Instructor Newsletter 11 July

Scorchio.. As the UK sees temperatures soar over 30 degrees does it make clients flock to our classes or…flock to the beer garden? I posed this questions on Facebook yesterday and I got many Instructors from all over the UK saying “YES, I WAS PACKED”. I also had a great tweet from a Fitpro who said the people who don’t come to class because it’s too hot are the ones who say it’s too dark and cold in the winter, which did make me smile. How did you fare up this week?

After the fantastic response from last week’s newsletter I have invited Jenny Burrell to contribute again with another brilliantly poignant and useful article. Kim Ingleby is back by popular demand as is Cori Withell this week. My new HIIT Workout CD will be out in the next few days from Pure Energy for everyone that has been asking and its awesome, Ill have it for sale on C2GO very soon

Can you Name the Newsletter?

I’m looking to rename the newsletter and would love your ideas.  Maddi suggested The Chorenicle, have you got any cool ideas? Tweet me @RachelHolmes

Last Week’s Newsletter

If you read last week’s newsletter on line and haven’t had any emails or correspondence from me this week then you will need to add your email again to the Choreographytogo sign up box on the home page. I had some major tech issues last week, so please do add your email again to ensure you get your weekly newsletter. If you missed last week’s here is the link.
https://www.choreographytogo.com/news/newsletter/

Fitness Pilates September Training Date

We have added another Fitness Pilates training date on 21/22nd September and again places are flying out so please don’t be disappointed and book early if you would like to gain the qualification.https://www.choreographytogo.com/fitness-pilates/

Fast and Furious Business Day This Saturday

Andrew and I are SO pumped and excited about our day this Saturday in Nottingham. The Jury’s Inn is right next to the train station, so grab your train ticket book on and come and get all of our brand new insider tips and tricks. https://www.choreographytogo.com/workshop-booking/fast-and-furious-business/

How To Get Your Motivation Mojo Back by Rachel

Are you struggling with your fitness business & teaching motivation?………..  Maybe you know you have to get involved more in Social Media and really market your classes and services much more, but you just can’t get going……? Perhaps you HAD some great ideas for new classes and now life and families and events have knocked the wind from your sails?

The first thing to know is we ALL feel like this at some point, and I will put my hand up as well here. Being a solo Instructor and entrepreneur can be tough at times – It’s one of the reasons I created this weekly newsletter. So here are my steps to help you rediscover your motivation mojo and get back on track.

1.Be honest with yourself.
The truth will set you free, so be honest with yourself and look at your work and your work life balance. If toxic classes and clients are draining you then you HAVE to ditch them. Yep, I know you’re holding onto them for the money but I can promise you a zillion percent, get rid, create some space in your life and new opportunities will knock.

2.Are you doing Fitness as a Business or a Hobby
If you truly are doing fitness as a business then you have to act like it and get the job done on a daily basis. Look at everything you offer, make a plan, create your marketing and get cracking. I truly believe there is amazing untapped potential out there that people are not even touching yet. What’s your passion? Who do you want to serve and work with? I see amazing opportunities teaching health and fitness to disabled people. Helen Tite from the Core in Falmouth and one of my KSFL franchisees is specialising in teaching cancer patients. There are so many different groups of people who need our expertise….Have a brainstorm.

3.MIX & Socialise
Don’t be a hermit, mixing with other Fitpros, attending networking events, joining local women’s groups / business / breakfast groups, going to workshops are all brilliant ways to get your motivation mojo back.Join me on Saturday at my workshop in Nottingham – Id love to remotivate you!

4.Read and Listen
I know I say this every week, but  my number one tip for re-igniting my motivation mojo is to listen to podcasts, audio books and watch motivation videos on Youtube. Just 20minutes a day will have you doubling your productivity. Ideas will start coming to you in the shower, while you are driving, when you teach, at all random times. I do this daily and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

5.Look after yourself
We are constantly telling everyone else how to live a healthy life but what about you? Are you eating, training and sleeping right……….Does your diet need an overhaul? You could take on a trainer, which is AMAZING for someone else to tell you what to do, or join me on one of my Online KSFL groups. Loads of C2GO members join me every week and do my workouts, listen to the audios and get involved every day.

