Is the economic downturn effecting your PT income? - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[BritLad]

Hi all, I am in the process of becoming a certified PT and I'm starting to worry about the credit crunch/recession and how this might effect my chances of making it (financially) as a sucessful trainer.

Some friends have expressed concerns (several times) that it might not be the best time to change careers and have suggested that I should just stick to office management (which is what I've done for the past 8 years) and do the 'trainer' thing part time or later next year. I really don't want to do that, but I have to admit that I am a little worried about the economy and how that might effect me once I'm out there looking for clients.

Have you guys noticed a significant downturn in business or have you been largerly uneffected to date?

[kaiserS]

Fortunately, I haven't seen the effects yet - I know a few trainers who are adapting, doing more group trainer, or using the downtime to really work on their marketing.

I did a full post on this exact subject on my blog - http://super-trainer.com/bad-news-bu...-six-magazine/

[kettlebell king]

hi chap,
i am based in the uk and over last 6 months have definately seen a decrease in business. I'm lucky enough that all my core clients are still with me and managed to build a good base of clients before these events. I have only had one client drop out due to being layed off thought but what i have noticed is a definate decrease in the number of new people contacting me for training. Where as before I would get at least 4 new starters a month now it is more like one every two months and these are generally from word of mouth or referals.
If you are starting out free lance and not getting a base rate wage from doing gym instructon as well as personal training you should still look at changing careers but make sure you have a supplemental income alongside the training- I worked as a bouncer for years until I could properly support myself on my training wage alone and guess I always have this to fall back on.
If you need any other advice mate pm me

[BritLad]

hi chap,
i am based in the uk and over last 6 months have definately seen a decrease in business. I'm lucky enough that all my core clients are still with me and managed to build a good base of clients before these events. I have only had one client drop out due to being layed off thought but what i have noticed is a definate decrease in the number of new people contacting me for training. Where as before I would get at least 4 new starters a month now it is more like one every two months and these are generally from word of mouth or referals.
If you are starting out free lance and not getting a base rate wage from doing gym instructon as well as personal training you should still look at changing careers but make sure you have a supplemental income alongside the training- I worked as a bouncer for years until I could properly support myself on my training wage alone and guess I always have this to fall back on.
If you need any other advice mate pm me

Hi, cool to hear that you've managed to maintain your clients for the most part. Makes me feel a little less worried BTW, I've dropped you a pm so check your inbox.