Advice for starting a business

[westymate]

Hey guys

Ive recently became a certified personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach

Im only 17 but have a lot of knowledge in training after competing in powerlifting and weightlifting

After some advice on starting a business and any extra pieces of advice on becoming a personal trainer. Do any of you have tips or experience from your own journey and what worked/didn't work for you.

Much appreciated.

[KyleAaron]

You've jumped the starter gun. Here's my boilerplate advice for a would-be trainer.

1. get yourself a trainer, and set moderately ambitious goals that'll take 6-12 months to achieve and involve setbacks along the way
2. then go and do a proper certification
3. then work in a big gym
4. and talk to someone new every day
5. and teach someone new a movement every day - plank, squat, leg press, whatever you think is useful, but always the same one
6. and thus in 2 years you'd have talked and taught a movement to at least 500 people, and will have learned something about people and teaching movements
7. during these 2 years you'll figure out if you enjoy the job, if you're any good at it, and your niche will choose you
8. in the next 2 years you'll build a reputation within your niche
9. and can also use that time to build business skills
10. and then maybe start your own independent business

The harsh fact is that nobody is going to pay a 17 year old to tell them what to do. 40 year olds will think you know nothing and other 17 year olds think they know everything.

You may have all the knowledge and empathy, but people simply won't believe it. Following the above steps will take a couple of years, building your skills and allowing you to mature physically and socially so that people take you as seriously as you deserve.

[westymate]

Thanks for this

I've been working in a big gym for nearly a year and train about 75 people but recently wanted to establish my own company and pay rent rather than giving the gym a fee every session I do

Ive definitely experienced older people thinking i'm not qualified, and it usually takes 1-2 complimentary sessions for them to understand that I can assist them

Thanks

[AskBrandonQuan]

Hey guys

Ive recently became a certified personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach

Im only 17 but have a lot of knowledge in training after competing in powerlifting and weightlifting

After some advice on starting a business and any extra pieces of advice on becoming a personal trainer. Do any of you have tips or experience from your own journey and what worked/didn't work for you.

Much appreciated.

Hey Brayden,

Assuming you're a novice in the business aspect of things I'd definitely take the time to work on a proper business plan. It seems you're really qualified as a personal trainer and your experience should lend itself well to when you actually train people. But the single hardest thing for an independent personal trainer is acquiring clients and doing things that will direct you in the right direction. A business plan can really help you out with this. See below for a simplified PT Business plan I've made.


1. Executive Summary
1.1 The Problem
1.2 The Solution
1.3 Market
1.4 Competition
1.5 Financial Highlights


2. Opportunity
2.1 Problem Worth Solving
2.2 Your Solution
2.3 Roadmap/Future Plans/Goals


3. Execution
3.1 Marketing Plan
3.2 Sales Plan
3.3 Key Metrics
3.4 Milestones


4. Financial Plan
4.1 Financial Overview
4.2 Profit/Loss Statements

This is a very very simplified business plan. But it will work wonders in helping you figure out your direction for your business. Give me a shout if you have any questions on filling out any of these sections.

[Sergexzx]

You've jumped the starter gun. Here's my boilerplate advice for a would-be trainer.

1. get yourself a trainer, and set moderately ambitious goals that'll take 6-12 months to achieve and involve setbacks along the way
2. then go and do a proper certification
3. then work in a big gym
4. and talk to someone new every day
5. and teach someone new a movement every day - plank, squat, leg press, whatever you think is useful, but always the same one
6. and thus in 2 years you'd have talked and taught a movement to at least 500 people, and will have learned something about people and teaching movements
7. during these 2 years you'll figure out if you enjoy the job, if you're any good at it, and your niche will choose you
8. in the next 2 years you'll build a reputation within your niche
9. and can also use that time to build business skills
10. and then maybe start your own independent business

The harsh fact is that nobody is going to pay a 17 year old to tell them what to do. 40 year olds will think you know nothing and other 17 year olds think they know everything.

You may have all the knowledge and empathy, but people simply won't believe it. Following the above steps will take a couple of years, building your skills and allowing you to mature physically and socially so that people take you as seriously as you deserve.

Well said! I started out the same way 5 years ago.

I now own my own training company with 40+ trainers, 300 clients and 1 studio location.

[KyleAaron]

I have yet to have anyone follow this advice.

