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If you’re considering becoming your own boss, you owe it to yourself to do the groundwork that will ultimately be the foundation for your success.
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Innovation is the key to success in an ever-evolving world, and at no point in recent history has this been more important than now. For the first time ever, the IDEA World Club & Studio Summit will be available in a virtual format so that you can access all the top strategies and best practices you need to secure a lucrative and lasting future for your business—all from the comfort of your club, studio or living room. Over the course of 2 days, the best in the business will be on-hand live to share their strategies for success and to help you overcome the challenges you face now and develop the resilience to face them in the future.
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Now, more than ever, your clients will expect the most thorough cleaning strategies to help them feel at ease when they finally start to return to your studio or gym.
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Many fitness facilities are leading the way as they reopen. Here’s how they’re managing the capacity challenge post COVID-19.
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About 6 years ago, San Diego–based personal trainer Kevin Root opted not to attend the IDEA World Convention. As a newly certified professional, he felt the event could overwhelm him with information. It’s a choice he regrets.
“Looking back, I robbed myself of valuable hands-on experience and knowledge,” he admits.
Root, who splits his time between boutique studio Bird Rock Fit and a big-box gym, the La Jolla Sports Club, eventually decided that IDEA World was a necessary investment to progress his career. He attended for the first time in 2015.
Has your business experienced faster staff turnover than you’d like? Are you about to hire new staff? Do you want your fitness pros to remain loyal to your facility? You can beat the high-turnover odds in the fitness industry. The key is to find qualified pros who fit your business and then set them up for success, giving them specific training for their positions and clearly communicating your expectations. Consider the hiring and onboarding system I’ve developed over the past 8 years of running my own business.
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Do you have a 2020 vision?
Do you have a clear view of what you’re going to do in the new year to grow your business even more?
As 2019 closes, it’s important to take stock. What can you improve to ensure a higher-quality customer experience and more revenue in 2020?
Let’s take a look at four areas that impact your business going ahead so you set yourself up to succeed.
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As the health and fitness industry continues to evolve and grow, staff diversity and inclusion efforts are becoming increasingly important. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission mandates that job applicants and employees cannot be discriminated against “because of their race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information” (EEOC n.d.). However, making a conscious effort to diversify goes above and beyond following the law.
Discover what diversity means and what you should consider as you put together a diverse staff.
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You know the work it takes to get a new customer in the door. You’re spending money on marketing, time making sure your website listings are right, and energy on promotions and intro offers to get the word out. It’s not easy. But remember—it costs less to keep an existing client than it does to acquire a new one. Getting them to return again and again will help you keep your lights on and your business bustling! With that in mind, let’s look at three actions you can take to retain your clients.
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A number of tried-and-proven options to attract new members and clients can help you grow your business without reinventing the wheel. You can join a franchise system, license the rights to an established brand or invest in instructor training to build a specialty business. Each option has an opportunity cost (what you might lose if you don’t choose the particular option), as well as benefits that you might gain. Among these choices, franchise systems offer many advantages.
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An experience: That’s what exercisers want in order to feel inspired and motivated. In the fitness industry, one of the key places where this experience occurs is within a group fitness community. It doesn’t take a big-box gym or a trendy fitness boutique to give participants an amazing experience. With some creativity, flexibility and determination, even the smallest fitness facility or studio can offer a dynamic group fitness program that will give members the experience they crave.
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One day, while stretching my client Jim, I was taken aback when I realized he wasn’t wearing underwear. His shorts were swim trunks with interior netting. I quickly looked away and continued to stretch him. This happened with Jim on several other occasions, but I never mentioned it because I wasn’t sure how to broach the matter. I also didn’t feel as if he was doing this intentionally, nor did I believe he meant harm.
Read MoreAre you thinking about selling your personal training studio or fitness business? Your business is probably your primary source of income, and selling it will mean you’ll lose that annual income but achieve a one-time capital gain. Are you prepared for that? IDEA member Toby Davis, senior adviser at Sun Acquisitions, Chicago, shares the following tips for anyone preparing to turn over the keys:
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The success of your business relies solely on your ability to attract and keep clients. Use these tips to enhance the client-trainer relationship so that you can focus more on providing quality service to your current clients and less on finding new ones.
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t just a subplot in your favorite science fiction show! For years, AI has been hyped as a movement that would change the world, but the past 5 years have ushered in a revolution. In short, AI is the creation of “intelligent machines” that mimic humans (think speech recognition, learning, problem solving, etc.). Computers can see, hear and speak to us in a very human way. Products like Siri, Amazon Alexa and Google Home have almost seamlessly entered our lives and homes.
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You’ve worked long and hard to get your fitness facility off the ground, and while you’re doing okay in your community, you’ve noticed some of your membership base trickling away. Upon further investigation, you realize that while you’ve had your nose to the grindstone, managing your facility and planning for growth, a discount club has opened up not far from you. Not only that, but a handful of specialty boutique studios have carved out some market share. Where do you fit in, and what can you do to keep your place?
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Education is the foundation of the IDEA World Convention, but this fitness event offers plenty more than stellar instruction. For Jonathan Bernath, publicist-turned-personal-trainer, it’s where he discovered the “fitness family” that would guide him in his new career.
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The fitness industry is a rewarding and inspiring place to be. However, it’s not without its challenges, and getting ahead with passion alone can be difficult. The most successful fit pros know that to build an epic life and career, they must invest in education and learn from those who’ve been there and done it.
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In 2016 America, traditional commercial health clubs—multipurpose, fitness-only and corporate facilities—served 32.2 million members, a 3% decline from 2015, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association. Studios served another 18.2 million, a 15% improvement.
Nonprofit facility membership rose 6.9% from 2015 to more than 24 million. Collectively,
studio facilities claimed 40.7% of total membership.
Many people who want to join gyms are skeptical that it will actually help them reach their fitness goals. A new study from Iowa State University may assuage those doubts—and help gyms to convert more browsers into buyers. According to the research, published in PLOS ONE (2017; http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/jour
nal.pone.0170471), gym members tend to have significantly higher levels of strength and cardiorespiratory fitness and are generally more active than nonmembers.
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IDEA Fitness Journal
Current Issue:
December 2019
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