Fitness Business University Podcast

SPEAKER_00: What's up, guys?

Welcome to another episode of
the FBU podcast.

You guys know that I have spent
the last h however many years

I've been doing this podcast,
it's like getting up there, uh,

yakking into the bottom of my
phone when I'm waiting for my

kids at Jiu Jitsu.

That's the we have created the
number one fitness business

podcast in the world.

Not my words and not my mom's,
uh, but the words of some

obscure website online that gave
us the number one ranking of

fitness business podcasts in the
world.

And most of that's come from
just me yakking into the phone.

But uh as I do this more, I'm
realizing that hanging out and

bringing smart people to
interview on these calls has

really been a very insightful
thing, not only for me, but for

you guys in terms of feedback
that I've been getting.

So I have an unbelievable guest
today.

I've been super excited for this
one all weekend long.

We have Jason DeRose from I
don't know what to say you're

from.

You're from Jim Subs, you're
from like what like we're gonna

talk about that.

But I the the these podcasts are
twofold.

One of the things that I'm doing
is creating a testimonial book

for my mastermind members.

And I am interviewing members
that have had success in my SPF

mastermind, and we're taking
these interviews, uh putting

them on a podcast, but also
transcribing and creating a book

out of it.

So it's one of our projects this
year is our testimonial book,

but also it's going to be an
insightful podcast for you.

So today I have Jason DeRose on
the podcast.

Thank you, Jason, for being
here.

You're the man.

Appreciate it, brother.

SPEAKER_01: Pumped to be here,
Vince.

Pumped to be here.

You know that you and I can talk
shop for hours, so we'll see how

much we can squeeze in.

SPEAKER_00: That's for sure.

Yeah, and I just saw Jason and
his team.

Uh huh.

And that's one of the things.

It's it's it's an interesting
thing.

And I can tell a lot about a
business owner by uh their

staff.

When I they come to an event and
they bring their staff like many

of our guys do, and I shake
hands and look their staff in

the eye, like I can tell there's
going to be massive success.

And I see that with the squad, I
see that with the people that

you bring, not only from the
gyps gym sub side, but also from

the the side of your gyms as
well.

So I I definitely am seeing
you're doing amazing work with

the hiring process, which is we
know is so important.

Okay.

So just start by giving us
because you have a lot flying

around, a lot going on, and I
know there's listeners that that

know you personally.

You've been on the podcast
before as well, but just give us

the 30,000-foot view of all this
the the the world domination

that you have going on right
now.

SPEAKER_01: Well, first, thanks
for having me here today, Vince.

Yeah, I got a lot of I got a lot
of pots on the stove, so to

speak.

But, you know, I've been in the
gym business for a long time.

I started my own gym this April
be 18 years ago, which is a uh a

few years.

And you know, like a lot of
people, I started out as the

trainer, custodian, bookkeeper,
and everything else.

And, you know, now I'm I'm I
have three locations, and I if I

do go into them, a lot of times
they think I'm like the

custodian or something because
I'm fixing something, or you

know, I don't really train or on
the floor.

But you know, faster is is my
gym.

And again, it started 18 years
ago, and it's been the catalyst

to a bunch of other things that
I got myself into.

One is Gym Subs that you
mentioned.

It's a private label supplement
company where we make the most

premium supplements, clean, high
profit margins, and we train the

gyms how to sell the product.

So we're not just like, here's
your supplements, go go get

them, champ.

We actually teach you and give
you resources.

Some that I stole from you.

No, I stole some of your things
from the SPF vault, and we have

something like that.

It's a members resource portal.

The more tools we can give you
and things like that, then you

can have success.

But long story short, it's an
opportunity for gyms to have an

extra revenue stream and add
more value to their gym

business.

So that's something that we've
done.

Again, that business was was a
was came from the catapult that

my gyms leveraged us with
capital and things like that.

And then we have a commercial
real estate company or we own a

few commercial plazas and and
things like that in the

Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Ohio
area.

And then we also have the
private real estate deal.

We have Airbnbs and things like
that in Florida and

Pennsylvania.

So that's that's the 30,000 foot
view.

SPEAKER_00: That is absolutely
amazing.

And again, I was saying to
saying this about Jason to him

before we started the show.

There's no chest beating.

You're not gonna see Jason talk
about the value of his portfolio

online.

If he doesn't even talk about
it, you probably didn't even

know he had commercial real
estate properties, unlike a lot

of others in the industry that
we know.

They're like posting how many
properties I have and all this

stuff.

It's just like this, what I love
about you is your humble nature,

but you are a killer in
business.

And we're excited to learn some
of that stuff from you uh today.

So let's so you and I originally
got connected through Gym Subs,

right?

I originally had you at one of
our events as a vendor, right?

I think you came and you know
you were a vendor for GymSups

to, you know, sell and you know,
make aware to my clients about

gymsups, which I am full
disclosure, I am a client of

GymSups.

We sell gym subs supplements at
my gym, Gabriel Fitness.

And that's one of the things
about my vendors.

I only have a very I have a very
small handful of vendors that I

push.

Okay.

And all of them I am a customer
of or have been a customer of

before.

And so it's it's not an easy
thing to do to become a vendor

of mine be because of that.

And you know, I became a Gym
Subs client, but something

interesting happened when you
showed up as a vendor.

Can you kind of tell that story?

