Looking back on the process of opening a gym, what would be the thing you wish you knew that would have helped you 
Marketing. I still struggle with that!
Adam LaClair - Marketing. I still struggle with that!This, and we have multiple styles so knowing how to market and stay true to each style
Borrowing start-up money from the Mexican mafia has very real drawbacks I honestly didn't foresee.
Build systems so that others can get trained to do what you do. Focus marketing on SEO and figure out the best way to generate leads and convert them to customers.
Get a good payment/client membership 3rd party processing company
Only do 3 month paid in full, 6 month and 1 year membership agreements
Get 1st day pictures and emails of everyone that comes in, calls, request info or shows interest.
Do a monthly newsletter and send it out to that email list
Ask everyone for referrals and build a bonus referral system
Get testimonies and before pictures of everyone who trains
Don't be afraid to charge a premium price for a premium product. It's better to have 20% that say they can't afford it.
Be okay with people who just buy a membership but never come in
Build a tiered system, like a silver, gold and platinum membership
Ask everyone to leave a review on Facebook, Yelp and Google
Don't be afraid to make money, more money and more students means more money for better equipment, bringing in great coaches and doing more for your team
Get people who are passionate about helping others, train them up and build a great staff, pay them well, but incentivize them with performance bonuses and commission
Get rid of anyone you have a bad feeling about INSTANTLY. Students, Coaches or Athletes
Keep a professional distance to your athletes and coaches.
Never give anything away at a discount. Always ends up not being worth it. They will take it for granted or it will devalue your worth in their eyes
You can have a charity or a business but not both. Keep business business. If you feel led to be charitable, do so, but make them earn it, make clear concise stipulations and hold them to it.
Read every great book on leadership and being a entrepreneur. Try 1 a month
Remember you are selling results, create vision, build value, make a friend, create a great atmosphere then follow thru
Get a mentor and join a mastermind group
- wish I read this 10 years ago, lol
I'll post a lot later but get ready for "friends" that want to train for free. Real friends support their friends by paying for their services. Fake friends leach.
The Maestro - I'll post a lot later but get ready for "friends" that want to train for free. Real friends support their friends by paying for their services. Fake friends leach.
God yes... About a year ago my teaching partner said to me something like, "hey, good sized class today". I looked around the room and realized that there were just THREE paying students in the entire class. Visitors, friends, teammates from other schools, students trying a few free classes, even ex-students dropping in to train, etc filled out the class, but just 3 people were actually paying money be there. I realized, this happens a LOT.
Something needed to change.
I like having visitors, but it can get out of hand if you are not careful. It is suprising how most everyone just expects to train for free.
understanding the cost of doing business.you must know your overhead.if you don't understand cost ,you will never know what to charge
ImpactBjj - Build systems so that others can get trained to do what you do. Focus marketing on SEO and figure out the best way to generate leads and convert them to customers.Outstanding. Thanks
Get a good payment/client membership 3rd party processing company
Only do 3 month paid in full, 6 month and 1 year membership agreements
Get 1st day pictures and emails of everyone that comes in, calls, request info or shows interest.
Do a monthly newsletter and send it out to that email list
Ask everyone for referrals and build a bonus referral system
Get testimonies and before pictures of everyone who trains
Don't be afraid to charge a premium price for a premium product. It's better to have 20% that say they can't afford it.
Be okay with people who just buy a membership but never come in
Build a tiered system, like a silver, gold and platinum membership
Ask everyone to leave a review on Facebook, Yelp and Google
Don't be afraid to make money, more money and more students means more money for better equipment, bringing in great coaches and doing more for your team
Get people who are passionate about helping others, train them up and build a great staff, pay them well, but incentivize them with performance bonuses and commission
Get rid of anyone you have a bad feeling about INSTANTLY. Students, Coaches or Athletes
Keep a professional distance to your athletes and coaches.
Never give anything away at a discount. Always ends up not being worth it. They will take it for granted or it will devalue your worth in their eyes
You can have a charity or a business but not both. Keep business business. If you feel led to be charitable, do so, but make them earn it, make clear concise stipulations and hold them to it.
Read every great book on leadership and being a entrepreneur. Try 1 a month
Remember you are selling results, create vision, build value, make a friend, create a great atmosphere then follow thru
Get a mentor and join a mastermind group
- wish I read this 10 years ago, lol
Gold mine right here.
checkuroil -Hope it helps. It's easy to give advice, harder to take my own. I've been slowly transitioning our training facility from a club to an actual business. After getting married and having a kid... The poor struggling athlete/martial artist lifestyle started not looking so romantic, lol. Had to break my poverty mindset and get out of my comfort zone, but it's drastically increased our members, programs, revenue and decreased my stress levels about paying the bills and collecting money.ImpactBjj - Build systems so that others can get trained to do what you do. Focus marketing on SEO and figure out the best way to generate leads and convert them to customers.Outstanding. Thanks
Get a good payment/client membership 3rd party processing company
Only do 3 month paid in full, 6 month and 1 year membership agreements
Get 1st day pictures and emails of everyone that comes in, calls, request info or shows interest.
