Ep73: How Grace Went From Zero Clients to $6K/Month in Just 3 Months

What is going on, everyone? Matt here from the PT Profit, Leverage and Lifestyle show. I've got one of my superstar clients with me this morning. Good morning, Grace. How are you this morning?

Good, how are you going?

Very, very good, thank you. I'm super pumped to have a conversation with you because you've had some epic results in the last probably couple of months, but it hasn't always been like that, of course, as we'll get into shortly. So, super keen to have a conversation with you about the success but also the challenges. But if people don't know who you are, do you want to give us a bit of a rundown of where you're located and probably why you got into the industry? Cool.

So I'm Grace. So I am working as a PT in West End in Brisbane, but I started out doing uni. I was in biomedical science and I sort of got into that because I wanted to help people and I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. And so then I realized that, like, I enjoyed the science side of it and I enjoyed understanding how the body works and I really enjoyed like the musculoskeletal conditions and as well as like just how the muscles work and what they did and all that sort of stuff. So I really loved that. But I really found that like, medicine wasn't really a pathway that I wanted to do because I wanted to work with people really one on one and have like long term success and help people really like improve their lives from a very like, I guess, close relationship. And then I was like training and just because it was a good stress reliever, like, you know, you're at uni, you're studying for hours and then you're like, okay, midday I'm gonna go to the gym. And it just like helps you reset. Then I just really love the science behind lifting. So my basic science brain got really into how to lift better and how to do all that sort of stuff. And I watched a bunch of Jeff nippered YouTube and just went kind of down that big rabbit hole. Just got better at lifting, got a bit injured. So then I started to understand like what it is to just be in a lot of pain and not be able to do things and how that really sets you back mentally. And then I just ended up sort of helping my friends train and training with my friends and being like, oh, let's try that, let's do this. And just enjoyed it more and more. And then I was just sitting at uni work shopping, like, what am I going to do with my life with my friends, and they were like, what about pt? And then I sort of sat on that and it sort of seemed to fit really well with everything I wanted to do. So in my final year uni, I started doing my cert 3 and 4. And I started doing it with you, Matt, because you were my PT mentor. So we started doing that and it just sort of. The more I got into it, the more I was like, yeah, yeah, I think I could really do this. And then. Yeah. So then we sort of finished uni, finished my certs, and then tried to start a business.

How good and yes, you were. Yeah, Pretty much worked with you from the start. Right. Because you. We were doing the practical stuff to get your qualifications done, which was a long time ago. Now. It's not really a long time ago, but it seems like a long time ago. Yeah, but yeah, I remember obviously, when we're doing the practical stuff, you're obviously very technically minded in terms of the exercises and whatnot. So I knew you would always be a good, good trainer just around understanding the business side of things that you are quite new to. So that's super, super exciting. So obviously we obviously did the qualifications and then obviously you decided to work with me, which is awesome. What? Let's just kind of go through the journey over the last, I don't know, five months because I think you started in January, right?

Yeah. Oh, and the. Jimmy started in February, but I started with you in January because we were like, let's get set up.

Yeah. Yeah, cool. Yeah, okay, cool. So let's, let's go through kind of what the journey was like when you first started, because there was a few hurdles when we first, first started. So, you know, one thing I always like to shed some light on is yes, you know, we've had a lot of success recently, but it wasn't always like that. And a lot of people would have given up, thrown in the towel, but not you. So I'd love to know what were some of the things that we were finding challenging at the start of the journey.