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

So I brought one of my operators
of my uh one of my other

locations to say, hey, why don't
you come with me on this trip?

You can help me facilitate leads
and things like that.

And I go, it's a gym owner
conference.

So like you're gonna learn some
probably some cool stuff.

You know, I'm like, they'll
probably try to sell you a

million things, but we'll just
we'll see how it goes.

And you and I just met at a
million performed betters, but

never really had got to know
each other that well.

So we're sitting there Thursday
night, Friday, and to Saturday,

and it's right around right
after lunch.

I looked at Anthony, my
operator, and I go, Ian, I can't

believe it.

He's like, What's what what?

I go, no one's tried to sell us
one thing in three and a half

days of being here.

You know, this is very unusual.

You go to these conferences,
especially if they know that I

own a gym and they're trying to
sell me their software and all

these, you know, even the
presentations like, well, you

can get you can make a million
dollars if you email me after

this, and I'll I'll charge you
five grand to show you the way.

No one's done that.

I'm like, they're just honestly
giving you good tactile things

to make your business better.

Like, I think I want to join.

And then I walked up to you and
you go, hey, how's the event

going?

You meeting some new people?

I go, Yeah, I go, but honestly,
I think I want to join.

You were like, join what?

I go, the group.

I'm like, it's freaking awesome.

You were like, really?

I go, yeah, dude, we're joining.

And that's how it happened.

Um I had zero expectation of
joining the SPF.

I'm talking 0.00.

And you never mentioned it to
me.

No one did there.

No one tried to say, hey, you
should probably get in this.

And uh it was it was one of the
best decisions I've made in a

long time, for sure.

SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about
that, like where the and and

we're taking you know gym stops
and putting it on the shelf for

a second and just focusing on
the gyms, right?

So you own three gyms now.

How many did you own at that
time?

Two.

You had two.

So you had two gyms at the time.

You came to this SPF event not
thinking about growth of the

gyms, really of growing gym
subs, but you ended up joining

SPF.

Okay.

What were the things that were
going on in the business in the

two gyms that you had that got
you to be like, hey, we need

something like this in our
businesses?

What was the business framework
looking like at that point?

SPEAKER_01: At that time, they
were both healthy businesses,

you know, profiting over 10K a
month each, not amazing, but you

know, um nothing to bat an eye
at.

And I just was content and I was
putting all of my time and

energy into gym sops, and those
businesses were just kind of

running.

When I came out to Orlando, it
was almost three years ago, and

I met you guys, I got
re-invigorated with that

business.

And it reminded me of so many
things that got me to that

point, you know, because at one
point we were we were profiting

in one location, 30, 40k a
month.

And I had gotten away from that.

Obviously, the pandemic didn't
help that process, and I was

still kind of rebuilding from
from 2019, and it just juiced me

back up.

And I'm like, well, every Joe
Hashe was one of the first

speakers.

And I'm like, wait a minute.

I used to do that, I used to do
that.

I'm like, why'd I stop doing all
those things?

So it gave me a re-energized
feeling to get back into the

roots of the business and and
really, I'm a very competitive

person quietly.

I don't when someone comes up on
stage and says and shows their

PLs and how well they're doing,
I'm like, you know, I should be

doing that.

Dang it.

Like, why'd I get away from
that?

And then having Anthony there
with me, he's young, he's fired

up, and it just it was the right
timing, the right place, and it

put us onto a trajectory that,
you know, I think we I know that

we smashed our goals from that
day until now, for sure.

And I and we were on pace, like
you said, just to having those

two gyms.

And now we just opened our third
location today with 61

pre-sales.

I'm pretty excited about that.

That you know, a lot of that
came from things that we had

talked about in the SPF.

But our new kind of model plan
is to open five to ten in the

next five years.

So we're the the gyms are back,
baby.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: So you didn't so you
didn't have plans to open more

when you joined SPF?

SPEAKER_01: No, not at all.

SPEAKER_00: It was kind of just
like a thing on the side that

you were not on the side, but it
it was I mean, 10 grand a month

ain't nothing to laugh at,
right?

For sure.

But it wasn't something you you
had all these other businesses,

the gyms weren't something you
were looking, you know,

necessarily to to grow like you
are now.

SPEAKER_01: Correct.

100%.

SPEAKER_00: Can you I I want to
stick on the problem because I

think that it's it's very
interesting that you didn't have

like some of the typical issues,
right, of what a normal gym has

when they join SPF.

Normally they're like, oh, I
can't get leads, or I don't know

how to make sales, or I can't
build a team.

You actually had, you know, a
good business, good businesses.

So I'm not gonna take credit.

There's some people in the
master around I can take credit.

They they came to me struggling
and broke, and we turned them

all around.

I will not take that credit for
you.

Okay.

But what were what were the
things that you started to

realize about your business that
you're like, all right, we're

not doing this well or we're not
doing this right?

What were some of those things?

So I can highlight some of the
problems that you solved in the

last couple of years.

SPEAKER_01: I would say the the
one word captivates it is

reorganizing.

And, you know, for an example,
we had a marketing calendar from

20 probably 12 up until 2021, a
really good one.

And it just kind of vanished.

So it's like, wait a minute.

All the things that got me to
the to this point of success,

I've kind of gotten away from in
the gym side of things.

I had so much focus on the
supplement company that they

just, you know, staff when staff
turnover happens, that's when

systems go by the wayside.

