Active Management

Tag: fitness business

  • #JTInTheRaw Show 62: 4 Behaviours To Truly Lead Your Fitness Business

    #JTInTheRaw Show 62: 4 Behaviours To Truly Lead Your Fitness Business

    The 4 behaviours leaders demonstrate that lead to high performance of their department or business are:

    1. Being decisive;
    2. Engage for impact;
    3. Adapt proactively; and
    4. Deliver reliably.

    Those again . . .

    The 4 behaviours leaders demonstrate that lead to high performance of their department or business are:

    1. Being decisive;
    2. Engage for impact;
    3. Adapt proactively; and
    4. Deliver reliably.

    You’ve got what you need, go do shit!

    Only joking!!! Come back please!

    You are watching #JTInTheRaw show 62, where I chew the thin on business! And today you will learn 4 key behaviours high performing CEOs all have!  Plus a little juice on each of them to help you shape your behaviours.

    Those 4 behaviours again are:

    1. Being decisive;
    2. Engage for impact;
    3. Adapt proactively; and
    4. Deliver reliably.

    Which one of these 4 piques your curiosity?  Pop 1,2 , 3 or 4 in the comments below:

    1. Being decisive;
    2. Engage for impact;
    3. Adapt proactively; and
    4. Deliver reliably.

    Which one do you want to know more about?  Pop 1,2 , 3 or 4 in the comments below:

    1. Being decisive;
    2. Engage for impact;
    3. Adapt proactively; and
    4. Deliver reliably.

    Thank You

    Wow! Last week’s show 61 rocked!  This was the most watched #JTInTheRaw that didn’t include a rant! If you missed show 61, I shared some tips on gaining referrals in your business and you watch it RIGHT NOW by clicking here.  There is BONUS CONTENT in show 61 – a full script for asking for referrals!

    Shout Out

    They’ll be too busy but a shout out to my Anytime Fitness friends from around the globe who are having an amazing conference in Palm Springs! #BeLegendary

    A shout out to the team at Mercado Fitness and IHRSA, who have been putting together my trip to Mexico City to speak at the NEEW Conference next month.  I’m working on my Spanish! Super grateful for the opportunity to deliver a presentation and a key note – find out about this event here.

    Last shout out to my Active team!  Today Alicia heads off on holidays, next Tuesday Chantal heads off to the US for a working holiday, and then next weekend Stacey is off with her family for a month long holiday!  You girls do an amazing job and I am very grateful so enjoy your time away, out and about, and relaxing!  Thank you for everything you do!

    Let’s Talk Leadership Of Any Business, Department or Team

    This week I read this article in the Harvard Business Review and its funny because this week the message resonated for me.  I was speaking with 3 coaching clients who were:

    • Slow to make a decision and missed opportunities;
    • Have a disengaged and unresponsive team around new ideas;
    • Were reactionary to challenges and issues; and
    • Frustrated with up and down results.

    So on Tuesday when I started reading this I thought BOOM!  This is good enough to share with you guys.

    These findings are the result of 10 years study with 17,000 c-suite exec’s across a broad spectrum of industries and sizes of companies.

    These behaviours will sound simple and perhaps they are.  The success comes from maniacal consistency – a great challenge from anyone.

    First behaviour is deciding with speed and conviction!  Great leaders of teams don’t always make the best the decisions.  They consistently make decisions: earlier, faster and with greater conviction.

    Some leaders who are super smart are waiting for the perfect answer and this time lag leads to missed opportunities.  In fact, these leaders are often a bottleneck for progress.

    Here are two questions to consider when making an early decision:

    1. What is the impact or the consequences if I make the wrong decision?
    2. How much will it hold up our progress across the company if I don’t make this decision?

    And then once you make that decision you stick with that decision.  If you back track, waiver or waffle to your Team they will quickly lose faith and trust in you.

    Second behaviour is successful leaders have buy in from employees and other stakeholders in the business.  The study found successful leaders who excelled at this engagement had a carefully planned strategy of communication and influence.

    What was interesting to me was the importance leaders placed on emotional energy – body language and moods – to create engagement.  Every comment you make, body movement or facial expression will be magnified by 10 by your Team!  You must remain composed.

    What was intriguing that the leaders who rated high in this behaviour also rated high in conflict management.  These leaders encouraged conflict to ensure quality commitment.

    We now live in a rapidly changing political, economic and social world, so adapting our leadership proactively must be a given these days.  This means your skill as leader is how you handle a curve ball.  How you handle something you are not trained for.  How you deal with something that is not in the playbook you have been studying in every spare minute.

