Does Personal Training Lead To Financial Peace?

by Phil Kaplan

Ummmm. 

It leads to stress. 

To hard work. 

To sleepless nights, client cancellations, no-pays, rent increases, and uncertainty. 

It sometimes leads to profitability, but rarely, with few exceptions, does it lead to a secure financial future.

THIS IS LONG . . .  AND IMPORTANT FOR EVERY PERSONAL TRAINER SEEKING A SECURE FUTURE.

PRINT IT.  READ IT.  FROM START TO FINISH.

THEN, IF THIS ALL RESONATES WITH YOU, WATCH THE RECORDING OF THE NEW PARADIGM WEBINAR (instant access just below).. 

IT'S A NEW BEGINNING.

Let's get back to the question.  Can a Training Business Prosper . . . now?

In my experience, there are 5 Keys That Can Make a Personal Training Studio Lucrative and Prosperous. 

I’ll share them first, then I’ll shed some important perspective on your career, a Pandemic, and your future.

The 5 Keys (The 5 "It Must's")

1. It must generate revenue that exceeds costs after payroll (including executive / owner pay)
2. It must build revenue streams beyond that which is dependent upon the owner/operator (vitally important)
3. It must have systems for recurring revenue and a touch, compel, capture mechanism for growth
4. It must have a “spillover system” or membership that makes is saleable
5. It must have a retention strategy and evidence that new business exceeds attrition

I know many of you would like to see “the trainer must be a good person” and “the clients must be happy” on that list, but I’ve seen hundreds of good people with happy clients go belly up.

Sad?  Yes.

True?  Yup, and today we're focused ONLY on "true."

Sit back.  Give this your full attention.  I’m going to share some perspective that can ignite your future.
 

*     *     *

Personal Training businesses are “old school.”  Despite the appeal of the “shiny-object syndrome,” they’re built upon decades-old platforms.  The strategy formed in the 1990’s didn’t lead to prosperity “then,” and it won’t now.  Unless there’s change.

I’m going to talk to you about change, and with it, a true escalation in revenues, security, and power, but we have to start with Reality.

Are you Ready for a Real Conversation grounded in Truth?

Most trainers aren't.  This isn't intended for most trainers.  This is for those ready to excel.

Personal Training business models were built upon the age-old flaw in the health club field.  Clubs were adept at selling, but members never receive adequate direction and in that, clubs could succeed while member failure was imminent. 

The Personal Trainer’s “business,” whether it was conducted within the four walls of the club itself, at client’s homes, or in single purpose retail space was fragile from the onset, as it was (and is) supported by a flawed promise of “results.” 

In the results-based relationship, the client roster was supposed to be assembled and thrilled, resulting in the Personal Trainer gaining a secure future and a promising Profession. 

In that was the primary lie.

Here we are in 2020, navigating a global Pandemic, economic uncertainty, and a society plagued by polarization, anger, and fear.  It’s a new and unprecedented climate.

I started out by calling our field “old school.”  What I mean is, even with new training strategies, new technology, and new social media marketing tactics, the premise is based on 1 client – 1 session – 1 fee. 

Sure you can do group training and bootcamps as supplemental revenue streams, but they’re all reliant upon your time and energy and when unexpected disruption shows itself, the entire business is at risk of collapse. 

Sure, you can implement virtual sessions and Zoom presentations, but that's soon to become a cluttered commodity which will not sustain any level of premium pricing.

The "old school" Personal Training business is not equipped to find financial abundance on the other side of COVID.  A new type of player will lead the marketplace, and I can show you how to jump into this arena before the rest of the field even sees a spark of the new potential.

Let’s put the Pandemic aside, and identify the gaps that exist industry wide between a desire to thrill clients and the bearing of financial fruit.

Your income ceiling is set by the number of hours in a day and the number of clients you can attract and train in those hours. 

By providing guidance in exercise and nutrition you offer to change people for the better, and some respond well. 

In the large scheme of things, while we like to hold up the successes, those who achieve what they set out to achieve are in the minority. 

I know that stings.  I know trainers want to believe "everyone" gets results, and those who don't are somehow lazy or irresponsible.  Remember what I promised you.  Truth.

In what I've called the "old school model of Personal Training," some clients do get significant results, but others simply don’t.  They drop off, they maintain destructive habits, or . . . for a mystery you rarely confront, they just don’t get the results some others do, even if they comply fully (I’ll uncover that mystery for you and show you the massive opportunity that lies within).

Today, on the morning of Labor Day, September 7, 2020, I can put the overriding lies in our field to rest.  To stop the lies from continuing to sustain an industry-wide illusion, I’ll share two truths without batting an eye.

TRUTH #1: Personal Trainers are NOT Professionals

TRUTH #2: Most Personal Training Clients NEVER get the results they wanted.

Before you get upset, before you stage your argument, understand I’ve been “inside” this industry for over 25 years, I’ve been to 20 different countries speaking to fitness professionals, I’ve worked within the largest fitness entities and operations, and I’ve conducted over 5,000 presentations for “our industry.” 

I daresay, I’ve seen it all.

Over the last decade I’ve been working alongside the medical field, and the differences in career path, security, and power have become strikingly clear.

