We were lucky to catch up with Mary Cain recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mary, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you share a customer success story with us?

I’ve been training clients for more than 18 years. I’ve been blessed with many hard working determined men and women who were ready to make life changing habits. One of my most recent success stories is Shannon Walls. She hired me two years ago and she has made amazing changes and has no intention of slowing down or going backwards.

Mary, 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?

Jamie is an Effingham native, military veteran, and moved back home to be close to family. Mary is from Missouri, an IFBB Pro, Strongwoman Pro, MAS Wrestling World Champion, and loves living in Effingham. Combined they have more than 25 years training experience and practical application along with multiple certifications. Empire Gym is a 24/7, old school iron, weights-based facility that houses an expansive selection of equipment, the latest in group exercise classes, and resources for a complete wellness experience. We provide a friendly, welcoming atmosphere for all members with all fitness levels from beginners to the pro athletes..

We are the state-of-the-art gym for fitness lovers with a passion for variety. After noticing we couldn’t find a gym that offered enough to consistently inspire and motivate us, we decided to create one! Empire Gym nurtures an environment where setting a goal, putting in the hard work to achieve it, and conquering it are CELEBRATED! We want to share your journey to success; whether it be losing weight, increasing lean muscle, strength, endurance, flexibility, overall wellness, improving bloodwork, or becoming a champion in your desired sport, we can help you achieve it!

Our vision is to create a community of like-minded people who share in the mission of health and wellness for all. We owe it to ourselves and our families to be healthy in mind, body, and spirit. Empire Gym is owned and operated by Mary and Jamie Cain, who firmly believe that in order to help lead others to health and wellness improvement, you must first walk the walk, and lead by example. They are leaders in their community, and the best at their craft.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I opened my first gym (and built an apartment inside it to save money) in 2007 while working full time at the hospital in Macon, GA and training clients and teaching bootcamp classes on the side in order to pack rat money away. It was an old abandoned warehouse along the river that at one time had been a cotton factory and was only $600 in rent per month. It was filled with piles of junk accumulated over the years from tenants who had long vacated. I was so excited. I immediately began piling the junk outside in the parking lot and it grew to the height of a 2 story building. After emptying the building, which had no plumbing or electricity, I had those utilities installed and discovered there was a man hole cover inside the warehouse. Thinking it was odd but not giving it much attention I began to nickel and dime my way to a facility that would house the future of Body Evolution on a mission to transform lives to healthier habits and long term behavior changes. I had been open 3 months when I soon found out why the man hole cover had been installed. In 1993, there was severe flooding along the river and they had installed the man hole cover to let the water recede from the flooding. At some point between 1993 and 2007 the city had come in and removed the lid of the manhole cover and had not bolted it back down. With heavy rains from hurricane season my gym quickly flooded with enough water to send my dog floating away on an exercise mat out the door. All my electronic equipment; treadmills, stairmasters, arc trainers, etc flooded too. I was devasted. While amazing members helped me squeegee the floor and try to save the facility we would quickly discovered that there weren’t enough mops to tackle the two more floods that would hit the gym. Needless to say, I was blessed with members who offered to build me a new location not too far away and I moved in to there. We had “weathered” the storms.

We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.

I met my husband in 2010 at the age of 31; never married before and no children. I knew from the first time we spoke on the phone that he was my soulmate. We eloped to Las Vegas six weeks later and have been married 12 years. He was in the Army in Columbus, GA at Fort Benning. We drove back and forth to spend time together for a year before he asked me if I thought we could open a second location in Columbus. Without hesitation I said yes! We worked at opening our 2nd location and decided to sell Macon as it was too difficult driving back and forth to operate them both especially since I had had our child and our baby was commuting with me and literally staying backpacked on me while I trained clients. We began looking for a buyer and I was so passionate about my first business and all my members and clients that I didn’t want to sell to just anyone, especially not someone who wouldn’t care for it the way I did. A current coach at the time was interested and excited so we did a for sale by owner and drew up the legal paperwork and signed it and all was going well for the first 6 months and then he began to miss payments. We restructured the payment plan and things slowly began picking up again. Then Covid hit and he again missed payments, so we are currently, again, seeking legal council for either a foreclosure or yet another resturuturing, but nonetheless he is excessively behind on payments and there isn’t a good end in sight. My advice to anyone selling their business is 1). work your butt off to have great tax returns showing your profitability. 2). do NOT do for sale by owner 3). do NOT treat your business like your baby 4). treat your business like a business 5). do NOT base the sell of your business on emotions and love for it 6). use a broker or do a paid in full transaction.

The silver lining is we have since also sold our 2nd location in Columbus GA and are opening a new location in Rincon, GA. Body Evolution Columbus was hugely successful and we were very conflicted about selling it, but my husband is from the Coastal Empire so we are home to be with family. His father passed about ten years ago from cancer while were we were opening the Columbus location and he regretted not being with him in the end. My husbands mother was diagnosed with cancer for a fifth time and he wanted no regrets on time spent with her so we moved here while she was undergoing treatment and she is now in remission.

We have joined a church here that is feeding our souls like they have never been filled before. My husband and I firmly believe God brought us to the Savannah area for his family, the community, but most importantly for a stronger relationship with God.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.empiregymsavannah.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmpireGymSavannah