“The Women in Fitness Association exists to create opportunity for Women, to give them a voice in the fitness industry and create opportunity for any woman interested in growing her career. ”

— Lindsey Rainwater

Click here to learn more about the Women in Fitness Association. 

This past year something super exciting happened, and is very near and dear to my heart, a movement that is absolutely going to change the face of the fitness industry and welcome in a whole new wave of female leadership.  

The Story...

Last year, I attended the women in leadership summit at IHRSA, the experience created at the summit was like no other I’d had the chance to be a part of in our industry.  Being in a room full of brilliant women in support of our industry was like a deep exhale, a complete breath of fresh air and I didn’t want it to end.  Upon returning home after a fabulous week of  making new connections and seeing old friends, I came home with the desire to feel what I felt in that room at the summit.  I wanted a place where there was easy access to female mentors and a tight knit group of women to regularly collaborate with, I began my search to find a group that offered this kind of support, exclusively for women.  Once I realized it didn't exist, I knew what needed to happen next.

The rest is history... 

The Women in Fitness Association opened for membership May 31 of 2017 and by September we had formed a board of directors, bylaws, not for profit status, and over 60 women as associate members with global representation and corporate sponsorship. To date, we have over 80 members, three corporate sponsors, two meetings under our belts, serving over 200 women in total and an event planned to take place in San Diego the week of IHRSA. 

Not a day goes by that I am not daydreaming about what WIFA can and will become.  I think about all the women I know that want to run companies and be mothers and love travel, I am so excited that we’ve created a place to collaborate about how to accomplish that and so much more! 

None of this could have happened if I did not have an army of women supporting me in this endeavor! Our board of directors and founding members have carried our success through word of mouth and trust and belief in what we are doing.  Their brilliance and desire to lift women up to reach their fullest potential is humbling and truly exciting to be a part of. 

If you have not checked out the Women in Fitness Association, go to the website to see our upcoming events and ways to join.  I look forward to this being the beginning of something absolutely wonderful,

I am incredibly grateful for my mentors that said "why not, just do it", their ability to see what I was capable of before I could is what aided in my taking this leap of faith.  Thank you. 

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Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business advisor, Founder, writer & keynote speaker to the fitness and wellness industry.  For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter@LindseyRainH2O
 

Another IHRSA Annual Conference and Trade show has come to a close and it was by far one of the best show's I have ever attended!

Two weeks ago I shared with you about what I was looking forward to regarding the show and the ILC experience being my number one driver around my anticipation of the show.   I will tell you, the ILC experience was by far one of the best investments I have ever made!  If you have not looked into this lovely opportunity, I would highly recommend it.  Not only is it an elevated way of attending the show, having access to the keynote speakers but also having a quiet place to sit in the ILC lounge was a huge plus as well.  Especially being 5 months pregnant, having a meeting place to sit for a few minutes and then re-join the show, was a fabulous bonus!  

The trade show floor was buzzing, the energy as always is so high and positive and the education sessions were so very insightful.  I really enjoyed the Women's Leaderships Summit event, both empowering and inspiring with female leaders from all over the globe.  Another highlight was that my friend Bryan O'Rourke was welcomed to the IHRSA Board of Directors, a very exciting accomplishment for him,  IHRSA is lucky to have him.  An event I have now come to look forward to is the annual Augie's Quest Bash to defeat ALS, and this year was beyond exciting where over 3 million dollars was raised at the event to apply towards research to find a cure!  Two and a half years ago my father passed away from ALS and being able to put my energy towards this important cuase means a great deal to me. 

Outside of all the other excitment that came with this year, I am beyond grateful that I was recognized as a IHRSA Rising Star and was able to share in this video.  Please check out the video and share if you'd like. 

As always IHRSA is such an enjoyable event, seeing people that you only get to see once a year is such a pleasure!  

What about you? What are some of your favorite IHRSA moments this year? Please do share, I would love to hear what the show meant to you! 

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Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business consultant, leadership coach, writer and presenter to the fitness and wellness industry. For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter@LindseyRainH2O

"Why modern organizations must move beyond a simple alignment of IT with business practices, to a complete, corporate-wide embrace of digital technology and all that it entails." -Digital Outliers Podcast

If you're a manager or leader, how many times have you been met with the phrase "That's not my job", I cringe at the thought of being on the receiving end of that statement.  Regardless of how short sighted it might be, people can demonstrate the tendency to compartmentalize their role or job into the title they are given. If you're in sales, you're not in marketing, if you're in operations, you're not in sales.  My opinion is that this is a dying idea, one that is starting to become an expression of past. 

The employee of the future might have a specialty of sorts but over all demonstrates  a well rounded acumen that addresses many different roles and is a closer cousin of that of an entrepreneur.

The driver behind this shift  in thinking is technology, and not just "tech", I am talking about the way that the internet of everything is increasingly the way of the future.  In the old world IT has historically been the driver on any initiative concerning tech and how the company will deploy their strategies relative to technology.  In today's evolving world it is important that if you want to be the best sales person, you have to also be a fantastic marketer.  Not to mention a tremendous relationship builder that is also dynamic at demonstrating how technology impacts their role.  A successful sales person today can not rely solely on their in person charm, their own personal Omni Chanel must demonstrate a through line so that what they present digitally is also the in person experience. 

