| If you have taken the path of being both an entrepreneur and working fitness professional, you probably realized very quickly that the demands of managing and growing a business and being your own boss while training clients (effectively) may not be quite as glorious as you had hoped it would be. Entrepreneurship is more than a full-time commitment -- you take on the role of marketer, bookkeeper, bill collector, networker, social media guru, customer service rep, and scheduler, just to name a few. Now layer on your responsibilities to your clients as their trainer (which often includes your role as a life coach, nutrition expert, and crisis-averter) and you've taken on more than you can effectively manage in a 24-hour day. Do you even have time to train yourself? Are you still as excited about being both a fitness professional and as entrepreneur as when you started? Worry not, I'll share with you a few tactics to help you achieve your goals as a professional and realize success as an entrepreneur. Solidify your vision If you don't have a clear vision, you have no direction. Take a day to give yourself several hours away from the distractions of phone calls, Facebook and email; take a notebook to a coffee shop or somewhere you won't be bothered. Write down where you will be in 12 months, three years, five years, and ten years. Now work backwards. In order to get to those goals, what changes or advances do you need to make in your business? Do you need to hire a team or an assistant to help you get there? What type of people do you need to begin connecting with to achieve these milestones? What financial goals do you need to and want to reach? What role will you ultimately have in your company? Will you still be training clients or serving as a manager to your team of trainers? How will you transition into this role? Above all, be specific; be really specific. The path to achieving your goals can change, but the vision can always remain constant. Delegate and take command of your time Time is one of your most precious resources. Here is a good exercise: for one week, keep a notepad with you and jot down every single activity that you do throughout the day. At the end of the week, go through all of your activities and circle the tasks that you and ONLY you can do. The "rest" is what you need to start considering as your "pass along tasks." The time you spend creating and emailing invoices can be better spent on nurturing a relationship with a possible joint venture or with a VIP client; the time you're spending fielding phone inquiries could be used to strategize your business marketing plan or creating new programs to offer your clients and better their experience. These "pass along tasks," though important to the lifeblood of your business, can easily and economically be completed by an assistant. Virtual assistants in particular can be a very economical and efficient way to go especially if you don't initially have the financial resources to hire an in-office assistant. Pick your "Top 5" Have you ever heard the expression that you are the average of the top five people with whom you most often surround yourself? Are the people with whom you surround yourself encouraging and helping your success or reinforcing self-limiting beliefs? When you are around people who have a mindset of limitless possibility and continuously hungry for new knowledge, you will naturally gravitate toward a similar mindset. Surround yourself with people who have a mindset of scarcity and failure and watch your business follow suit. Your "Top 5" should be the people who you want to emulate. These can include other successful professionals or entrepreneurs, coaches and mentors or others you meet with a similar mindset. Invest whatever time and money required because mindset will make or break your business above all else. |
