Fitness Riches

www.FitnessConsultingGroup.
com
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Table of Contents

Introduction5

Chapter 1: Unleash The Profit Potential of Your Personal Training
Business An Interview with Alwyn Cosgrove7

Chapter 2: Building a Successful Online Training Business by Kelli
Calabrese MS, CSCS...31

Chapter 3: The Business of Fitness by Patrick Rigsby38

Chapter 4: Secrets of Effective Lead Generation For Fitness Professionals
by Eric Ruth...44

Chapter 5: Establishing a Lucrative Niche In The Fitness Industry An
Interview with Bill Hartman54

Chapter 6: How To Live the Perfect Life and Make Money 24 Hours a Day
By Publishing a Profitable Online Fitness Newsletter by Craig
Ballantyne..65

Chapter 7: 24/7/365 Automated Fitness Marketing by Brian Calkins74

Chapter 8: The Ultimate Guide to Profits While Maintaining Integrity by
Damon Mochetto..85

Chapter 9: How To Leverage Your Fitness Coaching Services With
Nutrition Product Sales- And Get Paid For Years! by Sean Greeley.94

Chapter 10: Top of Mind Positioning: So You Never Have to Sell Again
by Stephen Holt..113
www.FitnessConsultingGroup.com


Chapter 11: Following Your Dreams to Prosperity by Lee Taft140

Chapter 12: Tap Into the Billion-Dollar Weight Management Industry An
Interview With Chris Mohr...149

Chapter 13: Secrets of the Studio on a Shoestring by Nick Berry..161

Chapter 14: To Be An Independent, or To Franchise. That is the Question
by Matt Hunt168

Chapter 15: The ABCs of Wellness by Marilyn Gansel.173

Chapter 16: How To Become a Local Celebrity by Cliff Latham..185

Chapter 17: The Power of Joint Ventures, Strategic Alliances, and
Endorsed Offers by Frank Pastorelli192

Chapter 18: Creating Your Own Personal Training Money Machine by
Patrick Rigsby.199

Contributing Authors208

Introduction

Dear Fellow Fitness Professional,

Ive got to be honest with you. When I first came up with the idea for this e-book,
it was basically a pipe-dream. Ask a handful of tremendously successful
personal trainers to share the secrets to their success.

Sounded great - but it seemed far-fetched. How would I ever be able to get them
to take the time to write a chapter that essentially disclosed their success
secrets? But what I soon came to discover was that as busy as all of these
cream of the crop trainers were, they all were willing to contribute.

Each and every one of them expressed a strong desire to give back and to help
raise the fitness industry as a whole by sharing their ideas and strategies for
professional success as a personal trainer.

Youre going to read about a number of strategies throughout this book that can
literally transform your business the contributors held nothing back.

But make no mistake a large part of their tremendous success can be traced
back to that very passion for the fitness industry and their willingness to pay
forward.

So as you begin to prosper from applying these techniques, strategies and
tactics to your business, I challenge you to do the same thing these fitness
professionals did pay forward.

www.FitnessConsultingGroup.com 5

There are many successful people in this and any field that are unwilling to help
those that come after them climb the ladder of success. Dont fall into that trap.
Im certain that if you apply what you learn in the pages of Fitness Riches, you
will soon achieve new heights of success. When you do, be willing to help others
do the same.

Sincerely,

Pat Rigsby
Editor and Co-Author

Chapter 1: Unleash The Profit Potential Of Your
Personal Training Business

An Interview with Alwyn Cosgrove

This is Pat Rigsby here with Alwyn Cosgrove and unless you have been hiding
under a rock you are well versed in who Alwyn is, but for those of you who may
not be familiar with Alwyn he is one of, if not the most sought after speakers and
writers in the fitness industry. You can see his work in Mens Health, Mens
Fitness, on T Nation and various other websites. He is the owner of Results
Fitness in Santa Clarita, California and he also is the co-author of a very recently
published book - The New Rules Of Lifting. Alwyn also has a couple websites -
www.AlwynCosgrove.com, and www.professionalfitnessnesscoach.com
also. Alwyn, before we move forward, is there anything else I missed?

AC Nope, I think you got everything.

PR I am very honored to be able to have Alwyn on the line. Today we are
going to talk about how to maximize your training business and how to reach
as many potential clients as possible. So essentially were talking about the
power of leverage. Ill start off by asking you about your small group or semi-
private training model. I know you are a big believer in that approach, so
could you describe how you utilize that model in your health club?

AC It hinges upon that the first stage of this and the first business book I
recommend anyone to read is The E-Myth by Michael Gerber. This book
establishes the importance of creating systems in any business and that a
system is basically a replicable system that will create the same result

regardless of who is implementing the system. That is the first part. The best
example that I can give of this is McDonalds. If you go to McDonalds in
Scotland, McDonalds in New York, McDonalds in Moscow, Russia,
McDonalds in London, McDonalds in LA and you order a Big Mac, it is
always the same because McDonalds has the system down and the
employees just execute the steps and create the same hamburger every day.
A lot of people think that this is a low quality model, but it is actually financially
very successful. So you have to look at that, dont look at the nutrition, look at
the success. So it all started off with just me training people and then my wife
was training people and there was a slight reluctance in the beginning for
people who did not want to train with my wife because I had the reputation,
but it was less so. Then we hired our first staff member. So we have a
situation where you have two owners of the business and a third person.
Well, no one wants to train with that third person, they all want to be with the
owners. So we created a model where I wrote all the programs in the
beginning so that when you came in to my facility it didnt matter who
supervised your session, you were going to get the same program, which was
huge because it took the trainer out of it and it focused more on the systems.

So that was step one and obviously I taught that system to the staff so they
can replicate and do their own program. Then I realized that one-on-one
training was a flawed concept to begin with. If you look at training from the
entire spectrum of training, if you look at rehabilitation, the physical therapy
model, you are not one-on-one when you are in physical therapy. There are
usually a couple of you. There is usually one physical therapist that designs
the program, and bunch of assistants who are supervising, but it is never one-
one one, there are usually a couple of people. Even when you go to a

chiropractor and it is technically one-on-one when he is there. He is seeing
three people at once sometimes and jumping around. So I became aware
that at the rehabilitation level there was no one-on-one training. Then I
started to work with a lot of athletes and worked with a lot of strength coaches
- and at the elite level of the sport, it wasnt one-on-one either. When the
Lakers had a strength coach, everybody trained. The Oakland Raiders have
a strength coach, the Dallas Cowboys have a strength coach, everybody
trained. Not one-on-one training. So I started to question why at the serious
injury level and the elite performance, supervision wasnt one-on-one, why in
middle - which is where we technically are as trainers, why is it one-on-one?
Thats when I realized that the model was flawed. Could I as a trainer equally
supervise two people at once? I think I could. If you are taking Martial Arts
classes, you are not taught one-on-one, and each generation of fighters gets
better so the system works. So at that point we started to allow more than
one person at once. Two things happened. The first thing was that now
training became more about the client and less about the trainer because the
client came along and somebody else would be in with them and they would
be talking - how did you do this week, did you stay on your diet, how was
your competition this weekend and the supportive relationship between them
and they trained harder, so it is no longer about the trainer. The second thing
that happened is it allowed me to charge a little bit less so more people could
come into the gym and see me. The third thing, which is the most important
thing for everyone reading this - is that instead of charging $75.00 a session, I
was charging $55.00 a session and getting three people at once so my fee
more than doubled. I dont care what you are charging. If you are charging
$250.00 a session and you can get it, you can get three people in that group

at $150.00 a session so the client pays less, the trainer gets paid more, yet
the system takes over and the clients program remains the same.

PR That makes great business sense. I think too often trainers just kind of fall
into what they witnessed in a health club and what they have seen before and
dont give any thought to why they are approaching training the way they do.

AC And largely that has been the problem - that we are doing things in the
fitness industry because that is how it was done. Without thinking why was it
done that way and should we be even continuing to do it that way. There is
no reason you can give me for one-on-one training. The argument will come
back as that you lose the one-on-one attention - which I dont really buy. I
dont feel like I ignore any of my clients. If I watched most trainers in most
gyms, I doubt that for the whole hour they are completely 100 percent
focused on everything that client does and I doubt they have to be. People
train themselves a lot of the time. The ability to supervise a workout is not
where your skill lies as a trainer. Youve seen training partners that train
together and both guys are jacked right? Theyve never had a trainer in their
life, but they supervise each other. Their program sucks and they could get
better results, but it is unlikely that one-on-one supervision is the magic thing
between them. So trainers have to understand that the ability to supervise a
workout requires about 5 percent more skill than the ability than to do the
workout. It doesnt require you to be an expert. Supervising a workout is not
hard. More people are on their own than are using trainers. I saw study that
said that the one-on-one personal training model attains about a 3 percent
penetration rate into the health clubs so only about 3 percent of the members
are actually using it. Now even if your clubs different, the fact is that there is

a bigger market for semi-private. More people do group exercises than do
personal training. It shows you that its attracting numbers. One of the
reasons why people fail in fat loss programs is a lack of social support.
Youve gone out to dinner with your girlfriend or your wife and one of the
ladies at the table gets up to go to the bathroom and they all go. They all go
together and then they come into the gym together and we want to split them
up? Were like one-on-one for you and they say no I dont want to be one-
on-one; I want to be with my friends. The model sets it up that whoever
supervises the program is almost irrelevant so for staffing reasons it gets
better because the program is written regardless of who the trainer is. The
clients are put in groups based on their availability and they are just put into a
group. Ill be honest - I am in this to make money. Im not going to lie to
anyone. Im interested in making money and being financially successful. If
there was a better model, I would probably be using the better model. So
everyone who wants to debate this with me, just come up with a financially
more successful model that gives clients results and Ill switch. I have no
religious attachment to this - I just see that it works very well.

PR That makes all great sense. I think the most successful people in the
fitness industry have seen what is going on in peripheral industries and been
able to take what theyve witnessed and apply it to their business and when
you explain it, it makes all the sense in the world.

AC The key is a replicable method of designing programs so that the trainer
implementing it is almost irrelevant. Now it can still be used if you are
working it yourself. But the system has to run on its own. My theory being
that should I have to take two weeks off or I fly home to visit some day or I

break my leg and I have to take some time off, my clients should be
uninterrupted. The program shouldnt change because it is different trainer.
The next trainer should be able to step in and it eliminates any personality
issues that may be an issue because you are just implementing a system.

PR That is very simple to understand. I think the main objection I have heard
with trainers is how do you group people together? Do you group them by
fitness level, do you group them by time or do you group them in the social
groups they are comfortable with?

AC Lets think of it in two extremes. Ive got a grandma and Ive got an elite
athlete. This is as extreme as it gets, so this doesnt happen. But lets think
about it. The athlete is doing power cleans and, the grandma is doing bridges
with her feet on a box. The athlete does the power cleans and rests; the
grandma does her bridges and rests. They dont need to do the same
program and I dont really think I need to watch him during his rest period. Ill
watch her and if he is really skilled, I actually need to watch him less than her.
So people are so concerned with the grouping - but thats minor. Like if you
go a Martial Arts class, youll see different belts in the same class - which is to
signify that some guys have been there for a year, some guys have been
there for three months and still the instructor manages to get all these guys
better. Some of my staff, Im pretty sure could supervise five and six at a time
and still be good. We cap it at three. If you honestly feel that three is
overwhelming - then you can stay with two. One-on-one is just a waste of
time. You dont need to supervise someones rest period.


PR Everything youve said makes great sense from a business standpoint and
a training standpoint. You can impact more clients, youre leveraging your
time and more people are getting results every reason a trainer would be in
business.

AC It hinges on having that program design method to start with. If you are the
kind of trainer that kind of wings every session, this model will not work for
you. You have to have a planned program that you can execute.

PR It seems like then it just comes down to geography. Make sure they are in
close enough proximity that you can provide supervision and you are all set.

AC Yep. What I tell people it is a better model - not an easier one - you are
going to work harder, but you are going to get double to triple the money you
were getting. That is a huge increase in profit, but it is not an easier method
of training - it is just better. So the having three clients at once will not be
easier, no - you are going to work and you are going to be moving around.
But it is a financially more successful business model and it is far more
effective for training clients.

PR You have alluded to how important the program design component is to this
approach. I think this is a great segue for us to start talking about using
program design as part of a trainers business model because Ive read some
your thoughts on this and I think this is something that would be of value to
every fitness professional in the industry.


AC Trainers have this idea that they get paid for their supervision time that they
are not billing for the time they spend doing the program. So if you are
charging $50.00 an hour to supervise a clients training and you spend an
hour designing the program, that should be an extra $50.00 fee right? Most
people agree that they should be paid for all their time. Does that make
sense?

PR Yes, that makes perfectly good sense.

AC So if you are designing a program, you should be billing for it. Most people
do not understand that. Some guys just include in the one price. Thats ok,
you can include anything in one package. You can say it is $500.00 a month
and you get five training sessions plus a program. But you have to let the
client know that you do work for them outside of them actually being there.
Thats the first important fact. Same as with a lawyer. You dont just get
billed for the time he spends in the office, but you get billed for everything.
Same as with a doctor. You dont just get billed for the five minutes he
spends with you, you get billed for every hour he looks at your file and every
test result he interprets, you have to pay for everything. It is the same as
being a trainer. If I am working on a program, someone is being billed for it.
Now the problem most trainers get into is if it is $50.00 an hour for my time,
then it is $50.00 an hour to do program design. My question is this - which
one requires the most skill? Supervising a workout? We have already
established that this is a low skill activity. Designing a program is a high skill
activity. So if you want a program designed by an expert trainer who really
knows what they are doing, dont you expect that that will cost more because

of their skill level? Rather than the time it would take for someone to just
supervise you while you are doing pushups? That makes sense too, right?

PR Yes, very much.

AC So we understand that the actual supervision of workout is a low level
activity. Program design is a high level activity. So lets say that you and I
are equally good at writing programs, but it takes you an hour and it takes me
15 minutes. Should I charge less because I am faster?

PR No, not at all.

AC Technically I am better than you to the level of four times as good. If I can
get the same program written in a quarter of the time, technically Im four
times as good as you if the programs are going to be the same. So therefore
we are getting away from how long does it take and we are getting into how
good is it. It is irrelevant how long it takes. Its not how long it takes me to
design the program; it is knowing which program to design. That is what you
are paying for. So we have established that less than 10 percent of the
people hire you for your ability to supervise an exercise session. They hire
you for your expert knowledge in how to design a fitness program. So they
are two separate fees. Making sense so far?

PR Yes. Once again Alwyn - perfectly good sense.

AC So my feeling is that regardless of how good you are as a trainer, if I write
the program and I get you the client and I have you supervise it, how much

should I pay you to supervise my program? Im not giving you $200.00 to
supervise a workout, thats about $25.00 an hour of work to be honest. I dont
care how good you are. Supervising the workout is not that hard and not that
skilled. So I started looking at supervising a workout as $25.00 an hour,
designing a workout as $750.00 a month (my fee for the month plus 10
sessions is $1,000). The client will break it out to $100.00 a session, but is
not, it is $25.00 a session plus $750.00 for program design. It doesnt matter
what the numbers are, the key is that the client understands that you spend
time on their program outside of their presence and this is billable time that
they have to pay for. The supervision time is extra time. So they can buy a
program and no supervision. Technically they can buy supervision and no
program; no one ever does that of course, but technically they are two
separate roles. Your program design skills and your workout supervision
skills. That is also why you can hire me to design a program or my staff to
implement it. Technically you can hire my staff to implement any program,
but no one is going to do that - as I said. But it is clear that we have to
separate these roles. The problem starts when people start to bill per time. If
I take 15 minutes to design a program that is just as good as yours, why
should I charge less when it is clear that I am better - I should be charging
more. Everyone understands that. What if you have a difficult client,
someone who comes in who had a spinal injury and is rehabbing and wants
to come back and do the ultimate fighting championships. That program
takes you a little longer. Do you bill double for that person because it took
you longer? Most people cannot answer these questions if you asked them.
If it takes you longer, do you bill double? You get an easy client, it takes you
half the time, do you bill half? No, program design is a flat fee regardless of
how long it takes you. Because as you get better, it takes less time. As you

get better, you are worth more money, not less. So theres a real skill
involved. Weve gotten into a higher paid construction work manual labor
where we bill an hour of our time for an hour of money. You have to get into
the skill set of a professional personal trainer which is that I design programs
for a very high fee. A 16 week program is what I design. That will cost you
forget about how long it takes me to design it it is going to cost you $200.00,
but you can do it for 16 weeks. So we get away from this time for money and
start exchanging our skill level for money. Now here is another question that
usually blows trainers minds away. If we both have a client and she wants to
lose 10 pounds of fat and I train her and in 10 sessions, she loses 10 pounds
of fat and you train her and in 5 sessions she loses 10 pounds of fat, should
you get paid less because you got results faster than anybody else?

PR No, I should be paid more.

AC You should be paid more, right? But it only took five sessions and you are
billing per session right now probably and five sessions is less than ten
sessions. Because you have been billing for time instead of billing for
program and results. If I can get the same results in less time than you, on
paper, the client paid me less when I am doing a per session model. Does
that make sense?

PR Clients want results so tying the fee to results makes sense. I think
unfortunately too many people in the industry are tied to this archaic hourly
model.


AC Like I said the first part of executing this model is understanding the whys.
Once you understand that if I get better results in less time than everybody
else, I am worth more, then we are getting away from this billing for time and
that is the most important thing. Logistically you still have to do it. You still
have to spend some kind of time. But the way we bill at our gym is the fee
that you pay is for a three-month program or an annual program which is four
three-month programs and it includes your program design, your gym
membership and supervision of a number of sessions. So it is a package that
you pay. So it is based on the results that you want to get. Rather than
saying that you want to lose 10 pounds of fat. If I have to lose 10 pounds of
fat and I stop paying you when that happens, do you want that to happen in
20 sessions or 2?

PR In 20.

AC Yes, you actually should want great results, your income should hinge on it.
Most guys say I do not want to lose the client. Im hoping that I dont get
great results. Because if I can get it in 20, theyll pay me. If I can get it in two,
they will only pay me for two. Where as I am saying, for 10 pounds of fat loss
a grand. However long it takes. Clients will go for it. If it takes me a year,
then a year. If it takes me a week, then a week. You pay your mechanic to
fix your car. If one says that he can fix it in 60 hours and the other says he
can fix it in two minutes, which is worth more? The one who says he can fix it
in two minutes. It is cheaper to take the Greyhound from LA to New York
than to fly, but flying takes less time. Shouldnt it be cheaper? Thats the
model that personal trainers are using. So it does require a complete mindset
shift and most people listening to this or reading about this will just go holy

shit, I dont know what to do and will probably do nothing. So I am going to
give you some steps to take to make sure that doesnt happen.

First, get away from a per session model and switch to a monthly
membership. That can include however many supervised sessions you want,
from one a month to three a week. Thats up to you. But that fee includes a
program design component. It is not an optional fee. This fee includes this
there is a program design fee attached to that. So when someone looks at it
and says wow it is a thousand a month to come to you thats $250 a
session if I come once a week. It is not $250 a session just to come once a
week, its $800 a month for your program and $50 a week for supervised
sessions. The program design is really what you are paying for. I can tell you
that selling products on line, selling programs to other trainers, I make just as
much money from that as I do from supervising workouts. So people are
paying you for your skill, not for your time. They understand that; trainers do
not understand that. Like I said at $100 per session if I can get the job done
in 2 sessions and it takes you 20, then financially I am worse off and Im a
better trainer than you. The trainer says, Ill keep raising my fees. The
problem still stands that the longer you take to get the result, the more money
you are going to make. So technically on that model, the worse you are the
more financially successful you will be. Its ballsy most trainers dont have
the guts to put their reputation on the line for results. Because theyll say -
What if I get a client who doesnt follow the program very well. I never had
those people; I charge a lot of money. They are very motivated to come to
see me. They are not in it to trick me. So focusing on that is a measure of
failure not a measure of success.


PR If there is a second step in this, what should the fitness professional do?

AC - You must have a replicable system of program design and I publish what I
do with my Professional Fitness Coach Manual. This is not a sales pitch; this
is just what I do. You have to create your own manual so that anyone could
come in and take over your business - you can sell it. Everything in your
business has to be in manuals. If you come into our gym tomorrow you could
see how it works and you can make us an offer for the business and all the
operation manuals in it including the program design manuals, how we track
clients, how we track sales. So basically you have to create a franchise even if
you are working for yourself and you are never, ever going to sell it. For ease of
business, you have to create the model as if you are going to sell it. You have to
have a replicable system of program design. Thats number one. The second
thing is your billing has to reflect a program design first model, not a pay for
hours model. We have already discussed the limitations of that. Thirdly,
supervising the session - you have to accept it as a low level activity, therefore
you can get two or three people in at once. Now it becomes a high level activity
because the skill in supervising three people is higher than supervising one. The
real value is in implementing all these steps together. One-on-one training is
dead. No one should be even offering that. It is just flawed technology. It is just
a poor usage of your time. I dont care how much money you are getting for that
hour. If you are getting $1,000 an hour, you can get three people at $750 each.
If your market can handle $1,000 an hour, your market can certainly handle
semi-private $750 per session. Ive use the term per hour a lot which is wrong.
How long is a workout?

PR As long as it takes.

AC So again, if it takes me 30 minutes to get the same results as it takes
another trainer an hour, do I charge half? Do I charge double?

PR You should charge double.

AC You should charge double. So just get away from how long it takes and
start getting into there are 10 minutes left, lets do some extra abs. Now you
are not on your program anymore, you are just making shit up. So execute
the program based on your knowledge and if it takes 55 minutes fine; if it
takes an hour and 5, great. You are just implementing the steps. Hopefully
that is something useful. Going any deeper will get people confused.

PR I think that this is outstanding. This is stuff that any trainer - regardless of
the situation, regardless of their current approach to business - can really
absorb and make their business model much, much better.

AC One of things I always say is if you are to leave and you move from New
York City where you charge $100 a session and you move to Wisconsin
where the going rate is $45, your income cuts in half. But I bet if you go to
Wisconsin and charge $35, you can get three people in a group and actually
take a raise in your income.

PR This is outstanding. The problem Ive seen in health club settings is that
they only reach that 3% penetration rate this makes personal training viable
for so much more of the population - so if you are dealing in a health club

setting, a much greater percentage of the member base becomes a candidate
for personal training.

AC Yes, it is less expensive for them and more profitable for the trainer. Its a
no lose. The people will think - my existing clients wont like it if I change. Im
like ok, keep them the same, but for everybody new this is how you do it and
see how quickly you get fed up. When from hour one you are making $75.00
an hour and in hour two, you are making $200 for three people. Youll soon
come around. When we changed, clients didnt like it, but I have a business
rule, I honor all the deals Ive made. There is an incentive for them to change
because it is cheaper and often it is just rolling over the existing package.
They get more sessions and it is really not any less effective when I see two
people at once. They see that very quickly. So I give them an incentive to
change. If they choose not to change, Ill honor the deal I have made. When
it comes to renewal I have two options. To continue to honor that deal or tell
them hey, I no longer honor that deal. So Ill either lose the client - which is
unlikely if you are good - or they switch at that point. So it does require
change but this is the easiest way to reduce hours for a trainer without
affecting your income. Right now, if you are doing 40 hours a week, you can
get that down to 20 hours a week and actually make more money and then
you have more free time. If you work 40 hours a week and you see 40 clients
and you get them into 20 hours a week and see the same amount of clients.
Youre saving 20 hours a week. You can cut your hours by 50% and only cut
your income by 10%. Or even better with correct structuring, you can cut
your hours by 50% and increase your income by 20%. So a lot of times the
trainers time off is the bigger motivation than money.


PR I think a lot has been said about trainers leveraging their time through
creating information products and be it selling things to clients, different things
like that; creating passive backend income streams. This seems like the
foundation for leverage for a fitness professional and I think this is something
that has been really skipped over.

AC I think that that is a good point, Patrick, because a lot of people right now
are talking about information products and stuff who, with no offense to
anyone, youre not good enough to be selling information products yet
because you are not good enough at what you do. So you have to get better
at being a trainer before you start trying to reach a bigger market. The
second thing is where does that time to create the information products come
from unless you start at the grassroots level with your clients and reduce the
time spent with them. Without ignoring them, if you reduce the time spent,
now you free up some hours, you can say hey, I finish Fridays at noon.
Friday afternoon from one until four, I am going to work on an e-book. Very
quickly you start to build that. The other thing that trainers are doing that I
should say is caused by people like myself, and Ryan Lee and Jim Labadie -
there is a concept that trainers should target other trainers with information
products thats not the biggest market, just be aware of that. If I wrote a
program design manual for trainers, there would be a market. But I can tell
you writing a fat loss manual for new mothers has a bigger market than
anything you can market to trainers. So be aware of that because there is a
tendency now that everybody seems to be marketing towards fitness
professionals. There are other markets out there, dont ignore them, there
are some big markets there.


PR You just mentioned new mothers. There are hundreds of niche markets
just like that with much more potential than the fitness professional market.
The volume of people in each of those particular niches is so much greater. I
think that is definitely the way to go, but I think you hit the nail on the head. It
starts with honing your craft and being better at what you do and by actually
training, I think implementing this model forces trainers to be better because
they are going to have to write that many more programs.

AC Ive said often that the difference between a good trainer and a great trainer
is 1,000 programs. It just the time and energy that you have to spend. You
can study and you can try to fast track it, but at some point, that is the
difference between a white belt in Karate and a black belt, hours in the gym.
You need to get that done. I had a guy come up to me at the boot camp and
he was pitching me on a product he had that was good for trainers. It would
track all their sessions on this software and asked would I be interested in
having a look at it. Im interested in looking at everything. But, I asked him
how much money he was making as a trainer and he told me well. I get the
excuses. So if you are not making any money as trainer, why would I model
my business after what youre doing. I dont mean that offensively because
you can tell me all about your product all you want. When you are making
$18,000 a year as a trainer, this is a product that doesnt work because your
business model is failing. I think my worst critic out there - this guy hates
what I do. The guy has emailed me and said that he hates my accent. Im
trying to change that. The guy that hates everything that I do - my worst critic
- would have to say that I have been very successful financially at what I do.
So this is a model that works. Im not saying that to be pigheaded or to try to
impress anybody, but Im saying that to show that this is what I do. Im not

trying to fake anything. These are the steps Ive made in our business to
make me more financially secure.

PR Just for those people who will be reading this, did you initially start out
doing more of the one-on-one approach.

AC Of course. When I think about it - I was in a Martial Arts group and went to
the world championships. We were a national team, we trained as a group.
When I got out of school, I worked for a physical therapist. You saw 10 people
at once with his assistance. Then when I went into personal training, I did
one-on-one it doesnt make any sense, right? But that is what everybody
did, so thats what I did too. Its just a flawed model, there is nothing I can say
to defend that. And Ive done it, so when people defend it, I say you know
what, Ive been there, Ive had these clients. But Im telling you - I think Ive
lost maybe one ever who didnt like the small group approach in the course of
my personal training career, but Ive picked up thousands.

PR Alwyn, the way that you present it I cant understand why anyone
wouldnt revisit what theyre currently doing. It is very rational. It is founded in
common sense above all else.

AC And thats the key - if you can argue why it is not as financially successful
and why it wont work, Ill listen. You have to come at me with the same angle
- common sense. Unless you are the only guy in the gym and its your client
its not one-on-one anyway youre working with equipment, you talk to
other trainers or other clients, youre just being polite so its not one-on-one

anyway. It doesnt matter if it is one trainer and two clients or one trainer and
one client. That whole one-on-one thing is a fallacy anyway.

PR Something else that I see. I know it is an important component in my
business that I think this just plays right into that is because you are able to
impact more clients, those backend sources of revenue be it weight
management programs or you sell dietary supplements. Now you have that
many more people that are potential customers for those backend services.

AC Exactly. If you sell something like a post workout drink or some type of
protein / carb drink to all your clients - which you should be doing if you
understand nutrition at all - you should be doing that. If you see 30 clients a
week, that is an extra $150 a week you make. If you see 300 - as we do in
our facility - that is an extra $1,500 a week you can make. Its just a matter of
numbers. If before you were youre training a mom whose son was trying to
gain weight for high school, now you are training 10 moms whose sons are
trying to gain weight - so just by having more clients, you get more clients and
I think everybody recognizes that. I want to touch on nutrition briefly too,
Patrick, if we have time.

PR Certainly go ahead.

