Starting my own gig, what to charge? ? packages?

by Louise DiSilvio
(Seattle)

I have been training at Fitness Together for 2.5 years and ready to start my own business. I am in Seattle. I will be training out of my home furnished basement with a full bathroom for showering etc.

I currently have an exercise bike, free weights, bosu, steps, punching bag, bench press, Medicine balls, Kettle bells, TRX, pullup bar, bands and tubing,... will hopefully get an elliptical or treadmill soon.

I have an NPTI certificate/ 2009.

Fitness Together charges $80 for an individual session with package deals 12sessions/$75/per, 24sessions/$70/per, 36sessions/65/per, 48/$60/per, 72/$55/per, 144/$50/per, and 200/$45/per...

I like the simplicity of it. I'm thinking maybe I could charge $65 for individual, 12/$60/per, 24/$55/per, 36/$50/per, 48/$45/per, 144/$40/per.

My rational is that I am a great trainer with experience, but I don't have quite as much equipment (no cable machine, Smith Press,no Treadmill or elliptical, and again its out of my house)so the reduction seems reasonable but not too cheap...

Any thoughts on my rates and or selling training in packages?
I'm not sure what charge for couples training..

Moving from Europe to SF and have no idea about prices at all... help!

Hi everyone,
I am a personal trainer, also do studio classes (aerobics, body shaping, fitness for pregnant ladies, core etc.), moving to San Francisco from Europe (excuse my English also...).

I have 2 years experience, these are my certifications:
aerobic dance, aerobic step, zumba & aqua zumba, body toning, personal training, pregnanat and after birth training.

I have absolutely no idea how much it is accepted to charge for an indoor personal training at someones' house, how much should a gym pay me for a studio class, how much should I charge for an outdoor training in the park and all that.

Also the American system of yearly salaries is new to me (I am use to charge per hour. 1 hour of personal training cost X, 1 hour of studio class for a group cost Y etc.).

If someone can give me any info - that will be great!
Thank a lot
T.

Package model vs. membership model

by Fitness Grace
(Vancouver, BC, Canada)

Anybody having an experience with using membership model? I have been using package model since I started my business. Basically I charge less hourly rate if clients sign up bigger package. The drawback is that there is no consistent monthly income since clients can cancel, out of town, etc. They may also use excuse to cancel sessions.

So I am contemplating the strategy in using a membership model so I would charge a monthly fee to my clients. Of course, for me, it would be guaranteed income, but what would entice my clients to this model? Any insights would be very much appreciated.

Hourly Rates Tell You Very Little

by Barbara Saunders
(San Francisco, CA, USA)

In order to make a six-figure salary on training sessions alone at a $50 per hour rate, a person would have to be delivering forty client appointments per week, 50 weeks per year. Extremely unlikely, and the full work week would be 60-80 hours. Even a $50K salary on nothing but training sessions would be a hard life because you've got to book the appointments.

To make personal training work for the long-term, as anything other than a side business or a job for a non-breadwinner, you must either work for yourself, niche and sell more than just training services (as the pregnancy trainer in these comments mentions,) or have a salaried job that doesn't pay per session (as in a corporate fitness job, as another commenter mentions.)

Earn more with a specialty certification and the velvet rope technique

by Monica Neave
(Tucson AZ)

My rate when I started was $60 an hour and the gym where I worked paid me 60% of that. At a private studio a few years later my rate was $20 per hour. I couldn't support my son and me so had to get 2 more jobs to get by.

After that studio went out of business I got a corrective exercise certification, went independent and started charging $65-$75 an hour and $80 an hour for home visits. The studio where I train most of my clients charges $10 an hour rent per client hour worked on the honor system (not common but you can negotiate this).

Most trainers work too hard and charge too little. You can charge a lot more you just have to know how to market your services to a different type of client. It's called Velvet Rope. I'm writing an ebook on how to do this the right way.

Great SBI site, BTW!