No matter the reason you got into the personal training business( perhaps a love of fitness, a need to help mankind find a healthier lifestyle, maybe a pure-but-misunderstood obsession with the dumbbell), we hope that it all boils down and traces back to one, overarching purpose—it’s your passion.
We hope that you wake up every morning embracing life, loving your job, and fueling your passion with hard work, determination, and a can-do attitude.
What we don’t hope is that you’re doing all of this—and more—for less money than you should be.
We’re going to let you in on a really important secret that not everyone is bold enough to tell you—just because something is your passion doesn’t mean you can’t get paid well for it. In fact, we think the more passionate you are, the more committed you are to learning, growing, and evolving within that passion. And that means the more you develop that passion, the better you are at it, right?
Which, leads us to the ultimate question—if you’re insanely passionate about what you do and work your way to the top of your field, do you think maybe you should make more money?
The answer is a resounding yes, friends—and if you didn’t answer that way right off the bat, then this article is for you.
We’re just going to come right out and say it.
Stop. Selling. Yourself. Short.
Stop selling your talents short, stop selling your expertise short, and most importantly, stop selling your career short.
Yes, you should love what you do, but you should love what you do and make the appropriate amount of money doing it.
That’s why we’ve concocted this little article to help you take steps toward approaching your career, your talents, and your expertise honestly. Are you ready to stop selling yourself short and start making the money you deserve for the career you love?
Good—get to reading.
Evaluate Yourself and Your Career: Then and Now
It’s probably been a while since you thought about the start of your career. You’re busier now, you have less time for self-reflection. In most cases, that’s understandable, but taking a good, hard look at where you’ve been is the best way to realize how far you’ve come.
The first step to stop selling yourself short is this—think about who you were at the start of your career and think about who you are now. What’s changed? Do you have more licenses? Do you know more? Do you offer more classes?
Are you specialized? Do you, overall, have more experience? Those answers—most of them, anyway—should be yes. If you’re still considering yourself (and worse, pricing yourself) the same trainer you were when you started, then you’re approaching your worth all wrong.
Once you can lay out the differences from who you were then and who you are now, you’re on the road to better understanding what you’re worth—and more, what your services are worth, too.
Take a Look at Your Competition
It’s not spying, it’s a tactic, we promise. Take a look at how your competition operates. Do they price themselves higher? Do they have more experience? Do they offer more than you do? In most cases, they’re probably not that much more advanced than you are (if at all), and if they’re pricing their services higher, it’s probably because they have a better grip on how valuable they are.
Use this as an example. If the people who run in your circle are valuing their services and pricing themselves higher than you are, there’s probably a good reason for that.
Think Extensively About What You Offer—The Put a Price On It
Don’t try to update your prices willy-nilly. It’s almost impossible to slap a dollar amount on what you do unless you truly understand the value you’re bringing to your clients’ lives. Instead, first, list out what it is that you offer your clients. What do you bring to their daily lives? What do you do for them, overall, that other people don’t? What tangible and intangible things do you offer the people you work with? What would your clients be missing out on if you weren’t there to help them through their day, week, or year?
Your job is so much more than helping clients lose weight or buff up—it’s deep, emotional, and empowering. Once you have a handle on what you truly offer people, then you can start understanding how to price your services.
LET'S SUM IT ALL UP
This isn’t our longest article ever, but that’s intentional. Because at the end of the day, you don’t need a long list of reasons to prove your value to your clients—you are valuable, and in a lot of ways, you’re irreplaceable, too. Sure, your clients can always go out and find another trainer—but they can’t go out and find another you.
Here’s what we don’t want you to do—we don’t want you to take this article and use it as an excuse to allow your ego to inflate 7 sizes too large. Instead, we want you to use this article as a litmus test for honest worth. Only you know how far you’ve come, the work you’ve put in, and the passion that’s driving your career. Recognize it, honor it, and use it to help fuel your constant improvement. And you know what? Make damn good—well-deserved—money while you do it.
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