business plan for a personal trainer example

Personal Training Business Plans

Create a successful fitness venture with a Personal Training Business Plan. Strategize growth, attract clients, and achieve your goals in the industry.

By Joshua Napilay on Jul 15, 2024.

Fact Checked by Ericka Pingol.

What is a Personal Training Business Plan?

A Personal Training Business Plan is a comprehensive document outlining the strategies, goals, and operational details of establishing and running a successful personal training business. This plan serves as a roadmap for individuals looking to enter the fitness industry as entrepreneurs. It outlines their approach to attracting clients, delivering effective training programs, managing finances, and achieving long-term growth.

A well-structured business plan typically includes several key components:

• Executive Summary: A concise overview of the business idea, its mission, and the main objectives of the personal training business.
• Business Description: A detailed explanation of the services offered, target clientele, and the unique value proposition of the personal training business in the competitive fitness market.
• Market Analysis: An examination of the local fitness industry, target market demographics, and competition, along with potential opportunities and challenges.
• Marketing and Sales Strategies: A plan to attract and retain clients, including branding, pricing, advertising, and social media strategies.
• Service Offerings: A description of the types of training programs offered, whether it's one-on-one coaching, group classes, online training, or a combination.
• Operational Plan: Details about the day-to-day operations, including scheduling, location, equipment, and staffing needs.
• Financial Projections: A projection of revenue and expenses, including start-up costs, ongoing expenses, and potential income, over a specified period (often three to five years).
• Risk Assessment: Identify potential risks and challenges the business might face, along with contingency plans to mitigate these risks.
• Long-Term Vision : An outline of the business's long-term goals, expansion plans, and strategies for sustained growth.

Creating a is essential for various reasons. It helps entrepreneurs clarify their business concept, secure funding from investors or lenders, and maintain focus on their objectives. Additionally, it offers a structured approach to navigating challenges and adapting to changes in the fitness industry.

Personal Training Business Plans Template

Personal Training Business Plans Example

How does it work?

Access the Printable Personal Training Business Plan form from a reliable source, ensuring it's in a downloadable and printable format.

Personal Information

Enter your details, including your name, contact information, and professional certifications.

Business Description

Provide a brief overview of your training business, including its mission, goals, and fitness services you intend to offer.

Target Market

Specify your target clientele, such as age groups, fitness levels, and specific fitness goals your training programs cater to.

Competitive Analysis

Describe the local fitness landscape and identify key competitors. Highlight what differentiates your business from others regarding services, pricing, and approach.

Marketing Strategy

Share your marketing plan, both online and offline, to attract clients. This may include social media, partnerships, or community events.

Service Offerings

Detail the different training programs you will provide, mentioning if it's one-on-one coaching, group classes, virtual training, or a combination.

Operational Plan

Explain how you plan to run the day-to-day operations of your business, covering aspects like scheduling, location, equipment, and any additional staff.

Financial Projections

Present your expected revenue and expenses for the first few years of operation. This includes startup costs, recurring expenses, and anticipated income.

Risk Management

Identify potential business risks, such as economic downturns or legal considerations. Discuss how you plan to mitigate these risks.

Long-Term Goals

Share your vision for the future of your personal training business, including expansion plans, new service offerings, and ways you intend to adapt to industry trends.

Review and Finalize

Carefully review the completed form for accuracy, coherence, and completeness. Make any necessary revisions before finalizing the document.

Professional Advice

Consider seeking input from a business advisor, fitness industry expert, or mentor to ensure your plan is thorough and well-structured.

Implementation

Once your Personal Training Business Plan is complete, use it as a guide to implement your strategies and work towards achieving your business goals.

When would you use this Plan?

A Personal Training Business Plan is an invaluable tool for fitness enthusiasts and professionals looking to venture into the personal training industry as entrepreneurs. This resource helps them strategically plan and execute their fitness business ventures. Here are some instances when this form would be particularly useful:

• Startup Stage: Aspiring personal trainers can use the form when starting their fitness business. It provides a structured approach to defining their business concept, target market, and service offerings, which are crucial foundations for success.
• Securing Funding : A well-documented business plan is essential when seeking investors or loans to launch or expand their personal training business. The form helps outline revenue projections, expenses, and growth strategies, demonstrating the business's viability to potential stakeholders.
• Operational Guidance : Established personal trainers can benefit from the form when seeking to streamline their operations or introduce new services. It assists in refining marketing strategies, updating service offerings, and aligning business practices with changing industry trends.
• Strategic Growth: For personal trainers aiming to expand their client base or open multiple locations, the form aids in mapping out expansion plans, financial projections, and strategies for scaling the business sustainably.
• Professionalism: The form enhances professionalism in the personal training industry. It allows trainers to present a well-structured plan to clients, showcasing their commitment to delivering quality services and achieving clients' fitness goals.
• Adapting to Changes: The fitness industry is dynamic, with trends and client preferences evolving. Personal trainers can use the form periodically to review and adjust their strategies to stay relevant and competitive.
• Succession Planning: Established personal trainers nearing retirement may use the form to outline their succession plans, ensuring a smooth business transition to new owners or trainers.

Enhanced Business Strategy

The form guides personal trainers in articulating their business goals, target market, and unique value proposition, leading to a more focused and effective strategy.

Investor Attraction

A well-structured plan showcases the potential of the personal training business, instilling confidence in investors and increasing the likelihood of securing funding.

Operational Efficiency

The form aids in planning day-to-day operations, from scheduling sessions to managing resources, leading to streamlined and organized business management.

Marketing Effectiveness

By defining the ideal client and specifying marketing strategies, trainers can attract their desired clientele more effectively, optimizing marketing efforts.

Financial Planning

The form's financial projections help trainers understand startup costs, operating expenses, and projected revenue, enabling better financial planning and management.

Adaptability and Growth

With a well-documented plan, trainers can proactively adapt to changing industry trends, keeping their services relevant and fostering sustainable growth.

Research & Evidence

The use of personal training business plans has evolved alongside the growth of the fitness industry and the increasing number of individuals pursuing careers as personal trainers. As the demand for fitness services expanded, it became evident that having a structured business plan was crucial for success in a competitive market. Over the years, this resource has gained significance due to the following factors:

In the past, personal training was often limited to elite athletes or wealthy individuals. However, as awareness of fitness and health benefits spread, more people sought professional guidance. This shift led to a proliferation of personal training businesses, necessitating the development of effective business strategies.

Studies and industry reports have highlighted the advantages of having a well-defined business plan in the personal training sector. Research by industry associations, such as the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), consistently emphasizes the value of strategic planning for fitness businesses.

With the fitness industry becoming more saturated, personal trainers realized that merely having expertise in exercise science wasn't enough. Business acumen and effective marketing strategies were essential to stand out. Research-backed business plans emerged as tools to help trainers navigate the complexities of entrepreneurship.

As the fitness industry expanded, entrepreneurs sought external funding to establish or grow their personal training businesses. Financial institutions and investors require evidence of a sound business strategy before providing funding. This prompted personal trainers to develop detailed business plans to secure backing.

The fitness industry is dynamic, with trends like virtual training, wellness coaching, and specialized programs constantly emerging. Research-backed business plans allow personal trainers to incorporate these trends strategically, ensuring their businesses remain relevant and profitable.

• Crump, D. (2022, January 28). Create a personal trainer business plan in six steps . The PTDC. https://www.theptdc.com/articles/personal-trainer-business-plan
• How to write a business plan for personal trainers | ISSA . (n.d.). https://www.issaonline.com/blog/post/how-to-write-a-business-plan-for-personal-trainers
• Lavinsky, D. (2023). Personal Training Business Plan Template. Growthink . https://www.growthink.com/businessplan/help-center/personal-training-business-plan
• Origym. (2023, March 23). 7 Simple Steps for Writing a Personal Trainer Business Plan (with Templates). Origym . https://origympersonaltrainercourses.co.uk/blog/personal-trainer-business-plan
• Wellness Creative Co. (2023). How To Write A Personal Training Business Plan [+ Examples & Templates]. Wellness Creative Co . https://www.wellnesscreatives.com/personal-training-business-plan/

Commonly asked questions

Personal Training Business Plans are crucial for fitness entrepreneurs to achieve their business goals.

Personal Training Business Plans outline a fitness entrepreneur's business concept, target market, growth strategies, and potential profitability. Trainers review and adjust them periodically to adapt to industry trends and ensure continued success.

Personal Training Business Plans guide fitness businesses on strategy, marketing, operations, and finances. They help trainers make informed decisions.

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7 Simple Steps for Writing a Personal Trainer Business Plan (with Templates)

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Jessie Florence Jones

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Abbie Watkins

If you’re just starting on your own as a PT, writing a personal trainer business plan is one of the most important first steps you’ll have to take.

In this article we’ll cover:

Why Do I Need a Personal Training Business Plan?

Step 1: write your personal trainer business plan summary.

