business plan for personal trainer pdf

Personal Training Business Plans

Create a successful fitness venture with a Personal Training Business Plan. Strategize growth, attract clients, and achieve your goals in the industry.

By Joshua Napilay on Feb 29, 2024.

Fact Checked by Ericka Pingol.

What is a Personal Training Business Plan?

A Personal Training Business Plan is a comprehensive document outlining the strategies, goals, and operational details of establishing and running a successful personal training business. This plan serves as a roadmap for individuals looking to enter the fitness industry as entrepreneurs. It outlines their approach to attracting clients, delivering effective training programs, managing finances, and achieving long-term growth.

A well-structured business plan typically includes several key components:

• Executive Summary: A concise overview of the business idea, its mission, and the main objectives of the personal training business.
• Business Description: A detailed explanation of the services offered, target clientele, and the unique value proposition of the personal training business in the competitive fitness market.
• Market Analysis: An examination of the local fitness industry, target market demographics, and competition, along with potential opportunities and challenges.
• Marketing and Sales Strategies: A plan to attract and retain clients, including branding, pricing, advertising, and social media strategies.
• Service Offerings: A description of the types of training programs offered, whether it's one-on-one coaching, group classes, online training, or a combination.
• Operational Plan: Details about the day-to-day operations, including scheduling, location, equipment, and staffing needs.
• Financial Projections: A projection of revenue and expenses, including start-up costs, ongoing expenses, and potential income, over a specified period (often three to five years).
• Risk Assessment: Identify potential risks and challenges the business might face, along with contingency plans to mitigate these risks.
• Long-Term Vision : An outline of the business's long-term goals, expansion plans, and strategies for sustained growth.

Creating a is essential for various reasons. It helps entrepreneurs clarify their business concept, secure funding from investors or lenders, and maintain focus on their objectives. Additionally, it offers a structured approach to navigating challenges and adapting to changes in the fitness industry.

Printable Personal Training Business Plan

Download this Personal Training Business Plan to achieve your goals.

How does it work?

Access the Printable Personal Training Business Plan form from a reliable source, ensuring it's in a downloadable and printable format.

Personal Information

Enter your details, including your name, contact information, and professional certifications.

Business Description

Provide a brief overview of your training business, including its mission, goals, and fitness services you intend to offer.

Target Market

Specify your target clientele, such as age groups, fitness levels, and specific fitness goals your training programs cater to.

Competitive Analysis

Describe the local fitness landscape and identify key competitors. Highlight what differentiates your business from others regarding services, pricing, and approach.

Marketing Strategy

Share your marketing plan, both online and offline, to attract clients. This may include social media, partnerships, or community events.

Service Offerings

Detail the different training programs you will provide, mentioning if it's one-on-one coaching, group classes, virtual training, or a combination.

Operational Plan

Explain how you plan to run the day-to-day operations of your business, covering aspects like scheduling, location, equipment, and any additional staff.

Financial Projections

Present your expected revenue and expenses for the first few years of operation. This includes startup costs, recurring expenses, and anticipated income.

Risk Management

Identify potential business risks, such as economic downturns or legal considerations. Discuss how you plan to mitigate these risks.

Long-Term Goals

Share your vision for the future of your personal training business, including expansion plans, new service offerings, and ways you intend to adapt to industry trends.

Review and Finalize

Carefully review the completed form for accuracy, coherence, and completeness. Make any necessary revisions before finalizing the document.

Professional Advice

Consider seeking input from a business advisor, fitness industry expert, or mentor to ensure your plan is thorough and well-structured.

Implementation

Once your Personal Training Business Plan is complete, use it as a guide to implement your strategies and work towards achieving your business goals.

Personal Training Business Plans Example (sample)

A Personal Training Business Plan is crucial for any aspiring personal trainer looking to establish and grow their fitness enterprise successfully. This comprehensive plan highlights the key elements necessary for a successful business strategy, including a detailed business description, target market analysis, marketing strategies, service offerings, financial projections, and long-term goals.

A Personal Training Business Plan in PDF format can provide aspiring personal trainers with valuable insights into structuring their customized plans that align with their individual goals and the dynamic demands of the fitness industry. It is a valuable reference point for creating and executing a successful business strategy.

Aspiring personal trainers can establish themselves as reputable and successful business owners in the fitness industry by utilizing a well-crafted Personal Training Business Plan. The plan helps to ensure that all necessary business components are addressed, from marketing strategies to financial projections, to achieve long-term success. With a clear roadmap, personal trainers can focus on what they do best - helping their clients achieve their fitness goals while growing their businesses.

Download this Personal Training Business Plan Example:

When would you use this Plan?

A Personal Training Business Plan is an invaluable tool for fitness enthusiasts and professionals looking to venture into the personal training industry as entrepreneurs. This resource helps them strategically plan and execute their fitness business ventures. Here are some instances when this form would be particularly useful:

• Startup Stage: Aspiring personal trainers can use the form when starting their fitness business. It provides a structured approach to defining their business concept, target market, and service offerings, which are crucial foundations for success.
• Securing Funding : A well-documented business plan is essential when seeking investors or loans to launch or expand their personal training business. The form helps outline revenue projections, expenses, and growth strategies, demonstrating the business's viability to potential stakeholders.
• Operational Guidance : Established personal trainers can benefit from the form when seeking to streamline their operations or introduce new services. It assists in refining marketing strategies, updating service offerings, and aligning business practices with changing industry trends.
• Strategic Growth: For personal trainers aiming to expand their client base or open multiple locations, the form aids in mapping out expansion plans, financial projections, and strategies for scaling the business sustainably.
• Professionalism: The form enhances professionalism in the personal training industry. It allows trainers to present a well-structured plan to clients, showcasing their commitment to delivering quality services and achieving clients' fitness goals.
• Adapting to Changes: The fitness industry is dynamic, with trends and client preferences evolving. Personal trainers can use the form periodically to review and adjust their strategies to stay relevant and competitive.
• Succession Planning: Established personal trainers nearing retirement may use the form to outline their succession plans, ensuring a smooth business transition to new owners or trainers.

Enhanced Business Strategy

The form guides personal trainers in articulating their business goals, target market, and unique value proposition, leading to a more focused and effective strategy.

Investor Attraction

A well-structured plan showcases the potential of the personal training business, instilling confidence in investors and increasing the likelihood of securing funding.

Operational Efficiency

The form aids in planning day-to-day operations, from scheduling sessions to managing resources, leading to streamlined and organized business management.

Marketing Effectiveness

By defining the ideal client and specifying marketing strategies, trainers can attract their desired clientele more effectively, optimizing marketing efforts.

Financial Planning

The form's financial projections help trainers understand startup costs, operating expenses, and projected revenue, enabling better financial planning and management.

Adaptability and Growth

With a well-documented plan, trainers can proactively adapt to changing industry trends, keeping their services relevant and fostering sustainable growth.

Why use Carepatron as your Personal Training Business app?

A successful personal training business demands efficiency, organization, and client-focused management. Carepatron stands out as the ideal Personal Training Business Software for various reasons, offering tailored features that cater specifically to the needs of fitness entrepreneurs:

• Specialized Fitness Focus: Carepatron is designed with the fitness industry in mind, offering tools and features that align perfectly with the unique demands of personal training businesses. Its functionalities cater to client management, scheduling, progress tracking, and communication, ensuring an all-inclusive solution for fitness professionals.
• Comprehensive Client Management: With Carepatron, client management becomes seamless. The software lets trainers store client profiles, track progress, and create personalized training plans. This streamlined approach enhances the client experience and fosters stronger relationships.
• Scheduling Made Easy: Managing appointments and sessions is effortless with Carepatron's scheduling feature. Trainers can easily book, reschedule, or cancel sessions, reducing administrative hassles and ensuring efficient time management.
• Progress Tracking and Analytics: Carepatron's progress tracking tools empower trainers to monitor their clients' fitness journey, making adjustments as needed. The software provides data-driven insights that enhance training effectiveness and client satisfaction.
• Secure Communication: Effective communication is essential in the personal training business. Carepatron offers secure messaging features that allow trainers and clients to communicate, share updates, and clarify queries within the platform, ensuring privacy and professionalism.
• Financial Management: The software assists in managing financial aspects, such as billing, payments, and invoicing. This feature simplifies the financial side of the business, allowing trainers to focus on delivering quality training.
• Accessibility and Convenience: Carepatron is cloud-based, allowing trainers to access their business data and client information anywhere. This is particularly beneficial for on-the-go fitness professionals.
• Growth and Expansion: As your personal training business grows, Carepatron can scale with you. The software accommodates additional clients, staff members, and locations, ensuring its continued relevance as your business flourishes.

• Crump, D. (2022, January 28). Create a personal trainer business plan in six steps . The PTDC. https://www.theptdc.com/articles/personal-trainer-business-plan
• How to write a business plan for personal trainers | ISSA . (n.d.). https://www.issaonline.com/blog/post/how-to-write-a-business-plan-for-personal-trainers
• Lavinsky, D. (2023). Personal Training Business Plan Template. Growthink . https://www.growthink.com/businessplan/help-center/personal-training-business-plan
• Origym. (2023, March 23). 7 Simple Steps for Writing a Personal Trainer Business Plan (with Templates). Origym . https://origympersonaltrainercourses.co.uk/blog/personal-trainer-business-plan
• Wellness Creative Co. (2023). How To Write A Personal Training Business Plan [+ Examples & Templates]. Wellness Creative Co . https://www.wellnesscreatives.com/personal-training-business-plan/

Commonly asked questions

Personal Training Business Plans are crucial for fitness entrepreneurs to achieve their business goals.

Personal Training Business Plans outline a fitness entrepreneur's business concept, target market, growth strategies, and potential profitability. Trainers review and adjust them periodically to adapt to industry trends and ensure continued success.

Personal Training Business Plans guide fitness businesses on strategy, marketing, operations, and finances. They help trainers make informed decisions.

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Personal Trainer Business Plan Template (FREE)

Get this free personal trainer business plan template to learn how to create a personal trainer business plan. Use the free personal trainer business plan examples and then modify as needed.

Scroll down for a free personal training business plan template, and then be sure to check out our guide on how to create a gym business plan and then utilize the gym business plan template and fitness business plan template to get inspiration for creating your PT business plan.

Remember though, the important part is to get certified and then get started. Don’t delay, what you can start today. Learn how to start a fitness business , and how to start a personal training business , but don’t forget that you technically don’t have to be certified to sell workouts (though you should get certified!) so there are many ways to make money from fitness , one of which is making money selling workout plans online .

Then be sure to find the tools you need to grow a fitness influencer business. From the best software for gym management to the best software for personal training to the best fitness software for fitness influencers , the Exercise.com platform has the tools you need to grow and manage your fitness business.

Sell workout plans online .

Run online fitness challenges .

Create and sell fitness memberships, products, and digital offers.

Manage, message, and market to your leads and customers.

All from your very own custom branded fitness apps .

Get a demo now!

Personal Trainer Business Plan Template

Creating a business plan is a crucial step for personal trainers aspiring to establish a successful fitness business. A well-crafted business plan serves as a roadmap, outlining your goals, strategies, and the steps you need to take to achieve them. It provides clarity on your business model, target market, services offered, marketing and sales strategies, and financial planning. This plan is not only vital for your own reference and guidance but also essential if you’re seeking funding or partnerships.

A comprehensive business plan for a personal trainer should encompass several key components, including an executive summary, market analysis, business structure, services offered, marketing and sales strategies, and financial planning. Below is a detailed template that personal trainers can use as a guide to creating their own business plan.

Executive Summary

• Business Name and Location : Your business name and the location where you will operate.
• Mission Statement : A brief statement outlining your business’s purpose and goals.
• Business Goals : Short-term and long-term objectives for your personal training business.
• Owner’s Background : Your qualifications, experience, and any unique skills that set you apart.

Market Analysis

• Industry Overview : Current state and future outlook of the fitness industry.
• Target Market : Specific demographic and psychographic details of your ideal clients.
• Competitor Analysis : Overview of competitors, their offerings, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Market Trends : Emerging trends in personal training and fitness.

Business Structure

• Type of Business Entity : Whether you are a sole proprietor, partnership, LLC, etc.
• Business Model : How you plan to charge for your services (e.g., hourly rates, package deals).
• Facility and Equipment : Details about your training facility and equipment needs.

Services Offered

• Training Services : Types of personal training services you will offer (one-on-one, group sessions, online coaching).
• Special Programs : Any specialized programs or niche training services (e.g., weight loss, athletic training, rehabilitation).
• Additional Services : Other services like nutrition counseling, fitness assessments, etc.

Marketing and Sales Strategies

• Branding : Your business’s branding strategy, including logo, colors, and overall image.
• Marketing Channels : How you plan to market your services (social media, local advertising, partnerships).
• Sales Techniques : Strategies for selling your services and converting prospects into clients.
• Client Retention Strategies : Methods for retaining clients and encouraging long-term commitments.

Financial Planning

• Startup Costs : Initial costs involved in setting up your personal training business.
• Pricing Strategy : How you will price your services.
• Revenue Projections : Estimated earnings for the first few years.
• Expense Forecast : Ongoing operational costs (rent, equipment maintenance, marketing costs).
• Break-Even Analysis : The point at which your business will start to make a profit.

Additional Components

• Legal and Insurance Considerations : Necessary permits, licenses, and insurance policies.
• Risk Analysis : Potential risks your business may face and how you plan to mitigate them.
• Growth and Expansion Plans : How you plan to grow and scale your business in the future.

This template provides a comprehensive framework for a personal trainer business plan. Tailoring each section to reflect your unique vision, goals, and strategies will result in a robust and effective business plan, guiding your venture towards success.

• Personal Trainer Marketing
• Personal Trainer Mission Statements
• Personal Trainer Insurance
• Best Personal Trainer Software

#1 Example Mobile Personal Training Business Plan

“Fit On The Go” is a mobile personal training business catering to busy professionals and parents who struggle to find time for gym visits. Our mission is to bring customized fitness solutions directly to clients, offering convenience, flexibility, and personalized attention. We aim to tap into the local market of working professionals in urban areas, delivering tailored workout sessions at their homes, offices, or outdoor spaces.

• Type : Sole Proprietorship
• Business Model : Charging clients on a session-by-session basis or through monthly packages.
• Facility and Equipment : No fixed facility; equipment is portable and suitable for various environments.
• Training Services : One-on-one and small group training sessions, including strength training, cardio, and flexibility workouts.
• Special Programs : Corporate wellness programs, post-natal fitness, senior fitness.
• Additional Services : Basic nutritional advice and online support.
• Industry Overview : Growing demand for personalized and convenient fitness options.
• Target Market : Busy professionals aged 30-50, new parents, and corporations.
• Competitor Analysis : Other local personal trainers and fitness apps.
• Market Trends : Increasing interest in health and well-being, especially post-pandemic.
• Branding : Professional, approachable, and tailored to busy lifestyles.
• Marketing Channels : Social media marketing, local networking events, partnerships with local businesses.
• Sales Techniques : Free first sessions, referral incentives.
• Client Retention Strategies : Personalized progress tracking, flexible scheduling.
• Startup Costs : Minimal – mainly for equipment and marketing.
• Pricing Strategy : Competitive pricing with discounts for package purchases.
• Revenue Projections : Aim to achieve a steady client base within the first year.
• Expense Forecast : Ongoing costs including travel expenses, equipment maintenance, and marketing.
• Break-Even Analysis : Expected within the first six months.

Read More: Mobile Fitness Business Guide

#2 Example Boutique Personal Training Studio Business Plan

“Elite Fitness Studio” is a boutique personal training studio located in a high-end neighborhood, focusing on providing exclusive, high-quality fitness experiences. Our goal is to create a community of fitness enthusiasts who value personalized attention, state-of-the-art facilities, and a supportive environment.

• Type : Limited Liability Company (LLC)
• Business Model : Membership-based with additional charges for personal training sessions.
• Facility and Equipment : Well-equipped studio with modern fitness equipment.
• Training Services : Individual and small group personal training, specializing in weight loss, muscle building, and athletic performance.
• Special Programs : Wellness retreats, fitness workshops, and seminars.
• Additional Services : In-house nutritionist consultations, physiotherapy services.
• Industry Overview : Increasing demand for exclusive and specialized fitness services.
• Target Market : Affluent individuals aged 25-55, athletes, and fitness enthusiasts.
• Competitor Analysis : Other high-end fitness studios and luxury gyms.
• Market Trends : Personalization in fitness and holistic health approaches.
• Branding : Luxurious, exclusive, and results-driven.
• Marketing Channels : High-end local magazines, community events, influencer partnerships.
• Sales Techniques : Membership exclusivity, premium pricing.
• Client Retention Strategies : Customized fitness plans, member-only events, loyalty rewards.
• Startup Costs : Significant – for studio setup, equipment, and initial marketing.
• Pricing Strategy : Premium pricing reflecting the exclusivity and quality of services.
• Revenue Projections : Gradual growth with an expansion of services and client base.
• Expense Forecast : High, including rent, equipment maintenance, staff salaries, and marketing.
• Break-Even Analysis : Expected within the first 18 months.

Read More: Best Boutique Fitness Studio Software

#3 Example Online Personal Training Business Plan

“Virtual Fitness Coach” is an online personal training business providing remote fitness coaching and virtual workout sessions. We focus on offering convenient, accessible, and customized fitness solutions to individuals globally, utilizing technology to bridge geographical gaps.

• Type : Partnership
• Business Model : Subscription-based online services with various tiered plans.
• Facility and Equipment : Home office setup with necessary tech equipment for virtual sessions.
• Training Services : Live virtual training sessions, pre-recorded workout programs.
• Special Programs : Weight loss challenges, fitness boot camps, yoga and mindfulness sessions.
• Additional Services : Online nutrition coaching, fitness blogs, and webinars.
• Industry Overview : Surge in demand for online fitness services.
• Target Market : Tech-savvy individuals, those with limited access to gyms, global clientele.
• Competitor Analysis : Other online fitness platforms and apps.
• Market Trends : Digital transformation in fitness, growing popularity of home workouts.
• Branding : Modern, accessible, and tech-friendly.
• Marketing Channels : Social media advertising, content marketing, online fitness communities.
• Sales Techniques : Free trials, tiered pricing plans.
• Client Retention Strategies : Engaging online community, regular program updates, personalized feedback.
• Startup Costs : Moderate – mainly for software, website development, and initial marketing.
• Pricing Strategy : Subscription-based with different tiers for various needs.
• Revenue Projections : Aim for global reach and a substantial subscriber base within the first year.
• Expense Forecast : Moderate, including website maintenance, marketing, and software subscriptions.
• Break-Even Analysis : Projected within the first 12 months.

Each of these fitness trainer business plans caters to different market segments and operational models, offering a diverse range of services and experiences. Personal trainers can adapt these templates to align with their specific goals, target audience, and available resources.

Read More: Best Online Fitness Coach Software

The Importance of Having a Business Plan as a Personal Trainer

Welcome to our comprehensive guide on creating a successful personal trainer business plan. In this article, we will explore the importance of having a business plan as a personal trainer, delve into the key elements to include in your plan, and provide detailed insights into various aspects of running a thriving personal training business.

Looking to start your own personal training business? This comprehensive personal training business plan template will guide you through the process, helping you outline your goals, target market, marketing strategies, financial projections, and more.

As a personal trainer, having a well-defined business plan is crucial to your success. It serves as a roadmap that outlines your goals, strategies, and tactics for achieving them. A solid business plan helps you stay focused, organized, and accountable. It allows you to clearly articulate your mission, vision, and unique value proposition to potential clients, partners, and investors.

Furthermore, a business plan helps you foresee challenges and identify opportunities in the ever-evolving fitness industry. It allows you to devise strategies to effectively navigate market fluctuations, competition, and changing consumer preferences. Ultimately, a well-crafted business plan sets the foundation for your personal training business and increases your chances of long-term success.

One key benefit of having a business plan as a personal trainer is that it helps you establish a clear financial strategy. By outlining your revenue streams, expenses, and pricing structure, you can ensure that your personal training business remains profitable. Additionally, a business plan allows you to set financial goals and track your progress towards achieving them, providing you with a benchmark for success.

Another advantage of having a business plan is that it enables you to effectively market and promote your personal training services. With a well-defined target market and a comprehensive marketing strategy, you can identify the most effective channels to reach potential clients. Your business plan can also include a detailed analysis of your competition, allowing you to differentiate yourself and highlight your unique selling points.

Key Elements to Include in Your Personal Trainer Business Plan

A comprehensive personal trainer business plan should consist of several key elements. These include:

1. Executive Summary: Summarize your business concept, mission statement, and unique selling proposition. This section provides an overview of your plan and entices readers to continue reading.

2. Company Description: Outline your personal training business, including its legal structure, location, services offered, and target market.

3. Market Analysis: Conduct thorough market research to gain insights into your target market, competitors, and industry trends. Analyze the demand for personal training services in your area and identify gaps you can capitalize on.

4. Marketing and Sales Strategies: Detail your marketing and advertising tactics, such as online and offline promotion, partnerships, and referrals. Create a pricing structure that reflects the value you provide and consider offering introductory packages or discounts to attract new clients.

5. Organizational Structure: Define your business’s organizational structure, roles, and responsibilities. If you plan to hire additional trainers or administrative staff, outline their job descriptions and qualifications.

6. Financial Projections: Create a comprehensive financial plan that includes startup costs, revenue projections, expense forecasts, and cash flow analysis. This section helps you understand the financial feasibility of your business and secure funding if needed.

7. Operations and Systems: Develop strategies for efficient operations, such as scheduling, client management, and record-keeping systems. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to track your business’s performance and identify areas for improvement.

8. Risk Assessment: Evaluate potential risks and challenges that may impact your personal training business. Identify strategies to mitigate these risks, such as obtaining appropriate insurance coverage, implementing safety protocols, and developing contingency plans.

9. Professional Development: Outline your commitment to ongoing professional development and staying up-to-date with industry trends and certifications. Include plans for attending workshops, conferences, and continuing education courses to enhance your skills and knowledge as a personal trainer.

Defining Your Target Market and Identifying Your Niche

Before diving into the details of your business plan, it’s crucial to define your target market and identify your niche as a personal trainer. Understanding your ideal clients’ demographics, psychographics, and fitness goals will help you tailor your services and marketing efforts to attract the right audience.

When defining your niche, consider your expertise, passion, and unique selling proposition. Are you passionate about weight loss? Do you specialize in strength training for athletes? Identifying your niche allows you to position yourself as an expert in a specific area and stand out from the competition.

Conducting Market Research for Your Personal Training Business

Thorough market research is essential for developing a successful business plan as a personal trainer. It provides insights into your target market’s needs, preferences, and willingness to pay for your services. Start by analyzing the local fitness industry, demographics, competition, and consumer trends.

Utilize online research tools, conduct surveys, and talk to potential clients to gather data on their fitness goals, challenges, and expectations. This information will help you fine-tune your services, pricing, and marketing strategies to meet your target market’s demands effectively.

Setting SMART Goals for Your Personal Trainer Business

To ensure the success of your personal trainer business, it’s crucial to set SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. SMART goals provide clarity and direction, allowing you to track your progress and make necessary adjustments.

For example, instead of setting a vague goal like “increase revenue,” a SMART goal would be “increase monthly revenue by 15% within six months through targeted marketing campaigns and client retention strategies.” SMART goals provide clear metrics and timelines, enabling you to stay focused and motivated.”

Developing a Strong Value Proposition for Your Services

Your value proposition is what differentiates you from other personal trainers in the market. It highlights the unique benefits and value that clients will receive by choosing your services. Develop a clear and compelling value proposition that resonates with your target market.

Consider factors such as your training philosophy, certifications, experience, and any specialized services or equipment you provide. Communicate your value proposition effectively through your marketing materials, website, and in-person consultations to attract and retain clients.

Creating a Pricing Structure that Reflects the Value You Provide

Determining your pricing structure is a critical aspect of your personal trainer business plan. It should strike a balance between your financial goals and the perceived value of your services. Research industry standards and competitors’ pricing while considering your unique value proposition.

Take into account factors such as your experience, certifications, location, overhead costs, and the target market’s willingness to pay. Consider offering tiered pricing options, package deals, or monthly memberships to cater to different client needs and budgets.

Mapping Out Your Marketing and Advertising Strategies

Marketing and advertising are crucial for attracting clients and growing your personal training business. Develop a comprehensive marketing plan that incorporates both online and offline strategies to reach your target audience effectively.

Consider leveraging digital marketing channels such as social media platforms, search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing, and content creation. Offline tactics like networking events, local partnerships, and referrals can also play a significant role in generating leads.

Building an Effective Online Presence for Your Personal Training Business

In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence is paramount for any business, including personal trainers. Develop a professional website that showcases your services, testimonials, success stories, and contact information.

