New Personal Training Studio

[JulianBee]

Hey guys me and a few other trainers just opened up a new personal training studio. We're going to add more equipment later, but this is what it looks like now.

[IanGeda1]

How much did all that cost?

[Mr.ILL]

Congrats julian. Do you plan on installing a stereo system in there once equipped?

[JulianBee]

How much did all that cost?

The build out was around a couple grand. We did it ourselves to save some money. The equipment we spent around 7k for. Bought it all used on craigslist.

Congrats julian. Do you plan on installing a stereo system in there once equipped?

Thanks. There's a stereo system already installed from the previous tenant. The stereo you see on the floor is just being used as a receiver.

[Mr.ILL]

Ballin. How many sqft?

[JulianBee]

Ballin. How many sqft?

1500 sqft. We are also in the same plaza as a salon, nail shop, and a preschool. Hopefully, we will get a lot of walk ins.

[IanGeda1]

1500 sqft. We are also in the same plaza as a salon, nail shop, and a preschool. Hopefully, we will get a lot of walk ins.

nice....thanks for the info

[Mr.ILL]

1500 sqft. We are also in the same plaza as a salon, nail shop, and a preschool. Hopefully, we will get a lot of walk ins.

oh man that sounds like a sweet set up.

[carl.c]

Looks good nice and clean with plunty of room around the equipment.

[MJRuffalo]

I would add a platform and bumper plates, some med balls, a concept 2 rower, and some kettlebells, but overall a good setup.

[Mr.ILL]

I would add a platform and bumper plates, some med balls, a concept 2 rower, and some kettlebells, but overall a good setup.

X2 except the concept 2 rower.

[JulianBee]

I would add a platform and bumper plates, some med balls, a concept 2 rower, and some kettlebells, but overall a good setup.

Thanks guys. I have the perfect place in mind if we ever get the platforms and bumper plates. One of the trainers brought in med balls(6lbs,8lbs,10lbs, and 12lbs) and kettlebells today.

[hamrogers]

How bout some posters of Arnold?

[askthetrainer]

Awesome, I see you put the stability ball in the tire to have clients squat on it right

[Rap_Rocky]

Awesome, I see you put the stability ball in the tire to have clients squat on it right

Lmao.

[JulianBee]

Awesome, I see you put the stability ball in the tire to have clients squat on it right

LOL. The funny thing is the tires get used twice as much as the stability balls

[Physiologist]

Looking sick man.

Please blog your process as it would help a lot of people.

Is rent expensive? It is retail space. And are you close to the city? Or is this a suburban studio?

Great idea on the craigslist. I'm surprised at how much it was. Great buys.

[Ctrainer]

Looking sick man.

Please blog your process as it would help a lot of people.

Is rent expensive? It is retail space. And are you close to the city? Or is this a suburban studio?

Great idea on the craigslist. I'm surprised at how much it was. Great buys.

^^this...and let me know how 1500 sq ft works out for you...I was thinking I would need atleast 2K....

[tovlakas]

How bout some posters of Arnold?

I'm assuming this is a joke? That's not a very good idea; Arnold appeals to hardcore bodybuilders (i.e. less than .00001% of a personal trainer's clientele). The other 99.9999% is made up of women who are deathly afraid of bulking up and the last thing they want to see is a bunch of idolized posters of steroided out monsters all over the walls of their studio.

Julian, you also need a couple bricks for pushups and a kettlebell to hang in the mouth. Negs till you implement this critical equipment.

[Simmo0508]

I'm assuming this is a joke? That's not a very good idea; Arnold appeals to hardcore bodybuilders (i.e. less than .00001% of a personal trainer's clientele). The other 99.9999% is made up of women who are deathly afraid of bulking up and the last thing they want to see is a bunch of idolized posters of steroided out monsters all over the walls of their studio.

We run a family studio here, and we have Arnold posters high on our walls. Jus sayin..

