Instructor Newsletter 1st Sept 2011
Note from Rachel
First week down in South Africa and I’ve been fortunate to present in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. This weekend I’ll be presenting at The Reebok Convention in J’burg so its been such an exciting time and the Retro Robics program has been storming. I’ve been hunting down leotards and leg warmers from all over Ebay and come up with some fan neo pink leotards and flesh coloured tights which I’ve been donning with much hilarity. You can see my pics and updates on Facebook and Twitter.
The mentor and coaching students have all been busy again this week writing articles and VLOGs and creating new online products and programs and featuring in this weeks newsletters and more brilliant articled from Jill Gardner, Sally Ghafoor, Annabel Kent, Katie Bulmer-Cook and Becky Lane. Please feel free to follow them on Twitter and Facebook for inspiration and to see how their new fitness businesses are expanding and growing.
Marvin Burton’s New Functional Freestyle 2011 Tour
Yes ,Mr Ironman is back travelling the length and breadth of the UK in the Functional car delivering the functional message. Marv has come back better than ever armed with new info on human movement, research and biomechanics and a whole host of great class content. First up Marv will be premiering the new Jordan Power Bag workout, then moving into his signature Freestyle Conditioning equipment free and then a full Abs and Core updates. We launched the workshop a few weeks backy and already it is looking like it will be a sell out 🙂
Check out Marv’s Tour details here
Systemise EVERYTHING!
It doesn’t matter if you run great Classes, Bootcamp’s and PT if you can’t leave your business for a holiday or a few days away with out everything crashing then you are in trouble. Start to think about systemising EVERYTHING.
As I have been travelling a lot this month I have had to go through my business again and make sure everything is systimised to run with out me. And going through this process in my own business has enabled me to see how powerful a system for everything is.
You should have a system for:
– 24/7 marketing action from at least 5 different places to begin with (eg. Local paper, referrals, local sports shop, flyers, facebook, Other local businesses)
– Building your potential client database (eg. Using ALL marketing action to drive them solely to sign up to your database/mailing list NOT to sell something to them straight away)
– Converting your database into paying clients (eg. An email series to build a relationship with them and allow them to know, like and trust you)
– Keeping in touch with paying clients to build relationships with them (eg. An email series and once a month get together that you arrange)
– Promoting upsells and offers to paying clients (eg. A monthly workshop, webinar for your best clients)
A system does 3 things.
1, It takes the guess work out. If you’re following a system, you’re following a set of rules. You just do what it says on the tin and depending on how much the system has been tested you’ll get a fairly consistent set of results (good or bad)
2, It gives you confidence. You begin to realise that making money in your fitness business isn’t a haphazard guessing game it’s just a process. And if you continue to work on refining the process rather than chasing the money, it takes longer, BUT the process begins to work the system by itself. Now long term this means you have a fool proof fitness business that will always work because you have refined the system it runs on. If you want to change it you go in and look at which part of the system isn’t working and change that part. There’s no more “I wonder if it’ll work” flash in the pan big ideas that make you a lot of money upfront but leave you with random income and an eventually disloyal client base.
3, You can measure it. If you can measure something you can test what makes it better or worse. So if I have a ‘system’ that I follow when I’m trying to get someone who’s inquired about coming to one of my classes to actually come and commit to a months worth of them, I can change one element of that system each time I use it and see if I get a better or worse result. I can keep doing this until my results get better and better and then I just follow the same system each time I want to get the result of someone committing to a months worth of classes with me.
Eg. A basic sales system for ANY fitness business whether its bootcamps, pilates courses, dance or PT would be:
– All Marketing Material drives people to a website where their only option is to sign up for a free report/video/training on whatever niche your fitness business is
Eg. If your niche is dance classes for kids the free report could be “The 5 things you need to know about Kids Dance Classes before spending ANY money on them”
*Important point to remember – if someone is not willing to exchange their contact details with you for something of value to them that you will give them for free THEY WERE NEVER GOING TO BUY FROM YOU ANYWAY. So never be afraid to have the one aim of getting peoples contact details and nothing else*
– They sign up for that report because its useful to them
– You send them a series of emails that tells them about what you do and how you can help
them solve their problem (which is finding the best dance classes for their kids)
– In the emails you invite them to take up a 10 minute phone consultation with you where you discuss their kids needs for the class
– In the phone consultation you follow a script to find out if they are serious about signing their kids up for dance classes
– If they meet your criteria they are booked in for a free taster class
– At the end of the class they are offered a special deal if they sign up for a course of classes there and then
– If they don’t sign up they are sent a series of emails after the taster session reminding them to book for a course.
