Biray Alsac
http://fittmaxxinstitute.com
http://befitwithbiray.com

I recently reconnected with a fitness colleague who, after the birth of her son, left teaching to focus on being a full-time mom.  She was an excellent instructor and most of the members were sad to see her ‘retire’. Last week she emailed me to see if I’d be interested in subbing a class for her. “I didn’t know you were teaching again” I said, surprised. She explained how she had missed teaching aerobics, but found that picking up classes at a club was no longer financially lucrative (i.e. childcare costs, drive time, gas prices, class flexibility, etc). So she began piloting fitness classes out of her garage, and wanted me to be the week’s guest instructor.

On my way home from ‘subbing’ her class, I started thinking about the advantages and limitations of teaching group exercise classes from the home. What would it take to launch your very own group exercise department? Unlike in-home personal training, where the focus is more on one-one training and individual program design, the primary appeal of group fitness is its social dynamics, community structure and format variety. Could this be replicated in the home? And be a reasonable alternative to ‘picking up more classes’?

ADVANTAGES

1)      Targeting a Different Audience: Offering classes from your home (on the driveway or backyard) can attract a demographic unlike those who regularly attend your classes. Individuals who may be intimidated or hesitant to working out at a gym might find these ‘neighborhood’ classes a worthwhile alternative. TIP: Think of ways you can create a welcoming environment by offering something different from the health-club experience.

2)      Reinforcing Community, Not Class Content:  Exercise adherence isn’t usually a problem for our gym go-ers (if it were, they wouldn’t be called ‘regulars’). Instructors are often pressured to pepper our classes with trendy music and innovative choreography to keep our members ‘happy’. However, the goals of an at-home class are more about encouraging new habits, and less about creating complicated content. Keeping at-home participants ‘happy’ means simple class designs and more opportunities to reinforce their commitment. TIP: Focus on building a supportive community among your members via email or through a class blog.

3)      Cost effective alternative: Besides saving drive time and gas money, your participants might find this to be a better alternative to the exorbitant membership fees at a local club. What you charge, is really up to you. But keep it comparable to what you get paid per class. TIP: If you make $20-30 per class, charge around $5 per person and focus on getting 5-7 members to your house.

LIMITATIONS:

1)      Equipment: Most of us may not have the money to buy a bunch of Reebok steps, Resist-a-Balls, stretching mats and various weights. This can be a limitation, but it can also be an advantage. Sometimes you can create the best workouts with zero (or minimal) equipment. Other times, they are effective training tools to creating variety in a workout. TIP: One way around this limitation is by having your participants bring their own equipment.

2)      Legal Considerations: At a fitness facility, instructors have some legal protection through their employers in the event of an emergency*. If you are teaching from home, it is important to have written consent signed by your participants in case something happens during your class. TIP: Purchase liability insurance for your professional services. Check out providers through IDEA or ACE/Fitness Pak.

3)      Limited Amenities: Unless you have a big house with extra space, you may be limited by your surroundings. Often times, the comforts of the gym (wooden spring floor, restrooms, wall mirrors, state of the art stereo system) are not conveniently available at a home. TIP: Use the driveway or a local park for extra space.

Could this be a stepping stone to developing a small group personal training business or to programming outside the traditional group exercise room? Sure! There are plenty of crossovers into these areas. But this post was primarily about inspiring group exercise instructors to take advantage of their strengths and extend their services into other spaces. Think of it as guerilla group exercise, quality programming on the streets!

Who knows, eventually your efforts may turn your newbies into your regulars.

*Check your employment contract or consult a lawyer for your legal rights.

Free Song Downloads
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Downloads.com – From the best site on the internet to download free software and shareware, now a pretty extensive collection of free music!

Amazon.com – Subscribe to Amazon’s newsletter to be notified of free downloads, or peruse their home page for the freebies.  To find them, navigate to the “Special Deals” section and scroll down for the goodies that cost $0.00

Six Degrees Records - Six Degrees Records puts out some really groovy world beats that I love adding to my Spin mixes.  They give a free song from their newly released albums.  I recommend signing up for the newletter to be notified when new freebies are available.  Reading their homepage will take you to what is currently available.

