The basic idea of Buffi The Gym Girl is to cause you to become familiar with the dynamics of running a fitness center.
The business structure of a gym is essentially simple. Members pay a periodic fee for the right to enter the facility and use the equipment over a period of time, generally a month to a year. The managers of the gym use the revenue from the memberships to pay employees and to maintain equipment.
Depending on the revenue stream, management may elect to expand the building or invest more in marketing of the business. There's nothing unusual in the operation of a fitness center.
Except the members.
Retaining members means doing what it takes to keep them coming back. The basic task is to maintain the gym, to keep it clean and operational. The second effort is to maintain a friendly and helpful staff and to make sure the number of employees is great enough to be of help to the membership as it grows. Other major considerations are the expense of the membership, the number of amenities, and how crowded it gets.
All of these factors combine to cause gym members to stay or leave. The task for you is to make the right decisions that cause them to remain and for others to join the fitness center.
Jose Mercado, the current manager of Gold's Gym, at 600 Grand Avenue in Oakland, sat down to talk about what the major concerns are in the day to day operation of a gym:
