We recently connected with Kris Chaney and have shared our conversation below.

Kris, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

I started offering physical transformation and training programs online after I became a Certified Personal Trainer. I had a public Instagram account because I was working with sponsors and that was one of the requirements to be sponsored. As a result of that exposure, I received a lot of direct messages requesting training and coaching. Most of the time I would refer them to the trainers I had worked with because I was training myself and didn’t think I could take on more than that at the time. There was one guy who reached out to me saying my daily posts inspired him to get in the gym at 300+ lbs. By the time he sent me the message, he had lost 82 lbs and was hoping I would be a part of getting his new body beach worthy. His name was Matt, he was my first client, and the beach pic of us (him at 168 lbs) is one of my favorite pics. That was the start of Chane Gang Training, LLC.

Kris, 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?

Most people know me from my two podcasts, REEL Film Reviewed, a film/TV review podcast and Kris of All Trades which is aptly named for my many different areas of interest and experience. I also am a Certified Personal Trainer, Medical Exercise Specialist, and a business owner. I own REEL ProduCtions, LLC., my production company and Chane Gang Training, LLC., my personal training business. My main areas of interest fall under health and wellness from my athletic and medical background, film, TV, and podcast production, and directing, writing, and editing feature films.  The Kris of All Trades podcast launched and my company rebrand just finished about two months ago, and I’m really proud and excited about those. The company rebrand allowed me to combine my film and podcast passions and expand our product and service lines to outside creators. It is my goal to continue building the brand and opening more business strategically as we grow.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

It’s been a good balance of easy and challenging when keeping up with my clients. Many of them began as clients and ended up becoming certified personal trainers themselves. Those that have still keep in touch with me, are still interested in working with me through Chane Gang Training, and some of them I still catch a workout with from time to time. I have monthly check ins which I stop after 90 days. I tell every client if we are on a set time to work together, included in every package is the monthly check ins for 90 days after their program is complete. This allows them to ask questions, seek adjustments to their training, and also to ensure consistency because I want to make sure they stay committed to themselves and the work they did. Brand loyalty comes from being consistent from your first interaction to today and providing that same experience every single time. I’ve learned from my mistakes and I continue to learn with every interaction I have. I routinely ask for feedback and study the data to improve in specific areas to improve overall.

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

I initially started by offering digital training programs like 4,6,8, and 12 week body transformation training programs and competition preparation training programs. I used my knowledge of kinesiology, physiology, and personal training to build training programs designed to challenge people from the beginning and increase in intensity as they progressed. I sold those programs for about $15-20 each depending on what was included in them. I continued to sell those as I gained clients seeking physical training and medical exercise routines. Funding the production side was a little different. I monetized the podcast in every way that I could, host read ads, features on podcast platforms and listening apps, tip jars, and things like that. The biggest source of funding was through the online merchandise store because it is $0 upfront costs and everything you sell is all profit after the fee paid to the distributor. That helped a lot with the small start up fees.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://reel-film-reviewed.productions/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/reel_film_reviewed_podcast
• Twitter: https://x.com/reelfilmpkc and https://twitter.com/koat_podcast
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/afone32
• Other: https://linktr.ee/REEL_Film_Reviewed – LinkTree https://www.bonfire.com/store/reel-merch/ – REEL Merch Online Store https://reel-film-reviewed.supercast.com/v1? – REEL Film Reviewed Subscriptions

Image Credits
Dre Ryan