The next step..

Calls this week were useful, shame I missed Friday. My head was throbbing as I was on day 3 of elimination and Thursday afternoon I wiped out with the worst headache of my life! Seriously - I never get headaches unless I've had a bloody good night to show for it but this was immense. I managed to drive myself round my mum's and then didn't surface till late Friday feeling a hell of a lot better and back to normal.

Anyway UMI statement is done but needs a bit of tweaking. I'm sure this will change over the weeks to come so that it flows better but as Tim said it's a mouthful at first. When you've said it a few times it comes more naturally. I have loads to do over the next week. I have to learn new tracks for body balance, plan my 12 days of xmas and start submitting some articles to the web. Gonna get started right now!

Back on track (this is going round my head to the tune of ACDC)

OK feeling a LOT bettter today. Had a good chat with Tim on Monday, Ben yesterday and Dax last night. The mentor call was good but I couldn't hear much as my reception was ruuuubbish! I have a lot planned today and hopefully once I've done my UMI I'll be well on my way to deciding a forward direction for myself.

Rock on!

The Dip

Decisions, decisions. Well I have a fair few to make. My current situation isn't working for me. The way you get to meet prospects at my gym benefits the club only, they get their appointments serviced for free and but they don't allow you to qualify prospects. So I find myself wasting several hours a week with people who aren't interested in PT and who just want a programme and something for nothing. Don't get me wrong I don't mind spreading my knowledge - the more people I can give advice to the better - they'll remember that and tell others about it, great PR. However my time is valuable and I'm not seeing any return for it. Advertising is restricted and I find myself very limited on avenues to build my client base.

I've just read the dip by Seth Godin, I know I'm in it. But is it worth sticking with or quitting. Is this a brick wall that won't shift?

I'm going to try holding a free seminar and see if that works for me. If it does nothing I think it maybe time to look for another option.

Oh my god it's monday and I haven't written for 5 days - oops!

How did it get to be Monday already! I have been slack these past few days. Right list to do today:

Gatekeeper strategy
Plan outline for info product for 12 days of xmas
Book in seminar time with Fitness First for 2 weeks time
Amend website
Call fitpro and get new balance cd sent out to learn for saturday!

Better get on and do it!

Has Dax finally lost it or is he megatron in disguise?

I knew it was coming but not so soon. Dax has told us to sack our bad clients. Now this isn't new to me. I've done it before and it wasn't nice. I actually tried to sack a client just before the beginnning of the mentor programme because she kept making excuses not to come training, cancelled in under 24 hours notice and basically was just eating crap & not taking responsibility for her food choices. She promised that she would change and so far so good. So rock on.

BUT...we've been told to make a list, check it twice, find out who's naughty or nice.... and sack everyone that falls into the not ideal client net. The Grinch is about to ruin Christmas. It's not that I don't understand the theory - I like the idea of it and can even visualise how it would work but to get rid of clients when you have no safety net?

Dax I hear what you're saying about creating a persona and magnetic pull to clients that are ideal but have you gone ever so slightly mad?

Finally!!

Gosh this excellence module has got me working at full pelt. I've been taking advantage of the fact that Carl's away with work at the moment so I'm working right through till bed - although I do currently have a glass of pink champagne (now empty) and x-factor is on tv - hey it's Friday, not exactly rockstar behaviour!

I have done so much more in the last week or so than in the last 6 months put together! Today I have: put my accounts to bed which I've been playing catch up on for ages, done my excellence module for the 3rd day running, written my telephone scripts (Dax I know I need to send them but I need to type them up first), proofed my logos and planned a project with a colleague to start in January 2008. Oh and trained my clients. Phew!


It's hard work and I love it. I'm feeling motivated, driven, passionate & I have a sense of achievement every day.

Earl Nightingale & me

No I'm not having an affair.

This guy has a clear cut strategy to determining your worth.

Demand
Ability
Difficulty to replace

Demand - for my services is high. Health is high on the agenda of every politician, business and community right now and more so than it's ever been. Modern day lifestyles have lead to disease from sedentary lifestyles, laziness and the greed of the manufacturing industry bulking every food product full of cheap crap to sell more and reduce costs.
In addition no-one wants to be in pain and if I can give them relief then well that I would say is worth paying for.

Ability - I'm good. I get results and quickly. I could & will be better but that will come with experience and ongoing self-education which I'm passionate about. I love my job and my skillset is high. I am still growing but that will never change. I'll always be striving for more.

