How Alicia Streger Turned a Tiny Newspaper Ad Into a Thriving Fitness Business

Transcription

What’s up Healthpreneurs? Welcome to the Healthpreneur Podcast. I hope your day is going great. Before we jump into today’s episode, if you missed any of last week, we interviewed Dr. Josh Axe about how he created one of the largest online health brands in just four years. We also spoke with one of the most amazing and intuitive energy healing coaches, Deborah Wayne. She discussed how to get unstuck. So, if you missed any of that stuff go back to those last two episodes.

Today, I’ve got a great treat for you once again. We’ve got a great guest. Her name is Alicia Streger, and I’ve known Alicia for a short time, mostly online. We’ve never met in person but we’ve jived because we have very similar energy and philosophies as to how we approach business.

Like me, she serves other fitness business owners to help them turn their businesses around and impact more people, make more money, and enjoy more freedom. It’s great to see how she’s could do that over the past couple of years.

She started off as a trainer. She’s going to share her journey as to how that metamorphosis happened and how it all started with a tiny classified ad in the newspaper.

If you’re a trainer, chiropractor, or anybody doing one-on-one work and you want to learn how to leverage your time and serve more people, this episode is going to help you out. There are a couple distinctions that Alicia and I bring up that are important to understand if you want to build a business instead of having a job.

Let’s be very honest. If you’re training clients and trading time for money, one-on-one, you essentially have job.  We’re going to look at when Alicia realized what a big difference it makes when you step out of things to create a business that helps a lot of people.

Alicia Streger is a fitness business owner turned business coach, who specializes in helping fitness business owners magnify their impact and streamline their businesses.  She works closely with people to help them build businesses that give back to the world, while creating both financial and time freedom.

She’s built multiple offline and online businesses from the ground up and now teaches her success strategies and systems to other fitness professionals. Her website is fitproessentials.com. Check it out after this episode.

Without any further ado, let’s welcome Alicia onto the show.

Alicia, welcome to the Healthpreneur Podcast. How are you?

Alicia:                   I am good. Thank you so much for having me. It’s great to be here.

Yuri:                      Yes, you are very welcome. It’s great to have you here. The real reason I do this podcast is because it gives me an excuse to hang out and have conversations with people like you. It’s an easy way for us to generate content and have cool conversations.

I’m super pumped to have you here. You’ve been doing some amazing stuff in the fitness space for the last couple years; helping other fitness professionals expand their presence and grow their businesses. Take us back to how it all started and walk us through how you got into the fitness space.

 

Trading dollars for hours and the energy in group training

Alicia:                   Absolutely. First, thank you for all you’re doing, too. Your message is incredible and I see the way you’re connecting with people. Thank you for the value that you’re adding to the industry.

I started like so many people start in the fitness industry, I was doing one-on-one personal training and my degree is in exercise sport science. I wanted to become a personal trainer. I jumped into one-on-one personal training and loved it. I loved the connection I was making with people and the impact that I created, but I got burnt out quickly after a couple years of doing that.

I realized that I needed to make a shift. I was sitting in my car driving from home to home and my diet started to slack and I was skipping workouts. It was the opposite from why I became a personal trainer.

11 years ago now – this is not the route I would recommend people take to grow their business – I took out an ad in our local community paper. We had six people sign up for our first outdoor boot camp class here in Orlando, Florida.

It was amazing. It was so much fun and we grew. We grew a lot through referrals. I had no idea in the beginning what I was doing for marketing. I threw some things against the wall and saw what would stick. Then, I finally started investing in mentorship and coaching and watched my business explode.

I started doing some direct marketing and that was a game changer for me. We grew. Fast forward a few years later, and we had four locations, two indoor and two outdoor, and full-time staff. I sold my business about two years ago to an amazing woman who’s a professional soccer player.

Now I spend my time coaching fitness professionals and connecting with amazing people.

Yuri:                      That’s awesome. I’m not going to ask you who that professional soccer player was. I’m curious because I played pro soccer and I love the whole space.

I don’t think anyone can relate to your story, by the way. I don’t think any trainer out there doesn’t look at their watch and think, “Oh my God, another five minutes.” Or, “I’ve had 10 clients today. I think enough is enough.” We can all relate to that.

