On the internet, you can be as hard core as you wanna.

If you’ve learned anything from this site, you’ll know that you can do anything and everything when it comes to expanding your fitness career; it’s not just limited to independent training, studio ownership, or bootcamps.  There’s everything from sports and conditioning, to specializing in a niche you’re passionate about, to scumbag internet marketing (or you could turn into an internet tough guy, kind of  like me).

Then there are other phases of the business that don’t involve transferring your knowledge or personality directly at all, but rather selling  fitness products.  Mark Lebert’s created an amazing business with that, with his LEBERT EQUALIZER.  And I have a new guest today that took his passion for bodybuilding and powerlifting into a full line of equipment and products, Daniel Emick, President and CEO of Hypertrophy Enterprises LLC.

Even if you’ve already “found yourself” in this business and are working full steam to blow up at it, this interview will prove useful in showing you what’s possible and the “get it done attitude” you need to make your business succeed.  And it never hurts to hear about how more people are succeeding at fitness.  Whatever the case, you’ll find this interview very valuable.

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Most trainers and fitness entrepreneurs think of information marketing as the only way to expand their fitness businesses. But product marketing is also a huge opportunity for someone that knows what they’re doing. And for those not inclined to do lots of writing and blogging, it’s truly passive income.  On that subject, I got none other than Daniel Emick on Super-Trainer.com for an interview to talk about his series of products, and in particular his marquee products, the Haulin’ Hooks family of grip products.

Hey Daniel – great to have you on Super-Trainer. I have to say I love the Haulin’ Hooks, and when I was heavy into powerlifting, I used to use them myself.  They’re high quality and functional for the needs of powerlifters at all levels. How did you get the idea for them?

Thanks for the great testimonial and the opportunity to be a featured guest on this site. The idea for the Haulin’ Hooks was spawned following a 20 year frustration with common weightlifting straps and hooks. And believe me as a competitive bodybuilder always pushing for more, I tried them all.   Unfortunately every type had a compromise of one sort or another whether it be one size doesn’t fit all, uncomfortable, poorly made, or flat our dangerous to use. That’s what urged me to create the ultimate no compromise grip aid that actually delivered on the promises we make.

What’s your history in the fitness industry?

I have 35+ years of experience in resistance exercise and performance nutrition, including 25 years of in the trenches experience in the world of Natural Bodybuilding. I was also a fitness club owner and operator, group & personal fitness trainer for 10 years.

After you had the idea, what were your first steps to getting this product made?

Well I jotted down everything this “Hold-On” had to achieve to blow away the competition, then got to work on a rough drawing. I then sought a local manufacturer to build prototypes for me and a year later I had our “Original” model to put to a test. A few changes here and there and before you know it, Haulin’ Hooks were created.

Once you have an idea, how do you make sure no one takes it? How do you protect your intellectual property, and how do you enforce it?

Well the first step in keeping an idea from getting ripped off is to keep your mouth shut! Nobody has to know that you’re working on the world’s next great invention although admittedly it can be difficult not to express your enthusiasm regarding it! I kept mine secret within my fitness club by using it in plain sight, but not letting on that it was the only one in existence.  People just assumed I had bought it somewhere, and when they used it, they wanted a set for themselves. I would tell them I would order them a pair as soon as I located the manufacturer…of course that happened when I got my first production run delivered after having sought, and been awarded full patent protection (a year long process)

How does someone go about getting products produced? I have noticed the price of your products are very affordable, and simultaneously the products and packaging quality is extremely high. Where and how do you get your products made to still give you the necessary profit margin?

Getting products produced is easy, but getting them built to a quality standard that is acceptable is not as much! Manufacturing at a low enough price for a solid profit margin it can add a new dynamic, which can lead to compromises here-n-there in the effort to hit the middle ground goals.

We keep the quality and costs of our Haulin’ Hooks where we like them by manufacturing in house (we outsource the patented Hooks themselves).

This gives us total control of quality control standards and keeps costs of manufacture within reason. It also affords us the ability to add or drop new models, features, and other product options to a very short time frame. This would not be possible if using an overseas manufacturer due to the logistics and time consuming correspondence.

What were the primary skills you needed or barriers you faced when getting started with your product line? What is the process like?

Before release, a diverse focus group is called in to review every product.

The primary skills needed when building our product line was an insiders expertise in the world of hardcore weightlifting! You simply cannot build the finest grip aid the world has ever seen unless you had personal, in-depth experience with the status-quo. And believe me this bodybuilder/club owner has been there, done that! The process in building our Haulin’ Hooks line again was rooted in my experiences in the craft; I fully understood the needs of the various subcultures within the weightlifting world so I set about devising a line of custom tailored grip aids suited expressly for each with their specific needs in mind.

Of course prior to finalization, all models were tested and refined via feedback gathered from those weightlifters, be it bodybuilders, powerlifters, lady figure competitors, or just lifters in general. An all important step in the process since they are the marker, and if they didn’t love them, everything else was in vain.

Good luck and continued success with your products. If the trainers and fit pros reading this want to check them out, where can they find them?

Thank you for the well wishes, you can bet we will be doing our God given best to do our part in the process.

All of our current Haulin’ Hooks models can be viewed online at our website: www.hold-ons.com. However we are in the process of completing our brand new site, which will include the debut of no less than (4) never been seen before, patented and patent pending NEW fitness tools that will definitely add some serious kick to those workouts! Our new site to accommodate all of the new and the existing products will be www.LPGmuscle.com the LPG is for Lift more, Pull more, Grow more.

Daniel W. Emick
President and CEO of Hypertrophy Enterprises LLC

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Just when you were almost done with your e-book, how did you like that loop I threw you for?!  From Daniel’s story, you have just one more career path available for all of us in fitness.  Not sure if everyone realizes that when they’re taking their certification tests, but it’s a pretty cool thing.

JUST ADDED:

Before this article went live, I contacted the General Manager I know from within the company, Carl Schusler, for some more info on their products, so you could get an idea of what a full product line looks like, and he sent me the following email:

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Kaiser,

Here’s some additional information on the latest products that we are coming out with.

The videos attached here can also be seen on our Youtube home page: http://www.youtube.com/user/HypertrophyLLC I have much more information that we are working on as far as bullet points and features for every product as we are having a new website being built.

First, the Physio-Twist: it is designed to combine an athlete, Physio ball, leverage and a weight stack for the express purpose of building extreme core torque capacity. Patent pending Physio-Twist delivers on the promise by providing athletes with a secure gripping platform from which to get it done.

For starters, Physio-Twists belt strap snap buckle can be instantly connected and adjusted to accommodate any commonly sized Physio ball.

Secondly, multi-user capacity is ensured as Physio-Twists gripping handles may be set to suit athletes arm length with a simple lift and pull/push of handle cam buckles.

Lastly Physio-Twists belt centered D-ring features heavy duty stitching and is placed to keep resistance attachment cable on track and around ball throughout exercise range of motion.

This is a link to a quick video for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvZpJKNS5lU I am working on another one with a little more of the product in use.

We have adapted the patented hook design from the Haulin Hooks for a couple of other products, the E-Z Dip dumbbell dipping belt system that is shown on our existing website and we have a multipurpose strap coming out that we call the Delt Belt Upright Row that is a strap that can be attached to a cable machine for multiple exercises or drop a dumbbell into the patented hook and hook sleeves for silky smooth upright rows this is the video soon for this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKXWHEsFCYM

This link is to an impromptu workout that Daniel Emick our inventor puts a young bodybuilder through using two of these new products, the Tri-Bells and the Rip-Cords.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX3jaAD388g part one,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEtXhdC-Y_g&feature=related part two,

This link is for the Tri-Bells product to give you an idea on a couple of exercises.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEFbzqztxGo

This link is for the Lat Bar Pull Down System, we are currently working with manufacturers in order to bring this to market the bar system will work in conjunction with our Rip-Cords Product that is shown in previous videos (This is really popular at the local gym, we just took it back for some improvements last week and guys are missing it.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCDto9H78Co

Please let me know if you have any questions on these.

Thanks,

Carl Schusler
General Manager
www.hold-ons.com
800-851-7892

You don't have to look like this guy to be a successful trainer.

When I first got started in this business, I had it ass backwards …

I wanted to be like all the juiced up wannabe super-trainers, but little did I know these guys weren’t setting themselves up for their next move in the industry.  Most of them end up played-out has-beens.

If you’ve ever worked at a healthclub, you know the type.  And if you’re anything like me, you’ll want no part of their world or what they’re trying to do in it.

When you get wiser in this game, you’ll be impressed more by who people are and their accomplishments.  You’ll find that the people at the top of this game remain very humble and don’t care who knows about them.

Once of those guys is Greg Justice. I’m a big fan of Greg’s; when it comes to all of the fitness industry success principles we discuss here, he’s living proof of them.

