Paul: 0:29

Hello everyone, good afternoon and welcome to this week's episode of MarketPulse Pros and Pioneers. This week I'm joined by the amazing Julia Pizzichemi. Julia, welcome to the episode.

Julia: 0:41

Thank you, Paul. It's great to be here.

Paul: 0:42

Awesome to have you along. If you don't know Julia at home, she's the founder and director of Team Clinic Services and Anatomy Matters. So she's got over 25 years of experience working in the health, fitness and sports industry. And she's helped top athletes, board level executives, and award winning performers achieve peak physical and mental performance. She also runs her own podcast, Unleash Your Inner Athlete, and has a YouTube channel, Team Talk, where she shares her unique methods for overcoming chronic pain and enhancing overall health. Her impressive client list includes Wimbledon champions, Oscar winners, and executives from global corporations like UBS and Goldman Sachs. Julia, that is, I feel like we've got a never ending list of clients guests who come onto this podcast who have extremely impressive backgrounds and yours is no different. Congratulations on what has been clearly a very inspiring career so far. Walk us through it. How did you end up working with athletes and executives at the same time?

Julia: 1:44

Yeah, it's it's a long story. My life started out as, the usual route, most people when they come into this industry is through, fitness instructor, personal training and the massage therapist and increasing my qualifications as I went along broadening out into corrective exercise, performance enhancement Pathology, Body Mind work as well. But I started out, as I said, as a gym instructor. And that's where I got my first take, learning the skill set I needed, really, is where you start, and building your client base from there. And so the sport came along fairly early in that journey, about a year and a half, two years into the journey, when I learnt sort of sports massage therapy etc. And I decided I want to get involved in sports, and I Went along to my, a local sort of rugby club. Which at the time was London Welsh, as it happened, which was close to me. And I just wanted to get some, work experience. And they took me on, they had once a week. I wasn't paid anything, I just went for a couple of hours practicing my skills. My skills, my trade, and then they took me on and started paying me after the first season, so the second season came along and that kind of opened up the door in other words to sport and from there on I joined clubs like Harlequins and I got involved in like Wimbledon tennis and that got me into the WTA tour for a few years. And there, It just grew and expanded the more work you do. But I had to start off small. So I had to start off, doing that free work and getting that grounding in, that foundation for everything and then learning and building my skills in terms of my education as well. But, initially before I started that, I just had one to one clients, so they, all range of people, but obviously it moved, gradually moved in towards business owners, execs, entrepreneurs, and things like that. So yeah, it's been a long journey, but 25 years is, it's a pretty, pretty good going.

Paul: 3:27

It's phenomenal and I know lots of people in the gym and fitness industry that kind of always have maintained that relatively junior position, right? Like they start out as running a gym or they're working in the gym and kind of 10, 15 years they're still there. So it's impressive to see somebody who's had The ability to set themselves up for success and outreach beyond what's possible today and look at what's feasible for tomorrow. And, there's some amazing success that you've shared there in terms of what you do. And you're really quite humble about it, but I can't imagine that all of that came very easily in the slightest. What kind of, what sets you apart from everybody else do you believe that, that kind of was in that industry? Why were you the one that was successful in what you did?

