In 2015, the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that between 2010 and 2020, jobs in personal training and fitness instruction would grow by 24%. Guess whose estimations turned out to be true. But on the flip side, they turned right in the year 2020. The pandemic created a roadblock in the fitness industry and declined its global revenue by over 32.45%.
However, the darkness brought on by the lockdown worked wonders for the fitness industry. It humbled fitness industry members to one realization: scaling a business is difficult, arguably more so in the fitness industry. And there is a need to scale it beyond personal training.
You start a gym, implement push marketing strategies, and take the burden of the advertisement costs. Somehow, you end up getting a lot of clients, but the high equipment costs, coupled with the necessary certifications that you need to start a business, make it impossible to sustain a fitness business for a long time.
Don’t get us wrong. Becoming a personal trainer can be lucrative, and the perks it can bring to your life should be noted. But the skill level required to get the right clientele and sustain a long-lasting relationship with them is off the roof.
Coupled with that, the advertisement overhead required to attract personal training clients is not small. And when you compound it all together, it makes the $70,000 a year you’re likely to make as a personal trainer, it seems not so worth it, especially if you don’t want to live paycheck to paycheck.
So, when you have gone through so many trials and tribulations to get to where you are, you deserve more, you need to go beyond.
Here are some philosophies to get started:
The fitness industry mustn’t be pigeonholed in personal training only.
Fitness is a lifestyle that can inspire and capitalize on it.
Take those ideals to heart, and you will unlock the power to scale your fitness business beyond the chains of personal training.
Beyond Personal Training: The Fitness Business Diversification Guidelines
Fitness is not only about personal training, and training is not about personal sessions. There is a unique idea that underpins it, which people became more open to accepting in the last two years.
When the pandemic closed the gyms, the number of COVID cases with comorbidities made people more open to the idea of fitness. That idea takes a lot of forms, and how you can deliver on those ideas is the key to diversifying your fitness business.
Creating a Personal training Course
As gyms closed, the idea of a home gym became more endearing. “Digital fitness” captured the minds of people. The World Economic Forum reported a 47% increase in downloads of fitness and health-related apps. India, a country with the world’s second-biggest population, saw these app downloads increase by 156%.
And what are fitness apps other than a vehicle to dispense online training through courses?
However, getting started with creating a personal training course is where people get stymied.
The lack of communication skills and the amount of information overload can turn a training course into a jumbled mess.
What you need to do is cut through the chaff and deliver the essentials in the best way possible.
Start with a simple concept and a smart tagline
To create a fitness course that sells, find a fitness course that is in demand –and what is in demand is a simple concept that can entice an audience to look at your course.
Don’t imitate the courses that are already present –your value proposition must be unique. Introspect about what people are asking for and what you can deliver.
Think of a catchy tagline –keep it simple, but use something that can appeal to your audience –Men want to rock hard abs quickly, women want to look sexier quicker, and both want to lose weight fast.
Use these concepts as foundations, note them down in a notebook and let them cook. Come back to them when you’re articulate enough to properly put them in a course.
Decide which type of Clients you want to work with Online
Instagram has cleared most of the roadblocks to becoming an online personal trainer. You can show results through images and appeal to the audience. That is why even modest online personal trainers have upwards of 2,000 Instagram followers.
However,Instagram has also eschewed people’s perceptions about personal training.
Fitness short clips consist of random, over complicated exercises that look good and have a way of going viral. However, viral content doesn’t have a definitive audience, which, for someone who is trying to build a business in the fitness industry, is not the right idea to follow.
So, for courses, decide from the start about the type of customers you want to cater to.
One example that I can give is Lebe Stark. Sporting a modest near 50k following on YouTube, he has no equal when it comes to kettlebells. His primary mode of training others is through YouTube, which he uses as the vehicle to inform people about his special courses and special kettlebell courses like 30 days of Kettlebell, 90 Gains of Kettlebell, and Hybrid style masterclass workout.
