Many fitness business owners end up stuck. There’s a common cause of ‘getting stuck’ at all levels and a simple way to ‘get unstuck. I’ll explain in the video…

It all starts with the right question…

You likely started your business or entered into the fitness industry because you asked yourself a question about what you wanted to do, who you wanted to help or how you wanted to make a living.  

Your growth as a person and business owner start with questions about skills you need to develop, obstacles you will face and finding the path to success.

It’s simple…you don’t know what you don’t know.  

To find out you have to be willing to ask questions. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it saves the entrepreneur!

Fear and insecurity hold back many fitness business owners from experiencing growth. The fear of asking for help or looking stupid. Questions don’t make you less of a business owner, they make you a successful business owner.  

Here are a few questions you need to be asking throughout your journey of fitness business growth:

1. What should I not do at this stage to get to the next?
2. What should I focus my energy on at this stage?
3. What are the biggest risks for me?
4. What does success look like and how will I recognize it?
5. What did you do?  How did you do it?
6. What might I be missing?
7. Who do you know that I should know?
8. How can I (insert your goal or obstacle)?
9. Who can help me (insert goal or obstacle)?
10. What are my blind spots?

These are just a start, but the more questions you ask the more knowledge you will acquire. That knowledge, when put into action will result in fitness business growth.

So, what questions do you have for us at Fitness Revolution?

Seeking Answers To Your Most Challenging Business Questions?  

Take 60 minutes to talk with a member of the Fitness Revolution team to dig in to your business and help you discover the path you need to take to reach your biggest goals. The call is completely FREE! If you think working with us at the end of the call can help you reach your goals we’ll discuss what may be the best fit for you.

Training people from the comfort of your own home, not dealing with client sessions or having to work around your client’s schedules. It all sounds amazing, but is it really all it’s cracked up to be?

Running an online fitness business seems incredibly appealing, especially if you’ve endured the long days, split shifts and headaches of having to run your in person fitness business.  

Let’s take a look at what you need to know about running an online fitness business if you want to be successful.

Start Small

The first mistake many fitness pros make is trying to tackle the entire world with their online fitness business. You start running FB ads, posting IG selfies and start blogging relentlessly.

Instead of trying to have your online fitness business bring in all of your income think of it as your side hustle or complement to your in person training business. Not doing training in person yet? Then you probably want to consider if you should be training people online at all.  

I’m a big believer that you need some in person experience to be able to train people online. Can it be done without that experience? Sure, but it’s going to be a tougher road and you’ll likely need to have another source of income for a while.

In fact, one of my mentees started out this way. He was working for the city while training himself for a fitness competition. As he made progress and shared his journey he also interned with me at my studio and was training clients on the side. From there he picked up some online clients and gradually worked with them in his very limited spare time.  

He’s running a six figure online business now and a studio. But, I think he’s the exception not the rule.  

Instead of trying to make your millions and live on the beach through your online fitness business let’s set a goal of adding a $1,000/mo in extra revenue to your business through online training and get your systems in order.  

Market Local, Serve Online

The easiest clients to get for your online fitness business are going to be previous clients you’ve worked with that moved away or couldn’t afford your in person services. The next easiest will be friends and family that are willing to give you the opportunity to train them online.  From there I would still focus on capturing a lot of my local market before taking my online fitness business to the world via FB ads or other marketing channels.

Once you’ve worked with several clients and got testimonials you will have the marketing resources and pressure tested systems to market to a bigger audience.  

As you are working with these local clients, previous clients who’ve moved or friends/family you will want to start building your marketing resources such as social media following, email list and any content platforms you use such as blogs, YouTube, etc.

The Delivery Is Different, Principles Are The Same

Don’t treat your online fitness business differently than a brick and mortar or in person fitness business. All  the principles stay the same and your journey will be very similar.

Most fitness pros jump into online training without thinking through their Core Offer, Local Market Positioning or pricing structure. It is as if you think because its an online business you can just kinda figure it out as you go.  

That’s a recipe for disaster.

Instead, determine how you will deliver your services, what systems you’ll need to do it and what you are going to charge. You’ll also need a clear marketing plan for attracting new clients. As you are doing this think about how you will be able to grow this business, take on more clients and earn what you want without it driving you crazy.

You will still have a culture in your online fitness business, need systems, have to learn how to lead, manage and delegate. Online doesn’t mean easier.  

Don’t Take The Personal out of Personal Trainer

Online training still requires a personal touch and interactive component to it. Don’t try to automate everything from your marketing to sales process and delivery of your programs.  

Create your Core Offer so that you have personal interaction with your clients, check ins and ways to develop relationships with them to increase client lifespan and client lifetime value. If you want to be completely hands off or rely on automated delivery of workouts combined with a FB group to run your online fitness business you’re in for a long, tough road ahead.

Here’s an example of how I would set this up:

Core Offer – 1-1 Online Personal Training

• Intro Success Session and Evaluation 60 minutes via Zoom
• Monthly Program Design, included weekly updates as needed based on progress
• Weekly Check Ins via Email
• Monthly 15 minute 1-1 Coaching Session via Zoom
• Weekly Nutrition Adjustments as needed via check in
• Unlimited email access
• Price $199/mo

From there I would also offer a premium service that doubled or tripled in price for a set number of exclusive clients, say 10 max, which included weekly Zoom Coaching Sessions and unlimited text, phone access to me.   

*Note: Zoom is a video conferencing platform.

This could also be blended in with in person training once or twice a month as needed for clients if you are running a hybrid model.

Marketing Your Online Fitness Business

The wheels usually fall off here…

You start your online fitness business and think “if I start it they will sign up”. Then crickets. No one buys your program. You follow the digital marketing advice from the pros but its not working for you.

Now what?

