Starting a Studio for $0 Down..

Now that you have more leads, how do you convert them to loyal satisfied members and training clients? Here are the most effective ways, and I even put it in list form for you to keep it simple..

Ok, so if clients are not paying for you or your time… what do you think they’re really paying for?Your qualifications?Your location?Your equipment?Your brand?Your brilliant marketing mastery?Nope. They are paying for VALUE.  

Exit interviews are a MUST at our Studio. When someone leaves your studio for whatever reason, you want to know why. You need to know what made that person doubt their health and fitness journey with your brand, and what attracted them to go to a competitor?

Choosing the right finance option can help you fit out your new Studio with the equipment you want, and open the doors, sooner. The below article was sourced from the Fitness Australia website, in conjunction with Stratton Finance, who I use regularly through my own companies.

Let’s be honest.. opening your own facility is what every trainer aspires to. The pinnacle of the Industry, it’s when you have made your mark and gone to the highest level. It was always my ultimate goal to open a facility and have something I could call my own. To change the lives of the local community, create a place of education and inspiration, and to be able to say.. that’s mine, I CREATED that!

Let's backtrack a little.. it's November the year before, you're winding down to Xmas, it's been a solid year of work and you've made some decent money so you're feeling good and satisfied. That's cool, but because it's your first year in business you probably haven't experienced the next few months... now if it's not your first year in business and this is happening regularly then you definitely have to keep reading! Now, this used to be my routine for the first 3 YEARS of having my own Studio! I made good money through the year, then closed the Studio down for 2 weeks over Xmas, recharged the batteries and went back mid January ASSUMING all the clients would come back with me... seems logical, but this was a hope, not a plan. I'm a slow learner - but after the third year of this happening where I had a decent year and then suffered for the following 6 weeks between December and January, I had to make a change. After I implemented the following strategies, December ended up being my BIGGEST month of the year and set me up for the reduced cash flow in the January period when my clients were away. Here are a few things I do REGULARLY now to ensure I make solid cash over the Xmas and New Year Holiday period..

Last month I received an email from my good friends, Chuck and Josh Leve, from the Association of Fitness Studios in the US. They had just finished compiling their annual research report, "Fitness Studio Operating & Financial Benchmarking Report for 2018"

I mean, I'm not talking 3 or 4, I'm talking 10-15! In the space of a couple of blocks there was Anytime Fitness, Snap, Plus Fitness, Genesys, F-45, Vision, Core 9.. and that's just the franchises.. then there were independents too. All competing within probably two square kilometres of space. It made me think back to when I first started my Studio in 2004. There was me (as a start-up) and one other independently owned gym about 1km up the road that had been there 5 or 6 years. We were the only two fitness facilities (both independents) within 5 square kilometres of each other. There was no sign of franchises (hell, they didn't even exist back then!) and both me and the other guy were offering completely different services. We were PT based, and he was offering gym memberships only. So, as you can see, it was a great opportunity for me to really grow my business in those early stages, because I KNEW what was about to happen. As an entrepreneur you have to watch the trends in the industry, not just local, but international too. The Studio space in the US was really taking off, and this is why I started my Studio model here in AUS, because I knew it was a trend the Australian public would soon buy in to. And guess what? They did! The evidence is in the enormous amount of franchise studio's now present in the community. We saw the emergence of Vision PT in the early 2000's, the 24 hour gyms like Anytime, Snap and Jetts and then the Crossfit & F-45 phenomenon where the emphasis is on community while still separating themselves from your franchise 'gyms' with a higher weekly cost. While these smaller, boutique and niche studio's arrived in droves and flooded the Australian Fitness Market, the smaller independent Studio's have been dying off. I've seen many come and go, starting with all the hope to make a difference to their community, and really showcase their individual brilliance only to be crushed by the hype and marketing machines the franchise brands are. There is something sad about the idea of a franchise though - it doesn't give the owners an opportunity to really show their individual creativity and intelligence when it comes to GROWING their business. It takes away their business acumen and ability to adapt to environments and situations where an individual can really develop. Of course, the idea of buying a franchise is that it is a business that is 'done for you'. You get the branding, the systems, support with the marketing, the fitout of the Studio/gym and for the privilege you get to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars and a % back to the franchisors each month/year. This is why it is so popular with investors and fit pro's The franchise model it seems also attracts the very basic human. There is no creativity, no 'get up and go' there is no guessing, no apprehensiveness, no 'what if I did this'.. the 'think work' is totally eliminated and the ability to create and tailor individual programs is removed. I respect they have to put in the work to make their business work but all they really need is the skill to follow through with tasks That's not starting or growing a business.. it's following instructions. From what I've seen over the last 20 years of being in the fitness industry, we are going down the path of 'do you want fries with that?' This is a sad situation. The industry is losing our individuals and creativeness, we are losing our innovators, we are attracting pretenders who don't really care about the industry but are only here to make a quick buck, flip the business, and move onto the next thing. Now that I've finished that rant , I want to tell all the Independent Studio Owners THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THIS TUNNEL! I am living proof of this. My Studio has seen the likes of Fitness First, F-45, Vision PT, Curves, Bluefit, and Anytime Fitness all pop up in a 2km radius of our Studio over a 10 year period. We have survived the onslaught of their competitive marketing and pricing warfare. We have continued to grow, retain clients at higher than industry standards, and keep quality staff for 14 years in the one location. We have developed, extended and tweaked our services to suit the ever changing demographic, extended our program offerings, and built a solid team of trainers with over 100 years of industry experience. This is something you won't see from a franchise. Something a franchise owner is not allowed to do. For this reason, you won't see franchise locations owned by the same owner for 14 years straight. Now, back to the good stuff for independent studio owners.. I have a solution for you. My systems are available for you. My success formula and blueprint of the most profitable Studio in Australia is almost ready for the public. And... I'm only making them available for Independent Studio Owners and Personal Trainers. If the franchises got their hands on this, it would END the game for Independent Studio Owners FOREVER. So, I'm evening up the playing field and turning the screws on Franchises. I'm helping out the other guys, the visionaries and the innovators. The guys and girls who put EVERYTHING on the line every day they open the doors to their Studio. The ones that need a little help and direction with their business, without taking away their brand and their courage to keeping re-inventing themselves. Here's to the Independents.. I got your back. CHECK OUT MY SMART STUDIO BLUEPRINT HERE

18 months ago we were sitting around the dinner table when my Father In Law suggested we should all go to Europe for a big family holiday...