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Jimmy: Hi, we are talking to fitness professionals today. My name is Jimmy, and this is my friend Philip, a personal trainer from New York City. We are going to give you some tips about things we see with fitness professionals that bug us. Hopefully they will help you out.
Philip: Absolutely.
Jimmy: So Philip, thanks for taking the time, because I think this is a really important subject. You are a personal trainer in New York City, correct?
Philip: Yes.
Jimmy: Tell me a little bit about why you wanted to become a trainer in the first place.
About Philip Anthony Hartshorn
Philip: Well, fitness has always been a huge part of my life, and being an athlete in college, and that being done with, I had this void in my life where I didn’t get to compete anymore, I was always surrounded by fitness and kind of took it for granted. So it just really filled that void for me, and I was not only able to spend time with people who loved fitness, but tone them, lose weight, become stronger. Change their lives.
Jimmy: Cool, so I think that is great. I think a lot of people want to get into it because they dig fitness, obviously for themselves, but they want to help other people. What have you found now as a trainer in New York City, what has been frustrating? What has been maybe not all that it was advertised to be? What do you find frustrating about being a trainer?
Philip: The biggest issue, and all my trainer friends agree, is client retention. The problem with being a personal trainer is you only have so many hours in the day. Therefore, you have to charge a standard price for a personal trainer, which is in New York City, and most places, $100, $150, $200 an hour in some cases. The problem is, in some cases with your clients, is that you can help them out for that hour, but what are they doing for the rest of the week? What are they doing the rest of the day? Are they eating right? Are they doing this, are they doing that? Do they have a guide that they can follow when they are not with you. As much as I love to get paid and pay my bills, I almost feel bad charging $100 an hour because there is only so much I can do.
Jimmy: I have also seen trainers that in order to just pay their bills, they have clients literally from like 5 am to 8 or 9 o clock at night. But, like you said, there are only so many hours in the day. So, you have just put a ceiling on your business by saying, “I can only serve this many people.” I also see it in the group exercise world, you know, the people that are teaching classes. They are exhausted after so many classes, but that is what they have to do to pay their rent. That’s frustrating.
Philip: Absolutely. The original notion was to help people; so, at the end of the day you can only help ten people? So that is all well and good, but then you sort of become friends with those people, and you become very close to them, but it really is not the “change the world” mission I started out with.
Jimmy: Cool, so recently you decided that you were going to become a Team Beachbody coach, and we are on the same team. It is something I have been doing for a little while. It is funny because, and I love to listen to trainers talk about this, I think there are a lot of trainers out there that don’t see that as a complementary piece. Did you have some preconceived notions before you got involved?
Philip: Absolutely. This is coming from someone who has used Beachbody products. I drank Shakelogoy. I have done P90x to put on muscle. And still I had this sort of air for a lot of trainers who have a lot of pride, I will be the first one to say it, we think we are hot stuff. We think we are really strong, but it is our lives, so we take it pretty seriously. But, here’s the thing. A lot of bodybuilders and fitness competitors, I won’t say elitist, but they are hi ho fitness. And they think home workouts aren’t the right thing.
We love working out 2 or 3 hours a day. It is our thing. We love the culture; we love the people. That is what we do. But, at the end day, I’ve worked out with Tony Horton, years ago. The guy is 56, and I was 22 at the time, and he blew me to dust. This guy is a philosopher of fitness. He has helped millions of people and a household name. At the end of the day, Beachbody is world class fitness, and you can’t get around it. It is not the craziest thing you have ever seen in body building, but it has helped millions of people, and it is changing the world of fitness.
How Beachbody Can Help Your Business
Jimmy: So we have trainers who are obviously watching this; how has it helped your business? A lot of people look at it as direct competition. Share with us how it has actually benefited you in your business as a trainer, with your clients that are local and people that are not with you in New York City.
Philip: So, my thing was I moved from upstate New York down to the city. I had a pretty decent client base up there, sort of a huge following of people that looked at me as, “He is that guy that runs. He is that guy who is in shape. He is the right stuff.” All that was left upstate. I made a decision; there are more people in the city, so I will go down there. I left all those people behind. I can’t access that market at all. I can’t access the rest of the United States either; it is just New York City, it is just this bubble, but it is not exactly changing the world.
So, what I discovered is with Beachbody, as I mentioned earlier, I maybe have ten clients. That stretches me thin man. I don’t sleep very well. If I tried to do ten clients in a day, and still didn’t get to that last person. Beachbody gave me a way to help people from all around the country. Not only did they allow me to find these people and expand my business and my income, but they gave me customers. They gave me leads. And that is something that is sort of our biggest thing. How do you gain new customers; how do you invite people? With a session you are either stuck at one gym, or you put flyers on the street, or you do all these things that zap your time and energy. Beachbody is giving it to you. For doing well, it is such a great system.
