How to become an online fitness coach
Have you ever wanted to become an online fitness coach? Learn how to do just that! Discover what the main requirements are to become an online fitness coach, the average salary and how much you can earn as an online fitness coach. Finally, learn how to market yourself as an online fitness coach and how to gain clients as a newbie in this field.
Set up your website
First you need a website, of course. The days of simply setting up a personal homepage are long gone. In fact, if you do that now, you’ll have so much more competition! Make sure your website has e-commerce functionality, as well as information on your coaching philosophy and qualifications—not to mention a simple way for potential clients to contact you. Don’t worry if your site looks bare-bones; just focus on getting it set up. You can always add content later.
Add social media accounts
There are many tools that you can use to help build your social media presence. Pick your favorite – Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and more – and get out there! Just remember that social media is about much more than self-promotion. It’s about engaging with potential customers on a daily basis. Don’t simply market yourself; try getting involved in conversations, answering questions and sharing content from other professionals in your industry. Social media is all about engagement. Make sure you’re doing it right. To get started with social media, take these steps:
Pick up to three different platforms where you want to be active (for example, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn). Sign up for each one by creating a profile that represents your business well. Make sure you add professional photos of yourself (no selfies!) along with some basic information about what kind of business you run.
Choose the best content for your niche
Fitness is a multibillion-dollar industry, and it’s expanding rapidly. You can take advantage of that growth by starting your own business as a virtual personal trainer. Because of their accessibility, training videos have become one of the most popular options for those looking to start their own home-based businesses. By creating videos based on your expertise and knowledge, you can create content that allows clients in other locations—anywhere in world—to receive hands-on training from you at any time. As your client base grows, so will your income.
Get ready for step by step action plan sessions
Before you can become a successful fitness trainer or coach, you must first master your own wellness. Learning how to apply techniques and methods that you’ll later teach to others takes time and practice, so ask yourself: How do I prepare myself for training sessions? What is my goal in each session? Does my body need rest and recovery days? When it comes down to it, self-care is crucial if you plan on helping others achieve their goals through physical activity. If you aren’t taking care of yourself, there won’t be much left over for your clients.
This process of applying what you learn about exercise and nutrition will take some trial and error—so expect to make mistakes along the way. If things don’t go as planned during one of your sessions, assess what went wrong and work toward improving upon it during future workouts with friends or clients.
Learn how to lead clients using your voice and body language.
If you really want to make a living as a personal trainer, then you’ll need more than knowledge of how muscles work and how to effectively program strength workouts. You’ll also need good communication skills, including how to speak in public and communicate with others via your voice, body language and demeanor. Follow these tips from a speech-language pathologist for standing out as an effective personal trainer. (And if you want to know what other qualities it takes to be a successful fitness professional, check out The 10 Qualities of Successful Personal Trainers.)
So how do you gain confidence in communicating with clients? For starters, practice presenting—even if it is just to your cat or dog. Make sure that when you talk with clients about their goals or workout regimen that they can see that passion and enthusiasm.
Prepare yourself for continuous learning and improvement.
Before we delve into how to actually make money as a personal trainer, let’s take a look at how you can make sure you don’t burn out, or get frustrated with all of your new clients. Remember: The Internet is full of information, and some of it is good (or even great!), but much of it is incorrect or outdated. As you learn more about training, remember that there are many ways to train people effectively; what works for one person may not work for another. So be open-minded, try things out and see what happens! And above all else—have fun!
Add value with free videos on YouTube, blog posts, eBooks, and more.
One of my favorite things about YouTube is how easy it is to make your own video content. You can shoot and edit with your phone (like I did for 4 Reasons I’m a #girlboss), or you can use tools like Screenflow (which I used for Stop Focusing on Perfection) and more professional software. Once you have videos, you can promote them through social media, email marketing, and paid advertising. The idea here is that creating free content will help attract people to your paid offerings—and they’ll be much more likely to buy from someone they know, like, and trust. Once you have a following, you can start charging for premium content through platforms such as Skillshare or Udemy.
Engage in forums, Facebook groups, Twitter chats, and Instagram.
Social media is such a great way to reach out and connect with other people that have similar interests. It’s a lot easier than having to start from scratch, especially in a niche like fitness where people tend to be super supportive of each other. So get involved! Start by following influencers in your industry on social media. Then join groups and forums related to your topic so you can network with others who are interested in what you do. And don’t forget about Twitter chats—they can be a great place for connecting as well as learning new information!
Do a podcast every week. Section 10) As you reach 1000 followers – start accepting clients!
You can start by reaching out to your existing followers on social media and make them aware of your new service, ask them if they would like a program designed specifically for them. Alternatively, advertise on Facebook or Instagram. You will be able to start charging clients as soon as you reach 1000 followers – that’s just $3/day in marketing!