Corinne:

A big thing that happened when I first started teaching group fitness was that I really wanted to be the best and I wanted to be really structured and almost was a bit robotic Corinne when I first started teaching my classes, but as I sort of said at the start, people actually come to your classes and they come to your community and your fitness group, because they love you as a person, and they love the energy you put out. So just be yourself, be the quirky you that you are, and your community will be naturally attracted to you for that. And I think it's important to let that side of you show, you know, through your social media, through your marketing, you know, use colors that are a resemblance of, you know, resemblance of who you are, use words, and I guess, phrases and quotes that would resemble who you are as a person. And yeah, in your group fitness classes, actually allow yourself to be yourself and don't do what I did, and try and be robo version of you. Try and let a little bit of your personality shine as well, because I think people really want to actually connect with you on that level when you do that.

Will:  

Hey, I'm Will Brereton, founder of Sh1ft Fitness. And this is Group Fitness Real Talk, a show about how to survive and even thrive in group fitness in 2021 and beyond. As live group fitness comes back, and we'll start to breathe a collective sigh of relief. I know that a lot of listeners are going to be very keen to ditch the online workouts that we've been forced into over the past year. But if today's guest is proof of anything, it's that there's so much value in having a digital presence. And it's so important to think long and hard about your long term strategy and goals when it comes to teaching group fitness. Today I'm welcoming on the show Corinne Blight. Corinnne is the founder of Limitless Fitness and Nutrition. She's been working in the fitness industry for nearly a decade as a group, fitness instructor, PT, and nutrition coach. And since the start of the pandemic, she quickly pivoted and established an award winning woman's online group fitness community. Corinne has won many awards, and has been featured in lots of different media publications. But how has she gone from not having an online presence at all a year ago, to being a super successful business owner, that is in the media, with a bright future and a sideline in the corporate space? Corinne has been wonderful enough to take us through how she did it step by step. And I think you're really going to enjoy this chat. So Corinne, welcome to the podcast. How are you today? 

Corinne  

I am good. Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited. My pleasure. 

Will:  

So tell me where you are calling in from today?

Corinne  

Yes, I am calling in from beautiful Sydney, Australia. So on the other side of the world too at the moment. But yes, it's good to be here.

Will:  

Very nice. And so one of the reasons I wanted to have you on the podcast today is because you've been doing some amazing things with your fitness company. I've been I was looking at your sort of resume. And I see that you've been working in a massive number of large organizations like Nickelodeon, MTV, Paramount, and you also one startup of the Year for Western Sydney Woman last year. And were in the 7Us young achievers Award, Outstanding small business. So you've basically been winning all the awards. And what I want to understand is, what are you winning them for? And what can we learn from you? So why don't you just kick off?

Corinne  

Yeah, so I guess the reason that I'm coming on today is to talk a little bit about sort of growing an online virtual fitness community. And that's sort of where I specialize in. So I guess to sort of talk a little bit about what I do. So I'm the founder of Limitless Fitness and NNutrition. And basically what we are, we are both an online and alive group fitness community, specifically for women. And we really work with women who are new to or restarting their fitness journey. And as well with the nutrition side of things, which is sort of how I've been working with a lot of these beginning businesses, like you mentioned. I do a lot of corporate workshops with fitness and nutrition, too. So there's sort of those two sides of what I do. But yeah, the big thing that we'll talk about today is sort of how I grew my online group fitness business throughout 2020 into now, because that's sort of when it all started back in 2020.

Will:  

Oh, my so this is all happened within sort of the last year post-pandemic post-lockdown,

Corinne  

literally started in March 2020, when sort of everything went a little bit crazy with COVID here in Australia. So yeah, that's when it all sort of started taking off a little bit.

Will:  

This is awesome. And I already love the fact that you have already explained that you are serving a specific niche, which is some of the things that we've talked about on this podcast, a lot of times with various people talking about how sort of niching down and finding out who you're going to service is almost the number one question you need to do before you can really go about building a community or succeeding. Right, we're going to get onto that because I want to hear all about how you managed to do all these amazing things within about 12 calendar months. But let's wind it back a little bit and talk about how you got into fitness.

Corinne  

Yes, okay. Well, that's a very long question to answer. I know you well, I suppose it's quite typical because the way that I grew up in my own family, it was a very active family. And I was really lucky because my parents sort of really focused on us as kids, me and my siblings really getting into sport and being active and doing any, any sport that they could enroll us in. We sort of grew up playing a lot of tennis, and I sort of played out the things like netball, basketball, swimming, all those other things. But when all sort of studying at school, and I really wanted to sort of knuckle down on my studies, when I was sort of towards the end of my high schooling, I sort of let all that fall to the wayside a little bit, because I wanted to really knuckle down and get good results, which ended up well, but I sort of Yeah, as I said, Let my fitness sort of fall down the left side a little bit. But when I was about 18, I had a friend who decided that I needed to try the gym with her. And I remember the very first time I ever stepped into the gym was when I was 18. I walked into the gym, and it was like, it's such a weird moment, because I just knew I looked around, I sort of thought all these people working out having a good time. And I was like, well, I've literally found this epic place. And I just want to do more. I just want to be a part of this. So I remember that moment really clearly in my mind and sort of one thing led to another I started doing lots of group fitness classes, I started doing my own training. Eventually my mom really encouraged me She's like, you know, you're doing really well, you're enjoying these, why don't you do your cert 3 & 4 in fitness which I don't know if it's different in other countries, but here in Australia, that's how you become a personal trainer and a fitness instructor. Yep, yeah. So I went along and did that when I was sort of studying business at university. I was working on the side as a personal trainer for a little while for a few years working in marketing at the same time. And then throughout that time, as well, sort of working full time, I was also teaching group fitness classes sort of coming through the years a little bit more. And eventually, that sort of led me up to last year in 2020, where I was working for a number of different gyms, but also throughout, you know, when COVID here, all of that work completely stopped because all the gyms went into lockdown and didn't know what to do. So that's sort of where it led me to now where I decided I had to do something on my own. That's what I've always wanted to do. And started teaching online group fitness classes started doing PT started doing everything for myself. And yeah, doing all of that now.

