How to win a scholarship to Mega Training
Big news: we’re giving away a “full-ride” scholarship to NPE Mega Training.
You can win a ticket to all three days of the event plus 3 nights at the hotel.
We cover everything except your travel.
And we’re also giving away two runner-up prizes:
2 nights at the hotel paid for by us (you pay for one night only).
Even if you’ve already bought a ticket to Mega Training, you can enter this contest (we’ll reimburse you). And if you’re chosen as a runner-up, we’ll cover two nights of your stay at the hotel.
On top of the 21 great speakers, all the killer content, the networking with many of the most successful fitness professionals in the U.S., Canada and internationally, we’re also giving away a “full-ride” scholarship to one lucky person.
That means we pay for your ticket to Mega Training for all three days, plus three nights at the hotel. It’s all on us.
All you’ve gotta do is cover your travel to Orlando, one of the easiest airports to get flights into (thanks Disney!) and also one of the cheapest places to fly to (driving and even a bicycle ride are also in order – anything to get you there for this history-making event).
PLUS, we’re giving away to “runner-up” prizes.
For the runner’s up, we’ll cover two of your nights at the hotel. You just pay for one.
Here’s how to win…
Just post your comment below telling us why we should choose you for a scholarship.
Hint: give us details about actions you’ve taken over the past 9 months to move your business forward, obstacles you’ve encountered and worked to overcome, and goals for the year ahead.
If your comment oozes and drips with commitment and passion to succeed, you could be chosen as the BIG winner and get a full ride scholarship to Mega Training.
If you’ve already bought your ticket, we’ll reimburse you at the event.
Contest starts now, and ends Friday. Winner announced Monday.
Eric
Here’s another health club marketing post you may enjoy.
In the last 9 months my fitness business has been shaken,beaten but not stirred…and we are still here.
Boot Camps are are main business, and we are here to stay. Charity events, Giveaways, radio promortion, Spanish TV crossovers, consistant marketing, overdelivering…and staying in the game.
Boot Camps popping up everywhere…sometimes following us around…trying to replicate, but never duplicating…
Studying businesses outside of fitness to be inovative and stand out from the rest..A few months ago I decided after a long hiatus to start attending events more, networking to take my business to the NEXT level.
A few months ago a got the IamRainmaker system as a step in that direction and Then you announced The Mega training event…I am so THERE!
Not only for me, but for my girlfriend. She is getting ready to open her own dance studio…and I couldnt think of a better place for her to get ALL of her information to make her business a success…Her an I will be attending…To secure out futures..
I have no problems at all with being motivate and committed to excellence. In fact I am extremely motivated and committed to it. I do have a challenge though with sticking with a task until it is completely done, not for any other reason but because I am giving myself way too many things and too much to do so I get burnt out and not being able to complete a task to its fullest. So I hope to be able at the event to have a break through and stop stretching myself too thin and focus on 1 thing at the time.
The action steps in the last 9 months I have taken are many. I have been to over 6 big seminars and conventions, I joined GP, I am a part of Deep Core, I am a I AM RAINMAKER user (really love it) and have completed the steps just need more traffic, I completed a 3 weeks video testimonial project for my website, got a website, in a process of building a great blog, I just started using a 10 week Social Media program (using facebook, twitter, you tube, and other social networking sites, Started making videos for my biz interviewing big names in my areas and post them online, connected and formed SA’s with over 7 local businesses.
I find all those very important but i get too excited about them start doing all of them at once and as a result do not complete them the way they should be and get over worked, feeling that nothing is done. I had to cancel my school courses because of being overwhelmed with them.
So I hope the mega training to give me this shift to overcome that and start running a more efficient and effective biz so i will find balance for working on the biz, spend time reading and learning, get back on my BA classes program, and feel free and own it, and not it own me.
I’ve acquired more knowledge through top of the line certifications. I’ve affiliated with various fitness web sites. I’ve purchased more relevant equipment and chucked all that is unnecessary. My clients have skyrocketed in their progress, but alas, through economical professional setbacks, they have scaled down their training.
I plan on finding a more visible location where I can add classes, as my current space isn’t big enough (hidden warehouse, and word of mouth only).
I write relevant newsletters, set-up a variety of workshops, even have my videos posted on sites like exercisetv.tv (for whom I write articles too).
But, I am not generating new business. And my wife works in real estate (you know what that means these days). And we’re pregnant with our first child.
Commitment? I need to make more money, especially when I’m not there, not just for me, but for the entire family, but I need to keep conveying passion, quality, knowledge and education. The dream needs to be bigger.
Alone, the dream is not big enough. I need to step it up outside of this comfort zone!
This has definitely been an up and down year filled with doubt, uncertainty, confidence, confusion, clarity, and everything in between. I moved into the role of business owner this year after having worked as the director of the facility for the previous five years.
In January I purchased Blueprint to help me begin systemizing the business and give me a point in the right direction. I quickly upgraded into Gold Plus and enrolled in the first Auto-Closer class of ‘09 (where I was chosen as the class runner-up in the AC contest!) and even implemented a new keycard access system which expanded our operations to 24/7 access for our members. Things were cranking, I was closing sales (still at 95+%) and I got complacent and rested on my laurels….my wife was pregnant with our 3rd child, the business was in a boom so I decided that I needed to turn it down a notch to spend more time at home making ready for #3. WHOOPS!!!! BIG MISTAKE!!!!
While I allowed the summer months to pass me by and enjoy afternoons off with my wife and kids, my business started to falter. I plugged back in and have been bailing myself out ever since. I’ve been able to begin to right the ship but have had to make some tough choices in the meantime to account for the reduced revenue during my summer “sabbatical”.
I’ve added group training into our programming to begin to leverage my time better, I’ve booked and delivered several speaking gigs which have boosted sales and increased my leads, and now I’m in the process of filming a DVD series to use a lead gen to area physicians, chiros, physical therapists, etc.
A couple weeks ago I had a client come into my office and ask me a “simple” exercise-related question (a very common occurrence for all of us). I answered to her satisfaction and as she left my office she said, “Well I guess I’ll go try to do this” to which I responded with a question that has become one of my new business directives: “Are you training or are you trying?”. She didn’t quite understand what I meant so I explained that when you’re “training” to accomplish your goals you are focused, systematic, analytical and eliminate “chance” from the equation. You have to be purposeful in your actions and then evaluate the outcome of those actions. If you’re merely “trying” to reach your goals then you’ve allowed chance to be your guide and you’re haphazardly going from one diet to the next or you’re sporadic and unfocused in your exercise routine.
My goals for the remainder of 2009 and into 2010 and beyond include: 1) “training” for success in my business and not allowing myself to be complacent “trying” to run the business – using what I’ve learned from NPE’s products and implementing them into a directed plan of action, 2) expanding more into semi-private and group training to continue to leverage my time (as well as increase my one-on-one rates to make my private sessions a premium commodity!), and 3) design the systems and teach them to my staff so that I CAN enjoy time with my family without it being a detriment to my business. I SHOULD be able to leave early some days and know that my facility is still running smoothly, still generating leads, and still delivering the value that our clients expect!
Over the past nine months, our business has consistently grown. Our primary program is our boot camp and using NPE has helped us achieve our biggest month of 125 participants at one location.
The Duplicator program has helped us feel confident in beginning another boot camp in the Downtown Dallas area. Remaining consistent in the way our program is run allows us to more easily transition to other locations and other trainers. Implementing Duplicator strategies has really been a confidence booster!
However, the best success story so far in the past nine months is the fact that because the business was going so well, my wife was able to quit her teaching job and join me in our fitness business FULL TIME! However, it certainly has been a huge life shift for her from leaving her school-life behind and getting really into the business side of things. Not knowing really where to begin, I gave her all the NPE tools that I have received being a Gold Plus Member.
The first one she looked at was the Time Management. This helped both of us get organized and stay consistent with our daily activities. Recently we listened to the webinar on websites and it was great to be able to brainstorm together about ways we could improve our website. It was also great to know that we were already doing some of those things, like lots of pictures on the blog, video testimonials and using social networks.
We are REALLY looking forward to the MEGA training and that it is something that we can attend together in order to take this business to the next level.
Thank you NPE!
