Shannon Fable, 2013 IDEA and 2006 ACE Instructor of the Year, will show you the three key components to distinguishing your studio/gym in a noisy fitness world. Walk away with several activities to further clarify your brand and boost your bottom line with minimal effort.
What you'll learn:
What is a brand & why you need to more sharply define yours!
How clearly identifying your ideal client and target market can enhance your promotion efforts
Why defining the #1 result you provide is important (and harder than it looks)
Strategies for standing out in a noisy fitness landscape.
Simple steps for creating a compelling brand that leads people to your door
It's today at 3:00 est
Signup here even if you can't attend the live event – you'll get access to the recording you can view when it convenient.
Update 12/11/16 – I thought of this post after an unnamed contributor responded “no, sorry” to my request for a new picture to include in an article.
There were two things that got me really motivated to get a professional headshot last week.
The first was talking with Darcy Knoblich and learning how she's benefited from the self-promotion she's doing online. Take a quick peek at her website and the first thing you'll notice are all the gorgeous pictures she's displaying of herself. Pictures that were obviously taken by a professional and not with an iPhone.
The second was the request from MINDBODY Online for a high quality picture of me that they could use on their website. They recognise the resources we've provided here and at CyclingStudio.org for new studio owners. MINDBODY has a team of fitness studio business experts and they'll be contributing informative articles and Podcast interviews for our ICI/PRO members.
Hiring a professional photographer is expensive, right? Well no, it doesn't need to be. I started asking around and it turned out that a former roommate of daughter Abby is Kelly Jo Kusilek and she was starting her own photographer business. Perfect and since I only needed her for about an hour the cost was a very reasonable (to me) $150.00 – which included any editing I would need.
NOTE: If you're near Minneapolis please contact Kelly Jo Kusilek – she may be young, but she's a professional and I'm very pleased with her work.
Next I needed somewhere to take the pictures. No – the local park or warehouse district may work for High School Senior picture, but I needed a cool Indoor Cycling Studio. And I had the perfect place in mind – Surge Cycling Studio which is just a few minutes from me.
That's the owner Zion Anderson above. I was so grateful for the use of her studio, I paid Kelly to take headshots of Zion and a few of her Instructors.
Zion has a special class on Wednesdays that I'm planning to attend frequently.
So while I was motivated to get a professional headshot, you may not be. So here are 5 reasons I feel it's something you should consider…
You're a celebrity – act like it. Every wanna-be actor/actress/dancer/model on the planet has a professional headshot. Many most have been digitally “enhanced” using Photoshop for the express purpose of making them look as good as humanly possible. Now a full Madonna transformation maybe over the top, but a little “touch up” certainly could be within reason.
You're a celebrity – act like it, part 2. Self-promotion is like oxygen to celebrities. They understand that a huge part of their success is selling themselves. Google any known celebrity and you'll find hundreds or thousands of professional photographs of them, in all different settings. While I'm not saying you should hire a few paparazzi's to stalk you before/during and after your classes – spending 30 minutes to an hour with a photographer (who's taking dozens or hundreds of images) will give you a bunch to choose from. The end result will be a few really good pictures of you, that you'd be proud to see posted online.
We live in a digital world. Like it or not, pictures are a big part of how the world perceives you. If you're auditioning for a new Instructor gig – including an attractive, professional photograph of yourself, along with your resume, communicates; I'm a fitness professional and I take my job very seriously.
Other people feel you're attractive… don't disappoint them with a crappy photo. How many times have you seen a picture of someone you know and thought; “that's not a very good picture of such and such”? Wouldn't you rather hear; “wow [wlm_firstname], that's a great picture of you on the club's Meet our Instructors page.
You just may feel a little bit better about YOU, knowing that you are represented well, in the images of you, that other folks are finding online 🙂
I'm still deciding which picture I'll submit to MINDBODY.com – This one with Zion, in the entry way of her studio, is fun!
As promised, here's Chrispins' latest class profile; Sprintervals!
Created by Chris (AKA Chrispins) Hawthorne
Training Type: High Intensity Hills and Sprint Intervals
Total Class Length: 60 minutes
This profile is a high intensity mix of hills and sprints. It is comprised of 4-8 minute
intervals and one final 6 minute interval-the ‘big finish’. Within each of the first four
intervals you will be using both seated and standing climbs with sprints between them.
Each of the four intervals ends with a recovery. The hills become progressively steeper
as the intervals progress. My classes usually end with one ‘big finish’ song. I like to mix
it up, but it usually will consist of some type of seated sprint interval. The final song in
this profile is a 6 minute sequence consisting of three levels of intensity. It’s the perfect
finish to a challenging profile.
Here are the PDF, Spotify Playlist and Chrispins' presentation of the profile below.
[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
Screenshot from my admin panel @ indoorcycleinstructor.com
It occured to me this morning that I might not do as good a job promoting what we have to offer here at ICI/PRO, as I could/should 🙁
Case in point > If you have asked me yesterday, how many IC class profiles we've published, I would have said; “a lot… but I'm not sure… let me check”. And I did this morning. Turns out that there are over 150 posts tagged as Audio PROfiles – actually 159 to be exact. I'm publishing number 160 (Podcast #365 ft/ Chrispins) later today.
As of today, we've published 2,321 informative articles! Join ICI/PRO today as a PRO/Monthly Member and receive access to all of them.
My original concept for our Audio Class PROfiles was to include an audio description in the form of a Podcast of how to teach a specific class. These were published along with the written profile description/transcript and a complete music playlist.
Over the years we also published dozens of class profiles that include the written profile description and playlist, but don't include an audio description. Many ICI/PRO members have especially enjoyed Dennis Mellon's profiles which include a recording of an actual class that Dennis taught, using his published profile.
Spotify's Your Daily Mix Playlists can be found on your iPhone App, under the Your Library tab.
Chris Hawthorne, AKA Chrispins, joins me to discuss a few new music discovery tools she's using in Spotify. As these Podcasts are only audio, I've included screenshots of where you'll find the Discovery Weekly, Daily Mix and Recommended Songs for a specific playlist.
NOTE: The song recommendations will only display for playlist that you've created – not for a playlist of someone else's you're subscribed.
Listen below and then stay tuned for Chrispins' latest 60 min Audio Profile publishing later this weekend.
You'll find Chrispins at her music blog, on Twitter @chrispins1 and on Spotify where you can add yourself to her awesome subscriber count!
Scroll down one of your playlists to see additional suggestions & click Refresh for more.