Difficulty in replacing me - hmm, good question. There's a few people out there doing similar roles. If I left tomorrow would the practice replace me almost immediately. It would probably take them a couple of weeks to find someone but yes without a doubt. Would my clients replace me. Probably not that easily.

Based on the combination of all these things then I'm probably worth my current rate.

What makes it all worthwhile?

Dax asked us this morning what we wanted.

What do I want?

1. To learn how to grow a business and measure my success so that I can hold my actions and activities accountable.


2. To focus my energies so that they are a driving force towards linear success. I want direction so that in the future I'll know what it takes to set goals that lead to achievement of dreams.


3. To develop a network of peers that I can use to share ideas, thoughts, advice and problems.


4. To develop a fully functional business that gives me a consistent income and that will allow me to take time out for myself, family & friends without having to feel guilty about not working 7 days a week.


5. To have more time to develop things that I've been thinking about for ages - bootcamps, information products etc..


6. To have enough business that I can take on assistant trainers


7. To be earning enough money to allow my partner & I to start a family & still have luxuries like holidays, nights out, decent car etc....


8. To be known as number one in my specialist field and to be sought after to give advice to the professionals in Bristol & Bath


9. To have confidence in myself to make the right decisions

Think that's enough for now...

I have the Fear

I have woken up an hour early - forgot to reset my mobile phone to winter time but once I'd realised I figured hey get up and use the time. I have just read everyone elses blogs mainly to see if I'm the only one that's experiencing the Fear right now. Yep, I think I might be. I have this nagging feeling that I haven't done something or enough of anything.

I'm waiting on a job offer this morning. It was due to come on Friday but communication from the clinic has been slow at best with response coming only when I have been chasing them. I still want it though. The clinic is already established and is easily the biggest clinic in Bristol. They are bringing in surgeons so I'd get the opportunity to rehab straight from the physician. The opportunities are massive and I sooo want to be working in a clinical setting.

I'm in a dilemma though. I have already had an offer from a brand spanking new clinic. Again the opportunities are massive but I'll have much more free reign to grow and put my own stamp on the place. However the clinic has only been open a few weeks. They are nowhere near the size of my 1st choice. They won't be having surgeons in-house.

Agh, what to do? Oh well it may all be decided for me if I don't get an answer today.

Agh I am seriously technologically illiterate!!

Finally! After 2 days of searching help pages, phoning friends for advice and generally getting frustrated with my laptop I have figured out how to access my Blog again!! Stupidly I set it up to my new email address without first configuring my inbox so I'd receive emails! Doh! Oh well I'm here now and actually quite chuffed that I managed to figure it out - yippee!

Anyway I am supposed to have posted what I think I am worth (or I should say what my services are worth), and why:

At this moment in time I believe I should be charging £50/hour. Why? Because I am a specialist in my area of rehabilitation and strength coaching. I have 5 years experience in my field and without being bigheaded I know I am good at what I do. I have many proven successes to my name and I am always striving to learn, grow and be better at what I do. Of all the trainers I know in my area there are only two other trainers that I recognise as being specialists in their field and that have the passion and thirst for knowledge that enables them to establish themselves as experts in their field. Their links are on my blog.

In reality though I find myself in a cutthroat market. I haven't marketed my strengths properly and I find myself working at reduced fees because of this. I have relegated myself to the title of Personal Trainer which could mean anything. What does a Personal Trainer do? My interpretation would be - anything you want them to do. They want to be everything to everyone. If you want to lose weight then a Personal Trainer will help you do it, if you love golf then suddenly they are a golf specialist. In truth they are none of these things. This is why I am on a path to excellence. I am not and do not want to be a Personal Trainer. I am a rehabilitation therapist and strength coach and do not profess to be anything I'm not.

The route to success

I guess I should start with an introduction. My name is Nisha and I'm a rehabiltation therapist and strength coach from Bristol, UK. Today is day 1 of my blog and I have just come off a conference call with my mentor and mentoring group. I must say I'm a little bit nervous about what lies ahead for my business. There's a lot of things that sound fantastic like the fact that I'll have a major web presence, solid lists, I'll be producing information products..etc. There's also a few scary things in there like cutting myself free of people who suck the life out of you. I know it makes sense but as a Personal Trainer you always get a few of these and I just don't like to let people down! Well hopefully over the next few weeks and months you'll see how this is all developping and whether I manage to become a bit more strict with my client base....