Instructor Newsletter 7th March 1013

So what’s new? The sunny weather (well, one day on Tuesday) appears to have perked up many community classes all over the UK which is always great news and spring time is always the perfect time to make some changes in your business.

This week for me has been all about time management (again). My business is growing rapidly with new KSFL avenues opening up and Blackpool IFS is going to be a big weekend, with UNITE and 5 sessions plus a trade stand so at times this week I’m meeting myself coming backwards – I know you can identify with that and the days are flying by.

I’ve also been presenting the KSFL business model to local authorities and this has certainly been an eye opener for me. Presenting the concept to 6 “men in suits” has taken me so far out of my comfort zone that it took me a day to recover. Challenging and exciting all rolled into one and great experience to boot. I’m a huge believer in doing scary things daily, if you can it great for your personally and professionally.

This week’s newsletter has some gems of articles by our usual contributors and, of course, I always welcome your feedback and comments. Tweet me @RachelHolmes

Level 3 Pilates Qualification

Dates are all up until the end of the year – Bristol, London, Manchester and Derby with special price deals if you pay the course fees in one payment. click here more information

Fitness Pilates Certification

Right up until the end of 2013 we have dates in April, August and December which you can book right away. There are only 2 places left on the April course click here for more information

Kelly Reed’s Fitness Pilates Focus Tour

Booking has commenced for all venues for Kelly’s new summer Tour with 3 sections: Fitness Pilates Progressions, Fitness Pilates Special Populations and Fitness Pilates Focus all with new content and ideas. I’m still looking for a central London venue so if you coordinate at one or know one please let me know today if possible click here to book

Kick Start Fat Loss ™ Franchise

I’m recruiting again for the next round of franchisees so if you would like to join the most progressive Fitness and Fatloss Club in the UK and you are ready to build a new arm of your business get in touch with me asap you can Facebook me or email Lesley@Choreographytogo.com

C2GO Mobile

If you log onto C2GO on your mobile you are now able to watch all of your downloaded videos on your phone. Perfect if you just need a quick choreography inspiration just before a class. The mobile site a small version of the desk top version and app will be following shortly for C2GO and KSFL

5 Fitness Business Crackers for You

You must Sell Sell Sell – Sell You and your services

You’ve worked so hard to make sure you have a website, doing great sessions building your list, and improving the quality of your classes and sessions, that you forgot about one of the most golden methods of bringing people in the door and getting them hooked on you – selling to them in person.
No social media site or adverts can sell your classes/PT sessions the way that you can – with passion and zest and ooomph. You need to physically get in front of more people and turn them into regular clients. It really is a numbers game, the more people you can get in front of the more you will convert into loyal clients and customers.

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers. Your business may be ticking over nicely but what exactly does that mean? Get a grip on that calculator and start keeping track! Then you can test, measure and improve all the time meaning more business, more money, more time. When you receive some enquires about your services what do you follow up with? Do you contact that person again a few days later and get them to commit? Ensure you follow up every lead and then contact them again, Use your current clients to post about your services and share your offers, track where your enquiries and new clients are coming from.

3. Plan your day in 15 minute timeslots.

How many times have you gone to complete a task and then found yourself magically looking at Facebook, reading and returning emails and general procrastinating.. One way to stay on track is to give yourself a track to stay on instead of haphazardly trying to get through a minefield of tasks in one day. Chunk out your day according to different tasks. One chunk might be geared towards emails and customer service. Another chunk might be content creation like blog posts and emails. You might have a chunk for your workouts or family time or whatever else you do in your day. The important thing is to set specific times for specific tasks and concentrate with laser focus on them all. Schedule your time and stick to it, don’t let anything lead you astray.

4. Have Systems for Everything.

One way to systemise your business is to make sure that you are consistently doing it the same way every time. Have a system for enrolling new clients, taking parqs, and most importantly a proper system for taking money. A system to follow up leads, a system to generate new business and sales and clear strategy to where you are taking your business and your teaching, otherwise another year will go by.

