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At some point, every nutrition trainer asks this question.
They might just start and have no idea what is fair. Maybe you have years of experience, but wonder if your rates should be higher. Or maybe you've heard what competitors demand and think, "Why not me?"
The problem is that it is difficult to get a satisfactory answer.
Even if you interview a coaching group on social media, the rates between coaches often vary greatly, causing you to vacillate between guilt ("overcharging?") And resentment ("I'm not paying enough!") ,
How can you ever find the right amount for your services?
Thank you very much for the power of the data.
We asked more than 1,000 nutritionists: What do you charge?
But we did not stop there: We also asked about their coaching practice, experience, customer base, certifications and much more because when you decide what to charge, everything is important.
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Then we did a statistical analysis to see how these factors influence each other. Bottom Line: A report that presents real-world income data from real-world coaches along with the most relevant practical insights for maximizing your revenue.
In this article you will discover:
We dive.
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According to our survey, The average hourly rate for nutritional counseling is $ 65 per hour. Just in case you attended a math course some time ago, here's a quick refresher on the word "median". It represents the center. In other words, half of the coaches we surveyed earn less than $ 65 an hour. Half does more. (Note: All prices are in US dollars.)
Of the coaches doing more, we noticed two different groups.
Do not worry if you are currently charging below the median price. We will tell you how to move from a lower to a higher course.
It does not take much hours to make a big difference. For example, an increase of $ 15 per hour can add up very quickly. If you work 20 hours a week, that's $ 300 more a week and $ 15,600 more a year.
That's a pretty sweet source of income.
However, earning good money depends not only on how much you ask, but also on how many customers you have. (You already knew that, right?)
We've found that customers who ask for more tend to have more customers. And vice versa. The super-earners in our survey had more than 20 customers than people who calculated less than the median.
Why? On the one hand, they can charge higher rates when there is a greater demand for the services of a coach. But there are also the following: The secrets for charging higher installments (such as more experience and more education) are the same secrets that will help you gain more customers.
So read on to find out how you can move from a normal earner to a high earner and then from a high earner to a super earner.
When we broke the odds by type of trainer, we learned that personal trainer People who work face-to-face with people (for example, in a gym, in an office, or at the customer's home) do about the same thing Online trainers who work digitally, through a website and by e-mail ($ 65 per hour versus $ 64.50 per hour). However, people who complete hybrid coaching (a mix of in-person and online coaching) pay well over $ 75 an hour.
High earners, according to our research, have several common characteristics: experience, number of certifications, coaching hours, specialization and self-confidence. In the following, we examine each case.
Not surprisingly, experienced coaches demand higher rates than less experienced coaches. They also have another income advantage: coaches with more experience tend to have more customers.
In our survey, most trainers with only one to four customers had two or fewer years of experience. By contrast, coaches with 20 or more customers were more likely to have more than three years of experience, and more than a quarter of these booked coaches had six or more years of experience.
This makes sense, as more word of mouth experience goes hand in hand, says Mike Doehla, a certified Precision Nutrition Level 1 coach.
Doehla started coaching with just a few customers a few years ago and charged $ 120 for 12 weeks of service. The bills were not taken into account, which is why he kept his job as a human resource manager.
However, when they had reached their goals, these first customers swarmed about Dhla and anyone who would listen. More and more customers came in Doehla's way and so he increased the rate for his 12-week package: $ 165, $ 175, $ 185
Finally he founded Stronger U, a coaching company that charges $ 399 for 12-week programs, employs 69 coaches and rakes millions a year.
"The value comes from customers who have a good experience and then tell everyone they know about us," says Doehla. "99 percent of our customers come from word of mouth."
Training and certifications can give you confidence in your abilities, giving you the feeling that your services are worth more (see secret # 5). They also give the customer security she You must feel that you are worth the price.
In our survey data, we found that trainers with a nutritional certificate earn slightly more per hour than those without certifications. (Of course that's no surprise.)
