Instructor Newsletter 16th April 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUMMER IDEAS
For Your Fitness Business

Thinking of Planning Your Own Fitness Retreat??

Fitness Retreats and Getaway

Have you thought about organising your own fitness/health/fatburning getaway?

It really doesn’t have to be overseas or some exotic location, it could be anywhere in the UK or even in your own town.

You could make it as simple or extravagant as you please, cater for a small group of 5/6 people or a much bigger group, depending on your audience and customer base.

Katie Bulmer-Cooke runs several small retreats for her clients, where she hires a log cabin in the Lake District and takes a small group away who do classes, training and workouts and mixes it with healthy food and cookery. Katie hosts and takes all of the sessions and it is proving really popular with her clients.

Sindy Matthews is hosting a retreat day in Banbury with
talks, motivation & clean eating. (Its sold out!)

?Something I’ve been thinking about for a while is a to start a monthly Saturday Kick Start Fat Loss Day.

I can’t commit to weekly Saturdays as I’m often away presenting and teaching, so I am planning a Saturday morning bash of classes, fatloss talks, beauty & male grooming all in our home town of Nottingham.
The health and fitness consumer of 2015
needs to access our services in different ways.

We need to be flexible and look at trying
new times, new days, new courses.

It doesn’t always have to be weekly, monthly specials can work brilliantly well as you can create packages and offer weekly online workouts and updates, make it social and add in a beauty or grooming angle for the guys as well ( Male Grooming is a massively growing marking).

Have a brainstorm and let me know your thoughts on Retreats, Fitness days.

Tweet me @RachelHolmes

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Repackage and Rejig your Community Classes

Summer is coming so it’s the perfect time
to repackage and rejig your community classes.

Being marketing savvy, using social media
properly and creating a strong online presence is key to growth in the community class market.

It’s tough out there!

Local authority leisure centers, council gyms and the emergence of low cost clubs, PLUS church halls and community venues have jumped on the bandwagon and jacked up their prices, not to mention with PPL cost rises, insurance and the time spent on marketing and PR, you have to be pretty darn committed, have a plan and be able to take the rough with the smooth to survive and make a living. It’s definitely an up and down market.?

So, what does the discerning Community Instructor do in these changing times?

I’ve created an ideas list because I do truly believe that with a few tweaks and changes you can turn things around, and I have said in past newsletters we need to be flexible in how we offer our services to cater for a modern and changing market.
?

One thing to always keep in your mind is that we all have an amazing product, our classes are life changing, results led, social and fun and provide such value for money it’s incredible.

Don’t lose sight of that.

Here are my ideas, I hope they spark your inspiration and motivation to keep teaching in the community.

Change and Repackage.

Toning and conditioning classes will always be popular. I always rename and rebrand my conditioning classes at least every year, sometimes more often. So, for Summer, LBT becomes Summer Beach Body Toning or LBT HIIT.

It has a new logo, a new colour, new brand, new strap line and a slightly different description, but it’s basically the same class just repackaged. I market this like crazy everywhere and hey presto it will attract new faces and reboot old lapsed clients looking for the kick to get going again.
Traditional Group Exercise Classes have a Shelf Life

The only exception to this rule is Pilates & Yoga & weight management classes .

The numbers stay busy and grow but everything else has a shelf life and will start to peter out in time.

Before it dies do a repackage (see above) It’s not you….It’s the life of a community fitness class and it happens to everyone.

Ring the Changes

Launch specials to coincide with term time so you may do Stability Ball for 8 weeks as a paid course, have a break, then market Kettlebells for 8 weeks then something else etc, etc. This keeps it fresh and exciting and every time you advertise a new workout it will attract a new demographic of people. If you do something with equipment get people to bring their own rather than you shelling out for equipment.

Profit Share

If you have your own brand or style of fitness class then set up a meeting with all of the local leisure centres and council run gyms and see if they would do a profit share with you. Take all of your super professional promotional material, talk about your client base, how you market and explain you will sort out the cover and be prepared to take any dead slots of empty spaces in their centre. You can then advertise your session to their customers and provide them with a ready made plug in package that they don’t have to manage, work out a profit share deal and give it an 8 week trial.

Above all keep it fresh and exciting in the community. Keep repackaging and changing the style of your classes and ring the changes to keep the locals interested, excited and inspired.
I’d really love to hear from you on this subject.

