Do you remember when you first thought about running your own personal training business?

You head was full of images of happy clients, life-changing moments and days full of leading by example and getting paid handsomely for your efforts.  You knew that it was not going to be easy but you also thought that you had what it takes to be a success.

But as you got started, your concept of your ideal business started to drift further and further away…

• Clients started to cancel here and there.
• Your confidence took a few hits.
• Your vision started to drift off into the distance.
• You didn’t know how to re-focus and move forward.
• You started taking any sessions at any time (even if it meant working ridiculous hours).
• You stopped doing your finances because it was better not to know.
• You even had fleeting moments of regret that you had made the wrong career move.

You became a victim of your own business – you became the biggest loser (and not in a cool, lost heaps of weight and scored a sponsorship deal for a diet shake kinda way either).

Now all of these things may not have happened to you personally, but I will bet my left foot that you have experienced at least 2 or 3 three of these scenarios since starting your business.

But it’s not your fault right?

It’s the economy or the competition or the weather or the unreliable clients or blah, blah, bah. There always seems to be a way to neatly justify why successfully running your own business is not your responsibility – that you are simply victim of circumstance.

I DON”T BUY IT (and neither should you)…

And that is what I want to talk to you about today.

If you are done making excuses then today is the day you do something about it. It’s time to take your business by the horns, be accountable for it’s growth and having complete ownership over the process. I do understand that running your own business is a tough gig and that it can get overwhelming at times but it is crucially important that you place yourself in an environment for success.

What does that mean?

It means get the right people around you, develop your weaknesses, take regular actions, learn new skills regularly and be prepared to never give in to the bullshit blame, excuses and denial that you have previously fed yourself when challenged.

This needs to be a conscious choice to create change. Motivated by a time in your business life where you are so uncomfortable with your current situation that you know that massive action is called for.

And that you are ready to take that type of action…

Recently I have seen this exact process unfold with a few members of the my online coaching program, The PT Fight Club. Before becoming members, they had taken some pretty serious hits in their business and instead of retreating they decided to commit 100% to their business – no excuses accepted.

The results speak for themselves…

1. Within only 14 days of his $1 trial month, Shaune Irving from Crossfit Ipswich had increased his monthly income by $4500. By taking the content, putting it into action and being completly accountable with the follow up.
2.  Tulsa Tuapo from Amped Up Personal Training was sick of treating personal training like his part time gig, so he joined and added 11 new clients to his books in the first 3 weeks.

Both these guys knew that they had what it takes to make a success of their business but they simply needed a little nudge in the right direction. They made the choice, they took the action and now they reap the rewards.

What does this have to do with you?

Everything…

I originally put the PT Fight Club together so that fitness business owners could create an environment for success for themselves. Through education, accountability, connection and the occasional kick up the butt this program was built to help trainers who where ready to take action.

Now, 10 months later – nothing has changed (except for the amount of content you now get in the program).

Anyway, I am not going to take up your valuable time talking about how rad the program is. The bottom line is that it gets serious results with trainers who have had enough of battling it out alone.

Because I have no issue putting my money where my mouth is, I want to give you a complete test drive of the program for $1 (it’s normally $97 pm). So if you are done being a victim of your business, take back control and spend at least the next 30 days making a serious difference to your business.

Save $96 and join the PT Fight Club today

Now there may be lots of reasons why right now is not a good time to invest $1 into the development of your business – but I bet there are more reasons why you should.

Have an epic week and I look forward to being part of your environment for success,

Rick

P.S: If you are a current member of PT Fight Club, let the other know what you personally get out of being a member in the comments below…

Recently over at The PT Fight Club we have been doing a lot of work on what obstacles in your business traditionally hold you back from seeing the kind of growth you deserve. One of the hottest topics has been the fear of asking your personal training clients for referrals

fear is especially prevalent if you are a new trainer starting out because you are just building your own confidence in your service. I have previously written about Why Referrals Rock And How Any Trainer Can Get Them but one of the missing ingredients of that post was overcoming your fear of simply asking the question. I have spoken to a lot of trainers about this over the past month and while some of them say that the thought of asking someone for a referral just straight-out freaks them out; others feel like they have the confidence to ask but don’t really know what to say.

But before we even start to talk about overcoming fears and asking questions, I think it is important to ensure that your business is in the right shape to even be asking for personal training referrals. If you go back a couple of steps and actually think about WHY people refer, there are two main reasons (amongst many).

1. Logical: that your service get results, is high in value, well priced and appropriate for their goals.
2. Emotional: that they feel good about helping you, their friend will be well looked after and that they enjoy the experience in your business.

So as you can see, people don’t refer on logic alone and in the same breath they don’t refer on emotion alone. The two work hand in hand as the strongest determining factors when a client is considering a referral for your business. OK, that’s all good and well but what does it mean in the real world of running your business? It means that you have to put some bloody thought into the entirety of your business before you can expect referrals to flood through the door. Even when you overcome your fear of asking, if your other ducks are not in a row then the chances of a referral are heavily reduced. Here is my 5 step game plan to setting your business up for high referrals:

Step 1: Provide A High Value, Trusted Service

Lets start right form the start. Before you even consider asking any of your clients for a referral, your service must absolutely f-ing rock. I’m not talking about just going through the motions in your business here (you know, just rocking up to a session, doing your thing and leaving).

I am talking about providing a complete service that is 100% focused on the client both while they are in their session and while they are not training with you (where most of the damage is done). If you are delivering a half-arsed service there is a good chance your clients will not be getting the best results in the world.

So make sure you are continually focused on achieving the best results possible for every one of your clients (and please don’t think that your service simply ends when your session is over – go the extra mile and get the extra reward).

