Helping or hurting

[Kaisa]

Hola Amigos!
I am new to this board and looking for some advice.

A little background... I am from Finland, did all of my studies in the states (B.S. in exercise sci, MPH). I have NASM-CPT and CES. I have been a trainer since 1998, a group x instructor since 2000, and worked 5 years as a fitness program director for two different universities.

My life took me to Spain and now I am in the process of opening a personal training studio in a little town in Catalunya. We have about 3 months to go until we can open the doors. Currently I am working at a local club doing "weight room monitoring" which are basically 30min free training sessions. The club would like me to start personal training (they would keep 10%). I am the only trainer there and the whole concept of personal training is quite new to Spain and pretty much unknown in our little town.

So my question is:
Should I start taking clients at the club? My worry is that if I start this service there and then quit to work full time at my own facility, they will just find a replacement and now I have created myself a competitor. Or is the exposure worth the risk? Perhaps I can gain quite a few clients and take them with me. Or perhaps I should keep a few hours at the club for marketing purposes. Of our town of 16,000, 11,000 have memberships to this club so the exposure could be substantial.

Thoughts?

Moltes gracies.

[PowerManDL]

Exposure and client base FTW.

Competitors are no problem if you're good enough. You can take "good enough" to be any of its several implied meanings here.

Compare the alternative: do you want to start raw in your own facility and have to rely on building clients, or would it be easier to get the ball rolling if you already had a base to start with?

[Kaisa]

PowerMan,
Thanks for your response. I've been leaning towards what you suggested and it helps to hear it from someone else.

Salud,
Kaisa