Withdrawls, seriously

Well, I hesitate to tell eveyone how much I miss/ed having a conference call and hearing your thoughts. I was gone last week to Vancouver BC because My wife, the amazing woman behind all things great I do, (Too Much Sappy talk??) was recruited/elected to become the Executive director of The "NORTH AMERICAN PRIMARY CARE RESEARCH GROUP" aka NAPCRG. http://www.napcrg.org/org.html. As part of her duties she will assume the role of the deputy director of the SOCIETY OF TEACHERS OF FAMILY MEDICINE, aka STFM, www.stfm.org, the governing association of Medical school professors etc. she is a busy, busy girl. The trip to VanCouver was to meet her new bosses, the board of directors of NAPCRG, talk about intimidating, I was discussing physiology with the president of Harvard Medical School, Director of Mayo etc. twelve of them quizzing me about benefits of regular exercise.

I was without phone coverage most of the trip, so if anyone called to not find anyone, or left a message that has not been replied to, I apologize and please resend.

I am back now and look forward to catching up.
I will keep it short and just tell you that although NATION decided, (without me I must add) to visit every other Thursday instead of our weekly rants, I am here for You. To inquire, vent, engage in conversation about your business, just call. Do not hesitate to contact me about whatever you need for your NITRO, I am for you.

Make an awesome day!

Jeff, You are Right, Both of YOU

Good Afternoon NITRO NATION,
We grew up in a round world where what we knew, was what we selectively listened to in school and at home, oh yeah, and what we heard on TV and Radio. All the feelings surrounding the Electronic Media we were inundated with during a typical advertisement were so good, so fresh, so positive and so cool that we associated those feelings with those products, mission accomplished.
Well, the world is not round anymore-http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/worldisflat.htm (Thomas Friedman a favorite author) it is FLAT. And the way we purchase things, as well as the reason, is the key to our future. If/When I hear/See an ad (very rarely as the only TV allowed to watch is Sport Center) I am immediately in the default "Scrutinization Mindset". I do not believe anything I see in an advertisement. Period. I know I cannot lose 100 pounds this week even though it is a promise and I can return the unused portion for a full refund if it does not deliver, I do not believe it.
YOU do not believe it. All Marketers all Liars, another great book by another favorite author Seth Godin http://www.allmarketersareliars.com/ . You have listened to me regurgitate the words of these genius writers in various blogs over the past year and the concepts just keep gaining momentum in our world of marketing. One of the great sales books ever written I read almost a decade ago by this great author Geoffrey Gitomer,(more recently changed his first name to Jeff, easier to locate on Amazon he said :) ) The Sales Bible http://www.gitomer.com/index.cfm?GitAction=Products.Overview . This Jeff is most impressive because of his ability to grow and change into the "New world Marketing" concepts. He wrote some very captivating products in the 90s that are obsolete tactics today, "Cold Calling and the importance of" is just one great example, it worked then, it does not work today.
The same as electronic media is less and less productive every day (SSSHHHHssshhhhh not so loud, we do not want Entercom or NBC to hear us. Do any you still own any electronic media stock :( ). (Grammar??)
Our market is different. Almost opposite as it was 25 years ago, in both good and bad ways.
One of the most important bullets to this Jeffs rhetoric is:"
"Just because you "know the brand" or "remember the brand"does not mean you're going to BUY it. And the reality is if I know it and recognize it, but I don't buy it, then all the money spent on branding is wasted. OUCH! "How many of you are forced to watch or listen to an ad, a very expensive, high quality, funny and impressive, top of the line ad for something you will never purchase. Maybe -the new diet coke with extra caffiene, or the miller lite, or stayfree maxis, or, or, or.... these ads I have seen recently and I will never purchase any of them.
Were they great ads? YES.
Were they expensive to create and deliver? YES.
Do I remember the jist of them at noon on a workday? YES.
Was all that wasted on me? YES
The only product, let alone brand that I see on TV or hear on the radio at the club that I will buy, is for bottled water. Now am I going to buy more bottled water because of the great ad? NO.
Are YOU? NO.
Are WE going to buy more of that brand of water because of, directly or indirectly, that wonderful professional expensive to create and more expensive to deliver advertisement? NO.
Now, is bad for You if You are the one spending all that money over there, like that. Good if you scroll down and deliver these ideas:
"Study your local market.
Look at the global market for other ideas.
Listen to the voice of your present customers.
Study creativity.
Build a customer-focused message.
Back it with quality and deeds.
Dedicate your people to friendly service.
And create the atmosphere where people want to, and are able to, BUY"
Not one of the authors I respect have written a suggestion to set up a table at HY-VEE and drag shoppers over to your wheel of NITRO. They all do however constantly reiterate the absolute best advertising in today’s marketplace is to connect personally with your potential customers. Speak about your product locally and ask permission to market your product to them. When someone completes a register to win slip, you have permission to market to them. When you speak to the Rotary club about fitness in a time crunched world, you are gaining permission to market to them.http://books.google.com/books?id=qgtgVsBTVEcC&pg=PA10&sig=TsJH-GubKBuz1tXJXLaBVGx9Mss#PPA13,M1Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends and Friends Into Customers By Seth Godin.
Our JEFF from up there in MI, is right because he is searching for answers and ways to create business, the other Jeff is right because he too is studying and researching the answers of all the "How to" marketing questions.

