Thursday, May 5, 2011

"I wish I had Known" - another Curves owner

I heard this again today for perhaps the thousandth time- from another Curves owner who wished she had done more investigating before getting involved with a Curves franchise. She is soon going to be closing her club, but wanted to look into opening a non-franchise club to be able to continue to service her members. When she found out she could buy a PACE circuit for over $10,000.00 less than the Curves’ start-up package- for superior equipment and no franchise fees, she was obviously very happy. But she was also very frustrated with the time, money and hard work wasted on Curves with absolutely no support from the corporate office.

I told her perhaps the best way to look at it was a learning experience; she now knows what does not work and what not to do. She can now expand upon her hard work over the years and reap the profits of truly owning her own business. I also encouraged her to look at the positive things she accomplished; she helped many people make some positive changes in their lives. She perhaps did not have the best product to offer or tools to work with, but she can now expand on what she started.

I have helped hundreds of former Curves club owners, employees or members successfully open their own non-franchise club; if you know of a Curves owner of a club that has recently closed, or soon to be closed, please pass along my contact information.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Large Club Owners- Consider a Sattelite Studio

It is no secret that women-only circuit training clubs saturated the country a few years ago. The Curves for Women franchise at one time boasted over 10,000 locations. Although thousands of Curves clubs have closed in the last few years (for a number of reasons; over-saturation of markets, unqualified owners, lack of support, high franchise fees, inferior equipment, tight franchise restrictions, etc.), they still are a significant factor in the fitness industry across the country. There is no doubt that they are still a thorn in the side of larger coed facilities by taking away thousands of potential members. With their message of “no intimidation” and the time efficiency of a 30 minute workout, these clubs appeal to the needs of today’s deconditioned, busy Baby Boomers.

Some large clubs have attempted to counter these circuit training clubs by offering their own “express” type of circuits within their facilities using conventional weight stack machines borrowed from their main workout area. However, the problem of getting the intimidated person in the front door still remains. Some progressive club owners have opened their own satellite circuit training/weight loss studios to attract the out-of-shape and intimidated market and act as “feeder” clubs into the main club. With satellite clubs, when a member reaches a certain level of fitness and gets over the initial intimidation, it can be an easy upgrade into the “mother” club. One of the biggest problems that Curves clubs face is a high drop-out rate when members hit a plateau because of their non-adjustable equipment. They have nothing to offer when a members says "now what?".

Low overhead is a major key to the success of these circuit training studios. Rents and personnel costs for 1,200- 2,000 square feet facilities are obviously much less than those of 20,000+ square foot clubs. For example, if you assume the rent for a small facility to be about $2,500.00 per month and if you have four part time people working 20 hours per week each at a rate of $10.00 per hour, your overhead would be approximately $6,000.00 per month. Typically, a small women’s circuit training club will charge $39.00- $49.00 a month for memberships; the average club needs 125-150 members to break even. Much higher fees can be charged if a weight loss program is incorporated into memberships. Fees of $499.00- $599.00 are not unusual for 8-12 weeks of a weight loss program- with no exercise component.

Granted, small studios will not generate the profit dollars made by larger clubs, but percentage-wise, these small clubs can be much more profitable (and much less expensive to set up and staff). Besides enjoying new profit, the key factor to remember is that members of these small clubs can be transitioned into the main club when they are ready- a feeder system for those people who would normally not join a large club. Members of Curves have no where to go when they reach a plateau.