Jimmy: Let’s say you have a client that can only afford you once a week, or twice a week. And you are going to put them on this program. I have always looked at it as you are adding more value to that client, therefore they are going to be more loyal to you, and still do sessions with you. They are going to ask, “What is the meal plan? What supplements should I take?” Instead of sending them to the health food place down the street, where you are not really sure about the quality, you’re not getting the kick back, putting them in Beachbody Supplements works. The whole system all works together.
Philip: It all helps you out in the end. Beach Body is paying me to put people on their supplements. Not only have I used them, but I trust them every single day of my life, so I can feel very comfortable recommending them. But I am also getting a kickback for that. I am also getting commission. So it is sort of the circle of life. It helps you out. Besides that, the best part is this; I asked this question earlier, what are these people doing the rest of the week? I don’t know if they are eating McDonalds; I don’t know what the heck they are doing. And say someone missed a session that can only afford one a week. So then, two weeks later, I see this poor person, and they don’t know what is going on. They can only totally rely on me, and two weeks have gone by.
So the best thing about Beachbody is I can get them on a world class work out – Tony Horton, hello! Put them on that, three, four, five days a week and they come visit me. Then I say, “OK, so you want to get to the advanced training stuff; well I have been having you work on your dynamic flexibility; did that work for you? How do you feel?” Ok, this and that. “Ok, so we are going to do some foam rolling today, to work out some soft tissue restrictions that you may have felt from that.” And then from there we move on to the most advanced techniques, instead of just being able to get in the basics if I only see them once or twice a week.
Jimmy: They are going to have better form if they are going back and doing their homework. They still need to check in with you on a regular basis. The other point I wanted to make also is the clients that you have don’t lose you completely if they move. I am Beachbody through and through, but I still have a trainer I go to on a regular basis. If I ever move, that trainer would have just lost me as a client forever. With Beachbody, I can still have a relationship with that trainer I trust. They can still work with me, and still earn an income that they deserve, even though I move or job situation changes, and I couldn’t afford that hourly rate anymore.
Philip: Totally. This is something that a lot of trainers will lead to: online training. And they are charging ridiculous amount of money. I have seen online plans, for contests and stuff, for like $3,000. Beachbody is so affordable; it is so accessible for people that have never lifted a weight in their life.
Jimmy: Yea, and some of those things are just one time. That trainer only sells that meal plan once, but Beachbody allows us to make some residual income as well.
Philip: Absolutely. They treat you well; I can tell you a lot better than any job I have ever walked into. That is why I walked away from gyms. I was able to try my own clients because Beachbody does not take 90% of your income, so like I said, they treat you very well.
Why Partner With Beachbody?
Jimmy: So, in wrapping this up. If there was a trainer sitting here that was kind of on the bubble… maybe they love what they do, but they just aren’t making ends meet and they feel like they are a slave to what they created, and they are not sure whether they should get involved as a Beachbody coach… what would you say to that person?
Philip: I would say, “Remember why you signed up. Why you do this. Yes, you want to pay the bills, but you really want to help people. If you really want to do that, and you want to pay the bills, andyou don’t want to be stretched thin everyday, and you don’t want to be working 12 hour days, just so you can sleep for your 4 am or 5:30 am class, whatever it is, this is for you. Listen to me on this, because I had a problem with this, put your pride aside for one little second and say OK, I am not king of fitness world.” I would say, “Tony Horton is awesome, but what is a true testament to that? It’s not how much weight he can lift, but how he has helped millions of people.” If I had done that, I would be pretty happy with myself. So, look at it like that.
Jimmy: Last thing: do you feel like somebody can continue to build their person brand, as a trainer individually, and still partner with Beachbody products?
Philip: Absolutely. I have my brand, Dash Eternity Training, that I have been working with. It has gotten more interest. People know my name better now because I partnered with Beachbody. I am not a Beachbody employee, and I don’t go to the Beachbody office everyday, or the Beachbody gym, and sitting there all day and only getting clients that walk into that gym like we have to do as trainers. I am not going to bother you in the gym until I know you are actually going to sign up now. No, they are sending us clients. Like I said, it’s beautiful.
Jimmy: Nice
Philip: If I can say one thing, it’s put your pride aside. It is what it is. It has changed my entire business. And people know my name more now.
Jimmy: Dude that was crazy helpful. It totally makes sense. And I think that is going to benefit a lot of trainers or Group X people that have been really frustrated. So, hopefully this made some sense to you if you are teaching group exercise classes or you are a personal trainer, and you are tired of just spinning your wheels and not making ends meet or just being a slave to what you love. If it makes sense to you, and you want to get started, we are excited to work with you. That is what we do now; we help other people change what they do. So, all you need to do to work with us is simply contact us. Philip, thank you for your time,
Philip: Absolutely Jimmy. Like Jimmy said, we are glad to help.
Jimmy: Awesome, we are looking forward to hearing from you and take care.
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