Becoming A 3D Brand - Lori Kennedy

The people that are winning, at least in what we see, are the people that have a personality, are people that have charisma, are people that know what they're talking about and are also able to just be themselves and share their life. Um, like a TV show. It's the Kim Kardashian effect.

Like hey Fitness fans, welcome back to the Future Fitness Podcast and Interview Series. This is your host, Eric Malzone, and we are in episode number 108. Talk to Lori Kennedy. So you can find out more about Lori. Uh website is LoriKennedy.com, which I actually believe now redirects you to the wellnessbusinesshub.com. So she's out of Toronto, Canada. Um, she'll give her whole bio here, uh, so I won't repeat that. But um, what can you expect from this episode? You can expect the raw, real deal about being an online entrepreneur in the fitness, health, and wellness space. Um, she's helped people build many practices online. Uh she's probably seen a lot of people fail um because there is a decently high failure rate. Um but what it takes to really be successful and what you need to know getting into it, uh, the reality of it, right? That's the biggest thing is we, you know, there's no shortage of inspiration out there, right? You can find inspirational meme uh anytime you want. But how many people talk about the real struggles, right? The doubts, the fears, um, all those things that go into what it takes over time to build a successful business. And I love it. I love the messaging. I think Lori and I uh really get along well, and I really uh appreciate her coming on the show. So you're gonna get a lot of value out of this episode if you are someone who is an online entrepreneur in the fitness, wellness, health space or somebody who's thinking about going online and what that means. So there's a big difference between going, you know, local brick and mortar um to going online, and we'll tell you all about it. So uh if you haven't yet, please go to iTunes, Stitcher, uh, Castbox, where I listen to my podcast. I'm a Google guy, um, and leave us a review. Subscribe, number one, and leave us a review. So, you know, like I said, every time someone leaves a review, I'll read it on my show. Um, this one came from Chris Audson. Uh, I highly recommend for anyone interested in learning more about the world of fitness from the perspective of someone who has seen all sides of it, give it a listen. Thanks, Chris. Appreciate it. I have seen all sides of it. Uh, and I'm still learning every single day. And one of the reasons I love this podcast is because I learned so much. Uh, I get to sit people down like Lori Kennedy and uh ask questions on your behalf and learn a ton. So it's a win-win-win for everybody. So I do ask, please go to wherever you're listening to this, uh, maybe it's YouTube. Subscribe there, leave a nice review. Wherever it is, subscribe and review, and I would greatly appreciate it. So without further ado, on to the episode number 18108, Lori Kennedy. And we're live. Lori Kennedy. Welcome back. And I say welcome back because we actually had a recording uh earlier last year uh that I botched up. So we're doing it again, and we're gonna do it so much better. Although no one will ever know. But Lori won't.

It's like it's like the lost diaries or something.

Yeah, and uh, you know what's funny is um you're a long term, you're a long time friend of Fitness Professional Online. Like your first interview with us was like back in 2012, I think.

Yeah, I feel like Doug and I I used to also write for Fitness Professionals Online. And that was it was one of the platforms that helped me get started, really, I think, in what I'm in what I'm doing now.

Yeah, yeah. Well, you are uh you've been recommended to me by so many people, uh Kate Harameillo, Doug Holt, uh all these people. You have a lot of um a lot of respect uh within your your particular industry. So um for maybe the people in the fitness profession who don't know who you are, Lori, um please just give us you know quick bio. Can tell us a little bit of your story.

Sure. So I actually started this whole journey of mine as a as a fitness professional. Um I've never had a proper corporate job. Uh, you know, for my entire adult life, I've been in health and wellness. So I got my first uh uh PT certification through the YMCA in Montreal, which is where I was going to university at the time. I was 19 years old, and I needed a job, and there was a community center that was primarily English speaking, because in Montreal it's in the province of Quebec and it's predominantly French speaking, and I don't really speak French. Um and so this was, you know, uh, I was like, oh, I could do this work thinking I could book clients around my uh university, like calendar, like my course calendar, my classes. Um, and so I really loved it. I fell in love with training, I fell in love with the mechanics of it. Uh, obviously, of course, the the fake notion that I was in charge of my own schedule. Because for all of us, once you're in the service industry, unless you've really done the work to create time freedom, you are not in charge of your own schedule. Um, the clients are. Uh, and so that's how I really got my start in health and wellness. And then I went on to get a CanFit Pro, which is the major Canadian certifying body uh CanFit Pro personal training certification. I worked in gyms for years and years and years. Uh, and then I transitioned to become a registered holistic nutritionist after I went through my own personal digestive system issues, and then also to um I was training a lot of women and a lot of menopausal women and a lot of women with digestive system issues. And of course, you know, the training helped and whatnot, but then like that's three hours or two hours, you know, a week out of their life, and then they were going and eating like a muffin with coffee after and doing all these things. And I just thought, you know, what an amazing opportunity to be able to pair them both together. So for a long time, I did training with nutrition, and then I just uh forayed into having a nutrition practice full-time, which I did for seven years. Um, and then I started getting asked by all of my colleagues, like, what was I doing with my nutrition practice? How was I able to scale it and grow it and do all the things that I was able to do? We had my program in nine gyms, I had, you know, 30 licensees all across Canada. Like, um, I don't have a professional business background by any stretch of the imagination. Uh and I really just, I don't know, I've I figured it out. And now my business is working with and supporting uh alternative health practitioners and fitness professionals to take their businesses and grow them online.

Wow. Awesome. It reminds me of this great analogy I always hear too, is uh, and I love using it, is you know, entrepreneurship is this is jumping off a cliff and building the plane on the way down.

Yeah.

Kind of what life feels like when you're when you're out there creating new stuff. Yeah. Cool. So, you know, as I know I believe my my audience is mostly fitness professionals. Tell us a little bit about what, in your definition, like what is a health coach? What is like, is that what you is that what you would call what you're doing?

Um, there's you know what those video all these days there's all designations. So what I would say is that there's a difference between licensed regulated professionals and non-regulated professionals. The you know, trademark term really belongs to schools. So you can essentially call yourself a health coach if you want to, because it's this generic title. Um, right. Um and you can have a variety of different uh, let's say, certifications or designations under your belt that would essentially qualify you under this like umbrella term. Almost the same as a personal trainer. Like you could go and do a weekend course and call yourself a personal trainer versus like a super in-depth course that you know requires hours and hours and hours of study. Like, you know, there the the qualifications are so vast. So what I would say is that there's a there's a very big difference between, let's just in the same way that there's a difference between a kinesiologist and if then and a personal trainer, right? Yeah. Kinesiologists are more like regulated, um, they can and cannot do certain things there, you know, versus a trainer. They have a scope of practice, but they're very unregulated. Like it's still the Wild West when it comes to personal trainers. So it's the same in more, let's just say, nutrition-based designation. So there's licensed, meaning there's, let's say, naturopathic doctors and chiropractors, um, nurses, dietitians. They are licensed. They have a board that they have to uh qualify for, and they they are the people that get sued. Um, they're the people that get sued. Yeah. And then we have all of us who fall under non-regulated, non-licensed, let's say, alternative health professionals, nutritionists, health coaches, energy workers, life coaches, things along those lines where we don't have any governmental regulations.

So why does one get sued and one doesn't? Is it because of the regulations that can that are easy that are very clearly stated? Or what is Well, I think I think, okay.

So first of all, let me, you know, I'm in Canada.

Yeah.

I I don't think we get sued. I think you guys in the US get sued. Um, so it's different. I think anyone can sue anyone, as far as my understanding of it, it's not it's not a common practice in Canada at all. Yeah. Uh it's extremely rare. Like I've never heard of anyone in Canada getting sued in my entire 20-year career.

Awesome.

Both licensed and and non-licensed. Um, I think that we, regardless, it comes down to we all have this massive responsibility to stay within our scope of practice. And what happens when, as an example, a personal trainer starts giving out personalized, prescribed nutrition and um uh recommendations to their clients without having the proper qualifications to do so, and something happens to that person, they then have the ability to sue because they didn't stay within scope. And if they can prove that, then it's a win, then I would assume it's a pretty winnable case. So if we all just stay in our lanes and stay in our scope of practice and don't veer off and start recommending things, you know, because you read a blog post about it or you read one research article about it, or it's a trend, you know, if we if we really act in a professional way, then probably no one would get sued.