The funny thing about giving career advice to would-be PTs is they never take it. I can't tell you how many I've had contact me over the years and ask to come and learn - they rarely do. And we see here that people asking advice never come back and tell us what their results were.

Perhaps if it I offered a $2,500 weekend seminar with a certification I'd made up they'd listen better.

Fitness is dominated by enthusiastic amateurs, most of whom are fiercely determined to remain amateurs. Ah well, that's the industry. As the great warrior Leroy Jenkins said, at least I got chicken.

[EveryBodyspt]

different markeing avenues

[KyleAaron]

Can you elaborate on that?

[Ronin4help]

Hey guys

Ive recently became a certified personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach

Im only 17 but have a lot of knowledge in training after competing in powerlifting and weightlifting

After some advice on starting a business and any extra pieces of advice on becoming a personal trainer. Do any of you have tips or experience from your own journey and what worked/didn't work for you.

Much appreciated.

Like all businesses, you need capitol. All successful businesses had an initial investment. So, the question that first must be asked is, 'how much capitol do you have to start a business?' Only then can applicable advice be offered.

[SinisterGains]

Some very good info and advice posted.

[taylerbabe]

My #1 piece of advice is to try not to do everything on your own.
Utilize your own strengths, and seek the help of others to cover your weaknesses or things you don't like doing.

[CodeSigma]

You've jumped the starter gun. Here's my boilerplate advice for a would-be trainer.

1. get yourself a trainer, and set moderately ambitious goals that'll take 6-12 months to achieve and involve setbacks along the way
2. then go and do a proper certification
3. then work in a big gym
4. and talk to someone new every day
5. and teach someone new a movement every day - plank, squat, leg press, whatever you think is useful, but always the same one
6. and thus in 2 years you'd have talked and taught a movement to at least 500 people, and will have learned something about people and teaching movements
7. during these 2 years you'll figure out if you enjoy the job, if you're any good at it, and your niche will choose you
8. in the next 2 years you'll build a reputation within your niche
9. and can also use that time to build business skills
10. and then maybe start your own independent business

The harsh fact is that nobody is going to pay a 17 year old to tell them what to do. 40 year olds will think you know nothing and other 17 year olds think they know everything.

You may have all the knowledge and empathy, but people simply won't believe it. Following the above steps will take a couple of years, building your skills and allowing you to mature physically and socially so that people take you as seriously as you deserve.

Questions,

1)He's already a trainer so why would he get himself a trainer? Unless its a trainer for his clients?
2)Whats a proper qualification?
3)Following your advice to the teeth what results can one expect given that the situations are right.

I'm intriguied because your formula is very different from what I've been hearing.

[KyleAaron]

He's already a trainer so why would he get himself a trainer?

He'll learn new skills and empathy. The new skills is straightforward enough: however experienced you are, if you put yourself in the hands of another trainer you'll learn some things. Recently I had a trainer, he at first said I shouldn't pay because I wouldn't learn anything, I should just tell him how he could make the programme better. I said, "I'll pay for three reasons: Firstly, professional respect. Secondly, I will learn a few things, even if just small things. Lastly, if it's free I might bail after two weeks, if I pay I'll do it, and if I do it then I benefit from it, and I can make a proper assessment of how to improve it."

And in fact I did learn a few small things, like: meat and vegies alone makes you constipated, it's not enough fibre, and if you do a lunge by stepping back rather than forward you don't do so much knee flexion so it's kinder on dodgy knees. These are small things but it's those things that make a huge difference to that one particular client you have.

Like most trainers, he hasn't been through the process of training. Yes, he says he's competed in PL/WL, but he didn't say his results and anyway he's 17, so he can't have that many years behind him. That's no slight on him, it's very common in trainers - they become trainers in the first year or two of their own training, that newbie phase makes them passionate about it and want to Spread The Word. That enthusiasm is good, but it needs some experience to support it.

As I said: set moderately ambitious goals that will take 6-12 months to achieve and involve setbacks along the way. If for example a healthy young guy wants to squat 100kg, he can generally do that simply by starting with the empty bar and adding 2.5kg every session for a few months. If he wants to squat 180kg then at some point between 100 and 180kg he'll get stuck a few times, and will have to figure out how to get around the stuck point.

A healthy young guy can stay up all night, live on cigarettes and KFC and squat 100kg. He can't do that and squat 180kg. So he'll have the experience not merely of showing up to the gym and doing as he's told, but of having to organise the rest of his life, food and sleep.