Will:  

So, at the start of the pandemic, when gyms locked down and gyms closed, you weren't doing any online stuff at that time, it was all in person. 

Corinne  

Yeah, prior to COVID, everything I was doing was all in person. And it was sort of between the time where gyms weren't sure what to do, I was like, I need to do something quick. Because all the people that I knew around me wanted to be doing something, and there was nothing for them. So I started doing you know, free group fitness classes that went really well. And all these people were coming to them with like, wow, what are all these people doing, this is great!

Will:  

So this is free group fitness online? Through social media?

Corinne  

Yeah, right. Yeah. So what I actually did, and this is something I'll talk about a little bit later, I sort of sprang into action. As soon as I knew things were shutting down, I created a Facebook group. And that group of came sort of where I've started to build my business a little bit more, but on Facebook, and I started advertising these free group fitness classes I'm doing, I put it on Instagram as well. People started, you know, coming they invited their family, their friends, and they just started organically growing. And yeah, as I said, that sort of thing. I'll talk about a little bit more. But yeah, it was it's pretty cool what's happened as a result of starting that way.

Will:  

And did you find like, what were you at all, like worried or afraid or anxious when you went online? Or did you just go right, I'm doing it, gyms have stopped need to be doing something. Clearly, you have a lot of energy and that energy needs to go somewhere. And so online, was it?

Corinne  

Yeah, you're 100% right. I cannot sit on my butt. I need to be doing something. Otherwise, I will literally go insane, so all that I need to do these classes. I don't care what I need to do. I look back at the quality of the classes compared to how I do them now. And I didn't have a webcam. I didn't have a microphone, didn't have anything. And I laugh at them, but you know, it was still getting the job done. And yeah.

Will:  

So you just like flipped open the laptop, didn't add anything else and just went to it into your living room. 

Corinne  

Literally, that is exactly what I did. It was just whatever I had to be done. I did it. But it was funny because people didn't care at that time. And they still don't care as much as well, because, you know, they're there for you. And they're there for your energy and all those sort of things. And I know you've spoken about that on your podcast. So yeah, it was pretty cool. And it is still pretty cool.

Will:  

Okay, so like, Okay, so we've covered how you kind of got into online trading. Why don't you take us through sort of how you went about building the business that you now have?

Corinne  

Yes, so oh, gosh, there's so much I could talk about here. But I guess the very first thing that I did to sort of build Limitless Fitness and Nutrition, there were sort of a few different things, but as I sort of touched on at the beginning, the biggest part of what I did was actually creating that Facebook group, because that sort of gave us a really, really good spot where I could talk to people, I could educate them. I could do challenges, which is what we did a lot of especially throughout 2020 to keep people moving in from their people inviting other people to come into the group, try our classes. And that's just how our community organically grew. 

Will:  

Were you encouraging people to invite their friends or when they invited their friends, because they liked it so much that it was this something you were actively encouraging or was this kind of an organic kind of natural growth?

Corinne  

Look at the marketing person in me, I was encouraging people to invite other people. A lot of people were inviting others because they wanted, they wanted their family and friends to be a part of it, too. And that's where I got a lot of, you know, joy. And I still do get a lot of joy out of that when people do invite, you know, people that they think would enjoy our classes, because they know that they're getting a lot from them. And I think that they'll also get the same benefits from them as well. So yeah, it's it's been, as I keep saying, it's been really cool to see sort of that organic growth, but also been pushing it a little bit, too.

Will:  

So I'm just gonna, I want to hold on that for a second. Just because I know that it's something that a lot of people struggle with is that that kind of marketing and sales side of being an instructor and particularly people that have been instructors for a long time that had been teaching in gyms, and they've had the benefit of kind of that flywheel of membership sales, bringing new people into the gym, telling them to try a class, or maybe they worked as a PT, and they had to do you know, five for five new members per month as part of their PT rent, stuff? Like do you like how do you go about marketing and selling? Like, do you make it part of your script that you said at the beginning, in the end, do you do it in your Facebook group, and you may be coming to this, but I just wanted to hold on it because I know that some people are going to be this thing going, I find that really hard. Like I feel a bit icky when I sell. How do you do it?

Corinne  

Look, yeah, it's pretty much what you said like, it's a whole different range of different things that I do, I guess, in general, like so what you're saying, I do talk about our classes in our programs that are coming up in our online group fitness classes. So for instance, just recently, with my current members, what I did is I gave all of them a one month free code that they can give their family or their friends like one or two of their family or friends, so that they can come and try our classes. And I was exclusive just for them because they're members of our group. So in sort of doing that, yeah, internal marketing was something that I've been doing quite a lot of. And I guess generally, as well, having a good social media presence, although I don't post every single day, I try to keep my socials up to date, and just sort of starting to introduce some more professional images and trying to do a few more reels here and there just to try and get a

Will:  

it's all about rails now. Right? Which I have to say I hate because I have no creativity when it comes to reels and social media.