• Step 2: Detail Your Qualifications on Your PT Business Plan
• Step 3: Pinpoint What You Sell When Writing a Personal Trainer Business Plan

Step 4: Perform a SWOT Analysis as Part of Your Personal Training Business Plan

• Step 5: Outline Your Marketing Strategies in Your PT Business Plan
• Step 6: Include Your Financial Plans & Projections in a Personal Trainer Business Plan
• Step 7: Conclude Your Personal Training Business Plan with a Closing Statement

Before you start with your PT business plan, there’s one thing you should always factor in, and that’s professional development.

With  our Level 4 Sports Nutrition Course , you’re able to set yourself apart from the competition and ensure your business can thrive in a competitive industry.  Download our free course prospectus to find out more !

Before we look in detail at the process of writing a personal trainer business plan, it’s vital to understand why you should produce one. 

In short, a personal trainer business plan acts as the guide for where your business currently is, where you aspire to be, and how you’ll get there.

As you can imagine, this is vital for establishing your business and plays an integral role in:

• How to make money as a personal trainer
• How many, and the kind of, clients you attract
• How you market yourself
• Who your competitors are, and how you’ll beat them

It’s easy to assume that you’ll be the only person who’ll see the business plan for your personal trainer business but it will play a vital role in securing external funding if that’s what you need.

You will have to show prospective investors what you plan to do with your business and outline every detail if you’re looking to secure money from a third party.

Ultimately your personal trainer business plan is an opportunity to showcase your brand and display what you’ll be contributing to the fitness industry. 

Every successful personal trainer business plan should start with a summary. This is an overview for readers and potential investors, covering:

• Who you are
• What your business offers, and your target market
• Your financial state, and projections for the future
• Your marketing strategy
• Plans for the future

Despite it seeming simple, this is one of the most crucial parts of any business plan for a personal trainer because it’s the first impression you’ll make. 

You’ll need to summarise for the reader what you’ll be covering so they’ve got a good snapshot of your business and the service you will provide.

This personal trainer business plan example from CIBT Visas, a global financial company, is a great illustration of how it should be done:

Just from this short section, we find out a few key points about CIBT, including:

• What they do
• Where they operate
• Their core values
• What they aim to achieve

This should essentially contain your personal trainer mission statement and what you intend your brand to achieve and fulfil!

Your next sections will expand on these key features, and offer a more in-depth look at what you do, and where you can take your business.

Step 2: Detail Your Qualifications on Your Personal Trainer Business Plan

Following your summary, your personal training business plan should lead into a comprehensive inventory of your qualifications and certifications.

This serves a few different purposes. For any potential investors or banks, you’re proving that you’re well-positioned to provide a service to your clients.

Each qualification is an indicator to those who want to put money into your business that you’re a professional able to bring return on their investment with trustworthy expertise.

Each one is also an example of the different areas your business could branch into in order to grow and develop. For example, any specialist Level 4 master personal trainer courses you’ve completed  show a potential for advancement .

You should include a list of qualifications as well as where they come from. This will show that you’ve completed a course with a reputable provider and allows potential investors to see your credentials.

You should list them simply, like in our own personal trainer business plan sample below:

Diploma in Personal Training – OriGym COE Level 3 Exercise Referral – OriGym COE Level 4 Advanced Sports Nutrition – OriGym COE First Aid for Sports – British Red Cross CPD in Strength and Conditioning – OriGym COE

This list offers a comprehensive overview of our example PT’s qualifications, as well as where they were achieved. 

CPD fitness courses will also help demonstrate a wide ranging skill set and areas that your business could potentially branch into! 

Step 3: Pinpoint What You Want to Sell When Writing a Personal Trainer Business Plan

Next up for your personal trainer business plan is detailing exactly what it is that you intend to sell and how you plan to cater to a particular audience and customer base.

This should be one of the most extensive sections of your business plan template. As a personal trainer you need to put trust in your services and your ability to meet other people’s fitness goals as well as those you have for your business.

This is your opportunity to detail all of your revenue streams and the different ways in which you intend to make money for your business.

This is also a way of illustrating why there’s room in the market for your business to cater to a particular demographic and offer a service that there’s a want or need for!

This may sound simple but plenty of trainers will miss out revenue streams from their personal training business plan, or don’t detail potential opportunities for expansion and selling other services or products.

Most PTs will have several revenue streams and you want to make sure you detail all of these without putting too much emphasis on the most lucrative ones.

For example, you don’t want to just detail your one-to-one training, despite it probably being your main source of income!

Some of the revenue streams you might want to include on top of this are:

• Online or face to face seminars
• Nutrition consultations
• Affiliate marketing with prominent brands such as sportswear and supplement brands
• Personal trainer tutor for a training provider
• Workout guides or ebooks
• Speaking at fitness or educational events

You also need to find your personal training target market . 

Something holistic like ‘gym goer’ is too broad and will hinder your ability to create marketing strategies and develop your business.

Your target market is the ideal customer and should be directly linked to the services you’re offering. 

You need to be able to show why you’ve chosen this demographic and how your product or service answers their specific needs.

Again, the more specific you can be the better. Some examples include:

• People with physical health conditions or impairments
• People with long term health conditions during rehabilitation 
• Women under 30 looking for postnatal classes
• Athletes looking for strength and conditioning training

We’ve written our own personal trainer business plan example for this particular section that you can use as a template:

My business offers one-to-one, bespoke, personal training sessions for women who are 40 years of age or older.  My services predominantly focus on helping women use exercise and nutrition to deal with the symptoms and stresses of menopause. My research suggests there is a huge need for a combination of services such as mine, offering nutrition and exercise programmes to help women with some of these issues. All of my qualifications uniquely equip me to work with this demographic to provide a much needed service. I offer nutrition sessions one-to-one, building recipes and selling them as a recipe guide, or working with individual clients to build bespoke nutrition plans. I also offer personal training sessions one-to-one or in groups with other women of the same age or same symptom experience.  Because of how common these issues are in this demographic there’s also a huge demand for seminars and educational sessions in partnership with women’s charities and other healthcare professionals. I provide consultancy on these issues as well as being available for talks and seminars online or in-person for various institutions.

This business plan template for a personal trainer company can be used as a jumping off point and fleshed out for your own brand!

The next thing you will need to perform for your personal trainer business plan is SWOT analysis.

Personal trainer SWOT analysis is vital for determining what you’re doing well and if there’s any sticking points, preventing your business from growing and developing as it should. 

SWOT stands for:

• Strengths – these are the elements you think makes you stand out as a PT making your business unique 
• Weaknesses – this is where you’ll reflect on any areas for improvement or development 
• Opportunities – building on the above, decide on actions that can be taken to improve your business and develop your brand
• Threats – this last step is to assess whether there’s anything stopping these actions from being taken or potential disruptions to how you might want to grow and develop your business

By performing these steps you’ll have an idea of how you can promote your USP and reinforce the other sections of your business plan, realising what gap you’re filling in the market.

You’ll also be able to identify any room for improvement and things that you can do to allow your business to grow.

This will help you by identifying exactly what your next moves are and how you can grow your business moving forward.

This will also help to show potential investors that you’re aware of the challenges your business might face and how you’re prepared to meet them and adapt your business accordingly.

This makes you seem like a more trustworthy investment and somebody who’s aware of how best to return on that investment and grow your business and income!

Step 5: Outline Your Marketing Strategies in Your Personal Trainer Business Plan

Another vital part of a business plan for any personal trainer is outlining your marketing strategies. 

This is vital for both you and any potential investors or collaborators. Here, you’ll outline the specific techniques and campaigns you will use to grow your business and gain new clients!

Showing your marketing plan will also reinforce your understanding of your target market because the particular strategies you use should be dictated by who you’re marketing to.

Identifying Your Target Market

If you’re writing a business plan to open a personal training studio , what’s the age range of your prospective clientele?

As we mentioned earlier, you need to make sure you’re as specific as possible with your target market.

The more specific you can be about the demographic the more specific you can be in targeting them, based on their behaviour and interaction with different platforms.

Using Social Media Platforms Relevant to Your Target Market

You need to make sure you’re aware of which platform is most used by your target age range. 

This is so that you can demonstrate that you understand the best way to target this specific audience with your marketing. 

If you’re looking to target an older age range, you may want to get clients from Facebook , as the social media site  tends to be used by an older generation of users.

If you’re targeting young women, for example, you should target platforms such as TikTok and Instagram that are dominated by this younger demographic.

However, some platforms such as Google are frequented by everyone and are a worthy investment no matter your target market.

Using Ads on Social Media

You should also include information about any existing personal trainer marketing strategies you’ve implemented. 

This will show your progress and illustrate your understanding of including this in your SWOT analysis and your awareness of how best to reach your target market.

You can include a screenshot of any existing ads you have on social media but you also need to ensure you include details of any spending and your projected spends on future strategies.

You should also detail any spending you’ve already done for advertising and marketing efforts.

This should include the costs for the maintenance of your existing marketing strategies, as well as any projections for future ones such as getting PT referrals or affiliate marketing.

Showing the Impact of Your Marketing Strategies

You should also make sure you include figures you have about the impact of any existing strategies you have in place.