MB Mixed Tape - Mercedes Benz recently reinstated their program of putting out free mixed tape downloads.  You can also access mixed tapes 1-18 at Retro’s Weblog (warning – that’s a 1.5 GB download!).

Artist Direct - Artist Direct has a pretty cool collection of music and a slick website.  Try their “Free Stuff” for something that rocks.

Cadence Revolution – You can still get an entire Spinning Playlist of Indie Music that your class will enjoy from the cool kids over at Cadence Revolution.   I love that they have added commentary for each list.

Free streams
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Musicovery – The coolest thing I have ever seen.  You pick the mood, the genre, the era, and it plays the songs.  So freaking brilliant I can’t say enough good things.  You sign up for usage, but it is free, and allows you to customize.  It learns your favorites and gets smarter about helping you find songs you will love.  Did I mention this thing is COOL?  It is fun to play with as well.

Radio David Byrne -David Byrne is an experienced musician who co-founded the Talking Heads.  He puts out a new playlist every week or so that can be a cool way to add some unusual and certainly not mainstream tunes to your collection.  He is insightful and covers a lot of territory.  Great for horizon-broadening.

Yahoo! Music – Yahoo bought my two favorite music programs of all time — Sonic Radio and MusicMatch Jukebox — to make one kick-ass music site.  Their radio tab, which is all free, allows you to customize your own radio station by rating the songs that they play for you.  You can share your radio station, listen to others and use some of the tools to find the tunes you are looking for.  Good stuff!

Free Music as Rewards
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These sites reward membership and participation with points that you can spend for many things, among them, music!

My Coke Rewards – Drinking Coke products and typing in the codes on your beverages earns you points that you can spend for Rhapsody Downloads.

Pepsi Stuff – Pepsi partnered with Amazon to bring your their rewards program.  I do not drink Pepsi, however, so I can’t tell you how it works, only that it is here. 

Light Speed Panel - When you become a member, and provide some information about yourself, you begin receiving invitations to complete marketing surveys.  After you successfully complete a survey, you are awarded points which can later be redeemed for gift certificates to Emusic, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, among others.

My Points - I am not kidding when I tell you I did almost 60% of my Christmas Shopping using My Points Rewards.  In other words, Christmas only cost me 40% of what I “spent.”  My Points rewards you for reading your email, taking advantage of their exclusive offers and shopping through their website.  They reward you with gift certificates to iTunes, Amazon, B&N, Walmart and so many others!

Other Great Stuff
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With the internet so close and the library so far and so quiet, it’s a safe bet you haven’t been to yours in a while.  However, packing up the kids and taking a field trip will be worth your while when you see all of the CDs and DVDs they have available for you to check out.  Our local library has more than I ever dreamed, covering nearly all genres and including fairly new releases.  They have especially good collections of world, jazz, classical, soundtracks that are well worth the look, even if just to try out some new flavors.  Warning — make sure you find your library card before you go!

Hope you find something you can use and if there are other sites we should all know about, please share them!!

First, Group Fitness Instructors rarely earn a salary.  Most often, they are paid an hourly wage or a fixed amount  per class that they teach.  How high that wage is depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to:

• Experience.  I have worked at clubs that gave you a raise every year that you taught for them or everytime you earned another certification.
• Geography.  Depending on the cost of living or minimum wage in your area, the wage might be higher or lower.  Although, interestingly enough, I get paid more in Charleston, SC than I did at any of the clubs I taught for in NYC.  Go figure.
• Club Exclusivity.  Working for the most exclusive club in your area is certain to yield higher income than the public gym, although this is not a hard and fast rule.  There are some places that want only the best, and they pay to acquire them.
• Class Attendance.  It isn’t common, but yes, you might earn a sort of “commission” based on how many attendees you have.  How much and the cutoff are completely dependent upon the health club.

I think a fair ballpark for the average GFI is somewhere between $15 and $25 per hour-long class.  It is just a guess, of course, but it is based on my experience.  Then, if you figure that you are teaching the maximum recommended number of classes per week (no more than 12 according to AFAA to stay safe), you are pulling in $180 - $300 per week before taxes or $800 – $1300 per month.  However, I don’t know too many instructors who teach more than 6 per week.

