Fitness Business Guest Post by Elliot Hulse with the Bottom Part by Big Chris

“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” – Albert Einstein

“The creative person has to go alone, he must drop out from the mob..” – Osho

If you’re anything like me, you’ve chosen the profession of fitness trainer or coach in order that you may lead your chosen tribe (clients) towards increased health, strength and vitality.

You have consciously chosen to exemplify the virtue of fitness in your life and in turn lead others towards the same reality.

Armed with your experience and wisdom, you model, teach and guide your clients in order that they may move closer to their physical potential and partake of the gifts of strength.  In many ancient or traditional societies you would be considered a medicine man or sage, one who heals the body and nature of man through his awareness and practice.

As Einstein accords, you are living the only type of life worth living… which is that of Service.

It has been said that the “burn out” rate for most personal trainers is extremely high.

After several years or even decades of arising at ungodly hours in the morning and expressing an energetic and motivating demeanor to mobilize the will of your clients in order to help them reach their goals, you’re probably pretty f*cking tired!

Believe it or not, your service as a personal trainer is considered “Energy Work.”

You transfer your energy in the form of exercise design, implementation, coaching, and most importantly (yet most draining) through providing motivation to dozens of people on a daily basis.

This energy that you expend is highly Creative.

It allows you to perform technical work such as correcting and coaching.  But more importantly it gives you the capacity to distribute the most potent of all energy, and the one most exhausted while providing your service… Love.

If you have ever flown on a commercial airline surely you’ve listened as the stewardess instructs on how you are to proceed using the oxygen masks if there is an emergency.  It’s interesting to note they are sure to tell you to FIRST put the mask on your face and then place it on your child or someone you are assisting.

I’ve always thought this strange.  I’ve figured that since my very first instinct would be to help my child, I should place the mask on her face first and then mine.  But his is not the case.  We are to help ourselves first, then support others.

When you earn a living though the apportioning of your energy, in particular your love,  it would seem pretty important to posses enough energy to actually share.

But when you wake up early every morning and begin the process of giving and never stop to receive… it is like placing oxygen masks on everyone on an airplane while you are desperately gasping for air!

You need time.

Time is the raw material for recovery and the rejuvenation of creative energy. Without quiet time to rest, mediate and participate in creative pursuits you will inevitably burn out!  When you can’t breath, you die.  When you die, all of the people you are meant to serve go un-served.

Many people think that it would be “nice” to take some time off, take a walk with their wife, or go on a vacation.  They see this as a luxury;  our culture has programed us to see this as a luxury.  But I am telling you that it is mandatory, that you MUST find a way to create time.

The greatest servants in the history of mankind understood that they needed to create time and recovery in order that they may continue to serve to their highest degree.

It has been said that Thomas Edison would stop all work at mid-day and row a little boat out into the middle of a lake where no one could bother him, and he would do nothing for a few hours.  Upon his return he would have the renewed focus and energy to dream up brilliant ideas… like the invention the light bulb!

I once read this really old book about a guy named Jesus.  He happened to create the most stimulating rebellious uprising in the history of mankind, the vibrations of which are still felt today!  Before committing his life to the dissipation of his message, he’d sneak off to the middle of the desert and spent 40 days in mediation and self reflection.

It may be becoming more clear to you that if you are to serve in the full creative capacity that you have intended, that you need to do as Osho mentions in one of my opening quotes… and go alone, drop out from the mob for a while, both literally and figuratively.

What both Edison and Jesus had at the time of their solitude, that you may not have, and is the main reason why they can hang out in boats and drink Rum Runners in the desert for 40 days (okay, maybe not Rum Runners, but I heard he was a big fan of wine) is LEVERAGE.

Leverage allows your work to continue in your absence.

Jesus had 12 students doing a ton of his dirty work and Edison was rich.  They were able to leave their business alone for a bit while they recovered their passion, enthusiasm and love for their service.  They understood that overwork and the absence of concentrated rest-time would dull their skills and diminish the quality of their handiwork.

As a personal trainer, bootcamp instructor, or strength coach you’ve got to create leverage points in your business that allow you to work less while at the same time helping more people.

Not for mindless entrainment activities but as a means to increase the quality of your service and have a greater impact while leading your fitness “tribe”.

The fact that you are reading Chris’s blog means that you are well aware of all the opportunities that you have to leverage your time and continue to grow your business.

If you are a leader, personal growth is just as important as that act of leading.

Personal growth requires uninterrupted time and rejuvenation.  Time is a by-product of leverage.  Use the products and systems that Chris offers on this website to create leverage.  When you have firmly placed the oxygen mask on your face, you are now fit to begin impacting the life of others… but not before.

Elliott Hulse leads The Tribe Of Strength & Wisdom through his blog at HulseStrength.com

He’s also a Professional Strongman and the owner of a nasty little warehouse gym in Florida where he leverages EVERYTHING to make lots of money while hanging out with his wife and soon to be 4 children. Here’s his Tampa Bay Fitness Training Site

Hey there, it’s Big Chris, I hope you enjoyed this guest post from Elliot… he’s successful, one helluva cool guy, is super down to earth, smart, a loving father and strong as hell… good qualities for a man to have.

