Instructor Newsletter 16th February 2012

Note from Rachel

The snow slowed us all down yet again. It’s half term and Valentine’s day all in one week!

You may have found numbers a little lower this week or you may even have been enjoying a break yourself. If classes did nose dive then do make a concerted effort to explore ways you can create an online angle to your business.

I know, I’ve been harping on about this for years but unless you still want to be in the hamster wheel cycle of jumping on every new trend that comes along you need to take some action and make an online plan for you and your fitness business.

The beauty of creating online angles is you can reach, serve and help so many more people. You will be providing more back up, support and help to your existing clientele and opening up your business to make a passive income and it’s really not as scary and techie as you think.

If you decided you wanted to train in Fitness Pilates or teach Kettlebelles or even offer a Fat Loss package you would go on a course, you would buy DVDS, read everything you could. You would turn into Sherlock Holmes and investigate everything about the new class style you would like to teach.

It’s the same with online.

If you want to create an online product, program or plan you need to research everything you can about it, how to create it, who can help you bring it to fruition and go for it. Have a think about exactly where you would like to be in 6 months and a year and the kind of lifestyle you would like to create. If you look back in past newsletters you will see tons of ideas and info I have written about over the years that will inspire, help and point you in the right direction.

You can do this you know…the only person stopping you, is you.

This week I’ll be in Southampton teaching The Fitness Pilates Updates Tour click here if you would like to book and Kelly will be delivering Level 3 Pilates in Edinburghso, if you are in Southampton I look forward to seeing you there.

Spring Time Workshops – How to Create Your Online Fitness Business

I’ll be running a new Business event called How to create your online Fitness Business in April which will be a full day of new Business Ideas, Training and inspiration and the nuts and bolts of setting up your online business with myself and guest speakers.

I’m finalising dates and the event will run at The Birmingham NEC . If you are interested Tweet me @RachelHolmes

Marbella Fitness Retreat – Ive now sourced a venue and Im working on the package so again watch this space for dates and information.

Top Tunes – New Music for your classes

Are you looking for some music for your classes? Here’s my Top 5 Recommendations. You can find them all on Pure Energy Digital. Use the code Holmes12 to get £5 discount

1.Dont Stop the POP -I LOVE THIS MIX I’ve used it in HiLO/Step and Body Con this week LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT

2. Active Seniors (by Rachel Holmes) My new mix for Seniors

3.Essential Bootcamps – A real banging mix of tracks that are totally inspiring and uplifting

KSFL2012 UPDATED – Fitpros Body Redesign Restarts Monday

As you know the response for my KSFL2012 for Fitpros has been phenomenal! You can check out the before and after photos on the KSFL2012 page and they are outrageous, I’ve been doing more and more studying and self experimenting with foods and workouts.

I am bringing the new Updated KSFL2012 to starting on Monday. This is a longer plan, it’s 21 days and again I’m tweaking all kinds of foods to get you the best results.

You can sign into from today and get your preparation sorted. The FAcebook group will open later this afternoon.

Have a read through the information on the page and if you feel ready and it’s for you, come and join me click here for all of the info

Pinterest

I am loving this right now.

Its a really cool tool and I’m still experimenting with it but go and check it out. Its a virtual pinboard and I think there will be great scope for your online business ideas.

I’ve just created a PinBoard about KSFL2012 and the supplements you will need and I will start to add recipes and information related to KSFL2012 Updated over the course of today.

I’ll add a choreography board and other things I am interested in. Please feel free to add me and Ill follow you back http://pinterest.com/rachelholmes1/ and explore Pinterest today http://pinterest.com/about/

Tweet me and let me know what you think @RachelHolmes

FPVIP – Fitness Pilates VIP Club

The FP VIP club is now going from strength to strength with over 200 Fitness Pilates Instructors in the club. Every month you get a mix of new downloads including new routines and sequences, A Fitness Pilates focus download, Business information, Press Releases and use of the new branding. We now have a private Facebook group to discuss FP. The club is £11.95 per month and you can join here

Social media is a way to connect with people.

People are my prospects, my friends, my clients and my customers. It’s an amazing way to connect with people all over the world 24/7.

How do you “do” social media?

Is what you’re posting on Social media ?

