Hello, I was reading some of your posts about starting a gym and was hoping to get opinion as you seem to know what you're talking about. I am planning on starting my own small personal training gym. I saw some of the figures in the other posts that were well over six figures and I know I cant come up with that kind of money. I will be lucky to have maybe $20k to work with. I know that sounds like nothing but since I am a welder I can make my own equipment. I've been building euipment for several years and it is commercial quality. I figure I will still have to buy around $5k worth of stuff like dumbells and mats etc and then the rest of the money will be for rent and overhead. I intend to rent a small space under 1200 sq feet and where I live I can probably keep the rent under $1k a month. Also I will not have employees and I will let trainers bring thier clients in and charge a fee per session. I might also have a small number of general memberships to help cover the overhead. I have a friend who had a place similar to this and he seemed to ok, he started in a small place and after a few years he upgraded to a bigger building. Am I crazy? or do you think I have a chance? Thanks in advance.
Welcome TK. Sounds like you have all you really need for a PT business. There is no rule that says you have to spend a huge wad of cash. In fact, my very first business was opened with only $16,000. It was a 1,000 square foot facility, and it was really nice. When I look back over the years, I often wish I hadn't been so expansionist. My expenses were very low with that first facility, and the profit margin was MUCH bigger.
I can't say it has helped my personal situation. I can't advise you on that. I don't know your situation (demographics, demand in your area, business experience, etc), but if you control your expenses and get a low break-even, there is no reason you shouldn't be successful.
JP, have you weathered a recession with your business? If not, do you know someone who went through a recession with their gym?
It might be helpful to see what the trend is during a recession. Entertainment goes up during a recession/depression, but I've not heard how the fitness industry does. It might be a bad time to start a gym if people are cutting back on that in favor of securing their "survival" expenses.
Re: weathering a recession, there's a gym here (in Apex, NC) that did in 2001. It was really bad around here, since the tech bubble hit us harder than this real estate bubble did. It was a really cheap gym, something like 179 a year, no classes, just iron and a bunch of cardio stuff. Oh and low-to-none labor cost, since later at night no one manned it.
Anyway, they just closed. So honestly I have no idea what, if anything, that means.
Starting a small gym
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