Yeah, well, to be honest, I did actually want to throw in the towel close to the start of that. Like, not going to lie, I was very stressed and I was like, I'm not good at this, I can't get clients. And I was like talking to my dad on the phone, being like, I'm really bad at this. And he's like, no, you just gotta take time. Like, that's, that's first year in business. It's Always bad. And I was like, that's really gloomy outlook. Thank you. But it's kind of true like this, the start is bumpy and you do have to like just get through it. But the biggest challenge, like initially that we were sort of dealing with was that the gym had PT packs, but they were priced so low that just comparatively, as soon as someone comes and they get a PT pack, most of the ones that I were getting were like never trained before. So they didn't know what they needed, they didn't know what their pain points were or what, what they wanted to actually improve on. They were just like, oh yeah, I'm going to come to the gym. And then you talk to them and you'd have a good like consult and then you go out and you do a session and because it's a two part session, two 45 minute sessions and then we would be trying to sell sort of at the end of that second session and people just go, oh, okay, I got you know, two sessions for $50. But now I've got to pay, you know, upwards of $85 per session per week, you know, and it just comparatively people just instantly out. So having a lot of issues converting on a price point was very disheartening because I was like, I don't know if I'm doing this right or how do I get people to buy in and have better conversations. And so that was sort of our biggest issue. And then marketing, because at the gym you have to do all of your own marketing. You don't really get pushed out to anyone. You don't have any social media or there's no television screens that you get put on either. So every lead that you get is a lead that you've created so that initially having the confidence to talk to people and not having a client base to begin with was a big challenge for us to actually make that work. But yeah, that was, that was the biggest hurdle in the beginning.

Yeah, a hundred percent. And it's funny you bring up that you almost threw in the towel. Cause I think all, all pts when they first start get to that stage where it's definitely a consideration about throwing in the towel. And you know, props to your dad, the legend giving, giving you some sound advice there. But it's, it is true for, you know, most people like when they get into business it is like one of the hardest things to do being like brand new to the industry, brand new to business. So, you know, I'm glad obviously you've stuck to it because obviously we'll go through some of the success that you've had in such a short time as well. Like if we think about it, you've only been in the club for just over three months.

Yeah.

And yeah, we'll go through obviously financially what that kind of looks like. But yeah, I'm glad obviously you kind of went through that hard part at the start because then you really appreciate where, where you're at now. So do you want to give us some context in terms of where you're at now? Whether it's sessions or income, whatever you want to say.

Well, now, so basically from having the confidence in the consult process and having my own consult process that's separate from the PT bags, I'm able to convert much, much better. And because most of the people that are sort of coming in for those consults are like, they're already sort of bought in, they already want pt. They've either approached me directly or they've been referred by a friend or something like that. So conversion rates are much higher. I don't really know percentages, but they're much higher than they started out. And so Now I'm running 20 sessions a week and we've just sort of put prices up for new clients. So most of my clients are on 85 per session and most clients do two sessions a week. So that's sort of hitting around that sort of 6k per month for this upcoming month and then just sort of slowly building from there and like adding a few more so that my schedule's still like manageable and good because that is a consideration of having like enough time because I do split my time between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. So having like a schedule that is Monday afternoon through to Friday morning and all of my clients are in that time and it works for them because Monday to Friday most people want to train weekdays and then it works for me. So I've still got that lifestyle sort of balance and de stress from the week and then yeah, being able to like go, okay, yeah, this is financially really working and I'm still in the rent build up phase at the gym, so.

Stop it.

Yeah, it's kind of strange, but yeah, so 20 sessions a week feels really good. Feeling like I've got really good progress with clients and, and they're now starting to like actually refer their friends and, and like partners and everything to me. So then we get to like actually work with groups of people, not like in group training sessions but like people who are connected to each other and, and that's really fun. Because you end up, you know, sort of creating lifestyle changes and people sort of have that long term success or set up for that long term success, which is awesome.

Yeah, that's, that's epic. And we'll get into the referral side of things shortly because that's been a huge thing recently. Keep lining up to, to work with you. It sounds like pretty much which is, which is good. But I want to dive into how we actually manage to not so much fix the problem for the PT packs. But you mentioned that you kind of have your own consult process.

Yeah.

Can you give us some insights into what that looks like?

