Anyone over a certain age remembers the Yellow Pages. Back before the Internet, every business had to have a listing in the giant phone book, and most had display ads. Customers in need of, say, a plumber, looked up local service providers and perused the ads till they found one they liked enough to call.

It was kind of like a printed version of Google, if you younger folks can imagine that.

And today’s equivalent of all those Yellow Pages ads for businesses? It’s websites. And now 20 years into the Internet age, some gym owners and other small businesses don’t put much time or effort into their websites. Some even say they’re passe and pointless, asking why anybody even needs to have much a website presence at all.

Well, that’s the topic we’re going to address on this episode of Optimal Aging, the podcast for gym and studio owners who want to grow their businesses with people over 50. We’re going to answer the question, Do I really need a website at all anymore? But first I’m going to give you the top 5 most common mistakes I see gyms making that are costing them customers – and money -- every day.

Resources
Life Priority Supplements -- Affiliate Discount  here
Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members
Functional Aging Institute -- Use FAIMM50 discount code
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

A lot of people have similar insecurities around writing as they do around money. That's true for fitness professionals as much as it is for anyone. And this week on the Optimal Aging podcast, I'm talking about all of that and more with Billy Hofacker on Billy's podcast, Your Fitness Money Coach.

Billy's a gym owner in Long Island and caters to the over-50 market. He's also a financial coach for other fitness business owners. He welcomed me onto his show recently, and I liked the resulting conversation so much that I want to share it with you here.

We have different backgrounds on all of this, but again, the similarities between communications and finances are striking -- more accurately, the similarities between COMMON INSECURITIES about communications and finances are striking.

Billy and I talk about money, we talk about marketing, we talk about some of the insecurities that drive us, and that maybe drive you , as well. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Resources

Your Fitness Money Coach podcast
Billy on Facebook
Life Priority Supplements -- Affiliate Discount  here
Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members
Functional Aging Institute -- Use FAIMM50 discount code
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

How can gym and studio owners keep their members motivated to keep coming back after the initial excitement wears off? And what role does your communications system play in retaining these folks – especially those who are over 50?

Gym and studio owners first need to understand why  people over 50 want to get in shape or stay in shape.  So I'll share my top 7 reasons why older people want your services, and then I’m going to share the No. 1 secret to keeping members – new and veterans alike – coming back even when they feel like they'd rather stay home on the couch.

Resources
Life Priority Supplements -- Affiliate Discount  here
Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members
Functional Aging Institute -- Use FAIMM50 discount code
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

If you live long enough, you start to notice how things come in and out of fashion, and then come in and out of fashion again… and again… 

It’s one of the nice thigns about aging, I think. It makes it easier to avoid getting too excited abou t the latest this or the trendiest that, because you’ve learned by now that if you miss one trend, there’s always another round coming up later. 

Well, it’s like that for fitness over 50 in 2023, according to market watchers who have decided that the fourth and fifth biggest trends in fitness surround this demographic – a return to how things were the last few years before the pandemic. What does this mean for you and your bsiness? Why should you care about this trend or any other?

That’s what I’ll be discussing on this edition of Optimal Aging, the podcast for gym and studio owners who want to grow their business with the lucrative yet
underserved over-50 market.

Resources

ACSM's Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends

Life Priority Supplements -- Affiliate Discount  here
Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members
Functional Aging Institute -- Use FAIMM50 discount code
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

Lots of gyms and studios provide -- or want to provide -- a line of vitamins and supplements for their customers. It's a great way to have an extra income stream and to enrich ties with your clients, particularly people over 50.

A lot of older people are curious about supplements, and they don't want to be burned by products that offer a lot of hype but not much value.

Greg Pryor shares his story about how he went from winning the 1985 World Series with the Kansas City Royals to owning Life Priority supplements.

Andy why, in his 70s, he's proud to share the good word about how they help.


Life Priority Supplements -- Affiliate Discount  here

Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members
Functional Aging Institute -- Use FAIMM50 discount code
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

I had so much great content from my interview with Rick Mayo -- founder and CEO of Alloy Personal Training Franchise System -- that I had to break it up into two parts.

