There is a plethora of apps currently available - Google’s Play store and Apple's App Store each have about 2 million apps. This is great, but we’re left with the paradox of choice. Too many options can cause anxiety in the decision process and lead you to getting lazy with your research.

This article will discuss just two apps: Gym management software and accounting software.

Amongst many other benefits, these two apps will allow you to:

✓ APPEAR MORE PROFESSIONAL

✓ SAVE TIME WITH BOOKINGS AND PAYMENTS

✓ RUN BETTER PROMOTIONS AND CONVERT MORE CLIENTS

✓ IMPROVE CLIENT RETENTION

✓ EASILY COMPLY WITH ALL YOUR OBLIGATIONS

✓ HANDLE PAYROLL

✓ EASILY COLLABORATE WITH TEAM

✓ HAVE REAL TIME FINANCIAL DATA

You might feel like just going with the biggest brand or the one you’ve used before or the one with the best reviews. While there is some merit to each of these decision criterion, I believe the most weight should be given to actually experiencing the software and if possible comparing the experience of different products.

To speed up your decision process try answering these questions:

What are your top level goals and objectives? (is this software in line?)
What features are a must (does this software have them?)
Is this option scalable if the business grows? (switching software is costly)
What’s the price? (Does it’s value to your business match the price)
What is the support like? (You can get a feel for this when trialing)
Is it relatively easy to use? (Is one easier than another)

Disclosure: I’m now going to discuss software that I have experienced and let you know my preferred options. When I find what I think is the best of the best I sometimes partner with the provider, which benefits me and my clients. The fact that I’m a partner with these providers doesn’t influence my decision to recommend their products (it’s the other way around) and the minor rewards that are offered to me are usually passed on to my clients anyway.

Gym/studio Management Software

Don’t hesitate in getting this type of software. I’ve heard countless times “I don’t have enough

clients” or “I’m too small at the moment” but if you think like this you might stay small forever. I have witnessed that those who take the leap and invest are able to grow their business better and faster than those who hold off.

Of course, there is not a direct cause and effect relationship between buying the software and getting more clients but there is definitely a correlation. The Improvement to business growth may be due to the software freeing up the owner’s time so that they may focus on other things, for example, getting more leads. It might be that the business is now obviously more professional. The overarching benefit though is that you now have very powerful tools at your fingertips - you just need to use it.

The three apps that I have the most experience with are Mindbody Online, Wellness Living and Zen Planner. All three are accessible on any device, have excellent support and you pay a monthly subscription which means low start up cost.

At the time of writing this, Zen Planner falls short with a lot of the features. You can’t do multi-location with Zen Planner so if you think you might like to have more than one location don’t bother trialing this. It also lacks team management, promotions management, multiple user accounts and many class booking and appointment setting functions.

Hence, I recommend either Mindbody or Wellness Living and I’m a partner with both these companies.

Until recently all of my health and fitness clients were on Mindbody but then one day a client told me about Wellness Living and how it was cheaper and easier to use. He had found that Mindbody is too tricky to train his team on, therefore, they don’t use it properly and all those powerful tools are waste. The haphazard use of Mindbody caused inefficiencies due to errors and omissions. I raised this concern with my account manager and the response was that the client just needed to utilise the training that is available. This is a good response - the training is good, but I keep thinking if they made the software easier to use then the training wouldn’t even be necessary.

Everything about Wellness Living is easier which means new users can just be given a walk-through by you or another team member. The ease of use of Wellness Living means you and your team are much more likely to take advantage of the powerful tools for client attraction, conversion and retention (I can see that my clients on Mindbody don’t use all these tools) The Wellness Living “widgets” are easy to copy and paste to your website and can be integrated with your Facebook page. The Google integration is also great allowing people to see class times and other dynamic information and they can book directly from Google.

There is also an amazing auto-responder system so you can have automated emails and SMS sent to prospects or clients at any point of the customer lifecycle. Normally you would need to have a third party provider like Mailchimp for this but with Wellness Living it is already built for a health/fitness business, which saves you from the very time consuming task of building the automations. The messages are fully customisable though though for your branding.

