How Personal Training Education and Experience Inspire Success
In order to be successful as a personal trainer, you have to know how to balance your education and experience. You’re more than just a personal trainer; you’re a brand and the proud owner of a personal training business. That means you have to set goals for your brand and market it. But here’s a little secret I’m going to share with you: If you can find your niche as a personal trainer, you’re already most of the way to successful branding and marketing. Here are a few tips I’ve learned over the years to help my brand find success right alongside my clients.
Education or Experience: Which is More Valuable?
In the fitness industry, you must have both experience and education to be successful. Think about it, you’re selling your services to people. A good salesman will know all there is to know about the services they’re selling. An informed trainer is a confident one.
There are a myriad of vocational courses, institutional education courses, and personal trainer certification programs out there. They teach you how to screen your clients and identify risk factors, but it’s up to you to decide what type of education will give you the most insight into the services you want to provide. I recommend pursuing an education in several different programs to help provide you with the most well-rounded education possible – and be prepared for your client to ask you about your education, too.
But don’t discount your experience. After all, it’s one of the best teachers . You can be the most educated personal trainer in the world, but if you have no practical experience, then you might find yourself lost at the gym. To me, experience breeds confidence and that confidence breeds client confidence too. When you know what you’re doing, it shows.
In my book Your Fitness Career, I go into detail how I discovered what kind of education magazines are looking for when they decide whom to call on their search for a fitness expert.
Create Your Own Brand
Creating your own brand may seem complicated, but it’s actually very simple. All you need to do is understand how to distinguish yourself from the competition. Focus on what you do well and develop your own niche. Fitness is becoming very specific. When you create your own niche, then you don’t have to concern yourself with the competition because you’ve created your own market. Remember, it’s far easier to single yourself out as a specialist than as a generalist. When you define exactly the type of trainer you are, then clients will come to find you because they know you’re the right fit for what they want to achieve.
Personal trainers also have to be salespeople. If you can brand yourself successfully, then you can allow your brand to do the selling for you. If you’re not sure where to start, just think about the type of client that excites you when they walk through the door – and there you have your niche.Learning what it takes to be one of the most successful personal trainers out there is both acquired and learned. As long as you have a good foundation and the drive to learn how to sell personal training, the sky is the limit.
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