Julia: 4:08

I guess I knew when I went, when I started out that sort of career path, I went cause originally I was in retail. I was working in retail and I worked in Bond Street for years. I was a sales assistant in the shops there. So I had a good grounding of the luxury of the trade. But I knew I wanted to do something I loved if I gave up that job, and it meant I was going to take a huge pay cut. I took about a 50 percent pay cut. But I knew that going into it, it wasn't going to be, my career wasn't going to just be a gym instructor. It was a stepping stone for me. I always, since I was 19, I wanted to have my own business. And in fact, I did start my own business 19, but it failed miserably. I wasn't old enough and mature enough to take on the responsibility then, unlike some teenagers and 20 year olds today. So yeah, it was I knew it was going to be a stepping stone. I knew I wanted to have my own business and and I had big ideas. They didn't necessarily, didn't always go in that direction, unfortunately with Anatomy Matters, which is my first business. I knew it was going to be a stepping stone. To bigger things. And I had, I have always had been quite creative in my thinking. Big imagination. Things don't always go in a direction you want them to. They sometimes go in a fairly unexpected direction. I wasn't really, when I set out, I wasn't thinking about professional sport at all. I was thinking of becoming like a celebrity personal trainer, which is most people start out in that direction. And sport just I fell into it in an odd sort of way. the things that are meant to be, you just fall into. It's not something you plan for. And I if you look at examples of other people who've been very successful, of my business heroes, is Richard Branson. I guess when he started out Virgin, I remember his, when I was young, his Virgin record shops. But I doubt he had this idea that it was going to become this huge industry with so many different arms to it, it just happened and evolved that way. And I think that's what's happened to me. And as my skillset has improved and increased, so has my idea and my vision for the future and niching myself more and more, because there are so many obvious, how many thousands or millions of personal trainers are, they're all doing pretty much the same thing. So I think it's really important as you grow is to really find out what your passion is within that industry. And then really niching yourself down. I find that's really important and that's how my journey has happened, but it certainly wasn't something I was thinking out from the outset.

Paul: 6:22

It's fascinating, you mentioned niching there, and obviously the focus of the podcast today is always going to be around marketing and takeaway learnings that we can share with the audience. You've got two very different and unique client bases there, from celebrities, sports people, and athletes to Top business executives. How do you manage marketing to both industries simultaneously, or is it easier than it sounds?

Julia: 6:50

I think it's easier than it sounds because although they're different industries they're all high performers, particularly at that level. So in terms of, yes, their job requirements are different in some ways, but not necessarily in all ways. Like for me, sport and business, there's a huge crossover there which is why now I've moved into team clinic services and taking that on board because what I noticed through my career is that particularly with executives and entrepreneurs. They value their health and fitness, and very often they do take part in sport to some level. Whether it's just, playing a round of golf, cause, that's a place they can network, have conversations, meet people relieve some of the stress. Or tennis, or something like that. It's all part and parcel of it. But I've had clients who take part in sport quite competitively, albeit not in a professional way. But then on the other hand, a lot of pro athletes, once their athletic career has finished, they then transition into the more corporate sector. They probably start off, they have businesses, which they maybe started before they retired from the professional sport. So they both have high pressure, they're both aging, they both come with similar traumas, physical, psychological traumas, the pressures are the same, slightly different. But the means to get them to maintain that high performance for the long term as they get older, so they can still keep that competitive spirit, because they're both highly competitive. You can't not be competitive at that level. So there's very much, it's very easy to integrate and adapt according to the person you have in front of you. But it's a bit like, no, no other reason. Each client is going to be different. So your method has to be adapted, molded to what their needs, what their goals are, what their desires are, based around the general. How the body operates, how the mind operates and what's required of it and then implementing the right program along that line. So it's really having that, getting to know your client very well and having that very personalized approach. knowing that you have a, an outline or a way of thinking or a way of of having to, like I say, adapt everything, but it's got to be very personalized to that person at the same time. So you've got to be flexible in your thinking as well.

Paul: 8:56

So to dive into the podcast side of things for a moment then starting your own podcast is not something to be taken lightly. It's, as you'll appreciate, it's a lot more work than it sounds from the outside and often sounds like a really good idea and then when people get into it they realise there's a lot more work behind the scenes. What kind of Walk us through your journey with your podcast if you would. Is it the same now as what you envisaged it would be when you first started it or have you had to change direction? Just curious to see how much that aligned with what your original thoughts were.