So I think you sort of helped me figure this out. But we set up basically just have like a little A4 standing poster and it has a QR code which takes you directly to a calendly link and people can just book directly in for a 45 minute health assessment consult. And I've sort of just like been able to talk to my manager and the people who work on reception and be like, okay, if someone's interested in a PT pack, that's $50, but here you can get a 45 minute session with me for, for no cost. It's completely complimentary. And so people then just naturally go to that and when they're given that option, so we get rid of that sort of point of, you know, PT pack issues. So I don't do any PT packs anymore and people don't really ask about them. I'm also the only recruiting PT in the gym, so that does, you know, have a bit of a, a difference. But yeah, so like that really helped. And then having like us working on sort of doing more role play work at the start and figuring out what sort of that consult process looks like for me and what I'm comfortable doing and, and what actually creates a space where those clients can realize, oh, I really work on this, like my hip's not stable or I can't actually get into a body weight squad or you know, having that realization for themselves internally of like, oh, I actually really need this. Not like I was thinking about it, it could be helpful. But then all of a sudden it becomes like a need. And then I show that I can help them in that first session, that we can actually get some level of results. And then when I go and present sort of the, the pricing and what's included and all that sort of stuff, we don't really find that I have that many objections. It's more about what fits in with their budget rather than, oh, do I actually want to do this in the first place. And it's a real mindset shift of I feel confident in the product that I'm presenting in my service. So then people buy in better because I'm, I'm like presenting myself as someone who can help them and they're like, I want the help. So it's a big difference in our sort of consult process to what it was at the start, which was a little bit of me going, if you want to, I don't know, like maybe kind of a good idea and I'm a good trainer, but I don't know if you'll like me. And yeah, so that was very much the beginning, but we don't really have that worry anymore.

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, it's been such a dramatic change in like confidence in you as well. So it's been awesome to see. When you, when you said most people are doing two sessions a week and in your price point that's you know, probably somewhere around 160, 170 a week on average. That is huge. That is well above average for the industry. I don't know the exact average, but you know, most people obviously do between one and two sessions per week, but they're usually only charging 50 to 60, so they're probably average is only maybe 100. Do you think like some of this might come down to obviously the demographic, but do you think there's anything specific that you're doing to be able to get people to do? You said most people are doing two sessions a week, so how are you getting people to do two sessions a week rather than one?

I think it's a bit of a two parter because one, I am in like a part of Brisbane that is a little bit more cash flow, but it's also the cheapest gym in that area. So you do get a lot of people who are coming in who may not have as much spare income. But I found that because I've got the biomed background, when people are talking about either they've got an injury or they've got like a condition or maybe they struggle with like their weight gain or things like that, I'll talk about the actual like mechanisms a little bit more. So I'll actually dive in a bit deeper and say, okay, you know, your ability to build muscle as you age, you know, the percentage decrease in, in your ability to actually build that muscle isn't as dramatic as you might think it is because of X, Y and Z and like actually explain them to that to them. In a way that I guess they buy in and be like, oh, this is possible. And this person has a really comprehensive understanding of what's going on in my body. And even when we look at injuries sometimes, like I've got a couple of clients who are dealing with like sciatica or disc bulges or things like that. And they've been to surgeons and they've been to different people and they've had like cortisone injections and just nothing's worked. And actually just sitting down with someone and being like, okay, this is your scan, but this is also what your body is doing. Like, maybe your hip's not operating well and it's. You're not stable through your pelvis. So yes, you've got a disc bulge and you've got sciatica, but maybe if we actually build these muscles and this muscle connects here and this is why that's important, and just explain it to them in a way that they understand, I think they start to feel empowered in their own body a lot more. And I think that helps a lot. Like, that seems to be the biggest thing where people have that like, aha moment and they go away and they'll like train for a week and they come back and they're like, oh my God, I actually get what you're saying. So I think that sort of converts people inherently sort of just they buy in because they believe in what I'm saying and it makes sense to them in a way that maybe they haven't thought about or heard before.