Elliot actually got me so fired up here, I’d like to expand on the topic a little bit…

I personally am a HUGE fan of leverage… a few of my favorite ways that trainers can leverage their time are… ( BTW, I do ALL of these) …

1. Groups and Boot Camps – The more people you can safely and effectively train at one time, the more people you’re able to help and the more money you can make

In my business I found I could just as effectively train six people ( six healthy people) and give them as good of a workout as one person… I trained six people an hour. And instead of charging $60 per person for one on one, I charged $49 per person in groups and make close to $300 an hour instead of just $60 an hour

And with boot camps, you can train even more people, I have on coaching client who trains 90 women at a time and has two assistants ( on barter) help him demonstrate the exercises at the front of the camp… and he pulls in 30k a month, more than many trainers make all year… and he’s able to help a TON of people and only train 5 hours a week.. that’s it, just five hours a week

2. Hire other trainers to work under you – If you own a training business and have ten trainers working for you and each has 30 clients, that’s 300 people you’re business is now helping.

So you can actually train less hours, help more people, and make more money.

That’s almost exactly how my business in Southern California is set-up

3. Internet Marketing – With good internet marketing like search engine optimization, blogging ( more on that in minute), online classified ads, PPC, Facebook ads and Fan Pages, Google Local, video marketing, direct response salespages, squeeze pages and so on… you can now get your message out to your target market 24/7… without you actually having to do it personally… internet marketing is one of the ultimate forms of leverage for fitness pros… AS LONG as you do it right.

4. Information Marketing – Information marketing can help you as a fitness expert help hundreds, thousands or even millions of people while YOU are doing whatever you want… chilling in a boat like Edison, spending time with your kids like Elliot, doing your own workouts or partying like Kid Rock… it doesn’t matter, you create it once and it helps people over and over.

There’s TONS of types of information products BTW, and thy’re super easy to create…

• Ebooks
• Books
• Manuals
• Dvds
• Entire system like P90X
• Continuity Programs… like…
  • Newsletter
  • Cd of month
  • DVD of month
  • Workout of month
  • Membership site ( in fact Elliot’s blog is part membership site, as is my blog, there’s free content for readers and premium content to paying members, it’s a genius model BTW)
  • Hybrid like Manifesto
  • Online coaching/ email coaching/ mentorship
• Cd set
• Dvd set
• Downloadable program
• Seminars
• Workshops
• Mastermind groups

5. Blogging – Blogging is an incredible way to create leverage

Your blog does business for you 24/7

This little blog your on pulls in thousands of dollars a day, and takes very little time… in fact most of the sales are made when I’m sleeping ( I’m California time and wake up at like 10 or 11, so when I get up we’ve already had orders come in all morning from all over the world.

And you can work on your blog where you want and when you want.

It helps build your tribe, reputation and business while you’re off doing whatever you want to do.

In Fact, I Can’t Think Of One Tool That Can Add As Much Freedom To Your Life as Having Your Very Own High Authority Blog

Here’s what I mean…

Years ago I used to work six days a week as a trainer, and while I actually made pretty decent money, I had no freedom…  if I wanted to make more money, I had to work more hours… but the thing is… I DIDN’T WANT TO WORK MORE HOURS…

I was already working six days a week… and it seemed to make more money I’d have to work so much I’d end up neglecting my friends, my family, my hobbies, would have zero free time and would eventually burn out and be miserable.

Fast forward to just a few years down the road… because of my blog ( that serves a tiny little niche mind you) I’m able to pull-in just under seven-figures a year working only part-time hours. (And this year I’m actually on pace to do seven figures… it’s crazy)

My typical day looks like this…

I get up at ten or eleven a.m., spend some time with my wife and daughters, eat breakfast and take the Harley to the gym to lift weights (I love heavy lifting… it just makes me feel good… nothing like squats and deadlifts to help keep you feeling like a well-oiled machine ready for anything)

I get home from the gym around 2pm and will typically work until about six, when I’ll get off and spend more time with the fam.

I usually work about four hours a day and on average I’ll work only four days a week… plus I’ll typically take off about three months outta the year… and what’s great is… my blog puts money in my bank every single day when I’m on vacation… it’s actually doin’ all the work for me, while I’m off doing whatever it is I wanna do.

For example, from mid November until early February I took about two and a half months off to travel, chill out and hang with my family.

Before I took off I spent about 3 days loading up my blog and email management system to bring in traffic and make sales for me the ENITRE TIME I was on vacation.

We even had one of our biggest months while I was off travelling with my family… I was up the coast of Cali hangin’ with the fam, and we had a giant month.

Now I’ll admit, it’s not always like this… once or twice a year I’ll bust my rear and put in long days, sometimes even six days a week…

Like when I used my blog to launch my first information product… for about six weeks I worked day and night… but in one week that launch did over $301,237.00 in billable sales… so it was time well spent.

Now, what’s cool is that when I DO work, it’s actually super-fun stuff I get to do… like networking and having lunch with other cool fitness entrepreneurs, creating cool videos and funny blog posts and working on my big picture strategy stuff… so I wouldn’t really call it work… not in the traditional sense at least… it’s more like getting paid to goof off… that’s right…

Blogging is like getting paid to goof off

I even get other people to do most of the posts FOR ME… for FREE… they don’t charge me a thing, they just want the credibility and the Google Juice my blog gives them … For example, Elliot just did this post for my blog, and I didn’t have to pay him a thing (=

BTW, here’s a post I did yesterday about how to make money from your fitness blog: Make Money from Your Fitness Blog

And here’s an hour long presentation I did for 320 trainers about some of my favorite blogging tactics: How to Be a Successful Fitness Blogger

I use each of the above models ( group training, boot camps, having trainers working for me, marketing info-products and blogging) to leverage my time, and can tell ya it is one of the coolest and most fun ways to run a business… you can help tons of people, make tons of money and have a lot of time for yourself… it doesn’t get any better than that (=

Please leave Elliot a comment below about his post

Btw, here’s Elliot standing by waiting for your comments…

So be cool and leave him a comment (=