Career Paths

Choosing a career path is a very important life decision. You may choose your career based on a need to make money or based on your passion. Well, what if your passion is fitness? What career options do you have then?

Making a career choice is no easy decision. There are many career paths available and many decisions to consider before making a choice. While you may choose your career based on the need to make money, you may also choose your career based on your passion.

If you’re like me and have a passion for all things fitness, then you’ll probably want to consider a career in fitness. Luckily, the fitness industry has so many career paths for you to choose from. As a fitness expert, you can be engaged in shaping your clients’ life and fitness journey in many different ways. Here, we’ll explore all the options available to you if you choose to have a fitness career.

Career Paths

Becoming a fitness coach and how you can improve your resume

December 7, 2022 coach, fitness coach, resume 0

Page Description: As the days go by, the need for fitness coaches is increasing, especially now that people are more aware of the health benefits of keeping fit and maintaining wellness. If you are looking forward to carving a niche for yourself as a fitness coach, this is for you. This article explains all you need to know about fitness coaching, how to become one, its requirements, and how to tailor your resume to land jobs as a fitness coach.

What is fitness coaching?

Fitness coaching is a process that involves training, instructing, guiding, and motivating a person or group of persons to achieve their fitness goals. The fitness goals could be losing weight, maintaining healthy body weight, building endurance, developing healthy eating habits, managing diseases, and building strength, amongst others.

Fitness refers to the state of sound health and overall well-being of the human body. A fit person is someone who leads a healthy lifestyle and is strong enough to carry out physical activities optimally. Unlike what most people think, fitness is not just about physical health, it also refers to having optimal emotional and mental health. Our physical, emotional, and mental health are connected in a way that when one is lagging, the other two suffer and the result is what we see through the deterioration of physical health.

Keeping fit is a perfect example of something easier said than done. It needs a person to know how the body works in general. The person should be knowledgeable on subjects related to our emotional, mental, and physical health. Fitness is broad and complex/; not everyone can understand or have the patience to understand what it entails and practice them. Hence, fitness specialists, coaches, or instructors are needed for guidance and direction.

A fitness coach understands the needs of his trainees and works together with them to ensure that they meet their fitness needs. A fitness coach also referred to as a fitness instructor is supposedly a fitness expert. Hence, the person should be knowledgeable, experienced, and able to recommend healthy activities that suit the different needs of the individual.

Responsibilities of a fitness coach

Identify and assess clients’ fitness level: This involves getting to know and understand your client. Every client is not the same. You might meet people with similar cases, but their body types and needs might differ. And to ensure that you help them meet their fitness goals, you’ll need to evaluate them and their abilities to know what’s stopping them from being fit, and what they need to get fit and maintain fitness.

Create tailored exercise programs and routines for clients: Exercise is an important aspect of fitness and wellness as it enhances the functioning of the vital organs of the body and contributes to the overall wellness of the body. Hence, having understood and evaluated the fitness level of a client, the fitness coach has to recommend and set up exercise programs and routines tailored to the client’s needs.

Draw tailored diet plans for clients: A diet plan is as important as exercise in fitness. No matter the kind of exercise you do, without a diet plan to complement it you might not achieve much. A fitness coach has to develop a diet plan that complements the recommended exercise routine and the body needs of a person.

Set up activities that enhance the overall wellness of the human body: There’s more to fitness than exercise and dieting. Fitness covers other habits like how to control and manage emotional needs, healthy sleeping habits, and activities that enhance cognitive abilities and boost mental health, amongst others. A fitness coach has to recommend and incorporate these activities into clients’ fitness journey and ensure that the clients follow it through to achieve the maximum result.

Track fitness progress: The fitness journey is progressive. Hence, a fitness instructor must track and assess the level of fitness attained regularly. This will help the instructor to know how much the client has achieved and make adjustments to programs and routines to suit a client’s current fitness level.

Ensure the safety of clients during training sessions: A fitness coach must ensure that the recommended diet and exercise, and the equipment used for training are safe for the client. This is to prevent accidents and mishaps that come with wrong diet recommendations.

Offer support to clients especially those on a weight loss journey: The fitness journey is not an easy one. Sometimes, fitness changes aren’t significant, making a lot of people want to give up. As a fitness instructor or coach, you have to offer support and motivation to clients from time to time. A good way of encouraging them is by joining them in exercising.

How to become a fitness coach

The first step to becoming a fitness coach is to become knowledgeable in the fitness industry. This is because fitness coaching requires expertise. As a fitness coach or instructor, you have to understand human biology, psychology, nutrition, and every aspect that relates to fitness. Hence, you have to study and attend professional programs to enlighten you and keep you updated on knowledge relating to the field.

Being knowledgeable is not enough to earn you the title of a fitness instructor. You need experience. You have to practice what you’ve learned. A good way to start as a fitness coach is to intern or volunteer in gyms. It will give you first-hand experience with the basics of fitness coaching, and broaden your horizon on all that coaching entails.

Another way to practice fitness coaching is by trying out your knowledge of yourself. When you experiment with yourself, you learn new things about yourself and the profession that might not be taught in classes. And when people see the results of your work through you, it encourages them to try you out. You can also volunteer to coach a close friend or relative. This will give you extensive experience, and add to your portfolio.

Essential Skills of a fitness coach

Effective communication: Communication is only effective when a listener understands the message passed across. A fitness coach should be able to explain things to his clients in simple language and ensure that the person understands what is being explained or said. Effective communication establishes a good rapport with clients, promotes a healthy and interesting training environment, and fosters productivity in fitness. A fitness coach should also be able to understand the client’s level of understanding and adjust his communication to suit the client.

Leadership ability: Every coach is a leader, and that’s because coaches are in charge of instructing, guiding, and motivating their followers. A coach should be resourceful, organized, proactive, have a positive attitude, and have problem-solving skills, amongst others. Every leadership skill applies to the fitness industry. Hence, fitness coaches should work on themselves to develop them with time.

Teamwork: A coach should be able to work with a group of people efficiently and effectively. Due to the nature of the work, people will always be in your space. So, you have to develop the attitude of working alongside people to achieve your goals.
Flexibility and endurance: You cannot teach what you don’t have. Fitness coaches lead by example, meaning that they have long endurance and flexibility. Coaches do the most because they engage in the activities done by their clients. If a fitness coach has three clients with different exercise routines, the coach will have to engage in three different programs. It takes a flexible person and someone with a good endurance level to do that.

