April 17, 2025 • 37 mins
Meet three gym owners who are thriving by combining smart content with meaningful connection. In this episode, I talk with Micah Morgan, Jake Trione, and Lisa Grace Wright — all of whom have built powerful brands and loyal communities by speaking directly to the needs of active agers.
📣 Designed for fitness business owners and marketers
Takeaways:
- How to use member stories for high-converting content
- Community-driven marketing strategies that work
- Tips for using video, Reels, and even AI in your workflow
- Why niche marketing to adults 50+ leads to loyal clients and better revenue
🎤 About the Guests:
• Micah Morgan (MM Fitness & Temple Terrace Training, Tampa) – Known for his member-first approach, live content, and emotional storytelling.
• Jake Trione (Tri Fitness Gym, Houston) – A military veteran focused on care, connection, and creating a truly inclusive space.
• Lisa Grace Wright (Your Personal Best Training Studio, Corpus Christi) – A content and video marketing master who’s leveraging AI, Instagram, and YouTube to dominate her niche.
Connect with Jay Croft here:
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primefitcontent
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/croftjay/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaycroft
For more tips reaching the over-50 fitness market, subscribe to The Optimal Aging Podcast or visit www.primefitcontent.com.
Email: jay@primefitcontent.com
Thanks for listening!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I tell my coaches and the environment around me and
everybody who's sharing stuffabout our gym to just tell their
personal story and to realizethat them sharing their story
may change that life forsomebody next to them who's
sitting at home and maybe closeto losing their independence or
maybe seeing themselves start todeteriorate.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hi everybody, I'm Jay Croft, and welcome to the
Optimal Aging Podcast, where wediscuss the business of exercise
, healthy living and well-beingfor people 50 and over.
Each week, we explore whathealthy living means for
millions of people over age 50and what's coming next, with a
focus on communications, contentand making powerful connections
(00:40):
.
This week's episode issupersized and special, with not
just one, but three greatguests.
Each of these gym owners usesmy content marketing service,
Prime Fit Content, and they eachdo something special with it,
putting their own unique spin ontheir websites, social media
(01:01):
posts and email newsletters.
I've been impressed with lotsof my PrimeFit content
subscribers because they all runsuccessful businesses and are
smart about their content andcommunications.
I chose these three becauserecently they've all posted
material that made me go, hmm.
First up is Micah Morgan, Tampa, Florida, who's had a gym MM
(01:25):
Fitness for several years andrecently expanded with Temple
Terrace Fitness, focused onfolks over 50.
Micah loves taking photos ofhis members in the gym and in
community spaces and I love theway he interacts with them and
is very determined to keep hisfocus on them where it belongs.
Interacts with them and is verydetermined to keep his focus on
(01:47):
them where it belongs.
I'll put Micah's contact infoin the show notes, same with the
other two guests whom I'llintroduce briefly after we hear
from Micah.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
So I do a lot of community events.
I just had one a couple ofweeks ago at the Lightfoot
Recreation Center and we hadabout 20, 21, 50 plus members
come in and they enjoyed thebootcamp.
They were flipping tires, theywere doing battle ropes, they
were doing kettlebell squats andthey were like we never do this
(02:17):
.
Yeah, like they participate ina lot of silver sneakers classes
, which are great, and they'revery active.
I like the term active aging, Igot that from you.
They're a very active agingcommunity.
So they're in there at leastthree times a week doing like
Pilates and some of the silversneakers classes, but they've
never touched the kettlebell.
(02:37):
They've never done any kind ofstrength training that involves
bars or dumbbells, only bands.
So it was a great change ofpace and they reacted very
positively and very encouragedto do more.
So I showed them that they cando more and I think that opened
(02:59):
up a new sense of motivation forthem.
So a lot of them came to TempleTerrace Training and I offered
a free week of personal training.
So a lot of them took thatoffer.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Okay, that's great.
That's kind of what I wanted totalk to you today about is, you
know, you and I have beenworking together for a little
while like a few weeks, a couplemonths and in that short time
I've been really impressed withhow you spotlight your members.
You take a lot of photos and alot of videos of your folks and
(03:30):
you use them really well andI've liked that for since I've
known you.
But then a week or two ago youposted one of a woman who was I
don't know if she was at thisrec center or at a senior center
Sounded a little like she wasat church because she was
preaching about you and howwonderful you are as her trainer
(03:51):
, and she was telling theseother peers of hers that they
need to take care of themselvesand exercise and to come see you
that kind of thing, and she wasincredibly persuasive.
Tell me about that kind ofthing, and she was incredibly
persuasive.
Tell me about that.
Micah, why and how are you soactive with your content and
your photos and videos?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, I mean it started when Instagram first
came about.
I think that was back in 2009,2010.
I'm a firm believer inspotlighting people that are
doing amazing things and givingthem recognition.
So, you know, in my phone Ihave more pictures of people I
(04:32):
trained in my family.
You know.
It's like I could date back tolike when they were younger and
until today, because I trainpeople for a long periods of
time.
So I make sure that I takepictures, I share them on
Facebook and Instagram, I tagthem.
It's good for brand awareness.
It's good to give peoplerecognition because everybody
(04:53):
loves, you know, to be applauded.
It's also great to see peoplethat kind of look like you and
kind of in your same, you know,fit, your same shoes, to see
them actually doing exerciseRight.
So it kind of encourages peoplethat are intimidated and
thinking that they can't dothese things and you see their
(05:14):
friends doing it and it's likeoh, wow.
And then the positivereinforcement with their
testimonies and smiling and highfiving, like all of that like
breaks that barrier and smilingand high-fiving, like all of
that like breaks that barrier.
So it's great for marketing,but it's also, I think it's more
for just motivation for mymembers and we use a lot of
these pictures and videos toshow them a month after the
(05:37):
progression so you could seetheir transformation.
You could see some of the bodyfat coming off.
Their face looks smaller,they're standing up more
straight.
You see definition.
So I kind of use them forprogress pictures and progress
video as well.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
You do all of this on your phone.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
You don't bring in an expensive professional camera
crew to do this high def, but Ido sometimes bring professionals
.
We do professional photo shoots.
So we had one year we had acalendar shoot, right, and every
month I had a member take apicture.
It was like a professionalfitness shoot and they had their
(06:15):
own motivational word and alittle you know, a little
description about what that wordmeant to them.
So they were in a page of thiscalendar that we printed out,
professionally, printed out andgave to them.
So they were in a page of thiscalendar that we printed out,
professionally, printed it outand gave to them.
So I do little things like that.
I do hire professionals to dophoto shoots so they can keep it
and to show them like, look,you are the star, you are doing
(06:37):
something great, you're lookinggreat and you're feeling great.
So documenting that on a photoand a video, it's just a great
thing for them to keep forever.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, what kind of response do you?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
get from people, the ones you put in the photos and
the videos, but then also peoplein the community or people who
come in and they say hey, I sawmy friend Sally working out at
the gym and she was flipping atire and I asked her about it at
work and she told me you knowyou're located here, so I just
(07:19):
showed up because I want to flipthe tire like my friend If she
can do, it can do it too.
So I mean, it definitelyspreads throughout, locally,
around my area, which basicallywhat I I want to do how do you
get people to participate inthis?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
or?
Or do people ever say, oh, Ican't do that, my hair looks bad
, or I don't like to talk oncamera or don't take my picture?
I mean what?
Or do people always just reallyhappy to do it?
You know, some people kind ofpush me away, like, oh there
goes michael with that cameraagain, or don't take my picture,
or are people always justreally happy to do it?
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Some people kind of push me away, like, oh, there
goes, michael, with that cameraagain.
And I ask but deep down, we alllike some sort of attention and
I always say, look, you'redoing something that will.
It's not always about you, it'sabout other people that are
watching you.
You might motivate somebodytoday and change their lives
(08:08):
just by me showcasing you on avideo or taking a picture.
So it's true, but I let themknow like, look, if you don't
want to be, you know you mighthave a bad hair day to day and I
get it, and I'm not going totake a picture of you.
So I'm not going to do itwithout you know the okay.
But sure, most times they likeit, because that's part of the
(08:32):
experience at MN Fitness andTemple Terrace training is look,
we're going to show the workthat we're doing, we're going to
show that we're having a goodtime and your friends and family
are going to see what you'redoing.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Okay, and then how do you measure success about this
kind of thing generally and thenmaybe, but maybe also in
particular, like do you look atnumber of likes, do you record,
do you talk to people who comein and say, you know, were you
moved by our content, what?
