Categoriesbusiness coaching

The 4 Steps to Never Ending Growth

My good friend and colleague, Gavin McHale, is back with another excellent guest post today. He’s been on a tear of late writing some stellar content for this site.

We’re all our own worst enemy, and for many, stepping outside our comfort zones and taking risks (calculated or not) in an attempt to grow our fitness business can be a daunting (if not sphincter clenching) task.

Gavin provides some sage advice how how to NOT let this happen moving forward.

Enjoy!

Copyright: olegdudko

The 4 Steps to Never Ending Growth

It was the summer of 2014 when I first read a blog article alluding to the “laptop lifestyle.” 

I was immediately hooked.

Not because I was hoping to sip mai tai’s on the beach while my clients worked their asses off to a shitty, templated training program like the article seemed to suggest would be the case, though.

While I had some thoughts of grandeur that my life would drastically change, I was mostly aware that this lifestyle the blogger spoke of wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies.

So I did what any 27-year-old personal trainer with zero business or marketing experience would do. I paid someone too much money to build me a (shitty) website and started an Instagram page for my business. I had no plan or idea what I was doing, but I knew this was part of the path to laptop lifestyle freedom.

It had to be, right?

I’ll throw a few blogs up on the website and make some educational posts on Instagram and they’ll be flinging their credit cards my way, salivating to buy my yet-to-be-figured-out online training programs.

I’m sure you already know that didn’t happen.

For the weeks and months following, I got crickets.

via GIPHY

So, like any savvy business person would do when no one is buying the high-priced 1-on-1 online training option, I lowered my prices. In fact, I went all the way from offering $1000 training services to $29 e-books.

Guess how many of those I sold.

And even though this little story is quite fun in hindsight, neither of those decisions were where I truly went wrong, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

As my online business continued to flounder and take up more and more of my time and energy, I began to become soured to the whole process. 

My in-person training business was still ticking along as it had been for several years now. 

  • 6:30AM-12:30PM – chalk full semi-private sessions
  • 3:30PM-6:30PM – mostly full private and semi-private sessions

Evening hockey practice to make some extra cash, toiling away in a freezing cold rink once a week all winter.

Rinse, repeat.

via GIPHY

The issue wasn’t even really the money at the time.

I was making enough to pay the bills and live comfortably.

I could pay the mortgage and put food on the table, but it was the way in which I was making it that wasn’t working for me.

I now realized my potential income was choked out by the amount of hours and energy I had, and that if I ever wanted a different lifestyle that included things like seeing my spouse or having a family, things would need to be different.

And as I continued to grind for 60 hours a week, while trying unsuccessfully to build a more sustainable business online during every single non-gym-floor hour, my ego led me to believe this wasn’t for me anymore.

What had started off as such a promising option 18 months before had become a stupid idea that “wasn’t for me.” 

I told myself I was an in-person coach (and I was a good one) and that online coaching was stupid and only for those who couldn’t make it in person.

I thought I was taking the righteous road.

I told myself this was the path and stood strong in that belief.

Except I kept seeing other good coaches, whom I respected, rapidly building online businesses. They were leveraging their skills into something that kept the quality while also being scalable. Some got to the point they were so busy they had to give up their in-person clients so they could focus on working from anywhere, at any time while raking in the cash.

Seriously… what the actual fuck?

Let’s get back to what went wrong here. I was caught in the Vicious Cycle of Imposter Syndrome.

Let me explain the steps of this cycle.

1. Feel Fear

Evil forest: Fear from the dark
Hey, Tony here. I attempted to look for an “inspirational” fear image to put here, but opted for this one instead. Excuse me while I go destroy the back of my pants.

It was scary to do something I wasn’t good at.

I had always been good at everything I tried – school, hockey, in-person training –  and when I wasn’t very good at marketing or using social media, I quit (because I was scared).

2. Make Excuses

The excuses comin’ out of me were so fast and believable, that I became an expert in them.

