The following list of 50 considerations are a veritable check list that both budding personal trainers and established fitness professionals should tick off if they're serious about making a long term, financially rewarding fitness industry career.
If you can confidently respond to everything in this list, relative to what type of fitness professional you aspire to be or business you plan to run before you get started, or even now if you're already working in the industry; your chances of success will increase significantly.
Let's get started!
1. Determine Your Start Up Costs:
Have you seriously considered how much running a small business is going to cost you? Besides the obvious expenses of equipment and rent, have you factored in rudimentary costs like petrol, phone and Internet connection?
2. Support:
Do You Have The Support Of Your Family? This can be extremely important to consider before you dive in to a new career. Without their blessing, you may find yourself on the sharp end of financial discussions.
3. Hire A Local Personal Trainer:
Hire the most popular and successful personal trainer in the area that you will be working, if for only one session. It's up to you whether you tell them that you're opening shop next door, but it's better to know your competition than second guess.
4. Ask Yourself If You Have The Entrepreneurial Ability To Start Your Own Business Or Whether You Should Be An Employee:
One of the first things to consider before you make the decision to become a contract personal trainer or employee. Do you have the drive to market yourself, to perform all of the mundane tasks that employee trainers are oblivious to? Running a business involves consistent hard work, determine whether you're up to it.
5. Make A Budget And Overestimate Expenses:
Make a business budget and stick to it. Most small businesses fail in the first 12 months because of miscalculated budgeting. Be realistic and also very tight with your money. Prepare for the worst but expect the best.
6. Start A Blog:
No matter what type of business you're operating, start a blog. It doesn't have to be fantastic or mind bogglingly beautiful, the important thing is to start getting some information online immediately.
Personal Training And Fitness Business Bogging Tips Can Be Found Here
7. Research Your Competitors:
Besides training with your biggest competition, you should research their marketing and promotional approach. Notice if anything has been repeated because that's a clear sign that it was a successful promotion and you should look to build on that. The best thing about established competition is that it gives you an opportunity to study what does and doesn't work in your niche and then make it better.
8. Run A Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising Campaign:
Run a trial advertising campaign on facebook. Target your market specifically, put a cap on your daily expenditure and evaluate your click through rate. Tweak your ad slightly over the course of the campaign and find out what attracts the most attention. If you receive zero clicks, you may need to reconsider your strategy all together.
9. Train At Surrounding Fitness Centers:
This will give you an indication of the type of community you're working in. It will also give you a better idea of what your competitors are offering and how you can promote your point of difference.
10. Write A Brief Mission Statement:
100 words or less. This should be your answer to the question "What type of business are you operating?". If you can't answer this simple question confidently and briefly, than you're committing personal training business suicide.
11. Create A Client Avatar:
Spend some time visualising and writing down everything you can think of that describes your target client. From their hobbies to their age and gender, when you have a specific market in mind, your marketing and promotion dollar goes much further.
12. Organise Your Administration Tools:
Equipment for a personal trainer consists of more than a pair of focus pads and an exercise ball. Have all of your forms like branded program cards, pre-exercise questionnaires and office stationary ready to go.
13. Buy Some General Equipment:
Buy yourself some boxing gloves, focus pads, cones, a skipping rope, light dumbbells and some other small pieces of equipment. Keep them in a designated gym bag to enable your service the freedom to go outside and so you don't have to rely on the gym for everything you may need
14. Introduce Yourself To Neighbouring Related Businesses: Beauty therapists, sports stores, gyms, hairdressers:
Take the opportunity to go and meet the owners, managers and staff of businesses that you may be able to offer collaborative promotions with down the track. Build a relationship, don't let your first point of contact be asking them for something.
15. If Beginning In An Established Fitness Center, Introduce Yourself To Your Future Colleagues:
If after your course you 've already selected the club you will be operating out of, go by before you commence work and meet your future colleagues. Shake every ones hand from the receptionist to the general manager so when you start you can get straight down to business.
16. Prepare Some Generic Calorie Controlled Meal Plans:
Have a list of meal plan ideas ready to go which you can easily modify for your clients. Include vegetarian and gluten free meal plans to compliment the variety of clients you want to attract.
17. Source And Practice Making Healthy Recipes That You Can Recommend To Future Clients:
This is perhaps so obvious that no one ever does it. If you're putting together some generic meal plans, TRY THEM! The low calorie recipes you find online may be difficult to prepare or even worse taste disgusting. Never recommend something to your clients that you wouldn't eat yourself if you were in their shoes.
18. Create An Exercise Glossary:
This is very simple, but again often over looked. Create a list of exercises for every body part and every level of fitness. You don't need thousands, but having a list of exercise suggestions prior to designing a client program can save you hours of time.
19. Train At The Gym You're Going To Work From:
Along with visiting the gym you're going to be working from, begin training there. Get to know the equipment, where the locker rooms are, operating hours, everything you will need to know before you start work.
20. Market Research:
Spend an hour at your gym/new gym at different times of the day: You don't have to train, you could just go for coffee next door but see what happens first hand first thing in the morning, during the middle of the day and in the afternoon. This will give you an opportunity to see what kind of clientele your potential gym attracts and to check out the viability of running a successful personal training business. Is it too busy, not busy enough, is it just filled with students etc.
21. Register A Twitter Account:
Get a twitter account up and running and brand it. This will be a business account; so how much you drank on the weekend has no place here. This twitter account will be for updates, congratulations, tips and tricks and timetables.
Follow my rants @mybizisfitness
22. Create A Facebook Fan Page:
Like your twitter account; this page is strictly business. Use it to network within your industry and to inform clients of business news. You can post videos here, run competitions, all kinds of things.
