5 TIPS TO RUN A SUCCESSFUL 1:1 PERSONAL TRAINING BUSINESS

 

After talking to a few personal trainers about my new mastermind starting next month, this was top of mind today so I hope it helps any personal trainers out there that are looking to move their business to the next level. These are just a few tips I wish I could go back and tell myself when I was starting off first (or even two years in). I hope they help you as much as they would have helped me.

 

“smart people learn from their mistakes, the really sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others” – Brandon Mull

 

• BECOME A ONE STOP SHOP FOR YOUR CLIENTS: I was very fortunate to go from zero clients to a six month waiting list in less than a year when I moved home from London (I actually brought on a trainer to help clear that list- he’s since gone on to become an incredibly successful trainer himself) and it was down to the fact that I took control of everything training and diet related when working with my clients.

 

Some trainers will work 1:1 with their client during their allocated 1-hour gym session and then maybe a text or two during the week. If you want your clients to get amazing results, make sure they are doing everything that is going to support them in getting to where they want to be. On top of making sure that their one, two or three weekly hours with you are incredible, design their nutritional plan as well and work with them each week to make it perfect for them. In your spare time, research and recommend what supplements might help them get to their goals faster. Your client Sally has three kids and really bad bloating- create some 20 minute HIIT workouts she can do before the kids wake up and experiment with using a probiotic for the week to try and improve her gut health. John is going to Ibiza in six weeks and wants his six-pack to pop, add in some cardio on his rest days and maybe experiment with cycling his carbs for faster fat loss. Remember your clients walking billboards for you and beat any fancy business card or logo you can design.

 

“If you help people get what they want, you’ll get everything you want” – Zig Ziglar

 

 

 

• DON’T FOCUS ON DUMB SH*T!. Talking about business cards and fancy logos (note: a rant is coming as this is one of my biggest pet peeves) – if you have a fancy logo, a cool business card and an embroidered t-shirt with your name on it and zero clients- you are setting yourself up for failure before you’ve even started! Would you drive your car if the four wheels were missing? No? Then why are you focusing on logos, business cards and t-shirts if you don’t have any clients?

 

I had a 30-40 client a week roster before I designed a logo and I still don’t have a business card to this day. Focus on the important things, your clients and helping them get to where they want to be. Their testimony, their word of mouth and their results will build your business; not a fancy logo or business card. Focus on the important things and not meaningless tasks that make you feel better about getting something done. Being busy (focusing on things that don’t move your business forward) and being productive (focusing on things that actually move your business forward) are not the same thing. All I ask is that you don’t fool yourself into confusing movement with progress.

 

“Don’t fool yourself and you’re the easiest person to fool” – Richard Feynman.

 

• DO YOU CARE ABOUT THE SELFIE OR YOUR CLEINT? If we’re staying on topic of pet peeves, this is probably number #2 on my list. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do love a good selfie in every now and again (#abselfiew*nker for anyone that follows my instagram stories) but if you’re trying to build a business with clients who are regular people, some who don’t feel that confident about themselves to begin with, then a selfie of how good your glutes or abs look probably isn’t going to lead them to working with you. Now, selfies have a time and place and its great to show people that you do indeed practise what you preach but lets be hoenst, your abs haven’t changed that much from Tuesday to Wednesday and your glutes haven’t grown significantly over the weekend. Save the selfies for a couple a times a month, just try not to post them every second day.

 

Side note: if your focus on become a fitness influencer (ie being paid to be ripped, lean or sexy) then selfies actually work great and are probably a necessity; just don’t confuse becoming an influencer with running a successful PT business as they’re not necessarily the same thing. Influencer make their money through sponsorships, affiliates and working with companies. PT’s make their money by working with clients, running classes and creating programs (note, I didn’t understand this fully when I started first so hopefully it was worth mentioning).

 

The key is making the decision on what you want to be before you start. By the way you can do both, its just harder in my opinion to go influencer first as there’s only so many fitness teas you can drink and supplement samples you can post before your monthly rent or phone bill is due.

 

• YOUR CLIENT IS NUMBER 1, ALWAYS! This one can be tricky as finding the balance between getting new clients and serving the current ones can be a fine line. I cant give you the exact percentage splits of what’s the best way to split your time; some say you should be 50% of your time doing lead generation for new clients and the other 50% serving your current clients; but what I will say is that when you focus the majority of your time on your current clients, help them transform their bodies, minds or lives- in my opinion, their word of mouth is more powerful than any Facebook ad or post you can write. People listen to people who they like, know and trust and people work with people who they like know and trust. Provide value, prioritise the people you’re currently working with some tweaking on advertising, marketing and lead generation, everything else will fall into place.

 

 

I hope this helped. Feel free to TAG any PT’s below or COMMENT if you have any questions 😀