Instructor Newsletter 16th August

As I write this week’s newsletter, I realise I am almost undoubtedly suffering from post Olympics2012 depression. From the opening ceremony to the final closing party song I was glued to the TV.
I’ve never been interested in equestrian (I’m allergic to horses) or sailing and rowing, but here I was appreciating every moment, following the athletes on Twitter, checking out their training blogs and websites. My iPhone bill will be a fortune as I watched the live streaming of the BMX as my brother Dale was commentating on the BBC discussing the racing. It’s just been utterly fabulous and a monumental few weeks

The Olympic ripple is clearly happening. I’ve just bumped into two older ladies who haven’t been to class for years. They both promise me they can’t wait to get back to classes after watching and attending the games.

These are exciting times for us in the fitness industry. My daytime classes have NEVER been this busy. My advanced Step yesterday had 30 in, which is amazing for August. I think the UK feel good factor is affecting everyone and reinforcing how amazing being fit and healthy is.

So come on everyone let’s do our bit and run with it and harness this feeling and get everyone involved in health, fitness, Group X, SGT and PT.

Sports Role Models – I’ve just bought the latest edition of Zest and gleefully you can now find Jess Ennis fronting Oil of Ulay, Victoria Pendleton fronting the Pantene campaign, Jenna Randall – Syncronised Swimmer – fronting a Braun ad. This is amazingly positive…Women Athletes fronting beauty campaigns, at last the media may be heading in a more positive direction.

Check out my Show Reel – http://youtu.be/lsGpz3wHPuo

30 Minute Workouts

Last week I discussed 30 minute classes and as ever choreographytogo readers are bucking the trend. I’ve had loads of emails and messages via Twitter and FB regarding how successful your 30minute Blast classes are.

Tips to setting up a 30minute HIIT

Sell the benefits – Time efficient workout in minimum time.
Aimed at busy people who want fast results in an action packed class.
Kettlebells, Boxing, ViPR, Extreme Abs, Extreme Punch,
Brand your HIIT/30minute classes with cool, edgy and exciting colors and fonts.
Aim your marketing at your more hardcore customer.
Be the first in your area to offer 30minute HIIT.
Sell it as a more athletic workout and capitalize on the Olympic spirit and mood.

My New Fitness Mentoring Course

I am starting a new 12 week online Fitness Business mentoring course on 10th September 2012. This is aimed at all budding fitness entrepreneurs who are now ready to take the step with me as your mentor and coach.

Week by week we will work on building your offline and online business making sure you have sound foundations. Together we will work on your ideas and bring them to the marketplace and I’ll work with you personally in building a successful fitness business.

This will be the final chance this year to get involved in my mentoring courses. Therefore, if you are not sure or have load of questions then get in touch with me and let’s have a chat. For all of the course details https://www.choreographytogo.com/home/12-week-fitness-business-mentoring/

Rachel’s Crystal Ball and Ideas

I’m looking into my crystal ball today and giving you my opinions on the future of Group X, Qualifications and Classes.

Dance and Themed Classes

I know there will ALWAYS be a market for a fantastic pay as you go, large, dance based class, with brilliant music, high energy that everyone can follow and enjoy. Historically if you look back, there always has been from Aerobics, Line Dancing, Latino Fitness, Zumba, Bookwa and tons more so why don’t your rotate some of the old fun, dance decade, style workouts – 60’s Rock n Roll, Motown, 70’s Disco, 80’s Retro, 90’s Rave, you can easily get the music from Pure Energy so create 5 template classes and rotate them. The choreography should be simple, the music needs to be loud and singalong and these classes are timeless.

Pure Energy is bringing out Back 2 School CD so why don’t you kick off September with a Back to School / School Disco workout? You could even get everyone dressing up, what fun. Come on guys think laterally…..

Small Group Training

SGT can sit amongst your other classes and personal training as a great way to leverage your time, generate more income and help you reach a more targeted market.

