A scientific approach to fitness at Fit People

“Looking around at all these different people having fun in a gym and accomplishing more than they ever thought they could, is an amazing experience.” This was the remark of Annie the Co-owner of Fit People when talking about some of her favorite parts of owning the gym. Prior to starting up Fit People Taylor (Annie’s husband and co-owner) had worked in the corporate community wellness field since 2003. Over time he saw a gap in the self-insured healthcare and wellness community and thought to himself, everyone can go to a doctor and have a diet or physical regimen recommended to them but once they leave it is hard for people to start those next steps to better themselves especially for those who aren’t able to go to actual rehab but also don’t want to go to any normal gym.

This is why Taylor and Annie produced a more scientific approach to bridge the gap between the two, and arm people with the tools and testing required to show them what they are doing, how that is helping them, and what they should talk to their doctor about. At Fit People Taylor and Annie look at people’s habits and create algorithms to help people of all ages and fitness levels better themselves. Taylor said a big part of his inspiration was also wanting to build a place where he can go workout with my mom, and they can both be pushed at their own levels and work towards the common goal of good physical health together despite any difference in age or how often they work out.

Before Taylor and Annie could make their ideas of making a gym a reality, they needed some capital to get the business started and needed guidance to get their business off the ground. Which is why they came to Alliance Capital. In the beginning Annie believed that the idea of getting an SBA loan seemed daunting. However, once they got going the Alliance Capital team made the process seamless and before they knew it, they had the loan they needed. When talking about their experience they mentioned that the Alliance Capital Team was able to not only help them get the loan they needed but also helped walk them through the process of starting a small business. Taylor and Annie found Alliance Capital through one of Taylor’s longtime friends, a VP at a local bank who knew of Sam and recommended that Taylor and Annie give him a call to try and get an SBA loan.

When asked about some of their highlights from their experience with Alliance Capital Taylor talked of how despite their loan being small, Sam took the time to help them get their feet off the ground and walk through everything, they needed to think about to start the business. “We knew what we wanted the end product to look like and how we wanted to help people, but Sam was able to help us find out what we needed and what we needed to think about to make our ideas become a reality.”

Once they had their SBA application submitted it only took a couple of months to get the loan they needed to get their business off the ground. They talked of how the slowest part was more of getting their feet of the ground and gathering the needed information related to cost documents to apply for the loan.

Once they received the loan and got their business off the ground Taylor and Annie said the biggest struggle was certainly capturing their target audience. They mentioned that in the fitness world most companies try to advertise how fast or how easily they can help you accomplish your goals. However, Taylor and Annie believe that there is no one secret that works for everyone. Instead, they wanted to build a company whereby the experience was tailor made to the person they are working with and to help them find the fitness cocktail that worked best for them. This was a struggle because telling people that there is no easy solution is not the greatest business model for selling your business. However, once they started building up their clients and word got out about how successful their program was, this struggle was overcome.

When reflecting on what they consider their largest success as business owners Taylor talked of how one of the most important things to him is that if someone comes in, he wants nothing more than to make them better. He went on to talk about how his desire to help his clients grow keeps him up at night and when they watch them develop and accomplish those goals that is the greatest success they can have as business owners. Annie also noted just how great it is to walk into the gym and see people from sixteen to sixty all working on their own custom-made routines which was exactly what they were hoping to create when they started the business. Taylor and Annie have developed a gym experience unlike any other and are just overwhelmed by how happy they are to have created a gym that can cater to people of all ages and levels of fitness. We look forward to watching them and their company continue to grow!

Alliance is ready to come alongside you in your business journey. Give us a call at (205) 982-7900 and let us show you the difference having the right ALLIANCE can have on your success.