Optimal Aging

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

Today we’re talking about a topic that is rarely discussed, either in society generally or in the fitness world specifically.

But it’s one of the most important events in women’s lives, and it affects their lives across the board – including their fitness and healthy living habits.

Which means you, as a fitness professional, male or female, regardless of age, need to know more about… MENOPAUSE. 

If you’re wondering what do fitness and menopause have to do with each other, then this week’s episode of Optimal Aging is here to answer the question. It’s a special, shortened version of an earlier, longer interview I did with athlete, author, podcaster and advocate Selene Yeager. I enjoyed our conversation back then, and I enjoyed preparing this abridged version for you today. 

Resources and Links

Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members
Selene Yeager
Hit Play Not Pause podcast
Prime Fit Pros Group on Facebook
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

Today I’m going to answer a question I hear over and over again from gym and studio owners who indeed do want to grow their business by serving this large, lucrative and underserved segment.

I’m asked this question all the time in my free Facebook group, in emails, in phone conversations, at conferences…

So let me answer it for you once and for all here today.

This is the question: Do I need to be on every social media channel? 

And the answer, quite simply, is this: Absolutely not.

Stick with me for a few minutes on this short episode, and I’ll explain – with my main intention being to quiet that annoying voice in your head that says you need to be scrambling all the time to be everywhere.

Resources and Links

Prime Fit Pros Group on Facebook

Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members

A great story about Picasso goes something like this.

The genius painter was at a Paris café when a fan approached and asked if Picasso could draw something on a napkin for her.

He obliged and, when he returned the napkin, he said, “That will be 1 million Francs.”

The woman was outraged. “How can you dare to ask for so much – it only took you 5 minutes to draw this!”

Picasso replied, “No, my dear. It took me 40 years to be able to draw this in 5 minutes for you.”

Now, you might wonder why I’m sharing this classic with you.

It’s about your ideas around your own self-worth and pricing your services. You might not be charging enough... but you're unsure about how high to go...? You're not alone. Here's how to start thinking about the problem productively.

Resources and Links

Prime Fit Pros Group on Facebook

Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members

Here’s a story for every gym or studio owner who says he doesn’t have time to manage an email list or send out emails to prospects and clients on a regular basis.

For Paulo Andalaft of Fit Factor in Fort Lauderdale, one email he sent in 2017 has brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars in ongoing revenue – and is still generating new referral clients right now.

That’s right. One email = hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.

How’s that possible? Listen to this week’s episode for Paulo’s story.

Resources and Links

Prime Fit Pros Group on Facebook

Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members

Your members and prospects want to see people like them succeeding – they want to relate, to say, Hey, maybe I could do that. They want an ordinary person to help introduce them to fitness or to support what they’re already doing – and they want to know that your business sees their effort and appreciates their successes.

And what you get out of it is an endless source of powerful, compelling content that you can use anywhere – on your website, on your social media accounts, in your email newsletters… 

Member profiles are popular with your audience, easy for you to do, and effective in sharing your message. 

Still, there’s just one little catch.

They have to be good.

And many are not, if I’m being honest.

But it’s so easy to do it well that I want to share some quick tips with you. Listen up!

Resources

Bella's Perfect Little Story

Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members

If you’re in business these days, then you’re a writer – like it or not. So you better learn how to do it well. That’s the premise of a terrific writing how-to book called “Everybody Writes” by Ann Handley. 

This week’s episode of the podcast is taken from a group discussion I had with three fitness professionals serving the over-50 market. It started as a conversation about Ann’s book but quickly evolved into a compelling tale of how these three people communicate with their clients and prospects, and how they’re constantly pushing beyond their “comfort zones” to get better at writing.

I was beside myself with what I heard. And I know many of you will enjoy their comments and relate to them and learn from them. Enjoy!

Also, a reminder to take advantage of the business training event put on by the Functional Aging Institute Oct. 20-21 in Nashville. Use discount code FAIMM50 get 50 percent off. Register here: https://faievents.securechkout.com/nashville-2022

Resources and Links

“Everybody Writes” on Amazon.com

Prime Fit Pros Group on Facebook

Functional Aging Institute

Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members

I’ve been on a mission lately to learn more about my prospects and clients – specifically what they want help with regarding their content and communications, so I can improve my offerings and grow my business.

A little market research, if you will – emphasis on “little.” I’ not talking about full-blown market research – just about actively soliciting and paying attention to feedback. 

It’s been fascinating and instructive, and I’m going to share a few great tips I’ve received in a few minutes

So let me ask you: Are you actively listening to your clients and prospects enough?

It’s a fair question to ask yourself any time – because you should always be actively listening. When you ask questions and pay attention to responses with an open mind, powerful stuff can happen – especially when you’re servicing a vastly UNDERserved segment, like people over 50 in a gym, studio or other fitness facility.

Also, a reminder to take advantage of the business training event put on by the Functional Aging Institute Oct. 20-21 in Nashville. Use discount code FAIMM50 get 50 percent off. Register here: https://faievents.securechkout.com/nashville-2022

Resources and Links

Functional Aging Institute

Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members

If you th`ink you don’t need content in your marketing, think again.

You do – even if you regularly advertise on Facebook. You can’t rely on that. Content MUST be a part of your communications strategy in promoting your business and promoting yourself as the local go-to expert on fitness over 50.

I get into all this on this weeks episode of the Optimal Aging Podcast by posing – and ultimately answering – a provocative question: Which is best for your business, content marketing or advertising?

Also, a reminder to take advantage of the business training event put on by the Functional Aging Institute Oct. 20-21 in Nashville. Use discount code FAIMM50 get 50 percent off. Register here: https://faievents.securechkout.com/nashville-2022

Resources and Links

Functional Aging Institute

Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members

This not an overstatement: I would not be here today if it weren’t for the Functional Aging Institute’s Mastermind group.

So, I want to encourage everyone to attend FAI’s Mastermind gathering Oct. 20-21 in Nashville, if you can. Obviously, travel is complicated and expensive, and we have to pick our trips wisely. (And don’t worry – there will be other opportunities to interact with FAI’s Mastermind and even join later.)

But this one is personal for me, because I know first-hand how helpful the training is and how invaluable the relationships are.

You don’t have to join the group to attend the event, which will cover:

• How to market, how to sell and how to attract the best clients!.
• Short “hot seat” sessions where the group focuses just on helping you find solutions for your biggest challenges:
• How to add a training business for this clientele to your existing studio, or how to open from scratch in less than 60 days.

Use discount code FAIMM50 get 50 percent off. Register here: https://faievents.securechkout.com/nashville-2022

Resources and Links

Functional Aging Institute -- October Nashville Event Registration Page 

Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market

Naamly – Support our advertiser, who helps you keep in touch with your members