If you have expertise in a particular area — such as fitness or business — you can become a freelance trainer and teach others about it. While fitness trainers help clients learn safe and effective exercise routines, a business trainer usually leads meetings about workplace rules and etiquette. No matter your area of skill, the ability to teach is essential to this job. To become a freelance trainer, you need to find customers and clients on your own, and should therefore have marketing skills. You are also responsible for any business-related financial and legal concerns.
Ideally, you should have extensive experience in a technical or business area before you become a freelance trainer. It may also be helpful to work for a company as a trainer before you try to work freelance, so that you can build up experience and references. If you plan to work as a trainer teaching people to use a certain technology, it is beneficial to have a degree or certificate in that area. Likewise, before you become a freelance business trainer, earning a degree in business or human resources is a good idea. Additionally, you may wish to join a professional trainer organization, such as the American Society for Training and Development.
A key part of working as a trainer is teaching people in a way that is engaging and encourages them to learn. For this reason, you should have some experience in educating others before you become a freelance trainer. If you are already employed as a trainer, you likely have that experience. If not, you could gain some by volunteering to teach a workshop, or tutor people one-on-one, before you launch your freelance career.
As a freelancer, you must handle most of the daily aspects of your career by yourself. The first requirement to become a freelance trainer is that you need to find clients. So, you should have the ability to advertise yourself and network with others to get the customers you need to succeed. To do this, you should set up a website so that potential clients can find you online. Another option to consider is establishing a social networking presence, so that you can market your business online to many types of potential clients.
You may need to have some money saved up before you become a freelance trainer. When you are self-employed, your workload can fluctuate greatly and having some money set aside can help during lean times. For instance, you may not work at all for a few weeks, and, during such a time, having money in reserve is critical to cover basic expenses. Since you will also be responsible for handling the legal aspects of your business, including paying taxes, you may want to hire a lawyer or accountant to help you set up your freelance business.