Summary: This episode uncovers the ten key questions every fitness business professional should ask to evaluate their side-hustle ideas, boosting the chances of success while minimising risk. 5 things you’ll learn in this episode: How urgency can determine the immediate success of your fitness side hustle.Why narrowing down your market size can help you attract paying clients faster.How pricing potential and client acquisition costs affect long-term profitability.The importance of creating a unique offer and protecting it from being easily copied.How to test and rank multiple ideas before committing time and resources. You’ve probably got a great idea for a ‘fitness side hustle’. It’s part of your pursuit of multiple income streams as a fitness professional. And I’m all for it. I think it’s a great idea in the health and fitness industry, where the badge of ‘fitnesspreneur’ is displayed proudly. And I know you’ve got no shortage of ideas. I know, because I’m the same. I call them ‘projects’ – side quests from your primary income stream. But all these ideas leads to one big problem… which one to choose? The biggest mistake I see people making when launching a new project is that they simply launch the first half decent idea they think of and try to turn it into a business. But honestly, what are the chances it will work? Out of the thousands and thousands of ideas you’ll have in the next few years, what are the chances that the very first idea will be the one that gives you that financial freedom you’ve always dreamed of? Tiny. The chances are tiny. Just like the chances of throwing a dart at a dartboard and hitting the bullseye on your very first attempt. The best way to hit the bullseye is to throw more darts. Throw 100 darts, and you’ll probably hit the centre with one of them. But what if we could increase the size of the bullseye? What if you could test your business idea before launching it (before even building it) to grow the bullseye and increase the chance of success. What if you could rank the potential of your ideas so you know which ones are most likely to succeed? Well you can, and you can do it by asking ten simple questions before you spend any time or money on turning that idea into a business. In his book, The Personal MBA, Josh Kaufman gives us ten ways to evaluate a market. I’ve adapted these into ten questions a fitness business owner can ask to tip the odds of success in their favour. I’ve spoken about this book before, in an episode of The Business of Fitness Podcast called ‘The only 5 reasons your fitness business is failing‘ (you can also read the article here). Let’s look at these ten questions, and give a few examples from the fitness industry to help to understand how we can apply them. Question 1: Urgency. How urgent is the need for the service you’re providing? If the level of urgency is high, your business will experience success sooner. And for something that’s starting as a side-hustle, immediate success is really important because it gives you the feedback you need to turn this idea into something bigger. A treatment program for diabetes or osteoporosis has a high level of urgency. So does a body transformation program for brides-to-be, or a pre-season sports program. A gym membership catering to general population isn’t as urgent. Question 2: Market size. How big is your potential market? This is an interesting one, because generally speaking, the bigger the market, the more people who will pay you money. But if you make the common mistake of trying to create a service for everyone, you’ll find it’s too general and not actually specific enough to solve a narrow problem and attract paying clients. But you do need to make sure your market is big enough to sustain your idea. Short, high intensity small group exercise classes run at lunch time in the CBD have a large potential market. Those same classes in a small country town don’t. Question 3: Pricing potential. How much are people prepared to pay for your service? So many of the business owners I mentor come to me with business ideas, but they collapse when you actually run the numbers. Many ideas just aren’t financially viable. If people aren’t prepared to pay enough money, the return on effort will be so low that you’re better off trying a different idea. An intensive and all-inclusive exercise, heath and nutrition coaching program in high earning suburbs will attract a high price point. But people will pay a lot loss for an access-based gym membership. Question 4: Cost of client acquisition. What does it cost to acquire new clients? This is a big one. Generally, if your business attracts more customers, it will be successful. But attracting customers will cost you time, money and effort. After school exercise classes on the school’s oval for secondary school students will have a low acquisition cost. On the other hand, trying to ...
