1. Build Your Business Around People, Not Trends

Amber Martinez, chief operating officer and partner at JEM Wellness Brands, stresses that health and fitness is one of the few consumer categories that continues to attract discretionary spending despite broader economic uncertainty. At the same time, consumers are looking for a place that invests in them as well.

“Consumers aren’t looking for another gym,” Martinez says. “They’re looking for a partner in their health. People want solutions that fit into their lives, not just a place they visit a few times a week.”

Martinez believes that what differentiates a club is the experience people have once they walk inside—the sense of belonging, genuine interactions with staff, and the feeling that someone is invested in their success.

“I think too many entrepreneurs spend more time building a concept than building a culture,” she says. “People stay because they feel connected.”

Members have no shortage of information about health and fitness, she explains. What many lack is someone who encourages them when motivation fades, celebrates their progress, and helps them stay committed to long-term goals.

“If I had to choose one word,” Martinez says, “it would be ‘accountability.’ I’ve watched thousands of members transform over my career, and it was never because we had the newest equipment or the latest trend. It happened because someone took the time to learn their name, celebrate their progress, encourage them after a setback, and remind them why they started.”

2. Use Technology to Improve Coaching and Member Service

Artificial intelligence may be one of the industry’s most transformative technologies, but its greatest value lies in supporting stronger human connections rather than replacing them.

Nt Etuk, founder and CEO of FitGrid, believes that consumers increasingly raise their expectations of customer service, expecting all businesses to deliver the same high standards across the board.

“Consumers no longer judge a fitness business against the studio down the street. They compare it against the best personalized experience they receive anywhere,”

Etuk says. “They increasingly expect every service they use to understand them.”

Streaming platforms recommend what viewers should watch next. Online retailers anticipate future purchases. Music services learn listening habits almost instantly. Those experiences have fundamentally changed what consumers expect from every business they interact with.

AI can make coaches, trainers, and operators more effective by giving them better information about the people they serve. It should help staff understand who needs attention, why they need it, and what conversations are most likely to improve outcomes.

“The future isn’t every member having a dedicated coach,” Etuk says. “It’s every employee being augmented with intelligence.”

It's about using data in a productive, proactive way, something not every business understands.

“The fitness industry has become incredibly good at collecting data while remaining surprisingly poor at understanding what it means,” he says.

Consumers face a similar challenge, surrounded by apps, wearables, trackers, and health information that often create more complexity than clarity. Entrepreneurs who can intervene and transform that information into confident decisions will create tremendous value.

4. Consistent, Disciplined Execution Is the Ultimate Competitive Advantage

Jon Canarick, managing partner at North Castle Partners, reaches a similar conclusion from an investor’s perspective, although he offers an important reality check. New opportunities certainly exist, he says, but the industry has also become significantly more competitive.

“It does feel like we may be at ‘peak competition,’ particularly in boutique fitness,” he says. “Higher development costs have also pushed entrepreneurs to seek outside capital much earlier than in previous generations.”

That competitive environment makes identifying genuine opportunities even more important. Canarick cautions entrepreneurs against assuming every new trend requires a completely new business model.

“It’s the intentional programming, if well executed, that creates the opportunity,” he notes.

Canarick's investment philosophy reinforces that point. While entrepreneurs often focus on discovering the next big idea, investors are frequently evaluating something much simpler: whether a business can consistently execute.

He points to brands such as Crunch, EōS, and Chuze as examples of companies that continue to grow because they refined a compelling value proposition and delivered it exceptionally well.

"They are not reinventing fitness," he says. "They are executing at excellent levels to deliver the consumer a great fitness experience with a great value proposition."

For entrepreneurs evaluating where to invest their time and resources, that standard of execution creates a useful filter.

5. Always Serve the Mission

Ask each expert what advice they would offer someone launching a fitness business today, and their answers differ in emphasis while arriving at remarkably similar conclusions. Technology, programming, and amenities all matter, but they should strengthen the member experience rather than distract from it.

Martinez says that the memories that stand out after 30 years in the industry aren’t membership numbers or expansion plans. They’re the lives transformed, the employees who grew into leaders, and the communities strengthened through fitness.

“We’re not selling access to equipment,” she says. “We’re creating confidence. We’re creating healthier families. We’re creating opportunities.”

Etuk encourages founders to focus less on emerging technologies than on the problems those technologies can help solve. Businesses that endure won’t be remembered because they were first to adopt AI, he argues. They’ll succeed because they used technology to understood people better than their competitors.

“Don’t chase technology,” he says. “Chase unsolved problems.”

Canarick’s advice is, characteristically, about scale and measurables.

“Ignore the noise,” he says. “Execute your vision with excellence. But don’t reinvent the wheel. Create a great environment. If it’s large-scale, do that well. If it’s small, create community.”

The entrepreneurs who shape the future are the ones who understand that tools alone rarely create enduring businesses. They succeed by combining innovation with operational discipline, technology with human connection, and bold ideas with a relentless commitment to execution.

As the fitness industry continues expanding beyond the traditional club model, the most valuable competitive advantage is what drives the entire industry.

“Don’t build a gym; build a place where people become better versions of themselves,” Martinez says. “Fitness has always been the vehicle. Improving lives is the mission.”