Time Management Tips to Slay your Goals

Hey friends!  As I mentioned in my last post,  I’m making a personal commitment to post at least 1x per week in 2017.  Man….I tell you what….it’s harder than I thought.  I know I have to set aside designated “blogging time” to reestablish the discipline and rigor I once had around writing.  That’s why I love the quote above so much…it’s so true!  If I don’t plan, I’m essentially “planning” to not achieve my goal.

As small business owner, efficient time management is critical for survival because I have limited resources and am consistently forced to do more with less.  So I thought “Time Management” would be the perfect topic for this blog post.  Now  I’m not the most detailed nor the most talented person, but when comes to getting sh*t done, I don’t mind tooting my own horn.  People ask me all of the time, “How do you do it?”  And the short answer is, I’m NOT a perfectionist.  I prioritize the most  critical tasks required to achieve my BIG goals.  And I plan everything!  I actually have some strategy around how I plan my week and how I think about each day as an input into the greater whole.   I also operate under the core belief that DONE is always better thanks PERFECT, thus I’m not a perfectionist.

Below is my personal 5 step approach for strategizing and managing my time.  Now, most people probably have a day planner and they just pencil in everything that pops up on their “to-do” list.  Not my style.  I create strategy for my entire week and then slot my activities into my “ideal outline.”  Let’s dive a little deeper…

Brit’s Weekly Time Strategy for 2017

STEP 1: CREATE AN OUTLINE OF YOUR ENTIRE WEEK BY FIRST BLOCKING OUT THE NON-NEGOTIABLE TIME

As you can see above, I think about my week as a whole, and set aside designated time to work on the things most critical for achieving my BIG life goals. In doing so, I essentially have a “template” for my day planner and give myself structure so that I’m in control of my time, and random stuff that pops up can’t control me!

Obviously, I have to be physically present at work at certain times, so I block this time in green.  For me this is when I’m physically teaching classes.  So step 1 for you, think about your entire week and block out the time that is totally non-negotiable for your livelihood (i.e. weekly work and family commitments)

STEP 2: EVALUATE YOUR PERSONAL GOALS AND BLOCK TIME TO WORK ON THEM

Then I review my list of goals for the year and think about what specific actions are required to make them come to life.  For example,  I want to continue to grow my business and innovate new services for our clients.  So, I have to block a few hours on my weekly calendar for “Standardization” and “Innovation.”  During these time blocks I document our business processes, develop training manuals, create new class formats and work on strategic brand partnerships.  Notice that nobody is “making” me do these things, but I have to make a personal commitment to myself to work on these things.  Otherwise, 6 months will pass and I realize that I’ve made no progress.

Me with my 2017 goals in hand!

Another example is time for my relationships.  On my 2017 goals, I stated that I want to continuously strengthen my relationships with my friends, family and myself. So I block out time on my weekly template to hang out with besties, to catch up with family and to just be alone and read, work on my personal development and quite simply enjoy my own company.

I can go on and on, but I think you get the point.  Step 2 – evaluate your goals and dedicate time each week to work on them in bite size chunks.

STEP 3: PLAN TO PLAN

Weird, I know.  But the reality is,  I allocate time in my weekly calendar to plan the next week!  That’s right…I plan to plan.  So for me, on Sunday evenings I plan all of the choreography and playlists for my fitness classes the upcoming week, I plan my meals and my personal workouts.   I also plan “free time” which allows me to handle random events in a structured, efficient way.

STEP 4: FILL OUT YOUR DAY PLANNER WITH SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES ALIGNED WITH YOUR OVERALL WEEKLY TIME STRATEGY

This part is fun.  During my “planning time” each week I physically update my planner for the week ahead.  As you can see above, my day planner aligns with my overall weekly strategy.  I force myself to work on the things only during their designated time slots.  This prevents me from getting distracted and makes my life easier because each day I simply wake up and follow the plan for the day.

