Personal Training For The Long Term.

A guest post by Luke Scott, founder and managing director of Revolution Personal Training.

Do you want to become a personal trainer? Are you already a personal trainer and worried about the high drop out rate of your colleagues? Well the reality is you should be.

The average lifespan of a personal trainer is well under 18 months here in Australia.

Let’s face it, that’s not long. I bet you first job as a paper boy or something similar you probably stuck at for longer than that.

So why is that the case? Why is it that once people become qualified in the highly glamorized field of personal training they can’t even stick it out for the length of time it takes to complete your VCE (the High School Certificate here in Victoria)?

Well the reality is its tough! Not only are the qualifications these days frightfully expensive to attain, putting any new graduate behind the eight ball before they have worked a day, but it is hard to make a quid.

•  If you’re working in a large chain gym you have huge rentals to pay before you put any money in your own pocket.

•  If you work for wages in a centre, it takes a lifetime to build up a regular consistent client base, same goes for a studio.

•  If you go with outdoor mobile personal training for yourself the kilometers and travel time mean the hours worked for dollars that you’ll earn are a tough equation to make work.

After all that you’re up and 4:00am, or 5:00am every morning, work through to 8:00 or 9:00am, go home, twiddle your thumbs and wait for everyone else to be available and ready to train. Then your back at it around 5:00pm through till after 9:00pm. Up again the next day at 4:00am again.

So what does this all mean? Don’t bother? Give it away? It’s all too hard? No way!

The reality is it is just about the best job in the world! If you can get it right. But get it wrong and your health will suffer, you won’t make any money and you will be changing careers and joining the long list of people who thought the industry was a good idea at the time.

The reality is too that these people do hurt the industry. I have a lot of customers coming to us saying; yes I’ve had a personal trainer before, but stopped and lost interest when my trainer got another job. I’ve not heard too may people say that about their hairdresser or doctor.

So, what can be done? How can you ensure that the investment you have made in your new career (and lets face it can be substantial with your initial qualifications, your first aid, insurance, ongoing certification points etc. etc.), is a good investment?

Well first of all you need to make sure you are truly a great role model. I know of many personal trainers and fitness business owners that start out as fitness freaks and end up being total hypocrites when it comes to work/life balance and sticking to their own advice.

I’ll admit I've been there as well. As their work load increases, hours get longer their health starts to take a back seat.

Sleep is compromised with the wacky hours, training for themselves takes second place (hey you have to be making money in that time slot). Your eating can become not the same as the prescription of low G.I. carbohydrate foods that you recommend to your customers, as foods of convenience need to be stuffed down in between customers as you are working through all of the peak times (read: regular meal times).

To combat this make sure your customers work around you, ALWAYS. It’s essential. Plan your weekly work outs and book them into your diary. NEVER move them, or trust me they won’t happen. One shuffle and it may as well be a cancelled session as something will always be coming up.

Never show your customers your diary, even if you have and hour booked in to go for a walk by yourself or read a book that’s your time and should never be shuffle to fit another appointment in. If you let this happen early you will forever be at your client’s service.

Define your niche.

Initially you will want to be everything to everyone to fill your schedule and make your budget. This is understandable, but the reality is there are many people that you are just not going to be the right trainer for.

As your career progresses and you further your knowledge you will become more and more specialized. You will invest more and more money into your continuing education. It makes sense that this focus should become increasingly narrower.

Focus on something you are good at. Find a topic that you know best, and get to know it better. Something you are specifically passionate about and enjoy will be something that you put far more effort into for the long term and therefore eventually do a much better job of (and make more money from).

Take holidays.

How many weeks do your friends and family get off per year? Generally 4 weeks at a minimum. So why should you work through, year after year training and looking after everyone else. You need to take out time for yourself. It will keep you fresh and your will be able to attack your work with much more enthusiasm when you return.

And last but not least - Network.

It’s very easy in a small industry like this to fall into the habit of thinking that everyone is out to get you and that all of your fabulous new ideas will be ripped off if you reveal them to anyone else in the industry and that all of your unique points of difference will mean nothing once somebody else starts to offer them. But, get over yourself. You didn’t invent the wheel! The reality is without networking within the industry you will find it very hard to survive the long haul as a personal trainer. Build your network and expand your contacts as much as possible.

The more people you can come into contact with the more opportunities that will open up in front of you. Even though you will be sharing some of your unique ideas with your possible competition you will also be getting a lot back in return.

So yes, being a personal training for the long term is tough. But it’s also the most rewarding of careers should you decide to view it as a career and not a past time. Invest time and money wisely in yourself. Strive to continually improve, and not only will the fitness industry reward you financially but I assure you will find it extremely enjoyable as well.

About The Author

Luke Scott is a certified personal trainer and the managing director and founder of Revolution Personal Training which was established in 2004. Luke also writes the Revolution Personal Training Blog, where he shares his best advice and insights on how to achieve personal excellence in health and fitness.

You can contact Luke directly at info@revopt.com.au and follow him on twitter @revopt.