Posts Tagged ‘fitness franchise’
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
Innovation? Does it really exist in the fitness world? This is a question I am continually asked over the course of a work week as people make their way into Illuminate Gym or call about our fitness franchise opportunities. My professional answer is pure and simply ‘No’. There really is no innovation in the fitness world. I know what you’re thinking ‘how could a CEO of a fitness franchise tell us there is no innovation in the fitness industry?’ The reason is because there is no method of staying fit that didn’t exist 50 years ago. For instance a couple of years ago I had a personal training client hand me the P90X DVD set and I took it home and tried it out. What I found inside were movements that personal trainers and athletes have done for years. The only real innovation when it comes to products like P90X is the marketing strategies of the companies that sell them. Now don’t get me wrong if you are a P90X fan I am not ripping the program as I completely agree that the P90X can be a very affective way to lose weight and get fit. However, it’s not because it’s a revolutionary way to train.
The point of this blog is to really look within our society and recognize that we have become lazy in the way that we can’t self -motivate ourselves to get more active and to focus on what we are eating on a daily basis. As I said before p90X (as an example) can be a very affective way to lose weight and increase the strength of your heart, but if you never put those DVD’s inside of your DVD player and get off the couch they will never work. Like plopping your credit card on the table for a gym membership you will never use also will never help you lose that extra weight. The bottom line is being fit is a lifestyle not a habit. It takes real discipline and hard work to maintain both your health and fitness. There is no magic pill, exercise regimen, or piece of equipment. There is only you and your discipline to get to the gym and the will to say ‘no’ to that donut on your receptionist’s desk at the office. There is no magic.
At Illuminate Gym we think our business model is very beneficial to our customers because our ‘High Oxygen Training’ is a proven system of personal training and because we are not a membership based gyms. All of our clients have scheduled workout times that they must keep with fitness professionals. It’s funny how easy it is to let ourselves down, but how crushed we become when we let someone else down. Illuminate Gym is all about accountability and proven personal training principles and dieting guidelines.
Thanks so much for reading the blog here at www.illuminategym.com. If you would like to read some more about the franchise opportunities at Illuminate Gym check them out at www.illuminategym.com/franchises.php. Thanks so much for reading and have a healthy day!
Tags: Circuit Training, diet, dieting, exercise, exercise machines, Fitness, fitness franchise, fitness franchises, gym, gym franchise, gym memberships, illuminate gym, innovation, P90X, personal trainer, personal trainers, personal training, pills, supplements
Posted in Fitness, personal training | 1 Comment »
Friday, August 20th, 2010
I was 22 years old and I had worked extremely hard to become a successful personal trainer, but I wanted more. I arrived at work every single day at 4:30 AM (to prepare for my 5 AM session) and I wasn’t out of the gym until 8 PM, and though I loved my job I came to important realization as a personal trainer that changed my career course forever. The realization because I wanted to earn more money, but there was only one of me and so many hours in the day. I also started to understand that though I loved personal training I couldn’t keep working 15 hour days 6 days a week forever. I started to wonder, had I already reached my full earning potential in the personal training profession? Had my career reached the pinnacle of the fitness industry at 22? ‘Maybe it’s time to find a new profession,’ I thought to myself, but every time I looked into a new career I just couldn’t imagine leaving the fitness industry.
Then one day I voiced my concerns to one of my long time clients as we measured her body fat. She then looked at me and said, ‘David why don’t you open your own gym? I mean I don’t even like this gym. I just come here because I like you and my personal training with you is getting me results.’ That’s exactly when I started thinking about opening my own fitness facility which would cater to individuals interested in working with personal trainers just like me. That’s the day that Illuminate Gym became a reality for me. I knew that many other personal trainers had tried to open personal training gyms in the past and failed, but what I have learned is being a great personal trainer is not enough for a personal training gym to succeed. It took me a long time to perfect my model, but something I found out about myself is I’m actually a business man first and a personal trainer second. It’s the combination of business sense and fitness passion that makes for a successful entrepreneur in the fitness industry and if you are missing one these two attributes then I’m not sure opening your own fitness facility is really the answer for you. However, if you do have these two important attributes then maybe it’s time you put your leadership skills to the test and open your own fitness facility!
If you are considering your own fitness facility the one piece of advice I would give you is the make or break for an entrepreneur starts with all the pieces of owning a business you haven’t considered such as, the lease you are going to sign, the insurance you are going to carry, your marketing efforts to get people into the gym, development of your brand, and how to support and develop the people that work for you. As I said before being a great personal trainer isn’t enough to be a good fitness entrepreneur. In fact, it’s just a small piece of the journey to success. It’s important that you understand the early development of your personal training gym or fitness facility is the most important and fragile part of your business development. In other words, the worst thing you can possibly do is to rush to get your doors open as quickly as possible. I have watched personal trainers rush into opening their own personal training studios multiple times and most of them end up out of business very quickly. I had a personal trainer who once worked with me who had all the potential in the world and one day he came to me to let me know he wanted to open his own fitness facility.