People management: As a coach, you get to meet people with different characters, attitudes, and levels of understanding. People can be a handful, but it is paramount to be able to handle them well and with care and work effectively with them. To work with people effectively you have to develop emotional intelligence and learn to be patient.

Job requirement of fitness coach

Here’s a list of requirements needed to land a fitness coaching Job.

Prior experience. 2 to 3 years of experience is mostly required. If you are looking to join the fitness industry, volunteering is a good way to fill the job experience gap.
Proven cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) experience.
Degree or accredited certification in kinesiology or sports science, or High School Diploma
Versatility in fitness-related subjects
Computer literacy
Leadership experience
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
People management skills
Teamwork

Guide on how to write your resume as a fitness trainer

A resume is a document that highlights a person’s skills, educational background, certifications, work experience, and accomplishments. Most jobs require you to submit your resume as the first step of the application. The resume mirrors your abilities and qualification, giving the recruiter a clue to know if you are the talent they are looking for.

When applying for fitness jobs, you are competing with over 100 experienced people for the position, but that does not mean that you lack the chance to be selected. Not all jobs require advanced talent, some require rising talents. So, all you have to do is position yourselves to be exceptional through your resume.

Here’s how to write an outstanding resume for a fitness coach:

Your name and contact information should come first on your resume. It should be in the order of full name, phone number, email address, and links to your social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter. Customize your social media links to have your names.

Example:

James Robinson

[email protected] | +1 xxx xxx xxxx

www.linkedin.com/in/jamesrobinson

Summary of the resume. This should be a brief and concise bio highlighting your role, strong skills, years of experience, and what you can offer. Use action words like efficient, proficient, diligent, and hardworking, amongst others when describing what you do. At most, three sentences are enough. The recruiter has dozens of other resumes to look at, so there’ll be no time for long reads.

Example:

A resourceful, certified, professional fitness instructor with 1-year experience, effective communication, interpersonal skills, efficient human management skills, and a track record of helping over 20 people achieve their fitness goals. Looking forward to helping intentional people take their fitness journey to the next level.

Experience. After the summary, highlight your experience in the order of most recent to past experiences. Include your job role, company, start date and end date, and accomplishment. Use actionable and result-oriented words, and quantify your achievements using numbers and percentages to show authenticity.

Example:

Fitness instructor

DBV Fitness home

May 2021-June 2022

Developed a strategy that helped endomorph individuals lose fat within an average of six months.

Achieved a 90% client satisfaction rate.

Certifications and Education background. You don’t have to include all your educational background and certifications. Only include those that are relevant to the job. List them from the order of most recent to past achievements.

Example:

Certified professional trainer

National Federation of Professional Trainers

March 2021-june2022

BS Applied physiology and kinesiology

University of Florida

June 2016-July 2020

Highlight your skills. Use bullet points to highlight your soft skills (attributes) and hard skills (abilities)

Examples:

Organization
Resourcefulness
Fitness tracking
Strategy development, etc.
Mention your awards in the order of recent to past awards if you have any.

Conclusion

You can clinch jobs as a fitness coach irrespective of your years of experience. All you need is to brush up on your skills, gain experience, and position yourselves using your resume. Now that you’ve learned to write a professional resume as a fitness coach, write a new resume or effect the necessary adjustments to your resume and start applying for jobs.

References

What Is a Fitness Coach and How to Become One

What is fitness?

WHAT DOES A HEALTH AND FITNESS COACH DO?

Fitness Trainer job description

Fitness Instructor Job Description

How To Write A Gym Trainer Resume

Guides, Career Paths

Career Paths to Follow if you are Passionate about Fitness

July 28, 2022 career, career path, career paths, careers 0

Are you Passionate about Fitness?

While some people choose a career because they need to make money and live a good life, many others choose a career because they have a passion for it. That is not to say that choosing a career because of passion does not guarantee wealth and fine living

A career in the fitness industry is one of those that is mostly driven by passion rather than a need to be wealthy. It is also, for a fact, one of the most exciting career choices in the world. This career track allows you to turn your enthusiasm for a healthy lifestyle into a full-time job/business.

However, if you are passionate about health and fitness, you have a variety of options when it comes to career choices. These career paths are enjoyable and combine a lot of physiological, psychological, and business knowledge to deliver the best to your clients. A career in fitness means you get to work closely with your clients but also with medical doctors, exercise physiologists, registered dietitians, occupational therapists, physical therapists, chiropractors, and many other healthcare team members to help your clients live healthier lives.

Interestingly, you don’t need a degree to get many in-demand jobs in the health and fitness industry. All you need is a passion for fitness, an interest in helping people become better versions of themselves, good people skills, a knack for learning, and a love for imparting knowledge to others.

Careers in the Fitness Industry

There are myriads of careers to choose from as a fitness enthusiast. You can choose the more common careers in fitness training, coaching, etc., or more specialized careers in sports medicine, exercise science, etc. You can also choose a career in the wellness industry, where you are more concerned with mental and spiritual well-being.

Some of the common careers in fitness include;

Certified Personal Trainer

Becoming a certified personal trainer is one of the most common and most well-loved fitness careers. As a personal trainer, you work with clients interested in building and maintaining fitness, helping them achieve their goals with no hassle.

Becoming a personal trainer entails engaging in one-on-one mentoring with clients and designing custom fitness plans for them. You have to study your clients properly, help them realize their shortcomings, and turn them into strengths. Overall, you will assist clients in realizing customized outcomes and productivity. There are a variety of personal training courses and certifications available to anyone who desires to be a personal trainer.

Personal trainers can operate in various settings, including gyms, health clubs, and fitness centers. Some personal trainers run their businesses from home or visit clients’ homes, depending on what is agreed between the trainer and the client. Being a personal trainer requires you to be enthusiastic about physical fitness and be in outstanding physical condition since you will mentor and set an example for others.

Virtual Coach / Online Trainer

Being a virtual coach is very similar to being a personal trainer. Except, in this case, you take advantage of technology and host entire training sessions online. Not only will you be able to work as a fitness trainer from the comfort of your home, but you will also be able to connect to so many more people at once. This might be a good path for you if you’re a tech-savvy fitness professional.