But sometimes you just can’t wait for the motivation to appear, you just have to get on with it. Think of all of the amazing reasons you love teaching, think of the passion you have when you teach, all the people you have helped. Personally, I train every day, listen to motivational audios in my car and keep learning and trying to grow.

I’d love your feedback, as ever Tweet me @RachelHolmes or Facebook me

Get More Done in Less Time – Hey Control Freak
YOU have to get a VIRTUAL ASSISTANT3.

You have got your mojo back, the fire in your belly is burning pretty HOT, so now you are ready to take on the fitness world, but you only have a few hours every day to do it all. No one in the universe can run the show themselves no matter how small their business is. Fitpros LOVE teaching but don’t like admin so much, so get help even if it’s a few hours a week.

1.Firstly, make a list of everything you have to do in your business and I mean everything – e.g. Responding to emails/Social Media/Writing Newsletters/Running Facebook Ad’s/ and a list of everything you have to get done personally.

2.Create Step by Step Instructions, a repeatable system that someone can follow. I use screen flow which videos my computer screen and my voice as I make a little training video showing my VA how I want something done. I have tons of little videos that I have on file demonstrating exactly how I want things done.

3.Start slowly, train your VA and give them feedback. They won’t get everything right straight away, be patient and you will get there.

4.Be clear with your instructions and exactly what you expect and always pay promptly.

5.There are lots of professional VA’s around. Ask on Facebook/Twitter, Google VA’s or use amazing sites like People Per Hour, Elance and Odesk to find the right person for you.

6.Expect to pay between £8 – £12 per hour (Cheaper if you use a VA from overseas)  depending on the VA’s expertise and the jobs you need doing.
When hiring, conduct a Skype interview, ask for references and proof of work.

I cover how to hire VA’s in depth in my 90 Day Ultimate Fitness Business Coaching Course. Have you hired a VA? How did you find this person and what kind of jobs and tasks do they do for you? Tweet me @RachelHolmes

‘Go hard or go home’? by Jenny Burrell

…..is a phrase often bandied about by those who were born so recently that they don’t know who Bungle, George and Zippy are (high five to all those who do know).  I kind of get the sentiment but for the rest of us mere mortals with a little more time in the saddle, and already high on Cortisol, a more mindful road to self-improvement usually starts with a gradual dawning that:
NOW is probably a good time to start FULLY SHOWING UP in our own lives.
NOW is probably a good time to take charge of making our own dreams come true.
NOW is probably a good time to grant ourselves a pardon for deeds long past.
NOW is probably a good time to have the health and body image that we’ve always wanted.
NOW is probably a good time to grant ourselves freedom from self-imposed restrictions.
So what could possibly be stopping you from busting out tomorrow as your most fabulous, utterly authentic YOU?  Is it a FEAR OF BEING NOTICED?  Newsflash….Somewhere on this planet there’s someone who will have an issue with you showing up as your most brilliant, shiny self – guaranteed!  Three words – GET OVER IT!  Because for so many years, the fear of provoking the snarky comments of these ‘people’ – real ones or the voices in your head (sometimes these can be worse) have led to varying degrees of paralysis for many of us.  Thankfully, many of us also get to the point where we say and mean – NO MORE!  When this time comes, one of the things that will improve your ability to transition to the ‘new and improved you’ is getting comfortable with is the fact that to achieve your version of SUCCESS, you’ll ultimately have to put yourself out there and get NOTICED and if you get noticed, you’ll probably get KNOCKED.