If it were such an easy answer or easy to execute, everyone would be doing it and moving into the realm of competing for consumers like us.
Find a way for you to connect to your market locally.
Do it your way, but DO IT!
DO NOT, (repeat of the important closing statement), DO NOT waste your money to create an ad, deliver it then sit in your NITRO Chair and wait.
DO NOT Wait for the consumers that saw, heard, believed, and acted because of it.
THEY ARE NOT COMING! NOT NOW, NOT NEXT WEEK, they are NEVER COMING to you. You must go to them, where they are, and create a relationship that starts with:
Hello my name is________from NITRO FITNESS and I would like to invite you to learn more about how WE are helping people, like us, get in better shape.

We could talk/write/read for years about the combination of advertising and marketing for great results, but that is a whole other rant.

Social Responsibility

All right NITRO NATION,
If you have not read the article sent out this morning,
follow this link http://health.yahoo.com/news/178788 and take a peek at it then:

Please Keep sending these announcements to me and the others. They are Great reminders of the POTENTIAL before us.

Grandma used to say "You can't eat potential" and every day we are reminded that she was OH SO RIGHT! Potential is just that, not and end result or product, but immediate ability to make an impact.
WE know there is potential, we know the need.

Now, what are YOU, YOUR CLUB, YOUR STAFF going to DO ABOUT IT?

Yes 85% of Americans know it is an epidemic, how do we help?

"Knowledge without application is Abortion"
(Remember who made that a famous phrase?)

YOU personally/WE collectively have a social responsibility to apply the tools at our disposal and be a part of the answer.

YOUR tools include, but are not limited to:
YOUR passion about helping people
YOUR knowledge of how to help people
YOUR communication skill sets to convey the answers
YOUR NITRO FITNESS Facility
YOUR immediate ability to impact your community
are just a few of the tools in your toolbox.


Anyone can sit in their desk chair and shake their head at the news that is not even new any longer;Our Nation is out of shape, bad, obese.
We know it.
We know we need to change it.
We know all the benefits that have been preached for years about it.
We know how much better off we will all be if.....

What are your plans to be part of the answer, not just part of majority (85%) of people who know it is a big problem?

Tell your peers at NITRO NATION, tell your community, tell your members what YOU are going to do.
DO, actually do, get done.

Decide, Commit and take ACTION.
NO ONE has a better opportunity to impact this situation than YOU!
Take what you have bought, have learned, have believed in and USE it.
While you are using" IT", be planning the next impact play.

REMINDER-Being open for business and "Getting your name out there" are not impact plays.

BE REMARKABLE, SIGNIFICANT and Relentlessly INFLUENTIAL in helping your community, Country and in the process, Yourself.

Tell Us what your team is doing, going to do and wants to do.
Post your comments, post what you are going to do.

Make an AWESOME DAY!

Joe and Wife on the open Road

For those who have never met Joe and his partner/Wife from Keene NH, this is how they "ROLL".

Beautiful Country, Beautiful Bikes, Beautiful Day on the open road.


It looks like that Circuit works, Joe, look at those NITRO GUNS!

I am too busy to Exercise.Yeah Right

Fitness fixes for the time-crunched

Too busy to exercise?
Everyone, No, I do mean everyone- thinks and believes that they have fewer than the 168 Hours in a week that the rest of us have. Or, they believe they have more kids, more responsibilities than the rest of us.
NOT TRUE, while all of us are not exactly equal when it comes to our daily duties list, WE ALL do have the same amount of time in the week.
Now, You remember my favorite Quote from William Shakespeare?
"Nothing is either good nor bad, only thinking makes it so."
It is what our market Thinks that we have change.

