Following your passion for fitness by opening your gym is an exciting adventure but there are more factors to consider than you may have originally thought.
These factors include demand, what is needed, costs involved, advantages and disadvantages, the importance of a marketing plan, and preparation for failure.
The following considerations will help you to determine a plan going forward and help you get insight into what exactly needs to be thought about before starting this new venture.
Is There A Demand In Your Area?
Think of who you will be targeting.
Do they earn the right income?
Do they live a healthy lifestyle?
Or is the community that you’re targeting, part of the elderly community with a sedentary lifestyle?
If the people you target wouldn’t step foot in any area related to fitness, be it a martial arts studio or a fully functional gym, then you may be looking in the wrong area.
Determine the needs and wants of your target audience. This will help you to determine whether there will be a demand for the service you are offering.
Demographics and location can also play an important role in the success of your business.
There needs to be a demand for a gym in the area you are thinking of running your gym from. Doing a competitive intelligence analysis can help you to determine if there are any competing gyms in the area and if these competitors are successful or not.
A lot of ideas end up failing due to either an oversupply of products/services or a lack of demand. Doing research into different areas may be a good thing to consider before purchasing premises.
What Do You Need To Get To Start?
Premises
As previously mentioned, premises is one of the first things you need to think about organizing. An ideal location is one with a lot of traffic, with a demand for your business, and in a central location. Keep in mind the ideal location will come with a price.
Gym Management Software
Gym management software is essential in the successful running of your business. Managing things like payments and bookings can be very stressful and if you don’t have a proper system, you may end up losing money or creating bad relationships with clients due to a lack of organization.
Include gym management software in your business to help to create seamless communication and planning.
Licenses
There are certain licenses and legal documents that are required to set up a business such as a business license, certificate of Incorporation, and employment agreement for the hiring of new employees.
The best thing to do is to hire a lawyer to deal with all the legal documentation required.
Do You Have SMART Goals?
Starting any business without proper goals can be very risky and often lead to failure. Before you open a gym, you need to consider whether your goals are specific, measurable, realistic, and timely.
If your goal is too broad, for example, if you’re building a martial arts studio, and your goal is to become the biggest martial arts studio in the country, then this goal may lead to failure due to expectations that cannot be fulfilled.
A better goal to have would be, for example, to increase membership registrations by 10% within 3 months, by creating brand awareness through social media ads.
What Are The Costs Involved?
It’s almost impossible to give an exact number of what the costs will amount to when opening a gym because each gym is unique, however, calculating your costs is a crucial step to consider before opening a gym.
Costs generally include property and facility costs, buying equipment, operational costs, and more.
Facility costs will be the biggest of your costs which is why researching before purchasing premises is essential.
You may not be including a whole martial arts studio in your gym, but you may need a space for classes such as pilates and yoga.
Once you have determined what kind of gym you are going to be opening, you can decide on what equipment you will need. Equipment can be expensive, which is why you may need to think about exactly what type of equipment you will need and if you will be able to afford it.
Other costs involved such as insurance, salaries, and marketing, must also be considered as running a gym without these will most likely be unsuccessful.
What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages?
Weighing out the advantages and disadvantages against each other can be a helpful exercise to determine whether or not to go ahead with it.
Some of the advantages are that it is rewarding work, you get to do what you love, you can build a community, and get to have face-to-face interaction every day.
It’s needless to say that if you’re a fitness lover, going to the gym is not only a form of exercise but rather a form of therapy for many individuals.
Martial arts has become one of many techniques for dealing with depression and anxiety, but so has the gym. Opening a gym of your own may allow you to impact the lives of others by helping them with life struggles they may be facing.
Disadvantages may include low margins, high overhead expenses, financial struggling, stress, and time consumption.
Do You Have A Marketing Plan?
Marketing is the key to the success of a business. Your business won’t grow just through word-of-mouth alone and without a proper marketing strategy, you may run at a loss.
Developing a marketing strategy or hiring a marketing team may be expensive at first but it’ll be worth it in the long run.
Consider implementing forms of digital marketing into your strategy such as social media marketing.
Are You Prepared To Fail?
Risking everything to start a business may pay off in the long run, however, approximately 20% of new businesses fail within the first two years of opening. Realizing that this is a possibility, can be an advantage as you can prepare yourself as much as possible to avoid failure.
By investing in the correct software, marketing strategies, and research practices, you can avoid common mistakes and prepare yourself for what is to come when starting this new venture.
