Do Personal Trainers Make Money? Yes! Here’s How to Start

Do personal trainers make money?

Many people interested in making money have questions about what certified personal trainers do and how they make money. These same people think you have to own your own personal training business or you need a lot of experience, but the truth is you can make money by being a trainer without your own business or years of experience.

People are always skeptical when you tell them you are a trainer or want to become one. They believe you can only make money by charging your clients (which is not true) or that you have to be some sort of athlete, which is also not true.

The truth is, you just need to be in relatively good shape and love people. Once you get your foot in the door with a client, they will see how much you care about people and you will start making more money than you could have thought.

Opportunities for Personal Trainers

There are so many opportunities out there for trainers, it’s hard to know where to begin. There are gyms, clubs, private training, non profit organizations, resorts/hotels, you name it.

You can always try your hand at being an instructor at a gym and if you love it you can ask to work there or you can decide you want to be your own boss and create your own business.

Once you start making money as a trainer you’ll realize how fun and rewarding it is. Personal training has been one of the most fulfilling experiences for me personally because I get to help people achieve their goals with no limits on who I train.

The sky is the limit when you are working in this field. You do need some sort of certification from many gyms but luckily it’s a pretty easy process. I looked into this for my self and found that you can get certified in about 3-5 months from an online coaching program. There are pros and cons to getting certified but if you want more information about it let me know and I will help you out.

Do Personal Trainers Make Money?

Yes they do!

For most average personal trainers, though, this isn’t a passive income activity.

The most important piece of advice for making money as a fitness trainer is to just be yourself with your clients, be honest, and make sure they understand why what they’re doing is important. If you just do this, your earning potential will have no limits.

If they don’t want to do something, try another route. Be creative when helping people achieve their goals because remember, at the end of the day it’s all up to them. You can set them up however you want but YOU CANNOT DO IT FOR THEM!

The best advice I could give is to not get discouraged and keep going even when things get rough. You will run into many bumps along the way but remember, if you continue working hard and never give up there’s nothing that can stop you!

How to Get Started as a Personal Trainer

Getting started as a certified personal trainer is more about consistency than anything else. If you really want to be a personal trainer and see how far it can take you then there are some important things you need to do before pursuing it seriously.

Start out by learning as much as you can about the fitness industry.

It’s good to have general knowledge of all aspects of health and wellness including nutrition, anatomy, exercise physiology, etc. You will learn this stuff throughout your classes but it never hurts to start getting familiar with your surroundings.

Many gym owners will require certain personal trainer certifications depending on what types of clients they work with so make sure you know what training options are available for the type of clientele at the gym where you want to work.

Start working out regularly (at least 3 times a week) and get in shape. This is the most important part of being a trainer because your appearance and fitness will be a direct reflection of your clientele. You don’t have to be ripped but you should definitely be in good enough shape to motivate people. Keep working out along with eating healthy throughout the training process (this is so much easier said than done).

If you’re serious about getting certified as a personal trainer, then there are some things you have to do regardless:

Complete an accredited Personal Training Certification program through the International Sports Science Association. Next, try and gain experience by interning at a gym or club in addition to completing your certification requirements if possible.

This without a doubt is the best experience you can get. The more places you intern in will allow you to see what type of style fits you best with you, what type of clients you like best, and ultimately help you decide which direction to take when getting certified.

Once You Decide to Become a Personal Trainer

You have decided that being an offline or online trainer is right for you but where do you go from here?

Well before pursuing it as a career there are some things I would encourage everyone to do regardless of if they’re serious about being a trainer.

Sports & Physical Activity

Get involved in sports (this one’s pretty obvious but it never hurts to stay healthy). Some activities you can learn about and enjoy doing include:

• Crossfit
• Running
• Yoga
• Hiking
• Walking

Really, you should have aa knowledge of all sorts of different activities that your clients will find interesting.

Mental Health

Personal training is not only about fitness; mental health is very important as well. You should have a keen interest in how to manage not only your own mental health but the health of others. Your potential clients won’t make the progress they could if they don’t know how to manage their mental health.

Contacts & Networking

Find a mentor or training partner.

The thing most people don’t realize about personal training is that there’s more to it than just exercising with clients. You also have to learn how to market yourself and create ways for yourself to make money, which means you’ll need some great contacts in the industry.

An older, more experienced trainer can help you with these things. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Find what works best for others and run with it so you don’t waste your time doing something that doesn’t work.

11 Tips for Becoming a Successful Trainer

Anyone can become a personal trainer. However, if you want to become a successful one that makes good money, you need to do things differently than other trainers. Here are 11 ways that you can stand out.

1) Work Hard

Hard work. It’s as simple as that.

You’ll have days where you don’t feel like going to the gym but never, ever let yourself skip trainer work. Anyone can go to the gym for 5 minutes and call it a day.

If your goal is to be a successful fitness trainer, then there are no excuses. You need to work hard and not let anything stand in your way because it’s really easy to give up on things when you’re just starting out.

2) Resolve Issues Quickly

This one also goes without saying but you would be surprised at how many people don’t realize they’re doing something wrong until someone points it out.

