How To Start A Sports Nutrition Business

Whether you’re newly qualified or looking for a career change, we’ve got everything you need to know about how to start a sports nutrition business.

To give you a complete overview of the steps, we’ll cover:

• Step 1 - Get The Right Qualifications For Your Sports Nutrition Business
• Step 2 - Conduct Market Research For Your Sports Nutrition Business
• Step 3 - Get Any Essential Equipment You Need For Your Sports Nutrition Business
• Step 4 - Arrange The Legalities Of Your Sports Nutrition Business
• Step 5 - Decide On The Right Pricing Structure For Your Sports Nutrition Business
• Step 6 - Start Marketing Your Sports Nutrition Business

But before we start, it’s important to get qualified with our range of Level 5 Personal Trainer Courses. Begin the first step by enrolling on our Sports Nutrition Course and get started with your sports nutrition business today!

Find out more by downloading our course prospectus here or enter your details below.

How To Start A Sports Nutrition Business

From gaining the right qualifications to deciding on the correct pricing structure for your business, we’ll answer all your questions about how to start a sports nutrition business.

Step 1 - Get The Right Qualifications For Your Sports Nutrition Business

If you’re considering setting up a sports nutrition business, the first thing you need to do is get qualified. The main qualification you need is a Level 5 Advanced Sports Nutrition Course.

This will provide you with the necessary skills and knowledge required to offer dieting assistance and sports nutrition advice as part of a successful sports nutrition business. However, it’s important to find a credible course provider.

One of the main things you should check for is if the course is regulated by an Ofqual-approved awarding body such as Focus Awards or Active IQ. This is the government body responsible for setting the frameworks for vocational course levels and ensuring all government bodies adhere to those frameworks.

For example, OriGym’s Level 5 Sports Nutrition Course is both recognised and regulated by Ofqual. This means you can be sure you’re receiving the highest level of education that will be recognised when it comes to finding a job.

Even better, there are no prerequisites to enrolling on this course such as having already qualified as a Level 4 Personal Trainer. A degree in nutrition isn’t necessary to find success in this area of the health and fitness industry.

You can become a nutritionist without having studied at the university level as a degree is necessary to be the latter.

Step 2 - Conduct Market Research For Your Sports Nutrition Business

Once you’ve qualified from your Level 5 Sports Nutrition Course, the next step is to conduct market research. 

This is about gaining a clear understanding of the market you’re trying to break into. By doing this, you can create a clear and effective business plan to ensure you stand out from the crowd.

You may conduct market research using the following methods:

• Online surveys using software such as Google Forms or Survey Monkey.
• Focus groups.
• Competitor research of other nutrition businesses in your area.
• Social media, using surveys or polls on Instagram stories.

There are 3 main things you should do when conducting market research for your sports nutrition business and we’ll break these down below!

#1 - Determine Whether There Is Demand For Your Sports Nutrition Business

One of the most important things when conducting market research is to see whether there is actually a demand in the area for your sports nutrition business.

A free and simple way to do this is to use Google Keyword Planner. This allows you to gain an idea of how many people are searching for this term a month. For example, if we enter ‘nutritionist Liverpool’, this provides an average of 100-1K monthly searches:

As long as you have a Google account, anyone can use this tool. This is a good way to develop your niche by seeing how much a specific phrase is searched for. 

For example, you may want to focus on providing nutritional advice for pregnant and breastfeeding women as a way to target a specific group who will be much more likely to benefit from these services.

To gain an idea of the type of service you’re looking to offer, simply type in phrases regarding nutritionists in Liverpool and check the most popular searches.

Depending on the volume of keyword searches, you may alter your sports nutrition business plan to reflect the service people are seeking but there’s still a gap in the market for. 

By not conducting market research, you may end up having a sports nutrition business people aren’t interested in and will fail to attract enough clients to make it a success.

#2 - Identify Potential Sports Nutrition Business Competitors

Once you’ve determined whether there is demand for your sports nutrition business, you’ll want to see if others with a similar service are doing successfully. This means you can see what competitors are doing well or where it could be improved and alter your business accordingly.

You can find competing sports nutrition businesses in your area by typing ‘sports nutrition businesses near me’ into Google, such as in the example below:

You can then analyse their business strategy by finding their website and identifying their marketing techniques. Identify the kinds of strategies they use successfully and incorporate them into your own business.

By also examining what your competitors aren’t doing so well means you can avoid making these same mistakes. For example, if these businesses don’t offer package deals you can do this yourself and stand out from the competition.