Optimize your website for search engines to increase its visibility in organic search results. Utilize social media platforms to engage with potential clients, share valuable content, and promote your services. Consider creating a blog, producing educational videos, or starting a podcast to establish yourself as an industry expert.

Leveraging Social Media to Attract and Engage Clients

Social media platforms provide an excellent opportunity to connect with potential clients and nurture relationships. Identify the platforms most popular among your target market – whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn – and develop a social media strategy accordingly.

Regularly post engaging and educational content, such as workout tips, motivational quotes, success stories, and client transformations. Encourage client testimonials and user-generated content to build trust and credibility. Interact with your audience by responding to comments, direct messages, and inquiries promptly.

Networking and Collaborating with Other Fitness Professionals

Networking and collaborating with other fitness professionals can open doors to new opportunities and expand your client base. Attend industry conferences, seminars, and workshops to meet like-minded individuals and potential referral partners.

Consider collaborations with other fitness trainers, nutritionists, physical therapists, or wellness centers. Cross-promote each other’s services, refer clients, or organize joint events or workshops. Collaborations not only widen your reach but also enhance your credibility and expertise through association with other professionals.

Establishing Partnerships with Complementary Businesses in the Health and Wellness Industry

Identify complementary businesses in the health and wellness industry that share a similar target market. Establish mutually beneficial partnerships to cross-promote each other’s services and expand your reach.

For example, partner with local gyms, yoga studios, or health food stores to offer exclusive discounts or joint promotions. Consider guest blogging or speaking engagements to share valuable content with their audience, generating both visibility and credibility for your personal training business.

Creating an Effective Sales Funnel to Convert Leads into Clients

An effective sales funnel helps guide potential clients from awareness to becoming paying clients. Implement a step-by-step process that nurtures leads and encourages them to take action.

Start by offering valuable content, such as free workout guides or educational webinars, to capture leads’ contact information. Nurture those leads through regular email communication, providing additional value and showcasing your expertise. Offer introductory sessions, consultations, or free trials to convert leads into paying clients.

Providing Exceptional Customer Service to Retain Clients and Generate Referrals

Providing exceptional customer service is key to retaining clients and generating referrals. Ensure your clients feel valued, supported, and motivated throughout their fitness journey.

Offer personalized training programs, regular progress tracking, and frequent communication to demonstrate your commitment to their success. Encourage client feedback and testimonials to showcase the results and satisfaction of your clients. Word-of-mouth referrals from satisfied clients are one of your most powerful marketing tools.

Implementing Systems and Processes to Streamline Operations and Improve Efficiency

Efficient operations are essential for running a successful personal training business. Implement systems and processes that streamline administrative tasks, client management, and scheduling.

Utilize client management software to track client progress, schedule appointments, and send reminders. Automate email marketing campaigns to nurture leads and engage with clients. Consider outsourcing tasks like accounting or social media management to free up your time for client-focused activities.

Managing Finances and Tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Effective financial management is crucial for the long-term success of your personal training business. Track key financial metrics such as revenue, expenses, profitability, and cash flow to identify areas for improvement.

Consider hiring a professional accountant or utilizing accounting software to ensure accurate bookkeeping and compliance. Regularly review your financial performance against your goals and make necessary adjustments to stay on track.

Developing a Growth Strategy for Scaling Your Personal Training Business

Once your personal training business is thriving, it’s essential to develop a growth strategy to maximize its potential. Assess opportunities for expansion, such as adding additional trainers, offering specialized programs, or opening new locations.

Set new goals, revise marketing strategies, and invest in continuous professional development to stay ahead of industry trends. Explore the potential of online training, group classes, corporate wellness programs, or partnerships with corporate gyms to expand your reach and client base.

Staying Up-to-Date with Industry Trends and Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

The fitness industry is constantly evolving, with new trends, techniques, and research emerging regularly. Stay updated with the latest industry developments and continuously invest in your own professional development.

Attend industry conferences, seminars, and webinars. Read industry publications, books, and research papers. Pursue additional certifications or specialized training programs to enhance your expertise and stay competitive in the market.

Assessing the Success of Your Personal Trainer Business Plan and Making Adjustments as Needed

Regularly assess the success of your personal trainer business plan and make necessary adjustments to align with changing market dynamics and business goals.

Review your financial performance, client feedback, and marketing efforts to identify areas of improvement. Stay open to feedback and adapt your strategies accordingly. Regularly revisit and update your business plan to reflect your growth and new opportunities.

Congratulations! You’ve completed our comprehensive guide on creating a successful personal trainer business plan. By following these steps and implementing the strategies discussed, you’ll be well on your way to building a thriving and profitable personal training business. Remember to stay focused, persevere through challenges, and always prioritize the needs and goals of your clients.

How do I write a business plan for a personal trainer?

To write a business plan for a personal trainer:

• Executive Summary: Outline your business concept, fitness philosophy, and goals.
• Market Analysis: Research your target market, competition, and fitness trends.
• Services and Pricing: Detail the training services you offer and pricing structure.
• Marketing Strategy: Describe how you plan to attract and retain clients.
• Operational Plan: Include how you will operate your business, equipment needs, and any staff requirements.
• Financial Plan: Provide projected income, expenses, and profitability.

How do I make a personal trainer plan?

To make a personal trainer plan:

• Identify Client Goals: Understand what each client aims to achieve.
• Assess Fitness Levels: Conduct initial assessments to tailor the plan.
• Create Custom Workouts: Design workouts that are effective and engaging.
• Nutrition Advice: Offer nutritional guidance if qualified.
• Progress Tracking: Include methods for monitoring client progress.
• How to Design Workout Plans for Clients
• Fitness and Diet Plan Templates to Use with Clients
• Best Personal Trainer Client Tracking Apps

How do you structure a PT business?

Structure a PT business by:

• Business Model: Decide if you’ll work independently, with a gym, or online.
• Services Offered: Determine what types of training and additional services you will provide.
• Pricing Structure: Establish your rates for different services.
• Marketing: Develop a strategy to attract clients.
• Operations: Plan your daily business operations, including scheduling and client management.

Should personal trainers have an LLC?

Personal trainers should consider forming an LLC (Limited Liability Company) for personal asset protection, potential tax benefits, and increased professionalism. It separates personal and business liabilities.

How to make 6 figures as a personal trainer?

To make six figures as a personal trainer:

• Specialize: Offer specialized training or services that can command higher rates.
• Build a Client Base: Focus on client retention and referrals.
• Expand Offerings: Consider online training, group classes, or creating digital products.
• Market Effectively: Utilize digital marketing and networking to attract high-paying clients.
• Continual Education: Keep upskilling to offer the latest and most effective training methods.

Read More: How can I make 6 figures as a personal trainer?

How do I sell myself as a personal trainer?

Sell yourself as a personal trainer by:

• Showcasing Your Expertise: Share your knowledge and successes on social media and in client interactions.
• Personal Branding: Develop a strong personal brand that reflects your training style and philosophy.
• Networking: Build relationships within the fitness community and with potential clients.
• Client Testimonials: Use testimonials and success stories to demonstrate your impact.
• Professional Presence: Maintain a professional online presence and high-quality promotional materials.

How much do personal trainers charge for a workout plan?

Personal trainers typically charge between $50 to $150 or more for a workout plan, depending on the plan’s complexity, customization, and their expertise. Online or template plans may be priced lower.

Read More: How Much to Charge for a Workout Plan

Should I use my name for my personal training business?

Using your name for your personal training business can be effective for personal branding, especially if you aim to build a reputation based on your personal expertise and training style. It can also add a personal touch to your business.

How do you write a business plan for a gym?

Writing a business plan for a gym involves outlining your business concept, conducting market research, detailing the gym’s services and pricing, creating a marketing and operational plan, and providing a financial projection including startup costs and revenue forecasts.

Read More: How to Write a Business Plan for a Gym

What is the purpose of a business plan for a personal trainer?

The purpose of a business plan for a personal trainer is to outline clear business objectives, strategies for achieving them, understand the market and competition, and provide a roadmap for business growth and financial stability.

What is a good mission statement for a personal trainer?

A good mission statement for a personal trainer might be: “To empower clients to achieve their fitness goals through personalized, effective, and sustainable training programs, while fostering a supportive and motivating environment.”

Read More: Best Personal Trainer Mission Statements

How can Exercise.com help me run a personal training business?

Exercise.com can help run a personal training business by providing comprehensive software solutions for client management, workout programming, scheduling, progress tracking, and billing. Its platform streamlines administrative tasks, enhances client engagement, and provides tools for managing and growing your personal training business effectively.

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Create a Personal Trainer Business Plan in Six Steps

My personal training career began, as so many do, at a big box gym.

I worked my way up to management, then regional management, and eventually struck out on my own. Soon I opened a small gym, which progressively grew into a bigger gym over the next six years.

A natural evolution maybe, but no accident. It happened because I had a plan.

A business plan helps you stay focused. It puts you in control, leading you where you want to go, so you’ll end up happier and wealthier.

Yet lots of trainers don’t think to make one, or assume they don’t need one. You do. Taking the time to carefully craft a business plan can give you an edge, regardless of where you are in your career.

To help you get started, I’ve outlined a personal trainer business plan template with six basic steps:

Step 1: Write your mission statement

Step 2: assess the fitness industry and your competition, step 3: map out your revenue streams, step 4: plan for operating costs, step 5: create your sales and marketing plan, step 6: honestly assess your risk.

We’ll hit each of those in a moment, and share a downloadable worksheet for you to craft your own business plan. But first, you probably have a few questions.

What is a personal trainer business plan?

A personal trainer business plan is a written description of your business’s future. Think of it as your North Star. It will help guide every aspect of your business: services, products, people, location, competition, costs, and income.

Who needs a personal trainer business plan?

Anyone who makes a living as a personal trainer. Don’t wait until you’re self-employed. It’s never too early to think about your future trajectory, even if you’re still a gym employee.

What is a personal trainer business plan used for?

A business plan articulates what you do and why you’re doing it. Having it in writing helps you stay focused.

But depending on your needs and goals, you might also use it to impress potential investors, attract employees or customers, or deal with suppliers.

How long should a personal trainer business plan be?

A typical plan is about 10 to 20 pages, but there’s a lot of room for variation. It can be as simple as a few notes on the back of an envelope, or as complex as 50 pages with detailed projections and analysis.

What’s the purpose of your plan? If you’re trying to score financing, err on the longer side. But if it’s just for you, make it as brief or detailed as you like.

How do you start?

Easy: Just write. Tailor the language to your prospective audience. If you’re writing the plan for yourself, make it as casual as a conversation with a friend. If you’re writing it for a bank or private investor, be more formal. If it’s for clients, be professional, avoiding jargon or slang.

I remember agonizing over my first business plan, making a million revisions. I felt stuck because, as hard as I tried, my plan wasn’t perfect yet.

Then I realized something: Perfection isn’t possible, and you can’t let the pursuit of it keep you from moving forward.

The goal is to think about your personal training business in a more mature way. As you move through your career, stretching your abilities and learning from mistakes, you’ll gain the perspective you need to refine it.

Put another way, as you get better, your plan will too.

Personal trainer business plan template

This is two or three sentences explaining what your company aims to do, and why: “I help THIS group of people do X, Y, and Z. And this is why I do it.”

Don’t skip the second part. Clarifying why you do what you do is essential for setting your business apart. It starts with two things:

• Your core values
• Your training philosophy

Core values are your personal beliefs: who you are, and what you stand for. Your training philosophy is what you believe about training.

Why is training people important to you? Why is the demographic you work with important? What are the two or three most important things you believe about training that are nonnegotiable?

If you can answer those questions, you’ll have a much easier time conveying your value to others, and creating a coaching avatar that helps people connect with you.

READ ALSO:   How to Get More Personal Training Clients

Before you can figure out where you fit in in the fitness industry, you first need to know what that industry looks like. That takes research into the two most relevant market tiers for fitness pros:

To understand what’s happening locally, hop online and look up all the gyms and fitness facilities in your area. Visit a few. Talk to the locals, and pick their brains about what they’re interested in and why they chose their current gym. Gauge sample size.

For a national perspective, you could turn to Google.

Now think about where you fit in, both locally and nationally. What gap do you fill? What do you offer that someone needs but no one else provides? An honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses will help you find those answers.

Finally, determine your biggest threat. Think you don’t have competition? You do. Look at it this way: In the absence of your product or service, how do people fill that void? Where do they go? What do they buy? That’s your competition.

This one is simple. Just answer one question: How are you going to deliver your service? Will you train clients one-on-one, and also lead a group class a couple times a week? Or will you do small-group training at your gym, and supplement your income with online training ?

Start with only one or two income sources, and see how they work (or don’t work). Maybe you’ll find that one (like online training) generates enough revenue for you to focus on it exclusively. Maybe you’ll find that another (like teaching group classes at 6 a.m.) doesn’t pay well enough for you to continue. Maybe you’ll have so much success with one demographic or style of training that you’ll decide to create and sell a product related to it.

But don’t feel you have  to add revenue streams. Some of the most successful businesses in the world offer only one or two products. A sharp focus lets you excel at one thing. Sometimes that’s better than being kinda good at several.

READ ALSO:   Avoid These Mistakes When Building an Online Training Business

Jot down all the expenses you need to run your business: rent, equipment, insurance, software, business license, and any administrative fees. Add it all up, and you get your operating costs, the minimum income you need to exist. Keep in mind that some percentage of that income will go to taxes .

Now tackle revenue projections. Make a high-low chart, with one column for worst-case scenario, and another for best-case.

Your best-case scenario is what would happen if you absolutely crushed it, and kept a full book of paying clients all year. Your worst-case is the opposite, the least amount you would make if things don’t go according to plan.

Comfortable with those numbers? If not, rejigger the plan until you are.

READ ALSO:   How Your “Freedom Number” Can Give You the Opportunity to Fail

At Fitness Revolution  (where I work), we have something called the Triple-A Marketing Method : Assets, Arsenal, Action plan. Here’s how it works.

• Start with your assets—your skills, talents, and strengths. Maybe you’re really good at videos, or you’re great face to face.
• Now determine your arsenal, the tools you’ll use to deploy those skills. If videos are your thing, social media might be the way you share them. If talking to people is your strength, focus on networking.
• Finally, create an action plan, taking care to define exactly how often you’ll deploy those resources. Maybe you’ll post a new video every week, or attend a networking event once a month.

Over time, you’ll refine this section as you figure out what works and what doesn’t. But this is a good start.

There’s a reason why, in Step 4, I had you draw up a worst-case scenario alongside your sunniest projection. Too many personal trainers are overly optimistic, and write up business plans that assume things will always be awesome.

The problem with projecting 365 days of sunshine is that you’ll be blinded by the imagined glare. You won’t be ready for the bootcamps that get rained out, the clients who move on, the rent that goes up, or the car that breaks down.

Try pretending it’s your friend’s business plan. What would you say to that friend? Even better: Seek feedback from a fitness industry mentor or someone whose business advice you value. A neutral expert can give you much-needed perspective on the realities of running a business in an often-unpredictable world.

That brings us to risk. How much risk is written into your plan, and how much can you tolerate?

If you’re just starting out, your risk tolerance is probably pretty high, simply because you have less to lose. You could also pivot and try something else if your plan doesn’t work out.

But as your business grows, and you have more people who depend on you, the decisions will be harder, and your appetite for risk will probably drop.

Ready to get started? Click here to download our free Personal Trainer Business Plan worksheet.

What happens now?

A business plan is never complete. Even if you never need a detailed, professional version for investors, and you’re the only one who ever sees it, it’s still something you revisit as needed.

Every time your business shifts direction, your financial outlook changes, or you launch a new product, you’ll need to revisit your business plan.

But you don’t have to wait for a major change. Even a successful plan will eventually run its course, and need to be updated. If you think it’s time to revisit your plan, you’re probably right.

David Crump

David Crump is a personal trainer, industry-recognized speaker, and fitness business consultant who helps other fitness professionals grow their business. He is the training and content manager for Fitness Revolution, where he oversees continuing education and all things start-up related. He has helped open at least seven independent fitness facilities in addition to his own, which he ran for six years. You can keep up with him at his website or on Facebook .

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Personal Training Business Plan Template

• Written by Dave Lavinsky

Table of Contents

Personal training business plan.

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their personal training companies. We have the experience, resources, and knowledge to help you create a great business plan.

In this article, you will learn some background information on why business planning is important. Then, you will learn how to write a personal training business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What Is a Personal Training Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your personal training business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategies for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Personal Training Business Plan

If you’re looking to start a personal training business or grow your existing personal training company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your personal training business to improve your chances of success. Your personal trainer business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Personal Training Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a personal training business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and angel investors. When it comes to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to ensure that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for personal training companies.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a business plan for a personal training business.

If you want to start a personal training business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. The business plan outline below details the necessary information for how to write each essential component of your personal training business plan.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of personal training business you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a personal training business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of personal training businesses?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan.

• Give a brief overview of the personal training industry.
• Discuss the type of personal training business you are operating.
• Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers.
• Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team.
• Offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Overview

In your company overview, you will detail the type of personal training business you are operating.

For example, you might specialize in one of the following types of personal training businesses:

• Mobile personal trainer: This type of business involves traveling to the client’s home, a park, or another location that is convenient for the client to provide personal training sessions.
• In-home personal trainer: This type of business is operated out of the trainer’s own home. This type of business may be great for trainers that have their own equipment.
• Online personal trainer: This type of business involves providing training one-on-one or group sessions online live or via pre-recorded webinars.
• Gym trainer: This type of personal training business operates out of a gym that allows the trainer to work with their own clients at the gym.

In addition to explaining the type of personal training business you will operate, the company overview needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of clients served, the number of sessions provided with positive outcomes, reaching $X amount in revenue, etc.
• Your legal business Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the personal training industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the personal training industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your marketing strategy, particularly if your analysis identifies market trends.

The third reason is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your personal trainer business plan:

• How big is the personal training industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential target market for your personal training business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your personal trainer business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: individuals, schools, families, and corporations.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of personal training business you operate. Clearly, individuals would respond to different marketing promotions than corporations, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the potential customers you seek to serve.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can recognize and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other personal training businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t directly competing with your product or service. This includes other types of trainers, coaches, gyms, and fitness programs. You need to mention such competition as well.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their business and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What type of personal training business are they?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you make it easier for clients to acquire your services?
• Will you offer products or services that your competition doesn’t?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a personal training business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of personal training company that you documented in your company overview. Then, detail the specific products or services you will be offering. For example, will you provide lifestyle training, boot camps, or performance training services?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your plan, you are presenting the products and/or services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the site of your personal training company. Document where your company is situated and mention how the site will impact your success. For example, is your personal training business located in a busy retail district, a business district, a standalone gym, or purely online? Discuss how your site might be the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions : The final part of your personal training marketing plan is where you will document how you will drive potential customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertise in local papers, radio stations and/or magazines
• Reach out to websites
• Distribute flyers
• Engage in email marketing
• Advertise on social media platforms
• Improve the SEO (search engine optimization) on your website for targeted keywords

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your personal training business, including answering calls, planning and providing training sessions, billing customers and collecting payments, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to book your Xth session, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your personal training business to a new city.

Management Team

To demonstrate your personal training business’ potential to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing personal training businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing a personal training business or successfully running a small fitness class.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenue and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you see 5 clients per day, and/or offer group training sessions? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your personal training business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a lender writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and ensure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

When creating your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a personal training business:

• Cost of equipment and supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Other start-up expenses (if you’re a new business) like legal expenses, permits, computer software, and equipment

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your gym location lease or testimonials from happy customers.

  Summary Writing a business plan for your personal training business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will understand the personal training industry, your competition, and your customers. You will develop a marketing strategy and will understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful personal training business.  

Personal Training Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my personal training business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily write your personal training business plan.

Where Can I Download a Personal Trainer Business Plan PDF?

You can download our Personal Trainer business plan PDF  here. This is a business plan template you can use in PDF format.

How Do You Start a Personal Training Business?

Starting a personal training business is easy with these 14 steps:

• Choose the Name for Your Personal Training Business
• Create Your Personal Training Business Plan
• Choose the Legal Structure for Your Personal Training Business
• Secure Startup Funding for Your Personal Training Business (If Needed)
• Secure a Location for Your Business
• Register Your Personal Training Business with the IRS
• Open a Business Bank Account
• Get a Business Credit Card
• Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits
• Get Business Insurance for Your Personal Training Business
• Buy or Lease the Right Personal Training Business Equipment
• Develop Your Personal Training Business Marketing Materials
• Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your Personal Training Business
• Open for Business

  OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.   Click here to see how a Growthink business planning advisor can create your business plan for you.   Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

Starting a Business | How To

How to Start a Personal Training Business [With Plan]

Published November 7, 2019

Published Nov 7, 2019

WRITTEN BY: Blake Stockton

This article is part of a larger series on Starting a Business .

A personal training business helps clients improve their fitness level. Learning how to start a personal training business is simple when you follow a step-by-step process beginning with research and a business plan. To help secure clients, build a personal brand. A full-time personal trainer can earn between $30,000 to $150,000 a year.

Before starting a personal training business, you should create a website to promote your business. When someone searches your name in Google, your website should show. A business without a website appears less credible. Dreamhost is an all-in-one website building platform. It can help you secure your domain name, obtain hosting, and create a website theme. Get started with Dreamhost today.

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Here is a personal training business plan template you can use to keep your business on the right track:

Click a link to download the template; if possible, we recommend using Word because the Table of Contents update automatically as you as fill out the template Word / Google Doc / PDF

Here’s how to start a personal training business in six steps.

1. Research Personal Training Business Ideas & Options

Before diving into your personal training business plan , it’s important to do research and think about your personal training business: What type of services will you provide? Who will you market these services to? What type of certifications will you obtain, and how much do they cost? What type of location do you want to work at? What equipment do you need to purchase to make that location effective?

What Kind of Personal Training Will You Provide?

There are several choices you will need to make about the personal training you provide. Will you specialize in a particular training, such as bodybuilding, high intensity, martial arts-related, or rehabbing injuries? Additionally, what demographics would you like to train? There are women, men, young athletes, seniors, and physically impaired individuals. Will nutritional guidance be part of your business? Is it going to be a full-time or part-time operation?

Becoming clear on the type of personal training you want to provide will guide the marketing, branding, and certification training you pursue. Generally, you shouldn’t want your training to be for everyone. Classic marketing advice is that if a product is for everyone, it’s for no one because the messaging doesn’t connect with anyone specifically.

“I consistently find that the busiest trainers are the ones who picked niches that were goal-oriented and/or problem-related. In Boston, the busiest trainers specialize in running coaching (solves the problem of bad running form), yoga training for runners (recovery training from running), cycling coaching (fixes slow speed due to strength imbalances), swim coaching (poor stroke form slows me down), and so on. Focusing on a niche not only makes a trainer stand out against the generalists but also helps build a referral network from other trainers who work with your ideal customer.” ―Giuseppe Frustaci, Founder, Stick Shift Driving Academy

Personal Training Certification

Certifications are important for personal trainers because they help build your knowledge base and add to your credibility. A popular certification is the National Academy of Sports Medicine’s (NASM) personal training certification (NASM-CPT) , which costs anywhere from $524 to $1,499.

Additionally, there are several other certifications, like the American Fitness Professionals Association’s (AFPA) Senior Fitness Specialist Certification and Youth Fitness Specialist Certification. The AFPA’s certifications generally cost between $349 to $599.

All personal trainers should get certified in first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and automatic defibrillation (AED). You can find this training locally at health training companies, college recreation centers, the American Red Cross, and the American Heart Association. First aid, CPR, and AED training costs around $100.

Choose a Location

A positive of owning a personal training business is the ability to work at many different locations. You’re not restricted to working in a building that has a high overhead cost. As a personal trainer, you can train people in public areas, such as at a park or the beach. Additionally, you can meet clients in their own home gym or have them come to your house to workout.

Many personal trainers are independent contractors and rent out space in a local gym. Training online is also growing in popularity. Apps like Trainiac help people looking for online training. Marketing your services over the internet expands your potential customer base from local to worldwide.

Research Equipment

Once you know the type of training you plan to offer, and where it will take place, you can look into purchasing equipment. We recommend you purchase used equipment, which can cost about 40% to 60% less than new equipment. If meeting clients in their home for a training session, you may want to purchase basic equipment that can provide a quality workout, regardless of the equipment they have.

2. Write Your Personal Training Business Plan

Every personal training business, both full-time and part-time, need a business plan . A business plan is a strategic plan that helps you think through everything needed to make the business a success. Most importantly, it includes a section for financial projections, where you will use data to predict how much money the business will earn and expense over the next 3 years in business.

