Conference Season is here – Its all about WIFE on Saturday.
March signals conference season on our fitness calendars & I am
kicking of this Saturday at the WIFE conference in Guildford, which I am
immensely looking forward to. I’ll be talking about Fitness, Passion & Social Media Secrets.
There is unbelievable line-up of first class speakers & the day is going to be
so motivational, inspiring & empowering. I would LOVE to see you there do tweet me if you are going? @RachelHolmes
You can still grab a last minute place click here.
7th March WIFE Guildford
8th March Kick Start Fat Loss Conference NEC
20th March IFS Blackpool Click here
18th & 19th April Dublin Fitness Extravaganza click here Ill be doing sessions & opening keynote http://www.fitnessextravaganza.org/Aerobics
25 & 26th April Women on FIRE – Jenny Burrells amazing event (Unmissable)
click here for all the info.
9th & 10th July FITPRO Ill be speaking on Social Media for Fitness and Organic Fitness Pilates
If you are booking onto any of the fantastic events let me know or pop over and have a chat be great to see you x
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Kids Fitness
All over the UK there is such a demand for brilliant Kids Fitness Instructors.
Creating your own branded programme thats exciting, cool and educational is definitely the way to go if you love working with kids.
Also, the Under 5’s arena is completely untapped.
If you would like to get qualified you can get both the Level 2 Under 5’s & the 5 – 15years on a special offer this week on C2GO – Click here for all the information.
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Are you reaching social media overload?
Social media has been a gift for building your platform and attracting new customers into your business.
It’s been A-MAZING for crafting your profile and getting the word out, your name out, and generally giving you a big old soap box to stand on and tell everyone about what you do and how you do it.
BUT
We recognise that things are changing. Facebook is becoming pay to post. Twitter will follow shortly and, of course, there are new social platforms to climb aboard. Now is a great time to REALLY, and I mean REALLY, evaluate what the hell you are doing on social and exactly how much time you are spending on there.
Can you quantify all the time you spend on social and is it providing you with a good enough return on your time investment?
What about Google +, Instagram, Pinterest, Snap Chat, Medium, What’s App, Youtube, Vimeo. Fancy jumping into these as well?
Have you got the time?
How to Win on Social for Your Fitness Business
1: Who is YOUR customer? You need to gather as much info as you possibly can about your ideal customer. You can’t attract the right customer if you don’t know who you are looking for and who you want to work with.
Work out /Find out – Sex, Age, Occupation, Hobbies, Kids. Where do they go, what do they drive, wear, shop, which hairdressers, nails, boutiques, coffee shops, hang out, restaurants, socialise.
If you want to attract people to your local classes they are going to live near to your venue, probably a 10-20minute drive MAXIMUM.
Once you have ascertained who REALLY is your ideal customer it makes it so much easier to target with Facebook ads and Google adwords.
1: Create great content that your ideal customer (see above) wants/needs & is desperate for.
It becomes easy to write blogs, film videos, write emails, decide where to advertise, where to put your flyers and posters up when you know who your customer actually is.
2: Knowing who your ideal customer is makes it easier to create the look and feel of your social media. Think of your social media like a local newspaper or magazine. If you are running Fitness Pilates classes for example, create content that is pertinent to this audience. So, pictures, quotes, recipes, articles, blogs and videos that apply to your LOCALITY, just like the local paper used to do which everyone used to read. This will help you attract local people who form your customer avatar.
3: AUTOMATE. Thanks to so many of you who jumped on Twitter after I posted my beginner’s Guide to Using Twitter last week. Now create a Twitter content plan then automate.
My own Twitter content plan is made up of:
Networking – Reaching out to people I want to get to know/meet/do business with/connect with. I choose 5 – 10 people a day I want to say HELLO to & get to know.
Banter/Fun & Chat – Always off the cuff, on the run and impromptu. I love having a laugh on Twitter
Promotion of events/course/workshops etc – Scatter these throughout the day using Hootsuite
Motivational Quotes/Pictures/Infographics – These get so much engagement, RT & favorites.
Lead Generation – Encouraging Twitter followers to add their email to my list. I automate these & spread them out over 24 hours using Hootsuite.
So, all in all you have a purpose to be on Social Media. You have a game plan of who you have in mind and why you are using social for promoting your classes.
It’s time to get HOT with HOT Fitness Pilates this year!!
