From Gym Owner to Remote Coaching Excellence: Daniel's Journey to Building a Referral-Driven Business
This episode of Back Room Talk explores the inspiring journey of Daniel Persson, a Swedish fitness coach who transformed from business studies student to gym owner to remote coaching entrepreneur. His story demonstrates how following your passion, combined with systematic education and a commitment to relationship-building, can create a thriving coaching practice that serves clients across continents while maintaining the personal touch that defines exceptional coaching.
The Foundation: Family Culture and Athletic Background
Daniel's journey into fitness began with a strong family foundation where physical activity wasn't just encouraged, it was expected. "Fitness has been a big part of my family's culture. Everyone in the family has been doing some kind of sports... I'm almost always taking it for granted that I'm doing some form of fitness or sport."
This early exposure to various sports, including hockey and football, gave Daniel a well-rounded athletic foundation. However, it was during university that he discovered his true calling: "When I started university, I found powerlifting and weightlifting and quite quickly got into CrossFit because I missed kind of the team portion of it and CrossFit satisfied... the community side of things."
This discovery of CrossFit would prove to be the catalyst for everything that followed, as it combined Daniel's love for strength training with the community aspect he craved from team sports.
The Pivotal Decision: Love vs. Logic
Daniel's transition from student to professional coach involved a crucial decision point that many career-changers face. While studying business with a focus on management control and leadership, he was presented with an opportunity to help open a new CrossFit affiliate.
The decision-making process was complicated by practical concerns about leaving his planned career path. However, the intervention came from an unexpected source—his future wife: "My now wife told me that if you're gonna do this fitness coaching thing, you need to do it full on, like go all in, because I'm not gonna have you sitting at finance department being bitter and thinking what if. So go full send and see what happens."
This pivotal moment illustrates the importance of having supportive people in your life who can see your potential even when you're hesitant to take risks. "She's the best. She's great," Daniel reflects, acknowledging how crucial that push was to his eventual success.
Early Exposure to Individual Design Coaching
What sets Daniel's story apart from many coaches is his early exposure to individualized coaching methods. Training at CrossFit Uppsala, which was heavily influenced by OPEX principles, Daniel experienced individual coaching as an athlete before becoming a coach himself.
"I was kind of early in my CrossFit journey exposed to the individual design thing," Daniel explains. This early exposure to personalized programming and coaching would prove instrumental in shaping his future coaching philosophy and business model.
However, the technology was quite different then: "Back then it was just sharing Excel sheets with comments and training programs. It wasn't as fancy as it is now." This experience taught Daniel that great coaching isn't dependent on sophisticated technology—it's about understanding principles and building relationships.
The Education Journey: Building Professional Competence
Daniel's approach to education was comprehensive but unconventional. Rather than following a traditional path, he pursued his learning based on immediate needs and interests: "I did a few courses and I remember taking my level one course before I started coaching CrossFit. And then I kind of did the OPEX journey backwards."
His educational path included:
CrossFit Level 1 certification
OPEX Programming courses (starting with advanced topics)
Mixed-Modal Athlete course
Programming Principles
OPEX CCP (Comprehensive Coaching Program)
Precision Nutrition certification
"I started with studying the programming strength. I did the mixed-mode athlete course, programming principles... then a couple of years later I did the CCP," Daniel recalls.
This approach—diving deep into advanced concepts before completing foundational education—reflects Daniel's learning style and the practical needs of coaching clients. "The main thing that really impacted me was the CCP," he notes, highlighting how comprehensive education ultimately became the cornerstone of his coaching competence.
From Employee to Entrepreneur: The Gym Ownership Experience
Daniel's professional journey included running multiple CrossFit affiliates over several years. As head coach at his first affiliate for two years, he learned valuable lessons about leadership and business operations. However, he eventually faced a common entrepreneur's dilemma: "I felt that we could take it further, but I wasn't the owner. So then you just have to ask yourself, is this in line with my vision and my dreams? And at the time, it wasn't."
This realization led him to leave and eventually become a co-owner of another facility. In total, Daniel was responsible for three different coaching calendars and multiple gym operations, giving him extensive experience in the business side of fitness.
However, this experience also revealed the challenges of gym ownership: "Being responsible for in total three different coaching calendars... as the head coach, you're always, at holidays and whenever there's a hole in the schedule, you're the one covering it."