We created a personal training business plan template for you to use and customize. If possible, we recommend downloading the template in Microsoft Word format. We included a Table Of Contents to help you easily follow along with each section, but the actual page numbers change as you add more information to the template. To save the Microsoft Word document, open the document, click File and then Save As. Rename the document, and finish by clicking save.

The Google Doc is accessible but isn’t editable. To make the Google Doc editable, click on the Google Doc link to open the template, open your own Google Doc, and paste our version. The PDF is read-only and is a great way to get an overview of the business plan template.

Traditional vs Modern Business Plan

A traditional business plan is similar to an in-depth business report. If you’re seeking financing from a bank for a personal training gym, we recommend using a traditional business plan. The business plan template we created for you is designed for a traditional plan. Alternatively, a modern business plan is a leaner model that you can finish in less than an hour. Additionally, it tends to be more visual than a traditional plan.

A business model canvas (BMC), another name for modern business plan, is best for the average personal training business because it can be completed quickly. Compared to the traditional business plan, there are new sections, such as the Value Proposition (that tells what you provide clients) and the Customer Relationships (detailing how you maintain contact with clients outside of the training session).

The business model canvas features the Channels section, which is about where and how you reach your customers

Competitor Analysis

In a business plan, you need to include information about your competitors. For the competitor analysis, list your top five competitors that are located within a five-mile radius―expand if needed―of your business. For each of the five competitors, list how far they are from your location. Include each competitor’s advantages over your business, and the advantages your business has over them.

Financial Projections

The financial projections section is the most difficult yet most important section of a business plan. This section is where you show how much money your business will earn and spend over the next 3 years. If you’re looking for an investor, they will want to see the financial projections section first to learn how they will make their money back. The Service Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE), provides a free customizable financial projection template .

Business Plan Software

Business plan software walks users step by step through the writing process. Many business owners use software to help write their business plans because it tells them exactly what to do, often with video instruction. Most business plan software also takes the financial projection numbers and creates easy-to-read-charts. LivePlan is one of the most popular and affordable business plan software available at $11.66 per month.

“I highly recommend that all entrepreneurs take the time to write a business plan. This exercise prompts you to think through all aspects of the new business—marketing, managing, financing, and more. The act of writing a business plan will highlight your strengths and identify your weaknesses, giving you motivation to fill any gaps before you build upon the foundation of your business.” ―Chris Beer, Owner, B.Well Consulting

3. Finalize Your Business’ Administrative & Legal Paperwork

Now that you know the type of personal training business you’re going to open and have a solid plan in place, it’s time to make legal arrangements before accepting clients. Personal training is full of risks and potential liability because a client can be injured seriously. It’s important to register your business as a legal entity with the state and have personal liability insurance to avoid any financial disasters that could ruin the business’ or your personal finances.

Obtain Your Employment Identification Number

The employment identification number (EIN) is a number the federal government gives businesses for federal tax purposes. Additionally, many banks will require an EIN before you open a business checking account. If you go directly to the IRS , the EIN is free. If you’d like to avoid the paperwork, you can use an online legal service, like Rocket Lawyer, to obtain the EIN for you.

Personal Training Business Registration

Every personal training business needs to register as a legal entity within the state in which they’re operating. Creating a legal business entity, also called business structure, protects the personal trainer from personal financial liability if a lawsuit were to occur against the business. The most common legal entity is a limited liability company (LLC) . State fees to register an LLC vary from $40 in Kentucky to $500 in Massachusetts. Start your business registration today with Rocket Lawyer for $99 plus state fees.

“Incorporate or form an LLC for the company. This will provide your personal training business with liability protection that creates a separation between personal and professional assets. It will also help you establish credibility a bit faster than if you had not incorporated the business.” ―Deborah Sweeney, CEO, MyCorporation.com

General Liability Insurance for Your Personal Training Business

Liability insurance for a personal trainer protects their business assets from customer injury, property damage, and reputational harm. For example, the insurance would cover if a client trips, breaks a toe, and claims your business is liable for their injury. Typically, general liability insurance costs between $150 and $300 a year.

You can obtain general liability insurance from a local insurance broker or online. Embroker is an online insurance broker that provides on-demand expertise and technology to make getting insurance for your business simple. Start searching for your ideal insurance coverage today with Embroker.

Visit Embroker

Business & Tax Licenses

Depending on your city and state, you may need a business license. If you’re seeing clients at your home, you may need a work-at-home license. Getting caught without this license may result in a fine. Businesses typically get caught when a neighbor reports it to the county.

Additionally, if your business operates in a state with a sales tax, you may need to register for a sales tax ID number. Go to your state’s official tax website for additional information.

Open a Business Bank Account

It’s important to have a business bank account so that personal and business finances are not mixed. In the event of a tax audit from the IRS, you want to have all income and expenses from the training business in one account. Mixing income and expenses into a personal account can complicate the audit. Most business bank accounts, such as Chase, require a minimum $1,500 balance, or a monthly fee is charged.

“My advice is to get your business ducks in a row before you ever start taking clients! Set up your business entity, get a business bank account, have a website and business cards. Training people is the fun part but keep it professional too.” ―Kourtney Thomas, Owner & Coach, Kourtney Thomas Fitness

4. Raise Funds for Your Personal Training Business

Unless you’re opening a physical location, a personal training business is a fairly low-cost business. Many trainers tap into their personal savings to open the business. However, if you don’t have that option, there are other ways you can access additional funds. One option is to take a personal unsecured loan. Another is to start a crowdfunding campaign and sell your services in advance.

Apply for a Personal Microloan

A microloan is typically below $50,000, which we consider pretty low compared to a traditional bank loan that usually starts at a minimum of $100,000. A microloan is easier to obtain than a traditional loan. However, the interest rate is higher. A microloan is similar to a personal unsecured loan from a lending institution. Depending on your personal credit, you should expect to pay up a 20% interest rate on a microloan.

Find an Investor

An investor is someone who invests money into your business in exchange for a percentage of ownership, also called equity. Most business owners choose to work with an investor instead of a bank because of the investor’s business expertise. In addition, new business owners aren’t usually eager about taking on new debt.

It can be challenging to find investors. One of the best places to run across them is at local business networking events. Keep in mind, however, that before you begin actively seeking investors, you need to have a well thought out business plan with solid financial projections.

Start a Crowdfunding Campaign

A crowdfunding campaign is a strategy businesses use to raise money by preselling products and services as “rewards” for their business. Typically, on a website like Kickstarter, you’ll see people raising money for a product before it’s created. A crowdfunding platform will deduct around 5% of the total money raised. Plus, there is usually a payment processing fee of around 3%.

If you’re trying to raise money for equipment or gym space, you can presell memberships or workout packages. For example, you could presell a single workout, five workouts, and 10 workouts, all at varying reward levels.

Also, consider selling swag items like branded T-shirts for a smaller reward amount. For a personal training crowdfunding campaign to be successful, the owner needs to be well-connected with those interested in the services.

5. Purchase Software for Your Personal Training Business

Software helps automate your personal training business and saves you time. Client scheduling software makes it easy for clients to schedule appointments with you. Accounting software helps you track your income and expenses. Client billing software allows clients to pay online easily and set up a recurring billing process.

Client Scheduling Software

Scheduling software allows clients to go online or through an app and make an appointment. This software saves you time and headache from having to deal with phone calls and making training appointments. 10to8 is a free scheduling software used by more than 50,000 businesses. The first 100 scheduled appointments in a month are free.

Accounting Software

Accounting software keeps track of business income and expenses. A small personal training business may not need accounting software because there is only one type of income―hourly training―and expenses are minimal. However, as you grow your business and potentially open a physical location, you may want to look into accounting software like QuickBooks to keep track of multiple income streams and expenses.

Client Billing Software

When you’re just starting out, you may use cash or a simple system like Venmo―a one-time online payment platform―for clients to pay per session. As your business grows, members may begin to owe larger payments, especially if you start offering annual prepaid contracts. You may also want to give clients the ability to set up a recurring payment system . Use software like Square to set up recurring payments. Clients can enter their payment information once and never have to do it again.

Email Marketing Software

Email marketing software is a convenient way to stay in touch with current, former, and potential clients. Personal training is a great industry for email marketing because there are many opportunities to provide valuable information to clients. Consider emailing current and former clients at least once a month with exercise and health tips. Mailchimp is an email marketing software that is free for the first 2,000 email addresses.

6. Market Your Personal Training Business

Marketing is everything for a personal training business. You’re a new trainer, and you’ll have to separate yourself from the dozens of other personal trainers through your marketing strategies. Tangible marketing tools like business cards and brochures are ideal for ensuring potential clients can contact you. Online marketing tools like websites and social media pages are important when someone searches for your name using Google.

“It’s important to remember that you are operating in a sea of sameness. Differentiation is the key to survival. You have to offer something unique and different. A simple positioning exercise can help: “Joe Trainer is the ONLY personal trainer that does/provides (unique benefit) that’s because (support point 1), (support point 2). If you can’t think of an ONLY, then you’ll be facing a long uphill battle.” ―Brian Cairns, CEO, ProStrategix Consulting

Traditional Marketing Materials

Generally, traditional marketing materials are considered physical materials like business cards, brochures, and flyers with contact information. Additionally, it can include your biography, case studies, before and after photos, and testimonials from happy clients. Branding training items is common. Consider making water bottles, towels, and stickers with your business name and logo.

Online Marketing

Online marketing is using internet-based tools and platforms to reach customers. Some online platforms are standard, like websites, Facebook pages, and Google My Business (GMB) listings. Other tools, such as those that help with video marketing and email marketing can be used to keep your clients engaged.

Here are online marketing platforms that all personal trainers should consider:

• Website: A website is similar to your online billboard. On your website, include several large, high-resolution photos to explain the type of services you provide. Also, include testimonials of happy customers.
• Social media: You need to create a Facebook page. However, Instagram will likely be the platform you have the most success with because your business is visual. Consider trying out Instagram Stories to connect with your audience frequently.
• Video marketing: Video can communicate your training workouts better than photos. Facebook and Instagram Stories are a terrific way to post short, authentic videos about your training.
• Email marketing: As you grow your lead and customer base, it’s important to keep in touch with them. Email marketing is a free way to do that. Send informative emails once a month about training and nutrition.
• GMB: Every business that has local customers gets a free GMB listing, which is a directory listing on Google. If you work from home, you can hide your home address and set GMB to display a service area radius around where you live.

Upload photos and videos to your GMB listing that represent your personal training

Online marketing is always changing, which presents an opportunity for trainers who stay up to date with the latest changes. Social media and GMB will have feature updates most frequently. It’s important to keep up with their changes.

Personal Training Marketing Package

As a personal trainer, you will be meeting potential clients in person and online. It’s important to look organized and have a marketing package that summarizes your services and background. The package can consist of a folder with several pieces of paper, or it can be a digital PDF. Inside, include your bio, a description of the business, client testimonials, client results, several photos, and possibly a video.

Branded Clothing

You may want to brand yourself by wearing a uniform that represents your business. Many personal trainers wear shirts with their main business colors and logo. If you’re opening a business with several trainers, you can have all of them wear your branded T-shirts or collared shirts to look professional. Additionally, you should consider selling branded shirts, tanks, hoodies, and shorts for customers to purchase and wear.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for How to Start a Personal Training Business

This section includes the most frequently asked questions about how to start a personal training business.

Do personal trainers get paid well?

Personal trainers can get paid well. The typical personal trainer makes between $50 and $60 per hour. That price can increase as the demand for your services increases. If you help people lose weight and gain muscle, word will spread about your success. Additionally, you will need to be well-organized to turn the $60 an hour you earn into 25 sessions per week, which would earn $1,500 in weekly revenue.

Can I personal train without a certification?

Yes, you can train without certifications. However, before starting a personal training business, it’s a good idea to get first aid, CPR, and AED training in the event of a client’s health issue. This training is given locally at first aid training companies, local colleges, and the American Red Cross. They cost around $100.

Is personal training a good career?

Personal training can be a great career. You make your own hours. You get to dress casual. You can work in a variety of locations. You get to see physical improvement in others as well as yourself. Additionally, as you grow your client base and demand for your services increases, you can increase your hourly rate.

Are personal trainers in demand?

According to industry research company IBIS World, the number of personal trainers has been growing in demand during the past 5 years. People interested in weight loss and customized workout plans have fueled this growth in demand.

Bottom Line

Personal training can be a very rewarding and lucrative business. You get to help others physically transform their bodies and improve their health. As your client base grows and demand for your services increase, so does your hourly rate. Initially, it can be challenging getting new clients and developing a brand for yourself. However, once you do, you can earn between $50 and $60 per hour easily.

Every personal trainer, whether full-time or part-time, needs to have a website. When a potential client types your name into Google, your website should show. If it doesn’t, you lose credibility automatically. Dreamhost is an all-in-one website company that will help you purchase a domain name, get hosting, and design your website. Get started with Dreamhost today.

About the Author

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Blake Stockton

Blake Stockton is a staff writer at Fit Small Business focusing on how to start brick-and-mortar and online businesses. He is a frequent guest lecturer at several undergraduate business and MBA classes at University of North Florida . Prior to joining Fit Small Business, Blake consulted with over 700 small biz owners and assisted with starting and growing their businesses.

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Personal Training Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Personal Training Business Plan

You’ve come to the right place to create your Personal Training business plan.

We have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their Personal Training businesses.

Below is a template to help you create each section of your Personal Training business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

Empowered Fitness is a new personal training business located in Atlanta, Georgia. We are committed to helping the residents of Atlanta achieve their fitness goals by providing them personalized one-on-one and group training sessions. All workout plans designed by our trainers are personalized to each client, and utilize their strengths to help them achieve their goals. Whether our clients want to lose weight or get stronger, we will be there to help them every step of the way.

Empowered Fitness is founded and run by Joanna Teller. Joanna has been a personal trainer for several years, but is now eager to expand her business to include a larger clientele and a full staff of personal trainers. Her passion for fitness and experience in the industry will be the company’s most valuable assets.

Product Offering

Empowered Fitness helps its clients achieve their fitness goals. Clients primarily come to us when they need help with losing weight, increasing their stamina, or improving their muscle mass. We serve anyone 18 or older and provide one-on-one training as well as group sessions for groups of up to ten people.

Customer Focus

Empowered Fitness will target all men and women ages 18 – 99 who are interested in achieving and maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle. Atlanta is a very diverse city that includes people from all walks of life. This diverse demographic has numerous fitness and health goals that can be helped by hiring a personal trainer. Therefore, we expect to have a very diverse clientele that includes people from multiple demographics.

Management Team

Empowered Fitness is run by Joanna Teller. Joanna is an experienced personal trainer who has helped hundreds of clients over the past five years. Though she has had a rewarding career as a solo personal trainer, her passion for helping people inspired her to start a larger company where she can hire other personal trainers and expand her clientbase. Her experience in the industry will be a solid foundation for the company to grow and thrive on.

Success Factors

Empowered Fitness will be able to achieve success by offering the following competitive advantages:

• Staff of friendly, passionate, and knowledgeable personal trainers that can help clients achieve a multitude of health and fitness goals.
• Moderate pricing for our excellent personal training services.
• Services at our clients’ convenience. We will meet our clients anywhere they want to work out, including their gym, the park, or their home.

Financial Highlights

Empowered Fitness is seeking $250,000 in debt financing to begin operations of the business. The funding will be dedicated towards building out the office space and purchasing equipment. Funding will also be dedicated towards three months of overhead costs to include payroll of the staff, rent, and working capital. The breakout of the funding is below:

• Leasing and building out the office space: $100,000
• Equipment purchase: $50,000
• Three months of overhead expenses (payroll, rent, utilities): $50,000
• Marketing & advertising: $25,000
• Working capital: $25,000

The following graph below outlines the pro forma financial projections for Empowered Fitness.

Company Overview

Who is empowered fitness.

Empowered Fitness is a new personal training business that serves the residents of Atlanta, Georgia. We are committed to helping locals reach their fitness goals, whether that be to lose weight or increase their strength. We serve anyone ages 18 -99 and offer both one-on-one and group sessions. No matter what health goals our clients want to achieve, we will be there supporting them every step of the way.

  Empowered Fitness helps its clients by providing personalized training sessions. Clients can hire our trainers for hour-long sessions up to multiple times per week. While most clients opt for one-on-one training sessions, we also offer group sessions for up to ten people. All sessions are conducted at the client’s choice of location. We can meet our clients at their favorite gym, park, home, or other convenient location.

Empowered Fitness is run by Joanna Teller, who has considerable experience as a personal trainer. Her prior experience, expertise, and clientbase will provide the solid foundation our company needs to be successful.

Empowered Fitness’ History

After surveying the local customer base, and finding a potential office location, Joanna Teller incorporated Empowered Fitness as an S-Corporation on July 1st, 2023.

Currently, the business is being run out of Joanna’s home office, but once the lease on Empowered Fitness’ location is finalized, all operations will be run from there.

Since incorporation, the company has achieved the following milestones:

• Found a commercial space and signed Letter of Intent to lease it
• Developed the company’s name, logo, social media accounts, and website
• Determined equipment and fixture requirements
• Began recruiting key employees with previous fitness and personal training experience

Empowered Fitness’ Services

Empowered Fitness provides personal training services to the residents of Atlanta, Georgia. These sessions are primarily one-on-one, but we also provide group personal training for groups of up to ten people. We can help our clients with a variety of fitness goals including:

• Weight loss
• Increasing stamina
• Increase strength

Industry Analysis

The Personal Training industry is expected to grow to an annual revenue of $41 billion in 2023 and will grow at a CAGR of 4.6% from now until 2033. This growth is due to several factors. First, the pandemic years encouraged many people to focus on their health, with many people taking up online fitness courses and virtual personal training. Second, the industry is positively affected by the increase in per capita disposable income. Consumers with more disposable income are more likely to spend it on services that improve their health and well-being, such as personal training services. Finally, the overall trend towards health consciousness will indirectly benefit the Personal Training industry as more people will invest in services that improve their health.

During this period, demographic changes are expected to drive revenue growth for operators. Additional revenue streams are also expected to play an integral part in industry growth. In particular, as healthcare costs continue to escalate, health insurance providers may implement incentives to promote preventive health practices, such as partnering with gyms and personal training businesses. Furthermore, the number of obese individuals in the United States has increased in recent years. Consequently, to cut healthcare costs, many health insurance providers will likely attempt to lower an individual’s risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, among other ailments. Additionally, initiatives that promote the health benefits of exercise will likely increase over the next five years, stimulating industry revenue.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market, customer segmentation.

Empowered Fitness will primarily target the following customer profiles:

• Individuals who want to lose weight and improve their fitness
• Physical therapy patients

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

Empowered Fitness will face competition from other companies with similar business profiles. A description of each competitor company is below.

Sunshine Personal Training

Sunshine Personal Training is a personal training studio that offers personalized one-on-one training sessions. The trainers work with each client to customize a fitness and nutritional program that is designed to reach their goals. Though Sunshine’s trainers can help clients with a variety of goals, the studio primarily promotes its services to people who want to lose weight. Therefore, we expect that Sunshine Personal Training will only be a major competitor for this particular customer segment.

Atlanta Fitness

Atlanta Fitness is a multi-location personal training business that offers personalized training to athletes and fitness junkies. Each location is a fully equipped gym along with dozens of personal trainers that help each client reach their fitness goals. They primarily market to clients who are already working out regularly but just need extra help to reach their peak performance. Therefore, they will only be a competitor for a fraction of our target market, as we are willing to help anyone who has fitness goals, not just athletes.

Steve’s Personal Training Services

Established in 2018, Steve’s Personal Training Services is a small personal training operation run by Steve Miller. Steve worked as a personal trainer for several gym chains but broke off as his own separate business in 2018. Since then, he has helped hundreds of clients get in better shape and achieve their fitness goals. Steve is a popular trainer in the area and markets to the same geographic area as Empowered Fitness. However, Steve’s company is a small operation, so we expect that it will only be a minor competitor.

Competitive Advantage

Empowered Fitness will be able to offer the following advantages over their competition:

• Affordable pricing : Empowered Fitness will offer its services for a more affordable rate than the competition.
• Friendly staff : Empowered Fitness will only hire trainers that are friendly and compassionate. All of our trainers will positively encourage our clients to achieve their goals.
• Convenient services : We will meet our clients wherever they want to work out, whether that be the gym, a park, or at our client’s home.

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

Empowered Fitness will offer the unique value proposition to its clientele:

• Dedicated team of trainers.
• Affordable fees.
• Convenient hours of operation.
• Ability to meet clients wherever they want to work out.

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for Empowered Fitness is as follows:

Social Media Marketing Strategy

Empowered Fitness will invest in advertising its services on social media platforms Facebook and Instagram. By using targeted social media marketing, Empowered Fitness will be able to reach the appropriate target audience of Atlanta.

Joanna will invest in two billboards strategically located at busy intersections that receive thousands of traffic daily. She will hire an advertising agency to develop the print for the billboard design.

Website/SEO Marketing Strategy

Empowered Fitness will invest in a strong SEO presence so that when someone enters “Atlanta personal trainers” or “personal trainer near me” in their Google or Bing search bar, Empowered Fitness is at the top of the list. Their website will list all of Empowered Fitness’ services, location, pricing, and contact information.

Word of Mouth

Word quickly spreads around town and once a few people work with our amazing trainers at Empowered Fitness, more and more people will want to hire our personal training services.

The pricing of Empowered Fitness will be moderate and on par with competitors so customers feel they receive value when purchasing our services.

Operations Plan

The following will be the operations plan for Empowered Fitness. Operation Functions:

• Joanna Teller will be the Owner of Empowered Fitness. She will handle the general operations of the company as well as provide personal training services to her clients. Joanna will spend the next several months hiring the following staff:
• An Administrative Assistant who will oversee all administrative aspects of running the business. This will include bookkeeping, tax payments, and payroll of the staff. They will also help with scheduling appointments and answering client questions.
• Several trainers who will provide training personal services to clients.

Milestones:

Empowered Fitness will have the following milestones completed in the next six months.

• 8/1/202X – Finalize contract to lease office space.
• 8/15/202X – Begin build-out and design of office space
• 9/1/202X – Hire advertising company to begin developing the company’s branding, logo, social media accounts, website, and billboard design.
• 9/15/202X – Order all equipment.
• 9/30/202X – Launch social media campaign and website. Billboards go up.
• 10/1/202X – Hire and train several personal trainers.
• 11/1/202X – Grand Opening of Empowered Fitness.

Empowered Fitness is run by Joanna Teller. Joanna is an experienced personal trainer who has helped hundreds of clients over the past five years. Though she has had a rewarding career as a solo personal trainer, her passion for helping people inspired her to start a larger company where she can hire more personal trainers and expand her clientbase. Her experience in the industry and expertise will be a solid foundation for the company to grow and thrive on.

Though Joanna has never run a company of her own, she has considerable experience in the industry and knows how to run the general operations of a personal training company. As the company grows, she will hire other staff to help her run aspects of the business that she is unfamiliar with.

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

The revenue drivers for Empowered Fitness are the fees we will charge each client that hires our services.

The cost drivers will be the payroll for the staff, rent, utilities, cleaning supplies, and equipment. In the initial years, the company’s marketing spending will be high, as it establishes itself in the market.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Key assumptions.

The following outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and pay off the startup business loan.

• Initial number of clients per month: 20
• Average personal training fees per session: $80
• Office lease per year: $20,000

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, personal training business plan faqs, what is a personal training business plan.

A personal training business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your personal training business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can easily complete your Personal Training business plan using our Personal Training Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Personal Training Businesses? 

There are a number of different kinds of personal training businesses , some examples include: Mobile personal trainer, In-home personal trainer, Online personal trainer, and Gym trainer.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Personal Training Business Plan?

Personal Training businesses are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.

What are the Steps To Start a Personal Training Business?

Starting a personal training business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Personal Training Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed personal training business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast. 

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your personal training business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your personal training business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Personal Training Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your personal training business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws.

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your personal training business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms.

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations.

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events.

7. Acquire Necessary Personal Training Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your personal training business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation.

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your personal training business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

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Personal trainer business plan template

After deciding to launch your personal training business, your next step is to begin writing your business plan. A business plan is an excellent tool to ke

After deciding to launch your personal training business, your next step is to begin writing your business plan. A business plan is an excellent tool to keep you organised, help you avoid mistakes both in the present and down the line, and brings together all the parts of your business to make it succeed. While you will likely make several amendments to your business plan as your business grows, having a solid document with all of your goals and the strategies you want to execute will help you successfully get your personal training business up and running.

To assist you in creating your business plan we have provided you with a template and business plan examples of everything your document should include, what information to cover in each section, and what your business plan can help you achieve. Let's get started.

