Comments on: CAREER BURN-OUT!!! CHRIS SNOOK AND I GIVE INSIGHTS AND SOLUTIONS TO PERSONAL TRAINING PURGATORY!!! (listen to the no-holds audio of our conversation)

By: Nate Green Talks About the Fitness Lifestyle | Trainers: DUMP THE GYM NOW!!!

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:24:05 +0000

[...] to sell me on that one- me and a lot of trainers are in or have gone through the same situation. Burn-out’s the mortal enemy for any ambitious Personal Trainer. Yeah, you mentioned the media – [...]

By: Kaiser

Kaiser — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:52:14 +0000

Yeah I agree Doug – that’s another one of the great things about training – it teaches you to be an entrepreneur, with kind of house money. You learn to manage yourself and clients as a business, and your business grows as your skill grows. It’s a great experiment and learning experience for anyone that has the goal of owning their own business –

Yeah, sucks about the economy – hasn’t hit me yet, but it’s only a matter of time – trainers are among those that’ll feel it, but you know what? Entrepreneurs are the ones that learn to adapt to whatever happens – I don’t want to add any more fuel to the panic, but I’m thinking of writing a post about the situation soon.

By: Doug Murphy

Doug Murphy — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:38:49 +0000

Another great post! It’s so true that we’re never taught to be entrepreneurs. I took an entrepreneurship class in college and it really impacted my future-my class project was about running my own gym, complete with business plan! Obviously my career took a slightly different path, but the information was invaluable. Take a class, read up on the subject, go to seminars, work with a mentor-it’s really a total change in mindset from what we’re taught our whole lives.

The advice about never letting your pipeline get cold is vital. I’m always fully booked, but I’ve been impacted by the economic meltdown. I recently lost four longtime clients in two weeks-a Fannie Mae employee, a political appointee, a client who had to bale their kids out so they didn’t lose their house, etc.-all due to economic conditions. Luckily, I kept marketing and taking on new clients even though I didn’t feel I had the time, figuring there would be some impact on my business. I’m back to being fully booked, but that was a very stressful 2 weeks! You can be the busiest trainer in your area, but especially in the current economy, it can rapidly disappear. Be prepared and keep marketing always!

By: Harry Kellerman

Harry Kellerman — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:47:06 +0000

I just finished it – I thought it was really good. It made a lot of sense and opened my eyes to a lot of what was going on. The end was weird, but what do you expect. If they’re giving out all of this free information they’re going to want something for it – that’s just common sense.

But I agree with what you said Kaiser here and in the newsletter – there’s nothing wrong with training, just that if you’re not careful you can get caught in one of these traps. Thanks for the site, and I agree with you – this is definitely required reading for every trainer!

By: bill moore

bill moore — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:22:15 +0000

just bought the book, let you know my opinion when I finish, I too have learned to “manage” my time = $$$, 1/2 day Friday, only 2 nights till 7pm only, 2 days finish by 1pm, always time for me.

By: Kaiser

Kaiser — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 02:56:46 +0000

Haha! Yeah Jim I know what you mean – that kind of threw me for a loop – but in general I found the content to be real good – like you know already, hardly anything good out there is going to be TOTALLY free – I mean, I’m selling stuff on this blog now too – it’s just up to us as readers and customers to make up our own minds and use the info that serves us and our purposes.

By: Jim Hart Phila coach

Jim Hart Phila coach — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 23:33:25 +0000

Hi Kaiser,
I read this book and agree with many of the points you highlighted, but was disappointed at the end when I realized it was written to promote their multi-level marketing . It’s a clever idea, but I felt “conned”.
I have been training for 15 years and go through periods of staleness. My best remedies are scheduling vacations every six weeks, I go to at least 2-3 inspirational conferences each year( great write off) and I no longer work Fridays. I am basically working part time – 35 to 40 clients a week and and still manage a comfortable income that supports my lifestyle. No amount of money can replace the incredible sense of freedom I have . After growing up in a traditional Irish Catholic home where hard work was a normal way of life I am grateful for this career that differs so much from the work-centric life of my parents.

By: Harry

Harry — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 06:56:55 +0000

I loved the input from you guys. Right now I’m waiting to make my move into starting a training business. It seems like a lot of work, but it looks like I need to be careful of letting the work get to me. Even though making $100 bucks an hour sounds amazing, you guys are right – you can’t just work all the time. That’s just gong to burn you out.

By: Kaiser

Kaiser — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 06:47:46 +0000

Rivak – whoa, didn’t hold anything back there buddy – thanks for bringing your voice to this post. And yeah that should be a lesson to a lot of trainers –

Funny how much our financial goals mirrored each other, and how we’ve ended up in similar work and living situations – my initial goal when I started getting success as an independent trainer was to buy a home, and I nearly ran myself into the ground trying to achieve it – now I live in an amazing condo too, which happens to be where I train most of my clients.

And yeah, that first thousand dollar day is unbelievable – in your mind, you almost declare that you’ll do whatever it takes to get more of them – but like Biggie said, “mo money, mo problems” -

By: Somagenesis San Diego Personal Trainer

Somagenesis San Diego Personal Trainer — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:01:12 +0000

Hello Kaiser,
Another correct masterpiece of vital information. Although, I don’t believe this would be a big problem for a newbie trainer. It is easy to get lured into the money making aspect of the industry, and that is where the root of the burn out problem lies. Example: For several years I grew very comfortable with consistently making $1000/ day doing in home personal training here in San Diego, CA. My work days were long, typically 17 hours due to long commuting times piled on top of seeing 10 clients. I found myself getting home at 10:00PM, sleeping 5 hours and repeating the process for 6 more sleep deprived days. I admit, I was starting to feel crispy early on in my career, but I wasn’t sure if it was a result of the long commutes on California highways, or if the clients I was seeing sucked the life out of me.
In time, I finally realized I had to cut back on my schedule or self destruct! The decision was difficult to make, due to my lust for $.

This is how it began: Once I started making $24K per month my lifestyle demands increased exponentially. I soon found myself closing escrow on a 1 million dollar 4000 sq ft home in coastal Carlsbad, CA, buying a new Infinity FX45 and other luxury items. I figured my income could easily support these things.

I Soon found myself a slave to my huge mortgage, property tax’s and new car payment. Funny, but I thought these luxury items would cure the lethargy I was feeling,but the high of the newness was fleeting. It soon became evident to me that these luxuries only made me prisoner to a 17 hour work day. How stupid I now feel.

Long story short, I sold the house last month, took a $225,000 loss due to a crumbling housing market here in Cali, and downsized to a 1100 sq ft condo with a much smaller mortgage. My life is now easier with this monkey off my back, I work less and delegate to the 4 other trainers who work for me. I feel much richer mentally and physically even though I slashed my salary. Money isn’t everything!

I hope trainers can learn a lesson by reading this comment. I have been in this industry since 1998, and each day is a lesson learned.