Time and time again, I find myself talking to trainers who work for a gym and plan to “go independent” or “take their clients’ privacy.”

Sounds great right, but it’s always important to start with the end in mind, so I have to ask; Do you mean “earn a little extra money and have a little more freedom” or do you mean “build a business from the ground up that can support achieving my life’s greatest ambitions”?

Obviously, there’s a big difference between these two answers, and chances are you’re somewhere in the middle. But I want to encourage you to dream big and meditate on the possibility of achieving something much bigger than “a little more money and freedom.” There are too many who need our help and too many social and environmental factors working against them; we coaches have to start thinking big. very big

I’m talking about complete freedom. I’m talking about REAL money, not a little extra. I mean helping more people, in less time, with less physical effort and a little more mental effort. If you really want to take our industry forward and redefine what it means to be a trainer, 1-on-1 training is just the beginning. That’s what I’m talking about!

So the question changes, from “When should I go private?” to “How do I build a successful fitness business?” Remember, a better quality question will lead to a better quality answer. Always. If you can answer that last question, you’ll already know when to go private, how to raise rates, how to define and attract your ideal customer, how to run and grow your business, etc.

Don’t fall into the “PRIVATE TRAINER TRAP”. For the love of God, please.

There are too many trainers who are content to run around town chasing money and burning it off doing 8+ sessions a day, 6 days a week, instead of building a business, attracting money, and working smarter. There is a BIG DIFFERENCE, especially in the quality of life you will have.

If you can’t be completely healthy for your client, a living example of what a balanced, well rested, focused and in control lifestyle can achieve, then what’s the point anyway?

Here are some of the basics you’ll need to address, so you can get started with your business.

The alternative is running around town training at 5 different locations, teaching classes here and there, with no exit strategy, and no understanding that all that travel time and lack of direction directly impacts your earnings per hour and growth. of your business. At the same time, these “private trainers” are developing bad habits that will create more inertia that they will have to overcome when they finally decide to take the next step.

I’m serious. If you’re at least aware of all the questions below and can honestly give a good answer to half of them, you’re already ahead of the game. So keep reading and don’t fall into the “PRIVATE TRAINER TRAP”.

Change perspective: There are two central principles that should form the basis of every decision you make regarding your work as personal training. Everything else is secondary.

#1) You have a training business.

If you only consider yourself a coach, you are limiting yourself. How many times have you been to a party, introduced yourself as a coach, and been met with this response? “Oh wow, what exercise can I really do to lose my belly?” Typically, this person will not have the money or real desire to commit to a coach, so he is probably not a great prospect for a “coach.” But they’re probably a great prospect for the fitness entrepreneur who sells a $10 PDF titled “The Most Important Factor for a Flat Stomach” on his website.

If you run a business, you can have multiple price points for multiple services, which means that even the person at the party with the belly and the martini glass can be a “customer.” Sell ​​to all over the world! That way, as a fitness entrepreneur, you can say “I have just what you need, go to my website and get this product” and voila, instead of wasting time at a party explaining why cardio and diet are most important to you. have a toned stomach then any exercise.

#2) Your customers are your product.

Cultivating a successful and empowered client list is critical to attracting quality opportunities and the foundation of a solid business model. There are 3 core competencies: ways to grow your business, expand your sphere of influence, and make things happen. Each one has various sub-abilities. You don’t have to be a master at all of them, in fact, you should focus on what you are good at and enjoy, and outsource everything else. You should, at the very least, be aware of all of them so that you can account for them one way (by doing it yourself) or another (by outsourcing someone else).

A great exercise is to give yourself a rating from 1 to 10 for each of these competencies, a self-assessment based on how well your business model can account for each of these 18 sub-competencies. Rate yourself and come up with a plan to emphasize strengths and address weaknesses!

#1) Business Skills

A) Branding – What is your brand? Who is your market? What niche do you fill? Who are the high-quality customers you want to attract? What kind of customer do you like best? What distinguishes them? What are goals?

B) Marketing – How will you penetrate your market and get leads? What relationships have you built with experts in complementary industries? What is your website strategy? What public relations/media contacts have you established?

