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Surviving and thriving as a freelancer requires strong financial management skills, but getting there can feel overwhelming, especially when your income is variable. But help is here! Our upcoming SPARK event on June 5th will focus on the ins and outs of finance, from why you should consider keeping separate business and personal accounts, and the basics of budgeting, to debt management, and savings. SPARK meets on the first Wednesday of every month across the country. Click here to RSVP for your city. Join us to network, workshop your business, and network. Here’s what’s coming up! Budget 101The first step for figuring out your finances is creating your budget. Be thorough, but also play around with it. Create a lean one and a prosperous one. If your monthly income fluctuates, you can use the leaner or more padded budget as needed. It's important to split your budget into needs, wants, and savings, such as: Needs: Wants: Savings: Calculating monthly incomeSetting the appropriate rate is critical to being able to stick to your budget and thrive as a freelancer. Just follow these easy steps. 1. Set your ideal take home pay. 2. Calculate any new expenses that you’ll incur through freelancing 3. Add 1 and 2 together. 4. Calculate your potential billable hours per year 5. Finally, divide your adjusted annual income by your billable hours. Debt management and credit scoresHandling debt while saving at the same time is one of the biggest financial challenges freelancers face. While a degree of uncertainty doesn’t make attacking your debt any easier, there are things you can do — both in lean times and good times.
Savings road mapIdeally, you want to have a rainy day fund that covers 3-6 months of everything in the “need” category of your budget, as well as a long-term savings plan for retirement, and an estimated 25-30% of your income set aside for taxes. How do I get there?
via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2019/05/22/finance-best-practices-for-freelancers/
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Today’s guest post comes courtesy of trainer, writer, and guy I hate because he is waaaaaaay too good looking, Michael Gregory. Michael wrote an excellent post on nutrient timing for my site last year which you can check out HERE. He’s back again discussing an important topic: “reframing” injury and how to use (more) training to aid recovery. Warning: Avengers: End Game spoilers ahead. But come on: It’s been three weeks for crying out loud. If you haven’t seen it by now it’s your fault. The Road to Recovery Is Paved With More TrainingLet’s talk about acute injuries in your clients: those accidents that leave a scar in the shape of a teddy bear. “Oh! What a cute injury!” Allow me to elaborate, for those of you who aren’t a fan of Dad jokes. If you hurt yourself, the best recovery plan you can follow includes continuing to train and actually treating the injury as if it is less egregious than it may actually be. I’m not suggesting that you act as if nothing happened, but I am suggesting that you only adjust your training as much as you have to in order to work around the pain. As a coach, you aren’t a doctor, so don’t act like one. You are, however, in the chain of recovery, and may be the only fitness professional around when an injury first occurs. Know your role Snoop Lion How you react matters to your client more than you realize. The Assumption Is You Know What You’re DoingYou’re a shit hot programmer that doesn’t plan anything your client isn’t ready for because you follow the principle of progressive overload. One-rep maxes are not a spontaneous event that you perform when the sunset is a particularly auspicious color. They are planned for and prepared for, for weeks or even months in advance. Because you program smartly, you know that any injury a client sustains under your care isn’t going to be a career ender. It’s simply a kiss from the weightlifting gods that initiates them into the barbell illuminati. Barbell Illuminati spotted in The Rock’s belly button. Mystery solved. If you train hard you will have battle wounds. That being the case, it’s time you learn how to get your clients past their injuries in the most economical way possible. The Biopsychosocial Model of Pain for Acute InjuriesThis framework comes from Dr. Austin Baraki over at Barbell Medicine. It applies on some level to every injury you or a client may sustain. This entire process is about facilitating the best environment for healing. That means not freaking out and quitting, but rather, changing training only as much as is needed. Step 1: Reassure AKA “Don’t freak out.”Even if someone’s eye is hanging out of their skull, the best thing you can do is keep your cool. The power of positive thought is a hot topic these days. There’s guys healing broken spines with just their minds, supposedly. Even if those stories are only 10% accurate the power of the placebo effect is a wildy useful tool to have on your side. Keeping your cool and addressing unhelpful thoughts and fears are the first things you can to do to help your clients harness the effects of the placebo. This is the psychosocial aspect of the model. It is the most important