Welcome to another “Coffee Talk” post on The Fit Niche where I share a little about what is going on in my fitness blog, business, and life. 🙂

 

 

Oh boy,  my last “Coffee Talk” post was in December! Where does the time go…

 

While a catch up post over a cup of joe is a few months over due, I by no means have been lacking in the coffee drinking department!

 

I am linking up in the #UltimateCoffeeDate w @deborahbrooks14 @got2run4me grab your mug and join Click To Tweet

 

What I am drinking

Freshly ground Hazelnut coffee from a little cafe down the road. Coffee just smells – and tastes – so darn good when it is fresh! And when it is cold outside! The weather has been wacky this winter in Pennsylvania – with some 70 degree days followed by snow flurries… weird.

 

Life Lately

Well, my son turned one on February 22. I can’t believe it has been a whole year since we became parents. He is a happy little guy – despite getting sick for the first time the night of his birthday and having a fever of 102.6 and scaring the crap out of his parents. What a way to spend your first birthday!

 

But we had parties the Saturday before and after his birthday – so he got his celebrating in. Since it was surprisingly warm both weekends, Johnny also got to go on a swing and eat ice cream for the first time.

 

 

 

Blog

When I started blogging, I thought, “hey, how hard can this be?”

 

I will write about some health and fitness stuff, make a guest appearance on a morning talk show and share some fitness tips, and boom – quit my day job in no time. HA!

 

Blogging is seriously hard work – and it takes time if you don’t want your blog to completely suck! I recently released a FREE ebook – or download – that is a compilation of 35 blogging lessons, tips, tricks, and advice from fellow health and fitness bloggers.

 

It was so much fun to put this together and read the responses from women who do some pretty cool stuff in the online space.

 

Like I mentioned above, I have certainly learned that blogging ain’t easy and you have to put in the work to see results.

 

Before I really knew anything about blogging, I may have thought – and hoped –  it was easy to write, maintain, and grow a blog. Now that I have been blogging for a few years, I know blogging – like everything else in life – takes work if you want to be good at it.

 

And, as it should be. Things that come easy, leave easy.

 

As you may know, I created a Fitness Blogging Mastermind Facebook Group last year. When it started, the group actually was not a Facebook group at all. Myself and handful of other bloggers decided to create a little mastermind to bounce ideas around with each other. We tried to do some Google Hangouts, but it was very hard to coordinate schedules so, a Facebook Group seemed like a logical option.

 

Since then, the group has grown to over 130 members – and hopefully will continue to grow. My hope for the group is that it is a place to connect and support with others in the health and fitness online space. Because, let’s face it, sometimes our friends and family don’t quite get it.

 

One of the things almost every new blogger says in the group – and I can totally relate – is that they want to grow their following. I get it. We want to reach more people. We want to collect more email addresses. And eventually, we want to sell more stuff… and quit our day jobs! 🙂

 

In the beginning of this year, I chose a word for my blog + business for the first 3 months. That word I chose was SERVE.

 

This word was meaningful to me because I truly wanted to get to know my community better (aka YOU). I wanted to give more than I take because I really feel that is the best way to build relationships.

 

To be completely honest, I forgot about my word the past few weeks. I got caught up in the “busyness” of trying to do everything for MY blog/business – writing and promoting posts, worrying about page views, keeping up with social media and email marketing, creating and launching fitness programs for the gym, and banging my head against the wall with multiple ideas but not having the time to actually do them well.

 

So, for the rest of March, I truly want to remember my word and SERVE others. What does that mean?

 

Support other bloggers on social media, comment on other blogs, go the extra mile with my clients, and just get out of my own head long enough to see the big picture and learn from others.

 

It is hard not to get hung up on page views and social media followers.

 

However, I know some bloggers who have HUGE Instagram followings – and I used to think I wanted that – but then they go to sell a product or launch a course, and they have a REALLY hard time converting their followers into customers.

 

Why?

