The Warm Up with Kyle Wood - Bootcamp Ideas

Kyle Wood: It is about you can't
help people if you burn out.

That's the big message here.

If you burn out and leave the
industry, you are not helping people

in this industry at all anymore.

That's the reality.

Hello, welcome back to The Warm Up.

My name is Kyle Wood and
this show is for you.

It's for group fitness trainers,
personal trainers who are looking for,

to capture the words of someone
who emailed me last week.

They're looking to know they're not alone.

Uh, this podcast is really about
helping you get in the right head

space so you can do your best work
as a coach, as a business owner.

And yeah, I mean, that sound, it
does sound a bit, it does sound a

bit cheesy, saying that out loud,
but that, that's what we're here for.

So, uh, before we get into things,
I wanna share where the topic

of today's podcast comes from.

So, last week in my newsletter, I sent
out a thing saying, Hey, if I could

record a podcast episode just for you
on something that you are struggling

with or a challenge you're facing
at the moment, what would it be?

And I got an email back from Julie who
suggested, she suggested two podcasts.

Uh, she suggested this one that we're
doing today on how to avoid burnout.

And she also, um, asked about a podcast
episode where I talk about how to set up

like a six week or a 12 week bootcamp.

Like how do you structure that,
the workouts, things like that.

Uh, so that's gonna be an upcoming,
uh, episode, but today I thought.

Let's talk about burnout.

This is something I'm passionate about.

Uh, and by the way, if you're
not on my newsletter, you

should jump on the newsletter.

Uh, go to bootcamp ideas.com/newsletter.

The page might be a little bit
outdated, but there will definitely

be a spot on there where you
can put your email address in.

Uh, and you'll get my weekly newsletter
where I send out, uh, it's, it's

always morphing, but there's always.

Some sort of workout idea in there
that you can use at your classes.

And there's always something in
there to sort of help you either with

running your business more efficiently
or, um, or like finding new clients'

ideas for finding new clients.

It's always something that
you can just take and use.

That's the point of the newsletter.

It's not to add another thing
to your to-do list each week.

Uh, it's to help you, uh, get, get
things done, get more in alignment

with who you are as a trainer.

So bootcamp ideas.com/newsletter.

I'll include it below,
um, in the show notes too.

But let's get into today.

So burnout in PTs is a real thing.

I don't know what the statistics are
now, but certainly when I joined I

was told that about 90% of PTs left
the industry within their first

year, um, of getting qualified.

So they didn't even last
12 months and I'd say.

It's probably similar now.

Uh, I think we're seeing
a little bit different.

We're seeing trainers come in and try
their hand at the online stuff, um, which

is an even tougher market to get into.

Um, so yeah, I'd say yeah, we're
probably seeing, uh, similar numbers

of trainers who aren't sticking around.

And the reason is 'cause a lot of
them end up just running out of steam.

Uh.

Group fit, uh, fitness.

Being a fitness professional is sold
to you as being a way of like really

helping people, but also a way of like,
there's so much stuff in our industry.

I see other coaches talk about
freedom and stuff like that.

Uh, that certainly appealed to me as
a trainer, that I could choose how

much I was charging people per hour.

So I got to dictate my value of my
time instead of some other person.

Um, but.

You can get caught in
a trap and we'll talk.

That's one of the bees we're
gonna talk about today.

You can get caught in a trap of working
really hard and not seeing much in your

bank account at the end of the day for it.

And I'm working at strange hours
that maybe disrupt your family.

When I was younger, that wasn't an
issue, but now I have a young family.

I've gotta think about the
time I spend with them and.

The times that they're at school,
at daycare, it tends to be the

times that people don't wanna train.

So, you know, that's something we've
had to manage with my wife going

back and setting up our home, uh,
studio where she now trains clients

out of that has been something
we've had to, we've had to navigate.

Uh, and definitely our experience
from years and years and years

of being trainers has helped
us set that up in a way.

That feels really good for our
family and feels really good for her.

Like she gets to see
people and train people.

Feels good for her clients.

But I think if we hadn't had that
experience, you could easily fall

onto this trap of trainer burnout.

So the first thing I wanna say
is that everyone's capacity

as a trainer is different.

