Make a choice - To take a dip in income or not!

Hey Fitness Pros,

As we enter summer, personal trainers start to brace for the slower season with clients away on holidays.

You can choose to either take the dip in income and enjoy a few extra hours of rest and relaxation...Not a bad idea actually! Or if reducing your income is not exactly what you want to do, be proactive and take some action steps to get an influx of new clients into your system. Here's some ideas:

1. Host a 28 day "Beach Body Quick Fat Loss program"

2. Host a Summer Outdoor Bootcamp program or other outdoor program

3. Make a list of some high-profile community members (politicians, business owners, athletes, TV/Media personalities etc) and send them a card thanking them for everything they do in your community. Include a Gift Certificate for 3 Private Training sessions. Wanna bet that many of them will continue once they complete their 3 sessions?!

4. Call all your clients you haven't seen in a while and suggest they come in for a program update or a vacation program that they can do on holidays or at the cottage.

5. Organize a dance party, seminar, community exercise class, fitness trade show etc. Charge a small fee and have proceeds go to a local charity. Give all attendees a trial session/pass to your facility. Be sure to collect contact info so you can follow up.

Get rolling on some of these ideas and your business should be thriving this summer.

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

Host a party!

Dear Fitness Pros,

When was the last time you hosted a party in honor of your clients? It doesn't need to cost much or take a ton of time to pull together. It can be as simple as arranging a group rate at a Bowling Center, a Paint Ball Location, a Salsa club, a Go-Kart venue, Karaoke night...

Get to know your clients and let them get to know you. Foster the development of friendships between clients. If your clients are friends with other clients and staff, they will be much less likely to leave and go elsewhere!

It's one of the pieces to our Million Dollar Training Studio puzzle!

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

Ideas to generate revenues this summer...

Hey Fitness Pros,

The summer months are upon us. Yahoo baby! Can you tell I'm a summer girl?!

Anyways, I wanted to suggest that if you're not offering any type of outdoor programming, you should seriously consider it. It's so nice to get out of the four walls of a gym, a great way to add variety to your clients' programming, increase your summer-month revenues and it's super fun!

Here's some ideas...

*Start an Outdoor Bootcamp
*Host a Learn to Run program
*Host a 5km, 10km, Half Marathon or Marathon training program
*Organize a Triathlon Training clinic
*Organize a Hiking Trek
*Organize an adventure

We are offering all of these services this spring/summer including a hiking, biking and kayaking trek through the San Juan Islands. This is the BEST part of my job!

Create a summer that you and your clients will never forget!

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

ps. If you're looking for an easy way to implement these types of initiatives, join our Personal Training MasterMind Group. Your 1st month is FREE. Contact kari@nwpersonaltraining.com if you're interesting in learning how we do $1,000,000 per year at our 5,000 square foot training facility in Vancouver WA - population of 150,000 people.

What are you doing for Mother's Day?

Dear Fitness Pros,

Mother's Day is just around the corner. Plan special activities, events, classes etc to celebrate women! Here are some ideas for you:

*Host a Mother/Daughter class ie Dance, Yoga, Kickboxing...
*Organize a Mother's Day Bootcamp
*Organize a fundraiser with the beneficiary being an important woman's cause
*Hold a Woman's Health seminar
*Bring in a massage therapist for the day to give your female clients free mini-massage sessions
*Give each gal at your studio a flower or inspirational poem
*Offer Gift Certificates, specials, promotional offers etc.

These events don't have to require a lot of planning time, energy or money. Just do something special to show your female clients how much you love and appreciate them.

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

ps. Speak to Kari Schunk, our Fitness Education Director, about our Personal Training Mastermind group. If you were part of this program, you would have access to all the templates and materials to make your life a lot easier! Email her at kari@nwpersonaltrainin.com

'Bring your Child to Work-out Day!"

Hey Fitness Pros,

Next Thursday April 22nd is Bring your Child to Work day. In order to encourage a healthy lifestyle in our kids, take a spin on this national holiday and host a "Bring your Child to Work-out Day!" Encourage your clients to bring their kids to a class or to their personal training appointment. We've got to start them young in order to ensure they learn to love to move their bodies!