On this topic there are many thought leaders inside the fitness industry, my good friend Bryan O'Rourke and Rasmus Ingerslev are two outrageously awesome thought leaders to watch on these topics.  Likewise,  two thought leaders I admire outside the Fitness Industry are Brian Solis and Didier Bonnet,  these two do a stellar job articulating this concept in a concise and easy to understand way. 

In one of Mr. Brian Solis's  most recent podcasts, Digital Outliers he spoke with Didier Bonnet (@didiebon),  Senior Vice-President and Global Practice Leader at Capgemini Consulting and the co author of one of my favorite books, Leading digital.   I have listened to the podcast about a dozen times at this point because the message was so well articulated that It has to be shared here.   I am so impressed with Didier and Brian's dialog and ability to articulate such a complex topic so succinctly. Click here or on the link below to listen. 

“Digital Transformation is really a business transformation driven by the current digital wave. If you can not get your workforce to adapt to this change, then your program will fail... the people side of the digital transformation is still as valued as any transformation, that’s where the big block is... the technology side is not the most difficult thing to change, the people change within the organizational change is the far more difficult to pull off. “”

— Didier Bonnet

Click Here to Listen to the Whole Episode

At the end of the day, the responsibly as individuals is to round out our skills to reflect today's world.  This is a wonderful opportunity for growth for many.

What do you think?  Check out the podcast and let me know, how are you and your organization adjusting to the dissolving IT roles and adapting to the new world?

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Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business consultant, leadership coach, writer and presenter to the fitness and wellness industry. For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter @LindseyRainH2O

One of my favorite people, Bryan K. O’Rourke, often says “You can't put lipstick on a pig.” In context here, if you've got big problems in your organization, adding technology systems to solve for those problems is like adding gasoline to the fire.

With a tremendous amount of possibilities to consider and platforms to evaluate, how does one decide what technology enhancements are right for their business? I will tell you this, in many cases it doesn’t have to do with what you would think. 

If you want to realize what technology to add to your business you have to start with looking at the heart of your business and evaluate your vision and what you are solving for.

A fantastic starting place is answering the following questions: “Why are we here? What are we doing? Who are we serving?” Get the business plan in place (or revised) to then provide you with the content to which you want to add technology.  The goal is to use technology to enhance your purpose, not hinder your progress.

Just like in the fitness industry we are seeing clubs sell wearable devices like FitBit’s at their front desk. And while that's not a bad idea, without a plan as to why you're providing a FitBit and what part of your business objectives this fits into, the FitBit might as well just be batteries or gum. However in contrast, do you remember many years ago when 24 hour fitness launched the body bug, it was a part of their entire infrastructure, programming, and marketing strategy. It infiltrated the clubs and provided their trainers with a system to track their clients calorie burn, and food in-take. It was truly woven into the fabric of the entire operational plan; it wasn't just positioned at the front desk as a product add-on to membership. See the difference?

Creating a vision, a “why,” and a context to what it is that you want technology to accomplish for you, and then layering the system on top of that is truly the best way to garner the best results.  Like Mr Einstein says, We can not create new solutions from the same perspective that helped us create the mess, paraphrasing his message, and, if we really want to create change we have to get to the root of what the new thing is we want to create.

Ultimately, technology is a tool, not a one size fits all solution. When you have a plan in place, technology can and will propel your business forward. Business leaders must demonstrate the patience required to consider what they are wanting to use the technology for to truly know what to use. 

If you would like to talk on this topic, send me a note, I would be happy to go over your plan with you!

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Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business consultant, leadership coach, writer and presenter to the fitness and wellness industry. For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter@LindseyRainH2O

A little over a year ago I was on a flight returning to Denver, tenaciously typing out a 12 month, bi-weekly content calendar with the intention of posting four times a month in 2015. I remember thoughtfully planning what I wanted to cover, how I wanted the posts to flow and when I wanted to post.  I picked the Hashtag "#TotallyTrendyTuesday" to use as a way of categorizing all of the trends and topics to support leadership in the fitness and wellness space. And I created #WakeUpWednesday to bundle my posts focused on tools for leaders choosing to explore ways to be more emotionally intelligent and AWAKEN their lives.  Today I celebrate that completion. For the past twelve months I have followed that calendar, stayed consistent and published what I said I was going to! I want to thank two people specifically: Bryan O'Rourke for his inspiration for blogging in the first place. In 2011 he taught me to blog and I began writing; without him I never would have done this! And Amy Schmittauer: she helped me envision a content calendar and demonstrated that it is possible to stick to a plan and execute content week after week.  I feel excited about what 2016 has in store and the content I will be creating.  The new calendar is well under way - stay tuned! 

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Lindsey Rainwater is a consultant and coach to the fitness and wellness industry.  She specializes in business development and leadership. Currently she is working with the Fitmarc Team helping Health Club owners all over the south central region of the united states propel their business forward via group exercise solutions.  For more information about Lindsey, follow her @lindseyrainh2o