Here’s what I would to do launch my program:

• Create a compelling Front End Offer such as a 21 day Rapid Fat Loss Program that leads to my long term program to get some traction
• Reach out to 5 people in my network, including previous clients to start a beta program or invite them to test drive my FEO for the online program daily
• Post content to Instagram and Facebook daily including posts and stories
• Start a blog and update it with content once per week
• Build an email list and add 10 people per week to the email list through various methods including online marketing such as FB ads, network connections, strategic relationships and my website traffic
• Email that list 3x per week with valuable content and offers
• Ask for referrals from my current clients, family and friends.  Let’s say 3 asks per day

As my continued marketing plan, once I got some traction I would do the following…

Daily:

• 1 Instagram post
• 5-10 stories on Instagram
• 1 FB post
• 3 network conversations
• Follow up with leads and prospects
• 1 Referral Ask

Weekly

• Add 5 people to my network
• Send 3 emails to email list (MWF)
• Add 10 people minimum to email list
• Write 1 new blog post and publish
• Publish 1 new YouTube video
• Check FB ad statistics/metrics and optimize
• Connect with 3 online or local business strategic partner prospects

Monthly

• Collect and share 1 new client testimonial
• Promote FEO to my email list

This plan would include running targeted FB ads using a small budget to test my offers and then ramping up as I began to get a feel for my return on investment. I would outsource the FB ads to someone like Lead Engine Marketing and focus my efforts on following up with leads they got me.

Can You Be Successful With An Online Fitness Business?

Absolutely, but its not going to be an overnight success story and you aren’t going to be working 4 hours a week if you want to make any money or have any sort of meaningful impact on your clients. There’s work involved, it takes time and you have to follow basic business principles.

Commit to putting in the work, developing new skills and providing an incredible service and you’ll have success.

Want to see if we can help you start your online fitness business or take it to the next level?

Take 60 minutes to talk with a member of the Fitness Revolution team to dig in to your business and help you discover the path you need to take to reach your biggest goals. The call is completely FREE! If you think working with us at the end of the call can help you reach your goals we’ll discuss what may be the best fit for you.

Every day we meet a new fitness pro who is struggling to get their fitness business to the next level. They are frustrated with their growth, stressed out by their business, and confused about what to do next.

Time’s running out to find a solution for many fitness pros. And when that time does run out we see a lot of great fitness pros leave the industry or never reach the number of people they should because of these struggles.

Here are the not so sweet 16 reasons your personal training business fails…

You Never Learn To Sell

This is one of the first skills you need to develop as a good trainer. Being good at what you do isn’t good enough and simply offering training services doesn’t mean the clients will come. You need to learn how to get people to pay you, and pay you what you are worth, for your professional services.

Listening To The Wrong People

The wrong mentor, coach or advice giver can do some serious damage to a business. They may send you off with a bad strategy or worse give you advice that puts your entire business at risk. You need to pick your mentors and coaches wisely.

Failure To Track Performance

What gets measured gets managed. Failing to measure the performance of your marketing, financials and other business basics will leave you guessing when it comes time to make decisions. You don’t have the time to guess, business is hard enough without making uneducated decisions.  

Not Developing New Skills

When you started training you didn’t know nearly as much as you do now. You developed new skills and methods for delivering results and creating change in your clients. The same focus on personal and professional development needs to occur for your business.

No Cash Flow
The ability to invest in your marketing, your team and your business can accelerate your growth.  But, you’d be surprised how many businesses doing $200,000/year or more in gross revenue don’t have a dime to invest. Store up some cash so that you have a cushion to invest in your business when it’s time. You won’t miss that new piece of equipment as much as you’ll miss not being able to bring in new clients or hire that new trainer.

You Don’t Learn To Manage Your Time

Building a great business is nearly impossible on your own. Eventually, you’ll need to hire and delegate so that you can free up some of your time. But, before you do that it’s critical to learn to manage your own time and priorities.  

Misinterpretation of Systems

Systems don’t mean a checklist and they don’t mean automation. Too many fitness pros try to automate a process or system that should be run by a person because you know, we’re in a personal service industry. Systems should empower the people running them and when appropriate you can automate things to make it easier on the person running it. Examples would be putting clients on autopay for their memberships so a person doesn’t have to track and bill them for sessions.  

You Are Disorganized

As an entrepreneur, you’ve survived in a world of chaos. Doing every job, knowing where everything is and exactly how it should be done. That will be your achilles heel when it comes to building a team and being efficient with your time. You need to have your systems, processes, and business organized to allow others to flourish. Don’t expect them to be able to ‘just figure it out’.

You Hire The Wrong People

Slow to hire, quick to fire. That’s the rule when it comes to building your team. Now that doesn’t mean you should let someone go at the first mistake because often time that’s on you. It does mean that you need a great hiring process, clear expectations for each team member and a process to ensure they are trained to do their job well. Do everything you can to hire, train and retain the right people.

Burnout Blows Up A Business

You only have so much gas in your tank. Burning the candle at both ends, running around with your hair on fire trying to grow your business can’t last forever. Even if you outlast this, most your performance won’t be what it could. Learn to say no to opportunities that aren’t directly tied to your current goals and delegate tasks that you should no longer be doing. Oh, and take some time to recharge. Even if that’s just an afternoon on Sundays.

Bad Partnerships

Partnerships can be great or they kill a business. Most fitness pros bring on a partner for the wrong reasons. Before you take on a business partner get clear in what they will bring, get everything in writing and know exactly what the expectations are from both parties.

Putting The Brakes On Marketing

This industry is too competitive to stop marketing. Many fitness pros get ‘too busy’ to keep up their marketing. Eventually, their funnel of new leads dries up and revenue starts to drop. But, you can’t just turn your marketing back on and hope for immediate results. It can take weeks, even months, for marketing to turn into revenue. Don’t take your foot off the gas….EVER!

Refuse To Let Go

As you grow into a business owner with a team your roles shifts from ‘do-er’ to leader. If you refuse to let go of the technical work in your business, including some of the training. NOT ALL, if that’s what you love to do, but at least some of the training needs to be delegated. Your job now is to get results through other people, which requires a majority of your time is spent leading them.

Growing Too Fast

Have you ever had a client who wanted to progress on an exercise too early? They usually end up hurt and then set back with their progress. The same goes for a business owner who tries to open up another location too soon, doesn’t master the fundamentals at each stage of their business or tries to be an absentee owner too quickly. You have to earn the right to grow as a business owner and that requires putting in the work.

