Really good stuff with list a quarterly goals and objectives, core values, process maps, and goal tracking graphs.

If you missed it, that post is here.

Anyway, there was reply to that post with someone asking me to share some pictures of my office.

So I thought, “OK, you’ve shown me yours… so why not show you mine?”

I left town Wednesday and didn’t get a chance to take photos before heading out the door.

But I thought I would at least get things started by sharing a list of my personal favorite items that make up my office, why I love them so, and how they help me work.

I think that’s the most important thing about setting up your office.

Find what you like, what helps you stay organized, focused, and work more efficiently… and have fun and be comfortable while you’re doing it.

Ok so here’s a list to get things started:

1. IKEA office furniture (Galant and Effektiv Systems)

A great office starts with great furniture. But I’m not a fan of blowing a ton of money on some gaudy looking desk made for an attorney. I like my office to be simple, clean, and functional. IKEA’s professional office furniture is, I think, perfect.

I’ve got a Galant corner desk, with a couple add on pieces to extend it on both sides.

As well as a small rectangle desk that sits up against the wall behind me… kinda like a credenza.

Then I’ve got a couple bookcases made up of their Effektiv system which you can configure however you like and add on to or modify over time. My personal set up is hard grey plastic bottom, 5 add-on lows, and I’ve got the bottom 2 in each book case with file drawers and door fronts.

2. Herman Miller Aeron chair

The chair IS the most important piece of furniture. Because your interfacing with it all the time.

I used to not care about the chair I sat in, and blew through a few cheap ones that kinda broke down over time.

No more.

Last time my chair died (literally had screws falling out) I vowed to make a change. Eric  was actually down to visit for our monthly meeting and encouraged me to go for it, so I sprung for the best chair you can buy… the Herman Miller Aeron with the add on lumbar support. It’s about $900, but when you consider I probably spend more time in my chair then I ever will in my car… the investment is well worth it.

In fact, I loved this chair so much that a few weeks after getting it I ordered up another one for my home office too.

As a side note, most everything I’ve got in my work office I’ve also got a duplicate of in my home office. I like wherever I “plug into” to be the same and ready to rock with the set of tools I like to work with.

I invested a few bucks in completing this “duplication” of my office just over the holidays and man does it feel great.

I’m working at least 2-3 days a week from home now and everything is so squared away in my home office… with no interruptions … that I’ve been to bang out a ton of great work there lately.

3. MacBook Pro laptop-

For years I would buy the best Dell laptop you could buy in December, run it all out for 1 year, then replace it the following December.

In December 2008 I bought my last Dell, a Latitude (always invested a little more for Dell’s corporate grade stuff  because it’s tougher), and the thing ended up being $3,000 lemon.

Total junk.

I toughed it out for 8 months with this thing and finally ditched it after Dick and I got back from Australia.

I just couldn’t take it anymore.

I’ve heard nothing but great things about the Mac laptops, Consumer Reports rates them as the best laptop you can buy, and even my PC based programmer friends have Mac laptops.

So I spent a little time researching it, looking what impacts the transition would have, then dove it full force.

Worked out a couple kinks getting everything moved over, but now I can confidently say the MacBook Pro IS the best laptop… or computer overall… I’ve ever owned.

Totally rocks.

I’ve got the 13″ one loaded.

Only thing I wished I had done upfront was go for the 500 GB harddrive. I thought 320 GB would be fine, but now it’s full and I’ve got to transfer some things off it to an external drive to keep going.

But it’s great. Extremely portable. Great for travel. Very functional.

Several people have asked me lately if I’d recommend the Mac laptop to them, and I’ll tell you the same thing I’ve told each of them:

“Hell yeah!”

4. Matrox external graphics card-

As awesome a portable device as the MacBook Pro laptop is, when I’m in one of my offices I want to easily plug into some big monitors. And 2 of them.