Step 2: Have Self-Belief

The thing about self-belief is that it is completely transparent. People can clearly see when you haven’t got it and they can equally see when you have. So it is essentially that you can say with unfaltering confidence…

“I believe that my service will get you the results you want”

Now if you don’t completely believe that. If you are not 100% sure that if they join your business and follow your instruction that they will get great results, then you are screwed. Call it faith or call it self-belief but the bottom line is that you must believe that you can successfully provide your service.

It you can’t – people can see straight through (and that emotional motivator of “referral trust” goes straight out the window).

Step 3: Don’t Let Your Ego Run Your Business

Can I be anymore ambiguous?

What I am referring to here is relationship between your ego and your fears.

Let me explain…

Normally when I ask personal trainers what they are scared about when asking for referrals, the response is that the person will say no (this is the same for normal sales as well). So the “no” brings on a feeling of rejection and their ego cops a couple of quick punches to the head. What I am suggesting here is to run your business as much like a business as you can.

Try to remove all of the ego-based emotional strings that come with putting yourself out there and just be methodical. Do the work, test the questions and refine the approach. A “no” is not a personal attack or rejection to you – it is someone saying that they do not feel comfortable referring someone to your business. Evaluate why, make changes and move forward rather than feeling sorry for yourself and your precious ego.

Step 4:  Operate With A Big Set Of Kahunas (aka Courage)

Now you can do all the planning and have the best service in the world, but if you NEVER pluck up enough courage (mixed with a solid dose of self-belief) to ask your clients for a referral then you may never get one.  Now the phrase “ask and you shall receive” is a little of the mark here but it’s more like “if you don’t ask you may never receive.”

Even if you are crap at asking for referrals, working on your courage to ask for them consistently over time is a skill worth developing. In 14 years of PT, I have never come across a client giving a negative response to someone asking for a referral. So keep sucking in the big ones and asking those questions.

It gets easier…

Step 5: Use A Well Planned Personal Training Referral Question

As you can see from this post, there are a number of different factors that contribute to your clients feeling comfortable referring their friends and family to your business. One of the most important is the actual questions that you ask face to face with your client and this is often the most daunting aspect.

In relation to scripts (sales, phone, referrals etc) I am big believer that the person who is using the script must feel comfortable delivering the content. It must sound and feel natural for that person as this will assist them in feeling comfortable in the delivery.

But scripts are used for a reason and that is to unsure that you (or your team) say the right thing, every time so it is important to find a mutual ground between what is right and what sounds natural. When asking for general referrals, this is the normal question I use:

“Who do you know that would really benefit from losing 5 kg’s (insert any result that your client has achieved) just like you have?”

The three cool things about this question…

1) You ask “who” do you know not “if” you know anyone – specific right from the start.

2) You focus the question on benefits for the prospective client.

3) You complement you client for achieving a specific goal – they feel a sense of achievement along with a sense of gratitude.

Don’t simply just sit down with your client after a session and say to them:

“Do you know anyone that would like to train with me?”

It’s unspecific and focused or your needs rather than the benefits of the prospective clients.  You will have a much bigger chance of a positive response using the first question.  But as I said earlier, if this question is not something you would normally say in conversation, simply use the same key points but adapt it to your natural style. And with that, Bobs your uncle and you have a 5 point game plan to overcome your fear of asking for referrals.

Waddayareckon?

Rick :-)

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, smiling personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches and runs a PT Fight Club teaching personal trainers how to fill their books but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read and would be up for some daily banter, you can check out his Facebook page.

Over the last couple of weeks, you may have heard me mention The PT Fight Club. Well today we are officially kicking-off and you can now see for yourself how this is going to change the way you do business.

This is definitely no run-of-the-mill business program so I wanted to quickly write to you today and explain why you shouldn’t join The PT Fight Club.

Is that strange? Normally I would be telling you why you should join…

But this is not for everyone, we have a strict set of rules and this club is specifically designed for a certain type of trainer – the action taker.

What Is The PT Fight Club

If you are not already familiar with the concept, PT Fight Club is an underground, private club for trainers who are are prepared to be pushed out of there comfort zone to get what they want.

It is a where you will receive high-level, no bullshit business information that gets serious results; it is where you will challenged to widen your current thinking and it is where you will learn the skills to empower others in your business… to LEAD.

You can find out heaps more over there: The Official PT Fight Club Website

What Will PT Fight Club Do For You (If You Let It)

As a fully-loaded member, you will receive a bite-sized business resource every week of every month (delivered to YOU). No more overwhelming information overload, getting lost in the noise and no more dodgy membership sites.

Check it out:

Week 1: You will receive a 15 page hard-copy newsletter deliver to your door. This resource is full of high-end content from me and other contributors like Matt Collins, Daran Pratt, Thor The Saleswarlord and Leela Cosgrove (amongst others). This newsletter is full of specific, no-bullshit actions for you to complete in your business so you can stop treading water.

“If” you implement what you learn in this newsletter every month you will see real growth in your business.

Week 2: You will get a video business coaching session from me to super-charge your business. These coaching sessions focus on finding your perfect niche, specialising your service, rocking offline and online marketing leads and maximising your sales (without using free sessions).

Once this is ticked off; we will be looking at developing your team, adding an online product to your business and showing you how to systemise and outsource.

“If” you implement what you learn in these coaching sessions every month, your business will kick some serious arse :-)

Week 3: In your mailbox, you will find a CD interview with a successful business owner. I will be drilling these kick-arse trainers about how they got themselves from solo start-up to now being a fitness entrepreneur. Warts and all stories that will go under the shiny cover of success and show you what it takes to make it – all for you to listen to in your car while you head to your next session or on the way to the gym.

