Trainers: You need to work for yourself

There’s a saying in business: if you’re not growing you’re dying.

Personal Training is a business. Your expertise and time are exchanged at your per session rate. I’m a trainer with over 20 years of experience. Some brief thoughts on this model:

Most trainers work in a gym.

Gyms provide:

• facility

• leads

• insurance

• Partial health insurance?

• Continuing education reimbursement?

For these conveniences gyms takes a percentage of your per session rate. I.e. you charge $100 for a session and split $55 to the gym, $45 to you.

Gyms often add a pay bump to incentivize trainers to work more hours. If you work a certain number of hours (let’s say 25) you get a small pay increase to $50/session.

• Work 24 hours your pay is $1080.

• Work 25 hours your pay is $1250.

• The 25th session is worth $170.

• If you miss that 25th session 20 times this year (illness, client travel, family commitments) you lose $3400.

I’ve worked anywhere from 15- 40 sessions a week for my career. There is a balancing act between working enough to make a living, and working so much your burn out and the quality of your service decreases. My sweet spot is 30-35 sessions per week. That’s enough hours to make a living without overworking or sacrificing personal time/health.

Some gyms provide a sales bonus if your fitness team hits a sales quota. The quota is:

• not determined by you.

• reliant on the work and industriousness of several other trainers whose schedules and workload are all susceptible to (illness, client travel, family commitments).

• The more successful you are the higher your sales quota is. You can outsell 90% of your co-workers, fail to reach your quarterly sales goal ((illness, client travel, family commitments) and receive no bonus.

Let’s look at working for yourself.

• You charge the same rate: $100.

• Rendering 100 sessions = $10,000.

• You pay your own insurance ($100/month).

• You pay your own health insurance (the gym wasn’t paying the entire amount before. Let’s say you pay $450/month)

• You’ll have to rent space from a studio gym. (I typically paid $1500/month).

Let’s look at the options side by side:

• Gym: 100 sessions/month x $47.50/per (assuming pay bump 50% of the time) - $250/month (health insurance)= $4500.

• Self Employed: 100 sessions/month x $100/per - $450 (health) - $1500 (rent)- $100 (insurance)= $7950.

• Self employed Trainers make 176% more, per month, for the same work.

• Is what your gym provides you worth $3450/month?

• $41,400/year?

So why doesn’t every trainer work for themself?