to get right the first time. Poisonous thoughts are really hard to uproot once they’ve been planted. This whole step is the opposite of what my Junior Varsity football coach did to me and my relationship with the 2-plate bench press. He told me I’d never be able to bench 225 with my long-ass arms unless I weighed 300+ pounds and the gravitational pull of the moon was twice its normal strength. I’d probably be stronger if I just ate it and stopped laughing. (Brief aside: Of course, the world’s weather and tidal patterns would be thrown into absolute chaos if all of a sudden the moon was twice as strong. So the joke’s on Coach J, because we’d all be dead before I could even make it to the gym. Try to remain calm after that sick burn.) Regardless, I struggled for years with that negative reinforcement (nocebo effect) in my head. I could rep out 205 for sets of 5 but as soon as that second plate went on the bar “it was too heavy.” Step 2: Assess the SituationLike a good cub scout that just stumbled onto the remains of a deer that had been hit by a car, you’ve got to get your bearings. Should you help it? Put it out of its misery? Add it to your Instagram story? He already knows he messed up. Overreacting isn’t going to help the situation. Start by asking the trainee what they were attempting and what they felt. Remember, poker face: don’t let ‘em see you wince. This is the first two “O’s” of the OODA loop, something that fighter pilots and military tacticians love to reference. Observe and Orient to the situation. (DA is Decide and Act, but you have to orient first). No need to jump to any reactions here or start calling people lower life forms. Be a professional. Step 3: Move Forward by Reintroducing Movement in a Non-Threatening ContextYour special snowflake of a client is down, but not melted. You can still fix this and get them back to lifting heavy and kicking in doors faster than you can say “rubber baby buggy bumpers”. Arnold said it first. Your goal is to work your way backwards from the exercise that caused the injury in as short a distance as possible. Start by asking these questions: 1st Question: Load. Is there a weight you can use that does not hurt? If you can just reduce the weight of the exercise and the client no longer feels pain or discomfort then… do that. If your client felt a “tweak” (technical term) in their mid-back while deadlifting, deadlift day isn’t over. Just take some weight off the bar. If it still hurts with 135, use the bar. If it still hurts with the bar, use a PVC pipe. The goal here is to show your client that the movement isn’t inherently dangerous at all weights. 2nd Question: Range of Motion. Where does it hurt? If your client is still in pain conducting the movement with only their bodyweight, the next thing to adjust is range of motion. In deadlifting, for example, if their pain is in the first two inches off the floor, elevate the bar until you are out of the danger zone. No, this isn’t perfect form, for you deadlift sticklers out there, but your client isn’t going to be doing deadlifts from the rack or with the high handles on the trap bar forever. Pretty much as soon as you adjust the range of motion of a movement you should be planning for a progression to get the trainee back to the full movement. If you haven’t seen it, consider this your warning. Secondly, who the fudge decided what “full range of motion” is for any given exercise? If your client isn’t a competitive lifter, it doesn’t actually matter. I promise you won’t cause a rift in the space-time continuum resulting in an alternate timeline where Thanos succeeds in destroying half of all life in the universe and it stays that way. (Okay, that’s not really a spoiler so much as conjecture. Hey, spoiler warnings entice the reader to finish the article). 3rd Question (well, statement): Exercise Selection. If decreasing the weight and range of motion still results in pain, work your way backwards down the line of exercise specificity. Only now should you be thinking about changing up the exercise entirely. This is assuming that you chose the initial exercise because it is the one which most completely trains you client to achieve their specified goal. If you just chose the exercise because it makes the vein in your biceps pop when you apply the Clarendon filter on Instagram I ask you the following question. How did you get this far in this article? As an example, let’s say you were doing conventional deadlifts with your client. In my mind, the regression looks something like this:
Okay, I digressed quite far there, but I think you get the point. There are lots of exercises you can try with your client to teach them that they are not only not broken, but in fact still strong even with pain. There is no excuse for the countless number of trainees doing leg presses and camping out on the stationary bike in the name of recovery. Training is recovery. It’s All Really Just ReassuranceThis entire process of managing acute injuries is really just reassuring people that they aren’t fragile. Some of our fellow humans, some of them your clients, have spent their entire lives avoiding pain at all costs. As a result, they’ve never had to learn how to overcome true adversity. By teaching this process to your clients, you are giving them the gift of self-reliance. Resiliency is something most trainees are looking to build, mostly in the context of making their muscles more resilient. As far as I’m concerned, tenacity, fortitude, resilience, and mental toughness are all muscles. Each and every one of those is embedded in this process, and they are all made stronger every time someone learns to overcome something you or the barbell throws their way in the weightroom. Does that tempt you to injure your clients on purpose now so that you can teach them about mental toughness? Don’t do it. But do be prepared to react calmly and with precision when accidents happen. About the AuthorMichael is a USMC veteran, strength coach, amateur surfer, and semi-professional mushroom connoisseur. As an intelligence officer and MCMAP instructor Michael spent the majority of his military career in the Pacific theater of operations. He now lives in Bali where he writes, trains, and has had multiple near-death experiences in surf that is much too heavy for him. For more by Michael check out his Instagram, Facebook, or his website www.composurefitness.com. Did what you just read make your day? Ruin it? Either way, you should share it with your friends and/or comment below.via Blog – Tony Gentilcore http://tonygentilcore.com/2019/05/the-road-to-recovery-is-paved-with-more-training/
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Last Wednesday, more than 150 members joined us at Freelancers Hub to celebrate the second anniversary of the Freelance Isn’t Free law. It was standing-room-only in the theater when Freelancers Union’s Executive Director, Caitlin Pearce, opened Freelance Free Day with the rallying cry, “Our goal is for every single freelancer in New York City to know their rights under the law.” That sentiment was echoed in welcoming remarks from Anne Del Castillo, Commissioner of the New York City Office of Media & Entertainment; Lorelei Salas, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Worker and Consumer Protections (NYCDWP); and Brad Lander, City Council Member for the 39th District. If you couldn’t make the event, we hope you followed and supported online — and also that we see you next year. In the meantime, here’s what you can do: And here's what you missed! The Future Is FreelanceBy describing nonpayment as a “silent epidemic” and the Freelance Isn’t Free law as a pushback against a “rigged system,” Lander set the stage for our first panel discussion of the day: “The Future is Freelance: Empowering NYC Freelancers With The #FreelanceIsntFree Law.” Freelancers Carolina Salas, Steven Pearl, and Judi Hays described their experiences with nonpayment, and how filing Freelance Isn’t Free claims with the NYCDWP is the freelance community’s strongest rebuttal to late and nonpayment. Alberto Roldan, a Senior Outreach Coordinator at the NYCDWP, explained how the agency has been able to collect more than $1 million since the law was enacted, and what evidence freelancers can submit to support their claims. Find Purpose In Your PassionAfter a lively Q&A with the panelists, the audience relocated to the lounge for a fireside chat with Angy Rivera, Co-Executive Director of NYSYC, and Janel Martinez, Multimedia Journalist and founder of Ain't I Latina?: “Find Purpose in Your Passion.” Among the topics they explored were freelancing and immigration, the perennial problem of parents who don’t quite understand what their kid does for a living, and finding their own perspectives. “As the daughter of immigrants, I sometimes feel like I have to work harder — so I’ve had to change my thought process towards work as a freelancer,” said Janel. And on nonpayment, Angy believed that technology is backing up the Freelance Isn’t Free law’s efforts. “One of the things that has been in helping in pushing back against nonpayment is cash apps,” she said. “We’ve got Venmo, we’ve got direct deposit, you know. I’ll say, ‘Let’s figure this out!’” Interactive WorkshopsAfter an inspiring morning, attendees rounded out the day by breaking out into workshops: “Freelance Cooperatives 101” led by Anh-Thu Nguyen of the Democracy at Work Institute and Arnaud Hubert SMartEU; and “Freelance Isn’t Free, Know Your Rights” with the NYDCWP and New York Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and Merlyne Jean-Louis, founder of Jean-Louis Law, P.C. They emerged from each with a thorough grasp of how and why to use the Freelance Isn’t Free law, and with a broader understanding of freelance labor models. To that, and to a day of uplifting and respecting freelancers, we said a huge cheers with a happy hour! We would like to thank each and everyone of you, as well as the speakers, panelists, workshop leaders, sponsors, and event staff who came together to push back against nonpayment, participate in workshops, network, and party! Did you attend Freelance Isn’t Free Day? Tell us your thoughts at [email protected]. via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2019/05/21/freelance-isnt-free-day/