“If” you implement even a couple of tips that you learn from this CD, you will see real growth in your business.

Week 4: To round of a big month, you will receive a “Whats Working Now” report where I will put together some of the best strategies and tips that are getting the best results for trainers. Why waste time messing around with what doesn’t work?

“If” you implement these simple strategies your business will DEFINITELY move forward with pace.

But You Shouldn’t Join The PT Fight Club If…

You want a magic bullet.

You are the magic bullet and at The PT Fight Club we will show you that.

50% of our time is spent providing you with great content to help you build your business and the other 50% is spent teaching you exactly how to overcome your business fears, how to drop the excuses and how to get out of your own way.

Because here, we believe that content and mindset go hand in hand when achieving amazing things.

But this is about you.

You need to be ready.

Ready to implement, ready to make change, ready to fight and really ready to make a big difference in your business.

If you are not ready, then you shouldn’t join – simple.

If you are content for things to stay as they are; for your business to remain a “hobby”; for your fears to continue to hold you back – then don’t join.

That’s the safe option.

But that’s why we have The PT Fight Club – to separate the action takers, the street-fighters, the serious trainers from the rest.

This is going to be fun.

Rick

P.S: I live PT Fight Club so of course I am going to make it extremely high value with a ridiculously low return on investment (ROI) and a killer guarantee. Why? Because I LOVE working with serious trainers – simple.

www.ptfightclub.com

Free sessions eh?

Most trainers seem happy to hand them out like they are candy, stating the amazing conversion rate as the contributing factor.

I don’t buy it and today I am going to show you exactly why including a free session as part of your sales process is doing more harm then good to your business.

Now before you jump onto your high-horse , gallantly defending the merits of a free session I want to fill you on why I have taken this position.

Results – plain and simple.

Trainers that possess the skills needed to convert a client without having to take them through a free session will sign more clients and they will do it quicker. This means that they will increase their cash-flow and decrease their workload.

So maybe it’s time to take fresh look at the comp session scenario then. Here are the four main reasons why free sessions are hurting your personal training business.

Reason 1. You are giving away your valuable time (or that of your team)

What you do every hour of every day is valuable. Right now (especially if you are new to the game) , you may not think that but at some stage you will eventually see that your time is very valuable. Not just the time that you spend with your clients in paid sessions, but also in the other hours of the day.

Even though you may think that you are doing the right thing by your potential client, but investing your time for free into a sale is simply de-valuing your service. The message that you are sending your client is one of insecurity:

I am not 100% confident that my service is the solution to you problem, so why don’t you come and see for yourself.

One thing that I believe in very strongly is that trainers must value themselves and their service – this includes their time.

Reason 2. It drags out the sales process

As I mentioned before, dropping the free session will not only make you more sales and increase your value, but it will speed up the process.

This is normally how how a sale with a free session pans out:

You are contacted by a prospective client -> you have a phone conversation -> maybe a face-to-face meeting -> they do a free session -> hopefully they sign on in your business.

So even if everything goes exactly to plan, this process (or one very similar) takes up a lot of your time and best case scenario from initial enquiry to sign up, the process will take between 2 -5 days.

Now if the client happens to cancel or reschedule the face-to-face or free session (or both), this time frame then drags out to over one week.This is a common occurrence with “free” bookings as they have no value.

If you have 5 leads coming in on the Monday, I would not want to wait til the following week to get them started in my business. There initial motivation wavers and the longer they get away from the time of initial enquiry, the harder the sale will be to make.

Reason 3. You are avoiding the valuable skill of learning to sell your service

Alright – lets cut the crap.

You offer free sessions because you don’t feel comfortable selling your service to your clients.

You have some sales fear and that’s OK – we have all been there but it doesn’t mean that shouldn’t do something to overcome it. Learning the skill of selling your service is paramount in your business (any business really) because you can’t spend your business life offering “free stuff” to convince people to buy.

For me, selling your service comes down to explicitly knowing your market (their pains, challenges and motivations) and then clearly being able to demonstrate how your service will solve these pains and challenges.

Like every important skill, there are aspects that need to be practiced and it is best to learn from someone who knows what they are talking about.

BUT – that does not mean that it should be something in your business that is to be avoided like one-legged jump squats. Sales is just like any other skill that you have learnt in your business and should be treated as such.

Note: You are only going to do something if is the desire to get better (make more sales, save time etc) is greater than the desire to remain comfortable doing what you are doing and getting the results you get right now.

Action or acceptance?

Reason 4. Because you are then the same as most other trainers

It is important to consider that just because it is universally accepted, that does not mean it is the easiest, quickest or most profitable way to go about converting a lead. I do understand how easy it is to fall into the trap of fallowing those before you.

Me, personally – I hate that shit.

I hate following the crowd, especially when you get a sub-standard result.

So yes, I am pushing you. I am challenging you to think outside of your little personal training box because I want you to be better.

I want you to be different.

I want you to value both your service and your time.

I want you to be able to move quickly and build your business fast.

I want you to stop struggling.

I know that some people will flat-out refuse to accept what I am saying here. I know that this may cause some sort of divide (check out the 69 different opinions on my Facebook page) with the personal training community.

You know what?

I don’t care, bring it on. This place needs to be shaken up a little anyway.

It is not my number one job to be friends with every person in this industry. My number one job is help serious trainers who are prepared to do what it takes to build their business – that’s who I care about.

That’s why I am getting so excited about The PT Fight Club.

Because it is going to be full of hard-core trainers who choose not to follow the pack and choose to build there business own there own terms. Trainers who have the guts to make things better, not accept what is.

Everyone at PT Fight Club will be taught exactly how to sell their service WITHOUT using free sessions. Quickly, effectively and by adding value, not taking it away. So you can make more sales, sell bigger packages and grow your business a shitload quicker then before.