Sincerely,
Brad Linder
In the past nine months I have bought from you guys tons of stuff and implemented them all. From marketing 101 to creating more time efficient strategies to doing more stuff with the accounting. I have used your resources and completed a lot. The obstacles I have is interenet traffic, creating product and membership websites with eft biling
I am a sole owner who works in chicago a big city with a lot of competition. implementing your strategies I have had over 600 athletes in this year. finding time to market and get all the stuff done has been a struggle as I cant hire out yet do to cost. I work 16hrs a day and train all my athletes and program and design everything.
I really need to get more information on how to take my business to the next level. I believe in what you have done for me now and cant wait to see what the future brings.
I am getting married next year so the pressure is on to always find new leads and generate more income for me and the family. Paying off the debt of the buisiness and trying to make a living there have been some obsticals but I am always willing to learn, grow, and work even harder to achieve greatness. I dont want to be just good I want to be the best and I think this could take me there.
Thanks
Sincerely
Brad Leshinske cscs
Athletic Edge Sports Performance, inc.
Why should NPE choose me for a scholarship for the 2009 Mega Training? Because I booked my hotel room for the event with the Hilton Honors points that I have been saving up for my elopement/honeymoon (originally planned for October but put on hold). I am committed, invested, hungry for information & I will make your investment in me worth every penny… Read on to find out why I used my hotel points for the NPE Mega Training and put my honeymoon on hold.
I spent 2007 and 2008 slowly and painfully growing my business the best I could with the knowledge and tools I had. I found and joined NPE in late 2008, quickly restructured my business with Duplicator & Autocloser and on January 1, 2009 I was feeling strong, confident, and ready to take on the world, one client at a time. I was eagerly anticipating my first year of profit, growth, and finally being in control of my business (rather than it controlling me).
I hosted a GoldRush event in January, Bring-A-Friend in February, and was preparing for the Best Body Challenge in March/April. Thanks to NPE, my income increased $1000 each of the first 3 months of the year!!!
Then IT happened…. I’ll spare you all the gory details but my facility raised our rent by 50% – with 1 ½ weeks notice – in THIS economy…. I KNOW!
AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
The perfect storm came next:
1. I had to do something – FAST!!! I was able to negotiate a “temporary” location until I could find my permanent location but it was hot, crowded, dirty, and combined with the transition, I lost all my clients – and all my trainers – between April & May.
2. I had to find a new facility – FAST!!! I moved to the new facility in June, but was down to 0 clients and a brand new trainer with no experience
3. I had to start over – from scratch – in this economy – over the summer – with no income coming in and lots of expenses going out…
Before I could do anything else I had to get my head straight: I worked SO hard for so long and then it all crashed down (and slapped me in the face, kicked me in the @$$, etc.) almost over night. To think about starting over again just about sent me over the edge.
Over the past 6 months I have cried more tears, yelled more swear words, prayed more prayers and worked harder than I ever could have imagined. I have gone through the entire range of emotions – hurt, mad, betrayed, sad, scared, panicked, hurt, scared, mad, scared, mad… and worse than anything my spirit was completely broken.
But the amazing thing is that (thanks to NPE) beneath it all, even while crying and screaming and swearing, I have felt excited and hopeful. Crazy, I know! BUT because of the great success I experienced with the NPE tools leading up to the perfect storm, I knew that what took me 2 ½ years to build before could and would be re-built – bigger and better – in much less time.
So I funneled all those emotions and went to work. I essentially lost April and May to finding a new location, dealing with the transition and trying to get my head straight. But here is a list of the actions I have taken since April to rebuild my business from 0 to $3000 a month (so far) – yes, that’s $1000 a month growth – just like the first of the year!
- Best Body Challenge – 450 new prospects, 200+ participants!
- Infusion Implementation
- Website design & SEO by Lynn from MWR
- Prospect to Client Campaign – implemented through infusion & website
- Added 2 new price-point services – bootcamp and 12 week challenge
- Marketing Plan & Calendar – Finally created and have been following a marketing plan
- Public Speaking – have been pursuing opportunities and averaging 3-4 per month
- Strategic Alliances – have developed relationships with local doctors offices, churches, schools, and businessess and continue to nurture and grow opportunities
- Videos – have used the VIP info to effectively add videos to my website
- Newsletters – have used the Rainmaker program to start sending html newsletters on a regular schedule
- Weekly, monthly reports – have consistently run, reviewed and analyzed my numbers
- Wellness Expo – participated in “dud” expo but turned it into opporutnity to develop 3 new SA’s
- Duplicator – since I was able to “clean house” of previous trainers, established new process for hiring, training, managing staff. Hired a great new trainer – twice as motivated, ½ the price of my previous ones…
- Online communities – have started to establish community with cliets, prospects, alliances through Meetup, Facebook, Twitter
- Golf Campaign – starts in October
- LCV wow – Incorporated my previous 12-week client notebook with LCV wow & Best Body Challenge to create new 12 week program. Meeting next week to partner with Parks & Rec to partner and promote county-wide
- Promotional Materials – have followed NPE recommendations to improve promotional materials for more effective response and followup
- Client Reactivation Campaign – have successfully brought back 5 former clients
- Client Exit Campaign – in place and ready to go but have not had to use it yet!
My obstacles have of course been finances and starting over, in this economy, during the summer. The loss of income and momentum for 3 months has limited budgeting for promotional materials & campaigns. I have maxed out my credit cards and borrowed quite a bit of money from my parents (ouch – that one hurt) to be able to maintain my VIP membership, keep infusionsoft and the website running, etc.
My goals for the rest of 2009 are to continue adding $1000+ in revenue each month, continue adding & implementing NPE systems & strategies to continue growing the business exponentially, continue developing Strategic Alliances, and start to develop relationships with the local media. I plan to get caught up, out of debt, then reschedule a bigger & better wedding/honeymoon in 2010.
Even though on paper I couldn’t afford the NPE event and trip to Orlando, I decided to do whatever it takes – including postponing my marriage/honeymoon – to make the investment because I know that what I learn and the relationships I develop will pay off exponentially down the road.
Obviously I’m willing to make the investment on my own and I’m not asking for a handout. But I hope that my hard work and commitment might EARN me the scholarship, and the opportunity to invest the funds into other business expenses, and the Hilton honors points back into my honeymoon!
I’m tired. Tired of working for money in a job that is just that…a job. I’ve been a full time mechanical engineer for 12 years. I make a decent buck doing what I do but there’s no passion. I don’t hate it but I don’t love it either.
I’ve been training people for 4 years as an outlet for stress but when I realized that I was actually making a difference in peoples lives I fell in love with it. I added NPE to give my marketing efforts a shot in the arm and I’ve been on fire ever since. I still work my full time job, I get up at 5 AM to train my first client get home by 7 to take my daughter to school, hustle to work and get back to the gym to train until about 7:30. Then I go home and try to spend some time at home and end up passing out on the couch…I’m tired.
I need to get out of the rat race and the Mega Conference has some major pieces to the puzzle to help me get out of my engineering job and into what I’m passionate about…running a fitness business and helping people.
In the past 9 months I’ve been developing strategic alliances with local businesses, public speaking, direct mailing, and email sequences with the rainmaker program to create a spike in my clientelle. I’ve been putting all the money that I make training back into marketing (that’s one luxury I’m able to have by still maintaining a full time job) I’m ready to hire an admin and I can tell it’s about ready to break loose soon. My goal for the end of the year is to gather enough data on my marketing efforts to make it a science and know what works and stop spending money on efforts that don’t result in returns, have enough clients to support hiring an admin and 2 trainers full time and allow me to work in the business 50% less than what I do now so that I can work on my business and recalibrate my out of balance life.