Greg isn’t a self promoter in any way, so I had to twist his arm to come on here for a guest article.  This one will introduce you to him, and he’s sending me a follow up very soon.

Here it is:

How I Achieved Success in Spite of Myself

By Greg Justice, MA

I have spent my entire career doing everything ‘wrong’ according to the ‘experts’ and have still had great success in my businesses and my life. I agree whole-heartedly with those experts. In fact, in my fitness business coaching program I even encourage trainers to take those ‘right’ steps.

One key area that I have done all ‘wrong’ is the area of working on my business, instead of in my business.

As I coach trainers with this advice, I still train clients myself, in addition to working on my businesses. Am I being hypocritical? Am I playing both sides of the fence afraid to step over? Is it the money? Why would I still be training clients?

Here’s why. I have an incredibly supportive family. We work and play well together. I have built incredible relationships with clients I’ve had for 15, 18, 20 plus years. I have a social life with them. They have fed my business with referrals, income and support. Our families have become a special part of each other’s lives. They add something excellent and fruitful to my life and my business, regularly and deeply.

Some questions I’ve asked myself: Which clients do I choose to turn that ‘special time’ over to another trainer? Will I have to redefine my relationships with them if I am not training them? Am I ready to let go of the reins and listen to my own advice? Do I really “need” to?

Me and Greg at a recent industry event (when I asked him to come bar hopping afterward, he humbly refused).

My life and my businesses are about relationship first. That was my plan and how I grew my business. I built incredibly satisfying relationships and they helped me to succeed. They believed in me and the service I offered. They are the reason for my success. Without them, I would just be another great trainer that no one has heard of.

Some things you must consider if you want to ‘do it all wrong’ and succeed in spite of yourself:

- Know yourself and your limitations. It is hard enough to bounce back from burn-out, and even more so from repeated bouts of burn-out. You must be able to say STOP and get away to rejuvenate yourself before you get to that point of burn-out.

- Know which relationships help nurture and support your dreams, and willingly pick up some of your slack (and you will be leaving slack if you do things the ‘wrong’ way). Nurture and embrace those relationships. They will make all the difference in your success.

- Know your direction, ultimate goals, stepping stone goals, and time frames. Create a plan for it all. Live within your means and plan your days. Work your plan faithfully until your goals change.

The earlier in your fitness business you start working on it, in addition to in it, the better your chance of developing and choosing the types of relationships that will help you build a strong and steady business and carry you into your future.

There’s a book that I’ve been seeing in the book stores for years and I’m sure you’ve noticed it too: MADE TO STICK.  You know it; it’s the bright orange book that looks like it has a piece of silver electrical tape wrapped across the front of it.

Well, on recommendation from some people I respect, I picked the book up recently, and it was an extremely worthwhile read.  If you’ve had trouble getting into the story telling, verbose, emotional nature of long copy and direct response marketing, this book will train that muscle in you.

The take home message of the book?  Tell stories through your marketing and communication if you want your ideas to stick.  Tell unexpected (ie interesting), believable, emotional stories that tap into people’s own wants and needs.  That’s all people remember – everything else is a waste of time.

Don't be afraid to get into their heads a little; David Blaine made a small fortune at it.

If right now, you’re not comfortable marketing through stories that entrance the prospect and capture the mind, I don’t blame you.  If you’re tied up administering the day to day activities of your business, ie doing all the work, then you may have little time and energy to focus on this part of the business.

But as you extract yourself from the daily grind, delegate that to your employees, and become the leader of the business, you also become the chief story teller.  Your full time job becomes spreading the gospel.

You’ll need to identify your niche (ie your specialty; the market your service; who you want to train – if you haven’t figured this out, stop reading and get on it now) …

You’ll then need to create an experience, from first visit to the one hundreth, that reflects it – it’s all storytelling, in some form or another.

To find out how to really do this, read another book, POUR YOUR HEAR INTO IT by Starbucks founder Howard Schultz. And if you remember Starbucks back when they were getting big, it was done perfectly.  I remember about 10 years ago when they started sprouting up all over Manhattan; they had a certain mystique that made you just want to go inside – that’s never by accident.

Okay, back to MADE TO STICK … what the authors Chip and Dan Heath were exploring is why some stories and ideas spread like wildfire and people remember them, while MOST marketing messages and information in general doesn’t stick at all. If you’re at a stage where you’re spending thousands on advertising and are depending on how it converts to make your next move, you should pay attention to this.

The authors boiled down every story that sticks to having the following elements, to varying degrees:

SIX PRINCIPLES OF STICKY IDEAS

1.  Simplicity

2.  Unexpectedness

3.  Concreteness

4.  Credibility

5.  Emotions

6.  Stories

They then demonstrated how most marketing messages that stick have these qualities in different proportions, over those that don’t.  Since the authors are both college professor types, they performed actual studies  to determine the retention rates of certain messages, not just on backwards rationalized hunches.

One story that they covered that we can all relate to and has a high level of relevance to our marketing is the Jared from SUBWAY story from the SUBWAY franchises.   This message and ad campaign that launched the company to huge growth is one we can all match, and it obeyed all of the rules of the formula.  Here’s how they talked about it in the book:

It’s simple: Eat subs and lose weight. (it may be oversimplified, frankly, since the meatball sub with extra mayo won’t help you lose weight.)

It’s unexpected: A guy lost a ton of weight by eating fast food!  This story violates our schema of fast food, a schema that’s more consistent with the picture of a fat Jared than a skinny Jared.

It’s concrete: Think of the oversized pants, the massive loss of girth, the diet of composed of particular sandwiches.  It’s much more like an Aesop fable than an abstraction.

It’s credible: It has the same kind of antiauthority truthfulness that we saw with the Pam Laffin anti-smoking campaign. The guy who wore 60-inch pants is giving us diet advice.

It’s emotional: We care more about an individual, Jared, than about mass.  And it taps into profound areas of Malow’s hierarchy – it’s about a guy who reached his potential with the help of a sub-shop.

It’s a story: Our protagonist overcomes big odds to triumph.  It inspires the rest of us to do the same.

One way that we can all take advantage of the same effect is through our testimonials.  When you tell your testimonial stories, stuff like “my trainer is a nice person” isn’t good enough.  You want your clients to spill their guts, you want to tell the stories, and you want your prospects to read about it.

Being a publicity whore can really grow your assets.

And it’s not just your clients that should be the stars of your stories -put yourself front and center too. Back up all your statements, from your certification, to why you got started, with a story.

Do you have any particular special experience?  Were you in the military?  Are you a CSCS?  Was getting a training business strarted a dream of yours?  Better make all of that clear.  Back it all up with a story or it’s meaningless. Your story allows them to connect – it makes things real and three dimensional.  It allows them in.

In addition to everything mentioned above, here are a few more take home messages from the book:

Keep interest levesl up: people are tempted to tell everything with perfect accuracy up front, when they should be giving you just enough information to be useful – then a little more – then a little more.

The first problem of communication is getting people’s attention.

The most basic way to get someone’s attention is to break a pattern.  Humans adapt incredibly quickly to consistent patterns.

Unexpectedness rules.

Obey the gap theory of curiosity – when creating a story, don’t tell the punchline up front.  Create some interest, build momentum, and at the end, allow the release.

Concreteness is key: focusing on a smaller area makes life easier ( this goes back to the idea of finding a niche and specializing; it allows certain people raise their hand and say yes, allows you to say you’re number one at something, and allows everyone else to go bother someone else.)

Know what your listeners care about, so you can tailor your communication to them.

Use repition, repetition, repetition.

Celebrities carry tremendous influence (have you trained a celebrity or been associated with one?  Better damn well make it clear in your marketing).

Getting analytical will actually hurt you: talking about figures, dollars and cents, shuts down the emotional centers of the brain – it is the emotional side that makes people take action.

And here are a few more examples from the book:

Those TRUTH ads are just freaking brilliant. When I was a kid, smoking was cool. Now, you just look like a sleezbag doing it.

The excellent TRUTH anti-smoking campaigns: remember when people used to rebel against “the man” by smoking.  These ads made the brilliant move of showing that the tobacco companies are “the man”, making it cool not to smoke.  Do you remember how WRONG the old tobacco ads were when they tried this?  They were always very rational, talking about statistics.  But the TRUTH ads lay 300 body bags on a crowded street – they clearly know how to make a point.

The top direct marketing headline of all time:

“They laughed when I sat down at the piano – but when I started to play …”

This headline works because it conjures up all kinds of mental images – embarrassment, pride, and vindication.  It’s the detailed, emotional, and storytelling nature that makes it such a powerful classic.

And now a personal story:

When I read the book, it reminded me of a friend of mine, a mortgage broker named Antonio, who I learned a lot about salesmanship from.

