S2 Ep 28: The Impact Of Events

Welcome back to the Marketing Muscle Up podcast show. I'm Richard Toutounji, and today I want to talk all about events, specifically marketing and business events. And all about awards and what they both mean. We recently had our end of year, we call it our Comm Immersive, and we gave out a lot of awards and we focused on creating amazing events. And I've got Ev Chapman joining me here today. How are you, Ev?

I'm great. How are you?

Yeah, very good. Very good. The reason being Because we, you know, I guess we just— last time we spoke, we were talking about a Mercy we're just about to put on.

Yes.

And I thought we promised we'd talk about, you know, how it went and what happened in the event. So I just thought we'd do a quick recap today.

I think so. It was really fun. I think we've recovered from the 2 days on Zoom. But I mean, I've been coaching all day today and people have been raving. About how good it was. Yeah.

And it was over Zoom as well. So these events for us in our company, we run 3 events a year, 2 days, 2 nights, a lot of catch-ups, dinners, the whole thing. But this time we did do hopefully our last one on Zoom and these generally happen in person. And I just think it's, you know, all our we had, um, 90% show-up rate for all our clients.

Yeah.

And we had a whole bunch of guests that they brought along too. And I love, I love getting guests to the events because it doesn't matter if you're, you know, to me it's like we want to impact, you know, impact these communities. And when you do that, when you impact a person, they can impact a massive community. And so having guests there is a real treat. And, and obviously having our clients there seeing their progression is, you know, is also like, you know, lights us up and gets us— I mean, I should say it keeps us realigned, not just for us but also them as well. And to me, it's almost like, it's almost like when, you know, you know what to do, you just gotta kind of do that. And that's what an event does. And yeah, there's something about it that's different to a a webinar or a training or when you train your clients and it's something different, it's something special. Ev, what do you think it is when it comes to events?

I mean, look, it can be a little bit different on Zoom because you might still be at home and you might duck out to do the washing or something. There is something really special about being at a place and time and taking that time out. And I think that's why we really love to have our 3 kind of in-person events, but I see it like as a circuit breaker. So like in your business, you're just going along, you know, full pelt, head down. And most of our clients are like that. They're just head down all the time, just, you know, hitting their goals and stuff like that. But I think what it does is it helps you like just poke your head back up and look around. It's kind of like looking back Like when you're swimming in the ocean, looking back at the flags and saying, am I still between the flags? Am I still on the right road? And I think that's what a lot of people appreciate is it's that time to stop, kind of recollect, and then go again.

Yeah. I think it's a great analogy on that one. Yeah. Just looking between the flags to see if you're on path because it makes a big difference if you go the whole year and then You kind of realize, oh, what just happened? I hate when people will, like, I don't know if it's about, I don't know if it's just me, but I'll share a secret. I hate when people say, where'd the time go?

I'll make sure I don't say that to you.

I know everybody says it, but the time goes in hours, in minutes, in days, and in planning. And unfortunately, time does go fast. I feel it does move fast. Years move fast and that's why people say, you know, kids grow up so fast. Actually, my son's birthday today.

Yay.

Just about to go have some 5th birthday cake and everybody says it, oh, where'd the time go? Well, the time goes fast, especially because, you know, when you look at a small human being, you can kind of see that progression. They grow up really fast. When you deal with adults, what's happening there? Our hair's changing, colour's changing, we're going grey, we're going old. And it's different. It's different. It's a different concept. But in a business, you're generally working full out. You generally don't stop. And that's why we talk a lot about gratitude, goal setting, your $5 tasks. But at events, it does give you that excuse to stop, pull the brakes off just a little bit, and then sort of see where you are floating in that point.

Yeah, I think so. And I think a lot of, yeah, a lot of our clients Kind of, yeah, take that time out, you know. And I think, you know, I think even if you are doing Zoom events, like sometimes they can be a bit fatiguing, but I would really recommend that if you are doing kind of Zoom workshops or you've been invited to something, like be all there. Like, you know, even sometimes, you know, a lot of our clients, like if they couldn't make it, they might go and get a hotel room or they'll go away and do the thing. And I think, you know, You know, give it that space. Like, don't always think that you need to be going— like, it's very easy to think, I don't have the time to do that. But sometimes you don't have the time not to. And you need to take that space out. Yeah, just to get back on track.

Totally. And we also gave away a lot of awards. I mentioned that in our last And one of the awards I might— actually, I've got one of our Scale Mastery Awards and I've got Kylie who's going to join us on our podcast shortly. Okay, great. And she's going to take— she's going to take, kind of take through her journey of what she did to pretty much do the same, what she achieved this year through COVID. It took her 8 years previously to achieve the same result, but she did this in 12 months.

