Get Your Ego In Check!

I mentioned in an earlier post that most gym owners will not do what is necessary to make their business a money making machine.  Why is that?  There is only one reason that I know of and it is FEAR.  And this fear is just a natural response to the idea of doing something different (unknown) that is being propagated by your ego. There's a great little article on keeping your ego in check here.  So let's dig deeper.

An assumption I will make is that this hypothetical gym owner actually wants to make money.  Sounds strange I know but we can't forget that many people in the gym business are in it for reasons other than profitability - for example to provide a public service for their community, or maybe even as more of a hobby.  And those people are not necessarily looking to have their gym make as much money as possible.

You might remember that what I'm basically talking about here is lowering the membership dues of a particular gym based on the laws of supply and demand.  In short, unless your club is at or near 100% capacity, you have some work to do!  I would say however that if your gym is at close to 100% capacity and you're still not making the kind of money you were hoping for you have even bigger problems, but that's a story for another day.

Supply and demand says that if you want more members, you should lower your prices.  And sometimes, the low prices I'm talking about are absurdly low - like $10 a month!  Now if you've been in the fitness industry for several years, you probably remember back to when gym memberships were $79 a month, so $10 must seem insane to you!  The difference is that "back in the day", gym memberships were marketed as exclusive, now the attempt is to make them inclusive - sell a membership to anyone with a pulse!

OK - so this is what you've been waiting for.  The simple truth is - most of your members don't need you!  Now if you're like a lot of independent gym owners, you might rail against that statement, but just imagine it for a minute.  80% (or more) of your members are just looking for a place to work out that is clean, modern, and has the equipment they need to stay fit.  They want to get in, get their workout in, and get out ... so stop getting in their way - leave them alone!  Your ego might be saying to you "my members need me", but I'm the voice of reason and I'm telling you they don't.  All they need you to do is clean the toilets, fix the broken equipment, and stay up to date with what they want in their gym (and make no mistake - they are fickle, so you better be thinking about replacing anything that's been in the club for over 5 years!).

Now go in the corner and sulk, if in addition to being the owner you are a personal trainer or group fitness instructor, some members might still need you.  But they will make that known to you, and you need to let them.  Otherwise, don't bother your members - let them get in and get out.  And get your ego in check!

Its the Economy Stupid!

Who doesn't remember that line used during Clinton vs. Bush  presidential campaign?  But what does this statement have to do with your fitness center?

I took some Economics courses in college, and one of the economic theories that fascinated me the most was the concept of basic supply and demand, and how adjusting the price of a product or service had an inverse effect on the demand of that item.  But again, how does this apply to a gym?


Well think of it like this ... Supply is how many members you can fit in your gym - taking the the physical limitations into account (square footage / equipment / parking lot size, etc.).  Look around your club, can you fit more members?  What capacity is your gym at during peak season?  If you aren't at near 100% capacity during peak season, there are going to be tumbleweeds blowing through in the summer months.  But are your expenses any lower in the summer?  If your gym is like mine, its just the opposite - because of the increased energy costs of keeping the place cool, summer is actually the most expensive season.  OK, so that's supply.  How many members can you fit?  Let's say its 1000.

Now let's talk about demand.  Would you agree that there are only so many people that are going to join a gym in your geographic area?  So how do you get the demand to equal supply?  Well there are many ways, but one of the most simple ways is to apply the laws of supply and demand, and lower your price.

So here it is - the answer to getting supply and demand to equal each other:  adjust your prices!  That's right, take a cue from Planet Fitness, one of the few gym chains that's actually thriving during the current economic situation.  LOWER YOUR PRICES!

In my next post, I'll tell you why most gym owners aren't willing to do what it takes to fill up their clubs.  I think the answer will surprise you!

Is Weight Watchers the Answer?

I must admit, I don't know a whole lot about Weight Watchers, but I have heard stories of how WW clients could choose to eat hoho's while on the plan if that's what they desired.  Now I was pretty sure a hoho has no nutritional value at all - so why would you eat it?  But I decide to check it out online, and it has been confirmed, a hoho isn't really that good for you!  Over 40 grams of sugar and over 10 grams of saturated fat.  I thought our body was a machine, and the food you put into it is fuel for the machine.  Not sure if a hoho is going to fuel much.

But even though I've heard the stories, it wasn't until I was surfing the web that I saw something that confirmed what I had heard.  Here's a picture of it:

So if you were to believe this ad, and hey it must be true if WW is paying a bunch of money to make sure I see it, you can eat cupcakes while you're on Weight Watchers.  So if I'm going to WW presumably because I want to lose weight, and they're telling me I can eat cupcakes, and their tag line says "Because It Works", I might be wondering "What do I need Weight Watchers for?  I'm already eating cupcakes!".

