Chunking time to be more effective

By Aaron Whear

One of the topics that generated the most discussion at a recent 6 figure trainer workshop in Melbourne was around the concept of chunking time. The reason that this topic was so interesting to so many people is that most trainers make exactly the same mistake when they first get started, i.e. they don’t chunk their time. The root cause of this problem is that trainers often don’t value their service as much as they should, they lack confidence in their ability to attract a client base and this leads to a scarcity mindset. See if you can relate to this scenario, you have just started work as a Personal Trainer and because you lack confidence in your ability to get clients you make yourself available to clients 24/7 and as a result your day ends up looking like this, 6am client, 1pm client, 5pm client and 8pm client! This is no way to live as you have only been paid for 3 hours work (based on 4 x 45 minute sessions) but you have done these 3 hours over the course of a much longer day where you have been mentally “on” for the whole day. This type of situation where trainers get their day totally out of proportion is one of the reasons that the average lifespan of a Personal Trainer is between 2-3 years and they end up burned out, buggered, and busted! However, it does not have to be this way.

Chunking time is not a new term, but for many people it is a new skill. Chunking involves focusing on completing one task at a time, or working on similar tasks together. In the Personal Training context for a trainer who wants to work with both morning and evening clients it may look like this. Monday, Wednesday and Friday being available between 4-8pm, and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday being available between 6am-10am. Throw in a mid morning or lunch time small group classes and this trainer is well on the way to a 6 figure income and beyond working “in” the business for a maximum of 6 hours per day and actually enjoying life outside of training because they have defined “chunked” periods of work time and play time.

Another chunk of time I would recommend is a minimum of 4 hours per week of “heads up” time for Personal Trainers earning up to $60,000 per year and at least 8 hours of “heads up” time for those working towards $100,000 and beyond. The chunking principle for this time would be doing things like writing all your proposals together, blocking out two hours to meet a potential referral partner, or blocking meetings back to back. When these tasks are chunked together and distractions like e-mail alerts and mobile phone interruptions eliminated it is amazing how productive you can be. Many people who implement these practices report that they get more done in a 4 hour block than they used to get done in a week!

The point of this article is that trainers have a lot more control over organising their day and precious time than they think. All that is required is a shift in mind set in terms of showing enough confidence in yourself and your services to let existing and potential clients know that you have set times when you are available to train rather than being available 24/7. Once you make this shift in the way you do business you will be amazed and how many clients will rearrange other commitments to make sure they can continue to train with you and once this occurs you are well on the way to longevity within this great industry. You will be working sustainable hours and really enjoying what you do rather than continually having to pace yourself through the day because you are never “off”. My challenge to you if you are not currently chunking your time is to take out your diary right now and start working on a plan for a more sustainable weekly schedule.

Adelaide Personal Trainer of the Year - James Smith Interview

How did you come to work in the fitness industry?

It was a natural progression from coaching and playing squash semi professionally. I’m a 3^rd generation athlete and a bit of a sport nerd really. I’m fascinated with how the body functions and adapts. It is incredible what the body can do. Have you ever watched a 100m final at track side breaking under 10seconds? Or a bunch sprint in a professional cycling reaching speeds of over 70kph when crossing the line or swimming world class level. It is phenomenal the speed and power the body can generate. I find it exhilarating and have a real respect and appreciation of these athletes. I was lucky to be able to turn my interests into my job. I find it rewarding when working with clients, athletes and trainers to make a real change to their life!

What s been most significant achievement over the last 12 months?

It has been a huge year both personally and in business. This year I have just emigrated to Adelaide from London with my fiancé. We have just bought a house and are getting married next month.

I am the Personal Training coordinator for Genesis Glenelg . Just under a year ago, we set up and opened Genesis Glenelg a 2,000 sqm facility. My job included the recruitment and training of 8 Personal Trainers, the design and implementation of many procedures within the club, organising the distribution of follow up of almost 350 Personal Training packs sold throughout the pre-sale and inducting 1,700 members safely.This was all whilst building and developing my personal PT business, The Smiths Personal Training. My business now has multi revenue streams including PT sessions, seminars, PT mentoring, Boot Camps, Corporate clients.

How have you strived for the best practice within the industry?

To be a successful personal trainer you have to have the complete package. You have to work on both your technical and business skills constantly. “absorb what is useful, reject what’s useless” (Bruce Lee). I have been fortunate enough to be mentored by some great industry leaders. I work hard to implement what I learn to Genesis and to my business with the Smiths PT. Every week I spend a day developing or working on my business. Having extensive industry experience gained from around the world, I have managed to select best practices from different workplaces, coaching and sporting experiences and courses.

Describe some of the ways that have helped you to become the local fitness icon of Adelaide?

1) Setting up a complete professional network; I work with local physiotherapists, a podiatrist, sports massage therapist, nutritionist and psychologist.

2) I deliver seminars at the gym, to corporate client groups and AIF.

3) I am a member of a ‘round table meeting’ with other leading trainers in Adelaide.

4) I am currently mentoring over 20 trainers in Adelaide and internationally!

5) Marketing- website, monthly newsletters, leaflets.

To become a fitness icon, I believe that, first and foremost you must deliver a high quality complete service that achieves client’s results.

What advice would you give trainers to build great businesses?

It is a constant journey, as soon as you start in the industry you need to develop your business and technical skills continuously. Find an industry leader to mentor you, a great way to coach, teach and guide you on this journey. It will accelerate your learning process and business ventures.

How have you found the experience of working with a PT Plus coach?

It has been great achieving high levels of accountability and more accurate focus from someone who has done what you’re are trying to achieve. I have managed to increase my productivity, reduce work hours and increase my income and revenue streams.

What can we expect James from the Smiths PT in Adelaide in the future?

I am looking to establish myself as one of Adelaide leading personal trainers and mentors. I want to work with trainers who are incredibly driven and want to be the best in the industry; I will help accelerate their progress!

3 Quick Business Building Tips by David Virgo

Sometime we make the idea of getting clients too hard and difficult. One thing I have done consistently is

1. Build a data base that is willing and ready for you to impress with your knowledge of how you can help them.

2. Creating new offerings that allow more people to jump on board with you in and put them on show for all to see, print off, download or be directed to by you or anyone marketing your business

3. Send out an e-newsletter to all of you data base regularly so you are top of mind mind when the time comes to discuss health and fitness

PT Business in a box

PT Business in a box
I was put on the spot by my coach the other day when deciding on making a financial investment in some resources. He said
"what's it not worth for you to do"............ wham between the eyes it was going to cost me more by not investing and telling myself I couldn't afford it as opposed to looking at how I was going to do it.

