Fitness Business Start Up Guide

1. Marketing only to a "fit" crowd - Yes, fitness camps are for everyone, and there are many strategies to employ that ensure that no one is left behind. You can open up a whole new segment of the population by marketing your camp to people of all gender, race and size. Don't pigeon-hole yourself by selling it as an "athletes" camp or "military-style" camp!

2. Not seeking community support - Soliciting community support not only gets your name out to the community for possible new recruits, but it cements a relationship that you will need if you want to grow the business. For example, though camps are mostly run in public parks, some people may have a problem with the idea of a camp "dominating" a certain portion of their beautiful green space. Having a good relationship with local businesses and neighbors may lessen any confrontations.

3. "Down time" in camp - This one basically boils down to organization. Your goal is to give the campers what they paid for - a great workout that usually lasts 60 minutes. Focus on wisely using transitional times, and learn to effectively teach new exercises without slowing down momentum.

4. Failing to vary your workouts - In the business of boot camps, the only thing routine should be the time and days of the workout. Campers love fresh workouts! We like to work on all components of fitness so some days you'll find us working on short intense circuits, some days on team strength days, and some days we may work on timed longer runs.

5. Growing too quickly - We've seen the watered-down camps that occur when businesses follow the "Starbucks" model of one on every corner. Some camps offer 5 - 10 locations, using former campers to run satellite locations and the resulting camp is unorganized. This will eventually reflect poorly on your good name. Learn to grow slowly to new locations only after perfecting your camp model.