Or do you just put it out thereand not worry about its success
?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I don't really worry about the success too much, but
I can tell you that me doingthis content for so many years
because I don't have a bigmarketing budget I'm doing
better, but I don't run Facebookads or anything like that.
I think the organic stuff reallytouches people's hearts and I
try to focus on just the emotionof my pictures and my videos
(09:24):
more than just like somebodydoing a deadlift.
You know what I'm saying.
So I think that really bringspeople in in a marketing sense,
because they do see me all overTemple Terrace, tampa, doing
content, recording my videos,recording my bootcamps, and a
lot of the word of mouth spreadsjust through social media.
(09:47):
I think I would say about 50%comes from videos and pictures
that not just me posting it, butthe people that are in these
videos.
They share it right, becausethey're proud.
They're proud.
So, yeah, it helps word ofmouth.
And then Google helps a lot aswell.
So a lot of people come inthrough Google and I make sure I
(10:08):
update my Google account allthe time with pictures and
videos as well.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So yeah, and I like how you use when I give you
something for the newsletter.
You sometimes will swap out thephoto that I gave you with a
photo of your people, which isso smart because you do want to
reflect.
You mentioned you want people,want to see people who look like
themselves, and sometimes thephotos that I have to use are
(10:34):
extremely posed in studio shotsof models and rather have real
people in them.
And you've got all these greatphotos of real people, yeah it's
kind of overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I have so much like thousands.
I have to put that into afolder and really give that to
you.
But I love the content that youdo supply me with, because a
lot of these uh articles I itfits someone that I trained,
yeah, yeah, you know.
So it man, I remember thiswoman I trained back in 2013
(11:07):
that ran this marathon and shewas 60 years old.
Like I could find these thingsand put it because I've been
doing this for a while now.
So, yeah, it's just greatcontent and we have real life
people that have done thesethings and accomplished these
tasks.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Any tips for gym owners out there who want to do
more of what you're talkingabout, like just real practical
things, like any kind ofsettings to use on your phone or
any kind of questions to assurepeople they look fine or how to
store them on your computeranything at all.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, I would say, don't double guess yourself.
Ask before you do take pictures.
Do it consistently, do it daily.
One picture can create one newclient.
And, you know, don't think thatit's not touching anybody
emotionally, because sometimesyou giving people shout outs,
(11:59):
especially on social media,might turn their day around and
they feel like they haveaccomplished something.
And I would say, just take.
It only takes five seconds toshoot a picture and all you need
is 15 seconds of video ofsomeone just smiling and saying
they're enjoying themselves.
I wouldn't do too much of thesexy workout content.
(12:21):
I would do more of the emotionsover movement type of content.
So people have a fun, people inyour demographic that you're
trying to attract.
Make sure you focus on them,right.
But yeah, do it once a day,it's not that hard, and just
post it.
Don't hold it in your phone,don't second guess yourself.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
You know, I find a lot of people want will only put
out photos that are perfect,and by perfect I mean the
lighting has to be just rightand everyone has to be smiling
and looking right at the camera,and then, if they're not
perfect, they won't post themand it's like no, that's the
beauty of the digital age, manis we can take so many photos
that they don't have to beperfect.
No one's even expecting them tobe perfect, right?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Yeah, and the algorithms change all the time.
I recorded a 15 second video ofmembers entering my gym and
leaving my gym and I didn't talkor nothing.
People were smiling coming outof the gym, people were coming
inside the gym.
That did 20,000 views and justposted it and I just said you
(13:27):
know, another day at the gym orsomething and you just never
know.
So just yeah, this didn't see,just keep posting content
because you never know what hitsthanks, micah.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Next is Jake Tryon of BiFitness Gym in Houston, who
also opened his second locationnot too long ago.
Known Jake for a while now andjust last year, after a
hurricane caused a lot ofdevastation in his community, I
saw him at a conference in LAand we spoke about how he and
his business had reached out tothose who were suffering, even
(14:00):
opening up his gyms to peoplewho had no power or water.
Jake's a big believer insupporting the community and his
big heart will be apparent fromthis conversation, as it is in
his business communications.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
For us at Tri Fitness , the biggest thing that we're
trying to do is make sure thatevery single place we go, that
we're not just a gym, we're notjust a place to come in and get
healthy, but we're alsooutwardly trying to promote
wellness and connectivity andlove and support and growth and
a safe space and all of thosethings that we actually really
(14:35):
believe in and what we'vecreated, but outside of the gym
as well actually really believein and what we've created, but
outside of the gym as well.
And so the biggest deal for usis to make sure that we're
choosing a charity or choosingan organization or things like
that on a consistent basis toprovide support for.
And then our clients.
We send out cards.
Every time a client ends upwith an injury or they have a
family death or somethinghappens, we make it a point to
(14:55):
go out of our way and there's anactual process.
I think they're called send outcards.
I can't remember the exactbrand, but for a business owner
it's a great deal, because youjust put in the little message.
It'll automatically send it tothem.
But it's a way for you to showthat you truly do care about
your clients, and I was doing itall by hand when we started in
the garage in 2017, 2018.
(15:16):
I mean, I was writing out.
I literally right around meright now I have little cards
that say you know the worldneeds more of you, or you know,
keep shining or stay bright, orwhatever that is, and I would go
and just by hand write them allout.
But I met a lady one day Ithink it was at a BNI, and she
was selling this and I was like,well, let me find out more.
So, like I said, it's calledsend out cards, I think.
(15:37):
But that's a good way to alsoget back to your clients and
make it easy to engage with them.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
After a hurricane.
I remember you did a lot ofwork there and I know you all
have a lot of hurricanes, but Ibelieve you were letting people
come in and use the facilitiesbecause a lot of people were
without power, without water.
So that's pretty extraordinaryto open your business to people
in need.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, I think the gym came out of a need in general.
I needed a space to where Icould go and feel comfortable
and to grow and to learn and notfeel too pressured.
And that's how I felt in mostgyms and I have PTSD from the
military and I'd go into atypical gym and unfortunately, a
lot of times it's alreadyintense.
Everybody's trying to competeand they may just be competing
(16:24):
with themselves, but I feel thatenergy at a very high level
with hypersensitivity.
So in a typical environment Iwasn't comfortable.
So whenever we see things likewhether it's a major freeze or a
hurricane or something likethat, even during COVID we
literally gave out our equipment.
We didn't make anybody pay.
We made them sign a piece ofpaper.
(16:45):
They could take it home, comeand get it and use it when we
were shut down.
So no matter what it is that'sgoing on in someone's life, we
try to make sure that we providewhatever we can.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, you also do a lot of videos and photos of your
community and of your members.
Why do you do that?
What's the motivation?
I think it's great.
Obviously it's one of thereasons I wanted to talk to you.
But tell the folks why you gothat and make that extra effort
to put the spotlight on yourpeople what it's all about for
(17:15):
us.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Our community is what we're dedicated to and without
them we wouldn't exist.
If our community isn'tsupporting us, we can't have a
business, and whether you'refor-profit or a nonprofit, your
community has to come throughthe door and provide that actual
support and perceive that valueof what you're offering.
So I think it's very importantto highlight their milestones as
well.
So when they're putting through, today we took a picture for a
(17:37):
lady who's been with us forright around six years 975
workouts.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Hey.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
That is amazing.
Those are the things that blowmy mind.
And at the same time, we took aphoto for a young lady who has
Asperger's.
She has learning disabilities.
She's been with us now forabout I don't know four and a
half months and she took her50th workout photo today.
And we don't just take the photoand walk off.
We say, hey, this was anamazing accomplishment for you
(18:03):
to come through the door thismany times and stay consistent.
Thank you for giving us achance.
Thank you for giving yourself achance and staying dedicated to
a healthy and connected andloving life.
And we're so much more thancounting reps and sweating.
That's really total opposite ofwhat we approach.
Our philosophy is caring,connecting and coaching, and we
spend a multitude of our timereally caring and connecting
(18:26):
rather than coaching.
And that's really, I think, thebiggest difference is we truly
value not only the exercise part, the health part, the
engagement part, but alsocreating a space where they feel
respected and they feelelevated and they feel like they
are being created with thatrespect that they deserve.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
And it's working.
You just opened your secondlocation about a year ago, I
think.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
A year and three months now, that's great.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So the connection part is what I want to focus on.
How do you see that?