Men in general (overweight and otherwise) like that sorta motivation when they're training. Don't just always think about the women when decorating a studio. The whole "weights don't bulk you up blah blah blah" discussion should really be addressed during a female member's consult in a casual manner or what have you anyway.

Arnold is more than a figure for just bodybuilding. He's an icon for success in life, full stop. Most people respond to his posters positively, cos today he is seen as more than just a physique. He doesn't just appeal to hardcore bodybuilders - he also appeals to casual lifters, men of all ages, big, small etc.

There's a limit to when you gotta sometimes stop pussifying up your studio. They haven't created one problem yet here for example. It's not like you're posting porn or anything lol

I know what you mean regarding appealing to the gentler markets, but if it gets in the way of your own enjoyment in terms of what you want YOUR studio to look like, then it's not really truly your studio anymore - it's the member's. It's always your studio... the member's pay to play in it.

If you're purely running a females-only gym like Curves or Fernwood, then sure, no Arnold posters obviously. But when it's a gym that both men and women train at, don't just feel as if you have to market EVERYTHING towards the scared little pussy cat female demo. That's just isolating the guys then in that case. It's better to please both.

[Mr.ILL]

We run a family studio here, and we have Arnold posters high on our walls. Jus sayin..

Men in general (overweight and otherwise) like that sorta motivation when they're training. Don't just always think about the women when decorating a studio. The whole "weights don't bulk you up blah blah blah" discussion should really be addressed during a female member's consult in a casual manner or what have you anyway.

Arnold is more than a figure for just bodybuilding. He's an icon for success in life, full stop. Most people respond to his posters positively, cos today he is seen as more than just a physique. He doesn't just appeal to hardcore bodybuilders - he also appeals to casual lifters, men of all ages, big, small etc.

There's a limit to when you gotta sometimes stop pussifying up your studio. They haven't created one problem yet here for example. It's not like you're posting porn or anything lol

I know what you mean regarding appealing to the gentler markets, but if it gets in the way of your own enjoyment in terms of what you want YOUR studio to look like, then it's not really truly your studio anymore - it's the member's. It's always your studio... the member's pay to play in it.

If you're purely running a females-only gym like Curves or Fernwood, then sure, no Arnold posters obviously. But when it's a gym that both men and women train at, don't just feel as if you have to market EVERYTHING towards the scared little pussy cat female demo. That's just isolating the guys then in that case. It's better to please both.

Hmmm very interesting.

[NorwichGrad]

That's outstanding!! I wish you the best of luck, Julian.

Are there commerical gyms and other studios in your area?

[Thuirwyne]

I'm jealous. This looks really good!

How is your signage in front of the studio? Do you have a bathroom/shower?

[hhsrudy4]

Nice Julian! I'm actually about a month away from opening a studio with a guy who got my foot in the door with training. If you remember where Geist Resivoir is in Fishers, IN....We are opening up right by it. We were originally looking at about 3600 Sqft but they want entire too much for both lots so we are looking at 1800Sqft. So I'm glad to see pictures of your studio and what your starting with! We were looking at spending $30k on equipment so that's crazy you were able to get all of that for 7k! Good luck man!

[wallbuilder]

How many trainers would you guys suggest having in a studio if going that route?

[JulianBee]

Looking sick man.

Please blog your process as it would help a lot of people.

Is rent expensive? It is retail space. And are you close to the city? Or is this a suburban studio?

Great idea on the craigslist. I'm surprised at how much it was. Great buys.

Rent is around 2k and its in a commercial building. We're in Gilbert, AZ which is part of the greater Phoenix area.

I'm assuming this is a joke? That's not a very good idea; Arnold appeals to hardcore bodybuilders (i.e. less than .00001% of a personal trainer's clientele). The other 99.9999% is made up of women who are deathly afraid of bulking up and the last thing they want to see is a bunch of idolized posters of steroided out monsters all over the walls of their studio.

