by cabelmcelderry | Sep 11, 2014 | Personal Training Techniques, Success Mindset
Want to make your competition irrelevant?
Want to build your business quickly for free?
Want to become the go-to expert in your community and online?
Start helping your clients get better results! It’s really that simple.
So how do you help your clients get better results when most clients continuously throw excuse after excuse at you as to why they just can’t fit in one more workout each week? When they try and justify why they just had to have that extra serving of mashed potatoes, the cupcake, the third glass of wine or whatever else they felt they had to consume.
Believe me, I know how frustrating it is when you so badly want to help your clients, sometimes more than they want to help themselves. How do you help them to stay on track?
After all, your clients’ results dramatically affect your reputation.
WARNING: You might find these 3 techniques obvious and too simple.
It doesn’t really matter what YOU think, it’s what your clients comply with and follow through with consistently. If they aren’t following your program now it’s time to modify how you do things.
We all only have so much energy in the day to make decisions, plan, prepare and give to others and ourselves. When too much energy is dedicated to having to follow too many rules and routines our clients become exhausted and they give up.
These techniques, however simple, will help your clients to stay on track and get better results over time.
Technique # 1: Identify the challenges and obstacles & then script the outcome
Ask the client where they believe they will fail. Ask what they believe their major roadblocks and challenges are. Work through each one, one by one, to learn the mindset behind each block.
Then create a step-by-step script that will combat each roadblock or challenge.
The script could be a verbal or written script or a detailed outline of the exact steps they are going to take the next time that roadblock is put in front of them. This goes beyond the simple recommendation of “have a small snack before you go to the restaurant.”
If you aren’t specific questions arise… what snack, how much, when should I eat it, is this okay to eat?
A specific script looks more like…
30 minutes before you leave for the restaurant have 1 hard-boiled egg and 10 grapes. Drink 1 cup of water. Bring a sugar free candy with you to suck on while you order your dinner and wait for your salad appetizer.
Identify each roadblock so scripting the desired outcome doesn’t leave anything up to chance and removes the idea that willpower is involved. Little energy is expended on the client’s behalf as they try to navigate the roadblock on their own.
They have a plan and are prepared.
Technique # 2: Stick to two choices
In the book Switch by Chip and Dan Heath they discuss the topic of decision paralysis. The idea is that when too many choices are provided we are likely to become overwhelmed and do nothing.
When you give your clients too many exercise options or too many meal options they feel overwhelmed and usually do nothing.
Only give your clients two options – A or B.
For example, when you give them their meal plan, provide one alternative choice for them in case they don’t like the meal you’ve provided. This way they can choose between A or B protein for their dinner.
Keeping the options targeted and narrow removes the necessity for the client to make any decisions or spend time thinking about what they want. They chose one or the other.
Technique # 3: Measure confidence
Each week I co-create one goal with my clients that they will commit to achieving and believe they can accomplish.
After many client failures I learned to keep the weekly focus to one goal and to measure their confidence level and belief around whether or not they could actually achieve that goal.
After we decide on the goal I ask the client a simple question…
“On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the most confident), how confident are you that you can achieve this goal?”
If I get anything less than a 9, I chunk the goal down into a smaller, more manageable, believable goal. Then I ask the question again.
For example, the client currently doesn’t drink any water and I set the goal to drink 8 cups of water per day. It’s unlikely that the client will truly believe they can adhere to that goal daily.
It doesn’t matter what you think of the goal or believe the client can handle. Results only come when the client commits and follows through. They will only do that when they believe they can be successful.
So if the client gives me a 7 out of 10 on the goal, then I reduce the goal to drinking 4 cups of water per day for 7 days.
Measuring confidence has been one of the most effective techniques I’ve used in my nutrition business. We live and breathe health daily, so our level of confidence is higher and our beliefs around what we can achieve are different from our clients.
When you create a specific and detailed plan to overcome roadblocks, narrow the available choices and then check in to see how confident the client is about their ability to achieve their goals you will see commitment and compliance dramatically increase.
Lori Kennedy
http://www.lorikennedyrhn.com
by cabelmcelderry | Aug 28, 2014 | Success Mindset
“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
by cabelmcelderry | Aug 21, 2014 | Success Mindset
Being an MMA fan, I get caught up in the hype of fights all the time.
