Hi. It’s Sean D’Souza from Psychotactics.com and we’re going to learn today about uniqueness. How do you pick one? Because that’s the whole concept of uniqueness, picking one concept. So let’s start off with this journey.

Now if you had a flash drive and you needed to buy a flash drive, how much would you pay for a one-gigabyte flash drive? Most people would say, “Well, I would probably pay $5 or $20 or $15.” But $79? Would you pay $79 for a flash drive? Because when you go out in the market and you look at all the flash drives out there, they cost about $19 and yet, there is one flash drive out there called IronKey and it’s worth $79.

So you have to ask the question why because that’s a good question. Why do you have to pay $79 for something when I can get it for $19? That is the question that you have to answer for your clients. All the time, your customers are asking you, “Why should I buy your product? Why should I not buy something from a competition?” and that is where your uniqueness comes into play.

So the goal of uniqueness is very simple. The goal of uniqueness is to create a why. Now we have run into uniqueness several times. We look around us and we see all these brands and we know these brands really well. For instance, Subway with six grams of fat. We know Domino’s. It has been played to death, 30 minutes or it’s free. We know about Timberland, the shoes. I’ve been wearing these shoes since 1990. Why? Because they’re waterproof. They’re 100 percent waterproof. We know about FedEx. We know how it gets there overnight, absolutely positively and of course Volvo. What case study will we have without Volvo about safety? We’ve been told about this stuff but the problem with all of these brands is that they’re overused examples.

So people keep telling us, “Oh, you should do stuff like Domino’s. Oh, you should do stuff like Volvo.” But what about me? What about me as a small company? How do I stand out as a copywriter, as a web designer, as a carpenter? Whatever I’m doing, how do I stand out? How do I get people to say why and then pick me?

So that’s our goal for today, how to get to a why. How do we get to why? Well, we’re going to figure out how to get to why if you own a small yoga class which is a service or if you have a product for instance like a book or if you have – maybe you write copy or you have copywriting workshops or you have some events. How do you get the uniqueness when it’s a small business and you need to control it and you need to get your word out there? You need to get the word out there.

So that’s what we’re going to cover today, getting to uniqueness. How do we create this uniqueness? Where do we find it? What do we do with it? And a little housekeeping before we start.

The duration of the presentation is between 30 to 40 minutes. So what you need to do is just get some light refreshments. Get yourself a little coffee or something to eat. Sit down. Get a piece of paper and a pen handy because you want to listen to this and write down the ideas as soon as they come to you and then go over this presentation twice or thrice because you will miss out a lot the first time around. The second time it will be better. The third time, even better. That paper and pen is going to be handy. It has got to be handy because it’s going to be useful for you.

So the agenda for today is very simple. We’re going to start off with the search for uniqueness. This is what we do all the time. We try to find uniqueness. We search endlessly, never find it. But what we’re going to do is we’re going to follow a simple system today.

That simple system is going to enable you to get the uniqueness every single time and of course we’re going to find out some common mistakes that people make consistently and why uniqueness seems to elude them all the time whereas it doesn’t with other companies.

So that’s really our agenda for today. Let’s start off with the first one which is the search for uniqueness. Now under the search for uniqueness, we have three main topics and we’re going to look at how you go about finding uniqueness. Then we’re going to look at one of those methods which is playing emperor. So those three methods that we’re going to use are features, feedback and playing emperor.

Then we will find out why playing emperor is very effective. Of course how brands, all these brands that you’ve heard of, how do they play emperor? How do they get to that point? What are they really doing different from what you and I are doing?

So let’s start off with the first thing which is the features, feedback and playing emperor. What are features? What is feedback and what is playing emperor? Let’s say you have a yoga class. Now this is a service and obviously you’re going to have some features of this yoga class. You’re going to have some feedback from your clients, how they would like your yoga class to be and you play emperor.

Playing emperor is where you decide what the yoga class is going to look like. So when we start to say sit down and brainstorm and we go, “OK, let’s write down the features,” something that already exists. So say your yoga class will really exist or you’ve been to some yoga class and you go, “What are the features of that yoga class?” Well, for one, I would like clean yoga mats. I would like expert teachers, clean bathrooms for sure and so you come up with this list of 4 or 5 or 16 or 25, whatever. You come up with this list of features and this is the way to go about uniqueness. You can either create features or you can go to your clients and ask them for feedback and say, “What would you like to see in a yoga class?” and then they would say, “Oh, we would like parking. We would like no supermodels because we’re intimidated by supermodels showing up there.” Then they come up with a list and you have this list of 4 or 5 or 15 or 20.

So what we do now is we’re starting to create a list. We’re now trying to create uniqueness. We started out with features. We went to feedback and then we go to the third part which is playing emperor.