So good. It's amazing what these guys do. And I mean, that was the whole— we did talk about momentum. That was a theme of our immersive. And I think that's the secret in that, like, once you— yeah, like, once you get to that point, you then, like, those things that you've thought were really scary before, or you thought were really hard before, suddenly they become easy. And you're like, what, what just happened? Like, where did that time go?

Yeah, that time goes fast and it goes fast when you've got a plan. And when you put the plan in action, you relatively move fast. We had another winner, the PT of— we launched a new PT accelerator program for personal trainers that are early on in their business, like super early, 0 clients to 5 to 10 to 15, or PTs that are going from 1 to 1. to small groups.

Yep.

And there was a guy called Albert that won the award. Um, Albert approached us a while back. I think he was referred, and, um, he was sitting on the fence for probably 8 months trying to figure out what he's going to do with opening up a studio or he's going to get into a franchise. And anyway, he said, listen, I'm going to open up my own studio and need some help. And he started off in our PT Accelerator program

Yeah.

At zero clients. Like, he had a, uh, like, he was known in an area, he trained there for many years, but he didn't actually have any physical clients at that time. So he went from zero, and our program is 12 weeks, from zero to 16 clients in 12 weeks. And that put him at the mark of a $100,000 trainer, you know, in 12 weeks.

Yeah.

And that's the, that's the pinnacle for a personal trainer. Where it's $2,000 mark a week. That's gross. And then from there you've got, okay, movement. What do we want to do now? Do you want to stay as a single trainer and, you know, great? Or do you want to keep progressing and want to institute? And he wanted to open up a studio. So he progressed into our Ninja program. He pretty much doubled again from that point and a bit more. And, you know, it was just, he just getting the execution done. And people are like, what happened? Well, I'm just getting execution. I'm not moving. I'm just doing this and I'm doing the next thing. I'm doing the next thing. And when he reaches out, when he wants some help, he'll get help. He's smart enough to know that he will maybe, if we ask him to design something, he won't design it. He'll get it designed and get it done because he's understanding the hourly rate. But that was a really— and even to get him on, Ev, talking about being present, we also know that some businesses— Adjust in the grind in that time, you know, and that's just the way it is. And Albert was, you know, and so I was calling him up, calling him up, and I was presenting award in like five minutes before. I'm saying, Helen, can you please harass him and get him on the line?

PG Albert.

PG Albert. Anyway, so thirty seconds before we announce his award, he jumps on on his phone and he's halfway through a session, I think. Yeah.

It was raining at the park. Raining. Classic, classic outdoor PT. But, but he's, he's a legend though. Like, he, you're so right. Like, he's, he started off with zero, he's hustled. And like, and that is, that's kind of part of the, you know, going from like you're zero to, you know, you're 16. And then I think he went from 16 to now he's kind of at the 50 mark and kind of beyond that. But like, That is a hustle stage of business. And he hustled.

Yeah. Hustled with a plan. Hustled with a plan. With a plan.

Yeah.

And then we had award with the person that opened up a studio that got the highest growth. Actually, Adriano, we had him on— I had him on the podcast a little bit ago. He won that award. Very close with a guy called Josh Glass in Randwick, The Pit, and over 50s, Heath Jones in Hurstville. And, you know, good operators, all good operators. They are. They're smooth. Smooth guys, smooth operators, you know, and they're pushing hard and they're pushing the numbers. So it's just great. Yeah. Oh, a bunch of awards like Digital Achiever.

So many.

Yeah. You know, someone went from kind of zero digital skills to being able to do 100 days of Instagram stories. Shout out to Amanda, Amanda Chessonson, and she's a single base trainer and she's, yeah, she's getting out there, right?

She's one of the most consistent people I know between her and Jeanette, who also hit 100 days of stories. But yeah, I think, you know, there's so many, so many of them. We had a top performer. Yeah.

What about just one more? Like, Actually, 2 more. Eda, Eda from Ninja of the Year. We might get her on. Amazing transformation. Actually grew in Melbourne, by the way. Actually grew in Melbourne, doubled her business and doubled her clientele in 7 lockdowns.

It's through all those lockdowns. Yeah.

