Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and fitness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Ross Metheny, franchise owner of Eat The Frog Fitness - Kansas, located in Manhattan, KS, USA.

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

Eat The Frog Fitness! We are personalized group training that's heart rate-based functional fitness. It's a small group setting, but our technology allows the live coach to walk the room and motivate and encourage the group as a whole, but then also come off the mic and give individual coaching 1 on 1. So, we get to mesh the best of personal training with the community and environment of a group!

Our members range from 15-83 years old and everywhere in between. We are a low-impact, functional fitness studio, and we are able to meet the member at their fitness level and personalize the session for them.

Tell us about yourself

My wife, Lauren, is from Manhattan and grew up here. I coached college football for five years and had a two-year coaching stint at Kansas State University, which is how I met my wife. We got married in 2017, had a couple of other coaching stops in 2017, and then I got out of coaching, and we ended up in Atlanta. My wife found Eat The Frog Fitness while we were living in northern Georgia and became the head coach at the studio there. That is when I became intrigued by the concept and business model.

Our goal was always to get back to Manhattan at some point to raise our family, and Eat The Frog Fitness was the catalyst to do so. So we bought the darn thing and brought it to Manhattan! We love Manhattan and the people here. Our personal mission statement is to give back to the community we love through the platform of fitness...and I believe we are doing that.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I think our biggest accomplishment is developing an incredible sense of community inside/outside of the studio with our members. Manhattan is a transit town with the military and the university being the two main economic drivers, so to become the place where members from all over the country with different backgrounds can come and feel a sense of community has been special.

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

I would say staffing is the most difficult. Good help is hard to find, and filling in for needed time off can be tough. We have been blessed to have AMAZING coaches and employees and have had a little turnover, but the logistics of coverage when staff needs time off can be tricky, and most of the time, it falls on your shoulders.

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

  1. Be hands-on. Nobody is going to make it GO like you want to make it GO. If you leave it in somebody else's hands, it won't go like you want it to.
  2. If you fall in love with the process...eventually, the process will love you back. Control what you can control and fall in love with the daily grind. You'll look up later down the road and realize how much of an impact you've made.
  3. It's ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE. Relationships matter. It's not the money, not the workload, etc. It's about the people. If you genuinely care and love the people you're serving, the rest will take care of itself.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Don't be afraid to bet on yourself.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.eatthefrogfitness.com/studio-details.aspx?item=1045
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatthefrogfitnessmanhattan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatthefrog_manhattan/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.