If you are like me you went into fitness because of you passion for it. Unfortunately, it is hard to make a ton of money in fitness. You are trading hours for dollars. There are only so many hours in the day. There are only so many classes you can teach a day or clients you can train a day. If you don’t work you don’t get paid. So, that means no sick time or paid vacations.
The good news is that you are your own boss. You are in control of your business and your bottom line. I have been in the fitness industry for 15 years. It does not always mean that you have to take on more clients or more classes. I will share with you how I work smart not just harder. Here are my tips on how to increase your income right now!…
1. Ask For A Raise…
If you work for a privately owned gym or studio there are no real rules on what you can get paid. That is good news. If you have been keeping your classes packed, producing results and making the gym money there is no reason why you should not get a raise. I am shocked at how little instructors make. Yes, you do have to start somewhere but if you are an asset to your studio or gym they will want to pay you more. Otherwise you will leave and they don’t want that. Tell the owners what you have done and how you have helped them then ask for a reasonable raise. For example if you currently get $20 a hour you could ask for a $5 dollar raise. The rate would then be $25 a class.
Remember that you have nothing to loose when asking for a raise. Either they say yes or they say no and you keep making what you were making before.
If you work for a big box gym there are ways to get raises if you get more certifications or degrees. Finish your degree or get another certification. Make sure that you get a certification that is recognized by your gym. A lot of times certifications that are online don’t really have much weight to it. So make sure you check ahead of time before you go and get it. Some great ones that I recommend are AFFA, ASCM, NASM, and ACE.
The extra certifications can also be applied to your Continuing Education.
If you own your own gym or studio you could increase the rates if you haven’t done that in a while. A small increase of $5 more a month per customer will be a big increase for you. Increasing rates and fees is a normal thing. Your rates and fees should be assessed frequently. You want to me competitive with others around you but you also want to be paid what you are worth. If your studio or gym is getting full and there is not a lot of room for people increasing the fees or rates will weed some people out and mean more money in your pocket.
If you are going to increase your your fees or rates make sure to give your customers a heads up. Or just increase the rates for new members and let all of your old members keep the same rate. This is help keep your old clients loyal. They will not want to get rid of the good rate that they get to keep so they will be more likely to keep it up.
2. Certifications
Do you have a million different classes that you teach? I know I like the fact that I can teach so many formats. But you have to ask yourself are you loosing money with that format? Are you making money with that format?
There are several formats that I don’t currently teach. Many of us keep them cause they think that maybe one day they will be teaching it. But if you are not making money off of it and it is costing you money every month it might not be worth it.
3. Apps and Services
There are so many tools that are available to busy Fitness Professionals. That is great news! Owning your own business requires tools and services to for our business to run smoothly. I currently subscribe to an email service, trackers for my personal training clients, marketing tools and designers. Take a good look at all the extra things that you spend your money on. If you are not using it, it probably is not worth it for you to continue paying for it.
4. Take Your Business Online
If you have waivers that your students sign when they join your class have them sign a waiver online. You can easily create a free waiver on google docs. This will save you money on paper and ink and save you space. You won’t have to store the papers anywhere. You can easily create an opt in to your email list while they fill out the form. This will save you time from having to go back and inputting the information into your contact info.
Create a Blog or FB Like page. Update your students using your Blog and FB like page. This will be a great way to create traffic to your page and keep people engaged with you. It also helps to create better relationships with your students. This will hep retain your students and keep your students happy.
If you want more ideas on how to increase your bottom line without teaching more classes or taking on more students I am full of great ideas. Please follow me on FB Fitness with Lauren Morley or you can subscribe to my Blog www.fitnesswithlaurenmorley.net. I am passionate about teaching other fitness professionals all of my tools and tips that I have learned through my 15 years in fitness.
