How do go about opening a gym

[â„¢da1â„¢]

I have been working out for a while and I am really interested in starting my own gym privately owned or with a chain like (golds gyms,worlds gym,24hour fitness,ballys,powerhouse etc.)


I know for starting a gold or any chain you put in the request on how much u wanna spend,what location and they go about contacting you.


I am very interested in starting one But most of my family members go where you gonna get them money???

U gonna start a gym lol ????I'm really motivated in starting one even if it takes 15 years??? any gym owners here ???

[AFGymRat]

Originally Posted by â„¢da1â„¢

I have been working out for a while and I am really interested in starting my own gym privately owned or with a chain like (golds gyms,worlds gym,24hour fitness,ballys,powerhouse etc.)


I know for starting a gold or any chain you put in the request on how much u wanna spend,what location and they go about contacting you.


I am very interested in starting one But most of my family members go where you gonna get them money???

U gonna start a gym lol ????I'm really motivated in starting one even if it takes 15 years??? any gym owners here ???

Dude this is the 35 and over section! You are 16yrs old, enjoy high school while you can. Go to college, get your degree, then open a gym.

[OneO]

what he said

but...




biggest reason a business fails is under capitalization . get yourself enough of a cash cushion to run your gym for a year with 0 income. do that after you finish high school go to college , get a degree and live life a while. you WILL be tied down with a business . it OWNS you not the other way around .

[lukamar]

I'll add a bit. Not only go to university and get a degree go and get a business or accounting one. The gym business is all about money and number crunching. You need sound business knowledge, or for any business for that matter, to run a profitable gym.

[newmexico123]

Originally Posted by lukamar

I'll add a bit. Not only go to university and get a degree go and get a business or accounting one. The gym business is all about money and number crunching. You need sound business knowledge, or for any business for that matter, to run a profitable gym.

Are any gyms profitable? I thought the only gyms that made money were $ launderers for the mob.

[lukamar]

Originally Posted by newmexico123

Are any gyms profitable? I thought the only gyms that made money were $ launderers for the mob.

Sure won't have a chance if the management/owner doesn't have a good business background.

I'm not knowledgeable about the mob. I'll ask "Fat Paulie" andr "Bobby the Blade" next time I see them dragging a gym bag into the office....

[newmexico123]

Originally Posted by lukamar

Sure won't have a chance if the management/owner doesn't have a good business background.

I'm not knowledgeable about the mob. I'll ask "Fat Paulie" andr "Bobby the Blade" next time I see them dragging a gym bag into the office....

LMAO!

[newmexico123]

First thing you do is unlock the door . . .

[QUALITYGUY1]

Although 1/3 of all Forbes 400 members do not have a college degree, along with ALL of my successful business owning friends
Edit: you will also note that most of the non-degree 400 members started with a dream, most of the degreed members started with daddy's $$
You are certainly very young and you need to get out in the work force for a while and at least become independent, it doesn't hurt to plan ahead though...but, if you have a dream go for it. If you fail, it's not the end of the world and you can start again on something else.

[surlycurmudgeon]

Here's some oddball advice for ya:

Start your first business now and be ready to fail. Then do it again. Each time you come to the end of the business, whether it's through failure or boredom, analyze what you've done right and what you've done wrong. Make your gym your 4th or 5th business, and if you've learned anything from the first few, you'll be set.

[hunter1492]

To open a Gold's gym franachise they have minimums that must be met i.e. the facility needs to be 25,000 sf minimum, you have to have at least 1/4 of investment in cash etc. Other gyms have different franchise rules. (these are examples, I have not verified recent rules)

If your really interested then go to their websites. Most of the franchise websites have a section with FAQ about investing or purchasing a franchise license. Note: many won't give you detailed information if you have no cash to cover investment.

[DarinK]

The only thing I'll add to that is sometimes big corporations that open mega gyms(Lifetime Fitness) may open very close to you, intentionally, to steal all of your customers and put you out of business. They wait until you have done all the hard work by recruiting members, getting the surrounding community involved in fitness, then move in. It happened where I live, a couple of smaller gyms are struggling now.

