The beginning of the New Year is an ideal time to create an environment for business success that can carry a personal trainer throughout the year. New Year’s Marketing explains the strategy behind creating a successful marketing campaign for the new year to ensure success while also looking at some of the common pitfalls many trainers are faced with when planning their New Year’s marketing.

Hiring employees can be a positive or negative experience depending on the factors that affect the outcome. In the personal training industry, hiring new employees is even more challenging than in many other businesses. The main reason for the added difficulty is the variation in competency development among personal trainers, the dynamics of the job, and the constant demand for trainers, compounded with a high attrition rate. The variation in competency is common as some trainers may not have a formal educational background whereas others maintain extensive education and degrees in the field. Secondary to this issue is the fact that personal training not only requires competency but also a

Continued education should not seem like an unnecessary burden placed on credentialing professions, but rather the process of on-going learning should be considered an opportunity, an asset to one’s profession. As with any improvement strategy in business, continued education should be thoughtfully considered. A simple analysis of one’s competency status can identify key areas which may warrant improvement or specific attention. Performing a SWOT analysis aids in identifying business or professional characteristics that may present risk or financial opportunity. The SWOT analysis requires a business to audit its operations and capabilities and can be very useful for expanding a marketing or service strategy. The S in SWOT represents all the business or professional STRENGTHS; these are the aspects of the business that best support financial vitality. Opposing business strength is the W of the SWOT analysis – WEAKNESSES. A business weakness may be low competency in particular areas, lack of business knowledge, undercapitalization or any host of other limitations. But as with any weakness the right application of effort can often negate negative outcomes if those weaknesses are identified and rectified before they manifest into collective failure. The O of the SWOT analysis is often the most exciting aspect as it represents business OPPORTUNITIES. Opportunities are those aspects and areas where the business can improve. Different aspects of opportunity are commonly found in market expansion via new marketing or promotional channels, new revenue streams, or a decrease in costs. Opportunities should present a positive outcome and lead to financial stability and growth. But opportunity must be carefully managed, as good opportunity can create a risk if misdirected. The final stage of the SWOT analysis is the T, which represents THREATS. Threats are any number of factors that present risk for some type of loss. Threats are commonly seen in the form of competition, liability risks, lack of capital, inability to deliver products or services, and/or loss of market share due to any number of controllable and uncontrollable factors.

Many professionals view continuing education as merely a necessary evil to maintaining their certified status. This, though, is a very shortsighted and inaccurate perspective to have regarding continued learning. Continuing education is much more than a professional obligation; it represents the pursuit of personal improvement and professional evolution. The quantity of evidence-based information is staggering related to the competency domains requisite of the fitness professional. Even seasoned experts maintain only a small amount of knowledge compared to that which exists. Therefore anyone who actually believes they know all there is to know about human health and performance is demonstrating their significant ignorance. It is not a factor of what one needs to learn for continuing education as much as what small area should one concentrate on at this particular time.

Proficiency in exercise science and practical training instruction are necessary to get results through client programs but they may not be enough to get the clients in the first place. Many personal training programs rely heavily on orientations and initial consultations to convert leads into new personal training clients. Although this is a certainly a good opportunity for new clients, never forget about the largest segment of the membership, which sadly is the group of members who use the club the least. These are ideal candidates to pursue for personal training. They obviously care enough about their health and well-being to join a gym, but like most members fall into the fitness attrition cycle because they do not see the results they expected within their preconceived timeframe. Personal trainers should go through the membership lists and identify those individuals who have stopped using the gym or those who have serious inconsistencies. Make a list and designate a period of time to call these leads and plan to make a conversion.

There have been white papers written, presentations by the Surgeon General, reports by the CDC and NIH, and even financial analysis of the cost associated with the American sedentary lifestyle. Yet very few people use these resources to improve their health, well-being and quality of life. Due to the fact that about 70% of the population has an unhealthy imbalance between fat and lean mass and most get little physical activity if any at all; it should be of no surprise that the regular dialogue from physicians include recommendations of weight loss and exercise participation. This is where a potential disconnect begins. Physicians are trained for treatment-based care, whereas personal trainers are trained for prevention. Who is implementing the strategies to promote weight loss and safe exercise participation based on the recommendation? It certainly is not the physicians. In fact, in many cases the physicians themselves need assistance and in their defense they were not trained to create exercise programs or instruct physical activities; hence the prevalence of physician recommended walking programs. Therefore, much in the manner that a personal trainer needs to refer clients to a physician for exercise clearance in particular situations, a physician should also refer patients to personal trainers when they need assistance in preventative medicine or health based therapies when insurance coverage for medically supervised programs runs out.

