Coaching as a business

Tuesday, July 10, 2012 · Mike Davis

Monday night at track was another less than spectacular showing, but for those of us there (me) it was great! The wonderful thing about being a running coach and a runner is that I enjoy both. Sometimes my personal training is a bit of a challenge because I am so focused in on those that I’m training. I work hard to juggle both running and training runners but my priority always lies with the people I am personally training. When people place their trust in me, I treat that trust like they are one of my children. Sounds pretty over the top I know, but for those that are willing to give me their time and a small amount of their hard earned money, I owe them my time and devotion. I have structured my coaching so that it’s a lot more controlled and anyone that hires me to help them as a personal trainer knows what they are getting. I have compared my services to other personal trainers in New Hampshire as well as all over the country and it appears to me that many people are in it for the money! Honestly I have a job that pays my bills and my fees while being far more reasonable are designed to make it possible for most anyone to receive professional coaching.

I work extremely hard at constantly improving my methods, knowledge and overall ability to provide topnotch personal training, however I am sometimes a victim of my desire to help everyone and short change myself. While I don’t always worry about the financial gain, I realize that I invest a great deal of time and personal finances in my coaching and both of those effect important people such as my wife. She certainly sees the time I put in and at times she is a little frustrated with it, but she also understands I have a passion for training runners.

When I started this venture of being a personal trainer for runners here in New Hampshire I pretty much went at it like I do everything else in my life, 150 miles an hour! As things progressed I realized that I needed to have a balance in my life and business. Getting trained to be a certified running coach, studying running physiology to training methodology and working with runners of all levels have helped me become the coach I am and those are investments that are huge. But I strongly feel that my investments in my coaching will help me to serve others and justify their investment in me.

While my Monday night training sessions in Dover are off to a slow start, I will continue to offer my services and maybe in time people will come along and find value in the small investment they make in their running. If they don’t come, I am okay with that and will use the time to get a good workout in.