Yeah, that's a really good point that you were saying there about making sure you could obviously use really highly intelligent language with a lot of these people. And you probably do to a degree, but by the sound of it, it sounds like you kind of dumb it down for them a little bit as well to make sure they understand. And obviously it creates a bit more empowerment, as you said, and gets them to really realize what's possible. So, you know, props to you, well done. I want to talk a little bit about the marketing side of things as well, because you said we're pretty much having to generate our own leads, which sometimes is the case because you're still in a rental based facility. Like some people get leads given to them, sometimes it's a little bit harder. Like in your case, we have to do your own marketing. Apart from having like the, the poster up the front. Do you want to give. You don't have to go into too much detail, but do you want to give us some other insights into how you're able to generate other leads, whether it's referrals or whether it's other stuff.

So initially we ran part of your, like, marketing blueprint, and we did just basically a giveaway and just ran that for four weeks, which, you know, the way you have, you know, you encouraged me to set it up and how to sort of push it out to people was really helpful. I think if I just put it up and then she. And left it, I don't think that would have worked. But actually really sort of pushing it to different. I think I had like, one client at the time, so, like, definitely was a bit of a, like, okay, I need to, like, talk to people when they're at reception and do all these different things. And that sort of got a lot of leads. That was basically created my client basis, and that was really, really good. The then we've recently started doing the referral program, which has been very cool because I basically. We basically went and talked to my clients in their sessions and be like, okay, I want to start a referral program to say thank you. If you, you know, want to refer someone on what would be something that you would like as a thank you. And a lot of it I got back was, oh, you're really great trainer. Something is fine. I don't mind, whatever. That's lovely. It's a great idea. So not. Not the best marketing feedback on that one, but it was nice that they were, like, interested in a referral program, so ended up doing a City Cave float voucher. So basically, if you refer someone and they sign up that they get a City Cave voucher and actually told people that they're really excited because a lot of the clients that I have, they train pretty hard. So then they saw and there's a sauna in the gym. But a float is just something special and a bit different. So, yeah, definitely that's worked really well because it's just given someone a little bit of an incentive boost and, like, a reason to be like, oh, you know, go like, train with Grace. I think she'd be really great. And bonus, I'll get a float voucher. So that's cool. So. And yeah, it just actually is. Is working, like, pretty well, so.

Oh, that's so good. Yeah. And obviously the. The good thing for that as well. And this is a little bit of coaching for you right now live on the podcast. You could even make a partnership with City Cave if, like, if you're buying them from a specific one, you literally be like, hey, look, I've got XYZ amount of clients and anytime they refer someone, I'm going to give them a voucher. So, you know, I'd love to get a partnership going with you guys so I can refer you more people and then naturally they'll want to refer people back to you. Because when you do something for someone, naturally they will want to give something back to you.

That's great.

Which is exactly why you wanted to give people something, for referring people.

Yes, yes, exactly.

It's exactly what it is. So a little bit of coaching there for you. We can. We probably make some type of partnership with CityCave.

Yeah.

To generate referrals from them to you as well, because they probably have people going in there with injuries or they're super, super sore because they're over training or whatever. But I'll save that for our coaching call.

That sounds like a plan. I like it.

That's awesome. So obviously crushing at the moment. You've got 20 sessions making around 6k a month, which is epic. So you obviously mentioned as well the lifestyle side of things, because you're on the Gold coast as well. I think you said you. You were doing Monday afternoon to Friday morning. Is that what you were saying?

Yeah.

And then obviously you have. Is that to allow for travel from the Gold Coast? Is that the reason for that? Or you just want to have the Monday morning and Friday afternoons off?

It just gives me enough time to get everything done out there because otherwise you. You end up driving out in the dark and if I do that, then I'm with a head torch out on the farm and that's just ridiculous. So it just gives me enough days and enough daylight to get everything done that I need to. And. And because I've got horses, so it gives me the opportunity to ride four days a week. So can train in the gym myself four days a week and then ride four days a week and sort of that overlap. But it works really well. And. Yeah, because when you've got animals and you got responsibilities and land, you have to look after it, otherwise it gets away from you and turns into a jungle. So.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And it's a really good point you bring up there about the lifestyle because, you know, a lot of pts, they tend to not consider the lifestyle that they can have as a PC. Like you're. So you'll be doing what technically like Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, half day, Monday, half day, Friday. So three and a half days. Oh, no, sorry, Four. Four days, four days. And obviously weekends off as well. So four days on three Days off essentially. What is the plan for you then long term? Like obviously if you're doing 20 sessions, how many more sessions do you want and then what would be the plan after that?

