Get the Basics…
- đĄ Small business commerce trends
- Side hustles for fitness pros
- The death of the New Yearâs resolution
- Interview with Dave Hedges đŹ
Welcome back to Sweat Equity Digital, where you can find gym management tips, tricks, and tactics.
In this weekâs edition, weâll take a look at small business trends worth your attention, side hustle ideas for the fitness professional with dreams, debt, or both, and we ask the ever-so-popular question, are New Yearâs resolutions all theyâre cracked up to be?
New This Week: Whatâs trending for small businesses in 2021âŚSide hustles for fitness professionalsâŚDeath of the New Yearâs resolutionâŚInterview with Dave Hedges, Co-Founder of Wild Geese Martial Arts & Fitness, on training with efficiency
Still with us? Great. Letâs get started.
And if youâre ready to grow and manage your business better, book a demo with our team today.
Small Business Commerce Trends for 2021
The future of commerce is bright..and digital.
The term commerce may not be the first to surface when strategizing how to sell gym memberships and online personal training. However, commerce isnât just about selling goodsââit also includes services. And changes reflected in commerce trends can impact how consumers are interacting with you as a fitness professional.
A few ecommerce trends to stay ahead of in 2021 include:
- Mobile shopping â Make sure you have a mobile-friendly website and that you take advantage of social media market places
- Voice command â Optimize your website for voice search with devices such as Alexa, Siri, and Google.
- Online shopping â This trend is about more than just offering online shopping; the shopping experience itself should be effortless.
- Omnichannel sales â Customers want to be able to shop your brand via your website from a variety of channels, including social media and other search applications.
- AR/AI recommendations â Personalize the customer experience with applications that make recommendations and suggestions during a customerâs buying experience.
- Social media integration â Allow customers to shop directly from their Facebook or Instagram social media accounts
- Varied payment options â Accept payments from traditional credit cards, Paypal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
- Dynamic pricing â Know your market and choose a pricing strategy with maximum revenue potential.
Shopifyâs Future of Commerce report describes five key predictions that could impact your small businessâs revenue strategy. One of those predictions is directly related to selling personal training: âYounger consumers are also more likely to shop via social media and to make decisions based on their impact on society.â
Shopify also predicts that customer retention will be a trending business strategy in 2021 since the cost of digital ads for new client acquisition rose significantly in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Facebook advertising costs reveal that the demand for Facebook advertising is on the rise so get ready to pay a little more for social media marketing.
Your Clientsâ Need for Community and Convenience
Community and convenience are still at the top of customersâ wants and needs. What does Facebookâs Emerging Trends:Â The Forces Shaping the Future Today have to say about the online community and the need for convenience?
Convenience. âConvenience Seekers are looking for ways to do the things that actually matter to themâand whether thatâs being together with loved ones, getting fit, learning new skills for a new career, or giving back to their community, time is the most valuable currency on the journey to personal fulfillment.â
Community. âPeople are engaging in online communities to gather information, educate themselves, interact with brands, get different perspectives and connect with like-minded individuals across the globe⌠They are also connecting with those who are physically nearby in order to build neighborhood bonds, sell products and tackle local challenges.â
From the Sweat Equity archives, âGym Member Engagement: Itâs Time to Tweak Your Customer Engagement Strategyâ offered up some insights to glean from COVID-19âs effects on the fitness industry. Weâve summarized a few:
- Increased consumption of fitness on-demand and live streaming services and memberships. What was once a niche has now become mainstream.
- Decreased overall fitness activity, even among committed fitness enthusiasts.
- Increased ecommerce spending.
- Heightened cost control measures for gyms and clubs, affecting both employees and members.
- Shifted client demands (for example, some clubs in China saw an increase in personal training demand upon club reopenings).
- Implementation of staff training for new safety measures.
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Covid-19 News & Updates
Your bi-weekly snapshot of all things COVID-19Â
The U.S. has officially surpassed 25 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, with the real number estimated to be even higher.
With new variants swirling in various pockets of the country, itâs safe to say that COVID-19 is not going anywhere any time soon.
Here are some resources to keep yourself and your staff up-to-date on all things COVID-19:
Side Hustles for Fitness Professionals
Paying off debt or chasing a dream? Try a side hustle
Whether youâre looking to pay off debt or generate some capital for a new business idea, the right side hustle can generate a consistent cash flow to fund a host of financial and business aspirations. Just to be straight, a side hustle is any type of income-generating activity thatâs performed in addition to a full-time career. Itâs often a type of freelance self-employment and stems from some passion or interest that the individual has.
