Valentines C2Go Newsletter 14th Feb 2013 from Rachel

I hope this newsletter finds you well and you are inundated with Moonpig Valentines cards, chocolates and hand tied roses delivered by Interflora… mmm well if not, here is your trusty C2GO newsletter that is always here, always on time and will never let you down 🙂 What is happening in the world of fitness, bootcamps, classes, PT, Gyms- well lots I think.

 

 

 

Health Clubs, Budget Gyms and Community

All of the health clubs I teach in are seriously, seriously, busy. I watch the news and the talk is double digit recession, general doom and gloom, depressing economic projections and forecasts then I walk into Virgin Active Nottingham and its rammed from 6am until 9pm, with members putting Steps out an hour before my morning freestyle class starts to get a space, classes are at capacity even at times you would deem as downtime, it’s exciting, it’s vibrant and it’s a fab environment to teach in. The demand for good quality classes and Instructors is growing faster than I have seen it in a long time. AND,there is no shortage of competition, there are more private gyms, budget gyms, high end gyms, PT studios, Crossfit studios and a very strong city council portfolio all within a 10 mile radius of Nottingham city centre and still gym and club classes appear to be thriving. Sadly, I know, if I put a Step class on in the community it just wouldn’t draw anywhere near the numbers t hat it does in the health club.

On the community side I’m concentrating on teaching my KSFL Clubs and Fitness Pilates. KSFL attracts a totally different demographic as does Fitness Pilates and the numbers are way up on previous years which is brilliant, these formats appeal to people who will never, ever join a club but I wonder if the immense and rapid growth of the budget club weighing in at £11-£15 per month with no tie in and no contract is having an effect on regular community classes? Your Zumba, LBT and other community class stalwarts could be affected by low cost gyms springing up in the locality. Our members may love you and your community classes to bits but in this day and age they may be swayed by the cheap and cheerful new budget gym that has just opened up done the road?

If you are finding your numbers lower in the community so far this year it may be that people are attracted by the price of a budget club and if so lets brainstorm ideas for new community class ideas aimed at the huge populations who will NEVER join a health club. Total beginners, the very unfit and the very overweight are all large segments of our local communities that will never join a club so, if your numbers are dwindling and you are losing members to budget gyms, it may be worth piloting some new styles of class, new formats and new marketing……….

Look at the bigger picture and offer something unique, appeal to populations which the gyms and chains don’t, teach different formats and programs to the other community teachers in you area, look at your unique selling points – what makes you and your classes different, hone in on these skills.

Remember there are 66 million people in the UK so there are definitely enough people to go round. Health and Fitness is so in vogue and by being a small operator you can tweak your marketing, trial a new format and create something totally unique for the people in your area who aren’t going to clubs.

Be brave and go for it and I would love to hear about your plans and maybe community classes need a rethink?
Tweet me @RachelHolmes Please comment on the Choreographytogo Face Book Page https://www.facebook.com/Choreographytogo I’ve set up a thread for your input

Don’t Stop The Party by Pure Energy

I have played this mix in my Step, Conditioning and HiLO classes this week it’s a definite must have. Every track is a sing along favourite. http://www.pureenergydigital.com/product-display/album/dont-stop-the-party-mg00430573.aspx

World Fitness Pilates in Bristol

Coming to the South West Kelly Reed-Banks and I are super excited to be sharing all of new Fitness Pilates ideas and look forward to welcoming you to the day at the Hengrove Leisure Centre. If you would like to bag a last minute place https://www.choreographytogo.com/workshop-booking/world-fp/

Fitness Fashion

I’m always on the lookout for new Fitness fashion and I’ve just ordered pretty much the whole sportswear collection from H and M. Have you seen it yet? There are some brilliant pieces, it comes up slightly small so I ordered the 14 – 16 sizes, the colours are really vibrant, it is a cool range at a really good price point. http://www.hm.com/gb/

How to become a Presenter – Planning your own local Master Class Event

I get lots and lots of emails from Instructors wanting to make a name on the presenting circuit. So here are some tips and ideas you may want to try.

