Fit Business Insider

We all want business growth. More clients. Different programs. A new facility. The list goes on and on.

It’s just part of being a fitness entrepreneur.

Here are 11 different ways you can absolutely achieve explosive growth in your fitness business.  Some, like group training, might be old news to you but can be tweaked a bit to add thousands of dollars to your bottom line – while others like warehouse facilities might be something you’ve given a little thought to but haven’t been certain if it was right for you.

Check them out and tell me in the comments below if you want to hear more about any of them specifically.

Warehouse Facilities – I think warehouse facilities are to our industry now what bootcamps were 2-3 years ago.  They offer the best of both worlds – the opportunity to run group training and bootcamps while having your own dedicated space at a low cost.

So I fully expect the trend of these types of gyms to really take off over the next couple of years – and just like with bootcamps or youth training, if you’re at the front of the curve things are way easier. And if you’re a bootcamp owner, I’d still be on the lookout for a low cost space of your own.  It will give your people a destination, give you more options to add additional revenue streams and give you more security.

Group Training – I’ve said it a hundred times before and I’ll say it thousands of times more – you need to be offering group training. Bootcamps, small group, clinics, camps, semi-private…they all provide you an opportunity to better leverage your time, allow you to make more money and also permit more people to benefit from what you have to offer due to lower per-person price points.

But here’s the thing – most people are only thinking bootcamps when they think group training. Why not offer groups of 4-8 during some time slots that you couldn’t necessarily fill up a bootcamp.  Then you can offer more niche-specific groups like one for moms or one for combat conditioning. Whatever market you want to reach but may not have enough traction in to justify a full camp.

Multiple Streams of Income – I talked about this over the last couple of weeks and have a full webinar on it here (LINK.) If you want to thrive, you almost have to be generating revenue from more than one area. Every really successful fitness professional I know has at least 3-4 different revenue streams adding to their pool of income with many having 10 or more.  I’d strongly suggest that you have a minimum of 3 revenue streams going at any time.

Hustle – I know of NO fitness professional that is enjoying business success that doesn’t hustle.  If you want to grow your business and your income – you MUST be willing to get on the phone, network, knock on doors and do the things that most people don’t do.  While everyone else was sitting around complaining about how bad the economy was over the past couple of years we’ve had Bootcamp Blueprint and Elite Mastermind members killing it during this time.

Tighten Up Your Niche – People want to deal with experts – so don’t be a generalist.  If you serve everyone, then you eliminate your best point of differentiation.  If you train everyone but the prospect is looking for help with this son that is a baseball player, will they choose you or the fitness pro that specializes in working with baseball players? (That’s a rhetorical question.) Be sure to position yourself as an expert in a niche – or several niches.  This will make marketing easier and allow you to price your services higher.  Use the approach with smaller group training I mentioned earlier to reach a couple different niche markets for starters.

Offer Corporate Programs – A lot of fitness pros are seeing a ton of success offering fitness programs / bootcamps to businesses.  Some are offering full scale wellness programs while others are just making private bootcamps available to the business’ employees.  The beauty of this is that you can fill up a group program by marketing to a single business. Corporate programs are a great profit center to add to any fitness business.

Train Young Athletes – I’m biased as a Co-Owner of the IYCA, but the truth is that parents will continue to spend their disposable income on their kids long after they quit spending it on themselves. This is the fastest growing segment of the fitness industry by virtually all accounts and you’d be foolish to ignore it as a profit center for your business.

Add in a couple group offerings focused on the youth (6-18 yrs old) market and you’ll easily see an additional $2000-$4000 in monthly revenue.

Keep Studying – Every successful fitness pro I know is attending seminars, participating in coaching and mastermind groups and reading / listening to information to improve themselves as a professional.  Don’t limit yourself to studying what you love.  If you’re weak in an area – brush up on it.  This goes for training and business. I’ve consistently invested more than $15,000 (and sometimes significantly more than that) per year in continuing education and always received a 10 to 1 ROI for every dollar spent.

Always Be Marketing – While most fitness pros only market when things are slow, you need to be marketing 365 days per year.  That doesn’t mean you have to spend an arm and a leg on advertising.  Instead, focus on getting at least 4-8 low cost – high return marketing systems in place and keep testing for ways to improve them

Set Goals and Make Them Happen. Set a target and hit it.  If you want 5 new clients a month, set it as you goals and create a plan to get them.  If you want to earn $100,000 in 2009, you need to make $8333 a month.  Develop a plan that gets you there and execute it.

Here’s what I do: I write everything that I want to accomplish down, break it into short term goals and then each day take small actions to accomplish those short term goals. It’s not rocket science, but it’s been responsible for any success that I’ve had.

Be The Anti-Health Club. 99% of health clubs don’t get it.  They do nothing more than rent access to equipment to their members.  If you want to be successful, go to a big box gym and study everything they do…then do the opposite.  Treat your clients like gold.  Build relationships.  Focus on delivering great results and an outstanding experience.  Send cards, recognize accomplishments and treat people they way you like to be treated.

Do that along with implementing the other tips and you’ll be well on your way to a being the dominant fitness business in your market.

OK – there you have it. 11 different ways that you can see some serious business growth.

So do me a favor and tell me below if there are any of them you want to hear more about.  If so, I’ll put together some posts based on your interests.

Dedicated to your success,

Pat Rigsby

Pat Rigsby is a Co-Owner of the International Youth Conditioning Association & the youth fitness franchise Athletic Revolution as well as a fitness industry consultant serving thousands of personal trainers and fitness entrepreneurs. Sign up for his fitness business free newsletter to discover proven marketing, sales and business strategies, along with blog updates, news, and more! While you’re at it, follow him on Twitter.