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My husband and I were recently invited to a wedding in Connecticut. Since it was his first visit to New England, we decided to make it a long weekend and visit all six states. Our agenda was loosely set with Portland, Maine, being our final destination before we had to return to Connecticut for our returning flight in a few days. With modern technology and GPS systems that seem to recognize every inch of the road, our trip went smoothly until, upon leaving the Cape Cod area, I saw a sign for Plymouth. Automatically, I was transported back to grammar school where we learned about the mythical Plymouth Rock. As we approached the signs for Plymouth, I shouted to my husband, “Shift lanes and get off at the next Plymouth exit. I can’t be this close to Plymouth Rock and not go see it.” By this point in the trip, my husband had conceded that he was Morgan Freeman and I was Miss. Daisy, so he obliged me. After driving around aimlessly, he asked, “Do you know where we are going?” I didn’t know, but I figured Plymouth couldn’t be that big and clearly there would be a large marker or signage saying: See Plymouth Rock Here. We did eventually find Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum that attempts to replicate the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony, but it was closed. Finally, we gave up and headed back to the main highway only to discover that for the past 45 minutes, we’d driven in a big circle. Ironically, the very next exit was the exit for Plymouth Rock. Now, the running joke in our family is, “Are you sure you want to shift lanes?” Whether it is on a road trip or in one’s professional endeavors, changing lanes should not be a decision that one comes to haphazardly. Much like our Plymouth venture, taking a different route than the one planned or moving prematurely can end with less than satisfactory results. In a freelancing capacity, adding a new service to one’s wheelhouse or shifting from one freelancing career to another has implications and you want to be prepared. Does this mean that once you decide on a freelancing destination that you are stuck with it? Absolutely not. Many freelances acquire new skills during their freelancing tenure, take on new interests, or simply need a change of scenery. Our capacity to grow and learn is amazing so it is not surprising that sometimes we simply become bored or disinterested in something that we were once passionate about. And let’s be honest, we may also feel constrained, overwhelmed or undervalued — all of which can add urgency and a strong desire to make professional changes. When you are ready to make a shift the question, then, becomes: How should you go about changing your freelancing trajectory? Stay informedLean on your network for information and advice: Too often, we may look outside of our circles when the answers are within. One of the best ways to gain insight about another freelancing industry is to ask those who are already well-versed about it. There is a strong possibility that there is already someone in your personal or professional network who is doing what you want to do next. You may want to consider not only asking him/her for information and advice, but to mentor you. Be coachable and learn as much as you can. If you are able to make the investment, also check to see if there are any coaches in your network who can assist you with a successful transition. Set aside time for trainingWhen I made the shift from writing professionally to also copy editing, I took advantage of online resources and tools for editors. I also joined an online group of editors. In other words, I made the decision that training was a necessary aspect of my adding something new to my freelancing services. The same may be true for you. Even if your new freelancing endeavor is similar to what you are currently doing, set aside time for both formal and informal training. From books and virtual communities to free online courses, information is often readily available. Additionally, many community colleges will offer classes or certifications if you prefer a brick-and-mortar experience. Finding the confidence to take the leapThis last one is less tangible. It has everything to do with believing in yourself and your ability to make a change. I know this sounds like a cliché, but the first step to success is believing that you will be successful. Realistically, any time we leave a comfort zone or enter into the realm of the unknown, it may lead to self-doubt, uncertainty, and discomfort. When venturing into a new area, the key is planning and being prepared. This is especially true if you are making changes after you have offered the same freelancing services for an extended period of time or if people associate your services with a particular industry. You may need to take some additional steps to rebrand and market your services. More than anything, prioritize your own professional and emotional well-being. Occasionally, you will have to ask: Is it time to shift lanes? via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2019/05/20/is-it-time-to-switch-freelance-lanes/
