SlideShare a Scribd company logo
1 of 25
Download to read offline
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A
FITNESS PROFESSIONAL
PART 1: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
By Vito LaFata
I’m Vito LaFata, creator of Fitness Profit Systems
and the Fitnesspreneur’s Life. Today, I‘m going to start
talking to you a little bit about how to make
more money as a personal trainer!
Now, I believe that when we’re talking about develop-
ing your expertise, we can’t take any cheap routes.
We can’t go to just quick fixes and pasting things to-
gether. Our mission is far too critical as fitness profes-
sionals, as studio owners, as boot camp owners, as
1
THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A
“FITNESSPRENEUR”
group fitness instructors. We are health care today. We are preventive medi-
cine. That’s your role.
As much as I want to be able to show you just a couple of simple little ways
how you can simply increase your sessions by a few dollars and book more
people―that won’t serve you long-term and that will always come along as
you learn more business―you’re going to get all that. What I have found is
that when you go back and learn business the right way and build it from the
base principles of what it takes for you to have a long-term career
and a successful business, it goes further than if we just go with
quick fixes.
That being said, the thing that we are going to cover today is understanding
the three stages of Fitnesspreneur, and which stage you want to choose to
be in your career. That’s important before we even get started and it will
evolve over time.
We are also going to take a look at how to avoid the “trading dollars for hours
business model”, which is normally the plague going on in the industry. You
can break free from it by developing what’s called, “The Value
Ladder,” with the Value Ladder and Dream Income Worksheet you can
decide and map out for yourself what your dream income is going to be so
you understand how to make it happen. With these tools you can simply go
from a theory, a wish or a hope of how much income you can make- to actu-
ally planning for it.
So, those are the things that we are going to cover in this little, “How to make
more money as a personal trainer” series. But, I’ll start with the ugly truth of
where we are at.
I don’t know where you’re in your career, maybe you’re just starting it and
you’re kind of bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and still getting out there! If so,
I’d rather give you a heads-up about where you can be going now.
Or, maybe you’ve been in the industry for a while and you are starting to feel
the income and free time ceiling. In other words the limits to what the industry
provides as far as an income, impact and lifestyle.
Currently, there is an ugly truth that festers underneath and it’s not really
talked about.
FITNESSPRENEURTIP:
Use “The Value
Ladder” to break
free from trading
dollars for hours
model.
2
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
Average trainer
makes less than
$42,000 per year.
And when this ugly truth is experienced, it becomes a frustration. What I’m
talking about is basically the ugly truth that most fitness professionals and
business owners don’t know marketing and business. Instead they focus so
much on the human anatomy, that they miss the business and marketing
anatomy and that causes a ceiling to your potential income in the industry. It
also causes a ceiling to the amount of people that you can
help with the given hours you have in a day, the given days
of a week. Only knowing how to train vs. how to market is also going to limit
to the number of years you can keep doing this.
Here’s where it started wrong; the current way business is being taught in the
industry has too much focus on the anatomy of the body.
You see from the beginning, we’re taught about training, programming and
nutrition. While important for sure and nutrition is a growing topic, and we’re
not taught about that enough. What we’re told about at conference after con-
3
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
ference is how to do the perfect kettle bell swing; how to do the reps and the
periodization and all that stuff; and we know that 100%. And that’s fine, but,
when you start entering into the business side of owning your own business,
you start to run into the reality that we were never taught busi-
ness, marketing or the sales! And it’s killing fitness professionals
chances of long-term success.
In an IDEA Survey, I think it came out a year or two ago, it was determined
that the average trainer makes less than $42,000 per year and last 3-5 years
before they have to quit and take another job because they can’t make
enough money to support their family. If you think about that number, it’s
pretty hard-pressed in today’s economy and society to be able to support a
family long term on $42,000/year.
Here’s the thing; you don’t have to accept another week of not making
enough money.
The fact is that when you understand how to build your business properly
and how to develop the Value Ladder, Your Dream Income Plan and you start
to diversify your business; all of the sudden you start to break free from trad-
ing hours for money pitfall.
It all comes down to role modeling other successful business
owners! What you have to be careful about is when you see another fit-
ness business and it can look successful from the outside, but when you look
at the bottom line it’s not pretty. Depending on your definition of a successful
business, it’s not just about the income, you want to take a look at how many
hours are they getting off, what’s their vacation life like, what’s their financial
future like, what’s their retirement potential like, what are their bank accounts
like?
All of these things make a totally different story. If somebody has a fully
booked schedule but is being worked to the bone and has no time off is that
success?
In the end even as a fully booked trainer you can still be still stressed out and
insecure because if you don’t show up to train you don’t get paid. That’s
not how we deserve to be living.
Lorem ipsum do lor sit
amet, con sect etuer
adipiscing elit. Morbi
com modo, ipsum
magna sed phar etra
gravida, orci magna
rhon cus neque, id
pulvinar odio lorem
non turpis.
4
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
FITNESSPRENEURTIP:
Your professional
skills without
business and
marketing are not
enough to run a
successful
business.
“I want to put my
hand out and help
people that walk the
same road as I did!”
Listen, as health care providers today, which is what I believe you are,
straight up we are health care providers; and if doctors can be out
there making 6 figures plus, you should be too! We are on the front-side try-
ing to prevent people from going into the sickness industry and into the
health care industry. I believe that you deserve to making 6-
figures plus and that’s my mission.
As we dig into this, I want you to just understand where I came from, for
those of you that might be new to being on my list or in my business. I was a
trainer, just like you. I started out working at Crunch Fitness. I was putting in
the hours and was clocking in the sessions and doing fifty plus sessions per
week. But, what I found was that the way I was building my business wasn’t
that awesome. I was taught how to be a good trainer but not how to own the
business and that became a problem especially when I got into being a stu-
dio owner versus just a trainer.
5
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
MorehelpfuladviceTEXTTEXT
FITNESSPRENEURTIP:
Learn how to build
your business the
right way, right from
the start of your
career as a Fitness
Professional.
Because that’s when I recognized that just my own trainer skills weren’t
enough without business and marketing to keep the lights on, pay staff, and
have money in the bank at the end of the month. Right there is where I ran
into the stark reality of not knowing how to build my business the
right way.
I can remember there was this day that I was standing in my office as I was
in the middle of a bad buyout of my ex-business partner and my accountants
and my lawyers basically turned to me and questioned the value of my com-
pany, asking questions like; who does the sales around here; who is doing
the marketing; who’s doing the operations; who’s doing the customer serv-
ice? All of which I answered “me” and they’re like, “Let me get this right. Eve-
rything in your business is designed around you? Are you still training people
on the floor?” I was like, “Yeah, a good 30 to 35 hours a week.” They were
like, “Brother, you don’t have a business; you have a job that you’re going to
be buried in―this company is worth nothing because without you, it doesn’t
run.”
That was the day that I had to really take stock about my future – it was a
dark day. It was probably one of the worst days in my career because I recog-
nized that all the money I had dumped into my studio, all the time I spent
learning everything about the fitness industry and becoming one of the best
trainers out there, was for nothing as far as creating equity and
something for my long-term future.
The reality came that I had no systems, nothing in place and if I wanted to
buy my ex-business partner out, I basically went 6 figures into debt overnight
in order to buy her out. I had to start over but, that lesson made me realize
some things about how we educate fitness professionals in the industry and
now I’m here talking to you because I don’t want to see other peo-
ple going through this. I faced the day with over $105,000 of debt to
recognize that I had better learn how to do this a better way so I can turn
around and put my hand out and help other people that walk that same road
be successful faster and with less struggle and pain.
I think now we’ve got a better chance of helping trainers make a better in-
come and last longer in the industry. I was on the verge of collapse about
four years into owning my studio and I was terrified. I don’t know if you knew
but statistics show that most trainers last 3 to 5 years before they have to get
out of the industry because either their business fails or they are not making
enough money.
6
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
That just doesn’t bode well for us―we’re out there on a mission; to change
lives, to impact them and it’s not going to work unless we can get stronger as
an industry at building profitable businesses that can perpetuate these mis-
sions.
We have to do something about that and that’s why I get fired up to help
coach you and share with you ways on how to make more money as a per-
sonal trainer, how to impact more people and still enjoying more your lifestyle
because that’s what you deserve!
Share this with your friends if you find my advice helpful.
7
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
SHARE SHARE
Let’s dig into something simple that we’ve got to under-
stand off the get-go, which is the 3 stages of being a
Fitnesspreneur! I believe that being a Fitnesspreneur
is the future of where we’re going; where we’re not just
a personal trainer, not just studio owners, but we’re
becoming fitness professionals who are
also entrepreneurs, hence, Fitnesspreneurs.
