A gym for many people is a sports facility specialized for lifting weights and exercise. Things are evolving though. A gym can now be in the form of a fitness center, a health club, or a sports club. A gym is a very profitable business to start. There is a growing interest to live healthy nowadays. The pursuit of fitness and overall well-being has spiked the demand for gym services. In some places there are many people wishing there were gyms nearby. The demand is growing and will remain high moving forward. Gym services are no longer just the preserve of sporting personalities. Anyone from teenage to senior citizens can access gym facilities. This is because health-consciousness is now a big deal to many people. Various ways are being employed towards that end and keeping physically healthy through gym workouts is one of them. It is no wonder why there is a surge in the number of people in search of gyms or signing up at gyms. All that makes for a solid case as to why more people should consider starting a gym businesses. It is a big industry that is more than ripe for more players to enter. In this article we discuss how you can start your own gym business, and the gym business plan (PDF, Word & Excel).
Business Model
The most common business model for a gym business is the subscription model. Clients sign up and choose monthly membership packages. Usually membership fees give access to the gym. Additional charges can be services such as having a fitness instructor or personal trainer. There can be other in-house classes or sessions. These can be zumba classes, aerobics classes, and the like. A gym business can adopt two business models at the very least. That is the subscription model and the direct sales model. Direct sales can apply to product sales or any other relevant items that can be sold.
Market Research
You must find out what the market is like i.e. how big it is and the kind of gym services people are looking for. You should be aware of gym the age distributions and preferable gym times so that you setup your business from an informed standpoint. In your market research you will also be checking out your potential competitors or generally just other already established players. Your intention will be to get a picture of how they conduct their gym businesses so that you draw insights that you can use to formulate your own gym business. The market research will ensure that you come up with a viable gym business plan.
Location And Premises
Comprehensive considerations must be done in making decisions regarding location. You will do well by finding a location that is easily accessible to clients, has substantial visibility and sufficient parking space. It is better to locate your gym in central business districts, shopping malls or places you know are characterised by high human and vehicle traffic. The location must also be secure to ensure that clients and their belongings are safe throughout their gym sessions. The assumption also is that you would have already identified where clients and prospective clients are concentrated during your market research. With that in mind you must be located as close to those people as possible.
Then there is the issue of proper spacing of workout stations and general spaciousness. This is central to ensuring every client can have their own space without disrupting or being disrupted by the next person. The interior must have adequate lighting either through artificial lighting or natural light. If your location is big enough it would be great to have an outdoor gym court. This will give clients the choice to workout indoors or outdoors. Proper and conducive temperatures must be maintained in order to make clients’ gym experience pleasurable (this especially applies to indoors). That would mean your premises must be air-conditioned. Extra measures must be put in place to ensure the security of clients from accidents or injury. What this means is that gym equipment must be kept in a secure manner to avoid accidents or injury. The costs of purchasing or leasing the premises should be included in your gym business plan.
Competitive Analysis
You need to study some of the top gyms operating in your intended market space. Where are they located? Pay close attention to the type of services they offer, the packages, and their pricing. Find out the size of their memberships or general occupancy during operating hours. Take note of the type of facilities they use i.e. the space, the design, the layout, and so on. Find out the types of equipment they use. Do they own or rent the building? What other products or services do they offer? Seek to also speak to current users of those top gyms. You will discover that most gym businesses lack in so many ways.
You will also discover that some places are underserved or not served at all. At times you will discover the operating hours of some of the gyms are inflexible. Some gyms premium-price their services such that many people cannot afford. There are so many gaps in the market when it comes to gym businesses. A thorough study of the gym industry and notable top gyms will provide you with the relevant insights. Once you have them your gym business has to differentiate itself. Enhance what is already being done well. Do even better what is not being done well. Then do that which others are not doing.
Permits/Licenses, Insurance & Business Bank Account
Permits Or Licenses
Your gym business must be a formally registered company or business. That must be the first thing to do so that your gym is a recognized legal entity. Then to operate the gym you have to apply for an operating license. Get in touch with your respective municipal office or applicable local authority to be guided accordingly.
