Fitness Career Mastery Podcast: Recent Episodes
Barry & Shay Kostabi: Fitness Professional Training Experts | International
Your path to mastery in the fitness industry hosted by Barry and Shay Kostabi. This dynamic husband and wife duo distill years of experience as international coaches and consultants to educate, inspire and empower you through conversations with thought leaders, belief shifters, trailblazers, and masters in the fitness industry. Each episode is packed with actionable steps and proven roadmaps to give you the edge you need to build a heart-led career or business in fitness that is a representation of who you are and serves the people you were meant to serve with confidence and competence. The journey to mastering your craft and building a sustainable, successful, life-long business & career in fitness starts here.
Ashley Marand Iwanicki is the founder and CEO of The Collective Studios, a boutique fitness brand in New Hampshire that’s redefining what it means to lead with purpose, build community, and create experiences that actually move people.
In this powerful conversation, Ashley shares how a vivid dream sparked the vision for her studio, what it means to build a brand rooted in expansion and belonging, and the bold leadership decisions that helped her scale with soul.
As a Fitcarma brand, Ashley partnered with us to clarify her message and elevate the Collective Studios identity into something bigger than a studio—it’s now a brand people feel. In this episode, we go behind the scenes of what it really takes to build something that resonates on every level.
You’ll hear us dive into:
- The moment she realized fitness had to be more than workouts
- How Collective Studios blends performance with purpose
- What it really takes to develop a high-performing, empowered team
- The systems that drive consistency and connection across locations
- Why staying in the messy middle is part of the magic
- And how transformation begins with creating the conditions for people to return to themselves
This episode is part of our new Brands That Move People series, where we spotlight founders who are doing things differently—and doing it well. If you’re a studio owner, instructor, or creative leader in the fitness space, this one will leave you fired up.
🔗 Connect with Ashley: @ashleymarandhealth 🔗 Learn more about her studio: @thecollective_studios
Episode Description & Show Notes: This week, a fitness influencer went viral for saying people over 200 pounds shouldn’t be allowed in Pilates class—and that instructors with a “gut” shouldn’t be teaching.
Yes, she deleted the video. But the damage was done. Thousands of people agreed with her.
This is the fitness industry we’re still up against. And in this episode, we’re not just pushing back—we’re burning the whole narrative down.
We break down 13 research-backed reasons why building your fitness brand around body transformation isn’t just unethical—it’s lazy, outdated, and costing you money.
What we cover:
- Why transformation-based branding leads to low retention and high churn
- How extrinsic motivation backfires (and what the neuroscience says)
- The impact of shame-based messaging on mental health
- How to actually build emotional loyalty that fuels long-term growth
- Why purpose-driven brands scale better—and feel better
This episode is part reckoning, part guidebook. We brought the science, the lived experience, and the tools to help you build a brand that doesn’t just sell workouts—but moves people.
Whether you’ve already left the old model behind or are still working your way out of it—this one’s for you.
If this message resonates, share it. Post it. Text it to your team. Forward it to another studio owner. This is how we shift the industry—together.
SPRING INTO SUMMER AUDITS (Limited-Time Offer) Want to be sure your brand is saying what it’s supposed to—and that your class experience is reinforcing it?
- Brand Strategy Audit with Barry – $150
- Experience Architecture Audit with Shay – $150
- Bundle both for $250
We’ll review your messaging, experience delivery, and help you align your brand with what actually works—ethically, emotionally, and financially.
DM us “AUDIT” on Instagram or email us at hello@fitcarma.com
Citations & Research Sources 1. McGonigal, K. (2020). The Joy of Movement: How Exercise Helps Us Find Happiness, Hope, Connection, and Courage. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562466/the-joy-of-movement-by-kelly-mcgonigal/ 2. Singh, B. et al. (2023). Effect of Physical Activity on Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety in Adults: A Meta-Review of Meta-Analyses. British Journal of Sports Medicine. https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2023/02/16/bjsports-2022-106195 3. Ducharme, J. (2022). Mental Health Benefits Are Getting Americans Back to the Gym. TIME Magazine. https://time.com/6233766/mental-health-benefits-exercise/ 4. Inspire360 (2023). Mental Health Issues Are on the Rise: How the Fitness Industry Can Help. https://blog.inspire360.com/mental-health-and-the-fitness-industry/ 5. Mintel (2023). Exercise Trends and Mental Wellness in the U.S. https://www.mintel.com (requires subscription access) 6. Mindbody Wellness Index (2022–2023). Top Reasons Americans Exercise. https://www.mindbodyonline.com/business/education/blog/wellness-index 7. Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits 8. Harvard Business Review (Reichheld & Schefter, 2000). The Economics of E-Loyalty. https://hbr.org/2000/07/the-economics-of-e-loyalty 9. Blink Fitness. Mood Above Muscle Campaign Case Study. https://www.blinkfitness.com/about/mood-above-muscle 10. PubMed (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). “Fitspiration” on Social Media: Body Image Effects of Fitspo vs. Self-Compassion. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26176993/ 11. Two Brain Business (2019). The Real Problem With 6-Week Challenges. https://twobrainbusiness.com/the-real-problem-with-6-week-challenges/ 12. Marshall, E. (2025). Music Is Medicine: How Rhythm Heals the Body and Moves the Soul. https://musicismedicine.co 13. Fitcarma Brand Strategy Guide (2025). Internal brand framework. https://fitcarma.com
What if your potential clients aren’t lazy, unmotivated, or inconsistent—what if your brand just isn’t making them feel like they belong?
In this episode, we challenge one of the fitness industry’s most toxic assumptions and reveal why people aren’t saying yes to your studio (even when your workouts are amazing). We’ll share real stories, client examples, and a practical breakdown of how to build emotionally intelligent experiences that convert.
You’ll learn: – Why “just show up” messaging is doing more harm than good – The difference between selling and converting – How small acts of hospitality lead to long-term loyalty – What your brand might be missing if your classes aren’t full
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Ready to attract more aligned clients and build a brand people feel connected to? Book a free North Star Strategy Session and let’s map it out together: https://www.fitcarma.com/northstar/
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Want to dig deeper into this right away? Get access to our free mini-training: “Why Your Classes Aren’t Selling Out (& What To Do About It)” Get it here → https://minicourse.fitcarma.com/
Trends aren’t growing the fitness industry—they’re just keeping it spinning.
Despite all the buzz and innovation, only 20–30% of people consistently work out. And that number hasn’t moved in decades.
In this episode, Barry and Shay unpack what they call The Trend Treadmill—the cycle of constantly chasing what’s hot in hopes of staying relevant… and why it’s not working.
If you’re ready to stop chasing trends and start building something grounded, magnetic, and truly transformative—this one’s for you.
Inside, we’ll cover:
- Why trends don’t expand the market (and what actually does)
- What your clients are really looking for when they come to class
- How to make any format feel like the perfect vehicle for transformation
- Why your beliefs—not your workout method—are the foundation of a powerful brand
- What it takes to create experiences that build loyalty, retention, and real results
If you’re ready to step off the treadmill and lead with purpose, press play.
If your fitness brand isn’t growing the way you want it to, it’s probably not a marketing problem. It’s not your logo. It’s not even your class experience.
It’s the lack of a North Star—a core belief that guides your messaging, your experience, your team, and your future. In this episode, Barry and Shay break down what a North Star really is, how to find yours (with a dead-simple exercise), and how to use it to create consistency across your brand—even as you scale, hire, expand, or pivot.
You’ll learn:
- Why growth by default leads to burnout and brand confusion
- How to unify your team, marketing, and client experience under one idea
- Why consistency beats charisma when it comes to instructors
- How a studio with less experience outperformed a stacked team of experts
- The single most important question to ask about your business.
Want to find your North Star? Download our free worksheet here: 👉 https://www.fitcarma.com/north-star-download/
Want help putting it into action across your brand? Book a North Star Session: 👉 https://www.fitcarma.com/northstar
What does your cueing style have in common with Mario Kart and a trip to IKEA? A lot more than you think.
In this episode, Barry and Shay answer a big question from inside the Conservatory: How do you balance giving clear technique cues with creating a fun, immersive experience?
They break down why fun isn't fluff (it’s actually the key to results), how over-cueing can kill the vibe, and why great music and thoughtful experience design matter more than ever.
With real stories from their early days as trainers, research-backed tips on creating flow states, and a hilarious Mario Kart training story you won't forget—this episode is packed with the mindset shifts and practical tools every instructor needs.
If you want your classes to be technically solid, emotionally addicting, and wildly effective, this one’s for you.
🎧 Listen now—and let’s rethink what makes a truly great class.
Sign up for the 'Killer Playlists In Less Time' 10-Day Challenge:
https://signup.fitnesscareermastery.com/killer-playlists/
What if your fitness class was more than just a workout? What if it was a transformational journey where every client felt like the hero of their own story?
In this episode, we dive deep into the Story Driven Class Experience™, breaking down how to use the Hero’s Journey framework to create more immersive, emotionally engaging classes.
We’ll explore: 🔥 Why traditional fitness programming falls short in building deep client connections 🎭 How to structure your class like a narrative arc—from the warm-up to the cooldown 💡 The role of the instructor as the Guide, not the Hero 🎶 How music, cueing, and intentional programming make your classes unforgettable
By the end of this episode, you’ll be equipped to level up your coaching, design more impactful class experiences, and turn every workout into a story your clients never want to stop living.
📩 Don’t forget to download your free Story Driven Class Experience Workbook to put this into action!
https://signup.fitnesscareermastery.com/story-driven/
Are you unknowingly holding back your studio’s growth? Many fitness business owners hesitate to define their clients’ real struggles, fearing they’ll sound negative or push people away. But here’s the truth: If you don’t define the problem, your dream clients won’t see why they need you.
In this episode, Barry and Shay break down the silent fear that’s sabotaging your brand messaging—and how shifting your approach can instantly make your marketing more powerful. You’ll learn:
🔹 Why a fitness class alone doesn’t hold inherent value (and what actually makes clients sign up) 🔹 The simple 3-step framework for defining your dream client’s journey—without sounding negative 🔹 How to position your classes as the perfect solution by identifying where people are starting
If your messaging feels vague, if your marketing isn’t converting, or if you’re struggling to fill classes, this episode will change the way you think about branding forever.
📍 Ready to refine your studio’s messaging? Book a free brand strategy session with Barry:
https://signup.fitnesscareermastery.com/theone/
🎧 Subscribe, leave a review, and let us know what resonated with you!
After nearly a year away, we're back—and stepping into a whole new era! In this episode, we’re catching you up on everything: our big move to Costa Mesa, our massive brand refresh (say hello to FitCarMa!), and the exciting changes ahead for the podcast.
But the biggest news? The Make Them Feel Something Challenge. This 21-day challenge is going to revolutionize the way you teach fitness classes, helping you command attention, create deep emotional connections, and get your clients addicted to your experience—not just your workout.
We’re breaking down:
- Why attention is the most valuable currency in your class
- How to make your clients feel something beyond just a good sweat
- The secret behind unforgettable class experiences (hint: it’s not the exercises themselves)
- How acting techniques and flow science can transform your coaching
- And how you can join the challenge and take your classes to the next level
If you’re a fitness instructor or studio owner, this episode is a must-listen. Click the link below to join the challenge, and let’s make every class a transformational experience.
It’s good to be back. And trust us—you don’t want to miss what’s coming next.
🔗 Join the 21-Day Challenge: Make Them Feel Something!
(link below)
https://conservatory.fitnesscareermastery.com/feelsomething/order/
Whether you're new to conducting formal and informal evaluations or looking to refine your current process, this episode is packed with insights. We discuss performance reviews' important role in enhancing your business and team dynamics. Learn from common mistakes and adopt best practices for effective feedback. From improving instructor performance and engagement to aligning business goals and identifying training needs, we cover the spectrum of benefits this valuable practice provides for the health and success of your business.
Stay tuned for a special resource: our Performance Excellence Blueprint, a comprehensive guide, and customizable review sheet for seamlessly integrating effective performance evaluations into your business operations right away.
Key Talking Points:
- The Critical Role of Performance Reviews: Unpacking how regular feedback enhances performance and deeply engages your team, aligning individual goals with your business’s vision.
- Common Pitfalls to Avoid: Insightful anecdotes on some studio owners' missteps, from over-surveillance to inconsistent evaluation methods, and how these can adversely affect team morale and effectiveness. We’ll share real-world examples of how not to conduct reviews and the impact of infrequent, biased, or poorly structured feedback.
- Best Practices for Meaningful Feedback: A guide to conducting reviews that foster growth, including the importance of preparation, regularity, objectivity, and focusing on development.
- The Blueprint for Success: An introduction to our Performance Excellence Blueprint, a tool designed to streamline the review process for your business.
This episode is designed to be an essential guide for any business owner looking to leverage performance reviews for team and business growth, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and open communication.
DOWNLOAD YOUR PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE BLUEPRINT HERE:
https://fitnesscareermastery.com/performance-excellence-blueprint
In this episode, we turn the traditional fitness marketing playbook on its head.
If you're like most fitness professionals we speak to, you may not know exactly who your ideal client is or how to market to them in a way that communicates your value, or you have an idea of how you want to portray yourself to your people, but don't know for certain if that intention is felt and understood.
The truth is that in order to clearly speak to your dream clients, communicate value and attract more of them in, there are a lot of beliefs about our industry and how we have historically marketed ourselves that need to shift dramatically.
In this episode we share a recording of a recent brand strategy session that Barry had with a potential client where he took a deep dive with her into what that shift looks like.
After listening, you're going to think about how you position your value completely differently, and hopefully be on the path to take the necessary steps to attracting new dream clients confidently like a supermagnet.
What You'll Learn:
- The Pitfalls of Marketing Your Classes: Discover why treating fitness classes like tangible products limits who you can reach in the market.
- Real Needs Over Physical Benefits: Learn about the importance of the shift towards addressing people's deeper drives like confidence, energy, and overall life satisfaction, and away from abstract physical benefits like "burnt calories" "cardiovascular endurance" and "lean muscle"
We promise this episode will shift your perspective on what it means to market group fitness classes in today's world, redefine your approach to marketing, and offering insights that could redefine the way you connect with the people who need you the most.
GET THE EBOOK, AUDIOBOOK, & COURSE:
https://fitnesscareermastery.com/avalanche
BOOK A BRAND STRATEGY SESSION:
https://signup.fitnesscareermastery.com/yourstrategysession/
Unlock the secrets to transforming your fitness classes into must-attend events with this enlightening podcast episode. We dive into innovative strategies that go beyond traditional fitness classes, focusing on creating a unique and immersive experience for participants.
Discover how to captivate and retain a broader audience by incorporating creativity and passion into your offer. Here’s what you'll learn:
- Transforming Classes into Experiential Events: Discover how to make your fitness offerings compelling events that rival concerts or dining experiences, turning them into sought after destinations.
- Finding and Owning Your Niche: Learn how to identify and leverage your unique skills and passions to stand out in the crowded fitness market without relying on gimmicks.
- Building a Strong, Engaged Community: Find out how to create a loyal community around shared values and interests, enhancing retention and encouraging word-of-mouth referrals.
- Redefining the Purpose of Movement: Understand how to shift the focus of your classes from solely achieving a "fit body" to embracing movement for joy, wellness, and community building.
- Marketing the Holistic Benefits of Fitness: Gain insights on how to effectively communicate the mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits of your classes, moving beyond just the physical results.
- Developing a Powerful Brand Strategy: Get tips on developing a clear and impactful brand strategy that resonates with your target audience and sets you apart from the competition.
Download the free ebook "Why You're Not Selling Out Your Classes... (& What To Do About It)": Access this in-depth guide complete with journal prompts to help you clarify the specific problem your fitness classes solves, and how to address it effectively:
The eBook: https://fitnesscareermastery.com/avalanche
The Audiobook: https://urlgeni.us/spotify/eW8z7
Whether you’re a seasoned fitness professional or a new entrepreneur, this episode provides actionable insights for making your classes not just a workout, but a sought-after experience that participants eagerly anticipate.
In this eye-opening episode, we delve into a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of group fitness success: the power of standardized programming in fitness studios. Join us as we explore why allowing instructors to freestyle their classes is a misstep for boutique studio owners, and how implementing structured, templated programming can revolutionize your business, as well as help set up instructors for success.
Listen as we share insights from our extensive experience, highlighting the pitfalls of inconsistency and the transformative benefits of a well-defined fitness program. Learn how standardized workouts not only enhance the client experience but also streamline instructor training and onboarding, ensuring a uniform, high-quality class every time.
Some key takeaways from this episode include:
Why Standardized Programming is Crucial: Learn about the need for structured, templated programming to maintain consistency and high-quality experiences in fitness classes.
Risks of DIY Freestyle Classes: Discover the challenges posed by inconsistent class experiences, and the difficulty in setting and measuring success markers for instructors.
Benefits for Studio Owners and Instructors: Understand how structured systems streamline training, attract talent, and increase client retention.
Establishing Effective Program Structures: We discuss how to define workout goals, codify rules and strategies, and effectively use templates and guidelines.
Balancing Structure with Creativity: Find out how to infuse unique brand elements into classes while maintaining a structured approach.
Impact on Instructors: Learn how standardized programming reduces instructor workload and stress, and enhances class engagement.
Whether you're a fitness studio owner eager to scale your business, an instructor looking to refine your craft, or an entrepreneur in the fitness world, this episode is packed with valuable lessons and actionable advice. Tune in to transform your approach to group fitness and steer your studio towards unparalleled success and client satisfaction.