  • I was too good in-person.
  • I wasn’t built to work with people online; I’d rather be in person.
  • The market was saturated.
  • No one knew the guy from little old Winnipeg, Canada (as if location had anything to do with working online…).

I made such compelling arguments that even I started to believe them.

I see this in the trainers I speak to regularly. They have become so entrenched in this set of false truths that it’s hard to pull them out of it.

3. Don’t Take Action

Take action

Like I said earlier, I did take action originally. I started a social media page and made a website. I tried to sell training and e-books.

When none of it worked the way I expected it should, I stopped taking the actions required to build an online business. 

At the very least, I half-assed them, telling myself they wouldn’t work before I even hit publish or post.

I stonewalled my success before it even had a chance.

When that action proved to be more trouble than it was worth (fulfilling my prophecy), I gave up on it before it had a chance to succeed. 

And as you’ll see in the virtuous cycle of growth below, I missed one crucial step on the path to success, bringing it all crumbling down.

4. Expect Different Results

Through all of this, even though I was quickly spiraling and not seeing any results with the actions I was taking, I continued to hope for someone to fall through the cracks. 

I continued to make the same type of boring, educational, poorly written posts, expecting for more likes or thinking “this one will go viral”.

And what’s worse than going all in on something and failing is half-assing it, hoping it will work out but deep down knowing what you’re doing is not working and will never work.

Because I didn’t look for another way, I just kept ramming a square peg into a round hole, while it kept trying to tell me to do something different.

I allowed a lack of results to strengthen the resolve that I wasn’t good enough.

Does that pattern sound vaguely familiar?

I know this pattern too well, not only because I repeated it over and over for 18 months (and still fall into it sometimes), but because I see and hear trainers – really good trainers – saying the exact same things to me on a weekly basis.

So the goal of my program is now to flip the script from the vicious cycle of imposter syndrome to the virtuous cycle of growth.

Virtuous Cycle of Growth

1. Feel Fear

Evil forest: Fear from the dark
Yup, still creepy AF

Notice how this step is the same in both the vicious and virtuous cycle? 

You’re never going to outrun fear. Fear will always be present. Your job is to feel it, harness it, and act anyway.

Fear and the parts of you that bring it to the surface are just doing their job. They’re just trying to keep you safe. 

It’s an evolutionary trait that has kept humans alive and evolving for thousands of years.

But being afraid of getting attacked by a lion in the desert is a lot different than being scared to ask someone if they need help with their training.

One results in possible (probable) death.

The other results in a hit to the fragile ego.

Very different.

2. Take Messy Action (Knowing It Will Be Incomplete Or Wrong)

Action is a funny thing, because it’s often the thing that’s scariest, but also the thing that will help you see that it’s not as scary as you think.

I’ve noticed that we’re all very good fiction writers in our own brains. We pen tragic and imaginative stories about what will happen when we ask the person out, how our clients will react to a price increase and what all our friends will say behind our backs when we make that vulnerable post.

And the only way to know that’s not the case, is to take the fucking action.

  • Ask them out.
  • Raise your prices (more than you think).
  • Make the post.

The messier, the better. 

Because I never learned anything from an A+ on a test. But, if you handed me back a D, I’d sure as shit study harder next time.

3. Seek Feedback

Here’s the super important step I missed in my first attempt at building an online business.

I felt the fear and took action anyway. Maybe I was so naive that the fear didn’t even register, but I can give myself that.

What I missed was asking for feedback, or even looking for feedback. The pure lack of engagement on my social media content was trying to give me feedback. The lack of clicks and website visits after the initial surge from family and friends was trying to give me feedback.

The overall lack of any measurable results was trying to give me feedback.

Customer feedback and satisfaction conceptual image

But I was too proud to see it.

See, I always thought the only feedback came from parents or coaches or people who otherwise knew better than me.

I thought I had to ask, but in this case I had no one to ask.