AC Just as program design has to be a separate fee and separate hours,
nutrition is also separate. You can bill them altogether and dont give people
an option of doing training and then nutrition, but you have to create a
separate fee with a separate value. We want it as a completely separate
program. You have a separate contract for everything. We use the Apex

software and my wife handles nutrition. What you cannot try to do as a
trainer is try to run this yourself. Apex allows you to run it with full ADA and
RDA approval. You can modify the diets and customize it for everybody.
What you cannot do is make up your own diet. That is outside of your scope
of practice and that opens a door you do not want to open. However, using a
formalized program like Apex allows you to charge money for an established,
replicable system of nutrition. Again, the same as program design. That you
are repeating the same steps regardless of whos implementing them or who
the client is to figure out a nutrition program. So, if you dont have a nutrition
program, then you are losing a large part of your income because you are
probably asked nutrition questions.

The last one is supplements. Supplements are a gray area. Eighty-five
percent of the American public now takes a supplement every day. So
whether you believe in them or not, your clients are buying them. So I would
rather my clients buy a multi-vitamin that I recommend or a protein powder
that I know what it is than just go to the discount store and buy something that
is garbage. So somebody is profiting from selling your clients supplements.
They are going to take supplements anyway whether I endorse them or not.
They are going to take the wacky fat burners. You need to be able to educate
them on that and I believe that there are some supplements out there that are
good, but you do need to be aware of them. So you can offer supplements
that you believe in and can ethically recommend to your clients and make a
profit. Make sure that you have in addition to all this, a nutrition program.

PR You hit the nail right on the head. That is a key component of the business
model that I use. You can use it as an entryway program to get those

deconditioned people that might have traditionally been in the Weight
Watchers market.

AC It is huge. There are largely two groups of people. They look in the mirror
and theyre like my God, my abs look horrible, my butt looks big. And they
either do one of two things, they join a gym or they join a Weight Watchers.
Most of them join a Weight Watchers. We have nutrition programs in the
gyms and Weight Watchers do recommend exercises. This is all true stuff.
We can sometimes take away from Weight Watchers by offering an upfront
nutrition program.

PR That is kind of the unheralded component to offering nutrition coaching or
weight management coaching. It just sets a lure for other potential clients.

AC Yes, you can run it as a separate business out of your gym. We are into
advanced stuff now. But you can run a sports conditioning program out of
your gym under a different name. It is nothing different other than a different
sign. You can run a nutrition program and call it Los Angeles Nutrition. They
come in there and there is a little office and stuff. The whole idea is that there
are multiple streams of income that are available to you.

PR Essentially youve turned your facility into a fitness mall - so to speak -
where you are the one-stop fitness resource.

AC Yes, and if I had the space, I could see the benefits of making it even
bigger. I dont have group exercise - like in terms of classes, but I can see
the benefits of that. I can see the benefits to having a day spa type thing. I

can see how all these things spin off. A one-stop place for everybody - I think
- will be the future of the industry to be honest.

PR I think obviously that is somewhat beyond the scope of this, but hopefully
that opens some peoples eyes to the opportunities that are out there
because all too often, I think trainers especially new to the industry or people
who have just worked in a health club setting, all they see is the traditional
one client with one trainer - trading time for money.

AC Yes. If I could get people to just not even get away from that, just think that
it is not the only option, then I have done my job today.

PR Well, that is outstanding, but before we wrap up, I know that Alwyn you are
very humble in saying that you werent really promoting Professional Fitness
Coach Program Design Bible, but I have to give this an unsolicited
endorsement. My businesses train a lot of people and we developed our own
training manual modeled after Alwyns Program Design Bible. I cant
recommend it highly enough. It is, by far, the best product of its kind on the
market today. I encourage anybody and everybody to grab Alwyns
Professional Fitness Coach Program Design Bible to use as the starting
point for creating their own program design manual.

AC To be honest, that is really my goal for you to take mine and combine with
what you already know, so you can create your own one and you can use
mine as a textbook. When you start to really look at how much a program
designer is worth, then you start to get an appreciation for how much a
manual is worth. My manual is $147.00. It works out to $2.80 a week for a

trainer. That is under $3.00 a week. If that is too much money for you, I
understand, but I guarantee you will make 10 times that money by buying it,
just in your program design skills.

PR You can find this at www.professionalfitnesscoach.com. And I couldnt
give it a more emphatic endorsement because I know that weve used it to
really be the foundation for our own training manual - to be the model.

AC It comes in a binder designed to be written on and cross referenced and so
on. It is designed as a workbook. So if I ever see it in someones gym, I
expect to see it written on and things highlighted and pages out of it. I dont
expect to see it on a shelf looking pristine. It is supposed to be a workbook.

PR Well, Alwyn, I appreciate everything today and with that well wrap this up.

AC Thank you. I had a good time.


Chapter 2 - Building a Successful Online Training
Business
By Kelli Calabrese MS, CSCS
2004 Personal Trainer of the Year Online Training

There is no escaping the information age; in fact, its progressing at light speed.
We are stimulated by more information in a day through technology, than people
were in a year just one century ago. But could a hands on service like personal
training be done on the web? Whats next, hair cuts? You may be considering
online training or maybe even signed up for a subscription based service to give
it a try. In my experience, trainers have not been all that successful with online
training being the profit center they had hoped for.

One of the reasons for the failure is that trainers believe if they build it, they will
come, which is not necessarily true. Your online training business should be an
extension of your in person business in order to be successful.

As the former lead fitness expert for eDiets (the internets leading diet
destination) and eFitness, I can share that beyond the novelty factor, technology
only takes us and our clients so far, no matter how sophisticated. So how can
we successfully reach the masses, support out clients and help them see
significant results online?

Exercisers and dieters will always need support from a team of professionals,
which includes some combination of a personal trainer, coach, eating disorder
specialist, psychologist, nutritionist and medical doctors. Downloading workouts
and grocery shopping lists is not enough to change someones lifelong habits,
much less their bodies. While online training provides a foot in the door with

clients, it can also be a gateway to personal coaching opportunities, partnering
with other health professionals and offering a host of other services and
products.

Simply printing out a new workout every week or two may be appropriate for the
few elite exercisers who are looking for a fresh routine. However a majority of
others, especially those who are struggling to lose weight and who have failed at
exercise in the past, will need much more support. Whether customized or from a
proprietary program, a printed workout wont help clients execute a fitness
program, handle eating triggers, control portion sizes, manage stress, curb binge
eating, learn strategies for dining out, handle saboteurs and take the necessary
steps to making health and fitness a permanent part of ones life.

This is where the future is headed for todays fitness professionals. Whether you
have already jumped on the bandwagon or are already considering it, online
training and its ancillary services have a huge potential to grow your business by
allowing you to reach more customers. In the process, youll help clients change
their lives while stretching your skills as a personal trainer.

You may be skeptical about online training, as was I. I had been a hands-on
trainer for 14 years prior to my first experience with online training. Thats when I
realized the power of technology to help people change their lives.

Many of the tools we use in person with our clients--like journaling, weighing in,
calculating target heart rates, developing goals and varying workout routines--
can all be done online. And todays online systems can quickly format the clients
data, making record keeping easy and convenient. Month-to-month comparisons

are available at the touch of a button to keep clients honest, and online sites can
also offer access to personal support and unlimited information, including
libraries of articles and a variety of other services. As a result of automation, we
can offer more complete service to our clients while saving time and ultimately
money.

So, how can you make money as an online personal trainer?
In my experience, it takes fewer resources to attract an online client. Its not
necessary to place ads or print brochures or even pay for a fancy web site.
Instead, customers can find you using the tools available on the Worldwide Web,
such as personal training locators. When I look at how Ive attracted personal
training clients both on and off-line over the past three years, its about a 50 /50
split between referrals and online locators.

You can optimize your web presence by writing articles that incorporate key
words your clients would be likely to use in their internet search. You can also list
your services in appropriate directories. Tie online training into all of your
marketing efforts both on and off the web.

When a potential customer is searching online with her credit card ready, the
promptness of your reply, what you say and how its presented can make or
break the sale. A personalized letter, endorsements from clients and a sample of
what your online training programs look like will create a professional
presentation that can set you apart from the competition. You are likely to get
more clients when you make a great first impression.


You can reach a whole new market of individuals who want the convenience and
affordability of online training. One opportunity for additional income is offering
online training privileges for your in-person clients who want access to your
customized workouts when theyre traveling. Online membership can also be
appealing to club members who want the edge of a personalized workout to help
keep their interest high and their workouts productive. Its also an affordable
solution for people who see you once or twice a month in person and want the
support throughout the month.

During the initial contact with clients, inform them that the first session begins
with a phone (or in person if possible) consultation, which includes a review of
the clients history, preferences as well as developing the plan and committing to
goals. For those who are within driving distance (as a majority of my online
clients are) you can also schedule a fitness assessment. Of course, these
services should be billed accordingly.

At the initial consultation you will assess the new clients needs and determine
what other services and products would be beneficial to help them meet their
goals. For example:

Be prepared to suggest affiliate programs and referrals that tie back into
your business. Those recommendations can bring you additional income.
Possibilities for affiliate programs include heart rate monitors, water filters,
books, videos, exercise equipment, supplements and the like.


Suggest a 30-minute phone consultation on a recurring basis. For some
clients, every other week is sufficient while others will need more frequent
support, and a few will be fine with a monthly coaching session by phone.
Create support material for your online training programs. For example,
produce simple exercise videos of yourself demonstrating exercises that
would be appropriate for most beginners. Another video might model a
lower body routine for women or an advanced core routine. Clients will
buy your products as gifts or to enhance their own programs.

Videotape yourself giving presentations in your community on topics
ranging from the facts and myths about weight loss to mastering health-
wise grocery shopping. Make these tapes available for purchase.

Here are some other ways to generate cash from your online training site:

Provide online clients with a monthly membership upgrade, which includes
getting answers to up to four of their questions per month via e-mail. Ive
not had a single person take full advantage of this; in fact most rarely use
this benefit.

Develop an informative online newsletter featuring video clips of new
exercises, a recipe of the month and highlights from your success stories.

Allow clients to access your library of articles in a members only section.

Offer online training as an upgrade to your health club membership,
allowing members the ability to ask x number of e-mail questions

monthly and receive one new customized workout a month. This is a
great way for trainers to fill down time by supporting members online, and
I believe that extra touch ultimately contributes to member retention.

What will it cost me?
Its relatively inexpensive to get an online training business started. Your first
client-of-the-month should cover the cost of your subscription to most online
training programs like Fitness Generator or Hi Tech Trainer. You wont even
need your own web site because most programs will provide your own home
page. But if you prefer your own website, www.websitesfortrainers.com
provides templates, a library of images and support to get you started.

To assure a steady income flow, set up all your on-line clients for recurring
monthly memberships that can be cancelled at any time. Charge for your time in
30-minute increments, based on your typical personal training fees.

Include your web page and highlight your online training business in all of your
marketing and promotion efforts.

The next time youre in a supermarket or restaurant and you see someone
pounding away at her cell phone or PDA to calculate her Weight Watchers
points or to count calories, its a sure sign that therell never be a shortage of
prospects out there for your online business.

Rest assured that in 2006 and beyond, dieters will continue to be confused, the
number of gastric bypass surgeries will soar to new highs, the demand for over-
the-counter appetite suppressants will continue to grow, and medical weight loss

programs will be more aggressively marketed. Its up to personal trainers to bail
Americans out of the fat trap, and online training is one way for us to make the
best use of our time and reach more people in our communities and around the
world.

If youd like more information on how to build a successful online personal
training business, I have a few other resources available:

Online Personal Trainer Success - Audio CD

ISSA Personal Fitness Coaching CEC Course

http://calabreseconsulting.com/fitness_store_online_training.html.

All of these tools will empower you with additional knowledge you can use to
make your online personal training business a success.


Chapter 3 - The Business of Fitness
By Pat Rigsby of www.fitnessconsultinggroup.com

Early on in my fitness career I was yearning to own my own business, but I didnt
have any idea where to start. I was browsing around the local bookstore looking for
something that might provide me a little direction when the by-line of a book caught
my eye: Why Most Small Businesses Dont Work And What To Do About It. Little
did I know that I had stumbled across what would become the most influential
business book I had ever read, The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber.

If youve not had the good fortune to read this book, I urge you to go pick it up
immediately, but in the mean time let me share with you excerpts from that very
important book, and I quote:

The technical work of a business and the business that does the technical work
are two totally different things. But the Technician who starts a business fails to see
this and that is the root cause of most business failures.

The carpenter becomes a contractor. The barber opens a barbershop. The
technical writer opens a technical writing business. The hairdresser starts a beauty
salon. The engineer goes into the semiconductor business. The musician opens a
music store. All of them believing that because they understand the technical side
of the business they are qualified to run a business that does that kind of work.

Not true!

Forty percent of start-up businesses fail within the first year. Within five years 80
percent will have failed and of those that survive those first five years 80 percent
will fail within ten years.

Most businesses are operated according to what the owner wants rather what the
business needs. And so you work. Ten, twelve, fourteen hours day. Seven days a
week. Youre consumed by it; totally invested in doing whatever is needed to keep it
alive. But youre not only doing the work you know how to do but also the work you
dont know how to do. You are not only making it; youre also buying, selling,
shipping it. You are a master juggler keeping all the balls in the air.

Its easy to spot the Technicians business. If you removed the owner from the
business there would be no business left. The owner and the business are one
and the same thing

You dont own a business. You own a job.

IBM, McDonalds and Procter & Gamble did not end up as mature businesses. They
started out that way. Tom Watson, the founder of IBM said, I had a very clear
picture in mind of what the business would look like when it was finally done. You
might say I had a model in my mind of what it would look like when the dream - my
vision was in place.

Wow, did this hit me right between the eyes. I thought about every trainer that I
knew that owned their own business. They all worked from five in the morning
till eight in the evening. No sick days. No paid vacations. They simply traded
their time for their clients money. They had simple bought themselves jobs.

I thought back to my father. He owns a very profitable automotive repair
business. Same story. Sure, he has employees, but the business completely
revolves around him. If hes sickthe business is sick. If hes on vacation, so is
the business. He bought himself a job.

The trainers, my father, they were technicians that owned businesses. I wanted
to be a Fitness Entrepreneur. I wanted to own a business, not be owned by one.
So I had to begin by starting from a different perspective. The mindset of a
technician and an entrepreneur are almost polar opposites of one another.

The Entrepreneurial perspective asks the question. How must the business
work? The Technicians perspective asks, What work has to be done? The
Technicians perspective starts with the present and looks forward to an
uncertain future. The Entrepreneur envisions the future and builds the present to
achieve that vision.

The Technician sees no connection between where his business is now and where
it is going. Lacking the grander scale and visionary guidance manifest in the
Entrepreneurial model the Technician constructs a model each step of the way

based on past experience - the model of work exactly the opposite of what is
needed if the business is to free him from work.

The Entrepreneurial model has less to do with whats done in the business and
more to do with how its done. It looks at a business as if it were a product sitting on
a shelf competing for the consumers attention against a whole shelf of competing
businesses.

The Entrepreneurial model does not start with a picture of a business to be created
but of the customer for who the business is to be created. Without a clear picture of
the customer no business can succeed.

The Technical business however, is designed to satisfy the Technician not
the customer. To the Entrepreneur the business is the product.

Think of your business as anything but a job! Go to work on your business
rather than i n it and ask yourself the following questions:
How can I get my business to work without me?

How can I get my people to work without my constant interference?
How can I systemize my business in such a way that it could be replicated 500
times so that 500
th
runs as smoothly as the first?
How can I own the business but still be free of it?
How can I spend my time doing the work I love to do rather than the work I

have to do?

The problem isnt your business. The problem is you and will always be until
you change your perspective about a business and how it works.

In order to have a business that works without you, a business that can be
duplicated, pretend there are standards you have to abide by. There are rules of the
game. The rules are:

The model will be operated by people with the lowest possible level of skill. 1.
2.
3.
4.
The model will stand out as a place of impeccable order.
All work on the model will be documented in operations manuals.
The model will provide a uniformly predictable service to the client.

It is not the product that requires innovation but the process. Where the business
is the product, how the business interacts with the consumer is more important
than what it sells or provides.
Innovation is the heart of every successful business. It asks the question.
What is standing in the way of my clients getting what they want from my
business? It always takes the clients point of view.

Your business is not your life. Your business is something apart from you, with
its own needs, its own rules and its own purpose. An organism you might say

that will live or die according to how well it performs its sole function to find
and keep clients.

I knowIve thrown a lot at you in just a few paragraphs. For many fitness
professionals this is a complete shift in mindset. Most fitness professionals
cant imagine even delegating clients to other trainers assuming that no one
can do the job as well as I can. So what Im asking you to do is really
consider the long range goals you have for your business. Start with the
following questions:
If youre 30 years old now, do you plan on training clients at age 60?
If not, what is your exit strategy? Do you have one?
What is your business worth without you?
Could you sell it if you wanted to?
Take some time and come up with your honest answers. Then, if youre not
satisfied with what you discovered, utilize some of the concepts and principles
Ive provided and look for ways to engineer your business around them. Youll
soon find yourself in a situation where your schedule is more flexible, you dont
feel guilty for catching the flu or going on vacation and you have peace of mind
that your employees are providing consistent, quality service.
If you dont have any employees, approach it in the same exact fashion so that
when the day comes that you want to add one (or more), the transition is
seamless. Document and organize your systems and your methods and
before you know it youll have a business that you own instead of one that
owns you.


Chapter 4 - Secrets of Effective Lead Generation for
Fitness Professionals

By Eric Ruth of www.HowToSellFitness.com

Imagine for a moment that you have a list containing the phone numbers, home
addresses and email addresses of 5,000 people in your local area who can
afford your services and have an interest in improving their health and fitness.

Imagine that all 5,000 of those people know who you are and what you do.
Imagine that they all not only know you, but also like you and trust you. They
open and read your emails and letters, and respect what you have to say.

Would your business be more fun and more profitable if that were the case?

Would the struggle to find new clients be over if you had a house list like that
a list you could market to consistently and frequently with very little cost a
highly responsive list of your ideal prospects all in need of your solution?

Obviously, the answer to both those questions is YES!

The information in this chapter is designed to show you how to build that list.
The information in this chapter is designed to teach you how to have a fun and
profitable business. And the information in this chapter reveals what is far and
away the most important business/lifestyle improvement strategy you will ever be
exposed to: Lead Generation.


What Is Lead Generation?

Lead generation is a strategy for developing your very own personal
marketplace that holds you up as the preferred choice, the obvious expert, the
health and fitness guru.

The goal of lead generation is to leverage media (direct mail, email, telephone,
space advertising, seminars, web site, business cards, flyers, publicity, radio,
television, etc.) to get every person in your local area (or globally) who has an
interest in your particular solution to raise their hand indicating that interest.

Why Should You Use Lead Generation?

The list is king. When you develop your own house list of prospects, you can
communicate with them whenever you choose and however you choose.
Marketing is about communication. The better you become at communicating
your uniqueness in a compelling way, the more business you will get. But you
cant communicate if you have no one with whom to communicate. And you
communications will carry so much more weight, so much more power and be so
much more effective when they are received by people who:

1. Have an interest in what you offer.
2. Know, like and trust you as a credible source.


The Buying Cycle

Like it or not, your services have an inherent buying cycle. The vast majority
(well over 75%) of your potential clients, unless directly referred and in
immediate, urgent need, will require time and emotional and logical reasons why
they should choose you. When you utilize lead generation coupled with effective
follow-up marketing, you overcome the obstacle of timing. Let me give you an
example.

Lets say you were to run the following advertisement in a local newspaper:

12-Week Body Transformation
Call within the next 5 days to get our 12-week body transformation
program for just $699 (regularly $999).
I lost 22 pounds of fat and have never felt better. I tried everything
else, but this is the only program that has ever really worked.
Sally Saddlebags, Cleveland, OH
Call Now: (555) 444-3333

Its not bad advertising copy. It has a compelling headline. It has an offer. It has
social proof. It has urgency and a call to action. These are all important
elements of a solid direct response advertisement.

Lets assume 100 people read your ad. Of those 100 people, how many have an
urgent, pressing need to transform their body right now? Lets say that five
people do, they call, and you close three of them. You now have three new
clients from your ad. And you think its a big winner.

Good job.

But what about the other 95 people who read your ad and took no action? Isnt it
possible that a portion of those people are interested in transforming their
bodiesbut are not ready to begin in the next five days? The answer is most
certainly YES! They would not have read your ad if they didnt have some
interest. But you hit them at the wrong time in their buying cycle.

Arent you leaving a potentially significant amount of money (in the form of new
clients) sitting on the table? You did get the prospects who are in heat (ready to
act now) to respond. And thats great. But what about the prospects who have
an interest in transforming their bodies, but that interest is not strong enough to
compel them into action immediately?

Doesnt it make sense to capture those prospects and drip your marketing
message on them until they are ready to buy? From one advertisement, you
may only get five more prospects to drip on, but if you are constantly and
consistently generating leads like this, you will soon have a significant house list
of hot prospects to whom you can directly communicate and sell on your solution.

How do you do that?

All you have to do is add a lead generation component to your already successful
advertisement. It would look something like this:


12-Week Body Transformation
Call within the next 5 days to get our 12-week body transformation
program for just $699 (regularly $999)
I lost 22 pounds of fat and have never felt better. I tried everything
else, but this is the only program that has ever really worked.
Sally Saddlebags, Cleveland, OH
Call Now: (555) 444-3333
Want to know the secret that makes our 12-week body
transformation program so effective?
If so, go to www.12weektransformation.com right now and get the
special revealing report including 5 shocking case studies of
Cleveland residents who lost a combined total of 196 pounds in 12
weeks!

Capturing Leads

In order to effectively generate leads, you must have a mechanism for capturing
them. In the example above you would be using your website. On your web site,
prominently placed somewhere near the top of the page, would be an opt-in form
(where you request the first name and email address) the visitor could complete
to gain access to your special report.

When the visitor completes the form they are automatically taken to a page on
your site with the free report, or automatically sent an autoresponder email
message containing the report (possibly broken down into multiple emails an
email mini-course), or the email may have the report attached in the form of a
PDF.

Your report is the bait you use to attract the right fish. The right fish are people
who have an interest in your solution. And the right fish almost always want
some form of additional information before they make a buying decision.

Once you have the contact information for these leads, you now have a means of
communicating (marketing) with them until they buy or die.

Multiple Reasons To Respond

The crux of effective lead generation is utilizing multiple reasons to respond.
Most times you will want to advertise your particular solution (as illustrated in
both the sample ads Ive shown you), but you will also want to advertise a risk-
free opportunity to get more information about your solution without obligation (as
illustrated in the second advertisement). Because the vast majority of people
who see your ad will not be ready or willing to buy today, but they will have an
interest and want to learn more.

Therefore you must have a mechanism for them to get more information that is
non-threatening. You may think that the prospect would just call your office and
say, Im not ready to buy right now, but please send me more information. That
will not happen in most cases. People fear being sold. Thats why they dont
call. But if you can offer them a way to receive more information without risk,
they will gladly give you their contact information in order to receive that
information.


This Is Not Just About Advertising

The example Ive provided so far illustrates how to generate leads from space
advertising. Thats just one of many, many ways you can use this strategy. Lead
generation can and should become your primary marketing strategy, regardless
of what media you use to get the word out about your services. Here are more
examples:

Telephone: Almost nobody does this right. The telephone is your primary
marketing tool, but very few people use it properly for lead generation.
Every time someone calls your office/club/studio, you (or your assistant)
MUST capture their contact information. As you know, the lions share of
incoming phone calls are not from folks who are ready to buy. Most have
questions. If you just give them answers over the phone and then hang
up, youve forever lost the chance to continue marketing to them (unless
they call back). So, when the call comes in from a prospect, regardless of
the question being asked, your answer should be something like, Thats a
great question, Mrs. Jones. Theres lots of things to consider when hiring
a personal trainer (joining a club, etc.), so its great that youre doing your
homework. What Id like to do is send you out a complete information
package on our services, providing you with all the details you need to
know to make an informed decision. Included in that package is also a
special report revealing the 7 biggest mistakes people make when hiring a
personal trainer (joining a club), and how you can avoid them. All I need
is your mailing address and Ill get that out to you today. Bang! Youve
captured the lead.


Seminars & Presentations: When you get up in front of a group to
present information, you are perfectly positioned. You are viewed as the
expert. You must leverage that positioning to generate leads. Certainly,
there may be some in the audience who want your services right now, but
they are the minority. Your goal is to capture contact information from
every single person in the audience who wants more of your help, but may
not be ready to act today. A simple flyer handed out to all attendees
offering a report, CD, tip sheet, etc. in return for their name, address and
phone number is the perfect lead generation tool.

Business Card: Your business card should contain some kind of offer.
The offer should be for free information. You could offer a report,
immediately downloadable from your web site; a revealing message on
your toll-free recorded message hotline (voicemail); or even just an info-
pak they can get by calling your office. There needs to be some offer that
compels people to take an action requiring them to give you their contact
information in return for powerful information that will help them.

Articles: If you write articles (and you most definitely should be doing
this), each one is an opportunity for you to generate high quality leads. At
the end of each article you will include a resource box with your name,
phone number and web site. Also, the resource box should advertise
additional information the reader can get free of charge, i.e. Steve Smith is
Clevelands most in-demand personal trainer. He can be reached at
555.444.3333 or www.Steve-Smith.com where you can download his
special report, The 7 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Hiring A
Personal Trainer, And How To Avoid Them.

Corporate Wellness: Many fitness professionals focus only on trying to
land lunch-and-learns, corporate seminars or health fairs. Those are all
good and viable opportunities, but an easier way to get into the
corporation (if youre going in cold with no pre-existing relationship) is to
offer some form of valuable information free of charge.

The Trojan Horse This tactic involves supplying the HR department (or,
preferably, the CEO) with a compelling report designed to educate his/her
employees about how to fit quality exercise into their busy day and ensure
theyre getting nutrition which supports their energy requirements, rather
than draining them. A brief report or tip-sheet like this would have
tremendous value and requires no time or effort on the part of CEO or HR
to provide to the workforce. HR would copy the report and disseminate to
all employees (or you could offer to provide it in PDF for them to email).
At the end of the report is your resource box with picture (see articles
above for info on resource box) and a compelling offer to receive weekly
motivational and instructional emails on fitness and nutrition. A
percentage of the employees will request your email tips and you can now
market to them.

As you can see, there is no marketing youre doing now that can not benefit from
adding a lead generation component to it. Marketing is everything you do to get
and keep clients. Its not just about advertising. Its everything.

The more fishing poles (media) you have in the water with good bait (lead
generation offers), the better fish (ideal prospects) you will catch. As you

progress with this strategy, your house list of prospects grows. As you
consistently market to this house list, the more new clients you will acquire.

Dont Chase Clients, Chase Relationships

Without lead generation, you are constantly chasing new clients. Each and every
marketing tactic you employ focuses only on getting those who are ready and
willing to act now. And those are the smallest minority of your potential
prospects. Personal training (even joining a club) requires the development of a
relationship. The prospect needs to get to know, like and trust you in order to
make a commitment to you. The prospect not only needs, but wants, a
relationship. Capturing contact information and staying in touch is about
relationship marketing the most effective marketing there is.


Chapter 5 - Establishing a Lucrative Niche in the Fitness
Industry

An Interview With Bill Hartman of www.yourgoffitnesscoach.com

PR This is Pat Rigsby and I am here with Bill Hartman, the owner of Your Golf
Fitness Coach and you can find that at www.yourgolffitnesscoach.com.
Bill is the leading golf fitness professional in the country and has an extensive
background in the fitness industry as a whole. He is one of the countrys
most sought after speakers on fitness as it relates to golf. You can find him in
the pages of Mens Health, Mens Fitness and a number of other publications.
Bill could you go ahead and tell the readers a little more about yourself?

BH Ive been a physical therapist for the last 15 years or so and been in the
fitness industry longer than that because that was one of the ways I worked
my way through college was working in gyms and doing some personal
training. Im an active release practitioner, which is a pretty sought after soft
tissue technique that resolves a lot of the overuse syndromes that people
experience and also increases performance. Im also a USA Weightlifting
Sports Performance Coach. I sit on the Board of Directors for the IYCA and
contributed a chapter on the Practical Application of Strength and Power
Development. I am a published author. I wrote a book called The Muscle
Prescription with Adam Campbell and that is available at
www.musclestuff.com. I have a joint venture with Eric Ruth that a lot of
people might be familiar with especially if they are familiar with your joint
venture that you did with Eric recently which was excellent by the way. As
you mentioned, Im also a regular contributor to Mens Health Magazine and

have appeared in Golf Week, Golf World, Jersey Golfer, and Mens Fitness.
Basically, Im just trying to stay busy.

