Mistakes Personal Training Business Owners Make
When you start your business it’s easy to get caught up doing it all. Your resources are limited, and it can be a big advantage for you to figure out how to perform all the key roles in your business.
However, as you try to grow your business it can be easy to make critical mistakes that actually keep you from growing. It makes you have to work harder, longer and adds to your frustration.
These mistakes are easy to make, and most business owners make them until they either get frustrated with their lack of results and look for a better way or have a mentor to tell them how to do things a better way.
Being Everything to Everyone
When you start out it can be good to train a lot of different people and become well rounded with your skills. The trouble is as you learn and grow as a fitness pro it’s easy to get caught up thinking you can do more for people than you should.
You try to be a nutritionist, physical therapist and trainer. This can lead to scope creep and honestly keep you from growing at the rate you should with your business. It’s less about the legality (although that’s a big concern) and more about the growth and networking opportunities you can be developing.
Instead of feeling like you need to treat pain, correct dysfunctions and be a therapist for ailing clients find a way to create a network of joint venture partners that you can refer to and help your clients get the specific help they need.
If you’re trained and certified/licensed to help these clients, go for it. If not, find a way to benefit your clients, your business and your joint ventures.
Create a network of joint venture partners that you can refer clients to and help them get the specific help they need.
You can set up these joint ventures like referral partners where you get a percentage or fee for referring new patients/clients and you do the same for them. It’s common to set these up as mutually beneficial referral networks where you promise to refer, but what if you made it more official and professional?
Create a referral partner agreement or have your attorney draw up a simple agreement that states the expectations of each partner and what the compensation will be for referrals. This can be set up so that you are exclusive referral partners and build a strong referral network.
Imagine how much influence you’d have if you connected your referral partners with each other to create a massive network of businesses that work together to help each other grow!
Find the services and items that your clients ask you for or about most frequently and create a referral network that matches your values and service expectations. You’ll create advocates for your business out of your clients and your network.
Figuring It Out On Your Own
There isn’t a business problem that hasn’t already been solved by someone. The key is making sure you’re asking the right questions and have the problem identified. It’s easy to get caught up trying to be the hero of your business and figure out solutions on your own or try to recreate the wheel.
Instead of struggling to create the solutions, spending time building the systems and testing to see if they will work why not take the faster route?
Get advice from mentors, coaches or peer groups that have already figured it out. You can save an incredible amount of time by going to the experts to figure out what works instead of going through the long, and often times frustrating, process of doing it yourself.
Every successful business person has a group of mentors and coaches that help them grow faster than they would be able to on their own. Follow in their path and build your own network of mentors, coaches and peers.
You can use your referral network we talked about earlier to create a local business mastermind group to solve problems and help each other grow your businesses.
Get advice from mentors, coaches, peer groups, or other business owners that have already figured out solutions.
Connect with other successful business owners and ask them to mentor you. Find a way to add value for them, be open to their ideas and value their time. If you do those things there are very few successful people that aren’t willing to help you out every so often.
Even a quarterly meeting with them where you can chat about your business issues and ask their advice is beneficial. And then you should join a business coaching program, like our High Performance Coaching Program, when you feel like it’s time to accelerate your business growth.
When looking for a coaching program or business coach it’s important to figure out if they have a proven process to help you grow your business, how they will help you overcome your challenges and how they will meet your needs as a business owner.
There should be a very systematic approach to helping you grow, not just meetings where you throw out some ideas or talk about what’s hurting the most right now in your business. Creating a support system for you as a business owner will help you avoid getting stuck in your business growth and help you grow faster.
Letting Your Ego Get In The Way
This ties in well to the previous mistake. Being confident is critical to your business success. Letting your ego hold you back because you’re afraid to look like a failure or scared to face the issues in your business will keep you from reaching your potential.
It’s tough to be vulnerable in your business. You’re supposed to be the leader, the one with all the answers. Growth comes from learning. You learn when you fail.
Don’t be scared of failing or looking like a failure. It’s critical that you are open and honest, especially with your mentors and coaches about your issues, obstacles and challenges. This is the only way that they can truly help you succeed.
Acting like you have all the answers and being worried that you have to make your business look like it’s a super success at all times is a guaranteed way to hit plateaus or worse…
Have your business crumble out from underneath you because you’re turning a blind eye to the issues you need to be solving. Be confident, but ask for help when you need it and don’t be afraid to face your biggest, scariest challenges. And know that it’s okay if you don’t face them alone!
Build A Strong Network
You’ll notice a common theme among these mistakes that keep personal training business owners from growing. It’s the lack of a network. If you try to grow your business all on your own you’re facing a long, frustrating and, quite possibly, impossible battle.
Taking time to build up a support network can provide you with exponential business and personal growth.
If you think it’s time to explore getting a business coach for you and want access to a peer network of successful, high performing fitness business owners, schedule a free Strategy Session to see if we are the right fit for you.
