How Much Does A Personal Trainer Earn in Dublin
So you’re passionate about health and fitness, and you’re wondering; can you make a career out of doing something you love, like maybe becoming a personal trainer or coach.
After all,
If you choose a job you love?
You’ll never have to “work” a day in your life, right??
Maybe you’ve seen personal trainers working in a gym and thought to yourself “that’s something I would love to do …someday”
Maybe you know some people who’ve become personal trainers in Dublin and not only are they loving life but their thriving financially you *think*
But the big question you probably want answered is;
“Can I actually earn enough money to live, support myself and, have some left over to be able to do the things I wanna do”
So here’s what we’ll do
First we’ll lay out the possible stages
Of progression on the coaching career path.
Then we’ll talk about the earning potential at each stage

So not only will you find out how much does a personal trainer earn, you’ll also have an idea of the stages of transition. From a person with a passion for fitness to someone who can move to making it their full time profession.
Then, towards the end (for the more ambitious or entrepreneurial) I’ll talk about the 3 phases of growth in a trainers career (that I learned from Michael E Gerber) which outline how you need to shift focus in very different areas if you want to grow a business towards high 6 even 7 figures
Ready?
Good onwards;
First up you need to consider the 3 most important things of all:
Cause over the last decade of creating Ireland most successful coaches, we noticed that those who understand the 3 things I’m about to share with you always end helping more people, having more impact and enjoying more freedom;
If that’s something you’d like too?
Then consider the following questions for yourself;
- What do I want in 5-10 years
- Where do I want to be in 5-10 years
- What does “success” look like for me as an individual
Seriously;
Take the time to consider the details
Think of it like going training down the gym.
You wouldn’t just walk into the gym and start doing random stuff and expect to see results would you? Cause that’s not how it works. In Fact usually this results in going backwards.
You only get results when you train on a programme that has a specific destination chosen before you begin.
And so it is with your career in fitness
If you don’t plan where you want to go in your life you cannot expect to meander your way there, by accident.
Put simply Results don’t come by accident in training or in business they come by following a proven plan.
Make sense? Cool.
Now you’ve done the most important part
Let’s show you where you can go. Cause really it’s up to you to decide where you go, we’ll just lay it all out here and, you’ll do what’s best for you.
Stage 1 Contemplating, Learning, Educating (not coaching phase)
Fitness has had such a positive impact on your life that you have begun to consume everything you can get your hands on.
When you’re not in the gym?
You’re watching fitness “schtuff” on Youtube
Listening to podcasts, following people who inspire you.
You’re a “sponge like object” when it comes to fitness you wanna soak up all the best info and try it out and see what happens
You’re probably being asked for advice down the gym or giving help to your friends and family and when they give you feedback on how much it helped them it just feels awesome doesn’t it?
So you’ve some knowledge you‘ve picked up along the way a tonne passion and enthusiasm but no clients or any formal training on how to start getting them
You could maybe fall into one of 3 buckets;
- Consuming info out of curiosity and the love of learning but, not thinking about a career
- Consuming info with hesitation and waiting for the “right time”
- Consuming info with an idea of doing something in about 6 months.
Earning Potential: €0
Here’s something to consider
Especially for those waiting for the “right-time”;
There isn’t one.
And if you’re sitting around waiting on it arriving like some train running late you need to consider the possibility it’s never coming. Meanwhile you will have to continue to watch as other people will do the things you would love to, simply because they chose to believe in themselves.
For those with a plan of 6 months
If there was one piece of advice I could give it would be this:
You don’t have to go “ALLIN”
What I mean is; You can try it out part-time, as a side hustle first before you quit your job, and gain some experience of what it would be like, so you can see for yourself if it’s what you thought it would be.
This is a great way to not lose income while you build up a business to the point where the only thing holding you back becomes the hours you spend on your other job

Stage 2: Part-Time Coach
The side hustle stage is where you begin to take on clients without giving up your full time gig.
It has to start like this
Because you’re building a business form zero one client at a time.
Or you can take part time hours in an existing business meaning you have stable income doing something you love without the stress of having to find them for yourself.
Your main focus needs to be on the coaching experience
Learning how to work with different people, continually challenging yourself to become a better artist more capable of helping your clients.
Some people?
Will be happy to stay in this spot
They may never want to give up their full time job.
Earning Potential: €10,000 - €20,000
We’ve worked with loads of students who only ever want a handful of clients on the side cause they love their current career but still want to explore what they love about helping people so they’re happy with what they got here.
For example Teachers. They tell us they love passing on knowledge and they get such a buzz form Coaching they wanna explore that too without giving up on what they do currently.
Anyways;
If you’re wanting to take it further?
Then don’t quit your job until you’re financially able to or until the only thing holding back growth is the hours you’re working the full time job.
Is One Of These 30 Fitness Careers Your Dream 'Job' Too?
Here’s what you will discover:
Discover over 30 Career paths you could create for yourself in fitness, the upsides and downsides of each, and the qualities you will need to succeed in them, including everything you need to consider before getting started.
- 30 Career paths: 30 fitness careers explored in depth so you can decide which suits you best.
- Straight shooting: We go into the pro's and Cons of each; so you know what you're in for.
- Case Studies: Complete with Student Case studies so you see real world results.