Because that person that was
responsible for the marketing

calendar no longer works for
your organization.

That, and unless someone on top
is in charge and overseeing

those things, that goes away.

And that's what had happened
over the years.

And being in the SPF, the
biggest takeaway I got was

pinpointing those things, making
a list of those things, and now

have actionable steps to
implement them back into the

business to make it better.

It was very simple, but Anthony
and I talk about this all the

time.

The SPF gave us an opportunity
to sharpen the sword.

It had gotten dull.

And now it's razor sharp over
the past two and a half years.

We've done a lot of legwork, and
I've reached out to you and Joe

on a couple of things on some
pinpoint ideas, but it wasn't

like, you know, I'm training 40
hours a week and answering the

phone and cleaning the
bathrooms.

It wasn't one of those
situations that that you run

into quite a bit.

It was more of like a look, we
have a good business.

How do we get it back to that
excellent level?

You know.

SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.

And, you know, one of the things
that I like to do on these

podcasts is highlight some of
the sex success.

You you are one of our most
frequent checker inners, which

is like you got a lot going on,
right?

And the fact that you every
Friday, so we do a what's called

the Friday check-in on our
private Facebook page where SPF

members will answer two
questions what's going well,

where do you need support?

And you are like consistently
checking in every week, which I

love and appreciate.

And you got a lot going on.

And every time I see one of your
check-ins where you're like,

plus five for the month, plus
eight or delta, you call it

delta, right?

Delta eight, delta seven, delta,
like you're always growing.

Your oh your business is always
growing.

Uh and you're not even talking
about gym stops.

Like that's I I'd imagine that's
like your biggest, most scalable

opportunity is gyms for sure.

Uh but you're not even talking
about that.

You're talking about as a member
of SPF, you're talking about

your gyms.

There seems to be consistent
growth.

And so you you talked about a
strategic priority, which is the

reorganization and getting
things cleaned up and organized.

But talk us, talk me through
some of the things that you've

implemented that you've learned,
you know, from from SPF.

What are some of the things
tactically that you could share

that you guys you know have done
at the gyms to be able to

continue this plus this is it
plus delta or just deltas?

SPEAKER_01: Delta's what's the
delta number?

That's what we're left with at
the end of the month.

So if you have, if you gain 10
members and you have five

cancel, you netted your delta's
five.

Delta's five, yeah.

Nelted, you netted five people.

So yeah.

But you know, I think I think
one of the biggest things that

we implemented right away from a
staffing perspective was putting

the right people in the right
seats.

Because I was out of the
business, I'm like, I would just

be okay with sliding someone in
to fill a gap.

Well, maybe when I slid that
person in, it wasn't the exact

right seat for them.

You know, if they're not a
creative person, they shouldn't

be making my my social media
graphics and things like that.

So that was one thing that was
it that took some time.

You know, when you move someone
around and you're and you're

talking pay changes and things
like that, those are tough.

And I have some long-term
employees.

I have 15-year, I have 12-year,
a nine-year, I get some people

that have been with me for a
long time.

And some of those folks have
over overlapped into my other

businesses as well.

And and you know, now what I've
learned from this was I had to

separate them.

They were both too big to share
and go back and forth.

So gym subs team, which is
separate, and now there's a

faster, which is my gym team,
which is separate.

So that was one big thing
because now the focus is on the

gyms only.

Where gym subs, well, yeah,
there's gym.

Well, the gym's there, it's
doing great.

We'll just, you know, let it go.

It's fine.

Well, now these folks that are
focused on the gym, that's their

they breathe it, they bleed it
only.

That was a mistake I had made
before.

I had too much overlap, and they
just didn't put enough effort

into the gym because the
Sutherland company was was doing

and is doing really well.

Um so it's kind of an
afterthought, in my opinion, is

kind of what happened.

SPEAKER_00: So so you had people
working in both companies, and

their kind of focus was spread a
little too thin, and the shift

that you made was you're a gym
person, you're a gym subs

person, and that's what you're
gonna focus on.

SPEAKER_01: There's zero overlap
right now.

And when I met you, there was a
lot.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.

Awesome.

What else?

What are the so org chart, you
know, uh right people, right

seats, accountability chart.

That's something we work on, you
know, with every business, no

matter what the stage is, and it
is like probably the most

important ingredient, you know,
for a successful business is

putting the right people in the
right seats.

What other things, you know,
sure.

SPEAKER_01: This is this is
easy.

This is really easy.

These are easy answers because
that was step one.

Now, step two is how do I make
sure those people are okay?

And what I mean by that is it
sounds like a time suck, but it

will save you thousands of hours
and sleepless nights.

I promise.

So I make it a point to meet
with every single staff member,

at least in my original
location.

Now I've hired Anthony to help
me with the other ones.

But we meet with them via in
person, usually or Zoom, worst

case, once a week.

And it could be a five-minute
conversation or a 25-minute

conversation.

And always starts out with, hey,
how are you feeling this week?

How are things going?

Great, you know, awesome coach.

Like, man, we're crushing it.

Let's look at our numbers.

Hey, how is it working with
Matt?

I know Matt's a little bit of a
control freak freak on the

floor.

Are you okay with that?

Yeah, he's he's we've had some
good pre-shift meetings.

It's going well.

Or no, Matt's really open, it's
taken over everything.

And I can fix and solve that
issue that week right now.

