Fit For Business: Can I really be a fitness professional?

This article was featured in an archived edition of ISSA's Associate Newsletter. To sign up for this bi-monthly newsletter, please visit: http://ipost.com/issa/prefs

Question:

"Clark, firstly I should congratulate you on your successful career in fitness. I've just read your first article in The Associate newsletter and am inspired, but hesitant. I love fitness and have been involved in fitness in some way or another for all of my adult life...but I've not been getting paid for it. Although I'd very much like to make my living in the fitness field fitness, I have a hard time deciding whether I can afford to leave my full time job to give my fitness career the time and dedication required to be successful. I'm 38 and live in Hawaii with my husband and 3 kids. Living in Hawaii is expensive and we depend on my income as a sales professional. I've been looking into fitness certifications, but first need to figure out whether I can make the fitness business work for us financially. What advice do you have for someone trying to get started but who needs to make money in the field? Do you have any suggestions for a business plan that would include a profit of $100K+ in the first year? Whatever suggestions you have would be appreciated."

Kelly Launer

Answer:

Thanks for the compliment on my career; I have been very blessed to make a full time living doing what I love. My first bit of advice would be to reinforce your decision to 'keep your day job.' If your current lifestyle depends on you working, then I say, stay working...for a while at least. We all know as personal trainers we are somewhat limited in our earning potential because many of us fail to think 'outside the box.' I had an interesting and very inspiring conversation with a gal in the gym just the other day and this was my advice to her and I'll suggest you consider it as well as it may be something that can help you transition without sacrificing financially. If I were you, here is what I would do.

Think about what makes you special for a moment. What is your niche and what can you exploit about your personality that would cause a group of women to want to train with you? Let's say, for example, that you are a "spiritual" person. You are in the perfect environment (Hawaii, expensive location and all) to create a weekend group personal training/spiritual empowerment fitness camp. See where I am going with this? You could charge up to $100.00 per participant and put an attendance limit on the enrollment to create a sense of urgency as you market the camp.

There is something else I would do to separate you from the masses: offer a money back guarantee to anyone who doesn't see a measurable result in 90 days or so. You know, as well as I do, that if these women comply with at least 70-80% of your suggestions, they will get results and you'll never have to return a penny. On top of the physical results you'll be enriching them spiritually and emotionally as well. This idea can obviously be brainstormed even more, but this should be an excellent start for you to begin to segue into a full time career as a personal trainer. I hope this helps.

Clark

Question:

"Hi Clark:

For a couple months, I've been debating whether or not to pursue a career in the world of professional fitness and I'm hoping that you may have some information and/or advice that could finally help me to decide whether or not to go for it and join the ISSA. I'm very interested in nutrition and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, both for myself and for others. However, I'm less sure that I'm interested in working with others as a personal trainer. I also fully believe that exercise is the key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and I absolutely love going to the gym. I would love to shift my interest into a career but I'm finding it difficult to find career opportunities in the fitness world other than becoming either a nutritionist/dietician or a personal trainer. After reading your article about fitness modeling, I'm wondering if you could suggest other careers that are out there in the fitness world. At some point in time, I would love to be a writer for a fitness magazine and possibly own my own health center. But, as you can imagine, I've no idea where to begin and what my career path should be to make these dreams come true. I'm not sure what credentials I'd need to be a writer and/or owner of a health center, and was hoping you might have some insight.

Anything you could share would be very much appreciated!

Thank you." Amy Balosie

Answer: I understand your frustration in thinking that being a personal trainer is your only option here, Amy, but that couldn't be further from the truth! The opportunities are endless when it comes to enjoying a career in this ever-expanding industry. My career has been pretty multi-dimensional to say the least. I've been a:

Trainer Model Writer Supplement manufacturer Gym owner Consultant Product endorser Actor (because of my physical prowess) Producer Web marketer Motivator Infomercial spokesperson Product developer (for fitness equipment) Designed and owned a clothing line for "athletic bodies" Promoter ( I have my own fitness and bodybuilding show) Sales Counselor Gym manager

If you are serious about starting a writing career, here is what I would do. Like the first question I answered above, you first need to figure out what makes you special and different from everyone else out there and use this to start a web log (blog). I've seen some crazy ones out there like, "The Fat Guy's Guide to Fitness." Create a following and then parlay that into writing for a magazine. This is something you could easily do.

Another idea is to find someone inspirational who has done something noteworthy in fitness, write a smashing article about them, and approach Oprah magazine or some publication like that. For example, when I met a guy at the gym who had lost 160lbs, I thought to myself, "I need to write an article about this guy and shop it around to a variety of magazines." Magazines need content and you could provide it...if you are motivated enough. I cannot begin to tell you how many million dollar ideas I have given away and most people never follow through! Very sad how people expect to have opportunities handed to them. You need to make opportunities happen and never wait for them to happen to you.

Or start a web site and sell something on line. Anyway, with a little hard work, creativity and persistence, who knows where you'll be in a year from now.

Clark