Do a monthly newsletter and send it out to that email list
Ask everyone for referrals and build a bonus referral system
Get testimonies and before pictures of everyone who trains
Don't be afraid to charge a premium price for a premium product. It's better to have 20% that say they can't afford it.
Be okay with people who just buy a membership but never come in
Build a tiered system, like a silver, gold and platinum membership
Ask everyone to leave a review on Facebook, Yelp and Google
Don't be afraid to make money, more money and more students means more money for better equipment, bringing in great coaches and doing more for your team
Get people who are passionate about helping others, train them up and build a great staff, pay them well, but incentivize them with performance bonuses and commission
Get rid of anyone you have a bad feeling about INSTANTLY. Students, Coaches or Athletes
Keep a professional distance to your athletes and coaches.
Never give anything away at a discount. Always ends up not being worth it. They will take it for granted or it will devalue your worth in their eyes
You can have a charity or a business but not both. Keep business business. If you feel led to be charitable, do so, but make them earn it, make clear concise stipulations and hold them to it.
Read every great book on leadership and being a entrepreneur. Try 1 a month
Remember you are selling results, create vision, build value, make a friend, create a great atmosphere then follow thru
Get a mentor and join a mastermind group
- wish I read this 10 years ago, lol
Find your niche and stick with it. Do not simply do whatever one else is doing.
This sounds horribly cynical, but:
The folks to whom you give the most favors & free training will be the ones who give you the most grief.
Especially the ones you're absolutely convinced will be appreciative.
Question to the school owners...
Let's say that you have a brown belt under you who has trained for probably close to 15 years.
He's had serious injuries, and takes a lot of time off everytime his back gets jacked up.
He will cover classes when he can, and spends a lot of time helping other students. Seems to prefer helping others to actually training himself.
You dot charge this guy fees.
Woukd you still ask him to pay?
this thread is turning into gold
completely agree with TwinkletoesCT
twinkletoesCT -This sounds horribly cynical, but:
The folks to whom you give the most favors & free training will be the ones who give you the most grief.
Especially the ones you're absolutely convinced will be appreciative.
Not cynical. 100% fact.
I used to teach at a gym and the fighters would ask me to buy tickets to their fights to support them. Those same fighters turned around and wanted to train for free when I opened up a gym.
Most fighters have never held a legitimate job so they have no idea how a business operates. That's why they demand everything for free, because they think they're cool
I'm not a school owner but this is an important one I've seen multiple times: Don't become totally dependent on an instructor that is not you. If students and families only connect with him and not you, when he leaves (which he will) they will leave too.
In
tryonmytoupee - Question to the school owners...
Let's say that you have a brown belt under you who has trained for probably close to 15 years.
He's had serious injuries, and takes a lot of time off everytime his back gets jacked up.
He will cover classes when he can, and spends a lot of time helping other students. Seems to prefer helping others to actually training himself.
You dot charge this guy fees.
Woukd you still ask him to pay?
Depends on my relationship with him. The only time I allow people to train for free is if they are on a set schedule, meaning they cover class every Wednesday at 7. If they are dependable and cover a specific class every day of the week, I will let them train for free. Otherwise, it's too sporadic. The guy shows up one day, he doesn't show up the next. That doesn't help me as a business owner. As a student, you are expected to help other students. That doesn't mean you should train for free.
Some random thoughts...
- Be mindful of where you open the gym. If you open in an industrialized area, you are going to save significantly on the cost per sqft. But you will not have access to kids. Parents are hesitant in taking kids to those types of gyms. But adults don't care so much. If you open retail, you will have access to walk by traffic, more kids, and more visibility...but the costs will increase significantly. You are looking at 2 to 3 times the cost of retail vs industrial.
- Be ready for permits. Getting a conditional use permit for a gym can take up to 90 days. It is minimum 60 days. It costs between $6K and $7k just to get aprroved. Now here's the catch. You can't apply for the permit until you lease the building. You can't open the gym until you're approved for the permit. But if you lease the building, and get denied by the city, you're shit out of luck....meaning you are stuck in a lease that you can't use, unless you were bright enough to put an exit clause in there. But if capacity is low, and demand is high, there is no way in hell the landlord will allow you to put an exit clause like that. It's a catch 22 that kills the industry, imo. I know gyms that spent $10K for the permit and were denied. You don't get that money back. What happens is that you go to the city, and you are responsible for sending out mailers to every neighboring business and residence in the area. If some 86 year old grandman doesn't want that type of business in her neighborhood, you bettter believe she will show up to the council meeting and deny your permit. The biggest issue is parking and home owners.
- Sometimes, you are better off taking over a lease of a former gym. Usually, they have already applied and been granted the CUP. If so, you can take over the CUP. You don't have to reapply because the CUP is applied to the address, not the tenant.
- I've seen countless world champs fail at business. Being great at BJJ has nothing to do with running a successful bjj gym. Most new members have no idea what the IBJJF even is, so droning on and on about world championships is meaningless. Create a good environment inside the gym where your members are friendly to new members and you will increase your sign-ups