‘Great, let’s put it together and build a business,’ I said because he knew I had just started offering franchise opportunities for Illuminate Gym. His eyes dropped and I could tell he had other plans.
‘I think I want to do this on my own David,’ he said.
‘That’s fine. Get yourself an attorney to take a look at your lease and make sure you have enough money behind you to market and to support your business while you get back on your feet,’ I told him.
‘I think I’ll be fine I already met the landlord and I think I have some good ideas to get some new clients,’ he explained.
That day he walked out of my office and within weeks he had opened his small facility in a small office building with no exposure and of course without proper legal representation the landlord had taken advantage of the young personal trainer. Within a year both he and his business was gone even though he was a great personal trainer. The point is if you’re a personal trainer looking to start your own business regardless if it’s a ‘one-man-shop’ or a full scale gym you need to educate yourself and take your time. I personally would recommend looking into a fitness franchise or aligning yourself with someone who understands retail business. Either way personal trainers need to make sure they do their due diligence before opening up to the public to ensure they give themselves their best opportunity for success. Business can sometimes cloud our view of the fitness industry and I think you should always remember that personal trainers do what they do because we want to change people’s lives for the better and because of this the fitness industry can be the most rewarding industry in the world.
Tags: business, business model, clients, entrepreneurs, fitness business, fitness facility, fitness franchise, fitness industry, franchise, franchise advice, franchises, gym, illuminate gym, lease landlord, personal trainer, personal trainers, personal training
Posted in illuminate gym the franchise, personal training | 13 Comments »
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
For More Information:
Jamie Sedbrook
303-399-1355
jamiesedbrook@illuminategym.com
www.illuminategym.com
Fitness Franchise Illuminate Gym offers a healthy relief to the unemployed!
DENVER—August 17, 2010—Fitness franchise Illuminate Gym, affordable personal training featuring unique High Oxygen Training (HOT), announced today that they will be offering 3 free months of free personal training for someone in Denver who is out of work and in need of some fitness guidance.
The economy is still down and every day for the past year David Sedbrook, CEO of Illuminate Gym Development Company has been reading about the loss of jobs and the declining confidence of a nation in the ‘American Dream’. ‘It’s been so hard to watch family and friends lose their jobs and homes over the past two years. It’s been so bad that at times I have even felt guilty for still having success here at Illuminate Gym during this tough economic time,’ David Sedbrook said. Illuminate Gym is now doing its part by offering to help 1 individual who is currently unemployed due to the economic downturn a chance to train at Illuminate Gym in Denver, Colorado for 3 months at no charge. ‘At Illuminate Gym we have always been committed to changing people’s lives for the better and just maybe with this offer we can do our part to help one person with their health and fitness during this tough time in their life,’ David Sedbrook said. Illuminate Gym will be accepting inqueries about the 3 free months of personal training they are offering starting September 1, 2010.
If you or someone you know are interested in such a program please give our personal training manager, Jamie, a call at 303-399-1355 or she can be emailed at jamiesedbrook@illuminategym.com. ‘Our goal is to help someone start building a better future through fitness by providing a regimen that will prove to build confidence and overall health for one person in a time of need,’ Jamie said.
This is another example of how Illuminate Gym is completely committed to making every community they touch a little healthier and a little better. Have a healthy day!
Tags: Colorado, Denver, Fitness, fitness franchise, franchise, gym, gym franchise, healthy, illuminate gym, personal trainers, personal training
Posted in Fitness, illuminate gym the franchise | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
Illuminate Gym was started on the principle that personal trainers should have the opportunity to become their own boss by joining the Illuminate Gym franchise model. That’s not to say that a business man wouldn’t be able to succeed at owning an Illuminate Gym, but we do offer our franchise opportunities to both fitness professionals and perspective franchisees who are interested in the fitness industry.
Personal trainers have been faced with a tough issue that plagues most individuals in a service industry which is, ‘there is only one of me, and 24 hours in a day.’ This dynamic makes it very clear that there is so much money that a personal trainer can make and if they miss work well then the revenue stream will definitely slow down and eventually that stream will turn into a drought. I personally started my actual fitness career (I did work in high school at the front desk of many larger membership gyms) as a personal trainer and I became very successful. In no time I had become the highest producing personal trainer in the whole gym, but I found that I was working from 5 AM - 9 PM. Now don’t get me wrong because anyone who truly knows me is reading that last sentence and saying to themselves, ‘David Sedbrook you still work that hard,’ which by many accounts is true however, as a personal trainer I had hit the ceiling of my profession at 24 and I had no where to go except down. That’s when the ‘Illuminate Gym model’ was born. Today it is my goal to provide business people and fitness professionals the opportunity to work in a low overhead business with high margins. Within our franchise model we actually promote personal trainers’ businesses and if personal trainers wish to build their businesses within the franchise model then franchisees can work themselves into an area developer position within our franchise development.