Are you a Community Instructor or Community Bootcamp Coach? How are your numbers? What are you doing to keep the numbers coming through the door?

Message me on Twitter @RachelHolmes
Instagram RachelLHolmes
Snapchat RachelLholmes
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Check out Rachel Holmes Podcast Episode 10 with Phoenix Rain

We talk about eating disorders & body image in the fitness industry.
a subject that is rarely discussed.
Let me know your feedback & comments.

You can subscribe in itunes or listen via the website
Itunes
C2GO

My podcast listeners are growing!

I’ve got some fab interviews coming up with
Katie Bulmer-Cooke,
Zoe McNulty & Natasha Knight
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Teens Needed For Trial Online Programme

Have you got teens age between 14 -18? ?I’m looking for teens to join my trial KSFL Club
with daily workouts, cooking, nutrition & motivation.
It will all be online and they can access the info
via phone, tablets etc.

Add their email here

I building a new digital platform & really excited about
the teens club.
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Relying On Modern Technology
Mobile vs Diary…Who Wins?? .!!!
Andrew Crawford
By the time you’ve read this I would have been without the use of my mobile for 4 days…!!

Would you be able to cope?

As I get older I find myself having to write things down just to remember it.

Go shopping? Gotta write that list down.

Got meetings to attend? Gotta write the dates down

I love referring to my diary and writing things down, in blue, red, green or black ink….. we have somehow lost the art of writing. Don’t believe me? When was the last time you wrote a hand written 4 page letter to your friend? What about writing and sending a birthday card?

But this is the 21st Century Andrew….I text and use facety book..!!

I know, I know……

So the last few days have been horrendous….

Why?

Because the only things I don’t write in my diary are names, numbers and addresses. This was the problem……I was relying on modern technology. All those important details were stored on my mobile..!!

So if I didn’t answer your calls or answer your texts in the last few days, I apologise, I’m waiting for my new phone to arrive.

So why is this comparison necessary?

If you were born in the 60’s or 70’s the diary was your friend. Everything was written in there. When you wanted to ring a friend all you had to do was visualise their name and their number would miraculously pop into your head. (Well it did mine)…..

Did that happen to you?

My brain was a functioning machine, well-oiled, well-used, nowadays however it’s become lazy….thus I could not remember not one number from my mobile. So…….noone has been called this week.

So Andrew……

What has Modern Technology, the loss of your mobile and the diary got to do with Accountancy & Tax?

As the new financial year starts people are already forgetting the new tax rates because they haven’t written it down in their diaries or taken note of it on their mobiles…so ..here’s a little summary of bits and pieces.

Personal Tax Rates and Allowances

For those born after 5 April 1938 the personal allowance will be increased to £10,600. For those born before 6 April 1938 the personal allowance remains at £10,660.

The reduction in the personal allowance for those with ‘adjusted net income’ over £100,000 will continue. The reduction is £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000. So for 2015/16 there is no personal allowance where adjusted net income exceeds £121,200.

Tax Bands and Rates for 2015/16

The basic rate of tax is currently 20%. The band of income taxable at this rate is being decreased from £31,865 to £31,785 so that the threshold at which the 40% band applies will rise from £41,865 to £42,385 for those who are entitled to the full basic personal allowance.

The additional rate of tax of 45% is payable on taxable income above £150,000.

Dividend income is taxed at 10% where it falls within the basic rate band and 32.5% where liable at the higher rate of tax. Where income exceeds £150,000, dividends are taxed at 37.5%.

National Minimum Wage

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) is a minimum amount per hour that most workers in the UK are entitled to be paid. NMW rates increases come into effect on 1 October 2015:

From 1 October 2015:

the adult rate will increase by 20 pence to £6.70 per hour

the rate for 18 to 20 year olds will increase by 17 pence to £5.30 per hour

the rate for 16 to 17 year olds will increase by 8 pence to £3.87 per hour

the apprentice rate will increase by 57 pence to £3.30 per hour
Ok……..I didn’t want to give you too much numbers to look at today because I know most of you work with figures…!!!

Finally

Summer’s coming…………!!!

For 2 days running I’ve had to break out my sun glasses….more of that please. Once the sun cream’s out, you KNOW it’s Summer.

So who wins the battle……. diary or mobile?

Andrew James Crawford