Space for my New Bootcamp
Hey All,
I am new here but do any of you have tips/advice on how to approach a martial arts school, rec center, or other ‘space provider’ in regards to starting a fitness bootcamp? I am looking to do something this summer and ongoing. I am in Chicagoland area and I personally prefer indoors. Outdoors would be ok, but with our park districts there are rules against just rolling up and setting up shop. Working on starting my business!!
I would start by looking at places that are within your radius of work options.
Yes, go to Churches, Rec Centers, Senior Centers, Dance Studios, Fellowship Halls, Drama Studios, Gyms, High Schools, Middle Schools to name a few:
Look on Craigs list for available space to rent, as you know for a bootcamp you don’t “need” mirrors or alot of equipment. Check out other bootcamps in town and also I would suggest getting a business license after filing a fictitious business name to make sure nobody else has your name and alos make sure you have proper liability insurance and current CPR/AED Certifications.
You can also fill in your Fitness Connect Page with your classes and possibly generate business!
Hi Raven. Chicago native here! 🙂 I’d say that they best thing to remember WHEN you finally begin approaching potential sites for your bootcamp is to always present your idea as a ‘win-win.’ Make sure that you lead with how your putting on your bootcamp at their facility will benefit THEM! Without that, you’ll probably not be very successful in finding the space you want. Yep, it can be as simple as the added revenue that your renting their space could bring, but if you’re more creative than that in your thinking (e.g. potential new clients to the facility etc.) you’ll probably be more successful in winning them over.
Good luck! Very exciting to be trying something new 🙂
LaRue, CSCS
www.lecfitness.com
[email protected]
Hi Raven,
I taught some outdoor and indoor boot camps in Chicago in the past 5 years. A great outdoor location is the Lakeshore East Park. I have been teaching boot camp classes there for the past 3 years and I never had any problems with the park district. I think that park is partly owned by the Magellan Group which owns most of the buildings around the park and they don’t have a problem if you use their park. If you want to approach any of the Churches of schools around Chicago, I would just pay them some rent or a % of what you will be making and also ask them if it would be possible for them to promote your classes thou their newsletter (most of them have one) which they sent out to their members. This would give you free exposure to a large number of potential clients.
LaRue and Susan have some great points as well and I hope it will help you with promoting your business.
Best,
Harris
You can rent space by the hour at www.GymLynx.com. There are many fitness spaces available in the Chicagoland area.