Have we discussed this? how do you determine your rates?

[John Prophet]

An interesting question...because I have seen many people ask "what do u charge?', but I havent seen it asked "how do you arrive at that figure?"


So, I know that in some (chain) gyms it is a fixed rate or it is "set" on a certain basis such as seniority, number of certs, etc.

In my gym we r independent and we pay the owner a certain fee each month and then what we charge or who we train is up to us.

So if that is the case for you, how did u arrive at your current fee...what criteria etc?


Is it just a case of looking around the gym to see what others r charging and then deciding where u fit in?

do u look at what rates r charged in other gyms???

do u go by supply and demand as far as how many open slots you have or how busy u r in general?


I ask because I am at the point where I realize I am simply undervaluing myself big time. I started off on the low end of the gyms rate scale but that was 18 months ago and now I cant think of any particular reason why I now charge, say, 45% of what I see others charge.


Be honest, does ego come into play for some of you? For instance how athletes always site what other athletes make and they insist on making more etc.

lets say the top rate being charged was, $50/hr session. I sort of see 2 options. 1) charge $55 and thus choose to position yourself as "the best", lol... 2) charge $40-45 and when people object to price u site the other guys charging $50 etc

[MVP]

Charge what you feel you are worth! If you are providing results and you can prove that, you can put a good price on you. People will see the value, and if it's important to them, they will pay for it

I see way too many out of shape dumb trainers, going around charging what everyone else charges, then undercutting them. It totally give personal trainers a bad rep on top of other things

[wide lats]

Charge what people can afford! If you think about it realistically, most people wanting a trainer are women, and what got them fat in the first place was junk food and a sedentary lfestyle i.e. being unemployed, find out what their circumstances are first and base your decision them. I would personally be feeling like a turd charging a single mom of 4 kids whos unemployed top rate - each to their own though.

[John Prophet]

I would personally be feeling like a turd charging a single mom of 4 kids whos unemployed top rate - each to their own though.

youd feel like a worse turd once u realized u were undervaluing yourself and thus getting no respect

a gallon of milk cost the same for a poor person and a rich person

[HardGainer82]

Look at your own situation and what rate suits your living. Test it out, and if it works, fabulous, you now have more experience and can up the rate. If it doesn't try to figure out where the issue is, and if it indeed seems to be the rate itself, lower it slightly and see how that affects sales.


**mostly speculation, I'm starting out myself.

[EMISGOD]

I did it differently. I arbitrarily picked a high number to start with and then rated it progressively higher, dependent on how much available time I had and how much of a pain in the ass I considered training people at the time... :D

[Al Shades]

I believe in selling everybody on the highest rate that they can afford.

Not everyone can afford $50-60/hour. I know that I couldn't.

If someone can only afford $20/hr, and that's what it takes for them to train with me, then so be it.

The whole thing is determining the income bracket of each person you encounter and selling them a package they can afford. Whether it's $1500 or $15, I don't really care. I hate a missed opportunity. I hate to spend an hour on the consultation, only to have them walk away with the dreaded, "Let me think about it/I'll do this on my own for a little while"...

Of course, I'm new to training and trying to build my client base. Things will be different in 6 months. But I can imagine that I'll always give discounts to people who seem like good prospects but can't afford the standard rates. I won't give discounts to people who would make bad clients.

There is absolutely no getting around it, $50-80/hr is a lot of money. Especially considering the fact that it takes at least 10 sessions to get anything out of training (unless you're a complete beginner). Sales prospects come up with many excuses for not buying, some of which are obvious BS, but I do recognize the fact that some people legitimately want to train and can't afford it. I recognize that because I haven't got tons of money to throw around myself. I know what it's like to want to see a doctor or dentist and not be able to afford it.

I know that it's not cheap, and as a result of that, I want to give my clients a lot in return for their investment. Printed materials and handouts, especially. It's not enough to see a person for 1 hour a week and then forget about them until next week. That doesn't cut it for me.

I'm amazed by the senior trainers at my facility who don't do nutrition plans but simply take their clients through basic workouts a couple times a week. You cannot change your body that way. Their clients are paying $70-80 an hour and the majority (hell, all of them) look the same. I have written dozens of my handouts for my [future] clients and am constantly thinking up new ones. I want to establish a reputation as "the trainer" who delivers results and also gives superb value for the financial investment. My attitude is, if you're paying me $70/hr, then let's get serious. I know this is fairly naive since there is no shortage of people who are able and willing to pay that much for a glorified babysitter. I see it all the time at our gym.