What is a business plan?

First things first, a business plan is a written document, typically 10-20 pages (depending on your business and how in-depth you go) that details everything one needs to know about your business. It should define your objectives, your business goals, and how you plan to achieve them - meaning how you will grow your business and in what ways.

Essentially it is the roadmap of your business and should clearly detail and state logistics as well as marketing, financial, and operational strategies and forecasts. Although business plans are unique to every business, there is a set structure you can follow to create your own and make it understandable to anyone reading your document.

Why is a business plan important for my personal training business?

Aside from being the document that you will follow to stay on track to achieve your goals, business plans also serve several other important purposes. A well-written business plan can help you attract investments and build your credibility.

When applying for a grant or loan or any type of financial support, often time the body providing you with the funds will ask for a business plan to verify your legitimacy. Business plans can also help you analyse gaps in your business, where you need to improve, and what things you may need to revisit as your business grows.

It's not only good practice to write a business plan, but it also serves as a way to set yourself apart from your competition and show your audience and potential clients how professional you are.

If you have already launched your business without a business plan, don't worry, there is still time to make one. Using our template you can create a strong plan that will establish your business and set you up for success.

The fine details: what to include in your business plan

Although you might be thinking right now, that writing a business plan will be boring, challenging, and that other PT businesses in your area probably already cover a lot of what you will include in your plan, you'd find it interesting to know that business plans are usually never identical because no two businesses are exactly the same, even if it might seem that way. This is why being as specific as possible and clearly detailing what your business is, what it offers, and to who is extremely important. In your business plan you must include the following topics:

• Executive summary

Mission statement

Industry analysis, competitor analysis, customer analysis.

• Marketing plan and analysis

Products and services

Financial plan, facility and location, management team.

These fundamental elements will help shape your plan and provide the exact details and strategies to start your personal training business off on the right track. While you might not have certain elements yet or are still considering whether or not to include certain elements in your personal training business for example a management team or purchase of your own facility, that's no problem. Including details such as your hopes and ideas for your business in the future or why your business will not cover certain areas should still be mentioned in your business plan. This will help give readers a big picture idea of your business and the possibilities for future growth and expansion.

Executive Summary

The first section of your business plan is your executive summary, or a synopsis of your business plan and what the reader of your plan can expect to learn from reading it. Your executive summary should have at least two to three sentences on each of the topics in your business plan, with a clear statement about your financial projections, who your ideal client is, and what you plan to achieve.

A great executive summary will hook your readers and motivate them to continue reading. A poorly executed executive summary will discourage the reader from reading more and leave a poor first impression of your business. Your executive summary should tie together all the following points you will cover in your entire plan and it must be concise and straightforward.

One of the first things an investor or reader of your business plan will look for in your executive summary is your mission statement. The purpose of a mission statement is to state your business's values, what you will achieve, and how you will achieve it. No matter whether you are launching your fitness business as a sole owner or plan to grow an entire company, having a mission statement that is very clear and sharp will let your audience know exactly what your business is all about.

For example, TeamUp's mission statement is:

We empower fitness businesses and their customers by providing the best management software for fitness studios, boxes, and gyms.

Don't worry too much about having the perfect language. The important part is to make sure your reader understands exactly who you serve and how you intend to meet their needs.

The industry analysis section of your business plan explains the positive relativity your new business has to other similar products and services in your industry. In this section, you will give a brief overview of the fitness industry, specifically the personal training industry with a brief history and why this industry exists. You can expand this section with popular trends, common needs in this industry, and how your personal training business would stand out. Use factual data and industry research to support your position and take this opportunity to show you really know what you're talking about as a new business owner entering a very popular sector.

In the competitor analysis, you will provide a more concrete explanation of how your business will differ from other competitors in your marketplace. You should use data and research you have done on your competitors to make factual statements, rather than assumptions, even though you might not know exactly what your competitors are doing differently. You should list out some immediate competitors in your area, their strengths and weaknesses and how you compare, what your business's role will be in the immediate marketplace, and give concrete examples of what you will do differently.

The customer analysis section of your business plan covers who your ideal client is and why your services cover their needs. Being specific in their identification, their demographic, where they are located, and how they spend their disposable income, will help you learn who your ideal client is and how you can attract their business. You should use similar traits and behaviours to describe why that type of person is your ideal client and why your type of service is the best fit for their needs. You can use your details to create realistic profiles for various ideal clients so that investors and your readers can get a great sense of who the exact person you will target is.  

Marketing strategy and sales forecast

In the marketing plan and sales forecast section, you will address how you will attract clients and clients to your personal training business. You will detail your strategies to enter the market and how you intend to grow and target clients to join your business. Your marketing strategy and plan will evolve over time and you will need to update them whenever you are emerging or entering into new markets. But in your initial plan, you should describe what you will do to earn your first clients, how you will communicate, market, and advertise your services, and who your clients would be.

In this section you should also use market trends and data to support how doing those strategies and methods will earn your clients and what your forecasted earnings will be once you have these clients, going as far as to forecast the next five to ten years.

The products and services section of your business plan is where you will describe what you are offering as a personal trainer and personal training business and why. Are you providing small group training , private one to one appointments , plan on teaching group classes, or a combination of all the above? When you know what services you intend to offer you need to clearly explain what they entail and how they are a benefit to your clients.

If you sell any additional merchandise or programming, you need to be specific as to why that is important to your business and offering. If are interested in offering products or services for example online classes and online one-on-one personal training services, nutrition programs, or on-demand content, you should make mention of these in this section and your plan for including these services and products in your offering.

In this section, you should also discuss how you plan to deliver these services to your clients. Will you focus primarily in-person, online, or both? Will you invest in personal training software to provide your clients with an easy to use booking and membership experience? These details help your reader and potential investors understand the customer experience you plan to execute beyond the product or service itself.

Your financial plan is one of the most important parts of your business plan. It is in this section that you will detail how much you expect to both charge and earn for your services as a business and personal trainer. You will also identify how much you intend to spend, if you receive funding what you intend to spend it on for example coaching salaries and perhaps, personal training software, how much you expect to make, and why potential investors should invest in your business. Your financial plan will give both you and the readers of your business plan an expectation and forecast of your profitability both in the present and in the future. Include your budget and what additional costs related to marketing, operations, development and expenditures you foresee your business having.

The facility and location section of your business plan is where you will state where your business will operate. Do you want to open your own gym or studio or rent space from an existing facility or run your training outdoors? Knowing the exact location or type of location where you will run your business is a very important part of 1, assessing your risk and how much insurance you will need and 2, assessing the cost you will incur from rent or a mortgage.

Being as specific in this as possible for the first and second-year stages of your business will help you readers and potential investors understand how you will grow in a specific area or region. Even if you plan to run your business online, taking into account where you will run your online training from and the very specific locations where your clients will be able to train with you is necessary information to include in this section.

The management team section of your business plan is where you will discuss any team members or staff you plan to have when starting a personal training business. Even if you plan to start your business as the only management team member, you can include any plans you have to grow your team in the future or plans to remain a sole trader. You should include fine details such as salary amount, how you will pay and train staff, and how each member of your team or staff will operate, meaning what role they would fulfil, for example, three coaches, one finance manager, one receptionist.

If you are running your personal training business online, you could also include where your management team members might be located or where you plan to have them located if you plan to recruit from a specific area or region.

Start your personal training business plan

While starting your personal training business and writing your business plan might seem like a challenge now, you have all the tools and resources you need to be successful. The rewards for your professionalism, preparedness, and entry into the fitness market will be much greater when you have taken the proper steps to launch your business the right way with a detailed, informed, and solid plan to guide you.

How profitable is a personal training business?

The average amount an entry-level PT can expect to make is $16.70 per hour which equates to about $34,000 per year. But the average income for trainers as a whole is closer to $42,000 per year, with the top 10 percent making in excess of $76,000.

How much do you need to start up a personal training business?

Start-up costs for personal training businesses vary from business to business, but they don't have to start off steep. Getting certified can cost anywhere between $500—$2000. Investing in liability insurance should cost between $200—$300 per year, and factoring in about $1,000 for an initial marketing strategy is also sensible. Should you decide to invest in your own space, rented or owned, that depends entirely on your location and the size of the space you want. If you need assistance earning funds to start your personal training business, check out our guide on applying for business grants for personal trainers .

Once your business plan is written and you're ready to take the next steps towards launching your personal training business, start by signing up for our free trial .

Thanks for reading!

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We're here to help! Send us your biggest challenge with launching your business and we’ll give you our top recommendations. Contact us at [email protected] or schedule a call with our team any time.

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How To Write A Personal Training Business Plan (+Bonus Templates)

• March 3, 2023
• For Personal Trainers

Now that you’ve opened a personal training business, you have to run it. To ensure that your fitness business is a success, you need to create a personal training business plan .

Whether you are writing a business plan for a fitness business or any other type of start-up, a good business plan needs to comprise many different components. It is a good idea to use a template to ensure you include everything necessary.

A good business plan must include the following sections :

• Market analysis
• Competitors
• Marketing and sales plan
• Financial plan and future projections

The goal of creating a personal trainer business plan is to ensure that there is a niche in the market for your offering. Also that you will manage to generate enough revenue to continue operating after having made all the start-up investments.

Below is a more detailed breakdown of what you need to include in your business plan .

Summary and Pitch

The most basic thing you need to include at the beginning of your business plan is your pitch or summary . It serves as an overview of your personal trainer business and provides basic information about your business and your mission statement.

Make sure you include the following in your business plan:

• The what – what are your goals?
• The why – what is your mission?
• The how – what will you do to succeed?
• The big picture – what is your vision?

The summary, also called the pitch, needs to attract attention . It must be concise and clear . However, it should not feel rushed. Don’t skip important parts while avoiding excessive wordiness. Make it yours. Make it unique – just like your business.

The reader of your personal trainer business plan summary needs to have no doubts as regards what you do, what your goals are, and how you are going to reach them.

Background Information

In this part of your personal trainer business plan, you present the owner’s (or owners’) experience, qualifications, and goals . It gives the reader an overall idea of who is behind the business name . For you, it serves as a way to get a better picture of your strengths and weaknesses .

You will gain a clear view of your strengths, and where you need more experience . You may realize that some aspects of the business need to be outsourced so that you can spend your valuable time on something else.

This knowledge will be especially useful when your business grows and you will not be able to take care of everything yourself. Knowing yourself well will help you decide what you should still do yourself and what you should better delegate to someone else.

Market Analysis

Your personal trainer business plan needs to include market analysis. Consider your location, other gyms in the area, and your local demographic. The latter is very important. You have to gather as much information as you can about your target demographic . You need to know who they are, what their typical behaviors are, and their reasons for using your service.

Why is this detailed knowledge so important? Because the more you know your potential customers the better you will be able to attract the m. You will know in which areas you need to stand out and how to make your services more appealing to your audience.

You need to know exactly who you are targeting. Narrow down and define your target market . Is it students? Schools? Aspiring athletes? Working people? Executive women in their 30s and 40s wishing to improve or achieve their fitness? Or maybe people over 50 years old aiming to improve their health and prevent illnesses? Or could be even a narrower group, for example not athletes but specifically cyclists.

Once you have identified your target market, find out exactly what type of personal training type they are looking for and provide reasons for choosing your business.

Products and Services

Obviously a personal trainer offers a service . You may, however, also include certain products in your offering . In this part of your personal trainer business plan, you specify the services and products you offer.

Include the list of products and services together with the prices . You could offer many different things, such as in-person personal trainer sessions, online training programs, specialized workshops, as well as fitness-related products.

Apart from listing the products and services and the pricing, you need to specify who will purchase them, how they will be delivered, and how they will benefit the customers.

Consider including the following in your personal training business plan:

• Bio print analysis
• Individual personal training services
• Indoor and outdoor fitness sessions
• Nutrition consulting
• Nutritional products and diet supplements
• Online and in-person seminars
• Online personal training services
• Personal training tutoring
• Personal training for groups
• Public speaking
• Workout guides

This section of your personal trainer business plan is where you outline your funding needs . You should provide information about the costs of starting and growing your personal training business. You need to be exact about the amount of money you need and specific about where you are going to spend it .

Provide a detailed breakdown of profit, loss, cash flow, breakeven figures, and capital expenditure required for start-up. Plan for one, three, and 5 years in advance.

The initial investment needed to open a personal trainer business is quite low. You may need to obtain a certification which shouldn’t cost more than $2,000. You will also need to pay for liability insurance, which shouldn’t cost more than $200-$300 per year.

Additionally, remember the initial advertising cost. You should apportion about  $1,000 for it. You will most likely need some business cards , fitness flyers , or even a newspaper or radio ad. Also, pay attention to your online presence- factor in the costs of running a website and social media accounts and advertising.

Operating Costs and Pricing

In this section of your personal trainer business plan, you have to present the pricing, and justify it by taking into account your competition, the need in the market, and by proving that your pricing system is viable. You can achieve that by calculating your margins either per hour or (better) per month.

Think about the reasons for choosing a certain price and what that choice will mean for your business .

If you opt for a budget price , you need to remember that you have to be able to generate a large volume of sales and accommodate them. On the other hand, if you decide to go for a high-end price you need to make sure that you provide high-end quality of the location, the service, and the products you offer.

Some personal trainers go for a fixed price , say $85 per hour. They justify a high cost with their experience and a promise of providing whatever equipment is needed for each customer.

Other personal trainers suggest offering different services at different prices , depending on the expertise needed, the complexity of the program, and the equipment required.

Yet others prefer an open pricing model with individual prices provided via negotiation.

Marketing and Advertising

They may look and sound similar, but marketing and advertising are not the same things . You need to know the differences between them.

Advertising could be described as the placement of marketing. If giving someone a business card is an advertisement, then what is on the business card is marketing.

Building a marketing strategy requires creativity. It’s about exploring and analyzing different types of customers and generating ideas for making your business offering appealing to them.

However, your personal trainer business plan should only include your advertising strategy.

Always remember that one of the biggest factors making or breaking a business is not what it offers but how well the marketing and advertising strategies have been created and executed . You might be the best personal trainer out there with all the knowledge and skills one might ask for, but without a well-designed and implemented marketing and advertising strategy you won’t have anyone to train.

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Financial Projections

Lack of previous experience and supporting evidence, creating a financial forecast may seem impossible. You may feel like you have no clue where the numbers are supposed to come from. The best thing you can do is to try to be as level-headed and realistic as you can .

Start by listing all of your fixed and variable costs and personal living expenses to figure out how many clients you need to have to break even. If you are new in the financial field and lack information, consider practicing CFA study materials, as it will help to have the basics of financial analyses.

It may be difficult at the beginning, but try to incorporate different sources of income . Do not place all the eggs in one basket by, for example, relying on a one-on-one training service to provide the biggest part of your revenue. Be realistic and think of ways to make money on different services and products you offer .

When your business grows, don’t be afraid to raise prices . Even a slight increase in the hourly rate or the prices of products will surely add up throughout each month. Try to increase your revenue by offering additional products and services to your established customers, for example, supplements or specialized pieces of equipment. Help them see your business as a “one-stop-shop” for all their fitness needs.

Samples and Templates

Now that you know what to include in your personal trainer business plan, it is time to look at some examples . It will help you see not only what to write but also how to present it. Always remember that each business is unique (and you certainly want your business to stand out), so never copy someone else’s business plan. Use it as a guide to creating your very own personal trainer business plan .

Take a look at the examples and templates below and get inspired.

• Dragon Fitness Training was created as an academic exercise.

• Personal Trainer Business Plan Template is a downloadable Word document

• Personal Trainer Business Plan worksheet contains blank spaces that you need to fill out. The sections are Mission Statement, Market Analysis, Revenue Streams, Operating Plan, and Marketing Plan.

• Catalyst Fitness is a CrossFit business plan and includes a detailed risk assessment, too.

• The Yoga Lunch Box is a comprehensive yet straightforward template for a yoga studio business plan that can serve as a reference.

• Fitness Texter provides a guide with questions to ask yourself which will help you create a business plan.

FAQs about creating a personal training business plan

1. what are the key components of a personal training business plan.

An executive summary, a description of the company and its goals, a market study, sales and marketing plans, financial predictions, and a management and operations plan are often the main elements of a personal training business plan.

2. How do you identify and analyze your target market in a personal training business plan?

You must take into account variables like age, gender, economic level, geography, fitness goals, and favorite workout style when identifying and analyzing your target market.

Online research, focus groups, and questionnaires can be used to collect this data. You may develop powerful marketing strategies and offerings that satisfy the needs of your customers by researching and understanding your target market.

3. What strategies should be included in a marketing plan for a personal training business?

Social media marketing, content marketing, referral marketing, and community involvement are all important marketing tactics for a personal training firm .

A large audience can be reached through social media, and expertise and authority can be established through content marketing . Referral marketing can produce new clients, and community outreach can build partnerships with local businesses and groups.

4. How should financial projections be calculated in a personal training business plan?

A personal training business plan’s financial estimates should be supported by thorough market analysis and reasonable hypotheses.

Revenue, expenses, profit and loss, cash flow, and a break-even analysis should all be projected. Start-up expenses like those for rent, insurance, equipment, and marketing should also be taken into account.

5. What are the typical start-up costs associated with opening a personal training business?

Equipment, liability insurance, rent or lease, marketing charges, and legal fees are typical start-up costs for a personal training firm.

Free weights, resistance bands, cardio machines, and mats are examples of equipment costs. It’s critical to get liability insurance to defend against potential legal action. Rent or leasing will depend on the facility’s location and size.

6. How can a personal trainer differentiate their business from competitors in the market?

By emphasizing their unique selling proposition (USP), such as a particular training method or specialized services, a personal trainer can set themselves apart from rival businesses.

Additionally, they can provide each client with individualized attention and personalization while also fostering long-lasting connections with them through excellent customer service and effective communication.

7. What are the most effective pricing strategies for personal training services?

Hourly rates, package prices, and subscription models are all viable pricing options for personal training services .

While package pricing can provide reductions for numerous sessions, hourly rates can be advantageous for single sessions. For a recurrent cost, subscription models may provide continued access to personal training services.

8. What legal considerations should be addressed in a personal training business plan?

Liability insurance, client waivers, and the creation of company entities can all be considered legally in a personal training business plan. While client waivers can exempt the personal trainer from liability, liability insurance is necessary to defend against any litigation.

Liability protection can also be obtained by selecting the appropriate business structure, such as a sole proprietorship or LLC.

9. How can technology be utilized to enhance the services offered by a personal training business?

Via online scheduling software and apps , virtual training sessions, and fitness tracking apps, technology can be used to improve the services provided by a personal training firm.

Customers may find it simpler to set appointments using online scheduling, and virtual training sessions may enable a company to reach customers who are not close by. Clients who use fitness tracking applications can monitor their progress and maintain motivation.

10. How should a personal training business plan be revised and updated over time to stay relevant and effective?

A personal training business plan needs to be updated and amended on a regular basis to account for market and industry changes.

This can involve reviewing new services or technologies, revising marketing plans, and updating financial estimates. The business can respond to changes in the market and customer needs by routinely reviewing and updating its business plan, which can help it stay relevant and effective in a fast-paced and competitive industry.

To make sure that the company stays on track to fulfill its goals and objectives, it’s crucial to set aside time on a regular basis to evaluate the business plan and make any required modifications.

Also, getting input from customers and professionals in the field can offer insightful suggestions for revising and enhancing the business strategy over time.

Final thoughts on how to write a personal training business plan

Writing a business plan is a must for any start-up. Every business plan should be regularly revised and updated to make sure that it reflects the current state of the business and that it outlines realistic goals and ways to achieve them.

A well-written business plan will help you gain clarity, set realistic goals and objectives, and create realistic forecasts and strategies.

A business plan is an important step in turning your personal trainer business idea into an operating business . It allows you to think thighs through and ensure that your idea will work and succeed.

It doesn’t mean, though, that a good business plan needs to be long and complex. It does, however, need to outline and explain all the basic and most important information about what you want to achieve and how you are planning to get there .

• Ljubica Buha

Ljubica Buha is a versatile enthusiast and a Digital Marketing Manager specialized in IT industry. By day, she crafts digital stories; by night, she dives into literature. She's equally at home exploring beneath the waves, carving through snow on a snowboard, and embracing the outdoors through hiking.

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Personal Training Business Plan: Example & Template

Written by Megan Williams

What is a personal training business plan?

A personal training business plan is useful for any personal trainers wanting to go solo and set up their own personal training business. Putting together a personal training business plan will ensure you cover all the key events and information you need to successfully launch your personal training business. 

In this handy article, we have outlined detail of the different elements within a personal training business plan along with a downloadable template that you can start building on straight away. Our aim is to provide you with all the elements you need to be successful in kick-starting your personal training business and service.

Why do you need a personal training business plan?

Having a personal training business plan will make the process of starting any personal training business smoother. This may include opening your own personal training studio , becoming a self-employed personal trainer or freelancing for a gym. It can become very easy to quickly start working with clients and avoid planning out the bigger picture.  

Banks or Investors

If you need additional funding to get started with your personal training business , being prepared to showcase your full personal training business plan to potential investors or banks will put you in a better position. In both cases, you are looking to persuade these people to invest in your fitness business, if they can’t see a clear plan mapped out on why you are worth the investment you may be unsuccessful in achieving the investor or funding. This provides potential investors with the step by step process on how you are planning to get your personal trainer services running.

Approaching this situation with a fully mapped out personal trainer business plan shows that you have thought through all possible elements of the business strategically with evidence on how you have got to this stage to be successful in the fitness industry.

Self Motivation

If you are looking to become self-employed and go out in the fitness world as an independent personal training business has a well thought out plan in place that will keep you on track with your own personal business goals. Spending some valuable time putting together a personal training business plan will be beneficial in the long run to keeping yourself on track, this can be a document you constantly refer back to. A personal training business plan will be what continues to drive you to achieve your ultimate business goals.

Summary & Pitching

The first section will be a summary of your overall business plan which will include business goals/aims, what the business does and any financial projections. The best way to approach this section is to complete it last once you have completed all the research for you to summarise. The purpose of this summary is to outline your business at a quick glance for somebody to understand your main goal and outcome.

Pitching your personal training business plan

A personal training business plan pitch will include a brief summary of what you do and what you are aiming to achieve. In your pitch, you should include your aims and objectives as a business, an overview of financial forecasts, business plan ideas and identify your USP.

The pitch should only be a few sentences long and ensure it is all relevant material avoiding any repetition or filler. The idea of the pitch is to attract your listener, an indicator of a successful pitch is your listen asking questions or wanting to know more about your pt business plan.

Personal background

This section is to outline your own personal background this section will help you outline your strengths and potential weaknesses for listeners to understand. 

Use your experience and expertise to boost credentials

Your qualification and experience will have high value in this section with the opportunity to showcase how you have educated yourself and the route you have followed. If you have undertaken additional studies including continuous professional development courses, this is a good place to showcase this.

This is also a good opportunity to identify any training you may need to still undertake to work on yourself, this demonstrates that you have a focus on personal growth and are planned for this. This is a beneficial section to understand for personal growth, working on identifying your own strengths and weaknesses will highlight any sections of the business you may need additional support or training in prior to starting.

Product or service

Personal training is positioned as a service business as you do not sell a physical product, you offer time and experience to your client’s fitness journey. In this section, you will highlight your core service, will you just be offering personal training sessions or is there an option to build out nutrition meal plans? Use this opportunity to explain your service in detail including what you offer the client, how you plan to deliver the service and any resources needed for this.

Outline your USP

In this section, it is also important that you highlight what makes you different and how your knowledge, experience and background has created a USP for your personal training service.

In order to be successful in launching your personal training business, you would need to have an in-depth understanding of the market you are entering. This includes carrying out market research within the potential clients operate in. After this point you will be able to build out a marketing strategy based on your understanding of the client market, this will ensure you are marketing your business in the most effective way.

Target Market research

Gathering marketing research is the process that helps determine the success of your new service which is conducted in line with your potential clients. Market research is carried out by companies to discover their target market in more detail by gathering opinions and feedback on particular interests.

To carry out successful market research you should gather information which providers you insights on the following:

• Current behavioural habits of your clients?
• How big is the personal training market?
• How much competition is there?
• What are the buying habits of your potential clients?
• Current market trends for pt businesses?

Create a marketing strategy

Once you have completed your market research you will be in a good position to map out your marketing plan strategically. Your marketing plan is a huge contributing factor to running a successful business, without this potential clients will not come across your business which impacts revenue and profit. 

