Risk Management Best Practices for Fitness Facilities Developing a risk management strategy for your fitness facility, health club, or personal training studio involves three basic steps: Proactively identifying and handling problems in your gym is an important risk mitigation tactic. Identify the potential risks;Evaluate the severity of the potential risks;Develop strategies to mitigate the potential risks. Taking a cold hard look at your facility from a risk management point of view is the first step in developing a risk management plan. Take some time to tour each area of your facility and imagine what possible hazards could possibly arise in [...]
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Should you buy or lease commercial gym equipment? Should I buy or lease gym equipment for my business? The decision to buy or lease commercial gym equipment depends on the amount of capital you have and your tax situation. There are pros and cons to both approaches. Leasing allows you to change out fitness equipment every few years while incurring lower maintenance costs, and payments are generally deductible as a business expense. It is also easier to obtain leases than equipment loans. They may, however, cost your health club more money in the long-term. New gym equipment loans though, now [...]
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How Much Old School Is Too Much? There is a certain romance to the idea of a hardcore backstreet gym where you find the driven athletes and bodybuilders. One that's as run down on the inside as it is on the outside. You can imagine the grisly old owner-slash-coach taking payments in cash and keeping accounts in his head. Only Hollywood writers and Elmore Leonard could get away with this idea of a seedy and decrepit shed. The reality is that the club industry is hyper-competitive and if you want to attract the type of consumers who are committed to [...]
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To Sprout Roots Is The Essence Of Transformative Change What got you to where you are now will not necessarily get you where you need to go; this is a lesson that startups in fitness and every other business sector continuously relearn through firsthand experience. An oak tree is entirely different from an acorn; it has to make some huge transformations to become such a great tree. So, you started a gym, and you have members, you pay your bills, your home mortgage, and usually eat two or more meals a day. However, you realize that you are going to [...]
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Pulling Your Small Gym Business Back From The Brink A few years back, Grant Cardone, the business turnaround expert, responded to the cry for help from the owners of a Gold's Gym franchise, in Whippany New Jersey, saving them from a foreclosure that would have left the entire family penniless. The video is well worth a watch. You can apply the key points of what Cardone implemented to any struggling gym. In fact, the methods of organizing and structuring the sales process, the heart of the plan, go for any customer service-centered company. This post is not the first to [...]
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The Virtuous Circle Of Improved Retention Since the topic of membership retention is still fresh on the pages of the Gym Insight Blog, let's talk about the strategic points to hold on to your customers a little longer. No doubt, you have some idea of what you are doing well and what can be improved, and there are uncounted sources of ideas for retention on the Web, but it never hurts to have an over-arching strategy in place, right? The Upside Of Improved Gym Member Retention As an example, if you can increase your retention rate from ninety-two to ninety-five [...]
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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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I founded Gym Insight because I wanted software that catered directly to how I manage my fitness center, and I just couldn't find that on the market. At least, not up to the standards that I expect from a dedicated business application. Insight has been so successful because other owners of small fitness center and their managers face the same demands every day. One of the most important things that the best gym management software must do is integrate with the customer experience. It has to help the curious browser or window shopper to pull the trigger and commit to [...]
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Flyers and leaflets give you an inexpensive way to promote your gym and attract new members. Whether or not they offer an effective solution is up to you and what you decide to do with them. Not every flyering campaign brings you the reputation that you want or the clients that you need. If your campaign is not done correctly, you might end up running at a loss and dealing with a bunch of agitated residents complaining about the littering. To ensure that your flyering campaign brings you the good exposure and business that you need, you need to ask [...]
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Sudden cardiac arrest is considered to be among the leading causes of death in the Unites States alone, with more than 350,000 deaths every year. According to a new report "[s]udden cardiac arrest survival greater at fitness facilities," people who experience sudden cardiac arrest at "traditional" exercise facility's (like health clubs) have greater chances of survival rate than any other alternative exercise type of venue, simply because of the equipment and resources were more readily available to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) method and use automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in order to gain back the normal heart rate of the victim. [...]
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As an owner or operator of a fitness center you're probably going to find in the near future that your clientele will include more members of special populations. By this I mean groups such as seniors and people with fitness and diet related health issues. These are growing segments of the population and there is a market to be found by catering to their needs. Start With Special Population Certified Trainers The reason special populations are distinct categories; separate from your average gym member is that they start from such a delicate level of health. They need to work with [...]
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I am aware that I am listing 4 accessories and not a more normal "top" number of either 3 or 5 or even 10. I did that for a reason and not to be an overachiever if you think there should only be 3 listed or lazy if you believe that 5 listed accessories would have been a better well rounded number for this article. In a sense, I do agree that 5 sounds better, so I am going to ask you at the end of this article to add in the comment section what the 5th most important gym [...]
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Fitness facilities are no longer just for pumping iron. The word fitness has a whole lot of other connotations relating to overall health and wellness. And no matter how many squats you do, how many miles you ride on the stationary bike or laps you swim in the pool, you'll never be truly fit if you don't get proper nutrition. Many people who come to your facility are hoping to lose weight, and a good nutrition program will help them achieve their goals more quickly, resulting in better member satisfaction with your facility. A nutrition program can also add another [...]
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Gym Industry Trends In 2013 The 2012-2013 Edition of Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the US Department of Labor has projected that the employment of fitness instructors and trainers will grow by 24% from 2010 to 2020.[1] The handbook further states this increased demand for professionals in fitness industry originates from the changed perception of insurance companies and businesses about fitness.[2] Today, organizations recognize the benefits of fitness and health programs for people and this has resulted in more incentives for people to join gyms and other fitness facilities. Fitness Trends of 2013 Let's take a look at the top [...]
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Why It is Vital to Hire a Competent Manager Hiring someone to manage your fitness center is one of the most important decisions you will make regarding the business. Management staff can make or break your business in a relatively short time. Your manager is your representative; your main customer service person as well as the person who manages your employees and makes all pertinent decisions when you are not there. It's no wonder that many fitness facility owners are reluctant to hand over the reins of their business to a manager. Your facility manager needs to wear a lot [...]
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