I worked with one of my early
mentors, he saw 80 clients a

week, so that was 81 on one.

One-on-one.

Or he did do some doubles and.

Triples, but mostly
one-on-one clients a week.

Uh, so he was working every day
and had his own studio, so he

had overheads, things like that.

But, you know, I ran the numbers on it and
he was earning his, earning pretty good

money, but he was working 80 hours a week.

Uh, so it's a lot.

And I was like, I can never do that.

He wanted me to get to
20 PT sessions with him.

I was splitting my time with him
and, uh, for a couple, for myself

and for another organization.

And even 20 at his studio felt too much.

It, I knew if I hit that I would, yeah,
I would be approaching that burnout.

So that's not even a quarter
of what he was doing.

Uh, so everyone's capacity
is really different.

That's one of the things for me
that appealed about group fitness.

He was kind of a bit nervous
about group fitness because it

was out of his comfort zone.

The idea for him of, of managing 20
clients at once versus just one client.

He was happy to just show up and see
lots and lots of one-on-one clients.

Where as for me, it was like, I need
a way to make money as a trainer

where I'm not just at the gym, at
the studio all the time because

I, yeah, I'm just gonna burn out.

Uh, so for me, it felt better to manage,
you know, a large group of clients,

uh, the same number of group of clients
as him, but have them come in as a

group and see me a few times a week.

So that's the first thing I wanna say.

Everyone's capacity is different.

Don't compare yourself to what someone
else is doing and online today.

That's so tricky.

Uh, I've had the privilege of
seeing behind the scenes of some big

online coaches and things like that.

They have teams, people, they
do not do everything themselves.

They've got teams of people who,
especially the ones who do a lot of

content, uh, a lot of Instagram, a lot of
social media, they're not post, they're

not on there posting that themselves.

A very few of them are, but most of
them have content managers or they've

outsourced it to another company
that they pay who does that for them.

So yes, they may create the
content, but someone else edits

it, someone else puts it up.

So you certainly do not compare yourself
to what you're seeing on, at, you

know, in the window on the surface of
their business because again, you will

burn yourself out trying to keep up.

As one person with a group of people
when you shouldn't be spending your time

writing content anyway, you should be
spending your time training clients.

So capacity is different.

The other thing I want to do is say
you need to regularly check in on what

your capacity is for a period of time.

Maybe while you're getting started, you
will work beyond your capacity, but.

Like I said, continuing to do that is
going to lead to burnout eventually.

So you need to check in with yourself
and say, okay, I'm reaching the

end of this period of this like
getting started period where I'm

just gonna train anyone who comes in.

I'm gonna need to start being
more picky about the hours I, I.

Run, uh, work and things like that.

So knowing when that moment happens.

I'm also working with some of you
who've been following my stuff

for like a decade, and you are
reaching the end of your career.

So your, your capacity is changing again,
and you're coming to me and saying, but

trainer's saying to me, you know, I'm, I'm
thinking about retirement, or I'm thinking

about semi-retirement, or my husband's,
or my wife's retired and they want to

travel more, so I need a, I need a way
that I can take more time off or I can.

Work in a more condensed fashion.

So being really smart about that too,
because if you continue to work at

your same capacity into, um, this,
the way things are now, uh, having

children's, another one, I know that
definitely changes your capacity.

Yeah.

You need to be smart about this.

Uh, and you need to be,
you need a reality check.

And at those moments, that's when
you might need to implement some

of the stuff I talk about today,
or you might need to look at.

How can I change my business
to serve me where I'm at now?

How can I use the momentum
I've built by working hard?

Um, seeing lots of people,
getting lots of experience.

How can I now transform that and how can
I do that in a way that makes sense to me?

Not necessarily how can I do
this in a way that makes that

I'm seeing someone else do it?

That's really important too.

So.

That's the stuff I wanted to
get outta the way at the start.

Now let's talk about the three Bs.

So the three Bs for avoiding
burnout are boundaries.

Oh, si.

Sorry.

I know this word's been overused.

We're gonna talk about it.

I'm gonna hopefully talk about it
in a new way that, um, makes sense.

Batching.

We can go into that.

Something I do not see enough trainers do.

Uh, and then the last one is bank,
so it's related to your income.