Well, well our current aim for the next like six to eight weeks is to add another six sessions and then I think probably from there maybe four to six more. And I think that I would probably be happy in full and I think I would have enough in person sort of clientele to be able to sustain that and to generate just organic leads from there. But ideally I do really want to build my online client basis and have you know, people who are a little bit more advanced in their training, who want to get a bit more technical, who want to have more advanced programming, who want to get like heaps stronger and really dive into that, but don't need that like one on one attention. And I would love for a lot more of my in person clients to actually start being people who are dealing maybe with like some levels of like chronic issues like knee pain that is like minor but it never really goes away or issues with like their back stability or just having like better lifestyle and that sort of thing. So having the slightly more complex issues being my in person clients and then having that like you know, getting super strong, getting more muscly, like really just a programming focus with that nutrition side of it. Being more of an online and building that as much as I can.

Yeah, love it. You mentioned at the, towards the start you said you are increasing your price, which is, which is awesome. Love to see it for context for people that are listening. At what stage? Like obviously I've obviously gone through when to increase your price. But what do you think in terms of when should people increase their price?

Well, I do really like the concept of if you're getting no price objections, your price is too low. So if you present the price to someone and they're instantly, yeah, that's great. There's no, there's not even a concept of I have to think about my finances or I have to, they're like, yeah, good, done, when do we start? You know, and that is a big indicator of my prices are too low for, for the service that I'm offering. I think that I probably could have increased them a little bit earlier. But like I think there's also like when you start it's about finding the price you feel comfortable presenting. Because if you don't feel comfortable saying oh okay, my sessions are this price. If you're like backing off, being like, oh, it's I Know, it's expensive, you know, so that, that can play into it. But I think when we started, like, I felt like 85 is maybe too much. But then once I had like two clients, I was like, oh no, 85 is good. And now I'm like, okay, let's go 90. Because I think the amount of time that I put into my clients as well, outside of their sessions is sort of. You got a price in for that. And I realized they're like, because some of them do nutrition as well. So we have food journals and I'm checking in with their food journals and then, you know, we might have to change their programming because maybe their injury is flaring up more or things like that. So there is a lot of time that goes in outside of it and realizing that, yeah, your time is money as much as it is your own sort of time. But having, you know, as a business owner, you have to price your time, so.

Well said, well said. The other thing to consider as well is you'd remember for personal trainers, especially in a commercial gym, when you're doing face to face sessions, obviously as you get more experienced, you should be able to charge out more for your time as well. Because you got to remember as well, everyone else in a job is getting a pay increase every year, whereas a lot of people in business are too scared to increase their pricing because they're scared they'll turn clients away or they'll lose clients or whatever. But in reality, if you just ask them or everyone that has a job, pretty much it goes up most years. So just keep that in mind for people running a business. Last question I have for you is obviously you've come through the ranks of a brand new PT and obviously been quite successful in the first few months. Any advice for you for any new pts, whether just starting out in a gym or perhaps they are in a gym, but not getting as many sessions as they would have liked. Any tips or advice for them?

I think something that helped me the most was actually know what you're good at. Because in a, in a commercial gym I think it's easy. You can take any and every client. But if that client is so like, say someone came to me and they're like, I really want to learn CrossFit. And I was like, I need a client. Yes, I would do a disservice to that person and it would be bad on my reputation because I wouldn't be able to help them because I can't do ring muscle up. So how can I teach someone else how to do that. So being confident in what your niche is and spending enough time to understand what you enjoy teaching people and what you're good at teaching people, and then market to that demographic and actually really sort of be confident and. And when someone says, oh, I've got this problem or I want to learn this thing, you're like, yes, I can do that. Come in for a consult and.