Two years ago, I posted the question IS BUTTERFLY LIFE A GREAT FITNESS FRANCHISE?
The answer came in a torrent of nearly 500 comments from franchise owners, mostly critical of the franchisor company and owners Mark Golob & Tom Gergely.
Our post Will the REAL Butterfly Life Franchise Please Wave Its Wings? prompted 162 comments, and Troubled Fitness Franchise Butterfly Life Lowers Franchisee Royalties garnered 40+ comments.
The woes of Butterfly Life franchisees were also covered by such publications as Fitness Business Pro (Butterfly Life’s Golob: Failed Franchise Owners Should Blame Themselves),  FORBES (Butterfly Life Franchise Lawsuit in Forbes) and FORTUNE (Fortune Article …read more

BUTTERFLY LIFE: Jeff Marks, Ex-Franchisee
Butterfly Life is a women’s 30 minute fitness franchise chain that claims to be an improvement over Curves for Women. It was founded by Mark Golob, Tom Gergley, and, supposedly, Mark Mastrov. Golob & Gergley both have checkered pasts and a history of litigation in the health club industry. Many franchisees were attracted by the highly respected Mastrov (of 24 Hour Fitness), whose involvement ceased after they joined. (Read Butterfly Life Franchisees Allege Bait & Switch… of Execs)
Jeff Marks was an early, multi-unit franchisee in GA who claims to have lost $350,000 within a year …read more

BUTTERFLY LIFE: Carol King, Former Franchise Owner
Carol King is a mother and fitness advocate with a degree in physical education from Cal State Northridge. In 2004, she and childhood friend Linda Canale pursued their dream of helping women live happier, healthier lives by opening what they thought was an innovative new fitness franchise supported by a team of dedicated, experienced, trustworthy industry experts.
According to Carol, her dream of business ownership almost immediately became a personal and financial nightmare. She now puts her energies into helping to educate potential franchise owners how to avoid the same mistakes she made, and …read more

Stuart Goldman of Club Industry’s Fitness Business Pro, a leading health club industry trade publication, has written an extensive and well-researched article on the struggling 30-minute fitness franchise chains and some of the powerful names that were instrumental in putting the match to this “hot new franchise” phenomenon.
I plan to look at particular points of this article in upcoming posts. Please share your initial comments below.
Here’s an excerpt. Click a link to read the entire article:
Source: Lights Out by Stuart Goldman, Managing Editor, Fitness Business Pro
The troubles that continue to plague circuit club companies also extend to …read more