I see everything in the lens ofcommunications and contact,
because that's what I do, butI'd like you to tell me how you
see it.
The photos and the videos andthe community support how do you
use that and I know it's notyour motivation, but I don't
think there's anything wrongwith talking about it
(19:11):
strategically either how do youuse all of that to make those
connections and to get the wordout there about you, jim?
Speaker 1 (19:19):
to make those connections and to get the word
out there about you, Jim.
Yeah, I think for us, wheneverour clients join in the initial,
we make sure that they feelcomfortable with that first off
I think that's a big deal for afitness professional or gym
owners is, if the individualdon't feel comfortable with
sharing those photos, make sureyou understand that.
I wouldn't say just startthrowing photos out there.
I don't think that's a goodapproach, especially in the
environment we're in.
So just first off, be cautiousand that sounds dampering it a
(19:44):
little bit, but make sure thatthe clients want to be photoed,
make sure they're excited aboutit and make sure that they are
willing to let you put it onsocial media.
Yeah, and I think that's a bigpoint to hit real quick.
But the main thing for that isto show them and show their
families and show the peoplethat they love that they're
doing this, that they are a partof this and that they're taking
control of their own health.
And for us that just brings alot more value to the community
because they see, oh, Sally'sgoing there, she's getting a lot
(20:06):
out of it, she's been there 175times and she's 85 years old.
I'm only 60.
I can do that too.
And if you're not empoweringyour clients, if you're not
helping them to see those thingsthat they can do to overcome
all of the things that agingwhich I don't necessarily
believe really starts to makeyou limit your life, right and
we're trying to totally oppositethat right.
We're trying to show peoplethat are capable, that are able,
(20:28):
that are consistent, that arededicated, and so that just
really cements it for not onlyour clients but also for my
coaches and for the rest of thecommunity around me to be able
to say, hey, this place is doingsomething a little bit
different.
There's a reason this person'sbeen there 350 times.
Maybe I need to go check it out, or maybe I should walk through
that door.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
What I've always liked about your approach is
that you keep a spotlight onyour members, and I talk to a
lot of gym owners and trainerswho want to talk about
themselves all the time and takea lot of selfies and pose with
their shirts off and all ofthese things about how great
they are and you know that's.
I guess that has its placesometimes.
(21:09):
Maybe I don't know, but I wishmore of them would hear the kind
of things that you're saying,which is, the focus has to be on
your customer, not on you,right?
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah, and I think obviously I made some of those
mistakes in the beginning.
I think consistency matters.
I've been doing this for now,in the civilian world, since
2011.
So 14 years of mistakes that'spart of it.
I'm not saying I was perfectevery step of the way, but I
think, as I learned from you andI learned from Dr Dan I learned
(21:41):
from all of the otherindividuals out there more and
more about how you've got tospotlight the client and I think
at first, as a fitnessprofessional, you feel a little
bit nervous about that, becauseyou don't want to ask them or
you don't want to burden them,or you feel like maybe it's too
much because they're alreadypaying you.
You don't also want them tomarket, but they're your best
story.
They truly are your work.
(22:03):
This is what you've done withyour hands.
So show the effort that you'veput through the door.
I mean, show the effort thatyou've put in to help them to
come through the door and getresults.
Yeah, and I had a meeting today.
Every Friday we do a coach'smeeting and we review all of our
(22:25):
clients and go over anythingnew or any hot topics, and today
my thing was getting them toseek out more reviews and the
thing that I say is that are youthinking every single day that
you're changing lives?
Do you believe that Everysingle one of them raise their
hands and do you think that morepeople need their lives changed
?
They also raise their hands,and I said so.
Just ask your client if theyhave a moment to share the story
that they've experienced.
Don't ask them to elaboratebeyond or they have to give a
(22:45):
certain type of review oranything else.
Just have them share a littlebit of the story that they've
experienced with you inside yourfacility, and that's the bread
and butter.
That's where you're actuallygoing to get that impact,
because they're going to saysomething that you never could
have ever conceived of, becauseyou're not in their shoes.
You're not a 78-year-old womanwho had a knee replacement and
is 120 pounds overweight, butshe's worked out 300 times in a
(23:08):
year and a half and neverthought she would.
You know that's a big deal.
So I think I tell my coaches andthe environment around me and
everybody who's sharing stuffabout our gym to just tell their
personal story and to realizethat them sharing their story
may change that life forsomebody next to them who's
sitting at home and maybe closeto losing their independence or
(23:29):
maybe seeing themselves start todeteriorate.
They don't know where to go andthey're truly, you know, as a
gym focused on 50 plus, we'revery unique.
There are not that many peopleout there.
We're getting bigger.
Thank God there's more of uscoming out, but being focused on
functional movement patternsthat keep people able to live
independently and able to spendtime with their loved ones and
(23:51):
able to do the things that theyneed and want to do.
That's a big need in oursociety, and so that story needs
to be shared more, and we needto be allowing more people to be
empowered and to feel strongand to feel capable and to be
met where they're at and I thinkthat's a big downfall is, if
you fail to ask for the share oryou fail to ask for the review,
(24:12):
you're going to have a hardtime growing your business.
It's really not going to begood for you in the long run if
somebody else isn't also sharingthat story yeah, very well said
.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
I was sitting here listening to this and thinking
of all the how, all the thingsthat, uh, you just said better
than I have it, but the pointsare the same and that asking and
listening and being respectful,it's all you got to do.
It's very, very rare thatsomeone says no if you do, and
and don't take it personal it'sall you got to do.
It's very, very rare thatsomeone says no if you do.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
And don't take it personal.
That's the other thing I wouldsay.
As a business owner, as afitness professional anybody in
business, I think it doesn'thave to be a fitness
professional you take itpersonal, especially in the
beginning when you don't makethe sale or somebody that
doesn't show up for a consult.
So you've got to get over that.
The quicker you can get overthat, the further you're going
to go and just ask for support,ask them to share their stories,
(25:03):
make it easy for them.
That's one of the things we doat the gym.
Everything about my businessprocess has been how can I make
this easier?
From the exercises, from themarketing, from franchising,
like we are now, everything isabout ease.
We have a 20,000 square foot gymnext door to us.
Literally there's nobody inbetween us and we're at 3,500
square foot gym and we have a20,000 square foot gym next to
(25:26):
us.
But if you walk into that gymand you say I'm 65, I have
diabetes, I just had my rightknee replaced, I'm finishing
physical therapy in three months, I'm looking for somebody to
help me, they're going to belike oh, we got this one guy,
mike.
He's real good.
He's here on Tuesdays andThursdays from four to eight so
maybe you could train with him.
So then you're like Tuesdaysand Thursdays I've already got
(25:49):
yoga class right.
So there's no access.
There's no access to thisindividual that's looking for
that need and that help.
At our gym you can come and goas you please, you can join any
session any time and getpersonal training and that, to
me, is the caring I've literallymade it to where it's truly
accessible and truly adaptableto every single person.
And our tri-fitness systemteaches people how to care and
(26:12):
how to keep the actual clientengaged in a way, to where then
they are going to want to go andshare that story, they're going
to want to go and express thosefeelings and they're going to
tell their doctor and they'regoing to tell their cousin and
they're going to.
They become raving fans.
And it is because we make iteasy to adapt, it's easy to show
up, it's easy to do theexercises.
We've tried to find the mostmanageable exercise as possible
(26:34):
for our clientele, because wereally train people who aren't
fit familiar.
90% of our clients would not gowork out anywhere else if it
wasn't for having it to be atease of access, very adaptable
to them.
But I think with marketing it'sgot to be the same way.
You've got to make it easy forthem to share your story.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Well, you do, and that's why I called you and I
was going to ask you for some,to give some tips, but you
already have.
You've given a ton of good tipsfor anybody out there listening
who's a little shy about thisor reticent for whatever reason.
You've really addressed a lotof that and you know, I was a
newspaper reporter for manyyears, so we learned very early
(27:12):
as reporters to ask anyoneanything.
Right, and there's a nuance toit and there's a different
approach's a nuance to it,there's a different approach to
it.
But it's very rare that peoplesay I don't want to talk to you
and now in this, in thisenvironment, you ask people to.
Hey, I'm talking to folks abouttheir fitness journey.
Would you mind if I asked youabout yours?
It's really rare that they'regoing to say no, so good for you
(27:35):
.
That's really important.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
And just staying consistent with it too.