When creating a marketing strategy you may find the cost can be daunting, however, you should consider marketing as a personal business investment for which you calculate the return on investment as this is essential to your business success. Whilst you are going to have to invest money into marketing, there are also options that aren’t as costly to include within your strategy such as word of mouth, attending networking events and running social media accounts. Marketing has a direct impact on your business which is why it is essential to ensure you cover everything you can to benefit from the market share. For this reason, we have covered everything you need to know to build out a marketing plan with our beginner’s guide to personal trainer marketing and advertising.

Competitor analysis

Competitor analysis is a good exercise to complete to ensure you are entering the market in a strong position. To complete a detailed competitor analysis you should carry out thorough research into who your competitors are, their service, their location, their pricing and their strengths and weaknesses. 

Once you have completed this, you should complete a swot analysis on your own personal training business compared to competitors within the market. Doing this will help you identify any pain points you may have as well as a USP which will prove to be a strength within the fitness training business.

Operations & logistics

Operation and logistics are a fundamental part of the business particularly for those setting up their own personal training studio or personal trainer freelancing . This includes evaluating elements of the business operations such as training space and location, suppliers of gym equipment, how to sustain your equipment and any additional products you may need to operate successfully as a business.

Understanding inventory & logistics

This section applies to individuals who are looking to set up their own personal training studio , you should use this area to cover details on where you will be delivering your personal training service, what locations, the facilities you will be using and how you regular sustain any equipment or software.

If you are planning on becoming a freelance personal trainer who is working within different gyms, this section may not be applicable to you as it focuses on how your service will be sourced and delivered.

Pricing strategy

A pricing strategy will help you work out what profit margins you are working towards and understand at what point you will break even and start making money once you have factored in the costs and investment.

When figuring out your price point you need to consider the business needs and client needs, if you are just starting out as a personal training business performing at a higher-end price point is likely to penalise the business success. You need to choose a price which is going to accommodate the business operations as well as appeal to potential clients.

Cost & expenditure planning

As the final part of your personal training plan, you will need to calculate the cost and expenditure involved in how you are planning to operate. This will include calculating gym rent, advertising and marketing, legal costs, personal training equipment, personal training studio rent or gym rent.

Pt business plan: Template

To make the process easier we have put together a personal training business plan template for you to download and use. This template provides the all-important sections needed to create a detailed pt business plan to help you set up your fitness business for success.

Personal Training Business Template – Download Now

Personal trainer business plan conclusion

Writing a pt business plan may seem like a long and daunting task when first faced with it, however completing this is a valuable exercise for your success as a personal training business. As business owners, it is important that this plan is revisited and revised when applicable to ensure your business path and goals are continuously on track and up to date. 

Cash flow may seem slow when getting started but with a plan as detailed as this in place, you will be prepared which will motivate and push you into improving your revenue streams. It is important to remember you are a new business and you are likely to face challenges but just take them head-on and create a learning hurdle from them knowing you have a strong business plan in place. Spend hours completing a personal training business plan to make a worthwhile investment in your personal time and energy later on down the line.

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Eight Steps to the Perfect Personal Trainer Business Plan

Now is a great time to become a personal trainer because the Covid-19 pandemic has made it difficult for people to visit gyms. This means that many gym-goers are now relying on personal training services to keep them fit and healthy.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to start your business. As a personal trainer, you know the importance of creating a plan to help clients adhere to their fitness programs.

Well, the same is also true for your personal training business.

Using a personal trainer business plan to set goals and create a roadmap for how you will achieve them is an effective way to make sure you will be successful in the fitness industry.

In this article, we’ll look at why you need a personal training business plan, as well as the eight steps you should take to make an effective one.

Table of Contents

• 1 Why Write a Personal Training Business Plan?
• 2 Your Personal Training Business Plan Template
• 3 Step One: Write Your Executive Summary
• 4 Step Two: Analyze the Personal Training Market
• 5 Step Three: Perform a Customer Analysis
• 6 Step Four: Write Your Sales Plan
• 7 Step Five: Write Your Personal Trainer Marketing Plan
• 8 Step Six: Write Down How Your Business Will Operate
• 9 Step Seven: Your Qualifications
• 10 Step Eight: Financial Plan
• 11 Wrapping Up

Why Write a Personal Training Business Plan?

A personal training business plan is a guide you can follow to work out your unique selling points and help your business succeed.

It will also help you define the business’s revenue streams, make financial projections, identify market trends, and find out who your target market is and what your marketing strategy should be.

It will also give you an idea of the risks or challenges your business might face. For example, the competitor research section gives you an understanding of how others in the fitness industry work, which helps you to stay one step ahead.

Having a clear view of your finances will also help you make better decisions. Doing this before you get started is beneficial as it becomes harder to make these changes once you are training clients.

It is also usually necessary to write a business plan if you want to apply for funding. Banks or other potential investors will want to see you have put thought into how you will run a profitable business.

Finally, business plans aren’t just for personal trainers starting out. If you already run a personal training business, creating a plan can still be a useful tool to ensure you are heading in the right direction.

Your Personal Training Business Plan Template

Your plan will include sections on market analysis, marketing sales, operations, staffing, and finance.

While this may seem like a lot, we’ve made the process manageable by breaking it down into eight easy to follow steps.

Step One: Write Your Executive Summary

Your executive summary is a quick overview of your fitness business and why you think it will be successful.

Start with your mission statement. This is a one-sentence summary of what you are trying to achieve with your personal training business.

Include what you want to help your potential customers to achieve and how you will do this. For example, will you offer one-on-one sessions, nutritional guidance or small group training?

You can use your mission statement on your website or in marketing. Even if you don’t share it publicly, it is still a useful tool to help you define your goals and keep you on track when making business decisions.

Here are some examples of personal trainer mission statements:

North West Personal training in Vancouver:

“We are passionately committed to changing people’s lives around the world by helping them adopt a more healthy and fit lifestyle so they look and feel their best.”

Bodyline Studios in the UK

“It is our aim to encourage people of all ages and abilities to get fit and improve their wellbeing by providing a well-equipped, supportive space where highly qualified and experienced health and fitness professionals can deliver their services.”

After your mission statement, your executive summary should also include:

• Your fitness value proposition: This could be body-building, weight-loss, resistance training for seniors, TRX bands, etc.
• Who your customers will be: middle-aged men looking to get back in shape, high-level athletes, millennials looking for a new way to work out.
• Where your personal trainer business will operate from: Your own personal training studio, rented space in another gym, the local park or fitness center.
• Basic pricing strategy: How much you will charge per session, costs for renting space/equipment, your marketing budget.

This section is step number one in our guide because it is the first part of a personal training business plan.

However, many people find it beneficial to complete this step after writing the rest of the document. At this point, they are usually better prepared to answer the above questions.

Step Two: Analyze the Personal Training Market

Next, you need to analyze the personal training market. This will include the local area you will operate in as well as national — or even global — trends.

Completing this section shows you understand the personal training industry and may give you ideas about how to run your fitness business more effectively.

Include information such as:

• What are the most popular types of personal training?
• Is the industry growing or shrinking?
• How has Covid-19 affected other trainers?
• Approximately how many personal trainers will you compete within your area?
• How does a self-employed personal trainer find customers on a national and local level? Will it be beneficial to become active on social media, sign up to certain forums, advertise in local media?
• Do you have a lot of competition in your niche? Is the service you plan to offer in-demand? If not, how will your marketing strategies help you stand out?
• What qualifications do the personal trainers you will be competing with have? Are there any qualifications you could get to make yourself stand out?
• How much do personal trainers in your niche charge per session? And how do your planned prices compare to those of existing trainers?

When completing this section, it’s best if you can include specific figures. Searching on Google will provide you with a lot of information you can use. Or you can speak to other people you know in the industry.

Step Three: Perform a Customer Analysis

Next, you can talk specifically about the potential clients you will target.

You should find demographic information about your local area, such as the size of the population and the percentage of people in different age groups.

You can also focus on the intrinsic motivations of your customers. Thinking about what motivates them, how they like to work out, and why they might need a personal trainer can help when it comes to the marketing and operational parts of your business plan.

Step Four: Write Your Sales Plan

In the sales plan, you can map out how you will make sales and how many you expect to make. Things you can include in this section are:

• How many sessions a day or week will you run?
• How much do you expect to charge per session?
• Will you run discounts for clients who bulk buy sessions? How about people who refer other clients to your business?
• Using the above information, how much do you expect to earn per session, day, or month?
• How will you process sales? For example, will customers pay cash in hand on the day, or will they pay when they book a session through your website or app?

When writing this section, it will help if you have an idea about your costs and industry standards. This will help you choose a price point that is competitive while being enough to keep your business profitable.

Step Five: Write Your Personal Trainer Marketing Plan

It’s all well and good having a sales plan, but you’ll need a way to get your client base to pay for your service. In the marketing plan, you can describe all the ways you will try to attract clients, as well as any costs associated with this.

Some ideas include:

• Being active on social media.
• Using referrals to encourage word-of-mouth.
• Using PPC adverts on Google.
• Advertising in your local gym or fitness centre.
• Adding your Google My Business listing.
• Advertising in local office buildings or other places where your target customers gather.

When writing your marketing plan, you should go into detail about how you will utilize the techniques you choose.

For example, if you want to get new clients through Google search queries, list the queries you will target and provide estimates for how much you expect to spend on this area of marketing.

You can read more about personal training marketing ideas here.

Step Six: Write Down How Your Business Will Operate

In the operations section of your business plan, describe how you will run your business. This will include all the things you need to do daily to provide your service.

Where possible, include specific details like exact locations, prices, and times.

Image source

Completing this section in as much detail as possible is a good way to spot if you are missing anything before you start.

In this section include:

• How many sessions you will run every day and when you will run them.
• Where you will run the sessions.
• How you will gain access to the locations you need to run the sessions and how much this will cost.
• The steps you will take to measure the progress of clients.
• When you will take care of other aspects of your business, like marketing, accounting, etc.
• Do you need to provide anything for clients (water, etc.). If so, how will you source this?
• How will you process client payments?
• How will you process and organize bookings?
• Anything else you think is important to the running of your personal training business.
• Do you need to hire any extra staff? If so, how will you manage them?
• Do you need any qualifications or certificates before you can start your business?

One tool that can help streamline your personal training business is your own app .

By asking customers to download an app, you make it easy for them to book and pay for sessions on the go. You can also add helpful content such as videos, blog posts, or social media links that can help your customers achieve their fitness goals.

Click here to find out how you can easily create an app for your personal training business.

Step Seven: Your Qualifications

Write down what makes you suitable to be a personal trainer. Include your qualifications and experience in the industry. If you are going into business with anyone else, you can include information about their suitability for the role.

Step Eight: Financial Plan

The final step is to check the financial viability of your plan. In this section you should include:

• Startup costs: What do you need to pay for before going into business?
• Operating costs: How much will you spend to run your business? This can include rental costs, replacing equipment, costs associated with software to help you run your business, costs of hiring staff, marking costs, etc.
• Expected revenue: Here you can write down how much you expect your business to earn every day, week, month, year, etc.
• Break-even analysis: If you have high startup or operating costs (for example if you rent a space to run your business from) this section will show you how long it should take before you start making a profit.

This section will show you what you need to do to stay financially viable as a business. It will show you if your business model is realistic or if you need to make adjustments to prices or costs to hit your earning goals.

Wrapping Up

Now you’ve finished your business plan you can begin to take steps to put it into action. If you noticed there are areas of weakness in your business, now is the time to make changes to strengthen your position.

If you want further information about starting your business, check out these articles on writing a business proposal in 2020 , and writing an effective small business marketing plan .

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7 Simple Steps for Writing a Personal Trainer Business Plan (with Templates)

• Last Updated: 25th November 2022
• Personal Training Resources
• Editors: Harry Griffiths
• Verified By: Abbie Watkins

If you’re just starting on your own as a PT, writing a personal trainer business plan is one of the most important first steps you’ll have to take.

In this article we’ll cover:

Why Do I Need a Personal Training Business Plan?

Step 1: write your personal trainer business plan summary.

• Step 2: Detail Your Qualifications on Your PT Business Plan
• Step 3: Pinpoint What You Sell When Writing a Personal Trainer Business Plan

Step 4: Perform a SWOT Analysis as Part of Your Personal Training Business Plan

• Step 5: Outline Your Marketing Strategies in Your PT Business Plan
• Step 6: Include Your Financial Plans & Projections in a Personal Trainer Business Plan
• Step 7: Conclude Your Personal Training Business Plan with a Closing Statement

Before you start with your PT business plan, there’s one thing you should always factor in, and that’s professional development.

With  our Level 4 Sports Nutrition Course , you’re able to set yourself apart from the competition and ensure your business can thrive in a competitive industry.  Download our free course prospectus to find out more !

EXPERT ADVICE ON BOOSTING YOUR PT INCOME

12 ways you can boost your pt income.

Before we look in detail at the process of writing a personal trainer business plan, it’s vital to understand why you should produce one. 

In short, a personal trainer business plan acts as the guide for where your business currently is, where you aspire to be, and how you’ll get there.

As you can imagine, this is vital for establishing your business and plays an integral role in:

• How to make money as a personal trainer
• How many, and the kind of, clients you attract
• How you market yourself
• Who your competitors are, and how you’ll beat them

It’s easy to assume that you’ll be the only person who’ll see the business plan for your personal trainer business but it will play a vital role in securing external funding if that’s what you need.

You will have to show prospective investors what you plan to do with your business and outline every detail if you’re looking to secure money from a third party.

Ultimately your personal trainer business plan is an opportunity to showcase your brand and display what you’ll be contributing to the fitness industry. 

Every successful personal trainer business plan should start with a summary. This is an overview for readers and potential investors, covering:

• Who you are
• What your business offers, and your target market
• Your financial state, and projections for the future
• Your marketing strategy
• Plans for the future

Despite it seeming simple, this is one of the most crucial parts of any business plan for a personal trainer because it’s the first impression you’ll make. 

You’ll need to summarise for the reader what you’ll be covering so they’ve got a good snapshot of your business and the service you will provide.

This personal trainer business plan example from CIBT Visas, a global financial company, is a great illustration of how it should be done:

Just from this short section, we find out a few key points about CIBT, including:

• What they do
• Where they operate
• Their core values
• What they aim to achieve

This should essentially contain your personal trainer mission statement and what you intend your brand to achieve and fulfil!

Your next sections will expand on these key features, and offer a more in-depth look at what you do, and where you can take your business.

Step 2: Detail Your Qualifications on Your Personal Trainer Business Plan

Following your summary, your personal training business plan should lead into a comprehensive inventory of your qualifications and certifications.

This serves a few different purposes. For any potential investors or banks, you’re proving that you’re well-positioned to provide a service to your clients.

Each qualification is an indicator to those who want to put money into your business that you’re a professional able to bring return on their investment with trustworthy expertise.

Each one is also an example of the different areas your business could branch into in order to grow and develop. For example, any specialist Level 4 master personal trainer courses you’ve completed  show a potential for advancement .

You should include a list of qualifications as well as where they come from. This will show that you’ve completed a course with a reputable provider and allows potential investors to see your credentials.

You should list them simply, like in our own personal trainer business plan sample below:

Diploma in Personal Training - OriGym COE Level 3 Exercise Referral - OriGym COE Level 4 Advanced Sports Nutrition - OriGym COE First Aid for Sports - British Red Cross CPD in Strength and Conditioning - OriGym COE

This list offers a comprehensive overview of our example PT’s qualifications, as well as where they were achieved. 

CPD fitness courses will also help demonstrate a wide ranging skill set and areas that your business could potentially branch into! 

Step 3: Pinpoint What You Want to Sell When Writing a Personal Trainer Business Plan

Next up for your personal trainer business plan is detailing exactly what it is that you intend to sell and how you plan to cater to a particular audience and customer base.

This should be one of the most extensive sections of your business plan template. As a personal trainer you need to put trust in your services and your ability to meet other people’s fitness goals as well as those you have for your business.

This is your opportunity to detail all of your revenue streams and the different ways in which you intend to make money for your business.

This is also a way of illustrating why there’s room in the market for your business to cater to a particular demographic and offer a service that there’s a want or need for!

This may sound simple but plenty of trainers will miss out revenue streams from their personal training business plan, or don’t detail potential opportunities for expansion and selling other services or products.

Most PTs will have several revenue streams and you want to make sure you detail all of these without putting too much emphasis on the most lucrative ones.

For example, you don’t want to just detail your one-to-one training, despite it probably being your main source of income!

Some of the revenue streams you might want to include on top of this are:

• Online or face to face seminars
• Nutrition consultations
• Affiliate marketing with prominent brands such as sportswear and supplement brands
• Personal trainer tutor for a training provider
• Workout guides or ebooks
• Speaking at fitness or educational events

You also need to find your personal training target market . 

Something holistic like ‘gym goer’ is too broad and will hinder your ability to create marketing strategies and develop your business.

Expand The Services of Your PT Business!

Grow your business with our Level 4 Sports Nutrition Course, combining personal training with nutrition advice!

Your target market is the ideal customer and should be directly linked to the services you’re offering. 

You need to be able to show why you’ve chosen this demographic and how your product or service answers their specific needs.

Again, the more specific you can be the better. Some examples include:

• People with physical health conditions or impairments
• People with long term health conditions during rehabilitation 
• Women under 30 looking for postnatal classes
• Athletes looking for strength and conditioning training

We’ve written our own personal trainer business plan example for this particular section that you can use as a template:

My business offers one-to-one, bespoke, personal training sessions for women who are 40 years of age or older.  My services predominantly focus on helping women use exercise and nutrition to deal with the symptoms and stresses of menopause. My research suggests there is a huge need for a combination of services such as mine, offering nutrition and exercise programmes to help women with some of these issues. All of my qualifications uniquely equip me to work with this demographic to provide a much needed service. I offer nutrition sessions one-to-one, building recipes and selling them as a recipe guide, or working with individual clients to build bespoke nutrition plans. I also offer personal training sessions one-to-one or in groups with other women of the same age or same symptom experience.  Because of how common these issues are in this demographic there’s also a huge demand for seminars and educational sessions in partnership with women’s charities and other healthcare professionals. I provide consultancy on these issues as well as being available for talks and seminars online or in-person for various institutions.

This business plan template for a personal trainer company can be used as a jumping off point and fleshed out for your own brand!

The next thing you will need to perform for your personal trainer business plan is SWOT analysis.

Personal trainer SWOT analysis is vital for determining what you’re doing well and if there’s any sticking points, preventing your business from growing and developing as it should. 

SWOT stands for:

• Strengths - these are the elements you think makes you stand out as a PT making your business unique 
• Weaknesses - this is where you’ll reflect on any areas for improvement or development 
• Opportunities - building on the above, decide on actions that can be taken to improve your business and develop your brand
• Threats - this last step is to assess whether there’s anything stopping these actions from being taken or potential disruptions to how you might want to grow and develop your business

By performing these steps you’ll have an idea of how you can promote your USP and reinforce the other sections of your business plan, realising what gap you’re filling in the market.

You’ll also be able to identify any room for improvement and things that you can do to allow your business to grow.

This will help you by identifying exactly what your next moves are and how you can grow your business moving forward.

This will also help to show potential investors that you’re aware of the challenges your business might face and how you’re prepared to meet them and adapt your business accordingly.

This makes you seem like a more trustworthy investment and somebody who’s aware of how best to return on that investment and grow your business and income!

Step 5: Outline Your Marketing Strategies in Your Personal Trainer Business Plan

Another vital part of a business plan for any personal trainer is outlining your marketing strategies. 

This is vital for both you and any potential investors or collaborators. Here, you’ll outline the specific techniques and campaigns you will use to grow your business and gain new clients!

Showing your marketing plan will also reinforce your understanding of your target market because the particular strategies you use should be dictated by who you’re marketing to.

Identifying Your Target Market

If you’re writing a business plan to open a personal training studio , what’s the age range of your prospective clientele?

As we mentioned earlier, you need to make sure you’re as specific as possible with your target market.

The more specific you can be about the demographic the more specific you can be in targeting them, based on their behaviour and interaction with different platforms.

Using Social Media Platforms Relevant to Your Target Market

You need to make sure you’re aware of which platform is most used by your target age range. 

This is so that you can demonstrate that you understand the best way to target this specific audience with your marketing. 

If you're looking to target an older age range, you may want to get clients from Facebook , as the social media site  tends to be used by an older generation of users.

If you’re targeting young women, for example, you should target platforms such as TikTok and Instagram that are dominated by this younger demographic.

However, some platforms such as Google are frequented by everyone and are a worthy investment no matter your target market.

Using Ads on Social Media

You should also include information about any existing personal trainer marketing strategies you’ve implemented. 

This will show your progress and illustrate your understanding of including this in your SWOT analysis and your awareness of how best to reach your target market.

You can include a screenshot of any existing ads you have on social media but you also need to ensure you include details of any spending and your projected spends on future strategies.

You should also detail any spending you’ve already done for advertising and marketing efforts.

This should include the costs for the maintenance of your existing marketing strategies, as well as any projections for future ones such as getting PT referrals or affiliate marketing.

Showing the Impact of Your Marketing Strategies

You should also make sure you include figures you have about the impact of any existing strategies you have in place.

For example, you might show the reach and engagement of certain ads you’ve had on social media platforms.

This will show what’s worked already and support any request for funds if you can show how and to what end your budget for marketing has worked.

In terms of showing what you’ve already done, this might be simply including a screenshot of what you’ve already spent on your advertising and any leads or impressions generated as a result.

For example, here’s an image of the leads generated by our own Facebook ads within a month:

And here’s what it might look like to show what you’ve spent in order to generate those leads:

This will show a potential investor that your existing spends have been successful and will be considered in terms of how much you can borrow or get.

This way you’re showing that what you’ve spent already has been successful and what you need to continue to spend in order to maintain that success.

However, you may not have already done any marketing in this way. If you’ve worked in a gym chances are you have to promote your own services but you might not have been solely responsible for things like ads and email marketing. 

If you’re just starting out, and this is the case, you should just include projections based on your market research.

Make sure to focus on the aforementioned factors, including any financial projections you can make. 

This way you’re still showing you’re aware of exactly what you need to do and what you need to monitor to have a successful marketing campaign!

If you found this section helpful, you can find out more about marketing your personal trainer business with some of our other articles below:

• Strategies for Personal Trainer Lead Generation
• How to Use Google My Business as a Personal Trainer
• Personal Trainer Social Media: Ideas, Examples & Schedule

Step 6: Include Your Financial Plan and Projections in a Personal Trainer Business Plan

If you’re trying to secure money from a third party for your business, probably the most important sample of your personal trainer business plan is your financial projections.

The level of detail you include will depend on where you’re trying to secure funding from and how far into your business you are.

For example, this will look different for a personal training studio business plan than if your services are online or from home. 

It will also depend on some of the other features from our personal trainer business plan examples, such as marketing.

If you’ve only just started then your marketing costs will be projections rather than the screenshots we included in our own personal trainer business plan sample. 

You’ll need to detail not only what your expenses are or will be, but exactly how you see your business making and maintaining a steady financial flow.

No matter what your brand is, when you’re writing a personal trainer business plan you need to make sure you include the following crucial elements:

• An income statement
• A balance sheet
• A cash-flow statement

We’ll run through each of these now so you know exactly what they entail and why they’re important for any successful personal trainer business plan.

An Income Statement 

An income statement is a crucial part of any business plan template and a personal trainer business is no exception.

This is a statement that shows how much money you’ve made after your expenses and taxes are deducted from your income. 

Any business will keep this anyway for tax purposes and it can be helpful to have those numbers in front of you when you’re looking at ways to grow or streamline your business.

This is especially useful for anybody looking to invest or support your business financially because it shows your business’s profit and success.

It will also show any losses made and where they’ve come from so you can make any alterations.

This will inform and reinforce other parts of your personal trainer business plan. For example, having these figures ready will help you with your SWOT analysis.

Throughout your career you will have to complete an income statement for your business every fiscal quarter.

However, when you’re starting out, and for the purposes of the personal training business plan, you should do one every month for a year where possible.

This will also depend on your personal trainer business registration because your taxes will depend on whether you’re a sole trader or a limited company.

You should check this or use a business plan template for your personal trainer income statement.

A Balance Sheet

Your balance sheet is a calculation of what you have versus what you owe, giving a sum that shows the equity of your business. 

On one side it will list your business assets, which are things you own and could be liquidated and turned into cash. On the other side it will show liabilities, which are what you owe.

Most people will have a mixture of short and long term assets, called ‘current’ and ‘noncurrent’. 

Current assets are those which you could turn into cash within the year so either cash you currently have or accounts receivable (invoices from clients who are yet to pay).

Noncurrent assets are those which you don’t expect to liquidate in the near future.

This includes things like equipment or, if you’re writing a personal training studio business plan, you’d include property on this list too.

This is only in the list of assets if you own the property, though. If you’re renting a space or you’re paying off a mortgage, this would be in the liabilities section.

