Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast, we're talking with Kevin Kennedy from Bergen County in New Jersey, where Kevin and his wife Deirdre have a great fitness studio.
Like most studios, they have a certain number of sessions they run each week that they're looking to fill, and we had a great conversation about the model of think about it like a hotel, with available rooms (sessions) that if not filled, are perishable.
We talked about the reality that every one of his clients or potential clients is really within a three-mile radius of where he is right now, and we outlined an idea for focusing on becoming 'Three Mile Famous' and target all the people in his chosen avatar.
We dialed in on Facebook as the mechanism because you can specifically target exactly who you're looking for and target the messaging directly to them.
I really enjoyed this conversation. We left Kevin with some homework I'll keep you posted on how it all unfolds.
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Transcript - More Cheese Less Whiskers 177
Dean: Kevin.
Kevin: Dean, how are you?
Dean: There he is. I'm good. How are you?
Kevin: Very excited, thank you.
Dean: Oh, me too. We're hankered down in the Corona-free bunker here in Florida.
Kevin: Good for you. Stay safe.
Dean: How about you? Where are you?
Kevin: I'm in New Jersey, right about 10 miles outside of Manhattan.
Dean: Is it pandemonium?
Kevin: No, it's the calm before the storm. I think that once they get the test kits out people will realize that it's everywhere and then there might be a little bit of pandemonium. But I think we're in the middle right now where people are trying to be rational about it.
Dean: Yeah, crazy.
Kevin: Yeah.
Dean: So, if there's no Corona on the conference line. This podcast is Corona-free, guaranteed. Can't get in through their ear holes so we're going to be fine.
Kevin: Beautiful.
Dean: I'm very excited to hear what you're up to and what we can focus on. So, tell me the story.
Kevin: Okay. I am a personal trainer for the last 25, 26 years. I just keep saying 25 but it keeps getting older. And I have done a lot of work in. most of my work has been done in Manhattan. Recently, I opened a fitness studio in New Jersey. So about 15 years ago I opened a kids' gymnastics place in New Jersey, met my wife, moved to New Jersey. We have three kids. She had three kids from a prior marriage and we have been raising them here. From that kids' gym we tested out the idea of a physical therapy office in one of the small rooms. That was super successful so we grew it outside of that business. Separate it, closed the kids' gym, and then after four years I took a buy-out from my partner and we decided to purchase this Pilates and workout studio.
Dean: Oh, wow.
Kevin: Yeah, with the idea that we have to pretty much double what they were doing to make it work for our lives. So, that's what we're working on right now. That was about six months ago.
Dean: Okay, and so how's it going so far?
Kevin: So far we have pushed the needle and started to move in the right direction. I would say we've gone from, they were doing a $6,500 a month business and we've gone to just over $10,000 a month in that six months. But we need to go another, looking at another $4,000 a month. So the numbers aren't huge, but they're vital right now because we're on a time constraint.
Dean: Sure. What's the model? What kind of programs do you offer? How does that work?
Kevin: So the way it works is we have a 25 X 25 square foot area for physical activity. And within that area we use different equipment that can be moved on and off the workout area. Pilates is our main business so going through the numbers it accounts for 55% of all of our visits, but 67% of all of our income. And those classes run at 75% full rate, so that's, I love those numbers. Then we do a bootcamp-like class that everybody else on the planet does. So we have 33% of our income comes from that, but they only run at about 50% capacity. There's room to grow those, but at the same time they're not as profitable as the Pilates classes.
Dean: Right, got you. And do people do both? Do some people come and do...
Kevin: Yes.
Dean: Okay.
Kevin: Yeah, a good amount do both.
Dean: So it is a transition that they come in for a boot camp and then they end up doing Pilates?
Kevin: Yes, and it can go both ways as well because people come in for Pilates also want some cardiovascular work. And part of our classes is a rowing component.
Dean: Okay. All right. What are the packages that you're selling? How is it people can join in? Is it a monthly or per class, or how do you do it?
Kevin: We offer the monthly rates at a discount so if you want to sign up for a monthly rate of one class a month you'll pay $78. You want to do twice you'll pay a little less per class. And we do an unlimited package which is $200 a month so you could do different classes. Now the boot camps, just to be clear, we have different teachers for them so people have different styles and different personalities which is great. But we have a stretch class that's been pretty successful that gets a good turnout. We have these 30 minute classes that fill up and then they're empty and fill up and then they're empty because they're only at noon so they're only a lunch class.