He’s a master salesman, makes boku bucks, and obeys every rule here.  Hanging around him flipped the selling switch in me, and just goes to show the importance of hanging around other winners.

Flashing some cash works every time.

If you ever ask him what he does for a living, he reaches into his pockets, pulls out a thick wad of hundred dollars bills, and the jangling key fob to his BMW, and he says, with a big smile on his face:

“I get people cash and keys.”

He’s always selling.  And the fact he could afford to rent out the hardwood sweet for three days when we went to Vegas shows that it’s working.   On an intuitive level he understands everything the authors here were talking about – the unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, and emotional part of the sale.  And he didn’t tell you what he did, he made it a non-factual, physically real story – freaking brilliant.

Although I’m not the showman Antonio is, the message was very clear to me, and it allowed me to open up, believe in myself, and feel comfortable, confident, and deserving when I asked people for money.   This is a skill most trainers aer missing, and a lesson most need to pay attention to.

So get into that habit – you’ll get more referrals, more word of mouth, greater conversions for your website, and will just have more search engine friendly content on your website, when you use it to tell stories.

It gives you greater potential for sales of ancillary products and services. You’ll get greater participation during your promotions. And you’ll gain a bigger following, bottom line.

If you’re having trouble picking up this habit, pick up the book – definitely a good read.

Shameless promoting makes the world go 'round.

If there’s one thing I see trainers doing too little of, it’s promoting.  If you’re looking to drum up new business, you can’t just come in with the same old lame training deals.  It has to be something new, fresh, and unique to gain people’s interest and get them to move on your offer, and refer more business to you.

Getting into this promoter’s mindset is what I had to do when I had locations all over New York.  I didn’t miss an opportunity to  give people an excuse to take the step, start training with us, and change their life.

A guest article I got recently from Ben London really summed up this feeling.  Ben’s an industry vet and the writer of
mybusinessisfitness.com, a blog that’s great to follow for nuts and bolts training info.  Here’s Ben’s article:

Become A Personal Training Power Promoter!

Personal training promotions for the most part are boring and predictable. The fitness industry is littered with unimaginative, unoriginal and monotonous seasonal marketing tactics.

A quick Google search showed me that over 50% of the promotions I could find had the words ‘summer’ as their hook.

Don’t get me wrong, the whole ‘get ready for summer’ push is one of the busiest times of the year for personal trainers, which is fantastic because the next 8 weeks are traditionally the slowest.

I’ve had conversations with personal trainers that save all of there promotional budget for the few weeks leading up to the summer period. When I ask them why, they say to stand out from their competitors, to get the most business from the rush.

This is all good and well for the unimaginative, but what if you were already booked out before the summer rush, wouldn’t that be a better scenario?

The key is to take advantage of every opportunity to be original, not just before summer. You see, every month there’s a holiday, either federal (Easter, Christmas) or what’s called a federal observance holiday (Halloween, April Fools) which you can spin into enjoyable and lucrative cash cows.

I’m not suggesting you run promos for every holiday, but pick and choose a few and align your marketing budget accordingly.

The beauty of the holiday promotion is the endless opportunities you can demonstrate to your target market and the variety of tools that are at your disposal. I also noticed that my retention rate was much higher from promotions that didn’t simply target the flighty summer market.

Just recently I saw a mother’s day personal training promotion that was contributing a portion of the money they earned during that promotion to women’s breast cancer research, needless to say that it was a huge success and the media gave them a nice push along.

While I was a contract personal trainer, I would organize an annual Halloween promotion that prompted people to hire me so they could go to their work Halloween parties as super heroes, or Tarzan or sexy maids or whatever.

And your promotions don’t have to revolve around holidays alone. Everyone knows that women get into shape for their weddings and are prepared to pay the earth for that to happen.

Research shows that most weddings are during the spring, so run a promotion in the lead up to that period. I’ve seen some personal training businesses claim to specialize in helping couples get ready for their special day.

I also discovered that school reunions were an incredible motivator for people looking to get into shape and did research through various sites like gradfinder.com, friendsreunited.com or more recently facebook that would conveniently tell me what is being planned.

Become a power promoter; there are plenty of potential clients looking to get into shape the other 9 months of the year, sometimes you just need to point them in the right direction i.e. yours.

Ben London
http://mybusinessisfitness.com/

But hey, if the bodybuilding magazines can feature him on the cover of every other issue, then why can’t we?

Arnold’s influence on the fitness industry is hard to fathom.  His popularization of bodybuilding decades ago is the reason why 75% of the square footage of most gyms are devoted to bodybuilding equipment, and why millions of people worldwide are obsessed with it.

But beyond his physique, there are a lot of things we as fitness industry entrepreneurs have in common with him that are not always obvious. Here are a few little known things about Arnold that you may have in common but may not have been aware of:

1. He was a trainer: for a little while Arnold was a personal trainer.   He hated it, but there’s a lesson in that – you should look to gain leverage in your fitness business and take a leadership role (instead of doing all of the training) as soon as possible.
2. He was a mail order entrepreneur for a while (and did fairly well at it):  Arnold made millions in mail order information products, but you have to admit it was a little easier for him.  He was made a huge star through his exclusive contract with the Weider Bodybuilding publications, so he had a built in “list”.
   
3. His work ethic and drive are legendary: they probably far out pace any natural gifts he may have been born with.

There are of course tons of videos featuring him all over the web, but I found a few that were particularly good.  They are in Arnold’s own words, and the info he shared was to the point, and as up front as you’ll hear anyone in his position deliver out in the open.

Two of these videos are from a university commencement address he delivered, and the other is from an interview.  All three videos will have your mind popping with kernels of wisdom from the master:

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To, review, here are few of the lessons from above that were particularly good:

1. Once you achieve success once, it can be repeated: as Arnold explains, when he entered acting he just copied his pattern of success in bodybuilding.  He trained and studied the same way and got similar success.
2. Never listen to the naysayers:  when you really thing about it, it’s the most ridiculous thing that Arnold got the success he did in acting with his accent, his name, and his huge muscles.  But he knew what he wanted to accomplish, and refused to accept anything short of it.  When it came to running for Governor, he did the same thing.  He announced his candidacy just months before the election, and he averaged just a couple of hours of sleep per night until he got the job.
3. Parents just don’t understand:  one of the funniest points from the videos above was the story he told about his mom calling a psychiatrist to check him out because he was so obsessed with bodybuilding.  If you have any goals beyond what your parents did, especially big goals, they’ll think you’re nuts.  (Btw, if everyone did exactly what their parents did, we’d still be living in caves wearing animal skins.)
   
4. Goals are one thing – you have to put in the pain to get the results:  even if you’re the most talented, you still need to outwork everyone else to get the best results.  But beyond the work, Arnold is proof of the most important part of all: results are all that matter.
   

In my opinion, he’s one of the all time greats in history, so you can’t get much better advice than what you get from Arnold.  If you doubt yourself or find yourself listening to those around you, be sure to keep this post bookmarked!  Good luck.

As Master Yoda would say, you either do or you don't do - there is no "try". He was talking about commitment.

Right now, I’m going to share a secret with you about the fitness business that’ll probably change your life.   If you’ve been getting mediocre results, had low satisfaction, or are on the verge of burnout, then this secret will literally be the key to you expanding your income, enjoying what you do, and probably transforming every other part of your life as well.

It’s the idea of becoming COMMITTED to what you’re doing.

The reason a lot of personal trainers have trouble with the fitness industry is because they just aren’t committed to it. They got into personal training as a side job. They stayed in it long enough to maybe go solo, and they might be doing okay. But I’m sure OKAY is not good enough for you. It never has been for me either.

The reason trainers don’t hit the next level in income, satisfaction, and respect, is that they never consciously decided to.  If you don’t put all of what you have into the game, it won’t give you back anything in return.

What does it mean to be committed?

• It means you strive to take a leadership position in your business, which means that you stop doing the day to day work, and instead do the planning, the goal setting, operations, and quality control.

• It means you become friends with many people in your industry, both up and down the totem pole.

• It means you commit yourself to continuing self-education – to learning everything that the movers and shakers are doing in your industry.

• It means you take a leadership role yourself and start teaching others what you know.

Once you’re committed, the results start to come, and the fringe benefits along with them.  These positives practically happen automatically. They happen by themselves for no other reason than the fact that you’re now single minded and focused.  I don’t want to get all woo-woo on you, but you start to ATTRACT them into your life.  The law of attraction means that fitness success comes to someone that is success minded.

Like they say, you can't be half pregnant - you've got to be committed.

So if there’s just one piece of advice I have to transform your career and start to get results, it’s to suck it up and get committed to fitness – to being a somebody in this business.  I don’t mean committed to training clients one-on-one the rest of your life. What the purists fail to realize is that you cannot improve people’s live and make a positive impact on the public’s health unless you are funneling their butts through your doors and making money off of them.