Corinne  

I'm exactly the same. So yeah, it is a tough part. But I really do feel like the Facebook group, which keeps sort of growing is something that really did sort of where it's sort of where it all started and continuing, I've been promoting like, we do nutrition workshops for four weeks, for instance, I put those up on there. And that's sort of where an organic uptake will happen. I've done Facebook ads in the past, not with great success. But I mean, they've been something that I've done, as well. But to be completely honest with you the best sort of marketing, just if we're talking about marketing, I'll touch on this again a little bit later. But I'll

Will:  

We can repeat the good stuff, because it's all good.

Corinne  

Fantastic, but the best sort of marketing that I've done has actually been through media. And it's been pretty much free marketing and what I've done a lot in because you know, I've been lucky enough to win a few different awards in our community. And just generally, I've been able to get some coverage through our local newspapers through different publications online, different blogs online. And all of those things as a sort of accumulative effect have allowed me to get a lot of different inquiries and different people coming into our community through that. So that's a big thing that I really encouraged trainers to do, especially when growing an online fitness community. Because Yeah, people want to be able to trust you and know that you're genuine about what you're doing.

Will:  

Okay, so that there are so many things that I want to touch on. Like we say, talking about media, your meaning, tell me what you mean by that, and how you went about doing it. And we may be getting things in a slightly skew or whatever. But that's okay. Because, like, you're just filling us with tactics, so that's all good.

Corinne  

That's all good. So with media, what I'm referring to is a combination of things. So number one are things like newspaper articles in our local community newspapers. So where I live, there's a number of different local community newspapers, I literally reach out to the editor or to the journalists that I know, or I've made connections with or even just reaching out to them on LinkedIn, and actually tell them what I'm doing, how my classes are running, like all these different things that are available for community members. And I've been lucky enough that a few times I've run with these stories, sort of I know that when I started my retro-aerobics classes here in our local community that are a bit different to what other gyms were doing and what other people have been doing. So they ran a story that went really well in the local newspaper and I got quite a number of new people come into my live retro-aerobics class because of that. So that's number one. 

Will:  

Okay so you're, so you are making a conscious effort to reach out to people they get in hand. How often do you So, cuz I know that, again, I'm just hearing all the objections that people listening. I don't want to do that. Like, how often do you get a positive response? Like you I've imagined, you get silence from a lot, but you just keep on pushing, because that's the way to build a business, right?

Corinne  

That is literally what happens. Honestly, out of probably every 50 emails you send, or every 100 emails you send in might be one. Yes. And, you know, there might be someone who returns a phone call finally, but when they do it, yeah, exactly. And it as I keep being told by like, different mentors, and all those sort of things. It's a numbers game. And that's what business is, it's a numbers game and sales is that so I think that's a really important thing to know, don't give up, it does get hard..

Will:  

Right? Like, if you want to succeed, then you have to be really comfortable with being rejected. So like, a great proportion of the time a hell of a lot more than you're actually going to get accepted, right.

Corinne  

100%, I think, yeah, you sort of get used to getting those, and you're just like, oh, well, it's like, whatever.

Will:  

what I'm hearing so far from you is that you selected a niche, we haven't gotten into that, we're gonna get into that. And then you focused on really hyperlocal hyperlocal marketing. So making sure that the people in your community that you could impact and friends of friends are the people that you use to build on. And I guess the thing is, is like you talk about community newspapers, something that we sometimes all forget is that all journalists have article requirements that they need to fill. And so, you know, you might get rejected a whole lot of times, but then you might get someone who's like, Oh, I have a due date on an article that I need to fill in this local newspaper. And this is the perfect feel good story. And if you're not the one sending that out, then you're not in it to win it. Right.

Corinne  

Exactly right. And you know, what the worst thing that anyone can say is no, like we said before. It's better to ask the question and to be, you know, top of mind, or font of mind, then to never be discovered. And you know, eventually sometimes what happens is that you may get a no originally further down the track, they might come back to you and say, oh, okay, it's actually better timing for us now. Can we do this instead? So yeah, it's definitely worth pursuing. Even if you don't get that yes, straightaway.

Will:  

And how much time do you spend, like in an average day or an average week doing this kind of outreach? So not now, because I know you've got a bit more of a profile now, so  things are different. But when you are building this up, sort of mid 2020, and things are just starting off, how much time are you spending on outreach?

Corinne  

Look it's sort of, it's sort of stayed consistent. I'm still doing it every single day, honestly. And it does sound like it's a bit intense. But I try and set myself a target to send at least five emails to different companies, or different people, or different journalists or editors every single day that for me looks about it's about half an hour a day that I try and spend on prospecting future people or future clients or those sorts of things. And yeah, it right,

Will:  

Right, you've got a template now, right? So you've got a template, you add a little bit of personalization at the start of the end. And then you're good to go.

Corinne  

That's pretty much it. Sometimes you've got to be careful with you know, it depends who you're reaching out to, if they're a really senior person or director, you want to be quite personalized, and know, you know, you want them to understand that you actually know their business and those sorts of things. But yeah, generally, there is a good template you can just use and yeah, you get used to sending the same similar messages over and over again.

Will:  

Yeah, totally. Okay, so we covered marketing community, and we're gonna get into community building two of the things I'd like to talk to you about, and you can choose the order. One is how you went about deciding on your niche of the woman that you particularly wanting to work with, and to how you went about realizing that corporate was such a good opportunity, and how you tailored your business towards that. So which of those two topics do you want to tackle first?

