Instructor Newsletter 2nd April

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m so excited about
the weekend.

I cannot wait to spend some time
with my family & friends over Easter

AND
It’s my birthday And its C2GO’s Birthday
plus it’s my fav
time of year…. SPRING!

 

I love the fresh feeling in a
morning & the optimistic air about.

 

This week was a big one for me
I finally realised (with the help of  a friend)

I can’t run 2  businesses & teach classes
& see my friends & family
& give everything the due time & effort needed
….so I’m hiring staff.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon
interviewing some AMAZINGLY
talented young people.

I have never interviewed anyone
before so a total new experience for me.

They all blew me away
with their skills and energy and ideas.
It’s a massive step for a
control freak like me but it will free me up to
pursue many of the ideas that never
get of my to do list.

I’ll keep you posted with how it all goes

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This weeks newsletter sees great articles
by 2 inspirational women.

I met Lucy Doyle at the WIFE conference
& she blew me away with what she is doing
and her story, so I wanted to introduce you to Lucy.
She is just a total fire cracker with fab energy,
drive & ideas…Check her out on social media and do say Hello

And

My great friend Chris Tuck.

Chris motivates me every day with her campaigning.

She has managed to have a meeting with the
home secretary Theresa May & meet top Judges, she has been featured on Sky news and still runs
her fitness business & KSFL franchise.

I keep telling Chris she needs to get into politics!
Shes a true inspiration. Check her out on Social media.

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Have you checked out the new C2GO Fit Biz Tips Show.

I’m filming the new show 3 x a week – it’s only 5 minutes & I speak very fast!

Get your pens and paper out & make quick notes.

The show is aimed at Fitpros who want to elevate
their personal brand, business tips, social media &
how to build a digital business.

The 3 shows come out Monday,Tuesday & Friday.

Motivational Monday

Chat on Tuesday click here

Fit BIz Friday

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Who do they think you are? Lucy Doyle

At some stage there was a turning point.

A period where you transitioned from student to teacher, client to coach and your view changed.

It’s often at this point, that you slowly begin to lose your original perspective.  I guess in the same way a memory, becomes foggy.

What am I talking about here?

Your ability to hold on to the very language you once understood and the approach you connected with.

As fitness professionals it’s so easy to fall into the trap of adopting other, seemingly successful fitness professionals’ personas, that you rarely even notice it happening.

Here is the thing that you need to understand about these successful people.  They nearly always retain their authenticity and more importantly their language.

We have all seen it.  When someone you admire writes online and it gives you a bit of a twitch.  At first you can’t quite work it out, but something bothers you.  Their language, it isn’t their own and then you realise, they have become a carbon copy of someone they too admire and suddenly all of their magic disappears.

Your authentic self is your single most unique and uncopiable asset and selling point.  No one else can be YOU.

Now when we talk about language and using it to connect with clients, people start looking around for formulas. Well before you start designing any master plan to connect with you audience, consider the following and you may be surprised that this is sometimes all that is needed to not only engage your avatar (audience) but keep them even when you face competition.

Authenticity

What does it mean to be authentic?  As discussed at the beginning of this article.  You probably entered this industry with a sense of naivety and with it came authenticity.  Now I am not saying you are no longer authentic, but chances are you probably aren’t. Now don’t hate me here!  I have fallen foul to this many times and hey, sometimes still do. You know what I am talking about. When we find ourselves slowly adopting this alto ego that is always happy, never gives up and can always say no to a cream cake. Yeah right.

People do not want this. WOMEN do not want this. They want to connect with the authentic you, the one that doesn’t play them. Authentic means individual and women want to connect with someone new, not a clone.

Your Truth

Chances are you came to this industry for a reason.  Yet many of us hide that reason away, like a dirty secret. What you don’t realise is, when you do this you are basically heaping shame onto the very people you want to reach.  Speak your truth, unedited.  I dare you.  Fear that you will be judged and ridiculed? Rarely have I seen this happen, except for when someone has exploited it and exhausted their story of all that it is worth.

Share your truth with your clients, your audience when the time feels right. I have lost count of how many times I have been asked by an excited potential client “How long did your transformation take”? Knowing full well, they want to hear me say X number of weeks.  My truth is that it took several years.  Several years of depression, disordered eating and more setbacks than I can count.  You might think that I lose those potential clients.  The exact opposite, they value my honesty and connect with what is reality to many.

