The Fitness Business School – What You Could Be Doing To Succeed Now

Full Transcript

Hey, Pat Rigsby here. And in this episode, I want to talk with you about some of the opportunities that I see people capitalizing on in the fitness industry. Right now, there are a number of ways that you can really make an inroad, have some success and instead of feeling like things are not going the way that you want really feel like you’re making progress and seeing your business move forward. We’ve got a lot to cover. So let’s get to it.

Welcome to the fitness business school with Pat Rigsby, the podcast for fitness entrepreneurs who want to make more income, have greater impact, and enjoy more freedom in their ideal business. If you’d like an accelerated route to these goals, email me at [email protected] and put BGA in the subject line and I’ll get you all the details about our business growth accelerator program.

Hey, Pat, here. And you know, if you were to look around on the message boards and you know, the Facebook groups, there’s so much kind of doom and gloom with not just small fitness business owners, but small business owners in general, and let’s face it, it’s not unfounded. We’re faced with some circumstances that we’ve never seen before. We’re faced with a lot of uncertainty that makes everybody nervous because people want to know what to expect. They want to know what things are going to look like, and at least have some sort of comfort in predictability, but we just don’t have that right now. We’ve got so many things that are uncertain from, Hey, is there going to be a vaccine? And what kind of impact is that going to have? What’s the economy going to look like? We’ve got elections coming up. We’ve got all sorts of things that, that are uncertain, things that are in flux. And because of that, I think that, you know, you’ll hear people talk about all the things that they can’t do or that they used to do things that, you know, I mean, the grass used to be greener if you will, but I’m seeing a number of clients. I’m seeing a number of fitness business owners actually succeed and thrive and even some having their best months ever. How is that happening?

Well, frankly, there are a number of opportunities in the fitness industry that we haven’t probably spent as much time on as we could have, because we’ve been so caught up in large group training. We’ve been so caught up in this bootcamp environment and, you know, and with good reason, right? Group training was a big kind of shift in the fitness industry, probably, you know, 10 to 12 years ago because it was higher leveraged. We could do it in like warehouse space or light industrial space, or even in the beginning. So many people were doing it outside. They were renting space from gymnastics facilities that were doing it in parks. They were using space from churches and elementary schools. I mean, we saw people really able to grow fitness businesses quickly in a highly leveraged way, and they can have an impact more people in less time than ever before.

So no wonder that the industry really shifted that way, but right now that opportunity is not prime. It is not the thing that is working for the majority of people, simply because, A, we don’t have the capacity for it, with the guidelines or constraints that we have. And then B the marketplace is gravitating away from that, whether it be fear or, you know, kind of being able to kind of sample some of these higher touch higher value services through the pandemic when everybody was kind of leaning in and trying to hang on to their clients, but the market’s changing.

So where do the opportunities lie? Well, I would tell you the first one is doing more one-on-one. I don’t care if it’s online or offline doing more one-on-one training, letting somebody feel like they’re the center of your universe in that moment, letting somebody feel important, letting somebody feel cared for, and really spending more time with individual clients. Sure. I mean, you have to charge a premium to justify that for the hours that you’re spending with somebody, but let’s face it. There are plenty of people that have disposable income, regardless of what people want to tell you about the economy. There’s always some segment of the market that has money to invest. And if their health is a priority, which right now that’s being magnified, we’re seeing so much out there in the media that we can kind of piggyback, or that can reinforce the fact that people need to take care of themselves to really be in the best possible position from a health standpoint. Well, you get to lean into that and leverage that for your own business gain. So one-on-one training along those same lines in home training, people have become I would say almost addicted to delivery, whether it be Door Dash or Uber Eats or Amazon bringing everything to your door in a flash, or even things like Instacart, where you can have your groceries delivered to your door in a matter of hours. So people are used to this delivery mindset and the opportunity there to deliver workouts to somebody is only going to continue to grow. In fact, heck we’re looking at people doing these little Scholastic kind of pods, where the, the actual teacher is coming to the student rather than the students going to a school. And, you know, this is a mindset that I think that society is really open to right now for reasons. And so if you have the ability or the capacity to go and do workouts at people’s homes, take your training to them. There’s a big opportunity there.

Now, obviously along those same lines, doing virtual training, doing things live where you’re training somebody through zoom or some other live video application providing on demand workouts, providing some sort of virtual connectedness, accountability, coaching and support online training is only gonna continue to grow. We’ve seen major investments in this kind of online, probably maybe more artificial intelligence driven market with things like Mirror, Peloton, that’s only going to continue to increase. So us being able to train people when and where it’s convenient to them, and then being able to really get the kind of coaching and support that they want anywhere, anytime is an opportunity that is available to so, so many of us.

And then, you know, more of a lifestyle, a wellness coaching approach, I think is an opportunity that I’m seeing a lot of people move towards. I mean, we saw so many people really looking for help when it came to stress relief is, you know, at the beginning of this pandemic. And so now people may be more than ever in history have been kind of conditioned to pay attention to their immune system and to staying healthy. So now we can, we can really kind of piggyback what the media is sharing and what is on top of people’s minds. And we can talk to people about recovery, lifestyle design, staying active you know, really doing the things that they need to do to stay healthy and not just live a longer life, but live a better life. So you can integrate more of a lifestyle or wellness coaching approach into what you do and not really think of yourself as an exercise instructor, which is what so many trainers kind of fall into the trap of becoming they are not addressing that other 165 hours that are really the core of people’s lives, not the three hours that they’re in training sessions with people.

And then, you know, kind of piggybacking that I’ve seen so many people upgrade the accountability they’re providing the clients and actually be able to charge an additional fee for more accountability, because people want to know that somebody’s paying attention. People do better when they know that somebody’s there for them paying attention, holding them accountable. So providing more accountability is a huge opportunity for you. And it’s going to get clients better results and not only can increase your income, but you’re going to be able to help people.

And then the last two, then I’m seeing really kind of climb the ladder right now are supplements and nutrition. Nutrition coaching is something that, you know, as we kind of move away from the summer and people are a little bit more open to dialing back in their nutrition. I think that’s going to be a huge opportunity in the industry. We’ve seen some people do very well with it even through the summer, which is probably the hardest time to get somebody to adhere to a more rigid nutrition plan and then supplements. I mean, you know, I think that again, the media has probably helped our cause with this talking about supplements that are supportive of people’s immune system, getting people to, you know, have more vitamin D getting people to make sure that they’re getting all the nutrients they need. I mean, let’s face it. I think we all understand in the fitness industry, that supplements are there to actually supplement the diet that you have, but your clients are buying supplements. They’re buying them at Costco or GNC or on Amazon, they’re buying them at CVS or Walgreens. So if you can provide a better quality supplement and if you can provide more direction, more advice, more you know, really more education insight on what they actually need. And what’s probably not going to be useful and just a waste of money for them. You’re someone that’s your supplement sales are probably poised to be better than they’ve ever been. So there are a number of opportunities available to you right now in the industry. Don’t be the person thinking about what you can’t do, what you used to be able to do and focus on what you can do right now to grow your business, to have more of an impact, to make more money and really to help more people do that. And you’ll be fine.

Thanks for listening. I’m giving away a bundle of my bestselling books, the ideal business formula, the fitness entrepreneur handbook in the path. All you have to do is go to patrigsby.com/podgift to get it. Also, make sure to subscribe to The Fitness Business School with Pat Rigsby so you don’t miss an episode and you get yourself on the fast track to creating your ideal business.