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Does anyone here own a gym?

indygolfer

New member
I am thinking of opening a gym, but I need to gather some information on operating expenses, initial investment, monthly expenses, type of gym (equipment split), equipment lease or purchase, etc.

If you would rather email me, here is my address.

[email protected]

Thanks for any input
 
No but if you get some good info please pm it to me because that is my goal in 6 years when I retire. Someone post up some tips please.
 
I know a guy who started one 12 years ago for about USD50,000.

Leased all of the equipment and hired the premises (paying monthly) and had modifications done like changing rooms with showers and matting put in.

Took years to turn a profit and he was there from 05:30 till 10:00pm every day for the first year.

I dont see how regular gyms make money and I worked in the industry for years...
 
I saw something a while back that said you need about 1.5 million worth of equipment to even be competitive. I want to own one someday but I think I'll just open a Gold's.
 
My husband and I started a gym in 2002 for $60,000. Found a 3600 sq ft facility built to suit and bought our equipment outright. Had 425 members by the end of 5 years and made 50% profit. Sold it and made $100,000 profit (from initial investment). BUT, we live in a rural california upscale gated community of 7,000 people with no competition for over 8 miles. It can be done but you need some HEAVY research before you jump in. You can email me if you need any additional info or advice.
Best of Luck to You!!!!
 
Yes definitely we can get profits, it can be possible if we don't have much competition. This is what happen on your side. as you said your are started a gym in rural area. so that you got profits. this is not applicable in cities and big towns. As of my knowledge starting a gym is not a good idea on these days!!!
 
As Alexykidman says, no small business, especially a gym, is going to be a booming success with the economy the way it is now. Be careful!

Although I've never owned a gym, I've owned other small businesses in the Los Angeles area. The fundamentals are the same whether it's a gym, a car repair shop, or a grocery store. The hardest part is to know that you can't expect to take home any money for the first year or two, unless you have enough money up front to get it strarted without loans to repay. Knowing that going in, you can look forward to getting profitable after the first couple years, and then if you do things right, it can be a lifelong decent income. If I were to open a gym, the first thing I'd do is find one that is just going out of business, and try to buy out their machines & equipment, and maybe, depending on their membership, try to lure some of their clients to your new place by giving a special, or honoring their old memberships if the old gym is gone bust, and they lost their money. That way, you get equipment at pennies on the dollar, and built-in members.

What would scare the sh*t out of me would be to either borrow a huge amount of money to buy new equipment, or to use up all your savings, etc., to start the gym with about $10 left to your name. At least if you start out with used equipment, and maybe a short-term lease on a building, you could get out of it safely after a couple years without owing $10s of $1000s on stuff you bought new, but is now used and worth a fraction of what you owe on it. You need to either have enough money on hand to pay all your bills for awhile, or keep another job until the gym gets going on it's own. Too many people lay out their whole life savings, and borrow against everything but their underwear, then lose it all becuase they can't keep things afloat while the new business is still shakey and not paying it's own way yet.

And then you need to figure out how many people you want to join, and how many people are in that area who might join. That's a hard thing to do, but companies like McDonald's will spend more in marketing research to check out an area than it might cost them to just stick a new restaurant in place.

Another thing you could do to "test the water" is to do what my friends are always trying to railroad me into... I have a decent gym which I built at home, and you could do something like that and see how many people would show interest in coming on a pay basis. Mine is too small to do that, but you could easily do it if you have a 2-car garage, or a big bonus room or basement. I have every machine that a gym has, and all high-end names. I got it all from gyms that went belly-up, and from millionaires who buy this stuff and never use it, then get tired of looking at it.

Just my thoughts...

Charles
 
I've owned a health club for 11 years now. Opened it while still in the military. The only thing that I was able to do that breaks most clubs is pay for my equipment with cash up front. That's the killer in the industry your first 3 years your cash intake goes straight to equipment in most cases. After the 1st. year your basically starting over with clientele to make the next 2 years pay off the equipment after that its how well you run your business. I have a private practice that allows me to come and go as I need to make sure things don't go to shit like, the singles club syndrome that most gyms have or the dealing crowd. I don't allow any juice to be pushed or even the talk of it or your out permanently. Discounts to military, students, police officers, and fire department personell can be a great crowd draw as well. Advertising I left to a professional though just because its very time consuming. As far as the 1.5 million post not really I started with a little over 450 thousand I already owned the building and the property, but like I said even with all this I didn't see a substantial return til the 3rd year. Best of luck to you!!
Peace, Forged
 
I've owned a health club for 11 years now. Opened it while still in the military. The only thing that I was able to do that breaks most clubs is pay for my equipment with cash up front. That's the killer in the industry your first 3 years your cash intake goes straight to equipment in most cases. After the 1st. year your basically starting over with clientele to make the next 2 years pay off the equipment after that its how well you run your business. I have a private practice that allows me to come and go as I need to make sure things don't go to shit like, the singles club syndrome that most gyms have or the dealing crowd. I don't allow any juice to be pushed or even the talk of it or your out permanently. Discounts to military, students, police officers, and fire department personell can be a great crowd draw as well. Advertising I left to a professional though just because its very time consuming. As far as the 1.5 million post not really I started with a little over 450 thousand I already owned the building and the property, but like I said even with all this I didn't see a substantial return til the 3rd year. Best of luck to you!!
Peace, Forged

Sounds like you have a business mind! Cash for the equipment, and owning the building, would be the "make or break" pieces to the puzzle in many cases. If a person were to lease a building, they might be able to get creative and get a car repair bay, or some other type of building to use as a gym, that might be lower cost to lease than a commercial 4-walls storefront. Zoning laws permitting, of course. And as with any other business to be successful, your heart has to be in it. I'd NEVER start a gym if my passion werent fitness and weightlifting, much as I'd never open a bar or saloon when I don't drink or care much about shooting pool. I made my TV repair shop decenlty profitable for years after the other guys quit the business. I did a decent job in the business, and I loved fooling around with old TVs and radios since I was 9 or 10 years old. And when the time came that I saw how TV repair was not going to be a viable business anymore with nobody wanting to get a TV fixed, I quit too, before it went negative. Now I still have the skill as a hobby, and once in awhile I get a panic phonecall from an old friend on Superbowl Sunday, and have to spring back into action when they're having 100 guys over to watch the game, and there's nothing but lines on their big screen....

Charles
 
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