Yeah. Yeah, interesting. So I I know a lot of people who are getting into the health coaching. I actually had um a gentleman, uh Kolled uh Il Mazri, he was on the show um earlier this year, and we were talking very much about like, you know, what is what is the future of fitness professionals look like, right? Um and I see your eyes go wide open, like this is a big topic, right? I love this topic. Yeah, he's like it's gonna we're we're all moving towards health coaching, right? Because, you know, let's let's face it, as trainers, as as personal trainers or um coaches, whatever you want to call it, you know, we only get people for three hours of the week. That's it. And you know, we um the good ones do nutrition, right? The ones that we really understand that, you know, largest part of success, overwhelmingly large piece of success for our clients calls into nutrition and then you know the working out's really important too. Uh but where do you see and I I also have a kind of a clear vision, so I'll run it after I hear what yours is of how fitness, health, wellness, medicine are all starting to integrate in the next like 10 years. And I'm gonna throw this on there as a cherry on top. How's technology gonna play into that?

Oh, I love this. Okay, so I'm gonna try and be as succinct as possible.

Sure.

So, first and foremost, technology is a must because if tech is making automation so simple. Yeah, and that's where time freedom comes in. That's where being able to step away comes in. And I, given the fact that we literally have tens of thousands of fitness professionals and healthcare, like all kinds, we get now nurses and doctors, like I see the gamut, everyone is still running an archaic analog business. Most people.

Wow.

I would say 90% of the people that we see are running an analog type business, meaning they're still doing way too many repetitive tasks simply just because they either don't know that the tech exists or it's too overwhelming for them. And there's no time in the day to learn it. And I get it, it's a completely pair, it's a massive paradigm shift, massive. And we work with trainers all the time to get them into like online coaching or that kind of way of running their business, like restructuring the entire their entire business model. And I completely understand what a massive paradigm shift it is. Um so that's one component of it. What I see what we see just in terms of sales, like just what we see is not so much that we're all moving to health coaching, but to win, to have the level of success that I assume most people desire to achieve, you have to be a 3D character, meaning you have to be a health brand, not necessarily a health coach in terms of getting that designation, but you have to be like 3D. No longer um will you be able to gain the attention of the followers just by blogging, for example, right? Um as a as a fit pro, let's just say. Um our clients are looking to us to be the be all and end all, like to be that, you know, all in one expert. People don't want to go to like this person and this person and this person. So the trainer, and this is what I see, becomes the brand. Where they're now being asked, what socks do you wear? And what sports bra do you have, and where do you go on vacation and what pillowcases do you use? Like it's it goes beyond fitness at this point. Like it goes beyond even nutrition at this point. Like we have, because of social media, we have the opportunity, although it's, in my opinion, super annoying, and not everybody wants to do that, um, to become that like 3D brand where we capture people's attention and we're becoming this almost like lifestyle educator that just have the tools of the trade is fitness in whatever sort of niche you you work in, but you are becoming like uh like the magazine. You know how you like read like a magazine, and then there's like recipes, and then there's like advertisements for clothes, and then there's advertisements for like vacation spots and all of that stuff. Like people want that from you. You know, Instagram stories and Facebook lives really did change the game. Like it really did. It's not a joke, like it really changed the game, and the people that are winning, at least in what we see, are the people that have a personality, are people that have charisma, are people that know what they're talking about and are also able to just be themselves and share their life, um, like a TV show. It's the Kim Kardashian effect. Like, you know, and and I think that's, you know, if you want to bring in other, you know, medicine and all of the amazing tests that are available just to give you more specificity, that's phenomenal. That's very easy to do these days. I think those Fit pros who tack on that level of expertise also will win because they will then stand out in terms of getting results. Like you need still need to get your clients' results for sure. Like if you're a bad trainer or health coach, like it you can be a 3D personality all you want, but if you can't give people results, like good luck to you. Um but I do think that that is the differentiator these days.

That is you just dropped so many nuggets there. And I love the uh analogy of the 3D personality. I mean that that's um it's so true. I've never had anyone like put it to words like that, but it's true. Everyone's kind of a lifestyle brand now. Right. And personal branding is really, really important. And I know a lot of people um who have seen high levels of success for decades within the industry are now being like, okay, I gotta step out and and become a personal brand. And a lot of them don't even know why, they just feel that instinct like I gotta get out and and do that.

Yeah.

So let's walk through maybe an avatar or something. Okay, sure. Give us like somebody like maybe in your mind that you've recently worked with who you've helped make that transition. Like, what was the before, what was the after, and how and how does someone get to that?