Now if I follow this exact system and 100 people sign up for the free report and 5 of those people end up booking onto a dance course I can be fairly sure that if I send another 100 people to that same free report to sign up I will get another 5 bookings.
So if I want to make £1000 and my course is £40 I know I need to get 25 bookings and I need to get 500 people to sign up to that free report.
I hope that helps you understand how important having systems are in every fitness business …..Large or Small!
Fad Diet – very restrictive? What is Detoxing the body all about? Sally Ghafoor
A great question was posed by Morty on FB last week, it caused 123 comments on his status, people debating all about fit pro’s and their understanding of nutrition. So with Pauls permission I am re posting the question.
“Isn’t it interesting that a lot of fitpros that think elimination style nutrition is ‘faddy’ or ‘very restrictive’ and that cutting out food groups is ‘dangerous’? lack of education maybe? The everything in moderation thing is literally just giving your clients permission to eat shit and be toxic” (Paul Mort)
It really really got me thinking – do other fitpro’s really believe that eating toxic containing food is allowable when trying to gain results for clients? Do you really think the nutrition I follow is Faddy or very restrictive- I don’t believe I cut out any food groups as the food I remove from my diet is in no way shape of form a food group – it has been removed because it is detrimental to my cells. I eat REAL food, stuff that is grown in the ground, stuff that has lived, REAL FOOD GROUPS not foods that had been stuffed full of man made toxins that no longer make food real.
Yes some of the stuff tastes lovely, but its not real food, we need to get back to basics – we eat food to feed our cells, to give them enough nutrition to live healthily, when we are shoving our face full of toxins, this is when disease starts as the cells start to change or pleomorph. We have changed our taste buds due to chemically enhanced flavourings, when you eliminate this from your lifestyle and you try to eat something full of crap, guess what – you no longer want it, it tastes fake.
Imagine a fish swimming in water – when the water becomes skank and toxic the fish becomes unwell- this is true of your cells – they are only as good as the water they swim in – if you are full of toxins, you can bet your bottom dollar your cells are going to be struggling. It shows up in ways you don’t realise, headaches, heartburn, aches and pains, back ache (you become inflamed), constant colds – your immune system is working so hard to remove your toxins you are consuming from your body that it cannot deal with the things it should be dealing with – infections etc.
What about moderation -” Everything in moderation”, the saying makes me actually flip out, my blood boils when I hear this, so if you’re a fit pro who reckons everything in moderation is ok, you need to do some research. Who can actually do moderation?????? Can you ? can the average joe blogs – no they cant, that is why we are a nation of overweight sick and tired individuals. No one can have just one chocolate bar every 2 weeks, they may do for a couple of weeks but then they slip back in to every day – for the majority of people there is no such thing as moderation only over indulgence. How often do you hear – I went out for a couple of drinks then ended up getting wrecked – wow that’s good moderation but typical of most.
Sometimes I get “You still on that silly diet” – no I say, this is my lifestyle, “when are you going to eat normally” Thank you but I eat normally now – if you think eating crap is normal – good luck, I am repairing the damage I reeked on my system when I thought moderation was a good thing. My diet is neither faddy, nor restrictive, I have spent hours and thousands of pounds researching foods and I decided to change my lifestyle, so when your sick and tired of being sick and tired, maybe then take a look at how changing your nutrition will change your life. I eat for health now and ask the same of my clients.
Sally Ghafoor
Invest in yourself! By Becky Lane
My Most Powerful Selling Tool by Katie Bulmer Cook
Sometimes it’s tough to come up with new marketing ideas without spending a fortune right?
Leaflets and flyers aren’t always great at building a connection with a potential customer either?
Well…
This week I wanted to share with you how I sold out my next Little Black Dress Club (small group PT) course in less than 5 days without spending a penny!
I did it by using my most powerful selling tool…my clients or as I call them my ‘Cover Girls’!
This is super simple but soooo effective.
