Fitness Business Guest Post by Megan Kruger
I had been teaching 15 plus hours of Zumba and Yoga classes a week, personal training at all hours of the day and struggling to make ends meet when my beater car completely quit working.
Faced with thousands of dollars of repairs or the prospects of buying a new car with no assets I was totally freaked out. In fact, to give you a sense of how desperate I was, I had just contacted my parents to tell them that I was looking into an open waitressing position at a strip club.
Yes, a strip club. It was that bad.
I desperately needed to grow my fitness business or find something else to do… and nothing else spoke to me like fitness.
Like a lot of personal trainers, I was totally broke and making very little money when I first learned about Bedros Keuilian and his business coaching services and products.
Fortunately, I had been e-mailing with a trainer friend (who lived in Texas) about his successful fitness business and the sales and marketing techniques he used. He mentioned a fitness business coaching program called “System 9” that taught trainers how to better market and sell their fitness services.
I had never heard of Bedros Keuilian or his products, but my friend insisted that if I did even two of the many recommended business strategies on “System 9” that I would make money and not have to work at the strip club. I was eager to learn more because I knew that my fitness services delivered results; I loved what I was doing, but I also knew I simply couldn’t get by financially with what I was making and I really didn’t want to take another job. Admittedly, I was so broke that I didn’t even buy the product- my friend lent me his login and password and I got to work.
I watched.
I took notes.
I watched again and again.
Three times all the way through, actually.
I borrowed many of the ideas and wording from Josh Carter’s “Twice the Results in ½ the Time” promotion and I crafted two e-mails for my newsletter list.
At that time, my newsletter list was small (100 people) and I typically only e-mailed them original content once a week. I never marketed to my list. Come to think of it, I really didn’t market my services at all. In early 2011, all of my clients were one-on-one and all had begun training with me after I had given them a free introductory session or they were referred.
Within a week of watching “System 9” and e-mailing the 100 person list, I had 19 “group personal training clients” (a way better way to service clients- by the way). By the end of September, I had 35 clients paying $120 every 4 weeks (for 2 sessions per week). I was elated with my success, but my first several months I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to keep it going. I kept thinking fitness business can’t be this easy. I sent two e-mails and got 35 clients. No way; this will end soon. Talk about a mindset malfunction!
Naturally some of the 35 clients stayed and some of them went. For a while, my gross revenue held steady at just shy of $3000/month. Very quickly though, I began adopting the different referral and retention strategies I was learning about from Bedros’ products:
-deliver results
-exceed expectations
-show love and appreciation
-ask for and reward referrals
-create buzz about the program through social media and in person
Shortly after borrowing my friend Frankie’s “System 9” login information, I bought the “Close Clients” program, the “PT Business Course” and subscribed to “Fit Pro Newsletter”. These three programs completely changed the fitness business game for me.
Now, not only can I send one e-mail and get 35 clients or more (my last promotion I got 43 newbies) but I do it monthly. This is all thanks to the awesome e-mail copy crafted by Bedros and the Fit Body Team. And to B for taking the time during one of our coaching sessions to teach us how to be better copy writers.
But I digress…
In December of 2011, after a few months of group training with my new clients, I made the decision to shell out money (I didn’t really have) to go to my first ever Fitness Business Summit. I had been using Bedros’ products for a few months and was really pleased with the results I was getting, but I knew I was just barely subsiding financially and that if I were going to be able to stay in the fitness industry- as a full-time profession- I not only needed to make quite a bit more money so I could quit teaching all the crazy aerobics classes, but also so that I could have my own studio.
While at Fitness Business Summit, in March of 2012, I took copious notes, sat in the front row and made as many friends as I could. I visited the Fit Body Boot Camp table and met Rebecca Tabert (FBBC owner in CA) and Shannon De La Torre (superwoman at FBBC HQ) and I even expressed interest in owning a Fit Body location.
I applied to join Bedros’ 7 Figure Mastermind Group- not knowing even how I was going to make my first payment. I asked a lot of questions and thought long and hard about where I was and wasn’t with my business and my life. I thought about the excuses I had been making, the mistakes I had been making and the few things that were going well that I could enhance and improve upon. Only a few people know that I turned 30 at Fitness Business Summit and I decided that my life was never ever going backward again and that from then on I was going to kick butt in business and help change as many lives as I could.
Part of that big birthday meant that I had to put on my big girl pants and take some risks. So when I was informed that I could join the “7 Figure Mastermind” group I took the leap. Why would I sign up for a business coaching program when my business was barely making enough money to pay me and the sublease fees?