Alright, maybe this is a bit extreme, I guess I'm just surprised that a big brand like Weight Watchers would perpetuate the idea that its OK to eat things like cupcakes in your quest for weight loss.  But it reminds me of a quote from the manager that worked at my first fitness center - "The easiest thing to sell someone is a lie they want to believe".

I'm going to end this post by telling you something you already know, but I'm going to put it out there anyways.  You can't eat cupcakes and expect to lose weight!

Wake Up Gym Owners!

I've learned a ton about the gym business over the past decade.  I have a few reasons why I've learned so much.  For one thing, its because I always have my eyes, ears, and mind open to new possibilities.  That's right - I make a conscious decision to constantly learn new things.  When it comes to your business, do you have an open mind?  The 3 most dangerous words in the English language are "I Know That".

Another big reason why I've learned so much is that I actively place myself in the company of great people.  If I can't get with the great people personally, then I listen to them on audios, watch them on videos, or read their books.  When it comes to gym owners, I have had the good fortune to get to know some great ones.  It probably comes as no surprise that there are not all that many that I consider great.  Here are a few stand outs:

• Mike Grondahl - founder, Planet Fitness.  Don't know him personally ... only met him once in fact, and I doubt he would even remember it.  But I have paid very close attention to him by reading about him whenever I see his name mentioned in a fitness article.  I'm not going to go into details about what makes Mike great - just know that he has revolutionized the gym industry in the way that Sam Walton revolutionized shopping.  The Planet Fitness concept is the Wal-Martizing of the gym industry, and like it or not, it works.  Not only does the concept work, if you own a gym, you are probably being affected by it whether you know it or not.  More about that in a future post.

• Jerry Martin - Anytime Fitness, Winder, GA.  Just recently got to know Jerry ... very smart business man.  He owns 5 or 6 Anytime Fitness clubs in the Atlanta, GA area.  And by using his instinct for business, he has maximized the potential of the Anytime Fitness brand name in a way that I have not seen many do it.  Granted, Anytime Fitness is a great brand, though in my opinion they are going to have to make some changes very soon if they want to stay competitive in the gym industry (thank you Planet Fitness).  Jerry is doing something very unique with his 24 hour access clubs ... he is staffing them!  That's right, while most 24/7 access gyms are cutting staff to save money, Jerry is staffing his clubs for quite a few hours each day ... and I can tell you in my eyes, it is paying off.  Jerry is one of those guys who is running a successful business not because its a franchise, but almost in spite of it.  I'm sure he is frustrated constantly by the fact that AF corporate feels like they know more than Jerry does about running his clubs.  I can assure you that Jerry know more about running his clubs than AF corporate does.

• Mike Lynch - World Gym, St. Augustine, FL.  Mike is another one who is straying outside of the cookie cutter formula put forth by the franchisor.  He is taking the best of 2 worlds (no pun intended).  He has the best of World Gym, which is their recognizable brand name, and added the pricing concept of Planet Fitness.  I own a World Gym too, and thankfully, the current corporate regime is allowing franchisees to take some liberties with the brand when it comes to pricing.  Mike's aggressive pricing of $10 a month (thank you Planet Fitness) is NOT something you would want to run up against if you are a competitor!  As you can imagine, you have to have a delicate business blend to make that pricing model work for your gym.

Something all 3 of these guys have in common (as well as yours truly) is that they are not content with the status quo.  They are constantly looking at ways they can adapt their businesses to meet changing market demands.  As a gym owner myself, I have a lot of respect for these 3 guys - and again, I would not want to try to compete with any of them.

Are you a struggling gym owner?  We've all been there ... while I don't know this for certain, I bet the 3 people listed above have been there too.  The question is, what have you done to try to change it?  You better not be "just waiting it out" (i.e. - going down with the ship).  You need to be taking what Grant Cardone calls "unreasonable" action.  And if you don't know who Grant Cardone is, I suggest you start there - Google him.  And listen to what he's got to say.  Chances are, you've already cut your expenses to the bone ... you can't cut anymore.  So you are going to need to produce your way out of this.  Grant will tell you exactly what that means.

Stay tuned as I start to change this blog a bit more towards a reality check for gym owners.  If you have some comments I'd love to hear them.  And if irritate you - good!  Maybe you'll get irritated enough to get off your ass and do something about it.  Quit being a cry baby about your failing gym business and take some unreasonable action.  I suggest you start by taking a good hard look at yourself as a business owner.