My past life before the fitness industry

[GearHeaded]

the fitness industry is not all its cracked up to be.. there is hardly any money in it at all. I'm broke as fuck owning an 800 member bad ass gym and coaching clients on 4 different continents.

heres a glimpse into my past before I was full time in the fitness industry (when I owned a blue collar contacting company and worked manual labor).

I'd bust my ass in construction and come home to this beautiful home (yes this is my home I owned for 7 years .. 7000 sq ft 7 bed 6 bath luxury custom built on 2.5 acres next to the golf course)




loved my chef kitchen cause I like to cook

place was huge


my home office was as big as some peoples houses and had a full wet bar and 5 piece bathroom


wifey liked her master bath



this house had 3 wet bars.. one of them was in the lower level next to the pool table, giant wine cellar and gun room



this is my house before the fitness industry . was an awesome home for me and my wife and 4 kids

how about the bonuses like cars .. will post more pics next post .


MY ADVICE .. learn to work with your hands and become a self employed contractor. if you got a good head on your shoulders you'll make a ton of money . the fitness industry sucks if your goal is to make good money .
I consider myself a pretty damn good trainer and coach . but that does not reflect my bank account any more..
even Chris Aceto, he's the best bodybuilding coach on the planet with the most IFBB pros , yet he lives and makes money off his real estate company , not his coaching .. coaching is a passion for most good coaches .

don't EVER get into this for the $$ guys its not there .. I'm showing you my past life when I worked as a contractor, thats where the money is

[GearHeaded]

ok extras .. from being a contractor and not in fitness

I bought one of the first and only Mercedes AMG's that ever came in AWD (Mercedes for years never made an AMG in AWD).. it was the 600hp v8 twin turbo Mercedes CLS63 AMG S series.. I bought it off the showroom floor sitting on a raised pedestal (the only one in the state) for 130,000$ . my most expensive car purchase .. but heck, I wasn't in the fitness industry , I was just a blue collar contractor I could afford this shit


oh yeah my wife had to have a good kid hauler


I still need a rear wheel drive sports car



and of course a truck


the audi a7 looks pretty cool in the garage just like the vette



well shit I can't forget my limited edition camaro


ALL purchased brand new off the showroom floor (some of them paying all out cash for no loan) .. thats what you can achieve being a self made blue collar work with your hands contractor .. your not likely to get any of that shit in the fitness industry

[GearHeaded]

shit how about some bonus footage guys .. you see that master bedroom fireplace in post one . well heres the fine woman standing in front of it whenever I want



she married a blue collar contractor .. not a fitness industry guru

[GearHeaded]

if you go to school for 4 years and get a degree in exercise science your income is likely going to be zero when you get out ,, in fact you'll end up working fast food just to support your exercise science 'hobby' (which you spent 40k in school loans just to obtain that hobby).

if you go to school for 2 years in construction management or just a basic trade like pipefitting ,, within a couple years you'll be working 50 hours per week and making 90k per year . its that easy

[kelkel]

if you go to school for 2 years in construction management or just a basic trade like pipefitting ,, within a couple years you'll be working 50 hours per week and making 90k per year . its that easy

College is becoming over rated and over expensive anymore. Colleges need to take on the loans themselves, then they'd be much more responsible. When it comes to trades, it's a very viable option and more young adults need to open their eyes to it. They can get paid while in training and in a few years be making money like you stated, with zero debt. A friend of mine works out of a union as a heavy equipment operator. When he's in the city he makes about $80 per hour. He says he's a big kid playing with toys getting paid handsomely. Absolutely loves it.

Edit to add that the Mike Rowe Works Foundation should be something of interest to anyone looking into trades:

https://www.mikeroweworks.org/

[Fiskevatten]

Damn our countries are different regarding success (making money)!

Awesome to see some of your past man!

[Obs]

Great thread and I fully agree.

You cannot find a job that pays as good. The potential is unlimited.
Most people see a high rise being built and scoff at the noise or traffic delays.

I immediately think of the contractor with his ass on the line making millions because he had the balls and determination to be able to staff the capable workers to do it.