I'm not sure if that's something that will work and just needs to be in different time slots or if it's something that people just don't want that 30 minute express class. It's tricky because people really like it when they do it, but would they come back for it at a different time. Or once you get started do you want to go deep, get sweaty, do everything.
Dean: Right. Do you do any evening things?
Kevin: So 7:00 p.m. is our latest class so we do do that, but they're not really packed because I believe that the commuters aren't quite back from Manhattan yet and that the people who are here can work out in the earlier classes.
Dean: Yes. I wonder. It's an interesting thing where you think about the stretching class. Might be an interesting thing to experiment with a sleep prep class or something that was even later.
Kevin: Yes, because a lot of people want to take a nap after class.
Dean: So I wonder if that would be an interesting thing to try a 9:00 p.m. sleep stretching class, Something to wind down and then people go home to bed.
Kevin: That's not a bad idea.
Dean: It'd be an interesting thing to test on an event anyway or something just to see if that's the big, if it could be a bit draw. And, of course, the time zones in boot camps and just in fitness in general you're going to find that different time zones you're just reaching a different demographic. People who work and are probably local workers are the early morning classes that they want to get in and get done before class. What time do you start?
Kevin: A lot of our classes are, well the model was built around the stay-at-home moms so a lot of our classes start after drop off. So usually like an 8:00 a.m, 8:15 a.m. for the older, people who have kids in high school, and a 9:00 a.m. time for the younger kids. But our 10:10 a.m. class is our most consistently full class.
Dean: Which one?
Kevin: Our 10:10 a.m. class which seems like a terrible time. We started a 5:15 p.m. class that my wife teaches for commuters and it seems to have some excitement around it. We'll see how it goes. It's only three weeks old but so far it's looking good.
Dean: What is the appeal, the reason that people are coming to do the class? Is it a particular demographic? I think I read you were talking about boomers particularly.
Kevin: Boomers is what I want to reach out to.
Dean: Okay.
Kevin: In New York a lot of my clients are boomers who are, have you ever heard the commercial not your mom's jeans?
Dean: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, so it's sort of like these boomers are not the people you think they are and these classes that are designed for boomers are like okay, sit down, bend one knee and touch your toe. Don't fall. Let's get an assistant. And these people are traveling to Alaska. They're still skiing. I have one person that does a lot of those back roads trips. They go traveling around on those long cycling trips. So the idea is that I want to prepare them for that kind of activity and that kind of lifestyle. With some of my clients who are in their 70s I will do Thailand flood training where they take those little half foam rollers that are in the gyms. Not the full foam ones but the half and they have to walk across two or three of them depending on their balance because when you're traveling to these exotic places you don't always have the best stuff to walk on.
Dean: Yeah, right.
Kevin: We do a lot of that balance training and balance training with a little bit of a fear factor so that you get their focus and they build a little bit of confidence. Things like that like rope training where they build their hand strength.
Dean: What's the broken ankle ratio?
Kevin: So far zero but I have been making a very strong plea to god that we keep it there so he's been good so far.
Dean: Right, exactly. Yeah.
Kevin: There are stumbles but obviously not everyone gets to do that. You have to pass a couple of other things first.
Dean: I got you. Final -.
Kevin: Yes. I've got to get that on the waiver thing. My wife keeps pushing me on that. I wanted to reach out to the people who are already signing up for bicycle trips and trips to Alaska and trips to Thailand and treks that they're going to take. That's the boomer aspect of it.
Dean: Okay.
Kevin: The conversation I have with my wife who is my partner in all of this is that our current market is the stay at home moms that are already coming and their interest is in their kids who are the ones that are in the basement playing a lot of video games or the ones that feel socially excluded. So trying to give them an activity where they get some sense of success and get stronger and can start to feel their own power because so many people, especially the girls in this area, judge their body or think about their body as how it looks and we're trying to shift that to thinking about your body about what it can do. Keep moving in that direction.
Dean: Yeah. So that's another target market you're talking about now.
Kevin: Right. My idea for the boomers are the people that I've dealt with in Manhattan for a long time and my wife's actually very good point is these are the people that already are here and reaching out to us. Should we just take this target market first.
Dean: Okay, I got it. I think we can... Let's explore it. Let's think it through right now. And so I always like to start with the fact of what we've got here. Where in New Jersey are you? How far from the city are you? Like what town in New Jersey?