Uh, and again, I'm gonna try and
approach that in a different way than

maybe what you're used to hearing about,
which is like, you should charge more,

you need high ticket, da, da, da, da.

So let's actually like, have a proper
conversation about that instead of

just regurgitating the same crap
you hear other coaches say online.

Really hoping that can be the way
the direction this podcast goes is.

Talking about the crap you hear online
regurgitated that someone's just listened

to someone else saying, and actually
give you some reality checks on this

from someone who has genuinely stuck
to really hard boundaries in my life.

Even if it's meant at the sacrifice of
other things like income and stuff like

that because of what my values are, uh,
and having, and then sticking to that.

I'm hoping I can be a breath of fresh
air rather than someone who's just like,

I see an opportunity here to make money.

Let's talk about the
first B boundaries now.

Um, I wanted to, the way I thought
we would just approach this is, let's

talk about what, like a real boundary.

It's like a fence around your property.

Now.

A lot of us have maybe heard
about boundaries and we've tried

to implement putting boundaries
in place and haven't worked.

And here's why.

Uh, you know, maybe you are like,
I'm going to go, you know, thinking

about starting new habits, or I'm
gonna like distance myself from

this person who's kind of toxic.

Uh, and then it hasn't gone very well.

Um, so if you think, let's
go back to the fence.

So if you think about a fence around
a house now, if your house didn't have

a fence, and I was like, right, you've
gotta build a fence around this house.

You, I'm presuming most people
who are watching this don't have

a carpentry background or don't
have like a woodworking background

or a brick laying background.

And you'd be like, okay, I understand
what a, I know what a fence looks like.

I can look over there,
my neighbor's fence.

Um, I could make something maybe
that looks like that or be like one

of those funny, like Pinterest fails
where people try and like make.

The cake.

Um, try and decorate the cake
and it looks nothing like it.

It'll be similar things.

So you create your fence.

Maybe it looks like a fence, but then the
first day there's a bit of a gusty wind.

It just blows over.

'cause maybe you haven't,
you didn't know how far.

I don't know how, how far you,
you meant to dig the post holes.

Are you meant to cement them in?

I, I have no idea.

What kind of nails are you meant to use?

What if you didn't have a nail gun?

Uh, why don't they use screws?

All these questions about fence making.

Or maybe you're in a
hurry to put up a fence.

So you just put a few stakes in the ground
and then you wrap some wire around it.

But, um, anyone can just duck under,
duck between the wire and get through

the fence, any animals, any people.

So if your goal for that fence is really
to keep people out, um, or to have

privacy, um, people can just see through
it and just, just still come through.

Um, get through the fence, no issues.

So.

I think that's what
happens for a lot of us.

When we think about boundaries,
we end up, we are like, I

know what it should look like.

I know, you know, maybe I need a switch
off from work earlier in the day.

I know what that looks like.

But you end up creating a boundary
that doesn't actually hold up to

any pressure, and if you create
boundaries, it will undergo pressure.

Boundaries essentially create friction.

A fence creates friction.

Someone can still jump the fence on
the side of my house here and get in

if they want, but they're gonna have
to climb over the fence to get there.

So it's creating friction.

Um, and if someone's used to
walking into the back of my house,

they're gonna be kind of annoyed.

They're gonna be like, why did you
not at least put a gate here for me?

I'm having to jump your fence every time.

It's really annoying.

And they're not getting the message
that it's like, I don't, I don't want

you to come into the backyard anymore.

It's the same thing, like when you
put a boundary in place, it's gonna

create friction for people around you.

It's gonna create some,
um, friction for you.

And you might get resistance to that.

You might get people saying, Hey, they
might not get the message initially.

So, and as it can be at that point
that we ca we're like, okay, I'm sorry

that my fence is really annoying,
so I'm just gonna take it down.

Or ain't gonna put that gate in for
you so you can still, when the goal,

the reason we built the fence in the
first place was because we didn't want

the person coming into our backyard.

Now we've built a gate for 'em to come
into the backyard, because I hope you guys

are following this metaphor and hopefully
smiling a little bit and nodding along.

Thinking about, um, maybe a time you've
tried to set a boundary in your business

or life and you've ended up doing
what I've described in the metaphor.