One screw up and he faces losing it all and possibly prison.

They would also scoff at danny morebucks in his limo coming onto the site like king shit.

He is king shit. He scratched, clawed, went through divorces, 100,000 miles of red tape, people using him, and kept on hitting it harder. Goddamn right he sits on a throne.
If people only realized that if not for workers comp and benefits your $20 an hour job would pay $60 an hour if you actually had drive.

If people had a clue what it took to stay in compliance just to staff one employee, their job would mean a little more to them.

I know rich rich people that wouldnt pay for their kids college. Rather though they were glad to send them to a trade school.

They didnt raise kids to be hired people.
They raised them to be leaders.

An employees fortune, (no matter how educated) is only as secure as his company saying "We no longer need you."

A contractor that has learned to diversify is steadfast. His own man and the most secure employer that can be found. As well as unlimited in his potential. Rather than try for a raise he bids another job and staffs more people.

I knew this since I was a little boy.
The whole goal was to secure enough assets and skill I could be independent.

I busted my ass in ways very few on this planet ever will in the most dangerous industry on the planet.
This path has sent me home and the end of the day having cramping fits all over my body so bad I had to pull over and hope they passed. I was so emotionally exhausted and physically, I literally had nothing left countless times.

Right before I was ready to throw in the towel my rage would set in and I would charge harder the next day.

In the back of my mind I know thats what countless people want, is to see me give up and fail. People all over and even in my own family.

"Oh not such a hotshot now!", they would say.

It's like a chant I carry when shit gets rough.
It gets louder and louder and I push back harder.

It's the "Hood" stubborness from my mothers maiden name.

Look up the life of Gen. John Bell Hood some time.


Anyway, my brother and I developed this mentality together growing up. He trained me, though he is a failure now from drugs.

My grandmother told my brother when he was 8 or so not to be sassy.

He sassed again.

She slapped him in the face which he fully earned.

He sassed her again and she slapoed again harder.

"You're gonna have to kill me!," he said and took another slap.

Then she just started hugging him and they both were crying.

His grit and stubborness grew stronger. Finally too strong as he became a man. Too strong to choose his battles. He would fight them all and he would not be beat. In the end he defeated himself.

All the Hoods seem to do this.

The only thing that saved my ass was putting together the examples of those before me.

What lies beneath my exterior is that same stubborness with a lot better direction. I wont live to be an old ass man. Little too much Hood in me.

I will succeed immensely at contracting and bodybuilding. These are my "Hood" decisions. They will not be broken come death.

That is what it takes coming from nothing. I am just happy for my past enviornment that made me who I am and gave me enough wisdom to choose my battles to win the war.

Probably the first Hood descendant that learned to do so successfully, minus a few pussy losers.

When shit gets bad, I will always have my genetic tenacity and will not fail mentality.
I can look back and see that little boy getting slapped and what he said.
I can see what undid him and I can hear all those non-hackers begging me to give up so I will be a loser like them.

"You're gonna have to kill me."

Thats not a promise. Thats a fact.

[Obs]

While on the subject...

I love seeing people succeed from nothing to everything.

I love it! I get a kick off the movie "joy".

Most people dont have what it takes. Most will never come close.

Giving everything you have over years is why I like bodybuilding. Its the conquring and moving on that gives me a hard on.

There are a lot of employed guys here that could succeed at it though. This is the lifestyle of the dedicated hacker. The hard ass that won't quit. Just balls, adrenaline, and battle.

Kick that ass and move that iron.
We don't have to do this. This is our nature.
Success in each takes a lotta pain.

[tarmyg]

I think a college is an excellent option if that fits into your long term goals. Now, most people do not have them (especially when young), so I did not start college until I was 26 when I had a better idea of what I wanted out of life. Still, to this day, love being the computer nerd that I am and would not want to do anything else. Both mom and dad worked at the same steel mill for 44 years, and I worked there and at a farm during the summers. Taught me precisely what I needed, that is not what I wanted to be doing. My wife had a very different experience as her mom and dad wanted her to go to college beyond anything else, and luckily for her, so did she as the first one in her family. Got a full scholarship, then a Fullbright, and did her Ph.D. at Cornell. Now a ridiculous, successful individual who tries to make the world a better place every day. I guess we all want different things, and finding a way to get there has many paths, and many times there is no one right path, not as far as I know anyway.

