Anyone in the Protein / Supplement business?
Discussion
Lad's a PT. Doing rather well, it must be said. Long term aim is to open a gym but I'm helping to expand the value of his offer beyond the time he can provide to clients, which is of course limited to the hours in a day.
He only works with those properly serious rather than the usual 'Mums, Tums and Bums' brigade. A key part of what he provides is meal planning which includes specifying appropriate supplements and we're mulling over whether there's an opportunity for him to sell his own stuff rather than act as an unpaid salesman for others.
From what we've determined, this is one of those re-packaging endeavours where you by a drum of the core product, add a flavour, brand it and sell it in smaller quantities with a gazzilion percent margin.
There's obviously a lot more to it and, I would have thought, a fair bit of legislation and control.
Would be good to bend the ear of anyone with any insights.
He only works with those properly serious rather than the usual 'Mums, Tums and Bums' brigade. A key part of what he provides is meal planning which includes specifying appropriate supplements and we're mulling over whether there's an opportunity for him to sell his own stuff rather than act as an unpaid salesman for others.
From what we've determined, this is one of those re-packaging endeavours where you by a drum of the core product, add a flavour, brand it and sell it in smaller quantities with a gazzilion percent margin.
There's obviously a lot more to it and, I would have thought, a fair bit of legislation and control.
Would be good to bend the ear of anyone with any insights.
I met the guy who started myprotein, he started in his mum’s kitchen doing mixes exactly what you suggest. Sold the company for around £70m. Nice guy, apart from telling the room how he was going to ‘go again’ which I thought was a bit poor form. Never heard of him again so I’m not sure how well that went? I think it’s a very competitive market so perhaps just doing ‘custom’ blends for the PT clients might be an option, but I dont know the legalities from a food standards pov. Is it really worth the hassle?
BoRED S2upid said:
I’d find a supplier that offers him a decent percentage rather than go it yourself. As you say there are dozens surely you can negotiate a decent percent for him.
At this stage, this is the right approach. Plenty of providers will white label for him. He may have to order a decent quantity so be sure he can sell it all within the time frame unless he can do a drop shipping arrangement. Aside from that, 90% of these powders are a branding and marketing exercise than any new innovation.
Thanks chaps. Much appreciated.
I hadn't considered the white-labelling option and I think that's probably the best start on this.
He is already badgered by protein providers with offers of discount codes but the issue is that those most eager to promote their products tend not to be the type he recommends to clients.
Spoke to him earlier and he's now also looking a line in training clothing!! Gotta admire the ambition
I hadn't considered the white-labelling option and I think that's probably the best start on this.
He is already badgered by protein providers with offers of discount codes but the issue is that those most eager to promote their products tend not to be the type he recommends to clients.
Spoke to him earlier and he's now also looking a line in training clothing!! Gotta admire the ambition
StevieBee said:
Thanks chaps. Much appreciated.
I hadn't considered the white-labelling option and I think that's probably the best start on this.
He is already badgered by protein providers with offers of discount codes but the issue is that those most eager to promote their products tend not to be the type he recommends to clients.
Spoke to him earlier and he's now also looking a line in training clothing!! Gotta admire the ambition
these guys make/blend and white label, but hi MOQSI hadn't considered the white-labelling option and I think that's probably the best start on this.
He is already badgered by protein providers with offers of discount codes but the issue is that those most eager to promote their products tend not to be the type he recommends to clients.
Spoke to him earlier and he's now also looking a line in training clothing!! Gotta admire the ambition
https://www.cambridgecommodities.com/home.htm
they are behind a lot of the brands in the UK
StevieBee said:
Lad's a PT. Doing rather well, it must be said. Long term aim is to open a gym but I'm helping to expand the value of his offer beyond the time he can provide to clients, which is of course limited to the hours in a day.
He only works with those properly serious rather than the usual 'Mums, Tums and Bums' brigade. A key part of what he provides is meal planning which includes specifying appropriate supplements and we're mulling over whether there's an opportunity for him to sell his own stuff rather than act as an unpaid salesman for others.
From what we've determined, this is one of those re-packaging endeavours where you by a drum of the core product, add a flavour, brand it and sell it in smaller quantities with a gazzilion percent margin.
There's obviously a lot more to it and, I would have thought, a fair bit of legislation and control.
Would be good to bend the ear of anyone with any insights.
Following as my lad is now completing his Level 3. Currently working for a small gym / bootcamp type affair but see this as temporary for him. IS your lad self employed or working out of a gym chain?He only works with those properly serious rather than the usual 'Mums, Tums and Bums' brigade. A key part of what he provides is meal planning which includes specifying appropriate supplements and we're mulling over whether there's an opportunity for him to sell his own stuff rather than act as an unpaid salesman for others.
From what we've determined, this is one of those re-packaging endeavours where you by a drum of the core product, add a flavour, brand it and sell it in smaller quantities with a gazzilion percent margin.