This constant responsibility began to impact his passion for the work itself: "After years of having that responsibility, I was looking forward to... not spending too much time planning schedules, covering stuff. What somewhat kills the joy of coaching, at least for me."
The Remote Coaching Evolution
Throughout his gym ownership experience, Daniel maintained a remote coaching practice that would eventually become his primary focus. "I did coach individual design and one-on-one coaching remotely from university all the time when I had the role as a head coach."
This parallel development of both in-person and remote coaching skills gave Daniel unique insights into the advantages and challenges of each approach. The remote coaching consistently provided what he was most passionate about: "The individual design, the remote coaching has always been what gets me the most excited."
Two key aspects drew him to remote coaching:
Program Design Freedom
"I love program design and digging deeper into principles, training and all that." Remote coaching allowed Daniel to focus on the technical and creative aspects of programming without the operational distractions of gym management.
Deeper Relationships
"The relationship part where you really can dig deeper in the coach-client relationship, not limited to an hour, not limited to the group setting, that you can really develop that coach-client relationships." This insight reflects a common misconception that in-person coaching automatically creates stronger relationships than remote coaching.
The Leap to Full Remote: Calculated Risk-Taking
In August, Daniel made the decision to sell his gym ownership stake and transition to full remote coaching. This decision required careful consideration of several factors:
Freedom and Flexibility
"I always needed to be on site. It was hard to take a vacation. I always need to fill out in the holes in the schedule... not being forced to be on site and being able to work more freely."
Focus and Quality
"When I have more time focusing on that side, it really pays back in terms of... everything gets better if you're not... at least how it is for me. If my attention is not split."
Market Uncertainty
"It was scary... when I felt like if I separate myself from this community, how good will I be in acquiring new clients? How good will I be in when my relationship to the whole community fades away?"
Despite these concerns, Daniel took the calculated risk, and the results have validated his decision: "It's been great so far. You really notice then when I have more time focusing on that side, it really pays back."
Building a Referral-Driven Business Model
Perhaps Daniel's greatest strength lies in his systematic approach to building a business based on referrals rather than traditional marketing. His philosophy centers on two core competitive advantages:
Respect for the Craft
"How we compete with gyms and other trainers is two things. It's quality of coaching and also the community or relationships... respect the craft of coaching. Always try to stay humble, keep learning."
Intentional Relationship Building
Daniel's approach goes beyond hoping referrals will happen naturally: "You need to take responsibility over the interactive structure that goes on... not only my relationship to the client, but also the relationships between clients."
He provides a practical example: "If I know that this member and this member both like hockey... but they haven't spoken about it yet or they haven't introduced themselves to them... I need to, as a coach, take responsibility for the relationship that goes on within our business."
This intentional community building creates a network effect where clients become advocates not just for Daniel's coaching, but for the entire experience and community he's created.
The Client Acquisition Strategy: Local to Global
Daniel's approach to client acquisition demonstrates how remote coaches can scale globally while maintaining local relevance. His strategy includes:
Maintaining Local Presence
"I still have my office in the gym that I sold. So I still rent my office space and I train here and sometimes I throw in a few coach hours just to stay in the community."
Strategic Travel and Relationship Building
"I have about three or four clients down in south of Sweden. I did spend a weekend traveling down there and training with them, coaching a bit, like hands-on coaching, and then get the chance to speak to other athletes and clients or potential clients."
This approach yielded immediate results: "From that, I came home with a new client, a new athlete that was kind of curious. But when I got the chance to meet her and speak to her in person... both thought that this could be a go."
The Power of Face-to-Face Connection
"In-person relationship will always be better than just remote... You can make it work really well remotely, but if you get the chance to meet clients face to face, that's always good... they also get a face and you can have just conversations basically."
Team Building and Collaborative Coaching
Daniel's business model includes a carefully selected team of coaches, each bringing unique strengths to the practice. The team composition reflects his understanding that different coaches serve different client populations:
Competitive Athletes: Daniel handles many of these clients himself
Lifestyle Clients: The team includes specialists focused on long-term health and fitness
Rehabilitation Needs: Team member Martin brings physiotherapy expertise
Gender-Specific Coaching: A former professional handball player joins the team to work with lifestyle clients
Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Learning
The team maintains regular communication and learning sessions: "We always try to learn from each other and get together at least once a month... we share a program design where someone might run into a problem with a client or want to just throw out their inherited thoughts."
