Business Planning/Strategies Articles

profit CENTER By Dave Pickering Succeeding in the Corporate Market How can you tap into the corporate market with a sound action plan? Part two of a two-part series. magine the value of being listed as an "approved personal fitness trainer" in a provider directory of health care professionals distributed to more than 1 million consumers. How would such a listing impact your business? For Ken Ba...

Many companies hire project managers to oversee and implement initiatives set forth by the organizations. Project managers are adept at ensuring that those initiatives are successfully completed in a timely manner. As a fitness manager, you are also expected to manage projects as part of your job description. Unfortunately, few fitness managers are given the tools they need to ev...

Tax season can be rife with extra headaches, especially if you still have problems hanging over you from last year. Every-one needs a little help from time to time. Why should you be any different? If you’ve tried unsuccessfully to deal with a tax problem, consider contacting a taxpayer advocate. A taxpayer advocate will independently represent your interests within the Internal ...

Group fitness managers: before you beg your general manager (GM) for new products or programs, gather the financial facts to back up your request. Quite often we lack the tools to present our argument in the way that the person controlling the budget needs to hear it. Gain your GM’s respect by speaking his language: money. You need to view the group exercise department as a crucial vehicle for increasing club membership, retaining current members and building a community within the facility.

According to the Kiplinger Business Resource Center, “The United States economy in 2008 should limp along, with little or no growth in some quarters and a lousy feeling to many businesses and consumers” (Idaszak 2008). When economic conditions create a difficult market, the fitness industry must respond quickly in order to weather the storm and prevent financial problems. Begin by reviewing your budgets and identifying costs that appear superfluous or redundant.

Are you thinking about opening your own fitness studio? There are a lot of good reasons to do so: it’s an opportunity to be your own boss, control your workplace, increase your income and have more job security. For every one of these reasons, however, there is a downside. The trouble is too few business novices—especially those whose background is fitness, not...