    As the leader you will constantly be faced with situations where a playbook doesn’t exist and your team will look to you for guidance.  This situation could be a setback, a failure or a challenge. Successful leaders accept they came up short, tweak their approach and get back into the battlefield.

    You have to deal with setbacks so just get on with it!

    Finally and as boring as this may sound, your ability to reliably produce results is the most powerful of the 4 leadership behaviours.  In fact, CEO’s involved in the study who could demonstrate reliability were:

    • Twice as likely to be picked for a leadership role; and
    • 15 times more likely to be successful in that role.

    This will not surprise you . . . those leaders who ranked high in reliability were planners and organisers.  They established:

    • Strong management systems;
    • Regular meetings with purpose;
    • Dashboards that showed key metrics;
    • Set clear accountability measures;
    • Monitored daily performance across multiple channels allowing speedy course correction; and
    • A strong team around them.

    Of course there are other qualities we look for in leaders and those “basic” qualities will screen out your prospective leaders – for example integrity and work ethic.  Interestingly, in this study 100% of the lowest performing leaders scored high on integrity and 97% high in work ethic.  These four behaviours will help you separate the best leaders from the rest when employing someone or establishing the behaviours you may need to work on.

    Here they are again for you . . .

    1. Being decisive;
    2. Engage for impact;
    3. Adapt proactively; and
    4. Deliver reliably.

    If you know anyone in a leadership role that you think could benefit from hearing these behaviours and their descriptions, feel free to tag them in the comments.

    Now what about you.  What behaviour do you need to work on as a leader:

    1. Being decisive;
    2. Engage for impact;
    3. Adapt proactively; and
    4. Deliver reliably.

    Tell me in the comments below.

    There is no one size fits all approach to leadership.  These behaviours increase your chances of succeeding as a leader.

    What will you work on as a leader:

    1. Being decisive;
    2. Engage for impact;
    3. Adapt proactively; and
    4. Deliver reliably.

    As I said, if you know anyone in a leadership role that you think could benefit from hearing these behaviours and their descriptions, feel free to tag them in the comments.

    Quote of The Week

    There is no one size fits all approach to leadership.  There are behaviours that increase your chances of succeeding as a leader.

    Do you want to work one on one with JT?

    Check out all previous shows here: http://www.activemgmt.com.au/category/jt-in-the-raw/

  • Learnings From Lindsey Rainwater On The Fitness Business Podcast

    Learnings From Lindsey Rainwater On The Fitness Business Podcast

     

    Last week I spoke with Lindsey Rainwater about unlocking a career for professional women in fitness.

    During the show, you will learn:

    • 3 apps you can use every day
    • What is the Women in Fitness Association?
    • Advice for women considering a career in the fitness industry

    Lindsey also said:

    Find a role out there in the world that aligns with what intrinsically motivates you – Lindsey Rainwater

    Listen To The Podcast Now

  • “I Want To Build An Avatar. Where Do I Start?”

    “I Want To Build An Avatar. Where Do I Start?”

    The two most common questions I receive are:

    1. Where do I start when building an avatar
    2. If I target that customer, what about everyone else?

    Let tackle the first question: Where do I start when building an avatar

    You can start with the easy information, the demographics like:

    • Age
    • Gender
    • Kids and their age range
    • Where they live
    • What they do

    Then you need to get more specific about them

    • How do they find out information in their lives?
    • What are their challenges, pain and goals in life (not gym based goals)?
    • What are their worries and concerns in life?
    • You also want to identify details on what they think about their behaviour going to the gym.

    If you would like an Avatar Worksheet, click here to grab one.

    Now the second question: If I target that customer, what about everyone else?

    I would suggest you have between 4 and 10 ideal customer descriptions.  You can have and should have multiple avatars you want to market to.  One is not enough!  This takes work to write and describe the avatars but once they are done, marketing will be simpler!

    Marketing Is About You Not Them

    This video explains what words you should use in the copy of your website and collateral.

    Want to Know More About Avatars?

    You may like to check out these blog I wrote:

  • #JTInTheRaw Show 61: Getting Referrals in Your Fitness Business

    #JTInTheRaw Show 61: Getting Referrals in Your Fitness Business

    Your most qualified prospects to become your customer are those that come from referral.

    What are you doing to elicit referrals?

    Recognise referring members?

    And improving your referral process?

    What percent of new customers come from referral for you?

