So you want to open a gym? You keep hearing all these amazing success stories of how people started from the bottom, or in a garage, and now they have this two story beautiful, glass-walled gym. This can be the case for you, if you work at it, hard.

However, this isn’t always the case for everyone, and most people are okay with just owning a regular neighborhood gym. It’s manageable, the people are friendly, and typically the business is good.

Here are a few myths you will hear about owning and running your own gym.

You’re Going To Make Tons Of Money

First of all, making any money at all is going to take time, effort, and money itself. You’re going to need to spend quite a bit to rent the space, or build, and buy the equipment that goes in the gym. You also have to spend countless hours coming up with a business plan so you can present it to whoever you are borrowing money from.

Did you know some business owner’s don’t even pay themselves within their first year of business? They do this so they can have more funds to keep their gym up and running. While this sounds a little extreme, it’s often what it boils down to for some new gym owner’s.

You don’t have to go this route and it’s obvious you should pay yourself a salary. In the end why are you even working 12-hour workdays if you aren’t making any money?

While there is money to be made in the gym business, if that is all you are doing this for you are going to fail. You have to make sure you are doing this because you truly value personal fitness, customer relationships, and building something that isn’t just a cash cow.

Make your gym a source of motivation and health improvement for the surrounding neighborhoods.

You Can Do It On Your Own

Maybe, but why would you want to? While the name and general concept of your gym will come from you and you alone, it’s not going to kill you to hire staff, personal trainers, class instructors, or even have a business partner when it comes to owning a gym.

Also keep in mind that it’s best to invest in someone to help if you’ve never owned a business, or borrowed large sums of money. This will help you avoid getting burned and also help you invest wisely as far as where your gym will go. This will also help you avoid a negative return on your investment.

Hiring staff to help you operate your business can take a whole boatload of stress off you and allow you to focus on more important things. While nobody will ever do anything with quite the same gusto as you might, you have to give people a chance to prove they can do a good job. You can always make cuts if someone you hire doesn’t work out.

Make sure you train your staff in the way you like things done, this is the only way they will know. Don’t hire someone and expect him or her to know every single thing about you, tell them.

You Must Have The Best New Gym Equipment

False. Most people come to your gym to work out, that’s it. As long as your fitness equipment isn’t ancient, it’s clean, and it functions, they aren’t going to care. That’s not to say you don’t ever have to replace your gym equipment, but constantly trying to have the latest gadgets and equipment in your gym is a losing game.

If you fill your gym with good staff, good class instructors, and good personal trainers you’re going to be fine. Ensuring your clients have options when coming into your gym is really what it’s all about.

Make sure if they like to lift weights, you don’t have just one rack of dumbbells that are always being used. If they enjoy a certain workout, you can offer a variety of different classes to suit everyone’s needs.

You probably hear all the time how and what you should be doing to provide the best gym experience possible, it’s best to ignore it. You have to think practical when it comes to owning a gym.

Think about what you enjoyed about a gym you’ve attended, also think about what you didn’t enjoy and strive to improve in that category.

You can and will provide a great experience to your clients even if you don’t have all the flashy equipment and gadgets. As long as your classes are well taught, your staff is engaging and friendly, your gym has a good atmosphere, and you have quality gym equipment you will be a success.