039 What it REALLY Takes to Have an ONLINE BUSINESS and Presence with Jill Coleman

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Welcome to the Earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of The Bliss Project, 3 Time Fitness World champion, fitness expert and cover model, turned self love junkie, lifestyle entrepreneur and author.

Each week I'll bring you a guest.

Or a thought that will help you bust through your fears, connect to your soul and get focused and clear. Clear so you can elevate your life, business and relationships. We don't wait until we're ready for someone to tell us we're good enough. We take what we want and we anoint ourselves. Get ready to earn, own, and unapologetically rock your happiness every single day. Are you with me? Here we go. Welcome back to the earn your happy podcast and I'm so excited for you to meet one of my great friends, Jill Coleman. She's actually spoken at my event, the Bliss Project, and she's not only a business genius online, but she is the owner of Jill Fit, which is a personal brand where she helps women in the areas of mindset, physique and business. She's also the co founder of the international fitness and fat loss company, Metabolic Effect Effect. So her passion really lies in coaching the areas of mindset, body and business. And she does that through her flagship programs, the best of you, which you may have heard of her coaching club, mentorship, and she has dozens of other online programs. You guys, she has worked with 10,000 women in the last six years. And for real, she is my dinner and wine partner. She is my salsa partner, she's my workout partner. We really love just to do fun new things together and talk about our big ideas. So without further ado, meet my great friend, Jill. Jill, I'm so excited to have you on the show. Thanks so much for coming on.

Oh, my gosh, I'm so excited. We've been talking about this since you started and I can't believe we're making it happen.

Jill and I, literally, I feel like you and I like, make all of these plans over our favorite dinner place. So now we're finally, we're finally making them happen.

So I know we like, we like drinking wine a little bit more, so sometimes it's hard to like, actually focus on this kind of stuff. Yes. And you, when we get together, they.

Don'T know if we have wine right now, so we don't need to tell them. So I'm so excited to have you on because you really are the epitome to me of somebody who has taken their passion in the fitness industry and really turned it into something so big. You really have Lived out all of your dreams. And I know that as you dream, I kind of watch them come through and then you make another dream and they come through again. So that's super exciting. And I think a lot of people wish they knew what to do. So I really want to deep dive into that today because you and I have somewhat similar backgrounds and I really want to share everything. I want people to know what it looks like, what the struggles are, what it takes, what the payoffs are, all that good stuff. So can you bring us back to kind of where this all began from?

Sure, yeah, of course. And you know, we do have similar stories. Like, I always joke that you and I kind of met on MySpace when people were doing that, like all the fitness modeling type stuff and competing and stuff. I started out in my early 20s just doing fitness competitions and really wanting to see myself being so lean up on stage winning shows. And I did that for several years. And for me at that time, it was all about ego. I really wanted to get in magazines, I wanted tear sheets, I wanted to get my first cover. I wanted to work at the Arnold or, you know, the Olympia and be in a, you know, at a booth or whatever. And it was a lot of kind of chasing, you know, ego type stuff, which was fine. And I think, you know, a lot of us in our younger years do that kind of stuff. We just kind of put our worth on our body and don't really think about much else. And towards my late 20s, I was in a job that I really didn't love anymore. It was a fitness position. And I decided that I wanted to do quote, online business for fitness, right? So I started doing writing people meal plans, like literally people just for competition prep locally. That was the very first iteration of quote, online business or distance coaching. And I was charging like basically nothing. For me, it was like, give me $75 and I'll do a 12 week meal plan for you. It was like really, really cheap. But I. But one thing that I did was I did take a lot of business. So I said yes a lot. And that really paid off later because I was able to be more discerning and I was able to raise my rates and all that stuff because I was maxed out. So the first few years@jillfit.com, which I launched in my late 20s, was just about meal plans, fat loss, competition prep. And it was fun. And I worked my, you know, pretty much worked my butt off and completely filled up my schedule, which was great. So I could leverage kind of My worth and my time later. And it's been about six years since then, so it's been, it's definitely been a journey. Now I don't do any one on one ones anymore, but everything is just more teaching other women how to do online business. So it's been really cool.

Awesome. So you took a lot of stuff for free in the beginning, basically, is that what you're saying? Or did you immediately start charging? How did, how did you convert? Like, hey, I'm on stage, I'm doing this into. This is where I'm gonna start charging. Because I think people, let's go to the very beginning, right? Let's go to the person who's like, oh, I work out a lot. I would love to have this be a living for me. What did that look like?