Corinne  

Oh, they're both such good ones. So I'll go into about why I chose a niche. And it's quite a, it's quite a simple answer. And it's basically because prior, so sort of throughout my group fitness career, which sort of was about three years before, after doing Personal Training, I realized that there was a big gap in the market. And because I was working primarily in women's gyms at the time, I was sort of seeing these women coming into the gym, who had never done any group fitness classes or never done any fitness before. And they were completely at a loss of what they had to do, you know, what are they supposed to do in the gym? How do they, you know, how do they use this machine? Or how do they go to this class, all these sorts of things. And I really wanted to help them and sort of looking around in the fitness industry and sort of seeing what was out there, it appeared to me that this was a niche that no one at the present time was targeting. And you know, again, from my studies in business, and from working in marketing, I know how important it is to have a niche. And as you're saying, that's one of the biggest things with your fitness business. And so I really wanted to target that group. Because not only did I love working with that group and sort of seeing them change from not having been to the gym to doing a group fitness class and starting to improve their fitness from working in other gyms. But also, I just thought it's such a great opportunity to make a real difference to these people who probably need it more than most because I want them to have a really long term successful journey with their fitness and I want to be the one to help them to do that. So that's it. Essentially why I chose to work with those women and those women sorry, and target or the sort of different classes that I do towards them as well.

Will:  

I love that answer. Because essentially what you've said is you chose your nice niche based on a gap in the market that you had a passion for, and you went for it. Basically, like just hitting all the things that all the previous guests have said, this is what you need to do to be successful in you're kind of like bang, bang, bang, all of those things.

Corinne  

I must have studied beforehand. 

Will:  

Exactly. Okay, cool. So that's how you went about finding your niche? And how did you find? How did you go about like locating the people within your niche? We obviously talked about referrals, community building, like going out to media and local newspapers. Did you have, was that your existing customer base kind of when the pandemic happened? And so that was he just iterated and built upon that? Or did you do anything specifically to go out to that type of market?

Corinne  

Excuse me, sorry, yeah, no, you pretty much hit the nail on the head with that one. A lot of the people that were coming to me and I think it was sort of just they'll may be drawn to me as an instructor, where these women that were sort of feeding into that niche, I think, for the reason that with my classes, I tried to be very sort of nurturing, very caring, and very, I just really want to make sure that everyone gets a really safe and successful workout. So I think naturally, people are drawn to that, because they know that they're going to get a good workout. But also, they're not going to have to go crazy and smash themselves in every every single way and feel disgusting at the end of the class. So I think they'll sort of that existing base, but also, that was just the way that people were naturally drawn to me as an instructor. And that's sort of why it's, it's worked so far. 

Will:  

And here's a question, if your niche is women that are new to exercise, coming back to exercise, how do you go about keeping them within your system when they get past that new exercise point? Like is there a way that you continue that nurturing cycle so that more experienced participants who maybe want to go to the next level still stay within your community and ecosystem?

Corinne  

Yeah, well, I think the really good thing about LFN, or limitless fitness and nutrition is that, because a big part of what we do our group fitness classes and online and live, I make a real conscious effort to target everyone in those classes, although I am specifically working with that niche. So I do that through making sure I've got heaps of different options in different levels in our classes. So giving them options that are very basic, up to the high intensity more a lot higher impact options, because I can look around in my classes and see what people need it what different times. And one thing that I really do take a lot of pride on is actually knowing what my clients need and checking in with them on a weekly basis or a fortnightly basis at the very latest because that's how I make sure that the classes are giving them what they need to keep improving.

Will:  

Interesting. So how do you go about doing this? So I we recently ran an advanced instructing course and one of the one of the biggest things we said was that motivation is not about what you're shouting at the front of the class. It's about understanding what people are there for and what change they're looking for, what is motivating them, what's bringing them to your presence in your class, and then working with them and giving them what they need in order to meet their individual goals. And we talked about, you know, surveying and surveying can be I mean, it could be, it could be an email survey, it could just be asking them the question, it could be doing an anonymous survey can be a Facebook poll, it could be an Instagram, ask me anything. How do you go about ascertaining what your members want? On that kind of bi-weekly basis? Like how do you find it out? And how do you memorize it? And how do you keep record of it?

Corinne  

Okay, so there's a quite a few number of different ways that I do this. I guess, overall, I have got a spreadsheet that I sort of list different things on that people are working on, or just different ways.

Will:  

So you have your members on a spreadsheet, and you literally record their answers to what they are there for and what they need.

Corinne  

Yeah, exactly. So if there's anything specifically that they've brought up with me, I make a note of that, because I want to make sure that they aren't going to get that in our in our classes and in our community. Because that is essentially what keeps them there and getting them to enjoy everything that we do. That's a big part of it, and feeling that sense of connection to me as instructor and the rest of our community. So that's one really big thing. But like what you mentioned, as well, I do a lot of surveying. So Facebook group polls are a really big thing that I do every single week. I'm always surveying them on something, whether it's the time of our classes, whether it's the type of classes we're doing, whether it's the intensity, are they enjoying the intensity, I'm always asking our members about what they're enjoying, and what can we improve on. I know that I'm doing at the moment every single week I do in addition to their live group fitness classes or online group fitness classes, I do a weekly q&a session that they can tune into and ask me direct questions, as part of the the members only Facebook group. So I've got two but that's for the members only. And we've that we've been looking at different times to run that because certain members don't like that it's too early for them. So moving it back in just you know, just really taking notice of what they have to say is a really big thing. But also I do make a conscious effort to message individually members who I know that are new to our group fitness platform and who are just starting, as well as those who've been with us for a little bit longer if I haven't seen them online for a little bit of time, I always make an effort to say, Hey, what's is everything okay? Is there anything I can help with? How's the body feeling? All these sort of things, just to get them know, to remind them that I'm thinking of them? And to remind them that, you know, we're still here to help them. Yes, that's pretty much what I do.

