expanding interstate. I’ve also won
the Fitness Australia Gold Award and
been a finalist in the Gold Coast Young
Entrepreneur of the Year Awards two
years running. As a trainer it’s been
the success of our clients. The biggest
highlights would be the huge amount
of clients we’ve had for over 10 years or
that have done over 1,000 one-on-one
sessions, in particular for some of them
that have never lasted at exercise for
more than a few months prior to Fitness
Enhancement. Our biggest weight loss
highlight is a client that lost over 100kg
with us.
SCOTT HUNT
Fitness Enhacement
Nerang, QLD
Background: I’ve always been
entrepreneurial and passionate about
thinking outside the box and doing
things better, so I always knew from a
young age that I’d be my own boss. I got
hooked on fitness, gyms and Muay Thai
in my mid teens and could see so many
opportunities to combine my hobbies
with helping people and being my own
boss.
The Business: I opened Fitness
Enhancement Personal Training in 1999
when I was 19 years old. I was still at Uni
and set the business up on $400 but
always had big plans to be where we
are now. We’ve steadily grown over
the last 15 years, and a lot more rapidly
in recent years, and are now the third
largest personal training company in
Australia.
Most of our trainers work directly for us,
which offers them a secure career with
no rent or overheads, and we have also
just franchised to expand Australia wide
and provide a more profitable career to
trainers who want a real business for a
fraction of the cost of the likes of a 24/7
Gym franchise. We’re now in every Gold
Coast and Brisbane suburb as well as
many Melbourne suburbs and Sydney.
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For a similar long-term cost to gym rent,
franchisees get a real business with
unlimited growth potential to take on
staff and open studios etc., as opposed
to just buying a job with gym rent. Our
franchisees get an exclusive marketing
territory of 40,000 plus people, a sales
team that books new clients into their
diary and answers their calls, and every
single dollar of marketing spent on
getting clients that want an expensive
personal trainer, not a cheap gym.
The Challenges: Up until recent
years it’s definitely trying to wear all the
hats of a small business owner while still
training clients on a full time basis. For a
long time I used to do the bulk of running
and building the business by myself, I
learnt a lot of great business skills which
have certainly helped us be successful
today, however it’s certainly challenging
time, skill and stress wise to do it all
yourself.Nowadays I can leave the day
to day running and training of clients
to my team and certain other areas to
other professionals that work for us so I
can focus on delegating to them and
growing Fitness Enhancement Australia
wide. Of course at the time I didn’t see
it as a challenge as I love my job, but
looking back at everything I used to do
back then, and how much easier and
better we can do it now, I realise how
challenging the early days were.
The Highlights: As a business
owner it would be getting my first
client, opening my studio, and getting
busy enough to take on staff and
more recently selling franchises and
Mobile Payments for the Mobile Trainer
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BUY - Get at least 3 quotes.
Session Sales
Track due dates and
part-payments. Email
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SELL - Connect with buyers.
Recurring Invoices
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Top Tips for Success:
•
•
Develop your niche and make sure
everyone knows what you are the
‘expert’ at. Catering to anyone who
wants to get fit makes you a ‘jack
of all trades and master of none.’ A
niche means you can stand out
amongst the countless number of
trainers out there and can compete
against the bigger names with huge
marketing budgets.
Session Tracking
Realise that you’re a small business
owner, not just a personal trainer, so
you need to have the skills to run a
business.
The Motivation: My niche back
when I started out was the same as it
is now; 100 per cent private personal
training catering to people who hate the
gym scene, or simply don’t have time for
it. The vast majority of people that fail
at gyms fail because of the crowds, the
posers, the lack of personal attention
and generic programs that they don’t
have time for. I was motivated to start a
business that solved these problems, and
considering most of our success stories
have failed at a gym prior to us, I’m
proud of having achieved this.
Looking to buy, sell
or trade-in
your commercial
fitness equipment?
•
Stick to it and live the dream. All
business owners start with a dream
of building a