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In this article we are going to answer your question ‘How do I become a successful gym owner?’ by covering the most common mistakes that can cost you your business. Are you ready?
Running a fitness business is not as easy as it looks like. If you aspire to become a gym owner you should start thinking about the challenges you will be facing once you start your business , and how you can turn these obstacles into opportunities of growth.
In the current climate you will probably be focusing your energy on Corona-proofing your facility, creating a business plan and putting a strategy together to ensure a regular stream of revenue.
There’s a lot more to do too, from deciding whether you want to have a physical facility or operate 100% online. By planning how to make your gym members feel safe during this uncharted time, you can provide them with a great offline and digital experience ( read more here ).
You need to think about whether you should go solo or hire the staff to help you run your gym, and how to let people know that you are out there, such as launching localized marketing campaigns to make your business flourish.
Everyone makes mistakes, not everybody learns from them
Luckily learning from others’ mistakes is going to help you figure out what are the big don’ts in the fitness industry. Don’t forget to tune into our new podcast ‘How To Grow Your Fitness Business’!
During our latest Lunch & Learn webinar Matt Remick, President and Owner of Rochester Athletic Club,revealed some of the mistakes he made early on in his career and how they made him grow as a club owner.
Let’s see what these learnings are, and how you can also learn from them to make your business grow.
1. Take your time
When you start a new adventure you are eager to accomplish as much as possible in the shortest amount of time. Give yourself the necessary time to think about issues without coming up with a solution or an answer straight away.
As an owner it is your job to make decisions, but don’t trick yourself into believing that faster is better. It’s okay to say ‘I don’t have an answer at this time’, ‘I need to sleep on it’ or ‘ I need an hour to think about it’. It’s important to pause and think about decisions. Sometimes ego can get in the way of just saying ‘Hey, give me some time in order to figure this out’.
2. Listen to your wise mind
Have you ever heard about the wise mind? The wise mind is the unique combination of reasonable mind and emotional mind. It’s the place where the two minds overlap.
Training your wise mind can help you find the balance between emotional and rational thoughts. Working on your wise mind can help find solutions and improve your problem-solving skills when facing unexpected issues. You can face problems in your career as club owner by balancing your emotions with your rationality and coming up with the ideal solution.
3. Focus on your members
Today members have become more of a focus for everyone who is working in the fitness industry. Making the members the center of your strategy is going to help you figure out what they need, and give insight on the best way to achieve their goals.
Throughout the years technology has changed expectations , not only in our daily lives but also in the fitness industry. Everything is on-demand now, so make sure you are tech-savvy enough to provide clients with the right tools.
Even the smallest steps count as milestones: having a customized app, tailored workout plans, a video-on-demand platform to provide engaging training to a large audience will make your clients feel important and it will improve their member experience.
It is not just about getting physically stronger, but having some emotional and social activity. Ask yourself: ‘How am I going to create a community for my members to be able to meet, socialize and engage with them?’
4. Care about structure and processes
There’s never a bad time to reevaluate your processes in order to make additional improvements to your fitness business. Test, try, explore and make some decisions. If you think you can’t come up with the best solution, reach out for help.
Dive deep into how to improve your efficiency and effectiveness. Is a new gym management software what you need to take your business to the next level? Or is it an easy-to-use gym membership software?
Be aware of your needs and develop the perfect strategy that will lead you to a successful business.
