Do you work out regularly every week? Maybe, you go two to three times a week. Sometimes, you might even go four or five times a week. No matter what, you take exercise and health seriously.
With all that time spent getting fit in a studio space, the thought of owning a fitness business yourself has probably crept into your mind. Maybe the idea has been on your mind since before you can remember.
No matter what inspired you, you’re already taking steps in the right direction by thinking about the venture. Whether you’re an investor tapping into a lucrative market or a fitness trainer looking to build on your expertise, the first step to achieve your goal is drawing up a business plan. Among other things, crafting the gym business plan outline gives you a roadmap for your journey.
Without further ado, let’s hop to it and bring you one goal closer to opening a studio and becoming a gym owner.
How to Start a Gym Business Plan: Factors to Consider Before You Begin
According to the IHRSA, 2019 saw the exercise industry worldwide net a total of $94 billion U.S. dollars. While that means that you’ll most likely see success upon getting your studio off the ground, you still need to be smart about the start-up portion.
While having a passion and drive to get started are vital, you must also set aside time to consider a few things. Don’t rush in—instead, ask yourself a couple of questions before you craft a business plan for a gym.
1. What Will I Need to Buy for My Gym to Start?
Starting a company, no matter what industry, takes a steep upfront toll financially. The gains will come after the place has opened and gained loyal clients. Before that, however, you’ll need to get creative.
Imagine your ideal studio and research how much each item will cost. With exercise centres, you’ll need a plethora of things to get started, including:
- Machines and equipment
- Personal trainers
- Class instructors
- Insurance
- A space
Remember that you can build your company up as you go, so don’t get overwhelmed. However, be realistic about your start-up budget. Try to find a balance between your vision and your wallet.
2. How Much Personal Time Do I Want to Dedicate?
Starting a venture is no small feat. Whether you want to establish a local center or have large-scale ideas, you’ll need to dedicate a serious chunk of time to realize your dream. Think about how much personal time you’re willing to sacrifice each day.
If you want, you can work your day job and craft your small gym business plan in the evenings. You could also dedicate your weekends to the endeavour. The urge to take all your free time and put it into the company might be tempting, but remember to give yourself time to relax.
3. Who Is In My Corner?
The final corner of the ideal start-up, along with costs and time, is the team. Unless you’re a master marketer, web designer, and financier who has all the time in the world on their hands, you’ll need help. All successful fitness businesses look for experts in their respective fields as their business matures.
Reach out to your friends, work connections, and other individuals in your community to find the right team members. Since working in a start-up is considered risky, offer them incentives to join.
You can pay new team members upfront or hourly if you have the funds. You can look into small-business liquidity loans to help with cash flow as well. Finally, you could also offer stakes in the company, co-founder titles, or contracts that give them compensation upon launch.
Starting a company is always a group effort, even if one person gets the label of CEO. Make your teammates feel appreciated and respected by doing all you can to compensate them.
Why Is a Fitness Club Business Plan Essential?
You’ve asked yourself the essential questions to get started, so why can’t you go already? How does hammering out an opening a gym business plan benefit me? You’ve come to terms with the initial financial and time costs, plus got a stellar team to start, what else is there?
Well, think of a health club business plan as a foundational piece of your enterprise. Let’s go over a few benefits before diving into the guide on writing a business plan for gym owners.
1. You’ll Have a Foundation to Build On for Success
With a fitness gym business plan, you are creating a map for your start-up venture. If you craft the document accurately, you should have a strong projection of the initial steps to the company’s launch.
You can always look back at your initial papers to guide you on moving forward. Plus, it’s never too late to change aspects depending on the direction you go. Use the crafting phase to make every element of running the company concrete.
2. You’ll Get Most of the Paperwork Out of the Way
With a fitness gym business plan, you are doing most of the legwork at the beginning of the race. When planning, bring in your start-up team to help you with writing up contracts. Brainstorm together and create agreements that are equitable to both parties.
During this period, you’re laying the base for how your company will handle employees from the onset. Aside from employee contracts, you can also craft liability waivers, applications for permits, and any other documents that you might need.
3. You’ll More Easily Achieve Your Goals
By diving in and creating a fitness club business plan, you’re giving yourself time to think. With that time, you can take a step back and objective look at your dream.
If the end goal is to start an exercise center, what comes in-between? Is it the website, is it an effective SEO strategy for your gym? Use the planning period to create smaller, more achievable goals.
While you should continue to create new goals for yourself as time goes on, the business plan for gym method is a sound starting point.
4. You’ll More Easily Get Funding
If you have a solid plan and future in mind for your company, you’ll attract investors and potential business partners more easily.
The centralised format will inspire confidence in those funding your venture. Plus, you can use the document to persuade others to work with you.
5. You’ll Have Control
The best part of crafting a detailed small gym business plan is that you have complete control. When you dive into the process, there are templates to choose from, but you can choose to fill it out however you’d like.
You can choose between a traditional or lean structure depending on your timeline. Traditional formats will give you more time to flesh things out fully while lean focuses on the highlights without taking too much time.
