Posts Tagged ‘Add new tag’

illuminate gym meets with a supplement manufacturer…

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

Illuminate Gym would like to release a statement that we are currently in talks with a supplement manufacturer because we are looking to create a custom line of supplements for our franchisees and customers of Illuminate Gym.  This has always been a long term goal for us here at Illuminate Gym but in the recent history it’s been tough for us to find consistency in price and ingredients for a lot of the supplements we carry at Illuminate Gym and we are convinced that our customers deserve better as we move forward into our ‘franchise development’.  Supplements are multi-billion dollar a year industry in the United States and the world and we are interested in maintaining a group of supplements in a way that make sure our customers don’t fall victim to false marketing and promises about results from a variety of protein supplements.  We have also had some growing concerns about the consistency of ingredients in every bottle of these nutritional products especially because we are pushing them on our customers.

 

There is not timeline on the development of our supplement line but we are committed to start looking in the direction of creating our own supplement line and we are yet to even begin any talks about marketing a new ‘brand’.  Thanks so much for reading the blog here at www.illuminategym.com and please if you have any input about supplementation let us know.  Have a healthy day!

Equipment is delivered to illuminate gym in Greenwood Village…

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Today was a big day for our future franchisees in Greenwood Village, Colorado because the exercise equipment was delivered today.  I personally just saw photographs of the newest Illuminate Gym and it looks incredible.  We are very excited for our newest franchisees here in Colorado and we are looking forward to helping them accumulate as much success as possible.  If you are interested in seeing the progress on the newest Illuminate Gym check out www.youtube.com/illuminategym as a new video will be up shortly showing you the progress on our newest franchisees’ venture. 

 

Thanks so much for reading and if you are interested in finding out how to bring Illuminate Gym to your community please check us out at www.illuminategym.com/franchises or give us a call.  Have a healthy day!

New challenges for franchisors with banks….

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Banks are overloaded with defaulted loans and repossess property from small businesses and homeowners.  The issue right now individuals are not able to get financing even on proven business models because banks are so concerned that individuals will default on loans and they will be stuck with exercise equipment.  Now this issue with financing is not just impacting fitness franchises because other food and service franchises are also being impacted by the banks lack of financing.  I know at illuminate gym we have problems getting financing done for individuals who have stellar credit on loan amounts that are less than $40,000 which in the world of business financing is nothing.  However, because of the nature of the business loan people are having trouble getting their business doors open…Or so the banks say.  I believe at the end of the day banks are still in gridlock over the crash of the market in 2008.  Our nation’s government made the decision to bail all of these banks out of their immanent financial collapses  in order to free up the credit markets.  However, our nation’s politicians made some calculated errors in letting the banks borrow our tax dollars.   When you go into a bank to get a loan for an illuminate gym franchise (as an example) the bank is going to want to know exactly where every single cent is going to go in order to determine if the investment is good for the bank or not.  It’s called good business however, our government made the decision to sign over billions and billions of dollars to save banks and re-open credit markets only to find that the banks re-invested the money in China and are still not offering credit to worthy entrepreneurs.  This unhealthy chain of events could cause more problems for Americans as entrepreneurs are no longer able to grow their businesses, provide jobs, and essentially produce revenue. 

 

These new issues with banks can be a very tricky hurdle for franchisors.  However, at illuminate gym our fitness franchise team are making adjustments to how we set up franchisees’ fitness facilities.  In the future we are hoping that our franchisees never have to go to banks for financing on equipment as we will take on the bulk of the risk in regards to equipment because we believe in our franchise model that much.  If you’re interested in hearing more about the franchise opportunities at illuminate gym and how our business model is changing due to the change in banks then please check us out at www.illuminategym.com/franchises.php.  Thanks again for reading and have a healthy day!

What you should look for in a fitness franchise?

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

There is no doubt that a fitness franchise is very different from most of the traditional franchises like burger and pizza franchises.  First off most fitness franchises do not have a proprietary product or service.  Also the nature of a service related industry always makes for an interesting franchise experience.  Here at illuminate gym we know that those looking into the franchise industry and specifically the fitness franchise world need to look for a few key components to ensure that they get into a franchise model that makes the best sense for them.  Below I have listed a few of the most important things a franchisee should look for when looking into a fitness franchise.

 

1.  You need to make sure when getting into a service related franchise like fitness that the franchisor has a marketing plan to push as many customers into your facility as possible.

 

2.  You need to make sure that you have a logo and a brand that will attract customers in your market.  This should be a part of your initial franchise search.  What brand will help you connect with your community?