Even with a small following, he has an impressive business –his positive attitude is also helpful.
Therefore, identify from the very start the type of clients you want to work with, one that can respond to your brand of training.
Precision will help you carve your own niche in the fitness industry. It will help you attract clients that are serious about fitness. Those you train can transform into thought leaders whose word of mouth you can leverage to scale your fitness brand faster.
Remember, when it comes to fitness, trying to appeal to everyone is a slippery slope.
Identify your learning outcomes
Why should people care about your fitness course?
What kind of goals are you promising?
Are you promising to provide consistency?
Or are you promising a particular result?
Identifying the right learning outcome will ensure that the right people buy your course.
To extend our earlier example, Lebe Stark’s 90 gains of Kettlebells focus on muscle building through kettlebell training for men over 30, with a focus on helping men build practical, functional, and aesthetic muscles over the course of 12 weeks.
It is one of the few examples of an impressive and well-defined learning outcome, which for him has proven fruitful. It has allowed him to gain an impressive number of clients and the admiration of the likes of Denis Vasilev –the world Kettlebell sports champion.
Now, by all accounts, Lebe stark is a small-time YouTuber. However, the courses are expensive, and their live versions have limited seats. It means that through precise reach, he can create a sustainable business.
Arrange your Course Properly
Don’t turn your course into an information dump that turns into a snoozefest for your audience. Collate all the details properly, and when creating the course, try to guesstimate how much your customer base is likely to progress through the training as they progress through your course.
Simply put, use the experience to estimate how soon or how late customers may reach certain milestones.
And finally, focus on the right content -don’t allow fluff to penetrate your course in any way. Let the course speak for itself –don’t spice it up with extras that you believe will create engagement. Nothing repels good customers faster than looking at a cost that can’t get to the point quickly.
Start Creating the Course
Once you have collated the course and taken care of all the final details, add structure so your clients can understand.I
t has been proven that instead of one long content, a sequence of small, digestible modules can be easily followed by a customer. So, pay heed to that as well.
Leverage Marketing Channels to Spread the Word out about your course
Once you have created the course, you must marketit properly.
Find out where your client base is most likely to interact with your course and start working on marketing content to promote it. Take a deep dive into the digital marketing strategies that can help you upsell –positively reinforce the value of –your course to your audience.
Leveraging Social Media
Social media is the ultimate superpower for the fitness industry. With its aesthetic-focused approach, you can market your workouts or your fitness-related products quite easily. That said, the social media market is saturated with fitness influencers.
Too much white noise makes people unable to differentiate between legitimate fitness influencers and those who are in it just to show off their looks.
Therefore, to leverage the full power of social media, you need to craft content specific to social media platforms that gives your viewers the most transparent look inside your industry.
Instagram and Facebook
They are the most popular, and they work together well because of their synchronicity. With over 190 million people following fitness accounts on Facebook, and over 140 million people following fitness accounts on Instagram, you can have a large client base to tap into.
However, to leverage Facebook and Instagram properly, you must be from the business space –which means opening business accounts. Individual accounts on Instagram won’t get you far while business accounts give you access to advanced insights, promotions tools, and reporting. Getting access to these tools also requires a Facebook page. It is a very mature interface for those with long-term goals.
Also, when it comes to posting, cross-posting from Instagram to Facebook is a great idea. You don’t need to mull over the production value. Since the goal is just to get people talking, your content can do it for you.
You post on Instagram to start the conversation and use it as a gateway to funnel your viewers to your Facebook page. The place where you will nurture your community.
Tiktok
In all honesty, Tiktok’s appearance hasn’t been the best. People still believe that it is teenage-focused, and cringe-fest fitness content does not make it better. However, if you are able to look past it, there is unparalleled value in it for fitness influencers.
Featuring the lowest-hanging fruit of creating traction, Tiktok lets you add popular songs for your reels. Also, with a tap of a button, you can share your TikTok reels on Instagram and Facebook. As we mentioned before, funneling the conversation to create a community on Facebook.
