10 Mistakes To Avoid About Your Personal Training Business

by Gervasio Da Gloria (Fitness Business Expert)

Most of the time it is hard to admit when one makes a mistake. There is nothing worse than not knowing what it takes to succeed. When we feel helpless, we feel miserable. No one wants to fail; everyone wants to succeed. Having worked with almost a thousand personal trainers, I have seen many personal trainers that succeed as well as a much higher number of personal trainers that fail. In this article I have had the opportunity to interview some of those who have succeeded as well as some insight from those who have not about the 10 mistakes they are doing or have done within their fitness business. You will delight to know what these mistakes are and how to avoid them.

• Not getting enough rest.  It is usual that when you start a business you are everything; the trainer, the bookkeeper, the consultant. The one thing that comes last on the list of priorities is rest. When you have sufficient rest you will have more energy to deal with the day-to-day challenges of the fitness business.



• Not talking to enough people.  If you don’t have enough people to pay you for your business soon enough, you will be out of the business. Zig Ziglar, the famous sales trainer once said, “You can get everything in life you want, if you just help enough people get what they want.” The more clients you have in your database the bigger the possibility of getting everything you want in life.



• Lack of money management. We all like to think that we know how to deal with our money but the reality is that lack of money control can make your personal trainer business vanish. There is a lot of useful software that enables you to manage the money you receive from your clients fast and easy. Check out. www.justfit-training.co.uk/Downloads.



• Lack of persistence. I once heard that when there is no vision people perish, the same with lack of persistence, it is too easy to give up. If you persist and keep adjusting your approaches and learning new skills, there is no reason why you can’t succeed as a personal trainer.



• Lack of planning. Most people spend more time planning their vacation than they spend planning their personal trainer business. Good planning creates an organised and efficient business, which enables you to foresee future difficulties and continually make improvements to the business.



• Fear of failure. The law of attraction says that whatever you fear, and think about all the time and you attract it. As you Dan Kennedy says in his book ‘No B.S Business Success, The ultimate no holds barred kick butt take no prisoners. Tough & Spirit Guide’ that “almost every success has its foundation parked on a graveyard concealing the bones of failure”.



• Lack of time management. Wouldn’t it be easy if the business of personal training was getting on with the training aspect of clients, the reality is it takes more than that. Paperwork like the cancellation document, client workout plan, client body composition, and client nutrition plan can be the personal trainer’s nightmare. Create a system that can save you time doing these tasks so that you can be free to do the thing that you love to do the most.



• Don’t want be a sales person. Most personal trainers don’t like to think they need to sell themselves; as a result they starve their business and end up not making a living in the fitness industry. Selling doesn’t mean you need to harass people to exercise with you, in reality you only need to show them what they will get if they do and what they will lose if they don’t.



• Lack of confidence. We would like to feel confident all the time, but that is not always the case. Most new trainers have let this skill interfere with their fitness business and as a result, they don’t get people to train and spend valuable time looking for clients rather than earning money.  When we are prepared we feel confident, this is a skill you can learn and master.  If you can manage to master this skill you will be steps ahead of you competition.



• Lack of ways to retain Clients. People come and train with you because they believe you can help them achieve their fitness goals. If you are only interested in them to paying you, and not caring about their fitness progress chances are they will not stay long with you. There are many software programs that can help you keep organised and keep track of your client’s fitness progress. If you use this method, you not only will become more organised, but also will look more professional and attract more clients.