If you have any questions about our franchise development at Illuminate Gym then please check out our franchise opportunity at www.illuminategym.com/franchises.php and don’t forget to have a healthy day!
Tags: fitness franchise, fitness industry, fitness professionals, franchise, franchise development, franchise model, franchise opportunity, franchisee, franchisees, franchisor, gym, illuminate gym, membership gym, personal trainers, personal training, personal training industry, perspective franchisees, service industry, www.illuminategym.com, www.illuminategym.com/franchises.php
Posted in Franchise updates, illuminate gym the franchise | 2 Comments »
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Illuminate Gym has become a place where people of all ages and athletic backgrounds can come and pursue their fitness goals with a personal trainer. However, now Illuminate Gym is now offering franchise opportunities across the country. Wouldn’t it be nice to build a successful business based around helping people to healthier future. At Illuminate Gym we believe that there is nothing better than this so we are committed to helping entrepreneurs just as we have helped so many clients to their fitness goals. If you are a person in need of a personal trainer then please check us out at www.illuminategym.com or www.sunshinegym.com. If you are interested in owning your own Illuminate Gym then please check out our fitness franchise opportunity at www.illuminategym.com/franchises.php. Thanks so much for reading and have a healthy day!
Tags: fitness franchise, fitness franchise opportunity, franchise, franchise opportunity, franchises, healthy, illuminate gym, personal trainer, www.illuminategym.com, www.illuminategym.com/franchises.php, www.sunshinegym.com
Posted in illuminate gym the franchise | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
So you’re interested in purchasing a franchise? Perhaps it’s a fitness franchise? You look into the model and then you receive the FDD (Final Disclosure Documents). Now the real work begins to make sure that this franchise is actually a franchise opportunity for you. No matter how great the franchise model is you need to make sure you understand fully how much you are going to have to pay your franchisor and exactly what they are going to provide for these royalty payments. In the franchise world we have seen a lot of FDD’s that can be a bit misleading as they pertain to royalties, which can usually cause some anger between franchisee and franchisor. As a perspective franchisee it’s time you put your mind to asking your perspective franchisor the tough questions before you invest money into that particular franchise model. As a franchisee you can’t sit on these questions because you are the one who is investing your hard-earned money into a franchise model. The key word is ‘invest’. When you buy into a franchise model you are investing into a business opportunity, so make sure you know exactly what you are getting into before you commit to a franchise. I would also recommend that you compare competive franchises models to each other to make sure you make the best possible investment for you.
Thanks so much for reading and if you would like to learn more about our franchise opportunities at Illuminate Gym check us out at http://www.illuminategym.com/franchises.php or www.illuminategym.com. Don’t forget to have a healthy day!
Tags: FDD, final disclosure documents, fitness franchise, fitness franchise opportunity, franchise, franchise model, franchise opportunities, franchise opportunity, franchisee, franchises, franchisor, gym, gym franchise, gym franchises, http://www.illuminategym.com/franchises.php, illuminate gym, invest, investor, www.illuminategym.com
Posted in Fitness | 2 Comments »
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
The number one concern you’ll hear from franchisees are that a franchisor was misleading on royalties or there was a lack of support from the franchisor after the franchise unit is open. First of all you should always have a franchise attorney look over the FDD and Franchise Agreement to make sure you fully understand what will be expected of you when sign on with a franchise. These expectations will also include how much money you will have to pay back to the franchise development company.
The second issue is how much support will the franchisor give to you after your doors open. I have spoken to quite a few franchisees in the fitness franchise world and many of them claim that after signing the franchise agreement and sending the check in to the franchise development company that the communication went silent. Now sure the franchisees all went to training and they had discussions about sites, but for the most part communication went silent. I have the answer for these confused franchisees. The simple answer is that these franchisors were more concerned with selling franchises rather than supporting their existing franchise units. It’s all about sales! So as a future franchisee you must ask the question “WHAT SORT OF FRANCHISE SUPPORT AM I GOING TO RECEIVE ON A DAILY BASIS?”
This is important to ask this question to a franchisor you are interested in working with after all, you are paying for it. Would you start paying a car company $300-$1,000 a month without knowing what kind of car you’ll be driving??? I didn’t think so. Just remember to ask these franchisors questions.
Thanks so much for reading and if you have any questions about Illuminate Gym check us out at http://www.illuminategym.com/franchises.php. Have a healthy day and good luck!!
