In the meantime, there were these couple of trainers, Justin and Siaosi, who were bringing their clients in for testing pretty consistently. One day, during a conversation about their business and vision for the future, I asked Siaosi if they might be interested in taking over FitnessWave and incorporating it into their personal training business. I indicated that I might be looking to give the business away, rather than selling it. At that point, I was already "all done" with the business. I just wasn't passionate about it, was ready to be doing something else, and not finding any buyers. He must have thought I was joking. I mean...who gives a business away?
In May 2011, after many many hours of training and several legal documents, I sold FitnessWave San Diego to Justin and Siaosi for a nominal fee. Since I was on a lease until June 2012, they agreed to run the business out of my office, even though it wasn't particularly convenient for them, since it was about 15 minutes away from their training studio. A few months ago they decided to move the business from my office into their studio, which really just made more sense.
Today Donovan and I visited the new FitnessWave San Diego location at Rawmana Fitness for the first time. I had seen the room where Siaosi and Justin wanted to set up the testing...a room full of weight lifting equipment with ugly walls and cement flooring. The room we walked into today was a far cry from that. They painted the walls a nice chocolate brown (modeled after my office), tiled the floor, moved all the weight lifting equipment into another room, and decorated with all the paintings and artwork that had been hanging in my office. The receptionist desk was there, as well as chairs, shelves and more. It was like they took the best of my office and recreated it there in their back room! I was totally impressed with how awesome they set it up!! Justin did our body fat tests while Siaosi trained three clients out in back.
I always had this idealized vision of the "perfect" way to run FitnessWave. It would be jointly run by a personal trainer, a nutritionist, and a business person. The business person would do the marketing and business end of things, the trainer would test clients and maybe train them, and the nutritionist would put together a program for them and support them in their goals. Clients would benefit from an all-around solution. Seeing FitnessWave in Rawmana's studio today really made me realize what an awesome setup they have going. They are trainers, whose clients now get the added benefit of built-in fitness testing. Other clients of FitnessWave can benefit from their personal training services. And they're talking about bringing in a nutritionist a couple of days a week to complete the picture. I think they are really setting themselves up for a huge success, and I am so excited for them!
Siaosi tells me all the time how grateful he is for the gift I gave them. It's really gratifying to see how well they're doing with the business, and how bright their future looks. And really, it's them who are giving me the gift of taking care of my baby and making sure my clients are well taken care of so that I can pursue my next career with peace of mind!
1 comment:
Iris, you continually blow me away. I think of all the people who your generosity effects (and I know I don't even know the half of it)... you're a rare and amazing lady. It's such a gift to have you as a friend and example to me!
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