Oct 11
7
7 of my best nutrition reads
Hope you’re kicking ass right now with your bootcamp business.
I just made the first part of my move out here to Marbella and I must say it’s pretty hot! Well, hotter than Newcastle was anyway.
Before we crack on with this list, i wanted to let you know about some more good news i got recently from the FITPRO hq in London.
I’ll be presenting 3 lectures at the annual FITPRO spring convention at loughborough university alongside industry bad asses such as Charles Poliquin, Paul Check, Dr John Beradi and of course my long term mentor/friend/crisis manager Jayne Nicholls.
If you haven’t heard of Jayne she’s the brains behind freestyle fitness yoga- which i’ll be adding to our fitness camps in the near future and i strongly suggest you do too- simply ‘beasting’ clients over and over again cant be good right? check out Jayne’s site here- http://www.freestylefitness.com/become-yoga-instructor.php
You can read more about the spring convention here too- http://www.fitpro.com/convention12/index.html
So you remember the Webinar I did a few weeks back right?
I was called ‘how to get epic results for you bootcamp members’. In fact you can still catch the replay of it here.http://apps.facebook.com/results_webinar_one/?ref=ts
Well, despite it p*ssing a lot of people off (mainly the ‘random exercise, random order, random time, random equipment, random people, turn up when you wan’ crew) I’ve had A LOT of emails asking which books I’d recommend for anybody looking to improve the results for there members.
Now I’ve read over 90 books on nutrition so its been pretty tough whittling these down to just 7 but its been REALLY REFRESHING to speak to bootcamp instructors who are actually interested in becoming better trainers rather than just better businessmen and women so I just cracked on with it.
So here’s the list, its by no means the be all and end all and of course it will depend on how long you’re been a trainer for and what you’ve already studied but here they are anyway… go get em off Amazon or wherever!
Hey, I must also say that NONE of these books are ‘THE bible’ I don’t think that exists. I just read as many as possible, and USE THE BITS I agree with.
1- How to Eat, Move and Be healthy- Paul Chek
I’m a big believer in the fact that being in great shape I usually just the side effect of having a healthy body, this was probably the first book I read on this subject- around about 8 years ago now!
It was the first book I picked up that really showed me why calorie counting was crazy and that it was about the quality of the food we ingest that made us healthy or not.
Although I must point out that I’m not a fan of metabolic typing as such, the rest of the book is excellent
2- The 150 healthiest foods on earth- Jonny Bowden
With so many books and courses telling us what we SHOULDN’T eat, this book was a revelation to me. It gave me the BENEFITS of eating certain foods (a bonus when you’re trying to ‘convince’ clients to and Dr Bowden is a GREAT writer who can ‘dumb down’ the most complex of subjects- which for little old me is very important, so go get this and make sure you check out his other books as well as this one. Oh and the pictures are brilliant too!
3- Adrenal Fatigue
Before completing my bio signature course back in 2005 I think it was, this was on the recommended reading list. It basically points out that in today’s lifestyle that exercise and diet it pretty much pointless if we cant manage stress.
4- The 9 day liver Detox – Patrick Holford
I actually only read this about 18 months ago. This is a book written for the general public so its super easy to read- unlike most other nutrition books which make VERY tough reading sometimes. In fact, most of them actually put me to sleep. Someone will probably have a dig at me for saying that but hey ho!
A great read on how the liver works and what can inhibit and improve its function. Love it.
5- Primal Blueprint- Mark Sisson
Another book written for Joe public but I REALLY like the fact that Mr Sisson is in great shape for his age. Despite the fact his own brand of supplements are pushed in the book I thoroughly enjoyed his explanation of living a paleo style diet and lifestyle.
6- The Elimination Diet- Dax Moy
This free e-book, I first stumbled across almost 7 years ago! It was my first real foray into ‘detoxing’ and understanding that ‘health’ should form the basis of any fat loss programme.
It also helped my understanding of many foods just aren’t up to scratch when it comes to dropping body fat.
Its had a couple of makeovers, most recently last year and continues to be the basis of MANY fitpro’s nutrition programs, including the first 14 days of mine for many years
7- Eat Stop Eat- Brad Pilon
Intermittent fasting is for some reason still a controversial subject in this wonderfully subjective industry of ours.
In fact, for MANY years I just dismissed it.
After all, it goes against everything I learnt on some of the courses I did earlier in my career.
‘Little and often’, ‘Every 2-3 hours to keep the metabolism ticking over’
‘If you don’t eat for longer than 4 hours your body goes into starvation mode’
To each, I can now say ‘horseshit’.
After reading MANY studies, articles and evidence on this I can no say wholeheartedly that controlled intermittent fasting AFTER a cleanse is bad ass.
This is not an article on IM but if you want one- I can sort that too.
Anyway. Despite not agreeing with everything in the book (such as drinking coke zero) Mr Pilon’s book is pretty sweet!
So there you have it.
Again I don’t agree or even follow everything in every book I read.
I very much go by the mantra adopted by Bruce Lee: ‘absorb what is useful, reject what is not and add what is uniquely your own’ and its served me pretty well as far as results in my career are concerned.
Here’s the formula I like to use- Learn it, read more about it, absorb it if its useful, test it on myself, test it on some guinea pigs, if it works- release it on my paying clients.
That’s about it J
Let me know if there’s any books that you love, or if you’d like my opinion on any.
I LOVE this industry and I especially love LEARNING and GROWING as both a businessman and a ‘results rockstar’
What is Success?
Great question huh? ESPECIALLY in the fitness industry, were bombarded with messages of 6 figure this, 7 figure that, you should know this and you shouldn’t be doing that.
You should be running bootcamps, personal training, semi private, online products blah blah blah in order to be ‘successful’
Again, WTF is ‘successful’? I think it was the AWESOME Charlotte Ord who I first heard ask this.
For me, its what YOU think it is. Sure you can earn a lot of money, and work from 6am till 9pm every day, you can earn a lot of money working just a few hours a day too. (personally I’d get a little bored)
This article should clear up some of this questions for you. In fact, I think its one of my best posts.
Before I crack on though, if you’re on of those who has a problem with people who earn WHAT THEY’RE WORTH in this ‘profession’ of ours. PLEASE click the back button now. This post probably isn’t for you. You can go back to you’re whining 
I’m actually a little embarrassed as I write this to be honest.
You see, despite seeming like an arrogant, brash know it all. I’m actually just a normal, run of the mill dude that tends to swear a lot.
I also don’t want the article to come across as an ‘I’m awesome, I’m holier than thou, you suck, I’m brilliant and you should listen to me article’
I probably wouldn’t have written it the legend that is Rachel Holmes hadn’t asked me too.
I really hope it helps you and inspires you actually because if I can do it, anyone can!