Drill down your niche and identify an untapped target market.
Teens, Older mums, Men only, The last 5lbs, The last 10lbs, 2 stone to lose, 5 stone to lose – you can niche the niche and tap into the power of SGT.

You only need to see your group once a week but build in added value with online workouts, coaching calls, group webinars and a facebook community group with daily access to you. SGT is a perfect for PT’s and Group X Instructors to really leverage their time and create more income and once you have your programme fine tuned can roll it out over and over again.

You can now get Katie Bulmer’s and my Complete Online Small Group Training Package https://www.choreographytogo.com/workshop-booking/sgt-workshop/

Nutrition Qualifications

Getting a good nutritional qualification under your belt is another important step to take. The only recognised nutritional qualification in the UK is the Level 3 Nutrition and you can do that online in a matter of weeks.
Building on your nutrition learning I would highly recommend Charles Poliquin and his brilliant Biosignature Course; it is truly is outstanding. I am a huge fan of Mr Poliquin. His blogs and articles are loaded with the latest nutritional and supplement information.
Dr Jade Teta and Metabolic Effect is also a great course and Dr Jade provides daily blogs and cutting edge information that is a must read in my opinion.

To jump on the Level 3 Nutrition courses https://www.choreographytogo.com/qualifications/level-3-nutrition/

New Downloads of Choreographytogo

I’ve been uploading lots of new downloads ready for your classes in September.

Fitness Pilates Tabata Workout Click here https://www.choreographytogo.com/video-detail/?vid=642

This week’s newsletter sees some fabulous articles by Cori, Andrew, Jayne, Claire, Katie, Sally, Jill, Tanya Oliver, who specialises in helping people with 5 stone and more to lose, and even Sally’s son Taylor, who is setting up his own Fitness website and blog aimed at getting other kids into fitness, has written his views on the Olympics!

Make sure you read to the end and take your pen and paper out to jot down all the millions of ideas you will have when reading the newsletter!

Jayne Nicholls

OK I admit it, I sat down to watch the closing of the Olympics ceremony on my own and was feeling pretty peeved not to be sharing it with my friends and family. So I turned to Face Book where I was immediately in touch with hundreds of ”friends”, some I know and some I have never met before. Immediately I was laughing at their comments positive, negative and sarcastic. Twitter offered some amazing pictures and insights at the touch of a # and You Tube archived the best moments within minutes.

This is what social media is all about and for the first time in a very long time I enjoyed being on it.

I wonder if it is within our control to create a positive environment out of what has become a rather anti-social form or media. How many of you have experienced 1 or all of these things in the recent past:
Comparing your success with that of one or a group of FB friends
Biting your tongue for fear of voicing an independent opinion
Joining in on colloquial FB jargon, posts and using FB slang in order to fit in
A playground mentality has been created where people form gangs, some that meet in public and some in private where the real dirt is dished. The most powerful are those with their own groups, masses of followers and the time to post repetitive posts on their own success and the success of those that they have influenced. repetitive
It is forecast that FB and Twitter may become the public interface of customer service for many large businesses due to its immediacy and ease of contact. As a tool for marketing it is priceless, as a means of reaching out to ”like-minds” it is the very first of its kind but as a source of PR, what many people miss is that it is the things that people say about us, the way they react to our conduct rather than the things that we say about ourselves that define our success and the efficacy of what we do.

An entrepreneur is someone who brings what is not popular into popularity, they take risks, manage all aspects of its success and take control of its destiny. A fantastic example of such a person is Mark Zuckerberg, his entrepreneurial spirit created this phenomenon that we all depend on for daily interaction.

When using Face Book in the future we would all be wise to consider exactly what it is and exactly who we are, if it assists us, amuses us and serves as a source of inspiration, education and excitement then it fulfils a valid purpose BUT if it defines us and we can’t tear ourselves away from it then its hold is much darker than it ever intended.

