So you’ve decided to venture out on your own and start your own fitness center business. Congratulation! Making this decision is an important step towards realizing your goal, but you have a lot of work cut out for you between now and opening day. Here are the things you need to consider before you start up your own fitness center to make sure your center is profitable and successful:
The market
What’s the market like for fitness centers in your area? If it seems to already be flooded with fitness centers, think about what you might be able to offer that others can’t. This is the stage where you want to determine if you’re opening a general fitness center for all ages and abilities or if you want to go into a niche field like CrossFit, Yoga/Pilates, or a gym targeted to a specific demographic like women or senior citizens. You may need to think about branching into a different market based on what you discover through your research. Even though you’re excited and anxious to get started, it’s important to spend time doing research now to make sure your fitness center will be filling a need within a given market.
Finances
How are you going to pay for your new gym start up, and is the cash you have saved up going to be enough to cover your expenses? This is a step that might be best saved for professionals who can give you a realistic number for how much you are going to need, how big a loan you can realistically afford, and how long it will take you to become profitable. Don’t skimp corners with this step as it can end up being very costly down the road.
Design
The design of your fitness center goes hand in hand with its location and your finances, as the design will be a result of your fitness center’s location and the cost of it will impact your financial needs. Think about how you want guests to use your facility, and look into other facilities to think about what you do and don’t like. Also consider ways that you can expand your facility later and keep these in mind during the design stage. For instance, you may want to install a basketball court eventually but don’t have the finances quite yet. Knowing this will make it easy to either add enough space for one now or to have a place in mind where you will add one in a few years.
All of these elements are essential for your fitness center, and they can all be overwhelming to take on by yourself. The good news is that you don’t have to. Fitness Management & Consulting can help you through every step of building your Fitness Center business, from figuring out a location to going over finances to designing your fitness center. We’ll even help you train your staff, get top notch equipment, and stay available to help long after your opening day. For more information on how to start your own fitness center business, or to find out what we can do for you, contact us today.
