Instructor Newsletter 29th November 2013

Happy Thanksgiving

 

As you are reading this newsletter I am having a “real” holiday with my bestie friend in New York. Actually, it’s a humongous milestone for me, as it’s the first time I’ve had a full 7 day’s away and it not be work or fitness related for many, many years. Lots of shopping, chilling and downtime as 2013 has been super hectic, busy and a massive roller-coaster with the rapid growth of KSFL- and there’s still December to go! You can our NYC adventures on my Instagram/RachelLHolmes

Wow, last week’s newsletter really sparked conversation all over social media. Several debates and comments appeared on Facebook that brought up some really healthy feedback about the article I wrote on posting with passion. So much so, it inspired a new hash tag. #POSTINGWITHPASSION. Zoe McNulty was compelled to post on the subject of posting with passion, which inspired so many Instructors to get involved in the debate, which is totally fantastic, and I asked her to follow up her post with an article for this week.

Promoting your classes and services on social media HAS to come from the heart. You HAVE to be authentic and passionate and have energy and feeling behind everything you write. I put my theory to test this week and I’ve examined (not that hard when I use FACEBOOK hourly/daily) celebrities, popular bloggers I follow, media people and, of course, Fitpros to see who is getting all the attention, interaction and engagement and whose comments  and status updates appear to be falling on deaf ears.

And it’s true….. the posts, blogs, tweets and messages that have got big style ooomph, feeling and energy, where the words are literally jumping off the screen at you. You can really feel it when you see something that has been driven by passion and enthusiasm, and the people who have loads of followers and engagement and are building rapport, a community and a platform, really are the ones who post with passion. Their posts  are funny, exciting, interesting and you really can FEEL the emotion behind the text.  Inevitably, this enthusiasm leads to more people buying into those services, brands and products. It doesn’t matter what the industry is or who the person is – it’s all in the authenticity, energy and passion behind everything that person writes on social media.

Are you getting the results you want for your business from your social media.

Wherever we go people are talking about weightloss, fitness, classes, Bootcamps, the latest new diet, a celeb that has lost a drastic or put on a drastic amount of weight. Racks of women’s magazine discuss the latest or the next fitness trend. We, my friends, are definitely in THE industry to be in. PLUS, it’s growing bigger every year, so if you are not getting bums on seats then let’s identify how you can really use PR and Social media to put you on the map.

The reason you may not be getting the audience your business needs is that you are not being CLEAR for whom your classes/PT /Bootcamps/Services are actually aimed at. You MUST get clear and precise and know, who you are targeting, who is your core audience, you have to clarify exactly what you do. When you get really clear vision of who is consuming your information, attending your classes, it’s easy to think about that audience whenever you post.

Find out exactly who is your core audience by asking. This week I’ve been asking in all of my online groups their ages, occupations, magazines they read, fashion they like, role models, celebs they follow, trying to glean as much information about who is reading and consuming my information and I’ve been able to put together a very clear picture of who this is. Going forward this helps me precisely understand the health and fitness needs of my core audience and be able to service that group with the right products and services.

I’d love to get your feedback via Twitter @RachelHolmes or Facebook.com/Choreographytogo

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Another funky Step routine chorographed to the brilliant Essential Deep House Mix from Pure Energy

video-detail

Posting with Passion by Zoe Mc Nulty

When Rachel’s newsletter went out last week something she said about how we post on social media resonated with me.  She said:

“Post when you are feeling positive, happy, upbeat and energetic – This energy is felt by everyone who reads it and compels them to get involved. If you post when you are feeling bad or negative that energy is also felt, so make sure you are in a good place when you are posting. It really shows.”  – Rachel Holmes Nov 2013

I tweeted Rachel to say that I couldn’t agree more and that when people post negatively it says more about them than what they are posting about.  Later that day when I witnessed a public rubbishing on an open forum of a fitness product which IN MY OPINION totally rocks, it highlighted the relevance of my previous tweet and I took to my wall #PostingWithPassion about how one portrays one’s self on social media.  With over 150 ‘likes’ and 30 passionate comments in response it seems others agree too.