At the end of each of the course I run I ask 2-3 of my members to record a short video interview with me using my Flip Cam. Video Blogs (Vlogs) are a great way to get a message out there quickly and easily, but I think it is really important that it doesn’t come across as a sales video or commercial; its gotta be something that people can connect with and don’t feel as though they are being given the hard sell as they want it.
So, here is my advice on creating a successful Vlog that watchers can genuinely connect with and tune into…
1. First off intro yourself on camera…people like to buy from people not a random voice over , then thank them for taking the time to watch. I usually say ‘Hi there I’m Katie and thank you for checking out my video’
2. Next introduce the person you are interviewing, and also drop in what program of yours they are from (so your product has already been mentioned within the first 10 seconds of the video). E.g. ‘today I’d like you to meet Alison whose just completed out LBD Club’
3. Then it’s time to talk about their pain to allow the viewer to connect and identify, e.g. ‘Alison, please could you share with us how you felt before the LBD Club?’ (remember to always mention your program/product’s name throughout)
4. Then give the viewer an insight into your program by asking something like, ‘So Alison, how have you found the whole journey you’ve been on with the LBD Club, in terms of changes you’ve made such as diet and exercise?’
5. Now this is the big one, the deal sealer, ‘what results have you achieved with the LBD Club?’ Now this answer can be split into two. The first response will be the actual number of inches lost, but then follow that up by asking simply… ‘And how do your clothes feel now?’ this question bring a sense of reality to the initial question…dropping a jeans size or a belt notch is something everyone can relate to and understand.
6. Next it’s time to introduce the pleasure… ‘How do you feel now?’
7. And the final question is key, ‘what advice would you give to others who feel how you did 6 weeks ago?’ This question is very important, as throughout the interview the viewers has identified with ‘Alison’, they have felt her pain, they feel the same pain and know she is giving them advice that is specifically for them because she knows how they are feeling. She is showing the viewer that if she can move from pain to pleasure then so can they.
8. Finish the video by thanking ‘Alison’ for her hard work and commitment, also thank the viewer again for taking the time to watch and you’ll see them again soon. Post your web address on the closing screen and then you’re done.
I then post these videos on Face Book, Twitter, the ‘Cover Girls’ and/or ‘LBD Club’ pages on my website and I also make them a feature in my weekly newsletter. In the newsletter I use a message title of ‘Have you met Alison?’
I really hope you find this useful, thank you for reading and I would love to hear your feedback.
Katie xx
p.s. Please add me on Face Book and Twitter for more ideas andto see examples of my videos…
Hormonal Soup by Jill Gardner
‘Magic Hormonal Fat Loss Soup’ – A recipe for success from Hate it? Change it!
Unless you have been hiding under a rock you will know there has been a huge shift from calorie counting for short term ‘weight loss’ to hormone balancing for long term ‘fat loss’. Currently 66% of dieters won’t find a recipe that works for them and will actually end up fatter less than 2 years later!
After years of experimenting and from working with others I have formulated my own special and unique recipe. The result of this recipe is my ‘Magic Fat Burning Hormonal Soup’. I am prepared to share this recipe as it is no secret! But be warned it may not be to YOUR taste. But you can tweak the recipe, and use the basic ingredients listed and add some of your own. I tweak the ingredients to suit me – sometimes it works better than at other times. But I know that each time I cook up a batch it just gets better and better and people are always asking for the recipe!
‘Magic Fat Burning Hormonal Fat Loss Soup’!
Use fresh, seasonal, organic, lean and naturally sourced ingredients where possible.
A massive lug of positive mindset and attitude
A generous amount (approx 20-40g) of a lean protein based breakfast with masses of veggies and a slither of starch
A few cups Brain chemical boosting herbal teas and/or Cocoa powder
Plenty of protein every 2-4 hours with a dash of starch and oodles of greens/ veggies
(Always have emergency stocks of all your vital ingredients – pre-cooked is fine too!)
A dash of the best quality fats you can find – such as Udos, seeds, olive or coconut oils
A pinch of natural and fresh seasonal fruits
Any amount of berries – frozen or fresh
The odd handful of nuts or seeds for interest and texture
Some light relaxation and mindfulness throughout the simmering
Regular and carefully balanced measures of the following crucial ingredients:
Testosterone and Human growth hormone from HIIT (i.e. sprints or resistance training)
Cortisol, Adrenaline and Insulin- ONLY in the presence of above and NEVER on their own
Copious amounts of fat burning and stress reducing low intensity aerobic activity – feel free to experiment 😉
A healthy ray or two of sunshine
Add 3 litres or more of water during cooking – never let the mixture get dry!