So what do we do?

How do we actually build a boundary?

How do we create a boundary
that people are gonna stick to?

I wanna use another example with you.

Uh, I drink coffee every so often.

I start drinking more and
more coffee during the week.

So I do a reset and I'll take a
week off from drinking a coffee.

And to be honest, it ends
up being like six days.

But it does work.

It does reset my tolerance to coffee.

However, if I really was serious about
getting rid of like my addiction to

caffeine, I would need to take three
months to really let the effects

of caffeine and the withdrawals and
everything to come outta my system.

Now I know if I set myself a
boundary around caffeine for three

months, I'm gonna fail that I'm not
going to stick to that boundary.

But a week and a week, that
ends up being six days.

I can do, and I'm still
reaping a lot of the benefit.

I'm going from having maybe
three coffees to get a day back

to just having one coffee a day.

So that's what, that's the
way we wanna build boundaries.

We wanna build it in a way
that's realistic for you and

what you can cope with right now.

Because building boundaries
takes energy as well.

And if you are stuck in this catch 22,
this cycle of you've got no energy,

but you haven't got energy because
you haven't got good boundaries.

'cause you're messaging back clients
at eight o'clock, nine o'clock, 10

o'clock at night, uh, first thing in
the morning, and you're just thinking

about work, thinking, thinking, thinking
about work, and you don't really feel

like you have the energy to really
put some good boundaries in place.

Um, it maybe like you, you'll see some.

Some TikTok or some reel that's
like, I just do this and then my

life is amazing and it's wonderful,
and I never look at my phone.

Um, and I never message people when
I don't want to, however it goes.

So yeah, we need to be realistic
about what, what's realistic for you.

So maybe for you, you've identified that
you lack a boundary around your phone.

You, you know, 10 years ago.

I had pretty strict boundaries
around my phone use.

Nowadays, it's so ubiquitous with our
lives that you, the idea of, of having a

boundary around your phone seems weird.

And we're wearing, like, I don't, this
is the reason I don't have a smartwatch.

If you watching the video, you'll
see there's no smart watch.

I don't have a smartwatch because I
know that's just not gonna help me.

Um, but if you go smartwatch and
you're sleeping with it, track

your sleep, things like that.

And you're not using flight
mode or something like that.

You, you know, you, you're just getting
those notifications all the time.

You're in the middle.

Oh, it drives me crazy.

Someone's in the middle of a conversation
with me and they get a notification.

They look at it.

I've seen people recently in
presentations, um, through one

of the organizations I'm part of.

We go and do training
and things like that.

And, and like in the middle of the
org, the middle of the presentation,

they get a notification and their
eyes go down to check their phone.

And it's like you are giving
a presentation right now.

To us, what possible notification
could you need to look at in the

middle of, you know, working with
people That's more important than, than

giving the presentation, but we do it.

They probably didn't even
realize they did it because it's

just become part of our life.

But it is adding stress.

It is jacking our cortisol up.

And how can we be trained as talking about
fitness and health when we're living in a

way that is jacking our stress system up.

Your, if your stress levels are
higher as well, you're not gonna

be able to deal with the sometimes
stressful moments in your business too.

And that's why, again, we burn out too
much stress, too much all the time.

There's no up and down.

I'm sure you've heard the thing about
stress where it's like it's a thing

that is designed to help us through
a dangerous period and then go away.

And nowadays we just have it all the time.

So people are doing ice baths and
things like that to try and, um.

Try and mitigate the issues that
they're getting from, uh, from

just being tapped in all the time.

But let's, anyway, I digress.

Let's get back to what I was talking
about, which is how do you create

a boundary that's gonna suit you?

So here's my advice.

Create something that
actually works for you.

So if your goal is, I.

Feel like I'm on call 24 7 to my clients.

They're messaging me all the time.

In an ideal world, world, you might set
yourself work hours and say, between

this time and this time, I'm gonna
respond and I'm not gonna respond.

Um, so that I'm like present
with my family so that I can

get a chance to wind down.

Now actually doing that when you can feel
the notifications going on, off, on you.

On your wrist or, or you know,
your phone that's next to you,

it's gonna be really hard.

As soon as that message comes
through, that compulsion to

check it is gonna come through.

