Art's Blog

Our Biggest Give-A-Way... Ever! by Art Rothafel

If you are into educating your clients and have a website, then, you are just going to love this free offer of our biggest give-a-way ever.  Click here....

Build New Profits... Right Now by Art Rothafel

Wow..!  Every trade publication.  Every web article.  Every blog.  Every consultant!  They're all singing the same song.  "Cut, cut, cut... expenses.  Cut staff.  Cut this.  Cut that.  Hey... please just stop. 

How about a new song like:  Add, add, add new revenue streams!

Discover how much new revenue was generated by a one-man studio....

Listen, successful businesses create and build multiple profit centers - most especially "repeat purchase" items.  Those who don't are headed in the wrong direction... especially in this economy.

• Think of a car dealership.  Sure, they make money selling cars.  But they make even more money with "aftermarket" services, repairs and products.   Multiple profit centers.

• Look at Apple. The company started with one computer.  Now they've line extended into  iPods, iPhones, iTunes, proprietary software, consulting services etc.  Multiple profit centers.
  

• Take you.  Sure you make money selling sessions/memberships.  But, much more revenue can be generated through exclusively branded products including supplements, skincare formulas, journals, reference manuals, cookbooks, apparel, educational courses, corporate wellness design, paid seminar presentations, MAP subscriptions.   You'll be amazed at how it all adds up at the end of the month!
  

Here's Quickie #2 by Art Rothafel

Here's a second quiz.  This one is on Digestion.  What do you know?  Take the test. 

 

Quickie.... by Art Rothafel

Here's a link to the first of our 12-part series of "Quickie" Fitness Quizzes.  If you e-mail me, I'll send you the flash files for your own website.  Just click here.....

Weight-Loss: The Real Secret Weapon ... by Art Rothafel

We created a handout of this article that you can download for Free and print to handout to your clients.   You can also post around your club.  

FREE DOWNLOAD - click here.

It’s not a pill.  It’s not a diet.  It’s really quite simple.  Keeping a daily exercise and nutrition journal is the true secret weapon.  That’s right.  A daily exercise and nutrition journal can double a person's weight loss according to a study from Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research.

The findings, from one of the largest and longest running weight loss maintenance trials ever conducted, was published in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

"The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost," said lead author Jack Hollis Ph.D., a researcher at Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon.  "Those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records.

“It seems that the simple act of writing down what you

eat encourages people to consume fewer calories."

After six months, the average weight loss among the nearly 1,700 participants was approximately 13 pounds. More than two-thirds of the participants (69 percent) lost at least nine pounds, enough to reduce their health risks and qualify for the second phase of the study, which lasted 30 months and tested strategies for maintaining the weight loss.

"More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. If we all lost just nine pounds, like the majority of people in this study did, our nation would see vast decreases in hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease and stroke," said study co-author Victor Stevens, Ph.D., a Kaiser Permanente researcher. For example, in an earlier study Stevens found that losing as little as five pounds can reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure by 20 percent.

The Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute's Weight Management Initiative has recommended maintaining an exercise and nutrition journal as a strategy for losing weight since 2002. The Weight Management Initiative unites clinicians, researchers, insurers, and policymakers to identify practical, effective, non-surgical approaches for the prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity.

"Every day I hear patients say they can't lose weight.  This study shows that most people can lose weight if they have the right tools and support.  And food journaling in conjunction with a weight management program or class is the ideal combination of tools and support," says Keith Bachman, MD, a Weight Management Initiative member.

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Funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health, the study is one of the few studies to recruit a large percentage of African Americans as study participants (44 percent). African Americans have a higher risk of conditions that are aggravated by being overweight, including diabetes and heart disease. In this study, the majority of African American participants lost at least nine pounds of weight, which is higher than in previous studies.

The study, coordinated by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, also was conducted at Duke University Medical Center, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and Johns Hopkins University. In addition to Hollis and Stevens, the Kaiser Permanente research team included William M. Vollmer, Ph.D.; Cristina M. Gullion, Ph.D.; Kristine Funk, M.S.; and Daniel Laferriere, MR. Other study co-authors included Phillip J. Brantley, Ph.D. and Catherine M. Champagne, Ph.D. at Pennington; Jamy D. Ard, MD, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; Thomas P. Erlinger, MD, MPH, at the University of Texas; Lawrence J. Appel, M.D., and Arlene Dalcin at Johns Hopkins; Pao-Hwa Lin, Ph.D., and Laura P. Svetkey, MD, at Duke University; Carmen Samuel-Hodge, Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Catherine M. Loria, Ph.D., at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and National Institutes of Health.

Focus....! by Art Rothafel

The conversations these days are with two types of professionals.

1.)   Those who panic
2.)   Those who focus

Panic =

• Heavily discounted memberships
• Discounted products,
• Discounted PT sessions
• Reduced advertising 
• Lay-off of key staff to decrease payroll
• Untested strategies based on discounting, affiliate marketing, vending machines

- All of this creates nervous tension that's felt throughout the business and ultimately to customers/members/clients.

Focus =

• Adherence to brand and brand character - stay true to thyself
• Increased customer service levels - staff, mgmt, etc.
• Value-added services and products that ultimately make customers feel special
• Increased advertising (especially since competitors have cut back)

-  The focused professionals exude and breed confidence among staff, existing and potential customers/members/clients.

One female fitness professional (studio owner) told me she was spinning in so many different directions she didn't have any idea of what to do.  She'd hired a consultant who told her one thing - GET MORE CLIENTS.  Then she subscribed to an internet guru who told she'd make millions by writing fitness e-books.  Another told her to get involved with affiliate marketing to other websites.  And still another guru who told her to spend all her energy and money on public relations activities.

I simply told her to FOCUS on her core business and her most LOYAL clients.   She did.  She's happy and up 10% over last Dec.  Not bad in this economy.

Focus!