[surlycurmudgeon]

Originally Posted by dkf10425

The only thing I'll add to that is sometimes big corporations that open mega gyms(Lifetime Fitness) may open very close to you, intentionally, to steal all of your customers and put you out of business. They wait until you have done all the hard work by recruiting members, getting the surrounding community involved in fitness, then move in. It happened where I live, a couple of smaller gyms are struggling now.

That would be an argument for franchising, wouldn't it?

[lukamar]

Originally Posted by dkf10425

The only thing I'll add to that is sometimes big corporations that open mega gyms(Lifetime Fitness) may open very close to you, intentionally, to steal all of your customers and put you out of business. They wait until you have done all the hard work by recruiting members, getting the surrounding community involved in fitness, then move in. It happened where I live, a couple of smaller gyms are struggling now.

In our small town of 7-8000 it's the city that's opening up a facility and competing with the two private ones. Someone is probably going to fail and it won't be the city's facility no matter how much money it loses.

Another thing to think about is fitting into a niche market and pulling your client?le, maybe not a lot of them, from a specific group. Offering very specific training, top notch service or services that others do not or cannot offer that's always a starting point for success.

I've talked to the owner of our facility about the possibility of turning it into a boutique style studio in the event that business drops off too much. It's better to look at all angles before because once you start to scramble you are probably too late.

[Tomcat1066]

Perhaps you should work your way through college as a personal trainer. Get your degree in business or accounting or something like that. Work really hard as a trainer and get certified in it. Save every penny you possibly can. Then you can start a personal training studio to start with, then expand it into a gym.

Will that work? Beats the hell out of me. There are a thousand different ways to do anything in this world. That's one that's crossed my mind a time or two.

However, one piece of advice I think we can all agree on: Live life for a while before you try to open a gym. You're 16...you've got all the time in the world.

Tom

[empresscat]

It's a huge financial investment - especially if you're talking about a full-scale franchise gym. A small 24-hour Fitness will run you a couple hundred thousand to start - with high operating costs. Something like a Snap or Anytime fitness, you can open for under 100k for a tiny location, and has lower overhead.


In other words what you need is

1) Excellent credit
2) Substantial cash to invest
3) Business savvy/experience

[D-Railed]

Last summer I purchased the rights for Powerhouse Gyms Alberta. For one gym in my hometown of Medicine Hat, it was gonna cost $600 000. For a 10 000 sqft place. Now it was going to be top of the line, but still, it is an incredible chunk of change. One big, huge piece of advice is, it is all about your rent. If you don't get a good building with a good priced rent, don't do it. The reason I'm not opening up anymore for a couple of years at least, is because we couldn't find any locations under $25/sqft. If you do the math, that's $250 000 a year just in rent. But if you get a good rent, a gym can be very profitable.

As for a college education, I went to college 3 years and changed my major once. I dropped out when I found a way to open a gym. Just make sure you actually know enough about business and fitness. I had people who took me under their wing to teach me ****.

Good luck, and if it's your dream, stick with it man.

[wide lats]

Originally Posted by surlycurmudgeon

That would be an argument for franchising, wouldn't it?

Yes, i looked this up and in the market today i would go franchise, Dorians temple Gym looks good to me catering more for BBing than fitness people.

[D-Railed]

Originally Posted by wide lats

Yes, i looked this up and in the market today i would go franchise, Dorians temple Gym looks good to me catering more for BBing than fitness people.

Yeah, you don't want to cater to bodybuilders. You want fitness people. There is a way bigger market for general health than bodybuilding. And if you have huge muscle heads in the gym, grunting and ****, it's intimidating for the average people. A lot of the top franchises are now switching there target markets to general fitness. Gold's and Powerhouse I know are for sure.

[QUALITYGUY1]

Originally Posted by D-Railed

Yeah, you don't want to cater to bodybuilders. You want fitness people...

NO...what you need first is market research to see what the area population will support in the area you choose.
You don't want to open an air conditioning store in Alaska.

[domineaux]

Most states require a very large escrow reserve ($50,000+) if you sell contract memberships. Back in the 70s health clubs sprang up everywhere. These clubs sold a large numbers of membership contracts and shortly thereafter shut the clubs down.

The swindled client's notes had been sold to finance companies and they had to continue to pay until their contracts were fulfilled. The sad part is the health club was gone and the client's were paying for memberships to clubs that were not longer available.