So what I would recommend, instead
of setting yourself these arbitrary

things, do something like, when I'm
at home, I'm not training people.

I'm not out for a walk or whatever.

So I don't need to track my steps
or whatever, my watch and take

my watch off, take my phone off,
put 'em on the kitchen bench.

Then I can use my phone, I can respond to
as many messages as I need to, but I've

gotta walk over to the kitchen, bench,
bench, respond to the message there,

and then go back to whatever I'm doing.

Uh, like right now, I'm,
I'm recording this podcast.

My phone is out in the kitchen
bench, so it's not a distraction.

'cause if that went off right
now, if you know it's silent.

But if I heard the vibration while
I was in the middle of talking to

you, that would get me thinking,
oh, I need to go look at that.

So that's what I recommend you do, uh,
is if that feels more comfortable than

setting yourself like, oh, after five.

But it might not, that might
feel too uncomfortable for you.

It might be, I'm gonna have
work hours, I'm gonna have these

times that I respond to clients,
that I don't respond to clients.

And as for the friction,
it's gonna create for them.

Like maybe someone's wanting
to respond to you right away.

One of the things I've found is that.

People often figure stuff out for
themselves if you give them 24 hours.

So if someone messages you in the evening
about something and maybe it seems like

a dire problem, often by the morning
when you message 'em back, you'd be

like, Hey, do you solve the problem?

They don't have the problem anymore.

So you're just taking on because you're
more accessible, because technology

makes everyone more accessible.

Um, people are reaching out to you when
they don't actually need you, so you

can afford to pull back a little bit.

Create a bit of friction that's
going to get the person maybe

to solve their own problem.

And then you can check in
with the coach on how it went.

How did you solve your own problem?

And ultimately, that's what we
want for our clients, right?

We want them to be able to
solve their own problems.

So that's boundaries.

I've talked about that, um, for
that eight minutes longer than

I planned to talk about it.

Uh, but it's a really important
one because if you don't have

those boundaries in place.

You are gonna burn out in this industry.

So let's go into the second
B, which is batching.

So this is more strategic.

Batching is when you take a group
of tasks that you do each week or

maybe each month, and instead of just
doing them willy-nilly throughout the

week, you bring them together into
one time and do them all at once.

So.

Perhaps.

Um, so yeah, one I've been thinking about,
I've been thinking about running this

as a bit of a challenge and calling it
like community 15 or something like that.

And basically it's where you would
spend 15 minutes a day doing all of your

community related activities for clients.

So in this time you would reply
to social media con comments.

So you wouldn't reply to comments
outside, you would reply to them.

Inside this 15 minutes a day, you would
send a couple of text messages to clients

telling them, Hey, um, you are awesome and
I really like what you, what you're doing.

Uh, and it would change each day.

But the point is that you would do 'em
together in this one 15 minute moment.

Uh, and maybe, maybe you're batching
everything that needs your phone.

So these messages, these, um, these
comments, these things like that, it's

all this phone stuff that you can just.

Use your phone, get everything
done and then put it away.

Uh, same thing with emails.

Don't turn the notifications
off your emails.

No email is ever that time sensitive
that I can't wait 24 hours once a day

using your computer or your phone.

Going, check your emails, respond
to all the emails you need to

respond to, and then leave it alone.

That's another good batching.

Planning your workouts.

Don't plan your workouts each day.

Take some time each week.

Plan all of your workouts for a week.

Yes, in the moment it's gonna feel
hard, but it's going to give you so

much more space the rest of the week.

'cause you don't have to think
about what work can am I doing?

What am I, all you have to do is look
at what you planned and away you go.

Uh, what's another comment?

Batching social media.

Every social media platform allows
you to schedule posts nowadays.

Don't post all the time, you know,
get, get on your phone, create your

post for the week or whatever, maybe
create four posts and then you've got a

month of content done and away you go.

The point with all of these is
that there is energy you are using,

either thinking about something or
getting things ready to do a task.

And when you do multiple
these tasks together.

It saves you from using
that energy each time.

So say, yeah, let's go back
to planning your workout.

So say you plan your workout
for the next day, each day.

Well, each day you're gonna
need to get into the spot where

you like to plan workouts.