HOT Pilates is massive out in America and has the backing of celebrities such as Madonna, Jennifer Anniston and now Choreography To Go have brought it to the UK with their very exclusive HOT Fitness Pilates method which is being launched up and down the country this year.
So what’s it all about?
Hot Fitness Pilates encompasses the principles of Pilates, the benefits of working with heat and the dynamics of Sport and Dance to produce a fusion of 3 dimensional functional movements for the 21st century.
Hot Fitness Pilates Secret has integrated the use of modern technology, employing Infrared radiant heating panels to enhance the wonderful benefits of Fitness Pilates.
It is a fact that exercising in the heat helps to burns more calories. Heat helps the muscles to get into postures more deeply and effectively. The heat helps to produce a great range of movement in joints, muscles and ligaments. When exercising in the heat, your metabolism speeds up the breakdown of glucose and fatty acids. Sweating promotes detoxification and elimination through the skin. Sweating has proven its effectiveness in flushing out toxins and maintaining optimal physical as well as mental health. Sweating helps the body cleanse itself and clears bacteria out of the skin. The process of sweating helps improve circulation and gives the skin a fresh look and feel. Like thousands before you, you will find that practicing Hot Fitness Pilates in a correct HOT studio creates a satisfying and almost addictive feeling of achievement that you will pass on to your participants.
Where does HOT Fitness Pilates fit in with other Pilates programmes?
HOT Fitness Pilates is a group exercise programme designed to enhance the posture, strength, balance and stability of a healthy adult. Fitness Pilates is based upon the teachings of Joseph Pilates and effective exercise prescription. Hot Fitness Pilates then incorporates this with the benefits of working with heat to give another dimension to training.
It is not remedial, clinical or diagnostic in its approach but has its base firmly in group fitness.
Hot Fitness Pilates is designed for the healthy adult, there are always going to be risks working in heat and it is important that all instructors properly screen their participants and make them aware of the contraindications relating to this class.
The Benefits of Hot Fitness Pilates –
It is important to understand that it would be very dangerous for an instructor to just ‘turn up the heat’ in their normal studio to make it HOT. This can cause the spread of germs and infections and in some cases serious disease, so all HOT studios’ must be fitted with the correct infrared radiant heating panels or heating system.
Far Infrared Rays (FIR) are part of the sun’s invisible spectrum. FIR radiant heat is a form of thermal energy. This is the warmth you feel penetrate your skin when you are outside in the sun. FIR light should not be confused with ultraviolet light which causes sunburn and damage to your skin. Far infrared rays do not cause sunburn or skin damage. Far infrared rays are waves of energy, totally invisible to the naked eye, capable of penetrating deep into the human body (approx 4cm), where they gently elevate the body’s surface temperature and activate major bodily functions.
Many professional sports players and athletes have used heat for training for many years. The extreme heat has been justified with the ground that such warmth will enable one to utilise hundred percent performance of the vascular system when blood carrying oxygen will be allowed to be circulated better than ever. This blood, sufficiently and easily, will reach to the tissues of each and every corner of the muscle and to the tissues of all the organs of the body. The exhaustion awards the muscles and joints greater elasticity and flexibility and the collagen encompassing the joints will achieve positive tenderness. Thus a person engaged in sports and games will find his or her performance enhanced by training in heat.
In each class in Bikram’s Yoga centre more than 600 calories will be burnt paving way for the much expected loss in weight and the body will be freed from toxins simultaneously. Participants serious in HOT Fitness Pilates classes are sure to have a similar experience.
Many instructors have asked us what is the difference between HOT Fitness Pilates and normal Fitness Pilates? The answer being that we have created a very unique formula for our HOT Fitness Pilates training which works perfectly with training in this type of heat. WE have created the 5 phases of HOT Fitness Pilates which we recommend all qualified instructors follow which are –
Phase 1 – DYNAMIC MOBILITY
Phase 2 – BALANCE,
Phase 3 – STRENGTH,
Phase 4 – CORE
Phase 5 – FLEXIBILITY & RELEASE
At Choreography To Go we want to promote instructor individuality, personality & above anything FREESTYLE choreography. However due to nature of this type of class and the risks that can come with working in heat, we promote that all instructors follow the 5 phases in this order for EVERY class you teach. The choreography design of each phase is down to the individual instructor and we will give you exercise ideas for each phase during the course but essentially each HOT Fitness Pilates class will follow the same format which is listed above.
