Starting out as a personal trainer can be difficult for a number of reasons, whether it’s because you only have a few clients, or you find it a bit hard to find a good space to train people or just because you don’t seem to get the grips on marketing, it continuously seems like constant work needs to be put in in order for your PT business to grow. But success doesn’t come easy so the blood, sweat and tears will be worth it in the long run. Because we are familiar with the fact that personal trainers who are just starting out need a few pointers, we’ve taken a look at some of the ways that could help improve your work and boost your earnings as a personal trainer:
• Free bootcamps! Organising free boot camps could help grow your client base (and quite considerably in some cases). You may think “why for free?”. The answer to this is quite straightforward: everybody likes free things, even more so when these will contribute to a better health and keeping fit; and this alone would make people more likely to come to your sessions. If these sessions go well word of mouth will spread as your clients are more likely to recommend you to their family and friends. This is a great way to build a client base fast as potential clients experience your training first hand.
• Go online. Another way to boost your earnings as a personal trainer is by selling your PT services online. This is the best way to remain flexible as you can still give advice, design programs and train your clients over a webcam in the comfort of your own home. One of the positives of offering online personal training is that you don’t have to spend money on travelling as well as the fact that your client base can be worldwide.
• Take up some CPDs. Of course, a personal trainer has the potential to bring a great income but if you want to increase those figures even more it would be wise to do a CPD (Continuing Professional Development) course which is a one-day course that you can do to to help you specialise in a certain field. This will allow you to offer your services at a higher price because now you will have more to offer as a PT.
• Be on top of your nutritional advice. Clients always ask their personal trainers what food should they eat because they work hard in the gym but their diet is unhealthy outside of the gym. If you are unable to give nutritional advice you risk being seen as unreliable and that is because a personal trainer should be able to advise their client on a healthy wholesome diet that will contribute to their overall fitness and will help them achieve their goals.
• Discounts, Discounts, Discounts! Many potential clients will ask if they will get a discount if they buy a package from you (e.g. ‘If I buy 10 sessions can I get 2 more for the price of 1?’). You shouldn’t get offended by these types of questions as it’s the sort of industry where clients just want to feel like they’re getting a great deal for their money. Personal training is a competitive field so offering discounts could put you at a competitive advantage as others may not be offering the same discounts or not even discounts at all. Offering a better rate in the beginning or having some promos on your packages from time to time can be quite beneficial and can help you grow your client base.
• Group sessions. Another thing that you could do is sessions of 2-3 people and charge a lower rate than if you were to train 2 or 3 people individually.
• Location, location, location. If you want to create a big client base, it is never a good idea to stay in one place because you can only get a certain amount of clients in one area. However, if you were to cover multiple locations, then you will be able to get more clients in different areas. The downfalls to this however is that it will increase the amount of time that you travel but if that is not an issue for you then it could be a good option for you.

These are just a few ways on how you can boost you income as a personal trainer to make sure that you are getting the most out of your job. Whether it is going to multiple places to get more clients or just taking a few extra courses for your professional development, all this goes to show that there are many possibilities to make money as a personal trainer but it’s surely up to you to put the work in.