How Shana Ross Went Zero to $45K In First Month of Her Fitness Business

Shana Ross
If you really want to be successful, and at doing something that you really, really love, you can’t wait until everything’s perfect, because nothing ever will be perfect. You can’t be afraid. And you have to be willing to take risks. Because without those three things, you’ll just always be thinking about, well, you know, I want to do that, I think I can do it. And I think I can be successful, it will just always be I think, you’ve got to find people to support you, it was really finding the coaching that npte provided that made all the difference.

I got into the fitness industry really coming full circle, from corporate, I was an athlete, all through high school, I wanted to continue playing sports in college. But I wasn’t sure how to do that if you don’t get your degree in a related field. And I knew I didn’t want to teach, I didn’t want to be a coach, I just wanted to play sports. So I kind of figured I couldn’t do that in college. So I got a degree in communications went into corporate, the marketing, public relations, did some ghost writing, things like that. it prepared me very well to do what I’m doing now. But it’s not what I loved. So I was always really kind of looking for a way to, to get back into the fitness industry, the fitness field. So I thought, well, I love being in the gym, I love training, I’ll become a bodybuilder, why not? I’d always wanted to. But I soon found out that just continuing to do that would really take a toll on the body. And I wasn’t young, when I decided to do it. I was 38. And I knew that my body wouldn’t take that for long. So I was still looking, trying to find that answer. When I decided to go to work for a wellness center in the nonprofit sector. loved it, knew I’d found my niche, and I had to keep doing that. So after I left the Wellness Center, I became a personal trainer, and open my own business. But after you do that for a few years, you know there are only so many hours in the day. So only so many clients, you can train only so much money you can make. I knew that the next step was going to be having my own facility. Unfortunately, that took the the the that that was a gym, became a co owner of a gym, and it just did not work out well. I didn’t like the dynamic of you know, just sell, sell, sell, get members, and try to make as much money as you can and sign them up for some personal training. And, okay, maybe they don’t get great results, just sign them up for some more. So I knew if if I was going to continue to make this my chosen field for the remainder of my life, that it had to be a completely different dynamic. And that’s when I really started thinking, you got to have your own facility, it has to be a studio environment, because you know, now that the gym is not what you want it to be. And that’s how it all started happening. That’s how the spark happened. And I’m standing in my own facility right today. And it’s been great.

I’ve been getting information from Eric, off and on. You know, I would read it, I get his emails and think that’s great information. But when I really started to seriously think about the studio, and how am I going to make it happen. I knew that I had to get the business part of it down. Because it just that it was wasn’t going to be successful if I just tried to figure it out on my own and just,

Unknown Speaker
you know, fly free.

Shana Ross
So I went back, started reading the material over and really started taking to heart some of the things he said, and I went to a conference that was about, you know, running, running a better fitness business. And I met Eric and got some really great information from him. And the conference was was good and learned a lot and knew that if I continued to learn things like that I would be successful. So I came back really started thinking about things and how I was going to do it and I went back to this same conference The following year, and was a little disappointed because it was kind of the same information that I had heard the first year and I was really needing something else. Something more in depth the the missing piece of the puzzle. And the the really odd thing is, is I went to lunch with a group of people of which Eric was one. And Shawn was the other. And I don’t know if Shawn remembers this or not, but it’s a great story. And I have to tell it, because to me, I feel like I was witness to the birth of NP. I don’t know if it’s true or not. But that’s how I feel. We were discussing the conference. And and Sean said, you know, this is the same stuff that we heard the year last year, and I just can’t believe this pal this money and come to this and get the same stuff over and over and he was eating had his fork, and he just kind of threw his fork down the plant because I can do better than this. And a couple years later, that was it in PE was born. And when that happened, and I was getting Eric’s emails, and it was starting to talk about, you know, MP in partnership with Sean, I thought I that I’ve got to hitch my wagon to that team. Because if I’m going to be successful, they’re the ones that’s going to help me get there.

Unknown Speaker
And that’s how it

Unknown Speaker
all happened. That’s how I came around NP mean, you guys were brand new, but I had every confidence that that’s where I was going to have to be. The first thing I did with MP was go plus sign up for that started getting the the, you know, signing on to the webinars, getting CDs, newsletters, things like that, and it was exactly exactly what I was hoping for exactly what I had been looking for, to start, you know, the juices flowing to start teaching me how to be a business person, because I’m not at all I think very creatively on numbers. This, you know, I just, we don’t get along, I barely got through college algebra. You know, I just, I don’t think that way. But I knew that I could start thinking that way with the, you know, the guidance of NP. So gold plus was great. It gave me a ton of tools. But it really started creating even more questions, because it was giving me a lot of really good answers. But it really did create, Well, okay, if I do this, then what happens? And how do I take this piece and plug it in and make it even bigger, so that I can start running my own business. And that’s when I got this black on globe in the mail, opened it up. And it was talking about this Platinum program, you know, be and you’ve got to be a part of the Platinum program if you want to be a successful business owner. And it gave criteria for people who should consider applying, and I didn’t meet any of them. It was you need to have your own facility, you need to have I think it was 25 plus clients

