How I first heard about World Gym's plans

For several years, I've owned an independent 24/7 fitness center, and in fact, I've helped over 100 other independent club owners convert their clubs to 24/7 access. As much as I have enjoyed being responsible for all of the related decision making over the years, I've often thought that it would be nice to be part of a larger organization. The fact is, I have a couple of friends who own franchised businesses - and they attribute much of their success to the fact that they have this corporate support system.





I've seen several 24/7 fitness franchises pop up in the past few years, and while I've considered affiliating with them, I've also wondered "How are these companies, and what can they do for me?". I was especially wary of affiliating with a business group that comes on strong and then flames out. If I affiliate with a company, it needs to be one that I think is still going to be around for years to come.





Then in early October, I read in an online fitness magazine that World Gym was jumping in to the 24/7 club market [I've put the link to the article at the bottom of this post]. I thought to myself "Now there's a company I've heard of". I began trying to find out more by visiting their website, and making some phone calls. Eventually, I received a phone call from none other than Mike Grondahl. If you haven't heard of Mike, he's the founder of the wildly successful Planet Fitness chain based in New Hampshire that bought the World Gym brand about a year ago. After talking to Mike for a bit, I was put in contact with Ben Midgley and Chris Rondeau, the Presidents of Planet Fitness and World Gym respectively.





http://www.fitnessbusinessnews.com/index.php?p=article&id=fb200710GV4bOU