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 big successes as "unicorns." That’s an industry with many diverse startups and a few spectacular success stories. Investors in tech understand that they’re going to lose it all on most projects.
Reflecting on Your Fitness Business To Make It Better
At least in the fitness profession, you have a more conventional business model than things like smartphone applications. Also, fitness has a much more consistent and predictable level of demand. So, unless you’ve invented something entirely new and untested, fitness is nowhere nearly as risky as tech startups.
Always be ready to update your business model to adapt to new information. No matter how good you think your business idea is, the market will either validate or disconfirm it. What matters is whether you’re paying attention and what you do when things go askew.
Be Clear About Your Business Model
My point here is that mindfulness helps you find opportunities and hazards so you can respond quickly. Planning and reflection should be parts of an ongoing process of improvement. There’s no better time than the present to be contemplative about the future and success of your small gym business.
Mindfully reflecting on your enterprise will help you get where you’re going. If you can be mindful and present, you apply your mental skills more effectively. When you’re super busy, and you’re firefighting multiple crises on a daily basis, it pays to set aside times when you can reflect on your plan of action and update your goals.
Presumably, at launch or before, you’ve established your goals and the milestones that mark the way to ultimate success. A useful initial goal might be the achievement of a specific number of memberships. This would make sense if you determined in your business plan that a given amount of members for the breakeven point. As you develop the business, you will probably look at more sophisticated measurements such as retention and lifetime customer value.
Believe In What You Do And Charge What You Are Worth
Sometimes when working people explore the prices they can charge, they’re shocked to discover how much businesses charge and pay for goods and services. The difference is that, as business owners, they have to account for all of the costs on top of wages and salaries.
That surprise can lead to underpricing by new gym business owners, which tends to backfire. That’s because, on the other side of this accounting equation, buyers and customers won’t perceive value either. As a gym business owner, you are likely to have founded your fitness enterprise for the best of reasons.
Whether you saw an opportunity in the market or wanted to fulfill a dream, you came to this industry for noble reasons. Of course, as an independent or small gym business owner, you may have the advantage of lower costs than your big-box competitors, but make sure you can take a profit along the way.
Simplicity Makes Everything Better
As matters of reflection go, these are simple things, but it’s tough when the pressure is on, and you’re pressed for time because you’re bootstrapping your way to success. So, as I’ve written before, you need to eliminate unnecessary activities and focus on what matters most.
This is a great profession and industry to be a part of. It’s competitive, but the rewards when they come are epic. So, take the time to reflect on what you do, believe in what you do, get clear about your business model, and make sure that your ideas are working for you.
Bibliography
Bramble, M. 6 Steps for Opening a Fitness Center. December 23, 2015. https://www.sba.gov/blogs/6-steps-opening-fitness-center (accessed August 8, 2018).
Fagan, Lawrence. 7 Fitness Industry Hacks for Aspiring Gym Owners. July 27, 2018. https://blog.gyminsight.com/5081-7-fitness-industry-hacks-for-aspiring-gym-owners/ (accessed August 8, 2018).
-. Mobile Fitness Apps Part 1: Analytic Power Shift. September 28, 2014. https://blog.gyminsight.com/2895-mobile-fitness-apps-part-1-analytic-power-shift/ (accessed August 8, 2018).