Have you trained a client over a long period of time at no charge or set up a scholarship?
I am a relatively new trainer and am wondering how to handle the odd case where I meet with a potential client who really needs personal training and is 100% ready to commit, but absolutely cannot afford my services.
Hear me out- today I met with a young woman who is obese and having severe knee pain. Her doctor has told her that she must lose weight through diet and exercise to treat the pain. Without going into detail, she is severely economically challenged. After meeting her and conducting an assessment, I’ve determined that it is a good match. However, she cannot afford personal training at all. I would hate to deny her help just because she can’t pay. Have any of you set up a type of scholarship or trained someone for free for a long period of time? I was thinking of doing an exchange- if she would let me post monthly before and after photos and write about her experience, I could offer her my services at low or no cost.
What’s your take? I tend to be a big softie, and it doesn’t work out to well for me financially but I’m trying to find a silver lining or solution here…
One of the reasons I started training people in groups was this very reason. I wanted to be able to help people who would not be able to afford training. We used to do free for some people but they did not value it. Now we have a minimum they need to pay so they are forced to have value in it. I’ll repeat what some have said above.
1.) Make sure there is a deadline for this rate. Maybe even monthly if certain checkpoints are met.
2.) Train in a group not one on one. When you get busy you may find yourself resenting that hour and not valuing it that much yourself because you are not being rewarded for your work.
3.) Sometimes when you say no, they come up with the money. Or a different time. Don’t let them work you over too much. You should have some boundaries on your time and money.
4.) It’s fun to bring in a client like that from time to time. If you get the right person in on a deadline they can really fire up your other clients because they are hungry for results.