I’ve owned a gym for more than 20 years. And if someone told me tomorrow that I had to start over—no reputation, no members, no brand—I would not rebuild the same gym I built the first time.
Most gym owners waste tens of thousands of dollars because they copy what worked for them (or someone else) in the past. They sign the wrong lease. They overbuy equipment. They spend months chasing strangers for clients. And they charge too little for what they deliver.
The good news: I’ve already made those mistakes so you don’t have to. Here’s exactly what I’d do if I were starting over today.
I’d Sell One-on-One First, Then Move to Semi-Private
I wouldn’t open with group classes on the schedule. I’d start one-on-one.
The offer: an eight-week transformation package, personal training, three sessions a week, priced at $899 a month for two months.
At the end of the eight weeks, we sit down and make a prescription. For most people, that means moving into semi-private training with three sessions a week, priced about 15% below one-on-one. You’re still getting almost all of my attention. You’re just sharing a coach with three or four other people.
Some clients will want to stay one-on-one for the flexibility. That’s fine; it just comes at a premium.
Two options. Chicken or steak. That’s the whole menu.
Everybody starts one-on-one so I know how you move before I ever put you in a group.
And I tell you on day one that we’re going to revisit your progress at the two-month mark because that’s also the moment I’m going to ask you for a referral. If you spring that question on someone out of nowhere, they freeze up and can’t think of anyone. If you set the expectation at sign-up, referral rates jump by about 30%.
I Wouldn’t Rent More Than 600 Square Feet
A lot of new owners think they need a fancy, premium space to be taken seriously. I’d go the opposite direction: 400 to 600 square feet, month-to-month lease, ground level, clean, quiet and either on my ideal client’s commute route or as close to their workplace as possible.
Too much space early on is a distraction. It also lets your coaches get sloppy—looking around, waving at friends, splitting their attention. In a small space, your client knows they have all of you.
I’d skip the buildout entirely if I could. Maybe a coat of paint, maybe I clean up a bathroom. I’d keep it under $5,000.
Same for equipment: bars, boxes, kettlebells, med balls (used where I can find it). When I opened my gym the first time, I spent $16,000 on equipment and wasted about $12,000 of it. This time, $5,000 gets me everything I need for a room this size.
My rent target would be under $2,500 a month—a small footprint on a flexible lease. My plan is to grow, and I don’t want to be underwater while I’m still learning to swim.
My First Hire
Before I hire anyone else, I’m hiring someone to clean the space. I’m not good at it, and I won’t magically get good at it. That frees me up to be at the gym early doing the thing only I can do at that stage: marketing.
Everything else, I automate first and ask “where do I actually need a human touch” second. AI handles what it can. A human only gets hired where AI can’t do the job.
My First Clients
I wouldn’t run ads on day one. I wouldn’t need to. My first five to ten clients would come from three places, in this order:
- Personal relationships: conversations at the ballgame, at the beach, wherever I already am.
- Existing social media connections: reaching out directly: “Remember when we talked about fitness last summer? How’s your schedule next week?”
- A hand-raiser post (5-1-30): “I’m taking five people for an eight-week transformation. If that’s you, send me a DM.”
That’s a warm audience. It’s low-hanging fruit. A lot of new gym owners get shy about asking friends and family, but if they’re your friends, they want to help you. If you believe in what you’re selling, you should be excited to sell it to the people who already love you.
I built my very first client base almost by accident this way—talking to people at a treadmill store about their fitness, then training their kids, then meeting everyone at the kids’ track meets and soccer games. It just trickled out from there.
The Math That Tells Me It’s Working
I’d want to prove I can take home $50,000 in year one before I even think about scaling. Once I’ve done that, scaling is a lot easier than starting was.
Working backward: about $4,500 a month to pay myself, plus roughly $3,500 in rent and expenses, means I need around $10,000 a month in revenue. At $899 a month per client, that’s about 14 clients to be comfortably in the black.
At 90 days, I’m not expecting to be fully booked. I’m expecting five paying clients at full price, no discounts. That’s proof of concept: the product works, the audience is willing to pay, the location is viable. By 90 days I should also be through one full referral cycle already, with some social proof to put in front of new people.
When to Move and Who to Hire Next
I’d run the small space for about a year, building a $20,000 buffer if I could, while already scouting the next location. When clients start doing burpees on the sidewalk because the room is too full, that’s the signal.
The next space: around 4,000 square feet, longer-term lease, every square foot earning its keep. Room for two semi-private groups running at once, an office for NSIs and goal reviews, maybe a bit of space I can sublease as a buffer.
For the next hire, I’d look for a personal trainer with a complementary niche and an existing book of business—someone entrepreneurial who just doesn’t know how to market or retain clients yet, which is why most trainers wash out within three years. I’d hand them a platform: marketing, a roof, payment processing, insurance and split revenue.
I’d also look for a personality that’s different from mine. Not everyone wants to work with the numbers-obsessed nerd at 6 a.m. Some of my best hires over the years have been the coaches who could reach the clients I couldn’t.
Skip the Trial and Error
My daughter is going through this same exercise right now. She’s thinking about opening her own gym coaching teenage athletes. But the very first dollar she spends will be on a mentor.
I don’t want her, or any gym owner, to spend years figuring out by trial and error what someone else already knows. That’s why mentorship is the core of what we do at Two-Brain.
If you’re staring at your own gym right now wondering whether you built the right thing, or you’re thinking about starting one and don’t want to learn these lessons the expensive way, book a call and let’s build the plan together.