When was the moment you said, “This has got to stop”? You said you took out a classified ad in the newspaper. How did you even get the idea to do that?

Alicia:                   The tipping point for me was when I moved down to Florida and started dating my husband. I’d known him for years, so I moved down to Florida. I said I was never going to do the long-distance relationship thing and I did, it wasn’t working out, so I moved. And I was still never seeing him.

I never saw him. I was in my car all day long and I knew it had to change. I knew I couldn’t do the one-on-one thing anymore. I was capping my income because I was trading dollars for hours. I wanted to have a different type of lifestyle.

I had no idea what I was doing, so I just tried an ad in the local paper to see what happened. It was just like throwing it up against the wall and it stuck. Six people signed up. I’d never trained groups before. It was amazing.

The energy was crazy and it was so much fun. Some of those clients I had for the nine years I had my business until I sold it. That was the tipping point. I needed to make a change. I didn’t want to continue living that way. That was my route.

Yuri:                      Awesome. I completely agree. I don’t enjoy one-on-one coaching whether it’s fitness or business because I find it very limited. As you mentioned, there’s so much more energy in a group. You have synergy and the energy’s so much greater.

With what you teach now, do you find that your audience, as they’re looking to grow their business, are looking to do more than one-on-one? Are they looking to do more group coaching? Or is it a combination of both?

Alicia:                   It is a combination of both. Most people want to transition from one-on-one to group because it’s scalable. You can have a lot more leverage and it’s not solely dependent on you the trainer. You can hire other people to teach groups and whatnot.

You can make a lot more income that way as well. But there are people that are amazing at one-on-one. They connect at that level and that’s where their sweet spot is. They absolutely love it and that’s awesome.

There’s no one size fits all. Whatever the best is for that person is where they’ll focus. But I’d say that the trend is moving into groups from one-on-one training; specifically, small-group and even semiprivate now.

Yuri:                      Awesome. You guys have an amazing Facebook group and community of fit pros. What do you find is one of the biggest challenges they’re dealing with as they try to grow their business?

 

Biggest Limiting Factor

Alicia:                   Awesome question. I think everybody’s trying to do too much themselves. I would say that’s probably their biggest limiting factor. As entrepreneurs, we’re all control freaks. You can’t relate to that all, right?

Myself included! That’s why we’re entrepreneurs. We have a great way of doing things and we have a high level of expectation and quality. It sometimes takes a long time to teach somebody a skillset where you can just do it yourself a lot faster. But in the long run, it makes so much sense to be able to teach somebody something.

Invest that time, energy, and resources to train somebody and free up that space going forward for yourself. That’s the only way to grow and scale without losing your mind.

Yuri:                      Totally. What are some of the things that business owners in our space should get off their plates?

Alicia:                   It depends on the person, what they love to do, and their strengths. In most cases, I would say hiring a part-time admin person will be one of the biggest, most freeing experiences of your life.

You don’t need to be chasing people down for payments or entering data into the computer. Even help answering the phones and following up with leads on the front side is helpful. If you’re getting a massive amount of leads, it’s just not possible to do it all yourself. The part-time admin is usually huge.

If you’re coaching every single class 5-10 hours a day, maybe hiring a part-time coach would be the best fit for you. But I would say free up the admin hours because we love people. We love surrounding ourselves in that energy that you get from coaching. Sometimes sitting at the computer, even if it’s for 45 minutes or an hour a day, drains us.

Whatever you hate doing the most, that’s what I would look to outsource the best.

Yuri:                      I’m looking forward to the day when we can clone ourselves. Hopefully that’s not too far away because that’d be cool.

Alicia:                   If you figure that out I need to be the first to know.

Yuri:                      I know. That might be a little bit trippy. It would be nice to have complimentary skillsets. You’d want to clone yourself with a couple adjustments, maybe.

Alicia:                   Yes. If there was another one of me I think my husband would go crazy.

Yuri:                      Exactly. Totally.

Alicia:                   That would be a little scary.