Liabilities will mostly be related to starting your business and any loans or any costs you got on finance.

Being able to show a healthy balance of these two things is a vital part of your business plan as a personal trainer because it shows the financial health of your company.

Showing that these things are well balanced will demonstrate to a bank or any potential investors that you’re a trustworthy business and will be financially stable enough to repay any money lent.

You should subtract the amount of liabilities from your assets to show the equity of your company.

A Cash Flow Statement 

Any business plan template for a personal trainer business should also include a cash flow statement. 

This is similar to an income statement but instead of just showing how much money you have after your outgoings this calculates the ‘flow’, i.e how much you have consistently coming in and out of your business.

Ideally, you want to be able to show that the flow of money is always positive, meaning you take in more money than you’re spending on expenses. 

Including this in your business plan serves a similar purpose to an income statement in regards to the SWOT analysis too.

Having these figures showing the cash flow will help you identify what’s working best to make money as a personal trainer , and where you could improve or cut back on expenses. 

The cash flow statement should show where your money is low and where there may be a surplus, meaning you have some opportunity to spend or redistribute some funds.

Having these figures will not only help you adjust your business but will also give a good indicator to investors or potential lenders of your financial stability as a business.

Step 7: Conclude Your Personal Trainer Business Plan with a Closing Statement

Last but not least, you should end your personal trainer business plan with a closing statement.

This will serve a similar purpose to your summary from step one but you can now summarise based on everything from the other sections.

This will act as a conclusion and an indication of where your business is up to and what you see as the next important steps.

This will help you to decide what you want to do with your business and the most immediate concerns and actions you need to take.

This will also act as an indicator to investors and lenders that you understand and know what to do with the data from previous sections.

If you can assess your business and read through your PT business plan to make some decisions, this reinforces your understanding of your business and your trustworthiness as a business owner!

After all, in any sample personal trainer business plan this is your opportunity to summarise your successes and illustrate that you understand how to fix any issues, and adjust accordingly.

Before You Go!

Hopefully now you’ve seen our personal trainer business plan examples, you feel ready to start writing your own!

Don’t forget you can grow your business by learning new expertise and skills and offering new services. You can do this with our  Level 4 Sports Nutrition qualification .

Find out more by getting in touch with our team today and download our course prospectus to see how else you can continue to grow your business.

Written by Jessie Florence Jones

Jessie has a 1st class honours degree in English Literature from University of Leeds and an MA in English Literature from Durham University. Naturally Jessie has a real passion for writing especially about film, culture and wellbeing. Outside of writing she loves hiking, country walks and yoga, which she has been doing religiously over lockdown.

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Create a Personal Trainer Business Plan

A personal trainer business plan—does it exist?  

A personal trainer business plan—does it exist? Yes, you’ll find one below.  

But business plans for personal trainers aren’t usually part of the equation.  Most of the time, they’re completely absent.   

Here’s how a trainer usually tries to make a living:  

• Trainer loves the gym and either gets a credential or a university degree. 
• Trainer starts training people. 
• Trainer can’t make enough money and changes careers.

For far too long, the fitness industry has lost amazing coaches who just couldn’t find a way to make a good living. That’s because they had no plan to market, scale up, generate revenue and create a business—either on their own or inside another business.  

Without income to support their needs, these coaches leave the industry because of burnout or because they have to make a change to support their families.  

A solid personal training business plan can change everything for a fitness professional.  

Business Plans and Personal Trainers

Below, we’re going to tell you exactly how to make a good living in the fitness industry.  

We’ve included sections for gym owners and individual coaches because there’s synergy between the two groups—but few people realize it.  

If you’re a gym owner, we’ll explain how you can add  thousands of dollars  of PT revenue to your gym and help someone create a great career.  

If you’re a trainer, we’ll show you how to start or scale your personal training business and maybe even work with a gym owner who will support your business and reduce your risk.  

We’ll talk a little about programming and credentials, but we’ll spend most of our time telling readers how much to charge for personal training, how personal trainers should be paid when working in a gym, how to scale up a business and make more money, and how to add additional revenue streams.  

That stuff has long been  absent from a personal trainer’s education. But know this: It isn’t enough to be a great coach. To earn a great living for decades in this industry, personal trainers need business plans.  

Read on for a CrossFit trainer business plan created by Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper—who went from a str uggling coach to the CEO of a worldwide mentorship practice that helps coaches and gym owners make more money.     

To talk to a member of Chris’s team about mentorship,  click here . You don’t have to figure this out on your own.  

Click here to download the PDF version of this article:  “How to Add $10,000 of Personal Training Revenue to Your Gym in 10 Days or Less.”  

Personal Trainers: You Need a Business Plan

My biggest day as a personal trainer came in July 2005.  

I was working out of a  windowless  10 x 12-foot room in a tiny s tudio.  Two other  duplicate rooms  sat along the back hallway of a coffee bar and tanning business.    

My first client arrived at 6   a .m., and my last  left at 8   p . m. They all stayed for a full hour, and I had  booked 14 in a row. I opened  in the dark, and it was dark  again as I closed  for the night, stomach aching from too much coffee and no lunch.  

I counted up my cli ent hours and multiplied by my hourly rate: $21 . I had earned nearly $300 for my long, boring, starving day.

My first thought : “It’s not enough”.  

My second thought : “This is the most I can possibly earn.”  

And my third thought : “I can’t do this again.”  

M y reason for earning in the first place  compounded the issue . M y wife and baby daughter were asleep at home . I’d missed a full summer day with  them. Avery was walking already  and learning a new word or two every day. We had a new house and one income. But my biggest risk wasn’t financial. It was the fea r of spending every day like this and  missing her little life for the money we needed.  

I had to do something different.   

Building a Career as a Personal Trainer

Into that low point walked Luc and Norm, my first partners in  Catalyst . They were partners in  an entrepreneurial science firm  and asked me to start a business w ith them.  I was still terrified. D espite my angst as an employee, I didn’t want to give up our family’s inco me source. They practically dragged  me into opening my own gym. And, over time, I learned to love entrepreneurship.  

Today, I own several companies in our city. I’m landlord to a dozen others. And my mentorship umbrella includes over 600 entrepreneurs in the Two-Brain Business family.   

But that’s not why I started down this road. I started coaching people because I wanted to be a coach.  

My degrees aren’t in business; they’re in exercise science. Fitness changed my life, and all I ever wanted to do was share that gift with others. Opening a business allowed me to make my passion a career.   

In 2005, it was the only way. Now it’s not.  

In this guide, I’m going to show you how to build a career in fitness.  

The caree r you build might be your own: Y ou might work as a per sonal trainer in another gym,   as  a coach in a gym, or  even out of your garage. Or you might build careers for others: I f you own a gym, this guide will teach you how to help your coaches make great career s without working 14-hour days  or missing their kid ’ s first steps.  

After working with over 1 , 000 fitness entrepreneurs, I’ve seen dozens of ways to make a personal training business scalable and profitable. I’ve seen a dozen ways to make it fun and sustainab le. Here they are, step by step, all b ecause I want to keep you in the game of making others healthy, happy and strong.  

Your friend in the business,  

How to Make a Living as a Fitness Coach

There are three ways to make a living coaching fitness: as an employee, as a subcontractor and as an owner.  

I’ve been a fitness coach since 1996. And I’ve made income under all three models.  

At different stages of my life, each model made me happy. Here’s a quick overview:  

1996-20 01 —E mployee, paid hourly. Getting clients wasn’t my problem; my responsibility was to show up an d train them. This was a “lifestyle job”  perfect for a colleg e student and recent grad. Low pay  but zero risk.  

2002-2005 —S ubcontractor, paid per client. I found my own clients  and basically “rented” space by the hour. This worked well  because I still had very little respon sibility  (and no confidence to  go it a lone, though this would  have been the  optimal time to start a company ) . Eventually,  I hit my ceiling, which you read about earlier.  

2005-2010 —Owner/employee. T hough I owned my gym, I had really just bought myself a job. I wasn’t making more than my  coaches, but I had “control”— whatever that means. I think it means, “I didn’t get paid to mop.”  

2010-present —T rue ownership. I started working with a mentor and built my business to rely on my systems  instead of my back. I make a lot more  and have true freedom of time.  

After 21 years in the coaching business, I don’t coach a lot . But if I could go back to my golden age  of coaching  from 2002 to 2010  and give myself some advice, this would be it:  

• You can’t make a living coaching only group classes. There simply aren’t enough of them.  
• You also can’t make a li ving coaching only  personal training clients. There are plenty of them, but not enough hours in a day.  
• The best ROT (return on t ime) is actually coaching semi – private sessions: 2:1, 3:1 or 4:1. That’s what  many successful trainers d id when  their  time was maxed out .  
• Other people  value things differently than you  do. When I was broke, I thought, “No one will pay more for personal training.” But of c ourse they will, because they’re  not broke.  
• The best opportunities are the ones you, the coach, create. If I had gone to the facility owner in 2002 and said, “I want to coach a cycling group , ” he’d have been overjoyed, and I’d have made far more money per hour. I loved cycling, I was good at it, and people wanted it. But I didn’t pitch the group because I was waiting for the owner to have the idea. Duh.  
• Your best  living comes from a combination of 1:1 training (priced appro priately), small group training  and specialty group traini ng. You can make a great income  and still have very little risk.  

When I opened Catalyst in 2005, I was scared stiff. And rightfully so: I was taking a huge risk with my family’s income. I have a big ego, but even I didn’t have the hubris to think , “This is all going to work out  because I’m awesome.” I just didn’t see any other way to make a living.  

W ith stable gyms everywhere  now , coaches can make a fantastic living without taking that risk. Gym owners  can give coaches opportunities— and a mean ingful, rewarding life— if the gym is set up for them.   

There’s no need to take a huge risk —like I did— to have a huge reward.  

How to Add Personal Training to Your Gym

Our business is not  group coaching. Our  business is training people one on  one. Sometimes that’s done in a group environment.  

Some clients might prefer the privacy of a one-on-one session. Some might prefer the flexible scheduling. Some might have a special condition. But t he biggest obstacle to selling personal t raining se ssions isn’t the price:  it’s you .  

Could you afford a personal trainer yourself? You can’t “sell” personal training sessions because you’re tryi ng to sell  them. Instead, ask yourself  a question : “What would help this client most if price wasn’t an issue?” Then recommend that service. It’s your job to present the best poss ible solution to your client. Doing so  should be one of your values.  

After reviewing opportunities, you’ve pro bably decided it’s time to add personal t raining to your bu siness (or build up the program ) . You’ve delineated the personal trainer role,  wr itten contracts and evaluations,  and presented the opportunity to your staff. Now it’s time to roll  it out.  Here’s how to do it.  

Most of your new personal training (PT)  clients are going to be new clients. Selling PT to existing clients requires a change in consumer behavior that few gyms c an manage. On average, about 10 percent  of PT sales will come from your current clients (see  Skill Sessions below) and 90 percent from new clients who haven’t yet set the  expectation that  “fitness  is done  in a group . ”  

On-Ramps and Intros

Every   gym  need s  a program to  introduce and  acclimate people.  In the Two-Brai n model, we use No Sweat Intros—free consultations— to inte rview clients, listen to their needs and prescribe the perfect solution. As you’ll recall, we always seek to provide the best solution to the client, and in many cases it’s PT.   

Almost all gyms have  o n -ramp programs  of some kind, and they  are  powerful filter s  for group and PT clients, even if an owner or trainer doesn’t know it yet. In on-ramps, trainers can again find out what clients need to succeed, then recommend the right course of action. For some people in the on-ramp, the path to their goals leads through PT.  

Skill Sessions: PT Framed Another Way

Sooner or later, most clients in a group program   will  reach a point where  one-on-one attention is required to address sticking points.  

Skill sessions  are critical to help ing your clients overcome fears and frustrations  and  critical  to helping you put your mark on your programming. Time spent outside the group setting can be  a pivotal game changer but only if  you approach it the correct way.  

For starters, you want your clients  to understand that  a one-on -one coaching session is a high- value proposition. Yes, it’s going to be more intense in many ways than throwi ng down with buddies in the 8 a.m. class.  It’s much more fun to do 30 muscle-ups for time next to friends, for example, than to power out 90 ring pull ups and 90 ring dips in front  of one trainer.  But the session provides  a chance to really work on  sticking points.  

If you are unsure as to how this might look, here are some likely steps:  

• The value proposition:  “You haven’t had a snatch PR in a while.  I know some things that will help, but they’re beyond the scope of this group. Do you have a half-hour free to work on some really specialized stuff one-on-one with me?”  
• Action:  Book a half-hour skill session for $40.
• The delivery:  “Here’s a video of you doing snatches with a  warm-up weight. Now, here’s  a nother as we get into the heavier  weig hts. S ee how you don’t pull yourself under the bar when the weight increases?”  
• Action:  Demon strate exercises that will help and assi gn homework (to be done during open g ym time, f or which you should also charge ) .  
• Homework delivery:  “I’ve shown you how to do overhead squats , and we’ve practiced snatch balance s. We’ve also tried a Sots press as part of  warm -up. I’d like you to do 5  sets of  5 overhead squats  and 10  singles of heavy snatch balance  once per  week. I’ve also added a second homework  assignment that includes mobility exercises and some wider-grip bench pressing. You’ ll do these on your own during open g ym time for two weeks, and then we’ll meet up again and move to the next step. Let’s b ook that appointment time now. H ow’s this time work for you in two weeks?”  
• Action :  Follow up with a dded value o r additional feedback, perhaps  in an email: “Great session today! By practicing your landing and improvin g your overhead position and overhead squat , we can get you under  a PR soon. Here’s your homework  and a link to the YouTube video of our split-screen video analysis. Keep these for reference as you improve. See you next Thursday at 2   p . m . ”  

If you are shy about charging for your time, consider this:  If you  could receive targeted coaching to address your weaknesses from an expert, targeted homework as signments  and video to review, would you pay $40?  

Of course you would. We all would. It is tremendous value.  

Programming homework, upload ing split-screen video  and emailing follow-ups will take a total of five extra  minutes outside the half-hour skill session itself. T racking software will allow you to rec ord notes on a client’s profile. T hey can log   in and access their h omework and video links anytime— and see notices about upcoming groups when they do.  

One-on-one sessions are great for  increasing  gross monthly revenue, but ,  more importantly, they can help people when general group programming cannot. They establish your expertise   and help new trainers be more entrepreneurial.   

It’s a winni ng formula for everyone  

How Much Should You Charge for a Personal Training Session?

Dr. Sal  Arria  of the National Board of Fitness Educators claims the average rate for a personal training session is $60-$70 in the US.  

But that rate varies a great deal . According to  Arria , the  rate’s  princi pal determining factors  are location and experience.   I haven’t found that to be the case.   

While some personal trainers in San Diego charge $25 for a session, others in the same city charge $15,000 for a six-week challenge . And while some trainers with m aster ’s degrees  charge more tha n the average, the most famous personal t rainers in the world don’t list their education anywhere.   

From  Women’s Health Magazine : “ In general, the more fancy-schmancy your gym is, the more personal training sessions will cost. For instance, while personal training sessions at Equinox cost  about  $110  to  $160  per hour, they cost about  $100  to  $155  per hour at Crunch,  $80  to  $130  at BRICK  …  and  $60  to  $100  at Life Time Fitness. ”  

The definition of “fancy-schmancy” might be as hard to fin d as the ideal PT  rate.   

Thumbtack, which probably provides a  better mean average, says personal trainers  average $50-60 per session  across the U.S .  

But  does a personal trainer who charges $160 really make  clients twice as fit as a personal trainer who charges $80?   

Does the trainer  who  ch arges $155 per hour help clients lose weight 55 percent faster than the coach who charges  $100? Of course not.   

A t rainer’s rate isn’t dete rmined by education, experience  or geography. It’s determined solely on her client’s perception of value.  

So w hat’s valuable to a client?  

• Comfort—D oes the trainer make the client feel “at home”? Does he or she create a strong rapport?  
• Convenience—H ow much schedule-shifting must occur for a client to make the sessions? Convenience is a huge reason  many clients choose 1 :1 appointments over  group class es .  
• Location— same as the above .
• Presentation—W ear ing a backwards hat and random T -shirt at the first meeting will probably cut a trainer’s rate in half.
• Personalization—Does the client feel as if the workout program is custom built and unique?
• Path—C an the client see a clear path to achieving his or her goals?  

What’s less valuable to a client?  

• Educ ation, experience, credentials—This is all f ar less important than anyone thinks. Where did Suzanne Somers, the top-selling fitness coach of all time, go to college? She didn’t.  
• Equipment— In my experience, it’s far more important to have a customizable space that changes to match the client’s program at each session.

How Much Should a Personal Trainer Earn?

According to PayScale.com, the average personal trainer makes $18.77 per hour in the U . S. The range of hourly pay for personal trainers is $10.09 ( less than minimum wage in some s tate s ) to $49.73.   

The gre atest factor affecting that  rate wasn’t education, experience or geography. It wasn’t the ability to pr escribe rehabilitative exercise  or even to add a nutrition plan. Personal trainers selling  Pilates charged, on average, 31 percent  more. Personal trainers selling “corrective ex ercise” charged, on average, 23 percent  less.   

This is because clients associate Pilates with a clean, professional environment. And they don’t associate “corrective exercise” with anything at all.  

The highest-earning personal t rainers on PayScale.com were the self-employed (average  of  $83,200). But those numbers don’t account for overhead or administrative costs. When taken into account, self-employed personal trainers might actually make far less.  

Resource:  Personal Trainer Salary in the United States  

Before I took a job at a personal training center, I operated out of my car. I too k my equipment from one client’s  house to another. I had little overhead . But that’s not always the case.  

Finally, experience counts less than the ability to explain value. Starting personal trainers averaged $35,000 per year; trainers w ith over 20 years of experience  averaged $48,000 per year. But the cost of living  increased far beyond the latter amount between 1999 (when I started as a trainer) and 2019 . The standard of living purchased for $35,000 in 1999 would now cost $52,991.60. This means that, after 20 years in the business, the average personal  trainer is poorer than when he or she  started.   

It doesn’t have to be this way.  

The Two -Brain Model allows a personal t rainer to make a meaningful career in  the fitness industry. And the trainer can do it with or without  ow ning a gym .  

How Much Should a Personal Trainer Be Paid?

My record for hours of one-on-one  training in one day is 13. I did not want to live after that day.   

Most gym owners can’t handle more work, and they’ll recruit other  trainers to do PT  sessions under their umbrella. Done right, it can create a fantastic new revenue stream for the gym, help a  new trainer build a career and  provide the best experience for the client.  

I write a lot about the  4/9 ths  M odel  for paying staff. In a nutshell, 2/9 of your gross revenue sho uld cover your fixed costs, such as rent and electricity,  3/9  of your gross revenue should go to the owner and allow purchase of new toys, and 4/9— the largest  chunk— should go to the trainers working with the clients.  

But the traine rs don’t care about percentages. T hey care about dollars.  

At a  globo   gym, the trainer would earn far less than 4/9 on the training they delivered. If the  globo  gym charges $70, it probably pays  the trainer $15-20 for the session. U nder the 4/9 model, we pay  the trainer $31.11 for the same  hour . And if the gym takes  my advice and adds at least 10 percent  to the  globo   gym’s PT r ate, the trainer earns even more .  

Even b etter, the trainer is incentivized to book the highest-value service (4:1 or small-group PT) because she can net more per hour. In our example, the trainer would be paid $75.66 per hour for 4 :1 training. That’s pretty good.  

When presenting the option to your clients, focus on the benefits: personalized attention, private environment, flexible schedule. When presenting PT to your staff, focus on the actual dollar amount earned instead of the percentage.  

We d id over 3,000 PT sessions at just one  of my gyms last year. It’s more than an i mportant revenue stream: I t’s often the  best possible service for  your clients and coaches.  

One final note  on paying trainers: Bill the client up front  but pay  the trainer on delivery of  service.   

One terrible  horror stor y  came when an  owner did the opposite. Clients p aid for their packages up front,   and  then the gym owner immedia tely gave the coach “his share.”  After a few weeks, the coach’s interest started to wane. But the client had paid the business in  advance, so she  had to be served.   

The gym owner had to make a hard choice:  force the coach to fulfill his obligation half-heartedly  or step in and fulfil l the client sessions. What a huge problem.  

The owner chose—correctly— to have the coach fulfill the sessions. The coach got better at scheduling for a  while,  but his disinterest showed, and the client eventually asked for a refund. Of course, the coach’s share was long gone. Was the owner responsible for refunding the client?  

Even the best-c ase scenario was terrible. And because each coach “owned” his or he r  PT  clients, the owner had a lot on the line.   

There are smaller, eas ier problems with prepaying coaches. I f the coach qui ts, someone has to fulfill the  obligation s  to the client. If the coach takes a vacation, does the client take a vacation too? And what happens wh en the coach blows through his or her  money? Will the coach  have to get a different job? Is it the owner’s responsibilit y to help the coach manage  money better?  

Bill up front, pay on delivery and  dodge the landmines.  

Credentials

How muc h education do you actually need  to be a personal trainer?   

Enough to qualify for insurance coverage.    

The cheapest PT  certifications online cost around $69.  Conversely,  others can cost  $1 , 000 for a two-day, in-person course.  

Theoretically, a personal trainer with the first credent ial could sell one hour of time for more than the  credential cost.   

Of course, no one would believe that credential is as valuable as a $1 , 000 cr edential— or e ven a $40,000 bachelor’s degree— would they?  Well,  professionals would know the difference. But most customers don’t.  

Uncertified trainers can still get great results for their clients. They just can’t get insurance. Trainers don’t legally need much education to get started.   

After they begin their practice, though, their education should support both their philosophy and their counter-philosophy. In other words, they should choose educational paths that challenge their belief structure and their current experience.  

What can a weightlifting coach learn  from a spin lesson? Plenty. The coach might learn that he or she  hate s sitting on a bike. Or the coach might learn that he or she  do es n’t like  working out to dance music. Beyond that the coach will learn a lot  about motivating people, personality and charisma.  

Here’s my story about credentials:  In 2000, I returned to Canada from the U . S .  and began to kindle my coaching practice.  Few  other fitness coaches  were  around, so I sought out  conversation online. I found discussion boards  on Yahoo and some other websites.  

I was new,  so  I listed all my certifications:  NSCA CSCS, ISSA CFT, ISSA SPS.  I actually can’t remember all  the parts of my “alphabet soup” now.  In some cases, I even argued that education was  more important than experience  because a coach could easily spend 20 years saying the wrong things.  

What I didn’t realize was that I was justifying my lack of experience to better coaches than me. And to myself.  

Coaching is a two-sided coin. O n one side is the knowledge necessary to get our clients to the ir  goals. The other side is the empathy and charisma to keep them showing up and doing the work . On one side, knowledge; on the other , action.  

I love  attending cer tifications and seminars. I love gaining k nowledge and bringing new ideas and experts to my staff through Two-Brain Coa ching. But when I look at my 10 -year clients, I kn ow they’re  not  around for  new cues or “leve ls” of different movements. They stay for  care.  

The truth we ’d all like to ignore is this: U nqualified coaches still get results.  

Bad “nutrition experts” still help their clients lose weight.  

P90X workouts still make  people fit.  

But no client stays with an uncaring coach for long.  

No client will pay a coach who makes a bad first impression.  

And n o client will weigh a credential against a dirty shirt.  

I was once me ntoring a gym owner through the Two-Brain Business  Incubator program, and he was struggling. Most gym owners can add at least $10,000 to their bottom line by se lling PT  at their gym. But this one wasn’t selling any, and I couldn’t figure out why not.  

He used the same website design as our other clients. He followed the same scripts when a client came in the door. His pricing was perfect, and I knew he had the experience to really help people. But after a full month, he still didn’t have a single client to train one on one. So I asked him to record his No-Sweat Intro and share it with me.  

I was disappointed, but I wasn’t surprised.  

First, the coach started the meeting a few minutes late. The cl ient was on time  but sat waiting while the coach finishe d his workout, put his shirt on  and mixed up a protein shake.  

Now, a client with very low self-esteem might have thought ,  “This is the kind of treatment I deserve,” but not most clients. Five minutes into the video, I could tell the clie nt was looking at the door. The client was being polite but  had decided not to sign up even before the trainer’s swea t could soak through his gray T- shirt.  

The first impression t he client got from the coach : “You  come second.  I come first.”  

No one wants to come second. They’re signing up to fix their problems, not because the trainer needs to make more money.  

Earlier, I mentioned that my business card used to look like alphabet soup. When I wa s  a new personal trai ner, I thought  education was more important than anything else.   

