Opening a gym or fitness studio - Biofit’s 4-step process - online course

How to open a new gym or fitness studio

My name is Matt Aspiotis Morley - Founder of Biofit Health & Fitness, and from January 2015 to December 2016 I had a dream of opening my own gym.

It just so happened that it was an indoor-outdoor, biophilic gym with functional health benefits for its users and natural fitness training BUT in a way… the specific concept is irrelevant.

It was the endless frustrations of trying to get a new concept off the ground and a general lack of information available online of how to make it happen that bothered me.

Why was there not more sage advice out there? Surely someone had written a simple guide with a proven process and a structure to follow?

Where was I supposed to focus my energies in order to take an idea from concept to reality? How should I approach the financial plan and what would a reasonable. set of projections look like? Which consultants did I really need to pay for with my limited start-up cash? So many questions! It was a truly frustrating experience.

In the end, I gave two years and half of all my life savings to this process, paying for lawyers, accountants, graphic designers and yes, expert gym consultants along the way in my quest to do things to the highest standard possible.

Eventually this led me to create a do or die, last chance saloon, 4-week pop-up gym in London with what was left of my investment capital and… my dream finally came true, at least for a short while.

So when the phone rang from Canada with someone asking if I could help them launch their own natural fitness studio I pivoted the business away from an owner-operator mode to a service based model helping others design, launch and operate their dream gyms.

Biofit pivots to a gym & fitness consultancy

Biofit created the world’s first organic gym, a project that garnered massive media attention, leading to our first gym interior design commission from a private client in Canada, followed by another from a prestigious university in Sweden, and another from a yacht club on the Adriatic Coast.

More recently we have been advising the world’s top safari lodge brand on their fitness offer and along the way looked at countless possible sites as well as deals with developers, fitness groups and hospitality brands.

In short, things worked out OK in the end and the learning curve has been steep, I even spun off a second business in 2018 called Biofilico that advises on creating green, healthy and ‘biophilic’ interiors for offices, homes and hotels, while Biofit now has its own online fitness course for coaches and personal trainers.

Who is the online course for and what is in it?

Our ‘Opening a Gym or Fitness studio’ course is for anyone hoping to open their own health or fitness facility and wants a concise, simple to follow, 4-step process to getting it right, without the need for expensive consultants. It is the course I wish I had found back in 2016 to help me on my journey.

We analyze the market and local competition, help you define a differentiated product from branding to interiors and customer service; develop a robust financial model based on informed assumptions, and go through what needs to happen in the all-important pre-opening phase, from site selection, to interior design and recruitment.

Our ‘Opening a Gym or Fitness studio’ course is for anyone hoping to open their own health or fitness facility and wants a concise, simple to follow, 4-step process to getting it right, without the need for expensive consultants. It is the course I wish I had found back in 2016 to help me on my journey.

To find out more, subscribe to our YouTube channel or visit our courses page at www.biofit.thinkific.com