At least 1 bag of Yogi bed time tea towards the end of cooking
8 hours or more to simmer (caffeine and alcohol can spoil this) and then allow all the ingredients to steep but this is best started before midnight and left undisturbed in a darkened room overnight
Serve in a happy environment, garnish and season with appropriate supplementation such as magnesium, fish oil and 5-HTP and enjoy with a relaxed and open mind.
As I said – this exact recipe may not be to everyone’s taste but it provides a base from which you can get creative with. Pretty soon, if you’re not already, you will be making your very own ‘Magic Hormonal Fat Burning Soup!
Jill – The Fat Controller! yu can feedback to jill via http://Twitter.com/ItsJillGardner
So You Think You’re An Expert? By Annabel Kent
Annabels Tops Tips for Writing Articles
I set out on my journey of writing through my love of horses. I used to ride professionally and one day whilst out on my temperamental but loveable rogue gelding Harvey, an idea came to me. I was excited and couldn’t wait to put this idea on paper. I got in touch with all the horse magazines that I regularly and avidly devoured. I found that I could write with a natural authority and passion because I knew my sport and lived the lifestyle. I was initially delighted to get accepted but then came a few rejections and a further drizzle of acceptances, years on. I happen to know that this is all part of the writing game.
My book; Pilates- The Essential Guide was a pleasure to write. After writing that book I learned so much more about Pilates and I enjoyed all the research that became a personal journey. We are all experts in our own field and writing an article or a book will define you as one to the public, your customers. Experience taught me that undertaking a book project can be made less a daunting task if you can get a few articles under your belt before hand. A publisher is also more likely to take you seriously. This will also give you a taster of the concentration and dedication required to conduct your own research. It will help you to discover how to structure a piece that will shine above the rest, in your own inimitable style. A style that can be developed through practice, allowing your unique voice to be recognised by your adoring public!
You may come across lots of ideas in your work, believe me it’s all there inside you! Start to jot some ideas down on paper. Practice, practice, practice! Writing is just like any other profession, pursuit or passion; you get better the more you do it.
So you have this idea, what are you going to do with it? Well imagine you are talking to a client about this idea, how would you start the conversation and how would you end it? Always have a beginning and an end and then the middle part will take care of itself. I always think of my article as a human body. The beginning being the head and shoulders, the middle being the belly and the end being the legs and feet. The whole article needs to link together for it to work, just like the whole body needs to works as a whole for it to be effective. So here are my 4 tips to get you started:
Introduction- Head and Shoulders
Put a great introduction together, keep it short and snappy. This is the most important part of any article and book. It must hold the readers and editors attention. It must be a statement that is relevant to the rest of the article and should lead the reader into the remainder of the paragraph and into the body of the article.
Main body- Belly
It is very important to include plenty of facts in your article. Readers want as much information as possible on your chosen subject; after all you are the expert. Also don’t confuse the facts with personal opinions. Readers want information rather than particular biased opinions. In saying that make it friendly, perhaps show an example of your experiences to help the reader get to know you and to help them understand what you mean more clearly.
Closing paragraph- Legs and Feet
Bring the article to a conclusion. Round it off with perhaps a summary but keep it short, don’t drag it out. If you plan the article really well then by the time you get to end there shouldn’t be anything left to be said, so you can perhaps finish it with a single sentence.
Revising
Revise and then put your article aside for a few days and get on with another article. Then come back to the article and edit it again. You will be surprised how many mistakes you pick up on a few days later.
Read it through at least 3 times!
The first time check to make sure all your facts are correct. The second time check for incorrect spelling and grammar. The third time to cut out any vague words and any sentences that go on too long or need rephrasing better.
Read you article out loud to make sure it flows. You could even get a Dictaphone and play it back to make sure it sounds right.
I recommend a favourite book, ‘On writing well’ by William Zinsser. It provides fantastic advice and is an easy read too.
Now get practicing and even if you don’t get published this time, you can put your articles on your website for your target audience to read. Nothing is ever wasted. Good luck!
By Annabel Kent
Have a great Thursday everyone
Hugs and Love
Rachel xx
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