How To Write A Business Plan For A Gym

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Many people on my apps write to me and ask me how to write a business plan for a gym or a fitness center. They also wonder what is the difference between writing a business plan for a gym and other kinds of business plans. In this article I am going to explain it.

The Local Neighborhood And Target Market Of The Gym

Most members of the gym will be people who live or work in some proximity to the gym. So you must understand the demographics of the neighborhood, and their spending behavior as well as exercise patterns, and general lifestyle. Here is a video on how to identify your target market.

And here is a video on how to calculate the target market size.

Starting A New Gym Or Taking Over An Existing Gym

Typically, taking over an existing gym is much better because much of the remodeling has been done for you, the equipment is there, staff has been hired and trained, and there is an existing customer base. And all that is extremely helpful. But the problem is that if the previous owner is selling the gym, why are they selling it? Are they seeing that the gym can’t become profitable? Or are there other very core problems that this particular gym is facing? You must understand why the previous owner is selling the gym because you will be faced with their challenges once you take the gym over. And you want to make sure that those challenges are surmountable.

Gym Franchises

Many gyms are franchises with their own pricing structures and revenue models. Of course, if you do open a franchise, they will provide many of the financial numbers and projections for your gym.

Marketing Plan For A Gym

Marketing for a gym should be done in local level because if you are in one city, there isn’t much benefit to promote the gym in a different city or country since the only people who can become paying members are people who live nearby. Here is a video to make you a pro at marketing locally.

And if you are not very familiar or comfortable with marketing, here are two videos with an introduction to marketing so you can get some fundamentals right.

Additionally, here is our introduction to marketing. And here is our online marketing tutorial and our offline marketing tutorial. You will need all these techniques to promote your gym.

Costs And Cash Flow Statement

Probably the most important section of a business plan for a gym is the section that covers the financials. A gym can be an incredibly expensive business to start, so you must have a very good handle on the finances of the gym, and be able to raise the money that is necessary.

A great and simple tool to keep track of the money that will be necessary, and all the expenses, is something called the cash flow statement. In the cash flow statement, you literally itemize every cost that the business has, and every source of revenue that the business has. Keep in mind that for a gym, the cash flow statement will look very different for the months prior to starting than to the months after you start the business. And you want to give yourself financial runway for about 12-18 months to make sure that the gym does not run out of money too soon.

Here is the full tutorial on understanding how much money you need to raise. Here is a video tutorial for how to create your cash flow statement.

And here are some video tutorials for how to raise money.

Further Business Resources

For more business-starting resources, please take a look at our business planning mobile apps. Here is the iOS business plan app and here is the Android business plan app.  Additionally, here is the iOS fundraising app. And here is the Android fundraising app. And here are our business apps on the Kindle. And here is an article where I give the argument that our Android apps are the best business apps on Android.

Here is a video about what makes my apps so helpful for your business.

And please check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel where we cover many marketing topics.

Author: Alex Genadinik

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