About 2-3 years ago I was always just a regular 1 monitor guy. Have some friends that use 3 and 4 screens for trading, but I was just never interested in it.

Then I was on a trip to the Infusion offices in Phoenix and everyone there had 2 monitors.

I asked why and someone told me about productivity increases, how great it was, etc.

So I bought another monitor like the one I had, and have never looked back since.

Having 2 screens is more than just double the productivity… it’s at least triple.

I routinely have 2 documents open at once, and use it to work back and forth between them both efficiently.

In fact, I found it to be such an amazing increase in productivity, that I read some more studies about it (Microsoft has done a few about 2 monitors in the workplace) and we made the investment to purchase 2 screens for all staff.

It’s been a great investment.

Anwyway, back to the Matrox external graphic card. The MacBook Pro has some limitations on the internal graphics card that comes with it. But you can plug into this thing with the display port adaptor and a USB cable.. and then BAM… you’ve got 2 screens up and running (3 if you count the little laptop screen, but I don’t use that, just the big ones when I’m in the office).

Just a note.. if you pick one of these up.. go for the DP edition.

I got the DVI edition for the first one I purchased for the office. Then got the DP edition for my home office. It’s supports a higher definition resolution… which if you’ve got some great monitors really looks nice and you can squeeze more stuff on the display all at once… like viewing more of an entire webpage without having to scroll down the page.

5. Dell UltraSharp 24″ monitors (X2)-

These are the bad boys I’ve got at work. Have a couple different ones at home. It’s a good screen and resolution, but I don’t think it’s that special.

When Apple comes out with some new displays, I probably upgrade to those. But Apple’s displays aren’t cheap… and these work great, so I’m cool with it.

At home I’ve got 2 X 22″, at the office 2 X 24″. Either is probably fine, but the 24″ are a little bit nicer.

6. Logitech wireless Nuveo keyboard-

This is a great full size keyboard that is very smooth. And you plug it into a charging stand, then don’t have to recharge for at least a couple months.

But 10 min of charge will load you up for a day if you run down the battery.

Plus it’s got some great short cut keys.

One thing about the Macs is they have 2-3 different keys than a PC keyboard. Took me about a week or so to get used to it and the new shortcuts, but it’s actually pretty good.

Now when I get on one of the PC’s in the office (like the media station where we record all the webinars) it feels almost kinda foreign to me.

7. Apple Magic Mouse-

This is a sic mouse. Very smooth, function. And with just a finger swipe you can scroll up and down a page or document. And you can also configure a tap of the second finger to act like a right click function… which makes jumping around the web and other applications very fast and smooth.

8. Neat high speed scanner-

Over the past few months I’ve been moving to more and more of a paperless life.

This thing helps me keep up with it.

And now when I do a weekly review, I unload my paper inbox and scan down anything I want to keep… then shred the rest.

This product will scan recipts, business cards, and papers. And then OCR recognize numbers and data.

One of the things I like best about it is you can take out some plastic guides at the top and open it up to accept 50 pages at a time for scanning.

And it goes to work VERY fast… scanning both sides of all documents at the same time.

9. Bad Ass Paper Shredder-

Don’t know why I love this so, but I do.

Nothing like grinding up all the junk you don’t want to keep… and knowing it’s been shredded for security and privacy sake.

This big daddy one I’ve got even takes CD’s, old credit cards or ID’s, whatever you want.. it eats it.

Apparently I’m not the only one who loves shredding, because Dick and Vickie in our office have revealed they really enjoy it too.

So I’m not alone.

Who knows, maybe you’ll learn to have fun with this too.

10. Brother Label Maker-

For the paper files I do keep (which are mostly current projects that make sense to have out and easy to grab and dump notes and papers into) I use this to keep everything clearly marked and organized.

Funny to think that through our COMMANDER course, I’ve inspired a whole bunch of our clients to be label making fools with me.

Tony Maslan said to me on a call that his wife Chrissy commented to him how organized he had gotten after the course, and that when you “give a man a tool and it’s amazing what he can do.”