You're gonna need to open, if you
use boot craft, you're gonna need

to open Boot Craft, have a look
through for the workouts, um, pick

a workout you like, you know, put
it in the plan, do all the stuff.

Whereas if you do four or five
workouts a week in one go.

You're just gonna sit
down once open boot craft.

Now you're gonna find
four different ideas.

Cool.

Maybe you found one for tomorrow, or
maybe you found one for later in the week.

That doesn't work for tomorrow,
but you can go and pop that in

for later, later in the week.

Now.

It saves a lot of time and energy.

And then, yeah, just the energy
of not having to think about it.

Remember when I talk about boundaries,
I was talking about how we're, we

are stressed because we've got all
these things on our mind all the time.

Batching helps us, helps our brain relax.

Knowing I've got that time
that I'm gonna do that.

I don't need to worry about it till then.

And then after I've done it, I don't
need to worry about it for the next week.

Seems very novel in today's world where
we're getting trained more and more

by the technology we use to respond to
urgency all of the time at all times.

So batching.

Batching is another way
to stay sane as a trainer.

Um, yeah.

I think that's good on batching.

Alright, last one.

Let's talk about bank.

So bank is all about the money in your
bank account and the money that's going

into your bank account, because this is
the other thing I see with trainers that

burn out is they're working really hard.

They're really, you know, they're really
passionate about helping their clients

and they're not making any money.

And so the lure of a full-time job.

Where you just rock up and
get paid some money each week

becomes really, really appealing.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

Um, again, this goes back to the
advice I gave at the start where I was

like, you need to reassess sometimes.

So you may have charged one price to
get things off the ground and to get

some new clients in, and that's great.

You know, maybe you decided I'm
not gonna listen to everyone else

who's telling me I need to do this
high ticket stuff all the time.

I'm just gonna get out there.

I'm gonna get some experience and I'm
gonna charge a little bit lower than my

competitors so I can get some experience.

Great.

Now you've got that experience.

Now you need to put your prices up or you
need to change the way you charge money.

Uh, there's this one trainer I always
think of who burned out and left the

industry and she was doing so well.

She was really helping
her local community.

She had a thriving bootcamp, um, but
she was not good at the boundaries.

She was responding to
clients all the time.

Um, and she wasn't good at the bank.

She wasn't good at charging,
uh, a good amount of money.

She really wanted to help people.

So she ran a six week challenge,
uh, that ran on top of her bootcamp.

So people started to pay the, come the
classes, but to do the challenge, but

involved, you know, check, I think it was
weekly check-ins and all sorts of stuff.

She, um, charged a hundred dollars
and she had like 20 people sign up.

So it was great.

So it was a big success.

But it killed her.

It broke her that challenge.

Six weeks of 20 people messaging her 24 7.

Uh, and she was really working
with like clients who were

maybe new to health and fitness.

So they had a lot of questions.

Um, and yeah, she only charged
a hundred bucks for it because

she wanted to help more people.

Uh, so she made two grand for that
six weeks, which for something you

might be like, oh, that's amazing.

Um.

But for her two grand to completely
lose any boundaries around her personal

life and just be on call 24 7 wasn't
enough, and it killed me a bit because

I saw the potential her business had.

She just needed to change her
pricing a bit, be a bit clearer with

clients about when she was available
and when she wasn't available.

And yeah, and charge more money.

Like imagine if she had charged
300 or $400 for that challenge,

she would've had less sign up
signups, but then she would've

been managing less clients as well.

So she might've only had five clients
sign up, but she'd be making the same

amount of money if she was charging 400.

Uh, and now she's only got five clients
and now she can really help those

clients, um, and really identify what
are some of the things these people.

Are struggling with, and then the next
time she runs it, she can have sit down

and write up, you know, an FAQ sheet
or do some, some little FAQ videos.

And each time she, yeah, maybe
each time, um, she answered a

question for one of the clients.

She did a quick video of it
and she put all this videos on,

you know, privately on YouTube.

And then anytime the next time she
did a challenge, someone asks her

a question, she just sends them
the link to the YouTube video.

There's stuff like that that
we can do in our business,

which is, it's not impersonal.

It is about you can't help
people if you burn out.

That's the big message here.