Get ready to dive deep into the art and science of creating fitness experiences that keep clients coming back for more! In this episode, Shay, our seasoned experience designer, peels back the curtain on the number one challenge studio owners face - inconsistency in their classes.
Discover the secret sauce of "Minimum Viable Certainty" (MVC) as Shay explains its profound impact on client engagement, performance, and addiction to your workouts. Drawing inspiration from Steven Kotler and The Flow Research Collective, Shay unveils how MVC is the key to achieving the coveted Flow State in fitness.
📱 Take the Plunge: If you're ready to transform your fitness studio into a haven of consistent, addictive workouts, Shay invites you to take the plunge. Book a FREE call to explore how you can implement MVC and elevate your fitness game:
https://www.fitnesscareermastery.com/service-page/strategysession
🚀 What's in Store for You:
🔍 Unveiling MVC: Ever wondered why some fitness classes leave you hooked, while others feel like a gamble? Shay introduces MVC as the game-changer, the magic ingredient that turns a good class into an unforgettable experience.
💡 Consistency is Key: Shay breaks down the importance of consistency in fitness programming. Learn how it can elevate your brand, keep clients engaged, and ensure they get addicted to the joy of the workout.
🔄 Breaking the Cycle: Explore the pitfalls of relying solely on star instructors and the instability it creates. Shay shares practical steps to break the cycle, ensuring your business remains strong even when key instructors take a break.
🛠️ Tools of the Trade: Shay provides three actionable steps you can implement today to guarantee consistency without stifling creativity. From programming constraints to company language and an enhanced onboarding process, these tools set the stage for an ultimate fitness experience.
🌈 The Flow State Payoff: Discover the incredible benefits of implementing MVC. From improved team dynamics to a stronger brand and increased class numbers, Shay outlines how a consistent fitness experience becomes a magnet for success.
🔑 Take the Plunge: If you're ready to transform your fitness studio into a haven of consistent, addictive workouts, Shay invites you to take the plunge. Book a FREE call to explore how you can implement MVC and elevate your fitness game.
Tune in now and unlock the secrets to creating fitness experiences that not only meet expectations but exceed them, leaving clients buzzing with joy and spreading the word about your studio!
Uncover the Game-Changing Secret to Skyrocket Your Fitness Career...
Join Barry and Shay as they unveil exclusive insights from one of Barry's recent strategy sessions, exposing the ONE elusive factor holding back fitness professionals from achieving unparalleled success.
Discover the 'why' behind this obstacle, unravel its mysteries, and gain actionable strategies to shatter it.
Don't miss out on the career-altering revelations that can transform your journey in the fitness industry. This episode is your passport to breaking barriers and unlocking the true potential of your professional life!
Download your copy of Why You're Not Selling Out Your Classes (& What To Do About It!):
https://fitnesscareermastery.com/avalanche
This episode is the audiobook version of an ebook we wrote called 'Why You're Not Selling Out Your Classes (& What To Do About It!)' where we summarize what we feel is everything you need to know about what it takes to easily and confidently attract more of your dream clients.
As you listen, you'll notice that at the end of each section are some journal prompts to help you take action and implement what you learned into your own business.
To download a copy of the ebook for free, and also gain access to an in-depth mini-course called 'How To Attract An Avalanche of Your Dream Clients' (also 100% free), go to fitnesscareermastery.com/avalanche.
In this ebook you'll learn:
- 4 Foundational steps to finally achieve sold-out classes like clockwork.
- The mistake you might be making that leads to appealing to only 3% of the market.
- Why marketing your workout is holding you back from getting more clients than you can handle.
- How to stand out as the perfect solution to your dream clients by capitalizing on what makes you unique.
- Finally, ditch throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks when it comes to client acquisition.
DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY & GAIN ACCESS TO THE MINI-COURSE:
fitnesscareermastery.com/avalanche
In his book Hero on a Mission, Donald Miller describes 4 main character "archetypes". The victim, villain, hero, and guide. In your fitness career, you play three of those four parts at some point, as you move through your different "Eras"
This episode was inspired by Miller's book, and today you'll learn how recognizing what era you (or others in the industry) are in will help you with:
• Understanding and owning your capabilities so you can avoid burning out, and know what to expect from yourself.
• Ensuring you're showing up in a way that serves your clients the most (and keeps them around)
• Finding mentorship and understanding who is the right person to take you where you want to go.
Learn the '7 Steps to Sold Out Classes' Over 7 days you'll get research-backed tools and time-tested techniques that help instructors create sold-out, waitlisted classes.
If you get an email from us that doesn’t help you get more people addicted to your X-periences, and make a deeper impact, then we aren't doing our job:
SIGN UP HERE:
https://www.fitnesscareermastery.com/uxn
Unlock the secrets to marketing success in your fitness business. Join us as we delve into the crucial difference between marketing strategy and tactics. Barry breaks down the essence of each, helping you understand why they're both essential.
Discover how your marketing strategy is your blueprint for success, setting you apart from the competition. It's your compelling story that resonates with your dream clients and guides your decisions.
Learn why your marketing tactics, like social media posts and ads, should align with your strategy for maximum impact. Get inspired by real-life examples, including Patagonia's 'Don't Buy This Jacket' campaign.
The FCM Podcast is BACK and better than before! For 200 episodes spanning half a decade, we brought on experts from every corner of the industry to share what they know about what they do best. We interviewed everyone from marketing experts, legal, finance, studio design, vocal coaches, and professional class reviewers, you name it.
But now that we're back, we're going to change things up a bit...
Press play to learn how, and listen as Barry & Shay tell their stories for the first time ever on the show.
The FCM Podcast is BACK and better than before!
For 200 episodes spanning half a decade, we brought on experts from every corner of the industry to share what they know about what they do best. We interviewed everyone from marketing experts, legal, finance, studio design, vocal coaches, and professional class reviewers, you name it.
But now that we're back, we're going to change things up a bit...
Press play to learn how, and listen as Barry & Shay tell their stories for the first time ever on the show.
This episode is going to cause you to question a lot about our industry, and how you’re offering the experience of exercise in your business. Because when it comes to inclusion, there is so much that we don’t think of that is causing a massive population of people to feel unwelcome and defeated by what you’re offering, rather than the way you hope they feel- inspired and excited to come back again. And I guarantee most of it is flying under your radar.
Things like… how you program your workouts, how you coach your workouts… whether or not offering pre-choreographed classes are the right thing to offer. How you’ve positioned your equipment in the room, and what that equipment is in the first place. Even down to what we define as “fit” or “fitness” in the first place! You’ll learn about why each of those and more might be culprits by listening to this episode today.
What’s so interesting to me is that the biggest concern that we hear fitness business owners talk about is their ability to attract new clients, or get clients to stay longer, and in this episode, you’ll learn that the answer to that may come from the realization that you’ve unconsciously and unintentionally been scaring away a huge potential clientele, simply from adopting too limited a view of what your business can be.
SHOW NOTES:
https://www.tashaedwards.com/
https://www.instagram.com/iamtashaedwards/
Our guest in this episode is a business operations consultant and attorney for fitness, wellness, and creative professionals. She’s passionate about providing her clients with her playbook and systems to teach them how to build the business they want and deserve, without the constant anxiety, overwhelm, exhaustion, or frustration. Through the conversation, we tackle a ton of valuable topics like:
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Knowing the right way to grow by finding the right relationships with complimentary businesses.
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Learning from what others do well, and what others don’t do well, and applying that to your business.
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Setting boundaries... sdpecifically how legal policies and procedures/ client agreements/ terms of service are really just a way of of communicating our feelings in a legal document in a way that protects your energy and peace of mind which is directly linked to the success of your business.
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Reframing the importance of legal agreements- no matter what size business you run. Why it's vitally important that you don't put your future and fate in the hands of a sketchy google doc. Take yourself seriously as a business owner.
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We wrap up with our guests's take on the future of fitness
SHOW NOTES:
She Vs. World Podcast
https://www.daniellesteadblanton.com/
If you’re a regular listener of the show, you know we talk a lot about leveraging your uniqueness to scale your business- whether that be your unique origin story, your core values, your beliefs, or your unique skills. The reason is because
#1, there is no one else like you in the world, and you can immediately set yourself apart from competitors this way, and
#2, your clients aren’t buying your workouts- they’re making a buying decision based on how you make them feel- and that comes from what you share about your beliefs and values, and how you believe your unique approach can change their life.
The best way to communicate this is through utilizing the power of story, and in Episode 190, we dove deep into just how powerful storytelling is to scale your business and find success. But something we didn’t talk about is specifically how to do that.
That’s why we invited back our guest today- so he can teach you how to find that leverage to
#1- get more clients and make more money,
#2, leverage how you do what you do by packaging or productizing your values and beliefs and the way you do what you do, and
#3, how you can start to get others to reach out to you for opportunities.
Of all the episodes we’ve done, I think that what we talk about today is one of the simplest and most effective ways to scale your business based solely on leveraging who you are and what you believe. On that note, please welcome back Jude Charles to the show.
LINKS:
https://athleticgreens.com/fcm
Jude's Story Bank Journal
Jude's Newsletter
We've partnered with ACE for a few recent episodes to bring you the best info on how to future-proof your business. In this truly heart-driven conversation our guest speaks about why turning a mirror on yourself and consistently self-assessing is the key to career longevity. This involves taking a hard look at your interests, your skills, the types of people you want to serve, and what superpowers you have (because your uniqueness is always going to be the thing that brings you the most success- if you lean into it).
What comes next is a process of marrying this self-assessment, and what YOU want to give to your clients with what they actually NEED. Press play now to learn what that process looks like.
LINKS:
https://www.instagram.com/anthonyjwall_fit/
The big question we unpack in this episode is... what does your community really want from you? And we’re not talking surface-level stuff like abs... What do they really want out of the time they’ve sold to you?
Today’s episode features a marketing consultant for health & wellness entreprenuers, focused on helping wellness brands grow and learn how to effectively market their businesses.
But this interview is different in that she’s not here to talk about granular tactics, tools and tricks that you would expect a marketing consultant to deliver.
We dig deep and talk about the foundational aspects of your marketing strategy. hospitality, relationship building, community building and what that really takes.
We talk about the pitfalls of marketing price and explore the benefits of marketing VALUE. After all, she calls herself your foundational marketing expert and guide. The work that she does is really where your marketing journey begins, and what all your future marketing decisions stand upon.
LINKS:
https://foreverfriday.co/
https://fitnesscareermastery.com/wellnessliving
Do you have an area of expertise in fitness? Have you ever considered writing continuing education content, or producing your own training program? Maybe you've mastered one skill that you want to share.
If you're wondering what the steps are to producing something that could be accredited by an organization like ACE, then press play on this episode, where Shay continues her conversation with Chris Gagliardi, the Scientific Education Content Manager with ACE.
LINKS:
https://www.acefitness.org/
https://www.acefitness.org/about-ace/ace-mover-method/
https://athleticgreens.com/fcm
Being a good trainer is really about relationship building, but to built strong, meaningful, heartfelt, and impactful relationships (as we all should strive to!) it means we have to play a number of roles really well at the same time.
We have to be a coach, an educator, a motivator, but also a DJ, an MC, and more!
Aside from the difficulty of being able to do all of those things well, it can also be difficult to know WHEN to play each role by reading, watching, and listening to our clients.
And that’s what this conversation is about in the first half of this epic two-episode conversation. Our guest today gives some amazing actionable tips to help you execute each role well, and also be able to tell when each is the most appropriate for what your client needs in that moment.
LINKS:
https://www.acefitness.org/
https://www.acefitness.org/about-ace/ace-mover-method/
https://athleticgreens.com/fcm
This episode is a continuation of the conversation Shay had with Staci Alden in our previous episode. If you haven't listened to it, they really break down what it means to be a group fitness manager, and demystify this very important role at any fitness facility.
This week Staci talks about going beyond the numbers and the six things to look for when reviewing instructor performance that can't be found in data points, but are still trackable!
Follow Staci:
https://www.youtube.com/c/StaciAlden
https://stacialden.com/
Get a year's supply of Vitamin D and 5 travel packs of AG1 when you get a subscription to Athletic Greens:
https://athleticgreens.com/fcm
In this episode, we are diving into the role of the group fitness manager, which in almost 300 episodes is a topic that we haven’t really touched on before... and yet it was one of the most vital - albeit mysterious - roles of any club or studio.
We know that if you are a studio owner, you may be performing this role yourself. OR if you’re looking to hire someone to fill this position, where do you even begin? As you’ll quickly learn in this episode, there is no roadmap or playbook for a group fitness manager and the job can be dense and intense.
But it’s also really dynamic, exciting, and fulfilling and if you’re a fitpro listening to our podcast you might be thinking, what opportunities lie in my future when I don’t want to teach 10-15 classes a week anymore, where can my experience take my career in fitness. If you’ve ever had dreams of becoming a group fitness manager, as Shay once did, this episode is also for you. We break down what the role really entails, the qualities necessary to be successful, tips to stay organized, how to effectively communicate to stakeholders, and ultimately make a really complicated job, seem less complicated while avoiding burnout and feeling fulfilled in what can be an all-consuming role,
Our guest, Staci Alden is committed to helping group fitness managers and club operators elevate their programs, instructors, and leadership. As an experienced consultant and strategic planner for both digital and in-person offerings, her clients range from large luxury health clubs and multi-family international companies to small studios. She has designed world-class studios on a tight budget, launched signature formats, and built turnkey solutions for enhancing systems, leaders, and talent. She is also an established presenter, writer, and YouTube influencer, regularly interviewing thought leaders and fitness professionals on her channel.
https://www.youtube.com/c/StaciAlden
https://stacialden.com/
Check Out Wellness Living using our link to receive 50% off the regular price of their professional membership for the lifetime of your subscription:
https://fitnesscareermastery.com/wellnessliving
We believe that nearly every person in the world knows that exercise, moving their body is good for them, but most people still don’t do it. We also don’t believe that it’s due to a lack of motivation. We believe it’s because they don’t feel seen.
The decision to purchase fitness classes is so different from the decision to purchase anything else. It’s an emotional decision that causes someone to bring the reality of who they are, or who they believe themselves to be into the light and look at it. Oftentimes that’s really scary and uncomfortable. It often means coming into contact with the limiting beliefs about themselves, and looking at those too. And depending on their preconceived notions about what fitness is, or is about through the media, it’s very difficult for most people to start.
This type of person doesn’t need to be motivated more- told that they can do it, or told they could look a certain way. They need to be met where they are, have their feelings and emotions validated, and made to feel seen.
The best way to accomplish this is through telling a story. A very special type of story. A story that combines a bit of your story, but also includes the story of your ideal client, and how you fit into their life story.
That’s why we’ve invited Jude Charles onto the show, who helps you dig deep to find the compelling story that no one else knows and then leverage storytelling to strategically scale your business by consistently connecting with the right type of clients.
Sign up for Jude's newsletter:
https://judecharles.co/newsletter
Book a free Breakthrough Session to uncover your own story:
www.fitnesscareermastery.com/breakthrough
This episode features a fitness business owner and long-time FCM podcast listener who reached out to us through our website, expressing gratitude for pod and asked if he could be a guest on our show. It’s not often that we get a request like this, and we had a couple of spots open on our recording schedule, so of course, we said “Why Not.” Shay took the discovery call and thought that since we are coming up on our 200th episode this would be the perfect time to celebrate a listener who’s clearly taken inspiration from the show and consistently followed through with Action Steps to help his business thrive.
One of the other things that he mentions at the beginning of the show is that by speaking on podcasts, he might be connected to a greater community of like-minded entrepreneurs. It’s so challenging to create and operate in a vacuum. This is one of the reasons we started the show in the first place.
Enjoy this conversation today on overcoming challenges, putting people first, setting boundaries, niche-ing down, maintaining a business mindset and even negotiating tough lease agreements.
Contact Nate:
https://www.instagram.com/studio16nyc/
studio16bk@gmail.com
https://www.studio16nyc.com/
https://www.instagram.com/fitnesscareermastery/
Knowing how to price your services as a fitness professional is one of the most challenging things to do. Shay and I get it! We’ve been there! One of the reasons it's so hard is because each of us in this industry, and especially you, because you’re listening to this show- take what you do seriously and are so passionate about helping as many people as possible, and often, because we think charging less will allow us to help more people, we wind up unconsciously and unintentionally causing a ton of problems for ourselves, for our clients, and for our industry!
For example, if you’re not charging your worth, it makes it so much harder for you to show up with joy and enthusiasm so you can have the impact you want on your clients' lives. Why? Because it doesn’t feel worth it for the price you charged.
Secondly, charging more causes your clients to take what you’re offering more seriously. They made a larger financial, and therefore energetic investment, so they’ll invest more in showing up and getting results.
And lastly, for our industry, remember that people assign value to price. For example, If I tell you there’s a coaching program that costs $500, and then there’s another one that costs $5000, which one do you think is going to be better? The second one right? This is one thing we really got wrong in the pandemic by offering all of our classes for free in an effort to help more people. We unknowingly communicated to our customers that what we have to offer isn’t worth paying for. And you know what?
The amount of work that we put into creating experiences that change people's lives in a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual way is absolutely worth the investment. I’ve had people come up to me after class and say things like, you’d have no way of knowing this but I’ve been coming for years and I wouldn’t BE HERE if it wasn’t for you. Don't tell me that it’s not worth it to your clients to invest in themselves for the potential to completely change their lives.
You’re going to walk away from this episode feeling so empowered to charge your worth, and equipped with tools to do it so everyone can benefit- because you know what? you’re worth it.
Lesley's Magic Number Calculator:
https://profitablepilates.com/lp/magic-number/
We believe that the future of fitness is experience. You’ve heard us AND our guests say it in many different ways on the show- that what’s most important is the emotional connection that you’re making with your clients.
