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Opening My Own Gym
- Thread starter FalconDE97
- Start date
heavy_duty said:keep a lil air freshener over by the squat rack for the muscle heads who fart and shit on heavy leg day
and some barf buckets nearby too.
dont forget you have to pay a lot for advertising. I get fancy post cards from all the gyms in the mail every month, I'm in business too and I know that costs a lot.
plus:
heat
electric
phone lines (multiple)
insurance
water
yellow pages
I know you have thought of all this and not trying to insult your intelligence but all this shit usually costs a lot more than you first thought.
ANYWAY ---GO FOR IT--- else you'll never know.
If you have the up-front capital then go for it big time.
AND---->sell memberships while you're under construction <----that's super important!
Payroll
Taxes
Accounting
Legal Council
Cost of operation misc items(shit paper,cleaner,towel-linen service,brushes/mops,etc)
Janitorial service-daily(cutie at front desk wont want to scrub shitters/showers)
Unforseen repairs(plumbing,equipment failure,electrical,vandalism)
Working 7 days a week
Getting calls at all hours of day and night
and #1,you have to care about EVERYTHING more than your employees,cause they wont give a shit if you dont,and if they are there more than you,they will think they know more than you.(=lost profit)
Have you ever done inventories,tax audits,employee scouting/hiring/training,quarterly taxes,monthly taxes,taxes-taxes-taxes?
I am no know it all,but my family has been successful in business for over 30 years,and i am the GM of 1 of there businesses,and owning a bussiness is usually a fucking headache,though worth it,the delusions of grandure wear off really quick when reality sets in,your exausted,bills are due,you have worked 18 out of 19 days, employee issues arise,and you have to fight through it all,but IF you do,thats where it pays off,and not neccesarily in cash.
I am just trying to help by shedding the light of experience on this for you,I am all about the American Dream,but you should stash your down payment,get a few jobs managing business/gyms,and see if you are really cut out for it,take what you learn and make your own ideas better,and if not,you will rationalize much better when your dick aint hard,alot less harm done,move on......you will still have your money,a shirt on your back,and a decent reputation......those numbers you posted are all "pie in the sky"as well,you could have more,or alot less,thats reality.
ur2insecure
New member
mikefear said:
I'd sign up to a gym like this, good advice
heavy_duty
New member
Very good post.
bigmodean said:
mikefear said:
I have opened two already, one closed...one is running. Do not over spend. Get refurbished epuipment when possible. They paint it and pad it for you. Replace parts that wear. Consider a keyless entry and a security system...save your life and sleep and sanity...ever been in a gym 16 hrs a day 6-7 days a week? Many of mikefear's suggestions are good but do not get to hard core. I am telling you women is where the money is, 35+ women. Charge trainers if they exist there to train there clients at your place. do not rape them, 20% up to $500 per month. Give them kick backs for selling supps. Write a letter about your biz opening to the community and submitt to local paper. They often put it in their biz section. Be up on codes and buildout costs. That is what fucked me on my first one...building cost over runs. Keep building rent reasonable but a shitty location and you are dead. Location, location,location. Try to get 6 month free rent from time of opening to ramp up. They often will put it at the end of lease as a 25% increase the two years when you are estabilished.
Quadsweep
shape
New member
bigmodean said:
finally someone posting reality--i too am the CEO of my own company albeit--it took me seven years to make money--i am now fairly set--but havent had a vaca in seven years--i work practically seven days a week 14 hours a day--but to me its worth it--i set a clear career path and goals for myself when i was just out of school and stuck to it no matter what--there were times were i had to roll pennies to eat and probably got kicked out of 10 apartments for paying late---your own business can make you alot of friends but can also make you alot of enemies--depending on the type of business--its usually takes a ruthless, f everyone type of person to really succeed.
first off my friend an extremely well thought out and prepared business plan id always needed--no disrespect but its very apparent you have no idea what you are talking about 160k for a Golds Gym type building??? what does that mean??? do you even have an idea of square footage, zoning required, variances required for a gym in your area--land costs, design and permit costs, construction costs???? anything??? alot of cardio you say--do you have any idea what commercial grade cardio costs? i could go on here for hours--but i think you get the idea--remember most small businesses fail--most!!! asking the questions you are already---you are bound to fail before you even start--again no disrespect but the steroid discussion forum is not the place for a business lesson
stuck
New member
Couple of things stick out to me. The building is cheap, there is no gym, but you think you can charge $45/mo. These are red flags, imo. If buildings are so cheap, why are there no businesses there already? If there's no gym, has there been one there before? If square footage is so cheap, what's the average local income? Can the local population handle a $45/mo fee? Any colleges nearby you can do deals with?
Before you do anything, find your location then contact the chamber of commerce. They should be able to give you a breakdown of the local demographics.
If you dont have contracts or don't charge any upfront fee, you'll be relying solely on your own capital to start off. You're in the hole from day 1.
I hate to bring up Bally's, but the old way they did memberships made sense. The monthly recurring member fee was based on how much you put down up front. If someone puts down $100, it lowers their monthly by $10/yr. They save $20 the first year and you get some cash outlay upfront to defray your initial costs. If someone doesn't want to put anything down, that's fine too, just charge them a larger monthly. It'd give you a good balance between upfront money and recurring fees.