And while a coach or mentor is absolutely valuable as an outside observer, feedback can be found after every single intentional action you take.

Did it produce the results I hoped for? Why or why not?

Keep asking questions and you’ll get the feedback you need to either change course or double down on what you’re doing.

I look at feedback as the final number in those annoying high school combination locks. You can do everything else – take messy action in the face of fear, but without feedback, you’re left running around like an idiot doing everything for everyone and never knowing what’s worked.

4. Recalibrate and Take More Messy Action

Here’s where the virtuous cycle really takes off.

Once you take an action (any action, really) and seek feedback, your next action is even more calibrated. The more you can repeat this process, the more calibrated and purpose-driven your actions will become.

In this scenario, there is no way you can lose.

You will either hit it out of the park, or you’ll learn, tinker and keep iterating until you hit it out of the park. 

Closing Thoughts

So, if you’re anything like I was back in my laptop lifestyle chasing days, things are probably going pretty well for you.

I will leave you with one final piece of advice before signing off, because the drive to take action on a blog post can be low when things are going pretty well.

The question you must ask is, “Is this what I want to be doing in 10 years?”

Is this my version of my “best life”?

If it is, GREAT! 

Use that as feedback and double the fuck down.

If it’s not, then it’s time you take some action, no matter how scared you are, towards the lifestyle and business you truly want. 

And believe me, it is possible.

After several coaches and tens of thousands of dollars invested, I built a hybrid business that paid me 6-figures a year and allowed me to travel for 3 weeks at a time while my clients still got great results and were waiting for me when I came back.

If I can do this, so can you.

About the Author

As a Kinesiology graduate, Gavin McHale quickly realized that following the traditional business model would lead to trading more time for more money.

Over the course of 8 years, Gavin built a 6-figure hybrid training business before founding the Maverick Coaching Academy in 2019.

Since then, Gavin has left the gym and gone all in helping other strength coaches build their businesses. He has made it his mission to fix the broken fitness industry and connect other amazing humans to the highest version of themselves.

Check out his FREE course for trainers, coaches and therapists that will kickstart your path to a more sustainable business.

The Coach’s Playground Podcast

MaverickCoachingAcademy.ca

IG – @gavinmchale1

 

Categoriescoaching fitness business Uncategorized

Why an Online Training Business Might be Right For You (and 3 mistakes when building one)

I have a special treat for you today. Jon Goodman, the Godfather of online training, emailed me to ask if he could write a guest post for the site. I was like, “does Dolly Parton sleep on her back? Of course you can.”

Jon knows online training and he’s painstakingly built one of the best online training resources in existence that’ll help anyone build a successful business: the Online Trainer Academy. Enrollment is sparse and only happens twice a year. Tomorrow (3/2) is the LAST day to jump on the train for the foreseeable future. Hell, I’m on the train – come join me in the caboose for a good time.[footnote]Okay, that was weird. I worded that wrong. What I meant to say was “come ride this train with me all the way to tickle town.” GODDAMIT – that doesn’t sound right either. Just get on the train.[/footnote]

Why an Online Training Business Might Be Right For You

ONE DAY I GOT SICK, and I didn’t get paid.

I wanted to see the World, but I knew that if I did, I wouldn’t have a job when I got back.

Soon after turning 26 I decided, much to my surprise, that babies weren’t weird and gross and that maybe one day I’d like to have a few. If I did want a family at some point, I knew that something would have to drastically change.

It became apparent that I had to figure out how to build a business in the fitness industry that works for me even when I’m not around and that I control.

Conventional personal training doesn’t lend itself well to a balanced life. When I was in my early twenties I wanted to train 10-14 clients a day. I made a lot of money — much more than my friends at the time — but the hours were arduous.

By 24 I’d reached my income ceiling.

  • I was charging $97/hr and booked 40hrs/wk. If a client cancelled I’d have another on call with as little as 45 minutes notice.
  • I received a small salary as the senior trainer in charge of the hiring, training, and development of the rest of the team.
  • I received commissions for referring new trainers to the club in addition to referring my overload of clientele to other trainers.

