Do you wish you could clone yourself to
get more done, to help more people or simply to earn more money for a better
lifestyle? Most personal trainers do. Presently, cloning is not an option, so
let’s explore more available ways to step beyond earning purely
money-per-minute income.

The reality is that you only get 24 hours in a day. If all you do
is sell your time to a select group of individuals, you limit both your earning
potential and the influence your knowledge and beliefs have on others. You
might not even want a higher income. Perhaps you’d like the payoff of having
more spare time so you can be a better partner, parent or pal or to do whatever
drives you.

Here’s a great question to ask:

“Am I happy with the
rate of pay and time for play I have in my life, or is it worth finding a way
that I can do more and be more?”

If the answer is the latter, then read on to discover strategies
for earning more or working less to make the most of your life.

Clarify What You Want

You ask your clients to express their
goals and you know the importance of goals in their success, but have you ever
made a list of the things you’d
like to do—in both the short term and long term? More importantly, have you
jotted down why these
goals matter to you?

Having a powerful “why” seems to help us discover the “how.” Do
you want to pay off your home sooner, have more spare time with your family,
travel the world or buy a recreational vehicle? Or do you have goals that are
less about material gain and more about making a broader difference in the
lives of others? All of these goals require you to take the same three steps to
make them become a reality:

  1. List your goals in order of priority and be
    clear on why each one is important.
  2. Establish a date or deadline for when you want
    each goal to happen.
  3. Itemize what needs to happen or what changes
    you must make to achieve each goal.

Identify What You Need

What do you require to make your dreams
come true? You may resolve to pay off your home mortgage within 5 years. To accomplish
this goal, you might need to save an additional $400 per week. Your goal is
financial freedom, and so you must increase your earning power and/or reduce
spending. Now that you know the true objective it’s time to think laterally of
all the options open to you.

As a personal trainer you already have many skills and talents
that other people envy. For example, you are an excellent communicator, you’re
empathetic and compassionate, and you have a good sense of self-discipline.
Combine these qualities with your grasp of health and fitness, and you can
likely find endless outlets for your energy and skills that can generate extra
cash flow and further your credibility.

You may also discover that you lack some skills that are worth
developing. Perhaps you need to improve your financial management, budgeting,
marketing, sales skills, etc. These skills add to your earning potential and
your ability to protect and multiply the income you attract.

Consult People for Advice and Mentoring

When considering your options for
leveraging your skills and income, ask the advice of your current clients and
contacts. You help others daily, and these same people have their own set of
skills, expertise and contacts. Avoid taking up time they pay for with
questions about your own business aims. Perhaps invite them for coffee or a
juice after your session. Explain why you want to talk. For example, you might
say, “John, I respect what you’ve achieved with your business. I’d like to get
your thoughts on some options I’m considering for my own business. May I buy
you a protein shake and talk for a few minutes?”

Please be professional in your approach. For example, if you work
at a health club, it is not ethical to tell your clients that you are thinking
about opening up a studio across the street.

If you find a helpful mentor, trade some of your time for his or
hers. Ex­change free personal training for free wealth coaching. You can also
do this with your family, peers or even businesses you patronize. The folks you
buy your fruit from may well have their own success story. Leaders and mentors
are all around you; you just have to ask for help nicely!

Improve Your Personal Profile

How can you increase your earning
potential? Some people say to succeed in life it’s not what you know, but who
you know. My philosophy of success is that it is not only who you know, but who
knows you, what you know and what you are capable of that matter. Your goal is
to increase the number of people who know what you can do. How do you do this?
Here are some quick tips:

  • Contact your local, regional and even national
    news broadcasters and publishers. Offer yourself as their contact for any
    health- and fitness-related news stories.
  • Create a good business card and descriptive
    flier about yourself. Focus on one key service you wish to promote. People call
    me Mr. Retention. What are you the Mr., Ms., Mrs. or Miss of?
  • Set up your own website. Create a blog with
    your thoughts and opinions on fitness and add links to it on all
    communications.
  • Send out regular fit-tip style e-mails to your
    contacts, local businesses and media outlets.
  • Become a paid health and fitness speaker for
    corporations. Free seminars can get your name out there as well, but sometimes
    they suggest that you only want to pitch your services. Paid presentations say
    you are worth listening to.
  • Consider adding non-fitness-related seminar
    topics like change management, motivation or breaking bad habits and addictions
    to your repertoire.
  • Write a book or a report on your area of expertise.
    Even if it never gets published to the mass market, it helps you galvanize your
    thoughts. You can distribute it to people to introduce yourself as an
    authority.

Generate Residual Income

Possibly the most important lesson to
learn when it comes to increasing earning power is the concept of residual
income. This type of income is revenue that continues to flow in from a work or
creation you have done previously. A simple example might be royalties from
book sales. Once you develop income from non-time/service-related means, the
sky is the limit to your earning potential. Aim to spend a minimum of 10% of
your time on creating residual income sources. If you do, in 2 years it could
easily represent the bulk of your income.

Here are a few examples of how to generate residual income: 

  • Hire one or more subcontractors to take some of
    your overflow clients for an agreed-upon percentage of his or her earnings.
    This method is a great way to give a budding trainer a start. Be sure you each
    have solid business agreements in place.
  • Sell products. Sell anything that can add to
    your turnover. You can sell devices like heart rate monitors and pedometers or
    training diaries or apparel. (Be sure not to tread on anyone’s toes if you
    operate out of someone else’s business.)
  • Produce, package and sell educational and
    motivating materials to clients, corporations or the general public.
  • Get people to buy subscriptions to your own
    website or a reputable site that you earn a commission for.
  • Take your services on the road. Sell health and
    fitness counseling or products at health fairs, corporate fairs or anywhere
    people have a need—and have money!

Note:
Take a minimum 10% of your total income and either save it or invest it. Put
your savings to work for you. Get advice on what investment style suits your
needs. Even a small investment can start your own portfolio.

Live Your Dreams

Starting to think about the concepts
discussed in this article is the most important step toward true financial
freedom and realizing your own potential. You are too good to be kept a secret,
so start putting what you have and what you know out there for the rest of the
world’s benefit.

Perhaps the best reward for expanding our horizons in life is not
what we get, but what we become. The new skills and experience you gain while
learning to leverage your talents will make all the difference in the quality
of individual you evolve into.

SIDEBAR: Steps
for Increasing Income

Use these strategies to maximize your earning potential:

  1. Clarify what you want from life, in both the short term
    and the long term.
  2. Identify what you need to make these dreams come true.
  3. Consult other people, including your client base, for
    their advice and mentorship.
  4. Improve your personal profile to increase your earning
    potential.
  5. Focus a minimum of 10% of your time on generating
    residual income sources

Australian-born Paul Brown is a 27-year
fitness industry veteran. An Australian sports aerobics champion; fitness,
leadership and nutrition presenter; business consultant and health club owner,
he is the founder of the Face2Face retention program. Contact him at
[email protected]