(Newswire.net — August 11, 2017) — Many people involved with the health and fitness profession aspire to one day own their own gym. But just how realistic is this goal? Is it possible for someone on a nutritionist or fitness instructor wage to ever make this step and—perhaps more importantly—is this even a profitable industry?
How Much Does it Cost to Open a Gym
There are a few things to consider when starting your own gym, a few things that might not have crossed your mind. The equipment is an obvious one. To get the best equipment, as showcased on sites like Home Rower, you have to be prepared to pay. You can choose to loan it instead, but then you’re paying a premium for the pleasure.
Before you get the equipment, you need a place to put it. Gyms are not something that need to be in a high traffic area. You can rent a place out of town and save money doing so, but you’ll need somewhere big enough to store all of the equipment; you’ll need fixtures and fittings; and you’ll need to avoid being tied into a long-term lease, which is never easy with businesses like this.
Once you have the premises and the equipment, then you need the permits and licenses, because this is not something you can just jump into. There is a lot of red tape involved and this can be costly and time consuming. If you want to avoid the heartbreak of being shut down, then these are essential.
Then there’s the insurance. If someone injures themselves, which is very common in an environment like this, then you could be sued and will have a fleet of attorneys on your back.
All in all, these basics could take as much as $50,000 out of your pocket, and that’s before you factor in staff wages and other costs that will eat away at your fiancees over time. Of course, if you have a business plan then you could apply for some grants and investments, but a professional plan like this will cost you a few grand in itself, and you’ll still be liable for other charges as well.
How Long Will it Take
The red tape can keep you tied down for months and in some cases it may take a couple years to get everything sorted. This is even more likely if you have no prior experience with properties like this and you’re fairly new to the sector. If you start today, you could still be struggling to get the finishing touches together a year or two down the line, even though you could be hemorrhaging money at that time.
You will also need an advertising plan, which takes both time and money. This should be initiated in advance and should be ready upon launch. Without it, no one will know you exist and your business could be finished before it begins. But effective marketing can cost a small fortune and could take your $50,000 cost to above $70,000.
Is This a Profitable Industry?
Yes and no. You may have noticed that there are many gyms that have come and gone in your local area. We’ve all seen them, we all know they struggled and yet people still try. They take over those business, they create their own and they think they will do better.
In some cases they do because many of these gyms fail for a reason. But the successful gyms are all owned by big corporations. They are huge buildings with state of the art tech, the best facilities and everything that a modern gym-goer could need. On top of that, their size and their popularity means they can charge very little.
To create a small local gym you need to compete against these big players. You need to offer something that they don’t. And when you consider that everyone in the US seems to be within driving distance of one of these modern fitness emporiums nowadays, just being local is not good enough.
It is said that the average gym will not start to earn back on its investment for 3 years, and that’s only if the launch was successful and the gym has enough traffic. As you can imagine, if that’s not the case, then the gym may be losing money prior to that and the gap between loss and profit just keeps gutting wider.
That’s why all of those gyms close, that’s what you have to consider if you get involved with this business and that’s what you’re up against.