I actually wrote this piece in july whilst in Marbella but wanted to share it with you today.
I originally said this
I’m writing this sitting in the beautiful Laguna village beach bar in Marbella. I am in fact writing on a notepad, which is my new favourite thing to do when I’m doing ‘creative stuff’- I’ll type it onto my laptop later. Anyway, I digress.
It’s baking hot, my wife (whom I only married 5 weeks ago) is sunbathing next to me, and my 5-month-old son Max is asleep in the shade after a tough morning in the pool.
Oh I’ve also been here for a month and have 12 days to go!
Just yesterday I got paid £2, 000 for 3 hours work in a workshop teaching 20 people my top tips for getting in shape. But wait, these things aren’t the best bit.
I get to fly all over the world and work with some of the best trainers around AND call them my friends.
The best bit is I’m going to be LIVING here in Marbella come November. (ED:This now looks like its going to be OCTOBER)
Sure. Lots of people move out here but the reason I’m so happy about the move is that my business in the UK will continue to run as normal- making me money while I lie on a beach- which I DEFINITELY won’t be doing by the way. I LOVE training and educating people too much!
The members of our camps will continue to get amazing results, the kick ass trainers that run the camps will continue to change lives and get very well paid for it.
You could say that I’m living the dream so to speak 
Again, PLEASE don’t get this confused with bragging, I really hate stuff lie that and you know what, I know for a fact I’m nothing special.
I’m not telling you this to impress you at all, (I’m too old for that now) I’m sharing this whit you because:
1- Rachel Holmes forced me too
2- 2-I want to impress upon you that if a hyperactive tourettes sufferer (people in fitness think I swear too much) from one of the poorest towns in the UK can do this, then YOU can too.
Oh and it has NOTHING to do with ‘Earning 6 figures’ in fact, you don’t need to earn anything like 6 figures!
3- That goal setting IS indeed over-rated
4-And lastly I want to continue to give something back to an industry that I’m still head over heels in love with and has allowed me to meet so many brilliant people!
So anyway, I wanted to keep it short and simple to follow so I’ve put together my 4 top tips to help you ‘live the dream’ and the first was is actually a bit controversial and goes ‘against the grain’ (you know me, always like to say something a little different)
Tip 1- STOP setting goals and STOP even trying to earn 6 figures.
They’re both pointless.
Let me explain.
Around 3 months ago I had a MAJOR discovery. Now don’t get me wrong, I still do set a few goals here and there and it still can be useful, in fact you should STILL set goals as they can act as MARKERS along the way yo measure progress towards your ‘perfect day’ but depiste what all the self-help gurus say I realized that it isn’t all its cracked up to be.
This discovery has transformed my thoughts and my life.
You see, setting goals and aiming for the ‘magic’ 6 figures is all based on ‘stuff’.
Guess what though? The stuff gets boring.
(I’m not into the whole money doesn’t buy happiness thing by the way- because it certainly can help)
You see, the nice cars are great, the holidays are great, the business class flights and gadgets and clothes are great but what we’re REALLY, REALLY looking for is the EXPERIENCE of those things right?
We want the FEELING of driving the great car, the FEELING of being able to fly business class yer?
These things all bring about an EXPERIENCE.
I bought my self my first brand spanking new car last year- it cost my 21k.
It isn’t quite my dream car but I LOVED it when I saw it.
Guess what? After about 6 weeks and all the excitement wore off- I was bored with it.
Speak to a new people who have a lot of ‘stuff’ and I’m pretty sure they’ll say the same.
Buying the most expensive ‘stuff’ ‘because you can’ is nice but again- it becomes boring.
So what was it that changed my thought pattern so profoundly?
It’s an exercise that that awesome Frank Kern put me onto and something I’ve also looked at with my friend Dax Moy.
It’s called ‘the perfect day’
Here are the basics of it (the full thing takes around 4 hours)
Write down, in detail (in fact the more mundane things you get in there, the better- it makes it more REAL) your PERFECT DAY.
From waking up (where, when who with etc) to going to bed on a night.
Do this without any limiting thoughts Such as financial limitations, time limitations and your location limitations right now.
Write down what you eat, where you eat at, what you do in the morning, what you spend your afternoon doing, what you’re thoughts are as you go to bed etc etc.
Why? Because you’ll ‘Wake Up’ and realize that to LIVE this perfect day, EVERY DAY doesn’t actually involve THAT much MONEY or ‘stuff’ AT ALL.
It’s probably nowhere near the magic 6 figures we seem to have been chasing for so long (that’s around £8,800 a month by the way)
Pretty much every decision you make from then on can based upon the Question “ Is this helping me to get closer to my perfect day or not?”
Seriously, this has totally changed my life and several of the guys I mentor feel the same too!
When we set financial and ‘stuff’ based goals, the ‘Stuff’ can sometimes seem like its light years away and we get down heartened, you think ‘I can never earn that much’ and you chances are you won’t.
After all, ‘if you don’t believe it- you wont achieve it’
But this is WELL within peoples reach and I guarantee that if you do it- you’ll have SEVERAL ‘light bulb moments’
What are you waiting for? Go create your perfect day!
SERIOUSLEY- spend a couple of hours on this. The video below is the one that TRANSFORMED what ‘Success’ meant to me!
2. You MUST build something UNIQUE.
For my business and myself this is thefitnesscamp.co.uk and my ‘unstoppable-fat-loss-formula’
Why is this important?
Well, as brilliant as you guys are at what you do, most personal trainers, group x instructors and zumba instructors simply swap money for time. Which is great, I still do some of that myself, BUT can you keep doing that until your 65?
Think about it.
Swapping money for time means you can’t…
3-De-personalise the stuff you do
YOU HAVE TO BE THE ROCKSTAR
Zumba is an amazing example of this.
Sure, you guys that teach it are doing pretty well (BRILLIANT by the way, you guys are really getting bums of the settee) but again, most of you are swapping money for time.
The creator of Zumba, Beto Perez has it sown up- he’s got it in the bag!
This dude is worth millions. When the Zumba bubble burst and the next thing comes along. Mr. Perez will be fine- he’ll still be loaded but what about the poor zumba teacher who’s given up all her other classes while zumba was hot?
Food for thought huh?
Similarly with most bootcamps out there. Why would someone come and teach one for you, when they can do it themselves?
The fitness camp not only has its own workouts, its own identity, its own ‘tribe’ it pretty much has its own language too (this belongs in point 2 to ne honest)
The unstoppable-fat-loss-formula and all that comes with it was created by me but CANNOT only be taught by me. It’s unique in its own right. It’s a SYSTEM for success.
Anyone can teach it, just so long as they’re knowledge and enthusiastically ‘kick ass’ enough!