(It'd be the same if we were talking about a 20' 5km run vs a 30' one, or 10% bodyfat vs 15%. The squat's just illustrative. Adjust numbers for natural talent; if he's a 120kg Samoan then the 180kg squat will be more straightforward, but the 20' 5km would be impossible.)

Perhaps more importantly, he'll have the experience of failing, and of sitting around between sessions thinking, "next time I go in, I may fail again." This is a daunting thought. Combined with the difficulty of sorting out food and sleep, he may start to understand why many people don't want to do personal training, and why even when they sign up they don't get the results they could, and why in fact many quit just as their bodies are starting to change.

Having every workout watched and critiqued for 12 months can be daunting, too. Someone watching every aspect of your movement and offering criticism, even constructive, is scary. I say this and people go, "I know, I know, that's obvious," but if you look at how PTs interact with their clients, knowing something intellectually and having genuine empathy for it are different things. If you've had a trainer then at some point they said something that made you feel awesome, or made you feel awful. And then you as a trainer become more conscious of what you say and how you behave and programme things for people.

Now, this is fair advice for anyone, to get a trainer to develop some empathy.

As a final point, having a trainer yourself actually gives you some cred with potential and current clients. It shows you genuinely believe it's worth paying for and doing. I can't quantify it, but it does make a difference with recruitment and retention. Would you go to a church with an atheist priest? Would you eat a steak cooked by a vegan? Why would you go to a trainer who has never had a trainer?

Whats a proper qualification?

Varies by country.

Following your advice to the teeth what results can one expect given that the situations are right.

You can expect to at least not fail dismally. You laugh, but most trainers do in fact fail dismally. Whether you're a great success depends on many things, not all of them under your control. But if you follow this advice, you will at least not fail. Dave Tate said that in lifting, there are four levels,

Sht
Suck
Good
Great

The same goes for being a trainer or coach.

• Sht - you hurt people. This is the typical gym-goer if the guy tries to train his girlfriend (women almost never try to train their boyfriends because their boyfriends won't listen).
• Suck - you don't hurt people, but you don't help them. This is most personal trainers with a short certification behind them. The person will get newbie gains for the first 6 weeks and may be encouraged to continue training as a result, so the Sucky trainer can actually help people by accident, simply by getting them to show up and do something. But no improvements past the first 6 weeks.
• Good - you help people. This is an intelligent trainer with at least 2 years of experience doing ongoing training with 20-50 people individually, and who has spoken to or taught a movement to 5-10 times that number. They'll have some continuing education in some form.
• Great - you help people a lot; usually this is a trainer who is generally Good, but is Great with a particular niche, they have extensive general continuing education, and some specific stuff to do with their niche, too. This is at least five years experience training 50-100 different people ongoing one-on-one, and 10-20 times that number one-offs.

The interesting thing I noticed about working in a big gym is that the trainers who were Sht didn't know it - but every gym member did. If you follow this advice you will definitely not be Sht, and very probably not Suck. Doing the "speak to one new person every day, teach one new person a movement every day" will take you from Suck to Good.

[CodeSigma]

He's already a trainer so why would he get himself a trainer?

He'll learn new skills and empathy. The new skills is straightforward enough: however experienced you are, if you put yourself in the hands of another trainer you'll learn some things. Recently I had a trainer, he at first said I shouldn't pay because I wouldn't learn anything, I should just tell him how he could make the programme better. I said, "I'll pay for three reasons: Firstly, professional respect. Secondly, I will learn a few things, even if just small things. Lastly, if it's free I might bail after two weeks, if I pay I'll do it, and if I do it then I benefit from it, and I can make a proper assessment of how to improve it."

And in fact I did learn a few small things, like: meat and vegies alone makes you constipated, it's not enough fibre, and if you do a lunge by stepping back rather than forward you don't do so much knee flexion so it's kinder on dodgy knees. These are small things but it's those things that make a huge difference to that one particular client you have.

Like most trainers, he hasn't been through the process of training. Yes, he says he's competed in PL/WL, but he didn't say his results and anyway he's 17, so he can't have that many years behind him. That's no slight on him, it's very common in trainers - they become trainers in the first year or two of their own training, that newbie phase makes them passionate about it and want to Spread The Word. That enthusiasm is good, but it needs some experience to support it.

