Getting my own personal training studio is one of the best things I’ve ever done (if not the best!) it has brought me so much joy! And I frickin love it!

That said I know other people whom it’s crushed, due to poor financial planning and lack of awareness for costs i.e. equipment, heating, repairs, and lack of financial reserve! 

When you set up your own PT studio you are on your own – you don’t have a big commercial gym, whom have a hefty marketing budget to bring you in customers… instead you have to do this yourself!

One piece of advice I would give you is…

“Do not get your personal training studio without thinking it through thoroughly”

Otherwise it can be a massive stress and you could either burn out, or lose your business! I’m not trying to scare you, but just make you aware. Make-sure you have a plan in place beforehand, once that’s in place…then go for it and don’t look back. 

In order to have a personal training studio you need to have extra funds, funds for rental space, or in my case funds to build a studio…

For my studio I took out an interest free loan for 12 months, but I knew I could pay it off, as I already had the funds. I set myself a goal to pay of the loan within 1 year (without using my savings) – but I knew worst case scenario… I had the money in the bank! So it wasn’t very risky and I wouldn’t put my family at risk! 

Important Lesson

I saved up and had a contingency plan in place. I had also been self employed for 5 years before getting the studio, so I had already built up my marketing strategies, website and had 20 paying customers (50% of whom had been with me for 4+ years!) So I had some stability. Put in other words…. I had learned how to swim (so to speak!) Before jumping in at the deep end!

One of the most important parts (if not the most important!) is that you need lead generation strategies, how else are people going to find you? Just because you build a gym or get your own space doesn’t mean customers will flock!

You need to have things like SEO in place, Google Adwords, Facebook ads, E-mail marketing and a bunch of tactics that bring you new leads and enquiries every month.  Ideally you need at least 10 new enquiries per month, and you need good client retention. 

Before taking  big finical risk my advice would be to start small i.e. go from a commercial gym to your home (if you have space) – that’s what I did, I used a little room in my house (see below)

I did this for 3 years, learning about marketing, sales, etc before going to the next step of owing my own PT studio. 

Finance

Like I said earlier, you also need to have a financial plan in place, and know exactly what it’s going to cost, for example…

• How much is the rent?
• Business rates? 
• Travel costs? 
• Equipment?
• Maintenance? 
• Decorating? 
• What if you have a bad month? Have you got a reserve.

Everybody is different when it comes to taking risk, Richard Branson doesn’t give a damn lol! And people like that just go for it! Fair play, but I’m not like that! lol!

I need a bit of security. In my opinion it’s good to have at least 4-6 months worth of money saved up, if you have a bad month, you need a buffer to fall back on, this will mitigate stress and give you time to adapt. 

In nutshell I believe you should only get a PT studio when you have…

#1 A tried and tested business model

#2 Have the funds for your studio/facility and have a clear financial plan 

#3 You have at least 4-6 months back up money for a rainy day

The Ultimate Guide To Building Your Personal Training Business…

Do you want to grow your PT business?

Help more people?

Get better results?

Increase your earnings?

If you said YES then i’d strongly encourage you to check out my ebook The Ultimate Guide To Building Your Personal Training Business – it’s 85 pages and I share the most important lessons, tips and strategies i’ve learned to date. I cover everything from branding, to marketing, sales, SEO, website, advertising, cancellation policies (which will save you thousands of pounds each year!), consultations, and much much more! – read more about the ebook here. It will totally transform your business!

Thanks for reading,

Nick 🙂

About Nick

Nick Screeton is the Owner and Founder of LEP Fitness – a Sheffield personal training business that helps people lose weight, get fit, build muscle and improve athletic performance. To date Nick has over 10,000 hours worth of experience. As well as running LEP Fitness Nick also has a wealth of business experience in other fields, such as SEO, Marketing and Property Development – Nick shares the business lessons he has learned over the years on his personal training blog. If you want to improve you business skills then check out this section of the LEP Fitness website.