For example, you might show the reach and engagement of certain ads you’ve had on social media platforms.

This will show what’s worked already and support any request for funds if you can show how and to what end your budget for marketing has worked.

In terms of showing what you’ve already done, this might be simply including a screenshot of what you’ve already spent on your advertising and any leads or impressions generated as a result.

For example, here’s an image of the leads generated by our own Facebook ads within a month:

And here’s what it might look like to show what you’ve spent in order to generate those leads:

This will show a potential investor that your existing spends have been successful and will be considered in terms of how much you can borrow or get.

This way you’re showing that what you’ve spent already has been successful and what you need to continue to spend in order to maintain that success.

However, you may not have already done any marketing in this way. If you’ve worked in a gym chances are you have to promote your own services but you might not have been solely responsible for things like ads and email marketing. 

If you’re just starting out, and this is the case, you should just include projections based on your market research.

Make sure to focus on the aforementioned factors, including any financial projections you can make. 

This way you’re still showing you’re aware of exactly what you need to do and what you need to monitor to have a successful marketing campaign!

If you found this section helpful, you can find out more about marketing your personal trainer business with some of our other articles below:

• Strategies for Personal Trainer Lead Generation
• How to Use Google My Business as a Personal Trainer
• Personal Trainer Social Media: Ideas, Examples & Schedule

Step 6: Include Your Financial Plan and Projections in a Personal Trainer Business Plan

If you’re trying to secure money from a third party for your business, probably the most important sample of your personal trainer business plan is your financial projections.

The level of detail you include will depend on where you’re trying to secure funding from and how far into your business you are.

For example, this will look different for a personal training studio business plan than if your services are online or from home. 

It will also depend on some of the other features from our personal trainer business plan examples, such as marketing.

If you’ve only just started then your marketing costs will be projections rather than the screenshots we included in our own personal trainer business plan sample. 

You’ll need to detail not only what your expenses are or will be, but exactly how you see your business making and maintaining a steady financial flow.

No matter what your brand is, when you’re writing a personal trainer business plan you need to make sure you include the following crucial elements:

• An income statement
• A balance sheet
• A cash-flow statement

We’ll run through each of these now so you know exactly what they entail and why they’re important for any successful personal trainer business plan.

An Income Statement 

An income statement is a crucial part of any business plan template and a personal trainer business is no exception.

This is a statement that shows how much money you’ve made after your expenses and taxes are deducted from your income. 

Any business will keep this anyway for tax purposes and it can be helpful to have those numbers in front of you when you’re looking at ways to grow or streamline your business.

This is especially useful for anybody looking to invest or support your business financially because it shows your business’s profit and success.

It will also show any losses made and where they’ve come from so you can make any alterations.

This will inform and reinforce other parts of your personal trainer business plan. For example, having these figures ready will help you with your SWOT analysis.

Throughout your career you will have to complete an income statement for your business every fiscal quarter.

However, when you’re starting out, and for the purposes of the personal training business plan, you should do one every month for a year where possible.

This will also depend on your personal trainer business registration because your taxes will depend on whether you’re a sole trader or a limited company.

You should check this or use a business plan template for your personal trainer income statement.

A Balance Sheet

Your balance sheet is a calculation of what you have versus what you owe, giving a sum that shows the equity of your business. 

On one side it will list your business assets, which are things you own and could be liquidated and turned into cash. On the other side it will show liabilities, which are what you owe.

Most people will have a mixture of short and long term assets, called ‘current’ and ‘noncurrent’. 

Current assets are those which you could turn into cash within the year so either cash you currently have or accounts receivable (invoices from clients who are yet to pay).

Noncurrent assets are those which you don’t expect to liquidate in the near future.

This includes things like equipment or, if you’re writing a personal training studio business plan, you’d include property on this list too.

This is only in the list of assets if you own the property, though. If you’re renting a space or you’re paying off a mortgage, this would be in the liabilities section.

Liabilities will mostly be related to starting your business and any loans or any costs you got on finance.

Being able to show a healthy balance of these two things is a vital part of your business plan as a personal trainer because it shows the financial health of your company.

Showing that these things are well balanced will demonstrate to a bank or any potential investors that you’re a trustworthy business and will be financially stable enough to repay any money lent.

You should subtract the amount of liabilities from your assets to show the equity of your company.

A Cash Flow Statement 

Any business plan template for a personal trainer business should also include a cash flow statement. 

This is similar to an income statement but instead of just showing how much money you have after your outgoings this calculates the ‘flow’, i.e how much you have consistently coming in and out of your business.

Ideally, you want to be able to show that the flow of money is always positive, meaning you take in more money than you’re spending on expenses. 

Including this in your business plan serves a similar purpose to an income statement in regards to the SWOT analysis too.

Having these figures showing the cash flow will help you identify what’s working best to make money as a personal trainer , and where you could improve or cut back on expenses. 

The cash flow statement should show where your money is low and where there may be a surplus, meaning you have some opportunity to spend or redistribute some funds.

Having these figures will not only help you adjust your business but will also give a good indicator to investors or potential lenders of your financial stability as a business.

Step 7: Conclude Your Personal Trainer Business Plan with a Closing Statement

Last but not least, you should end your personal trainer business plan with a closing statement.

This will serve a similar purpose to your summary from step one but you can now summarise based on everything from the other sections.

This will act as a conclusion and an indication of where your business is up to and what you see as the next important steps.

This will help you to decide what you want to do with your business and the most immediate concerns and actions you need to take.

This will also act as an indicator to investors and lenders that you understand and know what to do with the data from previous sections.

If you can assess your business and read through your PT business plan to make some decisions, this reinforces your understanding of your business and your trustworthiness as a business owner!

After all, in any sample personal trainer business plan this is your opportunity to summarise your successes and illustrate that you understand how to fix any issues, and adjust accordingly.

Before You Go!

Hopefully now you’ve seen our personal trainer business plan examples, you feel ready to start writing your own!

Don’t forget you can grow your business by learning new expertise and skills and offering new services. You can do this with our  Level 4 Sports Nutrition qualification .

Find out more by getting in touch with our team today and download our course prospectus to see how else you can continue to grow your business.

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Personal Trainer Business Plan Template (FREE)

Get this free personal trainer business plan template to learn how to create a personal trainer business plan. Use the free personal trainer business plan examples and then modify as needed.

Scroll down for a free personal training business plan template, and then be sure to check out our guide on how to create a gym business plan and then utilize the gym business plan template and fitness business plan template to get inspiration for creating your PT business plan.

Remember though, the important part is to get certified and then get started. Don’t delay, what you can start today. Learn how to start a fitness business , and how to start a personal training business , but don’t forget that you technically don’t have to be certified to sell workouts (though you should get certified!) so there are many ways to make money from fitness , one of which is making money selling workout plans online .

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Sell workout plans online .

Run online fitness challenges .

Create and sell fitness memberships, products, and digital offers.

Manage, message, and market to your leads and customers.

All from your very own custom branded fitness apps .

Get a demo now!

Personal Trainer Business Plan Template

Creating a business plan is a crucial step for personal trainers aspiring to establish a successful fitness business. A well-crafted business plan serves as a roadmap, outlining your goals, strategies, and the steps you need to take to achieve them. It provides clarity on your business model, target market, services offered, marketing and sales strategies, and financial planning. This plan is not only vital for your own reference and guidance but also essential if you’re seeking funding or partnerships.

A comprehensive business plan for a personal trainer should encompass several key components, including an executive summary, market analysis, business structure, services offered, marketing and sales strategies, and financial planning. Below is a detailed template that personal trainers can use as a guide to creating their own business plan.

Executive Summary

• Business Name and Location : Your business name and the location where you will operate.
• Mission Statement : A brief statement outlining your business’s purpose and goals.
• Business Goals : Short-term and long-term objectives for your personal training business.
• Owner’s Background : Your qualifications, experience, and any unique skills that set you apart.

Market Analysis

• Industry Overview : Current state and future outlook of the fitness industry.
• Target Market : Specific demographic and psychographic details of your ideal clients.
• Competitor Analysis : Overview of competitors, their offerings, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Market Trends : Emerging trends in personal training and fitness.

Business Structure

• Type of Business Entity : Whether you are a sole proprietor, partnership, LLC, etc.
• Business Model : How you plan to charge for your services (e.g., hourly rates, package deals).
• Facility and Equipment : Details about your training facility and equipment needs.

Services Offered

• Training Services : Types of personal training services you will offer (one-on-one, group sessions, online coaching).
• Special Programs : Any specialized programs or niche training services (e.g., weight loss, athletic training, rehabilitation).
• Additional Services : Other services like nutrition counseling, fitness assessments, etc.

Marketing and Sales Strategies

• Branding : Your business’s branding strategy, including logo, colors, and overall image.
• Marketing Channels : How you plan to market your services (social media, local advertising, partnerships).
• Sales Techniques : Strategies for selling your services and converting prospects into clients.
• Client Retention Strategies : Methods for retaining clients and encouraging long-term commitments.

