When you’re starting a boot camp, you have a number of tasks in a number of different areas, including your physical facility, marketing, staffing and your daily operations. Sometimes it can really help your mindset and your progress if you can identify a handful of top priorities for right now, to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed or bogged down with details that can wait.

Here are five things you need to accomplish in your first month if you’re starting a boot camp.

Focus your marketing efforts on the three most important client funnels.

80% of your new clients are going to come from three channels: Facebook, your email list and client referrals. It’s especially important in the beginning that you focus your efforts on these. One of the best things about this list is that they’re all free, which can be important when you’re operating on a start-up budget.

So how do you maximize the potential of these channels?

Start posting relevant content regularly to your Facebook page. At least one post per day. The most important posts are usable content that your followers will share and that help set you up as an expert, progress pictures that your clients’ friends will comment on, and any low-barrier offers that you have going on.

On your Facebook page, invite followers and visitors to sign up for your email list. Entice them with an opt-in page that rewards them with a free fat loss report, workout video or other valuable download. When new clients or customers using a low-barrier offer come in to your boot camp, always get their email addresses and add them to your list. Ask people to sign up for freebies and valuable content whenever you post a YouTube video, share a blog post or hand out your cards or flyers.

Make sure that every person who walks through your doors has the best workout experience of their lives. Word of mouth is everything. When new clients sign up, let them know you need and will be asking for referrals as you help them get the great results you promise them. Run referral contests and give winners gift cards, free training and other rewards.

Focus on the bare essentials and invest in upgrades and extras later.

The lower your start-up costs are now, the more money you’ll have to spend on the things you really need, such as hiring an assistant, investing money in your marketing and keeping the bills paid while you’re building your client roster.

You don’t need a huge warehouse for your boot camp; 1500-2500sq is fine. You don’t need a lot of expensive equipment, the best sound system or fancy furniture in your lobby. If you want to spend on stuff like this, wait until you’re making great money.

Work on making yourself more productive and efficient now.

The time for building time management and productivity skills isn’t when you realize you have a problem, it’s now. Prioritize your time. Work from a daily to-do list. Maximize the potential of every hour. It’ll get you where you want to be even faster, so that you can have plenty of time during the week for doing other things that matter.

Use done-for-you marketing strategies and keep learning new methods of marketing your business.

Don’t waste time trying to learn marketing from the ground up. Use proven boot camp marketing strategies that have worked for the most successful people in the business and always be open to learning more ways to market your business. Master one, get it to the point of practically running itself and move on to learning and implementing another.

Start establishing yourself as a local expert from Day 1.

Even before you open your doors, you should be building a reputation as THE local expert on fat loss and fitness. Share tips and workout videos on YouTube. Create and give away your own info products. Volunteer to give free workouts at local health fairs and businesses. By building yourself up as the local expert in your area, you eliminate the need to compete with other trainers on price.

Yes, there are a lot of other things you need to get done when you’re starting a boot camp, but if you make sure these are among your top priorities, you’ll be moving forward instead of running in circles.

This entry was posted on October 23, 2014 at 9:18 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Boot Camp Marketing, Boot Camp Strategies, How To Start a Fitness Boot Camp Business by Steve Hochman | No Comments Yet