Kevin: We're in Glen Rock which is about I would say it takes me 20 miles to get to my clients on the Upper West Side so we're about 15 miles from the bridge let's say.
Dean: Okay. What county is that?
Kevin: That's Bergen County.
Dean: Okay, that's what I thought. I've got good friends that live in Park Ridge.
Kevin: Oh, nice. That's not far.
Dean: So I'm familiar with... Of all the time I've spent in New Jersey it's primarily been in Bergen County at Kinchley's specifically.
Kevin: Most of our celebrations occur in Kinchley's so I hear you.
Dean: Okay, so that's perfect. You're setting up the, that's a good target audience for you. Excuse me. Okay, so if we look at it right now in Glen Rock if we were to draw a radius around your studio how far spread out are the people who are your best clients right now? The ones that you're getting $10,000 a month of revenue as recurring, right.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: Are they mostly the people who are paying $200 a month?
Kevin: Not the unlimited class for that. Mostly it's the people paying for the Pilates packages which are roughly $249 a month. That's the most popular one. So the primary group is coming from I would say within a three mile radius max. So 80% of that money is from a three mile radius or less.
Dean: And it's not that there's not... We're not talking about that there's an affordability issue in that three mile radius. I don't think you could swing any three miles in Bergen County you're not going to run out of people that can afford $249 a month.
Kevin: Correct.
Dean: So, that's not a problem. Part of the thing that I was looking at was rather than trying to retrofit what you're doing in Manhattan into Bergen there is dealing with what the reality is there. How many of these... What would be the makeup of the existing clients that you have? How many do you have by the way if we just take 250.
Kevin: Oh, gosh.
Dean: How many people are paying you each month right now?
Kevin: Of all the questions I looked up I didn't look up that one.
Dean: Okay.
Kevin: I would say oh, crap. We are just at right around 50. I think we are right around 40, so it's got to be right around 50 because some people have the smaller package.
Dean: Yeah, so what I look at is that it's kind of like the model that you're describing and you're experimenting and you're going like this is almost like playing Battleship. You sunk my battleship. How about Pilates at noon? Let's try that and see if anything's there or let's try stretching at this. So it's not a fixed schedule.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: Whereas, we think that you might have... The things that are bringing in the revenue right now I suspect are the things that are sort of fixed into the routine of it.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: If you're saying the 9:00 a.m. or 8:00 a.m., walk me through a day now.
Kevin: So 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. morning, 8:15 a.m. we had two out of the five are former people. Two out of the five are former -. This is the Friday at 8:15 a.m. And that's usually like two to three. That never gets really full. And then the next one the 9:30 a.m. again is a class that doesn't attract a lot of people on Friday so that's usually two to four people as well, but that's the bootcamp like class. And then we'll switch back to the noon class and we'll probably get three out of the four spots filled in the noon class. And then the rest of Friday we don't have any more classes. We do some private training, but today we won't have any private training.
Dean: Okay. When I look at this if we were to say let's pencil out the ideal schedule 30 days from now what would that look like and what's our inventory because you have a space constraint, right.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: It's like a hotel in that you've got a certain available number of slots and you had said that most of them are running at about 75% full or maybe 50% full.
Kevin: Right, of the different classes. I basically have 20 spots in Pilates available every week that aren't getting filled and I've got 30 spots, well we just changed the numbers because we're going to limit our classes to keep more distance between people right now so we have 20 available spots right now for the bootcamp like classes. So those are unfilled spots.
Dean: Okay. And those are 20 each day?
Kevin: No, 20 a week.
Dean: Okay, so you've got four, but the number of people... How often is it that people are coming in ?
Kevin: I would say the average person comes in twice a week.
Dean: Okay. All right. So you've got 20 available slots which means we need basically 10 people.
Kevin: Correct.
Dean: Ten clients for that is about right.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: Okay. So part of it is the 8:15 a.m. is the one that's the hardest to fill you said.
Kevin: Yeah.
Dean: Are you looking at any other inventory times?
Kevin: So we think of adding more classes at different times.
Dean: Yes.
Kevin: We are. We're thinking of adding a 3:00 p.m. on the weekends. Normally the morning classes are full on the weekends but we know that 3:00 p.m. there's sort of a resurgence of people who have gone to all of their kids sporting events that now have some free time. Yes, so we're thinking of adding something more in the afternoon there. And we are thinking of adding an 8:00 p.m. class but since we normally go to bed at 9:00 p.m. we just need someone to teach it.
Dean: I got you. Isn't that interesting. You say you go to bed at 9:00 p.m. What time do you get up?
Kevin: I get up between 4:15 a.m. and 5:15 a.m. roughly. It depends on the day.
Dean: Isn't that funny. Joe Polish and I were talking about our friend Robin Sharma wrote a book called The 5 AM Club and I was having dinner with Robin in Toronto this summer and I suggested I think that people would be, that are off joining the nine hour club initially to get caught up on all the sleep that they're deprived from.
Kevin: Yes.
Dean: Try sleeping for nine hours a night. But then Joe and I started into the 9:00 p.m. club. That's the real secret to getting up at 5:00 a.m. is being in the 9:00 p.m. club that you're in bed at 9:00 p.m.
Kevin: Yeah, you are 100% right.
Dean: So that you get eight hours of sleep that way if you're up at 5:00 a.m.
Kevin: Nobody has trouble getting up with their alarm. They have trouble going to bed on time. That's the problem.
Dean: Exactly.
Kevin: And you're 100% right and you also have one other thing that you say all the time that I love and I tell people which is that no matter how much these nutrition gurus disagree, nobody disagrees that you should eat a lot of vegetables.
Dean: That's right.
Kevin: I have stolen that line from you and shared it around a lot. Just so you know your words are getting out there.
Dean: Oh, that's so funny. I love that. That's great.
Kevin: It's perfect.
Dean: Okay, so let me tell you one thing about what you're saying is that people who start to exercise... The reason why New Year's resolutions don't work is that people start to add exercise to their day usually in the morning in the new year but they make a one hour adjustment in their sleep so they can get up one hour early, but they never make an adjustment in sleep so that they can recover from the extra exercise.
Kevin: I get it.
Dean: So you need an hour-and-a-half so you're running at a deficit and you get a little bit weaker every workout instead of a little bit stronger and that's why everyone burns out so quickly.
Kevin: Yeah.
Dean: That's one of the raise your hand articles I want to write. Get people to raise their hands. I think that would be a really great article because there's a million articles about how to get up earlier, but nobody's taken it from the perspective of seven ways to go to bed earlier.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: Compacting the things that happen at the end of the day so that you they can make it easier for people to go... I found that if we start doing things like all the shows that we want to watch if we're watching things on TV start at 10:00 p.m. usually.
Kevin: Right, yes. And then you're all the way to 11:00 p.m.
Dean: But what we found is DVR the show and then watching it at 8:00 p.m. the next night instead of watching it at 10:00 p.m. at night.
Kevin: Yes.
Dean: The night that it comes on. There's something about that there. But let's get to the reality of the situation here. In that three mile radius what we're talking about is that we just need to get you... I coined a phrase the other day it's three mile famous.
Kevin: Oh, nice.
Dean: Where everybody within that three miles knows that you're there and knows what they could be doing. And so when you start thinking about it it wouldn't take long to just almost like a reality show kind of thing. Where if you start going live just in your Facebook think after you've built an audience process, I just think this is built for Facebook. This is one of the things that Facebook advertising is uniquely suited for is that you can pick an audience of what is the age range of the... What you're looking for is 10 more or 20 more people, right.
Kevin: Yeah.
Dean: I would say 40 to 60 is currently... Well actually some of the younger moms so 325 to the 60 crowd.
Kevin: Okay, perfect.
Dean: So when you start thinking about the 35 to 60 crowd that they are within three miles of your studio that if they knew, if every one of them knew that you were available that would make a difference right there.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: It might be that you just start with inviting somebody to come for a free class.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: Because part of the thing that I get people to really see for what it is is the value of starting the relationship with something free.
Kevin: Yeah.
Dean: The way I look at it and you probably heard me say that this is just the reality that it's often easier to get somebody a result than it is to convince them to give you money to get the result.
Kevin: Yes, I was thinking about that all last night trying to figure it out. I didn't come up with anything good but I'm definitely working on that process.
Dean: But a free class. All we want is for somebody like you're looking right now. How many of these 35 to 60 year old ladies are in that three mile radius right now?
Kevin: Oh my gosh.
Dean: What would you guess?
Kevin: I'm going to guess we're in the 10,000 area.
Dean: Okay, so let's say that there's 10,000 of these ladies in this area and how many of them would you guess know that you exist?
Kevin: Oh, I'm going to go with about 40.
Dean: Probably. Well you know for sure that 40 of them know you exist.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: And so you look at that and I'm saying that if they knew that you're an option that would be a great thing.