    This is not word of mouth. In other words, the new customer does not say “I heard about you” – that’s word of mouth. They say “John told me I should come down.”

    We’re going to explore this topic in today’s show.

    Welcome to #JTInTheRaw show 61 live from Melbourne today! I am about an hour away from delivering the keynote for the YMCA conference today … and I’m pumped up for it!

    If this is your first JTInTheRaw live or on replay, I chew the thin on business every week and have been doing so for 60 shows. You can binge watch at the JTInTheRaw You Tube channel by clicking here.

    Shout Out 

    I want to say a massive shout out to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. I was humbled, embarrassed and very grateful for the Facebook wishes I received. Thank you to everyone!

    I want to shout out to Scott Robertson who implemented a marketing concept that we discussed at the Industry Leaders Roundtable … he has received massive views from his video and just this week his business was mentioned in the local newspaper. Amazing traction and then exposure for Scott. Congrats Scott. I love hearing about successes from people who implement ideas we talk about!

    It’s been an interesting week as I prepared for my keynote.  Lots of reading, researching and stumbling across stuff!

    I was more aware of marketing suggestions this week.

    And while the hip n groovy way to gain new customers seems to be taking advantage of the online world, I wondered how much effort are we making to gain referrals?

    Traditionally, the first time we ask for referrals and for many businesses this is the only time, is at point of sale. Theory says this is when I am most excited about your product, so that’s when I want to share it with my friends. And in some markets, I would totally suggest you do this!

    I would encourage you to script up and have the collateral to ask for point of sale referrals if you know your market has not been ‘burnt’ by this strategy. There are pockets in every community or city, where referrals have been harassed & now no one wants to hand over their mate’s details. If this hasn’t occurred where you are, then definitely start asking at point of sale.

    If you know your competitors ask at point of sale or your market has been burnt, then turn this negative into a feature of your business.

    Consider saying something like, “Now you’re a member you’ve the opportunity to invite up to 5 friends into the club for a free (whatever you’re giving away: 7 day pass, PT session, etc). Now most gyms ask you for those names now but here at Active we believe we have to prove ourselves you. So in 30 days time, when you’ve experienced the club, starting to get your results and loving us, is it OK if I ask you then for the names of people you’d like to introduce to the club?” Of course they’ll say yes and you follow up with “Great! And if you want them to come in sooner, just let me know and I’ll arrange it for you.”

    To be honest, this is exactly how I’d like to be asked – once I’ve experienced you, trusted you & feel comfortable with you then I am happy to tell my friends about you.

    If you only take one thing from me, the key about referrals at point of sale is you ask!!! You need a system to ensure every new member is asked – whether that is at point of sale or in 30 days.

    And sales managers, once this system is implemented your job is to manage and measure the results! You have to look at the numbers, work with your team, role play and do whatever it takes to make asking an unconsciously competent skill and growing these numbers.

    So when else do you ask for referrals?

    I like to build into a marketing plan one or two referral campaigns. This is where we provide printed – yep old school – collateral combined with online marketing material. You may give away a prize. You may give everyone a prize. But I want to go hard in a 4 to 6-week campaign providing an incentive for referring members.

    If your business is less than 3 years old, I think you can get away with 2 per year. The more mature your business, you’re probably looking at just annually.

    By the way, if you’re running a competition for referring members make sure everyone has a chance of winning. If it goes to the person who refers the most people will simply give up if a member is out of the gate quickly!

    I am also a fan of an ongoing referral strategy: whenever someone introduces a new member they receive a gift. Ensure the gift is personal & valuable to them! This could be a free month, free session or a discount voucher.

    Interweaved in this are daily promotions like Free Friend Friday … Bestie Week … Train with a Buddy or whatever else you can come up with. These are not massive, highly expensive campaigns. They are more grass roots and quick to roll out.

    I do worry that many of our customers don’t know:

    A. How to introduce a new member to us? I mean literally what do they need to do.

    B. What they receive if they do.

    And I’m not 100% convinced that members actually introduce anyone for the incentive you provide. I think … if they are using your product they get results. When they get results they tell people because they’re proud … oh people notice so they ask.

    So what the hell does this all mean?

    If you want referrals from your customers in the first 30 to 3000 days – deliver what you promise in your sales pitch; on board them so they feel part of the community; and ensure they are using your product.

    If you want referrals from customers ensure they are using your product and getting results.

    If you tick these boxes, I guarantee referrals and there will be no need for campaigns or incentives!

    It all comes back to your members using you!!

