Oh, what a year it's been

2006 was a hell of a year. Thanks for being a part of it.

I have much to be grateful for. I have much to look forward to.

I'll be heading up to New Jersey to spend Christmas with my family. They're all up there. I'm down here in Florida.

One of those things I am grateful for is being down here. It's all about the weather.

Sunshine.
Blue skies.
75 degrees in December.

To me, that's living. To me, to live in any other climate would be nuts.

The 37 degree days full of rain and grey skies...well, I never could have accomplished all I have if I didn't move to Florida in June of 2001.

I truly believe where you live plays an enormous role in your success.

How could it not?

When all I saw was grey from November until the end of April, I couldn't think of anything other than how miserable I was.

If your life isn't everything you want it to be, take a long hard look at where you live. Don't be afraid to get a new start somewhere else. It made all the difference for me.

There's a good chance it will do the same for you.

Happy Holidays,

Jim Labadie

PS- If you're looking for consistent inspiration and motivation, this might be just what you need.

The Success Training Network

Fat people everywhere are relying on you

*Quick reminder: The 12 Days of Fitness are coming to an end tomorrow!
And that means my special Velvet Rope package is only available for one more day!

http://www.trainandgrowrich.com/holidays.htm

Now on to the content...

I was just reading some really cool stuff on "advertorials."

If you've ever seen and ad in a magazine that looks like an article - and by law they must say 'advertisement' at the top - then you've seen one.

One of the things I learned was for the advertorial to be effective you must include content the reader can't get anywhere else.

So this is my advice to you:

When you're writing articles or special reports or copy or whatever...

...include the most incredible technical information you can possibly share with the general public you can put in simple language they can understand.

Basically when they read it their thoughts should be:

"Makes perfect sense. I totally understand it, but it seems very complicated. I didn't realize fitness was so scientific. This person is clearly an expert. I need to hire/buy from them so they can make sense of this for me because clearly I don't know what the heck I'm doing or I wouldn't be so fat."

Make sense?

So please, no more generic fluff like:

Drink more water!
Eat 6 meals a day!
Eat more protein!

Don't you think they've seen that stuff about 724,232,492 times already?

Well, you can use that stuff, but give it some zip. Give some hard evidence as to why.

Who loves ya? ;-)

Happy Holidays!

Jim Labadie
http://www.trainandgrowrich.com/holidays.htm

The highs and lows

Geoff Thompson's book The Elephant and the Twig made me aware of something I'd never thought of before.

Isn't that what books are supposed to do?

Anyway, in an amazing chapter on how to handle critics, Geoff points out that one of the problems he had was how high he got from his fans.

In other words, the people who praised him and sent him glowing reviews gave him a high.

And that meant when the critics came along, the lows got him real low.

I'd never looked at it like that before. But it sure makes sense.

I consider myself to be very blessed. I'd say 9 out of 10 emails I get from fitness pros are super positive. Either I've helped them in some way, or they agree with a point I made, or they sent a testimonial...

It's rare that I get someone who just flat out blasts me or disagrees with me. And while they hardly cause me to lose sleep at night - not even close - they do piss me off for a minute or two.

And thanks to Geoff I realized that I can't let the highs get me to high. Because when the lows come around...

The moral of the story?

Do what you do to the best of your ability and stay emotionally balanced to the response you get from your work.

And believe me, when you put yourself out there for all the world to see, you're going to be hearing from people.

If you're not, that's about the only time you need to be worried.

Jim
http://www.howtoprofitwithbootcamps.com

How to make the most of 2007

How to make the most of 2007


I'm expecting very big things from 2007.


VERY big things.


You should, too.


So to make the most of 2007 I'm going to take some time off during the holidays and get super serious about what I want to attract into my life during the next 12 months.


I've heard from many of my subscribers that they've watched the movie The Secret. I've heard from many about their longtime or newfound fascination with the Law of Attraction.


Well, if you believe in the Law of Attraction like I do, you know how important it is to know exactly what it is you want.


How much loot you're pulling in.


How many vacations you want to take.


What kind of car you want to be driving.


The kind of clients you want to be working with.


The number of hours you want to spend on your business.


The more detailed you are about what you want the faster you manifest it.


That's why I'm going to take some time the week after Xmas and put superstar UK trainer Dax Moy's http://www.yourmagic100.com to full use.


When you read about all the things Dax accomplished in just 100 days you can't help but be astonished.


