Baseball Trainer coaching 45 sessions per week and completely burned out!

Today I got a message from a coach called Enrique who lives in Seattle and is a private Baseball coach.  

He said: 

"Hey Ben, 

I'm training 45 sessions per week and I'm doing all the sessions one-on-one. By the end of the week I don't want to look at another baseball because I am just physically drained and also mentally drained!

I'm currently making good money but I do feel so exhausted. 

What can I do?"

If you're a coach or trainer reading this you may have been through the same as Enrique. I remember when I first started my business I was doing around 37 to 39 private soccer training sessions per week! (all one-on-one too). 

I was exhausted too by the end of the week so I completely understand how Enrique feels.  

But, the real problem wasn't simply the amount of sessions I was working each week but the amount of extra work I had to also do  that happens away from the field with my business. I had to make sales calls, respond to text messages from parents, rescheduling of sessions and so much more.

I had to make the necessary changes within my business for the business to work and create more freedom within your personal life. If you're reading this it then what I am about to share with you may sound too oversimplified but these are the three things I did that really helped me.

#1 Transition 1on1 clients into groups 

To gain back most of my time during the week I made a firm decision to transition all my clients into group training. This meant that any new client who inquired about my training service and wanted to do 1on1 training I would charge them double, and offer them an alternative (such as groups) as a more affordable option so they choose that option instead. 

#2 Make your Group Training your more affordable service 

When I transitioned all my 1on1 clients into groups I was able to coach more kids at one time throughout the week which allowed me to gain back time which I was spending away from my family. It was difficult at the beginning but I started with offering my group training at an affordable price for parents and my one-on-one training become very exclusive (and higher priced) this way I could get most parents to join my groups rather than creating more coaching hours per week. 

#3  Your 1on1 Training needs to be very exclusive to ONLY a few

By making your 1on1 training service more exclusive and more expensive for parents it will make your coaching time more valuable. This means that if a client really wants to work with you on a 1on1 basis then they will have to be very committed to your terms and conditions. 

A problem I had at the beginning of my business was I allowed too much flexibility to parents which meant they ended up dictating everything within my business. By making 1on1 training more exclusive and more expensive and only offering it on a set day and time, it started putting many parents off, but in the long term allowed more players to move into groups and resulted in my ability to coach way more clients at once rather than individually spread out throughout the week. 

I hope this helps, 

- Ben