But how do you make your dream happen?
Before you open a gym, you need to be sure that it’s a good investment of money and time
The following statistics should ease your mind:
There are 39,570 active gyms in the United States.
The U.S. gym industry grew 37% between 2008 and 2018, which is an average of 3.7% a year.
There are 62 million gym members in the US: 1 in 5 Americans hold a gym membership.
The average American spends $58/month on a gym membership. Gym membership costs experience steady growth as the average price was only $41/month in 2011.
12% of new gym members join in January.
Gym members recorded 6 billion visits to the gym in 2018.
Americans spend $1.8B on unused gym memberships a year.
1# Licensing
Documents, documents, documents. Opening a gym is not as simple as bankrolling the fitness equipment and renting space. You need permission from the government to open a gym, and this can cost you thousands of dollars in license fees initially (depending on the corporate structure you choose). Read More
2# Financing
The average cost of starting a small gym is between $50,000-100,000. This range is not the limit as many large gyms with world-class amenities can cost over $1M to start. If you want to spend the least, you could probably get away with spending as little as $10,000 on equipment. Many factors can offset the total price. Read More
3# Space / Location
The third requirement is obtaining an excellent location. A gym in a large, high-earning community with access to many wealthy clients will out-perform a gym in a smaller, more impoverished community. However, several low-cost gym chains in the U.K., such as Pure Gym, have shown that cheap gyms can be wildly profitable. Read More
4# Equipment
The total costs for equipment can be as little as $10,000 and up to $1M for luxurious gyms equipped with state-of-the-art equipment. There are many ways to lower the price of the fitness equipment, such as to buy used/refurbished equipment or to purchase less essential machines. Read More
5# Hire Staff
Hiring staff is for established gyms as many gym founders start by running and managing the gym by themselves. Once your gym starts producing income in the 6-figures yearly, it’s now time to consider hiring your first employees. Read More
6# Marketing
The final step to opening a gym is marketing. Once you’ve obtained your licensees, lined up the equipment, and hired the staff – it’s time to bring in the customers! There are dozens of local and digital marketing strategies to bring in new customers, and the best way to start is to test them all and focus on the channel and strategy that delivers the most results. Read More