Now playing emperor is simply what you decide. You say, “I’m the emperor. This is what I decide. This is what I like my yoga class to be.” So you could decide small group. You could have organic apple juice for all I care. You could have these things that you would like to do as the emperor of this yoga class, as the creator of this yoga class.

So what we have are these three things, features, feedback and playing emperor. So this is how we go about creating lists. We’re not really creating uniqueness. We are creating lists and we’ve got a list for features. We’ve got a list for feedback and we’ve got a list for playing emperor. What the recommendation is that instead of going with features and feedback, what you should do is play emperor.

So what is playing emperor? Let’s find out. Playing emperor simply means that you are like an emperor. You stand at the edge of your kingdom and you say, “If I were emperor, this is what I would like my kingdom to have.”

So you create this decree and the reason why this decree is effective is because it frees you up. You decide what you want to do. You want to have the yoga class that follows moon phases and suddenly you start to see, wow, this is different from every other yoga class out there.

You want to have an Indian restaurant that has no buttered chicken or no chicken tikka. Now you’re creating a completely different business out there because you’re playing emperor.

So do they do that? Do brands actually play emperor? Well, we have to look around us. Domino’s Pizza, 30 minutes or it’s free. What do they do? Well, all the pizzas were out there and suddenly there’s this one pizza which says 30 minutes or it’s free. So what options do they have? They had options of well, we could play emperor by having chocolate sauce on our pizza or we could have 30-minute delivery or we could have sexy delivery guys or sexy delivery women. We could import cheese from New Zealand and put it on the pizza. We could have a thin crust, super thin crust, thick crust.

So they’ve had or they would have had all of these options but they picked one and they picked 30-minute delivery and then they built their entire DNA about delivery. Not about taste, not about ham, now about bacon, not about cheese, not about delivery, not about chocolate sauce but about 30-minute delivery.

So they played emperor. When you look at Timberland, again Timberland, 100 percent waterproof. They have warmer shoes. Twenty percent harder soles, color choice, whatever. Again, they have all of these features. They have all of these things that clients would have said but they decided to choose 100 percent waterproof and then they built the entire story around 100 percent waterproof.

So they’re playing emperor. Same thing with FedEx. They had lots of choices. You could have – like they could say, wait a second. We can just do precious items or we could be the cheapest courier or we could do big huge packages or we could get there overnight or we could transport sheep and what they chose was overnight which is obviously sheep wasn’t an option.

That is again playing emperor and this is really what we should be doing because when we look at another really well-known example, which is Volvo, we start to see that. They could say fastest and cheapest and safest and family-sized and mileage and very interestingly, Volvo is one of the most used cars. I mean it has an average age of 19.8 years per user. That’s average. It’s second only to Mercedes and so it could have gone with mileage. It could have gone with a whole bunch of things. Volvo has been driven for 2.8 million miles. So they could have said, “Oh, we have mileage and we have this and we have that,” but they chose safest. So they created a whole system, a whole DNA around the fact that it’s the safest car.

Now when we get back to that yoga class that we were building, you will start to see that we have all of these options. We have small group, organic carrot juice, which is what we created as the emperor and we chose injury-free. So what is injury-free? Because now once you’ve said injury-free, what is injury-free? We’ll find out shortly. Let’s look at another service. Like say you’ve got a copywriting service.

Again, you have all of these options but you decide, I’m going to go for speed. What does speed mean? A 10-day turnaround. So you could choose. You could make a big list from your clients. You could do whatever you wanted and you will have this list of 15 or 20 things and then you’re going to have to pick one. When you pick one, that’s when the dynamism of the uniqueness comes about and of course picking one from playing emperor is more powerful because it allows you to be free. It allows you to just go out there.

Now when you look at something like Subway, you will think, well, they had six grams of fat and that was good because they created it. Sometimes, uniqueness is thrust upon you. So this is Fogel. He’s the spokesperson for Subway or has been for many years and you’ve probably seen how he lost this fat.

Well, his roommate or dorm mate really came up with this concept because he saw Fogel had lost a lot of weight. He didn’t recognize him and so he wrote an article in the Indiana Daily Student about this whole phenomenon about Fogel eating Subway and losing weight. That was picked up by Men’s Health and then Subway decided, “Oh no, that’s not going to work.” But they decided to run it anyway and so the sales went up. USA Today picked it up. ABC network picked it up. Fox picked it up and of course Subway decided to drop it in 2005 and their sales dropped by 10 percent.

So the point is that Subway has tried to get away from this as far as possible but this has been their uniqueness which has been thrust upon them and sometimes uniqueness is thrust upon you.

So when we start to look at all these brands, what are we really looking at? We’re looking at two simple steps. One is you play emperor. You come up with your list and then you pick one.

