Very encouraging post. Thanks for sharing the great tips with us.

I always look forward to reading your blog.

Rick Kaselj

Kasier, congrats on another success story!

Great tips and great to hear others are doing so well with the help of your blog and manual Kaiser… and from being confident and taking action.. go Roxie!

The first couple of things I would say before approaching a gym about subbing/teaching is having a knowledge of what your specialties are. So if you have a background in sports, martial arts, kickboxing/boxing, dance, and obvious you’re experienced in fitness it will give you a lot more leverage when starting out. Having a strong sense of your strengths will help you to “sell yourself” to your potential group ex managers. Knowing exactly where they can fit you on short notice is what they need most when it comes to a sub. So the more you know about what you can actually teach (and TEACH WELL, heck I even say teach BETTER THAN the current instructor) the better.

Next I’d say to first ask around to friends you know who already work in health clubs (anyone from trainers, to managers, and group ex instructors themselves), because having that “in” will again give you leverage. However if you know no one, I’d gather a group of clients, rent out a studio space, get a video camera, and get some footage of you teaching. You can use programs like Movie Maker, or Mac’s video editing software (I think it’s called iMovie), and put together a collage of work. In short, a demo reel. I have an example of one I put together when I first started out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4agAo2h9rrU

It was a collection of classes, and I threw in client testimonials (they were originally for my website, and they were actually just my private clients. However they were a testament to the quality I provide to those who work with me), and some random footage of me performing exercises so the potential group ex manager sees my form. I used a basic camera (although now all of my footage is shot with a commercial HD camera, the ones they have on the market are really competitively priced), and I edited it myself, put it on YouTube. I emailed it to every studio/gym I wanted to work with, and got amazing responses. This from PEOPLE WHO NEVER EVEN HEARD OF ME, and for whom I had NO referrals. Now I’m on their sub list.

It’s just about creative marketing, knowing who YOU are, and what you have to offer. It’s about identifying your niche and being the best at you can. Then the next step it just letting others out there know, particularly the ones you want to hire you ;-).

~Rickey