Changing lives has always been my passion since I was young but that passion became frustration as I tried to make changing lives a career. Before I met Eric Ruth (sorry, Sean, this was before you came on board) I was gritting my teeth at the end of the month hoping no clients would drop out so I could pay the rent. After using Eric’s advice and some of his groundbreaking letters things became easier. I was getting more clients and better yet, retaining them. Now, enter Sean Greeley and Fitness Marketing Systems and I have a whole new lease on life. I first starting using Auto-closer and of course my sales went up, however, what I was most impressed with is how easy sales became. I was no longer worried about how I was going to “close” someone…the system does that for me. AND training my new employees on it…a breeze! I don’t have to worry about what my employees are saying now when they sit down with clients…they’re doing EXACTLY what I would be doing! I then went to Duplicator…probably the hardest thing for me to do. I am a trainer…at least that’s what I always told myself…I didn’t see myself necessarily as President or CEO of my company…but I am! Duplicator made me look at what I was doing and how destructive some of my habits would become if I didn’t change, and change fast. While I must admit it was not an easy task to do I am extremely happy I did. I now am delegating a lot of daily work to employees, personally training less hours and making more money! That’s hard to grasp…but absolutely the truth. Actually, as I write this, tomorrow I am leaving for a 6 day vacation to Myrtle Beach…yes, a vacation! I have had mini “long weekend” vacations but this time, my cell phone, computer, paperwork…it stays behind. This vacation is about relaxation. Those are just two of the programs I have used in the last year to help me not only grow as a business but as a person too. Many of the “smaller” programs (and I use that term loosely because they produce big results) I have used are the Physician Referral Program, Boot Camp/Small Group Coaching, Group Presentation and others have really boosted my bottom line and helped to make me sleep better at night. What it comes down to in the last year I have worked hard, I’ve pushed myself beyond what I thought I was capable of…many times I wanted to give up and get a 9-5 job, but the consistent urging and inspiration I get from Eric and Sean as well as the whole NPE community keeps me going. I’ve made some hard decisions in the last few months, I’ve let employees who were not fitting the bill go…worried I made the wrong decision…but it is absolutely amazing when you get employees who are willing to learn, to use the systems that have been created to better themselves and work together to grow the business. Through the systems and products NPE has practically given away (you could be charging a hell of a lot more…but don’t…we like your pricing!)…I have received the courage to do what’s right, I’ve been featured on TV more times then I can count on my fingers now including NBC, ABC news and MTV Made. In August I opened my second location, which the Grand Opening was featured on ABC news and I am currently working on a third location. If it wasn’t for the support of everyone at NPE, I wouldn’t be in the position I am now. Thank you for the opportunity you have given me, the people who work for me and ultimately our clients. I still have a long road ahead of me and a lot of learning/growing to do but at this point, throwing in the towel doesn’t cross my mind one bit. Thanks!
We are doing alright considering the economy but would like more consistent, higher cash flow instead of a feast/famine type cycle.
We have a blog, YouTube channel, and Facebook page as well as Twitter all of which we implemented in last 9-12 months. We send out a weekly email newsletter to nearly 700 subscribers, do at least 2 speaking engagements per month, and are working on writing for a local newspaper.
Majority of our business is one on one training but we are transitioning to more semi-private and would like to do Bootcamps on a regular basis (hit or miss in the past).
In addition, we are planning on opening our 2nd facility in 2010 and want our current facility on very solid financial ground before we start a 2nd one.
I have been in the field for over 25 years and have a wealth of training knowledge but always need help in the marketing/sales end of things. I would like to make these things happen in the last part of 2009 and into 2010 and beyond so we can help more people enpower themselves through better health and fitness.
I do not drive, therefore I cycle for transportation. Sometimes that works well, other times…not so well. This makes me a premier fitness member of my suburban Philadelphia community. This fact has not been realized by many in said community, so perhaps attending this event would afford me additional exposure among serious members of the fitness industry.
…not to mention the claim that you ARE offering a “full ride.” Who would receive that better than a cyclist?
Coridally,
Eric Meneely
Over the course of this year we have streamlined our business practices constantly tweeking and improving our systems and the way we operate. We know we’re different and better than the average gym and thanks to NPE we’ve strutted our stuff during these tough economic times. Our clients have even remarked in referring us to others that “my trainer is really good, he’s not struggling and chasing people over the phone for business”
Sean and Eric you’ve helped me to improve my skill set with fresh new ideas and approaches. We have always been really good when it comes to client retention and our renewed abilities and strength in that area continues to “flex” and show itself as a real backbone to our success.
We have sold and resold and resold and resold to our existing clients, filling up Yoga classes, Boot Camps, Charity Fitness events and the like.
Our biggest obstacle this year has been attaining new clients from multiple streams instead of just one and we’ve worked to overcome that and to date I’m happy to say we’re winning the battle. We’ve used our signage out front much better and more wisely (thanks Camelia & Eric) and we’ve injected better client appreciation ideas (thanks Eric & Sean) and moving up to Gold Plus made a huge difference infusing ideas and food for thought – giving my creativity a real boost.
In the year ahead I am looking for continued success and the goals are set following behind the mantra of my favorite football team (Oakland Raiders) – 2010 Our “Committment To Excellence”
My staff is on board (although only two are actual Raider fans -haha) and we’re ready to go and getting started early. I just created and implemented a new motivation/accountability program for our clients and trained my trainers on how we’ll carry it out. Bottom line it bleeds Excellence!
We are striving for Excellence in everything we do, we are taking the ordinary and making extra-ordinary and the results for our business and our clients will show the same. Keep your eye on the prize, satisfaction, committment, excellence and team work. We are winners, now let’s work like it and act like it – hell I’m convinced… for our customers sake – It’s flat out contagious! –
This was the short speech I gave my staff (sorry I was a head coach at one time) I am very passionate and this is why I will one day transcend fitness into the motivational speaking arena like nothing ever seen before (one of my major goals), just as I have personal training into the medical community here and abroad. It will be done.
Ladies and Gentlemen thank you for indulging me and for your consideration.
If I won the scholarship – paying for my hotel stay and I simply pay for the ticket I would actually forego my visit with my daughter for this weekend, a routine that has never been broken in 9yrs.
9 months ago we were the typical personal training company waiting for our phones to ring, buying expensive advertising that wasn’t proven, and had zero systems. Business was just so unorganized so we survived off our skill as a trainer to retain our clients and count on their renewals. We discovered NPE last Novemeber and purchased our first product. Recognizing how powerful their tools were, we decided we had to jump head first and immerse ourselves into the NPE community.
Within a 9 month period, we became part of Auto-closer, Gold Rush, Deepcore, Infusionsoft, Duplicator, Fitness VIP, Nutrition VIP, Platform Speaking, Public Speaking Power Pack, Group Accelerator, and Project Manager Pro. So as you can see we aren’t afraid to invest in our company and we have true faith in the NPE team.
We feel we should be chosen for this scholarship because of our dedication, passion, and committment to ourselves to create Breakthroughs To Fitness into Long Island’s premiere mobile fitness and nutrition coaching company.
With the assistance of Auto-closer, we were able to double our average package sale to $2,040, upsell a client to 200 sessions, sell (3) 100 session packages, and I have a 100% close rate since the program (no bs or cockiness in that statement). We also became the winner of the Auto-closer contest. I never imagined asking for such high session packages but with NPE it became a reality which assisted me to further invest in my business.
With Deepcore and Fitness VIP we were able to bring in 24 new clients (3 nutrition clients included), 11 new SA’s, 6 public speaking gigs, and 3 publicity appearances (tv and print).
Nutrition VIP assisted us in truly creating and implementing a nutrition system along with our BodyGem (RMR analyzer). We had the RMR piece of equipment for about 9 months not understanding how to truly utilize it and promote it as a system. When we joined VIP a few months ago we now have a clear understanding and system. Along with DietMAster Pro and Shaklee, we feel nutrition will be bigger then our training in 2010.
Duplicator truly assisted us in creating leverage. We have an admin that acts like our right hand man and believes in our vision and mission. Two trainers (1 kickboxing specialist and 1 mother that understands our women clients). So we are building a team of greatness and that makes our system unique to Long Island.
Like I mentioned in the beginning, even though we had all these programs, our management/project systems lacked so with the help of Project Manager pro and the E-Myth (a book everyone should buy and model), our projects are more organzied with action steps detailed out and roles are more clearly defined. (Note: we are still in the beginning stages of mastering our systems. This is an ongoing process to continue growing and evolving)
And if you think the above is impressive, wait til we are on stage at Mega Training so you can get the full story.
With all the good things that has happened to our business, we still had to dig through alot of sh*t to find the gold. We faced many challenges that tested how badly we wanted this. One month we saw zero clients clients come in and only made $3,600 (well below our average). We spent hours upon hours creating our dominator program only to be told by Camelia that it was way too boring (thanks Camelia
), lost 3 admins during critical times of our business, and our biggest mistake of all was not closing our gold rush event by forgetting to hand out the consult forms.
There are plenty of other challenges we encountered, but those were some of the bigger ones. We truly have transformed our business from last year and due to the countless nights burning the midnight oil we were able to make this possible. With the model of the E-Myth and duplicator, we are in progress of running our business to support our lives rather then our business running us.
Thanks NPE for assisting us in building the vision, mission, tools, and systems to move forward. We look forward to a strong 2010 and sharing our success with the NPE community.