PR Thats an understatement. What we want to talk about today is one of the
ways that a fitness professional can really grow their business and create a
lucrative opportunity for themselves by finding a certain segment of the
market or a niche, so to speak, and really capitalizing on that. When I was
putting the list of authors together and knew we wanted to touch on this, you
were obviously the first person to come to mind because you have totally
maximized that golf fitness niche. You now, from what I gather, have clients
from all over the country coming to visit you. You speak all over the country.
So what I wanted to start with is how did you get the idea to target that
specific niche golfers?

BH It wasnt because I have a love of the game like most golfers. Actually one
of my clients was an avid golfer; he was obsessed with it and he came to me
and said I am interested in the general fitness component, but I really want to
do is improve my golf game. So at the time, I was totally uninterested in golf
as a sport or even as a component of my business. He was so excited about
it, I decided I would indulge him and actually I spent probably a good year,
year and a half developing what has evolved into the system that I use and
just studying any reference I could get a hold of and so that is basically how it
started. The hardest thing, and I talked with Eric Ruth about this at length;
the hardest thing was making that big step into sort of getting into the niche
and right now I would have to say it is smartest thing I ever did. I think the
concern with a lot of guys is they are afraid that they are going to get
pigeonholed in this one component and they will never be able to get out of it;

its only helped my business. I see high school athletes from any number of
sports in addition to my golfers, although the golf component is probably the
largest, but that is basically how it started. It started from one client and I
worked backwards from there. I said, who is your golf instructor? So I
talked to the golf instructor and that relationship sort of snowballed and had
become one of my largest referral sources.

PR Thats outstanding. Tell me if I am wrong, but it seems like the way that
this would work is that if you target a specific niche like that, now when these
golfers are looking to go out and enhance their performance through
improving their fitness, obviously they still have a variety of options available.
They can go to health clubs, they can hire a personal trainer, but youve kind
of set yourself apart where you are the expert, youre the person they are
going to seek out because you are specialist.

BH That is exactly right. And that goes for anything, not just golf. I think when
you market yourself that you have to have that one specific thing that youre
recognized for. It is sort of like, I could have one of every type of client or I
could have All of the golfers. I think that was the hardest thing for me to
realize before I really took the plunge, and it is the smartest thing I ever did
because in the essence of building a business I am Your Golf Fitness Coach,
and people want to come to see me and like you mentioned earlier, Ive got
people that come to see me from California, and I live in Indianapolis. They
fly in from California to see me because of the reputation that I have
established locally and then into the national magazines, and Ive become the
go-to guy its the smartest thing I ever did.


PR Once again, I have kind of a passing knowledge of some of the things
youve done because its just been the model for how somebody can
approach this, but I would like to see if we could get you to expound on it. I
know that youve used publicity to help you as far as press releases and such
to market this. How have you been able to tie in your niche market to
generating publicity?

BH Lets just talk about the press releases first because that was kind of like
the thing that sort of got me going on a national scale. I sent out a press
release, and it was very controversial. In the golf fitness realm there is a lot of
promotion of using yoga and Pilates as a component of the fitness training. I
basically went against that straight up and just said if you are doing this, you
are probably doing it wrong. That certainly got a lot of attention right away.
In fact, I sent out a press release on a Monday and Tuesday afternoon I got a
phone call from the largest golfers golf magazine. It not your typical
newsstand magazine, it is the kind the serious golfers buy. That really got the
ball rolling from a national perspective because I have shown up in that
magazine a couple of times and that has drawn clients to me from California
,Michigan, and Alabama. So the press release was really, really powerful.
Also, the same press release got me on TV locally which was a big boom to
my business as well. Thats basically where is started from a publicity
standpoint.

PR The readers of your chapter would be very prudent to hop onto your
website, www.yourgolffitnesscoach.com and if they go under the your
coach section, they can find a clip of your TV interview so they see what this
has actually transpired into.

BH The neat thing about the video clip and I dont know if anybody knows this
when you are talking about it from a publicity standpoint. If you have looked
on Yahoo recently, theyve got the extra link across the top where you can
look for images and videos and things. That video actually shows up in those
Yahoo links. So when you are talking about promoting yourself, if you put
those things on your website, it is a great addition from a publicity standpoint
because people come across that and then they work backwards from that
link to find you so that also helps.

PR Youve been able to parlay this into a full spectrum business where you
have products, you have a web presence, you have some passive income,
you do speaking engagements as well as the actual one-on-one training.
Could you elaborate on some of the different aspects of your business?

BH I do the one-on-one training. I do small groups. Probably by the end of the
summer I will have a brand new seminar that I am going to do that I will
charge for. Again that has shown itself to draw clients on a regular basis as
well. I highly recommend it to anybody that wants to build their business and
wants to get out and get their face in front of people and start talking to them.
The big product that I have right now is Your Golf Fitness Coachs Video
Library 1.0 that is basically a very extensive golf flexibility video. Its got four
different components to it. All of this stuff has just kind of evolved as I said
before from my development of a system that I use to train the golfers. I have
Free Reports Marketing System which I joint ventured with Eric Ruth had
been a consistent producer. Eric would tell you the same thing and I dont
think he has ever actually promoted it. He never really had to so that is a nice

little addition as far as passive income is concerned. Im writing for Mens
Health magazine on a regular basis. I used to write for Mens Fitness. That
is basically it in a nutshell right now. Most of my income is still coming from
the training. I never want to cast that side of the business aside because one,
it is still productive and two, it is constantly feeding me ideas and allowing me
to evolve my system and then develop more product which is coming in the
very near future.

PR I am afraid some of the time - and Alwyn Cosgrove and I discussed this is a
previous chapter - people almost are trying to get away from actually doing
any of the training and it seems like all they want to do is put out information
products and become an info entrepreneur but the training is really kind of the
foundation of everything we do, but I think that youre a perfect example of
how you can create a business built around that - where you have these other
entryway programs, like your website. I want to suggest the product that you
mentioned with Eric because I think that is a perfect idea for trainers to model
some of these reports that you have and this would be a great resource for
them. You have reports about golf fitness, for example, or sports specific
training; things that they can do to model for their own niche and that serves
as a lead generator, a funnel to get people into training where they can
backend and sell more products. You have been able to create pretty much a
holistic business around all of this where training is the core of what you do
but you have all these peripheral things that people can take advantage of
when they become involved with you.

BH The great thing about all of this is that I never have to sell. Im never in a
situation where Im sitting across the desk from a client and were going back

and forth and trying to find their pain, etc. etc. to convince them that this is the
service that they need. I never have to do that because all of my marketing is
geared towards giving them more and more information until they make that
phone call and they say So and so recommended that I come to see you so I
want to schedule an appointment on Wednesday. It is very succinct like that.
Or Ill send out a report to them and then once I do that, then they are on my
newsletter list. So they start reading the newsletters and they finally call and
they say Look, Ive been reading your stuff and Id like to make an
appointment. Im never in that scenario which I just hate, and I think most
people, most trainers especially dont like to be in that selling mode. So there
is a reason for the way that I do things because it just puts me in my comfort
zone and allows me to develop my business without that situation that makes
me uncomfortable and makes the client uncomfortable.

PR Correct me if I am wrong, but by you positioning yourself as the expert is
almost like what marketing expert Dan Kennedy would refer to it as take
away selling where you have a limited availability and people are kind of
lining up to work with you rather than the typical training situation where it is
almost like trainers are begging for clients.

BH Exactly. Everything just feeds step by step. As you said before, you get
them into the funnel and they become familiar with you. You are established
as the expert and boy, it just makes things a whole lot easier.

PR On a broader scale, obviously you have been able to take that market of
golfers and absolutely run with it. Do you think this could work for a lot of
other smaller niche markets, the same strategy?

BH Absolutely. I dont think there is any doubt. Like I said before, I think you
have to. If you want to go out and compete as a general fitness personal
trainer, think about how many people are training in a general fitness setting.
So you have to have that thing that separates you from everyone else. What
makes you special; what makes you different. Obviously in my case, it is golf.
There is a guy up the street from me that all he does is train baseball players.
That is his niche, but hell see other types of clients as well but he is known as
the go-to guy for baseball. Im the go-to guy for golf. You can be anything;
you could be master of weight loss. You could be any niche that you can
think of. As long as you set yourself apart from everyone else and market
yourself as such, I think you can be infinitely successful.

PR I think if you step back from it, there are so many different niches that are
available - be it fitness for seniors or a particular sport. It could be a health
restriction, the fitness professional for diabetics.

BH It just establishes a target for you to market to and once you know that,
everything becomes very specific. For instance, since I deal with golfers, I
know where to market. I need to market near or around golf courses where
they buy their products. I need to market to the teaching professionals that
send me the clients. I need to market to the massage therapists and
chiropractors that work with golfers because they are going to need a fitness
component to their program. I think it becomes so much easier once you
establish what that specialty will be or your unique selling proposition (USP).
Once you do that everything falls into place and again you establish the target
and you market directly to the target.

PR You mentioned before, and I think it goes without saying at this point, it is
not like golfers are the only people that youd be willing to work with but that
can become your core business. I suppose people could have two different
niches that they target to.

BH Absolutely. There is never an issue with that as long as youre not showing
up in the same place as two different specialists. I wouldnt want to create
any confusion like Im Bill Hartman, your golf fitness coach and then have that
same person see Bill Hartman, expert weight loss, because then it sort of
dilutes your specialty a little bit. But as long as you are marketing to two
separate populations specifically I think there is no problem with doing that at
all.

PR Is there anything else that you can think of that we missed, that you can
touch on?

BH Three things that I think are imperative especially when youre dealing with
a very specific population like I do. One, is to start with your sphere of
influence which are the people that you know. If there is some specialty that
you want to approach, you are going to know somebody or they are going to
know somebody that can help you get started in that niche and I think that is
where you have to start. That has worked so well for me that I think anybody
can do that. The second thing that I think is essential is establishing the
relationships with non-competing professionals. For instance, the biggest
referral source that I have in training golfers, are the teaching professionals.
All I needed to do is establish a relationship with two or three very well known

professionals in my area and once they were on my side, it was very easy to
use them as my sales force. They say, Hey, you know what, you have this
problem with your swing, here is the guy you need to go see, and they come
see me. And again, it is a no pressure situation for either of us. They come
to me with a need and I simply fill that need so I think those two things when
you are trying to establish your niche are essential and once you do that, it
just flows and becomes a much easier process. The third thing that I think is
essential is what I would call learning the language. In my case, golf was not
a strong interest for me at first. I had to learn the language of golf, so I could
communicate with my clientele and my marketing targets. Immerse yourself
in your niche for sufficient period of time to where you feel comfortable with
the lingo and any special techniques or needs your potential clients and
referral sources may have.

PR I think that is outstanding. I think obviously youre the example that any
fitness professional that wants to really target a niche market can follow so I
would strongly encourage those of you reading that if you are ready to
explore targeting a niche market, a couple steps that would be very beneficial
to you would be one, check out Bills site, www.yourgolffitnesscoach.com
and really see how he has been able to tap into the golf market and see how
he generates leads through the reports, through the free information, the
newsletters, and see the various things he offers - both the passive products
and the services that he offers. I would also encourage you to go to
www.howtosellfitness.com Eric Ruths site and look at the product that
Bill and Eric have put together The Free Report Marketing System
because I think there are a number of reports that you could model and build
around your own specific niche and utilize to create your own niche business.

Bill has obviously created a model that can help you get a real jump start to
finding your own target market and really being able to take advantage of it.


Chapter 6 - How To Live the Perfect Life and Make
Money 24 Hours a Day By Publishing a Profitable Online
Fitness Newsletter

By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Maybe your life goal is to spend more time with your family, or to do more
volunteer work with the school or your church. Or perhaps you have a driving
desire to drop your high-stress, dead-end job and follow your lifes calling.

You can achieve the perfect life if you follow a proven Internet-marketing formula
to build an online income. You can build the perfect life, make your own
schedule, work from home and have more time for your family, fitness, and
hobbies.

Im an introverted, research-geek that hates selling. I also wanted to have full
control of my life. Chances are you do too. Now, after years of study, Ive found
that building an online business is simple if you follow a proven system. A system
that Im going to share with you today that will help you reduce your reliance on
hands-on training and will increase your passive income money earned without
the need for you to physically be at work.

I also want you to know that the following guideline is not limited to selling fitness
info. You can use these steps to raise money for your church, help your spouse
start an unrelated online business, or increase awareness about a personal
cause.


Step 1: Determine Your Niche

You cant please everyone. You have to target a strong, defined niche market.
For example, fat loss is not a niche market, but fat loss for busy executives is a
niche market. Fat loss for busy professional female executives is even more of
strong, defined niche. Once youve identified your niche, take a look at the
competition to determine if the niche is worthwhile or not. Will this niche be able
to financially support your business? Once you have conquered your niche
market, then you can move to broader markets.

Step 2: Putting Together Your Website

The biggest mistake most online small business entrepreneurs make is to trust
their website design and content to an outside source. You cant be at the mercy
of a busy web designer when it comes to updating your site. You MUST retain
control over your website. Youll save thousands of dollars and many hours of
frustration.

Your options include purchasing a mass-produced do-it-yourself template from
an online company (such as 1shoppingcart.com, websitewizard.com, or
webmarketingmagic.com). Using a mass produced template is cheap and
extremely effective.

Do not build a website on graphics and flashy designs. In the fitness industry,
customers just want content. Content is king, and some of the ugliest sites on the
Internet pull in the most money.

Step 3: Build Your List

Your list is the key to your success. Without a qualified list of prospects, you
really wont get any sales. Experts suggest that your list could be worth up to one
dollar per person per month.

To encourage sign-ups to build your list, you must offer something of value for
free. For example, you could offer a free newsletter, a free e-course, or a free
tips report. Your sign-up form must be highly visible in the top center or top right
of your website. Consider a pop-up box while pop-ups can be annoying, the
fact is they work.

Step 4: Drive Traffic to Your Website

There are several ways to drive traffic to your website, both online and offline.
Online methods include pay-per-click (PPC) such as Google Ad Words, Search
Engine Optimization, Joint Ventures (i.e. co-authoring an e-book that is sent out
to other authors lists), and Affiliate Programs (where you give a commission to
other websites that promote and help sell your products).

Two other less technical, but highly effective methods of driving traffic are:
1) Preparing a free report for readers to forward and share with others.
Include a bounce-back (link to your site) in the free report to generate new
leads.

2) Submitting content to other websites and article directories (like
ezinearticles.com). Always include an interesting byline with a link to your
site that makes them want to read more.

Ive found that the best way to build my list has been #2. Having an article or
interview run in another popular fitness e-mail newsletter can increase my list by
hundreds of prospects in hours.

Step 5: Become a Credible, Valued, & Trusted Source of Information

There are a lot of people out there claiming to be experts and youll have to stand
out from the crowd if you want to be a credible, trusted source of information (and
therefore sell to your readers). Always be visible and mention any media work
that you have done. Put up photos and contact information on your site.
Testimonials from satisfied customers are also very strong builders of credibility.

I recommend sending a newsletter out to your list on a regular basis. For new
sites, stick to once per month. Eventually you can increase to twice per month,
and then once per week. You should also arrange to set up an autoresponder
when someone joins your list.

I actually email every day on www.workoutmanuals.com. However, you must
know what your readers want to hear. I continually see fitness sites writing about
muscle fiber types and other science-heavy content. I guarantee that these
articles are not being read. Instead, give valuable tips that can help your readers

improve their workouts (or other valuable, action tips specific to your content
niche).

Step 6: Get Customers into Your Product Funnel

After you have built credibility, your next goal is to convince the reader to
purchase a product. Start by promoting a low-cost product (generally a How-to
e-book). This gets the customer into your funnel. From there, you will use a
systematic marketing plan to upgrade your customer to a medium priced product
(a manual, a CD, or DVD). The end goal is to upgrade your customer to your
highest-price category of products (which might include seminars, a membership,
or consulting) over and over again.

You want to perpetually fill your funnel by converting your list from prospects to
customers. Remember that the money is in the back-end. Youll make more
money selling to repeat customers than you will by selling to new customers.
Plus, that route is easier and requires less investment of time and money in
marketing.

For example, on www.WorkoutManuals.com and
www.TurbulenceTraining.com, I start by offering readers a free newsletter so
that they will sign-up for my list. I get readers to enter my funnel by purchasing
one of my monthly workouts ($10-20) or my flagship manual, TT for Fat Loss
($37). In the next step, I up-sell readers to my 6-Month Bodyweight Manual
($67), and ultimately recommend that they become Turbulence Training
Members ($197 per year).

With each product, you should put together a package including bonuses that
take the value of the product to 10xs the cost of the original product. This will
give the package added value and improve the offer made to your list.

Step 7: Automate Your Website

The beauty of an automated website is the ability to wake up from a nights sleep
to find orders in your inbox and money in your account. Automation is easy to do,
and should be built directly into your website software.

I recommend selling all of your digital products (i.e. e-books, audio files) through
Clickbank.com. Other sources of automated e-commerce options include
websitewizard.com and 1shoppingcart.com.

At the end of every message, whether it is an autoresponder or a normal
newsletter, always ask the reader to take action by clicking on a link to purchase,
or by sending them to a page with more information. Each page on your website
should also end with a call to action either asking the reader to purchase or to
click further for more information.

Finally, your e-commerce section should recommend up-grades with each order.
Once a customer buys, offer them the opportunity to upgrade at a discount price.


Step 8: Track and Test Your Responses

The key to improving your websites performance is to track todays performance
(open rates, webpage traffic, conversion rates, etc.). You can even track where
people came from to your site, or from what page they leave your site.

Youll also want to test your pricing, your headlines, your ad copy, your offer,
your bonuses, and your P.S. note. By changing one of these variables at a time,
you can determine what words best sell your product.

By knowing this, you can then determine what words youll want to focus on
when driving traffic to your website via Google Ad Words and Search Engine
Optimization.

Step 9: Product Development

The number one thing your products must do is solve your readers problem. You
have to create your products for your readers, based on what they want to know,
not what you want to give them.

Survey your list for their interests. Have them send in their biggest problem in
your niche. From that list, write your e-book. Make the most common problem
your headline. Leverage your time and use the programs and lessons learned
from your hands-on clients to write your e-book.


After you have developed your product, sell it in a package that contains bonuses
that raise the total value of the package to 10 times the value of the main
product. Always give your customers 10 times the value of the original product.
Make the bonuses even more enticing than the product itself!

Under-promise and over-deliver on your product. Make it easy to understand.
And always include bounce-back offers to up-sell your readers to the next level of
your funnel.

Step 10: Writing Ad Copy for Your Product

Selling online is a no hassle, low-resistance way to make money. It appeals to all
of us that hate selling. Simply write an interesting, valuable sales letter explaining
the benefits of the product to the reader. How will our product help improve their
life?

Copywriting experts agree that the headline of your sales copy determines 80-
90% of your sales. If your headline fails, your copy will fail, simply because no
one will go on to read it. One great headline can be found on Tom Venutos
www.Burnthefat.com website.

Always include testimonials in your copy. Try to get a photo and include the full
name of your testimonial provider.

Finish your ad copy with a P.S. reminding the reader to take action, and give
them a reason to do so immediately. And always include a strong guarantee in

your copy. The stronger the guarantee, the greater your sales will be. Dont skip
on the guarantee because you think people will cheat you. You will gain more
from the guarantee than you possibly stand to lose.

Step 11: Harness the Power of People

If you are an ethical and honest person with integrity, youll succeed if you
network properly. Get to know all of the experts in your niche. Arrange for join
ventures and affiliate programs with them. And always treat your affiliates well
(offering them 50% of sales they create for you). This will increase your credibility
with others and open up the potential to greatly increase your list and profits by
being positively exposed to the lists of others in your niche.

And always, always, always maintain the highest standards of customer service.
Follow the Golden Rule. Build rapport and relationships with clients know as
much as you can about them before mailing. Put your customers first.

Step 12: Take Action

Dont read this info, say, Wow, that sounds awesome, and then forget about it.

Instead, take this easy to follow formula and put it to work. Dedicate at least 15
minutes to it everyday, and youll slowly chip away at what you once thought was
a formidable task. Alwyn Cosgrove said it required only 15 minutes to get his first
website up and running.

Get online today and start building your perfect life right now!

Chapter 7 - 24/7/365 Automated Fitness Marketing

By Brian Calkins of www.personaltrainingmarketing.com

You are about to discover a heavily coveted marketing strategy that recently
generated $10,215.56 in personal training revenue over a two-week period with
an investment of less than $250. That may sound unbelievable or overstated, but
if you know me, I shy away from exaggerating results. In fact, the $10,215.56
revenue figure is much larger today because many of the clients this automated
marketing strategy delivered are ongoing and continuous sources of revenue.

What follows is a step-by-step tutorial that will allow you to duplicate my results, a
model of the approach I used in January, 2006, spending $228.49 in return for
over ten thousand dollars in revenue for my personal training business (and still
growing)!

What I did, any personal trainer can do. Its not complex, confusing or hard in any
way. You simply need a website and a step-by-step guide, the latter of which is in
your hands right now. So lets get ready to create a campaign that has the
potential to bring in a huge windfall of profit for you as a fitness professional.

Google AdWords Overview

Today, the vast majority of people looking for a new service or product go
immediately to the internet, and Google is by far the most used search engine.
Maybe youre familiar with Google AdWords, you may be using it right now, or
this may be the first time youve heard of it. Regardless, a well structured

AdWords campaign will drive more business to you than you may be able to
handle. This strategy works for delivering new personal training clients and just
as well for selling more products. And the best part is that this marketing
approach is automated, working 24/7365 days a year, even as you sleep!

But there are some very critical components to an AdWords campaign that you
must have in place in order for it to be a success. As an overview, your ads must
compel potential clients to click on them, your ad must be visible to your
prospects, and finally the landing site that your prospect lands on must be
response oriented, designed to get the prospective customer to act. All three are
absolutely essential and critical to the success of a Google AdWords campaign.

The Essential Keys to Success Broken Down

Before we get into the details of the keys to success, you should first set up your
AdWords campaign. If youre hesitant to set up an AdWords campaign, relax,
theres only a nominal $5 set up investment and it takes just a few minutes. In
fact, one of nice benefits of AdWords is that you dont pay anything until a
prospect clicks on your ad. Prospective customers and clients can see your ad,
hundreds of times, but if they dont click on it, you owe nothing. So, setting up
AdWords is easy and pain free.

To set up AdWords, go to https://adwords.google.com/select/ and follow the
simple step by step process. It also may be helpful to preview the Sign-up demo
from the main AdWords page.


Note: This chapter is an action oriented, step-by-step, course on creating
a 24/7/365 results-driven marketing campaign. If you havent set up your
AdWords campaign, you should do so now. Dont worry about it being
perfect right now; Ill take you through the process of tweaking it for great
results. If you havent set up your campaign and want to continue reading
for an overview, thats okay. But make sure that when youre ready, you
set up your campaign following the steps below to ensure optimal return
on your effort.

Key #1 Your Ad Must Be Compelling

Once you have your initial AdWords campaign set up, its time to optimize it for
maximal results. The first key to driving prospects to your business is simply that
your ad must be compelling. You want an ad that prospects get excited about,
something that gets their juices flowing. Something that screams, Click Me, Im
the Solution to Your Pain! Or minimally, your ad must give the promise of
delivering something positive and beneficial, something people are looking for as
a solution.

To illustrate, lets take a look at a couple of ads. Below are 2 examples of non-
compelling ads:

Orlando Fitness Trainers
ISSA Certified Personal
Trainers Offering Fitness
Services in Orlando
www.OrlandoMuscle.com
Urcoach Personal Training
The Highest Level of Training
Service in Orlando check us out
www.Urcoach.com

Both of these ads are boring and non-compelling (the names and URLs in the
actual ads were changed to protect the advertiser, but the gist of the ad remains
intact). If Im looking for a trainer, I would be indifferent, at best, to both of these
ads. What in the world is ISSA to a consumer (first ad)? And doesnt ever body
boast The Highest Level of Service (second ad). Plain, vanilla, boring!! These
are ad examples that wont elicit many fitness seekers to hover over and click
their mouse.

Here are two examples of far more compelling ads:

Guaranteed Fitness Results
Reach Your Goals in 6 Weeks or
You Pay Nothing! Period.
www.OrlandoFitnessResults.com
Doctor Recommended Fitness
Orlandos Fitness Program thats
Approved by Medical Experts
www.OrlandoPT.org

Both of these ads quickly separate themselves the others. The first one offers a
bold guarantee that the prospect will reach her goal or she simply doesnt have to
pay. Now thats strong! The second ad instantly creates credibility as the fitness
program is recommended and approved by doctors. Wow! That too is powerful,
an endorsement from a doctor! Both of these ads will definitely get their share of
clicks, which is exactly what you want.

Key #2 Your Ad Must Be Visible


Now that your ad is compelling to your prospects, the next critical step in your
campaign is to make sure your ad can be found. This is a two step process.

Step One: Your campaign must be set up using search words and phrases,
called key words, that your prospects are likely to use when searching for your
services or products. These key words would include words and phrases like,
Chicago fitness professional, New York Personal Trainer (obviously you would
replace Chicago & New York with your specific city or town name), My Town
fitness expert, etc. I often advise trainers to shy away from using generic key
words like personal trainer since the cost per click (Ill explain cost per click
next) oftentimes is not cost-effective. Unless you do business on a country wide
basis and have a huge advertising budget, keep your key words specific to your
market place (by using your city or town name in your keyword phrases). This
keeps your expenses (cost per click) low remember my campaign generated
more than $10,000 with less $250 in costs.

After creating some strong keywords, step two in making your ad visible is to
adjust your cost per click (CPC) to allow your ad to be placed on the first page of
the Google search results. This is critical! (See info on cost per click at the end
of the chapter). If your ad does not appear on page one of the search results, you
dramatically limit your exposure to prospects. People are in a hurry and easily
distracted and if they cant find you quickly, they will find your competition!

So at this point youll want to search a few of your key works, for example your
town personal trainer and see where you stack up against the other AdWords
campaigns in your area. If youre not near the top of the first page, you need to
go into your AdWords account and increase your cost per click (CPC) until your

arrive in a visible position. Once again, if youre not visible, you might as well not
have a campaign with AdWordsno one will know youre out there as a solution
to their fitness needs. I know Ive said it a few times already, but your ad must
appear on the first page of the search results when someone types in one of your
key words.

Critical Key #3 Your Ad Must Drive Prospects to a Direct Response Sales
Page

Okay now were really cookin! Weve set up the AdWords campaign, created a
compelling ad that gets prospects excited, and just finished creating powerful
keywords and adjusted our cost per click (CPC) so that we show up on the first
page of a Google search result.

The last thing that is absolutely critical to a successful AdWords campaign is the
creation of a compelling landing page that your prospect lands on when she
clicks on your ad. So many people make the mistake of driving prospects to the
home page of their website. Well, the home page would be fine IF that home
page was a direct response sales page. For most trainers, however, their home
page is more generic, more informational based, and not a direct response sales
page. And thats okay, but you dont want your prospects landing there where
they have 10 different link options and can quickly get lost and confusedthey
need to be compelled, to get their questions answered and to feel that a
SPECIFIC product or service you offer is the solution to their needs.


If youve been a fan of Eric Ruth, he teaches you all you need to know about
direct response sales copy. Study his stuff - hes the expert on compelling
prospects to take action. Here are a few keys:

Your landing page must have a strong headline, one that gets immediate
attention. The body of the sales page must build your credibility (or expert status)
in the minds of your prospect and clearly position you (or your service or product)
as the solution your prospect is looking for. Prospects are always asking, How
can your program, service or product satisfy my needs or eliminate my pain?
Your job is to answer that question in the body of your sales page.

Your landing page must also be direct responsive. In other words, there must be
a call to action and there must be a way for clients to contact you for more
information. The sales page (landing page) doesnt always sell people
immediately, so your prospects must have a method of contacting you for more
information. The more ways they can reach you the better. Include phone, email
and voicemail methods of requesting more information. And take it a step further
by having a sign up box on your sales page that offers an email mini-course,
special pricing or privileges in return for their contact information. And of course,
you should also have a way for prospects to sign up for your program or
purchase your product NOW if they are ready to buy.

So your landing page is as critical as the previous keys to your AdWords
campaign success. It must include sales copy that propels prospects to act,
whether the action is to sign up for your services or buy your products or to
contact you for further information.


Summary:

AdWords is an outstanding vehicle to drive clients and customers to your
personal training services and products. As a contrast, it could take months, even
years, plus hundreds or thousands of dollars to maybe get your website
organically indexed & noticed by Google. And after your hefty investment of
time and money, rarely do you end up in a position where youre considered
highly visible to your prospective clients and customers. AdWords, however,
makes you visible within minutes of creating your campaign, gives your control
over the content you want to share with your prospects, and delivers the package
in a manner that is affordable to personal trainers.