If you’re committed to this industry, to growing in it, to taking the next steps in it, and to see yourself among the leaders in it, it’s just going to take a decision from you – the results will speak for themselves.

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How’d you like that article?  I’ve been on a negativity binge lately, so I thought I’d blast out a dose of motivational energy.  The negativity has it’s place by the way.  I’m a big believer in identifying and preparing for the down side in everything.  If you read my lazy trainer post, you understand my belief that making things as simple for yourself as possible is the only way you can expect to make some money at this.

Today, as we come into the last day of the launch of THE NEW SIX-FIGURE TRAINER PROGRAM, I have one additional, secret bonus that I want to share with you.

Based on the feedback I got from readers and previous product owners on what they were looking for, what most expressed is that they wanted to take the next step in their careers.  To help them do it, I created an exclusive upgrade to the program, called THE SIX-FIGURE PLATINUM SERIES.

I even skimped on the set-up of the product site and my selling during this three day launch promotion to make sure this platinum series upgrade was done right.   My higher priority is not cashing in on the buzz now – it’s creating an enduring, quality product that brings value to trainers for years.

The PLATINUM SERIES is about VISION. Vision is what defines leadership.  It’s the backbone to your goals.  It’s the light you’re headed towards.  It’s the big picture dream you’re trying to achieve.

This upgrade is based on a vision of automation, predictability, outsourcing, business systems, and high profits.  It’s a step toward the goal of a business that runs on systems and not sweat.  That others can operate and you can benefit from.  And the foundation of a business that can be sold or duplicated, not a job that must be worked in and attended to.

If you’re ready to step up and think critically about your business on a level that reflects the modern age we’re in today, take a look at the modules that area  part of THE SIX-FIGURE PLATINUM SERIES.

AUTOMATIC BILLING ($47 Value)

If you’re a trainer and you’ve been doing you’re job right, you know that clients keep coming back. Have you ever wished you could automate the process?

Unfortunately it’s not as easy as you think. Clients are not used to paying for services in automatic payment cycles. It takes certain skills and techniques on your part to get them to buy in to it.

Once they do, you can simply sit back and enjoy yourself with your clients, and never let money come up in the conversation again (until you decide to raise prices, but that’s another story).

In AUTOMATIC BILLING, you will learn how to convert your training practice over to strictly high value automated billing cycles.  You’ll know how to sell it, how to implement it, and have the sample contracts to make it work.

REFERRAL AND RETENTION REPORT ($47 Value)

The lifeblood of your training business are retention and referrals- once a clients starts, getting them to stay for life, and getting them to bring you more people like themselves.  Once you learn this part, you have the foundation of a fitness business that can grow unlimited in size.

The REFERRAL AND RETENTION REPORT will show you how to unlock the power of repeat business and word of mouth.  Referrals bring your marketing costs down to zero.  And retention raises your profitability through the roof.  This module gives you systems to increase both.  Once you implement referral and retention systems, and combine them with a good team of employees, you can finally breathe easy and have a business you enjoy .

TIME MASTERY ($47 Value)

Most people think they want more money – but really the most valuable asset we have in life is time.  In this module, you will learn to get the very most out of your time.  And even more important, you will learn how to eliminate and delegate as much of your work as possible.

Learn time management tricks, tactics, and psychology.  You’ll learn how to make the most possible money for every hour you put in to your business. How to outsource repetitive tasks. How to find a high quality assistant for dirt cheap prices, that will take care of everything from doing your laundry, buying your groceries, filling up your gas tank, and buying you coffee. And you’ll learn how to delegate seemingly complex activities in your business as well.   You’ll also learn strategies on destroying procrastination, which is one of the major thieves of time.  These are the first steps to creating a high profit business that serves your schedule and ideal lifestyle.

FIT-BIZ SYSTEMS ($47 Value)

You don’t have a real business unless you have systems. Luckily, personal training is a product and business model that is perfectly built to run on systems. It’s a high paying, continuity based product, based on big-ticket transactions.  Once you’ve systematized the business, you can essentially put it on autopilot.

Not only that, but creating systems in your business is also what sets it up for growth.  Systems thinking is the most valuable mindset you can possibly have as a business owner.  This module will get you started.

EMAIL MAGIC ($47 Value)

Whether you realize it or not, email is the most important marketing vehicle you have at your disposal.  You’d have to call it a miracle because not only is it practically free to use, but it can automated.

In this module, you’ll learn how to craft email promotions and how to automate them so they do the job of converting your prospects into customers without you lifting a finger.

You’ll also learn advanced strategies such as how to avoid redundant promotions, how to segment customer lists, and and create an automated sales funnel that guides your prospects into paying customers.  Plus, you’ll learn writing strategies to make sure your emails are opened and read, and how to create promotions that get the greatest possible response.  Once you learn the power email can have on every aspect of your business, the impact on your profits will be overwhelming.

GOAL-SETTING WORKSHOP ($47 Value)

Sure, you could spend the next few months working very hard to grow your fitness business. But have you identified exactly what you’re trying to achieve through fitness?   Have you set realistic timelines to achieving it?  Have you converted these goals into a clear plan that can be acted on and measured?

If not, you’re actually flying blind.  That’s why I put together THE GOAL SETTING WORKSHOP.  This module is suited to specifically be applied to your lifestyle-based fitness business, and to help you attain and exceed your goals as fast as possible.  Without this attention to the big picture and how to make it a reality, this course simply wouldn’t be complete.

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There you have it – that’s your PLATINUM SERIES upgrade that will be yours FREE if you jump on the new PROGRAM before midnight tonight, pacific time.  This upgrade will be sold for over $200 after today.  It comes with the six modules described above, along with a special PLATINUM SERIES program manual.  This truly is enough valuable information for it’s own high-priced course, but will only be useful to trainers that have mastered the basics of THE SIX-FIGURE TRAINER PROGRAM.  If you’re looking for the pinnacle of what owning a fitness business today has to offer, be sure to get in on all of this by midnight tonight.  Here’s where to get your copy:

http://www.raisingtrainerincome.com/

Join us.

Ever since Tim Ferris wrote a best selling book (a very good one by the way) about how he cheated at kickboxing and made over half a million a year selling scam diet pills (not to mention scamming people into promoting his book all the way to the bestseller list), being a scumbag has become a major career goal for many of todays’ youth  (especially those of us that spend way too much time on the internet).

With the low cost of internet marketing these days, you’ll find blatant marketing tactics used in horrible combinations in nearly every niche known to man.  Just like the swamp thing emerging from the ooze, try-hard direct response marketers are everywhere these days and more are getting into the game by the minute.

Before you think I’m calling this a bad thing, realize when you’re a small business start-up (which most personal trainers are), you are the sales and marketing chief of the whole operation.

This is a lesson I try to beat into the heads of trainers repeatedly, which is a little frustrating since we are a particular breed that is the most resistant to embracing it. Being a marketing scumbag doesn’t mean neglecting product mastery (in this case training) or industry preeminence (being number one).  Those can be two of the best marketing strategies out there for any marketer (again, that means you).

But there’s a lot more to it.  A lot of shady, “mind-f*ck” stuff (a la Puff Daddy in Get Him To The Greek) that goes into selling effectively online and through any other medium.  When you’re the chief salesperson and marketer in your business, no one is going to do this for you.  And you are well advised to use every shady tactic you have at your disposal to start getting results.

That’s why in this post we’re going to go over just a smattering of some of the most popular marketing tactics being used in direct marketing today (by direct marketing I am talking about ads, sales pages, tv, conferences – everywhere).  A lot of this is more under the radar stuff that you may have noticed, but not truly understand the value it can have for you in your personal training marketing.  Not only will this make you a better indirect seller (which is what we are all going for), but it will allow you step up from being one of the sheep and become an influencer yourself.

Before we start, if it sounds like I’m calling your most believed marketing guru a scumbag, I am. But note that I am also a scumbag, probably one of the biggest alive today. I use nearly every one of the tactics we are going to get into below. The ones I don’t use, I’m either too lazy to, or I can’t yet (for example, I don’t have any children – more on that later). I’ve made it my mission to read and study nearly every single business and direct response marketing book of note in the past 200 years, and know and learn from most of the top marketers alive today (many of which I’m friends with).  If you really want to get good at this, I recommend you do the same.

I'll be seeing you at the next internet marketing conference.

One of the best parts about becoming a lifetime student of sales and marketing is that it is extremely addictive and fun as hell.  You may end up hanging out with some nerdy people that remind you of the type you avoided in highschool, but that’s life.  Hey, you wouldn’t turn Bill Gates down for copy of coffee would you?  So open up your mind to who it is that you can learn from and network with.

