Nine ways to supplement your income as a group X instructor

Anna Martin delivers nine ways to supplement your income as a group X instructor that you can implement this month.

Behind every great group X class is an instructor who pours their heart into creating an amazing experience. Yet, many clients don’t always see the effort that goes on behind the scenes. And, while instructors are driven by passion, it’s no secret that pay doesn’t always reflect the dedication they bring.

That’s why we wanted to hear from Anna Martin, who has found smart ways to supplement her income while continuing to deliver incredible classes. Many instructors feel nervous about asking clients for extra payment but there are ways to offer additional services that genuinely enhance your income. Because clients already trust us, they’re often happy to invest in something supplementary – especially when they know it adds real value to their experience.

Anna recently joined a webinar with FitPro’s executive director Teresa Wheatley and Olivia Clarke for EMD UK, where she shared insights on this very topic. In this post, we share Anna’s top tips for balancing your love of teaching with earning a sustainable income – without compromising the trust and connection you have with your clients.

Anna’s nine ways to earn more

Run corporate sessions/special events. Getting booked for one-off corporate sessions or days can be easier than it sounds. Start by mentioning it to your current client base and see what happens. Most of my bookings have come either via an existing client or by word of mouth and can be for just 30 minutes or an entire day. Think about what you currently do and how that could benefit a workforce or how you could tailor it for a specific business.
Deliver online accountability coaching. Whether offered one-to-one or in groups, online accountability can help your clients achieve their goals and can supplement your income. For group exercise instructors, groups may be where it is at, so you can offer a lower cost alternative to one-to-one online coaching.
Create social media partnerships. Depending on your market, you may be able to create social media content for businesses that you work with (and love) and get paid. Sometimes this might be for the company’s own social media channels, which means you don’t have to spam your own followers with content.
Produce small runs of clothing. By using a local printer, you may be able to get around large minimum order quantities and high costs. Avoid holding stock unless you are very confident you will be able to sell it all. Instead, start by taking orders and then having the clothing printed to order – then you’ll get an idea of what sizes and styles your clients are most likely to order.
Sell items that are essential for your class/workout. A lot of people would prefer to bring in their own lifting straps, boxing wraps, yoga mats/blocks, water bottles, etc. If you have space to store items such as these, you could sell them or affiliate with a seller so you don’t have to hold the stock yourself and you still make a commission.
Offer pre-recorded or streamed workouts.For example, you could offer training plans or a video sequence of some kind. These can run in various ways, such as via a subscription where you create new content regularly or as a sequence of workouts that you create one time and then sell to different people. What you offer depends on what your market wants.
Write a fitness column for a magazine or newspaper. This might sound like it’s far from reach but I know a few people who do this on a weekly basis and they really enjoy it. If you love to write, why not get yourself on the list with journalists/agencies for when they need fitness quotes, etc. for articles they are writing?
Offer personal training/non-participative classes. Save your body and deliver something that involves coaching rather than leaping about everywhere. If you are mainly a cardio-based instructor, learning how to deliver something like Pilates, yoga or coaching weights could help you supplement your income while saving your joints.
Hire other instructors or PTs within your own community fitness business. Expand the range of classes or services you offer by getting someone else in to teach some of your timetable or take on new clients that you don’t have the capacity for.

Get savvy about what you could be paid

To add to Anna’s nine ways to supplement your income as a fitness professional above, here is a really helpful resource our friends at EMD UK have published about group X instructor pay after some fantastic research they did about pay band recommendations.

Find more of our blogs for group ex instructors, with this one on the hidden struggle of group exercise instructors.