The Ultimate Guide to Personal Trainer Outsourcing

It takes a lot of advertising, paperwork, and networking to be successful as a PT, and many often utilise personal trainer outsourcing to streamline this process. This not only saves time, but can also boost your revenue and reputation in the process. 

With this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about outsourcing for personal trainers, including:

• What is Personal Trainer Outsourcing?
• What Tasks Should Be Outsourced?
• Tips on Outsourcing Personal Trainer Tasks
• When Should I Outsource?
• The Benefits of Personal Trainer Outsourcing
• FAQ

But before we get started, are you ready to expand your clientele and advertise yourself as an expert personal trainer? If so, OriGym’s Level 5 Personal Training Courses are just the thing to help you get there! 

If you’d like to see the range of courses we have on offer, download our comprehensive prospectus here.

What is Personal Trainer Outsourcing?

Personal trainer outsourcing is a way to have important tasks completed by industry experts in a quick and professional way. This is done by employing someone to do the work for you - this can either be a specialist or a freelancer.

Outsourcing different tasks is essential when developing a business. It’s impossible to be an expert in everything, so hiring people to complete tasks you may be less knowledgeable on is ideal.

It can also help you save money too! The aim is to find someone to complete a task for you at a lower cost than you would pay yourself if you had to provide the service alone. 

According to Payscale, the average hourly rate for a personal trainer in Ireland is €13.11.

For example, if we round this to €13 an hour and you had a task to complete that took three hours, you’d be paying yourself €39 but losing three hours. 

However, if you hire someone to do this task and pay them half the cost, you save money and gain the three hours to do something more important, like train clients or plan sessions.

Doing this means you can use your time more efficiently by working on jobs you’re better suited to. This can help bring more value to paying clients who expect your focus to be on them and their goals.

What Tasks Should Be Outsourced?

Being a successful personal trainer can be a daunting task, especially when you realise how many different things you need to consider. As mentioned above, you don’t have to be an expert in everything. 

While you may have the skills of a personal trainer it’s also important to hire people to complete the tasks you’re not as experienced with.

There are many personal trainer outsourcing tasks you should or can consider delegating to more qualified people, so continue reading to find out what these are!

#1 - Website Building

One of the first personal trainer outsourcing tasks you should look into is having someone design and create a website for your personal training services. If you don’t have a lot of experience building a website, this can be a very time consuming task.

You also want someone who has a good eye for detail and can make your business page look professional and eye-catching. While many people use the internet these days, not all of us know what exactly makes a good website that will increase the dwell time of visitors.

You can use platforms like Fiverr where independent freelancers will do the work for you too. On Fiverr, freelancers set their own rates so, naturally, the more qualified and experienced ones will be more expensive.

When it comes to a website, some simple things that should be on a homepage are:

• Logo and company name
• Directions to key parts of your website
• Business slogan or mission statement
• Clear calls to action (CTAs)
• Correct spelling and grammar
• Matching colour scheme

At OriGym, we use an external web development company called Evoluted to keep our website looking sleek and professional. 

By hiring someone to focus solely on making your website look good means you can dedicate more time to working with clients and training them. Both tasks will be completed without you losing time, money, or clients.

To help increase your ranking on Google, you could also hire someone who has experience with search engine optimization (SEO). 

Alternatively, you could find a company to do this for you too. SeoWorks is a company that offers 20 hours for free, ideal for newer PTs who are just starting out.

Leaving more experienced people to work on the more technical aspects you may be unsure of means you can focus solely on providing a good quality service.

Be sure to check out our article on the best personal training websites for plenty of tips and ideas about what you want your own website to look like.

#2 - Personal Trainer Marketing 

It’s vital for any business to get their marketing right, even more so if you’re trying to build a good client base who you want to keep coming back and continue using your service.

Now, we understand it’s unlikely you became a personal trainer just so you could sit at a computer all day and market yourself to the world. 

However, this is essential for any business, and something you need to dedicate time to if you want to find success. Luckily, there are many different marketing strategies for personal trainers.

As we’ll mention below, a great way to develop your clientele is through social media. You should also create a go-to exercise programme so potential clients can get a taste of exactly what kind of service they would be signing up for. This is a great way to develop your brand. 

A programme should be closely linked and follow the same style as your website and personal training service. Regardless of what your skills and specialties are, it needs to stand out to attract the largest possible group of clients. 

Your website, social media, and any physical advertisements should all follow the same color scheme and style. 

This way, potential clients can recognise the two things are linked, giving your brand a level of professionalism.

People won’t just immediately know your business exists. You have to put yourself out there and market it both online and offline. Word needs to get out that you are taking on new clients and also that the service you provide is the best.

Getting people to take a chance on you and use your service can be very difficult. This is why it’s important to have a website that looks professional, alongside a great personal training service. 

While you may think the things in this list may seem small or unimportant, they are all part of the bigger picture of making your business successful.

#3 - Graphic Design 

Something worth considering is to hire a graphic designer for marketing purposes. Outsourcing for this work is a great idea to make your website or service look smooth and professional. 

They often work in the trade already and will usually complete projects at a low cost, depending on what the project is. Graphic designers can make graphics for your website as well as flyers to advertise your services. However, the cost will largely depend on what exactly you are outsourcing for. 

On websites such as Freelancer Club, a graphic designer usually determines pricing based on their experience, portfolio, and location. 

You may be able to find designers who will for cheap but it depends on how high you want their quality of work to be.

All graphic desingers really need is a printer for any physical advertisements like leaflets or posters and a computer equipped with specialist software such as Adobe Illustrator, Canva, or InDesign).

If you’re hiring them on a freelance basis, it’s likely they will already have these tools available. However, if you’re employing them, you may have to provide this equipment yourself.

Hiring someone to do this work will be valuable for your time as you can guarantee they will work quickly while also doing a good job. 

If you employ someone as a graphic designer, this means you can provide them with more rapid briefs and updates. The graphics can then always be updated, adapting the growing company as it moves forward.

For example, here at OriGym, we have our own in-house graphic design team. This team creates all of the graphics for our website and blog posts, personalizing the content to our brand. 

See how everything is consistent by following the same style? While anyone can try making graphics, posters, or websites, a graphic designer will have an eye for detail and know just what works and what doesn’t.

#4 - Social Media

In this day and age, social media has become an incredibly important aspect of any business. People will often look at a business or service online before actually seeing it in person. This is why it’s vital your online presence reflects the physical business.

Some people may dismiss a social media presence as unnecessary. However, those who are guilty of this are doing themselves a huge disservice. By disregarding social media, you’re potentially losing half of your client base.

Smaller businesses such as Hostelworld are great examples of businesses that have utilized social media in unique and innovative ways.

Social media expert Kim Garst is also a good example of someone using a platform like Instagram in a great way to promote her business. Having frequent posts and interaction is ideal to show potential clients how helpful and responsive you are.

By outsourcing this personal trainer task and finding someone to manage your social media, you could increase your clientele and continue building your business on an online platform. 

While you may believe you can do this yourself, having someone who knows the ins and outs of managing social media can greatly benefit you.

Some of the jobs roles of a social media manager include:

• Creating plans to grow social media
• Planning and scheduling posts
• Outreaching to influencers so they can help advertise the business
• Finding new and entertaining ways to get followers to interact

If these are things you haven’t thought about before, it may be a good idea to try outsourcing this personal trainer business task. While it may be something you’re reluctant to do at first, it will certainly help you get online personal trainer clients and help grow your company.

#5 - Article Writing

A way to get your name out there is to write online blog posts and articles. However, there’s a big difference between a piece of writing and a piece of writing that is well written!

If the name of your business is going to be attached to it, you want it to be written to the highest possible standard.

It’s important to get content out there as a way to increase your clientele. However, this can be very time consuming, especially if you struggle with writing and finding the balance between making an article informative but also entertaining.

For these reasons, it’s best to begin outsourcing this personal trainer task and hire someone to write for you. It’s pretty easy to find a freelance writer who is willing to dedicate their time and create content for you, usually for minimal pay too. 

Also, if they’re aiming to become a fitness writer for major websites, it’s likely they will be grateful to get some of their work out there.

Websites such as Upwork and Fiverr are great platforms to find independent freelancers who will be willing to write content for you. 

However, with these websites always be sure to check their feedback thoroughly to ensure they’re reliable and provide a good service.

The benefits of outsourcing personal trainer tasks like this are that the hours you would have to spend writing pieces yourself can be dedicated to more valuable things. 

The process of writing an article can be a time-consuming process, especially if you’re looking for high-quality work. Writing an article usually involves:

• Researching the topic in as much depth as possible so you have a good idea of what you’re writing about.
• Planning the main points of each section, ensuring all relevant subtopics are included.
• Writing the piece which, if it’s a detailed one, will often be 2000+ words.
• Editing the piece to make sure it flows nicely and makes sense.
• A final proofread to double check for any spelling or grammatical errors you may have missed during editing.

Outsourcing personal trainer tasks such as this means you’ll be hiring someone who can do it in a shorter space of time while also providing a great quality piece of work for your website.

Many people wonder how to start a fitness blog but few can actually do it successfully. This means it’s vital to ensure your blog and articles are as good as they can possibly be.

#6 - Client Management

If you want to grow a successful business and client base, the main thing you need to be is organized. 

As your business grows, you’ll hopefully be dealing with lots of clients. Whether you’re in a gym or starting a fitness business from home, scheduling is key!

While it’s a great thing to have an expanding client base, it can become easy to lose track of the days and double book clients. 

This is something you don’t want to happen as people will begin to believe you’re unreliable and start looking for service elsewhere.

Trying to work as both a full time personal trainer and administration assistant means you won’t be able to give adequate attention to both. Outsourcing this personal trainer task makes it easier to keep track of your clients and ensure the smooth running of your business.

This can either be done manually by a person or virtually through the use of software, something many personal training businesses use. 

A Client Management System (or CMS) is simply software that keeps track of the relationship between a business and all of it’s individual clients. 

Examples of this are apps like Trainerize, which makes it easier for you to communicate with clients, keep track of their progress, and provide them with virtual access to your studio.

Outsourcing this personal trainer business task would take a lot of pressure off you, ensuring you can train clients to the best possible standard. A real or virtual assistant can keep track of scheduling, make it easier for you to train clients online, and let you know how your schedule is looking.

While hiring someone or using a virtual assistant will cost a small fee, it’s certainly worth it if it keeps your business running smoothly. 

#7 - Bookkeeping 

While trust is important when outsourcing any personal trainer tasks, it’s especially important for this next one. You’ll want to spend extra time finding the right person for this job so it may take a little longer to hire someone than when outsourcing other personal training tasks.

Of course, running any business requires money and personal training is no exception! Managing finances can be a stressful job, certainly when it’s for a business. 

You’re not just keeping track of your own personal trainer salary but also different expenses and transactions. All receipts must be kept for reference, you must decide on rates, and there’s also a lot of bank work.

A good thing to do is hire a trustworthy and reliable bookkeeper. Doing this mean you will have someone who will be able to:

• Track the finances of the business
• Keep a record of every receipt for the purposes of tax
• Make bank deposits.

While you may need to spend some time finding someone you can trust with this task, this is one of the benefits of outsourcing personal trainer tasks. 

Some bookkeepers may also take on the responsibility of ensuring bills are paid, so you no longer have to worry about utility bills each month.

Something you may also want to consider is to hire a tax expert for when the dreaded time of year comes around. Even if you’re good with finances, it can be pretty confusing to deal with all those receipts while also making sure you’ve profited at the end of the year, not lost income.

A tax expert can sort out important paperwork and ensure you are utilizing your money effectively. Throughout the year, they can also work with your bookkeeper to help things run smoothly and ensure finances are in check.

TaxScouts is a good example of a company you can trust to do this work for a relatively small cost. You’ll be matched with a real accredited accountant who will prepare your return and answer any questions you may have.

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Tips on Outsourcing Personal Trainer Tasks

The best tasks to outsource are ones that are specialized. However, you shouldn’t outsource every single thing just because it might not be something you want to do. Some of these things can be integral to the business.

Create a Detailed Plan

Before you start outsourcing personal trainer tasks, it’s important to know exactly what you want from whoever it is you are hiring. If you don’t know, you can’t expect someone from outside of the business to know either. 

For whatever task you outsource, especially creative ones, it’s vital you know exactly how you want something to look. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to create elaborate sketches of how you want your website or logos to look. 

However, you should at least have an idea or vision of what you expect from someone.

Keep Your Options Open

When outsourcing, it’s wise not to settle on the first freelancer you come across, in the same way that you wouldn’t hire the first person who responded to a job advertisement. 

It’s good to check out different platforms such as Fiverr, Upwork, and 99designs so you can keep your options open.

By doing this, you’ll gain a clear idea of different quality levels and what type of work you’ll be getting for what price. Even when you’re on these websites, you should look extensively at what is being offered. 

Read feedback reviews to ensure whether the price you’ll be paying for a service reflects the quality of the provider. It goes without saying, if someone has lots of negative reviews, avoid them at all costs!

