Here’s What I’m Doing to become a full-time fitness instructor in 2019

I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that one of my big goals for 2019 is to make teaching fitness my full-time gig. In 2018 I made huge strides to get there. I got hired by new studios and I picked up lots of permanent classes. I now consistently teach 10-12 classes per week. But full transparency: I’m still not making as much money as I did in my previous full-time job. And that job didn’t pay all that well.

Money Goal #1 for 2019 is to make the same amount of $$ per week as I did at my old job in marketing. I’m super super close to making this happen!

Money Goal #2 is to make more.

I feel awkward talking about money. And I want to fully acknowledge my extreme privilege that I can I be in the situation I am in at this time. I also do want to be really real about where I’m at in my career right now and what I’m working towards.

So, here is what I’m doing to make more money as a fitness instructor in 2019:

What I’m Doing to become a full-time fitness instructor

I’m diversifying my class offerings.

As you most likely know already I’m in training to become a Bar Method instructor. I am SO excited, not just because I genuinely love the workout, but also because teaching this style of class will be a change of pace from my usual energetic hot yoga classes.

While I love teaching heated yoga classes, being in a hot room all day is tough and draining. I sweat buckets all day every day. I’m excited to be diversifying my class offerings to non-heated classes and classes where I get to wear a microphone. It also means I won’t be a sweaty beast 24/7 and I can teach more classes without losing my voice or hurting my body. Win-win!

I’m optimizing my schedule.

In 2018 I said yes to everything as a fitness instructor. When you’re just starting off you have to in order to build your class schedule. Now that I’m no longer the newbie, I’m looking to optimize my teaching schedule.

This means teaching more back-to-back classes to minimize time spent commuting. Stacking my schedule also gives me more downtime to do the other work that I do like blogging and freelance writing. I’m also trying to stick to studios that are walking distance so I’m not constantly swiping my metro card or splurging on cabs.

I know this won’t happen overnight, it’s not like I can email my managers and say “Hey, this is my dream schedule, make it happen!” But I am getting more strategic about the class times I pick up. Also, time management has a great role in my freelancing career because a freelancer often gets paid hourly. In such scenarios, interested people can utilize software that can help in time tracking for soloprenuers as it might come in handy for calculating the work duration.

I’m tracking my income.

Tracking my week-by-week income was easy when I worked full-time. Every payday I got paid the same amount. Easy peasy.

Now that I’m teaching at multiple studios and my schedule varies, my income does as well. In this past year I didn’t do a great job tracking just how much money I was making. Sure, I have a rough idea thanks to my bank account, but I want to get better going forward about tracking how much money I’m actually making. I think I’ll be pleasantly surprised to realize that it’s more than I think between the multiple studios, blogging and freelance work.

I’m seeking out passive income opportunities

Okay, I’m not 100% sure how I want this to look just yet, but I am researching passive income opportunities. I’m sure just typing this I’m going to get a million emails about joining your MLM crew — but that’s not my jam.

What I am looking into is creating passive income from this blog in the form of e-books, consulting, and some other resources similar to devin’s reviews, for example. Even just saying this out loud scares the crap out of me — I dunno how to make it happen! But it’s something I do want to start doing in 2019.

I’m also hustling on the side

Partially because I cannot help it — I’ll always want to blog and do freelance writing because they are things that I love to do. But they also provide additional streams of income. With that being said as always I only plan to work with brands that truly align with my vision for KITC. I’m also getting stricter about sticking to my rates which reflect my value as a content creator.

I’m keeping an open mind to new opportunities.

Who knows what opportunities will come my way in 2019? I sure as hell don’t! Even though I have an ultimate financial goal and plan to hit that goal via teaching, I’m also open to other things, opportunities, experiences comes my way.