Right now we will hopefully be operational in a few weeks (5-6 is my guess). Painters have to correct a few things which will delay us but not by much. We are at the mercy of the contractors so it's tough to really give an answer as things always seem to creep up the closer we get to opening.
Initially the biggest challenge was getting everything aligned with the landlord. It took close to half a year to finally sign a lease, the process was extremely slow. Biggest surprise was how much renovations cost haha. Our initial thought was extremely off, so much that we had a moment there of pulling the plug on most of our ideas. Things worked out great which is awesome so we didn't have to change much. Second to that I would say is dealing with the city on permits. It is a very slow process also.
I'd have to say generating a want for people to come to the facility as well as networking with as many people as possible. Our business model is different than most gyms in the sense that we are a rental facility for professionals and trainers. For example, many physio clinics will pay there physios around 50% of the charge which limits their ability to grow, here you collect 100%. Same goes for trainers, usually you'll collect 30-50% of the session, here it will be 100%. To give the opportunity for these professionals to go out on their own without building their own facility is a nice option. You could say we are the middle men between working at a gym or clinic and opening up your own.
We also tailor more towards movements that aren't typically done in commercial gyms; powerlifitng, olympic lifting, dropping of weights, chalk, etc. We know there is a need for places that can accommodate individuals doing those movements so hopefully before we open, people know about us and want to join.
Plus we do a ton of walkthroughs with anyone who wants to see the facility. Get their take on the space and hopefully get them excited about joining.
Location is a huge aspect of a successful gym. We looked at a lot of different places all over Edmonton. We wanted to be close to a major roadway, have it easily accessible, and to be near an area that has, for lack of a better term, money. I think if you're opening up a gym very similar to everyone else out there, then location is extremely important due to competition. When you are trying to be different (aka be a monopoly), it isn't weighed as heavily as it becomes more of a destination than a convenience. We're hoping our concept is different enough to generate the business we need and keep the facility busy.
Lastly, marketing is extremely important and we have been working our asses off to spread the word of our facility. The nice thing that has been happening is we've had a lot of positive support from the public wanting to come to Evolve that they are helping us market by telling their friends and others. Also, when a trainer decides to come over they usually get asked by other trainers where they're headed to which again helps us through word of mouth. Plus bringing in very well known clubs like Power Plus has been incredible for spreading the word of the facility.
Thanks for the questions! I hope I answered them for you