Will:  

I love it. Okay, so tell me about the corporate side of your business. When did you start doing that? When did you identify that it was a real opportunity for you to pursue?

Corinne  

Yeah, so I originally, my mind was set on doing corporate from quite a long time ago. So I went through and did my nutrition coaching studies in about 2017 or 2016, 2017. And in that time, I just knew I was doing, doing a project on corporate health and corporate nutrition. And I just knew that that was what I had a real passion for. Because I was doing the assignment, I was loving everything about it, I was creating this awesome presentation I wanted to bring to organizations. And that was what I knew I wanted to do. So just after that time, I actually because I had a website running, I had a blog running, I was reached out to by it was Nickelodeon at the time, who reached out to me to run a few different corporate workshops for them. And then that sort of was the first thing that led from that to something else. Then I started working with Paramount Pictures, then I started working with Western Sydney University, then I started doing some additional virtual fitness and virtual online things. And now some other exciting things that are coming up. So it was sort of something I've always wanted to do. And then once that first initial client had reached out, and I just went for it after that. And you know, as I said, I'm reaching out to people every single day, prospecting every single day, and working on that side of things every single day, right?

Will:  

So when you talk about the prospecting, you're like, sometimes it's to journalists saying, hey, I've got this, here's some previous coverage that I've had, would you like to cover this, here's something different I'm doing. Or it could be reaching out to what HR directors or small business owners or whatever and saying, I have this corporate program, this would be a really great way to engage your staff, here's a really great way to to allow your staff to both be healthier and do something outside the office that is positive for them and all that kind of stuff.

Corinne  

That is exactly you hit the nail on the head.

Will:  

That's awesome. And when you do the corporate stuff, are you still working with your niche? Or does the corporate stuff involve like a wider group? Do you have like, is it is that men and women inclusive, rather than the specific nature of your like, personal fitness community?

Corinne  

Yeah, it is a completely different set of completely different kettle of fish, I should say. The corporate side of things, as you said, it's for both men, it's for women, it's for organizations who want to sort of take their their employees fitness and nutrition seriously and make a difference to them. So it's literally, you know, local businesses, big businesses, huge organizations, it's sort of yeah, everyone and anyone, essentially, in that side of things not as niched.

Will:  

And how do you got like, so managing your efforts between your like, local, I like niche and hyperlocal approach to your, your women's groups, then you've got your corporate group? How do you sort of manage the two separate strands of your business? Do you find that difficult? Or do you manage to leverage your effort across both sides?

Corinne  

Yeah, look, I do find it simple enough to do because I think they're completely different from each other, I just treat them like they're separate sides of the businesses. But I guess the good thing is working with these organizations in a corporate center gives you additional credibility. And you know, I guess a name in the community and outside of that, too, so people sort of know that they can trust you, because you work with these names. You've sort of built up a bit of a reputation. And that's a good thing for, you know, the personal training and the group fitness instructing side of things. Because Yeah, as I said, you've sort of worked with these names and people like, oh, okay, I guess I can trust this person. She must know what she's talking about. So, yeah, well, they are completely separate. I do think that they can leverage off both of them for that reason.

Will:  

Okay. So let's talk a little bit about like what you're doing right now. So we're, depending on when people listen to this podcast, the great reopening has begun. They're at different stages in different places. But generally, most people are now back teaching Group Fitness, sometimes outside sometimes inside with big distance restrictions. How much of your business are you doing, are you spending between in person and online now that where you are is you're fully back, right, like there's no social distancing or anything in Sydney right now. Right? No, there's no social distancing. Well, luckily, we haven't had to have a lockdown since last year, if I'm remembering correctly. But yeah, pretty much a majority of what I do is currently online still. So you've got the ability to teach in person, but you're still focusing online.

Corinne  

That's exactly right. And I guess the big thing with online training is that it's very scalable. You can reach more people and that's what I love about it because I love helping heaps and heaps of people. I want to reach as many people as I can. And that's why I do love the online group fitness side of things. And of course, it's very convenient, but I am teaching a couple of live group fitness classes aiming to grow those two in local community which I absolutely love with my whole heart. And that's why I want to get back into more of that. Because you know, as a group fitness instructor, and you would be the exact same, I'm sure, you just love having that face to face interaction. It's so different when it's a computer screen and not an actual person in front of you. So I love my live classes, and I'm looking forward to growing those more as well. But yeah, keeping the virtual fitness side of things alive at the same time.

Will:  

So tell me, like, who's who you working with in terms of your company at the moment? Because it sounds like this is far too much for you to be doing all by yourself.

Corinne  

Oh, no, honestly, it is just me working on everything at the moment. Yes, it is a lot of work. Which is great, though, because I cannot stay still for a second. I'm--

Will:  

We've only just met. But I really don't that impression from you, there's a lot of energy that needs to be used in a positive way.

Corinne  

Yeah, 1,000%. So I wouldn't have it any other way. And I honestly, I love everything I'm doing in this space. And I just want to keep doing more and helping more people. So that's honestly, yeah, that's how it works. And that's why it's still me by myself. But you never know, one day in the future, hopefully be a big team of us.