Your Ego Gets In The Way

After you’ve seen some success its easy to drink a little too much of your own Kool-Aid. If you think you’ve got all the answers and that you ‘know better’ things are eventually going to catch up with you. You’ll avoid addressing pressing issues or being real about the issues in your business. You need to be in a constant state of learning and growth.   

Business Doesn’t Evolve

The market is constantly shifting and changing if you don’t adapt your business will suffer. Doing things one way because that’s how you’ve always done them is a surefire way to eventually go out of business. Many giants have fallen, such as Blockbuster, because they refused to adapt. Your small business is even more sensitive to market shifts.  

BONUS: You Don’t Get The Support You Need Fast Enough

Every single successful business owner and entrepreneur finds mentors and coaches to help the learn and grow. You should look at this as an investment in your future and your success, it’s not an expense. In fact, you can’t afford to not find a mentor or coach. If you want to learn how FR can help you and see if we are a good fit, schedule a Complimentary Discovery Call with a member of our team. We’ll figure out if any of these 16 things are occuring in your business and help you address them quickly.

If we’re having a conversation exactly one year from today, and you had to look back over the past 12 months, what would have needed to happen over that period of time for you to be happy with the growth in your personal training business?

Take a minute and really think about your answer…

It’s easy to think about where you need to be in order for you to be happy with your success, but the challenge comes in figuring out the plan to get there. And more importantly having the accountability to execute that plan!

There are 3 elements of success in a personal training business. This is the trifecta for growth in your business and accomplishing big things in your business.

3 Elements of Success For A Personal Training Business

From our experience working with hundreds of personal training business and fitness business owners these three elements will put you on the fast track to success:

1. Live Events
2. Support from a peer group
3. Support from a coach

Live Events

One of the most powerful experiences you can have is attending a well run summit, conference or workshop.  

“Stepping away to work on developing your business in a live, hands on environment will create breakthrough moments for you.”

The first step in learning how to be successful and what it takes to grow your personal training business is putting yourself in a growth environment where you can learn from experts. Live events not only give you the chance to learn new strategies but you also get to see what’s possible by surrounding yourself with other like minded business owners.

Our most successful coaching clients attend two events per year.  The first is a Live Coaching Meeting designed to help the accelerate their business growth and the other is the Elite Fitness & Performance Summit.   

Momentum grows when you attend live events and the relationships that are developed help develop a strong, supportive community for you.  

Support From A Peer Group

You’re not in this alone!  There are other personal training business and fitness business owners out there who are dealing with the same challenges as you.  The trick is finding them and leveraging them to help you grow as a business owner.

You share common issues, challenges and opportunities. A strong peer network is a critical element to your success. Engaging with them will make life much easier for you.

“FR has streamlined our growth and allowed us to be a business with measurable goals and a direction that is leading somewhere we can see.” 

-Trevor Warnke, Athletic Revolution Mundelein

Your network will give you the power to “see what’s coming next”, essentially to predict the obstacles you’ll be facing before you get there. The experiences of the other business owners can be a valuable asset if you engage.  

WARNING: Make sure you find the right peer group. Not all are created equal!

The combined experience and knowledge of your peers and the lessons you can learn from them for bigger, faster growth for everyone. Always try to ‘level up’ with your peer groups and in your network. Aspire to connect and share ideas with those who are more successful than you or are where you want to be.  

Support From A Coach

You’ve probably experienced some level of chaos in your business. You’re on the verge of being burnt out, feeling as if you can’t add one more thing to your plate. Finding time to spend with your family or friends seems impossible and you may feel like you’ve hit a ceiling in your business.

You’re in a never-ending cycle of going to work each day but have lost sense of your true purpose.

You know there are solutions to your problems and answers to your questions. You tell yourself “it doesn’t have to be like this!” but struggle to create the solutions on your own.

That’s the beauty of a business coach for your personal training business. They provide an extra set of eyes that can give you a fresh look at your challenges and help you see the opportunity in your business.   

A great coach will help you do the following 3 things, in this order…

Step 1: Get Control

The first thing any great personal training business coach will do is assess your business and help you prioritize the actions that will produce the best results. You need to get control of the chaos and start freeing up some of your time and energy so that you can focus.

There’s a good chance your coach will be be very ‘hands on’ during this portion of your time together. You’re going to need a clear plan of action and accountability to get the job done. Your coach should work with you to ensure you’ve got healthy cash flow, your marketing is improving and there are no critical warning signs in your business.

Step 2: Build the Machine

Now that you’ve freed up energy to focus on your long-term vision for the business, it’s time to start building the machine. You’re beginning to sense momentum in your business.  Marketing efforts are more productive, your revenue is growing and there are far less fires and emergencies that arise in your day-to-day.

Your coach shouldn’t let you relax too much at this point. The real work is just getting started!  Don’t confuse the reduced chaos with success, now you have to implement the systems and structure within your business that allow it run like a well oiled machine.

This is where your coach should make systemization simple. Your systems will empower the people in your business to do great work and you’ll start to feel a sense of accomplishment each day.  

A coach will help you spend more of your time on the things you love doing and it’s paying off for you!

“I felt I was in the same spot I was when I opened the business four years prior. I was busy. I was doing alright financially. But I could not envision what the future of my business was going to be like. I was worried that I was just going to continue to be a trainer with a studio to train clients rather than a trainer with a business.

FR helps me evaluate the state of my business—performance numbers I should be looking at, who is my ideal client, who I should be marketing to, and what systems if any did I have in place. And then they helped me establish a vision for the future of my business.”

-Rich Ruffing, Accelerated Fitness  

Step 3: Run an Aligned Business

Your relationship with a coach should be transformative, but it can take time. At this point it’s time to make the leap from fitness pro and grow into an entrepreneur and leader for your team.

Because of the plan you and your coach have implemented your business is working as a cohesive unit, with clear purpose and direction. Your vision is defined and goals are clear.

You should sense incredible momentum and have the ability to evaluate more opportunities instead of dealing with constant problems. Most importantly, you’ll see issues early and be prepared to address them quickly.