YouTube
Youtube is great for posting all kinds of fitness content. From routines to tutorials, from podcasts to critiques on fitness trends, the versatility YouTube affords you is high.
Produce a video well, and high search and ranking traffic can be yours for years to come.
That said, YouTube hinges on quality. Your video must stand out in terms of production quality to gain attention. Those factors compound the production cost. However, it is a great way to build a fitness brand’s authority. And if you are a bitstingy about the budget, do podcasts.
Fitness podcasts have gained a lot of traction post-pandemic. From Joe Rogan’s regular inflow of guests from the fitness niche to the educational approach of Mind Pump –there is a variety of fitness content in the podcast ocean.
And since people listen to podcasts, you can split the asset audio and take over your conversations to Spotify, Apple Podcast, or iTunes.
Linkedin has so far been untapped for fitness entrepreneurs Most popular professionals that hang out on this platform have a business-minded approach with no care for a fitness lifestyle. However, like other platforms, LinkedIn is also a community –one that you can tap into as a fitness influencer.
Focus on providing value to your readers throughregular posts about fitness. Join a community where you’re likely to get traction.
Pro tip: Focus on video content becauseLinkedIn’s video platform is still in the works. It is constantly improving, which makes it even better since, as an early-mover, you can leverage its power to get more traction from the start.
That said, before taking on the role of a fitness influencer on LinkedIn, optimize your profile properly. Do a deep dive into your profile page and get a consultation if you need to give yourself the best professional image.
Don’t use Twitter as a marketing venue for your fitness courses or merchandise. It is fruitless. However, it is good for starting a conversation. The wild and strongly opinionated crowd of Twitter makes for a great place to create dialogue, foster engagement, and, if you’re lucky, funneling some of those who are engaged into buying your courses or products.
Becoming a Part of the Affiliate programs
Getting into affiliate programs is another way to diversify your business beyond personal training truly. It is especially powerful if you’re running a website since the long-form content will allow you to post affiliate links.
That said, affiliates in social media are also growing. For instance, if you gain upwards of 1.5k followers on Instagram, an affiliate will likely message you to market your products.
However, that mirage of value can be a slippery slope if you’re just beginning to get traction. You must be careful who you associate yourself with. Pursue transparency and ethical practice as if your business depends on them. Because, as far as affiliate marketing is concerned, it does.
Reputable
Picking between prominent and lesser-known brands is not as important as you think. Conventionally, an ideal affiliate would be one with a great following. However, the story takes a different turn when you research a bit deeper.
Let me explain. Affiliates with better brand awareness are great, yes. But so are affiliates that focus on quality products. When you’re diving into affiliate marketing, you need to focus on quality more than brand awareness.
Therefore, brand awareness matters less than businesses that offer high-quality products and have a great reputation among customers.
Another reason why you must affiliate with lesser-known brands is that they offer better deals.
Pick a familiar product
When you have become an affiliate, your goal is to create engagement through your content, so people buy the product, and you get a portion of the commission. For engagement to work properly, your content must be great. And to create great content easily, you need products you’re familiar with.
It also helps you identify the right message to broadcast to appealto the right customers.
Niche fitting product
Your audience is more likely to interact with products that relate to your niche. If you affiliate with an irrelevant product, know that irrelevancy will make you sound like a sell-out, which is a detriment if you’re trying to build a solid foundation. So, choose a niche-fitting product.
But we understand that finding an affiliate product that exactly fits your niche takes time and effort. So, what is the solution?
Craft a marketing message that smoothly integrates your niche with the product you’re trying to advertise.
In Lebe Stark’s case, the affiliate is Manscape, a company that offers soft trimmers for private regions. He has successfully integrated the value of a shaven pubic region with kettlebell swings.
Choose products that your audience likes
One of the most important factors to consider is affiliating with brands your audience likes, which means finding a brand with the right OR (Online reputation). However, before you do so, take steps to understand the mindset of your customers as well, which means defining a target audience.
