💪SS 48 The post-pandemic fitness industry

1. The #1 online training mistake, and what to do instead – Jonathan Goodman

Too many first-time online trainers ask questions like these:

"What type of content should I post?"

"What social media should I use?"

"Should I use IGTV to debut my brand online?"

Trying to figure these things out at the beginning is a massive waste of time.

The impact of one social platform vs. another is completely irrelevant when no one is paying attention.

Focus instead on making real connections to real people. Pick a platform—it doesn’t matter which one—and use it to create a purposeful network.

It doesn’t need to be big. Some of the most successful networks are quite small. Your goal isn’t to reach a lot of people. It’s to reach the right kind of people with content that matters to them.

At the Online Trainer Academy, we’ve been teaching people to do the same basic thing since 2013.

Think how crazy that is. How much has technology changed since 2013? How much has marketing changed?

What hasn’t changed is the foundational principle of online training: building real connections to real people.

The takeaway: The first step is to figure out who you’re targeting. Reach out to them, support them, help them do what they’re interested in, and include them in what you’re doing.

Special things happen when you do it this way. Nothing happens when you don’t.

2. You will always be accepted by someone – Alex Cartmill

Alex is head coach for the Online Trainer Academy.

Using external validation as a path to self-confidence is counterproductive.

It leaves you not only craving more of it, but also relying on something outside your control to make you content with who you really are.

The reality is this:

No matter what you look like, or the clothes you wear, or how much you make, or how good you are at what you do, you will always be judged by someone.

You will always be unattractive to someone.

You will always have people trying to hold you back.

But the converse is also true.

No matter what you look like, or the clothes you wear, or how much you make, or how good you are at what you do, you will always be accepted by someone. You will always be attractive to someone. You will always have people who want to see you succeed and will push you forward.

You’ll always have to contend with both groups, no matter what you do. And, most of the time, you get to decide which ones you let into your life, and which ones you push away.

Take advantage of that control.

3. What will the post-pandemic fitness industry look like?

We’re seeing more and more predictions about how the pandemic will permanently change the fitness industry.

But if history teaches us anything, it’s that the eye of the hurricane is the worst place to be standing when you’re trying to chart its path.

That’s especially true when the source of the crisis is a virus that, despite its lack of sentience, has outsmarted too many world leaders.

But here’s one prediction that may hold up:

"Small, private gyms seem to finally have the upper hand" over big, commercial gyms, writes John Rusin on Facebook.

The high-volume business model—lots of members pay a small monthly fee—is pure genius in a normal time.

People who love to work out pay a little money for unlimited access to expensive equipment. People who hate to work out pay a little money to hold onto the dream of someday finding more inspiration.

But it stops working when no one can use the equipment, or when access is restricted to keep members safe.

That, Rusin says, shifts the competitive advantage from high-volume to high-value fitness businesses, where "trainers and owners … must show their worth daily to their clientele in the form of relationships and results."

Even in the center of the storm, that prediction seems like a good bet.