Financial Planning

• Startup Costs : Initial costs involved in setting up your personal training business.
• Pricing Strategy : How you will price your services.
• Revenue Projections : Estimated earnings for the first few years.
• Expense Forecast : Ongoing operational costs (rent, equipment maintenance, marketing costs).
• Break-Even Analysis : The point at which your business will start to make a profit.

Additional Components

• Legal and Insurance Considerations : Necessary permits, licenses, and insurance policies.
• Risk Analysis : Potential risks your business may face and how you plan to mitigate them.
• Growth and Expansion Plans : How you plan to grow and scale your business in the future.

This template provides a comprehensive framework for a personal trainer business plan. Tailoring each section to reflect your unique vision, goals, and strategies will result in a robust and effective business plan, guiding your venture towards success.

• Personal Trainer Marketing
• Personal Trainer Mission Statements
• Personal Trainer Insurance
• Best Personal Trainer Software

#1 Example Mobile Personal Training Business Plan

“Fit On The Go” is a mobile personal training business catering to busy professionals and parents who struggle to find time for gym visits. Our mission is to bring customized fitness solutions directly to clients, offering convenience, flexibility, and personalized attention. We aim to tap into the local market of working professionals in urban areas, delivering tailored workout sessions at their homes, offices, or outdoor spaces.

• Type : Sole Proprietorship
• Business Model : Charging clients on a session-by-session basis or through monthly packages.
• Facility and Equipment : No fixed facility; equipment is portable and suitable for various environments.
• Training Services : One-on-one and small group training sessions, including strength training, cardio, and flexibility workouts.
• Special Programs : Corporate wellness programs, post-natal fitness, senior fitness.
• Additional Services : Basic nutritional advice and online support.
• Industry Overview : Growing demand for personalized and convenient fitness options.
• Target Market : Busy professionals aged 30-50, new parents, and corporations.
• Competitor Analysis : Other local personal trainers and fitness apps.
• Market Trends : Increasing interest in health and well-being, especially post-pandemic.
• Branding : Professional, approachable, and tailored to busy lifestyles.
• Marketing Channels : Social media marketing, local networking events, partnerships with local businesses.
• Sales Techniques : Free first sessions, referral incentives.
• Client Retention Strategies : Personalized progress tracking, flexible scheduling.
• Startup Costs : Minimal – mainly for equipment and marketing.
• Pricing Strategy : Competitive pricing with discounts for package purchases.
• Revenue Projections : Aim to achieve a steady client base within the first year.
• Expense Forecast : Ongoing costs including travel expenses, equipment maintenance, and marketing.
• Break-Even Analysis : Expected within the first six months.

Read More: Mobile Fitness Business Guide

#2 Example Boutique Personal Training Studio Business Plan

“Elite Fitness Studio” is a boutique personal training studio located in a high-end neighborhood, focusing on providing exclusive, high-quality fitness experiences. Our goal is to create a community of fitness enthusiasts who value personalized attention, state-of-the-art facilities, and a supportive environment.

• Type : Limited Liability Company (LLC)
• Business Model : Membership-based with additional charges for personal training sessions.
• Facility and Equipment : Well-equipped studio with modern fitness equipment.
• Training Services : Individual and small group personal training, specializing in weight loss, muscle building, and athletic performance.
• Special Programs : Wellness retreats, fitness workshops, and seminars.
• Additional Services : In-house nutritionist consultations, physiotherapy services.
• Industry Overview : Increasing demand for exclusive and specialized fitness services.
• Target Market : Affluent individuals aged 25-55, athletes, and fitness enthusiasts.
• Competitor Analysis : Other high-end fitness studios and luxury gyms.
• Market Trends : Personalization in fitness and holistic health approaches.
• Branding : Luxurious, exclusive, and results-driven.
• Marketing Channels : High-end local magazines, community events, influencer partnerships.
• Sales Techniques : Membership exclusivity, premium pricing.
• Client Retention Strategies : Customized fitness plans, member-only events, loyalty rewards.
• Startup Costs : Significant – for studio setup, equipment, and initial marketing.
• Pricing Strategy : Premium pricing reflecting the exclusivity and quality of services.
• Revenue Projections : Gradual growth with an expansion of services and client base.
• Expense Forecast : High, including rent, equipment maintenance, staff salaries, and marketing.
• Break-Even Analysis : Expected within the first 18 months.

Read More: Best Boutique Fitness Studio Software

#3 Example Online Personal Training Business Plan

“Virtual Fitness Coach” is an online personal training business providing remote fitness coaching and virtual workout sessions. We focus on offering convenient, accessible, and customized fitness solutions to individuals globally, utilizing technology to bridge geographical gaps.

• Type : Partnership
• Business Model : Subscription-based online services with various tiered plans.
• Facility and Equipment : Home office setup with necessary tech equipment for virtual sessions.
• Training Services : Live virtual training sessions, pre-recorded workout programs.
• Special Programs : Weight loss challenges, fitness boot camps, yoga and mindfulness sessions.
• Additional Services : Online nutrition coaching, fitness blogs, and webinars.
• Industry Overview : Surge in demand for online fitness services.
• Target Market : Tech-savvy individuals, those with limited access to gyms, global clientele.
• Competitor Analysis : Other online fitness platforms and apps.
• Market Trends : Digital transformation in fitness, growing popularity of home workouts.
• Branding : Modern, accessible, and tech-friendly.
• Marketing Channels : Social media advertising, content marketing, online fitness communities.
• Sales Techniques : Free trials, tiered pricing plans.
• Client Retention Strategies : Engaging online community, regular program updates, personalized feedback.
• Startup Costs : Moderate – mainly for software, website development, and initial marketing.
• Pricing Strategy : Subscription-based with different tiers for various needs.
• Revenue Projections : Aim for global reach and a substantial subscriber base within the first year.
• Expense Forecast : Moderate, including website maintenance, marketing, and software subscriptions.
• Break-Even Analysis : Projected within the first 12 months.

Each of these fitness trainer business plans caters to different market segments and operational models, offering a diverse range of services and experiences. Personal trainers can adapt these templates to align with their specific goals, target audience, and available resources.

Read More: Best Online Fitness Coach Software

The Importance of Having a Business Plan as a Personal Trainer

Welcome to our comprehensive guide on creating a successful personal trainer business plan. In this article, we will explore the importance of having a business plan as a personal trainer, delve into the key elements to include in your plan, and provide detailed insights into various aspects of running a thriving personal training business.

Looking to start your own personal training business? This comprehensive personal training business plan template will guide you through the process, helping you outline your goals, target market, marketing strategies, financial projections, and more.

As a personal trainer, having a well-defined business plan is crucial to your success. It serves as a roadmap that outlines your goals, strategies, and tactics for achieving them. A solid business plan helps you stay focused, organized, and accountable. It allows you to clearly articulate your mission, vision, and unique value proposition to potential clients, partners, and investors.

Furthermore, a business plan helps you foresee challenges and identify opportunities in the ever-evolving fitness industry. It allows you to devise strategies to effectively navigate market fluctuations, competition, and changing consumer preferences. Ultimately, a well-crafted business plan sets the foundation for your personal training business and increases your chances of long-term success.

One key benefit of having a business plan as a personal trainer is that it helps you establish a clear financial strategy. By outlining your revenue streams, expenses, and pricing structure, you can ensure that your personal training business remains profitable. Additionally, a business plan allows you to set financial goals and track your progress towards achieving them, providing you with a benchmark for success.

Another advantage of having a business plan is that it enables you to effectively market and promote your personal training services. With a well-defined target market and a comprehensive marketing strategy, you can identify the most effective channels to reach potential clients. Your business plan can also include a detailed analysis of your competition, allowing you to differentiate yourself and highlight your unique selling points.

Key Elements to Include in Your Personal Trainer Business Plan

A comprehensive personal trainer business plan should consist of several key elements. These include:

1. Executive Summary: Summarize your business concept, mission statement, and unique selling proposition. This section provides an overview of your plan and entices readers to continue reading.

2. Company Description: Outline your personal training business, including its legal structure, location, services offered, and target market.

3. Market Analysis: Conduct thorough market research to gain insights into your target market, competitors, and industry trends. Analyze the demand for personal training services in your area and identify gaps you can capitalize on.

4. Marketing and Sales Strategies: Detail your marketing and advertising tactics, such as online and offline promotion, partnerships, and referrals. Create a pricing structure that reflects the value you provide and consider offering introductory packages or discounts to attract new clients.

5. Organizational Structure: Define your business’s organizational structure, roles, and responsibilities. If you plan to hire additional trainers or administrative staff, outline their job descriptions and qualifications.

6. Financial Projections: Create a comprehensive financial plan that includes startup costs, revenue projections, expense forecasts, and cash flow analysis. This section helps you understand the financial feasibility of your business and secure funding if needed.

7. Operations and Systems: Develop strategies for efficient operations, such as scheduling, client management, and record-keeping systems. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to track your business’s performance and identify areas for improvement.

