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Start Your Online Personal Training Business and Sign Your First Client
By Jason O'Dell, founder of RiseForIt. Took two gyms' personal training sales from negative to about $200K a month. Updated October 25, 2026
Quick answer
To start an online personal training business, pick one kind of person you can help and get one paying client with what you already have. Then post videos that solve that person's problems every week, answer every lead the same day, and add clients as your proof grows.
Step 1: Name the finish line, then pick your pond
Before you post a single video, write down where you want to be. How many online clients, at what price, working how many hours. That's your finish line. Work backward from it to what you need to learn this week.
Then pick your pond. Don't try to coach everyone. Pick the people your own life and training have proven you can help. Busy moms, guys over 40, new lifters, whoever you've actually helped in person. Compete only where your proof can win. Move to a bigger pond when you've earned it twice: with credibility and with people paying you.
You need one sentence a stranger understands: who you help and why you're different. If you can't say it, nobody can repeat it.
Done for youBusiness coach for personal trainers: how we handle this for you →
Step 2: Sign one client with what you already have
Your business plan doesn't need to be forty pages. The model is simple. A client pays you every month for a program, check-ins, and access to you. Price it so ten clients would cover your bills. That's enough plan to start.
Don't build an app, a logo package, and a course first. Get one client with whatever you already have. Message people who trained with you in the gym. Tell friends exactly who you help. Nail one client before you build for a hundred, and deliver it by hand before you try to scale it.
I started from $0 and borderline homeless. I didn't have a brand. I had reps. The confidence came after the proof, not before it.
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Step 3: Post videos that are a gift
Every video should be a gift: a real problem your client has, your fix for it, and a reason to trust you to hand it over. Not your workout. Not your abs. Their problem.
Talk to one person, as if they've never heard of you. Open fast with who it's for and what they'll get. Spend your time before you hit record, not editing after. Prep beats polish.
Use the waterfall. Film one longer video that teaches something real, then cut it into short clips that each stand on their own. One shoot can feed a week of posts. Pick one platform and go deep there before you spread out.
Aim for trust over viral. A video that keeps its promise to a hundred of the right people beats one that a million wrong people scroll past.
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Step 4: Answer fast and sell the vacation
When someone comments or messages, answer the same day. Leads go cold fast. Give people a simple way to act on the lesson, like a short checklist or a quick form. That's the implementation tool. Reply the moment they raise their hand.
On the call, sell the vacation. Talk about where they hurt now and where they want to land. Don't walk them through every set and macro. That's your job, not their decision. If someone pushes on price, add value instead of cutting it. I made over $50,000 in my best month for the gym I worked at, and it came from listening for the pain and selling the destination.
If you'd rather have the posting, the lead replies, and the sales calls handled for you, that's the work RiseForIt does.
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How to grow once you have clients
- Worst-month posting routine
- Track posts, leads, calls, clients
- Change 1-3 things per shoot
- Film client wins, with permission
- Raise price as proof grows
- Build a posting routine you could keep on your worst month. Raise it on purpose later.
- Track only a few numbers: posts, leads, calls, new clients. Grade each post against your own average, never someone else's.
- Change one to three things after every shoot. Keep what works and do more of it.
- Catch client wins on camera, with permission, and put them where the next client decides.
- Raise your price as your proof grows. Spend your first dollars on skills that raise your rate.
Done for youBusiness coach for personal trainers: how we handle this for you →
Free workbook · 12 pages · about 45 minutes
The Sign Your First Client Workbook
By the end you'll have your finish line, your price, one sentence about who you help, a message ready for the people most likely to say yes, and your first week of videos planned. That's everything you need to sign your first online client.
- Write your finish line and set your price
- Pick your pond and write your one sentence
- Line up your first client from people who know you
- Plan your first gift video and cut it into a week
- Set up your same-day reply and your sales call
- Your 7-day plan
Fill it in online (it saves on your device) or print it and use a pen.
Business coach for personal trainers
A weekly call with Jason, with the work done for you between calls.
Common questions
How long does it take to get your first online client?
It depends on your pond and your reps. If you already train people in person, you can ask for your first online client this week. Getting strangers to find you through content takes longer, so start posting now and keep going.
Do I need a big following to start online coaching?
No. You need one clear sentence about who you help, a way for people to reach you, and the habit of answering fast. A small audience of the right people is worth more than a big one of the wrong people.
Is the advice on Reddit about starting an online personal training business worth following?
Some of it. Read those threads for the questions people keep asking, then answer those questions in your videos. Don't wait for a perfect plan from a thread. Get one client and learn from the reps.
Want this done for you?
In the 90-Day Build we make and post your content, answer your leads and close them on sales calls. $5,000 for 90 days, five trainers at a time.
Apply for a spot →