How To Start A Fitness Business From Home

Looking to start your own fitness business from home but have no idea where to start? We’re here to break this process down and help make your idea a reality. 

The steps we’ll cover include:

• Step 1: Get Qualified To Start A Fitness Business From Home
• Step 2: Decide On The Kind Of Fitness Business You Want To Start From Home
• Step 3: Ensure You Have Government Permission When You Start A Fitness Business From Home
• Step 4: To Start A Fitness Business From Home, Get Insured!
• Step 5: When You Start A Fitness Business From Home, Take Into Account Non-Fitness Considerations
• Step 6: Use Effective Marketing When Starting A Fitness Business From Home

But the first step in pursuing any career is ensuring you're qualified and can keep customers coming back. With our Level 4 Sports Nutrition Course, you can help people hit their fitness goals much faster.

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How To Start A Fitness Business From Home

For those wondering how to start a gym fitness business from home, we understand it can be overwhelming. However, we’ll break each step of this process down from deciding on the kind of business you want to other non-fitness considerations.

Step 1: Get Qualified To Start A Fitness Business From Home

When looking at how to start a fitness business from home, the first step is to ensure you have the right qualifications to deliver the sessions or classes you plan on carrying out. Without suitable qualifications, you won’t be licensed or able to purchase insurance.

We’ll explore the two most important qualifications for setting up a fitness business from home!

Start A Fitness Business From Home With A Personal Trainer Diploma

For those who are currently unqualified but hoping to set up a fitness business from home, you should get started with a Personal Trainer Diploma. This is the ideal first step to launch your career in the fitness industry and make money as a personal trainer, being recognised both in the UK and internationally.

The diploma is a combination of the Level 2 Fitness Instructor and the Level 3 Personal Training Qualification, allowing those on completion to not only start a fitness business from home but also have the opportunity to work in other fitness venues such as gyms or studios.

This is the perfect foundation to build your fitness career as not only is it the minimum requirement to set up a fitness business but also increases your employment opportunities to gain more industry experience.

For more information on how this qualification can benefit your future career, check out our in-depth breakdown on how to become a personal trainer.

You should check the courses are regulated by Ofqual and endorsed by CIMSPA, the professional development body for the UK’s sport and physical activity sector. This ‘stamp of approval’ gives you more credibility and clients can be assured the service they’re receiving from you is legitimate.

Additional Qualifications To Consider When Setting Up A Fitness Business From Home

By gaining the Level 3 qualification as mentioned above, this means you’ll be able to enrol onto advanced courses such as Level 4 Personal Training Courses or can combine current courses with ones to compliment the services you’re looking to offer clients.

For example, if you’re enthusiastic about exercising to music, undertaking a Level 2 Exercise To Music Course can be greatly beneficial for helping you deliver effective classes.

Similarly, you could enrol on a Level 4 Obesity Control & Weight Management and combine this with your personal training service by advertising your service as a fitness business with a focus on weight loss.

As you'll be setting up a fitness business from home, you'll want to offer your clients plenty of services that can benefit their practice. To help with this, you can take a range of CPD Courses, to boost your existing skills and experience, including:

• Kettlebells Training
• Medicine Ball Training
• Body Weight Training 

For instance, if you have a client who is looking to improve their physical strength, you can help them hit their goals by providing your personal training knowledge as well as key areas of strength & conditioning or using kettlebells.

Step 2: Decide On The Kind Of Fitness Business You Want To Start From Home

Once you’ve gained the relevant qualifications, you should consider the kind of fitness business you want to start from home. This is important for moving forward and knowing exactly who your target demographic is and how you can effectively market your fitness business.

By deciding on a particular niche of fitness, you can adjust your business plan to reflect this. While this does mean narrowing the scope of potential clients, you can target individuals you know are much more likely to try your services.