A lot like creating PT wealth, what's it 'not worth to you' to not have the best business tools and resources in your listening and reading library. For the best PT business in a box resources, designed to develop you and your business, by successful PT's, studio owners and business owners let me know what you listen too and read.

Sales School Program

how to take the sell out of selling

Without clients you don’t have a business. Without a steady flow of new leads to your business you will battle long jeopardy. To have success and spread your healthy message to more people, to generate the lifestyle and business you deserve you need to implement a sales system. The ‘yuck’ generally associated with sales does not have to be so painful. Learn to have qualified leads into your business by taking the pain out of sales and putting some pleasure into your business.

Who should attend Sales School:

· If you currently don’t have a process or system for generating leads

· If you have credit card debt and need to increase your income

· If you love what you do and want to positively effect more people

· Find you have energy vampires as clients

· If you aspire to running a successful business

Why this program:

· Learn to sell in a style that suits your personality

· Understand why scripts and cold calling don’t work

· This is specific to personal trainers, studio owners and gyms

· We give you a proven system that you will customize to your business

· No hard selling, offensive techniques or American Hype

You can expect:

· To have a personalised six step process

· Ongoing follow up and support following the workshop to refine your skill

· Learn how to close the sale without feeling like a slippery salesperson

· Understand that discounting is dead and how it will kill your business

· Dealing with objections

You will be shown:

· The top 20 techniques to killing a sale

· How to convert 90% of your sales

· Sell a $20 product and a $20,000 product

· How to attract the right people to your business

· How to take yourself to be a 9/10 in the area of sales without feeling awkward

· Why traditional advertising is dead

For a small investment in time and money you will save yourself hours and dollars on the process of obtaining new clients. Put on hold the small advertisement you intend to run or the brochure you plan to print, and invest in this industry specific program.

This program delivers a day of learning and is then followed by an option 6 weeks of coaching to ensure that the workbook and notes are not left in a pile in your office. We will keep you on track and well supported so that you completely get a full return on investment and on your way to boosting your business. Email us at info@ptplus.com.au for more information about our sales school program.

Advertising is dead - Dave Liow

Yep – traditional advertising is still dead...

Just a reminder (yet again) that traditional advertising is well and truly dead!

I’m writing this article from a hotel room looking over Tokyo city after a day of exploring the streets of the world’s biggest city. There are 28 million people buzzing around below in what I’d describe as very organised Japanese chaos. This morning I spent time walking around Shibuya, a very hip and crazy busy part of town. I have never been so absolutely bombarded by the world of advertising. There are giant screens on the side of buildings, blaring advertisements, people handing you flyers and calling you into shops. There are signs on the footpath, buildings, and on the front of people being walking billboards. Every sense is overrun with advertising. The locals walk around oblivious to the world of advertising around them. I was jumping out of my skin from the assault to my senses. When I sat and watched what advertising was effective, I noticed that the only advertising material that was being kept and read by the locals were paper/plastic fans (with ads on them of course) that could be used to generate some breeze in the humidity and pollution of a 36°C summer’s day.

Let’s put this in the context of how we advertise as PTs. How do you advertise? Is your advertising valuable or are you a blaring video screen saying look at me?

If you are producing useful, valuable resources that help and inform your community, just like our Japanese fans, your message will be noticed. People are interested and thirsting for knowledge about health. In fact a recent Harris Interactive poll reported that 60% of Microsoft searches are health related (second only to travel searches at 61%).

Bottom line is that if you want to get noticed, give value. Do this in your talks, newsletters and with the clients that you work with everyday. Leave your glossy brochures at home, go get out there and be noticed.

Success Story from a little town of Waipu in New Zealand

1. Sharon – You’ve experienced being a personal trainer in the big city. Can you describe the experience of starting all over again in a small town?
Daunting and exciting. There is no gym here, so I was truly starting from scratch. Also, people had tried personal training and group fitness classes here before and for whatever reason it hadn’t worked for them, so it was a real leap of faith.

2. How has your business developed over the last year?
Wow, it has been an amazing year. I have gone from a couple of personal training clients and some group fitness classes to being almost full as a trainer and running 8 x group fitness classes a week. I have also organised 2 x major fundraisers, implemented a kids active programme in the local primary school and started a walking/ running group and cycling groups.

3. Can you describe some of the ways that have helped you to become the local fitness icon of Waipu?
I guess it has to be all of question 2. Just getting involved in the community. Offering a good variety of options for people and sharing what I love to do.

4. What advice would you give trainers in the smaller towns in New Zealand to help them build great businesses?
Believe in yourself. Small towns are all about community, so get involved. Create opportunities, keep up to date with what is happening in the fitness industry (Get Active, FILEX, PT Plus etc) and get a good mentor.

5. You are a mother of 2 young lively kids, a wife and a business owner. How do you fit it all in?
Systems, systems and more systems. You have to plan your day, week, month etc. Making time or the big things and the little things. This helps to ensure you have a great balance. Have clear objectives and don’t be afraid to think big!

6. How have you found the experience of working with a PT Plus coach?
Life changing. Having a coach has given me and my business clear focus and direction. It has made me look at what is working in my business and what needs working on. But more importantly it has given me clear objectives that are achievable, challenging but achievable.

7. What can we expect from Smart Fitness and Sharon Carroll in the future?
To be a $100,000+ trainer. To keep making a difference in my community. To keep working on and not in my business, so that I have a great work/ life balance. To keep challenging myself and others to dream big, have fun and achieve the impossible!

How Holidays can change the way you do business - David Virgo

Wow 2.00am again and I’m still working on this damn website. Years ago this was the normal practice for a period of time in my business life. Or what I thought was a life. Website creation, hardcopy newsletters, articles, programs and even recording income and expenses to help me at tax time.

My downfall in hindsight was thinking I was the business and I should be doing it all. One big wakeup call I needed was watching my wife and kids head off to the USA for 3 weeks without me on a holiday. I will never forget the tears from the kids and my then 3 year old son’s words, “I will be strong and not cry Dad” as he walked into the boarding race.

Focusing on the business of fitness, like any other business is more than just delivering a product and taking money for that service, however once you take the cash you are a business. I think most of us get this. However what you might be struggling with is the fact that others can contribute to your business and relieve stress but most importantly leave you to work your strengths. Deleting urgent but not big picture tasks from your workload is vital for efficient time management and allowing you to focus on doing what you do best.

Analysing your current workload and seeing exactly what you are doing in your business will uncover some tasks that you are currently undertaking but don’t really enjoy. And if you are honest with yourself, someone could do it better in less time leaving you more freedom to do the things you enjoy and in turn earn more to pay for it anyway.

On reflection I lacked direction, purpose and was virtually physically tied up to my business. To get to the stage where your business allows you some freedom look at adding these three components to it.

1. Direction: Ask questions such as what do you want your business to provide for you (lifestyle, financial freedom, holidays, time) and plan for them.

2. Organisation: Get your strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, big picture and small picture tasks down on paper and see what you can delete to keep you directed and purposeful.

3. Belief: Having the belief that you are capable of achieving this will only come from getting direct and purposeful because it will allow you to physically see a way forward. Once you have the why out in the open seeing the how (organisation and strategy) will provide the belief.

Since waving my family goodbye to the USA I can gladly say we have all been overseas two times since and interstate once as a family. The business runs fine if not better without me around and I get to sit next to my son on the plane and listen to him let out a huge “YAHOO” as the plane accelerates furiously up into the air. I will never let my family go on holidays without me because of work or business ever again. That is freedom.

a goal without action is just a dream

I had the pleasure of presenting to personal trainers throughout New Zealand last month at Bisgro. In the session we spent a good amount of time developing our vision of what we want in the future for our business and our lifestyle. If you haven't done this exercise I would highly recommend that you go through this process. This article by Aaron Whear - my fellow PT Plus coach will provide a great place to start. If you were at Bisgro, or if you have set yourself some goals earlier in the year, can I ask what you've done about moving towards your vision since then?

Failure to get into action, as the title of this article says, turns goals into dreams. The reality is that will not get your goals by chance.

Goals are achieve by consistent action. Think of driving from Wellington to Auckland at night. You can only see a few hundred metres in front of you but you're always moving forwards towards your destination. If you focus and follow the road ahead you'll reach your destination. Breaking your big goals down into quarterly and monthly blocks will help you to put an achievable plan in place. Then break down each month into weekly targets and daily objectives. Take action each day to move yourself towards your goal. If you have a 'to do list' replace it with a 'must do list' each day. Check that the tasks on the list take you closer towards your goal.

This week - get focused on consistent action and check each day that your must do list is taking you towards your goal.

Dave Liow

guarantee success by getting truly rewarded

A recent spate of wealthy individuals sought after by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) for fraudulent activities have subsequently received severe penalties including jail time. Paying the price for success and receiving your reward brings forward the point of what is success and have you set a path of rewards.

Defining success is different for everyone and to judge your success according to someone's will set you up for failure. This was something I did constantly early in my business career and luckily I changed. Money is one of the measures of success however it won't drive you to be successful in the long term. Using money, as a motivation tool to success will cause a huge imbalance in whatever balance exists in your lifestyle. You only have to look at the fate of these very wealthy businessmen that the ATO caught. A question of motives and definition of success resulted in the ATO taking it all back from them.

Success can only be achieved when the balance between your giving and your receiving is equal. So in your case realizing your true worth as a fitnesspreneur will allow you to be rewarded handsomely in recognition for the value you are providing to your circle of influence. Think about it; transforming lives is such a valuable resource. Are you getting adequately in all aspects of your life for the difference you are making?

My point being if you aren't prepared to spend the time, effort and resources on creating, growing and sustaining a business that will allow you to give and receive in correct proportion to your true self worth you can't expect to deliver the goods to your members and ultimately achieve personal success yourself.

That is why part of the process for every budding fitnesspreneur that crosses our path seriously looking to be one of the Top 200 fitness professionals in WA is made aware of the BUT principles (email us for more information on these). This ensures you are the business owner are paying enough attention to yourself to allow the balance between giving and receiving is front of mind in any business decision.

To find out if you are receiving true value for the wonderful life transforming work you are doing ask yourself these three questions.

1. Am I prepared to do what it takes to be one of Western Australia's top 200 fitness professionals and never waiver from the vision?
2. Is my business supporting me as a person and allowing me to enjoy the activities and lifestyle I desire.
3. Is there any way you could entertain the thought that there is a better way to do things in your business that will allow you to have full control over your success and give you the freedom you desire in your lifestyle?

If yes was the response to these questions without thought or regard for the how or the what it would take to get there, you are in the right industry. Your challenge is now to strive for the balance that is needed between the giving of your value and the true reward for that giving. Our business support mechanism designed to assist you get this is there for you. You need to give adequately to get the rewards it offers, are you willing? Click here and read all about it.

David Virgo

the bed situation

Getting up out of bed of a morning can be one of two things:

1. A liberating experience
2. A total drag, especially on these frosty winter mornings

What determines the success of this early morning task is reviewing what you're getting up for? What situation, clients and income are you going to face at work? Is it stimulating exciting and challenging or energy sapping unrewarding and full of energy vampires? As a fitness professional 'getting up' is part of the job, it is a part of life. Jumping up and out of bed in anticipation of a stimulating and exciting day or is the scenario more 'i'm not quite sure whether I am looking forward to my day?'

If you aren't as excited about your day as you could be chances are you have created this situation.

The good news is that you don't have to live with it, should you choose to do something different. This is where you can make the choice to become a 'fitnesspreneur' or stay where you are as a regular personal trainer. The burden of 'having to do things' rather than having 'choices to do things' will help to determine the quality of your nights sleep and whether your rolling or jumping from bed of a morning.

Why have I focused on your day? Well I figure if we get you right, you can go about helping more people more often and that helps serve our mission of supporting 200 of Western Australia's leading personal trainers.

The first step to ensure you are excited when you get up in the morning is to plan a day full of inspiring and captivating tasks. These tasks must serve your personal mission and if you don't know what that is, now is the time to start bringing it to life. Carrying out mundane tasks that don't inspire your day isn't serving you well. Eventually it will resonate through to your clients who you are trying to inspire to a higher quality existence. I know by deleting the tasks that don't serve your businesses best interests and adding the tasks that will take you directly to where you want your business to be, is aligned with success. Yet so many business owners avoid implementing this simple concept. I know, I was in denial also for a few years.

Your business success or failure is determined by you. In fact the first thing I work with on any PT we support is you because you are the business. Check out these BUT principles. Assess yourself right now to see how your BUT principles measure up and how they will help you leap out of bed into more profitable relationships, clients and business outcomes.

B = business: are you happily implementing these things in your business?
*accounting
*website
*newletters
*sales
*staff
*systems
*business plans
*annual strategies
*budgeting

U = you: are these areas in your like taken into account and addressed to make sure you are at your best, healthy and consistently fulfilled?
*your health
*wealth creation
*your relationships
*hobbies and interests
*social abilities
*self development

T = technically: you have the skills and abilities to get the results you say you are going to provide to your clients.