But as time passed  and I met more people in the industry, I realized that education—and even experience—have very little bearing on how successful a coach can be over time. The final epiphany came from a coach named Marisol.  

When  Marisol  opened her doors, she immediately attracted  a few early adopters  of the program she focused on . Her initial  success encouraged her to hire an assistant coach named Paul. Marisol coached the morning clients, and Paul took over in the afternoons.  

Marisol was a highly  trained coach. She was an accomplished weightlifter and had been coaching other weightlifters for more than a decade. By comparison, Paul was a young  but bright  college kid. He had a hard-working nature, and because he didn’t have much experience, Marisol could pay him a small wage. Paul even volunteered to do a free “internship” that lasted three months before he started coaching!  

Things went really well for about a year. Then  Paul grew tired of the low pay  and left to open his own gym.  

Most of Marisol’s clients left with Paul.   

One of my clients was in Marisol’s area for work in late 2014, so I asked him to drop in and take her a coffee. He told me that he arrived at the gym at 6   a . m ., but all  the lights were off. Marisol rolled in around 6:07 with a Starbucks coffee and a hood pulled over her head. As she unlocked the gym doors, four or five other clients emerged from their cars and shuffled inside.  

My client introduced himself. Marisol told him to “go warm up with the others.”      This was a new approach to my client—who was used to being greeted at the door with a bright smile a few minute s before his session began,  then guided step by step through his warm – up. But he p layed along  and asked the other clients what they were doing. One pointed out a post er on the wall with the gym’s “o fficial warm – up” on it, and my client read through it.   

By 6:20, Marisol still hadn’t explained the workout. My client still hadn’t signed a waiver or been asked anything about his exercise experience. He watched Marisol joking with one of the other members—hood still up, coffee half gone. Finally, she walked over to the whiteboard.  

“Everyone ready? Hey, get over here!” she barked at one of her members.   

I won’t share additional  details, but the message was clear: Marisol didn’t want  to be there. It was too early and she was too tired. I n other words, her needs were overriding her clients’ needs. By 7   a . m . , the real workout had just begun, but my client had to leave for work.  

When I called Marisol, she expressed disappointment that so many of her clients had quit her gym to join Paul’s.   

“He doesn’t know anything. H e’s just a baby!  I taught him everything he  know s !” she nearly yelled down the phone line.  

Maybe that was true. But Paul had something  more important than knowledge:   H e had the love and trust of the clients in front of him.   

For more info on becoming a great coach, visit  Twobraincoaching.com .  

Finding (And Hiring) a Personal Trainer

Phase 1 : From Within  

It’s often easier to train a new coach from scratch than to fix a veteran’s mistakes. We run an annual “advanced theory course” to identify clien ts with an interest in coaching and keep their attention in case we need more.

Phase 2 : Local Icons  

Of course, if  another local personal t rainer  aligns wit h your vision, you can give the coach  a great opportunity. As the owner, you can p rovide a stable base of clients, cover all the non-coaching work and costs, and allow him or her to focus only on the area of passion.  Ask your best clients if they’ve worked with other coaches in the past, and then invite those coaches to coffee.  Find out what they liked about their previous coaches.

Phase 3 : Blank Slates  

Your style, clientele or vision might not align with other trainers in your area. Your clients might not be willing to leave their careers to become a coach. In this case, we recommend contacting a local university or  college with a fitness program.  You can offer an i nternship opportunity, which comes with  pro s and cons. O n the one hand, many interns work for free. On the other, you’ll have to “parent” some skills into your new staff that more mature staff  members  might already possess. 

Phase 4 : Ads  

You can find a great example of an ad below. As you’ll see, it was written specifically to screen out certain people and encourage the right people to apply. It also lists the steps in the process so interested applicants understand that it’s an investment with a great reward at the end. When you get to the end of the ad, you should feel like this is a great opportunity, but it’s only available to amazing people who are willing to invest.  

As an additional resource, a sample staff contact is included.  

Sample Staff Contract:  http://bit.ly/JobDescSample  

Sample Job Posting  for Coach  

WANTED: Group  Fitness  Coach and Personal Trainer for Growin g Company  

We are Looking for more members of our team! If you are dedicated to making positive  changes in people’s lives and love fitness, we have an amazing opportunity for you!  

Apply only if:  

–  You are passionate about health and fitness.  

–  You are e xtremely motivated to grow  person ally  and professionally.  

–  You are looking for a career in the fitness industry .  

–  You are  dedicated to working with a top-level team that  continuously breaks  the mold in the industry.  

L et me tell you  about  our company and the posit ion we are looking to fulfill.  My name is Mateo ,  and I run a growing fitness company here in Hoboken. Our business is dedicated to helping women and men achieve their health and fitness goals through nutrition and fitness programs.  

I’m looking  for an enthusiastic, motivated  and energetic person to start training some of our current clients. We currently offer one-on-one customized nutrition, fitness programs,  and small group training. We educate, motivate  and support men, women, and teens to improve their health and fitness.  

We understand that to hire the best, you have to compensate the best.  

Bottom line: you’ll become a part of an elite fitness team that is leading the way in every cap acity.  

My gym offers a  fun enviro nment, great  training equipment, and the  opportunity to learn the inner  workings of a strength  and conditioning gym.  

Oh yeah—I’m also very fair, respectful  and appreciative. I like having fun and making money while providing highly valuable fitness services and products.  

We promote and train from within , and there are  tons of growth opportunities on the horizon. I want someone who enjoys working with people and making a di fference in the lives of others— because that’s  what we do in my studio.  

Are you a n “ A P layer ” ?    

There are a lot of jobs out there today. At Bowery  Fitness , we’re only looking for A Players  to  join our team— people who are committe d to excellence in everything   they  do. They can get a job anywhere, but they take the time to research the companies  they’re considering , they’re selective  in the interviews they do, and they go the extra mile in searching for the right  position because they ’re looking for more than a job. T hey’re looking for a long-term career opportunity. They’re looking to be part of a team  where they can have  a positive impact on the world  through the work they do while  being challenged to grow and become a better version of themselves.   If that doesn’t sound like you, then feel free to stop reading this page and close your browser window now.   

If  you think you are, in fact, an A Player , then please read on to learn more about the exciting opportunity we have available for the right candidate.  

A Fair Warning  

Our hiring process isn’t quick and easy. We’re going to ask you to jump through a few hoops to prove you ’ve got the character and can  demonstrate the values that align with our team and mission.  

You’ll be asked to take multiple  tests.  

You’ll have a least two or three  interviews.  

And we’re going to take our time in making sure you’re someone we want to invest our resources in growing. What we’re really looking for is someone who wants to grow with us in the  years to come.  

Many of our top- performing team leaders got their start in this position as little as 16 mo nths ago.  

And because they’re  A  Players , they were promoted quickly through  the ranks in our company.  

I f I haven’t scared you awa y just yet, then let’s continue.  

Tasks You’ll Be Expected to Perform  

Tracking client progress— To ensure a client’s success in our programs, you’ll n eed to track progress and  current successes and challenges, review client nutrition and exercise log worksheets, and more on a weekly and monthly basis. It will be your job to hold a client accountable to his/her health and fitness program to ensure the best results possibl e  

Perform fitness evaluations— Ideally, you’ll have some fitness ass essment skills and can test for  body composition,  body weight, girth , blood pressure, heart rate, and various strength and flexibility tests. You do not need previous experience, but if you do, that’s a bonus .  

Coach clients throug h fitness and workout programs— You’ll be responsible for weekly exercise sessions and keeping detailed weekly progress reports on the clients you’re working with. If a client is h aving challenges in  his/her program, you ’ll coach, motivate  and  make appropriate changes to en sure consistent progress. You’ll work with clients one-on-one , in small groups an d in large groups. We will show you the ropes for all  sessions .  

Demonstra te proper exercise instruction— This is a big one. I need you to be able to provi de proper coaching, instruction and motivation during a  training session. You should have a working knowledge of the human body (i.e. ,  muscles, movements, functions , etc.)  and be able to provide ap propriate exercises for clients’  goals  

Provide ongoin g health and fitness education— Our clie nts rely on us to service all  their health and fitness needs. It is your job as a fitness coach to provide your clients with health and fitness education on various topics that empower th em to lead healthy lives . You’ll be provided with educational tools and resources,  and you’ll be expected to study them and speak w ith your clients  about them .  

M inimum Training/Skills Required  

– CPR/AED certified.  

– High school degree.  

– Bachelor’s degree.  

– Graduation from an accredited coach’s development p rogram (must be able to provide proof of graduation) .  

–  Must have at least   one group-fitness credential .  

– At least 6 m onths  of  coaching experience (if this requirement is not met, please inquire about our Apprenticeship program) .  

–  Certifications from NSCA, FMS, ACSM, EXOS, ACE (and other governing bo dies) are not required but p referred.  

If you think this is good fit for you, take the first step and apply.  

Job Ty pe: Full  time .  

Who “Owns” the Client?

Many service professio nals build a “book of business.”    

Financial planners, investment salesmen and insur ance agents use the term often.  These are a ll licensees: T hey pay a small fee or percen tage to use a larger brand (such as  an insurance agency or real estate business) b ut mostly operate autonomously.  They might get some small benefit from the brand for lead genera tion or a discount on  signage. T hey might share office space or administrative staff. They’re not entrepreneurs, but they’re mostly responsible for finding their own clients.   

And they also keep their clients for a very long time, even if they leave their agency to work somewhere else.  

For a client list to have value, the agent  must be reasonably sure of  keep ing  the client for decades. For example, when a  financial planner retires, his or her  “book of business”  can be sold to another  because most people stay with their financial planners for life.  In the sale, the retiring planner is  transferring value to another agent.   

This is not the case  in the fitness industry.  

When you enter the Fa rmer Phase of entrepreneurship—the second stage after Founder in the Two-Brain Business model— other fitness coaches build careers on your platform. Your role is to find them clients; provide booking, billing and scheduling resources; cover their insurance; pay for the lighting; give them access to eq uipment; keep your space safe, etc. You have  a dozen other responsibilities.   

Their role is to train the client on the stable platform you’ve built for them.  

The trainers do not  own the client s .   

Whether as employees or contractors, fitness coaches are no t building a book of business  because the client won’t leave the gym to follow a coach elsewhere.  

The coaches and personal trainers at a gym are there to serve the gym’s clients.  

What’s the difference between an  “ intrapreneurial ”  coach and a gym owner? The whole world.  

An intrapreneurial coach maximizes the opportunities created by the gym owner. A gym owner create s enough opportunities for coaches to build  meaningful career s .  

But a gym owner can’t  create a stable home for  co aches if each coach owns his or her  client s .   

I’ve seen thi s case play out over and over:  Gym owner  offers a coach a part-time job. Coach is thrilled  and gets even m ore passionate as time goes on.  Coach wants to make fitness  her full-time career. But how? Gym owner says, “F ind  some personal training clients.”  Coach finds one or two, but it’s not enough.

Coach thinks, “The only way I can make this my  career is to open my own gym.”  Coach leaves. If  the coach has built a personal book of business, her clients leave with her.   

Gym owner says “Never again!”  

How do I know  this happens ?  Because I was that coach!  

Your clients must associate their trainin g relationship with your brand,  not with one specific coach.  Even if clients  primarily train with one coach, they should so metimes train with another,  receive nutriti on advice from another and interact with your customer service ma nager often. Forge their relat ionship with your brand to be stronger  than their relationship with your coach.  

I’ve also   lost long-term clients when a long- term trainer left, and I lost sleep over it . I had to resist the strong imp ulse to bad-mouth the coach the clients  were following. But in the e nd, I knew it was my fault. The clients  had built a stronger bond with that coach than with my brand. I could have avoided the problem, but didn’t.  

I have a dentist. She’s been my dentist for a decade.  In those 10  years, she’s moved  her practice three times. Every time she moved, I followed  because my relationship is with  her , not her office.   Obviously, this is great for her. She’ll be m y dentist for life. But it’s  not   great for the dental offices she leaves.  

I have  a financial advisor. He has a book of business  with my name in it.   He knows that I  prefer index funds over RSPs  and real estate over any paper investment.   If he moves his practice to another brand, I’ll go with him. Obviously, thi s is great for him. But it’s  not  great for his office. I f he leaves, so do  I. So do  his  other  clients.  

In most professions,  a shift in  dealerships or franchises happens only once or twice in a career. But in the fitness industry, it happens around ev ery three years—especially in   microgyms , wher e the barrier to ownership is so low   that  trainers  can  move in and  out of gyms pretty often. And if  you don’ t want your clients to follow trainers  down the street, you have to take a different approach.  

Your clients need to hav e a relationship with your brand  that overrides thei r relationship with any  coach.  

Here are some tips to keep your brand in the forefront of your clients’ mind:

–  Change your l exicon. Avoid using phrases like “coach for life.”  Instead, refer to “the excellent coaches at Catalyst” and use “we” in your correspondence.  

–  Regularly switch coaches around in group class times.  

–  Sub out  a client’s PT coach  occasionally. It’s fun for c oaches to work with new clients  and better for the clients.  

–  Put the best  person in each role. If you say, “C lient retention is the coach’s job , ” then that coach will manage the entire client relationship. If they’re bad at sending birthday  cards or congratulating clients, the client suffers. But if you have one amazing staff person in this role, it solidifies the relationship between your gym and the client.  

–  Sign correspondence with “Your friends  at [business name]” instead of your name.  

–  Tell coaches to keep communication lines with clients professional. Do n’t give out personal mobile  numbers or email addresses. There’s a strong legal reason for this, too: if a client ever tried to sue the business, the coach’s personal text and email history could become the property of the plaintiff if they’re using it with the client.  

– Encourage  all  coaches to establish  their authority outside  coaching sessions by producing educational videos and blog posts.  

–  Hire a diverse array of coaches. I love to say, “I want you to train with Mike for the next three months. He’s great at accountability. Then you can move back to Bill in September when you’re getting ready for ski season again.”  

–  Don’t depend on your coaches  for sales. If they’re your clients’ only points of contact, of course  the client s will follow the coaches  wh erever they go. Do goal reviews  or have a s eparate staff specialist meet  with the client three times per year.  

–  In general, expose every client to three d ifferent members of your staff at  minimum.    

You got the clients. You signed them up. You paid for your website and painted your office.  

You’re also doing your best to provide meaningful careers for your coaches.   

But if it doesn’t work out, do you lose the kids in the divorce?  

Make sure you have insurance for your business.  It’s extremely important.  

In the U . S . , we recommend  AGuard .  

In Canada, we recommend  Joanne Legal .

The Perfect Personal Training Session

In my 22 nd  year as a personal trainer and coach, I know there’s no formula for guaranteed success.  

That goes for client results  and  financial  rewards.  

But what I have found is that all great personal trainers have  things in common. And while not one  of us follow s the exact same script,  we all share  some habits .   

This is the list I give my staff when they start one-on-one training at my gym. Their personality and expertise should shine through, but every private training session should include:  

• A great greeting.
• Banter during the warm-up that includes a personal detail mentioned at the last meeting:  “Hey, how was your daughter’s play?”  Let the client know that you c are about what happens in his or her life.  
• An inquiry about how the homework assigned at the last meeting played out.
• A brief outline of the goals for the workout.
• Skill instruction reinforced through repetition. Keep it positive and corrective. This is where you want 100 pe rcent perfection on technique. Coaches should try to keep c lien t smiling during this portion because it’s the frustrating part where people can get down on themselves.  
• A t least one scientific explanation— but keep it short. This isn’t just good salesmanship (“Look what I know!”) . I t’s part of  building a more knowledgeable clientele.  
• An expla nation of the  why behind  the  workout. How will  this  workout help  them achieve their goals?  
• A more specific outline of  the goals of the workout (i.e ., anaerobic capacity) and the  rationale for the weight chosen: “I know you can do more, but I’m concerned that grip stren gth will limit your performance  instead of work capacity. I want you to keep moving, so I’ve chosen a lighter weight.”  
• Changes of voice, inflection, p osture and attitude depending on the type of workout. When a client is doing HIIT work, use shorte r sentences, exclamation points and fewer technical instructions. Keep a commanding tone.  
• The “sharing of water” a fter the conditioning piece.  Now’s the time to tell a story. “Last year, we had this tournament called  FranFest . One lady lost a tooth.  She kept going anyway. Ha! ”  
• Stretching and review of homework challenges for the  week. Encourage contact through appropriate channels and  logging  of  workout results.  
• An opportunity for the client to ask questions.
• Booking of  the next appointment if it’s not already scheduled.  
• Another mention of something coming up in the client’s life: “Enjoy painting that fence this weekend!”   

The checklist is imperfect exactly because it’s a checklist .  Trainers must  be able to touch on all of these  elements without robotically referring to a spreadsheet in the  sky.  

If you can’t do anything else:  

• Make the client laugh.
• Remember things that are important to the client.
• Tell the client how the workout will help him or her accomplish personal  goals.
• Remember that you have to sell your service  every time the client  visit s , not just the first time.  

Building a Program for a PT Client

Over 80 percent  of the clients at Catalyst will never compete beyond a fun weekend 5 K  or throwdown. But we train them like athletes to create a buffer  of health in their lives .  

Every client at Cata lyst is an individual with his or her  own particular needs. But those needs can be broadly categorized into a few goals:  

–  Weight loss .  

–  Athletic preparation for competition .  

–  General fitness .  

–  Strength .  

The se four groups comprise over 80 percent  of  Catalyst clients. The other 20 percent  require specific and detailed programming, with custom exercise enhancements or modifications. Senior trainers w ill work with the “outlying” 20 percent. But we commonly see members of the 80 percent  in C atalyst PT programs.   

T heir needs can be satisfied in this way:  

• Start by selecting the template mos t closely associated with the client’s goals and availability.  (Examples: Weight loss—3x/week or Athlete—in-s eason.)  
• Select workouts by type and plug them into the tracking software ( Trainerize ). (E xample, two HIIT workouts and one aerobic workout.)  
• Modi fy the workouts to a level where the athlete can achieve the desired stimulus.  

Send the workouts to the athlete.  

Most trainers overthink their clients’ programming. They search for constant variation and novelty instead of returning to the effective basics. This is “features- based programming” instead of “b enefits-base d programming” (click  h e re  to read more about that ) .  

When we see coaches scouring the internet for “interesting” wor kouts created by other coaches,  trying to include eve ry exercise possible every week  or looking for workouts they haven’t seen before, we know the coach is programming novelty for its own sake instead of cons idering the client’s goals first . Worse, it’s often a sign that the coach doesn’t understand what effect a give n workout is trying to produce, and the coach is  choosing to be different for  the sake of being different.  

Programming for a  PT client should take 10-20 percent  of the time required t o perform the  session. If you’re spending an hour creating the workout for an hour-long session, it’s time to get back to the template.  

Using a template doesn’t mean repeating the same workouts over and  over. It simply creates a general starting point so you don’t have to start with  a blank canvas. It’s a  positive constraint that allows for  more  creativity in workout programming.  

Weekly  Templates  

Athlete, preseason—2 speed days, 2 strength  days (i.e. ,  anaerobic lactic, anaerobic power, anaerobic lactic, anaerobic capacity) .  

Athle te,  in  season—2 speed days, 1 rotating  stren gth day  (i.e. ,  anaerobic lactic, anaerobic power, anaerobic lactic, anaerobic capacity) .  

Weight loss,  first p hase (increase work capacity)—2 aerobic days, 2 aerobic lactic days.  

Weight loss,  second phase (increase  BMR)—2 aerobic days, 1 strength day, 1 aerobic lactic day.  

Weight loss, third phase (burn fat)—1 strength day, 2 aerobic lactic days, 1 aerobic days and another optional (easier) aerobic  day .  

Get fit—varied, intense functional movements   performed  3  days on, 1 day off,   with skill or strength  work followed by  a conditioning workout (“met-con”)  of varying intensity, load and duration .  

You can download a personal  t raining programming template  he r e .  

Read:  “Working With Endurance Athletes”  

Scaling Your Personal Training Business

The simplest way for a personal trainer to  make more money in the same hour  is to train two clients at once.  

If you have two people with similar capabilities and goals, or even two people who just want to train together, you can put them in the same training slot and charge more for it.  

Ideally, both people will follow the same training plan be tween sessions (“homework,”  if you assign it.) To be clear, these are not two 1:1 sessions done concurrently. If two clients have very different needs and follow different training programs, that’s not a 2:1 session.  

If you have to do extra work  between sessions—such as  writing two completely separate sets of homework—then it might not actually be worth training two clients at once. But in most cases, this is the fastest way to scale your income without adding additional time.  

Functional fitness  is widely und erstood to be “group training,” but its roots are in personal  training. When  the first trainers  couldn’t fit any more  individual  clients into  their  schedule s ,  they  partnered  some of them up.  Each  client  save d  money  and  the clients worked  harder when they had  training mates .  

P rogram s eventually  evolved to 3:1 and 4:1 training, and then  they   eventually became small-group training with common programming.   

Functional fitness coaches  didn’t invent 2:1 training, but  they  popularized personal training in small grou ps far more than anyone else . When I was a personal trainer in 2002, I remember hearing about a trainer who was taking two clients at once. He was in a different city, four hou rs away. That’s how rare it was.  

How to Charge for 2:1 Training

First, multiply your normal rate by  2. Then reduce the price by 15 percent .  

Fifteen percent  is the minimum threshold to elicit a change in the perception o f value. People don’t notice 10 percent   discounts, but they do notice 15 percent and above . And  there’s no need to give more: Y ou won’t do less work with two people, but you will spend less time.   

How to Partner People Up

In most cases where two people want to train together at my gym, they came in the door as partners. Often,  it’s a husband and a wife. Because  they usually have similar goals  (they’re either both overweight  or they both run marathons) ,  the benefit they receive can be far greater than the sum of their individual results.   

For example, if I put them both on the same training schedule, they can train together. If I put them on the same diet, they don’t have to prepare separate meals. And ,  frankly, training with your spouse improves your marriage.   

In other cases,  I use “affinity m arketing ”  to have clients invite their spouses or best friends. When I know exactly who m  they want to invite, I offer one free 2:1 training session as an introduction. I w ant them to have fun together. T hat makes it easier to keep them coming together later.  

As a third example, I could look  for overlap when doing client goal r eviews. When I see two cases where men want to run their first marathon s , I can approach each and suggest that a partner will help with training and accountability. And if I see five people who want to run a marathon, I tell my coaches they have an opportunity for a specialty group.  

Approach the client and focus on the value  2:1 training will supply . Instead of saying , “My schedule is getting full and  this is the only way I can  fit you in, ” say ,  “I have an idea. I think you’re going to love it, but you can try it to make sure. I have another client with the same goals as you, and she could benefit from a bit of a push. So could you. How would you feel about training together?”   

You might al so mention  small monetary savings, but this isn’t your primary reason for partnering them up, so I’d only mention it if asked.  

When to Prescribe 2:1 Training to a Client

I prescribe 2:1 training w hen I k now, without a doubt, that both clients wi ll benefit more than they already are.   

I don’t try to clump mismatched pairs together just for the sake of saving time or making more money.  

How to Deliver Their Programming

When I’m running an in-person session, I like to give each client something tangible: a print out of his or he r homework assign ment. Holding the paper with my logo in his or her hands makes the client feel as if he or she is  leaving with a gift.  

We also put clients’  workouts in  Trainerize , which is very handy for tracking their progress and integrates with  MyFitnessPal  for food tracking. They can see v ideos, text  me through the app  and even pay me. But that hard copy is priceles s for creating a sense of value — and for advertising purposes.  

Before I had a gym where people could do their homework, my clients typically kept a cheap  globo -gym membership in addition to paying for PT at my private gym. They would carry their homework with them—with my bright green logo displayed at the top—and set it on  the bench beside the squat rack  or on the treadmill while they ran. Many of them w ere asked about their workouts,  their description s became conversations about me,  and I gained new clients.   

The hard copy was a conversation-starter that no app would ever be.  

What to Put in Their Programming

The more people you train at once, the more general your programming has to be. No two people have exactly the same goal, and every additional person multiplies the potential variance.   

In functional group training,   t he needs of most  a re ad dressed by a few movements, such as  the deadlift. Everyone needs  to deadlift, regardless of his or her  goal s . Par eto’s Law (that the needs of 80 percent are met by 20 percent  of the work) becomes important when programming workouts for multiple people.  

So stick to the big, important basics. Teach the squats and deadlifts, presses and pulls. Make workouts interesting not through exercise selection but through combination.   

Two-on-one  trainin g has  two clients sharing the same time slot and workout plan.  But the  clients are not carbon copies of one another. A trainer will still have to work harder t o train two people than  one. On the flip   side, sometimes the hardest part of a 1:1 session is just maintaining a conversational flow. With two clients together, that problem is largely solved.  