2
AT WHAT STAGE OF FITNESSPRENEUR
ARE YOU AT?
We have the ability, the understanding, the skills and the assets to
launch as big of a business as we want, scale it as much as we want,
make it mobile, make it portable and still have the lifestyle we
deserve.
Here are the phases that you want to be thinking about.
Everybody can be different, when I first got into the industry, I was
here; I was in the first stage, what I call the trainer or the
technician role.
STAGE 1: TRAINER OR
TECHNICIAN … YOU PICK!
9
If you’ve never read The eMyth by Michael E. Gerber, it’s a great book to
read in the beginning stages of your growth as personal trainers and it’s kind
of, like, that must-have book on your bookshelf.
The Industry really focuses us on knowing your anatomy, knowing your kinesi-
ology, knowing your biomechanics and all that which are highly important.
And what every 1, 2, or 3 trainers should be focusing a good chunk of their
time on, which is how to become the best technician of what
they do.
That’s where we maybe start but there are a couple of characteristics about
this stage that I want to make sure that you’re aware of so that you can de-
cide, do I want to stay there or do I want to eventually evolve into other
places?
Now, the dollar amount you can get in the marketplace or get as compensa-
tion from whether you work at one of the major clubs, you work at a studio, or
you’re owning your own business, it’s small.
If you’re working for a health club or a studio, they have to take out their ex-
penses. Some might be paying $10 to $20; $20 on the high end isn’t bad,
but $10 to $15 on the low end for hour sessions is criminal in my mind;
you’re worth way more than that!
We all sometimes start with whatever we have to get into the career.
When I started at Crunch Fitness in New York, they paid decently well for
trainers (it was about $27 to $30 starting out if I remember correctly). It
wasn’t bad. I quickly built up a business; I basically went in there and I don’t
think for the first 30 days I left that place. I would get in at 5 am and leave
pretty much at 10 pm, but in 30 days, I had 31 clients and I had a full book in
a month; I shot up the ranks of being fourth in the company as a trainer!
Back then, making $1,200 to $1,300 per week was pretty good money! If I
showed up to work, I got paid and I ran sessions but I was young then and it
didn’t really matter as much getting time off.
Later on, that started to become an issue because any time you take
off, you lose money. And that’s not how you want to be living your
life, but that’s how the industry is designed.
Lorem ipsum do lor sit
amet, con sect etuer
adipiscing elit. Morbi
com modo, ipsum
magna sed phar etra
gravida, orci magna
rhon cus neque, id
pulvinar odio lorem
non turpis.
10
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
FITNESSPRENEURTIP:
Year 1,2,3 trainers
must focus
60% of their time on
becoming the best
technicians of what
they do and
40% of their time on
learning business
and marketing.
STAGE 1: Trainer
(Technician)
The 3 Stages Of
Being A
Fitnesspreneur
It’s very tough to find anything in the industry where you get paid-time-off or
anything like that. There are some boutique gyms and different things like
that that have great business owners and entrepreneurs at the helm and they
are doing that kind of stuff. I would definitely be looking for those types of stu-
dios and that kind of work environment to at least maximize what you can get
out of this trainer technician slot.
What do I mean by scale? Scale is your ability to impact as
many people as you want. Most trainers and fitness professionals I
know have massive hearts and they want to go out and impact a lot of peo-
ple. That’s what we need to do if we want to do something about obesity.
But, the problem with the trainer technician model and scale is that it’s only
going to go as far as you can train people; the number of hours you have in a
day, number of people you can see in a day. So, the scale is almost zero and
0 to 1 is about all you can scale because it’s just yourself.
Now, can you implement things like adding group training, boot camps and
semi-private training so you scale yourself better? Absolutely. And that’s
what we talk about when we develop hybrid business models and we’ll look
at that when we talk about the value ladder and how you can keep scale in
11
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
FREEHANDOUT
HTTP://J.MP/THETHREESTAGESOFFITNESSPRENEUR
value but this stage is where most of us start out; hopefully it's not where
most of us stay.
The only way you’re not going to stay there is if you develop your business
and marketing skills and your vision gets bigger than just what you want.
There are plenty of people who just want part time work, that want set days
and hours, and are not looking for a bigger vision. That’s fine; rock that! But,
then you should at least learn how to add additional revenue
streams like nutrition, online coaching and different things like that to scale
yourself and have multiple revenue streams coming in so even if you decide
to be in this range, you have some residual income coming in.
And when you’ve helped your clients with nutrition products, online chal-
lenges, and things that don’t require you to be physically present to get paid
you’ve grown a smarter fitness business.
If you want to find out more about that, you can always find my Income Free-
dom Plan at www.fitnessprofitgenerators.com that’s where I talk more about
how to scale multiple revenue streams into your business but, today, let’s just
make the decision about where you want to be on the stage of the Fitnesspre-
neur’s journey.
12
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
FITNESSPRENEURTIP:
Add additional
revenue streams to
scale yourself.
MorehelpfuladviceTEXTTEXT
Stage 2 is the studio owner.
Back in 2002 I was working for Crunch and that’s when I was with
them in New York and I had gotten shipped out to Orange County to
help turn that club around. We were rocking that club and we were
having a great time, I was totally happy as a trainer, when Bally’s
stepped in and bought Crunch. That’s when the entire culture at
Crunch started to change and we weren’t quite as happy there any-
more.
STAGE 2: DO WHAT YOU
WANT WITH MULTIPLE
OUTLETS!
13
The thing was here I was as this busy trainer but I was starting to recognize
that I need to help my clients with nutrition and I’ve got to do
other things instead of just train them. As an ethical trainer I couldn’t legiti-
mately stand there and say I can get amazing results for people if I’m not
helping them with their nutrition or their cardio programs.
So, I started to invest in things outside of my training time at Crunch and I in-
vested in metabolic testing, and I started to add nutrition programs and cardio
programs to my tool belt. But, as I built an outside business that’s when the
corporation told me I couldn’t be doing things on the outside.
I didn’t quite understand that corporate dogma they had in place because I
did all my training in-house. And what I do outside the gym so long as I keep
my clients happy inside the gym is my business. I thought I should be free to
be able to do whatever I want to do. But, they had their corporate boxed-
mindset; and said it was a conflict of interest. There was no way I was going
to stop doing what I do on the outside to help my clients get better results
and I basically got fired for not being willing to stop my business on the
outside.
14
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
FITNESSPRENEURTIP:
Help your clients
with nutrition in
order to get results.
STAGE 2:
Studio Owner
The 3 Stages Of
Being A
Fitnesspreneur
FREEHANDOUT
HTTP://J.MP/THETHREESTAGESOFFITNESSPRENEUR
Well, from that day on, I was no longer this trainer technician. That’s the day I
became the business owner.
Now, was I a studio owner right away? No. My first step was simply getting
clients to come with me. I think I jammed everybody into the apartment com-
plex I was living in and I built my business in there. It was just me as the
trainer so I was just like, here I am, inside here. I can run a referral-based
business, and then I can max out my calendar again. Now, I maxed it out pri-
vately. Now, was I making more money now that I didn’t have to have a split
with the gym? 100%!
So, I had just given myself at least a pay raise and I was good enough as a
technician and I was a really good trainer! So my clients stayed with me
many years and most of them had shifted with me and via some basic
referral-based marketing, I was able to get some more. I built up to the point
where my schedule was at it’s max working in the apartment complex. At
that point, I had bought a home and I built a little studio in my garage and
with my business partner we both built a little business in the
garage studio.
Now when you’re running a home-based studio business, you don’t need a
lot of business or marketing savvy and prowess to be able to fill that out. But,
there came a point where my vision was bigger than just that garage space.
And, what the industry always told me was brick and mortar; own a brick and
mortar studio.
So, I took on 3,000 square feet and I began a studio and we partnered up
and we opened up the studio and had to sink $60,000 in on day one. All of
the sudden, I’m $60,000 in the hole, I’m owning a studio, here we are launch-
ing this thing and I have no idea how to do real marketing; no idea
how to do real business. The pressures came down right away.
Because now I have overhead and I had expenses and I had costs. In the
early stages, it was just myself and my partner and we were doing everything
ourselves. I didn’t have staff yet. Once I brought on staff, it got more stress-
ful because now I had to pay other people to keep things going.
And there I was, the studio owner thinking I’ll make more as a studio owner
but what I wasn’t told is that’s not necessarily. So, I want to caution you guys
that being a studio owner might not be the most lucrative next step.
15
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
You do not need brick and mortar to be successful in this industry
anymore.
If that’s your vision, you better invest in entrepreneurship, leadership, busi-
ness, marketing and sales if you want this to be successful and know how to
create systems out of all that so that you are not a slave to that.
Today, I sometimes coach people to open up virtual businesses; I coach them
to open up network marketing businesses; I coach them to understand that if
you want that live component to your training consider renting a space some-
where so that when they want they can go in train their clients and get the
live component, the rush of being live with their clients and when their done,
you leave with just your key and you’re gone. I coach them to consider this
before you necessarily taking on a space with leases, overhead, etc. Make
sure you love being a business owner first. There’s a differ-
ence between being a business owner who loves fitness and a trainer who
loves training.
I owned a studio for ten years and it had ups and it had downs. I will never
replace the thing but reality-wise, the money was just as much as a trainer
