Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Person.
Brian, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have been an active person since a toddler. I was an athlete in high school and got into bodybuilding in college. As a young man, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life professionally and it actually never occurred to me that I could do something in the field of nutrition/exercise so I chose the safe route of accounting. Mind you, I had absolutely no interest in accounting whatsoever but it seemed like a reliable career path which would provide security.
I got an internship in a forensic accounting company as a junior in college and stayed with that company upon graduating and became a full-time forensic accountant. I continued forensic accounting for the next 12 years although I knew at least by year 3 I had made a mistake. I simply had no interest at all for what I was doing. I was a decent enough accountant, I made a comfortable living and it would seem from the outside that I had it all figured out. Meanwhile, I was really suffering every day dreading getting up in the morning and watching the clock waiting for the day to be over so I could get out of the office and pursue something of interest to me.
At some point several years in, I realized that ideally, I would like to be in the field of nutrition and exercise although I wasn’t sure what exactly it was that I would do. I just knew that whenever I had free time, I’d often fill a good portion of it with working. I just knew that when I was reading something purely of interest, it would often be something related to nutrition or exercise. My pursuit was originally about attaining a certain physique but grew to be something much more than that. Still, what could I do? Personal trainer? That may be cool but I’d be taking a huge step backward in every other aspect of my life. Work in a clinical setting as a therapist of some sort? Could be very interesting and fulfilling but I would have to go back to school for several years which wasn’t really feasible for me.
About 2 years ago, I was expressing my discontent to a former co-worker who I’d kept in touch with. This friend was now living in Australia and as we spoke, she mentioned this place called F45. She is not one that has ever been really into working out but she had found something she could do regularly that gave her the results she was looking for and kept her interested in an exercise where other pursuits had failed. This seemed interesting so I asked her to tell me more. Turns out F45 is THE thing to do in Australia. This workout program had swept the nation and was changing thousands of lives. Also, turns out they are expanding and have just entered the US market with big plans to spread across America as they did in Australia. My friend happens to know a couple of people that own an F45 in Australia and according to them, it’s a profitable business with a low barrier to entry. Could this be the move for me?
In the next few weeks, I began doing my research on F45 Training and the more I delved into it, the more pleasantly surprised I was. I personally had never done this style of training nor was I particularly interested in doing so. I, unlike 99.9% of people, actually enjoy the old school bodybuilding body-part split routines. You know, chest and arms day, leg day, back and shoulders day, repeat. To most, this mundane monotonous exercise modality is as desirable as an electrical shock but for me, there’s nothing better. With that said, I saw immense value in F45 as: 1) a very well constructed program and 2) something that 99.9% of people looking to lose weight and built a physique they can be proud of would enjoy and stick to. As I said, it’s developed by professional athletes, doctors, military and is continually curated to always be improving as new information is known. It is fast paced, it burns maximum calories in minimum time and it is ever changing. Sounds like a winner to me!
I decided at this point to throw my hat in the ring and see what happens even though I was pretty skeptical that I would actually be able to own an F45 franchise. I don’t come from money, my accountant’s salary was comfortable but I certainly was even approaching wealthy, I just didn’t see how it could happen but you never know if you never try. I was contacted by F45’s representative and was sent some information regarding the particulars of ownership. I reviewed this info with other business owners and decided to fly to Las Vegas to meet their liaison face to face. While in Las Vegas, I was able to actually sit in on an F45 class for the first time and I must say the hype was real. I could totally see why this was so popular in Australia and why F45 is the fastest growing fitness franchise in the world. During this trip, I was also provided with some financial contacts and when I got home, I decided to continue down this path.
Over the next several months, I secured financing a location and step by step this dream was coming to life. It seemed like it took forever and at many points, I was doubtful and/or frustrated but on September 30th, 2017 F45 Training Alpharetta opened its doors is only the second location in the state to operate following F45 Buckhead. Today we are hard at work trying to get our names out there, let people know what we do and build our membership base. A third location has opened in John’s Creek with at least 2-3 more locations slated to open this year and possibly more. I believe in 5 years or less, F45 will be the most popular fitness modality in the Atlanta metro area with locations in every major city. I am so happy to be a part of this expansion and to have been one of the first entrepreneurs to bring F45’s amazing system to Georgia!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Definitely not a smooth road. Obtaining financing was the first issue. I was turned down for a few SBA loans and eventually had to go the private equity route. Finding a location turned out to be very tough which I did not expect. I was unable to get into many places due to lease covenants other fitness operators had which excluded any competition. I had one property owner tell me outright they didn’t want any fitness locations there. I would have loved to have been in the Avalon but the lease expense would have been obscene. I negotiated well with my lease and my franchisor to allow lead time before my payments started but all that time was eaten up by long lease negotiations with a fairly uncooperative landlord and then a delay of my equipment delivery by over a month.
Since opening, building a membership base has been much more difficult than anyone expected. The Buckhead location exploded but growth has been frustratingly slow in Alpharetta. I’ve lived in Alpharetta/Cumming for the past 6 years and I would have never thought it would be this hard to grow a fitness community. My perception was that Alpharettians were generally a fit bunch with discretionary funds to fuel their fitness. The City of Alpharetta has been no help with their draconian sign restrictions. We don’t have great curbside visibility despite being in a very well attended area and actually in a Kroger plaza. The city allows one sign with a permit for only 2 weeks per year. Needless to say, this has been a detriment to our ability to build awareness of our location. We continue to market any way we can and extensively but getting people in the door to train has been quite a struggle.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
F45 Training specializes in High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). F45 is athletic training that you don’t have to be an athlete to participate in. Our programs are the most comprehensive in the industry being designed by the foremost experts in the field and continually revised to stay on the cutting edge of science. We focus on functional movements with every day being a full body workout while some days focus more on the cardio aspect and others on resistance training. We not only work the muscles and the cardiovascular system but we build balance, mobility, flexibility, explosiveness and much more. There is no other program out there as comprehensive and varied as ours. As I mentioned, the program design is simply above all and with every single day being a different workout, members are never bored. I don’t know that there is one thing I’m most proud of. The entire system is top notch and I truly believe we offer a superior product to our competition. I guess one of the greatest things about F45 is its scalability. You can step into an F45 workout at virtually any level of fitness but there is never a point at which you’re too fit to be challenged so long as you’re pushing yourself. In fact, we have partnerships with several NBA, NFL and MLB teams such that their players actually do F45 workouts in addition to their normal training. You don’t see professional athletic organizations partnering with any of our competitors and I think that speaks volumes as to the quality of the programming we provide.
What were you like growing up?
Extremely active, fairly introverted with a smaller group of close friends. I was very smart but had trouble in school because I was extremely bored and largely uninterested. I always wanted to be doing something physical and could never sit still. My childhood and adolescence were really tumultuous. By the time I was 13, I was basically the head of the household taking care of my little brother and basically my mother as she had a nervous breakdown, became addicted to drugs and was unable to take care of us. I barely graduated high school due to absences and really didn’t expect to even go to college much less graduate.
Contact Info:
- Address: 12850 GA-9
Suite 2300
Alpharetta, GA 30004 - Website: https://f45training.com/alpharetta/
- Phone: (678) 498-7562
- Email: alpharetta@f45training.com
- Instagram: f45_training_alpharetta
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/f45alpharetta/
- Twitter: @F45_Alpharetta
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/f45-alpharetta-alpharetta
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