3 Key Steps to Kickstart Your PT Business

AIF’s Industry Partner Playsport, give us the rundown on their 3 key steps to kicking off your PT business with a bang.

Yes, COVID-19 created considerable setbacks for the fitness sector, but the good news is that our industry has shown great resilience, is bouncing back and is expected to continue to grow, with projections indicating that 133,900 people will be employed in the fitness industry by 2024.

So, while there are plenty of opportunities to grow your own business, there is also plenty of competition! Here are three of the most important steps you can take to ensure you have the foundations in place to grow a successful PT business.

1. Create your unique brand

When starting any business, whether individual or part of a bigger organisation, your personal brand says it all. It needs to be targeted, authentic and tell a story, just as the world’s most recognised brands do. Consider Apple’s ‘Think differently’ and Nike’s ‘For the serious athlete’.

In the fitness industry, F45’s focus is on connecting people and building communities so they feel they are part of something. Orangetheory Fitness builds a loyal and fierce following because the technology that’s integral to its training system enables members to feel like they are seeing results quickly.

But don’t be daunted by the prospect of creating your brand: this is your opportunity to lay down foundations that can be adjusted over time as your business develops.

Talk to your family, friends and work colleagues to identify your ‘niche within a niche’. Define your passion, what you stand for, and what results you want to achieve for your clients and yourself.

Keep your message tightly focused on your target demographic and you won’t waste time or money on messages that have little or no relevance. More importantly, it will be very easy for other people to talk positively about you and your business.

Once you have your brand foundations, finding a name can be the fun part. This is a great time to bring in your circle of friends again – you’ll be surprised by the ideas people have, especially those who know you very well. Grab some Post-it notes and some markers and stick all the ideas up on a wall. You will likely have a lightbulb moment when a business name presents itself to you, and may also find that your mission and vision also become clear and easy to articulate.

You may even like to run your brand names through the Shopify Business Generator free tool to check out other brand name iterations.

2.  Don’t reinvent the wheel

How many successful fitness entrepreneurs have you studied, read about or followed? What did you like about them and what resonated with you? Take the ideas and structures that make sense to you and build your business structure from there.

Think of it like this: you’ve created your foundations, you know your niche, you and your story are authentic, and you know the results you want. Now you just need to build the framework of your business using the information you’ve gathered.

Set aside at least one hour per day to work on your business, as opposed to in your business. Some of the best resources come from successful personal trainers that are now passing on the benefit of their experience, such as these from GymHub.

Don’t be afraid to fail when putting your structure in place. No one gets it right the first time. Remember when you were learning to ride a bike? You fell off a few times, but jumped straight back on and before you knew it was ‘look no hands’.

3. Make it personal

Everything you do in your new fitness business will be personal.

Start with your friends, family and people you work with. Understand their fitness goals and barriers and offer them a free personal experience that delivers results they will be excited to share. In fact, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family over any other type of advertising, so there is no better place to start.

Be personable with all the other PT’s and gym owners in your area. The impact you make on them will establish your reputation, and help you get meaningful personal referrals. Why not offer to train some of your peers and ask for their feedback? Imagine the nuggets of gold you will uncover.

When you are ready to spread your brand and take your business to the next level, be personal. Share your successes and failures, customer testimonials, ideas and education pieces with authenticity. Leverage as many relationships and marketing channels as possible. If you have been genuine and personable throughout your start-up journey, you will be amazed at how many opportunities there are to market for free.That’s where PlaySport comes in through its partnership with AIF Warriors.

You can launch yourself immediately as a Personal Trainer on PlaySport, Australia’s digital home of sport, recreation and wellbeing. With over 55,000 organisations on PlaySport, you will be promoted for FREE across multiple marketing campaigns in your local community. And with PlaySport’s activation team, it’s never been easier to kickstart your business on Australia’s most innovative marketing platform. To create your free business profile on PlaySport, click here or book a marketing chat with PlaySport’s activation team here.

• Bio

Playsport

Playsport are an official Industry Partner of AIF.

PlaySport is Australia’s first marketplace for all sports, fitness, wellness and recreational activity providers. PlaySport covers more than 330 sports and fitness types across 50,000+ organisers delivering thousands of classes, programs, events and activities!