If my current client base paid me what the average gym in India makes, almost half the revenue would be funneled into rent. 10-15 percent would cover maintenance. I would then be able to pay one of five coaches and take home just as much as I pay a coach. Mind you, I have no air conditioning bill. I spend extravagantly on fans, equipment, upholstery and maintaining and adding equipment. 

My rent is steep on account of being in one of the better neighbourhoods of Madras. But it pales in comparison to rents on the high streets of Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore or Madras. 

There would be next to no incentive to upgrade equipment, read up to get better at my job let alone expand my business. 

Gyms in India make an unkeepable promise. When they take your money, they are rooting for you to not show up. 

Simply because they are charging you a fee that factors for only 1 out of 2-3 clients actually showing up. 

And this is just for rent, air-conditioning and maintenance. 

They are not factoring for anyone to actually show you how to use the gym effectively. 

The business of gyms is not the same as the business of coaching. 

The business of coaching needs you to show up 3-6 times a week, do a program, think about your eating, rest adequately and make progress. 

I get paid only if you stick to my program, enjoy it and make some incremental progress. 

That’s what you pay someone running a coaching business for. 

I happen to have a terrific gym to run my coaching business out of. 

I care enough about how my clients move to learn more and build equipment to help them move better. I have five coaches (six including me) who spend the hour teaching clients how to get stronger and make progress. 

That’s the coaching business. It is distinctive. Every coach has their voice and style of delivering their service. They believe in their program and they make choices about what adaptation would best serve their client. 

If I was in the business of gym memberships and I was to charge 20k a year. I would have to sign up thrice as many people as I currently have. I would have two coaches. I would pay them half of what I pay my existing coaches. And their job would be to ensure no one dies at the gym or breaks anything at the gym. If I had air conditioning and higher rents, I would have to sign up even more people, pray they don’t show up and pray no one opens an identical location across from mine.

The business of coaching is about effectiveness and retention. The business of gyms is about footfalls and finding guaranteed absentee suckers to cover the bills for those who actually show up.