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!