We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kyle Flynn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kyle , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
Once I finished playing college football at San Jose State University I moved home and noticed a void in the fitness space. I went to the gym and everyone was on their phones, nobody talking to each other or connecting with one another. Coming from a team environment and a culture built on positivity and connection at SJSU, I knew that I could create something special for the city I grew up in. I got started in personal training and started to grow my business through conducting sessions that made adults feel like they were at recess and were apart of something bigger than themselves. As time went on I turned the 1 on 1 sessions into group sessions and then group sessions into group classes. After building my foundation for 5 years, I decided to open The Blueprint LA and haven’t looked back since.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
A little bit about my story- I grew up here in the South Bay, attended South High School, played football at LA Harbor Junior College, and then earned a scholarship to continue at the D1 level at San Jose State. After college I had a few paths I could have gone down but it felt right in my heart to return to my roots. The entrepreneurial world really resonated with me so I set out to build a personal training business at a small fitness studio. The more I was able to work 1:1 with my clients the more lives I wanted to touch. I spent countless hours growing my small personal training business into group classes with the goal of opening up my own single unit training facility. As a small business owner, I have always maintained that what keeps The Blueprint LA thriving is our culture, our community, and the connection we have to our members. As a business our staff strives to be service-minded: Who can we serve? How can we serve? How many can we serve?
My commitment has always been to our community. We host quarterly open to the public donation-based community classes, with each one benefiting a local cause near to our hearts. From supporting #AXEALS and LA Fireman Eric Stevens to raising funds to sponsor campers at Camp Ānuenue to collecting donations for those impacted by the Maui fires- we understand that health and healing happen when connected to community and community has a farther reach than our four walls.
Ultimately all this has led me to my dream of spreading health and positivity as far and wide as I possibly can. I’m excited to announce that The Blueprint LA is now franchising in the state of California. My aim is to grow from one facility to 50 facilities over the next five years hoping to serve as many individuals as we can. Not only is our mission to build the Blueprint LA community across city lines and ultimately state lines but we are also committed to empowering people to believe in their passion and connect them with their purpose. At the end of the day, our hope is to change the way people view fitness. While challenging, the fitness industry has afforded me opportunities I would have never imagined and it’s given me total ownership over my life. Not only do I want to show our members a different side of the fitness industry- I want to show potential franchise owners what life as an owner of a Blueprint LA could look like and the career and financial freedom that can come along with it.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
It certainly has not been a smooth road but it’s been 100% worth it. Being able to serve the community I grew up in and one that has supported me all my life has been the honor of a lifetime. I’ve been homeless living out of my car, I’ve been on top of the world and both have taught me lifelong lessons. It’s also made me realize that I am now in a position to provide others with the chance to reach their full potential which is why I make sure to hire coaches from the local community. Ten of our twelve coaches grew up in the South Bay and for so long have dreamed of ways to give back to a community that has given so much to us- I am excited to afford them that opportunity.
Have you ever had to pivot?
As a gym owner 2020 was a time where we had to pivot in a big way. We have a 12,000 sq ft facility and we were forced to shut our doors and not conduct classes. What makes us special is how we conduct our classes to build connection through our community and that is exactly what was taken from us. So we had to pivot to zoom workouts and we created a program called “Be your own Hero” where our clients were all connected on a platform to talk, ask questions, dive deep on their mental, physical and spiritual health. We also brought in guest speakers from all over the USA to talk about business, relationships, and life. We went from losing 50% of our members to growing in that year because of the launch of this satellite program.
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