Yeah, you know, a lot of it stemmed from the way I kind of approached it. So I think you and I have this in common. You know, it's great to be in magazines as like a fitness model and to get a tear sheet and things like that. But what happened was I started valuing my writing ability a little bit more than my looks. And that was a transition that happened around the age of 30. And I think a lot of women kind of experience that too. And I had this moment, I had just finished up my master's in nutrition and a friend said to me, jill, I don't understand why, because I was really upset about, I'm not lean, I'm not, you know, stage ready, even though it was like an off season or whatever. And a friend of mine said, jill, you just got your masters. Like, can't you know, you're. Why aren't you. There's so much other stuff you can contribute. Why are you so focused on your body and being in such great shape all the time? And at that time I couldn't really hear it. But looking back on it, I'll never forget that conversation because it was like, of course I have this brain that knows all this stuff and yet I'm not putting that into you. So for me, it really started, you know, I started writing for a magazine. I was getting paid $35 for a 2,000 word article, which is like nothing. But I was like, okay, now I am published as a writer. And that was when everything kind of started changing for I started blogging on jillfit.com every single day. And I was still working full time at a full time job. So I didn't really have a lot of mental energy to come up with unique ideas and Stuff like that. So I just put recipes up. I put recipes and workouts, but I was always consistent, and I was always doing a lot of work and hustling. And I think if someone's in the gym, a trainer, I understand that because I did 70 to 80 hours a week in the gym for a really long time. But you have to start consciously creating stuff online. It can't be about your body. It has to be the value that you are bringing to other people. So if you have an opinion about how people should eat to lose weight, you have to start writing that instead of putting up a picture of your abs to show that you know how to eat to lose weight.

Wow. Yes. Okay. So many things that you just said there. I kind of want to just elaborate on a tiny bit. So you started valuing something else that you were good at or that you were proud of. And I think that's huge because so many people, the question is like, oh, well, what will set me apart? Or what's going to make me different? Or what's going to drive people to me? And it's really you. It's. What do you. What do people value in you? What are they asking you about? What do people say? You inspire them around and really write down those things about yourself. Because you are, at the end of the day, selling you. Fitness is kind of just that basic platform that might draw people to you, but at the end of the day, it's you. Because look at. Look at what value you were able to add, Jill. It's like, okay, well, you just finish your Master's. That is so huge. So now you can speak to that crowd of, wow, I have so many other things going on, but this is always a foundational thing for me. Fitness is always a foundational thing that always kind of brings me home, centers me, makes me feel good, makes me feel in control or whatever that is. But it's finding that other thing or that thing that you love to do, because that's where it's. Because when it gets tough, right? And it does, it's like, you better hope that you are. You chose the thing that you love to do. So for you writing, and I want to point that out, too, that, you know, you're still doing it. It's like, there are so many days I don't want to think about content. You don't want to think about content. I don't freaking want to put three Instagram posts up. So it's like just getting that stuff out there. So for somebody who's really Just starting, though, I know that you had said blogging or writing articles, things like that. Do you have a way that you tell people to kind of figure out what their, you know, sweet spot is?

Yeah. What I see, you know, it's interesting. I love that you said it's. It really is you, is what sets you apart. Because if we think about it, things like meal plans and workout programs, they're commodity content, which means, you know, if I'm an average consumer, I can Google weight loss meal plan and get like literally thousands, millions of results for free. So the idea that, like, you have the best meal plan or the best workout program, that's not gonna set you apart. Very few people can be separated apart by that. There's not all that many different ways to say chicken and broccoli. For you, as a person who wants to be in the online space, you have to have some sort of personality about you. How do you say those things? What is it about you? What's the unique message? What's the unique way? And really the simple way? Lori, number one, and this is the thing that people are really scared of, is drawing a line in the sand. That's one of the very hardest things for people who are just getting started because they are scared of being judged, they're scared of being wrong. They're scared of being called out by someone who is more successful or knows more. Even though everyone kind of on some level is faking it a little bit, everyone feels a little bit like a fraud, especially when they get started. So I think the thing that the average person can get started with is having an opinion and writing that opinion or posting that opinion online somewhere. So if you don't have a blog yet, that's totally fine. And when I say blog, I mean just a place where you can create content on your website, like a WordPress blog or something. If you don't have a blog yet, use social media. It's free Instagram. Post a photo of you eating something and tell people why you're eating it. Don't just be like, my favorite salad. Be like, why is this your favorite salad? What foods are in this? Be the expert. Right? Be the expert and then also be the friend so that people feel like you're relatable. Those are the two things I always teach my girl. Be the expert and be the friend.

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Oh, I love that. Oh, my gosh. So that you reminded me to how I got started, really. It was on MySpace and Facebook and wherever I could write something. I remember I was, like, shaking in my boots the first time. I. Because I love to write inspirational quotes or like, inspirational paragraphs. And honestly, it was one inspirational quote in paragraph at a time that all of a sudden I got this following like, this girl has a voice. It's not just the body. They liked that there was something behind it. And I remember just posting, like, hitting posts like, oh, my God, this is my opinion. This is how I really feel. I'm like a spiritual fitness person. Here it goes. Like, I believe in this and that and law of attraction, whatever else. Like, boom, right? Freaking out.