I’m not saying this will always happen with trainers (I hope!) but it does happen. It’s important to always be looking at your methods of training and asking yourself if you’re doing things right or not.

3) Gain Experience

Experience is the most important thing in this industry.

You do not need to have countless years of experience as a trainer but it will help. A lot of people forget that being a trainer is about more than what happens inside the gym. It’s also about marketing yourself, creating a brand and building relationships.

How are you going to do any of this if you don’t know who to ask for help?

You should definitely try and gain as much experience as possible when starting out because you’ll learn everything from how to work with clients, build an effective workout including exercises and sets, and most of all, how to market yourself. (I’ll get more into this in a second.)

This is also very important when it comes to creating your own style of training. You will definitely find some methods that work better than others for you. This happens with everyone.

If something isn’t working but you keep doing it anyway then there’s no point because you’re not seeing results and could be doing something else instead that works just as well or even better. It will take time but the more experience you have, the easier it will become to figure out what works best for you in each situation.

4) Play To Your Strengths

We are all different people with unique experiences and skills. Take advantage of these things and see what you’re good at. Some people are stronger than others in certain areas while others have more patience with some clients rather than others. Use these strengths to get the most out of your training because that’s what will make you the best trainer for your clients.

The other thing I like to do is take little pieces from everyone else’s training methods and implement them into my own so my workouts never get boring but still remain effective for me and my clients.

5) Find Your Style

This one ties into experience but also has very much to do with knowing yourself as a person and a professional. You need to know what type of person you are:

• Firm
• Calm
• Laid Back
• Aggressive
• Intense
• Patient

There are many different available styles of training and many trainers specialize in a single style but it’s important to know which kind of person you are so that your clients will feel comfortable working with you.

Also, find out what works best for you as a health trainer. Like I said before, everyone has different experiences. If something doesn’t work but you keep doing it anyway because someone else does it then stop. You don’t have to do the same thing as everyone else just because they do it.

6) Find Your Niche

Fitness and health trainers are everywhere these days including ones that are better, worse, and more experienced than you. You’re going to need to find your niche so that you can stand apart from the crowd. This is why it’s also very important to have a brand. Not only will this help others know who you are but it will tell them what they can expect from working with you.

Some examples of niches might be:

• Weight loss
• Muscle gain
• Women only
• Men over 40
• Athletic teenagers
• Overweight children

Once again though, I’m not saying these things should be written in stone because everyone is different and therefore has different goals. The best personal trainers don’t just want their clients to look great but feel great too so they make sure each client is getting tailored exercise based on their needs.

7) Be Outgoing

This is probably one of the most important things because it will make you stand out as a person and also a trainer.

When I say “outgoing” I don’t mean that you have to be loud just for the sake of being loud. I mean be confident, friendly, and polite. Yes, some people like working with more serious trainers but this doesn’t mean there aren’t any who would enjoy working with someone more laid back or even silly.

People want to feel comfortable at the gym just like anywhere else so if they know you’re nice then they’ll want to work with you. Be friendly without being fake.

Another great way to go about this is by simply asking questions before sharing your fitness tips and getting to know your clients. They will appreciate this and it’s just another way to show your clients that you’re genuinely interested in working with them. (This isn’t usually included in the job description.)

8) Be Professional

This ties into be nice of course but also includes the fact that as a personal trainer, you are representing yourself and your business so making sure that everything is up to par is important.

You don’t have to be stiff all the time for people to respect you but being polite, dressed nicely (in workout clothes or not), scheduling appointments ahead of time instead of taking last minute ones, etc. can go a long way towards getting new clients and making sure old ones come back again.

9) Be Efficient

If you want to make money as a personal trainer, then being efficient is very important. You need to be able to get the job done in a timely manner so that your clients can see results quickly and feel like they’re getting their money’s worth.

10) Be Positive (And Not Pushy)

This is probably one of the most important things I’ll mention here because it really relates to everything else on this list.

This might just sound like an obvious thing but there are tons of trainers out there who have huge egos that end up working against them when it comes to making money from training.

Everyone has different goals and at some point or another, you’ll run into someone who isn’t where you’d like them to be. This is okay, it really is and you should never try to force someone into being something they’re not. There’s no such thing as a perfect client just like there’s no such thing as a perfect trainer so know your limits.

11) Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help

I can’t stress this enough because just about anything good in life comes from asking for help.

Asking for help doesn’t mean you’re weak or worse than others. It just means that you want to make things better. I’ve been doing personal training for awhile now and even I still have trainers and coaches who check up on me every once in awhile because they care about my progress but also with an interest of making sure that I’m not going down a dark road.

It’s okay to be vulnerable, It will only make you stronger.

Ways to Make Money as a Personal Trainer

Now that we’ve gotten the basics down, let’s talk about ways to make money as a personal trainer.

Just like any other job, there are lots of different ways that you can earn income but I’m only going to go over a few on this list because if you’re searching for “do personal trainers make money,” then it’s already pretty obvious that you want to be in the fitness industry.