To studio or to not studio that is the question by Becky Lane

To all of you who have considered getting your own studio this is for you! From talking and listening to other instructors this week it seems that community classes are taking a bit of a bashing from the leisure centres offering cheap gym memberships of which we cannot match.
My name is Becky Lane and I opened my studio in January this year, so 9 weeks ago! I have wanted this for a very long time and decided to just go for it! Nothing quite like taking a risk. At the time it was great timing, the ideal space had come up (after looking for over a year) so I began with the work. I didn’t have any savings to get the work done so all the money was borrowed! I started to work on the property in October (which I got rent free from the landlord (I agreed this prior to committing). Before I continue, words of advice:

· Bargain with the landlord as to when you start paying! I started work in October but didn’t start paying until end of January (my choice of date).

· Get them to carry out any work needed prior to paying them anything. I managed to get them to put in a fully functioning bathroom and kitchen (all I had to do was lay the floor) for this section of the building.

· Any exterior work is their responsibility! Therefore, I got them to replace all windows with double glazing (although I did insulate the ceiling).

REMEMBER they want the rent as much as you want it! If you don’t ask you don’t get!

But also consider that things happen that you don’t expect to. For example, part of the ceiling fell down when we took a wall out (£550 later a new one was put in – not in budget). Start with the complete basics first, I don’t have mirrors yet but I’m still undecided as to whether to get them or not as we have managed fine for now and never had them in my community halls.
January came with the snow and I was nervous (to put it politely). For a whole week I had 2 – 3 people per class, no one wanted to travel but I was still smiling and why? Because approximately 1/3rd (maybe a bit more now) are on standing orders!

I managed to pay my £1,000 rent bill, mortgage and survive for the first month which I was chuffed about. I am so pleased I added the option of the standing order because I know that every month I can pay my hall hire and mortgage without worries now, I wouldn’t go back! People can still pay as you go for classes but this is at a higher rate! Each month is getting stronger and stronger but I need to remember there is only so much I can earn from the studio.

Take this into consideration when deciding whether this is for you. I have other programmes running in the background of my studio so I get an additional income but just with the studio this wouldn’t be enough for me to support me and my little one. Let me know if you have your own studio, I would love to get in touch. I was thinking about running a Facebook group for all studio owners so we can share thoughts and tips. Facebook me if you are interested… Facebook – becky.lane.716
Becky

Big business, small headaches Jill Gardner

Feeling a little undervalued?
Feeling like a commodity right now?
Feeling like there is no security in your business right now?

You know what, I did until recently and you what’s even worse?

It was my fault! YEP!

I was undervaluing myself, undercharging and therefore not being valued enough by my clients. I was projecting my own perceptions and conditioning onto my clients! Even though I had moved to a monthly fee, it was still not enough to rule out the following:

Late payments
Cancellations
No shows
Quibbling over terms and conditions
Low attendance

It was all getting too much. After paying for music, hall hire, insurance, petrol, marketing and my time to not only teach but invest in my education to deliver the best I could, my time to perform all the necessary admin meant there was very little profit. Worse, there was little satisfaction when people just wouldn’t turn up! But when they are paying such a small amount per month, it’s hardly surprising they didn’t value it much.

You wouldn’t not expect to pay your dentist or physio
You wouldn’t dream of asking for credit in a supermarket
You would never expect to get petrol and then pay later
You wouldn’t dream of regularly not turn for chiropracters appointments and not expect to pay a cancellation fee.

But then the shops, doctors, physios and dentists would NEVER let that happen. Nor would they charge the price of a large Costa cappuccino for a class or session in the hope that people would turn up.

When people pay up to £20 for a family trip to Costa but hesitate over committing to a class for a few quid or monthly payment for not much more it is not difficult to see why we can get so disheartened sometimes trying to run our fitness business. But we can’t blame them.

If you are happy with a little extra income and don’t mind running your classes as PAYG and you don’t mind if that income stops when you are sick or during seasonal changes then fine. Stay as you are. BUT if you want to run a long term business that people will value then you HAVE to think long and hard about the service you are offering and the value you are adding to it.