Daniel also emphasizes the practical support system: "Sometimes I know our coaches and I use it to just get started and get something out there that you can start changing and put your personal touch to."
The Art of Identity-Based Coaching
One of Daniel's most sophisticated insights involves understanding how training connects to client identity. He shares a powerful example of working with a competitive female athlete who needed to reduce training volume to focus on strength development:
"She needed to get stronger... it was obvious to me that we need to cut the training volume down, focus on intensity... And we ended up having a discussion, her being super stressed about the training volume was too low."
Through deeper conversation, Daniel discovered the real issue: "The process is really important to her and how she trains and how she identifies herself in terms of once train hard, trains a lot, it really gets her not to be that person."
This insight led to a more nuanced approach: "How can I gain the trust on this? Not just throw what I think is the best program... but also dig deeper into what part of this... is part of your identity creation. How can we ease into... if we want to change, how can we ease into that?"
This approach involves:
Gradual Trust Building: Making small adjustments to gain credibility
Identity Acknowledgment: Recognizing what training means to the client's self-concept
Progressive Change: "Adjusted slightly so I can get some wins and buy myself some more trust to change the plan slightly over and over"
Gender Differences in Coaching Approach
Daniel has observed distinct patterns in how male and female clients approach training intensity:
Female Clients
"Women in general have a harder time pushing intensity or pushing weights and that's what keeping them from getting really strong... you need to train hard and it's going to be uncomfortable and it doesn't matter how I design this program if you don't go with full intention in every set, every rep we're not going to get there."
Male Clients
"Guys in general throw themselves more just head first, try to go as heavy as possible... sometimes you need to pull them back a bit, leave them in the tank."
These observations inform his coaching approach and help him tailor communication strategies to meet clients where they are naturally inclined to operate.
Technology Integration and AI Adoption
Daniel's approach to technology reflects a balanced perspective on innovation in coaching:
AI as Enhancement, Not Replacement
"I try to use it as much as I can because... if technology gets me more time and get me more efficient in... program design, and I can spend more time on the relationships and being there for my clients. It's just a good thing."
The Importance of Foundational Knowledge
"You need to remember it's a tool and you need to be able to call it out when it's wrong or when it needs to be adjusted. So it's not a shortcut in the sense that you can just jump to not know how to write program because AI is going to do it for you."
Practical Application
Daniel uses AI tools including ChatGPT and RxBot primarily for overcoming creative blocks: "When you get stuck and you don't know what to do... it's way easier to get a program design laid out and then change it, then just come up from like zero."
Time Management and Creative Flow
One of Daniel's ongoing challenges involves balancing the creative nature of program design with the systematic demands of running a business:
The Creative Challenge
"Program design has been a really creative process... which made it also tricky to just set a time where I need to do it."
The Consequences of Poor Planning
"As much as I love program design, it can be the one thing that in my coaching base I just hate if I don't make sure I have the time to do it... it's always ended up being I pushed it further and further."
The Solution: Priority-Based Scheduling
"I tried to structure my days... as soon as I drop in compliance in my schedule, I try to revisit my priorities and redo the exercise... making sure my schedule is aligned with priorities has made it more sustainable."
Client Retention Through Goal Partnership
Daniel's approach to client retention involves taking ownership of client success in a way that goes beyond traditional coaching relationships:
Shared Goal Ownership
"The client goals are my goals. If you want to get better, if you want to stay consistent, what can keep you consistent?"
Consistency Over Intensity
"Consistency is way more important than intensity. This is one of the lessons that people, that I educate people to do."
Adaptive Programming Philosophy
Daniel adjusts programming based on life circumstances rather than forcing clients to adapt to rigid plans: "How you can adjust the program to... we're traveling this month... they're coming back from a long break. They got injured... How you shift the mindset from this to that is what keeps client going."
The Evolution of Goal Setting
Daniel's approach to goal setting has evolved from a purely client-driven model to a more collaborative approach:
Early Philosophy
"In the beginning I was really a lot about this has to come with you. I won't tell you what goals you should or what numbers you should chase."
