Personal Trainer Magazine: Fitness Business, Market

Skyrocket Your Career Now

Issue 6

Signs of Success

Turn Your Skills Into Cash!

Shannon Barbato How She Turned Her Passion Into Proit

Personal Trainer Magazine

Personal Trainer Magazine

PUBLISHER Dr. John Spencer Ellis MARKETING MANAGER Jeannene Ritchie COMMUNICATION COORDINATOR Michelle Adams EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Scott Gaines ART DIRECTOR Kelli Ellis EDITOR AND PROJECTS MANAGER John Spencer Ellis SENIOR PROJECTS EDITOR Sophia Elizabeth

Introduction Personal Trainer Magazine was created with you in mind. You love itness. You feel rewarded when you help your clients reach their goals. You love the active lifestyle. And, you realize you can and deserve to make a great living while helping people add value to their lives.

For these reasons, PTM brings you the perfect combination of science, application, business and personal development skills.

Regardless of your niche in the itness industry, you will ind effective and easy-to-understand methods for enhancing the lives of others while you are personally fulilled.

We welcome your comments, questions and critique of PTM. This is your magazine. If you want to see something featured, please let us know. If you’d like to contribute, our editorial department would like to hear from you.

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL SUPERVISORS Scott Gaines

Publisher’s Page ........................................................... 04

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alexa Katherine Ellis

7 Signs You Should Be a Personal Trainer.............05-07

COPY EDITORS Tyler Valencia

Finding Your Purpose.............................................. 10-11 How to Monetize Your Skills....................................13-14 7 DIY Design Tips for Personal Trainers ...............16-17 How to Embrace Change and Rebrand.............. 19-21 How to Use Client Testimonials..............................23-24

Contact: nestapinterest@gmail.com

Overcoming Failure..................................................26-27

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DESIGN TIPS YOU NEED

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SHANNON BARBATO HER SUCCESS STORY

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GET MORE CLIENTS WITH VIRAL CONTENT MARKETING

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MAKE YOUR BUSINESS SUCCEED IN THE LONG RUN

FOR YOUR BUSINESS

FIND YOUR PURPOSE AS A PERSONAL TRAINER

Shannon Barbato ...............................................29-32 Social Media Sins ...............................................35-37 Viral Content Marketing ....................................39-40 #Fitness Pro Merchandising..............................42-43 Logo Color and Your Fitness Business ............45-47 Business Timesavers ..........................................49-50 Will Your Business Succeed? ............................53-54 Sales Funnel Secrets ..........................................56-57

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Personal Trainer Magazine

Publisher’s Page

Welcome to another exciting issue of PTM. In this issue, you will meet Shannon Barbato. She’s a dynamic itness pro living in the Boston area. You will soon learn why she’s enjoying a highly

something before adding something new. Embrace change.

Realize you may not have all the answered before you begin.

That’s just ine. I don’t know any highly successful entrepreneur

successful career in the industry we all love. Be sure to connect with her on Facebook.

who has all the answers before he or she launches or enhances their business. That’s jus the way it works.

The theme of this issue is all about HOW TO.

If something isn’t working in your itness career, take responsibility. Learn what you must do to make it work faster, smoother, more eficiently and more proitably all while you have more fun and help more people.

Why is this important? We’ve all been to events, or listened to speeches, which “motivate” us, but leave us pumped full

of sunshine and little direction. I don’t think you are lacking motivation. I think very few people lack motivation. It is my belief Sincerely, that we need speciic skills (strategies, tactics, processes, tools, resources, guides and step-by-step instructions) to get what we want.

Just think about it. Watch an hour-long motivational speech.

What speciic skill did you learn to get more clients? Watch a

10-minute tutorial video on how to make effective Facebook video ads. How many more clients do you think you’ll get now?

There is nothing wrong with motivation. We do it for our clients

John Spencr Ellis Dr. John Spencer Ellis “JSE” Twitter: @jsesuccesscoach Website: johnspencerellis.com Instagram: @johnspencerellis

all the time. Yet, if all you did is “motivate” them, but never showed them EXACTLY how to lift, breath, eat and recover, they wouldn’t make much progress. Do you see the pattern here?

Focus on your results by learning speciic skills, which teach you how to do very speciic tasks such as increase sales conversions, capture more emails, get more referrals, increase social media engagement, reduce operational costs, reduce taxes, etc.

As you read through each of the articles in this issue of PTM, take action immediately to implement what you’ve learned.

Remember, in some cases, you may need to stop doing

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Personal Trainer Magazine

7 Signs You Should Be a Personal Trainer Are you meant to be a personal trainer? Discover the 7 qualities every great trainer needs to succeed in the itness business. hether you’ve been a personal trainer for decades or are just now thinking about getting in the game, there are certain qualities you need to succeed in this business.

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Athletic ability, perfect form, and knowledge of the human body are great, but they’re not enough to guarantee a proitable career as a personal trainer. The key word in your job title is “personal.” By providing individualized attention to each and every client, catering to a diverse set of needs, and inding the right balance between professionalism and personalized attention, you’ll be able to grow a loyal tribe of followers both in and out of the gym.

Here are 7 signs you were born to be a personal trainer:

1. You treat every client as an individual While you may have developed methods and techniques that get results for most of your clients, you still treat each interaction on an individual basis. Great personal trainers bring fresh energy and presence to each session, taking care to listen to their client’s concerns and not lump them into a category with any other client.

2. You’re a stickler for technique What would you rather see – 20 reps completed with shoddy technique, or 10 reps completed with perfect technique? If you’re a great personal trainer, you’ll choose the latter because you value the importance of technique to protect your

clients from injury. You also realize that developing strong technique is actually the fastest way to get results and meet goals.

3. You know when to push (and when not to) Since you treat each client as an individual, you know when they need to be pushed and when they need a break.

You realize that bulldozing your client with shouts of “KEEP GOING!” when they’re about to pass out is counterproductive, just as letting them off the hook when they can keep going is counterproductive.

Being sensitive to each client’s personal breaking point is another sign of a great personal trainer.

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Personal Trainer Magazine 4. You know how to balance professionalism with a personal touch Many times, part of getting physically it is getting mentally and emotionally it as well. The conversations you have with your client during your training sessions can have a profoundly positive impact on their lives outside the gym.

As personal trainers, we often serve as conidantes, counselors, and advice-givers for our clients.

The challenge of a great trainer is maintaining a professional relationship while giving the client the personal experience they want. Just take care to maintain a level of professionalism in your actions, even while discussing personal struggles with your client. Great trainers do this by focusing on the client’s problems and revealing little about themselves and their personal lives.

5. You go the distance The best personal trainers in the world build their businesses on longevity. This means working with clients long-term to impact overall health throughout their lifetime.

A major part of longevity in personal training has to do with evaluation and innovation.

By continually evaluating your client’s progress, you’ll develop new exercises, challenges, and goals that will keep them striving for the next level. You can then serve as an innovator, inding new ways to work together and improve performance over time.

6. You’re lexible (literally!)

Great personal trainers aren’t just lexible when it’s time to stretch; they maintain that lexibly in their client relationships.

Personal training is an area that brings up a lot of emotional baggage, especially for clients who are looking to lose weight or overcome a disease.

Many times this baggage manifests as missed appointments or a hesitancy to commit to the training process.

If you’re meant to be a personal trainer, you’ll be able to ind a balance between lexibility and irmness, sensing when clients are self-sabotaging and when they need a friendly pep talk.

You’ll also understand that the path to itness is not always a straight line, and ind cost-effective ways to give your clients the beneit of the doubt when they stumble.

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7. You’re knowledgeable The best trainers are not just knowledgeable about health, itness, diet, wellness trends, and physiology; they are continually learning about the latest scientiic developments in these areas.

Great trainers are also well-versed in a variety of physical and medical challenges that may impact their clients. They’re familiar with ways to modify exercises to account for these challenges, and can suggest alternative methods for reaching itness goals.

To be an outstanding personal trainer, you have to be a good listener. Instead of developing a personal training style or technique and using it with all of your clients, it’s better to ind out what your clients want and need, and adapt your style and training methods to suit those needs.

When you listen, remain lexible, stay knowledgeable, and balance the professional with the personal, you’re sure to create a loyal tribe of fanatic clients who’ll be training with you for life.

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Finding Your Purpose As a Personal Trainer Find your purpose in business and in life and learn how to think outside the gym.

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Personal Trainer Magazine hat irst inspired you to become a personal trainer? If you’re like a lot of trainers, you loved the idea of working for yourself, pursuing your itness passion, making good money, and helping clients reach their itness goals. As you grow and gain experience as a personal trainer, you may start thinking about the bigger picture.

If you’ve ever wondered…

Am I meant to be a personal trainer?

How can I take my business to the next level?

Is this the best way I can fulill my personal potential?

How can I make a bigger impact in my community and the world? …you’re not alone.

Questions like these are a sign of maturity and growth, and are a natural evolutionary step along the path of every personal trainer. Once you’ve begun your entrepreneurial journey, it’s time to reach further, striving to ind your purpose as both a personal trainer and a human being.

Here’s how to make sure you’re on the right path and ind your purpose as a personal trainer, an entrepreneur, and a force of positive change in the world: Appreciate your clients Gratitude and appreciation go a long way when it comes to inding your purpose as a personal trainer.

By acknowledging and appreciating what you have right now, you can manifest more and more positive growth in your life and business. When you appreciate your individual clients and relationships, you build a strong foundation of gratitude that will bring bigger and better opportunities into your life.

You also acknowledge the power of the trainer/ client relationship, celebrating the importance of purpose on a micro-level.

While working with Sue or Phil might not seem like a big deal when compared with your goal of speaking in front of thousands of people, I bet Sue and Phil beg to differ.

When we work with individual clients, we touch their lives by giving them the gift of health. We empower them to reach their goals and give them the tools they need to live healthier, happier lives. In this way, one-on-one training is an expression of your life’s purpose, one client at a time.

Think big While it’s crucial to give your all to each individual client in order to ind your purpose, that doesn’t mean you should think small. Some personal trainers may feel called to contribute to their local communities, building up health and wellness one

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happy client at a time.

Others may feel called to preach their message of health and healing on a national or global scale.

Thanks to the Internet, you’re not limited to only helping those in your community if you feel called to cast a bigger net.

