As a fitness professional you may have already hit the mark with a personal training studio or a group exercise class. Now, you’d love to take your fitness business design to another level. The best question: Is making a franchised fitness brand your very best next move? Using the last decade’s surge in brand-based fitness programming, increasingly more fitness industry entrepreneurs are creating franchise-based business models.
But what brings fitness franchise popularity to some, while others fade away? Read on to discover what must be done to show your fitness sensation into a profitable franchise formula. A franchise is a replicable business model; it can be described as a salable system for making money as well. Established fitness franchises range between facilities (Curves® , Gold’s Gym® , Anytime Fitness®) to group exercise-based studios (Barry’s Bootcamp, Sunstone Yoga® , The Bar Method) to prepackaged exercise course or fitness routine ideas (Jazzercise® , Stroller Strides®).
The franchisor creates the successful business model, working out logistical problems to arrive at a proven way of earning money. The franchisor offers this business system (or “franchise unit”) to franchisees, who pay the franchisor both continuing and one-time fees for the to use the model. In return, the franchisor offers logistical and business support. Becoming a fitness franchise expands your brand’s reach while using someone else’s money essentially, clarifies Druxman, whose franchise targets new moms and has over 1,000 fitness locations nationwide.
“You can grow your business and have a percentage of the profits,” she says. It certainly seems attractive to get regular payments from franchisees but establishing a franchise requires serious capital, sweat equity, and major change. How do you set yourself up to be a profitable franchise? Before you feel a fitness franchise, make sure the following-or has been completed by you are well into the process. Change job descriptions. The business enterprise skills necessary to successfully oversee a franchised brand are completely different from the abilities you should be a small-business owner.
“Going from owning a successful business to owning a successful franchise is not just a natural progression,” clarify Brandon Hartsell, MBA, co-founder, and CEO of Sunstone Yoga, a franchised yoga exercises studio. And while your franchisees will enjoy providing your fitness concept, your new role shall be to promote and support your franchisees.
“When you choose to franchise, you’re longer in your original business no,” says Druxman. “In case your business was offering widgets, now your business is offering franchises and assisting franchisees. Create a successful prototype. A franchise typically is due to a business that has grown a lot that the owner can’t broaden it single-handedly, usually because more financial capital and individual capital are required. Devise a systematized, teachable model.
Hire support personnel. The fitness industry offers many opportunities to work alone, or to hire independent companies (such as when you lease studio space to impartial personal trainers). However, franchising requires hiring employees (i.e., your own staff, completely independent from your franchisees). “You can’t only operate a franchise business, as there are way too many tasks to fill up,” records Druxman.
At once, aspiring franchisees must be cautious to avoid overhiring-to make sure they will keep costs low, advises Chris Lincoln, the Portland, Oregon-based co-founder of the barre string. “The main element is to develop with a lean team without sacrificing the support your franchisees need,” says Lincoln, whose franchised exercise studios deliver fusion classes based on mind-body and ballet techniques.