With a booming economy and many more job opportunities Americans are becoming more independent and many are taking advantage of the times and are starting their own independent businesses A lot of trainers look at starting a gym, but the unfortunate thing is they don’t know where to start. Despite their passion and their drive, people’s skills and their expertise in physical fitness might leave them lacking the knowledge and are intimidated by the idea of starting and running a gym.
Some questions need answering such as:
- How many funds does one need?
- How does one get started?
- Which kinds of obstacles should I expect to face?
To some, these are issues that are quite frightening. If you have the dream of starting a gym, below we give you a few steps you can follow and realise your dream:
Vision Definition
To get a good start, you should put aside the need to take action and make things happen fast. The first steps should be slow and start by identifying what is the overall vision for your gym.
Starting a commercial gym is much different than setting up a gym at home as you must make it to suit many different types of people and not for yourself. First ask yourself these questions: would you want to create a community center or a powerlifting club? Are you looking to launch the first green gym in your location or is the target a high-end gym?. What kind of extras or alternatives would you offer?. Will you offer a child minding area or go with the changing times and offer a place for new mothers to breastfeed?
Many businesses that do well know how to reach and interact their market niche. Having an overall vision and knowing a target market allows you to create tailor-made solutions for your clientele.
The environment you wish to set up for your gym also matters, do you want to attract powerlifters?, families?, athletes or children? These are factors that will contribute to the type of equipment and space you will need.
A mission statement strengthens a vision. The role of the mission statement is to give your gym a purpose and will keep your eye focused on the overall goal. The statement attracts clients who believe in the goals you set yourself to accomplish.
Creating A Client Base
Before starting a gym, it’s paramount that you know you’ll have a sizeable number of paying customers. Make sure they come to you as their trainer if they’re looking to switching gyms especially when they can’t get out of iron clad contracts.
Your relationship with your clients needs to be top notch, and you should be committed to your customers more than they commit to you to encourage them to keep coming back month after month.
Enroll in workshops or classes that teach you how to build quality professional relationships and use the skills gained to get clients that will commit to you as a person and to your work.
Timing is a key factor too when coming up with a budget, base your calculations on the lowest number of clients that are willing to move to your gym when you set up your new place.
Start with a smaller space and rent more space when customers overflow as opposed to starting big and having to scale downwards. Starting small helps you create a close-knit community and feels more energetic.
The location is a major factor for your existing clients. The less the distance travelled, the more clients will check in at your gym. A maximum travel time by car is 15 minutes to and from the gym is acceptable by many would be clients. Much more than that and people will start looking to closer more time convenient locations.
Starting a gym is an incredible and rewarding experience. You create a product that works, matters to the society and the community and makes a difference. There are plenty of obstacles and hurdles you will face, but with the right steps in place, you will create a platform that will be successful.
