It is helpful to be aware of simple fact that a person's perception is their reality, even if that perception is incorrect. Let's use example of doctor in above paragraph. If you heard through personal references that Dr. John Smith wasn't a very good doctor, chances that you would ever go see Dr. Smith are pretty slim. However, do you actually know for a fact that Dr. Smith is a bad doctor? No - you just have perception that he is a bad doctor because that is what you heard. Do you see how your perception is your reality, and how Dr. Smith is unlikely to be getting any of your business?

Your mission is to make sure that you are always viewed as an expert in your field! Otherwise you will end up like poor Dr. Smith, and your list of clients will be short indeed, as will life of your business. However, if you have done your job and created impression that you are an expert in your field, then opposite will hold true. People will have "heard" that you know what you are talking about, and your reputation and your business will grow as a result. In order to get to this desired end result, three effective ways for you to build your reputation include media exposure, writing books, articles, or success tips for your field, and approaching any given situation from a "position of power".

Media Exposure

The most common ways to get viewed as an expert using media exposure include news programming on television, magazine and newspaper stories, and radio time. Each of these methods has one thing in common: mass exposure via a publicly accepted system of obtaining information.

Consider this point from your own perspective. If you see an interview on news, read an article about a company in newspaper, or hear about a professional organization on radio, your natural instinct is to believe that company or organization has a firm grip on ins and outs of their product or service.

Why do you think that? Is it because radio program included a long list of professional references for company? Is it because magazine article listed a passing grade by a professional review board or other certifying agency qualified to judge advertised organization?

The answer to those questions is most likely "no". Why then do you believe in company's ability to provide product or service that is discussed? The answer is simple: because you were exposed to company via a publicly accepted system of obtaining information. Whether that system was six o'clock news, your local daily paper, or your favorite magazine, chances are that you believed what you read or heard simply because of WHERE you read or heard it!

Ideally, all consumers - including professionals such as yourself - would use other additional methods to determine qualifications of a company before purchasing their product or service, but in reality, does that happen very often? No, not really. Most people believe what they read and what they hear, and as a Fitness Professional, you can take advantage of that fact. Granted, you should not profess to be an expert if you aren't, but assuming that you really do know what you are talking about, use media to let others know, too!

Writing Books, Articles, and Success Tips

Comparable to "expert" status that is afforded a company based on their mass media exposure, a similar assumed professional status can be taken on by any company or individual that publishes written works in their field.

Refer back to power of mass media that is referenced above, and you will see a very similar effect generated by published works. If someone writes a book, publishes articles, or generates a regular flow of "success tips" in any given field, it is automatically assumed by reader that author of book, article, or success tip knows what they are talking about.

Is it true that author is an expert in their field just because they know how to write or type? Of course not! However, mass media phenomenon applies to published written works just as much as it applies to interviews done on news, in magazines, or on radio. The author is assumed to be proficient in field that book, article, or tip discusses, even though there is rarely indisputable evidence of writer's expertise included with written works.

Again, it is not being suggested that you write books, articles, or success tips unless you really do hold expert status in your field. However, since "assumptions of excellence" apply as much to written word as to audio and visual exposure, take advantage of that fact and write as much and as often as you can!

As a side note, writing is also an excellent way for you to enhance your own knowledge in your field. Frequently during process of writing a book or article, you are called upon to reference sources of your information, and gathering that type of information expands your own knowledge, as well as your understanding of how to find information for similar projects in future.

Working out with your clients in their homes is an option for any trainer, and by offering this option to your clients you can increase your potential client base by a dramatic number, and you may even decide to exclusively offer home personal training. In order to decide if this type of business model is for you, there are several points to consider, and they include time management, exercise modalities to be used, and business resources that are available.

Time Management

Managing your time and your schedule is a critical consideration when deciding whether or not to work with clients in their homes. Unlike working at a facility, amount of time that you need to dedicate to each client is increased, sometimes to point of even doubling time spent for each client session.

For example, let's use a standard one-hour training session as our business model for this discussion. Although many trainers are utilizing different training times with their clients these days, one hour is still a good time frame to use for your scheduling reference. You want to remember that as a home personal trainer, you can be on a tight deadline to get from one place to next, so you don't want to schedule your sessions back-to-back like you can when you are working at a fitness facility.

You must also factor in your travel time to get to your client's home, as well as to get to home of following client, client after that, and so on. If you live in an even reasonably populated area, you will have to allow at least 15 minutes of driving time to and from every client's home, and sometimes as much as 30 minutes per client, depending on size of geographic area that you train in. Using our one-hour training session as an example, just one training session can cost you as much as 2 hours of your time.

A standard 8-hour workday will now only allow you to train between 4 and 6 clients, depending on where they live in relation to your starting point, as well as in relation to each other. Your best bet whenever possible is to set up your clients in a roughly straight line, or possibly a circle that brings you back to your starting point at end of day. The last thing that you want to do is set up a client who lives 30 minutes north of your starting point followed immediately by a client who lives 30 minutes south of your starting point. Not only will you eat up massive amounts of time driving to and from your client's homes, but you will put serious mileage on both your car as well as your wallet at gas station! More on that in Business Resources section below.

Exercise Modalities

The next thing to consider is type of training that you will be doing with your clients in their homes. Unless they have a full fitness facility set up - which is rare - it is very likely that you will have to come up with ways to put them through a vigorous workout without massive amount of equipment that is available at a full-size fitness facility. In order to put together these home workouts, you need to address two different energy pathways that your clients will need to use during their workouts: aerobic and anaerobic.

Anaerobic Workouts

Although many trainers are used to massive resources available at a local gym, getting your clients a variety-filled and intense anaerobic workout in their home is actually easier than most would think. With nothing more than an exercise ball and a portable set of dumbbells, you can take your clients through full range of motion and exertion on almost same scale that is afforded those clients training at a gym.

If you are just starting out in industry, or are simply used to working your clients out at a fitness facility, you should do some research on Internet for dumbbell workouts, bodyweight workouts, functional training, and sport-specific training. Those 4 keyword combinations alone will net you hundreds of websites with free or low-cost resources that will teach you thousands of exercises that can be done with little or no equipment.

The key to getting your clients a good anaerobic workout at home is not type of equipment that is used, or actual amount of weight that is moved, but rather INTENSITY of workout. A bit of trial and error will teach you how to take a client through their paces in a safe but intense manner that will leave most people ready to call it quits in 30 minutes or less!

Aerobic Workouts