Perry Marshall, a pay per click marketing expert said it best about AdWords:

AdWords is a miracle of the modern world. In fact I believe history will
show it to be the most important development in advertising this
decade. Never before has it been possible to spend 5 bucks, open an
account and have brand new, precisely targeted customers coming to
your website within minutes.

So get into the AdWords game. Make your ads compelling, use specific and
targeted keywords within your market or location, and create landing pages that
have your prospects pulling out their credit cards or begging you for more
information in the pursuit of your services or products. Follow this step by step
guide and watch your business grow and grow and growTake Action on this
right now!


For more information on Google AdWords, the hottest keywords, direct response
sales letters or to get expert help setting up your campaign, please visit
http://www.PersonalTrainingMarketing.com/

Definitions

Keyword: The keywords you choose for a given Ad Group (or Campaign) are
used to target your ads to potential customers. Keywords are words and phrases
people type into Google to find questions to their answers and solutions to their
problems.
Cost-per-click: The cost-per-click (CPC) is the amount you pay each time a
prospect clicks on your ad. Your CPC can be as little as .01 cent and range into 5
10 dollars. The keywords I recommend, ones that are specific to your area or
region of business, go from .15 - .50 cents per click.
Campaign: A campaign consists of one or more Ad Groups. The ads in a given
campaign share the same daily budget, language and location targeting, end
dates, and syndication options.
Landing Page: A landing page is the place on your website that your prospect
lands on after clicking on your Google Ad. Most people make the huge mistake
in sending prospects to their home page. Your prospect must land on a well
constructed sales page. With AdWords, unlike organic search listings, you can
send prospects anywhere within a website you control.

Organic Search Listings: Different than AdWords, Organic Search Listings are
website listings results based on factors such as keyword relevancy within a web
page.

These are the listings generally found on the left hand side in searches and are
not influenced by cost per click marketing, only by effective search engine
optimization.

The algorithm for Organic Search Engine Listings often changes, to stay ahead
of disreputable organizations attempting to finagle their way to the top.

For illustration purposes, on the next page is a snapshot of a Google search of
the phrase Orlando Personal Trainer:


(Organic Search Listings are on the left of the main search results page. Google
AdWords are found on the right side of the page.)


Chapter 8 - The Ultimate Guide to Profits While
Maintaining Integrity

Damon Moschetto of www.fitnessconsultinggroup.com

Lets face it, not too many trainers like to sell, yet it is the only way to survive in
the fitness industry. The fitness business is 95% production and 5% operations.
Ironically the best trainers I work with usually do not have the most extensive
academic background when it comes to actually implementing fitness programs
for their clients yet they are busier and make more money than the highly
educated trainer. This is not always the case - as I have worked with some very
well educated trainers who understand that they can have the latest and greatest
training program but if no one is using it, you dont make significant money. But in
working with hundreds of trainers all over the country I see this scenario over and
over. This situation can easily be remedied. The following is a simple system to
get you more clients and keep you cranking with more business than you can
handle while your competition is crying because it is summertime and everyone
is on vacation.

This chapter is about making tons of money by being much better at the sales
process than your competition. It is NOT your typical sales advice that has been
written about in hundreds of books. I would suggest that if you have not been
exposed to some basic sales principles you read some information on this ASAP.
There are some great books on sales and I recommend you pick some up if you
havent already - but this is a simple system specific to trainers.


PROSPECTING SUCKS

One of the biggest mistakes trainers make is assuming everyone is a prospect.
Some sales dogs may disagree with me, but I am of the mindset that time is
money so dont waste it! If everyone was a prospect there would be a lot less fat
people in our country (by the way Im blunt).

The easiest way to increase sales is to get in front of people that are actually
interested in your services. This is about positioning. Position yourself so good,
qualified prospects find out about you and seek you out. This is important
because when you are in front of cold prospects there guard goes up because
you may be there to steal money from them. This is sales resistance which
you want to avoid at all costs. But when someone seeks you out for your expert
advice the barrier is removed and the now qualified prospect is open to what you
have to say. This takes some up front work setting up some systems to drive
prospects to you but it makes it much easier to close a sale this way as opposed
to going over all of your great programs to somebody who has zero interest in
what you do.

There is not enough room here to go over all of the different ways but we will
cover a few so you get the idea. Eric Ruth has some great systems for this I
recommend you check his tools out at www.howtosellfitness.com.

The first way to drive qualified prospects to you is writing. You can create a free
newsletter that gives some great tips but at the same time as an offer to get more
information regarding your services. Write free articles for various publications

that your clients may be reading. Contact your local newspaper and write an
article or try and be a regular columnist.

Public speaking is another great way to get out and put you in front of many
prospects at one time. Join your local chamber of commerce and offer to give a
presentation on the right way to lose weight. Ask a chiropractor if you can give a
presentation to clients on the benefits of strength training related to posture and
low back pain.

These are just a couple of examples to put your self out there in front of people
who would be interested in services or products. The beauty of these are the fact
that people that are contacting you after you have given a presentation or read
one of your articles is already pre-qualified when they call you making closing the
sale much easier. The bottom line is if you have various systems in place to drive
qualified leads to you as opposed to thinking everyone is a prospect your sales
will increase dramatically.

Proof
Do you use testimonials and before and after pictures in your sales process? If
your not, start! This subject has been beating to death in this industry so I will not
spend too much time on it but it does need mention.

I can not tell you the number of fitness professionals I come across that either do
not use or have testimonials. Where should you use them? EVERYPLACE! Why
try and beat your self up trying to convince someone that you can get them
where they want to go when you have a ton of clients that can do it for you? It is
clich but A picture is worth a thousand words.

Testimonials should be used in all of your marketing. Whether it is internal or
external marketing, put it in someplace.

The Sales Process

Up until now we have been focusing on getting the right prospects in front of you
now we need to shift into the actual process of extracting money from your
clients. There are several different approaches when it comes to sales and they
have been discussed at length in different books. Most are valid and of good use.
For our purposes here we are keeping it simple and to the point.

My philosophy in selling comes down to six simple steps:
1. Get permission to sell
2. Design an offer
3. Deliver a structured presentation
4. Use emotional logic
5. Close the sale
6. Proper follow up

1. You can not sell to someone who does not want to be there. You must have
their permission to present to them. This is easier than it sounds. Getting
permission can be as simple as
If I could help you shed those 20 pounds that you just mentioned you want to
lose - would you be interested in hearing more about it?

The person who responds with a yes has opened up the door for you to present
them with the solution to their problem. How ever you do it when you get their
permission the process flows from there.

2. I believe in having a preset, easy to explain, clear, simple and understandable
offer that includes only a few options.
A two option offer would be the either/or offer You might have a basic no frills
package at $X or an options added package at a higher price. There are different
philosophies today such as selling packages vs. a series. Whatever you choose
it has to be a specific offer that the prospect can choose from. We do it a little bit
differently, for instance we sell contracts based on commitment. But it is kept to
three options, 3, 6, or 12 months.

3. There are several different presentations that can be found in many different
books, tapes and CD on sales. There is no need to go into all of the different
types there are here. But I will touch on one of my favorite ways to structure a
presentation.

The formula is PAS: problem, agitate, solve. First, you state the problem. For
example, you get the client to agree that losing weight is vital to them maintaining
their health. Next you get them agitated about being overweight. For instance
explain that the culprit for their high blood pressure and high cholesterol is
directly related to their habits and their being overweight. Next provide the
solution: YOU.

4. People are driven by their desire to gain pleasure and avoid pain. The key is
finding what that pain is and exploiting it, this where sharp listening skills come

into play. If you ask the right questions prospects will hand what causes them
pain over willingly to you. For example a prospect that needs to lose weight might
be frustrated because they cant fit into her jeans anymore. Maybe her daughters
friend said your mom is fat. This is legitimate pain that you use to show them
why they need your services. Show them how you can turn their pain into
pleasure. There is tons of material on this concept.

5. There are many different philosophies on closing the sale as well as on
overcoming objections. Some people are advocates of this but I am not one of
them. I have the philosophy that if you have done all of the necessary steps
correctly you do not need to close the sale only confirm it. The one thing I will say
about closing the sale is you must ask for it, this where some trainers talk
themselves right out of a sale. Rather then getting to the point like Would you
like my help in reaching these goals? or When would you like to get started?
they let the prospect leave. Bottom line, ask for the sale.

6. Buyers remorse, have you ever had it? I have and I am sure you have. As
fitness professionals we are selling the intangible. When we buy a $1000 T.V. we
at least get to take it home and watch it. When we buy $1000 worth of training we
have to wait 3 months before we know if what we bought was worth it. This can
set us up for buyers remorse. A simple way to avoid this is to immediately send
out a welcome/thank you card to your new client, maybe with a gift. By
implementing proper follow up we can avoid this altogether. This is so simple yet
very few trainers do this. Make this part of what you do starting today.


Takeaway Selling

The underlying principle behind the concept of takeaway selling is the law of
supply and demand. Simply put the less accessible someone is the more value is
placed on them. This is a hard concept for some trainers to accept but it is crucial
in becoming the expert in your area.

If you can grasp this way of thinking and put it into practice you will be amazed at
your results. You will see that the busier you are the more people want your
services. The less accessible you are the more appreciated you are. If you put
this into practice you will see that the less supply of you creates great demand
and the virtual absence of fee resistance.

There are several different ways of doing this but will look at a few simple ways
to start. One simple way is to put restraints on your schedule. For example your
ideal schedule may be 6 a.m.- 2 p.m. You are already booked except for 12:00
pm and 1:00 pm. Now you have a prospect who wants to work with you and you
say Great I have noon or 1:00 available which works for you? Now the prospect
may say I really want to work out after work. Do you have anything later? Most
trainers will panic and say ok how about 5:30? They totally abandoned their
schedule because they were worried about losing a client. The correct response
should have been I am sorry but unfortunately I am booked solid and those are
the only times I have available. I can put you on a waiting list or I can refer you to
another trainer. A few things may happen, the client will find a way to make it fit
their schedule (most common), they will go on your waiting list, or they will take
you up on your referral. All of those scenarios are perfect! The first two are
obvious but the last has probably got you thinking I am nuts. But what happens

next will most likely have your last two spots filled. That prospect will tell several
people that you have a waiting list or only a few specific times available. Your
value just went through the roof! More people will be seeking you out without you
ding anything at all. This approach takes guts especially if you are just starting
out but it will pay off big time in the long run. Once you start being available
anytime your value goes down. If your value goes down it becomes harder to
justify price increases when it is time. But if your clients know how in demand
you are they will gladly pay your increase.

Another way is to limit accessibility to you. Maybe you have a screening process
that a prospect must complete before you will consider meeting with them. If you
are an established trainer with a good base you could switch your assessment to
an interview process with a fee that establishes whether or not you will take them
on as a client.

Your marketing could turn into something like:

Fitness towns most in demand fitness professional has just had two
spots open up and is now accepting applications for clients.

This is the exact opposite of most marketing you see for trainers, it is usually
giving away tons of sessions just to get a client.

You could send a letter to all past clients explaining to them that you are putting
restrictions on accepting new clients. Send a similar letter to your current clients.


Stop answering your own phone. How many trainers do you know that have
someone take their calls? The only ones that you do know who have assistants
use the takeaway sale.

I could go on and on but I hope you get the idea. This is a hard concept to buy
into but if you do you will see almost instantly how effective it can be.


Chapter 9 - How To Leverage Your Fitness Coaching
Services With Nutrition Product Sales- And Get Paid For
Years!

By Sean Greeley of www.WakeUpMarketing.com

When I first became a fitness coach I never had an interest in selling anything. I
was only interested in working with people. I held the belief that selling was bad
and that most people that sold nutrition products were product peddlers, just
trying to make quick money selling junk.

Well, I was right on many levels. But before I get into that, let me jump back a
step in this story.

How I First Became Interested In Supplementation

Ive been an athlete my whole life. Although I always understood that nutrition
was important, I didnt really know or understand how big an issue it really was-
for everyone- athletes, fitness clients, and the rest of America.

When I was in high school and even college my nutrition habits were like most
athletes that I knew at the time; each month Id go to the GNC store and buy
myself a bottle of vitamins, some protein bars that tasted good, and a big bucket
of whey protein. I didnt understand exactly why I used these products, I just read
these supplements were beneficial to me, so I took them.

But then something happened


My Health And Athletic Performance Crashed!

As I progressed to the elite and professional level in my sport, I started to get sick
a lot. I was fatigued all the time. Every time Id get on a plane to travel to a
competition, Id arrive feeling ill and most of the time Id end up with a sinus
infection a few days later.

My workout gains slowed to a screeching halt- and my health started crashing
downhill. I was training harder than ever- but my body was physically unable to
keep up.

What I didnt know or understand at the time was that my body was severely
over-trained. And because my nutrition habits were just ok," I wasnt feeding my
body the nutrients it needed each day to keep up with the demands of my
training program.

How I Learned About Good Nutrition

Then I happened to attend a sports nutrition seminar where I had a coach
educate me on what good nutrition really meant, how important it is to our health,
athletic performance, and fitness results. I became a student of natural nutrition,
eating organic foods, and learning how to rebuild my immune system with good
nutrition habits and whole food supplementation. My health improved and before
I knew it- I was back to feeling great, being healthy, and getting great results from
my workouts.

That was 9 years ago and havent gotten sick when I travel since!

Reviewing Nutrition With Fitness Clients

Shortly after that time, I started working as a fitness coach. When I first began
working with clients I would take them through an introductory session, which
included their initial assessments and a nutrition review for getting great results
with their program.

We would make basic nutrition product recommendations to clients like:

1. A basic multi-vitamin mineral product- (because 97% of Americans dont
get the Recommended Daily Allowance of essential vitamins and minerals
from their diet, therefore all the major medical and health organizations
recommend this type of supplementation)

2. A meal replacement type product- because almost no one has the time to
eat every 3-4 hours, and a bar or shake can provide convenience for a
complete meal on the go

3. An exercise recovery product- to maximize the results of a workout, speed
recovery, and reduce nagging soreness. A protein- carbohydrate type
product that is easily absorbed has been proven to be most effective.

Then, we would simply recommend they stop by the nutrition store before their
next session to get the products they needed and start improving their nutrition
habits right away. Before they came in for their first workout.


Clients Getting Ripped Off!

With this approach, some serious problems began to occur. I had a few clients
return for their first workout a week later and when I inquired about their nutrition,
I quickly discovered that they had gotten taken for everything from the get-big-
muscles-while-you-sleep-pill to the get-ripped-during-the-day-fuel and all other
kinds of dangerous artificial stimulant type products.

I even had a woman show up for her workout looking pale white, with a resting
heart rate of almost 90! (she was taking 3 or 4 different diet pill products- all at
once!)

When Id ask my clients- why did you purchase this junk? their answer was
always the same: the guy behind the counter at the store said this would help
me or when I went into the store a couple of these products were on sale and I
thought theyd be good.

I discovered that not only were my clients being sold dangerous products that
could have serious negative affects on their health; but also they were typically
getting taken for anywhere from $300-500 on this junk!

Thats when I made up my mind that I couldnt allow this to happen anymore.

Even though I never wanted to get involved with selling nutrition products, I
became motivated to do so for the health and safety of my clients. I wanted to
ensure that my clients were only taking good products that were proven safe and
helpful to them in improving their nutrition.

How I Discovered A Revenue Stream That I Never Knew Existed!

What I decided would be a simple solution was to make the basic products we
were recommending to our clients (multi-vitamin mineral, meal replacement, and
post-workout recovery) available to them at the time of their nutrition consult.

That way it was easy for them, and easy for us. I could ensure the products they
purchased were safe, effective and they werent going to have to sit through a
sales pitch by the guy at the nutrition store.

So we kept it simple. Wed review nutrition with our clients, the principles of
eating frequently throughout the day, balancing meals, drinking plenty of water
and show them the three basic products that could support their goals.

Wed offer them the opportunity to purchase their products right at the studio
(retail) or if they preferred to save a little money and time, they could enroll in an
auto-ship discount program the manufacturer offered.

Id simply explain that they could have their products shipped right to their door
each month and because we didnt have to stock it and they were getting
products direct- they would save 15%. There was no obligation, all the products
were guaranteed, and they could modify or change their order at any time.


The Easiest Sale We Ever Made

What I discovered was not only were all our clients purchasing the nutrition
products we offered, but that 90-100% of our clients opted for the auto-ship
program. It was easy for them and it was easy for us. We didnt have to keep a
bunch of inventory, have someone available to make change for a sale, or turn
our limited office space into a retail store.

With a complete fulfillment system for orders offered by the manufacturer, our
clients saved money and received safe products. All we had to do was educate
them about the products and how to take them.
The supplements allowed them to conveniently improve their nutrition- and in
addition their health and fitness results!

A Personal Confession

I should admit at this point in the story that I was still unsure of offering products
to our clients when we first started this process. I was afraid people might think
that we were just trying to make a few extra bucks off of them.

I was afraid that wed be perceived as product peddlers- the people that we had
told our clients to stay away from because they were often selling junk and
getting ripped off.

But I soon learned that my fears of being viewed as a junk product seller had
been completely false.

I discovered that people really appreciated the fact that we cared enough about
them to take extra time to review this area of nutrition with them. They
appreciated that we listened to their questions about specific products and were
able to explain what was proven safe and what was dangerous to their health.

Soon testimonials started pouring in from our clients- about how much better they
felt, how much more energy they had, and how their fitness results were
accelerating because the nutrition products made it easy for them to follow
through with good nutrition habits.

How Nutrition Expanded Our Business Into The Community

I never expected the amount of interest our expanded nutrition review and
product offerings began to generate- both with our active client base and with
their friends and family.

It wasnt long before I had clients asking if some of the products we
recommended would be good for other members of their family- their husbands,
wives, children, brothers, sisters, parents, etc..

They asked questions about childrens vitamins, products for joint pain, tennis
elbow, and even about other products for health issues like osteoporosis and
improving problems with digestion.

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We began to get referrals for products we offered for lots of people. People that
we would have never considered prospects for our personal training service
packages. And we had many people that would stop in for nutrition
recommendations and products, and then came back a week later to enroll in our
entire training program!

Nutrition products and education became a big reach for our business- and
allowed us to expand into our local market in a ways I never considered. But this
was just the beginning of many benefits that would soon follow.

Auto-Ship Became Auto Pay-Check!

While I knew wed make a few extra dollars on products sales, I never really
considered it as a significant revenue stream for my business. As far as I knew,
wed probably make an extra few hundred dollars a month and that, as they say,
would be that.

But I soon discovered it was to become much more.

The first couple months we did only earn a few hundred dollars in commissions
from product sales.

But as more and more clients began enrolling in the auto-ship program, the
checks we received each month started to grow significantly.

A few hundred dollars a month grew to over a thousand dollars a month. Then a
thousand grew to two-thousand, then two-thousand grew to four-thousand, then
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four-thousand grew to six-thousand, and before long I was earning a complete
second income from nutrition product sales!

Not only that, but I had done almost nothing for it other than provide a little more
value in our nutrition consultations and make it easy for clients to get great
products they already wanted to buy, for a great price, delivered conveniently to
their door each month.

How I Learned About Client Lifetime Value

My success with nutrition product sales, and the way we were getting product to
our customers, taught me about a business concept I previously knew nothing
about.

Before we integrated nutrition products, our business was probably like most
personal training companies. When clients stopped using our training services
we stopped making money.

If we did a good job and got great results for our clients, they generally stayed
with us for 3 months, 6 months, and in some cases a year. But eventually they
stopped working with us for one reason or another.

They either reached their goals, no longer saw the value in our services, or had
just simply learned enough and decided they wanted to workout on their own at
home or at a gym. After all, working with a trainer is a significant ongoing
expense every month that does add up over time.

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But now, by offering nutrition products on a continuity type program, I had
discovered a way to continue earning revenue from client relationships- whether
they were using our services or not!

Though clients may have finished their training program, because we had helped
them integrate good nutrition habits into their lives and they liked the products,
they continued to purchase those products each and every month.

To this day I still receive e-mail order notifications each month from clients my
company worked with several years ago!

This taught me about a new way to grow my business- by extending the lifetime
value of our clients with monthly product auto-ship orders.

The Ultimate Business Growth Opportunity

Before I learned the value of nutrition product sales to my business, my business
growth was limited. I could grow only by adding another location, and/or
continuing to hire more trainers, which I did successfully.

But I soon discovered that added the added stress and frustrations of
management concerns and increased marketing responsibilities sometimes
outweighed the increased financial gain.

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My income was limited to the number of trainers I hired, the number of clients we
trained, and the number of available sessions we had to offer. That was the
ultimate glass ceiling on our growth.

But adding the continuity program for nutrition products into our business opened
up a whole new world for me.

My business changed in such a way that I didnt care so much if clients finished
their training programs- because we were still going to earn revenue from our
product relationship with them and it opened up a slot for me to bring in new
clients that would also become product customers.

In fact, getting them through the system faster, to keep building the back end of
our business, became my new focus!

The glass ceiling was broken.

What Im Doing Now

Today I have a respectable income that I work very little for. Ive sold my
personal training business, but kept my base of product customers.

That base provides me with an ongoing stream of income for me and my family
every month. Ive reduced the amount of stress and headaches that came into
my life from growing with more locations and more trainers.

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But best of all I discovered a way to help people through not just fitness
coaching, but with continued education about nutrition and products that can help
them solve health problems and better achieve their fitness goals.

Ive now chosen to focus my time on supporting other studio owners and elite
trainers like myself who are searching for smart ways to grow their business.
Ways that add income and allow them to help more people, without adding the
stress of more management responsibilities.

Ive taken on a personal mission is to empower others to achieve the level of
success in their business that I have in mine. To allow them to benefit in the
same way I have benefited. And to help their clients in the same way I have
helped my clients.

Why did you become a fitness coach?

If youre a fitness coach then I assume you got into this business for two reasons:

1. You have a passion for health and fitness

2. You truly care about helping people

Those are wonderful qualities and show admirable character. But those alone are
not enough to build wealth. And wealth is important as you grow. When I was 20
years old a few grand a month was all I was interested in earning. It paid the bills
and left a bit over to have fun. I was satisfied at the time with my income.

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But as you grow and mature in life your needs change. For me, a big turning
point was when I married my wife. I knew that I would need to continue to grow
my business in new ways. Not just to have a larger income, but to be able to buy
my freedom. Freedom to have more time off, take vacations when we wanted to,
and freedom to raise a family when the time was right.

Regardless of your personal reasons, when the time comes that you decide you
want more out of life and your current business building wealth and developing
passive income become much more interesting topics.

To build wealth you must learn as much about business as youve learned about
fitness.

Studying business allows you to look at your work with a business mind. And
then youll soon become aware of the severe limitations of the personal training
industry.

Limitations of The Personal Training Industry

The personal training industry is a service business. Just like any service
professional, when you sell your services you are trading time for money. But,
unlike some other industries, ours has an extraordinary amount of client churn.
Churn refers to the process of losing clients, and then constantly investing more
time and money to fill up the empty time slots. Its a never ending process. Ill
explain in more detail.

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In general, most clients stay with you for a relatively short period of time. 3
months, 6 months, maybe a year if youre really good. But ultimately, there are
very few of those relationships that are around for longer than that.

Whether youre a studio owner or independent personal trainer, take a look at
your client list. How many clients have been with you for more than 1 year?
2years? 3 years? My guess is not many. In most cases slim to none.

When clients finish up their programs and leave, you have to invest more time
and money back into marketing to fill up those time slots. After you continue on
the lose clients, get more clients, lose clients, get more clients cycle for a while
it soon becomes old.

Frankly without any other options its exhausting because youre always
chasing the front end of your business. My guess is that if youre reading this
book, youve been there and done that... and are looking for ways to grow
beyond that cycle.

Youve probably experienced the same frustrations of never really building
anything concrete. Or never feeling like you can escape the frustrating cycle that
is the result of short client lifetime value. Its like filling a bucket with water only
its got holes in the bottom. Water just keeps leaking out.

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How Nutrition Product Sales Allow Growth

There are several ways to increase leverage in your business. The greater your
leverage the more income you can earn, the more wealthy you can build, and the
more freedom you gain.

But there are few strategies that allow you to increase the lifetime value of your
clients AND better serve them right now. The best way and fastest way to do
both that I know of is by adding nutrition education and including nutrition
products into your current offerings.

Its a natural fit because youre meeting unmet needs of your clients (your
market).

By spending a little more time educating your clients on nutrition, and not just
fitness, your clients will get better results, you can make it easy for them to get
safe products in a convenient manner AND develop a back end to your business
at the same time. Its a pure win, win, win.

Doing that allows you to exponentially increase the lifetime value of your clients
and drive new profits straight to your bottom line.

I say STRAIGHT to your bottom line because in the process Im describing we
spent zero dollars to acquire nutrition product customers. It was simply a natural
cross-sell to our existing clients as we took them through a nutrition consultation.

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How to Offer Nutrition Products The Right Way To Your Clients
And Not Be Perceived As A Product Peddler

If youre not currently offering nutrition products to your clients, you may be
working through the same fears that I worked through about being perceived as a
product peddler.

Those fears are warranted, but for the most part completely irrational. I assure
you that your clients are incredibly confused about this topic and need your
guidance, and expert knowledge, to help them with this area of their lives.

In fact, I believe that its your moral obligation to sell them good products,
because if you dont then youre leaving them vulnerable to getting ripped off
by purchasing some other junk products someone else recommends to them.
Products that may be dangerous to their health!

Ok, Ill get off my soapbox for now, but I hope Ive inspired you to help others and
help yourself with taking action on this opportunity.

Here are 5 tips to do it right from the beginning:

1. Only offer 100% safe products, that have University level peer-
reviewed research behind them, manufactured to pharmaceutical
grade GMP standards, with a 100% money-back guarantee.
Dont ever mess with products that are not proven safe. And by that I
mean clinically tested for their purity, potency, and performance. If the
manufacturer is legitimate then should be able to view multiple university
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level, peer-reviewed studies of their product on a website like the National
Library of Medicine www.pubmed.com They should also be
manufactured to pharmaceutical GMP grade standards. Only legitimate
products meet both these high standards of criteria. And if you cant verify
the information from third party, university level, published and peer-
reviewed source, then run away- FAST! The products you choose should
also be 100% money-back guaranteed by the manufacturer, eliminating
financial risk for you.

2. Keep the type of products you choose to offer simple.
As a studio owner or fitness professional you are not a GNC store. Nor
should you attempt to be. Offer 3-4 simple core products that meet basic
client needs. Things like multi-vitamin products, meal replacement bars
and shakes, and post-workout nutrition products for aiding recovery.

3. Make it easy for your clients to buy
This should be a no-brainer, but I mention it anyway. Dont make your
clients jump through hoops to spend more money with you or make a
simple buying decision. Its your job to make that as easy as possible.
Including a basic review of products during a nutrition consult or seminar,
then making product available to them right then and there is an easy way
to do that.

4. Choose to partner with a manufacturer that offer complete fulfillment
systems for drop-shipping all customer orders. You dont want to limit
yourself to just retail offerings. That would limit your client lifetime value.
By having products drop-shipped to your customers you are not
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dependent on them stopping in to buy. If they move, stop training, or dont
have the time to make it in it doesnt matter, because their products will
come right to their door whenever they want, wherever they are.

5. Choose to represent a manufacturer that has a long track record of
success. Youve probably been hit up by every product manufacturer in
the book to sell their latest and greatest products. I know because Ive
been hit up too. I think its fair to say that 90% of the nutrition products on
the market today are junk and 90% of the manufacturing companies are
too. Here today, gone tomorrow. Its very important you differentiate
yourself from those type of fad products and those type of fad companies.
Choose to represent a manufacturer that has been around a long time and
is solid. In my case, the manufacturer we use has been around 50+ years.
I know I can count on them.

A Proven System Of Success For Studios Owners
And Elite Fitness Coaches

Over the last couple years I spent a lot of time refining the systems and the
processes that have produced such success for me with nutrition products in my
business. I designed a model for other studio owners and elite fitness
professionals like myself that want to offer safe products to their clients, and
integrate nutrition into their business in a way that benefits both the health of their
clients and the success of their business. Those systems have now evolved into
a complete 12-month business building program for studio owners called the Net
Profit Explosion Program. If youre considering nutrition education and nutrition
products as a revenue stream for your business, then I encourage you to get
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more information on what we have to offer by visiting our website at
www.NetProfitExplosion.com or by calling my office directly at 407.574.6406. I
look forward to speaking with you.