Importance Of Certifications
Other permits or licenses pertain to certain certifications that might be needed. For instance, fitness instructors or personal trainers must be certified. The same goes for several other specialist instructor-led activities that your gym might offer. Do not just offer them using personnel that is not trained and certified. If it is a dietician, let it be someone professionally qualified for that. If it is a boxing instructor, let it be someone certified for that. It is critically important that you take heed of this to avoid complications later.
Insurance & Business Bank Account
There are a number of insurance covers that can apply to a gym business. An example is property damage liability insurance. Another example is theft cover; there are many. Engage and have a chat with a reputable insurance provider. They will give you detailed recommendations on which insurance covers your gym business needs.
Having a dedicated business bank account for your gym business is important. There are many things it can protect you from e.g. business debt liability. You will not have unfortunate scenarios where your personal finances are affected by your gym business. It also makes it easier to do accurate financial analyses for the gym business.
Gym Equipment
The selection of required equipment will be informed by the services you would have decided to offer. Significant amounts will obviously be needed to source the equipment. It is advised that you endeavour to acquire latest equipment so that you draw public appeal. Chances are some of the people who will visit your gym already have a particular taste due to their prior visits to other well-furnished gyms. If you are to become a gym of choice you must have standard and up-to-date gym equipment. Some of the equipment required is treadmills, bikes, mats, rubber flooring, ellipticals, free weights (e.g. dumbbells, barbells), strength machines, weight machines, rakes, rowing machines, weight benches and so on. In sourcing equipment do not just be stuck with trying to purchase outright as that might be too difficult for you at first. You can explore other options such as renting equipment. You long term goal must be to ultimately purchase premium gym equipment. The gym business plan should obviously include the costs of purchasing the gym equipment.
Products & Services
There are several approaches to take up since possible services to be offered are plenty and diverse. The basic is to just have just gym equipment and people pay to come and do workouts of their choice. There are, however, plenty more services that can be added on top of that. Examples are zumba, yoga, aerobics, boxing, pilates, gymnastics, weight-lifting and so much more. You can even have in-house personal trainers that interested clients can pay to serve them. Retail services can also be incorporated e.g. the selling of gym wear, beverages, supplements, literature, green products and the like. So the best approach is to amalgamate several diverse services for your gym in such a way that any age group can be catered for. In order to know the exact services to offer you will have to conduct thorough market research and have a good gym business plan. Your gym business plan should outline the products & services that you intend to offer.
Staff And Management
This is always determine by the size of your gym business operations. You need gym instructors, fitness trainers, receptionists, finance & marketing staff. To keep operating costs at bay, human resources in this respect, you can hire freelancers or independent contractors for trainers. This will save you from the long list of financial obligations that come with you employing full-time personnel. The gym business plan should cater for the salary costs of all your employees.
This is a line of business that needs an insurance cover. Incidentals are most likely to occur so having insurance cover can save you from some financial stress. Even the gym equipment needs to be insured because things like damage through fires can occur. So it is recommended that you approach insurance service providers to find out which insurance policies can be applicable for your gym business.
Marketing Strategies
Multi-platform Marketing Is The Answer
You have to exhaust as many marketing strategies for your gym business as possible. This means you have to cast your nets on offline and online platforms. Offline you must invest in making the gym eye-catching. The use of open floor plans and full length windows helps. Put neon lights outside and have background music playing as well. These are ways you can use to make the gym alluring to anyone who passes by. Use banners, posters, and billboards to advertise the gym. You can put these up onsite or at strategic spots within your catchment area. Do ad placements in print media such as newspapers.
Online you have to do the usual i.e. set up a website and social media accounts. However, you have to go far and beyond. Conduct regular online contests to drive engagement and followership. Collect as much authentic user-generated content as you can. Make sure whenever anyone comes across your online platforms they see good reviews and testimonials. Make your platforms a hub of relevant and informative content about fitness and wellness. You can even start a blog. Customer loyalty programmes are also a potent marketing strategy for the gym business.