O and I forgot to mention, we are on track to doubling our revenue from 2008. See you all at Mega Training!
Jeremy Gritton
Gritton’s Training System
I want to briefly show you how NPE took an, over-worked, stressed, exhausted, guilty father and husband to an up and coming quickly growing fitness expert in less than 9 months time. Someone who quit his job, after nearly a decade, only because of his “trust” in NPE.
The purpose of this “manual” or letter is to clearly show you why you should choose me as your “Scholarship Winner”.
Before you read any further, please know that this letter was originally written with the intent of winning the member of the year contest. I have reduced content, removed pictures, changed the format from a “Owners Manual” (which I will still be sending NPE because I want Eric and Sean to know who I am from this point forward) to a blog. I have done all this because I “need” the scholarship… I wanted the Nissan 370z… So, all the “car” and driving references are due to this original intent.
Who is Jeremy Gritton and Gritton’s Training System? First of all I am a husband and father of 2…soon to be 3 children. Seth is 3, Sam is 18 months, and the newest addition is due in early April. Family is the “driving force” for me each and every morning when I rise to crank-up my day! Nothing motivates me like knowing I am the sole source of income for my family. I am also a passionate triathlete completing various distance races including the crown jewel of all endurance sports, IRONMAN.
I feel as though I have always been a “sports car” for performance, but I have never had the right fuel to drive my engine! The talent has always been there, the work ethic has always been there, but the success has not been!
As you are about to learn, NPE has taken Gritton’s Training System from the slow lane to the fast lane in less than one year! Skyrocketing total revenue from $1,469 (Jan-Sep.) to over $35,000 in nine months ($18,000 in the last three). That is a 2,282% increase with NPE as compared to nine months without NPE.
Have you ever been in a car accident where you spun out of control? We’ll I have in my way of life and business career!
After nearly a decade managing health clubs, fielding calls all hours of the night, working an obscene amount of hours every week, and generally being under-appreciated and sorely underpaid… I knew something had to give and in a hurry! I was tired of being the guy who made the register ring to line someone else’s pocket. I was tired of being on call 24hrs per day, I was tired of scratching and clawing for every nickel that was thrown my way. Did I really want to be the Dad who missed his sons games because someone didn’t show for their shift, did I want to be the husband who went in early stayed late and forced my wife to raise our boys on her own? Did I want to think outside the box, bust my butt year after year, and barely get the “status quo” for compensation. The “service engine soon” light was on!
One morning during “coffee” time with my wife (yeah someone actually showed up for their shift) we were discussing the newest addition to the Gritton family in a few months and I said I have got to stop this cycle. What can I do to unchain myself from the retail business, gain some financial freedom, and maybe just maybe find time for the only thing in life that really matters (my family)?
This question was more loaded and complex than you could possibly imagine! I had tried…and failed at not just one but several small business ventures of which not even one was close to being successful. In fact…my own wife, who says whatever is on her mind, said “Honey, you just aren’t cut out to have your own business”! Even though what she said hurt, she was right! Brandy was right because I was trying to start businesses that I was not passionate about.
I decide to change lanes. Personal Training it is.
Right away the passion was there, the drive was there, the love was there…but the clients were not. Everyone kept saying you are going to be a huge success, you are perfect for this, but still nothing. After nearly one year and a whopping $2,300 dollars in revenue I was still working 60+ hours in management, 20+ hours blindly spinning/working on my training business, and ohh an additional 20+ hours each week training for my first Ironman Triathlon. Imagine my stress of having a new-born, managing a multi-million dollar fitness facility, launching a new business and then training for an Ironman Triathlon. In case you are not familiar with this event, it is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a full marathon (26.2miles) at the end. More to come on this life changing event later.
Year One… Working with the Engine OFF! (Without NPE)
I was putting hours of thought into how to market my business. I was staying up at night wondering if anyone would call. I was way too passive when someone did call, missing potential sales several times. I was working really hard, but I wasn’t getting anything in return for my investment. The worst part was that I had no idea of what to do to change this. It was just like me opening up the hood of my car and trying to figure out what was wrong… Just like with cars, I didn’t know what it should even look like under the hood of my business.
12 Months go by and I am working more now than ever before. For all my time, energy, and investment of finances I was clearly operating in the red! I felt like I had a V-8 engine under the hood, but through unscientific and unproven marketing campaigns I wasn’t even moving. I was sitting in standstill and pumping more money into my business.
It is now time for my Ironman Triathlon I referenced earlier. Yeah, I’m in a really good place right now with this out of control spin in my business and way of life.
Let me set the stage by taking you along the abbreviated story of my journey to becoming an IRONMAN.
Imagine if you will… I have just logged 60+ hours Monday – Friday for my full-time job that (pays the bills…but just barely) and now Saturday comes… I have to get up before sunrise to meet the gang for a mile swim and 6-7 hours on the bike. Upon arriving home I collapse in the office chair and start working on my business. I try to get to bed early as I have to get up again before the rooster crows and run 20+miles Sunday morning. If that isn’t bad enough, I have dedicated the last 11 months to this race and 4 weeks before the event I hurt my knee to the point that walking is difficult. No more running until the race, barely any cycling and all the self doubt you can imagine. Even the day before the event I was unsure if I could participate. The time, the energy, the sacrifices, were they all in vain? After 12 hours and 50 minutes, blisters on my feet, untimely stomach issues, swollen knees the size of watermelons, and more pain than any human should ever suffer I complete my journey. I am now an IRONMAN. It is along this journey that I discover what I am really made of. Through the lows and the highs I realize I can accomplish anything if I put my mind to it. I now have something to look back on and draw from when the times are rough and I want to quit. It is now, after Ironman Florida 2008 I decide I am going to learn how to grow my business, I am going to absolutely positively explode into the next fitness juggernaut… I will stay the course through any obstacles that may arise, I will not stop until I have improved my quality of life and those that I love most.
But How?
One evening my brother-in-law called, all jacked up about these guys he heard speak at a conference….. Jeremy he said, you have to check-out what these guys at NPE are doing!
Into my life walks NPE… I start requesting FREE information. I begin studying every piece of literature I receive.
I start to get it… Number one on the priority list is my “house list”, what the heck is a house list? After going through several post-it notes, old emails, and various scraps of paper I concluded that I had 12, yes 12 people on my contact list. Two of which were family members and of the other 10 only one had ever paid for more than two sessions up front. This after one year in business!
Start of Year Two… Finding 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears (With NPE)
NPE is telling me I have to grow my list, I have to step out of my comfort zone, I have to do something different to get a different result. After a couple of months and implementing the strategies I learned from all the FREE stuff… I decided it was time to take action. I shelled out a staggering $97.00 to join the Gold Member program. HA HA I know, but when you have failed “how many times” and you have to go home and say honey, I just spent $100 and signed up to also pay a monthly fee to be a member of this program, that $97 might as well have been $97,000!
1st Gear…
NPE’s Gold Member materials and a couple of nights on the couch made me see the need to offer group training… So, as the manager of the facility I utilized an industry program similar to the biggest loser, and 105 people enrolled, 24 of which were on my teams. All 105 received emails, newsletters, and MY advice. The effect was tremendous… people started to see the difference between myself and all the other trainers (the gym had 14 total trainers). NPE had educated me on the importance of newsletters and building value for my clients. After all, anyone can write out a good workout plan. That one thing was huge for my business, no other trainer had any idea on how to build the value like NPE taught me.
I find 2nd Gear…
NPE is always talking about Boot Camps and the opportunity there. Heck they are even giving me FREE strategies on how to market. Specific detailed ideas, that guess what… WORK. Suddenly I am making over $100 per hour…I like 2nd gear. This less expensive feeder style class got me in front of new people and immediately my available time slots for private sessions were full! I’m booked solid with my limited time slots due to managing the club.
NOW WHAT…Where is 3rd gear?
Based on testimonials and reinforcement from NPE, I raised my rates to become the highest paid trainer in the area. I raised my packages available so that people had to book double the sessions to reserve a spot with me. Still booked solid… even a couple of people on a waiting list! It was only 4 months ago and I was lying in bed wondering what to do next. What could I do to land ONE client? Now this!
Things are starting to come at the windshield really quickly… Now I am lying in bed thinking how am I going to handle all this business…
I decide it is time for MASSIVE ACTION!
Start of New Career… 4 Months with NPE and I Quit.
I QUIT MY JOB… My managerial job that is.