-Find your purpose by expanding your reach to prospective clients in other states, countries, and hemispheres.

-Consider ways in which your training knowledge and exercise expertise could beneit underprivileged populations in your hometown and around the world.

-Pursue avenues outside of the gym, including speaking opportunities, book deals, and joint business ventures with other personal trainers.

Just as there’s more to the training relationship than meets the eye, there are more opportunities available to personal trainers than working one-onone in the gym every day.

Track long-term success In order to pinpoint your purpose in the gym and in life, look for trends in your successes.

When you take on a new client, teach a group class, or speak at the local college, how does it make you feel? What works and what doesn’t? Do you feel inspired to do it again?

For instance, let’s say that you tend to work oneon-one with clients at your gym. However, every once in awhile your co-worker asks you to ill in teaching her group class. Whenever you do, you get approached afterwards by people asking when they can take class with you again. Come to think of it, you have fond memories of teaching classes during your grad school years and being “group leader” as a kid during grade school classes…

Write down all of these memories and look for patterns in the data. You’ll quickly see that the universe is calling you to do what you’re meant to do – teach group classes! (or take on more speaking gigs, or….). Once you set aside private clients and move towards a group setting, following life’s personalized plan for you, even more opportunities will present themselves.

Finding your purpose as a personal trainer is all about listening to the subtle signs of the universe, which gently guide you down the path you’re meant to take. By appreciating what you already have, allowing yourself to think big, and analyzing your past successes, you’ll be able to ind your purpose in life and in the gym. From there, you can make sure that every area of your life and business is moving you towards your goals and helping you express your purpose in ways that beneit you, your business, and the world.

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How to Monetize Your Skills Learn how to monetize skills you already have and create a scalable personal training business that’s proitable and personally rewarding. here are many different types of “successful” personal trainers. For some trainers, a packed schedule illed with private, oneon-one sessions is the measure of success.

For others, steadily increasing proits mark success. Others still seek high caliber celebrity clients and measure their success based on the notoriety of those clients.

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Whatever your criteria, it’s possible to create a successful, fulilling, proitable personal training business that is as rewarding as it is revenuegenerating. You simply need to learn how to monetize the skills you already have.

Monetizing your business means more than completing transactions with your clients. It means creating a scalable business model that incorporates your personal strengths as a trainer and business person. Monetizing means looking to the future, creating a clear vision, and setting goals to meet your own deinition of success.

If you want to learn how to monetize your skills and talents to create a lourishing PT business, simply follows these steps:

1. Set clear goals First thing’s irst: before diving in to a monetization model that may or may not be a good it for you, it’s important to decide what you want your business to be.

Whether you’re new to personal training or a seasoned pro, goal-setting is the #1 way to manifest your chosen reality.

-What does your ideal personal training day look like?

-How many clients do you want to work with each day/week?

-Do you prefer one-on-one training or a group environment?

-Do you like working online or prefer to be in the gym?

Decide your ideal scenario without worrying about how you’re going to make it happen. Get speciic and write down your goals, including exactly how much money you want your business to generate each month.

2. Identify the skills you’ll need to reach your goals Let’s say one of your goals is to work with celebrity clients. When thinking of how to reach that goal, consider your current skill set, experience, and connections.

Do you know any celebrities? What about friendsof-friends?

Do you have the investigatory skills needed to ind out who’s currently training your ideal clients?

What other skills might you need to make connections with high-end clients and win their business?

Even if you know zero celebrities and have no clue how to meet them, learning how to monetize

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Personal Trainer Magazine your business is all about gaining clarity. In this step, simply brainstorm skills that would come in handy when pursuing your goals, i.e. great social skills that help you network at parties.

Once you know what skills you have, you can clearly see which skills you’ll need to acquire in order to achieve the goals you set in step 1.

3. Get honest about personal strengths and weaknesses When thinking of how to monetize your skills, don’t just focus on the things you’re good at such as organization, recruiting, sales, or networking.

Look at both sides of the coin and identify your weaknesses as well.

What if your goal is to work with celebrity clients, but in assessing your skills you realize you’re terribly shy? What if you can’t imagine calling up a celeb’s agent or manager and offering your services?

Don’t worry! Your weakness is someone else’s strength. When you identify your weaknesses, you identify areas of your business that need to be handled by other people. You can then form partnerships and outsource tasks in the areas you’re weakest.

4. Create a scalable business model The best way to monetize skills you already have is by creating a business model that is scalable.

This means that your business plan accounts for future growth, and doesn’t limit you to trading time for dollars.

If your goal is to work with celebrities but your schedule is packed with non-celeb clients, how can you ever break free and begin pursuing your real dream? Make sure your business plan includes a detailed plan for expansion.

Here’s how this could work using the celeb client goal as an example: Phase 1: Secure moderate-priced private clients.

Build reputation. Gain referrals. Offer invaluable service.

Phase 2: Raise prices. Take on fewer clients at the higher per-hour rate. Make more money in less time.

Phase 3: Network with higher-priced clients to meet more afluent prospective clients.

Seek speciic celebratory connections. Use additional free time to build online brand and build relationships with celebrity teams (agents, publicists, mangers, etc).

When you learn how to monetize the skills you have right now, it’s also important to think about the future. Explore different ways you can scale your business so it can grow without you continuing to trade time for dollars. Eventually, you’ll want to build a personal training business that runs itself while you’re on vacation. But in order to build a business like that, you have to…

5. Build a strong team Successful personal training businesses aren’t built alone. As you grow and take on more clients, you’ll soon realize you have to outsource certain tasks because there aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything yourself!

This is especially true when it comes to monetizing your business and reaching your goals.

Once you have identiied the marketable skills that you have and that you need (taking care to account for strengths and weaknesses), reach out to freelancers, contractors, or other itness pros to form partnerships.

-If you’re great working with clients one-oneone but have a terrible time remembering your schedule, a Virtual Assistant can help keep you organized.

-If you want to expand your local clientele into a worldwide brand, a business coach with international experience could be helpful.

-If you want to limit the time you’re in the gym and focus more on speaking engagements, you can outsource certain clients to other personal trainers, pay them less than what you charge the client, and make passive income while you pursue work as a speaker.

Learning how to monetize your personal training business is not just about acquiring new training techniques, getting more certiications, or inding new clients.

Instead, it’s about getting strategic with your long-term business goals and creating a plan to meet those goals, all while accounting for your ideal vision of the future.

When you set clear goals, identify marketable skills, get honest about your weaknesses, create a scalable business model, and build a strong team, you can not only monetize your passion for personal training; you can create a business and a lifestyle that exceeds your personal deinition of success.

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7 DIY Design Tips for Personal Trainers You don’t need a pro designer to get great-looking graphics for your personal training business. Just use these 7 DIY design tips instead! s a personal trainer with a growing web presence, not a day goes by when you don’t need something designed.

From your website to your Facebook page, from postcards to brochures, marketing your PT business requires the help of a professional designer who understands your brand and style.

Since you’re not a designer yourself and you want your marketing materials to look great, your only option is to shell out thousands per month to a graphic artist who knows what they’re doing…

Right?

Wrong! While it’s a good idea to invest in a website that looks professional and on-brand, you can cut down on design costs by creating a lot of materials yourself – even if you don’t have an artistic bone in your body.

The next time you need to create a killer infographic or a slick-looking email campaign, put down the phone and pick up these 7 DIY tips for non-designers:

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1. Use a Color Wheel Head on over to Googles Image and do a search for a “color wheel.” What comes up is the answer to your most basic design questions.

When thinking about which colors to use for your PT logo, website, and marketing materials, it’s a great idea to choose contrasting or complementary colors from the color wheel.

Contrasting colors are opposite each other on the color wheel, i.e. blue and orange, red and green, or purple and yellow. If those combinations sound like the colors of your favorite sports team, that’s no coincidence – contrasting colors appeal to our eyes because they help us see the shapes of images more easily.

You can also choose complementary colors that are next door neighbors on the color wheel, i.e. red and pink, blue and purple, or orange and yellow. These combinations work to highlight important text and images.

2. Embrace White Space You don’t have to ill up every area of your web page or newsletter with a bunch of stuff. In fact, leaving a lot of white space around text makes the words easier to read, and leaving a lot of white space around images makes them stand out more.

Think about iconic brands like Apple or

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Personal Trainer Magazine Volkswagen. White space in design looks clean, modern, professional, and cutting-edge.

3. Choose two different fonts The only thing that looks more amateurish than using one font all the time is using too many fonts at the same time.

Unless you have aspirations of transitioning from a personal trainer to a web designer, stick to two fonts and call it a day.

It’s a good rule of thumb to use one font for headlines, and another font for body text. This breaks up the copy, makes headlines pop, and makes you look like you hired a pro!

4. Use Email templates You don’t need a designer to create slicklooking HTML email campaigns. Once you have chosen the colors and fonts that best represent your brand, simply plug them in to an email campaign template within your email program.

By customizing the template with your brand, you’ll stand out to your audience and become memorable in their minds. By using a template instead of hiring a designer or sending a plain text email, you’ll save money and come across as more professional.

element stand out above the rest.

7. Use Canva Canva is an amazing, user-friendly design application that’s free and easy to use. You can create social media headers and artwork, postcards, signs, web graphics, and more. You can upload your own images and logos and use Canva’s templates to customize them. You can also choose from thousands of paid graphic elements that can also be customized to it your brand.

Design is a crucial part of any personal trainer’s online presence. It’s possible to create professional-looking marketing materials without spending a fortune on a professional designer.

Just remember to…

1. Use a color wheel 2. Embrace white space 3. Choose two fonts 4. Use email templates 5. Choose two colors 6. Prioritize points of focus 7. Use Canva

5. Choose two colors at a time Remember Tip #1, where you learned how to choose contrasting and complementary colors on the color wheel?

Well, that doesn’t mean you should choose a bunch of different colors and use them all on your website – even if they’re complementary!

Besides black and white, it’s a good idea to choose two colors at a time when designing a web page, pamphlet, one sheet, or postcard.

Using more than that will make your design look cluttered, disorganized, and something akin to a kindergarten art project.

6. Prioritize points of focus Where do you want people to look when they land on your website?

If they only saw one section of your newsletter or email, which section would it be?

When thinking of the answers to these questions, think about your last training session.