Sometimes, a high price tag doesn’t always mean the quality of work will be good. There are some individuals who will slack on creating high-quality work just because they’ve become well established and can charge more. 

You may find those with a smaller following and a slightly cheaper price tag may be the most reliable people as they will likely be grateful for the work and will want to do a good job.

Plan for the Future 

While it’s crucial to have a plan for the present when it comes to your business, you should also plan for the future too. If you find a freelancer who is reliable and does a good job for you on a task, make sure to establish a business relationship with them.

Pay them on time for their work and leave good reviews. This means if you want to change the brand of your business as it grows and expands, you will have someone who can help you do it. This applies to all areas of your business too. 

Even if someone you hire is unreliable, try and remain cordial with them, especially if you’re just starting out. It’s important to avoid souring your relationships with people which could be detrimental to your business.

You’ll also need to consider longer term planning, such as further development in the fitness industry. As your business expands, you’ll have to adapt certain aspects of it to different areas. 

For example, if you decide to make the move towards nutrition, you’ll need to plan to accommodate that move with new graphics, articles, and videos. This is something to keep in  mind, so it’s important to examine your options and find some reliable freelancers.

When Should I Outsource?

Although it’s important every business owner knows the intricate details of their company, especially when they’re starting out, they also need to realize when it’s time to hire some help. 

Now, this doesn’t mean you have to start looking immediately after you finish your Level 4 Personal Trainer Course. However, it should at least be done before you feel too overwhelmed and out of your depth. 

One of the main reasons you should consider outsourcing personal trainer tasks is if you feel constantly tight on time. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you spend all your time working yet it still isn’t enough. 

As personal training is the reason for your business, you need to make sure you’re on top form. If your own nutrition and fitness is being compromised, this isn’t going to look good for your company. 

Your clients won’t be able to experience the many mental benefits of exercise if their trainer is too stressed or tired to properly train them. The last thing you want is to burn yourself out as this can in fact lead to a lack of productivity and lead to worse mental conditions.

If you feel you are mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted, it’s certainly time to delegate some tasks. Personal trainer outsourcing is an excellent way to gain some time back for both yourself and your business.

Although the internet can be a great tool to learn something new, just being able to do something doesn’t necessarily mean it will be done well. 

Hiring someone who already knows what they’re doing will save a lot of time as you won’t have to teach someone how to perform certain tasks and they will be completed much quicker.

The Benefits of Personal Trainer Outsourcing

#1 - Saves Time

The benefits of outsourcing for personal trainers, certainly if you trust the people you’ve hired, is you know they will do a good job. 

The main benefit of outsourcing these personal trainer tasks is the valuable time that will be saved and spent on things you’re more knowledgeable on and can dedicate time to.

Having more time to work on things you’ve already got experience with means you can get those jobs done quicker. Outsourcing means the whole business can move forward at the same pace rather than having lots of different jobs all falling behind one another.

#2 - Don’t Have to Learn New Tasks

It’s good to learn new things about the different areas of your growing business, so having someone who already knows what they’re doing is very beneficial. It saves you having to learn and develop lots of new skills that will take a lot of time to get right.

The bottom line is tasks such as dealing with social media queries, writing informative articles, building websites, creating graphics, and marketing your business are all things that take a lot of time.

Although most of us wish we could do all of these things, it’s highly unlikely you would be able to complete all of these tasks alone to a high and effective standard while also training clients. 

Sometimes it’s good to know your strengths and weaknesses, even if you may not be willing to admit them. If you aren’t artistic or are clueless about social media, you need to find people who know about these particular things. 

#3 - Less Stressful

While you may love personal training and are enthusiastic about developing a business, not every task is going to be one you enjoy.

The benefits of outsourcing for personal trainers is that it can help reduce stress levels as you can pass on tasks you dread to other people who actually want to do them. If you find a particular task frustrating and difficult, it’s time to hand it over to someone else.

Starting a business is already stressful, so why make it harder on yourself? There are already lots of things you have to get right about personal training. It’s best to leave these tasks to more qualified people who enjoy doing them so you can focus on the things you enjoy too.

FAQ

How Expensive Is Outsourcing Personal Trainer Tasks?

Sadly, there isn’t a direct answer when it comes to the expense of outsourcing personal trainer tasks. It largely depends on what kind of work you are outsourcing for and who you are hiring to do the work for you. 

Something to keep in mind is that according to Payscale, the average salary of a graphic designer in the Ireland is €30,339.

If you choose to hire people to join your business, this will be more expensive than simply outsourcing work to freelancers.