Becoming a Gym Owner

Another viable option for you in the fitness industry is to start your own gym. By owning your gym, you can significantly impact the community and get more people interested in the fitness business.

There are various business models you can implement. For example, you could open a basic gym where clients can use the equipment and machinery or a specialty gym where members also get individualized nutrition advice and personal training plans to aid in achieving their particular health and fitness goals.

Interestingly, you do not need any particular fitness skills or knowledge before becoming a gym owner. All that is required of you is a passion for fitness and good knowledge of business development. Over time, you have to build your fitness business from the ground up, and you must know how to finance and promote the gym to get it to the stage where you can impact more lives.

Careers in fitness Nutrition

Besides the core careers in the fitness industry, you could look towards careers in nutrition or fitness-based nutrition. Some of the popular careers in that field include;

Nutrition Coach

Nutrition coaching is one area in which you can apply your fitness enthusiast skills. As a certified nutrition coach, you will regulate your client’s diet and provide personalized dietary plans for what to eat and what to avoid.

You’ll need to take a scientific approach to create evidence-based dietary plans to help your clients meet their weight and fitness goals. To become a nutrition coach, you will need at least a bachelor’s degree in nutritional studies or other related fields.

If you’re one with a passion for good and healthy meals, then a nutrition coach/dietician career may be one for you. While exercise is a key component of a healthy lifestyle, the role of a healthy diet cannot be neglected. As a dietician, you will ensure that people appreciate and fulfill their dietary needs and live healthier lifestyles.

Nutrition and Fitness Coach

You could choose to be a fitness coach or a nutrition coach. Alternatively, you could choose to combine both specialties and become a nutrition and fitness coach.

In this role, you will get to work closely with your clients and shape every aspect of their fitness journey. You will train them like a personal trainer and help them manage their diet like a nutrition coach. This is an excellent career path if you’re interested in versatility.

Specialty Careers

Wellness Coach

A career in fitness does not stop in the gym or in the kitchen. Fitness is all around, and the World Health Organization, in recognition, defined health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. People need to be well all around; this is where a career as a wellness coach comes in.

As a wellness coach, you will draw from various fields, including behavioral psychology, and use several principles, including meditation, to improve the life of your clients. Your role is to work one-on-one with them to ensure they have better mental and physical health and healthier life overall.

Athletic Coach

Working as an athletic trainer or coach is ideal when you desire to work with athletes. Athletic trainers help to develop plans, strategies, and habits that improve athletes’ overall performance. You will design their training regimen, help motivate them and push them to the edge of success.

As an athletic coach, you can work in a variety of settings and with a variety of events. There are opportunities in college football or basketball, baseball, hockey, track and field, etc. You can also go pro and transform the next batch of global athletic superstars.

You will need to take specialized courses to become an athletic trainer. The type and volume of courses will depend on which athletic event you decide t coach in and at what level.

Referee

Working as a referee or umpire is a great job choice if you enjoy a certain sport but prefer enforcing its rules rather than entering the field and playing. These experts or fitness professionals are entrusted with upholding the game’s rules; thus, you must possess in-depth knowledge of the game you wish to referee.

Referees are present at professional sporting events, especially team sports like football and rugby, to ensure that teams play fairly and adhere to the regulations.

Corrective Exercise and Injury Prevention Careers

Recreational Therapists

The term “recreational therapist” refers to a group of professionals focusing on using exercise to treat injured, disabled, or unwell people. People frequently seek the services of a recreational therapist after suffering an injury in an accident or recovering from a medical condition that left them less healthy and weak.

With knowledge of exercise physiology, kinesiology, and first aid, injury prevention specialists guide patients and clients in the correct usage of equipment to avoid injury and maximize benefits. You can support a patient who has had life-altering injuries in developing a fitness regimen that fits their current needs, or you might assist someone injured in an accident in using exercise to rebuild their self-confidence. Through hands-on career options like physical therapy and corrective exercise, you can help prevent injuries and teach clients to read their bodies better so they know their limits.

Massage Therapist

It’s a prevalent misperception that a massage therapist’s only responsibility is to encourage their clients’ well-being and relaxation. Although it is undeniably a substantial aspect of their work, massage therapists do more even though relaxation is essential for general health and fitness.

As a massage therapist, you might spend some time assisting injured individuals in recovering by providing sports massages or other types of massage that address muscle problems that cause discomfort during sports or fitness activities. For this reason, massage therapists frequently collaborate closely with professional athletes or sports teams to achieve better results.

Occupational Therapist

Occupational therapists assist patients in recovering from illnesses and disabilities that have kept them out of a job. Depending on the health issue your clients are suffering from, you may employ a range of various exercises and approaches in this position to help them restore their strength and flexibility.

The main objective of an occupational therapist is to help clients become more self-assured in their mobility and independence so that they can eventually become less reliant on others for work and start leading more rewarding and productive lives. You should consider occupational therapy as a job option for those who love assisting others in recovering and realizing their full potential.

Conclusion

There is undoubtedly no limitation to choices regarding outstanding employment prospects in the health and fitness industry. You can always make your passion your career, whether you want to coach customers one-on-one to assist them attain their fitness objectives or join a team sport. However, you need to consider your specialty, knowledge, and skill before choosing a career path in health and fitness to have a happy ending.

References

Top fitness careers- Which career path is right for you?

10 great ideas for people who love health and fitness

Career Paths

How to create a Social Media Marketing Strategy for your Fitness Business

July 22, 2022 marketing, social media, social media marketing, social media strategy 0

Life has become a lot easier to build and destroy with social media, depending on the purpose of using social media; it can be a life-changing opportunity for your fitness business. Social media is not just for kids with millions of time on their hands but also an avenue to sell yourself and your products. For your fitness business to stand out among others in this competitive world, you need to strategically use social media to benefit your business, stay on edge, and be ahead of others in the game. This article will walk you through launching a social media marketing campaign for your fitness center or gym.

Social Media Marketing for your Fitness Business

In small business marketing a few years ago, social media was seen as the newer, hipper trend expected to fizzle out shortly. However, as digital marketing has supplanted more traditional forms of advertising, it is now a crucial channel for many companies to attract new customers, including fitness studios, gyms, and fitness centers.

