Oh, the places your Zumba business will go!

This post is by Dana, a guest blogger on The Z Beat!

Being a Zumba instructor means that you ARE a business person. Yup, an entrepreneur. Whether you are trying to build a business as an independent instructor at a local studio, or you are among other fantastic instructors at a corporate location, you will need to focus on building your own brand so you can stand out in the competitive fitness marketplace.  Keep in mind, you aren’t just “competing” (and I mean that in the nicest way possible) with other Zumba instructors, you are “competing” (again I mean that nicely) with other fitness platforms.  The key is to be unique and have an identifying characteristic that stands out from the other instructors and other fitness formats. When you hear, “Your style is so different from everyone else here”, that is NOT a bad thing. In fact, it means you are memorable.

Building your brand requires A LOT of work. Let me say it again because it is worth repeating. Building your brand is A LOT of work. I don’t mean just physical work (because that seems fairly obvious that you are going to dance until you have blisters on your feet and salsa until you almost can’t take another step), I mean mental and emotional work. Inc.com magazine published a study that said, “You are going to hear NO more times than you can count as you build your business. However, what you do with that answer have everything to do with your success”. 

Your success is contingent on how you define success. Is your success becoming a sub and experiencing as many gyms as possible? It your success getting your own class, or five of them in as many as gyms as possible? Or for you is success in the number of people that attend your class? Remember, you can have a great class with 10 people or 50, YOU can create your own success. Success doesn’t always mean getting a YES because maybe that YES isn’t a good fit for you and where you want to take your business.

Being mindful of where you want to go (thank you Dr. Seuss), you can take a NO and literally create an opportunity.

Let’s take a closer look at what Inc.com describes as the three generic types of No's.

• Wrong information. You didn't explain well enough why YES a good decision is for the other person. Therefore, you must now do a better job of explaining.

§  Communicate your added value in a clear and concise message.

§  Demonstrate your unique characteristic.

§  Define tangible and attainable results that success can be measured against.

• Wrong timing. The other person needs some time to ponder and thus is saying no to stall. Therefore, you must now be patient and ask for the yes later.

§  Maybe “now is not the right time”, that’s OK! Be enthusiastic and let them know you will follow up in X amount of time.

§  Smile. Be gracious. And leave your contact information with actionable next steps.

• Wrong circumstance. There's something over which the other person has no control that's blocking him or her from saying yes. Therefore, you must now work with the other person to transcend the block.

§  Stay positive and engage your POC so they are enthusiastic and will want to help you reach the right person.

§  Keep it simple, and always point out the mutually beneficial reasons why it is a fantastic idea to work together.

Good luck with your business venture! We would love to hear your stories using the hashtag #ZumbaSuccessStories!