Evolved Approach
"I've changed my mind on it over the years given that they come to us to be kind of the guidance, the authority of fitness and sometimes it's just helpful for us to give them a fun project or give them a goal."
The Balance
"If they don't have any specific goal or any specific direction, I might have that conversation, let's throw in this, or do you want to do a race, or do you want to play with this?... it's been quite beneficial in how long we keep clients."
Professional Development Philosophy
Daniel's advice to aspiring coaches reflects his understanding of the ongoing nature of professional development:
Continuous Learning
"Always keep learning and always be curious and always be humble that it's more to learn."
Professional Honesty
"It's fine not to know... if you find yourself in a situation where you don't know the answer as a young coach, you might be tempted to say something smart or give an answer you're not 100% sure about yourself, but it can be equally as powerful to just say, don't know."
Staying in Your Lane
"We need to value ourself, but we also need to stay in our lane and do it really well."
The Journey of Mastery
Daniel's philosophy on professional development involves a structured approach to mastery that resonates with traditional martial arts or craftsman approaches:
Master the Fundamentals First
"You just need to find a set of principles and master them to a degree... master them to a degree where it almost becomes like you're limited. It becomes your prison and only then you can find yourself like break out on the other side and start creating your own style, your own philosophy."
The Importance of Structure Before Creativity
"You can't just jump to that stage. So getting a set of principles, master them until you feel a bit trapped and then just try to break out and then you know what you're breaking out from."
OPEX as Foundation
"That's been so important for me with the OPEX CCPs getting that framework in general for my professional coaching career and giving something to try to master."
The Deeper Purpose of Fitness
Perhaps the most profound influence on Daniel's coaching philosophy comes from James FitzGerald's perspective on fitness as a vehicle for personal growth:
Fitness as Connection to Values
"Fitness is the medium that can connect people to their highest values and priorities... It's affected me and our company... it's kind of in that fits the view of fitness being so individualized and my values and priorities is coming from me, my individuality and what I want to do in life."
This philosophy transforms how Daniel approaches each client relationship, seeing training not just as physical improvement but as a pathway to helping people express their deepest values through movement and challenge.
Looking Forward: Business Evolution
Daniel's future vision includes expanding beyond traditional fitness coaching:
Bridging Healthcare Gaps
Working with team member Martin (a physiotherapist), Daniel sees opportunity in serving people who "are too good, they're too healthy for healthcare. But they're not as good... to join a class or train or just beat by themselves in the gym, they need some kind of recovery, rehab."
Continued Refinement
"The direction forward is not unclear, but we haven't decided really yet where we're going to take it. But it's been a great experience. It's been great for the business and what we've done so far."
Lessons for Aspiring Remote Coaches
Daniel's journey offers several key insights for coaches considering the transition to remote coaching:
Build Local Relationships First: Most successful remote coaches start with in-person connections that evolve into remote relationships
Invest in Education: Comprehensive education provides the confidence and competence needed for high-level coaching
Focus on Principles Over Technology: While tools are helpful, understanding why something works is more important than how to use the latest platform
Prioritize Relationships: Technical skills can be taught, but the ability to build genuine relationships with clients is what creates sustainable business success
Embrace Continuous Learning: The best coaches remain students throughout their careers
The Ripple Effect of Professional Excellence
Daniel's story demonstrates how individual commitment to excellence creates positive ripple effects throughout the fitness industry. By maintaining high standards, investing in education, and prioritizing genuine client relationships, he's created a model that benefits not just his clients, but also the coaches he mentors and the broader fitness community.
His approach to team building, knowledge sharing, and referral-based growth shows how coaches can build businesses that elevate the entire profession rather than competing destructively with other fitness professionals.
"It's always a journey of learning more," Daniel reflects, embodying the mindset that has carried him from university student to successful remote coaching entrepreneur. His story proves that when passion meets systematic education and genuine care for client success, the result is not just a profitable business, but a meaningful career that helps people connect with their highest values through fitness.
Connect with Daniel
Those interested in learning from Daniel's approach can find him online, where he continues to share insights into professional coaching and program design while building one of Sweden's most respected remote coaching practices.
Next Steps
Want to use the coaching platform trusted by Daniel and thousands of other professional coaches? Experience the difference professional tools can make in your coaching practice with a 14-day free trial of CoachRx.
