The Tech That Every PT Needs - Featured in 'Personal Trainer Today'
The blog post…..
The Tech That Every PT Needs
We all know that personal trainers (PTs) are super busy to the extent that a large portion of them don’t have the time to train themselves. Let that settle in…
They wake up before 5am, have back-to-back clients, teach classes, respond to emails, post on social media, sort their taxes, write programmes and more (it’s exhausting just typing it!) Then, before they know it, it’s 8pm and time to get home to bed to repeat the same thing all over again the next day.
If you’re working with people 1-2-1, there’s no way of reducing the hours you work if you want to earn the money to make a decent living. You could train more people by using a group session model, but what if you don’t want to? How do you gain hours back while still delivering a great service (or an even better service?) Easy… you use tech and apps!
Using technology to your advantage could save you hours each day and help you look more professional and actually improve your offerings.
Personal Training Software
Personal training software is a great addition to a PT’s repertoire of tools. This type of software is 100% online and usually comes with personalised apps that your clients can use – making you look like the bomb to your clients and prospects!
They allow you to write workouts and save them as templates (including videos so your client knows what to do), track calories, message clients, create groups and some even let you track habits.
Creating programme templates and uploading them to the software alone will save you countless hours each week. There’s many to choose from, but, below, are some of the best of the crop. All have cheaper plans that only allow you to train/coach a small number of clients, but, once you’ve got to grips with the software and are looking for a slightly more advanced package, you can progress from there.
PT Distinction
Price – From $19 (around £15.23) per month
App included – Yes
Trainerize
Price – From $4.50 (around £3.61)
App included – Yes
My PT Hub
Price – From £10 per month
App included – Yes
Accounts Software
There are many ways to track your income and outcome. Many PTs still use good old-fashioned pen and paper, while others use spreadsheets. This can be time-consuming and easy to forget, resulting in that all too familiar mad rush to complete and submit your tax return before the deadline bites you in the leg!
Over the years, there’s been an influx of online software and apps to help track your business. These take spreadsheets to the next level by streamlining your books and making it easy to track and check your income.
Most software allows you to link your personal and business accounts, making it much quicker to track expenses and income throughout the month. Some apps make it as easy as swiping left or right to log items, as well as creating rules so you don’t even have to think about it. They also let you take a photo of receipts that you can link to the expenses, so you don’t need to worry about losing them.
Once tax season is upon us, it’s as easy as a couple of clicks and your books are sent to the accountant ready to process. They even tell you how much tax you’re likely to pay each time you open the software.
If you aren’t using this type of software, you’re creating a yearly headache and potential panic when that tax bill arrives, so here’s some of the best and most popular accounting software for you to explore…
FreshBooks
Pricing – From $15 (around £12.03) per month
App included – Yes
QuickBooks
Pricing – From £10 per month
App included – Yes
To-do List Apps
One of the best things about being self-employed is the fact you don’t have a boss. However, this can also be a bad thing, as you no longer have someone checking up on you to ensure the work gets done. This is where to-do list apps come in, as they can help you keep track of tasks and remind you to get things done.
You could keep a notebook around and use pen and paper, but sometimes you don’t have your notebook with you. Plus, a notebook doesn’t ping a notification when you need to remember something! Most devices come with reminder and ‘to-do’ apps installed, but they can be very basic, so this is where specialised apps come in…
To-do list apps give you a convenient place to download all of your tasks, ideas and events into one place. From there, you can plan your day-to-day work and set reminders for important deadlines.
There’s so many out there, so I’ve chosen ones that are cross-platform and can be used pretty much on any device and the web.
Todoist
Pricing – from $3 (around £2.41) per month if billed yearly
(This has a free account but has features that are limited)
App included – Yes
TickTick
Pricing – From $2.40 (around £1.92) per month if billed yearly
(This has a free account but has features that are limited)
App included – Yes
Trello
Pricing – Free (there is a paid account but most won’t need the features)
This isn’t quite a to-do list app, more of a digital post-it note board, but it’s super useful for planning your work
App included – Yes
Scheduling Software
Busy personal trainers can deliver up to 12 hours of sessions on any given day, so keeping on top of who’s in or who’s cancelled can be tricky. Using software can take the stress out of booking sessions and dealing with cancellations by taking away the constant need to call clients or send messages.
This type of software lets you create a schedule online that clients can access and book in sessions when you’re available. All you have to do is turn up and coach the hell out of the client. It’ll even handle cancellations and re-booking if needed without you ever sending a message.
Late cancellations are the bane of a PT’s workday. Your client knows you have a cancellation policy, but most PT’s hate telling clients they’ve lost a session. With software, you take that awkward conversation away by letting the software do all the talking. Here are some of the most effective…
Acuity Scheduling
Pricing – from $15 (around £12.03) per month
App included – No
Calendly
Pricing – Basic plan is free which will be enough for most. Premium starts at $10 (around £8.01) per month
App included – Yes
Social Media Posting/Scheduling Tools
Whether you like social media or not, there’s no denying that it can help build your business and help you gain clients. The problem is that creating content and posting daily is time-consuming and difficult to maintain.
Most of the videos, blog posts, memes and the rest can always be reused a couple of weeks later, as people don’t see every post in their feed. Reposting software can help you keep up a social media presence when you’re really busy and don’t have the capacity to keep updating it.
The idea is you create content in various forms of media (videos, how-tos, recipes, blog posts, memes, etc) once, then load all of them into the software. From there, you schedule your content to go out as and when you decide. Once all the content has been posted, it recycles it from the start.
Initially, it takes a huge amount of time and effort to create all of this content, but, once you have around 50-100 posts, you may never think about posting again. Just dropping in as and when you have something to say or to interact with your followers (very important!) Here are two of my favourites…
RecurPost
Pricing – Free for 3 social media accounts and 100 recurring posts. Plans start from $15 (around £12.03) once you need more.
App included – Yes
Meet Edgar
Pricing – $49 (£39.29) per month
App included – No
Not everyone is a lover of all things tech in the same way I am, and you still may be feeling a little sceptical having read this. The truth is, you don’t have to use any software or apps to run a successful PT business, but, if you do, you may well end up with a bit more free time, which you can use to develop your business further, or, dare I say it, take a well-earned break!
I’d recommend checking out each type of software and deciding whether or not it would be useful for you. The good news is, most of them offer a free trial, so you can play around with them before splashing the cash. And if you really hit it off with your new-found tech, I’m sure it won’t be long before you notice the difference, both for yourself and your clients.
Link to article
https://pttoday.co.uk/2019/12/03/the-tech-that-every-pt-needs/