You’re a rising star, fresh out of your personal fitness training, and you’re ready to take the personal training world by storm. You’ve got the knowledge, you’ve got the determination, and you’ve got the gumption to make your dreams come true—except it’s not happening. For some reason, your career isn’t taking off quite the way you hoped.
So, what’s the problem?
It’s likely not about your skill level, your certification, or your desire to make your career happen—you might just be making tiny—but fatal—mistakes! Even if you are making these, don’t fret—these things happen, and they happen to just about everyone. They might be little, but they’re impactful, so recognizing them before they affect your career can do you a world of good!
Check out a few of these super common—and super avoidable!—mistakes that lots of personal trainers tend to make right after certification.
Forgetting to Make a Banging personal trainer Resume
The fitness industry is a unique beast—you know your certification matters, you know your experience matters, and you know that how you present yourself matters. But, none of that is going to translate if you don’t have a way to communicate it to your potential employer.
Personal trainer resumes matter, people. We know it sounds archaic, we know printing out a piece of paper with your achievements on it feels weird, and we know it’s not the most exciting thing in the world, but it is how the world works—even in the fitness industry.
Personal trainer resumes are the perfect way to humblebrag about your accomplishments, they’re the perfect way to inform an employer that you are, indeed, qualified. They’re necessary and not having one prepared could be a fatal mistake!
Not Acting Like a Professional
Once again, the fitness industry is a super unique beast—our attitudes are basically our brands. If your brand is to be a little sassy, a little overconfident, or a little bit blunt, that’s great—but, you can’t always go so hard with your brand that it diminishes your professionalism.
We’re all about finding a place for your brand and your niche within the personal training industry, but if you focus too much on that and not enough on being a professional with quality ideas, great training, and lots of room to grow, you’re unlikely to impress an employer (or clients).
Pretending You’re Not Good Enough
Keeping that above point in mind, if you nix your confidence altogether and undersell yourself, you’re not doing yourself any favors either. The trick is to find the perfect balance between confidence and arrogance—you can know your good, know that you know how to help a client, and know what’s best for someone, but if you’re unprofessional or arrogant about it, they’re less likely to listen to you in the first place.
Be confident in what you learned, be proud of what you’ve accomplished, and don’t be afraid to let someone know! You’ve accomplished something great and you’re going to be a wonderful trainer—know that fully!
Not Focusing on Improving Your Skills
This is a huge mistake people make in every industry! Sometimes, professionals think that one they’ve graduated, earned a degree, or acquired a certificate, they’re done learning. In their mind, they know everything there is to know and have accomplished all there is to accomplish.
But this is never the case!
There’s so much out there to learn—especially in the personal training industry where things are fluctuating and evolving every single day. To give up on learning, to forget that thirst for knowledge, is basically giving up on your career altogether. It’s vital to keep learning, to continue to grow, and to adapt within your career—it’s what keeps you sharp and relevant! Abandoning the idea of continuing your education is the first step toward failure!
Having an Attitude
This one kind of ties into the last point—don’t have a bad attitude. You might have to pay your dues, work long hours, and do a little bit of the grunt work.
And you know what?
That’s OK.
That’s what has to happen sometimes. Working your way up the ladder is part of the process (for the most part) and dedicating yourself to that is a great career move. Having a bad attitude, not being willing to do your part, and not wanting to work hard toward your dream is a fatal mistake—especially at the beginning of your career.
Not Consulting with Mentors or Teachers
If you find that you need advice or would really benefit from getting help from someone (a mentor, a teacher, a friend) but won’t do it because you’re too prideful, you’re making a classic, but fatal mistake. No matter what level of professional trainer status you achieve, it’s never a bad idea to ask a colleague or a mentor for their help, for advice, or for an opinion.
Consulting with people within the industry is one of the key ways to get better within your career—those who avoid doing this are avoiding growing, learning, and getting better all around!