Become A Fan Of My Business Is Fitness
23. Register A Youtube Account:
Lock down your Youtube account name. Even though you may not be making movies yet, you will be in the future so register and brand yourself.
24. Purchase Your Business Domain Name:
Go to any domain seller, (I use Godaddy myself) and register your personal training business name. Again, even if you're not starting your site yet, you need to lock it down or at least a version thereof.
25. Compare Insurance Providers:
Get quotes for income and health insurance. Your accreditation body should offer you a good indemnity and liability package for your clients, but don't forget about yourself.
Insurance Watch is worth checking out.
26. Save As Much Money As Possible:
Over the next few weeks, stop spending money on garbage. Save, save, save, you never know what you're going to need or what emergencies may come up. Have some money put aside for anything.
27. Buy Work Clothes:
Buy some work sneakers, shorts and socks. If you're going to work from a club, find out what the uniform is and put in your order.
28. Prepare Promotional Material:
For your launch you should consider what type of promotion you're going to run. You only get one shot at this so take your time and do your research before you spend any time or money.
29. Register Your Business Name:
Register your fitness business name.
30. Get An ABN:
Apply online, it takes 15 minutes.
31. Register For GST:
Welcome to the world of business ownership and taxation. Once you have your ABN you can now register for GST.
32. Research EFT Providers:
There are quite a few companies offering EFT and direct debit systems for fitness centers and personal trainers. Shop around and get the best deal for your structure and growth forecasts.
A few to look at are:
33. Subscribe To Industry Magazines and blogs:
You will probably receive your first year subscription as part of your graduation, however see what else is out there. Stay abreast of upcoming continued education courses and industry trends.
34. Make Business Cards:
Get 1000 business cards made up. Have your branding on there, your name, contact phone number, email address and website and or blog address.
- Vistaprint offer a pretty good service but they email you ALOT
Speak to your bank about the most appropriate account for your new business. Will you need a business credit card, merchant facilities etc.? Negotiate the best rates and don't be afraid to shop around.
36. Write A Business Plan:
You can find business plan templates all over the net and in most Microsoft office packages. Write a brief plan that you can add too as time goes by.
37. Write A Marketing Plan:
It doesn't have to be mapped out to the day, but definitely put together a viable calendar of activities that you are going to attempt to run over the first 12 months. Remember that your budget will be extremely tight so plan accordingly.
38 Join A Local Business Advice Center:
A lot of the time these associations are free to join, otherwise there may be a small annual fee. Not only are there networking opportunities, you will have access to business tools that you may not be aware of.
39. Find An Accountant With Fitness Industry Experience:
Ask colleagues who they recommend for taxation issues. Accountants who have worked with personal trainers and other fitness industry professionals will have a better understanding of what you are able to claim and the taxation laws governing our industry.
40. Decide On Your Legal Business Structure:
Are you a sole trader, company or partnership? Study the difference and set up your legal entity accordingly.
41. Don't Quit Your Day Job:
While I encourage you to visualize success and be confident that your new career in the fitness industry is going to set you up for life, it is far too early to think that you are going to be inundated with clients in the first few months. If possible, reduce your days and hours progressively over time to accommodate your growing business but for now; personal training is a part time job.
42. Don't Hire Any Staff:
It's way too early to even consider hiring or subcontracting any staff at this stage. You're on your own, so get use to it; at least for now.
43. If You Have Social Media Accounts. Clean Them Up:
If you have a Facebook profile, expect your new colleagues and clients to want to be friends with you. Clean out any drunken pictures and derogatory comments that may effect your reputation. People are fascinated by social media, you can either use it as a virtual resume or a career time bomb.
44. Make A SWOT Analysis:
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Download a SWOT Analysis template here.
Here's a video (with some downright lovely music) on how to make a SWOT analysis, using Microsoft Word and Excel:
45. Create/Determine A Suitable Workspace Away From The Gym To Complete Administration Tasks:
Create a space in your home that is strictly for business, be it planning, doing paperwork, making calls it doesn't matter. When you are here you are not to be distracted and you need to let your family and friends know this.
46. Develop A Life Plan:
Why Are You Becoming A personal trainer or business owner, what do you want to achieve? What are your dreams, where do you want to be in five years? Know the answers to these questions and you can get there.
47. Expand Your Network:
Get out and meet people, hand out business cards and shake some hands.
48. Ask Yourself If You're Skilled To Complete All Peripheral Tasks:
Filing, answering phones professionally, book keeping, stock control. You may need to take an administration or small business course to teach you the fundamentals of organising and implementing effective procedures and systems.
49. Come Up With A Unique Business Name:
Make sure it makes sense. Don't make up words or try and get technical, just consider using your name plus 'personal training' or 'fitness center' or any other combination of fitness keywords.
50. Get A Logo/Brand Yourself:
This isn't as hard or as expensive as you may think. Search online for cheaper alternatives and you should be able to get a professional logo made in all art formats for around $50.00.
Rest assured; I haven't created this list to frighten you off or to make things seem more complicated than they really are, in fact if I wanted to do that I could have made this list 1000 things you need to do.
This is just a reality check to remind you that beginning your personal training business, studio or fitness center is not as simple as getting certified and opening the doors. With preparation and planning you can get your business off on the right foot from the very beginning and climb the ladder of success in record time.
UPDATE: Download '50 Things You Need To Know BEFORE You Begin Your Personal Training Business' in PDF format here FREE!
Ben
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How Much Should You Charge?
Great article - thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks IGF, appreciate the feedback!
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