That's so scary. And those are the things that very. And you have to do that again and again and again and again and again, don't you? I mean, like, otherwise people don't know who you are or what you stand for. So you have to do that, and then you have to do it the next day, and you have to do it the next day, and you have to say it in a different way the next day. And so I think what a lot of people do is, especially at the beginning, they might encounter a little bit of resistance. So if they get on there and they talk about why they think intermittent fasting is the way to go, right? They'll go on and say, you know, intermittent fasting has been shown X, Y, Z. And this is why I believe that you should do that. For example, it could be anything. And then they'll get one person who's like, well, that doesn't make sense. I'm really hungry in the morning. What should I do? And they take it like they're wrong. And then they shut down their page and they run away because the tiniest bit of resistance makes them feel. It plays on the insecurity that maybe they already feel. And so it's really easy to just throw in the towel and be like, well, yeah, I'm not good enough to do this. And that happens to so many people, especially the first time. Maybe they, a couple years later, try something different, gain a little bit of confidence. But at the beginning, it's the hardest because you don't have any wins yet, you don't have any clients yet, you don't have a whole lot of likes and shares and you know, you don't have a big following. So the tenacity that it takes to keep posting and keep speaking your truth and keep writing and creating content when you're not getting as much traction as other people have been doing it for much longer is really discouraging. So that's why it's very few people who have the tenacity, the grit, and frankly the resilience to make it. But you don't build an online business in three months. Months, right. Even a year. It's, it's three years, five years, 10 years. So that's why you have to figure out a way to actually love the message that you're putting out there. Because if you're not in love with your message, you're not gonna be able to sustain it.

So true. You know, in the beginning, it's, it's like a full time hobby that you are not getting paid for, but you.

Are required to show up at.

So. But the thing is, it's, it's like, here's the deal, if you're doing it because you love it, then it's actually doing you a massive creative soul favor. Because if you don't do it, you're gonna be miserable. So I always think of that when I don't want to do it or one more post, I'm kind of like, okay, if I don't do this though, I'm gonna be miserable because this is truly at my core, who I am. I wanna share things that I'm passionate about. So you have to remember, you're committing to your passion, you're committing to your soul. You're promising yourself you're gonna get it out there, there so that you don't feel crazy. Because I really, truly think that's the other side of not doing your passion and not letting it out. So I love that you said about the people too, like, yes, you're gonna get resistance. And I love those people. As much as I hate them in the moment, I love them because they help me get more clear. And they also point me in the direction of, wow, if I don't feel super firm on this, maybe I need to do a little more work around it so that I do really come from a place of knowing.

Right.

So it's like a huge favor. Like, okay, thanks. You either helped me grow and I realize I need more of a backbone or I need to get a little Stronger around this or I need to learn a little bit more. So what do you think? When people feel like they don't have something to say or content? I truly feel like this comes from a place of maybe they're not feeling the well enough, maybe they're not seeking inspiration. What do you think do to fill your well and come up with all of your stuff.

Yeah, so there's a couple things I do. I love this question. And you know what? This is so common. So I work with over 100 women every year in the Best of youf, which is my business course, which is a mentorship for exactly these personal trainers, health coaches, people like that, nutrition people who want to take what they do in person online. And the first thing that we start with is what I call ccc, which is consistent content constantly. I think that's totally redundant, but for whatever reason, we hashtag it and it's like a thing. And it's so hard because you go, oh, well, this has already been said. Or so and so is already saying this, but better and that. While that might be true in a sense or they've been doing it longer, you have a very unique way that you say it with your opinion. So what do you. How do you know what to write? Or how do you have, you know, an idea? There's a couple things. Number one is what I do and this. You know, I'm not like, super proud. It's a little bit embarrassing to admit, but one of the things I love is I look out in the industry and I look at people's whose stuff, like, who fires me up? Like, people I don't agree with. I'll be like, oh, I have like a couple pages on Facebook that when I read their stuff, I'm like, oh, my God, this is like, it's getting me. It gets me so fired up to write my version of what I want people to know. So I don't like, I don't write a post or write a blog and say, this is in direct contrast to what this person said. I just use it as a way to inspire me to really own my message and get better at communicating my message. Because sometimes people need it who can't hear it quite yet. I've had people, and I'm sure the same Lori who've been following me for four years. And they're like, I read. I've read everything, but it's only been this week that I've really got what you're saying all the time. So you have to say it in so Many different ways. So, number one is I go to. I go to pages or I seek out people who I don't agree with, and I get fired up, and I let that fuel my content or my message. And the second way is I look at what people are struggling with. So, obviously, this is, you know, a pretty common thing that a lot of us do is we ask people or we listen to people and what they're struggling with. So if you don't have a platform on Facebook to ask that question, go to your clients at the gym and say, hey, I'm doing a little bit of research. I'm gonna start blogging. And it would be a huge favor to me if you would just tell me, can you tell me if you had to say what the number one thing is that you feel like is a challenge when it comes to eating or exercising, what would that be for you? And you're gonna get so many amazing responses like boredom, inconsistency, hating, exercise, don't know what to eat. You're just gonna get a goldmine of ideas. And all you need to do is take that whole list of struggles and right next to each one, write your personal solution. So if someone came up to you and said, hey, you know, I really hate eating breakfast, what should I do? You literally write a blog addressing that. What do you. What would you tell them in the moment? If someone came up to the grocery store and asked you, what would you say? And then you can treat your blog like a Q and A. You can treat Facebook like a Q and A. Hey, I got this question from Or I was talking to someone, and they said they really struggle with nighttime eating. Here's one tip. That's all you have to do. It is all just solutions for people and creating massive value for the people who are showing up and who need it. And there are a million struggles if you are only listening and asking.

