My BIG news

OK, here it is....

On Monday, August 31, 2009, after 12 years as a Master Instructor for the Spinning Program, I resigned my MI position with Mad Dogg Athletics.

Phew, that was even difficult to write! I can tell you that this past week has been one of the most pivotal and emotional weeks I've experienced in a dozen years (not even counting the stress and emotion of selling a house and moving. Man, put all that emotion in one week and it's been hard not to be overwhelmed).

How do you leave something that has been such an integral part of who you are? How do you leave a program that has been a part of how you define yourself? That has presented opportunities that you never thought possible?

Before I tell you the why and how, let's fade back in time to about 13 years ago...

It was early 1997. I was a personal trainer at the Vail Cascade Club (now the Aria Spa & Club) in Vail, Colorado. I had been teaching Step, Body Sculpting, Ski Conditioning, and this new thing called Spinning. We had recently brought in a Master Instructor from New York for the Spinning certification. I remember thinking "God! What a great job she has! Flying around the country certifying instructors, and she gets to come to Vail, Colorado!" (I can't remember who she was...she wasn't with Mad Dogg for very long apparently).

The day I got certified was a transition point in my life. As a cyclist, it bowled me over like a freight train - I was empowered by the potential, by the magnitude, by the possibilities of Spinning! "WOW! This is IT!" I thought. I discontinued teaching Step because I didn't have to choreograph anymore - I had always been such a perfectionist and spent hours and hours on my choreography. Spinning allowed me to connect with my students far more than dance type classes, and it was based on something I was already so passionate about already - cycling. It also allowed me to use my own music and not canned aerobics music; I immediately found that I had a skill for designing very effective profiles that simulated real outdoor riding combined with music that helped elevate the mood and energy of the class. I was also a ski instructor in Vail, and was able to apply the coaching skills I learned in skiing. As a coach, I love the one-to-one contact with my student.

About 6 months later, I received the Spinning newsletter with a call for presenters. I filled out the application with trepidation, since I had only been teaching Spinning for a short time. But, I had experience teaching and coaching many genres of exercise and sports, I was certified in group fitness and was a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, I had a degree in Exercise Science and loved the physiology aspect of training, I was a cyclist and had experience coaching many clients to ride up big hills in my bicycle tours. I was also experienced at public speaking. But I still had no idea I had a chance; I remember joking with my peers that what on earth would I do if they called me?

A few weeks later I received a call from Joelle at Mad Dogg Athletics for an in-depth interview. That call was truly the beginning to the rest of my life. I fulfilled each of the subsequent requirements one after the other. Back then it was a long process to apply as an MI, including sending in a video of me teaching, and speaking into the camera on why I thought I would be a good presenter.

I was invited to the Spinning Presenter training camp in California shortly afterwards where I spent a week with Johnny G and over a dozen other amazing people from around the world.

(If I don't stop myself now, this post will be waaaaay too long, so let's pop forward a dozen years...at another time I'll tell you more about those amazing days with Johnny G and my phenomenal peers.)

In the past 12 years, I have been inspired by some of the most amazing people, coaches, athletes and instructors that I've worked with or trained. Many of the other Master Instructors I worked with I looked up to as mentors. I have had the opportunity to inspire thousands of people at conferences to go beyond self-perceived limitations and to realize their potential as coaches. I have written several important continuing ed programs and articles for MDA, most which brought the outdoors indoors. I have traveled internationally. I have done trainings at tiny little clubs in the countryside with 10 bikes on up to very large facilities in metropolitan cities with 65 bikes. I've experienced facilities ranging from amazing personalized boutique clubs and studios in the suburbs, to high-tech gyms in corporate fitness or university facilities, to large major chain clubs.

I certainly haven't done it for the money (my husband even jokes that I practically pay for the privilege), but the personal rewards have been countless, endless. Spinning gets into your blood. I LOVE Spinning. I LOVE the mind-body aspect of Spinning. I LOVE the fitness and health it's brought me, and has allowed me to bring to others. I LOVE being a Master Instructor. I LOVE inspiring others. I LOVE the people I've met.

However, in the past several years, I've been approached with several opportunities in indoor cycling that I have had to turn down because of my loyalty to Spinning.

Concurrently, in the past several years I've been attending seminars, reading books and joining coaching programs on entrepreneurship and building a business with the intention of growing my bicycle tour business and potentially creating an online business for bicycle tours in Europe. During this time I was exposed to the wonders of social media such as blogging (hence, this and other blogs I started), Facebook, Twitter, forums, podcasting, and more. It's truly amazing the opportunities that are out there if you look, and if you aren't afraid to learn, explore and grow.

