You Know You’re a Personal Trainer If…
You’re high on life one day when you’re full and your clients tell you what a difference you’ve made for them.
Then you have a no-show, and a cancellation back to back and wonder how on earth you can ever make a living at this.
You are thrilled you’ve won the incentive contest for your staff and done the most personal training sessions all year.
You’re take-home pay practically demands that you win something because there’s no sick days, no place for childcare at work, no way you could work here unless it’s a second income for your family and one of you has a “stable” job.
You love helping people get started and the healthy environment you work in. You think it’s one of the best jobs in the world.
You seriously wonder how you can possibly attract more customers and get them to continue to pay if you raise your rates with all the competition and free videos out there for them.
You finally have grown your client list, you’ve stuck with it long enough to inherit some clients from trainers who’ve left, you’re now one of the senior trainers and you’re feeling like a top dog.
You know that if you lose a client or two at the same time because of the holidays, or summer, you’re paycheck is going to take a hit and you don’t have time to seek more clients while you’re working with the current clients.
You love going to work every day and creating programs that feel like solving a puzzle.
You are paralyzed by all the social media tasks and articles, blogs, videos that you know you should be doing in order to establish a brand that will help you grow your income. You aren’t a writer, you hate public speaking, you don’t really like the way you look or sound in front of the camera. How will you ever get out of the rat race of long hours and the chance it doesn’t add up to a big check even if people cancel or travel?
Does this sound familiar? The back and forth emotions and roller-coaster you’re riding and the conversation that live in your head are real.
Personal training, whether you work hourly for a gym or parks and recreation center, you pocket 100% of your own fees (and expenses, thank you, very much), or you’re somewhere in between, is a love-hate relationship for a lot of trainers.
One moment you feel like you’re on top of the world because you love teaching, helping, and you get a lot of praise from your clients who aren’t knowledgable and think you know so much.
The next moment, the reality of how much you still have to learn and, in fact, whether you’re really making the right decisions for someone or you have all the qualifications you need or not comes crashing in. You feel it so much more when you offer a program and you can’t fill it so now you have this thing you’re committed to and planned but it’s just taken time and potentially going to take more time without paying you even as much as working with one client would.
Agh! It’s maddening.
And it happens to everyone. Everyone, that is, who wants more. You know more.
The real challenge of having that entrepreneurial spirit when you want to do more and you want to grow your brand is that you have to go through all those conversations. To reach to the next step you’re always going to feel like a small fish again. And again. If you don’t, there’s not too much chance you’ll grow your business.
If you have these same conversations (with yourself), you’re not alone. If you admit that you do, you’re probably ahead of the game. So many trainers will struggle with self-doubt and not knowing exactly how to get out of that spot or feeling alone until the point they convince themselves that those little voices are right. Or they’ll potentially stay in their old comfort zone really not comfortable at all but not wanting to rock the boat and take chances that someone could be better if they changed the strategy.
Did you know that most trainers with a blog really don’t have a clue about how to monetize it? There’s no strategy. Then when they realize what steps have to happen to create one, they abandon ship and just continue to spend time and write and hope that they’ll be famous with it. All the while a million other blogs are using strategy and getting read and shared and driving business to their programs. Someone started a blog without a strategy except that, “should I have a blog?” and then answered their own question, “I should have a blog.” Yet, there wasn’t a distinct reason for having it or an audience requesting answers that were provided.
Blogs are just one example. The conversation about planning and reaching bigger or staying small and stuck happens. It definitely happens. Sometimes you’re waiting. If you admit it, you’re waiting for someone to come along and rescue you. They’ll offer you a better job or more pay. Just because you’re wonderful and you’ve put in your time. Are you waiting? Some of us aren’t willing to wait.
So the question today, is which are you? What do you want to do about it?
If you have amazing programs (you’ve surveyed prospects, evaluated past programs, interviewed at least 25 ideal clients) and you don’t have any butts in the seats, it may not be you. You may be one step away from the right message (maybe you simply haven’t told enough people) or the right words (do you know how to write copy that persuades easily? it’s an art not an accident).
1. do you have enough prospects?
2. are you offering something that solves their biggest problem?
3. are you using words they use to do it?
4. are you offering it not at a time that you have a hole in your schedule but when the customers want to come and will pay for it?
It’s really pretty simple if you’re offering a program that someone wants and there aren’t enough other good choices out there for them, or they perceive that YOU are the only program they want.
When you can reach that level of branding because you know not only that you know the answers but you know the customer because you’re listening instead of assuming, you’ve got this. You really have it.
If you need help seeing the best path to creating programs and you’re feeling the crush of holidays coming and the surge of the New Year clients that should be there, you’ll want to watch this.