by Pat Rigsby

It’s not what you make…it’s what you keep. The purpose of being in business is not to employ people, help people lose weight or to “save mankind.” The primary focus of a business is to make a profit – everything else is secondary. Without a profit, you simply won’t be in business long enough to help anyone. How do you become a highly profitable fitness business? Believe it or not, it is a simple three-step formula. The challenge is to be disciplined in applying and adhering to this formula throughout all stages of your business.

#1 Low Overhead

How can a club lower its overhead? Easy. One way is to move to a group fitness training format so the cost of delivering each session is lower relative to the value of the time spent in the session. But don’t stop there. You can also cut unnecessary expenses or negotiate better rates for rent, billing, insurance and other costs. Track every outgoing expense to see how it can be cut or reduced.

#2 High Leverage

Building leverage into your business can happen in a variety of ways. You can move from one-on-one training to a group format. You can hire employees to implement your systems. You can document your programs and make them available in other formats. You should constantly be looking for ways to make your time more valuable.

#3 High Yield Marketing

Track every marketing expense and be able to tie it directly to the revenue it yields. To make your marketing efforts yield more, follow direct response marketing principles, employ risk reversal in all your marketing efforts and constantly look for low cost ways to reach your target audience.

Here’s a great exercise to help start increasing profits: Each day take one small action that will directly lead to an increase in net income. For example, raise your prices by one dollar a session, call your insurance provider to ask for a better rate or shop around more when you purchase materials.

Pat Rigsby is the co-owner of several fitness businesses including the Fitness Consulting Group. He is also an industry consultant who focuses on the development of profitable personal training departments. For a copy of his free Personal Trainer Rapid Success Kit, visit www.PersonalTrainerU.com.

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