We’re both personally fascinated by finding new and interesting ways to make a fitness experience more immersive, enjoyable, and meaningful. That’s because, for most people, fitness isn’t fun. There are deep and powerful emotions and deeply rooted beliefs that they have in relation to movement, exercise, their abilities, fitness level, appearance, as well as fitness studios, and fitness instructors.
The point is, that there is a lot to overcome to get people excited to come in again and again. That’s why, when we discovered our guest today, who was previously the applied researcher into behavior science at Tonal, we just knew we had to speak with him, so we, and you can learn about and understand how to apply behavioral science to the experience you provide to your people in order to help them make movement a part of their lifestyle.
After this conversation, we realized that acts as simple as putting a bowl of healthy fruit out on your front desk can help your members begin to believe more and more that they are someone who lives a healthy lifestyle, and can trigger more healthy behaviors based on this shift in belief. If you find this fascinating and want to learn more, then press play now!
DOWNLOAD THIS EPISODE'S WORKSHEET:
www.fitnesscareermastery.com/behavioralscience
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Habit Coach Professional Self-Determination Theory Intro Hexad Gamification Framework Octalysis Gamification Framework Health Related Megastudy
We believe that the future of fitness is experience. You’ve heard us AND our guests say it in many different ways on the show- that what’s most important is the emotional connection that you’re making with your clients.
We’re both personally fascinated by finding new and interesting ways to make a fitness experience more immersive, enjoyable, and meaningful. That’s because, for most people, fitness isn’t fun. There are deep and powerful emotions and deeply rooted beliefs that they have in relation to movement, exercise, their abilities, fitness level, appearance, as well as fitness studios, and fitness instructors.
The point is, that there is a lot to overcome to get people excited to come in again and again. That’s why, when we discovered our guest today, who was previously the applied researcher into behavior science at Tonal, we just knew we had to speak with him, so we, and you can learn about and understand how to apply behavioral science to the experience you provide to your people in order to help them make movement a part of their lifestyle.
After this conversation, we realized that acts as simple as putting a bowl of healthy fruit out on your front desk can help your members begin to believe more and more that they are someone who lives a healthy lifestyle, and can trigger more healthy behaviors based on this shift in belief. If you find this fascinating and want to learn more, then press play now!
DOWNLOAD THIS EPISODE'S WORKSHEET:
www.fitnesscareermastery.com/behavioralscience
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Habit Coach Professional Self-Determination Theory Intro Hexad Gamification Framework Octalysis Gamification Framework Health Related Megastudy
Building a strong team is essential to running a profitable fitness business, but it’s also one of the hardest things to do, and that’s because often, we’re going about it in the completely wrong way.
Luckily, the fix is not only easy, but also incredibly empowering, and once you get it locked down, you’ll find that every single action and decision you make in your business will become easy and streamlined.
You’ll have an incredibly strong team that wants to stick around and grow with you, and a die-hard community that will generate a ton of referrals. If that sounds crazy and magical, just keep listening.
Book a free breakthrough session: http://www.fitnesscareermastery.com/breathrough
https://www.ericacourdae.com/
Erika's Implicit to Explicit Talk: https://open.spotify.com/episode/49H5dGYPAW2mZCmvGgwl8v?si=5bd19c17f8744353
A trainer is not just a trainer. We’re so much more than someone who gets certified to move others through a series of exercises safely. Deep down, we know that we also have the potential to step into a role where we can have such a more significant impact. Because the truth is that fitness, especially a group fitness class, is one of the few things we can do in our modern society that feeds the soul of what we have evolved to be. We're talking about moving our bodies- one of the most profound, most primal experiences we can have, but also doing so alongside others to music.
This experience taps deep into our emotions and brain chemistry and unlocks new pathways for us to move through trauma, bond with each other, and discover more profound levels of strength and fortitude, to name a few. And as the leader of that experience- we have a tremendous opportunity, and we would go as far as to say, a responsibility (if we take what we do seriously) to learn how to make the experience we provide something absolutely unforgettable and life-changing.
When we do this right, your clients’ exercise experience shifts from “how many more reps?” “How much longer?” “Am I getting more toned?” “Am I gaining muscle?” “How many calories am I burning?” “This is really hard” to something immersive, fun, and something they can’t wait to return to.
It comes down to you- and how you share yourself, your worldview, and your experiences in a way that colors the workout and makes it unique and experiential. And that’s what we’re talking about in this episode today- not only how to do that, but also why this skillset is so essential to invest in whether you’re an independent fitpreneur or a business owner.
Because the truth is, without an emotional connection, most fitness equipment collects dust or becomes a clothing hanger. But when we turn our focus away from the specifics of the workout we’re doing (which no one actually cares about) and onto the human connection we’re forming. That’s where everything falls into place.
Get your copy of Mason's 10 THINGS the TOP 1% of ON-LINE TRAINERS DO.
Our guest today shares some insane statistics. Women business owners make up 44% of small businesses in the US. But only bring in 4% of small business revenue. Only 12% of those women break 100k. Only 2% break 1 million. The way she sums up these statistics is this: women are facing entrepreneurial poverty of time, energy and money. They don’t have time to do the work that is meaningful and moves the needle, don’t have time to live the life we want to live because we’re hustling and grinding all the time, or trying to recover from the hustling and grinding. All of that leads to a lack of energy. If you don’t have the energy to show up you’re not going to hit the goals you want to hit.
In this episode, whether you’re a woman or not, you’ll learn what it takes to eliminate entrepreneurial poverty, and hear a fascinating conversation about what it ACTUALLY means to be a CEO- and spoiler alert- there’s no one definition, but one that’s right for you. You’ll learn exactly how to determine what that is, so you can trust step into what you’re MEANT to do, and what you LOVE to do. If that sounds far- fetched, then you DEFINITELY have to keep listening, because it is within your grasp.
Promote Yourself to CEO Podcast
https://theceocollective.com/
Brace yourself for part two of this epic conversation with not one but TWO very important guests that we are so excited to introduce to you. We feel so lucky and are incredibly honored to host the content and product managers at AFAA / NASM, Rich Fahmy and Steve Myers. These institutions are THE place where we as fitness professionals go to gain important knowledge on training and physiology, but, as you’ll discover in the episode they recognize that we as an industry have missed a metric when it comes to how we speak about group fitness and they are committed to enacting change in the industry through the products and education that they’re creating.
The metrics for success in personal training are not exactly the same for group fitness. And the metric that we often miss is what people truly come to group fitness for and it’s important that this is reflected in our messaging and marketing so we can attract the people that are looking for those benefits. We're not going to give it all away, but we have a fascinating conversation that, we think, will leave you fired up and empowered.
Book Your Breakthrough Session:
www.fitnesscareermastery.com/breakthrough
Brace yourself for an epic two part conversation with not one but TWO very important guests that we are so excited to introduce to you. We feel so lucky and are incredibly honored to host the content and product managers at AFAA / NASM, Rich Fahmy and Steve Myers. These institutions are THE place where we as fitness professionals go to gain important knowledge on training and physiology, but, as you’ll discover in the episode they recognize that we as an industry have missed a metric when it comes to how we speak about group fitness and they are committed to enacting change in the industry through the products and education that they’re creating.
The metrics for success in personal training are not exactly the same for group fitness. And the metric that we often miss is what people truly come to group fitness for and it’s important that this is reflected in our messaging and marketing so we can attract the people that are looking for those benefits. We're not going to give it all away, but we have a fascinating conversation that, we think, will leave you fired up and empowered.
Get One Month Free Using Collective:
http://collective.com/promo/FCM
The more we learn about the fitness industry, the more we realize how incredibly complex it is. The messages that the average consumer receives from the media, beauty culture, diet industry, fitness industry and even holistic wellness trends can be confusing and contradictory. Especially for women.
Shrink yourself, but take up more space. Lift heavy to get strong, but don’t get too bulky. Fit and healthy can happen at any age, but try all these tricks to look younger. Over the decades, we’ve been told that wafer thin is chic, to have a muscular Amazonian bod is empowering, goddess-like curves are divine and body neutrality is the ultimate path to self-love and acceptance.
Whatever the ideal of the decade that has been sold to us, we ate it up (or sweat it out) hoping that if we consistently show up to the gym and group fitness classes we can change our physique and we will be accepted, more successful, respected, worthy of love and finally feel like we belong. What we discover is that the process and the journey through physical exercise is infinitely more powerful than the results that we get.
Throughout the history of fitness there have been unsung heroines that understood this complex and powerful dynamic. They started movements that not only re-shaped bodies but re-shaped the world as we know it.
Our guest in this episode does a really excellent job of shining a light on some toxic traits of the fitness industry while illuminating the very best parts and the potential that we have as fitness professionals not only change people’s lives but to influence fashion and beauty trends, music and even consumer goods like tampons and cereal. The way we move… shapes our society.
Buy Let's Get Physical HERE
Follow Danielle HERE
We're so glad you're going to play this episode. This is a really powerful conversation that Barry had with a friend and colleague who runs the Fitness Business Asia Podcast, and what you’re going to hear in this chat are some really actionable takeaways on how to develop the culture of your business, which should be the #1 thing that you invest in, because the strength of your culture has a direct impact on the quality of experience that you provide, and the quality of experience you provide has everything to do with your success.
Gotta get the mind right before you get your business (or your body) tight.
Did you know that over 95% percent of all people who start a workout routine fail? Or that over
84% of Americans feel anxious, stressed, or depressed on a weekly basis? I think this is true especially if you are an entrepreneur.
Why are there more fitness, mental health, & nutrition solutions than ever, but people are still
more overweight and unhappy with their bodies and lives than ever? Why do so many people
struggle with yo-yo dieting and sticking to a workout regimen?
Many mental health solutions focus on talk therapy or chemical intervention, but do not address
issues with deep seeded beliefs and habits that are incongruent with what you want to create,
Similarly, the $40 billion fitness industry focuses largely on nutrition, basic healthy habits,
workouts, and external transformation, which is only 20% of the solution.
That other 80% that is key to your clients success and your solution to attrition and retention and therefore the keystone of the success of your business. Is Mindset.
As a business owner it’s imperative that you cultivate a strong mindset of success in order to serve your community in the most impactful way just as it’s important for your clients to cultivate a strong mindset as they embark on the journey to change their bodies and their lives and instill new habits to unlock their full potential.
You cannot out train, out-work, or out-willpower a bad belief system. My guest today wants to show you how you can finally audit and recalibrate your limiting beliefs, heal your own personal traumas so you are best equipped to show up for your people, and build the business and the life of your wildest dreams.
EPISODE LINKS:
Book A Breakthrough Session With Beth
Running your own business is one of the most fulfilling and empowering things you can do, but can also be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. And at times, it can feel like you’re stuck on a very brutal hamster wheel that causes you to spend hours late into the night doing tasks for your business that you wish you could outsource or delegate, but can’t yet, and it feels like that day will never come.
Our guest in this episode is so positive (not a surprise, because she’s a positive psychology coach) but also she will fill you with a lot of hope- that with a little bit of courage you can do the things that are simultaneously scary, but also the what will free you, and allow you to enjoy running your business.
Shay and I believe that the world needs you- needs you exist to help more people fall in love with movement, and if that’s going to happen, you’ve got to fully enjoy what you’re doing, and thrive doing it.
We hope this episode takes you a step closer to realizing that, and as our guest puts it, takes you from crazy to calm, and even if you’re scared, you’ll find the courage to do it anyway.
Resources:
https://www.loom.com/
https://www.tango.us
https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths
https://www.viacharacter.org/
Cory's Crazy To Calm Resource:
https://bit.ly/coryzackercrazytocalm
Check out Collective:
http://collective.com/promo/FCM
In this episode, Barry shares his experience taking a recent yoga class, and how his experience points to the future of the fitness industry.
86% of people say they'll pay more for a better experience. 77% of people say they're working out for reasons other than their body. The answer is clear. People don’t care about the workout. They care about the experience they have while doing it.
Learn why Flow State is the future of fitness, and don't forget to sign up for Shay's upcoming 2022 events:
Four Pillars of an Unforgettable Class Experience:
www.fitnesscareermastery.com/liveyourdream
Flow Spirit and Science Workshop:
www.fitnesscareermastery.com/flowspirtandscience
In this episode Shay shares THREE THINGS that happened this week and downloads some insights she had to you. She's gonna let you in behind the scenes and share some takeaways from conversations she's had with clients and colleagues, something that really got to her on the internet, along with some thoughts and tips for you to think about that we hope will resonate with you.
It was supposed to be fun! You entered the fitness industry because you didn't want to play by the rules of being in an office to work. You get to sweat, move, get fit, feel good doing it, AND wear significantly more comfortable clothing! PLUS the most important thing of all... you get to make other people feel better about themselves. Make them feel more empowered. More confident. Show up as a better version of themselves in their life. That can all quickly fade away when you realize how hard this industry is. How hard it is to run a fitness business. Or fill up your classes. Somehow it looked easier on the other side...
We most often hear that the biggest challenge fitness creators and entrepreneurs face is simply not knowing or feeling confident in the ins and outs to running a successful and scalable business. Sometimes this is due to just being more passionate about teaching or interacting with people than the numbers and organization side, or it can be due to fear- because you don’t like dealing with the financial side of your business, or don’t feel confident in your ability to manage your finances, you sweep everything under the rug so you don’t have to look at it. But when you gain the confidence in what you’re doing- and enables you to take conscious steps to grow your business- and ultimately change the lives of more people. You’ll wind up enjoying your career choice even more.
That’s why in today’s episode we brought on an expert to teach you three fundamental pillars to scaling your business. And be sure to stay tuned to the end- because we’re offering you a free gift that can help you master these pillars. Our guest in this episode is the Head of Content at Collective.
Collective is a first of its kind back office platform that empowers you to succeed for the life of your business and beyond. They strive to give you the freedom to focus on what matters by taking care of everything from business incorporation to accounting, bookkeeping, tax services, payroll and access to a thriving community- all in one platform. You have the power to control your financial future. It’s time to unleash it.
Get one month free using Collective:
http://collective.com/promo/FCM
If you haven’t read the article in the New York Times by Holly Burns, we’re gonna break it down for you in this episode. It’s called “Breaking Up with Peloton” and highlights why some superfans are done working out at home. We’re going to walk you through the 5 big takeaways from the article, share our thoughts, tell some stories and give you a few tips and resources to walk away with.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE.
“Bathing suit season is coming.” “Get your body bikini-ready!” “sweat is fat crying,” “pain is weakness leaving your body,”
We’ve all heard someone in the industry say these things at one time or another.
They’re part of a narrative that is still pushed hard- that fitness is about transforming your body, and the subtext of this kind of messaging that says:
Fat is shameful; Having a strict diet and exercise program is the optimum way to live; Joining a gym or a studio is about getting physical results; Fitness is easy and fun; And of course, if you lose weight, you’ll feel better about yourself.
But we talk to many of you, and when we do, we hear you saying that we need to move away from this kind of messaging, and change the narrative to reflect how moving your body will help you tap into your inner power, and as a result you’ll start to feel more confident and empowered- and that begins to show up in every area of your life.
So we started to ask ourselves… where did these two drastically different types of messaging come from? And how can we all help contribute to shift the meaning of fitness towards something more personally empowering than superficial?
In this episode, our guest helps us unpack and answer these questions by taking a fascinating look into our industry's past...
LINKS:
PRE-ORDER: Fit Nation
The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession
Natalia's Instagram
Book A Breakthrough Session
We think we can safely say we’ve all been in those workout classes where time just flies by. We look up at the clock after the cool down and think, "wow that could not have possibly been 60 minutes, I was so immersed in that experience it was seemingly over before it began." The elation we feel overrides any feelings of challenge or discomfort and we can not WAIT to come back and do it again.
And then those are those classes where, after trudging through the first 5 or 10 minutes you look up at the clock and think, "oh boy, I’ve got 50 more minutes of THIS? How will I possibly manage my energy to make it through?" And it doesn’t matter how beautiful the facilities are, or how expertly programmed the workout is - there’s just… something missing and even though it might be “good for you” you’re not sure you want to come back.
This right here, is the death of group fitness. And you do NOT want people to feel this in your class.
But those classes, where time is suspended, aren’t magic, they don’t require secret superpowers and they don’t happen by accident (well sometimes they do, but then, it can’t be repeated or scaled - and leaving that up to chance? It not good for business)
There’s a science behind creating epic, immersive, memorable addicting experiences that keep your clients coming back for more. It’s called FLOW
And our guest in this episode is an EXPERT in Flow State and Flow Experiences and today we’re going to talk about the science behind the magic of Flow and introduce something new… It’s called Flow Shui.
Now in all of our travels we have seen WAY too many new studio owners blow their budgets on design without equal investment on what actually happens in that beautifully designed space.
The design will help get them in. But an addicting workout experience is what keeps them there. Think about that for a second. So we’ll talk about how design can enhance the flow experience for your clients and what needs to happen in your space so you can deliver on the promise you’re making to your community for years to come.
LINKS:
LEARN ABOUT THE CONSERVATORY
FREE DOWNLOAD: A FITPROS GUIDE TO GETTING HIGH
It seems like everyone, everywhere is talking about technology. Hybrid business models. The Metaverse. And how... if you don't integrate these new tools, you're going to be left in the dust!
If you are feeling totally overwhelmed by all of the options that are available to you as a business owner, if you're scratching your head thinking, "wow I've invested a lot of time and money into technology, but I don't really see the return on the investment", this episode is for you.