 

The importance of systems, processes, and the client experience

Yuri:                      As you’ve grown the business and look back over the years, what’s the biggest challenge that you’ve ever faced in business? A holy shit moment; a real pivotal moment. Things could’ve gone either way.

Can you recall a time like that? How did you go through that experience?

Alicia:                   For sure. Our first outdoor location was going amazingly and we were making great money. My team was awesome. I thought I’d open a second location and it would be just as amazing.

I did that thinking it wouldn’t be twice the amount of work. I didn’t have the system set up and I thought I’d double what I was doing with the first one. But I didn’t have double the amount of time in a day. I learned the hard way. We had that location open for about five and half or six months before I realized that it was incredibly hard to manage both locations. That was my turning point.

I realized I was not going to be able to have multiple locations just by doubling what I was doing. I needed to create systems. I needed to have processes in place. I needed to streamline what I was doing to make it more efficient.

It set me back months in my business, but I went back to the drawing board. I rebuilt my processes and systems, and that’s what allowed me to scale, take my business to new levels, hire a team, and do it in a streamlined way that was efficient and profitable.

Yuri:                      Nice. Let’s talk about processes and systems for a second. This is not the stuff most people love doing. What do those processes and systems look like? How do you approach that? How do you know when something should be turned into a process or system that someone else could deploy for you?

Alicia:                   I believe everything in your business needs a process or system. And it has one. It might not be efficient and it’s probably up in your head. It’s just a matter of getting it out of your head and onto paper.

Then, when you see what it looks like, you look at how it relates to the clients, which most of things that we do in our business do. I ask, “What is the client experience from this? How can I make this better? How can I make it more efficient, more streamlined?”

And always think of the client first. Does this serve the client in their best interest? Is this easiest for them? And that’s the perspective I go with.

But once you write it down then you can track it. Even if you’re the one that’s following through with the system, it’s just a matter of literally writing, step-by-step, everything that you do. Then see what you can eliminate.

See what you can possibly even automate to make things go faster. Then, down the road when you are ready to bring on a teammate that can take over that responsibility, you have a process to train that person.

Yuri:                      I didn’t think about systems and processes for years. I can’t even remember the point where I was like, “Wow, this I something I should probably be doing.” Was there a moment for you where someone showed you the light by saying, “Hey, this is something you should consider doing.” Or did you just stumble upon it and realize it yourself?

Alicia:                   It came out of necessity. I know that I’m not going to be here in Florida forever. My husband’s in the fire department, so I knew my endgame. I knew that, since we’d be moving, I wanted to sell my business one day, or hire a general manager to take over.

At this point I didn’t know exactly where I was going to end up, but I knew I was never going to be able to do that if I didn’t have this stuff in place. That’s when I started drilling down and putting down the step-by-step so I could delegate everything to somebody down the road. I was planning and that’s when this stuff started to take shape.

Yuri:                      That’s such a good point. I just want to highlight that for our listeners. If you’re listening to this and have no intention of selling your business, ask yourself that question anyway.

What would have to be true if I were to sell my business? If someone were run it for you, what are the things they would have to know? If you don’t have that stuff documented, start documenting it.

That’s the one thing I wish I had done from day zero in my business. It makes everything else so much easier and you can transition to other things much more effectively. That’s good advice.

Alicia:                   100%. You never know. If you want to go on vacation, you don’t feel well, or you get sick for a time, you need other people to step in if you want your business to be there when you get back.

That stuff’s so important.

Yuri:                      Otherwise, you just have a job.

Alicia:                   Exactly.

Yuri:                      I look at it as we’re creating McDonald’s franchises but healthier. McDonald’s is run by teenagers for the most part. How is that possible? They know exactly how to put the burger on, put on the lettuce, and two tomatoes. They’re so structured and systemized that anyone can do it. It’s a nice analogy to think of with this type of stuff.

Alicia:                   Absolutely.

Yuri:                      So if you started in a completely new market or new business within the same market, what’s the first thing you would start doing?

Alicia:                   The first thing I’d do is find a problem and create a solution for that problem.

You can have all the great ideas in the world, but if it’s not going to connect with somebody and solve their problem, you’re not going to make any progress. So finding a critical problem that enough people share and creating a solution for that.