This isn’t the end for you though…it’s simply the beginning! It’s the beginning for your newly aligned business and the opportunity for you to grow as a leader. To keep the momentum going you’ll use the system your coach has taught you (they do have a system right?) in your business consistently. Now your focus is maintaining alignment and making faster progress towards your vision.

Now no level of growth seems out of reach!

Your 12-Month Roadmap

We started this blog post with a simple question…

If we’re having a conversation exactly one year from today, and you had to look back over the past 12 months, what would have needed to happen over that period of time for you to be happy with the growth in your personal training business?

There’s a good chance that you can clearly see what you want your business to look like and what you want it to do for you. The challenge always comes in creating (and sticking to) the plan to reach those goals.  

You don’t have to do it alone!  Fill out the form below and schedule your complimentary Discovery Call to find out if we can help you build that plan and get it implemented quickly.

Wanna chase that “Lifestyle Business Owner” dream?

This probably isn’t the place for you. All the hype and BS surrounding the gurus telling you about being able to become a 7-figure online trainer or work just a few hours a week while building an empire is holding you, and the rest of this industry back.

That message is the equivalent of a trainer telling a client they can get cover model ready in 2 short weeks by simply taking their supplements and following their proprietary workout routine. It ain’t gonna happen…

Now that we’ve got that stuff out of the way we can get to the good stuff. What does it really take to run a highly successful fitness business? Online, studio, bootcamp or even a great business as an independent trainer.

A successful fitness business is built off the work of a High Performing Fitness Business Owner. Without a leader ready to tackle the toughest challenges and take risks, the business stands no chance at reaching its full potential. You must transform from fitness professional to fitness business professional to achieve your biggest goals.

Seek The Truth

High Performers want to know the truth. And sometimes the truth hurts. Surrounding yourself with ‘yes people’ and only wanting your decisions to be confirmed is a dangerous game to play as a business owner.

Your mission is simple…

Always look to be challenged and uncover the truth about your decisions and your thought process. High Performers don’t always make the right decisions and the outcomes of the best decisions don’t always work out in their favor. Mistakes are made, but the High Performer learns from those mistakes.

Bet On Yourself

High Performers are willing to bet on themselves. They will invest in their marketing, in their personal development and in their growth as a business owner. The best investment you can make with time or money is on yourself.

You’ll see business owners who continue to struggle constantly make excuses for why they can’t afford to market or hire a coach to help them grow their business. It’s not that they can’t afford it, but that they don’t value the investment.

If you knew that you could invest $1,000 today, but it would turn into $2,000 in 3 months you’d make that happen, right? That’s what marketing and coaching, when done right, can do for you and your business.

Kind, Not Nice

High Performers deliver kindness.

You may be thinking “WTF does that mean?” It’s pretty simple. Kindness is delivering information to someone with the intent to help them grow. You deliver kindness because you care about the individual. Being nice is telling the person what they want to hear or omitting information that may upset them.

As a High Performer you’ll need to learn how to communicate with your team, and even clients, kindly. There are going to be times that you have to be critical of someone’s performance or actions to help them grow as a member of your team. You can’t be afraid of conflict and avoid delivering this message if you want to be a High Performer.

Create Space

You can’t be busy and be a High Performer. Busy is what the average business owner calls themselves. Productive is how you describe a High Performer.

To be productive and think strategically about the growth and development of your business you need to create space. Space to think, to ponder, to ideate, to grow.

You’ll be tempted to put out every fire, tackle busy work, and seem busy to avoid having to spend time with your thoughts. In a world that moves incredibly fast it can be a real challenge to slow down and think.

This isn’t wasted time! Your best ideas and strategies will often come after an hour or two of sitting and thinking about your business without distractions.

A High Performing Network

There isn’t a single High Performer that I am aware of who has accomplished their success alone. High Performers understand the power of surrounding themselves with people who make them better and lift them up.

The saying that you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with is proven true over and over again. In fact, many of the times that I’ve felt stuck in business or my own personal development have been because I either outgrew my current network or wasn’t surrounding myself with the right people.

Finding a group of peers that you can connect with, lean on for help in challenging times and that help you grow as an individual and business owner will accelerate your progress. There’s nothing more powerful than being around the right group of people.

Seize Opportunities

High Performers tend to identify opportunities and take action on them quickly. Not every opportunity is worth moving on, so you’ll have to learn to make good decisions. Often times the decision to act means evaluating risk and learning how to manage that risk as you continue to move on the opportunity.

One of your biggest opportunities as a Fitness Business Owner is being apart of the Elite Fitness & Performance Summit. This is the #1 event for Fitness Business Pros in 2018.

Will you seize it?

This is your opportunity to learn from top experts in the industry, discover strategies that will transform your business and connect with a network of High Performers.

Reserve your spot today…

It’s easier than ever to access information from experts all over the world. Blogs, podcasts, YouTube and social media make everyone and everything accessible. Which makes you think long and hard about attending a live event, conference or summit.

When attending a live event you have to fork out travel expenses, hotel, food, time away from the business and time away from family. There’s no question it is an investment. The determining factor is the return on that investment.

After running a 3+ hour workshop for sports performance and youth fitness business owners at last weeks IYCA Summit I did a little reflecting on the benefits of getting to these live events for a business owner. Here are my top 10 reasons you MUST get to live events if you want to succeed.