If I don't, it becomes a problem
that keeps getting bigger and

bigger and bigger.

And then I eventually would lose
that person, you know.

So I think that the moral of the
story is if you can get your

employees to not feel like
they're on an island and that

you're on you're with them, you
know, it might be something

personal going on with them,
might be something professional,

something in the something I'm
doing that has to be a clear

communication point every single
week.

It has, I have it's helped so
much, but it helps grow the gym

too.

Because then we look at our
Delta board, right?

That they're in charge of who's
coming in, who froze, when are

they coming back, who are the
leads look like?

What who are we closing this
week?

You know, and sometimes those
meetings can be like, hey, how

was your weekend?

Awesome.

It was great.

Anything going on?

Tell me.

Like, and I always say, like,
look, be flat out with me.

How are we really feeling?

You know, and those
conversations, Vince, have, I

think, have have really helped
the trajectory of the business,

at least in the past two years.

I just don't have HR issues like
I once had when I was on, you

know, I left those guys on an
island and I kind of did.

SPEAKER_00: So what when you
when you say you meet with uh

different people in the in the
gyms, what who are because you

have two businesses, soon to be
three, right?

And now, like, who are you
having those meeting weekly

meetings with?

Is it every staff member?

Are you personally meeting with
every staff member?

Like, how does how does that go?

SPEAKER_01: At my one location,
I was doing all of them, that

was a little bit time consuming.

So I do at my original location,
which is close to where I live,

I'll go in there like two to
three times a week and I'll just

pick one of them off.

They know their days and times
uh before the sessions start,

and then we meet for five to
twenty five minutes, depending

on what's going on that week.

And I just say, hey, like we
have those conversations.

So we we have a GM and I have
three full-time trainers, and

those you personally will meet
with the full-time trainers as

well every single week.

SPEAKER_00: Wow.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then we
have an all-in meeting on

Wednesday mornings at 10 a.m.

for all of them, me and my and
Anthony, our operator at the

other partner now at the other
locations.

SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01: He runs that
meeting.

SPEAKER_00: He's he's is there a
different meeting that you have

with the GM that you have with
the trainers?

Like, what's the difference
between those two meetings?

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the the the GM
meeting has more of a templated

structure, and we go through
that, and it's like, okay, are

all of the, you know, tell me
about your deployment for the

different location marketing
content, the emails, all these

different things.

And it's kind of like a
scorecard, but that was

presented to her really clearly
when I made that position for

her.

So she's our operations director
for all three gyms, and then

also still has her thumb on the
pulse of our original location

as technically the general
manager.

That will positional probably be
absorbed into her operations,

and we're going to promote from
within the actual GM there soon.

SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.

So we got two things very well,
we won't call them tactically

because those are very strategic
decisions that you made.

One is the org chart, right
people, right seats.

Two is how you're leading and
managing them.

Give me one more, one more thing
that you have implemented in the

last couple of years, you know,
possibly from a sales and

marketing side or or attention
side.

SPEAKER_01: Having a, you know,
it goes back to 2024 when we

reinstituted it, but having a in
a quarterly marketing calendar

has been a has been gold for us.

Because I'll now I can go back
to 24 and see in Q1 what worked

for us, what didn't in 25, and
now in 26, like we have March

Madness coming up.

You're just not gonna forget it.

You can't do it in March
Madness?

Yeah, you can't do it.

That's amazing.

You know what I mean?

Like, but if you if you have a
system for it, the system run

your business for the most part.

It's like, okay, it's Q3 coming
up.

What should we do?

Well, we don't have to do that.

We know what we're gonna do
based on what we did the past

two years.

SPEAKER_00: For the I'm gonna I
want to explain this really

quickly for those listening at
home because March Madness is

March Madness was created by I I
believe it was created by Mike

Mullen, who works at my gym,
Gabriel Fitness, and we created

a playbook around it.

And what it is, it's an internal
challenge for members.

And it's a play on the March
basketball tournament.

And what you do is you put your
your team, you you take your

memberships, whoever signs up,
and it's free.

We do it for free.

I don't know if you do it paid.

SPEAKER_01: Uh we do a chat box
so we can do that.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we do it free,
but I mean it's probably like a

small ante.

is participation, right?

And so you get teams of three,
and then there is there's like a

first, second, and third prize
for winner.

And then people get points.

It's a point system where people
get points for posting, you

know, on social media.

They get points for bringing in
a referral.

They get points for certain
workouts and things like that.

And it's a whole point system
around it.

But the I mean we're doing it
right now at our gym and it is

like nuts.

Like these are grown up people
that are like obsessed with like

we have this one woman that was
could you get like uh uh points

for wearing a hat like if you
post a picture with the Gabriel

fitness hat on and she we don't
sell hats anymore and she's like

begging someone for an old hat.

She's like I'll buy a used
Gabriel fitness hat if you just

like it's just like crazy what
people are willing to do but it

gets people so like engaged and
fired up.

So I'm glad to hear you're doing
March when when are you starting

yours?

When are you starting yours?

SPEAKER_01: Next week.

SPEAKER_00: Next week okay great
yeah oh that's awesome.

So yeah that's one of the what
we have great playbooks that we

have in our resource vault and
that's one of the March

Madison's one of the of the
playbooks.

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: This is I would say
the other thing too Vince is

just I think this is a good
nugget for anyone listening

that's that and based on my last
trip to Orlando which was three

weeks ago a lot of people were
talking about hiring.