Things were good for a while, but then I got that itch.

I wanted to see the World and I desired to meet a girl (smart, kind, and with legs that scream, “I squat, bro”). With my schedule that just wasn’t going to happen.

Something needed to change. I love the fitness industry and I loved my clients but conventional wouldn’t work. Conventional training in a gym doesn’t work.

Early Mornings, Late Nights, and a Lack of Control

You must avoid spending your life in a reactive state.

Reacting to things like your clients schedules, your gym’s rules, and the economy.

It might seem like you’re busy and I get it, there are only so many hours in the day, right?

Well the CEO of a Fortune 500 company has the same number of hours in a day as you. The difference is that he or she has better systems for making the most out of those hours. With these systems the business works for the CEO, not the opposite.

Most good trainers hit a wall. You can’t possibly work anymore. Look, I get it; I’ve been there.

My wife and I a month ago in Thailand where we lived for two months. We had to come home because she’s now 7 months pregnant. Photo credit: Tida Cha Photography]

If you want to work smarter, not harder, in fewer hours, while still providing your clients with an exceptional service there used to be 2 or 3 potential solutions:

1. You Could Start Your Own Gym.

The dream right? For some, this is a good option. However starting a club is difficult. You’ve no idea the hidden fees. There’s a reason why your gym might appear stingy or has protocols in place that you don’t necessarily agree with. I’m not saying that you can’t do it better. But to be a businessperson is a completely different skillset than being a trainer.

Note from TG: HERE’s a post explaining why this exact “thing.” Why it’s a BIG mistake to think the holy mecca is gym ownership. It’s not.

2. You Could Rise Within the Ranks of Your Club Into Management.

The Peter Principle states that, “in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence”.It goes on to state that, “employees only stop being promoted once they can no longer perform effectively”.

Similar to starting a gym, becoming a manager sounds good at first (the power, the ego-drive, etc.) but approach the position with caution. Managing other people is an incredibly difficult job and an entirely different skill set than training and managing a client load.

3. Multi-Level Marketing or Similar.

I’ll take a passage from one of my books, Ignite the Fire, here:

“The idea is attractive but very few are actually successful. You’re often forced to purchase the product yourself and it can be costly. Most people don’t have the requisite hustle, network, or marketing acumen to make a legitimate go of it. Not only that, the supplements are almost always poor-quality.

Read the ingredients carefully and look for independent third-party studies. Even if the supplement is of good quality, I’ve found that multi-level marketing companies sell supplements that are overpriced. It makes sense, and in fact providing such an attractive commission structure requires it. Finally, you’ll feel pressure to involve your close family and friends and this is not a position that I’d want my worst enemy to be in.”

In order to be successful and live a long, prosperous life as a trainer you must become proactive, and in order to do that, you must innovate. You need a new model.

The New Model i.e. The Best Solution That I’ve Found:

Imagine if there was a solution to every problem that is stopping you from turning your job into a prosperous and fulfilling career with ample freedom.

Imagine being in complete control of your schedule, to be able to charge less, make more, and offer just as good (or an even better) service.

Well it exists. But before I discuss it, I want to say something.

I’m not married to any idea. I’m about to discuss why online training or meshed online / in-person training is the best solution. When done right, it’s the solution that you might be looking for.

I came into this search for a solution with an open mind looking for whatever worked best and online training hit all-important points. What followed was 2.5 years of developing, testing, tweaking, and more testing of the best systems for delivering an exceptional online training service.

Since 2013 I’ve been teaching trainers how to either supplement their in-person training with online training or train clients online full-time. The Online Trainer Academy is the most current evolution of this process. Complete with a textbook, workbook, digital portal, and all scripts, worksheets, templates, and anything else that you’ll need, the Academy is the world’s first certification in online training that doubles as a business development course.