[GearHeaded]

just to clarify . I don't have any of this anymore. I owned 5 houses, my personal home and 4 investment properties. everything was sold off. cars were sold off too (still have the camaro).. I used the money and built my gym. I got injured badly and ended up being bed ridden for a year and unable to work and had two back surgeries that cost me 130k (no health insurance at the time). I had to live on savings only for a year while bed ridden.. I also kept pouring money into my gym buying new equipment, installing security and camera systems, etc.. I was in the red for a long long time until the membership grew.

hundreds of thousands of dollars and everything I owned virtually gone over night it seemed.. thats what it cost me to get into the fitness industry and start my own gym..


now I can't go back and control anything with my injuries and surgeries that made me unable to work my contracting job and basically cost me my business (I had employees quit on me at the same time I was bed ridden and unable to work, so a lost a ton of large accounts I could no longer service .. BUT in hinesight , if I could go back in time I definitely would of stayed with my contracting business. the pay was awesome (sure it was high stress and hard work). maybe I'd of opened my gym on the side just as an investment (it makes money).

but losing everything. throwing all my eggs into the one basket of being in the fitness industry (gym ownership, supplement retailer, personal trainer, bodybuilding prep coach, etc.) was NOT the most financially smart thing to do.. heck I went from owning 5 houses and now I don't even own a house at all , I rent.

sure I love what I do. I'm passionate about it. but not only is there NO money in the fitness industry , it actually cost me a ton of money to get into it.

I'm half tempted to go back into the contracting business and start making some bank again


on a side note - anyone want to buy a bad ass limited edition camaro get back into contracting I'm going to need a truck, not a damn fancy sports car. just get me a high mileage 10 year old F250 crew cab and I'll be good

[GearHeaded]

Damn our countries are different regarding success (making money)!

Awesome to see some of your past man!

whats it like in your country ? you can't become a self made millionaire by just being an independent blue collar work with your own hands contractor ?

the most successful people I know here do two things .. they generally own a small contracting type business and they own real estate investments. thats the quickest and easiest way to have a net worth of over a million.

I was on the fast track from the start .. two days after I graduated high school I was in the pipe fitters union and working hvac construction (installing large commercial boilers and chiller systems).

I saved my money and lived in a shitty little apartment. I also studied the crap out of my trade in my spare time. I had stacks of books on hvac. I saved installation manuals and controls manuals on everything I had installed and basically memorized that shit.
my co workers , who were all older guys having been in the trade for years, and I was a 20 year old kid, called me the "whiz kid".
if there was a 5 story office building that had no AC because of some sort of glitch in the building automation system ,, no one could figure it out and fix it but me.
needless to say I was compensated well for my skills and abilities and my employers valued me as a key man in their business. I was making $34 per hour (which was a lot of money back then) as a kid.

well living in that shitty apartment and making that kind of money it did not take long or me to save up and buy my first house at 21 years old . I wanted to get into real estate as fast as possible. I bought a nice little fairly new custom built home in the mountains on 3 acres at about 9000 feet elevation about 15 miles west of Golden Colorado. the Rocky Mountains were my back yard.

so at 21 I own my own beautiful mountain home. have a very well paying career. a hot wife. and plenty of money in the bank .. while all my friends from high school are trying to make ends meet working at fast food joints and partying they way through college. a few of them eventually graduate but don't get jobs and still work fast food.
I took the fast track and got into the blue collar trades.

anyhow. being a fairly business minded person. I knew my employers were paying me well but they were still making money off of me and my skills . so I decided to start my own commercial HVAC business. I bought a truck and I bought a bunch of tools and ladders and outfitted it. I then used my amazing sales skills and cold called businesses until eventually I had a bunch of my own customers.
so at 22 I was a small business owner and a real estate owner.

