting, what to charge and how it all works. I have waffled on and on about creating your business, your brand and creating a passive income for over 15 years in my newsletters and coaching IS Something you should look at offering and we have documented everything you need in this DVD that you can play over and over again.

Check out the clips for the DVD and all of the info. The special offer runs out on Sunday 7th April so make sure you grab your copy of this ground breaking Fitness Business DVD. Click here

Brainstorming Business and Class Ideas

Here’s a quick ideas list for the Spring /Summer Quarter

1.Design an online coaching and mentoring service and roll it out.
2.Mind/Body Fusion classes such as UNITE or hybrid classes that merge different styles.
3.Get on the HIIT bandwagon. The media has really grabbed it and running with 30min classes so don’t miss out on this trend.
4.Under 5’s – HUGE opportunity for creating your own brand and style of classes for this age group. It’s daytime work and it’s such an untapped market.
5.Corporate Health and Wellness – Make a list of 20 businesses in your area, email the HR manager, create a simple presentation and go in and do some seminars and sessions.

C2GO is offering the new QCF Under 5’s Fitness Qualification – Do some brainstorming and see what is on offer in your area, approach local nuseries, pre schools and talk to parents of Under 5’s – Would they be interested in taking their children to bespoke under 5’s fitness sessions? What about mums and tots fitness sessions? Lots of scope but of course do the research first and create a business plan writing down every thing possible to make it work. https://www.choreographytogo.com/qualifications/under-5sfitness/

Next 14 day KSFL® Online Detox Starts on Monday click here

Jayne Nicholls

We need to be careful because very soon it will not be you and I who represent group fitness, it will be one of the many instructors who are setting up studios that focus purely on intensive large and small group training. These are more often than not PT’s or Cross Fit coaches who have grabbed group with both hands and are running with it. They create fresh and immediate workouts daily. The WOD (workout of the day) is common speak for anyone who trains in this circle and the same WOD may come around once every 3 months unless training for a competition.

We need to embrace these new trends and adapt our own classes to keep on top of changes in the fitness market forces. My fear is that if we resist the changes, we will end up being sold group x somewhere down the line by the very people who are new in our field.

Here’s the tip:
1. Create your own WOD or WOW (workout of the week) – BE CREATIVE
2. Share it with as many people as possible, offer it to clients as homework when they are not with you
3. Use other peoples WODs for variety and innovation

Here are a couple of workouts that Rachel and I created as our Weekend Workouts for you to use:

Saturday:
4 mile run (hill run to finish with fastest finish possible)
3 rounds of
200 metre sprints (ours was on an incline for 100 metres down and then 25 metre flat, 25 metre steps & 50 metre incline up
20 press ups

Sunday
4 mile run with a 1 mile steady incline (steep)
10 minute AMRAP
Hill sprint
20 knees to chest form a hanging bar

Both were particularly torturous but brilliant workouts.

Share your WODs, WOWs with us and we will print them for everyone.

Jayne Nicholls www.groupxtraining.com

WORKING IN SCHOOLS by Caroline Dance Lady

On March 15th the Government announced its new package of funding for PE and school sports called Sport Premium ,this is ring fenced funding available to all Primary school across the UK with 17 or more pupils. The school will receive a lump sum of £8000 plus a premium per pupil.

The funding is to ensure “high Quality PE ” and is all part of the “Olympic Legacy. Schools will be required to detail their Sporting provisions via their websites . Ofsted inspectors will be ordered to ensure that PE and Sport is given high priority when assessing the overall provision offered by a school. In March 2014 Ofsted will be conducting a survey reporting on the impact of the new funding and holding schools accountable for provisions and will expect to see details of the funding spent . PE and Sport will be required to be sustainable .From my understanding wearing my education hat ! PE teachers , SSCOs & Sports Partnerships Managers are concerned that there seems to be a heavy push towards sporting activities and a return to competition . As a highly competitive sport billy myself this is great !. Now wearing my Heath &Fitness Instructor hat the last 8years of National School Sports Partnership work could be jeopardized as previously we have leaned towards inclusion , participation and activity. Basically we have tried to encourage our “non doers ” to do any form of activity , now we could be, possibly be telling them to “don that netball bib and run around the netball court vigorously !! ” for some of you painful memories of school PE lessons have been re visited! .
So for the future of School Sport is now firmly in the hands of the Head Teacher of each individual school . So lets pray that all Head teachers enjoy fitness, healthy lifestyle, activity and Sport , if not ……………… ?
And this is where you as a Health and Fitness Professional Instructor steps in we should be” first in there with our services” Make a list of all the different activities you can provide , Circuits , Dance, Aerobics , Zumbatomic ,Hula Hooping etc . Market and package yourself as ” “High quality , sustainable provider of activities offering total inclusion of all students ” Able to provide sessions of a cross curricular nature ie PSHE , PE . Immediately you are looking as a much more value for money activity than the bloke that only delivers football I know for definite that in my area “Pop Up ” companies providing sessions have already approached schools “sniffing out funding “So my advice , strike now whilst the iron is hot , Or more be it the funding has just entered the schools finance system !
As hopefully you can tell I am PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS, so if you would like more information about how to a access schools package please contact me .