To fully understand how the PT Fight Club works come April, the first step is to head over the Facebook page , LIKE it and leave a comment. This page will explain what is involved, the rules you must follow and whether of not it is for you.

For everyone else, I look forward to reading your comments defending your current sales process ;-)

Cheers

Rick

P.S: You know I love a healthy, well-measured debate so don’t hold back if you feel strongly about this topic.

This one simple question caused quite a shit-fight on my Facebook page last night but it made for some very interesting reading. At last count, we were up to 37 comments from a number of different people in all areas of the fitness industry (and even some from other industries).  Trainers, business owners, business coaches and even marketing and sales experts all had an opinion on this one simple question.

So why did I ask it?

I am going to be completely honest with you here.

I personally think  that personal training business owners spend WAY too much time during the week on activities that do not move their business forward. As this was just my opinion, I wanted to take it to the masses and see what everybody else thought (and I like stirring the pot every now and again).

Shit – did we get opinions from all angles….

Now I love that everyone had a slightly different opinion and that everybody chose to defend their personal opinion with such vigor.

Personally, I could not give a shit who is right or wrong in this debate. In fact, when I think about it there really is no right or wrong as it really comes down to the individual and their specific goals.

BUT…

The one thing that did excite me as this discussion continued to gain momentum was how defensive each person got of their individual stance on the topic.

• Trainers defend spending lots of time training because from their point of view it was a very important part of their service (or public perception of their service).

• Business owners defended the amount of time they spent on their business over training because that was their biggest priority.

• Business coaches spoke passionately (ok, we defended as well) about the importance of working on your business to achieve your big picture business goals (regardless of how good your guns looked).

Before you scroll to the comments section and start abusing me, let me clear the air a little.

Yes, it is VERY important that you look after your body because it is your tool and without it your business will probably stop. But a healthy body IS NOT a direct correlation to a healthy business.

Period.

Ok – let’s get back to my point from before….

After waking up this morning and reviewing the entire thread, the one thing that really jumped out at me was how much people identified with their roles and couldn’t (or wouldn’t) open their scope a little.

Trainers think like trainers,

Business owners think like business owners and

Business coaches think like business coaches.

Therefore no opinion was actually incorrect, they just didn’t align with the opinions of other people from a different category (or collection of experiences).

This to me is very interesting.

Who do you think like?

A trainer, a business owner or a business coach…

Because I think what this is touching on is one of the fundamental values in life that some people happily ignore (denial is not a river… boom boom).

Our thoughts and our actions create our outcomes.

I will say it again because it is bloody important…

Our thoughts and our actions create our outcomes.

NOTHING ELSE – not one thing. Luck is bullshit (ask anyone who plays lotto) and you get back what you put out.

So I ask you again, are you predominately thinking like a trainer, a business owner or a business coach?

Trainers think about training, business owners think about their business and business coaches think big.

Limiting your thoughts and actions based on what you know right now can be a dangerous practice.

Trust me – I know first hand.

At the start of the year, I was thinking like a run of the mill business owner. Happily rolling along in my comfort zone, working within my means and maintaining and happy level of mediocrity. This started to shit me like you would not believe. I knew that I had so much more in me, so much more I could bring to my clients but I just wasn’t sure how.

I was thinking like a frustrated business owner; closed, restricted, fearful, cautious.

So I made the decision to upgrade my thinking from frustrated business owner to motivated business coach – to widen my perception of what I am truly possible of achieving. To operate without fear.

Holy shit, I was going to need some help with this one…

After much searching, I found Gulliver Giles (AKA Thor The Sales Worlord) and I chose to work with him because he has a history of massive success. Plain and simple. No bullshit, no hand holding – just massive results and that is what I want in a coach.

So from day one, this guy confronted me, he challenged me, he wouldn’t except my shit excuses and he changed my thought patterns from “business owner” to “business coach” in a matter of weeks.

I now operate without fear, I now think big and I now get serious results.

But this is not an advertisement for business coaching, but more to demonstrate how you can trap yourself in your identity. How your perception of who you are and what you do can severely limit the progress of your business.

I know you may be sitting there reading this and thinking that you are happy with who you are and what you are currently doing (and getting back in return). If that is the case – awesome, I am stoked for you and keep up the good work.

But if you feel like you have more in you, if you feel like have places to go but are not really sure how to get there – all I ask is that you don’t let your current identity hold you back. Don’t let your ego and your stubbornness get in the way of a serious life goal.

I have been a trainer, I have been a business owner and I am now a business coach. At each level, I had no idea how I was going to be successful at the next stage. I just had some belief and asked someone who was.

Like Tyler Durden said:

You’re not your job, you’re not the car you drive, you’re not how much money you

have in the bank and you’re not your fucking khakis…

So if your current identity is owning you and limiting where you want to go – then go and do something about it.

Either way, I’m off to work on my guns….

Rick :-)

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, smiling personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches and runs a kick-arse business building program for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read and would be up for some daily banter, you can check out his Facebook page.

Harsh headline? Yes. Out of order? Hell no.

Let me clarify by saying that this post is all about stopping procrastination or avoidance and actually ramping up the cash flow in your business. Facebook just happens to be the procrastination weapon of choice for a lot of trainers (and I knew it would get your attention).

I have a few theories on this that I want to run by you…

Theory #1: Stressed Business Owners Hide In Busyness

When a fitness business owner (or any business owner really) finds themselves at a stage in their business where they feel over-whelmed, lost and just generally un-sure of what to do next they bury themselves in bullshit busyness.

