Instructor Newsletter 18th July 2013

Scorchio part 2….. As the UK basks in temperatures of 30degrees I asked the question last week if your class numbers are suffering and I received an avalanche of feedback from Instructors saying NO and a few saying YES. I found it interesting as I was listening to Radio 2 (I’m actually admitting to it now!!) that travel agents are saying summer holidays are down 25% this year, and I’m seeing it too. Lots of my own regulars, who tend do disappear all summer, have said they will still be here this year so maybe patterns are changing, who knows. This week’s newsletter sees fab articles by Chris Tuck, Jayne, Cori, Marv & Andrew.

I asked Chris to write an article as she is publishing her first book, which is so exciting,  although not strictly a fitness book.  Chris charts her life from having a problematic childhood, getting into fitness and overcoming her early issues to become a health coach, author and now on the way to becoming a public speaker. Chris’s story shows her determination to succeed and help others and I think you will find her article very inspiring and motivating.

KSFL MASTERCLASS Are you in the South London Area on 1st September? In conjunction with Chris Tuck Ill be presenting a talk on KSFL and masterclass and everyone is welcome. The taster class is free and the masterclass is only £15 and Id love to see you so grab a spot. For booking information contact Chris – ctsfitness@hotmail.co.uk

My Free Top Tips to Fat Loss Webinar is being held tonight at 830pm There are over 500 already signed up it will be my biggest webinar to date.. https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/165990750

Tomorrow sees the launch of the new Fitness Pilates for Men Package including a progressive 4 week programme and work book with Marvin Burton which we are all so excited about.

The Fast & Furious Fitness Business Tactics Workshop

In the soaring temperatures Andrew and I delivered our F & F Business day to a full house and I am still buzzing! There was some great discussion and insight as we covered social media marketing, PR, branding, websites, online fitness ideas, passive income streams, how to create a coaching and mentoring arm to your fitness business, going mobile and the app culture. Andrew looked at business and strategic planning, trade marking, copyrighting, product lifecycle, private label rights and a whole host of useful topics. I’d LOVE to do days like this every month because you just get so much out of them, just chatting to everyone, throwing around ideas, networking and sharing. There will be a video download coming soon. A huge thanks to everyone who came along.

How to Kick off your Online Fitness Business when you have no spare cash or are a technophobe!

This comes up all of the time whenever I lecture or do talks on creating your fitness business online. I get it! We love fitness and teaching and not websites and understanding Aweber and imovie BUT if you truly want to break away from the hamster wheel of too much teaching and PT’ing check out my 3 simple solutions.

Techie Issues – If techie issues are  driving you round the bend then you have to harness the power of YOUTUBE. There is a step by step video tutorial for EVERYTHING from How to tie your shoelace to changing your website banner, understanding wordpress, aweber tutorials and every other single thing you need to know that’s technical. Anything that has you stumped will be there in its full glory on youtube just waiting for you to find it, watch it and then take action.

Cash Issues – If spare cash is holding you back then you can get a Free blog/website from WordPress.org then follow Youtube videos to show you exactly how to update it, and believe me it is really simple. By the way Choreographytogo.com and KickStartFatLoss.net are wordpress blogs. You can also get a free email marketing service – MailChimp which is all you need to get your offers and newsletter sent out  to your clients on a regular basis.

Mindset Issues – I think this is bigger than the previous 2 points and it appears prevalent amongst Fitpros.
Are you constantly telling yourself. “I’m just no good with computers” “I’m such a dunce when it comes to anything techie” “I can’t……….”
NEWSFLASH… the more you tell yourself  & speak to yourself that way that then that becomes the truth. Stop the negative self talk and wise up right away. Hundreds of Fitpros & C2GO members who viewed themselves as a “technophobe” have set up wordpress blogs, got their head around Mailchimp and cracked on.

I love this quote by Tony Robbins
“It’s not about your resources, it’s about your resourcefulness”

Please don’t let a lack of resources and lack of cash stop you achieving and creating the online business you want then. Come on team seize the moment.

Id love your feedback Tweet me@RachelHolmes

What do YOU Charge for Your Classes, Products and Services?

“I’ve been asked me to teach a special…………class and I don’t know what to charge”
“I’ve been asked to teach at XYZ club and I want to get my foot in the door as there could be great potential what do I charge…?’
“I’ve created a new online mums and baby fitness programme what do I charge…?”

I see these emails all of the time. I see this topic discussed on social media all of the time so I think its a topic that I may throw my twopenneth at as it seems to be pretty relevant in the current climate.

