How to write a personal trainer invoice

What goes on a personal trainer invoice

Six things, in the order they belong on the page. The invoice generator opens a personal trainer document with the lines already in place, so most of this is checking rather than typing.

1. Bill the block, then track it down. Ten sessions at the agreed rate is one line. Each session used gets recorded against it so both of you can see the balance.
2. Show the rate per session. Even on a block, print the unit rate. A client comparing your ten-session price to your single-session price should be able to see the discount they are getting.
3. Separate anything that is not coaching. Program design, nutrition plans and check-in calls are work. If you do them, name them on their own line rather than folding them into the session price.
4. State the no-show policy. The notice period and what a missed session costs, printed before it happens.
5. Say when the block expires. A block with no end date is an obligation with no end date. Put the expiry on the invoice.
6. Send it with a payment link. Blocks are larger sums. A link paid from the phone beats a bank transfer the client has to set up.

The lines a personal trainer invoice usually carries

The generator opens with these lines when you pick Personal trainer. The figures are placeholders to type over, not a going rate.

Add, rename, reorder or delete any line, and set tax per line where it applies. Priced as they open, that comes to $1,150 before tax.

How to write a personal trainer invoice, step by step

1. Count the sessions from your diary. Open the personal trainer invoice and enter the single sessions with the dates in the description. Eight sessions at a rate is something a client can check against their own calendar.
2. Bill the package as one line. A package of 10 is one line at the package price. Underneath, write sessions used and sessions left, so the invoice is also the balance.
3. Keep the plan separate. A written nutrition and training plan is a product, not a session. It goes on its own line so the client sees what it cost.
4. Add a missed session if your policy allows. A no-show inside your notice period goes on as a dated line at the rate your terms state.
5. State the expiry, then send. Write when the package expires. Set 7 days and send it straight after the session with a payment link.

Personal trainer invoice example, filled in

A client who paid session by session in August and then bought a package and a plan. The package is one line and the note says when it expires, so the next invoice can show sessions used against it.

Subtotal $1,150, tax $115, total $1,265. Eight single sessions at $60 and a $520 package on the same invoice show the client what the package saves them. The expiry and no-show rule sit in the note, where they are agreed before the first missed session.

Session blocks and the drawdown nobody tracks

The block is the standard unit of personal training and the standard cause of disputes. A client buys ten, attends irregularly across three months, and then disagrees with you about whether two or four are left.

Solve it on paper. Invoice the block as a single line, then issue a receipt or a note against each session as it is used, numbered: session 6 of 10. The count lives on documents you both have rather than in a training app only you can see.

Set an expiry at the point of sale and print it. Six months is common. Without one you are holding an open commitment against a rate you may have raised twice since.

Online coaching, which bills nothing like in-person training

Remote coaching is a monthly product, not an hourly one, and invoicing it hourly undersells it. What the client is buying is a program, adjustments, and your attention between sessions.

Bill it as a recurring monthly fee with the components named: program, weekly adjustments, check-in call, message support. Naming them is what stops the client mentally pricing it as "one call a month".

Set it as a recurring invoice so it arrives on the same date without you raising it, and keep the components on every issue rather than shortening it to a single line after month two.

When the gym takes a cut, or the client pays the gym

Trainers working out of a gym often sit in one of two arrangements, and they invoice very differently.

If the client pays you and you pay the gym rent, your invoice is the full session price and the rent is your cost, not the client's line. If the gym collects from the client and pays you, you are invoicing the gym for your share, and that invoice needs their terms, their reference, and a payment date rather than "on receipt".

Mixing the two is where money goes missing. Keep one document per relationship and do not net them off against each other on a single invoice.

Hourly, fixed price or per unit: how personal trainers price the work

Personal training is priced per session and sold in blocks or memberships, and the commercial question is what happens to a session the client does not attend. Your cost is the hour in the diary, not the hour on the gym floor.

State the cancellation window and apply it consistently. It is the most personal charge in a personal business, which is exactly why it has to be a written policy rather than a decision you make about one client on one morning.

Working out what to charge

Training rates depend on your area, your qualifications and what the gym charges you, so a number from a web page helps nobody. The service price calculator sets a session price from your own hours and rent, and the break-even calculator shows how many sessions cover the gym.

Getting paid once it is sent

Packages are paid in advance, so the package invoice goes out before the first session of it; single sessions are paid on the day by payment link. If the due date passes, the late fee calculator works out what your terms allow and the due date calculator sets the new date.

Five dates decide whether a personal trainer gets paid on time, and four of them are set before the work starts.

Mistakes that cost personal trainers money

• No expiry on a block. An open block is a commitment at a rate you may have moved on from.
• Drawdown tracked only in your app. If only you can see the count, the disagreement is unwinnable. Put it on documents.
• Online coaching billed by the hour. It undersells a monthly product. Name the components and bill monthly.
• Netting gym rent off the client invoice. Two relationships, two documents. Do not combine them.
• No no-show policy until a no-show. Then it reads as a punishment rather than a policy.

Personal trainer invoice questions

Free personal trainer invoice template

The free personal trainer invoice template opens with the lines above already priced, in any of 30 designs made for the trade, and exports a print-ready PDF with nothing saved to a server. Opening a design needs a free account.

Invoicing guides for related trades

Everything on this site, set up for personal trainers

The whole toolkit, with the reason each one matters to personal trainers rather than in general. The four marked links open with personal trainer already selected.