Bringing in more people to your list,
Growing your client base,
Increasing your profits and
Building your brand,
Serving your customers
Helping your clients lead happier, healthier lives?

Here are a few tips that can help – let me know what you think

Rachel’s new Facebook Fitness Rules

1. Social Media Is Like Texting:

Think about all the times you’ve texted someone. It might be a friend, family member or even business colleague. Now, think about what you’re posting on social media each day. Are these the same messages you’d send to a friend? This is a good gauge to tell if you are on track.

Try not to send the same updates over and over and over again about your super fantabulous class/product/service.

When you are posting things on social media ask yourself if you would ‘text’ this to a friend?

2. Make Communication A Two Way Conversation:

Have you seen professionals or business trainers who are following no one on Twitter? This is someone who has a message to be heard but doesn’t want to have a relationship with anyone. Social Media is an environment where two-way conversations thrive. Make it your goal to not only educate, encourage and build up your followers, but communicate with them as well!

Social Media is not the place for drama. People can get this in their own home for free, why would they want to follow someone with a lot of drama. Posts that say things like, “I hate xyz…….. “OMGh I can’t stand XYZ…..” Oh I feel like a slobby lump of lard” are not going to be followed with excitement and enthusiasm and will only attract more negativity and bad vibes.

Remember that Social Media is designed to be a two way conversation. If a bad day of drama and emotions tempts you to write about it on Facebook or Twitter, ask yourself this valuable question, “Would I post this when I knew the best client I’ve ever had in my business history was reading?”

We never know who is reading, so don’t give yourself any allowance for personal venting.

3. Be Regular and Consistent With Content:

A big reason many people who use Social Media to market their classes don’t see the results they want to have is simply because they are inconsistent. This is a huge mistake and one we must be on guard against.

If Social Media interactions with your prospects and customers is focused on bringing value to them, then being inconsistent quickly devalues your intentions.

Be honourable, consistent, post regularly and listen to your friends and customers. If you really care about your fitness business and your customers, you’ll enjoy doing this and learn far more than you would have imagined!

4. Share Your LIFE! – or some of it.

This is one I’ve heard such conflicting input on it really surprises me in the age of New Media we live in. If you don’t share your life people might not take you seriously. They don’t connect with you simply because of what you do in business- they want to have a relationship with you. People connect with other people, not products. They also are loyal to people, not products but they don’t want Drama.

Share, inspire and encourage with your own life. Your clients will love you for it!

5. Model What You Want Your Customers To Be

Remember, you are a business owner. When you choose to do a personal rant of how you liked or didn’t like something, as a Secret reader and believer, you are creating thousands of customers just like that who will find their way into your business….eeekkkkk!

Like does breed like. If you want to have amazing customers, be amazing to be around.

If you want customers filled with drama, trauma and hassle. Post tons of this on your wall and those customers will find you!

Be warm and inviting. Take pictures and videos! Show how you are growing if you are a coach so that your students will have increased confidence in your ability. Talk about your students and show how important they are to you…. if you want more.

Everything matters in Social Media. We don’t get a day off, a time out or excuses.

You can use Social Media to attract more clients, build your business or practice, close more sales and reach out with your knowledge to more and more people. Don’t abuse this power, use it wisely to inspire, help and motivate.
But above all things, have fun. Social Media can become a very fun activity to do every single day! I LOVE hearing from you all day long! YOU encourage, inspire and make it all so worth it for me!

Give Yourself A Pay-rise…..!!! by Andrew Crawford

Why is it that this may be the ONLY industry where you don’t get a pay-rise depending on your experience, skills and abilities?

Check this……

A newbie Fitness Instructor can be paid the SAME as an established Instructor with 15 – 20 years experience..!!!

So… someone who has JUST qualified to teach can walk into one of the established leisure centres and be paid ….what?…..£27 per hour??

In fact…when I worked for one of the Wandsworth’s leisure centres the hourly rate actually went DOWN… gee whizz…!!!

Compare this to a trainee Accountant.

This was the scenario…..

Once being trained you can expect anything from between £18,000 – £25,000 per annum to start but knew that once you qualified, the minimum starting salary you would expect was between £35,000 – £40,000. More now.

