How To Become A Self-Employed Personal Trainer

After you’ve secured the right qualifications and acquired some experience in the industry, it’s natural to wonder how to become a self-employed personal trainer. In this article, we’ll guide you through several steps so that you can do just that, covering: 

• Step 1 - Secure The Right Qualifications To Be A Self-Employed PT
• Step 2 - Get Experience In A Gym Or Studio To Prepare For Life As A Self-Employed PT
• Step 3 - Decide On What You'll Offer As A Self-Employed PT
• Step 4 - Develop Pricing Packages For Your Business
• Step 5 - Tell Existing Clients That You're Going Self-Employed
• Step 6 - Create A Website And Social Media Pages
• Step 7 - Use These Marketing Techniques to Attract New Clients
• What’s The Salary Of A Self-Employed Personal Trainer?

But first, did you know that you can increase your client base as a self-employed PT by enrolling on OriGym’s Personal Trainer Diploma? Learn about the range of courses we provide by downloading our latest course prospectus.

Step 1 - Secure The Right Qualifications To Be A Self-Employed PT

If you're researching how to become a self-employed personal trainer in the UK as somebody who isn't yet qualified and working as a PT, here are the qualifications you’ll need to legally work as a personal trainer.

A Level 3 Personal Trainer Qualification Is Essential To Work As A Self-Employed PT

To achieve your Level 3 Personal Trainer qualification, you'll first need to have completed a Level 2 Fitness Instructor qualification. This is a pre-requisite to enrol on the Level 3 course, as well as being the minimum entry requirement to work in a gym and gain experience. 

If you've yet to complete either of these qualifications, you can enrol on the Level 3 Personal Trainer Diploma, which combines the two necessary qualifications for a reduced price.

This is the bare minimum qualification you’ll need to become a personal trainer, and without it, you won’t be able to secure the experience you need, nor will you have the right skill set to provide impactful sessions for your clients.

The course covers a huge range of key information you’ll need to design and deliver sessions, alongside developing your understanding of anatomy, physiology and nutrition.

Before enrolling on a qualification it’s important to compare personal training courses. To help you make an informed decision, you should look for a provider that:

• Is CIMSPA endorsed & Ofqual regulated 
• Provides tutor support
• Offers free resits

The right personal training qualification will also improve your employability, as this qualification is highly sought after by future employers when employing new staff.

It’s also a requirement for securing insurance, as providers will recognise your qualification is accredited by professional bodies, and without it, you simply won’t have the coverage you need.

Completing A Level 4 Qualification Will Maximise Your Earning Potential As A Self-Employed PT

Once you’ve secured your personal training qualification, you can complete an advanced Level 4 course to develop specialist knowledge and give yourself a competitive edge.

There is a wide range of specialist courses you can complete, including: 

• Diabetes and Weight Management
• Lower Back Pain Management
• Obesity and Weight Management
• Nutrition for Sport and Exercise

OriGym’s nutrition course is often a great choice for a self-employed PT. You'll learn how to create specialist nutritionist plans and understand the legislation behind nutrition information.

Not only will you be providing a more comprehensive service to your clients, but you're also able to charge an additional premium. 

Clients are much more willing to pay that bit extra if you're able to offer them services that combine well, and with a nutrition course, you can supplement their workout programmes with a tailored diet plan.

Take Phil Davis as a great example. He offers custom-built dietary plans that synergise with the workout programmes he makes.

This also means he's able to charge an additional £20 on top of his usual personal training rate, as well as offer clients two important services from one source.

People often pay for convenience, and by using a similar model to Phil, you're able to earn more money as a personal trainer, and immediately make your business a more attractive option.

Step 2 - Get Experience In A Gym Or Studio To Prepare For Life As A Self-Employed PT

When researching how to become a self-employed PT, it’s important to make sure you gain as much personal trainer work experience as possible from a gym or studio.

The experience you gain will be ideal, plus you'll be able to apply the skills you've learned from your course in a more practical environment.

Apply For A Personal Trainer Position At A Gym To Gain Experience

Taking on a position in a gym offers you hugely valuable experience in a fitness environment, and is the ideal first step towards becoming a self-employed personal trainer.

We’d advise working in a gym or freelance personal training position for at least 3 years before you begin your journey towards self-employment.