Developing awareness around these areas in your business life may highlight what you aren't enjoying or aren't doing. Take it from an individual that literally fell out of bed with little motivation to now jumping out of bed at 5 every morning (even weekends) knowing that the day is going to be special and inspiring for me. By deleting the time wasting tasks and adding direction to your business, motivation will be at a high and so will your outcomes and income. Working on the BUT principles allowed me to start the changes, it has successfully worked for so many others and I now it will do the same for you.

David Virgo

great trainer, poor trainer - what's the difference?

What makes a great trainer so great, and others not so good? This was the discussion at our recent Million Dollar Mentoring Day event in Melbourne. The response below is from a room full of great trainers, putting together a guideline designed to lift the professionalism of the industry.

Great Personal Trainers do the following:
1. Client focus - as opposed to making it all about them (I eat only organic food and train 4 hours per day, can bench press 140kgs blah blah blah) great trainers make it relevant to the client. The great trainer genuinely wants to help their clients and displays a service ethic dedicated to the clients lifestyle and outcomes.

2. Consistency of service is high on importance to great trainers. One of the best techniques for building a strong business is referrals. By being consistent you get results and by getting results you get referrals. Clients want a consistent quality of service, this may include session start and finish on time, receive follow up calls to new clients etc.

3. Great trainers practice what they preach. They schedule time for workouts and set a good example for their clients in all parts of their life. They walk their talk and clients respect them for it.

4. Training sessions are result based, ie/ the trainer has taken the time to work out exactly what the clients goals are and have formulated a plan of action to get them there within an appropriate agreed time frame.

5. They offer a professional level of service, they are uniformed and they look after their own hygiene even when taking multiple sessions throughout the day! In addition they have adequate insurance, they screen clients for potential health issues, and they refer to other allied health professionals where appropriate. They keep appropriate records like old exercise programs and fitness evaluation and health screening data in an organised file easy to locate.

6. They ask lots of questions and actively listen for the response their clients give them and they then use that information to help refine the clients exercise program, nutrition and/or lifestyle choices.

7. Tough love is required to help people to better health. Great trainers keep clients accountable and sometimes need to hold the mirror up to their clients if they go off the rails or have 'that' conversation.

8. They are specialists rather than generalists. This means they choose to become an expoert in 1 to 3 target markets. They realise they cannot be everything to everybody and a jack of all trades but master of none.

9. Recognition of client achievement is high on their list. A great strategy many implement is to reinvest a percentage of what the client has paid them back into some sort of client appreciation event or activity.

10. They allocated exercise and nutrition homework to do between sessions and they educate the client to help them make healthier lifestyle decisions which leads to better results.

Poor trainers do the following:
1. Text or talk on mobile phones during sessions, indicating that the session is all about the trainer and their ego and not about the client and their needs.

2. They are often late to sessions and/or allow their sessions to run over time which results in inconvenience to clients.

3. They are poor communicators ie/ they often talk a lot about their favourite subject...themselves! They are tellers not askers and this is not a good recipe for adherence as the client must have their own goals as opposed to having a trainers one dimensional philosophy forced into their life.

4. They profess to be an expert in every single area of training possible - a strong giveaway is that their advertising material says they specialise in 'Weight Loss, Hypertrophy, Re-Hab, Sports Specific, Stretching, Pilates, Yoga, Pre & Post Natal, Children and the list goes on and on'. The relevant point being that a specialist refers to a small number of areas, ie/ between 1 and 3 NOT 33!

5. Often the poor trainers do not have a uniform, they are not well groomed and hygiene for some is sadly not a priority.

6. The summary being that for all of the reasons listed above they are unprofessional in many ways.

Here is a quick user guide to what makes a trainer great and what makes the others not so great. Great trainers value themselves and their clients, are consistent, professional, follow up clients outside of sessions, and walk their talk, while poor trainers do not. The only question that remains is where you will position yourself both in your own eyes as well as those of your client?

Aaron Whear

freedom or fugitive

which one are you planning for?

The statement is 'failing to plan is planning to fail' and I have heard it so much I initially struggled to use it here due to its extensive usage. However its relevance to today's fitness professional is high as the need to plan your business dealings is becoming more and more important.

Unfortunately you probably don't know any better as the traditional PT model is one of swapping time for money. It is only because I have been through the process and also didn't plan properly that I can confidently tell you that the traditional way isn't suitable, especially if lifestyle, freedom and fulfillment are high on your agenda.

Getting caught up in the, 'what am I going to do' and 'how am I going to achieve it' is great but there needs to be some order to your business. Prioritizing your duties is a great way to ensure you get the most important and valuable jobs done in the right order. You can't do it all so don't waste valuable time and energy trying. Initially planning to fill your diary with a certain number of sessions at a set rate will ensure a certain level of income. Once this has been achieved you can definitely start looking at outsourcing and handing off the tasks that aren't high on your favourites list.

Sticking with the failing to plan planning to fail theme; is part one of the process. To get your business to the stage where you have a solid foundation. Here are three simple steps to allow you to start this very important process. This is especially relevant to you now if you aren't currently earning $60,000 per annum.

1. Construct a very basic business plan that defines how you are are going to make your money. Be realistic here and set challenging yet achievable targets.
2. Put some tactics or strategies around how you are going to make this business plan work and generate that amount of money. These are your priority tasks and must be done before anything else.
3. Be accountable and check you have achieved these tactics every week. All the best laid plans are worthless unless action follows. If you want to increase your chances of achieving the revenue you want get a specialized coach to keep you accountable, limit your mistakes, minimize your risk and has an interest in your success.

It isn't rocket science but here is the catch. If you won't take these steps or get someone to help you take these steps you will struggle to find freedom, sustainability, fulfillment and long term business success. Remember the words 'failing to plan is planning to fail'. Fitnesspreneurs plan to succeed so if you want to join the fitnesspreneurs club it's time to start making plans.

David Virgo

getting clients

Like the muscles in a body builder's arms, a business that is not growing is in trouble. A growing business is a healthy business for all involved. It starts by identifying the kind of growth and the income you want to earn.

A typical PT works in the business delivering sessions (heads down - immediate work) as well as having to run the business in terms of looking after marketing and finance (heads up future goals work). If we simplify the process, to create a growing business there are only 3 steps to follow:

1. Get clients in front of you (generate leads)
2. Convert these leads into sales (have a sales process)
3. Retain these clients (keep them coming back)

If you analyse what your business needs the most - it's usually lead generation. This is not unique to personal training. I recently presented at a corporate function for RE/MAX Real Estate and Nick Thiele (RE/Max Australia Director) identified lead generation as most important area for growing a business. As a director of one of the world's fastest growing real estate businesses I took note.

Generating leads is getting more difficult for all businesses. Our potential customers are in hiding from being bombarded by the world of advertising. Low value advertising will not be noticed in a world that is bursting at the seams with ads in every direction that you look.

The key is become a valuable source of information and get to know your customers.

Consumers crave valuable information. To ensure that you have a community of customers that can help to build your business stay in touch by using these 3 tips:

1. Having a database - an obvious one that starts the momentum rolling. A database is your best business asset
2. Educate the database. Send regular articles/newsletters that contain valuable information. Understanding it is the information age people require more information than ever before so provide 80% content and 20% advertising. Build respect from your database by providing excellent information and advice
3. Get to know your clients by regularly keeping in contact with personal calls/emails. Business is about relationships. Look to turn your database list into a relationship list by getting to know your potential customers. Take the 'cold' out of cold calling by warming people up to who you are and what you do. Being consistent is king

Getting clients in front of you is an important step in growing your business. Backing this up with good systems, sales processes, and keeping existing clients is a great platform to launch your fitness career. The business builder course in Christchurch (June 12) or Auckland (June 19) is an event you'll want to be at to learn how to build your fitness career. This course only has 20 places available. Enrol now to secure your place by emailing newzealand@ptplus.com.au

Dave Liow

Are you in the top 200?

Are you in the top 200?

Are you one of New Zealand's top 200 trainers?

Here are the 10 top attributes of the trainers we're looking for?

Our 200 top trainers:

1. are passionate about the business of personal training
2. consistently strive to provide an exceptional experience for their clients
3. are clear about their future in the industry (have a vision)
4. have a personal mission
5. understand the need for self development
6. are committed to ongoing development of their business and technical skills
7. understand the concept of return on investment (ROI) to grow their business
8. are health and fitness role models
9. balance their work and lifestyle
10. are REPs registered

If these attributes resonate with you, here is your opportunity to join other New Zealand top trainers in an exclusive group as part of our business support program. 70 places have already been filled by members in our existing programs. Our New Zealand membership will be strictly capped at 200 members. These members will be offered a range of workshops, audios, books, forums and so much more as part of our business support program to boost their business and cement their standing as one of New Zealand's top 200 trainers. To start the ball rolling, memberships in May will receive complimentary entry to the next PT Plus workshop in Wellington (25th June), Christchurch (12th June), or Auckland (19th June) and ALL quarterly workshops in these centres over the next year. As an added bonus you will receive 24 interviews from the leaders in health and fitness sent via CD or podcast (worth $500) for sign ups in May.

Contact us now for more information and an application form to join our top 200.

Dave Liow

Build it for them and they will come

Having just returned from Australia's biggest fitness convention FILEX I had time on the flight home to gather my thoughts and reflect on a great experience. My first thought was the huge benefits and lessons associated with investing time, money and effort into spending time with industry leaders that ooze passion and are constantly seeking to inspire others.

The most prominent aspect I picked up from being in the same space of leaders in the health and fitness industry like Joe Cirulli, Grant Gamble, Andrew Simmons, Paul Taylor and Paul Brown was how much self development and work has gone into improving themselves. A common theme was that everyone of these leaders has struggled and failed more than once in their business life.

The underlying message from all of these very influential people is so simple yet so very under rated in the fitness industry. Create great relationships with your clients and your staff. When these relationships are created then go about inspiring your members and staff daily. At the end of the day memberships and personal training are wonderful tools to use in keeping people healthy and well but they are worthless unless you are building trust and rapport that retains them and allows the life changing benefits of physical activity.

Unfortunately the state of our health as a nation is telling us that collectively we still have a way to go before we, the health and fitness industry, can say we are inspiring Australians to better health and wellness. By building a solid business foundation you give yourself the freedom of focusing on the job of informing and empowering your target market as well as delivering on the technical side of your business. The three tips below are very effective and easily automated processes that allow you to deliver great information to your audience.

1. Create a newsletter that goes out to your database regularly on the problems of your target market. Inform and educate them, they need your knowledge.
2. Phone any contact that expresses any interest in improving their health and ask them what information or assistance they need to help and then deliver the solutions and some more.
3. Over deliver by giving more value. Don't prostitute your services by cutting prices; give so much more than you promised. We are about to get bombarded by cheap gym memberships, do you really want to compete with them?

If you do nothing else this year but work on building a rock solid business foundation and then incorporating these three tips into your fitness business you will be providing an extremely valuable service to the needy. Australians are looking for help to lose weight, fight diabetes and battle depression. So start getting your valuable message out there today, building trust and become an inspiration to your circle of influence.

For more information on building a solid business foundation click here.

David Virgo

the most effective way to utilize business cards

"Here's my business card why don't you give me a call and set up a time to come in and we can sit down and chat about your situation and get you losing weight the healthy way. It sounds like you are editing and losing muscle tissue which can be detrimental for your metabolism and your long term body weight stabilization"

This is a typical conversation that occurs in most gyms, BBQ's and social setting throughout Western Australia. This is how I started in my business and the use of business cards only to find that I went through stacks of them without getting a client. Then I changed my tactics and my results sky-rocketed! Let me share with you the most effective way to utilize your business card.

The first shift is in changing the traditional focus of handing out lots and lots of business cards. This process depends on the person you handed your business card, to get back to you. Secondly in a busy fast paced world people are having dozens of conversation everyday and the chance of them remembering you after 24 hours is minimal. In fact I don't have a business card anymore, I find picking up everyone else's and making a note on the card about our conversation a far more effective way of building business. Instead of giving out my card I always take the other persons and with permission email them some great information, like an article, interview or anything else relevant to their situation as well as add them to my database and put them on my newsletter list.

Now my approach to the initial scenario has changed a few degrees. Here's what I do now. So the typical conversation occurring throughout most social settings should now go more like this.

"It sounds like you may have gone about losing the weight in a way that might not have been quite as effective as it could have been. Give me your details and how about I send you some great tips on losing weight and keeping it off forever".

This process allows me to send information in return for their details. I also add to my best business asset, my database. Furthermore, the prospect and I feel comfortable in the follow up phone call because it is all about them and their weight loss as opposed to me trying to sell to them. I can then market to this person regularly via my email newsletter, ring him personally every month to see how his efforts are going and when he is ready he will utilize my services because I have kept in touch.

