HOW I GREW MY SOCCER TRAINING BUSINESS

In this article, I am going to provide a guide on the steps I took to grow my soccer training business. Most trainers like myself come from playing in the lower professional leagues or college, so this is for you. If you're a soccer star turning trainer with massive respect in the professional game, this may help you as well, but I am sure your problems may be vastly different. Nevertheless, I will share all the methods that have worked for me. I will include the strategy I used to get started and provide social media growth tips. Although there may be other methods of building a soccer training business, I can only offer my suggestions based on my experience. So, let's get the ball rolling.

HOW I SUGGEST GETTING STARTED

Over the last 10 years, the soccer training industry has become extremely competitive, and more and more trainers are popping up worldwide. If you're thinking about starting your own business, here is how I got started.

In the beginning, I started coaching within a youth travel club to build my coaching experience and reputation. It also helps to have a good soccer playing background. Now, this is very important. It will be tough to encourage a player or parent that you can help them improve without having any coaching or real playing experience. So make sure you take those steps in your journey before promoting your training.

Also, let's talk about coaching licenses before we get any further. Having a coaching license makes you more credible to parents. But is it needed? My answer is 'NO.' Most coaching licensing in the USA are centralized around team management and training. If you have a method or structure of organizing a practice that works for you and your trainees, then do so. A coaching license does look good on your resume. So, I will leave that up to you.

Furthermore, If your planning on training speed, agility, or strength, I do recommend getting your certifications. These attributes must be thought in great detail, and you need to know your stuff before carelessly instructing an athlete with the wrong techniques. Try to avoid doing this as it can lead to a player's regression or creating injury. 

 GETTING PLAYERS TO TRAIN WITH YOU

Three words! Word of mouth. I find this to be one of the most organic ways of getting a new trainee in the beginning stage. Honestly, all you need is one trainee. From there, you can encourage them to invite friends if they enjoy your training. I used this method mainly because this is all I knew at the time. It also helped that I worked with different teams within a club that made me a more trustworthy option for personal training to parents.

TIPS TO GROW YOUR SOCCER TRAINING BUSINESS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

 To start, I am addressing social media mainly because I get asked this all the time. Having a strong social media presence has allowed me to share my love of soccer. So it was vital for me to reach people worldwide and not just in my region. 

Now, if your thinking that I am going to give you some secret formula to social media growth, you're in the wrong place. Social media is hard work; there are long hours on the field training, creating content, and learning the in and out of each platform that people don't see. 

Here are my tips for any trainer looking to grow on social media:

1. Post what you love
2. Make it engaging
3. Engagement and connecting with your followers is more important than likes and views
4. Never film with a tripod. Videos with no movement or not lose to the action, in my opinion, never do well.
5. Answer all your comments and DM (engage with your audience)
6. Make your profile look enjoyable and exciting. People are more interested in sticking around if your profile looks good and provide value.
7. Utilize all 30 hashtags in your post. But make sure they are relevant to your post
8. Use your analytics - Know where your followers are from, what they like, and what time of day they are most active. 
9. Post content consistently -I recommend three times a day for serious growth. 5-6 times per week is usually good as well. I know this might be not very comforting, but it's just until you game your game up.
10. Gather as much content as you can and save it. You don't always have to post what you just recorded. Try to give your followers some variety with the topics our drills your choice to post.
11. Post on your story at least 6 times per week
12. Don't go asking for , and your profile isn't set up to retain followers. HAVE A PROFILE PIC, preferably a head-shot of your or your logo. Have page highlights and a call to action in your bio.
13. Don't be afraid to share your knowledge; you can either ignore negative feedback or grow from it. Your in the driver's seat.
14. Shout-outs are cool but go paying over asking for them if your again is not attractive. Bad follower to following ratio, little to no content, no profile pic. Trust me with out these features a shout-out is pointless.

These tips are geared towards Instagram users, but it will help you grow an online presence on any other platform also. 

 HERE IS THE COURSE I TOOK TO THAT LITERALLY HELPED ME REACH 10K FOLLOWER

 Now in closing, social media will help you grow business by allowing you to reach more people. But, remember it's the parents and players who believe in you are the real reason for your success. Don't let the success of your training be defined by a social media account.

I hope you guys find this helpful. See you on the next post!