Build Passive Income With Fitness Affiliate Marketing

When I first became a personal trainer, I remember crunching the numbers:

If I work 40 hours per week, charging $75 per personal training session, I'll be rich!

Then reality struck!

I quickly realized, as I'm sure you have, that training clients for 40 hours each week is impossible. Being a personal trainer requires too much focus and too much energy with each client - it's not the kind of job that you can do all day long, day after day.

Plus, there are administrative duties, program planning, and all sorts of other time-suckers that limit the hours you can actually spend with clients.

You have a finite amount of time to train clients, therefore you have a finite capacity to earn income as a personal trainer.

But what if there was a way to earn income WITHOUT having to spend more hours in the gym with clients? 

The Power of Passive Income

Passive income is revenue earned while you're not at work. It allows you to break free from the model of trading your time (which really is your most valuable commodity) for money.

When you have streams of passive income built into your business, you can work less (or even take a vacation!), while still earning money. ​Sounds too good to be true, right?

Well, to some degree, "passive" income IS too good to be true.

Every business needs the time to create and to grow. Even the most passive business will still require some management time, but the right strategies can drastically reduce the hours you have to work.

Here's one of my favourite ways to start earning passive income through your fitness business...

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is an amazing way to begin earning passive income. Here's how it works:

1. The creator of a new product wants to spread the word quickly. So, he creates an "affiliate program" that rewards others for promoting his product.
2. You join the program as an affiliate and earn a commission every time you sell his product. You don't have to create anything - you just sell on behalf of the product creator.
3. You promote the product or service to your followers; they buy it, and you get paid a percentage each sale.

The thought of selling someone else's product might not sit well with you at first, but there are some pretty significant benefits to selling products as an affiliate:

1. You don't have to invest the time and money into creating a new product, program, or service.
2. You don't have to deal with customer questions since the product creator takes care of that in most situations.
3. You can start earning passive income right away!​
4. These is little risk. If it doesn't work out for you, pack up and move on.

I joined my first affiliate program many years ago and still remember the rush I got when my first affiliate commission payment came in. It didn't feel like I had done any work, but I was still getting paid.

I was hooked!

How to Get Started with Fitness Affiliate Marketing

Getting started as an affiliate marketer isn't difficult, but many people try and fail because they rush through the steps. Here's the plan of action I recommend you follow in order to be successful:

Step 1: Determine What Your Followers Need or Want

There are a LOT of affiliate programs out there, especially in the health and fitness industry (more on that in a minute), but don't just pick the first program you find.

Would your clients really want to buy this?

Remember that you are going to be paid when you make a sale. So, it's crucial to consider what your clients or followers might actually want to buy.

For example, if you work with men who train for bodybuilding competitions, you might be able to sell supplements like creatine or protein (See what I did here? That protein link is an affiliate product I sell. Buy it and I earn a commission! Just wait... you'll be doing this too in just a minute!).

On the other hand, if you write a popular blog about weight loss for women, you might do well selling a proven fat-loss workout guide.

Think about your circle of influence. Who do you have influence over, and what would they buy from you?

Step 2: Find the Perfect Affiliate Program to Meet Your Followers' Needs

As I mentioned already, there are a lot of affiliate programs out there, but in my opinion, many of them sell junk.

One of the most famous places to find affiliate programs is Clickbank. Clickbank is home to MANY informational programs you can choose from, as well as a few physical products, but please be careful what you choose. In my experience, there are more bad products than good ones.

Don't ruin your own reputation by becoming an affiliate for products or programs that don't live up to their promises. Even though you aren't the creator, you are tying your name to these products when you start promoting them.

​Some of those informational affiliate programs look enticing because the affiliate commissions are huge. The creator may give you 75% or more from each sale!

This makes sense. An information product like an e-book or online course doesn't cost much to deliver to a buyer. Therefore, the creator of such products just wants to sell as many as possible, even if he has to give away 75% from each sale to his affiliates.

Like I said, be careful when choosing these types of products. Ask yourself, "Will this actually help my clients?"

My Recommendation: Choose affiliate programs for products that you have personally used and trust. For me, I have found great success selling products on behalf of Yes Wellness. Yes Wellness offers a huge selection of name brand health supplements that I can feel good about offering to my readers, listeners, and clients.

Take a look - do you see anything at YesWellness.com that your clients would be interested in buying? Would those products help your clients reach their goals? If so, this affiliate program might be a good place for you to start too.

The commissions are much lower when selling physical products (e.g. 8% from every sale for Yes Wellness), BUT I know that people will always need to buy supplements, so there is potential to sell the same product over and over again to the same customer. The lifetime value of affiliate sales from each customer is huge!

PRO TIP: FINDING REPUTABLE AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

If you know the type of product you'd like to sell, simply go to Google and do a search. For example, if I want to sell kettlebells, here's what my search would look like:

Based on this search, I'd definitely take a closer look at Dragon Door's affiliate program.

Step 3. Become an Affiliate​

Once you've determined what your clients might be interested in buying, and you've found a reputable affiliate program that offers the right products and services, it's time to sign up to become an affiliate.

​Every affiliate program has a slightly different sign-up process, so I'll lead you through the one Yes Wellness uses since I'm most familiar with it:

First, click here to visit Share-A-Sale, the platform Yes Wellness uses to run its affiliate program.​

Second, complete the online application form. 

Third, wait for Yes Wellness to accept you as an affiliate. This process usually takes just a day or two.

That's it!

Step 4. Promote Your Affiliate Products

Now that you're an affiliate, it's time to begin promoting products to your clients or online followers. This process can be a bit tricky, so I've recorded a quick video to show you exactly what to do to create your affiliate links:

You now have an affiliate link that will pay you every time someone clicks that link and makes a purchase. But, how are people going to find your affiliate links? Here are a few simple and effective suggestions:

1. Create Facebook posts that include your affiliate link.
2. Email your client list, telling them about new products they might like (obviously including your affiliate link in the email).​
3. Talk to your clients in-person about a product you'd recommend, and then follow up with an email that links to the product.
4. Record a Youtube video that discusses benefits of a particular product. Be sure to include your affiliate link in the description and in annotations.
5. Add an image of the product to your Pinterest account along with your affiliate link.
6. Write a blog post that reviews your affiliate products. Here's one example showing how I've done this successfully.

Once you're set up with a quality affiliate program, the possibilities are endless. The most important step is simply getting started. So, go through these 4 steps today to begin earning your own passive affiliate income.

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