Making a Local Personal Training Business Global
There are plenty of ways people build an online personal training business. Some just search out a hot niche and try to position themselves as a pseudo-expert there.
Some jump from market to market, hoping to strike it rich.
Some just play follow the leader and do what they see others making money at.
But my favorite way to take a training business online is simple:
Take what you do well locally and share it globally.
As far as I’m concerned – if you haven’t proven you can do something locally, you probably shouldn’t be promoting yourself as an expert about that topic online.
Let me tell you how this worked with my wife Holly…
Back when we had our personal training business in Elizabethtown, Holly was hands down our most popular trainer.
She had a waiting list for both her one-on-one schedule and for her bootcamps. She also ran our weight management program and it sold out every time we opened it up.
Most all of her clients were women – primarily moms – and she just had a way of connecting with them that I hadn’t seen out of any of the other coaches in our training business or any of the other businesses I’d been around.
We’d kicked around the idea of Holly doing a product for some time – really ever since we attended the first Ryan Lee Bootcamp – but this was the first idea that really felt right.
She started writing some on a website and put together a free report we gave away during a 12 Days of Fitness promo to start doing a little list building. Then we worked with Craig Ballantyne and came up with her product name that would target busy moms – Fit Yummy Mummy.
She created her product by documenting what she was already doing with the moms she trained. The program she used. The ways that she helped them overcome the challenges they faced. The language and style she used to connect to them.
She basically just took what she was doing offline and packaged it.
When she started selling it, we thought it would be a nice little side business that would allow her to cut back her hours at the gym – nothing more. At that point the bus dropped Tyler off from pre-school at the gym and he would spend from after school until mid evening hanging out in our office or in the smoothie bar we owned. She just wanted to be able to work some more ‘normal’ hours.
Before long we saw that she had the ability to connect with people who bought the ebook the same way she connected with people locally.
She started blogging and writing newsletters more. She started a google group that evolved into a free Ning membership site to help people stay on track.
But when I really knew that she’d figured out how to connect with her customers online was when we traveled to Toronto to attend a Mastermind Meeting and about 8 of her customers drove in from as far as 3 hours away to just meet her in person.
Over time she cut down her workload at the gym and eventually stopped training people in person all together when we sold our business in Elizabethtown.
The free membership site evolved into a paid membership site that now has almost 1000 members.
She’s added a DVD of the month and a monthly print newsletter.
She has a big DVD set, a few individual DVDs and a cookbook.
She’s sold tens of thousands of that original ebook. She also sells thousands of dollars worth of Prograde every month.
All by packaging what she did well offline and sharing it online.
Fit Yummy Mummy has far exceeded my expectations and honestly, it could be a lot bigger than it is but Holly doesn’t want to lose that personal connection with her ‘Fit Yummy Mummies.’ Her number one marketing strategy is word of mouth.
Doesn’t sound very ‘markety’ does it?
She’s stayed true to the things that gave her success offline and they’ve given her success online.
Sure, we’ve used Facebook ads, done SEO and affiliate promos to help grow her business – but those are just ‘tools.’
The foundation of her success and the stuff that will keep her successful is that ability to provide value to her audience.
So if you want to build take your personal training business online – in my opinion, that’s how you do it.
There’s not much ‘ninja’ about it, but it’s worked for Holly. It worked for me & Nick when we started our online business. It’s worked for guys like Mike Robertson & Eric Cressey.
If you have something of real value that you’re doing offline – it can work for you too.
*If building an online personal training business or fitness business is of interest to you – fill in the form below. I’ll be sharing tips & strategies that have allowed us to build our businesses and help plenty of others do the same. Just let me know below…
Dedicated to your success,
Pat
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Great info Pat! I really appreciate you sharing your invaluable knowledge.
Hahaha…. I love it. “There’s nothing ninja about it.”
Oh, and I bet the product name has been huge. It definitely stands out and is easy to remember.
Pat I’ve been watching what Holly has been doing for ages and after meeting her am not surprised at all.
I’m on my way to finishing my online training product real soon and it conforms in the same way you’ve spoken about as I think thats really the only way to go.
I’ll shoot you a look at it when I’m done.
Thanks for all your help mate and catch you soon.
Trav
This is awesome stuff. Do what you love, do it well, and then find a larger audience with whom to share it. It’s not rocket science because we aren’t building rockets – but some people insist on skipping steps. Great post to bring them back down to Earth, Pat – and congratulations, Holly, on all your success!
EC
As one of Holly’s Fit Yummy Mummy’s, I don’t think there enough words in the English language to describe just how awesome Holly really is!!
From a customer point-of-view, I’ve never had such great care taken of me from a vendor. As a client, I can see on a daily basis just how strongly Holly is committed to her FYMs as well as her priorities as a wife and mother of two active boys. As a developing fitness professional, I hold Holly up as my role model and Mentor.
Thanks Pat for helping get Holly and Fit Yummy Mummy online for the world
(Next time you’re in Toronto, let me know. That’s too close to me!!)
Thanks for this great post. Happy in-person clients = happy on-line clients!
As always, excellent info. I have enjoyed seeing Holly grow her business over the years. I learn so much from her.