Finally, the Fitness Business Summit hangover is fading away…
happens to me every year, I get so jacked and pumped up the days before FBS weekend… then I pretty much spend the entire three day weekend awake, even when I try to get a couple of hours of sleep each night
but it’s hopeless – the adrenaline and energy from over 500 fitness pros keeps me going like a freight train!
Then comes Sunday night… I crash… for three days or so and just recharge.
I’m just coming out of my ‘cave’ now, rested and refreshed and I wanted to give you so take-a-ways that where shared at FBS13 by the amazing presenters.
So without further ado, the top 20 fitness marketing and business building take-a-ways from this weekend.
1. A Legacy business supports freedom and a lifestyle of your choice. If you’re self-employed, that’s a start, that means you own a job. But the next level, and the better level is to be an entrepreneur so that you can truly have a legacy business. Figure out what days you want off, and when you want to work and how much do you want to make, then reverse engineer it so that you know how much you need to make each month, week, and day to hit your “legacy goal”.
Your business should support your lifestyle. A successful business should also support and cultivate community. You can do this by attending local events, volunteering, sponsoring families during tragedies/disasters. Don’t just stand on the sidelines watch, get in the game. People respond to businesses and remember those that get involved in the community and have a greater goal than just making money.
2. Take immediate action even if it’s not perfect. Imperfect action is better than perfect inaction. Be ambitious, driven, and have a burning desire to succeed. Be obsessed with the outcome. Be consistent day in and day out no matter what. Live by a never quit, never give up attitude. If you fall… and you will fall, get back up EVERY TIME. Spend most of your time outside your comfort zone, that’s where the exciting things happen.
3. Influence everyone you train and their families. Lead by example and action. Get your clients to like and connect to you. Give your business a soul. The experience your clients get makes all the difference, offer something unique in addition to amazing results and your clients will have the WOW experience – and that’s when they really begin to talk about you to their friends, family and co-workers.
4. Have a goal/plan. Take action and make sure that it’s consistent with your plan. Believe in yourself and have a support group that believes in you. Dominate your goals and hold yourself accountable for your actions. Seek those who you admire and follow what they do and model success.
5. The numbers add up… group training and boot camps are a great way to add accountability, experience, community and a sense of support for your clients. Develop your team by holding them accountable when a member isn’t pulling their weight and recognize them when they meet goals. Use certificates, plaques, swag, and awards to boost moral and add value to your program. It will mean a lot to your clients and allow them to brag about what they accomplished.
6. Stop hiding behind the computer and get out and meet other local businesses who are wiling to support you, expose you to their clients and customers. Add value first, help them get more business first.
7. On Facebook start telling stories and create case studies on your clients, build friends and fans by spreading the word on how valuable you and your business are, post videos, create Facebook ads and target your ideal audience directly. Periodically ink to squeeze pages that offer high value fat loss reports, recipes, and ebooks so you can suck out the Facebook traffic and move them onto your email list. Remember that the best times to post are early morning (before people go to work), at lunchtime, and early evening (when people get off of work).
8. Lunch and Learns are a fantastic way to generate leads and add a huge value to your community and business by finding local businesses with 10 to 100 employees and inviting them to have you come and speak about fitness and health. Here’s where you can get the step-by-step proccess for running a lunch and learn. Purchase a healthy lunch for the business’ staff and educate them on the importance of reading food labels, fitness, health, and nutrition during their lunch break. Those employers and their staff will see you as an expert and remember you more than the competition.
9. The strongest referral generators are contests and competitions between your clients. Start a point system and award points when pounds are shed and goals are met but award 
the most points to referrals. Host a Transformation Contest where the client with the most referrals and biggest transformation wins a makeover (partner with local salons and spas).
10. Start your business with free and low cost marketing. Use ‘Human Billboards” by training people for free and have them advertise for you through case studies and word of mouth. Try “Free Saturday Boot Camps” and “Buddy Days” to promote your business. Build your email list and send bi-weekly promotions (make sure you’re also adding valuable content while keeping it short and sweet). Bump up your pricing every 20 clients. Invest the money you earn from promotions and use it to buy incentives for your client to really show them the love and make it easier for them to want to convert into paying clients.
11. Group training and Fitness Boot Camps are a lot more effective when it comes to marketing and netting profits. It’s much more efficient to have more clients and charge a little bit less than having few clients and charging more way more like one-on-one training. The more clients you have the more stability your business has. Boot Camps and Group Training allows for more dollars per hour earned, more creative marketing funnels, and higher referral rates.
12. Find a gap in the marketplace and fill that gap. Be specific and find your niche and what sets you apart from the other fitness businesses around your area. The more specific you are with your business the more you add value to your clients and community. If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, it’s going to show… so be passionate or go find a day job.
13. Create a One-Stop Shop for all your client’s needs. Offer nutritional support as well as results tracking and emotional support so they don’t need to go outside of your business and find it themselves. Have your clients get to know and support each other so that they develop that sense of community and friendship through your business – you can do this by hosting client appreciation parties, random BBQs, 5K runs and even hard core mud runs like many of our Fit Body Boot Camp owners do.
14. Make sure that you hire a quality team of trainers and staff to support you. Use the “5% Rule” and utilize your team so that you can focus on the most important things that matter to the business. Have your staff handle the 95% (the trivial stuff) but make it easy for them and create user and staff manuals and canned emails. Taking these steps can greatly improve your productivity.
15. Hire an assistant. Not only is having a great staff important, but your assistant is a vital part of your business. They handle everything from your schedule to clients and they are the ones who are earning, supporting, and representing your business day in and day out. Assistants save you time and allow you to do the things you’re more passionate about.
16. Visibility and credibility are important when starting your business. Exposure is what gets people’s attention and you can get exposure by contacting your local media outlets and online publications and ask to contribute.
17. Videos are vitally important to your business because they show your personality and allows you to connect with a wide variety of people. Videos are the most quick and efficient way to gain exposure, popularity, and to get found online.
18. Love up your clients. Do special things for them that make them feel valued and important by hosting themed workout days and fun events. Spoil them and they will love you for it. It’s all about the WOW experience and not just delivering amazing results – that part is a given.
19. Create useful systems and utilize them to help run your business. Create a strict to-do list and hold yourself accountable when you don’t finish a project. Find your magic time (the hour or two of the day when you are most productive) and guard it, no matter what.
20. Surround yourself with like minded people and distance yourself from those that don’t believe in you. Avoid energy vampires, haters, and people who gossip. Accept the fast that the more successful you are the more shit talkers and haters you’ll have. Success is the best revenge.
And here are five bonus take-a-ways ones that Cali Strong 909 owner Mike Rojas posted on his wall at 1:30AM after one of the days at Fitness Business Summit
1. GSD Get Shit Done, remove the fear and excuses & take ACTION no matter how imperfect.
2. Give, Give, Give, with no intention of any reciprocation. Be In Service!!! Always have a helping / giving hand.
3. Know Your WHY. Why do you get up in the morning? Why do you train others? Why is it important to you? You must know your WHY so you can figure out the how.
4. You only get Paid for Done. No one will pay you to go half way on anything. So start now and get it finished!
5. Invest in yourself! Join a Mastermind, create Win / Win relationships & partnerships, attend workshops, seminars and all big events (helps you stay motivated). Read, Write, Listen to all things positive. Become a better YOU everyday.
If you missed out on Fitness Business Summit 13 then stay tuned because the footage of the entire event will be available soon.
Rock on!
B 🙂