Gym Owners?

[Turkishexpress]

Opening a ma and pa gym will get you in trouble quickly unless you have a crap ton of money AND you know your shit very well. Gym business is profitable if you have spent enough time in the industry to pick up all the good operational traits from the bigger more established companies and can combine that with excellent sales skills that you better already have. It is however very much like running a restaurant if you want it to be successful. You will spend a majority of your days in the gym. 12-14 hour days. 6-7 days a week. It's a revolving business with high turnover so you will constantly have to find new staff, train, correct and repeat...

If you're really serious, start in a large gym chain like Gold's Corporate/LA/24. Spend at least a decade honing your sales skills which includes the PT side. Figure out what operational systems they have in place has kept them at the top. Then think about what you want to do. Do you want to be a franchisee or start a no name. Location, finances involved etc...

Your other option is to find someone that is knowledgeable and become the "silent partner" but that's not advisable.

 

[Chris_Befoul]

The numbers I have ran so far is there are roughly 13,000 ppl that live in my county if I get less than 10% to sign up like 1000 ppl at $25 a month that puts out $25,000 a month and $300,000 a year raw. It will cost me around $60,000 a year to keep up the place. I have a location in mind but I need to get the specs on it and what the leaser would be allowing to do with the building. It already has the parking lot is located right next to a food lion, subway, Chinese place and a pharmacy and the Walmart is going to be constructed right across the street. My biggest concern is having the finances to get it up and running and roughly how many ppl could fit in there at peak hours from like 6-8 pm

 

[Chris_Befoul]

The numbers I have ran so far is there are roughly 13,000 ppl that live in my county if I get less than 10% to sign up like 1000 ppl at $25 a month that puts out $25,000 a month and $300,000 a year raw. It will cost me around $60,000 a year to keep up the place. I have a location in mind but I need to get the specs on it and what the leaser would be allowing to do with the building. It already has the parking lot is located right next to a food lion, subway, Chinese place and a pharmacy and the Walmart is going to be constructed right across the street. My biggest concern is having the finances to get it up and running and roughly how many ppl could fit in there at peak hours from like 6-8 pm.

 

[Chris_Befoul]

The numbers I have ran so far is there are roughly 13,000 ppl that live in my county if I get less than 10% to sign up like 1000 ppl at $25 a month that puts out $25,000 a month and $300,000 a year raw. It will cost me around $60,000 a year to keep up the place. I have a location in mind but I need to get the specs on it and what the leaser would be allowing to do with the building. It already has the parking lot is located right next to a food lion, subway, Chinese place and a pharmacy and the Walmart is going to be constructed right across the street. My biggest concern is having the finances to get it up and running and roughly how many ppl could fit in there at peak hours from like 6-8 pm.

 

[lucky1]

I sell and set up gyms in my area and it is a very tough business. The ones that succeed have low overhead on their equipment and own the real estate. If your rent is $10,000 a month and you owe $10,000 a month on equipment you are doomed to fail. Its all about low overhead, location, demographics and product. Its a tough business with a lot of competition.

 

[Chris_Befoul]

I sell and set up gyms in my area and it is a very tough business. The ones that succeed have low overhead on their equipment and own the real estate. If your rent is $10,000 a month and you owe $10,000 a month on equipment you are doomed to fail. Its all about low overhead, location, demographics and product. Its a tough business with a lot of competition.

I agree owning the real estate would be much better right now I'm still doing the leg work but as far as competition goes like I said the closest gyms are at least thirty miles away and that's just from my home it's much further for others.

 

[d matt]

The numbers I have ran so far is there are roughly 13,000 ppl that live in my county if I get less than 10% to sign up like 1000 ppl at $25 a month that puts out $25,000 a month and $300,000 a year raw. It will cost me around $60,000 a year to keep up the place. I have a location in mind but I need to get the specs on it and what the leaser would be allowing to do with the building. It already has the parking lot is located right next to a food lion, subway, Chinese place and a pharmacy and the Walmart is going to be constructed right across the street. My biggest concern is having the finances to get it up and running and roughly how many ppl could fit in there at peak hours from like 6-8 pm.

First off you can't count on those numbers holding true, there will always be problems occur like broken equipment, adding equipment, and don't know about where you live but at my gym people always coming around with their hand out wanting more taxes, sponsorship, inspectors checking fire codes, health codes, air conditioning repairs, roof repairs, and the biggest problem is finding dependable people to work for you and do their job!!!!

 

[d matt]

Oh also wanted to add the most important aspect is keeping your gym members happy [ thats a challenge ] and them paying their gym dues!!!

 

[Chris_Befoul]

Oh also wanted to add the most important aspect is keeping your gym members happy [ thats a challenge ] and them paying their gym dues!!!