Right. Okay. So I think regardless of your avatar, whether it's like postnatal or you know, seniors or you know, menopausal web, like whatever that is, they're on social media. They are. They're on Facebook, they're on Instagram, depending on their age, they're on these various platforms. And that's where they spend a lot of their time. And so the more in front of them you can be. So let's say you were working with, so one of our clients works with menopausal, not menopausal women, like pre-menopausal women. So she's in her early 40s. And one of her most popular, like let's say viral within her community videos was her putting on her spanx, not doing a squat, not teaching people, you know, not teaching women anything about fitness, but putting spanx on and like showing how she like folds herself in her amazing body at 40 still into the spanks. And that's what I mean. And and right, like, so you know, unless you're in a big box gym where you're seeing the person all the time and you're able to build rapport that way, because there's a lot of people, and I don't want to say that the industry is saturated because I don't actually believe that that's true at all. I just think that there are people who will win faster, right? And people who will spend years struggling because they don't add that level of character to their business. So, this one of my clients, her name's Monica, she talks about her kids, her two kids, and how they're sick all the time. And she talks about, you know, her struggles with her husband and how sometimes sex isn't awesome, you know. And she talks about all of those things, and it gives her community, it gives her audience um the ability to connect with her on a deeper level so that they want to watch her, that they want to participate in her life. They want to be around her because they admire her, they respect her, they want to be like her. One of the most important things that, you know, branding, personal branding 101 is whether we realize this or not, because a lot of us are like, my life's boring, my life's grand hugs day, I'm not interesting. Like, how come people care so much about the kind of underwear that I wear? Shouldn't really matter to anyone. Our clients, especially online, and this is a big difference between online and offline, I found at least, the clients online, and maybe even the clients offline too, they aspire to be you. That's how you get them. So if you're only showing like how to do squats, you're giving them no other material to aspire to be. Whether you're perfect or imperfect, you have to show both sides of the coin. Because if you only show the perfect side, then that's really hard to achieve. And so they automatically disqualify themselves. So if you toggle between, you know, showing your perfect smoothie and how you didn't go to the gym today because for whatever reason you give other people permission to not be perfect, that makes them love you more and that makes them want to work with you more. And so with a personal brand, the reason that people ask you these questions is because they want to be like you, because you are aspirational. And if you can't show up as that 3D Character, they don't have all sides to aspire to. They only have this one thing versus the girl or guy down the street who's showing all three sides.

Yeah. Right? Yeah, that's it's beautifully said. And you know, I think what you're essentially getting at is authenticity and vulnerability, right? And accessibility.

And accessibility, yeah.

And that's that's a big part of it. Um, you know, it's it's so interesting. And I'm just reflecting as you're speaking too, right? Um, I'm very hesitant at times to put myself out there um just because I'm a private person, and that's the resistance that most people are probably feeling. I think A one is either they're they're private people, right? Or two, what you talked about is like, well, I'm not that freaking interesting, you know, like who wants to know what I do other day? My mornings are the same every morning, right? Like my coffee the same every day. Um, all these things. But a lot of times, you know, in my my, I guess I live, you know, a different lifestyle because my wife and I do move around all a lot and I do a bunch of podcasts, I get talk to interesting people. I don't think it's that interesting because it's my life. But I can tell you, and if people are listening right now, they're probably thinking the same thing. Like, yeah, my life's not that interesting. Yeah, whatever it is, it's still relatable. And people want to know those non-interesting parts. And I think um I I pull back from social media because I can't stand the the fakeness of it all. Um, but you know, uh, but I also find when when you put out authentic things, it's like a it's like a it's like a bees to honey, right? It's just like boom, people are are are very into it. And you know, I wrote an article last year about authenticity as the new black, right? Like if you can just be a little bit more authentic with what you're doing. And the thing that drives me nuts, and I'm sure you see it in in your industry as well, um, even though we're kind of in parallel lanes, is that, you know, it's the 90-day success story. Like, hey, if you just follow this roadmap and you do this funnel in 90 days, uh, you'll be making $100,000.