So, awesome. Value, value, value, value. And we make it way harder than it actually is, right? When you can just. I mean, we can ask, what do people want to hear and learn from us? You can ask that question every single day. And like you said, turn it into a Q and A. And that's. You know what? That's one of the easiest things to do and the thing that adds the most value because it truly, you're giving people exactly what they want from you. And even if someone's doing it or saying it, it's like, even with the algorithms in social media now, it's like, guess what? They're probably not seeing it. So you could put out a million posts a day. And sometimes, Jill, I don't even see you in my reel, which is really irritating to me because it's like there's so much out there. I mean, I do see you, but not often enough. It's like. It's like we could be posting monsters and people would be like, oh, I haven't really seen that person a lot. So it's. It's like the people who are massive posting monsters, I don't even know who they are really. Maybe I see them once or twice a day. So I want everyone to remember that, like, oh, my gosh, it's not annoying. Like, you're not annoying people. And those. If you're annoying people and they say you're annoying, then they can. They can definitely go. Because you're only putting out good into the universe.

Exactly.

Have to remember that.

So creating content, of course, is the first half, and the second, like you said, is promoting it. So a lot of times if I know that I spent hours writing a blog that I just am really proud of and I share it and I don't get as much traction as I want, and I'm like, are you kidding me? Like, Facebook's only showing it to like 200 people or whatever, I will reshare it later with a different photo, with a different. I call it a pre frame. Like, however you frame up your post, like telling people why they should read it. And then I'll share it with a different title even, but it'll be the exact same blog, but I will share it just in a completely different pre frame and convince people or make a case for why they need to click on it. So in my course, I call it Sell the Click. Like, you always have to kind of sell people on the click, even if you're posting a link or something that is free. So tell people why they should click it. And so reposting on different days. And sometimes I'll even say something like, this is one of the most epic blogs I've ever written. And that gets people's attention. They're like, oh, I need to click on that. And it's true. It's in my integrity to say that because I'm like, man, I'm so proud of this blog. I really want people to see it. So I will literally say, this is one of the blogs I'm the most proud of. And even just saying that gets people. So, I mean, promotion is also huge. So you can create content, but don't just put it up on Facebook and say new blog, right? Like you need to give someone a reason to go and read it. What are you talking about? Why did you write this? Some of the easiest, like you said, the most simple pieces of content are just how to's. So things like should I eat, you know, what should I eat after my workout? Should I do cardio or weights for first? How many days a week should I exercise? Like literally the most simple stuff. When people are googling, those are the things that they're googling. How to, you know, build my legs, how to build good like glutes, like all that kind of stuff. It doesn't need to be rocket science, just make it super simple.

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Awesome. Okay, so I've shared a bunch of free content. I've built somewhat of an audience, but it's pretty small. But they're somewhat engaged. Let's say I have a few thousand followers. I'm putting out content every single day. Just something, right? Anything.

Yep.

When is it okay to start asking them to purchase something and what's a great, great first purchase for people?