This is also one of the reasons why sales and marketing have been covered in such detail in the new SIX-FIGURE TRAINER PROGRAM.  It’s been poured over in excruciating detail with information that has been employed from the world’s top companies and sales drive professions, applied specifically to personal training, and exhaustively field-tested.  For more info on the special bonuses and limited time launch price on THE PROGRAM, go here.

DRIVING WHILE PROMOTING (DWP)

What a shame ... he was in the middle of shooting a video for his big product launch.

This is probably one of the funniest under the radar marketing tactics you’ll see used today, everywhere from late night TV infomercials (watch the latest Dean Graziosi one), and very commonly used by online marketers in every niche.  Really, what is the purpose of recording a promotional video while driving in your car, and who wouldn’t look and feel like a complete tool doing it? But here’s why this works as an effective tactic:

It gives you the feeling of going on a journey with the marketer, gives the story momentum, and creates bonding with the marketer (you wouldn’t go into someone’s car if you didn’t know and trust them, would you?).  As you will find out below, relationship is one of the key factors in selling coaching and niche information products.  As a personal trainer, that is the business you are in, so if you can swallow your pride, this is a tactic you may want to use.

Note: DWP is not yet outlawed in any states, but as internet marketing proliferates, it’s only a matter of time.

FUTURE BANKING

When big dollar figures are an essential part of your sales pitch, future banking is a tactic you will want to use to its fullest benefit.  Future banking is projecting what a sale is worth over the long haul and using that number as your sales figure, even though that entire sum is not currently banked, not guaranteed, and more often than not will never be seen in it’s entirety.

Frank Kern at his scumbag best.

An example of this are the promotions of a very popular online marketer, Frank Kern, who you’ve no doubt heard of if you’re really into internet marketing.  Part of his marquee sales pitch is that he was responsible for something like 28 million dollars of sales in 24 hours.  The lions share of this, about 18 million, was part of the launch he orchestrated for Stompernet, which was a continuity service that charged about $900 a month to be a part of. So the FUTURE BANK dollar figure of all orders on the assumption that they stayed on for a full 12 months was something like 18 million.

But if you know continuity programs, you know that most people do not stay on for 12 months (four months is considered better than average, and with the price here, I’d say it was much less).  So the dollar figure may have been much less than a quarter of the 18 million listed, but that doesn’t stop him from using the impressive FUTURE BANK number as the staple of most of his marketing.

(Frank, the brilliant marketer that he is, also uses FUNNY MATH and TRANSFERENCE OF RESULTS in coming up with his 28 million dollar figure, which we’ll cover later.)

I myself am actually working on a blog post about how I brought in nearly $80K in a single training promotion I ran.  But that of course was all in future bank, for money that was projected to come in over the course of an entire year because of the promotion.   Making eighty grand in a week sounds impressive, but does not consider that the entire figure is all future bank, it actually took time to learn how to write the ad and make the offer, and negotiate the deal and place the promotion (not the mention nearly a thousand training hours that needs to go into serving those clients, which has it’s own extremely high costs, overhead, and headaches involved.)

FUNNY MATH

Unlike future bank, which isn’t very useful for trainers since we are not in a get rich quick niche, funny math can be one of your best friends.  The way I’ve used this to create impressive promotions is total inches divided by time, ie “I lost 24 inches in only 8 weeks with GoHard Fitness”.  If you take measurements at enough measurement points, you can turn four pounds of weight loss into “100 inches lost”, so use this tactic wisely.  Another way I’ve used FUNNY MATH are statements like “over ten-thousand pounds lost and counting”.  You can work your numbers to get them looking as big and favorable for you as you want.

In Frank’s case mentioned above, the funny math dollar figure he came up with was for promos that took place over the course of several years.  Note how he condensed the figure into 24 hours for marketing purposes – that’s a true scumbag in action.

Great results one place are not necessarily transferable to another - just ask Mike.

TRANSFERENCE OF RESULTS

If you noticed, we’re getting into sleezier stuff the longer we go here.  When it comes to TRANSFERENCE OF RESULTS, it’s the idea of using results that others have achieved, or that are not completely related to the business at hand, but are used to imply results with something else.

If you want to see an example of this close to home, you can look at the launch of THE NEW SIX-FIGURE TRAINER PROGRAM. You will notice many testimonials on the site, but if you’re smart, you know that this program has not even come out yet.  I just got the first hard copy myself, so how is this possible?

Well all of these testimonials are for the original manual, or the top-level trainer program, both of which have got glowing reviews and more importantly real results for hundreds of trainers.  Well since the core curriculum of those two courses, the six-figure trainer manual, is included as a bonus here, that’s how I can in good faith use the testimonials again. However in reality, the manual makes up less than half of the printed materials in this course, not to mention the numerous audio programs and hundreds of pages of brand new content that come with it.  So you can call this a little shady if you will.  But in reality, the purpose of the deeply discounted and bonus laden launch of the program is to get the program in your hands so you can use it, get some stellar results with it, and send me your testimonial so I can have some real ones (to take advantage of the launch, go here now).  If you take a look, you will notice nearly every single testimonial for any product or promotion you see, bar none, is an example of transference of results.  So if you chose, you can use this tactic liberally.

Again in Frank Kern’s case, nearly 20 million dollars of his sales figures come from projects he has consulted on and ended up paying him less than $250,000 total.  That is truly transference of results in action.  You can make dollar figures claims of tremendous size just from being associated with or consulting for the people that put up the numbers.  (If it sounds like I’m picking on Frank, I’m just pointing out his expert use of every one of these tactics.  He’s one of my favorite marketers.   And he clearly and frequently points out his use of sleezy tactics himself – that is his entire hook.  However, when used properly, this will not decrease your results one bit.)

Making something limited edition, like the Enzo, is a great way to jack up the price and demand.

LIMITED QUANTITY

When it comes to training, your time and the time of your employees is extremely limited, especially if you are marketing yourself aggressively.  I highly encourage you to mention this in ever single piece of your marketing.  You may not always be able to track it, but it will up your responses for sure.

This is an example of stating LIMITED QUANTITY, one of the most effective tactics out there.

When it comes to information marketing, this is really one of the most ridiculous uses of it, but also the place where it is most commonly used.  Seriously, us information marketers get all of our stuff printed by the same one or two companies, and they offer limited run and even print on demand pricing, so there really is no limit to what you can produce.  The funniest use is when you have an online program like a membership site stating a limited quantity, when new members just go into your automated system.  I’m even the member of a free newsletter list that got me to join by mentioning a vague cap on the number of sign-ups they were going to allow.  But limited quantity is one of the most powerful buying triggers out there.  Fear of loss is a very powerful motivator, so use this one wherever and whenever you can.

For example, sending out an email blast or placing an ad where you note that you only have 12 spots open in your bootcamp will probably get you triple the inquiries.  Whether you really hold true to your word in the promo is between you and your priest.

(To beat a dead horse, Frank will usually put limited time and limited quantity on his promotions to take advantage of both deadlines.  It’s very smart for you to figure out a way to do the same.)

RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

When you are selling consulting or coaching (which personal training is), the relationship component is key.  This is of course the case with the actual product, where the entire product is personal contact time.  But this also goes for your marketing.  With training services, you want to show that you are a normal, sane, friendly, credible, and likable person that this client will want to spend an extended amount of time with.  If niche information products are also part of your business model, then all of this still holds true.

For this I recommend you break out of your shell and have tons of relationship content on your site, on your blog, your ads, and everywhere in between.  Do this through video, pictures,  stories, and anything else you can think of.  The more the better.  You may be asking “who is going to read all that stuff?”.  People that are planning to give you lots of money, that’s who.  So building that relationship through any way you can think of will increase your effectiveness exponentially.

CHILDREN, SPOUSES, EMPLOYEES, DOGS, AND OTHER LIVESTOCK

If you don't have any kids to show off in your promotions, just adopt some.

Showing pictures of your family will increase sales period.  You will notice this in any “pitch” environment either through slides or the presenter actually carting his brood out on stage.  I recommend if you have family, to use it in all of your marketing.  No I don’t mean hidden away at the bottom of some obscure page on your site – I mean front and center, like at the top of the site.  If your target market is women, it has been proven that women respond most to images of children.  You will kill your competitors with this one, and just like the perfect “mind f*ck” they will have no idea what’s happening.

Before you think it’s distasteful and pathetic to use your kids as a marketing ploy, I happen to think this is good for the child as well.  Anything you can do to encourage your kids to become more sales conscious, the better.

This also goes for your pets, employees, friends or anyone else you can cart out.  They all bring out more humanity in you, and prove that you are a real person and that a few other real people (or at least a few animals) can stand you presence for an extended period of time.

SOCIAL PROOF

Social proof would have to be the grand-daddy of marketing tactics, and it takes on an almost unlimited number of forms.  Of course this goes for testimonials, which you can never use enough of in every single form of marketing you do.

