Different Ways to Make Money as a Fitness Trainer

Here are the different ways you can work as a fitness professional

Working as an employee provides some potential benefits for the trainer. This includes the possibility of obtaining a full client load with very little marketing and providing a larger scope of services for clients who you train. When a trainer works for someone else or as part of a company, they typically will start out with a ready-made professional image and will typically experience less paperwork than an independent contractor. This may have the added benefit of allowing the trainer to focus more on the hands-on work done with clients. Having access to better and more varied equipment is also a great benefit to working for someone else.

Self-employment as a Personal Trainer

Having your own personal training business is the most profitable option for a personal trainer, although not everyone is well suited for this type of enterprise. It takes a certain personality type to be truly successful in one’s own business. The most successful personal trainers are inventive and follow through with their plans. They respect money. They possess considerable expertise in a particular career field and have broad experience in several others. They have very good verbal and written communication skills and are normally considered to be very personable. Successful business owners tend to be positive thinkers, determined, self-disciplined, service oriented and persistent. Remember, most personal trainers operating small businesses that don’t succeed are examples of talent without proven fitness coaching business skills.

Advantages of being self-employed included having a flexible schedule, independence, being your own boss and the possibility of receiving tax advantages. Most often, personal trainers are more creative and experience increased personal satisfaction and greater sense of achievement when they are self-employed.

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Disadvantages of being self-employed include the long hours, sometimes 10+hours per day. This can include 6 to 7 days a week, of work. When a personal trainer is also a business owner they not only work with their clients, but they are also required to actively market and manage their practice. However, it’s incredibly rewarding.

Therefore, in the beginning, new trainers may need to devote 2 to 3 hours for business promotion and development for every hour of client interaction. Sometimes the startup costs can be greater than what has been anticipated. Initially, income is usually not steady and there are financial risks. But, most personal trainers agree that the benefits of being self-employed outweigh both the perceived or real risks.

Fitness Trainer Self-employment – Independent Contractors

An independent contractor (IC) is a professional who works for themselves. An IC can choose whether or not to accept in-home clients in the presence of the client’s own home or the home of the personal trainer. The IC can choose to rent space in a studio or gym, or even own their own studio or gym. As well, the IC can train multiple clients at one time to increase profits while increasing camaraderie between clients with similar goals and abilities.

For self-employed trainers, the two most prevalent reasons for failure are mismanagement and money (capital). Mismanagement is generally a result of poor planning, not realistically evaluating strengths and weaknesses, failing to anticipate obstacles, improper budgeting and lacking the necessary business skills to prevent failures.

 IMPORTANT FINAL NOTE:  Working for a club can provide a given level of certainty: A certainly of having a flow of clients and certainty of a moderate level of income.  Working for yourself has some challenges, and yet there is absolutely zero limit to how much money you can earn.
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