At Abb's Muscle & Fitness everyone is younger than the owner. Many of the staff members are Gen Z, individuals born between 1997 and 2012. To manage this young team, owner Abbe Hockaday set aside society's prevailing views and approached them with her own brand of intergenerational acceptance and love. They are the seeds she sows to create an environment that is more ministry than gym. Simply said, this puzzling generation challenges her to think and act at her best. Here are some tips she's discovered to glean the most out of her Gen Z employees. Six simple tools to [...]
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GHsKOL5wZk Reduce paperwork this New Year by implementing a gym management software system. How Does It Look? What Does It Mean? What Needs To Be Done? It's a great time to draw a line under the past year by looking at what was good, what was bad and what looks to be changing. I'm not talking about Taylor Swift or politics here, but specifically in the marketplace that you serve as a small gym owner. I've been writing about a lot of different topics this year and it's worth a review to remind readers of what's been covered and some [...]
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Swinging The Lead in Your Sphere of Influence In entrepreneurship, business ownership, and in fitness management, leadership is what you bring to the gym as a founder or manager. It is the one factor over which you have the most control and which makes it possible for small startup gym business owners to fight their way into crowded fitness club markets. As I haven't written much about leadership lately, I think it's time to share my thoughts on the subject once again. Leadership is the interpersonal skill that you exert to influence other people to work with you and do [...]
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Given monthly members, good retention, profitable premium products, and alternative revenue streams, how do you keep track of it all? The alternative revenue streams are those oddball types of income that can get lost in the mix if you don't have an adequate system for recording revenue and membership status. Combining EPOS Management And Membership Data The solution is a combination of a point of sale system and a gym management software package that integrates information in a way that works best for the gym business. Electronic Point of Sale or EPOS has been the standard for cash registers for [...]
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The Virtuous Circle Of Improved Retention Since the topic of membership retention is still fresh on the pages of the Gym Insight Blog, let's talk about the strategic points to hold on to your customers a little longer. No doubt, you have some idea of what you are doing well and what can be improved, and there are uncounted sources of ideas for retention on the Web, but it never hurts to have an over-arching strategy in place, right? The Upside Of Improved Gym Member Retention As an example, if you can increase your retention rate from ninety-two to ninety-five [...]
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Fitness Trends For 2016 It's about time once again to review the trends that are in the ascendant and what has changed in the last year or two in the fitness industry. Fortunately, we don't have to guess or dig too deeply. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) produces a survey of the top twenty trending issues in the minds of fitness professionals. If you haven't done so already, you really should view the results of this year's survey at this ACSM link. We have looked at trends before, and it's a fascinating pastime to watch how the market [...]
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The Chip Yet Again Have you started using the appropriate slot for taking payments by chip cards? As I wrote earlier many large companies still have not done so. We have reached the time of the retailer taking more responsibility for fraud and at this point I hasten to add yet again too many still have not done so. I think in all of the card transactions I've used in the last few months, with a chipped card and a chip capable terminal only once have I been instructed to use the chip port instead of the strip swipe port. [...]
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Change Management Is Risky Business Crunch Fitness is on the market for around $200 million. Wow! Wow, not just because that's a lot of dough but because of the company's unique business model that they use and how it could be hit by change coming in from the outside. As far as I know Crunch is in good shape so I assume there is no need to do some sort of elaborate gym-rescue. If Crunch is a successful company, they need to keep doing what they do best, which is to creatively mix and match classes and fitness trends to [...]
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All of the small business owners I know, be they gym owners or anything else, seem to have one trait in common: They're working all of the time. I can only speak for myself but this permanent work mode has often not felt like work at all. It's been a scramble to make a living out of doing what I love. My colleagues here at Gym Insight seem to feel the same way, judging by their commitment levels. AVOIDING BURNOUT 101: EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY Burning the candle at both ends is an apt metaphor for the kind of work ethic [...]
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Leadership has an element of theater and what are we as gym and fitness center owners if not leaders? Personally, I got into the gym ownership business out of an urge to follow my passion. I had a burning desire to make a positive impact and make a living doing something that shares that passion with other people. All of the trainers that I've worked with over the years also appear to have been just as determined, as far as I can tell. I think that you really only get into a career in fitness to make a positive statement [...]
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The seasonal fluctuations of the gym business are familiar to anyone who's been a member of a gym for more than a year. Gym owners and managers are even more acutely aware of the seasonal changes in the business because of the changing stress levels that go with the seasons. Gyms have an annual ebb and flow, with a peak of activity with the New Year. It's the most hectic time with all of the hustle and bustle of resolutions being fulfilled in the form of good intentions and new memberships. Issues of The Resolution Cycle There are a couple [...]
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As a gym owner, health club operator, or as a freelance personal trainer, without a doubt, one or more of the following questions crosses your mind daily... How much personal training did our Brentwood gym sell last week? Who is the top grossing salesperson at our Freemont club? How did our Spring Valley team perform against their goals last month? How much EFT do we need to set up at our Downtown club to hit our goal this month? Which one of our health clubs is selling the most annual membership agreements? How much EFT did we set up yesterday? [...]
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If your gym is in a bad shape when it comes to revenue or profit, rule number one is - do not panic! Jumping the gun and rushing to Randy Couture does not have to be your first option. The positive side of allowing him to "rescue your gym" is that it certainly gives you a lot more publicity among fitness enthusiasts. However, that same publicity may tarnish the goodwill you have created with your present members. Here are some ways to save your own gym. 1) Analyze the Problem Make sure you first understand what is wrong before you [...]
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Do you want to work in an office cubicle? I didn't think so. I don't either, but if you do, you certainly don't want to be working in a cubicle in the back of a gym. You want to be in a big office somewhere with glass walls, photocopiers, fluorescent lighting and a different necktie for every day of the week. On the other hand, if you want to work at a gym you really don't want to be stuck in a cubicle in the back office. Most people who take up a career running a gym do so with [...]
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The Typical Turnover Rate for Personal Trainers One of the biggest problems facing a gym owner or manager is that of finding and keeping a team of top notch personal trainers on board. Gym members expect to have access to personal trainers as part of the membership package and in most cases are willing to spend a fair amount of money to pay for training. The hard part is that while thousands of men and women attend school and become certified personal trainers each year, the turnover rate for this career field runs between 80 and 90% on average. Why [...]
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