It’s the “I’m so busy” justification.  You know the one? When you are actually doing everything that you can to avoid all of areas of the business that you should be working on but may not rock at (marketing, sales, building relationships in your community etc).

But deep down you know what you should be focusing on and you know that you are procrastinating and avoiding it. I hear ya – I used to be EXACTLY the same. It sucks and feel’s like you are trapped in a sea of inaction (even though you are so busy and getting more and more exhausted).

Theory #2:  You Got Into Business To Make Money

Yes, as trainers we all have an element of altruistic good in us where we want the world to be a fitter, skinnier and healthier place. I get that and I even have a very strong sense of that myself – making the world a healthier place is a VERY cool job but only if it is also improving your quality of life at the same time.

To do that you need money – period.

So ensuring that your business makes some serious cash, that goal should be at the front of your mind on a daily basis. Now I don’t want to get all Donald Trump on you here but for me it is a simple equation. More money equals more free time to do whatever the hell I want.

When you started your business; you had a goal, a vision, an outcome – whatever you want to call it, you had a plan. An idea of how much money you where going to make and how good life would be once you got there. But since then, you may have discovered that running a fitness business is not as easy as you thought and you find yourself settling for less then you initially wanted.

Losing confidence is a bitch right?

In the same way that you get amazing results with your clients; using motivation, leadership and consistent and disciplined action – you are now going to use the same qualities to stop avoiding, stop procrastinating and start making some serious money in your business.

Here’s the plan…

1. Make a list of “money-making” activities

This list may consist of generating new leads, implementing a price rise, improving your sales process, following up old clients – whatever it is, the end result must mean more money in your bank account.  Just to clarify – spending a measured amount of time in a strategic manner  on Facebook is an awesome way to build you business and make money (last Friday I made $600 from Facebook between coaching sessions).

Playing Farmville and recalling how awesome last Saturday nights party was with your mates is probably not going to make you too much cash. So feel free to add Facebook to your “money making” activities as long as you have a solid game plan.

If you are stuck on money making activities, call me on 0433815245 and I will spend 5 minutes setting some out for you (simple actions = big results).

2. Spend the first two hours of every day making money

After you get back into the office from your morning sessions, don’t check you email, your twitter account, your facebook page – your ego can wait. Review your list and spend the first two hours of your office time in lock-down, focusing on being highly productive on only the tasks that make you money.

Take a ten minute relaxation break at the end of each hour but then get back in your “money making” bubble and confront the tasks that you would normally avoid but bring home the bacon.

3. Record your results in dollar figures on a daily basis.

Every money making activity has a purpose and that purpose is associated with a end-point sale. Depending on how you have structured your business will depending on how much each sale is worth to your business, but for each day record the total dollar figure in sales.

Once you start to get a record of how much actual money you are making in your business on a daily basis, keep working smarter to increase that daily amount in your “money-making” time.

4. A clean house is important but paying the mortgage off in 5 years is more fun.

Can I be anymore cryptic? Alright, what I am getting at here is that I understand that there are roles in your business that you must do to keep the service running smoothly (let’s call it housekeeping). But my point is that writing sessions plans, getting new business cards and changing your phone plan are all important AFTER you have spent your two hours making money for the day.

Leads, sales, up-sells, referrals, joint ventures – this is where you make your money. Not getting a new phone plan or faffing around on Facebook.

If you still feel like there are a few pieces of the time management and money making puzzle missing for you,  get your hands on my No B.S Business Plan and start acting. I am watching trainers kill it every day, why shouldn’t it be you?

Rick

P.S: I would love to get your thoughts on Facebook as a tool of avoidance, so hit up the comments section and voice your opinion.

DISCLAIMER: Any time spent on the PT Business In A Box Facebook Page is obviously extremely beneficial to your business development, will make you run faster and increase you IQ dramatically (this may or may not be true).

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, smiling personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches and runs a kick-arse business building program for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read and would be up for some daily banter, you can follow him on Twitter @ptbusiness or check out his Facebook page.

Welcome back to the first business builder interview for 2011 and to start the year off with a bang, I wanted to interview someone who has created a serious lifestyle from the fitness industry.

His name is Daran Pratt and he takes shit from no one (that’s why I like him). He has been in the industry for a long time, he just sold his awesome training business for a bunch of cash, he’s also a renowned motivational speaker with an awesome story to tell.

Check it out…

1) Daran, can you tell me the story of how you got started as a personal trainer?

I got started as a trainer because of my background in fighting and martial arts, throughout my life, when things were tough I always had that to fall back on. I saw fitness and martial arts changing peoples lives and I wanted to be a part of it.

2) What motivated you to start your own business, and what where the three biggest mistakes you made in the early days?

I was motivated to start my business by default really. I was managing a local Karate studio, teaching kickboxing, and we had a falling out. I left and all my students and clients started ringing me asking if I was going to set up a school of my own.

I took my last $600, bought some rubber mats and focus mitts, started running kickboxing classes in my garage and got swamped by people. I needed more space and I had to choose to start doing this as a serious thing, so I applied for the NEIS scheme and got accepted. The people from NEIS put me through Cert 4 in business management, I made a business plan and submitted it to the “panel of experts” who told me my business was doomed to fail.

The 3 biggest mistakes I made in the early days were undervaluing myself, working too many hours and trying to please everyone all the time. Also, starting a business with no capital made things harder than it should have been, and these were all valuable lessons but I wouldn’t change anything if I had to do it again.

I think that undervaluing ourselves as trainers and trying to be everything to everyone all the time are very common mistakes in the industry, and probably the reason why the burn out rate is so high.

3) OK, moving forward to the present, what does your business look like today?

