Becky is a female personal trainer based in Horsham, West Sussex. She chooses to charge for personal training sessions on a pay-as-you-go hourly basis, and here explains why that is…
In 2026, many business coaches regard charging by the hour for an in-person service as madness. This judgment is built largely on one assumption: that someone’s primary goal for their work is to make as much money as possible. Today, I’m going to share why I charge in the way that I do. As ever in this life, one size does not fit all…
Charging by the hour for personal training
Business coaches in particular tend to tell you that this is not appropriate now. And yes, it does limit your income: when you charge per person per hour and you work mostly one-to-one, the numbers are simple – there are only so many hours in a day, and you therefore automatically cap your own earnings.
Here’s the thing: I didn’t set up my own business to make myself rich. Broadly, there are two reasons I’m here. The first is that I went through my own fitness journey, and decided that I wanted to help others like me. The second is that I came around to the idea of being my own boss. I’ve been consistently employed since I was 14 and, having flirted with the idea several times during my 20s and early 30s, I finally had the right idea that meant I was more prepared to take responsibility and be my own boss.
One of the first decisions you make as a business owner is how to charge for your product or services, and there were three key things that I wanted to offer which helped me make that choice.
First offering to my clients: accessibility
When I first hired a personal trainer, he charged by the hour, and allowed me to decide how frequently I had sessions with him. In 2017, this was already becoming a rarity, but it was something that I appreciated. I was on a low income at the time, but I had decided firmly that I wanted to get fitter and, with absolutely no knowledge of my own, professional help was important to me. I knew that it would help me to succeed, but I didn’t have much money to spend.
There are so many barriers to entry for those looking to get fit, and cost is a big one, so if we as professionals can help to adjust that barrier, if not remove it completely, I think that we have a responsibility to. Having been able to take advantage of a pricing structure that truly suited my budget, I wanted to provide the same thing once the shoe was on the other foot.
Personal training is a non-essential service, but that doesn’t mean that it’s something that should be a luxury only afforded to those with a higher income. This is my way of supporting that.
Second offering to my clients: flexibility
I’ve already touched on this, but charging by the hour, in my opinion, allows me to offer a more flexible service that suits the needs of each client. I don’t dictate how many sessions per week, month, or year any client “needs” to attend. It’s up to them – they know their budget, availability, confidence level, and likelihood of adhering to whatever I ask of them.
Flexibility also works in both directions – when I have a mixture of clients attending at different frequencies, those I see less often tend to plug any gaps in my schedule, or cover for absences when a more regular attendee is away or can’t come in for another reason. A person’s circumstances may change for better or for worse. They might decide that they (temporarily or permanently) want more or less support from me. Not tying them into a fixed arrangement allows for life to happen – as it should! I’m part of each client’s life, not all of it.
I also offer my clients the chance to change how frequently they have sessions at any point. This is also subject to my availability and my diary works on a first come, first served basis. I aim to share any planned absences of mine within good time to book people in and, as I get to know my clients, I also learn who likes to be prepared and who’s more inclined to ask questions closer to a specific date. We’re all different, and that’s ok!
Third offering to my clients: compassion
This is arguably the biggest no brainer for me. An unfortunate reality of medical conditions is that they can be unpredictable. When I chose to work with cancer patients and survivors, I knew that this demographic may not be capable of the type of consistency that some coaches expect, and I accept that.
In my opinion, it’s particularly unfair to ask someone who’s on active treatment or in the early stages of recovery to commit to a fixed number of sessions within a month, or pay for a block of ten sessions and use them within a certain period of time. I’ve experienced clients being unexpectedly hospitalised, or for other reasons truly outside of their control be unable to train at the last minute. I take the view that, in these situations, if they were given the choice, they’d much rather honour their prior commitment to train than being unwell, and so I don’t take it personally when people need to cancel for these reasons.
It would also be dangerous and unethical for me to insist that people train when their health is in a certain condition – I don’t fancy having to try to justify that to my insurance company or any other official party! I have a responsibility to keep myself and my clients safe, so cancellations have to be expected, and I’d rather someone not feel pressured to have to make the most of their spend on sessions when they’re really not up to it.
If you do things differently…
That is absolutely your choice, and I make no judgment of you for it. We all get to do what works for us, and this is what currently works for me. I review my policies and pricing structure regularly, and the above is what is true for me at the time of writing. I’m open to finding a different or better way in future, but for now, that’s me!
If you have any questions about my services, I’d be happy to answer – get in touch and we can chat
