You started your own personal training business and you didn’t even know it.
You started your own personal training business and you didn’t even know it.
Exploring The Interconnection of Entrepreneurship And The Fitness Industry.
Exploring The Interconnection of Entrepreneurship And The Fitness Industry.
Being an entrepreneur is a career path that sits at the root of every business that has ever been created. While the “entrepreneur life" is a great option it’s not a career path that most people will be successful in. Unfortunately, most new grads or recently certified trainers don’t realize the industry they long to work within is set up to work like an entrepreneur instead of being an employee. If you’re not looking to work for yourself then this industry might not be for you. I don’t say that to discourage you from pursuing a career as a personal trainer in this industry, but it’s something you need to hear before you become another one of the unfortunate well educated, professionals dissatisfied “doing their time” in the trenches of training clients.
What are “full-time personal trainers”?
If you’re to in the industry and can find a full-time salaried personal trainer job opportunity (with paid time off, sick time, holiday pay, and benefits) you have found a real life unicorn because they are rarely if ever seen. You might see the word “salary” with every job posting looking for personal trainers, but they are not salaried positions like your friend who got their first job in accounting. Full time positions in this industry are usually reserved for management staff. That type of salaried job opportunity outside of management is so rare in this industry that you might as well not even associate a percentage of the job market with it (hence the unicorn reference earlier).
“The fitness industry is not set up with the role of full time employees for pretty much any position other than management roles.”
When you’re just starting out you can expect any of the following “full-time personal trainer” job opportunities; none of which are salaried and rarely even full time hourly status:
Group class instructor: paid static rate only for classes.
On-call personal trainer: no guaranteed sessions, no commissions, and only paid static rate only for sessions taught.
Independent contractor: technically not even considered an employee of the business, only paid a static rate for sessions taught, and maybe a sales commission. Training duties vary widely based location and actual business set up.
Front desk/training floor attendant: an hourly rate for attendant hours(~minimum wage like a part-time cashier in retail), and a separate static rate per training session taught. Maybe sales commissions.
These job opportunities are hardly what you would expect to be considered full-time jobs. You essentially start out with a client list of 0 people, and have to build it up on your own in order to make even a decent living. When you compare this to the job your friend took in an office with a set 9–5 weekly schedule, weekly salaried paycheck, and possible bonuses; these options seem kind of reckless for anyone not trying to be an entrepreneur personal trainer.
“These job opportunities . . . seem kind of reckless for anyone not trying to be an entrepreneur.”
The personal training business you didn’t know you started.
Sorry to be the one to inform you, but you just became a solopreneur /entrepreneur, and the business owner of your very own personal training service brand.
I know all you did was graduate/get certified and finally your first job as a trainer, but lets look at this a bit closer so you don’t think I’m losing my mind.
Lets define these terms Solopreneur and Entrepreneur so you can see what I’m talking about.
Solopreneur: a person who sets up and runs all aspects of a business on their own.
Entrepreneur: a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.
You Don’t get paid for the ton of work you do behind the scenes.
These entry level personal training positions usually only pay you for the direct services you provide for the clients, and not the “behind the scene” efforts you put in to delivering the best client experience. It doesn’t matter if you did 10+ hours of work like:
called 20 members before one agreed to meet.
did 3 free hour consultations, gave out a free session.
programmed workouts.
programmed off day training workouts.researched an issue to help out a challenging clients needs.
studied for another certification.
helped out a few members before your shift started
to just train one client. You are only getting compensated for that one hour session with that one client. Being an entrepreneur business owner is all about the behind the scenes work too. Nobody sees all the work you do to deliver the best service, but if you didn’t do it your business would get lost in the mix and eventually fail. Being a personal trainer is exactly the same. Your boss, colleagues, and clients see the service you provide while you put in work while no one is looking behind the scenes.
An Entrepreneur sells themselves not just the products/services they provide.
Your service must be high quality, but you need to hone your skills and develop the ability to sell yourself alongside the products or services. More people are going to invest in you as their trainer/coach rather than just purchasing the sessions for anyone to train them. That’s the “personal” side of personal training that everyone seems to forget about. If we are looking at this as a business then the personal side of training is the brand for your business. It’s who you are, your personality, your relationships with your clients, your training style, your energy, and the feeling people get when they come to you for help. That’s your business.
You might have been looking for a salaried job, but if you’re up for the adventure and challenge of being an entrepreneur then the fitness industry can offer you much more than just a job.
This is small business entrepreneurship at it’s core, and it’s more accessible than ever for young professionals in the fitness industry.
Thanks for reading.