Whether a great place to work or not, your former employer was handling a lot behind the scenes. Let’s take a look at the items you need to embrace as part of the joy of being an independent personal trainer.

Marketing!

Where will your clients come from?

For employees of membership gyms, finding clients is like shooting fish in a barrel. Out on your own, as an independent personal trainer, it’s a very different story. If you have already started training independently, look at where every single client came from as specifically as you can. Then, nurture those relationships, contacts, company connections or online tools.

If you don’t have any independent training clients, you are to:

  1. Have a clear, simple, professional online presence.
  2. Get in front of as many people as you can, as often as you can.
  3. Have a BRIEF intro ready at all times and practice it.

(Specific ideas are listed later in 21DI online course. For now, bring your awareness to the different ways you could share your new endeavor with everyone in your network.)

Money!

How will you take payments and clearly set expectations?

Part One: When you were an employee, your payment process and contracts were already set up for you. Now that you’re independent, this is under your domain. We highly recommend you set up yourself or your business as a legal entity and then strictly pay for expenses and take payments as that entity. For example, instead of taking a client’s personal check written to “Jane Doe,” Jane would meet with an attorney (we walk you through all of this in the Nine-Week Turnaround) and decide which entity is best for her practice. She then would only accept checks or credit card payments made to “Jane Doe’s Fitness, Inc.” This has valuable liability, tax and professionalism implications. We strongly suggest you always keep personal and business expenses separate.

Part Two: Clearly establishing and communicating payment and cancellation policies with your clients as an independent personal trainer is very important. This simple step eliminates confusion and sends the message that you are a true professional who appreciates transparency and clear communication with clients.

Considerations:

  • What is your cancellation policy?
  • When is payment required? (We highly recommend payments made prior to training.)
  • Is your rate clearly stated for the client?
  • Is your Assessment rate clearly stated for the client?
  • How long are sessions?
  • What is included (e.g., any guidance from or access to you outside of session)?

Want more help? Reach out for a complimentary 30 minute Breakout Call here: