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Friendly Business Training for Bootcamp Trainers

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Day 1: Before We Plan Ahead, Let’s Look Back

looking back

Welcome to the first part of our 21 Day Planning Program.

When I decided to run this I thought I’d get 15 or 20 trainers signing up. I am totally flabbergasted and honoured that 220 of you have decided to join us for this course! Our tribe is forming quickly.

Before I get into today’s assignment (yes, there will be homework for the weekend) I want to give you an outline of what you can expect over the next 3 weeks.

New assignments and lessons will come out every 2-3 days. I’ve tried to time the more introspective tasks with the weekends so, if you can, take some time out to really think about these.

I’ll update this page with links as the course unfolds so keep this one bookmarked if you want a reference during the week.

Day 1 – Before we plan ahead, let’s look back.

Day 4 – Learn from what worked and didn’t.

Day 6 – Project selection for this year.

Day 8 – How to decide what to do first.

Day 11 – Projects can be overwhelming. Here’s how to break them down.

Day 15 – Revisit day 11 and repeat the process for the rest of your top 5 projects.

Day 18 – How to get stuff done week to week (and still have a life).

Day 21 – Using these systems going forward.

I’ve tried to break down the homework into manageable chunks so you don’t get overwhelmed with too much at once. Or if you fall behind you can catch up easily.

Day One

While it’s not a great idea to spend a lot of time dwelling on the past, it is useful in small doses.

So before we kick things off with planning out 2015, I want to to go back and look at 2014.

Specifically I want you to look at what went well and what didn’t go so well?

Starting with what went well (so we can be in a positive attitude for when we hit what didn’t go so well) have a look across the entire spectrum of your life. It may have been a crappy year business wise but you did have a child so that’s a pretty big win there.

Also, I bet you will be amazed at all the things you did achieve this year. Sometimes a bad week or even just a bad day can make us feel lose perspective and feel like we are spinning our wheels. Use this weekend to take a step back, and remember all the things you did do.

After you have done this, it’s time to look at things that didn’t go well. By this I mean things that you quit, projects that fizzled out or failed, disasters, illness and even heartbreak.

For now just take some time over the weekend to make a list. Next week we’ll go further.

Assignment

You might have done part of this already if you read my wrap up of 2014 on Bootcamp Ideas. If so, just skip to the Once You Are Done part.

In something like Google Docs or Evernote make two lists.

For list 1 answer this question:

What successes and things to celebrate happened in your business in 2014?

Repeat the question thinking about your personal life too.

Small wins should be included as well as the completion of any long term goals. Lucky situations are allowed too. Write it all down.

For list 2 answer this question:

What failures did you have in your business in 2014?

Again turn this question to your personal life – go as deep as you can. You aren’t sharing this part with anyone so be honest with yourself.

Don’t forget about resolutions you had from last New Years, or things you tried to start but couldn’t get going.

This entire task of writing the two lists should take about 20-30 minutes. If it takes longer then that you’re overthinking it.

Useful tools: Evernote

Once you are done

Come back here and share with us all in the comments one thing your business what was a success last year and one thing that was a failure.

It doesn’t matter how big or small it is. I’m looking forward to reading them!

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Original image: Susanne Nilsson

  • Rosie Goldsmith

    The biggest success for me was the growth of my classes – they more than doubled in size. My biggest failure was being scared of growth rather than embracing it

    • I know that feeling well Rosie. Success from afar seems awesome, up close it’s kind of terrifying.

  • My biggest success this year was getting started! I started my own outdoor bootcamps, and was hired on at a studio to teach bootcamps for them. My biggest failure, was in the marketing department. I haven’t been able to build my own outdoor bootcamp, and pick up more clients. I consistently have only 3 or 4.

    • Congratulations on starting Davina! Let’s see if we can turn things around in 2015.

  • Chelsea DeBoo

    My biggest success was getting a job at a Gym that helped me along the way to starting my own bootcamps, the other trainers shared their wealth of knowledge and ideas which was invaluable.
    My biggest failure was not advertising and setting myself up properly before I stared my bootcamps.

    • Hey Chelsea, I found working with other trainers awesome too. Are your bootcamps still running?

      • Chelsea DeBoo

        Yeah they are, I do 4 mornings a week at this stage (just a 6am to 7am class) and am learning every session

  • Sarah Maxwell

    Success was a Muderella mud run we did as a Maxed Out Training group about 14 of us. It was a blast! Failure…..idk several I had many clients not hit goals, and did not make as much progress with professional development as I would like to. Hence why I am in the tribe!