I think that's the biggestthing is stay consistent, show
up for them, show up for yourfollowing, show up for your
Facebook, show up for yourLinkedIn, whatever that is.
You got to make that, and itmay not be your best, but being
consistent is better thanwaiting two weeks for your best.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Oh yeah, absolutely Well, jake.
I want to thank you.
Oh yeah, absolutely Well, jake,I want to thank you.
I'm sorry about the snafu withthe furniture, but I want to
thank you for your time and yourinsight and, as always, your
passion.
It's really great to talk toyou.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Same thing, jay.
I appreciate you, appreciateeverything you're doing for the
industry.
Continue to do that.
This is such a big need.
I mean we truly are changinglives at Tri Fitness, and I know
every other gym out there istoo.
It's needed, it's's big, sothanks for sharing it thanks,
jake.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Next is lisa grace right of your personal best
training studio in corpuschristi, texas.
Lisa was one of my very firstprime fit content subscribers.
She's been with me from thestart more than five years ago,
and I love what she's doing withher studio and her content
communications.
She also uses a lot of photosand videos of her members in her
(28:40):
content.
She has become something of avideo master lately, which
really caught my eye, probablybecause I've always been a
little intimidated about doingvideo myself.
I need to get over that andwith Lisa's help I just might do
it.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Because I want to see how much of our demographic is
on Instagram.
But from Instagram we push itto Instagram stories, facebook
stories, we push it everywherethat we can possibly push it.
But that's what those videosare and I do all the video
editing.
Hey, I do all the video editingand I do it on Instagram.
(29:19):
It can also be done on TikTok.
I've heard the editor on TikTokis better.
I do a little bit of editing onCanva.
I do a little bit of editing onCanva.
I do a little bit of editing onInShot, but mostly I've just
become super familiar withInstagram.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Okay, Let me ask you about that the reels, Some of
the reels seem to be and maybeI'm making this up part of it is
like B-roll and part of it isyou.
Is that correct Sometimes?
Yep, how do you do that?
Where do you get the B-roll tospice it together?
Or do you get the real kind ofsetup for you and then you just
(29:56):
drop in your own stuff atcertain spots?
Speaker 4 (29:58):
No, I mean, the only thing I have to begin with is
scripts.
So I have scripts for the monthand all of our content.
I think very much like how youput content together, because I
do read what you do.
It's just that I'm alreadyestablished in another situation
.
It's very similar, though.
There's like a theme for themonth and we typically cycle
(30:22):
themes.
So in other words, one month,the theme for the whole month is
going to be heavy on functionalfitness or mobility or self
myofascial release or whatever.
So four times a year, eachquarter, we cycle through three
subjects.
One is heavy towards exercise,core workouts, travel workouts.
(30:43):
We have a theme One of themonths each quarter we do the
theme heavy on nutritioncrockpot recipes or we did beat
the bloat last month, how to getrid of gut bloat, and because I
don't care what anybody says,nutrition is a huge part of it.
It just is.
Nobody wants it, they want tobe just exercise without it.
(31:03):
But that's not how it works.
But that's not how it works.
It's not how it works.
So I know in Mastermind, in thefunctional aging, they called me
the fat loss queen because Iwouldn't ever say no to working
with nutrition.
We now have a precisionnutrition, one coach and staff,
and I just hung up with herbefore I hopped on with you.
So she and I meet weeklydeveloping our programs and
(31:24):
stuff, but anyway.
So one month exercise, onemonth nutrition, and then the
other month is mindset, becauseif you don't have a good mindset
, you cannot get anywhere withthe exercise or the nutrition,
because you don't care or it'snot important to you.
So we come at mindset from manydifferent directions.
So then, within the theme ofthat month I have I told you I
(31:46):
have.
So Juan and I are partners.
We run the business.
I have five coaches who are allfunctional aging specialists.
Besides Juan and I and I havetwo administrative assistants,
my five coaches.
So here's how I look at it.
Guys, or whoever's watchingthis or listening to this, they
are what I have to sell.
There's not a magic treadmill,it's not a magic pill, there's
(32:08):
not a magic piece of equipment.
Even in the four walls, it'snot magic.
That's not where the magic lies, it lies in relationships.
And so our coaches are ourtreasure chest.
And so what I do with Reels isI have the scripts, I edit the
scripts, I edit the scripts, Iget AI to give me some.
(32:28):
I aim for 30 second videos orless.
I aim for that.
I want them to be a lot ofcontent, a lot of good music,
usually oldies of some sortworkout music, a lot of journey,
a lot of Fleetwood Mac justreally good music.
And so what I do is I get it asprepped as I possibly can and
then I shoot it out to mycoaches.
(32:50):
First come, first serve.
They pick the ones that theywant.
They are the ones who do theirown video shorts.
So what I tell them, it has tobe a minimum of six seconds, up
to 30 seconds.
Sometimes I want five videoshorts long and I've taught them
to do it very fast.
I don't want them to edit it.
(33:10):
I prep all of this in GoogleDrive and I just send them out
the Google Drive link.
They have to load their videocontent into a folder or their
reel their day.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
That's it, okay or their reel, their day.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
And that's it.
And at night I sit back in mychair, four nights a week, 45
minutes glass of wine, maybe Iedit that into a reel and I have
an alarm that goes off at 5.30the next morning.
I'm up anyway and I shoot thereel out.
It's not scheduled andeverything is coordinated.
So that calendar that you sendout, that's my April calendar,
(33:47):
it is.
And so every block of thecalendar it tells which reel
goes out.
We do carousels, we doconnection posts.
So I think that's another thingyou've probably seen where I
actually once a week put outsomething literally that's me or
Juan, but mostly me because,again, I'm the avatar.
So we do eBooks monthly.
(34:08):
That's another thing that Icreate monthly.
I'd create an eBook everysingle month.
We have a huge library ofeBooks, the basic idea of the
eBook.
It's coordinated with the emailthat goes out.
And so by the time a clientcomes to us and one of the
questions Juan does all of oursales, he's my partner One of
(34:28):
the questions he always asks ishow did you hear about us?
What I want people to say?
And this is what I want peopleto say, and if they're not
saying it, then we're not doingenough.
I want them to say I don't know, you're everywhere.
That is what I want.
You're everywhere and we are.
We're Google, we're twoLinkedIn platforms, we're
(34:49):
Instagram, we're Facebook.
We're Facebook Stories.
We're Facebook Reels, facebookStories.
We're YouTube.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Yeah.
So let me ask you what do youdo with AI and why are you not
afraid of it?
Because a lot of your peers, alot of a lot of your peers, a
lot of people I work with, whoare just like you in the sense
that they are catering to thesame audience, but not like you
in the sense that they'rethey're not fearless about it.
Is they're afraid of ai or theythey're still just learning how
to use facebook and they can'teven imagine learning ai.
(35:18):
Yet you're not afraid of it.
You're using it.
Tell me about it.
What are you doing with ai?
Speaker 4 (35:23):
oh my god, do a lot with AI.
I'm probably on AI at somelevel every single day.
I mean, it's even a goodtherapist.
I said but here's the coolestthing about AI.
You know, I think I the firstyear I was messing with AI, I
was a little nervous about it,but again you start to find out
(35:43):
your friends and who's using itand how they're using it and
things like that.
So I'm also an artist and so Iuse it with my art and things
that I do.
We also do book studies as ateam and I learned to take I
read a chapter of the book andthen I ask it so AI okay, I'm
going to try to say this shortAI, because I've been using it
(36:05):
for a couple of years and Ifinally do the paid-for version.
It's worth every penny, everypenny and then the time that it
saves me.
But I'll go in and go.
Hey, I just finished.
You know Chapter 8 of JohnMaxwell's Everybody communicates
but few connect.
And I said I'm meeting with myteam this Tuesday and I need
remember, you know we're workingwith small groups six to eight
(36:26):
people.
So I give a little brief detailbullet point details to AI and
I just said I need the very bestquestion that each person in
the group can share an answer intwo minutes or less.
There it is.
I rarely have to correct it andI stay transparent with my team
.
You know, they know I'm readingeverything, but I said, hey, I
(36:47):
spit off this question.
I think it's a good one, let'sgo for it.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Thanks to Lisa, and again to Micah and Jake.
Again, I'll list how you canreach each of them in the show
notes.
I'm sure they'd love to hearfrom you.
It's not just their willingnessto communicate with their folks
that's so impressive, it'stheir determination to serve
their communities that reallyshines through.