Tony shared that he’s labeled every box in his garage, and even sent us a video of him putting labels on each of the kids heads so he knew which one was which.

11. Wall Mounted Whiteboard-

Nothing like the good lo’ whiteboard.

I often draft out things in my head, priorities, projects, or things we’re discussing in a meeting here.

I was visiting the Attask offices in Salt Lake City on another trip and while talking with one of the founders he shared a story about how they invested a small fortune with a company who does research about how to set up offices, encourage creativity and development with software teams, and the like.

And after a ton of research, they came back and told them the best thing to do was to give everyone a whiteboard.

You just can’t beat em’.

Everyone should have one in their office.

12. Large Quarterly Dry Erase Calendar-

Right below my whiteboard, is a large oversized (I think the whiteboard and this are both 4 feet white) quarterly dry erase calendar.

I often map out our marketing calendar and promotions schedule here to keep me straight.

Especially when we’re got so many things moving simultaneously.

Good thing it’s dry erase, because it often gets a lot of adjustment with all the moving parts and timetables.

13. Some good art, posters-

I have a Getting Things Done poster I purchased from the David Allen Company on the wall in front of my desk.

This is a great book and philosophy I incorporated into my own life and systems several years ago.

The poster looks good and reminds me of it, so I purchased it and hung it up.

Also have a great Da Vinci print on another wall that Eric bought me framed for my 30th birthday 2 years ago.

14. A good oversized coffee mug-

I love coffee. Best cup you can get in the world as far as I’m concerned is Dunkin Donuts.

I don’t care what anyone says. Starbucks is shit.

Dunkin Donuts kicks ass.

I had been hitting a few cups a day for the last few years, but came off all caffeine a couple months ago.

Now my oversized cup holds caffeine free Green Tea and water which I drink throughout the day.

Eliminating caffeine from my diet has helped me not be so wired and sleep better at night.

I’m pretty high energy to begin with, so don’t need the extra jolt and over time caffeine can (and has) negatively affected my sleep and adrenals.

So as much as I love it… I’ve kicked it to to curb and taking it easy with the Green Tea for now.

15. Patriots Welcome Doormat-

Eric, Dick, and I are all Bill O’Reilly fans. Their is a reason the guy has had the number 1 cable news program in the world for over 100 months now… most of the time beating out all the other cable news shows combined.

He’s dead on.

His talking points articulate EXACTLY how I feel about all the crazy stuff going on in the world today.

And Bill is sharp as a whip.

I’m also a big patriot and supporter of the military.

So I proudly have the Patriots Welcome doormat outside our office door.

During the holidays we had the “we say merry christmas” sticker on the door too.

16. Good light, windows, and sunshine (it’s good to be back in FL).

One of the best parts of being back in Orlando is that FL is the sunshine state. Just about always good weather… or at least better than what other parts of the country are experiencing.

I’ve got 3 giant windows in my office that have great sun and light coming in all day long. Makes for a nice natural lighting in my workspace which definitely makes you feel good and energized.

I grew up in the cold, grey, dark of New England winters and being in the sunshine during the winter with palm trees outside your door instead of snow is just a whole lot more enjoyable to me.

17. Targus global traveler briefcase-

With all the traveling I do, I’ve looked into finding the perfect laptop/briefcase for years. Have tried several.

Got this one about 2-3 years ago and now I’m on my third one of the same model.

It’s very solid, travels well, and hold up under a ton of abuse.

Protects everything I travel with, not too heavy, and has a good strap that hooks onto my rolling suitcase in the airport.

If it weren’t for my dogs chewing the strap or handles off the first 2 ones I had… who knows I might still have the original.

——————

I could keep going.

But think that’s enough for now.

Hope this gives you some ideas, by sharing what’s working for me.

Have you got a favorite office tool or piece of equipment you love that makes your work easier and more productive?