Think about the long term aspect of their health AND yours. If your business is about more than just offering a few fun classes, then it’s time to think about charging for a service and NOT a commodity. In other words, one session here or there will NOT change peoples’ lives. But 6 months with you could. Think about charging in longer blocks for peoples commitments. Instead of just a class with a nutrition plan for example, think how you could offer them a life plan and journey from fat to fit. This upfront payment is commitment to you and themselves. When we start valuing ourselves, so will our clients!

This week I decided to remove all my classes. I am now able to grow not only my on-line services more but also I can now research and write programs that I can sell with a higher price tag, but with a much higher level of commitment from my clients. I can teach less people, for more money and get better results! It’s a win-win. Who else wants #winwin?

Big businesses and small headaches!

Jill – The Fat Controller

www.hateitchangeit.co.uk www.facebook.com/hateitchangeit @itsjillgardner

Hey you, yes you there, you are awesome…Sally Ghafoor

Sometimes you just need to be told this, a good friend of mine sent me a gorgeous picture last week saying just this. As you know I encourage you to use Facebook pages for marketing your business page, engaging with your clients and creating your own online community of fans. However some people use Facebook to bring you down, demoralise you, and **** on your parade.

So today’s short post is not full of info for you on how you can use your FB page for your business, if you want to know that pop on over to my page Fitness Business Hub. Today’s post is to tell you:

If you teach fitness in clubs it doesn’t make you less of an instructor than those that run their own business
If you teach bootcamps without nutrition that’s fine, it doesn’t mean you are bad at what you are doing – you have just chosen a different model to teach.
If you don’t eat clean and go out at the weekends for a drink that’s fine too, your audience will connect with you and will feel you are not “untouchable”
If you teach aerobics, Zumba or any other type of aerobic based class – congrats, you know your target market, you are teaching a class wanted in the public domain. It is actually ok to give people a session they enjoy over one that will get them amazing results.

What’s not OK?:

I wish I didn’t have to put what isn’t ok, but it seems more and more I see nasty, and I mean very nasty posts, about other instructors, their ideas, plans and dreams being trodden on. For those experiencing such times remember this:

“If someone treats you like crap, just remember there is something wrong with them not you. Normal people do not go around destroying other human beings” – I can’t find who wrote this quote, if you know please let me know as would love to credit that wise wise person

Then keep your head up and plough on with what you are doing, because you are doing great and you are just a little bit more than awesome 🙂

www.fitnessbusinesshub.com
www.facebook.com/fitnessbusinesshub

What does being Healthy mean to you? Philippa Burnett

Have you ever thought about what being ‘healthy’ actually means to you? Do you consider yourself to be healthy? Are you striving to be ‘healthier’ or do you feel you are at your optimum health? What is your optimum ‘health’ – it is probably different for each one of us.

So, to answer the question for me these are my 3 important points that makes me feel Healthy:

Exercise – now I know you’ll all be thinking, well, she’s bound to say that, she couldn’t really say anything else :). It’s true, however, for me I think it’s about being fit enough to do all the activities that you love. For me, this means being strong and supple enough to ski, cycle, walk in the hills, play with my grandson. I do not want to be in a position where my body lets me down. I’m prepared to put in the hard work to maintain a level of fitness that suits my lifestyle – I want to be able to cycle from London to Paris, to do the Moonwalk and this year (yay!!) trek for 19 days to Everest Base Camp. These things give me direction, a purpose and a fantastic feel good factor, that’s what motivates me! So, what about YOU, what motivates you to exercise? Where are you priorities in life? Are you happy with your level of fitness? If not, do something about it, it’s all down to you, about you taking responsibility for your body – do something positive today and get moving!