Types of niche areas of fitness you can target when you start your fitness business from home include:

• Elderly people
• Pregnant women 
• Those with disabilities

For example, WomenFIT provides prenatal and postnatal personal training services, helping women with 1-2-1 training both before and after giving birth:

To find other services in yours area such as the one above, searching something simple such as ‘personal training for pregnancy near me’ will bring up a list of results for what you’re looking for:

Settling on a specific niche such as prenatal and postnatal personal training means you can identify competitors in your area and use their success or areas they could improve to make your own fitness business better.

You can also find an average of the general prices these fitness businesses are charging and adjust your prices accordingly. Doing this means you can budget for your business and organise finances by gaining a general idea of what people in your area are willing to pay for this kind of service.

Step 3: Ensure You Have Government Permission When You Start A Fitness Business From Home

When looking to start a fitness business from home, this may not be something you’ve considered. It’s crucial you check whether you actually have the right to operate a business from your home before making any plans. 

If you own the property, permission to run any kind of business from home is subject to agreements made when you signed the mortgage. This will be on an individual basis so it’s important to check this before moving forward.

This process will differ if you live in rented accommodation. As you don’t technically own the property, you need permission from your landlord. 

A refusal is likely only to occur if:

• It’s forbidden in your lease
• It will be a nuisance to your neighbours
• The business is illegal
• You don’t actually live there

You also have to be living in the property you wish to set up your fitness business. If you use a property solely for business purposes and no longer live there at all, you’ll likely face eviction from your landlord.

If you do own the property, you’ll next need to consider whether more serious building work needs to be done for your fitness business. Unless you have a garage, outbuilding, or spare rooms in your home, it’s likely you’ll need to make some changes.

This is why it’s important to decide early on what kind of fitness business you want to start from home. Consider if you have enough room for your equipment before making any structural changes to your home.

If building work is necessary, you’ll need planning permission from your local council. You don’t need planning permission to knock down internal walls unless you live in a listed building or these are load bearing walls.

Keep in mind, the decision for planning permission can take as long as 8 weeks. This means you should plan this out months in advance before starting your fitness business from home.

You should also consider how setting up a fitness business from home will impact your neighbours, especially if living in an apartment complex. Using noisy equipment at unsociable hours or playing loud workout music may lead to noise complaints.

If you’re concerned about noise, you should consider soundproofing your rooms. However, this can be time consuming and may be a bit excessive unless you see it as absolutely necessary to avoid becoming a nuisance to your neighbours.

For more information on establishing your own gym or business from home, check out our guide on 'Can I Run a Personal Training Business From My Garage?'

Step 4: To Start A Fitness Business From Home, Get Insured!

Without insurance, you cannot open or operate a fitness business from home. You also can’t work freelance, self-employed, or even in a gym or fitness centre without personal trainer insurance as most will require proof of this before allowing you to train clients.

While there is a variety of insurance you can get as a personal trainer, it’s important the one you purchase covers you for an eventuality. However, you’ll need Public Liability insurance as a minimum.

This covers you for legal liability if you injure another person or damage third party property when coaching, playing, or instructing. Some places such as Insure4Sport combine Public Liability and Professional Indemnity.

They offer up to £10m Public Liability which covers for the following eventualities:

• Legal fees and expenses incurred in your defence
• Damages or awards made to a third party

If you’re deemed to have given someone negligent advice or claims have been made after a client has done something you suggested, professional indemnity will cover legal liability.

When looking at how to start a fitness business from home, it’s important to cover all areas to protect yourself and keep your clients safe.

• Loss of Earnings - Provides financial support if you receive an injury while carrying out the activity which you’re insured for and left unable to work.
• Sports Equipment Insurance - You will be covered if your equipment is lost, stolen, or damaged.
• Personal Accident - Provides entitlement to compensation if an accident happens while carrying out the activities for which you’re insured.

Although this may be overwhelming, it's necessary when setting up a fitness business from home and will be important for covering yourself in the unfortunate situation an accident or issue arises.

