The Enemy

Unless you have just invented a new product, and I mean new, not a re-design of something that already exists, but something brand new. Never seen before product, like when the internet was created, or the car or the walkman. Then you will have competition. Competition should not be seen as a bad thing, just as another thing that needs consideration in the start-up/running of your business.

My business plan included a short report on our competitors, but this was short and pretty brief. Once I had identified the particular competitors that are geographically closest to us and whose product is the most similar to the one we offer, we started to dig a little deeper.

We already knew that our main competitors are large chain gymnasiums. The corporate nature of these big all encompassing giants, with plush bars, swimming pools and added extras is obviously a big attraction to some people when looking to get fit. Most would not know any different. They think Gyms = where you get fit.

Our other major competition comes in the form of other people running “military fitness” classes which are along the same lines as we do them. Every single one of these we found, didn’t advertise very well and all required monthly subscriptions with a monthly fee.

We addressed how we are different to the Gyms and from the start we were running Boot Camp as pay as you go. So that should see us different to the other Military Fitness classes nearby. We also aim to overkill the advertising. Offer the first months classes as free, and allow people to pay as they train. We will also provide a raft of free information on nutrition, weight loss and plenty of other tips. We have to be better than our competition and not just have people favour us because we are geographically closer.

I asked myself some questions when looking into our competition and hopefully these can help you too.

Who is the competition? – What other companies offer services similar to your own, draw up a list.

Where is the competition based? - Which other companies offer your product, nationally, if you are a large company, or web-based, and regionally, if you offer a more personal service. It isn’t a great idea to open a shop next to a competitor unless you’re completely confident you can outdo them.

How am I different, or how could I be different? Find out what products/services are offered, review your own, and find out how you can make yourself stand out. You don’t always have to take off your competition to succeed.

How do they reach their target audience? Find out what is (or isn’t) working for your competition, and develop a marketing strategy for your business around this. Budget will be a huge deciding factor in this though.

How much do they charge? Pretty vital part of competition assessment. It will depend on whether you are a budget or luxury version of you competition whether you charge more or less than them. But you must know the prices to adjust yours accordingly.

Once you have asked the questions, you should conduct a mini review of your company. Particularly if you feel the competiton is getting the better of you.
This should be enough for you when starting up, but even for those with an established venture, failing to actively monitor the competition could prove fatal, at a time when every sale counts. Remember, everyone has competition, don't think of it as you and THEM. You can both co-exist and prosper!

I hope you are finding blog useful and entertaining. I don’t know what you’re getting next week, I’ll see what needs dealing with!

Thanks for reading

Stephen Howson

Plan Plan and Plan again

The business plan is used in a couple of different ways. Mainly it is used internally as planning for the business starters or as a tool to gain financial help, or investment.

Me? Well I was using it for a bit of both I need to plan, a lot, it might be something ingrained from my military service. I have enough capital for start up, but I am willing to offer a small % of the company to someone with the right experience in accounting and tax, ideally someone with their own business, so they can take control of the financial matters, leaving me to concentrate on the product.

Where do you begin when writing a business plan? I had never done anything like this before, so I started to search online for free templates of business plans. The first one I found, I followed, and produced my own plan. It had lots of graphs and tables, but it had no flow. It took a solid week to produce. But in truth it was rubbish. The titles of each major section were unclear and even I never fully understood them.

I went back online and must have looked at over 50 templates of plans. I found one that was simple, unfussy and had clearly defined titles that made sense. I copied it, inserted my own words and added logos and my fonts to the titles and main headings. This took about 3 hours to complete but I was infinitely happier with this one.

The headings under which my new plan was formed were:

Introduction
This was a basic summary of what the company was, the products we offer, why it will work and a paragraph on financials.

Management
This is a short section on who is going to be running the business, and how the business would be structured. We are a partnership, so this was a short explanation of the experience and qualifications held by my partner and myself.

Products & Services
This is a more detailed brief on the types of classes offered by Boot Camp and the other services which we plan to offer.

Marketing
Covered in this section is market size, future growth, market sector expected client profile and a report on our competitors. We also outline how we shall be delivering out marketing strategy, and how we target the particular clients that we believe will be the lifeblood of our business.

Sales
Under this heading we cover in more detail our advertising and promotion, with figures and costings. This is also where we highlight our unique selling points. It is important to include this in your plan, even if your plan is only for your reference, as it re-affirms your confidence in your unique-ness.

Operational
Here is how the actual day to day operations of the company will work. I have included details of the location, full details of equipment and expected costs, for the entire start up, and also the roles of each of the staff.

