Motionwear || Gymnastics Blog

Alternative Revenue Streams for your Gym

Posted on 26. May, 2009 by Bob Wilson in Gyms & Coaches

The economy’s tight, parents aren’t renewing for another season and you’re left wondering what you can do to get your gym’s bottom line back on track. So, what can you do? Here are a few ideas that other gyms are trying with great success.

Competitive Cheerleading

Competitive cheerleading outside of the school arena is quickly catching on, as are tumbling programs designed specifically for junior and high school cheerleaders.

One gym we deal with has started offering a Cheerleading Bootcamp program in the weeks leading up to cheerleading tryouts at the local high school. They’ve seen huge interest as girls flock to the program wanting to better their chances of getting on the squad.

Birthday Parties and Kid’s Programs

If you’re up for it, fun days and birthday parties can be a great revenue stream, provided they don’t cut into your regular gym time. You also need to be prepared. Training a team of gymnasts is a whole other world compared to entertaining a gym full of 6-year-olds hopped up on cupcakes.

Adult Classes

Adult classes are a nice way to open up your client base and even encourage parents to get involved. If you have the studio space for yoga classes or Pilates, even better. One gym I work with has built up a great niche offering prenatal yoga classes and Mommy and Me gym programs.

Summer Camps

Intensive summer camps and day programs are gaining in popularity for gyms looking to boost their summertime revenue. Most gyms offer day programs over a small range of age groups and skill levels with the focus of each day’s activities weighing heavily on, of course, gymnastics.

Day camps are also a good way to provide employment for your more senior team members whether as assistants or counselors.

Extreme Sports Classes

Have you ever watched the X-Games on TV? Skateboarders, snowboards and BMX bikers are doing flips through the air over concrete, snow and dirt. But, how do they learn to do that?

The gym is a great place to start and gyms that have opened their doors to programs focused specifically on extreme sports have not only seen huge interest, but also a big influx of boys.

Open Gyms

Imagine 50-100 middle schoolers jumping on your trampolines, climbing your ropes, leaping into your pit and sliding down the zip line. That’s open gym. Okay, fine, now imagine those same 50-100 middle schoolers paying $10-$15 each for the privilege. You need supervision, of course, but open gyms are a great way to make money.

Offering open gym/childcare for younger gymnasts is another way to lure parents to your gym. While they may just start dropping in for the affordable and fun, gym-based childcare, you may find those same parents enrolling gymnasts sooner rather than later.

So, what are you doing at your gym to broaden your revenue streams and increase your income? Have you tried any of the suggestions above? If so, we’d love to hear the results in the comments.

Photo: Moore Aloha

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Tags: camps, cheerleading, classes, extreme sports, gym owners