Countless athletic individuals dream of starting their own personal training business one day. With fitness trends continuing to explode in popularity across the United States, it also seems as if now is a better time than ever before to try and make t as a professional personal trainer. Despite plethora of tantalizing opportunities just waiting to be seized by go-getter entrepreneurs, however, many amateur personal trainers are hesitant to make the jump to the big leagues.
There’s no reason your lack of confidence should translate into a failure to launch your own business. Here’s how personal trainers can succeed in the competitive business world, and why your dream is worth pursuing.
Americans are spending more on fitness
One of the most obvious reasons that now is an excellent time to launch a business centered around physical fitness is that Americans are spending more money on the health and wellness these days than ever before. One analysis recently discovered that Americans were spending more on fitness than they were on college tuition, for instance, as getting and staying in shape are particularly popular with young people. Given that the market is sure to remain ripe for the foreseeable future, this is the time to start your personal training company.
Launching your own business is easier said than done, however. Many potential personal trainers are holding themselves back because they fear they don’t have what it takes to formulate a business plan, for instance. By properly educating yourself on what it takes to succeed, though, you’ll be equipping yourself for success while avoiding certain failure later on. You should begin by assessing your personal skills and determining which niche areas you can earn the highest profits form. Personal trainers who prepare marathon runners require entirely different talents than those who focus on weightlifters, for instance, so ask yourself what you want to do and how effectively you can provide results to your clients.
When it comes to evaluating the training and qualifications of a personal trainer, it’s important to remember that not all of them were created equally. You may excel in certain areas but lack the ability to meaningful train clients in other, important areas. That’s why honest and transparency must be championed from the very beginning; if you attempt to train clients in a subject area you’re unfamiliar with, you won’t only fail to produce results, but could actually hurt them and end up with a lawsuit on your hands. Running a strengths and weaknesses analysis to determine where you should focus is thus essential for becoming a good personal trainer.
Now that the basic elements of fitness have been addressed, you should be asking yourself concrete questions about your place in a competitive market. Your company will need to stand out, for instance, and you’ll have to come up with ways of attracting and retaining new clients without abandoning your existing customer base.
Turn to the web
For aspiring personal trainers who are struggling to drum up enough business to keep the lights on, it’s worthwhile to turn to the web for help. Most people who are looking to get in shape invariably turn to the internet; whether they’re seeking dietary advice, exercise regimes, or positive feedback that will encourage them to keep going, you can find a multitude of potential clients online just waiting to be advertised to. All the marketing in the world won’t mean anything, however, unless you have a stellar website that gives your business a professional image. When people hire personal trainers, they don’t want a local gym jockey but are rather looking for a qualified professional with certifications and experience to back up their advice. A lackluster website will prove to any potential customers that you’re not worthy of their time, attention, and money.
Set some time aside to familiarize yourself with the essential features of any good personal trainer’s website. Besides giving your business an appearance of formality and legitimacy, personal websites can also be monetized to a great extent; by releasing exclusive content like workout videos on your website, for instance, you can encourage subscribers to pay you money for access to such content, thereby bolstering your overall cash flow. Similarly, your website could become a friendly online community for those seeking to get in shape, with your clients regularly communicating and sharing progress with one another. Over time, this will help your fledgling personal training business morph into a full-blown workout community that drives profits into your pockets.
Having an awesome web presence won’t be enough in and of itself, though, as you’ll often need to meet clients in a face-to-face environment to prove your efficacy. When that happens, it’s best that you…
Know what will be expected of you
You may think that you’d make an excellent personal trainer based on the feedback given to you by friends, family members, or coworkers who you helped whip into shape. The truth of the matter, however, is that many people who are excellent are giving their friends workout advice don’t necessarily have what it takes to make it as a professional trainer. Knowing what will be expected of you is important if you want to avoid investing huge sums of time, money, and effort into a business endeavor that never really takes off.
Reviewing some of the common mistakes that personal trainers make on a daily basis can help you know what to expect and which mistakes to avoid as you foray into this market for the first time. One of the chief problems that new personal trainers encounter is record keeping, for instance, something that’s often far more time-consuming and technically complex than many people initially understand. If you’re dealing with clients who have an extensive medical history, keeping a close track of their records and ensuring private information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands can be a nightmare for an unprepared amateur. Those looking to become a personal trainer should thus understand it entails much more work than simple workouts and performing MRI scans via Express MRI to make sure your clients are injury free.
You’ll need to become a bureaucrat of sorts, carefully maintaining a meticulous collection of files that will help you better train clients while simultaneously avoiding legal issues that could stem from a lack of documentation. You’ll also become your own marketing guru, as many personal trainers have advertising campaigns that effectively revolve around their personality and ability to connect with clients on an individual basis. None of this is easy, but it can be achieved if you’re willing to put in the time and work necessary to succeed. More than perhaps anything else, finding a specific niche and capturing that market will be your true roadmap to success. There are many individuals who are only looking for personal trainers of a certain background, or who want personal trainers educated in a specific subject area, so don’t be afraid to get specific when pitching your services to clients. Flexibility is important (both physically and in the world of business) but being able to point to a specific niche and saying “this is mine” is usually what separates the true personal trainers from amateurs trying to get paid for a workout. Over time, you’ll discover that succeeding in business as a personal trainer demands just as much blood, sweat, and tears as breaking your personal workout records.