So when you look at all of these brands, say Domino’s Pizza, you know why. Timberland, you know why. Yoga class, you know why. Volvo, you know why. Copywriting service, you know why.

So to summarize the first part, we looked at features. Features are things that already exist in your company or exist in some other company. We looked at feedback, which comes from your clients. That’s very powerful. Put it down. Finally playing emperor. This is the most important of all. Playing emperor is very effective because it frees you. It just gives you that ability to create something that you really want and finally, we’ve seen that successful brands, they play emperor. They create something and then they create the entire DNA around it.

So this takes us to our second part which is steps to …

Drunken, skanky, sloppy, little piglets running around acting like uneducated mongoloids… that pretty much sums the Jersey Shore up (except for Pauly D, that dude is alright in my book).

This is what our society deems as entertainment. The average Joe spends 4-5 hours a day watching the old boob tube. And this is the brain numbing shit that they watch….

Here are a few others that I have heard the girls talking about in my facility:

*Dance Moms

*Real Housewives of…. (Drunken, skanky, sloppy, Plastic little piglets……)

*Toddlers & Tiaras (some truly scary shit!)

*Hoarders

*Extreme Couponing

The list could go on and on…..

So how does all this fit into your fitness business?

I know it sounds F’in Crazy, but here are two events I’m implementing as we speak: In the process I have lost my man card for life….

1) Jersey Shore viewing parties! All my members are invited to the facility and they can bring a friend ;-). Everyone is encouraged to dress up like their favorite guido or guidette. This shit is hilarious! I stole this idea from my good friends the Boot Camp Girls who do a TRUE BLOOD viewing party with fangs, and all sorts of other cool stuff. Find out what shows your members are into and set up viewing parties. I’m actually doing a Super Bowl Party as well… GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!

2) Pedicures with the girls (this works especially well if you are a male trainer with mostly female clients). I have contests all week to see who gets to come with me to get pedicures. I’m bringing 3 regular boot camp members with my elite boot camp mastermind group. Make sure to check out my Facebook page for pics! This should be pretty hilarious……..

A few more client appreciation events that I do are:

*Next Level Night Out- VIP bottle service at a local Vegas Style Night Club on me (1x a year)

*Bowling Night Out

*Dinners out on me….

The point I’m making is, connecting with your target market and having fun in the process will bring  in a steady flow of clients guaranteed!

Steve Krebs
The Funniest Man in Fitness
www.SteveTheFitnessGuy.com

I guess that is why Chris McCombs referred to him as The Godfather.  7figga’s Fitness Workshop weekend was top notch. By the way, I now refer to him as now 7figga because he’s gangsta on the way he hosts a fitness workshop. I have never been to a “workshop” like that before…

I learned more useful info last weekend on fitness business building and personal growth than in a semester of college; along with all the partying in between.
Below are the top 8 things that I took away, and I have or will put into action asap. Info is great, but action is key. I can dream about success and hang around successful people, but at the end of the day be broke…

Action makes the dream come true…

Before I give the top 8 Action Steps for 7figga’s weekend, I would like to personally thank not only the presenters for the amazing information, but the attendees as well. And a big thanks to Sam for bringing all these people together. He provided 100 times more value than what I could have ever imagined and expected.

• Send your clients cards and send them often (great for client retention)

• use connectthroughcards.como Send welcome cards (with motivational quotes and pictures)
• Send IM Goals statement (within 2 weeks of joining program)o Milestone cards (when a clients hits a goal)
• Holiday Cards
• Birthday Cards
• Just because cards
• Event cards

• Buy and launch the 21 Day Belly Fat Blast Program (Sam uses an affiliate link)
• This program is an awesome way to funnel in clients

• Look out for Warning Signs your client might leave
• Attendance is dropping
• Motivation is lacking
• Less interaction
• Even if they do drop off SEND THEM A CARD

• Reactivating old clients
• Send a confession letter that you have made mistakes but your program is better and much improved

During this presentation I learned how to use the “F” word as a verb, noun, adjective, conjunction and every other way under the sun. I had no idea how many ways it could be used, so thanks Rocco!

But sprinkled in between the F bombs were some serious words of wisdom on fitness branding.

 

• Keep your brand simple! (The hardest thing you can get to is simple)
• A brand is a promise
• You live and breath your brand everyday (if not, then you’re misrepresenting the brand)
• Nothing can kill a brand faster than not delivering on your promise

Ask your self these questions to figure out your brand:

• What is my promise?
• Who am I?
• What am I about?
• What do I stand for?

