Personal Trainer Business Tip: Time Management.
Look if you’re going to be an entrepreneur than you are going to mull over how to better manage your time, frequently. Everyone has different ideas and you will need to find what works for you. This week’s personal trainer business tip is all about successful time management.
First, focus on what matters and learn to delegate more of the things that don’t.
I don’t know about you but I’m a control freak, and I find just about every trainer fairly new to the industry is too. I don’t think you can help it, if you could you’d likely be a terrible trainer. I mean we need to set tasks, move people toward their goals and stand ridged toward the actions needed to reach that goal.
It can be daunting and lead to massive procrastination if you have a gigantic “to-do” list in front of you. The first thing you should do is circle the things that have a direct and immediate impact on creating more revenue for your business. These things include stuff like: writing classified ad copy, developing new high value trial programs, they might even include study and knowledge to make you a better trainer early in your career. What they don’t include is things like graphics for your website, maybe not even website content though this could be argued, things like billing, etc. Though all these things need to be done the sooner you can entrust them to someone else’s hands the sooner you will find your business growing. You don’t necessarily even have to be able to afford to pay someone it’s quite common to find one of your best clients and offer to do a trade for a few hours each week. Soon they can be booking appointments for you, handling some aspects of billing, scheduling and more.
It may take you a little time to get comfortable with this, it did me, but the purpose of this post is to expose you to the idea and get you thinking in that direction. The more you think about it the easier it will become and the sooner it will become a reality.
Next, get yourself a whiteboard. Divide your whiteboard into two sections; priority items and general items and ideas. Move 3-5 of the most pressing items to the priority column and always start there. Don’t overwhelm yourself with more than a few priority tasks at a time. Each time you sit down to work start with the priority task you are most interested in an effort to gain some momentum to lead you in to the other tasks. The moment any task is complete, cross it off your list. The feeling of achievement of completing each task delivers the same kind of satisfaction that reaching any other goal does. The resulting physiological response to your brain will only make it easier for you to begin on your next task.
Soon you’ll find yourself excited to see all the crossed off lines on your whiteboard and as your completing each task it will undoubtedly lead to the next series of items that must be completed to continue to drive your business forward.
Additionally whenever I’m travelling or away from my office I go a step further. I record my 3-5 priority items on a 3X5 piece of paper and keep it in my pocket so I can keep this process going.
Don’t waste time on electronic lists and gizmos, these are just distractions that will take time and concentration away from things that matter. Stick with fast and simple and stay on task.
The Secret to My Success (and Yours Too)
Someone recently asked me, “how do you stay organized with so many different things on the go?” This is kind of a funny question, and as I responded to them I thought this would make an excellent blog post that likely many of you can appreciate.
I don’t know if this sounds like you or not, but truth is I don’t know if I would consider myself organized or not. Currently I run one primary business (One-to-1 Fitness), I’m building another here with Profitable Personal Trainer, I’m working on some entirely new marketing ideas for a retail store I’m involved with, I run two body building events annually, and at any given time I usually have 3-5 ideas on how I can grow, change or improve any and all of the above. Currently I have 5-6 direct projects I’m working on and various items in various stages of completion (I actually think of these items as still being in the creative process.) Today I’ve already had 2-3 new ideas on how I can grow various parts of the different businesses; yes it’s true I quite likely have ADHD. This both a gift and a curse, with so many ideas the question becomes what do I do first? I think this is what many of you can relate to, the overwhelmed feeling of not knowing where to begin, the fear that it creates, and the only thing you are certain about is that you want to succeed.
If you want to achieve your dream in the fitness industry or any other I want you to carry this one thing forward with you right now, don’t be afraid to imagine, and if it seems like a good idea at the time, just start doing it!
This blog isn’t really about time management because even though I do outwardly appear to most of the people around me to get a lot done the potential for so much more is still there. The truth is as humans there’s only a select breed of us that can concentrate and work with high efficiency for long periods of time, and most of us that are not like that burn out or become incredibly frustrated trying.
Here’s how I have achieved everything and I believe this can work for you too:
1) Keep a journal, ever heard me refer to my 1 or 2 million dollar notebook? My journal comes with me almost everywhere. Just about anything that is on my mind, comes up that day or whatever goes in that book. I have dozens of ideas written in this book. if I ever come up short I just start thumbing through the pages until I find one of the many I either haven’t done or it sparks my mind to begin thinking of a new one. Sometimes this notebook just serves as my memory; important must do items, a phone message, an important number, whatever it goes in my book. This way I can just rewind the days and if there was a notable event or situation I will find a hint of it there, no need to remember it, no need to let it contribute to the overwhelming amount of daily stress we all face.
2) Keep a big list. That’s right, the master “To-do” list. But don’t keep it on your computer, your handheld or any goofy website like www.tadalist.com, you will never look at it if you do and it will never get done. Instead keep it written on paper on your desk, or on a white board in front of your desk. Write all the things you need to do on this list, order them if you wish, prioritize if you wish, though none of that is necessary. Just throw it all on there. Aside from adding items DON’T pay any further attention to this list at all! I’m serious, I mean that.