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Chapter 10 - Top of Mind Positioning: So You Never
Have to Sell Again

By Stephen Holt, 2003 ACE Personal Trainer of the Year and Owner of
www.personaltrainerfasttrack.com

Yeah, yeah. Ive heard it all before
Everybody sells all the time

Life is selling
Selling isnt a bad word
Blah, blah, blah

Ive had far more sales training than the vast majority of personal trainers having
gone through Dale Carnegie Sales Course twice (with two different companies),
reading everything I could find by Zig Ziglar, Joe Girard, and Tom Hopkins
(including Selling for Dummies, the only for Dummies book Ive ever lowered
myself to buy), and listening to Brian Tracys Psychology of Sales literally
everyday for weeks at a time.

I memorized how to overcome dozens of objections of all varieties. I used the
Alternate of Choice in every phone conversation (Is Tuesday good or would
Thursday be better?)

Ive even learned Tie Downs so well Ive come to make them a natural part of
how I talk and write. (Tie Downs are great for leading the conversation in the
direction you want, arent they?)

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Unlike most trainers and most people in general, I actually like selling. I
especially like the challenge of persuading someone who was adamantly against
being persuaded.

But lifes a whole lot easier when a prospect comes to you already sold, dont you
agree? (Got you with another tie-down, didnt I!)

I honestly cant remember the last time I had to sell. I dont set up meetings. I
dont do free consultations (sales meetings in disguise).

My clients come to me pre-sold and ready to start. No games. No objections to
overcome.

It can be that easy for you, too.

The key is Positioning.

Your goal should be to put yourself in a position that makes you a recognized
expert in a way that leverages your time and effort. You want prospects/clients to
come to you as opposed to you needing to convince them one-on-one that youre
the expert.

So, just how do you do that?

Its simple.

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If marketing is what people say about you when youre not around, then you
need to get as many people as possible talking about you. You do that with
leverage.

Basically, it comes down to writing and speaking to leverage your time and to
position yourself in the fastest way possible.

Look at it this way, you can do your elevator speech with one person at a time,
or you can speak to hundreds if not thousands (I once spoke in a football
stadium) or write to literally millions.

Just think about the personal trainers youve heard of. Now think about HOW you
heard of them. I guarantee its through one of these media:

Content Web Sites

Other Articles Theyve Written

Articles About Them

Industry Involvement (articles, presentations, awards)

Now, heres my ingenious strategy for you.

You ready?

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Do the same thing. Thats it. Do the same thing!

If you want to be as well-known as these trainers, you have to do the same thing.
Success leaves clues.

Content Web Sites

The great thing about Content Web Sites is the traffic is already targeted and
focused for you.

If youre looking for recognition among your peers, go to PTontheNet.com, the
worlds #1 educational resource for fitness professionals.

So how does being published on a site for personal trainers get you more
clients?

Mention As seen on PTontheNet.com or Featured on PTontheNet.com or
Author for the worlds #1 educational resource for fitness professionals in all
your written materials to constantly, consistently and repeatedly reinforce your
position as an expert.

Prospects dont have to know exactly what PTontheNet is. They only have to
notice that other trainers in your market cant make the same claims.

The best way to become an author is to go straight to the editor, Chip Richards.
As long as you promise not to abuse it, heres his top secret email address,
chipeta11@aol.com. Promise?!
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Another great way in is through one of the other authors there. Back when I was
more active writing for PTontheNets Research Corner, I was able to get several
of my colleagues in as authors just by asking.

If you know any of the authors fairly well, it may be time for you to call in a favor.
If you dont know any of the authors fairly well, get started on knowing them
better.

Remember, its who you know AND who knows how much you know. Make sure
the-powers-that-be get to know who you are.

If youre targeting athletes, youll want to write for Ryan Lees
SportSpecific.com. A few months ago, Ryan bought out one of his leading
competitors, so SportSpecific.com is set to be the largest site of its kind for years
to come.

First, make sure youre a member in good standing in SportSpecific or any
other site you chose. Although you dont HAVE to be a member to contribute in
most cases, Ive always felt it was hypocritical to submit articles to membership
sites if I didnt truly believe the site was good enough for me to become a
member.

Once youre published, make copies of the article and include the web sites
header at the top of the page. That gives your article more of a feel of a third
party endorsement.

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Make it a Word, Publisher, or equivalent document. DO NOT use the tacky
looking Print function in your browser.

Display your articles in a highly visible spot in a tiered
magazine rack you can get at any office supply store.

If you work in a club, make sure you offer space for all
your fellow trainers to display their articles, too. You dont
want to make anyone too jealous. Besides, they probably
dont have published articles anyway.

AllExperts.com is the oldest & largest free Q&A service on the Internet. They
now boast of thousands of experts answering all types of questions, but they
started back in 1999 with only six including yours truly.

If youve done your homework, you know I was named their first Expert of the
Year which led directly to more clients and numerous opportunities. Ryan Lee
once told me one of his members even got book deal as a direct result of
answering questions at AllExperts.com.

AllExperts.com was time commitment I didnt want to keep up, but its a great
way for you to get in front of hundreds of people. In addition, writing helps you
crystallize your training philosophy. As author Flannery O'Conner once said, I
write in order to know what I think."

Even if you dont become Expert of the Year, youll find yourself naturally
explaining techniques and scientific principles more clearly and precisely with all
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your clients. With the answers I gave on AllExperts.com, I developed an FAQ I
gave (and could have and should have sold) to prospects and clients.

Heres how to get started. Simply go to AllExperts.com and click on
Health/Fitness.

Keep clicking on the various sub-categories til you get to one that covers your
expertise. Then click Be An Expert in the top menu.

Ive been told they accept virtually anyone who indicates they know more than
average. (Doesnt say much about my Expert of the Year award, does it?)

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Using Advanced Features of Google to Find More Sites

Instead of using Google just for simple searches, type the following into the
Google search box:

inurl:[keyword] example: inurl:fitness

or

allinurl: [keyphrase] - example: inurl:fitness training articles

The first example will give you all the sites with fitness in the URL (including the
domain name, subdomains, and file names), while the second example gives you
all sites with any combination of the words fitness AND training AND articles
in the URL.

Fool around with word combinations that make sense in the niche to which you
want to appeal. Then visit the sites to see if they publish articles by other authors.
Even if they dont, you should be able to persuade them that publishing your
article saves them time and effort, and offers fresh content to their readers (more
repeat visitors) and to the search engines (higher rankings).

Title Search

intitle:[keyword]

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or

allintitle: [keyphrase]

This is a similar method that delivers all the sites using your search keyword or
keyphrase in the title metatag. (I hope I didnt lose you there with the geekspeak.)

The advantage versus the inURL search technique above is that sites about a
given keyword dont necessarily have that keyword in the domain name.

If you type, for example, allintitle:submit fitness article in the Google search box,
youll get

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Look at that! Dozens of places for you to submit your articles and become a star!

Help for Writing Articles

Quit whining, Oh, I cant write articles. I dont know where to start...

I use a software program called the 30 Minute Article Writing System. The
system is so simple, anyone can crank out an article in only guess what? 30
minutes. It even comes with a Flash program that helps you get organized and
stay on target.
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Use Article Directories
Great. Now you have this riveting article it only took you 30 minutes to write. Now
what do you do with it?

Submitting articles to article directories used to be a tedious chore that took
literally all day.

No longer.

I use an amazing program that submits my articles to over 150 sites with about
4 minutes of my time (not counting writing the actual article, of course). Imagine,
no longer having to not only remember or find your username and password for
each site, navigating the submission page, and pasting in your article. This
program does it all for you automatically.

Articles about them
The quickest and easiest way to get an article written about you is to do it
yourself. Thats right! Send out a press release about yourself (your site, your
unique program, etc.)

Numerous press release sites will publish your press release as is. Not only are
these press releases available to thousands of desperate writers all over the
world, your release is available to regular people (potential customers), too.

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My secret weapon here is The Press Equalizer. Heres an example of the press
release I sent for National Employee Health and Fitness Day showing the three
easy steps to using The Press Equalizer to get your message out to reporters all
over the world:

1. Fill in a few easy blanks:

2. Create or paste the content of your press release.
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3. Hit "Start" and your press release is sent out to the top 26 press release sites
on the Internet. That's it. About 3 minutes of work once you have your press
release written. Another completely passive 20 30 minutes (you dont even
have to stick around) while The Press Equalizer takes care of the entire
submission process for you.
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My Top Secret Google Strategy

First, go to Google.com (duh) and click more.

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Now click where it says Alerts.

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Now, where it says Search Items, simply type in the phrase you want. In this
example, I typed in personal training. So every time Google finds a news piece
that mentions personal training, youll get an email message like this one:

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Great for piggybacking, thats jumping on a trend reporters are already writing
about.

You see, media people, in general, dont like to make waves. They tend to stick
to whats already in the news but with a twist.

With Google Alerts, you know not only whats popular, you can find out what
twists have worked in other markets and use the same or similar twist in your
local market.

You can also, un-piggyback. Thats my term for taking a controversial stand
against popular trends. Remember, strong, contrarian opinions make good news
angles.

Theres more!

You can also use Google Alert to stalk reporters in a good way, of course.
Pay attention to your Google Alerts and youll notice certain names come up over
and over like Jeanine Stein, for example. Lets stalk her, shall we?

Start by typing her name in the Google search box:

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Aha. We see she probably works for the LA Times. Keep in mind smaller papers
often syndicate articles from larger papers - since just a handful of mega-
conglomerates like Hearst control what we read :-)

If you click on one of her articles, youll go to a page that looks like this:
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Hot Tip: Most Viewed and Most Emailed tells you immediately whats popular!

If you click on the Contact Us typically near the bottom of the navigation menu,
in most cases youll get a message telling you they use a generic email system
such as Firstname.Lastname@localnewspaper.com.

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There you have it. You have the reporters email address.

But dont send that email just yet.

Go back to Google and see what else theyve written. Then send an email with
the title Re: [your most recent article]. (I dont have to tell you not to use those
exact words, right?)

And in the body of the email, mention another article theyve written. That shows
youve done your homework and makes you look like a real fan of their work.

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Talk about them and their article then offer other resources that will help them
with similar or follow-up articles. Finally, offer your expertise as a resource in the
future.

How to Get in Magazines

I cant tell you the number of times Ive handed someone a magazine article I
wrote or an article about me and that person has ended up as a client.

Obviously, your job, then, is to get into a magazine. So, how do you do that?

Offer your expertise as a resource.

Dont dwell on yourself. Truly help the writer do his or her job. When you read an
interesting article, send a sincere message to the author and recommend
additional resources.

One thing you have to do is hang out with the right people.

Get on the mailing lists of all of my co-authors in this book. I got into Mens
Fitness, for example, solely because Im friends with Alywn Cosgrove. Impress
the right people with your knowledge, and you can do the same.
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Industry Involvement
Articles in Industry Publications
Heres a great chance to get published by a group with some oomph
behind its name so your prospects will be duly impressed with your
influence in the industry.
In this case, it doesnt matter as much which organization you go with since
most prospects have no idea whos who. (It goes without saying you stick
with a group you respect, right?)
I was once asked to write a CEC article on Biomechanics for a well-known
organization that later told me they needed me to write on an eighth-grade
level.
I politely (okay, not really) told them Id rather not be involved with a group
that needed me to write on an eighth-grade level. Never, ever let your
name be associated with junk.
Again, get the official publishing guidelines and first play the game by the
rules:
http://www.nsca-lift.org/Publications/guidelines.shtml
http://www.ideafit.com/pub_guidelines.asp
http://www.fit-pro.com/feedback.asp
http://acefitness.com/aboutace/publications-guidelines-FM.aspx
http://www.americanfitness.com/104.amf
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Then, if necessary, go back to the third-party endorsement technique Ive
alluded to several times. If you have contacts who have already been
published, ask for their help in making the necessary connections to the
people who make the decisions.

Presentations

Any presenter will tell you its far easier to get the second gig once youve done
the first one. So how do you get the first one?

Guess what? Third-party endorsement.

Again, the quickest way in is through someone whos already in the network. I
got started with Club Industry solely because I was recommended by Laurie
Cingle. I got started with IDEA solely because I was recommended by Phil
Kaplan.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to find a mentor who can show you the
types of shortcuts Ive shared with you so far. Im sure many of the authors in this
book will be glad to help you as long as you are respectful of their time and
willing to do your share of the work.

Personal Trainer of the Year Awards

Now dont be intimidated. You dont have to win one of the Personal Trainer of
the Year awards. You just have to be nominated.

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So how hard is it to be nominated?

Not hard at all. In most cases, anyone can nominate you. In some cases, you
can even nominate yourself. Hey, this is no time to be shy. (If you dont believe in
yourself, why should anyone else believe in you?)

First, go to IDEA <www.ideafit.com>, NSCA <www.nsca-lift.org> and ACE
<www.acefitness.com> and find out what you need to know about the
application process. Though the deadlines are typically in November or
December, ACE recently moved their deadline up to July. So get to work now!

Now take that nomination and send out your press releases. Then make sure
you mention:
Joe Smith, Blah, blah Personal Trainer of the Year nominee
in all your written materials.

How many other trainers in your market can say that? None (unless theyre
already members of PersonalTrainerFastTrack.com and discovered this
technique when I first revealed it ages ago).

There you go Instant USP. Instant Expert. Instant client magnet.

Even More Tips

Your Voice Mail Message
If you ever try to call me youll quickly realize I NEVER answer my phone.
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I talk on the phone on MY terms. I dont let the phone dictate my personal
schedule. As Brian Tracy says, Dont be a slave to telephone tyranny.
but I digress
Your phone message should be directed at establishing your position and
impressing a prospect with what you can (and will) do for them.
My message goes like this:
Hi, This is Stephen Holt. Thanks for calling.
Ive been named ACE Personal Trainer of the Year [the countys top
personal trainer, the most popular trainer in my two-trainer studio
whatever fits for you] for the results Ive gotten with people just like you.
Just leave me a message and let me know how I can help you, too.
Thanks.
Before I got complaints from clients saying, Your message is too long [since Ive
already been sold], I included:
Leave your address to get my free report, blah, blah.
[Reciprocity and database building]
See how Ive woven in Authority (ACE), Liking (Thanks), Social Proof (people
just like you) into the message?
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Recommended Reading in case you dont know what Im referring to: Influence:
The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

(In short, the six factors of persuasion are Liking, Authority, Social
Proof, Commitment and Consistency, and Reciprocity, Scarcity.)
Though I no longer do this my wife gets jealous you may want someone else
(preferably female proven to work better) to record your message for you. It
implies you have to have an assistant and it sounds less like bragging.
Your Prospecting Web Site
I give Ryan Lee full credit for this idea.
Set up a site strictly for getting new prospects for your personal training business.
Remember, each of your products should have a separate web site. Your
newsletter should have a separate web site. Some trainers even have Branding
web sites (no true call-to-action).
People who fill out your web form are hot prospects and are willing to jump
through at least one hoop.
People who dont fill out the form dont waste your time. If they wont fill out a
simple form, chances are they would never be your client anyway. Dont let them
waste your time and marketing dollars.
Im currently testing GetFitIn2006.com and HelpMeStephen.com (check them
out to spy on what Im up to.)
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I named the second site following the advice of direct marketing legend Robert
Collier who said, Enter the conversation already going on in the customers
mind.
Im sure you can come up with an even more powerful, benefit-oriented domain
name.
If youre ready for even more powerful secrets of positioning, make sure you join
me at PersonalTrainerFastTrack.com.

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Chapter 11 -Following your Dreams to Prosperity
By Lee Taft of www.sportsspeedetc.com

Creating a Successful Fitness Business Out of Your Home

I will tell you my story and how I followed a simple strategy to reaching my goals
and desires later in this chapter, but first I would like to share with you how I
learned to be successful in my sports performance business from home.

Roughly 17 years ago, I started out in the field of sports performance. I was
teaching and coaching high school athletics and in the summer and working with
athletes at a local gym in my home town. Over the years, I became more
educated in the science of training through my masters degrees and by attaining
many top-level certifications. However, the greatest education I received was
good old elbow grease. I simply read books, bought products, attended
seminars and tried new and different training methods with my athletes. Over
time, I established my own system that was really adaptable to meet the
demands of any athlete or group of athletes.

For many years, I struggled to make ends meet in the field of strength and
conditioning. On two different occasions I worked in the public school setting as a
physical education teacher and coach, as well as, ran my training business
during the evenings, weekends and summers. This obviously became too
overwhelming as the years went on. I wasnt able to keep up the pace I was
working at. I needed to figure out a way to still work with thousands of athletes
and coaches, yet not have to be face to face with them. I found the power of
product creation.

My wife and I owned the business together. This was the first thing I took
advantage of. My wife was much better at the accounting, computer skills and
marketing then I. My job was the visionary and creator of products, articles and
seminars. This was the first step in becoming successful. We leveraged our time
and did our parts.

Without going into any depth, I made a bold decision one day to resign from
teaching and coaching to pursue our business. I will go into how I made this
occur with a strategy that has changed the lives of millions of people later in this
chapter. For now, I would like to tell you some of the powerful methods we used
to launch our business out of our home.
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Website Presence

My wife and I realized after speaking to many other successful fitness
entrepreneurs that we had to establish an on line presence using a website. We
took immediate action and had a website company design a website that fit our
needs. As a side note; if either my wife or I could have designed our own website
we would have done that, but we were both novices and had to get a site up and
running soon.

Once we got the website up and running we needed to drive people to our site.
We accomplished this through several avenues.

1. Writing articles for other websites and always with our site link in the
article so people could visit our site.

2. We created a newsletter and began collecting visitors emails in our
database. This allowed us to share information and products with them
anytime.

3. I presented clinics and workshops and always collect emails during the
clinic. This was done by informing people they would receive a free
newsletter with great training tips and other fitness information just by
signing up.

4. We made sure our site was picked up by the big search engines like
Google, Yahoo, MSN, and others.

5. I sent articles to the newspapers with our information. If they wouldnt
allow me to put my website information on the article, I would make sure
we had our business name, which is our website name. People could
search it.

Our website became our business face to the world. People could read about us
at their leisure and at all times we were capturing emails and building our list of
clients.

Products

After a while our website needed to have something people could purchase, that
is if we were going to make any financial gain off the site. I learned how to
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produce information products and learned how easy it was to create a quality
product. My products are not perfect, but they are quality and they give good
information that can be used immediately. The most important aspect of
selling products online was that we could make money while we were
sleeping. It didnt require constant man hours. This is important to
becoming financially free in the fitness business.

The first product I create was a speed product in the form of 2 binders and 4
audio CDs. The information in the binder was all typed on my computer and the
audio CDs were recorded off my computer. The process of making my first
product cost me little more than time.

I then wanted to try my hand at creating a DVD. I hired a local wedding
videographer and brought in a couple of my former athletes and we shot 2 DVDs
that were both over 1 hour. I shared my techniques of how I teach multi-
directional speed and the product was edited and ready for sale in just about 2
weeks. I will share how this product has become one of the best selling speed
products on the market due to a selling strategy later on.

From those first two products I was able to position myself as an expert in the
field of speed training. This made creating other products much easier from then
on.

Joint Venture

As I was learning the marketing business, I learned of a commonly used strategy
to market and or sell products by joining force with another person who has a
large email/client list. How a joint venture works is you create an agreement with
the other person to sell your product to his or her list for a percentage of the
sales. This is a win-win deal, as long as the percentage is fair to both parties.
You see, the person you would joint venture with can make awesome money by
simply advertising your product to his or her list. They didnt have to create the
product or do any work. You on-the-other-hand can earn money as well, but
more importantly you capture all the emails of the people who bought your
product from his or her list. This increases your selling power over the years.

On my second product, a 2 set DVD called Ground Breaking Athletic Movement,
I joint ventured with the right person at the right time and it literally changed my
financial situation over night. It can be a power tool to build any business.

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Speaking Engagements and Clinics

The one product I always had in me- was the gift to gab. If you put an audience
in front of me I will talk until the cows come home. Seriously though, this
became a great source of revenue for our business. I have always been
comfortable speaking to anyone who would listen. With this gift of mine, we
began to market coaches clinics, fitness workshops and conferences for physical
education staffs. This was a way to not only get paid a nice lump sum of money,
it also allowed me to capture more emails and sell my products to the crowd. It is
all about leveraging your time.

Speed Camps

The one thing I am known for is teaching speed. Many years ago, when I was
first starting out, I ran a couple speed camps for different sports and fell in love
with doing them. I was able to do what I love to do- teach to large sums of
athletes and coaches at the same time. The energy levels at these camps are
high and the athletes and coaches leave wanting more. The key to the speed
camps is to get hired and come back year after year. Always over deliver when
running speed camps! You will be glad you did.

Multiple Streams

When I first made the decision go full time into business I was sure, for me, that
owning a facility and building up a large clientele of athletes was the answer. It
took less than 2 years to realize that when the only stream of income was based
on how much I worked it became obvious to me that I have to make a change.

The key, as I now know, is to have multiple streams of income that dont demand
your constant attention. There are obviously many other ways in the fitness
industry to attain the goals that you desire. However, my goals were to be able to
spend time with my family and have financial independence. The above streams
of income have allowed me to move closer to all my goals.

In the next section I want to share with you why I took the path I did and how I
was able to use certain strategies to attain my goals.

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Why I Took Control

It all started with a dream and a burning desire to spend more time with my
daughters and wife and not to be dictated by a boss or a 9 to 5 job. I wanted
control of my life and to make the decision I wanted, when I wanted to make
them. It all started with a burning desire, but it became a reality when it became
clear as to what I wanted. I then took the steps to make it happen.

Just like most, I went to college, got a job and started working for others. The
difference with me is that it took less than 3 months of my first real job to realize it
wasnt for me. The problem was I didnt know what was bothering me; I just knew
I wasnt comfortable doing what I was doing.

When I started to realize I didnt like the confines of a job directed by someone
else and when I realized I was not comfortable working for others, at least I now
understood why it was difficult for me to get motivated each and everyday to
show up and work for someone else. You see, I was physical education teacher
at the elementary and high school levels. I loved the role of teaching, but it wasnt
until I clearly defined my goals and what it was that I wanted out of my life that I
finally could make sense of why I disliked showing up to work everyday.

Part of the problem was the overwhelming guilt I was feeling for not liking the
very job I spent years of college preparing for. I felt like I had to like it. It seemed
as thought it was my duty to like it. You know; you cant fake your emotions for
very long. Your true feeling will always rise to the top in one manner or another.

I can still remember the feeling I felt on a Sunday night when it was time to
prepare for Monday or another day working for someone else. It is a feeling of
being trapped and not having total control of my life. It had nothing to do with
teaching or being with the students, it was all about controlling my life.

Dont misunderstand me; I am not saying it is bad to work for others. I think it is
important to work in any environment you feel you are reaching your potential. I
am strictly speaking of myself and how my dreams and desires became a reality
because I realized why I was not happy.

Trusting Your Desires to Make Change

I can still remember the day I decided to take a leap of faith and take charge of
my life. I talked it over with my wife about leaving teaching and going full time into
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sports performance training. For many years, she knew I was not happy and it
was a reflection of my daily attitude. She knew I had the desire to make it work.

I used my resignation from my teaching job and a steady pay check and full
health benefits and a future retirement to motivate me to make my new career
choice work. I had no other choice, but to make it work. I had to protect and
provide for my family. It was my responsibility to make sure my daughters had
what they needed and didnt go without. Putting the welfare of my family fully in
my court was all I needed to push me to the next level. You see, I already had a
plan in my mind; I new what I wanted to accomplish with my sports performance
business. I just had to put my plan in action and not give up.

It wasnt but two years later our sports performance business, the one I resigned
from a steady teaching job for, became such a success. We actually sold it to
move on to bigger and better things. The great power of having such strong clear
goals is that you may think you are taking the right action steps to achieving
these goals, but you will soon be re-directed in mid stream to a different way of
reaching your goals. I knew what I wanted out of my life. I just wasnt sure what
vehicle was going to drive me their. This is why, if you stay focused on your
goals, you will find new and different ways of getting to your goals from what you
had originally planned.

When I resigned from teaching, I had opened up a facility thinking this is how I
am going to make it and achieve my goals, but what actually happened, with all
the success of the training facility, is that I spent more time at the business and
less time with my family. Sure I was doing what I wanted, so I thought, and was
in complete control of my life, but something wasnt right.

The fact that I was able to build a large base of athletes to train at my business
was great in financial terms. But I have always wanted more time with my family,
Even though I was doing well financially, the amount I was making was directly
attributed to the amount of hours I worked.

What I thought was a great action plan to reaching my goals was actually taking
me away from it. I needed to re-think and re-organize my action steps, but my
goals and desires were still crystal clear as ever. There was no doubt. I wanted
to make a difference in the lives of athletes in sports performance and their
overall development as a person. If I kept training as much as I was, I would
eventually burn out. I had to re-think how I could use my knowledge and skills in
a more abundant manor, yet not work more hours.

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Putting It Out There

I will get back to how I made a change in my action plan, but first I want to talk
about something that has drastically changed my life and it is a theory that many
people pledge to. It is kind of metaphysical, but I dont care what you call it, it
really works.

When you become clear as to what you want, even if you dont know how you
are going to achieve it, and you WRITE it down on paper something happens
that makes this goal or desire now become real. When it is only in your head- it is
just a wish and it can easily be lost, but when it is written it becomes real. When
you repeat the action of writing this goal frequently and continually saying this
goal to yourself it gets put out into the universe in a form of positive energy. This
energy gets picked up by others and it tends to attract people and situations that
come back to you in ways that will help you reach your goals and desires. I know,
I know! It sounds weird and to out there to actually be true, but I am telling you
it changed my life and millions of others.

One other really important factor that needs to be written with your goal is a
deadline as to when you want your goal to occur. This sets you in motion to get
going and take steps to complete certain tasks that will allow the goal to be
completed by the deadline. No big deal, if you miss the deadline just re-set the
deadline and work towards it.

My Action Plan

As I said earlier, my original action plan was only partly correct in that it allowed
me to control my own business and work for myself. The problem I ran into was
working in my business all the time and never on my business to see it grow in
different ways. I ended up not seeing my family much because my business
demanded my time.

It was time to re-evaluate my action steps and look at what I really needed to do
to reach my goals and desires. I finally figured out, after conversations with other
professionals, I needed to create information products to allow me to teach
coaches and trainers how to improve their athletes performance. It took some
time to convince myself people would actually want to buy something I created. I
mean, come on, who am I to think people would actually spend money to buy
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what I have to say. Well, it only took one product and a timely joint venture to
totally change my view of creating products. This one little joint venture turned
out to earn me a large sum of money, which gave me the freedom to change my
views of how my business would work. It was the light that turned on in my brain
to realize I can give people what they want but not actually have to be in person
with them. I can put my knowledge in the form of DVDs, E-books, manuals,
CDs, seminars and speed camps and make many times the income, but more
importantly allow me to reach my goals.

From that point on, my wife and I, put our focus on Big Bang projects. We
stayed focused on created products and performing clinics and workshops
around the country. During these clinics and workshops I could sell my products.
We learned how to turn out website into a marketing machine through
newsletters and special marketing emails that brought people to our site to view
what we had to sell. I tell you, my life has never been the same. We are not were
we want to be, but we are on our way to creating the lifestyle we both dreamed of
and I am closing in on all my goals and desires. It is fun to check off the goals I
have achieved along the way. It is empowering!

What My Business Has Allowed Me

I have a long way to go before being where I want to be financially and
professionally, however, I have used a formula of goal setting and taken action to
give myself the confidence. It will happen as long as I continue to take action and
become clear as to what it is I want.

I now get up in the everyday and bring my daughters to school and I am home
when they arrive from school. I even had the time to coach their basketball teams
at the local YMCA. Sharing in their lives in the moment rather than having them
fill me in about their day two days later is they way I would rather live. My office is
10 feet from my bedroom and my goals are written in a notebook 3 feet from my
computer. My goals are there for me to review everyday and to make additions
as I need. That notebook is my future because it allows me to make what my true
life desires are- real; I can write down what they are, make a plan to attain them,
set a deadline and watch them become a reality.

Final Words

I urge all of you to stop letting life pass by so fast without playing the game. The
game is all about you planning your life for you to control. You are flexible
enough to roll with the punches because your goals and desire keep your focus
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and you set yourself up for success each and everyday by concentrating on the
goals. If you ask any successful coach, they will tell you that being prepared,
having a goal and taking action each day toward your goal allows you to be
successful in reaching your goals. Your game my not be played on a court or
field, but is played out much the same. You have to practice everyday to make it
a habit, make something that is real in your life. When goal setting is a part of
everyday you are on your way to winning the game.

