Whether you are a personal trainer, bootcamp instructor, fitness writer, influencer, fitness photographer or any other wellness professional, you are probably wondering what you need to do to take your fitness career to the next level.
All fitness professionals are on the frontlines for preventative healthcare, which is why I feel that they deserve to get paid well for what they do. If you are good at what you do and you offer a great service, then you should be paid accordingly.
The unfortunate reality is that a lot of the fitness industry has become a race to the bottom, where many trainers are slashing their prices just to attract and keep clients (I made that mistake when I first started a long time ago).
However, it doesn’t have to be this way…
I know that a lot of people, especially fitness professionals, may not like to talk about money because they are afraid to ask for what they are worth. However, let’s face it, whether you are in the fitness industry part-time or full-time, you could probably stand to make a bit more money.
Maybe you have been in the fitness industry for over 10 years but have not been able to achieve your business goals. Or, maybe, you are very new to the industry and are struggling with figuring out what to do next. Believe it or not, even incredibly successful fitness professionals like Jillian Michaels and Jamie Eason have felt that way at some point in their careers.
Maybe, you are like me, and, being in the fitness industry is your second source of income. I believe it’s important to have multiple sources of income as well as continuously work towards developing multiple sources of income.
After all, the more sources of income you have, the more you are able to make a positive impact on your community by donating more money to good causes, helping friends and family in need, or performing random acts of kindness such as paying for groceries for the single mom that’s behind you at the checkout counter.
What did the very successful fitness professionals do differently?
1. They learned from other very successful people. Figuring everything out on your own is very, very hard. Believe me, I would know because there was a time back in 2013-2015 where I was working nonstop. I was taking on every client I could get and training at almost all hours of the day, except for the times that I slept (which wasn’t very much…hahaha). While I was working nonstop, I felt like scaling was a challenge because my schedule completely revolved around my clients because I was willing to take on anyone and everyone. I was afraid to say “no” to people.
Learning from other successful people will help you avoid or mitigate some of the challenges that I faced when I first jumped into the fitness industry in 2013. If I knew then what I know now, things would have been very different.
When I was in business school, I was taught the importance of having mentors who achieved what you want to achieve. In order to succeed, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You can just do what the successful people have done but adopt their strategies in a way that makes sense for you.
2. They offer something of value and are very good at what they do. This is a no-brainer. You have to constantly focus on improving yourself and your coaching techniques. Whatever it is that you are offering, you have to be really, really good at it. You have to show your target customers what you can do for them based on what they want to achieve through working with you. You need to find a way to differentiate your service and really stand out.
Think about all the things that set you apart and craft a compelling story around that. A compelling story is something that inspires your potential customers to choose you over anyone else.
If you provide a great service, you care about your customers and you truly focus on serving your customers, you should definitely charge what you are worth.
3. They have a clearly defined target audience. They understand who their ideal customers are and have a way of effectively reaching them. It’s impossible to be everything to everyone. Believe me, I tried!! HAHA. Since I tried to be everything to everyone, it was very difficult for me to figure out how to craft that compelling story that I mentioned in point #2.
4. They invest in high quality relationships. We all know the saying: “It’s not WHAT you know, it’s WHO you know.”
I’d like to take this a step further and say: “It’s not WHAT you know, it’s WHO you know and HOW WELL you are connected to the influencers in the industry”.
High quality relationships are those where people know, like and trust you. They know what you are about and they know that they can rely on you to do what you say you are going to do. They also know that you are going to deliver.
It’s very important to connect with people and invest in relationships that are mutually beneficial.
Meeting Chris and Heidi Powell at FITposium 2018.
5. They understand how to leverage published work to create more opportunities for themselves. Getting published leads to more people seeing your work. Not only that, but it also helps you develop credibility when you are communicating with your ideal clients.
It’s crucial to get published in publications that your ideal clients read. The only way to know that is to know who your ideal clients are and what publications they read. There is no sense in pitching everyone under the sun.
It’s important to be very clear about where you want to be published and connect with the right people who work for those publications. You must focus on producing high quality work that not only gets published but also inspires your ideal potential clients to contact you, follow you on social media and share your work with their friends.
6. They hang out with other people who have a similar desire to succeed. There is a quote by Jim Rohn: “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”. I believe that there is definitely some truth to that. This is why it’s very important to make friends with people who will inspire you to keep trying to succeed, even when the going gets tough.
7. They are open to new ideas. You just never know when a new idea or a fresh perspective can help you reach your goals faster. Seeing things from a different perspective expands your mind and enables you to learn more. There may be a better way if you take the blinders off and allow new, useful information to sink in.
8. They never stop trying. If you are trying to accomplish something extra-ordinary, you are bound to fail at one point or another. The key is to never give up. You can learn from your failures and find ways to do things better. You can refine your pitch and re-write your story.
In my case, for example, it has been my goal to get my written work published in Oxygen Magazine, Canadian Running Magazine and Runner’s World for over a decade. As a teenager, I was constantly reading these publications hoping that one day I would get the pleasure of contributing to them.
In 2014, I got an injury prevention article published in Canadian Running Magazine because I was able to connect with the editor at a running event and successfully demonstrated what I knew.
Then, in late 2018, I was fortunate to get my work (as a fitness model and writer) published in Oxygen Magazine (keep reading if you would like to know how I did that).
I haven’t been published in Runner’s World yet, but I will never, ever give up.
What can you do to get all of the above?
The answer to this question is very simple: Come to FITposium.
My friend James Patrick, a highly successful photographer and business person in Arizona, founded FITposium as a way to help fitness professionals level up their careers, get published and increase their revenues.
If you are a fitness professional and haven’t heard of FITposium, then you are in for a treat!
I’ve been communicating with James on and off since 2013, when I did my first fitness competition. We’ve stayed in touch and I knew that I wanted to shoot with him. At the time, I didn’t know when I would get to shoot with him but it was always my goal.
I first heard of FITposium in 2015, back when James started it, but sadly I wasn’t in a position to go at the time.
In early 2018, when I was doing a photoshoot with James, he mentioned FITposium again when I told him that it was my goal to get my writing published. At that point, I made the decision that I would go. I figured, if I learn even one thing that will help me get published in Oxygen Magazine, then this conference is worth the investment.
Little did I know what would really end up happening as a result of that conference…
As soon as tickets went on sale for last year’s conference, I bought mine…
What did FITposium do for ME?
After a number of failed attempts at contacting magazine editors for almost a decade in whichever way possible (email, Facebook messages, Instagram DMs, LinkedIn), attending FITposium in 2018 gave me the opportunity to shake hands with the editors and meet them face-to-face.
Not only that, but I was also able to submit a writing sample, which the Oxygen Magazine editor would read. Considering that it was my goal for over 10 years, I was overjoyed that FITposium provided me with that opportunity in 2018.
My article in Oxygen Magazine. Photos by Ian Simpson.
In late 2018, after meeting the editor at FITposium, I submitted a different article and photos, which ended up getting published in Oxygen Magazine. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity that FITposium gave me.
If it wasn’t for FITposium, I would have never got the opportunity to meet a number of magazine editors under one roof in one weekend.
Not only that, but I also got some great ideas for how to generate additional income (even though I’m a part-time trainer) from people who have done it successfully and have a proven track record.
I learned what the magazine editors are looking for when reviewing submissions. This is GAME-CHANGING.
Learning how to pitch magazine editors is very important if you would like to see your work in those magazines. When you give the editors exactly what they are looking for, not only is your pitch more likely to actually get read, but you will also be more likely to get your work published.
I also took part in a magazine casting call, which was great!
At the casting call for Fitness Magazines at FITposium.
Lastly, I made a few new friends who inspire me. I met some awesome people who are action-takers and who are always in the process of bettering themselves.
Therefore, I recommend that you do yourself a favour and sign up for this year’s FITposium.
The cost to attend the conference is very reasonable and you get to learn lot about business, make new connections with people who can help you, meet magazine editors face-to-face, gain frienships and get access to opportunities that are not available anywhere else. James and his team are always adding new ways to make your FITposium experience a highly valuable one.
I hope to see you at this year’s FITposium. The 2019 conference is from October 3-October 6. It’s almost sold out (and it WILL sell out), so don’t miss your opportunity! This year, there will be many amazing and inspiring presenters who will share a wealth of knowledge, including Jamie Eason. (I still can’t believe I will meet one of my biggest FITSPIRATIONS when I was growing up!)
Let’s hang out there! 🙂