8. Risk Assessment: Evaluate potential risks and challenges that may impact your personal training business. Identify strategies to mitigate these risks, such as obtaining appropriate insurance coverage, implementing safety protocols, and developing contingency plans.

9. Professional Development: Outline your commitment to ongoing professional development and staying up-to-date with industry trends and certifications. Include plans for attending workshops, conferences, and continuing education courses to enhance your skills and knowledge as a personal trainer.

Defining Your Target Market and Identifying Your Niche

Before diving into the details of your business plan, it’s crucial to define your target market and identify your niche as a personal trainer. Understanding your ideal clients’ demographics, psychographics, and fitness goals will help you tailor your services and marketing efforts to attract the right audience.

When defining your niche, consider your expertise, passion, and unique selling proposition. Are you passionate about weight loss? Do you specialize in strength training for athletes? Identifying your niche allows you to position yourself as an expert in a specific area and stand out from the competition.

Conducting Market Research for Your Personal Training Business

Thorough market research is essential for developing a successful business plan as a personal trainer. It provides insights into your target market’s needs, preferences, and willingness to pay for your services. Start by analyzing the local fitness industry, demographics, competition, and consumer trends.

Utilize online research tools, conduct surveys, and talk to potential clients to gather data on their fitness goals, challenges, and expectations. This information will help you fine-tune your services, pricing, and marketing strategies to meet your target market’s demands effectively.

Setting SMART Goals for Your Personal Trainer Business

To ensure the success of your personal trainer business, it’s crucial to set SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. SMART goals provide clarity and direction, allowing you to track your progress and make necessary adjustments.

For example, instead of setting a vague goal like “increase revenue,” a SMART goal would be “increase monthly revenue by 15% within six months through targeted marketing campaigns and client retention strategies.” SMART goals provide clear metrics and timelines, enabling you to stay focused and motivated.”

Developing a Strong Value Proposition for Your Services

Your value proposition is what differentiates you from other personal trainers in the market. It highlights the unique benefits and value that clients will receive by choosing your services. Develop a clear and compelling value proposition that resonates with your target market.

Consider factors such as your training philosophy, certifications, experience, and any specialized services or equipment you provide. Communicate your value proposition effectively through your marketing materials, website, and in-person consultations to attract and retain clients.

Creating a Pricing Structure that Reflects the Value You Provide

Determining your pricing structure is a critical aspect of your personal trainer business plan. It should strike a balance between your financial goals and the perceived value of your services. Research industry standards and competitors’ pricing while considering your unique value proposition.

Take into account factors such as your experience, certifications, location, overhead costs, and the target market’s willingness to pay. Consider offering tiered pricing options, package deals, or monthly memberships to cater to different client needs and budgets.

Mapping Out Your Marketing and Advertising Strategies

Marketing and advertising are crucial for attracting clients and growing your personal training business. Develop a comprehensive marketing plan that incorporates both online and offline strategies to reach your target audience effectively.

Consider leveraging digital marketing channels such as social media platforms, search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing, and content creation. Offline tactics like networking events, local partnerships, and referrals can also play a significant role in generating leads.

Building an Effective Online Presence for Your Personal Training Business

In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence is paramount for any business, including personal trainers. Develop a professional website that showcases your services, testimonials, success stories, and contact information.

Optimize your website for search engines to increase its visibility in organic search results. Utilize social media platforms to engage with potential clients, share valuable content, and promote your services. Consider creating a blog, producing educational videos, or starting a podcast to establish yourself as an industry expert.

Leveraging Social Media to Attract and Engage Clients

Social media platforms provide an excellent opportunity to connect with potential clients and nurture relationships. Identify the platforms most popular among your target market – whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn – and develop a social media strategy accordingly.

Regularly post engaging and educational content, such as workout tips, motivational quotes, success stories, and client transformations. Encourage client testimonials and user-generated content to build trust and credibility. Interact with your audience by responding to comments, direct messages, and inquiries promptly.

Networking and Collaborating with Other Fitness Professionals

Networking and collaborating with other fitness professionals can open doors to new opportunities and expand your client base. Attend industry conferences, seminars, and workshops to meet like-minded individuals and potential referral partners.

Consider collaborations with other fitness trainers, nutritionists, physical therapists, or wellness centers. Cross-promote each other’s services, refer clients, or organize joint events or workshops. Collaborations not only widen your reach but also enhance your credibility and expertise through association with other professionals.

Establishing Partnerships with Complementary Businesses in the Health and Wellness Industry

Identify complementary businesses in the health and wellness industry that share a similar target market. Establish mutually beneficial partnerships to cross-promote each other’s services and expand your reach.

For example, partner with local gyms, yoga studios, or health food stores to offer exclusive discounts or joint promotions. Consider guest blogging or speaking engagements to share valuable content with their audience, generating both visibility and credibility for your personal training business.

Creating an Effective Sales Funnel to Convert Leads into Clients

An effective sales funnel helps guide potential clients from awareness to becoming paying clients. Implement a step-by-step process that nurtures leads and encourages them to take action.

Start by offering valuable content, such as free workout guides or educational webinars, to capture leads’ contact information. Nurture those leads through regular email communication, providing additional value and showcasing your expertise. Offer introductory sessions, consultations, or free trials to convert leads into paying clients.

Providing Exceptional Customer Service to Retain Clients and Generate Referrals

Providing exceptional customer service is key to retaining clients and generating referrals. Ensure your clients feel valued, supported, and motivated throughout their fitness journey.

Offer personalized training programs, regular progress tracking, and frequent communication to demonstrate your commitment to their success. Encourage client feedback and testimonials to showcase the results and satisfaction of your clients. Word-of-mouth referrals from satisfied clients are one of your most powerful marketing tools.

Implementing Systems and Processes to Streamline Operations and Improve Efficiency

Efficient operations are essential for running a successful personal training business. Implement systems and processes that streamline administrative tasks, client management, and scheduling.

Utilize client management software to track client progress, schedule appointments, and send reminders. Automate email marketing campaigns to nurture leads and engage with clients. Consider outsourcing tasks like accounting or social media management to free up your time for client-focused activities.

Managing Finances and Tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Effective financial management is crucial for the long-term success of your personal training business. Track key financial metrics such as revenue, expenses, profitability, and cash flow to identify areas for improvement.

Consider hiring a professional accountant or utilizing accounting software to ensure accurate bookkeeping and compliance. Regularly review your financial performance against your goals and make necessary adjustments to stay on track.

Developing a Growth Strategy for Scaling Your Personal Training Business

Once your personal training business is thriving, it’s essential to develop a growth strategy to maximize its potential. Assess opportunities for expansion, such as adding additional trainers, offering specialized programs, or opening new locations.

Set new goals, revise marketing strategies, and invest in continuous professional development to stay ahead of industry trends. Explore the potential of online training, group classes, corporate wellness programs, or partnerships with corporate gyms to expand your reach and client base.

Staying Up-to-Date with Industry Trends and Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

The fitness industry is constantly evolving, with new trends, techniques, and research emerging regularly. Stay updated with the latest industry developments and continuously invest in your own professional development.

Attend industry conferences, seminars, and webinars. Read industry publications, books, and research papers. Pursue additional certifications or specialized training programs to enhance your expertise and stay competitive in the market.

Assessing the Success of Your Personal Trainer Business Plan and Making Adjustments as Needed

Regularly assess the success of your personal trainer business plan and make necessary adjustments to align with changing market dynamics and business goals.

Review your financial performance, client feedback, and marketing efforts to identify areas of improvement. Stay open to feedback and adapt your strategies accordingly. Regularly revisit and update your business plan to reflect your growth and new opportunities.

Congratulations! You’ve completed our comprehensive guide on creating a successful personal trainer business plan. By following these steps and implementing the strategies discussed, you’ll be well on your way to building a thriving and profitable personal training business. Remember to stay focused, persevere through challenges, and always prioritize the needs and goals of your clients.

How do I write a business plan for a personal trainer?

To write a business plan for a personal trainer:

• Executive Summary: Outline your business concept, fitness philosophy, and goals.
• Market Analysis: Research your target market, competition, and fitness trends.
• Services and Pricing: Detail the training services you offer and pricing structure.
• Marketing Strategy: Describe how you plan to attract and retain clients.
• Operational Plan: Include how you will operate your business, equipment needs, and any staff requirements.
• Financial Plan: Provide projected income, expenses, and profitability.

How do I make a personal trainer plan?

To make a personal trainer plan:

• Identify Client Goals: Understand what each client aims to achieve.
• Assess Fitness Levels: Conduct initial assessments to tailor the plan.
• Create Custom Workouts: Design workouts that are effective and engaging.
• Nutrition Advice: Offer nutritional guidance if qualified.
• Progress Tracking: Include methods for monitoring client progress.
• How to Design Workout Plans for Clients
• Fitness and Diet Plan Templates to Use with Clients
• Best Personal Trainer Client Tracking Apps

How do you structure a PT business?