I can’t believe I am doing this…
My wife is on board after hearing more and more about NPE, yeah the same woman who doubted I could ever own my own business. At a time when most other trainers are picking up second jobs, leaving the industry for more “steady” work, or absolutely drowning in an economy that isn’t exactly stellar I am leaving a job that I have felt secure in for many years.
It is May 2009 and I know summer is typically a slower time frame in the industry, but I have this confidence from NPE. I have such confidence I am trying to tame it down some so I don’t sound cocky. But I must say it was hard… I know if I will simply implement the programs NPE provides I will absolutely dominate the market. I will become a “virus” to all other trainers. Within the first two weeks I was approached by two trainers (you know, trainers who were drowning, but only did business one way and that way had worked for 20+ years)… After the first one I bowed my chest out and let it bother me, after the second one I knew something was special about what had just happened. Through NPE’s programming I am now someone who is an innovator and other trainers didn’t like that one bit.
End of May comes, I have tripled my income from April and I experienced a 6,255% increase over May 2008. June comes and another record month and my house list has doubled in this short time span.
Now what?
4th gear and NPE’s Rainmaker…
Once again I call upon the professionals to help me manage this rapid growth. I can’t keep up any longer, I need Rainmaker… Suddenly I am forced to organize my contacts, think ahead further than next week for all my programming and marketing, and finally setup my website. Up until now I had zero things in place to capture prospective client information. I am less than two weeks into rainmaker and I have purchased a domain, setup a website, started capturing prospect information, launched my first sequence campaign (that NPE provided the copy-writing for), and provided more value to my clients than in the previous two months combined. I am starting to see something in the distance… I think… YEP its “critical mass” and “Cruise Control”. Prospects are being referred, my landing pages are capturing information and following up and I don’t have to do a thing…. Except close the deal on big packages that is.
August comes and goes and yet another record month.
Rainmaker is perhaps the most complete personal training programming on the market today… And it costs hardly anything. I have enrolled more new clients with rainmaker in a week than it will cost me for the entire rainmaker program for a year. If anything is a no-brainer it is Rainmaker. I am the most skeptical person you will ever meet, but I can honestly say that Rainmaker lives up to ever single claim made in the marketing. It is like having a marketing company, a secretary, an IT person, an assistant manager, and an accountant all in one. I push a button and a massive action takes place… Emails start flooding my inbox and I don’t even remember anything was sent. NPE is now writing my content, NPE is getting me referrals, NPE is monitoring my website, NPE is providing value to my clients, NPE is practically running my business…and I am taking more time off within two months than the entire previous two years combined.
At the time of writing this (remember this was originally for the member of the year) I am currently on vacation… I have three new programs starting in less than a week and I am on vacation… That’s because I have Rainmaker and all my marketing is on “cruise control”…
I am at home helping raise my boys, helping my wife, training for my next Ironman, and feeling complete FREEDOM! No more blind spinning, no more marriage to retail business, and not another decade spent working to make someone else rich!
Now What?
Why select Jeremy Gritton and Gritton’s Training System?
• When given the scholarship I will do you proud by becoming the 2010 Member of the Year, through being able to afford all the VIP programs.
• My story is unique in that I have accomplished all this while still working at a health club. It is different, I am different, I want and need to win this scholarship.
• Help me help you… (as Tom Cruise once said). This scholarship will enable me to get one step closer to a VIP enrollment, a new studio, a new life for me and my family, and eventually the 2010 member of the year.
• I want this scholarship because I have looked at many other hotels to save money each night, but I don’t want to stay somewhere else. I want to be at the Hilton meeting other trainers who have taken the leap of faith into a studio of their own. I want to be in the heart of the energy or Mega Training. I want to be walking the hallways, eating breakfast with, and asking questions with my peers who are where I want to be in their business. I simply can’t do that at another hotel.
• I have studied all Australia Member of the Year Videos, I have studied the “Sales Letter” drafted by you guys (Eric and Sean) to get nominated by Dan Kennedy for your Nomination to speak and win the “Summit” conference, I have studied last year’s winner Ms Ross (both her video and website), I will study every piece of literature and value every penny saved on my Mega Training trip due to this scholarship.
• As I stated earlier, this entire format was written with the intent of winning the “Member of the Year” contest. Now that I have seen this opportunity I want the scholarship more than member of the year (that can wait until next year). While the NISSAN 370z is an unbelievable prize, it is not what I need. I need this scholarship so that I can re-invest in my business through NPE and my future studio.
What road is Gritton’s Training System headed down?
* A Mega Training Scholarship, (I hope)
* More programming with NPE (VIP acceptance first, and everything on the menu to help grow my business)
* A new studio of my own, so that I can be growing my business and building one that has tangible worth
* Time to train for my next Ironman (I know, I must be a gluten for punishment)
* But, most importantly…. More time for my FAMILY!
I thank you in advance for your time and consideration and I WILL see you in Orlando.
Sean and Eric,
Wow what a year its been. I started off in January working on Gold Rush. Our event was in Feburary, on a cold and rainy night. No one goes out in L.A. in the rain. We had over 65 people show up, it was standing room only. We closed 10 people from that event, and got new clients coming into our regular exercise classes. It kept snowballing into the following months. My SA’s were blown away and 2 of them became regular clients. The Doctor is writing a book about the secrets of living in L.A. and asked me to write a chapter on pilates. We joined with an exercise workout line and started having their employees work out at the studio. All was rolling forward as the econmy slowed down, we added more classes to off set clients who couldn’t always do private sesssions. So we didn’t lose anyone. They kept coming to us in different ways. All was moving forward. I felt a lack in my business skills. I signed up for Commander, and with Dick and Camillia’s help moved forward. Talk about moving out of my comfort zone. My vision for my company is fixed, we all job descriptions, we are moving forward with our current project. Let me stop here by saying, in the past I had so many balls in the air I could only finish the ones that dropped. I always felt like I was running between my studio, my kids , my husband, and doing them all poorly. Now I have buffer time in my day for all the daily activities that need to get done. Including my family. I have my 2 days a week where I do work, moving the business forward. I have free time just for me…… I have my dream time. I haven’t allowed myself that in along time. Last year everything was on credit cards, I am paying all that off and I am moving into a thriving business. That is because of NPE. I thank you all for your time and energy. I thank you for dealing with the stupid questions and never making me feel like they were stupid. Helping us all grow and change. I joined the chamber of commerce, and all of a sudden I am getting recoginized out in the community. My pubic speaking is what I am focusing on now. Also a nutrition program for the studio. I see how well everyone is doing with that. Moving forward I have been asked into a training program to train new teachers, which really excites me. Thank for helping clarify my future.
You guys are amazing! What an opportunity you have given us to tell you about our passion for this business and why we want to be part of your Mega Training. My husband, Joe and I started Sculptor Fitness 14 years ago, before personal training studios and boot camps were common place in the fitness world. We had both worked, trained and managed in a larger gym for years & knew we wanted something better… Something that would change people’s lives. Our success was directly related to our ability to attract & retain clients. The passion we demonstrated drew clients to us immediately & they brought their friends and family. We poured our hearts into this business from our meager start in 1995 of $66k a year to our peak in 2007 of $386k a year. Life was good, then our world crashed down… In October of 2007 my best friend, business partner & husband was diagnosed with Stage 4 Kidney Cancer. Joe immediately started treatment while I tried to carry on with the business. I was 5 months pregnant with our twin boys when Joe lost his battle with cancer. The Sculptor clients were amazing throughout our struggle providing love, support even donations to keep our gym afloat. Joe was a big guy with an even bigger personality. Over 400 clients flooded his memorial service telling their favorite Joe-ism and training highlight with a badge of honor. Losing my husband was devastating, but I also lost an amazing trainer & my business partner! Joe’s death combined with my maternity leave and the crappy economy has chopped our revenue down 65%… OUCH!
I am back full time training clients & digging us out of dept, but I need to work smarter not harder! For the love of Joe, I created a new LLC, JoMo. I have purchased larger piece of commercial property. I am determined to keep his dream alive. I need your HELP!!
TRAIN ME!!!
Check out photos of my BIG Joe and our beautiful twin boys on Facebook ~ Sculptor Fitness!
Its be crazy over the last year.
So my story: I started a fledgling strength company back in June of 2008 and have struggled for over a year. I had a full-time job and although it was fairly lucrative, I knew it wasn’t something I wanted to do forever and retire like the rest of the sheep in this country with a cheap watch and a boot in the @ss out the door (If i was lucky enought to make it that far!), so I began running a small training business out of my enclosed trailer that I have all of my equipment and I now haul it around the area training both individuals and groups because the property and the housing where I live is simply ridiculous in price. I simply cant afford to lease or buy any commercial property at this point in time.
So April 2009 rolls around and I lose my lucrative job. Well I saw it coming but it was still devastating as my wife and I lost 62% of the household income that was coming in. Luckily I had dreams to run my own business and was smart enough to begin the process prior to this event. We had gotten our finances in order “just in case.” Its funny how intuition works, isn’t it?
Well here we are, her working full-time and me trying to get this thing to float-but I need a few more buckets! I believe in my heart that NPE has the buckets I need to remove the water that’s coming in the holes I have in my business. I have attempted a small business in the past but it wasn’t my passion and consequently it failed. But strength training is my passion. I absolutely love to help people transform their bodies and feel better about themselves.
After looking at the lineup of speakers for the NPE Mega Training, and what they have to offer, I know in my heart that the training is something that I desperately need, because I know that if I can get a couple of hints and some direction from the training, this thing will absolutely take off.
You see I was certified as an RKC-Russian Kettlebell Instructor in September of 2008 and you have John Du Cane and Rob Santarossa on your list of speakers. I have heard John speak before, at the RKC, and I know he has a great deal more to offer. Now I realize that there are many other great speakers ready to make us successful business owners and I would really like the opportunity to listen to them all, but with kettlebells sweeping the country and the RKC being the elite program of Kettlebell instructors, I would truly enjoy getting the perspective of those who run businesses based on a program similar to mine.
I have 2 kettlebell and bodyweight bootcamps getting ready to begin at the end of this month and I know I have what it takes to make them successful in addition to my one-on-one training, but I also know that even though I have learned a great deal over this past year +, I have so much more to learn and I would appreciate your help. I know I will not fail if I have you guys in my corner to wipe up the blood and tell me which combinations to throw during the next round.
Thanks,
Victor
In october 2008 my business crashed… clients lost jobs in droves and I in turn… lost clients
I am a personal trainer.
My small home business took a resounding blow and was the effects were unrelenting.
Creditors began to call and wouldn’t listen.
More clients dropped
I dropped my prices… health is it’s own premium and I am in the business of helping others release stress.
Then opportunity knocked
In February I got a call, not far from my home there was a gym for sale and it wasn’t doing well. I was familiar with the gym and understood the problem….. It wasn’t being managed properly. But I had very little money and my bills were over due
Opportunity… Scary times
I heeded the call. I sold my 401k – rewrote my business plan and was able to buy what I consider to be..the gym that can.
I need help.
July 1st 09…. Absolute Body Symmetry became a commercially established gym.
I’ve done door to door hangers, established a relationship with the Jewish Community and purchased advertising in their specially developed yellow pages.
I joined the neighborhood development team.
My advertising dollars are gone for the year
I need help
You can help me to help myself
I await your call
Until then
I hold my motto close
Success Live Here
Hi Sean, Eric, Dick, & Camilla,
My name is Vern Gauthier. I along with my brother Jeff own and operate Fit For You Health Club, located in Traverse City, Michigan. Our story goes all the way back to 1986.
We were two body builders with only high school diplomas. We wanted to start a gym and be personal trainers and we did just that and found we were pretty good at it. However the primary objective at that time was to be professional bodybuilders. We were both working full time jobs to pay the bills and each taking our shift at the gym and above all that, preparing for competitions. Oh and I almost forgot we were not drawing a paycheck from the gym.
Well time went on and we both did quite well in bodybuilding becoming state champions and then national champions and then into the pro ranks. We found that we were paying more to compete than we were winning. So at that time a career in personal training was sounding better and better.
We both dedicated our lives to building a personal training business; we had the knowledge and the personality to grow quite quickly. Jeff and I were the whole team from running the phones, front desk, cleaning the toilets and personal training when we had time. You may have noticed that I did not say running the business. This was the part that we had no background in so we just did the best we could. Finally the time came to hire our first employee and that’s where our tangled up web began.
Well to make a long story short another 12 to 15 years went by and we found ourselves with a 15,000 sq. ft. building filled with equipment everything you name it. We had 13 employees all doing there own thing. We tried getting a hold of things but there was one large problem, Jeff and I were training 40 hours a week and trying to run the business in our spare time.
We were always fighting to keep our heads above water and we were doing it but we never knew from month to month what we were going to do next. What we did know for sure was we could not afford to step back from training; it was too much of our monthly revenue so we had to continue on until one day Jeff said he had gotten an email from a gentleman saying they could help build our personal training program. My first response was very negative. What in the hell would we want to do that for, we were already training 40 hours a week. We couldn’t handle more and we certainly couldn’t hire more trainers. That just meant more payroll to me. Since I was doing the payroll in my spare time I didn’t want more.
Well I reluctantly agreed to have a webinar (this was the first time I even heard of a webinar) with a gentleman named Sean Greely. Well the first thing he asked to see was our org chart and we were like our what? Well to keep from sounding to stupid to this stranger we told him we don’t have it on paper but basically Jeff is the first boss and I am the second boss, this is our front desk and this is our trainers. Bam its that easy, what else you want! Well he started asking questions that made us really look inside our business. On our next call with Sean we signed on with Sean and N.P.E. with C-4 training and that’s where our whole world got turned upside down, all the pieces fell out and we got another chance to put them all back together correctly.
I know this is about I am Rainmaker and I am getting there but without the back ground from Sean, Eric, Dick, and Camilla we could not have handled Rainmaker. It’s just that good!
In our first 3 day training conference we got so much information it was totally overwhelming. Something that Dick said to us that weekend I will never forget, he said “Eat the elephant one bite at a time”. And we did just that one bite at a time! And we got an enormous amount done.
Well in the midst of all this I started getting emails from Eric talking about the magic bullet. We had already gained a lot of trust from this team so if they said it was good then it was good. So we were one of the first on the list to receive training on I am Rainmaker.
Well let me tell you it started all over again totally overwhelmed with info but these guys think this stuff through, they had us start with the first things first and the second things never. And with the awesome coaching from N.P.E. and the tech support from send pepper we were eating the elephant one bite at a time. We started Rainmaker with the built in smart forms and sequences and started learning about it and how it worked, we were getting success in our first month. Then we decided to create a small sample campaign with Rainmaker. We called it the 5 Rules of Engagement to your fitness success. It was a Personal Training program to run on Autopilot. The first two emails hit with no response, on the same day the third email hit and we got 7 leads. With having Auto closer pretty much in place we new what to do with the leads. This doesn’t sound like much but were talking about 3 to 5000 dollar ticket items and we knew how to convert them.
Well we are only one month into that campaign and we are getting 1, 2, and 3 leads per day. We started a testimonial program call the Makeover to build testimonials and build our Database with pretty good success, and it is just 3 weeks old. We just started yesterday a new banner on our webpage called ask the pros to build our Database and that will trigger the 5 Rules of Engagement sequence. The sky is the limit we have so many ideas for Rainmaker. Next I want to start public speaking engagements.
Oh and since we started in June 2009, that’s only 3 months, both Jeff and I are out of personal training and are full time running the business. The revenue we were afraid to lose has doubled and we are in August which is generally a very slow month. If your even thinking about a N.P.E. program, just do it, thanks us later!
Well that is a very condensed version of our story. We have so many ideas and we are only just getting started. Thank you NPE, we are customers for life!
