PropaneBusiness

31/05/2019

Hey, we're Jonny & Yusef, welcome to this page.

Chances are if you're landing here, you've come from one of our ads - looking to see what we're about.

Together we co-founded and run PropaneFitness.com in 2009 - our online fitness business.

We’re both former Economics & Maths graduates who started our adult lives working long 60+ hour weeks for large financial corporations.

During this time we realised that the corporate life wasn’t for us and we set out to build a business in an industry we were passionate about.

Eventually, PropaneFitness allowed us to quit the 9-5 life and coach online full time and we both now enjoy the financial and time freedom the business allows.

Since then we've also been helping other personal trainers both online and offline with the skills we've learned building and growing an online business through PropaneBusiness.

If you're a PT, nutritionist, coach or gym owner then we have a free online training that walks through behind the scenes of PropaneFitness if you'd like to apply what we're doing to your journey.

Comment "coach" below and we'll send you a link.

31/05/2019

01/01/2018

There's a test that I like to do every quarter that one of our previous mentors taught us.

Depending on how things are going for you, its either rewarding or painful.

1. Choose a key metric to measure in your business between 1st Jan 2017 and 31st December 2017.

It can be revenue, number of clients, page likes...whatever.

2. That will be the number that (at most) you'll achieve in the next 12 months if nothing changes.

If things are on track...probably feels pretty good?

If not...maybe a bit painful?

I know what you're thinking, why "at most"?

Well, the industry is getting more competitive by the day.

There's more online competition than there's ever been.

Ad costs are on the rise.

Technology, apps and AI will soon be replacing our services as coaches for less than the price of a Netflix subscription.

So, unless you have plans to adapt and do something different in 2018, it'll be harder to simply maintain your previous level of income and clients.

Simple, a bit brutal...but true!

So, the lesson is this:

If you're really serious about making a success out of online coaching over the next year, you need to have a plan and a road map of what you're going to do differently over the next 12 months.

Want help with that?

Every week, we're going to be offering 1 space for a 1 hour business consultation with us.

Why only one?

Simple, this isn't our primary offering the majority of our time in PropaneBusiness will always be towards our business students and building the PropaneBusiness program.

However, we understand that not everyone is able to afford to invest in coaching just now.

In the 1 hour consultation we will:
> Get clear on where you're at and what you need to work on.

> Map out a plan and path for the next 12 months.

> Establish your unique angle, marketing message and appropriate business model.

> Identify the "big 3" tasks for you to work on and complete over the next 90 days.

Click here to book with one of us.

http://bit.ly/2B1z0rG

Jonny

22/12/2017

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06/12/2017

It took us nearly 7 years of trial, error and failed attempts to make over six figures of revenue in our online fitness business.

(That's not per year, that's six figures over the 7 years IN TOTAL)
..not quite the story you typically see on your newsfeed?

Register for our free training here - http://bit.ly/2yK6EER

I'm not here to insult your intelligence by telling you that anyone can scale and online coaching company to "Six figures in 6 weeks".

In fact, there's a big difference between a "one-off" and scalable, ethical company built on systems and sustainable practices.

The reality, getting to this stage was tough! I won't pretend that it wasn't.

However, over the past 2 we've been above to 3x the key numbers in our business, tripling our client and revenue base.

So, what did we change?

We started out following the conventional industry advice of writing blogs, guest posts, constant social media status updates and cold calling leads.

It worked a BIT...but it required literally all our time and left us with the choice of sleep or business growth.

Once we cracked two key concepts, things really started to change for us:

1. Local area "online domination"

2. Systematised marketing and delivery

Along the journey, we've invested over 5 figures into learning, experimentation, and coaching to refine our approach into a repeatable strategy that can (with a bit of work) be applied by anyone willing to apply themselves.

We'd love to show you what we did to grow our business while working full time in other industries and how you can apply it too.

Register for our free training here - http://bit.ly/2yK6EER
Jonny & Yusef

06/12/2017

December is always an interesting month for me.

Not because I get a different shaped chocolate in my advent calendar every day...
..although that is pretty exciting.

More because it serves as a bit of a checkpoint for how we're progressing.

In a few weeks, we'll start to see posts crop up about goal setting and how we should all be planning to "crush" 2018...whatever that even means.

I've recently changed the way I view goal setting, especially when it comes to business stuff.

See, a lot of people seem to feel that by setting outcome based goals, that are "SMART", they'll somehow make them happen.

