Beauty Bucks

They Lose, You Gain And Everyone Wins

Losing weight is not so easy after all; it takes a lot of resolve to overcome the inconvenience associated with it (especially dieting). This business is about helping people not to cheat on their diet.

“Going to gymnasium can cause weight gain”. Yes, this does happen with some people, even if they regularly go to Gym. Losing weight is not so easy after all; it takes a lot of resolve to overcome the inconvenience associated with it (especially dieting). This business is about helping people not to cheat on their diet. It’s not about gym instructors or dieticians or anything like that. It’s a very novel business.

“Weight-loss caterer” is what we are talking about here. As a weight-loss caterer you will make dieting so convenient for people that they won’t need to cheat on their diet. Here is what you need to do:

1. Get hold of some good low calorie recipes (see resources section at the end)
2. Use the recipes to prepare various varieties of delicious food
3. Package the food as single servings
4. Deliver them to your customers.

Easy, isn’t it?

Your food should be delicious of course. Test each dish first before offering it to customers. However, it’s equally important that you offer a variety so as to cater to the tastes of a larger population. But don’t overdo it. You might have to experiment a bit in the beginning to see what sells the best. Once you have a fair idea, you can create your menu card. You might want to start with 8-10 dishes. As the business progresses, you can move on to offer more dishes. You can offer both take-away and home-delivery facilities.

Tip: Keep introducing new dishes on a periodic basis. This will keep your regular customers interested.

Packaging is as important as the food itself. Don’t compromise on the quality of packaging, just for a few cents. The packaging should be professional and attractive.

Since your customers will mainly be the calorie-conscious people, you need to highlight the calorie value and other details on your food packets. Print these details on simple stickers and stick them on each packet of food you deliver. Include your menu card and business card with every delivery.

Tip: Include some free reading material about dieting/healthy-food etc. as a bonus with each delivery. This could be a regular newsletter too. Just a single 8 1/2 x 11 size sheet, printed on both sides and folded in the middle, should be sufficient as a newsletter. You can print it on a colored paper to make it more attractive. Also, don’t forget to include your contact details on the news letter.

Leave multiple copies of your ‘free-delivery’ menu card at offices, gyms, bulletin boards and local shops. Newspaper inserts can also be an effective marketing technique. Each food item on your menu card should clearly highlight the calorie value, fat, etc. It should also emphasize the fact that you are offering healthy food which is unique in the sense that people don’t have to compromise on taste while they are dieting. Ask people to book over the phone and you can then deliver at their doorstep. You should also specify the time slots during which people can book their low calorie food.

Check with your local government to insure you have any required permits. Many areas require nothing more than a vendor’s permit.

Resources:

www.eatingwell.com/recipes/collections/quick_healthy_low_calorie_recipes.html

www.idph.state.il.us/public/hb/hbsafefood.htm

www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Safe_Food_Handling_Fact_Sheets/index.asp

Personal Trainer Profit Plan

According to Wikipedia.com, a personal trainer is a fitness professional who is hired for private instruction. Generally thought to be a commodity afforded only to the rich and famous, personal trainers are now widely available for a variety of people with a variety of goals (and with a variety of budgets). A trainer will help his or her employer maintain exquisite physical condition by designing a specialized exercise regiment for said client. There are many trainers who offer their clients a range of service from nutrition advice, to postural exercises, to behavior change.

So, if you enjoy staying in shape and eating healthy, you may enjoy teaching others how to exercise by becoming a personal trainer. It can be very rewarding helping someone in need of instruction and support during exercise, whether the client wants to lose weight, get toned, or just change their routine and make sure they are doing everything correctly. Most often, people under the instruction of a personal trainer have much better results rather than depending on themselves to get to the gym or exercise at home.

5 Steps to Get Started:

1. Have What It Takes?
Personal trainers need to have a variety of skills. You should be systematic, enduring, supportive, persistent, organized, a successful motivator and a great listener. You should be self-disciplined and enjoy working with people. You don’t have to have the perfect body to be a trainer, but you should be a good role model for your clients.

2. Getting Certified
There are many choices for getting certified. You must have a certification as a personal trainer to begin work, whether you work for a gym, become self-employed, or create your own business. There are many places to get this certification. If you are going to work at a gym, they should help you in this process. They will probably give you the information and tell you to come back when you are certified. You can also get certified through a traditional school, or through distance learning. Some great places to get certified are:

American Council on Exercise (www.acefitness.org/getcertified/default.aspx)
American College of Sports Medicine (www.acsm.org/certification/index.htm)
National Council on Strength & Fitness (www.ncsf.org/)
National Federation of Personal Trainers (www.nfpt.com/)
International Sports Sciences Association (www.issaonline.com/)

3. Market Yourself
Start making flyers, newsletters, business cards, a website and maybe some local seminars. You can begin by posting flyers in sporting goods stores, getting friends and family members to spread the word and sending out flyers and newsletters to them. Offer free consultations and seminars to get people to know your services.

