Hi all. Yet again it’s been a few weeks since my last blog. What can I say, like most people I’m a busy guy with my Online Personal Training and day to day stuff. It’s been a real journey moving to online PT and that’s what this blog is about.

Back last March was the last time I trained someone face to face, it was a funny session that finished with the line; “I’m sure this virus won’t last long and il see you in a few weeks.” We were very wrong! It’s now been way over a year since that conversation, in that year I moved to training clients online and to be honest, I’ve not looked back since.

It wasn’t an easy thing to do (move online), a big part of me felt like I was giving up and turning my back on my face to face clients. All those months (sometimes years) spent training them, the hard weather endured and all that progress just halted with no plan in place. However, rather obviously we all know that we’ve had to adapt to the pandemic or basically, make zero income. It was a quick turnaround to being an online trainer but it wasn’t as if I had much of a choice!

Before we go into what I think bring an online trainer is all about, don’t forget that this is my take on it. There are no doubt other routes into moving online but for me, this good old fashioned way has seemed to work just fine!

How to start as an Online Personal Trainer

I guess the way to start is to find out if your ‘style can sell’ online. I don’t believe you can begin your career training clients online and be successful. I think it’s something you transgress to once you’ve got experience in training clients face to face. Sure you can spend a wad of cash by getting high up on Google, or get a swanky looking website and paying someone to help market you. But if you don’t have the tools, experience, evidence and ‘like-ability’ to get your clients to want to train with you, you’ll definitely struggle. Remember, online training is not just about being a good trainer, it’s also about being able to relax in front of a screen and having an ‘easy to follow’ manner so that clients know what to do on the other end of a video call…I’d say the first step in starting as an online trainer is to make sure you’ve got enough experience first. Do you have the evidence and knowledge to back up that you know what your doing? If you think your not ready, keep training clients face to face until you have that confidence in your chosen profession. Training online is totally different to face to face personal training.

How to get clients as an Online Personal Trainer

The golden nugget to any profession is obviously to sell your product. Just like an actor or a performing artist, as a Personal Trainer YOU are that product! So the answer to the the question ‘how to get clients’ is…to be a great product! It’s tough to sell yourself and it’s different depending on the type of person you are. If your introverted and maybe less inclined to ‘big’ yourself up, you’ll struggle to make potential clients believe in what your doing, especially in a competitive online market. As a PT, you are a bit like a performing artist in a way, the way you motivate clients and the honesty involved is unique to you. It’s the difference between one person recommending you to another, or not! So, the way to get clients online is again…be good at what you do and get people telling their friends that they should work with you! Most of the time, word of mouth will get you clients that WANT to work with you, because their friends recommended, rather than random clients who might just TRY working with you. Get it?

As an Online Personal Trainer, your not god

Training clients online is tough. When you train face to face, you meet the client and have that interaction. You get to know one another and garner a relationship. Online training isn’t like that, you still get to know clients on a personal level but it’s a far more ‘controlled’ medium. It’s better in a way, there’s no setting up a gym or things like that. You simply train then end the call! It’s not groundbreaking, it’s just a different way to train clients so don’t get carried away. What I mean by that is just like real life training some people will like training this way, some not. Don’t take it to heart if someone signs up and after training is finished, they don’t sign up again. They’ve simply tried online PT, and it wasn’t for them…Always remember, your simply a product, some people will like your product and others not. Newsflash, your not the next big thing! Don’t get down when someone walks away, it’s just business.

Ignore scams, competition and ‘get clients fast’ schemes

Online Personal Training opens you up to the World Wide Web. Social media is saturated with apparently very popular competitors in your field. There’s also a never ending stream of scammers and people trying to make a quick buck by selling you one scheme of another. Ignore anything that sounds too good to be true and also ignore what competitors are doing. Stick to your game plan and what you know. If you do need help with boosting your online presence, or help marketing what you do, seek a recognised professional. It can simply be a case of getting a second opinion off a friend on your business that’ll help you assess things, advice that doesn’t cost a penny! Always do some research rather than paying the first hack you see…remember, being a successful Personal Training takes time and good old hard work. Trust in the fact that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. There are no (free) quick routes to getting clients that will truly want to work with you, and when you think about it, do you really want to work with people who don’t?

Honesty

I think a good line to finish this blog on is, do you really want to work with people who aren’t committed? That’s what I think being a Personal Trainer is all about eventually. Once you’ve got experience, you want to value your expertise. Look at who you like working with, who gets the best results, what age group seems to jump out? Online Personal Training should be a continuation of that. Normally we have a niche group that responds best to our style so it’s about targeting that group.

At the end of the day it’s honesty. Be honest with yourself and if it’s the right career move for you. Online Personal Training isn’t for everybody, it’s a style of training that suits some clients, and not others. It’s also perfect for some PT’s and not for others as we’ve discussed. It is more of a ‘sterile’ business model than face to face as there’s less interaction. You have to know what your doing and that expertise needs to come through across a screen. Patience is key, like I said don’t expect people to flock to you as they don’t know you and it takes time. It’s all about experience, knowledge and a lot of word of mouth!