I'm making 2007 my best year ever. If you plan on doing the same check out Dax's ridiculously under-priced http://www.yourmagic100.com program.


But don't just pay this lip-service. Don't just order it and then forget about it.


Chances are you're going to be slow next week. Chances are you have a good amount of down time before the January rush.


Make the most of it.


Plan your future exactly as you want it.


And help your clients plan theirs too. The Magic 100 is perfect for them too.


Dreams do come true. If you don't believe that, well, you're probably reading the wrong newsletter.


Who loves ya? ;-)


Yours in prosperity,

Jim Labadie


PS- For about $58 US you can turn the first 100 days of 2007 into the best of your life. And if there is one man I would never hesitate to endorse it's Dax. We met at the Ryan Lee Boot Camp this fall and I can tell you - he's the real deal.


http://www.yourmagic100.com


PPS- You can be, do or have anything you want. If nothing else, promise me 2007 will be the year you dream bigger dreams.


http://www.yourmagic100.com

Heart Attack Grill part 2

Just a quick note as I get some work done on a Saturday.

A couple of trainers made me aware, after my "Heart Attack Grill" newsletter the other day, that the guy who started it with his wife actually used to own a personal training studio!!!

Interesting, isn't it?

I don't know how successful he was at the training business. From what I understand it did well. But perhaps it's a whole lot easier to get people fat than to get them thin.

Passion. BIG-TIME passion.

If you don't have it for this business then you might want to look into opening a Krispy Kreme.

I did a coaching call yesterday with a guy who wanted to know when the "turning point" was for me. When did things really click and things started to take off, he asked.

My answer?

When I realized that my calling, my purpose and the best way for me to help the fitness industry was not to be training people to get physically fit, but to help trainers become fiscally fit.

When I was true to myself and my mission is what I consider to be my "turning point."

Who loves ya?

Jim
www.howtogetmoreclients.com

PS- Do YOU have the Ultimate Sales Kit for Fitness Pros yet?


"I have been a personal trainer for the last 5 years at several corporate gyms. You know, the gyms where you do the dreaded floor shifts and spend endless hours meeting with new members, giving them a free orientation of the gym and then it's your chance to sell training.
Over the years I got really good at it and always had the highest sales averaging $5,000 a month.

Recently I bought Jim Labadie's Ultimate Sales Kit hoping it would improve my current sales, although since I was always the top producer I wasn't sure if it would help me much...

After going through his simple to follow sales system it all become crystal clear, the secret to getting people to buy training is asking the right questions and let them sell themselves. This last month I sold $15,000 in training in a corporate gym which is unheard of, that is just something nobody does especially when the training sessions are $61 an hour in a small town that all the other gyms sell training for $30 and sell about $8,000 in training with 10 trainers.

Thank you Jim, you gave me the confidence to start my own training studio and leave the corporate world since you have helped me master the sales system. "

Ryan Ehmann
Fitness Professional & Motivational Speaker

www.howtogetmoreclients.com

Case Study: The Heart Attack Grill

Case Study: The Heart Attack Grill

Men's Fitness mainstay, Joe Stankowski, filled me in on this one. And I can't thank him enough.


As a fitness professional you'll probably be disgusted by this. I certainly was.


But as a fitness entrepreneur you have to appreciate it. You have to look beyond the aburdity of it all and really appreciate the brilliance of the concept.


But know ahead of time this may make you very angry.


VERY angry.


You need to control it because it does no good. Anger is your enemy.


It keeps you from seeing the things you need to see. From learning the things you need to learn.


And in the case of the http://www.heartattackgrill.com there's is much for you to discover.


Go ahead and look around on their site. Check out the burgers. Marvel at the fact that you can actually add cigarettes to your order.


Yeah, that's right, cigarettes. http://www.heartattackgrill.com/cigs.htm


Oh, and don't forget about the fries cooked in pure lard...the wheelchairs they roll you out to your car in...the motto: Taste...Worth Dying For!!!


Shoot! Almost forgot the entire politcally incorrect and sexist attitude thrown in for good measure.


Remember, anger is your enemy here.


Let's look at how the Heart Attack Grill can benefit you.


#1 - I wish it weren't the case either, but when you think about it, they sure are creating future clients for you.


#2 - They are 100% in YOUR face. This is who you are up against. This is who WE are up against. You might not like them one bit, but it's a great concept, it's completely unique, the press is certainly paying attention to them, they are going to get a ton of word-of-mouth...


Do I need to go on?


#3 - Read number 2 again. In fact, read it a couple of times.


They know EXACTLY who their customer is. Do you?


The know EXACTLY what their customer WANTS. Do you?


They came up with a totally INNOVATIVE and UNIQUE concept that people don't have a choice but to talk about. Have you?


So, are you going to go on rant and complain for the next couple of days about how you can't believe such a business exists?


Or are you going to do something intelligent like come up with your own unique and innovative ways to market yourself?


It's your decision to make. I'm merely the messenger.


Who loves ya? ;-)


Yours in prosperity,


Jim Labadie
http://www.howtoprofitwithbootcamps.com


PS- I'm running a special bundle offer on three of my best products as part of the 12 Days of Fitness. You get my:


1) Velvet Rope Fitness Marketing DVD
2) Velvet Rope Sales and PR DVD
3) Fitness Business Mindset Audio CD


All for only $79. It would normally cost you $106.90


Check it out the bottom of http://www.trainandgrowrich.com/holidays.htm to find out how to order.

It's such a small circle

Well, I know that Alwyn Cosgrove and Brian Grasso read this blog, so I need to keep my butt in gear and post often.

Ryan Lee and I were speaking to Brian today and one of the things we discussed was the very small circle of people who you are going to be able to really talk to as you climb the ladder.

Let me give you an example.

As I wrote earlier this week I was at a holiday party at Mar-a-lago. The place is owned by The Donald himself. Needless to say, it's a pretty amazing place.

The really cool part is Mr. Trump showed up to the party for 5 minutes to say hello to the crowd. And since he was hanging out with him anyway, he brought Shaq with him to press some palms.

When you're a billionaire there aren't too many people who know what it's like to be you.

When you're a billionaire who's always in the public eye - some aren't - there's probably even fewer.

I don't know if Shaq is an actual billionaire. Don't think he is. But he's a real wealthy guy who knows a thing or two about being a celebrity.

Something I learned from Randy Gage is this: When you develop a prosperity mindset there are going to be fewer and fewer people who "get" you. But the people who do are going to be the most amazing people you could ever hope to meet. And they will be true friends because they will call you out on your "stuff."

And here's something interesting. I wonder what your thoughts on it are. Last night I was watching the end of the movie "Scent of a Woman." That's when Pacino stands up and says, "If I were the man five years ago, I'd take a flame thrower to this place!"

Yeah, it's the part where everybody loves the character "Charlie" for not ratting on his friends. You're not supposed to rat on your friends, right?

Well, let's rethink this. Your true friends wouldn't put you in that position in the first place, right? Real men would fess up and take responsibility for their actions, wouldn't they? Seems to me that whoever it was that said you shouldn't rat on your friends was probably a real freakin' rat who wanted his "friends" to consistently bail him out of the messes that he made for himself.
Am I wrong?

Jim

PS- I'm running a special bundle offer on three of my best products as part of the 12 Days of Fitness. You get my:

1) Velvet Rope Fitness Marketing DVD
2) Velvet Rope Sales and PR DVD
3) Fitness Business Mindset Audio CD

All for only $79. It would normally cost you $106.90


Check it out the bottom of http://www.trainandgrowrich.com/holidays.htm to find out how to order.

Born to be great

We were all born to be great. My business coach, Debbie Happy Cohen, recently interviewed me on the topic. I've already gotten some great feedback on it.

Check it out here to find out why I went from hating my life to loving it.

http://blog.expandexcellence.com

What's Hot and What's Not

What's Hot and What's Not

The media loves lists.

Know why?

Because their readers, viewers and listeners love lists. That's why.

And they love the "What's Hot/What's Not" concept even more.

My friend Nate Green, of T-Nation fame, sent me these links today. Give them a look and you'll see exactly what I mean.

http://tinyurl.com/yxz4v2

http://tinyurl.com/y5uvg5

You can come up with your own list. You can comment on these lists. You can create fitness related lists based around your local community.

How about a What's Fit/What's Fat list?

Why not make it an annual list so that people in your area look forward to it each year.

The name of the game is to not just get in front of your prospects.

The WINNERS of the game STAY in front of their prospects.

****
Monday in my newsletter I made mention of Susan Hill's amazing presentation at the Ryan Lee Boot Camp. I totally spaced. I am very sorry. Susan's talk is not included in the DVD package.

Again, my apologies for any confusion. I've got a lot going on and I just screwed up. No excuse. Completely my responsibility.
Who loves ya? ;-)

(Hope you still love me!)

Yours in prosperity,

Jim Labadie

PS- The 12 Days of Fitness is in full-swing! Be sure to get your gifts at:

http://www.12daysoffitness.com/

PPS- Check out part of my contribution to the 12 Days of Fitness to read one of my best articles ever on how to be the dominant trainer in your area!

http://www.trainandgrowrich.com/holidays.htm

Prosperity defined

I had a pretty cool weekend. Went to a holiday party at Donald Trump's Mar-a-lago.

Never heard of it? Check out this online tour:

http://tinyurl.com/y74ra7


Prosperity defined. I'll write more about it this week.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this: Anyone who tells you that rich people aren't happy is full of you know what.

Jim
www.fitnessbusinessmindset.com

Free advertising

http://www.computers.net/2006/12/free_advertisin.html

My webmaster sent me the above link. Don't know too much about it, but certainly looks valuable.

And if you need serious custom programming for a site, he's very good.

Not cheap.

VERY good.

http://www.mjrinc.com

Jim
www.amazingfitnesspresentations.com

The three words you MUST know

The three words you MUST know


Emotion, emotion, emotion.


I can honestly say I'd only watched about ten minutes of the show before Wednesday night.


But they got me.


Yes, the TV show The Biggest Loser caught my eye last night, so I figured I really did at least need to watch it once to see what the deal is.


I must admit, I was glad I watched.


For one thing, it's where I got the idea for this newsletter.


The other reason is because it reminded me of the importance of those three magical words:


Emotion, emotion, emotion.


The way the show tugs at the heart strings is amazing.


The way they build the drama is surreal.


The emotional breakdowns...


The tears...


The newfound confidence and outlook on life...


The intrigue...


The suspense...


Your marketing should be teaming with emotion. Your sales copy should make people want to cry tears of joy.


Emotion gets people to act.


Joy
Sadness
Fear
Guilt
Bliss


Two immediate things you could do:


1- Why not create stirring emotional video testimonials for your website?


Your successful clients should be gushing about you and their new bodies to the camera.


They should be saying things like the Biggest Loser contestants were last night.


'My friends and family won't/don't recognize me!'


'I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am with my new body!'


'I never could have done this without my trainer!'


'I'm working muscles that I never knew I even had and I'm loving it!'


'I look like I did 20 years ago when I was in college!'


'My husband/wife loves the way my (insert body part here) looks!'


'People can't stop telling me how great I look!'


You get the idea, don't you?


Imagine: A walking, talking billboard LIVE on your website for all the world to see.


Can you picture it? Can you FEEL the emotion coming out of your computer?


Seriously think about that.


And don't forget the emotions that will arise in your prospect as they watch it.


Oh, and the end of the video, when you have a graphic with a call to action...


...and you add the Velvet Rope to it and let them know your schedule is severely limited....


...and that they may not be accepted as a client if you don't feel they are willing to become the NEXT living, breathing, super charged billboard...


Think that might work?


2- The series finale of The Biggest Loser is next week. Wednesday I believe. So you have the perfect opportunity to contact your local NBC affiliate and let them know what YOU think of the show.


Do you think the way they train the contestants is great? Do you think it's awful?


Have you done your own Biggest Loser challenge?


If nothing else, it's great content for your newsletter.


Who loves ya? ;-)


Yours in prosperity,


Jim Labadie
http://www.howtogetmoreclients.com
http://www.howtogetmorepublicity.com


PS- Would it be worth your while to visit http://www.howtogetmoreclients.com or http://www.howtogetmorepublicity.com ?


Reshawn Sumler, owner, The Holy Grail Fitness Corporation thinks so.


'God bless Jim Labadie for all of the helpful information he is providing fitness professionals everywhere. The content in his kits has helped me in more ways than I can count. And it's definitely worth more than what he is charging for it.


This man really truly knows the art of selling personal training and getting publicity for yourself. As fitness pro's, we often forget that we are salesman as well.


Look at it from a potential prospects mentalilty: What is going to make them pass up the movies, the club, the bar, the mall, their favorite greasy spooned restaurant, and all the other things that have contributed to their current out-of-shape condition to instead spend their hard earned dollars to do business with you, the fitness pro?


If you're really serious, The Ultimate Sales & Publicity Kits will answer that question for you and many more! If you take the pricipals outlined in these kits and apply them to your business, you will be sucessful, period.