I learned about how to develop a niche market, rather than go for the BIG market. I learned about promotion and PR and internet marketing and eBooks. I even wrote my own eBook which has been very successful and well-received, and I have some big plans for additional ones. It's such an inexpensive learning tool, a great way to reach people with excellent information.

Long story short, I have a deep desire to do something for myself. I also have an MBA from way back when, and perhaps that's been stirring inside me to do something more for myself. It's not just about the money (but a greater income doing my passion will be nice). For me, it's also about self-actualization. It's TIME for me to move on. It's TIME that I at least try some of the things I've been learning about, and take advantage of some of the half-dozen or so opportunities that have been presented to me.

In order to do so, I had to become a "free agent". By taking off the partisan hat I can "reach across the aisle" so to speak and inspire and touch many other instructors as well.

Sooooo, you will not lose me! I just won't be attached to Mad Dogg Athletics and Spinning. But remember, you can take the girl out of Spinning, but you can't take Spinning out of the girl! It's firmly implanted in my heart, in my soul. I hope to leave doors open with Spinning for potential projects in the future, as they continue to grow and lead the industry as they always have, and always will. My plan is to complement the Spinning program.

I have three opportunities that I will be working on immediately (and three others in the next 4-8 months). One of them is so exciting I can't wait to tell you about it! Go here and listen to the podcast about ICI PRO, which will launch soon.

I will be changing the name of this blog soon. I will still be giving you great information, but I'll be spending more time over on the ICI site. You will discover when you listen to the podcast, that there will be a portion of the information that will be on a paid site, so you as an instructor can grow even more and really find that spark of inspiration. This too is a very inexpensive way to reach even more instructors.

I am also hoping to come out to your club to present Master Classes. Please contact me for more information on how I can do that.

Thank you everyone for your comments and emails, and mostly for your patience lately as I focus on my personal life and moving. I am very, very excited for the future, and I look forward to sharing even more with you!

Namasté!

Another Milestone for the FunhogSpins blog! Thanks to you!

Sometime today, Sunday August 16, I surpassed 20,000 downloads! That includes any of the profiles or articles or playlists that I've provided for you guys. I also noticed on Google Analytics that I've been visited by 87 countries! That includes Botswana, Latvia, & Laos!

Wow, it's mind boggling! Indoor cycling truly is EVERYWHERE!

Keep spreading the word! I am so grateful for all of my readers - it inspires me to keep on writing helpful, informative and fun stuff for you guys.

I do have a little teaser for you. I am going to be spreading my efforts a little more over on the indoor cycle instructor podcast, because it is such an amazing medium for providing helpful content to IC instructors. If you haven't yet downloaded the audio profile on Over-Under Intervals that we did a week ago, make sure to do so now. We are thinking it is a new way to help you become the best instructor you can possibly be.

My recommendation is that you go over there and sign up for the ICI podcast newsletter as well as mine. They are just weekly notices about the posts (or podcasts) that are listed so you don't miss anything important. But don't worry, you won't be inundated.

The Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast just celebrated 1 year of providing great content - go over there and wish John Magowan a "Happy Anniversary"! I chatted with John for a short podcast discussing the past year, and some of the great things that are coming in the next year (although some of them are a secret!)

I want to extend a welcome to all my new subscribers. I realized that any new subscribers are still getting my WSSC information from June. You'll enjoy it, but my automated reply email is a little dated. I'll be changing that soon to other free and valuable information - but don't worry, once you are a subscriber to the free newsletter, you'll always also receive anything I give away to new subscribers. And if you haven't subscribed yet, just enter your name and email in the top left corner of this blog.

Thanks to all who have commented on my post on "cycling-specific" classes. It will be about 2 weeks before I am able to write my intended response. For one, I am thinking it will be a series of articles that will take me a little longer to compile. Secondly, I AM GOING TO TORONTO on Thursday! Eeeek! How did it get this close? I have 7 Spinning sessions that I have to work on and develop playlists for, so I will be a little bit pre-occupied this coming week. But look out for updates just before I go.

It should be a very fun conference. I'll be joining three other very fun Spinning Master Instructors - all women - getting together leading a total of 28 Spinning sessions at Can Fit Pro! (And I think we'll go out on the town at least on a few evenings - how can it not be fun?!"

