7 Business Mistakes That Sink Personal Training Careers (And How AB Fitness Helps You Avoid Them)
Starting a career as a personal trainer can be exciting and fulfilling, but it also comes with its fair share of challenges. Running a successful personal training business is about more than just knowing how to design a great workout or motivate your clients. If you don’t manage the business side properly, even the best trainers can struggle to stay afloat.
In this article, we’ll discuss the 7 most common business mistakes that personal trainers make and how AB Fitness helps our trainers avoid them by providing support, resources, and guidance. By recognizing these pitfalls and addressing them head-on, you can build a long-term, sustainable career as a personal trainer.
1. Not Having a Clear Business Plan
One of the biggest mistakes many personal trainers make is not having a clear business plan. Without a roadmap for how you want to grow your business, it’s easy to become lost in day-to-day tasks and miss opportunities for expansion.
Why It’s a Mistake:
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Without a business plan, you’ll struggle to stay organized and focused on the bigger picture.
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You won’t know how to properly track your revenue, expenses, and growth, leading to financial mismanagement.
How AB Fitness Helps:
At AB Fitness, we provide a supportive framework for trainers, including 12-week onboarding training to help you get up to speed quickly. Our clear structure makes it easy for you to focus on client service and leave the business operations to us.
2. Focusing Only on Training, Not Client Acquisition
While it’s important to be excellent at training clients, many personal trainers make the mistake of assuming that clients will just show up. The reality is that you have to market yourself and constantly seek new clients.
Why It’s a Mistake:
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Without a consistent client pipeline, you’ll end up struggling to fill your schedule.
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Relying on word of mouth alone can be risky, especially if you don’t actively build relationships and connections within your community.
How AB Fitness Helps:
At AB Fitness, we handle all client marketing and acquisition for you. We believe that trainers should focus on training, not on finding new clients. With our shared-client model, clients come to you during your scheduled shifts, and you focus solely on providing the best service.
3. Undervaluing Your Services
Personal trainers often make the mistake of undervaluing their services, either by charging too little or by offering too many free sessions. While offering discounts can help get your foot in the door, consistently underpricing your services can devalue your expertise and hurt your business in the long run.
Why It’s a Mistake:
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Clients may perceive your services as less valuable if you charge too little.
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You may struggle with sustainability if you’re not pricing your services appropriately to cover your costs and generate a profit.
How AB Fitness Helps:
At AB Fitness, we help you set competitive rates that reflect the value you bring to your clients. We take care of the sales aspect, so you can focus on providing quality training. As part of our team, you don’t have to hustle for clients or stress over pricing your services incorrectly.
4. Failing to Build a Referral Network
Referrals are one of the most cost-effective ways to grow your personal training business. Failing to build and leverage a referral network means missing out on a steady stream of new clients who are already pre-sold on your services.
Why It’s a Mistake:
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Without referrals, you’ll constantly be starting from scratch with every new client.
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You may miss out on an entire client base from existing connections, including word-of-mouth recommendations from happy clients.
How AB Fitness Helps:
We make it easier for you to build a strong client network by sharing clients across our team. This allows you to focus on delivering the best service possible while we handle much of the referral network. Plus, our community-focused approach ensures that our trainers work together, benefiting from each other’s expertise and networks.
5. Not Tracking Progress and Setting Goals
Personal trainers often focus so much on their clients’ progress that they forget to track their own progress. Without measuring key metrics like revenue, number of sessions, and client retention, it’s hard to know whether your business is growing or stagnating.
Why It’s a Mistake:
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You can’t improve what you don’t track. If you aren’t keeping tabs on your business goals, it will be challenging to spot areas for improvement.
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Without clear goals, you risk staying stuck in the same place without scaling your business.
How AB Fitness Helps:
At AB Fitness, we provide clear KPIs and business metrics to help you track your growth. We take care of much of the back-end work, so you can focus on tracking client progress while still knowing that your business is on the right path.
6. Ignoring Client Feedback
Many personal trainers overlook the importance of client feedback. It’s easy to assume that if clients are showing up to sessions, they’re satisfied, but regular feedback is vital to long-term success.
Why It’s a Mistake:
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If clients aren’t happy, they may not be vocal about it. Without feedback, you could miss warning signs of dissatisfaction or disengagement.
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Lack of feedback can cause you to continue offering the same service without improving or addressing the client’s evolving needs.
How AB Fitness Helps:
At AB Fitness, our trainers receive constant feedback from both clients and management. We foster a culture of open communication, ensuring that every trainer has the resources they need to continuously improve their training methods and client interactions. With regular assessments and client satisfaction tracking, we ensure clients are always happy and engaged.
7. Failing to Keep Learning and Evolving
The fitness industry is constantly evolving, and it’s essential to keep learning to stay competitive. Not continuing your education or certification can leave you behind in a rapidly changing field.
Why It’s a Mistake:
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Clients expect up-to-date training techniques and expertise, and they will look elsewhere if they feel you’re not advancing your knowledge.
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Stagnation in knowledge and skills can lead to burnout and lack of enthusiasm.
How AB Fitness Helps:
At AB Fitness, we believe in ongoing education. Our 12-week onboarding program ensures that all new trainers receive extensive training, and we offer continuous development opportunities throughout your career. Our team is always learning and evolving, and as a trainer at AB Fitness, you’ll have access to all the resources and mentorship you need to stay ahead in the fitness industry.
Why Join AB Fitness?
If you’re a personal trainer looking to build a successful career, AB Fitness is the place for you. We provide a unique environment where you can focus on training clients rather than constantly trying to find new clients. We offer:
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Shared Clients: No more hustling for clients. We provide you with clients so you can focus on providing top-quality service.
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Ongoing Education: Continuous learning and professional development opportunities.
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Team Support: Work alongside a supportive team of trainers, sharing insights, strategies, and clients.
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Structured Growth: A clear career path to help you advance from personal trainer to running your own facility.
If you’re passionate about fitness and want to build a lifelong career in personal training, AB Fitness is the place to be.
Apply Now to Join the AB Fitness Team!
If you’re ready to start your career as a personal trainer with a team that supports your growth and success, apply now to join AB Fitness. We offer a client-driven environment, no sales pressure, and long-term career growth.
Click here to apply at AB Fitness
Contact Us Today for More Information
For more information about career opportunities at AB Fitness, call us at 516-303-9157 or visit our career page.
Our Locations:
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AB Fitness East Meadow: 514a East Meadow Ave, East Meadow, NY 11554
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AB Fitness Massapequa: 4150c Merrick Road, Massapequa, NY 11758
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AB Fitness Oyster Bay: 5 Shore Ave, Oyster Bay, NY 11771