It didn’t stop there……

As the years pass by (they call it Post Qualifying experience) you could expect your salary to GROW with time from £45,000 – £70,000. In some sectors this could rise to £150,000 plus….

Mind you…..this was WITHOUT any further qualifications……it was just experience..!!

Some of you, I know, have qualifications as long as my arm….as a new fad comes in everyone jumps on it with workshops and certifications …but does this additional qualification get you additional money?

If not….why not?

I was speaking to someone this week from the South West area who has level 4……now level 2 and 3 are in abundance ….but level 4!!!!!

I asked how much she was being paid…the answer made me sad ..!

If you put all your qualifications together and the knowledge required by a qualified fitness expert….are you all not Junior Doctors???

So Andrew……

What’s this got to do with Accountancy , Tax and the price of a peanut butter and jam sandwich?

Well…

This caller wanted a change….she wanted to start up on her own and wanted to know all the basics. At present she is working full time and the amount of questions that was asked, I knew they were serious.

Now I loved this…as I know that when I dropped out of the 9 – 5 Rat Race…it was hard….I had to leave the comfort of the monthly bacs payment, personnel coming round each month with the wage slips, signing in and signing out, the office bolloticks, the annual Xmas party, overtime..undertime, one hour lunches, quarterly performance appraisals, monthly deadlines, the closing of the accounts, the dreaded Audit, clock watching, disciplinary, the 2-3% salary increment, 30 days annual leave add to this 10 – 15 days sick leave……tee hee ……(I used 7 of these days to go to Club La Santa EACH YEAR…..lol…. ALL PAID FOR…….Thanks full time employment)…..lol

Same with some of you….right??

You came to a cross road whereby you either jumped, treaded water, swam and survived or…..you didn’t take the plunge at all.

Otherwise, there are some of you who tried it but didn’t like the insecurity and the uncertainty of where the next pound was coming from…..it was frightening wasn’t it??

In addition, I told the caller to keep the full time employment job as they were used to that level of income, then start slowly with one client at a time, rent their own halls and if necessary, work for one of the big fitness chains to learn the business.

I told them a story about one of my classes…which used to run on a Monday…briefly……, I was getting between 120 – 150 per week…and was paid £18 per hour plus 10p a head over 40 people. You may well laugh…but at the time I thought this was ‘Da B**ll**ks’ but it turned out to be….just ‘b**ll**ks’

Why?….

They short changed me over a few weeks…..!!!

Can you imagine that……stealing crucial 10p’s from me….!!!

Well…I was angry.

So….what did I do?……I hired a hall next door to the centre for £8 an hour!

I filtered….I mean coerced clients to attend my little class next door on a Wednesday night in addition to Mondays.

This was so successful, I started another one on a Thursday night…I was getting between 40 – 60 each week at £4 a head……I was getting paid brothers and sisters…!!

2 people were break even (2 x £4= £8)…..the rest was for me…..and my ‘Silent Partner’…..the Tax Man…!!

Yes……we ALL run Parnerships!!

I gave myself a pay-rise.

If you’re self-employed, when was the last time you gave yourself a pay-rise?

Are you able to charge your own fee at venues or do you have to stick to what the venue pays?

What must be on an invoice?

If you invoice for your fees here is a list of the essential items you should have on your invoice.

· The invoice number

· The date

· The customer’s name and address

· The purchase order number….if you have one

· The description of service or product

· Your name and address

· If limited company, full company name, registered office, company registration number, place of registration (England or Wales)

· The price

· The VAT number if registered

· Details of any discounts

· The interest is invoice paid late.

Don’t forget to add interest for late payment under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act.

You can add 8% above the Bank of England base rate.

Speak soon

Andrew Crawford

Visit our website at: www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com for more FREE resources and articles.

‘Like’ our page at: www.facebook.com/fitnessindustryaccountants

Andrew Crawford can be contacted on twitter @tax4fitness or info@fitnessindustryaccountants.com

Jayne Nicholls

#IAmLeader, last year I toured the I Am Yoga Tour as a celebration of myself, my product and the instructors who had invested time and energy into Freestyle Fitness Yoga actually crossing a line and having the confidence to say YES I am part of the Yoga world and what’s more, my fitness background actually escalates me to a level beyond that of an everyday instructor. As every day passes I become more and more confident in my product and you the instructor absolutely flying with it, despite a constant resistance from the traditional Yoga world in regard to our history and debut into ” their Yoga domain”.