Yes. So it's so I first of all, I repel that so much. Um, Precision Nutrition actually just put out a really good article. So Dr. Barardi put out a really good article about how selling, how you can sell long-term results. Like it sells. Yeah. You know, in in the world of, you know, six days to six pack abs or whatever the case may be, there is a place for that. And in my own, you know, brand or whatever you want to call it, I talk about that all the time. Like, you know, the the seven-figure pipe dream, right? Or the six-figure myth, because it, you know, it even just breaking it down, like to make six figures in 90 days, that's 333,000 a month. You probably don't have the infrastructure to actually support that number of clients. Like it's all well and good, but like from an actual business perspective, you probably don't have the infrastructure to actually do that, especially if you're just starting.

Yeah.

So I wouldn't even recommend it because you will die. And your clients won't be happy because now all of a sudden you've onboarded like 30 clients in a month, and that's no fun for anyone. Um, so even just from that, but but again, new people in the industry, they don't understand that. They're not looking at it from like, can my business actually support that growth that quickly? Um, and the answer likely is no. Um, but yes, I I I totally get what you're saying in terms of like authenticity. There's there's a difference between understanding how to sell and market with integrity, you know, and putting out like a pipe dream just to get just to get sales. And there's people in the industry who do that, and that's fine. Um, you don't have to do that that way. We have many people who are super successful making, you know, four or five figures a month who don't sell that, where they sell the outcome without, you know, an attached, an attached date or a deadline or whatever. Um yeah, and I mean, I I see it. And in terms of, you know, authenticity and putting yourself out there, um, you everybody's entitled to privacy. Like, just because you're on social media doesn't mean that you have to like share all the things, but you, you know, and I think of my life as Groundhog's Day. Like, I also do the same thing every day. And I think part of our jobs is to come up with content. You know, that's part of our job is to think about what could I show my audience today that would make them feel a certain way. Um, so whether that is your consistency with your morning smoothie and every day, okay, guys, same as yesterday, you know, pretty boring, but here it is. Like, even just showing up in that way inspires people because they're like, okay, so maybe I don't have maybe I'm good to have the same thing every day. It might shift somebody's mindset that like I can't possibly have the same smoothie every day, you know, and then it's super exciting when you like decide to change up your smoothie or whatever, or you get a new pair of running shoes, or you know, we, you're right, like we think it's our life, so we're like it's so boring. But the one thing that I can tell you, and this is also, you know, a game changer for people, is do you want clients or do you want an audience and in a community who will follow you for years? And the reason that they're going to do that is because they actually like you as a person and they're not going to drop you after the 12-week program is over because it's over.

Yeah.

Right? So if we look at it from an actual business perspective, you know, to acquire that client costs you money. To keep the client costs you money, to acquire a new client costs more than to just ascend the old client into something else. How do you keep people around? Right? Why do why do people like if you think about it this way, why why have I watched all 14 seasons of Grey's Anatomy twice? Because I like the characters. Right? But it's true. They I like the characters, right? I know them like friends, like we like the characters. Your character, if they like you, they'll continue to be in your world. And then the next time you put out an offering, whether it's another 12-week program or a protein powder that you're selling, you have an audience that has been with you throughout. You go and put a live event, you can sell tickets. You want to promote something else, you can sell it. Because it becomes more than just a customer. It's it's a friend, it's a client, and they stay with you long term. And that's the difference. That, you know, the people that are building brands, that's what's like when the term influencer, that's what that means. It's the ability to actually influence someone's behavior in a way that you want them uh to take action on.

Yeah. It's beautifully said. And you know, so if if people are getting into the online space, right? You know, fitness professional, health, wellness, what what kind of reality do you drop on people at the start? Like, okay, you know, if you think it's gonna, if you think it's gonna be a year, it's probably gonna be two. Yeah, totally. How do you set those expectations for your own?

Oh my god. I really like to break people's like false expectations off the bat. You know, people come into our program where we teach people how to create a signature program and launch it on like so that they can run an online business. And I'm like, okay, you're not gonna make any sales the first time you launch this thing. So just be prepared. The first time you launch this online program, it's just to get it all finished because you don't know what you're doing, you don't have brand messaging, you don't have an audience. Maybe you have a list of a couple hundred people and you'll make three sales. That's amazing. Yeah, you're just starting.

Yeah.

