Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Our own social media community at Fitness Pro Travel certainly keeps an eye on what this big boy, with hundreds of programmers and a near infinite budge is up to.

As an independent fitness professional or fitness business of any type (or again, any

business of any type) with a web presence, the Social Plugins via FaceBook can go a long ways in keeping your offering near the front of peoples interests.  And, more importantly it places your offering/website in front of the friends & connections of those who “Like” your stuff.

Not necessarily a sales pitch, but an invitation to your front door which they may follow if the interest in more is tweaked.

I’m just beginning to experiment with some of these tools beginning with the “Like” button.  I’ll have one added somewhere on the right border of this site before I post this if you want to take a look… feel free to click away as well.

I’ve also already begun to add these small like buttons to the individual resort pages for those sites Fit Bodies contracts with and offers for teaching vacation opportunities at Fitness Pro Travel.

Check those out by going to the “Travel Spots” area of the site, clicking on the details page for the resorts you’ve been to.  Then click the “like” button for the particular resort to automatically let the next visitor to the page know that you thought that resort rocked.

…From the business stand point –

• The visual list of people who “like” the content on the page (in the above case, the resort) now have a visual social proof via a personal “like” endorsement.
• You also have the benefit of an automatic status update being placed on the Wall of the person who just stated that they “liked” your stuff.  Now their friends and connections are also seeing that endorsement with a link right back to your page.

The “like” clickers will have to be or have to become FaceBook members.  This is a continuation of an overwhelming title wave toward FaceBook being the online social connections & interests leader.  I’m ok with that endorsement as it does bring some sense of order around the individual to the internet and provides a great opportunity to gain endorsements, testimonials, and social proof for that which makes up my online presence.

Don’t be late on being part of the Face Book Interest Barometer initiative.  Utilize a FaceBook Social Plugin soon.

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It hasn’t been any different the past three days at FPT and I’m guessing the activity will stay high over the next three while the launch period continues.  Our 50% discount offer for upgraded membership (discount ended) seems to be appreciated and has had many visitors visiting their accounts and doing what we’d hoped, upgrading… All Good.

In addition to seeing the statistics of the many fitness professionals accessing their accounts during this time, my mailbox has definitely been filled with many more questions.  My account blog is where i try to publish most so all can see, but I’ll share the following as it seems to be on everyone’s mind to some extent.

It’s understandable. The website changes will have some small affect upon all accounts.

So, lets see if I can take a quick crack at answering the question, “Which Fit Pro Membership Level is right for me?” (or variations of that questions anyways)

Membership selection of any level at Fitness Pro Travel is key to keeping the website lights on and continuing to add features to the network. We have added a very inexpensive option for those who have little intention of using the networking and promotional options.

Enterprise - fitness business oriented, need of particular dates and want date release, optimize affiliate commission for referrals, frequent traveler etc……….  This member level is certainly a VIP to us as they are definitely investing themselves to the network.  The promotional options make this an ultimate business value and the qualifications for front of line travel make it a frequent traveler must.

Medallion -Similar to above less the early date release notice, slightly less in quantity but also less reduced cost to less than $14 per month.  It provides bonuses for business and qualifies member for all specialty (beyond the working vacation) opportunities. I suspect this to be popular with many.

Travel - This is the new account option that provides access to most all features in small quantity. Cost aware at less than $3 per month. Is an ideal account if not expecting to need all features listed above or on side-by-side, but still want to be supportive of community growth.  I personally believe that all who utilize any feature within the site to learn about and make a decision on taking a working vacation, should activate at least at this level.  Much goes into making those informational features available and your commitment to the network is helpful.

Basic - This level provides access to the travel program, but very minimal to much else.  There are travel aspects you will not qualify for.  This Free account is ideal for a new member who wants to take a look at what the site has to offer, who else participates, and is comfortable with the legitimacy of the programs.  After the new member has gone through that process they will ideally move up to a level above.

Any account is fine to utilize the working vacation program at this time.  There is no requirement to purchase a paid membership, but it’s definitely appreciated as we continue to build the features and value to Fitness Pro Travel.

Have you had a look today?

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Promotional content tends to get more conversational in a Blog.

I’m just starting to check out MyClassPro now and while jumping into their blog I found an interesting video quiz that might be fun for those who travel through the Diet Grader site.

