If you’re looking to start a business in the fitness industry, you first need to ask yourself, “What are they currently doing that isn’t working, and how can I improve it?”
You need to find an opportunity to disrupt the market and stand apart from the competition to make yourself profitable and successful.
So, what exactly does “disrupting the market” mean?
How Uber Disrupted the Taxi Business
Well, let’s take a look at Uber. They found a problem in the taxi service business, and figured out a way to improve it.
Uber saw how unsatisfactory, and frankly disgusting, a taxi ride could be. The cab smells, the driver is rude, the seats are mysteriously wet and sticky.
If you think about it, you’re getting in the car with a total stranger – you don’t know their name, what kind of driver they are, no way to see other people’s’ experiences with this driver…it sounds like some pretty risky business.
Uber realized, “hey, there’s people out there who have the time and clean automobiles to drive people around and earn some money doing it.”
Then they tied everything together through an easy to use app that gives you information about the driver so you know whose car you’re getting into, and what other people have to say about their riding experience. And, payment is through the app so there’s no sketchy transfer of money.
These guys thought of everything!
Uber saw their opportunity to give people a faster, safer, cleaner, and more convenient way to travel in their community – and they did it.
How You Can Provide a Higher Level of Service
You don’t even need to be at Uber status in your business to be an innovative thinker.
You can disrupt the market right now just by zeroing in on something in your industry that you think you can do better.
There are many ways you can provide a higher level of service to your clients that will make them think “Wow, those other guys aren’t doing this. These guys are awesome!”
A great example I like to look at is how Tesla brought innovation and technology to the automobile market.
For years, big auto companies have been saying “we make electric cars, this is how they work, and this is what you can expect from them.”
The bar for electric cars was set pretty low. Then, Elon Musk comes galloping in on his white horse with Tesla.
He thought, “What if I can bring in an electric car that can go 300, 400, 500 miles to a charge, with outlasting quality”.
Elon Musk saw the void that needed to be filled in the automotive industry and he took his opportunity for improvement.
Find something in the market that you want to make better and do it.
How Crossfit Made Their Own Community
So to define disrupting the market, it’s when you identify what’s not working in a marketplace, and you find a way to make it better.
Let’s look at another innovative approach a widely successful brand took to stand out – Crossfit.
They saw that these big box gyms weren’t offering any kind of powerlifting or olympic lifting platforms.
So they created their own gym that was specifically focused on powerlifting to fit those needs of people in the community.
It’s funny, sometimes I’ll hear people say, “uh, Bedros isn’t that your competition? Shouldn’t you not be talking about Crossfit?”
Listen, Crossfit isn’t my competition. My competition is McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Carl’s Jr., and all those fast food, artery clogging businesses that pile on the pounds and create the unhealthy lives that I come in to fix.
The Big Problem With Boot Camps
As a personal trainer, I saw that the glaring problem with these fitness boot camps is that they’re not weather proof.
When you’re having your sessions outside, there’s no shelter against the changing weather conditions. No one’s gonna want to show up if it’s snowing or raining outside.
And even with the beautiful sunny weather, think of all the hazards you have when you’re running a session in the park: people can trip on tree roots, sprinklers, get bitten up by bugs, have limited or no access to equipment, whatever the case is.
I knew I could improve the boot camp experience – so I put my entrepreneur hat on and went to work.
How Fit Body Boot Camp Changed the Fitness Game
In my case, I disrupted the fitness market with Fit Body Boot Camp.
I did this in two ways: bringing boot camp sessions indoors, and building a community.
I saw that bootcamps had the potential to grow, if they were more structured and focused on creating a high-quality experience on top of delivering outstanding results.
I thought, “Gee, if we could run these sessions in an enclosed space where people could show up rain or shine and use minimal, effective equipment, we could get a lot more clients. Even better, we could set ourselves apart with our distinctive blue flooring that immediately makes prospects think hey, this place isn’t like that other gym.”
So I brought the bootcamp sessions inside, set up minimal equipment that would deliver maximum results, and Fit Body Boot Camp was born.
Today, we’re on the Inc 5000’s list of fastest growing businesses because we saw an opportunity for innovation, and we expanded upon it.
The second way I disrupted the market was by building a community among others with the same goal in mind: to live healthier, happier lives.
When you go to a big box gym, no one really cares that you’re there. You go in, do your workout, and leave. No one’s there encouraging you and motivating you to keep pushing.
That’s fine for people like you and I who already love the gym, but for people who find gyms intimidating, that doesn’t help. If anything, it’s the non-gym-regulars who need our help most, right?
At Fit Body Boot Camp, we’ve built a community and a family. Our coaches care about your progress, and they want you to reach your goals.
That’s what makes us stand out from big box gyms.
Sure, you can sign up for a membership for $10 a month and do your own workouts. You could even go on YouTube and look up some exercises and do them at home.
But what you can’t get when you go that route is community, and face to face encouragement.
That’s what keeps people coming to Fit Body Boot Camp.
If you want to listen to Craig and I cover all of this and more in our Empire Podcast show, check us out here.
Committed to your success,
Bedros