How to make a solid six figures per year as a personal trainer

The fitness industry is steadily growing, and it has never been more rewarding to be a personal trainer. There are multiple ways to make money through personal training, and many successful instructors make as much as six figures per year. 

If you want to reach the same kind of financial success, there are several main points to follow. 

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Personal Training

Personal trainers help all kinds of people achieve their health and fitness goals, and this kind of career is only becoming more lucrative. The demand for trainers is expected to go up in coming years, and there are plenty of options for varying revenue streams that you can pursue. 

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You can work for a gym, open your own fitness center, teach sessions fully online, and much more. There are also dozens of niches to specialize in, from yoga and weight lifting to recovery and youth training. Understanding the path you want to follow, and the speciality you want to pursue, you will be on your way to making six figures a year as a personal trainer. 

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Different Training Paths

There are multiple paths you can find in the fitness industry, and different routes when it comes to how you want to train your clients. You can be a completely online trainer, go with an in-person gym, or go with a mix of both. 

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Virtual 

Virtual training is rapidly growing in popularity and has become a successful way to be a personal trainer. It gives you the opportunity to host multiple clients right from your home and increases the number of people you can take on. It also opens you up to a completely new kind of market. As a virtual trainer, you can earn nearly twice as much as traditional trainers. Not to mention you will have fewer expense costs to worry about. We recommend checking out the all-in-one tool we offer at WeStrive. You can get started for free at Train.westrive.com.

In-Person 

When most people think of personal trainers they think of instructors in the gym, but this is only one kind of in-person training to consider. You can work for a gym, open your own, or act as an independent trainer. Each one comes with its pros and cons, start-up costs, and equipment requirements. 

Hybrid 

One of the benefits of working as a personal trainer is the flexibility it comes with, which means you can easily work at a traditional gym and online. This is one of the most flexible options as an instructor and allows you to have ample revenue streams at one time. You can teach local clients, either at your home, theirs, or another venue, as well as have online clients from all around the world. 

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9 Tips To Make Money

If you want to make six figures a year as a personal trainer then there are nine different tips you can follow for success. 

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Have A Vision

The number one tip for getting rich as a personal trainer is having a clear vision in mind. Make sure to consider this vision in everything you do for your business, starting before you ever see your first client. A vision will keep you on track to achieve your goals, and motivate you to reach them. Establishing your vision should be the first thing you do as a new trainer. 

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Get Good At Marketing

Marketing is an important part of any business, whether fitness related or not, so you need to get good at it as soon as possible. You can hire marketing professionals, but having a grasp on what this is can help you find the right marketing companies to work with. If you have a good understanding of how to market yourself and your business then you can handle it on your own through online advertising campaigns, in-person strategies, and more. Without a good strategy, it will be nearly impossible to get your training services in front of the right clientele. 

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Always Budget

There are upfront costs associated with running a training business, as well as recurring costs. This is especially true if you are working for yourself, or running your own gym. You will want to have your budget planned out in advance, and make sure to leave room for unexpected costs. You should also keep track of how much each of your revenue streams will bring in each month, and any other money coming or going out. 

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Manage Your Time

Time management is an important skill to have, and it is key to making six figures a year as a personal trainer. If you can properly schedule your clients you can make the most of your day, and increase the amount you can make daily. As a trainer, your hours won’t be the same as traditional 9-5 office jobs, so keeping up with your schedule is vital for being successful. This also means setting boundaries about when clients can expect responses from you outside of their session times. 

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Have Multiple Revenue Streams

The most successful personal trainers have multiple streams of revenue so they can optimize their income. This is a key way to start making six figures a year, and there are plenty of options to consider. Some personal trainers also sell online courses or publish ebooks. Diversifying your income like this can also help you avoid funding issues in the future. 

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Continue Learning

Even though you only need a basic personal training certificate to be credible as an instructor, many successful trainers have multiple certifications. The industry is constantly growing, so continuing to learn is important in continuing to be successful. If you want to get rich as a personal trainer, make sure you keep learning along the way. 

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Focus on Client Retention 

While you need to consistently bring in new clients to be a successful personal trainer, you should be focusing just as much on retaining your current clients. Current clientele is a valuable source of steady revenue and is a great way to get referrals. There are plenty of strategies for retaining clients, from offering discounted sessions to hosting special events. 

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Be Confident 

Confidence is key as a personal trainer if you want to get rich, and will help in every aspect of your business. Being confident can help you land clients, keep them, get potential investors interested, and more. Part of personal training is pitching yourself and your services, and you won’t be able to do this successfully without being confident. 

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Plan Your Growth

You want to see steady growth in your personal trainer business if you ever want to get rich, and this kind of growth needs to be planned for. You need to plan how you will grow, and what you are going to do after that growth happens. Many businesses fail just as they start to grow because they don’t properly plan for it. With WeStrive, for example, we have the ability for you to scale your business to our unlimited plan. Some of our coaches have over 1000 clients. This seems unimaginable... but it's really not when you use a platform like ours to scale.

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Types of Clientele

There are a few different types of clientele you will see as a personal trainer, whether you are making six figures per year or not. You can teach groups, beginners, fitness athletes, children, and more. 

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Groups

Many successful trainers regularly have sessions with groups. This can be a team, a school or work group, or an assortment of your individual clients. Groups are a good way to spice up training routines. 

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Beginners

You will train fitness beginners at some point, as they are one of the most common types of clients. These people don’t have much experience with fitness and will need to be taken through the basics before doing advanced routines. 

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Athletes

Many professional athletes have personal trainers, whether they just want to stay in shape or get ready for a big event. Seasoned athletes will need more advanced routines in order to keep growing as professionals. 

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Youth

Kids and young people are another common group of clients that you may work with throughout your career. These can be young athletes, kids on summer break, or children going through physical therapy. 

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Conclusion 

While there are many ways to make six figures a year as a personal trainer, there are a few recommended tips that have proven to be more successful than others. Following these nine points can lead to impressive results for you and your business. 

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Are you new to personal training? Read these articles to get started on growing your business:

• How to price your online training
• How To Attract Clients as a Personal Trainer
• What insurance should I get as a personal trainer?

About the Author:

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Cory McKane

Cory is a huge fan of fitness - and an even bigger fan of helping you with your fitness. He's started on his journey with WeStrive back in 2015 and has been building it ever since.