Opening a gym can be difficult, especially because more and more Americans are choosing an active-free and sedentary life. But, this doesn’t mean that your gym is bound to fail if you decide to open one.

There are several things to envision when opening up a gym, including what equipment you’ll need, your hours, and even making sure you have enough gym wipes for everyone.

If you are thinking about opening up a gym, we have some mistakes listed, which you may want to avoid when you decide to take that leap.

1. Skipping Over Market Research

Market research is key to any new business. You have to make sure you’re not entering a market that’s too saturated or a market that doesn’t exist.

If you’ve decided to start a gym, great, but you need to do as much research as possible to see if opening a gym is, well, possible.

Take a look at Google Maps, and if you see, there are already tons of gyms in your area, see how your gym could be different than those that exist. Do they serve a specific type of client? Are they more high-class or cater to a certain group, like boxers?

What classes could you offer that would appeal to your local market?

Your research is going to be long and difficult, but the key to your success.

2. Starting Without Any Clients

If you’re starting a gym, chances are you know a thing or two about personal fitness. If you know about personal fitness, you’ve probably done some work as a personal trainer.

Bam! You already have some future gym members right there.

Building up a client base while you’re trying to start a gym is ideal word-of-mouth marketing. You have some clients you work on from time to time; they may have friends, and so on.

Trying to start a gym cold is likely to leave you with an empty gym and unused machines.

3. Minimal Networking

Networking is what drives all businesses. This is the time for you to try and bring other trainers to your gym, offering them a place to train their own clients, whether that is weight training, running, boxing, yoga, etc.

Attend events and conferences in town or even reach out to people via LinkedIn. Is it time-consuming work? Yes, very much so, but it’s a way to reach out to others in a personal manner and tell them about your new venture.

4. Not Researching Equipment

Unless you’re going bare bones and using a pair of giant rocks as weights, you’re going to want to research gym equipment. While you might think you know what works best, it doesn’t hurt to take a look at the market and see what options are out there.

You should be researching everything from dumbbells, to machines, to even the gym wipes that you’ll want to clean off machines with.

5. Trying to Do it Alone

While you may know everything about abdominal workouts and weight-lifting, you may not have the first idea about accounting or budgeting. While it’s noble to try and learn it all on your own, it’s always good to have a team.

Build up a support team around you, like accountants, a marketing team, HR, and maybe a business lawyer to help you navigate the red tape. It’s always good to have an expert (or two) in your corner.