How does a fitness trainer earn? This is one of the key questions that comes from potential and novice trainers. Just like representatives of any other profession, a personal trainer earns by creating a certain value, which is expressed in the provision of services for which people are willing to pay money. The task of a fitness trainer is to create such a value (product or service) that would arouse in the mind of a potential client an interest sufficient for him to buy it. So further we will talk about how and at the expense of what the personal trainer creates this value.
Introduction
So let’s start with a simple thing. In order for you to earn some money you need to do what is in demand for other people. For a person who hasn’t yet decided on this profession, but has already wondered – “What should I do?”, the answer is: “Give people what they need.” In other words, any specialist in any profession earns on unmet needs. When people don’t have specialized software – they go to programmer. When people feel sick – they go to a doctor. When it’s necessary to repair the faucet – they go to the plumber. And so on and on.
Since we are talking about creating value in the context of the profession of a fitness trainer, that is, a person who has already chosen his craft, for him the market is people with an unmet desire to get in shape, to keep it, or simply lead a healthy lifestyle. In such a situation, the answer suggests itself. How does a fitness trainer earn? It’s very simple – he needs to offer something to this audience, that is, to offer a way to satisfy their needs. Now let’s deal with what exactly he has to offer.
How does a fitness trainer earn
The work of a fitness club trainer is a set of cyclically repetitive actions that he performs on an ongoing basis and at the expense of which the value he creates is shaped. This set is formed on the basis of five fundamental principles:
- The trainer creates and provides to customers goods or services …
- in the acquisition of which they need or are interested …
- at the price they can or are willing to pay for them …
- in a way that meets their expectations …
- in such terms that satisfy them
Thus, your task as a fitness trainer is to create an offer, let it be for example personal trainings (which clients need), set a price for them (which the client will be able to pay), notify him about the conditions of the training process (gym, group classes, functional training), and in advance, with each individual client, specify the terms (at least approximate) that is necessary to achieve their results. What you provide for money, that is, your personal trainings, is the value you create. The most difficult task and also the most important one, is to competently approach the pricing of your trainings. At this stage it is important to observe the following condition. The price should be formed in such a way that it brings you income, which will be enough for you to continue this work.
It doesn’t matter whether you conduct personal trainings only, or you sell entire online courses, dieting plans, training video tutorials, or branded clothing. If you exclude at least one of the above five points, your “product” will no longer be in demand, respectively, your offer will lose its value. When you create something that no one needs or isn’t interested in (for example, because it is too expensive, far, late, and so on), you won’t make money, which means you won’t last long in the profession of a fitness trainer.
Fitness trainer as a businessman
Now let’s try to answer the question “How does a fitness trainer earn” from a business point of view. In fact, any business stands on five interrelated components:
- Value creation. At this stage you create your value proposition
- Advertising. At this stage, you inform the target audience about your product or service
- Sales. The process of converting potential customers into existing ones
- Shipping. Fulfillment of promises and quality control of services provided
- Financial management. Distribution of sales revenues in such way that further engagement in this activity makes sense, which means not only to pay off the investments, but to earn real money
In fact, this is the same model of value creation that I mentioned above, just described in a slightly different angle. First, you create value, that is, decide that you will sell personal trainings, then you by any advertising means convey to potential customers information about your offer and its price. After, you close the deals with all who wish to use your services. Then you directly conduct trainings, that is, you fulfill your commitments – to give the client specific result in specific way and in specific term. And at the same time, you competently manage the income from your activities so that you can continue to train people and do what you want.
It is likely that the above scheme of work of a fitness trainer may seem to you pretty simple, but this is exactly how it works, no more and no less. The task for the trainer is to identify actual problem and find its subsequent solution in such a way that satisfies both the client and himself. Anyone who tells you that it’s very difficult to earn in the profession of a fitness trainer is either trying to impress you, or wants to dissuade from this job for some personal reasons.