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

Photos from my Fitness Professional Resort Trip...

Hey Fitness Pros,

My teaching vacation at the resort in Mexico was absolutely fabulous. I wanted to make sure I let you know whether it was a positive or negative experience and it was all amazing! It was such a fabulous way to meet people from all over the world and since I'd be working out anyways, it didn't feel like work. And my accommodations, food and alcohol were all free. It was a great dig! I'll probably never travel any other way again!

Here's a photo of me Arm Wresting. I won the Arm Wrestling champion of the whole resort. I would have made you all proud!



Bootcamp on the Beach...




There is no better way to teach Yoga than on the Beach!



Did I tell you that you get to bring a friend for free too?




Anyways, I hope you can take advantage of this type of opportunity. Definitely an industry perk!

Typically, you just have to fill out an application and prove that you are a certified professional. Then you get to search the various resorts and availability. Options are available throughout Mexico and the Caribbean including Cuba, Costa Rica and more.

There are two companies that I know of that facilitate this process. Here are their websites:

http://www.fitnessprotravel.com/

http://www.nrg2go.net/index.shtml

Happy and fit travels,

Sherri McMillan

The key to staying on top!

Dear Fitness Pros,

Stop learning and then start dying! The key to staying on top and on the cutting edge is an ongoing commitment to MCI (Measurable Constant Improvement). Read trade journals, invest in business leadership and success books, listen to webinars, watch and learn from other colleagues and attend conferences and workshops.

At NWPT, this is key to our success. We're always working hard to advance each others' skills. Our team is amazing because we all understand and embrace the importance of this!

If you're looking for a fun educational event to attend and want to hang with some really awesome people, attend our Fitness & Training Forum on Saturday April 10th with Guest Speaker Petra Kolber in Portland Oregon. It is jam packed with practical information that you can implement right away.

And if you're looking for a weekend event that will dramatically change the way you do business and significantly increase your business revenues, attend my Business of Personal Training course in May. We'll have 17 hours together over 2 days and I will teach you everything I know about running a million dollar Personal Training business.

Email Kari Schunk, our Fitness Education Director, at kari@nwpersonaltraining.com for more details and to register for either of these events.

Here's to striving to be your absolute best!

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

Plan a healthy and fun St. Patty's Day celebration

Hey Fitness Pros,

Next week is St. Patty's Day. Plan something fun for clients. Encourage everyone to wear green, play some fun Irish music, give out some door prizes, plan some fitness challenges or Exercise Trivia with an Ireland flare so people can test their Irish luck, serve green healthy drinks...

Same old, same old is the sign of a dying business. Doing little things like this that don't take a ton of time or money to organize is a great way to add some excitement and fun to your normal way of doing things.

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

ps. Contact kari@nwpersonaltraining.com for 1 month FREE Personal Training Mastermind membership.

Fitness Pros can vacation for Free!

Hey Fitness Pros,

Sorry it's been a few weeks since I've posted. I'm celebrating my 40th Birthday next week and have been enjoying a fun 40 for 40 day celebration. It's been a blast!

Anyways, today I wanted to let you know about an opportunity that exists for Fitness Professionals that I don't think enough of us take advantage of.

Put it this way - you should never have to pay for accommodations and food at a high class resort again. There are plenty of resorts that will give you free accommodations and food in return for teaching a couple classes like Yoga, Pilates, Aqua, Dance, Bootcamp etc per day. Plus, what a great way to meet people. So if you're like me and would workout and take classes anyways, why not teach them yourself and be guaranteed a fabulous workout and get to go for free. Plus you get to bring a guest and often up to 2 kids for free also. If you have more in your party, they often provide a very discounted rate for add-ons. It's a really great deal.

Typically, you just have to fill out an application and prove that you are a certified professional. Then you get to search the various resorts and availability. Options are available throughout Mexico and the Caribbean including Cuba, Costa Rica and more.

