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If Only I’d Known…


First-rate fitness skills are no substitute for business savvy. Four fitness pros-turned-club-owners share their stories.


BY BARB GORMLEY


I WISH I’D KNOWN… “Club administration can be a nightmare.”


Barbara Bouwman co-owner, JohnnyB FITT Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta www.johnnybfitt.ca


F


our years ago, we leapt from the comfort of a fitness business run in our basement to an 8,000 sq. ft.


facility. If only we'd known what was to come. We truly believed that as busi- ness owners we would be able to make


20 Fitness Business Canada January/February 2014


our own hours and train only when we wanted to. Wrong! Putting the business plan together,


opening the doors and demonstrating the equipment was the easy part. The administration was a nightmare. We had no idea about the ins and


outs of Canada Revenue, GST, T4s, con- tracts, hiring staff, paying staff, vaca- tion pay and source deductions. At one particularly low point we received a $6,000 bill for GST! Somehow we managed to keep our


heads above water for a year until we hired an accountant, and she now helps us monthly. We also eventual- ly hired a club manager to train the front end staff and keep the front end


Barbara Bouwman


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