10 Reasons You MUST Attend Live Events

1. It gives you the chance to connect, in person, with other people who are going through the same challenges and facing the same difficult situations as you.
2. You have the opportunity to feel connected to a community bigger than yourself that can motivate you and inspire you take bigger, bolder actions to grow your business.
3. There is no better learning environment than live, in-person learning from experts all over the world. You’ll naturally absorb more information at a conference or summit than you will online.
4. You get the chance to escape the day to day rigors of running your business to focus on growing your business. The space this creates will allow for faster and bigger growth. Learning online in between sessions and then jumping right back into your routine kills some of that creativity and momentum.
5. The content and knowledge being shared at live events is cutting edge and innovative. Much of what you see online is created after this information has been shared to audiences all over the country.
6. You get the chance to connect with the experts and ask them questions. Emailing back and forth or connecting on social media is great, but being able to look a presenter in the eye, shake their hand and have a fluid conversation can’t be beat.
7. Just ONE idea from a live event can dramatically impact your business. You don’t need to absorb everything from the event, you only need ONE big idea that will transform your business.
8. You get to cut loose and have some fun! You work incredibly hard to grow and run your business. Attending these events allows you to kick back with other like minded individuals and have a little fun. You’ll go back rested and recharged.
9. Your commitment to your craft and personal development can be used to position you as an expert. Showing your clients and target market that you are growing as a fitness and business pro helps you stand out among the trainer who’s biggest concern is running the rack for bicep curls on a Saturday.
10. You’ll open your mind to new possibilities. It’s easy to get stuck in your own little world, running your business and gridding away. Stepping away for a few days allows you to see what’s possible in terms of growth in your business and for yourself. Your mindset will shift and growth becomes easier because you are able to think bigger.

If you aren’t willing to invest in yourself how can you expect your clients to invest in themselves with you?

The Elite Fitness & Performance Summit 2018 is the #1 event for Fitness Business Pros! If you want to level up as a business owner and grow your business then this is a MUST attend event. Save $100 on your registration and get $1,036 in bonuses by registering today.

The Skills You Need To Go From Struggling Start-Up To High Performing Entrepreneur

One of the scariest parts of being a business owner is the unknown.  There’s nothing guaranteed when you make the courageous, often times scary leap to running your own fitness business.  

Do you ever find yourself wondering what’s next in your journey as a fitness business owner?

What should I be focused on?

What should my business look like?

What should I focus on to get to the next stage of my business?

You’re not alone!  After working with hundreds of fitness businesses we laid out what your business will look like at each stage, the challenges you are going to face, common reasons for failure and what success looks like, including the skills you need to develop at each stage to prepare for what’s next.

The Business Owner’s Journey

We’re going to take a deep dive into each of the 5 Stages through this article, but first let’s do a quick overview of each.

You may find it valuable to read through each of the stages, or if you’d rather skip right to the stage you are in now and figure out how to get to the next stage of your journey that’s cool too.  This article is a lot like a choose your own adventure. Read it and use it however you see fit to help you.

Stage 1: Sell, Sell, Sell

Facility Type/Space:  Independent Contractor

Gross Revenue (monthly):  $0-$2,000

Major Earnings Benchmark: Make enough to pay the bills

Values: Being a great technician

Stage 2: Marketing Machine

Facility Type/Space:  Independent Contractor

Gross Revenue (monthly):  $2,000-$12,000

Major Earnings Benchmark: Income is 50% of revenue, paid on a regular basis

Values:  Going from technician to marketing and sales

Stage 3: System-wise

Facility Type/Space:  Leased space

Gross Revenue (monthly):  $10,000-$25,000

Major Earnings Benchmark: Income is 30-45% of the revenue, start earning market based wage

Values:  Going from marketing/sales to business

Stage 4: Manager-Leader

Facility Type/Space:  Leased space

Gross Revenue (monthly):  $25,000-$50,000

Major Earnings Benchmark: Six figure icome 

Values: Going from creating results to getting results through others

Stage 5: Entrepreneur

Facility Type/Space:  Leased space or property ownership as investment

Gross Revenue (monthly):  $50,000+

Major Earnings Benchmark: >50% income from profits, working less and making more, getting paid your highest dollar per hour amount 

Values: Opportunity, balance, family, experience, retirement

Take an honest assessment of where you are and let’s dive in and look at what each stage looks like and how to get from one to the next.

Stage 1: Sell, Sell, Sell

When you are first getting started one of the most valuable skills you can develop is sales, outside of being a great trainer/coach…of course.

You won’t last long in this industry if you can’t get people to pay you for your services. Many fitness business owners are forced out of business quickly because they never learn to sell their services.  It’s an easily avoidable fate.

The Challenges

At this point you’re asking questions like:

• What should I be doing each day? 
• Who do I listen to?
• I need clients…where are they?

These questions along with overcoming your internal fears about sales will need to be addressed as you continue to grow your business.  As you gain new clients you’ll also build your credibility.  

Common Causes of Failure

If you never learn to sell it will be impossible to stay in business.  Not developing sales skills and utilizing a system that will get you predictable results will leave you clientless and penniless.  

This is a stage where you are most vulnerable to bad advice.  You are working diligently to make your business work and open to taking advice or coaching from just about anyone.  This advice could be detrimental to your growth.

A bad lease at any stage can put the strain on a business, but when you’re just starting out and trying to generate (and keep) as much revenue as you it can put you out of business.   

Many times Word of Mouth marketing drives a Stage 1 business, if that doesn’t take off because your clients aren’t willing to talk about you or you can’t deliver results worthy of referrals it’s going to be a long, tough uphill battle.

What Does Success Look Like?

You’ll know you’re having success in this stage when you have happy clients and you’re seeing steady, continuous growth.  

This success is built on the foundation of you acquiring the proper credentials to deliver training services and have a big focus on getting better at delivering results.

To support your growth you’ll need a polished and consistent sales process in place that allows you to hit your daily and weekly goals.   

Congratulations if you can check off all these boxes…

YOU’VE PROVEN YOU CAN SURVIVE!  

What Competencies and Resources Will You Need?

Getting out of this stage isn’t going to happen by accident.  You’ll need to focus on developing certain competencies that will be the foundation for future success.  It’s also important that you seek out resources to make success a little easier.

Here are a list of competencies:

• Closing sales
• Setting short term goals
• Delivering results

The resources to support you:

• The Triple A Marketing Method
• Priority Tracker
• Training Systems (Program design templates, etc)
• Certifications

Your Support Systems

Very few, if anyone can do this alone.  The road to success in the fitness industry is too challenging to have to figure it all out.  Learn from those who have been there before and build a support system that will help you when you get stuck.

At this stage you’ll find this support in:

• Online Forums/Groups
• Your Personal Network
• A Business Coach  

Understanding the value of a business coach at this stage will give you a distinct advantage!  They will help you implement systems faster, avoid the mistakes that put many fitness businesses out of business and get results quickly.  

