Guide

Going independent as a personal trainer, without losing clients.

By Jason Odell, founder of RiseForIt

Before you leave a gym, line up enough clients to cover your rent, and build the one thing the gym was doing for you: bringing in new people. Independent trainers earn more per session, but they become their own marketing and sales department, and that's where most of them stall.

What the gym was really giving you

Gyms keep a big share of what clients pay, sometimes most of it. What you got for that was walk-ins, a front desk and a manager doing the marketing. I watched trainers leave to go on their own and come back months later. One built a gym in his backyard and came back saying, "I don't know how to get leads."

Before you leave

• Know your number: the clients and price that cover rent and your bills.
• Start posting while you still have the gym's paycheck. Content takes months to work.
• Check your contract before you talk to clients about leaving.
• Build your referral ask and your Google reviews now.
• Decide who handles leads and sales calls when you're training ten hours a day.

After you leave

Treat marketing like a client you train every week. One long video, cut into Shorts, a free tool, a fast reply. Or hand it to someone whose only job is that, so you can train.

Common questions