    Change your focus . . .

    If you found today’s show useful, give me the heart now … if you know someone who could benefit from this info for their referral program tag them in the comments below and if you want help integrating referrals into your marketing plan, send me a PM or pop help in the comments and I’ll reach out.

    OK I better head off and get ready to rock the YMCA!

    Thanks for tuning in today and I’ll be back next Friday, same time and same place!

     

    Quote of the Week

    If you want referrals deliver what you promise; on board new customers to feel part of your community; and ensure they are using you.

    Do you want to work one on one with JT?

    Check out all previous shows here: http://www.activemgmt.com.au/category/jt-in-the-raw/

  • Learnings From Terry Hawkins On The Fitness Business Podcast

    Learnings From Terry Hawkins On The Fitness Business Podcast

     

    Last week I spoke with Terry Hawkins about how to embrace change in your career and life.

    During the show, you will learn:

    • Why you should work with people that compliment your skill set
    • The importance of adapting to change
    • Advice for women perusing their career goals

    Terry also said:

    Surround yourself with people that are current and relevant – Terry Hawkins

    Listen To The Podcast Now

  • #JTInTheRaw Show 60: Your Fitness Business Doesn’t Have To Be Big

    #JTInTheRaw Show 60: Your Fitness Business Doesn’t Have To Be Big

    Something has changed for many business owners in the past few years.  It seems being an entrepreneur or a top-quality employee is now a sport and the score depends on scale.  How big can you get?  How fast can you get big? 

    Ambition is good. Vision is great but what is more important is profit – profit as determined by you: cash or lifestyle. 

    Stay tuned as I help us ALL – yes I am guilty as charged – rein in our entrepreneurism and realise big is not always better. 

    Welcome to #JTInTheRaw show 60 where I chew the thin on business and share my battle wounds in business so you don’t make the same mistakes as me!  And boy I have made a few! 

    One way to minimise my mistakes or get better at my job is reading.  And while I didn’t attack a book this week, I did read 3 industry magazines & listened to 3 podcasts.    

    What did you read this week? Or what did you listen to make you better at your job?  Tell me in the comments below what did you do this week to get better at what you do . . . go 

    Now no matter your role, business or industry I think today you can walk away with some ideas today.  So stay tuned! 

    Last week’s show 59 was the most viewed show ever.  Over 1600 views, 48 engagements, 6 shares and 86 comments.  I received emails, private messages and even a few phone calls.  Perhaps the feedback that touched me most came from Scott who said “The registration service topic was very thought provoking. As always, I appreciated hearing your views and I like the way you express yourself (no filter!). I think that you make some interesting points about the broader implications for the fitness industry. I had not really turned my mind to those broader implications before listening to your episode… so, long story short, thank you for sharing your views!” 

    And that was my goal, have people stop, think and then talk! 

    If you missed the show, click here.  My rant starts at 13:33 into the show and is fairly explicit.  In fact my language was described by one viewer as “appalling and an embarrassment to those on the outer looking in at our industry.”  So don’t watch it around kids and I apologise in advance.  FYI – others loved the passion and authenticity in my language!  

    Oh and thanks for people asking about how my rugby team faired last weekend.  Unfortunately, we came second in a game of two teams. 

    Don’t forget this week’s question – Tell me in the comments below what did you do this week to get better at what you do? We can all learn from each other, so you can put one word, a sentence, a book, a podcast or an action. Go . . . what did you do this week to get better at what you do?

    Shout Out 

    I have a shout out this week to Jono ‘j-z’ Petrohilos from Fitness Education Online who listened to Show 120 on The Fitness Business Podcast.  In this interview with Chantal I share all the secrets behind a having your own Facebook Live show. The day after he listened he launched his own Facebook Live Show, which last night had been viewed 1600 times!  Well done Jono! 

    And when I hear that people do shit with what I share, I friggin love it!  It makes me all squirmy inside and I feel proud that I have helped. 

    So, if you want to make me feel squirmy on the inside tell me if you ever put my ideas in place! 

    Now I am wearing a jersey today to celebrate JERSEY DAY.  This is a simple concept designed to raise awareness of The Organ and Tissue Authority and the DONATE LIFE network.

    Today we are asking schools and workplaces across Australia to allow students and employees to wear their favourite sporting jersey to school or work to show their support for the DONATE LIFE network and begin the conversation with their friends and families about Organ Donation.

    JERSEY DAY has been inspired by the story of NATHAN GREMMO who was tragically lost in an accident in May 2015. Nathan’s family chose to give the gift of life to others to honour the legacy of Nathan’s generous personality.

