What is the best way to pay an independent contractor? A flat weekly/monthly rental fee, or per session?

Thanks, LaRue,

I am asking from the business owner perspective. I'm wondering what's best: charge rent or have the independent contractor pay per session. Or is there another option that works well?

Thanks Ryan. From the business owner's perspective I think that it's more advantageous to charge per session if you're dealing with an experienced trainer with a big following. However, with a fairly new trainer with very little following, the owner will be better off financially by charging a "flat rent" assuming of course that the owner has correctly calculated their rental rate.

Another option is to have a "hybrid" of these two systems. This will also serve as an incentive for the trainer(s) involved, but takes some 'calculating' by the owner to figure-out a "break-even" point. But under this system the owner would charge a flat rental to the trainer initially, and once the number of his/her training session per month reaches a certain level, charge them a per session rate. Keep in mind that the way I've discussed each of these three scenarios are intended to favor the owner. The reverse of these scenarios would/could serve to favor the trainer (depending on the details of course) and would be what I'd be advocating for if I were the TRAINER involved in this type of negotiation.

I hope that this helps.

LaRue, CSCS
www.lecfitness.com
lecfitness@yahoo.com

It's been many years ago when I was an independent contractor at a gym. This was the arrangement that the gym owner offered to me:

I paid a flat monthly fee (which was very moderate). There was no additional charge per session for clients who were gym members. I was also allowed to train people who were not members. In that case, I was to pay a guest fee for them. Since I am writing monthly invoices to my clients, I added the guest fees to my invoice as a transparent charge which prompted just about all of my clients to sign up for gym membership.