Today, ironically, my business looks like some one elses…hahaha! I signed the contracts to sell my gym this afternoon, so I can focus on my new passion, which is public speaking and performance life coaching. After 3 years the business was servicing more than 320 people, running more than 50 group sessions a week and employing 9 trainers. It also caters to around 70 PT sessions per week. Annual turnover for the gym was around 600K just before I sold it… so I would say that the “experts” who predicted a failure weren’t so good at telling the future.

4) Now after selling your business, you can look at the personal training with a different perspective, what do you consider the most important elements of running a successful business?

Now that I understand personal training as a business, I think the most important thing to consider when running a PT business is to know very clearly what you want from it – is your business really a business or is it a full time hobby? What I mean by that is, are you working more than 40 hours a week and bringing home less than you would packing shelves at Coles? If you are than you have a full time hobby. You really need to stop and ask yourself what you want to achieve, set some goals that move you towards getting off the gym floor and able to work more on your business.

That means educating yourself, doing personal development courses to expose your limiting beliefs and most importantly getting yourself a coach. One word of warning here though, choose your coach carefully! There are a lot of “PT Coaches” on Facebook and everywhere else, claiming to be this and that. Get yourself a coach who has built a business from scratch – not one who just got their qualifications, worked at some McFitness centre with a massive database for six months and now call themselves an “expert”.

When choosing a coach ask questions like how many people are on your database, how long did it take to build that database, what was the most successful marketing campaign you ran (dollars out compared to dollars in), what is the longest term client you have, how much is each client worth to your business per annum. If they aren’t prepared to tell you these things then walk away. Incedently, my most successful marketing campaign was the “Save My Summer” package. That was one email and a website (http://savemysummer.weebly.com) that took me 2 hours to build and netted me over 12k in 36 hours.

5) That’s really good advice. Now where do you see the fitness industry heading over the next five years?

I see the fitness industry becoming really fragmented over the next 5 years. The really good personal trainers will start to understand how valuable they really are, and the fly-by-nighters will disappear. I see the industry becoming more and more regulated, which is good and bad, and I also think that outdoor training will start to be noticed by councils and seen as way to increase revenue – so be prepared for big licensing fees.

6) You’re moving into a slightly different area of the fitness industry with your no-bullshit approach. Can you tell me about that?

Yeah, now that I have sold the gym I am opening myself up to take on a limited number of performance life coaching clients. I only want to work with people who are willing to put aside their bullshit excuses for mediocrity, get out of their comfort zones and take massive action to achieve massive things. I still teach the Cert 3 / Cert 4 course for AIPT, and I’m about to leave on a national public speaking tour to promote my book so my time is limited, hence the reason I only want to work with motivated people.

—–

As you can see, Daran is my kinda guy because he has worked hard to find out what works and what doesn’t in his business. Then he just does what works consistently, and with discipline. If you are interested in either his motivational seminars or coaching program, you can call Daran direct on 0432 183138 or email him via his website On The Path.

Cheers
Rick


About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, smiling personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches and runs a kick-arse business building program for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read and would be up for some daily banter, you can follow him on Twitter @ptbusiness or check out his Facebook page.

Strap yourself in because today you are going to leave this post with the everything you need to fail-proof your personal training business and make 2011 the year you REALLY got your game on.

The reason I want to lay this out for you is because there is one stat in our industry that still manages to fire me up more than anything else:

Four out of five personal trainers will be out of business within the next two years.

Ouch – that hurts!

Now there are number of different reasons for this massive attrition rate and I don’t want to go around pointing fingers because that’s not really my thing. Instead, I would like to look at the reality of the situation and educate you on how you can be the trainer that not only survives the two year mark but also builds an awesome business and lifestyle in the process.

Because in all reality, if nothing is done and you keep doing what everyone else does, there is a massive chance your business will not be here in two years.

That sucks so lets go do something about it….

Over the past 13 years of running personal training businesses, I have established that to have a kick-arse business you don’t have to re-invent the wheel or be a rocket scientist (hey, I’m living proof of that). Business is simple if you have a few basic rules to follow and that is exactly what I want to walk you through today.

Rule #1: Attitude Is Everything

I am not going to go too deep into this because we spoke a lot about this recently in How To Create Massive Success: Part 1 and Part 2.

BUT, let me explain how I see it from my perspective….

I get to chat to a fair few trainers when they contact me for advice and within ten minutes I can easily place each trainer into one of two categories:

1. They want a successful business so badly that they will do WHATEVER IT TAKES to make it happen. Passion, determination and commitment oozes from every word – OR…
2. They want a successful business but are happy to go back to (insert crap job here) if things don’t “work out”.

For some people failure is not an option (and I’m talking long-term failure, not little speed humps) and for others it is their default setting.

This is an attitude, not a destiny. So either toughen it up or get back on the gym floor wiping down machines.

Rule #2: Specialise Your Service So You Are The “Go-To” Expert In The Community

You may be thinking that this rule is absolute crap because if you specialise, then you are limiting your service to all the other potential clients out. Hey, I hear ya – I used to think exactly the same thing but now I see focused businesses absolutely killing it on a daily basis.

To drill this rule, you need to have a very clear picture of who your target market (or perfect client) is and the challenges that they face. Then your service needs to be completely focused on meeting and exceeding their unique needs so that they achieve amazing results and your business feels like it was made for them.

Once this is in place, you will be completely different from the competition and you can go about letting everyone in your local community (especially your target market) know exactly why.

So by specialising, you can focus your marketing, your service, your results and your expert status in the local community.

Do it!

Rule #3: Make More Money With Pricing Packages and Simple Systems

News flash: Selling ten packs of personal training is an out-dated and in-effective method of selling your service. Implementing a range (2-3) of pricing packages that vary in both cost and the amount of value you provide is a much better alternative.