What was the most important exercise you led the client through? The next most important? Maybe they could skip the jumping jacks as long as they got their core work in, or perhaps you’re really trying to push upper body strength this week.

Whatever you decide, it’s important to prioritize elements of design just as you prioritize different exercises and muscle groups.

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Find out how to rebrand your personal training business with the 7 Commandments of Personal Branding.

How to Embrace Change and Rebrand Your Business hange is a powerful force that impacts every personal trainer throughout his or her career.

The decision to rebrand your business or rebrand yourself happens when the forces of change lead you toward better clients, increased revenue, and smarter ways of working.

In order to take advantage of these opportunities, it’s crucial that your brand accurately relects your training experience and your business goals. Rebranding is also important for personal trainers who are struggling to gain or maintain business, ill their client rosters, or increase their presence online. In many cases, tweaking your branding can open the loodgates to a wider target market you didn’t know existed.

What is rebranding?

When you rebrand your business and yourself, you decide which elements of your current brand need to be replaced with more accurate relections of who you are and what you want. These can include your‌ -logo -website copy -marketing materials

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Personal Trainer Magazine -online content -everything from the colors on your website to the colors of your workout clothes.

As a personal trainer, your personal brand exists both online and ofline as a seamless expression of who you are, what you stand for, and what kind of clients you want to work with.

So how to do you know when it’s time to rebrand? And how to rebrand in the irst place?

Simply follow these 7 rebranding commandments to transform a stagnant personal training business into a thriving brand.

Commandment #1: Thou shalt embrace change There are three good reasons to rebrand your personal training business: 1. You have gained new skills, experience, or certiications that qualify you to work with a different client demographic.

2. You want to pursue more proitable training opportunities beyond one-on-one coaching, such as speaking gigs, online courses, or group classes.

3. You’re struggling to make ends meet, have a hard time inding new clients, or can’t keep the clients you have.

Whatever the impetus to change your brand, embrace it. Then get ready to do the prep work needed to make your brand-new brand a success.

Commandment #2: Thou shalt dig deep Back in 2009, Radio Shack attempted to rebrand their company in an effort to boost dwindling sales. They changed their name to “The Shack,” slapped a new logo across their storefronts, and hoped for the best. 6 years later they’ve closed 1700+ stores this year alone, with a full-on shutdown looming in the near future.

If you’re wondering how to rebrand, don’t follow in Radio Shack’s footsteps! Branding isn’t just skin-deep. It’s not just about your logo or your name. Instead, it’s about carefully selecting visual

and verbal elements that represent who you are as a trainer.

The decision to rebrand is a commitment that should extend to every area of your business as you question what’s working, what’s not, and how each element impacts your business goals.

Commandment #3: Thou shalt tell a story Subway sure knew how to rebrand when they hired Jared.

By sharing his weight loss story, they connected with their target market and transformed Subway into a “healthy” fast food alternative.

Does your brand have a story?

Perhaps you became a personal trainer after overcoming an injury or losing a huge amount of weight.

Maybe you grew up watching your father train boxers or coach little league.

Whatever your story, telling your personal tale is a powerful way to rebrand your business and set yourself apart from the competition.

Commandment #4: Thou shalt not be a chameleon Chameleons are constantly changing their colors to blend into whatever background they happen to be in front of. In other words, they lack integrity, or the ability to be yourself no matter where you are.

Don’t be a chameleon with your branding!

When you rebrand, make a plan to incorporate all of the new elements you select – from new logos to new pictures of yourself – across your various marketing channels. This means your G+ followers can instantly ind and recognize you on Facebook, and that your training clients get the same experience of you in person as they do in your Youtube videos.

Commandment #5: Thou shalt keep what’s working If it ain’t broke, don’t ix it!

If you’re certain you need a fresh start by rebranding, that doesn’t mean you have to toss out everything you’ve created up until now. You might have a great website design that just needs revamped copy, or great email marketing but a crappy logo.

Analyze your business both online and ofline to see what prospective clients respond to most.

Gather data from Google Analytics or survey your current clients to see what they think of your brand.

If you’re itching for a change but your marketing materials are working great, you can ind other creative ways to rebrand, like offering new services, pursuing PR opportunities, or starting a speaking career.

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Personal Trainer Magazine Commandment #6: Thou shalt be relevant Is your personal brand relevant in today’s market?

When your clients ask questions about circuit training, gluten-free diets, probiotics and coconut water do you have the answers they’re looking for?

When considering how to rebrand, take a look at industry trends as well as the needs of your current clients.

You might consider…

-A science-based rebrand that focuses on the latest research in the areas of itness, health, medicine, and diet.

A rebrand that incorporates elements of natural -health, vegan/vegetarianism, mind/body work, and yoga.

-A rebrand that positions you as a thought leader in the ield of personal training, where you’re more focused on building your personal brand online than working with individual clients.

Whatever you choose, your new personal brand should be current and relevant in today’s market.

working Commandment #6: Thou shalt be relevant Commandment #7: Thou shalt brand for your audience

Commandment #7: Thou shalt brand for your audience The choices you make about how to rebrand your business shouldn’t be arbitrary, i.e. “I like purple better than red, so let’s change the logo to purple.” Instead, every rebranding decision you make should have a target audience in mind.

Whether you will be targeting the same market with a new brand, or targeting a new market altogether, the elements of your brand should help you connect with you audience of choice.

As you decide on new colors, fonts, slogans, and images, step into the shoes of your ideal client.

What would appeal to them most?

What choices are most likely to make them take action?

What actions do you want them to take?

The answers to these questions will help you decide which elements of your brand need to change, and what speciic purpose those changes will serve.

Learning how to rebrand your personal training business is easy when you keep your target market in mind. Whether your goal is to get more clients, transition to group coaching, or build a bigger online presence, don’t forget the 7 commandments of rebranding: Commandment #1: Thou shalt embrace change Commandment #2: Thou shalt dig deep Commandment #3: Thou shalt tell a story Commandment #4: Thou shalt not be a chameleon Commandment #5: Thou shalt keep what’s Issue 6 Quarter 4

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How to Use Client Testimonials to Drive More Business Learn how to get more client testimonials to grow your personal training business.

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hink about the last time you ate at a new restaurant. Chances are good that you chose the restaurant based on customer testimonials, even if the customer in question was a close friend or family member.

Personal referrals and recommendations are still the #1 way most of us make decisions when it comes to where to eat, what to buy, and who to hire as our personal trainer. That’s why websites like Yelp, Angie’s List, and AirBnB are so popular!

Because of this, personal trainers need to amass as many quality client testimonials as possible in order to provide the “social proof” prospective clients are looking for before hiring you.

In the Information Age, your clients have access to virtually unlimited information about everything from restaurants and contractors to life coaches and personal trainers. Access to this information was empowering at irst, but has quickly become overwhelming as people drown in information overload.

The antidote to info-overload is personal referrals and client testimonials. It’s much easier to ask a friend who they train with than to sift through thousands of personal trainer websites looking for a good match.

In the same way that clients base buying decisions on the opinions of their friends, clients are much more likely to trust trainers with testimonials than those without. Even though they may not know the person giving the testimonial, prospective clients resonant with people who look and think like them. Testimonials from clients who are the same age and demographic will resonate almost as strongly as if the trainer had been recommended by a personal friend.

Armed with this information, it’s your job to secure as many client testimonials as possible, and to use those testimonials strategically in your marketing.

Here’s how to score more testimonials and what to do with them once you have them: Ask for client feedback Get into the habit of always asking for client feedback. This is a great idea regardless of your desire to get more testimonials. Not only can you use what you learn to make your personal training business better; you will “warm up” your clients for when the time comes to ask for a written, verbal, or video testimonial.

You can ask for feedback one-on-one after a training session, in your email newsletter, on your social media platforms, or during a phone call.

-Record all of the feedback you get and organize it in a spreadsheet or using an app like Evernote -Look for common themes in the feedback -Think about what you most want to be known for as a personal trainer -Separate feedback that would make a great testimonial based on your personal brand -Reach out to the client and ask permission to use the feedback as a testimonial on your website

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Personalize each testimonial While you may get some great testimonials from client feedback, you’ll also want to personalize the process by asking speciic clients for testimonials.

You can do this in person while training together or after taking your client to lunch. You can also make a point to call them on the phone, send a personalized email, or even mail a card.

When the client sees a request that’s just for them, they’ll feel appreciated and valued, and be much more likely to give you a positive client testimonial.

For these “VIP” clients, ask if you can include their photograph, age, name, and contact info along with their testimonial. Giving prospective clients a way to contact your current clients is a fantastic way to streamline the sales process and encourage them to hire you as their trainer.

Incentivize the testimonial To future encourage client testimonials, provide an incentive to those willing to help you out.

-If your client is also a business owner or has a cause to promote, you can offer to include a link to their website on your site.

-Consider giving a free training session for every testimonial you receive.

-Hold a contest on Facebook and give away a prize for the best video testimonial.

You shouldn’t have to bribe your clients into giving you great testimonials. However, if you’re having a dificult time getting clients to follow through, an incentive can be a great solution to get the ball rolling!

Incorporate testimonials into your marketing Client testimonials are a must-have on the homepage of your website. They’re also supereffective when incorporated into landing pages, emails campaigns, and social media.

Don’t feel conined to written testimonials, either. If you can get clients to provide you with a verbal testimonial or video testimonial, your social proof will be that much more effective.

-Embed audio and video testimonials into your website and emails, taking care to include a written version of the testimonial as well.

-Ask clients to review you on Yelp or Google, then incorporate those reviews into your website and other materials. In this way, you’ll build up a presence on popular review sites while scoring valuable testimonials that can be used anywhere.

-Ask your clients to share their testimonials with friends, family, and social contacts.

-Cross-promote testimonials by incorporating the reviews on your website into your social campaigns and other marketing materials. Once you have permission to use a testimonial, don’t be afraid to use it on as many platforms as possible!

The personal training relationship is an intimate one not entered into lightly. Clients need reassurance that you will help them meet their goals, and that your personality will be a good it for theirs.

Client testimonials serve as the personal referral people need to take the plunge and give you a try. Make it easy for prospects to say “yes” to a session with you by strategically using client testimonials throughout your marketing.