It is what my Gma would have called "Stinkin Thinkin", those that use the time excuse are not aware of or sold on the facts.
The facts of how much time getting fitter, not just BEING fitter creates in our lives.
By being more productive, more energetic, less stressed and more able to concentrate Our lives are immediately enhanced. There are tons of benefits to our busy schedule of an exercise and not all of us are motivated by the same things, My Mrs. Rights' favorite, If you are getting more fit, you can enjoy the down time more, the vacation time more. Think about it, get motivated to exercise because of how much more you can enjoy those precious few minutes of down time each week.
Whatever motivates you to spend a few (90) of your 10,080 minutes each week to exercise,
We’ve got speedy solutions to squeeze into your day when you cannot make it to NITRO.

While doing some research for circuit training for Nitro, I found an article that had some great suggestions on how to keep both my agenda and my exercise routine! What it does is lay out two situations of really busy people and then gives a ton of suggestions on how to incorporate exercises! It’s amazing! It discusses everything from circuit training, a Nitro Fitness favorite, to squatting to pick up the kids toys. Now it’s not going to make you superman, but it might help you feel like a super man! Here’s the link:
Great Information to share with Members.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14047657/

Ricks Personal Success

Pretty, isn't HE?

Yes he is and smells nice to.

Do You know what he smells like to me?

SUCCESS!

Derived from the very essence of our foundation.

Fitting a need with a solution for the health and fitness of an Adult Male!

Over 22 pounds, 10% body fat and the real kicker is the Blood Pressure down to "Normal".

GO RICK!!

Keep up the great work and go tell it on a mountain, or at least your local rotary, VFW or Knights of Columbus meeting.

Send us your clubs successes and input.

Post your comments and share the achievement.

The air surrounding success smells pleasant and enticing.

Drink it in and share it.

Make an awesome DAY!

Do YOU Practice, Do YOU?

Practice
Study the Play Book
Conditioning
Summer Camps
Tape time
Mini-Camps
Instructional videos

Each team has them and the best teams have more than others.

Peyton Manning spent three weeks solid with new Receiver Anthony Gonzales ( the Colts first round draft pick) going over EVERY Pass he through in 2006. Three weeks sitting in the film room looking, studying every single pass for a season (and for a reason). That is over 4,000 yards of passing to look at.

OK, so we are not professional athletes, but shouldn’t we spend at least as much time preparing for our career as say, we spent in HS preparing to play sports. I mean really, none of us ever thought we could play pro ball did we? I did not. But it was important to be good, to be prepared and to be in shape to do the job asked of us by our teammates.

Now as an entrepreneur, WE are not playing games; WE have sunk OUR life and life savings into OUR career. This is important stuff. I actually feed my family and pay my bills with what I am or should be prepared to do now. Shouldn’t I treat it as important as a few High School games?


Summer Conditioning Program for Football
1 ½ hours a day 6 days a week for 6 weeks 54 Hours
Summer Camp
6AM to Noon five days a week for 6 weeks 180 Hours
Two a days
Two weeks before school starts 5hours a day for 12 days 60 Hours
After School Practice
3 hours a day five days a week for a month (before first game) 60 Hours
Practice during season
3 hours a day Monday-Thursday each of 10 weeks 120 Hours
1 ½ hours of game film each Saturday of season 7 ½ Hours

Now for the fun part, the reason we practice all that time, in the heat of summer, in the freezing cold of winter.

10 Glorious Friday Night Football Games
If you were a stud and got to “Start” at least one way, on Offense or Defense you played half of each of the 4 Twelve minute quarters.
That is 24 minutes of play time IF you played every down of at least one squad each week.
That is 240 minutes of play time, or 4 HOURS of performing what you practiced all that time for.
The numbers, of course I calculated them.
481 ½ Hours of Preparation to Play for 4 Hours.
Were we nuts?
Yes, did we care and want to win? YES.

How much more do we want to win at this game we call ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

It is just perspective though.
How much time do YOU spend preparing for, conditioning yourself for, practicing for each meeting, presentation and promotion??

“Well, I have the presentation down pat, I know how to use the PA, I know the sales presentation, I know how to answer the questions and overcome objections.”
When athletes of any sport know how to throw, hit, kick, swing correctly do they quit practicing??

NO, neither should we quit practicing, perfecting, studying and honing our craft! If we want to win anyhow.

Switch sports.
How long ago did Alex Rodriguez tell George Steinbrenner that he did not need to go to batting practice, he has been swinging a bat for twenty years, since little league. He obviously knows how to swing the bat, do you think he has it down?? Why does he take batting practice EVERY DAY??

Practicing, learning, studying, conditioning and working together as a team is what it is all about.

Plan to study, Role Play, write it in your schedule just like an appointment to go somewhere, every aspect of your business will benefit and so will your Bottom LINE.