[The following is part three on what is turning out to be a five part series on blogging as a profession. CLICK HERE to read part 1. CLICK HERE to read part 2.]

Blogging frequently emits an alluring but somewhat artificial scent: A scent that naturally baits two brands of people.

The first brand is chiefly folks of the common store bought variety, plain as a bowl of corn flakes. Their gross desire for an easy opt-out of the human comedy is surpassed only by their colossal lack of true ambition. Quite simply, they hate to work, and so are lured into blogging by the fishy smells of the charlatans, the quacks, and the counterfeits.

If what I have just detailed describes you, even distantly, then I must encourage you to pass on. I am not capable of helping you. 

Look, I’m not discouraging you or anything like that. There are many bloggers who rake a king’s ransom in the business of swindling. And if I have something to say to these jackals, it’s not to scorn them for sucking in the intellectually underprivileged—that, I leave to God. Rather, it’s to ridicule them for any and all lack of ingenuity in how they go about their business. Insofar as I can tell, the cheats, tricksters, and charlatans have been using the same old, horribly overworked devices since the dawn of this republic. All I’m saying, really, is that it’d be nice to see a quack with some freshness about him.

But here I go off at a tangent. Let us get back to where we were.

The second brand is that of the artist. This person is marked intrinsically by fire in perpetuum. This is what keeps his blood boiling over, his legs on the trot—and his spirit pushing forward—stopping never at dead ends or dog shit. He understands that security is a false and limiting crutch, and seeks nothing of the sort. His appetite is whetted only for accomplishment.

The artist does not know it all—but has the proclivity to learn it all, to suck it in ad infinitum. And his chief purpose is to contribute to a whole greater than himself—if you’re a rationalist you may call it the cosmos—spiritualists would perhaps say it’s celestial—and hippies would probably call it life-force, or something like that. Truthfully it doesn’t matter what you call it, because the net effect is the same: The artist creates.

Are his actions largely money driven? The answer to various degrees is often yes. Sometimes this is in part, other times it is in whole. Either way, the artist is scarcely propelled by anything rooted in altruism. In form, this may appear to be the case, but in substance human essence remains predominantly self-interested. This means little, though, because the true artist—whatever his motives otherwise—invariably aims to create something that is good. And so he thoroughly intends to improve the earthly balance sheet—to strike the asset account with a hard debit.

What I have defined is the artist. But what I have redefined is the entrepreneur: The person who generates value. This is to say the person who helps persons.

If what I have just detailed describes you, then I can help. I can help you to get the word out about the value you create, and I can help you to make a fair return on it. 

Blogging would be the perfect job, save for the fact it’s still a job. It’s a full time gig. So it will beat you up, and, at times, kick you square in the nuts. These are lessons one must learn by hard experience, I suppose, but if you take this as true now it will save you a lot of pain later.

Now if there is one more lesson to be learned before we begin, let it be this: There is no good purpose to be served in promoting crap. Doing so—as any practiced marketer will tell you—only hastens the rate at which people find out you suck. To wit: You ought to be the absolute best at what you do before you start saying you’re any good.

Just something to keep in mind, that’s all.

Now rather than tell you what you should do, I’d like to show you what I do. That is, what I’ve done well, or what’s worked well for me. You may take whatever you’d like—and if you’d like to work closer with me on all this stuff, then I encourage you to investigate our Killing It With Ketllebells Certification, where Som and I will help you to develop and implement your own marketing and business plan (online, offline, or both), and teach you how to run large group kettlebell bootcamps. 

For ease, I will fill out a “one-page business plan”, answering the three following questions:

1.      What Do I Sell (and How Much Do I Charge)?

2.      Who Do I Sell It To?

3.      How Do I Get The Word Out?

I’ll answer the first question now, and save the other two for a later post.

This blog is a major marketing vehicle for both my online and offline businesses, if I may presume the two can be separated out.  

I’ll start with what we do offline.

My Killing It With Kettlebells bootcamp business is run out of The Dragon Gym in Exton, PA. I have largely opted out of personal training as a service offering. Instead, I run six large group classes a week: Mondays and Wednesdays at 12pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:30pm, and Wednesdays and Fridays at 5:30am.

Pricing for our bootcamps ranges from $149-199/month depending on the level of membership.

We also host multiple workshops and seminars throughout the year. [ I suppose now would be as good a time as any to shamelessly plug Strength Fest. ]

Pricing for workshops and seminars ranges anywhere from $99-999 depending on the event.

Lastly, we offer our Killing It With Kettlebells Instructor Level Certification and Fitness Business Development Program. This is where Som and I teach you how to teach large group kettlebell bootcamps. We also show you the ins and outs of our kettlebell business, and help you to create and implement your own business and marketing plan. We limit the group to 12 candidates. This is not a beginner kettlebell course. This is a course for those who are interested in learning to coach large group kettlebell classes, and for those who are already in, or are seriously considering opening their own fitness business. In short, we help you to do what you love and make good money doing it.

This is our most expensive offering, but I’ve heard it’s really worth it. If you think you might be a good candidate for this certification, email me at PatFlynn@ChroniclesOfStrength.com with the subject line of “KIWK” and I will send you a series of questions for you to answer so that we may figure that out. We can even get on the phone and chat about it, if you’d like. No obligation. Promise.