Tags: FDD, Fitness, fitness franchise, fitness franchises, franchise, Franchise Agreement, franchise attorney, franchise opportunity, franchise support, franchisee, franchisees, franchises, franchisor, franchisors, gym, gym franchises, gyms, illuminate gym
Posted in Fitness | 3 Comments »
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Illuminate Gym (Sunshine Gym) started there rise as a personal training gym in Denver, Colorado. Today I think it’s worth noting that the franchise development of Illuminate Gym has been built on the backs of the personal trainers of the original Illuminate Gym (Sunshine Gym). Illuminate Gym Development Company would like to take this opportunity to thank the original personal trainers of Illuminate Gym (Sunshine Gym) for there help with developing our personal training principles (High Oxygen Training) and for helping our business continue to grow in the Colorado market and beyond. If you would like to check out the original Illuminate Gym (Sunshine Gym) please check us out at www.sunshinegym.com. Also ask about our special of 2 free personal training sessions!
Also if you have any questions about the franchise development or the franchise opportunities at Illuminate Gym please check us out at www.illuminategym.com/franchises.php. Thanks so much for reading our blog here at www.illuminategym.com and have a healthy day!
Tags: fitness franchise, fitness franchises, franchise opportunities, franchise opportunity, gym, gyms, illuminate gym, personal trainer, personal trainers, personal training, Sunshine Gym, www.illuminategym.com, www.illuminategym.com/franchises.php, www.sunshinegym.com
Posted in Fitness | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
For More Franchise Development Information:
David Sedbrook
1-877-427-2615
franchise@illuminategym.com
www.illuminategym.com
Illuminate Gym Development Company Releases Proprietary Software
Denver—July 26, 2010—Franchise opportunity Illuminate Gym, affordable personal training franchise featuring unique High Oxygen Training (HOT), announced today that they have developed and our ready to release a new proprietary software for all current and future franchisees. The proprietary software will help franchisees with billing, staying connected with current/former customers, bookkeeping, and payroll.
“We’re really excited about the development of our new proprietary software which will really make our franchise model much more efficient. Early on in our development we created a similar bookkeeping system in Microsoft Excel, but this new software is quicker and really beneficial as it keeps track of trends and makes it that much easier to stay in contact with both our customers and employees. This software will change the way our franchisees are able to conduct business and we couldn’t be happier about it,” David Sedbrook, CEO of Illuminate Gym said. Over the past year Illuminate Gym has been looking for a solution to streamline their bookkeeping at all of their facilities for over a year. They looked into purchasing existing software programs from an outside sources, but in many cases the software out there didn’t match up with Illuminate Gym’s business model and there would be a monthly royalty paid by every franchise location, which another royalty is obviously exactly what every franchisee doesn’t want to hear. “Our goal as a franchisor is to keep money in our franchisees’ pockets rather than adding more monthly fees on top of their bottom line. That’s why we made the investment into a new piece of software for our franchisees’ business, which we feel will prove to be a profitable application for our franchisees’ businesses, and in turn make Illuminate Gym stronger as we move into the future,” David Sedbrook, CEO of Illuminate Gym said.
This new proprietary software will become the tool used by Illuminate Gym owners to keep track of billing, employees, payroll, contacting past/present customers, and the documentation of earnings reports and trends which will help us as a franchise help each facility grow their business in a way that is unique to each Illuminate Gym’s needs.
If you have any other questions about Illuminate Gym, our franchise opportunities or our new proprietary software please contact us at www.illuminategym.com or call David Sedbrook at 1-877-427-2615. Thanks so much for reading about Illuminate Gym’s franchise development and please have a healthy day!
Tags: billing, customers, fitness franchise, franchise, franchise opportunity, franchise@illuminategym.com, franchises, gym, illuminate gym, proprietary software, Software, www.illuminategym.com
Posted in Fitness | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
George Steinbrenner died yesterday at the age of 80 after owning the New York Yankees for 37 years. Love the Yankees or hate the Yankees you have to respect their tenacity and their will to win which started with George Steinbrenner. At Illuminate Gym we would like to take a moment to salute Mr. Steinbrenner for becoming a part of the rich history of the New York Yankees and for having the perseverance to push forward and become the best he and his team can become. At Illuminate Gym our personal trainers and fitness staff do the same for our clients on a daily basis. We push them to their limits and get the most out of them to ensure they reach their fitness goals. Many people over there could look at the actions of George Steinbrenner and implement his philosophies into their personal fitness journey. Never expect less than your best when it comes to yourself. If you would like to read more about Illuminate Gym or our exciting franchise opportunities then please check us out at www.illuminategym.com. Thanks for reading and have a healthy day!
Tags: Fitness, fitness franchise, franchise, franchise opportunities, franchise opportunity, George Steinbrenner, New York Yankees, tenacity
Posted in Fitness | No Comments »
