Do you need a reason to Quench Your Soul?


Do you need a reason to Quench Your Soul?

Group of young men and women in bar, sharing pizzaThree reasons I love a nice dinner with friends:

#1…. One hour with the phone turned off.

#2…. The conversations are irreplaceable even though the stories might be tried and true.

#3…. After all these years, there are few people in my life I would rather spend time with than a small group of old friends.

Call an old friend and go to dinner. The quiet nights of a nice dinner might be just what you need to quench the soul.

https://ferretbrothersmarketing.com

So where is your favorite place to escape?

So where is your favorite place to escape?

We sometimes escape in a good book or we sometimes escape with a walk on the beach, but every now and then we have to run away and hide in that favorite place where people care that we are there.

You should have a place that you go to when trying to impress, and there is always that other place you go to forget all the baggage in life. Good friends, good conversation and a small intimate place that is just right for you.

Don’t you deserve someplace that is just all about you? If you set aside an hour or two a week just for you to regroup, relax, and escape would you even notice that lost time at the end of your week?

We say to ourselves that we just can’t spare the time but if you were forced to take that time and then you looked back at your week, would you even notice it… would anything less get done? If something small didn’t get done, would it really matter?

Maybe try it this week and then look back at the end of the week and see.

https://www.ferretbrothersmarketing.com

Thomas Jefferson’s salary was $25,000 per year

Thomas Jefferson’s salary was $25,000 per year($462,000 in today’s dollars) – a huge sum at the time, but his expenses were also great. In 1801 Jefferson spent $6,500 for provisions and groceries, $2,700 for servants, $500 for his assistant’s salary, and $3,000 for wine.

It sounds a lot like the politicians of today doesn’t it? I’m not judging or trying to paint a negative picture of our former President. After all, he did great things for the country and I’m sure he was a stand-up guy and please don’t forget that he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase from France for 3 cents an acre that led to the formation of our great state!

All I’m saying is that some things haven’t changed over the years as much as we thought.

Mr. Jefferson, we have a Louisiana snoball for you and maybe a couple t-shirts that you might like.

https://www.ferretbrothersmarketing.com

These may not be true, but I like to believe them anyways

These may not be true, but I like to believe them anyways:

1. When you eat and drink the good stuff, your friends who stayed at home will gain the weight.

2. The “more you drink the better I look” has limits and there is always the reality of tomorrow morning.

3. All kids are funnier when they wear goofy sun glasses.

4. A good dinner and glass of wine heals almost all minor domestic disputes.

5. If your teenagers are driving you insane, order a pizza and take your significant out to dinner.

6. Soft lights and candles make almost food taste much better as well as making you look younger too.

7. If your day absolutely was miserable, it is the state law that you must order dessert.

https://ferretbrothersmarketing.com

Are you Neglecting Yourself?

The busier you get, the more you neglect the most important person in your life… you. Quiet time is a lost art. Remember how it works? You call someone you care about, or even go alone, and spend an hour sitting somewhere quietly with the phone off, perhaps a book or notebook, and spend time chatting or writing about the the things worth remembering in life.

This was much easier back in the day when the world ran at a slower place and no one could dream of being connected every second of every day.

Quiet time is healing time, reflection time, you time and there is no better way to get energized for life than simply ignoring the outside world for an hour or two.

https://www.ferretbrothersmarketing.com

I believe food is life and life is food

I believe food is life and life is food. I believe a meal is meant to be enjoyed slowly with friends, along with a glass of good wine or a cold beer. I also believe that the quality of the food is more important than the quantity.

Sharing a meal dates back to the beginning of the human race and was always an intimate eating experience surrounded by people who work hard to make you feel you belong there whether its family, friends, tribe, or culture.

We live in a time where we are constantly in a rush between obligations and choices, hectic jobs, shuttling kids to their activities and moving too fast from the place you’re in to the place that you were supposed to be 2 minutes ago.

Take a moment this weekend and slowly enjoy a nice meal with someone you care about. Smile a bit more than you have been, laugh a bit more than you have been, eat a little slower than you have been, and reflect a little longer than you have been.

https://ferretbrothersmarketing.com

Take a moment this weekend

I believe food is life and life is food. I believe a meal is meant to be enjoyed slowly with friends, along with a glass of good wine or a cold beer. I also believe that the quality of the food is more important than the quantity.