There's obviously a lot more to it and, I would have thought, a fair bit of legislation and control.
Would be good to bend the ear of anyone with any insights.
JimmyConwayNW said:
StevieBee said:
Thanks chaps. Much appreciated.
Spoke to him earlier and he's now also looking a line in training clothing!! Gotta admire the ambition
Didn't go badly for that lads at gymshark.Spoke to him earlier and he's now also looking a line in training clothing!! Gotta admire the ambition
Really hard to make money being a PT given people sell the dream with qualifications etc. but there are just thousands and thousands of kids doing it.
With respect to your son, I would say just about every fitness influencer is pitching supplements and clothing. Not exactly an original idea, and easy to get suckered into because - naturally - it's sold as a get rich quick route.
My brother-in-law does pretty well doing work with business owners, who aren't price sensitive and are committed to train most days. He also got into golf and managed to get in with his local club to help people with injuries - again the perfect demographic for him (i.e. rich old blokes!).
If your son isn't afraid of the camera, and is in great shape, surely the angle is making more of social media? The money is where you can just sell online advice which is very little work. However, couldn't blame him if he would have moral issues with that. I know my bro-in-law wouldn't touch that side of the business.
He also ended up stopping his bootcamp business as he felt like a sellout, but that used to be really successful. Of course, as an individual you can only charge so much, but he ended up with two bootcamps running in neighbouring villages that basically ran themselves. I think at one point it was two bootcamps held each evening four days a week, across two sites earning him about £7k a month (he paid two people and did Facebook marketing). He still had plenty of time to do 1-2-1 stuff too.
KevF said:
StevieBee said:
Lad's a PT. Doing rather well, it must be said. Long term aim is to open a gym but I'm helping to expand the value of his offer beyond the time he can provide to clients, which is of course limited to the hours in a day.
He only works with those properly serious rather than the usual 'Mums, Tums and Bums' brigade. A key part of what he provides is meal planning which includes specifying appropriate supplements and we're mulling over whether there's an opportunity for him to sell his own stuff rather than act as an unpaid salesman for others.
From what we've determined, this is one of those re-packaging endeavours where you by a drum of the core product, add a flavour, brand it and sell it in smaller quantities with a gazzilion percent margin.
There's obviously a lot more to it and, I would have thought, a fair bit of legislation and control.
Would be good to bend the ear of anyone with any insights.
Following as my lad is now completing his Level 3. Currently working for a small gym / bootcamp type affair but see this as temporary for him. IS your lad self employed or working out of a gym chain?He only works with those properly serious rather than the usual 'Mums, Tums and Bums' brigade. A key part of what he provides is meal planning which includes specifying appropriate supplements and we're mulling over whether there's an opportunity for him to sell his own stuff rather than act as an unpaid salesman for others.
From what we've determined, this is one of those re-packaging endeavours where you by a drum of the core product, add a flavour, brand it and sell it in smaller quantities with a gazzilion percent margin.
There's obviously a lot more to it and, I would have thought, a fair bit of legislation and control.
Would be good to bend the ear of anyone with any insights.
He's employed at one of the chain gyms on a rental contract whereby all but a fiver of his wage is deducted for use of the gym and facilities where he trains his own clients. He also works at a Golf Club / Leisure type place where he's the Gym manager a couple of days a week. This is a normal do-the-work-get-paid type contract. And on top of that he has online clients.
First two years was a bit of a slog and feast or famine on income. I was a bit wary of the rental deal with the chain gym but this is quite common and has actually worked out quite well for him. But it's still a deal that favours the gym to what I (and he) considers to be a slightly unfair level which is why he's looking now to move towards a more independent offer.
As others have said, it's a saturated market and tough going at first .... but there's a lot of demand for good PTs (you only have to see the number of gyms in any town) and likely to grow further as we become more aware of the need for healthy lifestyles.
His medium term goal is to become a trainer's trainer. There's some very good money to be made here and a much less saturated market but you need to put in the hard miles first; doing what he's doing as you can't 'learn' experience from a classroom.
The clothing and protein thing is really just a way of him adding financial value to what he can offer clients. He's under no illusions about it.
Best of luck to your lad!
I've never been a PT & if i'm honest, i'm a casual gym goer.
The gym i used to train at had their 'own brand' of protein & supplements, however it was just a load of the Myprotein stuff that they sold on after receiving a bigger discount than 'Joe Public'.
After the initial batch they didn't bother as it was too competitive.
My current PT started out at the local established independent gym, they've got a few branches, but during lockdown he was effectively unemployed.
He borrowed some money, doubled the size of his garage & turned it into a home gym/studio.
He also began doing sport specific PT, which is why i see him, i think it's also why the majority of his clients see him.
He does also have his 'normal PT' clients, however he is pretty much fully booked 6 days a week.
