Are you a fitness enthusiast? You can generate money with every rep if you create your own fitness business, whether you build a fitness facility or just work as an online personal trainer. You can help others improve their health and fulfill their fitness objectives while earning a solid life. Gyms and fitness clubs are a $36 billion business in the United States, so go to work and take your piece of the pie.
Before you go in, you need to complete your due diligence as an entrepreneur. Fortunately, this step-by-step guide will walk you through the whole starting process and get you on your way to running your own profitable fitness business.
Step 1: Find Out if this is the Right Business for You?
Positives Vs Negatives
| Improve Health – Assist people in reaching their health and fitness objectives. Work from home or in person, and choose your own hours. Low-cost labor and equipment are necessary. | Gyms open early in the morning and have long hours. Certification Is Important – Clients want certified fitness instructors. |
Industry Trends
- Size and previous growth – The US gym and fitness business is expected to be valued $36.6 billion in 2022. The industry had been developing steadily prior to the outbreak and has begun to flourish again as the virus recedes.
- Forecast growth – The worldwide health and fitness sector is expected to grow at a rate of more than 7% each year through 2028.
- Number of enterprises – There will be 106,132 gym, health, and fitness club businesses in the United States by 2022.
- The gym, health, and fitness business will employ 823,652 people in 2022.
Cost of Starting Fitness Business in 2023
A computer, equipment, and fitness certifications would cost you around $5,500 to start an online fitness business. You will need at least $40,000 to operate a physical gym.
Personal trainer certification is not necessary, but it is one of the surest methods to attract customers; without it, you will struggle to compete. The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) offers certification in 12 weeks for around $700.
Investment Items:
- Computer with a camera (for online commerce)
- Kettlebells
- Fitness bands
- Treadmills, cycles, steppers, and ellipticals (only available in gyms)
- Bench and free weights training
Is Starting a Fitness Business in 2023 Profitable?
You might charge $20 a month for unrestricted access to your pre-recorded exercise videos for an online fitness business, and add new ones every month. You might also charge $300 per month for live online personal training sessions. Your profit margin should be substantial, in the range of 90%.
You may attract 200 basic monthly members and 5 personal training customers in the first year or two, bringing in $66,000 in yearly income. If the margin is 90%, this equates to roughly $60,000 in profit. As your company grows, revenues may reach 500 basic members and 20 personal training clients. You’d generate a nice profit of roughly $170,000 with yearly revenue of more than $190,000.
Entry Barriers
- The starting costs
- Competing in a flooded market
Step 2: Create a Strategy
Identify a Gap
Examine the offerings, pricing points, and client evaluations of fitness businesses in your neighborhood and online, as well as what sells the best. You’re aiming to fill a market void. Perhaps the market lacks an online Hula Hoop class. This might kickstart your word-of-mouth marketing and immediately attract clients.
Solutions
- A fitness business’s service possibilities are virtually limitless. Subscriptions for live and recorded training sessions, personal training subscriptions, or on-demand personal training programs are all options. If you own a physical gym, you may sell memberships as well as fitness classes and personal training in person or online.
Pricing
You should be able to charge roughly $20 per month for online fitness company and around $300 per month for online personal training packages. Membership rates for a gym average $500 per year. If you run an internet business, you should strive for a profit margin of 90% or higher. Your profit margin for a gym will be roughly 20%.\
Once you’ve determined your expenses, you can use this profit margin calculator to figure out your mark-up and final pricing points. Keep in mind that the pricing you use at launch should be subject to modify if the market warrants it.
Target Market
Your target market will be those who are interested in fitness, which is a wide demographic. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn should all be included in your marketing strategy.
Location
If you want to establish a gym, you’ll need to hire a real place. Sites like Craigslist, Crexi, and Instant Offices can help you find business space for rent in your neighborhood.
When selecting a business facility, you should consider the following guidelines:
- A central position that is easily accessible by public transportation
- Natural light and ventilation
- Lease that is flexible and may be extended as your business grows
- Ready-to-use area that requires no substantial upgrades or repairs.
Step 3: Write a Business Plan
Every company need a strategy. This will serve as a manual to help your business through the launch process while keeping you focused on your primary objectives. A business plan also helps potential partners and investors understand your company’s mission and vision:
- Executive Summary: A brief summary of the full business plan that should be produced when the plan is completed.
- Business Overview: A description of the organization, including its vision, mission, ownership, and corporate goals.
- Product and Services: Provide detailed descriptions of your offers.
- Market Analysis: Conduct a SWOT analysis to evaluate market trends such as variances in demand and development potential.
- Analyze your top rivals’ strengths and shortcomings, then produce a list of the benefits of your services.
- Sales and marketing: Investigate your company’s unique selling propositions (USPs) and create sales, marketing, and promotional plans.
- Management Team: A summary of the management team’s functions and professional backgrounds, as well as a corporate hierarchy.
- Procurement, office location, critical assets and equipment, and other logistical aspects are all part of your company’s operating strategy.
- Financial Plan: A three-year financial plan that includes initial expenses, a break-even analysis, profit and loss predictions, cash flow, and a balance sheet.
- Include any extra financial or business-related papers as an appendix.
Step 3: Create a Marketing Plan
Some of your customers will be passing by or online, but you should still engage in digital marketing! It is extremely vital for new businesses to spread the word since it increases consumer and brand recognition.
After you’ve launched your website, connect it to your social media profiles and vice versa. Because you can generate compelling posts that sell your items on social media, it is an excellent tool for promoting your business:
- Facebook: A fantastic paid advertising network that allows you to target certain demographics, such as males under the age of 50 in the Cleveland region.
- Instagram has the same advantages as Facebook, but with a different target demographic.
- Website: SEO will help your website rank higher in relevant search results, which is critical for driving sales. Make certain that your website’s calls to action are optimized. Experiment with the wording, color, size, and location of calls to action like “Subscribe Now.” This has the potential to dramatically increase sales.
- Google and Yelp: Getting listed on Yelp and Google My Business can be critical to creating awareness and consumers for businesses that rely on local clients.
Kickstart Marketing
Increase awareness of your services and promote your brand by utilizing your website, social media presence, and in-person events. Here are some ideas:
- Put up eye-catching signs at your gym and on your website.
- Make a film about your exercise courses. Use humour, and it may go viral!
- Send out frequent emails to consumers and prospects. Make them unique to you.
- Start a blog and post regularly. Change up your content and distribute it across numerous platforms.
- Seek recommendations – Provide incentives for customers to refer new clients.
- Paid social media advertisements – Select sites that will reach your target audience and run targeted ads.
- Pay-per-click marketing entails using Google AdWords to improve search engine performance. First, conduct keyword research.
- Influencer marketing entails paying people with huge social media followings to promote your gym. Micro-influencers with lesser followings and cheaper prices are available.