technician, maybe a little bit more, so the money is a little bit more, poten-
tially, if you can create scale and systems in here and if you learn true busi-
ness and marketing.
Once I started to add additional revenue streams – my BeachBody Coaching
business and other streams – then I started to make more besides my studio
so that’s where I got to be able to have a higher income potential. It helped
my trainers to get aboard my team. As BeachBody coaches, and that net-
work marketing element, added additional revenue underneath the base busi-
ness; all of the sudden, the studio was doing much better! Without that addi-
tional stuff, this was just me still working, trading dollars for hours just with
higher expenses and overhead.
Share this with your friends if you find my advice helpful.
16
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
FITNESSPRENEURTIP:
You do not need
brick and mortar to
be successful in the
fitness industry
anymore.
SHARE SHARE
Now, time off was fractional; this was a little time off; but I had to worry
about the studio running when I wasn’t there. Often, not the same
way as when you are there and that’s a trap that we face often times
as a business owner. These are realities. These are some of the ugly
truths that don’t get talked about but we have to address them be-
cause once you know them, at least you can do something about
them.
Now, scale was up, meaning how many people you can impact, in the
studio because I was able to hire staff. We were able to have five train-
ers, so the scale was up to about 2 to 3 on the level.
STAGE 3:
ENTREPRENEUR - THIS IS
THE LIFE!
17
“Becoming the
Entrepreneur, which
is kind of like
standing atop the
world with your fist
in the air.”
But, the thing about a studio business is limited geography.
You can attract the people and the trainers that are in a 5- to 10-mile radius
because people just won’t travel much farther than that for a fitness-based
business. They’ll either do it closer to work or closer to home. If you’re not
within one of those two things they most likely won’t come. So you have to
really know how to target–market your local geography.
You get good at that and your business is going to run lean and as profitable
as possible. But, it’s brick and mortar and it has overhead, it has ceilings, it
has expenses. There is a limit to the profit margin you can pull out of it just
because of sheer physicality of what you have for equipment leases and pay-
roll being a beast.
18
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
Then, the thing about a studio is that you’re locked into that geography, as
well. If you outgrow your studio, yes you can take on more space, yes you
can open up another location but that comes with more investment, more
capital, more overhead, more expenses, more payroll and more headaches.
Some people love that and they’ve got the capital behind them to do that …
rock it. If that’s where you’re at and you’re like, “I’ve got that extra $50,000 ,
$100,000, $200,000.” And you’re willing to go to the bank and take out those
kinds of loans, you eventually can keep on scaling more studios and fran-
chises and take on bigger locations. Just so long as you’re willing to take that
on and you’ve really become that person who’s into that business model.
Otherwise, there are other things you can do; becoming the
entrepreneur, which is kind of that standing atop the world with your fist
in the air.
Here’s the reality, now the entrepreneur starts to see the bigger picture in a
lot of different ways. The entrepreneur might have all these elements going
on and might have trainers and technicians in their business, might have stu-
dio stuff in their business but, truly, the entrepreneur understands that I can
take my ideas and package them in different ways and I should have seg-
ments of all these different things going on in their business.
19
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
STAGE 3:
Entrepreneur The
3 Stages Of Being A
Fitnesspreneur
FREEHANDOUT
HTTP://J.MP/THETHREESTAGESOFFITNESSPRENEUR
For a while, I had the studio business, had trainers underneath me and I had
the network marketing business, but what I had done, thanks to being chal-
lenged by one of my mentors, Todd Durkin, was I started to scale my
knowledge online. I started to package my programs online and I
started to shift things.
I started to plug in more revenue streams and that started to shift my thinking
and the big thing was that I understood that the online world had
three billion users on there!
That 5 to 10 mile radius of a couple thousand to a hundred thousand, what-
ever it is, was around my Orange County studio but now I was able to tap
into the bigger world. I decided that I could help other trainers run bigger and
better businesses; now we’re impacting more people but I’m not tacking on
my work all over; I’m not a slave to that.
Instead, I’m working with the hard charges, I’m working with the highly moti-
vated, the people that want to get after it and I lift them up and they will go
impact more lives. When you’re doing that kind of a business model
and you’ve got your hands in multiple things, now you’re well-buffered and,
now, that’s what started to allow me to cap out big dollars.
This is what took me from 4 to 5 figures, 5 to 6 figures, 6 to 7 figures style of
income. I was able to start scaling what I was doing. It was mobile with
me. It was flexible. It was portable. Online businesses can move with
you and jive with you. Online challenges on Facebook can let you scale to
the current 1.2 billion people on Facebook, maybe running ads, targeting cus-
tom audiences and all these cool things which, you know, hang with me; be a
part of what we’re doing here at Fitness Profit Systems and the Fit-
nesspreneur Life and start learning all these things little by little.
But, right now, let me talk about the time-off element. As the entrepreneur, I
took it to level 10 to 12. This is where I was just, like, okay, now I set my
schedule, no one else sets it for me. I book travel every three months and
I’m out taking weekend vacations all the time. I grab my girl and go on 4-day
getaways at least every couple of months, a week vacation whenever we can
and two-week vacation every year. It’s in the realm of a life lived on my
schedule.
20
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
FITNESSPRENEURTIP:
As much as you
want to market and
as much as you
want to target
people, you can,
online.
I need to be flexible and I need to go wherever I want and I can. I can
make money wherever I am at. I can impact people. I can coach
my people wherever I am at. That gave me that elusive lifestyle thing. That’s
what you can have, as well, if you decide to move this way.
Am I going to say that that’s the way everybody needs to start? No. Are
there elements of this that you can incorporate when you’re back into techni-
cian? 100%. Check that out when I talk about the Income Freedom
Plan. You can find it on www.VitoLafata.com
When you develop an Income Freedom Plan for yourself; all of the sudden,
you’re starting to understand, “Whoa, I can be here and start to scale a little
bit more; I can dip my toes into being a business owner/entrepreneur before I
have to take all this on.” I just want you to know the truth in between. Scale-
wise, you heard me already say that this is pretty much infinite.
Now, that sounds over-reaching to be say “infinite,” but it is infinite in the
realm of 3,000,000,000 people online and 1.2 billion users on Facebook. In
the next five years, the online community is going to grow to about
6,000,000,000 based on current estimates of emerging markets. That’s
where it is going. So, as much as you want to market and as much as you
want to target people, you can, online.
If you’re looking to be like, “I want massive impact; I want to go help
as many people as I can but yet I want to launch my lifestyle, I want to launch
my income and I want that 6- to 7-figure income,” you’ve got to be looking
here. If you want to play in these areas and figure out what stage you’re in, if
you’re going to go into this as a trainer technician, I highly recommend add-
ing a network marketing business.
You can reach out to me about that and what we’re doing with our Beach-
Body Coaching and Team Rockstar Fit. Same thing here, if you’re that studio
owner, boot camp owner, whatever you’re doing there, same thing; at least
add a network marketing business to that so you can also build a virtual
team. Virtual teams are the bomb because they’re all people voluntarily
working together and they are paid by a third-party resource, not by your
own. This is the big difference in income and in not having as much over-
head.
21
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
There are our three stages. That’s what I want you
guys to be thinking about in our first steps about how
to make money as a personal trainer. Honestly evalu-
ate with yourself and sit down and talk with your
spouse and ask how much impact do you want to
make? How much time off do you want? How
much income do you want coming in?
3
HOW MUCH IMPACT DO YOU WANT TO
MAKE?
Decide those things. Do you really just love the technician stuff and really
don’t want to lead other people and don’t want to manage other stuff? Stay
here. Be honest about that. Add a couple elements so that you have some
additional revenue coming in―have nutrition and clean eating challenges
and take it online.
If you’re here, cool, just be willing to have the capital, be willing to have the
resources, be willing to know that if the studio isn’t built right, there could
come a day when it’s not sellable and there could come a day that you never
get your money back out of it. I was faced with those days because I went 6
figures in debt besides that $60,000 I put in and when my partner left, I went
$105,000 in debt and had to climb back out of that.
Even when I decided to move on from my studio and let the studio go and
move on, I never returned the $150,000 initial dollars. Sure, it still provided
me a living and sure it still provided me with opportunities but I never got that
initial $150,000 back. I had to go with what I was able to get at the fair mar-
Let me know in
which stage of
Fitnesspreneur are
you in?
23
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
COMMENT
ket value. Luckily, I had already shifted here so I was already making an addi-
tional 6 figures a year so that it wasn’t as bad to let that go.
We’ll start stepping into some things now by looking at no matter where you
are at in this realm, let’s look at a Value Ladder that you can build so that
we’re creating as much opportunity as we can, as much income as we can,
as much return on investment, as well as much impact as you can.
So, we’ll take a look at that in our next series, the Value Ladder. Until then go
out and choose which stage of the Fitnesspreneur you want to be in! You can
use my handy The Three Stages Of Fitnesspreneur to do that. You can grab
it on the button bellow.
For more information click on the button below!
Share this with your friends if you find my advice helpful.
24
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
SHARE SHARE
MorehelpfuladviceTEXTTEXT
FREEHANDOUT
HTTP://J.MP/THETHREESTAGESOFFITNESSPRENEUR