Kevin: Awareness, yeah.
Dean: If you were to just show a video, do videos that have some energy and are live and authenticity, not like staged TV commercial produced videos. I'm talking about authentic real live at... What's the name of your studio.
Kevin: Beyond Fitness.
Dean: Beyond Fitness.
Kevin: Yes.
Dean: And what's your wife's name?
Kevin: Deirdre.
Dean: Deirdre. So between the two of you they know that you are, here you are. If you were to go to Whole Foods right around there, the closest Whole Foods to your place it's packed with your audience.
Kevin: Yeah, it is.
Dean: And so there's plenty of them. There's plenty of those people there, right.
Kevin: Yeah, they're here.
Dean: Yeah, so I think that, right now the asset that you have is the excess capacity.
Kevin: Yes.
Dean: Every class that goes by with nobody in it is a...
Kevin: Lost opportunity.
Dean: It really is. I've learned a lot by working with a lot of different industries and one of the things that I've learned from being exposed to the hotel, hospitality industry is this concept of a number that they used to drive everything called REVPAR which is revenue per available room. And that's why hotels always have dynamic pricing. When the demand is high they can raise the prices. When demand is low they can lower the prices to compete in the landscape of what's going on. When we look at it you've we've got plenty of available spots right now that you have that you are losing out if they're not filled.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: The value of that is how much?
Kevin: This morning the three empty reformers cost us $90.
Dean: Okay. And that's an interesting thing. How much do you charge if people come... Can they come for one class.
Kevin: For one class they're going to pay $40. For a 10 pack they're going to pay $35, but they can pay as low as $31 if they buy the bigger monthly packages.
Dean: Got you. There you go. So is that what most people do?
Kevin: Most people buy the $32-$33 option.
Dean: Okay, so there you go. When you've got those slots there that's the kind of what they're really worth. Because probably hardly anybody buys the $40 one off.
Kevin: No one does. They do a free trial and then they just don't come back if they were going to buy the one off.
Dean: Right. Got you. So part of it is to create an experience that people get to see okay, this is the place for me. These are the kind of people that I like. This is a good experience. This is what I'm looking for. I'm going to continue to come here.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: And so I think that might be a great thing that even if you were to give somebody, even if you do it as a $50 gift card as opposed to a free class.
Kevin: Right. Because then you can apply it to something.
Dean: Yes, that's exactly right. So there's a little left over.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: With $50 you can take this one class but you've got $10 left over or you could take two and get two for $20 because they're $35 or whatever.
Kevin: Once you've opened your wallet than the idea of paying for it has changed. It's shifted for you emotionally.
Dean: That's exactly right.
Kevin: I love that idea actually.
Dean: Right. And so that becomes now a way that you can build a list of your audience really of people who are paying attention to you on Facebook. If you did a video like that and then you were to create an audience of people who watched 75% of your video and then show continued more videos just to that audience you're building a more receptive kind of group.
Kevin: Yeah, actually in the physical therapy business we had a big breakthrough when we started to put the main therapist on Facebook Live, not live but recorded so that people become less fearful of the experience.
Dean: Right, there's the thing. It's like you're going live from the class. You're saying hey, this is Kevin. We're over here at Beyond Fitness and every morning at 10:00 a.m. we meet right here and this is what we do and show a little bit of the thing. We'd love for you to join us. Here you can download a $50 gift card and come by whenever you'd like. Just a short real authentic video like that.
Kevin: Yes. Those words you just said are going to be part of this recording, right so that I don't have to copy them down.
Dean: Right, right.
Kevin: That sounded terrific.
Dean: You also said something, I'm pretty sure but I can't remember when you said it which was about crossing the threshold and I know that people in the exercise world if they just cross the threshold and get into the gym over and over again.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: It doesn't matter what they do when they get there. Just keep getting there. Even like I will be successful if I can get people to cross the threshold because once they're in we'll find our people. I just want, so I just need to create an ad or a video that explains who we are ahead of time so we can filter out the people who want the really hard core sledgehammer slammer gym experience.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: And that the thing you could do with that kind of series of like you get a chance to overcome or answer the most common questions that people ask or overcome the most common hesitations that people have. It's really your chance to give people all of these things.
Kevin: Yes.
Dean: It's flexible packages where you're not tied into a contract.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: You've got complete control. You can come whatever. What is it that people are worried about.
Kevin: Right. It's funny we had another big breakthrough in the physical therapy world when I got the therapist to understand. I've personally had both my hips replaced.