By having a coach early you will build a solid foundation for your future success.   

Key Performance Indicators

With sales being the biggest factor to success in Stage 1 your KPIs are tied directly to your ability to add new clients.  Focus on New Core Offer (new clients) and New Front End Offers (trials, etc) during this stage.  

The faster you can bring in new clients the quicker you’ll be able to move to the next stage.

Stage 2: Marketing Machine

Congratulations!  If you’re in Stage 2 you’ve got your business off the ground and are making a bit of money.  Many fitness pros never get to this stage, you should be proud of yourself.

But, there’s more work to do…

In Stage 2 you’re going to need to ramp up your marketing.  It’s critical that you develop a plan to attract and acquire new potential clients for your business.   By learning how to predictably bring in new leads you will be able to support your business through the future growth stages.  

Without the ability to market you will be vulnerable.  

The Challenges

You’re getting busier now and there’s a good chance that you’ve said ‘yes’ to every opportunity that came your way to get to this point.  That’s going to be a risk for you.  You’ll have to learn to assess the right opportunities so that you have a focused plan for growth and aren’t chasing the idea of ‘busy for busy’s sake’.

You’re now more comfortable selling, but are starting to wonder how this whole trading dollars for time thing is going to work for you in the future.  There’s a good chance you’re starting to ask the question “how much should I be charging”.

It’s easy to be a victim of your own success in this stage.  If you continue to sell it means you’ll have more clients to train.  That’s great, but if you are spending all your time training you can’t sell any more.  Your revenue growth stops!  

Marketing can be tricky, especially in a competitive industry like fitness.  You’ll need to hone in on your target market and learn how to create a plan that gets you in front of the right people.  Spreading your message and attracting more leads is crucial if you want to grow.  

There’s a good chance you’d train people for free, because you love it.  But, that’s not a great business model… A huge challenge for many fitness pros as they go through this stage in their journey is overcoming their own issues with money, self worth and fear of success.   

You are great at what you do!  If you earn it, you deserve success.

Common Causes of Failure

As you grow and move through the stages of your journey the risks become greater.  They continue to evolve with you and your business.  If you know what trips up many business owners you can take the steps to avoid the causes of failure

In Stage 2 common causes are:

• Not tracking performance of the business
• Not saving, frivolously spending
• Thinking “What got me here will get me there”
• Time management issues/Lack of clear priorities

What Does Success Look Like?

Success in Stage 2 is all about being able to control your marketing.  You must be able to bring in new leads when you need them, be consistent with your marketing activities and these activities allowing you to hit your quarterly goals.

As you grow and time becomes an issue it’s also key that you bring on your first new hire for your business, likely an administrative assistant to help with some of the office work tasks that are keeping you from revenue producing activities.

A successful Stage 2 business owner will also begin manage their time and priorities well.  They have a system in place and structure to create time in their day instead of hoping they can make time.

What Competencies and Resources Will You Need?

Getting out of this stage isn’t going to happen by accident.  You’ll need to focus on developing certain competencies that will be the foundation for future success.  It’s also important that you seek out resources to make success a little easier.

Here are a list of competencies:

• Marketing Strategy
  • Core Offer Defined
  • Prospect Profiles
  • Local Market Positioning

The resources to support you:

• Quarterly Marketing Calendar
• Annual and Quarterly Goals/Rocks
• Lead Tracker
• Follow Up Systems
• CRM Software (client management and EFT billing)

Your Support Systems

Very few, if anyone can do this alone.  The road to success in the fitness industry is too challenging to have to figure it all out.  Learn from those who have been there before and build a support system that will help you when you get stuck.

At this stage you’ll find this support in:

• A Business Coach
• Community
• Workshops
• Mentorship Programs

These require a bit of explaining…

The community that you’ll find the most support in is a network of your peers.  You want to find a group of fitness business owners who have been or are going through the same journey you’re on.  This allows you to feel connected and eliminate the feeling that you’re the only one experiencing the challenges and problems that arise in your business.

A community of your peers can lift you up and provide you support when you need it most.  

It’s also critical that you seek out and attend skill development workshops and mentorship programs.  These can be in person or online programs that are focused on helping you develop specific skills and competencies needed to move forward in your business.  

Key Performance Indicators

We’ll take a small shift in Stage 2 and start looking at the front end of your marketing funnel when evaluating performance metrics in your business.  

In Stage 2 you should be tracking and reviewing:

• New Leads
• Core Offer Conversion Rate (Lead to New Client)
• Expenses

Stage 3: Systems-wise

Things have really taken off for you!  It may have taken you 12 months to get to this stage in your journey or several years.  No matter the time it took, you’re here now and have proven that you want to create a successful, High Performing business.  

This is a pivotal stage for most fitness business owners.  It’s where you have to begin thinking of your business as an actual business!  You have to replicate the results you can get yourself through systems and structure.

The Challenges

In Stage 3 you’re going to be thinking…

• Not all of my customers are awesome…
• Is this the best use of my time?
• How can I get other people to do this well?
• I need a break!
• What’s important?  What are my priorities?
• How am I doing?

Things are going well in the business at this stage but you’re realizing not all opportunities are created equal and it’s quickly becoming evident that you’re going to have to develop a new set of competencies.

It’s critical that you begin to make the mindset shift from being a great trainer who can market and sell to a great business owner.

Common Causes of Failure

As you grow and move through the stages in your journey the risks become greater.  They continue to evolve with you and your business.  If you know what trips up many business owners you can take the steps to avoid the causes of failure.

In Stage 3 common causes are:

• You stop marketing because you are too busy
• You stay in this stage too long and never progress
• Open another location too quickly
• Hire reactively (too fast), fire too slow
• Disorganization/lack of priorities
• Burn out
• Can’t adapt to the business to shifts in the market
• Thinking a system is a checklist
• Bring on a partner or realize a current partnership is bad

What Does Success Look Like?

This stage is often the toughest for a fitness business owner to go through because what is required for success may not come naturally.  