Good question. So this is a little bit different now than it was maybe a year ago or even a few years ago. And so, like, the Internet's very noisy now, right? So as a fitness professional, a lot of people are saying the same thing, seemingly. You know, I'll ask my mom if she knows the difference between so and so and so and so and so and so. She's like, no, you're all saying the same thing. Even though we know in our industry the nuance and the differences. So I think focusing and keeping your eyes on your own paper and just focusing on the people who are showing up instead of Lori has 50,000 fans or followers or whatever, just focus on the people who are showing up for you. And chances are, if you've been consistent, you have a small group of die hard fans or followers that are going to be like, they will buy whatever you put out. They trust you that much. And you know what? A lot of times people complain that they're family and friends or friends of friends and family. That's fine. Those are the people who know you. Right. No one else knows you yet. So don't be like, oh, it's all people I know. Be like, oh, it's all people I know, which is amazing. And then they're gonna love it so much that they're gonna share it. And then every once in a while I'm gonna get a. And then I'm going to be so excited that I got a stranger who I don't know to add their name to my email list. And I'm going to be grateful for that. And that's how it starts and that's how it builds. So when you're at that place, I think what you can do the first, and I'm sure you had this experience too, Lori. The first iteration is people reaching out to you privately. So you'll get a DM on Facebook or Instagram, you'll get a private email. Someone will reach out to you and ask you for help. So I'm a huge fan of letting that conversation happen. So a lot of people are like, well, charge for coaching and make sure you don't give away too much for free. Here's the thing, you don't have any clients yet, so give them some stuff. Go let the conversation go a little bit because you can always pull back and you can always ask for money and you can always be like, you know what this is? You know, let's do some coaching. It sounds like you really need it, but don't immediately cut it off. That's someone who is interested in you and have the conversation. Let it go a little bit because you are nurturing that person. You're nurturing that person as a potential client and a potential lifelong customer, which is an amazing opportunity. So I think let that go a little bit and then when the time is right, you'll know when to tell them, hey, you know, I do online coaching. Sounds like you'd be a great fit for it. So I think you can do these kind of one at a time type coaching clients. And that's how I started. Jill Fit. I was just like one person reached out and I was like, hey, you know, I do this. Would you like to join? And so it can be these kind of one offs. Eventually you'll get to a point where you do something like more of a big launch where you kind of have a big blast out to your. Or maybe you're like, I'm taking 10 people for a group coaching program and you're able to kind of blast that out and fill those 10 spots. But at the beginning you're going to be just taking one client at a time and that needs to be good enough. And then you can use their testimonials, you can leverage their results, you can talk about them. So people start to come to know you as someone who does online coaching. But the idea that you launch a product six months into the journey and fill it up and make thousands of dollars is just. That's just romanticizing it. That's not the reality. It's just not. You have to grind. You still have to grind. Just now you're not in the gym. Now you're behind your computer writing meal plans at 1am but that's how it starts.

Oh, my gosh. You're taking me so back to launching a program for eight people that I asked to be on it for free.

You have to. You have to be like. Like, if you have $25, I'll help you. Like, but that's how you start so that later on you can afford to be like, okay. I mean, you can say your hourly rate is whatever you want. Once you have all of that, you grind. So you have to do it. I mean, and so the idea that all of a sudden you're gonna be able to do like a five figure launch the first time, no, that's. That will happen in three years.

You guys, Literally, it's like creating a program knowing just like, if you build it, they will come. It will happen. But it's like I had to give that all away for free in the beginning to even, even get people to say, hey, you know what? I want some testimonials. All I ask is that you do this program to the best that you possibly can for these three months and just tell a couple friends about it if you loved it. And, you know, like, literally asking, you have to ask, because there was nobody really there at that point. And I just figured, well, word of mouth is the best way to do this, so let's just give it a whirl. And it started with those eight people, and I. It built so, so slow. And now you have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds every single month. And, you know, that was what? Oh, my God, eight years ago. Holy cow. Eight years ago. Just to get, you know, some people would be like, I'm not even in the thousands yet. I'm at like 400 people a month. And it's been eight years, and I'm still trying to unlock that vault. And I still. Forever will. So, yeah, it takes time.

And I think, you know, looking back, Lori, you were like, all right, it's three months. I'm going to ask these people. Three months is like nothing in the grand scheme of things, you know, But I think when you're first getting started, if you've only been doing it for six months, three months seems like a long time. So that's why I always bring my girls back to. You have to like, this is enjoyable. It needs to be enjoyable on some level, or else you're definitely going to give up. So how can you go back to what's my message? What is the thing that, you know, whenever I do applications for best of you, almost every single person, the application writes, I was born to do this. They say something along the lines of, like, I know this is my calling. Like, I know I'm supposed to do this. I feel so strongly I'm the one to do this. And you have to remember that. You have to recall that feeling of like, okay. And you literally have to ask yourself, if I never made a dime on this, would I still want to have this out in the world just as a creation? And if. And here's the thing, the people who have that attitude are probably going to be the ones who end up being the most profitable because they're the most resilient and they're the most tenacious, and they're the ones who kept going when everyone else was like, this is too hard. I can't do it. And believe me, I know. We were just talking before we got on the call, I just got a new puppy. And it reminded me of, like, doing something really hard again, you know, because online business, I've been doing it for such a long time. And I think you can attest to this, too, Lori. It does get easier. It gets way easier. But you have to earn that effortlessness like you really do. And so in the beginning, it's not easy. Not a lot of people are looking. You're not making as much traction as you'd like, and that's totally normal. But you do reach a point where your efforts start compounding and things do start getting a lot easier because you've built a platform of trust that you can, quote, I guess, cash in on any time with, you know, if you want to ask people or do a launch or whatever, it's there and it's waiting and it's ready. But you've built that over years, not months, not weeks.

