Gareth Nock

[00:05:30] And basically what we deliver is small based, group training. So it’s small group, it’s all virtual. We do a bit of in person, but predominantly it’s all virtual. And we run a platform where we pride ourselves on actually coaching and enhancing people’s experience and performance. And to give a clearer picture of what that is, think about your typical YouTube fitness workout that someone’s recorded and post it.

[00:05:53] Like you can go on, If you go and search online workout, you’ll get a billion hits on YouTube. So we knew that and we’re like, what’s the point of trying to compete with the Pelotons or the, Yoga with Adrian and things that people probably would’ve heard of that are huge, right? There’s no point competing with that.

[00:06:08] What can we do that we do better? So what we have is a live interactive coaching via screen. So Nice. Yeah. We see everybody, everybody sees us. we have from coming off of Mute to ask questions. We have we have team games and parts of our workouts that are inclusive like we would’ve had in person and things that we both did really well.

[00:06:26] And we just try and enhance that community and that, togetherness and build the accountability, which is what kind of stands us apart.

[00:06:32] Audra: How big are those groups that you’re doing?

[00:06:34] Gareth: We go up to 20, but typically we’re somewhere between the like six to 12 [00:06:40] in, in a group. Which is good. Yeah. Then that way everybody feels like they can get some individual attention if they need it.

[00:06:46] Audra: Yeah. That’s awesome. Yeah. And how long, Oh, sorry, go ahead. No, yeah, we typically go for no more than 20. Cause that’s what we can see on the, on our big coaching screen, cuz we use, Zoom is integrated to our platform so we can see 20. So we never wanna have more than that. yeah, and we go 30 to 30 to 60 minutes depending on the day and the format.

[00:07:04] Gareth: And then our, we have a backup on demand library cuz it’s like a supplement to the live session. So if people do wanna fit something else in and those go anything five minutes to 40 minutes, depending, it might be like a mobility session or a post workout stretch that they can add on at the end if they.

[00:07:20] Audra: Now, how do you handle communication between your people? So I’m at home and I’m working out with one of your programs, but I don’t feel like I’m getting the movement right. Do I have a way to correspond with you and tell you that I’m struggling or, Yeah, so if it’s, so obviously we have open communication via, we have a Facebook group, we have our email opens, we have that communication going.

[00:07:41] Gareth: Typically though, if it’s live and in person, we just have a regular Zoom, so it’s not broadcast like a webinar live. It’s literally there. So they can come off of mute and we always say to them, Hey, come off of mute, or ask questions or people will come in and say, Hey, I’m not quite feeling this where I should be, or This is bugging my knee.

[00:07:57] Audra: Can I get an option for it? That kinda. Okay. Okay, good. So where do you, so you guys made that pivot. What now, what does it look like going forward since C’S opened back up? Some people are doing a little bit of in person, I believe. where are you guys forecasting to go? Yeah, that’s a really good question.

[00:08:14] Gareth: And for us it was about understanding what our product was. Okay. [00:08:20] and, and a big thing for us was that we weren’t a, or we no longer were an alternative to the gym, or, sorry, a temporary alternative to the gym. Which is what a lot of people saw it as. And we’ll do this until the gym opens.

[00:08:31] Whereas now we realize we are this unique service and the people that have come to us have stayed because it’s convenient , it works for their schedule. They now work at home or they’ve got kids at home or it’s something that just aligns with them and is unique experience for them. So we are just trying to lean into that a little bit rather than, Initially it was fairly easy cause we’re like, Hey, you can’t go to the gym, come see us.

[00:08:53] But now we’re like, Whoa, that’s not gonna work anymore. What do we do now? So what we’re looking to do is just craft that message a little bit more. So we’ve been doing a little bit of,advertising work and getting some promotional stuff ready to talk to that a little bit more. Okay. and then just looking to serve our current client base more, to give them more help basically.

[00:09:13] So we’re launching some new products moving forward, at the end of this month, to serve them a little bit better and then hopefully open up the window for new people as well. Good. Do you offer a referral program for your. Yep. we have a very fixed referral right now, and we often do a, an extended referral where we give ’em a little bit more for that or we discount the person coming in as well as the person referring.

[00:09:31] So that’s kinda like a couple of year basis. But yeah, there’s a fixed discount from their membership.

[00:09:35] Audra: Good. as businesses have to pivot and reinvent themselves, the opportunity to just be a little bit better than your competition no longer works. it’s just unfortunate it’s not because there’s so many people, that are online that can do a piece of that puzzle.

[00:09:53] So we started out this conversation talking about all the other things that have to happen in your business, but when you think [00:10:00] about the expertise, everybody and their brother’s doing it now, regardless if they have that knowledge around it or not, it’s enough that they feel confident enough to get up and figure it out later.

[00:10:11] So good or bad, that doesn’t always work out for the customer, but the competition. Yeah. You can’t just be a little bit better. You have to be different. And thefitness industry is hugely competitive. Yeah. So having a program that is not another me too, that we’re just not going with because you’re a better coach or you’re a better trainer you’re going with, cuz you have a different program as well.

[00:10:37] And it caters to different needs that your audience clearly has. Which is great. that’s the only way you’re gonna stand out right now. Yeah.

[00:10:46] Gareth: I think the, the most recent stat I read in a, I guess it was like an online fitness article was , there’s 375,000 fitness apps currently on the market.

[00:10:57] So that gives you an idea. Oh yeah. Oh my God. And we are in that market, although our content is live and interactive. Yeah. we are really in that market of a fitness app, Yeah.

[00:11:08] Audra: Yeah. Do you, what kind of technology are you? So we,we have a CRM system that, manages our backend, but also manages the customer facing stuff too.

[00:11:17] Gareth: A company called Wellness Living that we partnered with right at the very beginning. and yeah, do they do our backend, our crm, our marketing Or platform, but they also integrate Zoom into our platform so we can run everything from that. Nice. And we have an app through that and connected as well.

[00:11:30] Audra: Nice. Yeah, I think the, or the more that you can simplify with the technology that you’re using, the better. And I know a lot of niches will [00:11:40] have software very specific for that, for memberships. A buddy of mine owns Karate studios and he has a company that does the same thing. So they manage the crm, all their emails, their membership side of it to collect the money, and then all schedules and everything else.

