Also be sure to check back in a few hours for the podcast I mention in this video. It’s a good one with some golden insight for women of that ‘critical age’…

I look forward to your comments on this one.

And if you’re a fitness pro, you really should consider some kind of regular broadcast like this one.  My clients love it and it helps position you as an expert, which is always helpful.  Most importantly, it’s a lot of fun…:)

Get the Full News Feed and a whole lot more at BeAFitnessNomad.com

In addition to those three essential ingredients, there is one more very important part of the process.  It’s vital actually and if you want to know what it is, you can listen to my podcast today by clicking the following link…

Click Here for Today’s Podcast

Have a great weekend!

John

be a fitness nomad
http://www.beafitnessnomad.com

PS  The membership site is open for business and one of the most crucial sections is that devoted to the topic I’ve been talking about all week.  Check it out at:

http://www.BeAFitnessNomad.com

Title: 64 Square Feet of Nourishment

As a professional, you need to make the choice about how much personal stuff you share in the process of building your personal brand.  Personally, I always get great feedback on the personal stuff that I share.

Enjoy…

Have a great day!

Follow this link to Take Advantage of Your 2 Free Weeks of Content:

www.WriteLikeANomad.com

Be careful with your writing, it says more about you and your personal brand than you think…

To me, there’s nothing worse than writing that doesn’t flow.  Growing up and going to school I think I had a hard time concentrating, and staying focused on my work.  When I could concentrate, though, the stuff I really liked to read was the stuff that flowed.  The stuff that felt like it was speaking to me.

I have no formal training as a writer.  A couple of really good English teachers along the way, and a trip through graduate school got me going.  Now I write to live.  Literally, I do.  The process really helps me live my life.  It has become part of me, like breathing.  Because if I stop.  Well, you know what happens when you stop breathing…

There is one question I ask myself as I type every sentence, and then read the piece back to myself.  “How does this sound?”  If it sounds good and feels like it flows, then I know I’ve done a good job.  If it sounds and feels the same as if I had just explained it to you verbally, than I know I’m good.  That’s what works for me.  Does it always go perfectly?  Absolutely not.

Over the years I’ve developed a pretty good knack for nailing stuff pretty well on a first draft.  I’m grateful for this gift.  And that is really what my blogging is really all about.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, but remember, it better sound good.  This goes for your email broadcasts too.  People don’t expect them to be perfect, but it they don’t flow, and I have to work too hard to read them -  look out.  I may be pointing out your errors on this blog some day.

The email I received today contained a very good underlying client success story.  Unfortunately it was lost amidst the muck and mire of bad writing, bad punctuation, and bad proof-reading.  Read your writing back to yourself out loud before you send it out.  This will tell you a lot.  It was obvious with the email I received today that this was not done.  If it had been, I’m pretty sure I would have received a more polished finished product.

Everything I write isn’t perfect either, especially when I’m working fast to get an email broadcast or blog post out.  But man oh man, don’t let your stuff contain the stuff I read this morning.  Fragment sentences?  Punctuation in the wrong place?  Run-on sentences that start with one thought and end with a completely different one?  Please, watch yourselves.

Many of us are working with highly educated folks.  If you want them to read your stuff, and for that stuff to reflect well on you, make sure it flows.  The world, and your personal brand online will ALL be better as a result.

Now, I’m going to let this one sit, re-read it after a cup of coffee and then send it along to you.  I would love to know what you think.  You can leave your comments below…

John

Here’s the story…

I own a personal training studio in Madison, WI.  If you follow me, you already know that.  What you might not realize is that I do much more than work with clients to help them achieve their health and fitness goals.  Of course, if you read this blog regularly, youalready know that too.

Here’s my point…

For me, 2010 is a building year, and one of the things I’m building is a bigger more well-rounded presence online.   In conjunction with that, a presence that says to the world that I do more than just work as a fitness coach.  This is important for many reasons which I will continue to discuss on this blog.  It is also important for me professionally, because in order to move forward in my fitness career, I feel it important to communicate these changes to my clients, and to everone else in my network.