Hourly Rate

One option is by charging your clients a certain rate per hour.

This might work best if they have some sort of disability or need special equipment during their sessions with you and don’t want to commit for longer. Also consider being paid per session instead of per month so that both parties know where they stand financially and aren’t committing to anything longer than what should be necessary.

Monthly Rate

Another option is to charge a monthly price for your services.

Instead of being paid per session, you might have the client pay you a certain amount every month in return for all of your services and having them as a member of your regular schedule. This might come with its own challenges such as cancellations on their part but this can be worked around by meeting with clients more often than less as well as having a contract written up regarding how many sessions they’re paying for.

If possible, try not to let your clients cancel on you last minute if there’s nothing that can be done about it and make sure that you’re have everything written down beforehand so there are no unpleasant surprises later down the road.

Your Own Personal Fitness Business

Personal training also allows you to start your own business.

This is a great option if you have lots of clients already or if you’re searching for ways to make money as a personal trainer without having to commute far distances. You can also build your brand in other areas such as online courses, YouTube videos, forums, etc. and eventually be able to scale your service up and reach more people across the country.

Use Social Media to Make Money as a Personal Trainer

As a personal trainer, you need to be everywhere and this includes social media (digital marketing). It’s even better if your own social selling account(s) are branded. You should get started today.

If nothing else, you can promote yourself on the various social apps out there by doing giveaways and other things that people would care about. Again, it’s all about knowing your audience.

If you’re building your brand online, make sure that everything is consistent and looks professional at all times because otherwise, people will just ignore you instead of reaching out for help. A lot of clients could come from Facebook ads as well so it doesn’t hurt to set up a few right now if you don’t have any already.

You can also link up with fitness brands to work with them as an affiliate to help promote their products on your social accounts but make sure that you’re only promoting items that are relevant and/or useful for your clients.

How Can I Make Money as a Personal Trainer?

Successful health trainers can earn much more than minimum wage.

The above ways of making money as a trainer vary in terms of how much flexibility and consistency they offer.

If you want to earn a little bit of cash on the side, then doing event training or working with other fitness brands might be something to consider especially if you’re also looking for ways to make money online.

For those who wish to focus more on their business, then having your own program and brand is obviously the best choice in terms of making income because it allows you to scale up your services easily without having to rely too heavily on any one client. This has more potential to earn money than just doing average hourly personal training sessions or a small group class or group sessions at gyms (LA Fitness, Planet Fitness, Anytime Fitness, Hour Fitness) or other places.

It’s also a good idea to start out with one or two of the above methods first so you can get started right away without having to worry about finding work. Over time, you might have more than enough clients and then it’s a matter of creating a business that will scale up as your client base does.

You’ll find that each method has its own challenges but if you focus on providing the best services possible at all times, it shouldn’t be hard to make money as a trainer in no time at all.

How Much Money Can I Make?

How much money you make as a personal trainer depends on several factors, the biggest ones being your ability to market yourself and provide top quality services. In the beginning, you might only be able to do one or two sessions each day but if you can start getting listed in Google for certain keywords related to your niche, this is when things get easier. Either way, you wan to shoot for more than minimum wage.

You’ll have clients reaching out for training sessions with you constantly and then it’s just a matter of doing all that’s necessary to meet their needs!

In the end, managing a full schedule of clients could easily become overwhelming so it’s important not to overdo it.

Having repeat clients is also an important aspect so not only will you have to market yourself properly, but you’ll also need to make sure that your client retention rates are high . This means delivering on your promises and keeping in touch with customers after sales!

As a personal trainer, your job is to stay fit and healthy no matter what else happens in life. Whatever challenges come up for you this year, just remember that there’s always something you can do about it.

You don’t need any special equipment or clothing to get started right away-the most important part of being a personal trainer is having the willingness to grow as a person each day and help others along the way whether it’s at home or in local commercial gyms.

A Typical Personal Trainer Salary

How much can I make with a personal trainer business?

That’s the question that so many people want answers to but the truth is that there isn’t just one typical personal trainer salary . The amount of money you’re paid for a personal trainer salary depends entirely on how well you market yourself and what kind of services you provide at all times (as well as the price you charge).

With that being said, typically trainers earn income figures anywhere from $25 per hour up to $150 depending on their location, experience, and skill set. Depending on where you live in the United States, this translates into a yearly average salary between $31k and $99k (FT or PT salary). What’s more, your income potential is only limited by your creativity and work ethic.

Wrap Up

I hope this article helped clear things up for anyone who might have been wondering how to become a trainer.

At the same time, I also want everyone reading this now to consider certifications when it comes to making money from training.

In addition, remember that successful personal trainers come in all shapes and sizes so it’s important that you infuse your personality into the services you’re offering to your clients and don’t let personal training turn into a job you hate.

If this post helped you in any way, please share it on Pinterest or Facebook so that others can be helped also. Also feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions or thoughts regarding the question: Do Personal Trainers Make Money. I read all comments and reply to them personally so look forward to hearing from you.

FAQ – Do Personal Trainers Make Money?