Our inspiring graduate, Kylie, has built her business on a foundation or passion & hard work, and when facing the challenges of COVID-19 restrictions, Kylie’s certainly not slowing down. Read her journey & top tips for other PT’s.
My name is Kylie Papazoglou, I am 43, a wife and a mum to three kids. Two of those kids are in their 20s and my youngest is one year old believe it or not. I am a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Older Adult Coach, Children/Adolescents Coach, Gym Instructor, Group Exercise Instructor, Group Exercise (pre-choreographed), Group Dance, Current First Aid and CPR and a Fitness Australia AusREP.
For the last 21 years I have been on a journey of self discovery, regarding my health and fitness. I’m not that Personal Trainer that started with an athletic background and naturally moved into the fitness industry. I began my journey as an overweight young mum who set out to lose weight. I had no idea at the time that making the decision to better my health, would lead me to becoming a Dance Teacher, Group Fitness Instructor, Personal Trainer and now a Pre and Postnatal Fitness Coach. After the birth of my baby in 2019, I discovered that there were no personal trainers in my local area that specialised in training the postpartum athlete, most used conservative approaches that had women forever locked in the cycle of doing glute bridges and kegels. So I researched and found an amazing Coach online who taught me how to scale exercises and use various techniques, to give me the confidence to train again.
My journey has been a roller coaster ride as I’m sure many women have been through themselves. It was my journey and witnessing the struggles that many women face, that inspired me to become a Personal Trainer. So after 15 years of working in the Department of Health, in a job that was “supposed” to be helping people become healthier, I decided to pursue my dream of helping people to become fit, functional and fulfilled in life. My amazing Personal Trainer and Mentor always told me that I had the knowledge and experience to help to other women just like me. She guided and educated me and never gave up on me when I hit some bumps along the way to becoming a Personal Trainer Going through pregnancy and postpartum the way I did, opened my eyes and highlighted to me that there is a shortage of personal trainers within the Fitness Industry, with the right knowledge, understanding, empathy, skills and experience to work with women. I decided right then, that I wanted to be that Trainer that could make a difference either in-person or online.
Whether she is pubescent, trying to get pregnant, trying to manage hormones, are pregnant, are postpartum, going through menopause or are now heading into their later years., all females need to have their needs taken into consideration when prescribing them with physical activity.
My business is called FEMFITLIFE and we support and guide women to become fit,
functional and fulfilled in life! You can find my full story here: https://femfitlife.com.au/
Since moving into the online space with my business I have developed some systems to ensure I can train my clients in different capacities, the way they wish to be trained.
Some of my clients and social media followers want a group feel arrangement, allowing them to communicate with a range of different people with similar interests and goals to them. They prefer general, self paced training that they can customise for themselves and schedule when they want to train. For this type of client I have developed online group challenges that include daily workouts with a theme, like weight loss, muscular endurance or mobility etc. I try to give beginner, intermediate and advanced options for the exercises. I give them weekly fitness challenges, weekly movement goals and communication with their team members and myself in a dedicated Facebook group. I use FB Lives, regular posting and emails to stay in touch with these clients.
For my clients who prefer the one-on-one arrangement, with customised programs, weekly check-ins, program reviews and ongoing private communication with me, I bring these clients on-board with their own dedicated Training App (I currently use PT Distinction), on-boarding systems, they sign up with a PT contract, we do assessments and I design them a program that is just for them. We do a phone consult, we communicate weekly, we do weekly check ins via a form and phone calls. Every 4 weeks we do a review of their program and I progress these clients accordingly. For these clients, they also have a dedicated Facebook group where they can communicate with other paying clients and ask questions about their programs or load up videos for form checking. All of my one-on-one clients, online or face-to-face also have a weekly coffee catch-up using Facebook messenger or Zoom.
I do both, depending on the circumstance. Mainly I do customised programs but if I do an online challenge I will use a pre set program for everyone and advertise it at a certain level of fitness and goal set like weight loss. I have a fairly comprehensive initial assessment process I do with all my clients. It is a 90 minute session and covers postural and functional movement, body composition, and fitness tests. This helps me program exactly to my clients needs and goals.
Why do I open up to regular communication, through many touch points and nurture the client/trainer relationship.
Here’s my four major reasons:
SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES
This is my overarching goal as a Personal Trainer. To assist my clients to reach their goals, otherwise what is the point? Clients are usually extrinsically motivated to begin with and so knowing you are there with them when they need you, not just in their training session, helps them to adhere to their fitness programs, Eventually, once they start seeing their results, they become more intrinsically motivated and don’t need you adds much, but become more invested in their journey and are likely to hang around and keep succeeding with you as their trainer. there is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing someone quit when you know they had potential.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
The fitness industry is crowded with Personal Trainers and you see constant marketing campaigns promising get fit or lose weight quick fixes, in order for trainers to gain the attention of potential clients, so you really do need to work out what your competitive advantage is over its peers, if you want to reach and help more clients. One of the most effective ways for any business to do this, is by being honest, transparent and forging long-term business relationships. By focusing on the process above, I have successfully built a base of clients who are more satisfied with their long term results, are likely to use my services again and most importantly have changed their health status for the better for good.
LOYALTY
This happens when your clients start seeing results. It’s a two way street, You show your loyalty to them in the beginning when they need you most, and they stay loyal to you as their trainer as their journey continues.
BRAND ADVOCATES & WORD OF MOUTH
I am writing the benefits in this order for a reason, because this is how the relationship with my clients grows. When you look after your clients correctly, they are more likely to be satisfied with your service. This increases the chances of them promoting your business to others, aka word of mouth recommendations. By acting as brand advocates for your business, long-term clients are effectively doing the marketing of your brand for you, building your reputation and increasing awareness. Most importantly they feel a deeper connection to you as their Trainer and feel apart of a community, this is so important for long term adherence to newly formed healthy habits. You don’t want all that hard work going to waste.
100% regular communication with weekly check ins and general conversation via a Facebook group. Also good detailed programs and exercise demonstrations. They need to feel like you are really there with them.
I’ve worked with several online coaches who delivered me personalised programs. I was able to find someone with the experience, expertise and knowledge I needed them to have, through online recommendations. I found my Prolapse Coach, Terrell Baldock in Canada, and initially did her online general Strength and Lady Parts program. Then I began working one on one with her as a Founding Member of her Online 60 Day Body Revitalisation Program. I got the most amazing results and we have become good online friends and now she is even helping me build my online business. Working online helps me to reach far more clients then I found face to face. We live in a world connected by social media and this is how I have found my online clients. I enjoy the challenge of online training and believe it is much more accessible then face to face. I mean, as a coach you can be with your client almost 24/7.
A HUGE thank you to Kylie for sharing her business & personal journey! You can find out more about Kylie & FemFitLife by visiting the FemFitLife website, Facebook Page & Instagram.
Are you interested in becoming an Online Personal Trainer? Enrol in our Personal Training Qualifications and you’ll receive our exclusive eBook on how to start an online personal training business as a BONUS!