[jimjos4]

I believe in selling everybody on the highest rate that they can afford.

Not everyone can afford $50-60/hour. I know that I couldn't.

If someone can only afford $20/hr, and that's what it takes for them to train with me, then so be it.

The whole thing is determining the income bracket of each person you encounter and selling them a package they can afford. Whether it's $1500 or $15, I don't really care. I hate a missed opportunity. I hate to spend an hour on the consultation, only to have them walk away with the dreaded, "I'll think about/I'll do this on my own for a little while"...

Of course, I'm new to training and trying to build my client base. Things will be different in 6 months. But I can imagine that I'll always give discounts to people who seem like good prospects but can't afford the standard rates. I won't give discounts to people who would make bad clients.

There is absolutely no getting around it, $50-80/hr is a lot of money. Especially considering the fact that it takes at least 10 sessions to get anything out of training (unless you're a complete beginner). Sales prospects come up with many excuses for not buying, some of which are obvious BS, but I do recognize the fact that some people legitimately want to train and can't afford it. I recognize that because I haven't got tons of money to throw around myself. I know what it's like to want to see a doctor or dentist and not be able to afford it.

I know that it's not cheap, and as a result of that, I want to give my clients a lot in return for their investment. Printed materials and handouts, especially. It's not enough to see a person for 1 hour a week and then forget about them until next week. That doesn't cut it for me.

I'm amazed by the senior trainers at my facility who don't do nutrition plans but simply take their clients through basic workouts a couple times a week. You cannot change your body that way. Their clients are paying $70-80 an hour and the majority (hell, all of them) look the same. I have written dozens of my handouts for my [future] clients and am constantly thinking up new ones. I want to establish a reputation as "the trainer" who delivers results and also gives superb value for the financial investment. My attitude is, if you're paying me $70/hr, then let's get serious. I know this is fairly naive since there is no shortage of people who are able and willing to pay that much for a glorified babysitter. I see it all the time at our gym.

true that

[John Prophet]

I am not sure how one handles charging every client a different price. I assume that would take some fancy stepping

99.9% of the time, the first question out of a prospects mouth is "how much r your sessions?". Id find it a little difficult to say "what kind of car do u drive?" lol


here is my situation. I have been charging way down at the bottom of the price range and I am no longer happy at that rate. I am not really willing to continue devaluing myself and watching other earn double what I do per session. If I could reason that they were in some way better than me, then it wouldnt bother me....but they arent, so I am selling myself short.

So that being said, at the moment I dont have ANY clients. Havent had any for about 3 weeks after I "took a week off myself" after a week where I had 50% cancellations.

I needed a week to get my thoughts together about a cancellation policy etc because I cant deal with all the cancellations anymore. So basically my existing clients fell to the wayside and I wasnt too dissapointed with that fact because I needed a new start anyway.

So now I am looking to take a step up to a higher pay bracket. Actually I feel that would just be "correcting" things to where they should have been all along as I was seriously undervaluing myself for my experience level and the care and attention I give to each client.

But now I am not super sure how to start again at that higher pay rate. Its really a mental thing that most of you wouldnt be able to relate to. its sort of like, if u dont come FROM money, you almost have a mental blockage against charging a decent rate. I do at least.

frankly all I was charging b4 was $20/session. Ridiculously low I know, especially for a long time gym veteran with a decent knowledge base and competitive powerlifting and athletic experience.

So in my gym we have 2 basic prices, lol. a group of trainers charges $20/session. Then a couple guys charge $50/session. Personally I dont see any difference in quality, lol. The more expensive guys r certified whereas the lower priced people arent..me included.

So I am sort of undecided on what to step my rates up to. I do see a value in sort of hitting a middle figure of around $35-40/session. That way I give myself an ok "raise" and I sort of keep some ammo on my side when people complain about the price as I can fallback on "well, top dollar in the gym is $50/session so I feel my rates are EXTREMELY reasonable" etc.

then when I get my NCSA-CPT I might see about increasing to the $50/session range.


Does that sound like a reasonable plan??


the thing also is....even at only $20/session, a few steady clients takes a LOT of stress off of bill paying time. So I wouldnt be totally opposed to charging some people only $20/session, but I am not sure how that would really help me step up to the next pay bracket.

[HardGainer82]

I'm also curious how exactly you determine someone's income bracket without asking, "Well, how much can you afford to pay me?"