You know, like you're you literally you are opening your doors, right? In a in a world that you have no idea what you're doing. Because just because you can train someone, let's say in a gym, the whole online thing, like there's a it's a huge paradigm shift. It's huge. Because you don't have that one-on-one. Like it's just, it's different. Um, and so I never recommend that people quit their jobs. I always recommend that if you're strapped for cash and it's gonna be like a financial strain on you and you're gonna be all stressed out and like desperate for clients, then go get a part-time job to alleviate that financial stress. I I don't think people really get that it's a business. I know I didn't for like three years because I had never started a business before and I had no idea what I was in for, right? I was young, I was naive. No one sat me down and was like, listen, this is what it's really like. Yeah, I really didn't know I was I had a business. I was a nutritionist. I training, I never went on my own. I was always in a gym. So it didn't feel like I was handed to clients, great, I'll train them on my amazing. Um, but I don't think people really understand because specifically it's online, there's no brick and mortar, there's nothing, right? And so I always like to equate it back to a restaurant. Is it like if you were opening a restaurant, you would need a $500,000 line of credit, at least bare minimum. You would need to test out all your dishes for like a year. You would need to hire staff, you'd need to train staff, you'd need a front of house, you need a back of house, like, you know, and you would probably, you know, unless, unless you were really good at marketing and PR, your restaurant's probably gonna be empty for a while until you grassroots it and you go to all the other rush, you know, all the other stores in the area, you tell all your friends and they tell, like, it takes time, right? A restaurant doesn't open their doors and is suddenly profitable. Like it takes typically two years for a restaurant to be profitable, depending on the original build-out. So if you if you don't have cash to float yourself for two years, and if you don't have the staying power for minimum two years before you even start to even see a little bit of success, I would say this is not for you. Like, and I'm really honest about that, because of what you just said about how all these, you know, six-figure and 90-day type things, it is entirely possible to do 10k a month, but not if you're starting from scratch. You know, maybe in year two when you have the foundation, when you have some confidence, when you have some clarity, but like if you don't have the cash to float yourself, it's gonna be really stressful.

Yeah. Yeah. It's powerful. And you know, every time I've I I this isn't my first time I built a business, right? Now I owned a brick and mortar for eight and a half, almost nine years. Sold it, got into online space. That was about a year and a half ago. My first year so far uh was eye-opening, right? I'm like, well, the world's so big, now I have a global pool to pull from, right? Like, how easy is this gonna be? It wasn't. It's not. It's not because there's so many people competing in it and there's so many, there's so much noise, and you have to break through. And the one thing I was given a great piece of advice is like, Eric, your products are gonna change, the way you deliver value is gonna change, your client avatar is gonna change. The one thing you don't stop doing is building your audience. Always be putting content out, right? Don't stop. Don't stop that. Like that's that's the most important thing because you know, you never know, you never know who's listening, right? Totally. I mean, podcasters, I've done 400 episodes this year, right? That's a lot of podcasts. I've done a lot of it. And I'm like, I never stop because I my products have changed, but how I'm delivering, like, all those things have changed so much. But I'm like, I'm not just not gonna stop this because it's really important. You never know. Like, you know, you never know how big your audience is gonna be. When people start podcasts, if you're thinking about starting a podcast, just do 100 episodes. Don't worry about how many people are listening. Don't worry about all those things, just do a hundred. And if that number sounds scary to you, I want to commit to 100, then you're not ready to commit. You're just not. Yeah, you're gonna have to do a lot. And uh, you know, I look back in my first 20, I'm like, geez, those poor guests. Like, I really, you know, I had no clue what else doing.

I feel I totally feel the same. Like, we're just coming up on our one-year anniversary of podcasting, and I was like, oh, now I get it. Like, cool. I didn't know what it was gonna be. I just wanted to talk. Like, I just wanted a different platform to be able to share different things than than blogging.

Yeah.

Um, and I'm not a lover of video. So for me, scripting podcasts, I love writing. So it's just it's speaking my writing. So for me, that was so great. Um, and it's, you know, it the name, even before we even launched, changed three times, you know. Um, and I think it's called the business of becoming.

I love it.

Thank you. Um, so you know, I think the same goes for anything. Like if if you're not willing, there's this word, and I'm not even sure that it's a word, but it's called stick fortitude. And I don't, I think I made it up.

I think you did too.

I might have made it up, but you have to have the ability to stick with one thing for years before even deciding if it's gonna be successful or not. Yes. I see in my industry online, whether they're fitness professionals or health coaches, doesn't matter. They're like, oh, I did a launch and it failed. I'm like, I don't know that you could even qualify that as a success or failure when it's like, have you done it minimum five? Like, is this your fifth time? Then no, it's my first. You don't get to qualify it as anything, you just did it. It wasn't a success or it wasn't a failure, you just did it.

