Kevin Ferreira: Coaching Clients the American Way
Kevin Ferreira, also known as Kisswift, has been a coach and physical trainer for 10 years. He's Swiss, but he built his entire career in New York. He started in the MMA world before training under his mentor Bernard Tamanga, who had 20 years in the game. It was in New York, in the thick of American fitness culture, that he learned something coaching in France never taught him: the value of service, how client psychology works, and the fact that you're in the service business before you're in the fitness business.
Today, Kevin trains coaches and health professionals through his podcast "Le Kissou Show" and his mentorship programs. He charges a minimum of 500 euros a month for online coaching. He started at 150. The gap between those two numbers isn't about technical skill. It's experience, service, and the deep belief that value always wins over price.
What makes this episode special is Kevin's dual perspective. He's lived and worked in the US, Switzerland, and the French-speaking world. He sees cultural differences from the inside... the relationship with money, with selling, with service, with competence. What he shares here is actionable gold for any coach who wants to finally charge what they're actually worth.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
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You're a service professional first, fitness professional second
Kevin says it straight: most coaches think they're in fitness or health. They're not. They're in service. And in the service world, human psychology matters just as much as programming. A squat's a squat. But what makes a client come back, recommend you, pay 200 euros an hour instead of 80... that's everything surrounding the squat. The attention to detail, the energy you bring, the water bottle waiting for the client, the whole vibe of the workout.
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The American mentality applied to coaching
Kevin got "wired the American way," as he puts it. His brain learned to work in a system where nobody hands you anything, where you figure things out yourself, and where talking about money isn't taboo. When he came back to the French-speaking world, the culture shock was real: talking about business in France gets you labeled a charlatan immediately. In America, the more you earn, the more people you can help. That's the mindset he kept and that's what he teaches his mentees.
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Never compete on price, always compete on value
Kevin started at 150-180 euros a month for his first online clients. He's now at a minimum of 500. His philosophy hasn't changed once: "There'll always be someone cheaper than you. If price is your only edge, you lose." Competing on value means building an experience so good that the price becomes secondary. It's what he preaches and it's what he's done from day one.
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Your client onboarding needs to be a real system
Kevin lays out a precise process: initial consultation, then assessment, then contract signed by both sides, then access to the coaching platform, weekly check-in, monthly call. Nothing's left to chance. The initial assessment is non-negotiable: "Otherwise you're guessing. You don't know what you're doing." This level of structure is what justifies premium rates and produces measurable results for your clients.
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Learn from experts who've already solved the problems you're facing
Kevin can't stand stacking certifications just for the sake of it. His approach: identify a specific problem he can't solve, find experts with different takes on it, see who resonates, then go train with that person directly. He did it with his mentor Bernard Tamanga. He still does it today. And the way he sums it up is perfect: "Your certification gives you the right to start studying, not the right to claim you know." The paradox being... the more you learn, the more you realize how little you actually know.
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YouTube as a long-term engine, short-form as amplifier
Kevin runs a YouTube agency alongside his coaching business. He practices what he preaches: YouTube's the platform that builds value over the long haul. A single video can bring you a client 2 years after you published it. TikTok? That's 24 hours and it's gone. So his strategy's straightforward: create long-form content on YouTube, then chop it up into short formats for every other platform. One 10-minute video can become 10 Reels, 15 Stories, 3 carousels, 4 infographics. The real power's in the compounding effect over time.
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Fewer clients, higher rates, better service
Kevin's always gone with premium pricing. Not because of ego, because of logic. Fewer clients means more availability per client, which means better results, which means more referrals. At the time of recording, he'd just stopped in-person coaching to go all in on online coaching and content. His target: minimum 500 euros per client per month, with enough bandwidth to actually deliver a premium experience. He mentions working with elite athletes in the US and Europe, and here's the thing... "Nobody's ever asked to see a certification."
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Consistency beats talent, and the returns are exponential
Kevin shows this with his podcast "Le Kissou Show": he brings the same energy to every single episode, whether 10 people listen or 10,000. That consistency is what creates the snowball effect. He brings up Alex Hormozi as a reference. He found him at 4,000 subscribers, paid 2,000 dollars to join his Facebook group, and saw the logic behind it: invest in someone who's already where you want to be, before they blow up.
Resources Mentioned
- Bernard Tamanga, Kevin's mentor in New York, 20 years of coaching experience
- NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine), Kevin's first American certification
- Le Kissou Show, Kevin's podcast on coaching, health, and business for fitness professionals
- Podia for centralizing his online coaching and courses
- Calendly for scheduling consultations and appointments
- Stripe and PayPal for payments
- Alex Hormozi, American fitness entrepreneur cited as an example of consistency and long-term content investment
- Gymkee mentioned as an online coaching tool Kevin tested
"When people come train with you, they come for the experience. They don't come for all the books you've read, all the certifications you have. Nobody cares about certifications. What makes the difference is the service."
"The first industry you're in isn't fitness, it's the service world. And in the service world, you've got to account for human psychology. A lot of coaches forget that."
"If your only competitive edge is price, there'll always be someone cheaper. I've always chosen to differentiate by value, never by price."
