You’ve got your PT qualification? Check! Getting your qualification has been the easy part Starting a personal training business is where your challenges lie. It requires some planning and organisation, which can be accomplished with a business plan, helping you to stay focused. It puts you in control, leading you where you want to go, so you’ll end up happier and wealthier. This blog post will provide you with six steps that will help create an effective strategy for launching your own personal training business.
What is a personal trainer business plan?
A personal trainer business plan is a written document that outlines the objectives of your new company and how you will achieve them. Think of it as a written description of your business’s future.
Who needs a personal trainer business plan?
Any personal trainer in the industry. Don’t wait until you can make a living as a professional trainer to think about your future trajectory.
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.
Depending on your needs and goals, you might also use it to impress potential investors, attract employees or customers, or deal with suppliers.
Personal trainer business plan template
Step 1: Write your mission statement
This is two or three sentences explaining what your company aims to do, and why.
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 what you believe about personal ethical and professional conduct. Your training philosophy is what you believe about physical activity.
Answer the questions: 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?
Identifying where you stand with this question will help you have a much easier time conveying your value to others, and creating a coaching avatar that helps people connect with you.
Step 2: Assess the fitness industry and your competition
Before you can figure out what your fitness industry niche is, you need to research the market further. There are two main tiers for fitness pros:
- Local
- National
To understand what’s happening locally look for gyms/fitness centers in your area and try to speak with the people there, which might include patrons of the gym as well as staff. This will help you understand what people are looking for from a gym and why they choose it over others.
For a national perspective, you could turn to Google – you’d be surprised how much data you can find useful with one simple click.
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? Give yourself an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses will help you find those answers.
Last but not the least, determine your biggest threat. Think you don’t have competition? You do. Think of 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.
Step 3: Map out your revenue streams
This one is simple. Just answer one question: How are you going to deliver your service? Will you work with clients one-on-one or lead a group class? Will you supplement your income by training online?
You will need to start out with only one or two sources of income so that you can see how they work (or don’t work). You might find that one (online training) generates enough revenue for you to focus on it exclusively. Maybe you’ll come across another source of income (teaching group classes).
But don’t feel like you have to add revenue streams. Some of the most successful companies in the world offer just one or two products while others work hard and are only moderately successful with several concepts. By targeting your focus on one thing, it will be easier for you to be better at that specific area than other types of attention.
Step 4: Plan for operating costs
Get a sense of your business’s operating expenses by jotting down where the money goes. Consider rent, equipment, insurance, software and administrative fees and calculate what they add up to. Keep in mind that some percentage of that income will go to taxes so you’ll have enough to live on every month
Now tackle revenue projections. Make a high-low chart, with one column for worst-case scenario, and another for best-case.
Comparing your best-case and worst-case scenarios is helpful because you can work to ensure that the good outweighs the bad.
If you’re comfortable with those numbers, great! If not, rewrite the plan until you are.
Step 5: Create your sales and marketing plan
In creating a marketing plan there are 3 things you need to identify – your Assets, Arsenal, Action plan. Here’s how it works.
The first step of your plan is to identify what assets you have to offer as a personal trainer. Maybe you’re good at videos or holding consultations, or maybe you excel when one-on-one with clients.
Then identify which skills you will use to help people the best, and decide how they should be shared. 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, specifying the time frequency of your deployment. For instance, you might post a new video once per week or go to a networking event once every two weeks.
You’ll refine this section through trial and error, but it can be a good start.
Step 6: Honestly assess your risk
In Step 4, I had you draw up both your sunniest and worst-case scenarios. Too many personal trainers are overly optimistic when writing their business plans, underestimating the hurdles they will face in order to succeed.
The problem with being overly optimistic about the whole things is that you’ll be blinded by the sunshine. 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.
That brings us to risk. How much risk is written into your plan, and how much can you tolerate?
If you’re just getting started, your risk tolerance may be higher because it is more manageable to start over if things don’t work out. 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.
What happens now?
A business plan is always subject to change. Even though you never need a detailed, professional version for investors, or if you’re the only one who ever sees it on your own accord once finished, there are still times when adjustments are necessary.
Every time you launch a product or service, your financial situation changes, and/or your business direction shifts, you will have to modify the details of your plan.
But you don’t have to wait on a major change. Any successful plan will eventually run its course, and need to be updated. If you think it’s time for an update, then chances are you’re right.