A lot of unscrupulous health club owners got potty rich screwing the clients this way. When the health club owners shut down the clubs there was no continuing expense. The club owners were paid in advance on the contracts held by the finance companies right after the client's joined the club.

A previous poster pretty well nailed it. The mob has been effective in this business, and no one else has been able to compete. Don't really know their angle, but it's out there. LOL

Don't want to sound total negative. There is always a slot for the niche market guys to make a half decent living with a lot of hard work and long hours. For the most part it's not that profitable a business to be in. The states have pretty well narrowed it down to no contract sales without putting large sum of money in escrow. The little guys' only way is to allow customers to pay as they go.

The big clubs have more ability to keep non-contract clubs working, because they provide large well equipped facilities and support personnel. You should also note they big clubs continuously advertise on TV, etc. (big bucks) They have to have a constant supply of newbies, because people get an aversion to working out about as fast as they do from drowning. LOL

[D-Railed]

[QUOTE=QUALITYGUY1;69587943]

Originally Posted by D-Railed

Yeah, you don't want to cater to bodybuilders. You want fitness people...QUOTE]


NO...what you need first is market research to see what the area population will support in the area you choose.
You don't want to open an air conditioning store in Alaska.

This is true, however, there probably aren't a tonne of areas that are primarily bber's. For the average Joe, orpening a gym in a regular city, general fitness is your best bet. For maybe small towns or the like, where everyone who goes is just there to build muscle, yeah cater to bber's.

[â„¢da1â„¢]

People around he in fl make opening a gym look easy they open gyms with ease and get like 100+ people signing up before it even opens

[bhaputi]

Originally Posted by â„¢da1â„¢

People around he in fl make opening a gym look easy they open gyms with ease and get like 100+ people signing up before it even opens

If you think that them making it looks easy, makes it easy, then do yourself a favor and pursue working for someone else rather than doing it yourself.

[D-Railed]

Originally Posted by bhaputi

If you think that them making it looks easy, makes it easy, then do yourself a favor and pursue working for someone else rather than doing it yourself.

I agree, it is a assload of work. Business plans, reasearch, meetings, all on time after work or school. It's a little overwhelming.

To the guy from Florida, are you talking about Bailey's Powerhouse Gyms? Cause Dave Bailey and his 2 brothers have 11 gyms. But they have alot of people in the industry working for them in the gyms, they get managers and **** to switch gyms. Plus they have an incredible management plan.

[Tomcat1066]

Originally Posted by â„¢da1â„¢

People around he in fl make opening a gym look easy they open gyms with ease and get like 100+ people signing up before it even opens

Yeah, but how much does the equipment cost? How much to have the space remodeled to fit your needs as a gym (unless it was a gym before)? How much for stuff like lockers for the locker rooms? Computer software? What about a staff...they've got to be trained before you ever open the doors. At that point, you're probably looking at, and this is just a guesstimate, about $250,000 when you include things like business licenses and tax ID numbers.

Now, you're in the hole for a quarter of a million bones, and you sign up 100 folks at $50 a month. Now, if ALL of that money went to pull you out of the hole, it would take you 50 months to get out of debt. Unfortunately, you still have to pay your staff, pay rent, taxes, etc. So, of that $5000 per month you're bringing in with those 100 people, you get to keep maybe $500 of it. Unfortunately, as you can see, you need more members, so you need to advertise. Bye bye $500...you need ad time.

And all of this is from a guy who has just thought about the fitness industry. I have no doubt it's even more of PITA in real life.

It's never as easy as it looks.

Tom

[lukamar]

Originally Posted by Tomcat1066

At that point, you're probably looking at, and this is just a guesstimate, about $250,000 when you include things like business licenses and tax ID numbers.

I walked away from a deal about 2 months ago. The owners were willing to sell me all their equipment for $1 if I would take over their lease. I talked to the landlord and got the lease down to $17 - Triple net included from $22 + triple net. Even at that when I crunched the numbers once the equipment was repaired or replaced the washrooms remodeled, paint,advertising and a new floor installed I would probably not break even unless i was very lucky.

I have thought about a small studio for myself and the woman I work with but that's going to wait. As $8 to $10 an hour to use the gym I use now, anytime i want is very attractive indeed.