How to leverage free without devaluing yourself, your business or the industry you love.
One of the most challenging things to do in any wellness business is to price your service. How much is our time worth? What about the space we’re using? How much does that cost? Some of these things can feel so arbitrary and then we’re left with what the going rate is.
How much are other studios charging for similar services? What does the local big box gym charge for their unlimited membership or individual classes? And then there’s all the free stuff that’s available online, on youtube, facebook, instagram and your local car dealership or health fair. How can you compete?
Last week Rebecca Sebastian and I discussed this quite a bit. So if you missed last weeks episode be sure to go back and take a listen. Rebecca is such an inspirational mentor in the industry and really said some amazing things.Today I’d like to take a deep dive into leveraging free and how to do it in ways that respect the value of what you do and protect and support the industry. And how to leverage “free” without slipping into the mudslide of exploitation.
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It’s time to stop working out and start working IN. You found the Work IN podcast for fit-preneurs and their health conscious clients. This podcast is for resilient wellness professionals who want to expand their professional credibility, shake off stress and thrive in a burnout-proof career with conversations on the fitness industry, movement, nutrition, sleep, mindset, nervous system health, yoga, business and so much more.
I’m your host Ericka Thomas. I'm a resilience coach and fit-preneur offering an authentic, actionable realistic approach to personal and professional balance for coaches in any format.
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How to leverage free without devaluing yourself, your business or the industry you love.
One of the most challenging things to do in any wellness business is to price your service. How much is our time worth? What about the space we’re using? How much does that cost? Some of these things can feel so arbitrary and then we’re left with what the going rate is.
How much are other studios charging for similar services? What does the local big box gym charge for their unlimited membership or individual classes? And then there’s all the free stuff that’s available online, on youtube, facebook, instagram and your local car dealership or health fair.How can you compete?
Last week Rebecca Sebastian and I discussed this quite a bit. So if you missed last weeks episode be sure to go back and take a listen. Rebecca is such an inspirational mentor in the industry and really said some amazing things.Today I’d like to take a deep dive into leveraging free and how to do it in ways that respect the value of what you do and protect and support the industry. And how to leverage “free” without slipping into the mudslide of exploitation.
Ok so jump into the way back machine with me…you’re new to the fitness industry. You just got your certification, but you have very little if any experience teaching, coaching, leading a class. You have the knowledge. You have the enthusiasm. You’re filled with energy and excitement.
But where do you start? How do you negotiate your pay for what you do when you have no experience?
Leverage free to build your experience.
For fresh green instructors it can be intimidating to get started here. Here’s some good best practice advice from someone who’s been there in regards to “free”. You guessed it, me.
- If you have Zero experience teaching - do yourself a favor and get some. Any way you can. Yogafit requires level 1 instructors to complete 8 hours of free teaching before they release your certificate. I love this because it gives new instructors a no pressure opportunity to practice, build confidence and grow your client base at the same time. Even if you’re not a yogi you can do the same thing. Find a small group in your area and offer to teach what you teach for free for a very limited amount of time. You might choose a group that’s underserved or from an organization that you like to help anyway. In exchange, ask them to write about the experience and give you feedback.
- Now update your resume or CV with this experience and keep the contact information from those participants in case a future employer wants references. You might also want to continue to serve them as a way for you to give back to your community. But don’t let it stop you from getting paid gigs.
- Use that feedback as testimonials and you can share it on your website or social media pages. (assuming its good, which of course it will be because you’re a rockstar)
- Now take that experience and offer to sub everywhere. These days there are a lot of ways to apply for fitness jobs online. Back in the day we used to just walk into places that we thought could use an instructor or where we wanted to work. In my experience that’s often a better way to go in this industry and here’s why. The culture in wellness businesses is important, maybe more than what they pay. This is something that Rebecca touched on last week. The rapport that instructors have with clients and with each other can have a big impact. Wellness businesses aren’t that different from any other and they can be just as toxic. (sadly I learned this the hard way) But you won’t know that until you get in there.And that culture won’t be apparent on Indeed. But You can use subbing as a way to test the waters.
- No matter what your experience level is, or whether you’re an independent contractor, employee or a solopreneur, you need to have a way to build your audience/potential client list. One way to do that is to offer some free thing that you do or provide that let’s people get to know you and attract your ideal client. In the online business world we call this an opt in and it could be a PDF, checklist, book list, recipes, How to video, free class or webinar/masterclass. Anything that speaks to your ideal clients needs in a really really helpful way AND is easy for you. Don’t turn yourself inside out to create some perfect thing. Make the thing that speaks to you and then speak your truth. While technically this is free, You do get something for it. And that something is potentially really valuable…their email. Many people build their potential client list this way.
- A couple of tips here. A. Make sure your opt in lines up with your business and what you sell. B. make sure it’s worth your time commitment. So keep it short. Ideally an hour or less with Q&A Time is money. C. Choose something that’s really valuable to your client. What do they ask you for? This might take some testing to find what works best for you but it’s worth it and is great marketing.
Now let’s shift gears a little bit and talk about working for “free” for exposure or to make a name for yourself. I’m quoting Rebecca Sebastian here “No it doesn’t work like that.” or something to that effect. I got news for ya’ll you can’t pay the bills with exposure.
How many times have you seen a business do a health fair and offer free chair massages, or free yoga class or other fitness class, or have trainers available to do free health assessments? Maybe you’ve participated in them thinking that you would get great exposure, pick up clients or whatever. Listen unless you’re an employee getting paid to be there or the one collecting contact information at those fairs, you are being exploited. You’re building someone else's business. This happens all the time in the fitness industry and it’s going to continue until we wake up and do our homework around money and value and take the blinders off when it comes to being in a grown up business world.
A very wise mentor of mine from Givers University told me recently that I am not running a trauma business, I’m running a business and trauma release is one of the products. And he’s absolutely right
Wellness entrepreneurs have a sticky relationship with the business side of things because we want to help people. And wouldn’t it be great if we could pay our bills with the warm fuzzy feelings we get by changing someone's life?
I’m not saying you should never give things for free, I’m saying that you need to do it with intention and fully aware of the cost/reward that’s attached to it. Make it work for you.
For example If I offer a free Grace + Grit class once a month and get 1-3 paying clients every month, that’s totally worth it. If I offer a free Grace + Grit class and never tell anyone about other ways to work with me, or where I teach is inaccessible to the general public, that is a total waste of my time from a business standpoint. From a philanthropic standpoint that's another story.
I want to address that for a moment. Many of us in wellness have a heart for a particular cause. And even if you don’t want to be a non-profit you can set your business up so that you can support that cause AND still be profitable. You can do it by setting aside funds for scholarships or providing services to those organizations that are near and dear to your heart. But you can’t do that if you’re broke. And you can’t do that if you go out of business.
The world can’t afford to lose what you offer.
Become a shameless self promoter. Become your best advertizer. Practice in the mirror. Tell everyone you know. Recruit friends and family to introduce you. Use your network. It’s not shameful or conceited to tell people who you are, what you do and how you can help them. It’s just business. And we’re in it too.
There’s a place for free but don’t get stuck there.
You deserve to get paid for your work.
Next week we’re going to sit down with Kim Basler, Canfitpro's fitness instructor of the year, to discuss more about money, how to get paid and find balance and avoid burnout in the industry that we love.
Thanks for joining me today and if you like what you heard and you want to learn more about how you can be unshakeable, body, mind and business this year go to elementalkinetics.com and check out my upcoming retreat. The well is an all inclusive immersion weekend for serious fit pros who want burnout proof their body and jumpstart their business. Go to elementalkinetics.com/thewellnetworkshop All the details are there, it’s super affordable and packed with added value! I hope to meet you there. Take care everybody!