caroline@thedancelady.com www.thedancelady.com FaceBook The Dance Lady

Comfort Zones by Cori Withell

When was the last time you really left your comfort zone?
When was the last time you did something that truly scared you?
When was the last time you did something that left you filled with fear and dread?
When was the last time you did something that left you sick with nerves?

I could go on but I reckon you get the idea, so what am I on about. Well, we do an amazing job. We are constantly transforming people both inside and out, we push ourselves to the absolute max without a thought for our own well being. Now, there is the health perspective that we may hit burn out, emotionally crumble and not be able to carry on but what about living a fulfilled life? What about those of us who work so hard for everyone else that we sacrifice our own life? That IS different to burn out or breakdown. We can carry on doing that, pretty much, indefinitely. With burn out or breakdown, we can’t, the body will simply tell you when it has had enough and shut down.

You may not even realise you are living an unfulfilled life and I certainly didn’t and I got a real wake up call this weekend. Over the last week I had decided to sign up to do a 300km cycle ride through Cuba and to start roller derby, both things that I have been wanting to do forever and a day but work was always getting in the way. There was always someone I was worried about and needed to be available for, there were always sessions plans to write, choreography to work out, music to listen too, projects to get off the ground, blogs to write, marketing to get down and the list goes on!

What I hadn’t realised was how much this was draining me. I was still continuing to work as hard as ever but that was all I was doing, there was very little time in the day for me and this is something I tell people is essential to well being, what a hypocrite! I am a firm believer in practising what I preach, so I made the decision, went off on my first cycle training, half killed me as I haven’t ridden a bike for a very long time! Sorted out borrowing a spin bike for additional training and went on my first roller derby training on Sunday. To say I am battered and bruised is an understatement, but you know what? I don’t care, I feel alive and it feels fantastic.

Yes, what we do is important, yes we do incredible work but what point is there to any of it, if we neglect ourselves so that we end up living unfulfilled lives and are full of pent up frustration? Go out there and do something that completely pushes you outside of your comfort zone. I felt physically sick before putting my skates on but the support was incredible and I made an instant group of awesome friends, despite spending most of the afternoon on my bum! Had I remained in my comfort zone, I would never have met these amazing people. I am sure the same will happen when I meet my Cuba cycling buddies.

So, stuff comfort zones, stuff what other people think, just DO IT and live the life you WANT to live instead of living a life through fear.

Health and happiness x

Cori x

You can follow me 🙂
www.facebook.com/cori.withell

By Andrew Crawford ACMA

Tick Tock…It’s time to tax the extra bedroom..!! What next?? …Air??

Tick Tock….It’s time for Spring but it’s still snowing…!!..Oh my goodness.!

Tick Tock….It’s time for North Korea to attack USA……Yeah right..!!
Tick Tock…It’s time to use ‘excess’ British taxpayers money in the UK and not bail out another foreign bank. You may be aware that the UK will have to pay €45m (£38.2m) as part of a deal struck by European leaders to rescue Cyprus…..I thought we didn’t have any money…!!!??
Tick Tock……Time stops for no man or woman. Do what you need to do……Now…!!

After digesting the contents of the budget I am asking whether self-employment will continue to be as widely used as in the past, given the opportunity for possibly saving thousands of pounds a year by setting up a company.

Benefits of incorporation

The main benefit of incorporation for those currently self-employed was to take advantage of the twenty percentage tax charge.

http://www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com/Company_Tax_Rates

The self-employed can take advantage of this by incorporating and paying themselves a small salary set at the personal allowance level of £9,440 or at the minimum wage of £6.19 an hour. It is unclear whether directors’ pay is subject to the minimum wage.

http://www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com/National_Minimum_Wage

Incorporation may also be specifically beneficial to the self-employed, with offspring going to university. Instead of parents paying the undergraduates a
grant from their own money, the children over 18 might be given shares and paid a dividend by the company. I mentioned this in one of my articles last year.