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Analyzing the State of Static Analysis: A Large-Scale Evaluation in Open Sour...
Analyzing the State of Static Analysis: A Large-Scale Evaluation in Open Sour...Analyzing the State of Static Analysis: A Large-Scale Evaluation in Open Sour...
Analyzing the State of Static Analysis: A Large-Scale Evaluation in Open Sour...Moritz Beller
 
CRM для турфирмы. Адаптация под реалии Кыргызстана.
CRM для турфирмы. Адаптация под реалии Кыргызстана.CRM для турфирмы. Адаптация под реалии Кыргызстана.
CRM для турфирмы. Адаптация под реалии Кыргызстана.CRM Technologies LLC
 
Dlaczego 99% firm, które tworzą API RESTowe kłamie?
Dlaczego 99% firm, które tworzą API RESTowe kłamie?Dlaczego 99% firm, które tworzą API RESTowe kłamie?
Dlaczego 99% firm, które tworzą API RESTowe kłamie?Bartek Andrzejczak
 
20 Favorite Business and Motivational Quotes
20 Favorite Business and Motivational Quotes20 Favorite Business and Motivational Quotes
20 Favorite Business and Motivational QuotesStephen Hester
 
Dalam Selimut Konflik
Dalam Selimut KonflikDalam Selimut Konflik
Dalam Selimut KonflikPindai Media
 
Derechos de autor en la web
Derechos de autor en la webDerechos de autor en la web
Derechos de autor en la webArmando Casas
 

Viewers also liked (7)

Analyzing the State of Static Analysis: A Large-Scale Evaluation in Open Sour...
Analyzing the State of Static Analysis: A Large-Scale Evaluation in Open Sour...Analyzing the State of Static Analysis: A Large-Scale Evaluation in Open Sour...
Analyzing the State of Static Analysis: A Large-Scale Evaluation in Open Sour...
 
CRM для турфирмы. Адаптация под реалии Кыргызстана.
CRM для турфирмы. Адаптация под реалии Кыргызстана.CRM для турфирмы. Адаптация под реалии Кыргызстана.
CRM для турфирмы. Адаптация под реалии Кыргызстана.
 
Dlaczego 99% firm, które tworzą API RESTowe kłamie?
Dlaczego 99% firm, które tworzą API RESTowe kłamie?Dlaczego 99% firm, które tworzą API RESTowe kłamie?
Dlaczego 99% firm, które tworzą API RESTowe kłamie?
 
20 Favorite Business and Motivational Quotes
20 Favorite Business and Motivational Quotes20 Favorite Business and Motivational Quotes
20 Favorite Business and Motivational Quotes
 
Dalam Selimut Konflik
Dalam Selimut KonflikDalam Selimut Konflik
Dalam Selimut Konflik
 
Derechos de autor en la web
Derechos de autor en la webDerechos de autor en la web
Derechos de autor en la web
 
Sukacita
SukacitaSukacita
Sukacita
 

Recently uploaded

QSM Chap 10 Service Culture in Tourism and Hospitality Industry.pptx
QSM Chap 10 Service Culture in Tourism and Hospitality Industry.pptxQSM Chap 10 Service Culture in Tourism and Hospitality Industry.pptx
QSM Chap 10 Service Culture in Tourism and Hospitality Industry.pptxDitasDelaCruz
 
PHX May 2024 Corporate Presentation Final
PHX May 2024 Corporate Presentation FinalPHX May 2024 Corporate Presentation Final
PHX May 2024 Corporate Presentation FinalPanhandleOilandGas
 
Quick Doctor In Kuwait +2773`7758`557 Kuwait Doha Qatar Dubai Abu Dhabi Sharj...
Quick Doctor In Kuwait +2773`7758`557 Kuwait Doha Qatar Dubai Abu Dhabi Sharj...Quick Doctor In Kuwait +2773`7758`557 Kuwait Doha Qatar Dubai Abu Dhabi Sharj...
Quick Doctor In Kuwait +2773`7758`557 Kuwait Doha Qatar Dubai Abu Dhabi Sharj...daisycvs
 
PARK STREET 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in Escort service book now
PARK STREET 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in  Escort service book nowPARK STREET 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in  Escort service book now
PARK STREET 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in Escort service book nowkapoorjyoti4444
 
Al Mizhar Dubai Escorts +971561403006 Escorts Service In Al Mizhar
Al Mizhar Dubai Escorts +971561403006 Escorts Service In Al MizharAl Mizhar Dubai Escorts +971561403006 Escorts Service In Al Mizhar
Al Mizhar Dubai Escorts +971561403006 Escorts Service In Al Mizharallensay1
 
Nashik Call Girl Just Call 7091819311 Top Class Call Girl Service Available
Nashik Call Girl Just Call 7091819311 Top Class Call Girl Service AvailableNashik Call Girl Just Call 7091819311 Top Class Call Girl Service Available
Nashik Call Girl Just Call 7091819311 Top Class Call Girl Service Availablepr788182
 
Falcon Invoice Discounting: The best investment platform in india for investors
Falcon Invoice Discounting: The best investment platform in india for investorsFalcon Invoice Discounting: The best investment platform in india for investors
Falcon Invoice Discounting: The best investment platform in india for investorsFalcon Invoice Discounting
 
KALYANI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in Escort service book now
KALYANI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in  Escort service book nowKALYANI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in  Escort service book now
KALYANI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in Escort service book nowkapoorjyoti4444
 
Chennai Call Gril 80022//12248 Only For Sex And High Profile Best Gril Sex Av...
Chennai Call Gril 80022//12248 Only For Sex And High Profile Best Gril Sex Av...Chennai Call Gril 80022//12248 Only For Sex And High Profile Best Gril Sex Av...
Chennai Call Gril 80022//12248 Only For Sex And High Profile Best Gril Sex Av...pujan9679
 
Unveiling Falcon Invoice Discounting: Leading the Way as India's Premier Bill...
Unveiling Falcon Invoice Discounting: Leading the Way as India's Premier Bill...Unveiling Falcon Invoice Discounting: Leading the Way as India's Premier Bill...
Unveiling Falcon Invoice Discounting: Leading the Way as India's Premier Bill...Falcon Invoice Discounting
 
Falcon Invoice Discounting: Empowering Your Business Growth
Falcon Invoice Discounting: Empowering Your Business GrowthFalcon Invoice Discounting: Empowering Your Business Growth
Falcon Invoice Discounting: Empowering Your Business GrowthFalcon investment
 
Bangalore Call Girl Just Call♥️ 8084732287 ♥️Top Class Call Girl Service Avai...
Bangalore Call Girl Just Call♥️ 8084732287 ♥️Top Class Call Girl Service Avai...Bangalore Call Girl Just Call♥️ 8084732287 ♥️Top Class Call Girl Service Avai...
Bangalore Call Girl Just Call♥️ 8084732287 ♥️Top Class Call Girl Service Avai...pr788182
 