Short – Medium Term Trading
It is vital to have a direction in which you want to steer your business, but it is important to look beyond the brick wall that starting up can be. I used this to produce some attainable objectives that would grow the business, in our case, a second location within 12 months, and having a class average of 15 within 6 months. I also devised a “What if” and contingency plan.

Financials
Clearly you will need to produce some conservative forecasts for how much money you expect your business to make. I worked out total spending and expected income for the first year, and included a hypothetical expansion of a second location in my second year forecast. This is absolutely vital if you wish to attract investment, and useful for your own reference.



Whether you use a plan or not, it cannot harm your chances to create one. In making my own business plan it forced me to research my competitors further, and it gave me a fuller understanding of my business. I would recommend it. If you wish to see my plan or use it as a template, please get in touch, email me at info@bootcampacademy.com

Thanks for reading

Stephen Howson

Whats in a name?

Now I had the general gist of how the business was going to be laid out, I had to choose a name. Tough decision this really, as once decided I would be paying for domain names, logos and having clothing printed up as samples. So potentially a costly mistake, if I get it wrong. I began by making a list of what I need from the name, and what I wanted the name to portray.

Things it HAD to be:

• un registered as a .co.uk or .com domain name
• un registered at companies house
• descriptive
• memorable
• feel right

So out comes my trusty dog-eared A4 pad, and I began scribbling down key words. I also had a domain name registration webpage open on my laptop, so any ideas could be quickly binned should the domain be unavailable. I started to scribble down words like: fittnes, army, military, physical, health, etc.... I liked the name fitness4, a lot, it turns out it was registered to a very well known former Olympic and World Gold Medalist. I got in touch to enquire about buying the domain, and initially he was very interested, wanting to know more about the plans and things, but then stopped replying to emails. Ah well.

I kept circling around "Boot Camp", well, boot camp is what it mainly is isn't it? But how does Boot Camp fit into the sporting aspect of things? Well its for young children too isn't it, well academy, hmmmm, how does that sound? The Sport & Fitness Academy? A little long winded for a domain name. SAFA? Already taken. SFA? Scottich Football Association. Use my name, would get me famous! The Stephen Howson Sport & Fitness Academy? Cheesey or what? No, the Boot Camp Sport & Fitness Academy.

Swill it around a second. The Boot Camp Sport & Fitness Academy. Use it in context, "Boot Camp Military Fitness Classes", YEP! "Boot Camp SFA Training Programs" I think so. Two young lads at school, "Hey, are you going to Boot Camp tonight for Footy training?" Oh yes. Ok now we need the domain name don't we?

There were a few in the same kind of area, but the one I liked the most is www.BootCampAcademy.com

I think it is a memorable name. Lets hope should you hear it on the radio, or see it in print that one day tou will remember ir too!

Next up, the business plan and how things begin to take shape.

Thank you for your time

Stephen Howson

In the beginning.....

Hello, my name is Stephen Howson, and welcome to my blog.
I am due to leave the Armed Forces in July this year and I am starting my own business. This is the story/diary of how it was created, the process we went through, each step of the way to becoming a fully functioning business.

For six weeks I worked on developing my idea of creating a fitness website offering training programs. After researching the idea in terms of competition, expected income and viability of the business, I decided to move more in the direction of instructed fitness classes, and why not take advantage of my military background with an army style fitness class.

I was still keen on the idea of the online training programs, so I spent a long time thinking of a way to incorporate this. One evening whilst reading FourFourTwo magazine, I came across an article on the development of Argentinian footballers through Boca Juniors FC. It was not long after the recent England and Spain friendly match, and there was a lot of talk in the media about the lack of technical ability in English players. Another idea seed had been planted.

I was now looking at a three-pronged approach to creating a business. Military Fitness Classes, Online Training Programs and now Technical Sports coaching. I retired from playing Rugby in 2006, after a career that had included 3 proffesional clubs and junior international honours with Scotland and Great Britian. So I had a great deal of experience in Rugby, and I have been involved in football fitness for a couple of years.

The breakdown would work as like this, Military Fitness Classes are run twice weekly for an hour, in public parks. These would be group circuit training sessions delivered in a similar style to those I received in my service. The online training programs would be downloadable training programs specific to football, rugby, boxing, muscle and women. We will offer free tips on nutrition, weight management, supplements and provide product reviews for fitness related products. The technical training is sort of self explanitory, we will offer basic skills training, outside of usual junior club training sessions where players can come and get extra training to develop skills in passing, tackling and all the basic skills that are so often neglected at clubs.

I am happy with how I envisage the business working.


Now for the name.......


Thanks for reading, I'll be back soon!

Stephen