Every business has a start; and every successful operation has a mind like Josh York’s, who saw an opportunity for a business and seized it. GYMGUYZ started like many companies, as a dream at a dining room table, but unlike others, GYMGUYZ succeeded in the face of one of the worst economic downturns the United States has encountered since the Great Depression. What does it take to grow a single location to over 28 in the course of a year and three months? GYMGUYZ, Founder and CEO, Josh York will tell you.
What contributed to the birth of GYMGUYZ?
JY: “I started GYMGUYZ because I wanted to revolutionize the fitness industry. Prior to establishing the business, I worked at a gym and I noticed that customers were constantly coming in late or missing their personal training sessions. I wanted to bring convenient, customized and creative workouts to them.”
What was the beginning of GYMGUYZ like?
JY: “Like any new company, it consisted of a lot of hours, mistakes and challenges as I was growing the brand. But with anything, you learn from your mistakes and you become better for it.”
There are always a lot of lessons learned with growing pains, what was one of hardest lessons you learned early on?
JY: “Initially, I spent too much of my money on marketing.”
Being that GYMGUYZ provides state-of-the-art workouts directly to clients, you must have had some incredible experiences. Do you have any inspiration, or shall I say Fitspiration, stories that particularly stick out?
JY: “I have seen so many success stories happen for our clients. One thing I am most proud of is that as a company, we have seen over 6,000 pounds lost in the last two years. That’s incredible— not only does GYMGUYZ provide clients the ability to be successful, but also to change their lives.”
That’s amazing that GYMGUYZ has accomplished that so far! What is one of your biggest personal successes?
JY: “Definitely franchising the business. I professionalized the mobile professional fitness model! GYMGUYZ was started at my parent’s dining room table and now we’re in a 3,100 square foot building with 28 franchises and growing! We are opening in Arizona in August, and in the next year we are projected to sell additional 40 locations, so by the end of 2016, we will have 60 GYMGUYZ locations. It’s all very exciting. There are always challenges and hurdles to jump over— but you keep going. Every “no,” gets me closer to a “yes.”
It seems like GYMGUYZ has two primary goals, one focused on providing state-of-art workouts directly to your clients and the other to provide a turnkey franchise opportunity to potential franchisees. What is one thing you’d like potential franchisees to know about franchising with GYMGUYZ?
JY: “I want them to know that GYMGUYZ is a turnkey system for entrepreneurs. I’ve already made the mistakes, so they can take my learnings and be successful right from the start. We go above and beyond for our franchisees, my goal is for you to be prosperous!”
It truly seems as if GYMGUYZ puts both clients and franchisees first, what is the most important thing to know about running a company that has several franchise locations?
JY: “You need to be able to support everyone, all the time, which means you’re constantly on the ball. My franchisees are my family, I put them first and, in doing so, as an Owner, you need to be dialed in all the time.”
Obviously a lot has changed since the early days at your parent’s dining room table. How have your challenges changed since your first started GYMGUYZ?
JY: “Well, there are always challenges, no matter what stage of the game you’re at, it’s just a matter of how you handle them based on what you have learned. Currently, we are most focused on technology and the tools needed to stimulate growth. We are investing in these digital advancements to help scale our business. For example, we are now launching a portal for franchise owners, to access marketing collateral or attain additional information. We need additional server support as we currently have over 60,000 website views per month.”
To learn more about professional, customized workouts that are brought directly to your doorstep or about franchising opportunities, please visit GYMGUYZ online at www.GymGuyz.com or call at “>(855) 496-4899