GUWAHATI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in Escort service book now
GUWAHATI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in  Escort service book nowGUWAHATI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in  Escort service book now
GUWAHATI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in Escort service book nowkapoorjyoti4444
 
Puri CALL GIRL ❤️8084732287❤️ CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARW PROVIDING
Puri CALL GIRL ❤️8084732287❤️ CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARW PROVIDINGPuri CALL GIRL ❤️8084732287❤️ CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARW PROVIDING
Puri CALL GIRL ❤️8084732287❤️ CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARW PROVIDINGpriyakumari801827
 
Nanded Call Girl Just Call 8084732287 Top Class Call Girl Service Available
Nanded Call Girl Just Call 8084732287 Top Class Call Girl Service AvailableNanded Call Girl Just Call 8084732287 Top Class Call Girl Service Available
Nanded Call Girl Just Call 8084732287 Top Class Call Girl Service Availablepr788182
 
Berhampur CALL GIRL❤7091819311❤CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARE PROVIDING
Berhampur CALL GIRL❤7091819311❤CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARE PROVIDINGBerhampur CALL GIRL❤7091819311❤CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARE PROVIDING
Berhampur CALL GIRL❤7091819311❤CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARE PROVIDINGpr788182
 
Marel Q1 2024 Investor Presentation from May 8, 2024
Marel Q1 2024 Investor Presentation from May 8, 2024Marel Q1 2024 Investor Presentation from May 8, 2024
Marel Q1 2024 Investor Presentation from May 8, 2024Marel
 
Call 7737669865 Vadodara Call Girls Service at your Door Step Available All Time
Call 7737669865 Vadodara Call Girls Service at your Door Step Available All TimeCall 7737669865 Vadodara Call Girls Service at your Door Step Available All Time
Call 7737669865 Vadodara Call Girls Service at your Door Step Available All Timegargpaaro
 

Recently uploaded (20)

QSM Chap 10 Service Culture in Tourism and Hospitality Industry.pptx
QSM Chap 10 Service Culture in Tourism and Hospitality Industry.pptxQSM Chap 10 Service Culture in Tourism and Hospitality Industry.pptx
QSM Chap 10 Service Culture in Tourism and Hospitality Industry.pptx
 
PHX May 2024 Corporate Presentation Final
PHX May 2024 Corporate Presentation FinalPHX May 2024 Corporate Presentation Final
PHX May 2024 Corporate Presentation Final
 
Quick Doctor In Kuwait +2773`7758`557 Kuwait Doha Qatar Dubai Abu Dhabi Sharj...
Quick Doctor In Kuwait +2773`7758`557 Kuwait Doha Qatar Dubai Abu Dhabi Sharj...Quick Doctor In Kuwait +2773`7758`557 Kuwait Doha Qatar Dubai Abu Dhabi Sharj...
Quick Doctor In Kuwait +2773`7758`557 Kuwait Doha Qatar Dubai Abu Dhabi Sharj...
 
PARK STREET 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in Escort service book now
PARK STREET 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in  Escort service book nowPARK STREET 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in  Escort service book now
PARK STREET 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in Escort service book now
 
Al Mizhar Dubai Escorts +971561403006 Escorts Service In Al Mizhar
Al Mizhar Dubai Escorts +971561403006 Escorts Service In Al MizharAl Mizhar Dubai Escorts +971561403006 Escorts Service In Al Mizhar
Al Mizhar Dubai Escorts +971561403006 Escorts Service In Al Mizhar
 
Nashik Call Girl Just Call 7091819311 Top Class Call Girl Service Available
Nashik Call Girl Just Call 7091819311 Top Class Call Girl Service AvailableNashik Call Girl Just Call 7091819311 Top Class Call Girl Service Available
Nashik Call Girl Just Call 7091819311 Top Class Call Girl Service Available
 
Falcon Invoice Discounting: The best investment platform in india for investors
Falcon Invoice Discounting: The best investment platform in india for investorsFalcon Invoice Discounting: The best investment platform in india for investors
Falcon Invoice Discounting: The best investment platform in india for investors
 
KALYANI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in Escort service book now
KALYANI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in  Escort service book nowKALYANI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in  Escort service book now
KALYANI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in Escort service book now
 
Buy gmail accounts.pdf buy Old Gmail Accounts
Buy gmail accounts.pdf buy Old Gmail AccountsBuy gmail accounts.pdf buy Old Gmail Accounts
Buy gmail accounts.pdf buy Old Gmail Accounts
 
HomeRoots Pitch Deck | Investor Insights | April 2024
HomeRoots Pitch Deck | Investor Insights | April 2024HomeRoots Pitch Deck | Investor Insights | April 2024
HomeRoots Pitch Deck | Investor Insights | April 2024
 
Chennai Call Gril 80022//12248 Only For Sex And High Profile Best Gril Sex Av...
Chennai Call Gril 80022//12248 Only For Sex And High Profile Best Gril Sex Av...Chennai Call Gril 80022//12248 Only For Sex And High Profile Best Gril Sex Av...
Chennai Call Gril 80022//12248 Only For Sex And High Profile Best Gril Sex Av...
 
Unveiling Falcon Invoice Discounting: Leading the Way as India's Premier Bill...
Unveiling Falcon Invoice Discounting: Leading the Way as India's Premier Bill...Unveiling Falcon Invoice Discounting: Leading the Way as India's Premier Bill...
Unveiling Falcon Invoice Discounting: Leading the Way as India's Premier Bill...
 
Falcon Invoice Discounting: Empowering Your Business Growth
Falcon Invoice Discounting: Empowering Your Business GrowthFalcon Invoice Discounting: Empowering Your Business Growth
Falcon Invoice Discounting: Empowering Your Business Growth
 
Bangalore Call Girl Just Call♥️ 8084732287 ♥️Top Class Call Girl Service Avai...
Bangalore Call Girl Just Call♥️ 8084732287 ♥️Top Class Call Girl Service Avai...Bangalore Call Girl Just Call♥️ 8084732287 ♥️Top Class Call Girl Service Avai...
Bangalore Call Girl Just Call♥️ 8084732287 ♥️Top Class Call Girl Service Avai...
 
GUWAHATI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in Escort service book now
GUWAHATI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in  Escort service book nowGUWAHATI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in  Escort service book now
GUWAHATI 💋 Call Girl 9827461493 Call Girls in Escort service book now
 
Puri CALL GIRL ❤️8084732287❤️ CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARW PROVIDING
Puri CALL GIRL ❤️8084732287❤️ CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARW PROVIDINGPuri CALL GIRL ❤️8084732287❤️ CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARW PROVIDING
Puri CALL GIRL ❤️8084732287❤️ CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARW PROVIDING
 
Nanded Call Girl Just Call 8084732287 Top Class Call Girl Service Available
Nanded Call Girl Just Call 8084732287 Top Class Call Girl Service AvailableNanded Call Girl Just Call 8084732287 Top Class Call Girl Service Available
Nanded Call Girl Just Call 8084732287 Top Class Call Girl Service Available
 
Berhampur CALL GIRL❤7091819311❤CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARE PROVIDING
Berhampur CALL GIRL❤7091819311❤CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARE PROVIDINGBerhampur CALL GIRL❤7091819311❤CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARE PROVIDING
Berhampur CALL GIRL❤7091819311❤CALL GIRLS IN ESCORT SERVICE WE ARE PROVIDING
 
Marel Q1 2024 Investor Presentation from May 8, 2024
Marel Q1 2024 Investor Presentation from May 8, 2024Marel Q1 2024 Investor Presentation from May 8, 2024
Marel Q1 2024 Investor Presentation from May 8, 2024
 
Call 7737669865 Vadodara Call Girls Service at your Door Step Available All Time
Call 7737669865 Vadodara Call Girls Service at your Door Step Available All TimeCall 7737669865 Vadodara Call Girls Service at your Door Step Available All Time
Call 7737669865 Vadodara Call Girls Service at your Door Step Available All Time
 

