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As I reflect on my 20+ years as an exercise professional, I am fortunate to be able to make a living by inspiring others to live a healthy lifestyle. This invigorates and excites me as I look forward to the many lives I can positively impact over the next 20 years. However, as I look back, I can't help but think about the things I wish I knew when I started my career more than two decades ago.
Looking back on my 20+ years as a sports professional, I am fortunate to be able to make a living by inspiring others to live a healthy lifestyle. This invigorates and excites me as I look forward to the many lives I can positively impact over the next 20 years. However, looking back, I can't help but think about the things I wish I knew about a career as an exercise professional when I started out more than two decades ago.
While I appreciate the lengthy process of trial and error I experienced, I share some of my insightsWishI knew when I began my career as a personal trainer that I wanted to empower new health and exercise professionals to make an even greater lifelong impact.
Whether you're thinking about becoming a health and exercise professional or are in the early days/weeks/years of your career, here are 20 years of insights you can put into practice today.
Business and marketing skills are critical
When I entered the personal training profession, I was under the impression that as long as I knew a lot about exercise programming, I could go far in my career. However, I quickly learned that I needed to stand out from the crowd to attract customers.
I struggled with this until I discovered the importance of marketing my services both at the gym I worked at and in the local community. For me, this was creating valuable, consistent content (including blogs, videos, and local conversations) and making it relevant to prospects in our gym and beyond.
I had to get comfortable meeting and talking to new people in and out of the gym. I also learned that the way I looked, spoke, and acted was part of a personal “brand,” so I had to decide what that brand should represent and who exactly it should attract.
After laying out some marketing basics and filling out my schedule, I discovered the inherent limitations of exchanging time for money. As a personal trainer, I was only paid for the hours I worked. Of course, there are only so many hours each of us can work in a day. If I ever wanted to help more people and make more money, I had to figure out how to make better use of my time.
For years, both my income and impact were relatively stagnant. I impacted the same number of lives and got paid the same for it. If I was sick or if a client went on vacation, I didn't get paid. As the cost of living continued to rise, I questioned whether I could afford to stay in my chosen career.
Luckily, I had surrounded myself with mentors who showed me how to use my experience and knowledge to find other ways to generate income and positively impact lives. I learned how to create and market products that can help thousands of people. After applying to become an industry speaker several times, I was finally accepted and found ways to increase the value of my services so I could increase my prices.
This expansion of my business skills allowed me to not only continue to have a positive impact on my current clients, but also on themThousandsMore. Above all, I no longer had to ask myself whether I could stay in my job.
Investments in further training are necessary
When I began personal training, I was proud of the knowledge I had gained from my four-year degree in exercise science. Additionally, I had completed a year-long internship as a strength and conditioning coach at the Olympic Training Center in San Diego, California and received multiple certifications from reputable organizations. What else was there to learn?
The answer? Much!
My resistance to learning from others in the early years significantly hindered my career growth. It wasn't until I found the strength to admit what I wasnotI know that I have been able to embrace the process of developing my knowledge and approach.
I discovered that the more I was willing to learn from conferences, mentors, books, and other resources, the more opportunities I had to grow and develop. Although these investments often require my limited funds, they have consistently produced dramatic returns.
Success doesn't come from staying the same; it comes from the ability to adapt and change. I ended up setting an annual goal to learn more, be more, and serve more than the previous year.
You can't do it alone
Early in my career, I had a “me versus other personal trainers” mindset. After all, we were competing for customers. Why should I share my knowledge or insights with them? Why would I want to hear what they say? I was right, they were wrong and when clients realized this, they chose my services. I'm embarrassed to say that I adopted this mentality in the early years of my career.
Not surprisingly, I felt like I was on an island. Without the ability to reach out to others in a similar situation, it was difficult to grow. When it came to helping my customers and growing my business, I only had my own knowledge to fall back on. However, I was hesitant to embrace the idea of seeking a mentor. I felt like I was disturbing her. Luckily, it was the advice of a mentor that allowed me to break this “island” mentality.
Instead of collecting my knowledge and experience, my mentor encouraged me to share it with other professionals through lectures, blogs and other platforms. I started with the gym I worked at. At first I was hesitant because I didn't want to help my competition. I quickly realized that the more I shared, the more they would share with me, and I was able to better serve my clients and grow my career more effectively.
Ultimately, I built a network of professionals from all over the US, which over the years has expanded to include exercise professionals from almost every continent (sorry Antarctica!). The willingness to share my knowledge and listen to others has provided endless opportunities for both my clients and myself.
Listening is crucial
When I started personal training, I couldn't wait to share my knowledge. After all, I believed that this was what clients were paying me to do in the first place. Of course, this attitude led to a very one-sided conversation between my clients and I – “If you want to lose weight, here’s what you need to do” – and that was the end of it. When customers wouldn't do what I told them, I was at a loss. I judged her. I thought she was lazy. Any behavior that fell short of plan was obviously a failure of willpower and commitment, and I would turn a deaf ear to their excuses.
After a few years of frustration, I made an important discovery. When clients first come to see a personal trainer, they are in a very vulnerable position. You are essentially admitting defeat and needing help from this often younger, fitter person. The goals they are comfortable sharing often have more to do with convention than with actual value-driven needs.
For example, “I want to lose weight” is an expected goal associated with seeking the advice of a personal trainer. A new customer is generally happy to share this goal. However, a new client would feel much less comfortable saying something like, "I want to feel self-worth again. My relationships and attitude have been on a negative spiral for years and my health has paid the price."
If a health and exercise professional is only willing to hear “I want to lose weight” and go from there, they are missing the opportunity to engage with a clientYes, reallyWants and needs. In the previous example, a personal trainer who really listens to their client and makes observations independent of judgment in the first few weeks together can tune in to the importance of what the client is doingYes, reallyWants and needs. The personal trainer can then adjust their expectations, programming and approach.
It's likely that simply showing up for sessions is an important step in the right direction for the client. Maybe they need to laugh and enjoy exercise instead of adhering to regulated protocols. When a trainer can input what a client is doingYes, reallyWants and needs, the process of achieving the more objective goals becomes easier and more sustainable.
As I look forward to another 20+ years as an exercise professional, I hope this review has given you insight into how you can learn more, be more, and serve more each year.