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Personal Trainer Business Plan

"You don't understand what it takes to be a successful personal trainer."

The words hurt every time they leave my mouth because it feels wrong. The person on the other end of the line is smart, talented, and understands the human body much better than I do. And has trained many more clients in his gym than I ever will. And yet, I need to deliver the message again.

It doesn't matter who is on the other end of the line; I've watched too many trainers struggle for every reason outside of training anatomy. The problem is a need for business physiology 101. Those vital organs that realistically separate the successes from the failures. In this line of work, it's not all about training X's and O's. It's the P&L, CAC, and definitely the LTV.

If you're a trainer, your first step (after you become educated and are ready to help people) isn't to shell out training answers. Before that, you must ask  a series of questions to put you in a position to succeed. Here's how you can instantly grow some business muscle and flex your way to a more successful career.

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Become Your Own Boss

Much like birth, death, or catching a fly ball—starting your own business only happens once in life. But unlike those other scenarios, you can be bad at building your own company—really bad.

In fact, according to researchers at the University of Tennessee, about 50 percent of all businesses fail, and 25 percent close their doors by the end of year 1. 

Which means you want to make sure you minimize your mistakes in order to increase your likelihood of success, so that you end up on the positive side of that statistic.

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Do You Have a Bad Reputation?

I think it’s safe to assume you don’t want to be that guy. No, not “the guy.” We’re talking about the flip side.

For one reason or another, you’ve built a reputation that's wrecking havoc on your ability to make friends, move up in the office, and feel more enjoyment from life.

Most people insist that if they had a reputation problem they would fix it immediately. But your mind tends to be self-protective. This can be a very good thing in terms of confidence. And yet it's a very bad thing when you're trying to fix a situation you didn't even realize was broken. 

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How to Handle Haters

The biggest waste of time is a waste of time.

I found myself saying those words out loud as I read this article by Tony Gentilcore.

Understand that while this article is going to disagree strongly with how Tony handled this situation, he is actually a friend and someone that I respect more than most in the industry.

In fact, when I was editor the fitness editor at Men’s Health magazine (before I even knew Tony), it was my goal to make him a contributor because I knew his coaching would improve the quality of the content.

He’s smart, has great advice, and can help people.

And the fact that he possesses those qualities is why his approach towards his haters failed. You see, what he wrote about served none of the attributes above.

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