I’m not so certain that the quiz result is the “perfect” way to start each day, but of the choices it seems to be making sense.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

After further review and discussions to ideally bring some added benefit to our membership in the Fitness Pro Travel Network, I look forward to providing further opinions on how this program may assist you as a Fitness Professional.

You can begin your own research now by following the links above.  Pete and Kelly were both pleasant to talk with and would be happy to ensure you get set up with a free trial.

Scheduling group trainings can be a pain. MyClassPro is  primarily geared to the Fit Pro who independently provides community fitness camps and is designed to make scheduling, payment, and communication simple. But, it can be used for other group training scheduling functions appropriate to the yoga instructor, group fitness instructor, or even certain club settings as well.

Give me a couple weeks and I’ll see if we can dig up a bit more and if appropriate secure specific benefits for the FPT community members…. If you’ve used it or have specific questions you’d like me to check into be sure to post them to this blog entry.

This topic is not coming up because of issues with any of the Fit Pro Travelers.  It happens to be on my mind because I caught a radio interview with a Travelocity representative this morning.  They spent some time talking through a 2009 traveler rudeness report, which I think we might all find rather interesting.

1600 travelers took part in the rudeness survey.

Here is a the take from the Hipster Travel Guide: Overall, people hate sitting next to smelly passengers (No. 1 answer at 40 percent) and people with the Swine Flu or at least exhibiting coughing, sneezing and hacking, 30 percent.)

Fellow Airline Passengers:

•  More than 80 percent of respondents feel that large passengers should be seated in two seats. However, more than one-third of respondents believe that the customer should be required to pay for that second seat while 44 percent believe the large passenger should be accommodated at no extra cost.

•  Passengers wrestling with larger than allowed carry-on luggage topped the list of irritations when boarding a plane with 29 percent of all poll respondents in agreement.

•  Canadians are more irritated by poor queue discipline than their American counterparts with 29 percent reporting that they are most annoyed by people who crowd the boarding line, compared with only 20 percent of U.S. travelers who took the poll.

•  Overwhelmingly, travelers who rush to deplane before those ahead of them are the most annoying at the end of a flight with 57 percent of respondents in agreement.

Traveling with Children:

•  Boisterous kids are a common annoyance for travelers, but people traveling without children are twice as likely to be bothered by them (30 percent) as those traveling with children in tow (15 percent).

•  Respondents say children running in restaurants (35 percent) and touching food at a buffet (33 percent) are their biggest pet-peeves when it comes to kid travelers.

•  More than half of respondents think parents should remove a misbehaving child from a public setting and a significant third feel that such children should be reprimanded.

•  Travelers with children have different peeves to those without, and are more likely to be bothered by topless sunbathers, men in Speedos and unattended kids at the pool.

For the complete results of Travelocity’s 2009 Rudeness Poll

This match your rude behavior issue list?  Are you a rude Traveler? Fill me in here or on my FPT Blog.

BTW, next time you visit FPT check the FORUMS to review changes and give input on added features coming to the Fit Pro Network.

Life of an Entrepreneur – This a guest post / re-post, but points 3 & 4 are very true to the independent fitness professional making it worth showing here as well.  Simple and to the point.

~~

Ah, the life of an entrepreneur. Come up with a business idea, write your business plan, line up a bunch of venture funding, and retire to a private island a few short years later when you go public.

1. You’re more likely to make a living than make the Forbes 500. Most entrepreneurs end up making a living, and some make a really nice living doing what they love.

2. There is no money line to get in. There are a lot of you’s out there competing over very scarce resources. But don’t think you’ll just get in line and pick up your check.

3. It’s more about you than your plan. Business success has more to do with you than anything else. The best plans mean nothing in the hands of the wrong person.

4. You’re in sales, whether you think so or not. Every business on the planet is selling something.

5. You’re going to fail. Yep, you will fail. You will probably fail multiple times. If that concerns you, pick another path for your life. If it doesn’t concern you that you will be an utter failure at some point, good – with every failure you get one step closer to success, cliché but true.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

While the internet is no longer a new technology, I can point to hundreds of occasions in recent years where I have been contacted by fitness professionals asking for help in various areas of the technology use.

I figured the majority out, so I know it’s not rocket science… And I am still smart enough to look to a technology expert when it comes to getting fancy with an internet presence but the basics are most likely all you need.