Can cravings be cured? by Tanya Oliver

Anyone out there get a feeling of determination like I mean long to change yourself and your figure, long to be in that size 12 dress or drop a stone or two, then hop onto the latest diet out there where you have to cut out all your favourite foods, you set off with all good intentions to succeed do really well then fall off after few days end back up in the cycle of longing to change, hopping on the next new diet out there for the same thing to happen again. I don’t know about you but I feel the more I deprive myself I end up binging on a craving.

Come on be honest with me, have you experienced this? I feel this is a common scenario played out in many households around the country every single day. A woman eats her favourite biscuit until there’s none left in the packet, why is this? Well we do it too simply to satisfy the overwhelming craving. We all crave different things, some of us crave sweets while others crave chocolate, pasta, crisps. Whatever it is it will find a way from hand to mouth.

The truth is that the majority of people including myself are or have followed a pathway of extreme dieting! I’m really sorry if this takes you back or you don’t like what I’m about to say but you know something these cravings never go away and some cravings can lead to addictions. Yes you heard me right, it’s a fact! We can’t stop the thoughts or the cravings but what we can do is; Respond to them

Answer them and deal with them & remember is that it’s not about what we do it’s all about how we put things right.
The aim is to find a balance without feeling deprived or defenceless. It’s not a quick fix I’m sorry to say but implementing long term behavioural patterns and new habits will then help with controlling your weight. Craving sugary foods can be an indication of a lack of certain nutrients in the body, such as;
chromium which is found in broccoli, grapes and dried beans
Phosphorus which is found in nuts, legumes, grains, fish and eggs
Carbon which can be found in fresh organic fruit
Tryptophan which can be found in cheese, liver, raisins, sweet potato and spinach
Food is a very good short term fix at the times of feeling down, happy, excited or angry it gives you that immediate uplift and feeling of comfort. The fact is we need to start to recognise the things that give us these uncontrollable urges, so we can learn to gain control and get a grip on our responses & our emotions to this! You see our brain doesn’t remember the trigger it just remembers the comfort from the food, I’m making sense here right? Trying to come off the foods that play with our blood sugar levels will be hard, but cravings will stop after the first few days.
You know in life, there’s always a solution to a problem. It’s the road you choose to take that sees the outlook of the situation. What I mean by that is “Not taking control of the situation and letting it control you will only make your problems worse. We need to face things head on and gain control of the situation and adopt a positive mindset. No matter what your problem there’s always a solution. Ask yourself ”What can I do to sort this’ instead of ”I can’t do anything about my problem because”.
Keep this thought with you and have a mint day, any questions I’m happy to help.

http://www.lifestylefitness.org.uk/index.html
http://www.facebook.com/tanya.olivergrieves
Tweets by tolivergrieves

7 reasons to get a STAND OUT BRAND and Get BRAND new you! by Jill Gardner

These days it’s so easy to fade into the background. This growing industry has opportunities everywhere. We can often end up following others because that’s what appears to be popular. But it’s all too diluted out there and people are getting lost in the background. STAND UP, STAND OUT and BE NOTICED!

I know I want my message to be loud and clear otherwise I will never be heard. Being The Fat Controller sounds a lot more inviting and intriguing than being a fat loss expert – of which there are plenty! So what should you do?

The best thing I ever did was invest in top notch graphic design. Here are the 7 main reasons:

It looked professional and well established
It stood out amongst the rest
It made me see it as an established and successful brand and so that’s how I portrayed it, and therefore others saw it.
The colours are synonymous with all my offerings and logos and so are easy for the audience to connect with and recognise
It’s bright and full of personality
It’s portrays professionalism, reliability and trust
It gave my business an identity and personality – I have a STAND OUT BRAND!

If you are deadly serious about your product or brand, then think carefully about what brand stands for, your values and who you are marketing too. Don’t just use words that sound cool or current! It needs to be timeless!

Use this branding across all your social media, websites, business cards, flyers, clothing. Get it printed on stationary, mugs and just about everything besides. Once you start to see you brand everywhere you will really start to live and believe your brand values and so will you customers. People will start to recognise this wherever they see you and your brand whether it be on Facebook or at your classes. Go get yourself a STAND OUT BRAND and live, eat and breath your brand!

