This article articulates important independent personal trainer and employee personal trainer differences, research and planning guidelines moving forward, important marketing considerations, financial literacy, and the importance of moral support.

This PTQ article shares a real-world story to give inspiration and practical advice on creating your own sport performance business. Visit NSCA online to read more on athletic performance and professional development.

To build a successful business and reputation, personal trainers must do more than get their clients physical results; they must also create a positive experience. That experience must be inviting, engaging, and consistent if personal trainers want to make a real impact on their community and bottom line.

This article highlights some untapped opportunities within the healthcare industry, where personal trainers can still make a meaningful impact and promote health and fitness.

How do you build a sustainable high-performance culture despite yearly assistant coach rotations and demanding schedules? Alice Read, Assistant Athletic Director for Sport Performance at Vassar College, shares expertise from managing 29 teams and 600 student-athletes while continuously "riding the rollercoaster" of Division III scheduling. Read explores strategies for maintaining program continuity, including matching assistant coaches to sports based on strengths and growth areas. She emphasizes advocating for daily staff lifts to test and refine programs firsthand. In a full-circle moment, Read, once an NSCA Foundation Assistantship Recipient, now serves on the committee awarding these opportunities, demonstrating the value of early professional involvement. She also discusses collaborative problem solving within the Liberty League Strength and Conditioning Committee and explains how the College Coaches Professional Development Group (PDG) provided boots-on-the-ground guidance for the 2024 NSCA Strategic Plan. Tune in for actionable insights on mentorship, collaboration, and longevity in collegiate strength and conditioning. Connect with Alice via email at aread@vassar.edu and on Instagram: @ajpr3 and @vassar_strong | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs

The purpose of this article is to bring awareness and provide an overview of emerging areas within strength and conditioning and sport science.

Part 2 of this article series explores the possible benefits of mindful meditation for coach development as well as how it can improve reflective practice and the coach-athlete relationship.

This article will highlight an intervention involving mental skills training and virtual reality (VR) to address acrophobia with this population.