It’s pretty easy to become a personal trainer nowadays, all you have to do is an 8-12 week course. The qualification is the easy part, the hard part is earning a living!

It’s possible to earn £40,000-£100,000 per year as a personal trainer but the harsh reality is that most never get to this point.

Most PT’s quit in less than a year of being in the industry, because they either can’t generate enough income, or the opposite… they end up over worked, and their passion dissipates…so they quit!

In this post i’m going to share with you What to expect in your first year as a personal trainer to prepare you for what’s install…

Hard Work

Be prepared to work hard! Once you’ve become qualified, its really down to you to build your own client base. Nothing is handed to you on a plate!

For the first 3-6 months you should aim to approach as many people as possible. Be polite and friendly, offer free advice and even be prepared to give away free session(s). If you do a good job the likely hood is that you will pick up new clients very quickly.

Out Of Your Comfort Zone 

I remember being so nervous about approaching potential clients…

“what will they think of me?”

“how should I approach them?”

“what if I get rejected?”

All of these thoughts buzzed around my head as I nervously approached people I had never met.

Being a personal trainer is a very sociable job and you have to be prepared to reach out to people and approach them. You will also have to deal with a bunch of situations that you have never dealt with before: different personality types, clients cancelling last minute, chasing clients for payments, managing your diary, etc, etc!

Long Hours 

When I started my business LEP Fitness I was working 60-80 hours per week. I would spend hours and hours knocking on peoples doors, handing out flyers, advertising on Gumtree, approaching people in the gym, handing out business cards, etc, etc.

I also gave away hundreds of free sessions. In your first year be prepared to work night and day – 6am – 9pm somedays!

Competition 

There are personal trainers popping up on every corner, and if you work in a gym there will likely be at least 5 other trainers who work in your facility too. You are all competing to get clients and you have to stand out from the crowd.

You can do this by being polite, professional and approachable. There are hundreds of people in your gym who need and want your help but are too scared to approach you. Be that personal trainer who everybody wants to work with. Look to gain every advantage you can.

More FREE Help For Personal Trainers…

Over the last few years I have written a bunch of articles to help personal trainers generate more business, increase income and get better results with clients. You can check out these free articles by clicking here.

Thanks for reading,

Nick 🙂