I published the first one in November, and I'm excited to share Part 2 now. We cover some interesting questions about how Rick approaches marketing fitness to the over-50 segment, the importance of knowing who you want as your customer, and why this is such a lucrative market to pursue.

Different gym or studio owners will have different approaches to marketing fitness over 50, and that's great. Every community is different, every business. I know you'll be interested in what Rick has to say -- and in his thoughts about fitness trends in general that are coming for 2023.

Alloy Personal Training Franchise System
Rick Mayo on LinkedIn
Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members
Life Priority Supplements -- Affiliate Discount code here
Functional Aging Institute -- Use FAIMM50 discount code
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

How close do fitness clients typically become with their trianers? What qualifies as sufficiently good customer service, what goes above and beyond, and how do genuine personal relationships develop — particularly among a client in his 70s and a trainer in his 30s?

This is Optimal Aging, the podcast for fitness professionals who want to grow their businesses by reaching more people over 50.

I’m delighted to bring this episode to you during the holidays, because it’s been a gift for me to work on — and I hope you enjoy our conversation half as much as I did.

I first met Jerry Mathis last year and wrote about him for my Prime Fit Content subscribers, after he ran his first 5K Spartan Race to celebrate his 75th birthday.

He’ll be 77 soon and hopes to be doing this into his 80s. Here’s my chat with Christian about his amazing physical fitness and his amazing friendship with his trainer. Enjoy.

Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members
Life Priority Supplements -- Affiliate Discount code here
Functional Aging Institute -- Use FAIMM50 discount code
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

Gym and studio owners -- you're about to get flooded with the annual January rush. This year, be sure your new clients over 50 know why it's so important they should be lifting weights.

And remember: They probably don't know! You have to tell them. Clearly and repeatedly.

This week's Optimal Aging presents 15 reasons why people over 50 need to be weightlifting. Use this list -- and more reasons -- to motivate all your clients, but especially the new ones.

It could be the difference between another failed New Year's Resolution and starting on the path to lifelong healthy habits.

Resources and Links

Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members
Life Priority Supplements -- Affiliate Discount code here
Functional Aging Institute -- Use FAIMM50 discount code
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

Do you ever feel like a phony? Like someone’s about to find out any minute that you have no idea what you’re doing and that you don’t belong where you are?

Well, a LOT of people do, so don’t worry! It’s called Imposter Syndrome, and it’s common in all walks of life and at every stage of success.

I know I’ve felt it sometimes. 

And so has my guest on this week’s episode of Optimal Aging, which might surprise those of you familiar with his success. 

Rick Mayo, founder and CEO of the Alloy Personal Training Franchise system, is a fitness business leader who seems like the very model of success. And yet, as he tells me in this conversation, he’s been bugged by Imposter Syndrome repeatedly throughout his career. He also shares how he learned to turn it into a powerful motivator to help him keep succeeding in his business, which now is a thriving franchise system with 100 locations, all bringing fitness over 50 to people across the country.

Resources and Links

Alloy Personal Training Franchise System
Rick Mayo on LinkedIn
Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members
Life Priority Supplements -- Affiliate Discount code here
Functional Aging Institute -- Use FAIMM50 discount code
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

How important is it to build a warm, supportive fitenss community for people over 50?  That’s the question we’re going to answer today on Optimal Aging, with one special guest serving as an example of the kind of powerful outreach and practices that many of the best fitness businesses provide. 

Guest Summer Montabone is the owner of Summer’s Fitness studio in North Canton, Ohio, where she recently celebrated her 15th anniversary in business, serving primarily the over-50 demographic. Summer has 30 years of fitness experience and is a former champion bodybuilder who shifted gears after a startling bout with postpartum depression. 

 Summer has been a subscriber to Prime Fit Content for a while now, and I love how she uses the material to engage her audience of clients, prospects, and the broader community.  I asked her onto the show to talk about how she builds her culture and community, and the interaciotn she has with her community at large. I love seeing her Facebook feed every day because it shows the positive energy and environment she’s created there. 

She’s obviously doing something right after 15 years, and so I thought you would enjoy hearing Summer talk about her journey, success, and – yes—community.

Resources and Links

Summer's Fitness
Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members
Life Priority Supplements -- Affiliate Discount code here
Functional Aging Institute -- Use FAIMM50 discount code
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market