Cindy Ross featured on Personaltrainercertification.net

Cindy Ross featured on Personaltrainercertification.net

If you have passion can turn a profit selling lemonade at the side of the road. Cindy Ross has found a way to combine her passion with business to help a very specific group in need of physical training.
Thanks for joining us Cindy. You are a very successful business owner. Tell us how you got started. Also, do you have any certifications?
I got started into personal training because I had a passion of helping others. When my mom died it motivated me to go back to school to get my degree in Exercise Science. I have several certifications AFAA, Fitour, RPM, Spinning, Arthritis Certified through the Arthritis Foundation
What do you do to make sure you were focused on your goals?
I didn’t let anything distract me, I just focused on the end result! My dream was to have my own place, which took a lot of sacrifices. I now own a personal training studio and have a team of 15 trainers

PT is a tough business with lots of competition and rough hours. How did you manage your schedule?
Personal training requires you to work crazy hours because your having to work around everyone’s schedule. With my husband and I both working together, we have to set aside date nights and getaway weekends. When owning a business, I don’t think you ever stop working, so it’s important to schedule some down time so you don’t get burned out and lose focus of your goals.

What about the marketing and sales? Were you always pretty competent? Did you need help early one?
People always tell me that I am such a good business woman and I have marketed myself well. I didn’t have a lot of money when I first started out, so therefore I had to take advantage of social media to advertise. Learning these tools early on has helped my business succeed. Facebook, Yelp, Yahoo, Google, and blogging has been a blessing for our business. Also we use our business cards as a free pass to our boot camps and free fitness assessments, we have established a relationship with small business throughout our city and they allow us to drop cards off on their counters. Every year at Christmas we bake them healthy cookies to show our gratitude for allowing us to leave our cards. It takes time to market this way, but it sure has paid off with getting our name out there, with very little cost. We also do small video clips at least once a month and upload to YouTube. This has helped move our position up on the search engines.
I never considered myself a business person, but somehow I’m living it and I love it!
You work with people suffering from arthritis. I know you’re passionate about it, but I’m sure it’s also a big part of your business. Tell us about that work and how it’s progressed.
Living with arthritis has made me realize what it’s like to live with chronic pain. Having arthritis has taught me empathy. I think having empathy is important because everyone is going to have some sort of ailment. You have to be able to relate to your client and connect with them. We have clients that have been with us for years and have formed wonderful friendships as well.

Do you recommend that PTs look for a niche or growing market as well?
As a personal trainer, to do well in the business and standout about your competition, you have to find your niche! My niche comes from having my own weight loss story and suffering with arthritis. People relate to me that suffer with weight problems or health ailments.
Assume I’m a struggling PT. Give me three pieces of advice or motivation that will get me out of my rut!
Learn social media and start motivating online.
Use your business cards as a free pass for fitness assessments and hand them out everywhere!
Don’t get comfortable, always be thinking of different ideas to stay ahead of your competition!
Thanks again, Cindy. You’re an incredible talent!
Thanks for allowing me to be a part of your website. Have a great day!