So next time you can see an opportunity why not offer to help out first before asking for the sale. This process is more effective than giving free sessions and consumes a lot less of your time, assuming follow up.

David Virgo

Discover how doing less can bring so much more to your business

Three years ago my mindset changed and so did the way I went about my business. My previous mindset of more is better didn't fit in with the healthy lifestyle I wanted to live as I felt my energy levels drop resulting in missing my own training sessions and poor nutrition.

For years I followed this aimless 'work harder' path only to lose the enjoyment of what I did. When I decided to get some professional, proven advice from someone who had been through what I had been through it became the catalyst for change to a lifestyle that allows me to travel and still have my business ticking over. The best place to start is in assessing where you currently are and then putting a strategy around how to free yourself from your business.

Analyzing your business will enable you to get a better understanding of what you are doing well and more importantly where you are deficient. As soon as you develop awareness around your deficiencies your efforts can then be directed at building a better business rather than putting out spot fires on a daily basis.

One of my glaring weaknesses was my involvement in the training side. It needed to be pulled back if I was to honor my perfect week and my strong values of family and health. So I put a strategy around removing myself from training clients; which was challenging as my business model was a boutique, semi personal training model. Clients liked my style and knowledge so my strategy was to bring someone in to train the clients with me and get them used to training under another trainer and literally handing them over to the new trainer.

What's my point? Freeing you up from personal training still allows money to be made but allows you to develop an expanded awareness around your business and highlight the amount of opportunities in the fitness business world waiting to be captured. Working on your business, staying accountable to a plan and honoring your own values are a proven success strategy that will never fail you.

The add, delete, multiply and delete model PT Plus follows will give you the opportunity to firstly identify what you are doing well as what is holding you back. It will highlight what you can multiply in your business to increase income, time, or whatever it is you desire as well as how dividing one small business aspect such as moving from a one to one training model to becoming a semi personal training model can increase the amount of people's lives you affect as well as increasing your hourly rate.

You and I live in an environment that is so conducive to health and wellness yet our population is getting sicker and sicker. Sun, warmth, lots of open spaces and a great economy are what we have in WA so getting your fitness businesses health in order will allow you to make a world of difference to so many lives, not to mention your own. Start working on your business today by requesting your very own business health check.

David Virgo

you are your business

As a PT you are your business. This fact determines how you operate and how to develop your business. Many of you that have attended PT Plus events would have heard us explain the BUT principle. As a quick recap, the BUT principle states that in order to have a successful PT business we must develop our skills in the following three areas:

B = Business

U = You and your personal life

T = Technical

In my experience PTs spend time developing their technical skills to the detriment of the business and personal side. The reason that we become PTs is usually that we enjoy exercise and the skills that allow us to do it, teach it and talk about it as professionals. In some cases I've seen trainers attend technical workshop after technical workshop in the belief that by improving their knowledge their failing business will miraculously turn around. The belief that improving your technical skills will generate you a large client base and a solid business is flawed! If you want to be a great technician (which I hope you do) you must study technical skills. If you want a great business, you need to develop your business skills.

The PT Plus Business Bootcamps we delivered throughout Australia and New Zealand had a large emphasis on personal development. Since you are your business, developing yourself = developing your business. As a coach, I've found that self development is the foundation to grow your business. Without belief, vision and purpose you won't get far. For those of you that attended our bootcamp you should definitely have clarity around your vision and mission.

What's the next step? Make a plan and action it! Drive yourself into action to achieve your vision/goals. This is a very difficult step for most folks. In my experience common responses are:

• Being overwhelmed and not knowing where to start
• Have great intentions but can't/won't put time aside to work on what is important to take their business to the next level
• Know it's important but decide it's too hard at the moment (and for months/years after)

Do you need help to develop your plan and create action? As a follow up offer form Business Bootcamp to help drive you into action we're offering a six month six figure group program to keep you accountable and in action towards your mission. This program starts on 15th March. Please email us at info@ptplus.com.au for the details of this program. * please note group only available to people in Queensland

Dave Liow

11 top tips for business success in 2010

1. Build a database. My opinion is that the health of your business is directly proportional to the size of your database. In fact Ryan Lee who was one of the pioneers of Internet marketing in the fitness industry has been quoted as saying words to the effect that 'you could take my millions (of dollars) away from me tomorrow - just leave me my database and I would create financial independence again in no time'. Your database should include your current clients, past clients, people who you would like to be your clients, potential joint venture partners, family, friends - anyone who has even the slightest interest in health and fitness or seeing you succeed. Once you have established a database then communicate with them regularly via a monthly newsletter, weekly health tip and/or special offers.

2. Personalise your service. This tip is all about adding value to current or potential clients whenever you can. It involves following up meetings or sessions with a personalised email with an article attached. It could be sending a gift to a client's place of work. The imagination is the limit with this tip.

3. Lead boxes. This lead generation tool has been around for a long time, however sometimes some of the old school methods are the best. Approach other business who service your ideal client such as health food stores, hairdressers, beauty therapists etc. The most effective way of forming a relationship with owners of these businesses is to offer to train them and/or their partner for free as well as to feature their services in your newsletter. If you go in with an attitude of 'what can I do for you' rather than the other way around then you give this strategy its best chance of success.

4. Referrals. IHRSA which is the largest Health Club membership body in the world suggest that 46% of new fitness business clients come from word of mouth referrals. Now obviously doing a great job with your clients will drive a percentage of referral business, however to put this on steroids you will want to start driving traffic more directly. One idea that I love is giving cash to clients who refer, eg/ you might give clients who refer a client who signs up for one of your packages $100 cash. If you know the lifetime value of your clients then you will know how much you can afford. Eg/ if your average client spends $200 per month with you and on average stays with you for 12 months then there lifetime value if $2400. Now that you are armed with this information it is a no brainer to offer $100 at the point of sale to receive $2400 in return.

5. Have a social element to your business. Having things such as client appreciation days will increase client loyalty which equates to more dollars for you. In addition social events can be a great lead in for inviting friends of clients to come along which is another obvious lead generation tactic.

6. Join an existing community. This could mean joining your local Business Networking International (BNI) Group, becoming involved with a local sporting club etc. The more exposure you have within your local community the greater your chances of attracting new clients.

7. Have an online presence. It is the year 2010 and if you don't have a website than I don't believe that you are serious about having a business! You really want to have your online presence optimised so that when a potential client searches Personal Trainers in your suburb that you appear on the first page in the search engines. In addition having a blog is a great tool to engage with existing or potential clients.

