How to Start a Successful Personal Trainer Business from Home

If you love being active and have a natural talent for teaching people, then becoming a personal trainer could be a great career choice. You could get a formation and seek for a job at a fitness center, or better, start your very own personal training business from scratch.

That would allow you to work on your time, charge your own rates, and take the number of clients you feel comfortable with. However, in order to do so successfully, there are a few things you have to know first. Let’s take a look at the steps necessary to start a successful personal training business from home.

Ask Yourself if You’re Made for the Job

Before you even start looking at formation and a business plan, you have to actually see if you’re cut out for the job. While you might be a fitness buff and know everything about exercise, being a personal trainer isn’t for everyone.

One of the most important traits you’ll need is patience. You’re going to have to deal with clients who are slacking or aren’t serious about their workouts. Some will progress faster than others, and some will need more emotional support. In many ways, you will have to act as a counselor to some of them and try to find ways to motivate them.

You also have to be honest as a person. You shouldn’t make empty promises to your clients and try to tell them what they want to hear. Be 100% truthful with the results they can expect and the effort it will require.

In addition to that, a good trainer has to have good communication skills. This not only means that you have to be able to give clear instructions to your clients, but it needs to be in a tone that will be conducive to getting results. You want to be forceful enough to motivate them, but not pushy or intimidating.

At the end of the day, they’re hiring you, not the other way around, and they can end their relationship just like that. So, make sure that you convey your message in a way that will deliver results, but in a supportive way as well.

Also, you have to be professional if you want to last in this business. You’ll have to be able to maintain a distance with your clients and try to avoid friendships, or even worse, relationships with them. This could end up in you not giving them the rigorous training they need because you don’t want to push them too hard. Love or friendship and business should be clearly separated.

In addition to all these points, you will need to be well trained and have the certification needed if you want to be a good personal trainer. Let’s take a look at what kind of formation you should get.

Get the Right Formation and Accreditation

Note that while you may not need a formal education or certification in order to work as a personal trainer or start a personal training business, it will help legitimize you as a trainer and find your first clients.

However, you don’t need to break the bank in order to get a sound education. There are online personal trainer courses you can find for as little as $69.99. All you’ll need is an internet connection, email, and either Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer, and you’ll be good to go. If you want to learn more about these courses and what you can expect to learn, you can learn more from this site.

Evaluate Starting Costs

The next thing you’ll have to figure out is initial expenses. Besides formation and certification, you can expect to pay around $300 a year on liability insurance, which is absolutely essential. One thing that is great is that you don’t have to worry about renting space and pricey overheads since you’ll be working with your clients from wherever they please. The only true cost is the equipment that you’ll end up buying for your clients, which will vary depending on the client in question.

You should also set money aside for promotion and work on a plan. You should at first diversify your promotion methods and not be afraid to hit the road. Also, you will have to learn how to target your possible audience where they might be.

If you’re going to be giving out flyers, it would be wise to hit the health food shops in your area and ask if they have a space where you could leave some flyers or a billboard where you can advertise. Make sure you leave flyers in windshields in parking lots as well. Work on your local SEO and establish a business profile. Work on building special mentions and write guest posts that will increase your mentions. Sign up with reputable local directories related to your niche. And revamp your on-page content with local mentions.

Form the Proper Legal Entity

Even if you’re a little one-person operation, it’s very important that you form the proper business entity. This will protect your personal assets in the case of litigation, which may happen, no matter how small your business is.

In this case, it would be better to go for an LLC. It’s a pretty simple business form which will make it easy for you to get paid and won’t cost much to be established. As a plus, all your personal possessions will be shielded against legal actions. You should also start registering for the proper federal and state taxes, open a separate bank account and start looking at an accountant that you’ll be able to work with when comes the time to file your taxes. And make sure that you use the proper tools to keep accurate and detailed accounts to facilitate things when it’s time to file.
Starting a personal trainer business might look like a dream come true, and if started right, it could actually be. Just be ready for the competition and to grind before you can start building a list of regular clients.