the money was coming in and I was my own business . I bought a bigger house in the same area. made money off the other house. lived in that house maybe 2 years and did some fix up on it and sold that for a profit why I was having another house built.. moved into the house I had built and continued to thrive running my business. so I was making money off my contracting company plus was making money as the real estate market was taking off.

work was too much for me to handle . so had to start hiring employees.. I also couldn't work out of my garage anymore so needed to have a shop and office in the city. so I had to rent a commercial office warehouse space..
real estate in golden area was taking off. I wanted to move closer to the city though because of work. I bought land this time on the east side and had a house built. sold my house in the mountains for a good profit.

more work. more business.. more employees. now I have a whole crew of about 5 guys outfitted in trucks working for me.. I have a full time secretary in the office and a sales manager. and heck I'm no longer in a crappy little office warehouse space , I'm in an executive commercial space in the upper end of town with its own private golf course..

still making bank. still working my ass off . and now instead of buying houses for me to live in,, I'm buying houses to rent out. I start with a couple of condos and get those rented . then I buy a 4 bedroom home in a nice area but the home needs work.. I put about 30k into a remodeling job on the home and then do a lease to own on it.
I then move into my mini mansion on the golf course BUT I don't sell the previous home I had built. I rent that out.
so now heck I'm making thousands of dollars per month in real estate and rentals .. on top of that my contracting business is doing 800k per year.
now I'm living life. I'm driving luxury cars. I'm conducting a lot of my business from my iPhone while on the golf course..


that all started two days after I graduated high school and got a blue collar trade job. heck my first day on that job my boss gave me a shovel and gave me the task of digging a 4 foot deep by 40 foot long ditch between two buildings so we could lay some chiller lines down.. they could of just rented a damn tractor. but instead they wanted to see what I was made out of. I dug 8 hours per day every single day for 2 weeks straight until that damn ditch was perfect. without a single complaint.
after that my boss promoted me to be his assistant and I got respect even as a young kid fresh out of high school.

becoming a self made millionaire at 33 years old all started with that shovel and the work ethic to just fucking dig if I needed to


heck this is why people move to this country and have nothing and end up becoming rich . all it takes is the desire to work and use your hands

[sv.elia]

What a story. I thought I knew extreme changes in my life. I grew up in rent, with a sibling and a single-parent.

Later I went to university, had family's small support, lived on freelancing as a graphic designer (my degree also) and sponsorships from the university. In my country university is free if you're among the first few students.

I was about to start my ph.d on neuromarketing and teach GD in the university, but that did not get a sponsorship and I could not afford to pay the tax for it. Gave up, came home, working atm as a designer for a cosmetics brand, remotely, with a laptop they sent me.

And I feel the ultimate loser as this is a very unstable job compared to the career I could have had in university. I was also raised in a very obedient fashion and I don't have the nerve (or cash) to start my own agency.

I'm seriously thinking to get myself in a very good shape and start anew in the law enforcement career (paramilitary). I'm 23 years old and I'll be able to apply until 27. That will get me a stable job, a better wage, and the courses are mostly sponsored by them.

Plenty of private businesses fail where I stay, at least the owners are on the zero-profit condition. And the best wages are always given by the state. My belief is that the future holds no changes in this regard.

[Fluidic Kimbo]

I do electronics and computer programming. I'm in the office 37 hours a week. I have the option of overtime or flexitime, which means that if I work longer in the evening then I can take more money or I can take a day off instead. I'm not loaded but I can pretty much fly to another European city every month if I want. Last weekend I was at the biggest nudist sauna in the world.

Plus I'm waiting on a 6-figure compensation payout that may or may not happen.