    This campaign is all about raising awareness. Today wear your favourite sporting jersey to school or work on and show your support for this cause. 

    You Can Be A Small Giant 

    The world we now live in inspires people to open their own business or provides opportunities for the less risk adverse to push up the corporate ladder.  The problem with the world we live in is we are inspiring people to run before they can walk let alone crawl. 

    There are loads of forces driving the agenda of scale up or go big or go home: 

    • Follow Gary Vee, copy Zuck’s moves or start wearing a black turtle neck and be the next Steve Jobs.   
    • Fast oops super fast growing companies make great media stories, even though they are not turning a profit. 
    • And then we have reality TV and social media that feed aspirations with snap shots of people’s lives.  Remember you are only seeing a single scene from their full life feature film – it’s not always a reality. 

    This year I coached the U9A netball team.  Every training session we did passing and catching drills.  And when I mean passing and catching drills I mean standing opposite each other passing the ball to each other.  We would do the catch & pass 40 times then I would have them do the same drills under fatigue.   

    My team lost only one game this year.  We scored 107 goals in 10 games.  And people from our club were amazed at the skill level, passing combinations and performance of the team. 

    You see the basics – the fundamentals – of netball are passing and catching.  And while we weren’t perfect we were better than our competitors.   

    In business that’s all you need – have better fundamentals than your competitors. 

    As a business owner or manager or someone who wants a career we must build our business, skill set and career on fundamentals.  You need to understand what the catch & pass skills are for your business.  And you need to be able to do these fundamentals in your sleep.  You have to be unconsciously competent at these skills. Period! 

    Without successful understanding and completion of the fundamentals you are destined for failure . . . you cannot build a house on sand you need a concrete slab.   

    As I said … ambition is great.  A vision is awesome.  Entrepreneurship pumping through your veins can be your fuel.  But focus your energy and pour everything into making it a business that has a line of people out the door, down the street and around the corner.  Make it a place that cannot be ignored.  And when you have achieved all of that with profit and a smile on your face with no grey hairs, then consider expanding or multiplying.   

    If you think this advice could help anyone, then please tag them in the comments below. 

    This Week 

    I have a super doper week planned and it starts today!  In under 5 hours I’ll launch an industry first: Active Management Industry News or for short #AMIN!  This is a Facebook Live show which allows you to engage, learn and share industry information.  As far as I am aware no fitness business coach is doing anything like this, so yet another example of how we think and do different at Active. 

    Jump on at 1pm (Sydney time) on the Active Management Facebook page where I share industry news from Australia, the US and even China!  Two special guests.  And challenge for you to complete in the next 30 days! 

    I have four coaching sessions. 

    My 6 weekly body measurements with my personal trainers. 

    And then next Friday I’m delivering the opening key note at the YMCA Victoria conference.  And yes thanks to everyone’s comments, votes & support I am opening with the Village People! 

    So next week show 61 will be coming to you from Melbourne!  TuneIn

    Thanks for being part of the fun today.  I hope you picked up a few tips around being a small giant!  About not moving on to fast until all the fundamentals are in place. 

    And if you know anyone who you think could benefit from today’s show, pop their name in the comments and tag them!  I’m always grateful for everyone who shares my shows.  Thanks in advance. 

    Quote of the Week

    Focus your energy and pour everything into making it a business that has a line of people out the door, down the street and around the corner.  Make it a place that cannot be ignored. 

    Do you want to work one on one with JT?

    Check out all previous shows here: http://www.activemgmt.com.au/category/jt-in-the-raw/

  • Learnings From Shannon Fable On The Fitness Business Podcast

    Learnings From Shannon Fable On The Fitness Business Podcast

     Shannon Fable

    Last week I spoke with Shannon Fable about how to grow, lead and inspire your group fitness team.

    During the show, you will learn:

    • Where to find the best group fitness instructors
    • Tips for building your group fitness team
    • Advice for instructors wanting to move into management roles

    Shannon also said:

    A team understands each individual person plays and extremely important part – Shannon Fable

    Listen To The Podcast Now

  • #JTInTheRaw Show 59: The Australian Fitness Industry Is Killing Itself

    #JTInTheRaw Show 59: The Australian Fitness Industry Is Killing Itself

    There’s a funny thing about work: we spend more time with our work mates than with our friends and sometimes even more than with our family!  Yet more often than not, our work mates don’t understand us or know us because being honest with them is scary! 

