1. Control Capital Costs and Cut Labor Costs: Outsourcing takes your variable cost and makes them a fixed cost. That way businesses can invest elsewhere and limit the large expensive in their start up stages. In terms of labor costs, business owners have proven it time and time again that just because you can doesn’t mean you should. The time it takes an employee or business owner to figure out how to start a specific project, he or she could have had it done by Outsourcing it to the experts.
a. Example: A Fitness Equipment Dealer wants a website for his business, and along with one of his/her employees, they decide they can build it. A year later, the site is almost done and the manufacture informs the dealer of all the new products coming out and the old ones are discontinued. A waste of all that time and money!

2. Focus on core business: As employees workloads increase with non-core business tasks due to increasing business, the business focus can shift away from the core activities. When business outsource they keep their employees focus.
a. Example: The gym is growing and you need a better way to communicate with the members. Outsource a company to develop e mail and social media campaign instead of trying to do it yourself!

3. Level Playing Field or Even Give Your Business a Competitive Edge: As start- up business and/ or small businesses strives to grow and compete in competitive markets, they need to look as professional as the competition.
a. Example: Don’t through your new business website together on go daddy just so you can have a website. It is the first impression to clients and prospects.

4. Start New Projects Quickly: Coming up with an idea, hiring the staff for the idea, putting the procedures in place all takes time and money
a. Example: A Fitness Manufactures wants to develop Custom QR Codes that link to Instructional Videos. Do they know everything that goes into that project? It’s not just create a video and slap on a QR Code.

5. Reduce Risk: Business are constantly pushing the envelope with new ideas; before investing in staff, outsource the project and see it the project will generate revenue.
a. Example: Let’s build a shopping cart for the gyms website. Who will manage it; ship it; handle returns; credit card compliance issues, and so on.

6. Get Access to Skilled Expertise: Jack of all trade masters of none. Outsourcing enables the business to get experts in the field.
a. Example: A health club owner has some knowledge in website design; he decides he needs a new website and is going to build one in his spare time. The problem is he has not spare time because he is managing his health club, creating sales and marketing materials, doing the accounting and so on.

All these facts and example can be found in the Health & Fitness Industry. The question is why are they so prominent? If outsourcing is a common practice for Fortune 500 companies why don’t more health and fitness companies take advantage of outsourcing?

For more information on outsourcing services contact Tim Sebold @ tsebold@soOlis.com or visit www.soOlis.com/business for all soOlis’ business products and services.

Who is Augie Nieto? He has helped shape the Health and Fitness Industry through his leadership, dedication, and commitment.  He not only put his personal touch on Life Fitness and Octane, but through his leadership of his employees, he has touched almost every other major manufacture, Cybex, Star Trac, Precor, Matrix, Nautilus, Technogym, and many others.   And if for some chance another manufacture hadn’t hired a former Life Fitness or Octane employee, I am sure that the other manufactures always compared their products to what Life Fitness and Octane were doing.  His effect on this industry doesn’t stop at the manufactures, it goes way beyond.  Just think of how many dealers have sold his company’s products and how many dealers got to meet him and see the passion that he possesses for this industry.  And don’t forget the club owners; Augie was committed to producing long lasting, user friendly, and motivating products so the club owners could be successful. And finally how many people worldwide exercise on an exercise product that have been linked to Augie, think about it probably millions.

I met Augie October 12, 1989, my first day at Life Fitness and it just happened to be Club Industry.  Augie personally took me around and showed be every Life Fitness Product, which at that time was only the Lifecycle, Lifestep and LifeRower.  His passion and commitment was unlike anything I had seen before.  It was contagious. Therefore, it is not surprising to see that same passion and commitment fighting ALS.

At soOlis.com, we are honored to work with Augie’s Quest.

For information on advertising with soOlis.com and donating to Augie’s Quest contact Tim Sebold at tsebold@soolis.com, or 877-789-8773 ext 705