Aubrey McDonald II ⋅ Fayetteville, NC US Army ⋅ 30 years experience

Good morning Ralph,

What type of Career are you seeking?

Are you open to looking at a Business Opportunity, working directly with me.

Aubrey
910 578 9860

Chris Barrett ⋅ New York, NY American Corporate Partners (ACP) ⋅ 1 years experience

Hi Ralph,

The fitness industry can seem like the Wild West at times, especially with the prominence of social media. In addition to ACP, I work at a fitness studio here in NYC. Most often, the clients that train the most at our gym often network and become employed with us or find other avenues through the clients they take class with. If you have a particular gym or studio you train at frequently that is certainly a natural starting point for building your network and seeing what opportunities are available. Surprising, most "fitness professionals" don't have degrees in exercise science disciplines. If you have a degree in exercise science or something similar that can really make you stand out. In addition, certifications from NASM or ACSM help as well depending on what type of training you would like to do. I'm not as familiar with certifications for martial arts training, but I'm sure they do have some that will help you stand out. Here is the link to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) which is the gold standard of fitness certs: https://www.acsm.org/

If you already have certs and are looking to train or market yourself, making a website through the webpage platforms like Wix.com or squarespace.com can be a cheap and easy way to get the word out about your training opportunities. Most of the trainers at studios or gyms do personal training on the side or teach at multiple studios so having a diverse training portfolio can also be beneficial.

Good luck!

Best regards,
Chris

Mikhail Relushchin ⋅ Brooklyn, NY NationSwell ⋅ 3 years experience

Hi Ralph,

Thanks for posting this question! Couple of options here. Are you looking to plug into the fitness industry writ-large, go into business on your own, or take that skill set and apply it elsewhere?

If you're looking at the fitness industry overall, have you plugged yourself into the appropriate networks? AdvisorNet is a good start, but you're gonna want the LinkedIn profile to match. Take a look at what students working on similar skills have been told: https://acp-advisornet.org/questions/319

If you want to go into business for yourself, another Veteran on the site was curious about this and got solid responses. You can message her, or any of the Advisors that responded to her, and get a dialogue going! https://acp-advisornet.org/questions/2289

If you're considering a complete shift, then the community page is a good bet. Put in your zip code, and then search for Advisors to reach out to that have expertise in Marketing, or General Business, or possibly even Small Business. Even if you're not in the same field right now, they can help you parse out skills that can be applied elsewhere.

Hope that helps!

Best,
Mikhail