Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Living your Dream

Q: I have 3 years left on my commitment to the Air Force and when I get out I would like to open a facility like yours and begin training people, making it a career. I was wondering what advice you would have for someone like me to get started? I'm doing all the reading and training I can right now of course, all my free time is dedicated toward this goal, and I plan to be certified before I leave the AF. Did you have experience training people before you opened your gym? Have any advice on how to get that first client after you open doors, before you have a chance to prove yourself? Any tips or lessons learned on your journey would be appreciated. Congratulations on the success, keep kicking ass!

A: Jason thanks for the question. I got started in my garage and then I quickly found a great buy on a warehouse and went for it. The time will never be right and the situation is never perfect, but you just have to do it. It takes a lot of courage to go out on this huge limb but it is worth it, trust me. While I was in the Marines I trained some of the players on our football team, but most of my work came on me. It was a bunch of trial and error to find what works best. That was over three years ago, when I finally moved into my home in August I started my training business and it really sucked. One it is illegal to run a business in a residential area and two the space was so limited that I never felt I could truly expand the business. A few months later I found a 2500sqft warehouse and I was sold. I started my business and thought everyone would flock to me because I knew what I was doing and I had the best and sickest equipment around. Three months later I still only had the same three clients I had when I first started in my garage. Now just five months later I have a very successful business and my doors are starting to become more and more packed. So what happened in those five months? I learned how to advertise and sell myself. That is the number one thing I can tell you to do. Make sure half of your time is spent on learning how to sell yourself and your services. A good way to start is to train Human Billboards. Take a few people and give them a great deal practically training them for free and lock them into a 3-6 month contract. Let them know that you rely on them to bring you clients and this great deal is only in place if you try your hardest to bring me in at least one client a month. This will help spread the word. Volunteer your time as well. Go to your local high schools and ask the coaches if they need any help with offseason training or give free seminars so people know you are the local expert when it comes to your niche. Find your niche and don't try to reach everyone because you will spread yourself thin and won't ever focus on the important demographics’ of the people you truly want to reach. Keep your cost low, you can find a lot of stuff on craigslist or you can make them yourself. This helps out a lot, because you will not have to worry about paying off a tremendous amount of debt for the best equipment. So to recap on the top five keys to be a successful gym owner is to...
1. Know how to sell and advertise effectively.
2. Train people for free.
3. Volunteer your time to reach your demographic.
4. Find your niche.
5. Keep your start up cost as low as possible.

Hope this helps Jason and if you have more questions just ask. Stay focused and your dreams will come true.

1 comment:

  1. these are true word Tony, I remember us talking a few months ago about this and you stated those exact same words!!!! God Bless you brotha and may his blessings continue to shower down on you!

    Gabe

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