Have you ever had to make that tough call to preserve the harmony of your team? This week, we peel back the curtain on the gritty details of managing a fitness studio and the HR decisions that can make or break a thriving workplace. As we recap a productive manager meeting, I walk you through our latest initiatives, from boosting summer apparel sales to creating a community vibe with our new vibrant board. But it's not all sunshine and sales figures; I get real about the emotional process of saying farewell to a team member who, unfortunately, wasn't in sync with our ethos - a move crucial for safeguarding our studio's positive environment for everyone.
Then, we pivot to a topic that's as personal as it is professional: setting boundaries. We all have those ties that need severing, whether they're holding back our careers or our spirits. No guest needed when I've got tales of our staff's journey in mastering the art of relationship filtration, spearheaded by an employee whose knack for reading energies is nothing short of a superpower. They're not only shaping our workplace ethos but also inspiring you to take a hard look at your own connections. So let's roll up our sleeves and get ready to cut some cords, create some space, and cultivate the growth that we all deserve. Welcome to a candid conversation about keeping our lives, and our workspaces, uplifted and clear of what no longer serves us.
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Have you ever had to make that tough call to preserve the harmony of your team? This week, we peel back the curtain on the gritty details of managing a fitness studio and the HR decisions that can make or break a thriving workplace. As we recap a productive manager meeting, I walk you through our latest initiatives, from boosting summer apparel sales to creating a community vibe with our new vibrant board. But it's not all sunshine and sales figures; I get real about the emotional process of saying farewell to a team member who, unfortunately, wasn't in sync with our ethos - a move crucial for safeguarding our studio's positive environment for everyone.
Then, we pivot to a topic that's as personal as it is professional: setting boundaries. We all have those ties that need severing, whether they're holding back our careers or our spirits. No guest needed when I've got tales of our staff's journey in mastering the art of relationship filtration, spearheaded by an employee whose knack for reading energies is nothing short of a superpower. They're not only shaping our workplace ethos but also inspiring you to take a hard look at your own connections. So let's roll up our sleeves and get ready to cut some cords, create some space, and cultivate the growth that we all deserve. Welcome to a candid conversation about keeping our lives, and our workspaces, uplifted and clear of what no longer serves us.
Business Buyers Club Enter 070499 at checkout.
Network and connect with other Acquisition Experts!
Learn DIY Due Diligence Get training from an Acquisitions Attorney to become a DIY Due Diligence buyer!
Hello, hello, hello. So I just finished up. The weekly manager meeting Went well. We talked about some logistics for sales leads, talked about some summer promotions. We're going to do with apparel, some different ideas we're going to do to sell more gloves and what else. What else? What else do we do? Let's see, the supplements are good. We got some interior design things going, so we got some things to make the studio a little bit better and a little bit brighter, more colorful, interactive. We're putting up a community board.
Speaker 1:
One thing we've been talking about forever and ever we're more than just a gym. That's a pillar phrase we tell people. We're more than just a gym, we're a fitness studio, we're a community, we're a place to up-level your life and we're here to advocate for you when you need someone beyond yourself to do it. And so one of the ideas one of the managers had is well, for a community and like we help each other out, let's cross promote, let's work with other businesses, other brands Heck, we have a lot of owners. We have a lot of members that either own a small business or do like their own self-employed work, like when I have like a business card area, like coffee shops too, like you're in a painting business, a massage business, a lawn care business, like why not have a spot for business cards? Like people want to ask for referrals and other good things. Like why not put that up for free? Like that's a, it's a great idea. Like when you go to a coffee shop and they have business cards, part of it is the business cards like cause you'll actually use them. Part of it is to say like hey, we're not just taking your monthly payments or your annual payments, we're here to, like, help you out, like you what matters in your life, and so that was something that I'm really stoked about.
Speaker 1:
I could tell, throughout the entire meeting, masterminding and getting ready for tomorrow's 10 week check-in and some programs that we're going to be launching over the summer, I could tell that there was just some feeling weighed down about some things, like just not feeling the best about a few things, and so, slowly, over the conversation, finally like was able to to get her to open up a little bit and say like hey, like I can just tell, like there's some stuff in your head, like anything I can alleviate you of everything I can help mastermind about. Like how else do me? I'm feeling great, I'm feeling optimistic, you know mind about like how else can we? I'm feeling great, I'm feeling optimistic. You know how can I help you feel ecstatic about the next couple weeks or months? Like how are you feeling? And just leave it there. And finally she acknowledged like yeah, there's an hr decision.
Speaker 1:
There's a person on the squad of instructors, managers, trainers that unfortunately like um, this individual, it it's time for them to wrap up their time with the studio and for a handful of reasons, and the manager I was checking in with like said like yeah, this is I'm feeling really weighed down about it. You know this, I don't want to like let someone go. Who's been here a while. Uh, they've done a lot, but in the past six months, there's just been a lot of things that are issues that are repeat problems, that are red flags that are just counter. They are pushing back against what we're doing as a business, like insubordination, um, titling, backbiting, just other. Like things that are not following management requests that are not following, like getting written up, like things that are not following management requests that are not following, like getting written up, like things are just cannot, cannot stay in the business, like they are being insubordinate, like they just cannot stay, and so I said, like wait, I know that this is something you care about. You care a lot about people. You know that's. That's a high quality that you have. Like you read people, you're, you care about who they are, and like how they they process things. That is incredible. That's one of your highest skill sets.
