Instructor Newsletter 12th September

Hey, it’s newsletter day and, as always, we have a bumper edition for you today with loads of great articles from Jayne, Jill, Katie, Cori and guest contributor Ann Alderman. As usual, I would LOVE to hear from you, especially on how your class numbers are doing and what classes you are teaching that are pulling in the numbers.  You can email me, tweet me or feedback on the choreographytogo Facebook.  I always love to hear from you. This week our Kick Start Fat Loss NHS/PCT pilots started which is brilliant and we are now looking at pilot schemes in the police. South Yorkshire constabulary and Norfolk & Suffolk Constabulary are keen to get involved and we are in talks with several large public and private sector organisations. Its exciting times.

Batching and how can it help you manage your time and your week by Rachel Holmes

I get lots of feedback re my time management articles as I know we all crave more time, so here are more TM Tips:

We all do a lot of the same tasks every week. For example, every week I try and film 1 or 2 video downloads, write this newsletter, write broadcasts every day for Choreographytogo and KSFL. Every single week I did these tasks and more often than not, by Wednesday or Thursday, I’m STILL doing my regular tasks and NOT moved my business forward in anyway ’cause I’m too busy doing the weekly tasks.

What I mean by that is, I didn’t take  any action into driving the business forward because I’m too busy doing the weekly stuff. Well, after being mesmerised by Tim Ferris’ book, the 4hour workweek, I have incorporated “batching” and for goodness sakes why on earth didn’t I do this sooner – I’m still banging my head against the wall wondering why I didn’t do this years ago.

So, what the hell is “batching”?

Batching basically means do all the same tasks you have to do every week in one chunk of time.

So, how did that work for me and how can it work for you?
I did all of this in one long day – but worth it as it frees me up to do other projects, or chill!

1. I wrote the basics of 4 week’s worth of newsletters, apart from the News and Updates section, which I like to add every Wednesday in one go. This took me the same amount of time as it takes me to write one, as I got all the contributors to email 3 articles instead of one.

2. I filmed 12 downloads in one go instead of 1 or 2.  It took me longer, but I now have 12 downloaded ready to put out in the next few months.

3.Planned and wrote 7 day’s worth of broadcasts for C2Go and KSFL – saving me hours every day.

4.Scheduled all of my Twitter tweets on Hootsuite for the week, Facebook posts all scheduled.

All this leaves me loads more time to choreograph my new programs/work on KSFL/ Finish my Book/ or hang out with my friend etc

So, examine your weekly tasks. Can you “Batch” a month’s worth in one go? – email me and let me know http://Twitter.com/RachelHolmes

How do you film a VLOG by Rachel

As we enter a new dawn of multimedia, it’s more important than ever to use video in your marketing. Let the power of your message go viral. As teachers and Instructors a video should (in theory!) be easy for you.

So, let’s look at how to make your videos look slick and professional.

Practice to be a Pro

You don’t have to spend hours and hours going over what you are going to say again and again, but it is worth practicing what you plan to say a few times.
Treat your video like you would treat a presentation to your audience from a stage. You wouldn’t just jump on stage without an idea of what to say would you?
Make up a story in your head to keep you on track with your message’s key points
Don’t tie yourself to a script, follow some bullet points instead but keep the flow natural
Think about the purpose behind your video. Is it to get an opt-in? To introduce yourself? To sell a product or service? Always be clear on your outcomes before you speak, otherwise the video message will be vague.

Present like a Pro
Many people freeze up when talking to a camera – after all it’s not a real human being and you would be so much better if someone filmed you having a normal conversation. The problem is that when you think of the camera like that you end up talking in a very stilted way and you come across as disjointed and tongue tied.

Imagine an audience in front of you
Then do your presentation to your audience and speak to them through the camera… trust me – it works wonders. I do this every time I do a VLOG. I imagine you guys in front of me!
And whilst we are on the subject of presentation, remember what your choice of background says about you. An untidy office does not give out the best message to your prospective clients.

Consider your Editor
Sometimes it is possible to get your message perfect in one take, but what if you coughed at the wrong time, or the dog barked, or countless other things that can happen to ruin that perfect take? There are going to be times when you will want to edit together different clips from different takes – here’s how to make sure your editing is super easy.

Keep your background stable and the same for every take to make sure the background doesn’t jump when you cut it together.

Try to film with the least amount of background noise.
If you’re filming outside, use overhead light, not late or early morning.
Don’t face straight into the sun (you’ll squint) or have the sun directly behind you (your face will be in shadow)

Consider the Mood
What is the mood and energy of your message? Music is a great way of livening up the video, particularly at the beginning and end, and is an extremely powerful way of turning a standard “monologue video” into something that draws people in and makes them want to watch. Fade in and fade out with music and your video is suddenly 100 times more dynamic.