    • Thanks for sharing Sarah! Mud runs are a blast with your clients.

  • Lauren Brennen

    My success was almost my failure too!! I was so excited to find someone to take my Bootcamps whilst I took time to have my baby in April (major success), though this kept the business ticking over, I handed her 62 clients and by the 6 months that she took them she finished up with 26 (yes horrible).

    • Jess

      Oh my!!!

      • Ah that sucks Lauren. I hope some of them start trickling back this year now you are back.

  • Jess

    The biggest succes was the growth of my classes. Like with Rosie, they doubled. Heart brake was BIG but made me more determined to go on and see results. Would like one more class for this year … yet these doubts …

    • Thanks for sharing Jess. If you ran another class time, what would it be?

      • Jess

        Monday evening, starting in April. I have two other classes on Wednesday evening and Saturday morning. I have to take up hours of leave for that Monday. I’ll give it a go for 10 weeks, see what happens. People already have signed up …. that might be a start.

        • That’s a very good start! I hope it goes well.

  • Becki

    My biggest success was that I finally started my bootcamps this past spring. They have grown slowly but I’m getting more regulars just by word of mouth. My group is still small but they give me awesome feedback and it keeps me going! My biggest failure was my tendency to be shy about selling myself. Last week I finally put an ad on a local Facebook page and a new person showed up for bootcamp at 7:30AM in -10F temperatures outside so I’m hopeful that if I continue to put myself out there, more people will come! I am also frustrated that it has taken me so long to finish my website. It’s tougher than I thought to do it myself.

    • Nice Becki! I’m happy you started. Where are you located?

      Yes a website seems simple until you actually start writing all of the content and adding pictures and picking layouts and etc etc. What platform are you using?

      • Becki

        I’m in Columbus, Ohio. A few of my tech-savvy relatives and friends recommended WordPress. They said it’s the easiest one to use but after struggling with the ‘widgets” for so long I’m not so sure. Thank you so much for starting this group! I love reading the comments. It’s comforting to learn that I’m not the only trainer with some self-doubt and that has held bootcamps for 2-4 people sometimes. I guess it starts small for all of us.

        • Niki J Torres

          I was told the same thing about WordPress, Becki, and I ended up spending an excruciatingly long amount of time producing an incredibly mediocre-looking website. It could be due entirely to how UNtech-saavy I am, though. This time around, I plan to check out a different recommendation: Squarespace. I haven’t yet, but if anyone knows anything about it, I’d love to here! Good luck, Becki!

        • I use WordPress and love it, but the learning curve is steep and it’s not very ‘drag and drop’ friendly although their are themes out there that will do that.
          I’m enjoying getting these comments too 🙂

          Niki – I’m looking at using Squarespace for a tutorial on here later in the year. It looks to be the best between power and ease of use at the moment.

  • Ian

    Biggest success was becoming a certified Animal Flow coach, biggest failure not getting a Local bootcamp up and running, although did learn that Poorly targeted marketing does not work & that I need a clear vision on how I will run the camps.

    • Animal Flow – awesome! Are you planning on teaching that at bootcamp then?

      • Ian

        Kyle think I will start with conventional Bootcamp training but will introduce AF at some point.

        • You should. I don’t know of many trained in AF so it definitely makes you stand out!

  • Ray

    Biggest failure was setting up an events page on Facebook for a new bootcamp. Then just watching people sign up, with a couple of posts. Being pretty pleased when 10 people had signed up. Then getting to the field early to get everything set up, only to stand around on my own when not one person showed up. Went back home, checked on Facebook, and not one comment or anything!
    Biggest success was finding sites like this that gave me the confidence to have another go at it!

    • Ah mate that sucks. Humans can be fickle. I’m glad you are getting back out there.

  • Niki J Torres

    My biggest success was relaunching my fitness business after around a year of being absent! New name, clearer focus, new city…and a new baby! My biggest failure probably began before 2014 and was the slow demise of my first attempt at starting a bootcamp business. This was mostly due to fear: of the unknown, of how to start, of going it alone.

    • That failure didn’t go to waste then did it! Excited to have you along Niki

  • Ellen

    My biggest success was raising my fees for my small group exercise classes for women over 40. I researched what other similar classes in the area were charging and realized that what I was charging was way under market value. I was resentful when students wouldn’t show up because I wouldn’t make the amount of money I thought was fair. So I totally restructured my fees based on how often students came to class (one, two, or three times/week). I made it clear that students would get charged if they didn’t give me a 24 hour notice and I sent the new fee schedule to my students. (That was scarey for me!) I only lost about 2 students out of 20 and gained several more over the next few months. No one really balked at the new prices and I am feeling re-energized and get a lot of positive feedback from my students. I realize the importance of feeling confident about the services you provide and keeping apprised as to what other businesses in your area are charging.