Small Group

The principles of small-group training are the same as 2:1 semi – private training. Group together individuals whose needs vary by degree, not kind. Program wo rkouts to address general  instead of specific  needs .   

Pricing small- group training:    

3:1 —triple the 2:1 rate per person and subtract 15 percent .  

Base rate—60 minutes of 3:1 training = $151.73 (119 / 2 x 3 – 15 percent ) .  

Base rate— 30 minutes of 3: 1 training = $97.54 (76.50 / 2 x 3 – 15 percent ) .  

4:1  – qu adruple the 3:1 rate per person and subtract 15 percent .  

Base rate—60 minutes of 4:1 training =  $171.96 (151.73 / 3 X 4 – 15 percent ) .  

Base rate: 3 0 minutes of 4:1 training – $110 .55 (97.54 / 3 X  4 – 15 percent ) .     If you have a private group that’s larger than four, consider your growing needs  to deliver your best service.   

First, you might need an assistant coach to help. Second, you’re going to take up more space in your facility, which might preclude other classes or other training.   

Calculate your base hourly rate for coaching, or how much you earn in your “best” hour.  

Add 50 percent to that rate at  minimum. Ask yourself, “How many people can I e ffectively coach at once?” C ap the group at that number. If the group is larger (for example, a sports team) add more for the second coach.   

  A final note on accepting pay ments for small-group training:  You must make your terms and conditions very clear.   

First, y ou need a cancellation policy: I f one client in a 3:1 session cancels at the last minute, the other two can still attend. The cancelling client simply loses a session.  

If all 3 clients in a 3:1 session wish to cancel, they must cancel according to your  cutoff time (either 24 hours or by  8   a . m . on the same day) so you can fill your schedule spot.

When training more than four people, insist that they collect from each other and then write you one check for payment. You don’t have ti me to chase people for payment. E specially when training kids on a team, you can be sure that one will need to take time off or miss a few sessions. In those cases, you don’t want a parent calling for a partial refund. 

The bottom line is this: whe n a client books a session, he or she  own s  it. If one or more don’t attend, you’ll use the time to work on their program, but you won’t allow them to simply skip sessions.    

Additional Revenue Streams

Nutrition planning.

Nutrition planning is one of the fastest ways to scale your personal training business.  

A nutrition plan requires less time to de liver than an in-person session,  and  it  delivers even greater value to the client in many cases.  

It’s als o necessary for client success with  almost every goal.   

At intake, nutrition should be sold as a separate (but equal) service to training. Some clien ts might choose to start only  with nutrition coaching; some might add it later. But most coaches forget to offer the service because they’re excited to coach exercise.  

But nutrition is really at the base of the fitness pyramid. It can also be scaled witho ut additional costs: Y ou don’t need a larger gym floor to create more nutrition plans. You don’t need more barbells. You really only need an assessment device and a way to deliver your prescription.  

For more information on how to become a nutrition coach, visit  Twobraincoaching.com .  

Supplements

Offering personal training and supplements to your clientele really is   the perfect blend of two worlds. Personal training allows you dig   deeper into a client’s goals and needs (i.e. ,  increase workout   capacity, decrease body fat, improve PRs, etc.). While doing this,   you’re getting to know the client better, which also means you’re in   th e perfect situation to walk him or her through the  supplements  that  can be  most beneficial in  help ing them achieve their  goals.  

For example, if som eone is trying to increase her  power clean by 50  lb. , you have the opportunity talk with that client about the need  to increase  protein consumption and why doing so will be   beneficial.   

“It’s going to help your muscles recover more quickly  after your workout  and increase your overall lean muscle mass.”   

That   can then lead into how and why the client should start taking   creatine.   

“Creatine is one of the most widely studied supplements on   t he market  and helps increase strength and power output. Both protein   and creatine are vital for increasing overall strength.”   

That short   discussions provides the opportunity for you to talk about how those   sp ecific products will be kept in  sto ck  and how you can offer your   members a discount over online pricing.  

Most gym owners aren’t in to “selling” supplements. That  said, i t’s important to understand your clients  are buying   supplements. Th ey’re just not buying them from you.  

Served by a random salesperson at the store, t hey’re likely   to be  led down a rabbit hole when  they could turn to you—someone they trust—for solid information that will  help them attain their goals  through proven products matched perfectly to their needs .

Specialty Programs

When several of your clients share a common goal, you can build a short-term program  to group them together.  

For ex ample, if Jeff notices that nine  of his clients list “get my first pull-up” as one of their goals, his time  might be best spent offering a six-week pull-up p rogram and charg ing $129 for it on top of  regular membership  fees .   

Pricing Specialty Groups

No matter what stage of business you’re in, your goal is the same:   More revenue, less time.  

In other words, increasing the value of your “working” time.  

Like you, my job  doesn’t always feel like “work.”  But if I can leverage my time better, I can spend more time playing with my kids, my barbells and my investments. And I can afford better  coffee, shoes and coffee—m y coffee budget  is easily twice my shoe budget, so I’m listing it twice.  

Pretend you’re a lawyer, and you bill at $120 per hour. Now add up the time you spend on Facebook. What’s that time worth?  

Your  time migh t not be worth $120 per hour yet . But our goal is to get it m oving in the right direction , and that means increasing the value for your time.  

S tart by calculating the value of your time spent coaching:  

Take your gross membership revenue and divide by your total number of clients. This will tell you what the average client pays you each month.   

Gross / t otal clients = average membership  

Divide by average attendance. How many times does the average client attend each month?   

Average membership / average attendanc e = average revenue per visit.   

Multiply average revenue per visit by your average class size.   

Average revenue per visit X average visits per class = value of your coaching time.  

For the sake of example, l et’s assign an arbitrary value: 10 clients pay  an average of $10 per visit = $100 value of each class coached.  

Making Specialty Groups More Valuable Than Average Classes

When you’re planning a specialty group, the value of y our time should always be higher  than  in an average class, because of:  

–  Novelty .  

–  Specialty knowledge required .  

–  Limited time .  

–  Limited space .  

The value of your time should always be  moving up . It doesn’t make sense to do more work for less money.  

Let’s imagine we run an eight -week  obstacle-c ourse  prep program. Based on your average time value of $100 per coaching hour, access to equipment and gym time, we should price it accordingly:  

Attendance cap: 12  

Visits: 8 (one hour once per  week)  

If we charge $10 per visit or $80 for the program, the value of y our coaching time goes up ($120 per  hr.)   

But we shouldn’t assume you’ll get more people in the program than you will in your average  class, so let’s price the program  slightly higher per visit. The novelty factor (and others bulleted above) will increase the perception of value to the client anyway.  

If we charge $12 per visit, or $96 for 8 weeks with skills and some running homework, that’s fantastic value to the client, and your value per hour goes up to $144:   12 clients at $12/visit.  

If the class meets twice every week:  12 clients at $12 per  vis it x 16 visits = $192 for the eight- week program. Still a great deal.  

How to Sell out Any Specialty Program

By  Jeff Burlingame , Two – Brain  Business  Mentor  

Fil ling programs can be difficult— especially if you don’t have a strategy or plan.   

In order t o get the most involvement and  signups for any program—a barbell club, a six-week course,  a seminar  or even  a  personal t raining and nutrition program — we follow this template.  

6 Weeks Out

Host  a 20-minute session with all y our coaches to test out pieces of your upcoming course. Be sure  to record this session so  you can use clips  as marketing conten t. Post the clips  publically on your social- media profiles at l east once a week for the next two  weeks.  

4 Weeks Out

Host a free 30-minute clinic with your mavens, aka your seed clients .  ( If you’re not sure how to identify your mavens, click  here  for more information . )  

Yo u’ll want to record the 30- minute clinic a nd  get some good photos a s well as . Make sure you get video of mavens who have tried a new progression and were then able to accomplish a movement the y didn’t think they could do . Try to capture as many before and after videos and  photos as you can because they  speak to the efficacy of your program.  

This before  and after content should be  post ed  three times per week for the next four  weeks ,  which will take you right up to the launch of your new program.  

2 Weeks Out

Host a free class or event at which  yo u can test this new program  o n your members. M ake this a public event so you can bring in  more non-member leads.  Create a website page for your free event and post   a sign-up button.  Share that page everywhere you can.  

Keep this  free  class or event to  30 minutes  maximum  and be sure to have a  sign- in  sheet  you can  use   to  collect  attendee names, phone numbers  and emails.  

The people who show up for this free class  or event are interested and should be considered   “ hot leads. ”  Create an email newsletter to follow up with  these people each week leading up  to the course . Email them even after the course because they might  not  have  be en available for this  program but might  be interested in the next one.  

At the  free  class, be sure to  provide a clear call to action so these leads are presented with an  opportunity to become customers.  A t the end , b ring them all t ogether and tell them about the  n ew program and how they can book a  spot.  

We recommend having a higher price for non-members and a lower price for  current members because they are already paying for your services. This approach makes   existing members  feel valued and encourage s non-members to join  your gym .  

Finally, you’ll award one maven a free  c ourse. You can do this  any way you choose ,  but I prefer to award it to the most interested person and do it priva tely. The benefit of thi s gift to   the  inte rested maven: He or she is  far more likely to sing your praises and promote your course to your m embers for you. Mavens are very  socially involved with oth er members,  so sharing   is  natural for them ,  and they do it with  positive energy.  

As part of the agreement made with th e maven, he or she will  talk to all your members and  post a bout the course on social media ,  exposing you and your course to more people.   

Keep in mind that you’ll want to cycle through your mavens for eac h program launch so each  gets the opportunity to take a  course for free while sharing  with others. We’re up   front with our mavens about this ,  and they know it’s a perk  they get. We also have a private Faceb ook group for our mavens so  we can  communicate with them all easily .  

Take this six- week pre-launch template and put it  into place for your next specialty program and you’ll see much-improved sales results .  

How to Launch a PT Business

How to introduce a new personal trainer into your practice.

Whether you’re adding a new personal t rai ning service into your gym  or expanding your PT studio by adding a new coach, the steps are the same. Your clients have to welcome a new bear into the den. They have  to extend their trust in you  to the newcomer. And you h ave to turn over your carefully  cultivated clients to a new coach.  

Before you hire:  

• Clearly write out a job description, including responsibilities between sessions, for your new personal t rainer.  A sample can be found below.  
• Ask the candidate to complete three personal training sessions with your current clients for free as a “tryout.”  See below. Your opinion of the trainer is secondary to your clients’ opinion s , and the tryout will help a success ful candidate begin to fill his or he r calendar.
• Familiarize the new staff person with your booking and billing system; your policies,  procedures and pricing; your appointment booking process ; and your dress code. Give the trainer a physical copy of your staff playbook.
• Explain the 4/9 Model detailed above . Share an invoice template.
• Have the new trainer sign a contract for three months.

Sample  Personal Trainer  Job Description  

Under the direction of [supervisor]  and in collaboration with other trainers, contractors, employees or directors of  [business],  you will:  

• Scout, enroll clients, prepare and implement individualized or small-group training strategies for them.
• Scope, prepare and execute individual or small-group training sessions within or outside [business’]  training premises based on m arket demands .  
• Invoice clients, collect monies and write receipts to clients throug h the software system [system] .
• Assist in the promotional endeavors of [business]  through group participation, public speaking, and delivery of promotional materials.  
• Provide trackable resources via shared documents for each client or group .  [insert specific details as needed].  Each workout’s prescription and any notes should be included .    
• Adhere to al l standards of behavior in [business] coaches m anual.
• Operate and oversee [business]  as an attendant as scheduled.  
• Assist in maintaining, cleaning, and resupplying consumables for the facility. 

Introducing t he New Trainer  

You’ve worked hard to establish your authority in the community. You’ve gone the extra mile to build trust with your clients. Your new trainer must do the same.  

Step 1:  Produce videos to establish the new trainer’s authority.  

First, Interview the  new trainer on camera. Ask questions about his or her  life.  Why did the trainer  wa nt to coach others? What’s his or her  favorite and least  favorite exercise? What’s his or her  nutrition philosophy? Who  is the ideal client for that trainer.     Publish the video to your YouTube chan nel, share it to your Facebook p age,  put a 60-second version on Instagram and add it to the trainer’s b io on your website. Send a link to the video to your email list. Share it in your private clients’ group.  Put it at the bottom of the day’s workout post.  Make sure your clients see it.  

Second, prepare 10  short  videos of the trainer. Have him or her  answer  common questions about fitness, demonstrate movements or both. Need questions to answer? Look at the headlines of popular fitness magazines.

Publish these videos one at a time over a week or so. Make sure you distribut e them to your current clients in all your channels.  

Third, invite your seed clients to try a 1:1 session with the new trainer. Use clients who don’t  normally do personal training unless all  your clients are PT clients. In that case, have your best PT clients do a free session with the new coach.  

Tell the client: “I really like the new guy, but  what really matters most is your  opinion. I’d love to have you try a session with him and give me your feedback. What do you think?”  

Even if the client doesn’t like the new coach, you’ve reinforced your relationship with the client by sharing this confidential trust.  

Ask the clie nt to complete a Feedback Form (below ) .     

The last two quest ions on the form are really Net Promoter Score—essentially a measure of a client’s relationship with a business or brand.  If the client answers with an 8, 9 or 10 on the last question (“Would you consider another session for yourself or your family?”) ,  have the new traine r call the client and book the  next session . Or call the client and ask if he or she knows anyone else the new trainer  can help. This is more  than a rating; it’s a path to affinity m arketing, a referral-based strategy to grow a PT business.  

Personal Training Services Feedback   

Thanks for helping us improve our services. We picked you to test our new coach because we trust your judgment! Your feedback will form a major part of our decision to hire.   

• Did the coach arrive on time?   
• What was your first impression?   
• How much did the coach smile?  
• Was the coach dressed professionally?   
• Would you trust the coach to babysit your kids? (That’s how much trus t we like to have in our coaches. )   
• Did the coach teach you anything new?   
• Did the coach make your day better, worse or have little effect?   
• On a sc ale of 1-10 (10 is best ), how much did you benefit from the session?  
• On a sc ale of 1-10 (10 is “definitely” ), would you consider another session or recommend this coach to your  friends and  family?   

Thanks!  You’re really helping us out here.   

Selling Monthly Personal Training Plans

Selling personal training p ackages is out.   

Recurring PT plans are b etter.  

We started as a personal t raining studio before we  did group fitness classes . An d before opening Catalyst, I had been  doing 1:1 training as my full-time career since  2002 (and part-time since 1996 ) .  

That’s a lot of 1:1 time.  

Th e way I sell PT  sessions has changed over time. At first, I simply billed clients at the end of the month. I was doing some in-home PT, and collecting was a nightmare .  

Then I relied on the owner of our local PT studio to collect for me. That worked most of the time, but when it didn’t, I  took the loss .  

When I opened Cataly st, I started selling packages—10 visits and 20 visits. N ow I’m moving on to a subscripti on model, which we call our ID P rogram  (Individual Design) .  

There are two ways to sell a subscription-based PT model. The first is to simply charge a recurring rate every month, like $199 for four 30-minute sessions per month. That’s what we do.  

The second way:  sell 150 se ssions at a large discount,  then finance the purchase for your client. For example, let’s say I charge $80 per hour,  but a client can get a 25 percent  discount for purchasing 100 sessions up   front. Then I offer to finan ce the purchase for them at 15 percent  interest, and they pay monthly. I could actually make back a lot of the discount on the compounding interest. And the client is commit ted to 100 sessions in advance—or else your collection  agency will get them.   

Boom:  retention!  

Here’s the ID Program at Catalyst, broken down into its finer details:  

Nuts and Bo lts  

–  $249 per  mo nth for 4  30 – min ute sessions, and access to open g ym (excluding group times.)  

–  We use the  Trainerize  app for ID.  It provides b etter 1:1 communication with the client, and it sync s with MyFitnessPal in case he or she  choose s  the nutrition accountability option (which brings the price to $269).  

–  Clients get homework after each session,  they  visit the gym to do the homework, and track their results through  Trainerize .  

–  Every third month, one of their sessions is used for an  Inbody  scan and goal review.  

Who It’s For  

–  Busy professionals .  

–  People who like our workouts but don’t want to do them in a group .  

–  People o vercoming a weak link (an injury, a  skill  deficiency, etc. ) .  

–  Clients who are burned out on ou r group programming (it happens ) .  

How We Sell It  

– At intake, after an  InB ody  scan: “Would you prefer  to do these workouts in a group  or 1:1?”  

– At goal r e view, when a client says he or she is  not getting results quickly enough .  

– During a r eboot period, when a client is trying to get back to group training as quickly as possible .  

“Do I need a special certif ication to do Individual Design  or call my program ID?”  

No way.  If you have any certification ,  you’re probably covered. “ID” and “Individual Design” are not  trademarks . Personal Trainers have been using the term s  (and delivering the service) since before I was born.  

“What kind of workouts do your clients do in ID?”  

The workouts are personalized and linked to a client’s stated goals. We focus on success and will use any workouts that get clients closer to their goals.    

“Do clients get 24/7 access to the gym?”  

We’re lucky enough to have a p rivate ID space  so we can give access when the main gym space is busy with class times. But before we had t he space, we just gave clients open g ym access between class times.  

“Is this like ‘remote programming’?”  

Very much so. In fact, many of our clients do their homework at local 24/7 gyms instead of in our space. They only come to Catalyst for their appointments. And that’s fine. Most of the 24/7  globo   gyms have all the equipm ent these folks need now.  

“Who’s your target audience?”  

It’s not   functional fitness  competitors or people looking  fo r “the next cool thing.”  It’s business people—many are entrepreneurs— who need the combination of a flexible schedule and quick, efficient workouts.  

“How do you sell the higher-rate item?”  

Through a consultative process, just like we sell everything else.  

I like the subscription m odel better than packages. After my province enacted its “gift- card law” a few years ago, any unused sessions in a package have to remain on my books forever. In other words, packages never expire. But with a  personal training “membership,”  they do.  

Second, cancellation rates for ID clients are better than cancellation rates for package clients. This is the first time I’ve ever had this data (and I ‘ve never seen it anywhere else ) .  My g uess ID cancellations are less frequent  because a client will probably lose the session if  he or she doesn’t make it in ID, but with a package the client can just postpone training indefinitely .  

That means ID is probably better for clients,  too,  because it encourages better adherence.    

I also really like the amount of texting that occurs  between coach and client through  the  Trainerize  app. I don’t like a lot of personal emails/texts /calls between coach and client  because I think their relationship should pass through the Catalyst filter. And with  Trainerize , it d oes. Seriously, check it out.  

We  still do a lot of 1:1 training   at Catalyst. It accounts for just under 30 percent  of our gross revenue each year.  

If you’r e trying to grow your PT program, you first need to create a clear path for clients to get started.  

Think about the following questions  

– Do you offer a one-on-one i ntro?  

– Do you sell personal training and/or a one-on-one on-r amp option?  

– Do you have a one-on-one or group on-ra mp?  

–  Do your coaches se ll personal training during/after on-r amp?  

– Do you offer 30-minute skill sessions ?  

–  How many coaches do you have offering PT?  

–  Do you create content to help grow interest?  

If you answered no to  any of these questions, you might  want to re-evaluate your business .  Take a step back and  walk through your intro and on-r amp process es  as if you were a new prospect.  

The only way to maxim ize results for your members and your gym is by creating a clear path .   

We don’t subscribe to any one  exercise model . We’ll use any program that will help a client succeed— but Two-Brain is our business model.    

That means better opportunities  for the business, the coaches  and the clients.  

Phone +1 705-575-4535

Email [email protected].

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Personal Trainer Marketing Plan With Examples & PDF Templates

Published by caroline @ wellness creative co on 17 may 2023 17 may 2023.

Writing a marketing plan for your personal training business can help you generate leads, sales, and income consistently . Many trainers experience a ‘feast and famine’ cycle, where they have lots of clients one month and suddenly just a few the next. But just having a simple plan can help you avoid this and enjoy predictable revenue all year round.

In this article – learn how to write your own personal trainer marketing plan by following our simple steps (with examples and templates).

We’re a specialist fitness marketing agency with 15+ years of industry experience, so we know first-hand what works (and what doesn’t!). We’ve helped personal trainers, gyms, and fitness studios to plan and execute their marketing strategies successfully so our methods are tried and tested.

A marketing plan can sound a bit formal and complicated to some people. If you don’t have a background in business (which most PTs don’t) then the idea of writing one might feel a bit daunting. But in reality it’s actually quite easy when you know how… 

Writing marketing plans is something we do regularly for our clients, so over the years we’ve created lots of them. The approach we share here can be used for lots of different fitness businesses, from gym clubs to yoga studios , so you’ll find this useful whatever your set up. 

What to Include in a PT Marketing Plan

A personal trainer marketing plan should include five basic elements…

• Overall goal
• Measurements

We recommend outlining all five elements on one page so that you can see everything in one place. It doesn’t need to be complicated to be effective and if you’re creating it as part of a wider PT business plan , then it’s good to keep this concise. It’s often the process of coming up with the marketing ideas that is more important than the piece of paper itself.

Here’s an example personal trainer marketing plan template…

You can download this template  and a done-for-you PT marketing plan example as part of our Fitness Marketing Bundle or create your own version. Let’s look at each of the five elements that your plan should contain…

#1 – Goal

This is the number one thing you want to achieve. For most personal trainers, this will either be related to financial income or the number of people you help. Once you’ve settled on your big overarching goal, insert that along the top. 

#2 – Objectives

Now think about how you’ll achieve this goal. Can you break it down into smaller parts? For example, if your goal is to make more money as a PT , then you could…

• Charge more for your services ( increase pricing )
• Get more clients
• Sell additional products or services to current clients (like nutritional programs or supplements)

Examples of marketing objectives for a personal trainer could include attracting 5 new clients per month or raising prices by 10%.

#3 – Strategies

So, how will you meet these objectives? By outlining some simple marketing strategies that break down exactly what you’ll do.

For example, if your marketing objective is to position yourself as a premium trainer and command higher prices, then you could…

• Identify and research a target market with high disposable income
• Build your authority and credibility on a specialist area of fitness training
• Develop premium branding for your business
• Increase your hourly rate by 20%
• Introduce new training packages or bundles

Strategies should be high-level so will focus on things like your target market, branding, and increasing leads, sales, and loyalty.

#4 – Tactics

Tactics is where you can go into detail about how you’ll execute your marketing strategies. This is often the part that comes most easily to PTs since it’s all about ‘doing’. 

It can be helpful to consider the marketing mix for personal trainers when coming up with your tactics. So, think about…

• Product or service

What methods can you use to communicate with your potential clients? Will you focus on digital marketing and online channels, or in-person events and printed materials? Define what your outputs will be (e.g. website , podcast interviews, business cards , leaflets ) and messaging channels ( social media , Google ads , email).

This comprehensive list of effective marketing ideas for personal trainers will help you with tactics.

Fitness Marketing Ideas Mini-Guide

25 fitness marketing ideas for your gym, studio, or online business. Attract new members, get more PT clients & boost your fitness blog.

#5 – Measurement

The final part of your marketing plan involves defining how you’ll measure each activity. How will you know if your promotional efforts are generating results? Or which ones are most effective?

Think back to your objectives and make sure you measure against them. Although clicks, reach, and attendee numbers are interesting, if they don’t reflect your objective then they aren’t relevant. 

So, if your goal is to sign up 10 new PT clients, then the measure of success should focus on the number of leads you generated and how many converted into customers. 

Personal Trainer Marketing Plan PDF Template

By following these steps, it’s easy to create a marketing plan for your PT business that’ll help you achieve your goals. Summarising your goal, objectives, strategies, tactics, and measurements on one page makes it easy to refer to and use often. This will help keep your marketing activities on track and focused on delivering for your business. 

To help guide you, we created a downloadable personal trainer marketing plan PDF template. It includes a sample plan for a PT business along with examples for gym studios, fitness bloggers, and equipment companies too.

Download it as part of our Fitness Business Templates Bundle which includes sales scripts, professionally designed promotional materials, and time-saving cheat sheets. 

PT Marketing Templates & More

Our ready-made templates make it quicker, cheaper, and easier to promote your personal training business. They can improve the effectiveness of your sales and marketing campaigns. If you aren’t an experienced marketer, then templates also provide a useful guide for you to follow.

Whether you’re a newly qualified personal trainer or experienced PT studio owner, these templates will save you time and effort. They’ll help you to plan and organize your promotional activities so that you generate more leads and revenue . You’ll get 50+ templates covering marketing strategy, social media, content marketing, and promotion.

Caroline @ Wellness Creative Co

Qualified personal trainer (BSc Sports Science) & nutritionist (MSc Human Nutrition) with 15+ years of fitness & wellness marketing experience working with global brands.

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