The Niche Gym Business That Works For You If you’re starting your own business, there are lots of fitness niches that you can pursue. CrossFit is but one of many. However, the CrossFit concept is the perfect example of a gym model that finds the strongest motivation for a specific type of gym membership prospect. It has been about four years, maybe more, since I first noticed CrossFit boxes. I was suddenly aware they were popping up in storefronts, industrial spaces, and old service stations around here. I have to say that I am impressed by the resilience of this trend. [...]
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When Is Now A Good Time For Planning And Strategy? Finding strategy and purpose in the fitness industry is perhaps not as challenging as in some other business sectors. However, it always pays to pause and reflect occasionally, on such things as strategy and planning for the future of your small gym business. Getting The Right Answer Means Asking Good Questions If you want to find direction for your strategy, ask yourself, how can you better serve your membership? It is never a wrong time to think about this question. Is your business a fitness club or is it fitness? [...]
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If your career is in fitness, you know that continuing education is a never-ending process. Promoting dietary habits and nutrition that improve health and deliver higher performance levels has to be one of the most important things you can offer your clients. If you don’t have it already, getting certified in sports nutrition is an add-on skill that will make the most difference in the performance and lives of your membership. Make Sure Your Offering Is An Information-Based Service One of the purposes of continuing education in fitness is to help you stay ahead of the competition. It's a knowledge-based investment in the capabilities [...]
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I have spent a lot of time talking about marketing on the Gym Insight Blog. As part of that effort, I’d like to mention a metric that can give you the big picture. It can be a real insight into the potential scope for expanding your gym or small fitness studio. The metric in question is the Total Addressable Market (TAM), which is the number of people who qualify as customers within reach of your business. This number indicates how much your fitness enterprise could earn if it did earn everything there is to earn, as it were. Finding Your Total [...]
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CES 2018 Shows The Future Of Technology for Fitness The Consumer Electronics Show has come and gone for the year once again. With it, we have seen the latest round of technology that is either directly related to fitness, or which you could apply to the gym business with a little imagination. Wearables and Trackers The health and fitness exhibitors at CES for 2018 were more full of enthusiasm for technology than ever before and with good reason. There were more wearable devices on display than ever before, and it looks to me like the functionality factor is rising. Wearables [...]
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Modified Programs That Satisfy Niche Demand A special population is any category of fitness club members who need a doctor’s note before they start working out. That’s not an official definition but, as a small gym business owner, it might well be the difference between business model and liability. Unless you are the only gym in a one-club town, you know what it’s like to face competition. Your fitness club was a substantial investment in capital or hard work. You owe it to yourself to find a niche that is underserved and hungry for high-quality service. Special populations fit the [...]
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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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Experience And Community from Shared Values There is a level beyond converting prospects into members and inspiring them to keep coming back. That is where your club is the center of a community of people who love fitness and who associate your gym with connectedness. There are three authentic values at the core of your gym business. Fostering all three of these is something you have to do to succeed as a competitor in the fitness profession, and it all filters down to transforming your club into a community. Build Communities for People The guys and gals who are super-committed [...]
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Client programming is all about personalizing the experience and service you provide. Members want guidance for fitness and an enjoyable, rewarding experience that gets them there. You can adopt a client programming system or invent one of your own. Either way, this is a vital dimension that will help to establish your position as a force in the fitness industry. Everyone Wins With High-Quality Client Programming Personalizing the experience that you provide to individual members gets right to the very heart of what consumers value about fitness club memberships. Your members place their hope and trust in you and your [...]
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When you set up the client acquisition process your club membership marketing, you will be able to manage everything you measure. The fitness marketing insights that you’ll find in the numbers will empower you to improve your sales results and bring new members into your business more efficiently. It’s much like the way a well-planned training program helps a club member get into the best possible shape. Over time, you gather data and reflect on your performance, improving it from the insights you learn. Finding The Answers In The Data Starting out, you’re just glad that you have enough new [...]
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As a professional fitness operator, with interest in the Gym Insight Blog, you probably know how to prompt reflection and planning for your members and clients. Working with clients and giving them feedback on their workout regimens and redirecting them for better results is a fundamental part of the fitness profession. When you use the tools of your business as the keys to leadership, you’ll go much further, stay in business as long as you want, and make a higher level of profits in return. Like the classic leadership book by Stephen Covey, reflection and planning give fitness club owners a synergy that multiplies your [...]
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Starting your own fitness business has never been easier. That statement, of course, assumes you have the charisma and certifications to run your own shop. Or you have access to a high six-figure sum of capital to invest. I’m mostly talking to the former fitness employees, the gym professionals ready to strike out on their own. I’ve met many outstanding trainers that could manage the journey if they had to do it. If you fit that description and you’ve committed to bootstrapping your way into fitness club ownership, keep the following three things in mind. Charge What You're Worth One thing [...]
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A whole new class of businesses has discovered the subscription business model. Many internet-based startups realize that monthly memberships suit them better than selling one-time up-front payment for products and services. The business model for fitness has long been club subscription memberships along with add-on features and in gym purchases. Changes in technologies and consumer preferences have helped to make automated payments over time more appealing. Subscribing For Short-Term Wins The psychology of subscriptions changes the way customers think about your business. The pain of massive up-front payments that scare off prospects, without consideration for the big picture. A monthly sum is much [...]
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We've arrived at a golden age of trainer certification and continuing education options. There’s an extensive range of possibilities in fitness to update your skills and to expand your value to the membership of your fitness organization. As you probably already know, continuing education is a fundamental feature of the profession. Adding to your skills and qualifications helps grow your organization if you pursue it in a coordinated manner. Considerations When You Choose Your CECs Choosing your present courses and credits depends on your accrediting institution of course. However, the leading fitness education organizations have diverse choices of new skills [...]
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The retention versus attrition club membership tension is never going to end in the gym business. It’s sort of like the battle of the waistline, never-ending and more desperate around the holiday season. If your small fitness club or studio is getting quiet and new membership inquiries are tapering off leading up to the holidays and New Year, it’s time to respond and take action. Of course, the pre-holiday season lull is the calm before the storm, as we then roll swiftly into the busiest time of the year for the fitness industry. Even so, now’s a good time to [...]
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