So we start to see a flurry of goals for:
> Revenue
> Number of clients
> Hosting seminars and webinars
> Quitting the 9 to 5
> Starting an online business

And then a few vague actions required to reach that point.

Here's the thing.

The point you're at right now is the result of your weekly and daily actions, what you do on a regular basis.

If you're looking back on a successful year of business growth, chances are you can tie that back to some things you did consistently?

It never comes down to one or two events, it's a process and a series of steps.

The issue most of us face is that we have a huge desire for a goal, we just don't know where to get started.

Apply that energy to a set of daily tasks that will take you there. Focus on the PROCESS and the result and outcome will follow.

Not sure what those tasks and path look like?

Unsure where to even begin?

Check out our free training: http://bit.ly/2yK6EER

05/12/2017

I heard something the other day that, initially, seemed totally bizarre.

In fact, I thought it was a joke.

However, after a little bit of googling and reading it seems like there is some credence to the theory.

It is said that the colour blue (specifically, blue clothes) can increase the number of sales a shop/business makes.

^ Hard to believe, right?

Supposedly, blue communicates a sense of calm professionalism and commitment.

Grey, brown and other colours by contrast often suggest "traditional" and "stable".

Now, don't this twisted, I'm not going all hippy and guru on you.

However, it did remind me of something.

Whether we're talking suit colours, logos, facial expressions or general appearance...we all subconsciously judge based on what we see.

Be it on purpose or not, visual stimulus can frame how we feel and think about something.

When it comes to online business I think this is easy to forget.

After all, there's no shop front, no shelves and no displays...but that doesn't meant this stuff doesn't matter.

In fact, it matters MORE.

Once someone walks into a physical location, there's a few chances to win their trust.

Maybe they're greeted well.
Maybe the staff are better than average.
Maybe everything is neatly arranged.

There's a lot that can be done to overcome an initial bad impression.

However, online you live and die on the first impression.

So, whether you're currently running an online business or its something your considering moving into, you need all of your "ducks in a row" when it comes to what the website and branding looks like.

We actually cover branding and why it's critical in your business success...just not in the way you think...in our free webinar.

You can watch it here: http://bit.ly/2yK6EER

Jonny

27/09/2017

There's a famous saying "find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life".

While I don't agree with it in its entirety (obviously, work you love is still...well...work) there is a clear message that is worth paying attention to.

I used to work for a large accountancy firm and up to recently, my entire life was structured around reaching this point.

GCSEs
A Levels
Degree
Work experience

All so that I could get the job I eventually landed.

After all this time, you know what I realised?

I spent my morning commute.
My evening commute.
Ever lunch break.
Weekends.
Free time.

Learning about fitness, coaching and online marketing.

I didn't get paid a penny for it and at the time and I never planned to but I still stayed up late, excited to learn more.

I slowly realised that I would always be outplayed by those who spent their spare time learning to actually become a better accountant.

By those who were PASSIONATE about it.

Now that I work in PropaneFitness full time, I definitely, DEFINITELY have days where I work.

And I have days where I work twice the hours I used to.

The thing is, it doesn't bother me even 1/2 as much purely because I am actually passionate about what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.

This isn't intended as a fluffy motivational post.

I haven't gone all on you.

However, you may read this and think "ah, it's OK for you mate"

Maybe it's a bit of a trigger for you?

How do I know?

It used to be for me.

I used to get angry reading about others coaching full time, annoyed that I didn't have the guts to make it a reality for myself.

So many people we speak to are DABBLING in online coaching.

They love the idea of it and are really passionate about the industry.

But they can't bring themselves to go all in with it.

There are two things for sure as far as I see it:

1. If you don't go all in with it, it will never work.

2. If you do give it your all and you're passionate about it, you can trust that you'll at least put in enough work to get by.

Maybe all you need is a nudge in the right direction.

If so, book in a time to speak to us and we'll see whether we can help you:
http://bit.ly/2xs0UON

Jonny

26/09/2017

I’ve lately been reading more and more about the Pomodoro Technique, you’ve maybe heard of it?

If not, it's a productivity system that involves 25 minutes of work followed by 5 minutes of rest.

Pretty simple, right?

At least, that version is.

I’ve actually been reading the original book lately and I’ve realised that there’s a WHOLE other level to this system that makes it incredibly complete.

