All gym owners want to incentivise new member sign ups and retain their current members. One of the ways of doing this is through equipment investment.
By offering something better or different than the standard chain gyms you’ll be appealing to new starters and encouraging gym member retention.
However, whilst investing in any business is important to encourage growth, it’s not always cheap and whilst gyms are now reopening and beginning to see a return to normal, post-COVID, there will inevitably be an amount of uncertainty.
METHODS FOR INVESTING IN NEW EQUIPMENT
If a gym owner wants to invest in new equipment there are numerous ways of going about it.
Many simply opt for either a personal loan or use of a credit card. Whilst these can sometimes offer more favourable interest rates than business alternatives, the debt does remain against them personally which can, understandably, cause hesitation due to the sums of money involved.
Some gym owners would prefer to simply purchase the new equipment outright using retained capital. The disadvantage of this is using up a lot of capital held can decrease your bottom line and limits any cash in the bank for any unexpected bills.
However, the most popular way of a gym owner being able to access the equipment they want is by utilising business finance.
BUSINESS FINANCE BENEFITS
It’s popular because a gym owner can order the equipment they want and need for their members without having to pay the full cost upfront.
This leaves capital in your bank for any other expenses, unexpected or otherwise, and means any finance taken isn’t liable against the gym owner personally.
The interest rates on any finance taken tend to be fixed meaning it’s easy to forecast cashflow and as the gym owner can select their payment terms, usually between 12 and 60 months, they have control as to how much they can afford allowing them to match their monthly payments to their income.
There are also some tax benefits to be had by way of deducting the payments against any current earnings and depreciation deductions. Before considering business finance please be sure to speak with your accountant or a finance specialist.
By financing equipment this allows the gym to generate additional revenue by way of new members but without the initial cash outlay. This means that a gym owner can continually invest in a steady stream of new equipment keeping their current gym members happy whilst enticing new members to sign up!
If you’d like to find out more about opening up a new gym please read our guide here or alternatively for finance requests please feel free to contact us.
