Scared!! - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[miswen]

Hello!!!
I haven't made many posts and i'm still finding my way around this forum.

I have decided to leave my good paying office job to go work at a new gym that has opened up and they have over 400 members already. I started there last week during the pre-opening phase and did the pre-open training to learn the ways of their club etc and this is the last week at my office job and I also dropped working at another gym which i was also working at part-time. I have been doing PT since Febuary and had settled in nicely to the other gym but i always had the high paying corporate job to be the main source of income.
I have taken the jump off that safe cliff into the unknown because fitness is where my passion lies and I am 100% scared!!!
the gym can only offer me a minimum of 30 gym floor hours and then I have to try and sell myself to get my PT clients. I also have 1 cycle class a week..Finance is going to be tight..
So has anyone else been in this same boat.. Feeling like you have just jumped off a cliff with no parachute!!!???

From experience what is going to set me above all the rest?? At this stage I am the only female trainer so that point of difference works in my favour
What are some good strategies for having people lining up for sessions with me.. Unfortunately I find it hard to do the hard sell on people...

[kaiserS]

We've ALL been in the same boat!!! hahah -

That's what's great about this job - the opportunity to grow and learn as a person - don't think of it as scary - think of it as fun!!!!

I wrote a post on this recently on my blog so check it out:

http://super-trainer.com/transformation/

But you're right about management's attitude - your goal now should be to learn as much as possible and get out on your own as soon as possible -

[simmo961]

I am in the same boat - working in a gym for hardly any money and all hours but getting tons of experience ready for when I pass my PT exams in jan. Cant wait and wish there was a quicker way out but it looks like I will have to serve my full apprenticeship so to speak on the shop floor.

Luckily I have a brilliant girlfriend who is keeping me in the lifestyle I have become accustomed to while I am training.

[SteveyG]

I have a career in marketing and I have been lifting for over 7 years now... I finally decided to get my cert as a PT and I started working at the gym I lift at as my second job. I hope one day soon I can take that leap you guys find scary... to be honest I hate sitting around all day. I maintain myself well for sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day.

My plan although unrealistic now seems to be the path I want to take. I am a power specialist. I competed and won a bunch of power lifting events and know how to get much stronger through intense power lifting work outs. My friend is a body builder and he has won a couple pose-offs now and has one of the best body-builder mentors in my state. He has a friend who is a chemist and just launched his supplament line. I want to combine our 3 areas into one Mega Gym! I hope to open a couple locations but the core will be founded on Hardcore Lifting. If there are gyms that cater to one type then think of this as a Gym you can scream, throw weights and just be an animal at. With my marketing skills and graphics background coming up with a company package won't be difficult. I will design everything... from the signs, business cards, supplament packaging, floor arrangement, banners, to detailed work out cards.

[freetimefitness]

I'm in the same boat as you it just starting to pick up for me now! at last!

One thing I would say is prices! never disclose your prices over email or over the phone, if you can, push around the topic until you have explained your complete service list. Always push for a meeting to discuss their options as soon as you can! disclosing prices makes it easier to say NO!

Tom

[megfit]

The issue of 'selling yourself' is always a scary one for people. But this is really just a perception issue. In fact, this is something I coach all of my clients on, because most of us start from that place of fearing we'll create a negative impression if we tell others how great we are.

However, if YOU don't tell people how great you are, how will they know???

I've said this in other posts, and I'm heading out shortly, but in a nutshell, here are some important things to focus on:
First, really dig into what it is about you that draws people to you. I know you asked this question, but YOU have to do the work. I have an entire chapter on this in my book, actually.
Second, be very clear who your ideal clients are. Who do you love to work with and what makes them tick.
Third, instead of focusing on how to PUSH your services onto people, determine what they want, and, in conversation, learn how to create PULL demand for your services. This means learning about them and what they need and giving them information enough so that they want more information AND your services.
Finally, you have to put your plans together. If you don't know where you're ultimately going, how will you know when you get there. Heck, HOW will you get there if you haven't set a plan?

Sign-ups are closed, now, for my current 10-month teleclass series, but this is part of what we address in the series, as I take participants from exactly where you are, miswen, to actually having a thriving business up and running and meeting all your dreams. I'll start the class again next September.

Margie