STEP 5: TREASURE YOUR TIME

You owe it to yourself to achieve your goals and fulfill your dreams, and the only way to make that possible is to spend time working on your goals every single week.  That means when people or outside commitments try throw something on your schedule, tell them  that that you can get to it during your “free time” not during the time you’ve designated for working on your goals, your full-time job or other critical activities.

Well, that wraps it up.  My 5 step time management approach for slaying your goals.  Do you have any additional tips for making every minute count?  If so, I’d love to hear them!  Have a wonderful week and I’ll be back with more life and business hacks next week.  xoxo, Brit

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GRIT Fitness Design District Launch Party | June 5, 2016

Hey hey friends!  I’m still on a high from our Cardio & Cocktails party last Saturday!  Over 300 people came to shake it with us at the W Dallas hotel.  It was an absolute blast and I want to give a HUGE thanks to our partner, Fabletics for providing awesome swag and adorable outfits! CLICK HERE to checkout the photo album on Facebook!

SO in LUV with our outfits from Fabletics summer collection!

The fun doesn’t stop there, next up is the MAIN EVENT, our “Sunday Funday” Launch Party for the Grand Opening of the GRIT Fitness Flagship studio – woo hoo!  The launch party on Sunday, June 5 will include cocktails, light bites, and workout gear offerings to shop by top fitness brands! The GRIT Fitness flagship is located at 1729 Irving Boulevard Suite 101 Dallas, Texas 75227.

Here are the details…

TICKETS: FREE General Admission or $25 VIP Tickets which include priority entry and special GRIT swag bag.  Purchase at gritlaunchparty.eventbrite.com

ATTIRE: Your most stylish “Athleisure” (workout clothes)

WHEN: Sunday, June 5, 2016 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM (CDT) – Add to Calendar

WHERE: GRIT Fitness Design District – 1729 Irving Blvd #101, Dallas, TX 75207 – View Map

I hope to see you June 5th! xoxo, Brit

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Dallas GRIT Fitness Flagship | Construction Progress

Hey hey friends!  I’m SO THRILLED to share a construction progress update today because SO MUCH has been accomplished in so little time.

So, this week all of the former walls in the facility were demolished leaving this huge open space…

and by the end of the week, the new wall frames and sheet rock were constructed –  YAY!

This is a major milestone because the new GRIT FITNESS flagship studio will have 2 studios under 1 roof: 1 group fitness studio + 1 indoor cycling studio. (It’s also just super cool to actually see the future floor plan in real life – not just on construction drawings).

I’m big believer that variety is the spice of life and the key to an effective fitness regimen, so I’m super keen on providing continuous variety to my clients AKA the #GRITFAM.  Offering cycling classes in additional to our 7 original group fitness classes is a phenomenal sweaty combo!

Furthermore, we made more great progress on the locker room.  Last week the locker room looked like this (NO plumbing)…

This week the trenching for plumbing got underway and we are on track to install showers!

We still have lots of work to do (e.g. flooring, lighting, sound, decor) but the BIG construction efforts are well underway and almost done.  Summer will be here before we know it and I can’t wait to offer more of our fun, fierce fabulous fitness classes to the Dallas community.

It’s not too late to back our campaign and help make this vision come to life.  We can’t do it without you!  Thank you so much for the contributions, kind emails and words of encouragement so far.  You are loved and appreciated.  #thebestisyettocome

xoxo, Brit

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BIG NEWS at Dallas GRIT Fitness

Happy Saturday friends!  Over the past 10 days, my #DREAMTEAM at GRIT Fitness and I have been counting down to a really BIG announcement…

And we’ve finally made it to the last day!  Tomorrow is the BIG announcement and I’d love to share it with YOU = my beloved blog community who’ve been a part of my journey long before I was a fitness entrepreneur.  Sign up for my special newsletter that will be sent tomorrow morning and be the first to hear the good news!

Sign Up Now For Email Newsletters you can trust.

