Hi Fit Pros,
Trainerlisa here and wishing you a spectacular May 2014! In this issue we will be addressing Alternate Revenue Streams and how it can increase your brand, income and marketability.
Multi-Level Marketing (MLM): For many, MLM is a great way to increase their income, with supplements being the prime focus. Some of the perhaps more popular that are out there right now are (in no particular order): Beachbody, Isagenix, Advocare, Bodybyvi, HerbalLife, TakeShapeforlife (Medifast), just to name a few.
While many have been able to make a very profitable income with mlm, many more have been burnt on them. My suggestion to you if this is something of interest, do your homework and research every company, find out your bottom line cost (products, website, etc), before making the investment. Believing in an using the products can help you in your business endeavors.
Pros: Your products are from companies that are known to many. Many people both fitness professionals and non-professionals have heard of Beachbody, who market for the consumer P90X, Insanity, and TurboFire, just some of the few and many more have purchased the videos that are part of the Beachbody.com family. Most MLM now provide you with a website that you can drive your clients to, in order to purchase and encourage auto-shipments.
Cons: You have to pay for your website (monthly dues) and many companies want you to purchase their products using auto-shipment, unless (until) you sign up people under you to become distributors/associates and/or customers.
Affiliate Programs: Affiliate programs are great for those in the fitness industry, especially Personal Trainers, Yoga and Pilates Instructors. Affiliate programs do vary from company to company but you can become an affiliate by recommending products from these companies and receiving monies back on your clients, gym or personal orders. For instance; as a personal trainer I use resistance bands in my outdoor and in-home clients and students. Instead of carrying bands, resistance balls, medicine balls, mats, foam rollers, etc in my car, I can have my clients either log on to my website or go straight to the affiliate website, order their products directly from the manufacturer and after “x” amount of dollars have been spend (using my code), I will receive a check.
There are many affiliate companies in our industry for you to use, including equipment, supplements, music, clothing and accessories. Where to start? Go online or call some of your favorite companies, scroll down to the bottom of the screen and that’s usually where you’ll find the words “affiliate”. Click on, and sign up.
Pros: As an affiliate some companies will give you a discount on your personal products, and you would be working with a company(ies) that you personally like and respect. You don’t have to carry product with you to sell to your clients or on your website. The affiliate company will ship them out directly to whomever ordered the products.
Cons: Unless you can get your gym, studio or someone that wants to make a large purchase, it can be a little slow going in receiving money for your client purchases.
Your Website: If you train, teach, certify or lecture outside of your gym or training studio, it is imperative in 2014 to have a website.
Now I know what some of you are thinking “yeah..like I can afford a site”, “I don’t know how to make or build a site”, “I don’t know where or how to get started” and of course “why do I need a website?!!”
I’m not going to kid or try to scare you, but when one very important thing to remember is that when you’re building your new website:
Studies have shown that you have less than 60 seconds (closer to 30 seconds actually( to engage your reader to stay on your site, let alone go thru all your pages of products, services, etc. Yes…less than 60 seconds and if you don’t believe me, think of all the sites you’ve clicked on yourself and how long did you stay on each one before moving on and settling for a different site? Exactly!!
Three (3) Free websites sites, that I’ve found to be pretty good for those of us who are not web design savvy, are willing to try it first on their own are and yes, did I mention were free are:
Wordpress.com
Weebly.com
Wix.com
You’ll also need a domain name for your site, which can be fairly inexpensive, around $10.00 a year. The hard part is having an awesome name and finding out that it’s already been taken, but on most sites they’ll always give you alternative names to use. Godaddy.com is probably the most popular, but you can always google, yahoo or bing other companies for you domain name.
I would suggest going into word (or notepad) and typing you pages in the order that you want them listed (ie home page, about us, product, gallery, etc.) you get the idea and then copy and paste them from there.
Adding pictures (of yourself, your clients, locations, etc), including you affiliations, your products offer and anything else you can think of is a great way to drive traffic your way.
A great way to add revenue streams of income is to offer something that you know works (workouts, nutrition programs, etc), have it loaded onto your site, have a paypal account (or whatever company you prefer) and drive clients and potential clients to your site where they can purchase a program (circuit, summer challenge, at home, etc), pay for it via paypal and download it automatically. You’ll receive notice and all you had to do was to come up with some of your favorite programs for others to purchase and the best things are:
1. You set the price (no overhead).
2. People can come and purchase from your website both day and night (you do nothing)
I hope that I’ve inspired you to start thinking outside the fitness box and try some new ways of generating other avenues of income. Remember train smarter, not harder? Well, this is you business so Run your business like it’s YOUR BUSINESS!
Cheers to Life, Keep Inspiring the World and see you for our June Networking Issue!
Fitfully yours,
Lisa Lorraine Taylor
Taylor Made Fitness
619.987.9691
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Lisa Lorraine Taylor
Lisa with a B.S. in Holistic Nutrition, and a minor in Nutrition/Optimum Fitness has expanded her business to include being a Beachbody Coach, and a Fitness Consultant in helping others in the Fitness Industry and well as individual Personal Trainers to grow and market their business.
Latest posts by Lisa Lorraine Taylor
- What tools do you think are the best right now in aiding your clients’ success outside of the gym? - March 15, 2016
- How should your pricing differ, per person, for group sessions versus individual training? - January 5, 2016
- What promotions can I offer to drive new clients to me? - December 15, 2015