Every time there is a championship fight, they create promo for both fighters and how hard each camp has trained.
You get to see the inside life of each fighter and why this fight will be the best fight ever because the champion has never fought a challenger so strong, so experienced, so fast, so (insert athletic adjective).
Take for instance Georges St. Pierre who has one of the most dominant careers in mixed martial arts.
He retired with the belt because no one could beat him decidedly making him perhaps the best fighter ever.
And that’s why he still gets paid the big bucks! We buy his stuff, we listen to what he says and read books on his life to be more like him.
That’s what authority is.
Want to know the opposite of authority?
It’s actually, “uncertainty.”
That’s why championship fights sell out, because there is that feeling of uncertainty that the best might just lose. When the champ wins, it re-affirms why we buy the stuff he represents, because he is the best!
Think about your fitness business or any business for a second.
If you’re not the best who would want to visit you and pay the big bucks?
If suddenly a new competitor comes to town what are you doing to prove you are still number one?
Are you creating uncertainty about your business in any way?
Remember, most people don’t remember second place, so strive to be number one in every facet of your business and you’ll be the champion of your industry.
Joe Fight
Joe “Fight” is a fitness business owner from Toronto that runs Fight Fit Bootcamps, a fitness and fat loss bootcamp that helps his clients burn fat, tone up and learn to kick butt at the same time. Having expanded to 3 locations in under 2 years, his business has proven to be a game changer for the fitness and martial arts market. For more information about his program check out: http://www.fightfitbootcamps.com/careers
by cabelmcelderry | Jun 19, 2014 | Success Mindset
Growing up I had it in my head, that being a cage fighter would be the coolest thing ever.
I found the closest kickboxing/MMA gym I could find. This was just before MMA was really mainstream so these gyms where dimly lit, lined with carpet covered with blood and sweat.
It was intimidating, and I was scared, especially when the first time I sparred I got the snot kicked out of me by someone that was 10 years my senior.
But even with the bruises and blood I was dumb enough to continue.
Eventually I got good, good enough that when a newbie came in, I could beat the snot out of them too.
If they didn’t put there hands up, I would keep punching them in the face until they did. If they didn’t learn to check kicks, I would turn their leg into hamburger meat until they did.
Hey, this is how I learned you should too!
Looking back, this has everything to do with a scarcity mindset.
See, when we think in scarcity, we’re afraid to show our stuff to the competition because they will eventually take it and use it against you.
If you teach someone exactly how to block your punches then you won’t be able to hit them anymore. And they might actually be able to hit you back.
That’s why Chinese Martial Arts was so secretive, they were afraid that it would be used against them. Until someone by the name of Bruce Lee came along and started teaching it to the world. He started blending the styles, and may arguably be the first MMA fighter.
And look at how far the sport has come now.
That is what abundance mindset is.
If I had the abundance mindset earlier, I would teach and nurture a new fighter so they could block punches and kicks early on and maybe even hit me. This in turn forces me to “UP” my game to prevent it from happening.
Think about your competition in business now. Imagine if you were to share your best stuff, training methodology, and business practices. So what if they got a hold of it, that would just mean you would have to deliver more in value to compete.
Your clients would love you even more and you would really be world class.
That is what having the abundance mindset is about, knowing that there is plenty to go around and because you were the first to share, you’ll be seen as an authority.
So 3 things to help develop an abundance mindset:
1. Treat everything you do as an investment.
2. Contribute to other peoples growth.
3. Be a leader and authority to help others see bigger futures.
And being the authority is a whole other post.
Fighting to keep you fit,
Joe Fight
by cabelmcelderry | Jun 17, 2014 | Personal Training Business Tips, Success Mindset
You might believe you are already effective at managing your time. If there’s anything I’ve learned it’s that when it comes to time management it’s a continual work of improvement.
There are 3 keys to time management.
Most important, always make sure you decide what you need to do tomorrow at the end of today.
