$50,000 a year- 5/hrs a day 5/days a week

[CrazyG323]

I am going to start up my own personal training business in the next couple of years and I wanted to ask you guys what the possibility of making $50,000 a year- 5/hrs a day 5/days a week is.

Right now I am going to be turning 20 years old and my goal is to start the business in the next couple of years. I am not diving into this without doing my research so my goal is to get certified and study a lot about owning a small business.

So PT out there that already have their own business what do you think about my goal?

ALSO**** I live in Los Angeles, CA ..... I don't know if that would make a difference to anybody

[Mr. Aries]

just grab a calculator, it's easy..


there are 52 weeks in year.. You are working 5 days out of each week.

52 x 5 = 260 days.

260 x 5 gives you the number of sessions you'll be training. The answer is 1300.

50000/1300 would give you the amount you need to charge per session.

which is $38.50


SO you need to charge 38.50 per session to earn 50k pre-tax..

[CrazyG323]

Yeah I have done the math, and it actually does not come out to charging a lot. Im sure a lot of people are thinking 50,000 a year is not a lot of money but I also want to do other things to. Thats why I want to only work like 25 hours a week because it will also give me time to do other things.

Now with that 38.50 I also gotta count in the insurance and probably a gym im going to have to pay money to use so it actually will probably come out to charging more than that. however its a good base....

[CYLON RAIDER]

Start up costs??
Paying off small business loan? Equipment??

[Itis1760]

when i worked for powerhouse reno, the cost of getting a building was 60grand...then you have to factor in all the equipment..then paying ALL your employees...its expensive

[CrazyG323]

I dont have exact numbers but I am planning on using my own savings to start up the company.

Remember I am not trying to have my own building and employees yet. It is just going to be me.

I saw somewhere that to rent a monthly personal trainer pass to the golds gym in my area is like 500 a month. So the start up cost and everything like that is not going to be as HUGE as if I were going to buy my own equipment, hire trainers etc....

I know that there are going to be some start up costs but that is why I said I am going to be starting up the business in a couple of years.... like 2 years so I could figure everything out but I doubt it cost that much to start up a personal training business.

[CrazyG323]

also i will probably be working a job while im starting up the business

[MVP]

also i will probably be working a job while im starting up the business

Just remember. Running your own business is a 24/7 job. It's no cake walk. If you plan on leasing a space, 50k aint going to cut it especially in LA. Lease, overhead, cams, taxes, insurance, buying or leasing equipment, utilities etc.. You won't even break even. That 50k that you make will be put right back in the business, and you'll be paying out of your own pocket from your other job to even help out. Running your own business is all or nothing. It's a 100% or 0%. No in between. You know how competitive PT is in LA?????

[mydamnself]

I rent afternoon/evening time in a facility for 1k a month. I charge $90 an hour. My equipment costs weren't much as I mostly use kettlebells. I work 25-30 hours a week and before taxes each year I finish over 100k. That's not including my upcoming e-book, workshops, etc.
However, this year I will probably spend 5k on certifications, workshops, materials, etc. Don't be one of those trainers who is stingy about spending money on their education. You have to spend money to make money. The cert I'm going to this weekend alone is $1,500.00
So, the potential is there to do very well for yourself. As a previous poster said, running your own business is a 24/7 job. I started off training in a storage shed and I think for the first year I worked 16-18 hours a day. I ran myself like a dog, but it was worth it. It will also be a question of your own education. The more you learn and can apply that knowledge to training, the more you can charge.

[CrazyG323]

Yeah I understand what everyone is saying. To MVP I dont think you really understand the way running your own business works. Look up any article on starting your own business and they all recommend to have at least a part time job while you are starting out.

mydamnself

Thank you for the advice. It was very useful and I am definitely willing to put money into my education.

Also here is my opinion for personal trainers in L.A

There are a lot of personal trainers just like there are actors but that does not mean they have the skills to be a good personal trainer. I mean all of us know that anyone can get certified and call themselves a personal trainer but that does not mean we will all do good.

[mydamnself]

I missed the part about you being in L.A. If you're in Los Angeles you might look at a gym like Equinox to make your bones and build up a high dollar client base that you can take with you.

[CrazyG323]

yeah that is also one of the things i am considering. the reason im leaning more towards starting my own business is i have the entrepreneur mind and attitude. i just feel confident in myself and starting the business up from scratch is something i think i could accomplish.

[MVP]

Yeah I understand what everyone is saying. To MVP I dont think you really understand the way running your own business works. Look up any article on starting your own business and they all recommend to have at least a part time job while you are starting out.

