Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and fitness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Rick Mayo, founder and CEO of Alloy Personal Training Franchise, located in Roswell, GA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I'm the founder of Alloy Personal Training Fitness Franchise. I have customized personal training programs since 1992 based on a straightforward philosophy: people who get personalized coaching get better results.

Today, the Alloy personal training program is among the most effective collection of personal training and fitness assessment programs available globally for helping people who want to look and feel their absolute best. The Alloy systems, platforms, and know-how have served millions of members worldwide in thousands of fitness facilities. Our innovative and results-driven approach to personal training has caught on with entrepreneurs and fitness enthusiasts across the country seeking a fitness franchise business model that works.

Tell us about yourself

I’ve been operating a personal training business for over 30 years. In the past decade, our personal training team began helping major brands, and independent gyms, health clubs, and fitness businesses worldwide deploy personal training systems through a licensing model under the Alloy personal training brand.

We’ve helped many personal training businesses, gyms, and health club owners improve their fitness businesses. We are all proud of the personal training success that our clients have achieved. You would think this journey would be enough for one lifetime, but in the past few years, I kept asking myself how our personal training brand and training team could do more to meet our mission.

That is why along with my team at Alloy, we concluded that moving into a personal training franchise concept was the answer. So we took the next step in our fitness journey with the launch of the Alloy Personal Training Franchise solution.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

First and foremost, I would have to say the people—the incredible team we have built, our clients, our talented business partners, and our franchisees. Plus, we just reached a significant milestone. We just awarded our 50th franchise and could not be more excited! We are now in 12 states and growing quickly.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

When it comes to building any business, the best thing you can do long-term is to generate trust - both within your company and outside of it. While building trust takes time, it's an essential pursuit that can truly impact the future successful trajectory of your company.

This is especially true in the franchise world. Because franchises reflect a larger business, focusing on trust is an excellent way to build a relationship with the parent company and develop a reputation for excellence and reliability in your community. We pride ourselves on being a trusted franchise operation that genuinely cares about its customers, franchise owners, and partners here at Alloy.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

In the words of author Clarissa Pinkola Estes, “Go out in the woods, go out. If you don’t go out in the woods, nothing will ever happen, and your life will never begin.”

I believe this is some of the best advice. Attending a world-class business school is terrific, but it won’t give you the soft skills needed to thrive in a real-life business environment. As it turns out, those things are learned outside the classroom, outside the bounds of a textbook, and outside the reassuring guidance of a teacher. The most critical skills for creating a successful business are successful relationships, leading with integrity, and how to be a manager people actually want to follow.

I recommend would-be founders get out and have real-world experiences. There’s no better way to learn the things you’ll need to take into the office. But, more importantly, there’s no better way to fashion yourself into the type of person who has the integrity, purpose, spirit, and drive to run a successful company.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Andrew Yang, entrepreneur and Forbes contributor, said, “What you need most to start a business is courage. Conviction. Confidence. Belief. Heart. Spirit. Will. Perseverance.”

When we set out to build our Alloy programming, we stayed true to our core values to drive change and keep it simple. As a result, our team of physiologists, therapists, dieticians, and other advisory board behavioral specialists has created a program where cutting-edge science meets real, in-the-trenches experience. Our team can confidently say that we built our brand on conviction around the gap in the market, courage to be the first of our kind, belief in our systems, the heart to carry out the mission, and the spirit and will to see it through.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://alloyfranchise.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlloyPTFranchise/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alloyptfranchise/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/1TeamAlloy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alloypersonaltraining/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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