Big love, small tummies!
Jill – The Fat Controller

www.hateitchangeit.co.uk www.facebook.com/hateitchangeit @itsjillgardner

Raising an Olympian by Sally Ghafoor

17 days of nail biting, shouting at the telly, dreams realised, dreams dashed, it felt like the country had come together to celebrate the 2012 London Olympics.

I was lucky enough to go to London for two weekends to soak up the atmosphere, to engage with people from different cultures and countries. The legacy of these games was to inspire a generation and if you have children like mine, it certainly lived up to its legacy.

For me the undercurrent I kept feeling from the athletes who had won Gold, Silver or Bronze was that if you put the hard work in you too can realise your dreams.

One of the most inspirational athletes Mo Farrah, Mo came to Britain aged 8 years old as a Somalian refugee, speaking very little English. After winning his Olympic Gold medals, he said, “this makes the training every cold morning, running 120 miles a week completely worth it. If I can do it, anyone can”

I know my children are inspired, my niece is inspired to be an Olympic swimmer, the children talking on the train I was on, on the way to London, were inspired to be Olympians. So how do you raise an Olympian?

Easy, look at the qualities of character of Olympians. They never give up, they never cut corners, they have amazing work ethic and drive, they have a dream and they will keep on going until they reach that goal. I think this is a great thing to install into our children. Just think how far you could push yourself in your life, your business, in everything you do if you just believed and put the work in like those Olympians, if you believed that it is possible, and never let procrastination or fear get in your way.

My Children want to be Olympians so I will encourage them in every single way possible as whatever becomes of their dreams, if they have the above qualities I mentioned, they will most definitely thrive in anything they want to do. So don’t quash those dreams, encourage them and inspire a nation.

Believe and be an Olympian in everything you do.

Tweet me your or your children’s’ dream @sallyghafoor #inspire

Do you have to be fit to play Golf ? Paula Denvir

Howdy all, after reading my last article about Golf Fit you may have thought “yeah I don’t think so, ha you don’t have to be fit to play golf !”

That’s what I thought before I started playing.

Now like all you Fit Pros out there I’m reasonably fit, I run, swim, cycle – blah blah. I noticed when I was out on the range hitting between 50/100 balls or even after my golf lesson, later that day my right side shoulder, hip and lower back was slightly sore and stiff.

So I decided on doing a little experiment putting together and doing specific warm up exercises, hey Paula practise what you preach to your clients and warm up like we all should before playing any sport !
I found that I didn’t have any problems and yes sometimes if even improved my performance physically and mentally.

Now let’s just say that the average golfer is more of an older client range, although golf is becoming more and more popular with the younger generation. After years and years of swinging a golf club without warming up what effect causing postural imbalances has this had on their body ?
Let me know what you think or want to find out more join my Facebook group –
Female Fairway Fitness http://www.facebook.com/groups/194734340657108/

Happy golfing !

Paula Denvir
Golf Fitness Specialist

Find the correct niche by Becky Lane

Have you created a package, if so are you selling to the correct niche? We can literally go round and round in circles, spending huge amounts of money on advertising and time when in actual fact this could all be for nothing! Have you really found out what your target market want, whether they have time to deliver the programme / product you have created? Can they afford it?

The reason why I am writing about this is because I have previously made this massive mistake which delayed my progress for a number of months. Let me explain…
Movin Monkeez (my fitness and dance pre-school package) I originally tailored to nursery schools. I spent a lot of money on postal campaigns, researching for address and email details (and also employing someone else to do this). Thinking that I had hit the nail on the head I waited…and waited…and waited for a response. I heard nothing so tried to give it away for FREE and still nothing! And why? Because its not what they were after. They like external instructors to come in and deliver the programme, they don’t have time to learn syllabus or indeed give their staff time to learn. They want 30 minutes – one hour where a fun and bubbly person comes into teach the children while they can get on with other things!

