By Eric Bach, CSCS is a personal trainer, author, and fitness business coach in Denver, Colorado. Eric’s passion is on simplifying the process of building an online fitness business and helping trainers overcome information overload to a build a successful fitness brand. For free marketing, sales, and content tips join the Bach Performance Hybrid Fitness Business Community here. 

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Just as every personal training client is different, every fitness business is different. What works for some businesses won’t work for your fitness business.

A custom approach is always best. Just reading blog posts won’t get you jacked. And just reading about generic business development ideas won’t improve your cash flow.

What you need is action. Clear, goal-driven, focused action.

Which leads me to this post. My fellow fitness professionals (fitpros)  have been filling up my email box with questions. They want to know how to build a successful fitness business and get published on sites like CNN  and T-Nation.  I’ve spoken at conferences, on dozens of podcasts, and answered countless Facebook instant messages helping my fellow fitpros.

So my career has taken an unexpected twist. The demand has been such that I’ve taken on a handful of online business coaching clients.  I’m helping them build their online businesses from the ground up.

Why? Because trainers can fall prey to information overload in building a business … the same way regular folks get confused with all the diet and fitness information out there.

And it isn’t about not knowing what to do. It’s about  sifting through the endless droves of information to find out what’s really important to building a long-term, sustainable online business.

My team and I are now accepting a handful of additional clients in our online personal trainer mentorships program. Spots are very limited. That’s because we’re so busy “walking the walk” in our own businesses.

“Eric Bach has walked the walk building both a successful in-person and online fitness business. Eric and his team are an excellent resource in the industry and can help you cut through the clutter and take action on building your ultimate fitness business.”

–Jonathan Goodman, Founder of the Personal Trainer Development Center and Online Trainer Academy

Online training enables you to help more people, take control of your schedule and finally have the freedom to travel, spend time with your family…

…and even say “No” to 5:00 AM clients or 16-hour split shifts.

And, of course, make more money.

That said, online training isn’t for every trainer or client. First, you need a solid foundation as an in-person personal trainer. To quote Warren G and Nate Dogg, “you can’t be any geek off the street, gotta be handy with the steel if you know what I mean, earn your keep!”

You also have to screen prospective clients carefully for injuries and ability. (If your program is based on power cleans and the prospective client has never lifted before, there is no match.)

That’s why I came up with this Success Pyramid for building a hybrid fitness business.


It’s a matter of getting priorities right.

“Success lies in the relentless pursuit of the basics.”  That’s my core principle. I’ll focus on tasks like:

1. When to spend 90 minutes writing
2. When to conduct two sales calls and follow-ups
3. When to finish a client nutrition program

You won’t fall into the trap of delaying your business launch by getting hung up on Facebook ad targeting. And you won’t obsesses over which lead page software is best.  We’ll lay the proper foundation first. Choosing the right software tool is an implementation detail that can lead to the number one issue I see:

Paralysis of Analysis

You know that you can’t trade hours for dollars at the gym indefinitely.

You know that some trainers have become very successful at online training. You need:
– expert advice on pricing, so you can charge what you’re worth
– to learn how to make a sales call, so you can close sales and help more people
– to learn how to create effective landing pages and ads
– copywriting help with websites, eBooks, and eCourses
– video coaching

You need to be held accountable by expert coaches with proven track records.

We’ll create a personalized plan, just for you.

We give you the best advice, the best practices, and the best solutions for you.

And then we’ll work with you to actually get it done.

We’ll explain exactly how we do all this on your free strategy call.

“Eric is clearly an authority in the world of online training, yet still able to connect with those who have little to no experience. The actionable steps he gave us will go a long way towards creating our own online business.”

– Jack Purdom

Do you really want to face another 12 hour day of back-to-back clients?  You wonder whatever happened to that great idea of getting out of the “hours for dollars” rat race by launching one of those online training businesses you keep hearing about.

You just say to yourself: “Today is not the day. Maybe tomorrow will be better” But will tomorrow ever really come?

Rather than taking the next step, you  just defer the plan.

It’s the same sort of faulty thinking that leads your clients to eat an entire container of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia and skip a workout. After all, they’ve already messed up on their diet by eating the first spoonful. So what harm will crushing the entire container do? 

None of us achieves success alone.

We all need help. When a person wants to lose weight, we recommend a trainer. When you need surgery, we recommend a doctor.

And when you want to build a business, you hire a coach to help you build a business.

There’s also an intellectual honesty issue.

If you don’t use coaching yourself, how can you preach its virtues to clients?

Above all, bear in mind this key point:

Most people fail at business transformation not because of lack of information, but because of lack of direction and accountability.

The Takeaway

You can’t keep working split shifts from 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM while neglecting time with family, friends, and loved ones.

And whatever happened to your own training?

Or taking a weekend off?

It’s time to work smarter and make a little more cash.

You’ll help more clients achieve their goals and improve their lives.

It’s time to start doing well by doing good.

We’ve developed six figure online and in personal training businesses simultaneously.

We Call It The Hybrid Fitness Model

I’ve been privileged to work with  athletes and hundreds of clients while being featured in CNN, Yahoo Health, AskMen, The Personal Trainer Development Center, and T-Nation.

But this wasn’t always the case. I struggled for years, working in a commercial gym. Then an ownership change changed the rules and wreaked havoc on my business. Despite working the same 12-16 hour days, my income was cut by 40%.

Things went downhill fast. I worked more hours for less money. I never saw my wife or friends. To make ends meet, I had to work crazy split shifts. At any moment, I could become the victim of my gym’s next policy change or other people’s schedules.  

It was a crisis that threatened to extinguish the passion for what I loved doing: helped others become their best selves.

Then, unbelievably, it got worse. My accountant put $50,000+ of my money into his pocket instead of sending it to the IRS. Criminal charges have been filed. But I will never get the money back. Every hard-earned cent was gone. Forever.

So it was do or die time. I needed to develop a business to supercharge my income, help more clients, and regain my lost freedom.

And in a short time, I quadrupled my income.

Now, I’d like to try to do the same for you.

I’ll show you how to:

– Make more money

– Work fewer hours

Let’s Do This

We offer hands-on, custom consulting.

This is not an eCourse or Mastermind group.

We don’t just throw out a bunch of information and leave you to fend for yourself.

We’ll customize our services to your needs.

We’ll position your business for long-term success.

Most of all, we’ll show you how to become self-sufficient.

We’ll teach you how to fish, not how to keep buying fish from us.

Like you, we are coaches who believe in coaching.

Marty Rinehart of Driven Personal Training and Fitness Education in Arlington Heights, IL writes:

“Eric is a badass who knows the PT industry inside and out. He knows how to get amazing results for other coaches, his athletes, and his business. His story is motivational and a great inspiration.”

The Bottom Line

No one gets there alone.

We’ll be with you every step of the way. But we have only a handful of spots available since our service is so personalized.

And we have to be honest: like anything else in life, you’ll have to put in the work to get results.

Are you ready to re-take control of your schedule, make more money, and help more clients?

“After attending Eric’s presentation, I got a better idea about how to design and create a hybrid personal training business. I am excited to start implementing his ideas and strategies. Eric’s transparency about his business and how he evolved from his adversity was VERY inspiring.”

– Janet Cook, INHC, CPT Vivacious Wellness Personal Coaching, Springfield, IL.

Take action by completing the form below to find out more. Our customized three month program will be tailored specificalyl to your business you you can stand out in the industry, stop trading dollars for hours, and start changing more lives with online coaching.

But we can accep TWO more clients right now. 

If we think there is a match, we’ll contact you about scheduling a free consultation.

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