Starting a Fitness Business
Starting a Fitness Business
One of the things we’re often asked by our fitness course students and graduates is how should they go about starting a fitness business?
With such a wide range of career options available ranging from working in a gym as a Fitness Instructor, Exercise to Music Instructor, Studio Coordinator through to running specialist Kids Fitness Classes and being a Personal Trainer and more, there’s certainly lots of options to choose from. But once you’ve decided on your chosen career path and are seeking fitness clients how exactly should you go about it?
Starting a Fitness Business – Top Tips
If this sounds all too familiar dive into our fitness business tips designed to set you on the path to creating a successful fitness business from the outset.
Build a Fitness Community
Start local and build connections with partners and businesses where you can add value to their clients. For example, Osteopaths and Physiotherapists are typically keen to refer clients coming to the end of their treatment to Personal Trainers and gyms they rate within their community. This is win win because if your client suffers an injury you know exactly who and where to refer them. Word soon spreads and a referral from a recognised Fitness Professional in your immediate locality is worth its weight in gold.
Have an Active Online Presence
For the vast majority of potential clients their first point of contact will be to have a look at the fitness services you offer online. So it’s vital to have an active website promoting what you do, your prices, clients you work with, local areas covered and so on. The days of passive websites are long gone so make sure your approach is active by making time to refresh your website every few months and include regular social media feeds that are relevant to your audience.
Develop Online Partnerships
Every health and fitness professional wants to find new clients, fill up their classes and maximise profits. Whilst this may seem a little daunting at the start with the help of expert online partnerships such as My Fitness Times finding new clients and managing your fitness business doesn’t have to be a hassle. In fact it makes good business sense making it easier to manage your classes, your clients and your business as a whole and maximising the time you have to work with your clients.
Here at the Academy of Fitness Professionals we teamed up with My Fitness Times who help course graduates on their way to starting a fitness business. Their platform allows clients to easily find, book and pay for classes online whilst giving them all the information they need about your classes. The process is super simple; they just enter their postcode or the name of the instructor to get all the details of the class – or even the full timetable – to find the right class for them. They can then make an immediate booking and receive confirmation and all the relevant info straight into their inbox. What’s more it’s completely FREE to build your public profile, market your classes and start taking bookings, perfect for the Fitness Professional who is just starting out.
Become a Fitness Ambassador
There’s a whole host of local community services and groups who would be thrilled for you to volunteer some time and share some of your expert skills. Whilst some may be free, others may pay a small fee or expenses, but this part of your plan should be about recognising fitness business opportunities where you can add value and build your network of connections. Not sure where or how to start? GP practices are typically on the lookout for walking guides for mixed ability fitness walks, local sports clubs such as athletics, boxing, football, youth clubs and charities are always keen to have more support and local care homes and senior groups typically welcome help with activity based sessions. Rather than giving up time for free this is about getting involved in your community in areas where you have a genuine interest and passion to help others, whilst at the same time you’re able to get yourself and your fitness business known to a wider audience.
Learn from Fitness Industry Experts
A great place to start planning how to grow your fitness business is by seeking out the help and expertise of industry experts who have a proven track record. So if you’re planning to set up exercise to music classes connect with some local class instructors, ask if they’d be willing to meet up over a cuppa and find out how they got started.
If you’re planning on setting up your own freelance Personal Trainer business a specialist seminar will provide you with essential knowledge and techniques to maximise your potential for success and carve out a plan for how to attract clients and grow your client base. These interactive sessions enable you to ask questions and learn from others as well as share ideas – all of which can only add to your success as a Personal Trainer.