Unknown Speaker
been in business for at least a year, or maybe it was two, I think it was a year. And I didn’t have a studio. I had I think 10 clients, I was just, you know, doing personal training. You know, nothing, I didn’t meet any of them. But I filled it out anyway. And I looked at it as if I do want these things. And this is the only way I’m going to be able to get there. Because I don’t know how to get there. I just know I want to be there. And I thought if I can make a good case on paper, and if I can just get to the interview, you know, if I can get them on the phone, I can sell myself. And that’s what happened. I guess I did a good sales job on paper. And they call me up and they gave me an interview. And when I got them on the phone, it was like I’m not getting off of here. until until i think that you know, they’re gonna let me in. So it was just go for broke, leave it all on the table, which is really kind of very unlikely, because usually I would have looked at it, I don’t meet any of the criteria. so darn, I can’t do it. But I’m really, really happy that I did.

Unknown Speaker
The first course I took with NP was auto closer. And that’s because I had been a personal trainer, and it was session to session, you know, pay as you go. And I knew that if I wanted to keep a facility open, there was no way that was going to work. So I need to learn how to sell. The first guy sat down in front of me. I channeled it, I did the steps exactly the way he had taught me how to do them. And when I brought the slide up with the pricing on it, he took a minute looked at it and he said well the amount of weight I need to lose and the shape I’m in now So I better take the 75 sessions. And that was audit closer first time. Second sale was 100 sessions. So it worked exactly the way dick said it should work. It worked. So well, matter of fact that I was hiring a trainer two months before I thought it was going to have to, and because of implementing it, and it doing so well, and closing so many sales, you’re one we grossed $250,000, which to me was amazing. Absolutely amazing to do right out of the box. Awesome. Do you remember how much the first sale is worth to your business? And then that first month, you’re open what those numbers right? Yeah, the first sale was 50 $600. You blew me away. Our first month, we grossed $45,000. Which you know, is just unheard of. Absolutely unheard of. I was the happiest man on earth.

Unknown Speaker
duplicator is, is really what allowed us to recover from the success of auto closer, all of a sudden, you have all of these, these people they want to train with you. I had to hire a trainer much sooner than I thought I was going to need to. And I didn’t know how to do that. I didn’t have a system in place for how to train them, how to bring them on, make sure that they knew what they needed to know. And that’s exactly what duplicator taught me. And again, it’s all about you know, systems put in place. Having things well thought out, knowing which step to take next duplicator gave me the tools to know how to hire somebody the things that I needed to put together so that they didn’t just walk in and with no plan of action. And without it, there’s no way that I don’t think even today I could be operating as smoothly as I am because the the lessons learned from there, just continue to keep on giving, you know, year after year, the past year has absolutely been the most amazing year of my life. And so I want to say to you guys, you know what you’ve changed my life

Unknown Speaker
winning MP member of the Year in

Unknown Speaker
2008 was was one of the highlights of my life. And I’ve had a really fun life. I’ve done lots of wild and crazy things. And you know, I’ve never been bored, let me put it that way. But being recognized by this group of peers that that I have come to consider, you know, kind of a second family really. And, and someone like Eric, and someone like Shawn, whom I admired greatly. I think that he is a brilliant mind, and has a good heart for helping all these people do what they do. Winning that award was absolutely amazing. Getting to present in front of that group of people,

Unknown Speaker
because I really did feel like such a novice.

Unknown Speaker
I mean, it was my first year to own a business. I was in here with a lot of people who had had so much more experience. And when my name was announced, and I walked up on that stage, I just I felt absolutely 10 feet tall, because I’m getting chills. You can see that but it was just it was a major, major accomplishment. And I’m coming gun and again. So all you new guys out there. Bring it

Unknown Speaker
ready.

Unknown Speaker
We did great our first year. I mean, we did 250,000 your one, which to me was spectacular. I mean, I would have never thought that that we could have done that. It really just kind of blew my mind. We were able to manage growth, we were able to add great staff, new programs, all within a very short span of time. And that first year was scary, really, really scary. But having npte there with us made it made it at least manageable where you could go to sleep at night. Your to just started off gangbusters. And I think when I looked at the I think

Unknown Speaker
the number that the number that’s sticking in my head

Unknown Speaker
is we had growth of 154% over year one and exceeded. We came in close to about 400,000 for year two. And the staff I have now is just clicking. They’re great. And it’s allowed me to to get really great people and pay them what they need to be paid so that they can continue to contribute to In the studio and the growth of it,

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and I

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think when we plug in the nutrition part that is just going to keep going, Hey, I’m Shana Ross with Shana Ross fitness. We’re going to do a quick healthy dinner that you can easily do after a hard day’s work. It’s going to take you less than 10 minutes to make this beautiful, nutritious meal.

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I’m aiming for the million dollar club

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within the next three years. What NP

Unknown Speaker
has helped me do more than anything is keep bringing me back to center when I tend to get off on polar opposite ends.

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All I have to do is just

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stop

Unknown Speaker
and think about what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. You know, what’s what’s distracting me? I think? I think Shawn calls it being distracted by shiny objects. You know, it brings me back to center and gives me the tools that I need to stop doing and focus and keep moving forward.

Unknown Speaker
That’s been the biggest, biggest part.