Promote like a Pro
Once you have filmed your video and edited it you want people to watch it. So sign up to youtube and upload your video(s) there. Place a graphic at the bottom of your video with your website link on it where the client can find more information about you.
Use relevant keywords on youtube to help your video to be found

Post your video on your Twitter and Facebook
Remember, you are a vibrant, energetic, enthusiastic fitness professional and you aren’t reading the 10 o’clock news .Look happy and enjoy your VLOG. Happy Vlogging

It’s hug a regular week by Jayne Nicholls

I have read a lot of posts lately where instructors are literally devastated when their long term clients leave or worse try someone else’s classes. I have spent a lot of time this year learning, being a customer and adhering to a long list of classes from cross fit to horse riding. This has given me a valuable insight into what it feels like to be a ”regular” customer. Firstly I want, no I crave recognition for my loyalty. I want my weekly attendance to not go unnoticed, I want attention equal to the new clients that come through the door, every now and then and what’s more I want preferential treatment for my dedication to my chosen classes.

I can tell you that it has really made me think about how I treat my regular customers. Do I take them for granted? In looking for new clients and bigger numbers, do I put a little too much of my effort into those who don’t come or those who potentially could come?

So with this in mind I have created a few loyalty bonuses for my regulars. I’m talking about those people who have been coming for years and still turn up weekly. I want them to know how important they are to me and in reality it is their presence that make the whole group set up attractive to others.

This week I encourage you to do the same. So it is officially ”hug a regular” week.

Don’t get carried away

j a y n e

Too Old to Teach?? by Anne Alderman

Well I’ve been teaching in the Fitness Industry for 16 years and although I started late, aged 32, I still love everything about teaching. Yes, I get Mrs Jones, who makes constant excuses on how she can’t do certain exercises, and Mrs Smith who doesn’t like to sweat in case her hair or make up gets messed up, but it’s part of the job (that’s not really their names by the way!)…. I will embrace, accept and encourage anyone who walks through the door into my class, as I truly believe it’s a huge hurdle to overcome when you are starting on your journey to fitness. It’s really scary walking into a room full of people when you’ve never been to my class before, but I always welcome new comers with open arms and a ready smile. What really hurts me is when people are obviously surprised that I’m still teaching, or even teaching at all as I’m 48!!! What’s wrong with my ag e I ask myself?  I may get a little more tired by the end of the week and have to be careful in case I have injuries, but isn’t that par for the course with our job? I’m often being told by my friends and family, and in particular my husband, that I do too much, but I never have a day when I dread going to work and every day is different. So, I’ll keep teaching until I see fit to stop thank you very much!! I’m 50 next year and intend to celebrate big style!  A friend of mine (who obviously isn’t the friend I thought she was) made a comment to someone that I was too old to be teaching Pilates, which really did upset me. I had a few tears, questioned whether she was right and then……I dried up my tears, dusted myself down and carried on regardless. because I have a good client base, rammed full classes and enquires every week from newbies who want the anniebelle touch in their life. So, to those who say I’m too old,  it ain ‘t ever gonna happen!!!!! Embrace your age and love what you do.. I do and I’ve never looked back!
Ann Alderman

Do you protect yourself first or last? Jill Gardner

True or false?
Most of us do not start out in this industry dreaming of wealth or notoriety
Most of us do not have any hidden agenda accept to help people realise health and wellness
Most of us are natural givers and get a genuine buzz out of seeing results and helping people to feel great
Most of us feel ability when our clients feel great!

I would say true.

**Warning** This industry could seriously harm your health!

Our biggest strength can also our biggest weakness. Our desire to help others often leaves us with nothing left for ourselves. How many of you out there will have been affected by the following…. AND be honest!

I have trained or taught despite being injured, stressed or fatigued
I have eaten badly, skipped meals or tried every faddy diet going
I haven’t slept properly in ages or I work late most nights and often put work before loved ones
I have lost friends and upset family due to work commitments
I have lost sight of my reasons for being in this industry and often find myself caught up in the latest craze
I get caught up with what other fitness professionals are doing and I compare myself to them
I work harder to earn more money and I rarely take time off
When I do take time off I still train, work or eat ‘clean’
My work is secretly a way to fuel my obsession and I NEVER partake in hobbies outside of fitness
I have no exit plan or idea where I am going
I don’t practice half the things I preach!
I have been overwhelmed by all the things I think I SHOULD be doing
I fear I have lost my identity outside of this industry.

Trust me! You will get no medal for putting others first all of the time. Eventually you burn and fizzle out and people will move straight on to the next available giver. Most of my old clients are now happily attending other classes, PT sessions and gyms. I am still left picking up the pieces of my broken body and mind!

