I was 22 years old and I had worked extremely hard to become a successful personal trainer, but I wanted more. I arrived at work every single day at 4:30 AM (to prepare for my 5 AM session) and I wasn’t out of the gym until 8 PM, and though I loved my job I came to important realization as a personal trainer that changed my career course forever. The realization because I wanted to earn more money, but there was only one of me and so many hours in the day. I also started to understand that though I loved personal training I couldn’t keep working 15 hour days 6 days a week forever. I started to wonder, had I already reached my full earning potential in the personal training profession? Had my career reached the pinnacle of the fitness industry at 22? ‘Maybe it’s time to find a new profession,’ I thought to myself, but every time I looked into a new career I just couldn’t imagine leaving the fitness industry.
Then one day I voiced my concerns to one of my long time clients as we measured her body fat. She then looked at me and said, ‘David why don’t you open your own gym? I mean I don’t even like this gym. I just come here because I like you and my personal training with you is getting me results.’ That’s exactly when I started thinking about opening my own fitness facility which would cater to individuals interested in working with personal trainers just like me. That’s the day that Illuminate Gym became a reality for me. I knew that many other personal trainers had tried to open personal training gyms in the past and failed, but what I have learned is being a great personal trainer is not enough for a personal training gym to succeed. It took me a long time to perfect my model, but something I found out about myself is I’m actually a business man first and a personal trainer second. It’s the combination of business sense and fitness passion that makes for a successful entrepreneur in the fitness industry and if you are missing one these two attributes then I’m not sure opening your own fitness facility is really the answer for you. However, if you do have these two important attributes then maybe it’s time you put your leadership skills to the test and open your own fitness facility!
If you are considering your own fitness facility the one piece of advice I would give you is the make or break for an entrepreneur starts with all the pieces of owning a business you haven’t considered such as, the lease you are going to sign, the insurance you are going to carry, your marketing efforts to get people into the gym, development of your brand, and how to support and develop the people that work for you. As I said before being a great personal trainer isn’t enough to be a good fitness entrepreneur. In fact, it’s just a small piece of the journey to success. It’s important that you understand the early development of your personal training gym or fitness facility is the most important and fragile part of your business development. In other words, the worst thing you can possibly do is to rush to get your doors open as quickly as possible. I have watched personal trainers rush into opening their own personal training studios multiple times and most of them end up out of business very quickly. I had a personal trainer who once worked with me who had all the potential in the world and one day he came to me to let me know he wanted to open his own fitness facility.
‘Great, let’s put it together and build a business,’ I said because he knew I had just started offering franchise opportunities for Illuminate Gym. His eyes dropped and I could tell he had other plans.
‘I think I want to do this on my own David,’ he said.
‘That’s fine. Get yourself an attorney to take a look at your lease and make sure you have enough money behind you to market and to support your business while you get back on your feet,’ I told him.
‘I think I’ll be fine I already met the landlord and I think I have some good ideas to get some new clients,’ he explained.
That day he walked out of my office and within weeks he had opened his small facility in a small office building with no exposure and of course without proper legal representation the landlord had taken advantage of the young personal trainer. Within a year both he and his business was gone even though he was a great personal trainer. The point is if you’re a personal trainer looking to start your own business regardless if it’s a ‘one-man-shop’ or a full scale gym you need to educate yourself and take your time. I personally would recommend looking into a fitness franchise or aligning yourself with someone who understands retail business. Either way personal trainers need to make sure they do their due diligence before opening up to the public to ensure they give themselves their best opportunity for success. Business can sometimes cloud our view of the fitness industry and I think you should always remember that personal trainers do what they do because we want to change people’s lives for the better and because of this the fitness industry can be the most rewarding industry in the world.
Tags: business, business model, clients, entrepreneurs, fitness business, fitness facility, fitness franchise, fitness industry, franchise, franchise advice, franchises, gym, illuminate gym, lease landlord, personal trainer, personal trainers, personal training
Personal Trainer to a Successful Entrepreneur at Illuminate Gym ……
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Excellent topics. I really like this. After long searching I found this online that, Fitness Concepts Personal Training GUARANTEE you’ll reach your fitness and weight loss goals with their program or they will give you ALL your money back… cuz’ if you don’t reach your goals with them they don’t want your money.
Well Fitness Chino Hills I think most reputable fitness facilities and/or personal trainers should offer a money back garuntee. However, even Fitness Concepts must concede that they can’t make long term garuntees when they only spend a few hours a week with a client. Clients need to be accountable on their days off and concentrate on their diets to ensure they are ‘eating for success’ as well.
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Good article, I especially like the reference to doing research and preparing thoroughly. I bought my first gym after I’d been in the industry almost 6 years. I’d managed gyms and had a reasonable business understanding from which to operate my own facility but surprises still popped up daily. You can’t be too prepared or have enough capital on reserve when you go it alone; whatever expenses you forecast, double it.
Ben
Ben your absolutely right. There is always risk involved with starting a business no matter if it is in the fitness industry or otherwise. Illuminate Gym has been a successful business model for us and our franchisees however, there is no telling how long it will take to really take hold of a community. Thanks for the great commenta nd come back and check us out again.
Hey admin, I have a tiny request. I was just googleing for some info on this topic you wrote and found this blog. Some really great stuff you shared here, can I please link to this post on my new website I’m currently working on? It would be great
. I will check back again later to see how you responded. cheers, Nina Wilson
Trainer…. Thanks so much for the post on our blog and of course you can link to this blog. Also if you have any other questions or comments about going from a personal trainer to a gym owner please let us know, as this is what we do for a living. Thanks so much.
While we are dealing with items within the vicinity of Personal Training Franchise: Personal Trainer to a Successful Entrepreneur at Illuminate Gym! Gym & Fitness Franchise with Illuminate Gym, You don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to completely eliminate foods you enjoy to have a healthy diet. The long term goal is to feel good, have more energy and reduce the risk of cancer and disease. Don’t let your missteps derail you—every healthy food choice you make counts.
‘10 Minute Personal Trainer’ I completely agree you don’t have to eliminate all of the foods you enjoy. However, people in our society need to realize that for the most part we consume too much in volume and in poor food. The issue is most people just haven’t been educated on the proper meal size and what is ‘actually’ healthy. Our foods are now packed with sodium, saturated fats, sugars and other preservatives that are really impacting our health and fitness in the United States. Are you aware that the new generation actually has a lower life expectancy than the generation before because of our eating habits? The proof is in the pudding…. or maybe the ice cream.
While we’re on the subject of Personal Training Franchise: Personal Trainer to a Successful Entrepreneur at Illuminate Gym! Fitness Franchise with Illuminate Gym, Healthy eating can also help people that already have some types of disease or illness such as diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure. And, of course, improving your eating habits will contribute to you achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.
Turbo Fire you are absolutely right that nutrition is a major part of one’s fitness journey. In fact,here at Illuminate Gym we always tell our customers that nutrition is literally 70% of the path to the body and healthy life they have always wanted. Thanks for the post.