So you love fitness and want to make it a career? Great!Yet there is more to being successful as a personal trainer than being good at working out. The good news is you can find out what these things are below.
- Get Good At Listening
Yep, if you are going to be a thriving trainer, one skill you need is being able to listen to your clients. Indeed, each person will have individual needs, and concerns, and want results that are specific to them. To that end, being able to dig deep and define these is an essential skill. Of course, building this step into your client onboarding process is the best approach. This is because there will be too much info to gather at the inquiry stage, and it will also allow you to touch base with your client and devise a plan best suited to them. You can even write out some initial questions to help you get the very best results at this stage.
- Walk The Walk
You have to walk the walk, as well as talk the talk as a personal trainer. That means you need to keep yourself fit and healthy, and mostly stick to the kind of diet you recommend.You also need to work up a sweat with your clients when they do. Yes, that means doing the exercises along with them, and not just shouting orders from the sidelines.
- Specialize
Another way you can help to boost your personal training career is to pick an area of expertise to specialize in. That way, you can rise to the top of the market much faster and make a name for yourself as the expert to consult in that area. Of course, the specialism you choose will be up to you and the activities you prefer. Although, it’s also worth considering the demand for specific niches, as well as the prices you can charge for training in them.For instance, becoming a bodybuilding trainer can be far more profitable than working with a more general clientele. The reason for this is that bodybuilders tend to be greatly committed to their competitors and their bodies and so are therefore more willing to pay higher rates to get the results they are looking for.
- Work With Your Clients Not Against Them
Following on from the section above, if you want to be a successful personal trainer you will need to learn to work with your clients rather than against them. That means using a flexible approach that focuses not only on results but the customer experience too. Indeed, just as it is in any customer-facing industry, making sure that your clients get the experience they want, as well as the results, is vital. With that in mind, you may wish to pivot to a model where you offer encouragement to clients that are struggling rather than sticking to a “my way or the highway” approach.One way you can develop this skill in yourself is by adopting a daily mindfulness practice. Indeed, mindfulness can help you be more patient and more flexible because it allows you to see the thoughts and emotions the brain throws up, before acting on them. Something that will provide you with a pause where you can decide how to act, rather than acting purely on instinct.
Final Thought!
It is always said that it’s not what you know but who you know that matters most when it comes to accomplishing higher levels of success.Applying this to the personal training career, think about the people you can connect with who can help you level up.Start with doing some research and come up with some fitness mentors who may be willing to share tips and tricks for creating a more substantial business that brings in more personal training revenue.Never give up on your dreams; no matter how complex your journey is, you can succeed by believing in yourself!