While I may not be the oldest or most experienced personal trainer out there, I have managed to do fairly well for myself. I’ve managed to develop a good size clientele base, open a gym, develop a brand, and, most importantly, make a living doing something that I enjoy. And over the years, I've been able to take some of the lessons that I've learned and teach them to some other trainers in hopes of helping them build a quality career in the profession.
Like every profession, personal training has its issues. It isn't regulated correctly and therefore anyone, qualified or not, can jump right in, get an online certification, and be considered on par with someone who actually has put in the time to develop his skills. Because of this, gyms hire trainers left and right at little to no cost to the gym itself. They let the trainers loose to succeed or fail on their own. This makes the industry a revolving door for people looking for an easy profession because they eventually get burned out and leave to pursue something else. One of my goals is to change that in whatever manner I can.
At my facility, I try my best (still learning) to develop trainers and put them in positions to do well. I do so by hiring motivated individuals with great passion and personality. I look for trainers with college degrees, quality certifications, and experience. I also look for trainers who are competitors. I ensure that they're compensated fairly in a manner that they can absolutely make a living doing what they're doing, and I help them with continuing education. I have some great trainers with me now, but I still see and hear about trainers doing things that I believe hurt their careers.
Here are my top three dos and don’ts for personal trainers:
1. Don’t chase the money; do build your brand.
I know you aren't going to like hearing this, but you’re probably not going to make much money your first couple years. You should be able to make enough to get by, but you won't be making six figures within your first few years. If you are, it’s because you’re selling some bullshit (and sold your soul). It takes time to gain knowledge and develop your skills. It takes time to show people that you are a qualified professional who can get results, and it takes time to build a following and a clientele base. Each person you help is a walking, talking advertisement for your services, so focus on doing a great job coaching everyone you work with and the referrals will come.
Too many times I see people giving in to the fitness marketing machine and pairing with some multilevel marketing supplement company or trying to develop some cop out sales ploy to pull in clients. If you're good at what you do, people will come to you. It's that simple. Associating yourself with good individuals and companies who are willing to invest in you and help build you up and your brand within their brand can make a world of difference, but those opportunities and relationships don’t always come or last for those who are only in it for the wealth. Build your brand around good principles and don’t chase the money.
2. Don’t focus all your education on training; do educate yourself in business.
Training people is only half the battle. Business is the other half. Looking back, I wish that I had taken the time to learn more business strategies in my earlier years. Learning about marketing, management, financial strategies, and sales techniques will take you a long way. Being able to train people effectively is a must, but you also need to know how to grow and manage that part of your business. Even if you work in a commercial gym, your clients are still paying for you. Thus, you need to know how to effectively market, manage, and sell yourself. You need to know what to do with your money to ensure that you're progressing forward and setting yourself up for continued success.
Read, listen to people, and meet with those who know more than you do. You don’t have to know how to run a Fortune 500 company, but you do need to know how to effectively run your company—you!
3. Don’t take on every client; do develop a niche.
When you’re first starting out, it can be tough to turn away clients. When you’re trying to put food on your table, you look at every client as money in the bank, some breathing room.
Instead, you need to look at clients as potential business developers and spokesmen and women for your brand. If you're incredibly knowledgeable about mobility, flexibility, and corrective exercise, you’re better off turning away the guy or girl who comes to you looking to compete in physique. It just isn't your cup of tea. On one hand, it can dilute your brand by making it more difficult for you to show, and for people to know, what your specialty is and it can hurt your reputation if you do a less than stellar job coaching them.
No one can know all there is to know about all this stuff, so pick something that you want to be great at and focus on that. There isn't anything wrong with branching out and taking on clients who may be a little outside your specialty if you feel that you can help, but don’t take on anyone you aren't qualified to train or coach.
I'm guilty of all three of these don'ts; I had to learn my lesson the hard way. But you don’t have to. I would love to see the personal training profession become one full of qualified individuals making a healthy living. For those trainers out there reading this article, you’ve already taken a step in the right direction by coming to the elitefts™ site. Take note of what was said in this article and go create something awesome.
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