I know, we are run off our feet most of the time. Life is a bit hectic as a self-employed class instructor, personal trainer or dance instructor. Here are the 5 systems that save me the most time & stress, so I feel like I am mostly on top of things when I'm busy.
Banking Apps - whether it’s running multiple different bank accounts as a sole trader to squirrel away studio hire and tax or using an app like Mettle that allows you to save money in ‘Pots’ for business banking, this is the single biggest thing that stops me from stressing at the end of the month. The first thing I do when all my memberships are collected in is move the money for my studio hire out of my current account and likewise my rent for Personal Training. Same with the tax. I will never again be caught with my pants down by the taxman and making sure I have everything ready and saved is a priority. However you run your banking, make sure you have all of your costs covered ahead of time. One of the most stressful thing I see in some of my friends is realising they don’t have the money to cover an invoice their venue has sent them…. Which isn’t great for instructor-venue relations.
Booking System - I’ve used a booking system for around 7 years and I would never go back to a spreadsheet and a print-out ever again. I switched over to Gymcatch from Mindbody a few months ago and it’s been a godsend. The discount codes and client messaging function mean I can work on my client relationships without the high ticket price I was paying before. This week I sent out personalised discount codes to 60 local businesses…. I couldn’t have done this without using a booking system so I know I can prepare for any newbies who will book in.
Social Media Planner - I’ve got a geeky little calendar I made in a spreadsheet on Google Drive so I can brainstorm my ideas and allocate them to the day and then I use another tab to store the information for each individual post. I put in the post theme, link to the copy in Drive and link to the graphic too. This means I know when I can use the same piece of content again 6 months down the line even if it needs a bit of a tweak in Canva.
Business Buddy check-ins - every Monday 3pm without fail, me and my business buddy MJ Coaching Video chat for 30 minutes. There’s no chit chat, we come straight in with our updates, our wins for the week and what we could have done better and then we set targets for the following week. It holds us both accountable and neither of us want to show up without having got a decent chunk of our shizzle done. And we share software and process ideas even though we run completely different business models. It really sets the tone for the rest of the week.
Timetabling - life is busy. We’re always juggling everything and I work best when I timetable out my week. I know when my PT clients are in weeks in advance, what time my workouts are, what time slots I have to do admin and write emails etc and what time slots Ive got booked for filming. This means I can avoid feeling like Ive dropped the ball (which is my worst emotion) so being super organised in my giant paper diary (yup I still use one) means that even if Im busy as hell I can still see where I have time to get my admin done…. And when I need to say no to new PT clients or other jobs that come in. It also means I can put a big line through the day when Im having the day off AND that I can do my planning without having my phone in my hand so I cant see notifications coming in!
Some of these things take a bit of time to get set up and to start feeling comfortable with but believe me they are game changers once you are up and running :)
PS. Use AMF10 to save 10% on Gymcatch 💜💜