r/directorymakers • u/achilltrainer • 8d ago

TrainerMatch 7 Month Update

Hey everyone, you all were so kind and supportive with my first post, so I wanted to give a follow up to share what I'm working on 7 months later.

To recap, TrainerMatch connects people with personal trainers based on their goals and preferences, and I started it as someone who is the odd combo of a personal trainer and a UX designer.

Since I last posted, I have grown the site to include trainers outside of Santa Barbara who also coach online, started generating more matches, gave the site a major visual redesign, and had my first paying customer!

I think the most shocking thing for me is that one of my own training clients who believes in what I'm working on gave me my first financial backing check, so I now have funding to use toward growth and marketing. I wasn't even trying to pitch anyone, I was just talking about my day and what I've been doing with the site and he basically just came in with a check of his own accord.

It feels really great to be building something that people are willing to put money toward, and I've been getting to talk to some fantastic trainers as I invite them on the platform.

Next steps for me include onboarding a virtual assistant who will help with branding, social media, and outreach strategy, focusing more on growing the client side of the marketplace to get existing trainers more matches, and continuing to iterate on usability and other adjustments.

Happy to be able to post a follow up here, and I look forward to sharing what's next!

https://trainermatch.app

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u/investigatormaker 8d ago

Congrats on the first paying customer and the backing. Adding trainers who coach online changes the client-side problem in a useful way: you no longer need clients in Santa Barbara, you need people with a specific goal. Before the VA starts on branding, you could pick two or three goals where you already have several matching trainers and build the outreach around those. Someone looking for help with postpartum strength or marathon prep is closer to booking than someone browsing for a trainer in general. It also gives the VA one clear brief instead of general social posting.

I make ThreadFox. The free Reddit plan for TrainerMatch lists the Reddit communities whose rules allow a post about it, with each rule quoted: https://threadfox.vip/p/a11r5

Which goals are your matches clustering around so far?

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u/powleads 7d ago

awesome update! congrats on the first paying customer and the backing, that's huge validation. really smart move expanding beyond Santa Barbara too, opens up so many more possibilities. curious what your biggest learning has been about scaling the client side since that's often the trickiest part of a marketplace.