Note: Those platforms indicated with an asterisk(*) are platforms that I am a proud affiliate of, meaning that I chose to officially endorse them after personally being a customer and loving the product. If you make a purchase from one of these links, I will receive a referral commission at no cost to you. Thanks for helping support my work when you shop using my affiliate links!
Wide-Lens Attachment for your Camera Phone — Moment*
This is the second wide-lens attachment I bought, and it is well worth the extra cost! Because you mount it to your phone using an actual phone case (sold separately), it screws in and focuses just right every time which was NOT true at all of the $30 other brand of wide-lens screen I tried. I wish I had found out about this lens years ago, as it’s an absolute game changer! Essentially, it allows you to film full-body shots in smaller spaces without chopping off your arms or head. Because the camera is closer, it also allows your viewer to see more of your body in the screen so they can get more detail of the movement–again, though, without chopping off your head. (Note: Please be aware that this lens will ONLY work if you also purchase the matching Moment phone case that it screws into. I use this one, but if you have anything other than an iPhone XS Max, you’ll want to search for the Moment lens attachment case that matches your phone model exactly. Fortunately, they have a wide range.)
See the difference with and without!
Royalty-Free Music Sources — YouTube Audio Library and Soundstripe *
Here’s the situation with music, as best I understand it. If you’ve already downloaded my Online Fitpreneur YouTube Success Kit or have watched my tutorial on Audio Tips for your Workout Videos, then you know the importance of making sure you have the legal right to use a specific song in your workout videos.
Fitness remixed music companies like Muscle Mixes offer some great, low-cost virtual music playlists that are easy to use for pre-choreographed fitness or really any fitness.
However, to date these playlists do not include licensing to your website or to any pre-recorded workout programs–making them great for live-streaming on Zoom or Facebook, but not great if you plan to put any workouts on your website.
(Why would you want to put workouts on your website? Well, you may want to put free workouts on it and use platforms like Pinterest to drive traffic to them–and to your email list where you can sell your premium or affiliate products to them! Secondly, you may want to bundle workouts together and sell them as a program!)
Since I want to be able to use all of the workouts I film on my website, the two music platforms I use are YouTube Audio Library and Soundstripe.
Here’s why you’d want to use one over the other. YouTube Audio Library is free, which is obviously amazing! (Hint: search by “attribution not required” as one of the filters so you don’t have to track down songwriter credit on 15 songs for every workout.)
The drawback? It’s hard to come up with music for fitness formats that require a steady 32-count. It’s POSSIBLE–your best bet is to filter by “dance and electronic” version–but you’ll still need to “snap and clap” to see if there are any extra funky measures, AND it is not possible to filter by BPM in YouTube Audio Library.
If you want to filter by BPM, and/or you want to expand the variety of songs available to you, I highly recommend the affordable service Soundstripe.
They have a wide range of options in each BPM, or you can set a BPM range too if you’re okay varying by a few beats per minute from song to song.
If you’re needing an alternative to fitness remixed music, I suggest finding beat-driven songs in the right BPM inside of Soundstripe, then using your video editor to trim the few seconds of silence between each song so you’re essentially remixing your own music!
The other thing I L-O-V-E about this platforms is that you can keep using your videos where their music occurs even if you choose to end your membership–this is huge!
I used to recommend Epidemic Sound, until I realized that after I ended my membership (because I didn’t need more music at that particular time), they actually flagged me and sent me violation notices to pull down all the videos I’d previously used in which their music occurred–even videos that had gotten hundreds of views on YouTube. Yuck!!!
Okay, that was a lot.
Bottom line? Here’s my opinion.
LIVE STREAMING ONLY
Use YouTube Audio Library to create your own playlists via a video editor for FREE if a steady 32-count isn’t important to you.
Use Muscle Mixes or equivalent fitness remixed music company if the 32-count is essential to your format (please be sure ONLY to use the playlists that are available for Virtual Use).