Yeah. Most lockdown city in the world. So if you are in Melbourne, total respect for everybody in Melbourne there. And then in Sydney, Andrea also won the Scale Breakthrough Award. Yeah. You know, in the 4-month lockdown in Sydney, which you were in, Ev, basically just back to back at the park. She said, people thought I was a statue standing there all day. And she used the time not to slow down, but she actually used the time to aggressively find new clients and again, went on to double, more than double her business, opening up a brand new studio and stuff. I

heard she's become like a, like a household name in Randwick. Like, all— she's in all the mums— everyone in the mums groups knows who Andrea is, and she's just smashing it. Totally. Like, this guy— like, I mean, I think we said this last time, but it was so hard to choose these winners. We had, you know, I think 30 finalists. There's over 10 winners. Like, it was— it's massive. And, you know, Yeah, I just had a coaching call with Amanda today and I said, you know, it's all them. Like, yeah, like they, you know, you come and we, you know, give as much help and support and plans and strategies and all that. But at the end of the day, they do the work and that's why they get the awards.

Totally. Yes. And yeah, we say it's hard, but you know, the work put on is hard. So we just want to make sure that we got the right thing. And there's a very tight structure on judging, which is important to be as fair as possible.

We've really, I mean, yeah, we're stringent, I think.

Yeah, we've got to be stringent. Absolutely. You know, there can only be one winner, as they say.

So good. And okay, so wrap up of the event. What was your favorite session? Can you say?

Well, listen, I think, you know, there was 2 there. Well, that was great. But, you know, we had Sam Cawthorn, international bestselling author. And I can tell you right now, I haven't told Sam this, but I know that that was one of the most popular sessions according to our survey. And even if you've heard Sam before, outstanding. There's always an adjustment and a change of the thinking there. And he talked about his personal journey of bouncing forward instead of bouncing back. And yeah, just an amazing journey. I think everybody's had that this year. So that was definitely a takeaway. But then we, Matt's session—

See what I was saying?

And, you know, really, really tactical fast. And it was great for our ongoing clients because they knew what that meant straight away. Some of the guests were like, oh, too heavy. But then throughout the whole period, it was just, it was tight. The session I did like personally, apart from my session, Ev, we we kind of like— the presentation that I present on is actually literally dissecting the entire 12 months and putting every training we've done, and we've done over 50 training, brand new trainings this year, like, and dissecting that with our existing trainings and really saying these— if you're in a, you know, studio from 0 to 25, 25 to 50, or 50 to 75, or 100 plus to 50 for a gym, what are the exact trainings that's helped those winners win. And so if you are a ComMarketing client, you'll have the access in the backend and you'll see just like that. People say, you know, what's the result? That is the result. Just go and do that and watch that. So that's been, that was a great session. Of course, I don't know if I've answered the question because all the sessions are great, but I did like it. They were all good. Yeah. Yeah, I did like it.

Yeah, I did. I mean, it's hard to say your favorite session, but I do agree, like Our Momentum Marketing Blueprint, which you just talked about, like we literally just put the gameplays in for every level of business, every level of fitness business, what you need to do to grow. So yeah, like, and I mean, that's available for all of our clients, but if you are not one of our clients, you know, hit us up. Like we want to be those people who can tell you exactly what you need to grow a fitness business. Totally. Yeah. And I'm really excited about that. I think it's It's a game changer for so many people because there's just so much confusion out there.

A lot of confusion, a lot of things that, you know, it's just ridiculous, the messages out there. Keep it simple, keep it effective.

I love it.

Well, that's Immersive and we're running our next one in March. So guys, if you are interested in that, reach out to us, commarketing.com.au, and let us know when our next one's in. March planning in Melbourne.

March in Melbourne?

Yeah. March in Melbourne. You know what I've done, Ev? I have literally got Joey on the job now. For those who don't know, you've heard Joey before, and she's now just going to be focused on making sure that these events are totally epic, taking us next level next year. And yeah, doing some just super cool things that will blow people's minds. So I'm Looking forward to that, but not telling too much. That's in March. Can't wait. It's going to be good. All right. That's a quick wrap-up, guys. If you haven't been to an event in your business, like you're running a business, you haven't been to any kind of event, my recommendation is get to an event, get to a face-to-face networking event because that's— you'll learn in a different way. And I think it's super valuable for any business operator. Get to an event. Be a part of a community, and that will help you on your journey to grow your fitness business.

Absolutely.

Well, that's it from us. Um, until next time, guys, if you've enjoyed this episode, you know what to do. Just share it, copy and paste it, direct send it on a Facebook Messenger, text message, share on your socials— that's a good one— and let people know what, what resonated with you the most. Guys, I'll see you next time on the Marketing Muscle-Up Podcast Show. Bye for now.