You could however choose an ‘easier’ path, you could obey the fear, retreat and live a seemingly comfortable life but we all know that that’s not what we came here to do.  One important life truth that our elders/teachers could have shared with us, even as a child is that we all need to start getting comfortable with discomfort in order to have a life where we don’t plunge into depression, victimhood, self-doubt or paralysis every time things don’t go our way – life is awesome and life is tough the art is not take things personally, learn from pain and recover quickly from setbacks.

I don’t think that there is a person in the UK at the moment who isn’t beyond proud and inspired by the Andy Murray story.  We watched him have his heart-broken, cry his eyes out for the world to see and THEN return with what can only be described as gold-standard single-mindedness and finally fulfil his lifetime dream. We might think Andy Murray is extra-ordinary and indeed in terms of his tennis playing he is, but guess what?  He’s just a man, flesh and bones like the rest of us and so it must follow that there is not one of us on this planet incapable of our own unique resurrection or re-birth story as the true captain of our own ship.  Wherever you are right now you can totally decide to start the process of switching tracks (gently or radically) and being/doing something else tomorrow.  You can refuse to quit and you can re-dedicate your life to THE WIN as you define it.

Also, if your strategy is to wait until someone notices your brilliance and ceremoniously plonks you on a pedestal, second newsflash….you may be waiting some time may be disappointed with this strategy because ultimately, there is actually no one better qualified and suited to designing and gifting you the life you want and there is no greater pleasure than truly designing your own life.  So, ignore the voices, dodge the knockers and channel Andy and know that without a doubt…the greatest force on this planet is your purposeful soul on fire! NOW is always a good time!

Jenny Burrell www.burrelleducation.com & www.foofoofunbox.com  Purveyor Of Revolutionary Pre/Post Natal and Women’s Wellbeing Education

Stopping & Action by Kim Ingleby
‘The mind can assert anything and pretend it has proved it.’DH Lawrence

What amazing weather & amazing British Sport we are having, I wonder how it makes you feel… Motivated & uplifted to take action or relaxed & happy to be in the moment?

Since I last wrote for Rachel I have been recovering from something called Weil’s Disease, which affected my brain, heart and lung.  As a result I lost cognitive thoughts for a week, and have done no training for 5 weeks (brief summary, there’s a full blog of my learnings on my website). I should have been racing for the first time in a GB suit, whilst I was gutted initially; I believe I have learned more from stopping than racing.

Over the time I have been very quiet, reflective and in the moment.

I believe everything happens for a reason and gives us an opportunity to learn and grow. Often I write about the power of setting your goals and making yourself accountable.

One goal, often forgotten yet equally important, is the goal of choosing to do nothing and enjoying being in the moment.  I wonder, as a FitPro how often you do that?  When was the last time you took some time just for you (however busy your family & lifestyle is)?

It is in these moments that you gain clarity, balance and awareness, which will allow you to make decisions, take action and be your very best. For yourself, your business & your family.

I have just managed to work a few full days. I have had the best feedback from my workshops & coaching, some amazing opportunities have appeared and I have the best clarity & sense of calm.  It’s interesting what happens if you create space to allow it to….

Take a moment right now and consider this, if, in the space of 1 day you lost all cognitive thought for a week… is your business is a place that it would survive, and are you in a place of good health & well being that you would come back stronger?

If not,  what do you need to change to bring yourself back into balance & build the best business possible?  Let me know what you think & enjoy the moments ?

If you have any questions or feedback do tweet me @kimingleby
FB Energised: www.facebook.com/pages/Energised-Performance/56901163566 & Kim Ingleby: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kim-Ingleby/287313468049230?fref=ts
Websites: www.energisedperformance.com , www.kimingleby.co.uk & www.energisedbusiness.com

Cori Withell

To dream anything that you want to dream, that is the beauty of the human mind.
To do anything that you want to do, that is the strength of the human will.
To trust yourself, to test your limits, that is the courage to succeed. (Edmonds)
Wimbledon

Well, I couldn’t really write an article this week without mentioning it but I wonder what you are thinking right here, right now at the thought of when Murray won Wimbledon.

