Hey Sam, thanks for the call today. As I mentioned I’m struggling with some things involving being a manager/business owner and I miss being an independent personal trainer. I need some major help with this as it seems to be an ongoing struggle for me. This stuff honestly makes me consider quitting my studio and just going back to renting space at someone else’s gym…or possibly just not having employees any more and just running the place by myself.
So I’ve never really been one to tell people what to do. I like to be friends with everybody and when I have to enforce a certain policy with an employee it is really hard for me. One of my current employees isn’t doing some random things here and there that need to be done and I feel like I need to tell them a million times to do something before they finally do it. I sat them down the other day and told how things need to be done and they got mad. It’s just frustrating because generally they do a really great job and these things aren’t a big enough reason to fire them but the “little things are important” as the saying goes. I guess I just don’t like having to be “above” people in my rank if that makes sense. I want to be equals and friends with every body and when you’re a manager that seems to be an impossibility. I am definitely a perfectionist when it comes to my job so maybe part of it is me?
So since I opened my studio I feel like I have a desk job now, which I really dont enjoy. I feel like my day is spent at the computer, making phone calls, and designing marketing pieces and other paperwork, etc. I miss training clients all day long–I really like the active aspect of being a trainer and I cant stand the fact that I feel like I have a “desk job” now. Honestly it just makes me feel sluggish and lazy and I miss being out in the gym working with people.
So anyway I keep weighing the pros and cons of everything and I dont know if I’m doing something wrong or what?? I know that if I went back to being just a trainer renting space at another person’s gym, (or if I just ran my studio by myself with no employees) realistically I would probably not make much more than $50,000-60,000 per year take home pay and it would be somewhat unstable—like if the gym I was renting could go out of business or something I’d be stuck… or if I got sick or went on vacation it costs me a lot of money, not to mention it would be harder to support a family when I get married someday. But $50,000-60,000 is a respectable income I guess–just not going to get rich which is fine with me. I’ve never been concerned with money really anyway.
On the other hand, with having my own studio, I have no doubt that a few years from now, my take home pay would probably be around $150,000 and I’d have a much more stable life and easier hours, better for my future family, etc. But would I be happy? Feeling like I’m just doing business and marketing and not being a trainer anymore isn’t really appealing to me though.
I don’t know. I just need advice or a pep talk or something. I just feel like my heart isn’t in it lately. I feel like it’s too early to quit since I just started my studio a few years ago—maybe I just haven’t given it enough of a chance but I also feel like I’m enjoying it less and less each day. Thinking about just going back to renting space at someone else’s gym or just being the only trainer in my studio with no employees to deal with seems really appealing right now but then again, the grass isn’t always greener right? I dont know…
Anyway let me know what you think of all that—and sorry for the long email :)