Feeling pretty confident that drafting a fitness club business plan is the right call? Let’s dive into the step-by-step guide!
A Step-By-Step Guide to Craft a Start-up Gym Business Plan
When you write an opening for a business plan, you’re setting yourself up for success. You’ll always have a place to go back to when new decisions come up, or you need to persuade potential partners to join you.
You can format your health club business plan however you want, but there are templates out there to help you get started. Below, we’ve detailed the required contents of every section of the document. If you include each portion and flesh everything out, you’ll be golden. All parts play an essential role in helping your exercise centre company succeed.
1. Craft the Executive Summary
The first section of the business plan is the executive summary. In this portion, you’ll list,
- WHAT your goals are
- WHY this is your mission
- HOW you’ll succeed
- WHERE you envision the company going
Because the executive summary comes first, you need to ensure it’s short, captivating, and clarifies any questions individuals could have. Keep the length on the lower side but give yourself time to speak. You can also think of the executive summary as the company pitch.
With the brief intro given in the section, you can proceed to more details with the company overview.
2. Make the Company Overview
From the executive summary lead-in, you can elaborate on your vision and mission statement in the company overview. You can consider the vision statement contained in this section as your tag line. Be sure to include:
- Your gym’s PURPOSE
- Your AUDIENCE
- Your company METHODS
When you start working on your mission statement, get personal. Get specific about what you want to accomplish from their endeavor. What’s the main reason you’re creating the fitness club? Share that with the world. Highlight what in the fitness industry you want to improve or change.
Dive into the history of your previous work and how it led to your current position. From there, briefly outline your strategies. Talk about services, development, and future offerings. Include musings on how to increase market shares. Here, you’re talking to potential funders and partners.
3. Create Employee Roles and Structure
How will you structure the team at your center? List out the various positions that you’ll need and how these people are integral to your company. Write down what the hierarchy will look like, what each employee is responsible for, and how you’ll make them feel valued.
Summarise how the skills and management experience of each team member will help your company. Think like an outsider reading the document while you write the section. Create a structure that would make individuals excited to apply for a job, not nervous.
4. Define the Target Audience for Your Business
Here, you’ll have some space to get creative. Marketing allows you to explore the various demographics that you can target for your exercise club. You’re crafting ways to connect with people and get them excited to become fit. Even if you’re not into marketing, having solid research behind you only works in your favor. Don’t be afraid of new ideas to promote your gym either!
Start by summarising your research, or highlighting key components of your findings. You should end with a defined target market, whether its elderly folks, students, or families. With your specific group in mind, explore why they need your company. Ask yourself, what is your Unique Selling Point?
5. List of Your Services and Amenities
Listing the specific services, amenities, and equipment needed will give everyone an idea of how big your center will be. Use the section to analyze whether you have the funds required to cover all your assets or if you’ll need to raise funding.
Are you going to purchase weights? What about ellipticals or running machines? Will you have a TRX machine? Is your centre going to provide food and snacks for members? Plus, will you offer yoga classes, HIIT, or something else?
Describe the benefits of each of your services and amenities. You can also craft a unique angle by becoming an exercise club and a spa. Finally, use bullet points to list your pricing.
6. Analyze the Cost Estimates
Now it’s time to create a spending menu for your venture. Create estimates for everything that you need to purchase.
Take time on this section to ensure that you’ve covered every possible cost. For example, think of the costs of building work, hiring costs, and gym equipment. In the end, write a precise number.
With the cost estimates out of the way, it’s time to turn to potential income sources. Jot down how much each of your services and amenities (a spa, special classes, etc.) will bring in revenue. Also, include any merchandise and products you’re planning to sell.
7. Calculate Your Financial Projections
Calculate sales forecast for the first three years of your business. Also include predictions for active members for each year. Use the units per month, relevant past data, and purchase breakdowns to craft the numbers.
8. Detail Your Financial Strategy
You’ve already listed potential income sources—now it’s time to explain how you’re going to use that revenue.
Use market research to see how your fees compare to the competition and adjust them to be competitive. Include discounts, rewards, and other perks. If you include the spa in your health club business plan, consider giving loyal customers discounts.
Having the strategy detailed on paper will let you plan for the future and be flexible as success comes.
9. Give Your Clients Payment Options
When customers enroll in your membership programs, special classes, or spa sessions, they’ll want a variety of ways to pay. Ensure that you not only give the clients options but keep them modern.
Use the section of your business plan to highlight how you’ll have customers pay for your services. Use a service that allows customers to give automated payments.
10. Show How You’ll Get Funding
Use the section here to detail how you plan to get funding for your company. List all sources of income and how much you’ll be receiving.
Victory Is in the Air!
Now that you know how to write a business plan, you’re ready to dive further into creating your fitness business dream. With the document, you’ll have a solid foundation to take your venture to the next level. Congrats and good luck! If you need help with your digital marketing strategy, please let us know. We help gym owners across the USA.