How much has the economic downturn affected your personal training business?
Fortunately not very much.
My clients are usually older, and exercise is not optional for them. Quite a few of them would have great difficulty working out on their own. Older clients are also often more insulated from the ups and downs of the market.
I have not change my rates; however, I also did not increase them. I had a few clients who dropped the frequency of their training with me.
What I have done to be more competitive was to widen my knowledge base and include more certifications in different modalities. The one that had the greatest positive impact was becoming a MELT instructor.
It hasn’t at all. I opened a fitness studio in 2007 not knowing what would happen. In 2010 we expanded from 500 square feet to 1200 square feet in 2012 we will expand again to 2400 square feet which is what our original business designs called for. We have been layering in our expansions and at the seven year mark we should be right were we want to be. Letting go of limiting beliefs is hard work and worth every bit of the effort.