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

Hi Shaun , thanks for joining us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

So I originally started my business while I was a personal trainer in New York City at crunch gym. It was nothing serious, I had maybe 5 steady clients that I would have to sneak and train throughout the day when I didn’t have clients at crunch. So imagine me catching multiple subway trains throughout NYC, eating on the way and then returning back to the gym to train clients from crunch, a 14 hour daily usually. Personal training is a big thing in NYC so gyms do not want you to have a personal business while training for them. I guess they figure it’s inevitable for clients to jump ship. After living in NY/NJ during COVID, I decided it was time to relocate back home to Virginia. After all I had moved to NYC with no family there at all, and COVID reminded me of what was important.

The question was, how will I get clients 6 hours away. My thought was I didn’t want to get there and then start the process, I wanted the business ready to go. Luckily we have social media and all its features. I used targeted ads to specific areas. Even though I hadn’t locked down an apartment in VA, I knew the relative area I wanted to be in, so the ads were sent to users in that location. Just like working out consistency key, I did maybe 2-3 ads per week and paid shoutouts from larger platforms in my niche. You have to spend money to make money!

It’s also a game of numbers though, the more people see you the higher the probability they will do business. So as I came down weekend after weekend to shop for apartments, I made sure to leave countless business cards in the high traffic areas. Additionally I would walk the parking lot and slip hundreds of cards on car windshields. I felt someone was bound to reach out, and they did!

Last but certainly not least I asked every friend in the area to repost ANYTHING about my business. Plus anyone who did would also receive a free workout or meal plan.

As the clients began to reach out, I confirmed their training and gave them homework to do until we actually met in person. We kept in contact through this process which ensured a connection by the time we met in person. This made my transition so much easier , by the time I actually moved to VA everything was all set. I gave myself a week to get settled before I met with my first new clients . I had acquired 10 by this time! I chose an apartment with a nice home gym so clients could come to me without any cost to either of us, and based on location I began traveling g to accessible clients bringing my client base now to 15+!

I continue to research new tactics for business growth while regularly practicing those that got y business here today. My motivation was to also have options. The great thing is they’re always someone who needs help, it’s just about reaching them. If I could get my face or information out as much as possible then my chances can only be high. Outside of these things, I ensure that I provide a quality device that my clients can be proud of and share with their network and find others who may need help.

Shaun , 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 Shaun, owner and lead trainer at Flex Fit LLC!

I believe living a healthy lifestyle begins with maintaining a strong and fit body. My aim is to help you identify your fitness goals, design an exercise program that fits your needs and guide you through every exercise, every workout while making the experience interesting and fun.

I specialize in HIIT and Full Body Transformations. My real goal is to get every client to adapt a new healthy lifestyle, not just a quick fix

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Everyone you knew before will support you, wrong. I had to learn quickly that most the of the time it’s strangers that seem to show more support than your peers. That can be from various factors in my opinion. When is comes to your business everyone is a customer nothing more or less. Don’t get to caught up on who’s doing what for you. Genuine work will speak for itself.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I wouldn’t call it a pivot but just a safety net. I stated earlier how I transitioned from NYC to VA. In the first month or so after vowing to never work for another gym, I needed more income. I’d only had maybe 5 clients in Va at that point and my monthly package was not an option yet. So I was literally getting paid session by session.

I took a job a local kickboxing gym. Where I wore a mic a taught beginners hiit boxing classes. I hated the hours and the lack of importance to actually help these people vs retaining membership, but once again bills needed to be paid and I had plans to execute

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.Bxggflexfit.com
• Instagram: Flex_fit_llc
• Youtube: FLEX FIT LLC