Think of Rachel’s Fitness Pilates. Another great model!
Think of Andy Wake who owns’ Boxercise’
Making money while you sleep AND helping people get in shape is cool right?
You can do that by…
4. NOT getting busier but LEVERAGING yourself and your time.
I’m gonna keep this one short as my hand is hurting now!
A common theme amongst most of the trainers that come onto my mentoring program is that they’re very ‘busy’
Busy doing the ‘money for time’ stuff.
Creating 3 and 4 mean you can get other people making money for you.
You can ‘leverage’ your knowledge base and your time.
Start by documenting and templating everything you do. From email replies to your workouts.
Instead of doing 1-1 training can you do 1-5 small group training? (Katie Bulmer does this VERY well with her LBD club)
Why not create your own version of Zumba? Seriously, Why not?
NOTE: YOU CAN indeed do all of this but the KEY to success as a trainer, is to be BRILLIANT at getting BRILLIANT results. We’re in a results industry.
Be 1 step ahead of the curve knowledge wise.
Do every course you can. DEVOUR nutrition books and online stuff.
Form your own opinions and create your own ‘formula’
PS- if you’d like to learn more about this type of things. Keep your eyes peeled on my ‘fan page’ on facebook. Here’s the link: http://www.facebook.com/bootcampking
See you over there!
Hey, hope you’re doing awesome and have been taking lots of action?
Set those business ‘rules’ yet?
Anyway, I have a SUPERB guest post for you today.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but there’s a lot of copycats in the fitness industry.
In fact i sometimes get accused of trying to be like my mate, Steve Hochman. Which is retarded!
Sure i use some of his strategies- cuz they work! But i think you’ll agree i’m pretty unique.
So i was talking to Zack Cahill, one of my first ever mentoring students and Zack is one of the smartest trainers i know and has some really cool insights on the industry.. in fact, he has one of the coolest sites on training around at http://itsgunday.com/ I visit it regularly because- 1- the info is cool and 2- it makes me laugh!
So here’s Zack
People tend to want to be part of a tribe. Fitpros are no different in this respect. within our little industry we have enough sub groups to completely baffle the outside observer, from crossfitters to the functional crowd to kettlebell lovers the list goes on.
SERIOUSLY?!?! WTF!!?
1- Have a set of principles – This applies to your business, to programme design, to nutrition, to pretty much everything. The decisions you make in your business should be based on principles that resonate with you, not with what’s currently trendy in the fitness industry. This will prevent you getting drawn into pointless arguments about the latest fads. You can simply decide if that idea is congruent with your principles or not. Fads will come and go, but principles are forever.
- Constantly look for ways to get your clients to do more work without exceeding their capacity to recover
- Be shit hot at the fundamentals
- Look for ways to build health reinforcing habits into your clients lifestyle
- Know who you are for, and who you are not for.
- Build your business around what you are most passionate about and best at, not what is currently hot or apparently profitable.
- Ask yourself every day what else you can do to solve your clients problems.
zack?
Aug 11
18
Write Your Own F*****g Rules
“I’m starting a new (insert name) class, what time would suit you best?”
Sound familiar?
“Hey (Insert YOUR name) I know you’re busy but…..”
“Oh I can’t do that time, can you do the weekend? as that suits me better”
Nodding again right?
Yup, I thought so. You see, in this wonderful profession of ours I hear and hear this waaaaay to often and it makes me a little sad.
Why?
It’s the fastest way to burn out and the fastest way to get drained of your energy and your passion.
We have the GREATEST job in the WORLD right?
Yet it pains me, in fact, scratch that- it HURTS me to see so many trainers BITCHING and WHINING when I’m both on tour, at other events and on social media platforms.
Like seriously whining, like they’ve had the shit kicked out of them.
So is it your fault that you’re tired, stressed and pissed off?
Normally (you know me, I say what I think) I’d say yes, but in fact it isn’t really. O
Or is it?
Yes- it is, because you’re letting it happen and NO- because NOBODY teaches this stuff.
The REAL problem?
You let other people (your clients and prospects) control your life and when you can have one.
So much so, that if you think about it- you don’t actually run a business at all- your business runs you.
Don’t start cursing me yet, I’ve been there and want to help you.
You plan your holidays around classes; you don’t get paid when you’re on those holidays.
You start a class on a Friday night –‘ due to requests’, when you’d rather be spending your time with friends and family.
You take on a Sunday morning client or lass when you’d MUCH rather be having a lie in with your partner because you could ‘do with the extra cash’.
You get pissed off when people don’t listen to your advice but then complain when they don’t get results.
You answer texts about nutrition and stuff on a Saturday night or when you’re out with friends because you ‘want to help’
You seem to constantly dish out free advice that the same people then go and do the complete opposite to what you told them.
When Friday comes you’re totally shattered and you haven’t even started your ‘admin’ yet.
Some of those HAVE to sound familiar right?
How do I know all this? Am I just a bigheaded asshole?
PROBABLY.
No really, I know this because I’ve been there too.
Its tough.
I’ve worked from 6am till 9pm (in fact sometimes I still do, I’ll explain later)
I’ve missed out on things I wanted to do because I ‘had a class’ or I ‘had a client’
You know the deal.
Sure you have bills to pay but I promise you, there’s a better day.
It’s as simple as this.
WRITE YOUR OWN RULS.
Sounds easy enough right?
Yet I know most of you wont do it, in case you ‘lose clients’
I can guarantee that if you do, do it though, that it will CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
It really is that powerful.
You wanna see mine? Rules that is!
Okay here they are J
Now I must warn you, you might not agree with some of them, they may come across as arrogant and self centered, you may dislike my for it (if you don’t dislike me already) but they’re my rules and I work my ass off to be able to provide my family and myself with the lifestyle that I DESIGN.
So if it makes me a few enemies, so be it. I can handle that.
PAULS RULES OF BUSINESS
IF I DON’T ENJOY OR I’M NOT GOOD AT IT- I DON’T DO IT
Sounds good right? The way I look at it is like this. I’m good at teaching, motivating, writing and creating. I SUCK at all of the other stuff.
So if I get someone else in to do the other stuff then it frees me up to do the things I LOVE, the things I’m GOOD at and the things that take me closer to my perfect day (earn money and give me more time with my family)
If you HATE doing your accounts? why not just get someone else to do em? they’d be better at it too
I SET MY SCHEDULE
I want to spend as much time as I can with my son. But I LOVE training people and coaching trainers to create a kick ass life. I find a balance between these two to work like this:
Wednesday and Friday are ‘stuff days’ this is when I teach sessions, do consults, do calls, write and do videos. NOTE- I chunk these together IE do all my calls back to back.
Thursday is ‘development day’ this is when I do things that BUILD my business to move it forward.
Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are ‘daddy days’ here I do what the hell I want, and I spend time with my boy. MOST of the time.
Sometimes in building my dream I have to travel. But 90% of the time, my week looks like that
MY PHONE IS OFF AFTER 5PM and is OFF all weekend.
That’s just the way it is. I need to recharge my brain and I’d HATE to be the dad/husband that’s always on his phone.
Wanna piss me off quickly- text me on a weekend about ‘work’ when I’m with my friends and family
I recently went 3 MONTHS with no phone at all- VERY liberating.
I CHECK MY EMAIL TWICE PER DAY
It makes me more productive
IF AN EMAIL TAKES MORE THAN 3 SENTENCES OR DOESN’T HAVE A TEMPLATED ANSWER- IT GETS IGNORED
UNLESS IT’S FROM A PAYING CLIENT.
Nothing worse than people wanting LOTS of free advice then ignoring it. I’ve experienced it too many times.If i answered all of of my emails i SERIOUSLY wouldn’t have time to do anything else.
NO DICKS
I spoke about this already but let me recap:
Yup- if you’re dick, I wont work with you REGARDLESS of how much you offer to pay me. That goes for ALL ASPECTS of my LIFE. Not just business
Dicks include negative people, whiners, people who think the world owes them a living, lazy people, rude people and just plain dicks.
EVERYTHING I DO MUST FIT IN WITH MY VISION OR BIGGER PICTURE.
No exceptions, it NOT about money at all. Its about being able to do what I want, with who I want whilst HELPING AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. If it doesn’t fit with me both on a ‘I ENJOY DOING THIS’ basis and a ‘IT FITS WITH MY PERFECT DAY’ then there’s no way i;m doing it- regardless of how much money I’m offered
ALWAYS DO THINGS THAT I ENJOY OUTSIDE OF BUSINESS
For instance I LOVE watching football. I planned my last 2 tours around me being able to watch my team. That’s my VICE.
ASK FOR HELP FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE BETTER THAN ME
I ALWAYS email/phone people if I’m stuck. I DON’T know it al, believe it or nor . I’m lucky to count some of the top names in the fitness world as friend so if I have a client with a problem I cant fix, I ask. If I have a problem in business or personal development- I ask.
DON’T WASTE ENERGY ON PEOPLE FOR MONEY
If someone wants a refund- give them one. Regardless of whether they’ve followed the plan- they’re gonna bad mouth you if you don’t and you don’t need the negativity of arguing.
NEVER THINK I’VE MADE IT- CONSTANTLY IMPROVE
I LOVE reading and I LOVE learning. This is super important to me, especially since I help make people better at what they do and I help get people in phenomenal health.
PAY IT FORWARD
If somebody helps me out and I can’t help them in return, I’ll pay it forward to someone else. I let someone on my mentoring program for free this year after Dax Moy helped me out with something for free.
ALWAYS LOOK TO ADD VALUE- NEVER DISCOUNT
This is huge for me. Blow people away with better service and better quality. Don’t devalue what you do.
CHARGE WHAT YOUR WORTH
Don’t charge what everyone else is. SIMPLE. EVERYTIME you do a course or workshop that makes you a better trainer, raise your prices.
NEVER READ FACEBOOK MESSAGES
If I answered all of the FB messages I got, I’d spend 23 hours day on it. This is the NO 1 place for people looking for free advice they can ignore. CAN IT.
NEVER EVER TRY TO BE SOMEONE I’M NOT
Sure I may offend people, I may piss them off- I have bad language but it’s who I am. You gotta stay true to yourself. Some people maye remove me from facebook or bad mouth me, but they’d never be a good fit for me business wise or personally, so I don’t worry about it.
I hear of people having a pop at me all of the time, usually those that are struggling to make any money, but hey I cant let that affect me right?
NEW RULE AS OF JULY 2011
Dont let business get in the way of my health. I don’t want to be a fat dad. I don’t want to be a fat trainer. Its tough to balance success business wise with being in shape but I’M DOING IT FROM NOW
NEW RULE AS OF AUGUST 2011
WAKE UP IN THE MORNING AND DO THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY
I used to wake up to be productive. Sure, I love training people but being with my son makes me happy, taking care of my health makes me happy, reading makes me happy. So I spend the first 3 hours of my day doing that instead of chasing money.
I have more but this article is getting a little long and my fingers are hurting J
I hope its inspired you to take actions- GO WRITE YOUROWN RULES!
Aug 11
12
18 Random Things That Rock
So after the misery I’ve return to in the UK with riots and what not, yesterday I was hit be a horrific allergic reaction to something which is still unknown- and its not HARD WORK before you even think of saying that.
Anyway, I ended up spending the night in hospital with wires all over the place, a nebuliser on my face and two drips in my arms. Not a nice way to return from a kick ass business trip to Canada. Whilst in there, bored out of my mind I came up with a list of 17 things that are making my life awesome right now.
Here they are
1- Being Grateful
This is something I did around 3 weeks ago. You see as fitness entrepreneurs, I think we some times beat our selves up a little over what we ‘should be doing’ or what we ‘should have done’. We always look forward. How about we STOP, BREATH and LOOK BACK at what we’ve achieved.
I did it over 6 months, but you could do it over a year. Whatever.
Without blowing smoke up my own arse, In the last 6 months I’ve:
Had the arrival of my son, sold out my mentoring program without even advertising it or sending a single email out, spent two weeks in Thailand creating bootcamp empire, (which I made £50k from in 26 days), set up 6 more bootcamp locations, finished my 3rd UK tour, spoke at the biggest fitness convention in the world, got married, took a 6 week holiday where I still made A LOT of money, sold out a PAID seminar in Spain and I’ve probably missed other things off but you get the picture.
A pretty cool 6 months right?
YET I’ve been beating myself up recently about not being where I want to be yet. Try it for yourself. It rocks!
Be grateful for what you’ve done and what you have right now. Especially your family because as I couldn’t do any of this without my wife and son J
2. NOT setting goals but having a vision. (I’ve written a whole blog post on this that I’ll put up soon) but for now GOAL SETTING SUCKS.
Why? Because its pretty much always about money and stuff.
This has SERIOUSLEY changed my mindset and that of the students I work with.
Try this instead- write down clearly your perfect day. Then workout how much is would cost to live it. Its NOWHERE NEAR what you have as your current BIG goal I bet?!?! I’ll tell you more about this in my next blog
3. A clash of Kings
Reading fiction is really important to me and is a great way to get mental space for creativity in your business.