But this also goes for professional relationships.  Your friends and colleagues could be the world’s biggest blabbering group of slobs, but if you say how great they are, and they say how great you are, this multiplies into positive social proof and makes all of you look stronger and more credible.  This is why I recommend networking with other trainers heavily.  Make friends with as many other people in the industry as possible.  Take pictures with them at conferences, have them write guest articles for you and do the same for them, put their pictures and testimonials on your blog – anything you can think of – it’s all more social proof.  You literally cannot over do this.

NAME DROPPING

Dropping names is another tactic most effectively used by confidence men (con men).  They build your confidence in the plan usually through other people vouching for it.  In the case of your services, and used ethically, this means proactively gaining the confidence of people in your area, other businesses, your clients, and anyone else you can think of.  And if this person happens to be a “somebody”, drop the name as often as possible.

A referral is an example of someone else doing the name dropping.  Coming recommended is seven times as effective as a cold call, so teach your customers to do your name dropping for you.

SUMMARY

If you are a trainer that feels you are in the top of the industry in terms of knowledge, but don’t have the revenue to match, you probably need to become more sleazy.  I for example remember a speed coaching session I had with a Super-Trainer customer last year.  He was a bootcamp operator and had some military special forces background, and didn’t mention it once in any of his marketing.  Again I remind you, he was holding BOOTCAMPS.  He thought his customers wouldn’t be interested.  I told him to make that fact about him a focus of his marketing – it’s his story and a point of differentiation among all his competitors.

There’s really too much to say about this subject than what I’ve mentioned here.  I’d recommend studying the business models of your favorite business coaches to further your education.  You own a personality dependent consulting business yourself, so I would advocate copying all of their tactics because they’re teaching you their exact strategies in how they are selling to you.

Good luck with applying all of this.  Because that’s just what the world is missing – another scumbag marketer.

I bought this after I heard riding a bike was a good way to stay in shape and good for the environment.

My story has been an open book on this blog and in the SIX-FIGURE FORMULA free report, but with the coming release of the new SIX-FIGURE TRAINER PROGRAM I thought I’d go into some more business details about my fitness career.  Below you’ll find a post I put together talking about my progression and motivations to date in the personal training industry.

(This is not all edited, grammatically correct, and not a lot of it makes sense.  But I’ve spilled all the beans, so be ready for a wild ride.)

First off, don’t let the title throw you off.  The idea of making money while being “lazy” smacks of a scam, but in personal training, being lazy is probably the best advice I can give you.

Being a “hard-worker” always strikes me as doing something you don’t want to do.  “Hard” seems synonymous to me with “unhappy”.  If you’re unhappy with what you’re doing, you’re probably doing something that you don’t want to do, or doesn’t come naturally to you.   You might not always like what you’re doing, but you should never feel like you’re doing the wrong thing.

Finding the best situations to succeed in?   Stacking the odds in your favor?  Coming in prepared with the right tools to succeed at it?  Evaluating your chances of success and taking the most likely path to succeed?  That should be what you’re going for.  Purists be damned, I don’t think anyone at any level in business could argue with that.  That is what I mean by the words “lazy trainer”, so if your you thought this was another “lifestyle marketing” sales pitch, you can relax.

Beyond that, hard work doesn’t get you the best results.   Most trainers that want to make a career out of personal training seek first to become the world’s best trainer, which is usually a big mistake.  But you can’t blame them – this is the idea that 99% of the fitness industry has enforced.  If you check out the major industry events, very little of it has to do with making more money (reminds me of highschool and college, where talking about making money or being a “somebody” in this world was heavily frowned upon).

Here are the facts: you don’t have to be a Super-Trainer (no pun intended) to train lots of clients, to start a training business, and for fitness to be your lifelong career that leads you to your most wild financial and lifestyle goals.   Anyone can do it.

We need Super-Trainers, no doubt.  They help our athletes achieve amazing accomplishments, rehab injuries in people that need the help, and do the research to hopefully one day cure the obesity epidemic.

But if your primary goals are a business that comes easy to you, delivering a high quality experience to a large group of return customers, and bringing yourself tremendous satisfaction and freedom, you’re about to find out how to do it.

By nature most trainers are lazy.  That’s why I think they became trainers in the first place.  They don’t want to go through the boring learning process of learning something that doesn’t interest them (if that describes you, don’t be ashamed).

The truth is you can be lazy and get big success in training.  Most people want to make it sound complicated, but if a training business is doing it’s job, often times it can take on a life of it’s own.  Most wildly successful trainers will tell you they started to get tremendous success almost by accident (however, I really don’t recommend leaving it to chance).

That’s how it was for me.  My training success story started almost entirely by accident.  In looking at my mistakes and successes, I’m a little surprised.  What’s resulted is that I’ve probably operated and earned at more business models than anyone else in this business.  So if you’re going through a phase of growth, reinvention, rapid expansion, or just plain getting started, I probably have something to share with you.

The bottom line of all the advice I’m about to give you is that no matter what you’re doing, try to make it as easy as possible for yourself.  Try to always set the rules up in your favor.  Learn from others that have done it before (programs like the SIX-FIGURE TRAINING PROGRAM are a start).

If you read "The Jordan Rules", you'll learn that winning even when you have the best player in history is still very difficult.

Always look for the situation that has the greatest chance for success.  Don’t try to ride out something that you know to be doomed.  For example, take a look at Phil Jackson, the coach of the LA Lakers who just won his 11^th championship ring.  He’s the best coach of all time, but he also happens to have always coached the best players.  He’s made it a point to only coach a team that already has the best talent, and is mature and ready to win.  Whenever he’s been without a job, which has happened a few times in his career, he’s never gone to a poor team to gut it out and try to prove himself.  Why the hell would he?  He knows it’s hard enough to win even when you have the best talent – it still takes massive effort and some luck.  So imagine trying to win without having the odds in your favor?  It’s not worth even getting started.

That’s what I mean by being lazy as a trainer.  Early on when I started as a trainer and in business, as you will find out soon, I thought you had to gut it out no matter how bad things are.  Now it’s true, you should never be a quitter, but you also should know when it’s time to get off a sinking ship.  I guess knowing the difference is a sign of maturity.  It’s something that took me a while to figure out.

I didn’t understand this at all at my first business.  It was a juice bar  on the upper east side of Manhattan, a very affluent area if you didn’t know already.  You would think that this was the perfect place to start a business, but that wasn’t the case at all.  First off, as you can imagine, me and my business partner didn’t have much money so we couldn’t be in some busy high traffic area with lots of people.  But we weren’t in a terrible location either.  We were all the way on York avenue, which is very close to the water on the east side.  The juice bar was right under a gym, a block away from another gym, and had a lot of health conscious people living all around us.  And we opened it smack dab in the middle of a hot new york summer, which should have been the best time to make money.

But unlike personal training, which I consider to be a perfect business if you know what you’re doing, selling smoothies isn’t too great of a business.  Personal training is a continuity service that is personality based (allowing you to bond emotionally), and high-ticket; three factors working in your favor.  But with a juice bar, especially ours, nothing was in our favor.

While the location was around gyms, there wasn’t nearly enough foot traffic in front of our spot.  Our price point wasn’t great, so you had to do a lot of business to make a decent profit. You couldn’t really do delivery with a frozen drink, and we didn’t know how to cook, so we couldn’t really sell food or anything like that. And even though we were far away from the most expensive retail areas, like anywhere in Manhattan, we had a huge rent over our heads.  So if you’re struggling with making a training business work, just realize things could be worse – you could own a juice bar.

With all of this stuff working against me, and overall losing money every day, I refused to quit.  I thought that I should try to fight this out.   We stayed open way longer then we needed to and we lost thousands of dollars at this business.

Things could be worse - you could be a personal trainer at a big health club.

But for me, it wasn’t a total loss – something valuable did come out of this situation.  You see, we had a lot of personal trainers that were coming in for juice all the time.  They were basically our biggest customers, and would bring their clients in all of the time with them.  Trainers making $250 bucks an hour would hang out and shoot the shit with us for hours.  Now I had worked as a personal trainer for a while at a big Bally’s, which is basically a step below selling used Hyundais. However, these trainers were different, and had a different lifestyle entirely.  They were lazy bastards.

Until then, I thought that trainers in Manhattan had to be like doctors – I thought that it was something very serious and buttoned up.  What I learned is these guys weren’t working very hard, but were making lots of money.  They were friends with their clients. They were having fun. They showed me a new type of trainer: professional but cool.  And it made me realize that the relationship and the experience of training is what the clients were really paying for.

So once I closed the doors on the juice bar, I determined that if I started another business, I didn’t want to work as hard at it as I did with this business.  I did not want too much overhead.  I did not want to spend tons of money on advertising.  I wanted to keep what I made.  Personal Training was what I was going to devote myself to next.

