Looking into opening a gym? Creche facility,Any info!

ginchyqueendangle

Hi all

I know this isnt exactly a small business but my friend is looking to start up a gym with one of his friends. They are both about to get their HND's in sports coaching, both have experience as fitness instructors and a handful of other sports qualifications. They arent planning on doing this straightaway - i think the plan is to do it 5 years from now at the latest. (Giving them time to get more qualification/savings etc)

They have a meeting with business gateway on thu, to discuss ideas and see about funding etc.

From what iv been told it sounds like they have nothing written up, they are just planning on going in with their ideas. In my opinion they should have some sort of proposal written up so that their advisor can clearly see what they have in mind etc and be able to see straightaway where they can help and/or aid funding. Am i right in thinking this?

Does anyone have experience of dealing with business gateway/scottish enterprise or starting up a gym?

I basically want to help my friend as much as posible so id be grateful if anyone could give me links to helpful sites. Ie health and safety - what it would need. Staffing requirements and requirements of conditions/qualifications and staffing for a creche facility. I know this is a longshot but iv not been very successful on my research.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance

Gill

Bean_Counter

Hi Gill,

I don't have any real experience of Scottish Enterprise (well not in that respect anyway) or Business Gateway. However, have a look at the link below for the government's business link site. It contains links to other sites as well:

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073858805&r.s=tl

I agree that they should have some plans drawn up before going in to a meeting. This will help make sure that they appear serious and professional. It's probably too early for a full business plan, but they to have some ideas i.e. are they thinking of purchasing an existing business or starting from scratch? If the latter, what research have they done on their market? How much money will they need to borrow? How much money will they be putting in themselves? A bank for example is unlikely to lend 100% of the money and will look for your friends to take some financial risk too.

Savvy_Sue

Creche facilities can be a bit of a nightmare from the staffing point of view. You have to have the correct ratio of staff to children, the younger the children the higher the ratio. You might have to have separate areas for babies, toddlers. All your staff have to have CRB checks before starting. You have to have a supervisor who is qualified to a higher level than 'normal' staff, but you're expected to have most of your staff qualified in some way. So if staff go sick or are on leave, you have to find replacements, sometimes at short notice, or the creche can't open.

Not something to undertake lightly ...