Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Know This Secret There’s a secret to business and entrepreneurship that they don’t teach in business school. It’s something that the smartest investors in the world of startups all understand instinctively. The venture capitalists of Silicon Valley know that, to find an investment that returns big rewards. VCs give checks to dozens of small companies in the hopes of finding one or two that grow explosively. Why is that? The simple truth is that most ideas for startups in the tech industry just don’t work, which is why you’ll hear tech industry insiders referring to the [...]
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Sometimes it’s when you go against the grain that you do your best work. If you’re in a competitive marketplace, (and let’s face it, in this industry, who isn’t?) you have to fight for every advantage. Your membership retention rate is one of those things that can make an impact in the profitability and survival of your small gym business. I certainly don’t think small gym business owners should completely ignore how well they retain their membership. However, if you’re working on a shoestring budget and living in the back office because you can’t pay yourself a salary, maybe it’s [...]
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There’s not much that a little creative ingenuity can’t overcome. The fitness industry is one where you can get a start with or without vast sums of capital to invest. While it might seem easier to do with truckloads of financial backing, there are plenty of things you can do to get started or at least boost your business to the next level. 1. Be The Expert Focus on what you do best. That thing that you’re most confident about and for which you have the most experience, this is what management gurus call your core competence. The knowledge that [...]
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As an enthusiastic new gym owner, you’ve probably already found a place in the market with enough potential customers to build a business. Once you commit to your particular niche in the fitness business, there’s one thing you’ll need. It’s the information about customers and sales that will take you from the initial idea to a sustainable and profitable asset. More precisely, it is the ability to gather, organize, and exploit information about any prospective customer that comes into contact with your business. If you want to find the insights within the fine-grained details of the piles of data that [...]
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Continuing Trends in 2018 One thing is sure about the summer of 2018; fitness businesses aren’t going to disappear anytime soon. While it’s technically possible to do all of your workouts from home, that is not the choice that people are making this year. What’s hot in mid-2018 is the human connection. The word of the season appears to be “continuation” as wearables continue to lurk in the background, HIIT continues to grow in popularity, and group classes continue to fill the need for social engagement in the lives of many. Meanwhile, the spread of IoT connected equipment may influence [...]
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Securing Your Membership’s Personally Identifiable Data Now might be a good time to look at Data Security and what gym businesses need to keep in mind. For example, if you take electronic payments, you have to follow the rules of the Card Payment Industry. Your business needs data about your membership, and that comes with risks. These days, gym business owners and operators need to be acutely aware of the threats that can materialize out of left field. Now that you can keep track of so much data about your membership, you have to protect it. Your business depends on information, so [...]
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Fitness is a people-business; it’s about networking to make connections, whether it’s between mind and muscles, you and the best vendors, or members using your club to connect in their careers. It’s a business model that’s about helping others find success and good health. As a gym business owner, networking is crucial to your success; it’s also one of the greatest benefits that you offer to your membership. The value of expanding members’ circles of influence cannot be overestimated. The History of Networking and Public Houses In centuries past, the coffee houses of London were famous as places of big [...]
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Getting Beyond The Gym Business Basics Developing alternate revenue streams for your new fitness club is the next stage for any ambitious gym business venture. If you hope to grow your business beyond the basics of club memberships, it is vital to have additional sources of income to achieve long-term success. Once you have a steady stream of income from membership subscriptions to your club, you have a solid start to gym ownership success. That doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax though. It is time to expand all of the additional channels of income that compliment and enhance [...]
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In fitness, client programming is the key to operational success. There are several reasons for that. Let’s explore them and look at why it is that gym business operators can’t ignore this organizing principle. The best way to consolidate new gym membership sales is to draw your new members into a series of instructions to get them moving ahead and focused on fitness, not buyer’s remorse. Of course, client programming is much more than that, it is the professional basis for any organized fitness activities. Gym Members Need Structure It’s the people who need a structure the most who can [...]
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Planning For Client Acquisition Success After my last post about starting your own business, the logical follow-up is a blog about client acquisition. Yes, that post did go into details about how important it is to understand your customers. Also, there is no doubt that finding your niche is the key to success too. You need a practical, step-by-step plan to acquire new members. What that means is a plan to get them in the front door, signed up, and working out. While you should build a funnel for membership sales, you don’t want to get caught in a formula [...]
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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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