The Three Stages Of Fitnesspreneur

  • 1. HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL PART 1: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! By Vito LaFata
  • 2. I’m Vito LaFata, creator of Fitness Profit Systems and the Fitnesspreneur’s Life. Today, I‘m going to start talking to you a little bit about how to make more money as a personal trainer! Now, I believe that when we’re talking about develop- ing your expertise, we can’t take any cheap routes. We can’t go to just quick fixes and pasting things to- gether. Our mission is far too critical as fitness profes- sionals, as studio owners, as boot camp owners, as 1 THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A “FITNESSPRENEUR”
  • 3. group fitness instructors. We are health care today. We are preventive medi- cine. That’s your role. As much as I want to be able to show you just a couple of simple little ways how you can simply increase your sessions by a few dollars and book more people―that won’t serve you long-term and that will always come along as you learn more business―you’re going to get all that. What I have found is that when you go back and learn business the right way and build it from the base principles of what it takes for you to have a long-term career and a successful business, it goes further than if we just go with quick fixes. That being said, the thing that we are going to cover today is understanding the three stages of Fitnesspreneur, and which stage you want to choose to be in your career. That’s important before we even get started and it will evolve over time. We are also going to take a look at how to avoid the “trading dollars for hours business model”, which is normally the plague going on in the industry. You can break free from it by developing what’s called, “The Value Ladder,” with the Value Ladder and Dream Income Worksheet you can decide and map out for yourself what your dream income is going to be so you understand how to make it happen. With these tools you can simply go from a theory, a wish or a hope of how much income you can make- to actu- ally planning for it. So, those are the things that we are going to cover in this little, “How to make more money as a personal trainer” series. But, I’ll start with the ugly truth of where we are at. I don’t know where you’re in your career, maybe you’re just starting it and you’re kind of bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and still getting out there! If so, I’d rather give you a heads-up about where you can be going now. Or, maybe you’ve been in the industry for a while and you are starting to feel the income and free time ceiling. In other words the limits to what the industry provides as far as an income, impact and lifestyle. Currently, there is an ugly truth that festers underneath and it’s not really talked about. FITNESSPRENEURTIP: Use “The Value Ladder” to break free from trading dollars for hours model. 2 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
  • 4. Average trainer makes less than $42,000 per year. And when this ugly truth is experienced, it becomes a frustration. What I’m talking about is basically the ugly truth that most fitness professionals and business owners don’t know marketing and business. Instead they focus so much on the human anatomy, that they miss the business and marketing anatomy and that causes a ceiling to your potential income in the industry. It also causes a ceiling to the amount of people that you can help with the given hours you have in a day, the given days of a week. Only knowing how to train vs. how to market is also going to limit to the number of years you can keep doing this. Here’s where it started wrong; the current way business is being taught in the industry has too much focus on the anatomy of the body. You see from the beginning, we’re taught about training, programming and nutrition. While important for sure and nutrition is a growing topic, and we’re not taught about that enough. What we’re told about at conference after con- 3 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
  • 5. ference is how to do the perfect kettle bell swing; how to do the reps and the periodization and all that stuff; and we know that 100%. And that’s fine, but, when you start entering into the business side of owning your own business, you start to run into the reality that we were never taught busi- ness, marketing or the sales! And it’s killing fitness professionals chances of long-term success. In an IDEA Survey, I think it came out a year or two ago, it was determined that the average trainer makes less than $42,000 per year and last 3-5 years before they have to quit and take another job because they can’t make enough money to support their family. If you think about that number, it’s pretty hard-pressed in today’s economy and society to be able to support a family long term on $42,000/year. Here’s the thing; you don’t have to accept another week of not making enough money. The fact is that when you understand how to build your business properly and how to develop the Value Ladder, Your Dream Income Plan and you start to diversify your business; all of the sudden you start to break free from trad- ing hours for money pitfall. It all comes down to role modeling other successful business owners! What you have to be careful about is when you see another fit- ness business and it can look successful from the outside, but when you look at the bottom line it’s not pretty. Depending on your definition of a successful business, it’s not just about the income, you want to take a look at how many hours are they getting off, what’s their vacation life like, what’s their financial future like, what’s their retirement potential like, what are their bank accounts like? All of these things make a totally different story. If somebody has a fully booked schedule but is being worked to the bone and has no time off is that success? In the end even as a fully booked trainer you can still be still stressed out and insecure because if you don’t show up to train you don’t get paid. That’s not how we deserve to be living. Lorem ipsum do lor sit amet, con sect etuer adipiscing elit. Morbi com modo, ipsum magna sed phar etra gravida, orci magna rhon cus neque, id pulvinar odio lorem non turpis. 4 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR FITNESSPRENEURTIP: Your professional skills without business and marketing are not enough to run a successful business.
  • 6. “I want to put my hand out and help people that walk the same road as I did!” Listen, as health care providers today, which is what I believe you are, straight up we are health care providers; and if doctors can be out there making 6 figures plus, you should be too! We are on the front-side try- ing to prevent people from going into the sickness industry and into the health care industry. I believe that you deserve to making 6- figures plus and that’s my mission. As we dig into this, I want you to just understand where I came from, for those of you that might be new to being on my list or in my business. I was a trainer, just like you. I started out working at Crunch Fitness. I was putting in the hours and was clocking in the sessions and doing fifty plus sessions per week. But, what I found was that the way I was building my business wasn’t that awesome. I was taught how to be a good trainer but not how to own the business and that became a problem especially when I got into being a stu- dio owner versus just a trainer. 5 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR MorehelpfuladviceTEXTTEXT
  • 7. FITNESSPRENEURTIP: Learn how to build your business the right way, right from the start of your career as a Fitness Professional. Because that’s when I recognized that just my own trainer skills weren’t enough without business and marketing to keep the lights on, pay staff, and have money in the bank at the end of the month. Right there is where I ran into the stark reality of not knowing how to build my business the right way. I can remember there was this day that I was standing in my office as I was in the middle of a bad buyout of my ex-business partner and my accountants and my lawyers basically turned to me and questioned the value of my com- pany, asking questions like; who does the sales around here; who is doing the marketing; who’s doing the operations; who’s doing the customer serv- ice? All of which I answered “me” and they’re like, “Let me get this right. Eve- rything in your business is designed around you? Are you still training people on the floor?” I was like, “Yeah, a good 30 to 35 hours a week.” They were like, “Brother, you don’t have a business; you have a job that you’re going to be buried in―this company is worth nothing because without you, it doesn’t run.” That was the day that I had to really take stock about my future – it was a dark day. It was probably one of the worst days in my career because I recog- nized that all the money I had dumped into my studio, all the time I spent learning everything about the fitness industry and becoming one of the best trainers out there, was for nothing as far as creating equity and something for my long-term future. The reality came that I had no systems, nothing in place and if I wanted to buy my ex-business partner out, I basically went 6 figures into debt overnight in order to buy her out. I had to start over but, that lesson made me realize some things about how we educate fitness professionals in the industry and now I’m here talking to you because I don’t want to see other peo- ple going through this. I faced the day with over $105,000 of debt to recognize that I had better learn how to do this a better way so I can turn around and put my hand out and help other people that walk that same road be successful faster and with less struggle and pain. I think now we’ve got a better chance of helping trainers make a better in- come and last longer in the industry. I was on the verge of collapse about four years into owning my studio and I was terrified. I don’t know if you knew but statistics show that most trainers last 3 to 5 years before they have to get out of the industry because either their business fails or they are not making enough money. 6 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
  • 8. That just doesn’t bode well for us―we’re out there on a mission; to change lives, to impact them and it’s not going to work unless we can get stronger as an industry at building profitable businesses that can perpetuate these mis- sions. We have to do something about that and that’s why I get fired up to help coach you and share with you ways on how to make more money as a per- sonal trainer, how to impact more people and still enjoying more your lifestyle because that’s what you deserve! Share this with your friends if you find my advice helpful. 7 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR SHARE SHARE
  • 9. Let’s dig into something simple that we’ve got to under- stand off the get-go, which is the 3 stages of being a Fitnesspreneur! I believe that being a Fitnesspreneur is the future of where we’re going; where we’re not just a personal trainer, not just studio owners, but we’re becoming fitness professionals who are also entrepreneurs, hence, Fitnesspreneurs. 2 AT WHAT STAGE OF FITNESSPRENEUR ARE YOU AT?
