FAQs for New Club Owners

What makes Fitness For $10 different from other health clubs?

If you have ever been to a traditional health club before or signed up for a gym membership before you have no doubt experienced the overriding “sales” mentality that permeates these establishments. Many clubs use “hard” sales tactics very similar to what you find in a car dealership. They want you to sign up “right now”, they want you to give them the names of your friends and family so they can call them about memberships, they try to get you to buy personal training or add someone to your membership. The entire buying process is one of pressure, negotiation and frankly in many cases intimidation. What you end up with is a member who experiences buyer’s remorse, who is afraid to ask questions about the club for fear that they will have to deal with a sales person. Worst of all you will have a member who will never refer someone they know to the club because they don’t want to expose a friend, family member or co-worker to the “buying experience”. To make matters even worse, the sales person in most cases could care less about the new member once the sale is complete.

Another element of the “traditional” health club that is vastly different from Fitness For $10 is the value that members receive for their fitness dollar. In most health clubs the memberships start with a processing fee that can be as high $200 or more! Then you throw in the monthly dues which will start at a minimum of $29 and go up dramatically. If you decide to go the route of paying for a year in full you are looking at paying a minimum of $300, usually higher! As you can see, with our rates, our lack of sales pressure and the overall value of our memberships it’s easy to see why we do the high volume that we do.

I’ve never run a health club before, what experience do I need?

If you are the type of person who has great customer service skills, possess the common sense to operate a small business and enjoy watching people achieve their fitness goals then this may be the right type of business for you. Health clubs are a neighborhood business where customer service and friendliness are essential. So the question is not really “what experience do I need to run a health club?” as much as it is “am I people person?” If the answer is yes then Fitness For $10 would be a nice fit for your skill set.

What does it cost?

FF10 just may be the most affordable health club license on the market today. Licensed territories can be purchased for $4,000 which guarantees a 7 mile radius around your club. You can also purchase larger areas for multiple clubs at a lower negotiated rate. After your initial investment of $4,000 your monthly license fees are a low $500 a month. These fees do not escalate with your dues base as many franchised operations do, Fitness For $10 wants you to succeed and more importantly keep a bigger share of the money you deserve. The cost of opening a club varies with location(s), commercial lease rates and equipment just to name a few. You will need about $250k in cash in order to comfortably allow your business to grow. Fitness For $10, unlike franchised operations do not require our Licenses to buy a specific type or brand of equipment but we are more than happy to help you with what our experience has shown to be the best equipment for your needs. The equipment cost for an average size club can vary depending on whether you decide to go with new equipment or used. This equipment can be purchased outright or it can be financed, there are many excellent deals right now on equipment.

What do I get for my investment?

The entire Fitness For $10 philosophy is based on value, value for our members and value for our licensees. Here are the highlights of your relationship with Fitness For $10.

Fitness For $10 licensees will have the benefit of a combined 50 years experience in the health club industry.
Custom Website designed around your club with full online membership purchasing capability.
Custom Back Office Managerial software designed to manage every facet of your operation. This software gives an owner the power and organization to operate one or multiple locations.
A proven and successful business model that will allow you to compete with any type of club in your area.
The support of a knowledgeable and helpful staff that has run health clubs and succeeded with the low priced model.

What is expected of me as a Licensee?

Fitness For $10 wants to give you the best possible solution for success while allowing our licensed partners the autonomy that made them want to get in the business in the first place. There are many franchises out there that will dictate everything to you from your advertising to the color of your uniform shirts to the billing company you can use. Changes can sometimes be forced upon your business regardless of the extra expense to you. Compliance is not an option or your franchise rights will put in jeopardy. Fitness For $10 welcomes the creativity and independence of our licensees, we do ask that the following guidelines be followed.

Our signage/branding be followed accurately
Our color scheme be prominent throughout the club
Every club has at least a $10 and $20 a month membership.
Every club uses our custom website for online membership purchasing.
Every club uses our back office software which enables us to track your membership totals.

As a Licensee what restrictions are placed on me and my club?

Fitness For $10 does not impose many of the restrictions on its licensees that are common with other Licenses. It seems as though Licensers throughout the country are more concerned with growing their name brand than they are health of the licensed clubs they already have. Fitness For $10 believes that it is possible to grow the company name as well as keep our licensees happy and profitable. In contrast to the many restrictions other franchisors demand here is a short list of the options you do have as a Fitness For $10.

You may own other health clubs under a different name while you own a FF10 as long as it is outside of a 7 mile radius of your existing Fitness For $10 club.
You can purchase a single club or the rights to an entire area.
You will not have unreasonable expansion rates placed upon you if you decide to purchase an area.

Finally, Fitness For $10 has built its reputation on the idea that Health Clubs should be free of sales pressure, without gimmicks and without some of the attitude that is common in other health clubs. We would hope that our licensees would adopt that same attitude that has made our clubs so successful.

Is there any other information for me to look at?

Listed below are some links to various news articles and stories done about Fitness For $10 that will give you an idea of what we are all about.

http://curtismock.audioacrobat.com/download/853ee423-c771-d587-0030-339061d018ac.mp3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l_jLCjIe9g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI4e9i6DJzk

http://www.nnbw.biz/ArticleRead.aspx?storyID=12902#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKI0soi7C-0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cg_MGtiZXI

http://cmeto.na5.acrobat.com/p31576418/

What’s the next step?

If you feel that Fitness For $10 is the business opportunity you have been looking for, or if you simply want to get more information we would welcome the opportunity to speak with you. We can be reached at 775-884-3152 (Steve Main) or 775-352-8663 (John Gutierrez) during the hours of 8am-5pm PST Monday through Friday. You can also contact us via email at steve (at) fitnessfor10.com or john (at) fitnessfor10.com. For Fitness For 10 license inquiries in Canada, please contact Licenses (at) fitnessfor10canada.com. Thank you for showing interest in Fitness For $10, we look forward to hearing from you again.