Dean: Wow.
Kevin: At 44 so I've had them for about 10 years, but when I got my hip replaced and I went to the physical therapist my physical therapist was interested in me getting better and I was interested in him not hurting me.
Dean: Ah, right.
Kevin: Once we got on the same page and I had the trust to work with him everything shifted. And the same thing happened with our patients. Once the therapist understood their greatest concern is not getting healthier, it's not getting worse than they were able to have a better conversation. I cannot exactly find the right words for the conversation on this level on the personal training side, but I know that fear is out there and I'm trying to find a way to communicate the difference.
Dean: Well it might be right there under your nose with your existing transformations. I mean people who are with you and staying. What is it that they're getting out of it? What's their transformation? And so you get the opportunity to create what we call contentamonials where you can address an issue in the form of an education with the assist of a real person who had that issue that you applied your approach to that now no longer has an issue.
Kevin: Got it.
Dean: What is it that people... what are the things that people express to you why they're... If you were to ask them on intake why now and why us. Those two questions are going to open up things like what's driving them that now is the time to do something.
Kevin: Right. And what was it about us that you decided to stay here.
Dean: Yeah, what do they say?
Kevin: It's interesting. Most recently the last couple of people have said that I heard you don't kill people. That you're not trying to just push so hard. These are tentative people who don't have a safe place to go.
Dean: Right, that's it. They're not looking to be the... And maybe that's the thing. It's like is there the difference. And I don't know but you look at the avatars of these ladies.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: So you imagine the straight out of central casting. I'm just imagining Bergen County, the Range Rover with the lululemon and the, like you've had the athletic wear, Whole Foods. But they're really serious that these people at one part. But then there's probably another part that's maybe who they think is going to be there, but that's not who they want to be around. Maybe they're intimidated by those people.
Kevin: Yeah.
Dean: If you lean into it what do the people who are already there and comfortable look like and what are they, who is that.
Kevin: Right, right. Yes, I do think that the group that comes because we're small and intimate and they're not going to be intimidated.
Dean: Yes. I think that's important that if people, they see that but you get to do it just by the images and the things that you show them without actually having to overtly say it. It's so much better if they observe it.
Kevin: Yeah. If they extract that message indirectly it's more powerful.
Dean: Yes.
Kevin: Okay, that makes a lot of sense too. Using the images to express those bounds of who we are.
Dean: The video is just like that looks like me. Oh, I would fit right in there. That's psychologically. They're not going to overtly say that but they're thinking. It's interesting because when you're actually talking to somebody's intellect or when we're talking to them it's really that... I've been using this term of sock puppets that really who we are talking to most of the time is somebody's sock puppet representative. But the real person who makes the decisions is hiding behind the sock puppet.
Kevin: Right, that is so true.
Dean: Right. And so we want to have the sock puppet say the right things addressing their sock puppet, but the real message is for the brain behind it. That's who makes all the decisions.
Kevin: Yes. And I am a big believer that everybody's body is a representation of some emotional underlying. Even people who are ripped. Some people who are so ripped are just self-flagellating constantly. They're just punishing themselves instead of loving themselves.
Dean: Right.
Kevin: So there's the dynamic of are you getting what you want physically.
Dean: Yes, we're doing some deep work here. Body building and physically building up your muscles is the male equivalent of the stripper pole or something.
Kevin: Well I have a friend who's a bodybuilder so I'm not going to put anything down on paper.
Dean: Somebody needed some hugs, right.
Kevin:Yeah.
Dean: But at the same time you're chasing an emotional rabbit often. I have a big demographic that I struggle with which are the sweat addicts. If I'm not sweating my ass off I do not have a good workout.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: The challenge with that is that my ex mentor was a coach for a professional team and his unique way of approaching developing professional athletes was longevity first, quality of life after sport. Second was performance at the end of the season when it counted during the playoffs during the finals, not at the beginning of the season and not in the training room but on the field.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: And then the, did I lose the third. I lost it but his focus was injury prevention, stay on the field, keep playing. And what you can't do you have about a 10% to 15% capacity to do high, high intensity work. The rest of the work has to be the foundational stuff to prepare you for the high intensity stuff without injury. So there's this big open area which people really struggle with preparing to be great at what makes them feel so good.
Kevin: Yeah.
Dean: They just want to feel so good. So it sounds like you've really got some principles around what you're trying to accomplish here whether you're overtly expressing those or they're definitely affecting the way that you operate.