However, to stand out from the vast numbers of other businesses and generate real sales, fitness business owners need a carefully thought-out social media marketing strategy for their fitness business, just like any other business project. Whether you are a fitness professional, business owner, or personal trainer, you need social media strategy to help put your gym or fitness center in the limelight and survive in the competitive environment.

Benefits of Using Social Media Strategy in your Fitness Business

There are benefits accrued to using social media in your business. Digital marketing is a crucial component of today’s marketing plans for businesses. All fitness-related enterprises, including gyms, yoga studios, personal training centers, stretching studios, etc., should use social media strategy for their businesses. However, the benefits of employing social media strategy for businesses include:

1. It helps to Establish Authority

Your social media strategy can establish and develop brand authority by using consistent visual branding, messaging, and brand tone. You demonstrate your knowledge of the fitness business when you provide excellent content in your social media posts or live streaming. This demonstrates the benefits of working with you to solve a problem or achieve a new fitness objective.

2. It helps you Engage with your Audience Constantly

Engage your members if you want to create a great brand experience with outstanding customer service and pleasure. Your social media platforms are channels where you can generate a high degree of interaction and build deep connections with your members. People frequently start their search for information on your social media accounts or through direct messages. People are more likely to be pleased with their experience when interacting with them.

3. It helps you to Reach your Target Audience and Drive Massive Traffic

Your website can be accessed from every social media presence you have. If social media isn’t a part of your overall digital marketing strategy, you’re losing out on a chance to grow your audience. In the fitness sector, independent studios with a single location make up the majority of small firms. Consequently, local marketing is one of the key components of an effective marketing plan for a fitness business. Social media platforms are ideal for local digital marketing because they enable advertisers to focus on certain audiences using various criteria.

4. Social Media Strategy helps to Build Brand Loyalty and Awareness

Building brand exposure through social media is one of the most economical strategies. You can raise your brand’s visibility; however, it requires effort and persistence. Sharing and supporting user-generated content will help you connect with more people and provide value.

Gyms, yoga studios, and personal trainers can use social media marketing to build their brands and inform more people about their services. Fitness businesses can increase their brand awareness and customer traffic by producing and sharing great content that will be liked and shared.

5. It Helps to Showcase and Describes Brand Personality

The higher quality content you produce on your fitness company’s social media page corresponds to the number of followers it has. Additionally, the more you interact with your audience, the more likely people will view your company as competent and reliable. You can humanize your company by setting up social media accounts and sharing information. You can interact with more individuals and effectively show your brand personality with each post. For social media strategy to work out, one must be genuine and human.

How to Promote Your Fitness Business on Social Media Platforms

To fully take advantage of social media marketing for fitness businesses, you must ensure that your social media page is optimized with original content that will benefit your audience. Like any other marketing initiative, to stand out amongst millions of other brands and drive actual sales, you need a well-crafted social media marketing plan for your fitness business. To use social media as a tool to build the relevance of your fitness brand, you should follow these steps:

1. Create a Social Media Profile

When building a fitness business portfolio on social media, it is important that you fill in the right information as it determines the impression your potential clients will have about you. To create your social media account, you must find an ideal name that fits your brand’s purpose, which should be used across all your social media profiles for uniformity.

You should also avoid using low-quality pictures or mid-workout selfies as your profile pictures; getting a proper headshot, logo design, or clear images portraying what your fitness business does is better. Fill all sections on your social media profiles; add a description on your bio that talks about you, your brand, and your experience. Add a link to your website, gym location, current pricing, and available time slots. You should also add a call to action, which can be linked to booking an appointment, email or call to speak directly with you, and more.

2. Share Timeless, Useful Content about Fitness, Health, and Wellness

You must produce engaging, educational, and overall beneficial material to build your social media page, drive traffic, and engage your audience. Your gym promotional content should be balanced with timeless instructional information if increasing brand awareness and brand reach are among your social media marketing objectives for the fitness industry.

There are numerous forms in which you can produce content: Motivational quotes, health tips, and tricks, step-by-step guides on health and wellness topics, how-tos contents, do’s and don’t contents, workouts, and benefits (of any content), etc. You must ensure that each of your publications is branded, attractive, and consistent with your fitness brand for them to have the desired impact. Keep in mind that there are other aspects of fitness besides exercise. Other subjects you can discuss in your social media posts include the following: health, fitness, wellness, mental well-being, a positive outlook, stretching, yoga, and gym attire, among other things.

3. Focus on Building a Community, not a Followers

A loyal brand supporter is worth much more than many sporadic, transient followers. One of your top business concerns for your fitness brand should be community building, not just gaining fans. Your primary priority should be to avoid being a mere gym page with no structure or useful content but start developing a strong brand-related fitness content presence.

There are two methods you can use to accomplish it. You can achieve this by running monthly challenges where you would share new diet plans, everyday health nuggets, or exercise plans. You can also run members-only competitions, which can help turn followers into clients by introducing contests that are solely open to your sports studio’s subscribers or members. You can also put up a topic for discussion where your followers tend to answer questions you ask, and you get to listen to their ideas, suggestions, or complaints.

You can host personal training sessions, host Instagram lives, create a diet constructor, and host regular question and answer sessions on social media to maximize your interaction and build a relationship with your followers.

4. Focus on Social Mentions and Respond to them Promptly

You must keep track of every reference your fitness firm gets and quickly respond to it. Using specialized software is the best method to keep track of any internet references for your sports facility or gym. Some of the best tools for mention tracking online are Mention and Awario. They help you monitor your engagements on Instagram or other social media platforms, compare your performance to competitors, find leads, get analytical insights and measure your public relations activities. You also need to pay close attention to every comment and direct message you get on social media.

5. Host Competitions and contests

You can engage your audience with a simple, fun contest that they can participate in. You can attach a little prize to give to the winner to help increase their motivation to participate. Competitions like the perfect yoga position or most effective workout session. Ensure that all entries for the competition come through as Instagram Stories or posts with your profile tagged to increase brand awareness.

You may designate a unique hashtag for every contest you hold, depending on the style of the contest. You could always use minimum-effort, maximum-result giveaways if you don’t feel like creating a difficult competition. Despite being slightly overused, they work well to energize and engage your audience.