I made a deal with a Powerhouse Gym, working out a very favorable percentage for myself.  For a trainer that doesn’t want to make a website, doesn’t want to advertise, and doesn’t’ want to spend any money at all (lazy), this is something I recommend when starting out.   This is the type of deal my friend Cynthia who recently got her show on VH1 started with, and still continues to use as the foundation for a training business that makes well over six figures.

No matter who you are or what area you’re in, you’re sure to find a few facilities that have the problem of an under-developed training department.   These gym owners just don’t know how to market or sell training.  Once I made the deal with this powerhouse, they gave me an office, I had an employee working for me, and although I still did the majority of the training through one on one sessions,  at that time, this was still a thrill for me.  I only worked for a big box gym for a few months so training was still new to me.

I recommend for whatever time you think necessary, to pay your dues with one on one training.  You must learn what your customers consider value and high quality when it comes to training and training services.

However, I discovered a fatal flaw in this situation. The owners can become jealous, even though they’re getting a cut.  Jealous when they find out someone in their gym is making more money they are, at a much younger age than them.   You hear similar stories in the tales of other entrepreneurs.  For example, Ross Perot was a salesman at IBM, but was forced to leave after they cut his salary by more than 90% after finding out he was making more than the CEO of the company!

The other gym employees can get jealous too when they’re working all day making as much as you are in an hour.  But that’s fine.  I had outgrown this place and was ready for bigger and better things.

Now that I knew how to train, I wanted to be able to expand rapidly.  I wanted the ability to have employees do all of the training for me.  I thought what I found was the perfect situation with what I did next, which was my  deal with the Dolphin Fitness Clubs, a 42 location chain spanning all of New York’s boroughs.

I first found these guys when I was looking for a more friendly gym with less hands-on owners.  What I discovered was these guys were truly clueless about how to run a training department.  After they heard about what I could do for them, the kind of success I got at the Powerhouse, and saw that I was extremely hungry and looking for an opportunity, they gave me a chance.

I started off hiring two trainers and setting up shop in one of the gyms in Brooklyn.  I then moved on to doing all four surrounding locations.  Next, I moved into the four Manhattan locations.  Once they saw that I could consistently turn each location into a personal training cash cow, they gave me free rein over all 42 locations.

I thought this guy looked familiar ...

And the fact that they were a 42 location chain made it unlikely the owners would be jealous of what I was making.  (In fact, I’ve later found out that the owner of this place was seriously mobbed up, but that’s another story.

With an opportunity like this, I hit it hard.  I was hiring an employee every week, and this went on for five months.  I had a secretary to do the office work, trainers to do the training, and I was selling training from morning to night.

It was mind numbing how much business we did.  I ran tons of new promotions – something new was happening somewhere nearly every day of the week.  Clients got led up a funnel from prospects all the way up to long-term training contracts.  I tested every type of promotion known to man.  And I learned how to sell my ass off to  customers from all types of income backgrounds.

This was the first time in my life I got to feel what it was like to have a lot of money, but it came with a heavy price – incredible work stress and extremely long hours.  And to tell you the truth, this was all my fault.

I was doing what we’ve all been taught since we were kids – that more money means a lot more work and a lot of stress.  It means long hours and giving up your social life.  And you’re supposed to do this for years on end.  The way motivational and sales guru Brian Tracy describes it is “we bang our heads against the wall, because it feels good when we stop”.   It’s pretty ridiculous and just plain stupid when you think about it.  However up to now, I hadn’t figured out there was another way.  But it’s obvious, this is a situation that couldn’t carry on.

Despite having one gym on 14th street in Manhattan, the biggest business I did came out of a location in Bay Ridge. That’s where we did almost a third of our total business, and the two downtown Manhattan locations made up most of the rest.   The other locations were mostly window dressing.  Despite having help, I couldn’t handle too many locations yet.

Now even if you’ve ever been to Bay Ridge, you’ve probably heard about it.  It is a popular location for many of your favorite mob and gangster films.  Not a very friendly place.  Not that it has broken windows and that type of stuff – far from it.  It has a different kind of menace, boiling under the surface.  Lots of tinted windows, pinky rings, and really sour looking faces.  It has the appearance of being “mass affluent”, with lots of fancy cars and boutique shops.  But it’s a tough neighborhood, and if you’re not tough enough to handle it, it will take you in and spit you out in a second.

This is where I had to spend most of my time, because this is where they were building their biggest sales floor for me, a mega sports club with a designated women’s gym and tons of square footage.

Unlike my first situation, the juice bar, where I wasn’t making any money, here I actually was making money.   But I was burning myself out, and not looking forward to each day.  In charge of nearly 20 employees, I had what I wanted – multiple locations, low overhead, and a big staff.   So even though I was facing all types of crazy hours, again, I was fighting through it.

I bought my first new car, was dressing well, and had an expensive place to live, what are usually considered the signs of success to most employed people.  It wasn’t til years later that I realized that these things are totally meaningless. Success is defined by what you’re putting away and investing, not by your bills.  By your plan, not the fact that you are working yourself sick now without having one.  And by your free time and lifestyle, not how many people you’re in charge of.

I had turned into a high-strung sales manager.  I turned into the type of guy that I never wanted to become when I was a kid. It was then that I realized I had compromised my lazy trainer values.  And like anyone that runs a training business that large will tell you, the profit margins are not what they seem to be.  Even though personal training is a perfect business, it’s an expensive one to run.  Even a million dollars in gross is far from it, once all of the expenses are considered.

But being in Bay Ridge was also a blessing in disguise.  Nothing would ever be as tough for me again, and I knew I could handle anything after I had spent time there.

Here are the lessons I learned here, which would be vital for any trainer to understand:

• The size of a training business doesn’t matter – it’s about the profitability.
  
• When it comes to personal training, a lot of employees directly reporting to you can be a major pain in the ass.
  
• Even though a host beneficiary relationship, as marketing guru Jay Abraham calls it, can be great, you eventually want to run your own world.
  

I was finally ready to fulfill the dream that most trainers have when they first get into training – I was ready to open my own studio.  After being as burnt out as I was now, I’d made a few commitments to myself.  I wouldn’t have too many people working form, I wanted a location that would make it very easy for me to get clients, someplace where I wanted to go to work, and a high profit margin. And being familiar with all of the city’s boroughs now, I had a wide range of places to choose my location from.

In my search, I found a location that was everything I could have asked for.  I found a gym that rented out space and outsourced all of its departments to other people.  They were actually willing to rent me space to open a studio inside.  Can you imagine something better than that?  I had a built in, captive client base, an exclusive training agreement, but was still my own boss.  I would probably have to do very little marketing outside of the gym, even to keep up with my big income goals.  This was all due to the fact that I purposefull set out to find a place where all the chips would be on my side.

What I also loved about this place was the location.  It was in Astoria Queens, which for anyone that knows Queens, is a very cute neighborhood to live.  Before anyone thinks that anything outside of Manhattan is a joke, let me tell you about it.  Astoria is a neighborhood built hugely on lifestyle, with a bar and lounge on nearly every single corner of every block (yes, literally).  Although it’s not rich, you’ll see some of the most expensive cars you’ve seen in your life rolling through on a regular basis (probably suckers spending all of their money on possession, like I used to be).  In general it was full of action, nightlife, cool people, and excitement.  It is the most ethnically diverse area in all of New York.  I’m addicted to South Beach Miami, and in a strange way, Astoria reminds of it (except it’s way less clean, and of course, there are no beaches!).

And this studio brought tons of fringe benefits.  Try to imagine it – you’re the highest earner in a gym of thousands of people.  You have employees you’re bossing around.  Basically, you run the place.

I recommend every trainer, especially one becoming established, to feel out for a soft spot.  Think like Phil Jackson,, who refuses to coach a team that isn’t loaded with super-stars.  Look for that place where everything is in your favor.  Because building and growing a business is still hard as hell.  Even if you make it easy on yourself, it will still be tough, so you might as well make it as easy as possible.

First and foremost to my success here was the realization that I needed to take care of my clients.  I knew that I wanted the highest profits possible, and that meant holding on to every single new client, getting them to send me tons of referrals, and creating an image that made every person in the gym that fit our target market want to train with us.  With all of this handled, I was able to cut back my hours and let my employees do all the rest.

This is actually when I first got the idea that I should one day teach my hard earned experience to other trainers.  In a short period of time, I’ve probably done the most hiring without owning a chain of gyms; sold the most training without working for a big healthclub; conducted tons of sessions hands on and have figured out what clients pay the money for, even while running my business out of working class neighborhoods.

So I felt I had a lot to share.  Up to then, everything you heard about was very stuffy and old school.  No one was talking about what a tremendous business opportunity training is.  No one was talking about the lazy way to riches as a trainer.  No one was talking about how to do it at a young age, and still enjoy your life.  No one was talking about how to keep an eye on your profits (of course now, with the proliferation of internet marketing, many people are doing this).