So I want to thank all of themand all of my Prime Fit content
subscribers for doing thisimportant work and for letting
(37:12):
me help them.
Help others in their ownhometowns.
Thank you for listening to theOptimal Aging Podcast.
I'm your host, jay Croft ofPrime Fit Content.
I hope you enjoyed it and Ihope you'll subscribe, review
and tell a friend.
All of that helps me grow myaudience.
I hope you'll share anycomments you have with me,
including suggestions aboutpeople I should interview and
(37:35):
topics I should cover.
You can learn more about mynewsletter and content business
at primefitcontentcom and writeme at jay at primefitcontentcom.
Again, thanks for listening.
I tell my coaches and the environment around me and
everybody who's sharing stuffabout our gym to just tell their
personal story and to realizethat them sharing their story
may change that life forsomebody next to them who's
sitting at home and maybe closeto losing their independence or
maybe seeing themselves start todeteriorate.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hi everybody, I'm Jay Croft, and welcome to the
Optimal Aging Podcast, where wediscuss the business of exercise
, healthy living and well-beingfor people 50 and over.
Each week, we explore whathealthy living means for
millions of people over age 50and what's coming next, with a
focus on communications, contentand making powerful connections
(00:40):
.
This week's episode issupersized and special, with not
just one, but three greatguests.
Each of these gym owners usesmy content marketing service,
Prime Fit Content, and they eachdo something special with it,
putting their own unique spin ontheir websites, social media
(01:01):
posts and email newsletters.
I've been impressed with lotsof my PrimeFit content
subscribers because they all runsuccessful businesses and are
smart about their content andcommunications.
I chose these three becauserecently they've all posted
material that made me go, hmm.
First up is Micah Morgan, Tampa, Florida, who's had a gym MM
(01:25):
Fitness for several years andrecently expanded with Temple
Terrace Fitness, focused onfolks over 50.
Micah loves taking photos ofhis members in the gym and in
community spaces and I love theway he interacts with them and
is very determined to keep hisfocus on them where it belongs.
Interacts with them and is verydetermined to keep his focus on
(01:47):
them where it belongs.
I'll put Micah's contact infoin the show notes, same with the
other two guests whom I'llintroduce briefly after we hear
from Micah.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
So I do a lot of community events.
I just had one a couple ofweeks ago at the Lightfoot
Recreation Center and we hadabout 20, 21, 50 plus members
come in and they enjoyed thebootcamp.
They were flipping tires, theywere doing battle ropes, they
were doing kettlebell squats andthey were like we never do this
(02:17):
.
Yeah, like they participate ina lot of silver sneakers classes
, which are great, and they'revery active.
I like the term active aging, Igot that from you.
They're a very active agingcommunity.
So they're in there at leastthree times a week doing like
Pilates and some of the silversneakers classes, but they've
never touched the kettlebell.
(02:37):
They've never done any kind ofstrength training that involves
bars or dumbbells, only bands.
So it was a great change ofpace and they reacted very
positively and very encouragedto do more.
So I showed them that they cando more and I think that opened
(02:59):
up a new sense of motivation forthem.
So a lot of them came to TempleTerrace Training and I offered
a free week of personal training.
So a lot of them took thatoffer.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Okay, that's great.
That's kind of what I wanted totalk to you today about is, you
know, you and I have beenworking together for a little
while like a few weeks, a couplemonths and in that short time
I've been really impressed withhow you spotlight your members.
You take a lot of photos and alot of videos of your folks and
(03:30):
you use them really well andI've liked that for since I've
known you.
But then a week or two ago youposted one of a woman who was I
don't know if she was at thisrec center or at a senior center
Sounded a little like she wasat church because she was
preaching about you and howwonderful you are as her trainer
(03:51):
, and she was telling theseother peers of hers that they
need to take care of themselvesand exercise and to come see you
that kind of thing, and she wasincredibly persuasive.
Tell me about that kind ofthing, and she was incredibly
persuasive.
Tell me about that.
Micah, why and how are you soactive with your content and
your photos and videos?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, I mean it started when Instagram first
came about.
I think that was back in 2009,2010.
I'm a firm believer inspotlighting people that are
doing amazing things and givingthem recognition.
So, you know, in my phone Ihave more pictures of people I
(04:32):
trained in my family.
You know.
It's like I could date back tolike when they were younger and
until today, because I trainpeople for a long periods of
time.
So I make sure that I takepictures, I share them on
Facebook and Instagram, I tagthem.
It's good for brand awareness.
It's good to give peoplerecognition because everybody
(04:53):
loves, you know, to be applauded.
It's also great to see peoplethat kind of look like you and
kind of in your same, you know,fit, your same shoes, to see
them actually doing exerciseRight.
So it kind of encourages peoplethat are intimidated and
thinking that they can't dothese things and you see their
(05:14):
friends doing it and it's likeoh, wow.
And then the positivereinforcement with their
testimonies and smiling and highfiving, like all of that like
breaks that barrier and smilingand high-fiving, like all of
that like breaks that barrier.
So it's great for marketing,but it's also, I think it's more
for just motivation for mymembers and we use a lot of
these pictures and videos toshow them a month after the
(05:37):
progression so you could seetheir transformation.
You could see some of the bodyfat coming off.
Their face looks smaller,they're standing up more
straight.
You see definition.
So I kind of use them forprogress pictures and progress
video as well.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
You do all of this on your phone.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
You don't bring in an expensive professional camera
crew to do this high def, but Ido sometimes bring professionals
.
We do professional photo shoots.
So we had one year we had acalendar shoot, right, and every
month I had a member take apicture.
It was like a professionalfitness shoot and they had their
(06:15):
own motivational word and alittle you know, a little
description about what that wordmeant to them.
So they were in a page of thiscalendar that we printed out,
professionally, printed out andgave to them.
So they were in a page of thiscalendar that we printed out,
professionally, printed it outand gave to them.
So I do little things like that.
I do hire professionals to dophoto shoots so they can keep it
and to show them like, look,you are the star, you are doing
(06:37):
something great, you're lookinggreat and you're feeling great.
So documenting that on a photoand a video, it's just a great
thing for them to keep forever.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, what kind of response do you?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
get from people, the ones you put in the photos and
the videos, but then also peoplein the community or people who
come in and they say hey, I sawmy friend Sally working out at
the gym and she was flipping atire and I asked her about it at
work and she told me you knowyou're located here, so I just
(07:19):
showed up because I want to flipthe tire like my friend If she
can do, it can do it too.
So I mean, it definitelyspreads throughout, locally,
around my area, which basicallywhat I I want to do how do you
get people to participate inthis?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
or?
Or do people ever say, oh, Ican't do that, my hair looks bad
, or I don't like to talk oncamera or don't take my picture?
I mean what?
Or do people always just reallyhappy to do it?
You know, some people kind ofpush me away, like, oh there
goes michael with that cameraagain, or don't take my picture,
or are people always justreally happy to do it?
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Some people kind of push me away, like, oh, there
goes, michael, with that cameraagain.
And I ask but deep down, we alllike some sort of attention and
I always say, look, you'redoing something that will.
It's not always about you, it'sabout other people that are
watching you.
You might motivate somebodytoday and change their lives
(08:08):
just by me showcasing you on avideo or taking a picture.
So it's true, but I let themknow like, look, if you don't
want to be, you know you mighthave a bad hair day to day and I
get it, and I'm not going totake a picture of you.
So I'm not going to do itwithout you know the okay.
But sure, most times they likeit, because that's part of the
(08:32):
experience at MN Fitness andTemple Terrace training is look,
we're going to show the workthat we're doing, we're going to
show that we're having a goodtime and your friends and family
are going to see what you'redoing.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Okay, and then how do you measure success about this
kind of thing generally and thenmaybe, but maybe also in
particular, like do you look atnumber of likes, do you record,
do you talk to people who comein and say, you know, were you
moved by our content, what?
Or do you just put it out thereand not worry about its success
?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I don't really worry about the success too much, but
I can tell you that me doingthis content for so many years
because I don't have a bigmarketing budget I'm doing
better, but I don't run Facebookads or anything like that.
I think the organic stuff reallytouches people's hearts and I
try to focus on just the emotionof my pictures and my videos
(09:24):
more than just like somebodydoing a deadlift.
You know what I'm saying.
So I think that really bringspeople in in a marketing sense,
because they do see me all overTemple Terrace, tampa, doing
content, recording my videos,recording my bootcamps, and a
lot of the word of mouth spreadsjust through social media.