I want to really talk about this because you're not going to think you want to do an online fitness business business, and necessarily unless you're, you know, one of the many or one of the. One of the few who kind of just like launches overnight or what it. What that looks like is overnight, but it's going to be built while you're either training or while you're working for that corporation or while you're doing your other business or whatever that is. And I want to point this out so much because I remember being, having my own studio and being like, wow, I really want to take this online. I want to do other things. I want to do mindset stuff, I want to do these other projects. And I remember putting like a one year deadline on it. Well, three years later and every single year I was like, can I do this yet? Am I to that money spot? Am I to that spot with these clients? Are these people gonna stay on? Is this solid? And I'm so, so glad I hung in there probably another year longer than I could have actually stopped in my studio doing one on ones all the time.

Right.

Just because I didn't want to, want to put the pressure on myself to create these programs or feel like I was coming from a place of desperation or need to fill something because that's really easy for me to go there. So I want people to know, like, Jill, for you, when did you know? You know what I mean? What, what did that look like when, when you could kind of ease up on the other things that you were doing.

This is gonna sound like so obnoxious, but like, I didn't know until I knew. And here's the thing, I guess I want to explain that statement, which is, which is I think you can't be like, I need to start an online business because you are so miserable in the thing you're doing. You just can, it can't be like you said, from a place of desperation. You can't be like, when can I quit my full time job? When can I quit my corporate job? It cannot be that energy or else you are going to either give up or you're never gonna make it because you're just like, you can't wait it out. So I always came from a place of like, I love training. Yes, it's long hours and yes, it's mentally draining or whatever, but I love these people. I've done a great job of cultivating the environment. So when I show up, you like, we have a great time together. Yes. It's kind of like I could do it my eyes closed in my sleep, counting backwards from 10, like reps or whatever. But at the same time I was like, I'm going to be building this thing over here while I'm still doing this. It was never like, oh my God, I can't wait till. I just can't do this anymore so I don't have to do it. So I knew the time was right and I slowly cut back. It took me about, it took me a year and a half. After I started my blog to quit my full time job, and after that I was. So that was 18 months, which is pretty fast actually. And then I slowly started cutting back on personal training. It wasn't until about, I would say two and a half years after I started my blog that I quit all personal training and went fully online. So I've been fully online now for about three years.

Awesome.

Yeah. You have to do, I call it the hybrid model. You have to do the hybrid for a while, but you can't do it because you hate what you're currently doing. If you're listening to this call and you're like, I hate personal training, I hate this and that right now. You have to get your mind right because you're going to, you have to like, you have to find a way to find gratitude over there or to figure out a way to interact with your clients so you get treated better or whatever it is, whatever your complaint is. Like, a lot of people have problems with the owner or don't like the gym environment. So go find somewhere else to train or figure out a way to teach people how to treat you better, whatever that is, because you're going to probably still be doing it for a while. So figure out a way to have a more grateful, happy, more positive attitude. I know it sounds super cliche, but that's really what it takes in order to be able to build the business. Because you cannot come into this with desperation. It's not going to prepare.

What you, what you just said, I think is literally everything. I think it's going to be the make it or break it of if you're going to, if you are going to be successful in this industry. Because I had to pull myself back and reset and reality check and get grateful so many times. Because you can think you're almost there, you can feel like it's getting close, or maybe you feel like it's not getting close. And it's so easy to, to just freak out and not like where you're at. But guess what? When you don't love where you're at, you truly attract more in your life of things that just are not working. So I had to get so present and be like, I'm so grateful for this client because this is teaching me this right now. I'm so grateful for this because it's really showing me that I'm not always going to get the results that I want. And let me tell you, looking back when I first went online, and I want to talk about this too, um, when I first went online, Jill, and was no longer training people in person. That first year was probably the loneliest, most challenging year of my freaking life. I was like, if I would have known this, it was like this, I would have never stopped training.