The Directors Cut

Stop it.  Stop editing yourself. After you have read this article, go away and take note of how often you edit yourself. Some of my best writing, articles and podcasts have stemmed from the unedited. Sure it’s been a little messy and at the recent WIFE conference where I spoke, a delegate asked if I had prepared my talk and I replied I hadn’t, at all.

Because I was being cocky? No, not at all.  I wanted my message to be delivered and I knew the more I practiced it, the more I would edit it. Now you may think that foolish of me, but this is where you find out if your work is your passion. Because IF it is, you already have everything you need on board to deliver.  Sure facts, figures and references need noting down to relay in talks, seminars and interviews but the rest, it is all right there.

This translates into working with your clients directly.  Ask yourself if you are editing out to appear something that you are not, just so your clients respect you.  They respect honesty and feel so much more connected than when they get the director’s cut.

At a networking meeting just today I talked with a yoga instructor who was looking for ways to stand out from the crowd.  Now this lady, I cannot even put into words how incredible she is.  Literally almost unreal talent and that was almost part of the problem. She seemed unreachable.  So I asked her if she ever fails a posture, falls over or just totally goofs up. Of course the answer was yes, so I told her to share some of those moments with her clients and followers.

Lucy Doyle is the Female Content Analyst for Lift the Bar Fitness Mentoring and runs the following independent businesses The Sisterhood | Lean with Lucy Network | Lose Weight Smiling Coaching.

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Chris Tuck Updates

Hi there fellow Fitpro’s :O)

Can you really help EVERY person that comes to you for help?

 

Do you really need to NICHE your market?

What does that actually mean?

When I first started out in the fitness industry in 2003 naively I thought I could! Like many of you I decided to start a career in the fitness industry because I wanted to help people.

Everyone & anyone as long as they were paying me.

Whilst I was studying to become an accountant I would sit down for many hours at a time, I would often feel like a caged animal & have a need to get rid of my pent up energy!

I would attend my local fitness classes regularly to make myself feel good.  During the class I would look at my instructor and think how hard can it be? To get up there and teach a class; it looked really easy! I thought to myself I could do that! I could stay fit, earn money & have lots of fun with people.

Oh my if only I knew how hard it would be!!! But with hindsight I cannot believe where that decision of re-training as a fitness instructor has taken me!

Like many of you, my fitness journey has not been straight forward. I have had my ups, my downs, my successes, my failures, my challenges, my opportunities, my champions, my critics my happy times, my sad times BUT one thing that has remained true for me is that….

My Health & fitness is the KEY for me to leading a happier & healthier life.

And without it I do not function properly and I am not a happy person to be around.

To maintain it – a balance of emotional, mental, physical health I have to be true to me, I have a passion & a purpose to my life that puts a fire in my belly and makes me work the hours that it needs for me to move everything forwards.

And this unfortunately means that I cannot help everyone & anyone! If I am truly going to become an expert in my chosen niche it’s impossible for me to market myself to everyone, work with everyone without spreading myself too thin and wearing myself out in the process and this goes for you too!

Everyone that I have come into contact with over the last 12 years like Dax Moy & Rachel Holmes have always asked me

“Who is your avatar? Who is your niche market?”

It is not until you know this information that you can truly start talking to them in the right language, make a connection with them and once they trust & like you they will buy from you.

I never truly understood this until 2 years ago and I am still working on it!

Before I carry on I just want to say to you :-

OUR CLIENTS EXPECT US TO BE ABLE TO SOLVE ALL OF THEIR PROBLEMS!!

I started my fitness career teaching general fitness classes – Circuits, LBT…but I had clients come to me with bad backs wanting advise & help….I had to refer them on to pilates instructors which maddened me….it was lost revenue!

So I trained as a Fitness Pilates Instructor – problem solved!

Haha not quite I started getting referrals for people with structural issues as well as muscular issues that could not be addressed in a Pilates class!

So I retrained in posture & massage so that I could keep more revenue in my pocket by being able to offer more services! I still had to refer some clients on mind!

Then my clients starting asking about nutrition and how they could lose their belly fat etc

So I retrained in nutrition.

Slowly slowly my business was evolving from just giving class members a HARD fun fitness class to more relaxing classes to running a fatloss & fitness club KSFL® to even having my own therapy room.

