Starting Up a Gym

walshejohnny3

Hi Guys,

I'm looking into starting up my own gym and wondering would anyone here on this forum have any advice on this area or things I should be aware of before I commit to this project. Any help at all would be much appreciated.

The Mighty Quinn

I suppose things to be thinking about;

• Where will the gym be located, do you have a premises sorted? Find out what cost you're talking to fit it out as a gym, shower areas, change rooms, suitable floor finishes, mirror walls etc etc. Find out what the rent of the premises is.
• Do you have an idea of what equipment you need, what type of gym you're going with, is it pure weights or lots of cardio machines too. Then when you know, find out the costs of all that equipment. Astronomical I'd think.
• Talk to an insurer, find out how much it'll cost you to get that side of things sorted.
• Do the sums, find out your total costs, then find out how many members you'd need paying monthly to fit those costs, can your premises take that many members.
• How are people going to find out about the gym? Can you take the financial hit while waiting on memberships to grow?
• Do you need to hire many staff?

As a start. Good luck with it.

the baby bull elephant

walshejohnny3 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I'm looking into starting up my own gym and wondering would anyone here on this forum have any advice on this area or things I should be aware of before I commit to this project. Any help at all would be much appreciated.

Brian Alsruhe and Alan Thrall did a few videos on opening a gym a few years ago, some of it might not apply to Ireland or the type of gym you want to open but probably worth the half an hour to get some tips.

Cill94

walshejohnny3 wrote: »

wondering would anyone here on this forum have any advice on this area

Yes. Don’t do it.

Jokes aside, I think it is important to really do your research about what you’re getting yourself into. I’m a coach and I’d personally never open a gym after seeing what’s involved. Average new gym is lucky to last a year. Your own training goes down the ****ter because you have no free time. Very hard to get to the point where you don’t have to physically be there on site all day every day.

On top of all that, there’s now the new risk of government closures for covid or future infectious diseases.

If it’s still something you’d want to pursue, maybe contact someone who has successfully run their own gym?

JayRoc

Cill94 wrote: »

Yes. Don’t do it.

Correct!


Seriously, the reasons not to, probably outweigh the reasons to do it.

Your desire to open a gym says to me you probably haven't owned a business before, but want a gym because you are passionate about training and coaching. That's great but it's a really really difficult way to earn a living.

If you were to ask the (relatively small number of) guys around Dublin who own private gyms how much money they bring home every week, you'd probably have a heart attack (even the few who earn a decent overall wage put in so many hours their hourly rate could equal minimum wage or less).


Their instagram pages will doubtless tell a different story but the reality is the gym owner is the last person on the totem pole to be paid...first you have to pay your staff and then you have to sort out your rent, rates, bills etc and then if there is anything left, you might get your few bob. The overheads can be huge even for a small gym. Set-up costs are also typically very high relative to what your monthly income will be.

I'm not saying you can't make money at this, or be a success, but realistically it's unlikely and if you haven't got a decent head for business or any experience running your own company then it's even more unlikely (in my opinion a bricks-and-mortar operation like a gym should never be anyone's first attempt at running a business anyway. There are just too many things that can go wrong and the debts can accrue quickly).


I guess the best advice I can give you is to talk, in person, to as many owners as possible of gyms that are similar to what you want to have yourself.


And if you want them to be honest, make it clear their advice to you will be kept confidential, as nowadays people are loathe to seem as if they are anything but ultra-successful.



The best of luck whatever you decide to do.


(Edit : if you do decide to pull the trigger , have a really good business plan)

El fenomeno 2020 R999999

Just my two cents but fitness classes like core workouts boxercise and such and maybe yoga and that seem a more a viable business plan than a gym kitted out with expensive e equipment and machines.

If you can get the numbers for the boxercise etc then maybe equipment can be added.

Cill94

JayRoc wrote: »

I'm not saying you can't make money at this, or be a success, but realistically it's unlikely and if you haven't got a decent head for business or any experience running your own company then it's even more unlikely (in my opinion a bricks-and-mortar operation like a gym should never be anyone's first attempt at running a business anyway. There are just too many things that can go wrong and the debts can accrue quickly).

This is a great point. So many people decide to open a gym because they love training or want to train other people.

In reality, you need to love the business side of things more than you love training or coaching, because that's what's going to take up the majority of your time and dictate whether the gym survives.

walshejohnny3

Appreciate all the feedback, will definitely look into things a lot deeper. I think the main reason I was going to go down this direction is because I'm after graduating from Sports and Exercise Science and struggling to find a job so trying to come up with an alternative option to allow me to work in this area. Thanks again for all the advice.