How big is your market?
Member
Coach, I'm frustrated with the gym's in my area...
I joined the YMCA for many reasons other than for my own personal benefit. I am easily motivated and have no problems lifting 2-3 times a week and dropping in for cardio here and there. I joined because they had all of the pretty things and classes that would get my wife to go, elipticals (useless), organized classes like step and zumba and a daycare facility for my 12 month old son. (Side note, my son has perfect form on his squats...he squats all the time to pick things up. I'm so proud, I should post a video)
I'm an oddball, I started out as a Tool and Die maker and then in my late 20's jumped into corporate sales. So I can run a business and I can also weld up a broken piece of steel or make a new one to bolt into it's place.
I am really thinking that my area needs a black iron gym. I know it would be a slow and steady process of pulling the hardcore lifters out of the commercial gyms, but it would happen over time. Big lifters don't want to work out with twiggy dorks that think curling in the squat rack is a good idea. Nobody wants to circle the parking lot for a spot because the flavor of the month class (Zumba currently) is in session and overflowing with old neglected housewives
I know the idea would work because I am trying to plan a 1400 mile 1 way trip to your gym with my buddy and if I am considering driving that far to work out for a day or two, I would think anybody within a 30 minute radius would almost automatically join my black iron gym.
I know there is a lot to consider and I am quite a way off from this being a reality. I know I will have to put a lot onto paper to show some potential investors my idea and do some research to see how quickly I could make the gym profitable. But I don't want to make it profitable, by attracting the wrong clients. Which will limit my potential investors.
Canada needs a destination for Starting Strength Seminars and I need a gym that isn't 90% bunny foo-foo equip and fat lazy people watching TV on treadmills and elipticals.
Any advice on getting things rolling in the right direction?
TMPHBITEU
How big is your market?
Member
Beware the impact of a thorough, reality-based business plan on your hopes and dreams! Well, maybe not, but my wife and I came pretty close to getting a small business going several years ago, and a good business plan will ideally see you through the tough startup period, or save you from sinking yourself under a mountain of debt should you discover beforehand that the business is not viable.
But, I am a pessimist, and really, I wish you luck. The world definitely needs more real gyms and less treadmill farms.
Member
Hamilton, Ontario is a city of 500k. The surrounding area if you include Toronto being 40 min away would be in the 4-5 million range. Not to say I could pull people from that far away, but I would like to think it would be possible.
There is an underground community of stongmen that I have discovered and they all struggle to find places to work out. I am putting out some feelers to see how much interest there is. To be honest, I was thinking of trying a few strongmen contests this summer just for fun even though I am only 240 pounds.
I already know I would lease an industrial building and try to buy as much equip up at bankrupcy auctions as possible. It's just a matter of presenting it properly to a venture cap group or individual and getting them to bite. I know that black Iron gyms don't make money, unless you have a line of books and are respected all over the world...which I am not. But if I can convince the guy fronting the money otherwise, bonus.
The goal would be to get them to part with enough money that I could set it up and run it, while paying myself also
What's the worst thing that could happen...it might take off and it might actually make money.
Yeah I know, I should just use my own money and take the chance. But I have a family to think of first.
Member
You've got one guaranteed customer right here. I live in your area, and the closest gym to me is full of Silly Bullshit - you know, bosu balls, trainers that waste their clients' time and money with stupid exercises, people that yell at you for deadlifting too loud, wall-to-wall mirrors...and the worst part is, the gym is run by a powerlifter, who should know better. It's a fucking shame. Please start a gym, I'm begging you.
TMPHBITEU
Don't labor under the impression that this gym makes money; it doesn't. That's why I asked about the market. If you are actually in a 500K market -- an area of 500K people that do business with each other -- then there might be a big enough group of actual lifters to make it go. Start small, keep your overhead low, and do it with your own money. If you're not confident enough and committed enough in your gym to do it with your own capital, then you're just going to be wasting somebody else's, because your attitude will always be that failure is an option.
Member
I live in Toronto, and can't find a decent gym. I'm working out at a Goodlife, and it's not ideal. If that gym idea ever happens, let me know, I drive through Hamilton sometimes and would like to use a gym like that.
If anyone does know of a decent gym in Toronto, give me a shout.
Member
B, I feel for you very much - I'm from a small town 20 minutes west of London in Middlesex County. We have fuck-all for quality gyms in my area. The only gym in my town (around 35k, 4 gyms in total) that actually has a power rack; in fact, has a roof that is too short for me to do overhead pressing in. Even the gyms in London (350kish) are not terribly accommodative to serious lifters..
Hell, even Western University doesn't allow weights to be dropped with or without bumper plates. After inquiring about such Silly Bullshit, I was told that it was due to potential lifter safety. But who am I to question the nature of such things..
Member
Originally Posted by gordonrumble
Hey Gordon, I am certified under the new SS system after doing one of Rips seminars in Florida this past winter.
I train at the University of Toronto's (Mississauga campus) gym. They call it the High Performance Centre
http://www1.erin.utoronto.ca/~w3phys...essCentres.php
High Performance Centre- This facility includes eight platforms with hammer strength half racks, benches, rubber bumper plates, plyo boxes, and other sport specific conditioning equipment. Some of this equipment includes the VertiMax V6 (for developing vertical jump, quickness and power) and the Woodway Force Treadmill (the first in a Canadian University), which are used by many of the top MBA, NFL, NHL, and Olympic athletes worldwide.
The High Performance Centre is used for team training and will offer certified trainers and coaches the opportunity to develop and supervise strength training and conditioning programs. The facility will also house the National and Provincial Training Centre camps for Olympic Weightlifting. Among others, the facility will be supported by and offer courses from the following organizations:
National Strength and Conditioning Association - NSCA
Ontario Weightlifting Association - OWA
National Coaching Certification Program - NCCP
Can Fit Pro
$69/month. Open to members of the public, not just students. Quite a nice facility too, separated from the rest of the gym so it is only serious lifters who come for the most part. If anyone is in Mississauga come check it out. I always welcome training partners, or those looking for coaching.
Member
I love British/Canadian English. America doesn't really have a lot of Centres. Centers, yes, but how interesting is that? Rip, perhaps there is an opportunity for you here: Marc Rippeteau's Wichita Falls Athletic Centre. I can see the T-shirt now, a bumper plate with a maple leaf on it and the MRWFAC logo, and the slogan "These Colours Don't Run."
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