[BG]

LL said “Man made the money.......Money never makes the man”

[GearHeaded]

LL said “Man made the money.......Money never makes the man”

yep its just a tool . unfortunately its a necessary tool. even Jesus Christ, who was God in flesh, needed money and relied on it.. during his 3.5 year missionary run preaching the kingdom his disciples had to keep a money bag for him, and when asked to pay the temple tax (even though he himself was the temple) he still had to pay it. no getting around the fact that money is needed

[GearHeaded]

which reminds me of an interesting side bar to my story I forgot to mention .. through all this there was a time, when I was making bank and running a successful business, I managed somehow to wind up in Seminary studying to be a pastor of a church. I taught 100s of adult Sunday school classes and preached Sermons in Church and moderated a Christian think tank forum site. I also wrote short books and research papers on Christian Theology (they are still published online and available for viewing) .

not sure how I wound up doing that in the midst of all this stuff lol

[charger69]

I am just a poor man with an education. I’ll always be that way. I make do with my 2000 Monte Carlo.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GearHeaded]

I am just a poor man with an education. I’ll always be that way. I make do with my 2000 Monte Carlo.

2 door chevy Monte Carlo ,, probably with a 3.8l v6 . let me guess , is it blue, even though you wanted red

[Fiskevatten]

whats it like in your country ? you can't become a self made millionaire by just being an independent blue collar work with your own hands contractor ?

I live in Sweden:
- The land of the neutrals (this is actually what we say as well, but in swedish)
- Always on the radar for our politics, women and social security world over right now

To limit the discussion as much as possible to money and opportunity.
We have it safe in Sweden compared to the rest of the world, and this is what the tax is for.
We pay A TON of tax.
Not just from income, but on everything we buy and use as well basically.
This is great for a safe life, but hard to achieve anything noteworthy with.

It's very easy to get a job here that pays between 12 - 16 USD/ hour and we usually have 40hr weeks.
This sums up around 95% of all the work we have in Sweden.
On that amount by the end of the month we pay around 33% tax, which is ok for the above.

Here is where the tricky part comes in = earning more.
- The remaining 5% is a mix of everything you could imagine you would earn a lot from. Most of these positions won't still earn anything near 4 - 5000 USD/ month
regardless of education, not even a VD position usually earn that much.
The small percentage that earn more are extremely specific fields of expertise, high political or state positions, great salesmen in high commission companies, successful lawyers
and/ or the like.
The people who make it here are very very few.
These people earn a lot and usually have ways to receive "bonuses" that doesn't really exist, or company privileges.
The most famous people are an exception to all of these rules.
E.g. Zlatan.

If you earn more than:
- 50 000 USD/ year you pay around 53% tax.
- 70 000 USD/ year you pay around 58% tax.

So to earn here you need to go around the tax-system and earn around the regular income, without breaking the law.
The taxation body in Sweden loves to check everything and mistakes are dreadful, prison and extreme debts are common.
If they can prove you have done something wrong but not by how much, they can "guess" and sue you with that.

If you start a company you could earn more, but you will pay around 50% in tax of everything already from the start.
The good thing is that you can receive VAT-refunds (25%) on physical products (cars, tools, wood etc).
We also have certain goverment bonuses that e.g. help a customers order certain help (e.g. carpentry) much cheaper from a company and by that
the company can receive more customers (the company itself get some money from client and some from goverment).
This is mostly for home-help of some sort, nothing else.

Now, that doesn't mean the salary go up by much.
You can ask for more (usually around 30 - 100 USD/ hour), but you also have to pay more.
Not just tax, but everything you use, buy or stay at.
If you are great at what you do and have tons of clients, GREAT, but most don't and have to end the company within a few years.


Or they use that to live safe, like my dad.

To earn here you need to go outside of Sweden, know someone special or be extremely niche.

Investments certainly is an option and real estate WAS an amazing opportunity, people made crazy money a few decades back.
However, the prices have gone up so much its rediculous and the avarage Joe can't join in anymore.
Sure, the prices are below e.g. NY, but the salary here is not enough to buy a small 30sqm condo for 300 000 USD in the suburbs.
Then sell it for the same (some fluctuation).

