Every next level of your business requires something different from you. What got you to where you are now is not going to be OK to get you to your next level. Whether that is going from outdoor training, to in a gym, or maybe opening up a new facility or going into a larger facility.
Next levels always require more of you. Today in this episode of Quick Wins With COM, Richard talks with Tony Menillo from Better Than Ever in Adelaide. Tony has been a part of our COM Ninja Program for the past 8 months and in that time gone from operating in a small studio in Adelaide where he couldn’t fit everyone in – to fitting out a brand new warehouse space and filling it to capacity before he even moved in!
Tony’s story is that he has owned this warehouse space in Adelaide for around 10 years but was fearful to make the jump from his small comfortable studio space, into this larger space. It’s not an easy feat to move into a new space. Not only do you have to worry about council planning, architects, engineers, and all the business side of things. You have to make sure that it’s still convenient for your current clients to get to and it’s in the right location, etc.
Fast forward a few months and Tony has moved fitted out his brand new location, moved in and sold 100 NEW foundation memberships (not including his old clients). It’s an amazing result for someone who one year ago was help captive by fear.
Tony joins Richard for this episode of Quick Wins With COM to give his four points for stretching and moving to new levels in your fitness business.
1. Believe In Yourself
Ah Mindset. You can have all the training in the world, but unless you have the right mindset you will find it very hard to move to the next level in business and do something that you’ve never done before.
Tony’s biggest tip is to just Believe In Yourself. Believe that you are the number 1 trainer in your local area. Believe that you make a difference to your clients. Believe that you are worth it.
This is very much easier said than done. You may need to speak your affirmations to yourself each morning. Maybe you need to write down in a vision board what you want? There are many things you can do to upgrade your belief in yourself and your business.
Start to talk to yourself and tell yourself that YOU CAN DO IT.
2. Know Your Numbers
It’s all well and good to believe in yourself but at some point you need to make sure you are making GOOD decisions. Get yourself good advisers around your business in accounting, marketing, sales, retention, etc. Talk about your ideas with those people and get their advice.
They can very easily help you to set about a plan to make your goals a reality – but without them you might make some big errors – so make sure you have great people around you who can help you to push forward.
A good accountant will be able to work through with you how much your expenses are, how much your income is and reduce the stress on yourself making all these decision without really knowing exactly where you are at right now.
3. Get The Right Structures In Place
Now that you believe in yourself, and you’ve got the advice of good business people around you. You really need to make sure you have the operational systems in place to be able to scale.
This comes down to writing things down, making sure that your business can run without you.
It may require you to bring on trainers, scale your business to an online model, or start franchising. Whatever scale looks like to you it’s going to require that you get the right structures in place. This might mean writing down what it is you do, how you do it, WHY you do it that way. It will mean getting contracts in place – systems for training, nutrition, etc.
A great way to get this started, is simply to write a list of everything you do – from training clients, to doing accounts, sales calls, etc. Then as you can offload and delegate some of these things that you don’t necessarily HAVE to do.
One thing is for sure – if you don’t have the right structure in place – you will quickly fail. So start thinking about systems now.
4. Don’t Procrastinate
Tony drives it home for us with his last tip which is ‘Don’t Procrastinate.’ You can have all the plans and dreams in the world, but if you’re not taking action towards them – they are just pipe dreams.
Don’t let fear hold you back from reaching your full potential in your business. The fact is, when you’ve nailed the first three points – you are ready to go. When you have a belief in yourself, when you’ve run the numbers and when you’ve got the structures in place – there is nothing else holding you back!
BONUS – Start Marketing
The last point is to start marketing BEFORE you move into that new facility, or you add that new class or expand in that way. We have seen massive results come from pre-launching new facilities for our clients. But the KEY is to start marketing early. Make sure that you’ve got your branding on point, that you know your numbers when it comes to how many leads you need and what type of marketing you need to be doing.
Bottom line is: Don’t wait 13 years to make your dreams a reality. Get the right advice, believe in yourself and go make it happen!