So I changed my tactic and although anyone in any business can run with Movin Monkeez I am now aiming my advertising at mums who want to get back into work and earn a living whilst taking their own monkeez along or whilst they are at school! Since doing this I have gained 7 new leaders in 2 months and have a team of 13 leaders delivering sessions in 9 different locations. Niching works (especially with advertising) I was always cautious to do it. I thought that if I niched I would lose people but what this shows is I have gained and will continue to do so as this is what this market WANT! Anyone can be a Movin Monkeez leader – I have from fitness instructors to dance teachers to mum’s and childminders!

Email – becky@movinmonkeez.co.uk
Twitter – @Movinmonkeez / @beckyfitness
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/becky.lane.716

Cori Withell The Nutcracker

Olympic Fever

It’s all over – I cannot believe it, I am missing it so much! Has it inspired you as much as it has me? Has it inspired your clients? Are you feeling empowered and energised to go out there and try something new, break into a new realm of fitness?
I think an essential part of our job is to inspire others but it is so much more than just inspiring, We need to lead from the front but show our human side. We need to be able to show compassion and empathy but demonstrate solutions and strategies.
Why has the Olympics made me think of this?
All of those champions never, ever gave up. No matter what came up in their lives, their dedication and faith remained steadfast but they did not do it alone.
They had families, friends, partners, coaches, colleagues, and many more. Would they have achieved so much without that support – I doubt it?
So, how many of you really know what is going on in your client’s life? Do you know what kind of support network they have? Do they trust you enough to confide in you? You don’t need to be a counselor here, you just need to understand them as well as you can.
If you know your client has family that constantly drag them down then you know a crucial part of your role is to help them with their self belief so that they can get through that sabotage. That doesn’t happen through a training programme – that happens through your role as a coach.
You are not ‘just’ a fitness instructor.
You are:
inspirational
motivational
determined
dedicated
fearless
a counselor
a trainer
a coach
a therapist
a friend
a colleague
a sounding board
a confidant
and many, many more.
BUT
Do YOU have those? Do YOU have a good enough support network? It is all well and good supporting others but if no one is supporting you then that framework WILL come crashing down around you at some point. Practise what you preach, use people around you to support you as you support them.
The stronger you are, the better you become at all of the above 🙂
When you have elements of all of those, you can inspire anyone and anything to do whatever it is they want to achieve in their lives – that for me is what the Olympics is all about and when the Paralympics start that message will get hammered home even harder.

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

When should I launch a pregnancy or postnatal class?
By Claire Mockridge
Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Instructors often ask me for advice on when to launch their pregnancy and/or postnatal fitness classes after they’ve qualified, so I thought I’d give you some clarification on this.

Here’s the history of my pregnancy and postnatal fitness and Pilates journey:

My postnatal fitness classes started several years ago now, in the month of September. By January of the following year, I had 3 mother and baby sessions running.

I launched my pregnancy fitness classes the following year on 31 July. I went out on a limb and put 2 classes on my timetable on a Monday and Wednesday evening, and within 3 months, had to put another session on to meet demand.

Once I’d qualified in Pilates, my pregnancy Pilates classes were launched in the month of April and were, and still are now, the most popular and profitable class on my timetable, with waiting lists in constant operation.

My postnatal Pilates classes came along in October the same year I launched my pregnancy Pilates sessions, and have gone from strength to strength ever since.

Because women are always getting pregnant, and women are always having babies, to be honest, there’s really no magic time of year that you have to launch your classes.

As FitPros, we often think we HAVE to launch a NEW class in September and/or January, but this simply isn’t the case when working with a niche client group.

If you’re contemplating or studying your Ante/Postnatal qualification now, or you did your certificate some time ago, let me tell you, you could launch a pregnancy or postnatal fitness/Pilates class in any given month of the year, and it would be successful.

The only thing you need to be aware of is the fact that you’ll need more time to market to pre and postnatal women than a usual mainstream class eg 6-8 weeks would be the absolute bear minimum.