 

Because they don’t have engaged, loyal followers. They have a number.

 

A big social media following with out an engaged audience is just as good as 1,000 page views with each view only being 2 seconds… what good does that do you?

 

Instead of worrying about followers and page views, perhaps we should be focusing on connecting with our audience and the sessions on our blog (each time someone comes to your site and the duration they spend on your blog).

 

Here is an article that dives into this a little more (Katy Widrick sent it out in her newsletter this week):  Page views are Dead…

 

Anyway, I know it is hard not to get hung up on that stuff, especially when you are putting in a ton of time and effort in to your blog, but that is my goal for this next month!

 

Biz

In my last “Coffee Talk” post (back in December), I mentioned I was creating a 6-week Transformation program in the fitness facility I work for. Well, it kicked of in January and 8 people participated in the program.

 

I actually really enjoyed putting these workouts together – we focused on strength training and progressing in reps, weight, sets, and exercise intensity each week.

 

The program consisted of one full body workout, which we competed as a group on Saturday mornings, and then an upper and lower body workout that participants completed on their own during the week.

 

Every exercise in the upper and lower body workouts were included in the full body workout. This way, participants were familiar with the exercise when they went to perform the workout on their own.

 

Every single person stuck with the program, increased their weights, and increased the number of push ups they could do (they performed AMRAP each week).

 

During the 6 weeks, I checked in with everyone vie email twice a week, sent information on the post-workout meal and sample healthy recipes, and offered make up sessions if someone could not attend a Saturday workout.

 

On the last day of the program, I asked participants what was one thing they felt they did really well and one thing they could have done better the past 6 weeks.

 

The majority of participants said nutrition was their biggest struggle. Many of them also said they would do another 6 week program.

 

I got to work on creating another program – changing up some of the exercises – and I also decided to enlist some professional nutrition help…

 

I’ve mentioned before that I am a part of Nicole Culver’s Blogger to Business Membership Group. I don’t pay for much when it comes to my blog, but I did invest in her program and she does awesome work!

 

((Nicole appeared on The Fit Niche for a Fitpreneur Interview about creating a podcast))

 

Within that group, I connected with Mary Ellen from Milk & Honey Nutrition. Mary Ellen is a Registered Dietitian, a mom, and an online entrepreneur. I needed nutrition help and I would much rather support a fellow mom working hard than pay some big corporation or online business.

 

Mary Ellen and I worked together to come up with a nutrition component to my fitness program that would add value and give participants a few extra tools in their healthy living tool box. It was so fun to partner with someone else – and get help on something that is out of my scope of practice.

 

The whole experience got me thinking how fitness professionals and nutritionists could work together more to offer more well-rounded programs…?

 

Seems like it a missing component to the healthy industry…

 

Speaking of health professionals – Nicole Culver is doing a Live Call and 3 Day Stand Out Workshop geared towards Registered Dietitians (and health professionals in general) this month. (Since I am a part of her Blogger to Business Program, the links below are affiliate links to the live training and 3 day workshop.)

 

I have said multiple times on this blog how awesome Nicole is and how much value she provides in her training. I would not recommend this workshop if I did not fully supper her business.

 

The live call/training is FREE and you can read more about it and sign up for it HERE.

 

The workshop is paid and consists of  a short video series over the course of 3 days to take you through how to stand out.  It will help you with positioning, messaging, and marketing. By the end of the workshop you will  have a plan to move forward. You can check that out HERE.

 

To circle back to the fact that we don’t need huge followings as bloggers – we just need an engaged and connected audience. This workshop’s purpose is to lead people to a plan to become an expert and to stand out. It’s to understand that you can have CRAZY impact and success with a SMALL audience.

 

You CAN have CRAZY impact and success with a SMALL audience - Fitness Blog Coffee Talk! Click To Tweet

 

Let’t Chat

Have you teamed up with a fitness or nutrition professional to create a program or product?

What do you pay for when it comes to your blog/business?

Have you ever participated in an online workshop?