It could be a special class, or a new venue or perhaps you have created a new online product or series, so here are a few tips to think about your services and products pricing.

1.Understand the marketplace  – look at the bigger picture where do you want to be positioned. Do you want to be the RyanAir or the Virgin Atlantic, in other words price yourself low and get  more volume or high end getting fewer customers or clients who pay you more money. Only you can make this decision.

2.Look at the value your class or product will being to your customer – Think about it, your fitness class or product can change your customers life. Make them slimmer, fitter, healthier, happier, more productive, less stressed…the list goes on so don’t price your self too cheap. List all of the amazing benefits your class or service has and then have a rethink on your pricing.

3.Foot in the door pricing – How many times have you got stuck with this one! You price yourself really low to get your foot in the door as you see there could be future potential. Well, if the potential doesn’t show up and you don’t get any further than a foot in the door AND you are seriously underselling yourself then give yourself a time limit and if it doesn’t pan out  get out and move on.

Your Communication and promotion – Positioning yourself is key and so is your marketing. Why would someone pay one trainer £100 per session and another trainer gets  £15? What can you bring to the table that is different? How can your method get the right results for your target market? Again, it all comes back to knowing exactly who you are marketing to, know your client avatar inside out and then position yourself accordingly.

5. Check out the competition – what is the average price for similar products and services. Do you want to come in higher/lower or somewhere in between?

Do you struggle putting a price on your services and classes? I’d love to hear how you work out your pricing Tweet me @RachelHolmes

Jayne Nicholls
One of the great things about having a mentor is that they help you address the uncomfortable issues that are ultimately the small things holding you back. A great mentor does not necessarily teach you how to reach your goals but help you realise them in your own time efficient way. The very things that stop any of us reaching our goals or achieving our dreams are the barriers that we ourselves construct which include all of the reasons why ”it” should not happen.

When goals are broken down they ultimately have an intention and a result. The fantasy of these results is simple to indulge, more so because of social media as we can to some extent remain anonymous behind our bold tweets or facebook persona but if our true intention is to be successful we need to consider what that success looks like and what we will do with it. If our goal is to have a greater income, what would we do with this money, how will it fit into the social and intrinsic hierarchy of our family and friends.

When social networking (and no one tells this better than Rohn) when we share with family and friends the potential of a discount or an income of £200-£500, only a small percentage will listen and the barriers are generally no time or disagreement, when you share the potential of £500 – £1000 this is so real and achievable, you would think that a majority would want to duplicate it (not always so) but when you share £1000 – £10,000plus everyone asks why you didn’t tell them earlier at this point you have hit a point that the majority do not believe possible.

As fitness instructors there is a general ceiling on what we can earn and how successful we can be based upon hours and audience. Trying to fit our goals around teaching may disappoint. An instructor or operator that offers only classes will only recoup the potential of the class timetable. if they offer classes and clothing this increases, if they offer classes, clothing and nutrition this triples, add on further secondary sales and this climbs even higher.

Experience and mentors have taught me that there is only so much Jayne to go round and I increasingly find myself much more inclined to keep it for myself. This has prompted me to offer other peoples skills that compliment my own and from this the business grows.

hope this helps you think about how you would like to move forward – or not! in a very fast moving fitness industry.

Tweet @JayneNicholls

Marvin Burton – Tip #11 Hire a Personal Trainer
I mentioned this a few years ago and I stick by it. Everybody should have a Personal Trainer. It’s proven that you cannot achieve a high level of performance when you are not either pushed, highly motivated or working sub-consciously. Being told what to do and not knowing or expecting what will be asked of you will take you out of your comfort zone and normally work you in a different way. The added benefit to working with a fellow professional is that you can learn different techniques from each other. Try and work out a deal/compromise with them as an exchange. I have friends that train me and another friend that does my soft tissue and massage work.
www.marvinburtonfitness.com
www.instagram.com/marvinburton

Marvin Burton – Tip #12 If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
Its a true face. How many people attend a gym without a programme to follow. Not knowing what to do, how to do it and how long you should be resting for will only lead you to low/slow results, no idea of if what you are doing is working and inevitably lack of motivation. If you are a Personal Trainer at the start of your session your client will need to know: what type of session you are doing and why (some examples might be Tabata training, strength training, Flexibility training) The rest time after each exercise (this should be timed and be realistic for their fitness level) and the tempos for each exercise. The time under tension is an important factor when establishing loading parameters and rest time.
Following this you can calculate weight percentages, maximum lifting amounts and what type of grip or handle to use.
www.marvinburtonfitness.com
www.instagram.com/marvinburton

Chris Tuck – How I got to publish my first Book

Hi there everyone I hope this article finds you all well?