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Overcoming Failure in 5 Easy Steps Overcoming failure is crucial to your success as a personal trainer. Here are 5 ways to bounce back from a client relationship that’s just not working. ne of the most rewarding parts of being a personal trainer is taking a glance around your gym or studio and seeing success all around you.

There’s the newlywed couple you helped get it for their wedding.

There’s the school teacher who now has energy to face 30+ ifth graders every morning.

There’s the client who avoided stomach surgery thanks to you.

But what about that small percentage of clients who simply don’t respond to your training techniques?

What happens when you try everything you can to help a client, but fail?

Not every training relationship can be a success, so it’s important to admit failure as soon as it becomes apparent. Keep in mind that if you’re working with a client and not reaching your goals, it’s not just bad for the client – it’s bad for your conidence and reputation as a trainer.

Overcoming failure is an important part of your growth as a trainer. Understanding what contributes to a failed trainer/client relationship will boost your conidence, improve your training methods, and help you succeed next time.

Here are 5 steps to take when you’ve tried everything but can no longer help your client.

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1. Be honest about the situation I used to work with a client named Vicki. When we began training, Vicki and I set a goal for her to it into her wedding dress again by the time she and her husband renewed their vows. We had six months before the wedding and I was conident that we could reach our goal.

But Vicki was inconsistent, often cancelling our training sessions at the last minute and running up a hefty bill for all those missed appointments.

She worked hard when she was in the gym – the problem was that most of the time she wasn’t.

As the day drew nearer, it became clear that Vicki was not going to reach her goal and wouldn’t be able to wear her original wedding dress. Vicki felt I had failed her as a trainer, and I was forced to take a good, hard look at the situation to see if she was right.

2. Take responsibility One of the most challenging things about overcoming failure is taking responsibility for your role in that failure.

In the situation with Vicki, it would have been easy to blame the failure on her. After all, she was the one who kept cancelling our training sessions.

But a very important part of the trainer/client relationship is accountability. While I can’t control

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Personal Trainer Magazine what my clients eat, what they do in their spare time, or whether or not they attend our scheduled sessions, I can control how I respond to their behaviors outside the gym.

I could have done more for Vicki in terms of accountability as soon as I noticed a pattern in her behavior.

This means: -having a conversation with her about why she was missing her sessions -calling her bluff if I heard limsy excuses -looking for ways that I could help her fulill her commitment to me each week Instead of blaming the client and throwing up your hands in frustration, look for ways that you can actively inluence the relationship in a positive way.

This could mean: -making a quick phone call on training days to increase accountability -publicly sharing training session stats on social media -being frank with the client about why they’re sabotaging their itness goals (and looking for ways you can help change this behavior) 3. Talk to your client Communication is crucial to overcoming failure.

If I had had a frank, honest discussion with Vicki earlier in our relationship, I would have learned about the various problems she was having at home with her son. These personal challenges were directly impacting our work together, but I had no idea they existed. Had I known, I would have been able to suggest solutions that accounted for these challenges, such as changing our training times, meeting different days of the week, or referring Vicki to a child psychologist friend of mine.

Talking to your client is crucial not only to their success in the gym, but to your success as a trainer.

Only by gaining a three-dimensional picture of your client can you address the out-of-gym issues that directly impact their work in the gym.

-Never make the client feel you’re “dumping” them. Instead, show them why another trainer will help them reach their goals faster than continuing to work with you.

5. Plan for the future The most important part of overcoming failure is assessing what didn’t work and making a strategic plan for the future. If you learn from a failure and can use it to become a better trainer, that failure is instantly transformed into a success.

While working with Vicki, I learned the importance of open communication with the client. I also learned how to recognize bad habits and stop them before they start. Finally, I realized that I wasn’t a helpless bystander in the relationship, and that I could affect change by simply communicating my concerns and listening to my client’s feedback.

When a client relationship is tanking or you feel you’ve failed to fulill your promise to a client, there is hope! By overcoming failure, you will learn how to become a better trainer and avoid the same situation with future clients.

Remember to..

1. Be honest about the situation with your client and yourself.

2. Take responsibility for your part in the failure – remember that the training relationship is a twoway street and that clients can’t fail entirely on their own!

3. Talk to your client about what’s not working and why. Listen to their answers and brainstorm ways you can both contribute to a more successful partnership.

4. Make a referral to another trainer if you have exhausted all other options.

5. Plan for the future so you can create a more positive outcome the next time you’re faced with the same type of client.

4. Make a referral A big part of overcoming failure is admitting defeat. You can’t begin to improve your game if you can’t admit you failed, so sometimes you have to swallow your pride and chalk it up to a learning experience.

If, after getting honest about the situation, taking responsibility for your part in it, and openly communicating with your client about their needs, you still can’t affect change, it may be time to refer your client to another trainer.

-Choose the referral carefully and speak with the other trainer before making it.

-Ensure a good it and explain to your client why this other trainer is a better match.

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From Passion to Proit Personal trainer and itness enthusiast Shannon Barbato has all the characteristics of a professional in her ield; she is knowledgeable, motivational and inspirational. However, clients that she instructs in her itness-boot camp program say Shannon has even more than that‌ she’s unique, and has a one-of-a kind personality that they look forward to seeing everyday.

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Personal Trainer Magazine s Owner/Program Director of Eastern Massachusetts Adventure Boot Camp since 2006, Shannon has that “special ingredient” that some might call the “it-factor,” and it’s one of the reasons she’s had tremendous success in a career dedicated to making others feel good about themselves. Perhaps you can attribute her success to one of Shannon’s favorite quotes, “when you believe the best in people, you help bring out the best in them.”

Ask any of the hundreds of clients that have gone through one of her daily boot camps or boxing classes. Most will describe Shannon’s skill and instruction as exceptional; saying she provides a fun, life-and-body- changing program that has transformed them. They look forward to attending regular boot camp sessions and keep coming back year after year, because of Shannon, who embraces and deines her role as a positive and personal inluence in her clients’ lives.

Shannon is a ive foot four, go-getting, bundle of energy with a great sense of humor, but admits being successful has not come without its challenges throughout the years.

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Raised in a somewhat conservative family,where risk taking was not exactly encouraged, Shannon, even at an early age, was always attracted to the “new and different”. “I was never afraid to try new things, and could never sit still long enough for you to tell me that I couldn’t. I’ve always had a desire and tenacity to break the mold and go after whatever I wanted - even when I had fear or doubt” she says. “It’s the possibility that keeps me going, not the guarantee”.

Shannon started her career as a hairstylist in 1992, and she would spend long days, making people feel good about themselves. Her instinct was always entrepreneurial and within ten years, she was managing a client list of more than 400 people. Though she enjoyed all the wonderful people and creativity involved, she knew that

“It’s the possibility that keeps me going, not the guarantee” wasn’t where she was supposed to be in life.

Her journey to ind more meaning in work… instinctively led her to itness.

For a long-time, Shannon was a prototypical “cardio girl.” Her itness regimen consisted mostly of running on a treadmill, while listening to music.

She says, ” I’ve always had high energy, but I was never educated on nutrition, and being an Italian girl, I loved to eat. At the time, I was not overweight, but my body wasn’t strong or powerful.”

All of that changed in 2001, when she started working out, and she realized with the help of a personal trainer - getting healthy and it made her feel alive. Her life began to change and so did her body. People noticed and she loved how happy it made her feel.

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“It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, it’s what we do consistently,” to sign up for a group training certiication at the facility where she worked. That‘s where she found her passion for itness. Suddenly, a small whisper of a voice telling her to move on to a new career, became a loud roar. She knew itness and working-out brought out the best in her. With it came a desire to help others, and a newly gained conidence.

Shannon spent the next four years expanding her knowledge and building on her skills as a trainer. She learned how to use her contagious sense of humor to help people feel comfortable, especially in those sometimes awkward moments or when they were showing lack of motivation.

But… Shannon had a yearning to create a positive atmosphere that was welcoming, fun and warm. A place you wanted to come back to day after day. After all, “It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, it’s what we do consistently,” she says.

In 2006, Shannon met Dr. John Spencer Ellis and started her oficial business, Eastern Massachusetts Adventure Boot Camp LLC. Shannon says inding Adventure Boot Camp taught her the business side of the itness industry, something she knew little about. “I was technically challenged when I irst started out,” she laughs.

Branding, websites and social media, was an entirely new arena that was a crucial element to her success. Shannon studied, researched, and prepared herself. She self-educated by reading books, magazines and everything she could

ind on the itness industry on the internet. She talked with other itness-professionals, attended seminars,networking events,eventually achieving a solid amount of knowledge and expertise that she now hopes to share with others.

Running a business is one area of selfemployment she enjoys, and recognizes that although she knows what it takes to market herself and her program, she says “ learning is a process you’ll never outgrow, and you can never know too much, since the world, industry, and technology is always changing. “ Shannon attributes a big part of her eagerness and intensity as teacher and trainer, to when she earned her certiication as a Tae Bo™ itness instructor training with seventh- degree black belt and Karate champion Billy Blanks.

After successfully completing Billy Blank’s intense training in 2007, she says it was one of those life changing moments. “I learned how strong I can be and what I really wanted to do.

I wanted to be a person, who is discipline and focused. I had struggled with that in the past. I learned that itness was a path to being mentally and emotionally healthy, and that when you have those elements in your life, your body responds, “says Shannon. Moreover, she says “that’s the greatest feeling ever, that’s what it all about it.”

Her goal as a teacher remains the same; to gain a better understanding of who you are within your heart and soul, while getting your body in shape. Shannon also earned a black belt in Tae Bo Kwon™, a self-defense discipline program that requires a high level of focus and determination. It‘s a philosophy she lives by and it‘s the centerpiece of how she trains her clients and her assistant coaches.

In 2009, Shannon established „Fight4 Fitness,“

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a 900 sq. foot studio. It‘s a highly developed program offering unique classes that caters to a variety of skill levels in boxing and kickboxing.

Shannon‘s business savvy and growth rocketed in 2012. That‘s when she celebrated her 39th birthday by taking on a unique challenge: 39 days of doing 39 different daring, competitive, fun, risky, and enlightening events that she documented with video, pictures and blogs. Every day was literally an adventure…from skydiving out of an airplane over Newport, Rhode Island to learning the skill of fencing, hang-gliding in Vermont, getting on stage, and doing Improvisational comedy with a group of professionals.