Objectively, I have ACE Certs for PT, LWMC and GFI. I'm also going to be going for my NFPT Cert in Nutrition. I have experience in weightlifting, functional training, some yoga, and have a background in competitive combat athletics.

What sounds like a fair price?

Input appreciated.

[John Prophet]

I'm also curious how exactly you determine someone's income bracket without asking, "Well, how much can you afford to pay me?"

Objectively, I have ACE Certs for PT, LWMC and GFI. I'm also going to be going for my NFPT Cert in Nutrition. I have experience in weightlifting, functional training, some yoga, and have a background in competitive combat athletics.

What sounds like a fair price?

Input appreciated.

whats the "going rate" in the gym?

[EMISGOD]

I'm amazed by the senior trainers at my facility who don't do nutrition plans but simply take their clients through basic workouts a couple times a week. You cannot change your body that way. Their clients are paying $70-80 an hour and the majority (hell, all of them) look the same. I have written dozens of my handouts for my [future] clients and am constantly thinking up new ones. I want to establish a reputation as "the trainer" who delivers results and also gives superb value for the financial investment. My attitude is, if you're paying me $70/hr, then let's get serious. I know this is fairly naive since there is no shortage of people who are able and willing to pay that much for a glorified babysitter. I see it all the time at our gym.

I agree completely to this part and again it reinforces my point regarding "exercise demonstrators" vs. actual trainers. I did not get into diet into the depth that I have since "semi-retiring" from training people or that I would for myself, however, I think that ties in with tailoring stuff to the client. Every single person had diet addressed, however, since I felt then that diet was 75% of the battle. I now feel it is more like 90%.

Like you, I would give them endless spreadsheet printoffs (it was free for me at the college computer lab, so why not) and at least once every month there would be a consultation session. Sometimes I would not charge for this, sometimes I would. I see a lot of people who try to do consultation during the actual training session, which I feel is both a distracting and stupid practice. I wanted their focus to be on the task at hand, which was the workout, not jawing at me.

You are entirely correct to consider your reputation first and foremost. I personally think this will do more for you than any other single factor...

[HardGainer82]

whats the "going rate" in the gym?

No idea...trying to avoid going through a gym. Like I said, just starting out.

Pretty much everyone I've been talking to has been saying how big gyms are soulless corporate monsters that only want you to sell sessions and then other trainers will steal your clients. I almost worked for LA Fitness but now, no thanks.

I have been looking at Bally's though.

[The Dark]

I am not a personal trainer (although I have toyed with the idea of certification and doing some on the side after 30 years of training myself).

But the things you are talking about are relevant to the field I am in, as a licensed psychologist, training students in a graduate program. In training graduate students in our department we often have to engage in this discussion, even in the clinic we run in our department on a sliding scale. People often come in and based on our scale (which is based on income) get a really low per hour rate for therapy (sometimes in the rage of 10% what one would pay in a private practice setting. Often they will then ask to pay even less...saying that it is too much. Often these are clients who smoke, drink, and are wearing expensive clothes. My advice to therapists is that if a person truly needs and values your services, then it is a virtual certainty that they can find some things to give up in order to obtain them. If they cannot make those sacrifices, then they likely do not really want the services.

Of course, I often have to remind the graduate students that the services that they provide are worth the price....they tend to devalue their own contributions.

[Al Shades]

Does that sound like a reasonable plan??

the thing also is....even at only $20/session, a few steady clients takes a LOT of stress off of bill paying time. So I wouldnt be totally opposed to charging some people only $20/session, but I am not sure how that would really help me step up to the next pay bracket.

If you have some dependable clients who you know aren't particularly wealthy, continue to train them for $20. Bump up the price for everyone else. You just need to do a cost/benefit analysis with all of your clients. As I said, if someone is a pain in the ass, they shouldn't be getting any discounts.

And get your cert. as soon as you can. It's just a piece of paper, but it really helps with credibility.


I'm also curious how exactly you determine someone's income bracket without asking, "Well, how much can you afford to pay me?"

What sounds like a fair price?

Input appreciated.

It depends on the average income level of the area where your gym is located. If you don't know this, you could simply chat with the sales guys at the front desk and they will paint you a picture of the typical demographics. Check the parking lot, look for new and luxury cars (there are many at my gym). Obviously, check the monthly membership fee. If it's $80, then you can assume that people there are quite wealthy.

There are many ways of determining a person's income level without asking. You need to start picking up clue's from the moment you first see them. This is a basic sales tactic that is widely used. The first thing you should have them do is fill out a contact information sheet. Then - viola - you have their address, and you can go from there.