I won’t go into detail about the contents of the post in question, although the rude comments did seem to spark the biggest fitness debate since “freestyle” vs “pre-choreography”!  It was interesting to watch but non the less upsetting and so I decided to post on my wall quite emotively about the difference between fact and opinion.  The perpetrators of this Facebook crime are probably not fitness professionals so they may not care about how they portray themselves on a public forum, and why should they?  We fit pros however, as public figures have a duty to be professional, caring and articulate.  It’s not only a duty of care but from a business perspective it makes total sense.  If our existing or potential clients see us exposing our venom and ugly parts of our soul, are they going to want to pay to spend time in our company?

After a while and a 150 ‘likes’ later, I actually regretted posting my ‘rant’ because it basically highlighted someone else’s negativity and compounded it with my own!  I wasn’t posting when I was “feeling positive, happy, upbeat and energetic” as Rachel had suggested!

Every so often I become aware that the things which I post with passion can make me sound quite self righteous.  My sincere apologies for that, I don’t mean to come across all preachy but rather it’s my intention to help other fitness professionals who may not be as far along in their professional development journey as myself.  I most certainly am not perfect in any way!  Heck noooo!  But I do try to have a filter switched on at all times.  I often think, say and do things which I advise against, openly oppose and fundamentally disagree with…. and I always regret it.  I’m human, we all are.  But my point is that if I have said a destructive thing or even had the thought, I check myself (as in “check yo’self before you wreck yo’self” – sorry) and do a little soul searching to rectify the negativity.

If you have chosen a career in which you become a public figure, you need to be prepared for your private life (and the inner parts of your heart) to be public too.  This requires complete transparency.  Thankfully if we say something we regret we can delete it, but probably not before many have seen it and pass judgment on you, whether they realise they have done so or not.  The soul searching process might not be immediate, it may take a few days to accept that our thought process is not helpful to us or anyone else, but is in fact destructive and needs to be put right!  Often, thankfully, I’ll realise as I am putting finger tips to keyboard, about to post my negative thoughts on Facebook.  My filter/conscience/spirit screams “WAAAAIIIT!” and I think again.  It’s easy to ignore that voice but not very wise.  You see, if something of a negative nature makes you jump for your keyboard to get #PostingWithPassion, it’s advisable to hold your horses.  When it comes to posting publicly your heart should be transparent.  If you are posting for the benefit of your followers you should be prepared to lay bare your soul.  Here’s a helpful tip: Filter your thoughts:  Your thoughts tend to become actions, your actions become habit, habits become character and character becomes reputation.  Who wants a bad reputation?  People buy from people, Rachel has said it many times.  Let’s become people who can be trusted, respected and honoured because our hearts have been laid bare, we’ve demonstrated honourable characteristics and any ugly stuff we expose is being dealt with.

So, before you hit enter, stop and think, reread what you have written.  How would it come across to a complete stranger?  Can you turn it around?  Can whatever has incensed you be looked at from another angle?  If there is someone else involved can you see things from their perspective?  What has caused them to behave this way?  Do you know their past?  Have you walked a mile in their shoes?  Are you qualified to judge them and their actions?  Does this calm you down?  Can you rephrase your comment?  Or should you just put Facebook down and back away from the lap top?

Moving on from filtering the bad stuff and going back to Rachel’s point of posting when you’re in a good mood or excited about something… Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to use our filter (very often)?  I know we all have problems to deal with on a daily basis from the moment we wake up, BUT we are perfectly able to chose our disposition and frame of mind.  Looking for the silver lining in a situation has got huge benefits.  Take your eyes off the negative (in my life my current status of being homebound at the folks’ house with a broken foot) and seeking out the positive (very glad to be having a much needed rest from teaching; looking forward to the challenge of rehab; taking the time to really plan thoroughly what I’m doing with my life and coming back stronger and more determined in 2014).  Several comments on my wall are from people who are impressed with my positivity and encouraged by it.  It’s infectious.