Structure a PT business by:

• Business Model: Decide if you’ll work independently, with a gym, or online.
• Services Offered: Determine what types of training and additional services you will provide.
• Pricing Structure: Establish your rates for different services.
• Marketing: Develop a strategy to attract clients.
• Operations: Plan your daily business operations, including scheduling and client management.

Should personal trainers have an LLC?

Personal trainers should consider forming an LLC (Limited Liability Company) for personal asset protection, potential tax benefits, and increased professionalism. It separates personal and business liabilities.

How to make 6 figures as a personal trainer?

To make six figures as a personal trainer:

• Specialize: Offer specialized training or services that can command higher rates.
• Build a Client Base: Focus on client retention and referrals.
• Expand Offerings: Consider online training, group classes, or creating digital products.
• Market Effectively: Utilize digital marketing and networking to attract high-paying clients.
• Continual Education: Keep upskilling to offer the latest and most effective training methods.

Read More: How can I make 6 figures as a personal trainer?

How do I sell myself as a personal trainer?

Sell yourself as a personal trainer by:

• Showcasing Your Expertise: Share your knowledge and successes on social media and in client interactions.
• Personal Branding: Develop a strong personal brand that reflects your training style and philosophy.
• Networking: Build relationships within the fitness community and with potential clients.
• Client Testimonials: Use testimonials and success stories to demonstrate your impact.
• Professional Presence: Maintain a professional online presence and high-quality promotional materials.

How much do personal trainers charge for a workout plan?

Personal trainers typically charge between $50 to $150 or more for a workout plan, depending on the plan’s complexity, customization, and their expertise. Online or template plans may be priced lower.

Read More: How Much to Charge for a Workout Plan

Should I use my name for my personal training business?

Using your name for your personal training business can be effective for personal branding, especially if you aim to build a reputation based on your personal expertise and training style. It can also add a personal touch to your business.

How do you write a business plan for a gym?

Writing a business plan for a gym involves outlining your business concept, conducting market research, detailing the gym’s services and pricing, creating a marketing and operational plan, and providing a financial projection including startup costs and revenue forecasts.

Read More: How to Write a Business Plan for a Gym

What is the purpose of a business plan for a personal trainer?

The purpose of a business plan for a personal trainer is to outline clear business objectives, strategies for achieving them, understand the market and competition, and provide a roadmap for business growth and financial stability.

What is a good mission statement for a personal trainer?

A good mission statement for a personal trainer might be: “To empower clients to achieve their fitness goals through personalized, effective, and sustainable training programs, while fostering a supportive and motivating environment.”

Read More: Best Personal Trainer Mission Statements

How can Exercise.com help me run a personal training business?

Exercise.com can help run a personal training business by providing comprehensive software solutions for client management, workout programming, scheduling, progress tracking, and billing. Its platform streamlines administrative tasks, enhances client engagement, and provides tools for managing and growing your personal training business effectively.

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Create a Personal Trainer Business Plan in Six Steps

My personal training career began, as so many do, at a big box gym.

I worked my way up to management, then regional management, and eventually struck out on my own. Soon I opened a small gym, which progressively grew into a bigger gym over the next six years.

A natural evolution maybe, but no accident. It happened because I had a plan.

A business plan helps you stay focused. It puts you in control, leading you where you want to go, so you’ll end up happier and wealthier.

Yet lots of trainers don’t think to make one, or assume they don’t need one. You do. Taking the time to carefully craft a business plan can give you an edge, regardless of where you are in your career.

To help you get started, I’ve outlined a personal trainer business plan template with six basic steps:

Step 1: Write your mission statement

Step 2: assess the fitness industry and your competition, step 3: map out your revenue streams, step 4: plan for operating costs, step 5: create your sales and marketing plan, step 6: honestly assess your risk.

We’ll hit each of those in a moment, and share a downloadable worksheet for you to craft your own business plan. But first, you probably have a few questions.

What is a personal trainer business plan?

A personal trainer business plan is a written description of your business’s future. Think of it as your North Star. It will help guide every aspect of your business: services, products, people, location, competition, costs, and income.

Who needs a personal trainer business plan?

Anyone who makes a living as a personal trainer. Don’t wait until you’re self-employed. It’s never too early to think about your future trajectory, even if you’re still a gym employee.

What is a personal trainer business plan used for?

A business plan articulates what you do and why you’re doing it. Having it in writing helps you stay focused.

But depending on your needs and goals, you might also use it to impress potential investors, attract employees or customers, or deal with suppliers.

How long should a personal trainer business plan be?

A typical plan is about 10 to 20 pages, but there’s a lot of room for variation. It can be as simple as a few notes on the back of an envelope, or as complex as 50 pages with detailed projections and analysis.

What’s the purpose of your plan? If you’re trying to score financing, err on the longer side. But if it’s just for you, make it as brief or detailed as you like.

How do you start?

Easy: Just write. Tailor the language to your prospective audience. If you’re writing the plan for yourself, make it as casual as a conversation with a friend. If you’re writing it for a bank or private investor, be more formal. If it’s for clients, be professional, avoiding jargon or slang.

I remember agonizing over my first business plan, making a million revisions. I felt stuck because, as hard as I tried, my plan wasn’t perfect yet.

Then I realized something: Perfection isn’t possible, and you can’t let the pursuit of it keep you from moving forward.

The goal is to think about your personal training business in a more mature way. As you move through your career, stretching your abilities and learning from mistakes, you’ll gain the perspective you need to refine it.

Put another way, as you get better, your plan will too.

Personal trainer business plan template

This is two or three sentences explaining what your company aims to do, and why: “I help THIS group of people do X, Y, and Z. And this is why I do it.”

Don’t skip the second part. Clarifying why you do what you do is essential for setting your business apart. It starts with two things:

• Your core values
• Your training philosophy

Core values are your personal beliefs: who you are, and what you stand for. Your training philosophy is what you believe about training.

Why is training people important to you? Why is the demographic you work with important? What are the two or three most important things you believe about training that are nonnegotiable?

If you can answer those questions, you’ll have a much easier time conveying your value to others, and creating a coaching avatar that helps people connect with you.

READ ALSO:   How to Get More Personal Training Clients

Before you can figure out where you fit in in the fitness industry, you first need to know what that industry looks like. That takes research into the two most relevant market tiers for fitness pros:

To understand what’s happening locally, hop online and look up all the gyms and fitness facilities in your area. Visit a few. Talk to the locals, and pick their brains about what they’re interested in and why they chose their current gym. Gauge sample size.

For a national perspective, you could turn to Google.

Now think about where you fit in, both locally and nationally. What gap do you fill? What do you offer that someone needs but no one else provides? An honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses will help you find those answers.

Finally, determine your biggest threat. Think you don’t have competition? You do. Look at it this way: In the absence of your product or service, how do people fill that void? Where do they go? What do they buy? That’s your competition.

This one is simple. Just answer one question: How are you going to deliver your service? Will you train clients one-on-one, and also lead a group class a couple times a week? Or will you do small-group training at your gym, and supplement your income with online training ?

Start with only one or two income sources, and see how they work (or don’t work). Maybe you’ll find that one (like online training) generates enough revenue for you to focus on it exclusively. Maybe you’ll find that another (like teaching group classes at 6 a.m.) doesn’t pay well enough for you to continue. Maybe you’ll have so much success with one demographic or style of training that you’ll decide to create and sell a product related to it.

But don’t feel you have  to add revenue streams. Some of the most successful businesses in the world offer only one or two products. A sharp focus lets you excel at one thing. Sometimes that’s better than being kinda good at several.

READ ALSO:   Avoid These Mistakes When Building an Online Training Business

Jot down all the expenses you need to run your business: rent, equipment, insurance, software, business license, and any administrative fees. Add it all up, and you get your operating costs, the minimum income you need to exist. Keep in mind that some percentage of that income will go to taxes .

Now tackle revenue projections. Make a high-low chart, with one column for worst-case scenario, and another for best-case.

Your best-case scenario is what would happen if you absolutely crushed it, and kept a full book of paying clients all year. Your worst-case is the opposite, the least amount you would make if things don’t go according to plan.

Comfortable with those numbers? If not, rejigger the plan until you are.

READ ALSO:   How Your “Freedom Number” Can Give You the Opportunity to Fail

At Fitness Revolution  (where I work), we have something called the Triple-A Marketing Method : Assets, Arsenal, Action plan. Here’s how it works.

• Start with your assets—your skills, talents, and strengths. Maybe you’re really good at videos, or you’re great face to face.
• Now determine your arsenal, the tools you’ll use to deploy those skills. If videos are your thing, social media might be the way you share them. If talking to people is your strength, focus on networking.
• Finally, create an action plan, taking care to define exactly how often you’ll deploy those resources. Maybe you’ll post a new video every week, or attend a networking event once a month.

Over time, you’ll refine this section as you figure out what works and what doesn’t. But this is a good start.

There’s a reason why, in Step 4, I had you draw up a worst-case scenario alongside your sunniest projection. Too many personal trainers are overly optimistic, and write up business plans that assume things will always be awesome.

