Fit Girl in a Virtual World
If you follow me on social media, look at my fancy photos, see the cheesy grin on my face, comment on my flashy activewear… it may seem like I’m TOTALLY killing this whole “internet fitness” thing. That’s kind of my thing. Looking like I’ve got it all together. Here’s the real deal though.
It. Is. Hard.
Truth is, I don’t always have it together. If you take classes with me, maybe you’ve seen it in action. Forgetting choreography, saying something awkward, mixing up my tracks, I’ve done it all. And I post a lot about dealing with failures and growing from them and all of the hard things being “part of the process”. That IS true and it makes for a juicy instagram post, but you know what’s not fun? Dealing with a failure in the moment. It sucks.
Yesterday, I questioned my whole fitness journey, wondered if I had made so much progress just to ultimately fail and if I had wasted YEARS working towards something that I wasn’t actually good at. To you; an outside viewer; how incredibly CRAZY does that sound? If you have ever felt this way about anything that you are pouring your life into, I’ve got a message for you right now. This aforementioned kind of response is LITERALLY all in your head.
Unfortunately we live in a world where self preservation, reputation and what others think come first. I can teach a pretty awesome class only to catch myself later in the day wondering why that ONE student didn’t crack a smile at my jokes and beating myself up for being “too weird” or “unprofessional”. I am a people pleaser. I want EVERYONE to like me, I want to make everything easy for others and I want to do all the things right all the time. This was the same outlook I had for Virtual teaching. I want the perfect sound quality, I want good video quality, I want my class times to work for everyone and I want everyone to have a positive experience. This kind of vibe is fairly easy to manage in a physical class with everything being physically controlled in one space, but trying to put that experience onto an iPhone or Laptop and more importantly via varying internet services is like trying to french braid your hair into an updo after JUST mastering a simple “put together” ponytail…
Here are the big things I’ve learned in the past few months while putting together my online business.
THE DOWNSIDE
The virtual world is and will always be uncontrollable.
No matter how consistent you keep YOUR set up, it won’t always be consistent for your clients.
There will be music and playlist complications.
You’ll mess up and it will be recorded for all to see.
Technology is not reliable no matter how much it costs.
THE UPSIDE
Virtual classes let you reach SO many more people and change so many more lives.
Your clients are not coming to classes to see you fail. They are there to support you and roll with the punches WITH YOU.
You are probably noticing your mistakes 100% more than your clients are.
You’ll probably have a cleaner house. I may mess up choreography, but I’m not teaching to anyone in a cluttered room!
You get to watch your own classes! This is HUGE. Watching yourself teach is one of the quickest ways to find improvements. Yes, it’s awkward, but I can’t tell you how many unnecessary repetitive phrases I’ve been able to cut from my classes that I would have never realized I was saying!
No matter where you are on your virtual journey (fitness related or not), remember to stop, look back and see how far you’ve already come. Look how much progress you’ve made just by teaching ONE online class, leading ONE online seminar, creating ONE new business page for yourself. What have you done since then and what are you planning to do NEXT?