FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Like all of life, you get what you pay for. Most internship-level students/trainers who started out in fitness after 1989 were charging between 40 and 60 dollars per session before they finished schooling or completed their first accreditation/certification. This has remained static even though schooling and certification costs quadrupled, personal insurance increased 20-fold, and general cost of living has gone up 70-130 percent. They need support as well; everyone has to start somewhere; and they can be a great fit for the uninjured, semi-athletic, populace without any emotional hangups or mental barriers to training. After 5-10 years of experience, any worthwhile coach will be in the 80-100 dollar range, regardless of specialty or location. After 10,000 hours, for the career coaches (people whose sole focus is this industry), each specialty certification represents leaps forward in methodology and value. Some choose to stay closer to the 100 dollar range in order to still work with the general populace, just less frequently, as their skill set is more profound while meeting less often. Others continue to consistently raise their hourly by only teaching groups, only working in affluent communities/social groups, or supplementing income with other jobs or partners or endeavors ("product" sales). The sky is the limit. Some peers have higher retainers than elite law firms. For the serious consumer, this is a quandary, because lower pricing gives up professionalism at some point, and some experts are worth 500 dollars per session while they only charge 250. Coaching as a part time hobby is inexpensive, so they charge the least, deliver less value, while being most profitable. Coaching as a lifelong single profession is extremely costly, so they charge more, deliver the most value, while being less profitable. Fitness professional liability insurance is anywhere from 1,000 dollars per year to more than 1,000 per month. Unsuccessful trainers may pay just a few hundred dollars for monthly rent, while some fulltime ones pay over 10,000 for a facility. Private health insurance premiums for an independent coach are over 2 grand each month with five to six figure "max out of pocket" limits. This isn't taking into account ongoing education expenses, and regular cost of living. There is a real, palpable distinction between the focus and expertise of someone who has committed to coaching as his only pursuit and the trainer with his hands in ten different jobs. The genuineness is obvious and sobering. We wouldn't have it any other way.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
We meet people first at a human level. The client and coach have to understand the type of learner the client is. This is the groundwork for everything. Anyone who skips this step is ignoring the most important factor in success. Included in this is a general health intake. Thereafter, we perform various movement screens to understand what is and isn't safe, does and doesn't work, and how well the client does or doesn't understand his/her/their own body mechanics or movement in general. From that point, it's clear what level of instruction/accountability makes sense for the client. We make that way forward together and assign homework based on client readiness and meeting frequency/infrequency.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
Every single day we read medical and science journals. Weekly we work with other professionals on different coaching or training concepts. On average we each have attended 2-5 major conferences or workshops per year for the last 14 years. We are current with all of our certifications; and we've always been far in excess of required CEUs/CECs as long.