So my point this week is what gives us the right to stand up and call ourselves a leader and what responsibility do we have to those we lead?

1. As instructors we lead those who pay us in either groups or 1 to 1. We are obliged to provide them with a product that is consistently high in its delivery, presentation and reliability. If we fail on any of these counts then the paying client is well within their rights to complain and criticise. I have never met anyone more reliable than a Group X Instructor!

2. We lead by example, if we take part in our sessions then we lead them with the ability to challenge everyone and by displaying our expertise in our trade. We ”Practice What We Preach”. We set an example of verbal and physical excellence that displays that we are on top of our game. Now make no mistake, I am not debating fat and thin here, I am discussing our role as a leader and that means that we are physically, academically and empathetically in charge of our paying customers.

3. We lead ourselves and this is the most important point. If you criticise me, it only harms me if I agree with you in any way, shape or form. If I am confident in the fact that I have given you 100%, fulfilled my obligation to you and provided you with a product that you can use, regardless of whether you block it or choose not to – then I am a confident leader.

Last week I walked out of a meeting where traditional Yoga instructors blocked my plans and looked down on my fitness background. I walked out on air because I know that the first rules of Yoga are acceptance, giving and releasing the ego, the 3 key factors that make us lash out in defence.

So my friends #IAmLeader and if you are, then follow my lead and rise above everything that holds you back, focus on what you do well and others will follow you, not depend on you, not allege with your clique, while they might empathise with you they will never feel sorry for you and more important they will never hold you back. As long as you believe in your product at least 90% for 90% of the time, you will be successful. The other 10% is a work in progress, that thing that makes you human and is the margin for error and change.

Jayne Nicholls www.freestylefitnessyoga.com

Nutrition confusion by Sally Ghafoor

So we have 14 day detox plans, intermittent fasting, protein based nutrition, carb loading, carb timing, it can get rather confusing. What do you do with your clients after the 14 day detox or intermittent fasting is it something they must follow for life – if I am right, and from the emails I have been getting I think I might be, a lot of people in the fitness world are a bit confused as to what to do when clients are following a nutrition plan for fat loss.

I think most of the fitness world has worked out that fat loss is not about calories in and calories out there is a lot more that goes on, fat does not make you fat, you need fat, low fat will mean get fat, hormones play the role in weight loss/gain.

Now personally I run online fatloss groups, I do it to get people their health back as you know I am an advocate of find health and the weight will drop off. I find this is definitely the case, we detox for the first 2 weeks then show them different ways of cooking foods that they love, bread, pasta, processed foods are then ditched forever, this gets amazing results and must importantly its achievable for your typical joe public, when they find out they can have cakes, they can have chocolate, just made in a healthy non processed non sugar non preservative way the plan they are following seems easy! They don’t feel deprived and all of a sudden the plan is easy and rewarding, the most common comment I get is “how am I losing so much fat when I am eating fantastic food and so much of it”. Yes some people need adjustments to the plan, carb timing will then be added, although the easier you make the plan the better response you get, remember this is joe public the majority of you are dealing with, not fit pro’s or people looking to achieve a certain percentage bodyfat.

These people have families and jobs which are nothing to do with fitness, we preach to people that they are lazy if they miss a workout because we wouldn’t do such a thing, or they are hopeless if they can’t follow what we think is a simple nutrition plan, but for them it’s hard, this is a big change to what they are used to, if you don’t give people the right tools i.e. recipes to follow and not just recipes you have quickly found on the internet, real recipes that the whole family will enjoy, then they will fail. There is a big need to understand people are not passionate about health and fitness like we are. Their passion may lay in food or drinking or anything not fitness related.

Yes we know what’s bad for us, you don’t have to be a fitpro to know that, but why are certain slimming clubs so popular? Because people eat the food they love still, you have to educate people there is a better way to eat and make things, they then feel the difference in their body, they feel so much healthier and when they do indulge in “non-foods” they recognise how they body reacts to it and no longer want to eat it but they are still eating yummy foods. Us fitpros may love eating broccoli and other greenery on its own but guess what the majority of joe public and their families get bored and want more, they feel deprived and then fall completely off the plan. This does not make them a hopeless case that does not warrant our time or help, it means they are human and probably count for the majority of the population.