Pricing for our Killing It with Kettlebells Certification ranges from $997-1997 depending on when you register.

There are a few other things I do offline, but those are my major profit centers. So let us move now to what I do online.

Our online business is a mix of bigger ticket items, lower end entry points, and continuity programs. We’ll start with the latter.

The Chronicles of Strength Inner Circle and the Chronicles of Strength Print newsletter is my current continuity program—that is, this is a program where membership is billed monthly.

The Chronicles of Strength Inner Circle includes a full print newsletter mailed out to members every month. This is quite frankly my best work. I put more time into that newsletter than I do anything else, and I love doing it.

Additionally, members of the Inner Circle get private email coaching access to me, coaching call-in days with me, monthly training webinars, monthly recipes, monthly workouts, programming, you name it. The Inner Circle members are my best and most loyal customers, so I do everything I can to help them succeed—to provide them with value far above and beyond what they pay to be a member each month. As an entrepreneur or business owner, your aim should always be to exceed all expectations. Unless of course your aim to run a mediocre business.

Pricing for my Inner Circle members ranges from $19-39/month depending on the level of membership and whether or not they live inside North America (postage is a killer).

*If you are not yet an Inner Circle member, I’d love it if you tried it out for a month. You can cancel anytime, so there’s no risk when you sign up.*

On the lower end of the pricing spectrum there mostly sits a selection of eBooks and ePrograms. The Birth of a Hero Vol 2 stands tall at the top of the charts, sells like ice in Hell.

These range from $27-99 depending on the product.

The bigger ticket items include private coaching with either Som or me (we offer both business and fitness coaching), training webinars, and specialized programs.

The pricing for these ranges from $299-699.

If you are interested in private coaching and would like to know more about what we can help you with, email me at PatFlynn@chroniclesofstrength.com with the subject line of “coaching”.

Effectively, that is the sum of it all.  Effectively enough, anyways. 

PS - If you have any questions about any of this, please post them in the comment section. I'm here to help. 

The Century, so entitled by its lofty rep composition, is a proficiency exam courtesy of the elusive Paul Wade, author of Convict Conditioning.

Assuming I made no misinterpretations, the task is as follows:

Men:

40 x squat
30 x push up
20 x hanging knee raise
10 x pull up

Women:

40 x squat
30 x knee push up
20 x hanging knee raise
10 x australian pull up

I think I passed. Som did pretty good too, but I think he may have missed a rep on the squats. That's OK, though, because he's ninja. 

Thanks to my buddy Christa for riffing this one out to Pantera and making it look pretty. 

Rock out as many rounds as you can in 15 min.

So as many of you know I have a primal fitness book coming out through Wiley. I know I've been a bit scanty on the details, but that will change soon. Promise.

Anyways, I wanted to get your feedback on something. Got a minute?

If I could answer any one fitness question for you in this book, what would it be?

Please post your feedback in the comment section. I don't care how relevant you think it is, I just want to hear from you.

There may be some prizes for the most thoughtful answers...

Why do customers make purchases?

Well it really ain’t no riddle man…

Customers make purchases in order to satisfy needs.

And as I said in my previous self-promotion post; all that customers are really looking for are solutions. People have problems (seems like we have more and more problems everyday!). And people want solutions. If you are able to offer an effective solution to a problem, then you are already ahead of the curve. But offer any old solution is not always enough, as you must offer the most appropriate solution for your customer. And that is why it is incredibly important for you to know your customer, so that way you may position your product/service as the most appropriate solution for them.

Let’s quickly analyze the steps involved in a customers purchase making decision

1. A problem arises
2. The search for a solution begins
3. Possible solutions are evaluated
4. A decision is made and a purchase takes place

Now let’s put all that mumbo jumbo into some context.

Say your twenty-two years old, a recent college grad, and are just starting what seems to be a very exciting and promising career as a bigwig accountant at some bozo firm. You are out celebrating with your friends one night, and you meet a really smoking hot girl. You may not be the best looking candidate at the bar, after all you are an accountant (I’m an accounting major so I’m allowed to crack such jokes), but after you elaborate on your prestigious Ivy League education and great potential for future earnings, she decides to give you a chance. Things work out and you two get hitched. Now falling into one of the many clichés of marriage, it doesn’t take too long for both you and your wife to physically let yourselves go. It’s about six months after your wedding date, and you’ve both have acquired at least 10-15lbs of extra lovin.

A problem has arrived. The problem is a horizontally gifted (Yes, I coined that term) marriage.

You and your wife have recognized this to be a problem, as it impedes on your long-term goal to spend many, many happy years together. So you set off to search for possible solutions.

Your wife suggests hiring a personal trainer for the both of you, while you think that just joining a health club will do the trick. You two discuss your findings and decide that a third possible solution exists and that would be to both join the health club and hire a personal trainer there.

So after evaluating your options, you two decide to opt for the third solution of both joining the health club and hiring a personal trainer.