I knew that like many other successful fitness business owners before me, I needed strategic coaching from someone who had been in my shoes and built incredibly successful fitness businesses. I also knew that I needed a coach who was going to call it like it was and tell me to get to work doing the things that mattered.
I suspect the first few months Frankie, Bedros’ assistant was annoyed with having to chase me down a bit for my 7 Figure Mastermind payments- but he always got them and it always worked out. I’m not sure how it did but it did.
While a member of the coaching program, I took advantage of my monthly phone calls with Bedros. I used the recommended promotions and e-mail copy that B wrote for me to increase my numbers. I continued to work on my closing skills and in particular I worked on overcoming objections and demonstrating an abundance of value. I polished up my website and pumped out testimonials, photos and as much “social proof” as I could. Steadily my group training program grew and grew.
I looked into owning a Fit Body franchise in the spring of 2012 and ultimately decided that I wasn’t ready- financially or emotionally. I had some ego stuff to work through and at that time I still thought going it alone was the better way.
But by October 2012, I had seen all of my friends who owned Fit Bodies flourishing at a rate that was much faster than what I was doing so I decided to join the FBBC family. It was perfect timing because the day I had made the decision to buy into Fit Body Boot Camp, the gym owner I subleased from gave me one month’s notice to move part of my operations out of his studio.
He wanted to run a group training program at the same time as mine and wanted the space. With a month’s notice, it was tough to find something but fortunately the pet store next door had a wide open space that we were able to rent. With part of my operations in a Pet Store and the future of my business looking shaky without finding a space my realtor and I really got to work.
On November 17th 2012, with some slightly exaggerated gross revenue numbers (thanks to a massively successful promo for Thanksgiving), I was able to sign a lease for my own stand-alone boot camp location. I had to make a personal guarantee that the rent would be paid monthly- which was very scary to do- but without backing from the bank and with almost no money saved I didn’t have a lot of other options.
I went to work applying for credit cards like crazy after signing that lease. I applied for 8 cards in one day and got almost all of them. It’s a good thing too because just about every expense that I had in the first few months went on a credit card. (Less than one year later and the cards are all paid off :-D)
Immediately after buying my Fit Body franchise, Fernando- the Fit Body business coach started to help me. We crafted Facebook ads and name captures to help recruit new readers for my newsletter list (now at close to 1,000 local and active names) and new clients for the studio.
The FBBC website team designed a landing page for my pre-grand opening sale and they even set-up on-line payments. I consulted with Fernando about what specifically to do for the Grand Opening celebration and we used FBBC PR to promote the event to local and state media outlets. All stuff I wouldn’t have known how to do or might have felt too busy to get to without the constant support and help of the HQ.
Between the Fit Body Boot Camp “Owner’s Only” membership site (which is loaded with amazing information on sales, operations, getting started check-lists, e-mail promotions, sample legal documents and so much more) and Fernando helping to keep me on task I got a lot done.
I’m a big picture person so if I don’t have specific action orientated tasks (to accomplish daily) I can get bogged down with all there is to do. I still had access to Bedros, which was very helpful because I had a lot of sleepless nights in the beginning. I would wake up in the middle of the night- in a sweat- terrified that I would fail and that I’d be living out of a card board box somewhere.
I will never forget telling Bedros that I was super scared and was waking up a lot in the middle of the night and him telling me “don’t worry kiddo, that’s normal, now get back to work”.
I also remember telling him I was worried about how I was going to pay all my bills, and he reminded me that if you have no money “there is nothing for anyone to take”. I laugh now, as I write that because all of those times and feelings are still strong memories, but are so distant from my reality now.
With the help of the 7 Figure Mastermind (and my friends within that group), the Fit Body family and my amazing coaches I took my business from a struggling $3,000/month in gross revenue to a predictable on-going monthly revenue of $20,000 in one year. I also have had stellar months like October and November of this year where I hit $25,000 and $33,000 gross revenue respectively.
The business related support that helped me launch my Fit Body Boot Camp is paralleled though by the emotional support, love and encouragement that I feel regularly from the HQ and the other owners. While I get a lot of love and support from my parents, there is nothing like having your peers and coaches give you a good ole high five or hug after you have reached certain milestones. Why? They truly understand where you’ve been, where you are going and why what we do as fitness professionals is so important.
If you love the fitness industry and you haven’t figured out how to make the business side work… or how to market or sell your services yet (and you are good at what you do) please for the sake of all the people you could be helping shelve your ego and buy one of Bedros’ fitness products… heck if you have to, barrow it from someone like I did. But USE HIS SYSTEMS… they work!
And let’s be honest folks, we are in the life changing business. If that isn’t exciting and doesn’t make you want to be more awesome then you currently are, then you are in the wrong business and you should find something else that fires you up.