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BJJ & Gym

Gym financials that a real operator would respect.

MRR and churn. Instructor cost ratios. Per-program profitability. Owner take-home reality. We do accounting and fractional CFO for BJJ academies, MMA gyms, and martial arts studios — by people who actually understand the business.

Book a free 30-min consult (385) 489-5516
§ 01Why this is different

You're a recurring revenue business — book it like one.

A BJJ or martial arts gym is a subscription business that happens to run on mats. Most general bookkeepers don't think about MRR, churn, or instructor cost ratios — they just push numbers from your gym software into QuickBooks. We treat your gym like the recurring-revenue business it actually is.

01

MRR & churn tracking

Monthly recurring revenue, new starts, cancellations, downgrades, upgrades. The metrics that actually predict whether the gym is healthy or quietly bleeding.

02

Instructor cost ratio

Industry rule of thumb is 35–45% of revenue for instructor pay (gym-dependent). We track yours by month so you spot the trend before it eats your owner take-home.

03

Per-program profitability

Adult BJJ vs. kids program vs. women's-only vs. boxing — broken out so you see which programs carry the gym and which are vanity offerings.

04

Pro shop & merch

Inventory tracked properly, COGS computed, margins visible. Most gym owners are losing money on retail and don't realize it.

05

Seminar & event accounting

One-time events, comped attendees, instructor splits, ticket platforms — handled cleanly so seminars don't pollute your recurring numbers.

06

Owner take-home reality

Most gym owners don't actually know their real owner compensation — distributions, salary, perks, cash gym income. We make it explicit so you can compare against what an instructor or a manager would cost.

§ 02The second-location decision

Should you open another gym?

This is the question that destroys profitable single-location gyms. The unit economics of a second location are not the same as the first — different ramp, different overhead structure, different break-even. Most owners decide on enthusiasm. We help you walk through the math first.

See our advisory work →

  • Realistic ramp curve — how many months to MRR breakeven?
  • Cash drag during ramp — how deep does the hole go before it fills?
  • Owner time allocation — can you actually run two gyms, or do you need to hire a head coach?
  • Multi-location payroll, comp structure, and cash management
  • Brand & pricing consistency vs. local-market flexibility
§ 03Who we serve

BJJ. Boxing. Muay Thai. The whole mat.

Single-location BJJ academies

50–500 members. The grind of getting a gym profitable and keeping it that way. We've been there.

Multi-location operators

2–10 gyms under one brand. Consolidated reporting, per-location P&L, and the harder math of running a real business on top of a passion.

MMA & striking gyms

Boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing, MMA. Same recurring-revenue dynamics; we know the variations.

§ 03.5Why this matters to us

We’re on the mats too.

Both partners train. We know what it feels like to walk into a gym for the first time, what keeps members coming back, why an instructor leaving can blow up your retention, and why the front-desk experience matters more than the website. We’re not accountants who happened to land a gym client — we’re training partners who happen to run your numbers.

That’s why our reporting talks about active members, churn cohorts, and per-mat economics — not generic SaaS metrics shoehorned onto a gym.

§ FAQ BJJ & Gym-specific questions

What bjj & gym owners ask before signing.

Do you integrate with Spark / Mindbody / Kicksite / Zen Planner?
Yes. These are the platforms we see most often. We pull member counts and revenue data into your books cleanly, and reconcile MRR against what your gym software reports. We don't replace your gym management software. We make sure the financial side stays in sync.
How do you handle cash income (drop-ins, mat fees, seminars)?
Cleanly and legally. Cash income gets recorded just like card revenue, with proper documentation. We're going to be straight with you: trying to hide cash from the books usually costs the owner more in the long run than the tax savings ever justified.
Should I be on payroll or take distributions?
Depends on entity (S-corp vs LLC), revenue level, and your other income. Ultimately it's your tax CPA's call. We can model the cash impact of different scenarios so you and your CPA have a clear picture going in. Many owner-instructors past a certain revenue level benefit from being on a real payroll, but the right answer is specific to your situation.
Can you help me figure out instructor pay structures?
Yes. Flat hourly, percentage of class revenue, mat fee splits, head-coach salary plus profit share. We can model the cost impact of each structure against your current revenue and walk through trade-offs so you can pick what fits your gym.
How do I price gym memberships profitably?
Start with your true cost per member, including instructor pay, rent allocation, equipment, software, insurance, and a profit margin you can live on. Most gym owners price based on what the gym down the street charges, which is a race to the bottom. We model your true unit economics so you see exactly how many members at what price covers your fixed costs and starts generating profit. From there, pricing is a decision you make from data, not gut.
What KPIs should every gym owner track every month?
Six numbers cover most of it. (1) Active member count and MRR. (2) Member churn rate. (3) Customer acquisition cost. (4) Revenue per square foot. (5) Instructor cost as a percentage of class revenue. (6) Cash on hand and days of runway. Track these monthly. If you don't know these numbers for your gym right now, you're operating blind. Most gyms are.
What's a healthy profit margin for a martial arts gym?
15 to 25 percent net margin is healthy for a well-run martial arts gym. Below 10 percent, the owner is usually underpaying themselves or carrying too much fixed cost. Above 30 percent typically means the owner is the only instructor and the business is really a job, not a scalable operation. Margin depends heavily on rent, instructor cost structure, and program mix. We benchmark your numbers against what we see across the BJJ and MMA gyms we work with.
Can you help me open a second gym location?
Yes. A second location is a different financial animal than the first. We model the new location's projected cash flow, build the lender or investor package, structure the entity setup (often a separate LLC), and create the consolidated reporting that lets you compare locations. Most second locations fail not because the location is bad but because owners underestimate the cash needed to get to break-even. We make sure you don't get caught short.
What about kids' programs and afterschool?
We track these as separate program lines. Kids' programs often have very different unit economics from adult: different staffing ratios, different price points, different churn. We make sure you can see the per-program math.
I'm thinking about selling my gym someday. What should I do now?
Start running the books like a business that's going to be valued. Clean MRR data, documented procedures, owner add-backs identified, real owner compensation visible (not buried). A gym with three years of clean books sells for noticeably more than a gym with messy books and a story.

Ready to talk to people who actually know your industry?

30-minute call. No obligation. We'll tell you straight whether we can help — or who can.

Book a free consultation Or call (385) 489-5516