Last month everyone in the United States had the responsibility to file income taxes. In some cases people gained a handsome return likely accompanied by feelings of both joy and relief, while others disappointedly wrote a check to the IRS. To avoid the latter, personal trainers should know their taxable status and function to optimize profitability by not wasting monies they are entitled to with legal deductions. A freelance personal trainer is considered a business even if a person has not formally created a business in their city or county. Personal trainers who train clients outside of a corporate employee status (W-2 tax form) are considered sole proprietors unless formal documents have been filed to denote a partnership or corporation. An easy way to determine if you in fact are considered a small business is if you receive checks in your name from clients you train or if you receive a 1099 tax form from a company you work with. If you are receiving direct funds for your work and no company is claiming the income or paying your withholdings than you are responsible for the taxable income. This is a blessing and a curse as now you must pay taxes on the total revenue, but on the bright side, you have the ability to reduce that tax burden through legal tax deductions. Essentially, the more tax deductions your business can legitimately take, the lower the taxable income and the more money you potentially take home. Tax code provisions that govern deductions can also be used to provide personal benefit beyond that found in a traditional employee-employer relationship. For example, using your vehicle to transport equipment from a client’s home or driving to different training environments can justify deductions. Likewise, combining business trips and vacations can be afforded a small business owner. In many cases, complying with IRS rules allows numerous deductible expenses that may be incurred in whole, or in part, in the process of day to day activities, thereby reducing the total taxable income at the end of the year. Who wouldn’t want to reduced annual car or vacation expenses and add an extra couple of thousand dollars a year income.

In the past, companies that offered a wellness program for their employees were considered good-hearted, but for many the benefit really only provided an add-on for those already physically active. However, in today’s market there is a growing interest in the role exercise plays in productivity and fiscal well-being. Initial proponents looked at corporate wellness from a perspective of workplace disease prevention and the wellness programs were aimed at lowering health costs. Due to the fact that employees spend most of their waking hours in their work environment, the workplace is becoming a natural place to invest in employee wellness. Some of the benefits of an effective corporate wellness program are savings in health care costs, increased employee productivity and employee retention, among others. Enough data has been collected to justify the spending on these programs in exchange for improvements in employee productivity and a significant reduction in missed work days. Companies like Johnson & Johnson which have been implementing wellness programs for their employees have reported saving $250 million on health care costs within a decade; both Citibank and Bank of America reported an estimated saving of $4.5 dollars in medical expenditures per dollar spent in employee wellness.

Personal training is one career that offers quite a bit of diversity due to the many types of physical activity and the populations that seek the services. For many, this is one of its strongest allures alongside their love of fitness and physical engagement. One may work in a corporate gym or wellness and recreation center with a somewhat dependable schedule and salary; work independently with their own schedule or even work part-time while taking on other endeavors completely outside of their primary field of interest. Following any of these paths can lead to financial success of varied proportion. In fact, trainers who own their own business or work for high-end facilities often boast incomes of +$100,000 on an annual basis. Even parttimers in the right situation and right environment have a relatively high earning potential. On top of this, recent surveys show that most personal trainers truly enjoy what they do and feel they are doing something worthwhile for other people. What could be greater than that?

Starting a gym is a common, but ambitious goal in the fitness industry. While many individuals have their eyes set on opening a big box gym, the minimum-space boutiques are rapidly grabbing the market share.

Covid-19 has been physically, psychologically, emotionally and economically impactful. While the first three can be mediated by physical and mental exercises in health, the economic impact on the fitness industry is not as easily attenuated. Financial grips are tightening for many and discretionary income is consequently dwindling. This is a historically unprecedented, but predictable situation as prior economic downturns have demonstrated similar outcomes.