One of the greatest ideas I’ve heard from people in my family that I’ve asked for financial advice is making money from niches that never go away. I have been into education for the longest and that is a niche that will never go away. People will always be learning. Another one of these niches of humanity is health & fitness. People will always need to find ways of taking care of their wellbeing. Having a bit of knowhow in this environment can very well be the catalyst of your next six figure idea.
If you have a great love of fitness, whether as a professional or just as someone who loves to stay healthy, you have a good chance of making money. There are many ways you can expand on your current endeavors, or start small.
1. Become a Personal Trainer
This is the most obvious one. During 2020’s events I was very impressed to see how many people were able to turn their passion for fitness into steady income by joining the field of training. This year also opened the door to efficiency by allowing more people to become comfortable with the idea of paying for and participating in class remotely. You can also go the in-person route and find success that way.
To start the proper way you need to get certified, because only in this way can you build trust with the gym you want to work in and with the clients you want to work with.
After certification, it is very important that you specialize in one area. Usually it is usually one that you feel interested in, or one that is popular as well. From this point you can start applying to local gyms and fitness centers to begin coaching.
Another tip is to train in several gyms, since this way you can expand your network of clients and make sure you do not run the risk of losing clients, but on the contrary, gain more.
Funny short story, while I worked as a teacher I used to go to the park around my neighborhood and play basketball. Many of my students would go there as well, and take advantage of the environment to push their dear teacher around a bit. (It’s just basketball right?) But one day a parent of my kid saw me there, and took the chance to ask me (as an already trusted adult) to provide physical training for her daughter. I worked with her for about 4 weeks @ 3 days per week. I was young and didn’t really take this opportunity seriously, but I was able to make $100. That was $100 for 12 hrs of work while having no experience whatsoever. Now imagine what you could do with a couple more clients, a bit more experience, and promoting yourself as a true business.
2. Selling Workouts
The most important part of this idea is creating a following or fan base that already trusts you and will be willing to purchase your products. If you look the part, social media will be your best friend as you can garner a following quite quickly through visual appeal. In addition to that, engaging the audience with your knowledge and explanations of complex topics can be a way to create that client base.
After you have fed the need, you can create a digital product in the form of videos or PDF plans and then sell them through your own website, an online store, or a platform such as Sellfy.
3. Custom Meal Plans
Well this one is a bit tough specially if you live in the US or any other country that relies heavily on certification to be able to do certain jobs. In any case you can take your culinary and fitness expertise and blend that with your tech knowhow and create a plan for your clients taking into account personal factors such as goals, age, weight, and taste.
This takes a bit more time (than an ebook) as you will be working hand in hand with an individual on his or her personal needs. It also means you can capitalize a bit more on each customer as you are providing a perfect fit for them.
I did participate in something like this for myself. The nutritionist (she is certified) performed a complete analysis of my body composition and had me provide her with blood-work results as well as share my goals and habits. Using that information she created a meal plan that would go with my schedule, time availability and workout goals. This was the fastest I ever lost weight and I never felt hungry. It was like magic. Her services were $90 for the initial analysis and eating plan and $50 for each follow up meeting.
4. Start a Blog
Not the quickest option but just like creating a following on social media, creating a blog allows you the same benefits and much greater control of how this material is monetized. The most lucrative part of this blog would be your ability to offer personal services, create paid membership benefits, ad space, affiliate marketing, being a brand ambassador, and do some things I might be missing here.
The only requirement: being able to put in the time and deal with low to no income for the first year.
5. Writing about Fitness
Well if you are not keen on owning an entire blog, that doesn’t take away the opportunity to do some writing and generate income from it. With so many fitness journals, websites, magazines, and other blogs, writers are in hot demand and can command between $25-$60 an hour.
Gig platforms such as Fiverr and Upwork can help you make this even easier.
6. Giving Seminars and Online Workshops
Fitness isn’t just about sweating, and you know that well. Preparing seminars is another way to publicize your brand, improve your network of clients, and even make money. You could contact local businesses, schools and communities to offer your services, at no cost or with special rates.
These presentations can focus on discussing fitness in relation to the needs of each group. For example, you can talk about postures and workout scheduling for business people. You could discuss ways that older people can stay healthy and active in a retreat.
You could also talk to children about the risks of unhealthy lives. The more things you know, the more benefits your brand can have.
7. Group Classes
Group classes are different from personal training. However, it doesn’t mean that you can’t make money out of it. This type of training may seem like an obvious choice: more people, more money, right?
This is not always the case, as group rates are often lower than individual rates. However, having this type of training has its advantages:
First, it allows you to be in front of many people, which undoubtedly allows you to expand your personal brand.
Second, it allows you to promote extra services such as training sessions, diet and nutritional plans, your products and more.
Third, it allows you to expand your skill set by offering a variety of classes, to a variety of people. You could organize classes for kids or seniors, CrossFit, and other short classes for busy professionals.
I remember there was a park nearby my place where a lady would go out every morning and lead a yoga class. At first she started by collecting payments in a pay what you want structure. Later on she built a larger following and changed the structure to provide her with a larger income. You could easily do this too. (Check with your local government about the ability to gather in a park and charge people for fitness work and if any certifications or permits need to be acquired prior)
8. Selling Fitness Products
If you are heavily into fitness you probably have purchased a few things here and there to help you with your own goals. If you are buying then there must be others like you, right? How about selling to them? Not only do you look the part but you also have had personal experience with these devices. What better candidate than you to get others on board.
The possibilities for fitness products are endless. You can find some examples below:
- Battle Ropes
- Weights
- Workout Benches
- Fitness Trackers
- Workout/Weight-loss supplements
- Workout mats
You could sell an existing product or create your own. The most important thing is to get the product out there in the eyes of potential clients. I remember pre-pandemic a group of friends and I took this free boxing class during a weekend morning. During the class it was more of a rhythm and movement based class. At the end of the class the trainer gave people the chance to practice the moves with a punching bag and gloves. The purpose of the class all along had been to prep potential clients to purchase these gloves and punching bag to get their sweat on at home or to participate in more advanced classes. Brilliant!
9. Create an E-book
Get the one thing you know the most about and create an ebook. This can easily become part of a collection or a series later, but at first just focus on pushing out that first product. At the moment digital products are a popular staple in the fitness industry right now and there are several different topics you can cover. From the science of nutrition to diet-specific recipes, you can take your ebook in any direction or even create a whole series focusing on different aspects of fitness.
Make sure to create a great cover, have professionally taken pictures and deliver quality content to your future clients as this will become your first contact with many potential long term clients.
10. Create a Fitness App
I left this one for last because it’s the most difficult but most rewarding. At this point any activity can be turned into an app. We have apps that track our runs, that guide us through fitness classes, that remind us when to get up and stretch and even when to drink water. If you can think of any particular need someone may have in alignment with their fitness goals, you could create an app that helps them achieve that and get one step closer to the goal.
You can incorporate one, some, or all kinds of features into your app and then use them as a way to generate income, both passive and active!
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