I mean I I know you had like a
lot of sidebar conversations you

know at the bar everywhere hey
and I'm ready to make my first

hire you know I think that is
such a crucial and I I don't

have to tell you this it's more
for the listeners but if you

want to grow your business you
have to have people right you

have to invest in people to
because you can get outside of

your business start working on
it to grow it because you can't

do it can't do it all.

But hiring is something that we
got really back to we all we

always we did continue our
system but it's just better now

than it's been before it's
updated.

As far as we do a one month
mentorship I think the worst

mistake a gym owner can make is
interview John Williams that has

all these degrees and he
interviews great and you you

lock him into this contract and
he's moody after the week one he

shows up late.

You just don't know what you
can't decide if you're gonna get

married to that person on the
first date.

I'm sorry you just can't do it.

We do a 30-day mentorship we pay
them for it it's a dis it's a

discounted rate that we're gonna
pay them but we're very clear if

this is a long-term job
interview you're gonna learn

everything you can about faster
fitness at one point we may stop

and say hey it's been great
having you but I don't think

this is going to work out we're
gonna we're gonna discontinue

this today we pay him under the
table because we're not locked

into any kind of employment
stuff and then at the end of 30

days it's like hey this this has
been a great relationship we

would like to have you we have
them take a written test which

you got away from on all of our
faster values our training

philosophy if they can't pass
that test they shouldn't be

there.

And we have a very very detailed
week by week script that they're

gonna go through as well but
that I got away from again but

listening to the internship
stuff and all those things just

got me back into sharpening that
sword which is if we're gonna

grow, you know you can't grow
unless you have great people and

getting them from the from day
one is how you got to do it and

doing it the right way.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah so question
about the uh it's called you

call them mentorship mentorship
yeah so it so basically you're

like doing interviews and you're
like this is a possible person

we want to move forward with
when they actually are there for

the month are they training
sessions right away or are they

more shadowing like how does it
work week one they say they have

to get three four hour shifts in
per week and it's a six minimum

six to eight week mentorship is
what we do.

SPEAKER_01: So week one would be
just as a client our best

trainers at some point were
usually clients.

Really yes they've either they
went to school got their

exercise science and came back
they understood our culture so

we know how important it is for
them to feel and experience what

we're offering.

So week one is they they
experience everything that's

part of their their curriculum
that we give them week two

they're starting to practice
what they learned in week one

with some clients hey we're
gonna have you demo we're gonna

we're gonna have you do the
warm-up the you know whatever it

might be.

And then week three they're
starting to do more application.

And then we, you know, it's
common sense too but you get you

can gauge that person and get
them involved on a you know a

concrete level as as quickly as
you're comfortable doing.

If they're really awkward you're
probably gonna have them say hey

this has been great but I don't
think this is the right fit for

you.

If they're gonna fit in they're
probably going to move pretty

quickly through your through
your stuff.

SPEAKER_00: I have a question
about the clients thing because

I I it's funny I I originally
said I've never done that before

but actually our best trainer
well I don't want to say our

best trainer because I don't
want to hurt any feelings on

this podcast.

Hopefully they listen they
probably don't even listen but

that so one of our one of our
newest coaches was an athlete

client of ours for many many
years.

I mean he started with us in
like seventh grade was a client

all the way through high school
middle school high school and

college and then has a full-time
job and is killing it right now

like just doing amazing runs all
of our social media a full

full-time trainer so when you
say you a lot of your clients

are you talking about like kids
that you know trained with you

in your athlete program and then
went to college or are you

talking about like hey they
joined when they were 45 you

changed their life and they
became got a certification and

became a a a trainer of yours we
which one fits the description

for you guys or is it both?

SPEAKER_01: Well the athlete one
yes like Anthony is a rock star

trainer that you've met multiple
times.

Right yep he was in fifth grade
got certified this is what he

wanted to do.

Amazing so we you know when they
when they're in there that long

they know everything about you
they know more about your

business than we do.

And then we've had over the
years usually in the younger

demographic 25 to 30 man this is
really cool I'd love to do this.

I'd love to be a trainer well
what kind of background do you

have well I'm a I'm a nurse okay
well look look we have this

mentorship program if you were
interested in doing it you can

but you would need to get
certified in which we put them

through the mentorship program.

If it works out then we pay for
them to get like certified in

NASA or whatever it might be and
then we hire them during that

process.

But I usually don't go over 30
ish but not that I wouldn't but

just the ones off top of my head
that we have right now are

probably between 25 and maybe
like 31 32.

SPEAKER_00: Okay.

Yeah I don't think we have any
clients in that age bracket but

it's a it's it's interesting
that and I forget some you know

one of these business gurus said
this it's like the key to

winning in business is staying
in the game long enough.

And you and I have been in the
game for 18 years and you don't

have that what we just explained
someone training with you in

Anthony trained with you in
fifth grade and now a decade

later he's heading up your gyms
and doing all kinds of great

stuff for you I made him a
partner in our other two

locations so he's uh he's doing
right that doesn't happen if

you're only a year in business.

And so some of the things some
of you guys just listening to

this you need to just hunker
down be patient and run your

business and sometimes the
longevity it's like the guys

that and you're you're a perfect
example of this you built a

successful gym before you built
a successful supplement company.

For sure no doubt that is like I
really want to make that point

home I built personally a
successful gym before I built

the successful mastermind.