There are a few, more obvious reasons for this:

• You’ll build up professional industry contacts and connections
• It provides a stable income which you can use to start building your business
• You can establish a reputation as a knowledgeable fitness professional
• You’re able to learn more about the wider industry and developments in fitness

However, the main reason you should get this experience before you become a self-employed personal trainer is that you’ll have clients you can transfer over to your new business.

This is crucial. While there are numerous methods for getting new personal training clients, you’re at an immediate advantage with those you’ve already been training.

They’re already accustomed to your style of training, plus you’ve already got them scheduled for a specific time, and you know their goals, strengths and weaknesses.

Plus, having those clients ready to go as soon as you get started with your new business means you can guarantee a stable income from the get-go. We'll discuss more about how you can migrate these clients across later in this article.

To find a personal training job, you can visit different job sites to find roles that are most relevant for you. 

Using popular sites like Indeed is a great place to start. We sourced this example from U Fit Studio, based in Leicester: 

When you apply for a position, you need to make sure you hold the relevant qualifications and experience listed in the job description, alongside the ability to carry out whatever is being asked.

Ultimately, jobs like this one offer the ideal stepping stone to starting your career as a self-employed personal trainer.

Step 3 - Decide What You'll Offer As A Self-Employed PT

Your next step in becoming a self-employed PT is to decide on what you'll offer, and how you'll offer it to your clients.

With personal training, there are a few different options for how you can operate, each with its advantages and drawbacks. You could decide to:

• Train clients in person - This is often the most popular option for self-employed personal trainers, as it’s what they’re used to from their experience, and it works best for their existing clients. We’ll use this in our example.
• Train clients online - This offers more flexibility in terms of how and when you train, but there's often much more competition. Check out our guide to becoming an online PT here.
• Visit clients in their home/workplace - Offers a more diverse schedule, but means more travelling and equipment costs. Our guide to mobile personal training offers more information.

Each of these methods works well for self-employed personal trainers, but once you've set your sights on how you're going to train your clients, you'll need to get yourself set up to do so.

For this, you'll need to consider a few things.

Deciding On The Services You'll Provide As A Self-Employed Personal Trainer

This is vital and informs all of the decisions you make for your business. You’ll need to finalise what you plan to offer, and the skills and qualifications you’ll need to do that.

Here are a few key questions you can ask yourself to ensure you’re attracting the right kind of clients for the business you want to run

• What kind of training do you enjoy delivering? - The area you specialise in should be something you’re passionate about, or that you’ve got significant experience in.
• What experience do you have? - As you’ll have already gained experience in a gym environment, this should factor into the kind of training you ultimately decide to offer your clients.
• What clients are you bringing across? - If you’re bringing across clients who’ve become accustomed to custom client diet plans, or a specific kind of training, this should be something you continue to offer.

For instance, if you’re experienced in designing training programmes that help clients with their weight loss or body composition goals, this might be something you decide to offer as part of your new personal training business.

This can then inform how you take the next step in planning, and what you look for in your competition.

Researching Your Competitors For Your PT Business

Now that you’ve decided on what to offer, your next step should be to conduct personal training market research, and discover who operates in your area, as well as what they’re already offering clients.

Essentially, this means using resources like GoogleMyBusiness or social media sites to see who else works as a trainer in your area. 

For instance, if we were looking to start our own personal training business in Wigan, we’d be able to see who operates in the area and use that information to plan our strategies.

Understanding who your competitors are, and how what they offer aligns with your new business, ensures you’re well-informed about what you need to do next.

You can also browse their websites to gain a clearer understanding of what they offer, as well as how they’ve been received by clients.

From there, you can seek to improve upon what your competitors offer or occupy a gap in the market.

For instance, if someone in your area only offers personal training, you might choose to provide nutritional advice and guidance alongside your training programmes.

Finding A Place To Train Your Personal Training Clients As A Self-Employed PT

Now that you understand what you want to offer, and who you’ll be up against on that front, you should find a space to train your clients in.

Many trainers often choose to rent a space, and this represents a great choice if you’re just getting started as a self-employed personal trainer.

Spaces are available through commercial sites like Rightmove, but you could also choose to ask those whom you’ve previously worked alongside for recommendations.

For instance, we sourced this small fitness space in Warrington that offers an ideal starting point for a self-employed PT with a tight budget.

