I’m starting to catch a little hint here and there of excuses in the Fitness Business Ignition group.
What you don’t realize is I’ve been helping personal trainers for the last 17 years. I’ve been in the fitness industry for 24 years now. I’ve given those excuses.
Remember, I have 5 gyms in San Diego. When San Marcos wasn’t working as well as my Carlsbad location was, I would give the excuse of “well, it’s just because they’re in different locations”.
The reality was, I just needed to market harder, more frequently, and spend more dollars in San Marcos. I had to finally man up and just get it done.
So I’m asking you to man up, woman up, and get it done.
Because if you keep giving excuses, sooner or later, a Bedros is going to parachute into your town and crush you.
And then you’re gonna come and say “Hey, I need the help, now what can I do? What can you do?”
At that point, we can’t do anything. We’ll say just cancel your Fitness Business Ignition Program membership and consider getting a job at LA Fitness or 24 Hour Fitness.
I’ve heard every excuse, and I’ve given every excuse in the past when I was an amateur.
I’m asking you to make the quantum leap and grow emotionally and mentally so that you never have to give the excuse that you’re a unique snowflake.
Instead, you will operate like there’s a gun to your head at all times, and when you do, believe it or not, there’s actually less effort.
So here’s what I do. I wake up at 5:00 in the morning every day. By 6:05, I am on my couch working relentlessly with my phone turned off and upside down away from me so I’m not even tempted to look at it.
And I work from 6 to about 9:30, then I go to the gym. Three and a half hours of GSD, get shit done time.
Guess what happens in that time?
I work so hard, and so relentlessly – like there’s a gun to my head.
And if I go and open up a Facebook tab, unless I’m using it to market in that moment, then someone’s gonna pull the trigger.
I write my email copies and I send out my broadcast. I talk to all my business partners via email and address any questions. Then I go on Facebook and I set my ads for that day. Then I’ll go on Instagram and I’ll make my videos.
I don’t go out consuming content, I go and put out content for others to consume.
They give me money, and I exchange that money for the value that I give them.
And that’s what’s missing in your life. If you’re a consumer of content, become the creator of content, and be vigilant about it.
Be obsessed. Be relentless about it like there’s a gun to your head.
And so every day, I end up working out from 9:30 am to about 11:00 am, and then I go to the headquarters without any big work weighing me down. I can do fun, creative stuff like making live videos, brainstorming sessions on what kind of Fit Body Boot Camp gear we’re gonna have, and planning the layouts of how the Fitness Business Summit will be set up. That’s the fun stuff.
So, if you just work like there’s a gun to your head, you actually work for a shorter period of time for a higher level of intensity.
You get your shit done.
Let’s move on to the next point: keeping your clients loyal to you.
If you’re in the service business, then you might have staff that at some point is going to want to break off and potentially steal your clients.
Think about it as a personal trainer that owns a boot camp. Typically, here’s what happens: We start focusing so much on the growth of our business, that we start neglecting the loving up of our clients.
See, your business is very much like a marriage. Think about all the attention two people give to each other when they’re dating. They are the highest of priorities for one another. Then they get engaged, they’re still some high level of priority, but not as much as it was when they were first dating. And then they get married, and after a couple years of being married, it’s like two ships passing in the night.
And it’s not until one or the other spouse says “I’m not happy in this relationship, I think I want out,” and the other person says, “What can I do to make things right?” Now you’re in a position of trying to change somebody’s mind who’s already made the decision. Do you know how difficult that is for you to do? It is nearly impossible.
Don’t let your business get into marriage counseling. You gotta love up your clients, you gotta show your trainers that they are on the team and that they are part of your mission.
You gotta love up your clients as though at any minute, they’re going to go to the next gym across the street, or quit so they can do workouts at home.
If you are loving up your clients so much, and constantly giving them results and doing things that other gyms and fitness centers don’t do for them, then they’re never gonna want to leave. Even if you have other trainers break off from you and go open up a competing gym for less, they will have loyalty towards you.
But if you’ve been neglecting them because you’ve been so focused on the growth of your business, then all of a sudden they start feeling like “You know what? This guy or gal’s not around anymore, I don’t think that I matter anymore.” Then they start looking for another opportunity.
It’s no different than a marriage. And rather than trying to save your marriage, I say keep your marriage strong. I say keep your business strong.
How are you gonna do that?
Love up your clients.
Make sure they’re getting results. Make sure the experience they get is above and beyond what any other fitness center can offer. Make sure the community is tight and supportive.
They’ll want to come into your boot camp instead of going home, because they feel they are more understood and loved in your boot camp than they do working out at home.
If you can do that, I promise you, you’re going to have clients so loyal that they’re not only going to stay, they’re going to pay you and refer you for a long period of time.
And even when you have staff leave, or you have to fire them, or they go and open up a competing gym, they’ll never be able to lure your clients away.
And I share this because from time to time, I see people putting up panicky posts in our group that say “Oh my god, the sky is falling, two trainers are quitting, they’re opening up a gym across the street. What do I do? How do I save my clients?”
And what I really want to do is chime in there and say “Hey, look. You’ve lost those clients. If they’re leaving, it’s because you’ve already been neglecting them. You’ve been that abusive spouse.”
But there is no marriage counseling for your business. It’s a straight up divorce.
Now, if I give everything I can and you just simply are looking for a cheaper service – not necessarily the best service that will give you the results – I can’t do anything about that.
But if I don’t exceed your expectations, like I know I can, then I take the responsibility. And I want you to start operating that way as well.
So today’s lesson was all about this mindset of being obsessed, of operating like there’s a gun to your head, and loving up your clients like it’s that first date.
Committed to your success,
Bedros Keuilian