I’m excited about this journey.  I have a lot more cool stuff coming down the pike.  Next on the agenda is to get my new membership site launched as soon as possible.  I’ll keep you posted on that.

In the mean time, I encourage you to visit my new blog site and hub for all my work.  I’m proud of it for one, and secondly, it outlines in detail the wide variety of services I offer as a writer, fitness coach, and entrepreneur.

I also encourage you to consider how you might do this for YOU, YOUR business and the advancement of YOUR career.  It remains vital that you develop your voice and your presence online.  In the information age, you cannot ignore the importance of this, and of making sure that people can find you, learn about you, and hopefully connect with you in a way that is fulfilling, and that brings you more of the right opportunities.

Good luck!

John

The first paragraph of the article said it all…

“A Japanese leader (Toyota) in the auto industry is accused of negligence, causing
car accidents and dragging its feet with investigators. A giant recall is
ordered, top executives are hauled in front of Congress, and losses snowball.
Consumers flee in droves, trial lawyers lick their chops, and analysts say
the company’s brand is permanently tarnished.”

So, how will Toyota begin the long journey back out of the cave they have dug for themselves?

They’ll have to come out of hiding. Out from behind the anonymity that big corporate execs often get too comfortable in.  Out into the open where everyone can see them, like a movie start out for coffee on a Saturday morning, their hat holding unwashed hair closely under cover.

This will likely be difficult for them.  The Japanese culture is one that prides itself in humility and respect for authority.  As the author of this article pointed out…

“Grandstanding and mea culpas
do not come naturally at Toyota. Like many other Japanese manufacturers, it is driven
by engineers bred to act deliberately. Top managers are often chosen because of their
connections in the company and their skills in the workshop, not their charisma or
links to shareholders or customers.”

When your long time company mantra has been to under promise and over deliver, while remaining as quiet as possible about your success, the job of winning trust from the public again through total exposure, honesty, and authenticity looms large.

For me, I simply found it interesting that in order for Toyota to recover,  they will need to be more personal, open, and transparent.

Much in the same way the rest of us work so hard to build our own personal brands, Toyota will need to move out from behind those quiet walls and scream big promises about how they plan to over deliver.  They will need to move way outside their comfort zones and the norms that have become so commonplace for them.   And ultimately connect directly with their customers.  Something they probably should have been doing more of all along…

I highly encourage you to read this post, especially if you’re thinking about being a customer or client of mine in the future.  Regardless,  this post in particular is an important example of how to use your blog to do all of the following.  All of which are only possible by building a following of your blog through regular production of posts, announcements, etc.  All of which I spend time on daily.

Here’s what this post does…

1. It communicates very clearly my intentions for 2010, and at the same time provides a strong follow-up to the previous post I made about my New Year’s Resolutions and Goals

2. It’s a direct challenge to my clients and prospective clients and as such sets a strong tone for what is expected of them in their work with me

3. It’s somewhat personal and controversial which is always good for the online conversation.

Enjoy…

and Happy New Year!

John

PS  The new membership site I’ve been talking about is still in production.  As always, I’m pushing hard on many projects and the reality is that they can’t all get done at once.  This one, however, should be done by the end of January and I can’t wait to show it to you.

If you’ve never had the chance to experience 18
inches of snow all at once, you know what I’m
talking about.  If you haven’t, well then, you
just haven’t lived!

About a month ago I began the preparation.  Yes, a
month ago.  I didn’t want to get caught behind
enemy lines (like a few of my neighbors did)
scrambling through the depths of my garage looking
for a new spark plug, gasoline, and anything else
that might help me find a way to start my snow
blower.

