I’m so excited to launch W.I.T.S. new blog, designed to keep you abreast of industry issues, strategies for success, and provide a forum for us to communicate with each other. My name is Amy Hyams, and I’ll be your blog “host.” However, this is a “conversation” and I welcome your input and look forward to the informative exchanges we will share.
June is “Entrepreneurial Excellence” month at W.I.T.S. so in this month’s blogs, I’m going to focus on how we, as fitness professionals, can also be more successful business people. I’m going to share some of the things I’ve learned and ask you to contribute your ideas and secrets to entrepreneurial success.
As you may know, W.I.T.S. has developed a new catalog of business, sales and marketing classes, which are all available online. In this past month, I’ve had the pleasure of serving as “online mentor” in most of these courses and got to hear firsthand about the struggles and challenges many face when turning their passion of fitness into a profitable business. Our Personal Trainer Certification (offered live and as a hybrid course) gives you the knowledge and skills to develop exercise programs and train clients, but we still need to get them in our door! In our Fitness Management Certificate, many are learning about running a Club, managing staff, designing a facility and establishing a marketing plan. But in our Business Success Skills course, so many are learning to set up their own business and become entrepreneurs; which many of us have never done before.
What I’m noticing is that many of us want to start a business, but do not have a plan. We haven’t defined who we are, what type of business we want to be, and what our short term business goals are. Without setting out a plan and understanding where you want to be, how do you know how to get there? And how will you know when you’ve arrived? Think about it—it’s very similar to establishing a personalized fitness program for a client. You have to first conduct a fitness assessment, determine what their current fitness status is, define their clear and measurable goals, and then create a program designed to achieve their goals.
So, I ask you, have you developed your Mission Statement? Does it clearly convey who you are and what your purpose is? Do you have clear and measurable short and long term goals, which you can use to guide your progress, and know when you’ve achieved success?
Please share your “Mission Statement” with us, and also, some of the lessons you have learned when starting your business. We can all learn from each other as we transform ourselves from “Passionate Fitness Professionals” to “Excellent Entrepreneurs.”
I look forward to hearing from you!
Some great things to think about! Thanks, Amy!
Thank you, Jaclyn! Excellent entrepreneurs have a very clearly defined mission statement! They know exactly who they are, where they want to go, and how they will get there! Success does not happen by accident!
Great blog!
This is a great kickoff with our new blog. We can now exchange and improve every aspect of what and how we do things for ourselves and our industry. I know our 800 plus faculty will have some valuable insights to share from all over N America!!
Thanks for the positive feedback! I’m really looking forward to us all (students, faculty, fitness professionals, club owners and managers) all being able to learn from each other.
Keeping in line with this month’s theme, one of the thing I think prevents businesses from succeeding is not having clear goals and a defined mission.
What do you think prevents businesses from being successful?
This is my first year in business. I look forward to checking in for some great ideas!
I am excited about this forum and I look forward to being a part of it.
Great.
Always a pleasure to have you involved in W.I.T.S. projects, Tony!
Good point about a mission statement. One of the things that I have also found is that a mission statement can be complemented with a vision statement. What is the now and what do you see as the future goal or “vision”. Regardless, writing down and clarifying your goals and objectives can affirm what you want.
Thank you for putting together this Blog Amy!
You have touched on a subject that I believe need to be explored by many trainers. After many years as a trainer myself, I have finally taken the advice that was presented to me over and over again in many continuing education seminars: Define your niche, choose your hours, and create a plan!
As you said, planning your business strategy is much like planning a personalized fitness program I have seen in the industry that a large percentage of trainers do not do an assessment, nor create a yearly, monthly and daily plan for their clients, giving them an edge to start a lucrative personal training business. Therefore many are struggling to make a living, having to work at a couple of fitness centers, mornings and evenings. The WITS internship program is a great start to learning this. I think that getting a good foundation and having a mentor is paramount to becoming a successful trainer.
Thank you, Jan. It breaks my heart to hear fitness professionals say they had to leave the profession because they couldn’t make a living at it. So, we are really committed to supporting W.I.T.S. Personal Trainers in not only acquiring a knowledge of the human body and exercise, but also on business and management skills. We also want to work more with our club partners in putting together compensation packages that include professional development opportunities. We need to take care of our folks and keep our profession thriving! Thanks for the comments!
A Personal Trainer is a committed and individual who is striving to empower individuals to a healthier lifestyle. He/she should help every person trained to move closer to becoming the person they want to become and achieve the goals they want to achieve.
A Personal Trainer must specialize in life-changing fitness, nutrition, and lifestyle programs individualized to a person’s goals and needs. This is accomplished by creating awareness, which gives people the freedom to choose a healthier life, one full of energy and joy. This is done one step at a time, giving the client a chance to adjust to the changes, both emotionally and physically.
A Personal Trainer must help their clients to become motivated and ready to make a change in their lives towards better health, whatever that means for them. They will be positive, open-minded people who want to make a difference in this world by first growing themselves, and thus, touching their families and friends as a result.