While the auto-responder is great for all customer lifecycle stages sometimes a phone call. With Wellness Living you quickly set a rules, for example, if a client does not attend for 20 days you will get a notification to call them.

In summary: I’m a fan of both Mindbody and Wellness Living. If you’re already familiar with Mindbody and take advantage of all the features then no need to switch. Otherwise, try out Wellness Living. It’s easier and you’re more likely to use all the cool features.

Accounting software

As you can see I’m a big fan of Wellness Living! When I see software that makes it easier to take your business to the next level I get a bit excited. In 2011 I was an MYOB partner - MYOB being the industry standard - but I trialled a new software called Xero and did the seemingly impossible - I got excited about accounting software!

In 2012 I transferred my whole client base from MYOB to Xero and they all thanked me for it. Their bookkeeping fees went down immediately due to less time on bookkeeping and many business owners do their own bookkeeping on Xero when they wouldn’t have even considered it on MYOB.

I’ve also been a partner with Saasu and Intuit’s Quickbooks. They are good but it is rare that I would recommend these above Xero (there are some cases though).

Since 2012 Xero has been my main thing and I’ve consulted on it to a few accounting firms who have also seen the light (or tasted the Kool Aid).

I’ve improved countless businesses by converting them to Xero so from this point on I’m not going to waste your time or mine by discussing other options.

Do you think you don’t need accounting software? If you have only just started your business it is possible to survive without having accounting software. The management software like Mindbody and Wellness Living really is more important. As time goes on, however, you either need to be a super well organised and disciplined spreadsheet user or you can just make your life easier and get Xero.

Xero is also a monthly subscription. It will cost about $50 per month or, depending on what you need, you might be able to use the ‘cashbook’ version which is available only through partners at either $10 or $19 per month.

Accounting software is essential for any serious business.

Owning a business is great but the government and lawmakers have thrown down a gauntlet for you, mainly to ensure that:

You pay tax
You’re suppliers and employees pay tax
You collect tax for the ATO and pay it to them regularly
Your employees rights are protected.

Getting people who know what they’re doing is the best way to make it through alive but you, and they, will need to have the proper tools for the job.

Sales tax / Goods & Services Tax (GST) or Value Added Tax (VAT)

If you’re under the GST/VAT annual revenue threshold (currently $75,000 in Australia) then GST registration is not compulsory. Having said that, if it looks like you will pass $75,000 in a year (ie. you bring in more that $6,500 in a month and it looks like it will stay that way) then you are required to register for GST.

Once registered for GST, you need to collect GST from your clients for any taxable transaction and you pay this to the ATO in your quarterly Business Activity Statement. You get credit for the GST you have paid on purchases so the GST in your BAS payment is GST on Sales less GST on Purchases.

This is where accounting software becomes a big advantage to stay out of trouble. If set up correctly, the accounting software will have the correct tax code for the different types of transactions in your business and this makes reporting your GST easier (although care should still be taken that GST is not under-claimed or over-claimed - there are exceptions in which case the tax code needs changing).

When you employ people there are many new obligations to be complied with but the payroll function in your accounting software will simplify it for you. These include PAYG Withholding Tax, Superannuation, Fringe Benefits Tax and Payroll Tax.

Employee superannuation is probably the strictest deadline you will ever face as an employer. The process of paying and reporting superannuation is usually done quarterly and is quick and easy with Xero.

Invoicing is not common in the health and fitness industries but if you ever do want to invoice someone then Xero will make it easier for you to create and send the invoice as well as comply with the invoicing requirements.

At the end of the financial year (30th of June in Australia), the software allows you to generate the reports necessary for doing tax returns and complying with other end of year reporting, like PAYG Payment Summaries.

Meeting your obligations is simple if you have the right people with the right tools.

The bigger benefit of having good accounting software though is its ability to give you timely and accurate financial data for your business to survive and thrive. All decisions in your business depend on the quality of your data.

I’d love to know I've missed anything important so get in touch in the comments section to add your experiences.

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