Become a Personal Trainer
A New Personal Trainer's First Business Goal Has Five Parts, And The Level 3 Course Has You Write It Before You Take A Client
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in The honest route from scratch to qualified →
In short: Criterion F/617/8598 3.3 on the Level 2/3 personal training course asks a learner to create business SMART objectives for launch and short-term growth. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. The course's own example is a goal to increase the client base by 25% within three months, tracked by recording how many new clients sign up each month and reached through social media and networking events. A new trainer can write it before the first paying client.
A first goal that fits on a page
Plenty of people finish a personal training qualification with the skills and no plan for the first three months. The Level 3 course closes that gap early. Criterion 3.3 of the business unit has you create SMART objectives for launch and short-term growth, so the plan exists before the first paying client does.
One of the things you learn on our CIMSPA-recognised personal training course is how to turn "I hope this pays" into a goal with five parts you can check.
The five parts
The course says SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. Each part has a job.
Specific. Say what you want in plain numbers. The course's example is "I want to increase my client base by 25% within the next three months."
Measurable. Decide how you will count. The course suggests keeping a record of how many new clients sign up each month. A tally in a notebook counts.
Achievable. Name how you will do it. The course's answer is reaching out to new potential clients through social media and networking events. A goal with a route attached is easier to start on a Monday morning.
Relevant. Check it fits the rest of the business plan. A goal about clients belongs beside the rest of what you are building.
Time-bound. Give it an end date. Three months is the course's example, long enough to get somewhere and short enough to look at again.
Why it works for someone just starting
A new trainer may have no clients to grow by 25%, and that is fine. The same five parts work from zero: a number of first clients, a monthly tally, a route to find them, a date. The point is a goal that tells you what to do this week.
The course's example route, social media, also connects to another Level 3 task, creating a professional social media profile.
How the course teaches it
The FASTER course is visual and interactive. You read the lesson, listen to it, and answer in writing or by dictating your answers if typing is not your thing. The SMART task is one where you write your own goal and keep it.
Where to go next
PT Manager is free with any FASTER course and opens when you sign up. Its Clients room holds your client list, which gives your monthly tally a home once you start taking people on.
The honest route from scratch to qualified is on the become a personal trainer page. The task itself sits in the Level 3 Personal Trainer course.
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Also worth a look: Level 3 Personal Trainer, where the goal task lives.
See what the course covers →Frequently asked
What does criterion 3.3 ask for?
To create business SMART objectives for launch and short-term growth. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.
Do I need clients before I write one?
No. The goal is about launching, so a new trainer can write it while still studying and use it as the plan for the first three months.
What is the course's example?
Increase the client base by 25% within the next three months, tracked by recording how many new clients sign up each month.
Is this only for self-employed trainers?
The course writes it for a trainer planning their own business, so it suits anyone who expects to build their own client list, including inside a gym.
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