My name is Chris Tuck and I have been asked by Rachel to share with you how I wrote my book, how I got it published & how I am launching it. To get to this point I need to share with you a little about my background and my upbringing.

Currently I am a Health Coach, Personal Trainer and Public Speaker.

I am the owner of West Wickham Health and Fitness; I run community fitness classes, fat loss and fitness clubs and boot camps through the Kick Start Fat Loss Brand. I have a therapy room where I see clients on a 1.1 basis for Pilates / PT & Massage.

I transform my clients’ lives through an integration of mindset nutrition and fitness protocols. Looking at what is holding them back, coaching them to release their breaks to help them move forwards.

I have written articles for local and national press including the Daily Mail and Woman Magazine, been on local radio and I am now focusing on appearing on TV in order to raise my profile.

I am the author of ‘Through The Eyes Of A Child’ which I am launching on Sunday the 1st September in the Hobbit Room @ The Warren Metropolitan Sports Centre Hayes BR2 7AL.

What is the point in telling you all the above? Well I can honestly say I am not bragging I am just sharing with you where I am at, in my life, at this moment.

But what I really want to share with you is where I have come from and how I have made the leap from that to the above! Hopefully it will inspire some of you :O)

I have known Rachel since 2004 when I qualified as an ETM Instructor.  Rachel has been my inspiration over the last 10 years; this is when I joined C2Go. Being in the community is a very isolating place and the members on the C2Go forum gave me the support and courage I needed to start my life as a community Fitness Instructor. I started with one class it was a circuit’s class which I took over in Sept 2004. It had 8 people in it!

I gradually built my community business up…..
Over the years I have qualified in and added Fitness Pilates/Kids/Seniors/Nutrition to my timetable at one time or another.

In 2010 I created my Fat Busters Bootcamp C.L.E.A.N. Living programme which was very successful in its own right however Rachel then bought out the KSFL Franchise :O) Rachel had taken her programme where I wanted to take mine with all the online membership site but I never seemed to have the time to create it. I felt that I needed to protect my post code so I bought into Rachel’s programme and now run all my classes under the KSFL® umbrella. A move that I was not sure about at first but I now know what one of my finest decisions!
I am now using my C.L.E.A.N. Living programme as part of my online ‘Breaking The Cycle’ Health and Wellness programme so I now have the best of both worlds.

At the moment I have spread myself too thin but I know where I am going, I know my focus and I will achieve everything I have set out to do.

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Where it all started!

As a child from the age of 7-15 my siblings and I suffered from physical, mental, emotional and sexual abuse. I was a mum to my 3 siblings from the age of 7 and I still am!

I decided to leave home at the age of 15 because I could take anymore abuse. I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life or where I was going to live but the pain of staying there too much to bear. Once I had made the decision to leave I enrolled myself on a catering course in Westminster college in London, I found myself a bedsit and then I worked 3 jobs and managed to get a bursary to help pay for everything.

On the course I had to learn about keeping the books – accountancy…..I loved it. 2/3rd of the way through my course I decided that I wanted to become an accountant because they earned more money than chef’s or managers of hotels!

One snag because I did not have O’level maths I had to start at the bottom as an accounts clerk. I was paid £5000 per year in 1988 (£2.40) and I had to put myself through night school. I studied AAT and then CIMA. This was a battle in itself…..I am not naturally academic I failed each stage of these courses (3 levels in AAT and 4 levels in CIMA) but I got there in the end! It took me 9 years! I was 27 (1997) when I finally qualified. I had to move jobs every 12-18months in order to acquire the experience I needed to match my level of qualification.

I was able to put my past on hold whilst I was studying because I had a massive goal to achieve and work towards and this was my focus.

I had my first child Ben in 1998 as soon as I qualified this was the only thing holding me back from having a family. I so wanted a child of my own to love! I had spent the last decade putting myself in a place where I would have security and stability to give my child everything that I did not have it growing up.

At the age of 30/31 I had everything – my career, my hubby, my house, my baby but this is when the cracks started to show. I had taken on too much and I could not reconcile in my head how anyone could treat babies and young children like my siblings and I were treated.

In 2001 I had a breakdown.

I got over this with therapy, with a change in job, and a change in lifestyle.

