Starting Out In The Fitness Industry

[SesO]

Hi, I'm really into going to the gym and I help a lot of my friends with their programs and they have seen some great results from my advice. I'm thinking of turning it into a serious personal training business. I would love to know if anyone on here has any success stories of how fitness companies start-up.

 

[CharlieHooray]

I have a few friends who have done it and know it is extremely hard due to the amount of person trainers out there. It might be worth trying to get a job at a gym first as one of their personal trainers so you can learn the ropes and build up a book of clients.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

It is very hard that's what I started with during the eighties I did my city and guilds 123and 4 in sport I did a weights room course , I was already an athletics coach at a young age. I helped at a boxing gym and various other voluntary coaching roles .
There was no money in it !
There is more demand now but like most things it is more competitive
The customers now look for trainers that have a proven track record and the ones with a successful sporting background get the clients

 

[Paramount Digital]

A lot of them find business via Facebook so make sure you have a page on there and stay active, and also Instagram - results posts are very popular and will get you noticed.

 

[Mark T Jones]

When you say 'personal training business' do you mean you want to do the training, or you want to build a business with staff etc? There are crucial differences between the 2.

As others have said; it' a fairly busy space a common route to entry is to affiliate with a gym (or several gyms) to get some traction; albeit with diluted income.

Beyond that, like any business you really need to identify a key target market and look to promote yourself where they 'hang out' (literally or digitally) with a set of key benefits that will resonate with them.

 

[Instamixes]

Good to hear that you want to start a fitness company. You can start it actually by collecting all the gym items.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Good to hear that you want to start a fitness company. You can start it actually by collecting all the gym items.

Gosh. Much easier than I had realised then

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Gosh. Much easier than I had realised then

I think he means going around the gym and picking up the matts ,dumbbells and small equipment after a session ,maybe even put the brush around
We all have start somewhere

 

[antropy]

It is a very hard industry to break into because as highlighted above there is so much competition. A good idea would be to run it along the side of what you are doing at the moment, get a good client base by charging less than your competition and take it from there. See it as more of a hobby or to help friends in the first instance as otherwise, you will be unnecessary pressure on yourself. Alex

 

[Mark_Nicholson_LeadExpert]

I have had a couple clients in the personal training space and as already mentioned, it is very hard purely because of supply and demand, however, there is still demand for good quality personal trainers. It's all about knowing where to position yourself in the market, who you specifically want to work with, and then putting yourself in front of that group of people each and every day. It's about being smart with your time, utilising tool & systems that can do some of the work for you.

Also, never be afraid to give away free advice. When it comes to scaling any Expert business, you first need to show people you know what you are talking about and if you can help them get some quick wins through some simple tips, tricks and advice, then they are going to keep coming back to you for more advice. It is then up to you to show them that they can achieve even better results in less time by actually working with you as a paying client.

As mentioned, I have had a couple PT clients in the past and although it is hard work, all things in life that are worth it are hard work. There are still new PT's coming every day, most of them know nothing about business, so they will struggle, but you have already reached out for help so well done!

If becoming a PT truly is your passion and what you want to do for the foreseeable future, then don't let anything get in your way. Work hard, do what it takes, and go achieve what you want!

 

[SesO]

Hi, I've a few regular clients that I've got from social media, but its slowing down despite January being a busy time for people searching online for quick ways to get fit. So I've decided to start a website to try to attract new customers. I'm going to build one with Wordpress and make it like a blog, with useful information so that people come back and become more interest in getting fitter and healthier.
I just need a way to get them to book some PT sessions. Hopefully I can get them to subscribe to a newsletter so I can keep in contact with them.
I'd like to be able to have a live questions and answers session. I've seen it done on facebook before, but I'm not sure how to do that. Does anyone how they do that? Is it just facebook live and they comment underneath?

 

[Mark_Nicholson_LeadExpert]

Hi Seso,

From working with a lot of people who are coaches, consultants and trainers, I can tell you one thing for certain. A website will not help you with this.

