How do I start a personal training business?

by David
(California )

I wanted to become a personal trainer so I went to 24 hour fitness and asked what is required. The fitness manager told me that I needed to be NASM certified (Which cost $600). I purchased the package and passed the test. After going back for the interview I found that it would be very difficult to make a living working for this company. This was something that he did not tell me in the beginning because he "wanted to get me in the door." He told me that I would be better off starting my own business and training people in a private gym. My question is: How do I start a personal training business? How do I attract clients? Is this in fact the way to go and to avoid the big corporate gyms?Can you make a living being a personal trainer? If anybody can give me some advice I would greatly appreciate it.

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I think you need to acquire experince first
by: LC

Not because you get certified you will become a millionaire overnight. It is a gradual progress to success like any other business.

I would recommend you first to start working for a company so you learn more and also start practicing with family members and friends. Like any job you need to learn how put the information you learn together before you start.

I would not recommend you to start alone right away and worst to start charging money because If the clients see your Awkwardness of your inexperience and they don't get results you will end up with a bad reputation and no clients.

After you get enough experience and you know what your doing go for!! STOP working for a company and START YOUR OWN BUSINESS.

Good luck

LC

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It is almost impossible to start from scratch
by: Stu

I have years of fitness experience and certs, and am no slouch regards running a business. But when I tried to start my own personal training business it was a disaster.
I intended to specialize in at home training, bought all the equipment.

No matter what method I tried to advertise and publicize and create interest it didn't work. From hours spent posting door hangers and windscreen leaflets, to great business cards, internet presence, to smoozing people when ever I could, man you name it I tried it.
And it was all very systematically directed at the right socio-economic areas. BUT NADDA! Zip!
Heart breaking.

The industry is just flooded with trainers, there isn't the client base to support it.

I agree though with some other posts here, that if you have managed to build up a repeat client base and a large one at a gym, then you have more chance of taking enough with you to start your own business, but seriously, unless you live in a very exclusive part of the town clients do not use P-Trainers day in day out year after year. They usually do just a couple of months, and this is big PROBLEM FOR AN INDEPENDENT.

I really wish I could be more positive, because I'd love to make it work, but it seems impossible.
And I certainly won't work for 24hr fitness after what I've read here. I already had a poor enough opinion of the trainers there, since it's where I work out, but now I know what an awful company it is too, and I can relate because I've worked for Target.

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experience
by: Anonymous

all i can say is you need experience and 24H only pushs trainers to get NASM cuz they are partners but like i said its all about getting experince in the gym talking and training because no online cert is going to teach you how to become better at standing in front of another person selling them personal training or the people skills to get people to want you as there trainer so my advice is just start training as soon as posible to get that experince and work on sales because its all about the sales

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Bad trainers
by: Anonymous

The vast majority of trainers at 24 Hour Fitness are absolutely horrible. There are very few good ones there anymore. Most are dangerously incompetant. They are so driven to sell by the corporate office that some will actually injure clients in their attempts of avoiding being written up for not hitting their sales numbers. NASM is a scam and works perfectly into the sleazy way 24 Hour Fitness pressures new members into buying lousy training.

How do I start a personal training business?

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