In 2003 I had my daughter Charley and was being made redundant from the Priory so I thought was else could I do? That I enjoy doing and that would fit in with my children?
I had always used fitness to get me through the tricky part of my life, to let off steam, anger, frustration. One day I was at my regular fitness class and the cover teacher there at the time was not very good. I thought to myself I could do a better job than that so off I went to the YMCA and become and ETM Instructor and this brings me full circle to the beginning of this article.
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In 2010 I had to have two lots of hip surgery and was told that if it did not work the 2nd time I would not be able to walk and that would be the end of my fitness business. I was scared! Even though I carried on ‘teaching’ I had to scale everything back. This was the time I decided to invest in my education. I took myself off to learn about posture and nutrition with Dax Moy and I added this to my portfolio.

I was now mixing with group exercise instructors and personal trainers and felt really happy with my skill set and experiences but I was still unhappy with myself. Everyone ‘The fitness industry experts’ kept on going on about finding your true purpose, being your authentic self and having an online product so I decided that I needed to share my story. I felt that this was the best way I could be ME…..and help people on a much larger scale.

I sat down to write my book over 7 years ago but the emotions kept on getting in the way of me ever making any real progress with it! I meet another Fitpro and journalist Karen Laing and meet up with her. She agreed to write my story for me. I would record my thoughts and feelings on voice or paper and send them to Karen. It took 12months to put the book together. This cost me £3000 in total.

I had to have further therapy I this time and I also kept a blog about writing about the book called: http://www.christuckmystory.com.

I then had to get the book published and this meant I need to raise my profile…..I enrolled on a PR course and managed to get into the local papers and on local radio by following the advice from this course.

I then needed a publisher but researched showed me that I needed to find a publisher willing to take me on, they would then edit the book as they saw fit, this process could take up to another year and I would hardly see any money from the book!

So what was I going to do about it? I wanted the book to be published this year! I wanted to keep as much proceeds from the book as I possibly could because I have plans for the money.

I attended an Author’s workshop in London with Chris Day from Filament Publishing and he gave me some fantastic valuable information about having a business model around the launch of a book. He said that the book itself is like a loss leader it will not make you rich. You need to have another product to sell afterwards.

I thought crickey have I not done enough work? I have completed the book that is all I wanted……but after thinking about it I could see he was right.

So what did I come up with? :O) I joined up with Mel Collie another Health Coach and survivor of abuse and we have co-founded S.O.B. Survivors Of aBuse and co-created the Breaking the Cycle C.L.E.A.N. Living Programme.

Some of the proceeds from the book will go into S.O.B to pay for CBT for some of our clients. The Breaking the Cycle C.L.E.A.N. Living Programme is for people who want to break the cycle of emotional eating, low self esteem etc. For further information please click on the link: http://www.survivors-of-abuse.org/breaking-the-cycle/ (website still being built as we speak).

I have paid Chris Day to be the publisher of my book – so I am self publishing through Chris Day’s publishing company this has cost me a further £3200. Chris has worked with me through the whole process and he is handling most of my PR as well.

We have a secret facebook group that helps with all aspects of abuse. How to get the right help for you and to have a safe place to discuss whatever issues you need to talk about. Access to this group can be gained through the above website.

You can buy a copy of the book from my website: http://www.survivors-of-abuse.org/ in due course.

This brings me full circle I believe to what Rachel has asked me to write about. I am sorry if it has been a bit long winded!

There are 3 things left for me to do….

To invite YOU to my book launch on Sunday the 1st Sept 2.30-4.30pm in the Hobbit Room @ The Warren Metropolitan Sports Centre Hayes BR2 7AL. Let me know if you would like to come asap :O) on the same day Rachel and I are holding the KSFL Masterclass at the Warren in the morning 10-12pm so why not come and join us for the day? Book your place on the masterclass:
http://westwickhamfitness.com/transformation-camp/kick-start-fat-loss-club/
To thank Rachel Holmes for her continued support and friendship. It was Rachel’s idea to have the book launch in the first place!
If I can achieve the above then so can anyone!

Have a fab day all,

Chris Tuck
Be True To Yourself :O)

Yay – summer is here, or booooo 🙁 Cori Withell

Are you classes rammed to bursting or has the sunshine got people sitting out in beer gardens instead of training with you?
We are never happy are we?
When it rains we moan that we would do anything for a bit of sunshine.
When it is sunny we moan that the gardens need rain.
And on it goes.

So, where am I going with this?

Well, look at it from your customers point of view.
Are you giving them what they want?
If you are in a stuffy village hall with no air con, can you blame them for not wanting to train – some of those halls turn into saunas!

Why can’t we be adaptable and change to our environment and community.
We still need to earn a living, our clients are missing our classes but can’t cope with the heat so, ADAPT!

Look at outdoor training – I am not kidding, I have done aerobics outside before now and we had a hoot!
It energises and lifts people because it is completely new, different and unexpected.

