This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Oh, hey there, welcome to Side Hustle School. This is Chris Guillebeau, excited to bring you a new episode live from Pakistan. Actually, I am not in Pakistan at the moment, to be totally truthful, but we are going to feature a listener who's in Pakistan. We've actually got a small community of listeners there, maybe a large community. Maybe it's just one.
Maybe it's just this guy, I'm not totally sure. At least one person there is listening and he has a question for us. And this is an interesting question. He wants to operate a remote personal training side hustle. So I guess personal training services like fitness coaching, but remotely via Zoom.
So he's qualified for this. He thinks it could be helpful, but he's also wise enough to foresee a couple of challenges. So I love this question, I enjoyed working on it. Let's talk it out. Remote personal training from Pakistan.
Detailed question coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Yo, Chris, this is Akash. I'm enjoying the podcast from all the way in Pakistan. And I'm hoping you can give me some timely advice. I work as a personal trainer over here and I'd love to help clients from far away.
Like why can't fitness coaching be remote? We saw during the pandemic that all kinds of services can be virtual. It seems I have a few obstacles to overcome though. First, the distance. Second, the perception that everything from here should be cheap.
I want to offer attractive pricing. That's one of the benefits after all, but it still won't be rock bottom. So what can I do? Please help me get my first three overseas clients. [Music]
Hey, thank you so much for the call.
I really appreciate you listening in Pakistan. And I don't just think it's that guy, by the way. We've got a bunch of people in Pakistan and lots of countries around the world. I love our international audience. Thanks for being out there.
So let's look at this question 'cause I do think side hustles can operate all over the place. And I love the idea of taking advantage of geographic disparity and this globalized world that we live in and such. I think it will be hard just to say that upfront. I think there are some kind of built-in objections that you have to overcome, but it's not impossible. And here's what you could do.
So if I was in this position and I was like, I need to somehow get those first three overseas clients, establish myself as a remote personal trainer. So the visuals are gonna be really important. Your website, anywhere else you're advertising or sharing content. You really want some high quality images and videos, videos in particular, to demonstrate that expertise. You wanna showcase your qualifications.
Make sure that the website and the social media accounts clearly display why you're not just a competent trainer, but an excellent personal trainer. So it's not just your technical ability, it's your ability to connect with someone and to help them to improve, right? So first include relevant education experience, any awards, certificates, et cetera. But then testimonials are gonna be key. Second point here.
So in terms of those first three overseas clients, I would suggest you do those sessions for free and have them record a short video saying how they felt about it. And by the way, hopefully they liked it. Now that's kind of a key point also. So it might take more than three, or maybe you get somebody who's not good at making a video. So whatever you have to do to get those testimonials, I think are super important.
Next, you wanna address concerns directly. So in your sales copy, in the frequently asked questions page, or even just the description, can I really have a good coaching session by Zoom? That's something a lot of people are gonna wonder. What equipment do I need? If I'm used to going to the gym, like am I taking you with me on my phone to the gym and setting up?
Or I mean, that seems kind of awkward. Is this something I can just do in my living room? Well, okay, that's good. Maybe that's a benefit actually, that I don't have to travel to a gym. I can have privacy if I'm not sure how to work out, but still I'm gonna need some equipment, right?
So whatever those concerns are, you wanna address them directly. And then next tip, this is the fourth one, offer a money back guarantee, make sure people feel reassured. And either the guarantee or a free session upfront will provide a lot of reassurance. It will reassure potential clients that you stand behind your service, you're confident in your ability to help them achieve their goals. So I think it's an interesting challenge.
I think those are the main obstacles or objections to overcome. So you wanna address it head on. You wanna get that good content, those videos, testimonials, but hey, if it works out, let us know. And I also agreed, don't make it too cheap. I think somebody who's interested in doing this, they're already kind of forward thinking, so they're not necessarily looking for the lowest price.
I mean, it needs to be attractive, but it doesn't have to be like the rock bottom price to use our caller's words. That's what I think, let us know how it goes. Listeners, if you've got a question from wherever you are in the world, sidehustleschool.com/questions, we'll continue to feature them each week. We've got a new episode every day, in fact, and I hope you'll subscribe or follow wherever you like to listen. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the "Onward Project."
