News and Updates by Rachel Holmes

After a full day in front of the TV on Friday watching the royal wedding ( I have NEVER watched TV for the whole day ever in my life!) and loving every minute, I was so glad to get back to teaching on Tuesday. I’ve been working on new Bootcamp Conditioning Downloads and have released them this week, plus a brand new HiLo download which you can checkout  click here for this week’s downloads

This week I am looking at simple tips and strategies to help you build an online fitness business to compliment your offline fitness business. Writing a newsletter and building a responsive email list or database is absolute key to developing a successful passive income stream and cultivating your online business. I hope you find the article inspiring and useful. I’ll also be tweeting tips on these 2 subjects today and tomorrow ,so please follow me on Twitter for more ideas http://twitter.com/RachelHolmes

Start your own Newsletter

Did you know that a little email newsletter is what launched my entire online business and choreographytogo years ago? Yes, really. I began with a list of 100 Instructors. From there it helped spread the word about my fitness business, workshops and training courses, gain credibility as a presenter, grow a list of interested Instructors, Support solo Fitness Instructors with a network, forum and business system and provide me with an online business that has gone from strength to strength.

And while today I take advantage of many marketing methods out there like networking, writing, speaking, blogging, and social media, this newsletter is still my number 1 marketing tool and the backbone to my  Choreographytogo online business.

Email is a tool we all use every day, it’s easy to use, and pretty much something that most people use now. I  still  get loads emails from C2Go’ers worrying about websites, google local, social media, blogs etc and how difficult they find managing everything,  when you can easily start email marketing even without a website using a simple ezine/newsletter.

Newsletters will also help gain online trust with your audience, help promote your services, set yourself up as a leader in your area, PLUS help market your services, promote special offers, update your clients with class information and educate and inspire them with articles and helpful information.

If you can write an email and press SEND, you can publish a newsletter.

Even if you know ZERO about email marketing you can put all your email addresses into a bcc (blind copy) and send out an informative newsletter just using your inbox. I used to mail the Choreographytogo newsletter out like that for months and keep adding email addresses of interested people. With all the hi tech ways of starting an online business writing a newsletter is the first step in complementation your offline business and most definitely shouldn’t be overlooked.

Tips for Writing a weekly newsletter

1. Keep it fresh, proactive, helpful and fun read.

2. Don’t use your newsletter to hard sell your services, use it to communicate, interact and engage with your readers.

3.Keep your articles short and to the point. Top 5 Lists are always good for scan reading, plus include some longer articles. You can always recycle these on a blog or at a later date. Your written articles are never wasted.

4. You don’t even need a website! I started Choreographytogo 6 months before my website was finished. It helped me build a list before the website launched.

5. Reliability – Publish your newsletter same time, same day every week. This will help build trust with your audience online.

6. Keep it rich in content. I write a bit of the newsletter every day, sometimes just 15 minutes a day ( usually when I get up is the best time for me to write), I write about what is inspiring me at that time – keep it fresh and current. I cant write under pressure – you may be the same.

7. Use guest writers and articles with the authors permission.

8. If you are not great at writing then use video (VLOGS) in your newsletter. Speak directly to your audience. Use a cheap web cam and upload to youtube. Send the link to your membership.

9. Always remember you are trying to nurture a genuine relationship with your readers. Help, support and advise them!

10.Ask yourself what are your business objectives? Are you trying to get new clients to your classes,  Build an online business to compliment your offline business, develop an online community, Gain visibility in cyberspace. Keep these points in mind when writing your newsletter.

11. Who is your target market? When I first began C2Go it was aimed at Group Exercise Instructors and Community Instructors needing support and new business and promotional ideas. Who is your potential profile.

12.Use your Twitter and Facebook to encourage people to join your newsletter list. Get people from your Facebook onto your newsletter list.

13. Offer value to your readers. Everybody’s inbox gets rammed with “stuff” make sure your newsletter contains  interesting info pertinent to your readers.

14. Write your newsletters as if you are emailing a friend – you are- your class members and clients members are your friends and you are building an online relationship with them.

Writing a weekly newsletter is a lot of fun! I LOVE the feedback from C2Go’ers when its gone out.

Yes, it is time consuming to write,

Yes, sometimes I CANNOT think of what I’m going to write!

Yes, It  is hard to do if you are away or on holiday

BUT it’s THE best way to build your online business and personally I think it should be the backbone of all online fitness businesses! Good Luck and please feedback to me on this subject

Building your email list successfully

After you have started a newsletter then building your list is the next step to take when creating an online business.  It’s important to collect everyone’s details and emails who attends your classes already so you start with a good active base.

My top tips for building your list.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SUPPORT by Katie Bulmer

The life of a freelance group exercise instructor or PT can be a lonely one, no staff team building days, no work nights out…just you!

There is no-one to bounce off, support or encourage you. This used to do my head in when I was a health club PT…none of the other trainers wanted to talk about programs, nutrition or business building as they always saw it as ‘mixing with the competition’ and almost a sign of weakness. It used to make me feel sad…after all we can all learn something from each other. What was even lonelier than this was talking the leap and opening my own mini studio and starting up community classes…I was close to jacking it in many times but I’m lucky…my mam works in the industry and I have always had her to bat ideas around with and to give me self belief… so I can only imagine how lonely it must be for you guys who are out there going it alone.