Sharing a meal dates back to the beginning of the human race and was always an intimate eating experience surrounded by people who work hard to make you feel you belong there whether its family, friends, tribe, or culture.

We live in a time where we are constantly in a rush between obligations and choices, hectic jobs, shuttling kids to their activities and moving too fast from the place you’re in to the place that you were supposed to be 2 minutes ago.

Take a moment this weekend and slowly enjoy a nice meal with someone you care about. Smile a bit more than you have been, laugh a bit more than you have been, eat a little slower than you have been, and reflect a little longer than you have been.

https://ferretbrothersmarketing.com

Update of the New Year’s Rush

Well, as it turns out it looks like I was correct about the beginning of the rush. 83% of our clubs saw the rush start about the third week of January whether they marketed or not. The ones that dropped their direct mail in the last week of December to hit mailboxes in the first week of January were generally disappointed with the results. The clubs that dropped in the second or third week were extremely happy overall.

A couple of side notes this year that seemed to be a little new. February overall seemed to be a much better month this year than the previous few years and the clubs that marketed this year got a better response than they did last year. The clubs that didn’t market saw more traffic this year than last which is a nice indicator for our industry.

They strange thing this year was that the surge seemed to be much shorter than in the past. Over the years we have seen the surge go through Jan. and Feb. and then a little of March. This year we saw the end of Jan., a great Feb., and then no March. So it seems that even though Feb. was a better month, for some reason it didn’t continue beyond that. Why was this window so short this year?

The New Year’s Resolution Rush

Well, this is the time… the time all health clubs look forward to.

Its time for our peak season, the time when a whole gaggle of people jump on the New Year’s Resolution band wagon, flock to the gym and say, “This is the year. This is the year that I will lose all this weight!”

Hopefully they do jump on the bandwagon and join a gym, and hopefully they jump flockin’ hard!

This is the best time of year for the health club industry, best time to market, best time to sell memberships, and the best time to get referrals.

But, when does this time start?

For years we saw the New Year’s rush immediately after the first of the year. Over the last few years we have seen that rush begin later and later. Some years we have seen the rush start two weeks after New Years… even three weeks.

For the past couple of years we have been telling our clients to drop their direct mail in the second week, not the day after New Years and most have followed that advice.

This year, however, we had a lot of clients plan to drop immediately after the first and a bunch even wanted to drop right before New Years and almost none of them followed my thought process at all.

The reason that I am writing this today is that I belong to two gyms. One, a 24-hr un-staffed gym and the other, a traditional full-service gym. This week I saw the rush in both clubs. I train in the morning every day and see the same faces, This was the first week that I saw a bunch of new faces in both clubs… and I mean a bunch.

So, I thought I would start asking random people why they decided to join this week. I received two answers consistently;

1. I had to recover financially from the holidays before I could join the club; and

2. I had to recover emotionally from the holidays before I could get started.

Now, I understand that this was not an overwhelming sample of people but I feel like I spoke to enough people this week to get a general consensus of the overall population.

These people didn’t know that the clubs were offering a Zero enrollment special(one was also offering their first month free) which would have helped the financial crunch.

They also didn’t know that a “Jump Start Program” was being offered at one of them that included a package to get someone started, including guidance, personal training, nutrition guidance, and some free Massages and a facial. That might have helped with the emotional recovery.

Two thoughts came to my mind this week.

One club didn’t do any direct mail to get their message out to the community. How are people supposed to know that we can overcome their two biggest obstacles if we don’t tell them?

The other did a huge direct mail campaign and didn’t mention either of these things in it.

The card is sitting on my desk right now. I got the post card in the mail at home(They didn’t use us. In fact, neither club knows who I am. I can’t ever get a workout in, if they know what I do for a living so I keep it incognito. 😉

The post card is basically a name-recognition piece. Here’s who we are, here’s where we are at, come see us… if you ever get around to it.

Waste of time, waste of money.

So, back to the original question, When does this time start?

So far it looks like its starting now in the first week of February. I have heard that a few times this week from our clients. This is later than ever. I am curious to find out how those mailings did that dropped before New Years and the ones that dropped immediately after.

I will keep you posted.