[00:11:56] Gareth: So it’s perfect. you don’t need much technology outside of that when you’re niche down to that specific type model. And we found that a lot early on, covid, everyone jumped online, everyone was trying to figure it out and, get the best idea. And what we found was there was so many, we were trying to give this alternative and make it easy for people in a stressful time, but so many of the options had so much friction, like to get the end result.

[00:12:22] And I was like, I just want to be able to click on the app, press the button, book all my sessions, and join the session literally right there from my phone or from my desktop, or, mirror it to my screen or whatever, and I need it to be frictionless. So we were like, we need reoccurring payments, We need technology that makes it frictionless so I don’t have to, we don’t have to wait for a Zoom link to be emailed to you, like you can just join right there.

[00:12:43] that’s what we did and it’s been really successful because, Never have to worry. Their payment comes out and they go, Oh yeah, there’s my payment to the NOC Academy. I need to book my sessions in for the week. Make sure I turn up. Like it’s so easy for people. Good. That’s the more and more that you can do that frictionless, again, that’s what technology’s for.

[00:13:01] Audra: It’s to be there. It’s not to be seen. It’s to automate and manage the process without it being so clunky that people have to jump through five different hoops to make it happen. And I think any SAS that’s coming out today, you features are good, but we only need the features that are [00:13:20] actually, that we’re actually going to use.

[00:13:22] And I think simplifying it and understanding exactly what you need when you are going to launch a service, like what you guys are offering is gonna make all the difference on, so you can spend your time focusing on serving your clients and not in the weeds of the technology. what I’m finding lately is a lot of people.

[00:13:43] Get stuck in the technology to start with. So instead of trying to work it backwards, meaning this is the kind of business I’m gonna offer, this is the kind of functionality my tools need to have, and then go find the tool that fits that they start on the other side and try all this different kind of technology and then try to get their product to fit into it.

[00:14:05] And that is such a waste of time that they should be trying to generate revenue in customers and doing outbound marketing and not spending the time trying to build technology to make it work for a product that you haven’t even figured out yet. it’s super challenging to watch people struggle like that.

[00:14:23] Gareth: Yeah. I’m really glad that was the investment we chose to make right from the very start because it was so easy. Do it for free, right? You could have, you could do it on Microsoft Teams or you could run it on a free streaming platform and be able to figure it out, but it would’ve made the process so difficult.

[00:14:40] And when I spoke to our business coach, she was like, The best thing you did was systematize your business At the beginning. She’s because she was telling me she has clients now that are three years in, they’re like six, seven figure businesses and they haven’t systematized anything. She’s Now it’s a complete headache cuz they got hundreds of customers.

[00:14:56] How do you do that? It’s so difficult. So although it was a big investment and [00:15:00] it didn’t necessarily make sense on paper Yeah. To do it initially and invest that money. It’s a hundred percent the best thing we did. That’s good. Yeah. So people need to weigh that when they go into it. Is there technology that’s gonna require some kind of upfront commitment, but you can see where it’s gonna get you down the road?

[00:15:19] Audra: Or do you bootstrap it and just convert from tool to tool as you make money? there’s pros and cons to both sides of that. It depends for me what, how comfortable you are with technology and with change. If you need to spend all your time somewhere else, or if it’s something that you’re always gonna have to pay somebody to do, then you may be better off just to bite the bullet and pay for, the better technology front and simplify it for you.

[00:15:45] I’m the opposite though. I’m on the other side of that, but I’m also very comfortable with te. I can build, I can use new tools. I try new stuff all the time, but I’m, I’m not the average person when it comes to, adopting new types of technology. I’ve been doing this for many years and there’s a little bit of a learning curve.

[00:16:04] Audra: Any new platform I’m playing in the arena of AI right now. And it’s a little bit like what I gotta kinda reread stuff like what did that just say? Cuz I’m not a data scientist, but I wanna understand how AI is time to marketing and where it’s going. It’s very exciting and it’s still early, but it’s happening.

[00:16:26] And I’m pivoting a little bit here cuz I want get to your marketing, but, what I’m finding with AI is the business that can go forward, and I don’t wanna say automate, but maybe engage is a better [00:16:40] word. So the person that can go forward engaging their clients. On every single platform.

[00:16:46] That’s called omnichannel marketing, where you’re getting personalization. So regardless if somebody comes into your brick and mortar and then gets, a certain kind of treatment there, and then goes online, then goes to your social media, maybe goes to a landing page or an event, all that content and the way that they interact with your brand is consistent.

[00:17:08] So the person or the companies that are investing in making this happen are seeing tremendous growth and success from it. Now, don’t get me wrong, people are not loyal to brands like they used to be. They’re willing to jump ship, but the only way to get out of that and not have your product be a commodity, meaning people are competing, comparing you on price.

[00:17:31] Oh, you’re a fitness app. Okay, So I got five choices for fitness apps. who’s got the best price? that’s the game you do not wanna play in otherwise. It’s super challenging unless you have the numbers right. The math will never make sense. But this omnichannel presence, which we’re able to do a lot with AI is tying all of this marketing together, consistent message, a concierge personalized service that each one of the people that interact with your brand are now getting to.

[00:18:03] Gareth: We’re gonna be able to do some really cool stuff with this. So I’ve gone down that rabbit hole, but how do to tie that back to you guys, how do you find a new clients today? What does your outreach program look like? Yeah, a great question. And this [00:18:20] is something that, we touched on before when we spoke, whereas right now, we, I wouldn’t say we have a solid plan. We have a loose plan, something we’re kinda working on. we spent a fair bit of time looking at the social media market. trying to go with like an organic, which has had. Limited success, I would say. Yeah. And we’ve had a few new people come in through those channels, but most of the time not, So a lot of the time it’s referrals.

[00:18:44] So we are trying to make a point of asking for those. We’re setting up some more automations actually currently where we’ll be asking for those referrals a little bit more directly. Okay. so that’s something we are really trying to push. And then what we found as well is a lot of that loyalty and trust.