6. Celebrate your Gym Studio’s Member Achievements

You should keep up with social trends and celebrate your fitness member’s achievements. Sharing your members’ fitness accomplishments and results can enhance your brand, build a stronger community, strengthen your relationship with your customers, and demonstrate your expertise. Depending on how you want it, you can use a client’s before and after transformation, a client who fulfilled their goals, or a client in excellent shape after an all-inclusive vacation. Ensure that you include the names of your gym’s and publications’ heroes so they can add them to their profiles.

Conclusion

Your social media approach is crucial to your overall fitness marketing strategy. When you plan to create a fitness social media marketing strategy, remember to build customer relationships on other channels – like email. You can set goals and formulate a strategy by making a content calendar and scheduling posts in advance. Building brand authority and exposure is possible when you interact with your audience and share informative material. With these strategies, you can produce more focused content when new marketing capabilities and tools become available.

References

How to win at social media marketing for your fitness business

Social media marketing for fitness businesses: how to promote your fitness business on Instagram

Career Paths

Gym Business: Should I be a Franchise or Start my Own Brand?

July 9, 2022 franchise, franchisee, gym, gym business 0

Starting a gym business is quite challenging. There are several considerations to make, several things to put in place, and several questions to answer. Aspects like financing, personnel, office space, etc. are usually at top of the consideration list when starting a gym business, and rightly so.

However, more often than not, gym startups fail to ask one other important question, “Should I be a part of a franchise or should I start my own brand?” Well, it goes without saying that both options have numerous advantages that make them attractive options. Conversely, they both have their drawbacks that will make you want to go through the next door. Anyways, this piece is not made to confuse you, or direct your mind toward one option or the other. Rather, we will explore both options and their inherent advantages. At the end of the day, you should be able to decide which format best suits your goals.

Personal Brands vs Franchises

Regardless of how you choose to start, owning a gym requires lots of capital and lots of work in order to get the best out of it. Starting your own brand means that you own everything from the get-go. The gym speaks of you and all aspects of running the gym, including financing and building clientele, are dependent on you.

On the other hand, starting as part of a franchise offers you a soft landing. The extent of this soft landing is mostly dependent on the kind of deal you have with the franchise, but you would be able to rely on their brand identity, extensive clientele base, and years of experience in the business. Being part of a franchise may also mean that you get financial assistance from the franchise. With a franchise, however, there is more accountability involved. In a sense, you are not your own boss, and while you do own the business, in terms of owning the outlet and overseeing operations, you do not own the brand. Hence, you may not get all the flexibility you would have if you own your brand.

A major advantage with franchises is the clientele. When you start your brand, you are basically on your own. There is no backing and everything that happens, every progress that your gym will make is up to you. Your brand is new, and it is typically difficult for the new name on the block to see a lot of patronages – unless, you have solid relationships with the locals and are able to convert non-business relationships into business patronage.

Gym franchises typically see huge patronage and an influx of clients in new locations. Clients typically perceive franchises as stable and well-run, making them trust franchises more than personal brands. Hence, starting out as part of a franchise gives you access to this huge, trusting clientele, allowing you to build faster.

Marketing and Brand Development

You can benefit as a gym owner by investing in a well-known fitness brand. The recognized brand is well-known in the neighborhood. Customers will recognize your company’s operations and business practices connected to the relevant brand.

Customers that support a certain brand are frequently committed to it. You will therefore have the backing of a foundation of established, devoted clients. Market support, however, is extremely expensive when investing in a franchise.

On the other hand, individually owned gyms will need to build their name in the industry while frequently competing with respectable and well-known franchises. However, you must keep tabs on market demands, your rivals’ products, and customers’ requests and feedback.

Private-owned gyms have more marketing flexibility, which is a plus. Therefore, gaining exposure for your company name need not be expensive.

Operations

A network of support exists within the world of business franchises. Most of the time, the franchise brand will help you source for your gym location. They also help to equip your gym and train your team, but with a cost attached. Despite being the boss, you don’t have much control over how you run your company; your options for running your company are quite limited.

Contrarily, operators of privately held gyms typically answer only to themselves. You have a choice in your gym’s location. You can choose your trainers, support group, and distinctive gym equipment. It will almost certainly not cost you anything, only your creativity, energy, wit, and determination.

Business Risk

Starting your own gym business can be very risky. But starting as a franchisee of an established brand is considered less risky.

But even while investing in a well-known brand might be less risky, success is not assured. Whether you have a franchise or not, the success of your business depends on you, the gym’s owner, and your team. The essential characteristics of a passionate entrepreneur must drive a successful gym business. If you want your gym to be successful and profitable, you must be ready to take responsibility and take risks.

Startup Cost

Purchasing a franchise gym can cost much more money than establishing your own fitness company. Franchise gyms demand an up-front licensing fee, which will give you the franchise rights, but it could cost you thousands of dollars. You will also be obliged to pay a portion of your monthly revenue to the franchise group, license fees, and marketing expenses.

Starting your gym as a brand-new, independent business, you don’t have to pay any startup costs for marketing partnerships, revenue sharing, or licenses. You just need to work with your team and put in hard work, which will eventually pay off. Getting a franchise for a commercial gym can be expensive, as discussed. In addition to paying license, income, and marketing fees, you will also need to invest in a suitable-sized property and a lot of branded, specific equipment.

The common question posed by prospective gym operators is how much it would cost to open a gym. No one can give a definitive response, and there is no such thing as an easy or clear solution. This depends on the size and placement of the gym you intend to build. For independent gym owners, you have the opportunity to size your gym facility per your financial constraints. And you may begin modestly by purchasing top-notch gym equipment from your preferred source at wholesale rates.

The initial investment for a gym franchise, which includes the franchise name and license, ranges between $35,000 and $350,000. Considering that some brands cost more than others. While opening a gym may just require an initial investment of $20,000.

For independent gym owners, you will pay one-off costs for things like gym equipment, web design, uniforms, fitness certification, legal fees, insurance, property rental, staff training, signage, building modifications, and computer systems. You will also pay ongoing costs of rental or mortgage payments, insurance, staff salaries, utilities, maintenance, and ongoing advertising. These vary depending on the size of the gym you plan to start.

Business Specifications and Restrictions

Owning a franchise gym has many benefits, including members being familiar with your mission and knowing what to anticipate. People know that franchises in various areas provide the same services and equipment.