The problem with projecting 365 days of sunshine is that you’ll be blinded by the imagined glare. You won’t be ready for the bootcamps that get rained out, the clients who move on, the rent that goes up, or the car that breaks down.

Try pretending it’s your friend’s business plan. What would you say to that friend? Even better: Seek feedback from a fitness industry mentor or someone whose business advice you value. A neutral expert can give you much-needed perspective on the realities of running a business in an often-unpredictable world.

That brings us to risk. How much risk is written into your plan, and how much can you tolerate?

If you’re just starting out, your risk tolerance is probably pretty high, simply because you have less to lose. You could also pivot and try something else if your plan doesn’t work out.

But as your business grows, and you have more people who depend on you, the decisions will be harder, and your appetite for risk will probably drop.

Ready to get started? Click here to download our free Personal Trainer Business Plan worksheet.

What happens now?

A business plan is never complete. Even if you never need a detailed, professional version for investors, and you’re the only one who ever sees it, it’s still something you revisit as needed.

Every time your business shifts direction, your financial outlook changes, or you launch a new product, you’ll need to revisit your business plan.

But you don’t have to wait for a major change. Even a successful plan will eventually run its course, and need to be updated. If you think it’s time to revisit your plan, you’re probably right.

David Crump

David Crump is a personal trainer, industry-recognized speaker, and fitness business consultant who helps other fitness professionals grow their business. He is the training and content manager for Fitness Revolution, where he oversees continuing education and all things start-up related. He has helped open at least seven independent fitness facilities in addition to his own, which he ran for six years. You can keep up with him at his website or on Facebook .

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Personal Training Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Personal Training Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their personal training companies. We have the experience, resources, and knowledge to help you create a great business plan.

In this article, you will learn some background information on why business planning is important. Then, you will learn how to write a personal training business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

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What is a Personal Training Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your personal training business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategies for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Personal Training Business

If you’re looking to start a personal training business or grow your existing personal training company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your personal training business to improve your chances of success. Your personal trainer business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Personal Training Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a personal training business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and angel investors. When it comes to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to ensure that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for personal training companies.

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How to Write a Business Plan for a Personal Training Business

If you want to start a personal training business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. The business plan outline below details the necessary information for how to write each essential component of your personal training business plan.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of personal training business you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a personal training business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of personal training businesses?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan.

• Give a brief overview of the personal training industry.
• Discuss the type of personal training business you are operating.
• Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers.
• Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team.
• Offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Overview

In your company overview, you will detail the type of personal training business you are operating.

For example, you might specialize in one of the following types of personal training businesses:

• Mobile personal trainer: This type of business involves traveling to the client’s home, a park, or another location that is convenient for the client to provide personal training sessions.
• In-home personal trainer: This type of business is operated out of the trainer’s own home. This type of business may be great for trainers that have their own equipment.
• Online personal trainer: This type of business involves providing training one-on-one or group sessions online live or via pre-recorded webinars.
• Gym trainer: This type of personal training business operates out of a gym that allows the trainer to work with their own clients at the gym.

In addition to explaining the type of personal training business you will operate, the company overview needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of clients served, the number of sessions provided with positive outcomes, reaching $X amount in revenue, etc.
• Your legal business Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the personal training industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the personal training industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your marketing strategy, particularly if your analysis identifies market trends.

The third reason is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your personal trainer business plan:

• How big is the personal training industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential target market for your personal training business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your personal trainer business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: individuals, schools, families, and corporations.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of personal training business you operate. Clearly, individuals would respond to different marketing promotions than corporations, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the potential customers you seek to serve.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can recognize and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other personal training businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t directly competing with your product or service. This includes other types of trainers, coaches, gyms, and fitness programs. You need to mention such competition as well.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their business and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What type of personal training business are they?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you make it easier for clients to acquire your services?
• Will you offer products or services that your competition doesn’t?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a personal training business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of personal training company that you documented in your company overview. Then, detail the specific products or services you will be offering. For example, will you provide lifestyle training, boot camps, or performance training services?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your plan, you are presenting the products and/or services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the site of your personal training company. Document where your company is situated and mention how the site will impact your success. For example, is your personal training business located in a busy retail district, a business district, a standalone gym, or purely online? Discuss how your site might be the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions : The final part of your personal training marketing plan is where you will document how you will drive potential customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertise in local papers, radio stations and/or magazines
• Reach out to websites
• Distribute flyers
• Engage in email marketing
• Advertise on social media platforms
• Improve the SEO (search engine optimization) on your website for targeted keywords

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your personal training business, including answering calls, planning and providing training sessions, billing customers and collecting payments, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to book your Xth session, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your personal training business to a new city.

Management Team

To demonstrate your personal training business’ potential to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing personal training businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing a personal training business or successfully running a small fitness class.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenue and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you see 5 clients per day, and/or offer group training sessions? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your personal training business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a lender writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and ensure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

When creating your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a personal training business:

• Cost of equipment and supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Other start-up expenses (if you’re a new business) like legal expenses, permits, computer software, and equipment

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your gym location lease or testimonials from happy customers.

Personal Training Business Plan Template PDF

You can download our personal training business plan PDF to help you get started on your own business plan.  

Writing a business plan for your personal training business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will understand the personal training industry, your competition, and your customers. You will develop a marketing strategy and will understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful personal training business.  

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Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.   See how a Growthink business planning advisor can create your business plan for you.  

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Personal Training Business Plan: Example & Template

Written by Megan Williams

What is a personal training business plan?

A personal training business plan is useful for any personal trainers wanting to go solo and set up their own personal training business. Putting together a personal training business plan will ensure you cover all the key events and information you need to successfully launch your personal training business. 

In this handy article, we have outlined detail of the different elements within a personal training business plan along with a downloadable template that you can start building on straight away. Our aim is to provide you with all the elements you need to be successful in kick-starting your personal training business and service.

Why do you need a personal training business plan?

Having a personal training business plan will make the process of starting any personal training business smoother. This may include opening your own personal training studio , becoming a self-employed personal trainer or freelancing for a gym. It can become very easy to quickly start working with clients and avoid planning out the bigger picture.  

Banks or Investors

If you need additional funding to get started with your personal training business , being prepared to showcase your full personal training business plan to potential investors or banks will put you in a better position. In both cases, you are looking to persuade these people to invest in your fitness business, if they can’t see a clear plan mapped out on why you are worth the investment you may be unsuccessful in achieving the investor or funding. This provides potential investors with the step by step process on how you are planning to get your personal trainer services running.

Approaching this situation with a fully mapped out personal trainer business plan shows that you have thought through all possible elements of the business strategically with evidence on how you have got to this stage to be successful in the fitness industry.

Self Motivation

If you are looking to become self-employed and go out in the fitness world as an independent personal training business has a well thought out plan in place that will keep you on track with your own personal business goals. Spending some valuable time putting together a personal training business plan will be beneficial in the long run to keeping yourself on track, this can be a document you constantly refer back to. A personal training business plan will be what continues to drive you to achieve your ultimate business goals.

Summary & Pitching

The first section will be a summary of your overall business plan which will include business goals/aims, what the business does and any financial projections. The best way to approach this section is to complete it last once you have completed all the research for you to summarise. The purpose of this summary is to outline your business at a quick glance for somebody to understand your main goal and outcome.

Pitching your personal training business plan

A personal training business plan pitch will include a brief summary of what you do and what you are aiming to achieve. In your pitch, you should include your aims and objectives as a business, an overview of financial forecasts, business plan ideas and identify your USP.

The pitch should only be a few sentences long and ensure it is all relevant material avoiding any repetition or filler. The idea of the pitch is to attract your listener, an indicator of a successful pitch is your listen asking questions or wanting to know more about your pt business plan.

Personal background

This section is to outline your own personal background this section will help you outline your strengths and potential weaknesses for listeners to understand. 

Use your experience and expertise to boost credentials

Your qualification and experience will have high value in this section with the opportunity to showcase how you have educated yourself and the route you have followed. If you have undertaken additional studies including continuous professional development courses, this is a good place to showcase this.

This is also a good opportunity to identify any training you may need to still undertake to work on yourself, this demonstrates that you have a focus on personal growth and are planned for this. This is a beneficial section to understand for personal growth, working on identifying your own strengths and weaknesses will highlight any sections of the business you may need additional support or training in prior to starting.

Product or service

Personal training is positioned as a service business as you do not sell a physical product, you offer time and experience to your client’s fitness journey. In this section, you will highlight your core service, will you just be offering personal training sessions or is there an option to build out nutrition meal plans? Use this opportunity to explain your service in detail including what you offer the client, how you plan to deliver the service and any resources needed for this.

Outline your USP

In this section, it is also important that you highlight what makes you different and how your knowledge, experience and background has created a USP for your personal training service.

In order to be successful in launching your personal training business, you would need to have an in-depth understanding of the market you are entering. This includes carrying out market research within the potential clients operate in. After this point you will be able to build out a marketing strategy based on your understanding of the client market, this will ensure you are marketing your business in the most effective way.

