Fit Business Insider

If you’re like most people (me included) you’re going to write down some goals for the upcoming year. Myself – I’ll be writing down business, family, heath / fitness and personal goals and then mapping out a plan to achieve all of them – or at least most of them;) Here are the business goals I recommend that you have: 1. Income Goals – How much will you make in 2010?  Really, there are 3 income goals to consider:

1. Gross Business Income
2. Net Business Income
3. Personal Income

Not only should you be identifying how much money you want your business to make, but also how much of that money you want to keep (and ‘all of it’ isn’t a goal – it’s a dream.) So identify how much you need to gross per month considering your expenses, taxes and margins in order to generate the personal income you’re striving for. Read the rest…

Right now we’re embarking on several new business ventures, some of which are existing businesses that we’re getting involved with to take them to the next level.

Here are a few thoughts I use to develop the plan to grow our businesses:

1.     What attracted our clients in the first place?

Sometimes you start with a really good marketing strategy but change it over time. You might have abandoned something that really worked without realizing it. Sometimes businesses plateau often comes down to the business stopping to provide the value they once did.
Read the rest…

Some people prefer to run their businesses far away from their customers or clients.

They opt for as little contact with others as they can get away with.

While I understand that some people prefer their privacy, I have always felt like relationships were at the core of the best businesses.

And relationships are my favorite part of our businesses.

I prefer live meetings over phone calls.

I prefer phone calls over email.

That’s just me.

But even as much as I treasure relationships, I’m far from perfect when it comes from cultivating the ones I have and building new ones.

But I do make a sincere effort and I look for ways to keep improving at it.

Here’s a strategy I think will benefit you as you build your network – give everyone in your phonebook an A, B, C, D, or F.

Read the rest…

So last Wednesday I was traveling to Louisville for a Mastermind meeting with Pat, Nick and Jim.  I had my laptop with me, and it’s a MacBook Pro.  I had made the switch from PC to Mac a couple of years ago, and was so glad I did.  When I got off the plane, Pat’s wife Holly was there to pick me up.  We were going to pick up Tyler from school and then shoot some video workouts at Pat and Holly’s house.

Holly has an adapter that allows you to plug in your laptop to the cigarette lighter in the car.  Well when I plugged my laptop in and turned it on, the screen remained black.  Not good.  When we got to Pat and Holly’s house, we tried all sorts of things – resets and taking the battery out, and nothing worked.  Looks like I had a major problem with my computer.

Read the rest…

Something I learned back in my coaching days was that to be successful you either needed to be better or be different.

The ‘easy’ answer is to be better, but in reality it isn’t always so easy.

If someone is more established or has a bigger marketing budget they may be perceived as better.

And like it or not – for consumers, perception is reality for the most part.

My preference is to think beyond the obvious. To not settle for easy answers and not allow conventional wisdom to blind you.

Be willing to stray from the norm.

Forever, the status quo in the personal training world was:

• Train clients one-on-one.
• Sessions are an hour long.
• Client pay by the session or buy packages of sessions.
• Personal training was almost exclusively for the affluent.

Read the rest…

We are always looking for new and creative ways to grow our fitness business. Here is a way that you can capitalize on all advertising that Hollywood does for its films to help you get new clients.

Call your local cinema and find out if the run ads before the movies. You know that time when everyone is sitting there eating popcorn with butter, this is your opportunity to connect and tell them what you have to offer. How you are going to change their lives?

You won’t have a lot of time as your slide will only be up for a limited number of seconds, but it will rotate in from of them numerous times while they are waiting.

The key is the message, normally when you create an ad you would follow a format that looks like this:

Read the rest…

by Adam Toohey

Have you ever stopped to wonder?

Really wonder and reflect on the things that had to happen for you to be where you are today?

Seriously… ask yourself this question.

What had to happen for me to be where I am today?

Reflecting on what has brought you to this point in your life is totally mind blowing.

So what had to happen for me to be here writing this post for all of you to see…?

The story goes…

Guy from Australia (previously a Fat KFC Manager now Fit PT) signs up to become a Fitness Director on a Cruise Ship, gets stationed in Alaska on the Norwegian Sun, meets a girl from Canada (a passenger) who makes a significant impact (but nothing really happens) then goes on to finish his contract and 7 months later flies back to Australia for some vacation time. Now, there was an opportunity to go back on Cruise Ships, but I wanted the Mediterranean and they wanted to send me back to Alaska so I gave them the thumbs down.
Read the rest…

Predictions are popular this time of year.  I’ve given mine the past few years and most other people with a blog do the same. I think you’ll be interested in where I think the fitness industry is headed and what that means to you. Bottom line – there will be changes and those who are on the front end of them will be the ones to reap the rewards, so here’s what I think you can expect:

Read the rest…

I’ve been reading a number of new books lately (typically I read about 3 at a time) and I figured I’d share a few of the notes I’ve been taking.  Here goes:

1.     Five key parts of a business: The client (by far the most important), the reputation of business with clients & marketplace, the service/ client experience, your marketing advantage and your clarity.

2.     A way to look at the market is price gaps, for example – if personal training is $800 per month and basic gym memberships are $50 per month and there is nothing in between – fill the gap.  That’s one reason bootcamps have done so well.  They filled a price gap.

Read the rest…

I would REALLY love to get your thoughts on this one. It’s pretty out there!

Check out this story on Artificial Meat. Yes, you read that right. Scientists are now working in labs to create artificial meat.

Now on the surface it seems ludicrous. I know when I first saw it I immediately thought, "there’s no way in hell I’m eating artifical meat!"

But what about World Hunger? What if your choice was to eat Artifical Meat or nothing?

Seriously, I’d love to know your thoughts. According to the article this "meat" could be on store shelves in 5 years or so.

Jim Labadie

Jim Labadie is the CEO of Prograde Nutrition a nutritional products company created specifically for fitness professionals. He is also co-owner of Ultimate Business Systems which provides business coaching services and products to personal trainers. His newsletters, products and coaching continue to encourage personal trainers to leave the Meat Head image behind and be viewed as experts in a world that desperately needs their help. You can follow his every move on Twitter and friend him on Facebook.