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rparker426

I am starting my own gym right at the begining of the November. Around my town everything is small so the gym is just gonna be basic, more of a fun learning enviroment. I have my beam and bar and basic floor mats. I would appricate any type of advice or ideas to use for advertising, lesson plans, anything that you thinking would be helpful I would appricate it. I am new to all of this even the business side. Please Help!!!!!
 
get a good accountant

Over here there are tax breaks and incentives for community sports facilities, plus the one person you don't want to upset is the IRS. A good accountant is worth their weight in gold !
 
A good accountant is a great idea. If you are new to running a business then it will be really beneficial to have someone to help you with the financial side.

My tips would be
1. Advertise on the internet. People use the internet more than anything these days to get what they want, Make sure you are right up there in google when people in your area search for gymnastics, children's activities or anything. People like it to be easy nowadays they don;t want to go out and search or follow up ads. They want to google something, and have a nice easy page where they can send an automatic enquiry and set it all up without getting off their chair.

2. the key with the current population is to get the balance between fun and serious. Many parents want it to be a fun, laid back, once a week activity but they still want their kids to feel like gymnasts.

3. Set up a program with lots of rewards and incentives, make small progress special, reward it. This helps kids feel like they are progressing, and parents want to see this too.

4. Hold events, if you are a recreational club its important to hold events, even small ones are great. Kids who don't compete don't always feel like they get to do anything with their gymnastics. Specials displays or fun in club competitions help with this.

5. Do it yourself. It takes a long time for a new gym to turn a profit. I have seen new gyms hire to many staff to start off with and they have lost everything. Teach the classes yourself until it becomes too big to do this.

6. Believe in what you are doing, people will see this and they will put their faith in you.
 
I saw a study that said people respond more to actual mail than email. So try sending out postcards ( for a free trial class?) to kids from a local elementary school. One more tip, think about sending out a groupon or living social deal for a session of rec classes. It's a great way to get people aware of your business.
 
Groupons

I would hold off on the Groupons, as they take a substantial share of the income (close to 50%). It also attracted a negative element of young parents "just trying" gymnastics who were appalled by registration and tuition costs once their Groupon session was over. Very few of those students stayed in the program after the first 6 week session, while parents willing to pay the normal tuition almost always came back. (Normal tuition and Groupon tuition took the same classes) What was intended to be a promotion to attract new customers turned out to be a giveaway.
 
For Mother & Baby classes we can send out leaflets with health Visitors (don't know if you have that over there) who see all the new mums regularly, plus schools let us come in and do a display assembly and then distribute leaflets to all the children
 

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