Fitness Plus grows quickly by keeping the exercise equipment we love to hate working.

O’Fallon, MO, August 24, 2010: The September, 2010 issue of Inc. Magazine features Fitness Plus (FitnessRepairParts.com) as #363 on their annual list of the 500 fastest growing private companies. When Fitness Plus was founded in 1995 by retired US Navy veteran John Jacobs, its modest goals were to provide customers with unmatched quality, value, and integrity. Rapid growth and national recognition were not the objective, yet tenacious adherence to the core values has delivered these unexpected rewards. Growth has been so fast that only 5 years ago the company was operating out of a garage, and expects to soon make its second move in as many years into a 15,000 square foot facility.

The fitness industry has been growing for much of the past 2 decades, and Fitness Plus has become a rising star in a growing marketplace by supporting end users and their equipment. For many of us, exercise equipment is a love hate relationship. We all want to be healthy, but sometimes the path to get there isn’t easy. “Can you make it easier to work out on?” is a question heard often by Fitness Plus repair technicians as they work repairing a broken machine. While making equipment easier to work out on isn’t something beneficial to the customer, Fitness Plus’ focus on real benefits such as ease of access to parts, quick response times, high quality, and integrity have created skyrocketing growth.

Fitness Plus began as a St. Louis area independent service provider in the fitness industry, repairing exercise equipment at health clubs, hospitals, hotels, residential homes, and wherever else the equipment was located. With John at the helm, it quickly grew into one of the largest and most respected service providers in their area. With a laser focus on providing the highest quality service, more Fitness Plus built a large inventory of parts so service technicians could arrive at a customer’s location with parts in hand and be able to fix machines on the first service call, reducing customer down-time. Operating the business from his house at the time, it didn’t take long for parts to fill John’s garage first, and then his basement.

John’s military experience and training have guided him as he has built a lean, focused business with a tight-knit company culture. Self-discipline to focus on efficiency and eliminating waste is a key component that John strives to instill in every employee. This insistence on trimming the fat since the beginning has engrained itself into the Fitness Plus core culture. Every employee works to get as much done in as little time and effort as possible so they can move onto other tasks. This attitude has kept the company lean, debt free, and able to keep pace with the fast-paced growth it has experienced over the last few years.

John’s son Jeremy joined the business full-time in 1999, working as a service technician and spending time in the evenings doing subcontracted work for area web development companies. In 2003, the pair decided that with the growing business and parts inventory, and Jeremy’s knowledge of web development, they should start an ecommerce site to sell parts to the consumer. After 6+ months of heavy development, the site was launched in 2004, and immediately started to show potential. It didn’t take long for Fitness Plus to outgrow the garage and basement, and they moved into 5000 square feet in September of 2005. In August of 2009, they added another 3000 square feet temporarily while they looked for a permanent location to move to, and the next location has been identified.

Fitness Plus expects to make the move into a 15,000 square foot facility in the next couple of months. Through the addition of the ecommerce side of the business, Fitness Plus has continued to operate the local service side of the business, providing high quality service and repairs to equipment owners in the St. Louis area. Fitness Plus has grown because of the effective use of technology both internally and for the benefit of our customers. More importantly, they have been able to sustain the growth because of the strong work ethic embedded in the company culture and its focus on remaining debt free and highly efficient. “Good ideas initiated the growth, but without the commitment of our employees to see Fitness Plus become something special, we would have fallen on our face years ago,” says Jeremy Jacobs. Employees are encouraged to operate at peak efficiency in every part of their work; tools such as healthy competition and a company profit sharing program based partly on the annual expense ratio help to accomplish this.

To learn more about Fitness Plus, visit their website here: http://www.fitnessrepairparts.com

Educate Yourself

Never stop learning! Everyday we will learn something new; you never know when it’s going to happen or whom you may learn from. Keep your mind open, treat all of your interactions and conversations as though they are the key to your daily lesson. You’ll be better for it, and your acquaintances will receive the attention they seek, permanently placing you in their minds as a leader and more importantly, someone they can talk to. Live your business life with a thirst for knowledge that is surpassed only by your efforts to apply that knowledge as efficiently as possible. Educating yourself on your industry trends, weaknesses, and keys to stability can only help you succeed as a leader. Most organizations offer leadership training, conferences or one-day seminars with a variety of class options. Seek them out and test the water; you may like what you find. Your boss certainly will. If you want something a little more serious, try an online course. Local colleges and universities will offer nighttime classes for working adults and some even offer one-time weekend classes. Read blogs, e-books, and periodicals, anything that could help you expand your horizons will pay dividends many times over.