Just by reading your 1st paragraph in your opening post, you have already failed. A trainer who puts money first fails.

BTW - I do know what it takes to run a successful PT business. It's a 100% passion/effort -24/7

[CrazyG323]

What what was floating on in my mind is to work a flexible while starting out. Even if just starting out I am a part time personal trainer and I make 30,000 a year I would be happy with that. Or even if I make the same amount I do now not being a personal trainer I would be happy with that.

I was just shooting for 50,000 because I want to aim high not low.

BTW

Congrads on your business it seems like it is doing really well. Did you have a huge amount of money saved up when you started? Thats really good that you have your own business. I saw on another thread that you pay 1800 a month for your facility but if your still making good money congratulations. A lot of people aspire to do what you have done.

[MVP]

What what was floating on in my mind is to work a flexible while starting out. Even if just starting out I am a part time personal trainer and I make 30,000 a year I would be happy with that. Or even if I make the same amount I do now not being a personal trainer I would be happy with that.

I was just shooting for 50,000 because I want to aim high not low.

BTW

Congrads on your business it seems like it is doing really well. Did you have a huge amount of money saved up when you started? Thats really good that you have your own business. I saw on another thread that you pay 1800 a month for your facility but if your still making good money congratulations. A lot of people aspire to do what you have done.

You can make 50k, working at a Equinox or a Spectrum. If you cant put 100% into running your own business, then why do it? Save yourself the heartache and work at Equinox or Spectrum until you know for a fact, that you can give it 100%. Going from a PT at a commercial gym to opening up your own, is a HUGE RISK and the BIGGEST step a PT can ever make.

Thanks. I had very little to start. It was all or nothing and i knew that. I had a few clients, sucked it up and went for it. I knew i was going to be successful at it, because of my passion to change peoples lives. My rent is now $2000 + cams. I have 2 great trainers who love training for me. I have had my own studio going on 4 years now, and i will be opening up my 2nd in 09, 12 miles away

[CrazyG323]

yeah you have a good point. maybe i should just start working for a gym and then eventually branch out and do my own business in the near future. the gyms i have in my area are 24 hour fitness, la fitness, ballys, golds gym and a bunch of other little places.

im going to have to do more research and planning....today my mind has been going crazy with ideas.


i still like the thought of starting my business though also with the freedom it will give me.

[Mr_Slim]

in Australia PT's generally charge minimum 60 per hour, and work about 30 hours per week. i'm charging 70, and work about 20 at the moment. 8mths into my business, currrently working at the biggest chain in Sydney. makes it much easier to get clients, as your marketing costs are very low - your clients are right there ready for you!

just make sure before you do it that you're cut out for the business lifestyle. as people have said before, that means 24/7. if you want to make money, you have to make a choice, either early starts (people trianing before work) or late nights (people training after work) so be prepared for not much sleep and at first, not much money.

you have to also prepare yourself to get cancelled on, people get sick. you can book in "x" sessions per week, but chances are you will lose some of them through illness / holidays / lazyness. you can do your best to prevent this (24hr cancellation periods etc) but only so much you can do.

but when you have your business built (which i will in a few months) then PT is the best job in the world. having an income of 100K is just a bonus

[kserajuddin]

I am going to start up my own personal training business in the next couple of years and I wanted to ask you guys what the possibility of making $50,000 a year- 5/hrs a day 5/days a week is.

Right now I am going to be turning 20 years old and my goal is to start the business in the next couple of years. I am not diving into this without doing my research so my goal is to get certified and study a lot about owning a small business.

So PT out there that already have their own business what do you think about my goal?

ALSO**** I live in Los Angeles, CA ..... I don't know if that would make a difference to anybody

Yeah, you've got your head in the right place man - that goal is very doable, especially living in a major city -

[FastevoIV]

Look into Industrial live/work spaces. You can pay one rent for your apartment and studio space. These are huge in Atlanta. Can save lots of money, and you can walk to work everyday! LOL Usually in urban revitalization areas in most cities. Or rent an industrial space thats privatley owned and make sure the owner doesn't care you live there. Some places are zoned for Live/work though.

Form an LLC.

Save up enough money to cover your bills. You don't need to work a part time job. Thats a bad idea. Because then you won't be able to devote 100% of your time to your company! Save up a few thousand to float on for 3-6 months. This goes without saying you have a few thousand set aside just for your business.

Good Luck!

[WannaGetLean]

just grab a calculator, it's easy..


there are 52 weeks in year.. You are working 5 days out of each week.

52 x 5 = 260 days.

260 x 5 gives you the number of sessions you'll be training. The answer is 1300.

