Is it easy to become a personal trainer? If only I had a million pounds for every time I’m every time I’m asked this! I’d be rich enough not to have worry about answering it But seriously, it’s a good question and one that anyone wanting to become a personal trainer usually asks at some point, so what’s the answer?

Becoming a personal trainer or fitness instructor isn’t particularly difficult, indeed, it can be pretty easy.  As I outline in the following articles the fundamentals required are pretty simple to achieve:

What does it cost to become a personal trainer
How to start a personal training business
What certification & qualifications do personal trainers need?

So the answer to the question is yes, it’s pretty easy. Read the above, grab a couple of recommended books on being a personal trainer, get the fitness equipment you’ll need and you’re off. I’ll have my million pounds please.

But the question you should be asking is not how to become a personal trainer but is it easy being a personal trainer? As you’ll see reading the above, anyone can become a fitness instructor but making a success of your chosen career and earning a good salary from personal training are the real challenges. In the UK, it’s estimated that one-in-three start up businesses fail within the first three years, so your next question should be:

Is it easy being a personal trainer?

Once you’ve got over the initial hurdles of starting up or sorted out the paper work (such as personal trainer insurance and writing your personal trainer business plan), you’ll quickly realise that being a personal trainer can rewarding and fun but  hard work. Being able to guide, instruct, coach, educate and lead people to their fitness goals is just one part of being a personal trainer and there’s a lot more to running a successful business that you’ll also need to master.

Customer service
Numero uno for any business is looking after your existing clients and customers. If you don’t keep them happy or if they don’t feel their getting your attention and value for money, they’ll leave you faster than you can do 10 press-ups. You’ll need to spend a time and effort on nurturing your customers. The good news is that not only will happy clients stay with you, they’re more likely to buy other services from you.

Marketing & promotion
Promotion of  your fitness business must be high up on your list of activities. If you don’t have a hose-pipe of new business leads, you could quickly find yourself out without cash and you and your business will fail quickly or at the mercy of a few customers. A rule-of-thumb is that you should be spending a third of your time on networking, promotion and marketing your personal training business. Join local networking groups, hang out at gyms, hit the online social networks to find clients, advertise. What works best for you only you can identify but whatever marketing and promotion techniques you do, just do it.

Sales
It’s not good enough to just have a base of customers and new leads lined up. You need to convert them, get them to buy from you – be it more frequent sessions, longer sessions or even products. You need to sell them your services, close deals and generate money.

Administration
Yes it’s dull, yes it’s boring and yes it’s a chore you can find thousands of better things to be doing instead of but keeping on top of the paperwork and administration for your fitness business is vital. Failure to do so may also lead you into trouble depending on the type of company formation you’ve chosen.

Aside from running the business, you’ll also need commitment, drive and determination.

In a nutshell, it’s easy to become a personal trainer but it’s much harder to make a success of it but then it was easy it wouldn’t be as rewarding or fun.

If you’re thinking of starting out on the path to become a personal trainer