It‘s one of the highlights of her professional career, and serves as an inspiration to her clients or “boot campers,” as she affectionately calls them. In taking on the 39-day challenge, she had to conquer many of her fears. She continually shares with her clients her philosophy to get out and challenge yourself, because she says,” we all deserve to accomplish everything we want and we have the power and strength within us to do that. “ Shannon’s clients followed each and every event during her 39 days and they posted comments on her Facebook page saying they looked forward to her next adventure. Social media posts brought in new followers and accolades from other itness professionals, who admired her tenacity, creativity and courage.

Shannon‘s generous spirit goes beyond the

itness world. She believes in giving back and in the last decade, EMABC has been creating events to raise money for local charities. One of the most rewarding and “dear to her heart” took place in the spring of 2015, a beneit workout she titled, “Punch our Parkinson’s”, a charity-fundraiser for the Michael J Fox Foundation. She organized it in honor of her father, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2005. With more than 100 participants, it raised $6500 dollars for the foundation. It was an extremely gratifying event for everyone involved and one Shannon plans to do more of in the future.

When not at work the energetic instructor is found running or taking photographs at one of the local state parks or walking and hiking with her 65-pound Golden-Doodle, Maggie. She enjoys spending time with close friends, eating great food and listening to music.

“I am thankful for where I am today and I look forward to where I am going in the future. I am excited to continue my journey of growing and learning; and embrace all the wonderful, witty, and caring people that are a part of my life and journey,” says Shannon.

So, if you ind yourself saying Shannon‘s journey to becoming a happy, well-centered itness professional is pretty awesome ...that‘s probably because it is.

And just like her her client‘s say...she‘s unique and one of a kind not only because of what she‘s accomplished, but because of how she lives her life and shares it with others.

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7 Deadly Social Media Strategy Sins Are you committing these 7 deadly sins with your social media strategy?

Find out what personal trainers should NEVER do on social media.

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f social media is all the rage, then why isn’t your social media strategy winning you more personal training clients? If you’re spending hours on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, but aren’t seeing any measurable results in your business, it’s probably because you’re guilty of at least one of these 7 Deadly Social Media Sins. Here are the most common mistakes personal trainers make when promoting their business via social media, and how to develop an effective social strategy that wins you more clients and more revenue: 1. You Have No Strategy A lot of personal trainers know they should be using social media, but have no clue how to begin. So, they create a Facebook page and a Twitter feed and dive in head irst, without any way to measure their results.

As a personal trainer, your time is money. The time you spend working on the web-based aspects of your business is time away from getting paid to train. That being the case, you want to make sure that every second you spend online is time guaranteed to get results for your business.

Creating a social media strategy is crucial to your success because it’s the only way to measure the results of your actions. If you post on Facebook, send a tweet, or gain some followers on Instagram, are those things getting you closer to your business goals? The only way to know is to write down your goals and develop a plan for reaching them via social media.

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Personal Trainer Magazine 2. You’re Tracking the Wrong Goals When social media irst became popular, many business owners had a “show me the money” attitude. They wondered why they were dumping time and money into social media when they weren’t seeing monetary results.

Social media marketing, like other forms of content marketing, can be dificult to track in terms of revenue goals.

For example, a client might follow you on Twitter for months before inally taking advantage of a free training session offered on your website.

Without engaging on Twitter beforehand, the client wouldn’t have been ready to take advantage of your free offer. But all of that time you spent courting that client doesn’t get accounted for, so Twitter time appears to be “wasted” time even though it actually helped you land the client.

Instead of trying to measure revenue that’s generated by social media, which is virtually impossible unless you’re using paid ads, measure things like engagement, number of followers, and speciic Calls to Action (read this blog post, download this white paper, sign up for a free training session, etc).

When you track the right goals, you’ll get a clear picture of how social media is helping you meet those goals. Remember, there’s a lot more that goes into winning a client than a simplistic, cutand-dried sales process often used when selling products. Since you’re offering a personalized service, you need to track goals that takes into account all of the subtleties and nuances needed to court new personal training clients.

3. You’re Not Flexible Social media changes constantly, which means your social media strategy has to change with it.

Keep up to date on Facebook algorithm changes, Twitter trends, and up-and-coming platforms your clients might like.

While it’s important to have a strategy in place, it’s just as important to continually tweak that strategy based on the shifting tides of social media.

4. You’re Using the Wrong Platform(s) If your social media strategy is dead in the water, it could be that you’re putting all of your energy and effort into the wrong platform.

So how can you tell if you’re wasting money on Facebook ads when all of your clients are hanging out on Pinterest? Simple – ask!

Send out a quick survey to your email list and ask your training clients where they hang out online.

Just because Facebook is the most popular social platform overall doesn’t mean it’s the most popular with your clients.

Also, don’t feel like you have to develop a

strong social presence on every social platform out there. Find out where your tribe hangs out and focus on building a strong presence on one or two social sites, tops.

5. You’re Too Salesy Many entrepreneurs and business owners struggle with inding their voice on social media.

An important part of your strategy is engaging your audience without constantly selling to them.

After all, do you go on Facebook to be sold to? I doubt it! People use social media to connect with friends, share funny and awe-inspiring content, get news updates, and be entertained. That means that your strategy has to ind ways to connect, inspire, inform, and entertain your audience, irst and foremost.

Once you have done that, it will be much easier to sell your training services when people clickthrough to your website.

When it comes to social, the only thing you need to sell is the “click” – getting people to visit your website and opt-in to your email list.

6. You Don’t Post/Tweet/Share Enough How often do you post, tweet and share on social media? If your answer is “every few days” or “once a week”, frequency could be the biggest downfall of your social media strategy.

While each platform is different in terms of how often you should post, chances are you’re not posting enough. A single tweet is seen by less than 2% of your followers. That means sending 3 tweets per day is only enough to reach 6% of your audience!

Facebook’s algorithm picks and chooses what it thinks are your most valuable posts. That means a big majority of your followers and fans might not see your content at all.

Marketing psychologists now say it takes 12 impressions for people to remember a brand.

Tweet less than that each week and you’re sure to get lost in the shufle!

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As a general rule of thumb, best practices tell us to tweet at least 5 times per day and post daily on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Be sure to use an automation tool like Hootsuite or SocialOomph to help you keep up with all those posts!

7. You’re Selish One of the biggest mistakes personal trainers tend to make in their social media strategy is being selish.

-They “post and run” in Facebook groups, never liking or commenting on other people’s content -They share content THEY like instead of content their CLIENTS might like -They treat social media as a megaphone instead of a two-way conversation Social media is all about engagement. Use each social platform as an opportunity to get to know your future clients, answer their itness questions, help them achieve their goals, and provide them with as much value as you can.

When you create a social media strategy with the client in mind, you’re much more likely to secure their training business.

Social media isn’t an overnight revenue-booster, but it is part of a proven, long-term marketing strategy that expands your reach, endears you to prospective clients, and establishes your unique voice in a sea of competition.

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Score More Training Clients with Viral Content Marketing Personal trainers, get access to 12 proven ways you can create viral content and get noticed online.

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hat does a Youtube video with 6.7 million views have to do with your personal training business?

In a nutshell, everything. In the past, personal trainers were limited to the client interactions they could hold in person. You could train a client in the gym or in their home. If you were a traveling trainer, maybe in their hotel room – but that was about it.

Today, personal trainers are expanding their reach to include the entire world, taking on training clients in different countries and time zones.

How is this possible? Through the advent of technology like Youtube, Skype and FaceTime, more and more trainers are conducting video training sessions and scoring new clients with content marketing and social media.

If having clients in 30+ countries sounds like something you’d enjoy, the irst step is to build your online presence and make it easy for prospective clients to ind you.

One of the most effective ways to do this is with viral content marketing.By creating sharable, engaging content your followers can’t wait to repost, you’ll exponentially increase your online exposure.

So how can you create content – videos, blog posts, articles, and

infographics – that’s guaranteed to get you noticed?

Just use these 12 proven tips for creating red-hot viral content – the kind that gets at least 6.7 million views.

Tip #1: Stay Positive In study after study conducted

by Social Media Examiner, The Hufington Post, and Web Marketing Today, content with a positive spin went viral far more often than negatively perceived content.

In marketing, we often talk about appealing to our audiences’ “paint points,” or problem areas of pain they desperately need to address.

While pointing out paint points, such as the desire to lose weight or overcome disease, is effective on a website or landing page, it can read super negative on social media.

Personal trainers should share uplifting, motivational, inspiring content that includes success stories, happy client testimonials, and other positive ideas.

Tip #2: Appeal to the Right Emotions Positive emotional content goes viral more than cerebral content. The key is appealing to the right type of emotions in order to make the biggest impact.

In a poll conducted by Web

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Marketing Today, the emotion of awe caused viewers to share content more than any other emotion. Close seconds were laughter, amusement, and joy, in that order.

What ills your clients with awe, makes them laugh, and makes them feel joyful? Infuse your content with the answers to those questions and it’s sure to go viral.

Tip #3: Always Use Images Pictures convert better than text only. Some studies even show that pictures convert better than video!

If you’re sharing content on social media, creating a blog post, or sending an email campaign, always use a captivating image to support it.

Eye-catching graphics can do far more in terms of emotional engagement than text alone ever could (after all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?).

Tip #4: Create Lists You may have noticed that we use a lot of list-type articles in our magazine. That’s not by accident – lists convert better than how-to articles, storybased articles, and even videos.

Personal training lists might include…

22 Ways to get Rock Hard Abs 13 Failproof Training Tips 7 Qualities to Look For in a Personal Trainer 2015

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Personal Trainer Magazine Be sure to base each list on a real interest of your target market, and not just what you think will go viral.

training, weight loss, exercises, motivation, and all the different factors that make your business great.

Tip #5: Leverage Your Connections Viral content is often a compilation of many different experts weighing in on a subject.

For example, if you used one of the above examples and wrote an article called 7 Qualities to Look For in a Personal Trainer, you could simply write the article yourself.

Or, you could reach out to 7 different thought leaders in the PT industry and quote them in your article.

You’ll then be able to leverage 7 different audiences to promote your content, greatly increasing the chances of it going viral.

