Saturday 4 October 2008

The 10 Reasons Why Your Fitness Business Is Struggling

I've read nearly 30 emails in the last 3 days from fitnessprofessionals asking me why they're still struggling... despite doing 'everything right' (their words, not mine).

They tell me that they've bought all the books, been to all theseminars and studied marketing like crazy and yet still, even afterall this, they're struggling.

And they ask "What gives??"

Well, I'll tell you EXACTLY what gives....

...But you might not like it : )

Here we go:

1 . You've no clue about what you REALLY want - you talk about having an excellent business, excellent lifestyle, excellent income etc but you've no idea whatsoever about what that excellence looks like.

Because of this, you've very little (if any) chance of getting anywhere close to your goals and you're doomed to tippy-toe tiny incremental improvements in your life rather than giant leaps.

2. You've gotten into the habit of thinking small - sure, you use all the coaching psychobabble on your clients and tell them to 'dream big' or 'reach for the stars' but you don't do the same for yourself. In fact, you've become a study in being realistic. The very worst offence you can make against achieving great things.

Because you're realistic, you think in terms of linear progressions and payrises rather than quantum leaps in your income.

Shame..

3. You confuse KNOWING stuff with DOING stuff - Sure, you talk a great talk about what you COULD do with your business, what you COULD do with your website and what you COULD be earning but you don't do it.

At least, you don't do enough of it.

And because marketing success is a function of both the quality and quantity of your message, you'll never really make an impact.

4. You think you know more than you do - This follows on from #3 but is a little different. With this reason you have the belief that your skills are already sharp enough and your good enough to get the success you want.

But you're wrong.

You DON'T write copy well enough.

You DON'T write articles well enough.

You DON'T have a great website.

You just don't!

If you did then the phones would be ringing off the hook... they're not, are they?

5. You're out of sequence - You think that marketing for clients is just the act of writing your emails, posting your blogs, creating your web sites, your ad copy, your sales letters.

It's not.

These things ARE important, but not as important as the sequence that they and many other activities are applied to your business.

Nobody's talking about this but, there's a sequence to success that MUST be followed... and you're not!

6. You're a skinflint on your business - I know, it sounds harsh but it's true.

You'll happily spend money on learning how to balance on a BOSU but you won't pay to learn marketing and business skills from experts who are PROVEN in their field. You won't pay for marketing strategies that seem expensive because they're 'scary' and you won't take make the big investments.

You justify this by saying that money's tight, but your money will ALWAYS be tight because you won't invest.

7. You spend time on the wrong things - It's almost cliche that you must work ON your business and not IN it if you want to be successful but it's true... and you don't get it.

Instead you try to 'squeeze' in the important projects between your appointments and your bootcamps and give your most valuable resource, your time, to pay-by-the-hour activities instead of those that will eventually pay you while you sleep.

Every day that passes while you 'squeeze in' (or not!) your important projects is another day that you waste on the unimportant.

8. You mix with the wrong people - you're spending your time talking to other people who're just like you... struggling!

Worse, you ask THEM for advice and expect, by some miracle that their counsel (even though it's not working for them) will somehow work for you.

Instead of seeking out people who already have successful fitness businesses, products and multiple sources of income, you mastermind with people who often have less than you... and wonder why nothing changes!

9. You don't have a coach or a mentor - You think that coaching is too costly, too time consuming, too intensive or [insert reason/excuse here] and so you dismiss it as something unneccessary and superfluous.

You don't see how having someone to teach you, coach you, hold you accountable and kick you up the butt could be of value and exponentially increase your results.

You don't see the value of someone showing all the shortcuts that could cut years or even decades off the learning curve to success, so you do it all yourself... and struggle.

10. You won't 'Pay The Price' - There's a price to be paid for success and that doesn't just mean financially.

But you won't pay it.

You won't pay the price of success in terms of money, time, effort, doing the things that attract success.

Worse, you have a whole bunch of reasons, rationalisations and justifications about why you won't or you can't. Because you have these 'stories' in place, you'll never pay the price... not in full anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, what do you think?

How did you stack up on points 1-10?

Did some of 'em cut you raw? If they did I can tell you it's because they're probably true.

To change things though, to completely turn your business around is really simple.

REALLY simple!

Just look at all the things you're not doing and... do them! : )

Look, if you were to start taking action on each of these 10 points you'd see things happen fast. Really fast. But unless you do, nothing will change for you.

Your choice, my friend, but Iknow which path I'd choose : )

To your success

Dax
http://www.personaltrainersuccessacademy.com/

P.S - I'm now accepting applications for my next coaching program.

As you know, it comes with a GUARANTEED '$10,000 payrise or your money back' promise so there's no question of you making having any risk at all.

I Only have 8 spaces left.

If you want one, if you're up for making a huge difference to both your business and your life in the next 12 months then pop on over to http://www.personaltrainersuccessacademy.com/mentor.asp and find out more.

But hurry, we're starting soon!

3 comments:

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Good post Dax

Gotta say that one of the things that has helped me with all these points is to try to scare myself once each day. You never move forward with anything with your business without taking myself out of my comfort zone!

I was talking to one of my new Intern trainers about my BIG project to buy a gym business. He asked me if I was scared about making this huge step in the worst financial week of the last 3 decades. My response... Hell yeah it scares the c**p out of me, but it wouldn't be worth doing if it wasn't scary :o)

Speak to you soon buddy.

Tim Goodwin
www.getfit.lu

Luka Hocevar said...

Dax,
great points and I can honestly say that I am not doing quite a few of those. I am still thinking and writing some things down about the excellent life after you talked about it at RLB III. It might have been the most important thing anyone has said to me in a long time!
Now it is time to get some balls and invest in mentorship....
Thanks Dax,

Luka Hocevar
www.hocevarperformance.com/blog