Tag: Business Advice

Data Security

Protect Your Customers' Data

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Protect Your Customers' Data The recent and ongoing Target credit card debacle shouts out a loud and clear warning to anyone who operates a business that involves credit card transactions: Protect your customers’ data! When 40 million or so Target shoppers had their credit and debit card data stolen because of problems with the store’s security procedures, the company was sued in multiple lawsuits, its shares fell precipitously, and it was left struggling to placate customers with apologies and discounts. The legal and financial threads will take months — or longer — to untangle, and the store will have to fight to win back its reputation.
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Risk Management

Don’t Forget Risk Management

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Don’t Forget Risk Management y son calls me a scaredy-cat because I’m constantly throwing warnings out at him: “Don’t run on the ice, you could fall and hurt yourself!” “Be careful on those rocks; they look slippery.” “Please don’t climb any higher up that fence; if you fall and crack your head open, you’ll be sorry!” I’m not a scaredy-cat, I tell him; I just have to give the warning because if something actually happens, I’ll feel even worse about it if I failed to alert him to the danger beforehand. The better tactic, I know, would be to remove the ice, the rocks, and the fence before he can even test them, but out in the world that’s just not possible.
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fitness business

The CEO Pledge

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The CEO Pledge Have you heard about the CEO Pledge? It’s a campaign promoted by the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity (NCPPA) to encourage CEOs to recognize physical activity as an important driver of employee health and business performance. In other words, it’s a great opportunity for health clubs to connect with corporate clients.
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How Do You Let Employees Know They Are Valued?

How Do You Let Employees Know They Are Valued?

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How Do You Let Employees Know They Are Valued? “The quality of any club’s performance is directly related to how the employees are treated every day.” That’s Bill Brackman, Sports Manager of the Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, NY, responding to a question posed recently on the International Health, Racquet and Sports Club Association’s (IHRSA) blog. The question? How do you let employees know they are valued?
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Turning Your Racquetball Court Into a Yoga Studio

Turning Your Racquetball Court Into a Yoga Studio

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Turning Your Racquetball Court Into a Yoga Studio I love my gym. I do not, however, love my gym’s yoga offerings. The first time I went to one of its (few) yoga classes, I left with a longing for the studio I used to live near, where I’d gotten into the habit of attending daily classes. It was a struggle to fit the classes in to my busy schedule, but I loved the instructors, who had studied and taught nothing but yoga for years and who could even make me chant without feeling phony or self-conscious. I loved the wide, airy room, with candles and overgrown plants on the windowsills and a giant Buddha statue near the entryway. I loved the long, green, silky curtains that billowed out when a breeze came in through the open windows — it was the perfect space, with the perfect people, for a practice dedicated to awareness of the mind/body connection.
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Reviewing the Basics of Gym Management

Reviewing the Basics of Gym Management

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Reviewing the Basics of Gym Management I was talking the other day with a friend of mine who manages a gym in New York City. He had recently attended an informal networking meeting for gym managers, and he said they got reviewing the basics of gym management — the fundamental tasks that gym managers should undertake each day to make sure they’re doing what needs to be done. I got him to share his notes with me, and now I’m sharing some of them with you. Nothing here is earth-shattering, but even my friend, who’s been in the field for at least a dozen years, found it useful to have a refresher in the basics. Here’s what the group covered:
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Greening Your Facility

Green Your Facility

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Greening Your Facility When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled its Green Sports Resource Directory in August, I remembered the horse farm my son and I visited earlier this year. A sprawling establishment, with state-of-the-art stables, a vast indoor arena, 34 acres of beautiful land, and a big, old-fashioned farmhouse – the place must have cost a fortune to maintain. Or so I thought, until I noticed the solar panels blanketing one side of the barn roof. I asked the owner if using solar energy cut down on his costs. “My electricity bill is about $19 a month,” he said proudly. “No,” I said, “I don’t mean for the stables; I mean for the whole farm.” “Yep,” he said. “Nineteen dollars a month.”
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Preventing and Handling a Tragedy

Preventing and Handling a Tragedy

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Preventing and Handling a TragedyIn February 2012, a tragic event occurred: A 22-year-old woman collapsed in a stall in the women’s locker room at a Planet Fitness in Bay Shore, New York. An hour later, she was dead. The family of the woman is now suing Planet Fitness, claiming that the sole staff member on site at the time did not help her. That staff member, according to reports, was male, and when he was alerted by a female member of the gym that a woman had collapsed, he replied that he was not allowed to enter the locker room.
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Obesity is a disease-What does this mean for the fitness industry?

Obesity Is a Disease – What Does It Mean for the Fitness Industry?

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Obesity is a disease-What does this mean for the fitness industry?When I sat down to do some research before writing up this post today, I typed into Google, “Is obesity,” but before I could get any further, Google finished my question for me: “Is obesity a disease?” 61,600,000 pages came up when I hit enter. It’s the question everyone is asking — and now the American Medical Association (AMA) has answered it. On Tuesday, after considered debate, the physicians’ organization voted to extend official disease status to the condition. Yes, is the answer to the question. It’s a disease.
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Happy Employees Means Healthy Business

Happy Employees Means A Healthy Business

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Happy Employees Means Healthy BusinessThe fitness industry is winning accolades in the press these days. In this space a couple of weeks ago, we highlighted an article in Forbes that lauded the industry for its useful website content and its ability to make that content go viral. Now another magazine, Minnesota Business, offers praise of a different sort: Anytime Fitness has won recognition as the best Minnesota company to work for in the large business category.
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