Aggressive blog title? Maybe a little bit. But 100% something you'd hear me say if you spent a day hanging around CSP. As it turns out, there are plenty of irrational justifications for opening your own space.

“I’m sick of giving this commercial gym so much of my hard-earned money.”
“I want complete control of my schedule.”
“I need more autonomy on the training floor.”
“I’m tired of people telling me what gym clothes I need to wear to work.”
“I want to spend less time working “floor hours” and more focusing on what I do best, coaching.”

All qualify as motivations to open your own gym…just not good ones.

Just a few quick questions...

If you think that opening your own shop is the solution that will allow you to suddenly free up the time and resources necessary for you to embrace the great aspects of coaching that got you into this industry in the first place, I have a few questions for you:

Where are you going to find the time to learn about lease negotiation? That 10-year lease with rapidly and unexpectedly increasing CAM charges seems a little dicey.

How comfortable are you reviewing a proposed business insurance policy? Did you catch that terrorism coverage they tried to sneak in there despite the fact that you’re gym is going to be located in Nebraska?

Looking forward to learning the ins and outs of payroll taxes? How about educating your self on the difference between employees who should be 1099’d and those who should be issued a W-2?

Are you ready to paint the walls, pay to keep the lights on, and assemble all of the equipment? Now that I think of it, are you ready to pay for all of the equipment? Did you realize that every time you break an exercise band or see a client mistakenly drop a 45-lb plate on a muscle clamp that comes out of somebody’s paycheck? Lucky you. That’s your paycheck now.

Did you set aside a few hundred dollars to pay for your employees to renew their CPR certification? I’m pretty sure they’re not looking to pay for it if YOU decided certification was mandatory.

Did you realize that if your gym performs reasonably well, and you choose to accept credit cards for payment, you will end up giving thousands of dollars to Visa, American Express, and any other credit providers you choose to accept? Speaking of which, did you realize you’re going to need to open another bank account for that?

Remember the last time you walked in to your commercial gym locker room and had to work through three different bathroom stalls before you could find one without urine on the seat or toilet paper plugging up the bowl? Well when you start “living the dream” and open your own gym you don’t get to walk past those first two stalls anymore. Time to bust out the rubber gloves, my friend.

How much thought have you put in to the language of your company sexual harassment policy?

Is there already money set aside to have a decent website designed? How about the $250 fee you’ll need to pay if you want to trademark your gym name and logo? Trust me when I tell you this…you’re going to want to do that.

Should I keep going?

I could go all day long with these questions. My point isn’t to tell the world that running a gym is an awful experience. Instead, I’m hoping to help you make an informed decision before chasing a dream. Opening a fitness facility because you’re a personal trainer who doesn’t want to answer to anyone but his (or her) self is kind of like buying a house without the benefit of a proper inspection or down payment set aside. Sure, it looks great from the curb, but there are a whole bunch of headaches awaiting you under that roof – and they ain’t going to fix themselves for free.

I often tell CSP interns that I aspire to operate a business that runs so smoothly and efficiently that they can’t help but want to open their own gym at the end of their time with us…but I also want to talk nearly all of them out of doing so. Roughly 80% of all small businesses fail inside of their first three years of operation. Most of the gyms that find themselves on this list are there because their decision to open was an emotional one, as opposed to an informed one. Do your due diligence first. Then you can decide if opening a gym is a gamble you want to take.