This may seem like a small thing, and it’s really easy to say, “I’ll make a list first thing in the morning,” but don’t do it. If you make your list in the morning it’s like skipping breakfast, you’ve conditioned your mind to start the day unfocused. It’s like going for a hard workout with low blood sugar because not only are you unfocused you’re forced to complete a very difficult series of tasks in rapid succession. You’ll be accessing creative centers, problem solving, and organization just to get your list for the day. It may not seem like a lot but the resources required to complete this (just to decide what to do first) will seriously limit your ability to complete the list you’ve just worked so hard to make.
Maxwell Maltz, author of a must read book called Psycho Cybernetics talks about what he calls “rehearsal within the theatre of the mind.” By outlining your tasks the night before your subconscious mind goes immediately to work preparing for the first task you will complete the next morning. This sets the stage for immediate productivity and easier completion of pre-arranged tasks because your subconscious mind has already been planning solutions.
Second, make sure that you begin with the most difficult thing first.
It’s been proven in my own action, and I’ve seen it in countless others, avoiding hard tasks leads to procrastination or continual distraction. As the days wear on we’re undoubtedly met with resistance, adversity or unexpected events (maybe all of the above.) Each requires a great deal of emotional energy to conquer and as a result it means less emotional energy to tackle daily tasks. If you avoid completing the most difficult thing first you will avoid it all day, every day an onward forever. Difficult tasks build up; these lead to major roadblocks and crush the momentum of any business.
The third and final critical component of time management is chunking.
Chunking is simply the act of grouping like tasks together. The time it takes to become creative, to think of an idea and write this column is lost if I immediately move on to something else. So rather than moving on to a different task I group writing tasks together. Prior to writing this article I wrote a blog post, which lead to this column idea and in the last few paragraphs has manifested into other ideas. I’ll chunk a couple hours together and write three to five pieces of content, this satisfies one of my tasks for the next ten days. Now I can move on to the next chunk which could be sixty minutes of responding to emails, a list of follow up calls, or if it’s on my list ideally more creative work like promotional copy, etc.
It’s not surprising that employees congregate around the water cooler in late morning or mid afternoon. I believe even committed people have a hard time maintaining razor focus and productivity for long periods. And as events occur and the day wears on our reserve of emotional energy is quickly drained. Working longer is not realistic, working smarter and more efficiently is; and it leaves a lot more time for fun.
by cabelmcelderry | Jun 5, 2014 | Success Mindset
I’m Ready To Talk About It…
It’s been 6 months since I left my husband.
There, it’s out there. Now the world knows 🙂
I am now a fully fledged single mom, single earner, single woman. I own a massively successful boot camp business, I am closing a personal training studio in an effort to streamline and increase profitability and I am stretching my mentoring and mindset wings in my community. Thats me….thats my life. Thats where I am at.
Good job I don’t like things such as job security, stable pay checks or “working for the man”.
Good job I flourish when I am faced with uncertainly, decision making and a requirement for creating impeccable marketing projects.
Good job I am a woman.
But honestly, I think any reader out there is in the same boat. Maybe not the whole divorce thing, but I know you read this blog because you love the feeling of determining your own destiny. You wake up with a passion to create, to lead and to be a person who is bringing their dreams into reality.
Feeling like you are at Ground Zero can be daunting. And believe me, after 12 years of marriage, being divorced kinda feels like that, but on the other side of the coin, its a brand new start. It is not really an ending, it is actually a beginning.
Luckily for me my brand new start comes standard with a 7 Figure Master Mind team, a booming boot camp business, a fantastic 8 year old son who makes me proud, a staff of 9 amazing women and a world of possibility. I pulled myself up when I was down, I relied upon my amazing support system and turned my fear over to faith.
But guess what, it doesn’t take a massive life change to create your Ground Zero. It just takes a brand new day.
You are the greatest entrepreneur that ever lived and today is your day.
This blog is NOT a vent, a pity party or even a “woe is me” tale. No. I wrote this blog to remind everyone that starting over is never as hard the second (or 10th!) time around. You may feel like you are constantly recreating and reinventing, but thats a good thing!
Sometimes, we are offered a fresh start. We get to write a new chapter. We are gifted the opportunity to make our business count. As an entrepreneur, you are given this gift every single day. Don’t let the stress of money, employees, family or marriage take that away from you.
I know many of you have been through massive life shifts while still managing to be a successful business entrepreneur. You should know that you are MY inspiration 🙂
Want to make your competition irrelevant?