I wish you the best of luck as you reach your goals.

You will have to excuse me now; I have to go pick up my daughter from school

I made a promise I would always continue to help athletes, coaches, and
trainers. Please take a look at the sites that allow me to help people all over the
world;

www.SportsSpeedEtc.com

www.LaserLikeSpeed.com

www.BaseStealing.com

www.MyBasektballSpeed.com

www.LadderSpeed.com

www.AppliedStrengthandCondtioning.com

Take care!
Lee Taft
www.SportsSpeedEtc.com

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Chapter 12 Tap Into The Billion Dollar Weight
Management Industry
An Interview With Chris Mohr of www.mohrresults.com

PR Chris, why should a fitness professional choose to integrate a weight
management program or weight management component into their business?

CM Overweight and obesity are growing at epidemic proportions right now.
The most recent statistics we have show that over 65 percent of the population is
considered overweight and nearly 31 percent of the population is considered
obese. In about 30 years this has grown from about 46 percent overweight and
about 14 percent obese. So you can see that the obesity rates in particular have
doubled. Obviously that is huge market for trainers to capture. Almost three
quarters of our population is in that category. So to not tackle this overweight
and obesity problem or try to do your part to solve the problem is a big mistake
for trainers because there is such a huge profit that can be made with weight loss
programs. In addition to the adults, the estimates for children - which is another
market the overweight and obese children - suggest that in 30 years 9 out of 10
middle aged adults are likely to be overweight. So 90 percent of our young
adults, the teenager age, are more than likely to have developed obesity. So I
want to reiterate that point - why it is so important to have this offering or
implement this in your club or if youre a trainer on your own, implement some
type of weight loss seminar or weight loss programs to your clients.

PR That makes a lot of sense. Youre able to reach a much broader market.
You can obviously have a greater impact on society. Tell me if I am wrong with
this, but it just seems like there is such a large percentage of the population that
doesnt necessarily view using the services of a personal trainer as their first
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option. They go to diet books or Weight Watchers or something like that. It
seems like offering weight management might be a real easy way to penetrate a
much broader segment of the market.

CM Absolutely. As you know, you go to a bookstore or go to one of the on-line
bookstores and type in diet books and millions of hits come up. It is a huge
market right now because everyone is looking for the thing that will finally get
them to lose weight; the quick fix. So like you said, they turn to books, they turn
to pills, they turn to whatever it may be to hopefully lose weight where research
has shown that personal attention - whether it is one-on-one attention or in a
group setting, people are definitely or more likely to be successful with their
weight loss endeavors. So it is prime real estate, so to speak, for trainers to
capture this market. There are not many trainers out there that I am aware of
that really has weight loss as their specialization. If you go after that market, it
can be yours for the taking.

PR It seems like we always talk about the marketing side of things find a pool
of hungry potential customers. To be honest, that may be the largest pool as it
relates to health and fitness that there is at all.

CM Absolutely. If you work with athletes, that is great if that is what you enjoy,
but that is a very small percentage of the population now compared to the
overweight and obese clients. Once you get results with one person, they are
going to tell everybody because you can guarantee that they know people
friends, relatives, that are probably also overweight so they are the best
testimonials. Once you start getting results, you are known as quote-unquote
the guru of weight loss or whatever it may be, people will turn to you and you
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will have droves of people coming to you to hopefully help them lose weight as
well.

PR Weve briefly touched on why this is something that we think all fitness
professionals should integrate in some way, shape or form into their business.
Why dont we talk a little bit about what a successful weight management
program would entail? Could you expound on that?

CM Research has typically shown that at least 12 weeks of a weight loss
program are more successful than a quick fix. In those 12 weeks, you can hold
behavior seminars, nutrition seminars - if you team up with the right folks - and
training seminars as well. So if you do this in a club, you can work with the club
to get some of their members or if you are on your own, you can rent out a little
space. So what I would typically do is charge people for those 12 weeks.
Depending on where you are located, obviously that fee would be different. You
can get a pretty good amount of money from these people because if they are
finally committed to losing weight, they are going to be willing to pay for it if they
know you are successful.

So what I would do is figure out what the fee is that will have people come in -
and it would be hard for me to say exactly what that is, but maybe it is $500.00
per person - and right there if you get 20 people in your group thats $10,000 a
week for example.

So that is not a bad little side income you are generating. With the groups you
can offer personal training aside from the group meetings where you are going to
get some kickback or some additional revenue. One thing thats great is that you
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have them kind of in your control, so to speak, in the small group settings - if one
person is doing training and showing success, which they will if you are a
successful trainer, then pretty much everyone in the group will kind of follow suit
because they will want to get those results. So there are so many things you can
do like that - which is a ton of extra income per week just from having a one-hour
group or so per week and then getting some additional income from your training
aside from that.

PR Is there anything that you could share other than the fact that it needs to be
12 weeks any other component that you think is just a hallmark, a staple of a
successful program. Whether its time spent in a group or concepts that are
addressed - anything like that. Because obviously there are going to be different
ways to deliver effective programs, but I think if we can address a small set of
fundamentals that people know that they have to base their program around to
be successful - then all the better.

CM One thing you are going to want to get is a strong background in some of
the behavioral components. People can know everything they want to know
about nutrition and exercise without getting results. For example, I dont think that
people really think that eating fast food regularly is good for them. The problem
is that people dont know how to implement those changes. So you can kind of
be that ambassador of change and teach them good behavioral principles. So I
absolutely think that is one of the most important things. Week after week you
should have a good behavioral weight loss lesson. Maybe one week its how to
make time for exercise. You have three kids, husband or wife at home, you are
working; how do you find the time? So you can talk about different techniques to
make time for exercise. Another week it could be different ways to clean out your
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pantry or your refrigerator so you have more of a healthful setting at home. So
with things like that you can have whole lessons built around those, just to help
people get into the right mode to be more successful. So you definitely want to
get some kind of background on behavior modification. What I would also
recommend is group meetings lasting 45 minutes to an hour - you dont want to
keep people too long because then they start to tune you out. You want to give
them enough tidbits of information that they can take home, but not so much that
they are bored with you and they are tuning you out. I would also definitely have
some incentives built into your program. They can be small things like the first
person to lose 10 pounds, for example, gets a T-shirt -or every three weeks you
have different programs. The beauty of that is something as small as a T-shirt,
everyone thinks thats the greatest thing in the world, but this T-shirt can really be
a motivator and it can even have some slogan or your weight loss program, your
website. So theyre essentially just advertising for you. Another thing that I
would absolutely recommend is considering investing in pedometers. Those are
probably one of the greatest behavioral tools invented, but they are the simplest
thing ever. If you are not familiar with them, they are something you wear on
your waist which tells you how many steps you are taking every day and there is
a build up incentive programs particular around the steps they are taking.
Research has shown that you should take at least 10,000 steps a day, more if
you are looking for weight loss, but you can have different incentives built around
achieving those 10,000 steps. So pedometers are very simple things; they keep
people moving. They look down and see they have only achieved 3,000 steps
today and think: I know I still need to walk today or whatever it may be. So
definitely, I would include something like that. Other incentives would be water
bottles, towels, or you could have gift certificates to free or discounted personal
training, again, which would give you some backend income for yourself because
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that will engage the person into the one-on-one training. People will see that
they will be more successful because they are working more closely with
somebody versus just meeting once a week and then more clients coming to
these sessions will be interested. So those are of some of the things that I would
absolutely recommend doing. Like I said, 12 weeks is a great start, it could be
longer, but typically the longer you go the harder it is to keep people involved.
Make sure you are always continually contacting them so if you meet once a
week normally, maybe you could follow up or have someone follow up with an
email or quick little phone call. Simple things like that will keep people involved
and help you be more successful with your overall program.

PR I think that is exactly what we are looking for some of the key
components. As far as the delivery of the program, do you think that a group
setting is the optimal way to go? Would a semi-private setting or a one-on-one
setting be a viable way for fitness professionals to integrate this in as well?

CM I think the beauty of a group setting is that you can obviously make more
money because you are giving the same lesson to many instead of having just
one person pay for your hour for example - you can have 20 or 30 people pay for
that hour. So I like the group setting. In addition, some research has shown that
when in groups, the social atmosphere actually enhances weight loss success.
So it doesnt have to be as big as 25 or 30 people. Even in a semi-private setting
you have a few clients working with you together. I would actually value that over
the one-on-one. Not to say that there is anything wrong with one-on-one if that is
how you prefer to work - you can definitely be successful in that way as well. But
in terms of looking at overall bang for your buck - obviously the more people you
can reach per hour, per half hour, the better it is for you in terms of profitability.
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PR It definitely seems like a win-win. You are able to impact more people and
help more people achieve their weight loss goals plus you are leveraging your
time more effectively - so youre making more money. You have a broader range
of people that you can create backend sales or up sells and with more people
you can get more referrals. So it definitely seems like the best way to leverage
your time.

CM Absolutely.

PR That seems like a logical segue into the business side of this. How do you
think this integrates into a personal training business? Is this something that you
use as an entryway program to get people involved with training? Going after
that deconditioned market that may not have been involved in exercise. Is this
something that you use as an up sell for your existing clients? Is it something
that you use it as a deluxe program and if they are purchasing personal training,
they can get a deluxe version and integrate this in?

CM To be honest, I think it could be any of those. I think if you are a health
club owner or even if you are a trainer, you are kind of missing out if you are not
doing some type of weight loss training so it could be an introduction to some
people. Some people are so deconditioned, as you know, that pretty much any
type of exercise is going to be nearly impossible - so for them it can be the first
step in terms of getting started with a weight loss program and with the groups
maybe you could lead some very simple exercises for them. Just to essentially
get off the couch and start moving a little bit and then segue into a somewhat
more intense training or one-on-one training as they become more successful
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and start losing weight while healthier. In the same sense, though, it could be
something that is always continuously offered. Someone may be coming to your
gym regularly and trying to lose weight on their own, they just dont know
anything about training or anything about your weight loss programs so that is
another segment of the population you can capture. I wouldnt want to eliminate
anybody by saying it is a starter program or only for existing clients or whatever it
may be, but also the deluxe program, like you said, is a great idea as well. If
someone comes to you and pays a certain number of dollars per hour for one-on-
one training, they can pay an additional $50.00 or something like that and be a
part of the successful weight loss group which is kind of coining the term
successful losers. So I think whatever works out best for you in terms of
profitability and success with clients can be integrated perfectly.

PR I think that since we are talking about profitability, there are a couple things
that come to mind, the first one is is it prudent for fitness professionals to have
some sort of kind of a back end opportunity with things like meal replacements or
multivitamins? Is it prudent to have this as a backend to your weight
management program? Youre the expert in supplementation as well -so who
better to ask?

CM I think it can be, obviously. Everything you are talking about, if you are
selling it, then obviously you can get some kind of markup and make some type
of profit off of that. I think everyone should take a multivitamin, particularly if you
are attempting to lose weight. A simple thing like a meal replacement could be a
good idea as well. It is great for convenience - it is great for people on the go.
Obviously you do not want to rely on meal replacements for meals - and this is
what you would stress to people in the group. But, it can be something you sell if
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you need something quick and on the go. Something like a heart rate monitor
could be a good thing to sell to clients. Anything you talk about that is obviously
beneficial for them, you can sell: gym bags, fish oil - which is a great thing for
most people, anything like that could be worthwhile for you to sell. Even T-shirts
can be a great thing so you can have a little bit of markup and get some backend
sales from that. I can guarantee you that probably more than in any other health
situation, if you can help people lose weight, they will think you are the greatest
thing in the world and they will pretty much buy anything you say and do anything
within reason.

PR I think we, as fitness professionals, hold a lot of power so we have to
manage that ethically - but I think we are in a position where we can be their
fitness resource, so to speak, if we are delivering results. So obviously a lot of
clients are going to be utilizing some of these things - be it dietary products or
workout tools. Having them available might be a way to maximize the lifetime
value of each client.

CM Of course. If you are talking about these things - people are going to buy
them anyway. Why should they be buying them elsewhere aside from buying
them from you? Like you said, of course you have to make sure it is ethical so if
these things are not gimmicks or quick fixes and they are legitimate things, and
you are not trying to sell these things just to make money, these are absolutely
beneficial things for people so it makes perfect sense to try to sell some of these
instead of having them go to the store next door and buy the same exact item
that you can be making a profit from.

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PR You presented a variety of reasons why this is valuable. What would be
the next step a fitness professional would take to integrate a program like this
into their business model? I know there are number of restrictions that we as
fitness professionals face as far as prescribing diets, etc.

CM One thing you can do that can be a great benefit is to actually align
yourself with some other healthcare professionals. That means that you may not
have to be there every single week for every single behavior session. Maybe
you could team up with a registered dietitian who could do the nutrition part of it
and you pay her a small fee for her services, but obviously that means that you
may not have to be there for that night, so it saves you the time and youre just
paying her or him a small amount of money. Maybe even a behavior specialist if
that is not your area - then that is something you can bring in and it may help the
group as well to get this education from a lot of different well educated people
versus solely just working from you. Having professionals speak can bring in
clients as well and help refer more clients to these sessions, but you would be
overseeing the situation and youre the one who is in control of everything. So
you are paying them a small fee for their services, but it is beneficial for you
because you will be able to bring in more clients, more referrals and everything
else. So youre ultimately the one benefiting and of course the people attending
the sessions are benefiting because they are getting a great amount of
experience from all these different people.

PR Obviously, this just being one chapter in a book about building personal
trainers businesses, we cannot really delve into every conceivable concept of
how to successfully implement and run a profitable weight loss program so I think
we would be doing the readers a disservice if we didnt let them know that you
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and Kelly Calabrese, another author in this book, have developed a product
called Successfully Running Profitable Weight Loss Programs. This product
can be found at your website: www.mohrresults.com. The product expounds
on all the things weve talked about here. The science behind weight loss,
obesity trends, the keys to developing life long healthy habits, fat loss
supplements, energy balance, and program design. And then, it discusses the
profitable opportunities, the components of a successful program, how to market
it and how to create additional profit centers. So it is a very thorough look at how
you can integrate weight management into your business. So if you are serious
about taking advantage of the broad market that is out there for weight loss and
people trying to change body composition, your next logical step would be
picking up this product. So anything else you would like to add Chris?

CM Youve given a nice overview of that particular product. Basically it is a
three audio CD set. I talk on the first audio basically about all the science and
expanding tremendously on what I talked about here. The second CD like you
said, Pat, Kelly talks a lot about the business. Implementing the business model
and expanding on what we really did not have time for here. Then the third CD,
is a bonus CD that contains some of the most pressing questions that we get
regularly from clients. We went back and forth and had a great time addressing
each question. So thats what we did - we picked apart a lot of the questions that
we get in order to put this program together and I think it is a great way to get the
help that you need to get started. The product is called Successfully Running
Profitable Weight Loss Programs because it is such a huge market.

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PR Chris, I thank you for sharing all this valuable insight with the readers and
hopefully they will take advantage of the things that you shared and start
integrating this valuable component into their business.

CM Absolutely. Thank you.
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Chapter 13 - Secrets of the Studio on a Shoestring

By Nick Berry of www.fitnessconsultinggroup.com

Starting your own personal training studio with little or no resources is a daunting
task. Starting any business is a daunting task. With little or no funding you will
be forced to pinch pennies and account for everything. It only takes a small leak
to sink a small boat. Starting small may be your only opportunity to go out on
your own and begin to control your own destiny. When looking to start your own
studio, certain principles will need to be learned and adhered to. It is not logical
to think you can start a $100,000 operation with no resources from which to draw
capital. It is logical to think that you can find a way to get $10K in order to secure
a location, fill it with enough equipment to train clients, and do some marketing.
It will require resourcefulness, determination, and willingness to go above and
beyond what everyone else is doing. If you are wise with your approach, your
work ethic can be what puts you over the top getting started. Once you get over
the hump, you will then be able to use the cash flow to add on, add staff,
upgrade equipment, and do whatever else in order to turn your shoestring
startup personal training studio into the Personal Training Studio of your dreams.

Here is the #1 most important you are going to read, so read it twice. The key to
starting your studio with little or no capital is to learn the difference between need
and want. Do you need paper towel dispensers in every corner, or would you
like to have them? Do you need 6000 square feet, or just want a lot of open
space? Do you need a nice painted mural on the back wall, or is the cinder block
design going to suffice for now? We all want to be the class of the town, but is
that absolutely necessary to get started making money? These are the choices
you have to make that will determine if you make it through the startup and begin
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to make some serious money. When you are questioning the necessity of a
potential expense, here is the Magic Question, How will it affect my business if I
dont have this? That question oftentimes will open your eyes to the obvious
truth about your level of NEED versus WANT. Not to say you cant add these
things down the road, you certainly can. After your business begins to flourish
you can start to add on space, equipment, aesthetics, etc., as you see fit. Your
primary focus on getting started needs to be the bare essentials. ABSOLUTE
BARE ESSENTIALS. Make money first, then start to spend it. Cash flow is first
and foremost.

The first step would be to classify what type of operation you want. We use a
typical Type A, Type B, Type C classification system to determine an
approximate amount of overhead and potential expense for our business. The
primary determining factor in this is the lease amount. The lease per square foot
amount is determined by the cost of the building and the demographic of the
market. A very generic scale might be to classify your location as a Type A -
>$20/sq ft, Type B - $12-20/sq ft, and Type C - <$12/sq ft. Obviously, the Type A
locations will have better visibility, higher traffic, and a more upscale design.
Now be honest with yourself, are those things going to generate the bulk of your
clientele? If you provide good service, and can do some targeted marketing,
then the answer is no. So you really dont need to be paying for those things that
wont contribute directly to your bottom line. Focus your energy and resources
on those that will; great marketing, great programs, and the equipment you need
to fulfill the service you are selling.

When starting up with little or no resources, keeping the rent factor down is of the
utmost importance. Rent is going to be a permanent, major expense. Important
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as it is to have an accessible location, you also have to be able to afford the
location. Health clubs need to be easily accessible and near high visibility, high
traffic areas. Health clubs oftentimes depend on walk-in traffic for a large
percentage of their revenues. Personal Training Studios and Sports Training
Facilities do not. The more niched you plan to be, the less important visibility
tends to be. In order to make up for the walk-in traffic that studios do not
generate, you will need to key in on your marketing.

Starting a studio on a shoestring, you can get 2500 square feet in a Type C
center, and its going to run you under $2500 a month. That is at $12 per square
foot per year. Get down around $7 per square foot, and you are looking at under
$1500 a month. A Type A center, you might be paying in the neighborhood of
$5000 a month. So you can see what your site selection will do to your cash
flow.

In addition to saving your money on rent, you can do without an expensive build
out and still be ready to get started. The industrial look has really caught on. We
even have an open, unpainted ceiling in one of our clubs thats in a Type A strip
center. It looks great. You can go into your space, put down some carpet/rubber
only where needed, and youre ready to get started. You may add a couple of
mirrors to begin with, but dont go elaborate until you are established. The point
here is this: Dont get caught up in spending much needed capital on non-
essential items. Painting the ceiling, mirrors on every wall, your logo on every
piece of equipment, etc. You just dont need them to get started.

All of the costs of leasing your location are negotiable. Go to the bargaining table
with an open mind, but be aware of exactly what you need and what you can
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reasonably afford. Most landlords are aware that it is in their best interests as
well as your own that you are successful. You may be able to sacrifice certain
terms in order to barter for other favorable terms. Typically, the lease amount
per square foot is an issue that they choose to hold firm. This is related to their
own financials and the value of the property should they wish to sell. Dont let
that discourage you, they may be willing to give you money for improvements, a
shorter initial lease term, or several months of no rent due before you begin
payments. Remember, if you sign a 5 year initial lease term, and decide to
close, sell, or move, you are responsible for that lease. You may feel more
comfortable leasing for one to three years to begin with, with the possibility of
longer extension periods. These are your bargaining tools. Ask about the Triple
Net, which is CAM (Common Area Maintenance), taxes, and insurance on the
property. The Triple Net may be in addition to your dollars per square foot
amount. Do not hesitate to have an attorney look over a lease if you are not
comfortable.

Equipment will be your largest startup cost, unless you decide to renovate your
space, in which case you probably are taking a different path than what we have
here. Starting on a tight budget means you need to find less equipment to serve
more function. Functional training is big right now, and will play right into your
hands in buying equipment. Do some research, look around, and you can get a
full set of medicine balls, resistance bands and tubing, plyometric aides, at a
minimal cost for the amount of use you will be getting out of them. The same
principle should apply to any freeweights and machines. Although, with
machines, I suggest being very selective with my choices. I only want machines
that I can do multiple exercises in the same space. One Dual Cable Cross from
FreeMotion can substitute for at least a half dozen machines how much does
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that save? Vortex Fitness also has some excellent equipment designed for
multiple exercises and uses. Not all facilities even need machines or an
abundance of freeweights to get started. It depends on the type of programming
you provide.

Go the used route. You can get used equipment at a great price, some may be
below .25 on the dollar. You can add new upholstery or paint down the road. As
long as the equipment is fully functional and safe, you can design effective
programs. Effective programs should be the foundation of your studio much
more than shiny paint. When you are looking for used equipment, there are
used equipment vendors out there. Although their inventory may be limited, if
you give them notice that you may be looking ahead of time, they will get their
feelers out and make finding what you are looking for a higher priority.

When looking for used equipment, do not be afraid to approach a distressed
owner or seller. There is an ethical approach to buying equipment from someone
who is short of cash or looking to get out altogether, and someone may take
offense to your suggestion or offer. Their reaction is generally dictated by the
severity of their need. And although it may not be the most comfortable situation
for either party to deal with, rest assured that if their distress level is high enough,
they are going to be doing something to get some cash, and selling equipment
may be in their best interests. If you are well networked in your area among
other trainers and studio or club owners, they may initiate contact with you
concerning matters. In this situation, you have an open door for negotiation,
dont get that door slammed by being overaggressive or insulting with your
approach. Remember this is their livelihood that you are dealing with, so deal
with a persons pride very delicately. Know exactly how much you are able and
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willing to spend on the selected equipment, and work to get it at or below that
price. If they are unwilling to accept what you can feasibly pay, then you may not
be able to work anything out immediately. They will understand if you explain
that you just cant afford anymore than your offer, as that is a part of business.
They will most definitely take offense if they feel as if you are trying to steal what
they have worked for. Even if no agreement can be made, leaving on good
terms can set you up for another meeting down the road.

I know several individuals who have contacted some smaller equipment vendors
and inquired about becoming a rep solely for the purpose of getting the
equipment discounted. Wholesale pricing can get you a nice discount, maybe
just what you need to make the deal happen. This tactic wont guarantee
success, but it wont hurt your chances by asking. Again, this relates directly to
your startup costs and keeping them to a minimum.

If you are going to borrow money from a lender, be very aware of your repayment
options. You may be able to borrow on an interest only loan over a short or
medium term, and your only immediate payments would be for the interest
accrued over that time. This is an excellent way to conserve capital and
establish your business and cash flow before actually incurring larger payments.
If you are utilizing revolving credit, ie credit cards, be very aware of your credit
limits and interest rates. Using credit cards for a startup is not highly
recommended, but in some cases is the only means of capital. Repayment
terms on credit cards are much looser than those of other lenders, and may allow
you to pay back funds at a slower rate, but you sacrifice the interest rates in most
cases.

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Being cognizant of every dollar you spend is absolutely imperative. You cannot
go spend $100 on supplies every time you get the impulse. Certain items you
will deem necessary, others you will not. Every time you are faced with a
potential expense, take a step back and evaluate. Ask yourself again the Magic
Question,
How will it affect my business if I dont have this?
More times than not, you are going to find that a little creativity and
resourcefulness will go a long, long way. It is those times in particular which will
save you an abundance of money during your startup, and over the course of
your business.

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Chapter 14 - To be an Independent, or to Franchise?
That is the question!

By Matt Hunt of www.sonzexercise.com

Youre probably the best trainer you know, right? Cmon, admit itits okay! I
was the best trainer in Atlanta in the 1980s. No really, I swear to youso were
273 others! I was in my 20s then, now Im in my mid 40s and Ive learned that I
really know less now than what I thought I knew then. A lot changes as you grow
and mature in your own life as a professional trainer. If you make this your
profession as I did, you begin to see the wheat separate from the chaff. Very few
of us progress and move forward making a viable or even financially strong living
from this line of work while most others fade into existence or produce meager
incomes.

20 years is a long time! Its even a longer time to waste lots of money. No
matter who you are, you will always measure your business productivity by
money kept versus money expended. There are years where I kept much. And
years where I expended much and depended on my wife supporting our family
for income. So how does this relate to Franchising (which sounds so commercial
and conjures up visions of McDonald Happy Trainers everywhere) versus
creating your own unique studio?

How much time and money are you willing to risk by creating your own studio
concept? I end the sentence with the word concept, because if youre not
creating a concept, and the thought has not entered your mind, then youre
really a candidate for Franchising. If youre a numbers focused person who
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generally wants to maximize the revenue you can make from any venture you go
into, then youre and even stronger candidate for Franchising.

However, if youre the creative type, lets say like Suzy, and you envision Suzys
center to be a functional training paradise with all the right toys, tools and gizmos
to Wow all your new clients, and youre going to do a better job than your
current boss does, then youre a candidate for.a Franchise! But wait Matt? I
thought you were going to end that sentence by saying that I would be a
candidate to operate my own center, the one I dreamed about for 5 years with
the pretty Lavender walls, signature soap and hand towels in the bathroom, and
those cool uniforms with the Capri pants, and possibly my own line of Suzy
supplements at the front counter?

Youre wrong Suzy, get over it! But before you rip this page up and send the
nasty emails, hear my impassioned plea? You see that was my vision (less the
Capri pants). I wanted the perfect size facility with the right bathrooms and the
perfect front counter and the center had to have all the right equipment. Well I
did that, and no one came! I was so focused on what little Matty wanted, I forgot
the most important thingwhat MY CLIENTS wanted!

I write this to you to share with you that even the best trainers get stuck in how
cool or how great we are, and our center will be a direct reflection of that
coolness or greatness. Instead, what I really should have done was design it
around the customers needs. 5 years later and finally out of paying off debt, I did
it the smart way the second time, and focused on making the client come first.

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I looked at what the clients wanted by studying not the Trends (which I think are
foolish) but what they really wanted which was to make exercise part of their
daily life (now our companys mission). I found that the standard industry
equipment was designed for body building. This was also the groupthink
amongst most personal trainers, but to my demise it did not work for clients and
was far too overpriced. I leaned heavily towards functional training, body weight
training, basic Olympic style lifts, calisthenics, and speed and agility. I knew
these were the basics for exercise, not fitness. To me exercise was the catalyst
that led to being fit. Exercise precedes fitness! Makes sense right? I still
believe our industry has it backwards. They want you to be fit and hope you
figure out that you should exercise everyday. I knew that if my client could not
perform 5 pull-ups, putting him on a lat machine was not going to get him to
perform 6. He/she would have to master the basics first. Besides I have yet to
meet a client who wants to be a professional body-builder. Yet all of those
clients do want to live better lives and look better comes along with that. I knew
this old-school approach worked and I was witnessing top innovative
professionals in our industry practicing this modicum for training (J.C. Santana,
Mike Boyle, Coach Glassman of Crossfit.com and too many to mention here
although I wish I could list them all).

Does this mean you will not be successful at your own studio? No! If youre
creative and have an agenda you wish to promote, then promote it. What it does
mean is that before you even think youre going to be successful (translated as
before you make money), you sure better know the 7 components of Business
first. They are:
Lead Generation
Lead Conversion
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Marketing
Management
Client Fulfillment
Finances
Leadership

And keep in mind that all 7 areas have about 10 subcategories underneath them,
with sub-sub categories below them! Now to go even deeper, it will take you
about 3 to 9 years to perfect these categories and sub categories and sub-sub
categories in total. Average cost estimates for this start at about $300,000 on the
low end to about $1,000,000 on the high end in just raw expenses alone to make
this work for you over that time frame. (If youre a glutton for punishment like
that, I have a killer workout for you that youll never survive) In fact, a disclaimer
ought to appear in your brain as you begin to think about opening your own
location: ATTENTION, THE FOLLOWING SHOULD ONLY BE ATTEMPTED BY
A BUSINESS PROFESSIONALDO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! Sadly, many
of you will ignore my warning, so if you truly have the time, and the money, I say
go for it! And I hope Im proven incorrect.

