9 Ways to Optimize Your Training Business
Your clients come to you for you. You are an all-star trainer and you’ve
spent years perfecting your work so that you can help people achieve
dynamic and lasting result; your clients have every reason to come to you
for you. But what if you aren’t there? What if you are lost in a stack of
paperwork or mentally racing around to meet a deadline that you might not
have time for? Your clients need you, and if you are bleeding energy into
an inefficient system, they won’t get the real deal. As a personal trainer,
you have to get smart and optimize your business so that you can be
present with your clients to change lives.
Here are 9 tips to optimize your business:
1- Schedule everything. The more of your day that you put into writing or
in your computer, the fewer mental gymnastics you’ll have to accomplish in
juggling the day’s goals. If you have a smart phone, plug in a detailed
schedule so that you can receive reminders throughout the day to keep
you on point. Schedule your eating, your sleeping, your playtime, your
reading time, continued education, and exercise. Even spontaneity should
be scheduled…Well…that may actually be impossible. The point is, if the
activity involves you, it needs to be scheduled and you need to be
reminded of it. Until you have a minion who comes to you at your
beckoning call, you absolutely must make sure that your daily plan is inked
out. Mynd is a powerful app to keep your schedule in sync.
2- Get Software. Unless you went to school for business, chances are you
won’t be Arnold Trump, or Donald Schwarzenegger. Unless you want to
take every aspect of business management into your own hands on your
time (insurance, legal issues, payment, website, client appointments, etc),
you need the help of trained experts. www.bomnipotent.com has the most
cutting edge software available for personal trainers, developed by a
business expert with a passion for personal training.
3- Hire out. If you are struggling with email volume and client questions,
don’t stress yourself out at the end of the day with tedious work. Your life is
important, and if you have a spouse and kids, they need you to be happy
too. Visit peopleperhour.com to hire a personal assistant by the hour. PPH
is an online community full of vetted professionals that will help fill in your
time with quality services.
4- Strategize. For every month that you work, at least one full day should
be devoted to business strategy and development. This one full day of
planning and articulating new ideas for your business will save you weeks
of half-baked ideas and false starts. Business optimization is all about
momentum, so charge ahead with your expansion by devoting a day to
marketing research and advertisement.
5- Journal. Life isn’t static and neither are your clients, so make it your
business to innovate with and for them. Purchase a notebook specifically
for your business ideas. Write down your strokes of insight and review
them at the end of the day. If they fit into your vision, find a place to plug
them in. This shift in mindset will keep you ahead of your competitors and
ensure that you will be present with your clients while actively learning,
growing and engaged.
6- Organize your thoughts. Mindfulness meditation has been attributed to
the success of world leaders, athletes, elite businessmen and high-level
performers of all kinds. Kobe Bryant uses it to 30-foot fadeaways at the
buzzer. Jerry Seinfeld has used to to maintain an elite career for many
years, as has Russell Brand. Jeff Bridges uses it to stay relaxed amidst
chaos.
A clear mind is where solutions come from. A clear mind is the calm in the
storm. A clear mind can accept new information and use it intelligently.
Schedule 5 minutes every 1 to 2 hours in your day to make sure that you
are present and fully potent, rather than bleeding out valuable
energy. Practice this simple routine daily and watch your energy and your
business increaseClose your eyes. Allow your concentration to return to your body. Bring
your awareness to any part of you that may be carrying tension. Take a
breath of relaxation and dissolve the tension away. After you have relaxed
your body, take 7 abdominal breaths and fill them with these affirmations:
I am calm.
I am centered.
I am energized.
I am focused.
I am solving my problems.
I am present and available.
I am hopeful.
If you are outside, allow your attention to focus on the sounds of nature
and be filled with them. If you are inside, imagine your favorite wilderness
area and feel the sensations that it brings. To close, take another 7 deep
abdominal breaths and fill each of them with this affirmation: I give myself
full permission to be energized in accomplishing my tasks, and to enjoy the
process.
7- Focus on your relationships. The most important influences on your
profession are off of the job and away from your work. How you live
outside of your business will determine how you perform within it. If you
are consistently distracted by a rocky relationship with your spouse, it will
constantly tug at your attention through the work day. If you have a
spouse or significant other, take a few evening out of the week and a day
on the weekend to devote to your relationship together. Having a thriving
business won’t mean much to you if you can’t share the lifestyle in a
meaningful way. As you increase the success of your relationships, you
will have more energy for an efficient business.
8- Join or create a professional trainer’s group. If you are having trouble
ironing out some kinks in your business, chances are there have been a
million others who have found thousands of solutions to it. When you can
bounce your ideas and suggestions off of a tight-knit group of fitness
professionals, you’ll save weeks of frustration. Search for groups in your
community, and if there isn’t one, form your own. Try to meet 1 or 2
weekends out of the month in an informal setting where you can
comfortably talk shop and have a good time. An added benefit of these
groups is that you can increase your clientele with intimate referrals from
your colleagues. Between the specialties that you bring to the table, you’ll
always be able pass along work.
Also, such a group increases your flexibility. If you need a vacation and
want to keep your clients in good hands, have a friend or two in your group
fill in for you. If you come down with the flu and can’t make a training
session, call in your guild buddies; they’ll be happy for the extra work. If
you keep the group between 5-8 people, you’ll have a solid base to tackle
your problems and grow your business. A professional fitness guild will
bring a richer sense of community, a problem-solving supercomputer, and
a healthy outlet for on the job frustrations.
9- Leverage social media. It doesn’t matter if you truly hate Facebook and
twitter; if you don’t have a social network footprint, you will become
irrelevant. Rather than viewing it as an obligation, however, you can get
excited about it while getting people excited about you. Think of it as a
free source of marketing and advertising. Get people involved in the things
that you are doing, and demonstrate how you are doing them differently.
The more connected and visible you are within your community, the more
opportunities you’ll be afforded to change people’s lives. For how
infrequently you actually need to update your pages, it is a good idea to
outsource this task to a freelance professional. That leaves you more time
to enjoy your life in the satisfaction that you are doing it right.