[00:19:00] seems to come and we’ve found this, working in the industry, both of us for a long time, is it comes from that in-person connection. So what we’re also doing now is looking to build another aspect to the business where we offer some in-person fitness and use that as another tool to bring people in.

[00:19:21] Gareth: Hey, I really love doing your yoga course with Nicki, who’s my wife? And how do I get to do this more often? we’ve only got this one course running, but if you come online, you’ll get to do two or three sessions a week with her and you’ll get to learn in person, build that connection and trust, and then do that.

[00:19:35] So this is an element that we are looking at because it’s worked a lot for us in the past. . And we also realized that in our community it’s a big demand and there isn’t a lot of it. So we’re trying to offer that stuff and then have both of those channels running together. Now, do you feel like being local, are you gonna run into a scaling.

[00:19:53] you can’t really, or will you focus your scaling on what you can do online? Yeah, that would be, yes, [00:20:00] potentially. and maybe we get to the point where we can have, we rent a studio right now to run some in person, but maybe we get to the point where we have our own studio and we run those two things together and they support one another as a business.

[00:20:11] because online we have people all over the country and in the uk, so that would be for them. But yeah, I think scaling wise, no, that would be our, that would be our solution. We can’t offer you any more in person yoga or in person bootcamp, but we can offer you these other three things online a week.

[00:20:26] Audra: Okay. Okay. I, When you start to look about like the goals of the business, Not that we can forecast any of us where exactly we’re gonna end up, but we do need to plan, I think, a couple steps ahead of what we’ve currently built. So when you guys started a few years ago, was your plan to have a physical studio and be online?

[00:20:49] Gareth: Or what did that original goal look like? no, definitely not. Online was the main goal. my wife still works full-time and helps me run the business,that was The goal was for me to have something that was really flexible and that’s what it was really built around.

[00:21:00] Can we continue to serve people and do a really good job? Can I be here to take my daughter to school every day and pick her up and be around when she needs a parent, . So that was of the main goal. So no, that, that wasn’t our goal at all, but when we look to try to build this like local support and knowing that people are typically, yeah, we live in a town of 45,000 people, so there’s a pretty good community support.

[00:21:19] It’s fairly small. Sure. So for us it was like, how do we get these people into our brand? And then we’re looking around on Facebook groups and, local community pages and going to the market and people are like, I really wish there was more evening yoga courses, or, I really wish some people had more there was more bootcamp training or cycling classes.

[00:21:35] So for us it was like, these people are asking for this. Can we [00:21:40] leverage that to support this side of the business while also building another side of the business? Nice. Nice. Yeah. as. I think for any of us or I was speaking to anybody that’s got a small business and is finding their way, use time like this as stepping stones to see what’s next and be open to possibilities.

[00:22:00] Audra: Sometimes a market will show, I mean if we go back to beginning marketing where they say find an audience and then serve them. Sometimes some, a group that was not your ideal audience or even an avatar on your radar ends up being a very financially and A congruent audience to go after. So at the beginning here, if you’re under probably a half a million dollars, you ne you need to be open to different opportunities that may show up and be willing to pivot a little bit.

[00:22:32] It doesn’t mean that you chase every, comment that somebody makes, Oh, I wish you had this feature or wish you did this. But like you, when you’ve got enough feedback from a community that’s saying, We have a need, why don’t you fill it? Then at that place you’re able to say, You know what? It’s okay to pivot and add this in, or add them in as another avatar.

[00:22:52] Or, No, this is really the only direction we wanna go. Maybe there’s another way we can still serve them, but not having to do it in person. And that probably would’ve been, the next conversation if you chose not to do. Yeah. and something else we noticed on that too, and you made a really good point about sometimes you find that opportunity.

[00:23:11] Gareth: And for us it was, we felt we were a bit generic, right? Okay. We offer, we, we offer this incredible fitness experience where you’ll get live interactive [00:23:20] coaching people are like, eh, they’re probably bored by that. They never done that. Yeah. Yeah. So what we looked at is who are we and who do we talk to?

[00:23:27] The easiest, Neither of us have got marketing experience. Neither of us is our strong point. So we were like, how is it, how are we gonna create an easy path for communication to our potential customers? And we just looked at who we are. we’re busy parents that are trying to manage a household, a business, a full-time job, Responsibilities, How are we fitting in exercise and how are we managing that? for most part, I’m working out in my basement when I can at five in the morning, or I’m jumping at 30 minutes between sessions to do it, to do a quick lift or whatever it might be is okay. So we were like, really, we are talking to other busy parents.

[00:23:58] We looked to our membership base and I’d say 70% of them at the time when we did this, this little bit of homework were parents with kids and typically kids in that, like at home need a little bit of support. not they’re not like 14 and they’re doing their own thing. is there were kids where I can’t leave these kids at home when I go to the gym. I can’t. I’m trying to manage a, a three year old in the house that, can probably watch the TV folk, watch TV show for 20 minutes while I do a quick workout, but I can’t really taking them to the gym and bringing em back as a two hour round trip.

[00:24:24] So we just continue to talk to that audience and all those of our members aren’t those people. We’re just trying to talk to that because I know all the struggles and I get what it’s like. So I can just reiterate that in our. Yeah. And I, Most businesses, that’s where they start, right? They had a need, They couldn’t find a good solution for it.

[00:24:42] Audra: So they create it. many businesses have been born out of that. I’ve done the same thing. The marketplace that I’ve just recently built was out of a need to be able to offer a complete solution for small businesses, because it doesn’t really exist. There’s lots of pieces to bolt on together, [00:25:00] but there’s not really one clear, simple, straightforward plan that somebody can follow.

[00:25:05] So I get it. it’s, that’s the best way to do it. We built it for ourselves. For my case, they built it for my clients. So going from agency work into this, I was doing the same thing. Every single client didn’t matter if they were a startup or a client doing 20 million a year, systems are still the systems that how to send an email is still the same way to send an email.

[00:25:28] Lots of different technology, lots of way to get there. The vehicle itself doesn’t matter, but the process is the same. And so being able to serve that makes perfect sense. So let’s talk a little bit about your marketing and what you’re doing now. where’s that going? is there anything I can help with?

