It’s no secret, March 2020 devastated the fitness industry. Most personal trainers had to fight to survive… and many of them, branched out and started their own personal training business. Now, it’s time to profit
In this article, I’m going to break down:
- How personal trainers can run a successful, profitable business
- Keys to breaking free and not being limited to in-person client schedules
- And, the 3 quick-hit keys to running a high-level personal training business
Step one in running a profitable personal training business is the same step one when starting anything new…
All of the Reasons NOT to Start a Personal Training Business… and Why They’re Not True
What’s the #1 thing you have to help new clients with? They committed to working out with you, they’re excited to get results, but what happens once they get started?
Excuses.
Anything new and worth doing needs to start with new habits and eliminating excuses. Here are a few of the excuses we’ve heard personal trainers new to running their own business make when it comes to growing their business:
“I’m afraid no wants online personal training…”
The numbers are in and members WANT online personal training. In other words, this is no longer an excuse.
Felicia Romero is the Performance Director at Loud Rumor Personal Training. She’s been in the industry for 20 years and before taking her business online, she earned an inconsistent $4,000 to $6,000 in monthly recurring revenue… and that was the limit.
With in-person training, it would’ve been nearly impossible for her to make more than that without charging more.
Yes, those are above average earnings but, when she switched to online, the 5X’d that and earned a consistent $10,000 to $30,000 in monthly recurring revenue. On top of that…
Her schedule wasn’t dependent on her in-person clients anymore. She was able to take more vacations, she was able to spend more time with family, she created more freedom.
In-person personal training is limited. When you’re building a business, you’ll be more motivated knowing you can be limitless.
“Gyms have reopened and it’s safer to just go back…”
Just when we thought everyone could reopen their gyms, a second wave of lockdowns hit. We have no idea if that’ll happen again. Hopefully it doesn’t.
On top of that, gyms that got to reopen had to run at 50% capacity or less!
If a profitable physical gym typically runs at 80% of capacity, how are they supposed to profit with 30% fewer paying members?
If they’re not profiting and have less members, how are you supposed to profit as a personal trainer?
The point is, you made the right decision to move forward and set yourself up for greater success… let’s help you stick with it and experience that freedom Felicia is experiencing.
“It’s not the same experience if it’s not in-person…”
I understand why personal trainers say this, but let’s think about what your business’s actual WHY is: Help people get fit and feel better about themselves. Right?
If online fitness helps you accomplish that AND, allows you to grow your business beyond the limitations of in-person training, isn’t it worth it?
Another thing you can do is make in-person training your premium product.
“I don’t know how to run a online personal training business…”
This is fair, but I promise you do. Many personal trainers have felt the same way… but once they launched theirs and started training, they fell right into their coaching groove.
As far as how to building an actual personal training business, that’s where your trainer Felicia Romero comes in: Check Out Loud Rumor Personal Training
There are a lot of personal trainers right now running successful, profitable businesses that had similar excuses but one mindset helped them level up…
What Sets Successful Personal Training Business Owners Apart
Personal Trainers running a successful online option aren’t much different from anyone else. They had the same fears, excuses, and anxiety about creating and running a online option, but…
These owners made a mindset shift… they made a decision:
They chose to figure it out instead of waiting it out. In other words, they pivoted from Personal Trainer to Business Owner.
Personal Training Business Owners Find Revenue, Not Individual Clients
When you make the switch from Personal Trainer to Business Owner, you switch from focusing on how many clients you have to how you can help more people, grow your business, and increase revenue.
This is a GOOD thing.
That mindset shift is how you’re able to go from 30 minutes with a single client for $100 to 30 minutes with an entire corporate office for $50 per person.
Felicia broke down her strategy for Corporate Personal Training in an episode of The GSD Show:
Clients Are Actually Enjoying Online Personal Training
Many people had to adapt and do workouts from home… and the clients we speak to? Love it. They love working out from home. Now imagine this…
You’re the type of personal trainer your clients love, right? Imagine helping even more clients who love you just as much as your in-person clients, love your workouts, and love working out at home.
