Attending a fitness conference this year? Taking a continuing education course? How well do you consider your goals and what you want to accomplish from the content you consume? In the world of fitness conference content and fitness association award winners it can be hard to distinguish between smoke and mirrors.

Fitness Conference Reflect Reality?

Is all that glitters, or has boobs and botox, really substantiated success you’re seeing? Or are you in fact seeing the evidence of marketing. The package is the surface. What’s inside that matters right?

Before I go on, I have to say this, I’m a presenter at fitness conferences too. And you should look at me with the same scrutiny that you look at anyone else. I’ve presented internationally since 2000 for associations including IDEA, NSCA, CAN-FIT-PRO, ICAA, SCW, ABC, and Fitness Fest and MEDFIT, multiple times in many cases. I’ve also published articles for several of them and serve as Subject Matter Expert or advisory board member for others.

Fitness Conference Content Alarms

Taking advice from a presenter at a fitness conference talking about making money and programming can be tricky.

Consider two very different skill sets.

One skill set is the science and its practical application broken down into a daily and weekly action set that will get your clients or customers results.

The second is the ability to make business decisions based on profit and loss, on profitability, and scalability of a program.

There's More

And yet a third is the ability to look at the much bigger picture of how many lives have a positive influence from the pursuit. Maybe a decision is okay if it’s purely for enjoyment and hobby-sake. If it’s a business that must pay the bills, support individuals and their families, and ultimately build a legacy not just have a spotlight and have fun, then there are different sets to apply and evaluate.

Your Fitness Conference & Experts

As a business leader – if only for yourself: someone who pays bills and taxes based not just on what you make but on what you keep – you need to be sure that you separate these two very carefully.

I recommend that you look closely at the “back end” of any of your beloved presenters and do your homework. Learn from them, they are some of the best, and they are using science to relay programming to you.

However, they may have no idea of how to actually implement a profitable program.

How do you know?

Ask these questions:

• Is this presenter doing what I’m doing or want to do?
• Is he/she running a profitable business using the tools and techniques they are teaching?
• Does that matter to me?
• What do I want and how do I define success?
• Is this content the main focus of the presenter’s business life outside of presenting at conferences?
• Is this the sole, exclusive content the way the presenter makes a living?

Knowledge vs. Application

Because although a university lecturer may be a wonderful teacher, that lecturer has a regular paycheck regardless of the job or effort they put in (until someone evaluates them of course!)

And you, as an entrepreneur or someone working on commission, do not have that luxury. If you work as a manager of a department, the profitability of your program matters. This year more than ever, if the profit margin on your programs and services has not supported your business but has only been supported by it, you’re in a pickle right now.

That just doesn’t work anymore. If you’ve created a department of personal training for instance that simply extends the life and success of a club’s members but really has no profit margin due to expenses and high commissions with too little revenue, without enough members continuing in, you have not created a sustainable model for this moment we’re in.

We Don’t Celebrate Losses

I’ll leave that touchy subject alone because it’s my educated guess that those trainers, managers, owners in that position right now are not listening to this episode. They’re in a place where survival, not up-leveling, is and has to be their focus.

For you though, listener, it’s time to get real. For those sessions you’re choosing and those continuing education courses your taking, make sure to filter what you’re learning together with from whom you’re learning it.

The Bottomline

So, there you have it, a sneak peek into how presenters are evaluated or they’re not. Never once since 2000 when I began presenting did any conference organizer ask for my tax returns.

My feeling is often that the greater the number of initials behind someone’s name, the greater the number of titles, the greater the need to make up for something or prove something.

The OverKill on Certifications and Titles

Why would someone need a handful of jobs if just one of them were sustaining their lifestyle? It’s a question you must ask. What is their business model? How do they earn money? How did they scale their business? How do they enjoy freedom in their life? Is this a model I want to use for my own?

You don’t have to get all you need from one individual. I do think you want to choose carefully the individuals you follow to know they match your values, and the life you aspire to.

Did I stir up any questions? Comments?

Leave them below the show link at fitnessmarketingmastery-dot-com/fitness-conference

To grow your personal training business in 2020 and in 2021 you’ll have to do things differently than you’ve ever done them. If you’re starting a health coaching or personal training business you may honestly be at an advantage. You’re not trying to fit into a mold that has only marginally been working in the past and that’s forever broken since COVID19 began. You can most clearly evaluate the problems happening now and solve them.

Why would you ever stop yourself from getting what you always say you want? Why would you stop yourself from making the kind of money you want? Why would you ever do that?

But we do.

If you don’t try, you can’t fail.

If you don’t start, you can’t risk the embarrassment or discomfort that comes with not knowing exactly what comes next.

If you wait til you’re 100% ready, you’ll never do anything. I didn’t say it first. To grow your personal training business in 2020 you already know what’s staring you in the face. You weren’t ready for changed that happened. You do have to deal with them, anyway.

You start where you are.

If you find yourself thinking you need one more certification, or maybe you need a degree or another one…

If you think you just need to review this information again…

If those things are always preventing you from doing the things that really get you clients …

Like making phone calls and following up on them…

Like learning how to create better emails and going live on video so you get better by getting comfortable…

Like getting in front of people to speak… in podcasts, on their summits, and again on your own live social media accounts…

If you put things off until an imaginary time when you think you’ll actually have more time…. Your life will be a series of “I’ll be happy when…” “I’ll make time for that when…”

What Will People Think?