He still has to do his contracted gym hours until that expires, but i think personally he'll knock that on the head fairly soon as he's fully booked, is a decent guy, not a gear head & he makes a boat load of money from his home setup, which is easily accessible & has parking.
The majority of his clients i would guess are 30+ & all see him at least once a week & have done for years.
When i was a member at the local gym, the busiest PT's were always the ones that were less of a 'meathead' & had older clients, by that i'm talking 30+.
The gym i used to train at had their 'own brand' of protein & supplements, however it was just a load of the Myprotein stuff that they sold on after receiving a bigger discount than 'Joe Public'.
After the initial batch they didn't bother as it was too competitive.
My current PT started out at the local established independent gym, they've got a few branches, but during lockdown he was effectively unemployed.
He borrowed some money, doubled the size of his garage & turned it into a home gym/studio.
He also began doing sport specific PT, which is why i see him, i think it's also why the majority of his clients see him.
He does also have his 'normal PT' clients, however he is pretty much fully booked 6 days a week.
He still has to do his contracted gym hours until that expires, but i think personally he'll knock that on the head fairly soon as he's fully booked, is a decent guy, not a gear head & he makes a boat load of money from his home setup, which is easily accessible & has parking.
The majority of his clients i would guess are 30+ & all see him at least once a week & have done for years.
When i was a member at the local gym, the busiest PT's were always the ones that were less of a 'meathead' & had older clients, by that i'm talking 30+.
pork911 said:
A boat load hey but locked into his contract.
How much does he charge per hour?
The context was probably incorrect there, he does well for himself, given his earnings are fairly limited with the amount of hours in a week.How much does he charge per hour?
He said his gym contract has a few months left to run & then he will operate solely from home.
He operates Mon-Thurs 5am-8pm.
Fri 1/2 the above hours.
Saturday 1/2 the usual hours.
Sunday - Off.
Hourly rate is i believe around £30-35 in the gym.
From his home gym slightly less £25-£30.
He has to pay a small amount to the gym for 'gym rent' or whatever it's called, again, the above is all subjective, if he's ill, or on holiday he doesn't get paid.
He's split 70%-30% in favour of his own gym.
Take out an hour a day from the above for lunch or whatever, it's still a reasonable living.
Some clients he will see on a double-up basis, so train 2 people at once at home, i know he has a few of those charging around £40-£45 for 2 people for the hour.
He also has some people overseas who he will do online training programmes etc. for.
'Bolt-ons' such as meal plans etc.
Edited by theguvernor15 on Thursday 8th June 15:49
Looked into protein/supps.
Incredibly competitive, essentially commodity product. Unless you have insane distribution (i.e. massive influencers constantly banging on about it) or he has an existing huge/engaged audience making it into something that's worth the time is going to be very, very hard.
I think something like a video workout course or similar would be more interesting and easily differentiated (e.g. "Recover from your golf injury" series or "Strength training for golf" or whatever). (Just used golf as an example as someone mentioned above but could be anything - 20 min training for busy execs, flexibility for cycling, 10 min workouts for new mums, recover from shoulder surgery, blah blah blah).Pick a niche (preferably one he understands really well already, get the vids done, distribute them to existing customers to begin with then distribute more widely. Only need to record the vids once then you have a massive margin and don't need to physically be anywhere to deliver the sessions, don't need to source a product, pay for warehousing and logistics, process physical returns etc etc etc).
Long story short: avoid the supps and create some content would be my advice!
Incredibly competitive, essentially commodity product. Unless you have insane distribution (i.e. massive influencers constantly banging on about it) or he has an existing huge/engaged audience making it into something that's worth the time is going to be very, very hard.
I think something like a video workout course or similar would be more interesting and easily differentiated (e.g. "Recover from your golf injury" series or "Strength training for golf" or whatever). (Just used golf as an example as someone mentioned above but could be anything - 20 min training for busy execs, flexibility for cycling, 10 min workouts for new mums, recover from shoulder surgery, blah blah blah).Pick a niche (preferably one he understands really well already, get the vids done, distribute them to existing customers to begin with then distribute more widely. Only need to record the vids once then you have a massive margin and don't need to physically be anywhere to deliver the sessions, don't need to source a product, pay for warehousing and logistics, process physical returns etc etc etc).
Long story short: avoid the supps and create some content would be my advice!
If you are good, there is alot of money in this field
It's not the traditional "hourly rate" in the gym training hour clients. It's all online and remote providing life coaching, motivation along with the usual workout and diet plan with daily, weekly check ins
Lad I know does it and has around 250 clients whilst charging minimum of £100 per month
It's not the traditional "hourly rate" in the gym training hour clients. It's all online and remote providing life coaching, motivation along with the usual workout and diet plan with daily, weekly check ins
Lad I know does it and has around 250 clients whilst charging minimum of £100 per month
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