Then, when you have your brand, ask yourself this:

• What is it?
• How is it different?
• How and why is it relevant?
• How does it make a worthwhile contribution? (the biggest brands in the world make a worthwhile contribution)
• Who is your audience?
• Why will your audience buy it?
• How will you deliver it?
• What experience do you want to provide?

So basically keep your brand simple, make it stand out – a brand is what you stand for in people’s minds.

 

Before I get into this, you have to google John Spencer Elliis and read his bio. If you see all the things this guy has done in his life you would think he was like 100 years old. As it turns out he look like he’s still in his 30′s.

 

 

Do these things first:

• Ask yourself “where do I dominate?”
• What segment of the industry do you own?
• Where is there a void?

Then, establish yourself as an expert and BACK IT UP.

• Have an expansive vocabulary (I use a program called The Verbal Advantage)
• Speak appropriately
• Know when to be quiet
• Have no regrets for what you say
• Take an improv comedy class (Funny is Money was recommended)

Put a special media area on your website with:

• PDF Media Kit +Video Reel
• Media Photos
• Head Shots
• Bio specific to the media
• Video of an interview
• Video of you training

Use these PR websites:

pr.com

prweb.com

webwire.com

24-7pressrelease.com

1888pressrelease.com

onlineprnews.com

25pressreleases.com

 

Ask 4 questions Everyday to the person you are outsourcing work to or your assistant.

1. What did you do today?

2. What feedback do you have?

3. What suggestions do you have to make the process better?

4. What do you have planned for the next day?

 

 

When Chris spoke it was a point in the day where my focus was fading and not only did Big Chris come out with some great info but some much needed comic relief and entertainment.

 

Use this list from top to bottom of what is pulling the most clients nowadays

1. Referrals

2. Daily Deal Sights

3. Google

4. Running contests, challenges, promotions (like the 21 day Belly Fat Blast)

5. Dream jeans transformation

6. Public Speaking

7. Getting Local Leads (trade Show, boxes, referred referral)

 

Keep using these SEO Tactics that are still working:

• Links
• Title tags
• Content
• Social Activity

The more likes and shares, the better. The ranking in order of importance for SEO is:

• Shares
• Comments
• Likes

 

 

By the way, when Pat speaks he just commands respect.

The foundation of your fitness business success is in:

 

 

• The relationships you build
• OVER-delivering to your clients
• Continuity
• Create Multiple streams of income
• Group training
• 1 on 1 training
• Info products
• Coaching

 

The 4 pillars of success were:

1. Implement your lead acquisition

2. Create an irresistible front end offer

3. Move the client from short term to long term

4. Build a high leverage back end

Implementing a Lead Acquisition Strategy (Pat’s most popular tactics; use a couple)

• Plastic gift cards
• POS Referral
• Referral bootcamps
• Bring a friend days
• Facebook Ads
• Facebook Fan pages
• Charity fund raisers
• Lead Boxes
• Public speaking
• Press releases
• Networking
• Business of the month
• School of the month
• Joint Ventures
• Yard signs
• Referral contests

When creating ads, cater to people’s wants by following the Life Force 8 (LF8). These are 8 primary wants that are biologically ingrained in us:

1. Survival, enjoyment of life and life extension

2. Enjoyment of food and beverage

3. Freedom from fear, pain and danger

4. Comfortable living conditions

5. To be superior, winning! (like Charlie Sheen), Keeping up with the Jones

6. Sexual companionship

7. Care and protection of loved ones

8. Social Approval

 

Use the 6 weapons of influence in marketing which can also be found in Robert Cialdini’s Book, Influence, which every Entrepreneur should read. It goes in depth into each of these topics:

• Comparison
• Liking
• Authority
• Reciprocation
• Commitment/consistency
• Scarcity

Then when you are selling, use Examples over Statistics. Examples outperform stats because they invoke emotion.

 

This might be the most important action step because if you don’t like what you do then what’s the point?

First things first, Stop doing any work that is not on your “what am I best at list”

Then, Find Your G-spot: Dax broke out a Venn Diagram that asked the questions below and the G-spot is exactly where the circles overlap when you ask these questions

• What are you best at?
• What am I passionate about?
• What would deliver the very best return on that skill and passion?

Follow this formula to seek the rewards you are looking for:

Your Reward = Demand x Ability x Difficulty To Replace

There was so much more info that I took away but I had to pick and choose the best things for me to put into action that would have the most impact on my life. There were other presenters that killed it, like, Greg Justice, Erik Rokeach, Scott Boulch, Curtis Mock etc. Armando Cruz. My brain, like a sponge was soaked full of fitness nutrients. Another one of my favorites was Neil Venketramen talking about Google rankings and at that point I couldn’t take anymore notes, I just started taking pictures of the slides.