3) The big 3-4, critical mass for your day. I think it was Tim Ferris that talked about this, or maybe Dan Kennedy. Take a small piece of paper, about a quarter page as a maximum. On this page write the 3-4 things from your master list that you will focus on today. By only having 3-4 items it’s not nearly as intimidating as your big list, and it’s much more difficult to procrastinate on only a couple of items. You and I both know a dozen other things are going to come up so having more than a couple critical things on your “To-Do” list for the day will make it unlikely that anything at all get’s done. Yet just like the small things we suggest to improve our clients health even getting 1-2 things done each day really adds up. Look at your master list, how many items does it contain, if you only get one thing done each day (so 25% of or daily list) or thirty things crossed off in the next month, how different do you imagine your business will be?
Start Making More Video
Video should be an essential part of your personal trainer marketing strategy.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEdWHUnxIQ0[/youtube]
Don’t get stuck in the moment, always be looking forward.
Chasing your own tail will NOT make you a Profitable Personal Trainer
Our very nature sometimes has us chasing our own tails, now that you are aware, don’t. The other day I had a discussion with one of my key employees, he’s taking on a larger role in the company, a role he’s becoming very inspired and passionate about. Within this role he has really been striving hard to take steps to rapidly develop himself and its working.
Recently after returning from a personal development weekend he was eager to bring back what he had learned and apply it for the good of the company, unsure of how to do that he chose to discuss what he thought was a good plan with me. Now any time someone takes initiative it’s never a bad plan, Ready, Shoot, Aim is almost always the best answer. However our nature seems to be to chase our own tail, rather than looking forward to how we might develop the future we work backward and apply new knowledge to old problems often never really allow ourselves to take leaps and bounds forward.
By this I mean as you learn from this blog or within your work days many new ways to improve your business don’t get stuck in the trap of fixing and restructuring something that might be working ok in an effort to make it perfect. You are much better to look past that as to how you can continue to develop your system so that as you grow the problem is corrected forever more through growth and the application of that system. Failure to do this has you forever looking for perfection while the world speeds on by to which you will never keep up.
- Focus on your top 5% delegate and outsource the other 95% as much as possible, this is difficult but keep trying.
- Duplicate as soon as possible, find great people and begin to give them responsibilities. This can be a service trade or your first employee but two can accomplish much more than one, make it work for you.
- Schedule your time and always start with the hardest thing (or thing you least want to do) each day. You will get more done and look forward to each day as it only gets easier.
- If you’re a solo trainer think long term, you will never have the life you want always working IN the business, schedule time you need to work ON the business.
This website is full of champions, together we succeed. Share your comments push each other forward.
Delegation for the Sole-Proprietor
In our world of technology even a one man show can have a team or staff, even if their virtual. If you haven’t already I highly recommend you read one of my very favourite books, The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris. Outsourcing taken to extremes, it’s a fun read and one of the most enjoyable and inspiring books on being an entrepreneur that I’ve ever read.
How could you benefit from outsourcing?
Well imagine the relief of having someone that can return calls, or perhaps clean and tidy your studio, respond to emails, writing content, optimizing your website, or creating opt-ins?
Some of my coaching clients have already faced the danger of burnout as they dive into supercharging the engine of their business to setup for explosive growth, the danger of course is running out of steam as you hit the launch phase. So how can you build a team if you have little resources or funds to do so?
Well if you’ve been paying attention the first thing you should have been doing is organizing and building your list. Not only is your list a source of new customers it’s a great place to look for part time colleagues. Offer service trades to delegate out your tasks to well suited people within your network. The best part of this is you can often easily turn these people into paying clients later, leverage your time and kick off your group programs with adaptable people, or even better they contribute so much that you hire them long term and leverage them to grow your business even faster.
Additionally check out websites like www.elance.com and www.odesk.com within this virtual world it’s amazing how easy it is to draft a quick description and hire someone to provide a number of functions seemingly overnight. This is an especially efficient way to tackle your content needs for your lead generating high conversion website, or to have true experts optimize and position you according to specific instructions all on a pay as you go basis.
The wealth of knowledge and talent available is staggering. If you’re not delegating and outsourcing you are stunting your ability to grow quickly. Check it out today!
4…3…2…1…We Are Go For Launch!
Did you wake up this morning full of passion and desire to succeed in a way that you have never felt before? Did you wake up with ideas and tasks swimming in your head that you absolutely need to attack and complete this coming week? Did you open your notebook to find that you now possess a complete 8 week, step-by-step plan detailing how even as a brand new trainer you can sell $100,000 in personal training and fitness programs in the next 8 weeks?
I know a number of individuals who made the trip to Edmonton, Alberta this past Saturday will be nodding a resounding yes to all of these questions. (That is if they have the time to even read this post.)
The Alberta average wage for a personal trainer in 2009 was just over $22,000, we can do far better than this. Our industry is growing faster and is needed more than ever. One of the biggest road blocks I’ve seen in new personal trainers is first understanding exactly how to improve their skills and acquire many new clients in the easiest, fastest, lowest cost manner possible.
