Building a successful personal training business

There are an absolute multitude of reasons why people get into personal training, you’re able to help people, you’ve the potential to earn very good money and it could be the beginning step of what could be a very long and fruitful career within the fitness industry, leading you to roles like club manager to general manager and beyond. But before you do that is important that you have a think of what kind of personal trainer you want to be.

From a business point of view there are a number of different options for you with the three most common being;

Fully Self-employed – with this option there are a number of ways you can work. You can work freelance outside of a gym environment and not have to rely on things such as opening hours and class timetables. There are of course pitfalls to this such as not having access to members to promote your business. On the flip side you can use a gym’s facilities by paying rent or offering hours to cover said rent. Dependant on your location rent will vary up and down the country. From here all the money that you make will be yours

Fully Employed – With this model you are a completely employed member of staff for the gym. You are entitled to everything that comes with that such as holiday pay, sick pay and a pension. The gym will pay you a wage and will either take a cut of all of the personal training you do or pay you commission on top of your basic salary.

Part Rent/Part Employed – A relative newcomer to the scene this model is starting to become increasingly more common. You will be employed for a certain number of hours per week to act as gym floor cover running classes, inducting members and just making sure the general running of the gym is up to scratch. You will still pay a rent but most if not all of your rent will be covered by your employed hours plus you have the employment benefits of holiday and sick pay and a pension too. With this model too, you are entitled to keep the money that you earn.  

Once you have figured out what you think is best for you, the next move is to look for the right company for you. Different companies will stick to their own separate models, Puregym and The Gym Group have recently brought in part rent/part employed, Nuffield Health have fully employed roles and places like David Lloyd have a mixture dependant on location so it is up to you to do your research and work out what you want and what is convenient.  Also reach out to me and I'll help and guide you if needed.

The Keys to building a business

Let’s assume that you know exactly what you want to do and have decided that you want to become a self-employed personal trainer either paying rent or working hours at a gym, there are a few things that you can do to really boost your business and that you must know and embrace.

Marketing & Sales

This is probably the most overlooked and under appreciated part of what it takes to be a self-employed PT and unfortunately a contributing factor as to why a large number of very good PT's drop out of the industry. Selling yourself and your product can be hard, unless you’re a natural salesman you won’t really know where to start.

The reality is people will not just come up to you and ask for personal training and so you have to think of ways to market and sell your business. There is a lot you can do though so do not be afraid! Social media has become a huge tool and the best thing about it is, it is almost always completely free. Start your facebook, Instagram or linkedin but make sure that you are adding relevant, fresh and engaging content. Think who your target demographic is though and be cautious as to what you post – ask yourself do my clients what to see this? I see loooooads of trainers putting up a shirtless picture of them or their heaviest deadlift and that’s great but ask yourself why? Is it vanity on their part or is it part of their plan to attract more clients? It isn’t for me to say but I would always recommend asking the questions! Work with your club to get yourself known, appear on their socials, become the face of their gym and that will automatically put you in people’s minds when looking for personal training.

Continued Professional Development

Simply put, do more courses. Once you have gained your level 3 qualification this opens up a whole new world of potential for you as a personal trainer. You have the opportunity to find yourself a niche and pursue it or you can do qualifications in a number of things and become a well-rounded, better, PT. Again, with this, be sensible with your choices, a lot of PTs will spend thousands getting Strength & Conditioning qualifications enabling them to work with athletes only to go and work from a gym where they cannot properly put their qualifications into practice. Think medium to long term and if the qualification fits in with your target demographic and if it adds to your business.

Upskilling in business

Along with sales this will be a weak point for a lot of PTs. You are going to be running a business, not just taking cash in exchange for sessions so learn everything you can, from tax returns to setting yourself up as a business right. I personally took some additional non fitness related courses in how to set up and run a small business and from here my own PT business benefitted hugely, without those courses and knowledge I may be in a completely different position today. Some companies like PureGym will even offer courses to help with this – so really research who you want to work for!

Online Coaching

An ever growing market, online coaching is maybe the single biggest positive to come from the lockdown as far as personal trainers are concerned. You can now train people in their living rooms or gardens from the comfort of your own home. I have a coach who will provide me with a training plan, nutrition and most importantly accountability all for the fraction of the price of what I would pay if I were to have them at the gym. This is a popular option for people who do not need as much help or guidance and it great for you as the PT as it is not time consuming and you can bring on a lot more clients.  

Get yourself a mentor

My biggest advice for anyone not just in fitness but probably in life is never be too proud to ask for help. When coming into the industry there is going to be so much that you still need to learn and there are people out there who have been there and done it. You can pay to be mentored by one of these people who really can take your business to the next level in a number of ways from marketing yourself to picking up clients. It is probably my biggest regret that I did not do this straight away!

So there you have the basics on how to build a successful PT business. You’ll have the knowledge from your level 3 course but that is only the beginning! If I can do anything else to help or advice on how to start please reach out to me today , you can find my contact details here or connect with us on our website and have a look at what PT roles we are currently recruiting for.

Be sure to have a look at our other blogs and see what else the fitness industry has to offer!

Cam

cam@loverecruitmentgroup.com