Show Your Desire to Help

Go out of your way to ask associates if they have work they may need help on, be it research, clerical fact and source checking, or even just reading over some completed work to offer your feedback and encouragement. Few things will gain you more credibility as a leader than helping others, especially when there is no obvious gain to be had. If you’re able to complete an assignment early, try creating an alternative with a slightly different direction or feel to it that your superior may be able to review and decide to use. A boss with two quality options to choose from will often be more than satisfied. Extra effort is always noticed, if not by your superior, then certainly by your peers. Doing even some of these small things show your initiative and desire for the success of everyone involved.

Utilize Social Media

Only a few years ago those seeking leadership inspiration had to look within their company. Later, as the well ran dry at home it was time to hit the road for conferences and conventions. Today, we are lucky to have social networking; nothing in recent memory has had such an enormous effect on how we go about our daily lives. From our morning coffee and news, to networking with clients across the ocean, using social media to its fullest will keep your team a step ahead or place your resume in the right hands at the right time. Services like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter allow users to connect with colleagues all over the world, and follow trends and fads at their most raw beginnings. Never has having your finger on the pulse of business been so easy, or so rewarding. Take advantage of these tools and opportunities. Use them to their fullest, be the leader you can be and help your business and career take that next step.

Learn from Your Mistakes

Good leaders don’t make the same mistake twice. Great leaders use their past mistakes to their benefit, teaching others as well as themselves what went wrong, why it happened and what they are going to do to keep it from happening again. As always, leadership is a series of degrees. Learning and growing from your mistakes slides your abilities up the scale at an alarming rate. Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed of mistakes; push them into the open so everyone can learn from your misstep. While this will be difficult in the present, its wisdom will be appreciated and rewarded down the road.

While working at a small company may offer challenges to your expansion as a leader, never should it be an unconquerable hindrance. The same opportunities are available to you as those working for publicly traded big businesses, you may just have to work harder to exploit them. Gaining the skills and knowledge to lead others is a long and strenuous undertaking, but the reward and benefit far outweigh the efforts. Putting the time into the collaboration of your extended team, the growth of your personal leadership abilities, and the better understanding of the tools available to you and your employer will make you invaluable to your company, big or small.

Professional Skepticism, by definition, is an attitude and approach that includes a questioning mind, careful thought, and critical assessment of all information. Few things will help you more than trusting your instincts. Professional Skepticism, as covered in this entry, is the growth of that idea. It’s not an easy skill to master; overuse could easily lead to paranoia, underuse to a naivety that will have you out the door in short order. Be it people, data, or the accumulation of your personal feelings, you will be well served carefully absorbing, reflecting, and reviewing this information without bias.

Though our society relies on trust, it’s your job to be sure that trust is well placed and well deserved. In business relationships, past dealings and relationships are the building blocks for growth. They are where we reflect and learn from our own personal use of Professional Skepticism. Did I trust too much? Was the risk justified?  Hopefully the answers suit you and your career well. If not, learn from them and apply the lessons and theory to future enterprises. An example that lends itself to our topic, as well as being a position many may find themselves in, is the task of gathering referrals and credit references. When thousands if not millions of dollars are moved by key strokes and business deals are made through emails as opposed to pen strokes and handshakes, the verification of past business references and company credit history has gained immense value. Few things are more important to your employer than the execution of Professional Skepticism in these situations. To whom are you really dealing with over email? Should this person gain access to your company’s private information? Can the past creditors word be taken at face value? Do the numbers in actual production match those promised to justify the loan? Does your contact have anything to gain by the acceptance or termination of business with the client in review? These contacts and answers are often the sole factor in the acceptance of loans or accounts between companies. This arena can be a playground for those propagating fraud; your value and growth in your field will be determined by your ability to apply your skills to the expansion of business, the protection of company interest, and the upkeep of your employer’s reputation.

Much of this may seem as common sense, but as with many things, familiarity can lead to complacency. Don’t be lulled by your desire to trust. Too often our human want for acceptance and friendship end without the desired result. Success and prosperity go hand in hand for employer and employee alike, the application of your carefully and skeptically gained experience will work wonders for both. Go and use your freshly sharpened sense of Professional Skepticism, apply the theory when needed and make the practice a part of your everyday business life, with it your career path can only lead up.