If I had to write a blog post on the whole weekend it would be about 10 more pages and I got things to do and thanks to Dax Moy, I am going to focus on what I am good at… writing blog post is not one of them :).

Before I close, I have to add that Sam has been a HUGE influence on my success as a fitness entrepreneur. I have been following Sam for years now and coaching with him this past year. I opened up a training studio a little over 2 years ago, I started out in a 700-foot space (with only 200 feet open for training, the rest was filled with treadmills and equipment) in a tiny town. And in 2 years, we’ve expanded 4 times. I now have 2 locations, one is 1400 square feet, the other 3600 square feet. We still have a week left of this month and have already done over $78,000 in sales for the month of January. I attribute my success to following in the footsteps of Sam and highly recommend his coaching program. You will get 100x more value in return for what you pay, that I can guarantee.

In closing, I wish all the fitness professionals and entrepreneurs out there MASSIVE success in 2012 and I hope you find something in this list that you can take into action.

 

Ian R. Hart, BS, CSCS
beaufortpersonaltraining.com

earthFITnessgym.com

BackPainRelief4Life.com

EarthFIT LLC
Ph:800-718-7FIT
Cell:203-241-8736

Many of you who have been in the industry for a while probably know what to do to take your business to the next level. ESPECIALLY if you tune in to Super-Trainer, and go to fitness events and conferences where you leave with pages of notes and tasks on your to-do list.

When Sam asked me to share with you some of my Top Lessons of Success, I paused. With Sam and these other Super-Trainers as resources, what on earth could I contribute that hasn’t been covered?

One thing is for sure, though. Although I don’t have a checklist of a million awesome things that promise to propel you to greatness, I CERTAINLY have a list of a million things to avoid; mostly lessons I’ve learned by making a lot of mistakes, forging new territory, and not being afraid to try new things – sometimes with less-than-stellar results.

When we started SWAT Fitness in 1996, there were no fitness business summits. No boot camps. No trainer-networking opportunities. No business models to copy, and no coaches in the field who understood what we did.

To make matters worse, Ron and I knew NOTHING about business. Didn’t even KNOW anyone who knew anything about business. We had come from the public service field – he from a life of military service and law enforcement as a SWAT Commander, and I from a life of teaching, Counseling, and working with Juvenile Delinquents. In retrospect, it’s probably good that we knew nothing about business. We didn’t follow any “gurus” and we didn’t get misled by coaches or advisors. We didn’t rely on others to tell us what would work. We just asked clients what they wanted, provided it, did that really well, and got results. And upon that, a business was built.

So years later, with boot camps on every corner, studios opening up all around you, fierce competition, unskilled trainers, gurus and experts – how on earth could you know who to believe, or what advice to follow? You can’t. The ONLY person that knows your business is you. The ONLY person that can tell you something will work is YOU – after you’ve tried it. NO ONE cares for you or your clients more than you, and no one can want your success more than you do yourself.

With that said – I’m gonna save you a lot of time, a boatload of money, and hopefully some heartache and disappointment along the way.

Nothing will sway you from performance and focus on your business like spending time adding up how much you can, should, or will make. What a lousy way to spend your time anyway. Yes, you have to have enough in the bank to cover your costs. You have to know what your fixed expenses are, and what it is costing you to keep the doors open. And you need to be prepared with enough to cover 6 months of operating expenses – just in case. Anything beyond that should be nothing more than a pleasant surprise. It’s nothing to brag about, it will go back into your business anyway, and if you have any sense at all, it’s really irrelevant if you like what you’re doing, you’re doing a good job at it, and you’re making the lives of others better. If you are fearful about money, it will elude you.

When we first started in business, we talked ad nauseum about all the things we were gonna do. Could do. Should do. Quite honestly – the BIG IDEAS were fun to come up with, and fun to talk about. And we were excited about them and wanted to shout them out to the world. And we did. HOWEVER – something we’ve learned since is that talking too much about the things you WANT to do, sets expectations in the heads of others that you may (or may not) ever fulfill or deliver on. The more we talked, the less we did, the less excited we got, the more we realized some things were impractical and didn’t fit who we were, and the more we disappointed others who would ask, “Hey, when are you guys going to do X?” or “I can’t wait for you to offer Y!” or “What ever happened to your plan to Z?” Remember – people only hear what they want to hear, that will benefit them directly.

What You Say: “I have this really great idea to buy a building, hire 4 new trainers and offer 40 classes a week!”

What they hear: “Starting next week, we will have 40 classes a week to choose from, and will be moving to a huge fabulous building with all the equipment and best trainers in the world, and for you it will be offered at a huge discount!”