#3 - Determine The Target Demographic For Your Sports Nutrition Business

When looking to create a successful sports nutrition business, it’s important you know exactly who you’re aiming your business at. To get a clear profile of your typical target client it’s a good idea to conduct a market research survey.

On this survey, you may ask questions related to:

• Age range
• Sex
• Occupation
• Health issues
• Any long or short term nutrition goals
• Whether people prefer online or in-person business 

For example, you may find the majority of people in your area are in their thirties working full time 9 to 5 office jobs and want to improve their lifestyle. This means you can offer online nutrition services or fit your business hours around evenings and weekends.

Similarly, you may discover there are many over 50s in your area struggling with health issues related to obesity, such as diabetes. This means you could fill this gap by offering nutritional advice and meal plans to help alleviate the symptoms of these issues.

The more information you can find out about your target demographic, the more you can tailor your sports nutrition business to this particular demographic and become the most successful in your area.

Developing a niche will help attract the right sort of clients, allowing you to narrow the scope of your services and work with people you know will continue returning to your business. 

Step 3 - Get Any Essential Equipment You Need For Your Sports Nutrition Business

Once you know what sort of sports nutrition business you want to pursue, it’s important you decide on the right equipment to purchase. Although there won’t be as much equipment to purchase as say you were starting a mobile yoga business, you will still require some expenses.

One of these expenses is nutrition software. Due to its ease of navigation and effective features, Nutrium is one of the most popular pieces of software to manage a business while focusing on the success of clients.

Notable features of this software include:

• Online appointment bookings
• Client health records
• Meal planning and recipes
• Client mobile app

Nutrium also allows users to manage all their appointment bookings, as well as use nutrient analysis software and even build their own website.

There are two monthly packages users can purchase depending on the volume of clients and whether they want there to be a focus on client followup and retention:

Depending on the type of nutrition business you’ve decided on, you will need somewhere to operate from. While this isn’t as much of an issue if you become a nutritionist online, when meeting clients in person, you’ll need a professional space.

Although you can have clients come to your home for consultations, you may find this isn’t the most desirable option for you and would prefer a more professional space to run your business from. 

Websites such as Gumtree can help you find small office spaces to rent. However, these expenses are something you should consider carefully, especially when just starting out.

For example, this is an office space available to rent when necessary in Liverpool for £141 per month or around €160. This is a good idea when gaining new clients as you can schedule time to use this room when you have particular appointments:

A professional space like this is ideal for scheduling appointments with people until you build up a good clientbase to find a more permanent space to operate your sports nutrition business from.

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For those wondering how to start a sports nutrition business, here’s a couple of articles you’ll find useful:

• How To Get Clients As A Nutritionist: 11 Top Tips
• How To Write A Nutrition Business Plan (2022 Guide)
• How To Use Google My Business As A Personal Trainer

Step 4 - Arrange The Legalities Of Your Sports Nutrition Business

To ensure you have everything you need to start a sports nutrition business professionally, legally, and safely, there are a number of legalities you should arrange.

#1 - Get The Correct Insurance For Your Sports Nutrition Business

When looking at setting up your own sports nutrition business, it’s crucial you organise the right insurance. With any business dealing with the public, especially their lifestyles, problems can arise beyond your control. 

• Some reasons you need insurance for a sports nutrition business include:
• Flaring up of health issues or illness - Part of setting up your own sports nutrition business will be to improve the health and performance of clients through diet, advice, and meal plans. However, a client may make a claim against you if your plans or advice causes illness or further health issues. While nutritionists shouldn’t be creating plans as prescription for medical issues, clients may still make claims against you meaning you’ll benefit from insurance.
• Breaches with the booking system - As with any business, you’ll need to set up a website. However, managing contact data and bookings electronically brings with it some potential risks. This could be the duplication of customer information done by hackers using booking forms to access your entire network, meaning you’ll need cyber and data cover to protect you.
• Presentation mishaps - While a successful sports nutrition business is the goal, this can bring further issues for you. For example, you may be handing out leaflets before a presentation and someone slips on one left on the floor. If they choose to take legal action, you’ll need to protect yourself against this. As a nutritionist sees a lot of the public, it’s important to have insurance to protect yourself against this.

The main types of insurance you will need when setting up a sports nutrition business are:

• Public Liability Insurance - This provides you cover against a client making a claim against you. For example, if someone follows your meal plan or nutritional advice and experiences health issues.

