Personal Training and trainers...

[BgMc31]

I need to hear from personal trainers on this forum. I've been coaching kids in strength/conditioning since I hung my cleats up in 2002. Now I want to do it fulltime. What are some inexpensive/efficient ways to build my business? Now obviously, I won't be able to survive on just training kids, so I would have to incorporate being able to train regular folks as well. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks, brothas!!!!

[dec11]

did it for 4yrs in total, i wouldnt go back to it, its a very stressful occupation. constantly trying to attract clients and clients constantly letting you down with no shows etc. longterm clients can become stressful, running out of conversation, them taking liberties cos they 'know you so well' you end up being like a fvckin hairdresser with everyones probs in your head lol

if you had your own premises then you wouldnt have to worry about paying a gym to operate, would lightened some of the burden i guess

[The Toad]

I had a friend that was doing summer strength camps at a local high school (he charged for it). His thinking was that he could get his name out there and some of the more serious athletes would want to sign up for one on one training. He had a good response for his camp but quit training shortly after that so I am not sure how effective it would have been, but I thought it sounded like a pretty good idea.

[GetSwole83]

The money these days (at least in the east) seems to be in group classes. Charge X a head, hold Y classes a week. Find a group of people who need your services the most...Stay at home moms are good. They have the time...they never stand you up (hardly anyway) and they usually have a ton of moolah. Advertise on your car, or make a name for yourself in a local gym then go out on your own. But as DEC said...its a stressful business. I am glad I do it for "extra" cash. It aint my full time job.

[dec11]

to put it short, its 90% sales and marketing and you soon tire of it wondering where that 'thing id love to be doing for a living' went to

[MuscleScience]

Since your were a pro, in Vegas and there is a large pro athlete presense there. Why not work those networks?
It is stressful, it is tiring and at times sucks. My training never suffered so much as it did when I was training others a lot. But there is a huge upside to getting people health and changing lives.

Keep all that in mind.

[dips]

i have a friend who has had a lot of success doing "boot camp" like training programs. its usually like a 6-9 week period of basically military type style workouts: discipline, strength and conditioning. he does it for women and kids on and off several times throughout the year. its done great as far as growing his regular clientele. several will want to continue training even after the camp. also another big upside is that u dont do it in a gym, just at a park or rec, little overhead, and it only takes a couple hrs of your time.

most of it is just word of mouth advertising/recruiting, but he usually makes them sign up in pairs bc alot are partner drills, accountability (and revenue, lol).

[layeazy]

Theres alot of money in it if your good with ppl...

[BgMc31]

Since your were a pro, in Vegas and there is a large pro athlete presense there. Why not work those networks?
It is stressful, it is tiring and at times sucks. My training never suffered so much as it did when I was training others a lot. But there is a huge upside to getting people health and changing lives.

Keep all that in mind.

That's what I was leaning towards. That and training kids on their way to college as scholarship athletes. I wanted to avoid the soccer moms and such, but I figured they could be a good basis or a fallback.

[dec11]

i have a friend who has had a lot of success doing "boot camp" like training programs. its usually like a 6-9 week period of basically military type style workouts: discipline, strength and conditioning. he does it for women and kids on and off several times throughout the year. its done great as far as growing his regular clientele. several will want to continue training even after the camp. also another big upside is that u dont do it in a gym, just at a park or rec, little overhead, and it only takes a couple hrs of your time.

most of it is just word of mouth advertising/recruiting, but he usually makes them sign up in pairs bc alot are partner drills, accountability (and revenue, lol).

these are very popular in summer in dublin parks, ppl sign up to 5-10wk courses and trainers are making a killing financially, no overheads at all bar PL insurance. id be doing it myself if i hadnt fvckin shin splints screwing up my running.

[dec11]

That's what I was leaning towards. That and training kids on their way to college as scholarship athletes. I wanted to avoid the soccer moms and such, but I figured they could be a good basis or a fallback.

if you have a rep in a certain field within a certain area then gear it up towards that, cause the general population will fvck you around no end. the thing with pt'ing is that theres no guarantees, one month i could have had 20 clients per week the following month that could have been down to 5 clients per week, really fvckin frustrating!!!!! and the only guarantee was the gym rent to be paid each week....

[calgarian]

simple solution......train fatties i can help

[layeazy]

lol there's a lot of professional Personal Trainers

Then there's the trainers that are just terrible not helping there clients lift properly they use their phones while with a client stuff i couldn't believe....
but the next week the same client would be with them lol...