Now that you are ready to build a successful, profitable business that can run without you… you’re probably thinking you need more clients.

Because more clients = more money and more money = better ability to pay your team.

The obvious answer to getting more clients is to start marketing, right? But hold on just a second… before you start throwing your hard-earned money at every last opportunity out there it’s important that you stop for just a second and get strategic with your thinking.

What is the goal of marketing? It’s to both attract and engage your ideal client.And in order to attract your ideal clients you must think about your business from your clients’ perspective and meet them where they are in the decision-making process.

First you must consider your brand identity. What is your logo? What is your tagline? How are you presenting to the world? What do your colors and fonts say about your brand? Is everything you do “on...

Today’s post is all about how to find team members that actually stick around. After all it takes a lot of time and energy to bring new team members on and it can have a negative impact on your business if you have constant turnover.

In our fitness business Empower Personalized Fitness we use a 4-step process to that has allowed us to retain top talent for 7-10 years on average.

The steps are:

• Job Description
• Interview
• Onboard
• Mentor and support

Job Posting

Finding the right employee begins with YOU and how “sell” the position and your company in the job description. Use your posting to convey important information about the position, the expectations required and a sneak-peek into your company culture. Just like you are looking for the right fit for your company prospective employees are looking for a company that aligns with their values and provides them with an opportunity. Go ahead and set the expectation of excellence so potential prospects are on the same...

Question – do you work for your business.. or does your business work for you?

If you’re not completely sure then take a second to reflect on what would happen if you took a day, a week or a month away from your business? 

Is it self-sufficient enough to continue forward without so much oversight from you as the owner?No worries if that little reflection evoked a major sense of anxiety…because as fellow founders/owners we have been there.

In some ways our businesses are like our babies and when we are just getting started it can be really hard to imagine it gaining its independence and being able to stand alone.

But the truth of the matter is if you ever desire some semblance of balance and time freedom in your life then you must set your business up for success from the very beginning.  

Take a look at these two contrasting business models.

The first is called the “Owner Does It All” and in this model the owner is responsible for all parts of...

In our coaching and consulting practice we meet with a lot of business owners who feel that marketing their fitness business is one of their greatest challenges.

We tend to agree because unlike some other aspects of your business that you can just “set it and forget it” marketing requires ongoing attention and constant innovation, trying new ideas, testing and determining what works and tweaking to make it better. And to complicate matters even more marketing strategies are constantly evolving and changing.

That’s why you must establish a strong foundation from which to build your marketing platform.  

Before you jump into costly marketing campaigns or complex strategies make sure you have the following:

A Strong Brand Identity

Your brand identity encompasses all the visual elements of your brand – things like your color palette, design elements and your logo. It also serves to distinguish you from your competition so you stand out in the marketplace.

...

Sitting down to write this quick blog after a great midday workout.  Wow, it feels great to be able to do that  . . . prioritize our own health and get a great workout into the middle of our day so we don’t have to wake up extra early or stay late at the end of the day.

And trust us there were many days early on when we were so busy wearing all the hats in our business, training clients, managing our team, running around to different marketing events and doing so much more that we were lucky if we had anytime to dedicate to our own health and well being.  Now it is rare that we miss a workout.

So, how do we do it?

How are we able to step away from the day-to-day operations, get a midday workout in and also do the other things that are important to us . . .things like leave early for our kids extra-curricular activities, or stay home with them if they are sick, or have lunch with a friend, or take a whole day to work at home?

Well, simple as 1, 2, 3! (but remember...

You might've already heard our story, but for those of you who are just catching up here’s the cliff notes version...

We met back in 1993 as freshmen year suitemates at The University of North Carolina (Go Heels!), and we used to daydream about owning and operating our own business one day.

Then in 2005 that idea became a reality when we opened Empower Personalized Fitness with literally just the two of us.

Within eight years, we were a seven-figure studio business and we were able to do that without us working with clients (we worked on the business, not in it).

So many people ask us, "How did you do it?".

We did it by following this really simple system that we call the 'Wellness Studio Success Masterplan,' and it's a three-part plan that can help you achieve success in your business.

1. Entrepreneurial Mindset

The first pillar is all about having an entrepreneurial mindset - meaning that you trust that you have the skills and the abilities to do what it takes to get things...

So, the first round of systemizing our business came, by necessity, when we both were going to out of the studio for extended periods of time on maternity leave . . . but it didn't take us long after returning to work to get back to our frantic pace.  There were too many times when we were white-knuckled on the highway trying to make it to daycare before they closed.  Too many days when our kids were the last to get picked up.  Too many times we were missing important events in their lives.

We’re referring to a time in our entrepreneurial journey when we were so overwhelmed and stressed from our day-to-day responsibilities, we had countless sleepless nights worrying about finances and exhaustion was our middle name.

Wait a second…

Isn’t business ownership supposed to mean…

We make our own hours…

We feel empowered working for ourselves…

We stay motivated and charging forward at all costs….

Unfortunately business ownership...

Fear, doubt, uncertainty are all very natural and very real emotions when it comes to opening your own business…especially given the fact that it's so risky and so many small businesses fail.

In fact, a recent survey by Wakefield Research found that one-third of Americans are more afraid of starting their own business than they are jumping out of plane.

Welp… given our very natural and very real fear of jumping out of planes we decided to go the “start our own business route.”

Before we jump into our “how we did it” story it’s important to know a bit of the backstory.

We were both raised in hard-working, entrepreneurial families where we learned a strong work ethic and an attitude of perseverance and persistence.

From a very early age we learned that you got up every single day, you put your heart, soul and passion into your work and the only option was to make it a success.

That strong foundation of having an entrepreneurial mindset and a...

Do you want to feel healthy, fit and strong in your 40s and beyond?

Of course you do! We all desire to feel good in our bodies, be fit and strong and let our vivacious nature radiate from us! And often times we apply the age-old advice “exercise more, eat less” or we jump from latest craze to latest craze in hopes of finally finding the best exercise plan. Rather than feeling like our best selves we often end up feeling stressed, frustrated or stuck.

If you’re feeling like you’re in a rut or you're disappointed with your exercise routine . . .

Check out our 3 Exercise Tips for your 40s and Beyond

#1 – Incorporate Moderate Intensity Exercise – Gone are the back-to-back days of high intensity and long duration exercise. Research proves (and we have seen it in ourselves and our clients) that the “go hard or go home approach” can break us down and lead to burn out, aches and pain and even injuries. Try adding 1-2 days of lower impact...

Last week we touched on the importance of self-care – not only for ourselves but also for those we love and serve. However, knowing that self-care is important and doing something about it are two separate things - so, this week we are diving into WHAT you need to do to feel refreshed and excited for  growth (business and personal), and HOW to make it happen. 

Putting a Self-Care Action Plan into Practice:

One of the biggest complaints we hear from busy, ambitious women business owners is that they don’t have TIME for self-care.  And our short rebuttal to that reasoning is this.  Self-care is so vitally important to your sustained health and success that you must make time for it.

If time (or lack there of) is one of your road blocks, we suggest you do a quick “time-audit” and find areas of your life where you get caught up in time-sucks like scrolling social media, consuming too much world news, Netflix binges, or...