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.

Fitness Industry Trends

Before I move into the technical systems, I'd like to first offer my insight into the fitness industry in general. I have been in the industry for nearly 15 years, and in an industry as young as this one, that is actually considered to be quite a long time. I started out repairing fitness equipment for some of the biggest manufacturers around - including Life Fitness, Precor, Star Trac, and many more. I was so interested in the equipment and technology required to run a health club that I opened one of my own about 8 years ago. In fact, over my career in this industry, I have visited literally hundreds of fitness centers, and I have several friends that own clubs.

Now that I've explained what it is that I feel qualifies me to have an opinion as to what I believe is the future of fitness centers, I would say that this is just that - my opinion. I can say that I have quite a few trends in the fitness industry that proved to be accurate. One is that I saw first hand the excitement surrounding Precor's introduction of the industry's very first elliptical (called the 544 Transport) . I encouraged every club owner I knew that they needed to start adding ellipticals to their cardio mix as soon as possible. At that time, ellipticals were cheaper than treadmills and they took up less floor space, so I was constantly encouraging club owners to add ellipticals instead of treadmills when their budget allows. Now most clubs have an equal number of ellipticals and treadmills - proving out that the trend was here to stay.

I saw the same type of excitement around cardio entertainment systems such as Cardio Theater. Again I encouraged club owners to add televisions and Cardio Theater to their clubs, knowing that keeping members interested in fitness would be the name of the game when it comes to retention. Now you wouldn't even think about opening a new club without installing a cardio entertainment system.

Now on to my trends for today's fitness center owners. If I were someone considering opening a fitness center today, I would only open one if it were one of the following formats:

1. A 24 hour access facility in a small town or neighborhood area.
2. A nationally recognized franchise (examples include Planet Fitness, Powerhouse Gym, or Gold's Gym).
3. A combination of the two (examples include Anytime Fitness, Snap Fitness, and World Gym 1440 All Axcess - with more on the way).

It is widely thought that as in every other industry, as the fitness industry matures, the smaller independently owned (mom and pops) operators are going to be disappearing. Squeezed out by pressure from larger operators, some independently owned clubs are selling out, being forced out of business, or simply retiring. It is true that the buying power, business model, and deep pockets of the larger club chains (including franchises) are extremely difficult to compete against. I would contend that if you plan to own a club in a metropolitan area, you should seriously consider being part of a franchised operation (if you can't beat them, join them). If you plan to open a club in a small community, open as a 24 hour access club (the large chains cannot justify putting their business models in small towns). And if you plan to open in a small to medium sized town that already has other fitness clubs nearby, you should open as a franchised 24/7 operation (brand name recognition and 24 hour access could be unbeatable!).

I hope that I've provided at least some food for thought for those of you considering opening a new fitness club. If you already own a club, my suggestion would be to simply convert to one of the above business models. If you want to convert to 24/7 but remain independent, you've come to the right place. This blog will detail out exactly how to do it.