If so please share, I’ll always on the lookout for some new tool to add to my toolbox.

Sean

P.S. If you haven’t tried the machine yet, then it’s time you got over and just signed up for I-AM RAINMAKER. Everyone is doing it and you’re missing out by not making the leap.

We’re even offering a 30-day risk-free trial, so the burden of proof is on us to show you just how much this thing can change your fitness marketing forever.

If you don’t have a iPhone yet, man you’re missing out.

And not just on being on top of your fitness marketing!

This single mobile device has revolutionized the world.

It’s amazing that you can have a phone, your calendar, email, notes, documents, video, music, maps, GPS, a camera, and hundreds of hand applications right in your pocket and at your fingertips.

Saw the Apple keynote speech where they shared that the phone now has had something like 3 billion apps downloaded from their App store.

Think about that… an entire marketplace they created out of thin air just a short time ago.

And now they’re about to do it again with their book store and the new tablets coming out in March/April.

Anyway, you can now get all your Fitness Marketing metrics right to your iPhone with I-AM RAINMAKER.

Hit a button on your phone, and you can see who’s on your website, what they’re doing, what pages they’re visiting, where they’ve opted in.. and even click to immediately call them and book them in for a consultation.

It’s totally crazy.

And our members are loving it.

Check it out and take the machine for a 30-day risk free trial here.

To your Success,
Sean

P.S. If you’re a Gmail or Google Apps user then we’ve also got a google gadget to get the same live metrics when you’re online looking at your email.

http://www.FitBizRainmaker.com

I had no idea. I’m just glad a friend of mine directed me to this video the other day.

Want to be inspired? Then watch Will Smith…you’ll get a kick out of what he says about training on the treadmill…

Be inspired,
Eric

P.S. LOTS of new folks are grabbing this automatic fitness marketing machine. Maybe it’s time you grabbed it too. At less than $5 a day to get and keep clients for you, it’s a steal.

Don’t Have the I-AM RAINMAKER Fitness Marketing System yet?

Get a risk-free 30-day test drive at www.FitBizRainmaker.com

What I’ve got to share with you today is VERY powerful.

And while a lot of folks talk about it, almost NOBODY really does it.

How do I know?

Because up until now it’s been relatively difficult and tricky for most fitness business owners that don’t have full time technology team in place to implement.

I’ll admit that even WE don’t do enough of it here at NPE.

But that is now changing very quickly thanks to some new developments in the technology now available.

I’m talking about SPLIT TESTING all your fitness marketing.

And to give you the full story (and some very instructive lessons learned HOT off the press) I’ve recorded a video for you.

On this recording I’ll share with you the results we’re seeing from tests right now with our top clients.

And give you directions on how you can implement some of these tests into your own marketing campaigns this weekend.

To your success,
Sean

P.S. I’m sharing some tweaks in this video that have changed results our members are getting from their marketing in a BIG way. Make sure you watch and IMPLEMENT this stuff.

P.P.S. I-AM RAINMAKER makes split testing landing pages, emails, and postcards EASY! Frankly, if it were not for this system we wouldn’t even be talking about split testing with you… because it used to be pretty darn complicated to do!

If you haven’t given I-AM RAINMAKER a shot yet, what are you waiting for? Get a risk-free 30 day test drive of the system now at www.FitBizRainmaker.com



Don't let the number in your marketing scare you. Come to love them and they will set you free.

Let me cut right to the chase because what I’ve got to talk with you about today IS probably the most important message I’ve shared.

I’m going to talk about the NUMBERS of your business (and specifically your marketing).

A lot of folks THINK they know how to market.

But in reality the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY do not.

Sure they may keep ‘busy’ with activities.

Doing this, doing that, doing more of this and that.

But they are NOT really marketing.

Why do I say that?

Because to REALLY market your business it takes 4 things:

1. Clearly Defined Goals
2. A Plan
3. Massive Action
4. Tracking and Review of Your NUMBERS

And that last one is where everyone falls short.