You can have your clients pay for these via a weekly direct debit, it is easier to up-sell and you can escape the “charge-by-the-hour” mentality.  They also give you the ability to create a premium service and get paid accordingly.

Business systems on the other hand are like going to the dentist. You know they are good for you but many people never get around to doing it.  By developing systems in your business, you have the ability to remove yourself from the day to day jobs, bring staff in and do some serious building with your free time.

Rule #4: Market With A Plan and Market To Your People

Getting clients is without a doubt the #1 issue for most personal trainers so it deserves some serious attention. Now that you have a specialist service focused towards a certain area of the community, you can pin-point every one of your marketing strategies.

That is a good start.

Now to ensure that you have a consistent flow of qualified leads coming into your business, I always recommend having a marketing plan with at least 6 offline and 6 online strategies that all work together through-out the year (I will give you more information on this in a sec).

In our industry, client attrition is a fact of life so it is essential that you are ALWAYS marketing. Do not just slap up a strategy when you begin to get a little short on cash.

Rule #5: Get Amazing Results and Build Your Tribe

In the current state of the industry, I think that business owners spend WAAAAY too much time focusing on getting new clients and not enough time building the asset they already have. Now I’m not saying stop marketing and just look after your clients because that’s like shooting yourself in the foot.

But I am saying that you need to spend at least the equivalent amount  of time focusing on providing a kick-arse service and going the extra mile to build your tribe of loyal clients.

Just being a good training is not enough – you have to run an exceptional business that provides your clients with a service experience. This

Rule #6: Go Big

After completing rules 1 to 5, you are now ready to take your business to the next level.

You will have a serious core group of loyal clients, an awesome and consistent cash-flow and you will be highly respected as a fitness expert in your local community.

That all sounds cool but now lets take it up a notch.

You have built a serious business that has an awesome turn-over but there is a good chance that it is all reliant on one thing – YOU. Even if you love personal training more than life itself, I am not sure you will want to be doing 50 hours of it a week for the next 15 years so lets GO BIG and remove you from the floor at the same time.

The three most effective ways I have found to achieve this are:

1. Build a team of loyal staff,
2. Develop additional income streams (new services, packages and joint ventures)
3. Create and sell an on-line product for your business.

Going big is really fun and after your get the rest of your ducks in a row, systemise everything and start to get more of your team doing the daily tasks – you will have the time and the head-space to really drive your business where it deserves to go.

Let’s Talk Solutions…

Ok, so all this stuff sounds great in theory but when it comes to fail-proofing your business, the real beauty is in the detail. What you really need is a guidebook to follow which comprehensively explains how to step through each of the 6 rules and a list of practical actions to help you reach each one.

Funnily enough, that is exactly what I have spent the last six months putting together.

It comes in the shape of a new program called How To Rock Your PT Business and it will show you exactly how to take your business to the next level and more. Not only is it a complete blue-print for all of the rules we have spoken about today, but I have also interviewed some of the fitness industries most kick-arse business owners and entrepreneurs as part of the program.

Matt Collins, Trav Bell, Richard Marc, Kel Sanders, Ben London and Pete Tansley have all given amazing  interviews covering a specific area of your business.

No bullshit, no egos – just real, solid information brought to you from real business owners who know how to run a serious personal training business. That’s just the way I like it :-)

So check out the program and to find out how your can seriously fail-proof your personal training business, click here:

rockyourptbusiness.com

I can’t wait to hear about your success,

Rick :-)

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, smiling personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches and writes books for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read and would be up for some daily banter, you can follow him on Twitter @ptbusiness or check out his Facebook page.

So as they year rapidly draws to a close, we tend to reflect back on what we have achieved over the past eleven and a half months and start to think about what we are going to do differently next year.

With new lessons learnt, we all tend to set new goals – raise the bar and head into the New Year a head full of good intentions and committed actions.

Or do we?

Today, I am rolling out my end-of-year competition with the primary focus of getting you thinking about WHY next year is going to be bigger than 2010. Because even though you may be on the brink of burn-out and really looking forward to your break, it is essential that you start January with a little bit serious idea of where you are going.

So I decided to run a competition to get you thinking about this and to publicly state why you are going to GO BIG in 2011, allowing you to commit to the process before the end of the year wraps up and you drop back into 2nd gear.

BUT

For one outstanding response (and when I say outstanding I don’t necessarily mean the most comprehensive game plan, it could be the most passionate or someone who has clearly established their purpose), they will win the competition and be the first official person to have access to my new program How To Rock Your PT Business which will be available in January.

Without going into too much detail here, How To Rock Your PT Business is a step by step, action-based program that educates you on building a rocking business around YOU and your strengths; no cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all bullshit here. Just rock-solid information that works, with an understanding that we are all different.

The program also includes an interview series with 6 of Australia’s most kick-arse fitness entrepreneurs (Richard Marc, Trav Bell, Kellie Sanders, Pete Tansley, Ben London and Matt Collins) and the result is over 5 hours of down-loadable gold.

So while I am not going to rabbit on about the prize too much, just let me say that the 85 collective years of personal training experience that you get your hands on in this program WILL change your business in 2011.  Period.

What You Need To Do To Win…

Alright… to get your hands on the prize all you have to do is answer these two simple questions in the comments section of this post (and don’t forget add your name and email to the comment so I can contact you if you win):

1. What was your biggest win for 2010 and why was it so important to you?
2. Why is your business going to ROCK in 2011?

So hit up the comments section with your answers and as I said before, it may not the most strategic or highest achieving answers that win so just tell me your story and your plans for next year and lets get this ball in motion.