  • 10. We have the ability, the understanding, the skills and the assets to launch as big of a business as we want, scale it as much as we want, make it mobile, make it portable and still have the lifestyle we deserve. Here are the phases that you want to be thinking about. Everybody can be different, when I first got into the industry, I was here; I was in the first stage, what I call the trainer or the technician role. STAGE 1: TRAINER OR TECHNICIAN … YOU PICK! 9
  • 11. If you’ve never read The eMyth by Michael E. Gerber, it’s a great book to read in the beginning stages of your growth as personal trainers and it’s kind of, like, that must-have book on your bookshelf. The Industry really focuses us on knowing your anatomy, knowing your kinesi- ology, knowing your biomechanics and all that which are highly important. And what every 1, 2, or 3 trainers should be focusing a good chunk of their time on, which is how to become the best technician of what they do. That’s where we maybe start but there are a couple of characteristics about this stage that I want to make sure that you’re aware of so that you can de- cide, do I want to stay there or do I want to eventually evolve into other places? Now, the dollar amount you can get in the marketplace or get as compensa- tion from whether you work at one of the major clubs, you work at a studio, or you’re owning your own business, it’s small. If you’re working for a health club or a studio, they have to take out their ex- penses. Some might be paying $10 to $20; $20 on the high end isn’t bad, but $10 to $15 on the low end for hour sessions is criminal in my mind; you’re worth way more than that! We all sometimes start with whatever we have to get into the career. When I started at Crunch Fitness in New York, they paid decently well for trainers (it was about $27 to $30 starting out if I remember correctly). It wasn’t bad. I quickly built up a business; I basically went in there and I don’t think for the first 30 days I left that place. I would get in at 5 am and leave pretty much at 10 pm, but in 30 days, I had 31 clients and I had a full book in a month; I shot up the ranks of being fourth in the company as a trainer! Back then, making $1,200 to $1,300 per week was pretty good money! If I showed up to work, I got paid and I ran sessions but I was young then and it didn’t really matter as much getting time off. Later on, that started to become an issue because any time you take off, you lose money. And that’s not how you want to be living your life, but that’s how the industry is designed. Lorem ipsum do lor sit amet, con sect etuer adipiscing elit. Morbi com modo, ipsum magna sed phar etra gravida, orci magna rhon cus neque, id pulvinar odio lorem non turpis. 10 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR FITNESSPRENEURTIP: Year 1,2,3 trainers must focus 60% of their time on becoming the best technicians of what they do and 40% of their time on learning business and marketing.
  • 12. STAGE 1: Trainer (Technician) The 3 Stages Of Being A Fitnesspreneur It’s very tough to find anything in the industry where you get paid-time-off or anything like that. There are some boutique gyms and different things like that that have great business owners and entrepreneurs at the helm and they are doing that kind of stuff. I would definitely be looking for those types of stu- dios and that kind of work environment to at least maximize what you can get out of this trainer technician slot. What do I mean by scale? Scale is your ability to impact as many people as you want. Most trainers and fitness professionals I know have massive hearts and they want to go out and impact a lot of peo- ple. That’s what we need to do if we want to do something about obesity. But, the problem with the trainer technician model and scale is that it’s only going to go as far as you can train people; the number of hours you have in a day, number of people you can see in a day. So, the scale is almost zero and 0 to 1 is about all you can scale because it’s just yourself. Now, can you implement things like adding group training, boot camps and semi-private training so you scale yourself better? Absolutely. And that’s what we talk about when we develop hybrid business models and we’ll look at that when we talk about the value ladder and how you can keep scale in 11 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR FREEHANDOUT HTTP://J.MP/THETHREESTAGESOFFITNESSPRENEUR
  • 13. value but this stage is where most of us start out; hopefully it's not where most of us stay. The only way you’re not going to stay there is if you develop your business and marketing skills and your vision gets bigger than just what you want. There are plenty of people who just want part time work, that want set days and hours, and are not looking for a bigger vision. That’s fine; rock that! But, then you should at least learn how to add additional revenue streams like nutrition, online coaching and different things like that to scale yourself and have multiple revenue streams coming in so even if you decide to be in this range, you have some residual income coming in. And when you’ve helped your clients with nutrition products, online chal- lenges, and things that don’t require you to be physically present to get paid you’ve grown a smarter fitness business. If you want to find out more about that, you can always find my Income Free- dom Plan at www.fitnessprofitgenerators.com that’s where I talk more about how to scale multiple revenue streams into your business but, today, let’s just make the decision about where you want to be on the stage of the Fitnesspre- neur’s journey. 12 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR FITNESSPRENEURTIP: Add additional revenue streams to scale yourself. MorehelpfuladviceTEXTTEXT
  • 14. Stage 2 is the studio owner. Back in 2002 I was working for Crunch and that’s when I was with them in New York and I had gotten shipped out to Orange County to help turn that club around. We were rocking that club and we were having a great time, I was totally happy as a trainer, when Bally’s stepped in and bought Crunch. That’s when the entire culture at Crunch started to change and we weren’t quite as happy there any- more. STAGE 2: DO WHAT YOU WANT WITH MULTIPLE OUTLETS! 13
  • 15. The thing was here I was as this busy trainer but I was starting to recognize that I need to help my clients with nutrition and I’ve got to do other things instead of just train them. As an ethical trainer I couldn’t legiti- mately stand there and say I can get amazing results for people if I’m not helping them with their nutrition or their cardio programs. So, I started to invest in things outside of my training time at Crunch and I in- vested in metabolic testing, and I started to add nutrition programs and cardio programs to my tool belt. But, as I built an outside business that’s when the corporation told me I couldn’t be doing things on the outside. I didn’t quite understand that corporate dogma they had in place because I did all my training in-house. And what I do outside the gym so long as I keep my clients happy inside the gym is my business. I thought I should be free to be able to do whatever I want to do. But, they had their corporate boxed- mindset; and said it was a conflict of interest. There was no way I was going to stop doing what I do on the outside to help my clients get better results and I basically got fired for not being willing to stop my business on the outside. 14 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR FITNESSPRENEURTIP: Help your clients with nutrition in order to get results. STAGE 2: Studio Owner The 3 Stages Of Being A Fitnesspreneur FREEHANDOUT HTTP://J.MP/THETHREESTAGESOFFITNESSPRENEUR
  • 16. Well, from that day on, I was no longer this trainer technician. That’s the day I became the business owner. Now, was I a studio owner right away? No. My first step was simply getting clients to come with me. I think I jammed everybody into the apartment com- plex I was living in and I built my business in there. It was just me as the trainer so I was just like, here I am, inside here. I can run a referral-based business, and then I can max out my calendar again. Now, I maxed it out pri- vately. Now, was I making more money now that I didn’t have to have a split with the gym? 100%! So, I had just given myself at least a pay raise and I was good enough as a technician and I was a really good trainer! So my clients stayed with me many years and most of them had shifted with me and via some basic referral-based marketing, I was able to get some more. I built up to the point where my schedule was at it’s max working in the apartment complex. At that point, I had bought a home and I built a little studio in my garage and with my business partner we both built a little business in the garage studio. Now when you’re running a home-based studio business, you don’t need a lot of business or marketing savvy and prowess to be able to fill that out. But, there came a point where my vision was bigger than just that garage space. And, what the industry always told me was brick and mortar; own a brick and mortar studio. So, I took on 3,000 square feet and I began a studio and we partnered up and we opened up the studio and had to sink $60,000 in on day one. All of the sudden, I’m $60,000 in the hole, I’m owning a studio, here we are launch- ing this thing and I have no idea how to do real marketing; no idea how to do real business. The pressures came down right away. Because now I have overhead and I had expenses and I had costs. In the early stages, it was just myself and my partner and we were doing everything ourselves. I didn’t have staff yet. Once I brought on staff, it got more stress- ful because now I had to pay other people to keep things going. And there I was, the studio owner thinking I’ll make more as a studio owner but what I wasn’t told is that’s not necessarily. So, I want to caution you guys that being a studio owner might not be the most lucrative next step. 15 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
  • 17. You do not need brick and mortar to be successful in this industry anymore. If that’s your vision, you better invest in entrepreneurship, leadership, busi- ness, marketing and sales if you want this to be successful and know how to create systems out of all that so that you are not a slave to that. Today, I sometimes coach people to open up virtual businesses; I coach them to open up network marketing businesses; I coach them to understand that if you want that live component to your training consider renting a space some- where so that when they want they can go in train their clients and get the live component, the rush of being live with their clients and when their done, you leave with just your key and you’re gone. I coach them to consider this before you necessarily taking on a space with leases, overhead, etc. Make sure you love being a business owner first. There’s a differ- ence between being a business owner who loves fitness and a trainer who loves training. I owned a studio for ten years and it had ups and it had downs. I will never replace the thing but reality-wise, the money was just as much as a trainer technician, maybe a little bit more, so the money is a little bit more, poten- tially, if you can create scale and systems in here and if you learn true busi- ness and marketing. Once I started to add additional revenue streams – my BeachBody Coaching business and other streams – then I started to make more besides my studio so that’s where I got to be able to have a higher income potential. It helped my trainers to get aboard my team. As BeachBody coaches, and that net- work marketing element, added additional revenue underneath the base busi- ness; all of the sudden, the studio was doing much better! Without that addi- tional stuff, this was just me still working, trading dollars for hours just with higher expenses and overhead. Share this with your friends if you find my advice helpful. 16 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR FITNESSPRENEURTIP: You do not need brick and mortar to be successful in the fitness industry anymore. SHARE SHARE