Alternatively, if you already have the space available (a converted garage or outbuilding, for example), you’d be able to use that, too.

Organising The Legalities For Your PT Business

Without the right legal considerations, your business simply won’t get off the ground. These are a crucial part of beginning your own business and represent a key consideration for any self-employed personal trainer.

You should first register your business through the Government’s website. This not only makes you appear more credible to your clients, but you’re also able to hire employees as your business grows.

Plus, with a registered company, you’re entitled to specific personal trainer tax exemptions, which can provide a huge financial boost.

Next, you’ll need to secure the right insurance for your personal training business. Here’s a quick rundown of the different coverages you’ll need:

• Professional Indemnity Insurance
• Public Liability Insurance
• Personal Accident Insurance
• Equipment Insurance

Companies like Insure4Sport offer comprehensive packages that include all the relevant protection for a self-employed personal trainer. Here’s a quick example quote we put together, which costs just £72.49 a month:

Finally, we’d advise you to consider employing an accountant to organise your finances and ensure that you’re paying the correct amount of tax and National Insurance.

While this is something you can do yourself, the cost of an accountant is more than made up for by the time you save, it ensures you’re always on top of your tax returns when the 31st of January rolls around.

Companies like TaxScouts cover everything in a simple, all-in-one service, and can essentially ensure your business continues to thrive.

Once you've addressed these, it's time to think about what's often at the forefront of any business owner's mind - money.

Step 4 - Develop Pricing Packages For Your Personal Trainer Business

As a self-employed personal trainer, we would strongly advise you to have tiered pricing packages for your PT services. 

This allows you to attract more customers to your personal training business as you’re able to offer them different packages that reflect their personal and financial needs.

These packages provide clear information on the services customers will receive when they take you on as a personal trainer.

A tiered price structure will also benefit your business, in that it guarantees a regular income as clients will be paying you monthly via direct debit, plus it removes the hassle of having to resell later down the line.

With packages, it’s important to make sure you’ve created a personal training pricing presentation that details what customers will be receiving as part of their monthly subscription with you.

Check out our simple yet effective example below.

This table is effective because it clearly states how many sessions a customer would receive each week for every monthly instalment they pay for your services. 

The prices are also designed to make each session cheaper, the more sessions you commit to each week.

If you’re unsure how to price your packages, we’d advise doing effective market research into your personal training niche, and discovering what your competitors are charging. 

For example, if you’re looking to start your personal training business up in Aberdeen, you could learn how to price your packages based on what Personal Training Aberdeen provide their clients:

If you calculate the off-peak price above, you can see that this equates to £28 per session for potential clients looking to purchase this service.

There are a couple of stipulations to this package, which include clients committing to a minimum of 3 months of training, as well as having days and times set by their trainer following a consultation.

So these might be features you may wish to incorporate into your package, to make sure you experience no scheduling conflicts and create financial stability for yourself.

In your package, you may also want to provide further detail as to what the packages could offer potential customers.

This will increase the chances of them purchasing one of these packages because they will have a greater understanding of what they entail.

A great example of this can be found through Dean Clark Fitness, which details what their packages contain alongside the different number of sessions in each one:

Including guaranteed services, regardless of the monthly packages, will help your clients understand what they’re receiving for their investment in you.

This will eliminate any confusion and reduce the chances of complaints being lodged against you.

Step 5 - Tell Existing Clients That You're Starting Your Own Business

Before starting as a self-employed personal trainer, if you have any clients, you’ll need to notify them of any changes that might affect their training with you. 

If you’re under contract at a private or commercial gym or studio, you'll need to inform your client that you will be going independent, and won’t be able to train them at the gym any longer.

As their trainer, you'll likely have built up a good rapport with your clients, and you might find that many of them already want to migrate across to your new business.

However, that won't always be the case, and some clients may need a nudge in the right direction before they decide to join you. You can make your new personal training business attractive with a few simple tips:

• Discounted rates for existing clients - This saving (even something as small as 10%) is a sign of goodwill and 
• Additional services (diet plans, nutritional advice or online training) as standard
• First week/group of sessions for free
• Branded merchandise

We'd recommend labelling these clients as an ''Early Adopter'' or something similar, which helps create a sense of exclusivity and entices your clients to move across.