Hint: My dreams are really coming true!

xoxo, Brit

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5 Body Weight Sculpting Exercises

Hey Friends,  I hope your week is going well!  Today I want to share some body weight, sculpting exercises that you can do at home.  I get asked all the time, “How can I can tone up if I don’t like lifting weights?”  Well, you can actually use your own body weight to get awesome resistance training and build lean muscle mass!  Here are 5 of my favorite body sculpting exercises and we’ll sculpt every part of the body 😉

Try this workout on your own:

  • Warm up with a 5 minute jog OR 2 sets 50 jumping jacks
  • Complete each exercise above for 1 minute (do as many reps as possible – Right side only)
  • Rest for 2 minute
  • Repeat all 5 exercises for 1 minute each (do as many reps as possible – Left side only)
  • Stretch for 5 minutes

Here’s a little video I made demonstrating the moves so you’ll know exactly what to do.

Enjoy your sexy sculpted body 🙂

xoxo,

Brit

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Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Hey Friends – happy 2016! First off, my sincere apologies for the sporadic blog posting.  We have been crazy busy at GRIT Fitness with a rush of new members who are ready to get fit and feel fabulous in 2016.  I’m not one for excuses, so I’ll just say “my bad” and start doing better.  Most posts coming – I promise!

To kick off the New Year, my team and I met for an inspirational brainstorming and goal setting session.  We chatted about things that were going well at GRIT and things that we can do better. We also spent time articulating our vision of an “amazing fitness experience” and then set some team and personal goals around that vision.

Fortunately, I had a great boss back in my consulting days who taught me about setting SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time Bound.  What are your goals for 2016? I encourage you to also set smart goals – they are more effective for driving to results!

As a small business owner and new entrepreneur I value this quality time with my team.  Sure, I see these ladies everyday as sweat and smile during our classes at GRIT, but the most important thing I’ve learned during my first year as an entrepreneur is that my business success is 100% dependent on the engagement and performance of my team.  Without my team – I have nothing! #realtalk

As a self-proclaimed “independent woman” this was a tough pill for me to swallow because a part of me prides myself on developing the concept for GRIT Fitness on my own and getting it up and running by leveraging my skills and experience.  But as we continue to grow, there are SO MANY things that I simply can’t do by myself and SO MANY things that I just don’t know.   I have to develop and empower my team to be leaders in their own right, take risks and to share their gifts with others.

While I absolutely LOVE group fitness and feel so blessed to wake up every day and pursue my passion, I get so much more joy from serving my team and creating a foundation for us all to pursue our passions together.  I’ve learned that “it’s great to do what you love, but even greater with the great team.” Teamwork really does make the dream work.  xoxo,Brit

Maria, GRIT Body Sculpt & HIIT instructor, showing off her mug
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If at first you don’t succeed, pick yourself up and try again

Good morning friends!  I hope you’re ready to kick-start an amazing week.  This weekend I enjoyed not 1, not 2 but 3 fabulous holiday parties and today I’m in major need of a sweat session to burn off holiday cookies and champagne (sooooooo good!)

I wanted to share update with you that I hope gives you hope and encouragement.  If you recall,  a few weeks ago I traveled to San Antonio to participate in the local SBA InnovateHer business pitch contest and I didn’t win.  (You can read my recap here).  I expressed my disappointment, but resolved to keep pushing forward to make the vision of my business come to life.

Me making my pitch (once again) at the InnovateHER pitch competition in Dallas, TX

Well…today I’m happy to announce that I recently competed in another local SBA InnovateHer business pitch contest and I won 1st place!  This means that my business pitch will be submitted to Washington, DC for the national competition after all.  I’m overjoyed and feeling proud of myself for not giving up after my setback.  I’ll be honest, I had to give myself a major pep talk to go at it again after losing the week before.  But I figured I had nothing to lose but my pride.  It was worth it!

As icing on the cake I connected with a fabulous group of Dallas women entrepreneurs.  We’ve already hung out since the competition and I invited them to come represent their brands at the  #GIRLBOSS women-owned business showcase to take place at my fitness studio this Saturday!