Market
There is huge demand for gym services all over the world. There is a great need for gyms in the country as a growing middle-class with rising disposable incomes embraces a healthy and more active lifestyle. Potentials customers for a gym include males & females, both young and old. There is high demand for gym services from fitness enthusiasts like athletes, fitness trainers, sports persons and body builders. People who are healthy conscious also need gym services eg some females go to the gym so as to lose weight. Companies often give various incentives to their workers such as gym membership coverage, thus they are another source of customers. Your gym business plan should include a proper marketing strategy.
Keys To Profitability
Make your gym a one-stop shop for all things fitness and wellness. That way you will nudge customers to spend as much as possible on your gym. Ensuring customers have the best experiences is pertinent. One of the ways to guarantee that is by personalization. Any customer must feel like your gym was specifically designed for them. Build communities (especially online ones) around your gym business. People generally love to work out as groups and to also interact with other gym enthusiasts. If your gym can build a tribe around its brand, that will drive word of mouth, referrals, and repeat purchases.
Never forget, product retail is essential for profitability. As always the thrust should be to diversify your revenue streams. The gym business can be scaled and pivoted in so many ways. Move outside conventional thinking. Starting a gym business can be a high returns business to start.
Pre-Written Gym Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel): Comprehensive Version, Short Funding/Bank Loan Version and Automated Financial Statements
For an in-depth analysis of the gym business, we encourage you to purchase our well-researched and comprehensive fitness gym business plan. We introduced the business plans after discovering that many were venturing into the gym business without enough knowledge and understanding of how to run the business, lack of understanding of the financial side of the business, lack of understanding of : the industry, the risks involved , costs and profitability of the business; which often leads to disastrous losses.
The StartupBiz Global gym business plan will make it easier for you to launch and run your gym business successfully, fully knowing what you are going into, and what’s needed to succeed in the business. This is a complete business plan for a gym. It will be easier to plan and budget as you will be aware of all the costs involved in setting up and running the gym business.
Uses of the Gym Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)
The gym business plan can be used for many purposes including:
- Raising capital from investors/friends/relatives
- Applying for a bank loan
- Start-up guide to launch your gym business
- As a gym business proposal
- Assessing profitability of the gym business
- Finding a business partner
- Assessing the initial start-up costs so that you know how much to save
- Manual for current business owners to help in business and strategy formulation
Contents of the Gym Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)
The business plan for a gym includes, but not limited to:
- Marketing Strategy
- Financial Statements (monthly cash flow projections, income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, break even analysis, payback period analysis, start-up costs, financial graphs, revenue and expenses, Bank Loan Amortization)
- Industry Analysis
- Market Analysis
- Risk Analysis
- SWOT & PEST Analysis
- Operational Requirements
- Operational Strategy
- Why some people in the gym business fail, so that you can avoid their mistakes
- Ways to raise capital to start your gym business
The gym business plan package consists of 4 files
- Gym Business Plan – PDF file (Comprehensive Version – 81 Pages)
- Gym Business Plan – Editable Word File (Comprehensive Version – 81 Pages)
- Gym Business Plan Funding/Bank Loan Version- Editable Word File (Short version for applying for a loan/funding – 41 pages)
- Gym Business Plan Automated Financial Statements – (Editable Excel File)
The business plan can be used in any country and can be easily edited. The financial statements are automated. This implies that you can change eg the number of members, salaries etc, and all the other financial statements will automatically adjust to reflect the change.
Click below to download the Contents Page of the Gym Business Plan (PDF)
Get the Gym Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)
Click Buy Now below to purchase using Paypal, Credit Card, or Debit Card. After you have purchased, you will immediately see the download link for the business plan package on the screen. You will also immediately get an email with the business plan download link.
The Pre-written business plan package (PDF, Word, and Excel) costs $30 only!
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The business plan package is a zipped compressed file containing the PDF, Word and Excel documents. To open the package after downloading it, just right click, and select Extract All. If you have any problems in downloading and opening the files, email us on shop@startupbizglobal.com and we will assist you.
We wish you the best in your gym business! Check out our collection of business plans , and more business ideas.