Nutrition – another bigger! One for me that has slowly evolved and is still evolving. I never really acknowledged how important nutrition was to your health – dumb I know, but, I naively thought I could exercise bad nutrition away!!! Wrong, wrong, wrong! Over the last year, I decided to take my own nutrition in hand and see if I could change the way I was feeling. Although, I exercise constantly and consider myself to be reasonably fit, I still felt ‘unhealthy’. I got so tired in the afternoons, sometimes needing to sleep, I got so hungry all the time, craving junk food, bad carbs and sugar. My energy levels were low and I felt that something had to change! I’ve done a massive amount of research and tried some things out over the summer – Wow!!! What a change, not only in my body, but my ‘health’. Those of you that did the detox experienced similar changes. I thought I was a relative good eater until I started this journey 🙂

Mindset – yep, another bigger! Taking care of your emotional wellbeing is so important, our lives are one continual journey of growth and development, we need this as humans, let’s not forget that – embrace it. Enjoy being who YOU are, do things that make you happy, that make you feel fulfilled, be YOU and be the best that you can be. Don’t go through life lacking confidence, lacking belief in yourself, having low self -esteem – It’s easier to change these things than you think, remember one small achievable step at a time is the way forward 🙂

So, there are my 3 important points, they all need to be working for me to feel ‘Healthy” – What are yours??

Happy Teaching
Philippa Burnett

www.pilatesbyphilippa.com

On Springtime, final-demands and muck-spreading…………..Vikki Scovell

JOY! Here is March, and as she sashayed in leaving a trail of snowdrops behind her, the sunshine tangled itself in her long skirts and has brightened the dark mornings and evenings, and banished the dull, grey sombreness. We woke to a hazy, diamond day with a thick frost, but the loveliest, most delicate light. As if life wasn’t already looking glorious enough, I enjoyed the extreme luxury of Mr Blue taking the children to school, so that I could amble around in my PJs and imbibe a jangling quantity of coffee in the garden whilst listening to the birds and deciding where my new ‘thinking’ spot was going to be.

When I went out to teach Yoga the sun was shining brightly and the haze had melted away. Town was bustling with everyone smiling madly at each other. Either they are on drugs, or it is the sunshine. Round here it is most likely the effects of a good Sauvignon Blanc, but possibly it is just the feeling of brightness and lightness which is medicine for the soul. Back at home, despite the shafts of light coming in through the windows it is still chilly, but

I have a cushion on the floor by the Aga, which is much more ‘accessible’ than my new office. Check me out! I have the most wonderful office which I SHOULD BE writing in; lined with my books, a view of ponies in the field, and fat pheasants crossing the lawn with their comical panicky scuttle- a perfect location for the writer to hunker down. Because I feel so blessed by fortune to have such a perfect place to work, I have celebrated with a ticker-tape explosion of paperwork which is currently 4 feet deep on the floor in my patented ‘horizontal’ filing system.
It turns out that my decision to never open an envelope which is brown was misinformed. It appears that brown envelopes are quite often from angry-sounding important people to whom one owes money. Anyway the ‘horizontal’ filing system is threatening to spill out of the office and into the house, and so I have firmly wedged the door shut with a sheave of council tax final demands and ASBOs, and am settled by the Aga.

The only downside is that I have a fat brown Labrador and 5 cats who believe that this special spot belongs to them. They have conspired to remove me by enthusiastic licking, unleashing a barrage of unholy smells, and nudging me with damp noses, causing a cascade of spelling mistakes as I type (don’t think I can blame the bad grammar on them though).

So spring is finally here; people are turning their thoughts away from endless sleet, and dark nights and gravy, and towards sunnier times and food which has not been drowned in cheese sauce. The nation collectively peers down at the rolls of comfort-food-induced tummy flab, and sighs, but there is a distinct whiff of hope and happiness, and I hope that you can smell it too. It seems to me a great time to hook in the people who have dropped off your radar after the new year rush, and get back to full steam ahead in the run-up to Easter. I am brim-full of the joys of Spring, with nothing to diminish them, excepting that I have just seen the dark form of the muck-spreader arrive in the pony field: I may have to abandon all thoughts of a little sit in the sun, or pruning the apple trees. There is going to be a pong which makes the cats and dog appear perfectly fragrant.

I wish you hopefulness, lightness and a soul full of springtime. Please remember to open brown envelopes unless you want some nasty surprises, and may your sunny life remain un-marred by fortunes’ muck spreaders.
Vikki @fitbite

Spartacus
By Andrew Crawford

I watch Tell-lie-vision on a Monday evening. Arrow and Spartacus are my weeks viewing pleasure.

