Timing …
IHRSA (the International Health Racquet and Sportclub Association) is the largest trade association for fitness clubs worldwide, with tens of thousands of professional members. One of the goals of IHRSA is to grow US Health Club membership to 120 million members in 2010, representing 25% growth from today’s numbers. Currently, the growing US health club population is under served by the number of clubs, according to many industry analysts. John McCarthy was the Executive Director of IHRSA for its initial 25 years. In his years of service to the fitness industry, the knowledge John McCarthy has amassed is as immeasurable as the wisdom he has dispensed. The following is an excerpt from one of his columns, which was published in CBI (Club Business International) magazine, on our timing being involved in the fitness industry.
Could there possibly be a better time to be in the health club business than now? If:
? you had a product that reduced the risk of dying from heart disease and cancer by 50%?
? You had a product that played an important role in the prevention and cure of diabetes,
arthritis, osteoperosis, insomnia, obesity, and hypertension…
? Your product made people leaner, lighter, more flexible, agile, more alert, energetic, confident, optimistic and more sexually attractive…
? Former Surgeon Generals of the United States went on record to say that not using your product was the physiological equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes every day….
? It was becoming better know, every year, of the value of your product - while important at every age - becomes even more important as women and men advance from their 30’s into their 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s.
And… If all the preceding were true…
? Could there possibly be another business that’s capable of helping more people, in more ways, than our own?
? Could there possible be another business that offers a more exciting, energizing, and long-term opportunity than our own?
? Could there possible be a better time to be in this business than now?