To sum it down.
To earn here as someone who is not exceptional but hard working and have most braincells left:
- High commission sales
- Overseas jobs/ freelance overseas
- Start a company in expert fields
- Start a niche website
- Become a star on social media
- Expert consultant
- Invent something useful

All in all, it's fun to compare money in America and Sweden.
When you talk about a million it's a million dollars, in Sweden it's SEK (kronor).
1 000 000 USD is about 9 600 000 SEK, that is fantasy money for us. ^^

I believe that it's mostly not about the tax that I portraint above that we have it hard to earn from, but the extreme difference in amount of population and it's demands.
That is why I'm looking elsewhere outside Sweden.

I'm very creative and very good at talking and building trust, but I'm also very insecure in what might work and stick with it.
Will be fun to see where I'm at in a few years, but it's awesome to read you guys stories as it inspires!

[GearHeaded]

in Sweeden if you make 60k per year , your fairly secure but you have to give half of that to the government in taxation . Damn !!!

that means you have to make like 120k per year just to take home 60k.

heck, I spent 60k, all cash, and bought my wife her Land Rover. no loans. just wrote a check for 60k cause it was sitting in my bank account anyhow .
how much would I have to make per year in Sweden to be able to do that? heck that one car purchase is a 120k a year salary for you guys.. thats crazy. especially that kind of extreme taxation .

the less the government is involved in our lives, the more money we can make for ourselves.

[charger69]

2 door chevy Monte Carlo ,, probably with a 3.8l v6 . let me guess , is it blue, even though you wanted red

Almost. I wanted blue and got red.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GearHeaded]

just to kind of conclude this thread --

the fitness industry has me broke when I used to be fairly loaded. be careful what you asked for or the dreams you follow guys.

now sure, I'm successful in the fitness industry in that I have a successful awesome thriving gym, I have a coaching business with lots of happy clients .
BUT. that does not mean you make a lot of money lol.

put it in perspective . I charge $45 per month for my gym membership. I sign up one persons and "oh wow" , thats $45 measly dollars in a whole month..
in contracting I used to 'sign up, ie, sell' a contracting job and it would be 45,000 in one week and I would sell multiples of those per month . big big difference

the fitness industry is not where the money is at even if you are successful and good at it

[XnavyHMCS]

I do electronics and computer programming. I'm in the office 37 hours a week. I have the option of overtime or flexitime, which means that if I work longer in the evening then I can take more money or I can take a day off instead. I'm not loaded but I can pretty much fly to another European city every month if I want. Last weekend I was at the biggest nudist sauna in the world.

Plus I'm waiting on a 6-figure compensation payout that may or may not happen.

"the biggest nudist sauna in the world..."

Cap d'Agde in the south of France perhaps???

Been there done that!!!

Great thread!!!

[Fluidic Kimbo]

"the biggest nudist sauna in the world..."

Cap d'Agde in the south of France perhaps???

Been there done that!!!

Great thread!!!

Nope, not in France.

[diesel101]

Grew up on a bankrupt farm in South Dakota. The only thing my parents could afford to give me was a work ethic. It is the most valuable thing in the world.

2 year vocational education in diesel mechanics. I've done fair for myself but I've always been a risk taker and luckily of them have paid off.

On a side note I actually just started doing some personal training at the gym I've belonged to for 14 years. It's certainly not the money and I really dont have time for it but its something I enjoy.

[Obs]

Grew up on a bankrupt farm in South Dakota. The only thing my parents could afford to give me was a work ethic. It is the most valuable thing in the world.

2 year vocational education in diesel mechanics. I've done fair for myself but I've always been a risk taker and luckily of them have paid off.

On a side note I actually just started doing some personal training at the gym I've belonged to for 14 years. It's certainly not the money and I really dont have time for it but its something I enjoy.

Awesome, thats cool! Didnt figure you for the trainer type.

Poor college girls are all gonna be on tren and the morning after pill lol

[diesel101]

Awesome, thats cool! Didnt figure you for the trainer type.

Poor college girls are all gonna be on tren and the morning after pill lol

I started helping a couple of people a couple years ago and just really enjoyed it.I just did the Nasm online course like most of us wanna be trainers do��. Everyone thinks I'm crazy because of everything I have going on but like I mentioned I just enjoy it.