Never underestimate the power of sweet words and thoughtful gifts. It’s not only kids that get drawn to that but adults as well. Well, who doesn’t like hearing praises? I will definitely say that I am a fan, because it uplifts my mood and especially my confidence. It’s inevitable that there will be insecure and depressed workers. This is because even if they have managed to keep their jobs, most of them may have still felt other unpleasant effects of the recession. Since there’s not much that they can do to get a promotion from work, they tend to ask for a salary increase. But the majorities of employers are apprehensive about giving additional pay since businesses are still in the process of recovering or are tightly and frugally hanging in there, thus giving an increase in their worker’s salary is hard for them to accommodate.

So what employers should do in order to boost the spirit of their workers is to offer praise or gifts of gratitude. I can still recall that my former grade school teacher had this board that contained a list of the class; each time we got a high score on an exam, we get a star next to our name. That really inspired me and my classmates to work hard because it felt so good getting a lot of stars and comparing it to one another. Company owners can use this idea by putting up board which will hold the picture of the best employee of the month pr by simply greeting them in front of others while thanking them for a job well done. I bet anyone will have the proudest smile seeing their name posted on the board or getting a congratulatory hand shake from their boss

Next tactic is to reward workers with special presents such as excellent employee trophies that they can show off to family and friends. Giving out valuable stuffs that they can make use of are gifts that will have the workers forget about insisting on getting a salary. Handling employees “Thank you” cards that they can exchange for freebies such as dinner, movies or other valuable presents is another way of decreasing the possibility of workers asking for a salary increase.

Acting nice and good towards people that work for you will not only save you from employees demands of a salary raise but will also make them feel valued and appreciated. The morale of workers will surely shoot up high in the sky getting those motivating act of compliments.

Communication is also needed for the safety of all members of an organization or company. Communication as a form of preparedness, such as counselling and training can save an employee’s career, precious time, and lives. An organization that is experiencing a breakdown in communication will not survive for very long because many problems will continue to escalate until the entire group collapses upon itself.

If an organization is experiencing communication problems, a leader must do what is necessary to resolve them as soon as possible. It’s not just the organization at stake, but the livelihood of the workers and their families. There are many steps that one may take to counter the prevalence of inferior communication in organizations.

Listen to the people involved or who have caused the communication problem. Doing so allows you to uncover the depth, nature and roots of the problem. Moreover, it’s easy to come up with solutions once you acknowledge the issue that has been hindering the flow of communication.

If the problems are quite vast and are deeply-rooted, you may want to secure the help of a neutral negotiator. This third party may be able to get inside the problem more thoroughly than an insider; because when communication problems crop up, the group involved may choose to clam-up or point fingers rather than admit their role in creating the issue.

There are also those individuals that might be scared to tell the truth because of reprisals from their boss or co-workers.  To provide safer options and confidentiality, conduct surveys surrounding the problem and base opinions and solutions on gathered data.

After you have uncovered the problem and its roots, you may choose to provide group counselling or training. The point of this is to address the problem of the group, rather than focusing on just one person; finger-pointing is avoided. The saying, “United we stand, divided we fall” should become the motto of the group. Only leaders with good communication skills can identify or diagnose communication problems before they escalate. Organizations must provide more training for leaders who lack communication skills.

Do some research – perhaps the communication problem you are experiencing has occurred before in the organization before; and perhaps someone knows the solution that could work now. So look inwards into the heart of the organization, ask around, and you may find the way to properly address your organization’s communication problems. Lastly, keep in mind that communicating requires attention and thoughtfulness: there’s a time for joking, but there are also moments to speak seriously.

 The great news is that there’s now a solution for the dilemma of worker layoffs. Instead of firing individuals, employers have started sharing their employees, even competitors. Yes, this is not a joke and is especially popular in the UK. This new proposal, or shall we say latest trend in the work force, was pioneered by a British association, “Work Wise UK” and they tagged their program “StaffShare”. It is basically an online swap shop wherein companies can grant their staff members for a certain period of time, usually a short or medium term, like a matter of weeks or months.

 The wonderful idea of “StaffShare” was launched almost 7 months ago and was done exclusively for charities. It has proven to be a big hit for about 90 charities including big names like that of “WaterAid” and “Save the Children”. Due to its overwhelming success, “Work Wise UK” decided to offer the program to any company who needs it.