No one wants to be judged or criticized. Your mistake though is in thinking that people aren’t judging because you’re not doing something.  They’re always judging.

The point is, their thoughts in the end don’t matter. What matters is the regret or reward that you had doing the thing you wanted to do.

If you are worried about being liked, or popular, or worried about what they’ll think… you’re making it all about you.

It’s about them.

But we do this. We do it when we’re scared, insecure, not feeling safe.

Stop Procrastinating to Grow Your Personal Training Business in 2020

There’s a flip side to this procrastination. And that is… why you get in your way when it’s going well.

When things are going really well and you find you get hurt, or sick, or you refuse to make more progress. Not outwardly, you never say, I’m not going to make progress, but you hit a wall.

What’s that about?

Well, it’s not really a wall at all it’s a ceiling.

When you’re doing really well and you’re gaining momentum, say you’re getting clients, making more money, and suddenly you can’t grow any more, in fact you may have a set back.

What’s that all about?

It’s Got a Name

It’s called Upper Limiting. It’s a definite thing. You have a happiness ceiling. You’re only comfortable being so happy. And after that you keep looking for the other shoe to drop. You ask all the time what’s the worst thing that will happen? In fact you’re looking for the worst thing to happen.

So you think of reasons why you can’t do something. You’re too busy. You’re overwhelmed. You have to figure it out for yourself first (as if you must be perfect before you can share it with others).

You have a long list of “I can’t because…” going on inside your head.

There’s a reason why you can’t start creating your own brand on social media or begin offering classes or create a course. There’s a reason you can’t call someone you know you could help and ask them to be a client.

There’s a reason you won’t get a coach and learn how to create an offer that is irresistible for the customers who love you already.

There’s safety in claiming you’re overwhelmed or in getting ready to get ready. At least you subconsciously think there is.

What you want to do is see it coming.

Every time you are about to grow, do something new that has potential to increase your revenue or your happiness quota, you’ll resist. We all do it. You’ve got to expect it. When you find yourself eating poorly, staying up late, skipping workouts or working out too much… because that’s so comfortable to think if you just look more perfect… that’s self-sabotage… or upper limiting, trying to keep you safe from doing the things you really want to do to grow your business.

Trying to start or grow your personal training business in 2020?

I’d love a comment from you. If you’re a trainer or health coach or want to be… I encourage you to look at the Flipping 50 Fitness Specialist… or learn more about the directory of F50F Specialists and where they are if you want to work with someone locally.

Write support@flippingfifty.com and mention you’re interested in learning more about how to become (or expand as) a menopause health coach or personal trainer.

The world needs you now more than ever!!

Fitness statistics right now are a little grim for gyms. How does physical activity stack up though? Pretty well. It seems the public is discovering they don't need gyms, trainers, or at least onsite, in order to move more. 

The best news is that those who were least active are getting more active. And not detrimental for immune system-sake, the most active, perhaps most reliant on gyms, are now exercising slightly less. 

This episode I had the pleasure of interviewing Paul Ronto from runrepeat.com. If you haven't visited the site, check out the articles they're publishing now. 

My guest:

Paul loves adventure. Over the past 20 years, he has climbed, hiked, and ran all over the world. He’s summited peaks throughout the Americas, trekked through Africa, and tested his endurance in 24-hour trail races. He has worked in the outdoor industry for over a decade and continues to focus on athletic pursuits.

Our Conversation:

Share a little about the survey methods, who you surveyed, how you did so for listeners. Demographics of those surveyed?

What did you notice about age groups, and genders?

What qualified as “exercise”?

Other questions we answer in this episode:

Do we know if this is active being more active, occasional exercisers becoming more intentional, or inactive becoming active or any breakdown of that?

With an increase in exercise 88%, the big question is, especially for my listeners -at risk for losing muscle and bone in a big way during menopause - "are they exercising right"?

Muscle loss and bone loss are accelerated for women in midlife not exercising with optimal exercise prescription.

What are your thoughts on that? 

"Walking" for instance and yoga or Pilates.. while wonderful exercise will not sustain muscle or bone for women with accelerated losses due to hormonal changes. Who knew there'd be a dumbbell shortage?! What do you think about the solution to that supply- demand problem? 

Fitness Statistics Right Now

A couple weeks ago now Business Insider published an article on 5 major fitness chains and athletic stores declaring bankruptcy. What are your thoughts for privately owned fitness businesses? 

Is there a difference in the "umbrella" fitness business (serving all ages, full service childcare, pool, gym, group fitness, training) vs. boutique niche studios (Pilates, yoga, small 1:1 training) and projected success rate? 

Major at home equipment and programming retailers like Peleton have gained great success during this time. What are your thoughts about the future of fitness?

Beyond that point when a vaccine is discovered that's then proven, tested, and return of confidence by consumers what do you think about fitness centers as we've known them to this point? 

Will what is now known as online, hybrid, or brick-and-mortar business be forever changed? 

The message: 

Health and fitness are more important than ever. You're not irrelevant if you're a trainer, as long as you're not using the same message you were pre-pandemic. 

No one "needs" you to move more. We're learning that people do prioritize exercise and when they have the time, they do it. 

Certain populations stand the most to lose (bone density, muscle, strength, mobility) without exercise. So while there's still a need, if you're focused on getting back to what you were doing you could be missing a huge opportunity. 

Connect:

Runrepeat.com

Resources: 

Flipping 50 Fitness Specialist 

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