I know, it is. It's crazy. It's hard, you know? And I think. I don't know, you and I are kind of similar. Like, our husbands are kind of in the industry, too. So for me, like, luckily, we kind of had each other, but, like, yeah, I mean, it was very. And what I started doing was I started trapping, traveling. I started meeting online friends. I was literally like, hey, I'm gonna go to a conference. Wanna come? Like, let's go meet up in D.C. for a weekend. Like, I started just, like, having things on my schedule where I could meet other people in the industry at, like, different events and stuff. And I had that stuff on my calendar and I started traveling more and really networking the industry. But, yeah, it can be very lonely because you're like, no one understands. No one gets it right. Like, it's just. It's really tough. Especially if you have someone else in your house, like a spouse or partner who doesn't do. They're not going to understand why you have to give away for free 90% of your stuff. They're like, why aren't you making more money? Like, there's just a lot of questions, especially when you're probably saying, wait, Lori, when I talk to my parents or, you know, anyone who's not in the industry, but what I do, they're like, so how do people find out about you? And, like, how do you make money? Like, what exactly? I just started telling. I just tell people I'm a blogger because it's like, they at least understand that. And then they're like, well, how do you make money at blogging? I don't get it through ads or, you know, so a lot of people don't understand. And you have to be okay with people not getting it because everyone's going to have an opinion when you first start thinking that that will never work. Or. And anyone who's telling you that it will never work is too scared themselves. So you have to get your mind right around the fact that not everyone's going to get it, and it's not your job to convince anyone else that what you're doing is useful and valid and perfectly okay. And you have to do it. And so it's hard because at the beginning, everyone's going to have an opinion and you're going to be super susceptible to those opinions at the beginning because you're insecure. Securities are very high. Because you don't quite know yet. You don't have any wins yet. We kind of said that before. Once you start to get some wins, once you're like, oh my God, I remember my, I got my first sale online. I was. And I put up a PayPal button and the program was like, I don't know, it's like a 50 something or 20. No, it's 25. Four week exercise program. And I was actually walking through Target and I saw it come up on my phone and I literally was like, I can't believe someone just gave me 25. And I did. You didn't have to see them, but I remember that moment and so being grateful for each one of those tiny little steps because you don't get to skip steps. You don't just get to put a blog up and have a viable online business making six figures and traveling the world. You don't just get to do that. You have to go through step one to get to step two. And a lot of times, like you said, it can be lonely, it can be tough. You have to go to work and you have to have that inside innate motivation when everyone else is watching television or wants to go out. Like you have to be like, no, I gotta get a blog up. Like that's literally the reality of it. So yeah, it's not for everybody but it is the most rewarding thing if you can get past that beginning hump. And it's usually I would say for most people it's right around year three, three and five.

Totally. I feel that for sure. So okay. For people who in the beginning just have no clue what they're doing for the most part and I'll tell you, I was that person just really quick. I liter would just attempt to figure stuff out and I probably put stuff out far before I should have. Like it just did not look awesome. Like I just did what I could with what I was working with. But when do you know? Okay, let's talk about that for a minute. But when do you know when you should start hiring a team or somebody and where do we look? That was a lot of questions. That was too many questions at once.

That's okay. Well we can start with the, you know, hiring a team and some. So the first thing I would recommend is getting someone to handle your emails. So as you start to get more, more busy and like luckily you're building your platform, people are going to want to want access to your brain. So you're going to want to have some sort of gatekeeper. So when I first started, actually, I had my mom doing it. I was like, she had just retired and I was like, hey, do you mind, like, getting on and just answering? And she was great. She just did it. And I like, you know, I like, take her out to dinner when I saw her. I mean, she was like, we, you know, we had a little, like, common sense station, you know, set up, but it wasn't much and she was able to help me. And then after that, I got like a family friend who I trusted to do it. And so I would say the first thing to probably have is someone handle your admin stuff. So if you can have someone like a gatekeeper on your Facebook inbox, you know, and emails. Because here's the thing, when you're first getting started, like, you have to return emails you can't get away with. And even when even you're five, six years in, eight years in, you can't not return emails. It's a bad look. Super bad. Especially because people want access to you. Why would you ignore someone who wants access to you when they could turn into a client, customer, or raving fan? It's unacceptable. And that's why I hired my first one was because email started going unanswered, and that was a really bad look, and I was super embarrassed about it. So I had my assistant go back and respond to a bunch of emails for months prior. Literally, like, I know what, you sent that three months ago, but let me answer that really quick, because that's part of your customer service. Those people want access to you, so honor that. Different team members. I have a fairly small team. I have some tech people on board. And then I also have another coach that helps me invest a view, kind of take some of the burden and provide some content too, for business. So I know you have a much bigger team, but for me, it's like about five people and it's great.

Oh, I really don't have a much bigger team. We're looking at hiring even more people right now just because I'm overloading the people that I have. That's when you know to grow your team too is when your people are getting stressed out.

Yes, yes.

Letting everyone work in their zone of genius and not forcing them to be more jobs than they came on for or that they're great at. Because then when everyone's in their zone of genius, it's kind of like everybody's a whole lot Happier. So, yeah, no, I love that. I actually think the email thing is the most important because honestly, if I was going to quit for any reason in the beginning or get frustrated or overwhelmed, it was because I had so much anxiety about customer service. And it's hard to be on the creative end, the giving end, the. I want to put this out. When maybe you get an. An email that's by somebody who's irritated on your program, that's either because of you or not because of you. I think when you can vet those things and get the feedback from somebody you love in the beginning, I think that's going to make this career, like, you're going to have so much more longevity because you're not going to be so stressed out and anxious all the time when you know that's taken care of. So I think that's absolutely key and number one. So any other tips? Like, I know that you. You work with so many women doing this, and I love that you do that because, you know, Jill, there. This did not. What you're doing did not exist. When I wanted to do this, it was just like, I would. If you saw some of the stuff I put out, you would be appalled.