Tip #8: Let the Audience Create the Content GoPro is a great example of a brand that’s creating usergenerated viral content. In case you’re unfamiliar, the GoPro guys are the “selie stick” guys who get travelers and other adventurous types to take videos of themselves while skydiving, traveling the world, tightrope walking, and so on.

Instead of scrambling to create sharable content, GoPro asks users to submit their best videos and photos created while using their product.

This is a great content model for personal trainers, who can have their clients upload their workout videos, share training tips and progress, post recipes to a Facebook page, and more.

Tip #6: Keep it Long Long content converts better than short content. This is especially true when it comes to articles and blog posts.

As counterintuitive as it may sound in a society with gnatlike attention spans, blog posts that are 3,000+ words get more clicks and shares than blog posts under 500 words.

Are people really taking the time to read 3,000+ word blog posts? Maybe, but it’s just as likely that a meatier article increases the perception of authority and thought leadership, regardless of the content itself.

So go ahead and be as longwinded as you like!

Tip #7: Create Infographics The only type of content that converts better than lists is the infographic. Infographics share information in graphic form, combining two crucial elements of viral content: engaging information and visual stimulation.

As a personal trainer, there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of different infographics that could be created around

Tip #9: Write a Killer Headline Great headlines encourage sharing, which leads to viral content. A good headline creates curiosity, invokes strong emotions, and makes the reader want to ind out more.

-Use words like “this” and “that” to create curiosity, i.e. “This is the Hottest Workout for 2015.”

-Keep headlines short and relevant, i.e. “Top Weight Loss Tips” instead of “How to Lose Weight In Time For Summer So You Can Fit Into a Bikini.”

-Make sure your headline is relevant to your content. If you write an exciting headline (“Miracle Serum the New Fountain of Youth!”) but your article is about bicep curls, Facebook and Google will dock you for “link baiting”.

Tip #10: Create Curiosity Insider secrets, tips, stories, testimonials, and emotional revelations all convert well and can easily go viral. The trick is to present them in a way that

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creates curiosity and makes the viewer want to click and share.

-Share small bits of valuable knowledge at a time, each nugget leading the reader to the next item in your article or post.

-“Prime the pump” by telling readers what you’re going to tell them later, i.e. “I’ve just discovered the most effective way to get six-pack abs, but we’ll get to that later. First….”

-Create questions in the reader’s mind. A headline like “How Losing 100 Pounds Helped Me Live Without Fear” creates questions like “How did she lose the weight?”, “What was she afraid of?”, and so on.

Tip #11: Ask for the Share It might sound obvious, but the simple act of asking your readers to share your content with their friends can dramatically increase the chances of creating viral content.

According to Web Marketing Today,Pinterest pins that include an ask for the share get shared 80% more than pins with no ask, while tweets that ask people to retweet get 51% more retweets than those without.

Tip #12: Make it Easy to Share Do people have to click, copy, paste, and click again in order to share your content?

Then forget about said content going viral!

Make it a snap to share your stuff so readers don’t think twice about it. Creating linked “tweetables” within blog posts is a great way to do this, as is including sharing buttons in your email blasts and articles.

Creating viral content is both an art and a science. With the right emotional pull, images, a positive spin and a direct ask for shares, you’ll be well on your way to promoting your personal training business with shareable content that gets you noticed, 6.7 million views at a time.

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PTM Magazine NESTA, Inc. Tel: 1-877-348-6692

August 2015 - Issue 05 Personal Trainer Magazine - An Ellis Production/ With an i

Web: www.nestacertiiedcom Email:nestanews@nestacertiied.com

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A Fast Guide to #FitnessPro Mrchandising

Conscious Tribe:

or #FitnessPros that are just starting up, merchandising might seem like it’s kind of a long way off. For your online presence, it’s a fairly straightforward and inexpensive process to achieve powerful branding that’s consistent -but is it really worth your business’ dollars to invest in logo-ed company apparel (and various assorted knick-knacks)?

To a certain extent, I would actually say, yes.

The reason for this is that, unlike business which are totally digital and web-based, you’re meeting clients in the physical world. If anything, it’s those face-to-face encounters, which warrant the greatest need for solid brand exposure.

So here’s a quick, common sense guide on how to go about setting up your oficial #FitnessPro business gear.

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Buy Local or Online?

To get us started, we should irst igure out the best companies for purchasing your logoslapped items. This can basically be broken down into two primary possibilities: purchasing from an online company or setting up an account with a local dealer. Here are the main pros/cons to both options: Online Store - In most cases, I’ve found that if Vistaprint doesn’t offer the best deal, their customer service and overall quality usually backs up the cost difference (your mileage may vary).

The biggest factor, as to why I’d purchase my logo-ed items from a company like Vistaprint, is if I’m only ordering very limited quantities (under 5 units). In addition, they also have a HUGE selection of products, and they make it super easy to upload your logo image ile. That’s why I would recommend using an web-based company for new businesses which are just getting started on purchasing logo gear.

Local Company - This option is ideal, especially if you’re able to order a much larger quantity of units. Sometimes, it’s dificult to ind a single local company that can offer all the products (hats, arm bands, etc.) that you might want to

purchase, but the best part about buying local is because you can actually sit down face-to-face with a representative and talk about exactly what your needs are. Also, you won’t have to worry about delivery costs, mishaps, or delays if you’re purchasing these items for an event.

Another thing to keep in mind is that some companies will require a business account (with a possible EIN#) and a minimum irst purchase quantity.If you are able to meet these requirements, then this type of account is going to offer the best deals -but if not, then that’s another reason why I recommend using Vistaprint for startup #FitnessPros.

First Items For the Logo Provided you already have a good itness business logo and a stash of business cards at your disposal, then the next step should be purchasing your business’ logo-ed apparel. Here’s what you’ll want to start out with: -Sports Pollos -T-shirts -Ballcaps/visors Also, I do believe that purchasing a proportionately large car magnet logo (with contact info, of course) is practically a no-brainerwin. Think about it: if you’re a itness trainer that does a great deal of driving, then you might as well use this magnet as your own mobile billboard advertising slot! Not to mention, other very high-

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Personal Trainer Magazine potential clients will see your car in the parking lot on their way into the gym.

Last, it’s also important that if you’ve got partnering itness trainers or an hourly-wage employee (or three) -then they should also be wearing your logo gear. Representation within your own itness business is crucial for tribal branding credibility.

-Yoga Mats -Towels -Arm Bands -Water Bottles -Silicone Wristbands -Small Magnets (to place on a gym locker) -Keychains -Stickers

To Sell Or Not to Sell For those considering bulk logo apparel and gear purchases, you also might be considering the possibility of a retail sales revenue stream via these logo-ed items. After all, if you’re the best itness trainer ever, then why wouldn’t your clients want to spread the love, right? This is certainly not a bad way to go; however, here are a few things to keep in mind before you take that dive into this part of the cash low pool…

You might want to limit your product selection to just a few items, because apparel will require an inventory of varying sizes for each product, as well as possible male/female style options.

It’s best to stick with simple designs and patterns, since a customer that represents their all-time favorite itness trainer shouldn’t be forced to make a risky fashion statement in the process.

With those points in mind, you can see why it might be a better option to limit your apparel selection, while diversifying items that don’t necessarily require sizing or gender options. For instance, here are just a few creative ideas that I’ve seen other itness trainers use in the past...

Random Tips: Branding Brought to Real World In terms of WHERE you should sell your brand’s merchandise, well that’s also another excellent opportunity to exercise your powers of creativity.

For instance, in addition to selling your oficial gear through your website’s online shop section, one fantastic avenue for retail sales would be your local health stores. Keep in mind, however, if it’s corporate-owned, then chances are slim that you’d be able to get a spot on their shelves.

But for franchise/family-owned health stores, you might just have a wholesale/retail opportunity just waiting in the wings. Also, don’t forget that the proit margins have to be sensible for both you and your health store retailer.

Aside from that, if your itness business is at the point where you’re asking questions like: which printing company should I use in order to display my banner in the LA Dodgers stadium…

Then chances are, you probably no longer need this guide, because you’d be a tribe brandbuilding master in my book.

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Shades of a #FitnessPro: How Logo Color Deines Your Fitness Business Your logo is the irst impression you have on a client.

Find out how your logo color can make or break your business!

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Personal Trainer Magazine y the time Pepsi had inally released their new logo in 2008, it was touted as a “BREATHTAKING” success. Thanks to the Arnell Group’s design team, our minds now associate the iconically circular Pepsi logo with the soft drink itself -and so, we purchase said soft drink, based on mental cues (theoretically, at least).

This, of course, cost Pepsi a whopping $1,000,000. Whether such a move was branding overkill or not,this much is certain: major modern companies are compelled create iconic logos ...and will stop at nothing to protect them from copycats.

Millions of dollars change hands annually for this very reason. But what’s the big deal, and what does this have to do with smallscale local itness businesses?

The answer to this question is simple: psychological association deines how your itness brand will be perceived in the minds of your potential clientele. No, you’re probably not going to shell out a million in cash on a logo -but if you’re going to hire a $30/hr freelancer to produce one for you, then it might be worth your while to consider its color scheme…

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Does Your Logo Actually Matter?

For small itness business brands, a logo could mean the difference between a potential client, and just another person that couldn’t recall your brand if they tried (no matter how many times they’ve seen your brochure or business card).

To explain, one of the toughest aspects about the science of logo design is the fact that its effects are oddly dificult to ascertain -especially amongst adults. The reason for this is because logos delve into the deeper, subconscious side of human psychology and memory.

However, children tend to offer an interesting level of insight into this question, likely because their ‘memory ilter’ possess far less of

a branding bias. According to a story from ABC News, kids can recall logos that weren’t even targeted toward them…

The researchers were especially surprised to ind children identifying brands whose marketing doesn‘t appear to target kids, including Toyota, which was recognized by 80 percent of the study‘s participants, and Shell, which was recognized by nearly 53 percent.

What does this tell us? While the possibilities abound, most believe that the indings of this study provide a look into the basics of human psychology and the subconscious mind’s ability to store and recall images.

When a mental cue is introduced via logo, that’s when its brand is brought to the forefront of the mind.