Yeah.

Right. Only when you have metrics, only when you can then have, you know, do the same thing over and over again, which is really hard for people because they like to jump ship and try something else because they think the one time they did something, it didn't work, and they're like, Oh, it didn't work, so it must be a failure. Let me go try something else. And it's like, no, it imagine your client doing a squat one time and then being like, Oh, I can't squat. Like, and you being like, You're as the fitness professional, you're like, that's ridiculous. You just did that one time. Like, how many times do you have to squat to be able to get the proper form, to be able to like sit deep in the squat? There's you know, tightness in your ankles, tightness in your hamstrings, tightness, and like we have to adjust, and da-da-da-da. All these things, it's the same thing with a business. If you just do this thing one time and you don't work at it and make all the adjustments, you know, how long does it take to get like a perfect a perfect formed squat? So long.

Lifetime, maybe.

Right? Yeah, same thing with your business. It's always a work in progress. You can always have a better squat.

Yeah, yeah. It's so I'm so glad we're on this topic because it's so important and it can't be said enough and enough and enough. Because in this, I don't know what it is about this industry of fitness where everyone, everyone wants the shortcut, everyone thinks that they can make so much money, you know, in such a short period of time. And when I when I made the leap, when I sold my facility and started moving on, my mentor at the time, James Fitchell, was like, okay, Eric, well, understand that it took you eight years to be an excellent gym owner.

Yeah.

So expect another eight years and whatever your next endeavor is. I was like, I don't want to wait freaking eight years. Right. Right. But now I'm like, well, I can, you know, ego was like, I'll do it in six months, dude. Watch me. Right? No. No, it didn't work that way, and it's not working that way. But I've embraced the process now. And that's that's the most important thing.

Yeah. And it's, you know, I think I'm so glad that I started this back in, you know, I've been a health professional, like I said, since 1999. But the online stuff I started in 2011, 2012, before all of this happened. And I understand, like, I get it. I I started when there was nothing. And so I didn't have that pressure of, I was just so no, I'm like, okay, cool, I'm just gonna do this thing. And like, you know, I was actually in a mastermind with fitness professionals for years, uh, because it was the only one available at that time. You know, there wasn't all of these different masterminds for every single thing you could think of. Yeah. Um, it just didn't exist. And so I had the ability, like I had ignorance on my side. Uh, because I didn't making six figures in 90 days wasn't a thing. You know, um, it it was it was really learning the business. It was learning like, what does it cost to acquire a client? What does it cost to get the client to click? Like it was really focused on that, uh, versus which is good because that's what it should be focused on, versus this whole, you know, um idea that success comes quickly. And the only other thing that I'll say about that, you there's a reason that it doesn't, and it's because you don't have the ability or the infrastructure to support it. When you're first starting and you genuinely don't know about customer service, especially online, you know, maybe you're transitioning from, you know, an offline trainer from a big box gym or whatever. I promise you, you have no idea what you're in for. Like the reason that it's so hard to grow as quickly as everybody says is because it's more than just selling personal training services. There's customer service, there's all the admin, there's all this stuff that has to happen in order for the client to have a good experience. And if you don't have if you don't have the previous experience in facilitating those things, your business will tank because you can't get out from under it. Yeah. And that's why it you want actual gradual success. And at certain times, I I don't know if you experience this in your brick and mortar, and you will likely experience this online, but like you actually have to stop growing for a period of time to actually build the infrastructure so you can grow.

Yeah.

Right. Otherwise, you're giving up your you're facilitating a poor experience. And in the online space, you need one client to be pissed at you and you're done.

Yeah.

Right? Like to make a stink online and it just, it's not good. And so we've had to do that in my business where, you know, 2018 was a growth year, massive growth year. And not to say that we didn't make sales, we did. Um, but we were able to do that because in 2017, I slowed down and set the infrastructure and brought on loads of people so that we could facilitate growth in a way that we were really proud of.

Yeah, that's awesome, man.

And it's it's so great. And people aren't talking about that, like the whole back-end side of things.