Directors paying themselves at the personal tax allowance level avoid national insurance contributions altogether. Profits above the personal allowance can be paid as dividends, the self-employed person is avoiding paying both Class 2 and Class 4 NI contributions by incorporating. Especially the advanced tax called ‘Payment on Account’.

Other Considerations

There are also the non-financial considerations. Business accounts will be open for inspection at Companies House, including directors’ remuneration. Any person acting as a shadow director should remember that he or she could be held liable for any debts or wrongdoing whilst acting in the name of the company.

Despite these factors it is likely that the prospect of saving several thousand pounds annually will drive increasing numbers of self-employed to establish companies.

Tax is only one of several factors that self-employed people will take into account if considering whether to incorporate. Any tax saving must be balanced against non-tax considerations for instance, the administrative requirements of the Companies Act, which include filing information for the public record.

Company Formation

Setting up a limited company is easy. You can either buy one ‘off the shelf’ (may not have the name you want) or an Accountant can register one for you.

Alternatively, you can register one yourself providing you have all the necessary documentation for submission to Companies House

Examples of documents required for registration include;

When registering a limited company you need to send the following documents to Companies House:
Form IN01
This contains:
The company name
The location of the registered office address
The consenting company secretary (if applicable) and director(s)
The subscriber details
The share capital information and the prescribed peculiars relating to each class of shares (only for companies limited by shares)
Memorandum of association
Contains the names and signatures of the subscribers who are forming the company, and for companies limited by shares a commitment that each subscriber will take at least one share.
Articles of association
Here’s where you set out the rules for running your company, including details of running the company, internal management affairs and legal responsibility. If a company chooses to use the standard Model Articles they do not need to file them with Companies House.
Where can I get these documents?
http://www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com/Downloadable_Forms
Cost of submitting the documents
The standard fee to register a limited company is £20, for documents to be processed in eight to 10 days, but for a same day service it costs £50.
If the registration documents are filed using the Companies House software filing service the fee is £15 for standard and £30 for same-day registration. However, to file electronically you must either purchase the suitable software, develop your own or go through an agent.
How to register your company
There are many company formation agents in the UK offering different packages and slightly different services. Google an approved e-filing partner of Companies House. I use ‘Companies Made Simple’ because they have successfully registered over 200,000 UK companies and we are impressed with their service, speed and value for money.

Other Formalities

Open a bank account in the company name
Set up a PAYE scheme to process Director’s salaries, income tax and national insurance contributions
Consider whether registration for VAT is necessary or desirable
Consider valuation, basis and desirability of transferring business assets to the company
Check insurances with broker/adviser to ensure that cover is transferred to company where necessary

Extracting profits from a Company

Where trading activities are through a limited company consideration needs to be given as to the amount and method of profit extraction. E.g.;

Method of Extraction Company Individual

Salary Deductible Taxable
Benefits in kind Deductible Taxable
Tax-free benefits in kind Deductible Tax/NI free

Non-Tax considerations

Limited Liability enjoyed by companies
Easier to obtain loan finance by trading through a limited company
It is easier to sell shares in a company than to sell an interest in a partnership
Competitors can gain knowledge of the business results through published accounts
Preparation of the financial statements will be more costly

Conclusion

It is worthwhile having a chat to an Accountant if you are debating moving from self-employed status to a company.

They will be able to help you with decisions concerning your tax liabilities, fines if late and whether or not incorporating is the best way forward for you.

Finally…….Tick Tock…..It’s time to add another stream of income onto your businesses by offering Mentoring, Coaching or Consulting.

You do not need permission, you don’t need formal qualifications, you do need experience and a good set of ‘spherical objects’.

Rachel and I have combined our extensive years of experiences in these areas to bring you what we believe is a great tool to compliment your business……if used..!!!

Pick up the DVD now to learn the short cuts.

Anyone reading this is a candidate…Tick Tock…It’s Time…!!

www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com
www.facebook.com/andrewjamescrawford

Vikki Scovell

Why is it that during the school holidays when I am supposed to ENTERTAIN children (feel free to read entertain as SPEND MONEY), I can’t earn any money because I am busy ENTERTAINING kids, and when I do get out to teach, everyone else stays at home looking after their precious offspring so I don’t earn any money anyway. Oh cripes, the first real day of the school holidays is here, and I have 4 long glorious weeks of adoring motherhood ahead of me, unspoilt by the prospect of school intervening to take the beloved dear-ones off my hands. This morning the little angels had a sleep in which meant I had time to write. I wandered into child 2’s room to watch her snuffling happily: the enormous monkey ears of her onesie framing her porcelain features. She has the face of a Victorian cherub, and has always drawn admiring glances from cooing adults. I am not that sort of adult, and have never been known to coo at other people’s children, but am more likely to be found rearrangi ng my features from horror to neutrality when greeting an unremarkable terrible-two with a face full of mushy banana and snot. In fact, for many years, since I inhabited the young children arena, I have been completely unable to stomach the thought of banana: the two substances (snot and banana) seem to have some sort of symbiotic relationship with a two-year-olds face and I find myself unable to think of one, without the other popping into my mind. Anyway, as much as I am singularly un-moved 95% of the time by other people’s glistening and banana-scented offspring, like any parent, I adore my own (at least 5% of the time).

