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Opening a Gym
This week we received two inquiries about opening a gym. After 15 years working a struggling gym, I figure my first duty is to talk them out of it.
And then I spent the rest of the week using twitter to show where next to turn. Failing to talk a person out of his or her gym-building enthusiasm, I insist on a Thom Plummer workshop. Insist, literally, because in today’s world, there’s little chance of pulling off a financially successful training facility without some guidance.
$10 will get you gym-building answers from hard-working owners at Michael Boyle’s strengthcoach.com.
Mike Robertson documents a few things to look for in his gym-building experience
Current or future gym owners: Thom Plummer’s blog, books, workshops are Do Not Miss. Check out this blog post where he explains the current state of the gym business.
In this outstanding podcast, Anthony Renna covers some of the ups and downs of building a gym
To ramp up your gym-building enthusiasm, Zach Even-Esh is one guy to look to
In this video, Anthony Renna documents nearly $5,000 of unexpected costs, $30 at a time
While you’re collecting data, input and capital, use the time to build an education. Todd Durkin has an IHRSA webinar 3/11 on running a personal training program. Hopefully that will be available in an archive for later study.
Before opening a training facility, learn good teaching and coaching skills, first through a short mentorship, then a longer internship.
You have to do these before you get opened, because after that, you’ll be sucked dry. You think I’m joking; yes… I know it looks like a big empty box, but, well, the thing is, for it to work you need to fill it with bodies.
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Oh! And before I check out, here’s a terrific review of Michael Boyle’s Advances in Functional Training at Amazon
on March 11th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Right on, Laree! I owned gyms for twenty-six years and loved most of it…didn’t love the landlord, the tax man, the insurance man, the butcher, the baker, etc. etc. I did enjoy being my own boss, and I loved the day to day challenge of trying to make a buck in a very competitive market. In the early years, I worked on the side with sales, then finally started my own supplement company to add to the income. I wouldn’t trade the experience, but I wouldn’t advise anyone else to do it…it’s a tough racket and, unless you’re pretty lucky, there’s not near the money everyone thinks is there.
on May 21st, 2010 at 8:52 am
My first question about this post is simply, if you’ve been working a struggling gym for 15 years, perhaps your just not the person to ask about the industry.
on May 23rd, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Good point! And you can be sure I’ve said that all along.
But the take-home for many readers is the same — they’re somewhat likely to be going into it with the same passion we did, and the same lack of knowledge and skills, and aptitude. Ergo, the same troubles. I do hope to at least give a few eager gym-dwellers pause. People all seem to think their gym ideas or communities are different, but for the most part… they’re not.
on July 23rd, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Good move, but why 15 years?
If you happen to start a small fitness center or health club, one thing that you could easily overlook is the need for software to manage memberships and daily operations. What looks like a simple task of bookkeeping turns into complex jugglery as you start offering multiple packages and membership types. It is better to adapt to software on day one rather than wait for your business to grow to a certain size.
There are a range of free and paid software available for the need, so do take a hard look before you begin operations.
on July 25th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
I ran a gym for a few years and it is a never ending battle to keep new members, get new members, keep members happy etc. I felt like I was constantly chasing my tail. There are as you say, many overheads and the end result isn’t always what you expect.
on August 5th, 2010 at 1:43 am
Read your article reminds me of my brother-in-law who also opened a small gym business. He started the business from scratch, learn, explore more and more knowledge about this business. he was very interested in sports so he is very excited about working on this project. Good luck for anyone who was in this business.
on February 8th, 2011 at 8:22 am
Thank you for the great information Laree. I have been considering adding a functional strength training area to my practice and the resources you presented really helped. Thanks.