Starting, a new business.

[Emiliano]

Well i am a senior in university and a friend and i would like to start a gym after i graduate student from university.Obviously we need the cash, but how much encounter is necessary? I am preparing on getting business in university moreover to either sports/exercise technology or mindset. Any suggestions.

[Wozcreative]

To start, I'd really suggest brushing up on your english. If you are in the US and are trying to start a business, you may find it difficult if you plan on saving money and do a lot of the things yourself. Otherwise you will be spending a lot of money on copywriting/proof reading of basic things you will need to get you started.

Anyway a small breakdown of the things I know that will cost you:

• $5,000+ for a website
• About $1,000+ a month for marketing/advertising
• Cost of gym uniforms for employees (they will need multiple, and varried styles)
• Cost of injury
• Property insurance
• Cost of cleaning supplies / washing machines for the rags
• Monthly cost of maintaining the gym equipment so you will probably have to put a company on retainer
• Water filtration systems for drinking fountains + maintenance
• Computer system with licensed software roughly $1500+
• Gym membership card printers (additional cost I dont know)
• Photo copier/printer $1,000 - $5,000 for industrial sized (you will be printing a lot)
• Monthly cost of mortgage/property taxes or monthly rent
• Cost of creating parking pass stickers (if parking is scarce)
• Cost of the equipment itself about 1,500 - $5,000 per machine
• Security cameras
• Cost of maintaining the locker rooms / change rooms and showers (more costly if you need a women/male gym facility)
• Price of utilities
• Business license + registration
• Branding design and development – about $1500.00 + cost of printing
• Accounting fees
• Create a business plan (first and foremost)
• Invest in safety kits/first aid etc.
• Invest in courses for emergencies like choking, CPR etc so that everyone is licensed to do this


If you want to franchise, this might be easier.. the plans are already put in place and theres much less guessing involved. I'd say in general though if you want to start on your own from ground 0, you should expect to put up $250,000 of your own money up front. Profit will come in after about 5 years because gyms are quite difficult with the cost involved to run it and keep advertising it. It's really non stop advertising for these things.

[nexxterra]

Fitness Gyms are constantly changing hands or going out of business. this is usually NOT advertised. Go to the Gyms in your community and make it known you are looking to open/buy one... you may even find one that will let you take over with payments.

[huggytree]

i would think an average gym would cost $100,000 to get started...and that's with all used equipment and renting a building

i don't know how a young person right out of college could swing it....unless you have someone to give you the loan?

if you buy all new equipment and buy your building yourself id think it would be $1,000,000+


i also notice gyms seem to go under often...right now the new trend seems to be small gyms where they give you a key and its open 24 hours

good luck on your idea....i think you should start off small in whatever you decide to do

[Chris-AthenaAnalytics]

Hi Emiliano,

It is great to hear of university graduates looking to start their own business!

Where @wozcreative is suggesting an internal focus, I would suggest doing research into the local marketplace. Both are important, but you can run the best gym ever and if you are in a crowded market, it will be much harder to turn a profit. A great place to start is the US government sources such as the BLS or Census. The NAICS code for gyms is 713940. This will be the unique code for which gym business are classified.

Assessing and choosing the right market in which to open your business will make a world of difference. Imagine two scenarios:
(A) market where there is a gym on every corner and a limited customer base to support it
(B) market where there are few gyms and an overabundance of customers looking for a place to work out

Which market would you choose?

Best of luck in your proposed start-up.

Chris