FOR GROWTH AND CHANGE PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY
So 3 weeks ago business as we knew it, the world as we had been used to it and our lives were changed potentially forever. And at first it felt like a disaster but there is always an opportunity to grow in a time of uncertainty and trauma. I have learned so much about myself already in this time and whether I can fight and thrive in times of stress or freeze.
This situation presented us with an opportunity to grow our business in ways we never had time or need for before. I constantly have a TO DO list for our business and my life about 20 items long and one of those that never seems to be crossed out was to get our content online. I have been keen to build our YouTube channel and get more subscribers for years really not getting anywhere and wanted to build a online facility where we could offer our services to a bigger reach. It always got the backseat to the day to day stuff that always seemed to take priority over the long term projects.
I was becoming a reactor…rather than a creator and innovator.
Well, this social distancing and reduction in workload may be to my advantage now…and I urge other small businesses to pay attention. This lockdown we are experiencing can be seen as a burden and cause for anxiety….uncertainty of income, less cash flow, not knowing where we will continue to work from, will people still want our services now and beyond this??
OR….
It could be an opportunity in uncertainty…to have a crash course in learning a new skill, branching out your business to other directions, doing the things you have had on your list (whether that be personal or business related). I have always wanted to learn guitar and now every Wednesday me and my son will be getting virtual lessons until this lockdown is over. And then I plan to continue to grow that skill after the restrictions are lifted.
This crash course is being thrust upon me and if I don’t learn and adapt, our little small business will sink. When this first happened our priority was to continue to provide our services the best way we could to our clients. And luckily we could do that through online streaming of our classes. We could still go to the studio and our clients could show up at home at their normal times. We chat, we workout together and we have some normality for that hour. But I am not a techy person….and never have been. So learning Zoom and how to set up online classes was a steep learning curve. And it was time to think let’s do something NOW…not tomorrow or next month.
I also get very frustrated when I don’t get things right away. But I am also determined to succeed. So even if it takes me twice the time (or more) to get it and understand the systems, I will not give up. Because our little Family Fitness studio, our amazing team and our supportive clients are worth it. And the bonus is that when I have succeeded in learning the technical side of all this – I will have ticked off one of my long term goals. So many people may freeze in this situation, give up and lose hope but if you can zone in on the skills you have and see how you can share it to anyone then you can get through this hard time successfully.
At the beginning there was a little part of me that thought SHIT…how am I going to do this….I mean Everyone is online. How would our little business survive in a sea of big wigs. The big fitness apps, fitness channels on youtube with loads of subscribers and trainers (good and bad) you can access all over the world who have already made a name for themselves. Then there are the celebrities come fitness gurus who do fitness DVDS, Davina McCall now has her own fitness app, Gweneth has her Goop Followers, Joe Wicks has monopolised the HIIT and new family market while we are in lockdown and Jillian Michaels is splashed everywhere making money off those who subscribe to her content.
Its all out there….so I was thinking how can our little family run company compete?
Thats exactly it…our little FAMILY. Thats our catch.
We are your corner store, your local butcher, your tiny gift shop, the cupcake lady at the market, the farmers market stall, the little people that make up a beautiful community. The very things that we will lose in this economic crash. We are representing real people everywhere. Who are not perfect, who don’t have a beautiful California studio, or loads of money backing them, plastic surgery on our face and body, PR reps and Marketing managers. We are me and my husband and our little team of dedicated coaches who above all LOVE our clients. We are community.
And we will survive. Not to be famous, but to be able to serve our clients in this stressful and uncertain time. To give them comfort, routine and a meeting place for them to see their friends they come to classes with (even though through a screen). I will take this opportunity to learn something new and to show the world what real homegrown fitness looks like after 20 years of experience. What grafting and knowledge in fitness does for quality of sessions. We are not fancy and flash, we don’t prance around in next to nothing clothing, we don’t shout at you to do 10 more even if it hurts. We deliver the quality that a hometown local organic farm would….with love and passion for their product.
And WE CARE. About our community. Our clients. Our Team. And we want to show the real side to fitness that doesn’t have to be backed by a celebrity or a brand. We coach people to have really good technique so they move better long term. They learn skills that they will carry forward for the rest of their lives and they will move pain free from.
So instead of thinking the glass is half empty…..think it is half full and ready to be filled to the brim with the opportunity to grow as a company and as an individual.
Join our ONLINE classes and join our little local community.