Agreed on the used equipment. A guy I know started a gym in town here and he was getting barely used treadmills for 30% of their cost when new. Gyms open and close all the time, there's a ton of used equipment in great condition floating around.
But, above all, you have to understand your target market. My area is full of 30-40something parents with younger kids. The gym has an area for parents to drop the yongest kids off, summer conditioning programs for older kids, and even a room with smaller nautilus equipment geared to 10-14 year olds. As a result, during lunchtime and 5pm the 50 treadmills and 3 fitness rooms are packed every day.
Before you do anything, find your location then contact the chamber of commerce. They should be able to give you a breakdown of the local demographics.
If you dont have contracts or don't charge any upfront fee, you'll be relying solely on your own capital to start off. You're in the hole from day 1.
I hate to bring up Bally's, but the old way they did memberships made sense. The monthly recurring member fee was based on how much you put down up front. If someone puts down $100, it lowers their monthly by $10/yr. They save $20 the first year and you get some cash outlay upfront to defray your initial costs. If someone doesn't want to put anything down, that's fine too, just charge them a larger monthly. It'd give you a good balance between upfront money and recurring fees.
Agreed on the used equipment. A guy I know started a gym in town here and he was getting barely used treadmills for 30% of their cost when new. Gyms open and close all the time, there's a ton of used equipment in great condition floating around.
But, above all, you have to understand your target market. My area is full of 30-40something parents with younger kids. The gym has an area for parents to drop the yongest kids off, summer conditioning programs for older kids, and even a room with smaller nautilus equipment geared to 10-14 year olds. As a result, during lunchtime and 5pm the 50 treadmills and 3 fitness rooms are packed every day.
FalconDE97 said:
$45.00 dollars a month in a small town is too much. Keep in mind that your business is one in which the customers need to utilize willpower to come in and train. Willpower is something most don't utilize nowadays. Most people want thing right now (instant gratification). Couple that with the problem of a higher monthly fee; I don't think you will stay in business very long. The advice chazk gave about putting your gym away from a big place where a large gym can move in close is an excellent idea as well. I suggest you follow the business model of Golds and other large gyms which is to focus on the masses. That gives you a much higher probability of maximizing your profit potential.
I am very good firends with the local gym in my hometown. The most important thing that he did to improve business was to hire a person full time to telemarket. He started with local businesses offering special rates to their employees...the kicker was that some of the bigger companies would automatically deduct the fees from their paychecks and send the money stright to him. After that he started calliing individual people. As a side note the guy that they hired was a great salesman. I think that he could sell icecubes to eskimos. He didnt take no for an answer but was not the kind of person that you could hang up on...he was a very likeable guy, said that his goal was to just get them to take a tour of the gym. When people did show up he was knowledgeable about training and diet and he also looked the part.
The only complaint that people had was that they had to sign a 1 year contract. When the owner approved a 6 month contract the telemarketer had some bargining room and he was able to recover some of the people who first refused.
just some ideas
BB.
The only complaint that people had was that they had to sign a 1 year contract. When the owner approved a 6 month contract the telemarketer had some bargining room and he was able to recover some of the people who first refused.
just some ideas
BB.
BigCracker
New member
MR Pink said:Totally disagree
I agree w/ his disagreement 150%. This type of gym's targert market is bodybuilders thatr bounce from gym to gym every couple months. They buy supplements from wholesalers instead of the pro shop's retail priced products, they piss all over the toilet seats in the locker room, and they scare away the avg lifters because they're intimidated. The best gym member is the one that pays every month but never works out-thus contracts are a necessary evil. Nobody likes to admit to themselves that they'll never achieve their fitness goals, so by making them sign contracts the more likely they'll renew every year whether they use the facility or not.
Unexpected expenses will include cxompanies like BMG that charge you for playing the radio, big electric bills if you have tanning, plumbers to fix the stuffed up toilets, handyman to service and maintain equipment, liability insurance, renters insurance, zoning fees, city taxes, state taxes, advertising, etc. I also would recommend paying for rights to a franchise name because product recognition will generate biz. Last I heard you could use the Powerhouse Gym Logo above your gym for about $36,000/yr or $3000/month and they were one of the least expensive ones.
If you want to make a living, I'd pick an industry other than the already saturated fitness market. Even if you're the only gym in your area you're competing with infomercials like Core and Soloflex, etc. Most small businesses fail within the 1st 2 yrs and getting a loan for one is nearly impossible for this reason. I won't even get into the problems dealing with no show $6/hr employees and internal theft. I could sit here and type for an hour all of the things that would set you up for success, but there's still no guarantees you'll be successful. Look at it like this, if your town had a decent fitness market, a major fitness chain would already be located every few square miles.
Please keep in mind I've been a biz owner since '92 and I've seen more gyms open and shut down in under a year than you have probably trained at in your life. Most of the ones that failed had the best of intentions in the beginning, just like you. Then they realized there was a lot more to owning a gym than just being a jolly gym owner that the members like to shoot the shit with daily.
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