Tips and tricks of earning money
- Problem / solution #1. You can practice on your own for many years and achieve good results in this hobby, but it’s unlikely that someone will pay you simply for how cool you pumping up or losing weight, exactly until your knowledge and skills will be directed towards the benefit of others. As soon as you convert your passion into a product and pack it into a branded cover, such as a unique 3-month body-to-work program or a 30-day weight loss program with catchy title “FATigue”, offers will start coming to you on one hand from all who have the desire to pump their pectoral muscles, on the other from those who hardly passing through the doorway. Problem: you have experience, knowledge and skills, but you still doesn’t earn on it. Solution: create a unique offer based on your expertise, wrap it in attractive package and sell.
- Problem / solution #2. Remember once and forever that the main limitation for earnings is the size and quality of the demand market, that is, your target audience. Slightly easier it sounds like this. The size of the market is how many people in your region use such services or are interested in purchasing them. The quality of the market is their purchasing power, that is, how many of those who are interested can really pay for it. Problem: keep in mind that if you don’t find enough customers who want and can buy your services, your chances of earning money will be incredibly small. Solution: offer what people need. If clients want to workout in the gym, and you are a Pilates trainer, they will not go to you. Take training courses for gym trainers and start earning.
- Problem / solution #3. Often, potential trainers are wondering if there are a lot of trainers that already have more experience, knowledge, and collected client base, why should I go there in this profession? They are bothered with rivalry. So, I hasten to change your point of view and inform you that rivalry is something rather good than bad. If there are two, three or four trainers working in the club besides you, keep in mind that clients constantly evaluate their trainers according to a variety of parameters and often in one club they switch from one trainer to another. This is an absolutely normal practice. Problem: you are afraid to earn nothing because of the presence of more experienced colleagues. Solution: engage in self-education, learn, study, take courses, improve skills and you will always be with clients and as a result – with money.
- Problem / solution #4. Often, there is such a picture when someone goes in the profession of a fitness trainer for lack of anything better to do, from hopelessness to work somewhere else, from imposed stereotypes that the work of a trainer is no more difficult than the work of a janitor or a security guard or else. Here it is necessary to immediately clearly understand the following – that if you aren’t captivated with the desire or idea to help others become better and healthier, and you’re planning to sit still and spend the time on wasting duty shifts, you will not be able to earn money. Problem: you sit still during duty shifts, carry one or two workouts per day and complain that work of a fitness trainer doesn’t bring you money. Solution: if you work as a trainer in a village where only five persons live and two of them train, then it may be worth changing your place of work and living. Otherwise, either someone is lazy, or he needs to change his profession.
- Problem / solution #5. Slightly more rarely there are such cases when the trainer is a fan of healthy lifestyle and works on pure enthusiasm, that is, his desire to help people is so great that he is ready to help everyone literally for free. Problem: you work hard with lots of clients, but for some reason there’s no money. Solution: review your attitude to work. Time is money. By helping others, you spend your time on them, and if they don’t pay for it, then it turns out that you have neither time nor money. Any work should be paid for, which means that if you are an expert in something and people turn to you for advice, they admit that you are the one who could help them. Don’t do it just for thanks. Set the price for your services and conduct personal trainings, theory lessons, helping courses, etc. Convert time into money.
Conclusion
To sum up the topic “How does a fitness trainer earns money”, best repeating the main points discussed above. First, before you go to work as a fitness trainer, assess the size and quality of the market for fitness services in your region. Second, look for the “pain” of your target audience in order to understand on this basis what solution you can offer to them. Third, convert knowledge and skills into a value proposition, that is, into a product or service that people want and can buy. Fourth – manage your money wisely, don’t spend them down at once, don’t lend large sums, don’t buy what you really don’t need and most importantly – invest money in point five – engage in self-education, learn, study and then those who were your rivals yesterday will be left far behind tomorrow.
Author – Felix Palmer
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