Quantum Leap Club Winner:
December 2007
From Eric: This month our featured QL’er is Platinum Member Camelia Herndon (besides being fit-biz superstars, Camelia and her biz partner, Rita, are two of the most genuinely good-hearted people Sean and I have the pleasure of working with). Here’s Camelia’s story...
NAME: Camelia Herndon (R) & Rita Jagodzinski (L)
BUSINESS: Fitness Together
Location: Darien & New Canaan, CT
How Long In Business: Four Years
NPE Status: Platinum
I’ve had many goals in my life, both personal and financial. One of the financial goals that has always eluded me is to break the 100K annual salary mark. In my life in the corporate world, I came close, but never quite broke it – until now. Never in my life did I have a goal to become a business owner. I moved to the Northeast happy to share my husband’s dream of living in (OK, close) to New York City and raising my kids to be the best they could be. Life was good.
And then, with the encouragement of my husband and my business partner, I opened Fitness Together. Four years later, I did it. Not only will I break the $100k mark in 2007 (and so will my business partner – that makes $200K in gross salary if you add them together!!), but I’ll also break the $1 Million mark for gross sales in our studios!!!
What is most satisfying and amazing to me is that I’ve managed to do this while working less hours than I ever did in the corporate world (let’s also not forget, no one is telling me what to do) – and I never let up on the focus and commitment I give to my family.
Now, it’s true. FT life didn’t start out this way. Before NPE I was working my butt off – I was working the tools given to me, but I didn’t have the infrastructure and systems in place to run a seamless business – I ran Icing over and over and over again, but something was missing. I was successful, but I knew things could be better….And then I met Sean and Eric and the NPE Platinum program.
I’ll never forget Sean’s face at our first meeting when he asked us “who tracks their numbers?” Not a hand went up. I knew my mistakes, I had no sales tracking, I had no marketing tracking, I had some employee systems in place, but not solid. I had no lead generation systems – for prospective clients or trainers – the only number I knew was our current gross sales. At least, I admitted to my mistakes.
Less than a year later, I’ve got tons of systems in place and an infrastructure that’s rock solid. Our website is rocking, my staff is solid, has clear expectations and job duties. I’m running tons of marketing pieces, DVD’s, newsletters, email tips, postcards, books, media campaigns (with tons of free press!) the list goes on and on – and let’s not forget, I now know ALL the numbers. Even numbers I didn’t know I needed to know!!
Sean and Eric have shown me so much support and given me tons of confidence. They’ve made me accountable to the things that will really grow my business and have never hesitated to lend me any extra guidance I may need.
Without Sean and Eric’s help and support, I never would have gotten this far – and let’s not forget, I don’t miss a family or kid event. So much of this stuff just runs itself and I can sit back and watch all the numbers….As a matter of fact, next week both the owners – and the managers will be gone for two days and I’m confident the studio will continue to hummmmm. And maybe, when I get back, I’ll take my family and go on a well-deserved vacation!!
Eric’s comments: Camelia and Rita joined Platinum in December ‘06. This is their one-year anniversary with us. In their Platinum class was another studio owner with the same opportunities. He’s not with us anymore. Success isn’t for everyone. The first two steps in making significant, meaningful change in your business and/or life that lead to success are:
1) Recognizing you have a problem
2) Being committed to fixing it
There are many distinctions between Camelia and this other studio owner, but they are extraneous compared to #’s 1 & 2. Those are the hinges. Those are the difference-makers. Everything else is secondary. Camelia and Rita are battlers, fighters, scrappers. They ran up against it more than once in the past year. They got frustrated and pissed. But they pushed through the pain, the aggravation, the work, the pressure, the doubt. And the door swung open for them because they had the right hinges. It is a pleasure and an honor to have them in Platinum. They are “ballers” of the highest order! Congratulations on making the LEAP!
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