Marketing goals have to be very specific, and you have to be focused on them.

You must consistently track and review your numbers, and hold yourself accountable to RESULTS.

Because RESULTS are the bottom line.

Everything else is just noise.

Just a few weeks ago we had some clients into town for a group consulting day. And in one presentation a member was sharing with us a list of all his activities.

I stopped his presentation and asked him to share with us his RESULTS.

Guess what?

That really did stop the presentation, because there were very little results to speak of.

But that was the lesson for him, everyone in the room, and for YOU.

It’s so easy to get caught up in ‘activity’ that you get yourself all twisted.

Don’t confuse activity with accomplishment.

They are 2 VERY different things.

In the real world of business and life, you don’t get a gold star for ‘trying hard’.

Trying hard and ‘doing lots of things’ don’t pay your bills, nor will they put food on the table for your family.

Only relentless tracking and accountability to results will guarantee your success.

That may be scary to some, and frankly it should be a little scary at first.

Because that kind of singular focus strips away any and all excuses.

But it also liberates you completely from all the B.S., because you know that the numbers don’t lie.

In a busy and confusing world, numbers tell the truth… all the time.

Here are the numbers you should be tracking with your marketing each month:

1. How many new contacts have you added to your database this month?
2. How many new consultations have been booked?
3. How many new client success stories or testimonials have you captured?
4. Have many new referrals have you received from your client base?

Focus on those 4 numbers… each and every month. Put them on a graph on your wall. Update it all the time.

Once you’ve got 2 data points, how is the graph trending?

Up or down?

Why?

What can you do to influence the trend and crank it up?

Go deep with this.

I promise it will change your life forever.

To your success,
Sean

P.S. Ok, so I couldn’t resist sharing with you at least a few more details on a system I know will support you tremendously in tracking your marketing (and therefore getting RESULTS) this year.

One of the MANY reasons we’re so proud to introduce I-AM RAINMAKER to the industry is because it gives you the RIGHT marketing metrics on a dashboard in front of your face each time you log into the system.

And if you’ve got an iPhone or use Gmail or Google Apps… you can get those metrics right at your fingertips anytime, no matter where you are.

Check out the website and then take it for a 30-day Risk-Free Test Drive.

We held back reopening this program for over 6 months because we took the time to do some MAJOR upgrades and build more tools and add-on’s into the system. And now we can confidently say this thing is hands down the best fitness marketing tool you’ll ever find.

P.P.S. Got a great post to our blog yesterday from Randy Hartz, Tryon Gym in Sioux Falls, SD:

“I used I-AM RAINMAKER to promote a fitness seminar. I created a landing page where they could go to sign up. I sent out 2 emails to my list and asked them to pass them on to their list and linked it to Face Book. The landing page went up on a Thursday afternoon. I had close to 200 unique visitors go to the landing page. 5 days later I had 34 people in the room on a Tuesday night. We had 14 commit to the quick start program that we laid out. The rest will be getting weekly emails and bi-weekly emails from Rainmaker until they buy or die.

The more I learn about this program the better it gets! I was bad about follow up in the past, with I-AM RAINMAKER I know they are staying warm and when they are ready to buy it will be from me. I feel like I finally have an all in one marketing tool!”

But why not make it a great month?

Why not DOUBLE the number of new clients you get?

You can when you get serious about timed, linked, multi-media follow-up. Because that’s where the really serious profits are, and you’re in business to create PROFITS.

Let’s say right now you’re averaging 10 new leads a month and converting 3 of them (the low hanging fruit). What’s happening with those other 7 leads? If you’re like most fit-pros, you’re probably sending them a weekly email newsletter to build the relationship and try to get them to call for a consult or trial.

That’s fine. You should be doing that.

But in and of itself, a newsletter isn’t enough, particularly for hot, fresh new leads.