 

The physical Online Trainer Academy materials. Not pictured here are all digital materials.

Imagine creating a reliable and consistent source of income — one that you can depend on month-to-month. Or, if you’re a gym owner, imagine being able to attract and keep trainers by offering something different in addition to adding another reliable monthly income stream to your bottom line.

Online training is still relatively new and, like all new things that have tremendous potential, some have already jumped on the bandwagon without much thought.

Whether or not you enroll in the Academy, I want to help you get started with online training. Here’s the 3 biggest mistakes unprepared, yet well intentioned, trainers make when making the transition.

3 Biggest Mistakes (well-intentioned) Trainers Make When Starting or Growing an Online Training Biz-ness

 3 is actually the perfect number.

They are: 1) bad support systems 2) offering too much and 3) taking on the wrong type of clients.

I’ll go into detail on each below. Before I do that, let me say that building an efficient and effective online training business is akin to what we teach our clients: build a strong base and grow from there. Don’t slap on extras before you’ve got your foundation.

Right, here’s a bit more on each of the 3 mistakes and what to do to avoid them:

1) Bad Support Systems

Email will drive you crazy. It sounds nice to offer “unlimited email support” but that doesn’t help the client and wastes your time. It doesn’t help the client because it creates dependence and it doesn’t help you because it takes away your control and freedom – the two reasons why most add online training.

You need to establish a precedent. My suggestion is to tell your clients that they can send you one email a week. That email has to be point form. Each point is one question. And each point is no longer than 3 sentences. They can send as many points as they want. You pick one day to answer all emails – say Sunday morning.

The reasons for this tightly-controlled system are numerous, but here’s a few:

  • Most people aren’t writers. Forcing point form avoids the wall of words.
  • Forcing clients to create a list and send you it at once means that only the important questions get asked.
  • You can block off your time. Setting aside an hour or two once a week to do all email support adds back a level of freedom and control into your life.

You can always offer additionally support if needed on an off-the-cuff basis.

2) Bad Program Offerings

In a similar vein to my point above, online trainers need to think critically about what they are going to offer as part of their training packages.

Allow me to illustrate this with an example:

The first systems I built for online trainers were given to 24 beta participants. One day I got a message saying that a trainer was worn out. He was working more and making less – not what online training is meant to do. We got on the phone. Here’s what he was offering:

  • 1 hour Skype check-in call/week
  • Program design
  • Nutrition design
  • 24/7 email support
  • $199/month

Steve charged $75/hr for in-person training. When we spoke he told me that it takes 3hrs for him to design the program and nutrition. Ignoring the email support, he was offering 7hrs of his time for $199/month, or $28/hr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A

 

Because Steve didn’t think critically about his systems he was training at a loss of $329 per client each month. Just because you’re working online doesn’t mean that you’re working smarter. No wonder he was burnt out!

My advice to you is this: when deciding about your program offerings base the pricing off of how much time it will take you per month to deliver the service and go from there.

3) Taking on the Wrong Type of Clients

Maintaining a high quality service online requires more proactive and lateral thinking than training in-person does. The reason is simple: in-person you can be reactive. Online you have to anticipate problems and plan for them so that they never happen.

To do this requires an in-depth knowledge of the client you’re going to train. It means that you need to be a lot more selective of your clientele. It’s also why I don’t recommend trainers who have less than a year’s experience working in-person invest in the Online Trainer Academy.

For example: If I train a 30-35 year old working professional male with no serious injuries I can predict that he probably works at a desk. If I work further down the chain it’s likely that he will have some troubles with the bench press (shoulder impingement). Obviously there are exceptions, but bear with me.

For this client I might substitute an incline neutral grip dumbbell press for the bench press in anticipation of a problem that may arise.

It all comes down to knowing your client. High quality online training is possible but only if you take on the right type of clients for you.

My suggestion is to identify the 2-3 key client avatars that you deal with. Be specific.

Female, aged 30-40 with one client less than 6 months post-partum.

