There are a few different ways that trainers can add a secondary income to give themselves more freedom, time, and money. With an Info product like an eBook, a personal trainer can leverage their expertise into something that could create income without actually having more clients. Sounds pretty cool, right?
Being a trainer has its challenges. We work odd hours, some of us spend a lot of time driving from one client to another, and we don’t get paid if we take time off or if we’re sick. We are basically trading our time and expertise for income. An eBook or other info product won’t necessarily make you rich, but they can provide a few hundred, to a few thousand, dollars extra per month.
What is a Fitness Info Product?
Info products are nicely packaged actionable information that solves a specific problem for your niche market. Information is generally free these days with Google, yet the average person wants information delivered to them in programs and systems that they can easily follow to help them achieve their goal. You can create this information in eBooks, videos, audio lessons, or physical products.
Why Create a Fitness Info Product?
Creating an info product is hard and can be time consuming, but the benefits are definitely worth it. Once you put the work in up front you will be able to sell the product over and over again with minimal expense. There are two main reasons that I believe every career trainer should create an info product:
- Passive Income –An info product can provide an extra stream of income to supplement your in-person training hours. You will literally make money while you sleep. Seriously, many mornings I wake up to an email from PayPal that someone purchased my program.
- Credibility – This may prove to be more valuable than the extra income that you will generate. By creating an info product you standout and are recognized as an expert in the field. I’ve definitely received more recognition in the industry since I created Project Shredded and authored a cookbook. Publish your eBook to Amazon Kindle and you’ll have an ISBN number and will be considered a published author. Just adding “Fitness Author” to your resume gives you a leg up on the competition.
For this article, we will be using my eBook and workout program Project Shredded as the example.
Where to start when creating an eBook?
The first thing you need to do is to decide who you want to target and what problem you are going to solve for them. For my first eBook, I drew from my experiences and what I learned during my journey to earning my pro card in Men’s Physique. The goal was to help guys 25-40 (my target market) who want to lose their last 10-20lbs of body fat to get a shredded 6-pack. This was a fairly easy niche for me to relate to and connect with because I’m 34 and I’ve had 10lbs of fat to lose to become shredded.
The next step is to decide what you want to include in your eBook or program. This is where you will begin an outline for your product. Start by writing down the resources that you can include to help the user effectively utilize your product. For Project Shredded I included the following components:
- Workout Program – This program was a 28-workout program with body part splits, metabolic conditioning, and recovery days. The workouts were designed around the style of training that I used to win my pro card. Your workouts should be tailored to the goals of your audience.
- Nutrition Guide – The nutrition guide is more of a suggested eating style rather than meal plans. It’s best to avoid providing specific meal plans: everyone’s metabolism and eating habits are different. Also, check your state laws regarding giving nutrition advise; some states require you to be a Registered Dietitian.
- Exercise Guide – This is a step-by-step guide with images of me performing exercises with explanations of how to do the movement correctly. This is extremely helpful for your clients to be able to stay safe and get the most out of each exercise.
- Stretching Guide – Most people don’t stretch nearly enough. That’s why I included a guide explaining the benefits of stretching and step-by-step descriptions and images and of me demonstrating the proper ways to stretch.
- 9 Ways To Naturally Raise Your Testosterone – This was my “bonus guide”. The bonus guide adds a little sizzle to your offer, enticing people to buy. Make sure it is something that will really grab the attention of your audience. For guys 25-40 having high testosterone levels is important, and since I’m a natural competitor I wanted to stress that you can raise your testosterone naturally without using steroids.
How To Reach Your Audience
What type of information would help my audience and how can I deliver it in a succinct and actionable way? Once you know who you want to target, established what their problems are, and you’ve defined solutions to their problems…now how do we reach them? This is often the hardest part and where most trainers fall short. This was, and still is, the most challenging part for me There are few absolute musts when it comes to marketing your info product and they are:
- Sales Page – This is where you will sell your product. WordPress offers an easy platform to build your website. If you aren’t tech savvy you can hire freelancers fairly cheap from overseas to do this for you. The layout and what you need to make an effective sales page is entirely too vast to address here and, quite honestly, a little beyond my scope of expertise. I suggest you Google for more information.
- Payment Method – PayPal is probably the easiest one to use. It works well with WordPress.
- Lead Magnet – This is what is going to drive clients to your site. For my lead magnet, I created “6 Reasons You STILL Don’t Have a 6 Pack”. This title is an attention getter and it hits a “pain point” with my audience because most of them are working out and trying hard but do not have a 6- pack to show for their efforts. I explain some reasons why they aren’t getting the results they want and a couple tips on how to get better results, but just enough to let them know I can help and entice them (hopefully) to buy my eBook.
- Facebook Ads – Facebook is a great way to drive a very specific audience to your site. I highly recommend that you either learn how to use Facebook ads or hire a freelancer who can help you.
- Delivery Method –The two easiest ways to deliver your product to customers are by using automated emails with the eBook attached or after they’ve purchased, redirect them to a Thank You page with a link to download your product.
Now that you have the basic outline for creating your first info product it’s time to start thinking about what market you want to target. Think about your areas of expertise and what problems your clients complain about and what information would be valuable to help them achieve their goals. Don’t just run with the first idea that pops into your head spend a few days thinking about it and write down 15-20 different ideas, then choose your best one and get to work.
Mike Kneuer is a professional health and fitness coach and retired pro physique athlete in Boca Raton, FL. He is passionate about health and fitness and helping others make positive life changes. Mike holds numerous advanced training certifications included 2 nutrition certifications from the National Academy of Sports Medicine and the International Sports Sciences Association. He has helped thousands of people around the world change the way they think about eating healthy foods and helped them reach their health and fitness goals by posting every meal he's eaten since 2012 on www.WhatMikeEats.com. (@WhatMikeEats)