This book is the second in the series of books by George RR Martin. I got hooked with ‘game of thrones’ on sky starring sean bean. I NEVER thought I’d be into this stuff but it kicks ass! Here’s a link in case you fancy- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clash-Kings-Book-Song-Fire/dp/0006479898/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313131538&sr=8-1
4. SPARTACUS- blood and sand
I hardly ever watch TV. Usually I watch it between 8:30 and 9:30 before I read fiction for an hour. This show ROCKS! Its pretty much about training, fighting and sex! 3 of my favourite things. Its REALLY AWESOME!
5. Having a ‘No DICKHEAD Zone’
I love EVERYONE I work and spend time with. My time is precious. Its brilliant to be surrounded every hour of every day by like minded people. If any one is negative, whines or is just a dick in general. I don’t wanna be around them- so I don’t spend time with them or get involved. Facebook is the easiest place to start with this .
6. The hype of the new football season.
Transfer news, fans banter, KILLER sky tv advertising. I cant WAIT!
7. My Son and my Wife.
I got married in May to my best friend. I couldn’t do ANY of what I do without her, she keeps my feet on the ground and stops me from having breakdowns- she is wonderwoman am sure. Of course I wouldn’t have my little dude without her either. NOTHING drives me like him. He’s SUPER intelligent and makes me laugh every day without fail.J
8. Having freedom.
Although I still work VERY hard because I love what I do. I have built a business that basically lets me do what I want, when I want. I only ‘work’ 3 and a bit days a week now and spend the rest of the time with my son. (except if I’m away studying or something else that kicks ass). It enabled me to take a 6 week holiday erlier this year without having to worry about anything.. partly because of.
9. My team.
These dudes ROCK. From my trainers, to my clients, to my mentoring students. They never complain, they’re positive and they take action. IF they don’t, they know they’ll be out- SEE the ‘No DICKHEAD Zone’
10. Intermittent Fasting
Great for breaking through plateus, great for anyone with digestive or blood sugar problems and I PERSONALLY do VERY well on it. Read more at http://eatstopeat.com
11. The vitamix
I bought this when I went out to get a spare laptop. It’s a 400 QUID blender! It COOKS soup raw, it makes ice cream, it DESTROYS ice cubes and it has a 2 horse power motor!
Check it out here-https://www.vitamix.co.uk/
12. Evernote
This is a KILLER tool on the mac that syncs with Ipad and Iphone. It’s a productivity and organization tool that just ‘tidy’s things up.
13. Working out in the morning.
Despite teaching early morning bootcamps and 1-1 sessions for like 10 years now, training in the morning as never really been ‘my thing’ BUT I now cant live without it. It gives me A LOT of mental clarity and it allows me to just ‘get clear’ on my goals, my vision and just my day in general. It also fires me right up for the rest of the day, oh and it means I cant put it off like I did when I got fat!
14. Writing with a pen and notepad!
I;m actually typing this up from my notepad write now. I’ve just started doing this in the last month of so but its awesome. I can write ANYWHERE. Especially if I;m OUTSIDE, or I’m waiting somewhere. Usually I’ll start with some rough notes then start to put ‘meat on bones’. Its ben great for me and its stopped me from ‘waiting till I have tim’ You know that old chestnut right?
15. The Amazon kindle.
My house and office are RAMMED with books and it can look untidy. Also, when I travel I never knew which books to take, or I never took enough and ended up having to borrow books or read magzines filled with trash.
The kindle sorts all of that. If you read, you need one in your life
16. Masterminding.
I’ve always been a fan of it but haven’t done it in a long time. The group I’m in I already wrote about in a previous blog post.
I’m just about to hold my own with my mentoring students out in Marbella.
You know though, a lot of people are like ‘why Marbella?’ well, it’s a mindset thing. Sure we could have it in a dingy studio that we get for free or we could have it in an awesome setting, some would say a dream setting and really let our imaginations and dreams run wild right?!?
17. Making myself accountable via facebook.
This ROCKS. My clients REALLY enjoy reading it, it stops me from making excuses and I love it. End of
18. Vega protein powder.
Gluten free, milk free. Made from pea, rice and hemp protein and tastes AWESOME. Get some.
http://myvega.com/products/vega-sport-performance-protein/features-benefits
19.. yup I know I said 18 but I LOVE Jason Ferruggias blog- …
http://jasonferruggia.com/
I GET this guy. He comes across as angry but after becoming friends recently he’s an TOP DUDE. He writes awesome content and writes with humour and aggression. I LOVE that shit!
So there you have it, random but insightful right?
What are some of the things that are rocking your world right now?
Aug 11
9
The ‘Purple Cow’ Bootcamp
Yo dudes,
I’m still in canada but i’m heading home today so before i left i thought i’d hit you up with a guest post from my mentoring student Chris Brown who has made more progress in 6 months that most people make it to years.
Now without blowing smoke up his ass, i’ll let him take over… Enjoy
I was privileged when Paul aka the BOOTCAMP KING asked me for a guest blog post yet again and I remember the last time I was just fresh in the world of the “Bootcamp Game” 60 days in fact; and that post was really about how I managed to make over 6K in less than 60 days!
We are around 5 months down the line and things have changed dramatically for me, I am getting some of the best results in the country now which is pretty cool, and that’s what other people are telling me, not me bosting. I have 3 locations ran by myself with one group in each, and 2 trainers working for me and now a third is about to come on board. This is all in around 6 months.
So as you can see it’s been a very busy 2011 for me, I’ve been in the local large press paper and actually appeared on Radio City which is one of Liverpool’s Largest radio station and have established myself as the “Go To Guy” in my area and beyond. Paul wanted me to share with you how I’ve actually managed all of this in such a small space of time and a couple of things that allow me to run a “Bootcamp” in a park where 6 others are running them and I charge double and sometimes 3 times more and the majority of them in the Park have been on GROUPON and are training clients for like £12 for the month which to me is SUICIDE for your business. (NOTE- my next post will be on this, Even Bedros Kuellian, one of the worlds leading authorties on fitness marketing says it sucks)
Well how have I done this, first of all I want to tell you this, BOOTCAMPS are dying a slow and painful death, I can see this now, Morty being the visionary of this himself actually stated this in the new year in his http://bootcampmanifesto.com, at the time I was thinking “SH*T I’m paying this guy a LOT of money and now he’s telling me that bootcamps are going to die??”. But I put total faith in him and went away and thought about the underlying message. You see “bootcamps” are killing themselves from within competing on price and constantly under cutting each other and filling them with “time-wasting bargain hunters” from GROUPON – I know what you’re are thinking, I’ve done GROUPON it worked for me, but think about it, if you HAVE to use a daily discount site to get clients then surely your RESULTS aren’t shouting loud enough?? Or you aren’t seen as the “go to EXPERT” in your area?
