Three Keys To Making Six Figures As A Fitness Professional

Summary:

• The main reason great fitness trainers earn less than $60k per year 
• The only two things that matter when it comes to earning more in fitness 
• The economics of a six figure fitness business 

As natural born hustlers, most fitness professionals believe that they can earn more money by working harder, putting in more hours, and being a better than average trainer. This reminds me of the studies that find over 80% of drivers believe they are above average in their driving skills. What trainer doesn’t believe they’re better than average? Even if you are “above average”, the reality is that most “above-average” personal trainers don’t make nearly as much as they should. Let’s change that today.

To achieve above average income, you don’t need to work harder or have a better program at all. Your programs are probably awesome and you’re probably working your butt off. This article will explain the three keys that allow a small minority of fitness professionals to earn well-above average income (over $100k) while putting in less than average effort. 

#1: The main reason great fitness trainers (like yourself) earn less than $60k per year

The main reason that a lot of personal trainers don’t earn as much as they should is because there’s a ceiling on their earning potential. Actually, there are two ceilings:

There’s a ceiling on how much clients will pay and there is a ceiling on the number of hours in the day. It’s that simple. Because of these two factors, the amount that you can earn in a day is capped the second you start booking sessions. 

#2 The only things that matters when it comes to earning (financial) “gainz” in the fitness industry. 

The first thing we want to look at in making more as a trainer is Scalability.

One-on-one personal training is not scalable. As soon as you get a full book of clients, you can only train that number of clients in a day. If you work for 8 hours, and have hour-long sessions, you can only have 8 sessions.

With this model of training, there are three options to make more money: raise your prices, shorten your sessions, or work more hours. Most trainers opt to work more hours (which is why you commonly hear of 11-hour shifts at the gym). 

The solution is to transition from one-on-one personal training to group training. 

And now I know what you’re thinking: “I did NOT become a certified personal trainer to do Spin and Zumba classes!”

And you’re absolutely right, you didn’t. But doing group training doesn’t mean you have to sell out, start a Zumba gym, listen to Shakira during every single training session, and do every workout while yelling into a microphone.

That’s because there is now a better way to offer group fitness. One that allows you to walk around and provide meaningful guidance to your clients while they follow a structured and highly effective program you can be proud to offer. 

This is the secret to doubling or even tripling your income without working ten times harder. 

If you can train 24 to 48 people at a time, then you dramatically increase your earning potential because you’ve multiplied your effort. 

But, are you ready for the really exciting part? If you can run multiple classes in multiple studios at the same time, then you have unlimited earning potential.

So, how can you run multiple classes in multiple locations at once? 

That brings us to point #3 

#3 Unlimited scaling requires systems. 

You can’t reliably expect to serve many, many more clients if you can’t be in many, many places at once. So you need systems that allow you to advertise, sign-up members, check them in, explain the class, and give members an awesome workout that is proven to give results. 

Systems are the processes by which you serve more clients with the same level of effort. 

At Premia Fitness, we’ve built systems to create thriving fitness businesses time and time again. 

So, how does a smart personal trainer like yourself use systems and scalability to break through the ceiling of their earning potential? 

There are two ways.

The first is to try to add-in some group training sessions in addition to your personal training. We’ll call this the hybrid approach. 

The second is to make the full transition to group training. (There is a third where you run multiple facilities, but we’ll save that for another time.) In both of these scenarios, you can still continue specialized training you do while increasing your income dramatically. 

Below we compare hypothetical examples of personal training, hybrid, and group focused training. 

The numbers and inputs we’ve created in the tables show so few of the endless possibilities for generating massive income through fitness. To start making more money, you need to have an understanding of what’s possible. There’s a youtube video and spreadsheet (completely free, no form to fill out or anything) that can be your first step in the road to a six-figure income: Watch the video on youtube and get the spreadsheet tool here: https://youtu.be/InHBEQMdEsQ

https://youtu.be/InHBEQMdEsQ

These tools allow you to play around with the numbers to explore the earning potential in your own group fitness schedule. If you haven’t started as a fitness professional, these resources will provide you with a basis to explore different business models you’re thinking of (or that you haven’t thought of yet!) When you accurately understand the numbers that control your business, you possess the power to make change and begin making more money. Start today. 

Conclusion: 

Making six figures a year as a fitness professional is not about “industry secrets” or spending tens of thousands of dollars on marketing a month. If you follow the simple economics of fitness businesses using systems and scalability, you’ll be well on your way to a six-figure (or higher) income while improving the lives of others. If you understand the three keys to success that we’ve outlined today, you can have unlimited earning potential. 

We look forward to any questions you have about opening a successful gym. Contact us now to learn more and schedule a call.