Will:  

Perfect. Okay, so before we, before we jumped on the podcast, we talked about, like some actionable tips that you can give our listeners now they've already picked up a whole lot, right? Like I've heard so many, not just sort of explanations of what you're doing and why you're doing it, but specific tactics that you specifically use in order to grow your business. But I know that before we talked to you prepared sort of five, like key ways to building an online community. And I wonder if you can take us through those five key ways. And feel free to talk as much as you want to elaborate. This is all, this is all the like gold nuggets of information that our listeners love to have.

Corinne  

Oh, so cool. Honestly, you might regret saying you can talk as much as you want. But anyway, I'll try not do too much. But I think it's good, because I've sort of touched on most of the ones that I wanted to speak about, I've got a few extra hopefully good nuggets I can share with you. But my most important one and like we started with is actually having that niche and understanding who your group fitness community actually is. And I think you know, once you understand who your niche is, that's when you can get really specific about creating classes that they want. And that's what makes people come back to see you and to do your classes over and over and over again, and feel like part of you. 

Will:  

So you're you're so rather than just discovering a niche, and then delivering the thing you were delivering to that niche, you it's a circular economy for you, right, like you know your niche, figure out your niche wants change your content in order to suit your niche so that you can better service your niche, and then continue to survey your niche to make sure that the content that you're doing still suits them.

Corinne  

That is 1,000%, it. And an example of that is because a lot of the women that I work with in my online group fitness classes, and also in my life group fitness classes, they're women who are sort of above the ages of 30-35. They also want to do things that aren't ridiculously high impact, but they also want to have fun. So what I went and did, I went and did my Pilates instructor course last year to ensure that I can offer them a Pilates, safe Pilates classes in my online group in a studio, and also bring those to the live community as well. And that's why things like retro-aerobics as well, which is basically an 80s aerobics dance class go really well. Because it's a fun, uplifting class. It's not like crazy burpees and tuck jumps everywhere. But you know, it's a fun, challenging class, but still, you know, the principle of finding something that they really do value in that. Yes, sort of area. So, yeah.

Will:  

Because it's it's all fun and good to discover your niche. But then you got to make sure that you're serving a niche, right. And the only way you can serve your niche is by understanding whether or not the content you're giving them is actually meeting their needs, which you know, we've talked about before. Okay, perfect. So that's number one, hit me with number two.

Corinne  

Okay, so number two, I've titled "be seen". And it comes back to that principle about, actually, don't be afraid to reach out to your local media, don't be afraid to do what I was mentioning and prospecting, reaching out to people emailing people, because you want to be seen in as many places as possible. So whether that's on a blog, someone that you might know, in the fitness industry writes, whether that's in your local newspaper, whether it's in a community newspaper, it doesn't matter where it is, just make sure you're being seen. And yeah, prospecting is something I cannot encourage everyone to do enough. And you know, if you want to experiment with things like Facebook ads, if you want to make sure you've got your updated Facebook and Instagram presence, like just be seen in as many places as possible, because people will literally go to your pages and check you out before they decide to buy we'd be able to train with us. So also, yeah, that's the most important thing. And a website doesn't go astray too.

Will:  

Right. Absolutely. I mean, there's no way you can go community if there's no way for them to kind of test you out online first, right? Because let's be honest, people people don't just rock up anymore. They always search the thing they're going to do before they do it.

Corinne  

Yes, that is 1,000%. So that's why it's good to have things like that are visual like Instagram is really good for putting up some workout ideas. YouTube is really good if you want to share a few of your workouts, anything that people can see visually, even on your website, have a sample class that people can try just something to give them an idea of who you are and what you do.

Will:  

Right. And you've already said that when you started off doing this, you literally just flipped open the laptop and did it right. Like you didn't stress too much on all the technological sides of it or making sure that you had this webcam, that webcam.

Corinne  

Yeah, yes. To my dismay now. That is exactly right. Yeah, I think if you try and be too perfect with it, you'll never do it. So just do it, do whatever you've got, and then down the line, you'll improve yourself a lot. But yeah, just start, just do it.

Will:  

Yeah, perfect. Okay, number three.

Corinne  

So number three, is I titled it "create a good culture" or "create a culture". And by that what I mean is actually give something for people to feel a part of in your community. So I always refer to limitless fitness and nutrition as a community, because that's how I want people to see it. And I want them to feel like they're part of something bigger than themselves. And there are a number of ways that you can do that. I really like the idea of merchandise and giving people something physical and tangible that they can wear to feel like they're part of that community. So our purple jackets, our orange and purple shirts are something that our members love wearing around and just supporting them on the weekend. So that's one really good thing. But also having some guiding principles and values, I guess, that are part of the group fitness community. And for me, for what we've sort of faced all the stuff that we do on, it's about fun, it's about support in community. And it's also about non judgement, because that's how I want our classes our community to feel when they are part of our classes. So I think, yeah, that culture is a really big thing. And you want to create that really strong bonding, belonging, feeling in your community and culture. Okay, let's dive into that a little bit more. 

Will:  

How do you go about so, I like really clear what the culture is, how do you go about permeating the culture, introducing the culture and making sure that your members are understanding that,, and perpetuating it with it with the other people in the community? Yeah, and I think to be honest with you, it's just the way that I talk to people in the group, it's the way that you know, I

Will:  

Do you have group rules? When you when you join the group is that the group rules that state, this is a community, these are principles.