Now I don’t know about you but I don’t want to ‘go off the boil’ or ‘lose my mojo’, I want to be creating the mojo and working towards my dream and I honestly believe the only way to do this is to have support from fellow industry pros.

Now support can come in many forms:

· Work with a fellow fit pro on a project

This could be anything from a monthly e-newsletter, master class day or team teach to starting a new business!

2 years ago I was approached by Paul Mort to join his company thefitnesscamp.co.uk, initially to teach two of his boot camp classes a week. It really is great to work with this dude, both working towards the same goals and encouraging each other all the way. This has led to me becoming a partner in the set up and running the Sunderland camp. This has made me a ridiculous amount of money for working only 4 hours a week and has definitely taken me a step closer to my dream of having enough money to maintain my current lifestyle and work only 15 hours per week!

· Get a mentor

Over the last 6 weeks I have been working with Lucy Johnson as part of her Rockstar Fitness Mentoring program. What I love about this is the weekly 1:1 call is motivation from someone who is as driven as I am. The encouragement Lucy gives me is second to none and always helps me take my ideas to the next level! I’ve also increased my income dramatically, again taking me a step closer to my dream.  I know that Rachel is starting a new coaching programme mid May, so maybe you could get involved with Rachel directly.

· Start a Master Mind group

Recruit like minded fit pros and arrange a time to chat online, start a face book group or even meet in person. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy just a supportive positive experience.

As part of the Rock Star program I am involved in a weekly mastermind session with my fellow Rock Stars. It is AMAZING to be surrounded by motivated fit pros who actually want to help each other, rather than fit pros who think slagging off someone else’s success is the way to grow their own business (this is a SERIOUS pet hate of mine!) Our Rock Star group members realise that sharing ideas and encouraging each other to drive their businesses forward is a positive thing, NOT a way of helping out the competition.

I strongly believe that surrounding yourself with ONLY positive, supportive people will make the BIGGEST difference to your business and your LIFE. It will give you the confidence to implement your ideas and get out of your comfort zone. So sack the client that zapps your energy every week with their negativity, delete the moaners from your Face Book account, network and interact with ONLY positive and supportive people and why not start your own mastermind group…whatever you do take some action towards making your world a more positive one and the dream will follow.

‘Support Equals Success’

Katie xx

www.katiebulmer.com

www.twitter.com/katiebulmer1

New Download

Bootcamp Conditioning 2 40/20 The St Petersburg Workout with Rachel Holmes

Functional Balls, Bands & Body Conditioning Workshop Tour 2011

Kelly Reed

After the success of my last Balls bands and Conditioning tour in 2010 and the feedback I received, I decided to re-vamp and update the workshop. Adding new anatomy and physiology knowledge and including Fitness Pilates Conditioning to complete a full package for anyone wanting new conditioning ideas.

Despite all the new types of classes that come about in our industry, it is always conditioning ideas which I get asked about most. It is also my conditioning classes which I feel I need to update keep fresh and give my participants new exercises to keep challenging their fitness levels.

The workshop I have devised consists of 4x 45minute workshops which will give you the most up to date knowledge of how to get the maximum effects from the minimum time for your class participants. All of the exercises are also really popular with PT’s to use with their clients.

The first session is my No Kit Conditioning 2011 and I have focused completely on using your participants own body weight exercising in 3 planes of motion to gain the most effect for a full body approach. I have also included interval Tabata training ideas to get the metabolic training effect which all our class participants desire.

I teach a lot of classes in the community where we haven’t got any equipment available in my village halls and sports halls so this class goes down really well with my participants as they do not even have to bring a mat to class. These exercises can also be used brilliantly outside for boot camp’s.

The second session includes Cardio Fit Ball and I have tweaked all my favourite Fit Ball exercises to challenge your class on a complete other level. These ideas are so simple to implement, I am not trying to re-create the wheel, I am showing you how a foot/ hand change, rotation of an arm or leg or adding in a percussion can make a maximum effect within your participants workouts. All exercises are working in 3 planes of motion but at different speeds – just the way your bones and muscles load when you move in every day life!

The next session is my dynamic dyna bands and I have used my Blue Peter skills and created a new style dyna band which has its own handles, which is much easier to use and can be changed into a short band for certain exercises.

Again dyna-bands are a fantastic piece of kit which can be stored and carried easily to and from class. I also include these as part of the package for my community classes so when they book either 6 or 10 sessions they get their own band to use at home and bring to class. My participants love this!

Finally I have added my favourite section in this year, taking the knowledge we deliver within the level 3 Pilates course to give you the most effective Fitness Pilates choreography.

I have really tried to pack in as much valuable information and choreography ideas into these 4 hours as possible. I have explored the anatomy of the core, pelvic floor and put together the best exercises to challenge these.

So if you are looking to update your conditioning classes and get some new fresh ideas come and join me, I would love to see you there!!

I still have dates available –

If you have any questions or feedback please feel free to contact me at kellyreed_A@hotmail.com or www.kellyreedfitness.com

Much Love

Kelly x

Have a great Thursday and look forward to connecting with you on Facebook, Twitter or Youtube

Love Rachel xx