Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rob Hamilton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Rob thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

Our gym started as a small classroom that offered group training classes. We focused on providing classes that were new to the area and easily adjusted to challenge all fitness levels. Our goal was (and still is) to put all of our focus on providing our clients with the best experience possible and LISTENING to what they wanted.

After about 3 months of classes, our clients were practically begging us to open a full gym. The other options in the area were overpriced and didn’t have our level of customer focus. We were lucky enough to be in a building where our landlord had additional space we could lease. After negotiation, our landlord paid to have the additional 8000 sqft. built out to include space for a gym, showers, locker rooms, and massage rooms. We spent another 3 months getting equipment, and putting in a lot of the construction work ourselves to save money that would later be used on even more equipment.

All of our marketing efforts were organic, grassroots, word of mouth advertising. We relied heavily on the community we created to share our posts on social media to help us grow. I truly believe that by focusing on our customers, they became more invested in the success of our gym and helped our growth.

Rob, 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’m a Veteran that brings my passion to help people into everything I do. In addition to kickboxing cardio classes, I offer Personal Training services including 1:1, group, classes, bootcamps, HIIT classes, and virtual training. I am also a Certified Spartan SGX Coach and utilize my experience running Obstacle Course Races to offer OCR Specific Training plans!

I LOVE to learn! My current certifications include:

USA Boxing Coach
USA Boxing Official
NASM Certified Personal Trainer
AFAA Kickboxing Skills and Drills
NASM MMA Conditioning Specialist
NASM CES (Corrective Exercise Specialist)
NASM PES (Performance Enhancement Specialist)
NASM FNS (Fitness Nutrition Specialist)
NASM YES (Youth Exercise Specialist)
NASM SFS (Senior Fitness Specialist)
NASM VCS (Virtual Coaching Specialist)
AFAA Sunrise Yoga
Spartan SGX

Since establishing Kickin’ It Fitness in 2019, I have stood by the belief that getting in shape shouldn’t be a punishment! It’s an amazing and empowering lifestyle decision that anyone can achieve. We believe in finding the pleasurable side of fitness, and while there may be a sore muscle or two along the way, the amount of fun and levels of energy you will experience will far exceed the discomfort.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When COVID-19 hit, I was working/living near Washington D.C. in Arlington, VA. When the fitness centers I was working in were forced to shut down, I packed up my motorcycle and my clothes and headed down to Florida to spend a few weeks with my kids. 2 months later, I was looking for a gym to train clients at and began working for the only gym in town.

I witnessed a lot of business practices that I didn’t agree with and knew that I would need to take the leap into opening my own facility. At the time, I was only interested in group training classes. Little did I know that would turn into the 10,000 sq ft facility we have today.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Being honest and open with our clients has truly helped us build a community. We pride ourselves on being more than just a gym. We all know there are gym’s that want nothing more than to take your money every month and then bank on you not coming in. We WANT our clients here. We have a genuine desire to help people and to see them live their best lives.

We are also very honest and open about being a small, locally owned business. We share glimpses into our personal lives on social media and this has helped us stay connected to more clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thegymishere.com
• Instagram: www.intagram.com/thegymdfs
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/thegymdfs