[Jean-Paul]

Welcome Carl!

This is a tough industry. I won't candy coat it. It's not the kind of industry where you can pick a city and write your own ticket.

I have had trainers who worked for me do really well ($50K+ annually), and I have had many who just made okay money off of it ($30K). The ones who do well don't come to my facility expecting me to set them up with all of their clients... They get out there and drum up business, the keep most of their clients (hugely important), and they generally only stick around long enough to learn the trade so they can go off on their own and take away all the clients I gave them. I used to get really bitter about this fact, but I now recognize it as just part of the industry that I can't control. At best I just try to reduce it.

The certs are good ones, and will certainly not hurt. You might do well in a hostpital setting where you can get bennies as well as a living wage.

I don't know if you have a family or not, so this advice may not even be valid. I would work for a year for next to nothing in a really reputable club where you can apprentice with someone like Mike Boyle, JC Santana, Eric Cressey, or Alwyn Cosgrove. If you have a family to take care of obviously this isn't feasible, but I think of it as college. Borrow money if you have to, but get that experience in if you want to advance in the industry quickly.

You're young, but you're not real young, so you need to make up for lost time if you are going to get to a good living standard in a few years. Honestly the fastest way to do that is just know on the front end that the next year is going to be pretty rough, and you may have to make some sacrifices. Not in any way trying to dissuade you from this career path... Just making sure you understand what it is going to take so you can answer for yourself if you are willing to suffer like that or not.

Don't get me wrong, some people have done well rather quickly, but those are few and far between. Not everyone gets to train celebs (most of the actual good ones don't even want to... This industry is fraught with sycophants).

If you can get through it, I can tell you that this is the most rewarding and exciting career choice there is. You aren't just making a living... You are changing peoples lives! As long as you keep that in focus as you develop you should keep your head on straight and do well. Having real passion for this, coupled with decent training skills, and you can really do well.

At any rate, you can always get some good info from here. You've got a lot of support in here too, so take advantage of it. Welcome again to the forums, and I look forward to your questions.