When you’re in this Stage look for the signs of progress and success by recognizing the following:

• You have a budget and are using it
• An Annual Marketing Calendar is in place
• You are investing in services to outsource tasks
• You avoid saying “yes” to everything
• You’ve taken your first vacation in ______
• You are tracking and measuring performance
• Hitting frequent PRs in your business
• You are setting and accomplishing your goals
• You collect your first distribution check from your business (profits are there!!!!)
• Your staff is accountable for the outcomes they are responsible for

You can see there is a lot that goes into success in Stage 3.  There’s a reason many never make it out of this stage and it’s often the stage that sends good people packing in our industry.

This is where the hard work starts for your business.  But, if you can get through this you’ll have a solid foundation for growth and an ability to scale your business.

What Competencies and Resources Will You Need?

Getting out of this stage isn’t going to happen by accident.  You’ll need to focus on developing certain competencies that will be the foundation for future success.  It’s also important that you seek out resources to make success a little easier.

Here are a list of competencies:

• Budgeting/Basic Understanding of Finance
• Delegation
• Hiring
• Management
• Prioritization

The resources to support you:

• Budget Tools/System
• Annual Marketing Calendar
• Human Resources Processes
• Organizational Chart
• Meeting Cycle
• Marketing Services for Paid Advertising
• DDV List of Systems
• Scorecard
• High Performance Mastermind

Your Support Systems

Very few, if anyone can do this alone.  The road to success in the fitness industry is too challenging to have to figure it all out.  Learn from those who have been there before and build a support system that will help you when you get stuck.

At this stage you’ll find this support in:

• A Business Coach
• Peer Group
• Workshops
• Conferences

You’ll notice that a close knit peer group or High Performance Mastermind makes its first appearance in this stage. Now, more than ever, it’s critical that you have a close group of peers to help you develop as a business owner and speed up your results.  High Performers don’t want to stay in a stage longer than needed, and a good peer group will help hold you accountable and get you results quicker.

Stage 4: Manager-Leader

You’ve made the shift and now you have a business you are proud of and that you love running.  Congrats on your success thus far, but there’s still work to be done.  

It’s time to learn how to get results through other people. There’s a good chance you’ve built up a small team to get to this point and they are responsible for driving certain areas of your business.  How will you keep making progress and get the results through your team?

The Challenges

In Stage 4 you’re going to be facing things like:

• How do we perpetuate improvement?
• Early decisions to ‘bootstrap it’ are catching up to you
• Figuring out what investments you can afford to make
• What is your culture, really?
• What’s next for you as the business owner?
• Should you open a second location?

You’re now beginning to think forward and start realizing the decisions you make today greatly impact the direction of your business for the future.  You may also get a sense of dissatisfaction, or uneasiness from your team doing a lot of the work.  

Common Causes of Failure

Yes, even at this stage it’s possible to fail!  Many businesses take a step back when they attempt to transition to this stage.  Sometimes it’s because they didn’t take the time to develop the foundation in their previous stages or it could be because they resist the need to develop new competencies.  

In Stage 4 common causes are:

• Not evolving as a manager
• Trying to leave this stage too soon
• Not letting go of the technical work
• Getting in the way of your team
• Letting your ego keep you from being transparent about the real issues

If you refuse to allow others to help you grow your business it’s going to be difficult to move on to the final stage in your business journey.  You’ll have to set your ego aside and help others improve at their job to truly have success in this stage.

What Does Success Look Like?

Another big shift happens in Stage 4, you are now more focused on the people in your business than dominating tasks or mastering technical skills.  You’re undergoing the transformation into a High Performing Business Owner!

When you experience the following you’ll start to notice success:

• You are comfortable asking the tough questions
• Your focus is on people and building a Leadership Team
• You say ‘no’ more than you say ‘yes’
• You’re investing in solutions to fix any issues in your business
• You’re spending more time as a manager than a technician
• You have the opportunity to take multiple vacations per year
• You have the ability to calculate when you can afford to make investments
• You are honing in on your “Hedgehog Concept”
• Everyone in your business has a number their performance is assessed on
• You have identified your unique ability and focus you work on it

What Competencies and Resources Will You Need?

Getting out of this stage isn’t going to happen by accident.  You’ll need to focus on developing certain competencies that will be the foundation for future success.  It’s also important that you seek out resources to make success a little easier.

Here are a list of competencies:

• Long Term Vision
• Sustaining Your Culture
• Communication
• Performance Management and Development
• Improvement of Processes

The resources to support you:

• Performance Based Compensation (if applicable)

You’ll quickly notice this stage requires a lot of development for the business owner.  It’s a time where you will be required to develop your own competencies to support your team.   

Your Support Systems

Very few, if anyone can do this alone.  The road to success in the fitness industry is too challenging to have to figure it all out.  Learn from those who have been there before and build a support system that will help you when you get stuck.

At this stage you’ll find this support in:

• A Business Coach
• Peer Group
• Workshops
• Conferences

During this stage relying on a great business coach to help you develop the required competencies and uncover your blind spots will be critical.   Paired with a peer group, like the High Performance Mastermind, you’ll have the support you need to continue you journey.  

Stage 5: Entrepreneur

Finally, the coveted entrepreneur stage!  You’ve worked hard and and done the required work to get here.  Celebrate a little 🙂

All your hard work has it’s rewards if you stay focused on the right things.  But, you’re still not immune to failure or falling back into old habits that could set you back.  

A High Performer is constantly seeking to learn and develop as a business owner.  

The Challenges

In Stage 5 you’re going to be facing things like:

• How do I let go?
• What defines me?
• What can I break? Do they really not need me?
• What’s my job?

It can be tough when the entrepreneur to realizes their team is functioning well and they aren’t needed in the day to day operations for the business to be successful.  If you aren’t careful you will be your own worst enemy and sabotage your success.  You’ll find ways to break things your business so that you can jump back in and be the hero.  

You’ll need to focus on your new identity as a the entrepreneur.  

Common Causes of Failure

Yes, even at this stage it’s possible to fail!  Many business owners take a step back when they attempt to transition to this stage.  Sometimes it’s because they didn’t take the time to develop the foundation in their previous stages or it could be because they resist the need to develop new competencies.  