If you’d like help with marketing to this client group, check out my Pre/Postnatal Marketing Manuals: www.clairemockridge.com/marketing

Or, connect with me here:
Closed Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/clairemockridge/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/clairemockridge1
Twitter: www.twitter.com/clairemockridge
Blog: http://clairemockridge.wordpress.com/

Bye for now.

Claire Mockridge
Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Looking to Olympics 2020, for all kids and their parents who are inspired to become an Olympian by Taylor Whatley

Due to swimming pool rules, mum couldn’t film me doing this swimming workout so here it is on my blog.

Watching the Olympics has made me think about what sport I love doing, so whether you are a kid like me or if you are a parent like my mum, I am putting together workouts and tips to help you get into good fitness so you can push yourself on in the sport you like doing.

My favourite sport in the Olympics was the triathlon I really want to do a Triathlon. I am a good runner and good on my bike but swimming is not my strongest point so it is a great challenge for me to increase my swimming speed.

You need to be doing an exercise that you find fun, I love all types of sport so it’s not like I am training, but I make sure I have time to have fun with my friends too as well as all the training I do. Also remember to only swim with an adult present, my mum or step dad always come with me, I would never just go off and swim without an adult present, so make sure if you want to improve your swimming you involve your mum and dad, plus they can help you by letting you know how you got on.

If you are focusing on becoming a good swimmer, you will get bored if you just swim up and down in the lanes, you need a plan. As I am 11 at the moment the best thing I can be doing is to concentrate on my technique, here are some top tips for getting your freestyle swimming technique right:

1. Spend most of your time swimming on your side not your tummy, most of us learn to swim flat on our tummy, but the way to freestyle is to rotate your body as you swim. Here is what my Mum says:

You should also try to take breaths on alternate sides to help promote this good body roll. If an arm is called the “front arm” it refers to the arm pointing to where you are headed. That side of your body (shoulder to hip) is generally oriented toward the bottom of the pool, like the keel of a boat. The opposite side (shoulder to hip) is aimed more “up” toward the ceiling like a shark fin.

2. Catch up drill , hold an object in one hand whilst swimming so that one arm does all the work, as you push forward one arm does the stroke then takes hold of the object and the other arm does the work and so on

3. 10 and 10 Drill, one arm forward (straight) one arm along your side, so your fingers are pointing towards your toes, your ear against your shoulder, chin is in line with your chest and you should be looking sideways, do 10 kicks in this position, take a breath, roll onto the other side with your arms changing position and carry on.

So get practising your technique and watch out for some swimming workouts I will be posting up

Taylor
www.taylorwhatley.com

Making Your Own Fitness DVD by Katie Bulmer Cooke

Hi C2Goer’s,

Hope all is good in the fitness hood!

This week I’m filming my latest home workout ‘DVD’. However, this one will be leaping into the future; instead of a physical DVD, customers will watch in on their iPhone, Blackberry, Smart Phone, iPad or Laptop- cool eh?

Having a DVD is a great way to increase your passive income, something all fitness professionals are striving for. It hits an unlimited audience- you are no longer confined to a local customer base, therefore raising your profile and brand awareness.

So, when it comes to filming your DVD, here are my top 5 tips…

Use a good quality camera, or better still get the professionals in. To help with the cost, why not offer a swap of services by giving the company class passes, PT sessions, boot camps memberships in exchange for a discount on their film and production services.
Write a script. Define exactly what you are going to deliver; which exercises, for how long, will it be one long workout or lots of smaller ones, will there be scenes where its just you talking, what will you say? Give this to the film company in advance.
Have ‘backing babes’ to help with exercise demos. Having other fitness professionals, clients or class members in shot demonstrating harder and easier alternatives will take some of the pressure from you, and also gives the camera operator a chance to shoot from different angles.
Look the part! Do full hair and make-up (even the boys) and wear your best workout outfit.
Don’t worry if you make a mistake, you’re only human. Use your first or second take and try not to over think it. Just imagine you are teaching your usual class.