    What do you think of a work mate who acts and looks disorganised?  

    Or a boss who says your work is fine and you are expecting them to say “great.” 

    We find out about the people we work with through trial and error in communication and their response to our actions.  And very rarely, if EVER, through conversation! 

    To stop this shit happening in your work place, build a User Guide for every team member!  And today I’m going to explain what needs to be in your individual user guides. 

    Welcome to #JTInTheRaw show 59 where I chew the thin on business.  I’m no expert in business but I have plenty of war wounds from trying and failing.  And #JTInTheRaw allows me to share my learnings so you have a better business. 

    Hey this week, I wonder what you are an expert in? 

    As I shared a few weeks ago, I am an expert in eating red frogs.  Allens red frogs are just too small and too sugary.  It’s the larger frogs that you get at most sporting fields, they are my confectionary of choice!  And I know red frogs! 

    What about you . . . other than what you do for a career, what are you an expert in?  Tell me in the comments below! Go . . . lets have some fun! Go . . . 

    Today’s show I’ll be sharing how to build a creative, collaborative and trusting team by having User Guides for you and each staff member! 

    And then I’ll finish off today with a rant on the ridiculous state of the Australian Fitness Industry in regard to registration bodies and snipers at the peak body.  I’ve been sitting on this for awhile and I have a feeling that today, I may just blow a gasket! 

    First today, I want to do a shout out to my rugby club.  I am on the Board of Directors at Norths and tomorrow our 4th grade team will be playing in the grand final and our first grade will be also be playing.  Last year we won the 1st grade GF for the first time in 41 years, so we are aiming for back to back!  It will be a tough game and a shout out to all the boys and to spur them on, no matter where in the world you are watching today – live or on replay – in the comments please pop in “Go Norths” and if you are clever enough use the red and black dots do it! 

    The Power of A User Guide 

    This week I read about Igor Krughrud, the CEO of QuestBack, who said he developed a one page user manual so people could understand how to work with him. 

    He started using this as he noticed staff were treating everyone the same, despite their individual needs, quirks and traits.    

    The concept of the User Guide is to help people adapt to each other as they understand each other better.  

    If we can understand how people like to communicate or be communicated to do, that’s gotta help – wouldn’t you agree?  Hit the thumbs if you agree. 

    If we know how to bring up problems, issues or challenges with our boss, that’s also gotta help. 

    And if our boss knows that we are not the energiser bunny and love private praise rather than public recognition – that’s gotta help too – right?  

    A User Guide is a start to streamlining your relationships with a description of your quirks, values, communication styles and more! 

    Here are six suggested segments for your User Guide that comes from Abby Falik, the CEO of Global Citizen Year: 

    1. My Style 
    2. What I value 
    3. What I don’t have patience for 
    4. How to best communicate with me 
    5. How to help me 
    6. What people misunderstand about me 

    Falik suggests that you then add 3 to 5 bullet points under each of those headlines.   

    Remember, these are specifically designed to minimise – if not get rid of altogether – conflict owing to differences between our team members and us! 

    These categories help ensure team mates just don’t understand you but also how to productively and positively engage with you. 

    The most creative and collaborative teams are the ones where team members openly and honestly share without fear of judgement.   

    The better your team know each other the easier it is to navigate conflict, empathise, critique, share and even praise. 

    Do you want those 6 segments again? 

    1. My Style 
    2. What I value 
    3. What I don’t have patience for 
    4. How to best communicate with me 
    5. How to help me 
    6. What people misunderstand about me 

    Who’s up for writing a User Guide to save hour and hours of annalysing and predicting what your teammates like or don’t like! 

    Feel free to share these tips by hitting share the video or tagging anyone in the comments below. 

    If you missed the 6 segments, you’ll be able to read them on the Active Management blog on Wednesday next week. 

    Before I enter my rant, the question of the day is “Other than what your career is in, what are you an expert in?”  Pop it in the comments.  Remember, I’m an expert in red frogs! 

    #JTRant 

    If you are not from the fitness industry, you may enjoy my rant and you maybe able to offer thoughts from your industry but this is very specific in regard to current happenings in the fitness industry. 