For me, I cannot stop smiling, it wasn’t just the win, it was the passion, the enthusiasm, the unrelenting determination that he was not going to give up.  That put fire in MY belly and I loved it, every time I think about it, I feel like a car engine being revved to within an inch of its life, ready to roar into action and this got me thinking.  Isn’t this what we should be doing for our clients?  Shouldn’t we be empowering them so much that they want to give everything unrelenting passion, drive, determination, focus, enthusiasm and everything else in between?

I may be putting myself out on a limb here but I think the fitness industry seems to have lost its way a little bit.  Too many new programmes since the onslaught of Zumba, instructors trying to pre-empt the next big thing.  I am not knocking Zumba or any of those other programmes, at the end of the day the public loved them and they made a lot of instructors a lot of money.

Freestyle seems to be dying a death, what happened to us instructors designing our own classes, tailoring them to the needs of our own community?   When did we start to think that someone else’s programme design would be better than our own?  When did we lose faith in ourselves?

Maybe, I’ve got it all wrong and we haven’t lost faith in ourselves but teaching something ready made is easier – there is nothing wrong in that.

BUT

What Murray did for me on Sunday was instill more passion, determination, enthusiasm and self belief in myself than I ever thought possible.  I was all those things before, but suddenly I woke up with a drive and a clear plan of action of what I wanted to do, who I wanted to be and how the hell I was going to get there!  You know what?  It feels great and I am going to make sure that I pass that on to every single client that I come into contact with.

How are you going to make sure that connect with your clients in the best way possible?

Health and happiness

Cori

To Knight………..Or Not Tonight?
By Andrew Crawford

What a thriller in Wimbledon on Sunday…!!

If you were watching the men’s singles finals you would have witnessed history being made. Seventy Seven years since the last British men’s tennis player won Wimbledon.
We will forever be ‘hearing’ about this for years to come……if you are into football, I believe 1966 springs to mind. Heros forever..!!

Should Murray be Knighted?

This week I was reflecting on how far incomes have come and how lucky we are today………….perhaps…!!

Don’t laugh…..but I earnt £1.37 and a half pence a week……!!!(for those old enough to remember the six pence). It was paper round. Only tough mofos aloud.

I thought I was loaded. I worked 7 days a weeks….every week for years through wind , rain, snow and ice. Paperboys Christmas box was the highlight of the year.

Sundays, the papers were heavy and I had to do 2 trips.

When the new owners took over, after a few years, I got a rise….!!!!
£1.40 a week…!!

I was fit as ……….[fill in the blanks] because I ran my rounds EVERY morning before school. I became really quick so I took on another round for the grand sum of £2.40…..a week!!!! Loaded or what??

Out of that weekly sum I rewarded myself with a curly wurly a jubbly all washed down with a bottle of cresta and still had change out of 20p.

Oh………and I was a choir boy……..now that’s a story for another article.

This is where my phenominal fitness regime began.

After finishing my paper round I found myself  STILL getting up at 5.30am -6.00am…..so….off I went on my morning jog. I incorporated press ups and sit ups on certain corners…….I also repeated this schedule in the evenings..!!

I joined Hercules Wimbledon running club ….100m, 110m high hurdles and 200m were my specialities. I also did high jump.

During the winter months I played rugby for Mitcham Surrey.

I ran everywhere…!! Ask me to run now……I’ll tell you to b*ll*x…!!

I said Good Knight to all that…..!

I’m sure you couldn’t escape the facebook messages going around last week and the youtube video about Katie Hopkins revealing that she didn’t allow her children to associate themselves with certain children who had certain names.

Now………I do not want to give her any more publicity that she doesn’t deserve…. Not tonight Katie…!!

So Andrew….

What has your early morning paper round  sessions, tonight’s the knight Murray and hypocritcal Katie’s dislike about cute little red heads got to do with Accountancy & Tax..
Well…..
A Knight is all about Protection and protection is what you need to guard yourself against non-paying Bar Stewards for your products or services.

