As the world has evolved and science has advanced, the technology has improved to the point that there’s an app for anything you want. However, more and more people are paying attention to their state of health and fitness.
Despite the fact that a typical person spends an average of four hours a day on their cell phone, the number of Americans actively working to improve their health is on the rise.
This is an inspiring trend that is strangely at odds with our growing reliance on social media and YouTube, but I’m glad it’s happening nonetheless!
If you’re already a fitness guru, this presents some unique opportunities for you to make some extra revenue for yourself, or perhaps even jump start a whole new career!
As more people start to take on an active lifestyle, they’ll be looking for experts who can teach them what they need to know, show them the safest, most effective ways to get healthy, and offer them encouragement as they begin their fitness journey.
If you’re willing to put in a little work yourself, and show a bit of entrepreneurial spirit, you could be one of those mentors who can improve your own life situation, while helping others do the same.
1. Start a Fitness Channel on a Video Hosting Site
Exercise how-to’s and “do as I do” videos are extremely popular, and very in tune with today’s shift towards digital venues for advice and information.
Most people today won’t go to a bookstore to find that all-in-one resource that will get them on the road to better health. Instead, they turn to the Internet, and more specifically, video hosting sites like YouTube or Dailymotion.
Starting your own health and fitness channel can be a great way to connect with viewers who want to lead a healthier life, while providing them with an invaluable resource to start exercising safely.
You should start with a specific niche in order to draw in a core audience, which could be any number of topics or themes. For example: you could start by leading your own exercise sessions, while charging a modest subscription fee to get you started.
As your viewership grows, you can increase your subscription fee (once you’ve established that yours is a premium service, and well worth the investment), and expand the topics your channel covers.
You could expand into videos about nutrition and dieting, or do interviews with other fitness professionals to further establish credibility with your channel.
There are many different paths you can take with a video channel, and so long as you’re providing a venue for people to watch, learn, and improve, any one of them is a great option!
2. Start a Fitness Blog
Another option, if you’re not a big video person or want to talk about more complex, extensive topics, is to start your own blog.
There’s a blog out there for every niche and every topic; health and fitness is no exception. Once you’ve found a niche that you can speak to with confidence, and where you can truly have an impact, you’ll have a great shot at growing a successful blog with a steady income rate.
Niches that you might consider could include exercise routines that are safe for children, workout plans for amputees, or nutrition and exercises that are safe and effective for people with certain neurological or metabolic diseases.
In addition to filling a gap in available information, blogging will allow you to connect with other fitness fanatics who can share their advice with you, endorse your blog with readers, or even submit a guest post to your blog, and invite you to do the same for theirs.
This will not only improve your credibility within the community; it will potentially introduce you to a much wider audience!
Starting a blog is also incredibly easy to do – you just register a domain (what your blog will be called), use a pre-made design to outline where your text and images will go, and you’re ready to blog!
You don’t have to be an expert writer to start blogging, and you’ll get better with time. You can also use some high resolution, free stock fitness photos to illustrate your points without the need to shoot your own photos.
3. Open Your Own Fitness Club/Gym
If online isn’t the way you want to go, and you want to have a more personal, face-to-face experience with your clients, then starting your own fitness club is a great option for you!
While there are many health and fitness clubs open around the country, there are several ways that you can stand out from the crowd and establish a solid client base.
We mentioned some of the ways you can cater your fitness lessons to unique markets above, but with a physical club, you could also look at opening a center in a location with a lot of commuters who don’t have their own center.
You could also stand out by having unique training hours, hosting most of your classes in the early morning or the late evening, so that anyone with families or 2nd/3rd shift work schedules can still have access to excellent training and one-on-one counseling.
There are many 24-hour gyms out there, but very few of them have trainers willing to come do a class at 11:00 pm, just before 3rd shifters go to work
As your club grows, you can reinvest some of your revenue to get more equipment, or even better, hire trainers who specialize in areas that you want to reach, but aren’t an expert in yourself.
A final advantage, aside from the income, is that owning your own club will allow you to set your own hours, and create your own club culture, allowing you the freedom to be yourself at work, and surround yourself with like-minded people!
It Starts With a Single Step
No matter what route you choose to go with your healthy enterprise, remember that the important thing is to be safe, be effective, and have fun!
There’s nothing easy about getting in shape, as I’m sure you know well, and it’s a journey without a final destination. Other people may crave that lifestyle, but are struggling to find the right way to get started.
With any of the options we’ve discussed, you could be the jump-start that these folks are looking for, and make a healthy profit doing it!