So what factors led to this decision? Why is it that this couple decided to make the decision that they did, while other potential couples may have just as likely chosen any of the other alternatives? There are many, many factors that play into a customers purchase making decisions. Everything from social class, to culture, personalities, believes, attitudes, peers, and even occupation all play a role in a customers purchase making decisions.

My goal with this post is to help you understand what it is that you need to look at in order to understand your customer. Because it is through understanding and knowing your customers that you will best be able to satisfy their wants and needs. And if you are able to effectively and consistently satisfy a customers wants and needs, then that customer will become quite loyal to you…assuming they are a good customer (Yes there is a such thing as a good and bad customer, but that topic is for another post.)

So, to be a truly effective marketer it is crucial for you to understand how and why customers make their purchase decisions.

What I am going to share with you today is what I have learned through my years of formal marketing education, but much more importantly, what I have learned through my own experiences. On the topic of marketing I have read many great books, been to many lectures/seminars, but nothing takes the place of all the failures and successes that I’ve experienced on my own. Each and every failure is a learning experience.

Keep in mind, that while on the surface I am in the field of strength, conditioning, and personal wellness; behind the scenes I am very much a marketer. It surprises many people when I tell them that my major is not exercise science or physiology, but rather a dual major in finance and accounting.

Another fact you may or may not have known about me is that for over two years, I worked seasonally as a car salesman (and quite an effective one if I may toot my own horn…get it?) for the top Chevrolet dealership in Wisconsin. During my time there, I learned some of the most brutally effective selling and marketing techniques there are to know. And while I made a killing selling cars, it simply was not my passion, and if you know me, then you know I am adamant about chasing after what you love in life, not what writes you the biggest check.

Anyways, enough about me, let’s get down to it.

So what is it exactly that influences a customers purchase decisions the most?

As far as influences go, there are two types: internal, and external.

If you wish to truly be able to satisfy your customer’s needs(and I think you do), then you must understand your customer. And in order to understand your customer, you must understand what influences their decision making process.

So now let’s dissect the internal and external influences that are most likely to affect a customers purchasing decisions.

Internal Influences:

Perception: Perception is how we consciously and subconsciously process information. It is how we view the world around us. But it is also how we view ourselves. Self-perception plays a large role in customer purchase decisions.

Each and every personal has a “perceptual filter” that is unique to them. In order to effectively influence a customers purchase decision, you as a marketer, must learn how to position yourself in such a way so that you are filtered appropriately through a customer’s perception. The simplest way to do this is to make it very known how your product/service will provide a solution to your customer’s problems.

Education: A person’s knowledge undoubtedly influences their purchasing decisions. Knowledge is the sum of all the education and experience owned by a person. As a marketer, the key to obtaining new customers and retaining old ones is getting people to be open minded and to accept new information about your product. This can often be a tricky task, and again is why proper positioning is critical.

Self-Construction: Also known as self-concept or self-perception; this is how people assess themselves. It includes an assessment of their personality, physical attributes, lifestyle, hobbies, skills, talents, etc. People often make purchases to support their self-construction, and will rarely; if ever make a purchase that contradicts their self-perception (How often do you see a vegan at a butcher shop?). As a marketer, if you can see how a customer perceives himself or herself, then you will have a great advantage if you are able to position your product/service in a manner that supports their self-concept.

Motivation: Motivation is a huge internal influence when it comes to a customers purchase decision-making process. If somebody is motivated to achieve something, they will often encounter a problem along the way, and will seek solutions in order to accomplish what it is they are set out to do. For example, say you are motivated to get fit. Great! That’s fantastic! Now what? Well, you need some sort of a solution. You could join a health club, invest in a personal trainer, purchase a kettlebell, etc. There are a variety of possible solutions, and depending on your level of motivation, some may be more enticing than others. However, do not confuse motivation with involvement, which is about how much effort a customer puts into making a decision. Again, as a marketer, you will have a greater advantage if you can find out what is motivating your customers.

Role in society: A customer often makes purchases to support their perceived role in society. A person’s roles may also vary, as their role in their personal life may be quite different than their role in the workplace. Figure out what role your customer plays and figure out how your product/service can be of a benefit to it.

External Influences:

Culture: No external influence has as much of a profound impact on a person’s purchasing decisions than their culture. People often share beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. And that is exactly what culture is; the shared behavior between the members of a society. If you want to know your customer, then it would be a considerably wise decision to first try and understand their culture.

Social Class: This may be financial, educational, or occupational. Depending on what social class a potential customer belongs to, will greatly influence their purchase decisions. It makes sense doesn’t it? A vagrant, living under the I-95 overpass, will probably not be making a Lamborghini purchase decision anytime soon.

Social/professional groups: Similar to culture but on a smaller scale. These are the groups that people often feel the need to associate, or even disassociate themselves with. Understanding the group(s) that your customer belongs to crucial for a marketer’s success.

There you have it. Not all that complicated right? Well, it’s easier said than done, as actually prying out such information can be quite tedious. But stay tuned; I will have another post up soon enough some of the most effective techniques for squeezing information out of potential customers.

Ok cool. See ya then. Now go ponder what you’ve learned over a few sets of double snatch to press.

- Pat Flynn RKC