    I first need to get a few things off my chest: 

    • The reason I do what I do is because I want to reduce the health care costs across the globe.  To do that I believe that people should move more and move often.  I believe that movement should be in a quality fitness facility and with – either directly or indirectly – a qualified and registered fitness professional. 
    • I love what I do and love the fitness industry.  For 15 of my 30 years I volunteered to make the industry stronger and more professional.  Let me say that again volunteered.  As I knew a stronger and more professional industry would help the gym that I owned. 
    • There is no hidden agenda with me.  What you see is what you get and what you’re going to hear today is my opinion – which I am entitled to – in the hope that it may have an impact on fit pro’s, gym owners and others in our industry.    

    In all honesty, I have no idea what % of the fitness industry TODAY know about the topic of my rant.  I guarantee if we continue in the current direction, then everyone in the industry will know about this topic within 12 months. 

    Here goes . . .  

    Fitness Australia is the peak body for the Australian Fitness Industry.  I passionately and responsibly believe that fit pro’s must register and gyms must support Fitness Australia, if we are to have an industry that can improve the health of our nation.   

    When we have the new player on the block Fit Rec and Physical Activity Australia positioning themselves as a registration body it erodes the credibility of the current national registration system and confuses the market place.  

    The current registration system in Australia is the envy of countries across the globe.  Other countries want to copy what we have as many countries have 10 to 20 to 30 registration bodies who all compete for fit pro’s to register with them. 

    I know like many of you Fitness Australia is not perfect.  You know it, I know it and the Board know it – shit probably even Bill Moore knows what they deliver is not perfect.  In fact let me point out I have never heard anyone from Fitness Australia say they are perfect or parts of their business are perfect.  They admit they are working on getting better to support the industry. 

    Now, they have to compete!  Rather than helping Fitness Australia get better, organisations want to compete – they want to cut the peak bodies lunch!   

    And exactly how does that help the entire industry? 

    I’m not very smart, so here is my simplistic view . . . 

    1. The Australian fitness industry is not the same as the US in regard to sheer numbers of fit pros.  We cannot sustain multiple registration bodies.  There simply is not enough fit pros or fitness businesses to ensure all “registration” bodies are commercially viable.  In fact, if you speak with the US consumer or the US fitness business owner there are SO many registration bodies they have no idea who is who.  And that confuses everyone!!!  One go to body makes perfect sense. 
    2. With multiple registration bodies, each one will spend money marketing to fit pros to register and re-register.  It becomes a buyer’s market for the fit pro and as we know, the competition will start with value adds and quickly move to discount pricing to buy market share.  The fit pro wins but the industry loses!  Less income is being generated to help support the industry and what income is being generated is being ploughed back into marketing to get more registrations. 
    3. There are hundreds of RTO’s in Australia that train fit pro’s.  Each one of them could become a registration body if the current trend continues.  And again we have confusion, competition and the industry will lose. 

    From the outside looking in, I get that it appears Fitness Australia in many people’s eyes do nothing!  It appears they have let the fit pro’s down.  I understand they should be doing more to help them.  I appreciate that gym owners are concerned about what they get for their membership.  But just because they have weaknesses doesn’t mean you exploit them by competing with them and watering down the foundations our industry is built upon.   

    Oh and can I tell you why people think Fitness Australia are doing nothing . . . because they are fucking terrible at blowing their own trumpet!!!  So part of my rant today is directed to Fitness Australia and start yelling what you are doing and winning with. 

    The majority of the industry may not know there are 3 or more bodies that register fit pros. And for many of watchers today, it is not an issue.  And they are right, it not an issue today or tomorrow but this will snowball and will be a massive issue in 2 to 3 years!  And by then we can NEVER go back. 

    My gripe is about the confusion for fit pros; employers; health funds and governments of multiple registration bodies present.  

    Now consider the sheer commercial side of things with these hypothetical numbers: 30,000 fit pros in Australia each pay 100 bucks for one year registration . . . that’s $3m.  Imagine what ONE body could do with $3m in regard to consumer campaigns to encourage joining gyms or working out with a PT.  But oh no . . . in Australia we have to have 3 bodies, so each body only receives $1m of which 10% at minimum will go into telling you why you should register with that body. 

    Wouldn’t it make sense that we spend that income on getting people more active with consumer campaigns?  Wouldn’t you prefer as a gym owner, manager or PT to have people knocking on your door saying I saw a message on TV from Fitness Australia and I want to get healthy can you help me. Instead of spending money on Facebook ads, google ads, flyers or any other marketing?  

    This is never going to happen when we have registration bodies scrambling for income and market share. 

    It’s just dumb and makes no business sense for anyone.  

    So I am putting it out there today . . .  

    Bill Moore from Fitness Australia I challenge you to be the leader!   

