Last week on the podcast we met Kim Basler. We talked about the long term effects of living in chronic stress, over exercise and disordered eating. And how common that is in the fitness industry. Of course this isn’t limited to fitness industry professionals. No matter what your profession it’s important to understand that just because you do what you do well and have done it for so long you can do it in your sleep, that doesn’t mean you’re not under toxic levels of stress. It doesn’t matter what you think is going on with your stress levels, what matters is the nervous system response.

I’d like to highlight some things that came out of our discussion that could help prevent the kind of overwhelm that leads to burnout and turnover that we see all too often in a space that’s supposed to be based on wellness. And then talk about some specific things that employers and managers can do to support their wellness contractors.

One of the most challenging things to do in any wellness business is to price your service. How much is our time worth? What about the space we’re using? How much does that cost? Some of these things can feel so arbitrary and then we’re left with what the going rate is.

How much are other studios charging for similar services? What does the local big box gym charge for their unlimited membership or individual classes? And then there’s all the free stuff that’s available online, on youtube, facebook, instagram and your local car dealership or health fair.How can you compete?

Today I’d like to take a deep dive into leveraging free and how to do it in ways that respect the value of what you do and protect and support the industry. And how to leverage “free” without slipping into the mudslide of exploitation.

As we all come out from behind our masks we may find that the hybrid in person/virtual business model is here to stay.

So I want to give you some options and share some of my favorite go to businesses and systems that I’m keeping this year.