It was a good thing I did this.  It always is.  I
My snow blower had a flat tire that needed fixing.
So, I took care of that a couple weeks ago,
changed the oil and when the big
storm hit today I was ready.  And luckily for a
few of my neighbors, I had all of the tools and
systems to take care of the business of the
morning – a mountain of snow…

Here’s my point…

To do any job right, you need the
right tools and a system for putting them to good
use.  Without one or both of these things, you’re
likely to get buried in the cold.

This week I signed a big client here at
FitnessProBlogger.  They hired me to help them
create and then deliver via a new blog site and
social media campaign their personal brand.

I’ll tell you more about that gig and the company
later.  You will want to hear their story.  Their
product is something you’ll probably want to have,
and it’s just a good story about a great company
that started in the garage and has gone to the big
time right here in Madison.

Why did they hire me?

Because they don’t have the time, tools, or
expertise, to do what I can do for them online,
and they are smart enough to realize
that if I do my job right for them, the cost
of hiring me to do this work, will be snow
flakes compared to the blizzard of new business
that will come to them over the next 6 months to a
year.

Are you doing what you need to do to build your
personal brand online right now?

If not.  I can help you too and the simplest way
to start would be to sign-up for my fitness blog
conent service right now while it’s still so
cheap.

For only $37 per month, you too can put your blog
on auto-pilot and begin to experience the benefits
of leveraging your blog and social media to grow
your fitness business.

Click here for more information about this
program:

http://www.BrandLikeANomad.com

John

PS  I took some great photos today while hard at
work.  You can view those on my personal blog if
you like at http://www.TheAshFlash.com

PSS  A personal blog like this one is a great way
to connect with clients, friends, and colleagues
and show them a little more of who you are and
what you’re good at.  For me, it’s photography and
writing…

http://www.BrandLikeANomad.com

It’s an old expression and maybe you’ve already heard
it more than you’d like.  Or, maybe not…OR, maybe
you’ve heard it and just NEVER let it sink in.

So what am I trying to get at?

You can’t always wait until everything is perfect to
move forward on stuff.  Whether it’s a project, career
move, marketing campaign, or in this case, your PR
mission, sometimes you just have to go for it!  Not
always, but when your instincts are tickling you, you
have to respond.

Three years ago I followed this kind of an instinct on
a Saturday morning much like this one.  I drafted a
quick press release (something what I was not yet an
expert at doing) and sent it to the PR service I was
using at the time for distribution.

I didn’t have a press kit, an official media page on my
web site, or any other even remotely formal media
presence – I just did it!

The topic I chose itself wasn’t even mainstream.  In
fact, it was so off beat and unusual that I was nervous
about sending this one out.  I didn’t want to look like
a fool.

Of course, I sent it anyway and the rest, as they say,
is history…

The following Thursday I received a phone call in the
afternoon from the NBC 15 news anchor who I can now
call my friend.  She wanted to do an interview with me
during her 5 PM interview segment covering the subject.

One thing led to another and the next thing I knew, I
had created a fitness segment that now runs every other
Friday on NBC 15 news here in Madison.

Ready, Fire, Aim…

Now, if you’re shooting a gun, you might want to be a
little more careful.

In this case, following my instincts and not waiting
for everything to be perfect landed me a gig that has
literally been worth tens of thousands of dollars for
my fitness business and has helped me considerably in
building my personal brand here in Madison, WI and
beyond.

I’m ready to share with you the exact press release I
used that Saturday morning so that you too can find
your own lucrative gig.

That’s why I’m offering that exact press release to you
as part of my Fr.e.e content offer on
FitnessProBlogger.com.

Sign-up today and you will immediately receive that
exact press release and then continue receiving 10 more
articles you can use on your blog.  All for no cost.

Click here to read more about this offer and this great
new service.

In the mean time, stop aiming, and fire!

John

PS  My new membership site, which is just about done,
will open very soon.  Until then, I’m offering you
access to this blog content service for almost nothing
and giving you access to the membership site as a
bonus.  Once the membership site is live, you will no
longer have the chance at such an affordable bundle of
content.  Take advantage of it now by going to:

http://www.BrandLikeANomad.com