As a way to help boost your bootcamp business in a supportive and helpful way I am going to start giving you some homework assignments/challenges to do. Of course, I will be joining in and participating in these too.
The first assignment is designed to do two things that will help any business, increase our contact list and improve the awareness of our business in our local community.
I am of course talking about Charity Bootcamps.
What are Charity Bootcamps?
Charity bootcamps are kind of like a mini fun run. You run a special bootcamp event for which all proceeds of go towards a charity. You put in the time and effort to promote the event and in return you meet a heap of new people, become a community legend and get that warm fuzzy feeling from doing something good.
How do I run one?
I’ve never run a charity bootcamp so I called my friend Jose who has done several charity events with Zumba and he gave me a run down of exactlywhat he does leading up to an event.
I’m sharing this with you below, however, this is just a guide, you may choose to do things differently. The main thing is that you go out and do this.
Step One
Choose your charity. Something that is running an event at the moment already can be great to tag onto.
Here are some websites that list awareness days and weeks:
- USA awareness weeks and days
- Australian national charity days
- British calender of awareness days and events
Step Two
Create your event
- How long will it be? Make it longer then a normal bootcamp workout, this should be a challenge.
- Will you supply food? A BBQ or even fruit platters will go a long way after the workout.
- What else? A door prize of donated gifts works awesome.
- Where will it be? You will need a location to handle all of these extra clients. Primary school gyms are the cheapest and will often donate their space if you tell them it is for a charity event. If you keep it outdoors make sure you check with the council and see if you can get access to special areas and facilities.
Once you have decided all of this, get graphic designing client to whip up a cool flyer for you.
Step Three
Reach out
- Contact other trainers you know, have them come guide a portion of the workout and of course invite their clients along.
- Approach local businesses, ask them if they would be willing to donate money or a prize. Small beauty/health business work best (eg. Your hairdresser, masseuse, cafes, etc)
- Hit up your Facebook, both your business page and your personal account. Keep reminding them leading up to the event. Build that excitement.
- Email list. Duh.
- If this is for a current event, make sure you set up an online donation page.
- Use your network of clients, no doubt some of them are business owners. Ask them to donate something or put up a flyer or at least tell their staff about it.
Step Four
Plan out your workout. Keep it super simple as you will have a lot of newbies. Use lots of team based, competitive drills. Try to avoid stop watches. If you are having guest trainers, have them plan a 15 or 20 minute portion of the workout.
Step Five
Day Of
- Set up a sign in sheet to capture all of the attendees contact details. While the charity is the main purpose of the event, you are also wanting to grow your list and your businesses reputation.
- Ask the attendees to simply donate whatever they are comfortable with.
- Sell raffle tickets at the door for the prizes. Offer clients a chance to grab them at the half time break too and then announce the winners at the end.
- Arrange food if you are having any. Spouses come in very handy for this.
Step Six
Follow up
- Be sure to follow up the event through your media channels with how much your raised and a big thank you.
- If you can get them to click through to your site, all the better.
That’s it, easy as pie.
So who is with me?
You have 3 months (mostly because weather is terrible in Australia at the moment) to complete this homework challenge. I want to hear amounts raised and how things went by September 30th 2012.
You can ask questions, find other local trainers to team up with and update us on your progress in the new Homework Assignments forum on the community boards.
Commit to the challenge by adding a comment below or on Facebook.
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Kyle Wood created Bootcamp Ideas in 2010 when he was hunting around on the internet for workout ideas. He ran a successful bootcamp in Victoria, Australia and spends his spare time managing this site, adventuring (or lazying) with his wife and find new ways to make bootcamps even better.
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