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This is a post from a member of the Freelancers Union community. If you’re interested in sharing your expertise, your story, or some advice you think will help a fellow freelancer out, feel free to send your blog post to us here. Becoming your own boss is a big thrill. However, it can be very overwhelming too. All the planning, all the responsibility is yours, and you probably want to see fast profit from all the time spent and all your efforts. Tag along to learn the basics of branding yourself like the pros. Look like an expert right from the startIf you already have a great idea to start a small business, take your time to choose your niche. This will affect everything about your product or service, from image to pricing. So let’s get started… Brainstorm your brand from A to ZDefine your goal, for your customers and for you. Don’t just consider your logo, think about your brand as a whole. Get inspired by other super companies you look up to. Look at their products, their services, their image, and their strategies. You don’t have to be a genius to notice that Starbucks always calls their customers by their names so that they feel like they’re part of the brand. Take your time to really observe everything about your competitors. Determine your target audienceYou should be perfectly clear of your average costumer’s age, sex, town, likes, dreams, etc. This information is gold in order to adapt your small business branding to fit their needs and catch their attention. In this step, you should determine your competitive advantage. Brand your imageYour logo represents everything your brand means. Scout your competitions’ logos and identify which are more eye-catching and which are more forgettable so that you can establish a pattern and make an informed decision on your logo design. This will help your design the best logo for your brand. There are three kinds of logos you can choose: font-based, illustrative, and abstract (think Nike's swoosh). Create core branding assets and keep them consistentEvery single visual material has to be consistent with your brand. Think of your logo, the fonts you use, and your color palettes. As I’ve said, the difference between a successful brand and a lesser-known can come down to branding consistency and marketing efforts. So, the elements you use in your logo should also be present in your flyer designs, business cards, etc. Given all the options on the market, it takes a huge amount of marketing effort and really good luck for a customer to even remember you. So create an identity. Imagine what would happen to Coca-Cola if it suddenly decided to change their color to blue!? Choose at least two social media networks to work with. Which two? That depends on your business. If your work is very visual your best bet is to try a platform like Instagram, instead of a text-based one like Twitter. To post, and be your own community manager, make a schedule on any platform or program you want, and do some research on the peak hours to post. Schedule weeks in advance using your social media image designs along with great copy, hashtags, locations — anything that each post needs, and make a calendar. This way you are ensuring that you post consistently. I recommend you use a scheduling platform like Hootsuite to do this. Another thing to keep in mind is the size of the images you post. If you use the same exact image for all of your social platforms, you risk having images get cut off or simply looking off. Avoid this by creating images at the ideal size for each social media site. Making social media images that fit your brand isn’t hard either, you just need the right tools . Make a website to land potential clientsCreate a website and/or social media pages. I recommend Squarespace, Wix, and Envato. Get to know these platforms to start building your online page. If you are not sure what you would even put in there, then be practical: make a landing page where you can say what you do, put examples of it, your contact information, and your social media. Valeria Santalla is a multi-disciplinary graphic designer and writer who loves to create branding images for local business. She currently collaborates at Placeit.net. via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2019/05/17/9-tips-for-branding-yourself-like-a-pro/
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BUT FIRST…CHECK THIS STUFF OUT1. (Even More) Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint Workshop – 2019 Locations & DatesEdmonton, Alberta, Canada: May 25-26th at SVPT Fitness. (<– NEXT weekend). Sydney, Australia: July 13-14th at Clean Shred. Melbourne, Australia: July 19-21st and Melbourne Strength & Conditioning. (<— Includes bonus “Psych Skills for Fitness Pros” pre-workshop with Dr. Lisa Lewis). This workshop will piggyback on the material Dean Somerset and I covered in the original Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint. With this iteration, though, we’ll be going a bit deeper into the coaching and programming side of things:
Find out more details HERE. 2. Strategic Strength Workshop – Boston, MALuke (Worthington) and I did this workshop last summer in London and figured it’s only fair to bring it State side. Combined we have 30+ years of coaching experience (I.e., one Mike Boyle or Dan John) and this workshop will be two days where we uncover every nook and cranny as it relates to how we assess our clients/athletes and how we best prepare them for the rigors of every day life/sport.