The first steps to becoming a national presenter are to build your profile on a local level. Organising a master class event or a master class series in your area should start to do just that. Film the event and post clips on all social media sites, writing articles and posting them on your own website and on Facebook also helps build your credibility.
Build your profile on social media, posting lots of videos with you presenting your unique class ideas. Engaging with other Fitness Presenters and event organisers is a great way to get noticed, so network . All convention organisers are looking for presenters who have a good following and are extremely active on social media and if they like what they see will invite you to present at their events.

What to present?

1. Choose a topic that will motivate enthusiasts, club members and Instructors. Come up with YOUR own brand and style.

2. Set the date and time
If it’s being held in your local club – get members to bring guests and non-members or hire a venue.

3. Create your marketing material
Create stylish posters and flyers and email to everyone on your email list and mail out to your database. (All presenters are constantly trying to build their own database so always ask people for contact details). Use Facebook/Youtube/Twitter and your own Blog and website to promote.

4. Send a sponsorship letter to potential sponsors
Target local businesses in your area and email a letter to them asking them to sponsor your flyers and marketing material in exchange for promotion. Eg Local sports shop, local restaurant, takeaways, women’s clothes shop etc

5. Practise, Practise and then practise some more
Your teaching skills should be rehearsed and impeccable.

6. Send press releases to all local press and take photos on the day to send press releases to all Fitness magazines

7. Decide whether you would like to make the event a freebie for publicity or charge. All presenters when they start do many things for free to build up a name

On the Day
1. Welcome everyone personally as they register
2. Give away a registration pack containing your information, how to book you for another event, your biography and contact details
3. After the class thank everyone and tell them about the next event you have planned.
4. Make sure you film clips of the day, get testimonials and put on your Facebook profile
The industry needs more new presenters with new ideas, so if you think you have what it takes……….. Are you a budding presenter?

Tweet me with your video clips @RachelHolmes

Jayne Nicholls

There seems to be a resurgence of ”old school” methods and values with people grouping together in teams to share their thoughts and back one another up. The popularity of Sunday morning football, book clubs and associations proves that like minds are proactive.

Throw a fitness party – without a doubt word of mouth is the best form of advertising. It is the earliest method of social media, the spoken word mixed with peer group pressure and an intrinsic need to ”keep up” with whatever is happening in our immediate circles of influence.

So many people are struggling to fill their classes at present with competition and choice being on the side of the consumer, so perhaps a different approach is necessary. If we take the pressure off people by NOT asking them to take part in their first session but simply join us for a chat and a party. Network marketers have been doing it for years. They gather at someone’s house (a popular person), invite friends of friends and educate, offer incentives and generally touch base with prospective customers – ‘wetting their appetites’ for the benefits of regular exercise.

Failing this, you can hold your meeting at a coffee shop, salon or boutique that has down times and where large groups frequent and can see your invite.

Whatever you think of the party idea, it is a relatively cheap, if not free form of advertising and an opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and try something new, something that has proved for decades that IT WORKS and at a time when most people would much prefer to sit chatting over a drink than brave the cold for an evening out.

Jayne www.groupxtraining.com

Don’t get lost in other people’s perception of success by Sally Ghafoor

What is success? Business or personal – you set the rules for whether you and your business are successful, so judging yourself by others perception of success will just leave you feeling a failure.

Are you less successful because, to finance what you want to achieve in business, you are still working part time in a job you don’t particularly like? Are you a less successful instructor because you teach at clubs, not for yourself in the community? Are you a lesser instructor because you can pack out Zumba or aerobic classes, but don’t teach bootcamps or talk eating clean? Are you less successful because you charge pay as you go classes and not pay in advance?

No

You judge your own success, don’t be fooled by the over confidence of those that want to tell you that you are only successful when you reach a certain point in the industry, you determine what success means to you.

The fine line between worrying what people think and not caring what people think

Maybe you are frightened to put out a report you have designed for fear of what others will think of your work. I have a question for you – Have you ever created content, a blog post, a Vlog, an ebook, training series or maybe a workout but never really marketed the hell out of it because you don’t want certain people to judge you?

There is a fine line that comes between caring what people think (not putting out your work/ideas for fear of what people may think of it) and not caring what people think (not caring if your actions/words are hurtful to others) Where are you in the mix of that?