Why a side hustle?
- Earn extra cash: diversify or supplement income
- Keep your creative edge
- Complement personal goals
- Find purpose, make a difference
According to creditloan.com, here are the top motivators for pursuing a side hustle:
Side hustles donât have to be time-consuming or majorly life-altering. In âIdeas are nothing; doing is everythingâ: 5 tips for getting your creative project off the ground, Ji Lee, a creative director at Facebook and Instagram, recommends breaking your pursuits into three categories: short-term, midterm, long-term.
Side Hustle Opportunities for Fitness Professionals
While the fitness industry is booming when it comes to online training, not every fitness professional has found their stride in the wake of this global pandemic. Gyms in many states remain closed and masses of personal training clients have opted for at-home fitness programs. It could be, for the time being, that a side hustle is about supplementing income during the transition from the pre-COVID fitness industry to the post-COVID one.
While a side hustle doesnât have to be related to your day job, finding creative routes for generating revenue can be built solely on your professional experience and skill set. Here are a few ideas for fitness professionals looking to capitalize on their current skills:
- Freelance copywriting
- Sell stock photos
- Influencer, affiliate marketing
- Write an ebook
- Teach online courses
- Airbnb ExperiencesÂ
[Related: 33 DIFFERENT CAREER OPTIONS FOR PERSONAL TRAINERS]
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Death of the New Yearâs resolution
Has your New Year taken off to a shaky start? Youâre not alone
An Argument for Ditching Those Resolutions
It might seem a bit radical, but how about punting those New Yearâs resolutions for basic goals.
What do we mean? Zapier, the king of efficiency in productivity, talks about why making sweeping changes at the beginning of the year is a bad idea. Essentially, their take is that, at the beginning of the year, the world just may be conspiring against youâârecovering from holiday partying and enduring the shorter days of winter can sabotage motivation. Also noted, building habits shouldnât be just a yearly thing. Read more here.
You may want to check out additional productivity advice from Zapier: Seriously, donât worry about New Yearâs resolutions for 2021 and Why you should set aside one day every quarter just to think.
Not willing to give up your New Yearâs resolutions? Check out The science of how to stick to New Yearâs resolutions and truly change your habits to keep your focus.
[Related: 12 SIGNS OF UNHEALTHY WORK-LIFE BALANCE]
Training With Efficiency With Dave Hedges, Co-Founder of Wild Geese Martial Arts & Fitness
Our resident interviewer, Schimri Yoyo, sits down with Dave Hedges, Co-Founder of Wild Geese Martial Arts & Fitness to discuss the importance of training with efficiency.
Notable Quotes:
- âSo can you train in a manner that gives you the biggest return for the effort youâre putting in? And thatâs what weâre looking at. So if Iâm training, Iâve got a couple of very competitive martial arts people at the minuteâŚAnd theyâre training their sport at least once a day, maybe twice a day. And then theyâre coming to me on top of that and theyâve got a full-time job and theyâve got this and whatever else.â
- âSo how can we be as efficient as possible in the training room, in the gym? Why would we waste that precious energy that weâve got so many things pulling at that energy, so many things pulling at our time? Itâs too precious to waste. So thatâs very much what the star point is, the core point of what we do.â
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Interesting Internet Finds
Share these links on your social media platforms for increased reach and engagement
Taste: With Valentineâs Day just around the corner, check out this twist on the traditional cupcake: Chocolate-Beet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Buy: Just for fun this Valentineâsââadd a little laughter to your romance with these Knock Knock Apology Nifty Notes
Watch: In case you missed it, the iconic post-game moment between quarterbacks Drew Brees and Tom Brady after the Tampa Bay Buc beat the New Orleans Saints in the playoff game. And donât miss 30 Super Bowl Trivia Questions and Answers to Stump Your Friends and Family for the Big Game.
Read: With the passing of the worldâs greatest interviewer, here a few facts that you may not have known about Larry King: 5 Things You Didnât Know About Larry King.
And thatâs a wrap! We hope youâve enjoyed this weekâs digital issue of Sweat Equity: Insider Fitness Business Insights. Weâll see you again in two weeks.
If youâre ready to grow and manage your business better, book a demo with our team today.
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