And I'm also very interested to meet Dan McDonogh of RPM. He was just at IDEA presenting this past weekend and will be in Toronto at CFP next weekend. He and I have been chatting back and forth on Twitter and are planning on peeking in on each other's sessions this weekend. Now, the Les Mills RPM method is not really my personal preference for teaching an IC class, but I am open minded and can't wait to see what Dan does that makes him so popular at conferences. When you think about it, we are all after the same goal - to inspire our students to get fit, help them meet their goals (be it performance, weight loss, etc), have a lot of fun and to come back as often as possible. Because he is a cyclist first and foremost, I know Dan has the same interests as me - to keep his classes as cycling specific as possible while meeting the needs of our non-cycling students as well.

See you soon!

40,000 views! Wow, I'm honored!

Wow, it blows me away that this blog has been viewed more than 40,000 times - it just broke that barrier sometime yesterday (and I didn't even start that counter until about the 3rd month, but back then I was lucky to get 50 views a week)! I know that 40K is not that big a number in the blogosphere but it's big to me, especially when I never thought this blog would turn into what it has.

The number of followers on the left have also increased a lot this past month - 110 as of today! Thank you to everyone who is "following" me!

I just want you to know I am so grateful for each and every one of you who visit my blog, download my profiles, leave a comments and share this with your friends. I think about it almost daily, what to post next, what fun thing I can share from my class that morning, etc. Lack of income and the need to put my resources (i.e. time) elsewhere for the moment are precluding me from posting as much as I want, but never fear - I'll be back!

And WSSC is only 6 weeks away, so I'll be posting a lot about my sessions and my experience there, and leading up to it.

You can also check out my other blog, where I am posting my weekly training for the Giretto that I'll be participating in in May.

Blogs, Facebook, Podcasts, Twitter...what next??!!

For me, this year has been an amazing transformation into the world of Web 2.0, the new generation of cyber communication.  The rules of communication, marketing, and promotion have drastically changed in the last two years. If you're not doing these things, and you own a business, then you'll get caught behind your competitors who do start to use it.

Take blogs for example.  They are such a fantastic way to get news and information, aren't they? But how many of us were following blogs a year or two ago? Now they are ubiquitous, and growing every day!

About a year ago, after joining an entrepreneurial coaching community and learning about all this stuff there,  I started my first two blogs,

http://cyclingeurope.wordpress.com

http://reachyourpeak.wordpress.com (I've since stopped updating this one - but there's still some good info on there to read. I love the subject...but I gotta draw the line somewhere!!)

And then last April, I created this Funhogspins blog, which I sometimes have a hard time staying away from, I enjoy it so much! If there's a longer period without posts, it's because I'm overwhelmed with the other stuff I am doing and forcing myself to stay away. I am still hoping to transfer it soon to another domain name where I can self-host it. It's taking longer than expected (because I'm still in the learning stages...)

Then came Facebook. 

Everything I was hearing about the new social media and entrepreneur necessities pointed towards Facebook. At first it was just a pain to maintain...but now it's a great place to promote my bike tours as well as my ebook, and potentially other things in the future. But more than anything it's been an amazing way to reconnect with old friends, and to connect with like-minded people. It's mind-boggling how you can find people, and how you come across people who knows someone who you know. It truly is six-degrees of separation. And just today I started adding my nieces and nephews as friends! Now I'll know more about what they're doing than their own parents...

Will you be my "friend"?! Join me on Facebook!  Leave a little message that you saw me here...

I also joined LinkedIn, a more professional social networking site. (Join me there too - search for Jennifer Sage)

Then I got connected with the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast, and John has had me on numerous times as a guest host. If you haven't had a chance to listen to my podcast, check it out here. (The subject is the Cadence workshop that I created for the Spinning program and how to use resistance and cadence properly in your indoor cycling classes).  John says it has been the most popular one of all his podcasts! I'm flattered and simply stunned at how this new technology is just taking over my life! Heck, a little over a year ago, I didn't know what a podcast was!

Then I was interviewed on a cycling podcast which was great fun and great promotion. (Note: it's a long podcast - my interview doesn't appear until about 43 minutes into it).  I am hoping to get the Fredcast to interview me in the next week or two for my ebook, Keep it Real!

But it hasn't stopped there! This week it's been Twitter - I'm now learning how to "tweet". In fact, my "tweets" are now on my blog, down there on the left side! The potential for attracting customers on Twitter is mind-boggling, just mind-boggling. I have been building a collection of followers, most of whom are cyclists and indoor cyclists, each of whom have anywhere from 50 - 6,000 followers (or more, like Lance Armstrong), all of whom can potentially see my tweets. If it's something they're interested in, they'll click to get more info, then find my website or blog.  Can you just envision the potential impact that can have?

I did a "tweet" yesterday saying that if you found training on a trainer indoors boring, then check out www.keepitirealebook.com...  And within a few hours I had a bunch of new sales. Wow! This stuff works! 