The class is beautiful to teach, it really focuses the mind as well as the body & everyone who has experienced it all love the fact they can switch off from all the chatter and chaos of the outside world. No Mobile phones are allowed in the studio, you take your shoes off outside and only YOU, water & towel are to be brought in the studio!
WE launched HOT Fitness Pilates back last year in Nottingham and since that course both the learners as well as myself have loved teaching HOT FP!!
One of our brilliant instructors Susan Boylan messaged me the other day this message ‘Hi Kelly, hot pilates well and truly on the timetable now . I have been asked to write something about it for the gym, Also do you find in hot classes its easier taking people to stronger moves more quickly ? I’m finding even new people to pilates seem to manage stronger progressions more easily than in regular classes , thanks Kelly , still loving it xxxx’
This is totally true as the heat creates a deeper strength that participants can gain in HOT that they just can’t get in normal classes. I delivered a masterclass at the Well-being Warehouse the other Sunday at 11am which was fully booked with a waiting list and it was just pure bliss. The class itself is so rewarding to teach (plus lovely on your body and mind as an instructor!!). The feedback was amazing and I have a regular class now on the timetable which has a waiting list of participants who want to get in to it so they are looking for more instructors to teach on the timetable!! Hence why we are running our next HOT Fitness Pilates training course at that studio!!!
So if you are a qualified Pilates or a Fitness Pilates instructor and would like to get qualified to teach HOT Fitness Pilates so you can offer this to the HOT Studio’s in your area then please check out course dates on www.choreographytogo.com or if you have your own HOT studio and would like a training course run at your centre then please email me – kelly@choreographytogo.com
Shifting
by Jo De Rosa
There is something in the air today.
Movement.
Can you feel it?
I don’t know what it is but I suddenly I am on fire! This project, that project, something completely new, things that I have been TRYING to do for weeks are now suddenly FLOWING FREELY.
Do you ever feel like this? That a cork has been popped and now life has been released and what was such a struggle before is now effortless?
Today I am swimming downstream with the current, looking up at the sky and accepting all that passes along the bank. Whereas last week I was clutched at the side holding on for dear life, FORCING myself to do what I SHOULD, and scared to let go and allow life to just be.
And so I listened to the fact that I felt stuck and went with it, rather than forcing myself forward. I had a lie in and watching TV in bed, took a long bath, let myself rest because that was what I needed.
Then I worked on my new vision board, the first one in nearly 2 years. I suddenly saw something a new way, and the mental release became physical and I quite literally felt myself become stronger in that moment. I had a new direction to focus on and it FELT GOOD!
Today I had to go to the post office to get a batch of flyers sent to someone putting them into their goody bags. As the box sat on the kitchen table a phone call came in and the lady asked for a flyer to be posted as she’s interested in classes and retreats. Synchronicity. How beautiful.
Today an order comes in for a block of raw Guatemalan cacao that we sell. I pack it up and then another order comes in for the exact same thing.
No order has come in for our chocolate for a couple of weeks…..
Sweet synchronicity.
WHERE YOUR MIND GOES, ENERGY FOLLOWS
This has been happening all day. I love it. The synchronistic signposts from within telling us that we are on track….a message from our inner intelligence.
And it is usually just one thing that we do that unblocks us. And that one decision turns into a chain reaction of flow.
Now that the energetic wall is down I have not stopped all day. I’ve done everything that I wanted to achieve today: meditation, workout, healthy post workout brunch, 2 pints of green juice, supplements, and a healthy dinner is just around the corner. My switch has been flicked and all of a sudden I’m on it, whereas last week was simply stagnant.
Whooosh the net that has been holding me back for weeks now has finally released and I’m being catapulted forwards at alarming speed! Trying to hold on tight!!!
Do you feel it?
If you think about going rafting on the rapids: You wouldn’t for a moment get into the boat and start to paddle upstream would you?! How silly that would be!
And you KNOW it is going to be an adventure before you start, as life is, but you let it be and don’t try to control the water. You know it’s not going to be easy but you’re ok with that….why can’t we be more like that with life? It’s ok to be thrown around a bit, hold on even tighter!, and enjoy the ride of life…..
I think the moral of the story is to listen.
Don’t force.
Go with the flow.
Meditate.
Stay connected.
Have a great week xxx
Ps. I’m going into silent retreat on Monday….anyone remember last years blog ‘Hairy Armpits’?! It was my most successful (in terms of emails and correspondence) blog ever.