So sit down for a minute and write down your perception of success in both your work and life and pin it up where you can see it daily. Never judge yourself on others and how they are successful, there is a big difference between perception and truth.

www.facebook.com/fitnessbusinesshub

Is your heart hungry or your belly? Cori Withell

Does emotional eating completely control you and your clients dietary habits? For me, it definitely can. So, I started looking at what really causes emotional eating and whilst I think there are several factors that contribute to it one of the overriding ideas was the idea of a hungry heart. After all, if we are eating on an emotional level it is because something is missing in our lives that we wish we had and more often than not this has an emotional connection: sadness, loneliness, bereavement, stress, divorce, etc.

By feeding our hungry heart we are trying to replace that emotional void with food, this will NEVER happen. You could eat yourself to oblivion and that void will still be there but because that is not what we want, we refuse to accept that and continue to kid ourselves that food can fix all. The bottom line is, we want to feel loved and if we are not feeling loved then we try to fill that need with food, it is almost like an easy replacement without the risks that love involves.

To make matters worse, we rarely select healthful foods when emotionally eating, we typically select foods that make us feel worse. So, you have the need to feel loved and cared for, the guilt of eating things that are not good for us and then the lethargy that the food leaves us with, downward spiral here we come because we will then go from sugar rush to sugar rush!

This is all well and good but what can we actually do about it? First you need to establish that you are emotionally eating so are you physically hungry or is it because you need someone to fill that loving void? If you have recently gone through an emotional upset then you may have temporarily used food as a crutch but now it is time to stop. If you find yourself in a deep depression (or clients) then they may never have had their hungry heart correctly nourished, this is a lengthier process.

To combat emotional eating you need to attack it from two points. You need to feed the body the foods that combat the low mood, poor sleep, increased stress and lethargy and the other is to nourish the hungry heart – I could go on for ages about this but I will try to keep it brief!!!

From an emotional perspective ask yourself what you need. Find a picture of yourself that brings you happy memories when you look at it and think about what you need now to feel that, it could be a hug, nice words, coffee with friends etc. Then you need to find ways to fulfill those needs, highlighting friends who may be able to help you with this is a great idea.
Identify the triggers and the emotions that go with them. If it is because of the smell of a burger van then walk a different route. If it is through boredom then look at ways to relieve that boredom.
Eating regularly. Missing meals will massively increase the need to sugar rich foods, eliminate this by eating three meals every day.

Teach yourself and your clients to love the healing foods and for each of us going through an emotional journey, this will be different. The way I teach my clients is that the more healing foods they allow themselves to eat the more they love their body, that is the power of food. The positive effect that healing foods, (non-processed, organic etc) have on the body will help people to naturally fight depression, stress and fatigue. This teaches you and them how to combat emotional eating for good.

Along with healing foods you can equally have the hurtful foods, foods that will lower mood, decrease sleep quality and depress mood further. This will be your processed, high sugar foods. The body has to expend so much energy processing this garbage and trying to protect our body from its harm.

Almost done, I promise! Finally you have to allow yourself to grieve. You need to allow people to grieve for the losses that emotional eating has been suppressing. I often say that forgiveness is crucial for emotional wellbeing and this is very much along the same lines, you are almost grieving that you will no longer be using food as your emotional support, so you need to say goodbye to it. Realise the part that it has played in your life and then you will be able to replace it with something more positive and helpful to you rather than harmful.

By addressing emotional eating you will find –

you will feel more balanced and well nourished.
you will feel happier and more relaxed.
you will lose weight if overweight
you will feel more loved
you will feel more in control
you will enjoy your food more
you will no longer see food as the enemy

More info on emotional eating on my blog page x

Health and happiness x
Best wishes
Cori x

Planning your 2013 by Caroline Dance Lady

I thought I might share some of the really helpful suggestions and points I took from a webinar I recently listened too with Michael Heppell. I was introduced to Michael’s works via Rachel C2GO letter and then his book Flip It.

Can you remember the Frankie Says T-shirts from the late 80s?? They were plain white t- shirts with large printed black bold text on the front. Frankie says Relax! Michael asked “What would your T shirt say?? Mine would say “Caroline DanceLady says Dance” Oh and if you wouldn’t mind can you buy my DVD! please, Thanks and that’s where and when it dawned on me. I decided I need to be bolder and in large text! I have made a product and I am good at what I do so I should be shouting about it. Is this you?? Do you need to be in bold large text?

