Average Joe’s Gym
When I began I quickly realised I didn’t have the £250,000 required, so I traded used gym equipment to gain capital. I negotiated extra storage during the setup phase, then bought ‘job lots’ of equipment from bankrupt gyms and online selling sites like eBay.
I would bulk-buy 10 machines, sell 7 individually to get my money back, then keep the remaining 3 machines for free. I did this several times and ended up with £150,000 worth of equipment on opening day which only cost me £30,000.
Due to this method, our cost of entry was lower than other gyms and we broke even 18 months ahead of schedule. From experience, gyms struggle because they take new equipment on long leases and debt, therefore, becomes an overhead.