 The two main benefits of “StaffShare” are preventing the termination of employees, thus reducing morale killing behaviors and retaining your best and brightest talent without having to subject them to looking for a job elsewhere. Moreover, the company feels great about being able to share their best workers with charitable and other organizations that need their services. This is doing two good deeds in just one move – giving hope to employees and acting generous with other organizations.

 It’s easy to follow the swapping concept. Interested companies visit the StaffShare site and then check “Seller Company” for a list of employee’s skills, pay rate and availability, as well as the particular annual cost for getting someone to work for them. After which, the “Buyer Company” will have to search the database and utilize the site’s message system to examine applicants and then settle the details with the “Seller Company”. Lastly, a contract will be e-mailed.

 I love this exchange of employees because of the benefits to all parties. First the “Seller Company” avoids laying off workers and in fact, earns a fee from those they lend. Next the “Buyer Company” instantly has workers that are highly-qualified. Last, the employees preserve their jobs and will have a chance of gaining new knowledge and experience from another company. Another great example of hope during difficult times.

1. What are we doing well and should continue doing?
2. What should we START doing that we’re not doing now?
3. What should we STOP doing that we’re doing now?

What are we doing well and should continue doing?  Every member of an organization knows what things are working, what things are helping the organization to reach it’s goals.  These things should be brought into focus as the organizations priorities.  Simply stating them brings them top of mind and causes everyone to focus on them.  There is a lot of value in doing what you do well and continue doing to do it.

What should we START doing?  Everyone in your organization has an idea on a daily or weekly basis about something that will make their job easier or delight a customer or another member.  These are the real innovative things that can propel an organization to the next level.  The leaders of the organizations should never be depended upon to be the sole innovators.  Every participant can and will come up with great ideas.  The key is to tap into them and once they’re discovered, put them into action.

What should we STOP doing?  Every member has some issue with something going on within your organization.  It could be a customer that does not add value nor profit; it could be a procedure that is outdated and needs to be revisited; it could be a dress code that everyone feels passionately about but leadership hasn’t been made aware of.

Gather your team.  Throw out these three questions and then act on them.  You’ll be a better organization because of it.

In Jason’s not for profit work and in our own offices, we’re faced with the choice of performing social work everyday or having a mindset that is socially aware and concerned.  Sometimes the easy answer is to provide all the answers to the tough questions that are being asked of those we help.  The more difficult solution is to pave the way for those to find the answers on their own.

Jason and his staff, as well as the staff here at St. Louis Staffing, work very hard finding the opportunities needed to place people into meaningful positions and satisfy their human need to work.  There are overflow needs that come about from both our work.  Often Jason must help his clientele find places to live, appropriate clothing to wear (especially on an interview) and some basic financial knowledge to make sure they can take care of themselves.  Our staff often helps our employees decide on places to live based on the work we might have for them, we have helped in making decisions for medical treatment for their children and recommended schools.

In all the examples mentioned above, there can be a temptation to do the work for those asking for it.  That is exactly the wrong message to send and the wrong attitude to take in order to help people.  Doing things for people who are perfectly capable of doing it themselves is a hinderance to the outcome of self sustainability that everyone is trying to reach with a social mindset.

If you give a man a fish, he will have a single meal.  If you teach him how to fish, he will eat all his life.  Kwan-Tzu

You inspire me because you put your family and religion first.
You inspire me because you are always 100% positive (or at least appear insanely upbeat and unweathered in the toughest of times).
You inspire me because there’s never been a person that I know of that has met you and not adored you.
You inspire me because you are extremely open to other people’s ideas and opinions.
You inspire me because you hold no grudges.
You inspire me because you put forth amazing effort to lead a balanced life with business, male friends, family, religion, exercise, rest and relaxation etc.
You inspire me because even when you are the big fish in the small business pond, you never gain an ounce of narcissism.
You inspire me because you yearn to learn more about everything and actually read, participate, etc. in new things rather than just talking about doing it.
You inspire me because you are incredibly unselfish and truly want the people around you to be happy and successful in all aspects of life; even if that may clash with your personal views or values.
Of course there’s more, but those are the thoughts that easily came to mind.

Now I have to ask you, who wouldn’t want feedback like this?  Needless to say my friend was speechless.  As he put it, “I have worked with this person for almost seven years.  We have a great working relationship and I respect her a lot as a colleague and person.  And while I believe she respects me and my point of view, I had no idea that she felt the way she did.  I’m very glad that I asked.”

Ask yourself who you find inspirational and even if they’ve not asked for it, send them a list like the one above.  It is a great way to show your gratitude this Thanksgiving.