Being encouraged by someone else’s situation is wonderful but being encouraged by someone giving you a direct mood boost by a well placed comment is far more effective.  The world needs cheerleaders not demolition workers.  Your clients and participants need applauding.  Everyone you come into contact with, be it face to face or online, is a potential associate, make them feel good.  Be sensitive to their needs; listen to a problem they have; be a shoulder to cry on; offer advice; take time out to show you give a damn; actually give a damn; take note if they’re on a downer and do what you can to make them more upbeat.  “I don’t have time for other people’s problems” I hear you say.  Try and make time, it will be highly rewarding, emotionally, spiritually and you never know, maybe in the future, financially.

I’m passionate about helping others.  My area of expertise is women with poor self image and I’m passionate about telling them how wonderful they are.  What is your area of expertise?  What gets you excited?  I’m passionate about my job and dancing and other ways of moving to music and love to repost videos of others doing great things.  I’m passionate about seeing righteousness extended through my circle of influence and love to pick someone up when they’ve been knocked to the ground.  Social media is my greatest tool for doing so as I can reach hundreds or thousands of people with a few taps on the keyboard.  Words are POWERFUL.  The bible says “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21), meaning that words can be used to build up (positivity) and also be destructive (negativity) on varying scales of effectiveness. A friend of mine recently posted that she had noted many instances recently of awesome support being shown via Facebook for those with injuries, those embarking on body building competitions, those who had had good news and those who had had bad.  Wouldn’t the world be a better place if this was common place and not something that pleasantly surprises us?

Passion is defined as a strong and barely controllable emotion.  I think we can all agree that I responded to the injustice I saw with passion.  However I hope I have effectively put across that not all passionate responses may be good for our businesses.  Let’s move forward with the notion of passion implying a strong and barely controllable emotion such as love and begin to post with passion about things  which ‘turn us on’ as opposed to those which ‘turn us off’.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my social media family.  The support I get from my Facebook friends and Twitter & Instagram followers is awesome!  Since breaking my foot I’ve had hundreds of get well messages and offers of help and advice which have really touched and encouraged me.  I urge you today to chose a sunny disposition, get passionate about something and encourage those on your newsfeed who haven’t yet realised that the power is in their hands.  And if you can’t find something nice to say; SAY NOTHING AT ALL!!!

Message me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoestiletto
Tweet me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zoe_bear
and check out my Instagram: http://instagram.com/zoe_mcnulty

Mind Training
by Jo De Rosa

Wow my world has changed so much in the last year since I gave up drinking. I have my own mind back thank goodness, and it’s no longer hijacked every few days by a Jo that I can’t stand!
Now I am living in integrity, and every second I have my actual thoughts –not ones that have been implanted into my brain by alcohol. Because those ones are very different…I become a loud bitch with them! It’s like alcohol seizes control of my brain, shreds it, and out comes someone that I do not recognise and do not like.

Gandhi said “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”, and all of a sudden I get it:

If I am happy with myself on the inside then that genuine happiness reaches out to all that I meet. I share my happiness, connection and peace with my friends and family. And the law of attraction demands that whatever I am feeling I am drawing more of to me, and so those that are not feeling the same naturally start to fall away out of my life. This means that if you are negative you attract more negative people and situations to you, and likewise if you maintain positivity then guess who walks through the door…..

A sober Jo can hold the inner balance easily through daily meditation, and meditation is simply mind training. Anything that you do over and over again gets easier and easier over time, and your mind is like any other muscle in the body and needs to be exercised. As fit pros you know the importance of daily physical repetition, and your mind is no different.

Meditation is being in the present moment, with your breath or sound or a visualisation. And as soon as you realise you have wondered away from the present you come back to the meditation support (breath, sound, visualisation). Over and over again, training your mind.

