You can earn money from your passion for fitness with little to no money. Here’s how to find your opportunity to make a career in fit biz.
Path 1: Be truly self employed
The first way you can make six figures annually is as a Self-Employed Personal Trainer. What may come to mind is the trainer at your local corporate gym who only earns minimum wage or some big shot influencer online trainer. However, this prospect isn’t like that. Instead, it gives you freedom and no social media requirements. This opportunity is still new, and you can take advantage of it now.
Throughout the west coast of the United States, there is a new trend of chains of private gyms popping up that are created for the sole purpose of giving personal trainers a space to train their clients. These gyms are not like the typical corporate gyms that confine you to work all day, push quotas and only give you 20% of a personal training session. Instead, for a low flat rate monthly, you have full access to these gyms that you can use to train your clients, making you a self-employed personal trainer.
You set the prices, control your schedule and you have the chance to make six figures. While it may sound too good to be true and you may even know a personal trainer who isn’t making 6 figures, but there is a 2-step process and math for this.
Step 1: Rent space the smart way
Fortunately, there are private gyms chains, created for trainers to train their clients for a monthly rate. You get to set the terms, control your schedule, and decide how much time you can devote to it. Check these sites to find one near you such as peerspace.com or shedpt.com.
Step 2: Set your prices
Decide how much you want to make each year. It’s not impossible to make six figures a year. Here’s the math. Making $100k a year breaks down to $8,333 a month. All you need is 8 clients paying you $1,000/Month for their training and diet. Too much money? Try getting 16 clients paying you $500/month for training. if you provide enough value and help these clients achieve their goals, you can easily get 16, 8 or even 4 clients to pay you enough to make $8,000 a month. Obviously, this method will require some work and but it’s a small trade-off for a high paying career in the industry.
Path 2: Join a brand or company you love
A sales executive role lets you sell physical products, like supplements or fitness snacks, to retailers like supplement stores, gyms, and grocery stores. After you do the hard yards pressing the flesh needed to get retailers to carry the products, they continue to reorder, leaving you to clock up commissions on orders. Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Attack the search engines
Research brands that are fresh and expanding. Pick an emerging one that has room to grow and lacks sales employees. Do brain laundry on brands, separating them into light and dark until you’re left with a list of 5-10 companies that you feel are crisp.
Step 2: Reach out
Explain to them how you’ll grow their retail presence and increase their revenue. Offer to work on commission only of at least 10% so there is no risk to the company. Since you’re a risk fee hire, you’re an asset who is likely get the job.
Step 3: Sell like your life depends on it
Learn everything about the products and sales will start to sizzle. Reach out to core demographic stores and explain how your products are unique. Selling is difficult but it’s no harder or different to doing squats. You put in the reps on the daily and eventually you will see the gains you’re chasing. This grows your wholesale customers and repeat monthly orders, creating commissions that’ll expand the girth of the clips in your wallet.
Path 3: Start your own brand
If you’re after ownership with a thirst for creating something unique, this is the route you should follow.
Step 1: Brainstorm your business
First, you need to think of a couple different categories in fitness that light up your cerebral cortex. Picking a category doesn’t mean you have to know anything about it, just pick 2-3 areas within the fitness industry that you suspect would leave you with a face like a split watermelon, smiling with stoke.
Step 2: Pick a niche
Fitness markets are big, creating ample competition, so a copy-and-paste tactic isn’t going to cut it. A niche means understanding the customers you want to serve who will become the bedrock of your business. I couldn’t compete with the likes of Nike or Adidas, so I thought about how superhero movies were blowing up. The actors are in amazing shape so there is a strong connection with fitness and superheroes. My take? I created an activewear that looks like Superhero outfits, trademarked as ‘SUPERSUITS’.
Step 3: Test and get feedback
Create mock-ups of the potential products using a designer on a website like Fiverr. Once you have a visual of your product or service, ask your niche for their opinion. Turn to social media or to people in the industry, who aren’t your friends or family. They’re the ones who will drop the truth bombs. Next, tweak your products based on feedback until you’re confident your product has the main character vibes needed to make a sale. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just good enough to stir up interest. Every successful product’s first iteration was terrible compared to their most recent. I paid a clothing designer to create product designs mock-ups that I posted on Instagram. Once I got feedback, I knew I had a good idea and began working on new products.
Step 4: Funding your new business
Let’s be real, you need digits in the bank to build a business. If you’re like me, that means taking a loan, using savings, getting investors, or launching pre-orders via crowdfunding. Money is unique because everyone’s situation is different. Once my product designs were complete and I had the manufacturing lined up, I needed money to get them created. However, I didn’t have money, so using my savings I fired up a website, listed the product designs for pre-orders then turned the wheels of commerce using very little capital.
Step 5: Adapt your mindset
Creating a business isn’t a straight line but you will need four things to make your dream work: perseverance, consistency, faith, and patience. Don’t compare your journey to anyone else’s. Everyone has their own timeline. Be patient and don’t accept failure. It may take you one year or ten years to create a business you’re proud of. You may need to pivot your business plan numerous times. However, if you fall seven times and get up eight times while adapting no matter what, then you will be successful.
60 Second Q&A with Austin Gayne
Q: How old were you when you began training?
A: I began training at the age of 16 years old.
Q: What type of training do you do?
A: My daily training includes weightlifting, martial arts, and functional training.
Q: What businesses do you own in the fitness industry?
A: I currently own 2 different business in the fitness industry, an activewear brand SUPERX and a watch company S-FORCE.
Q: What is your #1 tip to get results in fitness & business?
A: Stop looking for motivation and start building good habits. Motivation will come and go but good habits will stick even on the days when you’re not feeling motivated. These habits will lead to consistency and results!
About the author: Austin Gayne a ten-year veteran in the fitness industry who is owner of two multi-million-dollar fitness brands: SUPERX apparel and S-FORCE watches.