If you burn out and leave the
industry, you are not helping people

in this industry at all anymore.

I mean, unless you go to a
different job inside the industry.

But if you burn out, that's the reality.

So if your business is
not making enough money.

That you feel like you are
being rewarded for your time,

then you won't be here anymore.

And those people that you are
charging a low amount of money and

giving a high amount of service
to they, they're gonna have to go

and find someone else to help 'em.

And that person is not gonna be
able to help them in the unique

way that you are able to help them.

And that's why bank as much as.

I'm not great.

I, I feel uncomfortable
talking about money sometimes.

Like I get it.

I, I, that's the, the era I grew up in.

Um, but I knew it was important 'cause it
is a real issue that I see with trainers

who are overgiving and undercharging.

And now I'm not saying you have to
go out and put together your $2,000.

I don't know if you see this, get
seen this stuff online or your

$2,000 high ticket coaching pro.

Program and just saying you need
to charge accordingly for what

you're offering or if you are gonna
offer something that's low cost.

You need to be really clear about
what's included for a hundred,

a hundred dollars for six weeks.

Does not give someone access to
text you or message you 24 7.

That is a premium coaching
offering, um, a hundred dollars

per month for for six weeks.

Give someone access to a
community-based chat or group

where they can help each other.

That's the kind of stuff where you just
dip in and out of, you have your, your

batching time and you just jump in that
group, um, chat, you know, for 10, 15,

20 minutes, uh, a day, four or five days
a week, and you give some help there.

Um, it's not one where you, so,
so yeah, being clear about that,

like, am I charging the right price?

For the service that I'm giving people.

And if I have been undercharging
in order to get more clients,

is it time to put my prices up?

And if people love what
you do, they will pay more.

'cause they'll be like, oh yeah, you,
you have been like undercharging,

like this has been a steel.

And that's pretty much the
reaction to every trainer I help

with increasing their prices.

Is that.

They're worried that
everyone's gonna leave them.

And pretty much always the clients
are like, no, this makes sense.

Um, we love what you do.

So those are our three Bs.

So boundaries, setting
realistic boundaries for you.

And so they might be really, and for
what you are capable of doing right

now, if you're super overwhelmed,
adding another thing you have to do

in the form of upholding a boundary.

Is just gonna make you more overwhelmed.

Like, let me be real about this.

That's exactly what's gonna happen and
you're gonna fail and then you're gonna

beat yourself up 'cause you fail and
it's just gonna turn into a whole thing.

So a realistic boundary.

So what is your version?

Instead of taking three months off
coffee, taking six days off coffee,

what is your version of that?

That's just gonna give you a little
bit more space, um, around what you do.

The second thing is batching.

This is an easy one.

Once you start batching stuff,
you'll get hooked and you'll

want to batch everything.

But start with something that we
all do, which is plan workouts.

Start by planning your workouts.

Then move to social media if you
do a lot of social media or move

to reply, even replying to clients.

Maybe there's a 30 minute window each
day that you reply to client messages

and just tell everyone, Hey, this
is when I reply to client Messages

Bank.

Make sure you're charging
what you're worth.

Do the uncomfortable thing
of increasing your prices.

Yes, it's uncomfortable, uh, but, and
make sure you are, you are charging when

you got a new idea for something, maybe
you charge less the first time you run

it, but in exchange for being like, Hey,
you guys are gonna get in at this level,

or I'm gonna give you a little bit more
service, but I'm really expecting like

feedback and testimonials from you.

And then they do it.

And then you get the feedback
testimonials and now you bring

it out at the full price.

So we're running a bit long on
the episode, but I do want to just

share what this looked like in
my life, like how I applied this.

So going back to when I was working
for that trainer who was doing

80 sessions a week, things were
becoming unmanageable for me too.

Um.

During that period, I remember there
was like a week when I got two speeding

tickets and the ticket for running, like,
you know, going late through a red arrow

and I can't remember nowadays it would be
even more, but at the time it was probably

like about $800, um, in, in fines.

And I never get tickets.

Um, I can't remember the last
ticket I got, like it's been years.

Um.

Dec, maybe a decade.

And it was a big wake up call.

It was like, if the universe is telling
me that I need to slow down, it's now.