My biggest lesson is this. I gave and gave and then gave some more. I gave until I had nothing left to give and ended up with nothing in reserve for me and family. In fact EVERYONE lost out. As I faded and became unable to help NOBODY got my support, guidance, classes, mentoring, inspiration! My kids lost their mum, my friends lost their friend and I lost myself! What use was that to anyone?

If any of this resonates with you, then step back out of the frame for a while and re-evaluate your life. I would hazard a guess that health and well being are important to you. Am I right?  If so then PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE consider the following:

Take time off and REALLY take time off – go play in the playground of life and try some new things that aren’t related to your work – have FUN!!!!

Put your smartphone away, get off social media for an hour or three everyday – no one will die!

LEARN TO SAY NO! you won’t go to prison if you do!
Spend time with loved ones, laugh, party, drink, eat #beigedeadfood – it won’t kill you now and again!

Don’t be obsessed with being perfect when perfect only exists in your head – it will drive you to insanity

Be human! Let people know your struggles, weaknesses and vulnerability. This not only helps them, but also relieves you of keeping up a draining facade

Learn to be mindful. Stop and notice how you feel, the weather, your clients happy faces in class, your kids smiles, the countryside and everything great in your life. Gratitude for all that is good feeds your soul

So, my last word on this. Protect yourself first. Don’t leave it too late like I did. Start right now! What little thing can you do right now? It doesn’t have to be everything all at once. Changing things just a little can change your life a lot! #hateitchangeit

Big love, small tummies!

Jill – The Fat Controller

Keeping Your Post Convention Buzz Katie Bulmer Cooke

Hi C2Goer’s!

What a brilliant day I just had. On Saturday I presented at The Big One North in Barnsley for the first time, and was overwhelmed with a turn out of over 100 fitness professionals and enthusiasts in my Triple A session. BON is a fab one day convention, and had lots of great sessions to choose from. My personal favourite, as always, was Cherry Baker. Her Expecting Pilates class was ace!

I always love the buzz you take home from a fitness event, so many new ideas and so much enthusiasm. But how can we keep that buzz going until the next event? Here are my top tips…

Regularly get some new music.
Change direction. It may sound simple but adding a twist to your base moves can give your routines/sessions a whole new free. For example, instead of grapevine side to side, take it in a reverse L shape or diagonally forward. If a squat is a core move in your conditioning classes how many different variations can you add to it? One leg, step side to side, add a kick, international or external rotation, travel off the spot.
Attend a fellow fit pro’s class. We can all learn and get new ideas from each other.
Get together for a brainstorming session with other local fit pros and bounce ideas back and forth.
Host a themed class. Invite everyone to come in fancy dress, have special music…maybe its leotards and leg warmers or military style.
Add a new piece of equipment to your sessions. Bands, balls and dumbbells can all be found at cost effective prices on Amazon and Ebay.
Find some inspiration online. Get the YouTube app and when you’ve got 5 minutes spare, have a browse- there and tons of fitness videos!
Experiment with intervals. If you’ve been doing classed that are solely exercise to music based why not try introducing some Tabata 20 seconds work/10 seconds rest intervals for example, still using moves your class are familiar with.

Why not do one of the above each week, to help you keep you fitness buzz going until the next convention.

I’d love to hear your feedback. Tweet me @KatieBulmer1

Have a super day,

Katie x

Comfort Zone by Cori Withell

This last weekend saw me firmly put out of mine and I am still grinning that I actually managed to do it!

Rachel asked me ages ago if I would present for her at Big One North about Mood Food.  Well, I initially said yes without hesitation, but as the date got closer and closer I got more and more nervous.  Now, I am one of those people that will go through every case scenario imagining the worst and replaying it over and over again in my head.
Fortunately, it was my birthday the day before so my mind was elsewhere, but the morning of the presentation I was not in a good place!  Headache through stress, nerves and tension, this was worse than my ETM assessment!!!

I chose my plan of action.  To go and say hello and then disappear for the morning, I needed time to get my head together.  That was a wise move!  I got myself into a better head space so that when I presented it was better than I anticipated.

Yes, my mouth went ridiculously dry.
Yes, I had to keep referring to my notes.
Yes, sometimes no one smiled and I kept thinking, ‘oh god, I hope this is what they want’

BUT

I did it.

Yep, I did it.  It may not seem like a big deal but it was for me.  I had overcome one of my biggest fears, presenting to my peers.

So, why am I telling you this?

To tell you to get outside of your comfort zone!

Don’t think you would be any good at presenting?
How will you know if you never try?

There is loads I need to do to improve but every time I present I am determined to be better than the one before, check me out in 2020 😉

Want to retrain but worried – do it!
I qualified as a Level 4 Life Coach and a Level 4 one on one counselor this year.  Three years ago, I would never have thought that possible.

Dream the dream, leap the leap, feel the fear……
JUST DO IT.

Even if it all goes completely wrong, you haven’t failed.

