Business models / Personal Training Studio / Own a franchise

A personal training studio franchise, or your own?

Four franchise brands run a personal training studio. Here they are beside the independent version of the same business, with each brand’s fees as it publishes them and worked out in dollars. A brand can bring customers an independent has to earn one by one. The question is whether it brings in more than it costs.

Typical for a personal training studio: $150k to $700k in sales, and the owner keeps 23% to 32% after paying for its own marketing. Change either to your own numbers.

Work each brand out at

How the two sides are counted

  • Sales. A brand’s name brings customers an independent wins one at a time, so each brand is worked out at the sales it reports where we have them, and at yours where we don’t.
  • Marketing. On your own you pay for all of it, about 8.5% of sales here. The ad fund does part of that job, so it is counted once, not twice.
  • Survival. New franchised businesses were about 5 to 6 points more likely to make it through their first two years in Census data, and about half of all new businesses close within five years. It is not in the dollars; each brand’s details give the sources.

Your own personal training studio and each brand, side by side

The independent version

Your own personal training studio

Built and run under your own name

Cost to open
$62k to $412k
Annual sales
$320ktypical
Franchise fee
None
Royalty + ad fund
Noneall marketing is yours
$89,600
The owner keeps in a year, after about $27k of marketing
Taking new owners

GYMGUYZ

In-home personal training

Total investment
$92k to $174k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$50k
Royalty + ad fund
7% + 2% of sales
$67k
The owner keeps in a year at $320k in sales (your sales), after $29k to the brand
$22k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

The Exercise Coach

Short-session strength training studio

Total investment
$263k to $481k
Avg. annual sales
$279k to $291k
Franchise fee
$50k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 1% of sales
$63k
The owner keeps in a year at $285k in sales (what it reports), after $20k to the brand
$27k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Alloy Personal Training

Small-group personal training studio

Total investment
$272k to $534k
Avg. annual sales
$253k to $555k
Franchise fee
$60k
Royalty + ad fund
7% + 2% of sales
$85k
The owner keeps in a year at $404k in sales (what it reports), after $36k to the brand
$5k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

D1 Training

Athletic performance training

Total investment
$402k to $837k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$63k
Royalty + ad fund
7% + 2% of sales
$67k
The owner keeps in a year at $320k in sales (your sales), after $29k to the brand
$22k less a year than on your own
Free account

See all 4 personal training studio brands side by side

  • Every brand’s investment and fees, and what the owner keeps against running your own
  • The yearly sales the first 3 report, and a plus to add brands to your comparison and benchmark them in your account
  • Members see the sales every franchisor reports, for every brand

Free, no card. A new account accepts the Terms and the Privacy Policy. smbnest is a self-assessment tool and never takes a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor.

Before you sign: what to read in the disclosure document

Every franchisor must give you its Franchise Disclosure Document at least 14 days before you sign or pay. These are the parts that answer the questions above.

  • Items 5 to 7, the fees and the investment. The franchise fee, every other fee (technology, training, transfer, renewal), and the full opening budget, including working capital.
  • Item 19, what owners earn. Whether the brand states owner sales or earnings at all, and for which units. Put its figures in the boxes above in place of the typical ones.
  • Item 20, units opened, closed and sold. How many owners left in each of the last three years, and a list of current and former owners you can call.
  • Item 12, the territory. Whether you get a protected area, and what the brand can open or sell inside it.
  • Item 21, the franchisor’s own finances. Whether the company behind the brand is in good health.

smbnest is a self-assessment tool, not individualized advice. Fees are as each brand publishes them on its franchising page and in its disclosure document, reviewed in the month shown, and change; the figures in dollars are worked out at the sales you enter and are not a forecast. We never take a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor. Before you sign, speak with a franchise attorney and a qualified financial adviser, and call owners from the disclosure document.