Jane Clapp is utterly exhausting to speak with, even if it's just a three-minute conversation on the phone. She's impossibly positive and unabashedly enthusiastic. Her e-mails frequently close with an exclamation mark, or three.
She needs to keep herself up, because as a personal trainer who "doesn't leave the house" for less than $85 an hour, her success depends as much on her personality as it does on her knowledge of the human body.
"I've always been involved in fitness," says Ms. Clapp, 34, owner of Urbanfitt Studio in Toronto.
"Since I was 15, I was kind of a gym bunny. I started teaching cheesy aerobics classes when I was 19."
Before moving to Toronto from Vancouver in 1998, she led a typically corporate existence.
With a bachelor of commerce from the University of British Columbia, she worked in human resources at Molson Breweries and BC Telecom.
"When I moved to Ontario, I decided I just didn't want to grow up and keep working in HR," she says.
Instead, she took a job at a gym and worked toward her personal-trainer certification. Five years later, a new owner took over and Ms. Clapp left to start Urbanfitt.
"It was clear I would not be able to grow with the new owner," she says.
"It was time to take the leap and open my own spot. I already had a client base to follow me, so I found a space in a month or two of panic and got everything done so fast."
Her fast start allowed her to keep her clients, but it didn't give her a chance to think through what she's trying to accomplish.
She finds herself floundering, because she's so busy training clients and taking care of small, everyday tasks - a typical day can include such non-managerial duties as washing towels, doing dishes and taking out the garbage.
She worries she doesn't have the time to do any of the big-picture planning she's convinced will help her business expand.
"I have to go out hunting and get clients for my personal trainers. I have to be the rainmaker, and if I don't I can't expand my circle of influence," she says.
"I need to get back to doing what I should have done in the first place - that is, mission statement, core values and documenting processes and procedures to prepare for growth."
What the experts say
You don't have to speak to Ms. Clapp to feel exhausted - her website alone leaves people feeling as if they've just run around the block.
"I'm a sometime amateur triathlete, and I was tired after looking at her website," says Bruce Lacroix, a principal partner at small business consultancy Lacroix & Associates in Nelson, B.C. "Clearly, she's a talented and driven woman. But she is really stretching herself, and the first thing I would suggest is that she needs to figure out her goals."
When Mr. Lacroix visited urbanfitt.com, he was introduced to Ms. Clapp under the headings Fitness Jane, Media Jane, Corporate Jane and Family Jane. Each section described activities in Ms. Clapp's life: training clients, weekly gigs as a fitness expert on a Toronto radio station, blogging, co-writing her book (Working on the Ball: A Simple Guide To Office Fitness), and being a mother to her four-year-old daughter.
"And then I hear her concerns, it sounds like growth for growth's sake," Mr. Lacroix says. "She's admitting she is having difficulties, so I ask: 'What are her specific, manageable, attainable and measurable goals?' Once she clearly sets her goals and writes them down, she needs to decide which 'Jane' is likely to get her where she wants to be.
"Every Jane can't be equally important," he adds. "A lot of what she teaches as a personal trainer is about common sense and balance, and she says sometimes her clients need a whack. Maybe someone needs to give her a whack, too."
It's all about spending time on what will get you the greatest payback. If she's having trouble figuring out which "Jane" will help her business the most, Mr. Lacroix suggests she focus on her media persona. "She is one hell of a guerrilla marketer," he says, basing his assessment on her blog and the dozens of news articles her website links to. "These things drive business through the door."
Mr. Lacroix said if she's going to step away from the day-to-day, she must delegate. Let other trainers take care of most clients, he says, and trust that they'll do a good job.
"She probably finds that very difficult," he says. "That's why she's doing a hell of a lot for one woman. But this is the way to get the most return - whether it's more money or more family time."
That said, Ms. Clapp must give her three employees a reason to stick around. Trainers often jump from gym to gym, and often take their clients with them. If she wants loyalty, it'll cost her.
"All of her staff should have some form of ownership," says Brad Nathan, chairman of Succession Planning Corp., a Toronto merchant bank that acquires small businesses when their owners retire. "The people who are personal trainers, for most of them the business stuff isn't on their mind. But enough of them have been shafted so many times that if she did it right, they'd do anything for her."
Barry Sharp, a Vancouver business consultant who owns AMA Management Ltd., says a good way to free up time is to offload administrative functions to "virtual assistants." These are people who will work for you on a one-off basis, and take care of mundane tasks such as responding to phone calls and ordering office supplies. "If you are reasonably busy, then you are nuts to do all of these things on your own," Mr. Sharp says. "These are real people, who will offer you their services by the hour."
He says she needs to evaluate whether certain tasks are worth her time. If she's making $85 an hour, it makes little sense to spend an afternoon doing the books when someone will do them for $30 an hour. And if she's launching an ad campaign, for example, why not have calls routed to an on-call assistant who can book appointments on her behalf?
"When you think of it in terms of money, it helps you realize how ludicrous it is to take on so much yourself," he says. "You don't need to be dealing with all of those things. Free up that time for your other priorities."
While she may think it's important to get out and rustle up more business for her trainers - after all, they earn for her whether she's in the building or not - too often, entrepreneurs sacrifice current customers while searching for new ones.
"You need to stay as close to the customer as possible," says John Stanton, founder of the Running Room Ltd. "Knowing, understanding, adapting to the needs, wants and desires of your customers will help in the retention of your current business."
In a nutshell
Step back
Realize that you can't have it all, and focus on what you want most.
Delegate
Your time isn't best spent ordering office supplies. Hire a helper.
Reward
You want loyal employees? Buy their loyalty with an ownership stake.
Retain your base
Entrepreneurs often lose their loyal clients when they spend all their time searching for new ones.
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