Color Scheme Overview True, the above study was concerned with the little-tike’s identifying globally recognized brands; but on a local level, your own scope of branding inluence only needs to extend to your itness business’ geographical bounds. Since this is the case, you might as well hammer away at a logo’s most prominent psychological factors: the biggest, being its color scheme.

Studies have shown that “84.7% of consumers cite color as being the primary reason they buy a particular product,” as shown on an infographich from Fast Company. So, here’s a small sampling taste on what a color will indicate about your itness business’ logo (and the rest of the brand’s scheme that follows)...

Blue: trustworthiness, calm, stability, equality Red: vibrance, boldness, passion, action Orange: daring, comfort, fun, friendly, creativity Yellow: optimism, liveliness, playfulness, willpower Purple: loftiness, knowledge,

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spirituality, royalty, aloofness Green: balance, prosperity, natural, environmental Black:sophistication, authoritative, ‘bottom-line’ Amy Morin’s post on Forbes offers a more complete and in depth look at color scheme psychology, and how this affects brand perception. Be sure to use their graph as a reference: How to Use Color Psychology to Give Your Business an Edge.

What’s Your Best Shade? (It Depends) In an absolutely fantastic article from Quick Sprout, marketing masters, Neil Patel and Ritika Puri offer their expert opinions on the matter.

Interestingly enough, their assessment actually comes from a statistic that they’d compiled, concerning how site visitors responded to their own marketing campaign. From their indings, they believe that 11% of their new leads are a result of coloring their action-bar a vibrant red.

The power of color is undeniable, however, the biggest problem that a business’ brand will often face is due to over-complexity. According to Patel/Puri: “When you use too many colors, you may end up conveying too many feelings or messages at once — something that will potentially confuse the person viewing your design.”

For small itness brands, it’s important to keep your logo’s color scheme and overall branding SIMPLE. After that, it really depends on the itness business, the brand’s overarching message ...and of course… the target market and its speciically selected clientele.

(For example: this is one reason why yoga instructors will use purple and green in order to effectively brand their itness businesses.)

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Branding: You Say It ...the Tribe Decides What It Means Ultimately, branding has less to do with what the company says, and FAR more to do with how that company’s message is perceived in the eyes of consumers. That’s why I’ve always said that when developing your brand, it’s crucial to deine your itness business’ color scheme, logo design, tone, style, etc., based on the needs and desires of the target persona ...and not just go with what we think looks good to us. Why is this so important to remember?

It’s not our dollars that keep us in business. It’s our clients’ dollars that do, which means that we’ve got to put their tastes at the forefront of our overall brand and logo design. You don’t have to spend a million bucks on this, but it’s certainly worth your while to spend a good bit of time with your thinking cap on.

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#FitnessPro Timesavers: The 5 Apps That Will Get You Home Before Rush Hour

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on’t you just love the feeling of heading home from your itness business’ ofice at 4PM, especially when your schedule says that the day’s workload should have taken until 6PM to get it all done?

At least for me, there was a time during my career when I could rarely indulge in such a sweet treat. One of the toughest challenges for most selfemployed entrepreneurs like me was understanding just how fast time would slip on by -and by 6:30PM, I still had at least 2 items left on my task list for the day. However, on days when my schedule was stacked with billable client-hours, I noticed that I’d be able to head home right on time.

And that’s when I got to thinking…

On days when I’m meeting clients, my day is almost totally managed by my session schedule; but on my back ofice business-tasking days, my time was ‘managed’ by a to-do list.

Understandably, it’s much easier to spend time ineficiently on those days -but then- there goes my golden 4PM closing time happy dance opportunity.

Fortunately for us in 2015, there’s an app for that. (Actually, there are 5.)

So on this next back ofice business-tasking Monday, let’s use tech to take advantage of

our golden opportunity to save some time, so that rush hour happens after we’ve already made our way home from the ofice. #5 - IFTTT I’ve mentioned the power of IFTTT in recent blog posts, but now that they’re offering an IFTTT smartphone app -it’s certainly worth mentioning once again.

If you’re unfamiliar with IFTTT (If This Then That), here’s a quick rundown: for many of your webbased apps, you can actually trigger them to perform an action when something happens -and this action can even occur in a completely different app. For instance, if you post picture to Instagram, then IFTTT can be setup to automatically post that picture to your #FitnessPro Facebook page.

Especially because social media is so important for inbound marketing and online tribe building, it makes IFTTT an extremely useful time-saving tool. And now, you don’t even have to be sitting at your laptop in order to use it. #4 - Focus booster If I had to pick a single app that was powerful enough to help us maximize on every minute of our workday by blocking out productivity-

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destroying digital distractions that we often run into, I’d have to pick focus booster. The reason why it enables us to gain so much time-leverage is because its parameters are based on „the pomodoro technique“, as described by focus booster’s oficial website: The pomodoro technique is a proven and popular time management life hack. The main premise behind the technique is to work in sprints (called pomodoro sessions) and maintain regular breaks.

These breaks keep the mind fresh and fast, which is required when working with such focus.

The other key principle behind maintaining focus with the pomodoro technique is being able to effectively manage distractions.

This type of time management methodology is actually being used to massive effectiveness in Fortune 500 company ofices; but for $2.99/ mo or $29.99/yr, such lofty power can now rest in your capable hands. #3 - RescueTime Whereas focus booster is meant to patch the productivity holes in your workday, RescueTime helps you discover where even more leaks are taking place. The app runs in the background, tracking and 2015

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Personal Trainer Magazine categorizing every second spent on your computer during business hours.

At the end of the day, it produces a highly (and sometimes soberingly) detailed report on how your time was spent ...down to the darn minute.

It is true that the irst few reports will be quite sobering, even for the biggest productivity sticklers out there.

In a way, focus booster does have a very similar tracker to the one offered by RescueTime; however, I do believe that RT’s is far better at categorization and identifying exactly what the computer’s user does. RT also offers a ‘Premium’ version, which basically acts like focus booster, but its functionality isn’t quite as effective in my opinion.

Nevertheless,the ‘Lite’ version of RescueTime is free, so that’s certainly a plus. #2 - Toggl Toggl is an uncommonly powerful app, especially for independent contractor-based itness trainers.

First off, it’s basically a time tracker that keeps tabs on your billable hours -and then, it drafts a report for invoicing (or just to keep for your own records). This app allows the itness trainer to hit the timer at the beginning and end of each session, so you no longer have to guess whilst using Google Sheets to ill in your books. By the way, it can also sync with your smartphone.

The other super interesting feature that offers even more possibilities is how you can include up to 5 team members -even with the FREE version. So,

if you’re hiring a receptionist, you’ve brought another itness trainer under your wing, or you’re using a temporary virtual assistant: you can use Toggl to make it effortlessly easy to keep track of everybody’s time (including that of your own).

It’s a billable time tracker that’s also ...a time saver. #1 - MileIQ One reason why I felt quite comfortable with backing a free iPhone app, like MileIQ is because its reviews have provided an undeniable and resounding vote of conidence.

So, what exactly does MileIQ do?

Here’s an even better question: What can it do for itness trainers when tax season hits?

Well, MileIQ is a GPS-based app, which tracks your mileage -but not only that- it actually runs the numbers to provide an instant report on tax-deductible dollars accumulated, based on the IRS rate (of .575 cents/ mile for 2015). And that’s just the basic functionality of this app. Here’s their iTunes store additional feature list: -“Classify drives with a single swipe.

-Set work hours to auto-classify your personal drives.

-Create custom categories to deine your drive purposes.

-Add parking, tolls, vehicle information and notes.

-Create or edit drives on mobile or web.

-Export data to FreshBooks, Concur, CSV or PDF. -Pause drive tracking as needed.

-Manage your personal leet of vehicles.”

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I should also mention that this app IS FREE ...but only for the irst 40 drives in a given month.

After that, you can purchase MileIQ services for $5.99/mo or $59.99/yr.

Now, how does this app save your typical #FitnessPro on time?

Simple: you’ll no longer have to worry about writing down your mileage and going through that annoying arithmetic rigmarole.

That task alone was once a 1-hour-ofice-event at the end of every month, because of how much driving I did for getting to my client sessions. And if the weather was super hot or cold, recording that 6-igure mileage every time has almost inluenced the purchase of a new car with heated seats. But now, that hour is mine once again. All mine.

FACT: Time Is Money Saving an additional hour at the end of each day might not seem like much, but once that starts to accumulate, you’re looking at a part-time job’s worth in time saved at the end of every month. Sure, you might be using your newfound time to do nonbusiness things, like hanging out with the family or getting in a stress-releasing afternoon jog...

But quite frankly, at the end of each day, that’s additional time for recharging those mental and physical batteries for tomorrow’s events and tasks.

So if you happen to have any time-saving apps that have been helping you get the most out of your workday, then please leave a comment below, and show us all even more ways to get home before rush hour!

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3 Ways to Tell If Your Fitness Business Will Succeed for the Long Haul specially in the beginning, it might feel as if your desires and goals to run a itness business aren’t quite set in stone. That’s largely why solorun independent contractor startups don’t often possess a sense of self (or solid identity) in the beginning.

Even if you’ve done all the legal paperwork before launching your dream, most new entrepreneurs don’t quite feel as if their businesses have any real grounding in reality -at least, not until it’s paid the bills more than a few occasions. But this is also a completely natural state for a new startup, because that’s usually how a business idea moves from a thought to a thing.

On the other hand, seasoned itness entrepreneurs can often spot a long-run winner from a mile off with pretty good accuracy. Of course, they know full well that there will be tough times and challenges ahead.

But despite those coming obstacles, there tends to be 3 particular qualities that make the difference between a itness business that’s going to fall lat within three years ...and one that’s still going to be around for the next 30.

So the following talking points below will discuss how a seasoned itness pro can tell if your company its the

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description of the 30-year-long career (rather than the 3-yearlong lakey business ling). #3:You Can Locate the Line Between You and Your Business While I do disagree with Chris Matyszczyk’s overarching premise, his article on Inc.com does give a fantastic point in regards to what a great deal of business gurus could never tell you about your own leadership abilities -or predict the resulting success of your leadership-role ventures for that matter. One of the biggest reasons for this is because, well a) predicting the future is impossible, unless you’re Marty McFly, and b) even the most thorough life/success coaches don’t know you well enough to determine your breaking point or your deeper motivations.