So I created something brand new and revolutionary, in fact it’s the VERY first in the world of it’s breed, “The GFA” – Get Fit Academy. I’ve created a fitness academy, a platform to share, learn, develop, grow and change. A place for people to become part of a HUGE community of Fat Loss and not just think about EXERCISING to lose weight but to help actually transform people, in body and in mind.
Now in my area there are “bootcamps” yes but there are no FITNESS ACADEMIES; this umbrella term allows me to have, Group PT, small Group PT, workshops etc etc. I know non of my competitors are doing this, and by doing this I have ESTABLISHED myself a the GURU in my area. The results we get from working with FANTASTIC, HIGHLY motivated people are out of this world and by getting those results I have been able to ATTRACT some big names in my area from Amanda Harrington (http://www.amandaharrington.com) a UK known Model, Rick Vaughn (http://www.rickvaughn.co.uk/home.html) a Local Radio Presenter, Dave Henshaw owner of The Mersey (http://the-mersey.co.uk/) which goes out to over 15,000 businesses and homes across Liverpool. I mean this may seem fairly insignificant but by using these people to get press releases and local media, it allows you to establish yourself as THE go to TRAINER.
So “The GFA” is a totally different spin on fitness camps, bootcamps whatever you may be running and I think if you are a trainer with real quality and AMAZING results; are you really wanting to be stigmatised and pigeon holed with the PAY AS YOU GO groupon bootcamp down the road?The bootcamp that doesn’t guarantee results, doesn’t have a structured training program and has no following of “Fans”? To me if somebody classed me as that I’d have to REALLY think about my strategy; in fact I’d be pretty p*ssed off if I’d created that! I literally have ZERO competitors in my area, I never worry what the next person is doing, nor do I care. I have a following that LOVE what I do and pay me what I’m truly worth and EACH and EVERYONE of them is happy with that!
Do you stand out or blend in with the crowd?
Remember we are in this profession to change lives, and we can do MASSIVELY! So if you are competing on price and constantly worrying whether people are going to turn up, the you AREN’T changing enough LIVES! Simple really! If you focussed your time and energy on doing that whilst creating something UNIQUE then you will be busier than ever and WAAAY happier. You will end up training people you LOVE and not just people that are with you because you put out a “cheap deal”.
I guess my final message from this is that if you are “running a bootcamp” then you are in serious SHIT! UNLESS you do something about it; if you are “running a bootcamp” then you AREN’T focussing on changing lives! WHY are you in this remember? To copy off everybody else because somebody said it was a “good way to make money”? If that’s your reason then I think you need to have a long hard think again. Groups are a great way to leverage a lot of people into one place and get GREAT results, but in the same SENSE just because you have a LARGE group and the program runs over 4 weeks, doesn’t mean you have to call it a BOOTCAMP.
So broken down if you do these things you WILL get great returns:
- Get INCREDIBLE results for your clients – good isn’t good enough
- Create something different and UNIQUE
- Hire a coach – somebody who has been there and done that – SERIOUSLY it’s the best thing I’ve EVER done – without a shameless plug Paul’s BOOTCAMP empire is REVOLUTIONARY and will actually help you in the creating something UNIQUE process. http://bootcampempire.com – you don’t have to buy it AT ALL! Infact it will probably be sold out by the time you have a look, as I know people will be fighting over this!
It’s time to make a difference to the lives of those around you! Do this and you will create the life you want! Go to the lengths of GIVING and then you shall receive!
Thanks for reading!
Chris Brown
Proud owner of “The GFA”
The UK’s First Ever Fitness Academy
Hey is Paul here, bad ass post right? If you’re interested in ‘standing out from the crowd’ check out ‘Purple Cow’ by Seth Godin. GREAT book and one of the first marketing books i read!
Aug 11
7
What Happens In VEGAS…
Stays in Vegas right?
Not in this case my friend!
First of all, it’s been a while since I posted- We’ve had some major issues with the blog- in fact, we’ve had to rebuild the whole thing 
I’ve also been so busy working on the launch of bootcamp empire- my first product.
I hope you managed to catch some of the killer content I put out over there, the feedback has been awesome!
However, I digress. Not sure whether you knew or not but I recently came back from a masterminding weekend in Las Vegas and I gotta say it has changed me profoundly.
First of all, the mastermind was £15,000 to join for the year. So you know the guys in it aren’t just playing at business right?
It was Big Chris Mccombs’ of kick back life fame’s weekend and other members of the group included my buddy Jon Le Tocq, the current UK personal trainer of the year, 7 figure Sam AKA- Sam Bakthiar, the video boss Andy Jenkins who runs an 8 figure business, Jay Ferrugia who has a kick ass online business and an awesome gym in New Jersey, Valerie Waters, who trains Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Cindy Crawford, J-lo and a whole boat load of other MAJOR celebrities. I
In fact, I could dedicate a whole blog post just to how awesome the guys in the group are BUT that may bore you… and Morty don’t do boring However, if you like, you can read about em here- http://www.kickbacklife.com/kbl-jedi-mastermind/
So this blog post is really to tell you about the things that I learnt that weekend and hopefully give you some inspiration to go out and kick some ass today.
A few of the things I was reminded of, others blew my mind!
1-Its okay to earn a lot of money in the fitness industry
Sometimes I hear people saying things like ‘its not all about money, I’m in this industry to help people’ or ‘ I’m sick of hearing about 6 figures’ or ‘ He/she is only interested in making money now, not in helping people’
SCREW THAT. I’m sorry but it’s as simple as this- The money you earn is DIRECTLY correlated to how many people’s lives you change on a daily basis.
We’re fit pros right? We change people’s lives. In my humble opinion, we should be paid VERY well for this.
ACTION POINT:
So.. If you’re not earning the money you’d like its either because A- you’re not a good enough trainer and don’t get good enough results or B- you’re not good enough at telling people how good you are.
So you need to either A- become a better trainer and go and learn some more or B- tell people about the results you’re getting IE- learn a little bit about marketing.
2. Having said that, it ISN’T all about the money.
I actually have another blog post for you about this very thing.
Money is all about getting ‘stuff’.
ACTION POINT: Instead do this: Write down your perfect day. A day that you could live day and day out and not get bored.
No work out how much money you actually NEED to live that day every day.
It’s probably NOWHERE near what you thought it was.
In fact, it might not even be 6 figures!
You see, my goal is to spend A LOT of time with my 6-month-old son, Max therefore earning 6 figures but working 14 hours a day wouldn’t be congruent with that.
I’m able, maybe I’m just lucky that I’m now able to earn 6 figures AND be able to spend 3 and a half FULL days a week with him
I think I’ve written about this before and you’ve probably heard it before. In my eyes you are DEFINITELY the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.
In Vegas my eyes were well and truly opened. I consider the people I speak to on a regular basis as pretty positive, successful people but the guys in Vegas were a WHOLE NEW LEVEL.
