There are many different ways to grow your fitness business like networking, business management and marketing or creating referral systems. Generally any personal trainer can implement these concepts into their fitness business almost instantly.

One thing that people have trouble implementing, but it is a great way to take your business to the next level, is public speaking.

Now you may speak in front of people all day long but you may not realize that doing a public speaking event and teaching private or group exercise class are totally different.

1) In group exercise you are in your zone, you are the leader everyone is following you and they do as you say, sure some may not and some may do it poorly but this is not even going to register with you when you are in the zone. In public speaking the people are there for information not instruction this is a key difference because they will feel more justified in challenging your information and asking you questions on how you know this.

Best advice; make sure you are an expert before you do a talk on a subject, do research know where the information comes from and be prepared to defend what you are saying- without getting defensive.

2) In group exercise people have signed up and even paid to be there or it is part of a membership but even a person who does not like a class or training session will very rarely leave because they feel an obligation to stay because they want to get fit, even if they do not like it. In public speaking this could not be any more the opposite, people feel compelled to leave they actually want to go and do something else have lunch, make a phone call or even take a nap some will even do this during your talk.

Best advice; you need to really WOW them into staying and listening to you your topic and delivery needs to be clean, clear and compelling in other words tell a story that elicits emotion.

3) In group exercise you can cover up a screw up easily, if you ask people do something and you are demonstrating a different exercise you can say that you are testing them or that you did not say 'Simon Says'. However in public speaking once it is out there it is out there and you cannot take it back.

Best advice; own it and correct yourself, always correct it if you realize the mistake.

4) Fitness has ambiance there is music, action happening around you and even video or TV playing all of these provide a distraction for the client and they will even focus more on you as a result. Public speaking does not have this advantage if you are lucky the projector will work and you can have a slide deck going but do not count on this any good presentation needs to be able to go without a side show just in case.

Best advice: set the mood prior to the talk by being early and set up before the people, then play some music on a portable player and always have handouts just in case the projector does not work.

5) In fitness if a person is breathing heavy, sweating and wanting to lie down in complete exhaustion you have done your job. In public speaking they are probably having a heart attack and that is never good but luckily if you are up to date on your CPR you may save them and still get good reviews on the talk. Seriously the key here is in fitness class a person is participating and therefore unable to judge and in some extreme classes even talk back to you but public speaking has an opposite effect these participants are sitting and fidgeting and looking for a reason to move.

Best advice; is to let them, get them up for a stretch move them around the other option is to make them laugh because laughter allows people to feel comfortable and at ease with what you are saying. Also keep your CPR up to date just in case.

Practice, practice. practice get your friends and family together and run through the entire talk without restarting. Public speaking is probably one of the top ways for any fitness professional to become known as an expert in their field it can lead to clients, referrals and future jobs like writing fitness column in a company news letter. In business you have to earn trust and credibility and the only way to do this is to put yourself out there and start to build a reputation as the go to person for fitness information in your area.