WORKOUTS THAT LIVE (OR EVENTUALLY WILL LIVE) ON YOUR WEBSITE OR INSIDE A PAID PRE-RECORDED PROGRAM
Use YouTube Audio Library to create your own playlists via a video editor for FREE if a steady 32-count isn’t important to you.
Use SoundStripe to search by desired BPM, do the “snap and clap” test to see if they are equal 32-count measures, then trim the few seconds of silence or any intro/outro inside a video editor to create continuous 32-count play.
Website Platform — Conversion Cats WordPress Theme *
This WordPress theme is worth its weight in gold! Forget about hiring an expensive graphic designer, HTML coder, and web developer. All you need to create a clean, beautiful, can’t-make-it-look-bad-if-you-tried website with built-in landing pages–complete with a very thorough guide for building your site. My favorite part? Their top-notch customer service support anytime you get stuck or need additional advice.
Landing Page Software — Leadpages*
If you’re not yet ready to build out a whole website, but want to start collecting email addresses in exchange for a freemium, I recommend using Leadpages stand-alone landing page templates. Without needing a website, you can customize using drag-and-drop templates and connect it with an email service provider like MailChimp to automatically deliver your freebie while building your email list of potential customers. This software also works well if you have a website that does not have landing page functionality built in. (Note: If you use Conversion Cats for your website, you do not need Leadpages as it has a similar feature built in.)
Graphic Design Tool — Canva
I create all my social media, website, and video graphics using this FREE online graphic design tool. (Note: I almost never pay for their stock photos, though, as I get a much better deal and nicer looking images through Ivory Mix–see below.)
Stock Photos — Ivory Mix*
If you had the chance to catch my podcast interview with the founder of Ivory Mix, then you already know that Kayla is an awesomely generous, mindful person with a kick-ass weight loss story of her own (over 100 lbs OMG!). But in addition to being super nice, she has the absolute BEST stock photos I’ve ever seen that are A.) Gorgeous B.) Include a bigger variety of health and wellness photos than any other stock photo site I’ve compared C.) Stupidly affordable. As in, a tiny fraction of what you’d play at the big sites. She also gives a ton away for free. Click here for 550 free stock photos–including health and wellness styled shots.
Virtual Assistant Finder — OnlineJobs.ph*
My secret weapon for getting more done! (Hint–I don’t do it all myself.) I have been using Filipino assistants from this virtual assistant recruiting site for over 4 years–sometimes for just a few hours a week. Because the cost of living is different in that country, I can provide a competitive wage and standard of living for my assistants that costs me less than $4 per hour! My newest assistant Lyden has been a lifesaver for me. We text on a regular basis, and I create screen flow training videos for her when I need to show her a new process. She helps me with everything from creating social media posts to editing my workout videos to sending out prep emails to my Barre Above certificate trainees on event weeks!
Task Management Software — Trello
Literally my whole life is planned on a free desktop and mobile app called Trello. This is like the best virtual sticky-note solution you can imagine! With the ability to add checklists, drop and drag between lists, add deadlines that sync to your calendar, and invite team members (like my Virtual Assistant) to view or edit tasks and lists, I couldn’t live without it. It’s even a major part of how I teach my Meal Planning Mastery system for grocery shopping!
Request TutorialOnline Course Software — Course Cats*
I house my signature, paid courses like Boss Body System and Meal Planning Mastery on a separate website using Course Cats –the sister WordPress Theme to Conversion Cats. Just like Conversion Cats, they walk you through every step of the way to create your own digital courses–whether you want to include video modules, PDF’s, Bonuses, and more! This software gives you the ability to create tiered lesson plans, interact with members in a comment section under each lesson, build a sales page, and generate member log-in’s so that only paid members can access your premium content.
Password Manager — LastPass
I use this master password manager to safely encrypt and store all my passwords, which I can then selectively share with my personal assistants. No more saying, “Oh dang, what was my password for this site?!”