Matthew Cicci

Health and Fitness Writer

Matthew Cicci

Health and Fitness Writer

Why a Clean Club Impacts Sales
Of all the precautions, planning and preparations involved in establishing your club’s various operational objectives none will be more scrutinized by your members than your cleanliness. Social media sites are a hotbed of filth-related horror stories aimed at obliterating a club’s reputation with no less effort than it takes to post a few pictures and add a few captions.
ClubSolutions Magazine
Increase Your Gym Revenue with Profit Centers
Want to increase your gym's profitability but don't know where to start? Learn why adding gym profit centers to your club's offerings has been proven to boost gym revenue and increase member satisfaction. What opportunities are you leaving on the table? From recovery centers to pro shops, get actionable tips on how to develop your own successful profit centers.
The Truth About the New Studio Checklist for Fitness Franchisees
Let's talk about lists, in particular the new studio checklist that franchisees get before opening their facilities. This list is an all-inclusive roadmap detailing anything and everything necessary to handle the various phases of construction, vendor relations, licensing, hiring, pre-sales and opening.
Club Industry
4 Skills Every Trainer Needs That They Won’t Learn Through Certification
Personal trainers are an eclectic bunch. Some of the most successful trainers are the most confident, cocky almost diva-like individuals. Clients like that. They like feeling as though their trainer is ‘the best’, it helps to justify the expenditure. Unlike any other staff, the personal trainer is a multi-functional member of the team.
ARPM: The Metric to Make Your Fitness Business Thrive
losing money on her? Right now you’re thinking, initiation fee, membership dues, pro shop purchases, positive customer experience, she’s a gold mine. Anecdotal evidence aside, if you can’t support your assessment with hard numbers then it may be time to really look at the Average Revenue per Member (ARPM) for your fitness business.
Support Calls Are the Secret Weapon in Health Club Franchising
Popeye had spinach. Britain had Bletchley Park. Simon had Garfunkel. But in the take no prisoners world of gyms and group exercise studios, the franchise support network is a resource that rivals any of history's greatest secret weapons. As an independent business owner, you may have a number of trusted and successful contacts to help you reason through the myriad of difficult business decisions that seem to develop almost daily.
Club Industry
Fitness Franchises Require the Right Location to Be Successful
Over the years, I have tried to impress upon my staff that the gym is a person's third home. After their actual residence and place of employment, many of a club's core members will spend more time at their gym than any other location they visit in a typical week. For that reason, it is important to view your gym or studio as an extension of your member's lives.
Club Industry
Five Things I Have Learned While Opening My Franchised Fitness Studio
Opening a franchise is a lot of hurry-up and wait. When I wrote my first column about franchising for Club Industry in this series, I felt like the experience of opening a franchise was like a marathon. And even though at times it seems like everything is happening all at once, it simultaneously feels like nothing is moving forward.
Club Industry
Buying a Fitness Franchise Is Like Finding the Perfect Marriage Partner
(Editor's Note: This column is part of a series of columns by Matthew Cicci tracking his progress as he opens a fitness franchise. Check out previous columns in this series by going here.) I sat in a large brand-splashed conference room next to an out-of-shape, middle-aged accountant from Raleigh, North Carolina, and a former IT professional from Boulder, Colorado, who could easily have passed for a young version of the Marlboro Man.
Club Industry
Becoming a Fitness Club Franchisee Requires the Dedication of a Long-Distance Runner
Let's go for a run together. Not a jog, or a sprint or even a marathon, but a long run whose duration, terrain and destination is as yet to be determined. A journey where unexpected things will occur, the road will be obscure and the end is just the beginning. The metaphorical run that I am inviting you on is the process that I will undertake of buying a fitness franchise.
Club Industry
Studio and Big Box Chains: Deciding between the Two Types of Fitness Franchises
We have all heard the expression "the calm before the storm," a peaceful lull in the atmosphere that precedes the turbulent oncoming of aggressive weather. That appears to be where I find myself at the moment in the opening of my franchise fitness studio. With a signed letter of intent out of the way, I now am negotiating through the actual lease document with the building landlord.
Club Industry

About

Matthew Cicci

I have been a health and fitness professional for more than 20 years, having worked with some of the largest companies in the industry. I have experience with a number of diverse business models, including: not-for-profit, big-box, boutique, franchise and real estate/large independent entities.

With a master's degree in exercise science and more than 12 years of high-end facilities management experience in the New York City market, I am able to speak to both the operational and physiological side of the fitness world.

As a current studio owner I know first-hand the topics and concerns on the minds of fitness executives. And, as a student of the industry I additionally can relate to the consumer on all matters pertaining to current fitness/nutrition/wellness issues of the today.

Additional interests outside of the fitness world include, dogs and animal welfare, World War II history and anything baseball.