Franchise Your Fitness (Part 1): Don't Get Screwed

I am in the contemplation phase of writing a new fitness book. I mentioned this in a previous post, but now I have a much clearer picture of how I want it to look. Of course, this has to wait until basketball season ends. Because of my brief stint as a franchise owner and my current role with its franchisor, Fitness Consulting Group, I have been able to draw a number of parallels among fitness, business, and success in general.

What is most interesting to me at the moment is the similarity between rapid fat loss gimmicks and get rich quick schemes. What draws people in is always the promise that it is going to be easy... or that it is all about "1 weird tip" that some stay at home mom discovered. We've all seen the internet ads.

Internet marketing like this doesn't bother me as it once did. As recently as one year ago, it flat out pissed me off because I knew that the advertisements were misleading. Now I see the other side of things. In order to make advertising appealing, people actually need to click through the links to get to the content.

Now I realize, and I probably should have sooner, that marketing is a means to generate interest, and that's it. Marketing is all about sizzle. Sizzle is fine as long as there is a nice juicy piece of meat on the other end. There is always something behind marketing. Does it deliver what was promised?

If it does, then I have no problems with an entity using the best techniques available (although I'm continually surprised by the ridiculous things people most frequently respond to) to get the greatest market response. If the sizzle is there but the quantity and quality of steak is not as good as advertised, then you have yourself a scam.

Unfortunately, the world is full of organizations with little integrity that are willing to screw people over to make money. Some companies like this have become so good at marketing and employ people so charismatic that their prey don't realize they've been screwed until it's too late. What's worse is that sometimes they never realize they've been screwed and defend the organizations that sold them a crappy product that got them nothing but lost time and frustration!

The point is that with the widespread lack of integrity, it is difficult to trust any information you come across. It is difficult to tell the difference between legitimate products/services and scams.

Take note from the fitness world, the fat loss industry specifically. There are millions of sites and products dedicated to thinning people's waistlines. Millions of people fail to succeed every year. Obviously something is wrong, but few people know what it is because of the incredible amount of garbage floating around that is taken as fact.

My original book, The Theory of Fat Loss: A New Paradigm for Exercise was designed to educate people so that they would very easily be able to determine if an exercise program is worth doing or a complete waste of time. In other words, the paradigm equips you with a BS detector. Also, however, it gives you the tools to construct your own personalized program so you don't have to rely on others who may be just trying to "sell you."

That brings me to the new book that I am planning. I haven't decided on a name, but I'm leaning towards "Franchise" Your Fitness (Your Body as a Business sounded too much like something that is only legal in Nevada). What is it about franchises that make them profoundly more successful than other businesses? How can we apply a "franchise" model to your personal fitness? More on this to come in Part 2. Stay tuned.

Interested? Let me know below.