This will be a unique opportunity for people to learn from myself, but especially Luke, who is one of the best and brightest coaches I know. This will be his first time teaching in the States. For more information and to register you can go HERE. 3. Strong Body-Strong Mind Workshop – Chicago, ILThis will be the only time Dr. Lisa Lewis and I will be presenting this workshop together in 2019. In previous years we’ve presented it in Boston, London, Toronto, Bonn (Germany), and Austin, TX. This 1-day workshop is targeted towards fitness professionals and digs a little deeper into what really “bogs” them down and stresses them out…. …their clients! Click THIS link for more details on topics covered as well as date/cost/location. SOCIAL MEDIA SHENANIGANS
STUFF TO READ WHILE YOU’RE PRETENDING TO WORKUsing Prileprin’s Chart Post Rehab – Eric Bowman^^ That’s Prilepin’s Chart We don’t need to make programming harder than it has to be. We’re not curing cancer; it isn’t rocket science. Hell, it’s not even long division. Prileprin’s Chart is a tidy starting point for most programs. And the work (and most of the guessing) has already been done for you. Use it. Train Your Posterior Chain for Better, Safer Gains – Sivan FaganDid you know you have muscles on the backside of your body you can’t see in the mirror? No, really…you do! It’s an often neglected area, but an argument can be made that training those muscles is the key to a stronger, faster, more resilient body. This is the program that will help get you started. Speed Training For Hockey – Kevin Neeld & Travis PollenFun Tony Fact: I can count on one hand the total number of times I’ve ever attempted to skate on ice. I say “attempted” because I believe the longest I’ve ever stayed upright before crashing to the ground (and taking someone with me) is nine seconds. That said, despite my lack of skating skills I know a great program when I see it. Kevin and Travis have produced an outstanding resource here, and if you work with hockey players this is an absolute NO-BRAINER. Speed Training for Hockey is currently on sale at a very fair price, but it only last for one more week. Check it out HERE. Did what you just read make your day? Ruin it? Either way, you should share it with your friends and/or comment below.via Blog – Tony Gentilcore http://tonygentilcore.com/2019/05/stuff-to-read-while-youre-pretending-to-work-5-17-19/
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Now that you've filed your return and breathed a sigh of relief, you can forget about taxes until next year, right? With any luck the answer is yes, but following tax season it's not unusual for the IRS to reach out about your return or refund. Unfortunately that means it's peak time for scammers, who pose as IRS officials to steal money or information. To help you avoid them, we asked the IRS for their top red flags. Note that the IRS will never:
To find out more about tax scams and the various means imposters use, check out this IRS guide. And for more information on phishing scams, see their advice on suspicious emails and identity theft. via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2019/05/16/how-to-avoid-tax-and-phishing-scams/
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I received the following question from another trainer via Instagram the other day:
I felt it prudent to share my thoughts as a blog post in the hopes it may help some fitness pros out there. #1 Rule: Wear T-Shirts That Are One Size Too SmallHahahaha – just kidding. In all seriousness I haven’t worked in a commercial gym since the summer 0f 2007 when I “retired” to go off and help co-find Cressey Sports Performance. It’s been a while. That said, I did spend the first five years of my career working in both corporate and commercial fitness and even though I may be a bit rusty much of what follows is still relevant and undoubtedly help some of you reading to separate yourself from the masses. Lets assume the obvious: 1) You have a degree or certification, 2) you’re competent in the areas of assessment, exercise prescription & technique, and Shaolin shadowboxing (hey, I don’t make the rules), 3) you practice basic hygiene and don’t smell like an old lady fart passing through an onion, and 4) at the very least you can name all four muscles of the rotator cuff and their functions (you’d be surprised how many trainers are unable to do this). You’re already a step a head of your competition if you can place a checkmark next to all of those things. And while I can sit here and wax poetic on the importance of all the things mentioned above in addition to the nuances of psychology, basic anatomy, undulated vs. concurrent periodization (what they are and when you’d use them), how to write a program for someone dealing with secondary external impingement, breaking down the Kreb’s cycle, or, I don’t know, even knowing what the fuck the Kreb’s Cycle is…. …..none of that, truly, will be the “x-factor” in determining whether or not any one specific trainer is capable of filling their client roster. Although, if you know this by heart we should hang out. Will possessing those attributes help? You betcha. However, I think it was my good friend, former business partner, and Cressey Sports Performance business director, Pete Dupuis, who stated it best:
You’re Always Being Watched…AlwaysThe best piece of advice I can give any trainer is to always act as if you’re being watched and observed. Because you are. When I was a commercial gym trainer I always treated every session as an opportunity to audition for other prospective clients. Meaning, my actual client – you know, the person who was paying good money for a service – got my undivided attention. I didn’t want to come across as the cliche trainer who just stood there counting reps waiting for the hour to be over with. Or worse, this trainer: An acquaintance of mine, who’s a coach himself, posted this picture on my Twitter feed today. This is a trainer “working” as his client attempts a 2x bodyweight squat. #byefelicia Now, if you’re a trainer struggling to fill your client roster or struggling to hit session quotas every month and EVERY other member of the gym saw that this is what they’d be paying for, would you have any room to bitch and moan about how the man is keeping you down? A few months ago my wife and I were in Florida visiting family and we needed a place to train for a few days. We ended up going to a CrossFit that was two miles away. The first morning we arrived was Day #1 of the 2019 Open. The energy when we walked in was palpable. Loud music, people getting after it, coaches coaching, it was awesome. I just went into one of the corners and did deadlifts. Fast forward 30 minutes, everyone left, and the next group came in which happened to be two older women not competing in the Open. The coach then sat down in a chair and maybe every ten minutes who would look up and half-heartedly say “nice job” and then go on doing whatever the hell she was doing. Talk about a 180 (and a complete letdown as an observer). Be a shark, in motion at all times. Be an active coach…always. Give feedback, provide cues, give a shit. Be a participant for crying out loud. That’s how you’ll get clients. Oh, and Don’t Be An AssholeThis is Mike Boyle 101. People don’t want to train with an asshole. They don’t want to train with someone who talks over their head and uses big words all the time and they don’t want to train with someone who’s a judgmental jackass. YEAH…I ATE A CARB YESTERDAY, TONY. DON’T JUDGE ME!! Smile, say hello to other members, introduce yourself, offer some pointers here and there, put on free 15-30 minute clinics to get more eyes in front of you to showcase your value, and, if you’re going to train where you work, maybe consider not turning into “I’m wearing headphones, I’m a psychopath, don’t you dare look at me guy,” or be overtly obnoxious, hooting and hollering all over the place and sniffing ammonia packs before a set of deadlifts. Being approachable is part of the game. If members are watching you sniff ammonia packs before every set deadlifts you’re not doing yourself any favors. Did what you just read make your day? Ruin it? Either way, you should share it with your friends and/or comment below.via Blog – Tony Gentilcore http://tonygentilcore.com/2019/05/how-to-get-clients-working-in-a-commercial-gym/
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Lisa Billups is a Freelance Isn’t Free Navigator at the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP). I have been a Freelance Isn’t Free Navigator at the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) since the law went into effect two years ago today. The Freelance Isn’t Free law gives freelance workers the right to a written contract, timely payment, and to file a complaint with DCWP when a hiring party violates their rights under the law. As a navigator, my job is to give freelance workers information about the law, their rights, and their options for dealing with violations. If the freelancer decides to pursue payment in court, I also give them information on how to do it. One of the most rewarding parts of my job is hearing from freelancers and helping them figure out their options to ensure that they are paid for their work. I enjoy arming freelancers with the tools to take the actions they decide are best for them. Freelance workers tell me that after resolving their payment dispute with our help, they feel better informed and empowered to demand contracts from hiring parties to protect their rights. And the law is helping them protect their rights. To date, Freelance Isn’t Free has helped more than 300 freelancers recover over $1 million in unpaid wages. I’m proud to say that freelancers tell me that one of the most valuable things about filing a complaint is finding out that there are sympathetic professionals in City government who support their right to pursue timely payment and who listen to their stories. Their stories are actually what motivate me every day. For example:
Many freelancers experience such positive outcomes after filing complaints with us that they go on to recommend other freelancers do the same to resolve payment disputes. I love knowing that the Freelance Isn’t Free law inspires and empowers freelance workers to bring the power of the law to others in their community. I can’t wait to hear more success stories in the years to come. Questions? You can learn more about Freelance Isn’t Free at nyc.gov/workers or by calling 311 and saying “freelance workers.” I look forward to hearing from you! Editor's note: Also check out our Freelance Isn't Free resources here. via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2019/05/15/the-freelance-isnt-free-law-turns-two-today/
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Whether you’re reaching out for the first time or checking in for the hundredth, communicating with editors can be intimidating. But behind those disembodied voices and maddeningly snappy emails are people who just want to hire freelancers who will make their lives easier. We caught up with three to find out what you should — and shouldn’t do — to get on their go-to lists. Joe KeohaneEsquire, Medium, Boston Magazine, Hemispheres (currently on book leave) “My biggest pet peeve is when writers email to ask if I'm looking for writers for anything. The answer, as any editor will tell you, is ‘No, we are are not looking for writers.’ Frankly, we are up to our eyeballs in writers. Some of them are very good. We do not need a greater quantity of writers. What we need are great stories and ideas that will first, improve our respective publications, and second, make us look good in the eyes of our superiors. Extra points if the work can be done without excessive drama and hand-holding. I always say to writers, ‘Make your editor's life easier, and you will have an advocate for life — one who will steer already greenlit ideas and assignments to you, which is the ideal.’ Make your editor's life harder, and you will be living story by story, pitch by pitch, for the rest of time.” David BlendDirector of Creative Strategy, Group Nine Media “Call me old school, but I like phone calls — as long as every single second of the phone call serves to advance a mutual understanding of a project’s goals, and not one single second is spent on banter. I learned the hard, kinda humiliating way that editors simply don’t have the time. Back when I’d just started freelancing, I’d keep my main lad-mag connection on the line for who-knows-how long, talking about who-knows-what. One day, he flat-out told me, ‘Look, I get that freelancing is isolating and that connecting with an editor can make you feel more like you’re part of the industry/humanity, but I’m working with 10 different writers, and writing my own feature, and dealing with half a million other things, and I just can’t spend more than four minutes on the phone with you.' I’m not saying all freelancers are as desperate for validation as I was in 1999, working out of Dallas with no experience under my belt and so Internet-incompetent it took me a month to figure out how to use this brand new search engine called ‘Google.’ But whatever your mindset, just know that brief phone calls can be helpful, while anything longer than that could serve as the straw that breaks the calendar’s back.” Emma DiabBranded Editor/Content Strategy, The Foundry “Following up is great! ALWAYS FOLLOW UP. I don't mean to ignore you and I hate when editors do it to me, but it's usually because I've forgotten or marked it low priority for the time being. It's also important to stand out because I have a lot of random people emailing me all day. If you give me something to sink my teeth into I'll remember that I read an email from you at 9am or and get back to it. And what really makes a difference is when a freelancer already knows what my team does and speaks to how their skills or past experience can help us. And if they don't know exactly what we do, it helps when they give examples of previous work that even broadly relate back to the type of content we produce. It also gives me a reason to advocate for that person when I pass their information along: ‘This person did X project for X publisher or brand. I think they'd be a good fit.’” via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2019/05/14/these-editors-gave-us-their-communication-dos-and-donts-for-freelancers/ |
AuthorI have 5+ years experience working as a medical transcriptionist. When I am not working, I enjoy sports like playing basketball or judo. I love making friends and connections. Archives
April 2023
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