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

Jenn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?

Here at Alloy Personal Training West Roswell, we focus on making each and every person we come into contact with feel seen and heard. We just celebrated our 1-year anniversary of the studio being open. For the celebration, we hosted a party at a local venue and our team decided to give awards to members that embody our core values. We have some values that are part of every Alloy location worldwide, and we also have some core values of our own. We surprised our members by giving a speech about them and why they are the recipient of the award. It was a touching and heartfelt moment that we got to share with all of them. It was truly special.

Jenn, 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 background in in personal training, corrective exercise, and behavior change. I got into this business after my corporate job in medical device sales because I saw such a need for physical and mental health in today’s world. We all experience stress. It is how we deal with it that matters. We all need to be seen, heard, felt, and understood.

We focus on small group functional strength training for people over the age of 40. We do have some younger and some older members of course, but our demographic is one that wants to look good, feel great, and live life to the fullest. People come in for the strength training but stay for the community and sense of belonging. Our sessions are customized to the point where everyone may be doing something different based on their own specific needs, wants, goals, and abilities. We are proud to be able to provide this much needed service.

Alloy Personal Training West Roswell is the recipient of Best New Business in 2023 and Runner-up in Best Personal Training. This makes us proud because we were nominated by someone, we are unaware of, and we won based on votes in our own community. It’s not us saying we are the best. It’s the people using our service that decide we are the best. We love this community, and our sole purpose is to help those we serve to lead healthy lifestyles and live their lives to the fullest.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

All of us here at Alloy are big fans of reading and learning. I read one book per week and have written a book myself in 2015! We can learn so much from mentors in these books. They have gone before us and are driven to share their stories with us so that we can do the same. The first book I read back in my corporate days when I was in my 20’s, was The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy. It changed my life and my career. I highly recommend it for everyone – in sales or not. Sales is just persuasive conversation and all of us use it in everyday life.

The second book that helped me with my business this year was gifted to me by Kiyana Maumau, my head trainer. Kiyana is an avid reader and is constantly trying to learn and grow not only for herself but for all of us. I love this about my employees. It makes for an epic team. The book is Change Maker: Turn Your Passion for Health and Fitness into a Successful Business by Dr. John Berardi. This one is specific to the health and fitness industry. It helps us navigate the industry and hire great people.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I decided to leave my corporate job in medical device sales and pursue the health and fitness world as my own boss, it was awesome and terrifying at the same time. I was giving up a career that I had been in for over a decade that offered 6 figure pay, a company car, and all expenses paid! Was I being ridiculous? This was a huge pivot in my life and took some real adjustment.

I was certified as a personal trainer, so I left to start my own traveling personal training and consulting business. I created my name, Travel 2U Fitness, and started prospecting. I built my business from scratch and worked around my kids schedules to make it all happen. My first year in business, I made $24,000! I remember being like “What the heck am I doing?”. It was such a big difference from the sales career I was used to! It made me question why I wanted to be an entrepreneur. You work harder and make less money. I forged on with the support of my husband, which was a blessing. Each following year got better. It was amazing to be able to work when I wanted and if I wanted. I transitioned into corrective and inclusive exercise helping blind, paralyzed, and people with severe disabilities and autoimmune conditions stay active and healthy. I studied behavior change and eventually got National Board Certified in Health & Wellness Coaching. I opened a small gym in upstate, NY and built that from 0 members to 300 members when I sold it 2 years later to move to Roswell, Georgia.

During Covid, all training was done online over zoom. Another major pivot! I did not love this as much and really missed being in person. After Covid settled down, I had the pleasure of meeting Rick Mayo, the founder of Alloy Personal Training, and knew right away that this was the place I wanted to be. The model, the core values, the demographic Alloy serves, and the vibe was just what I wanted. I have been the owner of Alloy Personal Training West Roswell for a year now and could not be happier that I get to do what I do every single day. It can be a grind, but it is 100% worth it for the people we serve. It feels like home.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alloypersonaltraining.com/location/westroswell-ga/
• Instagram: @alloywestroswell
• Facebook: @alloywestroswell
• Linkedin: @jennbenson

Image Credits

Lauren Liz Hibbard – Lauren Liz Photography