(09:47):
I think I would say about 50%comes from videos and pictures
that not just me posting it, butthe people that are in these
videos.
They share it right, becausethey're proud.
They're proud.
So, yeah, it helps word ofmouth.
And then Google helps a lot aswell.
So a lot of people come inthrough Google and I make sure I
(10:08):
update my Google account allthe time with pictures and
videos as well.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So yeah, and I like how you use when I give you
something for the newsletter.
You sometimes will swap out thephoto that I gave you with a
photo of your people, which isso smart because you do want to
reflect.
You mentioned you want people,want to see people who look like
themselves, and sometimes thephotos that I have to use are
(10:34):
extremely posed in studio shotsof models and rather have real
people in them.
And you've got all these greatphotos of real people, yeah it's
kind of overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I have so much like thousands.
I have to put that into afolder and really give that to
you.
But I love the content that youdo supply me with, because a
lot of these uh articles I itfits someone that I trained,
yeah, yeah, you know.
So it man, I remember thiswoman I trained back in 2013
(11:07):
that ran this marathon and shewas 60 years old.
Like I could find these thingsand put it because I've been
doing this for a while now.
So, yeah, it's just greatcontent and we have real life
people that have done thesethings and accomplished these
tasks.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Any tips for gym owners out there who want to do
more of what you're talkingabout, like just real practical
things, like any kind ofsettings to use on your phone or
any kind of questions to assurepeople they look fine or how to
store them on your computeranything at all.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, I would say, don't double guess yourself.
Ask before you do take pictures.
Do it consistently, do it daily.
One picture can create one newclient.
And, you know, don't think thatit's not touching anybody
emotionally, because sometimesyou giving people shout outs,
(11:59):
especially on social media,might turn their day around and
they feel like they haveaccomplished something.
And I would say, just take.
It only takes five seconds toshoot a picture and all you need
is 15 seconds of video ofsomeone just smiling and saying
they're enjoying themselves.
I wouldn't do too much of thesexy workout content.
(12:21):
I would do more of the emotionsover movement type of content.
So people have a fun, people inyour demographic that you're
trying to attract.
Make sure you focus on them,right.
But yeah, do it once a day,it's not that hard, and just
post it.
Don't hold it in your phone,don't second guess yourself.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
You know, I find a lot of people want will only put
out photos that are perfect,and by perfect I mean the
lighting has to be just rightand everyone has to be smiling
and looking right at the camera,and then, if they're not
perfect, they won't post themand it's like no, that's the
beauty of the digital age, manis we can take so many photos
that they don't have to beperfect.
No one's even expecting them tobe perfect, right?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Yeah, and the algorithms change all the time.
I recorded a 15 second video ofmembers entering my gym and
leaving my gym and I didn't talkor nothing.
People were smiling coming outof the gym, people were coming
inside the gym.
That did 20,000 views and justposted it and I just said you
(13:27):
know, another day at the gym orsomething and you just never
know.
So just yeah, this didn't see,just keep posting content
because you never know what hitsthanks, micah.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Next is Jake Tryon of BiFitness Gym in Houston, who
also opened his second locationnot too long ago.
Known Jake for a while now andjust last year, after a
hurricane caused a lot ofdevastation in his community, I
saw him at a conference in LAand we spoke about how he and
his business had reached out tothose who were suffering, even
(14:00):
opening up his gyms to peoplewho had no power or water.
Jake's a big believer insupporting the community and his
big heart will be apparent fromthis conversation, as it is in
his business communications.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
For us at Tri Fitness , the biggest thing that we're
trying to do is make sure thatevery single place we go, that
we're not just a gym, we're notjust a place to come in and get
healthy, but we're alsooutwardly trying to promote
wellness and connectivity andlove and support and growth and
a safe space and all of thosethings that we actually really
(14:35):
believe in and what we'vecreated, but outside of the gym
as well actually really believein and what we've created, but
outside of the gym as well.
And so the biggest deal for usis to make sure that we're
choosing a charity or choosingan organization or things like
that on a consistent basis toprovide support for.
And then our clients.
We send out cards.
Every time a client ends upwith an injury or they have a
family death or somethinghappens, we make it a point to
(14:55):
go out of our way and there's anactual process.
I think they're called send outcards.
I can't remember the exactbrand, but for a business owner
it's a great deal, because youjust put in the little message.
It'll automatically send it tothem.
But it's a way for you to showthat you truly do care about
your clients, and I was doing itall by hand when we started in
the garage in 2017, 2018.
(15:16):
I mean, I was writing out.
I literally right around meright now I have little cards
that say you know the worldneeds more of you, or you know,
keep shining or stay bright, orwhatever that is, and I would go
and just by hand write them allout.
But I met a lady one day Ithink it was at a BNI, and she
was selling this and I was like,well, let me find out more.
So, like I said, it's calledsend out cards, I think.
(15:37):
But that's a good way to alsoget back to your clients and
make it easy to engage with them.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
After a hurricane.
I remember you did a lot ofwork there and I know you all
have a lot of hurricanes, but Ibelieve you were letting people
come in and use the facilitiesbecause a lot of people were
without power, without water.
So that's pretty extraordinaryto open your business to people
in need.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, I think the gym came out of a need in general.
I needed a space to where Icould go and feel comfortable
and to grow and to learn and notfeel too pressured.
And that's how I felt in mostgyms and I have PTSD from the
military and I'd go into atypical gym and unfortunately, a
lot of times it's alreadyintense.
Everybody's trying to competeand they may just be competing
(16:24):
with themselves, but I feel thatenergy at a very high level
with hypersensitivity.
So in a typical environment Iwasn't comfortable.
So whenever we see things likewhether it's a major freeze or a
hurricane or something likethat, even during COVID we
literally gave out our equipment.
We didn't make anybody pay.
We made them sign a piece ofpaper.
(16:45):
They could take it home, comeand get it and use it when we
were shut down.
So no matter what it is that'sgoing on in someone's life, we
try to make sure that we providewhatever we can.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, you also do a lot of videos and photos of your
community and of your members.
Why do you do that?
What's the motivation?
I think it's great.
Obviously it's one of thereasons I wanted to talk to you.
But tell the folks why you gothat and make that extra effort
to put the spotlight on yourpeople what it's all about for
(17:15):
us.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Our community is what we're dedicated to and without
them we wouldn't exist.
If our community isn'tsupporting us, we can't have a
business, and whether you'refor-profit or a nonprofit, your
community has to come throughthe door and provide that actual
support and perceive that valueof what you're offering.
So I think it's very importantto highlight their milestones as
well.
So when they're putting through, today we took a picture for a
(17:37):
lady who's been with us forright around six years 975
workouts.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Hey.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
That is amazing.
Those are the things that blowmy mind.
And at the same time, we took aphoto for a young lady who has
Asperger's.
She has learning disabilities.
She's been with us now forabout I don't know four and a
half months and she took her50th workout photo today.
And we don't just take the photoand walk off.
We say, hey, this was anamazing accomplishment for you
(18:03):
to come through the door thismany times and stay consistent.
Thank you for giving us achance.
Thank you for giving yourself achance and staying dedicated to
a healthy and connected andloving life.
And we're so much more thancounting reps and sweating.
That's really total opposite ofwhat we approach.
Our philosophy is caring,connecting and coaching, and we
spend a multitude of our timereally caring and connecting
(18:26):
rather than coaching.
And that's really, I think, thebiggest difference is we truly
value not only the exercise part, the health part, the
engagement part, but alsocreating a space where they feel
respected and they feelelevated and they feel like they
are being created with thatrespect that they deserve.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
And it's working.
You just opened your secondlocation about a year ago, I
think.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
A year and three months now, that's great.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So the connection part is what I want to focus on.
How do you see that?
I see everything in the lens ofcommunications and contact,
because that's what I do, butI'd like you to tell me how you
see it.
The photos and the videos andthe community support how do you
use that and I know it's notyour motivation, but I don't
think there's anything wrongwith talking about it
(19:11):
strategically either how do youuse all of that to make those
connections and to get the wordout there about you, jim?
Speaker 1 (19:19):
to make those connections and to get the word
out there about you, Jim.
Yeah, I think for us, wheneverour clients join in the initial,
we make sure that they feelcomfortable with that first off
I think that's a big deal for afitness professional or gym
owners is, if the individualdon't feel comfortable with
sharing those photos, make sureyou understand that.
