Procrastinating was the biggest bottleneck!

“I want my business to grow, but I feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day…”

Man! That statement strikes a nerve in me (and perhaps you too). I spent years gripping the reins so fiercely that I found the business I’d been working so hard to build was just stagnating – I’d have 30 clients one month, then 34 the next… then I’d have a few cancel and I’d be down to 27. Not what you’d call steady growth.

I genuinely love helping people. But by the end of the day, I barely had time to finish all of my client follow up. Then I still had to clean my equipment, review food journals, respond to all of my emails, Facebook messages and voicemails, write the program for the following days’ workout and… You know the drill. I barely had enough time to accomplish anything else – which left out the important stuff like fitness assessment days, putting together fitness challenges with points for prizes and calculation formulas + systems to keep track of those points. And then there’s the really important stuff like, um… Marketing… Sales… Sheesh. I really felt like I was in over my head.

Procrastinating on marketing and not thinking I had enough time for sales was the biggest bottleneck. Not to say it can’t be done, but it’s tough to grow a fitness business quickly with just referrals. My clients made the effort to bring in their friends and many of them would stick with it, but it just wasn’t enough for the business to really gain momentum.

Eventually I got fed up with the constant struggle and I decided to apply myself toward a new path of action to improve that mess. That’s when I went to my first fitness “mastermind” meeting down in Southern California. I met people who had businesses similar to mine. Everyone had different ideas and ways of doing things. I got feedback and I created a to-do list to make the changes that I needed to make to grow my business. It was such a relief to be in a group where everyone was focused on finding solutions to problems like the ones we were experiencing. I gained a whole lot of perspective at that meeting and I decided to join as a member.

I got home and I took massive action. I started on my list and transformed my business. I trained a replacement trainer so I no longer had to be there for every session. I hired an assistant to answer phones, book my appointments and follow up with my clients. I dialed in my sales skills and I developed a marketing plan. I delegated my daily to-do’s and handled the big-picture items myself.

I had the support of other business owners to share their experiences with me. I heard what worked for them and what didn’t and learned how they were growing and advancing their businesses.

Surrounding yourself with the right crowd is necessary to keep momentum and initiate big progress. If I could pass along one piece of advice, it would be to make friends with fitness pros who have excelled past the point you are in your business and pay attention to the way they do business. In other words, emulate the type of success you want for yourself and your business. Continue on your mission to make your business better and better. And never stop learning.

Cheers – Dallas