The following video gives a birds-eye view of what it takes to get started. It was put… together by a company called network solutions. They can assist with the basic steps described, but I like godaddy.com for some great customer service experiences and the general attitude of the site.  There are hundreds more choices for you out there as well.

Establishing you Fitness Business Website is essential.

Yep you can contact me and we can help with this, but my first suggestion is to take a look yourself. Either way, step one is to get there.

All are excellent and serve their niche well.

While each is different they are still the same in that,

1. They are all in the realm of the health and fitness industry
2. They all require marketing efforts to provide their message to their respective prospects
3. All benefit from various degrees of internet presence and diversification

With the internet playing such a large role in EVERYONE’S lives these days, it’s fairly simple to see the benefit to the fitness industry professional in seeking out tools and resources to enhance their presence on-line…

Following are five suggestions to assist with your internet presence:

1. Establish Your Space – You can have a high end web site, a simple blog like this, or utilize only free social media site(s).  Having a specific location to be found, contacted, and learned about is a starting point. Ultimately you may realize the value of all of these types of online presences and will have one or more of each.
2. Get Social – Social networking sites, forums, blog commentary are all great ways to express your opinions, show your knowledge and generally add value to the internet. With each of these you also take a huge step forward in making excellent business contacts and bringing people back to you web site.
3. Learn Content Marketing – There are many tips and tricks that go into optimizing your returns of content marketing, but even done with little knowledge you will get great returns over the long term.  Content marketing for the fitness industry can be created in many forms including articles, pod casts, webinars, videos, recipes, words of inspiration, and where ever you mind wants to take it.
4. Joint Venture – Partnerships of many types can be very powerful on-line just like off-line. Joint venturing takes the partnership a step further where you now benefit through active promotions or combining knowledge, products or services. A JV relationship can be more complicated, but you will either find your offering having a great deal more value or your prospect reach being greatly extended.
5. Listen to others – If you feel a bit lost when considering your actions for your internet presence, take a look to others who have and are succeeding now. You should look to those within the fitness industry, but also to those outside of it.  With FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn giving you fairly direct access to many of the foremost experts, it has never been easier to learn from their actions by watching what they do and how they communicate. Go search out guys like Perry Belcher, Chris Knight, and Jeff Walker. All from outside the fitness industry, but all have a great deal you can learn from them in their areas of expertise.
   Check into any learning programs they or people like them offer. Ours is the Fitness Business “Insiders Club“. There are literally thousands out there, so chose wisely.

Follow the above and you will not only establish a presence, but will also have carved out your space that will have prospects seeking out your offers rather than feeling like you must pursue them with your sales offering. You will have established yourself as an authority in your area of specialty and may soon be positioned to establish new offerings such as upsell products or operate a membership site or paid newsletter.

As a matter of fact, if you go through the five points above I believe you will be in the top 2-3% of all fitness professionals in that I see so many missing the boat when it comes to creating a solid multi-platform internet presence.

Take a look at Fit Pro Biz to see just a few fitness professional programs and be sure to sign up for the Business of Fitness newsletter over on the right column.

The following table contains the heading points for the three articles. Column one is the list from Todd Durkin’s article “Top 10 Ways to Drive Revenue in a Downtrodden Economy”.  Column two is from Tom Terwilliger’s article “Your Business and the Economic Slowdown”. The third and
final column “The Scary Times Success Manual” is the list by Dan Sullivan.

Each offer some great advice for the fitness professional, not just the personal trainer. Below the table I’ve taken the opportunity in
combining these principles row by row.

This is a very important time to be positive and proactive in your fitness business. There are many things you can do to not only maintain, but also expand your training business, even during tough economic times.

Row 1 – Don’t devalue yourself. During tough economic times you will see many reduce the service or product fees they charge. This ultimately reduces the perceived value of your product or service. Instead provide add on services as bonuses. These do not have to take extremes in added time or expense, but can easily increase the value of your offering.

Row 2 – It’s all about amp-ing up your message. Marketing is simply building relationships and your job during times like these is to strengthen existing bonds and to actively pursue new ones. Writing new health & fitness articles is a great example of providing more to your existing relationships inexpensively and functions greatly for marketing when published to the public via the internet or print.