When it comes to offering rates, you can have several "tiers" available, high to low. Start by offering the highest tier, and if they say it's too much for them, offer them a lower tier with some sort of different contract (change the arrangement just enough so they won't realize you're giving them a flat out discount).

We need a thread devoted to sales tactics for PT's.
If you work in the service industry, you can't ignore sales, no matter how much expertise you have in your field.
It's a necessary evil that everyone needs to deal with. Doctors, therapists, PT's, shrinks, coaches, etc...

That's why I'm thinking of buying this course or one like it:

http://www.ultimatepersonaltrainingsalestool.com/

[eastcoastNRG]

During you consult with the client you should have a question asking stress levels at work on your client profile this way you will know what their occupation is and you can get a idea of what kind of offer you can throw at them. Also, if you just sell yourself with portfolio, credibility, and letting them know your concern for them. I feel you have to be able to adapt a potential clients personality the sec you shake hands, learn to read people it will increase your sales. Have a website, websites are professional as you should be. I can also get a idea of what people can afford by explaining 3 phases i take them through the introduction phase lasting 1-3 weeks , the results phase lasting however long you feel it will take, and the maintance phase1-2 weeks. I always say lets start out by getting you to the middle of the results phase and reevaluate this way they are purchasing a minimum of 25 sessions to start and once they start seeing the results the rebuy will be a breeze. hope that helps

[devildogbr]

you just need to figure out what class the majority of the people in your area are (such as lower, middle and upper class as far as income goes) and then keep a set price that is afordible for them yet not making yourself seem like a crapy trainer ...

[HardGainer82]

Thanks everyone.

[John Prophet]

let them know that i am the best trainer inside of this gym and i back my work 110% and if i fail i will quit !!!!!!!

hehe, I like that kind of rhetoric...but let me ask you...how do you define "fail"? I ask because I know there will always be clients who just cant be helped

[TDE]

I'm amazed by the senior trainers at my facility who don't do nutrition plans but simply take their clients through basic workouts a couple times a week. You cannot change your body that way. Their clients are paying $70-80 an hour and the majority (hell, all of them) look the same. I have written dozens of my handouts for my [future] clients and am constantly thinking up new ones. I want to establish a reputation as "the trainer" who delivers results and also gives superb value for the financial investment. My attitude is, if you're paying me $70/hr, then let's get serious. I know this is fairly naive since there is no shortage of people who are able and willing to pay that much for a glorified babysitter. I see it all the time at our gym.
Damn! Question, what kind of physique are these senior trainers in?

[tubby2hunny]

An interesting question...because I have seen many people ask "what do u charge?', but I havent seen it asked "how do you arrive at that figure?"


So, I know that in some (chain) gyms it is a fixed rate or it is "set" on a certain basis such as seniority, number of certs, etc.

In my gym we r independent and we pay the owner a certain fee each month and then what we charge or who we train is up to us.

So if that is the case for you, how did u arrive at your current fee...what criteria etc?


Is it just a case of looking around the gym to see what others r charging and then deciding where u fit in?

do u look at what rates r charged in other gyms???

do u go by supply and demand as far as how many open slots you have or how busy u r in general?


I ask because I am at the point where I realize I am simply undervaluing myself big time. I started off on the low end of the gyms rate scale but that was 18 months ago and now I cant think of any particular reason why I now charge, say, 45% of what I see others charge.


Be honest, does ego come into play for some of you? For instance how athletes always site what other athletes make and they insist on making more etc.

lets say the top rate being charged was, $50/hr session. I sort of see 2 options. 1) charge $55 and thus choose to position yourself as "the best", lol... 2) charge $40-45 and when people object to price u site the other guys charging $50 etc

I cant see how nobody hit on this.... How much money do you NEED to make to pay your bills, grow your business, save? How many clients can you train in a day? Are you doing things right? business lic, insurance, up to date certs. In EVERY line of work their will be people that do it cheap, and people that make good money doing it.. look at ampm coffee and starbucks same idea one costs more but comes with perks, how about this How many of you are wearing the cheapest shoes RIGHT now? did you get your work out kicks at payless? I didn't think so (nothing wrong if you did) Im just saying, people dont shop by price, people afraid think they do, but they dont. What makes BMW better than KIA? will they get me to the gym? yep,, Look at any business $80-$90hr is not a lot of money, that type of thinking will sink you,

[tubby2hunny]

every line of work also has "retail price" and "wholesale" price to me, I feel gym is wholesale and one on one not working for a gym would be retail, and retail is more $$ so if the gym is charging $60 you should charge more ie ampm vs starbucks...... People that want the cheap price will ALWAYS find it, you cant make a living on $15 sessions so you can get that 1 client, someone will always be there to offer it to them for $10, so unless your ready to be the $10 guy, charge what your worth, word about your training skills will get around then when you get busy, you wont be working all day for min. wage

[gaynorj.12]

I've been the #1 trainer at every club i've worked at (24hr, gold's, private gym...). Pulled in the most revenue (PT & supps.), serviced the most sessions, and have had the best feedback. I'll tell whoever reads this post the single most important peice of advise you will ever get if you want to be a successfull trainer.

The best trainer is the best salesman.

Sales & communication dictate success for any occupation, but it is essential for trainers. you have to put value on everything you do & ultimatly sell yourself/training. I charge between $70-100 per session. Why? Because people will pay it and then sincerly thank me (offer me deals & free things...).

Why should they pay for you? what is it worth to them...

After this month I'm raising my rates ro $150/hr-- because I can

[regl8r]

Anyone ever do a student/senior citizen discount?

Most employed people should be able to afford 50-60 a session at least.

[popupwindow]

I would personally be feeling like a turd charging a single mom of 4 kids whos unemployed top rate - each to their own though.

Do you really think that's a large demographic for personal trainers?



I believe in selling everybody on the highest rate that they can afford.

Not everyone can afford $50-60/hour. I know that I couldn't.

If someone can only afford $20/hr, and that's what it takes for them to train with me, then so be it.

The whole thing is determining the income bracket of each person you encounter and selling them a package they can afford. Whether it's $1500 or $15, I don't really care. I hate a missed opportunity. I hate to spend an hour on the consultation, only to have them walk away with the dreaded, "Let me think about it/I'll do this on my own for a little while"...

Of course, I'm new to training and trying to build my client base. Things will be different in 6 months. But I can imagine that I'll always give discounts to people who seem like good prospects but can't afford the standard rates. I won't give discounts to people who would make bad clients.

There is absolutely no getting around it, $50-80/hr is a lot of money. Especially considering the fact that it takes at least 10 sessions to get anything out of training (unless you're a complete beginner). Sales prospects come up with many excuses for not buying, some of which are obvious BS, but I do recognize the fact that some people legitimately want to train and can't afford it. I recognize that because I haven't got tons of money to throw around myself. I know what it's like to want to see a doctor or dentist and not be able to afford it.

I know that it's not cheap, and as a result of that, I want to give my clients a lot in return for their investment. Printed materials and handouts, especially. It's not enough to see a person for 1 hour a week and then forget about them until next week. That doesn't cut it for me.

I'm amazed by the senior trainers at my facility who don't do nutrition plans but simply take their clients through basic workouts a couple times a week. You cannot change your body that way. Their clients are paying $70-80 an hour and the majority (hell, all of them) look the same. I have written dozens of my handouts for my [future] clients and am constantly thinking up new ones. I want to establish a reputation as "the trainer" who delivers results and also gives superb value for the financial investment. My attitude is, if you're paying me $70/hr, then let's get serious. I know this is fairly naive since there is no shortage of people who are able and willing to pay that much for a glorified babysitter. I see it all the time at our gym.

Dynamic pricing? I can see that backfiring quite easily if two of your clients ever talked to each other, or if one client referred another client who was a friend of theirs and you charged them a lower rate because they had a lower income. Have these sort of things every occurred and how did you deal with them?

The only situation I've seen dynamic pricing like that work is at a gym that only did group training classes (no open gym), and they would charge you a lifetime rate, which would be a monthly debit from your account. Let's just say $1/month to make the maths easy. Then, after a while, to make more money they would charge new members $2/month, but that rate would be locked in for life (not increase yearly with inflation etc). Then a little while later, new members would come, they would get charged $3/month etc, so that loyalty and getting in early was rewarded, and if newer people caught on to what was happening, they were re-assured their rate would never go up. Even then I think it's quite dicey, but I hope it works out for you.

[tovlakas]

I believe in selling everybody on the highest rate that they can afford.

Not everyone can afford $50-60/hour. I know that I couldn't.

If someone can only afford $20/hr, and that's what it takes for them to train with me, then so be it.

The whole thing is determining the income bracket of each person you encounter and selling them a package they can afford. Whether it's $1500 or $15, I don't really care. I hate a missed opportunity. I hate to spend an hour on the consultation, only to have them walk away with the dreaded, "Let me think about it/I'll do this on my own for a little while"...

Of course, I'm new to training and trying to build my client base. Things will be different in 6 months. But I can imagine that I'll always give discounts to people who seem like good prospects but can't afford the standard rates. I won't give discounts to people who would make bad clients.

There is absolutely no getting around it, $50-80/hr is a lot of money. Especially considering the fact that it takes at least 10 sessions to get anything out of training (unless you're a complete beginner). Sales prospects come up with many excuses for not buying, some of which are obvious BS, but I do recognize the fact that some people legitimately want to train and can't afford it. I recognize that because I haven't got tons of money to throw around myself. I know what it's like to want to see a doctor or dentist and not be able to afford it.

I know that it's not cheap, and as a result of that, I want to give my clients a lot in return for their investment. Printed materials and handouts, especially. It's not enough to see a person for 1 hour a week and then forget about them until next week. That doesn't cut it for me.

I'm amazed by the senior trainers at my facility who don't do nutrition plans but simply take their clients through basic workouts a couple times a week. You cannot change your body that way. Their clients are paying $70-80 an hour and the majority (hell, all of them) look the same. I have written dozens of my handouts for my [future] clients and am constantly thinking up new ones. I want to establish a reputation as "the trainer" who delivers results and also gives superb value for the financial investment. My attitude is, if you're paying me $70/hr, then let's get serious. I know this is fairly naive since there is no shortage of people who are able and willing to pay that much for a glorified babysitter. I see it all the time at our gym.

can't believe this was written by al shades... this is an excellent, excellent post and attitude. Repped!

[COBrien3]

I think it totally depends on the demographics of the gyms membership base.

When I was working at the YMCA, 60 minute sessions were $49. I've since gotten a job at a gym with a much more well off clientele base, and the price for a 60 minute session Tier 1 trainer is $70, with a 60 minute session with a Tier 3 trainer being $109. I thought that was insane when I first began working there, but there are Tier 3 trainers with 3,4, even 5 clients a day, 6 days a week.

So back to my point, it all depends on what your clientele base can afford.

[KyleAaron]

I cant see how nobody hit on this.... How much money do you NEED to make to pay your bills, grow your business, save? How many clients can you train in a day? Are you doing things right? business lic, insurance, up to date *****. In EVERY line of work their will be people that do it cheap, and people that make good money doing it..
This is the way to look at it, yes.
How much money do I want to earn annually? Obviously $1 billion. But let's be realistic. What income would you require for a decent lifestyle, given home, family, etc?
How many hours do I want to train people? Remember that hours training are not the only hours working, you could be doing marketing stuff, hanging around the gym trying to find more clients, etc.
(1) / (2) = hourly rate

If this leads to a low hourly rate, okay fine. If it leads to a high one, then you need to find the market willing and able to pay that rate. This may mean doing extra courses, being mentored by an established trainer, moving cities or whatever. It may take some time.

For example, let's say I want to earn $1,000 a week, and train 40 hours. That's $25/hr. But then I might have to spend another 30 hours finding new clients to replace the old ones leaving, doing paperwork for taxes, travelling between clients, etc. Is 70 hours a week sustainable?

Okay, maybe I'll train people for 20 hours a week, with another 20 spent on marketing, admin, etc. This then is $50/hr for my sessions.

But then I also have to think of other things. If someone buys a ten-pack they may expect a discount - say 10%. So either I work 22 hours instead of 20 and get the same $1,000, or else I have a base rate of $55, but $50 if they buy 10, or "buy 10 get 1 free". If I'm paying rent at the gym I work at, well that's a factor, too. And so on - just some examples.

Decide how much you want to earn, how many hours of training you want to be giving, and that's your basic hourly rate. This may take some time to achieve and mean extra study, travel, networking and so on for you.

This must be compromised with the sort of people you enjoy working with. If you find it fulfilling to work with unemployed single mothers of 4, well then you'll never be rich - but you'll be fulfilled. By the same token, if you can't stand managerial types or the idle rich, you'll find it hard to earn six figures. Anything dealing with rehabilitation, the elderly, troubled youth, etc, also won't make you big cash.

However little you charge, someone will say it's too much. However much you charge, someone will pay it. It just takes more qualifications, more work and connections to get the top-paying clients. But money ain't everything.