Male 40-55 was a college athlete but let things slide and has some lingering knee issues.

Whatever.

Figure out who you know best and only take them on as online clients. In-person you can take on a wider variety.

Tomorrow is the LAST Day to Enroll

Everything is laid out for you. All the tools you’ll need to help you build a legitimate online training business is here. Nothing shady, nothing nefarious. What have you got to lose?

I don’t point people in the direction of things I don’t believe in or that I don’t believe works, and I get it, some of you may be thinking……”this s*** is expensive!” And you’re right. But:

1) This will easily pay for itself (and then some x a bazillion jillion) if you put in the work.

2) You can write it off.

3) It’s gluten free.

4) Scrumptious.

—-> Online Trainer Academy <—-

Categoriesbusiness coaching fitness business

The Pros and Cons of Online Training

I started utilizing distance coaching back in 2005 before “distance coaching” was a thing. Hell, Facebook was barely a thing at that point in time, but I managed to survive.

Come to think of it I didn’t get my first cell phone or laptop until 2006, so it’s any wonder how I was able to turn distance coaching into a viable source of income for myself.

Copyright: everythingpossible / 123RF Stock Photo

 

It’s taken years, of course, to turn it into a viable source of income, and, admittedly, there are innumerable coaches out there who have built online training empires that would make what I have built seem like an anthill compared to their Taj Mahal.

Fuck those guys…;o)

Just kidding. It’s altogether impressive to see how successful some people have gotten with their online training businesses. Kudos, and well done.

Nonetheless, I wanted to take today and discuss my experiences with distance coaching: Why I do it, the pros and cons of doing it, mistakes I’ve made along the way, and whether or not you should considering dipping your toes in the water.

Copyright: warrengoldswain / 123RF Stock Photo

 

Above all, when it comes to online training, you need to ask yourself this question:

Are You Doing It For the Right Reason(s)?

There’s a fairly naive notion that those who do online coaching are living the high life. They’re traveling the world on their hovercrafts writing programs and answering emails while sipping Pina Coladas. Indeed, for some, this is very true. I mean, hovercrafts are awesome.

However it’s not the norm.

If you’re entering the world of online training under the guise that that is normal, and that you’re going to be making between a metric boat load and metric shit load of money without any effort, let me say this:

“HahahahahaahahahahaahahahahahaahahhwytZARWQEtwqEagfhagtawrhdAFr5HAHAHAHAHA.”

Personally, I’d make the argument that online coaching is more time consuming and more of a grind than people are led to believe. Then again, those who believe otherwise are the ones who think all you need is a YouTube page, a smart phone, and nice smile to build a bonafide fitness business.

Basically it comes down to this:

  • If you decide to enter the world of online training (only) to make a bunch of money, good luck. I doubt you’ll last long.

  • If you decide to enter the world of online training to actually help people (first), to offer a good service with integrity, and then yeah, eventually, maybe make some decent money, now we’re talking.

Those Who Do Online Training Gooder: A Huge Caveat

I didn’t take on my first online training client until 2005. I had just moved from Syracuse, NY (where I had been working in both corporate and commercial gyms for the previous three years) to Danbury, CT where some guy named Eric Cressey convinced me to move to to start working with him at a local gym in the area.

A client of mine (back in Syracuse), Bobby, emailed me after a few weeks and asked if I’d still be interested in writing his programs? I like to think he couldn’t live without my witty personality and incessant GoodFellas quotes.

Until he had asked it had never dawned on me to write programs in a distance-based fashion. I was like, “uhhhhhhh, sure.”

I had a digital camera, a desktop computer, a sick bicep peak (<– very important), and an Excel spreadsheet.

I made it work.

But how?

Looking back my systems were terrible. But that’s also comparatively speaking. What I had access to back in 2005 in terms of technology paled in comparison to what is available today. I might as well, proverbially speaking at least, have been shucking corn with a scythe. Or, I don’t know, playing video games on an Atari 2600.