Me with the judges and fellow contestants in the Dallas, TX InnovateHER pitch contest – November 2015

My ultimate mission with the GRIT by Brit blog and the GRIT Fitness studio is help others develop the mental grit needed to best their lives.  Each day I have to practice perseverance to make it a habit.  It’s not easy, but I believe we can train ourselves to be “gritty.”  By choosing not to quit in the business plan competitions,  I’ll more readily persevere through the next challenge I face.

That said, I don’t believe failure is anybody’s destiny.  Life if too good for that 🙂

xoxo,Brit

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#LUKESGRIT Challenge – Complimentary Fitness Classes in Dallas this Holiday Season!

Luke's Locker and GRIT Fitness

Hey Hey friends!  I hope you had an awesome Thanksgiving Holiday and ate lots of yummy food that you love 🙂   No need to feel guilty for indulging because I have five, free, super-fun workouts in store for you this holiday season.  If you live in Dallas, come join me and my friends from Luke’s Locker for the #LUKESGRIT Challenge!  Me and 3 instructors from my studio will teach a sweaty series of high energy, motivating classes during the month of December.

The #LUKESGRIT challenge aims to provide a fun environment that encourages women to stay active during the holiday season. Generous prizes from Luke’s Locker will be awarded to those who complete 3 or more community classes in the month of December.

The challenge begins this Sunday, Dec. 6th with a kick off “GRIT mash up” class and shopping event at Luke’s Locker – Mockingbird, Dallas, TX. Each week following, members of the Dallas community can participate in a complimentary community workout at the GRIT Fitness studio located at 3821 Ross Ave. Dallas, TX 75204.

KICK OFF DETAILS

  • Date: Sunday, December 6, 2015
  • Time: 10:00am
  • Location: Luke’s Locker 3046 Mockingbird Ln, Dallas, TX 75205
  • Cost: Free & open to the Dallas community
  • Details: Enjoy a 1-hour “mash up” workout led by GRIT Fitness instructors, followed by refreshments and shopping. The kick-off class will consist of Dance Cardio, Body Sculpting and Cardio Kick Boxing. Space is limited – class participants must register online!

SIGN UP FOR COMPLIMENTARY CLASSES

  • Kick Off – GRIT Mash Up Workout  12/6, 10:00am at Luke’s Locker – Mockingbird, Dallas, TX
  • Class 1 – Dance Club Cardio, 12/9, 7:30pm at GRIT FITNESS
  • Class 2 – Turbo Kick, 12/16, 6:30pm at GRIT FITNESS
  • Class 3 – GRIT HIIT, 12/23, 6:00pm at GRIT FITNESS
  • Class 4 – Body Sculpt Express, 12/30, 5:15pm at GRIT FITNESS

You can visit the GRIT Fitness website to read the description of each class format.  I hope to see you there!  xoxo, Brit

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5 Tips For Expanding Your Small Business

Wow – it’s crazy to think that just 1 year ago today, I took the giant leap of faith by quitting my management consulting career and setting out to open my own fitness studio, GRIT! At that time I wrote a blog post, 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Quitting Your Job, and today I’m so grateful to still be working for myself and continuing on this crazy, chaotic, entrepreneurship journey. My friend told me there are 15 books all entrepreneurs should read in order to succeed. However for now, I hope these tips will help you out!

We are about to close our 10th month of business at GRIT Fitness (woo hoo) so now my focus is on phase 2 – expansion. I’m finding expanding the business to be just as if not more challenging than starting the business. I need to standardize my processes so they can be replicated, keep my current clients satisfied, excited and engaged all while executing my expansion strategy. As you can imagine, the work is exciting but I feel like I’m being pulled in a million different directions.

As I continue through this phase, I want to share my 5 super practical tips that have helped me prioritize my time and make smart growth decisions. If you’re embarking upon the growth/expansion phase of your business or project, these tips can help!

Brit’s 5 Tips For Expanding Your Small Business:

1. Articulate Your Business Case For Action – How much will it cost to expand my business and how much additional revenue do I expect?