I'm not looking to start a new gym Mecca I'm just trying to run something manageable and be able to turn a profit. I am more than willing to work those 16 hour work days to get it off the ground and would want to develop a system for collecting dues something like a auto draft later on

 

[lucky1]

Also, it may be worth buying newer equipment that has been used but in good shape. The biggest overhead cost is leasing the equipment. Your looking at $500,000-$700,000 for a 10-15k sq. ft. gym for equipment. Buy used!

 

[d matt]

I'm not looking to start a new gym Mecca I'm just trying to run something manageable and be able to turn a profit. I am more than willing to work those 16 hour work days to get it off the ground and would want to develop a system for collecting dues something like a auto draft later on

I actually have a small gym [6800 sq ft] and have implemented the auto draft. I also did the 16 hour days for the first year, man that will burn you out fast. Bought most of my equipment used, or refurbished. A little heads up advice, don't rush it and shop around, and buy new cardio equipment with a good warranty!!!! Good luck!

 

[Chris_Befoul]

I actually have a small gym [6800 sq ft] and have implemented the auto draft. I also did the 16 hour days for the first year, man that will burn you out fast. Bought most of my equipment used, or refurbished. A little heads up advice, don't rush it and shop around, and buy new cardio equipment with a good warranty!!!! Good luck!

I appreciate it man and yeah I was wanting to own the equipment over leasing it. And those long days would just be for me to cut out payroll for a bit and also fully understand my system so I could train someone else to use it properly.

 

[fitnesskatz]

fitnesskatz

great ambition but dude was correct gyms are among top 5 biz to fail within 3 yrs but it can be done,,,i have a friend that owns 14 but he developed a unique niche,,,

 

[SpecialEd8256]

Im in the same boat in the midwest, have been planing since January. Buy Business Plan Pro by Palo Alto software.
Its well worth the 60 or 70 bucks i paid for it. Makes you see it from the business side and opens your eyes quite a bit to have a thorough plan set.
Plus it comes with examples that really help.

 

[JMAC 21]

The numbers I have ran so far is there are roughly 13,000 ppl that live in my county if I get less than 10% to sign up like 1000 ppl at $25 a month that puts out $25,000 a month and $300,000 a year raw. It will cost me around $60,000 a year to keep up the place. I have a location in mind but I need to get the specs on it and what the leaser would be allowing to do with the building. It already has the parking lot is located right next to a food lion, subway, Chinese place and a pharmacy and the Walmart is going to be constructed right across the street. My biggest concern is having the finances to get it up and running and roughly how many ppl could fit in there at peak hours from like 6-8 pm.

I don't know much about the gym business other than being a customer at a variety of gyms, but I do have an MBA and your forecast looks VERY aggressive. I'm also from a small town, around 10k, and there is no way our only gym had 1000 members, more like 100-200. Do yourself a favor and look at a few different cities/areas in your region of the US and figure out how many gyms they have per capita (ie, on average how many gyms are there per people living in that area). If you find that the number is like 13k or lower, then that is a good sign. But you can take it a step further and look at the types of gym in your region that do well (which ones have been around a while), especially in the smaller towns. The best thing you can do, is learn how to do a thorough business plan, including sales forecasting and go through the process. Even if you don't use it, this helps you identify more of the factors involved that you probably haven't considered. It can be a very eye opening process, plus if you are looking for any financing, having a business plan can help with that process.

With all this being said, if I were you, I would take one of the previous posters advice and go work in one of the Mega chains and learn their processes. Start with sales, do some PT and try to work your way into an operational capacity. Either way, I wish you good luck, I'm fully support anyone with the entrepreneurial spirit, it's the life blood of this nation.

 

[Chris_Befoul]

Decided to scrap the idea seems like it will be to much of a risk. Instead I'm just going to go on after I graduate and try to get my Masters in Occupational Therapy.

 

[Sparhawk]

I've owned 2 clubs in the past, both Gold's franchises. They require a lot of capitol but if you are in a good market you can do well. Remember that the club will need mass appeal and a strong group X program. The clubs most of the guys on here prefer are not usually appealing to the soccer moms, they will be the bread and butter of a large successful club. The biggest issue is your lease terms be very careful there. If you want a good model to at least look at PM me and I'll tell you about it.

 

[irish_sd]

I own my own gym. It's not like a regular gym. It is a bootcamp warehouse gym. I pay $2600 in rent. I bring in 12k per month. My bills are about 3k total. Rent and utilities.
I take home 9 grand a month. I built up one of these and then sold it. Then I moved and did it again.
It's a great business model. But you have to be the right person. I am a leader. I have 150 people paying $80 a month.
Income is good!
Building it is hard work!

 

[Chris_Befoul]

I own my own gym. It's not like a regular gym. It is a bootcamp warehouse gym. I pay $2600 in rent. I bring in 12k per month. My bills are about 3k total. Rent and utilities.
I take home 9 grand a month. I built up one of these and then sold it. Then I moved and did it again.
It's a great business model. But you have to be the right person. I am a leader. I have 150 people paying $80 a month.
Income is good!
Building it is hard work!

I can imagine so with charging $80 a month.