About Mike Manning
Mike Manning
Mike Manning is a former CFO of The Rush Fitness Complex and owns Strategic Advice LLC, a business consulting firm. Manning is passionate about working with business owners to grow great companies and has experience with corporate boards, private equity transactions, mergers and acquisitions, bank agreements, club software systems, site selection and lease negotiation. Manning is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and Financial Executives International, a former member of the International Council of Shopping Centers
Phone: N/A
Email: manning@strategicadvicellc.com
Previous Articles
Showing 1 - 5 of 5 Articles
Beware! Common Payroll Traps That Will Get You In Trouble
July 2013 - No club owner wakes up one morning and says, "I think I'm going to start violating Federal or State Labor Laws." Even so, a quick Internet search reveals that some of the largest, most prominent companies in our industry have dealt with lawsuits or other government enforcement action related to payroll. If big chains with access to in-house legal departments and high-dollar outside attorneys have costly legal issues because of their payroll practices, you might, too, one day. Read Article...
Music Licensing And An ASCAP Scam
January 2016 - A few weeks ago, the CEO of one of my clients called to ask about ASCAP and whether he needed to pay the $1,200 to $1,300 per club per year for music licensing that they were demanding from him in an increasingly threatening way. That question brought back memories for me, and I'm sure many of you have had similar conversations with ASCAP, BMI and/or SESAC. I'm going to use this article to lay out the basic facts of music licensing and give you a couple hints that might help you save some money. Read Article...
Preventing Site Selection Mistakes When Opening Multiple Clubs in One City
October 2021 - One problem I've seen several times when working on fitness industry acquisitions is that operators sometimes open clubs too close together. In the past, this was fairly easy to do because tools didn't exist to make it easy for operators to understand where their members lived. But, this problem has been overcome by software providers who can link to your club billing system to plot the addresses of existing members on scalable maps. Used correctly, for operators who own multiple clubs in a market, this member mapping software is the biggest mistake prevention tool I've ever seen for new location selection. Read Article...
So, You Want to Bring in a Private Equity Partner?
December 2014 - I have one half-joking question for you, "Have you lost your mind?" Actually, there are a couple of very good reasons to consider doing an equity transaction. If you have a market-changing concept and want to grow faster than profits and bank loans will allow, it might make sense to consider an equity transaction. Also, many business owners wind up with a high percentage of their net worth tied up in the company. An equity deal can help founders partially cash out and diversify their wealth while staying involved in the business. In my career, I've been directly involved with two equity transactions and have spent many hours studying and discussing other transactions with both investors and investees. Read Article...
Would Your Business Benefit From An Advisory Board?
September 2013 - You are an intelligent, successful club owner with a growing business. Without knowing you, I'm going to guess that 85 to 90% of your ideas are good ideas, maybe even 95%. That is impressive, but it also means you have a not-so-good idea every now and then. As a business owner, surrounding yourself with a skilled management team and independent Board members who can help you eliminate half of your bad ideas (plus the time and money wasted digging out of the messes some of those bad ideas cause) will greatly increase the valuation of your business. Read Article...
Showing 1 - 5 of 5 Articles