 

3.  Try and find a franchise that offers something different than anything that is currently offered in your community.  In the fitness industry we believe that many membership franchises offer the same services as many larger corporate gyms like 24 Hour Fitness and Bally Total Fitness which can be dangerous for a new entrepreneur.  At illuminate gym we have watched as many of these franchises have gone out of business around us because of the growth of 24 Hour Fitness however, an illuminate gym has co-existed and even thrived right down the street from a 24 Hour Fitness because we don’t sell the same thing.

 

4.  Make sure you also trust that you will be supported by the franchisor because in a service related franchise nothing is more important than the standard that made the original franchise units successful.  Make sure and ask your perspective franchisors guarantee their support to you.

 

5.  Make sure the franchisor is always open to learn how to make their unit better.  If a franchisor isn’t willing to listen to your ideas then they probably haven’t listened to their other franchisees ideas either.  Make sure you are a partner with your franchise unit rather than a slave to it.  Work together to make you and them as successful as possible.  That’s the real magic of the franchise business model.

 

Thanks for reading and if you would like to read and listen to more about the illuminate gym franchise model please check us out at www.illuminategym.com/franchises.php

 

4.

Fitness = a Cup of Coffee…

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

A gym used to just be a gym and a cup of coffee used to just be a cup of coffee.  A decade ago people loved their coffee just as much as they do today.  However, a small Seattle based coffee company came along and revolutionized the ‘cup of coffee’ by creating a ‘coffee culture’ making the warm brewed beans so much more than a cup of ‘joe’.  Today Starbucks can be found around the world and in most American cities.  People who don’t understand the craze are really unsure why people are willing to pay that much for that small cup of energy.  However, those who get their Starbucks fix on a daily basis understand that Starbucks is making a community out of their cups of coffee from the decour in each and every shop and the cup they take with themselves. 

At illuminate gym we are trying to change the ‘gym culture’ in America because the feel of gyms have gotten stale and uninviting to the average person.  At illuminate gym our plans are to grow our business to a level where we alter the whole perception of the word ‘gym’ just as Starbucks has altered the perception of a cup of coffee.  The only real difference is by changing the perception of the word ‘gym’ with a national business you could also begin to change the health of America while a cup of coffee’s taste and side effects really do nothing but change a moment in time for their customers.  illuminate gym, the franchise, is looking to make a far deeper impact than even Starbucks.  Thanks for reading and if you are interested in hearing more about illuminate gym and our franchise opportunities please give us a call at 1-877-427-2615.

illuminate gym begins its search for the future of the franchise.

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

Over the past week illuminate gym has begun to accept calls from franchisees across the country and even abroad.  We have had interest pour in from countries like Asia and Switzerland and across the nation.  People are looking for a change of career and the good thing for those entrepreneurs is people are looking for a change in their fitness experience that illuminate gym can provide.  Over the past year franchises across the country have watched as business has declined but here at illuminate gym in Denver our business has considered to grow and we believe the change in the economy has opened up doors for the future of every industry including the franchise world.  Over the past year we have watched as many franchises in our market have faltered in the way they have run their business and in fact, within the last 6 months we’ve seen 2 prominent fitness franchises come and go right before our eyes because there is one common flaw.  The common flaw is the lack of heart and soul put into each of these franchises.  In fact, I met with one of the former owners of one of these mega franchises and we spoke about why his business had failed.  He told me that after buying into the franchise model he never spoke to anyone who had ever developed or even managed a business like his.  ‘They were just telemarketers with a script,’ he told me.  Prior to buying into the system and before he was trained on how to run  the business this gentleman spoke to some of the founders of the company but after his training he was never able to get a hold of them again. 

Many franchisees complain that after buying into a franchise unit they feel like they are left on an island to fend for themselves.  Unfortunately, for the gentleman I met with fitness franchises are no different.  His business was open for 8 months and he never spoke to an executive of the company until he was 6 weeks away from closing his doors.  He then found that some of his questions had been answered incorrectly by the fitness franchise’s ‘call center’.  Now this franchisee is not claiming that his franchise unit would have survived with the expert advice from a franchisor who had in fact run the fitness franchise he had paid to become a part of, but he would have liked to have every opportunity to make his fitness franchise a success… especially because he used all of his savings to try and create a successful business.  He finished up by asking me why I was so interested in his franchise experience and I told him  about our franchise opportunities here at illuminate gym.  At first he moved away from me as if I was another used care salesman with only lemons on the lot.  Then later that day he wrote me an email stating that he wished the franchise opportunities at illuminate gym were available and visible to him 3 years before when he started looking into owning a fitness franchise.  I  felt bad for that gentleman, but because of his story illuminate gym has learned where other fitness franchises have failed their franchisees.  We are committed to creating the best fitness franchise model in the world.  Evolution is here in the fitness industry and it’s called illuminate gym.