Starting a gym...

[SoCAmuscle]

Re: Re: Starting a gym...

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.

Nice feedback,.. I am in commercial real estate so the real estate portion isno problem at all.. Thanks!

 

[mikelong23]

sounds like fun and good luck to ya, but please make sure to have more than 100 lb dumbells, don't know about anyone else but that may piss me off more than anything else.

 

[liftsiron]

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.

This is the way to go, for a few years I ran a personal training business out of a gym in my home town. The owners were very lazy and stupid, they let the place run down, and had a fucked up attitude. I approached one of my PT clients about buying the place. He looked from one end to the other and said "I think I will" he got shit rolling in less than a week. We brought the place cheap because the business was failing, even though the location is great, right across the road from a university. After buying the place we did a 400,000 dollar renovation and in six months our revenue is up more than four hundred percent over the previous owners.

 

[Delinquent]

This is the way to go, for a few years I ran a personal training business out of a gym in my home town. The owners were very lazy and stupid, they let the place run down, and had a fucked up attitude. I approached one of my PT clients about buying the place. He looked from one end to the other and said "I think I will" he got shit rolling in less than a week. We brought the place cheap because the business was failing, even though the location is great, right across the road from a university. After buying the place we did a 400,000 dollar renovation and in six months our revenue is up more than four hundred percent over the previous owners.

This is what I'm thinking about doing. My gym has the same problem with the owner. Plus the space below him is available so I want to purchase the entire building to expand the gym. I'm thinking about buying these 3 books:

Making Money in the Fitness Business
by Thomas Plummer, Jim Whiting (Illustrator), Ronale Tucker (Editor)


Acsm's Health/Fitness Facility Standards and Guidelines
by American College of Sports Medicine, James A. Peterson (Editor)


Small Club Start-up : A Personal Trainer's Guide
by Ron Fay


Anyone got any input on these

 

[Simply Swole]

I just opened my own gym. There is not another gym in town,
only health clubs.( no offense ). I've been open for 5 weeks now and have about 135 members. I opened it with intentions of being an old school hell hole dungeon. Then you realize you have to pay the bills. So it's a little nicer than I wanted, but there's chalk, hardcore music, dumbells up to 180 lbs, & I cater to my hardcore crowd.
Find a warehouse & dress it up a little. Carry a few supplements, & spend most of your money on equipment. There is enough of the hardcore crowd to support it.

 

[MoreBeefPlease]

location, location, location

i understand that all of us want hardcore gyms but the fact is there is far more money in general purpose fitness clubs.

i like simply swole's idea of catering to the hardcore.

 

[Simply Swole]

I opened my gym right smack dab between the other 2 health clubs in town & took all of their serious lifters. Alot of people said that was crazy as hell. But when you're hardcore you are just looking for a reason to leave those sorry ass places. One gym even offered to buy me out the second week we were open. They didn't like all the big guys leaving. We are what people want to look like. We are the little guys inspiration, the fat boys inspiration. Where we go ......... They will follow!

 

[gwl9dta4]

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.

Sorry but you are worng. I speak from lot's of actual experience and this is how it works. Say a 10,000 square foot facility is what you want to open. You find the building, negotiate a kick ass deal with the landlord and have him contribute to your buildout costs. Then you do the standard thing and LEASE all your equipment with no money down. That way you get NEW equipment every 3-5 years. You do all your pre-sales and agressively sell long term memberships and in 5 years have a base or 3000 members on file. You total estomaled buildout costs for a co-ed facility of that size would be around 2-3 hundred thousand. OK?

Now Take that gym and try to sell it. You will EASILY pull in 500,000 for an established business with a contract based client base for the next 3 years. See my point? A well established business is WAY more expensive. Unless you are buying a on the verge of bancrupcy shit hole of a gym.

 

[Simply Swole]

It depends if you are in it for the money or the passion. Of course the money matters but I could not afford to open a 10,000 sq. ft.
gym. Mine is 6,000 ft. I wanted to do this because it was my dream to own a gym that was old school. Somewhere I could cut loose and train like a F#*!ing animal and so could everybody else!
There's nothing in the world like family this big. All Bros.
As long as the bills are paid I'm friggin beyond happy.

 

[Delinquent]

Sorry but you are worng. I speak from lot's of actual experience and this is how it works. Say a 10,000 square foot facility is what you want to open. You find the building, negotiate a kick ass deal with the landlord and have him contribute to your buildout costs. Then you do the standard thing and LEASE all your equipment with no money down. That way you get NEW equipment every 3-5 years. You do all your pre-sales and agressively sell long term memberships and in 5 years have a base or 3000 members on file. You total estomaled buildout costs for a co-ed facility of that size would be around 2-3 hundred thousand. OK?

Now Take that gym and try to sell it. You will EASILY pull in 500,000 for an established business with a contract based client base for the next 3 years. See my point? A well established business is WAY more expensive. Unless you are buying a on the verge of bancrupcy shit hole of a gym.

Damn never thought of that . That puts a damper in my plan