There are two companies that I know of that facilitate this process. Here are their websites:

http://www.fitnessprotravel.com/

http://www.nrg2go.net/index.shtml

Happy and fit travels,

Sherri McMillan

ps. Contact Kari Schunk at kari@nwpersonaltraining.com to sign up for 1 month of FREE Personal Training MasterMind group with me - guaranteed to increase your business revenues!

Add an Olympic theme to your training...

Hey Fitness Pros,

The Olympics are well on there way and the world is inspired and captivated by the athleticism, determination, and focus of these athletes.

So use this as an opportunity to incorporate some fun Winter Olympic challenges or workouts.

For example, maybe each day during the Olympics set a new drill, challenge or exercise with an Olympic theme. Here's some ideas. Adjust times based on the client.

* Alpine Skier Wall Squat - How long can you hold the position?

* BOSU Snowboard 180 Jumps - Perform for 30 seconds

* BOSU Luge - Hold Luge position for 45 seconds.

* X-Country Ski Race - How fast can you do 1 mile on an Indoor X-Country Ski machine?

* Apolo Ohno Exercuff Speed Skate - Set up a course around the studio and have clients 'skate' for 2 minutes

* Curling Lunges - Had to add that one in for Canada ;)

Hope this gives you some ideas. Part of being a world-class trainer is always mixing it up and keeping it fun for clients.

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

ps. We are offering your first month FREE with our Personal Training MasterMind group. Contact Kari Schunk, our Fitness Education director, at kari@nwpersonaltraining.com and she'll get you all set-up. You'll be well on your way to a million dollar training business.

The #1 Key to Success is...

Dear Fitness Pros,

I've found that success has nothing to do with money or intelligence. Instead success seems to follow those who know exactly what they want and are willing to do whatever it takes to get there!

So I want to ask you...

Do you clearly see what you want for your life and for your career? Can you paint the picture of who you want to be, what you want to do, which adventures you want to experience? I challenge you to dream big for all aspects of your life!

Secondly, do you know what you need to start doing, stop doing and keep doing to point you in the direction of your best life? Bottom line - you actually have to do something. So I challenge you to do one little thing today to prove to yourself that you've got your compass pointed where you want your life to go.

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

ps. And if you need someone to keep you accountable to achieving the best in your career, email Kari@nwpersonaltraining.com and ask about our Personal Training MasterMind group.

Why a trainer needs to schedule a workout with a trainer...

Hey Fitness Pros,

This month all of our trainers are taking me through a workout. I would suggest other trainers, owners and managers to do the same for a variety of reasons:

1. Quality control - I will evaluate our team based on a set criteria of what we believe a great session looks like from start to finish. Although every workout is different because every client is different, there are certain principles and protocol that have to be adhered to to make it a great NWPT session.

2. Ideas - Working out with another trainer is an awesome way to give you ideas for your programs, sessions and classes.

3. Great workout - I'm turning 40 in 1 month and it's time to ramp it up! I'm going to be in great shape for my Birthday!

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

Fitness Pros for Haiti

Hey Fitness Pros:

Have you organized some form of workout, exercise-a-thon etc to help the people in Haiti. It's a wonderful way to give back, get your clients together doing something amazing for themselves and those in need and just make a difference.

Some ideas:

Exercise-a-thon - 15 minute samples of various types of fitness (ie 15 minutes of kickboxing, 15 minutes of cycling, 15 minutes of Zumba, 15 minutes of Yoga etc)
A 5km Run/Walk from your club
A Hike for Haiti
Muscle-up for Haiti - a Strength training workout, challenge or contest
Dance for Haiti - a few hours of various dance formats
Yoga & Meditation for Haiti - various forms of Yoga and Meditation

We're doing a Bike n' Row event. We'll raise a minimum of $2000 in 5 hours. We're offering 5 times slots with a minimum donation of $20 per person.

Hope this gives you some good ideas.

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

The first sign of a dying business...

Hey Fitness Pros:

Stay current or die!

That's an important message.

So what are you doing differently? Are you launching a new class? Have you purchased some new equipment? Are you offering a seminar on a Hot Topic? Are you hosting a really fun adventure for your clients? Are you initiating a new Corporate Wellness program or maybe a Kids Fitness program? Are you planning a Girls Night Out or a Client Get-together?