Bobby would send me a check via snail mail, I’d write his program, email it to him, and then if he had any questions I’d either have to write a Tolstoy’esque email back explaining every step of every exercise, or attempt to send him an impromptu video, which, honestly, back then, was more of a pain in the ass than writing everything out.

There was no such thing as YouTube. How did we survive?!

But it worked because of one thing, and it’s something I can’t repeat enough: I had years of experience training people in REAL LIFE.

To that end……

I think the best online coaches are those coaches who have experience training people in-person for a few years and then transition to some degree of distance coaching.

“It’s only when you work with people in person, gain a better understanding of their diversity and how to properly cue and coach different people with varying goals, current/past injury histories, and ability levels, and then have experience APPLYING what you read and watch to an actual individual, that you’ll (likely) be more successful virtually.”

In the years since I have developed better systems and my online coaching business is loaded with my own required desiderata – my laptop, PayPal account (to accept and send payments), DropBox (t0 receive and critique training videos), set of questionnaires, intake info, and screens (sent via vide0) to better ascertain prospective clients’ needs, a relationship with Exercise.com and their use of their sweet platform, not to mention my baller Spotify chill mix for optimum program writing prowess and badassery.

But what about the pros and cons (for both client and coach) of online training? What are they?

The Client

Cons:

Since I like to get bad news out of the way first (like, I’m writing this post with no pants on) let’s start with those, in no particular order:

  • Your coach isn’t actually there with you: That’s sort of the point of distance coaching right? But unless you’re highly motivated, you’ll find this as an excuse to not make it into the gym or skip certain parts of your training session. Lame.
  • Feedback comes later than you need it: Since you’re (hopefully) sending videos to your coach you won’t know until after you’re done with your lift if you performed things up to their standards.

 

  • It’s really easy to find a shit coach: If you spend 10 minutes browsing the fitness related hashtags on Instagram, I bet you could find about 50 random guys and gals who just finished training for their first show and are dying to offer you one of the limited spots in their online training group. Who knows what this person knows and where they learned it. If you don’t do your research you’ll end up wasting your money on some random jabroni.
  • It can be tough to form a relationship: If you found your coach online, it can sometimes be tough to form a relationship with them. Really, who wants to keep spending money on someone that they don’t have a great relationship with? And if you haven’t really bonded with them or trust them, why would you keep killing yourself in the gym for them? This is why I always make it a point to send random pictures of my cat here and there. Because it builds rapport, and because she’s awesome.

Pro’s:

Enough of the Debbie Downer talk! There’s a lot to love about working with a coach as a distance client!

  • It’s cost effective: This is just a fancy way of saying cheap! The cost per session of working with most distance coaches is substantially less than paying for them in person and is typically even way cheaper than paying for an atrocious trainer in person. For just a few bucks per lift you can have a great coach write your programming for you; it’s awesome.
  • Low stress: What do I mean by this? I mean that you don’t have to worry about schedules nearly as much as in person. You work weird hours and want to train at 2 am? Sure, pyscho, go train at 2 am.
  • You can work with just about anyone: As long as a coach is taking clients and you can afford them, you can work with just about any coach in any realm of fitness. It doesn’t matter where they are located; you can get a Chinese weightlifting coach, a Brazilian booty coach and a Turkish get-up coach if you want.
  • It can last a lifetime: If you’re lucky enough to find a coach that you have a good relationship with, trust and see results with you can train with them essentially forever. Regardless of where either one of you moves, the training relationship can remain solid.
  • A good community: I’m lucky that my coach (yes, I have a coach) had done such a good job with his distance coaching prior to me hiring him. When I started working with Greg, The Strength House had a vibrant online community where people are able to post videos to get feedback from Greg and Tony B. as well as other clients who may know what they are talking about. It makes a huge difference with staying accountable to my program.