Like, I was putting out the same stuff. Like, literally up until last year, my website was like a super sexy, like, swimsuit bikini. When I was doing, like, business coaching for the last four years, it was just like, these things. I'm a huge proponent of not letting perfect be the enemy of good. So even though you and I were putting out stuff like bootstrapping stuff, like, literally, I remember my sales page was like, it was literally like one sentence about what it was and their buy button. You know what I mean? I was just sending people to it. You learn as you go. But I never, ever, ever let. Needing things to be like, perfectly designed or whatever. If I had a space to write, I was writing. And I always went back to what kind of what level of value can I bring and can I be consistent? To me, it was always that even if my website wasn't the way I wanted it to look, or this had a problem or whatever, I mean, I always just did like you. I moved where I could with what I had at the time. And you'll have plenty of time later to add the bells and the whistles and hire the team and, you know, get the graphics and like, you'll have plenty of time for that. But just bootstrap it. And if you are saying something valuable, you'll be amazed at how many people look over that Stuff they don't. I know plenty of people have these beautiful websites and no clients versus other people who don't even have a website but are doing their entire business on Instagram or Facebook. If you are putting out good stuff that people want consistently adding value and helping people, you can do it on whatever platform. It does not matter.

Oh my God. I love that. If you guys took anything away from this, it's literally get stuff out there, good or done is better than good. I always feel like I can, I can apologize for what I did, but I can't apologize for like putting nothing out there, you know, so it's kind of like it's feedback. What comes back from the stuff that you're putting out there. And you're always learning and tweaking. You can't do that. If you don't, you don't just put this stuff out there, you can't progress.

So I'm a huge fan of, I mean I am a huge fan. I'll leave you guys with this tip. I think this is really good. If you find yourself feeling really nervous to put, to write anything online or to put stuff out or, you know, especially sharing, like I know you're really good at this or and I've done this too is a lot of vulnerability. Like I think sharing that like we're not perfect and we don't eat, you know, like kind of just sharing your vulnerabilities. It feels awkward at first, especially as a fitness professional because you're like, wait, I'm supposed to be be eating perfect all the time or I can't let people see me sweat. And you would be amazed. In my brand, when I started sharing some things I was struggling with or that I had struggled with in the past, how much stronger the trust was in my tribe. Like everyone just felt like we were best friends and people and that's key. So if you are feeling like you're struggling with putting out stuff because again, you do have to be consistent with content. It can be audio, it can be a podcast, it can be blogs, it can be social media posts, it can be audios, it can be images. All different ways to put out content. If you find yourself really not being able to do it or feeling really scared or worrying about it, put yourself on the hook. I'm a huge fan of like, just announce that you're doing 30 blogs in a row. Like just be like, I'm doing a 30 day blog blitz on, you know, weight loss or something and announce it to everybody. It's kind of like when you do your first fitness competition, right, you, like, tell everybody and then you're like, oh, my God, I guess I'm doing it now. Put yourself on the hook so that you force yourself to do it so you get people feeling like they're going to miss you. If you're not there at the beginning, it's easy to give up because you're like, no one's going to miss me if I leave. Right. But if you tell people and put yourself on the hook, be like, I'm launching a free ebook in two weeks. Put your name here if you want to get a copy of it. Like, literally, it can be that simple. And guess what? Now you're on the hook to write an ebook in the next two weeks. So announce it first. I launch almost everything without having it completely done yet. I know what the ideas are going to be, but I'm always announcing it first and then filling in the details later because for me, that's a huge motivational tool.

Yeah, that's exactly. I love that. That's exactly what I do. That's exactly how anything in my life gets done. Yeah, I have to have that date. I have to know people are relying on me.

Yes.

So, Jill, I have love, love, loved having you on. Where can we find you? Where can we follow you? All that good stuff.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, me too. I love talking to this stuff. Everything is@jillfit.com so all the blogs if you guys are interested. If you're interested in learning more about Best of you, which launches every fall only once a find the wait list on jillfit.com everything else on social media is just illfit, except for Snapchat, which someone else is Jill Fit. I don't understand that. So I have like a really annoying Snapchat username. It's xjillfitx and I'm doing all of my puppy Chronicles over on Snapchat. If you guys wanna see the new.

Puppy, you guys make sure you go follow Jill because honestly, she is one of my favorite people in my life. I've had her speak at Bliss Project and she every. Everything that she teaches is truly, truly going to move you forward. And I love learning from you. I'm like, okay, can I get you on the show just so I can hear what's like, up to date and fresh and going on in my world. So anyway, thank you so much again, you guys. And if you love this episode, make.

Sure you share it with a friend.

And until next time, earn your happy.

Bye.

Everyone. Thank you guys so much for spending this time with me on the Earn Learn your Happy podcast. I am so glad that you stopped by. If you could take one second to share this episode with someone you think would love it, that would be absolutely amazing and we would be forever grateful. Also, please leave us a review if you feel so moved by going to itunes and leaving us an honest thought, an honest comment. Tell us what you think, Tell us what you want to hear. More. More of it would really help us out on our journey to helping thousands and thousands of people. Until then, don't forget to earn your happy. Thanks again guys.

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