8. The power of 5. This is PT Plus speak for having joint partners. Ideally we believe you should have at least 5 other businesses that service your ideal client refer clients to you and vice versa. Typical businesses include allied health professionals such as Physio's, GPs, Massage Therapists, as well as other businesses like health food stores, beauty therapists, sport stores etc.

9. Meetings. A key performance indicator I use for Private Mentoring clients is to have 10 new business meetings per month. These meetings could be a no obligation health chat, through to a meeting with a potential Power of 5 joint venture partnership. As mentioned above under the 'personalise your service' tip follow up each of these meetings with an email and an article or download. This follow up will add credibility and differentiate you from other Personal Trainers.

10. Talk to 5 people every day. This strategy is one of the most powerful things you can do for your business. You can draw these people from your existing database, gym floor, potential power of 5 partner etc. The more you talk to people about your business the more it will grow. Try this tactic for 3 months and you will be blown away by the results.

11. Public speaking. This is one of the fastest ways of growing your business. Health and Fitness is very topical and there are many community groups and work places that would love to have someone come and give them good quality information. Once you have completed your presentation make sure you have a special offer for your services as well as the ability to capture the contact details of all attendees who will go onto your database for ongoing communication - see tip 1.

Aaron Whear

the missing link to come out of WAFIC

All in attendance would agree that WAFIC 2010 was a wonderful event and if you didn't go this year; you need to be there next year. From my perspective, all in attendance of the of the business seminars are set for a big business future. Why? By attending business events you invest in your business and future growth. If you fail to invest your time, action and resources into your business everything you have done up to now and will soon become outdated with the speed at which the way we do business moving faster than ever before.

In reviewing the PT Plus model of Add, Delete, Multiply and Divide I have identified a common denominator that is lacking from the majority of businesses that I was in contact with at WAFIC. By adding this simple concept to your business immediately, you will already be stamping your fitness business as superior to your competition. I want to share with you a simple technique I teach personal trainers keen on making the transformation to 'fitnesspreneur'.

If you don't want to do it or you don't enjoy a certain task in your business - systemise it. Medial tasks but vitally necessary to ongoing business are administration responsibilities. To allow you to easily add an admin assistant to your business you need systems for them to follow.

If you document a task a week that you do yourself, step by step you will soon have a file full of systems that you can pass onto anyone that enters your business to assist. If it is producing invoices, sending out thank you cards, adding people to an automatic debit program or posting articles to a website or blog. Take the time to document each step in simple, easy to understand steps so someone helping can pick it up easily.

If you are serious about growing and making your fitness business sustainable, creating systems must be a priority right now. Having holidays, attending WAFIC's and not becoming a slave to your business will all be available to you if you embrace the systems concept. Also if you are aiming to build your business up to sell, then systems will guarantee you a much better price because your business will be capable of running without you.

So hop to it Western Australian 'fitnesspreneurs' and start systemising your business.

David Virgo

Get system driven in 2010

In 2009 did you get any unwelcome challenges in your business? Here are the top 7 business challenges that came as a result of being in a health and fitness business and following are tips on how to avoid them.

* Missed tax payments resulting in fines by the taxation office
* Lost phone resulting in losing appointments and client contacts
* Double booking sessions on a regular basis
* Losing training plans and test results
* Forgetting to book testing and training rooms for important sessions
* Missing rent payments resulting in lost time in phone calls and explanation
* Missing client payments that were picked up months down the track

At best these challenges are annoying; at worst they can cause severe damage to your business, finances and mental state. However by becoming system orientated you will find that a lot of these challenges are completely avoidable by setting up the correct process to increasing productivity.

Now I realise that we don't live in an ordered, structured world where events happen like clock-work. Strange, unplanned, urgent events do come up. However, if they are coming up for you on a regular basis it's time to start developing some systems. When you get an unwelcome challenge, the key questions to ask yourself if "What system/process can I put in place so that this doesn't occur again?"

At a recent conference in New Zealand I attended a talk by Casey Conrad (founder of Healthy Inspirations club chain). One of her observations of world-class businesses is that they were all system-driven. Michael Gerber author of the E-Myth focuses on developing business systems to create businesses that can run without their owners. As a personal trainer the biggest challenge to running your business is that if you don't turn up you don't get paid. However, you can create a business that runs smoothly so you can spend your time on more important things, like family, friends, your health and fitness or watching a movie.

Here are some key systems to develop in your business and personal life.

*Personal Health Systems - the process of looking after you (because you ARE the business)
* Financial Systems - to track your profit, cash flow and targets
* Selling Systems - the process of converting leads into signing on the dotted line
* Marketing Systems - how will you generate the ongoing income you desire and avoid living week to week?

In 2010 the choice is yours. Continue doing what you've always done and hope that things turn out differently; or choose to make success happen this year by developing a systems-based business. The result is that you can free up more time, earn more and work less to have the lifestyle you deserve. However you need to create some action towards making this happen.

We have one-day Business Bootcamps running in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch on February 19, 20 and 21 2010 and a 6 week Business Booster course starting the week of January 25 2010.

I will be presenting a session on developing business systems specifically for personal trainers. To find out more about Business Bootcamp and various Business Booster programs email us and we'll send you more program information.

As health and fitness experts our expertise are in helping people achieve better health and fitness. As business owners we generally make hopeless system developers. I know because I stuffed it up for years and work with most of my business coaching clients in implementing systems to free up time. So stick to what you are good at but learn to leverage from the benefit of what systems create.

Dave Liow

Leverage Series - Part One

Take a step back from your busy life and check that you are doing all the things you enjoy. If you are not being fulfilled in life with enjoyment then you're missing one of the key survival factors to longevity and happiness and you will find your life to become unbalanced. Correct me if I am wrong but I am guessing your unbalance comes from work. In business if you neglect
The most important thing to you is work/life balance. How do I know this? In coaching health and fitness business I find it is the same thing I am working towards with most business owners. The problem with the work/life balance myth is that it doesn't exist. Who really works eight hours, sleeps eight hours and plays for eight hours. Especially if you are in business! There are times when you work more than play and visa versa. To go in search of work/life you are setting yourself up for failure. Consider the word 'integration' as a more productive way to get you closer to work/life balance where work and life are integrated into your day. The work/life integration model is more successful way to live your life, especially if you value your health, your family and enjoy your work. One of the factors to promoting a better lifestyle is creating leverage into your life. Over the coming weeks I want to offer some solutions to lifestyle challenges by exposing you to the concept of leverage.