  • 18. Now, time off was fractional; this was a little time off; but I had to worry about the studio running when I wasn’t there. Often, not the same way as when you are there and that’s a trap that we face often times as a business owner. These are realities. These are some of the ugly truths that don’t get talked about but we have to address them be- cause once you know them, at least you can do something about them. Now, scale was up, meaning how many people you can impact, in the studio because I was able to hire staff. We were able to have five train- ers, so the scale was up to about 2 to 3 on the level. STAGE 3: ENTREPRENEUR - THIS IS THE LIFE! 17
  • 19. “Becoming the Entrepreneur, which is kind of like standing atop the world with your fist in the air.” But, the thing about a studio business is limited geography. You can attract the people and the trainers that are in a 5- to 10-mile radius because people just won’t travel much farther than that for a fitness-based business. They’ll either do it closer to work or closer to home. If you’re not within one of those two things they most likely won’t come. So you have to really know how to target–market your local geography. You get good at that and your business is going to run lean and as profitable as possible. But, it’s brick and mortar and it has overhead, it has ceilings, it has expenses. There is a limit to the profit margin you can pull out of it just because of sheer physicality of what you have for equipment leases and pay- roll being a beast. 18 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
  • 20. Then, the thing about a studio is that you’re locked into that geography, as well. If you outgrow your studio, yes you can take on more space, yes you can open up another location but that comes with more investment, more capital, more overhead, more expenses, more payroll and more headaches. Some people love that and they’ve got the capital behind them to do that … rock it. If that’s where you’re at and you’re like, “I’ve got that extra $50,000 , $100,000, $200,000.” And you’re willing to go to the bank and take out those kinds of loans, you eventually can keep on scaling more studios and fran- chises and take on bigger locations. Just so long as you’re willing to take that on and you’ve really become that person who’s into that business model. Otherwise, there are other things you can do; becoming the entrepreneur, which is kind of that standing atop the world with your fist in the air. Here’s the reality, now the entrepreneur starts to see the bigger picture in a lot of different ways. The entrepreneur might have all these elements going on and might have trainers and technicians in their business, might have stu- dio stuff in their business but, truly, the entrepreneur understands that I can take my ideas and package them in different ways and I should have seg- ments of all these different things going on in their business. 19 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR STAGE 3: Entrepreneur The 3 Stages Of Being A Fitnesspreneur FREEHANDOUT HTTP://J.MP/THETHREESTAGESOFFITNESSPRENEUR
  • 21. For a while, I had the studio business, had trainers underneath me and I had the network marketing business, but what I had done, thanks to being chal- lenged by one of my mentors, Todd Durkin, was I started to scale my knowledge online. I started to package my programs online and I started to shift things. I started to plug in more revenue streams and that started to shift my thinking and the big thing was that I understood that the online world had three billion users on there! That 5 to 10 mile radius of a couple thousand to a hundred thousand, what- ever it is, was around my Orange County studio but now I was able to tap into the bigger world. I decided that I could help other trainers run bigger and better businesses; now we’re impacting more people but I’m not tacking on my work all over; I’m not a slave to that. Instead, I’m working with the hard charges, I’m working with the highly moti- vated, the people that want to get after it and I lift them up and they will go impact more lives. When you’re doing that kind of a business model and you’ve got your hands in multiple things, now you’re well-buffered and, now, that’s what started to allow me to cap out big dollars. This is what took me from 4 to 5 figures, 5 to 6 figures, 6 to 7 figures style of income. I was able to start scaling what I was doing. It was mobile with me. It was flexible. It was portable. Online businesses can move with you and jive with you. Online challenges on Facebook can let you scale to the current 1.2 billion people on Facebook, maybe running ads, targeting cus- tom audiences and all these cool things which, you know, hang with me; be a part of what we’re doing here at Fitness Profit Systems and the Fit- nesspreneur Life and start learning all these things little by little. But, right now, let me talk about the time-off element. As the entrepreneur, I took it to level 10 to 12. This is where I was just, like, okay, now I set my schedule, no one else sets it for me. I book travel every three months and I’m out taking weekend vacations all the time. I grab my girl and go on 4-day getaways at least every couple of months, a week vacation whenever we can and two-week vacation every year. It’s in the realm of a life lived on my schedule. 20 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR FITNESSPRENEURTIP: As much as you want to market and as much as you want to target people, you can, online.
  • 22. I need to be flexible and I need to go wherever I want and I can. I can make money wherever I am at. I can impact people. I can coach my people wherever I am at. That gave me that elusive lifestyle thing. That’s what you can have, as well, if you decide to move this way. Am I going to say that that’s the way everybody needs to start? No. Are there elements of this that you can incorporate when you’re back into techni- cian? 100%. Check that out when I talk about the Income Freedom Plan. You can find it on www.VitoLafata.com When you develop an Income Freedom Plan for yourself; all of the sudden, you’re starting to understand, “Whoa, I can be here and start to scale a little bit more; I can dip my toes into being a business owner/entrepreneur before I have to take all this on.” I just want you to know the truth in between. Scale- wise, you heard me already say that this is pretty much infinite. Now, that sounds over-reaching to be say “infinite,” but it is infinite in the realm of 3,000,000,000 people online and 1.2 billion users on Facebook. In the next five years, the online community is going to grow to about 6,000,000,000 based on current estimates of emerging markets. That’s where it is going. So, as much as you want to market and as much as you want to target people, you can, online. If you’re looking to be like, “I want massive impact; I want to go help as many people as I can but yet I want to launch my lifestyle, I want to launch my income and I want that 6- to 7-figure income,” you’ve got to be looking here. If you want to play in these areas and figure out what stage you’re in, if you’re going to go into this as a trainer technician, I highly recommend add- ing a network marketing business. You can reach out to me about that and what we’re doing with our Beach- Body Coaching and Team Rockstar Fit. Same thing here, if you’re that studio owner, boot camp owner, whatever you’re doing there, same thing; at least add a network marketing business to that so you can also build a virtual team. Virtual teams are the bomb because they’re all people voluntarily working together and they are paid by a third-party resource, not by your own. This is the big difference in income and in not having as much over- head. 21 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR
  • 23. There are our three stages. That’s what I want you guys to be thinking about in our first steps about how to make money as a personal trainer. Honestly evalu- ate with yourself and sit down and talk with your spouse and ask how much impact do you want to make? How much time off do you want? How much income do you want coming in? 3 HOW MUCH IMPACT DO YOU WANT TO MAKE?
  • 24. Decide those things. Do you really just love the technician stuff and really don’t want to lead other people and don’t want to manage other stuff? Stay here. Be honest about that. Add a couple elements so that you have some additional revenue coming in―have nutrition and clean eating challenges and take it online. If you’re here, cool, just be willing to have the capital, be willing to have the resources, be willing to know that if the studio isn’t built right, there could come a day when it’s not sellable and there could come a day that you never get your money back out of it. I was faced with those days because I went 6 figures in debt besides that $60,000 I put in and when my partner left, I went $105,000 in debt and had to climb back out of that. Even when I decided to move on from my studio and let the studio go and move on, I never returned the $150,000 initial dollars. Sure, it still provided me a living and sure it still provided me with opportunities but I never got that initial $150,000 back. I had to go with what I was able to get at the fair mar- Let me know in which stage of Fitnesspreneur are you in? 23 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR COMMENT
  • 25. ket value. Luckily, I had already shifted here so I was already making an addi- tional 6 figures a year so that it wasn’t as bad to let that go. We’ll start stepping into some things now by looking at no matter where you are at in this realm, let’s look at a Value Ladder that you can build so that we’re creating as much opportunity as we can, as much income as we can, as much return on investment, as well as much impact as you can. So, we’ll take a look at that in our next series, the Value Ladder. Until then go out and choose which stage of the Fitnesspreneur you want to be in! You can use my handy The Three Stages Of Fitnesspreneur to do that. You can grab it on the button bellow. For more information click on the button below! Share this with your friends if you find my advice helpful. 24 HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL: THE THREE STAGES TO BECOMING A FITNESSPRENEUR SHARE SHARE MorehelpfuladviceTEXTTEXT FREEHANDOUT HTTP://J.MP/THETHREESTAGESOFFITNESSPRENEUR