This type of insurance is important for any self-employed individual interacting with members of the public. If clients are coming to your practice, it’s a good idea to have this insurance in case they experience unexpected injury during a consultation. 

• Equipment Insurance - If you have a lot of equipment for your sports nutrition business, it’s worth looking into getting protection in the event it is lost, stolen, or damaged.
• Loss Of Earnings - Anyone who has their own sports nutrition business needs this cover as you will be paid a sum of money if you can’t perform your duties. You will be covered for injury or illness until you can start working again.

You can find most insurance providers for your sports nutrition business online. However, some for nutritionists you may want to check out include:

• Hiscox 
• Simply Business
• Caunce O’Hara

#2 - Register Your Sports Nutrition Business

It’s a legal requirement to register a business and doing so means no other business can use your name. By making your business name exclusive, this gives your sports nutrition business credibility, authority, and helps you stand out from the crowd.

There are two main ways you can register your business through the UK government website:

• Register Your Sports Nutrition Business As A Sole Trader - When you register as a self employed person without any employees.

This is the cheapest and easiest way to register your sports nutrition business when you’re just starting out. This option means you as an individual and your business are seen as one entity under the law. 

You’re personally responsible for any liabilities or debts of your business, meaning you must pay these off from your own finances if the business goes into debt.

However, a benefit of this is you can claim tax back on purchases you list under ‘expenses’. This means you won’t be taxed on purchases you make directly related to your business.

Examples of purchases you can claim tax back on for your sports nutrition business include things such as marketing costs or equipment such as your laptop.

• Register Sports Nutrition Business As A Limited Company - When a business is registered as its own legal entity rather than under your name.

This means if the business experiences financial difficulty, you wouldn’t be personally liable as your business finances and individual finances are separate. However, while there are many benefits to registering as a limited company, it’s more expensive and takes longer. This makes it more suited to businesses who are more established.

#3 - Consider Hiring An Accountant For Your Sports Nutrition Business

When setting up a sports nutrition business, the financial aspect can be overwhelming, especially if numbers aren’t your strongest area. You may consider hiring an accountant who is professionally trained to do this for you.

By not being experienced in finance, this could lead to issues with your sports nutrition business. Hiring an account means you have slightly less work and is less stressful as you can be assured someone qualified is dealing with your finances.

This is especially important if you’ve registered your business as a sole trader. Sole traders have to submit a tax return to HMRC, declaring how much you’ve earned that year. This helps HMRC determine how much income tax you need to pay.

As mentioned earlier, if you’re claiming tax back on sports nutrition business purchases, you’ll need to keep track of physical and electronic receipts. You will then give these to your accountant who will use them to create your tax return.

You can find reputable accountants by using websites such as Yell or simply type ‘accountants near me’ followed by your location. 

Step 5 - Decide On The Right Pricing Structure For Your Sports Nutrition Business

This is the reason why market research is important when setting up a yoga business as it gives you a better idea of what competitors are charging for their services. You can then use these prices to determine your own.

To decide on your pricing structure when starting a sports nutrition business there are certain factors you should consider and we’ll break these down.

#1 - Your Sports Nutrition Business Prices Should Be Impacted By Competitors’ Rates

By conducting earlier market research, you should ensure your prices are similar or lower than your competitors. A client is less likely to pay higher prices for a newly developed sports nutrition business if a more established one is advertising its services for cheaper. 

Bark states the average price for a nutritionist and dietitian is between £50 - £70 or €60-80:

When you're starting out, it’s a good idea to ensure your prices are at the lower end of the spectrum. This doesn’t mean you’re underselling your services, it just means you’re less likely to put clients off as a new business.

Once you begin establishing a client base and attract new clients, you can raise your prices. It’s a good idea to find a midpoint between this price range above. By charging €60 for an appointment, you’re attracting clients by using a cheaper price while still making a profit.

#2 - Outgoings Should Impact Pricing Structure For Your Sports Nutrition Business

When determining a pricing structure, you should ensure this accounts for the cost of your outgoings too:

• Location - As mentioned earlier, if you’re renting a space to operate your sports nutrition business from, you should take this cost into consideration.
• Equipment & Software - Any equipment you regularly pay for such as your laptop or nutrition software programmes you have to pay for monthly.
• Outsourcing - Expenses such as hiring an accountant need to be considered too.

#3 - Sports Nutrition Business Prices Can Be Impacted By Location

Depending on where your sports nutrition business is located, this can have a major impact on your prices.