Speaker 1:
A downside to that, though, is if it's time to part ways with a bad relationship. This is a situation, or an example, that my hunch is that you're hanging on to someone that ought not get hung on to any longer. Like if one of your family members was dating someone and they were toxic to the relationship, you wouldn't let that keep going on, would you Like? Oh, no, no, of course not. Like okay, cool, but for better or or worse, that's kind of what's going on. This person used to be a shining star, then, over time, they became a star, and then, like a neutral star, another negative star, and now they're an actively negative person. Like if this person didn't come back to the studio ever again, that probably would be fine and they're proactively undermining and subordinating and disrupting our operations. Like it's unanimous that that's what this individual is doing. So I'm trying to be the bad guy, but this is an example where I'm glad you care about the person. That's a high quality of yours, but we need to part ways with this person, and I'm happy to do it. This is a situation where it needs to happen, and my hunch is that when this individual leaves, there might be a repercussion. One or two of the people may decide out of protest or we're a bad team like they're going to leave as well they're going to quit their membership. That may happen. That's a reality.
Speaker 1:
I bet, though, the other 98% of members and instructors and managers would say this place feels lighter, this place feels happier, this place feels brighter. I like coming here. I want to come more often. I now want to bring in my friends, my referrals. I actually want to buy things here at the business. I feel happy coming back. I feel happy being a member. I'm excited to looking forward to here. You know, I may even want to step up and not just be a member. I want to be an instructor. I want to bring in my friends because they would be a good instructor here.
Speaker 1:
There are unseen positives to removing proactive bad things, and so I gave her the speed analogy. I don't know where I first heard it. I'm sure I didn't make it up, but here's the analogy Pretend your life is like a soup can and you start out and you want to feed good things into your can, your life, your bank account, your mental space, your energy, your hours, your time, your friendships. If only you fill, or if you only fill in good things into that can, eventually things are going to, there's going to be pressure, there's going to be some uncomfortableness and eventually things are going to start to squeeze out, ooze out. And as long as you're only feeding in pure good, and as long as you're only feeding in pure good wholesome, worthwhile friendships, relationships, bank account decisions, like eventually the only thing is that can ooze out are the bad things that should not be there. And it's not that you are just you're not. You're not fighting negative things directly, you're going to indirectly, passively, only feed in the positives and let the bad stuff sink out.
Speaker 1:
If that visual isn't for you, you imagine you had a glass of red wine and now you're washing out in the sink and you can't take anything out. You can only put things in. You have a stream of water, like from your sink, your faucet. You turn it on. White water goes into the red wine glass container and at first it's going to be dark, dark red wine. Eventually it's going to be like purple wine, then it's going to be pink wine, then it's going to be like pastel pink wine. With enough time and enough patience, only putting in water, no red wine, eventually you're going to have just a glass of white Pure, wholesome, clear, positive things. And so two visuals, two ways to think about it.
Speaker 1:
We only have so much bandwidth, so much capacity for our relationships. We only have so much space for our people we can keep up with. We only have so much time in the day to work and get paid and cover our bills. We can only have so many close friends day to work and get paid and cover our bills. We can only have so many close friends. We can't have a thousand close friends, even a hundred close friends, maybe 10 close friends, but your inner tribe, there's only so much space. And so if someone is no longer a whitewater, they're now a red wine water, and you can only have whitewater there. You have to flush it out. You have to only focus on bringing in the good, and so that's what we're going to do here.
Speaker 1:
In this case, there's someone who is proactively dumping red wine into our white glass of water. They're bringing in rat poison into our soup can and we need to stop letting that persist. So I know it's not easy. Easier said than done. It's a heartless, callous way to think about it, but that's an unfortunate decision that I'm willing to make as an owner and I'm here for it. I'm here to help you feel good about it. Does that help at all? That helps me, but does that help you? And to just realize, like, okay, like, that's our job. Our job is to elevate up-level, up-skill, improve, feed the good, harvest the positive, invest our time and energy into things that are going to bring a positive, multiple return. Not just a give one in, get one back. No, give one in, get five back, get 20 back. We want a multiple return on our positive investment financial, mental, emotional, everything. So that's something that I'm doing with her.
Speaker 1:
She's very good at reading people, very good at energies and vibes and relationships, and one area that I want to help up level her in is allowing things to fade off over time, and that it's not a heartless thing to do. It's just having a filter for your personal life and she's great at it. She's amazing at it, so glad to have her. She's a key employee and that's something that I'm teaching my staff. That's something that I'm teaching other people to do. It's not that you're being callous or ruthless, it's that you care about how you're doing and bringing your best. And if other people are like, no, don't, we want to poison you. We want you to suffer with us. No, cut the cord, let the baggage be gone, let freedom ring. That's where we're at, that's where we're going. Let's rock and roll.