The kind of classes offered at commercial franchisee gyms is also known to their members. Unfortunately, because the brand sets them, you cannot bend or modify these as a franchise gym owner.

As an independent gym owner, you may, in contrast, build your facility however you like, provide your members with the advantages you see fit, and launch new courses and workout regimens every month. You have complete discretion over how you run your brand, with no restrictions.

Support and Assistance

As an independent gym owner, You will be in charge of marketing, staff training, facility administration, and business organization. The brand will help you set up and run your business as a franchisee.

If you invest in a franchise, you will be given instructions on where to locate your gym, what equipment to purchase, which vendors to work with, and how to train your staff. This might not be a good choice for gym owners who don’t like people staring over their shoulders.

Marketing

Another benefit to owning a franchise gym is the marketing assistance and advice you will receive from the brand. The brand conducts marketing research for a franchise gym owner, and the franchisor tests the marketing.

If you choose to run your gym independently, you will be in charge of marketing. This has advantages because it gives you the freedom to create and develop your marketing plans. On the other hand, a drawback is that you can lack marketing expertise or not know how to start a successful marketing campaign.

The market for health and fitness products is extremely cutthroat. If you decided to start your firm, you would need to concentrate on a specialty and a target market. You must consider important factors such as local demography, pressing community fitness requirements, age groups, and preferences.

As a franchisee or an independent business owner, there are countless options and methods for marketing your company. Franchise brands mainly rely on brand loyalty and commercial advertisement. The popular marketing strategies are social media campaigns, membership sign-up promotions, and branded fitness accessories and gear.

Before buying a franchise, you must know the full costs, investigate the advantages and challenges, weigh your options critically, build your business plan, and make contact. As a gym owner, one advantage of investing in a franchise is that you will almost certainly receive the information required for your business plan directly from your franchisor, unlike an independent gym owner who would need to gather all the information from scratch.

Conclusion

So which should you choose? The bottom line is that it’s up to you. You have seen the benefits of franchises and the disadvantages therein. Understand your short-term and long-term goals and decide which of these options gives you the best chance at reaching those goals.

I’m pretty sure that whichever option you choose will be super and your business will blossom like the flowers in the spring.

References

Gym life- To franchise or not to franchise?- Yanre Fitness

Career Paths

How to Get Finance for my New Gym

June 30, 2022 business, financing, gym, gym business 0

Virtually everybody dreams of starting up a business. Not just starting one, but nurturing a successful one that can withstand the test of time, competing with giants like Apple, Facebook, or Microsoft. For many, starting a gym is their goal, and like every other business, there are several factors to consider before starting your dream gym.

Financing a business is as important as any other aspect of the business. But how do you finance a gym? How do you convince people to invest in fitness? Here, we’ll look at some easy ways to get finance when starting a gym.

Setting up a Gym Business

Like any other business, starting a gym business requires a lot of effort, time, and financial investment to be successful. However, financing a gym is typically more challenging than many other startups. The equipment required in a startup gym is usually very expensive. Yet, it is often difficult to convince people to invest in the fitness business.

Like any other business, you need to create a business plan before starting a gym. The business plan will direct your efforts and help you measure your progress during startup. Your business plan will help you understand the motive behind setting up your business and will also direct you on how to source equipment, personnel, and finances to grow your business. The financial plan is one of the most important aspects of your gym business. A well-thought-out financial plan can make all the difference between a successful gym, and a failed one.

Cost of Setting up a Gym Business

The cost of setting up a gym depends on many factors. You should consider the type of gym you want and the features you want to have within it. Then you have to consider the size of the gym and the number of equipment you want to have in it. Importantly, the state you’re in will determine the cost of your gym. For example, you would have it easier setting up a gym in Memphis or Wichita than setting up one in New York or Seattle.

Another cost to consider when setting up your gym is the personnel cost. No matter how independent you are, you’ll need people to assist you in running your business and you must pay these people (unless you can get Buddhist monks to work for you). Thus, adding the cost of personnel payment to your financial plan is super important. You’ll also need to plan for insurance. In this case, you’ll need an insurance plan that covers accidents to gym members and one that covers your business as it is. You’ll also need to plan for utilities, taxes, etc. The point is the cost of setting up a gym is huge and if you don’t plan properly, sooner or later, you’ll be drowning in debt and your business will be forced to close.

The estimated costs of starting different sizes of gyms is as follows;

Home gym for personal training clients- $10,000
Modest budget facility- $50,000
Mid-size gyms- between $200,000 – $400,000
Mega-gyms with all facilities and equipment- $1,000,000 and above.

However, these costs are not set in stone and with the rising inflation, starting your own gym may cost you much more than this amount. However, once your gym is up and running, you are sure of a largely profitable and highly rewarding business that will keep you smiling for years to come.

How to Get Finances for your Gym

There are several ways you can get finances for your business. Depending on your business and the situation surrounding you, you can decide to combine these financing options. You need to understand the amount of money you need to borrow, which should be after you have made your calculations.

1. Banks Loan

One of the ways you can fund your gym business is by getting a loan from a bank. For your bank loan to be approved, you will need to show your business plan, identification documents, and other documents for approval. A bank loan is secure financing but can be expensive because of its high-interest rates.

If you don’t have any funds, bank loans might be the best option. If you are looking for a bank where you can get a loan, you can start with your local bank because they already know you, and they might be interested in doing more business with you. Standard bank loans for small businesses usually have a lower interest rate than institutional loans.

The bank will need your business plan to help them assess and evaluate the potential success of your business. This will determine if your bank loan will be approved. Your business plan should include at least 3 years’ projections for your new business, and a new gym specialist can help you with that. Banks will also need documents like your personal tax returns and other collateral documents to help secure your loan.

Pros

Lower interest rate than other forms of conventional loans
You do not necessarily need a business partner
It is simple to process

Cons

You may need collateral against your loan
You will need a detailed business plan to support your loan application.

2. SBA (Small Business Administration) Loan

Small business administration offers loans to people to help them establish their businesses. These loans are directly from the government but issued by the small business administration. However, you are more at an advantage of getting the loan easily if you are a woman, a minority, or considered disabled. This loan takes a longer time to be approved than a non-government loan. However, some SBA offers a fast-track service to help you get your loan approved faster than the normal time.