For example, if living in a busy city such as London, you’ll need to take this into account. The cost of living in London is much higher than elsewhere in the UK, meaning you need to adjust prices if operating from a location such as this.

Create A Pricing Structure Structure For Your Sports Nutrition Business

Once you’ve considered these factors, you can create a pricing plan for your sports nutrition business. Similar to personal trainer package ideas, it’s important to give your clients the best value for money.

This means offering your clients a package deal rather than having lots of single purchases available which they may find overwhelming. For example, Go Perform provides a nutrition consultation packages for €188, rather than making clients purchase features separately:

By having these packages, it allows clients to get more value for money and ensures customer retention rather than having them purchase one-off appointments or schedule for a single session.

However, for further packages, you may decide to follow the example of SW Sports Performance and introduce a tier structure based on what clients are looking for:

For what’s being offered, these prices are also very reasonable. If you want to be an affordable option, especially when starting out, it’s important to charge less. As mentioned earlier, this doesn’t mean underselling yourself but making your sports nutrition business more appealing to the public.

This is why packages are a good idea as you can charge less for the services being offered in the cheapest option while still giving clients plenty more options and making their purchase worthwhile. 

Step 6 - Start Marketing Your Sports Nutrition Business

The last step for those looking to start a sports nutrition business is to create an effective marketing strategy. While there are many strategies for marketing a sports nutrition business, it’s important to do this successfully.

#1 - Paid Social Media Ads Are Effective For Those Looking To Start A Sports Nutrition Business

Social media ads are a great way to get the name of your sports nutrition business out there online, allowing you to increase your chances of attracting the right clients to use your services.

To set up adverts on Instagram and Facebook, you will need a business account. Most of these ads can be targeted to a specific audience, meaning social media platforms will make an educated assumption on the demographics who should view your advertisement.

In terms of audience, you can specify factors such as:

• Age
• Sex
• Location

By specifying the location of the people you want to see this ad, this ensures you’re targeting local people you can potentially schedule appointments with in person.

Ads can also be used with a call to action or CTA such as with a ‘Learn More’ button which links to their website. Calls to action can also link to social media pages or enquire pages, depending on which you think is most relevant.

As these adverts run under Meta, you need to create a Facebook business page as this allows you to connect the two together. You can then assess which ads are more effective on these two social media platforms. 

Find out more about how to create effective fitness Facebook ads here.

#2 - Use Google My Business When Setting Up A Sports Nutrition Business

Google My Business is a simple yet effective tool to utilise when setting up your own sports nutrition business. This allows you to create a listing for your business, providing a snapshot of vital information for interested users.

If users simply search ‘sports nutrition business near me’ into Google, they will be met with a list of businesses:

This provides valuable information such as:

• Opening hours
• Your address
• Contact number
• Reviews

By optimising your business information and gaining plenty of positive reviews, you can rank in the Google 3-Pack which are the top three localised results, most relevant to the end user. This means you’ll have a greater chance of clients finding your services.

#3 - Create A Content Marketing Blog for Your Sports Nutrition Business

A great way to gain more of an online following and attract more people towards your sports nutrition business is to create a blog. This can direct readers to your sales pages, draw in more traffic to your website, and convert readers into paying clients.

You can base content around keywords you’ve researched, discuss popular trends, or answer any questions about nutrition. This content can help establish authority for you in this industry, providing your business with more credibility.

However, it does take a lot of hard work, research, and commitment to make your blog successful. By persevering, you can create content that leads to financial rewards.

#4 - Printed Materials Can Be Used To Attract Clients To Your Sports Nutrition Business

Even in a digital age, physical marketing materials can still be used as a way to promote your sports nutrition business. This can include things such as:

• Business cards
• Leaflets
• Posters
• Window displays

Relevant places you can display these printed materials for your sports nutrition business include:

• Private and commercial gyms
• Community centres
• GP Offices
• Local sports clubs

As a sports nutrition business you should focus on places like gyms and sports centres to distribute these materials as you will find much more success. You could ask members of staff if you can put posters up or even hand them out after a particular sports club has finished.

GP offices are also a great place to attract the general public who may be struggling with particular issues you can help with, such as the elderly or those who are overweight.

Before You Go!

By following our list of steps above, you can begin the journey towards setting up a sports nutrition business today.

With our range of Level 5 Personal Trainer Courses, we have plenty available for you to get qualified and continue expanding your business. Get started with our Sports Nutrition Course to help clients reach their long and short term goals.

Download our full course prospectus here to see what else we have to offer.