Remember: The second you’ve spat out your ‘brainstorming,’ people expect it to happen – yesterday. And if it doesn’t, cuz it was a crummy idea, or you didn’t know how to make it happen, you’ve just let a lot of people down. So DON’T talk about what you will do, or want to do, or should do in the future. Just show and tell people what you DO. Show them the scoreboard, not your playbook. Nobody cares about the great stuff you have planned, until they get to experience it, see it, and benefit from it. So keep your mouth shut, and focus on scoring for your team.

Jana Beutler Holland

www.SwatFitness.com

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Dismissed from drama school with a note that read, “Wasting her time. She’s too shy to put her best foot forward.”

Turned down by the Decca Recording Company who said, “We don’t like their sound and guitar music is on the way out.”

A failed soldier, farmer and real estate agent. Thirty-eight years old, he went to work for his father as a hand.

Cut from the high school basketball team, he went home, locked himself in his room and cried.

A teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything. He should go into a field where he might succeed by virtue of his pleasant personality.

Fired from a newspaper because he lacked imagination and had no original ideas.

His fiancée died. He failed in business twice. He had a nervous breakdown and he was defeated in eight elections.

If you’ve never failed, you’ve never lived

A few years ago, I felt like I was stuck in a rut, so I decided to follow in the footsteps of the great American philosopher, Morgan Spurlock, and try something new for 30 days. The idea is actually pretty simple. Think about something you’ve always wanted to add to your life and try it for the next 30 days. It turns out, 30 days is just about the right amount of time to add a new habit or subtract a habit like watching the news from your life.

There are a few things that I learned while doing these 30-day challenges. The first was, instead of the months flying by, forgotten, the time was much more memorable. This was part of a challenge I did to take a picture every day for a month. And I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing that day. I also noticed that as I started to do more and harder 30-day challenges, my self-confidence grew. I went from desk-dwelling computer nerd to the kind of guy who bikes to work for fun. Even last year, I ended up hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. I would never have been that adventurous before I started my 30-day challenges.

I also figured out that if you really want something badly enough, you can do anything for 30 days. Have you ever wanted to write a novel? Every November, tens of thousands of people try to write their own 50,000-word novel from scratch in 30 days. It turns out, all you have to do is write 1667 words a day for a month. So I did. By the way, the secret is not to go to sleep until you’ve written your words for the day. You might be sleep-deprived but you’ll finish your novel.

Now is my book the next great American novel? No. I wrote it in a month. It’s awful. But for the rest of my life, if I meet John Hodgman at a TED party, I don’t have to say, “I’m a computer scientist.” No, no. If I want to, I can say, “I’m a novelist.”

So here’s one last thing I would like to mention. I learned that when I made small, sustainable changes, things I could keep doing, they were more likely to stick. There’s nothing wrong with big, crazy challenges. In fact, they’re a ton of fun. But they’re less likely to stick. When I gave up sugar for 30 days, day 31 looked like this.

So here’s my question to you. What are you waiting for? I guarantee you the next 30 days are going to pass whether you like it or not. So why not think about something you have always wanted to try and give it a shot for the next 30 days. Thanks.

The fitness business industry is beginning to be over saturated with “how to” advice that has no merit, and most likely hasn’t been tested in the real world. It’s not a surprise that our industry mimics the fitness industry itself, especially “as seen on” products. It seems like every week there is a new self proclaimed “guru” spouting off at the mouth about how to gain clients, retain clients, make six figures with a mindset shift, and blah blah blah. The list goes on and on. The questions we need to ask ourselves are, 1) Does this person actually own/run a fitness facility 2) Does this person actually train people 3) Does this person interact with their “clients”.

Personally I’m sick and fucking tired of all the bullshit. I’ve had enough, and that is why Luka and I have started on this path. To create a family. Where we pass along information and strategies that we use every day, in real world applications. We work on our businesses, in our businesses, and still find the time to have a lifestyle that most people dream of. This isn’t braggin, it’s the freaking truth…. Did I mention we both bust our asses training ourselves as well?

There are plenty more words I could use describe what this movement is about, but I would rather you decide for yourself.

So let’s get down to the good stuff.

Running a successful fitness business is more than just showing up. It’s more than just getting your clients amazing results (although if you can’t do this, it’s time to look for another job), it’s more than running tricky marketing ads.

A large part of your success will be based on how appreciated your clients feel. PERIOD! The most beautiful sound in any language is your own name.

Do you truly show appreciation to your clients?

Here is a quick set of questions that will allow you to better serve your clients, for our purposes we will call this the APPRECIATION AUDIT:

1) Do you know every single one of your client’s names? How often do you use their name when they are in your facility?

2) Do you send Thank You cards? Welcome cards? Cards for when they accomplish a goal?

3) Do you call them/ have someone call them to say Thank You? Check up on them when they don’t show up?

