Considerations to Opening a Personal Training Studio

Benefits of having a personal training studio

Owning a personal training studio brings numerous advantages to your trainer brand and business. As with any self-employed entrepreneur, you can control the business in the way you prefer. The following are the top 3 main gains that come with establishing your own PT facility and we can help with your Personal training studio gym design:

 

1. Charge your own rates

When operating independently in a personal training studio, you are free to decide how much you charge per session, and will receive the full amount paid by the client, whereas in a gym or health club, you may be subject to a fee taken from each client session.

 

2. Operating hours

Owning a studio allows you to make scheduling adjustments to meet your requirements and offer increased convenience to customers as needed. This provides an opportunity to incentivise new customers, as well as enhancing your own organizational abilities via increased flexibility.

 

3. New business opportunity

Gaining a return on your investment in constructing a personal training studio can be your own business opportunity, which can then be capitalized upon by taking on other trainers and renting out your studio to them and their clients. 

 

Find a Location

 When you’re opening a personal training studio, there are several factors you’ll need to consider when choosing a location and space. Choosing a location will depend on:

•  Where you live

• The competition in the area

• Your market research

• Accessibility

You should have completed some in depth market research to see where the gaps in the market are that you could fill. 

Then you’ll need to decide on the geographical location so that you can start to narrow down your search for the space itself

 We’ll run through some of the most vital considerations for this so you know exactly what to look for to suit your business.

 

 

Will You Be Renting or Buying a Property? 

If you want to know how to open a personal training studio, once you’ve chosen the area you want to work out of you’ll need to decide if you want to buy or rent a space. This will be affected by several factors including:

•  What’s actually available in your area

• What your financial situation is

• What your plans are for the future

• The kind of equipment you intend on using

It may be that you live in a quieter area where you’re more limited on what’s available or there are far more properties available for purchase and conversion. However, you might live near a high street where it’s far easier to rent a space than in other areas because there’s existing studios or spaces with the appropriate planning permission available to rent.

 There’s pros and cons to each depending on what you see for the future of your business and what the available leases will allow you to do.

•  Less expensive up front and short term because any deposits will be far less and there may be all the equipment you need already there
• You won’t be as responsible for maintenance and repairs
• You’re more freed up to relocate or move with a shorter window and less responsibilities involved in doing so

However, there are disadvantages involved in renting, such as:

• You won’t benefit from the property from an investment point of view
• You have far less control over structural changes or expansions to the property
• You’re beholden to a landlord and their wishes for the property

In terms of structural changes, this may affect the kind of equipment you can install and what you can do if you’re starting a personal training studio with a vision to expand in the future. For example, if you want to become a Boxercise instructor and use boxing techniques in your sessions, a landlord may not allow you to install things like a bag that may require structural changes.

 The other option for opening your own personal training studio is buying a property. There’s huge benefits to this including:

•  Potential grants for personal trainers available to help with the costs of buying a property

• If you have a large enough deposit, the monthly repayments can be less than monthly business lease costs when you rent

• More control over the design and structure of the building meaning you’ve got more manoeuvre with equipment you choose

• In terms of grants for personal trainers, there has been government funding available for businesses just starting out or expanding and wanting to buy or rent a property.

 There’s far more available for buying and renovating a property, however, so this is worth remembering when you’re weighing up whether to buy or rent

 

How Much Space Will You Need For Your  Personal Training Studio?

 Another thing you need to consider when you’re deciding on a location for your PT studio is how much space you’ll need. This will depend on the style of training you specialise in and the range of different services you anticipate offering to your clients. For example, you’ll need to consider the following whilst you’re looking for a property to start your own personal training studio:

• What machines or equipment are you planning on having?

• Will you be offering group sessions or teaching fitness classes?

• Will you need to separate the space for different activities?

If you’re hoping to expand or offer different services to different demographics you might need the space to be big enough to separate or have another room attached.For example, if you become a sports nutritionist, offering bespoke nutritional services alongside training, you might want a separate more appropriate meeting space for these sessions.

If you want to offer group personal training or fitness classes you’ll need a space big enough to accommodate enough people to make the class and service financially worthwhile.

You’ll also need to consider the kind of activities you want to do with your clients. For example, if your personal trainer niche is Cross Fit   you’ll need to ensure you have the space for different stations & Battle Ropes etc

 

When Opening a Personal Training Studio You Should Ensure it’s Accessible for Your Clients

 

If you want to know how to open a personal training studio that will attract as many clients as possible, you need to make sure that it’s accessible. This is true both in the geographical sense and in terms of catering to people with disabilities.

 You need to make sure that the location you choose is easily accessible by a variety of people no matter their method of transport.For example, you don’t want to choose a location that has no good transport links and is only accessible by car. This will severely limit the amount of clients you can have and the demographic that you can cater to.

 In terms of disabilities you should be mindful of the kind of training you want to do and the demographic you’re catering for especially if your considering rehabilitation  or GP Referral activities.