Riding The Storm

Let’s be honest for a minute being in business right now is tough, especially a business which relies on people parting with their disposable income when every news bulletin you see or read is telling them that they don’t have any. Add the fact that more and more people are losing their jobs and using that opportunity to pursue a career in personal training the competition is increasing almost daily. So you must be mad to be trying to run a business in the current climate right? But I believe there are a few things you can do to change your way of thinking and put yourself in the strongest position possible.

If you are unfortunate enough to have recently lost your job then the chances are that you were relying on that one employer for a salary which means that all of your financial eggs were very firmly in one basket. When you are self employed however you will always have multiple income streams and the likely hood of losing your whole basket of eggs at the same time is very slim. Of course clients will always move on and it can hurt at the time but replacing one client at a time is a lot less stressful then replacing your whole income!

Another consideration is that many of the new trainers starting up alone are doing so out of desperation and while the need to provide for a family can be the most powerful motivator of all how many of these guys will continue in business once the economy begins to pick up along with the employment market?

Remember what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, the constant need to provide better value for your clients as well as stay in business means that you have to evolve or die and when things pick up those of us who survive will be left with far stronger businesses as a result of it.

Finally don’t be scared to take a step back if you have to, one of the great things about our industry is the flexibility that it offers so, even if you have to take some radical steps to protect your income you can still run a perfectly successful business on a part time basis which allows you to continue doing what you love and keeping your business alive while the current storm passes.

So in conclusion are things tough? Well of course they are but does that mean that you can’t run a successful business? In my opinion no it doesn’t, you may have to adapt, evolve and review how you are doing things but hey, if the human race wasn’t capable of doing that we would still be living in caves right.

My top tips are:

1. Get good advice from people you trust.
2. Believe in yourself.
3. Be great at what you do.
4. Try and step out of your own world and review your business from the outside.
5. You know your business and what is right for you so don’t be afraid to go for it!