Would you like to stay in shape while helping others to do the same? More and more women, from stay-at-home moms to busy career professionals, are changing their lives and those around them by becoming certified personal trainers. It’s a popular lifestyle career and one that can bring a lot of job satisfaction for those who are truly passionate about health and fitness.
Here are the steps you’ll need to take to start your personal training business from home!
1. Getting Qualified
There are many courses to choose from to gain your certification, many of which you can study part-time at home around your work or family commitments. Popular and established qualifications include the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine), ACE (American Council of Exercise), and NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine).
2. Creating Your Own Home Fitness Studio
Once qualified, many female personal trainers choose to run their own fitness business from home due to convenience and flexibility – and it’s easy to do. By turning that under-utilized spare garage or annex room into a small home gym, you can invite your customers to you – and you really don’t need very much equipment to get started.
The benefits for the customer include no gym fees, easy parking, a private and comfortable environment (free from staring eyes), and also a far more results-based and personalized service. The advantages for you include no travel time, better hourly earning potential, and the convenience and flexibility of working from home. Many busy moms juggle full-time family commitments with running a successful fitness studio from home, allowing them to book in clients at times that suit them.
3. Providing Online Personal Training
With the growth of Internet technology, thousands of female personal trainers now provide one-to-one classes and programs online without even having to leave their own living room. Many fitness instructors have become very successful entrepreneurs by providing personal training to clients across the globe using Skype and other virtual services, which enables them to reach out to millions of prospective clients just about anywhere in the world. You can begin by using free services like YouTube to start posting your free fitness videos and tutorials to the general public. Once you develop a following, you can then begin charging customers for tailored one-to-one programs, with prices typically starting at around $70 for a tailored fitness program.
4. Find a Specialized Niche
By gaining extra qualifications in a specialized niche, such as pregnancy Pilates, yoga, or postnatal fitness, you can become the ‘go-to’ expert in your local area or even online. Many health clubs struggle to find well-qualified specialist female trainers, and this is another reason why many customers are willing to seek out good trainers and travel to them instead.
5. Promoting Your Personal Training Business
Marketing is key to bringing new customers to your door, but there are plenty of cost-effective ways that you can achieve this. Social media now plays a very important role in connecting with new customers online, but traditional routes to market are still very effective for local businesses, from word-of-mouth referrals to leafleting and posting on community notice boards. Community outreach projects are another great way to meet new prospects. Try offering a free talk at your local doctor’s office for those wanting to lose weight, or provide a coupon for a free fitness session to local women’s groups, clubs, and societies. Be seen as the leading fitness expert in your community.
There are, of course, some administrative aspects to consider before setting up your home-based fitness business. You will need to check with your local chamber of commerce, as well as your state’s department of revenue, to ensure you’ve fulfilled all the necessary requirements for running a fitness business from home. Some states may require you to have a special license, and you may also need separate access to your home gym for visiting customers. However, in most cases, these things are straightforward to achieve.
Staying in Shape with a Personal Training Business
The fitness industry continues to attract a higher percentage of women than almost any other market. With the rise in obesity rates, the demand for personal trainers has more than doubled in the past decade. From home-based fitness studios to online personal training, the opportunities for personal trainers to grow their own businesses have never been better.
Diane Rennison is a personal trainer specializing in female fitness. With two small children, Diane operates her own business, MotivatePT from home, where she provides a home-based fitness studio for local clients and also tailors online programs for her customers globally.
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