Alloy Personal Training Business

How did our business model start and how did we scale it effectively despite it being a unique one? Anyone who runs a new business would understand how much it could take to make it work - especially at the very beginning. For Alloy Personal Training, we were in an especially challenging place as we went for a business model that was the first of its kind. Among the strategies you’ll find are: 👉...

What makes a successful entrepreneur? Is entrepreneurship for everyone? Some key traits are common for most successful entrepreneurs, and we look at three of these in this episode. When vetting franchisees for the Alloy Personal Training Franchise, we look at these traits from the candidates, and if they lack them, they might not be a good fit for our brand. However, these traits apply to independ...

Franchise discovery days are a crucial part of the franchise buying process. This is a day or two where potential franchisees visit the franchisor's corporate office to learn more about the brand. At Alloy Personal Training Franchise, potential franchises visit our corporate offices/mothership gym to get a feel of our services and get as much info as possible about the brand. It's a big opportunit...

Scarcity is a really powerful marketing tool that retailers use to influence customer behavior and drive sales. But did you know that we can use it in the fitness space to achieve the same results? We have used it here at Alloy Personal Training Franchise with great success. Some of our franchisees in our stronger one model sell almost their full capacity memberships even before the grand opening...

Who does your business serve? Does it serve you or the market? In the fitness space, it is likely to see an independent gym operator running a business that serves their personal interests or is heavily influenced by their personality which ultimately has a negative impact. Ideally, your business should serve the market and their needs despite your own personal opinions, likes, or biases. Opening...

The most common reason that businesses fail is inadequate capital. But where is the money to fund a business found? This is the question we answer in today’s podcast episode. But even before we look at ways to fund a fitness business, do you know that you are several times more likely to get funding if you are going for a franchise. A franchise is a proven concept, and financiers know that you are...

This week, we reach a major milestone in the podcast. We are on the 100th episode…. And what a better way to mark this milestone than to look at where things are headed in the fitness industry post-Covid and what this means for the Alloy Personal Training Franchise brand and others. As gym owners and the fitness industry as a whole, the pandemic hit us badly; nobody could have prepared for the dis...

What’s holding you back from your entrepreneurial dream? Rick and Matt reckon that fear is what is preventing you from taking the next step. In this episode, we break down the three common fears that we see mostly with our franchise candidates and what holds them back from owning a fitness business even when they understand the opportunity that exists in the industry. Being in the franchise develo...

One of the most rewarding things in business is experiencing continued growth, and vice versa is true. Many gym owners are often frustrated by the lack of growth in their fitness business. In this episode, Rick and Matt break down the four reasons why your fitness business is struggling for growth. Address these four issues and kiss stagnation goodbye. One of the reasons is risk. In a fitness busi...

In this episode, Matt and Rick discuss whether or not you should make a wholesale change to your current business model. Spoiler alert- it could mean more profit and less drama! As a gym owner, changing your business model can be a tough call to make. But sometimes, it’s the only viable option to solve the problems you face in the gym and, while at it, increase your profitability. Part of being an...

This week we discuss the healthy friction between business systems and team flexibility. As an entrepreneur, systemizing your business is vital to the growth of your business. However, where do you draw the line between systems and giving your employees enough autonomy to make decisions when certain scenarios present themselves? In the fitness industry, we are in the people business, and even if y...

This week, Matt and Rick discuss the brand promise of Alloy Personal Training. It's very important that you put your flag in the ground in regards to your brand and then build the right machine to meet that promise. As a fitness entrepreneur, what do you really believe in? What is your fitness philosophy? This is the starting point to building a brand promise. Once you've figured out your brand pr...

In this episode, Matt and Rick discuss the "ugly baby" syndrome and how it can affect your business. Spoiler alert- your one and only lens should be your customers' needs and not your personal passions. Every parent thinks their baby is the cutest little bundle of joy in the world. This is okay, but as entrepreneurs, we are the mothers of our businesses, and it would be a fatal mistake if we fell...

The Alloy Personal Training Fitness Brand has grown in leaps and bounds over the last 25 years to where we are right now; licensing and franchising thousands of clubs worldwide. Part of the reason for this growth is the opportunity that lies in going for the lucrative over-50 market. This demographic holds over 70% of America’s disposable income and continues to grow in numbers. In fact, it can be...

Last week, we talked about Dunbar's number and why it's critical to the success of your fitness business, especially when determining the ideal number of members in a gym. Today, we build on this by discussing the approach we use to determine the ideal client capacity in a personal training fitness model. We also speak of the percentage of capacity that is actually attainable in a gym. Most gym ow...

What is the ideal number of members for a personal training gym? That's the question we attempt to answer in today's episode. And to help us better understand the answer, we discuss Dunbar's Number and its significance to the fitness business. Robin Dunbar was a British evolutionary anthropologist who suggested the ideal number of people who can maintain stable social relationships in a social cir...

Why should anyone trust your business? One of the biggest indicators of the success of a business is the levels of trust customers have in it. Trust is the cornerstone upon which all other customer experiences are built on. So the question is, then how do you as a brand build trust? How do you get customers to trust that you are doing the right thing and want to do business with you and even refer...

Eleven years ago, a Georgia State University student walked into the Alloy facilities for an internship and loved what he saw from the first day. The gym was packed, everybody was smiling and having fun, and the experience looked great. Right there, Cody Parks knew that this is what he wanted to do; this is what personal training should look like. Everything that he had envisioned was right before...

In the United States, there are more than 100 million over the age of 50. They also account for 70% of disposable income spending. In addition to having higher amounts of disposable income, this demographic has the time to spend on fitness, which is very important for them. These reasons explain why they make great long-term fitness clients. However, as Jay puts it in this episode, fitness facilit...

Whether you are the manager of your business or you hire someone else for that role, you need a clear compensation structure for that position. Matt and Rick discuss 3 different scenarios and the best practices for manager compensation for each. The first scenario we talk about is the owner-operator, where you are most likely in the management seat as the owner. This might be as the Director of Tr...

If you are in the fitness space, you've probably heard of Causely and their Facebook check-in business. They help businesses, mainly gyms, restaurants, and churches, generate social media reviews and referrals by giving back. This helps a business reach more people while creating a charitable reputation for them. Here at Alloy, we have found Causely to be a great giving partner, especially because...

How do you and your team answer the phone at your facility? How do your conduct a tour of your facility once a prospect walks in? These seem like really basic questions, but you'd be surprised at how many businesses get it wrong and waste the golden chance to convert the prospect to a client. You may run the most creative marketing campaign and get lots of people to call you or walk into your gym,...

We have previously talked about the dirty C-word in our organization; today, we talk about another dirty word, the F word. That's right, we are talking about freezes and their impact on a fitness business. Right from the start, Rick and Matt implore all gym owners, especially those in the personal training space, to consider every freeze as a nice way of your client quitting without saying they ar...

In our current Alloy model, we do not use wearable tech as part of our personal training. It has not always been the case; we used to have specific heart rate belts with a screen where people would track their effort during workouts and outside the gym. However, from our personal training experience, we intuitively knew that having your heart rate as high as possible is not the end goal of a worko...

In this episode, Jared and Rick discuss how to align your fitness business for the post-COVID era. The good news is there is a pent-up demand for fitness services IF you speak the right message to the right audience.  Now that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel shining brighter with the vaccine program going on smoothly, we need to start looking at how the fitness industry will look pos...