50000/1300 would give you the amount you need to charge per session.

which is $38.50


SO you need to charge 38.50 per session to earn 50k pre-tax..

You are a genius Mr. Aries

[bigg_K]

do you plan on being the only trainer in your facility?

if so, why only 5 hours? Seems like a waste of space to me. I'd rent out space to other trainers as well, to help w/ payments.

and/or

Hire trainers to work for you, but then, you'd have to give them a reason to do that instead of going around you. ie, show you have a good business model, you know what you're doing, you can market yourself(them)

otherwise lets say 2 sessions a week
lets make it 6 hours a day
5 x 6 hours = 30 sessions = 15 clients
30 sessions x $50 = $1500/week x 4 = 6000 gross. $72,000 yearly.

If it was only that easy...

[jando]

sorry to break it to you but the training world does not follow a perfect schedule. You're going to have to be working for more than 5 hours a day especially in the beginning in order to make 50,000$. First off, you're not going to be able to charge a lot of money as a new trainer especially because you are young. I'm not saying low ball yourself because people may think your product is cheap if your prices are cheap. Set a price at a midrange level. Also, you might be the best trainer in your area but people automatically write you off because you are young. The best thing you can do is reverse their opinion through your knowledge, confidence, physique and your workouts. Eventually you'll build a reputation that will trascend your age and this will not longer be an issue. I'm 22 and sometimes it is a tad difficult because of my age but clients become happy and I get referals from them and I've built of a reputation so my director sends me a lot of clients because he knows they will reup in training.

Also, what people do sometimes is they'll before your 24 hour cancellation policy like as in 30 hours before the session. Often this is not enough time to fill the slot so basically you're out of money for that hour. So it's in your best interest to overload yourself because I promise following that formula you'll make around 40k not 50. Even the best trainer will have several cancels a week. Let's say 5 cancels a week if you havea lot of clients for 4 weeks. so 20 cancels within a month.

[CrazyG323]

Im going to have to sit down and really do the math on which would be better.

[KyleC.]

its not so much how much you train its where you train and what type of training you will be doing. If you have a location, you better make sure u have the clientel in the general area to pay your bills....people dont normally drive past the 15 min mark for general fitness.

[CrazyG323]

its not so much how much you train its where you train and what type of training you will be doing. If you have a location, you better make sure u have the clientel in the general area to pay your bills....people dont normally drive past the 15 min mark for general fitness.

damn thats a good point, i dident even think about that at first.

[kserajuddin]

people dont normally drive past the 15 min mark for general fitness.

What did you mean by that?

[blapblapblow]

What did you mean by that?

I think he means it helps prevent laziness. If someone has to drive more than 15 minutes to get to the gym, making 30 minutes total of drive time, it's easier to make an excuse blaming traffic and not going to the gym. That means it could be 1.5 hours of gym time, and alot of people dont devote that much time to it.

Basically it's convenience. Location is very important, and even more important because of our economy

[superthrustjon]

Nice motivation, but I think your expectations are pretty unreasonable. You're not going to make that kind of money running your own studio alone only putting in 5 hours a day. People aren't going to magically show up, you have to market, pay for advertising and all the equipment and rental fees, insurance, ets. Learn more about running your own business first, a brief look at a "running a business for dummies" book and you'll see what everyone is telling you. Go work at a small PT studio and pick the owners brain, and he'll tell you what kind of dedication it takes and all of the expenses.

[SheWulf]

sorry to break it to you but the training world does not follow a perfect schedule. You're going to have to be working for more than 5 hours a day especially in the beginning in order to make 50,000$. First off, you're not going to be able to charge a lot of money as a new trainer especially because you are young. I'm not saying low ball yourself because people may think your product is cheap if your prices are cheap. Set a price at a midrange level. Also, you might be the best trainer in your area but people automatically write you off because you are young. The best thing you can do is reverse their opinion through your knowledge, confidence, physique and your workouts. Eventually you'll build a reputation that will trascend your age and this will not longer be an issue. I'm 22 and sometimes it is a tad difficult because of my age but clients become happy and I get referals from them and I've built of a reputation so my director sends me a lot of clients because he knows they will reup in training.

Also, what people do sometimes is they'll before your 24 hour cancellation policy like as in 30 hours before the session. Often this is not enough time to fill the slot so basically you're out of money for that hour. So it's in your best interest to overload yourself because I promise following that formula you'll make around 40k not 50. Even the best trainer will have several cancels a week. Let's say 5 cancels a week if you havea lot of clients for 4 weeks. so 20 cancels within a month.

