We’ve received a lot of emails asking us if we have a box business plan template and box marketing plan template that functional fitness affiliate owners can use to plan their business? Of course we do!

Starting a box affiliate is no easy task. Give yourself 3 to 6 months to get the whole process in motion. You’ll first need to create and fill out your box business plan. Use our template below to get started. After that, you’ll think to think about designing a marketing plan for your fitness business. That’s going to take another couple weeks.

Don’t put your cart before the horses. Far too many future business owners obsess about the large details of their business, without putting the effort into the little areas of their business. The minor details are the most important ones and you need to make sure you have all your ducks in a row before you get started.

It’s better to have everything planned out before you get started, because we guarantee you, your plans will change. What type of business model are you going to follow? High membership at low prices, or low membership at high prices. These are all things you need to figure out before launching your business. Once you get your business started, it’s harder to change the direction of the ship while it’s already moving. Plan you journey before leaving shore my friends!
If you’re looking to start a box fitness business, you’ve got about 50 questions that you should answer first. Download the functional fitness business plan template at the bottom of this page, answer the questions, evaluate your answers and see if you’re ready to be a box owner.

One word of advice we would give you is to answer the questions in the most honest manner possible. Unless you’re getting investors, this box business plan is for your eyes only. No one else is going to see if. That said, don’t even think about padding your answers or skirting the truth. You’re only hurting yourself when it comes to the future success of your fitness box. Be real with yourself, and you’ll see if it’s worth it to start your box.

Below is a 4-page PDF functional fitness business & box marketing plan that we put together for all you future box owners out there. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the orange button to download it and get started.

On a sidenote, if you’re looking for a way to increase your box’s membership, check out FitnessTexter, our text message marketing service guaranteed to increase your box’s membership count.

---

---

---

Please feel free to download the entire PDF file and use it as a basis for starting your functional fitness box business plan. All we ask is that you keep FitnessTexter in mind when you start advertising and marketing your box.

Enjoy!

Here’s a link to the box financial spreadsheet that we talk about so much.

Functional Fitness Box Business Plan Template

 

Box Name:

 

Location:

 

Proposed Start Month:

 

Months until Break Even Point: Use Box Financial Spreadsheet for this.

 

First Month of Profit:

 

Owner(s):

 

General Manager:

 

Trainer(s):

 

Financial Investment Needed: Use the Functional Fitness Box Financial Spreadsheet for this.

---

 

Executive Summary

In all honesty, this section of a business plan really isn’t that necessary. It’s designed to be read by investors and upper management. With a box, you’re most likely the lead investor AND the upper management. That said, the executive summary is simply a reiteration of all the below sections. If you choose to use an executive summary, just hit on the key takeaways from each of the below sections.

Business Description & Motivations

What to Put Here:

This is section from your heart. Talk about why you want to open a box. Figure out the underlying motivation that is making you pursue this career path. Use this section to paint the ideal picture of your future box. What’s the end result of all your hard working going to look like? When will you feel like you’ve succeeded?

Questions to Ask Yourself:

• Why do you want to start a box?
  • Are you in it for the profit or the passion? There are many other business endeavors with higher success rates than opening a box. If you’re not in it for your passion of fitness and community, you might want to bow out of the race.
• Where do you see the business in 1 year? What about in 5 years? Will you expand? Sell?
  • Future projections are a great way to figure out the longevity of your business concept. We’ll detail the inner details of the business further down the worksheet. For now, describe your ideal version of the box. How many members do you want? What’re your profit goals, etc?
• Have you ever started a business before?
  • Everyone like to think of themselves as an entrepreneur, but it takes a LOT of hard work to get a business off the ground. Are you (and your family) prepared for the long hours and stress involved.

 

Market Strategies

What to Put Here:

Now that you’ve decided to open a box, do you know who you’re going to be working with? Functional Fitness is an all ages workout program, but you can’t plan on filling every single niche. Use this section to figure out who you will market your box to and how you will go about doing this. Sounds like a perfect use for FitnessTexter. 😉

Questions to Ask Yourself:

• What demographic is your target market? Men, women, old, young, kids, etc.
• How do you plan on attracting/advertising to this target market?
• How much are you willing to spend on advertising per month?
• Will you do in-house advertising and design work, or will you use a consulting firm?
• Do you plan on having a website? (You better!) How much will it cost?