But even though things were perfect for me, I’m a bit of a workaholic, so I couldn’t leave well enough alone.

Have you ever thought about who trains all those millionaire bankers and people in entertainment?  So did I.  I decided I wanted to make a return to hands on training and to Manhattan, and through public relations and networking, I attracted a very exclusive list of clientele.

I had several hedge fund owners, a SI swimsuit model, a food network host, a major magazine publisher, and many others VIPs among my clients.  I trained most of these clients myself.  When you’re charging the absolute highest rates in the industry to the most discerning of customers, you cannot skimp on quality.

Here I was exposed to a completely different world of clients and possibilities.  That’s one of the things a great career can give you – it will expand your social circle.  When you’re a kid, your social circle is whoever may happen to live in your neighborhood and be in your classes at school.  Since who we become is greatly influenced by who we are around, this is an extremely reactive way to go through life.

But your career will give you the chance to proactively create your social circle.  Most of the celebrities that you see constantly surrounded by cool or beautiful people are in those situations for business reasons.  It’s part of their work.  That should be a lesson to everyone, that your work is going to decide who you’re friends with and who you become.

However again, I found myself overworked and losing satisfaction.  What I realized is that no matter what your clients are paying, doing the training yourself is a low leverage activity.  A trainer should still keep his/her pulse on the fitness side of the business, and be the fitness “curator” of the training business.  But training, just like any business, does not afford you the ability to socialize with your clients and supervise their training reps.  To grow and be sustainable, you have to let others do the training.  You’ve got to run the show.

In order to succeed at my Astoria location, I didn’t need much marketing.  Like I mentioned, I had a captive market.   In hindsight, I probably could have had a business making triple the money if I had known about advanced marketing back then, but you have to realize I was still very new at this business.  However in the free time I had, I made studying marketing my passion.

I used marketing to branch the training business into the most affluent areas of Long Island, just east of Queens in New York City.  I mastered magazine advertising, Google adwords, search engine optimization, and direct mail to get my business in front of a very specific, targeted group of affluent clientele in very particular neighborhoods.

Be careful giving a gun to a chimp - someone's going to get hurt.

But web and direct response marketing are like shotguns when it comes to bringing in clients.  First of all, you need to know what you’re doing.  Like they say, a gun is just an extension of your arm.  Well, direct response marketing is just an extension of your own sales ability. Direct response without the foundation of knowing how people buy, or how to serve them once they respond, is like giving a handgun to a chimp - someone’s going to get hurt.

As a simple rule about the economics of advertising, paying for ads is not a problem as long as you know that you’re getting a return for your investment.  I would happily pay $2,000 for an advertisement if I knew that in the past, that ad had the ability to bring me at least one client.  Even one client makes this more than worth it.  Two clients, and it’s a huge success.  This is the idea that can soon make you the most well known and most dominant trainer in your area.  If you know the lifetime value of your customers, the cost of acquisition, and then do the math and figure out the difference, you’ll know how much you can spend to get your name out there, and get their butts in here.

And the more you advertise a certain place, the better rates you’ll get. And with something like personal training (which is a very high ticket item), with repeated advertising you’ll probably get higher response rates.  This is how it always turned out for me.  The first month of trying any new medium, I would get a very weak response.  The more I ran it, the better my response got.  But this is a deep pockets game that I only recommend to someone that already has some cash flow, and has made a hobby of learning about and studying direct response.

Paying attention to your dollars in direct marketing will also teach you to pay attention to how much your time is worth.  You will know whether that time is paying you what you want out of it.  Now money isn’t everything – if you want to be an employee as a trainer that’s fine.  In that case, you should probably unsubscribe from my email list and stop reading right now.  Frankly most of what you read on this blog will annoy you.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe heavily in high quality training sessions – the integrity of the product.  I also believe heavily in the transformative power outstanding fitness can have on every single area of your life.  But there’s a definite balance to this.

On the flipside, marketing can cure a lot of problems, but so can actually knowing what you’re talking about and having integrity.  In fact, in personal training, the biggest earners are actually the biggest ambassadors of high quality training, not the use of scumbag marketing tactics.

Everyone has to start with doing all of the training, but if you continue to do this longer than necessary, your business will suffer.  You need to start out doing it to know what it is you’re selling, how to sell it, and why people are buying.  Have you ever had a boss that was totally full of hot air?  That is what you’ll sound like if you don’t know what you’re talking about – if you haven’t paid your dues.  But just like you stopped wearing diapers when you were a baby, as you grow as a trainer, you need to stop counting reps and start counting dollars.

In the fitness business I’ve been largely self taught, but if you want results without the bumps, bruises, and hard time it took for me to learn it, I recommend you learn from others.  It’s now a great time to be a trainer, because there are more people providing high quality information on how to succeed at a grass roots level than there’s ever been.

I’m going to put all what I’ve learned myself and from networking with nearly everyone at the absolute peak of this business into the SIX-FIGURE TRAINER PROGRAM. You will feel very near bullet proof when you know all of the tactics out there at your disposal, and how to put them together.  And I remind you that all of the information is field-tested.

I hope you were able to see a little of yourself in this post.  I wanted to give you some background on where I’ve come from.  In the process I’ve tested, succeeded, and made more money at more methods than probably any trainer out there (as well as learned to make a few smoothies along the way).

The purpose of this story was not for you to repeat the mistakes.  It was to help you avoid them.  And here is what we’ve covered.

• Don’t stay in a dead relationship
• Host beneficiary relationships are a very fast way to get started and hit six-figures for the first time, but they can blow up in your face too.
  
• Once you’ve already established a pattern for success, it becomes very easy to replicate
  
• What matters is the money you take away from the business, not the number of employees or the number of locations you have.
  
• Training all the clients is a good way to start – it’s probably mandatory – but not where you want to end up.
• Don’t re-invent the wheel – now there are programs you can buy that teach it all to you.
  
• Lifestyle is what we do it all for, so make sure you’re enjoying the journey along the way.
• Make lifestyle, time management, and doing less of the dirty work while still earning maximum profits your highest priorities

And most important of all, buy THE NEW SIX-FIGURE TRAINER PROGRAM!

(Coming soon, check your email inbox for updates.)

Navy Seals, known to do be different and do what they want - when you don't quit, you've earned the right. (Special thanks to all our troops fighting for our freedom overseas.)

“Being all you can be” is a common cliche, but is a very, very worthy goal.  When you think about it, you could say that it’s the purpose of living (it’s a shame the army dropped it as their tag line in their advertising, and I’ve heard their enrollment has dropped ever since).

When it comes to the road you’re on to be everything you can be, when you look around, you no doubt see many people that already have this kind of life and are already there.

What you also may notice is that they’re no smarter, stronger, driven, deserving, or didn’t have any more of interesting of an upbringing or story than you.

They just may have been exposed to influences that you weren’t exposed to, and therefore made decisions that you didn’t make.

When it comes to these decisions in life, we’re tempted to think they’re not life or death.  I mean, it’s not like being in the military where a wrong choice will get you killed.  In life, when you face trouble or resistance, you can always quit.

When it comes to quitting, I have an interesting story to tell you …

I have a friend of mine who was in the Navy for some time, and he told me what it was like for the first few weeks.

For the first three weeks, they ask you all the time if you want to quit. Whenever you look like you’re about to wimp out or you have that look on your face like you can’t handle it, they’ll just blatantly come in your face and ask you “hey, do you want to quit?”.

If you want to quit, you can just go over and ring out. They make it very simple to quit, but is it really? Here’s what really happens …

"Go ahead, ring the bell ... be a failure for the rest of your life."

When you do quit, they don’t let you go home right away.  You have to hang out for a few weeks until it’s time to ship out.  You have to turn in your finely pressed uniform. You’re not allowed to partake in any more classes, drills, or activities. You just have to wear sweats, hang out with the other quitters, and walk around bored to death.

They make you do this for weeks before they allow you to leave. This also acts as a discouragement because all of the other people that are still in training see the pathetic conditions that the quitters are left in.

When he told me this story, the significance of it really hit me.  Because quitting in life is the same way except the period of shame doesn’t just last for a few weeks: it lasts for a lifetime. You have to go around, bored to death, looking shabby, with nothing to do, and hang out with all the other quitters while you watch the people just like you in every way (just different because they refused to quit) get to do all the fun interesting stuff, and get all the glory and accomplishments.

Unlike the military, when you quit and give up, it’s not something that passes after a few weeks. You have to live with it for a lifetime. Whatever your goal and whatever road you’re on, I just have one piece of advice for you: don’t quit.

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The NEW SIX-FIGURE TRAINER PROGRAM IS COMING:

(Keep an eye on your email inbox for updates.)