There’s gotta be more to your follow-up than just a newsletter.

Here’s an example of what I mean. I just finished updating the new lead follow-up and conversion sequence for our I-AM RAINMAKER Members. This is what’s included in the done-for-you campaign:

1. Multiple lead generation “bait” offers to get the opt-in.

2. The opt-in is instantly transferred to a personalized landing page (using the I-AM RAINMAKER PURL technology) with the lead’s name in the headline (nothing gets attention and says “this is specifically for you” like their own name).

3. The landing page contains a video that builds rapport and offers additional information and a valuable free offer.

4. A 30-day pre-written follow-up email sequence automatically kicks in delivering powerful relationship building messages, all LINKED to a deadline date to redeem the free offer.

5. A 30-day OFFLINE follow-up postcard and telephone sequence automatically kicks in, sending glossy, sexy PURL postcards on a timed schedule without you ever having to print or mail a thing yourself, it’s all handled by the I-AM RAINMAKER marketing machine.

6. The postcards and phone messages drive the leads to the special PURL landing page.

7. And over the course of those 30 days, the lead is also receiving 2-3 email newsletters and one postcard newsletter. Done-for-you. No writing. No fuss. No muss.

All in all, there are 26 different marketing tools included in this “high touch” multi-media relationship-building follow-up and conversion sequence. And you don’t have to create a single one, send a single email or mail a single postcard yourself. It’s all done on auto-pilot. A date is never missed. An opportunity is never missed.

This is how you stay “top of consciousness” with your lead, demonstrate your expertise, WOW the lead with your attention to them (none of the tools are aggressively “salesy” they are all designed to build rapport and educate the prospect about what’s in it for them), and ultimately convert them to new clients..automatically.

That’s why we can say this breakthrough fitness marketing machine gets and keeps clients for you automatically and 100% guaranteed. Because when you combine effective fitness marketing tools with rock-solid automation that works for you 24/7/365 without fail, without asking for a raise, without calling in sick, without forgetting or making mistakes…you CONVERT.

And you don’t just convert the low-hanging fruit. That’s easy. No, I’m talking about the 7 out of 10 leads that were being squandered. Because that’s where the REAL profits are.

So now you’re probably thinking, “OK, sounds good, but how do I do that myself?”

First, you need tools: emails, postcards, video, landing pages, telephone scripts

Second, you need technology: Aweber.com can do your emails, Homestead.com can do your landing pages (not with PURL technology), flip video plus youtube.com for your videos.

Third, you need support personnel: post office/mailshop for your postcards, admin assistant for your phone follow-up and to make sure the sequences are running correctly – right tool to the right lead at the right time.

Fourth, you need time: for developing the sequences, creating offers, writing the tools, coordinating the support, learning the technology, integrating everything into a cohesive system.

There’s so much stuff to figure out, it’s no wonder most fitness professionals just don’t do it. And that’s exactly why we developed I-AM RAINMAKER…so you don’t have to do it. Instead, let the machine do it for about four bucks a day.

If you were to just increase your conversion from 3 out of 10 to 4 out of 10, that’s one more new client a month, 12 new clients a year. What’s a client worth to you? Probably a lot more than four bucks a day, right?

I suggest you write these down, or copy and paste right off the blog into a document you can refer to every time you sit down to work on your marketing.

First up…

TARGETING the right people.

Keep in mind, effective fitness marketing is all about delivering the right message to the right people at the right time.

And we always start with the target – the WHO.

So here are four ways to target the right “who.”

Geo-demographic targeting: Get a map of your local area and place a pin in the map representing each of your past and present clients. Look for clusters. Then target those areas (maybe just a few dozen to a few hundred homes) with special offers. Make reference to the fact that their neighbors are your clients (the more specific you can be with names and addresses/street names of your existing clients, the more credible it will be). Personalized URL (PURL) postcards work great for this. I-AM RAINMAKER does amazing PURL postcards for you – printing and mailing to five people or five hundred with the click of a button. If you’ve never heard of PURLs, you need to see them in action to fully appreciate just how potent they can be.

