When I first started personal training, I had no idea how my career would evolve. I became a personal trainer because I wanted to have a rewarding career transforming people's lives.
In the early stages of my career, I'd hang out at the gym and hope to attract clients by offering tips and knowledge bombs on the gym floor.
Teaching group classes was another great way to get clients, as was client referrals from past and present clients.
Fast forward six years, and I decided to move my career online to help more people, earn more money, and have more freedom. But finding clients online wasn't as easy as finding clients in the gym.
Without a career plan, I wasn’t sure where to start or what steps to take to succeed.
"A goal without a plan is just a wish." Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Gone are the days when being a successful personal trainer was about being the best in your gym or geographical location. The technology age has given both coaches and clients access to a global market. Coaches and clients no longer need to live or work in the same geographical area, and they can build a successful client-coach relationship online.
And why the hell not? Why should clients limit themselves to the personal trainers in their geographical location?
Clients can choose to work with a specialist coach to help them with their specific goals. Clients also have the freedom to train where and when it suits them. It's a no brainer really.
The online personal training industry has snowballed, and everyone wants a piece of the cake (it's paleo cake, so it's OK). And this was before COVID hit and caused an even more significant shift towards online personal training.
Being an online personal trainer is not what most people imagine. Online coaches aren't sitting on a beach sipping green smoothies and working on their tan, and it's not as easy as you think.
I won't lie. Having an online career does give you a lot more freedom.
One of the big misconceptions is that you can grow a 6-figures personal training business while doing very little, and that's a load of marketing BS!
At some point, you're going to need to build a reputation as a professional coach who has the knowledge and skills to deliver real-world results.
Achieving client results isn't always easy. There are a lot of factors outside of your control. Clients are complicated creatures who often fail to accomplish their health & fitness goals due to an array of "it's complicated" issues. Both in-person and online personal trainers face the same predicament here.
So, how can online personal trainers increase the chance of having a rewarding career that transforms lives and pays them well?
Suppose you're working with a list of clients who have 100 different goals. You're setting yourself up to be a generalist. This means you're competing with 95% of the market. Most personal trainers are generalists.
Why?
Because they're afraid to choose a niche as they think it will limit their opportunities. But the funny thing is, it's precisely the opposite!
Niches are liberating, not limiting.
When you choose a niche, you position yourself as a specialist coach who has the skill and knowledge to help your niche audience reach their desired goals. People will also pay more for a specialist coach who can help them get what they want.
But how can they find you?
Firstly, you need to understand the number one problem stopping your niche client from getting the results they want?
Clients are searching for a solution to their problems. To successfully market your service, it makes sense that your marketing needs to speak to your niche clients' specific problems.
It's impossible to design a solution (training and lifestyle program) if you don't understand what the client wants and what problem is stopping them from getting what they want.
Clients have different problems, and solving everyone's problems is impossible
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How can you possible research every possible problem and create a solution? No wonder so many personal trainers feel crippled by imposter syndrome. You can't possibly know it all, and the good news is, you don't need to.
It can be helpful to choose a single problem. You want to position yourself as a specialist coach who works with a niche audience and solves a specific problem.
When you do this, it;
A. Makes your life easier as you focus your time and resources on becoming the best personal trainer for your specific niche.
B. You don't have to search for clients because it allows you to create marketing content that brings clients to you.
C. Allows you to charge premium prices because your specialist service is far more valuable than the generalist personal trainer.
When you work with a specific niche audience, your experience and knowledge will skyrocket. Every day you're working with your dream clients, and you're learning more about them. You might not have all of the answers, but you'll learn more and quickly become a specialist coach over time.
Personal trainers often have resistance when it comes to choosing a niche. But, without a niche:
You can not speak to a specific client's want - You're stuck posting general health and fitness advice and competing with 95% of the industry. You're lost in the sea of sameness.
You won't know what specific problem is stopping your clients from getting what they want. You'll waste time and energy creating ineffective training programs that fail to deliver results and hold you back from building a reputation as a leader in the industry.
You won't have a structure and plan around the services that you offer. People won't understand what you can offer them, and you'll end up competing for clients with every other general health and fitness personal trainer.
