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.

Megan, like Karin it has not changed much or at least not in North Carolina. One thing has changed since the Obama Regime has killed this economy, my clients instead of paying a year in advance, they want to make several payments!!

I Also agree, if you ask me about the recession, i would respond by saying what recession. I’ve found that I’ve found that my business has continued to grow and when i put in a little extra work with the marketing i quickly generate new clientele.

I would also say what recession, luckily for us trainers this is a fast growing industry and Personal training is now considered a need and not a luxury to most people. And if training is getting to expensive start doing more small group training its a lot more fun anyways!

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.