    • Awesome success Ellen!

      We often do a good job of making those conversation so much worse in our heads than how they actually end up being.

  • Donna

    My most costly failure was participating in bridal show event trying to promote my bridal boot camp. Between the cost of the show (a lot!) and the cost of setting up an awesome table display, the return on my investmment was zero which was so disappointing because there was such great interest at the show with many signing up’for a free special mother/daughter bridal boot camp class which never ended up happening due to lack of interest!(?) Live and learn.
    I would say my biggest success is the amazing people that continue to come to boot camp and spread the word as well. I have gotten to know so many great people and am so proud of all of them and how hard they work. I do very little promoting therefore I gain most new members though word of mouth. They are such a fun, supportive group it makes my job so much fun and rewarding.

    • That sucks Donna. It was a great idea.
      Happy to hear things are going well still.

  • I would say my big success was to get my certifications.
    And my bigger failures was I still waiting for take off.

    • Well done Hector. Let’s get you to take off this year.

  • I would say my biggest success was not just re launching our bootcamp after moving interstate but sticking with it when we only had 1 or 2 clients early in the year. By the end of the year we had over 20 regular clients on the books and planning on launching a second location in 2015.
    My biggest failure would be that I didn’t get much time to build on the PT side of the business. At the end of the year we only had 2 clients.

  • Deon

    I think my biggest success in 2014 was the fact that every session was different – only sessions repeated were testing sessions & client requested sessions. Partly due the bci community and my imagination and experience.
    I have a couple of failures for 2014 –
    1st – I wasn’t really able to build on the small client base. The ones we have are loyal but I want to get a regular 10-12 each session
    2nd – I didn’t get a chance to develop my own skills/knowledge by attending some training or workshops.

  • Lauren Calenborne

    My biggest success this year was changing my fee structure to a monthly payment rather than a ‘pay as you go’ option. My failure this last year was not getting around to making the Facebook page I have been planning to do for ages.

  • Donnie Kjelden

    For my biggest success for business, is that I didn’t give up on my dream of owning my own personal training business, even though it has not gone well. I saw that someone already posted this are ready but I have a hand full of loyal clients however I would like to have about 10 clients in each “boot camp” session.

    For my biggest personal success is that I recently got engaged and will be getting married to an amazing woman. She has helped me out with my business more times not.

  • Agi

    I only do PT and casual bootcamps as my hobby due to a really satisfying full time job so don’t have that much do say here. However my biggest success was getting my first PT clients, training three awesome couples and maintaining a good relationship with a fitness company for which I do trainer fill ins and PT when I have time. My failures were overcommitment to PT which resulted in a miserable mood for couple of months and little time spent with my hubby, and not being able to reconnect with one of the PT clients after our respective holidays.
    My personal life was filled with events this past year and the biggest were changing jobs and buying our new place.

  • Catherine Flockhart

    I’m slow to start with this due to finishing some study up (a success for me 🙂 ) However – My biggest success? Making the break from a Group PT/bootcamp style training that I was running sessions for following their structure and guidelines for and starting up my own group, using my own format, style and ideas. I’d shied away from doing so for a while due to lack of confidence I think. I ended up kind of forced into it after being royally screwed over by the people who’s ‘brand name’ it was (that I thought were friends) and ended up making the leap at the request from loyal clients that wanted to train with me still. The biggest failure? The failure to expand it – haven’t managed to get above the 3-5 participants. I haven’t pushed it to get word out there on it either though so it’s my own fault – but I’m ready to change that now 🙂

  • Anne

    Earlier this month on my boot camp website I blogged my groups’ 2014 successes and brainstormed some ideas for this year, but didn’t list any — what did you call them — Lessons. So there’s one fail. Personal success: I learned to do a handstand, my first skill-learning training since college sports! Biz fail: other than those semi-lame CEC self-tests and blog reading, I haven’t done any serious self-education in the Exercise Science realm since before my 6-year-old was born. I think it would help my *CONFIDENCE* if I did a workshop!

  • Jeremie Atitoa

    My biggest success was actually starting my Fitness Business. Failure is taking too long to fix mistakes within the bootcamp

  • Juliette Rowsell

    My biggest success was growing my business from 6 to 11 outdoor fitness sessions per week & raising the funds to establish a local parkrun. My biggest failure was spending too much time trying to motivate people who aren’t in the right headspace to commit to training yet.