This morning, it is time to apply myself to writing, so I check in on monkey-onesied child 2, before coming down to make tea to take to my desk. There is no point checking on child 1 who exists in a parallel dimension and time-frame to the rest of us, and has been heard to say ‘like, see you tomorrow, losers’ whilst disappearing up to her room with her breakfast (mid-afternoon). As the kettle boils I spot a pheasant staring thought the fence, hungrily watching my chickens pecking away at their bowl of scraps. It stays for half an hour or so, sometimes breaking its stare to walk a meter along the fence, then change its mind and come back to its original spot. Because I have a pressing engagement with the computer I find myself completely unable to tear myself away from watching it. I muse about taking it some food, and becoming its friend, then being able to show it off to visitors- oh here comes Steve my pet pheasant- I saved him for loneliness you know, and now we are simply inseparable….. Steve wanders off, and I realize that I must get on with my writing. I turn on the computer; Child 2 blusters in (drat) demanding pancakes and attention. As I am forthcoming with neither (I have to write you know) she stamps off waggling her beribboned monkey tail behind her to see if she can wake her sister. 4 Minutes later the same child is downstairs just as the lap top has finally turned itself on, updated, closed down, been forgotten, and eventually remembered by me.

Child 2: Mummy, she (child 1) called me a revolting little turd and told me to piss off.
Me: Please don’t say turd, it’s not nice.
Child 2: You just said it. And does that mean it’s ok to say PISS OFF then?
Me: Um, no it isn’t, well let’s neither of us say either of them again.
Child 1: Will you tell her off or are you going to let her get away with calling me a turd?
Me: You said it again, please don’t.
So I trudge up the stairs with child 2 in tow, to Child 1s domain and poke my head around the door trying not to ‘see’ too much mess in case I have to acknowledge it and deal with it.
Me: Please don’t call your sister names.
Child 2: Like, what the HELL hag? I didn’t call her names; she is a lying little toe-rag.
Me: She said you called her a revolting little turd.
Child 1: Like, that’s not name-calling, that is an expression of fact, and if you are no longer going to allow me to express fact, then I may as well abandon my seat on the debating society.
Me: Debating is not an expression of fact, but of opinions.
Child 1: It is MY OPINION that she is a revolting little turd, and this OPINION appears to be supported by her complete revoltingness, and actually I refuse to believe that we are genetically related.
Me: I can assure you that you both share my DNA as I was there when you were born.
Child 2: (To child 1) If I am related to you, that means you are a horrid little TURD too.
Me: ……………….(Opens mouth to say something strict but balanced, wise and yet commanding the respect of these young people, then closes mouth as there is nothing like that in my head) (then bellows) STOP SAYING TURD!

I have a C2Go article from around 6 or 7 years ago which I wrote about keeping kids happy and busy in the Easter holidays: get outside and poke a stick in a stream, bake some healthy muffins, organize a nature walk, blah, blah, blah. At which point did my little banana and snot-adorned lambkins morph into these two people who are nearly as tall as me, and with a repertoire of swear-words almost as impressive as my own? I have already asked Child 2 to walk down to the ponies with me, but she is busy playing FRUIT NINJA, and when I asked Child 1 she said she could see them from her window, so why would she want to actually go outside just so she could see them in slightly more detail. Oh well, I love my kids whatever, and have no choice but to hang out in poverty with them for the next few weeks. All of my great ideas for keeping them happy and healthy several years ago, seem ridiculous against the reality of the modern teen, but I may be able to coax them into making some muffins (best not to mention ‘healthy’). Child 2 will probably come and walk the dog with me later, but if not, I will always have my new friend Steve who has returned and is looking ravenously through the wire fence at me. Oh well, the kids may not be kept busy with salt-dough and nature trails now they are growing up, but at least I don’t have to deal with bananas and snot anymore, and that is something for which I will remain eternally grateful.
I hope that you are having a great holiday at home with your kids if you have them, and if you don’t have any, would you like to borrow some? Vikki Scovell @fitbite

Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for reading

Love always xx