Row 3 – Establishing services that are economical for the participant can also be lucrative for you. Take the growing “bootcamp” model as an example. Providing training to groups will lower the cost to the participant/client and also allow you an opportunity to make even more revenue for your time invested. These are nothing more than session camps and can be provided under any format. Take a look into bootcamp training and adapt it to fit your expertise. These programs are in demand and growing for very good reason.

Row 4 – This row seems to echo row 3. Look to group opportunities, related offerings, add on products,  membership (continuity) options, inside and outside the club setting, etc.  Now is not the time to sit back and hunker down like so many are. It is a great time for looking outside the box for new solutions and opportunities.

Row 5 – This time we look more internally. Take the time t0 review your marketing plan. Is it efficient and effective? Does it take advantage of on-line and off-line options? Are the terms for whatever setting you use the best you can find? Are there other billing options you could provide such as credit cards, automatic recurring billing, or paypal that would benefit your customers? When is the last time you looked to optimize your website or mailing materials?

Row 6 – Retaining your current customers is key at this time. How else can you improve upon their experience? Daily look at what you can do beyond what your client would expect. Your genuine interest in their health should shine through and will direct your actions. One idea we have ran before is offering a wellness class for all our personal training, bootcamp, and yoga program clients to attend. We simply offered it for free, as a bonus, and as a surprise to say thank you and let the law of reciprocity handle the rest.

Row 7 – Lets see… follow-up = customer service essential. Start small group training = already mentioned and still a great option to be investigated for any fitness pro. “Who you can be”… Here it is suggested that you concentrate on what you can control – YOU. Become self-directed, self-managed, and self-motivated. Today’s example is the economy. You cannot directly control it or how it effects your clients. What you can control are your actions/re-actions, customer service, product and service offering mix,
your specialty skills, and marketing avenues.

Row 8 – This mix is looking a bit tough to combine, but each are important elements suggested by the authors.
Networking - This investment of your time is worth far more than you can imagine. Todd suggested the partnership with local professionals, but I want to suggest you also take advantage of online  fitness industry networks and utilizing partners and JV. Many opportunities present themselves through networking as well as chances to learn from each other.
Passive Income – When times are economically a bit tougher you’ll have a huge advantage if you have passive income options available to you. These can be small or large financial quantities that add to your bottom line without taking up significant time on your part. Think a paid newsletter, or adding product sales to your services.  Having an online presence can open a world of affiliate opportunities or without you can affiliate through a “tell a friend” program. Your Fitness Pro Travel program offers you one easy affiliate option, but there are many more (ie. commission junction and click bank)
Your Responses – This is one item you can control. Things happen, good and bad that you rarely have direct control of. You can control how you respond though. Focusing on controllable items rather than the uncontrollable will reduce your stress and anxiety and allow you to progressively develop your response plan.

Row 9 – This is all about keeping your motivation during difficult times. It is important that you take steps to keep your engines fired up.  Look at the resources immediately available to you that allow you to make daily progress.  Simple small steps will build your confidence and momentum as you lay the ground work for larger program achievements. Learning new things will similarly build confidence, encourage networking, and offer momentum when the general business climate is struggling. There are many fitness workshop event calendars available to you online that present many learning options including our at Fitness Pro Travel.

Row 10 – Give back. Make a positive difference to others, without expectation, and it will come back to you. The internet marketing folks I have followed speak of “raising the free line”. Giving as much as they can before ever asking for a sale or action from the prospect.  They are relying on the law of reciprocity. When you give, people tend to like you more. When they like you more, they are more likely participate in your offerings. Stated another way, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

The economy is not being overly helpful in keeping your business running strong, but multiple fitness industry evaluators continue to forecast growth for 2009 and 2010. You want to be active and progressive in how you view your fitness business to take advantage of the industry growth rather than fearful and stagnant during the economic slowdown.

Visit sites like Fit Pro Biz and sign up for fitness professional networks like Fitness Pro Travel. And, do sign in for the fitness business news and notice mailing list found in the right column to stay on the front edge.

I hope this summary of these three articles offers at least one item that resonates for you.  What do you think of the ideas provided by these industry leaders? What are you doing that’s not mentioned that’s making a difference for you?

"BootCamp" OR "Session Class"

Group fitness instructors have offered bootcamp programs for many years in the club setting. It is somewhat interesting to witness the advent over the last couple years as “bootcamp” programs have grown in popularity outside the club, that group fitness instructors are rarely found leading the class.