GRIT Fitness classes are bursting at the seams – expansion is critical in order to service our demand

Why do you need to expand? Are you bursting at the seams with an overflow of volume that you simply do not have capacity to take on? Are your clients demanding more services or product offerings?

Here it’s critical to calculate your return on investment (ROI). Remember to always grow your sales before your grow your cost. It’s easy to get wrapped up the hype of having a second location or a presence in a new city. But remember, sales are KING. If revenue is not increasing at the same rate or faster than your costs, you may want to rethink your growth strategy.

2. Recruit and retain great talent – Can I quickly acquire and train a winning team?

Me and 2 awesome members of my #dreamteam, Emily & Annabel. Without them, GRIT Fitness is nothing!

Let me make something very clear: NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR TEAM – PEOPLE ARE YOUR GREATEST ASSET. That said, know what skills and talents are required to grow and maintain your business. Recruit people who are passionate about your vision and who possess those skills and talents. Then do everything in your power to keep them engaged! I highly discourage you from expanding your business faster than the rate at which you can acquire great talent.

3. Explore & Confirm Your Financing Options – Where will I get the money?

Me and my home girls shooting a new promo video to kickstart our crowd funding campaign!

NEWS FLASH: Unless you have a rich uncle or your business has already earned a lot of revenue (like $200K), getting access to capital is very tough for a new business. Banks won’t talk to you. You can can apply for an SBA (Small Business Administration) loan but the process is super slow with lots of red tape. Or can you take money from investors, but you’ll have to give up a percentage of ownership of your company (I’m not down with that). There are some other small business loans but the interest rates can be quite high, like 8-11%. Last, you can opt for crowd-funding like KickStarter, which allows members of the community to fund your business because they like/believe in your concept. In return you provide small tokens of appreciation like complimentary goods/services, swag, etc. The downside, is that crowd funding campaigns can be time consuming because they require lots of marketing to be successful.

At the end of the day, all of these financing options have pros and cons, so you need to evaluate each and find the best solution for your business. Remember, business expansion costs money so you must have plan to get some cash!

4. Know Your Target Customer and Keep Her Happy – How does expansion better serve your target customer?

GRIT Fitness targets young, social, active, hip, professional women between the ages of 21-35

A GRIT Fitness, I have a “muse” if you will. She’s a young, professional woman between the ages of 21-35 who’s high-achieving, social and ready to take on the world. She is my target customer. Any time I make a business decision, pleasing her is my top priority.

You should be able to quickly define your target customer and know what he/she wants. Keep your target customer’s needs at the forefront of your mind as you think about expanding. Go where they are and give them what they want. This can be tough because pleasing your target customer may mean that you disappoint some other customers. I believe that not trying to please everyone is they key to branding success (and to being a happy person – wink wink).

5. Maintain Your Vibe – What is your culture and how you will maintain it?

FUN. FIERCE. FABULOUS. That’s pretty much sums up our culture at GRIT Fitness

We just kick-started the #FallN2Fitness challenge at my studio and our classes are PACKED with fierce chicas who are determined to stay fit this fall. Typically, October/November are times when we fall OUT of our fitness routines; however we are determined to break the cycle and fall IN to fitness 🙂 Class challenges are a great culture building tactic that I’ve implemented at GRIT Fitness. They help foster a sense of community and encourage our clients to push past their comfort zone AKA “show their grit!”

Regardless of whether we expand to a 2nd studio location, online, DVD’s. etc. we must maintain the behaviors and core values that make GRIT Fitness special and unique. It’s imperative for you clearly articulate what key behaviors, practices and values you will keep consistent as you expand your small business.

While expanding your business or project may be a little stressful, I think it’s one of most rewarding experiences. People want to start their own business, but do not know where to start. Whatever the industry or profession, you can always find a way to start your career. For example, if you are aiming to become a self employed truck driver, you could research Skip Lorry Insurance to get you started and have you covered for anything that may happen. You’ll get there eventually. I constantly remind myself that THE JOURNEY IS THE REWARD. No matter the fate of GRIT Fitness, I’m having a blast bringing my idea to life, taking risks and helping people live happier, healthier lives. I hope these tips are helpful and I wish you all the best to you on your journey! xoxo, Brit

A bonus tip for your small business, my friend was recently telling me about they made the most out of their energy bills by using business energy comparison websites like Usave. I’m told they got a great deal through those sites.