[00:25:44] Is there anything you’re struggling with that maybe we could explore?

[00:25:48] Gareth: Yeah, from a marketing standpoint right now we’re just trying to choose one, one thing to focus in on, one kind of internal thing within our network, sorry, within our membership base. So the post platform, and then looking at how do we build this outside, so outside of that and bring new people in.

[00:26:03] So we have, trying to have one focus a month. It’s very simple. a big part of me was I wouldn’t partake in any marketing plan because it overwhelmed me. So I just didn’t do it, which clearly wasn’t working. . So my business coach said, she was like, I’m no expert in marketing. She’s But what I can tell you is how to.

[00:26:19] Get action and the way to get action is to simplify it. She’s So you need to simplify the process. She’s Pick one thing you know you can pick. So I was like, Okay, I can have one thing for our members, one thing for external people, and just try to focus on that. So whatever message I’m sending it towards that.

[00:26:33] So that’s the goal right now is to lean into that a bit more and just trying to find things [00:26:40] that work. So right now we’re currently focused on. The external thing coming more from the what can we offer the community. Okay, good. So that is based on in person courses. So running like a five week yoga course or a five week Pilates course or doing a yoga in the park, something like that to build up, and it’s time consuming it to build up that base of people locally.

[00:27:01] On top of that, we’re doing, I mentioned it to you that I did a, a 5K at the weekend, for the Terry Fox run here in Canada, which has just passed. And, we participated by sponsoring the event. So we went right. We had a school to do recoveries and cool downs, and we did nice, the warmup at the beginning, which was really good fun.

[00:27:17] the two of us did it. we have a five year old. She came up and did the warmup with us. It was a nice family and it showed, Hey, look, we are busy parents, but we are just trying to make life work here because I’ve also got my five year old on stage because where else is she gonna be when we’re up here doing it?

[00:27:30] So we’re just trying to build that message. So that’s our kind of local. To see how it works. Yeah. Yep. And then internally, we are trying to find the perfect higher ticket options for our members. So where we can upsell something that’s gonna benefit them and serve them better. Okay. What are your, do you mind talking about your price points?

[00:27:51] Gareth: No, not at all. Okay. yeah, so currently right now we have unlimited group training, which is a, it’s a schedule of approximately 15 sessions a week. So it’s like a fully modulate schedule. Yeah. Yeah. And that is 99 Canadian dollars a month. Okay. And for that they can come as many as they want. no cancellation policies, no.

[00:28:11] Like anything like that, they just rock up when they want. They book in and they come and attend. That’s very affordable. Yeah. That’s a very fair price. Yeah. Yeah. And the good thing about that, and [00:28:20] you mentioned earlier, something just to touch on there about how there’s a lot of competition and the price point.

[00:28:24] This is sometimes a struggle. Cause a lot of people say, I can go to, and I’m gonna use Peloton as example because it’s online. I can do Peloton, it’s 15 bucks a month. And I’m like, Yes. But what you have to understand is that isn’t what we are selling. What we’re selling is interactive, personalized coaching in a group.

[00:28:39] So that’s something I’m struggling with to jump forward marketing wise. okay. So that’s one thing. Then we have two other price points. We have an essential membership, which is basically a casual membership, five sessions a month, so they can do one a. yet if they wanna do two a week, there’s no middle ground between that and unlimited.

[00:28:54] Gareth: So that was the idea of the pricing there is to push them up to the next pay point, if they wanted to do more than one a week. So that’s 39 9 a month. Okay. And we have an on-demand membership, which is 9 99 a month. Wow. That’s actually very affordable. So what are you considering for your high ticket?

[00:29:11] Cause I got some ideas. Yeah, for sure. . so we dived into this a little bit, via some kind of business coaching and getting some kind of clarity on what we wanted to do. And we wanted to expand revenue without having to, recruitment is slow, right? Getting a new member is a lot of man hours, whereas upselling is a lot easier, With the people that trust you. So we looked at a few things. Personal training was one option we put up. And then the other one we did was more of a kind of mobility, style training, which was more geared to movement and enhancing performance in other sessions. So they’re the two high tickets we did.

[00:29:41] Okay. Personal training didn’t work very well for us. our biggest issue with that was we didn’t really ask people what they wanted. So this was a learning curve for me. We assumed that people that were doing that would want more and they’d want personal training. And then when we did it and we didn’t really sell any, and we asked why people went,I pay $99 a month, and [00:30:00] I get coached.

[00:30:00] Like, why am I already feel like I’m getting so much. I don’t think I need someone one on one to coach. User experienced exercises. So I was like, that was a mistake and I probably should have asked the question. and then, no, it’s not a mistake. It’s a lesson. Yeah. It’s something you learned. Yeah.

[00:30:14] Yeah. It’s some, this, what I’ve been learning recently on, of course I did, was there’s no failure, just feedback. So that was some good feedback. Absolutely. so yeah, that was good. And then the mobility training did go well and that was helping people that were maybe struggling with their performance in a session.

[00:30:27] Okay. But they couldn’t say, Hey, can we stop the workout so you can help me with my mobility so I can do that better? Okay. That’s worked quite well. Okay. and what we found out was that people actually wanted guidance with their lifestyle and their nutrition. So that’s where I was gonna go. Yeah. It all ties together.

[00:30:45] Audra: Mind, body, food, health, that all needs to be a resource together. So you, your target audience is busy parents with kids. So when my kids were little, I was a single parent of three kids. I got divorced when they were five and under. Wow. So it was challenging for quite a few years. So things that would’ve worked for me was somebody helped plan food for me, somebody create a list for me, somebody create balanced macro meals that are kid friendly.

[00:31:16] those kind of things tying into give me exercise that my kids could do with me. maybe it’s a parent or maybe it’s a family class where you can take little ones that are zero to five, not, probably not zero, probably two to five to do 10 minutes of some kind of fun activity.

[00:31:33] Audra: My kids are older now. My kids are grown, but things that they take away from their childhood. I was very into [00:31:40] nutrition, so they very. no fast food, no sodas, no junk like that unless they went to my mom and dad’s house. But, and exercise, how important it is and some of those kind of things that when they’re little, they don’t really pay attention to it.