Michael then asked “What were my 3 best memories from 2012? This is where I struggled, how sad is that!, now don’t get me wrong, I have been places and have done things, but 2012 was definitely a year that life just swept me along and before I knew it 2013 was here. Michael suggested to take action now and plan my 2013 Memories so what will your 2013 memories be?

The final self-evaluation tool he suggested was Double and Half. What 5 things could I double? Income, Planning, Exercise, Family Time etc and What 5 things could I halve? Stress, worrying, poor diet, etc. To my surprise this has been enlightening to me, when I actually self-evaluated myself , my life and my business. I have issues that I just sweep to the side and/or laugh off, BUT they are holding my business and personal life back.

So your actions to take!

Change your font! Be more of a Arial Black or Aharoni !

Plan your 2013 memories
Double & Half your Life

Caroline DanceLady www.thedancelady.com Caroline@the_dance_lady

Happy Valentines To You……
By Andrew Crawford

Are you looking forward to tonight?
Red hearts, roses, chocolates, pink champagne, romantic meal ….oooohhh …and the expensive valentines pressie……!!!

I remember as a young man, I used to wait until the postman had been to see how many coloured envelopes dropped in the post….exciting…..would I beat last year’s score??

I am just recuperating from a gruelling two months of Tax Returns, as I worked through them, I found that there are still some areas which need explaining and to act as a reminder for you.

As a former Fitness Instructor & Personal Trainer ALL my clothing were put through….Why???They were bought…’Wholly & Exclusively for the purpose of my trade’…..??There is a famous case which Accountants use…Re: Drummond Case where it was held that the clothing for the Solicitor was for ‘warmth & decency’…and therefore was not claimable.??However, in our case….me & you…..would we be doing classes in a skirt, blouse and high heeled shoes….or a suit and tie?????

??Exactly….So we buy clothes appropriate for the job….specifically designed for the purpose of training…??Usually you can stick a logo on it and call it a UNIFORM……….Uniforms are a claimable expense.??Think of it another way…………………..???You went out Specifically to buy fitness clothing for YOUR business…..(clothes which you wear ONLY for the classes that you get paid for…..you therefore LOST money to GAIN money….part of your business………??Therefore…..??Claim your clothing..!!?

Another 10 Ways To Pay Less Tax

Company Cars

1. Own your own car Rather than using your employer’s. The tax payable on car benefits is now so high, it is often cheaper to own your own car and use it for your employer’s business.

2. If you use your own car for business claim back the full entitlement which is 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles, thereafter 25p per mile. If your employer reimburses less, you can claim the difference in your tax return.

Running Your Own Business

3. If you borrow money to buy shares in a private company or a share in a partnership, you should be able to get tax relief on the interest at your top rate of tax.

4. If you are registered for VAT then consider the use of the flat rate scheme. The payment due to the Inland Revenue is a percentage of your standard rated turnover. This means that you don’t have to calculate VAT every quarter. Your turnover must be less than £150,000.

Those On Low Income

5. If you provide foster care to children, the first £10,000 plus £200 per week for each child under 11 (£250 for over 11) is tax free. If the amounts exceed these limits you can choose between paying tax on the excess or on the gross receipts less expenses.

6. Claim tax back on interest you receive. You can register to receive interest gross by filling out Form R85 from the bank/building society. If the account is in joint names and only one is eligible, then the interest received is 50% of the gross.

Married Couples

7. If one half of a couple is paying tax at the higher rate then you should try and equalise your income. This would mean that you could employ them in your businesses. Alternatively, if they can demonstrate that one half plays a significant part in the business, you could make them a partner then profits can be shared.

8. Pay your spouse to work in the business. This is a deductible expense. Be aware of the minimum wage. Oh….don’t forget the kids…!!

Property

9. You can receive rents of up to £4,250 tax free per year for letting furnished rooms in your home. It only applies to the main home. If jointly owned then this is split.

10. If a husband and wife own a property in joint names(joint tenancy), the income and expenditure is divided equally. If the ownership is owned as tenants in common and you ask for Form 17, you can jointly declare the ownership split that actually applies.

Have a fantastic valentine day….xx
www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com
www.facebook.com/andrewjamescrawford
www.facebook.com/fitnessindustryaccountants
www.twitter.com/tax4fitness
www.fitnessindustrygossip.com

Have a wonderful Thursday and Please feed back to me

Rachel x