The arrow on the backs of online personal training giants
Building a successful online personal training career is hard work.
How can you possibly stand out in a 'sea of sameness?'
How do you attract your ideal clients?
The online personal training market has gone nuts. You don't need to look very hard to find online trainers and fitness businesses achieving huge success.
Marcus Filly - Functional Bodybuilding
Ben Patrick - Athletic Group (Knees Over Toes Guy)
Daniel Vadnal - FAQ Fitness (International Calisthenics Expert)
Emmet Louis - Modern Methods of Mobility (The Splits Wizard)
Yuri Marmerstein - The acrobatic & handstands Viking
Ryan Hurst - GMB fitness
OPEX Fitness - Mixed Modal Training
Greg Everett - Catalyst Athletics (Olympic LIfting)
Coach Sommer - Gymnasticsbodies
... and more
Without a doubt, there is an online market for personal trainers. And yet, for every success story, there are thousands of personal trainers failing to build a career online.
So what can we learn from the trainers who are succeeding?
What are the "arrows on their backs" that can help guide us to online success?
A POWERFUL STORY
When you start researching successful online personal trainers, you start to see that they all have a compelling story.
For example - Marcus Filly was an elite level CrossFit Athlete who was "burned out and broken, and about to become a first-time father. Functional Bodybuilding was born out of a need to train more for longevity and sustainability – while still looking good and moving well."
Successful online coaches have their own unique stories that lead them down their career paths. You don't need to be a professional athlete to have a powerful story, but you need to find your unique story.
The story catches the clients attention. Most of the time, clients are daydreaming, and one of the best tools to gain their attention is the story.
STRONG IDENTITY
All of the successful online personal trainers know their purpose, visions, values, and goals. They're 100% authentic, and they live and breathe what they do.
They don't pretend to help everyone. They do the exact opposite. They have discovered who they are and what they are passionate about. They've turned their specific passion into an online career.
Ben Patrick was a successful basketball player until career-ending knee injuries. After having knee surgery, he was unable to return to his peak level of performance. None of the so-called "knee specialists" could help him.
He decided to do his own research and build a system to help prevent and rehab knee pain. He's now slam-dunking and jumping higher than ever before.
Ben is a strength coach who has been working with clients for years. He found a passion for helping clients avoid knee surgery by preventing knee injury. Ben has clear visions, a clear set of goals and has been focused on building a clear solution.
STRONG CLIENT IDENTITY
Successful online coaches have a client niche.
They know exactly who they are talking to.
They know what their clients want.
They know their client’s needs.
They know their client’s problems.
They show empathy towards their clients, and they have the authority to guide their clients towards a powerful solution.
This makes their marketing simple.
Everything they do is targeted at their specific client niche.
Daniel Vadnal is known as a callisthenics coach. He has a huge following on YouTube, and his content is aimed specifically at clients who want a "callisthenics method that will have you getting stronger, growing bigger and training smarter."
Emmet Lois helps clients "achieve extraordinary flexibility." He positions himself as an expert in mobility training, and his marketing and podcast are focused on exactly that.
All successful online coaches and companies have a client niche and their marketing talks directly to their specific clients.
There are no generalists in this mix.
To build a successful online personal training company, you need to talk about your client’s problem constantly. Clients aren't searching for online personal training. They're searching for the answers to their problems. If you can position yourself as the expert who solves their problem, they are far more likely to hire you.
HAVE A SIGNATURE PROGRAM
It's one thing to say that you are an expert. It’s another to have a proven system.
Successful online trainers have developed, tested, and proven that they successfully solve their client’s problems.
Clients want to see that you have the answers.
Clients want to know that you can help them.
You need to have a signature program that guides clients from point A (where they are) to point B (where they want to go).
Without a signature program, you're no better than a generic personal trainer.
Why would clients invest in you?
If you're not offering them a clear solution to their problems, they are not going to trust you or hire you.
PERSEVERANCE
"I took my personal training career online, and in 3-months, I was earning over $50K per month. I can help you do the same if you follow my 3-steps to online success, click the link and buy now." I see this online marketing BS all the time.
If you believe this online marketing BS, you're a fool.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Successful online trainers have been building a reputation for years. It didn't happen overnight. They've put in a lot of hard work and dedication to get where they are today.
When you start to dig a little deeper, you will find that they've all made mistakes, they've all been close to burn-out, and they've all persevered through some tough times.
None of them was an overnight success story.
If you want to build a successful online personal training career, you would be wise to follow the arrows.
You don't need to figure it all out alone. You can learn for those who have walked the path before you. They might not know how they did it, and they might not be able to teach others, but we can start to piece together what they have in common.
A lot of personal trainers are going online with their careers, and - to be honest - they aren't as successful as they had hoped.
But the reality is, they're swimming in a sea of "sameness," unable to stand out. They're trying to be the hero to all clients, in a ‘whatever your goals, I’m the coach to help you get there’ type of way!
So after moving online in 2018, I built the online personal trainers career coaching framework that teaches the five core concepts to succeed online.
If you want to find out more, book your discovery call now.”