If youre smart, and are not threatened by direct challenges and your ego is
intact, then considerjust consider looking at a Franchise. At 24 years of age
my ego was too strong and I would have said, I can do what you did for a lot
less! Im not ashamed to tell you I was foolish, and my remarks were foolish. It
actually cost me more than the above numbers financially listed, and at some
points almost cost my marriage. Fortunately, I married a woman with more
smarts and a secure ego, who also happens to be a loving wife willing to support
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my wacky ideas and support me financially. (Not too many of those types out
there but if you find one, marry her!)

Obviously there are many circumstances that would lead one to open their own
center and if that is your true vision, I support you and commend you. Just know
what youre getting into before you do it. Like the author Stephen Covey says
begin with the end in mind. Owning a Franchise seriously reduces your
learning curve for the 7 critical areas of business operations, and saves you a ton
on money in the process allowing you to focus on what you prefer to do best.
The really hard work has already been done for you. When you compare the
cost of purchasing a franchise, which is usually $20,000 to $40,000, youre better
off spending that up-front money to avoid paying $300,000 or greater on the back
end. And dont fool yourself, you will pay for it on the back end because your
concept has to include the 7 critical areas, or you dont have a business.
Smart training professionals will already know the answer to this question. Just
look at the explosive growth for the Fitness Together franchise over the past 5
years.

I hope this article helps you in your decision making process and if you have any
questions, feel free to call me 404.513.1763 or email me at
www.sonzexercise.com.

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Chapter 15 - The ABCs of Wellness!
By Marilyn Gansel of www.fitnessmatters.com

Part I: Transitioning your business

Remember when you learned your ABCs? You recited the alphabet over and
overyou may have even sung the alphabet song while your teacher pointed to
each letter on a chart. After mastering the twenty-six letters, you learned the
distinction between the consonants and vowels. And, finally, you learned you
could form written words by placing the letters in a certain order. Now, you had a
new way of communicating with others. Your choice of words strung together in
sentences on paper or spoken opened a way to share information, feelings, and
novel ideas.

These very A, B, Cs that were the building blocks for language can now be the
very foundation that you can use to transition your business or medical practice
in providing wellness services to your patients and community.. In this article, the
acronym A. B. C. s will represent the words Alliances, Business Models,
Customers Priorities, and Sources. Each letter of his acronym will help you
construct and build onto your existing business so you can profit from the many
opportunities that the wellness field can bring you.

What is Wellness?

Before transitioning your business or medical practice to provide dynamic
wellness services to your community, we need to identify wellness in relation to
the centers under which they operate. The term wellness is very expansive;
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and, wellness centers, while seemingly specific to their missions, are just as
diverse in the services they provideeach unique in its approach and
integration. According to Joan Whaley Gallup, author of Wellness Centers: A
Guide for the Design Professional (1999), Wellness Centers are facilities that
incorporate clinical and fitness components into a comprehensive health-care
center. These facilities offering wellness services are varied in the types of
treatment plans, rehabilitation, and workout programs available. Some wellness
providers strictly offer nutritional counseling along with conventional and
alternative medicines. And still others provide personal training supervised by a
physician or health professional. All facilities, however, structure the wellness
concept to include some key philosophical elements: an integration of
conventional, holistic and alternative medicine, and a commitment of the
practitioners and fitness professionals to help individuals reduce their risk of
disease and injury, achieve optimal health and enhance the quality of life.
Wellness, then is generally used to mean a healthy balance of mind, body and
spirit that results in an overall feeling of wellbeing. While the wellness
movement began in the1950s, the modern concept of wellness did not become
popular until the 70s. Besides the alternative approach to improve the wellness
of an individual, the term today denotes any program or health-related practices,
such as natural therapies, or techniques used to improve physical health.
Recently, wellness is a collaborative effort between medical practitioners and
fitness professionals or specialists who provide preventive medicine and
traditional exercises such as weight training or mind-body exercises like tai chi,
yoga, and Pilates. Wellness, then, in fact, is also about healthy people
maintaining their healthproving that such wellness services or programs are
not just for sick people. Wellness promoters believe that many factors
contribute to a healthy lifestyle: living in a clean environment, eating properly,
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regularly engaging in exercise, finding career balance while maintaining solid
family and social relationships, and developing their spiritual preferences. These
wellness programs can enable participants to stop smoking, deal with the stress
in their lives, and learn how to manage their weight, cope with loss, improve
health and provide individuals with health risk assessments and screenings.

Wellness Business Models

Looking at the plethora of wellness options is a bit overwhelming. But, for the
medical community, alternative care providers, and fitness professionals, these
choices leave a wide range of business models for those businesses or practices
that wish to transition into the wellness arena. And, the diversity of these
offerings affords each practitioner and fitness professional an opportunity to use
his talents, education, and expertise in a more comprehensive and
complementary way.

Wade Harris, owner of Phase II Personal Training located in, North Carolina
embraced this very idea of wellness into his own business to incorporate a dual
effort to serve his clients on a more holistic basis. Harris, a personal fitness
professional with a bachelors degree in kinesiology, certified by ACSM and ACE
with twenty years experience in the personal training business decided to
separate himself from the masses. In April 2004, he welcomed Dr. Arturo de
Leon to act as a liaison between clients and their personal physicians. By
overseeing each clients fitness program, (Dr. De Leon)will help ensure they
reach their health goals in a safe and productive manner. This collaborative
effort by the fitness and medical world according to de Leon will help open new
opportunities to not only provide services to heal the body but also to maintain
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ones health.: Medical school teaches physicians to care mostly for sick patients
or those who are less fitness-oriented; there is little emphasis placed on
preventive medicine. But by teaming with fitness experts, Phase II provides a
cutting-edge approach that combines overall patient health with a safe and
ongoing exercise routine. Its a way to keep people healthybefore they get
sick.

Harris agrees with de Leon that this partnership can benefit your business and
your clientsand as a result, could be the first step into the future. Fitness is
headed in a direction where doctors and trainers will someday work side by side,
predicts Harris. We feel that by being the first fitness center to have a physician
on staff, were taking an important step in leading the industry toward an
improved and ongoing physician/trainer team approach.

Harris adds that the addition of a medical practitioner is a natural extension of
Phase IIs revolutionary Physicians Communications program. This program,
explains Harris, enables a personal trainer to gather information directly from a
clients doctor, then tailor an exercise plan that best meets that clients training
needs. After several weeks of the plan in action, the trainer reassesses his
clients blood pressure, body fat, measurements and resting heart rate and
reports this progress directly to the clients personal physician. As a physician,
physical therapist, personal fitness professional or alternative health provider,
you know the benefit of working together as a team. You understand the
advantage of a multidisciplinary approach to healing and wellness. And, if you
want to be a part of that industry change, you need to make that transition.

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The Building BlocksLets starts with A

How do you convert your business or practice to an integrated wellness
organization? How do you find the team to work with you? And, who should be a
part of your team? Lets look at the (A.B.C.S.)--Alliances, Business Models,
Clients/Patients Priorities, and Sources.

When I first began my personal training business, I first networked among local
businesses and then within the medical community. Networking works, I
discovered, but forming alliances or partnerships with physicians is much more
effective. Networking is a way to refer clients or patients; while, forming an
alliance is a commitment in working towards the same health-realized goals.
Such an alliance is a joint venture where each team member is accountable for
spearheading, developing and implementing wellness services or programs. If
you are looking to form such an alliance with a physician, chiropractic, personal
trainer, nutritionist, alternative care provider, here are some suggestions:

GO BEYOND NETWORKING-- Align yourself with medical practitioners,
fitness professionals or therapists that speak the same language about
health and wellness as you do. Your philosophy must match the other
members of your team. Become partners; form an LLC; and, sign a
contractthis makes your relationship permanent and makes you
accountable.
BE CHOOSY! Develop your working relationship first by networking; then,
work on a lecture series or other community events in which all of the
members of the team make a contribution. Set specific goalsdecide who
will be responsible for educating your clients and patients on health
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related issues, and, who will diagnose and prescribe the treatment plan for
the client/patient, including exercise, massage, nutrition, and alternative
therapies.
BE CREDENTIAL SAVVY! Physicians should collaborate with fitness
professionals, exercise physiologists, massage therapists, chiropractors,
and acupuncturists who share the same vision but also have
demonstrated and proven their competencies in working with a varied
clientele, especially special populations. Be open to all the providers that
can offer wellness services or programs at your practice or business!
Specialists, such as those with degrees in sports conditioning, physical
therapy, cardiac rehabilitation, industrial rehabilitation, ergonomics, and
cancer recovery are just a few professionals who will enrich the wellness
experience for your patient or client. You may want to consider aligning
yourself with a physiatrist whose primary specialty is to restore lost
function caused by injury or disease. And, fitness professionals should
consider family practitioners, chiropractors, and other allied health care
providers who will improve the overall health of their clients. If a majority of
your clients are cancer survivors, consider working with a local oncologist
and reconstructive surgeon.
POSITION YOURSELVES as experts who can help create a well
community. You dont need every practitioner or fitness expert on your
team; just a few who share your vision, philosophy, and can demonstrate
competency to form a well-designed multi-disciplinary and patient-specific
program. Start slowlyyou can always add team members as your
business or practice matures.
VIEW YOUR CLIENTS/PATIENTS AS STRATEGIC PARTNERS-- But
most importantly, let them know that together we will work toward mutual
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objectives. Give your patients/clients the tools to take charge of their
health. After all, if they do not care for their bodies, where will they live?

BUSINESS FACT:
Wellness Facilities can incorporate spa services, such as massage, orthopedic
and physical therapy modalities, corporate wellness programs and alternative
medical services like acupuncture and chiropractic therapies.

Part II: Finding the Right Plan

Transitioning your business or practice to provide wellness services can be a bit
overwhelming; especially, since most physicians, therapists, chiropractors, and
fitness specialists have little information available to assist them in further
developing their successful practices/businesses to include complementary
services. Many fitness professionals are beginning to network with the medical
community because referrals from the medical community add credibility to their
businesses. But trainers look at our clients health needs, they also realize that
strong lines of communication between specialists and fitness professionals are
vital to their clients lifelong physical condition. They also know that unless
alliances are formed with teams of experts working to place emphasis on
preventive care, they may be working pretty much alone.

Step One--Alliances

Last issue, I wrote about forming alliances, which I believe is the beginning in
developing a wellness organization. Engaging one or more individuals who
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share your same vision, passion, and desire to improve the overall well being of
your client/patient, will give your practice or business a multidisciplinary approach
to healing. True, forming alliances takes planning, patience, and persistence.
However, if you wish to break into the wellness arena, you need to have both
treatment protocols that are physician-monitored and provide exercise
prescriptions for your clients particular diagnosis and needs. Ongoing
communication between all team members is crucial to the success of your
business.

Building Your Business Model

As you are forming alliances, you will simultaneously be developing a new
business model. The business models for wellness care are infinite; so, here
are some straightforward ways to create your model:

First, imagine two concentric circles. In the inner circle, jot down your major team
players. Which physicians, fitness professionals, therapists, and nutritionists are
key to your organization? As you build this organization, look at your interests
and passionswhat health care changes do you wish to see happen and how
can your business or practice deliver those services? In the outer circle, jot down
the other team members. Will these members include a psychologist,
acupuncturist, massage therapist? In other words, who is the gatekeeper? Who
will initiate who should see whom and when? And, those practitioners in the outer
circlehow will their services be offered to your patients? Weekly, monthly, or on
a as they need basis?

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Will your business model begin with a delivery model? Will you start venturing
forth by providing wellness programs to the community and corporations? For
example, will you offer Brown Bag lunch presentations by on-site staff? Or, will
you provide training classes with general or customized curriculum? Will you do
Health Risk Assessments or attend Health Fairs that focus on the specific health
needs of the attendees? Or will you do screenings, such as blood pressure and
cholesterol checksor a combination of these programs?
As you continue to grow and feel comfortable with your alliances, the above
business model will eventually take a new shape. From a simple delivery
model, you may wish to offer more integrated, comprehensive wellness
services. Medical staff, alternative care providers, physical therapists, and
psychologists, as well as fitness professionals to name a few can help contribute
to the body-mind-spirit profile of wellness.

Also, examine which treatment options your practice or business can handle: do
you have the space for physical therapy or can you outsource this service? Does
your vision include incorporating massage therapy, chiropractor care,
acupuncture and pain management counseling? Will your fitness professionals
include exercise physiologists as well as those certified in special populations
such as cardiac rehabilitation and cancer recovery specialists?

Finally, brand your combined services in an inter-related manner. In all your
marketing material, focus on the extensive training of your orthopedic,
chiropractic, physical therapist, and exercise professionals. Provide services for
assessments and reevaluations on an on-going basis. List all the benefits of
working with your team of specialists. Demonstrate through client/patient
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testimonials how your unique services or programs will dramatically improve the
quality of their lives.

Assessing Your Clients/Patients Priorities
Essential to your new business model is assessing your clients/patients
priorities. What do the majority of your clients/patients require? Do they need:

A total health care program that focuses on prevention
Complementary medicineholistic worksite programs offered to achieve a
higher level of wellbeing
A health link servicea 24-hour toll-free number to access health-care
information
An employee assistance program to enhance employee retention and
worker productivity
Behavioral health servicescomprehensive treatment for those facing
serious personal conflicts that interfere with work performance
Occupational healtha proactive approach to prevent and manage onsite
work injuries
Fitness programsfrom corporate fitness programs to online personal
training to phone coaching
Nutrition services---from meal planning to a personal chef to vitamin and
herb therapies
Stress Managementto assist clients and patients organize their time and
learn to cope or set limits
Relaxation techniquessuch as yoga, meditation, massage

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Whatever your clients/patients needs, you can draw upon your interests,
expertise, and team members to provide your patients/clients with a revolutionary
way to reduce and prevent disease. You can inspire people to think about
changing from the inside out with a side benefit of looking better.

Using Your Resources

Finally, there are additional sources that can assist you in making this transition.
Utilizing all the help that is at your fingertips can be the most effective way to
move from a single source provider to a multi-source provider in a wellness
setting.

Create Relationship with Physicians, Therapists, Personal Trainers, and
Alternative Care Providers in your area. Better yet, befriend the facilitys
manager. Give her complimentary sessions to your center/office or invite her to a
seminar where you are the guest speaker. Let her get to know you, your
philosophy and your expertise so that she will become your ambassador. She,
more than anyone, can sing your praises and make the connection between you
and your potential partner.

As you discover the needs of your clients, take courses that will set you apart
from other professionals and give you credibility. As you build on to your
business or practice, you will be expanding your scope of practice. Educating
yourself in these new areas, whether it be medical or fitness related, will enhance
your reach as well as save you money on employee cost. ACE offers their
Medical Exercise Specialist Course and there are other ones such as Cancer
Recovery Specialist that is specific to cancer patients.
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Hospitals in your community may have wellness programs for the general
public. Attend some lectures, introduce yourself to the speakers, and make
connections with the person in charge of organizing the programs. Offer to run a
future program. Forming an alliance may well develop from meeting someone at
your local hospital.

Unfortunately, the resources available to business owners making this transition
are in its infancy. We are just beginning to shift our focus to give our
patients/clients a variety of medical and alternative care options to have and
maintain wellness in their lives. We are writing the script for wellness and
making revisions as we move forward. It is an exciting time for usrather than
work in isolation, we are beginning to work as a team. The most important thing
is to communicatewe have the words---now we need to form alliances,
examine which business model we wish to use, fully appreciate our
clients/patients priorities, and maximize the sources available to structure
our business or practice.

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Chapter 16 - How to Become a Local Celebrity
By Cliff Latham of www.clifflatham.com

It happened by accident. Becoming a local celebrity that is. It was never in my
business or marketing plan. I never had some grandiose vision of being the most
famous fitness professional in our town. But it happened. By accident. And now
my marketing barely exists and my business runs almost a hundred percent by
word of mouth. In fact, it works so well, I keep eight trainers fully employed. And
we dont even have a sign on the front of our training studio.

Want to know the secret?

Ninety percent of your market will never come to you. You must go to them.
And there are a million ways to do that. See, most of the people in your gym are
currently there because they either know what they are doing or think they know
what they are doing. And they are generally not your target market. Sure, your
gym requires that you spend time on the gym floor trying to turn customers into
clients. Well, guess what? You could spend your time much more effectively
outside the gym than in.

But most of us wont do it. We wont go outside the gym for the exact same
reason that your target market wont come in: you are scared to go outside of
your comfort zone.

Think about it. It is just as hard for you to step outside your comfort zone, as it is
for your market to take that step to come in to see you.

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So get tough and make that step. You want your clients to, dont you? Lets
learn how to meet them halfway.

Speaking
When I opened my studio, I had no money. I mean, nothing! I couldnt afford to
market and I certainly didnt know how to do much other than train. I was
desperate so I did the absolutely wrong thing: I sat in my studio and waited for
clients to walk in. Really, I did. And in between twiddling my thumbs, I walked
into a real estate title company and asked if I could do a brown bag lunch speech
for their 55 employees. I was willing to do it for free, of course. But they asked
me how much I charged. I told them that normally I charged $159 per person,
but I was willing to do it for $59 per person since it was local and I didnt have to
travel. They accepted.

I almost choked on my protein shake. I agreed to a three-hour seminar and gave
it everything that I had. And I got 3 clients.

So I arranged another speech and another and another. Some I got paid for,
others I didnt get a dime. But either way, I got clients most of the time.

Now, this is important. Dont ever go speak or meet with a group without two
things:

1. Give them more than a speech. I always have a handout, brochures,
business cards and a gift certificate for a free training session. They will
more than likely throw away everything except the free certificate. But that
will sit on their desk for eons and they wont be able to throw it away.
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Why? Because it has a value. Most will never use it, but when one of
their friends starts talking about their weight, whos name do you think will
pop up? Hopefully yours
2. Take something from them. I never leave without collecting data, at
least an email, but preferably a mailing list, phone number, etc. The list
then becomes your business. After four years in the business, if I want a
glut of new clients, I just do a mailing to my warm list of potential clients.
Bam, I get 10-15 new clients within a week.
3. Then court them for the next several years. Every email that I have
collected over the years goes onto my weekly email newsletter. This is so
incredibly simple, that I cant believe every trainer doesnt do this. Every
Sunday, no matter what, I sit down and write an email newsletter. I have
over 4,000 people from around the world who read this every week. And
every week, someone emails me and asks if they can become a client. I
have to turn some away for lack of space. Think about it, I am reaching
out to 4,000 people each week for FREE! (Except my hour of time on a
Sunday). This is a good return on investment (ROI), my friend.

Now after 4 years of newsletters, if I wanted to write a book, I simply pull
the best articles together and voila! Sell that to your list of 4,000 clients.

Now, heres is an example of what I created. Last November, my wife
gave birth to our first son, whom we named William. We can already tell
that hell be a scholarship athlete, but that story will have to wait.

So one Sunday morning, Monica was trying to sleep and William was
squawking. So I held him in front of me with Fox News on the TV and
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started doing squats in the living room. After 30 seconds, I started
realizing, this was a pretty good workout. So I set my watch, told William
we were going to do this for 30 minutes and off we went. He was silent, I
was sweating and Monica slept away.

My point? That was the topic of that afternoons newsletter. William-
Squats. How you can do cardio anywhere with any type of equipment.

It has been three months since I wrote that article, okay? And the other
night, Monica and I attended a fairly swanky charity ball. I am not kidding,
at least thirty people came up to me and said, Oh my gosh, William-
Squats, that was so cute I just love your newsletters. And these were
people that I have never met! Some mighty important people too.

Think about it, every Sunday, I am in thousands of homes for FREE,
advertising my expertise.

If you want to see what I write, go to www.clifflatham.com and you can
sign up for the newsletter there. I am always looking for guest writers, so
feel free to send an article or two!

Start a newsletter this weekend, I promise, it will elevate your celebrity
status over time.

Schmoozing I hate schmoozing. Its not that I cant do it, but I just tend
not to naturally. Id rather be out for a run or watching football on
Saturday.
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But, once in a while, you have to get out. Remember, that a huge amount
of your target market may not even know what personal training is or how
to go about finding it.

Here are some ideas:

Chamber of Commerce You dont have to join the chamber if you dont
want, but join one or two business/social groups in town. Get out, meet a
few people, grab a business card from them and then stick them on your
newsletter that youve now started.

Network while Shopping I got conned into a multi-level marketing
company many years ago. Never again! But I did learn, that the only way
to succeed in multi-level was to talk to everyone that you met throughout
the day. Now, everyone that asks me about my polo shirt logo, or what I
do or what they can do to lose weight, guess what? I get their email and
add them on my newsletter. If its a hot prospect, of course I get a phone
number and follow up with them, immediately.

Why immediately? Do you know how many times I have called a prospect
24-hours later, only to learn that they already found another trainer at a
competing gym? What? This actually happened to me within two hours
one time. So call your prospects quickly. When they are hot, they are hot.

Silent auctions I dont know that this has been that huge for me. I dont
have any proof one way or the other, but its so simple to do, it cant hurt.
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Put together a nice 11X17 poster of something related to what you do.
Graphics, before and after photos, your logo, etc and then laminate it onto
nice poster board.

All you have to do is give that to the charity event, along with your gift
certificates and you have a nice, easy, fairly inexpensive advertisement
you can use over and over and over. (Always get the poster back from
the charity).

Ninety percent of all gift certificates will never be used, but I have never
had a client redeem a certificate and not become a long term client. Plus,
everyone at the charity ball got to see a poster of your business. More
celebrity.
Recognition Now that people in your area will start to recognize you in
public (and they will), make sure that you wear your logo A LOT. Dont put
Cheetos and beer in your grocery cart. People you have never met will
stop you and look in your cart. It drives me nuts, so I usually try to turn
them into a client right then and there.

Show up at all the galas, events, charity functions, etc. If you happen to
have clients at the event, they love to introduce you around. Follow up
with your new contacts (newsletter and a phone call) within 24-hours.

It Takes Time
Spending $1000 on advertising is quick. I still do it, but we can, because
we can afford it. Networking and becoming known throughout your
community takes time, there is no other way around it. So be patient and
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get out and show your face consistently. Why not? Isnt that what we
teach our clients? Patients and consistency?

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Chapter 17 - The Power of Joint Ventures, Strategic
Alliances, and Endorsed Offers.

By; Frank Pastorelli C.P.T., L.M.T. of www.myfitnessplanet.com

The ability to set up joint ventures and create strategic alliances is a major tool in
setting yourself apart from the competition. A joint venture (JV) is simply a
partnership or cooperative agreement formed between two businesses for a
specific purpose. Joint ventures are most effective when formed with businesses
that provide products and services that are in the same field as you, but are not
in direct competition with you. Being in the business of health and appearance,
personal trainers have almost an unlimited amount of potential alliances, and you
should try to forge every one of them. In the health field you have doctors of
every specialty, chiropractors, supplement stores, massage therapists, physical
therapists, fitness equipment dealers, and healthy restaurants, just to name a
few. In the appearance business you have hair and nail salons, as well as local
clothing stores; use you imagination. These relationships are best forged with
businesses that complement you, but do not limit it to that. I currently have joint
ventures set up with an accountant, financial adviser, and insurance company.
The sky is limit and when you are in sales (and you are in sales) it is a numbers
game. The more relationships you can build, the faster and stronger your
business will grow. Be sure that the businesses you choose to form alliances
with have an established customer database and a healthy relationship with their
clients. Remember: people want to do business with people they know and trust.
If they are getting recommendations about you from a business that provides a
service they are already happy with, that recommendation is very strong.
Conversely, if they get a recommendation about you from a business they are
not happy with, that feeling will roll over to you as well. Be sure the businesses
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you choose to work with are credible. If you have a current relationship with a
business owner that meets your requirements (client, friend) start with them.

When I talk to other personal trainers about setting up JVs, I often see hesitation
in them, especially when it comes to making initial contact with the doctors. You
have to remember that doctors are in business the same as you. Just like you,
they want a full schedule and, more often than not, they are very receptive to
building a relationship with someone in town, like you, that has influence over
their client base and can refer patients to them. So never hesitate to try to build
these relationships due to fear of rejection. Some rejection is inevitable, you
have to have some thick skin and approach potential allies with confidence.

Initial Contact: Making initial contact is best done by letter. The letter should be
short and to the point for highest readability. Be sure to include who you are,
what you do, and what you are trying to accomplish. Include in the letter a date
and time that you will call them to discuss this further. Do not try to sell them on
the idea in the letter. The purpose of the letter is simply to break the ice so that
you may speak to them on the phone. This helps bring down their guard and
open up their mind. You want them to know who you are and what you want
before you get on the phone with them. If you skip the letter and start with a
phone call they will have a stronger guard up.

The Offer: There are numerous arrangements that can be set up when
organizing joint ventures. The main goal in setting up a joint venture is gaining
leverage. You get the greatest benefit out of joint ventures by exchanging your
leverage with your allys for the specific purpose of helping each others business
or income grow. Leverage comes in many different forms: knowledge, money,
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success, ideas, or (my favorite) contacts and credibility. The leverage you have
over your client list and leverage your potential ally has over their list can make
your business grow within weeks. Take, for example, the chiropractic business.
Chiropractors are not yet totally accepted by the public. They have a lot of
competition, and they, like you, are their own sales people. A consultation with a
chiropractor is equivalent to a fitness assessment with a personal trainer. It is
the chiropractors chance to sit down with a potential client and assess them. It
is also a chance for them to educate the potential client as to how chiropractic
will help them and why they should spend money on it. It is a sales pitch. It is
scary because you do not want to think that when you go to any doctors office
you are going to be sold services, but the fact of the matter is that you are. The
quicker that is understood the easier it will be for you to approach others with
joint venture proposals.

First, you want to find a business person in your area that you know does good
work, is honest, and has a strong relationship with his client base. Assuming you
have the same to offer in return, when you approach this person with a joint
venture proposition, he or she would be extremely open to it. This is where
endorsed offers come into play. Endorsed Offers allow you to market your
business to each others client base with a very high response rate. The reason
you get a very high response rate is because, rather than simply marketing your
services to their list and them to yours, you write a letter to your client base
endorsing him and vice versa. I will say it again: people like to do business with
people they know and trust. If you get an advertisement in the mail from a
business you are unfamiliar with versus getting a personalized letter from an
organization you already have a healthy relationship with, recommending
someone for a specific product or service; which marketing campaign do you
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believe will get a higher return? Without a doubt it would be the endorsed offer
you get from someone you already trust.

When writing endorsed offers there are certain things you want to make sure are
present.

1. Compelling Headline: Your headline alone can determine whether or not
your letter will be read. Think about how people sort through their mail.
Usually, two piles are created: the junk pile and the read pile. Very
rarely is mail read right when it is opened. The goal of your headline is
simply to get you into the read pile. Make sure you grab their interest right
from the start because, if not, into the junk pile and eventually the garbage
you will go.
2. Special Offer: To get the highest response rate be sure to include a
special offer exclusive only to the recipients of this letter. This can be
whatever you are comfortable with: a free 30-minute consultation, a free
report, a 10% discount. Whatever you decide, present it as a free gift that
the endorser talked you into giving to his clients. You want to make them
feel special, and free gifts make people feel special. Be sure to put a
perceived value on the offer. For example, a free 30 minute consultation
(valued at $49.00). Putting a perceived value on things will make people
understand how valuable your time is and will help increase the response
rate.
3. Create Urgency: When doing a marketing campaign such as this you
always want to create a sense of urgency. This can be done in two ways.
You can put an expiration date on the offer or you can make it available to
a limited amount of people. You must be specific. Do not just say limited
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time only. Give a solid date such as Offer expires on July 5
th
or
available to the first ten callers. This will give the interested party a
feeling that they have to get this done. It will give them the initiative to
call rather than ponder. When people start to ponder, time passes and the
call will not be made.
4. Build Credibility: Include a brief statement in the letter that shows some of
your achievements. You have led over a thousand people in the county
to weight loss and better health. Include a short testimonial from a very
satisfied client; one or two sentences at the most, so you ensure that they
read it. If it is too long, it may not get read.

When getting into joint ventures that include special offers, it is very important to
know what the lifetime value of your average client is. The lifetime value of a
client is the amount of money you profit on average from the first time a person
spends money with you until the last time they spend money with you. There are
many views on discounting and giving away services in order to get clients.
Some specialists will tell you should not discount or give away anything. It is my
opinion that you have to give to get and, in some way or another, you always pay
for your clients whether you are giving a current client a free session for a
referral, taking an ad out in the paper, or sending endorsed letters with a special
offer. You are still buying your clients, and that is o.k. Every business buys
their clients in one way or another; it is how the world works.