Please join me at www.twitter.com/vivavelo. Either search for Jennifer Sage or Vivavelo. If you "follow" me I'll "follow" you!

Just one word of warning: Twitter can get addicting, so watch out.  

Blogging lesson for the Peanut Gallery

Web 2.0 is upon us faster and more furious than you can imagine. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then suffice it to say it's the next generation of the internet, and it's here and now and its BIG. The proliferation of social networking (like Facebook, MySpace), blogs, ebooks and podcasts and the use of video on the internet is all a part of it. Even the term 'viral' (how fast things spread on the internet) is a part of Web 2.0. 

(Speaking of Facebook, if you haven't already done so, come be my "friend")!

I joined this internet "revolution" this year with three blogs (but I only really maintain two now), several social networking pages, and an eBook on the way. And today I was interviewed by an indoor cycling podcast for an upcoming issue (more on that soon so you can listen to it when it's completed). And yes, I have lofty goals with my blogs.

For my cycling in Europe blog, the goal is to drive traffic to my bike tour website. This indoor cycling blog also partially serves that same purpose and I've gotten quite a few inquiries from readers around the world, which is pretty cool.  :-) 

My goal for Funhogspins is to be the #1 blog on the internet for indoor cycling. And that means having a high ranking with Google and Yahoo. A big goal, and you can help me out if you're willing.

But it seems I need to teach you guys, my readers, how to help me out...

One word: comment, comment, comment! 

I have to admit, getting you guys to leave comments is like pulling teeth! I don't think it's because you're not interested in the content, but perhaps you either don't know how, or don't realize the significance, or think it's more time consuming than it is. I get plenty of emails from people who love what they're reading, and for that I'm very grateful. But if it's not too much trouble, please leave a comment as well.

Why? There are many reasons: to get feedback from a wide-variety of instructors, to ask questions and so I can answer them and so everyone can benefit from them, to get your input, to find out if the content makes sense or is helpful or isn't helpful, to tell others about your experiences (as in my Moving Mountains ride), approval, disapproval, suggesting content, etc. And some people have left me great music suggestions, which helps you all out too.

But there's another reason. It's so you can help me with my SEO.

No, that's not an STD. It means Search Engine Optimization, and basically it means making it so Google and Yahoo and other search engines find my blog first, and so I end up in the top 3 when someone does a search (on say, 'Spinning profiles' or 'indoor cycling'). With good SEO, blogs often show up with a higher ranking than many websites. The search engines index all the material on the web, and rank the most 'optimized' ones at the top of the page. There are many ways to improve SEO, which I'm still learning about, things such as keywords in post titles, tags, repeating the post title in the text body, underlining and bolding, video, pings, linkbacks, etc. 

But the best way is to have lots of new content (which means posting often) and to have lots of comments. You see, Google looks at comments as new content, so the more the better.

Heck, some of the political blogs get many hundreds of comments! I look at other blogs, like Fatcyclist and BikesnobNYC and they get dozens, sometimes even a hundred comments per post. Now, I know I shouldn't compare myself to the two top cycling blogs on the internet...I have a long way to go (and besides, theirs aren't really "how to" blogs). But, I wonder - they had humble beginnings at one point. Did they have to teach their readers how to comment? I betcha they did in some way. 

So, if you like something I posted, if it helped you out, if it confuses you and you need clarification, or even if you just want to say "cool!", any comment is appreciated.  It doesn't have to be long. And disagreeing with me is ok too. Though all comments are moderated, I welcome difference of opinions. (Mean things I'll delete if it ever got to that point, because it's my prerogative, but dissension is fine. Here, BikesnobNYC talks about people who have left mean comments on his blog).

Another interesting thing about search engines and blogs is that each post is like its own URL. It's called a "permalink". If you click on the title of the post, the permalink will appear in your browser as its own web page, and then you can send that particular link to someone, even if it was written years ago. This also means that any comment on any post, no matter when it was written, will help with that page's SEO. For example, if someone types in "Strength Profile", my profiles tagged with Strength Profile that have lots of comments are more likely to get a high ranking. So if you go back, and find a profile you like that I posted months ago, feel free to leave a comment. I'll still see it, and so will anyone looking at that profile.

One last thing. Links also a very helpful for improving SEO. Do you have a blog or a webpage? If so, is there anyway to post a link on your site? If it's applicable of course - if your blog is about gardening or cooking, it may not be applicable (although profiles are like recipes, n'est ce pas)? If you have a blog that's mostly about IDC, I'd be happy to post a link here.

So, you can help me out by being a noisy, chatty peanut gallery and help me become 'viral'! 

Just don't throw tomatoes...