November 23rd, 2010 is a date in which I will never forget. For this was the date that my Personal Training Business went through a complete restructuring phase. As I mentioned in my previous blog, a Bailiff came into the gym that I had been training clients at for the past 5 years and closed down the entire facility in less then 5 minutes. I had a roster of over hundred clients but no gym to train them at.

I was upset with the Owners of the gym for not paying their rent. I was frightened about losing my business. And I was stressed about how my clients would react. But once the initial shock of losing the gym in which I had grown my business in had worn off, I knew how I responded moving forward would determine on whether or not I was truly cut out to be a Small Business Owner.

The Transition Period

The gym in which I was training clients at closed down at 9:30am in the morning. By 3:30pm later that day I had already signed a new contract to train my clients at a Private Training Studio a few blocks down the road. The studio in which I had signed the contract with was a MUCH smaller and a MUCH busier gym. There were no machines and no cardio equipment. Just free weights and a cable machine. On paper, this gym was a complete downgrade from the facility at which I had been training my clients at. It was also more expensive. Unfortunately at the time, it was the only gym around that allowed Independent Contractors like myself to train their clients out of. I made a quick decision and signed a one year contract with the owners that would allow me to use their facility to run my business from. I was given a set of keys and shown how to open and lock up the gym. I was all set to go. But now, I had to sell this new smaller and busier gym to my clients and convince them to continue to work with me moving forward. And I was extremely concerned that this was a sale I would not be able to make.

The Value of Loyalty

I was kicked out of my old gym at 9:30am. I had signed a one year contract at a new gym by 3:30pm. And by 6:00pm I had contacted every single one of my clients personally to explain to them what had happened. I cannot recall how I sold my clients on the new gym, because quite frankly there ended up being no need to make a sale. Not a single one of my clients expressed any anger towards me or displeasure that the old gym had closed down. On the contrary they mostly felt bad for me for having to move my entire business so abruptly. And to my surprise, none of them informed me that they would be discontinuing with my coaching services. It was during this transition phase that I realized that my clients didn’t care as to which gym they were training at, they just cared that they were training with me.

Turning a Bad Situation Into a Good Situation

I’ll be the first to admit that the first few weeks at the new gym were a little rocky. I found myself competing with other Trainers for floor space, and was having difficulty teaching my small group classes with what little space I had available to use. However over time, I adjusted and adapted to my new training environment quite nicely. As the months went on, I developed more seniority at the gym, and was eventually given my own space reserved specifically for me to train my clients in. I had developed a great working relationship with the Owners of the new gym, and eventually became their longest term tenant.

Unfortunately as my business continued to grow, the space I was using was beginning to feel smaller and more compact. My classes were now much larger and the gym in which I was renting space from was becoming much busier. I had hired another Contractor to assist me with the extra workload. Clients were happy, but as a company, I began to feel as if we were offering a lower grade service.

We needed more space. We needed more equipment. We needed to make change.

But most of importantly, we needed a plan.

Check Out Part 3 Next Week To Find Out What That Plan Was…………

Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove
Forever Fit Performance