How to Become a Personal Trainer

HOW to Become a Personal Trainer - First Question

First you have to understand what kind of Personal Trainer you want to be: Employee or Employer?? It is all about MARKETING!

What's that you say? You're not ready to hire staff and run your own operation? Well, guess what, if you work independently, you are your own employer, so relax - you can employ 1 or 1000 and this advice holds.

Definition of Personal Trainer Employee: you work at a fitness club, corporate facility or studio that advertises it's personal training services. You really don't need to do much to get clients because the facility does the marketing, advertising, etc. HOWEVER!! If the facility does a lousy job advertising, guess what? You won't have any clients to train. So before you choose a facility to send your resume, make sure they have a full roster of clients wanting personal training services. Ask the other trainers and ask the clients going in/out of the gym. Is the gym full (no=bad sign)? Are there lots of trainers sitting around ready to help (yes=bad sign for you as a trainer)?

Defintion of Personal Trainer Employer: you work for yourself. You may use a gym facility, but you pay rent to do so - like a "Trainer Only" gym where personal training clients have to be escorted by their trainers at all times. Or you bring equiptment with you to your client's house or other meeting location. You can earn a higher hourly rate, but you do your own marketing and advertising.

Indeed, the main difference between employer and employee is who does the marketing. If you have zero experience with marketing, get a course! Gone are the days when you can stick up fliers around your neighborhood - people don't want to see your litter! In some areas (my neighborhood), you can be fined $500 for each flier. Ouch!