Kevin: Yes.
Dean: I think it might be a valuable thing for you to outline those in a way. To almost create your manifesto. Like why is Beyond Fitness there? Why are you in existence and what does that mean? When you're saying to people this is what we believe, this is our philosophy, our approach.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: You just described what the coach told you. What would those be for you. Do you have those written out or articulated?
Kevin: I don't. I think that one of the challenges with my 25 years of personal training is that I am constantly adjusting the workout to the current physical shape of the person because it varies day to day. I have a basic outline of where I want them to go and oftentimes it's what activity I want them to be good at. So when just being in the gym is the activity that you're doing that's where people need that sweat and that death burn where they feel like they've accomplished something. But oftentimes when they have an activity that they're moving onto you need the control of the joint, the length around the joint and the stability to be able to do the next thing. So I do think that I could put that down in words, but when we work in the group I think that we have to shoot for the middle which you do in any sort of teaching environment.
Some people it's going to be perfect for them, some it's going to be a little bit too easy, some it's going to be a little too hard. What I do is I give my people in class the right to stop anytime they need to and to make adjustments based on what their body is telling them. Not just strictly keep going, keep pushing through the pain because some pain is just not appropriate. And when they stop we'll have a discussion. Was that just discomfort or was that a challenge that we need to address.
Dean: Right.
Kevin: So we go back and forth with that. But I do think that there's value in writing that down.
Dean: I think there's value in to find the avatars that that would be equivalent for. There's not 10,000 unique stories going on in there of the 10,000 women. There's some number of them are the Range Rover, lululemon, size 0, no body fat working at yoga, doing all the things fitness center, active lifestyle ladies. There's a bunch of those in Bergen County. You can visualize them right now.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: But there's also probably a big number of them that are Sally who was working in the city in the accounting department or the technology department of a company and ended up coming back and having kids and she gained 30, 40, 50 pounds while on that phase the kids are going back to school now and she wants to get her life back on track.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: There's a lot of those too, right?
Kevin: There are, yeah.
Dean: Then you start to think about some other avatar like as you get to the other end of that scale, the ones that are 50-60 years old that there's a different set of those.
Kevin: Yeah. There's a different need or a different awareness of what pain can do to you. So, as they're getting older they're realizing avoiding this pain is a huge asset.
Dean: Yeah. I think that's the thing that they're starting to get to that level. I think that there's probably a big distinction that you could probably put 55 as a gateway. That 35 to 55 year old woman is different then the 35 to 50 and 50 to 70 would be two different things.
Kevin: Yeah. So I can make videos appropriate for those age groups.
Dean: That's my point.
Kevin: And market them differently.
Dean: Yes.
Kevin: All right, quick question. Is there a good tutorial somewhere on how to create this Facebook app presentation or do I need a professional to help me?
Dean: I think you don't want a professional. I don't think you want it to be overproduced. You want it to be...
Kevin: No, just to target the videos, not so much to create them. I can create the message I think but to just have someone... Do I need someone to guide the ad distribution or do you think that the Facebook has enough tutorials that I can figure it out myself?
Dean: You can, I mean have you got a budget for it? Can you hire someone or are you...
Kevin: I've reached out to a few people and no one will give me a price on how to get another 25 customers. Because I'm way too small.
Dean: Right. Got you. Part of the thing and it's not difficult to create the ads yourself. If you go to YouTube right now and just type in how to do this or even on Facebook. Their training library is all there to show you how to do it. But the simplest things, what you're looking for is the way to target this specific audience in the three miles right around your thing. Ladies 35 to 50. And think about that person because it sounds like you probably lean more towards ones who may be getting back into fitness or want to turn things around rather than the ones who are already super fit lifestyle.
Kevin: I would agree with that. I have a lot of compassion for the beginner.
Dean: Yeah, right. I think that's really the thing and speak only to those people. Do that and that will make a big difference for you.
Kevin: That sounds good.
Dean: All you need to do is offer them a $50 gift card which they can download. This is part of the thing is that rather than $50 off when you buy before Sunday, you can generate a lead of somebody who's interested in something.
Kevin: Yeah.
Dean: Even if they're not going to come right now, but you've got a great audience.
Kevin: But they raise their hand.
Dean: Yeah.
Kevin: I think that's a simpler way to raising a hand rather than... I came up with a couple of ideas of how could I get someone to click on a pdf just to raise their hand so things I learned from working alongside physical therapists for fours years. That changed my training.