I was inspired by their words and advice.
Humbled by their kindness and openness
I was also blown away by their ideas and though processes.
These guys are millionaires WHO STILL WORK REALLY HARD BECAUSE THEY LOVE WHAT THEY DO and have changed my mindset forever.
Since returning, there’s had to be a facebook clear out of moaners- yep, there’s trainers in there too, a change of launderette, a change of cleaner, a few numbers have had to be removed from my phone.
I simply don’t want to allow myself to be exposed to this negativity and scarcity mindset. It’s just not for me.
ACTION POINT: start ‘hiding’ anyone’s statuses in your news feed that are negative, start hanging out with people who know more than you and earn more than you. Learn from them
4. Shouting ‘Buy my shit’ every day on facebook sucks.
I already knew this but to have it backed up by guys that are making serious money and are really cool was lovely! Anyone who has their business name as his or her name will be getting removed. Anyone that shouts ‘buy my shit’ every day is going the journey too.
PEOPLE DON’T GO ONTO FACEBOOK TO BUY STUFF AND BE SPAMMED.
People like to ‘hang out’ on facebook. They want to read INTERESTING things.
So give me interesting, honest, HIGH QUALITY content or at least have an opinion on something.
Enhance my experience of using facebook.
ACTION POINT: Write an informative article, put together a webinar, share one of your clients’ stories – (putting ‘another client has lost x amount of lbs’ is horseshit by the way)
Show me you actually know something and can get results.
5-YOU should be the ROCKSTAR of your business if you want to be UBER successful
You MUST let your personality come through in everything you do.
People buy from people.
Sure, being boring will get you some clients but to create an EMPIRE you need to be a frickin ROCKSTAR! Be bold, be brash- BE REAL.
ACTION POINT: Shoot a short video telling your facebook readers something interesting, maybe a right at the end of a workout you just did- DO NOT script it. I want to see a real person.
6. Fat people should have to pay for two seats if they take up two seats.
Seriously, on my last flight of a near 26-hour journey a fat guy sat next to me and was literally on my knee- sweating.
There should actually be some sort of rule against that. Its unfair to the person sitting next to them right?
ACTION POINT- take your business card on all flights!
So that’s it, hope you enjoyed my little random rant and I hope I inspired you
TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES: HOW TO GET MORE DONE, BETTER AND FASTER By Anna Aparico
Do you run around like a headless chicken trying to ‘get stuff done’. Yup, i used to too!
Spending time with my 4 month old son is VERY important to me.
So important that, when he was born, I decided i was only going to ‘work’ 3 and a half days a week and spend Tuesdays and ALL weekend with him.
However, I also enjoy money, nothing wrong with that right? I like to be able to buy what i like both for me, my wife and my son without worrying about how much it costs.
So i wanted to work less hours without taking a financial hit.
Therefore i knew i had to get better at managing my time, i first discovered the Eisenhower Matrix when reading Steven Coveys book ’7 habits of highly effective people’ (great book by the way!) and have had great success with it BUT my friend Anna Aparico who has the CRAZIEST accent I’ve ever heard (YUP- crazier than mine), She’s spanish with an Irish accent, explains it VERY well. So here she is:
If you think there are just not enough hours in the day to do everything you need to do, if it often seems as if you are chasing your tail, if you are under-performing, or stressed out, and don’t know what to do about it, this could be just what you need.
To this day I am always shocked when I discover most of the clients I coach on time management have no organisational systems in place whatsoever. My clients are usually super busy entrepreneurs, self starters, business people trying to juggle career and home life… but they have no plan! And when you have no plan, anything can happen.
In business and in life, you can’t leave things to chance. The Eisenhower Matrix is a time management tool I didn’t make up, but it is in my opinion one of the most effective and useful tools ever. Steven Covey, Owen Fitzpatrick and many other acclaimed personal development authors have featured it in their books. Books you may have read. But have you been using it? If you are reading this post, my guess is no.
Let me break it down for you!
Consider for a moment all the things you do on a daily basis. Work tasks, home chores, meals, workouts, family time, “me” time, time with friends, time surfing the net.
..
They all fall within one of the following categories:
A lot of people write lists but they don’t know how to use them to their advantage, so the things on them may or may not get done. Instead, make a list of all the things you have to get done today.
Now, sieve them through the matrix.
The first time you do it, it may be a little tricky to identify the right spot, but as you do this more and more, you’ll find it easier and easier.
If you want certain things done urgently, you can assign a date/time limit to them, so they become Urgent&Important. For example, if your work desk is really untidy, to the point that you waste hours every day just looking for things, then it makes sense to prioritise tidying it up so that everything else will become easier. You have to organise things in a way that you’ll be able to manage them better from now on. You don’t wait till you absolutely stink to take a shower, do you? You take a shower every day. It’s called “upkeep”.
Once you’ve sieved your tasks through the matrix consider this:
Now, all you have to do is transfer your prioritised tasks for today onto a schedule that suits the way you represent time, your personality, your lifestyle… a schedule that works for you! I see too many people with A5 or A4 diaries or notebooks they rarely or never use; people who tell me they use their phones, outlook, or just their heads to keep track. Ha! I say.
We process over 60,000 thoughts a day; random thoughts on all sorts of things. And you are telling me you rely on your brain to remember all the things you need to remember? Even Einstein wrote things down!
Myself and most of my clients work really well with a simple excel sheet like this where you can track your week (see Monday’s Example):
However, you can experiment with different types of schedules until you find one that suits you best. So what you do is you take your Urgent&Important things first, and slot them onto your schedule (use a colour pen that denotes urgency). Then, take the Non-urgent&Important things, and transfer them onto your schedule with a different colour pen. Then, transfer the Urgent&Non-important things (things that have to get done, but not necessarily today or now, or by you).
If you think that a task is going to take you an hour, when transferring it onto your schedule assign it an hour and twenty minutes or so. Always add 10—20minutes “buffer” time. Why? Because stuff happens; traffic, a phone call, a knock on the door…
By the time you’ve filled out your weekly schedule, what you are going to realise is that you have more time in your hands than you thought you had! Then, and only then, you can consider time wasters…
Make sure most of your time is spent on the top two quadrants: I guarantee you’ll start to feel happier about your life and more in control of things.
I suggest you display your schedule somewhere you can see it and refer to it all the time, and possibly make a few copies to bring with you when you leave the house/office. As you get through your day/week, I recommend you tick off things as you get them done and notice the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction it brings.
Setting up a few minutes every Saturday or Sunday to devise your plan for the week will free up tons of time and mental space that you can use to be more efficient and effective in your business and your life.
