Do You Have A Hobby Or A Business?

[Spirit Company]

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Intuit’s Small Business Blog published Do You Have a Hobby or a Business?, touching on how the IRS determines how to classify the effort. As far as the federal government is concerned, a hobby is not a profitable endeavor. If a potter spends all day crafting bowls and vases, gives most of the inventory away, […]

 

[ACEDAD]

If you own a gym, you need to read this.


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[cupieqt]

If you own a gym, you need to read this.


The Fierce Board: photo ID required

It was when I teamed up with our current gym owner that I realized all other gyms around were hobby gyms. Big eye opener. Huge.

 

[Official OWECheer]

It was when I teamed up with our current gym owner that I realized all other gyms around were hobby gyms. Big eye opener. Huge.

Could you explain what you mean by that? I'm very curious about the business/marketing side of cheer. I get the feeling that what you are saying is kind of in line with what I heard Tate Chalk say once: "You can't take trophies to the bank".

 

[cupieqt]

Could you explain what you mean by that? I'm very curious about the business/marketing side of cheer. I get the feeling that what you are saying is kind of in line with what I heard Tate Chalk say once: "You can't take trophies to the bank".

I'm sorry I'm just seeing this but that's exactly what I mean. Before I found my way to my current gym I'd only worked for gyms where the following was the norm:
No set business hours (just tumbling classes and practice times). The gym wasn't open during the day because everyone was either off at their "real" job or there just wasn't anything scheduled during the day. Loads of lost revenue time.
Lax financial department. Lots of kids were allowed to slide on payments. No one was ever pulled from the program if they weren't making their payments. So the manager was constantly having to rob Peter to pay Paul. This was happening at every gym. It was the single most stressful thing. And the people NOT paying and getting a free ride were the first ones to gym hop anyway. Maddening.
And speaking of not paying, lots of kids were given "scholarships" or allowed to trade cleaning up the gym/mowing/etc in exchange for being on the team. It's very hard to pay for a uniform with grass clippings.

Once I arrived at my current gym both the gym owner and I had already been put through the ringer and burned very badly by some of the above things I mentioned. Together we were determined to crack down and eliminate those things as problems. I'll tell you what, my life got a WHOLE lot less stressful too. It takes discipline to change some of those typical all star business practices but once you do it's like going from being a fast food junkie to a work out nut. You can't believe you used to be so lazy and stupid :D

 

[quitthedrama]

I'm sorry I'm just seeing this but that's exactly what I mean. Before I found my way to my current gym I'd only worked for gyms where the following was the norm:
No set business hours (just tumbling classes and practice times). The gym wasn't open during the day because everyone was either off at their "real" job or there just wasn't anything scheduled during the day. Loads of lost revenue time.
Lax financial department. Lots of kids were allowed to slide on payments. No one was ever pulled from the program if they weren't making their payments. So the manager was constantly having to rob Peter to pay Paul. This was happening at every gym. It was the single most stressful thing. And the people NOT paying and getting a free ride were the first ones to gym hop anyway. Maddening.
And speaking of not paying, lots of kids were given "scholarships" or allowed to trade cleaning up the gym/mowing/etc in exchange for being on the team. It's very hard to pay for a uniform with grass clippings.

Once I arrived at my current gym both the gym owner and I had already been put through the ringer and burned very badly by some of the above things I mentioned. Together we were determined to crack down and eliminate those things as problems. I'll tell you what, my life got a WHOLE lot less stressful too. It takes discipline to change some of those typical all star business practices but once you do it's like going from being a fast food junkie to a work out nut. You can't believe you used to be so lazy and stupid :D

You are a smart cookie! Add to the cons of allowing customers to slide or forgo payments are the loyal, full paying parents that are funding those kids - I'm not talking about the family that truly deserves it but for every one of those kids there are 10 that take advantage. I can't tell you how many times I saw Freeloading Franny come through the door straight from the salon with her new hair and nails, carrying her coach bag in one hand and ipad in the other. Or the time I finished a 10 hour fundraising shift serving chicken and fries and stopped for a drink and Bankrupt Betty was in the bar and clearly had been there all night (and her CP was at a sleepover at my house so not only am I paying her bills but DH is babysitting her kid so she can hang at the bar all night :confused:). These parents make it known they are exempt from cheer bills and it causes hard feelings for the parents that give 100% to the program.
Gym owners and/or coaches would be far more successful if they took a couple of business classes, a customer service seminar, and a child growth & development or child psychology class.

 

[Deleted member 15]

This is exactly the type of conversation I wanted when I decided to add the business section to Spirit Post.

 

[ACEDAD]

There's nothing wrong with running a gym as a hobby or just for fun or whatever. But the owners need to know which it is. And even if you have so much money that you're going to run it without charging proper fees, that can get old very fast (see Trinity).


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[cupieqt]

@quitthedrama I was sick and tired of kids that were at every practice and paying the price, literally, for the kids that didn't pay and barely showed up.

And @ACEDAD I 100% agree with that.

 

[Official OWECheer]

I've heard that a lot of the gyms that let kids go without paying tuition do so because they're afraid of losing those kids. Bad business model.

Edit: could this be the result of growing too large, too soon? Like increasing quantity before improving quality?

 

[InfinitiElite]

I've heard that a lot of the gyms that let kids go without paying tuition do so because they're afraid of losing those kids. Bad business model.

Edit: could this be the result of growing too large, too soon? Like increasing quantity before improving quality?

In my situation, I allowed kids to go without paying because we weren't growing. So I would be afraid of losing them for the sake of the kids who were paying. I didn't want to not have a team for them so I allowed people to slide on payments. BIG MISTAKE! I agree 100% with @quitthedrama, I am a psychologist so I agree with the child and development classes as well as a sport psych class, but a few business classes later, and taking what I learned in customer service from my "real job" really helped. I may have a smaller team, but I can pay my bills every month without a problem.

If you are going to run your program like a business, you have to do it 100%. I spoke with a gym owner last year at one of the USASF regional meetings about scholarshiping a kid. She told me "the ones that do not pay aren't invested in your program." I said to her "No way...not this kid." Two months later and a change in her stunting position the kid was out the door. "I love you and the team but I want to concentrate on High School cheer because its cheaper." Really? You don't pay here at all. You don't pay tuition, I bought your uniform, I bought your sneakers (yes, all from my checking account) and you are doing nothing but show up to practice to pay it off. So you mean you want to concentrate on High School Cheer because you fly there. I kicked myself for not taking that gym owners advice.