Yuri:                      What do you think is the big problem you’re solving with the fitness pros you’re serving right now?

Alicia:                   The biggest problem that I focus on solving is systemizing, honestly. That’s the biggest thing. I think many people have so much clouding in their head. They’re doing so many things. It’s just a matter of organizing it, prioritizing it, and getting processes in place.

That’s the biggest thing that holds people back from being able to scale. They’re doing so much they don’t even know what they’re doing. They don’t know what they should be doing. They need to get real clarity, prioritize, organize, and then systemize.

Yuri:                      That’s great. I’ve noticed some of the products you have. They’re easy but done-for-you type of things for your audience, which is amazing. I assume it’s a system you created for yourself that you’re giving other people now.

Alicia:                   Absolutely. The transformation challenges are all the things we used in our business, tested, and refined over years before releasing them. These things we use with our clients and they’ve done well. They were great resources for us, so I thought they would be great resources for other people.

Connecting with people and maintaining that connection online or off

Yuri:                      What motivates you to build the business you’re building?  What’s the big vision? What excites you when you get up in the morning?

Alicia:                   I love people. I seriously love people. I love connecting with people. Just this past weekend I had some clients fly in. That’s what keeps me fired up.

When people reach out and say, “Hey, this changed my life.” Even in fitness and coaching, it’s all the same. People are people. You’re making an impact in their life. You don’t even realize how deep it goes. Sometimes marriages are saved and relationships with their kids are better.

Everything in their life changes when they don’t have to be burdened by financial strain. That changes everything for people. That’s what keeps me going. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve reached my financial goals along the way.

I freaking love people and I love helping them and that’s what keeps me going every single day. I have goals to grow and impact more people, and that’s what keeps me fired up because I freaking love it.

Yuri:                      That’s wicked. What’s so cool about our industry is that most of us get into this business of training or working with clients because we enjoy people. We love connecting and serving them. The irony is that, at least when I started online 12 years ago, the Holy Grail was having an online business.

All these trainers came online and now they’re printing eBooks, sitting behind their computer all day, looking at stats, and thinking, “Man, I hate my business.” It’s like, “Hey dude, maybe you should reconnect with people again and reconsider the way you’re running your business.”

That’s something I dealt with a couple years ago. Is that something you’ve dealt with as you’ve been online more?

Alicia:                   100%. It even happened in my fitness business. I got totally all on board with the messaging at the time. I said, “I need to work 100% on my business and pull myself out of it. I don’t want to be training with my clients anymore. I just want to work on my business all the time.” I did that, but then I was so disconnected from my clients. I felt unfulfilled and, at that point, as the business owner not seeing clients every day, the only things escalated to you are issues.

All I did was put out mini-fires and I wasn’t connected. That’s when I started jumping back in my business and realizing, “I love these people.” I don’t know how I let myself pull out so far, but I got back in. I started teaching more and I fell back in love with it. That happened to me.

Yuri:                      And it’s probably more enjoyable when you have the systems in place. There’s a big difference. I remember when I was training clients there was the feeling of having versus choosing to.

I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to do it. A lot of people think they’ve got to be 100% online. You don’t have to be. You can tell people, whether you have an online business or not, that you’re still using the internet to grow your business. Whether it’s a boot camp, clinic, practice, gym, or online business, it’s all the same stuff for the most part.

Where do you see the industry moving in terms of trends or things that are coming? What do you forecast coming down the pipeline?

 

The future of the health industry, perseverance, passion, and clarity

Alicia:                   Great question. Obviously, everybody is moving into online training. I see that growing massively. I see that getting a lot more competitive. I see the offline fitness business owner, the brick and mortar, being able to dominate their space again because there are going to be floods of people moving into the online space.

I see a lot of trends with the obstacle course races. Ninja warrior is becoming massive. They’re popping up everywhere. So, those little subsets and specialty types of fitness populations are growing. Obviously, MMA is still incredibly popular.

But the focus is back on the individual, like the semi privates and small groups. People love real connection and attention. If you’re connecting with your clients, whether online or offline, that’s where you’re going to have a real competitive advantage.