Corinne  

Yeah, that others ones like they can be courteous, be supportive, those sort of want to definitely a part of what we do. But also, through all, I guess, the branding and the marketing work that I've done, that's been a really big part of what I based LFN on. So it is the fun, all our group fitness classes are designed to be fun. But because we're a women's only community, a big part of what I also wanted it to be, was that non judgement piece too, because sometimes women get a little bit turned off jeans and workouts because they think, you know, oh, I don't know if I should be here. I don't know if I'm the right person to be here. And that's another really big thing that's come across in the marketing that I've tried to do with our brands. So that's a really big part of it, the marketing, the way I just talked to our members too. And yet, when we have actual in person catch ups, too, I just make a really big point of reminding everyone you know, it's so good that you're he's been a big part of our supportive, uplifting, fun community. And I think it's just, you know, I guess being a leader in that sense as well.

Will:  

For sure. Okay, cool. Number four.

Corinne  

Okay, so number four, I just want to make sure I'm not repeating that, because it's very similar. But number four is about having fun and actually being yourself as the instructor. So I think for me, a big thing that happened when I first started teaching group fitness was that I really wanted to be the best QR and I wanted to be really structured and almost was a bit robotic Corinne, when I first started teaching my classes. But as I sort of said at the start, people literally come to your classes, and they come to your community and your fitness group, because they love you as a person, and they love the energy you put out. So just be be yourself, be the quirky you that you are, and your community will be naturally attracted to you for that. And I think it's important to let that side of you show, you know, through your social media, through your marketing, you know, use colors that are resemblance of resemblance of who you are use words and I guess phrases and quotes that would resemble who you are as a person and you're in your group fitness classes, actually allow yourself to be yourself and don't do what I did and try and be robo version of you try personality shine as well, because I think people really want to actually connect with you on that level when you do that.

Will:  

For sure. And that brings us up to fifth and final.

Corinne  

Yep, so the very last thing, which is very similar to being seen, but I said number five is actually "having a presence" now that sort of goes away from just the media side of things in the Facebook groups, but also having a presence on things like webinars, doing workshops, those sort of things, I think are really important for group fitness instructors who are building a community because as I was sort of saying, people want to be able to learn from you. They want to be able to trust you. And when you do things like webinars, workshops, whether they're online or in person, people, they get to learn from you and they get to understand, oh wow, she's actually got a really great depth of knowledge in this area. And an example of that is that I recently ran an online webinar about motivation and finding the motivation to train and to workout. Or another one that I did was actually just simple, healthy cooking and meals for you as a person who's getting into their training, and just starting out on their fitness journey. So find a topic that you're interested in, do a webinar, do a workshop and have that presence in that way in people's lives that they can learn from you.

Will:  

And how, so you use it these webinars up yourself, you run them, and then you advertise them to your existing community. Like I again, I'm going to do the objection thing, because I want to know how what you would say to these people, what do you say to an instructor who worries that no one will come? 

Corinne  

Invite your family and friends. 

Will:  

There you go. Easy answer!

Corinne  

Yeah, also, but honestly, you'll be surprised if you advertise it, start with a free one. So don't go straight into asking people to pay money for it straight away, I would say do a free one, advertise it for three to four weeks prior to actually doing it. So you've got enough lead time there so that you can actually get a good number. But if you've got three people that's better than no people, if you've got two people that's better than no people, everything start small and everything will grow organically over time. And then you'll do another one, you might have six people and the one after that you'll have eight. So it's just about growing it in, don't be discouraged. Just the first one you do isn't a huge turnout, because they never are. It's like a first group fitness class. It's never a huge turnout. It just grows over time when people hear about you.

Will:  

Yeah, you're exactly right. Right. Like I remember teaching a class at a new gym, and two people turning up and being like, Oh, God, I don't want to teach this class. This is horrible. I wish I wasn't here. And then, you know, I turned music on. I started teaching, and I liked them. And we actually had a great time. And by the end of the class, I was like, I need to remind myself that, like, it's not about the number of people, it's just about like being in the moment. And if you're servicing two people in those two people will tell to people, you know, organic growth over time will just serve you well.

Corinne  

It's so true. And if you can make a difference to even yeah, I just said to people at that's two more people that you've reached and you know, help to have a really great day, then, you know, helping no one that day. So I think you're right, yeah, it's, it's not too much about the numbers just do it for the experience, if nothing else.

Will:  

Okay, great. So those are the five things. We're going to create, we will create some handouts for that, so that no one needs to know all of that down. So we'll handle that. What I would like to learn from you is that like your energy, and personality is infectious. And so I can see that there's more that you want to do. Tell me about what's next on the horizon for you and your business?

Corinne  

Oh, gosh, I have so many plans.

Will:  

I'm sure you do.

Corinne  

Every day, there's a new plan added to the list. A big part of what I do is continue going out online community and reaching more people. So that's a really big focus for us over the next year to two years continue to reach more people. But as I was sort of saying at the beginning of this chat, it's also about growing live group fitness classes in our community, because I love teaching face to face, I love being around people and I get energy from people. So that's another big thing for me, eventually, I would absolutely my number one goal is to have a physical location for LFN to be located in our own space, our own spot. That is of course on the horizon. It's something I'm working towards. So that is where I really am focusing on going forward over the next few years as well.

Will:  

That's so cool. That's really interesting, because I think that one of the things I've heard from you really strongly is that you love live in person group fitness, and you agree that there's like nothing like it. But that doesn't mean that you're shying away from the digital side. Because you know, the digital side is such an engine and opportunity for growth.

Corinne  

1,000% I really do feel that hybrid workouts and virtual workouts are here to stay. And I think that now they're a part of what we do with group fitness instructors, people know how convenient and easy they are. People want to have access to those too, because some days you just can't get to the gym, or Sundays like busy moms working moms, anyone like that. They can't get it to the gym. So, it works so well for them. So just service those people too.