And I realized I was rushing
around because I was working at

two different studios running my
bootcamp and running outdoor group

fitness sessions for another company.

So I had it pretty well worked out that
I'd be like in one spot for a morning,

but I was still having to get around
and we had moved a little bit further

away, like, you know, in the end of like
five or 10 minutes, but it was enough.

That.

Yeah, I was, I was just, I was rushing,
I was going, you know, over the speed,

you know, obviously going over the
speed limit, um, when I thought I could

get away with it and stuff like that.

And yeah, it was just like, something's
off here because I'm not inside

my values, which is like to be a
safe driver to people on the road.

So what's going on here?

And, um, I realized I needed to pull back.

And it was a great, it was a
great chance to be like, oh, I'm

pushing things too, too hard here.

And so how can I change things so that
I'm still earning the same amount of

money and I am, I'm, you know, I'm, I can
be more relaxed, I can be more focused.

And I realized it was time to stop
working at all these different places,

and that was a hard conversation to have.

Um, but I also realized that the
bootcamp, I needed to do more

sessions at the bootcamp, uh, so
that I could bring my income back up.

So what I ended up doing was that
was when I switched from one hour

bootcamp sessions to 45 minutes, and
then I batched my bootcamp sessions.

I ran two bootcamps back to back,
uh, instead of running one session.

So I was charging the same amount, but
for 45 minute session instead of an hour.

Didn't change the price.

And I was adding another session
that I could fill up with people.

So it was only a half hour longer
that I was at the park, but I was

getting, um, considerably more money.

The second classes never were as full
as the original, but it was still more

money for just a little bit extra work.

That's the kind of stuff I'm
talking about when you're thinking

about how to make things work.

Um, I often hear trainers be like,
oh, I'm thinking about running

a session on, on this night.

And it's a not, they're not even
working at the moment and they're,

they're gonna add another session,
or they've got a session that they

run every week that's got like one
or two people who rock up to it.

It's like, get rid of that session.

I'm like, it's a no brainer.

Like I know it's one client and
you're like, oh, that's the only

session that client can go to.

But those clients who I say to them, let
go of that session, and then they don't.

They're the ones who six, 12
months later are telling me,

Hey, I'm leaving the industry.

You've gotta protect yourself.

You've gotta protect your energy.

They're no longer out there helping
the people in their community.

That's the reality of it.

They're no longer out there running
their classes and helping people,

and you know, maybe that is the
right choice for them at their time.

But if your goal is to really help
people in this industry, you need

to be helping yourself and doing
things that are actually sustainable.

So making that change to the bootcamps.

It meant that I could then let
go of one of the studios I was

working at let go of the company.

Uh, and I was just
working in the same area.

'cause the studio I was still working
at and the bootcamp were about

500 meters away from each other.

I was just in that same area.

Uh, and life was good.

I could ride my bike.

Um, I, yeah, had sessions back to back.

It was, yeah, it was fantastic.

So that's what I want you
to take away from this is.

It can be hard.

It was hard.

It was hard saying goodbye to
those other companies, but you

need to, you need to take action.

When you start seeing the warning
signs, when you start seeing the,

like, I'm exhausted, or I am,
I've got someone who's, um, who's

like, I'm getting really upset.

Maybe I'm overreacting to things
that are happening in my business.

I'm starting to resent
going to my classes.

Yes, we all go through periods
like that, but ultimately

you need to make sure that you
are looking after yourself.

And that's, that's the
key to avoiding burnout.

So maybe applying all three of these
words is gonna seem too overwhelming.

So what I want you to do, uh,
today is take a moment and.

Um, maybe pick one thing.

So what's it gonna be?

Is a bank you need to be charging
more or maybe you need to change

what the offer is so that you're
not including as much in the price.

Uh, are you going to start batching
something that you do each week?

Start trying to do it all in one day?

Um, or are you going to set
a new boundary for something?

That's the thing.

Alright.

Um, this has been a long one,
but hopefully a really good one.

And, uh, I'm gonna wrap it up there
if you, again, if you like the

podcast, please show me any love
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Head to bootcamp ideas.com/newsletter

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Um, and yeah, let's
leave it there for today.

Alright, I'm gonna catch you guys later.

Bye.