Our guest in this episode discusses technology in the fitness industry, what's working, what's not working, where the gaps are, AND... how one simple thing can help you make better decisions for your business, in regards to integrating technology, and beyond.
We've got a big problem. Fitness has become so popular, the industry as a whole has decided that the way to create differentiation around the workouts we offer is to create more hype. This manifests as coming up with the best new product, the hottest new kind of workout, new wearable technology, a fancier studio design, etc. What’s happening as a result of selling features of the workouts is that fewer and fewer people have trust that the fitness industry can create meaningful change in their lives. They’re burnt out and tired of the hype.
The truth is, our clients aren’t seeking out a workout or its features. They want to feel differently about themselves. They want to experience life differently. What’s on the “flight” is cool and all, but ultimately it doesn’t matter if they don’t understand how you are best equipped to take them to the sandy beach they actually want to arrive at.
In this episode, learn why selling an aspirational identity and not "features" will improve your marketing and reach more clients!
In this episode Shay shares her thoughts on the state of the world, and why now, more than ever, the world needs YOU and movement.
Pressing play today might have been the best decision you make, because we believe this is one of the most powerful and inspirational conversations we’ve had on the podcast.
In this episode the fitness industry gets a major reality check- specifically how the messaging that the purpose of fitness is to achieve a specific body ideal- does not serve our clients, or us as professionals.
We talk with our guest about the responsibility and incredible opportunity that we have as fit pros to make the bold choice not to co-sign onto the toxic messaging of body transformation and diet culture, and instead make the choice to get really real with who you are and what your definition of health is, so that you can share a message that you believe in so deeply that it allows you to show up from a powerful place of truth.
While it’s a scary shift to make, it’s the most sustainable thing that we can do for our clients and our careers.
Listen To Kaisa's Keynote Speech at NASM
Download The Five Secrets of Successful Fitpreneurs
You have ALL the time you need, you just need to design in. Yes, we are time bound beings. And time is finite. There are only so many hours in a day, so many hours in a week to work with. And we are all subject to the same parameters - even Beyonce.
Changing your relationship with time and how to ‘use it wisely’ is a game changer for your business and your personal life. And our guest today is going to show us how.
In this episode we breakdown how much time you actually have available in a day. This is hard work and often overlooked but our guest has a formula to help you do it.
We’ll talk about how dividing the time you have between working on your business and IN your business is paramount. And learn strategies to determine what’s ‘best’ to do with your time that is unique to you and your business.
Links:
http://www.shannonfable.com/tbd-technique/
https://www.shannonfable.com/time-by-design-self-paced/
Imagine feeling joyful, inspired, creative, engaged, calm, powerful and connected throughout every day. Imagine if you could successfully coach your clients to feel the same way? Game changer right? Our guest in this episode believes that the way you feel impacts how you show up in all areas of your life; your work, your family life, your relationships, your finances, and your health. We know more now than ever before that we do not have control of what happens outside of us. So instead of trying to control every area of your life, waiting for things to line up when you feel good and ready, you can learn how to feel good NOW and watch how those areas of your life will shift to match your feelings.
Our guest talks to us about how learning to manage your energy is the single most important skill you can master.. both for yourself and as coaches and leaders in our communities.
There’s a formula to manage your energy and we break it down with actionable steps in this episode.
Contact: meliss@jillpayne.ca
Website: https://jillpayne.ca/
Instagram: @be_a_dime
If there’s one thing we know for sure… it's if the pandemic left you scrambling to reorganize your business and spinning out from one too many pivots… you want to make sure you’re never in that position again. Are we right?
That’s why we reached out to our guest in this episode to talk about
- Where we are today and where we are going
- How to successfully learn from the pandemic and PLAN your career
- The creator economy and how to thrive
- Quit with the pivots and CREATE the skills to ride the waves of the future
Some of our most favorite interviews on this podcast are when we get the opportunity to chat with OG’s in our industry who not only bring a rich history of context, experience and insight, that we get to learn from but who also have their eye on the future and are continuing to disrupt, innovate and carve new paths forward for the next generation. This interview is one of them.
What makes a good website? Well according to our guest today, characteristics of an excellent website ensure that you show up when people search for you, and that you convey the right message for your potential clients to take action.
The best way to accomplish these two things comes down to something that’s simultaneously incredibly simple, yet also complex… Getting clear on what your unique perspective is towards what it is that you do. What you believe about how what you do should be done.
As we explore in this episode, people don’t buy what you do, they buy into your core beliefs about how what you do can bring them closer to their ideal version of themselves. Subtle, but there’s a huge difference between saying:
“I’m a personal trainer- sign up for my packages here” versus “I believe that fitness should feel like play- the way it felt to run around jump, climb, and swing on the playground when we were kids. When you work out with me, you’ll feel like a kid again”
Listen through this episode to learn different applications of this idea to how you represent yourself on your website, so you can attract the right people in with the right message.
When you press play you'll hear our guest talking about just one of the ways that your business will benefit from you focusing on just one thing- following what you are passionate about, what lights you up, and what you believe in.
Simply put, if you want to build a successful business and career- you need to be SO fired up about what you do that you are filled with the energy to show up consistently and passionately- day after day, even when it gets hard. That doesn’t happen if you’re building a business based on what you saw someone else do to become successful.
But our guest didn’t stop there. In this episode you’ll also hear how she strategically aligned her passion with the passion and values of her ideal client- which has created a mutual spark of excitement around moving and exercising that builds momentum and therefore success. What this tells us is that the best way to help your clients get results is to be sure that you’re aligned with your passion.
To learn even more benefits of aligning your business or career with your passion (however niche it might be) as well as some tips about how to get yourself aligned with yours and overcome your fear of putting yourself out there… press play now.
Think of this episode as an incredibly successful case study highlighting where the fitness industry needs to go. It’s time that we stop competing with each other on the level of the workout, and recognize that what is most important is to identify what it is that you value most in regards to fitness or movement, and what your unique approach to fitness is. For our guest, it’s the power of taking small steps.
Once you identify what these are, match them with the type of people that need what you believe or also share your values. Show empathy to what they experience on a daily basis with their relationship to fitness. From there, creating a strong culture around these shared values is how you create an unstoppable movement.
It requires taking a few huge vulnerable steps- the first one into yourself, your past, your story, and your experiences to identify what your unique approach and values are regarding fitness. The second step is to boldly go out there and shout what it is that you believe from the rooftops- not being afraid to share your story and perspective knowing full well that you might drive some people away. And of course, the third step is to hire and work with people that share your same values, so that you create a true community and culture around what it is that you believe.
Fitness is not one dimensional. It’s not just about a workout. Every one of us in this industry knows that it’s a gateway to a potentially radically different life- for yourself, your family, and those around you.
For example, gaining more confidence as a result of feeling stronger in your body and proving to yourself that you can overcome challenges can cause you to become more likely to feel empowered to try things you’ve always wanted to try, to speak up at meetings at work, ask for that raise, become a better partner, find a partner, become a more inspiring parent, and more.
Yet, as an industry, the only level we speak to our clients on in our marketing is on the level of the workout. The features of the workout, the equipment, the amenities, the deal, the offer, the low price. At best, “get in the best shape of your life”.
But that’s just because we’ve never been modeled, shown, or taught how to do it differently. The truth is, that just as there’s more than one dimension to fitness, there is more than one dimension to YOU too. You are so much more than JUST a trainer, coach, or business owner.
You have beliefs and a unique point of view related to fitness and movement. You have a unique lens through which you see fitness and movement based on your life experiences, and powerful emotional drives behind why you’re in this industry in the first place.
In this episode, you’re going to learn how to build a brand, find your ideal client, and speak to them on an emotional level based on all of the OTHER dimensions of who you are, and what your ideal client needs to hear… so that you can feel excited, proud, and fired up to bring the people you’re meant to serve into your tribe- and they feel the same.
New Year; New You is B.S. And Resolutions Suck.
New Year, same you... only better. In this episode, Shay is going to teach you how to take your tired old list of New Year's Resolutions and transform them into meaningful, fulfilling, life-changing goals that are truly in alignment with your purpose with more clarity and focus and lot less guilt and shame by using the power of choosing a THEME for the year ahead.
In this episode (as part of some fun for the end of the year) we recorded a conversation about two topics that we can't stop talking about at our own dinner table:
#1. Keeping creeps out of your Livestreamed workouts. How have we not talked about this as an industry?? Listen as we share a scary story from one of our clients, and our thoughts on what you can do about it.
#2. Finally ending "New Year New You". New Year's Resolutions don't work, and as a fitness industry, we need to drop the marketing tactics that communicate to potential new clients that they can immediately jump into a sustainable fitness routine of taking our classes simply by waking up on January 1st. It doesn't serve us when they drop off, and it definitely doesn't serve them. Listen as we share our thoughts on how this needs to change to truly help people change their lives, and help our bottom line too!
If you enjoy the format of this episode, stay tuned for a BRAND NEW podcast in 2022!
One of the biggest struggles that we have heard business owners share with us over the years is the issue of employee and instructor turnover. You may be someone who as experienced someone leaving and either starting something that directly competes with you, or joining a competitor. It’s maddening, and it can leave you wondering how to make those employees stay. However, too often, we see business owners turn to means like non-competes and other ways to trap their team members.
That’s why we decided to bring back a past guest to speak with us about how to create an environment that your team craves- and we think you might be surprised by some of the counterintuitive ways that he suggests that you accomplish this- one of them being that it’s essential that you recognize that it’s most likely that you’re not paying a high enough wage for them to consider their employment with you the pinnacle of the career, and you therefore need to adjust the way you think of your relationship with them.
We also discuss some other management and leadership hacks (each of them as counterintuitive and paradoxical as the last) which will help put you in a position where you’re creating a thriving work environment, and learning from mistakes as you continue to grow.
If we’ve learned anything from the stories we’ve created and passed down since the beginning of time, when society finds itself in the midst of extraordinary circumstances, a hero emerges with new superpowers that can either be the or the revival or the demise of the world as we once knew it. In our case, the pandemic gave rise to one such hero. The fitness consumer. Their superpower? Choice.
Now that people can workout from anywhere, at any time, with anyone from around the globe - and a fitness professional can start a business with nothing more than an iPhone, social media and a payment processing platform - providing a good workout in a beautiful space isn’t enough anymore.
There will always be people who want to work out from home and there will always be people rely on the accountability of a community and thrive in a live experience with other people. This duality has existed since the beginning of fitness and it’s not going anywhere.
Whether you are a fitpro now operating as a solo-preneur online or a boutique studio owner with a brick and mortar location, a team of talent or even perhaps a hybrid model - the KEY to your success in 2022… is your member experience. THAT is your superpower.
In this episode, we talk about the concept of Experience Design for the Customer of the Future, how things have changed, what still needs to change as well as an elephant in the room - current average instructor compensation vs. industry expectations.
We’ll discuss simple strategies to help bridge that gap and hopefully, bring you a little closer to stepping into your superpowers so you can show as your your most heroic self and confidently attract and retain your dream clients.
Struct Club: https://www.structclub.com/
FCM GroupX Experience Conservatory: https://urlgeni.us/instagram/yCw9
How many tasks do you have when running your business? Too many to count? Do you ever feel like you could really use some help getting them all done in a day or week so that fewer important things slip through the cracks? Do you ever think to yourself, I can’t delegate this, because no one can do it like me?
Maybe you’ve spent a ton of time hiring help, only for them to leave- or for them to let you down- so you’re left doing all the work you wanted to offload in the first place!
You’re not alone. Most entrepreneurs WANT to be able to do everything, but often, when you attempt to do this you run into bigger problems.
Your growth is going to be stunted, because you’ll be stuck doing what’s at your capacity. You’ll risk seriously burning out by continually doing tasks that you’re not passionate about, and may even hate doing.
You won’t be able to give your clients- the people that matter most- the attention and care that they need and deserve. All of this can potentially kill your business!
If you feel this way- then you’re someone who could seriously benefit from having a VA- or virtual assistant. Imagine being able to free up an extra 15-20 hours a week- what would you do with that time?
Imagine not needing to pay that expensive videographer and editor to come in once in a while, not having to force creating creative content, not having to worry about payroll for employees, or the churn and burn from consistently having to on-board new staff?
What if you could simply focus on the aspects of your business that you love the most- the ones that caused you to get into this industry in the first place?
The only problem is, finding a VA is a difficult process- and where do you even get started?
That’s why we brought on our guest today- as a gym owner for over ten years himself, he went through the same struggles you are, and decided to create a solution for it- called VA’s for Gyms.
He has not only put in hours and hours into studying and understanding the process of finding the perfect VA- he’s assembled a team with complimentary skillsets that can help gym owners and managers get hours of more work done by being able to offload bookkeeping services, lead generation, social media management, and much more- for a low cost and little hassle.
Interested in learning how to hack productivity, and the art of delegation? Sign up for our FREE VIP Webinar to learn these two skills from Scott himself. To sign up and learn more, all you have to do is go to www.fitnesscareermastery.com/VA
We love this conversation that you’re about to listen to, because we had the opportunity to speak to someone in the fitness industry who is running their business in a way that we believe is the future of fitness.
The current state of the industry is that most businesses are selling their service (their classes or training sessions) not recognizing that’s not what people are actually buying. People buy into your specific beliefs around why you train the way you train, and the type of results that you can provide them that will transform their life.
As a result, we see a lot of businesses hire the most popular trainers with large social media followings or followings from another studio. They let them teach whatever they want, or train however they want, because they believe that they’re just selling classes or training sessions- to anyone and everyone they can find.
Their marketing is very generalized, because they’re attempting to offer generic classes to as many people as possible. This puts these businesses in a position where they’re in a race to the bottom on price with their competitors who offer the same or similar workout, or compete to be the “shinier object” in any number of ways.
Listen to the contrast of what our guest describes today, and how they’ve built a completely different model where
- They set a schedule that their members must adhere to- so they can guarantee their results
- They create a powerful tight knit family within the group that goes through the program together
- They aren’t afraid to refund people and cut them out of the program if they drop off
- They have clear beliefs and values that they don’t waver from
- They take the time to train their staff on these beliefs. What matters to them the most is that everyone in the building believes in their approach
- They carefully select their staff to be sure that they have certain qualities
- Their trainers go through training for several months to ensure the quality of the experience for their members
- They ensure that everyone has deep empathy for the experience the members are going through- with one way being that everyone must go through the training program themselves.
In our opinion, this business has taken fitness back from being a commodity, and turned it into a transformational experience, and THIS is what we believe you must do if you want to be a fitness business of the future. We need to start creating bespoke transformative experiences based on clear beliefs and values. We hope this conversation today inspires you.
Running a business is hard. As a creator or entrepreneur there are so many hats that you have to wear, and often a ton of different tasks that you have to manage.
Amidst what can feel like controlled chaos at times, it can be extremely difficult to be able to take an objective look at your operations and determine what it is that is causing the biggest problem, what could be made easier, or optimized.
That’s why in today’s episode, our guests are going to uncover the biggest problems small fitness business owners face and how to solve them to boost your bottom line. You’ll learn how to streamline business operations as they share:
- How to run a quick health check on your business and track your performance.
- How to target your marketing, attract leads and boost your search rankings.
- How to increase member retention.
- How to use automation to provide more efficient and effective communication.
- How to build a viable digital offering.
Attend the DREAM Summit and see Barry & Shay speak on creating an unforgettable member experience:
http://www.fitnesscareermastery.com/dream
Use promo code 'Fitness Career Mastery' when you sign up for WellnessLiving
When building your business and brand, there are SO many essential steps you must take before even beginning to think about marketing. Things like bringing your own values and beliefs to the forefront- for instance, that you believe that fitness shouldn’t be about repetitive reps to target specific muscle groups, but a moment to experience deep embodiment through full body dynamic movement.
Our beliefs and values point toward the type of problem we’re best equipped to solve for the people we’re meant to serve. Once we understand this problem deeply, we’re able to craft brand messaging that tells a story about how what we offer can help our ideal client overcome their problem so they can experience the type of life the desire.
Only at that point does marketing come in, and there’s two pieces to it- marketing strategy, which is the story that we’re telling, the empathy we show toward the type of person we’re meant to serve, and authority as a guide with a proven plan to get them to where they want to go. Our marketing strategy is unlikely to change, and if it does, it happens slowly.
Marketing tactics on the other hand are the different ways we tell that story. These can take any shape- social media posts of all kinds, YouTube videos, webinars, blog posts, podcast episodes, etc. Once we get our marketing strategy clear, we have to keep trying different tactics to discover which is most effective at reaching the type of person we’re meant to serve.
That’s why in today’s episode, we’ve brought on a guest to introduce you to a brand new marketing tactic that you most likely haven’t tried, and most likely haven’t even thought of before- Pinterest. As you’ll learn by listening, it’s not a marketing tactic that everyone will gravitate toward. However, if you put in the time and do it right, and it’s the right medium for your audience, you can create a machine that provides you with a constant flow of new clients.
One of the hopes that we through this podcast aside from providing you with high quality education to help you go further in your career, is to lead the way toward seeing positive changes develop in the fitness industry, so that it can become a more inclusive and welcoming place for people of all shapes and sizes, ages, genders, sexual orientation, and races.
Let’s be real. There’s no denying that the industry is structured to represent and serve predominantly white people. The bodies that are represented as the aspirational fitness ideal are slim, young, able-bodied, and white. Many of the largest fitness franchises are built in neighborhoods that are 70-80% white. We’ve heard countless BIPOC clients and trainers alike tell stories how they’ve struggled to get jobs at studios and gyms, or how they’ve felt uncomfortable going into fitness studios because their identity isn’t fully supported.