Jeff & Vern Gauthier
Approximately 9 months ago my business suffered a tremendous loss after having the 2 first quarters of 2008 break records. It was disparaging to say the least. I was virtually retired from training and I was so excited I had reached a new pinnacle in not just my business but my life. When the economy collapsed, I lost 10 clients within 6 weeks that did not renew. Fear polluted the minds of these clients and they all fled. To make matters worse, I did not obtain a single new client for over 7 weeks. All my marketing poles were snagging seaweed. So, I rolled up my sleeves and retooled every facet of my business. Marketing, management, hiring practices, sales, client retention/referral, etc. Thank God I had taken Duplicator prior to the collapse and just finished Auto Closer in October 2008. I reviewed every nugget and followed the advice of NPE via their emails, and other material I had purchased. Then, came what matters most: ACTION! 7 days a week I applied not only everything I learned but was inspired to new ideas that I had never thought of before. Well, fast forward to today. Everything is so much better! Higher Retention, Bigger & Better sales ever in a “Bad Economy”, new referrals through my new program developed after purchasing NPE’s referral program, my website’s been kicking ass, and I even generated a $2800 sale from a Free NPE Idea for marketing to salons! Plus, I even formed a local Mastermind Group that meets at my house twice a month.Today, my future is returning quickly and I went from training 2 days back to 5 days and now I’m back down to training only 3 days per week. Back on Track, Jack! Although I am doing significantly better, I accrued a tremendous amount of credit card debt last year in 3 months. Plus, Mr. Evil Credit Card Company decided to step on my neck and increase my Apr’s from 9.99 to 29.99! So, I’ve chopped it down but not enough. Due to my stubborn determination, I’m fixated on ridding myself of this as soon as possible. Right now, I am budgeting myself and refuse to use any credit cards unless I can afford it through my business account. I have not taken a vacation since 2007. I am a firm believer in delayed gratification and self discipline. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know this has happened for a reason and is preparing me for something greater than I can imagine right now. I love what I do and everyday is blessing to me. I am very thankful for everything I have: A studio packed with equipment, Great Trainers & an Executive Assisant, 3 computers, a beautiful house in AZ with an awesome pool, a car that is paid for, 2 DVR’s , great friends/family/mentors, and most of all my health and my “Never Ever Give Up” mindset that continually propels me towards greater accomplishments and a balanced life.
Unfortunately, I have no room right now in my budget for the NPE Mega Training and would love to attend! So, this is my story and I hope you consider me as a candidate for your full ride scholarship. Thank you for the opportunity! You guys are very generous to even do something like this…….That speaks volumes.
Mark Hill
Owner
Lifestyles Fitness Personal Training
FIRM Fitness Camp
First of all, thank you for the chance to win the free ride and a chance to tell my story.
My name is Chad “Action” Brandt and for the last year and a half I have managed and been the sole coach of my business; CrossFit Lethbridge.
I have never spoken of my fitness journey thus far and am a little nervous to get some of it out.
I came to a point in my life where I had to make a choice; to live loud or simply not to live. I was at the biggest low in my work career and even bigger low in my own personal fitness blowing up to a x-large 220lbs. I sought help from my aunt who is my life coach and she told me to find a word that will help me lead my life.
I chose “Action”…to always take Action and keep moving forward, thus my nickname was born. I took hold of my life creating and attaining the goals I set. Always moving foward.
CrossFit is group personal training at one flat rate monthly or yearly and you may come all seven days per week; this is not like individual personal training where it is a specific fee for one session; when I break it down I make $6-8 per hour per client and classes can range from 1-12. As it stands I am hovering at 40 clients and am only using word of mouth advertising.
Just over one month ago, I have taken a giant leap and moved into a 5000 square foot building with big rent but lots of space to grow. This has really hurt me finacially, but I am taking ACTION on getting my clients and my buisness to the next level. I have started to make brochures with our classes and now offer Personal Training and nutrition plans with consultations, but no one is taking these sessions with me because of the CrossFit group training that is affordable. So I am taking one of my existing CrossFit members and we are making a progress video on his Fitness Journey to improve his CrossFitting by coming and training personally with me for 90 days. He has agreed to help me out and get this personal training off the floor.
As it stands now finacially I can barely pay the bills and I am behind on my Student Loan payments.
I need some help from your teachings to get my business working as one unity. Rather than CrossFit group classes OR personal training, get the clients to see the value in CrossFit AND personal training. I read your web-site testimonials and can already see where I have gone wrong (as in only looking at how much the business is making as a whole and then worring like hell about it….this will only cause me more worry).
I would love the opportunity to attend this seminar and be able to grow my business for my benefit, but also for my client’s benefit. The more organized the business is, the easier it will be to provide my clients the tools to a healthy lifestyle.
Thank you for your time and all the effort you give helping others
Chad
I think my business name “Never Quit” says it all. If that isn’t commitment, drive, and dedication I don’t know what is. I have a full plate right now, running my personal training and bootcamp business, obtaining my B.S. in Kinesiology Applied Exercise Science, and teaching the National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer Course at a Junior College in San Diego. I have been doing all that I can think of to promote my business in the last couple months. I even got the Cops called on me for posting flyers on a local street! I started three different bootcamps and failed at the first two. I went out and spent an hour and a half setting up for an entire week at 6:00am, when that didn’t work, I set up at 9:30am, and when that didn’t work I set up at 6:30pm. Finally the third attempt began to get some interest but I had to ride out the first couple weeks with almost no one attending. I have been able to look at my failures as lessons and opportunities. I could use solid marketing principles to apply to my business and achieve ultimate success. It doesn’t matter what happens with the economy! I believe that it is just an opportunity for those of us who have drive for success to work harder and smarter and come out above the competition. I will do what it takes to come out on top. San Diego is very saturated with trainers and I could use something to give me an advantage. For my NASM class the college was going to cancel it, saying that they could not afford to print catalogs because of the economy. I told them to print out some flyers and that I would promote the class myself. I went to every gym in North County San Diego, spoke with each manager about how benificial being in a 50 hour course that taught NASM principles would be for their trainers. I had every one of them post the flyer in their trainers break room, I then went to all the libraries and got them to post the flyer up on the bulletin boards there. After that I emailed each and every previous student I had and told them about this amazing class. Bottom line because of my determination to keep the class up and running, we had 16 people sign up! Each had to pay $849! Hows that for a tough economy? I believe in my self and if you are looking for someone who is committed, dedicated, and driven I am your guy. I am not going to give you sob stories, I just want you to know that I will do what it takes and I will NEVER QUIT!
Well (Molli & I ) we decided to increase our boot camp participants.
Goal 40 new paying clients in 90 days starting July 3rd 2009, written down and documented funny photo available:
> Can only use new ways to get clients, no past marketing ideas allowed.
> Must employ new mental strategy that allows people to come to camp in ways we have not implemented in the past
Result:40 new paying boot camp participants in 77 days, September 17th 2009
Created:
> Text diet, automated text reminders sent out 3 times a day 5 days a week reminding our customers to eat the meals on the generic meal plan that was created once a week on Fridays. 97 people now receiving the eating reminders. http://www.inlandempirebootcamp.com/textdiet/
> Creating Text Diet marketing product for other trainers
>Started using Rainmaker!
>Created Restaurant video reviews: partnering with local restaurants to showcase healthy eating and “free” food for our campers and restaurant customers who optin to the rainmaker system http://www.inlandempirebootcamp.com/html/restaurant_reviews.html
> Created Biggest loser contest for the local grocery store, tying in “Text Diet” online boot camp workouts and outdoor boot camp workouts. 27 participants paying us $5 per month for 1 weigh in or 1 hour of our time per month, all participants paid in advance for 4 weigh ins. $540 in cash revenue, total new boot camp participants and referrals yet to be determined. http://www.inlandempirebootcamp.com/html/ralphs.html
> 40 New members are $99 per month on 6 month contract attending camp 3 days a week, all on eft. 4 week camp 1 week off …… 4 week camp 1 week off ect…..
> Created SeeItAsPerfect.com The new mental strategy to help clients and their businesses create better results. Applied “text Diet” concept to a mental series of texts to keep people “emotionally fit”
>created (5) new websites/blogs to dominate the local area by having a specific blog for each city that is automatically updated and linked to main website. All blogs now rank on first page of Google for each city and they all rank on the first page for multiple cities which means we now have several of our websites/blogs on the first page of Google dominating sometimes 5 out of 10 spots. Now we are going to clean up the blogs ect…
>Started a referral campaign to turn the 40 into 100 and raise the price back up to $199 per camp (3 days a week) our normal fee.
> Created (meet-up style) hiking group. Took 11 people to the top of Mt Whitney 14,496 ft the tallest point in the continental US and did it in 1 day out and back, and now 14 more to the Havasupai Water Falls at the bottom of the Grand Canyon
> Created “80’s Fear Factor” night. Pot luck healthy dishes only dress as you were in the 80’s (our clients are 40 to 44 year old women) IT WAS A BASH!
Thanks guys!
Tony
Eric and Sean,
This is a long overdue thank you for the success of Trinity Fitness in Atlanta, GA.
Since starting my first business at 19, I had read hundreds of books on sales, marketing, business, self-help and more. Since I didn’t have a college degree, I knew I had to educate myself even more since this was a huge step out from being an independent trainer. The marketing company next door assisted with brand frame work and our niche. We decided on women’s fitness, nutrition and empowerment. On August 18th, 2005 Trinity Fitness began!