Essentially, every day, you track:

- How many Pomodoros you think a task will take
- How many it ACTUALLY takes
- How many times you got distracted
- A log of what the distracting thing was
- How many tasks you completed that day

Every day, you work through tasks doing everything you can to ensure that for each 25-minute chunk you do NOTHING except for that one task.

At the end of the day, you pause and reflect and consider, how can I make tomorrow better.

In other words, this is an end to end system to become better at working. A complete way to ensure you’re using data and numbers to measure how well you’re doing that isn’t just

“Yea, today felt productive”

It becomes:

Today I did X.
It took me Y hours.

Here’s the thing.

Numbers NEVER lie.

Why is the above so effective?

It removes the mental noise that normally clouds reality.

As a business owner, this has obvious application to your productivity.

- What did you do today?
- How long did it take?
- How can you do it better next time?

But it also applies to other areas:
- Marketing
- Sales and revenue
- Client results
- Lead generation and traffic

If I were to ask you about those things you would probably have a vague story about them?

“Yea, we struggle to get leads”

^ that doesn’t help anyone.

Instead, how can you create the situation where this becomes:

This week we had X leads.
We spent Y on advertising.

This is something we explain play by play with our online business clients.

Want some help?

Let's book a time to speak:
http://bit.ly/2xs0UON

On the call we will:

1) Learn more about you, your situation and where you want to get to

2) “Diagnose” your biggest weaknesses, problems and obstacles

3) Provide you a solution and plan to move forward and (only if we can help) explain a little more about how we can help you further.

Jonny Watson

25/09/2017

So the other day I went to see “IT” at the cinema.

In about 30 minutes both me and my girlfriend learned it wasn’t really our cup of tea.

I LOVE horror films but they need to be a bit more grounded in reality for me than shapeshifting demon clowns!

(I’m sure that’s Heresy for you Stephen Kind fans)

Anyway, there’s a reason I love the cinema so much and it may not be what you think.

Boundaries.

Unlike most other ways to spend your spare time, once in the cinema you can’t check your phone, talk or (unless you want to waste your money) leave.

You’re stuck there with one thing to focus on for at least 1.5-2 hours.

When you run your own business (especially an online one) boundaries are hard to come by.

Clients are a swipe of your phone away.

Email inboxes are a constant source of stress and attention theft.

Before we know it, there is no such thing as “free time” and “work time”, there is just “work” and we can only ride this reality for so long.

Thing is, to get to the point to be able to take time off, you need a certain set up within your business.

In fact, you need systems, alarms and course corrections taking place daily, weekly and monthly to allow you to mentally take time TOTALLY OFF.

Trust me, if you fail to set this up, you’ll fail before the business will!

This model is something we give all our Propane Business students and something, if you’re ready, that we can help you with.

Click here to book a free chat with us:
http://bit.ly/2xs0UON

On the call we will:
1) Learn more about you and what you’re working towards.

2) Help you spot errors and shortfalls in your business model (& how to fix them)

3) Offer more help formally if you’re a fit.

PS
Get off your phone!

Jonny Watson

21/09/2017

I bet HMV never expected that Apple would be one of the companies that would damage their business.

A computer company?

Revolutionising music?

Naaaahhhh.

I bet taxi drivers thought that their jobs would be secure and safe forever…apps will never catch on!

I bet TV, film and music producers never expected that you’d be able to get more media than you’ll ever be able to consume, on demand instantly to your phone for under £10/month.

There’s one thing we can rely on with the current state of technology.

Industries we think are safe, won’t be for long.

We see this all the time with PTs not wanting to adapt to the growing online fitness services industry.

It’s convenient to believe that people will always need and want an in person, personal trainer.

The reality?

I’m not so sure.

Businesses and key figures are building online eco-systems that support, manage and nurture clients for £20/month and less.

Clients no longer have to wait until Thursday at 6pm for help and advice, its on demand when they need it.

Clients no longer have to pay £30+/hour to get programs for their diet and training, they can get it within seconds for less than 1/4 of the price.

Here’s the reality.

The fitness industry has changed and it continues to change.

Soon, the barrier to entry into the online world won’t be what it is now, we’ll be contending with market making apps and higher levels of technology that replace us.

Take advantage of this while you can and book in a time to chat with us to see if we can help:

http://bit.ly/2xZxCUi

31/08/2017

POST #1 HERE WE GO!

Who is either an online coach or an aspiring one?

Comment below, let us know who you are and where you're at with your journey.