It was Nov of 1999 when I transitioned out of a secure $50,000 per year job with full benefits to the roller coaster ride of inconsistent personal training income. And hair raising moments. It hasn't been easy, an I learned allot of interesting things along the way.
I began the typical trainers route working for a semi-reputable athletic club who took 40% of my income and made promises to build my clientele. As expected It did not work out that way. After the gym took their commission I was left with $35/ hour and living pay check to pay check. And rarely did I get client referrals. I knew I needed to secure my lifestyle.
First, I financially positioned myself for changes. I left a cozy 2 bedroom apartment in La Jolla CA and transitioned into a $300 per month single room rental in Encinitas CA. This change to allow me to save enough money to build up my business through branding and advertising afford to buy adequate health insurance and feed myself. Within a 6 month time frame I had saved enough to afford to buy the first www.Somagenesis.com website. I contracted some hippies in Provincetown Mass by the name of Kiss computing. They built me a beautiful flash animated $4000 website that had a good call to action for potential clients.
Although I knew absolutely nothing about marketing over the Internet the website generated enough interest from fairly good website traffic! I started to receive 2-3 good leads per month which seems like nothing now, but added up to significant income over time. This website served me well for 7 years. It launched me into the world of SEO (search engine optimization) which I learned by reading forums and books.
By 2006 www.Somagenesis.com was averaging $17,500 in earned income per month thanks to its website lead generating capacity and Google Ad words campaigns. I learned to become a computer SEO geek.
I must say my life now in 2007 is much different. My company is now a S Corporation I still generating great leads but from a new very expensive Somagenesis.com website I average 12 new leads per week and should be generating more as this site gets better indexing from the Google web spiders.
I now live in a $850,000 home in North County San Diego, own three cars including my beloved 2007 Infinity FX45. My marketing related expenses are much high since I now have three employees working for me that I must keep busy. I myself average and 85 hour work week (20 hours are spent in commute)
Although the weekly paychecks are great, sometimes I question if the time commitment is really worth it. The lack of sleep is the number one complaint of well established personal trainer entrepreneurs. Most of us average 5 hour per night.
Getting up at 4:00AM is a daily occurrence and never an easy task. Especially if you know you won't be coming home before 9:00PM
There is always a strong temptation to call in sick to clients or cancel the last appointment of the day. For the sake of an extra couple hours of rest.
The Personal training business can be tough on relationships. When you are not training clients you are marketing your business, trying to sneak your own workouts, paying bills juggling personal chores, and returning phone calls.
Your learn to become a master level multi-tasker. You better hope you have a supportive spouse or girlfriend who understands your dedication to the growth of your business.
Taking time off for personal training seminars or for personal vacations can be difficult.
Your clientele base become very dependent on you. When you are not there they "act out" with bad eating issues and missed appointment when you return. This is designed to show you they are bothered. Psychologists and mental health care providers also deal with the same issue. The solution is to pre-plan and pre- announce you time off intention before clients resign contracts.
In summary, I would recommend to anyone interested in the personal fitness training field to carefully weigh the pros and cons of this lifestyle. If you are driven,intelligent, entrepreneurial and truly dedicated to helping individual with your skills in personal training, then this could be a great career move. Conversely, If you lack any of the aforementioned qualities then you really should rethink your career options. After all, you could hurt a client and yourself.
For more information on how Somagenesis can change your body visit our web site www.somagenesis.com
1 comments:
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