Thomas Plummer - Making Money in the Fitness Business

ISBN: 1-58518-709-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2002109546

Copyright 1999 by Thomas Plummer

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Healthy Learning.

Cartoons by Jim Whiting
Design, typography, graphics: Ed Pitts Healthy Learning

P.O. Box 1828
Monterey, CA 93942
www.healthylearning.com

This book is about
making money in the
fitness industry, with
the application of real
business principles
while maintaining
your integrity.

... from the Introduction

A MAN DOESN T BECOME the man he is without contributions from others he has met in his life. Much of the success Ive enjoyed over the years is the result of patient teaching and faithful guidance from people who have passed through my life as friends, employers or simply as role models.

This list could be longer and include many more characters Ive encountered in my 45 years, but the people listed below are the ones who have had the most positive influence on my life and my career. I would personally like to thank everyone on this list for being part of my life, and I apologize for listing everyone here, but this might be the only book I ever write, so I tried to get you all in at once:

Barry Lehane: Thank you for very patiently taking the time to teach me how to treat people, be creative in my approach to business, and remain true to my integrity. Your caring attitude and personal involvement with your clients is a model Ive tried to follow my entire career. Thank you for being such a great teacher.

Chuck Coach Hawkins: Thank you for being a role model at the time in my life when I most needed one. I am proud to think that someday I could live up to the standard you set for me, and that I could become even half the friend, person and teacher that you are. Thank you for being my Coach.

Mark Steinfield: There would be no Thomas Plummer and Associates without you, and this book would have remained a dream without your work and faith that we could make a difference in the fitness industry. Thank you for being my friend.

Jim Bottin: Thank you for your friendship, faith and support at a time when you might have been the only person in the industry who had heard of me. You were our first associate and you opened the door for the rest of our team by being the first to stand behind us. Thank you for your quiet support and guidance over the years weve been together.

Al Dilegge: Good and bad, success and failure, great years and days to be forgotten, weve seen it all as friends. Thank you for being there for all these years.

Dave Levy: Thank you for your quiet faith and behind-the-scenes support during my career. We were rookies together at a time when anything was possible, and our secret goals were to be the best in the industry. Youve achieved that success, and thank you for carrying me along with you on that journey.

Jan Dennis: Weve been friends for over 25 years and I still believe that there are more good times ahead. Thank you for the encouragement, and for never giving up on me during my more creative years as your friend.

Steve Parker: Watching you grow has been one of the highlights of my life. Youve given me too much credit for your success; its simply been our mutual quest for living a better life that has kept us on the road together. Thank you for your friendship and faith that anything in my life was possible.

Bill Clark: You were the first person who ever hired me in the fitness industry. Some of the most creative ideas Ive ever had, I can happily say I stole from you. I miss your spontaneity and your belief that all things in anyones life are possible if they simply set goals. Thank you for taking a chance on me early and for your friendship.

Robbie Colasurdo: You laughed, you cringed and you even said it might work, and then you let me experiment in your businesses. Im glad it worked and Im glad youre my friend.

Grand Master H. U. Lee: Thank you for showing me how to create a vision others could believe in and follow, and for teaching me how to lead by setting a personal example. I miss our friendship and your inspiration in my life.

Robin Dyche: Youve survived tough times and smiled, because your core values never changed. Thank you for taking the time to listen, and for always keeping an open door when I needed to talk to someone.

Ken Reinig: They said you could never do it on your own, and did you ever show them. Thank you for making me laugh and for keeping the whole thing in perspective, and thanks for being a friend.

Delores Mom Richeson: Thank you Mom for never once saying that my dreams werent possible. You sacrificed much in your life, so I could try and achieve things in mine. I could never repay you for your love and belief that I could become anything I wanted to be. Thank you Mom and I love you.

I would also like to thank God for everything that I am and everything that I have in my life.

T HE FITNESS INDUSTRY IS IN A state of change; I am a one-person missionary show, trying to institute this change. After years of business regression and retardation, the industry is finally showing signs of breaking away from its 30-year negative business image and practices still the standard for doing business today for most owners.

Long-term contracts with high-pressure sales, gas station price war mentalities, and semi-naked models in our advertising that offend most of our women patrons were part of our past and are still part of business as its done today. Couple this with the trend of building clubs with vast warehouse physical plants that have all the intimacy of standing in the middle of an Arkansas Wal-Mart during a two-for-one long underwear sale, and you have an industry that has stagnated and has been reduced to copying out-of-date and mostly unethical business practices from 30 years ago.

I became part of the fitness industry more than 20 years ago for two reasons. First of all, we offer a product that can make a difference in someones life. If our product is delivered correctly, then our fitness businesses can initiate positive change in the people we serve. We can obviously change a persons physical shape with what we offer. But we can also subtly change their mental condition by allowing them to become part of something that becomes important in their lives a place where they are always welcome, where they can make new friends, and a place that offers a social atmosphere linked to their physical conditioning.

Secondly, I realized that I could make a great deal of money doing something I loved, which was being in the fitness business. But sadly I realized that there were no real business principles being applied to this industry. Its almost as if the fitness business were a business backwater that modern concepts such as financial analysis, customer service, low-pressure/high-integrity sales and advanced marketing concepts had not yet reached.

Basically it was, and still is for most, an industry that is totally sales-driven. And this lopsided emphasis on sales prevents us from delivering our product, which again is to bring change through the delivery of our service.