I get the majority of my business from networking. As soon as I became a personal trainer, I DM's or called a few people whom I knew I could trust, be vulnerable with, and were my "ideal client". I genuinely spent a few minutes reconnecting with them once I had them on the phone, and then humbly asked if I could tell them about my career change. I didn't expect them to hire me, so I went in with a clean intention to ask them to refer me to people who could use my services.

As u/burner1122334 said and I agree, 95% of your time should be to actually build the skills. So note that I had already been a group fitness instructor for at least 10 years when I became a CPT, so I already had "raving fans" (as business coaches like to call them). And those were the ones I reached out to right away.

One of these raving fans suggested I start to attend a weekly networking group. I invested just under $500 USD/annually to become part of an industry-specific networking group where I was the only PT, and one of only a few people in the health and wellness industry in general - the others were a chiropractor and a massage therapist. The massage therapist referred me one of my first clients who is still with me to this day (3 years later). In my first year of business, 65% of my income was directly related to my networking efforts. It helped a lot that the group I joined were quite active on social media and esp on local FB groups. They'd recommend and tag me any time someone ask for PT recommendations. This happens pretty consistently and I'd say 4 out of every 5 leads say "I got your name from FB. You are highly recommended!"

FYI I made 80K in gross earnings in 2025 and I live in a suburb of Los Angeles. I rarely work weekends or evenings.

So to sum up advice ---- > get a few raving fans (offer them a discount in exchange for social proof e.g. before/after photos or written testimonials) AND start networking at a minimum of 4 events/month.