Pros

This is affordable because it has a lower interest rate

Cons

It is based on government qualifying standards; hence, not everyone qualifies.
It takes a longer time for the loan to be approved when compared to other types of loans.

3. Personal Savings

Another less expensive way of financing your business is through personal savings. Starting your business with personal savings means you don’t have to worry about paying interest. The risk of funding your business with personal savings is that you may not be left with any cash, depending on your savings. However, it is very beneficial if you have enough personal savings to start and finance your business.

Pros

It is a less expensive way to operate your new gym and pay for your equipment.
No loan or payment is distracting your attention from your business
All expenses paid, including your equipment.

Cons

It is not always feasible.

4. Business Partner

You can get funding for your new gym through a business partner. When looking for a business partner, it must be a person who can finance the business and who is willing to give some management control and advice. A business partner is part of your business; he/she must have the right skills, attitude, and business knowledge to help the business move from the level ground.

There are two types of business partners. We have a silent and working partner. A silent business partner provides the money and gets a repeated percentage of the funding, which may fall under the investor category. A working partner provides funds and has the power to make decisions on the business operation. Depending on how you want your business to be, you can choose to have more than one business partner.

Pros

You are not doing it alone; you have someone to exchange ideas with
There is no confusion as each partner has a distinct role in the gym operation
You are working with someone with whom you already have a good relationship with

Cons

You make less profit than with sole ownership
If you fall into the ditch of having the wrong partner, the business development can be tampered with.

5. Investors and lenders

Once your business plan is drafted, you can start speaking to potential lenders and investors about your gym business. Some can be angel investors, but you must demonstrate your knowledge, experience, skills, and information to convince potential investors and lenders. Your investor can be your family member, a friend or business associate, a successful business person in your community, etc.

However, choosing the right investor is also very important, and it can determine the long-term success of your gym. You can have more than one investor, but you must thoroughly look into each term and condition.

Pros

There is a small interest rate involved.
You can choose to set your business up in a way that suits you and your investor.
You are working with someone who believes in you and your dream.
They serve as additional support when you need your business to grow.

Cons

You must have a business plan that can help convince your potential investors.
You have to work with someone for either short-term or long-term
It is very detailed, so each party must know the role they play in the business

6. Invest in a Gym Franchise

Another way to finance your gym business is to invest in a fitness franchise. With a gym franchise, you can buy into an existing gym to get access to use their logo, trademark, and business plan. Investing in a gym franchise is expensive, but you can get discounts on business costs and gym equipment because you are opening your gym under an established network. Some gym brands are less expensive, while some are very expensive. The average upfront cost is between $30,000- $300,000.

Pros

Your business is under an established network; hence, you can access their trademark, business plan, and logo.
You get discounts on gym equipment and other business costs.

Cons

They are very expensive when compared to other financing methods

Leasing or Buying

You can buy or lease if you want to run a gym business. Your decision depends on your financial situation and type of business. You can choose to buy or lease gym equipment and location. Leasing allows you to change equipment regularly without buying new ones every time. Depending on how good your manufacturer is, you may have minimal cost for maintenance and downtime on the equipment. However, this is more expensive in the long run than buying gym equipment. If you are leasing, you must have a good credit score, pay a downpayment, and be accessible to the market.

There are factors to consider when financing your gym. You need to consider the fitness equipment financing, monthly payments like employee wages, utilities, cleaning supplies, marketing, lease payments, etc., legal fees and insurance, location, gym decor and maintenance, liquid capital and cash flow requirements, digital fitness equipment and online security, sales and marketing, employee hiring costs and gym member management software. These are factors you should look into before making your financial projections.

Conclusion

It is no doubt that it can be expensive to start a gym. The initial investment is not the only thing you need to raise your gym; you also need dedication, the right people, and ongoing payments to help your gym flourish. Hence, you need to make financial projections, break down your gym cost, prepare your business plan, look out for funding options, and know what you are about to venture into.

References

Everything you need to know about gym financing- Glofox

Business funding tips for your new gym

Career Paths

How to Become a Personal Trainer

June 12, 2022 personal trainer, trainer 0

Everyone has a dream career choice. For some, it is being a doctor; for others, it is being an astronaut, actor, or a worldwide music star. Then there’s you, who wants to become a world-class personal trainer.

Being a personal trainer is admittedly not the most popular career choice. However, it is one that is noble, fulfilling, and fun in all ramifications. Like every other career choice, there are steps you have to take to achieve your dream of becoming a personal trainer. You must acquire specific skills and competencies, and you will have to scale through several challenges. Here, we take you through these steps, helping you achieve your dream in no time.

Who is a Personal Trainer?

Personal trainers are certified professionals that develop and provide safe exercise programs for people looking to achieve their fitness goals. The people who are assisted in achieving their fitness goals are called clients. Personal trainers aid clients achieve their fitness goals by creating plans that focus on several facets of the client’s life, including nutrition and health education. As a personal trainer, your job is to help improve people’s lives over time. IN some ways, you’re a doctor.

Personal trainers help clients work out an exercise plan that perfectly fits the client’s routine, skills, and health needs. As a personal trainer, you must always be informed about the latest development in nutrition and fitness because clients rely on your professional recommendations. Your word is gold, and clients rely on your expertise to meet all of their fitness goals. If you are interested in improving other people’s lives and love result-oriented work, then being a personal trainer might be your calling.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), personal trainers earn around $45,000 on average. Personal training is a vast field, providing you flexibility with your options. To become a personal trainer, you need to develop specific skills that improve your relationship with your clients and help you get better results. For example, a personal trainer must have good listening, organizational, analytical, motivational, and nurturing skills and a high level of healthy persistence.

You are likely to face challenges as a personal trainer, which depend on the client you are working with. For example, you are will likely to work with;

Clients who don’t or can’t exercise but give excuses for their inability to exercise
Clients who cancel exercise appointments with little or no notice
Clients who are afraid of pushing hard or those who want to be pushed harder than they should
Clients who have medical conditions and injuries
Clients who do not comply with the fitness rules given to them
Clients who do not have basic knowledge of workouts
Those who will blame you if they don’t reach their fitness goal
Those who show up without their complete workout gear

As a personal trainer, you should be able to circumnavigate these various challenges. An important skill of a personal trainer is identifying and understanding individual differences and then tailoring your plans to each client’s needs. A personal trainer must be flexible to change workout routines if changes are unnoticeable over time.