Take a step back from your busy life and check that you are doing all the things you enjoy. If you are not being fulfilled in life with enjoyment then you're missing one of the key survival factors to longevity and happiness and you will find your life to become unbalanced. Correct me if I am wrong but I am guessing your unbalance comes from work. In business if you neglect balance in your life, you will find that you are always busy, flat out and lacking energy. I learnt the hard way, by developing a life threatening disease. Avoid times of un-lengthy balance in your lifestyle and don't make the same mistake I made.

How do we create balance?
Meet my great friend Leverage. A very powerful word that is great to have integrated in your life. It has assisted my life's transformation and my business coaching clients from complete chaos to organised chaos and if you feel like your business life is in chaos then study and implement leverage and watch what it can do for you. Leverage allows you to grow your business, increase income, give you more time for the important things in life; better performance and most importantly put some sort of balance in your lifestyle. Do you want to get your great message out to more people and positively influence? Do you want to earn more by doing less? Well jump aboard and take the journey into the world of Leverage. Let's go!

In the fitness industry the first point of call for leverage is to get involved in the game of the internet. Start with an internet registration and add an income producing website, a blog and a professional email address. These are necessities and non negotiable, without them you aren't in the game of leverage and set yourself for trying to build a business using 1980 style resources in the year 2010. It is a very hard game to win. From here there are a whole range of leverage tools that can be created. Such as database collection tools, information products, online services, complimentary gifts, sign up forms, payment forms and even offers to join you on Facebook and Twitter. I should also mention, selling advertising space, audio downloads and adding videos to your site.

As an industry we are fantastic at getting people healthy and fit however we are really hopeless at understanding the growing and confusing world of websites, internet and social networking. Typically it's all about sets and reps, which is only one element to being successful and remember there won't be many sets and reps in your bank balance if people don't know you exist. Online are where the world goes for information so you need to be playing in the online game. If you don't understand how to create revenue from this area then learn another important leverage lesson by outsourcing what you don't know and stick to your strengths.

As Scott Krywulycz, PT Plus CEO, reported on the 6 Figure Trainer Podcast program in December 80% of people look up medical issues online before going to a doctor. So you increase your chances of growing your business and getting better at building an online strategy by playing in the game. Of course you also understand the amount of leverage it will create as well.

Worksites also provide an ideal staff member who can talk and promote us day in and day out. A website will answer these prayers for you. It will work 24/7 without having a break; it won't judge anyone, call in sick or take holidays. You need a website working for you and this is only the tup of the iceberg as far as the leverage a website offers.

Get busy on your online strategy and while most people in the business of health and fitness are out there thinking about it you can be building something of significance by simply getting in the game. If you feel you need a bit more guidance in this area then I have 10 spots available to discuss these concepts to anyone who responds to info@ptplus.com.au with 'leverage tips' in the subject, and we can organise a business chat.

The tips you will be getting in this series of articles on Leverage will potentially save you 5-10 hours a week. So if you are truly serious about building a $100,000 plus per annum business and maintaining a lifestyle at the same time this is the place to be.

David Virgo

Do you know where your business is headed in 2010?

As the saying goes if we fail to plan then we plan to fail. With this in mind the importance of an Annual Strategy for a business becomes vital as it really is a road map for success which gives direction to the efforts of the business owner.

The way to start developing your annual strategy is to imagine it is Christmas Eve 2010 and to picture what it is that you have achieved in your business? This means visualising how much money you have earned. Making a list of the things you want in your business i.e. a new website, 2 corporate clients, deliver 5 workshops, have 10 outdoor group sessions and 20 one on one clients each week. The more measurable these things are the better. This process of starting with the end in mind is called reverse engineering.

Once you have 5-6 key measurables for the year then ask yourself why is it important to reach these goals? This means asking yourself what will it mean to earn X dollars? What does it represent to you? Keep going to the why? Eventually we want to come up with a single word. For example, hitting my financial goals each year is represented by the word CHOICE. The reason being that having a good income means that there are more choices available to me in terms of products or services I can purchase, the length and destination of holidays I can choose from, etc. What I am getting at here is that money is a lot like weight loss, in that I don't believe that people are motivated by actually losing weight - rather it is the benefits that losing weight represents like being more attractive, being able to play with kids, finding a partner, or fitting back into an old pair of jeans.

The next piece of the Annual Strategy puzzle is to brainstorm a meaningful reward to give yourself once you reach your goal and to visualise the satisfaction that comes with achievement. For example, when I hit my financial goals this year I will be taking my family on a 2 week holiday to Queensland and I will be well satisfied with my efforts for the year as I know that for me to achieve my goals I will have helped a number of fitness leaders achieve theirs.

One of the reasons that it is important to go through the whole Annual Strategy process is that when the inevitable ups and downs of the business occur you can refer back to what drives you and the rewards that hitting your business goals will bring. I recommend spending up to an hour each day around planning your time and efforts and then give each day your best effort. Look after your health and understand more is not always better in terms of hours spent working. You can be just as effective in 2 hours as 10 if you have the drive. Finally review each day and look at what was good, great and what can you do better. Using a journal is a great way to do this.

Once you have written up your Annual Strategy you should hang up in your office so that you see it everyday. I advise that you should read it everyday as it will slowly morph into your subconscious so that you live and breathe it.

Once the outcome of the Annual Strategy is determined then it should be broken down into bite size pieces. What this means is to set a quarterly strategy and then to break this down into monthly strategies and finally daily actions. You should develop strategies around income, expenditure, product development and personal development. It is really important to know your numbers and to track these ideally through a scorecard system and to keep the personal development process occurring as up-skilling can remove potential barriers to success. A really good ecample of a monthly strategy would be as follows:

This month I will earn $10,450. I will do this by completing 84 world-class PT sessions @ $100 per session and having enjoyable fun in testing my outdoor group participants and delivering 12 sessions @$150 per session. I will sell my e-book and audio download for $50 to 5 people this month. By earning this money this month I will serve my mission of creating a healthier population plus help to build one step closer to my annual goal. I will work hard on my sales skills by reading 'Killing the Sale by Todd Duncan. Further to this I am avoiding being broke and not having money to do what I want when I want. This will be a great month of business.

The Annual Strategy is then broken down into the monthly tactics which is where the rubber hits the road and you nail down specific outcomes that need to occur each month. Monthly tactics would be having 2-5 specific tactics for each revenue bucket and specific personal development actions.

Having coached so many fitness professionals through the Annual Strategy process I know it to be the most effective way of achieving what you are after from your business in 2010, so if you don't have a written Annual Strategy in place I implore you to start working on one today.

Aaron Whear