Will:  

Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's convenience, right? Like people are now realizing that, you know, they might not get the best workout ever at home or they might not be there because they might have the right equipment or might not be the most experienced. But if they're committed to working out and they want to get it, it might be the only experience open to them. And so as your fitness instructor, you've got to be ready to service that need just like you can service the in person one. Oh, that's really exciting. Well, I really, really hope that you guys get your physical location and that, that we can do this again and you can introduce physical location to our listeners.

Corinne  

I would love that so much. Now I've said it out loud. It has to happen. 

Will:  

Exactly, you are manifesting live on this podcast. Okay, so I've had so much fun chatting with you, Corinne. You've given our listeners, so many specific tips. And I know some of them are going to be tips that they're going to be like, oh, that's a bit uncomfortable. I don't want to. But hearing that energy and enthusiasm with what you've given them, I'm sure will allow them to kind of sort of put their head put their head down and get it done. The one thing I want to ask you, and you've already given us five there, but I think I've prepped you with this question about so maybe you've got to this, if there was the one single biggest piece of advice that you would give one of our listeners so a group fitness instructor that's navigating the post pandemic world and 2021, what would that number one piece of advice be?

Corinne  

Oh, yeah, it's a really good one. I think for me, it's, I guess from a group fitness perspective, it's definitely staying true to yourself and being yourself on stage, in online or in person, being who you are, and not, you know, not shying away from that. I think, as I was saying, sometimes we can be falling into that trap of wanting to be this perfect cue master and saying the right thing at the right time. But honestly, people come to your classes, as I keep saying, they come to them because of you and who you are, as a person, they connect with you on that. So you know, have a joke, have a laugh, have fun in your classes and be yourself and people will come to you for that. So I think that is my absolute number one best piece of advice I can give. And I wish someone told me early on in my career so that I could actually not be robo version of myself.

Will:  

And it's being comfortable with the fact that some people who want like a perfect a perfectly cued class that that like runs smoothly and never has any mistakes might not like gel with your style. But that's okay, right, because that's a scary thing. For a lot of instructors, especially a lot of instructors who are coming from a gym background, we're disposed to appeal to everybody because gyms are supposed to appeal to everybody. And this is kind of the transition that we're going through and that now the fitness instructors are finding their own brand and have the ability to build their own businesses, whether it be online community or in the gyms, they need to realize that you know, not everybody has to they don't have to be everybody's favorite flavor, because they'll find the people that like them.

Corinne  

That is exactly right. And what I found from doing both live and the online classes over the past year for myself, is that what happens is that as bad as it sounds, the people who don't gel with you are literally weeded out because they don't want to be a part of it, the ones who love you, they're going to be your biggest support, your biggest groupies, they're going to want to buy all the merchandising, they're gonna want to do everything you put together. They're the ones that are going to stick around for a really long time. So it's better to put all your energy into those style of people into those ones who connect with you. And don't worry too much about the ones who don't, because you know, someone else will have them divided thereafter.

Will:  

Exactly. That is such fantastic advice, right? Because the thing is, if you get to be more yourself and be around people that that like you for who you are, then you're happier, you're more joyful, you get to spread your message so much wider.

Corinne  

Exactly. And they'll actually listen as well.

Will:  

Perfect. Well, great. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. I have so enjoyed getting to know you a little bit better. And I'm so excited to see what the future brings for you. I mean, you've done so much in the past year. And I'm sure that you've got a lot more in store.

Corinne  

Yeah, aw thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure to be here. And I've absolutely loved chatting to you. And I really hope that your listeners do get a lot from this chat. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. 

Will:  

Perfect. Thanks so much. 

Will:  

I hope you enjoyed my chat with Corinne. As you heard on the call, I loved her energy and her get it done attitude. I really feel like she's one of those people that just feels the fear and leans into it anyway. And that's something that really has to be commended. As I mentioned in the chat, we've created the downloadable PDF for you with all of the tips that Corinne shared, you can find the link to the PDF in the show notes to this episode. So I highly recommend that you go and download that now, because I'm 100% sure that there's at least one new actionable tip in there for everybody that's listening to this to try. Now I know what some of you might be thinking, That woman is fearless. And I don't feel comfortable exposing myself like that or reaching out to press or media or businesses in that way. Okay, I've got two things to say about that. First is, these sort of tactics do require some dedicated time and effort. So I would only recommend that if growing your group fitness business is a primary focus for you and it's not just something you do for your enjoyment in your spare time or as a hobby. But if you do fit into that first category of wanting to grow your business, my second point is, what do you have to lose? Be brave and try it, you'll get a ton of nos for sure. But that one yes might be the breakthrough for your business. Finally, I think it's important that everyone takes some time to reflect on the last year and your digital journey. I know that many of you found teaching digitally to be a real chore and outside of your comfort zone. But before you throw in the towel completely think about the awesome sides of digital that we all got to experience, the freedom and flexibility it gives you, the ability to reach a much wider audience outside of your local area, the ability to record classes and scale your efforts for when you're not able to be there in person. The reality is digital fitness is here to stay. And although nothing will compare to the in person experience, and I think we all really know that deep down. It is a lot of value that shouldn't be forgotten or neglected or underestimated, even when the pandemic is a distant memory. Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying the show, don't forget to subscribe for all the latest episodes wherever you get your podcasts. And while you're there, please drop us a review. You can also get in touch with me at will@sh1ftfitness.com. I'm Will Brereton and you've been listening to Group Fitness Real Talk.