You will notice over the course of even just a few weeks that your world changes. Something alters that you can’t quite put your finger on straight away as the changes are gradual. But soon you realise that you are sleeping more soundly, can concentrate on whatever you are doing better, and feel more in control. We don’t meditate just to be good at it we meditate because it CHANGES OUR LIVES!, and when WE change our lives then we give permission for those around us to too. So in fact it becomes our absolute responsibility to do this inner work, which is why I really could no longer drink –it was getting in the way of my meditation.

Obviously I could not meditate when drunk, but then I couldn’t the day after either, just like a hangover sabotages your workouts. I ended up only being able to practice on a couple of days per week, and because my meditation was suffering then so too did my inner balance.

It became a no brainer for me, and now that I experience happiness, connection and peace everyday, this is exactly what is reflected back in my outer world -because that is how it works.

It’s great to hear from you and please keep your questions coming in around the subjects I raise x

My Yoga For Addictions retreat is really gathering pace now, and I’ve just released full details of the therapists who will be joining me on the program later in the month. There are only a few spaces remaining, so please do pass on my information to anyone you know that needs the tools to get them unstuck. My team are amazing, and with their names being Helen, Erin, Anni and Lizzie check out the word the letters of their first names spells out!! xx

BBC TV’s Dragons Den’s Rachel Elnaugh has been promoting my retreat this week too: http://www.rachelelnaugh.com/opinions-and-rants/the-big-secret-business-problem

Web:  http://www.innerguidance.co.uk/addictions
Email:  jo@innerguidance.co.uk
Facebook:  InnerGuidance
Twitter:  @Inner_Guidance
Copyright: Jo De Rosa 2013

Kickstart for school sport to build on Olympic legacy

As of September 2013 the Department for Education instructed schools that they were to receive more money to spend on sport to develop children’s enjoyment of sport and physical activity from an early age.

The government is providing additional funding of £150 million per annum for academic years 2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015 to improve provision of physical education (PE) and sport in primary schools.

Purpose of funding:
Schools must spend the additional funding on improving their provision of PE and sport, but they will have the freedom to choose how they do this.

A few uses for the funding might include:
·       hiring specialist PE teachers or qualified sports coaches
·       paying for professional development opportunities for teachers in PE and sport
·       providing cover to release primary teachers for professional development in PE and sport
·       buying quality assured professional development modules or materials for PE and sport
·       providing places for pupils on after school sports clubs and holiday clubs

Each primary school, depending on size will be given between £8,000 – £9,250 to improve PE and sport.  I believe this has to last them 2 years.

This is the perfect time to contact local primary schools to offer your services.  Even though I have my own studio this is perfect for me as school days run from 9:15am – 3:15pm and especially the afternoon slot after lunch is very quiet.  I can then pick my little one up from nursery, spend a few hours with her before heading back off to the studio (if I am teaching that evening).

Some school’s still have yet to allocate the funding so get contacting them now. I am the creator of Movin Monkeez but in September I developed the sister programme Movin Monkeez Plus+ which is targeted at children from the age of 5-7 years.  I emailed schools about coming on board back in the Summer and didn’t get a response.  This is because the budget hadn’t been determined at this point.  This month I made contact again and BOOM I have primary schools interested.  I have schools booked in for a January start which is fabulous and being a working mum it fits in perfectly with school days.

During that time I see 6 different classes, 2 reception classes, 2 year 1 classes and 2 year 2 classes (obviously varies on the sizes of the school).

Best of all I get a very happy day rate (and its not even a full working day).  This means I am now going into January very happy, secure and buzzing!

If you are like me and are looking for some extra, secure work which fits in with your busy lifestyle as a mum etc then get in contact with me.  Movin Monkeez Plus+ is a winner as it focuses on health, fitness and nutrition and staff development which the schools can then prove is spending their budget correctly!  It ticks so many boxes.

Would love to know how it goes for you!

Becky Lane
Creator of Movin Monkeez

Twitter – @MovinMonkeez
Facebook – Movin Monkeez HQ
Email – becky@movinmonkeez.co.uk
Have a wonderful Thursday

Love Always
Rachel xx