[00:31:53] But when they’re adults, it’s part, it’s ingrained in them now, and it’s things that they know regardless if they take advantage of it or not. They know the difference of what healthy looks like versus what subpar looks like. So tying in that kind of stuff, take stuff off of my plate. The more you can take off, the more I’m willing to pay you for it.

[00:32:15] And I always said, when I, when my kids were younger, I needed a wife. I needed somebody to manage all this stuff for me. I wanted to work, I just wanted to spend time with my kids and I wanted to work. and I would’ve done anything to find somebody to balance, plan all that other stuff for me.

[00:32:32] I know I needed, and I know the values there. And I’m willing to write a check for it. But it was, back then people weren’t where we’re at now, so it was very tough to find something like that. So that could be a huge concierge type service where you could add on both on to what you’re already doing to help simplify their life.

[00:32:54] Gareth: Now, do you have more men or more women? More women, yeah. Yeah. Okay. So they need help. They need a wife, they need somebody to help support all their responsibilities. Yeah. and that’s definitely what we’ve been hearing and people have been asking. and funny enough, when we put the feelers out there, we didn’t, like I said, we didn’t get a lot for the previous kind of options for higher ticket, but this one we got a lot of interest.

[00:33:16] And, and to be honest, it was a case of. I was in a situation where it had [00:33:20] been a long time since I’d focused, like I mentioned, I’d worked in leadership for a long time. Yeah. I’d been coaching in groups where nutrition was something that I was interested in, but hadn’t studied for a very long time, Probably a good 15 years.

[00:33:31] so yeah, so I actually, decided that a very bad time. The beginning of summer break, I thought to myself, I know what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna enroll in a course that’s, projected to take six months and I’m gonna finish it by September. which I’m proud to say I did plus a week, so that wasn’t too bad.

[00:33:46] Gareth: Good for you. Yeah. Good lesson in,and I’ve learned some great lessons from that. Not just nutritional science, but lots of things. And one of them was you just have to prioritize. I talk about it all the time, but I didn’t think about it for my own study. And if I realized that if I scheduled it in and I stuck to that schedule, something that wouldn’t get interrupted and Yeah. That was that was the plan. So I literally finished my final exam on. Saturday last. Wow. Last week. Saturday. Yeah. So that’s done and wrapped up. And now it’s, a case of putting all that together with my other knowledge and building out this program, which we are now gonna tell, and we’ve got people ready to jump into it and get, So yeah, by the end of the month, hopefully.

[00:34:23] Audra: Here’s the other thing, if your audience is primarily women, we’re not very good about taking care of ourselves. we take care of everybody else, but, getting those extras for ourself, either we feel guilty or we feel like we don’t have the time, or we feel like it could, those resources could be better used on our kids or our family or something else.

[00:34:45] So it’s tough for us. I say us, but I know lots of women struggle with this, to feel like we’re justified in paying for that extra level of coaching or that extra level of fitness. But [00:35:00] if you’re doing, if you’re creating a program, supports my whole family unit, then I have no problem writing a check.

[00:35:06] Gareth: That’s easy. Cause everybody’s benefiting from it. Yeah. And that’s part of the messaging that we’re gonna look towards a little bit as well is this is gonna build, like you said, build these habits and there’s knowledge and understanding around nutrition something that is tailored to you, And something where you can show this to everyone around you. your partner’s gonna benefit, your kids are gonna benefit. And actually, frankly, anyone, even if you’re not a busy parent You’re gonna take this on and you’re gonna build it. So maybe that’s a future family you have or your it could be your roommate, it could be someone else that you’re around, the people you work with. Like any, you’re gonna build this, it’s gonna spread out into your ecosystem and benefit more people. So yeah, we’re really looking at, the little pieces of that and to see where it, it fits in.

[00:35:45] But we really believe. We can create that multi kind of that ecosystem within our business that just supports people. And what we talk to as much as possible is we try and help people move more, eat well, and feel great because really a busy parent needs to be able to do those two things and typically isn’t.

[00:36:03] Audra: And they out result of that is you don’t feel great and then you don’t show up as a great parent because you don’t feel great. Yeah. Good. That’s good. Parents need more. Yeah, I think they forget that it’s easy to have children. It’s not easy to raise children. isn’t that your person, ? it’s super, it can be super challenging.

[00:36:23] Gareth: Yeah. Yeah. And I think as well, we have, like I said, we have some men in that market too. and what’s been interesting for me in the last couple of years is I’m as well, I don’t think anyone’s a stay-at-home parent anymore. Cause I think that’s probably not really doable, in this day and age.

[00:36:37] And it, especially as we recover from the last two years, but [00:36:40] as close to a stay-at-home dad you’ll ever get, I have an interesting perspective for other dads as well. So we’re building on that bit because I’m trying to run a business, raise a door. I’m also trying to make sure my family eats.

[00:36:51] Yeah, that we exercise and move and my wife’s got her full-time job, she’s running the business, she’s out teaching yoga. Like she doesn’t have a lot of time to do that stuff. So I’m I’m wanting to take the responsibility for that and I’m trying to, I’m trying to balance the scales a little bit and look after myself.

[00:37:06] And I’m very fortunate that I’ve got the knowledge to look after myself. So that’s my messaging is like I can do it at a home and I can make the meals and I can work out over my day, but I also know what I’m doing. Yeah, I know how to do it both and effectively. Most people don’t. So I wanna be able to give that knowledge as much, to dads and also to moms as well.

[00:37:24] Good. And I think taking away simplifying is super important. Don’t make it as complex where I have to manage all these big systems. Just give me the list. Let me pick what I wanna do for this week. Give me the option for the classes. And don’t, I think some of the thing with food when it comes into all these different kind of apps, you gimme too many options.

[00:37:45] Audra: I don’t make any decisions. So it’s simple. It’s, this is what we got this week, or this what the schedule looks like for the month. Pick and choose what you want and it’s done. Move on to whatever’s next on your plate that you’ve gotta take care of. yeah. Yes. That’s so important. And we talk about that with our scheduling too.