Alongside direct communication, you can inform your clients of the change to their services using the following forms of communication: 

• Text message
• Email
• Direct messages on social media

Ultimately, this should be your first port of call when starting your PT business, as you've already got a good understanding of what these clients want, as well as their goals and training style.

Step 6 - Create A PT Website And Social Media Pages

Starting as a self-employed personal trainer, you’ll want to make sure you have active social media accounts for your personal training, and a website to help you promote your services.

Owning A Website Can Help Promote Your PT Business To A Wider Audience

There are many benefits your personal trainer business can experience when it has a website. You’ll streamline specific aspects of your business, plus:

• People can learn about your business at any time of the day which can later be converted into sales
• It will allow you to reach new markets should you decide to expand the range of services you offer
• A website enables you to advertise and optimise SEO performance, attracting traffic to your website.

Now that you understand the benefits that building a PT website can bring you to business, you will need to use a website builder to build the perfect site for you. These include: 

• Squarespace
• Wix
• WordPress

Let’s take a look at one of these sites and see what they can offer you. We’d recommend using Squarespace. It’s a simple, yet robust website builder for building your personal trainer website:

Squarespace also has user-friendly features, such as: 

• Easy set-up with customisable templates
• Drag and drop features which mean you don’t have to rely on code to edit your site
• It’s also e-commerce friendly, allowing future clients to purchase packages through the site

You’re also available to view the website templates available based on the type of website you’re looking to build, for example, here are some customisable templates for someone looking to build a personal trainer website to help grow their business: 

Once you’ve designed your website, you also have the option to choose from several payment plans to help you run yearly or monthly: 

You can also purchase your website domain through Squarespace to secure your preferred address for £16 per year: 

Liv-Fit training is a great example of how you could design your website. They list the tabs you can view at the top of their website but also have an introductory video on their homepage. This makes them more personable and provides an insight into their personality: 

So when you’re designing your website, make it as accessible as possible to allow customers to find the information they require with ease.

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If you’ve enjoyed this article, why not learn more about personal training by reading: 

• How To Become A Master Personal Trainer
• How to Be a Successful Personal Trainer
• How To Stand Out As A Personal Trainer

Social Media Allows You To Communicate Directly With Clients As A Self-Employed PT

Alongside developing your professional website, you’ll have ideas to set up your social media accounts to promote your business.

A social media account for your personal training business carries many benefits. Having an active Facebook presence, for instance:

• Allows you to communicate directly with users
• Features tools to test new brands and adverts
• Allows you to use Facebook Insight’s marketing tools

Your first step to making a Facebook Business account is to follow the steps outlined on Facebook’s help page:

Once you have set up your page, you can visit other personal trainer accounts by searching for ‘personal trainer’ in the search bar on Facebook.

This will give you an indication as to what you should feature on your page, including: 

• Profile picture
• Cover photo
• Bio

If you visit Liverpool Personal Trainer on Facebook, for instance, you get an indication of what you should be including in each of these areas:

As you can see from the snapshot above, you can see that their profile picture is of the trainer, making them more personable and approachable. 

Their cover photo includes details about their business and offers available on their website. 

They also have their full name in their bio and their position within the business, so you know who to refer to when you contact them.

These could be features to include on your Facebook account when you start finalising its design.

Having An Instagram Account Helps Promote Your PT Brand With Visuals

After creating your Facebook account, you’ll also want to attract clients by creating an Instagram business account. Similar to Facebook, Instagram carries many benefits, including: 

• Understand what services your followers like based on their likes
• Establish a rapport with your followers
• Boost sales through advertisements

Once you’ve created your Instagram account, simply follow the steps listed on Instagram’s help page to set up an account:

Once you’ve created your account, you can also visit different PT Instagram accounts to get an understanding of how to design your own. 

For example, Claudia Sanjurgo's Instagram business account gives you an indication of how to market yourself as a PT specialising in women’s health:

As you can see from Claudia’s page, she indicates in her bio the business that she owns and links out to it on her page, whilst also stating she specialises in training women only.

She also saves stories to give you easy access to her previous posts, which demonstrate how her business has been operating. 

Finally, she also lists offers and client transformations in her posts to attract new clients and the results she can get as a personal trainer. 

You can include similar features on your Instagram page to attract new followers to your business and convert them into clients.

Step 7 - Use These Marketing Techniques To Attract New Clients

When you’re starting as a self-employed personal trainer, you will need to have different personal trainer marketing strategies to attract clients.

We’ll explore 3 unique strategies designed to help you bring in a cost-effective way. These are:

• Facebook Ads
• Google My Business and Google Ads
• Offering a limited-time joiner’s discount

Let’s explore these areas in further detail.

#1 - Use Facebook Ads To Create Targeted Ads For Your PT Business

Facebook Ads Manager is a great tool to allow you to run adverts across its Facebook and Instagram platforms because it allows you to: 

• Create custom adverts
• Schedule when they will run 
• Analyse data to determine if your marketing campaign was a success

Before designing your adverts, it’s important to conduct thorough research to improve their chances of success. This can be done by:

• Discover who your target market is: If you’re looking to specialise in pre and postnatal fitness, it’s important to know that the average age women have children in the UK is 30 years old. 
• Understand where to geo-target your adverts: If you’re looking to be a successful personal trainer in Liverpool, you may want to target ads towards people living in the Merseyside area.
• The age range and gender of your future clients: If you’re looking to assist elderly people with their fitness, you’ll need to know that they are aged 65 for men and women. 

You can use this information with the Facebook Ad Management Tool after you’ve clicked on the ‘Create’ button.

Choosing a campaign objective is the next step after creating your advert. By doing this, Facebook will be able to understand both your ad's goals and the action you want people to take after viewing it.

There are different campaign objectives you can choose from, which include:

• Brand Awareness - Not necessarily resulting in engagement or click-throughs, but allowing people to become aware of your brand.
• Reach - Depending on your target audience, your ads will be shown to as many people as possible, and you will be able to choose the time of day and frequency at which they are shown. 
• Traffic - This can help direct people to a designated URL, after viewing your Facebook ad. You will have a greater chance of selling packages from your landing page if more visitors visit your preferred URL.
• Conversion - This is designed to promote sales and lead generation for your personal training services, and is often the most effective option for personal trainers.

Since you’re trying to secure clients for your business, you may wish to select ‘Conversion Objective’ because it enables you to:

Find people likely to purchase your goods or services. For example, if you want to reach people most likely to make a purchase, such as through an e-commerce site, you can use the sales objective. You can also optimise for other actions, such as adding an item to their basket.

Once you’ve selected an objective, you will then have different methods to present your advert, including:

• Ads in Explore: promote your ads to audiences outside your target market.
• Carousel Ads: Use several videos and images, allowing viewers to swipe through them to learn more about what you offer.
• Photo Ads: Use images or a canvas to describe your services
• Stories Ads: Use this feature to create immersive full-screen ads specifically for Instagram Stories users.
• Video Ads: Videos can be up to 60 seconds long and promote your services.

Choosing your preferred method of delivering your advertisement is essential as, if you fail to do so, default methods will be used.

If you’re curious or seeking inspiration on how adverts appear on Facebook, you can find ‘Sponsored’ ads on the platform. 

Adam Hayley - Online Trainer Education is a great example of how a video advert for you could look. 

In their video below, they discuss how you can learn how to increase the number of online clients through their training program:

This advert provides you with a taste of what you can learn through their educational services but also allows you to learn more by visiting their website by clicking on the ‘Learn More’ on their website.

#2 - Use Google My Business & Google Ads To Maximise Exposure For Your PT Business

To improve your chances of success as a personal trainer, you will need to market yourself effectively on Google. 

One of the first steps you can take to secure this is to create a Google My Business Page for your personal training business. This page carries many benefits to your business, including: 

• Allowing you to appear on Google Maps, making you accessible to future clients
• Allowing clients to review your business, which can help you attract more customers also improve your services
• Helps provide you with insights into the views you’ve received, the engagement your posts are receiving, along who your demographics are

G42 Studios in Liverpool provides a perfect example of how your Google My Business Page can appear on Google’s search results:

In their search results we can see:

• Pictures of their facilities
• Their location on Google Maps
• Their address and opening hours
• Contact details

There are four steps you need to complete to register your own business on Google, these include:

1. Create a profile on Google My Business - Using your current email and password credentials
2. Enter Your Business Details - Your business name must not include any keywords that will improve your search rankings, including the location of your business
3. Provide location information - Including the address of your local business. It’s important to note that you can’t claim a physical address already registered on Google.
4. Verify your business - You’ll receive a code to your registered home address to verify your details. This can take up to 14 days to be delivered.