Keep an eye out for my entry, it will definitely surprise you ;-)

Good luck…

Rick

P.S: I will announce the prize in next Thursdays post (the 23rd), so get your answers in and feel free to share this with any other trainers using the buttons below.

P.P.S: If you are one of my email subscribers, you can click here to enter the comp…

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, smiling personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches and writes books for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read and would be up for some daily banter, you can follow him on Twitter @ptbusiness or check out his Facebook page.

How much thought do you actually put into your business model?

It is a really important question to consider as we roll into the end of the year because your business model is your vehicle and if that vehicle can’t take you where you need to go then it may be time to “Pimp Your Ride”

Now I understand that you are a personal trainer and as a personal trainer you provide personal training (hence the name). That is not a business model.

Getting paid per hour to trainer clients is not a business model it is a job and one with quite a few flaws so before we have a look at how to Pimp Your Ride, it is probably worth checking in to see if your business needs the “once-over.”

You Know Your Business Model Sucks When….

1. You do 50 hours of PT per week and are not making a profit.
2. You freak out every time a client leaves your business.
3. Taking Christmas holidays are more of a stress than a celebration.
4. You find it hard to get the leverage you need to really grow and make life easier.
5. After 12 months, you start wondering how long you can keep it up.

Hey, don’t take it personally.  It’s not you – it’s your business model.

A lot of the time it is simply a case of doing all the right things with the wrong business model (reminds me of a girl I used to date). No matter how hard you try with your current structure, the cards are stacked against you and it is going to be an up-hill battle.

7 Simple Ways To Make It Better

Just as each individual business is unique, each business model should also be shaped to meet the goals of that business. So while it is not as simple as showing you a few cardboard cut-out business models that you can take your pick from, I can provide you with a list of important aspects that all contribute to having a better business model.

You can then pick and choose which ones are appropriate or you can just do them all:

1) Have A Sick Marketing Plan

Take some time and put together a collection of offline and online marketing strategies for your business. You can read a bunch of info about this on the blog (for example, here and here and here). Or you could not do this and hope clients fall from the sky – your choice.

2) Remove As Many Barriers As You Can For Potential Clients

Whether it be through the opt-in on your website or through a massive value / low cost initial offer (eg: a week of PT and a 30 min massage for $17), make experiencing your service for the first time a low-cost, low-risk scenario. Focus on the experience and move them from there…

3) Have A Path You Want Your Clients To Follow

Create a variety of different levels of service that you want your clients to progress through.

An example of this would be:

Facebook Promotion on Fanpage -> Low Cost Offer -> Basic PT Pack -> Premium PT Pack -> Premium Pack+ Group 8 Week Challenge.

So they have moved from being a fan on your FB page, to initially spending $17 and finally spending $347 per month ongoing. Not everyone will follow the exact path you set out but it is important to have it there for the majority who will.

4) Split Your Training Service Into A Premium and Basic Package

The world is a funny place. No matter what the circumstance, some people always buy the premium option and some people will always buy the basic option. So only having one training package for everyone is leaving a bunch of money on the table and not meeting the needs of your entire client base.

5) Systemise Your Up-Selling Process

Up-selling is making encouraging your client to spend more in your business then what they are currently spending. It can take a few different forms but most commonly it is done through adding extra weekly sessions, additional new clients (referrals) and extra sessions or by simply moving them up to your next level of service.

By creating a simple up-sell script and then being consistent with the time of delivery (after assessments is one the best times to implement), you will make sure your clients doing one session a week are a thing of the past.

6) Run Regular 8 or 12 Week Challenges

This is again focused on increasing the average spending of your current clients but also provides them with a specific, time-based service that they can participate in as an addition to their current training. Shaping these challenges to the specific needs of your clients can really hit the mark. For example:

“Lose The Last 5 Weight Loss Challenge”

“Kids School Holiday Boot Camp Challenge”

“Busy Bodies Lunch Time Challenge”

7) Sell An Online Product To Compliment Your Business

If regularly amazes me when I hear trainers say “Oh, I could never do that..” when I start talking about putting together an online product. Too many people take for granted a) the information that they use on a daily basis and b) the very real need of other people out there to have that information.

The most successful online products solve a specific problem with a specific, clearly outlined solution. So take some time to think about the greatest pains of your target market and create a helpful resource. This is a do the work once and get paid many times scenario so it is definitely worth adding this to your business arsenal (also wicked for your credibility and authority).

A Treadmill Or A Ramp?

So when it all comes down to it, your business model is either a treadmill or a ramp.

A ramp leads to a bigger and bigger business. A treadmill leads to more of the same and a plateau of sales (even if you have a cool, commercial-grade treadmill  the best you will do is a gentle incline and that doesn’t get you much further).

A ramp gets you to the next level. A treadmill doesn’t.

So are you actively building a ramp or running on a treadmill?

Take a look at your total turnover for the month of November and ask yourself.. “How am I going to make 3 x that amount in the month of February?”

That probably scares the shit out of you and it should. It requires breaking the mold and thinking of ways to add much more value for your clients so you can charge more. That question scares me too, but I ask it a lot.

You can spend the next ten years walking on the treadmill or you can build a ramp!

It can be difficult up-front but it will make like so much easier in the long (and sometimes short) run. So take a look at which of the seven tips you can bring to your business, make a plan and get your butt into gear.

The only question is, will you do it?

I’m out.

Rick

P.S: As part of my personal ramp building mission, I am going to help you build yours. On January 17th, I am releasing a new program called “How To Rock Your PT Business“. It is a complete business building program with a twist and if you want to be the first to get your eyes on it (and get hooked up with the early bird offer) throw your email addy in the box below.

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, smiling personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches and writes books for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read and would be up for some daily banter, you can follow him on Twitter @ptbusiness or check out his Facebook page.