As well as doing this, I suggest you keep a monthly calendar (a wall calendar with boxes you can write on is great) where you can also keep an overview of the four weeks ahead, so as well as keeping track of the small picture, you are also aware of the bigger picture. And if you really want to make some big things happen this year, then a yearly wall planner can make a huge difference too!
Anna Aparicio
NLP/Hypnosis Specialist Coach,
Self-esteem & Confidence Expert
http://www.dublinnlplifecoach.com
The workout that made us famous.. sort of!
As a reader of my blog and a bootcamp owner you probably know how much I think its ESSENTIAL to name your workouts if you want to build something a little unique.
Such a simple tip, but one that can help you build a tribe. (tribes by Seth Godin is an AMAZING book that you should read by the way)
To read more about the ‘harry potter bootcamp’ effect, check out this post- http://www.bootcampking.com/2010/12/03/harry-potter-bootcamp/
Anyway, theres one workout in particular that made us ‘slightly famous’.
DAVE is a workout that was named after a guy that wasn’t actullay called DAVE, he was called John! But think about it, you’ve probably seen the conversations on facebook.
Trainer “ Off to pick DAVE up for bootcamp, he’s excited to meet you all”
Client: “ Just been destroyed by DAVE at bootcamp- WOW!”
Clients friend “ who the hell is dave?’
You know the rest right?
It’s a conversation starter, it’s a code word. (code words are essential to creating that ‘tribe’ i mentioned earlier)
In fact the DAVE workout has made an appearance in probably around 100 bootcamps since I introduced him to the awesome trainers on 3rd Uk tour earlier this year.
He even showed up at the FITPRO spring convention to kick some ass!
The guys that haven’t used DAVE probably use another name such as STEVE, or FRANKIE or ALICE- which is great by the way!
But DAVE was the original (after I stole it the name idea from crossfit that is!)
Anyway,
Not only that, but celebritys (albeit b-lsiters’ have been seen wearing our DAVE t-shirt)
So as you, my awesome readers have asked me for it- AND I get married on Sunday so I thought I’d give you it as a gift!
Now it’s an accumulate and MUST be done with this track If you want to get it SPOT ON – http://bootcampmusic.com/shop/gbca001-accumulator-mix-2/
You see, in not only takes away the hassle of a stopwatch but the music doubles the energy in the class… just watch them go!
So here it is, its an accumulator style workout
Each exercise is done for 30 secs. ‘R’ indicates 30 secs rest
These are the exercises we’ll use
1- Push ups
2- Burpee/Inchworm
3- Plank
4- Jump Squat
5- High Knee Drive
6- Get Ups
Here’s a breakdown of the workout:
1, R
1,2, R
1,2,3,R
1,2,3,4,R
1,2,3,4,5, R
1,2,3,4,5,6 R for 90 secs
6,R
6,5,R
6,5,4,R
6,5,4,3,R
6,5,4,3,2,R
6,5,4,3,2,1 DONE rest for 60 secs then
Give it a go and see how you get on- WARNING THIS IS A SERIOUS CALORIE BURNER!
PAUL
May 11
24
A Guest Post by PT of the year 2010
Sorry its been a while, our servers been down- FEAR NOT though, i have lots of content to hit you with over the next few weeks.
Starting with a guest post by my pal Charlotte Ord of http://www.phoenixprofitness.com/
Charlotte kicks ass. Period.
Not only is she SMASHING it as a female in a male dominated industry, not only did she win PT of the year 2010 , hosts her own TV show on the active channel and features in ALL of the top fitness magazines, she ALSO gets to count me amongst her mates
Anyway heres Charlottes thoughts on this weekends FEB event, hosted by my goodself and jon le tocq (who won PT of the year 2011 last month)
Charlotte Ord
Fitness Entrepreneurs Bootcamp (FEB) has got to be my favourite event of the year bar none. It’s a totally unique conference where you’re always surrounded by inspiring people and light bulbs come on thick and fast.
Unfortunately this year I was only able to be at FEB for 24 hours as I had to return home to coach the England lacrosse squad as they begin their World Cup campaign, but even in 24 hours I learnt an enormous amount. So, here are the top ten things I learnt from 24 hours at FEB…
1) A positive attitude is important but determination is more important. You will constantly come up against brick walls. Look out for them and spot them early – it is easier to take a run up and pole vault over, than walk into a wall and have to climb from the bottom.
2)Successful people spend a lot of time in flow, but are also usually very close to the border between flow and anxiety. I can vouch for this – my presentation at FEB followed straight on from one of the most sought after and polished motivational speakers in the world, Mr. Michael Heppell! He was incredible, but as I said in my previous post on public speaking, you have to just be yourself. So I was, and it was great. Don’t be afraid of getting out of your comfort zone. In fact, embrace it..
3) If you are hesitating over buying a business or self help book for £9.99, give yourself a slap. That is someone’s entire life earned knowledge for 9 pounds and 99 pence. It’s probably the biggest bargain you ever saw.
4) Separate your days into Me days, Key days and Stuff days. Most people have a lot of stuff days and not enough planned Me or Key days. Periodise your life 90 days in advance.
5) If you have been training some of your clients for a while they may have already reached the goal they initially wanted to achieve. If that’s the case, give them a new game to play. Challenge them. Crossfit is a great example…
6) Make a great impression at networking events. Create a piece of useful literature, a CD, or something WOWy to hand out instead of your business card. Deliver the WOW factor at every opportunity..
7) Make a plan for when you’re 60…
‘Because I’m worth it’! Dax Moy shook his minimal hair when Paul Mort spoke about this – he knows it, I know it, and so should you.. be proactive not reactive, charge what you’re worth, not what your competition is charging, set your own schedule and do what makes YOU happy. You will be a better trainer and better business owner as a result.
9) Shine the torch for your clients. Focus on solving people’s problems and you will be in demand. This applies to every aspect of your business including your networking strategies (no more calling people ‘wanker’ on facebook, that is not shining the torch nor likely to endear prospective clients to you..!)
10) Find your G Spot. If you weren’t at FEB, this means honing in on the point of crossover between what you’re passionate about, what you’re best at, and what gives you the greatest ROI. Work within that G Spot as much as possible.
So there you have it, my top ten takeaways from an incredible 24 hours at FEB. I also learnt that Alwyn Cosgrove does not understand the rules of the conch and that Andy Wake is a crop circle creator as well as founder of Boxercise!
Thanks must go to Mr Paul Mort, Mr Jon Le Tocq, Mr Andy Wake, Mr Dax Moy and Mr Michael Heppell for their enormous inspiration and help with the above points. And if you see any of the afore mentioned releasing a book for £9.99, don’t even think twice about buying it!
Char
PS- you can sign up for FEB next year- theres only 70 or so spots left- http://fitnessentrepreneur.co.uk/feb2012
