There is a BIG difference between owning a business and owning a job.

Most people think they own a business because they are technically the ‘owner’.

But in reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

They don’t really own a business at all.

Sure, they don’t have a boss to report to, but when they don’t go to work nothing really happens and the business would collapse without their constant work.

And the sad truth is that when this is the case, you don’t really own a ‘business’ at all, you…

…OWN A JOB!

Here’s the first test for you to take to see if you really have a business right now, or a job.

What would happen if you were to go on a good 2-week vacation right now?

Would your business thrive or would it fall apart?

Would you return to find it doing just as well (if not better) then when you left it (i.e. clients still being trained, customers be handled, prospects met with for consultations and sold)?

Or would you return to find it in complete chaos and disaster?

If you can honestly answer your business would be doing just as well (if not better) than when you left, then I encourage you to put it to the test.

Plan a trip out of town and go away.

See how things hold up (or don’t).

You’ll never really know how well it actually works until you let go of babysitting and try to ‘break the system’.

But if you’re like 99.9% of folks reading this right now, then you now know- without a shadow of a doubt-that you don’t really have a business- you’ve got a job.

Being self-employed in the beginning is very liberating. A great sense of freedom and personal satisfaction comes from working for yourself and learning how to ‘make it on your own’ in the fitness industry.

Building your own base of clients, sharing your passion for health and fitness with others, and helping clients improve their lives is incredibly rewarding.

It’s the reason we all ‘do what we do’.

However, being a great fitness professional can also lead to some big challenges. One day you can be just loving working with your clients and growing the business, then you look up and…

…Find Yourself In A Trap!

It’s inevitable that you will reach a ceiling on your growth when you are here.

There are only so many clients you can service, only so many customers you can work with, and so much time you have in the day.

Plus the bigger your base of clients and customers grows, the more additional tasks and responsibilities required to run your business.

When you’ve got 25+ clients, you also now have a significant amount of billing and accounting tasks that must be taken care of, phone calls that must be responded to, and e-mails that require your attention.

Consultations must be performed with new prospects, as well as scheduling, program design, and a whole laundry list of other things that need to be done in your business BESIDES doing the work for which you’re getting paid for- actually ‘training’ a client!

And this is where the stress and problems all begin to develop.

Right here.

Because unless you’ve ever taken business management classes or have someone to ‘point you in the right direction’ and teach you about how to run and manage your BUSINESS (not just fulfilling the labor on the time you’ve sold)- then you’re going to be a mess.

It’s no fun.

The stress begins to grow, the workload continues to grow, and all the ‘little things’ start to pile on one- by-one faster than you can keep up.

Then one of two things will happen:

1. You start making mistakes, screwing things up, and your business begins to shrink.

OR…

2. You dig in, commit to ‘get things done’, and now end up working not just 30 or 40 hours per week, but…

…50, 60, Even 80 hours Per Week Just To Keep Up!

Then the downward spiral continues.

You stop working out because you’re completely exhausted (and you should be, heck you’re working 80 hours a week!).

Your personal life begins to suffer, and that’s no surprise because- you’re working 80 hours a week!

And then your health begins to suffer, and THAT’s no surprise either- because you’re working 80 hours a week, getting no sleep, and your little self-employed job…

…Has Now Taken Over Your Life!

What most people do next is a complete mess.

They try to hire some people to help training their clients- but they don’t really know how to do it.

They have no idea where to find good people, how to train them, and they certainly have no clue of how to manage them.

They convince themselves they ‘really like training’ even though they are hating their life and in complete denial because to admit at this point that ‘this is no fun and I want to go home’ would require too much honesty (and a loss or pride) to handle at the moment.

They tell themselves they’re just going to ‘train a few clients’ a ‘few hours a week’ because they are passionate about working with people and don’t want to let anyone down.

They don’t want to disappoint those clients they’ve formed a strong bond with over the years. And they think ‘nobody else can train my clients as good as I can.’

And they honestly DO like training their clients on some level- when they get into it and force themselves to forget about everything else by staying just ‘focused in the moment.’

But when that alarm clock goes off at 5am day after day after day… and they’ve just gotten home at 9pm the night before… it gets harder and harder to peel yourself out of bed each morning and tell yourself ‘this is fun and what I really want to do with my life’.

When you get to THAT place, watch out because…

…Burnout Is Approaching FAST!

When you’re finally too exhausted to actually deliver the quality of service you used to… and the ‘passion’ for working with clients starts to go away because you’re so overworked and overstressed… then you’ll soon end up letting EVERYONE down (including yourself)
because you’ve refused to admit to yourself what’s really going on.

- You let your clients (that you care so much for) down because you can no longer deliver the quality of service you used to give them.

- You let your friends and family down because you no longer have anything to give to your relationships because the business has ‘sucked the life out of you’.

- And you let yourself down because you’re not ‘taking care of you’, you feel guilty about letting everyone else down, and you no longer have any sense of balance between your personal life and business.

The reason why things get this bad is because you haven’t had the systems, tools and coaching you need to make the leap from being just ’self-employed’ to being a true ‘business owner’.

And I’m here to tell you that you really CAN have a great business, one that serves you and your customers well, gives you balance in your life, and (in moderation) provides healthy challenges that will make business (and life) fun, interesting, and rewarding.

But it takes hard work, dedication to making the leap, and patience to make it happen.

And only YOU can make the personal decision required to make your dreams become a reality.

Find about more about how you can “Make The Leap” forward by downloading our FREE “From Chaos To Control” Report and requesting the bonus audio cd with actual case studies and interviews of 7 fitness professionals and studio owners now at:

http://www.DuplicationCode.com