We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Scott Shetler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Scott thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I originally started working as a personal trainer for a YMCA in Ohio and eventually, after moving to Georgia, a fitness center in a Country Club all while finishing my degree in health and physical education. My plans were to transition to the field of strength and conditioning with the ultimate goal of becoming a strength and conditioning coach at either the collegiate or professional level. That changed after being given the opportunity to attend a strength training session for the Atlanta Falcons. The experience, while greatly appreciated, displayed a completely different view of what I envisioned strength coaching at the professional level to be, and immediately set me on a different career path. I decided to stay in the private sector and build my training center through working with clientele who were goal driven, and not just showing up because it was required of them. This led to me working with a broad demographic ranging from athletes of all ages and skill levels from a wide variety of sports to motivated fitness enthusiasts seeking to improve their strength and fitness levels to enhance their quality of life and improve their strength-span and health-span. I started my gym in my basement and eventually grew into a private sport and fitness training center currently located in Norcross, Georgia.

Scott, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I hold a degree in Health and Physical Education and am certified as a Personal Trainer by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). I am also a certified Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) instructor under Master Jesse Tsao of Tai Chi Healthways, a Westside Barbell Special Strengths Coach, and a World Kettlebell Club (WKC) Master Trainer and certified kettlebell lifting coach.

​Through my company, Extreme Performance Training Systems, I work with competitive athletes across a wide range of sports as well as dedicated fitness enthusiasts. I have presented at seminars, clinics, universities, and conferences on health, fitness, and strength and conditioning.

My expertise has been featured in numerous print and online publications, and have authored several books, including Kettlebell Conditioning for MMA and Other Fight Sports, Kettlebells for Sport, Strength and Fitness, Abundant Health: Fitness for the Mind, Body, and Spirit, and Eat Plants, Lift Iron (co-authored with hip hop recording artist Stic of Dead Prez and Afya Ibomu). In addition I have produced three training DVDs, with additional projects in development.

I was a former strength and conditioning contributor to Fight! Magazine and Physique MMA Magazine, and also served as the Kettlebell Training Specialist for Tapout’s Virtual Training Center.
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In addition to coaching, I have competed in both powerlifting and kettlebell sport, and am currently studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Taijiquan. Over the course of my 27+ year career, I have trained athletes at all levels in football, MMA, track and field, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, volleyball, baseball, softball, wrestling, basketball, powerlifting, kettlebell sport, as well as weekend warriors and motivated fitness enthusiasts.

My passion is to help people, whether they are getting stronger for sport or life, by providing individualized training plans to help them accomplish their goals.

In addition to working with people in person at my training center, I offer remote coaching both one-on-one or through my online coaching club as a way to reach more people outside of my geographic area.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Keeping the focus on my clients and their results. One of the biggest mistakes I see fitness trainers make is keeping the spotlight on themselves. I think it is extremely important for a fitness professional to practice what they preach and maintain good health, strength, and fitness; but plastering your social media page with physique photos of yourself does not effectively show a prospective client what you have been able to do with other people. By keeping the focus on my clients and their results, I have been able to maintain a nearly 100% booked schedule with the majority of those clients coming to me through word of mouth. I believe the absolute best marketing and advertising you can get is a client sharing their experience and success with other people. I have some clients I’ve been working with for over a decade and they are my best marketing strategy. Remember, a prospective client doesn’t care about what you have done, they care about what you have done for others and can do for them.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

Yes, I think this is important especially running a service-based business. I have done apparel and information product sales and have stepped into the remote coaching arena as well. As a personal trainer, there are only so many hours in the day, so I’ve had to find ways to leverage my time. In addition to allowing other trainers to contract out of my facility, I have written books and produced training videos to increase revenue. The nice thing about information products is once you have them created, they can sell 24/7. I have also branched out into remote coaching by building an online coaching community that has different membership levels based on service and content provided. I also have a Substack page where I publish weekly articles for all of my subscribers and a weekly video training tip for my paid subscribers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eptsgym.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/sshetlerfitness
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eptsgym/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sshetler/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/scottshetler
• Other: My online coaching club: https://www.eptsgym.com/strength–health-coaching-club.html