I’m super excited about what comes up for me this year!!
See you on the other side……
Web: www.innerguidance.co.uk
Email: jo@innerguidance.co.uk
Facebook: InnerGuidance
Twitter: @Inner_Guidance
Copyright: Jo De Rosa 2015
10,000 BC……!!!
By Andrew Crawford
I fought back tears as they said goodbye to the lake which provided much nourishment albeit titbits at times and the camp which sustained them and became their home for 8 weeks…..!!!
Yes……… I was hooked..!
I’ve been camping for a few days before and enjoyed the experience but 8 weeks….without my mod cons….. steaming hot bubble bath, vaseline for smooth lips, nivea for the soft smooth skin effect, after shave the aroma of angels, deodorant to combat body odour, scissors and nail file, internet, mobile, bic razors, tooth paste for that lightening white smile, gargle as in listerine to top up that fresh breath experience, rice & peas, ackee and saltfish, chicken (on or off the bone), the fizzy stuff drank out of crystal, port & brandy not forgetting the sound of sweet soul music, jazz, reggae, dub, …………..no Siree……….I would find it hard to adjust and give up those creature comforts we so easily take for granted.….!!
5 of the original 20 made it to the end. It was amazing to watch the transformation of individuals and the emergence of ‘Natural Born Leaders’ …………It was fantastic to watch and even try and visually place myself in the camp with them (from the comfort of my sofa chomping on chocolate cake and cream and sipping on anything that took my fancy before kicking off my slippers & dressing gown and retiring to a warm duvet soft bed….ka-Boom).
ISIS, Jihadi, Kardashian and Dr Spook……
Just thought I’d divert your attention for a moment….tee hee..!!
So Andrew….
What has Survival by living off the land got to do with Accountancy and Tax?
Well…sometimes for businesses to survive and benefit from the profits of the land, just like the 5 who survived the 8 weeks did in 10,000 BC, you might or in some cases, need to work in Partnership.
A Partnership is a relationship between persons carrying on a business in common with a view of profit.
I have come across many, not just in the Fitness Industry, which have worked out very well, others have failed. Those that have failed lacked some fundamental elements which you reading this now will not over look.
You must remember and you will hear this again and again, the liability of each partner for the debts of the business is unlimited and is ‘joint and several’……meaning, the debts will be split across all the partners.
There must be at least 2 partners. So if 2 people are in a partnership and one dies, there is no longer a partnership.
Since you will be in partnership in order to make a profit, any losses sustained and profits made will be shared. Oh…..this will be the net profit and not the gross. (Net means AFTER all the expenses have been taken out).
Do partners have to be involved in the day to day running of the business? ……….No…….these are called ‘Sleeping Partners’ and not the type you are thinking about at the moment.
Here is where we come to the Nitty Gritty…….
Please have a ‘Partnership Agreement’ in place…..for your protection. What should be in it?
The name of the partner
The start date of the partnership
What proportions of capital were provided by each partner and amount of interest to be paid
How are profits shared
Any restrictions of business activities
Indemnity of each partner
How the business records are kept
How to bring in new partners
Basically these terms are guidelines as to how the Partnership should be operated and should cover instances of disagreements.
How does a Partnership dissolve?
Passage of time
The venture is complete
Death or bankruptcy of one of the partners
Court order
Agreement by the partners
The Principle of a Partnership
General duty of good faith
Render true accounts and full information to each other
Account for any profit when using the partners property
May do any other business outside the partnership but must account for profit made in a business which is the same or competes with the partnership.
Lastly…let me add this…before I bore you to tears..
Partners can access the partnership books
All partners can take part in the management of the business
Decisions are taken on majority vote
Profits and losses are shared equally (I’ve mentioned that before)
Are not entitled to a salary for being in the partnership
Your survival relies on each other even though this ain’t 10,000BC.
Finally
I was in Leeds on Monday, Bristol on Tuesday and the word on the street was all about Becky Watts ……What a shame…
Police have a mammoth task to track down these Modern Day Savages…….. .!!! #ripbeckywatts.
Oh………and I’m getting excited about my new project, soon to be in it’s prelaunch stage. I’ll let you all into my inner sanctum very soon.
Until then……Be careful out there…!!
Andrew James Crawford
www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com
www.facebook.com/fitnessindustryaccountants
www.twitter.com/tax4fitness