7 Things No One Tells You About Being A Personal Trainer
Becoming a personal trainer seems cool. You get to play that banging list you love and practically live in your gym gear without anyone judging you. If you're a fitness enthusiast, this will sound like a dream job, no?
Well, at least your job won't be replaced by AI anytime soon, so it makes a decent career choice. But there's no rose without a thorn. You see everything good about personal trainers, but there's a side to the job that doesn't show up on Instagram transformation posts very often.
1. Loving Fitness Isn't Enough
We all love something, but can't always make a career out of it. Similarly, loving fitness won't cut it if you're thinking of enrolling in personal training courses. Just because you're good at fitness yourself, it doesn't guarantee that you can teach it to others.
You must know how to squat because you love doing them every day, but can you teach someone who's never been to the gym before? Teaching takes a lot of patience, the ability to communicate and explain things without either losing your mind or sounding like you are a walking anatomy book.
No matter how great your own physique looks or how knowledgeable you are about health & fitness, if you can't engage your clients or connect with them, they won't be with you for long.
2. Your income Won't Be Stable From the get-go
Most personal trainers gain some experience in gyms or private personal fitness centres before starting their own business, but fail to consider the feast or famine stage. Starting your own business is great, but it comes with its own challenges.
You can be fully booked for one month and be proud of yourself. Next month, two clients cancel, one switches gyms, and you're forced to consider your monthly expenses to profit ratio.
Building a reputation for yourself and a loyal client base takes time. You must be prepared to survive the down times without panicking.
3. You're Running A Business, Not Just Giving Workouts
Gaining personal training certificates doesn't mean you're ready to run a business, even if it's in your speciality field. Most PT courses teach you how to program your sessions. They don't train you on how to do invoices, market yourself, bring in the clients, or deal with taxes. You have to handle all those things on your own.
You'll be the coach, the admin team, the sales professional, and the social media manager. To sum it up. You'll be the one-person army juggling everything on your own. If you want a profitable business of personal training, you must treat it like a business, not just a hobby that involves teaching people how to deadlift.
4. Client Retention Matters More Than Getting New Ones
Getting new clients is the best feeling, I know. But nothing beats the steady income stream you generate through a loyal client base. The best trainers do attract new leads more often, but most of their revenue comes from the clients who never leave.
As long as you keep your clients happy and treat them more than 'just clients', they'll be far more profitable than burning money on hunts for new ones. Clients stay happy when you check in with them consistently, celebrate their small wins, remember their special days, and genuinely celebrate their progress.
5. You'll Become A Therapist Besides Coaching
Fitness coaching doesn't always stay within the bounds of gym equipment. No matter how great your teaching methods are, clients always need external motivators and conversations to keep their spirits up. So, don't be surprised if a quick warmup chat turns into a full-fledged life update, including details of work stress, relationship drama, or lack of confidence.
Clients don't only pay you for workouts. They are paying for moral support, accountability, and understanding from someone who understands their stance. There are always some days when you play more of a counsellor's role instead of a trainer. That's all part of the job, and it makes you more valuable to clients.
6. You'll Work When Everyone Else Enjoys
Brace yourself because you won't be clocking off at 5 like everyone else. Most corporate people can only spare time for fitness after their work hours or at weekends. So, you will be the busiest in the mornings, evenings and weekends, exactly when all your friends catch up at the pub.
When client bookings are more than usual, you might work for the whole week without having a proper lie-in. Of course, you can create a system to balance work-life, but it is usually difficult in the early years.
7. Clients Expect Results Today
People are naturally impatient, and social media is adding gasoline to an already raging fire. Thanks to social media influencers and trends, people think six-pack abs will appear after taking three sessions and taking protein shakes for a week.
You need to manage your client's expectations and help them understand how it works. Still, there are some clients who want quick fixes. If you can convince them of sustainable progress, they will likely stay with you throughout the course.
Final Thoughts
Being a personal trainer can be very rewarding in terms of money, freedom, purpose, and a sense of pride. Nothing beats the sense of satisfaction when someone comes to you all frail and unable to even do a squat, but leaves like a gym rat ready to take on the world. Yes, personal training is not the easiest job, but if you're willing to learn and genuinely care about people, you'll do just fine!