Yuri:                      Totally. That’s what it’s all about.

With that said, what do you think is one of the most important skills or traits entrepreneurs must have for lasting success?

Alicia:                   Passion. You’ve got to love what you do. This is a labor of love. There’s going to be ups and downs and not everything is going to convert off a Facebook ad. You must have perseverance and resilience. You must love what you do and love your clients.

Yuri:                      If someone has been training clients offline for a while, and they’re ready to step out of that and get into online or group training, what advice would you give them to get started? Do they print a program? How do they get in front of people? What advice would you give to someone if you sat down to have coffee with them?

Alicia:                   I would reinforce having hyper-clarity on what they want. There’s more than one tactic to get to that result, so don’t get too caught up in the tactics. Just get clarity on who you want to help and what the problem is that you’re solving.

Then go out and connect with people because you will do well if you have that approach and just get your message out. Don’t be afraid to get out there.

I pushed myself to get on video and I’m still not comfortable on video. It’s just not one of my favorite things, but I still do it because that’s the way that I connect with people. Get your message out there, get in front of people, and don’t be afraid to be authentic and genuine.

Yuri:                      Awesome. That’s why there is ample space in this industry even though it’s very competitive. If you just be yourself, no one else can be you. If you’re trying to be someone else, that’s when you run into problems.

Alicia:                   Exactly.

 

The Rapid Five

Yuri:                      Very cool. Alicia, this has been a lot of fun so far, and it’s about to get better. Are you ready for the Rapid Five?

Alicia:                   Woot, woot! Let’s do this!

Yuri:                      So, you’ve got no prior knowledge of these questions. Whatever comes top of mind is probably the right answer.

Number one, what is your biggest weakness?

Alicia:                   I’m a control freak. It’s hard for me to delegate tasks if I do them myself. I need to get out of my own head, look at the big picture, trust my team, and follow through with this. I consider myself a recovering control freak.

 Yuri:                      Do you have kids?

Alicia:                   No kids.

Yuri:                      Do you plan on having kids?

Alicia:                   Not really. My mom’s very upset about that but, no kids.

Yuri:                      I commend you for that because there’s no right or wrong answer to that. I’ve got three boys and I would say control is probably the thing that I’ve learned most about relinquishing with them.   I wasn’t sure if you had kids and have experienced that as well. A lot of that stuff creeps up; your kids will mirror back a lot of your own BS.

Alicia:                   That would be scary for me.

Yuri:                      I guess you have team members which are like kids, to some degree. Depending on the team member. What is your biggest strength?

Alicia:                   I love connecting with people. I’d say that has always been relatively easy for me because I love and meet people where they are. That’s always been intuitive for me.

I can get to the heart of what’s going on with somebody quickly. I show up fully present and they can connect with that. I never judge, so we end up having great conversations.

Yuri:                      That’s great. This probably spills over into your marketing as well. I think a lot of times, and I was guilty of this as well, we create stuff that we think people want instead of realizing where they’re at and what they want.

Do you find that you have a nice intuitive approach to deliver on what people really want?

Alicia:                   Yes. Exactly. When you get to know your clients and their needs, and you’ve been doing it long enough, you have a solid understanding of what people need.

Yuri:                      Wicked. Number three, what’s one skill you’ve become dangerously good at to grow your business?

Alicia:                   I would say I’m still not 100% great at it, but I’ve been able to get my message out there in a bigger way through my Facebook group than through my email list. So by asking certain types of questions and responding in certain ways on Facebook, it’s been pivotal for me in my business.

I would say learning how to effectively manage, too. In the very beginning, it sucked up all my time. Now, I do it in a much more strategic way, and I’m able to get my message out there through Facebook a lot more effectively.

Yuri:                      That’s awesome. And you probably get better engagement than from your emails.

Alicia:                   Oh, for sure.

Yuri:                      Wicked. Number four, what do you do first thing in the morning?

Alicia:                   I drink a giant glass of water. Well, I get up and feed my dog. That’s first because he stares at me until I do that. Then I’ll have a giant glass of water and do my morning ritual.