Dean: Yeah.
Kevin: I think yours is a little bit simpler.
Dean: Yeah, that's what we want to do is simple and all about them. More cheese, less whiskers.
Kevin: Right, right. Oh, about them. Really.
Dean: What's the cheese for them.
Kevin: I'm going to write that in big words.
Dean: Yeah. More cheese and that's the thing. It's not about you, it's about them and I think that's a big thing. I think if you look at... If we just take that woman and we'll call her Nancy. What is Nancy's situation right now. How many kids are starting into school every year in Bergen County. She was at home with the kids and now they're going to preschool or they're going to pre-K or kindergarten or whatever.
Kevin: Right. So there's a group that are getting a half day school. Now the new group is getting full day school and a new group is getting an earlier start so they can start the day earlier so there's three levels as they go up the chain in school.
Dean: Yeah. There's out of all of the 10,000 there's hundreds of those women, right?
Kevin: Right.
Dean: That's where we start thinking about that. You've got to know who is your audience and who isn't your audience.
Kevin: I heard you mention that if you can say if someone liked this school or someone liked this page you can use that as a way of narrowing your reach.
Dean: Absolutely you can. Was there anything in Bergen County that would indicate that they are a client or a potential client of yours.
Kevin: Yes, there's a very well marketed Pilates studio that is a chain that people speak derogatory of because it's a chain. But their marketing is great. They have a good following so if someone liked their page would that be someone you could target?
Dean: Of course.
Kevin: Okay, perfect.
Dean: Yes, yes.
Kevin: Okay, beautiful. And then I was thinking maybe if they like some of the grammar school pages around here that might be another group.
Dean: That's right. If they've got that then their mom is there. And I think one of the things you can target is presence of kids.
Kevin: Right.
Dean: There's a whole library of options that you have when you've got that audience in mind.
Kevin: That's brilliant. All right, that sounds like a perfect place to begin.
Dean: Yeah. I'm excited. I mean it seems like something you could do very quickly and then keep me posted on that because I'd love to see how that plays out. The whole thing is we just need to get you and Beyond Fitness three mile famous.
Kevin: Three mile famous. I love that. And as soon as we become three mile famous and this works I'm going to be visiting you for your building your 8-Profit Activator weekends.
Dean: That's awesome.
Kevin: I am dying to be part of that.
Dean: That would be awesome. Did I tell you we just had the, we were having one in two weeks in Orlando and then President Trump just put a travel ban on people coming in from Europe and I had people coming from Canada and from Europe and so we had three people who were not able to make it.
Kevin: Wow.
Dean: So I'm doing a virtual boardroom. I think it's going to actually work out as being a really cool new way of doing it. Doing a virtual boardroom where we do the same things, but people get to stay home.
Kevin: Yeah.
Dean: It's kind of a fun thing.
Kevin: So being just crazy I think that if you had a client that you were working on for their fitness industry and you went deep with them at this event and then you had the content of all that recorded on how you explored and expanded just the thought process, if you sold that as a video package or something. In my buildup that would be something I would buy in five minutes.
Dean: Absolutely. There you go. Perfect.
Kevin: I like that but I'd rather be the guy who's there with you. So we're working on that first.
Dean: Awesome. Let's get your video out and let's see what happens.
Kevin: Yes, and just to say thank you from the world at large for what you put out in the universe. It's unbelievably valuable and so many people have been affected by it. I'm really grateful that you do this.
Dean: Awesome. Thanks so much, Kevin.
Kevin: Take care. Thank you, Dean.
Dean: I'll talk to you soon.
Kevin: Bye.
Dean: There we have it. Another great episode. Thanks for listening in. If you want to continue the conversation, you want to go deeper into how the 8-Profit Activators can apply to your business, two things you can do. Right now you can go to MoreCheeseLessWhiskers.com and you can download a copy of the More Cheese, Less Whiskers book and you can listen to the back episodes of course if you're just listening here on iTunes.
Secondly, the thing that we talk about in applying all of the 8-Profit Activators are part of the breakthrough DNA process. And you can download a book and a scorecard and watch a video all about the 8-Profit Activators at BreakthroughDNA.com. And that's a great place to start the journey in applying this scientific approach to growing your business. That's really the way we think about breakthrough DNA as an operating system that you can overlay on your existing business and immediately look for insights there. So that's it for this week. Have great week and we will be back next time with another episode of More Cheese, Less Whiskers.