By Sam Monempour, NAI Capital Commercial Real Estate Services, Worldwide Opening a gym/fitness center is a challenging and complex venture with many moving parts. Before diving in, it is essential to carefully plan and prepare for the ever-changing aspects of the fitness industry. Over the years, gyms have gone from standard places of exercise and bodybuilding to a social environment with integrated social media influences, new technologies, new formats of exercise, and many various forms of build-out. 1. Decide gym style and market before signing a lease. The first step in signing a well-designed lease is to determine the type of [...]
Read more...
December 2022 Profile. Superior Fitness of Granbury LLC., Granbury, Texas It takes courage to follow your ethics. Samuel Frederick, owner of Superior Fitness of Granbury, Texas, framed his life around that very concept: Right is right. Wrong is wrong. In July 2021, he accepted the challenge of taking over a 2,600 square-foot personal training studio and gym courting a small, but dedicated customer base. Together with Donald Mathis, a long-time friend, they set out to create a fitness center reflecting their values: exercise as a gateway for progress, movement and long-term change. “I want(ed) people to learn to work out effectively,” by [...]
Read more...
Opening a new gym can be really stressful. You’ve put a ton of money into this new business and now it’s time to switch on the lights and hope members sign up fast enough to cover mounting bills. But it does not have to be that way. Established gyms know the best way to promote a new location is Pre-sales. This simple idea takes the pressure off opening day and provides much-needed cash for final construction snafus. What are gym membership pre-sales? These are sold prior to your fitness center’s opening. Marketed through social media or an advertising campaign, this [...]
Read more...
What could be better than exercising every day and hanging out in your own awesome health club? If owning a gym is your dream job — keep reading our blog. The truth is – opening a gym is a lot more than just buying gym equipment and unlocking doors. Succeeding at owning a gym takes planning, perseverance, moxie, and money. Today, we've spoken with experienced gym owners to learn four of the most common mistakes new gym owners make when getting started in the business. Understand your lease fully before signing on the dotted line! #1 — Signing a lease too quickly [...]
Read more...
Inclusiveness means everyone If you want to train disabled people or your fitness club could grow by catering to special populations as a market niche, there’s a certification that enables you to do just that. It’s the Certified Inclusive Fitness Trainer (CIFT) certification, which was developed by the American College of Sports Medicine, in collaboration with the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability. It’s about helping people Disability Fitness I’m sure you’d agree that, as a fitness trainer or gym owner, it never hurts to have additional tools in your toolbox. You really will benefit if you can cater to specific segments of [...]
Read more...
As the owner of a gym, drawing in new members is a topic that will always be near the front of your mind. Successful business owners never truly stop marketing. Over the years, you have probably run your fair share of gym promotions, membership discounts, and group signup events. Marketing strategies like these often - for good reason - make up the backbone of gym advertisement campaigns. However, sticking to these tried and true methods can feel a little stale after a while. Not to mention, if you neglect the technical and online sides of your marketing campaign, you are [...]
Read more...
A Simple Social Solution For Gym Marketing When you have a business where you've put everything into it and you spend every waking hour of the day trying to get it going, when you're always on call to respond to daily crises, you owe it to yourself to get every advantage possible. A humble gym hashtag might just be the thing to help you do that. Do you have a social media hashtag for shout-outs about your gym? The hashtag has become such a simple branding tool so quickly that it's easy to overlook. These little tags can get you [...]
Read more...
Sharing The Conversation With Podcasting When you own a twenty-first century gym you really should support it with all the up-to-date media resources you can get. In my opinion, using the available tools of the Internet is the best way you can leverage even the leanest budget; many of them for free or less than the cost of an ad in the Yellow Pages. Podcasting is one of the most intriguing of these potential resources. It's under-utilized as yet but it could be a really powerful voice for your business. It's a way to connect with likeminded business owners and [...]
Read more...
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 [...]
Read more...
Social Networks are the fabric of community. I'm writing here about the social media networks that have emerged with the invention of the Internet and which connects people in a way that hasn't been possible for past generations. Like This Article on Facebook! The arrival of facebook, Twitter and other social networks like Google Plus have put social connection onto a different level. The spread of these networks into every aspect of daily life have made it possible to create targeted networks that are focused on particular interests, like fitness. There are now some great tools to make your small [...]
Read more...
You know that you need to establish your brand name and image in the fitness industry, but how will you do that? Giving excellent customer service and providing state-of-the-art gym equipment and facilities are just some of the initial steps. You also need to create some buzz about your gym and appeal to the public at large. While we strive to get creative promotion ideas, we tend to overlook one of the simplest and most effective promotion technique - giving out promotional products. Using branded promotional products are one of the sure-fire ways to increase brand visibility and ensure member [...]
Read more...
When running a fitness center or any other business for the matter, it is only a matter of time till you have to deal with a disappointed or angry customer. This is when you face the challenge of handling the situation in such a way that the customer discovers the best qualities about your gym. If you get lucky, you might even end up earning a lifetime member with several recommendations. Let's see how you can take full control of the situation and turn an upset customer into a loyal member. Controlling Various Forums of Complaints In addition to getting [...]
Read more...
If you are a gym owner, then one of the things you may have noticed is that a large number of people who often sign up for memberships do so with great interest, motivation and good intentions. However, due to the unending demands of their professional or personal life, they slowly stop visiting the gym regularly and seemingly may even forget that they even have a gym membership altogether. This member oversight may, very well, have nothing to do with your health club facilities or services. So it is important to remind your members about your gym and why they [...]
Read more...
Fitness facilities generally involve a large amount of investment in the beginning and high maintenance costs throughout. On top of this, keeping up with the competition in terms of technology and training is another expense. Returns come much after this chunk of money is being fueled into the heart and soul of the business. What this implies is that you must have a great start to break-even as soon as possible. Your facility deserves a huge opening so that people know that a lot of effort and money has been put into a project for their benefit. Here are some [...]
Read more...
Encourage Your Gym Members Review Your Facility and "Check-in" on Social Media People are very health conscious these days, which has led to a surge in fitness business. This high demand for fitness programs and gym memberships has also led to a large number of businesses cropping up, which have made it necessary that gyms reach out to their members to stay competitive. While traditional means of advertising in the gym business are still effective, they often fall short in comparison to social media, which people access all the time. To make your social media campaign truly work, you need [...]
Read more...