Mediocrity, coasting, same-old, same-old - are the first signs of a dying business!

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

ps. If you are part of our Personal Training MasterMind Group, I will never let that happen to your business. I will always challenge you to think outside of the box and make it easy because I provide you the resources and tools to make it all happen. Contact our Fitness Education Director at Kari@nwpersonaltraining.com

What do you have planned for February for your PT business?

Hey Fitness Pros.

I hope you're enjoying the January rush! Although you're probably swamped with everything right now, as a leader, you need to always be looking ahead!

So my question to you is 'What do you have planned for February'?

To give you some ideas from our business...

*We're hosting a SuperBowl Flag Football game - NWPT Trainers vs Clients. It will be a fun customer service, bonding event.

*We're hosting a Couple's Bootcamp and Couple's Yoga on Valentine's Day weekend

*We're offering an Educational seminar for our clients - Education + Action = Results!

*We're hosting a Girls Night Out party

*We've offering various Valentine's Day specials and promoting Gift Certificates for the holiday

Hope that gives you some ideas.

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

ps. FYI - if you are part of our PT MasterMind group you would already have all of these templates ready to go and use. Your first month is FREE so you can see what it's all about and how we generate $1,000,000 per year in our 5000 square foot facility. Contact kari@nwpersonaltraining.com if you're ready to take your PT business to levels of success you've only dreamed of!

Thank You!

Dear Fitness Pros,

Thank you for doing what you do - our society needs you so badly! I know it can be sometimes tough to be inspirational, positive, energetic, upbeat and uplifting all the time and sometimes it can burn you out. But you've been given this purpose in life so embrace it and remember you are changing people's lives!

And thank you for allowing me to be one of your mentors. It has been my honor and pleasure to provide you with the tools, resources and inspiration to help you reach incredible levels of success in your fitness career in 2009 and I look forward to continuing this journey with you in 2010.

One of our instructors sent me the following list and I thought it would be wonderful to share with all of you as we get one last weekend to relax and rejuvenate before the January rush. Enjoy! Here's to an incredibly prosperous 2010!

SUCCESS HANDBOOK 2010

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants..
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray and/or meditate.
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2009 .
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree...

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing! (It's the hard thing)
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. God/the Universe heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come..
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank God/the Universe for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not the least:
40. Please Forward this to everyone you care about!

I wish you lots of love, laughter, peace, happiness, success and optimal health in the New Year!

xo
Sherri McMillan

You're not going to believe this - Check out how good it worked!

Hey Fitness Pros.

Yesterday I emailed you about the importance of making a proposal to media in your area. To show you that I'm not all talk...Yesterday, I took about 10-15 minutes and sent out a Press Release to all my Media contacts. By the end of the day, I received offers to be the guest on 5 TV segments and 1 Radio segment. I could never buy this kind of advertising and it's not costing me anything! Well, just a little bit of time and making the effort to position myself as the local expert on health and fitness...

Here were some of the emails I received as proof that this kind of stuff works!

Sherri, I’m a producer for the local lifestyle show “Better Portland” – I produce the local cut-ins that air during “Better” on KPTV Fox 12.

I was thinking it would be nice to do an “exercising on a budget” segment – perhaps showing some simple props that you can use at home to achieve a great work out.

Depending on your interest, we have time next Monday, Jan. 4th (at around 10 a.m. ) in our studios to tape a segment. Our segments run about three minutes long, and are pre-taped -- airing within the next week or two.

Let me know if you’re interested and I’d be happy to set something up.

Thanks!

-Amy


Sherri - I’m very interested in some of these segment ideas…

How would you feel about joining us in studio every Monday in January to discuss these topics? We could do live demonstrations, too, if needed.

I’d love to start this next Monday, January 4th.

Can we do:

--Exercising on a Budget
--How to reach your Personal Best
--Exercising with a Buddy for Motivation
--How to choose a good gym/trainer (maybe this one should be first, coupled with *WHY* we should exercise—YOU are your Best Investment).
Please let me know if you’re interested in this kind of exposure.

