Qualified personal trainers have a lot of options when it comes to choosing where to work.
The health and fitness industry has never been better.
$19 billion was spent in gym memberships in 2017, and for the sort of boutique classes that are so popular people can spend in the area of $6000 annually, on top of their membership.
Personal trainers make their share of this vast amount of money – but where is the best place to be in the structure, for maximum earning potential?
Gym Franchise Employment
This option is most popular for personal trainers just beginning their careers.
Seeking employment at a traditional gym franchise provides a lot of security and stability.
Working in a franchise also exposes new trainers to a variety of different types of classes they could teach, client's they can train, and situations that may arise day-to-day for a personal trainer. This type of real-word, career experience, is vital down the road for a personal trainer looking to expand into independent training.
If you feel a gym franchise employment path may be right for you, check out our list of the top gym franchises below!
Independent Personal Training
Being a complete independent is most attractive, monetarily speaking but it also comes with the most challenges.
It's your business, you do it how you believe it should be done and you deal with the consequences, good or bad. Being independent requires you take responsibility for all aspects of your work. Finding new clients is your responsibility, paying taxes is too. Any marketing, liability, and cost comes down to you, too.
But, when it works you have the satisfaction of doing what you love, running your own world and not having someone else tell you what to do. The money you make is yours and no one else's; you're not paying a cut to a gym or an owner, all the profits from your blood, sweat, and tears are your own.
Boutique Gym Employment
Where the big gyms are keen on being all things exercise to all people, a boutique gym focuses on specific areas of fitness. The premise behind the business is that by focusing on the one specialty, the gym provides the best approach for that area, and therefore, the clients will pay more for the results. As the name suggests, the gym is small, the atmosphere intimate, clients pay to work out with people they know and see regularly. But amazingly they will pay $20-$32 per class, and even at 2 classes a week that adds up quickly.
As a personal trainer at a boutique gym, you will need to be quite charismatic. You need to get plenty of people working at a high pace. If you feel botique employment path may be right for you, check out our list of the top franchises below!
Of course, there is nothing that says you can’t work independently and as a 1099 contractor at a boutique gym or as an employee of a franchise – your employment options are boundless depending on your time and commitment to the salary you want to make as a personal trainer.