That summer I had met Eric Ruth at the Phil Kaplan seminar in Ft. Lauderdale. I was really impressed with the information and bought everything Eric and Phil had to sell. I couldn’t wait to get back to Atlanta. I was anxious to start implementing the tactics and tools I learned at the seminar in combination with what P.O.V. (Point of Vision), the marketing company, had shown me to take off running.
2006 and 2007 were pretty good years. We continued doubling the income of the gym and were making progress. However, it was hard for me to duplicate myself. I knew sooner or later we’d hit a ceiling if I was the main contributor to the success of the clients and members.
We had added a line of Trinity videos, cd’s and manuals of all of our most popular products. I simply couldn’t find time to build a system to teach my staff how to train and sell like I did. We experienced a lack of consistency with closing and follow through. I had looked into information products and set a realistic goal of building a substantial revenue stream for Trinity out of this line. What I didn’t realize when partnering with the production team was they expected me to do all the work and them sit back and collect checks. This slowed my income goal from this new venture to a halt. I didn’t have time to train staff properly, let alone create a new marketing plan for a huge info product line.
Days later I received a postcard flyer in the mail from Eric and Sean about a program called Duplicator. I thought, “This is great!” They have a system to teach duplication. After I finished the program, I received another post card about Auto Closer. If you’ve seen the post card it boasts of tens of thousands of dollars personal trainers were banking in short periods of time using this system. Yes, I was skeptical, but, I knew Eric. I thought, “If this isn’t true, I’ll be really shocked.”
While going through Auto Closer, I realized it was another “must have” for teaching staff to sell the way I did. Plus, it helped me fill in the gaps in my sales process.
Only 3 weeks into the program I decided to try it on new prospects. We were selling huge packages! For over 6 months we had a 100% close rate. It was unbelievable!
Summertime was here, it was supposed to be slow, but we kept making more and more money and members and clients kept running through the door to sign up! Since we were on such a roll, Deep Core came out and we had to have that too! These systems launched us from slow and steady progress to super fast results almost overnight!
It was like rocket fuel!
I couldn’t believe how easy it was! Learn the program, implement the action steps and see huge returns!
BTW- I was only a Gold Plus member at the time. September 2008 was the first Mega-Training event and it rocked. I signed up for a new website, Infusionsoft program and filled out the application for VIP. I was all in! As members of Trinity say, “I drank the Kool-aid!”
As a VIP member, it’s a great to have so many marketing campaigns and programs at your finger tips. I find it hard to always get on the webinars, but love the fact that everything is online to access later.
In December 2008 we expanded into the space next door. Now we are at 8,000 sq ft.
To take a step back for a minute: I added all these new additions based on numbers. Our numbers, even though there was a “recession” were continuing to grow. We continued to double and in some months triple what we had set from the year before. It didn’t look like anything was going to stop us moving into 2009!
But, something did, and it hit hard.
All the momentum and the wind in our sails were gone! Leads were drying up and the phone stopped ringing. We had never lost members or clients like this before. Until December 2008 we had a retention rate of over 90%. For the first time in Trinity’s history, members and clients were leaving for other reasons than moving away or relocating. Most claimed job losses, relocating and other reasons for canceling memberships.
I had never experienced anything like this before. I couldn’t figure it out.
Something that was going so right, in a blink of an eye, started to collapse with no real explanation. I started questioning myself, my leadership ability and everything about me. My staff, which had grown to 14, was now down to 5. This is the part where, I think, the true power NPE is over looked. Yeah, we like to hear about the successes and the continuous growth, but sometimes there are setbacks. Real setbacks, which can destroy your business and leave you in the business graveyard with many others if you don’t have a strong team, like NPE to help you stay focused and assess goals and benchmarks.
I started having weekly coaching calls with Camelia. If you ever have an opportunity to work with her, she’s awesome. There is a reason she owned a million dollar fitness business! Since last year four fitness centers in the area have gone under, three of which were women’s fitness centers. I explained to Camelia my concerns about my ability to lead this company further. I really felt I had failed. She told me, if I had failed, I would have been one of those other gyms that had already closed. That was huge for me! I’ve always been the guy everyone looks to for answers. I rarely have a support person of my own. She became my coach to assist me in getting Trinity back on track. We took a step back, reassessed Trinity’s plan for the year and went to work on rebuilding what we had accomplished last year.
Now, we are on fire!
* We’re signing people up for everything from nutrition classes, self-defense seminars, personal training programs and more!
* We’re back on radio and television spots as the local experts for women’s fitness and empowerment.
* I’ve only begun to understand the power, but Infusion, up to this point, has been a great way to systemize everything from lead tracking to email marketing. We’re looking to use it as our billing system as well. Having one program that can do it all, is great!
* The website Lynn Van Dyke and her crew built for Trinity is unbelievable! We receive an average of 5 leads per day!
We just worked these two media opportunities into our schedule!!!
* September 22nd, I’m presenting at an event called “Chicks fight back!” We’ve partnered with WSB AM 750 and B98.5FM to put on this self-defense seminar for 500-700 women.
* A local television network is interviewing and having us on for a feature segment on women’s safety and self-defense.
Thanks again!
Nathan J. Nowak
President, CEO Professional Training Systems, Inc.
Owner, Trinity Fitness
I’m not gonna give you a said sob story about my condition because frankly at this point it doesn’t matter. What I will give you is this…I have been STRUGGLING to make this business happen for 3 or 4 years now. I won’t blame circumstances because it all boils down to my reaction to those circumstances. Though I’ve had many unsuccessful attempts, I am finally starting to see reactions to my efforts over the past three or four months. Though financial I’m not where I should be, getting my name and efforts out there looks like it will start to pay off.
Last month, I attended a city event where I added 14 new prospects to my database. I offered a 30 day boot camp as a raffle prize. While at the event the city rep for the park asked if I’d be interested in starting a seniors program and of course I said yes. Though it will be a FREE program starting in October for seniors, they will pull all permits and put me in all of the city publications and press releases. I will have the opportunity to use the attendees for testimonials and announce the camp in my own print newsletter (a GP module) and on my website.
Since I am still working to get a boot camp off the ground, the winner of the30 day camp has been getting PT sessions which aren’t a problem. Using the advice from the PT Retention (GOLD CD) she has been blown away by the service and commitment to her needs. Turns out she is the school districts library coordinator and secretary at her church.
I’ve been contacted by her Pastor to give a health and fitness seminar at their church in October which I plan to also use to leverage (Gold Rush) for Young and Healthy. An organization that works with volunteer doctors and dentists who provide basic health care screening and wellness checks for kids and families with little or no health care in the public school system. This is exciting for me and I know is just the beginning of my dream to become a full time trainer. My desire is not only to change my life but to help others change theirs. Also, it is an opportunity to provide jobs and opportunities for others seeking to make a difference.
I signed up for I AM Rainmaker and have sent out lead generation cards and will continue to do so. I am also using the client catcher in I AM Rainmaker and looking for opportunities every day.
The state of the economy doesn’t scare me-why? I’ve already been working with less so all there is for me is more.
My goal for the year ahead:
1) get the boot camp off the ground by building off the events listed above
2) purchase and implement Deep Core
3) become a VIP boot camp member in 2010
Champions don’t blame circumstances, the react to them.
Pamela K
Neighborhood-Fit
Hi Guys,
4 Weeks ago I attended the FFP Mega Training Weekend in Australia, where I was voted “Member of the Year”. I had the privelage of meeting Sean and Dick there, who both now no the incredible changes I have been able to make to my business with your support.
In a nutshell, I have gone from working 70+ hours a week with an annual turnover of $300,000 to working 30 hours a week and an annual turnover of OVER $1000,000, in the space of 8 months.
Do I want to hear more of what you guys have to say? Hell yes!!
I got so much out of the Australian Mega Training Weekend,and have so much faith in what you guy’s have to offer, that Iam willing take a week off work, fly 15,000 kms across the world, costing thousands of dollars just to be there.
As someone once sang “ain’t no moutain high enough, aint no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough to keep me from you”.
I just need a bed!!
Dirk.
Addendum to September 18 comment:
Hi Eric and Sean,
I am hungry, trainable and teachable. When selected for the scholarship (hint,hint, wink,wink), I’ll give the best damn CD of the month interview you could ever imagine.
Thanks,
Pamela K.
Congrats Jeremy!