I made 10 times what I paid for Jim's products within the first month.
I could keep writing for days about the benefits of these kits. Get them in you library NOW and give yourself an edge over the competition in your area. Plant some seed in your own good ground so it can produce some results for you!'


Reshawn Sumler, ACE CFT
Owner, The Holy Grail Fitness Corporation


PPS- In case you missed those links:


http://www.howtogetmoreclients.com

http://www.howtogetmorepublicity.com

You deserve a break today

I love to work. I really do.

Today I went to a flight lesson at 4pm and then directly to a discussion group on the movie The Secret right after that. I got back into my office around 9pm.

Yes, there's other things I could be doing. But I love this. I really do. I love what I do, so I don't know that I can qualify it as work.

But I'm also really starting to dig flying. At first it was more for the challenge and to break out of my comfort zone. It was to face a fear.

Now it's just freaking awesome.

And I'll tell ya, there's nothing like getting your mind off of something like landing a small Cessna next to a commercial airliner at Palm Beach International!!!

Anyway, the point of this post is simple: You not only deserve a break today - thanks McDonald's - but you NEED a break.

I'm refreshed and recharged and ready to go. All from flying a plane for one hour.

Since you're probably a fitness pro if you're reading this, I realize you're fully aware of the importance of taking a break already.

But since you're also an entrepreneur, there's a very good chance you haven't. Or if you did, it was to workout.

Nothing wrong with that except the fact that working out is mighty close to work. It's what you do for a living.

I think you know where I'm going with this.

Have a hobby that's entirely unrelated to fitness. You'll be better off for it.

Technology and the Fitness Entrepreneur

I'm definitely not an 'early adapter.'

In other words, I'm definitely not the first guy to try out the latest technology.

I'm not the even remotely close to being the first with the latest gizmo or gadget.

I still don't have an iPod.

I've got no clue really how RSS Feeds work, but I'm smart enough to have them on my site.

And that's the key.

As a fitness entrepreneuer you don't need to know everything, but you do need to be aware of the technology available to you and whether or not you should be taking advantage of it.

As a true entrepreneur you can delegate this responsibility to someone else.

Don't have the money to hire someone for that?

I'm not a gambling man, but I'll bet there's a high school kid somewhere in your town who would glady take $10/hr to explain to you how your business could be taking advantage of the latest technological advances.

Or perhaps one of your clients is a tech wiz and would be happy to barter with you?

Or you could have a virtual assistant do the research for you. You do realize you can hire them just "by the project", right?

The points I'm making:

1- You can very easily take advantage of the technology available to make your business grow and run more efficiently while still remaining a complete mystery to you. I'm living proof. ;-)

2- As an entrepreneur it's not your responsibility to know everything about everything. It's your job to have vision and steer the ship.
Delegate the details.

****
One of my customers, Rick Karboviak, has a really cool ebook out that allows you to take advantage of GPS technology to improve the performance of long-distance runners. It's packed with real-world applications for trainers, coaches and, of course, runners.

http://www.TrainingwithGPSmonitors.com

Who loves ya? ;-)

Yours in prosperity,

Jim Labadie
http://www.TrainingwithGPSmonitors.com

PS- Rick isn't a master at sales copy. But he's an extremely passionate coach and his info is rock-solid and cutting-edge. If you run for distance, or your clients do, be sure to grab Rick's ebook. It even comes with a 30 minute consultation so you can get the most out of it!

http://www.TrainingwithGPSmonitors.com

Multiple Markets

I've got to admit, I'm a bit beat today. Been on the phone most of it. Lots of thinking...much left to do...

But I wanted to write a quick blog post while I was thinking about this.

If you market to multiple populations then do business as multiple companies.

In other words, if you train women over 35 who want to lose weight, but you also train high school athletes set up two of everything so you dont mix your messages.

- Two different company names
- Two different 30 second commercials
- Two different websites

You get the point.

But you don't necessarily have to have a second facility. You can run a business within a business.

You just want to make sure you don't confuse the marketplace and be all things to all people.

The reason I write this is because I see trainers doing it all the time. It's not exact, but the best example I can show you of why it makes sense to do this comes from the auto industry.

When Honda decided to sell luxury cars they created a new brand to do so - Acura. Toyota created Lexus and Nissan created Infiniti.

Two different market segments. Same product. Two profitbale brands.

Make sense?