And I think a lot of people do
it backwards.

They and I've made this mistake
too I've I've made this mistake

myself where they you know
barely get out of stage one

where they hire a couple
part-time people and they get

bored of their gym and then they
want to go do all these other

things like you and I are doing
now but we put in 18 years

before we did all this stuff
right yeah so I think listening

to home run your gym make it the
countable to everything else

you're gonna do it's very
possible you just gotta like you

said you got to hunker down it's
hard I mean I mean there was

many nights I slept at my gym
you know I'm training from five

in the morning till nine at
night I'll just call my wife and

say hey I'm opening at 4 30 i'll
I'll see you no I'll see him

tomorrow you know I I'll be
honest like we have two two two

CEO groups right and the one CEO
group most of them have been

with me for a really long time
they're almost all of them are

doing well over a million
dollars a year.

Okay but I have another group
that is in the 40 to 60k per

month range.

And I'm telling you even some of
those guys they've come up to

the front of the room and
they've gotten too emithy where

they're they're they're focused
on removed completely removing

themselves from the business and
they want to build binders and

systems and stuff like that.

And sometimes that's the right
thing but sometimes it's not and

what I've had to do with several
people is kick their ass right

back into their business and
just be like dude your business

is not ready for you to be going
on vacation you know 20 weeks a

year and you live in this you
know you you're not making

enough money to do that you
don't have a good enough staff

to do that.

So sometimes the the the answer
is get back into your business

and roll up your sleeves and get
dirty.

It's just because you get to
thirty thousand dollars a month

doesn't mean you're gonna be
this lifestyle entrepreneur that

that doesn't do shit all day.

For sure you and I are doing
shit.

SPEAKER_01: Right like we're
working talked about this you

still have a pulse you have a
finger on your business you know

what you know what Gabriel
fitness is doing.

Yes um the worst thing and I've
seen this I've met some people

in the group and other gym
conferences that I go to they

put their team on an island oh
yeah we're killing it well

really what's your what was what
was 8 February's PL?

SPEAKER_00: Whoa you should know
this right now like if you don't

then you don't know the problems
probably that are happening in

your gym as well right now yeah
for sure I mean I could talk to

you about this stuff all day
let's uh I I want to I want to

go with the in the direction of
well first first this can you

give me some data numbers of
where the business was at when

you first started an SPF and
where it is now and what

catapult did you to open the
third and now five to ten which

I haven't heard before which I'm
excited about.

Give us some numbers and data on
where you were at when you

started and where you're at now.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah like like I
said both gyms were we're

roughly making about 10,000
bucks a month comfortably you

know and we've almost tripled
that in for both gyms at this

point.

And you know Anthony is not even
present in his gym that he was

in when I met you he hasn't he
hasn't been there as as a

trainer or anything in probably
three months.

He's been working on opening our
new new facility and it's

continuing to grow.

And we backfilled him with a
really good person that you know

we we've structured a deal for
him really well but we've

trimmed down and scaled so much
you know with the KIST rule

which we all know keep it simple
stupid holds a lot of value.

So we got rid of a lot of moving
parts and even our new location

is just semi private personal
training.

That's it.

We're not doing the athlete
performance and all those every

all those different modalities
so it's a little bit easier but

no that the the success of the
gyms has from a scaling

perspective and a profitability
perspective have have given us

the confidence to do multiple
locations.

And then hearing all the folks
at the SPF that have done that

since I was there three years
ago also is encouraging.

You can start talking to these
guys and say well okay you

opened your second how did that
go how was your how was your

fifth one you know and then
getting on calls with guys like

Devin him him and I have
probably had 10 phone calls in

the past year about scaling and
opening new locations.

Devin Gage has been awesome an
awesome resource super thankful

he's a gym stuff's client so we
we service all of his gyms I'm

familiar with their model and
then finding okay what's

comfortable for you you know to
and fits your you know your your

beliefs and values and and how
much time you want to put in and

things like that.

But no the SPF has since we've
gotten in because of all of

those things we talked about
earlier in this call about

systems and marketing calendars
and employee meetings have

gotten us to the 30 plus
thousand profit range per

location which is we're we're
very ecstatic.

You know we're using all this
capital to open these gyms

without taking a loan out which
is also a lot less stressful

than going to the bank and
trying to give your business

plan and all that stuff that
isn't a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00: So yeah that's
amazing so triple profit start

just launched your third
location with 60 paying members

on before day one.

SPEAKER_01: 61 61 sir sorry 61
before day one before day one 61

pre-sales and we did that in
five and a half weeks when did

it open today today is on holy
smokes today is day one baby day

one 61 on day one 61 what are
they paying per month average

EFT on that business is a little
bit more than other ones around

400 wow so you got 61 members
paying 400 bucks a month yeah

shit dude that's incredible six
to eight people max in the

facility at one time six to
eight yep okay beautiful so he's

triple profit in both locations
launched a third location with

61 members at 400 bucks a pop
and have a plan to open up five

to ten in the next few years
which you didn't have before yes

we have the plan it'll all come
down to staffing if we have the

right people for the right seats
and we'll do it it can't fit a

square pig in a round hole we
all know that that's true and

we've all made that mistake yeah
so you don't have like a a

timeline you know it'll come
down to in the way I look at it

this is what happened with
Anthony and when I open our

second location is I'm only
gonna pay him so much out of one

if I don't pay him more or
promote him or give him another

opportunity he will go and find
out by himself.