That’s why in this episode today, we’re going to be specifically talking about some of the micro-aggressions that we can all recognize and change to make our industry a more inclusive place for everyone- such as Digital Blackface, mis-steps in our music choices, mis-steps in marketing language, and more.
We love the quote "Culture beats any marketing strategy. So much so that creating culture is your best strategy." -Seth Godin
We all understand that having a strong culture and strong community is important, but have a much harder time actually creating them.
We believe your culture can be defined as the extension of what it is that you believe- what you believe a fitness experience should be all about! For instance, that it should be welcoming, warm, and the workout should be more about the connection of your body and mind more than anything else... versus a belief that it should be raw, industrial, tough and designed to test you and force you to dig deep so you can discover the depths of your strength.
Your culture is so important to attract your ideal clients, and is the foundation that your community is built upon. "People who believe what we believe, come here and do what we do" is something you have to be able to say.
So few businesses truly commit to creating a culture to the point where it's palpable in their brand messaging, and the experience they provide. And because of that fact struggle to create a tight knit community where people know each other, feel supported by each other, and bonded to each other. Yet, together, culture and community are paramount to your business's success.
That's why in our conversation with our guest today we'll discuss how to create culture and community, and why they are so vital to future proofing your business.
Gone are the days of fitness as a commodity and a social status symbol where a studio could attract a strong member base with sold-out classes simply by having cutting edge equipment, luxury amenities and an “Instagram Wall.”
The pandemic changed all of that. We’ve had to reevaluate our priorities as well as how we feel about ourselves and who we spend our time with. It’s become glaringly clear how important connection and community are to our physical health and mental well-being.
Contrary to what most people think, we believe the Coronavirus didn’t just upend the fitness industry, but accelerated an evolution that was already beginning to take place.
We’ve officially entered an era where access to literally thousands of fitness options are more readily available at our fingertips than ever before. As a result, the key differentiator of any fitness business has to do with the stories they share and the experiences that they provide.
The fitness brands that are thriving today understand that creating unforgettable member experiences that make people feel seen and connect with them on a deeply emotional level is key to their success.
If you don't have the right approach to the message you're sending in your marketing... it's going to cost you. You wind up selling the wrong thing, you position yourself in a way that confuses your clients, and your efforts to reach more people wind up hurting you.
Listen to this episode to learn the five secrets of successful fitness entrepreneurs that will propel you into the future of the industry.
What we talk about with our guest in this episode is how certification… is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to educating yourself for your career. Your certification is only the beginning. It’s the bare minimum requirement to be able to say you’re competent enough to be employed... but you owe it to the people who you are in front of to invest in yourself- which is really an investment in them.
Because what we do should never be thought of as a hobby, or something we do on the side. We have people’s lives, bodies, and livelihood in the palms of our hands. And they are there because they believe that you can help them experience a higher quality of life. And you cannot let them down. You owe it to them to get educated on how to establish deep trust with them, and change their lives.
Have you ever been asked to do a photo or video release shoot and been handed a lengthy release waiver with a lot of legalese- so much that you’re not even sure what’s appropriate & reasonable?
Too often we hear stories of fit pros, who, excited about an opportunity to work with a company, sign away the rights to the photos, workout videos, and their image for all uses, and for all time, without really understanding what they can and should do to ensure that they are being properly compensated for the usage, and that the usage supports them on their journey upward in the fitness industry and their career.
We decided to record this episode because we want to empower you as a fitness professional, creator or business owner to best make career decisions and know how to navigate conversations around recorded media and its usage.
That’s why we’ve brought back a legal expert we’ve had on the show several times in the past to share with you the mindset you need to cultivate when you’re presented with opportunities that involve recorded media. He’ll also teach what you should look out for and be aware of when signing release waivers for these projects… and ultimately how to step into a position of personal empowerment to defend your best interests… so you can engage in clear and communicative relationships with those you share your talent and likeness with.
Most fitness professionals who are struggling to make sales, generate conversions, and get real traction in terms of the growth of their business are actually struggling with (often unbeknownst to them) making the necessary connection with their potential clients because they’re not “speaking their language”.
In this episode we’ll break down exactly what that means, and how you can begin to take action on making it happen.
What does it take to become successful in the fitness industry? When we with our clients, we’re often met with surprise when we tell them that it doesn’t have to do with a specific marketing tactics or the stylishness of the brand aesthetic, how popular their instructors are or how many followers they have on social.
We believe - what we know - is that the one thing that drives the success of a business lies deep beneath the surface, and it’s not easy to measure, which is why it’s nearly always overlooked- it’s your PURPOSE. And it shows up in every part of your business. If you don’t know what you’re purpose is… that’s also apparent in every part of your business.
Your purpose drives and motivates you towards the change you want to see in the world. It informs everything you do. It’s what keeps you on track, helps you make the right decisions for your business, guides your hiring process, provides your team with a clear direction, informs what products or services you create, and how you market them, who you want to collaborate with… the list goes on… Think of your purpose as the riverbanks or guard rails to your career. And even if you create a new business, teach a new type of class, or make a huge pivot- that purpose never changes.
The best part is, when you’re really in tune with your purpose, you reduce the symptoms of imposter syndrome, because you’re so focused and connected with what you believe in, that nothing else matters
In this episode, we’re going to speak with our guests about how YOU can discover your purpose too.
We’re now entering an era in the fitness industry that is ripe with potential. As the world is opening up after the COVID-19 pandemic, you now have a unique opportunity as a business owner, creator, or entrepreneur to relaunch your business and re-establish yourself in the marketplace.
How can you improve upon what you were doing before? How do you implement those changes? Even if you’re in the future from this episode's release and you’re not coming out of a pandemic, don’t let that stop you from revisiting what your business is all about, and how you can make it better so that you can not only reach the goals and desired lifestyle you want, but also have the impact you want to have on your clients.
It takes tapping into your WHY... but also re-establishing your VALUES. Knowing your STRENGTHS. Fitness is only becoming more popular and accessible to more people around the world. So if you want to stand out from competitors and stake out your corner of the market, it’s going to involve making a true connection with the right types of clients.
In order to do so, you MUST first know yourself and how you’re showing up to help these people better thrive and enjoy a higher quality of life. This will act as the guard rails for your brand and business, so that every decision you make in your business is propelling you in the right direction.
When we think about an incredible fitness experience, it can be difficult to put our finger on what it is that makes it so special and life-changing.
One might say that it feels like you have limitless strength, that it feels effortless, that it’s like you’re IN the playlist, or that you feel a palpable connection to others in the room without looking at them or speaking to them. That the instructor is so inspirational and like the conductor of an orchestra.
It’s likely this kind of fitness experience that caused you to want to become a fitness instructor or open your own studio in the first place. Maybe an experience like that changed your life, and you want to provide that to other people.
You’ll learn in this episode, there are profound changes that happen at a neurochemical level that can actually change the way a person relates to their own thoughts, emotions, and environment.
It’s our mission at Fitness Career Mastery to teach fitness professionals how to consistently create this environment in their classes.
We call it Flow State, and there is a science behind how to create it. If you want to learn how it’s done and why we believe it’s so critically important for you to learn how to do, then keep listening.
Over the last year, Shay and I have shifted a huge amount of Fitness Career Mastery’s business towards helping fitness professionals transition online and find success in what can seem like a crowded space.
We’ve looked into every piece of technology that you could possibly use in order to determine the simplest and most powerful and professional tools to help you create a high quality digital class experience for your clients.
Of all the platforms that we’ve toured and tried, there’s been one’s that’s stood apart- UScreen. If you’re not familiar with the features of UScreen, you’ll learn a lot in this conversation today with the founder.
The other benefit of having him on the show with us today is that as the leader of the UScreen team, he has his finger on the pulse as to what’s coming next in the digital fitness space, which he’s going to share with us in this episode.
So press play to learn a lot of valuable information in this episode on how you can take your digital offering to the next level.
There ARE so many similarities between how you coach your clients, and ultimately how you have to coach yourself when you become an entrepreneur!
But that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone, because if you think about how you likely coach many of your clients- sometimes you’re more of a therapist than a trainer- you’re training their mindset and mental health just as much as you’re training their body.
It’s the same with entrepreneurship. You can learn who your ideal client is, and powerful marketing and sales strategies to show them that you’re the guide that they need, but if you don’t maintain the right mindset while you’re operating your business, it’s near impossible to see results.
Press play now to learn how to leverage the fact that you are already a coach… learn how to coach yourself… and ultimately master your mindset as you ride the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship.
Have you built your website homepage based off of a proven strategy? Or based on what you THINK your potential customers want to see?
When it comes to your website homepage design, this is THE PLACE where people come to learn more about you, engage with you further, and hopefully purchase a product or service from you.
But in a day and age where people skim rather than read, you have less than 20 seconds to capture the attention of your visitors and educate them on what you’re all about, and how you can help them with their unique problem.
It’s a REALLY challenging thing to master! And that’s exactly why in this episode we break down what you can do to make your homepage stand out to your ideal client, and stand apart from your competitors.
It comes down to demonstrating that you understand your ideal client, and provide them with tremendous value that they're looking for when they discover you.
Niche development can be really scary! If your thought process goes something like this… “if I make myself appealing to more people, and market myself to a larger audience, then I’ll wind up getting more clients!” ...unfortunately, this strategy simply doesn’t work.
As a fitness professional, it’s essential that you build a reputation for being the BEST at one particular thing. Not only will it help you gain more clients through clear messaging, but like you'll hear our guest say...
...If you have the reputation at being the best at something, you are widely assumed to be far better than average at everything else.
In this episode we’ll break down how you can begin to hone in on that special group of people that you are uniquely equipped to serve in order to become a sought-after expert.
Almost exactly 1 year ago, in March of 2020, COVID changed the world overnight. It forced the majority of creators and business owners in our industry to move online, with rapid speed accelerating us down a path, we believe, the fitness industry was already on.
Unfortunately as the landscape grew more competitive, it also accelerated something else growing steadily in the fitness landscape - the proliferation of misinformation. Coaches simply observing and copying experts (or often times influencers posing as experts) and proclaiming themselves to be experts as well without really understanding the benefits and contraindications of what they were passing on.
If you want to be truly successful in this industry and change people’s lives, it’s essential that you invest in yourself and your business. That means educating yourself. Not just in terms of fitness certifications, but in business practices so that you are truly showing up and serving your ideal client in the best possible way. It’s also vitally important to take the time to really deeply understand the people that you’re serving.
In today’s episode, we talk about how it’s essential that you don’t get wrapped up in the hype, the noise, and the competition, and instead…. Take a breath… settle down… and then dig deep.
It might not seem like it in your echo chamber of what you see online, but the most popular trainers are the ones that yes, have a magnetic personality; but they’re also the ones that know their stuff deliver an unforgettable experience for their people.
They’ve taken the time to educate and UPSKILL themselves on safe and effective programming, how to build a business based on the pain points of their ideal client, how to speak to this unique client on an emotional level, all which is what it takes to truly change people’s lives.
If we’ve learned anything from building Fitness Career Mastery, it’s that being successful in business has nearly everything to do with MINDSET.
In this episode, we tackle topics like how to discover who you’re meant to serve, and the fear that you feel around the topic of niching down & serving what you perceive as a small pond of potential clients.
We also address that little voice in your head that wants to shut you down when things get tough, and tries to convince you that you don’t actually want this thing that you actually really really want!
If you weren’t already actively improving upon diversity, equity, and inclusion in your business, it’s likely that the Black Lives Matter movement and the violence inflicted on black communities and individuals that rose to the forefront of our cultural awareness in 2020 may have prompted you to take stronger action and actively contribute to eradicating white supremacy and bias against people of color, as well as bias towards queer, trans, disabled, undocumented people, people with records, women, and all lives along the gender spectrum.
We at Fitness Career Mastery have committed ourselves to this mission, and want to put you in an empowered position to do the same. As educators, we naturally believe this begins with more knowledge and awareness.
This is exactly why we’ve brought an incredible educator and coach onto the show today to teach you some simple ways that you can take action to build diversity, equity, and inclusion into your business.
If not purely for the belief in equality, then also for what our guest today shares. Companies with greater racial, ethic, and gender diversity experience greater creativity, are better at problem solving, show increased employee engagement and retention, a strengthened reputation, and even greater profitability.
A beast lurks in the fitness industry, terrifying those in its wake… It’s marketing, and the reason it’s so scary is simply because we don’t know enough about it, and it’s not our fault! We’ve never been taught how to market ourselves since our main focus has just been teaching classes and training clients. It’s no wonder that it’s the #1 thing that members who request to join the Fitness Career Mastery Community say they struggle with.
We recognize that in 2021, strong knowledge in marketing and confidence in your ability to do it well is going to be essential- that’s why in this episode we invited on a guest that’s going to de-claw the beast of marketing, so by the end you’ll feel like you’re riding high on your steed, banners blustering in the wind, ready to rally your tribe around your life-changing experiences because you know how to tackle marketing!
But at the end of the day, you’re not selling a class or a program. Don’t get us wrong… it’s ESSENTIAL that you build a product for your ideal client that solves their pain point, the #1 reason they buy into it because of who YOU are. So you’ll also hear our guest share why developing a PERSONAL BRAND is so important for marketing, along with ways to market your personal brand, and how to lean into your edge- you know- what makes you… you! Those things that make you special and unique, that no one else can replicate.
You might be one of those fit pros out there that wants nothing more than to go digital and start offering workouts or a program online, and be able to experience all the benefits of success… like reaching clients well beyond your local community, or having a deeper impact on your clients lives, having the freedom to be able to set your own hours and work from wherever you want in the world, and also potentially make a lot more money!
Nailing the ins and outs of launching a successful online business can be daunting. Plus, it seems like everyone and their mom is offering workouts online right now. Or maybe you’ve already launched your digital fitness business but you’re not quite hitting the mark the way you’d like, just yet. Maybe the tech is SUPER overwhelming, or it just feels like it will take forever to get to a point where you feel like you’ve earned your place in the digital fitness arena. So, how do you compete with everybody and their mom online?
If any of these thoughts have been running through your head, we guarantee that you’re gonna walk away from this episode with all those fears and limiting beliefs totally wiped away, because the truth is, that if you want to create a digital offering, the only thing that’s stopping you from finding the same success that so many others have, is your own mindset. If you’re looking for some serious inspiration on how to make that pivot, then this is the episode for you.
The number one question on the minds of most fitness professionals these days is “how do I stand out online and carve out a space for myself?” Which is why in this episode, we’ve brought on an incredibly inspirational guest to show you what it takes to do just that. As you’ll hear her say in the episode, the COVID pandemic only accelerated the direction the fitness industry was already going, and now is the time to take your career in your own hands. The greatest reward of doing so being that you’ll have the opportunity to serve people that truly need your help, on a global scale. We’ll talk about some common pitfalls that trainers stumble upon when making the switch to online, and ultimately what it takes to stand apart from the completion and find success.
The Fitness Career Mastery Podcast is BACK!!!
Coronavirus has hit the fitness industry hard. We’ve seen so many studios close- big and small, and fitness professionals pivot to join a competitive landscape online. It’s a scary time for the industry, but it’s simultaneously one that is FULL of opportunity for you.
The problem is, we have seen fit pros make the same three big mistakes when making the transition to online coaching that results in them simply getting lost in the noise. In this episode, we share the solutions to these three pitfalls and reveal the incredible unused superpower that fit pros like you have in online space that giant brands like Peloton, the Mirror, and Playbook actually CAN'T compete with.
At the end of the episode we'll be sharing something really special that we've never done before.
In this episode we feature a question that came up in the Fitness Career Mastery Community and quickly caught fire. It's also been a question that we've heard some up repeatedly, all over the world. When studio owners call mandatory meetings or trainings- what do they legally owe their employees or independent contractors for their time? To answer this question be bring back the expert of law in the fitness industry, Cory Sterling, who takes a deep dive into the rights of studio owners, and how fitness professionals can empower themselves.
View links to all the episodes we mentioned in the Show Notes:
fitnesscareermastery.com/episode131
What You’ll Learn from this Episode: * A reminder of the difference between IC's and Employees * Legality behind unpaid mandatory meetings * Legality behind unpaid mandatory trainings
References in the Episode & Additional Resources: The Yoga Law Book
Conscious Counsel COVID Mini- Course
A career in fitness is incredibly fulfilling. You have the ability to change people’s lives! Not just their bodies, but their emotional state, mental state, level of personal empowerment, their habits, and more. But it’s hard to have a deep and meaningful impact when we’re not in touch with what makes us special. As our guest says, before you decide where the bus is going- who is driving the bus?
In this episode we talk about a number of things that help you find your unique gift- and how to magnify it. We talk about how to create your own inner GPS. What are the core values that you wake up with and guide you every day? We also talk about developing a completion mindset- where it doesn’t matter if you succeed or not- just whether you complete what you set out to do. Why it’s important to surround yourself with the conditions you intend to manifest. The importance of ritual to help get you where you want to go. How to tap into your natural creative genius- meaning you find where you excel, rather than trying to be someone else- essentially how to become truly authentic and act with integrity in a way that makes you magnetic. And finally, practices that can help you get into a state flow- whether that’s mediation, affirmation, visualization, inspiration, etc.
Times are tough, and the landscape of the fitness industry's future seems to always be changing. But by combining your business’ financials with the right expertise, you can make informed, data-driven decisions about how to reopen your studio successfully. In this episode, we speak with a wizard of financials in the fitness industry, who will teach you how to get your finger on the pulse of your studio's financials by asking five critical questions. The answers will ensure not only your business's survival, but also allow it to come out stronger on the other side. We also discuss the three biggest mistakes that studios make when it comes to their business's financial health, and why they matter so much.