Step 5: When You Start A Fitness Business From Home, Take Into Account Non-Fitness Considerations

Aside from gaining a Level 2 Fitness Instructor and Level 3 Personal Trainer, or a Personal Trainer Diploma as a cheaper option, you should consider non-fitness related aspects for your fitness business.

While these next options aren’t necessary, they’re still very important for ensuring your fitness business from home runs smoothly:

When Setting Up A Fitness Business From Home, Complete A First Aid Course

If you plan on having clients use gym machines or lift heavy weights, you should consider completing a first aid course. This assures clients you can help them if an unfortunate situation arises, especially if training elderly or pregnant clients.

These are offered by institutions such as St John’s Ambulance or the British Red Cross. Many of these can be completed in as little as a day.

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For those looking to start a fitness business from home, these articles will be useful for making your service a success:

• Guide To Writing A Gym Business Plan
• How To Start A Fitness Class Business
• How to Start a Personal Training Business With No Money

Obtain A Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check To Start A Fitness Business From Home

When planning to work with children, young people, or those who are vulnerable, you will need a DBS Check. However, when you start a fitness business from home you’ll be self employed, making it slightly more difficult to obtain one.

The reason it can be more difficult to obtain one is because they’re typically used by employers to make recruitment decisions. This means when setting up a fitness business from home, you can only apply for a Basic DBS Check yourself.

If you need a standard or enhanced DBS Check, you must get an organisation you work to apply for it on your behalf. This could be a gym or fitness centre you work for as you build up your fitness business from home.

Invest In Security Features When Starting A Fitness Business From Home

If you invite people to train in your home, you want to ensure the safety of both yourself and your belongings. Home security cameras can be important for protecting you against any false allegations or theft. You should also invest in deadbolt protectors or motion detector lighting.

Now, we aren’t suggesting these security measures to frighten you. However, when operating a business from your home, you should take appropriate steps to reduce the chances of certain situations.

You can check out some of the best short courses for jobs that aren’t fitness related to ensure the smooth running of your home business. Many of these are hugely beneficial and can be completed at a lower cost.

While these points listed above aren’t necessarily a requirement for a successful home fitness business, they will protect you further in the long term.

Step 6: Use Effective Marketing When Starting A Fitness Business From Home

As mentioned earlier, it’s important to find your target demographic so you can engage in effective marketing when you start a gym fitness business from home (UK). This is important for attracting the kinds of clients you know are willing to stick with your service.

One of the best things about marketing a business is most resources are free or are at a reduced cost to begin with. However, you still need to put a lot of work into marketing your fitness business.

Although we have plenty of information on personal trainer marketing strategies, we’ll break some of these strategies down!

Create Social Media Pages When You Start A Fitness Business From Home

As it’s one of the easiest ways to advertise a service, most businesses have some form of social media. Before contacting you about a business, many potential clients will search for you online to check out your business.

Currently, the most popular social media channels are:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• TikTok

However, if you’re unfamiliar with social media, it’s best to stick with Facebook and Instagram for now. While we have an article on personal trainer social media, we’ll explore how to effectively utilise your social media pages.

A great way to gain the confidence of potential clients is by posting success stories on your social media page to prove the effectiveness of your fitness business.

For example, if we look at this post from The PT Studio below, you can see they have provided evidence for how well their training programmes can help clients achieve their goals:

Not only can you highlights success stories to generate interest but you can also use your social media pages to run competitions, such as this one by Rebecca McCallion:

Competitions can be simple yet effective ways to gain more potential clients. Adding requirements to enter the competition such as ‘tag a friend’ or ‘share to your story’ are easy ways to expand the reach of people who will see your page.

When Setting Up A Fitness Business From Home, Develop A Website 

If you’re wondering how to start a fitness business from home and effectively market it, you need a strong website to do this. A professional website gives you a platform to really sell yourself and display all the relevant information for people to enquire about your service.