[Fiskevatten]

What is the regular fair for a personal trainer in the US? Mean common, not IFBB Pro trainers

[diesel101]

What is the regular fair for a personal trainer in the US? Mean common, not IFBB Pro trainers

Out here in a small town 25,000 population the going rate is $40 for a one hour session the trainer gets 70% of the cost per session. I've got a trainer friend in Hollywood Ca who trains some celebrities at a high end gym and they get $200 per hour.

[Fiskevatten]

Out here in a small town 25,000 population the going rate is $40 for a one hour session the trainer gets 70% of the cost per session. I've got a trainer friend in Hollywood Ca who trains some celebrities at a high end gym and they get $200 per hour.

Damn! Pretty decent
I'm interested in the field but there are no customers in my country, you fend for few. However, Thailand where I usually live has started to become much more fitness inspired recent years.
The amount of machines and preferably (handsome) buff white dudes with knowledge is high demand and has high amount of customers potential.
Learn the lingo and a decent youtube channel would probably earn you a few million there in a few years.

[GearHeaded]

Damn! Pretty decent
I'm interested in the field but there are no customers in my country, you fend for few. However, Thailand where I usually live has started to become much more fitness inspired recent years.
The amount of machines and preferably (handsome) buff white dudes with knowledge is high demand and has high amount of customers potential.
Learn the lingo and a decent youtube channel would probably earn you a few million there in a few years.

actually when you put it in perspective its not very decent at all . you probably can't live on that as your income and will need a second job.

ok lets say you have 20 training sessions per week. thats 800$ per week and you do that 50 weeks out of the year. thats $40,000.
but unless you own your own gym your going to have to give the gym that you train clients at about a 30% cut of that. thats 12,000$.
now your down to $28,000 per year.
in order to be a trainer and be able to work at a gym and be contracted your also going to have to have your own liability insurance and set up as a business by the state.
the insurance is about $1500 per year. the state is going to tax your small business at least at 15%. thats another 4,000$..

now that your overhead has been paid. you get to take home $22,500 per year . and thats IF you had no other expenses , like keeping up on your certification dues, advertising and marketing etc..

making 22,500 per year , where I live and most anywhere in the US is considered "extreme poverty" . you won't be able to afford rent or food. you'll be on welfare or have to live with your parents or friends.

you have to have a second job.


like I said .. fitness industry is NOT where the money is at, unfortunately

[Fluidic Kimbo]

Damn! Pretty decent
I'm interested in the field but there are no customers in my country, you fend for few. However, Thailand where I usually live has started to become much more fitness inspired recent years.
The amount of machines and preferably (handsome) buff white dudes with knowledge is high demand and has high amount of customers potential.
Learn the lingo and a decent youtube channel would probably earn you a few million there in a few years.

I lived in the Northeast of Thailand for two years... well actually just across the border in Laos right on the river. I'd give that part of the world another hundred years.

[Fiskevatten]

actually when you put it in perspective its not very decent at all . you probably can't live on that as your income and will need a second job.

ok lets say you have 20 training sessions per week. thats 800$ per week and you do that 50 weeks out of the year. thats $40,000.
but unless you own your own gym your going to have to give the gym that you train clients at about a 30% cut of that. thats 12,000$.
now your down to $28,000 per year.
in order to be a trainer and be able to work at a gym and be contracted your also going to have to have your own liability insurance and set up as a business by the state.
the insurance is about $1500 per year. the state is going to tax your small business at least at 15%. thats another 4,000$..

now that your overhead has been paid. you get to take home $22,500 per year . and thats IF you had no other expenses , like keeping up on your certification dues, advertising and marketing etc..

making 22,500 per year , where I live and most anywhere in the US is considered "extreme poverty" . you won't be able to afford rent or food. you'll be on welfare or have to live with your parents or friends.

you have to have a second job.


like I said .. fitness industry is NOT where the money is at, unfortunately

Wow, interesting! Is it really that expensive to live in the US? If you disregard medical bills and education which i super high to me.
Seems every second YTB video shows invest in cheap houses, buy cheap food at Wallmart for bulk or whatnot.
I gotta go there to see for myself soon, truly on my bucketlist!

[diesel101]

actually when you put it in perspective its not very decent at all . you probably can't live on that as your income and will need a second job.

ok lets say you have 20 training sessions per week. thats 800$ per week and you do that 50 weeks out of the year. thats $40,000.
but unless you own your own gym your going to have to give the gym that you train clients at about a 30% cut of that. thats 12,000$.
now your down to $28,000 per year.
in order to be a trainer and be able to work at a gym and be contracted your also going to have to have your own liability insurance and set up as a business by the state.
the insurance is about $1500 per year. the state is going to tax your small business at least at 15%. thats another 4,000$..

now that your overhead has been paid. you get to take home $22,500 per year . and thats IF you had no other expenses , like keeping up on your certification dues, advertising and marketing etc..

making 22,500 per year , where I live and most anywhere in the US is considered "extreme poverty" . you won't be able to afford rent or food. you'll be on welfare or have to live with your parents or friends.

you have to have a second job.


like I said .. fitness industry is NOT where the money is at, unfortunately

I agree 100% its definitely not a big money maker. That's if you can get enough client's to do 20 sessions a week. In my part of the country it's hard to find people that are willing or capable of spending that type of money to train long term with a personal trainer.

[Gallowmere]

I agree 100% its definitely not a big money maker. That's if you can get enough client's to do 20 sessions a week. In my part of the country it's hard to find people that are willing or capable of spending that type of money to train long term with a personal trainer.

Yeap. I often find that people have somehow confused “head strength coach at a D1 school” money with “guy who trains midlife crisis soccer moms and has a blog” money. One rarely translates to the other.

[GearHeaded]

I think I'm going to finish seminary and go back to being a pastor (still run my little fitness empire).. I'm going to be the baddest ass biggest most jacked and tattooed preacher ever . I'm done with myself , I've accomplished a lot, time to help others as best I can (and I don't mean being some church boy , I'm not that at all . just being a man and preaching the truth of life. nothing more)

I'm tired of the self struggle

[Obs]

I think I'm going to finish seminary and go back to being a pastor (still run my little fitness empire).. I'm going to be the baddest ass biggest most jacked and tattooed preacher ever . I'm done with myself , I've accomplished a lot, time to help others as best I can (and I don't mean being some church boy , I'm not that at all . just being a man and preaching the truth of life. nothing more)

I'm tired of the self struggle

Your struggle will never end, Paul.

Accept the drive as the discontent. You are a pastor here.

Positivity flows from you brother. Just dont let life make your decisions.

You make you decisions solitary. Stay hard and move. The world will adapt, not you. You are on a mission and a badass. This path is yours.

[Obs]

I think I'm going to finish seminary and go back to being a pastor (still run my little fitness empire).. I'm going to be the baddest ass biggest most jacked and tattooed preacher ever . I'm done with myself , I've accomplished a lot, time to help others as best I can (and I don't mean being some church boy , I'm not that at all . just being a man and preaching the truth of life. nothing more)

I'm tired of the self struggle

Never forget who you are. Maybe I am the voice of satan, but you are a lot more than a disciple.

Just my opinion, but God loves us because of the art we create from our own free will. An extension of himself...

You are a leader though.
You will do well at whatever you choose.

[< <Samson> >]

Well, the not so legal part of the fitness industry will get you that house cash paid


Only prob is that you’ll never know how long it will last

[Fluidic Kimbo]

I think I'm going to finish seminary and go back to being a pastor

I was half-considering going down the pastor road. . . but I stopped going to church two or three months ago after too many bad experiences.

For the time being I'm trying to move away from faith, and immerse myself more in the grim reality of life, as I don't think I'll ever come to terms with the suicide of my exgf if I keep trying to focus on the supernatural. I think focusing on faith right now would hinder me in facing death (my own and others').