Looking For Advice On Getting Started In Being A PT
I've been a white-collar, desk-jockey, for the last 23 years. But, I've always had an interest in fitness training as well - going back to 1980.
Through the years, I've learned a lot in terms of what works, and what doesn't work, with respect to maintaining a training routine and eating properly. (Most of what I learned was by making mistakes on my own until I found out what worked.)
Recently, my job in the corporate world was eliminated. I've spent the last 90 days trying to find a new job in the same field with no luck. At the same time, I've been thinking about going into something new, something that I have a passion for, like being a personal fitness/wellness trainer.
I've looked at what's available in terms of certification and I believe that ACE is the best route for me. I realize that there are stronger certifications out there. But, time is not on my side. I need to start making an income again sooner rather than later. And, I believe I can become ACE certified in three months time.
Has anyone else here made the switch from some "traditional" form of occupation to being a PT? How did that go? How old were you when you did it? How did you go about being certified? How was that process? Did you start your own business after that? What were the biggest challenges for you once you got started? What are the biggest challenges now? Have you been able to make a steady income at it? What's the trick to that? What should I avoid?
Is there anything else that I should be thinking about now?
Yes, so many questions! Thanks in advance to all who can help me with these concerns!
I am a PT operating my own business based out here in the UK, personally i have been working in the leisure industry for 10 years (certified PT for 8 years), and have loved every bit of it. I have worked my way from a gym junior up to a position where i am currently running a fitness business taht covers PT, Soprts Tehrapy, Corporate Services and athlete development. So i do very different things each day, it has taken me five six years to build my business into what it is today. I have made a good income for the past 5 years or so, the first year was a real struggle.
The biggest challenge in working for yourself i think is to keep the momentum up, it is down to you to go out and get and keep your clients, you need to be able to cope with all the business side as well as the training side.
I think it is a big change from being a regular gym user to working in the industry. The industry is enjoyable but has many sides you can also experiance and see from the inside, there are aspects to various jobs within the industry that many lay people are not aware of. Such as all the planning and recording that PT's have to do.
When i talk to people who would like to get into FI of PT i always sugesst that you try some work experiance, ask a PT if you can shadow them for the day, or just have a chat about how the industry is in your area.
This is sadly a younger man's industry in terms of breaking in.
I make a decent living now, but it took me years to develop, and I started when I was 19 with no encumbrances like a mortgage or a family. Benefits are nil with some exceptions, and it is not stable like a salary... You are very similar to a sales person working on commission only.
I'm not trying to discourage you, just making sure that you have a realistic view of what you are looking into so you don't make an uninformed decision. It is a rewarding career or I wouldn't still be doing it, but it's definitely not for everyone.
I think this industry easier to break into than most people think. I was early 30's when I started, about 30 pounds above fighting weight and had ZERO sales skills.
Within a year I had a six figure income. Now six years later I have 15 trainers doing all the training for me and I work part time from my home office.
Man I didn't even graduate normal high school, I went to continuation school and most of the jobs I've had in my life were as a bouncer making just barely more than minimum wage. If I can build a good PT Biz ANYONE can do it... trust me
My biggest tips:
1. Get real good at training and getting people into shape.
2. Collect and use as many before and after pics as possible in your marketing
3. Get good at direct response marketing
4. Get a direct response based website and get good at Internet marketing ( including getting traffic and converting that traffic into appt's)
5. While your getting established, fill every hour that you're willing to train with with clients who you train pro-bono but will pay you with referrals
6. Train groups and charge 25% - 100% more than most trainers in your area. Position yourself in your marketing as the guy who gets results, NOT the guy who specializes on having the lowest rates in town.
7. Find a few hot fitness models and train them for free and use their modeling pics along with testimonials in your marketing
8. Focus on your goals, don;'t worry about the economy or gas prices
9. Spend AT LEAST 2 uninterrupted hours every day on the big levers in your business that will drive it forward ( Creating the vision, the strategy, the systems, and the marketing and sales conversion processes)
10. Observe the way 90% of trainers go about their business and do the exact opposite
11. Get hip to books like the E-Myth and ANYTHING from Dan Kennedy
12. Get people into killer shape
13. Always Ask for referrals and acknowledge clients who get you referrals
14. Get hip to consultative selling and create and stick to a script that works for you
15. Treat all your clients and everyone you come in contact with the way Dale Carnegie teaches in "How To Win Friends and Influence People"
When i talk to people who would like to get into FI of PT i always sugesst that you try some work experiance, ask a PT if you can shadow them for the day, or just have a chat about how the industry is in your area.
I hope this helps
TOM
Tom - thanks! You're the second person to suggest shadowing to me. I think it's a good idea. I'm also going to a local gym, here, tomorrow (that I don't belong to) to talk with the PT/owner there who has agreed to talk to me.
This is sadly a younger man's industry in terms of breaking in.
I make a decent living now, but it took me years to develop, and I started when I was 19 with no encumbrances like a mortgage or a family. Benefits are nil with some exceptions, and it is not stable like a salary... You are very similar to a sales person working on commission only.
I'm not trying to discourage you, just making sure that you have a realistic view of what you are looking into so you don't make an uninformed decision. It is a rewarding career or I wouldn't still be doing it, but it's definitely not for everyone.
Thanks Jean-Paul!
That is a concern of mine. Being older (45) and having a family to house, dress, and feed, etc. I realize that I may need to start out doing the PT work and "something else" at the same time to try and match what I was making. And that concerns me, not being able to give the PT side all of my focus.
But, on the plus side, I was hoping that being older might be a plus in that potential clients my age and older might feel more comfortable with, and easier to connect, with me over someone who was 22. Make sense?
I think this industry easier to break into than most people think. I was early 30's when I started, about 30 pounds above fighting weight and had ZERO sales skills.
Within a year I had a six figure income. Now six years later I have 15 trainers doing all the training for me and I work part time from my home office.
Man I didn't even graduate normal high school, I went to continuation school and most of the jobs I've had in my life were as a bouncer making just barely more than minimum wage. If I can build a good PT Biz ANYONE can do it... trust me
My biggest tips:
1. Get real good at training and getting people into shape.
2. Collect and use as many before and after pics as possible in your marketing
3. Get good at direct response marketing
4. Get a direct response based website and get good at Internet marketing ( including getting traffic and converting that traffic into appt's)
5. While your getting established, fill every hour that you're willing to train with with clients who you train pro-bono but will pay you with referrals
6. Train groups and charge 25% - 100% more than most trainers in your area. Position yourself in your marketing as the guy who gets results, NOT the guy who specializes on having the lowest rates in town.
7. Find a few hot fitness models and train them for free and use their modeling pics along with testimonials in your marketing
8. Focus on your goals, don;'t worry about the economy or gas prices
9. Spend AT LEAST 2 uninterrupted hours every day on the big levers in your business that will drive it forward ( Creating the vision, the strategy, the systems, and the marketing and sales conversion processes)
10. Observe the way 90% of trainers go about their business and do the exact opposite
11. Get hip to books like the E-Myth and ANYTHING from Dan Kennedy
12. Get people into killer shape
13. Always Ask for referrals and acknowledge clients who get you referrals
14. Get hip to consultative selling and create and stick to a script that works for you
15. Treat all your clients and everyone you come in contact with the way Dale Carnegie teaches in "How To Win Friends and Influence People"
Your advice on the whole is absolutely correct, and interestingly enough I have a very similar story to tell, and give very similar advice (down to the E-Myth and Dale Carnegie). My main point is that many people don't have the right psychological make-up to do all that, because you can't just do that at "normal" capacity. You have to be firing on every barrel every day. We know that because we are wired that way, but to someone who isn't we make it look easy, which can be deceptive.
I would hate to pump someone up who has a family to support only for him to fall into financial ruin. I welcome any and everyone compelled to this industry to go for it, but only with both eyes wide open.
Good post by Chris....and good follow-up by JP. I agree with Chris's bullets. Although, they don't sound ground-breaking and almost sleazy and simply-they are 100% effective in enhancing the perception of marketability.
#12 sounds simple but very far from it. I think it is the "make or break" in this industry. I mean, unless you can find some hot models to train....
Jean: I think we're both right, the question is... is it right for that individual. I'm a full bore "gun to the head" do-or-die type of guy. It got me in a lot of trouble in my youth, today I channel it towards things like business.
It IS a balls-to-wall commitment, and definitely NOT for everyone, I guess that's why something like 73% of trainers make less than 30k per year, because they aren't willing to go the extra mile and do what it takes.
However, for someone who IS willing to do what it takes, that formula works like friggin' gang busters. It just takes a person who is willing to cut through the conventional ways of building a biz that most trainers do, take action and stay focused.
Thank you Jean for your feedback, it's highly valued
John Izzo: I found a bunch of hot models on myspace and trained like 5 or 6 of them for free for a number of months. I had to send messages to around 50 to get the 5 or 6... I think it was one of the best things I ever did for my business.
It was killer positioning. I'd train groups, people see that there would almost always be some fitness model looking girl in my groups, they figured I must know what the hell I'm doing.
Now, I actually DID know what I was doing as well, but without the perspective client having that perception of me, it makes it a lot harder
Hot models in your workouts are about the best social proof you can get ( along with good before and after pics of clients) Plus, I use the photos and testimonials of the models in my marketing and it has quite an impact
I think that many PT's think that going Freelance or setting up their own company is going to be easy, it is not! When you are working for yourself you need a much greater degree of business skill than if you were working in a gym enviroment.
I am almost 42 and went through the WITS course earlier this year. I had no intention of really becoming a trainer--I just did it for my own interest. But when friends heard that I had taken the class, people started asking for advice and if I'd be their trainer! Not really what I had expected. Mind you, most of these people are my age or older so I really think being older can be a plus rather than a minus. I have a full-time career in an unrelated field, but I am now thinking of starting up a training business on the side. I'd say go for it!
Boy, lots of good ideas in this thread but I would emphasize the three most important ones and they are marketing, marketing, marketing.
I wouldn't get too hung up on age. I've met many personal trainers who would be considered over the hill. The important thing is to find a niche and exploit it and that's "marketing".
My main point is that many people don't have the right psychological make-up to do all that, because you can't just do that at "normal" capacity. You have to be firing on every barrel every day. We know that because we are wired that way, but to someone who isn't we make it look easy, which can be deceptive.
I would hate to pump someone up who has a family to support only for him to fall into financial ruin. I welcome any and everyone compelled to this industry to go for it, but only with both eyes wide open.
Hey JP - great forum you've got here so no disrespect -
It's not wiring, it's more like a switch - and like Chris said, there just comes a time or an opportunity that flips it - we've all got it in us - it's that "game worth playing" talked about in the E-myth -
And remember the personal story Michael Gerber tells in the book? He was a flat-out loser for his entire life, until he found his game worth playing -
The idea that some people are just born like that or are different is a disease - we've all got it in us, and I've achieved too much and seen other people achieve such ABSURD things that you couldn't convince me otherwise (unless the person in question was retarded or something) -
But having a family to feed and lifestyle maintain can sometimes be just the thing that holds you to the fire - I think not having enough social responsibilities is what held me back for a long time -
So to the OP, read JP's sig quote by Mark Twain - find your game worth playing - it might be Personal Training, it might not - don't quit and don't listen to anyone that tells you otherwise -
Looking For Advice On Getting Started In Being A PT
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