Advice for Young Coaches and Clinicians Entering the Field

The health and fitness industry continues to grow, while young coaches pile into a crowded, cutthroat space. It’s ironic because when I was lifting weights back in the early 2000’s, training people was not a coveted job.

In fact, few did it because you really couldn’t make any money. I imagine that organic growth of the industry, plus the rise of social media, has transformed the way people view working in this field. Remember, most of what you see on social media is bullshit.

The lessons I learned from wiser, more experienced coaches, was only ever about training. That makes sense considering that’s what makes up their perceived value. Obviously, by calling it “perceived value,” I believe that does a disservice to the impact you can and should have. Regardless, these guys taught me more than I would ever need to know to be “successful” in this industry, which I will forever be grateful for.

Fast forward to today and I’ve received countless emails, messages, and questions from my own athletes about breaking into the industry and what route they should go. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I will shoot it straight, no sugar-coating here. And with that, here are the main points I would make any young coach or clinician aware of before they decide to jump into this world.

1.) Don’t Do it

I warned you that I was going to be upfront and honest. Now, if you are truly passionate and eat, sleep, breathe training and rehabilitation, then you can and should tell me to fuck off and go after your dream. Those who have this burning desire will usually find a way to make it work, though I promise you it’s not that common.

If your desire stems from following your favorite fitness influencers online or thinking it’s “easy and fun,” well you are setting yourself up for failure. I don’t have the time to dismantle the lies behind social media, but between buying followers and creating fake virtual lives to sell products, it’s a clusterfuck of deception. If you only knew how some of these people were actually living or how little they actually know, it would blow your mind. 

There is something called Silent Evidence, which is largely ignored in our society.

“Statistics are invisible; anecdotes are salient.” Nassim Taleb

The social media fitness world is a prime example of survivorship bias. The Instagram famous trainers, pro S&C coaches, or renowned physical therapists who end up on ESPN, are the survivors of an industry where most are dropping out, underperforming, or drowning in debt.

For every one person who has opened a successful gym or physical therapy practice, there are thousands of others who closed within a year, made 20k a year, or ended up working with a population they despise for long hours and not nearly enough to pay their doctoral degree off. Yet, you never hear of these people. You don’t follow their Instagram account with only 100 followers and you don’t see them out begging for clients while offering free consults.

I only mention this so you understand the risks of entering a highly competitive job that’s often not what it appears. Professional jobs are a tiny fraction of what’s available and usually come down to connections (like most any high-end job). HS and College S&C positions pay as if you’re a lunch lady and most PT practices will leave you so bored, you’ll turn into the average person who hates their job.

So, if you’re getting into it for the money, there are far better options out there. You can still make very good money in this industry, but getting there will require far more than you likely imagine.

2.) Financial Literacy

While I think most coaches suck at their job to begin with, their lack of financial literacy is even more abysmal. There are endless things to blame here, from academia to parenting, people wander through life without having a clue about money.

Consider this. 9% of Americans make six figures. The average personal trainer makes roughly 40k a year. The average Physical Therapist numbers are more varied, from 70k – 90k.

“According to a survey conducted by the APTA, the average total debt of physical therapists is about $116,000. However, the average debt for physical therapy students that we’ve seen in our student loan consulting practice has been about $154,000.”

In order for you to really make good money in either industry, you need to be absolutely exceptional at your job (or have a personality), work 60+ hours/week at some point, and have some luck.

Now, factor in how fragile the industry is to disruptions (Covid) or seasonal, lag in business, and it gets dicey. The point is, you need to learn more about money and how to make it while you aren’t working. If you work directly with people, you sell time. Unfortunately, you only have so much time, so you get to a point where you are tapped out and can’t scale.

Personally, I became very interested in investing (More here) and also released products (books, subscription, online plans, etc.). Selling products is pretty self-explanatory, so I won’t dive much into that. Having at least one product to sell to clients or potential clients is a great way to generate passive income. This can be clothes, a short book, programs, etc.

Investing is something that is so misunderstood it’s comical. In the last two years, I’ve gotten at least 30+ people to open an investment account and start setting themselves up for a prosperous future. I’m shocked at what is available to us and how few know about it. Everything you think you know about investing is likely wrong.

I’m hoping to expand on this for others in the future and hope to teach coaches about these things, but here’s an example.

Your savings account usually nets you some pathetic return a year, maybe .25% or less. If you consider the rate of inflation (especially the most recent of 5%), you are technically losing money by having it sit there at a .25% or less gain. Your $1,000 from a year ago, is worth significantly less today considering almost everything in your life is now more expensive (gas, food, rent, etc.). Meanwhile, your bank knows enough to take your money and invest it elsewhere.

If you saved $500/month for 40 years in a savings with a 1% interest rate you end with $242,400.

If you invested $500/month for 40 years in something like SPY, with a 10% average yearly return (+ dividends), you end with $2,775,174.

I made over six figures in my last year of investing, all while still running my business. These opportunities are available to everyone with some form of income. It doesn’t matter if you’re making 30k or 100k, you can invest enough to dramatically increase your net worth.

The earlier you start, the better.

3.) Network

The irony of me encouraging you to network is that I rarely heed this advice, but I know it’s important. Some of the largest advancements I made in my career (being published, speaking at seminars), were a result of networking.

My reason for entering the field was strictly due to passion. I never cared much for trying to team up with people or fuck around more on social media to have fitness influencer friends. I just wanted to coach and be really fucking good at it.

From 2012-2019, I worked 70+ hours, 7 days a week, all year. I never took more than one vacation a year, no longer than 3 days, and still worked with online clients during that line. As my passion for the profession wanes, I want to coach less and teach more. It doesn’t need to be as much of a grind as some of us had to endure.

Besides learning from others, you should try to build a network of people you trust. Other coaches, massage therapists, manual therapists, orthopedic surgeons, PA’s, etc. There is an endless amount of business out there, as people will continue to be out of shape, training for a sport, in pain, or recovering from an injury.

Recommend their services. Buy their products. Support their social media. They will likely return the favor and it will have a positive impact for you both.