The Coach

To be truthful, a lot of the points that are true for clients are true for coaches. It can be tough building a relationship with someone that you’ve never met.

Cons

  • There is a world of shit out there: People move like crap, and it’s hard to “manage” people from a distance unlike you can in-person. Being able to instantly provide verbal and tactile feedback is what gives in-person coaching a more than slight edge over online training.
  • More challenging to keep clients accountable: Are your clients really doing what you tell them to do? Are they really doing their deadbugs and dedicated warm-ups or skipping them in lieu of extra bicep curls in front of the mirror?
  • It Can Get Weird – Like that one time I started with a new male client and while on a bus on my way to NYC to visit friends I opened up all the postural pics I had him send me. Sorry random woman who looked over at me looking at half-naked pictures of a man. #awkward.
  • There’s a lot of moving parts: To be an effective distance coach means having a few systems in place that work really well and those can be difficult to manage.
    • A good way to track programs and ensure clients get them in time.
    • An effective means of communication, or else you’ll end up with an abyss of emails and texts to answer. Personally, though, I rarely give out my cell phone number for this very reason.
    • A good video library to pull demo’s from.
    • A solid network of coaches and trainers in other cities to be able to reach out to for help (Hey, I’ve got a client in your city, they’d like to meet with you for an hour and work on their hip hinge)
    • A strong system to collect and track payments.
  • Distance coaching isn’t for everyone: Truthfully, some people really just do need one-on-one in person training. Maybe the client isn’t motivated enough, maybe their needs are beyond what you can provide via an email or Facebook message. While it will mean you lose their monthly fee, this is definitely a client you should help find a local trainer to help them with their immediate goals.
  • It’s not all butterfly kisses and rainbows: Despite what the internet tells you, most people who do online training also have another job. Very few can live off their online business alone. It can be a drag to come home after coaching (or working) an 8-hour day only to have an inbox full of client questions and inquiries. As I alluded to above: online coaching, I find, is more time consuming than people think – especially if you lack having systems in place.

Pros

  • You can work with anyone: This is by far the coolest part. Right now I do remote coaching with people all over the world. I have clients all over North America, Europe, and even the Middle East. Many people have limited access to quality coaching and online training allows me the opportunity to work with people I otherwise would never cross paths with. Note to Optimus Prime, I have a few spots open.
  • It’s a decent bump to your income: I’m not going to tell you it’ll make you a millionaire, but I remember when I first started I told myself I wanted online training to help me cover my rent each month (and maybe pay for my then Match.com membership). It did and has since. Pretty cool.

Note: Match.com profile was deleted when I met my wife….;o)

  • Clients for life: If you’re good at what you’re doing, you’ll have clients that you’ll keep around forever. Also, since we in the fitness industry know that word of mouth advertising is more effective than anything else, happy clients will tell their friends and family.
  • It’s honestly fun: I really enjoy this part of my job. It takes me out of the daily routine of local clients that I work with and gives me something else to think about. It has become another skill to try and master and I like that challenge. Figuring out how to get great results with someone training in their home gym in North Dakota is much different than having that same person in front of you in your gym. You learn how to broaden your horizons as a coach and try to always get better and improve your systems.

Ultimately it’s up to you to decide whether or not online training is your cup of tea. I think when done well, for the right reasons, and with the right systems in place, coaches (and clients) can do very well. However, when taken for granted and with little attention to detail, it can be more detrimental than helpful.

Register for the Online Trainer Academy

 

My good friend, Jon Goodman, has developed what I believe is one of the best resources out there with regards to becoming a bonafide online trainer. If I had something like this back in 2005 my systems would have been much more organized, and I’d probably be married to Jennifer Lopez. True story.

Enrollment is extremely limited and only happens twice a year. Enrollment for early birds will begin February 21, 2017 (tomorrow!) and will close a few weeks thereafter. If you hurry, you can go HERE to download the Lasting Laws of Online Training and get onto the early bird list to save $200 off registration.

Do it.

DO IT.