Is Being Self-Employed for You?

There are lots of good reasons for personal trainers to want  to work for themselves like: having a great idea or passion about fitness that could be turned into profits, want to work from home to fit in better with family commitments, or to take more control of their life and be their own boss. The question is what are the advantages and disadvantage of having a self-employed personal training business?

According the statistics, only 44% of newly qualified fitness professionals survive the first four months within the fitness industry. Many experts believe only 20% of all people are fit to run their own business, so it shouldn’t be relied upon as an ‘easy fix’. It is important to note that being self-employed is not suitable for everyone.

What self-employed means?

Being self-employed requires discipline and self-motivation along with other skills. If you, are self-employed you have additional stress comparing to a employee role. At times it may be overwhelming, there may not seem enough hours in the day. Furthermore there are  additional problems such as a loss of clients, illness, and other problems that if not managed properly could result  in a loss of income. However, there many advantages to being self-employed. These include the following:

•  Unlimited income potential: If all goes to plan, and your business becomes a profit-making success, there’s no limit to how much money you could make compared to your earning potential if you were employed. Your income is determined by you and your ability to do all the aspects of your business extraordinarily well, such as selling yourself to the customers and mastering your money.

• Freedom: The greatest thing in life is freedom. This is one of the factors that drive most people to become self-employed, because they enjoy getting the most out of their time and not having anyone to tell them what to do or when to go to work.

• Less structure: Unlike an employee, you get to choose your hours of operation; you don’t have any boss to tell you what to do and when to go to work because you are the boss.

• Independence: Your work can be much more flexible and your hours as long or short as you wish. There is no boss beyond yourself you need to report to with what has been and what is to be done. You are the only person on whom your success or failure depends on. You decide when and how to do the work and you are not under direct supervision as to when you are working.

• Being in control:  Being your own boss, for many, is like being the captain of your own ship. You are responsible for all the results you get out of your business, good or bad. You need to take responsibility for your client’s results and enjoy promoting and selling your fitness services.

• Making your own decisions: Being self-employed, you have the ability to wear multiple hats, including handling clerical, billing, and accounting procedures. You are in charge of your own decisions, whether right or wrong. You are the only person to blame when faced with failure, and in success, the only person to reap rewards.

 Disadvantages of Being Self-employed

•  Fewer guarantees: The only guarantee you have is your ability to perform well in all the aspects of the business including: keeping on top of your finances, finding people to train, and selling yourself as fitness professional.

• Lack of company benefits: The major drawback is the limited benefits such as a pension, health insurance, paid holidays and bonuses.

• Uncertainty: Even though many self-employed fitness professionals regard themselves as having greater income security through the diversity of  their clients and outlets – the loss of any one of which leads to the loss of only a portion of income, rather than its totality as with salaried employees. You are responsible for meeting any losses as well as taking the profits from your work.

• Always looking for clients or marketing: Until the business is stable, and it almost never is, you will need to market all the time.

• Business duties: You must handle contracts, legal issues, accounting, marketing, and other business functions on your own. If you do choose to pay for professional services, these can sometimes turn into significant out-of-pocket expenses.

• Lack of support and management skills: One of the reasons why many self-employed personal trainers fail is due to a lack of people to cheer them on,  and tell them how to be successful, and when to show up for work. We all love to have someone who cheers us on when we win, and help us out when we lose.

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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