I had one of my monthly coaching calls with a long-term health club owner client of mine this morning. With his permission, I am using a part of that call for today’s topic.

This client, all in the past year has gone through an ugly divorce, had his club flooded (only to find his insurance policy didn’t cover floods), had a Planet Fitness move two blocks from his location, had knee replacement surgery when all ligaments were snapped in a pick up basketball game, had to fire two personal trainers for stealing (one had been with him for 7 years), and had seen a decrease in monthly EFT by nearly 30% due largely to the economy and the increased competition.

That’s a tough year no matter how you look at it.

But here is the amazing thing. This client never seems unhappy. He is always positive and only focuses on the good. So today I bluntly asked him…What is your secret to staying happy no matter the circumstances?

His answer was simple and piercing…

What other choice do I have?

Then silence…

I really didn’t know what to say. I know tons of people that deal with issues much less difficult than any this guy has encountered. I personally try to maintain a very steady mindset, but even I falter, sometimes when it is only a simple problem. But not this guy…

To hear those words come from him were very powerful. Hell, I want to refund his consulting fees for the month because the lesson he just taught me was that valuable. I’m not refunding him, but for a fleeting moment I felt I should J

So I guess the moral of this story is that we all have a choice, every day of our lives. Life throws curve balls, sometimes it seems every day. How we handle these situations is entirely up to us. We can either let them bring us down, or we can shrug our shoulders, recognize the situation for what it is, and make up our minds to learn from the mistake and push forward.

And for the record, this client (I’m certain because of his positive attitude and not because of my consulting), has improved every aspect of his business. His EFT was back above breakeven last month for the first time in 10 months, his personal training revenue has doubled since letting the personal trainers go, he’s playing basketball again, has recovered completely from the flood, he has a great girlfriend in his life, and he still has that positive attitude. I can almost picture that confident grin on his face every time we talk on the phone.

I hope that those of you who are currently struggling can see how powerful it is to have a positive outlook on everything. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade; When one door closes, another opens;

All of these sayings may be very cliché, but they are so very true. As for my client…My hat is off to you sir. I am proud and humbled to be a part of your life.

Dedicated to your Success…

Curtis Mock

Have you ever thought of how powerful it would be to have your very own health club business coach?  You preach every day about how much faster your members will find success if they invest in a personal trainer…but do you follow your own advice for your business?

Do your gym members who invest in personal trainers have faster and more long lasting success than your average members?  Of course they do!

Similarly, if you were to invest in a consulting firm and have a dedicated business coach showing you the fastest ways to success, you would become more successful…much faster…and that successwill last longer.

I’ve never claimed that VMG is the only option out there to help your health club business, but I can say with 100% certainty that no other company in our industry has the unique advantage that we have. 

Talk about having an Insider View!

Sounds about like your personal training program right?  Does this sound familiar?: 

“If you want the best results, you can invest in our Platinum personal training program, but you’ll still get great results if you decide to go with our Gold program.  Which do you prefer?”

You get what you pay for.  But no matter what option you choose, your results are always better when you have a little help.

So here is what I have to offer.  It’s the recession…at least for clubs outside of the VMG circle.  All of our consulting clients are having amazing results right now.  What if I told you that…

That’s right, name it.  What can you afford on your current budget? If it’s only $25/week, tell me.  We’ll find something for you.  If you can’t afford the Total Club Solution, but can afford $100/week (the average cost of a paid in full membership), let me know!  I’ll figure something out for you. 

Whatever your budget is, I will come up with a program to help you.

The economy is way too scary right now to try to do it without some help.  My mission is to help as many health clubs as possible, even if that means letting you name your own price.

The way I see it, if we can help your health club on a consulting program you can afford right now, I guarantee we will increase your revenues and you will eventually want to invest in some of our top level consulting programs. 

So go ahead and name your price.  I will find a way to help you Email your price directly to me at 

“admin[at]curtismock.com” and I will tell you what we can do for you at the amount you tell me you can afford.  No budget will be denied.  Period.

Dedicated to your success…

Curtis Mock

It turns out that when I announced that Chris of VMG would be giving away a month of free consulting to health club owners if USC won.  It turns out that the deal was he would give the consulting away if USC LOST!

Oops

Do you make mistakes in your health club?  Have you accidentally sent an email to your members that you goofed on?  Though you hope to not make too many mistakes, you can use this to your advantage.

For example, if you sent an email out to your health club members that had the wrong date of an upcoming seminar or the wrong time of the new Yoga class or that the gym would be closed but you put the wrong date. Or perhaps that a shipment of supplements didn’t come in, or that the access door wasn’t letting anyone in, or that a machine is broken, etc!

