How To Build a Personal Training Business and Kick Some Serious A**

I was hangin' out at a biker bar the other night and a gnarly fight broke out in the parking lot. I think it was over a female (usually is). This big dude just starting beatin' the hell out of this smaller guy, now he wasn't a little guy, but he was definitely smaller than the guy who was beatin the hell out of him… and I think the big dude doin' the beatin' must have been friends with the bouncers cuz they weren't doin' anything to break it up.

The cool thing about the fight was the that even though the smaller guy was gettin' his a** kicked, he kept bouncin' right back up, I mean NOTHING the bigger guy did could keep him down. Knuckle sandwich after knuckle sandwich this dude kept takin' it, and bouncing right back… until FINALLY the big dude just gave up and said "You ain't worth it"… and ya know what the smaller guy did, he just laughed at him, blood all over his face he just friggin' laughed at the big dude who  delivered him the beating.

After the fight I was riding my Harley home I was thinking about what a metaphor for life and business that is. The ones who succeed are the ones who won't stay down no matter what kind of beating they receive.

And that got me thinking about a few points might wanna considers when you building your own personal training business (I do some of my best thinking when I'm out riding my bike on the open road). They're ideas, tips, strategies and principles I used to build my business.

(This list is far from complete and feel free to add some ideas, tips and tricks that work for you in your own personal training business in the comment section at the bottom of this post.)

Alright, let's get to it, here are a few things you'll want to keep in mind when building your personal training business…

1. Realize that success happens in the middle of massive amounts of chaos, you're never have all your ducks in row and if you want your days to flow by without many hitches, then go get a day job working for some large corporate gym racket.

2. Be a heretic, do things your own way, don't do what most personal training business do, and realize most of em don't make much money anyway so your best off to probably do the exact OPPOSITE of what they do.

3. Build a business that is reliant on systems, not on the owner. That way you can replace yourself with other trainers who can follow your step-by-step systems for doing things. Unless of course you want to end up a 78 year old personal trainer who has to get up at 4:45 am to go train clients because you HAVE TO to pay the bills.

If you truly want to build a successful personal training business, then build it on step-by-step documented systems. Otherwise you just have a job, NOT a business.

4. Work for yourself… if you work for someone else you're building their business, not yours.

5. If you truly want to know how to build a successful personal training business, then study your a** off. I'm not talking about just studying training and exercise….

I'm talking about studying business, success, mindset, direct response marketing, internet marketing, time management, consultative sales, human behavior, psychology and influence.

I know a lot of broke trainers with TONS of certifications, in fact usually the trainers with the most certifications make the least amount of money.

On the flip side, I don't know anyone who knows how to write a killer sales page and get it to the top of Google and is broke. In fact, everyone I know who can do that makes a six or seven figure income.

6. Get good at search engine optimization.

7. Get good at pay-per-click advertising.

8. Get good at writing salescopy.

9. Become a master delegator.

10. Realize that building a personal training business takes guts and that a lot of people will probably put you down in the process. Don't give any thought to  what they think and say about you… that's none of your business, your business is what YOU think and say and do.

11. Have something to say… and realize that some people will probably hate you and some will love you. You'll make a whole lot more money if you have something to say than if you're just liked by everyone.

If you wanna study people who have something to say, check out the Henry Rollins Spoken Word stuff, Bill Hicks (RIP), Howard Stern and Dan Kennedy. All masters at having something to say.

12. Put the kibosh on any negative relationships in your life, they'll only drag you down. Surround yourself with positive entrepreneurs with similar values.

13. Focus on semi-private personal training, group training and/or boot camps as the staple of your business. Unless you're a celebrity personal trainer working out with Madonna and Jay-Z, training multiple people at one time is one of the best ways to make a strong six-figure income in this industry.

14. Realize that you're a marketer, not just a personal trainer. Marketing a personal training business is FAR more profitable than actually training.

15. Survey your market and sell them what THEY want, NOT what you think they want.

16. Read "How To Win Friends and Influence People" and treat your clients like that book says to treat people.

17. Have clear and defined written goals. Take actions everyday that get you closer to those goals.

18. Collect and use a mammoth stack of testimonials and before and after pics. Make sure the testimonials contain specific results that your clients have received. And make sure to edit the hell out the testimonials… most of em' will suck if you don't.

19. Read the E-Myth by Michael Gerber. Systematize and delegate out as much of the "technicians" and "managers" work as possible and wear the entrepreneurs hat as often as you can. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go read that book before you do anything else.

20. Do whatever the f*ck it takes to make your business a success (ethically of course) and realize that sometimes you're gonna have to crawl though a river of sh*t before coming out clean on the other side… but if you persist you'll always get there, and the the trials of the journey will make your success that much more enjoyable.

And if you haven't done so already, be sure to opt-in for my free Kick Back Life Fitness Marketing and Health Club Marketing updates… I'll also send you a link to a secret video that shows how you can make a lot more money and work a lot less hours from using little known underground Internet marketing tactics.

 Let me know what you think… and toss in a few things of your own that work in YOUR business…