I agree, cancellations is a big part of it. Your client base will fluctuate, and sometimes it kinda sucks.


Have you ever thought about creating a mobile gym? Like renting out a truck and bringing the gym TO the clients? I don't know anyone who personally does this, and it seems expensive (gas prices :eek! but I can see how convenient that would be for A LOT of clients.

[kserajuddin]

Nice motivation, but I think your expectations are pretty unreasonable. You're not going to make that kind of money running your own studio alone only putting in 5 hours a day. People aren't going to magically show up, you have to market, pay for advertising and all the equipment and rental fees, insurance, ets. Learn more about running your own business first, a brief look at a "running a business for dummies" book and you'll see what everyone is telling you. Go work at a small PT studio and pick the owners brain, and he'll tell you what kind of dedication it takes and all of the expenses.

Their were a couple of negative replies on this thing - if you caught me a few years ago I would have responded exactly the same way - but being in it now for a little while, I realize that it's all in your attitude - if you come into it thinking that it's going to be hard, that's how it's going to be - if you realize that for a lot of trainers it's not like that, you'll look to make it easy for yourself too -

Teaching something that comes naturally to you, that you love to do, are passionate about, and are constantly learning new things in is easy - teaching it to complete novices, which most general pop. clients are, is so easy it hurts - that's not a bad thing - for a long time I was very uncomfortable with the fact that I was earning more money than I ever had and things were so easy and life was so good - I was actually VERY nervous about this every day, like a feeling of impending doom -

Then I read a book where the guy talked about how that's the telltale sign that you're in the right field for you - he said you feel like you're going to get busted because things are so "easy" for you - it was like a light-bulb went off, and I finally became comfortable with the fact that training can be easy - since then I've tried to make it even easier -

- Closed down a studio to do strictly on location -
- Got rid of employees, and instead at times double book clients -
- Turn down or get rid of clients I don't like, hugely over-deliver to clients I do like -
- Stopped all paid advertising and switched to free advertising -

The practice of Personal Training is not rocket science - and neither is the business end - Getting about a dozen regular clients - if that sounds like an astronomical task to you, you need to re-think what you're doing -

- maybe you're not delivering enough value for people to resign with you -
- maybe you're not delivering enough value so that people tell everyone they know about you -
- maybe you're not delivering enough value to justify charging top-level rates -
- maybe you're not coming across as a complete competent professional, of course different, but on-par with the other professionals this high-level client deals with in their life -
- maybe your website and marketing sucks ass and is suffering from neglect or needs a complete overhaul -
- maybe you're a negative person and need to get a life (btw this was my biggest problem)

Getting 12-15 steady clients? Selling a product over which you control every single aspect and variable? That's not hard - maybe owning a clothing store in a busy mall? With all the rent and overhead and employees and fickle customers? Or owning a restaurant or something like that? That must be hard - Selling basic training instruction to complete novices who are looking for ways to make their lives more fun, enriching, and bring more positive people into their lives - that's not hard, especially if you're living it -

But then why do trainers earn **** pay? Like look at the training salary numbers - why are they so pathetic (something like under $30,000 a year for full-time trainers)? I've got two inter-related theories -

1. People that are generally very knowledgeable at fitness do not go into Personal Training as a career: this came as a shock to me at first - when I first went independent, I was based out of a popular private gym (a POWERHOUSE franchise) - I was an inquisitive little **** and I used to ask all the really in shape people what they did for a living - I just assumed that they were all in some aspect of the fitness industry since it was something they were already passionate about - not a single one of them was by the way - what I found generally is these types of committed people seek the security of a traditional profession or structured work environment - it's this type of consistency that allows them the time to focus on their bodies -

2. People that turn to Personal Training are usually not good at anything else - they think it's easy money (there's a difference between easy and "easy") - they're not good at any other jobs - they may be lazy - they may have negative attitudes - they may have poor time management skills - they may have low standards - they may not stick to it long enough to get good at it (they end up quitting when it gets rough, like it does at times)

When a rare person that know what they're doing enters this field, you get someone that's charging $100 + per session, has a stocked client roster, and is usually thinking about what to do next - I've talked to a lot of top trainers on my blog, and a lot more in real life just moving around, and what I noticed is a glowing positive attitude - there's a feeling that they deserve this - that's not theoretical talk, or keyboard jockey talk - maybe in your city or immediate area you may not have the same opportunities or access to trainers like this - but if you live in a major city, look around and you'll find them -

Yo, and STJ, I cosign that last part of what you said - get some experience first, and working for an already established trainer or finding one as a mentor is a great way to do it -