We also found that nutritionally fit trainers, two or more nutritional certifications or Precision Nutrition certification earned $ 12 more per hour than non-Precision Nutrition Certified trainers.
In other words, the more certifications and education coaches there are, the more coaches tend to earn.
But the programs you choose and what you put into them are important. Here's why: For the best certification and training programs, you need to spend more time and effort to master your crafting skills.
If you just go through the applications and receive a receipt for the paper, it is unlikely that you will have the same degree of confidence that may prevent you from charging any further fees. (Think of it as a mental barrier.) So choose your certifications wisely and embark on the learning process. It literally pays off.
In addition to a higher hourly rate, more certifications are associated with more customers. In our survey, we found that coaches with more than 20 customers also tend to have two or more certifications.
To be clear, customers do not have to start on the day they receive a new certification. It is more complex. Certification helps by providing you with skills, knowledge, and trust that make it more likely for customers to trust someone else. Qualifications are important for customers. And what matters to customers must be important to you.
Sometimes it makes sense to apply nutritional coaching to an existing job, especially when you are just starting out or thinking about career change.
If you really want to be a top earner in this profession, you should devote all day to nutritional coaching. (Learn more: The true key to career success that almost no one speaks about.)
According to our survey, people who practice diet as a sole profession charge more than those who do not. This begs the question: how do you know when it's time to go all-in?
For this answer, we have again sought the advice of Doehla. That's because he spent 13 months in the human resources department building his coaching business on the side. "Towards the end, I earned more in a month's time with coaching than with my full-time job each year."
To see if you're ready to do anything, he says, "Find out how much money you need to pay the bills and then double it."
If you pull so much, you're definitely ready to work full time.
If you are qualified to work with a particular population, you may be able to ask for more. For example, dietitians who work with people with specific health concerns have stated that they charge an average price of $ 73 per hour. Trainers working with seniors charge $ 70 an hour. That's 5 to 7 USD above the median.
Now, your decision to specialize should be based primarily on your passion for serving this particular population rather than your desire to pay your bills. Work with a niche group because you want to support and qualify them, and not just because you think this is a ticket for higher installments.
And remember, correlation does not necessarily mean causality. Trainers working with these populations may be charged higher fees due to other factors (eg, years of experience).
Finally, keep in mind that certain populations may incur a lower fee, depending on what they can afford. (For example, the median for trainers working with teenagers was only $ 60 an hour.)
Trainers who feel "completely safe" in their coaching skills claim to charge $ 75 per hour, while coaches who are just "a little bit safe" or "a little bit safe or less" charge only $ 60 per hour Hour.
That's a big difference: $ 15 an hour more based on trust.
So how exactly do you build it?
The Answer: Practice Secrets 1 and 2.
With experience (secret # 1), every successful encounter helps you feel ready for the next one. And certifications (Secret # 2) help you feel confident in your knowledge and skills.
But you need both.
Some people make the mistake of getting too involved in their education at the expense of gaining experience. They go from workshop to workshop and receive certification after certification, while waiting for the feeling that "Okay, now I'm ready to coach" to materialize, says Precision Nutrition Coach Kate Solovievawho often answers questions from coaches about what to charge.
"New trainers want to feel 100% safe before coaching a single person. You want to feel like you know enough. In other words, they want to wait until they are not afraid anymore. Unfortunately, this moment never arrives. The best advice I can give coaches is to just start coaching, "says Solovieva.
You may ask, "Can I really deliver? Am I good enough? "Waiting, however, will not answer that question at a certain point, you just have to do one thing: start coaching.
Consider to reduce your anxiety: Would you refuse treatment by a registered doctor? Would you ask that your child be pulled out of a classroom with a teacher in the first year? If not, is it possible that potential customers have more confidence in you than you currently have in yourself?
We have just told you the secrets used by high earners. Suppose you want to get bigger and get a top prize. How do you get there? Our data revealed some interesting insights.
In our survey, the top 10% of earners calculate more than $ 120 an hour. That's almost twice the typical (median) rate.
What makes you special? We noticed the following.