You have succeeded in learning what you don’t want to do, how can anyone ever call that a failure 😉

Go out there and win x

Health and happiness x
Best wishes
Cori x

They Can Find Money For Wars……..But They Can’t Feed The Poor…!!??

By Andrew Crawford

Who won World War One?

Who came second?

There are no winners, history tells us time and time again.

War……what is it good for?  Absolutely nothing…!!!

So why are high profile individuals flying around the world trying to get approval and backing of others. I heard tonight that one of the banks have offered to ‘sponsor’ it………is that true?

So war is a business. A lucrative one at that. Contracts and agreements, supply and demand.

Michael Le Vell………Innocent or Guilty??

Princess Diana………Killed? Or died in crash?

I have found the news so varied one cannot keep up with it. I’m sure it is designed to keep one confused, in constant fear and depending on the machine that feeds its mind with eclectic material

So Andrew….what eclectic info do you have for us this week??

Well….I always seem to be giving you information about what and how you can claim things….I thought, why not flip the script……

What you cannot claim for:

As self-employed you cannot claim your own wages or national insurance payments that you make

If you are building a studio in your garden, you cannot claim for the initial cost of the building, alterations or improvements. These may attract Capital Allowances.. Is there a way around this? Lol….quite possibly….!!

Any bills which have a private element to it, especially if you use your home for business. You got to ensure you can split the costs.

The costs of entertaining your clients or potential prospects. Is there around this……quite possibly….tee hee

Any fines for parking or motoring offences.

The cost of travel between your home and permanent workplace. I have gone through this already on an earlier article. Make sure your home is your workplace, so every time you leave………claim the mofo….!!

The purchase of a new car. You get capital allowances instead.

I have a list which will help you. Find and download it from this link:

http://www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com/articles/Allowable-Disallowable-Expenses.pdf

I have also put together a list of income which is FREE from tax. Simply download the PDF document from this link:

http://www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com/articles/Which-Income-Is-Free-From-Tax.pdf

In addition, I have been asked many times about tax coding letters which you get from time to time.

Below, I lay out a summary of the tax codes and what they briefly mean.

BR or DO : Your pay from this source is taxed at either basic rate (BR) or higher rate (DO) because it is a second job and you have used up your allowances in another employment.

K : Your total deductions exceed your allowances. This may be because you have a company car, company accommodation, private medical insurance etc and the value  is greater than your personal allowance.

L : You get the basic personal allowance.

NT : There is no tax due on this income.

OT :  You have used up all your allowances, so there is no tax free pay.

P : You get the full age-related personal allowance as you may have been born before 6 April 1948.

T : If your tax office wants to review your tax code.

V : You get the full age-related tax allowance as you were born between 6 April 1938 and 5 April 1948.

Y : You get the full age-related personal allowance as one born before 6 April 1938, Usually used where pensions apply.

If you think your tax code is wrong, tell the tax office straight away.

There we have it, I hope you have found that brief explanation useful…….I didn’t want to bore the ……off you…(….on the other hand…!!!! lol)

Finally….

HMRC introduce new safeguards for debt collection visits
HMRC have introduced a Field Force Verification Helpline, so that taxpayers can easily check whether or not a caller on their doorstep claiming to be from HMRC is genuine.

Every year, HMRC visit a small number of taxpayers who have not paid their tax or arranged to repay overpayments of tax credits, in order to collect the debt. The Debt Management and Banking’s Field Force Collectors may visit a taxpayer’s home or business premises. HMRC always give advance warning that a visit may take place if a debt is not paid.
HMRC advise:
‘To provide a safeguard against bogus callers in these situations, HMRC has introduced a new Field Force Verification Helpline.
To access the helpline, customers should follow these simple steps:
Ask to see the Collector’s photo ID
Make a note of the ID number on the photo ID
Call 0300 200 3862
Provide HMRC with the ID number you’ve noted
Our operators will then be able to confirm to you whether or not your caller is genuinely an HMRC Collector.
To help to explain the purpose of the visit and the rights and responsibilities of customers, we have also produced a new leaflet. Every customer visited, from 13 August onwards, will be given a copy of this by the Collector on arrival at the customer’s premises. This also includes the Field Force Verification Helpline number.’
If you have any concerns about paying your liabilities please do get in touch with them.

I was reminded on the weekend of how much money is collected year on year for Children in Need and Red Nose day. Record amounts each year which top the year before.

Yet……..

There are STILL children in need………We can’t feed the poor.

Or shall we use vast amounts of money ‘reserves’ and resources to invade a little sandy country to test out the latest ground or heat seeking air missiles, tanks and armoured vehicles, some which do not even need to be manned and kill people even innocent women and children civilians in sandels and robes to warn them that it is bad to kill people??
Collateral damage I hear you say…!!!
Have a great week.

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

Have a wonderful Week Love always
Rachel xxx