Julia: 9:27

For me, podcasting and being in front of the camera was actually probably my worst nightmare. I'm not someone who likes to be in front of the camera. I'm much happier behind the camera. But when I, it's still. For me, fairly new. But earlier this year, for some reason, I don't know why, I tend to go with my gut and my intuition a lot these days. I've discovered that sort of keeps me in good stead, I'll be in good stead for my future. And I was just getting sort of thing in my mind, you have to do this it started out with the team talk, you have to do this again on, on video, cause I feel as well, looking at the way the world's going, so much more is on social media, particularly the visuals, people like to have a lot of visuals and auditory content. And I figured this is really good marketing tool potentially for me, so I have to overcome this fear. Cause you always have to, when you get these challenges, you always have to, I think, face them and go through them because usually that's where the gold is, if you like. So it just came to me that I had to start it. So I just decided to start a podcast and I knew I wasn't going to be great in the beginning. I knew I was going to be nervous, but it didn't matter. Everything I'd heard and researched, they said, just do it. Don't worry about how perfect you are, how good you look. It doesn't matter. Just start doing it and you get better as you go along. And doing the research as you're going on, how do I create a good YouTube channel? How do I create a good podcast? And listening to other people, how You admire or other people who have good big voices on the internet, seeking their advice, researching that way was really helpful. And the podcast came about, again, just a gut feeling. I think I need to be doing these interviews. And I thought I don't have anyone famous to interview. So how am I going to have a successful podcast? But then I forget I have this so much talent out there that I knew, particularly working with the tennis. Why don't I just interview people I know who are a really high standard within the industry? And looking at the niche that I was looking for, which is the 40 plus market, I could use them as And I was surprised how many people offered to say yes, I'm happy for you to interview me, which is very kind of them. Yeah, they were kind enough to come on the show and be interviewed for me. And I've had some really fascinating conversations. And funnily enough, that's been going quite well. So sometimes I find going, just going with what comes to you. Your intuition, your gut, just try, trying it, giving it a go. And I'm actually exploring now more about podcasting and how to grow it and how to, make sure, make it more professional and then, as it grows and if it becomes a money making thing, then you can invest more time and more money, getting better equipment and getting better guests. I look at podcasting, it's the modern way of having a book. Cause, when people were an author, it always gave them a kind of prestige. Or people held them in a slightly higher ranking, took them more seriously. And that's still the case, I think, with writing a book, but I think podcasting is taking over from that in some ways. But I think it's still an area of marketing, particularly in health and fitness, that is really important to tap into now. I think it's going to become bigger, so now is the time to really get into it.

Paul: 12:26

Absolutely. And then moving on to the YouTube channel, what do you see as being the primary differentiators for you between running the podcast and having the YouTube channel? What's the different outputs that you see as coming from that in terms of your business marketing?

Julia: 12:40

The podcast is more about bringing in other talent. And getting other, hearing people's stories, I think stories are great. For inspiration. And for more variety in subject matter. Whereas just me talking is more about my own perspective, my own experience and knowledge and giving, giving that to people.

Paul: 13:35

Looking at the kind of audience that you need to attract, that celebrity and extremely senior audience, and I'm assuming the senior audience is also associated with larger enterprise business as opposed to smaller businesses, how are you finding marketing for that? Because it's a very different approach to a more transactional offering. What's worked for you and what hasn't? Yep.

Julia: 14:00

very niche, that is the trouble. And I have to say that's been a struggle because it's so niche what I'm doing now. And that market. They're very elusive in many ways. They're not people who are just going to pick up the phone and call you out of the blue. They're going to be within a certain niche group, a closed group. And they're very difficult. Where can I find them? How can I open up them to trust me? Because I think it's very much they're going to be able to trust you. They're more likely, they may very well be watching you, the more content you have out there, the more they can research you and find out a little bit who you are, follow you a little bit. But that has been the struggle for me is just getting the message to those people who, for obvious reasons, they're not going to be willing to just talk to anyone or reach out to anyone, particularly with something when it comes to health, wellness, and particularly mental health. Because obviously it's quite a sensitive subject and they're obviously very protective of their information, their personal identity and all this kind of thing. So for me what hasn't worked is, I've networked, I've done a lot of networking, but again, those people don't go to those kind of networking events. They're going to be part of a very exclusive gym. They're going to be part of very exclusive private members clubs. They're going to have, their own exclusive group of people and they don't need to go out looking for people like on hold people like me or as you like. So it's very difficult, even on social media, it's difficult to start that conversation. So you have to be, think a little bit outside the box of how you connect with them. So you've got to be quite creative in your thinking. A lot of my stuff comes from recommendations or referrals. You can, I've got quite a few connections on my LinkedIn. I find that's quite good, a bit more professional. And it's still something I'm working on a lot. But I do feel that maybe podcasting and then building out, getting that sort of recognition and then looking to find people who can maybe come on as guests, things like that. So I think for me, getting your face out there, whether you like it or not, being in front of the camera, getting yourself out there in the public is really the best way to get those people to get to know you a little bit and grow from there, and maybe having guests on the podcast, something like that.