I look forward to seeing Facebook and Twitter flooded with… ‘My new fitness DVD is out on…’

Keep me updated @KatieBulmer1

KBC xx

Always Look On The Bright Side Of…….Volunteers &MoBolt!!!
By Andrew Crawford

It’s over….and the closing ceremony was fantastic…….what am I gonna watch now?? Dating in the dark perhaps..??!!!

There will be no more diving, riding, high fiving, athleticing, canoeing, handballing, riding, hockeying, wrestling, water poloing….kissing, squeezing, medal biting,…cycling, boxing, sailing, volley eyeballing, ….basketballing, swimming, gymnasticing, girls I wouldn’t mind dating…taekwonding, Mackkie Ding with grease in, and…..sobbing , crying and tear drying whilst dribbling…..I’m gonna miss it..!!

Around the UK were very proud spectators watching the closing ‘concert’ take place in the Olympic Park, the lights going out on the Olympic tourch did it for me..!!

Just one thing though…….Georgie could have sang ‘Careless Whispher’ or another one of his well known songs and I thought Russell was going to offend someone..!!

Lord Coe did a marvellous job, well worth a Peerage. “When Our Time Came, We Did It Right” very powerful…and that Cameron…riding on his coat tails, promising the extension of government funding for UK sports………listen up……….that pledge was too late for some of those athletes..mofo!!
Take for instance the plight of Nicola Adams….I will use a quote here because if it was me, I would go on too long….
“…..despite Adams going on to become the first woman to represent England at boxing, her mother has spent years chasing potential sponsors – but not a single person or company ever put up a penny…..”
She went on to say…
“….It was a tight budget…I worked in several jobs, what else can you do?…”
I felt sad…..sad for her and all the other parents who had to endure these types of sacrifices….whilst the government bolstered up suspect banks with billions of taxpayers hard earned dosh..over and over again!!
The up shot of this, is that women’s only boxing took national TV by storm last week with Adams winning the gold for herself, Leeds, the UK and all the women from the sufferagettes onwards..!
Following Adam’s gold winning bout Miss Naomi Gibson who runs a ‘womens only’ boxing outfit was interviewed on Channel 5, Sky News, BBC Worldservice and LBC ….it just so happens that I know her..!!
She runs ‘Girls In Gloves’ … see www.girlsingloves.com
Amongst other girlie things, she mentioned that she was looking for Instructors to spread womans boxing throughout the UK now that it was recognised by the Olympics…. be cheeky and contact her… naomi.gibson@gmail.com (please don’t tell her I told you….that’s if your interested in that type of girlie thing)
Lol….Right now….my good friend Mr Andy Wake has just had a heart murmur…I can just see him now..nostrils flared reaching for the keypad…lol…”…don’t worry brother…you have the World’s No 1 Boxing Fitness Training ..the Biggest Brand Name in Boxing Fitness….Boxercise ” he’s a fantastic guy if you ever meet him.

So,…..What next? Let’s look on the bright side…What will you do as Fitness Professionals for our future Team GB Athletes?? Has this momentous event left you wanting to keep the legacy of this Olympics alive?

I went twice in the second week to engross myself in the atmosphere..I was also pleased to bump into another Andy. Mr Andy Lucas who runs Leisure Plan holidays & Fitness Fiesta….if you live in and around London and didn’t ‘pop’ in to see what your tax paid for, shame on you…why?
Mr Lucas comes from a remote part of the country (North West I believe)..’in the middle of nowhere’ and managed to get himself into London …not by himself mind you…but with children and an expectant wife…..now that’s dedication and support. I salute you Mr Lucas..it was lovely to see you and yours..!!

