Starting a gym...

[SoCAmuscle]

Has anyone ever looked into this on a serious level? Does anyone own their own? I am starting the process and think I already have some investors, but I need to put together a business plan and some projections.

Any suggestions?

 

[Scaggs]

Yea make sure the gym allows the use of chalk, free wieghts, and hardcore moves.

Build it and they will come.

Scaggs

 

[SoCAmuscle]

Thanks.

Ok,.. anyone have anything somewhat INTELLIGENT to say??

 

[gwl9dta4]

Has anyone ever looked into this on a serious level? Does anyone own their own? I am starting the process and think I already have some investors, but I need to put together a business plan and some projections.

Any suggestions?

I have. It's really not that complicated once you have all the money lined up. But that is the initial problem, the starting capital. Depending if you are looking at a co-ed facility or a female only club your buildout and equipment costs will differ dramatically. There is also the issue of finding the property with the right square footage and negotiating a good lease with built in escalators and sufficient free months and delayed payment options to get your business started. You may also as the landlord for buildout money for signing a long term lease. It get's complicated with setting up the computers and billing systems and collections agencys to go after memebers etc...

Then there is the issue of selling memberships and writing the contracts. Then there is the issue of how long of a contract term the state you live in will allow you to sell without a deposit. In NJ i think it's a 50,000 deposit required by the state to sell a 1 year membership. That is there to protect the consumer if you go out of business. There is tons more, ask me specifics and i will tell you what i can, otherwise i could write a book.

BTW: you may consider going with a Franchaise as they will get all the work done for you and give you MUCH better leverage when negotiating with a land lord.

 

[GNCMAN]

Thats some good info gwl9dta4. I'm looking into opening a tanning salon, I would really like to open a gym but you need too much money, I'm not their yet but will be someday.

 

[sausage]

its easier to buy a gym thats already set up by someone and there looking to sell this way you dont have to move all kinds of equipment in you can sell the shit you dont want and put new stuff in.

 

[Nogloveslars-Chargeback]

My GF and I looked into opening our own gym 2 years ago. We were going to buy some land and build ours due to the high lease prices. (I talked to 3 gym owners in the area that had theirs for sale but their prices were too high and were in strip centers with outrageous rents!) So we were going to open up a basic but fairly hardcore gym out in the country with no other competition in the vacinity with no deed restrictions and build our living area behind it. Unfortunately, we did not have the working capitol to continue for the first couple of years unless our customer base exploded dramatically from day one. Even with contacts for the build out, plumbing, equipment, and even tanning beds, I just didn't feel confortable with the Risk/Reward ratio and decided to look into other avenues.

 

[Nogloveslars-Chargeback]

So Bro I would suggest:

1) Take your time and if you end up buying an existing facility, take your Due Diligence seriously. Go over their books thoroughly. Many times a business will "gear" their books to make it look more enticeing to the buyer. Be careful.
2) Make sure you have good sales people in the front that can sell memberships. Most people that walk in will be wanting to "get in shape" so try to make it welcoming for them. Not intimidating.
3) Gauge your pricing on the competion in the area but be sure not to charge to little. Many new businesses make this mistake.
4)There are software packages you can buy to help you through all of your billing and record keeping issues for health clubs.
5) Probably the most important: Don't ever neglect marketing. You must consistently advertise your product to the public to keep new people coming through the door. The drop out rate of gym memberships each year can be staggering so to stay in the black, new memberships must be sold every month. From the beginning, set aside a reasonable amount of $ to advertise with every month and experiment to get the best return on your investment.

Try to negotiate prices on Everything if you can. Many times you can talk people down from their original quotes.

You might know a lot of this already but this is what I learned. If I had the capitol I would have moved forward. What a great business to be in!

Nogloves

 

[2wide]

Yes I do. And there are too many directions you can go if you get very serious please e mail and I will try to point you in the right direction.

2wide

 

[SmooThy5464]

Yea make sure the gym allows the use of chalk, free wieghts, and hardcore moves.

Build it and they will come.

Scaggs

i hear that i hate gyms that dont allow that there is a nice gym near me that says no boots no chalk no grunting after all that they might as well call it the YMCA...