Opening the gym - requirements and cost of fitness club equipment

There are a few things to consider when deciding to open a gym. One of the most important is market potential. This in turn will allow us to build a good business plan - the gym also needs it.

Business plan - gym is also a challenge

It may seem that a fitness club is a very easy business and everyone who practices is intuitively ready for it. After all, a healthy lifestyle is very popular nowadays - more and more of us are running, going to the gym, using the help of a personal trainer... So what can be difficult to open a gym? Just find the right place (we write about it here, among others), rent the right place, buy equipment, hire staff and start selling tickets... Unfortunately, it may very soon turn out that instead of advertising posters, we will start hanging ads: I will sell a fitness club...

The problem is exactly the same as, for example, when opening a restaurant. Not every good chef will be a successful owner... That is why well-known personal trainers brand fitness clubs with their own names, but they entrust their running to appropriate managers.

Let's start with the basic issue: as with other projects for which we create a business plan, the gym also needs it. In turn, the starting point for good investment preparation is market analysis.

A gym in the countryside - a business that can succeed

To begin with, carefully analyze the market. It is worth checking if there is a place for a gym in the area where we want to create our business. There are at least several factors to consider.

Let's start with the market potential. It's about answering the question of whether a fitness club is needed at all in this area? Will we find the right number of customers who will provide us with the right level of income? Of course, it can always turn out that a place that apparently has no potential at all will turn out to be the best location... But this is a matter of our ability to risk and possible failure.

This happens when most of the people we ask do not want to go to the gym, but because ... there is no gym in the area. As soon as it appears, it can quickly become the most popular and fashionable place. Therefore, sometimes it is worth the risk and open a fitness club in such an unexpected place, as in the countryside, for example. It may seem that the clubs are reserved for large cities - and this is indeed confirmed by statistics. This does not mean, however, that the gym in the countryside is immediately doomed to failure. For example, it may turn out to be the only place in the area that will be attractive to young people. However, in this case it is very important to plan your fees carefully.

The cost of fitness club equipment and our business plans

Let's remember that the question: how much does club equipment cost, is only one of many that we should ask ourselves. Sometimes, when analyzing expenses on the gym, we make the mistake of limiting the calculation to just what is the cost of fitness club equipment. This is indeed the largest amount that we will spend, but - remember - not the only one. When preparing a business plan, we must remember about the cost of renting, renovating, marketing and finally the staff. All these factors have an impact on the amount of fees we will have to pay every month, and thus on the amount of prices we will want to introduce for our club members. This, in turn, will determine the availability of our offer - whether it will be suitable for everyone or just for some.

Let's stop for a moment at the cost of staff. This can be very important - the type and quality of trainings that will be in our offer will depend on the trainers. Let's remember that even if we equip our club with the best fitness accessories, but we don't have the right staff, they will be useless. It is only the fitness instructor - the skills he has acquired and which he can offer - that decide what classes we will propose. So it's worth looking around the staff first, and then planning what fitness accessories we need. It may turn out that, for example, we spend a lot of money on a professional yoga room, but we do not find the right instructor...

Fitness instructor and personal trainer - who to hire

The fitness instructor is responsible for group classes (e.g. zumba, pilates, etc.). In turn, the personal trainer specializes in individual classes. Very often their competences and skills are similar.

It is worth making sure, however, that the staff available in a given place will be able to lead the classes that we plan to organize.

Then it's time for the key question: since we know that we are interested in a fitness instructor - how much does he earn and what are his expectations? Unfortunately, there is no definite answer here. It all depends on the place (earnings in large cities are higher), the skills and experience of the trainer, as well as his popularity. If he already has a large group of people exercising and can move them to our gym, maybe we can consider spending more money...

The subject, of course, is very wide, so we will definitely come back to it soon.