Target Market research

Gathering marketing research is the process that helps determine the success of your new service which is conducted in line with your potential clients. Market research is carried out by companies to discover their target market in more detail by gathering opinions and feedback on particular interests.

To carry out successful market research you should gather information which providers you insights on the following:

• Current behavioural habits of your clients?
• How big is the personal training market?
• How much competition is there?
• What are the buying habits of your potential clients?
• Current market trends for pt businesses?

Create a marketing strategy

Once you have completed your market research you will be in a good position to map out your marketing plan strategically. Your marketing plan is a huge contributing factor to running a successful business, without this potential clients will not come across your business which impacts revenue and profit. 

When creating a marketing strategy you may find the cost can be daunting, however, you should consider marketing as a personal business investment for which you calculate the return on investment as this is essential to your business success. Whilst you are going to have to invest money into marketing, there are also options that aren’t as costly to include within your strategy such as word of mouth, attending networking events and running social media accounts. Marketing has a direct impact on your business which is why it is essential to ensure you cover everything you can to benefit from the market share. For this reason, we have covered everything you need to know to build out a marketing plan with our beginner’s guide to personal trainer marketing and advertising.

Competitor analysis

Competitor analysis is a good exercise to complete to ensure you are entering the market in a strong position. To complete a detailed competitor analysis you should carry out thorough research into who your competitors are, their service, their location, their pricing and their strengths and weaknesses. 

Once you have completed this, you should complete a swot analysis on your own personal training business compared to competitors within the market. Doing this will help you identify any pain points you may have as well as a USP which will prove to be a strength within the fitness training business.

Operations & logistics

Operation and logistics are a fundamental part of the business particularly for those setting up their own personal training studio or personal trainer freelancing . This includes evaluating elements of the business operations such as training space and location, suppliers of gym equipment, how to sustain your equipment and any additional products you may need to operate successfully as a business.

Understanding inventory & logistics

This section applies to individuals who are looking to set up their own personal training studio , you should use this area to cover details on where you will be delivering your personal training service, what locations, the facilities you will be using and how you regular sustain any equipment or software.

If you are planning on becoming a freelance personal trainer who is working within different gyms, this section may not be applicable to you as it focuses on how your service will be sourced and delivered.

Pricing strategy

A pricing strategy will help you work out what profit margins you are working towards and understand at what point you will break even and start making money once you have factored in the costs and investment.

When figuring out your price point you need to consider the business needs and client needs, if you are just starting out as a personal training business performing at a higher-end price point is likely to penalise the business success. You need to choose a price which is going to accommodate the business operations as well as appeal to potential clients.

Cost & expenditure planning

As the final part of your personal training plan, you will need to calculate the cost and expenditure involved in how you are planning to operate. This will include calculating gym rent, advertising and marketing, legal costs, personal training equipment, personal training studio rent or gym rent.

Pt business plan: Template

To make the process easier we have put together a personal training business plan template for you to download and use. This template provides the all-important sections needed to create a detailed pt business plan to help you set up your fitness business for success.

Personal Training Business Template – Download Now

Personal trainer business plan conclusion

Writing a pt business plan may seem like a long and daunting task when first faced with it, however completing this is a valuable exercise for your success as a personal training business. As business owners, it is important that this plan is revisited and revised when applicable to ensure your business path and goals are continuously on track and up to date. 

Cash flow may seem slow when getting started but with a plan as detailed as this in place, you will be prepared which will motivate and push you into improving your revenue streams. It is important to remember you are a new business and you are likely to face challenges but just take them head-on and create a learning hurdle from them knowing you have a strong business plan in place. Spend hours completing a personal training business plan to make a worthwhile investment in your personal time and energy later on down the line.

Personal Training Business Plan With Examples & Templates

Published by caroline @ wellness creative co on 14 june 2023 14 june 2023.

Writing a personal training business plan can seem a bit daunting. Most PTs love fitness and programming but aren’t so keen on the admin side. The good news is it doesn’t have to be difficult – with the right guidance and some practical examples to follow, it’s actually pretty easy.

In this article – learn how to write a personal training business plan in 7 simple steps (with samples, templates, and a downloadable checklist).

• Why write a business plan?
• 7 key elements
• Templates & examples
• Downloadable PDF checklist

We’re a team of qualified personal trainers and fitness coaches with 15+ years of industry experience , so we know first-hand what works (and what doesn’t!). We’ve trained other fitness professionals in sales, marketing, and business growth, so our strategies are tried and tested.

Why Write a Business Plan?

If you want your personal training business to be successful, then it’s vital to have a plan. It’ll help you secure investor funding or a business loan , which many PTs require in order to get off the ground.

But even if you don’t need the start-up finances, writing a plan makes you more likely to succeed. In fact, research shows that business plans double your chance of success . So, it’s really a no-brainer if you’re serious about being successful.

Here are a few of the reasons why creating a business plan is important…

• It crystallizes abstract thoughts and ideas into something tangible
• Helps you communicate your business concept in a way others will understand easily
• Required to secure funding from investors and banks
• Provides a structured plan to work through
• Helps you decide which areas to spend money on and where not to invest
• Ensures you understand what you’re letting yourself in for in terms of money, time, and effort

Whether you want to go freelance, become a mobile PT, start a personal training studio, or your own gym , you’ll definitely need a plan.

Fitness Business Startup Kit

Everything you need to turn your fitness business idea into a reality!

What To Include In a Personal Training Business Plan

Writing a personal training business proposal might sound daunting but this 7-step guide makes it easy . It’ll walk you through the exact process to follow so you’ll have your plan completed in no time. Here’s an overview of what you need to include…

• Executive summary
• Industry and market analysis
• Business overview
• Services offered
• Sales and marketing strategy
• Financial details
• Implementation plan

Now let’s look at each of these sections in more detail…

1. Executive Summary

Get straight to the point – why should the bank or investors lend your business money? Include your mission, key financial info, and unique selling points. Although it goes at the beginning of your plan, you should prepare this section last.

2. Industry & Local Market Analysis

Demonstrate potential – show that the fitness market and personal training industry are growing and there’ll be a strong demand for your services. Include research statistics, competitor info, and relevant government initiatives.

3. Business Overview

Summarise the business – objectives, location, ownership, legal status, personnel structure, and operations.

4. Services

The fun part – describe the different services you plan to sell including the packages and pricing structure . This could be in-person PT sessions, online programs , specialist workshops, fitness products, etc.

5. Sales & Marketing Strategy

How you’ll attract clients – explain your brand positioning and outline your personal training marketing plan by listing the activities you’ll do to generate revenue , attract clients , and promote your PT business .

Fitness Marketing & Lead Generation Roadmap

Your All-in-One Toolkit to Attract, Engage & Convert More Clients

6. Financial Information

Time to open a spreadsheet – potential investors and banks aren’t just interested in your figures. They’ll want to know how you arrived at those figures so show your calculations. Include breakdowns of profit and loss, cash-flow, breakeven figures, and the capital expenditure needed for start-up. Project 12, 36, and 60 months ahead.

7. Implementation Plan

How you’ll make it happen – provide a step-by-step list of actions you’ll take, including milestone dates.

You might also like… 50 Catchy Personal Training Business Name Ideas or How To Promote a Fitness Business .

Free Fitness Marketing Guide

Learn which fitness marketing strategies produce the best results (so you can focus on what actually works).

Personal Trainer Business Plan Examples & Templates

Looking at a personal training business plan sample can be really helpful as it puts these sections into context. Reviewing examples will give you ideas for how to create and present your own plan.

You obviously don’t want to copy another plan since the details will be unique to your business. But the following example plans can be a useful reference for personal trainers…

• Dragon Fitness Training  produced this interesting personal trainer business plan as an academic exercise.
• Catalyst Fitness  created this CrossFit business plan with a detailed risk assessment.
• Launceston City Council created this aquatic center and health club business plan.
• The Yoga Lunch Box  offers a comprehensive yet easy-to-read fitness business template.

Creating a business plan is 100% worth the time and effort . It helps you validate demand, maximise profitability, and identify any potential pitfalls early.

This plan will be your playbook for the next 3-5 years so don’t rush the process. It’ll help you secure investor funding or a bank loan if you want to go down this route. Considering how you’ll acquire paying clients and manage cash flow now will ensure you’re well-prepared for life as a fitness business owner.

You might also like… How To Grow a Personal Training Business or The Ultimate Yoga Business Planning Guide & Template .

Downloadable Checklist & More Templates

The best way to write a business plan is to work on it in bite-size chunks . Trying to get the whole thing done in one go is the quickest route to overwhelm.

So, we recommend working on one section each day. This will enable you to complete the whole thing within a week, with zero stress or hassle . To make things easy, we created a handy PDF checklist that walks you through the 7 sections.

You can download it as part of our Fitness Business Start-Up Kit . It includes marketing plan templates, business name ideas, sales scripts, and loads more resources.

Caroline @ Wellness Creative Co

Qualified personal trainer (BSc Sports Science) & nutritionist (MSc Human Nutrition) with 15+ years of fitness & wellness marketing experience working with global brands.

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