Getting Started as a Personal Trainer

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So you just became a Personal Trainer… NOW WHAT?!

Becoming a personal trainer or strength & conditioning coach can be a very rewarding career choice - but what should you do once you’ve obtained the required certification? Where do you work? How do you get your first clients and establish yourself in an oversaturated field? This article will explore ideas on how to be a successful trainer and answer some of the most common questions we hear from new coaches.

How much money do Personal Trainers Make?

Ah, yes. Always the first question to come up - how much can I make as a Personal Trainer? There are many reasons people decide to become a Personal Trainer/Coach such as to help others, for their love of fitness and health, or to work in an exciting field. But let’s be honest, it can also be because of the relatively high wages/hourly rate that can be made.

Personal Trainers in Canada charge anywhere from $50 - $150 per hour, often with minimal expenses/overhead. According to statistics from Indeed.ca, the average Personal Trainer in Canada makes between $50,000- $55,000/year training just 5 clients a day, ranging from $24-$30/hr. And let’s be real – you’re going to be better than an “average” trainer!

At KFit Conditioning, our coaches are highly educated and certified and therefore we COULD charge top dollar for training sessions - however we have strategically priced our training sessions around the average (in Victoria, BC) of $70/hr depending on the package (SEE OUR PACKAGES HERE). We do this because we believe in making fitness affordable and accessible for everyone, and it also helps with our exposure.

Personal Training can be a viable career choice and when combined with a passion for the industry, trainers and coaches can make a great living doing what they love! But where are you going to work?

Where to apply for work?

As a new Personal Trainer – you have options on where to work and apply your skills. However, it really depends on whether you want to work at a local gym/recreation centre or for yourself (as an independent contractor). You also need to ask yourself if you would prefer 1on-1 personal training, or group fitness classes. There’s really no wrong answer, and it depends on the type of personality and career goals you may have.

OPTION 1 - EMPLOYEE OF A LOCAL GYM/RECREATION CENTRE

The main difference is when you work for a gym/recreation centre, then the facility typically already has clientele that require a trainer, meaning you get experience training clients right from the start.

OPTION 2 - INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR

When you’re an independent contractor, you are in charge of sourcing out your own clientele through marketing, social media (which we’ll get to), and word-of-mouth. This can be a difficult task for many and often can be discouraging during slow seasons. Also note that for independent contractors, gyms/facilities require a rental charge (anywhere from $15-$35/hr) to train your clients in their space. Depending on what you’ve decided to charge your clients, this could mean close to 40-50% of your salary going towards rent. Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you have a solid foundation of clients and the reputation to charge top dollar - however it can be daunting for new personal trainers. For new coaches;

We recommend getting as much experience training as many different clients
(with as many different goals and limitations) as possible.

Think of this as adding tools to your toolbox. Until you have the experience with a variety of populations, you may not know what to expect/how to approach training. Therefore, working at a local gym or recreation centre provides a great chance to work with a variety of different clients and add tools to your training repertoire.

How do you get your first clients?

As highlighted above, when you work at a local gym, you typically don’t have to GET clients – they get provided to you by the facility operators/owners. But what if you want to be an independent contractor and get your own clients? In this case, getting your first (and subsequent) clients is pivotal to your success. So HOW do you get them?

For new personal trainer, we recommend you work with ANYONE and EVERYONE - especially at the start. That means training your friends, family, relatives, neighbours – literally anyone that is willing to work with you. While it may be enticing to charge top-dollar from the start, it can be beneficial to offer your services for free or a discounted price to get your name out in the public. Then, once they realize how awesome you are, they may even start to refer their friends/family to you – and all of a sudden you have the start of solid clientele.

The best clients come from word-of-mouth. For instance, approximately 80% of our KFit clients come through referalls because we provide such premium service. On top of providing great service, we believe in building relationships, and being engaged in our clients training sessions - do this and more clients will come! But how do you keep them coming back?

How to KEEP clients?

The best clients you can have are the ones that keep coming back - over and over again. So once you’ve got some clients, what can you do to keep them?

The first, and probably most important thing you can do is establish a strong trusting relationship with them. For most, the coach-client relationship is more than just training in the gym. The client wants to know that they can trust their coach to not only help them reach their goals, but also keep them safe (i.e not injured), healthy, and motivated. If your clients don’t trust you, they won’t keep coming back. So gain their trust by listening to them, asking them EVERY SINGLE SESSION how they’re doing or how their body feels. How they responded to the last workout. If anything has changed either with their body or their goals. Have those conversations, and keep notes on their changes.

Another important aspect to keeping clients is their trust that you know what you’re doing and that you are an expert. Do that by continuing to learn, educate, and refine your craft by taking educational workshops, seminars, conferences, further certifications etc. When a client sees you are continuing to learn/grow as a personal trainer, they trust that you are dedicated to this profession, and will be more likely to continue to work with you.

Do you need a social media presence?

This question comes up a lot more in today’s social media-driven age. We’re literally living in the age of fitness influencers and social media “guru’s”. So the question is, do you need a social media presence to be a successful Personal Trainer/Coach?

The short answer is no, you don’t NEED a social media presence
to be a successful personal trainer, but it WILL help.

In our opinion, social media should not necessarily be used to GET clients (although when done correctly, this can certainly be a useful resource - more on that later). Instead, use social media to establish yourself as a professional.

People want to work with professionals. Therefore, use social media to show you are a professional in your field by posting short clips of exercise technique, training protocols, coaching cues, injury prevention etc. It doesn’t have to be extensive, flashy, highly edited, nor does it have to be daily – just enough to keep you in the eyes of the public reminding them that YOU are the professional and they should come see YOU.

 So you just became a Personal Trainer - Now What?

• Apply for a job at a local gym/recreation centre

• Train anyone and everyone to refine your skills with a variety of clientele

• Build relationships with your clients

• Keep Learning through continuing education

• Use social media to establish yourself as a professional

• Keep going! You can be successful, but just like training - you need to be patient and persistent!