For most gym owners, the beginning of the entrepreneurship journey is filled with the unknown and the unknowable. The early days might simply be like Groundhog Day: Open doors, coach classes, lock doors, repeat. In fact, the idea of hiring a business mentor might not even enter a gym owners’ mind until months - or years - down the road.
From navigating financial uncertainties to figuring out the marketing complexities of things like SEO and lead nurture, where do you even start?
Welcome to the Gym Growth Blueprint Series! We asked gym owners, “What’s the one piece of advice you’d give a new gym owner?” As gym owners ourselves, the PushPress team is passionate about helping others succeed.
Today’s advice comes from gym owners Ann Robatin Fuerst and Lorne Fitzsimmons.
“Get a mentor to keep you grounded,” said Fuerst, owner of Essential CrossFit in Wilmington, NC.
“If you don’t know what you’re doing, hire a mentor,” suggested Fitzsimmons, owner of CrossFit Kilgard in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
Now that we have the advice, let’s dive into the various benefits of hiring a business mentor for your gym!
Six Reasons to Hire a Business Mentor.
1. Help with Navigating Decisions.
By nature, a mentor provides you with expert guidance based on industry experience and knowledge. This hopefully means being able to help you avoid common mistakes and achieve fast-tracked success.
In addition, a mentor can help you work on predicting unexpected challenges, along with the solutions you’ll implement if they arise.
As a gym owner, business-related questions likely circle your mind consistently. Should you add another class time or start a nutrition coaching business? How should you handle membership holds and cancellations? Should you hire a professional to help with paid gym ads?
For all these questions and more, an effective business mentor should be able to provide proven data to help you make the right decisions. And the more experience they have with mentoring, the less likely you are to have a problem they haven’t encountered before.
2. Consistent Accountability.
In the same way your members turn to you to help hold them accountable to their fitness goals, a mentor can provide you that accountability as well. Regular check-ins with your mentor should keep you on track with your goals, ensuring steady progress.
Further, an effective business mentor can be an objective sounding board for you. Chances are, they’ve seen the dilemma you’re facing - or even experienced it themselves - and can walk you through it. If it’s a big decision, they can help you with the pros and cons of each side. And once you’ve made the decision, they can hold you accountable to any follow-up steps.
3. Business Growth.
An experienced business mentor should be proficient at coaching you through any stage of business growth. This means offering strategies for scaling, optimizing operations, improving member retention and more.
Ideally, you’ll get to enjoy a significant improvement in most of your key business metrics.
For example, let’s look at the 2023 State of the Fitness Industry Report. Showcasing data from 13,000 gyms, the report showed that 73.5 percent of top-earners in the industry work with a business mentor.
Here are three examples of key metrics to consider:
- The average LEG (length of engagement) is just 7.8 months. However, clients who used Two-Brain Business for mentorship averaged 20.7 months.
- The average monthly gym revenue in the United States was $12,490. Two-Brain Business gyms averaged $21,040 per month.
- The average monthly pay for gym owners in the industry was $3,967. Two-Brain Business gym owners averaged a monthly take-home pay of $4,763.
4. Networking Opportunities with Your Business Mentor.
Another fun and beneficial perk of hiring a business mentor is the networking opportunities! Generally, a mentor’s connections can open doors to partnerships, collaborations and other opportunities. This is simply because they’re probably connected to a group of like-minded gym owners that know the highs and lows of life in the fitness industry.
So, whether through group Zoom calls, Facebook groups or in-person meet-ups, connecting with other owners allows you to learn, ask questions and receive encouragement.
5. Personal Development.
Hiring a mentor can accelerate your personal development by fostering leadership skills, enhancing your decision-making abilities, and instilling a growth mindset. As you know, running a gym isn't just about managing operations. It's about leading your gym community, and inspiring your coaches and members. An effective mentor can even help you refine your leadership style, building confidence in guiding your team and being able to make tough calls.
Mentorship can also challenge you to step outside your comfort zone. Maybe you’re trying to tackle difficult business decisions. Or perhaps you want to try new marketing strategies. No matter what, having someone experienced to push you can lead to stronger problem-solving skills and resilience. This growth in self-confidence and mental agility can ripple out to other areas of life, too.
6. Avoiding Burnout.
Hiring a business mentor may also provide insight into personal work-life balance, helping you avoid gym owner burnout. With a mentor’s guidance, you can better learn how to manage stress, prioritize tasks, and maintain a healthy perspective on your business journey.
By providing both practical and emotional support, a mentor can help you navigate the pressures of entrepreneurship. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that you remain energized, focused and passionate about your business, without falling into the trap of burnout.
Did You Know: The PushPress team is made up of gym owners ourselves! We understand the triumphs and the struggles of gym owner life. And we’d like to use our experience to help you succeed! Book a demo with our team today to find out which PushPress solutions would be best for your unique gym.
In Summary: Hire a Business Mentor in Any Stage of Gym Ownership.
Ask any gym owner about hiring a business mentor and they’ll likely tell you they wish they would’ve done it sooner. But the good news is, no matter what stage of the entrepreneurship journey you’re in, it’s never too late.
First, a mentor can help you with navigating important business decisions. Second, consistent accountability is proven to help with long-term success. Speaking of that, business growth is a normal and expected side effect of the mentoring process. Networking opportunities and personal development are two more benefits. And finally, helping you avoid gym owner burnout is a needed and crucial part of business mentorship.