As I said: set moderately ambitious goals that will take 6-12 months to achieve and involve setbacks along the way. If for example a healthy young guy wants to squat 100kg, he can generally do that simply by starting with the empty bar and adding 2.5kg every session for a few months. If he wants to squat 180kg then at some point between 100 and 180kg he'll get stuck a few times, and will have to figure out how to get around the stuck point.

A healthy young guy can stay up all night, live on cigarettes and KFC and squat 100kg. He can't do that and squat 180kg. So he'll have the experience not merely of showing up to the gym and doing as he's told, but of having to organise the rest of his life, food and sleep.

(It'd be the same if we were talking about a 20' 5km run vs a 30' one, or 10% bodyfat vs 15%. The squat's just illustrative. Adjust numbers for natural talent; if he's a 120kg Samoan then the 180kg squat will be more straightforward, but the 20' 5km would be impossible.)

Perhaps more importantly, he'll have the experience of failing, and of sitting around between sessions thinking, "next time I go in, I may fail again." This is a daunting thought. Combined with the difficulty of sorting out food and sleep, he may start to understand why many people don't want to do personal training, and why even when they sign up they don't get the results they could, and why in fact many quit just as their bodies are starting to change.

Having every workout watched and critiqued for 12 months can be daunting, too. Someone watching every aspect of your movement and offering criticism, even constructive, is scary. I say this and people go, "I know, I know, that's obvious," but if you look at how PTs interact with their clients, knowing something intellectually and having genuine empathy for it are different things. If you've had a trainer then at some point they said something that made you feel awesome, or made you feel awful. And then you as a trainer become more conscious of what you say and how you behave and programme things for people.

Now, this is fair advice for anyone, to get a trainer to develop some empathy.

As a final point, having a trainer yourself actually gives you some cred with potential and current clients. It shows you genuinely believe it's worth paying for and doing. I can't quantify it, but it does make a difference with recruitment and retention. Would you go to a church with an atheist priest? Would you eat a steak cooked by a vegan? Why would you go to a trainer who has never had a trainer?

Whats a proper qualification?

Varies by country.

Following your advice to the teeth what results can one expect given that the situations are right.

You can expect to at least not fail dismally. You laugh, but most trainers do in fact fail dismally. Whether you're a great success depends on many things, not all of them under your control. But if you follow this advice, you will at least not fail. Dave Tate said that in lifting, there are four levels,

Sht
Suck
Good
Great

The same goes for being a trainer or coach.

• Sht - you hurt people. This is the typical gym-goer if the guy tries to train his girlfriend (women almost never try to train their boyfriends because their boyfriends won't listen).
• Suck - you don't hurt people, but you don't help them. This is most personal trainers with a short certification behind them. The person will get newbie gains for the first 6 weeks and may be encouraged to continue training as a result, so the Sucky trainer can actually help people by accident, simply by getting them to show up and do something. But no improvements past the first 6 weeks.
• Good - you help people. This is an intelligent trainer with at least 2 years of experience doing ongoing training with 20-50 people individually, and who has spoken to or taught a movement to 5-10 times that number. They'll have some continuing education in some form.
• Great - you help people a lot; usually this is a trainer who is generally Good, but is Great with a particular niche, they have extensive general continuing education, and some specific stuff to do with their niche, too. This is at least five years experience training 50-100 different people ongoing one-on-one, and 10-20 times that number one-offs.

The interesting thing I noticed about working in a big gym is that the trainers who were Sht didn't know it - but every gym member did. If you follow this advice you will definitely not be Sht, and very probably not Suck. Doing the "speak to one new person every day, teach one new person a movement every day" will take you from Suck to Good.

Thank you! this is well thought out, I am deffo going to apply this. Do consult start ups?

[KyleAaron]

Yes, you should apply it.

Yes.

[TaliaMccorkle]

How are you doing? If you are successful, I congratulate you.

[jonnyo43]

Hey guys

Ive recently became a certified personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach

Im only 17 but have a lot of knowledge in training after competing in powerlifting and weightlifting

After some advice on starting a business and any extra pieces of advice on becoming a personal trainer. Do any of you have tips or experience from your own journey and what worked/didn't work for you.

Much appreciated.

Yes! I please see my recent post "How to stop "selling" and start getting the signature.". This information CHANGED MY LIFE AND BUSINESS. Cheers!

Jonathan