What you need is eyeballs, and a website will not produce you any eyeballs. Yes, it will give people somewhere to go find more out about you, but first things first, you need to learn how to generate traffic. My advice to you is to not spend your time building a website just yet.

Create a Facebook group, and learn how to drive traffic into that. provide value daily, build a community, give help and support, get people on the phone and offer your services.

Trust me, I have been doing this for years now and the amount of people who have the attitude of "build a website and they will suddenly get leads" is a completely false idea.

Instead of spending hours of your time creating blogs, that no one will see, create video content, put it into your group, share it across social media, and even potentially use the videos as ads on Facebook or Instagram.

Happy to have a chat with you if you need more help. I do this stuff day in day out for my clients so I know it works.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Word of mouth in the fitness industry and having a track record is still the most effective way

 

[Lizzyohara]

This industry is more competitive and hard than what people think. Yes you have to work hard to get clients. Don't rely on social media. I know lots of PTs on social media who get so much abuse from people who criticise there techniques and approach - just like religion, people are very precious and particular on how to do certain exercises and what to eat / not to eat.

 

[Mark T Jones]

This industry is more competitive and hard than what people think. Yes you have to work hard to get clients. Don't rely on social media. I know lots of PTs on social media who get so much abuse from people who criticise there techniques and approach - just like religion, people are very precious and particular on how to do certain exercises and what to eat / not to eat.

oh dear.

 

[antropy]

This industry is more competitive and hard than what people think.

Unfortunately it's a "hobby" industry in the sense that it's something people do for fun and then look at ways to make money from it (much like being an artist, musician or computer gamer). Because so many people want to do it, market forces - supply and demand - mean that it's highly competitive. But plenty of people do make a good living from it, you just have to be willing to accept that you will probably have to work harder than a "normal" job. Paul.

 

[Renars-SharkServers]

By your post I assume that you enjoy gym, but are you actually qualified as personal trainer? There is a course you need to take in order to call yourself a PT. If you don't have a certificate, and someone injures themselves after following your advise, you may get in trouble.

 

[MBE2017]

This girl is on everything, YouTube, instagram etc plus her own website. I’ve never paid for or used any of her content since she puts so much up for free, but I watch avidly. She has 3/4 million followers on Instagram, so she’s doing well offering loads free, many pay for the extra.

https://zuzkalight.com/

 

[iTechnoLabs]

You can cnsidering startyour own start up for that make a website , build your facebook and insta page. Promote the transformation stories of people on social media and give your website details in description to get maximize engagement.

Run campaigns to get more visibility and reach out to people in the your preferred location. HElp them with customize workout plan and diet based on their requirements.

Consider social media and website, you can start working from your plqce. There are already lot of people who are earning good with this kind of startups. I guess you should give it a try as well.

 

[antropy]

You can cnsidering startyour own start up for that make a website , build your facebook and insta page

Day drinking is very bad! Alex

 

[Simon-TP]

I know of a few gyms that have introduced online classes via zoom which are PAYG sessions. It could well be that they (and others) continue to offer these even after lockdown as a means of convenience for both members and non-members.

 

[antropy]

I know of a few gyms that have introduced online classes via zoom which are PAYG sessions

That is a good idea but of course, they couldn't run involving equipment. I cannot imagine people just have a stationary exercise bicycle to hand. Alex

 

[Kevin Joseph]

Simply fitness seems too broad & generic. If you like any particular niche within fitness, you should specialize & position yourself as an expert in that field.

I know of a friend who began taking advanced calisthenics classes during the lockdown which became unusually popular.

Best thing is, his classes are based in Mumbai, I'm sure UK too does have a market for this, provided you have the specialization

 

[Joseph K]

Wise advice

By your post I assume that you enjoy gym, but are you actually qualified as personal trainer? There is a course you need to take in order to call yourself a PT. If you don't have a certificate, and someone injures themselves after following your advise, you may get in trouble.