With endless content creation and business development tools at our fingertips, it’s easy to find the motivation to “start your own thing” online. After all, many of us want a side hustle, or even better, a blissful life of self-employment.

The underappreciated thing about the online fitness industry, however, is that the most successful online entrepreneurs begin with the foundational experience of extensive in-person instruction. These are the people who know that you can’t skip the step of honing your face-to-face coaching craft before demanding trust on the internet if you expect to have any measurable level of success.

Coaches need to get their reps in, and this typically takes place while working inside of someone else’s gym. If you’re one of those motivated young coaches, keep in mind that aspiration is a renewable resource, and experience is a cumulative resource.

What Should I Do?

If I were you, I’d head out into the world in search of an employer that encourages me to replenish the former by developing a personal brand while simultaneously accumulating the latter as a contributing coach in his operation.

If you run into a potential employer who says team members aren’t allowed to maintain a fitness blog or weekly newsletter, walk away.

If you find one who says that hosting a podcast is off limits, walk away.

If they tell you that all of the content you create during the period of time that you are working for them becomes the intellectual property of the business, forget walking...run away.

Someday you’re going to move on from that operation, and the last thing you’ll need at that point is to be handcuffed by the shortsighted and territorial policies of a threatened small business owner.