Below is a short video of a discussion we had on this topic at the Personal Trainer Business Ignition ($100k in 8 Weeks) Workshop. Watch the video and adopt the right mindset and if you’re lucky maybe some of the attendees will comment on some of the great things they learned! (Also if you haven’t already go to the form on the right an download Factor 3, this will push you in the right direction to becoming a Profitable Personal Trainer.)
When Systems Fail
Milo my calculator operator could hardly believe the results either.
The following is an example of why it’s important to always remember to not only be a strong leader but an effective delegator. Sounds easy but do you truly know the difference between delegation and abdication?
Yesterday was one of those days you really wish to avoid, but once you get past the frustration you are reminded of the value of failing forward. Yesterday was budget day at One-to-1 Fitness. Our first quarter has appeared to be every bit as successful as many months before, (with the exception of a little bit of a lull in March that many of you might also relate to.) However where sales and receivables appeared strong our bank account cash flow just seemed like it wasn’t totally adding up. The difference, well it was fairly significant, more than fifteen thousand dollars between our accounting records and our facility records. Certainly a significant amount over only one business quarter and enough to unravel any budget you have in place and are attempting to follow. Where did it go? How did this happen? What kind of problem were we facing?
Over the last three years at One-to-1 Fitness we have made it a habit to make each decision as though we’ll have to face the same scenario a hundred times or more. Than as we apply the solution it’s carefully documented as a step-by-step process and added to our operations manual. Every aspect of the business is treated the same way from the trainers and their responsibilities through to sales and administration. It can be trying at times but it is what has allowed us to go from 100 appointments a week to routinely over 500 appointments per week while maintaining a high level of customer service.
So unfortunately a planned budget meeting scheduled to last an hour now became a full scale nine hour audit lasting well past midnight, of sales and close outs. After hours of frustration, calculation and remembering why I never wanted to be an accountant I discovered all sorts of user errors in handling payments and refunds. Thankfully a number of them were data entry but after a gruelling evening about $3000 still remains unaccounted for. What would you do?
Well I thought about it for a while and then reminded myself that this was truly my fault, after all we had put what we felt was a good system in place but I had neglected to review it at regular intervals to ensure its accuracy. Key individuals will need to be reminded that it is their responsibility to make good decisions and point out areas that are not functioning correctly, as I have now reminded myself but as the captain it’s my job to review the systems and correct or adapt them as needed for better function and accuracy. And that is the difference between delegation and abdication. If your goal is to be ultra successful become comfortable with delegating and outsourcing as much as you possibly can so you can focus on your top 5%. Just be prepared to take responsibility and immediate action when things some time go astray.
How much time do you spend working on your Top 5%?
Where do you spend your time?
There is one thing that certainly holds true when you are an entrepreneur or work for yourself. Expect the unexpected. I am sure you know what I mean, you wake up in the morning feeling excited to take the day head on. Maybe you have a bootcamp in the morning and a few clients to teach in the afternoon and a couple of errands to do. No big deal, pretty relaxing day, it’s nice outside and just when you are thinking you might have a good chunk of your afternoon free to enjoy the phone rings…
A vendor, a supplier, the insurance agency, your accountant, a new potential customer, an upset customer, whatever but suddenly you have 15 different things you didn’t expect to add to your list, so much for enjoying the afternoon.
Does this sound like you? This is common for many self-employed people, particularly when they are just getting started. You are likely an amazing technician when it comes to servicing your customers and handling all things scheduling when it comes to them, sadly you have just realized you are terrible at time management.
If this carries on it soon get’s even more difficult, because now when you get up in the morning you begin to procrastinate. All those crazy things that came up yesterday that you didn’t get done, well you don’t want to do them today either. So now checking email, heading to facebook and painting your toenails are all far more appealing then what you should be doing.
Here’s how to ensure you get more done each day…
Get yourself a bulletin board to hang in your office. You could also do this in a spreadsheet electronically but I highly recommend the billboard for a visible simple tool in the area where you most commonly work. At the top of the billboard add these categories in big letters:
“To-Do” – “My Top 5%” – “Doing” – “Done”
The truth is out of all those items in your growing to-do novel; it’s that small 5% of key items that is going to produce the biggest results. I can’t take credit for that labelling, this comes from my coach but I have learned well in these last three years just how true that title is. All of the things that need to get done should be posted in the to-do column. Each morning scan the to-do column for the key things, your top 5% and move them to the My Top 5% column and begin with the hardest one first. Always it’s these items that must garner your attention through to completion first. If it can’t be completed in a single day move it to the doing column and the next day begin in the doing column before going back to the next item in the top 5%.
As you complete items move them to the done column until the end of the week. Every Sunday night remove all the items from the done column, this is the setup and affirmation of how successful and productive last week was. (Or in some cases reminder that this week has to be better.)
It’s a constant visual transition that will help you maintain focus, set priorities and give you a virtual pat on the back when you do a good job!
YES! Contact me today to schedule a FREE no obligation consultation and trial workout.