“In this economic climate things are tough”……..B lox…..you’ve worked…you should get paid.

As a Consultant, my invoices were 30 days payment……then one day I saw a big fat invoice come across my desk. It was from one of the ‘Big 5’ UK Consultancy firms. It said something like this.

“….this invoice is payable immediately on receipt of the invoice….”

OMG….!!!!!!

That changed my whole perspective. Up until that point ALL my invoices specified the 30 days payment period…..NOW….b lox to everyone…..my invoices were 7 days…..now 3 days….if the big boys can do it and get away with it then so can I  ……payment terms are entirely up to YOU….!!!

So …here are just 10 ‘Knight in Shining armour Tactics You Can Use Tonight’ to protect yourself.

You can charge 8% above the Bank of England’s base rate under the ‘Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act’. If you produce invoices, then put this statement at the bottom of your invoices.

Have you heard of the ‘Retention of Title’ clause? This is where you will indicate that unless the goods have been fully paid for, they still belong to you.

If your customer pays by credit card be wary if delivery of goods are to another address.

Ensure you issue a contract or your terms of service BEFORE you commence any work. Ensure that it is signed (2 copies…one for you one for them).

Beware of doing business with limited companies for VERY large sums. There was a situation where one company purchased 2 relatively small valued transactions and completely fulfilled the payment…however….on the third and BIG transaction……goods were transferred but payment didn’t follow…!!!!!

So be aware of your customer, how long they have been in business, what their creditworthiness is.

Get a bank reference if you are unsure or even do some trade references. Their past customers will reliably tell you if they are ‘Good For It’….or not as the case may be.

Ask for full payment ‘Upfront’ if you are unsure….alternatively you can opt for staged payments but do not release your goods until the final payments ids cleared. When I had my marketing company we did some work for this ‘Nice Guy’…..the total cost was £5,000. He gave me 2 cheques and I delivered the goods one Friday night across busy London to meet his deadline.

One cheque ‘bounced’ the other he cancelled…….!!!!! I would not want YOU in a similar situation like this…..!!! #hardlessonlearnt.

If you have agreed an instalment plan make sure you confirm this in writing.

Nowadays I email my invoices, then follow up with a call. Before, when I sent them through the post I had replies like….”..Didn’t receive it, send another one…”. “…It must have got lost in the lost…”, “…I’ve moved since then…” and one that I received yesterday…I copy and paste it to demonstrate that things ain’t changed in years…..

“……….Hi Andrew

I am just checking.. have I paid you for the tax returns? I am just wondering as I don’t recall? I have been Ill and have been working ridiculous placement hours in the hospital so my head is all over the show!!

Also Can you email me a letter or post me a letter to show my earnings for the year Sept 2013 to Sept 2014? It’s just I need it for my bursary!! Bleurgh. I think it is around £1000 a month so Roughly £10,000 as that doesn’t include out goings.

So sorry If i haven’t paid you and If i have, I am losing my marbles!!

Many Thanks………”

My giddy aunt…..I do declare….!!

So…protect yourself at all times…….tee hee…

Finally.

HMRC have introduced new phone numbers for VAT, National Insurance, income tax and self assessment.
For most people the new numbers will reduce the cost of calling these helplines. The numbers are set at the following link…..

http://www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com/New_0300_Numbers

I’m hoping to see a few of you at Rachel Holmes and my workshop this Saturday in Nottingham. It’s called ‘Fast & Furious Fitness Business Tactics’

There will be lots of ideas shared with you which you can take away and implement immediately. Including the latest trends, extracting the maximum profits from your business and much more.  Our guest speaker is a nice guy named Liam Twose who will give you some fast & furious tips on wordpress websites. Think about it to Knight….or not tonight!!??
Speak soon
Andrew ‘The Dark Knight’ Crawford

www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com
www.facebook.com/andrewjamescrawford