4. Be Indispensable
Getting a certification is not a guarantee that you’ll get clients or, even keep those clients. To advance your skills, consider joining a national organization, such as IDEA Health & Fitness (www.ideafit.com/) to go to personal trainer workshops and seminars.

5. Options
You don’t have to work in a gym or even work for yourself. Personal trainers work in all kinds of different areas. If you are looking for something a little different, try these jobs as a personal trainer: corporate fitness, cruises, resorts, spas, online training and more.

Look Down For Dough

This may not be a good business for the weary. Offer a service where you drive to people’s homes to cut their toenails. This could be a welcome service for the elderly and disabled. You can charge $20 per cutting and will obviously need toenail cutting equipment, such as clippers, files, sterilizers, etc.

Unfortunately, many people need help with this regular task. If this is something that you have no problem performing, it is the ‘business idea’ for you. Offer a service where you drive to people’s private homes to cut their toenails on a regular basis. Each time you visit, make sure that you schedule an appointment to return, this will assure you of a regular business routine.

Once the word gets out that you are providing this service for people, they will be calling to schedule a visit of their own. Make sure that you tell all of your customers that you will give them a free visit, discount, or something for every person that they refer to you. (This is one of the best forms of advertising you can use.) Since this will cost you some profits at first, make sure that you document each time that you give an incentive to your customers, because you should be able to declare this as your form of advertising also.

With a business like this, it is very important that you know what you are doing. Be sure, learn all that you can about providing a service like this, and see what type of license your area may require to perform this service on others. This is important for your own safety and the safety of your customers.

You will need to invest in various types of tools and equipment, such as clippers, scissors, files, sterilizers, etc. You can even offer to provide a footbath before you take care of their nails for an added fee. If it makes the job easier for you, throw it in free of charge. What ever works best for you? Make sure that you always keep your tools clean and sterilized and assure your customers of your insistence on this.

You should be able to charge about $20 per cutting visit. If you live in an area that may require more travel to your customers homes, you may need to ask for more, this is something that you can determine on your own. A reliable vehicle, that is easy on gas and yet able to get you to your customers with your tools is all that is required. Small attachable advertising of your services on the vehicle is a good idea for advertising too.

This type of service will most likely appeal to the elderly and disabled. Since you know this, make sure that you find local neighborhoods that have large populations of elderly and disabled people, make this your target market for advertising. Print up flyers and mail to prospective customers or try to post your information in places that the elderly may frequent.

Helpful Resources:

www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/index.html

www.caring.com/community/groups/caring-central/discussions/pedicures-for-the-elderly

hooked-on-nails.com/naturalnailcare.html

Profit From The 5 Tibetan Rites Of Rejuvenation

Everyone strives to look and feel younger. The Five Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation are a specific set of exercise that will make anyone feel healthier, more flexible, stronger, and have better stamina. Offer classes and informational products to teach people this beneficial type of exercise.

If you are skilled in this type of exercise, this would be an excellent ‘business idea’ to pursue. Offer classes and informational products to teach people this type of exercise.
Teach people that want to learn how to take advantage of the program for their own health benefits. Your students will already be motivated to learn from you once they find out the benefits.

You may need to invest in advertising at first, let people know that you are able to teach them to find health benefits from learning these exercises in your classes, or individual training sessions. Once people start seeing changes in your students’ health and stamina they will start asking how they have made the changes.

Check your local area to see what the cost of other exercise programs are there. You should be able to charge the average fee charged by other types of exercise instructors in your area. Once you are established and have many students you will be able to start charging more for your services.

Check with local schools, community centers, and malls to see if you can teach and offer your classes there. You will have to give part of your profits to them for the use of their areas. You should still be able to make a sizeable amount of money.

If you choose to teach people in their own homes or offices, you will be able to charge more per person, because you will be traveling and bringing your services to them. You can also offer to teach small classes with people in their homes. Give the host a discount for using their home as the place to meet together for the exercise programs.

When your students start feeling better from the exercises, they will share their reasons with others that will also be interested. This will help you to gain more students for your classes. Encourage them to give your information to others. Advertising by word of mouth is always one of the best forms of advertising.

It is important to have business cards with your contact information on them and brochures about this specific form of exercise program, and its benefits. You also want to include your options of class sizes and fees charged for them. If there are books that you would like your students to read also, try to make them easily available to them. To make more money on these exercise programs you may want to write your own book and make it available to your students.

At first when you are looking for students, you may also offer your classes to large companies, offering to teach classes to their employees, within the building they work in. Stress the health benefits offered to those that attend the classes. The company may choose to foot the bill and offer the space for classes in their building.

Resources:

www.mkprojects.com/

www.lifeevents.org/

www.t5t.com www.t5t.com/

www.youcreate.com/speaking.htm