We see so many before and after pics, which is fantastic, but what happens to those people once they are off the plan, does the weight stay off, have they been educated that it’s a lifestyle change? You decide, they are after all your clients.

In order to help those whom are finding compliance hard I have created another recipe book, this time for adults and the whole family, it is a book full of recipes made by me or my ladies following the 21 day fatloss challenge I run, they are not found on the internet, they are all home made family meals which are all compliant with my fatloss plan that I run. This is a plan for clients for life, I have also created the 21 day fatloss challenge plan which gives you all the info on how to follow the plan which you can use for yourself or your clients……..

The recipe book is on sale NOW at just £12 and if you buy before Monday you will get detoxify your child for free here is the link to pay or http://uploadnsell.com/buy/uFV4ZQ/ if you want more info go to my website www.gethealthsavvy.co.uk or find me on facebook I am the only Sally Ghafoor on there!!!

Why are we so afraid? by Cori Withell

Having spoken to many, many fitpros over the last few months I have been blown away but the lack of self-confidence in the industry. Our fear of what our peers may think is physically holding us back.

But WHY???????

We decide we want to work in this industry, we go and study our course, we do our exams, are practical assessments, our case studies, we pass (maybe not the first time, but we pass or we decide a different career choice!)

What stops us believing that our knowledge is any less than that of any of our peers or any other health care professional for that matter? Why are we SO worried what other people think anyway? Why is our self confidence and self esteem at an all time low? Why do we always think that other people know better, that their products will be better than our own?

Why do we LET this attitude hold us back?

I know of several of my fellow fitpros that are not launching their product through self confidence. For fear of what their peers may think to their product. Why does it matter? It is YOUR product – tailored to YOUR niche and created by YOU.

What does it matter is someone does not like your product. Their dislike of your product is not going to stop your product selling to your niche. You have done your research, you have done all the leg work, why wouldn’t it sell? If you really think it won’t sell then work out why, decide whether you want to launch it anyway and then tweak it at a later date if you need to.

I have only recently discovered what I really believe I am here to do and lots of people may think I am talking rubbish or think I am on so weird career tangent

BUT

It feels completely right for me, I am doing what I love and quite frankly I don’t care what other people think, fitpros or Joe public. I have spent the time studying and researching and continue to do so. I am lucky enough to be doing what I love and earning money and the best bit is having a really positive aspect on someone else’s life – that is the best feeling in the world as far as I am concerned.

So, have a little bit of self belief, go with your heart. If you create something that people criticise, let them. It isn’t worth your energy worrying about it. Your sales will tell you if you have got it right or not. Oh and by the way, if it doesn’t sell, it IS NOT a failure, you have just learned what doesn’t work so that next time your odds are getting it right are even better 🙂

Lack of self confidence can be so totally debilitating and people who don’t suffer with it probably find it a really difficult concept to grasp BUT it can completely stop you living you life the way you want to through FEAR. Even worse, the longer you leave it the worse this fear gets as it mentally ‘grows’ in your head. What started as a fairly small irrational fear of other opinion of failure ‘grows’ into this huge fear that you genuinely believe you cannot overcome.

So, remember that you are allowed to be you, utterly and completely. No one else, ever has the right to affect how you feel about you

BUT and this is crucial

What others think about you is up to you but how YOU respond to it is totally and utterly your decision.

This isn’t easy to change if for years you have let the opinion of others affect how you feel about you but it can make a huge change to how you feel.

Tell yourself every day how wonderful you are and how powerful you are in your own life. You can take your life and your business to any and every level that you want to.

· I am also holding a mindful health and wellness webinar on 19^th Feb at 8pm and you are all welcome to come and take part, it is a question and answer session in response to requests on Facebook, initially about panic attacks but we will be looking at all aspects of emotional health – hope to talk to you then and here is the link https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/625164029

global.gotomeeting.com

Health and happiness x

Follow me on Facebook www.facebook.com/coriwithell and Twitter www.twitter.com/CWFitness and you can follow my blog on www.cwfitness.co.uk/blog

Have a wonderful Thursday

Love Rachel x

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Instructor Newsletter 16th February 2012

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