 

Competitive Landscape Analysis

What to Put Here:

First things first, take a minute to realize you aren’t the only box in your area. Competition isn’t a bad thing though. It’ll actually make you a better business person by forcing you to constantly stay on your toes. Getting stagnant makes you an easy target for someone looking to push you out of business. In this section, lay out and analyze the competition that you’re going up against. Is it a wise choice to open in an area that’s already saturated? Really dig into how you’re going to deal with these issues. What if a neighboring box poaches your best coach and that coach brings 10 students to his new employer’s box? How do you handle that? Figure out your achilles heel and make sure you’re protected from competition.

Questions to Ask Yourself:

• How many other boxes are in your geographic region?
  • Do you currently have a relationship with any of these boxes?
• What will make your box more successful than your competition?
  • There has to be something about your box that will attract people to yours and not someone elses. Better community? Newer equipment? Better coaches?
    • How will you keep your best employees from getting poached by other boxes?
• Do you have an friendly relationship with other box owners?
  • If not, will they inhibit your entry into the market?
• What are your biggest weaknesses? How will you fix them? Be truthful with yourself.
  • No business is invincible. Figure out your weaknesses and your mitigation strategy.

 

Brand Development & Positioning Plan

What to Put Here:

You need to consider your box like it’s a tangible brand. You don’t want to just be known as another so-so box that has 50 members, you want people to talk about your box by name, like Rich Fronning’s box. That’s the kind of name recognition you want. In this section, you need to describe how you’re going to build your brand.

Questions to Ask Yourself:

• Does my affiliate name lend itself to good marketing and advertising?
  • Some box names sound great on paper, but don’t turn out well in the flesh. Names that are hard to pronounce or spell don’t help your brand. Purposely misspelling words can make it difficult for people to find you on the internet.
• Are you going to be visible to the public or hidden away in a industrial park?
  • This is a 2-part question. 1, if you’ve got a good storefront location, you want good signage. If your signs are eye-catching, you’ll increase the window traffic at your box and boost membership. 2, are you going to be active in your community. Giving free public demonstrations and a free weekly bootcamp is a great way to get the word out about your facility.
• How are you going to build community at your box?
  • Word of mouth advertising is the best way to increase your membership. If your current members are in love with your box, they’ll happily encourage their friends to come join. Think about ways you can make your box and brand stand out amongst the crowd.

 

Operations & Management Plan

What to Put Here:

Now we’re getting down to the nitty gritty aspects of owning a box. The little details that might be overlooked when you’re imagining running your own business and making profit hand-over-fist. Here is where you describe the inner details of your business. Lay out every aspect of how the business will operate, who’s in charge of what, etc.

Questions to Ask Yourself:

• Does each employee have a written job description detailing their responsibilities?
  • Who is in charge of hiring, firing, legal disputes, etc?
• Do you have a location/facility chosen for your box?
  • Do you need to build out the facility?
    • How much will build-out and equipment cost?
• Who has keys to the facility?
  • Who runs the facility on a day-to-day basis and what are their hours?
• Do you make employees sign contracts?
• How will you schedule classes?
  • MindBody
  • ZenPlanner
  • CF Dashboard
• What’s the daily cost of doing business?
  • How many days can you do business before running out of liquid capital.
• Have you registered the business yet?
  • How long is the registration and inspection process going to take?

 

Financial Factors

What to Put Here:

Running a box can be a very profitable endeavor. However, you need to be prepared to endure some losses before you start turning a profit. In this section, lay you the details of your financial plan. Figure out every expense that you’ll have. Don’t tie is personal expenses, those are separate from the business. Visualizing the financial outlay of opening a box will be help you better understand the (educated)risk you are taking.

Questions to Ask Yourself:

• How do you plan on making a profit?
  • Class fees? Personal training? Supplement sales? Certification classes?
• What is your monthly financial goal?
• How many months can you sustain business before you’ll need to turn a profit?
  • Use the Functional Fitness Financial Excel Spreadsheet for this one.
• How much money are you willing to spend on starting your box?
• Will you be providing all financial capital or will you be seeking outside investors?
  • If using personal money, are you putting yourself/family in financial insecurity?
  • If you decide on investors, what interest rate are you willing to pay them?
• What’s the maximum you are willing to LOSE in this venture?
  • Not all businesses succeed. Be prepared to cut your losses if your business doesn’t work out.

If you own a doggie daycare, we also wrote a business plan for them: DoggieDaycare Business Plan

FitnessTexter LLC (http://www.boostfitnessmarketing.com) is not affiliated, connected or associated with the CrossFit, Inc or any of its subsidiaries. CrossFit, Inc. does not sponsor, approve of, or endorse FitnessTexter LLC. CrossFit is a registered trademark of CrossFit, Inc. All products mentioned are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies. Their use does not imply any affiliation with, endorsement by, or certification by the respective trademark holder.