Buying a Curves: Startup Costs

Buying and opening a Curves For Women Fitness Facility takes time and money. I am not going to kid anyone and tell them that it is not hard work. But, let's be fair, so is anything else worth having in your life. From good health, family relations, extra money, and so much more - if you want to make it happen it takes work to achieve.

Same goes for establishing a Curves fitness franchise. There are many great reasons to choose to buy a Curves Franchise (and even more reasons to buy Curves in Dearborn Michigan):

1. Curves owns 25% of the fitness facility market; 1 in every 4 exercise clubs is a Curves
2. Curves ownership promotes Women In Business; most clubs are owner operated
3. Curves corporate marketing partnerships and promotions drive traffic to thier franchises
4. Curves franchise education and training resources supports and guides novice owners
5. Curves has one of the lowest franchise start-up costs and fees in the franchise industry

Where I am an expert, though, is in the arena of finances. I am a Financial Analyst by trade and do all of the accounting for the business. Today it costs $100,000 plus to open up a brand new club - if you can find a new territory. Since there are no new franchises being awarded in Michigan, the person wanting to change their life by buying a Curves can only do so through a resale.

So, how much money do you need to start a Curves franchise? Well, you start by understanding what it will cost to open up a new one from scratch. First, Curves International wants $50,000 to use their world-class name and brand. From there, it is up to you to do the following which take both TIME and MONEY ($30-40,000):

1. Research potential LOCATIONS (make sure there is good store traffic)
2. NEGOTIATE your LEASE and pay security deposit (get a lawyer and accountant)
3. Customize the space (leasehold improvements) with walls, carpet, bathrooms, office etc.
4. Decorate the facility (make sure to creature comforts and ambience)
5. Install Office: Computers, Scanner, Printers (color and BW), Fax, File Cabinets, Refrigerator
6. Buy electronics (TV w/dvd player, music receiver, 2 cd players, surround sound speakers, cd's and music licensing)
7. Prepare for operating the business (i.e. insurance, banking, credit card processing, payroll, taxes, licenses, etc.)
8. Develope Marketing Plan and Advertise, Advertise, Advertise the grand opening
9. Hire and train employees to help run the club
10. Budget in negative cash flow while building up Curves clientele (plan for an additional $30-50,000 for this)

Now since you are looking to buy a curves resale it is most important that you find an owner who did steps 1-9 correctly. Otherwise you might end up paying them for work they did and having to redo the work your yourself which will be an additional expense.

Number 10 is really the scary wild card. You could open the doors and have nobody walk through for months to sign up and provide the revenue needed to stay in business. How do you forecast or guess the future?

When buying a resale Curves you have the opportunity to see the history of how many people have called, walked in, and signed up to be a member. Make sure to look at that carefully because if the trend is not consistent that location could be troublesome. At Curves Dearborn we are excited that our location receives calls daily from women driving by and seeing our sign or walking in to find out more. We currently sign up approximately one new member each day without any local advertising.

Fortunately for you our Curves for Sale in Dearborn, Michigan, has been well built and cared for. We have top of the line location, ambience, equiptment, maintenance and staff. Our membership is stable and our sales are beyond the break even point and experiencing positive cash flow. All you need to do is drive. Drive the vision for marketing and advertising. Drive the growth of local corporate relationships with neighboring business. Drive the membership growth.

In short, if you are new to business or don't want to completely roll the dice on opening up a brand new business from scratch (which the setup costs can be very high and more importantly, unknown), then take a long hard look at buying our Curves for your business investment. You can make significant improvements to that business while already being positive cash flow and profitable. This is a win-win...