At one point in my career, I was training as many as 12 to 13 people a day, 6 days a week, and doing paperwork on the 7th day. Keep in mind, these were primarily 60-minute, one-on-one sessions. I was going practically non-stop. My wife said that I was even training people in my sleep!
I did that for years with barely any downtime and I never burned out. You know why? Because I loved it! It didn’t feel like work. I really enjoyed what I was doing, and I was making a hell of a living from it! The flame still burns today. I do around 40 sessions a week and still love it.
The ones in the industry that have been at it for years and are still going strong share the same passion. Here’s a great passage from Joe DeFranco that sums it up nicely:
I have literally become successful training athletes out of a storage closet! What does this tell you? It tells you that this business is about results! A fancy gym with a high-budget marketing campaign might get people in the door, but it doesn’t keep them there. Simply put, the success of my company hasn’t been because of some witty marketing campaign; and it certainly isn’t because I’m working out of a big gym with fancy equipment. I attribute the success to a tireless work ethic and an unmatched passion of helping athletes achieve their goals. Every single one of my clients has come to me through word of mouth advertising. Athletes talk. And if your athletes are seeing results training with you, they will tell everyone that they know about you.
By no means is this business easy. If you want to be successful, you must be willing to put in the time. It’s a 7-day-a-week job! Besides training athletes for 40+ hours a week, there’s phone calls, meetings with the accountant, payroll, insurance issues, tax issues, scheduling issues, managing the business books, updating the website, etc., etc.! I’m telling you this because after completing all of the above tasks, you must still have the passion and dedication to continue your education. This field is constantly evolving. I still spend at least one hour every night reading new information on training. Sometimes this “continued education” takes place at 2 o’clock in the morning, but I don’t care. I don’t do this because I have to; I do it because I want to. I’m not saying that I’m the smartest strength coach in the world, but I refuse to be outworked by anyone! You should have this same attitude.
For more tips on long-term success in the business of personal training, make sure to view my talk at the 2020 Personal Trainer Online Summit being hosted by the Certified Professional Trainers Network (CPTN) on Friday, May 29th, 2020. Don’t miss it!