View links to all the episodes we mentioned in the Show Notes:
fitnesscareermastery.com/episode129
What You’ll Learn from this Episode: • 5 questions that business owners need to get a handle on to survive the crisis and come out the other side even stronger
• The 3 biggest mistakes that studio owners are making when it comes to their business’s financial health and why those mistakes matter
In today’s episode, we brought back Billy Polson, who we’ve had on the show twice before because on his incredible actionable insights and tips into running a business- and he is a pro, having not only run DIAKADI fitness in San Francisco for 16 years, but winning best gym/ trainers for all but one of those years.
Despite so much success, Billy was hit hard by the impact of the COVID related shutdown, and he shares some of the struggles and emotions that he’s faced as a result, that I think you will certainly be able to relate to. But he also shares how after one of his lowest moments, when hearing that the shutdown for small studios was going to continue for another two months, grieved the news, but then rose to the occasion in a very unique way to form a coalition with other studios (even competitors) in his community to petition their case to the local government to open earlier with other small businesses. He also shares insights into reopening that he recommends, and learned while having conversations with other studios in his coalition.
View links to all the episodes we mentioned in the Show Notes:
fitnesscareermastery.com/episode128
What You’ll Learn from this Episode: * How Billy formed a coalition with other local businesses to work with their local government * Why it's vitally important to be in touch with your clients pain points now more than ever * Inspiration to adopt a mindset of patience and empathy
References in the Episode & Additional Resources: How to Prepare Your Fitness Business for a Post-Quarantine Reopening
COVID Reopening Safety Video COVID Protocols Manual
Talking about the law just got fun. In this episode we welcome a special guest who has an amazing ability to explain seemingly complicated legal concepts in terms that we can all understand so that we’re empowered and equipped with knowledge to take care of ourselves and our businesses.
We just love his message that when it comes to law, it’s about relationships, and the best way to protect yourself from lawsuits is to communicate openly and honestly about what your expectations are of the other party, and what they can expect from you.
Today we talk about some common areas that many fit pros and studio owners are facing in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic.
View links to all the episodes we mentioned in the Show Notes:
fitnesscareermastery.com/episode127 What You’ll Learn from this Episode: * The necessary adjustments you need to make to your liability waivers * How to keep your clients happy while simultaneously protecting your business * Can studio owners enforce that their instructors don’t offer competing online offerings
References in the Episode & Additional Resources: The Yoga Law Book
The post FCM127: Post-COVID Legal Essentials for the Fitness Industry with Cory Sterling appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Throughout quarantine, we’ve been so focused on our safety and physical health, and the health of our businesses, that our mental health has most likely taken a bit of a back seat. You might now find yourself struggling with feelings of inadequacy from not being able to handle or produce as much as you used to. Or perhaps you’re completely overwhelmed and anxious over not knowing where to direct your focus- which only causes further paralysis and overwhelm. Maybe you’re just feeling burnt out and unmotivated altogether … or some strange cocktail of all of the above.
If we’re going to show up to give the gift of fitness and serve our communities, then we have to be sure that we fill ourselves up first, and that’s exactly what this episode is designed to help you do. Once you learn a few tools to help you manage your mental health and navigate uncertainty – perhaps you can find a way to help your clients do the same, because we are all in this together.
View links to all the episodes we mentioned in the Show Notes:
fitnesscareermastery.com/episode126
What You’ll Learn from this Episode: * What you can do about the overwhelm that you’re feeling * How to manage burnout * Thoughts on how we can help better serve the mental state of our clients
References in the Episode & Additional Resources: Free Self Love Course
The post FCM126: Navigating Uncertainty and Managing Mental Health with Bianca Rodriguez appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
What does the Food Network (the 24 television channel that teaches you recipes and how to cook) have in common with your online workout videos? As it turns out, a lot! People don’t tune into the Food Network to watch cooks make food. It’s the amazing personalities that the hosts have that make you feel like they’re there in your kitchen- telling you a story about they learned their years ago from their grandmother. It’s really no different with your online workouts. Shouting numbers to the camera from across the room as you count down lunge reps isn’t enough to keep people engaged, truly enjoy your workout, and want to come back again. In this podcast episode you’ll learn how to go from being just ok to masterful on camera- and spoiler alert– it has nothing to do with the push-up, the squat, or the Russian twist. That’s the equivalent of the recipe that you can find anywhere online. You’ll learn about how it’s the delivery that makes the difference, and what you can begin to change today to make people fall in love with your workouts on camera.
View links to all the episodes we mentioned in the Show Notes:
fitnesscareermastery.com/episode125
What You’ll Learn from this Episode: * What we need to know about what’s different about teaching on-camera compared to teaching in person * Some of the biggest mistakes that on-camera trainers make that kill the vibe * Things that you see on-camera trainers try to “hide” about themselves because they feel it won’t go over well with their audience when it’s actually the opposite. * The best things on-camera trainers do to be relatable and make people want to work out with them
References in the Episode & Additional Resources: OK To Masterful On Camera Online Course
The post FCM125: How to Go From OK to Masterful on Camera with Mason Bendewald appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this episode we discuss some important things that you’re going to want to consider before opening your doors again coming out of Quarantine due to COVID 19. We’ve been watching closely, doing research, listening to your thoughts, answering your questions and concerns, and as a result, we’ve come up with a list of tips, suggestions, and ideas that you may want to implement as you prepare to get back to business.
View links to all the episodes we mentioned in the Show Notes:
fitnesscareermastery.com/episode124
What You’ll Learn from this Episode: * Things you may not have thought of when it comes to re-opening your studio * Creative ways to take care of your clients’ physical and mental health * What a post-COVID studio experience could look like
References in the Episode & Additional Resources: Drip Accessories
Tiem
MarianaTek The Art of Coaching and Cueing Online Course Learn to Livestream Online Course The post FCM124: Taking a Critical Look at Your Reopening Strategy appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
We need leaders in the fitness industry right now. We’re hearing scary statistics that up to 40% of studios will not re-open coming out of quarantine, and with how important fitness is to the physical and mental health of our communities, this is incredibly disheartening news. For many it’s come as a result of not knowing how to pivot or respond to being required to shut our doors. Perhaps you are one of them.
The question you must ask yourself is how are you leading your community through this time and providing stability? Our clients have been in a state where they’re freaking out because there is a vastly changing landscape out there and they’re being told their dollars matter and need to be conserved, but at the same time, they’re in a position where their mental and physical health has never mattered more.
To step into the role of a leader we need to realize that this is more than about fitness now. You are their sanity, there to give them hope and positivity. Focus on that more than the physical.
In this episode we hear from two shining leaders in the industry who literally put on imaginary viking armor and stepped into the unknown knowing that their guiding light was the knowledge that what they have to offer is of value, and the love they have for their clients.
Ultimately we learn that their greatest secret- a positive attitude and problem-solver mindset. This pandemic has rocked all of our businesses but there will always be unexpected setbacks, and we hope that this episode serves as inspiration for how we can approach the uncertain when it comes knocking.
View links to all the episodes we mentioned in the Show Notes:
fitnesscareermastery.com/episode123
What You’ll Learn from this Episode: * What Gymnazo did to pivot 400 members online without a single cancelation * How they found three additional revenue streams that they never would have thought to create * Why you shouldn’t feel guilty about charging for your service
References in the Episode & Additional Resources: Gymnazo COVID Playbook
The post FCM123: How to Step Up as a Leader for Your Community With Michael and Paden Hughes appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In 2017 Patrick Aiken and Anna Rumbach completed a research study in Brisbane, Australia which found that 44-70% of group fitness instructors report some degree of acute or chronic voice changes since joining the fitness industry. And this should come as no surprise! As they pointed out, we as fitness professionals must perform in a very complex and unique environment compared to most occupational voice users. We must simultaneously use our voice and exercise, as well as compete with loud music, fans, or poor acoustics- sometimes no microphone.
It’s time to change the culture surrounding vocal education and training in the fitness industry- not just for the health of our voices, but for the betterment of our clients. As our guest today illustrates, your voice is the way that you connect with the people around you. It’s through the way you use your voice that people take in what you say and connect with you on a very fundamental, deep, life-changing, level. It’s our authentic expression of who we are
And the better you understand how your voice works, the more empowered you are to take control of it. Listen through today’s episode to learn information that won’t just save your career, but it will catapult you forward. How you use your voice is extremely important in a studio setting, but if you’ve now created on online offering, how you use your voice on camera is of the utmost importance to keep your clients engaged on the other side of the screen.
The good news is that the body already knows how to produce voice in a healthy way- we just have to get out of its way.
View links to all the episodes we mentioned in the Show Notes:
fitnesscareermastery.com/episode122
What You’ll Learn from this Episode: * What we must understand about our voice to deliver a better workout experience * The three part system of the voice * Vocal exercises and hacks to maintain excellent vocal health
References in the Episode & Additional Resources: Keeping the Voice Fit in the Group Fitness Industry: A Qualitative Study to Determine What Instructors Want in a Voice Education Program The post FCM122: Understanding the Power of Your Voice with Jordan Scholl appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Music Licensing has always been a hot topic in the fitness industry, but now it’s essential to understand since so many of us have moved to the digital space to create online content online for our members and followers. We’ve heard SO many questions like, why are my workouts getting interrupted or deleted from my social media channels? Why does everything I post get flagged for copy-write infringement? How come some people get caught, while others seem to slip through the cracks? I just want to play my Spotify playlist – why are these record publishers so greedy? This episode with Aaron Green of EasySongLicensing.com is a valuable resource to help you understand the “invisible hand” behind the music licensing process – whether you want to ensure you have the right licenses in place for when your studio opens or teaching live classes or you’re really series about creating a virtual platform and offering your workouts online.
View links to all the episodes we mentioned in the Show Notes:
fitnesscareermastery.com/episode121
What You’ll Learn from this Episode: * What music licenses does my studio need vs. my online classes? * Why your classes are getting flagged for removal * Solutions to ensure you can play the best music possible
References in the Episode & Additional Resources: Learn to Livestream Online Course ASCAP BMI SESAC The post FCM121: Music Licensing 101 with Aaron Green from Easy Song Licensing appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this episode, enjoy an enlightening conversation with Susan Rothman on a topic that can be so muddled for studio owners. This episode is PACKED with information on how to structure your package options that best serve our market, clientele, and bottom line, while keeping it simple for our clients, front desk, and instructors to understand. We also talk about pricing and sales processes; how to sell based on value, rather than on price; in what way you should be looking at your competition; and how to set yourself apart. We talk about how you should train your team to have sales conversations and focus conversations away from being just about price, to about the value of our classes and the best way to serve our clients in order to help them meet their goals. We talk about the impact of ClassPass on our businesses, what we should be mindful of, and the boundaries to set with these kinds of relationships. Lastly we talk about how to structure the perfect intro offer for clients to lead them perfectly into a longer term commitment that is right for them. View links to all the episodes we mentioned in the Show Notes:
fitnesscareermastery.com/episode120 What You’ll Learn from this Episode: * Strategy behind your packages and pricing that truly serve your bottom line * The components of a successful intro offer * Elements of a powerful sales process
EMAIL US to receive your COMPLIMENTARY copy of “Overcoming Common Client Objections” SET UP your complimentary call with Barry to learn about Experience Coordinator Training References in the Episode & Additional Resources: FCM Experience Coordinator Training (email for more info) What’s Next With Susan (podcast) The post FCM120: Learning Strategy Behind Your Package Options and Prices with Susan Rothman appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Biologically, we’re wired to always seek safety. When a brand new client steps into our studios or fitness classes- there can be so many unknowns, it doesn’t always feel like a safe zone. On top of that, they’re expected to take themselves out of their comfort zone and into a state of vulnerability- the complete opposite of safety! The more that we can make our clients feel safe when they come into class, the more likely they are to get the most out of their workout, and in turn, come back more often.
In this episode, we speak with our guest about how our genes can either have a good expression or bad expression based on the environment we’re in. We see this in identical twins- how despite the exact same genetic code, they can have completely different expressions and therefore different body types and personalities as they develop.
The experience we provide as fitness professionals should go well beyond telling people how to exercise effectively and what food to eat. We must create an environment where their good genes can switch on and express themselves- this happens through personalization: by getting to know them and understand them a little better, this informs how we speak to them, how to motivate them, which classes to suggest they take and what time of day. This can expand all the way out to how they are marketed to.
When we accomplish this the best version of themselves can literally be expressed via their genes. By giving our clients minds and bodies what they need, it allows them to feel like they’re in the right place- and sometimes that effect is more powerful than the class itself.
View links to all the episodes we mentioned in the Show Notes:
fitnesscareermastery.com/episode119
What You’ll Learn from this Episode: * The science behind why an quality experience is so important * How our genetic expression affects the kind of experience we need * How to properly read our clients and provide them with a personalized experience
References in the Episode & Additional Resources: The Five Love Languages
ph360 shaefit (application for fitness)
The FCM Community
The post FCM119: The Science Behind the Benefits of a Personalized Experience with Emma Masters appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
We’re all in the fitness industry to change people’s lives. and to change people’s lives we have to get them to come to our studio. What we may not think about all that often is that our customer journey begins long before they walk through the doors to the studio. What this means is that the capabilities of our website and ease of our booking software has a lot to do with the first impression that our potential future clients receive. If it’s too much of a hassle, challenging, or uninformative, they may decide that coming in is not worth all the effort.
In this episode Shay speaks with Shannon Tracey (an old friend of ours from our early careers) who shares key insights like this one from her time in the industry- most recently spend as the VP of business development for Mariana Tek, the new premium business management software for the boutique fitness industry, that has been taking the industry by storm.
In this episode you’ll learn more business success secrets that will help you remove any unintentional roadblocks to acquiring and retaining your clients, and you’ll learn some of the amazing things that Mariana Tek has integrated into their software, that not only help you ensure that you are providing the best possible customer experience from beginning to end but also that the process of client management is made simple and easy to use for you, your front desk team, and even your instructors.