I'd rather do it with him.

SPEAKER_00: Yes yeah so
sometimes you your growth is

protection of your best team
100% it's like no one wants to

be on a ship that's parked at
the dock.

They want to be on a ship that's
going somewhere and this this

train that you're on is going
somewhere and that's why great

people like Anthony and that's
kind of like I said opening up

this podcast it's like I can
tell a lot about an owner by the

staff that they keep around.

You know Devin when I you know I
Devin Gage you know I I've been

working with Devin's business
since he started right and when

Devin started he hired a game
guy a part-time trainer named

Jeff and this guy was just a
trainer like he I didn't even

know like I don't think he had
any training experience

whatsoever when Devin hired him
when I talked to Jeff today Jeff

is the the basically the
integrator for the gauge empire

right he runs the operations and
when I talked to Jeff I'm like

I'm talking to a real business
person.

Like I had a conversation with
him at the July mastermind and I

I like couldn't believe I was
talking to the kid I knew that

was a part-time trainer you know
back in 2013 when I first met

him you know part of that is
credit to Jeff's commitment to

growth but a another side of
that is Devin's you know

commitment to leading him and
managing him and giving him the

right tools and resources and it
seems like you're doing the

exact same thing with Anthony
and many of the other staff

members you know that you've got
so well done well done what what

let's talk about you personally
I mean you were always like

pretty relaxed chill dude so I I
haven't seen much of a change in

you it's not like you're a
different person by any means

but from bringing your gyms from
$10,000 in profit to$30,000 in

profit but what are some of the
wins for you that have come from

the growth of the gyms you know
Vance that's a good question

freedom is a big one you know
the the I feel like the more

success I have the the more
freedom I have or at least the

opportunity for freedom.

SPEAKER_01: We don't always take
advantage of it probably as much

as we could that's probably a
big one.

And then you know I've I forget
what speaker it was but they

kind of hit a pain point with me
was you know because of my

competitive nature I played I
played hoops in high school and

a little bit in college and I'm
still a junkie of 48 my knees

hurt but I still like to get out
there and do what I can.

But I think I'm competitive more
competitive against myself.

I used to think it was others.

Others would inspire me like we
all know Colby Shrickengoss when

he would tell me his numbers
back in the day I'm like man I

want to do that.

You know he was he was killing
it like crutching it.

And I I realized it really
wasn't that it was like I just

want to keep doing better than
I'm doing now.

Like it's that's the I'm it's
always a chase you know and when

you when you have a good handle
on your business you can chase

it because you can clearly see
what you're chasing.

And is there an end?

I don't know.

So someone asked what do when do
you stop running I'm like I

don't that's it I don't have
that answer.

But it keeps me moving forward
for sure you know awesome man.

SPEAKER_00: Well question for
you last one to wrap this up if

you've been very complimentary
of SPF which I'm you know super

excited and grateful for if you
had a gym you know that was a

gym subs client or just someone
you know in the industry that

was you know knew they needed
help with the business and they

were considering working with
either us or even just it could

be just coaching in general like
getting help from their business

in general.

What do you say to that person
that's kind of procrastinating

on it?

They're holding back on it.

They don't think they can afford
it.

They don't think they you know
need it.

What what is what is Jason
DeRose's advice to those people?

SPEAKER_01: I usually tell them
you know before before I knew

you I was in a group called the
STS that disintegrated when the

world closed it was ran by Rick
Mayo and that was very similar

there was no sales nothing like
that but I'll usually tell them

look I wish I would have gotten
the STS as early as possible.

I wish it was available in 2008
when I opened the longer you

wait the longer you can
potentially be a prisoner to

your business.

If you want to be a business
owner and not an employee go see

Vince and get their help and
take action on what they teach

you to do.

If you don't want to do that
then you're probably gonna be in

the same position a year from
now when I say hey how you do

and how are things going to make
a change go see these guys and

you know they're not gonna
they're not gonna wave a magic

wand they're gonna show you the
way it's up to you to do the

work that they're gonna give you
to do because that's an easy

one.

But you know I get on a lot of
calls Vince with gym subs people

as as a lead call and they I
always want to hey tell me about

your business and they start
telling about their gym and I'll

say look and I'm just honest
with them.

I'll just say look I don't know
if this is the right time to add

supplements to your gym.

I think you might want to focus
on fixing some things first.

There's this guy Vince Gabriel I
don't know if you've ever heard

of him and I push them that way
because I know that if they can

go through your program and then
come back to me now we can have

a lot more success with them
selling and developing new

revenue streams.

But if they can't if they can't
get guys to show up on time they

don't know how to answer the
phone or or they don't have a a

texting service or things like
that then they have to you know

they have to go back to square
one.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah and Jason did
not ask me to to do this on this

podcast by any means but I do
want to let the listeners know

about gymsups can you give us
the elevator pitch of gymsups

how does it work how does it go
again this was not talked about

I want I use gym subs the
majority of the members in SPF

use gymsups and I believe in
what you're doing I believe I

believe in supplements right and
I think that's an important

thing in general like if you
don't believe in supplements you

probably shouldn't sell them but
personally I believe in

supplements I think they're good
for people and they help people

get healthier but I also believe
in doing business with really

good people like you and you've
created a really good company

and you've created really good
products.