What about changing the format of the class, change from a Hi-Lo to a Stretch and Flex perhaps?
For us community instructors we have everything we need.
We have our sound system, mic, us, customers – take it to whatever level you need or want to.
Don’t let a hot hall stop you in your tracks, adapt to the here and now whatever it may be.

Health and happiness x
Cori – The Progressive Mind Coach

Body By Who?
By Andrew Crawford

You ALL know what I’m talking about…!!!

It was only a few months ago that I was asked to ‘Jump on Board’ before it officially launches in the UK. “Lock in your position”…I ain’t locking in bollox.

I would rather go down to Mackkie D’s and grab myself a strawberry milk shake and continue transforming my Body by KSFL®  journey.

And on the roads….”…Middle lane hoggers and aggressive drivers who cut up other motorists or tailgate face on-the-spot fines of £100 and three points on their licence under plans expected to be unveiled…”

Other changes will see the fine for not wearing a seat belt or for using a hand-held mobile telephone while driving increased from £60 to £100.
And the fixed penalty for driving without insurance will double from £100 to £200.
The £100 fine for careless driving from £60 will be the first increase in fines since 2000
The Body by The Police have been given additional powers by another Body by The Powers that be to enforce this.

Besides that I wanted to quickly mention about registering for VAT. This Body sets out to add an additional amounts to your good and services, the standard rate as of writing is 20%

This subject has come up many times in the last couple of weeks and funnily enough,  I was dragged into a thread yesterday. Here is what I advised .
This was the question…
“…..Do you guys add VAT onto your camp memberships or take the hit??? ??I currently am not registered but think I’m gonna have to. Anyone here do it and let current clients know prices are going to jump by 20%? If so what was your strategy of not losing them due to it?….”

Here was my reply…
“….Good morning gentlemen…….This is a GOOD subject and I think this WILL apply to top class PT’s reaching and exceeding the VAT threshold.
In my opinion,,,,Why should you charge VAT to clients making it MORE expensive for them??

e.g: 2 PT’s charging £45 per hour. One is VAT registered, the other is not. To the client, one pays £45 the other pay £54…..if the VAT registered PT wants to keep the price at £45, then they will ‘Take the 20% Hit’ – £7.50 making the service £37.50.

Just LAST week I restructured a PT’s business to legally avoid the registering for VAT. There are some administrative duties to put into place but essentially here is the PLAN: (Tax Planning) –

It’s ‘Tax Avoidance’ which is LEGAL (Organising your affairs to REDUCE tax).
TIP: SPLIT your business. One should be LIMITED, the other SOLE TRADER. THEY both CANNOT be limited unless a lot of ‘SPLITTING’ costs and resources AND ‘Bank Accounts’ etc….The Tax Man doesn’t like it BUT you must persist that there are valid reasons etc in order for the split and that they are DIFFERENT services. eg Selling supplements is DIFFERENT than delivering a PT session……If necessary I will write a page on this if you ALL want & NEED it. Saves LOTS of money etc. 2 businesses can bring in £154k before having to register….3 businesses can bring in £231k before having to register……..!!!! That’s it for now or this will be an essay…!!…”

If this affects you then I hope this will serve you.

Will the Body by VAT like the above scenario???

Ohh…as I was getting petrol, my eyes glanced over the headlines….one word………Tulisa….!!!

She was ‘Caught’ …..perhaps wanting to transform people’s Body by Coke…..allegedly..!!

Question…..How did the press get there so fast and all those reporters?? Body by the Press in full effect.

Finally
Some sun has hit these shores and most people were lapping up the rays to top up their tans…..invest in Body by The Sea….!!!

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

Have a wonderful day

Love Rachel x

OFFERS
The Functional Freestyle Conditioning DVD with Marvin Burton is now on offer for only £10 click here to view 10 available

New Fitness Pilates Certification extra date added 20/21st September in Derby click here to view info and book 4 spaces left

My next 7 day Kick Start Fat Loss Online Core Challeneg Detox starts on Monday – You can join me click here

Kick Start Fat Loss Franchisees.We are expanding again ready for new classes and clubs to start in September. The programme is evolving, we also include KSFL Step, Aerobics, Express, Men Only, Flexi, Quick Fix and many more additional bolt on programmes. If you want to get involved  click here for all of the information then call me personally 07976 268672

My Fitness Business Coaching and Mentoring Course is now back click here for special offers and deals

Id love to hear from you and how your classes and business are going?
Tweet me @RachelHolmes or Facebook/Choreographytogo

Catch you soon

Love Rachel x