I’ve met so many fitness business owners over the years who think they HAVE to do it all.
They’re DESPERATELY trying to keep their heads above the sea of recurring tasks in their biz.
They wear 7 different hats on any given day: personal trainer, bill collector, admin, marketing, content creator, data entry, and the list goes ON AND ON.
Unfortunately, this is a trap that almost every entrepreneur falls into. But it’s a trap that leads to nothing but burnout.
Almost all of us got in this to help other people and create a change in someone’s life.
When we’re burnt out, we can’t help ANYONE.
Here are my 3 favorite strategies for identifying & eliminating time sucks in your fitness biz.
#1. THINK LIKE A CLIENT
You’re a successful fitness professional with a growing following, some serious hits on your workout videos, and booked out classes. People are starting to know you by name. But how do you think it resonates with your clients (or virtual program participants, product purchasers, etc.) if you’re the one chasing them up about a missed payment or rejected credit card?
You are the face of your brand – not the money collector lurking in their inbox. And as such, you are responsible for the 5% – the 5% of tasks in your business that only YOU are capable of performing.
Maybe that’s dreaming up your next signature program or creating cool ways to over-deliver to your clients. Maybe it’s creating a new marketing funnel or heading out to introduce yourself to other local business owners.
If at any point in your day you find yourself saying, “I should not be the one doing this in my business” … stop what you’re doing, because you’re probably RIGHT.
It’s just a task that’s distracting you from your 5%. Write it down and add it to a running list of tasks that you need to delegate in your business.
#2. DELEGATE WITH INTENTION
Are you hunting for an assistant because you’re drowning in the amount of work you’ve created for yourself? (yes- you’ve created this!)
Are you ready to throw your computer out the window because you’ve been staring at the same emails in your inbox that need to get answered? They’re not hard to answer, but for some reason, you just can’t find the energy to email them back?
Sounds like you’re ready to hire on an additional team member (or your first!) But let’s not make any sudden movements.
Frantic, overworked business owners make AWFUL hiring decisions. And I’ve seen it time and time again.
Fit pros who hire the first assistant they interview because she seems good enough and they can’t wait to offload on her…. or even worse – they hire someone with superstar potential that they:
a) don’t have time to train
b) don’t know how to train them
c) don’t know what exactly they should have them do
d) expect them to read their minds and perform miracles
This is a recipe for crash & burn delegation with no long-term potential.
When you think about delegating in your fitness biz, it should NEVER be a band-aid.
You need to be committed to delegating a set of tasks and resolving to never, EVER touch them again.
Start with your most time consuming tasks… and the ones that you know that you shouldn’t be working on because it’s preventing you from working “ON” your business.
Outsourcing your “customer service” inbox is usually in your top 5 things to delegate. If you need a step-by-step on how to do this, click here.
#3. GET YOUR SYSTEMS IN PLACE & AUTOMATE THE SHIZ OUT OF YOUR BIZ
That’s right. Systems again. Did you expect anything less from me, friends?
Systems are my JAM! When you have complete systems documented with step-by-step instructions for performing tasks – hiring and delegating is EASY.
When the parts of your business that can be automated are running like a well-oiled machine, it’s easier to determine who you’re really looking to hire.
Trust me – hiring without systems and some baseline automation is the #1 time and energy waster that leads to burnout…FAST.
Training a new assistant or onboarding a new trainer from scratch? No need to reinvent the wheel!
I talk about these all the time, but here are the 5 Steps to Systemizing your Business:
- Purpose / Intention: Don’t just create a system to create a system. WHY are you creating it and what kind of EXPERIENCE do you want your clients / prospects to have throughout the process. What is the end result that you’re looking for?
- Write it DOWN. Get it out of your head on paper. All of the details- write Every. Single. Little. Step. Down. What EXACTLY needs to happen to fulfill the intention of your system. Write down the process that you use to get a task or series of tasks done. Don’t forget your checks and balances here- you need a process in place to make sure everything is getting done correctly!
- Simplify / Eliminate: Review your systems and figure out what is really unnecessary. What can you get rid of because it doesn’t contribute in a meaningful way to the end result.
- Automate / Delegate: Now that you’ve got your framework for your system, what can you automate (using technology) and what can you delegate to your team (or soon to be team!)
- Refine & Tweak: Systems are a living document in your business. They shift and change as your business grows and as you grow. You don’t need to have it perfect to get it done…just get it done and then refine and tweak over time.
Systems create FREEDOM. They create financial freedom and freedom of time.
Like I said, systems are my JAM. I’ve helped hundreds of fitness professionals just like you to systemize and streamline their businesses to help them make MORE MONEY and have MORE TIME.
If you want more info, click here to check out my proven step-by-step method for creating systems in your Fitness Business.
Now over to you…
What are the major time sucks in your fitness biz? What systems do you need to get in place in order to delegate and eliminate them for good? Let me know in a comment below!
