The #1 Thing Gym Owners Get Wrong About Pricing

When I look back on my time as a gym owner, I made plenty of mistakes. But one thing that helped us run a highly profitable business for years was this: we got our pricing mostly right.

I didn’t nail it perfectly (I’ll share where I messed up), but having a solid pricing strategy made a huge difference.

Here’s the deal — pricing is one of those things worth getting right.

As a solopreneur, you only have so many hours to generate income. If you undercharge, you shoot yourself in the foot. Few things are worse than a business model where adding clients doesn’t actually add to your bottom line.

The tricky part? Pricing is emotional. Many owners undercharge because of hangups, guilt, or fear of losing clients — while their clients (often wealthier than the owner) would happily pay more.

So instead of covering every nuance, let’s talk about the most common pricing mistakes gym owners make. (And yes, I’ve made several of these myself.)

8 Common Pricing Mistakes

Mistake #1 – Picking a random number.

Pricing can’t be random. You’ve got rent, staff, and maybe even a family to feed. It deserves careful thought.

Mistake #2 – Not knowing your break-even.

Your break-even is all your expenses added together. That’s the bare minimum. But if you only charge to “cover costs,” you’ll never grow or take home real profit.

Mistake #3 – Grandfathering too many clients.

Debbie pays $8 per session because she’s been with you since day one. She comes twice a day. One or two Debbies won’t kill you, but too many will wreck your margins.

Mistake #4 – Thinking you are your client.

I probably wouldn’t pay $300–$500/month for training. I’ve been working out since I was 12 and I’m self-motivated. But that doesn’t mean others won’t see it as life-changing. Don’t price based on your own habits.

Mistake #5 – Never raising rates.

Skip rate increases for five years and you’ve already lost 15–20% to inflation. Small, consistent increases protect your profit.

Mistake #6 – Believing charging more makes you selfish.

“I just want to help people” sounds noble. But if you undercharge and go out of business, you won’t help anyone. Fair pricing keeps you in the game.

Mistake #7 – Forgetting to include your own pay.

A small-group session with four people at $22 each looks like $88. But once you pay a coach 40% and cover expenses, what’s left for you? Pricing has to work when you step off the floor too.

Mistake #8 – Only pricing the workout, not the transformation.

It’s not just 50 minutes of exercise. It’s confidence, discipline, health, community. Price the transformation, not just the time.

Where I Messed Up

I’m not sharing this from a pedestal. I’ve made several of these mistakes myself:

#3: We let too many people ride “unlimited packages” and it crushed our margins.

#4: Early on, I lacked confidence quoting prices because I wasn’t sure I would spend that much.

#5: We dragged our feet on raising rates and had to play catch-up with multiple price corrections.

Next Step

Pricing is personal, and sometimes even sensitive. But it can make or break your business.

👉 Which of these mistakes hit home for you?

Let me know, and I’ll send you some practical steps forward.

Or if you’d rather talk it through (sometimes that’s easier), you can book a call here. I’d love to help you make more money and create a bigger impact.