4) Do you ALWAYS give referral rewards when a client’s friend signs up? A referral thank you card? Phone call?

5) Do you put on client appreciation events?

6) Do you have a private Facebook group set up just for your clients

7) Do you have a time when clients can sit down with you and just talk without charging them?

8) Do you ask your members/ client’s about their families? Personal Lives?

9) Do you run charity boot camps for causes that matter to your members?

There is just a few, but the list could go on forever.

The point that I’m trying to get across to you is that you MUST appreciate the people who pay your bills, and allow you to live your dreams.

Seven Figure Sam Bakhtiar is my Coach. I got off the phone with him the other day, and INSTANTLY received a call from one of his assistants THANKING ME for being a part of his coaching group. I received an email THANKING ME for joining. It made me feel amazing. It’s POWERFUL, and it is guaranteed to help you grow your business like crazy!

Just remember, there must be a SYSTEM to your appreciation. If you would like a copy of my client appreciation system make sure to leave a comment below, including your email address, and I will send that shit out ASAP!

One more question…..

Steven Krebs and Luka Hocevar

We all work for that moment in our careers where we can just say “I am finally proud of what I’ve done! I have really succeeded in life!” We’re aware that we’ve surpassed our parents’ expectations, we’ve impressed our friends, we’ve amassed considerable wealth and we’d be more than ready for any class reunion. However, being content doesn’t mean being complacent. Just because you’re happy with business, doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax. In business and life, you are either growing or dying.

As business consultant Victor S.L. Tan says, “The greatest threat hovering above an organization today is not the competition. Neither is it the increasing demands placed by customers. Nor is the pace of change brought about by globalization. The greatest threat to the survival of organizations today is complacency of people inside organizations. It is the number one enemy…”

The complacent American thinks that he DESERVES a cushy retirement because he worked hard his whole life. When he hits 65, he expects that he can just retire on a pension and enjoy the same standard of living he had before – only, now, with more free time! This complacent American is DEAD WRONG. He will not be taking trips to Vegas, eating steak and lobster for dinner, and driving a Maserati off his piddly pension. Today, one’s pension only makes up 17 PERCENT of total retirement income. Social security will cover a third. More importantly, investment earnings and acquired assets compensate for nearly half a person’s retirement income. So, in other words, if you haven’t been running the wheel and socking away supplies like an industrious hamster all along, you’re absolutely SCREWED. We’re talking Bill Clinton caught in the White House with his pants down screwed. Even after you’ve hit the top of your career, you need to always be growing your investment portfolio and looking for new irons to put into the fire.

The complacent fitness trainer may feel perfectly busy with the current client roster. Complacent Fitness Trainer has a good amount of referrals coming in and just focuses on the day-to-day operations of the business. Meanwhile, Complacent Fitness Instructor’s competition is busy writing books, making DVDs, recruiting new prospects, creating websites, internet marketing, holding fun promotions and running fitness boot camps. It’s no secret that one day Complacent Fitness Trainer will wake up and see that all his prospects have left to the competition. The economy might falter a little more and suddenly his clients are dropping like flies. His referral stream could dry up at any minute because people are fallible, after all. If you’re getting out of bed on any given morning and your first thought is not “HOW CAN I GROW MY BUSINESS TODAY”, you’re slowly dying.

You might say, “Well I didn’t work my ass off to keep up at this break-neck speed! Can’t I ever just relax and enjoy what I’ve earned?” Sure, you can take your vacation during the year. You can retire from your current job one day. But don’t let that slow you down. The goal is to work your butt off to get as many revenue streams flowing as possible and, even when you think you’ve achieved all your goals, to find new endeavors that will supplement your income. Many people “retire” but continue working for non-profit organizations, special event fundraisers, write books or sell videos. What do you see for your future? Are you living like Mike Tyson on the streets or are you living like Manny Pacquiao as an influential Filipino congressman?

According to nurses, there are five common themes of regret that surface in their patients:

Boy, don’t I know that one! Not many years ago, I was running myself ragged and flying around by the seat of my pants, without any systems in place. I was working 12 hour days as a personal trainer and small business owner and missing out on the family time I desired. In their dying moments, people often express sorrow that they missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship, as well as new opportunities for growth and happiness. Part of what I do now is coach other trainers how to automate their lives and free up more of their time for leisure. Life is too short to be stuck on the treadmill all day, every day!

In your last weeks, it’s too late to track down old friends, so you need to keep the lines of communication open today. The great thing about true friends is that you can call them up after a long absence and it’s as though no time has passed at all. You just pick up right where you left off. This point relates to the last one – if you worked less, you would have more time to maintain your golden friendships. It’s easy to become caught up in your own life and find yourself too busy to give your friends the time and effort they deserve. I like to combine my priorities. There are always a few friends I love working out with – and since they know I’ll be training every day, they know this is a good time and place to catch up with me.