Affinity targeting: What churches, synagogues, clubs, organizations, sports teams, associations, hobby groups, etc. do your current clients belong to? See if you can get a list of members (in many cases you can), or see if they have newsletters/other media you can advertise in. Best of all, leverage your client to get the opportunity to do a presentation to these people at their next meeting (and get your client to give you a live testimonial). The big secret to your success with this tactic will be in the follow-up marketing you do to leads you generate. I-AM RAINMAKER handles timed, linked follow-up and conversion sequences for you automatically.

Double Your Retention, Explode Your Referrals and Make It Rain New Clients...On Auto Pilot!

Behavioral targeting: Who’s a better prospect for your services – someone who shops at an upscale supermarket like Whole Foods, or somebody who shops at Bart’s Bulk Canned Food Store? Get your marketing message in front of the Whole Foods shopper using the grocery store fitness marketing system described here – which will soon be available, completely done-for-you and fully automated in I-AM RAINMAKER.

Strategic alliance targeting: Very few forms of marketing will give you a better ROI than an endorsement from another respected local businessperson whose customer/client/patient profile closely matches your ideal client profile (e.g. chiropractor, massage therapist, physical therapist, financial planner, divorce attorney). Sometimes those aren’t easy to come by (usually because most small business owners don’t have effective communication channels with their customers, or a strong relationship with their customers, or are just clueless about smart win-win marketing, or all three). So another easy option that bypasses those issues is to get “take one” cards in dozens of local businesses that offer a compelling gift positioned as coming from the business owner himself (that’s why they’ll be open to letting you do it). I-AM RAINMAKER has just such an automatic system (plus it has a fantastic strategic alliance relationship-building system called “Client Catcher” that solves the first problem I mentioned).

There you go, four strong targeting tips to get your fitness marketing rocking and rolling in 2010.

Be a fitness marketing maniac,
Eric

P.S. Got some targeting tips to add? We’d love to hear them. Post your comment below.

We’re off to the races for 2010 over here, and lots of projects in full swing.

The new year is always an exciting time, but I think one of the most challenging things to do is to stay focused and energized on your goals over time.

Anybody can get excited for a couple weeks, but how do you really “go the distance” with making BIG LEAPS in growth?

I held a special “How to Make 2010 Your Best Year EVER In The Fitness Industry” webinar a couple weeks ago and shared several tips on how to do just that.

One of the tips was about setting up your office to get and STAY laser-focused on your goals and tracking.

I shared some good examples of what we do around here, and invited our members to follow-suit and send me a picture of their office when it was all set up.

Guess what?

We got some great pictures in this week, and here’s one from Jeff & Vern Gauthier, owners of Fit-for-You in Traverse City Michigan:

How many of your have your office wall looking like this? Included are: Org Chart, Marketing Process Maps (2), Core Values, Mission, Vision Statements, Quartlery Goals and Projects List, Marketing Calendar, and Chart of Sales to plot Forecasted vs. Actual Results. Success leaves clues... study them and you can't help but grow.

It’s no surprise, that these 2 brothers are hitting all time record breaking growth and have more than TRIPLED their PT Sales Revenue since starting to work with us in June of last here.

In fact, they tied for first place in a recent AUTO-CLOSER class sales contest this fall, and here they are with their winning certificate:

Jeff & Vern Gauthier with their AUTO-CLOSER contest winner certificate

Congrats to both these guys.

They are killing it consistently for 6 months now, and on track to have an INCREDIBLE 2010. Look for them at MEGA TRAINING next year. I have no doubt they’re gunning for the car.

P.S. The most successful clients we have over here listen and then ‘just go do it’… quickly!

“There IS a direct correlation between speed of implementation and RESULTS!”

