Not sure where to start? Here's How To Start Mobile Personal Training effectively

As the world of technology advances, it has allowed other industries to thrive. In today’s digital landscape it is easier than ever to run a business right from your home. The diverse fitness industry offers plenty of opportunities for mobile personal training businesses to grow. Right now is the perfect time to start chasing your passion, but first, you have to know where to start. If you’re hoping to become a mobile fitness trainer, you need to be knowledgeable about the industry and have the necessary skills to make sure your business is successful. 

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Understanding the Business

Before you can get started on your journey to being a mobile fitness trainer, you need to know how mobile fitness training works. While the business is similar to an average personal trainer job, there are quite a few distinct differences. You’ll need a different business model, and you won’t have the same responsibilities as a trainer working out of a gym. As a mobile fitness trainer, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the business, as well as the opportunities it can bring, is vital to being successful. 

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Strengths

One of the major strengths of being a mobile fitness trainer is its convenience. Clients may choose you over traditional training in a gym simply because you come to their own homes. It’s also convenient for trainers who want to have more flexible work schedules. It’s also often cheaper for clients to pay a mobile fitness instructor per session than pay a gym membership each month. During a mobile session, you can even choose to meet clients at other locations, such as public parks or beaches. This kind of flexibility can be great for you and the people you train. 

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Weaknesses

While there are plenty of strengths to running your mobile personal training business, there are weaknesses to the career too. For one, the travel costs to get to and from clients can be expensive depending on where you live. If you don’t have a car specifically for work purposes, you will also be putting wear and tear on your personal vehicle. Marketing can also be harder to do because your business will have no physical location that clients can recognize. As a mobile fitness trainer, you’ll be finding most of your clients online, and will need to put plenty of effort into your website and social media profiles. You will need a range of marketing efforts to make sure you reach your target audience and are getting in front of as many people as possible. Another weakness that comes with this job is the investment you have to put into the equipment. It can be expensive depending on what kind you need. While you can choose to focus on clients who have their own workout equipment, it will limit your market base.

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Opportunities 

As a mobile personal trainer, your business has endless opportunities for growth and change. The flexibility of this job field allows it to be ever-expanding, and adaptable. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, outdoor training sessions began to rise in popularity, as they provided a way to meet with an instructor while social distancing. Mobile instructors have the ability to adapt their routine and schedule to major life changes like this. 

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Steps For Starting Your Business

Once you understand more about what it means to be a mobile fitness trainer, you can get started on creating your business. It involves a lot of hard work and dedication, but it will lead to a rewarding career. 

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Start Your Hustle

You have to hustle when starting any business endeavor, and that is even more true of the fitness industry. It takes a lot of time and effort to pursue a career as a personal trainer, and you likely won’t have steady revenue for at least a few months. Most mobile trainers won’t start out with a big client base, so you have to hustle 24/7, especially at first. On average, you might go three to six months without seeing a revenue stream from your business. 

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Do The Right Research

Laws for starting your own business will vary from state to state, so make sure to do the right research about what kind of licensing you will need. Since you won’t have a boss or be working for a gym, you’ll have to handle any taxes and insurance on your own. It’s best to know all of this information before you get started trying to establish your mobile training business. 

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Get Insurance

You shouldn’t see any clients with your mobile fitness trainer business until you have the proper insurance. Even when taking the proper safety precautions, there are rare events where clients can get injured. Having liability insurance can protect you if this happens. The good news is if you have your personal trainer certificate through certain programs they can help you find affordable options. 

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Gather Your Equipment

One thing to keep in mind about a mobile personal trainer business is that you will have to provide all of the equipment. While some clients may have their own in-home gyms, you won’t be able to rely on this. You have to be sure you have all of the necessary equipment for any workouts you plan to teach. Depending on your training focus, you may need to upgrade your vehicle in order to transport your gear. This can be a big investment up-front if you don’t have equipment already. 

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Find Your Market

In order to successfully grow your business and bring in customers, you need to find your market. Your target market will depend on the kind of fitness instruction you will offer. For example, you may want to focus on offering self-defense for young people, or strength training for bodybuilders.  Once you know who your target clientele will be, it will be easier to come up with effective methods of marketing and getting your business in front of them. 

Before narrowing it down, you should do research on the kind of personal training classes that are popular in your area. This can help you create a mobile personal trainer business that will be able to thrive. 

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Create Your Brand

After you narrow down a target market and niche, you can focus on creating a brand that will resonate with people. Branding is one of the best ways to grow your business, and there are plenty of ways you can create brand recognition for your own mobile personal training business. To help with your brand, you can take advantage of getting a free website through WeStrive complete with the ability to show your pricing, sell packages, and more. This will save you a lot of time not having to build your own website.

Understand Payment

Handling your client payments is another aspect you have to take care of on your own as a mobile fitness trainer. In today’s advanced technology landscape, there are multiple ways you can collect payments for your training sessions. Some of the more popular options are Venmo, Square, and PayPal. Some mobile trainers may even accept cash. There are also less well-known payment collection options available, and new ones are created all the time. 

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A Final Note

Being a mobile personal trainer can be the perfect path for those with a passion for fitness who want a flexible work-life balance. It allows plenty of room for growth and is the most adaptable of any personal training career.

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Are you new to personal training? Read these articles to get started on growing your business:

• How to price your online training
• How To Attract Clients as a Personal Trainer
• How to write a memorable and professional fitness bio

About the Author:

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Cory McKane

Cory is a huge fan of fitness - and an even bigger fan of helping you with your fitness. He's started on his journey with WeStrive back in 2015 and has been building it ever since.