Yeah, everyone's out there trying to market for new clients, client acquisition, leads generation, right? That's everybody's talking about. And I had a great conversation with Pat Rigsby. Um, he's you know, a big fitness uh consultant and and thought leader. And, you know, I was asking him, well, hey, what's your plan for 2019? How can I help you? And um he's like, you know what? I'm I'm just looking to increase by you know 5% without working another hour.

Yep.

And that was the goal. I was like, wow, what a cool goal, right? And that means it's not gonna be lead generation, right? It's gonna be escalating people, it's gonna be offering better products to your career people, systematizing, you know, tightening up the net so things aren't falling through. Like that's a great place to be. And you have to go through those transitions all the time.

For sure. Like that's a, you know, that's a goal to aspire to. And I think there's, you know, there's seasons of growth and seasons of business where that's not, you know, that's amazing. That's an amazing goal. It's it's interesting because like once you get to a certain place, like those are the goals, you know, because to double revenue requires uh time and energy that likely people at that level don't have anymore or don't want to put in anymore, right? Because once you get to a certain level, to double your revenue or to even, you know, put like even by maybe not double, like even like 2.5 it, that's a tremendous amount of effort and energy and work. Right. And people don't realize that, you know, when you're at that level. So if you're when you're just starting, you know, maybe make the goal to get 10 clients.

That's it.

That's it. Like get your first 10, like, don't worry about six figures, like it'll come. But like maybe get your first 10 clients and give them a phenomenal experience. And this is also why I say if you don't have cash to float you, honestly, go get a job. Like, go get a part-time job because you have to give those first 10 people the best experience, which means going in over and above in every capacity. And if you're constantly on the hunt for clients because you need the money, it just doesn't give you the freedom to really do things in the way I think that most people want to do that in.

Yeah. Awesome. Lori, this is all I know your your time is is limited here. Uh, you have an event coming up this June.

I do.

Please, please tell me about that.

Yes. Okay, so I invite all of you to join me in Toronto. It won't be freezing cold because it's in June. Uh, it's June 6th to 8th, uh, 2019. And it's called the Wellness Business Summit. And so it's three days of industry specific. So it's fitness, it's health, it's coaching. Uh, we have Dr. Krista Scott Dixon, who's actually the director of education for precision nutrition. She's coming and doing a massive workshop, a two-hour workshop on coaching skills. Um, and we have people for Facebook ads, funnels, and lead gen and all of that good stuff. So if you're interested in learning how to grow your fitness professional business online, um, and also just be around people who get it, who are super ambitious, who are like-minded, who, you know, there'll be no issues with the food or the drinks or anything like that. You know, you don't have to like modify the menu. We know, we got you. Um, and just be in a bubble. Really just be in a bubble with like-minded people for three days, learn sales and marketing and lead acquisition and business structure and back end specific to the health and fitness industry. Come join us. It's gonna be fun. It's our sixth time running it. We throw a good party, we know how to do it. Um, yeah, and we'll give you all the details, and you can, I'm sure, link to it in the show notes.

Awesome. Awesome. And what's your website, Lori? Where do people go?

It's the wellness businesshub.com.

Awesome. Lori, this was a lot of fun. And I'm glad uh I got to connect with you yet again. And yeah, we see eye to eye on a lot of things, and I think the messaging was extremely powerful here. So I appreciate it.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, Lori Kennedy.

Thank you.

Hey fitness fans, don't leave yet. It's your host, Eric Malzone, and I have a quick favor to ask. Actually, three favors. So, number one, if you're a fan of our show, I asked you to do something that takes under three minutes. Go to iTunes, please, and subscribe to our show. Please, please, please. It means so much to us, it's so important. And then give us a favorable review. We would really, really appreciate it. And uh, I can't tell you how much it means and helps us out. So it only takes two minutes of your day, and uh it means a lot to us. So please do that. Number two, go to our YouTube channel, our fitness marketing alliance, and uh please subscribe to our YouTube channel there. Number three, if you like this episode or any of the episodes that we've released, share it on social. That's huge, that's a big deal for us. And when we put a lot of work into these episodes, uh trying to give you great actionable content uh for the fitness industry. So that would mean a lot. And that's it. So we have some big plans coming up for this show. I'll be talking about that in the next couple episodes. But thank you so much for listening. It means so much. And uh if you have any questions, please reach out to me. I'd love to hear from everybody. Eric, E R I C at Fitness MarketingAlliance.com