P.S. This week Eric and I will have several days of hard-hitting tips and strategies for getting more out of all your fitness marketing efforts this year. Stay tuned, it all starts tomorrow!

Dragon Door's RKC program has been around since 2001. These guys are the ones who brought kettlebells to the center stage in the USA.

Hope you’ve had a great week.

Things are cranking over here and I know that everyone in our office is pumped for a breakthrough 2010.

I hope you are too!

If you’ve been reading our emails for a while then you’re probably already aware that we’re good friends with Dragon Door.

If fact, both Brett Jones (Master RKC) and John Du Cane (CEO of Dragon Door) spoke at our MEGA TRAINING event this past year in Orlando.

They’re a great company and we’re honored to have them as strategic alliance partners.

Last week I shared with you details on a fantastic new book they’ve just released called Convict Conditioning.

If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, I encourage you to do so. It’s the best book on bodyweight training that I’ve ever read. And jam-packed with great progressions that can be used at any level of conditioning.

Well another great program Dragon Door offers is their RKC or Russian Kettlebell Certification.

They’ve ramped up their certification programs big time for 2010 and I just got the word they’ve finalized a cert for October (the week before MEGA TRAINING) in Orlando, FL.

It will be a busy time for me, but I’m going to sort out my schedule to attend this event and can’t wait.

If you’re at all interested in learning more about training with kettlebells, then come join me and other NPE members at this great weekend.

Go here to read all the details on the Disney RKC Certification.

In fact, you might as well plan to stay down the following week as well, enjoy a few days off, and then join us at MEGA TRAINING (details on this year’s event coming soon).

Have a great weekend and keep the energy flowing.

It’s going to be a great year in 2010!

To your success,
Sean

P.S. Brett Jones was such a great presenter, that I’m hoping we’ll be able to get him back to MEGA TRAINING this year… and mix up the format with some kettlebell workouts for everyone in the am.

More on that to follow. In the meantime, register for the RKC in Orlando and I’ll see you at Disney!

It’s called “No Time For Tact.” Great title.

In the book he shares 365 daily nuggets of wisdom. It’s good stuff.

His July 2nd nugget says:

“I believe in selfishness. The best way for me to serve others is to selfishly serve myself well.

It is possible to give so much of yourself away that you compromise the quality of what you have to give.”

Sean uses the airplane oxygen mask analogy to describe this, and it’s an accurate way to think about it.

“If you’re traveling with small children, put your mask on first THEN help your children with theirs.”

Because if you can’t breathe, you can’t help anybody.

VERY serious advice that cannot be overlooked for long or you *will* pay the price.

How to be effectively (and selflessly) selfish:

Plug the “big rock” stuff into your calendar first:

- Your personal down time
- Your family time
- Your workouts
- Your sleep
- Your personal/professional growth time for reading/studying/planning/goal setting

And then be disciplined (and hawkish) about honoring/protecting that time.

For business owners like us, this can be one of the biggest struggles we face because there’s always busy work to do. And without real discipline to the schedule, it can and does easily leak over into what should be our time.

Gotta guard against that – at all costs.

Make it a great day,
Eric

P.S. Don’t forget, if you need direction/guidance/help/support, we’re just a phone call away. You can schedule a no-obligation free diagnostic telephone consultation with Camelia.

Books I’m reading/re-reading right now and recommend to you:
- The Virtue of Selfishness – Ayn Rand
- Common Sense Direct and Digital Marketing – Drayton Bird
- How Capitalism Will Save Us – Steve Forbes
- No B.S. Sales Success In The New Economy – Dan Kennedy
- Winning Ugly – Brad Gilbert (about tennis, but transferable to life and business)
- And just finished Andre Agassi’s Open – a great read

P.P.P.S. Last thing: If you want a better website talk to Lynn VanDyke. She does our 2 primary sites and our blog and they are all on page 1 of Google, plus she has helped dozens and dozens of our Members get page 1 for their sites.