Julian, you also need a couple bricks for pushups and a kettlebell to hang in the mouth. Negs till you implement this critical equipment.

LOL no bricks yet, but we got the kettlebells

That's outstanding!! I wish you the best of luck, Julian.

Are there commerical gyms and other studios in your area?

There is actually a few studios in the area, but there's enough to go around.

I'm jealous. This looks really good!

How is your signage in front of the studio? Do you have a bathroom/shower?

Signage is great. We will able to put a sign on the front and a banner on the westside of the building. We have a pretty good sized bathroom, but we don't have a shower. Thats one thing we all really wanted so maybe a few months down the road we'll put one in.

Nice Julian! I'm actually about a month away from opening a studio with a guy who got my foot in the door with training. If you remember where Geist Resivoir is in Fishers, IN....We are opening up right by it. We were originally looking at about 3600 Sqft but they want entire too much for both lots so we are looking at 1800Sqft. So I'm glad to see pictures of your studio and what your starting with! We were looking at spending $30k on equipment so that's crazy you were able to get all of that for 7k! Good luck man!

Wow you're opening a studio near Geist? You should have no problem getting your place nice and busy. Thanks for the compliments and I'm sure I'll be back that way sometime visiting family. Let me know when you get your place open I'd love to swing by.

How many trainers would you guys suggest having in a studio if going that route?

We have 6 trainers, but only 4 full time trainers. We've had 5 trainers working at once multiple times and we haven't had any problems.


Thanks again for the positive comments guys

[jules_d1]

Nice work man.

Just a few things that may help you out:

- Dont worry too much about big pretty signage. PT'ing isnt the type of business where you need to be noticed from the street or will have many walk ins. its not like a clothing store where people can just browse. people dont think "oh i think i need some personal training, lets duck in here and have a look".

- IF you do have a walk in customer, make sure you have a form or something to capture their info. if you are training someone and someone else comes in a wants info, you're in a bind. Just say something like "thanks for dropping in, as you can see im working with a client right now but if you want to fill out this form and tell me a little bit about your goals i can give you a call ASAP and we can chat about how we can help you"

- Those nearby stores are coldmines for you and they will have a very similar target market. Dont expect walk-ins, instead go to their business and introduce yourself and set up joint ventures with them. Set up a meeting where you can sort out deals for each other.

for example you all may create professional looking vouchers with REAL value (eg 4 free sessions) that are to be given out to 'legit customers" who spend money with them. This means you are getting semi qualified leads referred to you already. also, if you have vouchers from the other stores to give to your clients, it makes you service so much better as you are giving them free gifts.

[labradarep]

Wait to follow your dream. That is a huge step in the right direction!!!

[JulianBee]

Nice work man.

Just a few things that may help you out:

- Dont worry too much about big pretty signage. PT'ing isnt the type of business where you need to be noticed from the street or will have many walk ins. its not like a clothing store where people can just browse. people dont think "oh i think i need some personal training, lets duck in here and have a look".

- IF you do have a walk in customer, make sure you have a form or something to capture their info. if you are training someone and someone else comes in a wants info, you're in a bind. Just say something like "thanks for dropping in, as you can see im working with a client right now but if you want to fill out this form and tell me a little bit about your goals i can give you a call ASAP and we can chat about how we can help you"

- Those nearby stores are coldmines for you and they will have a very similar target market. Dont expect walk-ins, instead go to their business and introduce yourself and set up joint ventures with them. Set up a meeting where you can sort out deals for each other.

for example you all may create professional looking vouchers with REAL value (eg 4 free sessions) that are to be given out to 'legit customers" who spend money with them. This means you are getting semi qualified leads referred to you already. also, if you have vouchers from the other stores to give to your clients, it makes you service so much better as you are giving them free gifts.

The walk-in situation happened today and we were really unprepared. Thanks for the advice.

[Ctrainer]

So how do you split the bills? Did you all sign the lease or did one take all the bills and the others pay rent?