Joint ventures do not always have to be done through endorsed offers. There
are other ways to leverage the other business client/customer base. For
example, a great joint venture to set up is with a restaurant. The way I set my JV
up with a restaurant was simple; I approached the owner about adding a healthy
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menu to his restaurant. I took his current menu, chose healthy items and created
healthy lunches and dinners so that people would be able to eat at his restaurant
without blowing their diets. I did not make him add anything to his menu; we
simply adjusted the portion sizes, got rid of certain sauces, only allowed rice and
baked potatoes (no fried foods at all). Simple stuff. It was literally a no-brainer.
We printed the calorie, protein, carbohydrate, and fat counts for every meal and
side item directly on the menu, so that the customer could choose what suited
their plan. I marketed the menu to my clients/members, which they loved,
because they now had my approval to go out and eat and it was easy for them.
All they had to do was choose something on the menu. The restaurant owner
loved it because I marketed it to my entire client/member base and they would
now go to his place for a healthy meal.

How will this benefit you? These new menus will be named after your
business, have your company logo and contact info on them, and direct them to
a sign up form for your free newsletter which can be done at hosting. Also, when
marketed to his current customer base, the menu will include a note on your
company, a special offer and, of course, how to get in touch. It was a win/win
deal that can be extremely profitable for all parties involved.

These are just a few examples of the countless ways to leverage business
through joint ventures. Use your imagination. Start by trying to work with other
business owners that you already have relationships with. Do you have lunch at
a certain restaurant often? Approach them about doing a Joint Venture. Are you
satisfied with your physician? Approach him about Endorsed offers. I think
youre getting the idea.

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Quick Note on Marketing: What I notice a lot from personal trainers trying to
market their business is that they are always in search of that One Big Thing that
is going to give them 15 clients (that is, if they are doing any marketing at all).
You must realize that that will probably never happen. You have to set up
multiple marketing streams that will all contribute to get the number of clients you
desire. If there was One Big Thing that worked, we would all be doing it.

If you set up 2 alliances a month for the next three months, I can assure you that
your credibility in the community will be at an all time high, you will have more
clients than ever before, and the business opportunities that can branch off these
newly built relationships are endless.

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Chapter 18 - Creating Your Own Personal Training
Money Machine

By Pat Rigsby of www.personaltrainingmoneymachine.com

How It Began
Several year ago now, I was a Head Baseball Coach and Head Strength &
Conditioning Coach at a small state university in Ohio, enjoying a great deal of
success on the field (even finishing 5
th
at the 2000 World Series ), with every
expectation of a long career as a successful coach at a big time school.

I was doing some personal training on the side to make ends meet, primarily with
athletes who wanted to improve their sports performance. After several years of
success on the field, I came to the realization that wins and championships didnt
necessarily translate to bigger paychecks, bigger budgets or better jobs. I was
rapidly approaching thirty and had no wife or kids. If I was going to change
careers midstream, now was the time. I decided I was going to own my own
business.

After talking to a variety of business owners in every field you can imagine, I
decided that I wanted to build a business around something I enjoyed, which
pretty much narrowed my options to fitness or baseball. Id read somewhere that
you could become an expert about something in 3-4 years by reading a book a
week about that topic. I figured I had to make up for lost time, so I needed to
accelerate my education process. I studied everything I could get my hands on
about sales, advertising, and marketing. I decided that since I didnt have any
money I would be better off experiencing trial and error at someone elses
expense, so I took two jobs one as a personal trainer at a health club and one
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as the director of a sports training facility. I studied every detail of how these
businesses operated from how they sold packages and programs to how they got
clients and members.

I rapidly climbed the ladder in my personal training job, moving from club trainer
to training department manager and eventually to district training manager
overseeing five locations in two cities. With each promotion came more access
to the inner workings of the health clubs and training operation. I got to see how
everything was done, good and bad. Around that time I was also exposed to
Ryan Lee and Eric Ruth and the materials they provided, which added a whole
new dimension to my educational process. With some knowledge and
experience under my belt, I began formulating what my business would look like.
I started with some key principles and concepts that would serve as the
foundation for my business. They were:

1. It had to have a low start up cost. I had little money, a less than
impressive credit score and no angel investor.

2. It had to cater to a thirsty crowd. I came across this phrase reading
something by Mark Joyner, but every sales and marketing person
conveyed the same message. There had to be demand.

3. I had to make it easy for the prospect to buy. In the part of the country
where I live (Kentucky), if you ask someone to pay you upfront for $1500
worth of personal training sessions, youve narrowed your potential
clientele to about .01% of the population.
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4. There had to be some security. Id had enough of the living paycheck to
paycheck when I coached. I was done with having to worry about if Id
have enough money next week or next month to pay my bills. I needed to
have what the gym called a receivables base.

5. I had to be able to leverage someone elses time. Id figured this out
growing up. My dad owned his own business and if he took a vacation, so
did his income. Working from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. was fine at the time, but
what about when I was 50? I had to create a system where I could
leverage other trainers.

6. The business had to have a back end. I saw the training department
that I was a district manager for squander the obvious back end
opportunity of having over 800 clients at their disposal. No way was I
going to miss the obvious chance to make more form each client.

7. Client Satisfaction was paramount. Most fitness businesses I saw were
far more concerned with getting new members or clients than they were
with over-delivering to their existing ones. Everything I read or
experienced told me this was exactly the opposite of what I needed to do.
Client satisfaction would lead to retention, referrals and back-end sales.

Those were the variables that I felt I had to build my business around. I
understood that there were plenty of other models that worked, but for me to
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achieve the financial and lifestyle goals that I had started this whole process for
while beginning in my then current financial situation the business had to be built
around these concepts.

Getting Started
I launched my business with less than $2,000.00. I (and my team) built a
$30,000.00 / month personal training business with over 400 active clients in
about 13 months. All while never going in debt, never investing in a building or a
bunch of equipment. How did this happen. Simple. I leased the exclusive rights
to provide all of the personal training and retail offerings from a health club.

I know what youre thinking: no health club is going to hand over their personal
training to me. Youd be surprised. Think about it. Its a win-win situation. The
club owner gets to relieve himself / herself of the burden of managing a training
staff so they can focus on their core business. They get a consistent source of
revenue each month from you (rent) and they get to have a turn key customer
service, retention and referral department.

You get a steady stream of qualified prospects (thirsty crowd) to offer your
services to and a small cost / big opportunity business.

All you need to do is create a win-win situation for you and the club owner and
help them understand how it will benefit them. It just requires taking action on
your part.

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The PTMM Model - Putting The Principles Into Action

Well I already told you how I applied principle #1. You cant even go on vacation
for $2000 and I was able to stat a lucrative business for less than that. But lets
go through the other six principles and let me explain how they played into
building my business.

Principle #2 - Cater to a thirsty crowd. I already touched on this one too.
Where could you find a more appropriate crowd that wants (and is qualified to
buy) solutions to fitness related problems than a health club? These people have
already traded their time and money to join the club. Now youre simply
providing offerings to help them achieve what they set out to accomplish in the
first place.

Principle #3 - Make it easy for the prospect to buy. I dont know about where
you live, but nationwide less than 15% of our society even belongs to a health
club. If the average penetration rate for personal training among health club
members is 3% (according to IHRSA), that means less than 1% of our society
has benefited from working with a personal trainer. Rest assured, in Kentucky
its probably about .01%. So, if were asking someone to try something they are
unfamiliar with, weve got to make it affordable. Three strategies weve used to
accomplish this are:
Semi-private training Clients can benefit from using a trainer to help
achieve their goals without the cost of a one-on-one session.

Monthly billing People are used to budgeting things on a monthly basis:
mortgages, rent, car payments, insurance, health club memberships.
Break up your payments into monthly increments.
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Offer 1 and 2 session per month programs. Many trainers are hesitant to
offer less than 1 session per week to clients, but you can really broaden
your market by offering monthly programs design sessions at a price point
that is more manageable to the average consumer. Besides, after these
clients get a taste of what you have to offer you can easily upgrade many
of them to bigger programs.

Principle #4 - There had to be some security. While I do believe that you must
accept some risk to reap a reward, Im all for trying to decrease as much of my
risk as possible. For me this meant no 8, 10 or 12 session packages. No
offering by the session training. I know this works for many, but Im not
comfortable with being unable to have any idea what I have as far a guaranteed
income several months down the road. All my businesses training programs are
based on 4, 6 or 12-month contracts with over 80% being 12 month. The clients
are already comfortable with these types of agreements since thats what they
entered into with the club. Its also great for positioning. Jim Labadie and Ryan
Lee call it putting up the velvet rope. You simply let prospects know that you
are only willing to work with people who are truly committed to achieving their
fitness goals.

Principle #5 - Leverage someone elses time. I quickly made a transition that
few make. I went from trainer (or technician) to manager / salesman / marketer.
In retrospect, our businesses success was primarily due to recognizing that it
was most important for me to become an effective salesperson / marketer and far
less important to be a fitness guru. I now have a thriving fitness business in our
industry that is populated mostly by trainers focused on getting more
certifications but struggling to make ends meet. Now, dont take this as me
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implying that being a great trainer isnt importantthat is in no way what Im
getting at. What Im saying is that being a great trainer is only a part of having a
successful training business.

Many trainers often assume that the key factor in growing their business is
having a group of fitness experts and that is the only way theyd even
consider hiring another trainer. I hear it all the time: no one else can train others
as well as I can. I can tell you that trainers, not salespeople and marketers, are
the easiest employees to find and the least expensive to hire.

In fact, as I grow my business, I am NOT looking for people who have personal
training background. There are too many educational resources available for the
right person to only consider people who have been trainers. I am looking for
individuals focused on growing a business who are capable of and willing to train
others, have good people skills, are passionate about fitness and are hungry for
an opportunity.

If you are truly a great trainer, your most highly compensated role (yours) is the
ability to lead, inspire, and teach others to complete the day-to-day training and
operations of your business. Even many of the best trainers encounter a
disappointingly low ceiling to his or her income. Its the person who can
implement systems that can be taught to many and inspire them to high
accomplishment whose income has an unlimited ceiling.

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Principle #6 - The business had to have a back end. For me, that was
simple. Providing complimentary services line weight management and
nutritional coaching, and complimentary products like multi-vitamins and meal
replacements was and continues to be the perfect fit. Our clients see us as their
fitness resource so why should we direct them somewhere else to find the
complimentary offerings that they are going to purchase? I have created a
systematic approach to offering these products and services to our clients at the
point of initial sale and throughout their program. This approach has led to our
back-end offerings now accounting for about 30% of our total revenue.

Principle #7- Client Satisfaction is paramount. Yeah, I know, client
satisfaction is important to everyone. For this business model, its really
important. By over-delivering to everybody - clients, club members, prospects
you can keep a great relationship with the club owner and staff, you can make
them your champions, singing your praises to everyone they come in contact
with. We provide a complimentary goal assessment / training session and a
nutritional coaching session to every club member as a way of creating this
customer service culture. These sessions also give us a great opportunity to
build value in our offerings and sell our services. For our existing clients, we
have monthly client appreciation days, monthly client only promotions and
monthly newsletters as a way to demonstrate our appreciation.

Lets face ita health club is a small world, so news travels fast. If we are
doing great things for our clients, everyone in the club will soon know about it.

Thats it. It really is possible for you to build a thriving personal training business
without the huge start up costs typically associated with most businesses. If you
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would like more information on my turn-key approach to building your own
Personal Training Money Machine, go to:
www.personaltrainingmoneymachine.com. Trust me, if a former baseball
coach with no business smarts and no money can do it, anyone can.

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Contributing Authors

Alwyn Cosgrove

Alwyn Cosgrove is one of the most in-demand and exciting coaches, writers and
speakers in the fitness industry today. He currently spends his time lecturing,
teaching, training and writing and as the owner of Results Fitness in Santa
Clarita, CA.

For the past sixteen years Alwyn has been committed to achieving excellence in
the field of fitness training and athletic preparation. Specializing in performance
enhancement,

Alwyn has helped countless individuals and athletes reach their goals through
sound scientific training. Alwyn has been a featured presenter at several national
conferences in the fitness industry and has produced several training manuals
and educational DVD's.

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In addition to being a featured in several national magazines, Alwyn is a
columnist for Men's Fitness magazine and has just completed The New Rules of
Lifting with Avery Publishers.

Alwyns Websites Include:
http://www.alwyncosgrove.com
http://www.professionalfitnesscoach.com/
http://www.humaninferno.com/

209

Kelli Calabrese

Kelli Calabrese, MS, CSCS is a 17 year fitness industry expert whose
educational background consists of 3 science degrees including a Masters in
Cardiac Rehabilitation and Exercise Physiology. She owned and operated a
chain of fitness centers for 14 years and was the founder and lead educator for a
school for 9 years which prepared thousands of candidates to become certified
fitness professionals.

She is the Co-author of Feminine, Firm and Fit, contributor to The Women
Doctors Guide to Health and Healing and to the The Power of Champions.
Kelli has written for and been interviewed by hundreds of popular and
professional magazines.
Kelli has attained 20 fitness and nutrition related certifications including Strength
and Conditioning Specialist, Personal Trainer, Group Fitness Instructor, Clinical
Exercise Specialist, Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant, Medical
Exercise Specialist, Nutrition Specialist, PACE Instructor and more). She is on
the Board of Directors for the American Association of Personal Trainers. She is
an Expert Fellow for the National Board of Fitness Examiners and an Expert for
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Family Energy and iParenting magazines. Ms. Calabrese is the former lead
fitness expert for eDiets and eFitness the number one rated subscription based
online diet destination. Kelli is the 2004 Personal Trainer of the Year for Online
Trainer as awarded by Personal Fitness Professional Magazine. Kelli is available
to consult fitness professionals on how to successfully grow their careers.
Kellis Websites Include:
http://www.kellicalabrese.com/
http://www.calabreseconsulting.com/

211

Pat Rigsby

Pat Rigsby M.S. is the co-owner of several businesses in the fitness
industry including the Fitness Consulting Group. He also serves as a
health club consultant focusing on the development of profitable personal
training departments and weight management programs. His coaching
and products have helped hundreds of club owners and fitness professionals
dramatically improve their personal training revenues and tap into the billion
dollar weight management industry. Pat has been involved in virtually all
aspects of the fitness industry, ranging from collegiate strength coach to
health club owner. You can subscribe to his Fitness Riches newsletter at
www.fitnessconsultinggroup.com.
Pats Websites Include:
http://www.fitnessconsultinggroup.com
http://personaltrainingmoneymachine.com
http://nutritionforresults.com
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http://nutritionmoneymachine.com
http://fitnesswebsiteprofits.com

213

Eric Ruth

Eric Ruth is the president of Fitness Marketing Systems, Inc. in Raleigh, NC.
Tens of thousands of fitness professionals visit his website,
http://www.HowToSellFitness.com for the wealth of free information it contains
and to acquire the most comprehensive and powerful fitness marketing tools
available in this industry.

Erics Websites Include:

http://howtosellfitness.com
http://personaltrainingmoneymachine.com
www.personal-trainer-profit-vault.com/
www.sixfigurepersonaltrainer.com/

214

Bill Hartman

Bill Hartman is a physical therapist and strength & conditioning coach in
Indianapolis, IN. A lifetime athlete, Bill was a top ten finisher in the National
Junior Olympics in the javelin, which he continued along with football at the
collegiate level. He was a graduate with distinction at Purdue University and
received his degree in physical therapy from Indiana University.
Bill has worked with athletes at all levels in a number of sports including football,
basketball, martial arts, tennis, and racewalking. He is probably best known for
his athletic approach to the physical preparation for golf. He is also an Active
Release Techniques Practitioner, a cutting-edge soft-tissue treatment technique,
with certification in spine, upper extremity, and lower extremity treatment.

Bills Websites Include:
http://www.yourgolffitnesscoach.com/
http://www.howtosellfitness.com/openletter.html

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Craig Ballentyne

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, M.Sc., is a Strength & Conditioning coach in Toronto
and is a member of the Training Advisory Boards for Men's Fitness and
Maximum Fitness magazines. Craig's fat loss expertise and workout tips are
featured every month in Men's Fitness and Maximum Fitness, and in various on-
line newsletters.

His fat loss, muscle-building website www.TurbulenceTraining.com features
his best-selling TT for Fat Loss routine, as well as his new 6-month Bodyweight
Turbulence Training workout featuring almost 100 different bodyweight
exercises.

Craig also works extensively with athletes and is currently a consultant to Rugby
Canada helping the National Team prepare for the 2007 World Cup and trains
young athletes of all sports in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Craig also has an advanced research background, completing a Masters of
Science Degree in Exercise Physiology from McMaster University in Hamilton,
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Ontario, Canada. Craig continues to study the latest training, supplementation,
and nutrition research that will help improve clients health and wellness as well
as their physical and mental performance.

Craigs Websites Include:
www.cbathletics.com - A training newsletter featuring professional development
articles and expert interviews for trainers, coaches, and health professionals.
www.TurbulenceTraining.com - Advanced training tips and workout programs
to help men and women gain muscle and lose fat fast.
www.grrlAthlete.com - Real training and nutrition information for real women
lifters and female athletes. Craig is the training director for grrlathlete.com, the
worlds first female-only sport-specific training site.
www.undergroundnutrition.com Training and nutrition information for serious
bodybuilding.

217

Brian Calkins

President of HealthStyle Fitness, INC, Brian Calkins operates a very successful
personal training studio in Cincinnati, Ohio. His company provides individual and
group training for clients who travel as far as 3 hours away. Brian has been
featured on local and national radio, television, newspapers and magazines. The
expansion of HealthStyle Fitness was documented and published in August,
2005, in The Wall Street Journal.

Brians Websites Include:
http://www.PersonalTrainingMarketing.com
http://www.healthstylefitness.com
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Damon Moschetto

Damon Moschetto has been in the fitness industry for 13 years and operates as
a consultant for the Florida Fitness Coaches. He graduated from the University of
Southern Maine with a degree in Exercise Science. He is certified for Personal
Training by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, ACE and the Apex Fitness
Group. Damon is a presenter for the Apex Fitness Group and travels across the
US training trainers and consulting with club owners regarding their fitness
programs. He has recently been named one of the Top 15 Trainers in The United
States. Damon also serves as a partner in the Fitness Consulting Group.

Damons Websites Include:
http://www.floridafitnesscoaches.com
http://www.UltimateTrainerToYou.com

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Sean Greeley

Sean Greeley is one of the Top 10 Fitness Coaches in America* and president of
Wake Up Marketing, Inc. in Orlando, FL. Along with several partners, today he
coaches studio owners and elite fitness professionals on how to extend client
lifetime value and grow their bottom line with a complete business building
program called the Net Profit Explosion Program. To receive a copy of his FREE
report: How To Add $72,000 Net To Your Bottom Line In The Next 12 Months
visit www.NetProfitExplosion.com or call 407.574.6406. *American Council on
Exercise 2004

Seans Websites Include:
http://www.wakeupmarketing.com
http://www.personal-trainer-orlando.com/
www.NetProfitExplosion.com

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Stephen Holt

Stephen Holt, CSCS, PES was named 2003 Personal Trainer of the Year by the
American Council on Exercise and has been a Finalist for the Personal Trainer of
the Year Award with three different international organizations.

In 1999, the Internets largest advice site, AllExperts.com, named Stephen
Expert of the Year.

Stephen serves on the Board of Directors of the International Youth Conditioning
Association, Clinical Advisory Board of the American Running Association, and is
a Expert Fellow with the National Board of Fitness Examiners.

Holt also served seven years on the Maryland State Advisory Council on Fitness.

He speaks at national fitness conventions and has appeared in numerous
national publications including:
Shape
Mens Fitness
Womens Day
Mens Health
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Fitness
Womens Sports and Fitness
Success
Fitness Management
IDEA Personal Trainer Magazine

Stephen is a graduate of Duke Universitys School of Engineering and holds
several certifications in the fitness field.

Stephens Websites Include:
http://www.personaltrainerfasttrack.com
http://www.stephenholtfitness.com/
http://stephenholtfitnessmediaroom.com/
http://blog.stephenholtfitness.com/

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Lee Taft

Highly respected as one of the top athletic movement specialist in the
country, Lee serves as Performance Director and is co-owner of Sports
Speed, Etc., LLC.
Lee earned his B.S. in Physical Education from Cortland State and his M.S.
in Sports Science from the United States Sports Academy. He is certified
by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) as a
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), a Sports
Performance Coach certified by USA Weightlifting (SPC)and he is also a
certified Level 1 Track and Field Coach by the USA Track & Field (USATF
level I). Lee serves as Executive Vice President for the International Youth
Conditioning Association, the premier international authority with respect to
athletic development and young athlete-based conditioning.
Over the past 17 years, Lee has worked with many athletes of all ages and
abilities. His major focus and passion has been in the athletic development
of young athletes. Nationally known as an expert in athletic movement
technique, Lees innovative techniques to improve multi-directional speed is
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the up and coming teaching method of many professionals. Lee has written
many articles and e-books on the topic of multi-lateral speed and youth
development, as well as, produced audio CD and DVD programs to assist
parents, coaches and athletic development specialist in teaching his proven
movement techniques to athletes. Lee is a highly sought after clinician and
lecturer on his techniques and approach to youth development.
Lees Websites Include:

www.sportsspeedetc.com
www.laserlikespeed.com
www.basestealing.com
www.appliedstrengthandcondtioning.com
http://www.MyBasketballSpeed.com
http://www.LadderSpeed.com

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Chris Mohr

Christopher Mohr, PhD, RD, is a consultant, author, and freelance writer.
He has been personally interested in training and nutrition since his early
teens. As a competitive athlete, Chris always tried to improve his
performance through better training and nutrition. He later followed his
personal interests into the classroom at Penn State, where he earned a
bachelors of science in Human Nutrition. He next completed his dietetic
internship at the University of Delaware, allowing him to sit for the national
registration exam to become a Registered Dietitian. From there, Chris
attended the University of Massachusetts to pursue a masters of science in
Nutrition Science.
While at UMASS, Chris was a Sports Dietitian who worked with most of the
23 Division I teams at the University. This experience allowed him to
counsel hundreds of varsity athletes and work with team coaches to
enhance the performance of the players. Knowing the importance of
physiology as it relates to sports nutrition, Chris went on to pursue a PhD in
Exercise Physiology at the University of Pittsburgh. Here Chris' PhD focus
was on the prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity.
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Chris is currently a consultant for Discovery Health Channel and the
National Exercise and Sports Trainers Association and has worked with
supplement companies to provide research and or formulations for dietary
supplements.
Chris has co-authored one sports nutrition textbook and authored or co-
authored three other textbook chapters, which will each be published in
2006. He is on the Advisory Board for Men's Fitness, the Nutrition Editor for
OC FLAIR Magazine, and has also written nearly 500 articles for consumer
publications.
Chris Websites Include
http://www.mohrresults.com
http://www.humaninferno.com/
http://www.weaponsformass.com/

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Nick Berry

Nick Berry is a Fitness Professional and Health Club Owner, and co-founder of
The Fitness Consulting Group, consulting with other Health Club Owners and
Fitness Professionals, focusing primarily on the financial, real estate, and retail
profit center aspects of their businesses. Find more articles and the Fitness
Riches Newsletter at www.fitnessconsultinggroup.com.

Nicks Websites Include:

http://www.nutritionmoneymachine.com
http://www.owensborohealthclub.com

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Matt Hunt

Matt is the founder of Sonz Fitness, a state of the art fitness franchise that is
helping fitness professionals own their own lucrative business nationwide. More
about Matt:
Started my Exercise Career in Atlanta in 1986
I have fun with what I do and Im a person who practices what he
preaches .
Everyoneand I mean everyone is interested in himself or herself first. It
never fails that during every social gathering Im involved in, when people
find out my profession as a group exercise trainer they ask me questions
such as; how can I lose weight and keep it off, or what exercises can I do
to get to lose my belly, or should I run for distance or for speed? My
mission in life is to fulfill others needs by showing them how they can
make exercise part of their daily lives.
Showing an interest in helping others first, is what makes my Exercise
Coaching business model so successful.

Professional Talents:
I have been an athlete all my life and have participated in just about every
sport imaginable.
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I graduated from Ohio State University in 1982.
I ran my first Athletic Club in 1987-1989. I started as a Salesperson,
became Sales Manager then became General Manager during that time
frame.
I have been a licensed Personal Trainer in 1990. And became a Master
Personal Trainer and a Certified Sports Nutritionist in 1996.
I opened my first fitness center as a Golds Gym licensee in 1990.
I opened my second center in 1992.
I have bought and sold 6 fitness centers since 1995.
I am co-creator of The NuFit System a Lifestyle Eating Plan that
became a national infomercial in 1999 and ran for 2-years on many cable
television channels selling over 100,000 programs generating over $6
million in revenue.
Public Speaker for 3-years for:
o Rotary Clubs
o Cox Enterprises
o Atlanta Journal and Constitution
o Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta
o Georgia State Army Reservists
I have competed in adventure races on a national level for the past 5
years and been sponsored by M&M Mars/Snickers.
My hobbies are exercising daily, mountain biking, and reading the Bible
(especially the prophecy of the book of Daniel).
I have a beautiful Wife and 3 active children.

For more information on Sonz Fitness, check out Matts website at:
http://www.sonzfitness.com.
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Marylin Ganzel

Marilyn Gansel is the founder and owner of Fitness Matters, the personal training
studio. Her philosophy of a balance approach to fitness and her Optimal
Functioning Method has helped thousands of men, women, and teens improve
the quality of their lives. Her customized, creative exercise programs are
designed for all fitness levelsfrom non-exercisers to athletes training for
triathlons. She and her certified fitness professionals provide one-on-one
personal attention and develop unique, safe, and realistic workouts based on the
health and exercise history of each client. Her strong commitment to preventive
medicine led her to join forces with High Ridge Family Practice to offer The
Wellness Answer -- a way to enjoy a more productive and healthy lifestyle. She
is also a consultant with Isagenix International, a company who formulated a
nutritional cleanse and fat burning system that helps clients naturally flush away
impurities to burn fat and lose excess pounds. As an consultant for Isagenix,
Marilyn has created a successful passive revenue stream. Marilyns credentials
include Advanced degrees in Education and certification by the American Council
on Exercise and the Aquatic Exercise Association. She holds specialty
certifications for seniors and youth as well as pre and postnatal exercise and
aqua aerobics. She is also a Cancer Recovery Specialist. Marilyn belongs to the
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professional fitness organization, IDEA and ACSM. Marilyn serves on the PEAK
Roundtable for High Level Personal Fitness Trainers. She is currently pursuing
her doctorate in Applied Sports Psychology.

Marylins Website Are:
http://www.fitnessmatters.com
www.fitnessmatters.isagenix.com

231

Cliff Latham

Labeled by many as "the guru of personal wellness productivity," exercise
physiologist and author, Cliff Latham has more than 18 years experience as a
professional trainer, university professor and college track and field coach
(Kansas State, Indiana University, Texas A&M) where he was named Eight-Time
Conference Coach of the Year. From 1992-2000, Cliff coached several World
and Olympic level track and field athletes, including 1996 Atlanta triple jump gold
medalist, Kenny Harrison.

With advanced exercise physiology and sports nutrition degrees from Kansas
State and Indiana Universities, Cliff Latham has helped changed lives of
corporate professionals the world over. Utilizing lessons learned from completion
of the Ironman Triathlon, five sub-3 marathons and work with over 1500
collegiate athletes and 1000's of individuals, Cliff Latham owns Fitness Together
in College Station, TX. Cliff Latham is certified by the prestigious American
College of Sports Medicine, National Strength and Conditioning Association and
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Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research. To learn more, go to
www.clifflatham.com

Cliffs Website Is:
www.clifflatham.com

233

Frank Pastorelli

Frank Pastorelli is one of the leading Fitness professionals in the United States.
He is the owner of Florida Fit Pros Inc., a very successful Personal Training
company in Central Florida. He has been a fitness professional for over ten years
and has been into his personal fitness from age twelve. In 2001 Frank Pastorelli
won the award from the Apex Fitness Group as the most productive Personal
Training and Supplement programmer in the United States. He is a Licensed
Massage Therapist focusing on Injury Prevention and Repair. He is a published
author writing regularly for newspapers and has completed his first book in a
series of three, called "The Fit Life". He has successfully led hundreds of people
to their fitness goals, which has always been his life long dream, but he was still
left with the urge to help more people. For him, myfitnessplanet.com is his way of
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being able to help people worldwide. His goal is to touch as many hearts and
minds in this world as possible and help be their driving force to leading a more
fit life. "I want to provide a powerful, effective, yet affordable means of educating
people on the necessary steps to achieve fitness. With myfitnessplanet.com you
get that, and so much more!"

Franks Websites Include:
http://www.myfitnessplanet.com
http://www.floridafitnesspros.com

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