There are only five things a fitness business needs to do.
And if your business fails, it is only and always because your business has failed in one of these five areas.
Every fitness business that’s failed can be traced back to one of five things.
The good news is, because we know what these five things are, we can be proactive and address them before it’s too late.
In his book, The Personal MBA, the author Josh Kaufman does a great job of summarising the five things your business needs to do:
- Your business needs to create and deliver something of value.
- People must want or need that thing your business is delivering.
- The thing your business sells must be at a price they’re willing to pay.
- The business must satisfy the customer’s needs and expectations.
- The business must bring in enough profit to make it worthwhile for you, the owner, to continue operation.
That’s it. If your business does those five things, it’ll be a success. But if it doesn’t tick every single on of those boxes, if even one of those objectives is not achieved, you business will fail.
So here’s my plan, let’s look at each of these five objectives, and explore what would happen if they weren’t met. Kaufman, the author of The Personal MBA gives us an insight into what happens to your business when you miss each of these objectives. He tells us:
A business that doesn’t create value for others isn’t a business, it’s a hobby.
A business that doesn’t attract attention is a flop.
A business that doesn’t sell the value it creates is a charity.
A business that doesn’t deliver what it promises is a scam.
And a business that doesn’t bring in enough money to keep operating is not going to exist very long.
I’ve seen so many business owners fail to meet these objectives. Let me tell you what that looks like specifically for a fitness business. Maybe one of these will sound like I’m describing your business, in which case, I’ll then look at what you need to do to address the objective you’re currently failing to meet.
Objective number one:
A business that doesn’t create value for others isn’t a business, it’s a hobby. This is a common one in the fitness industry, where people get into this game because they’re passionate about health and fitness themselves. Passion is great, but you can’t pay the mortgage or feed your family on passion alone. You need to create a valuable experience for people – not just a vehicle for you to live our your passion. It’s actually easier than you think to earn good money as a PT for example. Read: How PTs can earn $100k/year in 20 hours a week.
Objective number two:
A business that doesn’t attract attention is a flop. I’ve lost count of the number of times people tell me ‘if people just knew about us, and gave it a go, they’d be hooked’. This might be true, but if you don’t learn how to market your business, it’s doomed to fail. This is all about progressing people along the stages of awareness – from the point that they don’t even know they have a problem, right through to them being ready to fork over their hard earned money.
Objective number three:
A business that doesn’t sell the value it creates is a charity. The results we’re selling are nothing short of life changing. Exercise is unrivalled in its ability to make people healthier and happier. And yet, so many fitness business owners under charge for the life altering experiences they’re selling. If you don’t feel confident charging more, build your confidence by improving the product you’re selling – by improving the experience (read: The Only Thing Fitness Business Owners Need to Do For Retention). Once you’ve done that, charge what you’re worth, and stop being a charity.
Objective number four:
A business that doesn’t deliver what it promises is a scam. This builds on what I just mentioned, improving the product that you sell. And that product is the experience people get from your business. This should be a question you ask yourself every single day. ‘How can I give my clients and members a better experience?’.
Objective number five:
A business that doesn’t bring in enough money to keep operating is not going to exist very long. This is probably the biggest one I see. Quite simply, most fitness businesses just don’t earn enough money. Not enough people, paying not enough money, contributing not enough revenue. Or too many people, taking too much money, contributing too much expenditure. Ultimately, not enough profit. When I look at the books and business models of many of the fitness business owners who approach me, I can see it’s just not viable. In many cases, a full, structural change of the business model is needed (read: 9 ways to pivot your fitness business to earn more). Different operations, different revenue streams, a whole different approach.
I’d never claim that business is easy, but I would say it’s pretty simple. And it comes down to these five things.
- Work out what people need, and build it. This is called value creation.
- Attract attention and demand for your business. This is called marketing.
- Sell the product you’ve built to people. This is called sales.
- Give your customers an experience. This is called value delivery.
- Earn enough profit to make your efforts worthwhile. This is called finances.
That’s it.
Value creation, marketing, sales, delivery and finances.
Every business on Earth is made up of these five simple things.
If you drop the ball on any one, your business is in trouble. If that’s you, address that area, and you’ll be rewarded with a booming and successful long term business.
If you’ve found this valuable, you might also enjoy the following, they are three of my most popular articles on this topic:
