New game show? Nope, it’s the critical biz question you have to ask yourself. The fear of cutting out potential clients causes Trainers to say, “I can train anyone”. Maybe you can, BUT, when you say I can train anyone you’re also saying that you specialize in nothing. If someone has a special need (and everyone believes they do) they want someone that is exceptional in that area to help them. They will look for specialists, not generalists and you will get left out in the cold. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t train others, but you want to lay claim to only specializing in a couple of things at most.

In example, I have been a Personal Trainer for 30 years. I have certifications in many different areas. I CAN train people for almost any need. My claimed specialty niches are Post-Rehab Conditioning and Brain Fitness. I have had weight loss listed as a specialty and I’m going to even drop that because, let’s face it, what Trainer doesn’t say they’re a weight loss specialist. So, nobody is special.

Thinking that you are losing business because you name a specialty couldn’t be further from the truth. You are, in fact, giving people a reason to choose (and refer) you above others. So go on and Name Your Niche!

Routine can be a great thing, or it can cause your brain to deteriorate.

In fitness, creating a routine of exercising regularly is great, but, if that exercise routine is… well… routine (same thing over and over again) results stop and benefits diminish. Your exercise program needs to change regularly to promote continued progress.

The same is true with brain fitness. If you do the same thing day in and day out, have the same experiences everyday with little or no variation, you set yourself up for a loss in memory capacity and a decline in cognitiveabilities. Do you know anyone where this is the case. As parents and loved ones get older (us too, for that matter) are they falling into a rut of experiences? Do they talk about and tell the same stories to the same people over and over? Are their physical challenges the same day to day?

What if we could help to jump start their lives again? Get them up and out of their “comfort zone” for a new physical and mental challenge on a regular basis?

In Brain Fitness, according to Lawrence Katz and Manning Rubin, our activities should do one or more of the following:

1. Involve one or more senses in a new context.

2. Involve your full attention.

3. Break your routine in a significant way.

I’ve come up with a couple of ideas to point you in the right direction for ideas of your own:

Learn to Dance - Step class – learn Martial Arts (classes in which you have to learn and remember changing physical patterns)

Take a cooking class (even better if you can learn a language at the same time. i.e. Italian)

Take a walking tour/lecture at a museum

Etc… the idea, in essence, is to layer the learning, physical and mental.

So what can you come up with? I’d love to hear your ideas. Now go out and share a new brain fitness experience with others. Give them something new to talk and think about and get them wanting more.

Best wishes, Mark