In the last two years, there has been a huge amount of interest in mobile fitness apps, as confirmed by Google Trends. Fitness apps can be powerful tools for marketing and motivation and there is a new generation of gym members coming up, who expect that they can download an app and immediately get gratification from it. If you don't provide that option they will look elsewhere for their fitness needs. The Fitness App Bandwagon Mobile apps are a very competitive market, driven by many big companies wanting to get their products into everyone's hands. In fact, the market is [...]
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One of the most disruptive trends in technology in the last few decades has been the leveraging and (pardon the fancy talk) disintermediation of the old ways that made the wheels of commerce go round. That means that new technologies that are labor saving and disrupting of the status quo cause big changes. Here's an old-fashioned example: Long before there was MS Word there were typewriters. These days, typewriters are an antique collector's pride and joy, more than objects of any functional uses. For previous generations the typewriter was a labor saving essential for the workplace. Companies had entire typing [...]
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Fitness trends have had lots of ups and downs that are related to culture and fashion. But there is also an influence on trends that comes from the innovations of technology. Still it's hard to read the tea leaves out beyond a year or so, as the apparent trend today can quickly show itself to be a fad that disappears overnight. In the gym business we always have to keep a lookout for what is coming because it can determine the capital investments that we would make and nobody wants to take six months to refurbish for the latest thing [...]
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When television production companies catch onto a formula that's cheap to produce and popular with viewers, they really work it for all it's worth. Having an expert, who rescues failing small businesses, is a simple and compelling formula within the genre of reality TV. The premise is usually that a business, in some specific industry, gets help and a makeover just as it's about to go under. The super-expert, no-holds-barred host comes in with a camera crew and they proceed, in a period of about three days, to whamp the tar out of the downtrodden business owner. They clear out [...]
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Dirty Work Continued... As a business owner there's a plethora of rules regulations and certifications that you have to navigate through. Of course, on top of that, gym ownership comes with its own specific headaches. When you own a business of any description you quickly find out that there are all kinds of tasks that seem to have been designed to distract you from your purpose and the mission of your enterprise. As always, I try to avoid the controversies and politics of ownership but we all have to deal with them. So, my discussion point here is how to [...]
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Because my gym has been doing well recently, I've been forced to analyze all my financials. I say this because I had been solely relying on the competence of my bookkeepers for the past couple of years, blindly thinking that they would do a good job. I was so wrong! The past few weeks, I have been scrambling to brush up on basic accounting principals in order to answer basic questions that are not clearly defined by the books. That means I am completely redoing everything that the bookkeeper did (or in my opinion, did not do). The Jerry Seinfeld [...]
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It seems like lately I can't help but notice that workout spaces have been popping up with the name CrossFit displayed in bold letters across the front of the building. Gyms that offer this new workout system have been spreading like wildfire. Because it's such a mixed and intense way of working out, CrossFit licensees, or affiliates as the brand calls them, need to be expert at fitness, personal training and injury prevention. It appears to present a huge opportunity for trainers to become owners. However, the question remains: Is it a true fitness trend or is it a fad [...]
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A while back I wrote an article about the ten reasons new gyms fail. It was well received by the readers of Gym Insight and the discussion was very gratifying for me. But as a believer in fitness and getting results in a positive way I feel compelled to balance it out with an article about the positive side of gym startups and success. I admit that there is likely plenty of overlap between this and the previous article. These things are worth saying over and over again and doing more reps never hurt anybody. Arm Yourself With The Most [...]
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I recently posted a blog about statistics in the fitness business. I really only just scratched the surface with that one. In this blog post I want to address a few things that I had to leave out, and tie up loose ends. It's always good to know where the next generation of competition could come from. I tend to think the source of competition to watch is self-employed trainers building followings through social media and then establishing studios once they have enough of a revenue flow. Also there were some statistics that relate the demographics of the industry to [...]
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Limber up your jargon muscles and stretch out your vocal cords! We're talking gym management and fitness center business vocabulary again! It's been a while since I wrote about jargon in the gym business. So I think it is time to review some more of the terms that you need to use and know to understand gym professionals, in reference to the business and the activities that support it. Gym Insight has posted articles written about this before but I think it's an important topic and there are some terms that need to be added to the original list. There [...]
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Turbocharge Your Income With Gym Guest Passes There are many different ways to increase your gym's revenue. Let's focus on how you can use gym guest passes to increase your income, in the way a turbocharger boosts the horsepower of a small car engine. Of course, your own particular approach to this strategy will be strongly influenced by the unique layout of your local racetrack. So, here are two different approaches to gym guest passes, for very different local markets. Gym Guest Passes To Bring In New Members The best and most consistent form of income to keep a gym [...]
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New gym owners come to the business with many different levels of expectations. It depends on things like their previous experiences in management, small business ownership, gym operations and leadership, to name but a few. The one thing that consistently catches new owners off guard and causes much stress is how many routine, repetitive tasks need to be handled on a daily basis. In theory you just sign up new members and they give you a payment each month, so you build up a nice little stream of revenue to enjoy. Well, it sounds a little fanciful when I put [...]
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The concept of experience marketing is generating a lot of buzz among business consultants and academic thinkers right now. It encapsulates the emotional and subjective associations that come with using a product or taking part in a service. It is how your members feel about how they get along at your gym. It is all of the subjective associations and emotions they have relating to everything from the hygiene levels to the staff's attitude and the results members get from their workouts. A State Of (The Customer's) Mind As long as members are happy enough to keep coming back, whether [...]
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Digital Media Puts a Human Face On Business Here's an ironic fact: Digital media can actually add a human touch to your gym! In this day and age it's absolutely imperative that, as a business owner, you take full advantage of the low-cost high-impact resources that you can find online, in social media, blogging and video blogging. If you're a bit more ambitious, even podcasting can be a great way to promote your gym. The subject of social media is vast and rapidly changing. I'm just going to put this out there as an idea. It's just a quick overview, [...]
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These days it's almost impossible to avoid the online community and customer feedback. Think of that as a good thing! Make the effort to be aware of reviews of your gym or studio and be prepared to respond. The secret is first knowing where to seek them out and then responding to them, before you find yourself digitally tarred and feathered. Of course some of what you get is going to be positive. However in business it's almost impossible to do anything that provides a customer experience that's universally loved. Misunderstandings and miscommunications can occur even in ideal conditions. Just [...]
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