How to Start an Online Fitness Business In 5 Simple Steps

Starting an online fitness business can be lucrative, exciting, and a bit daunting too. Whether you’re a gym owner, personal trainer, or have a cool product idea, online channels open up new, high-growth opportunities. But where do you start if you want to turn an idea into a reality?

In this guide, learn how to start an online fitness business in five simple steps, from coming up with a winning idea to launching successfully.

Over the years we’ve built several successful fitness businesses online, from health blogs to this marketing agency! We’ve also helped lots of new online businesses to launch in the wellness industry, including fitness equipment manufacturers, supplement companies, and online personal trainers. So, we have first-hand experience with the start-up approaches that work best across varied fitness business models.

How To Start an Online Fitness Business

Here’s an overview of how to start an online fitness business in five simple steps, based on what’s worked for clients and our own start-ups…

1. Come up with a winning idea
2. Validate demand for it
3. Build your online platform
4. Launch your business
5. Grow it consistently

Now let’s look at each of these stages in more detail…

1 – Come Up With Winning Online Fitness Business Ideas

The first step is to come up with a winning fitness business idea. For some people, this is the hardest part – you may know that you want to start something but have no clue what that ‘something’ is. Others will have a very clear concept that they want to turn into reality.

If you fall into the first category, then here are some online fitness business ideas to inspire you… 

• Fitness blog monetised through ads, training programs, sponsored posts, or other digital products
• Online personal training or fitness classes through Zoom, Skype, or Microsoft Teams
• E-commerce website selling fitness equipment, workout apparel, or nutritional supplements
• Instagram or TikTok influencer monestised through sponsorships, digital products, or merchandise
• Online fitness training programs, ebooks, or courses
• YouTube vlogger monestised through ads, affiliate commissions, or digital products
• Authoring Amazon Kindle ebooks on health and fitness topics
• Online fitness certifications and industry training 
• Develop a health and wellness mobile app
• Membership site offering workouts, nutrition plans, recipes, etc.

It’s also worth thinking about your motivations and goals at this point so that you can choose a business that aligns with them. Do you want to generate extra income, have more flexibility to work from anywhere, or create something more scalable than one-to-one coaching?

There are lots of great reasons to start your own online venture, but not every fitness business model will suit every goal. So it’s worth considering this before you get too far into the start-up process.

For example, if you want to earn passive fitness income or travel, then starting an e-commerce website that requires you to pack and ship products won’t be ideal. But creating a membership site or online workout programs could be perfect!

Get more inspiration with 22 Profitable Fitness Business Ideas That You Can Start Today or explore how to start a gym business or build a successful yoga business instead.

2 – Validate Your Business Idea

Once you have an idea for your online fitness business, you’ll need to validate it. This step is crucial before diving straight in (no matter how tempting this may be). Validation helps you to quantify demand for your business idea before you invest time and money into developing it.

There are a few ways you can validate your fitness business idea…

• Google Keyword Planner – this tool allows you to see how many people are searching online for something each month. For example, you can check how many people Google ‘surf fitness online course’ to see if there’s a market for this idea.
• Offer presales – just like you would before opening a new gym, try to generate advance sales of your product or service (this can also help you fund development). Use a tool like Shopify or Podia to set up a sales page and promote it to your network or social media followers.
• Build an MVP – create a minimum viable product (MVP for short) that you can sell to validate your idea before creating the complete final product. For example, an ebook on surf fitness training would be a good MVP to validate a more comprehensive online course or membership idea.
• Write a business plan – prepare an online fitness business plan that outlines your strategy, marketing, and financials, so that you’re clear everything stacks up and is likely to be profitable. Download a cheatsheet checklist and sample marketing plans as part of our Business Bundle.

Validation might seem like an annoying extra step when you’re excited to push ahead with your idea, but it’ll save you time and money in the long run. For more detail on how to do this, Pat Flynn’s great value book (as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases) is worth checking out. 

If you find that there isn’t much demand for your business idea, then think about how you can adapt your approach. Could you target a different audience, tweak the product, or package it up in another way? You don’t need to give up on your initial idea altogether – just come at it from a different angle by considering different business models, platforms, and promotional channels. 

Fitness Business Startup Kit [EARLY-BIRD OFFER]

3 – Build Your Online Fitness Business

Once you have a proven concept, it’s time to turn it into a reality. This is where you translate your business plan into a functioning operation. Let’s build your online fitness business!

This stage will differ depending on the type of fitness business and platform that you’re building. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution – you could need a website, social media channel, or simply a Zoom account! So, we’ve created some dedicated guides with detailed instructions on how to start some of the most popular online fitness businesses…

These guides will show you how to build an online fitness business from scratch with zero tech background or experience. They’re ideal for people who are new to the online business world and want to know the exact steps to follow.

Whichever type of online fitness business you choose to start, there are core elements that most will have in common…

• Structure – how products, services, and content are laid out, and how users navigate between them. Drawing a spider diagram or hierarchy list is good for drafting this.
• Content – you’ll need to create images, videos, product descriptions, blog articles, sales page copy, and anything else that’s relevant to your platform.
• Payment processor – a system for accepting payments is vital for making money online (PayPal, Shopify, and Podia are all easy to use).

You might also like… 20 Name Ideas For Online Fitness Businesses.

Next, it’s time to launch your new fitness business to your customers…

The 50K Fitness Blog Blueprint [Waitlist]

4 – Launch Your Online Business With a Bang

The launch stage is vital because it can make or break your online business. People are unlikely to simply stumble across your website or platform – you’ll need to get the word out. 

You need to put as much effort into driving traffic towards your website, social account, or app as you did into building it. There are lots of effective ways to do this – here are some ways to launch your online fitness business initially…

• Set up your social accounts – create compelling bios and post sneak peeks of your product or service that builds anticipation.
• Email list – start a waiting list as soon as you have your idea so that you can email interested people when you launch.
• Website – you may want to build your website in advance but wait until the launch day to publish the content and make it live.
• Educational content – if you’re launching a new product or service, then you may need educational content such as how-to videos or infographic guides to teach people how it works (this is particularly important for fitness equipment).
• Partnerships – collaborate with complementary brands with existing audiences to get the word out about your new venture.
• Influencer marketing – work with influencers and leverage their audience relationships to promote your new business (this is a great tactic for startups).
• Online advertising – run ad campaigns on Google, Facebook, and Instagram to raise awareness of your brand and generate leads.

These marketing tactics are particularly suited to new businesses that don’t yet have an established presence. It can be hard when you’re starting from zero, but these approaches help you build brand awareness, drive leads, and generate online sales quickly.

Fitness Marketing & Lead Generation Roadmap

Your All-in-One Toolkit to Attract, Engage & Convert More Clients

5 – Grow Your Online Fitness Business

Once you’ve launched, you’ll need to continue to build and grow your online fitness business. This is often a balancing act between managing inventory, generating sales, and ensuring positive cashflow.

If you want to grow your online fitness business, then you’ll need to continually find new customers while keeping existing ones loyal. There are endless ways to do this and many of the ideas listed in step 4 will continue to work. But if you want to build on what you’ve established, then some of the most effective ways to grow include…

The 50K Fitness Blog Blueprint [Waitlist]

You might also like… This case study on How ONO Protein Oats Grew Their Online Business.

Online Fitness Business Start-Up Tips

So, now you know exactly how to start an online fitness business and build it into something successful. Whether it’s a side-hustle or full-time venture, starting your own online business is a great way to generate income and become your own boss.

Coming up with profitable ideas and validating that there’s consumer demand are the first crucial steps to success. From there, you’ll need to build, launch, and continue to grow your business long-term. We can’t wait to hear how you get on!

Fitness Business Startup Kit [EARLY-BIRD OFFER]