I’m Shawna Kaminski and I’ve drunk the ‘kool aid’.  Let me explain…

I’m in the fitness field and I have a ton of fitness and fat loss knowledge. Can you relate to this? I know that most of you are likely kick ass trainers, but you still may have an empty bank account and work around the clock.

Quality of life? Not much if you’re straight up trading hours for dollars.

Me? I was actually a grade school teacher that wanted to take the leap into fitness full time, but I was fond of having food to eat and a roof over my head. I was suffocating and bored to death in my job and needed a viable way to make a living doing what I was most passionate about.

What did I do?

I took a leap of faith and went to the very first Fitness Business Summit in 2007. I didn’t know a soul and really stepped out of my comfort zone.

It was a step I’ll never regret because it led to more steps out of my comfort zone and I continue to take steps into that” uncomfortable” realm daily. And now there’s no turning back.

Here’s my secret…

I got a mentor. Why re-invent the wheel? Why would I want to start from scratch when I can learn from someone who’s been there done that.

Enter Bedros Keuilian. I guess you’ve heard of him since you’re on his blog.  I wanted to give a shout out to him and tell you that if you’re on the fence about any of his products or systems, it’s time to take the leap.

This is how my career transformation took place:

I went to the Fitness Business Summit in 2007 and got interested in fitness boot camps. I started my own boot camp two months later and took a leave of absence from my 20 year teaching career.

A few months later, I became a coaching client with Bedros and found that I was making more in my fitness boot camps in one month than I was making in six months of teaching. I knew I was onto something.

I continued to go and be inspired at Bedros’ live events, specifically the Fitness Business Summits. I made contacts from all over the world there that are amazing friends and colleagues in the fitness community.  I bought as many products of his that I could use, like the FitPro Newsletter, FitPro Magazine, HiTechTrainer, Close 9 Out of 10 Clients, Fitness Manifesto, System 9 and others. (Pretty much anything that he puts out I’ll get.)

Finally, I joined his mastermind group and now I’ve entered the world of internet marketing. It’s an exciting ride to be pursuing my passion to help as many women as I can. My passion and product is called “Female Fat Loss Over 40” and with the help of Bedros and the group, I’ve been able to help more people than I could ever have dreamt possible on my own.

Here are my top tips that I’ve learned from Bedros and the mastermind group:

1. You have to give to get. Whether this is in business or life in general, giving and helping more people really comes back to enhance your life. Be cool with your clients and give your best stuff away for free. This builds loyalty and a cult like following. Bedros is a prime example of generosity, always giving content and cool stuff away.

2. Guard your time. I know that everything wants to eat my time up and if I’m going to be a success, I’m my own time keeper and I need to be diligent to protect this precious commodity. Keep watch on the things that take up your time that aren’t really that important in the big scheme. You can waste a crap load of time on emails or face book or other things that don’t get you anywhere in your business.

3. Find and do your 5% and outsource the rest. What’s really important to running your business? What keeps the wheels turning and the money coming in? That’s what you need to focus on and delegate the rest. Make a procedure manual of all the other stuff. Finding and doing only your 5% takes a lot of time to figure, but then you can focus on working ON your business and not IN your business.

4. Set and keep deadlines (in fact, cut your deadlines in half). This keeps my feet to the fire. When I set a deadline and tell Bedros about it, I know I’m accountable and need to move. Often times, cutting that time line in half is totally doable and I surprise myself on what I can actually get done when I want to. You’ll surprise yourself too once you get focused.

5. Set long term goals, that is, start at the end and work backwards. Where do you want to be? How will I get there if I don’t map it out? The longer I work with Bedros, I’m seeing the value of mapping out my route; it helps with deadlines and purpose.

6. Take action. Get stuff done and polish it later. Don’t wait for perfect. Get going with 70%. It’s better to move ahead with 70% done than wait for 100% satisfaction and get nothing off the ground.

7. Build relationships. This business, like any other, is all about networking. Help as many pros and peeps out as you can and the law of reciprocity will work in your favour.

8. Work with purpose. Live your dream. Remember your long term goals and make each day and action count to getting there. When you keep your long term goals in mind, remember that you’re not getting up to train a client or do a program or whatever. You’re building and creating your dream.

9. Be cool, humble and appreciate what you have. Bedros is probably the coolest dude I know. He knows how to live life to the fullest and he lives with gratitude. Always appreciate what’s in your life, give thanks.

10. Learn to laugh at yourself. No body really cares anyway. Life is a whole lot easier when you don’t worry about what others think about you. Be true to yourself and just be happy.

It’s funny how a business coach can teach so many life lessons. Thanks Bedros.

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Shawna Kaminski is the top fitness and fat loss coach to woman everywhere and author of Female Fat Loss Over Forty

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