They’re happy and you’re building a thriving personal training business. Now, how do you make a online experience one your clients can’t get enough of?
Here’s an incredible example of why clients love online fitness…
One of the fitness businesses Loud Rumor Account Manger Alexa works with said one of their clients told them she was so grateful that they not only had LIVE online workouts, but recordings of their live workouts:
“This client was in the middle of her LIVE workout when her child started screaming,” Alexa says, “So she had to jump out of the workout and was so happy that she could jump back in where she left off with the recorded version.”
Make LIVE Workouts the Core of Your Personal Training Business
With online, personal trainers can host more live workouts with clients than they can with in-person workouts.
Personal Training businesses like yours have a powerful advantage over the competition: convenient, LIVE workouts.
You get to interact with clients doing your workouts just like you would in-person. You can call them out by name, motivate them, and help them faster and more efficiently.
“Great form on those squat jumps, Jill!”
“John, keep those hips down on those push-ups!”
Felicia Romero’s clients love it and it keeps them coming back for more. On top of that, her incredible business insight will help your business really thrive and grow.
You Can Create Live Fitness Challenges To Get More Online Clients
People love challenges… more than that, they love interactive group challenges. The top 5% of online fitness businesses do this very well.
So, while you normally do one-on-one personal training, you can still grow your business by building a community with your clients and creating bonus challenges and group workouts.
In fact, LadyStrong Fitness ran multiple challenges, but I’m going to highlight two that benefited their clients, their business, and people in need.
The Online Fitness Accountability Challenge
One of the challenges LadyStrong Fitness owners Brittany Welk and Marciea Allen devised was an Accountability Challenge. Here’s out it works:
- Bring a friend to do online workouts with you for FREE for 30 days.
- Whichever friend completes the most LIVE online classes (including one-on-one sessions) in that 30 days wins ANOTHER 30 days FREE for themselves AND the client who referred them.
The Feed America Online Fitness Challenge
This is a great referral campaign for you to grow your client base immediately and help out a charity you’re passionate about…
For every person who’s referred and attends a online class, LadyStrong Fitness donated 50 meals to Feeding America
LadyStrong Fitness ran this promo for about 2 weeks and it resulted in 5,700 meals to Feeding America.
Not only did they get hot leads into their fitness business, but they helped a lot of starving families in the process. And it was all through online fitness.
Engage With Online Fitness Clients Outside Of Their Sessions
Remember, online personal training is a full-fledged business! Just like you would when you’re in-person with clients, you have to engage with people outside of your sessions.
You’re building a book of business now.
Send clients texts and emails to remind them of their upcoming LIVE sessions, stretching guides, proper form videos, check-in on them, and everything in between.
Be there for each client and get them excited to participate with you and get their friends and family involved too.
If you need help with this, I highly recommend watching this video of Felicia Romero and learning more about Loud Rumor Personal Training HERE:
The 3 Quick-Hit Keys To Running a Profitable Personal Training Business
It’s a quick-hit list so let’s get right into it:
#1 Launch
You can’t wait until your online personal training business is “perfect.” Just launch it and improve it along the way. Start here: Loud Rumor Personal Training
#2 Build
- Make your online personal training business a better experience for clients every chance you get
- Encourage and build your community with LIVE training and group challenges
- Provide helpful materials like stretching tips, nutritional guides, etc.
#3 Grow
Perfect or not, people want to do online personal training right now. In-person can be tough for people and just as expensive, if not more expensive, than online training.
Run Facebook and Instagram Ads to get new clients into your personal training book of business. If you need help with this, we have a FREE Facebook Advertising Cheat Sheet for you:
With where the fitness industry is at right now AND, with where your clients and prospects are at, running an online personal training business is a great way to increase your income and freedom.
