How to Manage Money at a Health Club

"This is Ivan Madar and I am here on behalf of Expert Village talking about essentials of effective club management. Clubs meaning fitness, tennis, spas and similar activities where you deal with people. Especially in the private setting that requires and excellent service. Managing money would be the last area I would like to address. My answer to this always is get a great controller and account who is looking after you, because you can't do it all. You are managing people, you cannot manage money at the same time. Those things take two different skills and they are very time consuming. Whether it's an inside controller (depending upon the size of the facility) or an outside facility that is advising you on your resources, it is very important to have that. Outside of that, you are controlling your income and you are controlling your expenses. I would advise everyone to automate their billing membership fees. It is much more efficient; you avoid collections; and it is very clear when someone is not meeting their obligations paying their dues. It obviously takes a lot less staff and automated billing systems are available throughout the industry and are universally excepted as the best way of doing things. Doing it on your own with a couple of bookkeepers in the back room is never very efficient and it creates a lot of paperwork. It's not cheaper than automated systems."