    I am challenging you to hold out the olive branch and meet with Dennis Hoskings from Fit-rec and Ben Cooper from Physical Activity Australia plus any other people who want to have their say in the registration process.  And I am challenging Dennis and Ben and whomever else to come with an open mind and let’s see what together we can achieve.  

    And Bill while you’re holding out that olive branch why not invite anyone else in the fitness industry who is sniping behind Fitness Australia’s back trying to undermine the peak body.   

    There are a number of individuals peddling fake news, posting cryptic social media messages, making destabilizing phone calls to industry influencers, accusing Fitness Australia of being a boys club (bit difficult when it’s a democratically elected Board but why let facts stand in the way) and other bull shit that doesn’t help the industry.  

    You guys and girls are like a bunch of naughty kids behind the toilet block at school who can’t get their own way.  Grow the fuck up!  

    Have the courage to front Fitness Australia with your issues and then have the respect to accept the result of the discussion.   

    Geez Fitness Australia have pissed me off too many times to count and here I am standing by them still! 

    So if I had my way, I would lock Bill, Ben, Dennis and anyone else who wants to snipe around the credibility and integrity of Fitness Australia in a room and not let them out until they had all smoked the peace pipe.   

    While you alleged grown ups compete with each other and others whinge and bitch, 1 in 10 Aussies are dying from inactivity related diseases.  This needs to be where we put our energy, enthusiasm and resources! 

    Drop your egos.  Forget your personal agendas.  Get your shit together now. Unite the industry.  And lets do some good!   

    Remember divided the industry will fail & fall.  United we stand and make a difference. 

    I guess we’ll just need to watch this space to see what happens!    

    Feel free to share this rant by tagging anyone in the comments below or even share your own opinion in the comments – I have broad shoulders if you want to disagree with me knock yourself out. 

    So before I sign off … 

    This week’s show included the importance of sharing with your Team how you operate!  Give them a Users Guide to ensure productive communication with you.  Have all your team write a Users Guide and you’ll have an innovative team. 

    And don’t forget in the comments below, I want to know what you’re an expert in, other than your career.  Some of you may well say I’m an expert in bullshitting but I sticking with being an expert in red frogs!  

    This week’s quote of the week is for everyone, everybody and every organisation.

    Quote of the Week

    Divided we will fail & fall.  Stand united & we’ll make a difference.

    Do you want to work one on one with JT?

    Check out all previous shows here: http://www.activemgmt.com.au/category/jt-in-the-raw/

  • #JUSTLISTEN | I Just Had To Tell You This!

    #JUSTLISTEN | I Just Had To Tell You This!

    Have You Listened To The Fitness Business Podcast This Month? If you have:

    This month The Fitness Business Podcast launched the Intensive Series.  The Fitness Business Podcast scoured the world for experts in their field and asked them to donate their time to provide you with amazing tactics, strategies and tools to enhance your business.  This 4-part, weekly, 15-minute, bonus show with a single focus thanks to ABC Financial.

    “The first Intensive Series is with Paul Brown from Face to Face Retention Systems and he is fantastic.  The number of practical tips he shares in his 4 shows will blow you away!”

    Let me explain again: 4 bonus shows of only 15 minutes with a laser focus on retention.

    Geez, I nearly forgot – it’s FREE! 

    This is a FREE professional development tool for club owners, managers and personal training business owners to help you improve retention in your business.  And it is FREE thanks to the amazing support of ABC Financial.

    And the added bonus, thanks to us (Active Management), we have transcribed the interviews so you can download Paul’s exact tips to use in staff training, strategy development or even to store for future reference.

    What next?

    Go to www.FitnessBusinessPodcast.com and click on Paul’s shows, in fact I’ll make it even easier for you by giving you the exact links to his shows:

    Oh and by the way, pop in your calendar October 6th, as The Fitness Business Podcast will launch a second Intensive Series with Casey Conrad talking on sales!

  • Develop Services Your Customers Want For The Rest Of The Year

    Develop Services Your Customers Want For The Rest Of The Year

    customers want

    Creating new or even refining old services that truly captivate your members generating profit is REALLY tough! And with the push toward technology it would be easy to explore tech as the answer.

    The real challenge with tech is that it is not cumbersome or expensive, it could be it is not what the members want.

    Focus on their needs to boost referral sales.

    Identify what your members want and need and then deliver that plus 10%!

    You will be amazed how many members just want acknowledgement when they come in or someone to show them a new exercise or work out. None of which are expensive.

    Never forget giving old fashion people service.