C) Prospecting skills: what is your sales pitch? What is your 30 second commercial? Can you tailor and improvise your presentation to the individual needs of prospects? What are your qualifying and disqualifying questions?

D) Sales Skills – Do you know how to discover your prospect’s emotional needs and close every qualified customer? What other sources of income have you created? Do you upsell, cross-sell, or downsell your customers to other services? Do you have a network of healthcare professionals with whom you can work as a team to achieve optimal health for your clients? How will you collect payment and track packages?

E) Development of Policies/Business Model – When will they be incorporated? How and when will your rates go up? What is your own investment strategy and education path to create more value for your clients? How many hours a week will you schedule to work IN your business? What is your budget and time commitment each month for continuing education? How will you organize your business into an automated system, so that it can run on its own? How will you keep track of client information, trainings and programs? What sheets and/or software will you use?

F) Advisory Board – What other professionals and business owners are on your advisory board? Do you have an accountant, lawyer, business mentor, computer programmer, etc.? How many people do you know who are successful, trustworthy, and willing to listen to your business ideas and provide valuable feedback?

#2) Interpersonal/Customer Service Skills

A) Personality/Compassion/Communication: How good are you at building strong relationships using these 3 qualities?

B) Leadership/Responsibility/Education: How good are you at teaching your client new information that they will retain? Will they be more informed after they stop training with you? Do they consistently train smart on their own? Do they follow your example or take control of the relationship? Do you give them homework for the exercise and follow up to make sure they have done it, so that it teaches them to be self-responsible and empowered?

C) Motivational/Psychological Skills – How good are you at unlocking motivation within the client? Do you know how to use his psychological frame of reference and personality to ignite his drive?

D) Response/Attention Time: How quickly do you return phone calls and emails? How good are you at focusing all your attention on the client when you are with him? Are you always ready for training, with a workout already laid out and the gym floor set up to suit your needs?

E) Exercise experience: how will you balance what the client needs with what the client wants? How do you use creativity to keep the client engaged, stimulated and having fun?

#3) Knowledge exercise-

You don’t have to master all of these, but A, B, C and D are essential. Obviously, this list is not exhaustive, but it is a great start. If you don’t have any personal interest in anything in particular, like nutrition, then don’t focus on that, just find a nutritionist to work with.

A) Exercise Mechanics and Biomechanics

B) Physiology

C) Anatomy

D) Program Design

I) Nutrition

F) Psychology

G) Energy Medicine

So, are you ready to build a business much bigger than yourself or your customers and make a real difference? Are you ready to attract money and opportunities?

Or are you going to choose to be just another “private trainer”, running around town chasing money? Again, you don’t need to answer all of these questions before you begin, but you should keep them in mind and continually work on them so you don’t fall into the “PRIVATE TRAINER TRAP.”

If you can’t answer at least half of these questions, it may be more productive to continue working for someone else, while developing an evolved business model, testing different referral policies and systems, developing some media contacts, etc. It may seem like you’re ready, but look at these questions for an answer on how ready you are.

Don’t get excited by all the trainers charging $150 to run around town. Fight the temptation to jump into the fray if you don’t feel confident about the answers to the above questions. I promise you, in 3 years, most of those trainers will still be making $150, and/or be out of business and moving on. When they look back, they’ll say, “Yeah, training was fun, and it seemed like good money at the time, but man, was it hard to run, I could just do it more.”

No one can keep up that pace for long, but it’s not the only way, it’s just the easiest way, the path of least resistance. We all know that what is easiest is rarely, if ever, what is best for us.

Be honest with yourself. Think big. Build these different skill sets with someone else’s money (in other words, stay in your gym and work on your business), so you don’t have to lose money when it’s time to implement them in your business. Yes, no matter what, you will and must make mistakes. But jumping into the fray without a plan is not a recipe for success. I had to say something, I am getting tired of watching trainers underestimate themselves and develop bad trading habits that will limit their future. Do you know how to use his psychological frame of reference and personality to ignite his drive?

I had to say something, I am getting tired of watching trainers underestimate themselves and develop bad trading habits that will limit their future.