Steps to Becoming a Personal Trainer

Step1: Earn a High School Diploma

The first step to becoming a personal trainer is to earn a high school diploma. Most personal trainers’ certifications require a high school diploma or GED, which you can take for about three months.

Step 2: Complete AED/CPR Certification

Personal trainers must complete compulsory cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) certification programs. This certification program aims to teach personal trainers how they can help clients in cases of a medical emergency during exercise before professional medical personnel arrive. This certification program takes 4 hours to complete.

Step 3: Choose a specialty

There are different specialties from which you can choose if you want to become a personal trainer. Your chosen specialty must match your interest, skill sets, and professional goals. After choosing your desired specialty, you can check out different fitness certifying bodies and choose a program that suits your professional goals.

Step 4: Prepare for Certification

There are different certifications you can take to become a certified personal trainer. There are different bodies accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) to certify personal trainers. Some of these bodies include

National Academy of Sports Medicine
National Strength and Conditioning Association
American College of Sports Medicine
American Council on Exercise

You can choose to get certified by any of these bodies. The certification will require that you pass a certification examination and fulfill certain other criteria.

Step 5: Take and Pass your Certification Examinations

Once you have prepared for the exam, register for your exam and pay all the necessary application fees. The examination has similar questions from different sections. Sections like safety and emergency issues, exercise techniques, program planning, client consultation, and fitness assessment.

Step 6: Take Up Jobs and Build Your Portfolio

After becoming a certified personal trainer, you must take up jobs in your specialty. You can check the NASM and other fitness organizations for job postings to get on-the-job experience. You can also take a job at your local gym or work under another professional to get some experience. As you further in your career path, you can choose to become a personal trainer, fitness director, or gym owner, depending on your ambitions and how your skills level up.

Step 7: Additional Education Options

As you move further in your journey as a personal trainer, you need to continue learning and upgrading your knowledge to stay in the competitive market. To stay consistent, you need to take courses aligned with your career goals, take external personal training courses, and enroll in degree programs or community college training.

Skills Required By a Personal Trainer

To become a personal trainer, you need education, experience, and specific skill sets.

1. Fitness assessment skill: Personal trainers must understand the different fitness screening techniques and the type of fitness screening that is best for their clients. Personal trainers must also understand the setting and the risk factors behind each fitness screening that can affect the client’s health.

2. Communication skill: A good personal trainer must be a good communicator and also be able to maintain a professional relationship with their clients. He/she must be able to teach, respond and listen to their client’s needs.

3. Leadership skill: Personal trainers must develop leadership skills, as it helps them effectively motivate clients to achieve their fitness goals.

4. Analytical thinking skill: Personal trainers must understand human behavior and individual differences. He/she must be able to know each client’s learning style to help them achieve their fitness goal.

5. Nutrition and weight management skill: This skill helps to know the best program that will work for their client. Hence, a good personal trainer must know about weight loss, management, and nutrition.

6. Exercise mechanisms: A good personal trainer must know everything about exercise. Your vast knowledge about exercise will help you make good exercise training plans that are beneficial to your clients.

Careers Options Related to Personal Trainer

There are other career options related to a personal trainer. This is because the health and fitness industry is expanding, allowing for other career options. However, being a personal trainer, you can consider other career options like:

Exercise Physiologist: To qualify as an exercise physiologist, you must have a bachelor’s degree and other national certifications

Dietitian or Nutritionist: You must have a bachelor’s degree, worked as an intern, and have national certification and state license to work as a dietitian or nutritionist.

Occupational Therapist: An occupational therapist must have a master’s degree, have done a clinical internship, have national certification, and must have a state license.

Physical Therapist: To qualify as a physical therapist, you must have a doctoral or professional degree, national certification, and state license.

Jobs to take as a Personal Trainer

There are jobs you can take as a personal trainer. You can work as an employee of a business or as self-employed or independently.

Corporate fitness
Commercial gyms
Cruise ships
Local community centers
Personal training studios
Hospital or wellness centers
Spas and resorts

You can consider different specialties as a personal trainer after you have completed the prerequisites to qualify for it. The type of clients you want to work with will determine your specialty. These specialties are:

Athletics and sports; your clients are athletes, and your job is to help them improve their performance, agility, speed, and balance.
Lifestyle and weight management; you work with clients interested in changing bad habits and helping them develop habits that are beneficial to their health.
Medical; you work with clients with medical problems like heart problems, muscle sprains, etc., or clients who are just recovering from certain conditions like surgery.
Nutrition: You work with clients interested in working on their diet, helping them eat well and lose weight, and achieving their fitness goals.
In orthopedics, you work with clients with bone, muscle, and joint-related issues like knee pain, arthritis, and other conditions.
Special population; you work with older adults to help them maintain their muscles and body and improve their overall physical health. You can also work with children to help them get fit for their age.

Continuous Development as a Personal Trainer

Even after becoming a personal trainer and specializing in one field, you must take active steps to remain ahead of the curve in a super competitive market. New health information is released daily, and you as a personal trainer must have access to this information to benefit your clients.

As a certified personal trainer, the following practices can help you maintain efficiency in your work.

Give regular assessments to your clients to know their progress and how well you have done.
Attend conferences and workshops to learn more from experts.
Maintain an active online profile and ensure to follow pages that disburse useful information
You can maintain a blog or vlog and rely on comments and critiques from experts and clients to help develop yourself.
Keep in touch with your clients outside your sessions to help bond and assess their progress better.
Be an active listener who listens to clients, allows them to express how they feel, and works on helping them out with their problems.

Conclusion

Being a personal trainer is a fun and fulfilling life endeavor. You get to work with fun clients and sometimes not-so-fun ones. More importantly, you help your clients reach their fitness goals and become better and more confident individuals.

But like any career goal, you must be willing to work and acquire the competencies needed to succeed in this field. You’ll need to get certified, learn under a senior professional, and start building your clientele base. That’s a lot of work! But the good thing about becoming a personal trainer is that you’re also training yourself to improve. With the right motivation, you’ll scale through all the challenges and become a world-class personal trainer like Matt Roberts or Scott Laider.

Good luck on your journey, and see you on the other side of success!

References

How to Become a Certified Personal Trainer