Fitness Feature Articles

In 1963, women's advocate Betty Friedan wrote in her book, The Feminine Mystique, that women were preparing to break new barriers. Friedan lived to see her prophecies come true before her death earlier this year. And nowhere are the broken barriers more apparent than in multi-unit franchising.

"If you're not moving forward, you're standing still," goes the old business axiom. In franchising, expansion is one way of moving forward. Whether you're a start-up organization or a player who's been around a while, growth through new sites is an objective--and when it comes to successful site selection tactics and techniques, consider the following approaches.

Big money, in the form of private equity, is finding a home in franchising, and bringing big promise to area developers and multi-unit operators-and to franchisors and franchise executives as well.

Linda Fong loves franchising. Not only does she own three Liberty Fitness locations, but one Fast Signs franchise and a Phlato's Closet store. "I can grow the other businesses by increasing sales," Fong says. "I'm opening more fitness locations because that's how I can grow that business."

When Linda Burzynski was offered the CEO slot at Liberty Fitness, the franchising veteran says she hesitated, in part because she didn't feel she was in the best shape, physically, to head up a health and fitness organization.

As the American waistline has continued to expand, more and more people are turning to fitness centers to help them lose weight. Statistics show that more than 60 percent of all Americans are overweight. A 2004 report by nonprofit research group RTI International and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that obesity costs the United States as much as $75 billion in medical expenditures annually. "With the cost of health care being what it is, people want to make it a priority to take care of themselves," says Shirley Archer, an author, speaker, and health and wellness educator for the Health Improvement Program at Stanford University. Consequently, fitness-related franchises are rapidly growing to fill this niche.

Time for my annual "just got back from the IFA Convention" column. I saw lots of my lawyer friends while there-also met a lot of suppliers, franchise consultants, academicians, journalists, and franchisees. Occasionally, I even came a cross a franchisor. Didn't see too many psychologists, however. Why not?

When it comes to evaluating a potential area developer, don't marry for money, say franchisors. With money as a given, look for that indefinable "fit" and you're golden for the long haul.