4 Resources You'll Need When Opening a Fitness Studio

Opening a fitness studio is an exciting venture, but it doesn't come without challenges. Pike13 has worked with hundreds of new fitness studios and this has provided great insight into how new business owners can set themselves up for long-term success.

Whether your business is intended to stay a small, intimate studio or a fitness franchise here are 4 resources you will need:

• Funding
• Pre-Sales
• Memberships
• Software Advice

Funding

It's rare that any fitness professional or business owner has enough cash to start up their own facility without securing some sort of funding or lending. But that doesn't mean that starting a new facility is impossible. There are ways to generate funding such as credit cards, micro-loans, personal savings, friends & family, grants and crowdfunding. 

Pre-Sales

After you've invested the time and money into opening your fitness studio , one of the biggest mistakes you can make is just opening the doors and waiting for people to come. It is critical that you begin marketing efforts months before your grand opening. Pre-sales will also help assist with funding startup costs. 

Generating pre-sales will be heavily influenced by how effective your marketing is. We recommend developing a marketing plan that incorporates lead-generation best practices. One of the best (and easiest) ways to go about this is hiring a marketing professional or marketing agency. They will be able to assist in setting up your website, blog, landing pages and paid advertising efforts, establishing an online presence, and initiating networking relationships for referrals. One great resource to create a strong online presence that we recommend to our customers is 97Display. With a 97Display website you can see drastically increased web traffic using their new, patented lead generation marketing software.

Memberships for your business

As a fitness studio owner you might already be thinking about memberships for your clients, but there are also a plethora of business associations available to you.

The Association of Fitness Studios (AFS) represents one voice for fitness studio owners globally. If you want increased credibility in the industry, unique benefits, education and the knowledge required to further your career, AFS is a great resource. Members receive access to an online library of resources and best practices, templates and a community of mentors. With a free membership option available, there’s no reason not to join! 

The IDEA Health and Fitness Association is a community driven association for professionals in the health and fitness industry. With publications, events, certifications and a fitness library packed with free tips, you can deep dive into every topic you could imagine–fitness marketing, sales, client advice and staffing, right up to the legal aspects of a fitness business.

Software Advice

When determining what software will work best to meet your business needs, softwareadvice.com provides a great snapshot comparing software by their star rating, price point, recommendation rate etc. 

According to softwareadvice.com 90% of users recommend Pike13 for gym management software. Pike13 is a cloud-based client management and scheduling software solution that targets health and wellness clubs and fitness studios. With features like scheduling, billing, client management, reporting functionalities and more, Pike13 helps users to manage online booking, client sign-up, monthly payment collection, staff payroll, and sending out client notifications. It supports electronic payments and the addition of coupons, discounts and credits. Pike13 reporting and analytics allows users to view client details and trends, and take action to stop revenue leaks where necessary. 

If you are thinking of opening a new fitness studio, request a demo of Pike13 to see if our software can help manage your administrative needs.