Anytime you make an error, it creates the opportunity for a sale at your gym!  As an apology, send out a coupon for $1.00 off any energy drink you sell at your club.  Give anyone who mentions your error a free tan, give away a giftcard good for one free month for a friend of family member, give away $5 giftcards to a local restaurant (do a trade out with the restaurant for a large supply of these).  Do you have logo water bottles or t-shirts that have been collecting dust?  Email your members and let them know that the first 10 people to come “yell” at you for your mistake, gets one. 

Your health club members will love that you are fessing up for your error and will certainly love the freebies.  It gets everyone involved and excited about the creative offerings you have for them.

So back to Chris and VMG.  All he could do is laugh because he really has no choice.  I made a mistake!  So now you can capitalize on my mistake, but you have to email him by Monday at noon to let him know that you want a month of free consulting.  Sorry Chris! 

To your success…

Curtis Mock

P.S.  GymSuccess.com launches on Monday!  Are you on the list yet? Anyone who is on the list by Sunday night gets their first 3 months free.  If you’re not on the list, well you not only miss out on the 3 month gift, you also miss out on tons and tons of valuable help for your health club. 

The special promotion page will be taken off the Internet on Sunday.  Go to www.GymSuccess.com right now and get on the list!!

That’s right, I’m making my mama proud.  Look who is the featured contributor to Club Industry’s Magazine Fitness Business Pro…again.  Sometimes I even impress myself

Really though, it’s a good article discussing a few things your health club can do to get ready for a successful January.  A must read.  Take a look at http://fitnessbusinesspro.com/stepbystep/sales/

To your success…

Curtis Mock

Strange Wilderness

Just like the majority of small business owners, you’re probably puzzled by the recent $700 billion bailout. Especially when you consider that:

• Small businesses like yours account for 75% of all new jobs in the U.S.
• There are 23 MILLION small businesses in our country
• The Small Business Administration refers to small businesses as “the heart of the American economy.”

And, it has often been said that the turnaround of the economy is in YOUR hands.

So why isn’t YOUR health club business getting bailed out?  Why aren’t they helping you in a time of need?

Whether we think it’s fair or not, the government will NOT pay for your loss in revenue from the recession or for any reason. They will NOT pay for the extra hours you’re spending at your club to get through the tough times. They will NOT pay your employees when payroll gets thin. But lucky for you…

You don’t need the government to rescue your business!

All you need is systems!

(Oh, here we go again…Curtis and his Systems lecture)

Yes, Systems.  I’m not going to stop talking about it, so get over it.  Succeeding in ANY market comes down to one critical strategy–SYSTEMS

You need marketing systems to continually drive traffic to your health club.  You need sales systems to be consistent in your prospect follow ups.  You need operation systems to run an efficient business so you can do more in less time.  You need systems for your staff, so they can do more in less time as well!  Systems, Systems, Systems.

In a recent study on CNN.com, ONLY 3 out of 15 small businesses have been posting positive gains during the down economy. The one thing they had in common was that they all had effective systems in place, allowing them to surge forward while their competitors scrambled to maintain footing.

But, what happens if you don’t know how to begin implementing systems at your health club?

Call Vitality Marketing Group.  Period.  Take advantage of your complimentary phone consultation.  That’s right, no budget considerations.  It’s F.R.E.E. my friend.  VMG is the king of systems development.  Why work harder when you can work smarter?  In the recession, there are fewer people spending extra money on things like gym memberships.  How do you maximize profits without new members?  How do you decrease expenses when you’re trying to figure out how to get people to come in?

I’d like to say it’s easy but it’s not.  But once the systems are in place, it becomes much easier to do things on your own, to make more money per member, to cut costs without cutting services.   VMG’s consulting clients are not worried about the recession, or a new competitor, or anything the market can throw at them.  Because they have systems at their health club.

The bottom line is that you don’t have to struggle with your health club.  Whether you hire someone or choose to do it yourself, systems are going to be the difference between struggling to break even and having your best January ever.  If you don’t hire someone to help, your best place to begin implementing systems yourself is to read the book E-Myth by Michael Gerber.  Amazon.com probably has it for two bucks right now.  But it will definitely be in a local bookstore.  Just make sure you get your systems in check now or your January sales will only be a fraction of what they would have been, had you been fully prepared.

Call VMG at 1-800-583-1594.  Ask for Chris Batchelor and he’ll get you hooked up!

To your success…

Curtis Mock

Look who is in Club Industry Magazine again!

I’m in this month’s Club Industry Magazine, Fitness Business Pro.  I feel privileged to be right alongside both Pat Rigsby and Jim Labadie in the Step by Step column, making me the third best looking person on the page! 

You can read the full article by clicking here

Or you should subscribe so you can get the print edition…best of all, the subscription is free!  Get yours at Club Industry’s Subscription Form.

The article discusses whether you should spend money on branding your health club or spend it on direct response marketing.  It’s a pretty good article…if I do say so myself.

To Your Success!

Curtis Mock