This has been my journey to. When I first started I could jump up & down like the best of them but over time my health & my happiness was deteriorating.

I was spreading myself too thin, I didn’t know what I wanted & I was trying to be everything to everyone!

My hip was playing up and my mental & emotional health was taking a nosedive.  I found myself in a vicious cycle of pain, lack of mobility & poor eating habits & dwindling class numbers.

Exacerbating the situation was my dark secret sitting in the back of my mind, which kept popping up at various stages throughout my life…..
Many of the industries movers & shakers at this time were talking about being your authentic self, finding your passion & your purpose…..

I can remember clearly being in a low place for quite a time…..I knew what my challenges were but I didn’t know how to express it without being judged.
I had a project on the go that would have been a massive earner for me but my heart was not in it. I was truly at a crossroards….

But I kept on going to workshops hearing the same message….
If you find your passion & your purpose your authentic self will shine through. You will connect with your audience who will like & trust you & ultimately buy from you.

 

I decided to be brave & act on what was being said…..I put the resources in place and got to work!

 

To cut a long story very short:
· With the help of Karen Laing I wrote my autobiography ‘Through The Eyes Of A Child’
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Through-eyes-child-Chris-Tuck

· I wrote ‘Parenting Without Tears’ – a guide for adult parent survivors & professionals working in safeguarding children (can be downloaded for free from my website)
· I am writing The Survivors Health & Wellness Guide (with Karen Laing)

 

· I have become an Ambassador for NAPAC , raising awareness of the impact of childhood abuse on adult survivors in the media – Radio, TV & Print

· I have founded the ‘Breaking The Cycle™’ C.L.E.A.N.E.R.™ Living Health & Wellness Programmes

· I have founded S.O.B Survivors-Of-Abuse a registered CIC which will be applying for funding to run workshops & courses for victims & survivors of abuse.

· I undertake public speaking in schools, universities & organisations that need to hear my story in different forms to suit their requirements.

· I have worked with the Intrafamilial Abuse Inquiry as well as the CSA Inquiry meeting with Theresa May 4 times & Judge Goddard once.

Being & Living as my authentic self has opened many doors for me & I really truly feel at peace with whom I am. I am not afraid of anyone or anything anymore. What will be; will be.

I still get stressed don’t get me wrong…..I still face many challenges but I feel empowered, I know my direction in life and I am working at being happy & healthy!!

So if you think you can work with everyone keep asking yourself what type of client truly makes you happy? Is there anything in your background that could help you find your passion & your purpose?
If you don’t know……keep searching!

Chris Tuck

http://www.christuck.co
http://www.survivors-of-abuse.com
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Pop Ya Collar, Tip Your Hat & Rise Above…!!!
Andrew Crawford

“…It’s a shame that when you’re working hard doing well people hate you.

Buying nothing else but the best for yourself they really hate you

You gotta live for you and no one else. Don’t let them make you feel like you’re not being real. Just live how you wanna live, you gotta do for YOU.

If you work hard… play hard…And do what you wanna do

Just Pop Ya Collar don’t let what people say bother you…………!!!

You perpetrators I got something to say. You can eat it or throw it away

You’re just mad cause you’re following in tracks …now can u dig that?

You know you’re doing good cause they’re jealous. They wanna hate you cause you’re a go-getter ….

Just Pop Your Collar Tip Your Hat and turn Your back on the ones who hated you.

To all you haters I got something to say
You can eat it or throw it away
Stop hatin, wishin, waitin, anticipating for my heat to fade

I break my neck for the things I get
So much sweat just so I can get that check and……

I’m not gonna let NOBODY bring me down (Nobodys gonna steal the crown)
if you got a lot and you’re working for it ….

Pop Ya Collar don’t be afraid to show it………….”  Usher

Inspired by some recent events……..

Thank you also to the other half of ‘Dave & Becs’ of the Fitness Industry, the hard working, ever evolving, big smiling, paper marking, photo posing, DVD producing, Blog writing, cake baking, dog walking, Hot Pilates course taking Kelly Reed-Banks.

Once you are out in front Blazing That trail it is EASY for people to become a Critic….why?  because you are an easy target.

Think about it…

There’s critics for food, wine, books, movies you name it…there’s a critic.