Whilst all this was going on, lurking in the darkest corridors of parliament was our Foreign Minister who stated that he was going to aid the war by giving the murderers £5m of British Tax payers money so that they can buy communications equipment…..now, here’s the laughable bit….they wasn’t allowed to use this FREE British tax payers money to buy guns or ammunition..
Can you imagine the scenario?
Foreign Minister: Here’s £5m of British taxpayers money to buy comms…promise me you won’t use any of it to buy weapons.!!??
Answer: Scouts honour Sir…no weapons Sir…now Gustov here’s some money, go and buy some walkie talkies and mobiles from Orange or talk talk,…make sure they’re all networks. If Mark asks you if you need any firearms, tell him to SO..!!
It’s like giving a drunkard money to spend an evening sitting in a pub and ask him not to buy alcohol..!!!..Good gracious me..!
What about that UK bank Standard Chartered, they illegally laundered £160bn ($250 bn) through their banking system for Irainian clients. Yes….you heard right…money laundering…by a bank.! What will happen to the top executives who knew about this?? FA. ..and that ain’t sweet.
So Mr Andrew Crawford
What has the Volunteers who received the loudest and longest cheers during Lord Coe’s closing speech along with our heros Mo Farah and that fast mofo Jamaican named Usain Bolt got to do with Accountancy & Tax?
It’s all about ‘Timing’….
For these guys above, it’s about 0.05 seconds, the difference between a world record , Olympic record or personal best.
In the 200m mens finals you saw the bronze, silver and gold medals separated by hundreths of seconds….we as tax payers have days or months.!!

Failure to notify penalty

HMRC can apply a penalty if people don’t tell HMRC about a tax obligation at the correct time.
The failure to notify penalty will most commonly apply where you don’t tell HMRC at the right time that:
you are liable to tax because your new business has made a profit
your business’s turnover has reached the VAT registration threshold
you sell an asset and make a capital gain on which tax should be paid
you start a type of business that is required to register with HMRC – for example for excise
your circumstances change in another way that affects your tax position
When do I need to notify HMRC to avoid a failure to notify penalty?
Below are some examples for the most common taxes you as a self-employed person or small business is most likely to encounter. This is when you must notify the HMRC or a failure to notify penalty may apply.
Self Assessment Tax Returns
Someone who has not received a self-assessment return or notice to file must tell HMRC if they had income or capital gains that made them chargeable to tax in the previous tax year.
The deadline for notifying a liability to tax is 5 October, after the end of the tax year.
The deadlines for Self assessment returns are:
30 September for paper and online returns, if you want us to calculate the tax due
31 October for paper returns but you must calculate the tax due
31 January for online returns but you must calculate the tax due
Where you file the tax return and pay the tax by the relevant deadlines there is no failure to notify penalty.
You may need to register and await authorisation before you can submit an online return. Make sure to leave yourself enough time for that to happen.
VAT
A business that has exceeded the VAT registration threshold over the past 12 months, or expects to turnover the whole VAT threshold in the next 30 days, must tell the HMRC within 30 days.
Corporation tax
A company who has not received a Company Tax return or notice to file must tell HMRC if they become chargeable to tax within twelve months from the end of the accounting period.
Different companies can have different accounting dates, so the time limit for notifying HMRC will differ accordingly. For example if the company’s accounting date is 30 June 2012 and it is liable to corporation tax for that period, notification of chargeability must be given to HMRC by 29 June 2013
National Insurance Contributions from the self employed
There is a very similar penalty for Class 2 National Insurance that we will apply if you do not tell HMRC that you have to pay Class 2 NICs because you have become self-employed. Please remember that if you do not pay the correct amount of NICs, in addition to a penalty, your contributions record may be incomplete and could affect your entitlement to National Insurance Benefits – such as the state pension.
If you start self-employment between 6 April 2011 and 5 April 2012 you must tell HMRC by 31 January 2013 or you could be liable for a penalty.
So timings are crucial if you want to avoid additional tax, which they seem to enjoy dishing out.
Finally….
I have been referring to banks a lot over my last articles, this is because I’ve got a feeling in my bones that something is going to occur..I can feel it in the air…I don’t know what it is….another collapse, merging or a complete transformation.
Just keep your eyes and ears open…and remember…Always look on the bright side of life.

Regards
Andrew Crawford
www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com
www.facebook.com/andrewjamescrawford
Twitter: @tax4fitness

Have a great Thursday

Love Rachel xxx