To become a doctor, a student completes a 4-year degree, sits for the MCATs, applies to Medical Schools, and diligently stays the course until acceptance.  That’s only the beginning.  The graduate student now commits to study and learns for another four years, after which comes the completion of an internship and a residency, and by the time he (or she) earns the right to put the letters M.D. or D.O. after his name, he (or she) has earned a Profession. 

A new doctor is well assured of an income near or above $180K with immense opportunity provided by a number of conventional models.

There’s a career path, a certain opportunity after completing that path, and assuredness of some level of financial peace.

That’s a profession.

I know.  You don’t want to be a doctor, but I use that only as a single example.  In terms of applying the moniker “profession,” I could say the same for a CPA, a Registered Nurse, a P.A., a Nurse’s Assistant, a Pharmacist, a Respiratory Therapist, an Occupational Therapist, an Attorney, and a Dentist.  They become professionals, they earn professions, and by simply following a predetermined path, they are assured security.

Even teachers, police officers, and government workers have the assuredness of a pension.

In my mind, these areas of employment are “professions” ensuring that the investment in specialty training creates a competent performer assured a fair living beyond his or her working years.

Personal Trainers are not given a clear path to earnings, and in that they follow the flawed model.  Even with credentials, trainers are typically reluctant entrepreneurs forced to produce without the innate selling skills and risk-taking comfort levels most true entrepreneurs are driven by.  

Unless they are hired by major corporations, they don’t have a 401K, a retirement package, or stock options.

I suspect this is ringing true, but it’s time for some realigning.

I am not trying to put you down.  Much the opposite.  I am about to lift you up.

I am not only an advocate for personal trainers . . . I am a personal trainer. 

I love the nobility of the Persona Trainer.  I just realize, I am “outside the norm.” 

I can promise you, it’s better when you leave “the norm” behind.

My story is a long one with lots of twists and turns, but thankfully it led me to discover many rare opportunities and in that I learned to capitalize, always staying true to my moral compass, always putting “the desire to help others” in front of me.

I fell many times, and with each tumble I learned. 

I come to you now to lift you from the place of “stuck,” to share opportunity you haven’t seen, but only if you’re willing to face the reality and believe there’s something better.

You can defend your track record and your certification, and I understand, but let’s get to the core of this.  A certification provides nothing other than perhaps a minimum barrier of entry into some areas of employ and minimal evidence of competency.  It isn’t a true credential and it never earned you more than a glance by a potential employer or an opportunity to hang a frame on your wall.

Please understand me. 

I want you to follow your passion, to love what you do . . . but I also want you to stop being caught up in the illusion that your commitment to your clients will lead you to a point of financial peace. 

For most Personal Trainers, the financial struggle is an underlying constant.

Sure, there are those who earn six-figures plus, but they’re with me in the Outliers Club.

“Personal Training as a solid, secure, Profession” is quite simply a lie that feeds an industry of entities and businesses who inadvertently feed upon the fitness passion or desire of others.

MY RANT IS ALMOST OVER . . . AND I’M ABOUT TO SHARE SOME GOOD NEWS.

You can earn.  You can have financial peace.  And you should.  But you have to do things differently.  Better.

If you approach with an open mind, I’ll show you how.  And I’ll add this.  The chance to maximize earnings and outcomes in an opportune space, a space that sits between fitness and medicine, has never been more attractive than now . . . in the wake of America’s Pandemic.

Not only has our industry changed since COVID, but the entire marketplace has changed.  When you understand how these shifts have opened new doors for true fitness professionals, you’ll be floored. 

I promise you, what I’ve been sharing with select health practitioners is unlike anything you’ve seen or considered before. 

On Wednesday, September 9, 2020 I conducted an explosive webinar.  I want you to view it in its entirety if you're at a point in your fitness career where you seek something better.

• I shared a new Paradigm for positioning, for promoting, for attracting, for training, and for delivering results unparalleled in our field.

• I shared how the strategies I’ve learned to employ literally reverse chronic disease, undo weight loss resistance, measurably improve immunity and recovery, and stand above medical interventions as solutions for the masses.

• I explained why the statement “you don’t need to have diabetes any longer” is honest, compelling, and viable, and why those with thyroid disease are in desperate need of rescue.

Here’s one more important piece of insight.  The clients trainers “fail” to deliver results for almost always have an undiagnosed condition that I call REMASS.  This isn’t a small segment of our population.  REMASS afflicts 65% of American adults, and unless the condition is resolved, they will NOT respond to diet and exercise as athletes and younger folks with all systems in balance will.

You won't find REMASS in a medical encyclopedia.  It's a term I coined together with a nucleus of physicians validating the consistency of a checklist of hormonal variables and markers.  It's a peek into what you'll learn if you're willing to explore a new and opportune future "outside the norm."

Watch the recording as if you're watching it live and I’ll show you how to earn what you deserve and how to deliver results that far exceed expectations for ALL OF YOUR CLIENTS, regardless of their history.

Here.

“What?” you ask.

Here.  I’m handing you the ball.

“What ball?”

The Ball of Decision.  It’s in your court.  All you have to do is take the simple step.  Your future awaits and I look forward to it!

Phil Kaplan