Once you’ve verified your business address you’ll be able to amend the details of your business, working hours and additional photos.

Google Ads Can Help Optimise Your Marketing Success As A PT

Google is a widely used search engine, performing around 3.5 billion searches every day.

The popularity of this platform gives you the best opportunity to run successful ad campaigns. There are many benefits to this, including:

• Target Adverts - Using keywords, geo-locations and the ability to schedule the frequency for the days and times you want your ads to appear. 
• Manage Costs - There are no set rates to manage your ad costs, you can finance them depending on the budget you have. 
• Campaign Management - Managing and editing your campaigns offline, along with the ability to edit your adverts to optimise their performance. 

To set up a Google ad campaign for your PT business, you need to log into your Google Ads account and complete the following steps: 

• Click on the ‘+’ sign highlighted in the blue circle under the ‘Campaigns’ tab.
• Following this, you need to select a ‘New Campaign’ and the advertising objective for your campaign to help generate sales.
• You’ll also need to decide what the conversion goal should be, for example, taking users to the packages page on your website to purchase your services.
• You’ll also have the option to add further conversion goals, should you require them.
• Following this, you’ll be required to select a ‘Campaign Type’ to designate where people will view your ads.
• Depending on the goals you wish the ad to achieve, you’ll also be given campaign types that reflect them.
• Alternatively, you’ll also be given the option to add subtypes to your campaign should you require them, including:
• Adverts to run on YouTube
• Adverts to appear on websites
• Text ads to appear on websites

For example, if you wanted text ads to appear on search results for anyone searching for ‘Liverpool Personal Trainer’, this is how they will appear on Google’s search results:

These adverts appeared on the 1st page of Google results, along with a brief description of the business, making them more likely to receive clicks from users seeking similar services. 

If you want your ad campaign to rank highly on Google, you would need to bid for the keywords associated with the services you are trying to sell for them to perform well.

#3 Use A Limited Time Joiner’s Discount To Attract Clients To Your PT Business

Alongside setting up your social media and Google accounts, you’ll also want to attract new clients by offering a limited joiner’s discount. 

A limited joiner’s discount has many benefits for your business, including: 

• Increased sales
• Boost brand awareness
• Gives you a competitive edge
• Helps bring in those initial first few clients

The customer will also benefit from this limited joiner’s discount because they will be saving money compared to purchasing one of your packages at the normal rate.

To make this joiner’s discount appealing you may want to indicate how much discount they’ll be receiving

You will also want to indicate who the discount is for - people who are new to fitness and your services - and clearly outline who you’re aiming your services towards. 

It will also be beneficial for you to indicate when the offer will run, preferably starting at the beginning of the month and running until the end of the month.

Here’s an example of how an advert could look for you: 

In this example, you can see we have also included our company website for people to learn more about these services.

You could include any website address or social media account links in this section to generate traffic to your preferred addresses.

What’s The Salary Of A Self-Employed Personal Trainer?

Once you’ve launched your website and social media accounts, you may wonder how much you could earn as a personal trainer.

Unfortunately, a self-employed personal trainer’s salary can vary dramatically, particularly as it’s influenced by a wide range of factors, including:

• How many clients have the trainer has
• How many hours does the trainer work
• Any rental fees they need to cover as part of their expenses

According to data held by Indeed, the average salary of a personal trainer in the United Kingdom is around £28,950:

However, while this average salary is impressive, there’s technically no limit to what you can earn as a PT. Many successful trainers go on to earn more than £60,000 a year.

Alongside your qualifications and experience, it’s important to remember that your location will also influence your earning potential, with personal trainers situated in London having the potential to earn more than other trainers who live outside this area.

Ultimately, once you’ve established yourself as a self-employed personal trainer, you’re able to build your business from the ground up and charge what you feel is a fair representation of what you can offer clients.

Before You Go!

After reading this article, we hope you feel confident that you understand how to become a self-employed personal trainer in the UK.

Remember, with OriGym’s Personal Trainer Diploma, you can develop your expertise and qualify in as little as 4 weeks! You can learn about the rest of our courses with our free course prospectus.