It always puzzles me – in the nicest way possible – how someone as sylph-like as Wendy Watkins can possess so much muscle.
She can run faster than me, so I’ll be careful about divulging her age... but its compliment enough to her to mention that she entered her first figure competition at the age of 45. And very stunning she looked, too.
Wendy is co-owner of the Bangor Brewer Athletic Club which resides on Abbott Street, Maine, USA. Her business partner, Sean Soucy, is an ex-marine and himself a seasoned bodybuilder.
“Obesity, heart disease, cancer, depression and all sorts of not-so-wonderful stuff grows on my family tree, “ Wendy divulges. “Seeing my father die of heart disease at the age of 49, and taking care of my mum as she battled lung cancer taught me a few very important lessons.”
Among all this family tragedy, Wendy had always been interested in working out, initially with actress Jane Fonda’s legendary exercise videos back in the days of VHS. “I was a writer for a number of years, and eventually specialised in fitness and health, and decided to get a personal training certification to help beef up my credentials.
”Gradually I ended up spending more time personal training than writing, and voila! – here I am!” Not bad for a girl who was a gym-class dropout at school.
For all their risk, gyms can reap rewards even more solid than the inevitable shapely calves
Gyms can be an extremely risky business, but Wendy and Sean are making sure that the Bangor Brewer facility is in excellent form. They – and others – have shared their experiences with me, and hopefully, I’ll be able to give you a helpful overview should you be harbouring an interest in owning a gym.
If you’re completely clueless (and I recommend working in a gym for at least a couple of months before making any definite move to buy a gym), buying a gym franchise might be the way to go. If you’re in a franchise situation, bear in mind that you might have to pay an up-front fee (a minimum of £20,000) as well as ongoing residuals (a minimum of £10,000 per year) to the franchisor, so at the start be mindful also of extra legal expenses to ensure that you are entering an agreement that is not potentially damaging to you.
Funding
What follows is based on the assumption that you have decided to eschew buying into a franchise, and that you are going into business as an independent. “Just a tip,” says one gym owner I spoke with. “Get possible funding lined up; don’t waste any energy on anything else. Nothing—location, size, alternative revenue streams, management—matters if you can’t get funding.”
And this is where you have to weigh up your options. Do you go it alone, or do you have more clout with a business partner?
For Wendy Watkins, the second option was the one that worked. “We just got a loan from the bank. Basically, we wrote a business plan, made a list of the equipment of the gym we were interested in buying, and the bank backed us.”
I was curious about having credibility with the bank. I asked Wendy if she knew of anyone who ran a gym without actively being involved or teaching there. “I don’t!” was her unequivocal reply.
The owner of my own local gym was assisted in its acquisition by his parents, both of whom are now employed on a part-time basis at the operation. But for most people, money will come from a bank or a finance house.
Your business plan should be between 10 and 20 pages long, and contain the following sections: business description, mission statement, market and industry, products and services, features, unique selling points, competition, target clientele, marketing and advertising.
“The rich are deformed by their wealth,” the actress Catherine Deneuve once stated. “They never think about the real worth of a project, just its profitability.”
