We've all bought a book at Barnes & Noble because we were lured in by a pretty cover, but how many
of us have avoided a book that we've been repeatedly recommended simply because we didn't like the title or cover art?
I intentionally avoided reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck for an extended period because I assumed that its title was essentially the hardcover equivalent to internet click-bait. As far as I was concerned, dropping an F-Bomb on the cover of a book was a cheap way to get attention. My instinct was telling me that the book would be mediocre
at best.
I was wrong. I finally pulled the trigger on this one, and ended up dedicating my blog post this week to a handful of the lessons I learned while working my way through it. As per tradition, I'd like to start this week's Friday-4 with the material published on my own website:
- Gym Owner Musings - Installment #7 - I did a whole lot of highlighting as I worked my way through Mark Manson's SAONGAF. This post features three of my favorite parts, with an explanation of how they apply to the world of gym ownership.
My Friday FOUR:
Four pieces of content I've consumed this past week that will influence my future blog material and challenge me to think differently about how I manage Cressey Sports Performance - as always, I'm looking to bring you some business-specific information from outside of the world of fitness. Enjoy:
- Hey Brands, Here's Why People Call You Out on Social Media - There were a couple of little surprises tucked into this quick post outlining the findings of a poll taken by
Sprout Social. For starters, I was surprised at how few of the respondents did so because of discussion on political issues (just 14%). More than half of the survey respondents were simply hoping for an apology from the business. Give this one a read to see all of the reasons people may have come at your business on a social platform and put some thought into how to diffuse future situations.
- Facebook is Losing Ground Among Teenagers for the First Time (Ever) This Year - We (CSP) recently hosted 20 collegiate athletes from all over the country (and one from Australia) for a summer development program and I collected a fair amount of social media information from them in advance. 16 of the 20 athletes checked the "not on Facebook" box in my survey. At the same time, all but one of them was active on either or both Snapchat and Instagram. Which prompts me to ask you, if you are currently running a
performance gym catering to HS and college athletes, why would you spend a single dollar on Facebook advertising? If your answer is "to get on the radar of parents," fine. However, those of us who are in the game know that our HS clients make it into our gym more because it is their idea than it is about their parent's wishes.
- 4 Keys to Bringing More Women Into the Tech Industry - We received 197 internship applications in 2016. Guess how many of them were female? Only 14 of them. Less than 10% of the people applying were female. This is discouraging for a number of reasons. If fitness facilities like CSP want to deliver a training environment that speaks to multiple demographics, employing a female staff
member is of the utmost importance. While tech is nothing like fitness, I think the overarching message and tips shared apply to getting more female fitness professionals through the doors of performance enhancement facilities.
- Why Raising Your Personal Credit Score Especially Matters for Entrepreneurs - Very few of the fitness professionals who aspire to one day open their own gym will have the funds to do so entirely out of pocket. This means they're
going to borrow money to do so, and their credit score is going to be the difference between affordable borrowing, and everything else. This post does a nice job of giving you an entry level understanding of where your personal credit needs to be in order to borrow, and how to attack the process of building your number up into the 700+ range in the next 18-36 months.
Make sure to let me know if you come across any material that you think I'd enjoy. More
importantly, have a great weekend!
- Pete
