Tuesday, November 14, 2006

A great day for this pig lover

While buying coffee beans at Peets, I found these licorice piglets. They are darling and the tin is even in the right colors to go with my Olivia the Pig collection!

Then at the school book fair, there was a new Olivia book, titled "Dream Big, starring Olivia." It has all sorts of fabulous quotes in it such as:

The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. Oprah Winfrey

Nobody can be exactly like me. Even I have trouble doing it. Tallulah Bankhead

Everything starts as somebody's daydream. Larry Niven

I really needed to see stuff like this today, because I am getting really frightened about charging people to work out with me. And with the fear comes the "this was the stupidest idea ever" thought and that just leads, as everyone knows, to chocolate! (Well, it didn't today, but it sure could have!)

When I look at the situation objectively, I know several things:

1) No relationship works where it's one-sided. So I can't train people and not charge. Period.
2) Even if I could, I'm going to have ongoing expenses like liability insurance, business licensing fees, and continuing education, not to mention the not insignificant outlay for getting certified and setting up a training room.
3) One of the huge obstacles to getting in shape is making the time to do it. Well, guess what? When you pay a trainer, all of a sudden you get VERY consistent in your workouts, cuz if you don't show, you still pay!

I still feel scared. The licorice piglets help a little bit. But chocolate might help even more. And I'm happy that my pig collection has a few new members!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

You are certified, you can charge.

You know stuff other people don't, you can charge.

You are a real fitness professional, you can charge.

I can understand the scariness of it all though...it's new so it is scary, but that is also what makes it fun.

Anonymous said...

Always difficult to ask anyone for money, but remember for services everyone needs to pay, they won't come to you without knowing you are going to charge them. You're a PT that's what happens, you work them out hard, they pay you for it. Period. I feel that when a person who is charging is calm and matter of fact about what is due, the person paying respects it. If you say, oh, that will be $50, but you can pay me next week or don't worry about it this time - the respect diminishes and they take advantage - missing appointments, wasting your time, etc. Your ARE worth the money!! - Stacy

ColeC said...

STAY AWAY FROM THE CHOCHOLATE!!

Okay, now I have to say how right eileen is. You have reached the point where you wanted to be...a personal trainer. You have every reason to now charge people for your services...you are good at what you do. I know that what I love about you is how you light up when you talk about fitness stuff, when you show me things I could do to shake things up a bit. By charging people, you are validating yourself of your worthiness, and yes, you are now making the cliets accountable to reach their goals. I know I've been putting off getting a PT because I know once I pay, I have to stick with it. I've been thinking about asking you for your services when I get back from NY, because I know your good! Keep a positive attitude and enjoy those piggy things you bought.

Anonymous said...

dang - i barely know you and i'd happily write you a check every workout if you'd train me! too bad we're hundreds of miles away...

it's the same creed i follow with my writing/editing -- same thing i've heard from dozens of freelancers before me: if you diminish the value of your work (write for free, write for pennies), your editor/client won't value your work (or you) either. charge what you think you're worth, and people will pay.

that's not to say you can't trade for, say, wholesale on clothes from a shopowner or housecleaning, etc. gotta love those kinda relationships!

kara

KatieFeldmom said...

Katie was here. I ditto what Eileen says. Have a great Wednesday.

Anonymous said...

For what it is worth, my wife, who has been self-employed for several years (she's now a real-estate agent), once figured that the "minimum wage" for self-employment was $75/hour. Anything much below that made it hard to sustain the business.

Irene said...

The people you train KNOW they need to pay for your services, so it's not like paying you will be a big surprise. Ditto on what everyone else said. You ARE a professional. :) Take care.

Anonymous said...

GOod luck with this Leslie. I can't imagine being in your shoes. I had planned on being there at one point in my life and right now it seems scary to me. I'm sure you will do just fine. You've worked hard for this and you deserve every dime.

The licorice piglets are just too cute!

Jen said...

You've worked hard for this. You deserve to be compensated. I like everyone's comments here. So true...