Anyone who has ever needed to draft a business plan can attest to just how much more complicated they are than they seem at face value. While most of us dream of owning our own businesses someday, few of us actually understand each and every aspect that goes into starting one up. Sports managers are often in a position where they need to be able to provide a detailed business plan. The fitness industry has its own sets of needs, considerations and challenges that are unique to the various professions under its umbrella. To make things easier when planning your own business, our team here at Trifocus Fitness Academy has compiled a brief tutorial on drawing up your own business plan as it is related to the fitness industry.
Business Plan Tutorial
Table of Contents
Strictly speaking, you will likely finalise your table of contents last. This is once you have the layout of the rest of your business plan down. Still, it is a good idea to start with a rough outline of it so that you can use it to structure the rest of your plan. The table of contents will not only help you but will also give potential business partners and investors a glance into your business without them having to comb through it meticulously.
The Executive Summary
The executive summary should give a fairly detailed description of each section of your business. In the field of fitness this may include the type of facility you run, the aims of your business, how fitness objectives work together and the like.
The executive summary needs to be as detailed as possible. It may take some substantial research of the industry, your competition and your own goals before you can coherently put it together. Since sports managers generally oversee all aspects of a fitness business, they will need to be quite confident in the content of this summary.
A Description of the Company
The description of the company should be quite a general one that gives the reader an overview of the business, its partnerships, its ideal clients, mission statement and credentials. If you would like a better example of a company description, it is a good idea to take a look at the ‘about us’ section of any website, which generally has the same format.
Outlining your Market
Here you will describe the particular opportunities that your fitness business is trying to achieve. In it, you will take a look at opportunities, the market and the industry in general. This will give you a fairly good idea of your opportunities and limitations, who you should be directing your efforts to and any gaps in the market that your business is in the position to take up and offer a service.
It needs to be specific. Something like ‘helping clients reach their fitness goals’ simply isn’t enough. In this outline you will need to identify obstacles, determine who your customers are and how much they are willing to pay, who your suppliers will be and what the cost of that is, and of course, who you will be competing with.
Perfecting Your Business Model
The business model is one of the most important considerations you can make when drawing up a business plan for any industry. The field of fitness is no different. In your outline for your business model, you will need to stipulate things like where revenue will come from, the costs of generating it, the profitability of the business, as well as the capital required to get it off the ground.
The Competitive Strategy
This section should concentrate on two important factors regarding competition. Firstly, it should address the means through which your business will compete in the fitness industry. What makes it unique and marketable over your competitors. Secondly, you need to devise a strategy for how your business will grow its market share and how long that will take.
Organisational Structure
The organisational structure of your business is important. It will vary depending on the size of it. This will determine how you group your employees into team, managers and the like.
Marketing Plan
Even the best business plan will get you nowhere if you don’t concentrate on marketing. The best advertising campaigns are not done on the fly but are rather carefully planned and laid out. It wouldn’t hurt outlining this approach in your business plan.
Financial Road Map
Finances can make or break a business, which makes the need for a financial plan all the more important. Your plan should include projections that are as accurate as possible to avoid mistakes costing a fortune once the business is running.
Contact Trifocus Fitness Academy to Learn More
There are, of course, a number of ways to approach a business plan. The one you take will depend on your own goals. To learn more by obtaining sports management certification from a trusted fitness college, contact the Trifocus Fitness Academy today or visit our website for additional details.