Spending quite a bit of time on the business side of fitness (nationally/internationally) And, having the opportunity to watch my wife as she implements various fitness camp programs or marketing tactics within our local operations, gives me an interesting perspective.

I also see much of what is being offered as business education & programs to the fitness professional and I have the opportunity to create and test our own.

It’s clear that within the fitness industry a lot of attention has been paid to the personal trainers while the group fitness instructors seem to be a forgotten specialty when it comes to outside the gym “bootcamp” styled programs.

Programs like Mega Marketing, BootCamp Blue Print, or Fitness Business Revolutioneach are targeted to the Personal Trainer and the list goes on. It is much tougher to find programs to assist and teach the group instructor that has an entreprenuerial mindset.

These programs can all be made applicable to the group fitness and yoga professionals if you are willing to look at your professional fitness specialty as more than just a part-time job working for a club. Personal trainers are figuring it out and it might just be time you do as well.

Tell me, which certification is geared toward group training? I’ll give you the answer; The one that has the word “group” in the title. That being the case, why is it that small group training and “bootcamps” are dominated by the personal trainers?

Bootcamp is simply one format out of many the average group fitness professional is capable of running.

Trainers are using these formats to generate incomes of well over $100 per hour. They are taking advantage of internet marketing and building lists of participants that they can continue to market to into the future. They are also diversifying their business and offering related fitness products, supplements, information, etc.

… I say, “good for them”, but shouldn’t the group trained instructor be working within these programs also?

Group Session Classes of any Format

I do not see the Group Fitness and Yoga Instruction professionals doing the same thing at all. They (of course not all) seem to be content to work only for the facility and are missing out on many opportunities that are available to them.

You are trained to create group programs, monitor participants of various levels, and to safely provide modifications for all to actively participate. Because of the focus of these training on groups, YOU are well qualified to be leading the bootcamp” (actually, just session classes) styled programs.

There are personal training principles which are important in the operation of these programs. The group fitness instructor can learn those principles in a well designed “bootcamp” training program at least as well as a personal trainer can learn the skills specific to what the group fitness instructor does.

There are several reasons personal trainers are utilizing group training tactics outside of the standard gym setting. Here are some great reasons you should too!:

1. 85% of the population does not belong to a fitness facility.
2. 60+% of the population is overweight or obese.
3. The diet industry is huge. The fitness equipment industry is huge. The anti-aging movement is huge and growing. – bottom line is that people are spending lots of money on things you can actually provide.
4. Group trainings lowers the per person cost to participants. You will make more dollars per session/class while charging individuals less.
5. Bootcamps, which are most often variations of high intensity interval training (HIIT), have proven extremely effective in assisting participants in achieving their fitness goals for a variety of reasons.
6. Bootcamp is a format of group fitness. What we are really providing is the business model of offering session classes. Group fitness instructors can offer this under many different formats, not just a bootcamp program.

You are leaving money on the table, allowing your brothers & sisters from the personal training side of fitness to dominate the large and growing bootcamp business model.

These programs are not rocket science, but will help you reach more people and make a greater amount of income. We continue to work on a program specifically for group instructors to help you get started.

While I encourage personal trainers to get training to work with larger groups and add these types of programs to their offerings list, you the group fitness instructor have a few advantages right off the bat and I’d love to see you take advantage of them.

• You are trained specifically to work with groups of various fitness levels.
• Group fitness instructors generally have the ability to offer multiple formats of classes. BootCamp is only one style that can be performed in a gym, field, or apparently a combat zone. Just because this is the primary format that personal trainers have attached themselves to doesn’t mean you can’t take your other formats outside the standard gym setting or offering structure.
• I believe it is generally easier for a person who has picked up the principles and abilities important to group fitness to get further training and diversify themselves as personal trainers rather than the other way around. What you do is not the same, but it is similar. A small amount of related training will make you very proficient and capable to run these programs.

I hope you consider what you may have been passing up. You have skills that can be provided in many different locations, can reach many fitness needy lives, and these skills can be utilized to generate a great deal of income for you and your family with minimal extra work.

This is an updated re-post from our original blog. As the program continue to be developed your thoughts and concerns are still of interest.