Don’t Gamble Your Life Savings on a Glossy Franchise Brochure
Get expert diligence advice from a former Wall Street M&A banker turned fitness franchise owner
Million-Dollar Mistakes: Skip the fatal mistakes fitness franchise buyers make
Inside the E-book, you’ll discover:
Why franchisor “pre-sale projections” rarely match reality
How a broken marketing funnel can destroy your business
The silent killers: churn, competition, and misaligned incentives
Why your lease is really debt in disguise
How loan guarantees follow you long after a studio closes
Most importantly, you’ll learn the right questions to ask franchisors and owners before you sign your FDD — so you can invest with eyes wide open.
Protect your capital. Own your fitness franchise with confidence.
I’m Mark Gonzalez — former Wall Street M&A banker turned fitness franchise owner.
Over nearly a decade, I have advised startups to Fortune 500 companies on $30 billion+ in M&A and capital raises, while working at some of the world’s most prominent investment banks.
Like so many professionals, I wanted to trade the corporate grind for what I thought was my dream business. So I bought a fitness franchise from one of the biggest names in the industry.
My financial model was perfect. There were 250 studios already open outside the US, and the cash flow projections looked incredible. We opened the studio, followed the playbook and put in the work. But after 18 months, we shut down from deep financial losses. Why? Because despite my background, I didn't know the hidden operational landmines before going in, I didn’t know the questions to ask real owners that would have proved my assumptions (and the franchisor’s) were wrong.
That failure cost me nearly $1,000,000. Now I use that scar to help you protect your capital— by bringing Wall Street-level diligence to Main Street investors before they sign the FDD.
The Single Biggest Threat to Your Franchise Dream Isn't Competition—It's Your Own Assumptions
You’re about to invest hundreds of thousands into a fitness franchise: licenses, build-out, legal fees, equipment, marketing, payroll. Maybe you’re even borrowing from your home equity or retirement to make it work.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth:
99% of first-time buyers don’t actually know how to diligence a franchise (I’ve been there).
They think they do, but they’re relying on emotion, polished marketing decks, and data that is hard to verify.
You Might Be Thinking:
“The franchisor has dozens (or hundreds) of studios - they’ve already figured this out.”
“The owners I met on discovery day seemed happy and profitable.”
“The programming and marketing look strong — the brand speaks for itself.”
“I’ve done my homework. This will work out.”
Those thoughts feel logical (I thought the exact same thing), but they’re dangerous.
Because none of them are based on verified, operator-tested data.
What You Haven’t Done (Yet):
Validated real customer acquisition costs in the business
Stress-tested the labor model and churn rate
Verified the unit economics and LTV with actual owners
Modeled the downside before signing a 10-year lease with a personal guarantee
By the time most buyers realize the numbers don’t hold… it’s too late to back out.
What’s Really at Stake
$500,000 - $1,000,000 (or more) in financial losses
College savings, 401ks or home equity wiped out
Personal guarantees your franchisor didn’t warn you about
Years of time and energy spent fixing issues you never saw coming
But Here’s the Good News:
Franchising can be one of the most rewarding paths to business ownership — if you go in with clarity, the right analysis and guidance.
Most buyers don’t fail because they lack effort - they fail because they didn’t know how to diligence the deal.
That’s where I come in.
Don’t Bet Your Home or Your Kid’s College Fund on a Franchise Sales Pitch
You are evaluating franchises like a retail buyer. But franchises are high-stakes financial vehicles. Stop relying on shiny sales decks and discovery days as your only diligence. We deploy Wall Street-grade financial and operational diligence to help you confirm—or kill—the deal before you sink $1,000,000 into a bad franchise.
Who This Is For
This isn’t for everyone — and that’s the point. It’s for people who take capital allocation seriously:
✅ Investors and professionals with $100K–$1M+ to deploy
✅ Those evaluating boutique fitness franchise concepts
✅ Operators who want facts, not franchisor fiction
✅ High-performers who understand that doing diligence right once is cheaper than fixing a six-figure mistake later
(If that’s you, this is your unfair advantage.)
What we do:
The Unfiltered Truth Interviews: We source vetted, non-franchisor-provided current owners using the same expert-call diligence approach used in private equity to validate hidden costs, actual revenue opportunities and real-world labor models. I personally lead each call to ensure we get deep, unfiltered insight into the unit economics, franchisor support and realities of owning and operating a studio.
PE-Grade Financial Modeling: We build the financial model framework, then tune it with operator-vetted assumptions to determine realistic outcomes. We evaluate CAC, LTV, marketing funnels, labor costs, rent, revenue-to-build out, payback periods - full deal diligence.
Competitive Analysis (in your market): We quantify supply and demand before you commit. Our team maps nearby competitors, measures local saturation, and compares demographic profiles of top-performing studios to your target trade area. You’ll see how your market stacks up — and whether it can actually support another location.
Exit Strategy Vetting: Determine the long-term salability and enterprise value of the asset before you sign the 10-year lease
Avoid a six-figure mistake before you sign the FDD