Growing a successful gym business is different from just running one. You’ve probably known excellent personal trainers who’ve never grown past a dozen clients. Or joined a small gym with a booming concept, great attendance, but few controls – so few, you’re pretty sure they are heading out of business quickly. They just don’t know it yet.
So, what does it take to run – and grow – a prosperous gym business? In our experience, the most successful fitness centers follow a similar path.
1. Successful gym business owners work hard.
New gym owners frequently do everything themselves to get the business rolling. Often, you’ll see gym owners posting video of themselves cleaning bathrooms and taking out the trash. This way they can take care of two things at once: clean the gym and create social media content!
They also continue to train clients, run the front desk, and oversee the financials, all while keeping up with marketing and sales. It rapidly becomes more than a full-time job.
But there are also those owners who run gyms as a part-time gig while holding down full-time jobs. It’s possible. We’ve written about several of our Gym Insight clients who work full-time jobs while owning fitness centers.
In either case, gym owners usually delay hiring employees for as long as possible — until they need help.
So, what do successful gym owners do differently than struggling ones?
2. They think strategically.
This means, eventually, gym owners learn to give up the reins. It may sound counterintuitive, but all growth-oriented businesses require additional manpower. At some point, gym owners need to replace themselves.
To grow a successful gym business the best fitness club owners:
a. Document and formalize positions.
To become effective, gym owners need to define each role within the club and the duties each position encompasses. This is where Gym Insight’s User Roles feature comes in handy. We’ve integrated seven user roles within our software, each with a customizable selection of responsibilities for individual employees.
Couple this with a daily task list targeted to specific employees or users, and you’ve begun to automate your front desk staff duties and daily customer interactions.
b. Hire others to fill different aspects of their jobs.
Successful gym business owners work to grow the company rather than just run it. In other words, they focus on the big picture while turning the day-to-day operations over to other people.
What does this look like?
They hire a cleaning company. Then they hire others to conduct personal training and sales. It’s a hard decision because gym owners love the member interaction. But it’s tough to grow a business one client at a time. At some point, you need residual income. Building a team guided by your expertise increases revenue while freeing time.
c. Install well-designed gym management software to maximize successful gym operations.
A third way to become a prosporous gym business is by choosing affordable gym management software. Depending on the type of fitness facility you’re growing, the right gym software automates many of the duties formerly completed by hand. These include auto-billing clients, following up on bad debt/cards/chargebacks, scheduling and directing employees, facility access, online sign-ups, and automated membership communications. Many of our clients have cut back on employees, gone to a 24/7 concept, and reduced hours at the gym – all by utilizing the right gym software.
Ambitious gym owners bent on building franchises — take this to the other extreme. Gym software provides the time to design/market/build a brand, and open multiple locations.
We all have the same 24 hours in a day. The key is knowing how to use them.
3. Surround themselves with smart people.
Recently, we’ve heard of our clients hiring life coaches, individuals who help the owner prioritize their time and decision-making. Others surround themselves with a team of advisors, including an attorney, an accountant, and a commercial real estate expert. Or they retain a business consultant who provides advice and guidance in return for a fee.
(Word of caution about consultants – It’s not unusual for them to receive fees from the products and services they recommend. Be sure to clarify financial relationships before switching software or services involving other companies.)
At times, the gym’s former owner becomes a mentor, aiding and assisting the new guys in building out the business.
No matter where you find guidance, it’s always important to know what you don’t know. None of us are experts in everything. The faster we align ourselves with those who can fill the gaps, the sooner we will find ourselves on the path to success.
Conclusion
We hope our blog today gives you the encouragement you need to expand and build a successful gym business. The concepts seem simple: work hard, think strategically, and surround yourself with smart people. But the truth is, if common sense were more common, it wouldn’t be so rare. (Credits to French writer Voltaire, c. 1764, and to Roman poet Juvenal, c. 130 A.D.)
Good luck out there and let us know what you think! Always welcome a ping back!
Gym Insight
We are a gym management company built by computer guys who love fitness. It’s again, simple: We want you to be successful. When we started out, our gyms were strangled by expensive, badly designed software. In response, we’ve created fully integrated gym software with a suite of applications designed to make yours the most profitable gym business possible. Our automated billing, 24-7 digital door access, integrated online sign-ups, extensive reporting capabilities, and free membership app are but a few of our advantages – all priced at a subscription rate that never takes a percentage of your profits! Call today at 855-367-4967 (855-FOR-GYMS) and ask for Anthony or Natalia. They will be happy to provide a free demo of our outstanding software.