Enabling Global Content with Ease for London Based PT

Sam McGowan (Sam Says PT) is a personal trainer based in London who has clients all over the world. She recently started to use FITR Training to enable her to deliver her global content with ease. We catch up with her to hear how she is getting on.

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You have only just moved to London, how are you finding it?

You know what? I was so relaxed about moving to London - I’ve moved around a fair bit and have always been able to find my feet wherever I’ve gone but London has been different, it’s certainly taken a lot longer to feel more settled for sure.

That being said, it’s an incredible city and the fitness industry is booming down here (the reason I moved) so it’s been great to be a part of it and take my career to the next level.
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Sam Says PT has a very large following on socials who is your main audience?‍

It’s funny, whenever I hear that I always think ‘I don’t have that many followers’ but then again it’s all relative right - I’m also super grateful for the followers I do have.

Whenever I ask my audience ‘why’ they follow me a lot of the answers tend to be around how honest I am about my journey - both personally and professionally. I’ve always wanted to share as much of reality as possible because social media is just one big-ass highlight reel and I just think it’s important to share the ‘in between’ stuff too.

I believe my audience are those who enjoy fitness being a part of their lifestyle, or at least want it to, and are in search of someone who shows how a healthy balance can be achieved.

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What made you decide to use FITR Training to deliver your established content?‍

I’ve always struggled to scale my online business the way I wanted to. I’ve wanted to be able to deliver a proper structured strength training program that my followers can start from day 1, no matter when they decide to join.

In the past I’ve had to have specific dates that they start on and would only run the programme for 8 weeks because I wanted to be able to give the opportunity for more of my audience to train with me.

The logistics were always a pain and it just meant I wasn’t really delivering the type of service I wanted to - and honestly I’ve tried all kinds of approaches to make this work and each time it’s felt difficult.

Then Leon, the founder of FITR Training, started to explain the features of FITR Training and immediately all I could think about was ‘hang on, this could be huge for me’ and I think Leon could see the lightbulb that went off for me too haha…

The best feature for me personally is the ‘rolling calendar’ feature - it really has been a game changer for me.

Now I can build my strength programme, add to it every 3 weeks or so and use the rest of my time focusing on marketing the product with a direct URL link to the programme.

All my audience needs to do is click on the link, sign-up, pay through the app and they will automatically be allocated to day 1 of the programme - no matter when they sign-up.

For me, that’s perfect - I don’t want people jumping in half way through a phase or having to wait until the next one for it to make sense to them.

A programme is designed to allow those to make progress and for me I want everyone to be starting from the basics and build up from there, no matter how much experience they have.

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Has using the software enabled you to grow, diversify your business?‍

100% yes. It’s the small things that add up and FITR Training has taken so much admin away from me so I can focus on the stuff that I’m good at and that I enjoy such as creating content and programming.

Now I can offer my services to more people at an affordable rate, meaning I get to help more people - and I LOVE that.

This is just the beginning too, there’s so much more potential with the FITR Training app so I’m excited to add more products to my ‘storefront’ (another great feature).

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You have great video content. Do you utilise the personal library to enhance your clients experience?‍

I do, yes! Videos are super important for my audience but even for those who have trained a while, it’s always good to be reminded. I love that I can add my own videos too, that’s definitely something I’ll be looking to do in the future.

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What is your go to feature on FITR Training?‍

The fact that I can promote my training programmes just by sharing a URL link is epic - sending them directly to the app so they can set themselves up, take payment, choose a start date and then off they go.

It’s so simple but genius.

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What’s your opinion on face to face coaching v remote?

Honestly I love face-to-face coaching and I was reminded even more so when lockdown meant we weren’t able to. A lot of my clients come to me to learn how to lift with confidence so for me, seeing them in person and making adjustments to their technique is something that can’t really be done virtually (or at least not as easily).

Lockdown did however force me to really get stuck into online training and for the first time I actually began to enjoy it too.

I’d always struggled with online coaching in the past but looking back it just wasn’t the right time - either I didn’t have enough experience, confidence or even the right systems/product.

It’s always trial and error with this stuff and I think people forget that, it’s taken me a good few goes to find something that works for me and even now I will always look for ways to improve what I do.

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What advice would you give to any PT's who have yet to try remote coaching?

Exactly that - expect not get it right the first time. Or the second, third, fourth...you get the gist.

No one knows what they’re doing haha...that imposter syndrome will never go away but what you can do is take on the challenge to keep improving.

Ask for feedback from clients - what do/don’t they love about your service? Take it on board and make the improvements but don’t just do it once. Keep asking.

Focus on the basics and just do it really well - there really is no need to overcomplicate this stuff.

Ask for advice from other coaches.

I get messages from PT’s all of the time and I’m more than happy to help. If you don’t ask questions about the stuff you’re unsure about then how will you ever grow?

And finally - hire a coach.

I will always have a coach and as a PT not only is it great for your training but for your business too.

Learn how other coaches in your field run their business - what systems do they use? What does their programming look like? How often do they communicate with you and how do they do it? I can’t recommend this enough.

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What does the future hold for Sam Says PT?‍

Right now I am just focusing on making my product the best it can be and of course I’ll continue to push it so I can have a big-ass group of people following my programmes and getting strong AF.

I do have some more products that I’d like to launch using the different FITR services but I’m in no rush - I want to make sure that what I’m already doing is the best it can be before I start looking at what else I can do.

But I’m super excited and honestly FITR Training has been a huge part of that, so thank you.

I’m excited about what we can do together.

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@samsays_pt