Background for Success Starting a gym business is probably a dream for a significant fraction of the population. Whether you’re in this country or around the world you may yearn to open a fitness club someday. If you think you have knowledge and finances, that dream may even turn into a plan. For those that do attempt it, the journey can be long, hard, and possibly heartbreaking. If you want to succeed in the fitness industry, there are a few things that are certain about your journey to get there. Can You Sacrifice And Struggle for The Cause? Even in [...]
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Wearables Have Hit The Big Time for 2019 According to Club Industry, one-in-six consumers now use a wearable digital device, such as a smartwatch or fitness tracker. In the valuable 18 to 34 demographic, the trend is even more pronounced, with one-in-three. It’s starting to look like there’s a critical mass of people out there, for which you can enhance your gym business with the data that they’ll help you gather. You can add a new level of experience for your membership with gamification features. In return for the improved experience, you’ll get a stream of insights into the workout [...]
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If you take the self-help advice of the gurus, who write books and give seminars about how to get ahead in life, and boil it down to its essential ingredient, it would be three words: Get things done. In business, executive action is what makes the winning difference. Executive Action in The Fitness Industry The need to take action is the same whether you’re in the technology or the fitness industry, healthcare or wellness if you operate retail sales or sell nutrition products online. Execution is everything. It is why the top boss at the multi-national big-box fitness giants is [...]
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If you started a business where the point was to chill out and relax, it might seem like the opposite of fitness. However, it would have to utilize many of the client programming aspects of a fitness club. Stress Good And Bad I want to cover the full spectrum of activities on the Gym Insight Blog. So, I think it’s worth touching on some counter-trends, such as offering relaxation space as a membership. The modern world is full of the causes of stress, some negative and others, such as working out, are positive. The good stress is called eustress, which [...]
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Games Put The Fun in Serious Fitness Did you know that there are techniques that help you lead and guide people without them realizing that you’re doing it? You may already be using this method without even realizing it. It’s called gamification, and it helps to nudge humans in the direction you want them to go. You can use gamification to inspire your members and staff to get better results, complete actions where they tend to drop out, and even help reduce the cost of healthcare for companies. What Is Gamification? Turning your goals and objectives into games motivate people [...]
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The Short Answer Is Still “No!” That guy who wrote a book about having a business in only X hours per week now has a book out about fitness. OK, that’s nice. So, completely separate from that, what I’m wondering, is whether there can be a gym business that you can run on half a workday per week? I’ve gotta say, I’m skeptical about the whole short-time easy-money approach to anything. If you’re already the owner of a small fitness club, just the title probably made you roll your eyes, right? I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that anyone who follows [...]
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To Change Or Not To Change Are you thinking about starting a new gym business or changing the direction of the one you operate now? If you’re not, I’m not suggesting you should, but if things haven’t worked quite the way you planned or, if the market has peaked and begun to tail off, you might be wondering about making a change. The choice between staying the course in a mediocre business model and finding a new one that’s better is the conundrum of the ages. There’s even a name for the syndrome that business owners and entrepreneurs face, it’s [...]
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Four Organizational Culture Types Did you know that there are four different categories of organizational culture? I didn’t. Some researchers at the University of Michigan figured it out, and I’m glad they did. So, let’s take a look at these four cultures and see how they show up in with the fitness business. Business schools that develop management theories have been covering the structures of companies for decades. Formal structures have the backing of authority; they are the written tables of organization, policies, and procedures. The formal structure of your company goes all the way up to the corporate documents [...]
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If you’re a fitness entrepreneur at any stage of the gym business, you’re likely to have a need for a space in a building. If you want to open your doors somewhere, you will have to face the commercial real estate (CRE) industry. For you, negotiating a tenancy might be a daunting task or just a matter of phoning a friend. I’m not looking at the search or leasing process here, but I think it’s worth taking a quick look at some of the changes going on in CRE and how gym business owners like you can work it to [...]
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The Old School Of Martial Arts Fighting and martial arts account for a large portion of today’s fitness industry. The old school boxing clubs are an inspiration and fine example of what club owners can achieve in tough neighborhoods, with not much more than leadership and space in a backstreet gym on the wrong side of the tracks. If you’re looking to start a gym or find a new specialization for the one you have at present, then the appeal of martial arts and boxing has never been stronger. You might have a successful studio, a thriving membership, or be [...]
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So, what’s the point of implementing a corporate wellness program? Is it about building company culture and togetherness? No, at the highest level, corporate wellness is about having healthier, more productive employees. On the most practical level, it’s more about minimizing costs and workers who get more done with less friction. Savings is a worthy goal, so is productivity, but creating a program that matches long-term benefits against short-term costs is a difficult thing to achieve. In theory, fitter workers should yield higher levels of productivity. While healthcare costs generally bill you in yearly chunks, quantifiable wellness improvements might take [...]
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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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You may be thinking, “OK, Gym Insight, what are you doing posting about esoteric mathematical concepts like Bayesian Priors?” First of all, it’s 2018 and living in the future demands that we apply futuristic methods. Second, I promise not to start quoting mathematical equations. Finally, there is probably something that any fitness business owner can learn by using a little statistical discipline to their business model. What Is This Bayesian Thing? It is more than a method; it’s a way of looking at the world. You have a position, a view that you formed for whatever reason. You can test that [...]
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Just because you have happy fitness club members, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to be completely free of issues. Even the most smooth-running gym business is going to have occasional payment disputes. When it comes to questions about customer credit cards and payments, you have to get it right. In this case, satisfactory resolutions can mean the difference between customer retention and cancellations. Payments and the records that report them are some of the most problematic parts of consumer businesses, particularly in fitness. Misunderstandings in these areas can quickly turn happy customers into annoyed ones. Situational Responses And Maximum [...]
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Categories for client programming must align to sales goals and be complementary to one another. After all, the most fundamental activity in any business is selling. In a people-business like fitness, it’s as true as ever; gym business owners have to do some selling to survive. Fortunately, you don’t have to start again from scratch to get every sale. The secret is that, as your gym members come to you on a regular basis you have a warm and receptive audience for your products and services. Your Client Programming And Sales Audit If you have never done such an exercise, [...]
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