Opening a gym is one of those adventures that fitness, health and wellness enthusiasts would love to do. It is one of the fastest growing businesses due to the growing interest of the population in sports and living healthy lifestyles.

Since it is that time of year when gyms are packed with people, we are going to give you a few ideas on how to open a gym safely, making quality your hallmark and with the goal of keeping all those people who sign up early in the year interested.

What you need to open a gym

Are you a coach or an entrepreneur?

First of all, you must understand your position. If you are a qualified fitness trainer or professional, you will need business level support. On the other hand, if you are an entrepreneur who is not a fitness graduate, you will need the knowledge of a specialist. In this way, you will know a lot about the environment in which you are going to work and in which you are going to bet.

Decide what kind of gym you want to open

The trends in fitness are increasingly varied and surprising. You must study in depth what kind of gym or sports centre you want to open and get to know it in depth. In many cases, a gym focused on guided classes or a more exclusive one with special events can work well. It is up to you to decide.

Study the area and demographics / Search for customers

This part is very important because a gym can only function thanks to its members. Analyze the area where you want to open the gym and find out what type of center can work best. The proximity to other establishments, the average income of the area, and take into account everything that may or may not influence who goes to your gym.

When you get the place, do not forget to plan the gym space. At Fitness Magazine, in addition to equipping you with the best gym machines, we offer you advice on this aspect.

Do not forget to look for customers before you open, either. Here are all kinds of means: provoke the mouth to ear, make yourself known in the area, and prepare some kind of welcome surprise, benefits for the first members.

Create a good business plan

This is an important moment: prepare a realistic business plan that includes information such as the type of gym, how many customers you want and what you are looking for, as well as the approximate costs of everything.  You should also conduct a SWOT analysis in which you assess your center’s weaknesses, threats, strengths and opportunities. Besides doing a SWOT analysis, you should definitely also do a turf analysis to determine the best pricing model you should adopt for your business

Gather the necessary capital safely

The investment required can be high, so it is important to have money before setting up your gym. Save money, get a business loan or try to join. Another economical option is to open a gym franchise.

Equip yourself with the best gym machines

It has the best gym equipment depending on the type of center you want to open. There are different options, not only to buy but also to lease in order to continue offering the best gym machines without affecting the budget.

Talk to the classroom instructors, they will be the ones who will work day by day with the gym machines and will help you to better understand the needs of the customers.

Prepare a good marketing plan

When everything is in place, you should already have a good marketing plan in place to help you publicize the services of your new gym. Do not forget to make good use of social networks: gyms offer a great opportunity for loyalty through the website and related spaces.

Planning Tips for Opening a Gym

Opening a gym is the dream of many people in love with sports. However, without a passion for entrepreneurship and administration, business will hardly thrive. Here are some tips for planning your gym set-up.

Planning a gym

Like any business, opening a gym begins with an effective business plan, which involves a detailed analysis of the market, the necessary structure and the economic and financial viability.

In the specific case of a gym, research for the business plan should focus on three elements:

What is the style of the gym, what is the expected number of clients and the percentage of profits, does the monthly fee cover all available activities or are there classes that are paid separately, are you going to sell products such as supplements?

What are the operating expenses and other expenses? Include instructors and equipment maintenance.

What are the challenges of opening your own gym and what are the problems that can arise? It is essential that you talk to people who already have experience in the area, such as owners, managers and gym instructors.

One option for those who do not want to plan a gym from scratch is franchising. Being a franchisee brings as a great advantage the support offered by the franchisor, but implies higher initial costs and decreases the profits of the operation.

When opting for the franchise, it is necessary to pay attention if the operation compensates for the payment of the royalty rate, since gyms rarely achieve more than 10% of profits. Therefore, ask the franchisor for the balance sheets to see if you will really make a profit and talk to other franchisors.

4 steps to set up a gym

Licenses

Once the business plan has been drawn up, the first step is to obtain government licenses to operate in this segment.

Segment

The second step is to think about the segmentation of your audience. With the boom in gyms in recent decades, you will hardly be able to enter such a competitive market with a generic proposal, trying to please everyone.

Find a goal, whether it is for athletic training, for women, for people who want to lose weight, for the elderly, for physical rehabilitation, etc.

Place

The third step is to find a suitable place for the target audience. Also think about accessibility and visibility: whether you will need a parking space or wait for customers to arrive on foot.

Remember, though, to find a place where you can offer all the services you want: Can you fit in a ring for boxing lessons, is there adequate space for yoga lessons?

Equipment

The fourth step is one of the most important: the selection and purchase of gym equipment. In addition to evaluating the suitability of the machines for your target audience, you should also take into account factors such as costs (purchase and maintenance) and new technologies, as there are always new developments in the area. If you don’t have such a large initial capital, a good option is to rent the equipment.

There you have it!

If you have any questions, suggestions or advice on this subject, please comment below. Take advantage of this to share this content with your friends and collaborators, through social networks.

Author: Mike Jason
company:  Kangyi Sporting Goods Co., Ltd.
website: https://www.ganasgym.com/