Starting Your Own Gym

As a new trainer coming out of college, I was looking for a place to work and gain experience. My ultimate goal in training has always been to work with athletes. Training weightloss clients is enjoyable but my passion has always centered on working with athletes because I am an athlete myself.  Living in Jackson, MI, my options were limited. In order to gain more opportunities, I started applying for personal training positions at many gyms and fitness centers within an 80 mile radius. I ended up landing my first job at a small gym in Ann Arbor, MI; however, didn't take me long to realize this was not the ideal landing spot for a new trainer. With no mentoring program and (in my opinion) an inadequate personal training model, I decided to start looking elsewhere to further my career. Again, with few quality options in the area I was living, I decided to start my own training business.  However, I also needed some sort of income, so I found a job at a wellness center in town while preparing to start my own business. However, I was still lacking a quality mentor in the field.  Wanting to eventually train athletes, I decided to reach out to Darryl Nelson, who was willing to let me job shadow him. I was fortunate enough to do this for about seven months. During this time I gained invaluable experience. I learned who all the "big hitters" were in the fitness industry and what resources I should be looking into.  I made reading articles, books, and blogs a priority and learned as much as possible about training and opening my own gym. Working at a wellness center folding towels was not my dream, so I wanted to make sure I could get out of there and follow my dream of owning a gym and changing people's lives through training. I would say these two things: finding a quality mentor and learning all I could about training and building a business were the main things that allowed me to take the next step to starting my own gym.

Fortunately, I was able to start my own personal training business without having to rent a huge space. My first space was a tiny, dingy 500 sq. ft. garage in an industrial building. I worked out a deal with the owner so my rent would just be a small percentage of my total training sales in the month. This allowed me to start growing a client base without the stress of a huge rent payment. During this time, I continued to learn all I could about owning my own gym as well as training. Being an unknown trainer, it was very important for me to make sure to take advantage of all the resources out there from all of the "big guns" in the field. Sometimes I would gain a client because I tell them I study a certain strength coach or trainer. When you don't personally have a reputation, it is important to learn from others who know what they are talking about and have a good reputation. One of the great things about our field is that many experts are willing to share their knowledge. If you are not an expert yet, the best thing to do is to emulate what successful trainers and business people are doing. They are successful for a reason.  

After about three years of building my clientele, I reached a point where the 500 sq. ft. space was not going to allow me to grow the business any further. Wanting to focus on athletes, I had always hoped to be able to train teams and my space was simply too small for this. However, because I had a client base, I was able to minimize the risk of looking for a larger space with a higher rent price. I read a lot of articles on strengthcoach.com about what kind of space is ideal.  Most sources said 4,000 - 5,000 sq. ft. was a good size building to start. It is not too big that it will drown your business and it is big enough to do most things you want to do.  I made sure that the rent, utilities and supplies would work with what I was currently making because I did not want to have to go in debt to pay rent. This also takes a lot of stress out of a big step in a business.  Another important piece of looking for a building is to be patient. I looked at a lot of buildings before I found the one that was the best layout.  Patience in negotiating is also important. I made sure to get a quality realtor who helped me know what to ask for and what to look out for. After my first offer on the building was shot down immediately by the landlord, I waited about six months before I put in another offer. This was a challenging time because I was anxious to grow my business and get into a bigger space. However, it was worth the wait in the end because the landlord ended up accepting my offer that was actually less than my initial offer six months earlier. When making a big step in your business, or deciding to go out on your own for the first time, it is important to take your time and make sure you are making the right choices. Bringing in a lot of knowledgable people into the decision making process with you is a good idea.  

Before I agreed on the lease, I made sure to find the best option for me to be able to finance the equipment I needed. I knew I could not get the top of the line equipment, but I wanted to make sure it was very solid and it looked good so I could make a good impression when people came into the building. Again, I reached out to business people, bankers, other gym owners to see how they financed their equipment. Ideally you would try to save up enough cash to pay for the equipment outright but I did not have that kind of money saved.  The best options I found were to either find a business partner, borrow against my home in the form of a flexline of credit, or find family who would be willing to loan me the money. Because I do not know anyone near me who has the money to be a partner and help fund the equipment and I did not want any credit card debt, I went the personal route. I was able to get some money from a family member and some from the flexline of credit. Getting a small business loan is also a good option but I was not able to get one because the bank did not consider my business to be established, which is understandable. Whatever financial source you use, make sure you will be able to make the payment once you open the doors to your new building.  

Obviously before you get the loan, you need to research what equipment to buy. The best thing is to start modestly. You do not need all the cool gadgets that you see at some of the big time gyms. Start with the essentials and go from there. You will be able to buy some of the "nice to have" pieces of equipment as your business grows. The way I made my essentials list by asking strength coaches I knew and by looking at other gyms. There are a lot of cool tours of gyms on strengthcoachtv.com. It is a really good source to find ideas. The best way to figure it out though is by asking experienced trainers what works for them, what they use all the time, what they have but never use, and what they don't have but would love to have. They will also be able to tell you what is a waste of money.

Once I signed the lease, and secured funding I started to try and create buzz. I talked to coaches, athletes, and personal training clients about the new space. Posting updates on Facebook got people very excited. Before I opened the doors to the new space, my current clients were very excited and I already had a couple teams lined up to start training once I opened. Creating the excitement caused my current clients to talk about me and my business a lot more which turned into a few new clients right off the bat. It is important to make your clients feel like they are part of the process so they feel like the new space is their own. My own clients' excitement was the best marketing I could do. If you have the budget to be able to use different avenues of marketing such and radio and t.v., that is great but if you are like me and your budget does not allow for that, word of mouth is the best marketing. Your clients being excited about what's happening in your business is the best thing for you.  

I have definitely read a lot more business related books in the last year than I ever have in my life. Thomas Plummer is a great guy to follow for business ideas.  His book, The Business of Fitness, is a great resource. The book focuses on understanding the financial side of business. Alywn Cosgrove is amazing as well. He has a lot of articles and books out there to read. I signed up for his emails and they are very helpful with ideas of how to grow my business. Another book that has really helped me is EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey. This book lays out how Dave Ramsey runs his business from how to come up with a mission statement to how to hire and fire, and also his basic business model. He also talks about goal setting and how to use time wisely.

Another step I took before opening a new space was to find a board of people who I could bounce ideas off of. This is group of people I trust and who will tell me when I am getting off track. I found people who are good at business, marketing, video, and also other fitness people. It is best to not try and do it all on your own.  

Although I did not do everything the way most experts say you should do things before you open your business, I worked hard to make up for some of my shortcomings. For instance, most resources say you should have your "10,000" hours before you go out on your own, but my situation did not allow for this.  It is a very good idea if there are plenty of quality opportunities where you live to do this. Instead, I decided to make starting a business part of my "10,000" hours. Because of my lack of experience, I sought out experts to follow. I am okay with being a sous-chef at this point in my career. I read a lot and have found a good mix of what works for other people and I implement that into what I do at my gym. I figure if it works for some of the best strength coaches and personal trainers, why would I try to do anything differently? As I mentioned earlier, experts in our field are more than willing to share their knowledge, so why not take advantage of that?