Renato Costa: How OPEX CCP Helped Him Build From 15 to 65 Clients 

Before completing the OPEX Coaching Certificate Program (CCP) in 2018-2019, Renato Costa had just 15 remote clients.

Today, the Portugal native works remotely with 65 individual program design clients hailing from Portugal, Spain and Ango

la, each of whom pays $75 Euros a month for a training program and monthly lifestyle consults with Costa. Though Costa says he has room to take on a few more clients, he’s now in the process of looking to hire a coach to help him handle the volume.

“I don’t want to stop new people from coming, so I'm looking for a coach,” said Costa, who is still a co-owner of a CrossFit gym, though he no longer coaches there. 

He added: “Bringing on a new coach will also free me up to work on other business things, so I can spend less time on programming.”

Costa credits the CCP with helping him become more efficient and effective at designing training programs to meet his clients’ needs and goals, and also for helping him improve his marketing and sales skills. 

“The CCP opened my eyes and showed me that I was really bad at marketing,” he said, laughing. 

“I learned a lot about the importance of marketing to my target market. And it just helped me be more aware of the importance of having a presence on social media, and the importance of sharing my clients’ stories (and accomplishments).”

Costa thinks his marketing efforts, in combination with the fact that his clients are having more success, have worked together to help him bring on so many new clients in the last year.

“I’m able to make more effective programs now, and I know how to help people more now…I’m more competent…so this means my athletes are better and they share more things because they’re seeing better results,” he said. 

Costa credits OPEX’s approach, which teaches “principle and not the methods,” with helping him become a much more inquisitive thinker.

“I’m more critical in my thinking when I see different training methods, or when I’m doing research,” he said. “This has definitely made me a better coach.”

Further, being CCP-educated goes a long way in setting himself apart in a competitive market, Costa said.

“I can explain to people why individual program design works, and that it also includes consultations. This is something the other programs don’t do, and it’s something I have that’s unique,” said Costa, who also tool OPEX’s Mixed Modal course, as well as the Accelerator course.

Finally, being part of the OPEX network gives Costas the confidence that he will continue to be able to set himself apart from the growing number of fitness coaching and programming services available today. 

“Being in the OPEX network gives me the opportunity to always be in contact with other great coaches through the forums, and I can continue to learn through things like the Knowledge Series. There’s all this education available, so I can always be learning, and learning from a good source,” he said. 

“It has made a big difference,” he added.