What’s their job???  To Criticise. To find what’s wrong, to see cracks…

As a Leader, Trail Blazer, Motivator, Passion Driven you are exposed. Once you can protect your inner sanctum from negativity you can continue to lead.

Do you NEED to justify your credentials???

No………..not at all.  Stuff the Bar Stewards.

Do you NEED to be qualified?

No…….not always…..Just Passion, Fire, Desire and an end Objective.

Do you NEED permission??

No………Ball Ox 2 that…Don’t even ask for forgiveness…!!

To my friend and colleague Chris Tuck.

So…Andrew..

What has Popping Your Collar and Tipping Your Hat got to do with Accountancy & Tax?

Well..basically once you have done the collar thingymajig and tipped your hat, you just carry on regardless.

So if there’s changes you were unaware of or something new being implemented………you just get on with it whilst taking the new idea onboard.

Let me tell you therefore of a new system for determining Class 2 liability and payment.

Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NIC)

I want to make you aware of the revised system for the calculation and collection of Class 2 NIC. The good news is that the new system should be an improvement on the current system.

However the dates by which you will need to pay Class 2 NIC will change as a result and, if you have been making monthly payments, these will stop.

It will be possible to re-apply to make payments by direct debit but HMRC have not yet finalised the online process for doing this.

The current system – 2014/15

Technically liability for Class 2 arises in respect of each week that you have ‘earnings from a self-employed employment’. Earnings are similar to trading profits but are not always the same.

Class 2 NIC have been payable twice a year, with an option to pay the liability by direct debit.

If paid twice a year the due dates are the same as for the payment of income tax and Class 4 contributions for profits assessable in 2014/15:

First payment due     31 January 2015
Second payment due    31 July 2015

Alternatively it is possible to pay by monthly or six monthly direct debit with HMRC advising individuals of the precise dates by which payments are taken from bank accounts.

The new system – 2015/16

For the 2015/16 tax year, Class 2 NIC will change from being a weekly liability to an annual liability which is triggered by the amount of profits which are declared to HMRC through the self assessment system.

The amount of Class 2 NIC will still be calculated based on the number of weeks of self-employment in the year. This makes the system easier as the Class 2 NIC is one simple calculation based on the same figure of profits being used for income tax.

For example, a 2015/16 tax return is submitted by an individual in October 2016 showing trading profits of £30,000. The Class 2 liability is therefore £2.80 for each week the individual was self-employed in 2015/16.

The Class 2 liability will be due no later than 31 January 2017 and will be shown as part of the self assessment statement which details the income tax and Class 4 liabilities due on 31 January 2017.

The Class 2 liability will not however be included in the calculation of payments on account of income tax and Class 4 for 2017/18.

Pop Your Collar……!!!

In practical terms there is a big gap between the final payment of Class 2 for 2014/15 (July 2015) and the one payment for 2015/16 (January 2017).

If you would prefer to pay in instalments, there will be an option to use a budget payment plan. HMRC will provide further details nearer the time of how to apply for this option. However unlike the current system in which monthly payments are made in arrears, payments made under a budget payment plan are made in advance of the due date.

Special circumstances – low profits

Under the existing system, individuals expected to have a low amount of earnings for the tax year could apply for a Small Earnings Exception certificate.

This is no longer needed under the new system. If the assessable trading profits submitted to HMRC are below the Small Profits Threshold (£5,965 for 2015/16), no Class 2 NIC is due.

An individual can however pay voluntary Class 2 NIC in order to maintain a contribution record for contributory benefits (for example the State Pension).

Special circumstances – employed and self-employed income

Under the current system, individuals who are self-employed but also have employment income are eligible to apply for deferment of Class 2 NIC.

This process is no longer required under the new system as HMRC will calculate whether any Class 2 NIC are due when the tax return is submitted.

Tip your hat and continue forward.

Finally

I’m pleased to announce the pre prelaunch of my long awaited project.

This should start filtering through in the next few months. Watch out for it as I am offering prelaunch offers. I’ll tell you more about it next week.

Live your life with Passion and Purpose…….There’s No Excuse

When you encounter Haters,  Naysayers & Negative Vibers….Pop Ya Collar Tip Your Hat & Rise Above.

Andrew James Crawford

www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com

www.facebook.com/fitnessindustryaccountants
www.twitter.com/tax4fitness
HEAR HEAR ANDREW
Have a fantastic day everyone
Love Rachel xxxx