Vanessa takes your creatine
every morning now I take your

creatine every I take all your
shit it's like my favorite is

the cinnamon roll protein but I
do I do the creatine I do the

fish oil I do you know all the
stuff and I know you got some

some new products coming out all
the time but give give tell us

about GemSubs.

SPEAKER_01: Sure.

So GemSups is a private label
supplement company along with my

biochemist we've custom
formulated every single product

that we have we have over 40
SKUs.

They're the products that our
clients are already continuing

to buy folks would say well if I
put my own label on it you know

how good are they?

I would put our products in the
very top 5% of all products

available on the market.

There's no artificial
sweeteners, all that stuff.

We are NSF certified we are FDA
regulated, which is unusual for

a lot of supplement companies we
third party test all of our

products those are things that
you know are very important

especially to training gyms like
we have because we're our

clients a little bit more I'm
gonna use the word picky when

they're spending 400 bucks a
month on a gym membership they

expect whatever you're selling
to be very premium.

And then we custom make all the
labels for you and make them

look you know Gabriel fitness
labels look vastly different

from I have a gym in Wyoming
that has animals on on their

label.

So much different and then the
customer service and support is

what puts us over the edge in my
opinion you know you're not on

an island selling supplements
you have Have a resource on how

to sell them.

If there's a marketing tool that
we don't have for you, we will

make it for you.

We're fools if we don't.

We're only going to equip you
with the best marketing support

and materials that we can so you
can have the most success.

And you know, we and we're
hyper-responsive people.

We ship out within two business
days.

We don't require minimums, which
is a huge thing for us.

Who wants 24 vanilla protein
sitting under your desk?

You know, they're going to grow
dust or legs and they're going

to be sitting there for a while.

So you can order one or a
hundred, it doesn't matter.

And we help you with all those
things.

So yeah, and we have great
profit margins.

I guess that's pretty important.

You know, 100% markup on almost
every product.

So you can, you know, you have
something to stand by at the end

of the month.

You know, if you can put two
grand in your pocket and use

that for your, you know, your
kids' sporting events and a

vacation or something like that,
or an employee that you want to

pay, however it may be, it's our
opportunity to grow your

business and make each seat in
your gym a little more valuable.

SPEAKER_00: And where do they go
if they want more information?

SPEAKER_01: You can go to
gymsups.com.

There's a lead form on there,
and all that all that

information goes to me and my
team.

We just bought dot com, by the
way.

Used to be dot.

SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say,
it's like I thought it was

always dots.

SPEAKER_01: I think that's the
first time I've ever told

someone verbally.

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: You're the real
deal.

You're the real deal now.

You're dot com.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, someone sent
me an email and said, hey, how

what how important would it be
to you to have dot com?

And I'm like, I don't know.

Then they sent me a number on
how to I could buy it.

I'm like, dang it, they got me.

I need that damn thing.

So we bought it.

SPEAKER_00: The gymsups,
gymsupps.com.

Again, you know, this is a this
is a supplement company run by

not a charlatan like uh like
some of the industry, you know,

there's a lot of crazy garbage
going on in the supplement

industry, but you are someone
that I trust.

You're someone that I want my
clients doing business with for

sure.

So if you're a gym and looking
to you know do supplements,

definitely check out Jim Subs
for sure.

SPEAKER_01: You'll see your
picture on there.

We have you on there, and Rick
Mayo.

All the ballers are on there.

SPEAKER_00: I don't know.

I you you can't put me in the
same category as Rick Mayo, not

even close.

Um but especially after what
just happened to Rick.

Okay, so last thing, question
for you.

Yes.

Above your head, it looks like
there's a book.

It's a black and yellow book.

There it is, baby.

Is that my book?

SPEAKER_01: That is your book.

SPEAKER_00: Now I got a question
for you.

Now you gotta answer honestly.

Did you put that book here for
the podcast, or do you have that

front facing all the time?

SPEAKER_01: I did not put it
there for the podcast.

SPEAKER_00: Wow.

SPEAKER_01: That I my wife may
have been reorganizing and just

stuck it there accidentally.

I don't know.

I had to look.

SPEAKER_00: I love it.

So that is above your head,
front facing.

SPEAKER_01: That's quick vision.

See, that's I mean, you still
got it, Vince.

SPEAKER_00: You can see the
floor.

Which is which is which is
interesting because because I do

you can't really see behind me,
I have like books everywhere.

But what I do is a lot of books
I will put front facing.

Like if it's a good cover or
something like that, or a book

that I want to be reminded of of
that I read, I'll put it front

facing so I see it.

So you have the ultimate guide
to small group personal

training.

The only book on small group
group the only book on small

group training that exists.

SPEAKER_01: So it's so important
because a lot of people aren't

quite sure how to do it.

They just kind of wing it.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

Yeah, cool.

Jason, thank you so much.

This was an awesome
conversation.

I appreciate all the work you're
doing.

I appreciate the amount of
credit you give SPF, but at the

end of the day, it's you, it's
your great team that's that's

leading the show.

You guys are doing amazing work
and creating amazing companies

all around the Pittsburgh area.

SPEAKER_01: So awesome, buddy.

I I really appreciate being on,
and you know I love talking

shop.

And as I always say, to be
continued.

SPEAKER_00: That's right.

Thanks, Jason.

SPEAKER_01: All right, buddy.