This one is especially common for men who have suppressed their feelings to either put up a wall of protection or to keep peace with others. Keeping emotions pent-up creates a mediocre life and prevents people from ever blossoming into leaders. Many people can even attribute long-harbored bitterness or resentment with the illnesses they are now dying from. It’s common for people to suddenly express their emotions to family and friends suddenly in their last moments, causing loved ones to feel as though they’d missed out on the “real” person all these years. I may be a joker, but I tell my wife and daughter I love them every day. I tell my trainers that I appreciate all the hard work and effort they put in. It’s liberating, actually!

Happiness is a choice. Yet, people often allow themselves to be controlled by habits, patterns, comfort zones, emotions, and external situations. They may feel they are particularly prone to “bad luck.” They often say things like “If I were thinner,” “If I were healthier,” “If I had more money,” and “If I had more time.” Sometimes people want to project a certain image, whether it be “the tough, stoic rock” or the “pitiable poor sourpuss.” We play all sorts of games to get people to come to our side. When you are dying, you no longer care about keeping an image. You learn to let these things go and look inside to ask, “Have I done everything I could to be happy?” If you’re not smiling and laughing every day, you’re not choosing happiness. If you’re not choosing happiness, you’re not living life to the fullest. When you are joyful, you attract more joy into your life. I’m no physicist, but I know this to be true.

This is actually the most common regret of all. People suddenly find that their entire life has been spent doing what others expected of them, and not what they truly wanted to do. Their dreams and aspirations have been unfulfilled and now they must make peace with the choices that were made. Health is freedom, but many people don’t realize this until it’s too late. I had this epiphany back when I was making chump change. I didn’t want to die knowing I never had that garage full of sports cars, I never had that vacation home in Vegas, I never had that successful multi-million-dollar business I’d always dreamt of. As the saying goes, “Carpe Diem”… Seize the day.

In the book they speak about wanting to make Starbucks the third place for their customers. Home. Work. Starbucks.

Creating that same idea for your training studio or boot camp is literally one of the easiest ways to improve client retention. Who wants to keep filling a leaky bucket of clients? You work your ass off to get new clients so you better keep them.

Think about it, people come from crappy jobs that they hate, busy lifestyles at home, commutes, hectic traffic and other stressors. But they COME. They show up at your studio or park or wherever you train and they want to put in work. Your place is one place that they can blow off steam, boost their own confidence, make friends, laugh, push past their limits (you know everyone lives in a little comfort circle so it feels great to get out of that) and make their bodies look awesome.

There are some really simple ways to make sure that you are creating that third place and not just making it another “thing” they have to do every day. We all know if you’re delivering great service and just being a cool person, people will want to stick around. There’s a little bit more to it than that though.

1. Know everyone. I mean on a personal level. We keep our classes under 12 people so we literally know about their families, significant others (some of them even come to class), kids, pets, jobs, favorite music (they bring in their iPods often).
2. We keep it small and charge more. I want really committed people, not $47 month boot campers out for the next best deal. We run them through a screening process and a 60 minute orientation before they even start. Sure, we run specials but for the most part people have some serious skin in the game and that makes them work harder.
3. Say their names during workouts. There’s nothing more powerful for a person than to be acknowledged and praised. Instead of just saying “great job” be sure to say “great job Joe” and it makes it that much more effective.
4. Myself and my trainer are Facebook friends with everyone. There are some folks that I don’t see because they train in her groups and visa versa. Regardless we’re always interacting on Facebook, posting workout pics, praising people and just being cool and fun.
5. Client parties. This year we had a brewery tour and a dinner at Sam Adams where one of my clients is the manager. Then we had a Christmas party at my trainer’s house for everyone- lots of food, drinks and gag gifts. This makes people realize you’re bigger and cooler than most businesses because who else throws parties for their clients and customers?
6. Client of the Month. Each month we’ll decide who has kicked the most ass in terms of attendance, attitude, results and just overall work ethic. That person gets the “black t-shirt” (these are never given out or sold otherwise) and their picture on Facebook, my blog and framed on the wall in the studio.
7. Spotlight Sunday. I stole this idea from the great Carrie Kukuda. Every Sunday we put a client on the blog with their story. Some of them get very personal and it’s amazing the feedback and love that they get from everyone via Facebook and in the studio.
8. Have fun. We push people in the workouts but we make sure they have fun. Everyone knows each other and they look forward to seeing their friends.

Overall we make sure this is not just a workout, it’s a lifestyle and slowly as people get acclimated to our culture, it does become their third place.

Callie Durbrow

Durbrow Performance Training