[00:38:01] Gareth: And when we get asked, why we’re unique is that we try really hard to modulate our schedule. so people don’t have to think about how much strength training do I need to do? How much cardio do I need? When am I stretching? When’s my mobility work happening? Like I’m just trying to build a schedule that are nine 30 every day.

[00:38:17] You’ve got the perfect layout of sessions that you don’t have to [00:38:20] worry. This is gonna give you the complete training experience. And whether that’s nine 30 or six in the morning, or 1210 when we have our sessions is that’s done. So again, it’s that element where don’t think about it. Just book for these days and you’ll get what you need.

[00:38:32] That’s good. The service that you guys have built is very concierge type service, and I think you should use that to your advantage. You brought up the Peloton universe versus, or any others, right? Any local big gym chains, Planet Fitness or LA Fitness, or any of those things versus what you’re offering that in itself distinguishes the, No, we’re not like that.

[00:38:55] Audra: We’re not a box gym. We’re more of a concierge service where we actually know our people. We’re able to create content specific for our audience to make sure that we’re balancing everything and it evolves, right? The more we understand what your needs are, the more we’re able to create content that’s relevant for.

[00:39:14] And I think that is worth, something versus being, cuz I have a Peloton in all disclosure. But, I don’t know any of those people. I’ve taken a workout because I like that trainer. Or today I wanna work legs and I don’t wanna do speed training or whatever. There’s nothing personal in that for me. Yeah, so it’s, I don’t wanna say Walmart, but, a commodity, a place you can go find lots of things to choose from versus what you guys are doing is a little bit more personal, a little bit more intimate.

[00:39:45] And I feel like I could have a conversation with you as a trainer to come to you and say, Look, my lower back’s killing me or my, this is hurt. Nobody at Peloton is gonna talk to you about this. . Yeah. yeah.

[00:39:59] Gareth: And it’s [00:40:00] funny, I just had a conversation with a client this morning about that, right? And she said, Oh yeah, my back’s still a bit sore from last week and you know this,and I get to see these things, right?

[00:40:07] Like we, I’m connected to these people. We’ve got enough members that I can see them on Instagram. I know when they’ve been on vacation, often they’re logging in from vacation. And I get to go as well through the screen and it’s so important. I always liken it to, So I said, I live in a small town now, and this is not to be up on Starbucks at all, but I live in a small town.

[00:40:25] It has a Starbucks in it. , but it also has a lot of local businesses. and this is how I look at it. When I go to Starbucks, I will typically just order it off of my app and then I will go in and I’ll pick it up off the end of the bar and somebody probably says hello to me, maybe if they’re not too busy.

[00:40:39] It’s a drive through. So half the time they’re just funneling drive through. There’s one person there. I go to the local coffee shop and that person I go in there. Not only is our advertising up in the coffee shop, For the business, but I go in there and they make my drink for me, and I, instead of ordering a drink and explaining it, I’m having a conversation with the people that own the business.

[00:40:59] Gareth: Yep. When’s your next yoga course coming up? Who’s coming in? Oh, I spoke to this person the other day that was interested. I showed them the poster in the coffee shop. This is all happening and my drinks made for me perfectly at the end of the bar. that’s the difference, and that’s how we see it.

[00:41:11] The same comparison. You could write some great copy from that analogy. Yeah. . Are you, do you write your copy or do you have somebody else that writes it? no. sometimes someone will help us with it, so yeah. there’s not a lot of planning, as I said, . Yeah. but that’s, that is a great analogy that anybody could connect to

[00:41:28] Audra: I had coffee shops, that’s where I cut my teeth on my entrepreneurial journey. I had three stores at one point, and my client, my customers, Yeah, we talked about kids in [00:41:40] schools and I had a resource for anything from one of my coffee shops was inside of the local hospital from the town that I’m from.

[00:41:49] And I could, from the neurosurgeons to the HVAC guys, everybody drinks coffee. So you’re able to really have some great outreach, throughout your whole community. And people do support you. if you’ve got a business that is local or that you’ve dug in, start there. People, everybody wants to go online and do social media and do Facebook ads, but if you’ve got a business that can serve your community, that is going to build it faster than anything because we’re seeing you in real time.

[00:42:21] We’re seeing you in real life, and we want to support each other, especially for small businesses. Definitely start there. And I think people forget that’s still a thing. Yeah.

[00:42:31] Gareth: Yeah. Yeah. And that’s why we Yeah. Lean towards that a little bit, right? trying to build that side That’s good.

[00:42:35] Do and seeing what they do. and I really like that idea. And one of the things that we’ve been talking about in our business meetings, which let’s be very clear, those happen normally with the glass of red wine on our sofa, . Oh course. What other successful business would meeting Would you have

[00:42:49] Exactly. I quite like that. Cause I can just sit in a pair of shorts and I don’t have to work. It’s just what I typically do all day. But yeah, that, that came up and, I was talking. adding a blog, and this is something I feel like we’ve all leaned away from, but can be really powerful, like you said, right?

[00:43:04] Writing some content bit more longer format, cuz it’s hard to get, get a 62nd reel that really communicates what you do. And that’s where we found, we’ve had a lot of interaction on that stuff, but not a lot of business uptake cuz I don’t think it delves enough into what we do. So I really like that [00:43:20] idea and I think, although I poo-pooed it, cuz writing’s not my strong suit.

[00:43:23] maybe I need to embrace what I’m not strong at and do it anyway. So there’s technology out there that can help you with that, right?

[00:43:29] Audra: Yeah. I use, so I would say out of all my marketing skills, my weakest, the ones that I have to work on the most is video and writing. I’m a damn good editor, but coming up from scratch has always been challenging for me.

[00:43:44] Not that I can’t write, but it’s a little bit harder, it’s a little bit more uncomfortable for me. I use an AI tool to do that. because I know my industry so well, and I know my content so well, it’s just a matter of putting it all together properly. So I use an AI tool, I’ve probably been using it for about a year.

[00:44:04] I can knock out a 4,000 word article with links with images, SEO ranked meaning over a score. So it gets indexed in search in about three hours. Oh, wow. Because what’s happening is I’m able to give the AI commands. So I’ll pick a topic, say I wanna write an article about how to quit your nine to five and become a freelancer.