Ultimately, the issue stems from the fact that every entrepreneur is different and unique in their own personal laws and strengths. So, predicting the future of a oneperson business is usually problematic for that very reason.

However, here’s how I can tell if a itness trainer is primed for success when I see them: They look at themselves with the knowledge that their identity and self-worth are separate from that of their itness businesses.

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The gym or ofice is an important part of their lives, but at the end of the day, it’s not #1 on their priorities list. This is because their selfworth is not tied to the success of their business. While this attribute might seem a little counterintuitive to success, let me simply review what we’ve already discussed on this blog by quoting a statistic that was shared by Matthew Toren of Entrepreneur: In 2011, travel site Expedia found 52 percent of employees feel better about their jobs and more productive after vacation.

Another study conducted

by Harvard stated sleep deprivation cost U.S. businesses $63.2 billion a year due to loss in productivity.

A business addiction is a problem for two reasons: irst, a itness trainer will get burned out rather quickly if they can’t seem to draw a hard line between their identity and their business.

Second, this also indicates that the itness business requires a constant state of monitoring.

Why? Good question, because to me, that usually says that the owner/trainer is struggling with conidence in their own business’ solvency.

These negative thought patterns alone could devastate a company’s future, much less, adversely inluence client perceptions.

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Personal Trainer Magazine #2 - You’re Closing In On 10,000 Hours of Professional Gym Experience It’s often been said that if you want to become extremely proicient in doing something, then only 1,000 hours stands between you and that goal.

However, extreme proiciency is obviously great for employees and management. But what about entrepreneurs that have got to build a tribe in order to sustain a healthy client-base?

That’s going to require a great deal more experience and charisma.

Fast Company’s Vivian Giang recently posted an article, discussing what it takes to be successful in work and life.

Based on the advice given by well-known success author, James Altucher, she talks about why true industry leaders will eventually have 10,000 hours of industry-speciic experience behind them: „Often, 1,000 hours is enough to move you to the top 10 in the world,“ says Altucher. „Being the top 10 will still make you a lot of money,“ because not many people are able to recognize the subtleties that are often learned in the next 9,000 hours.

It’s being able to recognize these subtleties, which is what grows a itness entrepreneur into more than just a trainer/gym owner. In fact, from an economics and marketing standpoint, this would cause a person to become profoundly good at what they do -and thereby- unique, scarce, and valuable.

The key to getting to that 10,000-mark, however, is to love what you do, and use those experiences to learn ways of padding yourself against unpredictable events in which something could go wrong. #1 - You Are Committed to Growth (And Not Necessarily In Proits)

Jeff Boss, a Forbes Contributor and former Navy SEAL, wrote an absolutely stellar piece about what is necessary for sustaining constant growth and success. His irst point, and arguably his most foundational, was that your success comes down to your fundamentals.

Ultimately, you’ve got to ask: why am I here, and why do these people hand me their money?

If the answer doesn’t match up with what you’re promising (to customers AND to yourself), then it’s time to hammer out the answer to those questions ASAP. A business without a solid understanding of its fundamentals is essentially form without function -or a stage prop, in other words. That’s why it CANNOT be all about the proits, because that’s doing nothing more than focusing on the ends without becoming 10,000-hour-excellent at performing the means.

If there were one particular quality that could take the cake and compliment (or complete) the ideas that I’d laid out in the previous two principles -then it would have to come down to your commitment to growth.

It’s not revenues and cash low that regulate a business’ proit potential. What will enable a company to expand proit potential is simply by growing in the capability to deliver its product or service (it’s fundamentals). Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, for instance, could have chosen immediate proits by selling off their struggling company for $1 million to Excite’s CEO George Bell. As the bard would later tell us, they decided against such a move, despite the challenging taskload of managing the venture in addition to inishing graduate courses.

That’s a Certainty In those days, the Google guys would probably have never dreamed of the wealth and success that they’re experiencing right now. A pure allegiance to proit would have guided them toward a billiondollar lifelong regret. Because of their commitment to growing their vision, they decided not to. Sure glad they stuck with it, otherwise then I’d be stuck using something other than Google Docs to write this post.

Interestingly enough, the promise of certainty in lieu of growth tends to be a major pitfall. The reason why far too many entrepreneurs have succumbed to the ‘certaintymonster’ is because it’s offered as an alternate path, resulting in an outcome that’s good enough.

But that’s really a perspective game. $1 million is quite a sum of cash to most people. Then again, Google’s net worth is almost $50 BILLION at this point.

Ultimately, the best business decisions have been the work of the owner taking the more uncertain path. Risk is simply what makes entrepreneurs a breed of their own, and they have a tendency to become a very, very wealthy breed.

Success in the itness business really comes down to knowing why you’re in business, sticking to your fundamentals, loving what you do (enough to do it for 10,000 hours), and committing to growth -even in the face of being tempted by a little billpaying money. Growth is an uncertainty, and a very lucrative uncertainty at that.

Besides, it’s the wrapping paper that always makes opening presents just so much fun.

The Future Is Uncertain ...and

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5 Proven Sales Funnel Secrets for Coaches, Trainers, and Fitness Pros Learn how to add higher-priced products and services to your sales funnel in just 5 easy steps. sales funnel is a series of steps that prospective clients are led through before they make a purchase from you.

Instead of accosting a prospect with a pushy sales letter or email the irst time you interact with them, you can create a sales funnel that naturally leads them toward a purchase without high pressure selling.

Great sales funnels create “warm” leads by cultivating trust, offering valuable content for free, and making prospects feel 100% comfortable buying from you before you initiate a paid offer.

A typical itness or wellness-oriented sales funnel might look something like this: -Drive targeted trafic to your website using Facebook ads -Capture email addresses by offering a free itness eBook -Use an email campaign to offer a free 30-minute training session -Sell a paid training package at the end of the 30-minute session But the most effective sales funnels don’t stop there.

Once you’ve built up a substantial client roster and feel comfortable with the irst stages of your sales funnel, it’s time to expand into bigger-ticket offers that earn you more money in less time.

These higher-priced items could include…

-Group training programs -Live events -Mastermind groups -Online courses -VIP coaching/training sessions or intensives Many coaches and trainers get stuck inside a sales funnel that ends too abruptly. They continue trading time for dollars and limit their income to the number of clients they can personally see in

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a single day.

If you’ve yet to move beyond one-on-one coaching with your clients, it’s time to branch out by working smarter, not harder.

Here’s how to develop a sales funnel that includes bigger ticket offers for increased proitability: Step One: Do your research After brainstorming some big ticket items your current clients might like, do some live market research. Ask your clients what they’d most like to see from you next.

Is it a group training program? A weekend itness retreat? Online personal training?

Don’t guess – ask! Find common threads between the answers and develop your expanded sales funnel based on real requests from real clients.

Don’t forget to utilize social media to conduct research as well.

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Personal Trainer Magazine Step Two: Complete a free trial Once you are 100% certain that your target market wants and needs what you have to offer, it’s time to develop your course, plan your live event, or create another type of product your clients will love.

At this point, you’ll want to create a minimally viable product that offers as much value as possible without breaking the bank. That’s because your product is going to change based on client feedback, so you don’t want to invest tons of money into materials or features that may end up getting cut.

Reach out to your VIP clients and offer them a chance to be beta-testers. They’ll gain valuable information and/or training absolutely free, and you’ll be able to perfect your offering based on their feedback.

Step Three: Gather feedback and testimonials After you’ve completed your initial trial run with your beta testers, it’s time to gather client feedback and testimonials.

Create a survey or interview clients to ind out what they liked, what they didn’t like, and what they would most want to change about your service. Then use the feedback you receive to revamp and revise your offering so it’s exactly what your clients want.

For example, let’s say you’re adding a weekend seminar to your sales funnel. The cost is $600 for a two-day intensive that includes group coaching sessions for 8 hours per day.

After getting client feedback, you realize two very important things: -Your clients felt they got much more than $600 worth of value from the weekend, and would have paid closer to $1000.

-Your clients felt burnt out by the end of each day, and would have preferred a course that was between 4-6 hours per day instead of 8 hours.

You can then tweak your seminar by raising the price and reducing the hours, thus saving you time, earning you more money, and giving your clients exactly what they want.

Next, ask for written, audio, and video testimonials that you can share on your website, social media, and/or landing page.

-Make sure to set aside time to obtain testimonials at the end of your live event.

-If you’re asking for testimonials via email or through an online survey, make it quick and easy for people to submit them.

Step Four: Position your offering within your sales funnel The new service or product you create should follow a natural progression within your sales funnel.

For instance, if your sales funnel starts with an online course, the next logical step could be group coaching followed by more exclusive (and more expensive) private coaching.

Clients will be most comfortable spending more with you if the price increases happen incrementally – don’t ask them to jump from a $20 pilates class to a $2000 pilates retreat.

Instead, offer a $100 private session to your $20 clients, a $500 seminar to your $100 clients, and so on.

Step Five: Launch your big ticket item Once you have done your homework, incorporated client feedback, collected testimonials and positioned your offer within your sales funnel, it’s time to launch your product or service.

Instead of marketing the new product to anyone and everyone, target only those clients who have already made the biggest purchase you have to offer.

Let’s say you currently have 3 paid offers and are adding a fourth. Your sales funnel includes options to buy a $20 video course, a $99 training session, and a $499 training series. You then decide to add a VIP group coaching course as your next big ticket item for the price of $1199.

Don’t waste your time (or marketing dollars) trying to get those at the top of your sales funnel to purchase this course. Focus instead on moving clients down your sales funnel to the next higherpriced offering. Sell the $99 session to the $20 people, the $499 series to the $99 people, and so on.

If they recieved tons of value at each stage of your sales funnel, a percentage of your clients will naturally be inclined to purchase the next big ticket item available to them.

Remember that the more expensive your products and services become, the less people will purchase them. However, as you offer increasingly valuable and increasingly expensive products, you won’t need as many people to buy in order to make a proit.

For more insider tips on streamlining your sales funnel and growing your wellness business, download your FREE Entrepreneur Jump Start Kit by clicking here now: http://johnspencerellis. com.

Issue 6 Quarter 4

2015 PAGE

57

Personal Trainer Magazine

Issue 6 Quarter 4

2015 PAGE

58

Personal Trainer Magazine

Issue 6 Quarter 4

2015 PAGE

59