Stage 3: Full-Time Coach
Ok So this is where shit gets real
You’re going ALL IN now and you wanna actually make your livelihood form Coaching
That’s phucking cool
So here’s 2 possibilities of how that’s gonna look:
1. Working as a full time coach under a gym
Working as a coach takes away the stress and requirement for you to be your own entrepreneur. Meaning you get to focus on all the artistry of coaching and creating a client experience that your customers come back for.
But that said it means your salary will be in line with your performance in servicing and retaining clients in the gym.
2. Working as a self-employed coach
Now you’re a full blown entrepreneur you’re in charge of everything;
Marketing i.e. getting people to the front door (leads)
Sales: turning the leads you created into Paying clients
And the fulfilment of your service i.e. training clients to get results they pay you for.
For those with the ability to manage all of this and also the finance department i.e. Doing all the above and doing it profitably? The rewards are much bigger but then so is the time energy and money investment as you’re going to be dealing with rent etc.
Earning Potential: €37,000 - €150,000
Why such a big variance? I hear you (not) ask
So the lower end is working in a gym while the upper end is going to depend on your ability as an entrepreneurial coach to make shit happen.
So what’s the timeline to €100,000?
That’s going to be down to the coach, his level of experience and his willingness to invest in himself to get better.
We’ve personally mentored countless individuals to 100,000 within a couple years. Some take 3 or 4.
You have to understand;
Its’ all down to that coach as an individual to do the work.
Just like in weight loss if you follow the plan “small hinges swing big doors” as they say
In our experience; Some people struggle with making the changes necessary to their inputs and outputs at the speed required to see the results in the time frame they expect.
While other will trust the process and do the work.
It’s also important to note that this is where some coaches stay. They’re happy here and don’t have any dreams of ever becoming gyms owners
So for some peeps this is where this story ends.
For the rest of you? Read on to where shit gets kinda “spicey”
Stage 4: GYM OWNER
While many coaches don’t ever want to reach this stage, many do, as it seems like a more financially lucrative option for them.
Here’s something I’d have you consider though;
Many new small gym owners open up and are like WTF suddenly I’ve waaaay more work to do and I’m making the same money as a full-time coach
‘cause now they have two full-time jobs;
One as a coach and the other as a manger/gym owner. Plus all the stress that comes with running and managing said facility.
This is where it can all go wrong for some peeps.
Earning Potential: €37,000 - €100,000
Especially if you don’t have the following solid structures in place;
- Solid hold of the finances
- Manage your time effectively
- Knowing how to sell affectively
- Knowing the cost to acquire a client
- Creating the right (profitable) business model
The question you need to be asking is how do I make more without doing more.
Cause there’s only two stages in business
Growth or Decay
So if you don’t know what the next step is you’re going backwards
Which is why it’s so important to have answered the questions laid out at the start so you have a solid grasp of your vision for the future
Is One Of These 30 Fitness Careers Your Dream 'Job' Too?
Here’s what you will discover:
Discover over 30 Career paths you could create for yourself in fitness, the upsides and downsides of each, and the qualities you will need to succeed in them, including everything you need to consider before getting started.
- 30 Career paths: 30 fitness careers explored in depth so you can decide which suits you best.
- Straight shooting: We go into the pro's and Cons of each; so you know what you're in for.
- Case Studies: Complete with Student Case studies so you see real world results.
STAGE 5: COACH OF COACHES
In this stage, you’re an owner and have coaches underneath you, meaning you might move away from coaching actual clients.
Your priorities now are to develop coaches to help clients.
You are creating a brand and are in charge of the customers Value Journey i.e. the experience you want ever client to feel as part of your business and you manage this to the best of your ability
You have a solid grasp of the 5 crucial systems required for a business of this level;
- • Lead generation system
- • Sales system
- • Referral system
- • Re-activation system
- • Fulfilment system
Earning Potential: €80,000 to €500,000
STAGE 6: COACH OF COACHES
You no longer coach any clients. You’re the visionary for a large and growing fitness brand with a mission to change lives and the capacity to actually get it done.
Earning Potential: €150,000 to €1,000,000 +
The only thing left to share with you is the idea I learned from business coach Michael E Gerber, the author of the E-Myth
And that’s the concept of the 3 personality types in business;
Artist – Loves to get in the trenches and work on the science and artistry of coaching.
Manager – Those who naturally affectively manage things well; time, yourself, systems
Entrepreneur – The visionary who has the idea he can change the world and the capacity to carry it out
The reason I share this is as you can probably tell
Some people should never venture to open their own business simply because it’s not in their “wheel house”
While other people should definitely be doing that but probably aren’t the best at the actual coaching.
Were all a blend of 2 but no more of these and finding out which one you are is the ideal way to help decide what’s the best path for you.
Anywhoo we’ve compiled a guide of 30 other different career paths in fitness to help with the decision
Then when you’re ready
You can use this link to schedule a call with one of my team and we can work on turning your passion for fitness into a real career
Sean McGarrity
Is One Of These 30 Fitness Careers Your Dream 'Job' Too?
Here’s what you will discover:
Discover over 30 Career paths you could create for yourself in fitness, the upsides and downsides of each, and the qualities you will need to succeed in them, including everything you need to consider before getting started.
- 30 Career paths: 30 fitness careers explored in depth so you can decide which suits you best.
- Straight shooting: We go into the pro's and Cons of each; so you know what you're in for.
- Case Studies: Complete with Student Case studies so you see real world results.