You'll have no understanding of how your potential clients feel before investing in your services. Clients are looking for an emotional transformation, not just a physical transformation. Successful marketing speaks to these emotions and invites clients to seek you out. The emotional transformation is more powerful and more profitable than the physical transformation.
You don't have a solution to sell. "Come and do online training with me" is not a solution. People want to see that you have a tried and tested solution that helps them solve their specific problem. You need to develop a Signature Training Method that allows a specific client to solve a specific problem.
Is having a specific client niche profitable?
Listen to Episode 3
Erdi Babili talks about his successful transition from in-person P.T to 100% online P.T
Many coaches tell me that they didn't become a personal trainer to make money, and they're in the health and fitness industry to help people live better lives. However, when you remove financial uncertainty, you also release stress. This allows you to focus on your health and well-being, which translates into being a better coach and having more energy to help your clients.
Personal trainers worry that having a niche will limit their market size. But there are over 7.9 billion people on the planet, and you only need a small number of people to invest in your online service.
With a list of 25client paying you a monthly subscription of $300-$400, you can earn between $90,000 to $120,000 per year. You don't need a lot of clients.
The whole idea that "followers equals sales" is not accurate. The number of likes and follows you have has nothing to do with your career success, and the quality of your followers is far more critical.
When you try to market to the masses, you reach nobody. When you market to a specific niche audience, you can speak to their problem and show them that you understand what they are experiencing (empathy), and you have a proven solution (authority).
Your marketing becomes way more efficient and effective.
Why would you compete against every other "general health and fitness online personal trainer". Why would you try to compete with 95% of the market when you could position yourself as a specialist and compete with the other 5%?
What's the 5% that makes you different?
What are you good at?
What hobbies do you have outside of training?
Why did you become a coach? What's your story?
When you choose a client niche, by default, you turn away the people who are not your clients, and that's fine. They're not the people who will invest in your service anyway. They're also not the clients you can help. And most importantly, they're not the clients who will get results from your service.
You want to attract more of your niche clients. The clients who will invest in your service, do the work, get the results and sing your praises with referrals and positive testimonials.
Having a client niche isn't groundbreaking these days.
There are a lot of personal trainers who understand the power of choosing a niche. However, most personal trainers fail to deep dive on their niche clients. They write a niche, but they fail to use it correctly. You need to understand your niche client deeper than they understand themselves.
What are your niche client's everyday health and fitness pain points?
How have they tried to solve these pain points before?
Who do they want to become?
What are their fears?
What do they avoid?
What's their profession?
What are their hobbies?
What traits do they have in common?
What do they like about themselves?
What do they not like about themselves?
What do they want, not what do they need?
What are their real motivates?
Who is the type of coach they want to hire?
Where does your niche client hang out? For example, what social media communities do my target audience flock to?
What language (key terms and phrases) does my target audience speak?
How do they make their buying decisions?
What brands do they like?
How much do they earn, or are they willing to pay for an online trainer?
To build trust online, you need to know your audience.
The more you understand your niche client, the easier it will be to attract more clients. You'll have an irresistible offer that will invite your ideal clients to work with you.
To build a successful career, you will need a successful marketing strategy.
As an unambitious personal trainer, you're in this career to transform lives. You want to help your clients get results and create social proof that your services work. The more success you have, the more people you'll be able to help.
It's a lot harder to achieve this when you're working with a list of clients who have 100 different problems. Life is a lot easier when you specialise.
If you're a personal trainer who loves working in the gym, enjoys helping clients, feels tired from working long days, and would like to earn more and work less. You've probably been thinking about creating an online offering.
Where do you start?
I'd recommend you start by clearly defining who you help what they want and what problem (a single problem) is stopping them from getting what they want.
Who do you serve?
What do they want?
What problem stops them from getting what they want?
This is your niche.
What next?
Then, I'd recommend you go deep on understanding your niche client (see questions above). The more you know about your niche client, the better. Your marketing will be more efficient and effective, your training program will be better, your client results will be better, and your testimonials will be better. All of this adds up!
Having a clear sense of career direction allows you to set goals and take action.
A lot of personal trainers want a rewarding career that transforms lives and pays them well. Personal trainers and clients can both benefit from online training. There is a growing online market, and those who don't keep up will be left behind.
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