Paul: 16:14

That, right? I see this a lot. Not even with just celebrities, but with most senior leaders these days, if you're trying to reach that sort of an audience, anybody who's got buy in power or wants to invest in things, wants to now research things themselves. They don't want to be, I'm a call for an hour and then have another call another hour another week and everybody's conscious of how little time they have so be able to do you know 70 or 80 percent of the research on somebody that they would think they might want to work with is where most people want to get to and they only really want to get them to a meeting or a call when they were at the point where They either need to look you in the whites of your eyes to make sure that you're the person that they think you are, or to ask the questions that they just can't get answered anywhere else cause it's very specific to them and you wouldn't naturally answer that in a public place. I think there's lots of takeaways from that. I wonder there's a lot of people out there who I don't see view referrals and partnerships and affiliates as real marketing. It's almost this is it's networking. Newsflash, everyone networking is a form of marketing. It works differently for different people. And, referrals are a really strong part of that, that networking, however you're doing that networking. And I argue that a podcast is just networking, realistically. It's just sharing the outputs of that, that networking meeting with a wider audience and gaining publicity for both parties on that. How do you manage your digital presence? Because, if there's one thing I do know about what you do is, that you have to be very careful about how you talk about yourself and your messaging that you put out there into the world. Is that something you spend a lot of time iterating on and refining?

Julia: 18:01

sort of brand messaging, yes, because, When it comes to subject matter, you've got to remember there's lots of things I would love to talk about. Lots of knowledge, lots of information that I think is fantastic and people need to know about. But I spend a lot of time really researching what are people wanting to find out about. So I might have some great information that I know will be beneficial to them. But if they're not ready to hear it, there's pointless wasting hours of your time doing that. So it's really important, the research process. Who are my target market? What are they googling? What are they looking for? What questions are they wanting answered? And how can I present my message in a way that answers that question for them? And remember your target market. So it's very easy as well to get wrapped up in generalizing and forget, oh, this, I'm, my target market is a 40 plus high performing athlete, entrepreneur, whatever they may be, stuntman, whatever it may be. Is this message, that's what the general people are searching, but is this the right subject matter for them? And you've got to keep reminding yourself of who your target market is. What questions are they asking and what is it that they really want to know? So it's a really, you have to go through a whole process of really understanding first, before you do anything, who is your client and really knowing them. Because it's only then that you can actually what's the word write your information or express your information in a way that's going to talk to them, so they connect with it. Cause ultimately you want them to emotionally and mentally connect with you and trust you and have that feeling that this is somebody who understands me and they're worth getting to know more. And I think that's the key, for me anyway.

Paul: 19:38

I love that. There's so many real takeaways from that. And that's what I want for this show, is I don't want, theoretical advice and things like that. It's genuine here's what I've tried, here's what has worked for me, here's what I know. And that, it's almost the same if you want to do SEO marketing and you want to do paid media, it all boils down to the same things. You've got to know, and I love the way that you put that as well. I've got, and I'm the same, right? I have a million ideas a day of that I'd love to share with the world and It's frustrating to have to just say no to myself sometimes to go well actually nobody cares Paul other than you Nobody cares because they're not searching for those things. And that's really good advice. If you were to offer advice to yourself When you were first starting out in team clinic services and you were trying to accelerate what you were doing, what's one piece of marketing advice that everybody suggested that you should try and do that you would rather people stopped worrying about? What's one piece of marketing advice that maybe didn't work or just really annoys you?

Julia: 20:39

terms of I think what it's learning to, whatever you're doing, it's learning to, that whatever the service or product you're trying to provide. We talk too much about the features of it, particularly in this industry I'm in. It's all about, oh I'm a personal trainer. I'm going to, you can lose weight, blah, blah, blah. But what's the transformation you're going to give your clients and what, how is that benefit? How is that changing their life? And I think that's something I wish I'd known earlier. we're very much used to, oh I'm a fitness instructor. I'm a strength and conditioning coach, or I'm a rehab person, or I'm a physio, or I'm this, I'm that. And we have this product and that product. And yeah, it's important. People want to know that, but after they've got to know you, and they think this person, this is the person I need. This is the person speaking to my problem. And I think they, the important thing most people want to know is how you're going to change their life for the better. How are you going to get that results? And what feeling am I going to have? People need to feel. Feel like the result. They don't. Yeah. Okay. So you work, you lift weights and you can build my strength. Great. What's that going to do for me? What makes you stand out? And this is where niching also comes in. So you don't get caught up in the what's the word? The world of multiple thousands of millions of trainers that are out there. And I think that's the key now to Building your business and being, your personal story is part of that, do they relate to you as well? So all of those things I wish I'd known earlier. people will try and sell you lots of different ways of marketing your business and promoting your business. And I've lost a lot of money and wasted an awful lot of time with things looking back. I think, why did I make that choice? It was ludicrous. to spend huge amounts of money. Really comes down when you're starting out the quickest way. Get people to know you, your personal story, cause it relates to their personal story as well. And talk about the benefits and the transformation you can give your target market and speak to your target market. Always remind yourself of who you are trying to attract.

Paul: 22:39

I love that. One last question then, before we wrap things up. Is it not scary, niching? Because I speak to a lot of people who are reluctant to niche because they're worried they're going to not attract enough business to pay the bills, or they're not going to be successful because they've niched too far. And I'm like, you've got proof that niching does work. In that moment, how scary is the decision to niche down further than I'm a sports physio or whatever that case may be?

Julia: 23:09

But the thing is, we're all getting older, and you've got to think of your future to some extent, and whether you can actually continue working in the way you are. It depends where your passion is and what you love. There's nothing wrong with not being in a particular niche, if you love what you do. But I think if you have bigger plans, and Maybe you want to charge a higher ticket price or I think it's important to explore it. But yes, it's scary. We can be creatures of habit, aren't we? We stick with where we're safe. But if you want to do bigger things, you want to help more people in a different way, maybe you've learned a new skill set that you want to explore, then you're going to have to make that transition. And it is scary. And there is the reality you will lose clients because maybe you're charging a different price or The service you're offering isn't what they want, but with that, if you're not happy where you were, and you want to go into another place where you think this is more for me, and I feel happy, I feel like I'm really got purpose with this new line, direction I'm going in, then always go with that, and the people will come with you, the right people will come with you, and you'll be happier, and when you're happier, Doing your job when you've got energy for it and excitement and passion, it really comes across in all your messaging as well. And people will be attracted to that. Whereas if, you get caught up doing something because it pays the bills, the bread and butter, but you're not really excited, eventually you're not giving value to your clients. And I think people, clients will then eventually drop off. And I think to maintain that value for your clients so they're willing to keep coming back and recommend and refer, then you really have to be passionate. And if it's a difficult decision, set yourself a plan, do a proper marketing plan, business plan. What money do I need coming in? How much are my expenses going out? How can I make this more cost effective, more efficient without spending too much money? Where, like I say, do the research, where are the clients I'm looking for? And just do a preparation before you make that transition and then build from there. That's what I would say. But I say it's really important to do, to work where your passion is because everything else will just fall into place after that.

Paul: 25:13

Fantastic advice, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts today

Julia: 25:16

It's my pleasure.

Paul: 25:17

And if somebody's listening along and they want to learn more, maybe they want to pick your brains or maybe they have a vital connection that might be useful for you, how can they reach out to you today?

Julia: 25:26

Yep, they can either go to the website and contact me from there, teamclinicservices. com or just email team at teamclinicservices. com. Or come along and follow the podcast if you want to find out more about me, Unleash Your Inner Athlete. It's there on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, and on YouTube. And feel free to comment and subscribe to my channel, which would be really helpful.

Paul: 25:47

Brilliant, thank you very much for that Julia. I'll make sure those links are all in the show notes as well as the show goes out so she'll be able to find those relatively easily. Brilliant, thanks for your time Julia, lovely to meet you and thanks for sharing your advice with the audience.

Julia: 26:01

Great. Thank you, Paul. Thank you for having me on. It's been a pleasure.

Paul: 26:04

See you later, bye bye.

Julia: 26:06

Bye.