OK.
I decided to try something a little different and give you some tips on making money.
Long story short, I was poor for a brief period of time in college. Like, not sure if that $3.42 charge at the Walmart for lube (lube… for my car) is going to get declined or not, poor.
It sucked and was a low point in my life. However, when I graduated I was making $35 an hour living a college dream.
Our Weekly Motivation:
Here's how I did it:
1. Find Something You Actually Care About
After my first semester, I found myself going to the gym everyday. Sometimes, even going at 5:30am before classes. My friends thought I had killed one too many brain cells and started formulating well-deserved Jersey Shore insults. But I didn't care, I enjoyed it.
It didn’t take too long to click and realize I could probably teach people how to do this. Also, people seem to need help. For example: These People
2. Think Outside the Box
I decided the next logical step was to train people at the gym. I knew a trainer who worked for the college gym and asked him about it. I was excited until he told me that the gym takes about 85% of the cut.
Fuck that. I decided I would find another way and train people at the local track.
If you want to make money, you need to ignore the status quo and look for alternatives. The average annual raise is 3% a year in corporate America, while the rate of inflation increases by 2.5-3.5%. It doesn't take Stephen Hawking to figure out you're not really going anywhere.
3. Know Your Target Market
I asked myself, who would want to train? Who has the money on campus to train? Really, the only realistic options to start were to choose between rich dudes in frats or sorority girls… It was such a difficult decision.
All I did was ask one of my friends to leave a message on her forum about my training. She did this while vouching that a confident 99% of the time, I wasn't a rapist.
That day, my phone was BLOWING UP with cute sorority girls wanting to train. I knew this would happen. The thing to remember with women is that is you have a female who will voulch for you, other girls will implicitly trust you. Know your target market.
4. Start from the Bottom
I started at $10 an hour training 1-2 people at a time. In comparison to what the local gym charged ($30), I was cheap.
You can't expect to start at the top. There's a learning curve sharper than the slant on that one guy's junk in high school. You remember that poor guy. At my school, we called him Captain Hook.
5. Deliver On Your Promises and Admit When You Fuck Up
You are your product, especially with a service business like mine. It's important that you deliver. This should go without saying, but some people don't get it.
You will make mistakes. If I missed a session (which only happened once or twice), I would give the clients two free training sessions. It was a two way swing against me, but you need to take the consequences when you make mistakes.
6. Gather Results – Bandwagon Theory
When people like your product, business, or whatever, you need to make sure and step out and ask for reviews. My biggest regret so far has been not gathering reviews sooner because you can create an “everybody's doing it” effect.
This can be awkward, but you need to be ok with that. If they liked your product and like you, 90% of the time they will hand you some dilapidated paragraph about how awesome you are. Edit it, get their approval, and show the world how awesome you are.
7. Don’t Ask for Oermission, Beg for Forgiveness
This part will anger some of you, but for the first 6 months of training I didn't have a certification. My business was about as legal as carrying a Colt 45 into the White House.
I got my certifications a few months later, but my clients didn’t even care. I'm not trying to encourage illegal activities, but people are TERRIFIED to start something when they feel they are not “qualified” or have not “arrived.” Step out and stop asking for permission.
8. Make a Free Website
Here's the one I used to sell my training: HERE
It's a piece of shit, but it worked. Just having one will set you ahead of the curve just like the personal website I use as my business card: HERE
You will need to advertise, and what I did was simply post ads on Craigslist with my website link attached. I know Craigslist seems shady, but I would get hundreds of views and calls and I only ever dealt with ONE meth-head.
9. You're Worth More Than You Think
I was nervous when I bumped my hourly fee from $10 an hour to $35 an hour. You may be thinking – That's a pretty steep jump, dude.
It definitely was, but value is perception. How you perceive how valuable you are is how others will respond to you. It does not matter whether it is in business or with women. For example: If you don’t think you deserve a 10, I can promise you'll never get one.
10. Keep Moving
One of my personal pet peeves is that people search for employment alternatives ONLY when they lose their job or might lose their job.
You are your most valuable when you are employed. You need to constantly be searching for the next step up. How is the world do you think I got a job as a corporate trainer at the age of 23? I'm not more qualified, better looking, or more personable than other trainers in the Dallas area.
It's because I kept moving.
See you next week bros,
Alex Nerney — Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Lord of BroScience.
Follow Alex Nerney's twitter HERE.
College Guys, Check out his ebook program for guy's fitness HERE.
College Girls, chech out his ebook program for girl's fitness HERE.
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