I’ve got my meditation, supplementation, and I’ll read my business mission statement every single day.

Yuri:                      Nice. That’s important to do because it’s very easy to get off track. If you review those goals and that mission, it helps you come back to what your purpose is, even just for that day to be more focused.

Alicia:                   It’s so easy to get stuck in the busy-ness and that helps you refocus.

Yuri:                      Number five, complete this sentence: I know I’m being successful when…

Alicia:                   When I feel connected with my clients. You know the five love languages? Time is one for me.

When I’m spending time with my clients, and this is from a business perspective, I’m happy. When I’m spending time with my family, I’m happy. When I feel fulfilled is when I’m spending quality time with the people I care about.

Yuri:                      Awesome. Alicia, thank you so much for joining us today on the podcast. This has been a great conversation. Where’s the best place for people to follow your work and stay in touch with you online?

Alicia:                   Oh, you’re amazing. Thank you so much for having me. My website is fitproessentials.com. My Facebook group is Fitness Business Freedom Formula.

Yuri:                      You’ve got a great following in there. It’s pretty substantial.

Alicia:                   We just passed 9,000 members, which is cool.

Yuri:                      Good for you! Check it out, guys. Good stuff. Alicia, once again, thank you so much for taking the time. I just want to acknowledge you for all the amazing work that you’re doing in our space to elevate other entrepreneurs and fitness business owners to impact more people. Thanks for making it a little bit easier for them to do so.

Alicia:                   You’re a total rock star. Thank you so much for having me on and for all you do for the fitness industry. You’re amazing.

Yuri:                      Thank you so much.

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Yuri’s Take

All right guys, there we go. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Alicia.

Most of us in the health and fitness space enjoy connecting with people in person. And that’s one of the reasons why I do so many workshops, speaking engagements, and annual live events. It’s my opportunity to connect, bond, and get to know you guys at a deeper level.

It’s much more fulfilling to me than just giving a course or book that you can download or buy. It’s great to do that, but for me, personally, I feel most juiced up and jazzed up when I’m in the flesh with people.

Our Healthpreneur Live event was last September, and our next one is September 20th to 23rd. Mark the dates, because we’re almost sold out. It’s by application or invitation only.

So, if you want to join us, go to healthpreneurgroup.com/live for more information. It’s an amazing event.

We did our first big one last September and I don’t even think I ate for three days. I did, but I was so energized I was floating. I was levitating for three days because I was in my element.

And I want you to experience that same thing in your business, whatever that might be for you. If you love hanging behind the computer and cranking out content, awesome. If you enjoy doing videos, great. But if you want to connect with people, you must do that in person.

Whatever is most meaningful to you, be honest about it and find ways to make that more a part of your business. Even if you’re selling products online, there are ways you can connect with your customers so that you feel fulfilled and they get a better service.

There’s all sorts of cool ways to build a business that is reflective of your core values and what’s most meaningful to you. That’s something I want you to think about today.

As always, if you’ve enjoyed this episode, great. If you’ve been subscribed to the podcast for a while, then you know all the goodness that is coming your way. And if you’re a new listener then welcome to the Healthpreneur Podcast!

It’s been a lot of fun bringing this to you. Just to let you know, we release three new episodes per week. Mondays are solo rounds where I give you some in-depth teaching. Wednesday and Fridays are all about interviewing amazing people like Alicia who are in the health and fitness space doing great things with their businesses.

The whole podcast is about helping you take your business to the next level by inspiring you, highlighting other entrepreneurs, showing their journey, and addressing what is involved in building a sustainable business. I hope these conversations light you up and inspire you.

That’s the whole premise. So, if you haven’t subscribed yet, just head on over to iTunes and search for the Healthpreneur Podcast. Click on the subscribe button and you will enjoy 90+ episodes so far.

We’ve got many, many more to go. You don’t want to miss any of them. They’re good.

With that said, I hope you have an amazing day. I want to thank you once again for joining me and for your attention. I appreciate you. I appreciate the work you’re doing in this world. As always, get out there, continue to be great and do great and I’ll see you in the next episode.

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Follow Alicia Streger at:

http://fitproessentials.com/

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