[00:44:34] So I picked my topic. Then the AI will actually write me a blog. Then fill in the content for the outline and then I just edit it. So it all makes sense. It all flows. It all is congruent with something that I would write or I would say, and the article’s done. So there’s lots of support out there. There’s actually AI art now, so I [00:45:00] can go in and I can say, I want you to create an image of a cat on a bicycle wearing aviator glasses.

[00:45:11] And AI will create images, not copy other images, but create them from scratch into brand new images. Wow. Yeah. . So don’t let that limit you. So if you want to write. there’s a lot of different tools out there, and I’m not trying to promote anyone, but I’m happy to share what I use and take a look at it.

[00:45:33] But what it does is it’s not replacing writers, it’s just allowing us to be more creative faster. And for people that aren’t good at just sitting down and knocking out an article from start to finish, it assists us to be able to help us be more effective. Yeah. So yes, content is gonna be a big deal for you guys.

[00:45:54] This, and you should have a section on nutrition and all these things that you just learned. You could always do a video, that’s the other thing you can do or do audio, and they just have it transcribed and that’s your blog post. So that could be an option as.

[00:46:10] Gareth: Yeah. And I also have, we have a, we have a podcast that’s linked to our business where, we utilize that and that’s something I haven’t explored either is getting a, transcribing some of the shorter episodes into, useful thing.

[00:46:21] Audra: I did one recently on like, all on nothing Mindsets and how they, often create failure in what we’re doing. And that would be a really great thing to, to pull into a blog post as well. there’s lots of very affordable AI tools out there as, or not AI, but transcribing tools out there.

[00:46:36] that you just dump your MP3 or MP four in, [00:46:40] it transcribes it for you. You download it and put it up. When after I pull our episode down, I’m going to have it transcribed. I’ll send you what it looks like and then all the little things that come with it. But it’s a super simple system to get in the habit of doing.

[00:46:56] Audra: But it’s great content. So remember, if you are going local, And you’re going to nurture that relationship. What happens is they’ll meet you in person. Remember, we’ve gotta have this new interaction translate to online. So as dynamic or as impactful as it will be for somebody to meet you and your wife face to face, they need to feel that excitement and that connection when they go and look at your brand online.

[00:47:24] So if I meet you in person, I’m like, Wow, that was really great. I’m so excited to start in fitness, and then I go to your website and it’s flat and there’s no content and there’s no video, and I don’t feel uplifted. It feels very two dimensional. I’m just gonna be like, Yeah, they were great in person, but I’m not really feeling that cool connection here.

[00:47:45] That’s when at the very beginning that I was talking about that relationship, people will look for that and good or bad, they’re gonna judge you on it. right now you get to control that message. It’s up to you to have vibrant colors and lots of content where I can say, Okay, you know what? I had the feeling that they were the experts, that they knew what they’re talking about.

[00:48:07] And now everything that I see online confirms the emotional connection I had to them. Now, logically it’s justified. And okay, these are people that I wanna [00:48:20] work with, or I want to help me in my fitness journey or my nutrition journey to make sure that I get on track.

[00:48:26] Gareth: Yeah. Love that. Yeah. And you learn something new every day. Like I didn’t know there was, I didn’t know there was technology that did that. it’s wonderful. Yeah, it’s wonderful. I’m, so I actually produce about 10 articles a week using that tool. Before that, I don’t write content. I pay people to write content cuz I couldn’t do it. But now I can actually do it.

[00:48:48] Audra: And the more you practice, the better you get. you know your industry and you know what you wanna talk about and what’s gonna be of value to your people. You’re just guiding the AI to write it for you. And, some things I can use, some things I’ve had to dump and start over cause I didn’t like the direction it was going, but the value is still there.

[00:49:07] And Google’s not against it as far as search and indexing and things like that. It has to be valuable. It has to, you still wanna tie in your personality and your perspective on specific topics that you go into. And so I always do want to add something in my own words, not just facts and statements on this is how you do social media, step by step.

[00:49:30] But I also wanna throw in my little tidbits of. coaching or of direction that have worked for me being an agency owner for so many years. , and it’s great. it’s definitely, improved my traffic and driving new audience and things like that. there you go. I know you only wanna do one thing, but this may be worth exploring.

[00:49:50] Gareth: No, I love it. It, it, that is definitely what I need is things that are simple, but then also give us another dimension that we don’t already have. Perfect solution. [00:50:00] It gives you a chance to be a little bit more competitive, get a little bit more done quicker. Remember, when we’re solo entrepreneurs or small businesses, we have to lean on technology

[00:50:12] Audra: and there’s a fine line there where the technology trips you up, cripples you, or actually, is a benefit to your life as a solo entrepreneur. When you find those tools that help you get bigger, faster, longer kind of stuff, they become part of your system. I use this tool because I’m able to do this much work now versus without it, I could only get this much done.

[00:50:36] and without being effective and efficient and really targeted on the action that you’re trying to get from your efforts. You just spin your wheels and six months later you’re in the same spot. And that’s not fun at all. no. I’ve found that, I’ve found that a little bit. So yeah, definitely new ideas and just conversations like these make a massive difference, yeah.

[00:50:56] Audra: It’s awesome. All right. So we’ve been, we’re close to end here. Give me something that is challenging you right now that you want to work on. . And then what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna circle back and I’m gonna see what you’ve done to solve that.

[00:51:09] Gareth: Yeah. I think for me, the need to perfect something and get it right before going ahead with it. Okay. and this is just a, a very personal thing, but it also obviously affects the business and the speed at which we move sometimes. And I would say the best decisions we’ve made of a, as a business is when my wife is the opposite, has said, Let’s just do this and this.

[00:51:32] And then I’ve been like, All right, guess I trust this, so let’s just do it. And not necessarily thought about it is typically the best decisions we’ve made and resulted in the best, [00:51:40] overall outcome. So for me it’s it’s trying to find a way to. and much of this conversation’s really helped is find something to make it simple.

[00:51:47] Yeah. And help me see it from a big picture so I then able to take action on it.

[00:51:52] Audra: Okay. All right. Good. I think what I would add to that is wherever you’re trying to get, build it back, Reach out to where that looks like, and then what tools, what resources, what strategy do you need to re-engineer to help you get there?