Also,  instructors often are given perks, such as free gym membership, sometimes for spouses too, and discounts on merchandise, training, or services.  Even so, many instructors (myself included) don’t teach to make money.  By the time you purchase gear, music, shoes, and continuing education, you haven’t even broken even.  In order to profit from group fitness, you have to find creative ways to charge for your services, which I blogged about last month.  Check out How to Make $100 or More Per Class.

 I hope that helps!

Operation Boot Camp

I learned about Operation Boot Camp from a friend of mine who lost 20 pounds through the program.  These instructors took exercise and weight loss out of the gym and out to the parks of Atlanta.  They have a great following and an excellent product which includes nutrition advice, early morning workouts, and motivational assistance (if you don’t show up, you get a call and extra pushups!).  I saw them featured on a CNN health segment.  You can see what they have going on at their website.

 Bella Vita Retreat

 Can you imagine being paid to take groups of men and women to tropical resorts and teach classes to them on the beach?  My friend is doing it with her new business and I can’t tell you green with envy I am that I didn’t think of that!  Her travel packages include hotel arrangements, spa-style meals, personal coaching, indoor and outdoor fitness classes and beauty treatments.  What a treat and what a money maker!

First off, let’s ask, is it really possible to make $100 per class that I teach?  Actually, yes, it is.  Just ask Billy Blanks.  He’ll laugh at you because he makes thousands per class.  Do you have to be Billy Blanks to command that kind of money?  No. Do you have to put some effort and thinking into doing it?  Yes, but it can be done, so let’s roll up our sleeves and come up with a game plan.

The first question you need to ask yourself is, “Who will pay me $100 for an hour of my time?”  There may be a gym out there willing to pay you that kind of hourly rate, but you have to be the lifeblood of their organization.  If your classes are busting at the seams and new people are coming in droves to join the club because of you then, yes.  See your boss for a raise because you deserve one.  The highest I’ve seen a club pay one single instructor, though, was $50 for one class, so if you have your sights set on bigger numbers, you’ll need to think bigger.  Note:  There are pros to remaining an emloyee of the gym, e.g. someone else does your accounting, you don’t need your own liability insurance, and it is easier to get a sub if you need to leave town or have an emergency.

Who else will pay me $100 an hour? Try thinking like a personal trainer.  If you are highly skilled and have excellent tutoring skills, you could offer private lessons in whatever you do best.  With privates, you charge whatever you want and keep the entire amount.  However, if you are using the club’s fitness room or their equipment for this endeavor, you may be charged rent or required to abide by their payment rules for personal trainers.  Still, if you market yourself right, you can command high dollars for your valuable time.  If not $100, still more than the $18 you are charging now.

 Let’s extend the idea of one-on-one instruction to the increasingly-popular, small-group “exclusive” classes.  Similar to private lessons, you market yourselves to individuals who pay to take your “class”.   These exclusives focus on a topic that isn’t readily addressed in general fitness classes.  By charging a group of five people $20 each to be in your class, you earn $100 for the hour — genius!  But what would make a person want to pay $20 for a fitness class?  Again, think a little bit like a personal trainer.  They want advice specific to a need or a want they have.  You could provide a 6 week running clinic for new runners in the early spring.  You could offer functional training workouts to prepare members for ski season.  You could hold a “Bikini Boot Camp” in the pre-summer months.  If you are an expert in a field, you could offer highly-advanced classes for the members who like what you offer and want to get better than the general levels can offer.  Or, you could offer a series of classes geared toward individuals with any special need or goal.  Have I got your mind churning yet? 

So now that you have the idea that you are potentially worth more than $20 per class, I want you also to think bigger than that.  Are you worth $200 an hour?  $2,000 an hour?  You are only limited by your beliefs about your self worth.  Steve Pavlina, who I quote a lot in this blog, had a great post a while back about this: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/11/how-to-earn-10000-in-one-hour/

 The possibilities don’t end there, but this post will.  Get out your brainstorming pen and your notebook and go to town.  I know that you have enormous potential and I am excited to hear what ideas you come up with!!!