When it comes to hiring freelancers to do work for you, the more experienced and qualified individuals will usually be the ones who charge more for a service. Something to consider is what level of quality you want the work to be at.

Pricing on Fiverr can range between €3 to €1,200 per project. However, it’s unlikely most people will charge on the higher end of this payscale. As you can see below, Fiverr separates prices into categories. This means you can stay within the price range of what you’re willing to pay.

Similarly, the general advice on Upwork is that entry level freelancers should charge below $20 (€17.69), between $20 to $40 (€17 - €35) for intermediate freelancers, and above $40 (€35.38) for expert freelancers.

You shouldn’t just be attracted to a low price tag. However, this doesn’t mean everyone who works for less pay will have poor quality work as everyone has to start somewhere. It does mean that you should at least be wary of the standard of work.

There’s a reason freelancers with glowing five-star reviews will charge a higher price. The reason for this is because you can be assured they will provide a quick and great-quality service. 

Essentially, outsourcing personal trainer tasks is as expensive or inexpensive as you want it to be. It all falls down to how experienced you want the person you’re hiring to be and how good you want their quality of work to be too.

What Personal Trainer Tasks Can’t Be Outsourced?

Pretty much everything within your personal training business can be outsourced, just the same as you don’t need to outsource anything if you choose not to. However, there are certain things in your business it would probably be best not to outsource.

A few things that are better kept within the business are:

#1 - Customer Service

This is something best done by the company itself, especially if the business is small. The owner of the business or the employees should be the ones dealing with issues and contacting customers. 

This is more personal and means that the people who actually work for the company are fully aware of any problems that need to be resolved.

#2 - Expenses

As a business owner, it’s important you know each and every client payment you receive. Having an outside source sign off on your expenses can lead to issues such as fraud, negligence, and theft. 

If you hire someone for this, they should be someone you can work closely with and trust. While it can be time consuming to deal with these things, it’s important to know what exactly is occurring within your business. 

#3 - Marketing Strategy

While having someone to run your social media such as Facebook and Instagram is great, it’s best not to outsource a general marketing strategy for your business. 

As the business owner, you should be the one most familiar with your company and what you want to achieve.

As it’s your brand, this is something that should be done internally. Outsourcing for a marketing strategy is essentially handing over this aspect of your business to people who won’t know as much about it.

#4 - Planning Sessions

While your business is growing, you should still be the one focusing on providing an excellent service for your clients. Of course, if your business expands then you can hire more PT’s to work for you.

However, when starting out the main goal should be to continue trying your best at getting clients to return and making yourself appealing to potential ones. You should be the one setting the standard for your company, certainly in its early days.

#5 - Nutritional Advice

When it comes to your own personal training clients, you should be the one who knows them better than anyone. You should be aware about exactly what their goals and their reasons for needing a trainer are.

However, keep in mind you can only give general nutritional advice if you’re qualified in Level 5 Sports Nutrition. Anything more than this means you may be venturing into the territory of a dietitian which you aren’t qualified for.

As a personal trainer you should know what the right exercise and nutrition is required for your clients to reach their goals. This is why you should know what your clients are consuming so you can adapt their training and diet to suit their needs.

#6 - Client Consultations

Outsourcing personal training tasks such as this one isn’t a good idea. The reason is because you want to establish yourself as the ‘go to’ trainer. You won’t be able to be this if you’re hiring people to find clients for you.

The best way to get clients is by approaching them on the gym floor. This approach is more personable and helps you build a rapport with potential clients. It’s also a great way for the word to get out about your business for others who visit the gym but are unaware of your business.

#7 - Development Opportunities

As it’s your business, you should know it better than anyone and what exactly the right direction is for you to take with it. Hopefully your business will grow, so it should be down to you to decide on the best new premises and locations.

As mentioned earlier, the owner of a business should have a long-term plan available and know exactly what their goals for it are. This shouldn’t be an outsourced task as you shouldn’t expect external people to plan your business goals for you.

Before You Go!

Personal trainer outsourcing can be a complex topic, but it’s all necessary if you want to find success and build an established business in the health and fitness industry. Our guide aims to provide everything you need to know about how to outsource as a personal trainer.

To separate yourself from the crowd and help your developing business stand out, why not expand your knowledge and expertise with OriGym’s range of Level 5 Personal Trainer Courses?

Download our FREE prospectus today to learn more about what we offer, and how growing as a personal trainer is an ideal way to keep expanding your business.