We were lucky to catch up with Andrew Thompson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Andrew thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?

The current trends of the fitness industry is not necessarily a “trend.” The current trend is the absence of trend. The fitness industry is developing at a staggering rate, and it’s much easier to sift through the nonsense and find information on the simplicity of achieving whatever goal you are aiming to hit. There are ample amounts of social media platforms that inform people about smart nutritional habits for health and aesthetics, as well as platforms that give access to information on achieving fitness goals, safely, effectively and efficiently.
With that being at our finger tips, people can easily navigate the fitness world and adopt the exercise regimen or class that makes them feel best, and achieve whatever goal they desire with nutrition that isn’t laced in mystery and scare tactics.

Andrew, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Andy Thompson. I’m a business owner, a life long fitness enthusiast, and a professional coach and trainer. I’ve been a professional since 2002, and I’ve worked with A-list celebrities, professional athletes, kids, and adults of all shapes, sizes, and abilities. I’ve been very fortunate in my career and I’ve got many aspirations to cast a wider net to help even more people in whatever capacity I am able. I take a no bull-shit approach. I’m not trying to impress my clients with flashy movements or “secret” systems or routines. I am a scientist of fitness, as I take the scientific method on all my programs, and I test and retest all my strategies so that I can continue to improve and adapt to the needs of my clients.

Conversations about M&A are often focused on multibillion dollar transactions – but M&A can be an important part of a small or medium business owner’s journey. We’d love to hear about your experience with selling businesses.

I started a weightlifting shoe company in 2012. I sold this company in 2018. I had never owned a retail business before, and I didn’t know much about retail outside of working at a clothing company when I was a teenager. This was a grassroots company with no real financial investment outside of a few thousand dollars every few months to purchase product or build a website. What I learned was this; when you start a retail business, you don’t make any profit for years. If you build a successful brand, you end up using all the profits to buy more, and more product. It all gets reinvested back into the business as a never ending black hole of buying more product to meet the demand of your brands products. I sold my share of the business in 2018 and never looked back. I’m grateful for my experience, but I will never go back into retail because of my experience. It was a great deal of effort, for no reward until the company was sold. I met many of my weightlifting heroes, and got to rub elbows with other brands that I loved, and I got access to lots of fun events, but other than that…it was a great deal of headache, and money.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

When I was building my business, I had to raise capital to put down the initial investment. I wrote out a detailed business plan, with all the market research, and financial projections. From there I went to all my friends, and clients to ask if they’d be will to invest in my endeavor. I was able to raise 15k in 2008 to open my doors to the public. I paid everyone back within 2 years, which was 5 years faster than projected.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.crossfithollywood.com
• Instagram: @crossfithollywood
• Facebook: Facebook.com/crossfithollywood
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/crossfit-hollywood-los-angeles-2?osq=crossfit+hollywood

Image Credits
Sarah Williams @sarahskyann Jeff Cleary @jeffreydcleary