There is a process you’ll want to follow before you march into the director’s office and demand more money. First, consider the club. Be aware in advance that if you work for a chain club, your supervisor may not have any authority at all to change your rate of pay, since those numbers are determined at the corporate level. If this troubles you, consider moving to a family- or locally-owned shop where you have a stronger voice and managers have authority to make and influence payroll decisions.

Next, consider their business model. Whether you like it or not, you work for a business that must make money in order to keep you employed. For the business to stay viable, they will need to see some proof that you are worth the extra cash before they shell it out. So how do you prove it to them? When you decide to approach your director with your request, make sure you are organized and prepared to show in no uncertain terms how valuable you are. Here are some areas to evalate that will help you determine if you really are in a position to bargain.

1. Have I been a loyal team member and employee of this club for long enough to establish that I am committed?

If you are new to a club or even if you are in the negotiating stages of your employment, they may not be ready to dish out the bucks for you. Unless your repuation proceeds you, and they know in advance that you can draw in new members, you might need to pay your dues for a while before approaching the subject.

2. Do I regularly teach my own classes, arrange for subs in advance, frequently sub for others, and take all necessary steps to get coverage in emergency situations?

Your director wants his/her job to be as easy as possible. If an instructor is regularly calling out, late for their class, or pushing the time limits of finding class coverage, then the director’s stress levels increase accordingly. Thinking about the last six months of your service to this club, answer the following:

•  Have you personally taught at least 85% of your scheduled classes?
•  Of the classes for which I needed substitutes that I knew about in advance or could have planned with advance notice, have I notified my director, gotten coverage and approval for my absence at least a week prior each and every time?
• Of the times where I needed coverage with less than a week of notice, even in emergency situations, did I make an effort to find my own substitute and lessen the burden of my absence to the club?
• Have you ever missed a class completely or not shown up even though no coverage was obtained?

 You should have answered “YES” to the first three of those and “NO” to that last question. I don’t care if you are the city’s hottest instructor and you pack your classes. If you are not professional about teaching your committed classes then you do not deserve to even be on the schedule, let alone have a raise. If you do take your job seriously, however, and are professional and responsible about covering your classes, then you are in a good position from which to make your request.

3. Do I go above and beyond the call of duty in matters of customer service? Do I assist my students in ways that extend my role as a fitness instructor? Do I perform tasks that help out the club or the members, even if they are not listed in my job duties?

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Be a team player. Offer to help out in all areas that you are able. Jump up and offer to take some of the burden off a fellow employee (your boss if possible). Help her plan the open house or volunteer to be in charge of coordinating the Saturday teaching rotation. If your new member looks lost, show her to the locker room or how to use the treadmill. Straighten up after your class and pick up the items students left behind. Be creative and don’t hold back. Just give freely of yourself. Even if you don’t end up with a monetary reward for your efforts, there is a peace that comes with helping other people.

4. The question that will be of greatest interest to your director is: Do I consistently have high attendance in my classes? Do I have a strong reputation as an excellent instructor? Do students beg for more of me? Are there any examples of exceptional work on my part that warrant an increase in pay?

It is proven that people who get involved in group fitness have a higher chance of staying members of the gym. It’s called retention and make no mistake about your role in the gym’s goal to retain as many members as possible. Grab your notebook so you can check out the sign in sheets to keep track of the numbers for a few weeks. If you regularly have more than the average number of students for your class time, you can use that as leverage in making your request. Do you have to be the highest? Not necessarily. If you can show that you attract a group of individuals that otherwise would not participate in group fitness, or that people who come to your class do not attend other classes, you might have a position. This could be any special population, men, pregnant women, kids, seniors. You still have to have good numbers, but you won’t need to be the resident superstar.

At this point, you are either confident that you can march into the director’s office and make your case for more money, or you’ve made a list of action items that need to be completed before you can make that appointment. Either way start preparing your elevator speech. If you’re still not sure how to approach your boss, stay tuned. In our next installment, we’ll discuss ways to negotiate with management to get what you want.