What should I check before buying a home-based personal training business?

A home-based or mobile training practice has almost no fixed assets. The trainer travels to clients, uses a home space or rents time at a shared gym. Little of it can be seen from the outside, so much depends on client habits and relationships. A generic home-business checklist helps, but these are the points that are specific to a trainer-run practice.

Do the clients follow the trainer?

Ask how long clients have trained with the current owner and why they stay. If it is the person, not the programs or the schedule, your hold on them depends on how well the handover goes. Ask whether the owner will introduce you, train alongside you for a period, and say plainly to clients that the practice is changing hands.

What transfers without premises

List what you would actually receive: the client list, the booking and payment tools, program templates, equipment, a phone number, a website and social accounts. Some of these may be personal to the owner or governed by an app’s own terms. Your lawyer can confirm what can be assigned. Ask also whether any clients train at a gym or park under a separate arrangement that may not carry over.

Booking records and payments

Ask to see the appointment history and how clients pay. Look for regular sessions rather than a few big bursts, and find out how any prepaid packages would be handled on transfer. If sessions are paid in cash or by informal transfer, ask your accountant how to confirm what was earned.

Handover and the owner’s role

Think about whether you are able to run the practice the way the owner does, in the same hours and locations. Our answer on what to check before buying a home-based business covers the general points, and what if the owner is the business covers the risk of leaving.