I wouldn't say just startthrowing photos out there.
I don't think that's a goodapproach, especially in the
environment we're in.
So just first off, be cautiousand that sounds dampering it a
(19:44):
little bit, but make sure thatthe clients want to be photoed,
make sure they're excited aboutit and make sure that they are
willing to let you put it onsocial media.
Yeah, and I think that's a bigpoint to hit real quick.
But the main thing for that isto show them and show their
families and show the peoplethat they love that they're
doing this, that they are a partof this and that they're taking
control of their own health.
And for us that just brings alot more value to the community
because they see, oh, Sally'sgoing there, she's getting a lot
(20:06):
out of it, she's been there 175times and she's 85 years old.
I'm only 60.
I can do that too.
And if you're not empoweringyour clients, if you're not
helping them to see those thingsthat they can do to overcome
all of the things that agingwhich I don't necessarily
believe really starts to makeyou limit your life, right and
we're trying to totally oppositethat right.
We're trying to show peoplethat are capable, that are able,
(20:28):
that are consistent, that arededicated, and so that just
really cements it for not onlyour clients but also for my
coaches and for the rest of thecommunity around me to be able
to say, hey, this place is doingsomething a little bit
different.
There's a reason this person'sbeen there 350 times.
Maybe I need to go check it out, or maybe I should walk through
that door.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
What I've always liked about your approach is
that you keep a spotlight onyour members, and I talk to a
lot of gym owners and trainerswho want to talk about
themselves all the time and takea lot of selfies and pose with
their shirts off and all ofthese things about how great
they are and you know that's.
I guess that has its placesometimes.
(21:09):
Maybe I don't know, but I wishmore of them would hear the kind
of things that you're saying,which is, the focus has to be on
your customer, not on you,right?
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah, and I think obviously I made some of those
mistakes in the beginning.
I think consistency matters.
I've been doing this for now,in the civilian world, since
2011.
So 14 years of mistakes that'spart of it.
I'm not saying I was perfectevery step of the way, but I
think, as I learned from you andI learned from Dr Dan I learned
(21:41):
from all of the otherindividuals out there more and
more about how you've got tospotlight the client and I think
at first, as a fitnessprofessional, you feel a little
bit nervous about that, becauseyou don't want to ask them or
you don't want to burden them,or you feel like maybe it's too
much because they're alreadypaying you.
You don't also want them tomarket, but they're your best
story.
They truly are your work.
(22:03):
This is what you've done withyour hands.
So show the effort that you'veput through the door.
I mean, show the effort thatyou've put in to help them to
come through the door and getresults.
Yeah, and I had a meeting today.
Every Friday we do a coach'smeeting and we review all of our
(22:25):
clients and go over anythingnew or any hot topics, and today
my thing was getting them toseek out more reviews and the
thing that I say is that are youthinking every single day that
you're changing lives?
Do you believe that Everysingle one of them raise their
hands and do you think that morepeople need their lives changed
?
They also raise their hands,and I said so.
Just ask your client if theyhave a moment to share the story
that they've experienced.
Don't ask them to elaboratebeyond or they have to give a
(22:45):
certain type of review oranything else.
Just have them share a littlebit of the story that they've
experienced with you inside yourfacility, and that's the bread
and butter.
That's where you're actuallygoing to get that impact,
because they're going to saysomething that you never could
have ever conceived of, becauseyou're not in their shoes.
You're not a 78-year-old womanwho had a knee replacement and
is 120 pounds overweight, butshe's worked out 300 times in a
(23:08):
year and a half and neverthought she would.
You know that's a big deal.
So I think I tell my coaches andthe environment around me and
everybody who's sharing stuffabout our gym to just tell their
personal story and to realizethat them sharing their story
may change that life forsomebody next to them who's
sitting at home and maybe closeto losing their independence or
(23:29):
maybe seeing themselves start todeteriorate.
They don't know where to go andthey're truly, you know, as a
gym focused on 50 plus, we'revery unique.
There are not that many peopleout there.
We're getting bigger.
Thank God there's more of uscoming out, but being focused on
functional movement patternsthat keep people able to live
independently and able to spendtime with their loved ones and
(23:51):
able to do the things that theyneed and want to do.
That's a big need in oursociety, and so that story needs
to be shared more, and we needto be allowing more people to be
empowered and to feel strongand to feel capable and to be
met where they're at and I thinkthat's a big downfall is, if
you fail to ask for the share oryou fail to ask for the review,
(24:12):
you're going to have a hardtime growing your business.
It's really not going to begood for you in the long run if
somebody else isn't also sharingthat story yeah, very well said
.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
I was sitting here listening to this and thinking
of all the how, all the thingsthat, uh, you just said better
than I have it, but the pointsare the same and that asking and
listening and being respectful,it's all you got to do.
It's very, very rare thatsomeone says no if you do, and
and don't take it personal it'sall you got to do.
It's very, very rare thatsomeone says no if you do.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
And don't take it personal.
That's the other thing I wouldsay.
As a business owner, as afitness professional anybody in
business, I think it doesn'thave to be a fitness
professional you take itpersonal, especially in the
beginning when you don't makethe sale or somebody that
doesn't show up for a consult.
So you've got to get over that.
The quicker you can get overthat, the further you're going
to go and just ask for support,ask them to share their stories,
(25:03):
make it easy for them.
That's one of the things we doat the gym.
Everything about my businessprocess has been how can I make
this easier?
From the exercises, from themarketing, from franchising,
like we are now, everything isabout ease.
We have a 20,000 square foot gymnext door to us.
Literally there's nobody inbetween us and we're at 3,500
square foot gym and we have a20,000 square foot gym next to
(25:26):
us.
But if you walk into that gymand you say I'm 65, I have
diabetes, I just had my rightknee replaced, I'm finishing
physical therapy in three months, I'm looking for somebody to
help me, they're going to belike oh, we got this one guy,
mike.
He's real good.
He's here on Tuesdays andThursdays from four to eight so
maybe you could train with him.
So then you're like Tuesdaysand Thursdays I've already got
(25:49):
yoga class right.
So there's no access.
There's no access to thisindividual that's looking for
that need and that help.
At our gym you can come and goas you please, you can join any
session any time and getpersonal training and that, to
me, is the caring I've literallymade it to where it's truly
accessible and truly adaptableto every single person.
And our tri-fitness systemteaches people how to care and
(26:12):
how to keep the actual clientengaged in a way, to where then
they are going to want to go andshare that story, they're going
to want to go and express thosefeelings and they're going to
tell their doctor and they'regoing to tell their cousin and
they're going to.
They become raving fans.
And it is because we make iteasy to adapt, it's easy to show
up, it's easy to do theexercises.
We've tried to find the mostmanageable exercise as possible
(26:34):
for our clientele, because wereally train people who aren't
fit familiar.
90% of our clients would not gowork out anywhere else if it
wasn't for having it to be atease of access, very adaptable
to them.
But I think with marketing it'sgot to be the same way.
You've got to make it easy forthem to share your story.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Well, you do, and that's why I called you and I
was going to ask you for some,to give some tips, but you
already have.
You've given a ton of good tipsfor anybody out there listening
who's a little shy about thisor reticent for whatever reason.
You've really addressed a lotof that and you know, I was a
newspaper reporter for manyyears, so we learned very early
(27:12):
as reporters to ask anyoneanything.
Right, and there's a nuance toit and there's a different
approach's a nuance to it,there's a different approach to
it.
But it's very rare that peoplesay I don't want to talk to you
and now in this, in thisenvironment, you ask people to.
Hey, I'm talking to folks abouttheir fitness journey.
Would you mind if I asked youabout yours?
It's really rare that they'regoing to say no, so good for you
(27:35):
.
That's really important.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
And just staying consistent with it too.
I think that's the biggestthing is stay consistent, show
up for them, show up for yourfollowing, show up for your
Facebook, show up for yourLinkedIn, whatever that is.
You got to make that, and itmay not be your best, but being
consistent is better thanwaiting two weeks for your best.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Oh yeah, absolutely Well, jake.
I want to thank you.
Oh yeah, absolutely Well, jake,I want to thank you.
I'm sorry about the snafu withthe furniture, but I want to
thank you for your time and yourinsight and, as always, your
passion.
It's really great to talk toyou.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Same thing, jay.
I appreciate you, appreciateeverything you're doing for the
industry.
Continue to do that.
This is such a big need.
