Fitness Business School – The Missing Link in Your Business

Full Transcript

Hey, Pat Rigsby here. And in this episode, I want to talk with you about what I think is the missing link for so many business owners when it comes to growing their business, let’s get to it.

Welcome to The Fitness Business School podcast – the show for fitness business owners who want to grow their income, increase their impact and improve their lifestyle. Be sure to listen til the end of this episode, because we have a brand new special offer exclusive for listeners. So stay tuned.

In this video, I wanna talk with you about a big shift that I see happening in the fitness industry that not only is potentially gonna help you get more clients, but it’s also going to be something you need to think about for your own personal development. See, I think that we’re at this period where we basically have this wealth of information available to all of us. There’s more information available than there’s ever been before by a significant margin. There’s so much that is accessible to people on YouTube. There are articles and posts and videos available every day. There’s just a never ending stream of podcasts out there. There’s so much information out there for free or for a really minimal cost. The information is never the barrier at any point for somebody being able to go out and move forward and achieve goals and learn new things and really kind of take action on whatever journey they wanna pursue. So when we’re coaching clients, we have to understand that just hosting workouts, just saying, okay, I’m gonna provide this person some workout videos and a framework to follow and kind of just be a workout instructor.

It’s just not enough anymore. It’s just not enough at all. You actually have to coach people. You actually have to mentor them, solve problems with them. You have to hold them accountable because if you aren’t doing those things, they’re never gonna reach their potential. That’s the missing link, coaching and accountability. And if you’re not doing that for your clients, A, you become a commodity, and then B, they don’t reach their goals so they don’t stay as long. They don’t pay as long. They don’t become walking, talking billboards for you and refer other people. But the other side of this is this same holds true for you as a business owner, as somebody who needs to kind of practice what you preach. If you’re not somebody who is embracing coaching, if you’re that’s somebody who’s being coached, then you probably have the look in the mirror and question whether or not you should be selling coaching. And I know, that’s a tough pill for a lot of people to swallow. It’s something that, in a lot of people, they’re happy to go out and tell people what to do, but they aren’t really interested in coaching and mentorship and feedback and accountability because maybe as a business owner, you’ve kind of liked not having a boss.

Well, you know, that’s the thing, is the entrepreneur that’s serving your clients. You’re not your client’s boss, but they come to you to give them kind of a roadmap and then coach them along that journey to go from where they are to where they need to be and course correct along the way. So we have to be doing that as coaches. And then frankly, there’s probably no better way to learn how to be better at it, plus no better way to grow your business, than to be coachable and get out of your own comfort zone. Now I know for me, that’s not always been the easiest thing, but I’ve been in a mastermind group of some sort or another really since 2006, when I had to kind of scrape together the money and sleep on a hotel room floor with some other guys to be able to afford to attend. But if you’re not involved in coaching, let’s face it. You’re missing out. You’re missing out on reaching your potential because we all need that kind of coaching and accountability, and frankly, the fitness industry is more competitive than it’s ever been. I mean, there are franchises popping up everywhere. I know that just within a two mile radius of my house, there are seven fitness franchises. You know, the Planet Fitnesses, the Club Pilates, the F45s, the Orange Theories, all of them. They’re all right here and so that makes the landscape more challenging than it’s ever been. Now, having founded two franchises and at one point having over 275 franchisees, I can tell you that that’s a big piece of why franchises succeed.

The coaching is a contractual obligation. People need to be coached to be part of the franchise. If you’re not coachable, you can’t be a franchisee and in fact, you’re paying a premium for that coaching. And then, there’s accountability because the franchises, most of them being paid on a percentage, they’re gonna make sure that you’re accountable to generating revenue, to implementing marketing campaigns and systems, and really meeting certain marketing budgets, so they’re getting a higher amount of revenue as that percentage, as that royalty that the franchisee has to pay them. So what’s this mean to you?

Well, at this point, I think we’ve recognized that most people that we serve as fitness business owners, it’s not a lack of information they have. It’s not a lack of equipment. They’ve got a treadmill at home. They’ve got a stationary bike or an elliptical. They’ve got dumbbells. They probably bought some fitness videos. They can click on their TV and access on-demand workouts at any day or time. They need coaching, they need accountability, if they’re going to succeed, almost without exception. And then the same holds true for us because frankly, business is too tough to go it alone. Business is not nearly as easy as it was before the landscape got so much more competitive. When I first started doing business coaching, just getting people to spend any money on marketing was a challenge but now, knowing that your competitors have minimum marketing spins every month of three to $5,000, you got to find a way to compete, if you want to stay in business or better yet, if you wanna thrive. So, like I said, it’s too tough to go it alone. We need all of us, me, you, your clients. We all need that coaching and accountability, if we’re gonna reach our potential, if we’re going to reach our goals, whether they’re fitness goals, whether they’re business goals or personal goals. We’re always gonna be better with coaching and accountability. So I know, that’s a bit of a wake up call or maybe it’s a little bit of kick in the pants to get you moving, but, I think we recognize this. During the pandemic, everybody had access to workouts, but the only people who were consistent doing them were the people who got coaching and somebody was holding them accountable. So if you haven’t embraced this in your business in the way that you’re serving people or the way you’re learning, the way that your growing as business owner, now’s the time to start.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the fitness business school. Before you go. I have a quick announcement. When I first connect with a new fitness business owner, they almost always ask me, “How can I get more clients and earn more money?” Well, I have an exclusive offer for you as a listener of this podcast, and it’s going to help you do just that. As a listener of this show, you can test drive our Business Growth Accelerator coaching program for 30 days free of charge.

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