Thanks!
Autumn

Did she actually ask if I'd be interested in this kind of exposure?! YES, YES, YES!!

Yours in health, fitness and business

Sherri McMillan

ps. Remember, if you were part of our PT MasterMind group, you'd receive all of our ready to use Press Releases and all other templates and marketing initiatives that will substantially increase your exposure, revenues and profits. Contact Kari at kari@nwpersonaltraining.com for your 1st Month Free ($199 Value).

Be the Health and Fitness Expert in your Community!

Hey Fitness Pros.

Have you noticed on TV, newspaper and radio...everyone is talking about fitness and healthy eating and New Years Resolutions?!

Now is the time to position yourself as the local Fitness Expert. Contact local producers and editors and let them know you're available and pitch some good ideas for them.

· Exercising on a Budget (A great topic considering the current state of our economy)
· YOU are your Best Investment (Exercise should be a priority because it gives you the strength to overcome any challenges and helps to manage ongoing stress)
· How to reach your Personal Best – New You in the New Year
· Exercises you can do with a buddy to keep you both motivated
· New exercise classes – Zumba, “Melted”, Indo-Row, Belly Dance, Nia, Yoga for Runners
· Tips to help you achieve your New Year’s Resolutions
· How to choose a good gym
· How to choose a good trainer

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

ps. We're offering your 1st month into our Personal Training Master Mind group FREE. It's a $199 value and will provide you ideas, templates, samples, marketing materials, press releases, and more to take your Personal Training revenues to levels you never thought possible. Contact Kari Schunk, our Fitness Education director at 360.574.7292 or kari@nwPersonalTraining.com

Want to know how to get to a million dollar PT business? Here's our plan for 2010!

Hey Fitness Pros.

How's your planning going for 2010? We're almost done scheduling out the whole year! It's feel great to have everything organized. Then all you have to do all year is execute!

Here's our schedule of adventures to give you some ideas for your own PT Business. In addition to this list, we also schedule monthly seminars and various challenges throughout the year. I also plan out all of our internal and external advertising and marketing initiatives. Finally we always plan out Fitness Education opportunities for our trainers as well as get-togethers to develop team spirit.


http://www.nwpersonaltraining.com/subs/events/events.php?event_type=upcoming

As a side note, remember we sell the license to utilize all of our business systems. It's like purchasing a franchise without the high franchise fees and ongoing monthly payments! It's the best way to get to a million dollar PT business! Contact our Fitness Education Director Kari Schunk at kari@nwpersonaltraining.com for more details. I promise you won't regret it!

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

Check out the Marketing Plan that generates over $1,000,000 per year!

Hey Fitness Pros.

I just finished our 2010 Marketing Plan. It includes all the adventures we'll be organizing throughout the year, our internal marketing campaigns, our external marketing initiatives, any special programs we'll be hosting, all seminars we'll be offering, promotions we'll be running, team training we'll be using to advance our trainers' skills and various other critical business initiatives throughout the whole year.

It feels so good to have it all done. Now, I take all the items and add them to my Time Management system - I use Outlook. Then the system triggers me to do everything I need to do throughout the year to guarantee a successful and prosperous year.

This is the kind of organizational system that needs to be in place to do over $1,000,000 per year in a 5000 square foot facility.

"Fail to plan and Plan to Fail" so take some time to plan out your whole year and then all you have to do is execute! If you wait too long to plan, by the time you start to plan, it will be too late to execute in a fashion that will guarantee success.

Yours in health, fitness and business,

Sherri McMillan

ps. If you are part of our Personal Training MasterMind group, you get a copy of our entire yearly plan and all supporting documents, fliers, forms etc throughout the year to help you execute. All for only $149/month! It's like having me as your boss directing you on what you need to do...the only difference is you get to decide whether you actually listen to me or not! :) FYI - those that do, are enjoying significant increases in PT revenues! Contact Kari@nwpersonaltraining.com to get started. We're offering $100 off your first month - so only $49 this month to get real-time access to everything we're doing at NWPT!