View links to all the episodes we mentioned in the Show Notes:
fitnesscareermastery.com/episode118
What You’ll Learn from this Episode: * Simple secrets to an incredible client experience * How Mariana Tek differs from its competitors * Awesome Mariana Tek features that take your client experience to the next level
References in the Episode & Additional Resources: Flywheel Sports
The FCM Community
The post FCM118: How to Ensure an Exceptional Client Experience with Shannon Tracey of Mariana Tek appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this special two part series, we decided to switch things around, and give you the opportunity to hear our answers to questions from our experience as international master trainers and having consulted for fitness businesses all over the world. For these episodes we brought on Jessica Sandow- an instructor in Oakland California, and our […]
The post FCM117: Real Life Insights into Being a Fitness Professional (Part 2) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this special two part series, we decided to switch things around, and give you the opportunity to hear our answers to questions from our experience as international master trainers and having consulted for fitness businesses all over the world. For these episodes we brought on Jessica Sandow- an instructor in Oakland California, and our […]
The post FCM116: Real Life Insights into Being a Fitness Professional (Part 1) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
There’s a lot of competition out there! But do you know who it is? Can you name your top two competitors? What are the other choices in your market for your clients? What are your strengths and superpowers? How are you unique in the presentation of your product and services? HOW are you presenting those? […]
The post FCM115: 4 Steps for Fitness Entrepreneurs to Get Ahead of the Competition with Billy Polson appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this episode we continue our conversation with Stanford University health psychologist Kelly McGonigal as we explore what we love most about fitness- music, and the way it feels when the right song comes on at the right time. Listen to this episode to learn the science behind what we already intuitively know and feel […]
The post FCM114: Understanding the Psychological Effects of Music in Fitness with Kelly McGonigal appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
The work we do as fitness professionals transcends physical health and entertaining people. It has a deep impact on the lives of our clients. We all know the feeling you get when you’re moving with other people, and suddenly your sense of self expands, in a way that both makes you feel more connected with […]
The post FCM113: Why Synchronized Movement Creates Connection & How to Harness the Effect with Kelly McGonigal appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
We’re now living in an age where digital fitness solutions are growing like apps, YouTube videos, and companies like Peloton, The Mirror, and Tonal. Fitness is also becoming more popular, with more brick and mortar locations entering the market. It’s getting competitive out there. BUT the one sustainable competitive advantage that a studio has compared […]
The post FCM112: What Building a Strong Community Can Do For Your Business with Ntiedo Etuk appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Recently in the FCM community we asked what your biggest success was from last year, and so many of your answers had to do with taking a big leap of faith towards your goals. As we enter this new year and decade, I’m sure you feel the desire to make huge leaps forward in your […]
The post FCM111: Rethinking Productivity- Making the Complex Simple with Scott Hopson appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
As we enter a new year and decade, it’s natural to not only go into a state of reflection over the last year (and decade) and also start thinking ahead to all the things you want to do differently and accomplish moving forward. Sometimes those to-do lists can get so long that we wind up […]
The post FCM110: The Art of Integration with Lindsey Rainwater appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this fascinating conversation with a frankly, brilliant studio owner we talk about how he has created a completely automated, data driven, personalized experience in his studio that his clients cannot possibly replicate at home. Listen as he talks about how everything, from the workout, to the coaching, to the followup email sequences are personalized […]
The post FCM109: Secrets of a Data-Driven Experience with Reynaldo Reyna appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
According to our guest today, you’ve got your 1.0 concepts. They’re the ones with the green AstroTurf and the blue stripe on the wall. You’ve got your 2.0 concepts which are very clean and modern but resemble all the other boutique concepts out there. And then you have your 10.0 concepts- the ones that take […]
The post FCM108: The Future of Studio Design with Cuoco Black appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Just like people know that they should be getting into fitness for their health and well-being, many also know that they should be working on getting more organized with their finances, but both are harder than they seem. Physical and financial fitness are the same in the sense that it’s not easy to build good […]
The post FCM107: Five Tax Tips for a Financially Fit Year End with Shannon Weinstein appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
It’s a fear that lurks in the back of the minds of personal trainers, online trainers, group fitness instructors, and studio owners all over the world- what if there’s an incident in our training sessions or classes and someone approaches us with a lawsuit. What is that process like? How can we ensure that we […]
The post FCM106: How to Ensure You’re Best Protected from Lawsuits with Danielle Stead appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Once you get your certification, how do you navigate the fitness industry? In this episode we continue our talk about how you can find your voice, build a strong business model, find your niche market, create a sustainable brand image, and market yourself with the author of Change Maker: Turn Your Passion for Health and […]
The post FCM105: Turn Your Passion for Fitness into a Powerful Purpose and Wildly Successful Career with Dr. John Berardi (Part 2) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Once you get your certification, how do you navigate the fitness industry? In this episode we talk about how you can find your voice, build a strong business model, find your niche market, create a sustainable brand image, and market yourself with the author of Change Maker: Turn Your Passion for Health and Fitness into […]
The post FCM104: Turn Your Passion for Fitness into a Powerful Purpose and Wildly Successful Career with Dr. John Berardi (Part 1) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
The average fitness professional makes under $50,000 a year- a number extremely low for a profession that can have huge impact on the life and health of others. In this episode, we teach you why you’re not “just a trainer”, and how you can drastically increase your income and your influence in a relatively short […]
The post FCM103: 7 Steps to Growing Your Income Exponentially with Paden Hughes appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this series we’ll take an in depth look at different group fitness modalities: master instructors in their respective fields will give you all the Do’s and Don’ts of creating an amazing class experience – whether you’re just starting out or are already an experienced instructor trying to keep things fresh! In Volume 2, high-intensity […]
The post FCM102: Do’s and Don’ts Volume 2 with Sarah Martz appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Throwing an event can be an incredible tool that serves your business and its growth (aside from also being a ton of fun). You can gain more brand visibility, attract new leads and customers, develop stronger brand authority in your market, and create more brand loyalty by celebrating your business’s birthday or simply doing something […]
The post FCM101: Event Planning 101 appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
We are so proud of you and so grateful that you continue to tune in week after week, and take time out of your busy schedule to join us and our community of actions takers who are committed to excellence, continued growth and leveling up our industry as whole. It has been so gratifying, rewarding, […]
The post FCM100: Celebrating 100 Episodes- Our Top 14 Moments from Fitness Career Mastery appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
We all want to ensure that our awesome playlist can be properly appreciated through great sound in our classrooms whether it’s a yoga class or a high-octane dance cardio class, but making this a reality involves a LOT more than hanging some expensive speakers around the room. In fact, if you don’t properly budget for […]
The post FCM099: Does Your Sound Suck? Three Things to Consider for Incredible Studio Sound with Marcelo Añez (Part 2) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
We all want to ensure that our awesome playlist can be properly appreciated through great sound in our classrooms whether it’s a yoga class or a high-octane dance cardio class, but making this a reality involves a LOT more than hanging some expensive speakers around the room. In fact, if you don’t properly budget for […]
The post FCM098: Does Your Sound Suck? Three Things to Consider for Incredible Studio Sound with Marcelo Añez (Part 1) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
As a fitness trainer or studio owner, it’s easy nowadays feel a bit of fear when looking at the rise of at-home technology-based fitness companies like Peloton and Tonal and wonder how you will be able to compete. In this episode with Eric Malzone, we discuss how you can become a part of the future […]
The post FCM097: Implementing Technology with the Future of Fitness with Eric Malzone appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Running a successful business and building a powerful brand involves walking a path that is not a straight line. Sometimes it can be very easy to wander off or even find the path in the first place! Being lost in the woods of commerce is a scary place to be, but your roadmap back is […]
The post FCM096: The Importance of Discovering and Owning Your Values with Michele Gordon appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
We speak about class and client experience a lot on Fitness Career Mastery, and that’s because what sets a VIP experience apart from an average one has to do with many things that are quite simple to implement, yet at the same time subtle to recognize. That’s why we invited Matt Walrath onto the show- […]
The post FCM095: Improve Client Results, Retention, and Referrals with a VIP Experience with Matt Walrath appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
It’s summer, and like many of you, we are taking a break. So this week, rather than releasing a new episode, we’ll go back and re-cap past episodes based on topic. This is a great opportunity to go back and listen to old episodes, or hone in on one topic in particular. You can view […]
The post FCM094: Summer Cool-Down: Recapping Topics Addressed on the Show appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this episode, we continue our conversation with Kaitlin McCabe, the “studio whisperer”, has attended classes at over 200 studios and tries a new workout once a week in one of the hottest fitness markets in the world- New York City. She uses all of this experience in her job as a freelance fitness/wellness branded […]
The post FCM093: 12 Top Tips from a Professional Class Reviewer for a Five-Star Client Experience with Kaitlin McCabe (Part 2) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
If you’ve ever wondered what it is that stands out to clients and members, and what they look for the most in their studio and workout experience, look no further. Kaitlin McCabe, the “studio whisperer”, has attended classes at over 200 studios and tries a new workout once a week in one of the hottest […]
The post FCM092: 12 Top Tips from a Professional Class Reviewer for a Five-Star Client Experience with Kaitlin McCabe (Part 1) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Want to start a career in fitness but are afraid that you won’t earn enough to make a living or support your family? Are you already in the industry but unhappy with what you’re making? Maybe you’re burnt out from teaching and training so much, or you feel your body breaking down from the wear […]
The post FCM091: Busting the Myth That You Can’t Make Enough Money in the Fitness Industry with Shannon Weinstein appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this day and age, where success for many is literally measured in how many followers you have, it can be tempting to strive to amass more followers, clients, or members to measure our success- but true influence, change, and impact comes from the depth of the relationships we form- not the breadth. This episode […]
The post FCM090: The Power of Personalization and Service with Ben Hart appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Want to know what the director of P90X looks for when searching for the top fitness talent? Spoiler: it’s not just someone who looks great and knows how to lead a workout. This episode is an incredible resource for fitness professionals and studio owners alike to learn not only how to be great on camera, […]
The post FCM089: How to Develop Your Talent, & Why Being Entertaining Is Actually More Important Than The Workout with Mason Bendewald appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
There aren’t a lot of resources out there for fitness professionals on how to teach a class after you get your certification. When it comes to coaching and cueing, most of us are not taught a systematic approach. This goes beyond knowing anatomy/ physiology, movement patterns, progressions/ regressions, but the delivery system that you use […]
The post FCM088: The Art of Coaching and Cueing appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Do you ever wonder how much time you should really be spending on your playlists for class? Maybe you’re feeling stuck because you feel like you have the same songs on repeat week after week, and you’re feeling underwhelmed and un-inspired by your music and you’re afraid your clients might be too? Or are you […]
The post FCM087: Are Your Playlists POPPIN’? appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
None of our clients are the same. They’re all different ages and genders, and therefore have vastly different goals. Think about a 24 year old man versus a 32 year old woman versus a 60 year old man. One might be a busy executive, one just trying to stay mobile, and another training for an […]
The post FCM086: Transform Your Email Marketing for Maximum Impact with Rob & Kennedy appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Wait… it’s not ALL about the experience?? Well, in order to deliver clients an incredible experience, we have to have clients to deliver that experience to, and too often we don’t put enough attention into how we develop a strong relationship with potential clients in order to get them to become paying regulars. We don’t […]
The post FCM085: Learn the Three Essential Elements of an Ideal Business with Pat Rigsby appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Are you burnt out? Do you find yourself grinding and hustling every day, but you’re still not able to have the impact on others that you know you can have, and fully share your gifts and talents? Maybe it’s time to make a shift. In this episode, Jess Glazer, founder of Empower U(niversity) tells her […]
The post FCM084: Empowering Yourself to Take A Leap of Faith Towards Your Dream Life and Break Free of Burnout with Jess Glazer appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In a world where everything is becoming more automated and on-demand, we as fitness professionals and studio owners don’t just have to compete with the studio down the road, but Netflix or on-demand workouts as well! This means our classes and our studios have to become a special place where people can go to get […]
The post FCM083: Dialing up the Emotional Experience in Your Class or Studio with Emma Barry appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
What’s the difference between studios classifying instructors as independent contractors versus employees? How do you properly and legally make that decision? What are the pros and cons of each for studio owners? How about the pros and cons for instructors? In this episode, all of these questions and more are laid out by a Certified […]
The post FCM 082: The Difference Between Independent Contractors and Employees + Tax Strategies That Save You Money with Mike Jesowshek appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
How should instructors be paid? Sure, it’s easy to pay them a flat rate for teaching a class, but how do you incentivize them to fill their class? How do you get them to be loyal to your studio? What is the best model to use? Whether you’re a studio owner or a fitness professional, […]
The post FCM 081: Learn the Best Ways Instructors are Compensated and Incentivized appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
As fitness professionals, we have a lot more power than we think. Many of us have devoted followings of people that spend more time, money and energy with us than their doctors or therapists, spouses, or children. We have a real ability to help people re-think the way they think about themselves and who they […]
The post FCM 080: Body Positivity in the Fitness Industry and Our Role as Messengers with Natalia Petrzela appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
As fitness professionals, we are considered “vocal athletes” according to Speech and Voice Pathologist Sara Davis. This means that on a daily basis we put ourselves at risk of injuring our voice. Many of us may even experience frequent vocal fatigue, hoarseness, or worse- all of which can be avoided completely by learning the tips […]
The post FCM 079: Learning Proper Care of Your Voice with Speech Pathologist Sara Davis appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
A true expert in her field, Gerri Detweiler has helped thousands of businesses with financing. In this episode she shares the most important steps in building your business credit in order to open your own studio or expand your current business in the fitness industry. Don’t forget to check out the references at fcm.com/episode78 for more free […]
The post FCM 078: Financing Strategies To Grow Your Fitness Business with Gerri Detweiler appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Former football player Dane Robinson has been in the fitness industry for ten years working his way up. In this episode he shares his experience and plenty of practical, actionable tips on how to bring your business to the next level. What You’ll Learn: • How to go from trainer to fitness professional to fitness […]
The post FCM 077: The Top 5 Ways to Level Up in the Fitness Industry with Dane Robinson appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In part two of this series Barry and Shay take a look into the often difficult process of firing staff. How do you know when it’s time to let someone go? What are things you can do to turn the situation around? And if you have to part, how do you approach it? If you’ve […]
The post FCM 076: Hiring, Firing, and When to Call it Quits (Part 2) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Part one of this insightful series is all about the hiring process and how to find a great fit for your studio! The episode is aimed at studio owners, operators or managers in hiring positions but also at trainers who want to get more insight into the hiring process and understand both sides of the […]
The post FCM 075: Hiring, Firing, and When to Call it Quits (Part 1) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Drawing from her own inspiring success story, founder of Studio Grow Lise Kuecker shares the most important aspects of pricing in this week’s episode. Learn how to not only be profitable, but to create pricing that supports your lifestyle and work-life balance. Whether you’re just starting out as personal trainer/studio owner or are more experienced […]
The post FCM 074: How to Establish Prices and Packages at Your Studio with Lise Kuecker appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this very special episode we follow Studio Box owner Dwayne Rowsell on his journey to opening a new boutique boxing studio – following an immersive coaching experience with master fitness instructors Shay Kostabi and Barry Ennis. Learn how to prepare for running a fitness boutique and how to stand out, and get inspired by […]
The post FCM 073: The Incredible Story of an FCM Listener Turned Studio Owner appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
How can you connect with your clients mentally and emotionally? What mindset do you need to create a successful brand? Thomas Ascough, co-founder of PLYOGA, talks about the importance of the mental aspect in fitness inspired by his own experience of creating a successful brand and loyal customers. What You’ll Learn: How maintain a […]
The post FCM 072: Establishing Rapport and a Heart Connection With Your Clients with Thomas Ascough appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this episode we discuss why a collaborative mindset actually makes you more competitive in the market than a competitive mindset. Tune in as Ross Campbell, Founder and CEO of FIT Summit, explains the benefits and strategies of collaboration across the fitness and health industry. What You’ll Learn: Why collaboration is so essential for […]
The post FCM 071: Learning a Massive Mindset Shift Towards Competitors with Ross Campbell appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this series we’ll take an in depth look at different group fitness modalities: master instructors in their respective fields will give you all the Do’s and Don’ts of creating an amazing class experience – whether you’re just starting out or are already an experienced instructor trying to keep things fresh! In Volume 1, indoor […]
The post FCM 070: Do’s and Don’ts Volume 1 with Kate Hoerner appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
What can trainers or studio owners do to keep their clients loyal and coming back to class? Spoiler: It’s not about the money. In this episode we talk about how to create a loyal following and high retention rates – and why it’s all about psychology. Learn how to keep your clients coming back! What […]
The post FCM 069: Lessons in Increasing Your Retention Rate with Dr. Paul Bedford- The Retention Guru appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this eye opening episode we discuss multiple strategies on how to grow our Instagram following and utilize it to increase your sales. We find out why quality over quantity matters, what differentiates Instagram from Facebook and we also get some brilliant, actionable advice on how to easily create content that engages your clients. Be […]
The post FCM 068: Using Instagram To Maximize Lead Generation, Community Growth, and Sales with Jono Petrohilos appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
We haven’t really broken down social media on the podcast before, and over the next two episodes, we’re talking with an expert on how to use both Facebook and Instagram (the two platforms where the fitness industry lives) for the purpose of generating leads, growing a community, making sales, and growing your business. These super […]
The post FCM 067: Using Facebook To Maximize Lead Generation, Community Growth, and Sales with Jono Petrohilos appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Today we are discussing three important “why’s” that every fitness professional and studio owner needs to be able to answer in order to deliver the best possible class experience. Fitness does more than keep people in shape – it has the potential to change lives by helping our clients rediscover confidence, push through hard times, […]
The post FCM 066: Three “Why’s” You Need To Know The Answers To appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Managing our financials can be a touchy subject. Sometimes the financial side of business is ugly, so we choose not to look at it. I think this comes from a lack of understanding, knowledge and proper guidance on the subject. Simultaneously, we know that if we want to be profitable, we have to be on […]
The post FCM 065: Best Financial Practices to Create a Profitable Studio or Business with Charlie Bean appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
This is the continuation of our two part series focusing on how to open your own studio. Our guests, Tash Bean and Debbie Davis are here again to share their knowledge and experience in this topic. In our last episode, we talked about how important it is to choose the right location and developing the […]
The post FCM 064: Steps to Opening Your Own Studio with Tash Bean and Debbie Davis (Part 2) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
This is the beginning of a two part series focusing on how to open your own studio. Before you start this process, it is very important to get clear on your vision. This was heavily discussed in Episode 61 with Shay Kostabi- so be sure to jump back to those episodes first if you have […]
The post FCM 063: Steps to Opening Your Own Studio with Tash Bean and Debbie Davis (Part 1) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Whether you’re new to the fitness professional world or a seasoned veteran, we all have one thing in common – we’re goal setters. Each accomplishment comes with a period of celebration followed by the inevitible question, “What next?” In Episode 62, we will guide you to set a clear vision and create a sustainable career […]
The post FCM 062: 6 Steps to Create a Clear Vision and Lead a Successful Career in Fitness appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In Episode 61 we discuss a topic that is extremely important and will greatly determine your success in the fitness industry. It’s called product development. Without a good understanding of this, you’re going to have a very difficult time doing anything else that you’ve learned how to master on this podcast. How to market yourself, […]