It might seem a little out of place. However, once you have posted for long enough, and even irrelevant posts start to get traction, buyer personas have a habit of slipping from the mind. Therefore, take a step back and ensure you have enough information about your customers to choose the right product.
Check out the commission levels
Of course, without the right commission, affiliate marketing is a waste of time. Therefore, put special emphasis on the commission levels for each product. The rule of thumb is that if a product takes effort to market, the commission is high, and if it is easier, the commission is low.
Choose both types of products.
Easier-to-market products help you earn more profits since their order rate is higher. However, if you really trust a product with a high commission, you can put your nuanced marketing skills to work and get customers who will be okay with shelling out a few extra bucks.
Creating Merch
There is none in the fitness industry that has not heard about Gymshark. It started as a supplement company but shifted to an apparel brand. Withthe “Stay Humble” motto now permeating across the fitness influencer space on Instagram and YouTube, Gymshark is the most successful example of fitness apparel brands going big.
When asked about how Francis, the CEO of Gymshark, was able to make the company into a unicorn in a short time, he attributed it all to “ACHA”:
- Assembling a dream team
- Creating an influencer community
- Having a vision,
- And a customer-focused approach is the reason
We can deconstruct these statements however we want, but we can’t just brush off the success.
However, gym shark started as a supplement company and then shifted to merch. As a personal trainer, you can’t repeat this feat. People are emotional, and they will not likely take it kindly to you going away from fitness to sell merch. However, what you can do is something better –accommodating both.
Take the same ACHA approach towards creating merchandise. Bootstrap your brand by funneling your personal training earnings. Be laser-focused on your marketing efforts, and keep moving forward.
That said, don’t expect the same level of success as Gymshark just as quickly –the market is also saturated. To stand apart, you have to do your own part, which depends on you.
For example, Casey Ho of Blogilates created Popflex,a line of innovative workout gear for a firm that wants to get into great shape and “look good while doing it.”
Learning From the Best: Embracing the industry players
However, it is important to know that just looking at these tips won’t be of any help to you. Implementing them properly is where you will be able to see results. However, roadblocks exist when your mind goes into applying these philosophies.
You take one step, and doubts surround you, with no way to move forward. You are not alone in feeling that way. So, if you find yourself in a doubtful rut, looking at those who have already done it before is a great idea.
Take the case of Alex Hormozi, for instance. His journey started as a gym owner and a personal trainer like yourself. However, his financial conditions weren’t optimal, forcing him to sleep in his own gym. It was only in his mid-20s, when he had to file for bankruptcy, that his lateral thinking emerged, through which he persisted, learned, and now owns a portfolio of companies and makes over $100 million a year.
How did he do it? He upskilled and leveraged all of them.
He used his marketing grit to scale up his business and bought five gyms. After that, he came into the limelight of many industry players coming forward to take his help and learn from him. Alex then traded off all of his five gyms for creating a course called Gym Launch, a consulting business that helps gyms worldwide accumulate wealth.
Currently, over 4,500 gyms across 13 countries have learned from this course, and many have been able to earn wealth by successfully imitating his approach. Alex Hormozi is now an investor, owning pieces of promising business through his holding company, Acquisitions.com.
Another example is Beachbody’s founder Carl Daikeler, who took to social media and created an ethical and modern multi-level marketing machine to influence over 340,000 independent coaches on social media.
He tapped into the power of storytelling to inspire people and created an ethical multi-level marketing structure that has, so far, proven to be sustainable.
Stories such as these make it possible to grow your fitness business to scale beyond personal training -however, there is one thing to remember –consistency is key.
Conclusion
Personal training is a respectable and well-earning responsibility. However, in the era of passive income, you can do a lot more with your efforts if you follow the right channels. These tips are not to recreate the narrative or rebuild your business from the ground up. Their focus is to supplement your personal training knowledge with businesses-mindedness to diversity. Those six-pack ab pics on social media have the ability to draw attention, now leverage that attention to scale your business in the fitness industry.