Over the weekend I read a lot – and when I read I usually make notes. So here are 13 random insights – in no particular order – to help you improve your fitness business:

1. Success Habits happen through repetition, NOT all at once. If you do something like call members of your network on Monday, don’t skip Tuesday and Wednesday – then make a few more calls Thursday.

It will never happen on Thursday.

Better to make 2 calls a day every day and be consistent instead of 10 calls once a week.

2. Every week you should be spending at least 15 minutes just brainstorming how to make your business better. Write down what you come up with. If you can get 2% better each week, you’re 104% better in a year.

3. The question that you ALWAYS have to ask is “Am I getting the MOST impact out of EVERYTHING I do?”

4. Write down the 3 highest compliments you’d like to hear from each client… then figure out what you can do to start GETTING those compliments from every client.

5. Be sure to have the right definition of what you actually are. Don’t narrowly define yourself as just a personal trainer. What’s the real benefit the client wants? If you thought of yourself as ‘only’ a personal trainer that provided one on one sessions, when the market shifted to more group training, bootcamps and semi-private you probably got left behind.

It’s kind of like railroads at turn of the century. They saw themselves as being in the railroad business, NOT the transportation business. So when other transportation options became more popular they almost were driven out of business.

So maybe you’re in the Fat Loss business. Maybe it’s the Lifestyle Improvement business. How you get people where they want is simply the vehicle – and you should always be looking toimprove the vehicle.

6. The fastest way to grow your fitness business is to ACTIVELY PURSUE your ideal clients. It makes sense, but almost nobody does it.

7. You need to put a HUGE value on EVERY lead that comes in to your business. Every lead that comes in needs to be followed up with at least 3 more times. Phone calls, personal emails, cards – If you aren’t following up you’re THROWING AWAY a TON of business.

8. Lifetime value of a client is a HUGE concept. That’s why the Deal of the Day type sites like Groupon and Living Social can be so powerful. Maybe you break even for the first short term offer, but if you keep the clients for 6, 12 or maybe even 18 months – these can be a business changer.

9. We all do it in sports, but rarely in sales – are you training for your fitness sales presentation? If you’re not practicing every week you’re leaving money on the table.

10. A member is somebody who joins a program or facility to gain access to a service or certain resources. A client, on the other hand, is somebody who is under the care, guidance and protection of an expert in the field. Treat your people as clients.

11. Get some high visibility or high influence people (celebrities, local business owners/politicians, etc) to be your client – even if you have to give it to them for free. This is great social proof anytime you need to get your foot in the door with someone.

12. Remember, you’re the expert. It’s your fitness business. You know much better than your client what you can offer them, what they need if they’re going to reach their goals. If you just take their money and give them whatever they want, without educating them as to what they need to do or invest in to reach their goals, you’re not living up to your end of the bargain. Even if the things you recommend are things you don’t offer (yet), it’s your job to educate them and make sure they’re getting it, so they can reach their goals.

13. Multitasking is terrible for productivity. Try to do 5 things at once and you’ll do none of them well. Use my 25 minute time block strategy and focus on one thing for each block.

Pick out a couple and take action on them. And do me a favor and tell me which insight you thought was most valuable to your fitness business below…