I mean we truly are changinglives at Tri Fitness, and I know
every other gym out there istoo.
It's needed, it's's big, sothanks for sharing it thanks,
jake.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Next is lisa grace right of your personal best
training studio in corpuschristi, texas.
Lisa was one of my very firstprime fit content subscribers.
She's been with me from thestart more than five years ago,
and I love what she's doing withher studio and her content
communications.
She also uses a lot of photosand videos of her members in her
(28:40):
content.
She has become something of avideo master lately, which
really caught my eye, probablybecause I've always been a
little intimidated about doingvideo myself.
I need to get over that andwith Lisa's help I just might do
it.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Because I want to see how much of our demographic is
on Instagram.
But from Instagram we push itto Instagram stories, facebook
stories, we push it everywherethat we can possibly push it.
But that's what those videosare and I do all the video
editing.
Hey, I do all the video editingand I do it on Instagram.
(29:19):
It can also be done on TikTok.
I've heard the editor on TikTokis better.
I do a little bit of editing onCanva.
I do a little bit of editing onCanva.
I do a little bit of editing onInShot, but mostly I've just
become super familiar withInstagram.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Okay, Let me ask you about that the reels, Some of
the reels seem to be and maybeI'm making this up part of it is
like B-roll and part of it isyou.
Is that correct Sometimes?
Yep, how do you do that?
Where do you get the B-roll tospice it together?
Or do you get the real kind ofsetup for you and then you just
(29:56):
drop in your own stuff atcertain spots?
Speaker 4 (29:58):
No, I mean, the only thing I have to begin with is
scripts.
So I have scripts for the monthand all of our content.
I think very much like how youput content together, because I
do read what you do.
It's just that I'm alreadyestablished in another situation
.
It's very similar, though.
There's like a theme for themonth and we typically cycle
(30:22):
themes.
So in other words, one month,the theme for the whole month is
going to be heavy on functionalfitness or mobility or self
myofascial release or whatever.
So four times a year, eachquarter, we cycle through three
subjects.
One is heavy towards exercise,core workouts, travel workouts.
(30:43):
We have a theme One of themonths each quarter we do the
theme heavy on nutritioncrockpot recipes or we did beat
the bloat last month, how to getrid of gut bloat, and because I
don't care what anybody says,nutrition is a huge part of it.
It just is.
Nobody wants it, they want tobe just exercise without it.
(31:03):
But that's not how it works.
But that's not how it works.
It's not how it works.
So I know in Mastermind, in thefunctional aging, they called me
the fat loss queen because Iwouldn't ever say no to working
with nutrition.
We now have a precisionnutrition, one coach and staff,
and I just hung up with herbefore I hopped on with you.
So she and I meet weeklydeveloping our programs and
(31:24):
stuff, but anyway.
So one month exercise, onemonth nutrition, and then the
other month is mindset, becauseif you don't have a good mindset
, you cannot get anywhere withthe exercise or the nutrition,
because you don't care or it'snot important to you.
So we come at mindset from manydifferent directions.
So then, within the theme ofthat month I have I told you I
(31:46):
have.
So Juan and I are partners.
We run the business.
I have five coaches who are allfunctional aging specialists.
Besides Juan and I and I havetwo administrative assistants,
my five coaches.
So here's how I look at it.
Guys, or whoever's watchingthis or listening to this, they
are what I have to sell.
There's not a magic treadmill,it's not a magic pill, there's
(32:08):
not a magic piece of equipment.
Even in the four walls, it'snot magic.
That's not where the magic lies, it lies in relationships.
And so our coaches are ourtreasure chest.
And so what I do with Reels isI have the scripts, I edit the
scripts, I edit the scripts, Iget AI to give me some.
(32:28):
I aim for 30 second videos orless.
I aim for that.
I want them to be a lot ofcontent, a lot of good music,
usually oldies of some sortworkout music, a lot of journey,
a lot of Fleetwood Mac justreally good music.
And so what I do is I get it asprepped as I possibly can and
then I shoot it out to mycoaches.
(32:50):
First come, first serve.
They pick the ones that theywant.
They are the ones who do theirown video shorts.
So what I tell them, it has tobe a minimum of six seconds, up
to 30 seconds.
Sometimes I want five videoshorts long and I've taught them
to do it very fast.
I don't want them to edit it.
(33:10):
I prep all of this in GoogleDrive and I just send them out
the Google Drive link.
They have to load their videocontent into a folder or their
reel their day.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
That's it, okay or their reel, their day.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
And that's it.
And at night I sit back in mychair, four nights a week, 45
minutes glass of wine, maybe Iedit that into a reel and I have
an alarm that goes off at 5.30the next morning.
I'm up anyway and I shoot thereel out.
It's not scheduled andeverything is coordinated.
So that calendar that you sendout, that's my April calendar,
(33:47):
it is.
And so every block of thecalendar it tells which reel
goes out.
We do carousels, we doconnection posts.
So I think that's another thingyou've probably seen where I
actually once a week put outsomething literally that's me or
Juan, but mostly me because,again, I'm the avatar.
So we do eBooks monthly.
(34:08):
That's another thing that Icreate monthly.
I'd create an eBook everysingle month.
We have a huge library ofeBooks, the basic idea of the
eBook.
It's coordinated with the emailthat goes out.
And so by the time a clientcomes to us and one of the
questions Juan does all of oursales, he's my partner One of
(34:28):
the questions he always asks ishow did you hear about us?
What I want people to say?
And this is what I want peopleto say, and if they're not
saying it, then we're not doingenough.
I want them to say I don't know, you're everywhere.
That is what I want.
You're everywhere and we are.
We're Google, we're twoLinkedIn platforms, we're
(34:49):
Instagram, we're Facebook.
We're Facebook Stories.
We're Facebook Reels, facebookStories.
We're YouTube.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Yeah.
So let me ask you what do youdo with AI and why are you not
afraid of it?
Because a lot of your peers, alot of a lot of your peers, a
lot of people I work with, whoare just like you in the sense
that they are catering to thesame audience, but not like you
in the sense that they'rethey're not fearless about it.
Is they're afraid of ai or theythey're still just learning how
to use facebook and they can'teven imagine learning ai.
(35:18):
Yet you're not afraid of it.
You're using it.
Tell me about it.
What are you doing with ai?
Speaker 4 (35:23):
oh my god, do a lot with AI.
I'm probably on AI at somelevel every single day.
I mean, it's even a goodtherapist.
I said but here's the coolestthing about AI.
You know, I think I the firstyear I was messing with AI, I
was a little nervous about it,but again you start to find out
(35:43):
your friends and who's using itand how they're using it and
things like that.
So I'm also an artist and so Iuse it with my art and things
that I do.
We also do book studies as ateam and I learned to take I
read a chapter of the book andthen I ask it so AI okay, I'm
going to try to say this shortAI, because I've been using it
(36:05):
for a couple of years and Ifinally do the paid-for version.
It's worth every penny, everypenny and then the time that it
saves me.
But I'll go in and go.
Hey, I just finished.
You know Chapter 8 of JohnMaxwell's Everybody communicates
but few connect.
And I said I'm meeting with myteam this Tuesday and I need
remember, you know we're workingwith small groups six to eight
(36:26):
people.
So I give a little brief detailbullet point details to AI and
I just said I need the very bestquestion that each person in
the group can share an answer intwo minutes or less.
There it is.
I rarely have to correct it andI stay transparent with my team
.
You know, they know I'm readingeverything, but I said, hey, I
(36:47):
spit off this question.
I think it's a good one, let'sgo for it.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Thanks to Lisa, and again to Micah and Jake.
Again, I'll list how you canreach each of them in the show
notes.
I'm sure they'd love to hearfrom you.
It's not just their willingnessto communicate with their folks
that's so impressive, it'stheir determination to serve
their communities that reallyshines through.
So I want to thank all of themand all of my Prime Fit content
subscribers for doing thisimportant work and for letting
(37:12):
me help them.
Help others in their ownhometowns.
Thank you for listening to theOptimal Aging Podcast.
I'm your host, jay Croft ofPrime Fit Content.
I hope you enjoyed it and Ihope you'll subscribe, review
and tell a friend.
All of that helps me grow myaudience.
I hope you'll share anycomments you have with me,
including suggestions aboutpeople I should interview and
(37:35):
topics I should cover.
You can learn more about mynewsletter and content business
at primefitcontentcom and writeme at jay at primefitcontentcom.
Again, thanks for listening.
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