To make your website stand out, some areas to consider include:

• Calls to action (CTA) - An image or line or text prompting website visitors to take a particular action which can be effective for generating leads and enquiries. This can be something simple such as ‘Click here to enquire’.
• High quality images - Adding clear, relevant images is important for making content look engaging and professional. Similar to posting social media success stories, you can break up text with relevant images highlighting how effective your service is.
• SEO content - This stands for Search Engine Optimisation and is the process of creating content that increases traffic to your website. Effective SEO can help your website rank at the top of the Google search results which brings relevant users to your website.
• About page - This is where you can elaborate on your brand and what you’re about. You can include information about your own fitness journey and qualifications, making you more relatable and credible for potential clients.

For example, the About section on the website of Vicki Hill provides information on her background, what led to her business, and what her aim is:

This helps you gain the trust of potential clients, allowing you to better relate to your target demographic as they will see you as someone who understands their own experiences. 

Use Paid Ads On Google For Your Home Fitness Business

While the previous marketing strategies are free, this next one could be even more beneficial if your budget allows. The aim of these paid ads is to get your brand in front of a specific audience.

Although there are many types of ads, the most popular form is Google Ads which works by paying Google to display your website higher up the results page. The more you pay, the higher up your website will be placed on Google.

These ads work by Pay Per Click (PPC), meaning you only pay for the advert once someone actually clicks on the advert and is directed to your website. If you see on the Google search page a result has ‘Ad’ or ‘Sponsored’ beside it, this means a company has paid them to rank their website higher.

For example, if you search ‘fitness business near me’, the results will be a range of business that have paid Google to put their results at the top:

The more targeted the ads are, the more likely these clicks will turn into paying clients.

Advertise Your Home Fitness Business With Printed Marketing Materials

Even in this digital age, printed marketing materials can still be an effective way to market your gym fitness business from home. Although you may see them as outdated, they can be great for further establishing brand awareness and reaching a wider audience.

Printed materials for your business may include:

• Posters
• Leaflets
• Business cards
• Flyers 

These should be clear and eye-catching, only with necessary information that can be read at a glance. The colour scheme should match the branding for the rest of your fitness business as this consistency will make it more professional.

For example, as we at OriGym have this colour scheme on our website, any printed materials will be consistent with this as well:

The main pieces of information you should include on your business cards or flyers are:

• Logo 
• Name 
• Contact details

Printed materials should then be distributed in places you know will spark the interest of potential clients, such as:

• Gyms
• Leisure centres 
• Community centres
• GP offices
• Health food shops

For example, if you specialise in prenatal and postnatal training, you could target this demographic by having your materials in places like cafes, mother & baby shops, or children’s play centres.

If you’re creative, you can create these marketing materials yourself using free programmes such as Canva. However, you can outsource tasks such as this by hiring a graphic designer to create them for you.

Email Marketing Can Be Useful When You Start A Fitness Business From Home

Email marketing involves capturing people’s contact details and building an email list then sending targeted marketing emails to those individuals. These could be general emails about your service or advertising promotions you’re offering.

One of the best ways to obtain emails is by offering something in exchange for free. Providing something of value or an offer for an email address such as a free workout plan means potential clients will be more likely to provide you with it.

For example, OriGym provides offers such as this one below where people can leave their email address by downloading a course prospectus and receive a course discount:

This information can then be added to a list of emails and results in a potential customer. You can use tools such as MailChimp to do your email marketing. While you can send emails as often as you choose, avoid sending too many at once as clients may consider this spam.

Before You Go!

By following our steps about how to start a fitness business from home, you’ll be on your way to being your own boss and providing services you’re passionate about.

After gaining a Personal Trainer Diploma, it’s important to continue expanding your services to attract as many clients as possible and you can get started with our Level 4 Sports Nutrition Course.

Download our course prospectus to find out more about our additional qualifications.