Super-earners were more likely to
Remember, super-earners were statistically more likely to have these seven characteristics, but not every super-earner had all seven. Just because you lack a nutritional level, for example, does not mean that you can achieve the highest merit. Instead of focusing on what you can not do, focus on what you can.
For example, if you can not return to school, you may be able to spend money and time each year participating in new seminars or gaining additional certifications. That's what the most successful fit professionals do. Take Alwyn Cosgrove, MS, co-founder of Results Fitness in California and Michael Piercy, MS, owner of The laboratory in New Jersey. You have attended courses from almost every health and fitness organization you can name.
Piercy has indeed received impressive 32 certifications (including Precision Nutrition Level 2). And you have to imagine: it's probably no coincidence that he was named IDEA Global Personal Trainer of the Year in 2017, the TRX Master Instructor and the ACE Master Trainer.
Use the following table based on our data to assess how much you need to calculate, based on where you are. If you want to increase your rate, you can also use this table to identify what you might need to do to get there.
(For all other data nerds who would like to know how we came to this conclusion: The following examples are based on the statistically likely similarities of coaches according to our survey data.)
Again, there are no fixed rules. Think of this as a possible roadmap, not as a set of rules.
The above is based on what we have seen among our over 1000 respondents. Therefore, it provides a meaningful way to judge yourself and get started.
Please do not let the categories restrict you. It's up to you, Defining success for yourself,
For example, do you strive to be an expensive coach who always performs better than average? Large! Do it.
Or is your goal simply switching from the "free" to the "paid" trainer?
Perhaps your focus is on helping low-income people become healthier, and you're ready to work on a model where you pay what you can. Fantastic. More power for you.
Regardless of your goals, this is fine if you are not where you want to be. Strive for progress and not for perfection. Even the highest-earning coaches had to start somewhere.
Nutrition coaching is a very adaptable profession. You can create it yourself. Where you go from here is entirely up to you.
Get the practice you can. Investing time is crucial to gaining trust, credibility and, ultimately, a higher quota.
It is also the secret to stay in business in the long term. At Precision Nutrition, we found that people who have three to five clients a year later tend to work as coaches.
Offer your services to your family and friends, even if you do not charge them first. (You can think of this as an unpaid internship.) Be the person who generously gives incredibly helpful social media advice. As you help more and more people, you become a more confident and competent trainer. The people you help will tell others about you.
Many coaches, especially those who are just starting out, initially charge no money for their services. They have entered this industry because they love nutrition, enjoy exercising and just want to help people.
But at some point you have to pay the utility bill and feed the dog.
If you do not charge for your services, ask yourself: "When will I charge fees and how will I know when I will be there?"
For example, you can start charging after a certain date or after training a certain number of people.
But whatever you choose, make sure you define it clearly. Otherwise there is a risk that the bar will move constantly, says Solovieva.
"Many trainers believe they need to be at a certain level before asking for money. They say to each other: "I can not charge any fees until I graduate until I know enough, until I feel like I can answer all the questions until I arrive," and so on.
It is far too easy for "to" to continuously fill your thinking process.
From a certain point in time, you'll need to set a price to switch to a bonafide trainer who gets paid for your services.
Sure, this jump can be intimidating or even scary, but a longer wait is unlikely to help. "The truth is, you'll always be scared," says Solovieva.
So pick a date and stay with it.
When new coaches inform Kate Solovieva that they have "absolutely no idea" what to charge, she challenges that belief by leading her through an experiment.
Kate Solovieva: Okay, what about loading $ 1 an hour?
New coach: Giggle.
Kate Solovieva: You giggle. Why?
New coach: Because that's way too low.
Kate Solovieva: Okay, how about $ 1,000 an hour?
New coach: Woah. That's too high.
Kate Solovieva: Hmm. So you already have an idea of what's too low and too high. Brilliant. Let us go on. How are you with 500 USD / hour?
New coach: Still too high.
Kate Solovieva: $ 20 an hour?
The rest is here:
Nutrition coaching: How much is it? - asume tech