I love the way the Slaves have taken over the building and the cunning Romans try every trick to overcome the ledgendary Spartacus. It demonstrates how alliances, once formulated and properly lead, can overcome and resist the powers that seek to control, maim and restrict the freedom of movement around the land.

I also loved the way they celebrated with wine woman and song….nudge nudge wink wink…..!! Fantastic.
Warning………

Watch out for the Tax Rebate scam….they’re getting clever with the way they contact taxpayers. Read the brief summary here…

http://www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com/ard/enews_article.asp?ID=3503&AID=1987&CID=1

If you ever complain about paying taxes, you must fly over to an article I wrote about 3 years ago…..’Shut Up And Pay Up’…you can find it here…

http://www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com/articles/Shut-Up-Pay-Up.pdf

Talking about taxes……if you have sold a second property within the last 20 years and have not paid the Capital Gains Tax on it…..be careful, the HMRC is on the war path.

“….Tax collectors are targeting thousands of people who have sold a second home, a holiday home or a buy-to-let property without paying tax, even if it was up to 20 years ago…………”
20 Years???? In my humble opinion, they’re becoming desparate.
?Anybody who has sold a second property in the UK or overseas will have to pay capital gains tax on the money they made from the sale.
?Under the tax amnesty, HMRC is urging people who should have paid tax – but failed to do so – to come forward over the next five months.
The deadline is August 9. So ensure you include any such sales on your next Tax Return….going back 20 years.
If there is any kick in the round spherical objects of the UK tax payers it is the payment of £600m bonuses after losses of £5.2bn loss…!!!?
You, me, and other UK taxpayers apparently own 82% of RBS….What a Load of tosh….!! What would Spartacus have done? What are you going to do about it?

I have said it before….

You cannot reap what you haven’t sown.
I know a lot of people who are trying to REAP before they have SOWN. Once you know the principal, you will see it everywhere….!!
Translated into modern day language……..
Before you can reap interest you have to invest the capital.
Before you can reap heat, you got to put in (invest) the wood.
Before you reap success, you got to invest effort, time & commitment
Basically it means…..
You must FIRST GIVE before YOU can RECEIVE
So Andrew….
What’s Spartacus got to do with Accountancy and Finance ?
Well…
I believe that not all things are measured in financial terms but also non-financial return…Spartacus just wanted to protect his good name
Picture this……..You’ve worked many years, forged relationships, developed your brand, created a product, talked, sang and even written about your product or service………….then one day you receive a Solicitor’s letter telling you that you can ‘no longer use the name that you have been using because………………..someone else has ‘REGISTERED’ the company name in the same industry as you…….What do you do?
Answer…………………….change your name….in fact you have to change

EVERYTHING…!!

Why?…… Because you didn’t protect your company name.
To ensure maximum protection for your company name, register it, then keep an eye out for anyone else trying to muscle into your space. Even if you don’t intend to trade under a limited company, it is best to register it for peace of mind.
Here’s how to protect your name
Check that no similar names are being used/registered at www.companieshouse.gov.uk

Register your company name at Companies House
If you have a very distinctive name or logo, consider registering it as a trade mark.
Register the domain name.
Ensure you use the name on all stationery, emails, invoices, on websites any publicity.
Take fast action if you find someone else is using the same or similar name as yours.
If you do not want a limited company, ensure you submit Dormant accounts to Companies House each year and inform the Inland Revenue that the company was set up to protect the name. They will send you a form when you register the company, just state your intentions when you return it.
And to all those romantics out there….
Before you reap LOVE you must GIVE love
Spartacus and his followers just want to be free..no more bondage. What income is free? Check here for the list.
http://www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com/articles/Which-Income-Is-Free-From-Tax.pdf
Finally
I say…..If you sow negativity…you will reap negativity.
Invest wisely and reap the benefits for years to come.

Invest your money, time, successes, failures, hopes, dreams, conquer your fears….
divide your time
subtract negativity
multiply positivity,
add passion, vision and desire
The last words come from Spartacus himself……”…Kill Them All….”

Have a wonderful day
Love Rachel x