In Stage 5 common causes are:

• Not managing/holding the General Manager or Leadership Team accountable
• Not shifting management techniques used in Stage 4
• Not letting go

This stage requires that you have someone or a group of people in place in the business where the ‘buck stops’.  They have the final say in the day to day operations.  Learning how to manage them and letting go of the responsibilities  you have given them will be key for your success.

What Does Success Look Like?

Once you’ve got to this stage you’ve afforded yourself the opportunity to focus back on some balance in your life and meeting your bigger life goals.  It’s time where you can take on passion projects or pursue things that you’ve always been interested in because of the foundation you’ve built in your fitness business.

Here’s what you’ll need for success:

• You have a General Manager or Manager in place to make decisions on day to day operations, including hiring/firing
• An exit strategy is in place
• A gatekeeper says ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for you
• You are investing in inspiration
• Life goals are being met 

What Competencies and Resources Will You Need?

Your focus at this point may be to extending your impact and helping others.  That may mean mentoring other fitness business owners and or giving back to your community.  To be effective at this you’ll need to develop competencies that help you (and help your team).

Here are a list of competencies:

• Mentorship
• Social Responsibility

The resources to support you:

• Continuity Plan (what happens if something bad happens to you?)
• New Business Development Plans

This stage is about you ensuring you leave something behind that you are proud of and that can be sustained without you there.  

Your Support Systems

Very few, if anyone can do this alone.  The road to success in the fitness industry is too challenging to have to figure it all out.  Learn from those who have been there before and build a support system that will help you when you get stuck.

At this stage you’ll find this support in:

• A Business Coach
• Peer Group
• Conferences

What do I do with this info?

There’s a lot of information here, especially if you read from start to finish.  In fact, it’s over 4000 words on what it takes to be successful on your journey as a fitness business owner.

Using this to help you is easy…

1. Identify the stage you are in
2. Learn what it’s going to take to have success
3. Implement those things
4. Look ahead to the next stage so you know what to expect

Skipping stages will only result in you failing.  Looking too far ahead won’t give you a big benefit because you’re taking your eye off the ball.  It’s okay to know where you are going, but focus the majority of your precious time and energy on mastering the stage you’re in currently and building a solid foundation for success.

If you need a little help complete the application below and we’ll jump on a call to figure out how to get you unstuck or speed up your progress.

“Ryan’s one of those people that makes business, sales and marketing interesting…”

That’s literally what Rafal Matuszewski,the host of the Cut The S#!t, Get Fit Podcast, said about an interview we did recently.

On this podcast we talk everything from business to training to transformations.  There’s something in here for every fitness pro or business owner.

Here’s a few things we covered:

• Why I started my first fitness business and the mistakes I made
• Tips for having success with your own facility
• Finding your own path in the fitness industry
• The wild world of business partnerships and how to navigate them
• Why most fitness pros struggle with business
• The path for success in the fitness industry
• The biggest problems with Online Training and how to make it work for you
• How to leverage social media to create your own brand in the fitness industry

And a ton more!

Sometimes your business will stall out and growth will come to a screeching halt. That leaves you frustrated and confused about what to do. And the answer isn’t more of what you’re already doing. Discover the 9 reasons your business isn’t growing and create a plan to rediscover growth.

Inside of every high performing business there’s a high-performing owner.

For you to get the most out of this article I need to tell you something: Ryan and I have been posting about the Fitness Business Alignment System™ and the role it can play in your building a high-performing business.

This post is about the other key ingredient in the formula for a high performing business – a high performing YOU.

The distinction is critical, and you’ll see why by the end of the post.

The 7 Signs of a High Performer

#1: They meet their commitments.  

On anything from making good on payments to giving their word, they recognize the importance of a commitment. If life gets in the way, like it does for all of us, a high performer owns failures and works to make them right. One of our Core Values is “We do what we say we’re going to do”.  We want to instill in our team that maintaining commitments is non-negotiable. It’s no accident that high performers are known for their dependability.

#2: They are open to criticism.

They usually aren’t the person who has a reason ‘why’ for everything; they’re usually the person who has an example of how they made a mistake and how they’ve learned from it. Learning from mistakes and accepting feedback is one of the biggest factors that separates high performers from the rest.

#3: They are life-long learners.

Down to their core. It never shuts off with them. They may not even realize how much they are absorbing from everything that’s going on around them – but they do recognize the importance of always learning.

#4: They are up to the challenge.

If you put a high performer among peers, they are going to respond by upping their game.  They become more focused, more diligent, and more responsive.

#5: They recognize all aspects of their health.

This does NOT mean that they are always at peak levels. I would actually say that the key lies more in them being able to effectively manage themselves at less-than-optimal levels, and minimizing the effects of being less than optimal.

#6: They respect the needs of the business.

They don’t let a weakness of theirs become a neglected area of the business. High performers know that it has to be done, and they make sure that it is.

#7: They make all of their decisions with the long and short term in mind.

It doesn’t mean they are always right – it means they are always working to align the short term with the long term. Another way of saying this is that high performers can see the detail without losing sight (or alignment) with the big picture.

You’ll notice that all of these signs of high performer are behavioral.  There’s nothing on this list that one person may be born with that another is not.  There’s no mention of IQ, appearance, SAT score, or any type of benchmark or score. They are all things that we can do. If we don’t “do” these things naturally, they are behaviors that we can cultivate through the forming of good habits.

You have control over all of the things that define a high performer.

High performance can mean different things to different people, but the constant for everyone is that it’s driven by how you think and act.  (You might also note the contrast in the high-performer and the ‘at-risk’ owner from a recent post.) The most important lesson that I’ve learned from surrounding myself with high performers isn’t a metric, number, checklist or strategy but learning how high performers think and act.

The high-performing YOU is built on the foundation of how you think and act.

A high-performing business has to be built on a foundation of certain functional pieces, and those pieces have to be measured. That’s not the case when we’re talking about the high-performing YOU.  The high-performing YOU is built on the foundation of how you think and act.

The tools are there. What we can’t do is make your mind up for you. You have to do that in order to build your high-performing self and your own high-performing business.