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Precision Running at Equinox: Finally a Fun Treadmill Workout

Happy Hump Day Gang!  A few weeks ago I met Maggie, the General Manager of Equinox Preston Hollow, at a Girl’s Night Out event hosted by Trunk Club Dallas.  Her energy immediately drew me in and next thing I knew I was making plans to come try out one of Equinox’s hottest new group fitness classes.  I had a such a great experience, I wanted to share all the details…

The Class:  Precision Running is the newest group fitness class at Equinox.   It’s a 45-minute treadmill workout with “precisely designed intervals to hit every muscle in your body.”   I’ve read several positive reviews, but I wanted try to the class for myself.  So I grabbed my friend Nena and headed to Equinox!

The Method: The class is built on the Balanced Interval Training Experience (BITE) method, which strikes a middle ground between High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and aerobic endurance training (e.g. long distance jogging). There are varieties of interval routines so you can expect a different 45-minute treadmill workout each class.

The Space:  Unlike most group fitness classes, Precision Running doesn’t take place inside the group fitness classroom.  We were actually on the treadmills in the open gym floor.

The Crowd:  Approximately 15 women and men between the ages of 30-50.  Nena and I attended a 9:30 AM class, which may explain the more mature crowd.  Everyone was dressed in trendy activewear and seemed happy to be there.

The Experience: First off, I have to admit that I hate running on the treadmill.  Though I was excited about trying a new class, I was secretly dreading being on the treadmill for 45 minutes.  Fortunately, I got a pleasant surprise with Precision Running and here’s why…

  • Warm up – As class was bout to start, we hopped onto our treadmills making one long line of class participants.  Our instructor paced back and forth in front of us as we kicked off a slow jog to warm up.  During this time, she coached our running form, breathing and proper foot contact with the treadmill.  The warm up lasted about 3 minutes and then we moved on to the first interval series.
  • Interval Series 1 – For 20 minutes, we jogged, ran and sprinted through a variety of 30 second and 1-minute speed intervals on very low incline.  My endorphins flowed and my heart rate elevated!
  • Interval Series 2 – We got about 3 minutes of transition/recovery time until we started the next interval series.  It also 20 minutes but had more of a “strength” focus.  We continuously increased the treadmill incline but maintained a moderate, steady pace.  I could feel my quads, calves and hamstrings very much engaged as the incline got steeper and steeper.
  • Cool Down – Following the 2nd series, the instructor led us through short cool down jog/walk and then ended the class.  I was impressed with her ability to keep the class lively by simultaneously motivating, coaching and changing up the intervals.

Loved: The number of calories I blasted – 469 at the 43-minute mark.  Woo Hoo!

Hated: I forgot to bring my own headphones so I didn’t have any music to energize my stride.

Intensity Level: Moderate-High intensity.  Fortunately, if you’re still building your fitness, you can run at a slower pace and not feel like a slacker nor stand out from the class.

Afterwards:  Can we say drenched in sweat? About 3 minutes after the class ended, I cooled down and could feel the after burn.  While my leg muscles were tight, surprisingly I didn’t feel knee pain.  I guess running with proper form pays off!

Our instructor taught a 30-minute Dynamic Strength class directly after Precision Running so Nena and I hit that up for some body sculpting action.  It was the perfect compliment to our treadmill workout.  Nena and I were completely exhausted and ready to inhale a yummy lunch.

Final Verdict:  Simply put, if you looking for cardio conditioning, look no further.  I give Precision Running the official “gritty two thumbs up.”  Dallas crew, be sure to check out a class for yourself – hit up Equinox Preston Hollow and ask for Gabby.  ENJOY!

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