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6 Steps to Succeed as an Independent Fitness Professional
Are you frustrated with, or tired of, working for someone else? Do you love the idea of being your own boss?
If you had the opportunity to build your own business, as a personal trainer or nutrition coach, would you be interested? Have you already been daydreaming about doing so?
A small percentage of fitness professionals succeed on their own.
Most do not. They are completely unprepared for what it means to be an independent business owner.
That's not a bad thing though. It just means you need to be well-prepared, before you leave the security of being an employee, to the uncertainty of being an entrepreneur.
If you’re considering a business of your own, work through the six steps below.
If you're already running your own fitness business, and it's not as successful as you hoped it would be, these six steps can help you too.
As you work your way through them, you'll come to one of two conclusions:
Things aren't as bad as you thought, where you're at now. There's good reasons for your company to have the practices and policies in place that they do. Doing your own thing isn't as easy as you thought it might be.You have the skills, perspective, and tenacity to start and successfully grow an independent fitness business. Take your time to consider it before you actually do it. And if you decide to leave your current company, do it with grace and integrity.
Step 1: Build a Business Plan
If you choose to become independent, you choose to become a business owner.
Business owners have business plans. If you don’t have a plan, you'll quickly find yourself short on clients or customers, and buried by unexpected expenses.
In my opinion, a solid business plan should take you three to 12 months to develop. You might even consider hiring someone to help you with it.
The business plan will force you to identify all of the hidden expenses you must plan for; expenses that your facility takes care of for you right now.
These include insurance, equipment purchases and upkeep, cleaning, marketing costs so you actually have leads that can become clients, rent for the facility, billing software, and credit card fees, just to name a few.
Aside from identifying all the expenses, a business plan will force you to consider your marketing plan. You'll need to attract prospective clients to fill your schedule.
You’ll get a lot of value from creating a business plan whether you plan to stay where you are, or plan to open your own business.
You might also realize, after completing the business review, that you’ve got it pretty good, where you’re at. Or the process will help you realize the potential you have at your fingertips.
Step 2: Learn EVERYTHING You Can From Your Current Company
If I were personal training today, and had a dream of owning my own boutique gym or fitness business, I would learn everything I could from the company I worked for.
How do they market to prospective members or clients? What kind of a software and billing system do they use, and what would I need?
What do the best fitness managers do to hit their goals, and retain and inspire their team members? How do you create monthly business reviews, budgets and plans? How do you even use Excel?
If you went to your manager and said, “I’m planning to build my own business in the next couple of years, and I’d like you to mentor me,” my guess is that your manager would be eager to do so. Especially if you stepped up and became the top trainer on the staff while keeping your future plans to yourself.
He or she would know that for the next couple years, you’d have a vested interest in learning to be an awesome fitness professional, so for those two years, you’d set an example for the rest of the team.
If I were your manager, I’d also think that after two years, you’d be so successful where you’re at, you might not want to leave anyway. And if you did, and you left with integrity, I'd be really happy for you.
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By Tom Nikkola | VIGOR Training
4.9
3737 ratings
Are you frustrated with, or tired of, working for someone else? Do you love the idea of being your own boss?
If you had the opportunity to build your own business, as a personal trainer or nutrition coach, would you be interested? Have you already been daydreaming about doing so?
A small percentage of fitness professionals succeed on their own.
Most do not. They are completely unprepared for what it means to be an independent business owner.
That's not a bad thing though. It just means you need to be well-prepared, before you leave the security of being an employee, to the uncertainty of being an entrepreneur.
If you’re considering a business of your own, work through the six steps below.
If you're already running your own fitness business, and it's not as successful as you hoped it would be, these six steps can help you too.
As you work your way through them, you'll come to one of two conclusions:
Things aren't as bad as you thought, where you're at now. There's good reasons for your company to have the practices and policies in place that they do. Doing your own thing isn't as easy as you thought it might be.You have the skills, perspective, and tenacity to start and successfully grow an independent fitness business. Take your time to consider it before you actually do it. And if you decide to leave your current company, do it with grace and integrity.
Step 1: Build a Business Plan
If you choose to become independent, you choose to become a business owner.
Business owners have business plans. If you don’t have a plan, you'll quickly find yourself short on clients or customers, and buried by unexpected expenses.
In my opinion, a solid business plan should take you three to 12 months to develop. You might even consider hiring someone to help you with it.
The business plan will force you to identify all of the hidden expenses you must plan for; expenses that your facility takes care of for you right now.
These include insurance, equipment purchases and upkeep, cleaning, marketing costs so you actually have leads that can become clients, rent for the facility, billing software, and credit card fees, just to name a few.
Aside from identifying all the expenses, a business plan will force you to consider your marketing plan. You'll need to attract prospective clients to fill your schedule.
You’ll get a lot of value from creating a business plan whether you plan to stay where you are, or plan to open your own business.
You might also realize, after completing the business review, that you’ve got it pretty good, where you’re at. Or the process will help you realize the potential you have at your fingertips.
Step 2: Learn EVERYTHING You Can From Your Current Company
If I were personal training today, and had a dream of owning my own boutique gym or fitness business, I would learn everything I could from the company I worked for.
How do they market to prospective members or clients? What kind of a software and billing system do they use, and what would I need?
What do the best fitness managers do to hit their goals, and retain and inspire their team members? How do you create monthly business reviews, budgets and plans? How do you even use Excel?
If you went to your manager and said, “I’m planning to build my own business in the next couple of years, and I’d like you to mentor me,” my guess is that your manager would be eager to do so. Especially if you stepped up and became the top trainer on the staff while keeping your future plans to yourself.
He or she would know that for the next couple years, you’d have a vested interest in learning to be an awesome fitness professional, so for those two years, you’d set an example for the rest of the team.
If I were your manager, I’d also think that after two years, you’d be so successful where you’re at, you might not want to leave anyway. And if you did, and you left with integrity, I'd be really happy for you.