127 – Craig Hubert – How to Start and Grow a Mobile In-Home HIT Business

A certified personal trainer since 1997, and a Licensed Kinesitherapist since 2002, Craig started his career in the fitness industry after being mesmerised watching his own ACL surgery. He started seeing clients in small gyms and private studios before embarking on his own to run a successful in-home training business that would eventually offer in-home High Intensity Training. He finally opened his first studio in a 600 sq/ft office space in 2011, and now operates in his own 1400 sq/ft space in Quebec, Canada – Book Here

Email Craig – craig@gethit [dot] ca

This episode is a master class on how to start, deliver and grow a mobile in-home HIT business. A mobile HIT business can be a cost-effective (low entry) and high-profit business. On its own or with online coaching (distance training) it can become a great way to make a living and help people doing something you love. Also, if desired, it can become a great stepping stone to starting a strength training facility further down the line.

• How to get started from scratch with no qualifications or personal training experience
• How to deliver and instruct an in-home HIT workout step-by-step
• The importance of centralising and finding a high-profit area
• Finding the right clientele
• How to market
• How to figure out pricing
• Scaling and online coaching
• How to transition to opening a HIT facility
• … and much more

Below is a video from Craig on how to perform a minimalist HIT bodyweight routine and a blog post on how to start a mobile in-home HIT business. The blog post is very entertaining and useful. I’ve added my own notes with “[LN: ….]”. Scroll down to the second half of this post for the podcast audio player.

Enter Craig Hubert

In-Home HIT Workout Demonstration:

The fitness industry is an interesting place, kind of one big contradiction. On one end, it represents the picture of what we all strive to be, vibrant, active, strong, agile, sporting a lean physique, with perfect blood markers from cholesterol to sugars. Yet on the other end, the industry is littered with bad information, dangerous training techniques, questionable diets, and looks more like one large, incredibly bad, infomercial.

Below are my suggestions to get you started in the industry, as well as how to go about starting your own in-home HIT centered training business.

Getting Started

Most people getting involved in personal training think they’ll be doing 40+ sessions per week making $100/ session. The reality is, for most, getting to a solid income takes work – if you want the gold, ya gotta dig.

1. Get certified. This is a no brainer. As most people will start in a big box gym, a certification is required. ACSM, NSCA, ACE are the more well-known, but if HIT is your goal, HITUNI is a solid program – Use CW10 to get 10% off – LINK
2. Immerse yourself! Read everything, In HIT, this includes the Nautilus bulletins, books by McGuff, Little, Darden, Westcott, to name a few. Read books from authors outside HIT, Poliquin, Pavel, Dan John for example. And attend seminars – lots of ‘em. The good ones will teach you things no university can. I heard there’s a pretty good one each year in Minnesota … [LN: Craig is referring to the Resistance Exercise Conference, use CorporateWarrior10 to get 10% off – LINK ]
3. You need to work with people, so to Globo Gym you go! The benefit to working in a large gym is not the pay, it generally sucks, but you get to work with a ton of people, with different shapes and sizes, interests and abilities. This is where you learn the craft. You’ll also be highly entertained by dumb shit…. Oh yes, stupidity is rampant in the big box gyms.
4. Find a mentor. This is key IMO, find that person doing what you want to do and reach out – everybody is different, so do your homework and approach them in a courteous, respectful manner.

In-Home Training

A HIT centered In-home business fit together like OJ’s glove (wait, no… they actually fit… ) so maybe more like Taylor Swift and Kanye West (wait…nope) any ways, it works. [LN: I’m British and don’t understand this reference … ]

1. Define your market. Who will be your primary client? Seniors, Executives, Housewives? (it doesn’t mean you can’t train all walks of life, but in my experience, referrals are key, and like refer like). Once defined then…
2. Tailor your message – HIT has plenty of benefits, but not everybody cares about the same things. A retired senior might not care that a session is 20-30 minutes, as time may not be an issue. However the emphasis on safety may resonate to their failing ears (me being funny, not offensive).
3. Pick your area to work based on your target market, and do not leave it. In-home training does not work well if you’re spending all of your time driving out of your way from one client to the next.
4. Schedule for traffic and road condition issues. Have to cross train tracks to get to a client? Leave yourself some extra time to accommodate a possible wait for passing trains. Nothing will stress you out more than falling behind early in your day, causing you to be late for most clients.
5. Add about 15-20% over the standard price for a training session in a gym. This is a soft number, as your experience as well as your model will influence your price points.

Other Considerations

1. Get your house in order first – Try to start debt free, there is nothing worse than making business decisions based on short-term personal financial needs that will negatively impact the long-term vision of your business. This can be as simple as setting your pricing too low to make the quick buck now, but makes raising your rates much harder in the future (people get very accustomed to a low price, and tend to be very resistant to increases.)
2. Bootstrap – It’s easy to think that borrowing money will help you out, but please try to avoid both banks and private lenders. I know lots of people borrow successfully, I just feel that when it’s all on you, you’ll think smarter, and be way more creative. It’s easy to throw money at problems, being creative to find work arounds is what creates lasting businesses. [LN: this is huge and important to underscore. Low budgets force you to do the hard thinking and pick the RIGHT things to do with the highest impact].
3. Keep distractions to a minimum – It is way easier to think big, doing the things necessary to grow a large business (if that’s the goal) when you don’t have a family or a serious relationship that can potentially draw your attention away from the big picture – it’s a harsh statement, but something I’ve experienced first hand. My decisions don’t just affect me, they can have lasting consequences on my family, as such, I second guess more, and riskier plays that had large potential upsides tend to get shelved. I’m not saying that it can’t be done, just that the emotional strain is much harder.

In-Home Training can be very lucrative, at $50/ 30 minute session price tag, doing a reasonable 40 sessions per week (amounts to 20 hours of actual work) brings in $2000/week. Which is good money in many areas of the world. Keeping in mind that your price reflects the market you’re in – NYC would most likely be closer to $100 or more per session.

Treat you In-Home business like you would any other, with professionalism and integrity, and the sky’s the limit.