The post FCM 061: The #1 Factor That Determines Your Growth in Fitness with Shay Kostabi appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Episode 60 is all about creating a streamlined process for auditioning new instructors. If you don’t have a plan for this, it can be a big mess and a huge waste of time! Let’s prevent these little pitfalls by walking through it step by step. What You’ll Learn: Market your audition What […]
The post FCM 060: Learning to Execute Instructor Auditions appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this episode, we discuss goal-setting and introduce ideas you haven’t tried before. Whether you’re a personal trainer, “fitpreneur,” group fitness instructor, or a studio owner you can learn a lot from this episode. Especially important for current or future studio owners, however, will be an easy remedy to a common problem in the fitness […]
The post FCM 059: Becoming an Effective Leader Through Goal-Setting appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
We all have dealt with the reality of struggling with confidence in front of your class, overcoming your own anxieties and just being able to be the best version of yourself up there. That’s why my guest, Angela Anderson, is here to address the common limiting beliefs that we have about ourselves as fitness professionals […]
The post FCM 058: Overcoming Self-Doubt, and Reprogramming Your Mind for Success with Angela Anderson appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
You’ve started your fitness business, whether it’s offline or online, whether you’re a gym owner, personal trainer, or you host boot camp sessions, whatever it might be. The next thing you’ll want to start thinking about is how to grow and scale that business. My guest and I will walk you through the process of […]
The post FCM 057: Necessary Steps to Growing and Scaling Your Fitness Business with Ru Anderson appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
This episode is for any instructor struggling with confidence in themselves and wants to learn how to have the greatest impact on their class participants. Our conversation can be easily applied to any class you may teach. We discuss how to keep people engage, get into the right mindset before class, interact with your clients, […]
The post FCM 056: Mastering Your Class Experience with Rachael Martinez appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
This is a continuation of Episode 54 with our guest, Claire Garrigan. Claire is an expert on sales specifically within the fitness industry. In this episode, she takes us through the different types of leads and how to ones find the highest quality. Claire has also developed a fool proof system called “The 7.5 Steps […]
The post FCM 055: Generating Quality Leads and Mastering the 7.5 Steps of Making a Sale (Pt 2) with Claire Garrigan appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Sales – something many of us are afraid of, don’t know much about, or we haven’t put much thought into the full aspects of. In this episode, we have an expert that walks us through each step. This includes obtaining quality leads, what to say to excite contacts, turning that conversation into an appointment, making […]
The post FCM 054: Learning a Simple Sales Funnel Just for Fitness Professionals (Pt. 1) with Claire Garrigan appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Last episode, we began our turning the tables and allowed Rachel Davidson, fellow FCM listener, to interview me! We discussed much of my personal experience that lead me to where I am today. We left on a cliff hanger when Rachel asked me when everything “clicked” for me as a fitness instructor. We will start […]
The post FCM 053: Barry Gets Interviewed! Celebrating One Year (Pt. 2) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Happy 1 Year of FCM! Thank you to my listeners for being apart of the conversation by subscribing, downloading, commenting and just overall participating in the first year of our podcast. I want to help you as studio owners and instructors, but hopefully I will also be able to help even more people through you […]
The post FCM 052: Barry Gets Interviewed! Celebrating One Year (Pt. 1) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Have you ever opened up a magazine and featured a fitness professional or a studio as the expert on the story? Have you wondered how they found themselves in that position? It may surprise you, but it wasn’t the magazine or news publication that found the professional or organization. It is most often the professional […]
The post FCM 051: How to Get Featured in the Media and Grow Your Visibility with Lisa Simone Richards appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
“The mind controls the body,” is one of my favorite quotes to share with my clients in class. When it comes to being a fitness professional, we also often focus more on the physicality of our work and forget the role our mind plays in our success. In this episode, we will discuss a simple […]
The post FCM 050: Getting Clients Into a State of FLOW with Olivia Ellis appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
There’s more to teaching a class than just choosing “good” music. That’s just the beginning. To create a mind-blowing playlist, it’s not just picking good music, but how all of those songs sound together, transition from one to another, and are used to express and interpret that part of the class and the movement you’re doing. […]
The post FCM 049: How to Craft a Mind-Blowing Playlist appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Organizing a schedule that supports your instructors, staff, and members is not an easy task. You have to take into consideration their availability, making sure everyone is teaching enough classes, members are getting into classes from work or time with the kids, etc…there’s so much to think about! For our studio owners – don’t worry, […]
The post FCM 048: Optimizing Your Class Schedule For Max Clients and Happy Instructors appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Teaching fitness for a living is a dream for many of us, however, it may be difficult for us to turn a profit on this. No matter how difficult – it is still possible, as long as you are clear on your vision! Today’s episode will focus on giving you actionable tips on how to […]
The post FCM 047: Getting Clear on Your Vision, Making Money, and Avoiding Burnout with Elle Kealy appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
This is a continuation of Episode 45: Captivating the Room (Pt. 1) The Psychology Behind Using Your Voice with Tracy Goodwin. Last episode, we discussed the 5 elements of vocal variety, how these elements make us feel, and how to take your clients on a journey. The psychological elements discussed previously also have a relationship […]
The post FCM 046: Captivating the Room (Pt. 2) The Physiology of the Voice with Tracy Goodwin appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
I heard a story of a studio that had brought in a vocal coach to train their instructors, and the success they found after the experience was HUGE! Numbers? Skyrocketed. Why? They were able to learn how to use their voice in a more effective way to captivate the room. From this, I have been […]
The post FCM 045: Captivating the Room (Pt. 1) The Psychology Behind Using Your Voice with Tracy Goodwin appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
This is a continuation of Episode 43: Become the Leader in Your Market (Pt. 1) with Billy Polson. My guest and I discuss how to set you and your business apart from the competition. In this week’s episode, we touch on how important it is to set time aside to grow your business, and Billy’s […]
The post FCM 044: Become the Leader in Your Market (Pt. 2) with Billy Polson appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
How do you set you and/or your business apart from the rest of your competitors in a highly competitive market? What tactics can you do to become the leader in your industry? Our guest this week, Billy Polson is a nationally recognized fitness entrepreneur, presenter, personal trainer and business coach that has all the answers […]
The post FCM 043: Become the Leader in Your Market (Pt. 1) with Billy Polson appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
At the start of our careers in fitness, we may feel content teaching full time and dedicating our focus to instructing. Overtime, however, our body may begin to feel tired or we become interested in exploring other outlets. What else is there to do beyond teaching? How do we make this transition? This episode is […]
The post FCM 042: Beyond Teaching: Your Future in Fitness appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
You may have been thinking about this yourself already – NO more running around from studio to studio, exhausting yourself between too many clients, and maxing out your schedule… instead… ONLINE TRAINING! My guest, Dave Smith, takes us through how to get started. We have a plan for you that are interested as well as […]
The post FCM 041: EVERYTHING You Need to Know to Get Started Training Online with Dave Smith appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
When you open a business, you want it to be more than just a place to work out – you want it to be a destination: a place your community recognizes as the best of the best. So, what does it take to separate yourself from the rest to earn this title. My guest, Matthew […]
The post FCM 040: How to Make Your Studio or Gym a DESTINATION with Matthew Januszek appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
I want to introduce a new idea to you – maybe your personal training model isn’t the best way to serve your clients, make more money, or create more freedom for yourself. Maybe teaching group fitness in the studio isn’t the best path to help you continually grow as an instructor. With this episode, you […]
The post FCM 039: Breaking Free of the Conventional Career Paths with Dr. Laura Miranda appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
My guest has developed a unique training technique that has allowed her to see up to 13 clients a day, while being a full-time mother. – Wait, what? We know, we’re shocked too. If you have little ones running around at home or another job to juggle, this is the episode for you. Alexis Olerio […]
The post FCM 038: How to Balance a Fitness Career with Family or Another Job with Alexis Olerio appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
The fitness industry has moved well past building a business around a strong, effective fitness routine or method. Clients are looking for an experience. The face of that experience is YOU, the trainer! Your voice has everything to do with their connection to what you bring to the table. This is what will set you […]
The post FCM 037: Finding Your Voice in the Fitness Industry with Xavier Quimbo appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
What’s the most beautiful backdrop you can imagine to host your fitness or yoga class? What if I told you that you could make this a reality, while also making money? This week’s guest, Marisa Merliss, will take you through the steps of planning your own fitness-focused getaway, commonly referred to as a retreat. What […]
The post FCM 036: How to Host a Fitness or Yoga Retreat with Marisa Merliss appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
The fitness industry has evolved into two camps, The Movement Hawks vs. The Everybody Gets a Trophy Attitude. The best place to be is in the middle – focusing on our clients’ level of effort. If we can get them to bring out their 100% effort, we will get them to see results. This is […]
The post FCM 035: Why You Should Coach for EFFORT with Jared Stein appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
MixMeister is a powerful tool that assists in making professional playlists with little to no effort at all! For those who are interested in creating an effective playlist experience with beat matching (a DJ mixing technique), this is the podcast for you! My guest, Cassidy Vineyard Planz, was introduced to the power of MixMeister by […]
The post FCM 034: Taking Your Playlist to the Next Level Using MixMeister with Cassidy Vineyard Pflanz appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Think of setting an intention as a form of motivation. When we set an intention, it serves to harness the participation of your class and encourage them to create a goal. This shapes the environment you are trying to create in your class. In fitness, an intention is also often called a “theme.” This creates […]
The post FCM 033: Harnessing Emotion – Learn to Create an Intention in your Class appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Motivation: “the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.” From this definition, we can see that order to motivate our clients, we have to give them a reason for their action. Good motivation comes down not necessarily on what to say, but how you say something and when you […]
The post FCM 031: Mastering the Way You Motivate & Use Motivational Cues appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
We all love stories! They make us think, stimulate our emotions, and are a powerful way to connect with each other as humans. Why not use these in our classes? In this episode, I speak with my guest, Dontre Doxley, about the art of storytelling, how it can be used to bring more people into […]
The post FCM 030: The Art of Storytelling for Marketing Yourself or Your Business with Dontre Doxley appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this episode, we talk about making an IMPACT – one of the words that shape my goals & work in the fitness industry. If we’re passionate about changing people’s lives, making an impact through our classes is how we get started. Teaching a fitness class goes beyond the physical actions and gives people an […]
The post FCM 029: 5 Things Fitness & Yoga Teachers Must Do to Maximize Their Impact with Kimberly Spreen-Glick appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
It’s just who we are. We could receive 998 positive comments about ourselves, but if two are negative, that is all we will focus on. How are we to deal with the hateful comments? The ones that are stripped of all intention to help us build, with no belief that we have the potential […]
The post FCM 028: The Art of Handling The Haters appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Its one of the things we are most concerned about as fitness instructors. Whether its at your studio or online (social media), my guest, Tash Marshall Bean, lays it all out for us. It may not surprise you, but building a following is not about being the biggest, best, or strongest, but ultimately reflects on […]
The post FCM 027: How to Build a Following as an Instructor with Natasha Marshall Bean appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
It can be difficult to know where to draw the line between making classes fun but also challenging. The solution is not an easy answer. Everyone has a different idea of what is challenging, as well as different ideas as what is considered fun. How do we go about developing a class when everyone […]
The post FCM 026: Making Your Class Both Challenging and Fun with Pam Blum and Karen Glooch appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
You’ve been teaching for a long time and have mastered the method that you teach. You feel ready to create your own class. Or, you’re a studio owner looking to create a class. Where do you start? What is the process like? What should you focus on? Shay Kostabi, an internationally recognized consultant who has […]
The post FCM 025: How to Create Your Own Class with Shay Kostabi appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Teaching fitness is such a fulfilling experience. It’s so rewarding to watch others change physically, mentally, or emotionally in front of you. However, we have the opportunity to take it to a whole new level of depth when we begin teaching workshops. In a workshop you have the freedom to go to a level […]
The post FCM 024: How to Develop Your Own Workshop with Victor Chau appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
What does it take to go the distance, endure and succeed long term as a Fitness Professional? One word… Reputation. Learn the tips and tools that are needed to develop and maintain a solid reputation. Doris Thews of TeamThews.com breaks down what it means to develop a solid reputation. What You’ll Learn: – What 3 […]
The post FCM 023: How to Survive and Thrive in the Fitness Industry with Doris Thews appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
I began this episode intending to help fitness professionals similar to myself develop themselves as fitness models. With the help of my guest, fitness photographer, James Patrick, this episode became a full guide on how to build your brand on a broader scale. He offers several tips on how to get started, how to create […]
The post FCM 022: Top Tips on How to Pitch Your Brand to Publications with James Patrick appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
As fitness professionals, we often put our body through incredible lengths of wear and tear. The ugly truth, however, is that our body is our livelihood, instrument, and most important tool that is often taken for granted until its abilities are taken away. Dr. Jen Esquer, a Doctor of Physical Therapist, personal trainer, pilates instructor […]
The post FCM 021: How to Protect Your Body as a Fitness Professional with Dr. Jen Esquer appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Every one of us in the fitness industry is ultimately in the business of changing people’s lives. Many of us strive to not only give our clients an incredible workout, but also have an impact on them emotionally, or even spiritually, to help them in their lives outside the room. In this episode, Cara Bradley […]
The post FCM 020: 10 Steps to Making Your Fitness Class a Life-Changing Experience with Cara Bradley appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Once you launch your studio, you’re going to want to see it grow quickly and steadily. Saloni Kantaria has grown an incredibly successful studio and is looking to open another in another country. In this episode she shares her incredible techniques that has allowed her to establish a very close relationship with her clients. These […]
The post FCM 019: Setting Your Studio Up for Growth & Success Post-Launch with Saloni Kantaria appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
This episode is the second in a series of two episodes focusing on marketing specifically for the fitness industry. Break away from the feelings of intimidation when we think of the task of marketing! In this episode we take a deeper dive into specific and effective marketing techniques that you can use to create a […]
The post FCM 018: Targeting Your Fitness Marketing for Results with Kelly Coulter appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Marketing. We all know it’s important, but where on earth do we get started? It’s such a broad topic that many of us can find intimidating to take on and master. With so many avenues to explore when it comes to marketing, it helps to have some general guidelines to help us get started. This […]
The post FCM 017: Mastering the Fitness Marketing Basics with Debra Atkinson appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
It’s the big question that stresses out so many- how do I study so I’m successful on my certification exam? In this episode I talk to Kathryn Russell, the Education Manager at the NSCA. She’s an incredible intelligent woman, and an amazing educator. The tips that she gives away in this episode are going to […]
The post FCM 016: How To Perfectly Prepare For and Pass Your Certification Exam With Kathryn Russell appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
How adventurous are you? The fitness revolution is sweeping across the world. I’m hearing of more and more opportunities for instructors to teach all over the world. Listen as I sit down with some other international instructors and talk to them about the challenges and the benefits that they’ve experienced from teaching abroad. When you’re […]
The post FCM 015: All About Getting Adventurous and Teaching Internationally! appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Have you thought about what your career will look like in ten years? Will you want to be doing what you’re doing right now? In this episode, learn how to build a long and sustainable career for yourself. My guest (with over 30 years of experience in the industry!) reveals some incredible tips to make […]
The post FCM 014: How to Create a Sustainable Career in Fitness with Barbara Brodowsky appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
I’m a big fan of Spotify- and I didn’t used to be! Whatever your preference is for playing music in your classes, listening to these pro tips on how to use Spotify could completely change the game when it how you find new music and make your playlists. As we know, music is the driving […]
The post FCM 012: 12 Hacks to Supercharge Spotify for Your Classes appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Many popular fitness classes today are taught to the beat of the music. Those of us that have tried know that this is no easy task! How do we hear the beat of the music? How do we know and anticipate when the music will change? How do we cue our class to the musical […]
The post FCM 011: Mastering Counting and Cueing to Music appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
To continue to excel in our fitness careers means discovering the best in ourselves. We all know this can be a challenging and even intimidating task. That’s why in this special LIVE episode from Beijing I speak with Jennifer Johnson at SpaceCycle’s SpaceTalk, presented by Mercedes-Benz. As an incredibly successful professional dancer, choreographer, personal and […]
The post FCM 010: Discovering the Best in Yourself with Jennifer Johnson (SpaceCycle x Mercedes-Benz SpaceTalk) appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
When you first become a newly certified instructor, the excitement can wear off fast when the daunting reality of actually teaching in front of others presents itself! How do I tap into confidence when I don’t have any yet? How do avoid internalizing apparent judgments from my students because I’m new? Is it ok to […]
The post FCM 009: Finding Confidence As A Newly Certified Instructor with Melissa Coley appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
If you work with your own personal training clients or come in to teach classes at a studio, it’s easy to just perceive yourself as just one person and not a business. After all, aren’t businesses entities with often physical locations and multiple employees? While this may not be the case, it doesn’t mean that […]
The post FCM 008: Why You Should Treat Yourself Like a Business with Danielle Pascente-Hall appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
I’ve interviewed many people in the podcast so far that are far along on their path to success. Today, I speak with someone only a few steps ahead of where you may be right now. Six months ago, Ninette Wassef opened her first fitness studio, after having come from a career as a lawyer. In […]
The post FCM 007: What You Need to Know Before Opening Your Studio with Ninette Wassef appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
We all see those fitness superstars who have thousands of followers, are featured in all the top publications, and seem to have sponsorships thrown at them from countless companies. How do they achieve it? It sometimes seems unattainable. Well, in this episode I talk with Alex Silver-Fagan on how to become an overnight success. She […]
The post FCM 006: How to Become an Overnight Success with Alex Silver-Fagan appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Learn how to master keeping your clients engaged and motivated through your cueing and your coaching. Learn to utilize the “bubble” concept to keep your clients in the zone so they can get the most out of their workout and have an enjoyable experience. Learn different learning styles that you can utilize in your coaching, […]
The post FCM 005: Mastering Effective Cueing and Coaching appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
Developing a persona is something that I believe is directly related to your success as a personal trainer or group fitness instructor. Think of it as a means to separate yourself from what’s going on in your life outside the classroom, and also separate yourself from some of the things that could easily distract us […]
The post FCM 004: How to Develop a “Persona” with Shay Kostabi appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this episode we talk with Kara Griffin of Feel This about her top ten tips to creating an amazing client experience. These tips are great to listen to as a personal trainer, group fitness instructor, and great to keep in mind as a gym or studio owner as well! Be sure to check out […]
The post FCM 003: 10 Tips to An Amazing Client Experience with Kara Griffin appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this episode we talk with Jonathan Goodman of the Personal Trainer Development Center on the next steps to take as a trainer after getting your certification- answering questions like where to look for work, how to get clients, how to structure training packages, and how to make sales. This is a great episode for […]
The post FCM 002: Becoming a Fitness Professional- Part 2 of 2 with Jonathan Goodman appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
In this episode we talk about the different steps to getting your personal trainer or group fitness certification: CPR/AED Certification Passing the certification exam through one of five recommended agencies: ACSM, NASM, ACE, AFFA, or NSCA. Getting your Trainer Insurance Maintaining your certification Be sure to check out all of the links and resources […]
The post FCM 001: Becoming a Fitness Professional- Part 1 of 2 appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.
This introduction serves to inform you of what this podcast is all about, and tell you a little about myself, Barry- your host! If you have a question for me that you’d like to submit to the show for me to answer, please go to: https://fitnesscareermastery.com/questions/
The post FCM 000: Welcome to the Fitness Career Mastery Podcast appeared first on Fitness Career Mastery.