[00:52:11] is it a person, is it a, process or is it a piece of technology that will solve whatever that is? So if I took the example of, I’m trying to do, I’m trying to start an email marketing list and build a campaign, so I know I need a list. What am I giving? To get them to sign up. Is it some kind of free course?

[00:52:34] Audra: Is it some kind of giveaway? What is gonna get me quickest? And then what kind of technology do I need? What kind of process do I need in place? If I simplify it down to those three, then I can hop in fairly quickly and get something started without simplifying it down to just those three things. Is it a person, is it a process or some kind of technol, a tool?

[00:52:58] Then it’s like this big and it’s Oh my God, where do I start? And I don’t know how to write, so I can’t do an ebook, and I don’t want, I don’t like videos, so there’s no course. And you get all that mind chatter completely. Paralyzes you and you take, you get nothing. And sometimes you have to just take the emotion and set it aside.

[00:53:19] Take your [00:53:20] ego and put it over here and stop trying to control it. And just allow your subconscious mind to take charge, Okay, what am I trying to solve? Who am I trying to serve? And what’s the best way to do that? a really good book that helps with that. I have the same challenge, don’t get me wrong, and hundreds and thousands of people, we all do the same thing.

[00:53:39] We’re high achievers, we’re driven, we’re purposed. The reason we got there is cuz we do control stuff, . But on the flip side, when you’re trying to grow sometimes and it will trip you up. Mike Masterson wrote a book called Ready, Fire, Aim. Have you heard of it? No, I haven’t. Not now. It’s a great book that speaks to this specif.

[00:54:02] About us that have to have everything perfect, the perfect mvp, everything ready to go before it gets seen. And he gives you a little bit of don’t go there sloppy. Cuz we’re seeing a lot of that too. Bob, the expert, took a Facebook course and now he says he is a Facebook coach. Yeah, . But he is really not.

[00:54:21] He just took a course and he felt confident enough. So there’s that flip side where you go out, you get a few customers and then you actually can’t provide the service cuz you didn’t really know what you were doing. You just have a knowledge about that one thing. You can’t actually be a coach. So there’s that sloppy side.

[00:54:39] You don’t wanna be that. But then there is that other one where it’s too controlled and his book Ready, fire, Aim, ties it in the middle where give yourself a little leniency to step out there even when it’s not perfect. Yep. No, I, I’m gonna go, You know what’s funny is I literally just got an audible credit today.

[00:54:59] There you go. So [00:55:00] the universe is pointing me in a certain direction. So maybe go find if there’s an audio, audio version of that I can download. yeah, His book’s great. He’s got quite a few of ’em out there. That’s his, I think it’s, real name is John Ford, but Mike Mike Masterson is his pen name, but he writes all about businesses and marketing and stuff like that.

[00:55:16] Real. And it’s an easy read. It’s, you’ll definitely enjoy it. All right. It’s on the list. I’m gonna go look at app in a minute. Okay. So last step. So what are you gonna work on for the next 90 days?

[00:55:29] Gareth: Oh, where’s your focus? My focus is definitely on our nutrition and lifestyle coaching program. Okay.

[00:55:34] Um, that’s definitely where my focus is going to get that ready and get it out. Cuz I feel like it’s a, it’ll be a quick. A quick turnaround to get people in that program, get it running, and I realize to your, your great advice there is I just need to do it and then figure it out along the way.

[00:55:49] Gareth: It’s gonna be a 12 week course, so it’s gonna take a bit figuring out on the path. So yeah, my focus is definitely on that. And then, and building, building out more of our in-person courses and just trying to build that side of it. So they’re both the internal and the external parts and they’re the two big things.

[00:56:04] Audra: Good. Okay. So one, one other little secret trip, trick that you can use. Recipes are not copyrightable. Okay. Because ingredients are the ingredients. So what I would do, what I did for a few of my nutrition clients over the years is you can actually go to five. Are you familiar with five? Yep. Okay. Look up recipes.

[00:56:30] So say you want to have, a keto plan or a paleo plan, or a Mediterranean, whatever it is, vegan, you can actually go on [00:56:40] there and for 10 bucks, 20 bucks, I don’t know what it’d be Canadian, but you can get 50 or a hundred recipes that are very specific in those different diet plans, nutritional plans.

[00:56:55] Then you take them because they’re all mapped out and you change the copy at the beginning. So that intro paragraph where you’re gonna describe what it is, and then you just, you, change the closing paragraph. Maybe you’re talking about, a, I don’t know, a Greek salad. So you’d give a little description of, enjoy this on your summer porch.

[00:57:17] It’s got this, and this. And then you close it with this meets your, five of your vegetable credits or whatever it is, . But it allows you to get recipes very quickly up on your website, which is now blog content, which is now search indexed, which will drive more traffic to your website.

[00:57:36] And you didn’t have to write them and plan them. You bought ’em for 10 bucks and then you just swap out the top and the bottom through a really nice image that you can get for free from Unsplash. And you’ve got a new recipe a day scheduled on your website to go out like clock. Yeah, that’s a great idea.

[00:57:55] Gareth: I love that. And that’ll work really well for our nutrition, right? Correct. Lifestyle coaching. there you go. I got all the tips. I got no excuse really. Now, , tell me what you’re working on next. I’ll probably have a shortcut for you. No, but I will, As soon as this podcast, as soon as we edit it and put it up on, I’m gonna send you all the stuff about the AI and then the transcript thing for you to take a look at.

[00:58:19] Audra: I’m [00:58:20] about using as few pieces of technology as I need to and really using everything that one offers. don’t need 50 pieces. I just need four or five really good ones that can handle what I need done. Yep. All right, Gareth, thank you so much. I’ve enjoyed our conversation.

[00:58:36] Thank you.

[00:58:37] Thank you for the great tips. And I love these conversations, so I appreciate, coming on and getting to share the conversation with you.

[00:58:43] Good. Good. All right. Until next time, I’m gonna check back with you though, make sure your, nutrition program’s up and running.

[00:58:50] All right. it’ll be ready.

[00:58:51] I’m on it. All right? Have a great day.