For as long as I’ve been working in the Australian fitness industry I’ve known Andrew Simmons.
When I first met and started working alongside Andrew, he was a bright-eyed buck, with a very clear and abundant passion for helping people integrate fitness into their lives. Back then, Andrew was a lecturer for Australian Fitness Network, teaching people who loved being fit how to turn that passion into a successful career as a fitness professional. Those were the days when personal training wasn’t even really invented, let alone being a viable career option. In fact, I think Andrew’s aerobics outfits were still in the ‘regularly worn’ part of his wardrobe back in those days; yes, it was all quite a few years ago – probably about 13 to be concise.
Fast forward to 2013 and these days Andrew Simmons is still the same bright-eyed enthusiast, overflowing with wisdom and energy, and still on a mission to help people carve out a career in the fitness industry. But these days, things have changed for Andrew. Dramatically, in fact.
Andrew is now a husband and a father to four kids; and boasts an impressive franchising empire that he has been successfully growing and developing ever since those days when we used to chat between lectures, in the Network kitchen.
Vision Personal Training is Australia’s largest PT studio franchise, with 47 studios up and down the eastern seaboard. Locations are predominantly found in NSW, but also exist in VIC and QLD, which are the two states where Andrew is dedicating his next expansion efforts.
‘Les Mills, wholeheartedly, was the catalyst for me thinking I could start up a franchise business,’ explains Andrew. ‘They gave me the practical application of understanding the benefits of systems. Them, as well as reading The E Myth by Michael Gerber.’
‘It really is all about timing you know’, he adds. ‘Because at the same time as Les Mills and reading that book, my (now) ex-girlfriend’s father – who was a successful businessman – sat me down and told me I had a job, not a business. It was like my worlds were all colliding.’
‘He said to me, as a personal trainer I had a glorified job, not a business, because it couldn’t operate without me being right there and in it. He said I could never really earn a living with what I was doing, and that flabbergasted me.’
‘At the time, I was a sole trader personal trainer, paying rent to the gym, lecturing for the Network/ACHPER Fitness Leader courses, presenting for Les Mills and invoicing all different sources (rather than just one source). I called myself Andrew Simmons Personal Training and a company called AS Fitness Pty Ltd and I thought I had a business. So that was a real eye opener for me because I realised, if I wanted to stop working crazy hours and be tied to the hours dictated by my clients, I needed to create a business with systems, where other people were doing the work for me.’
‘So for me, creating systems was never really about franchising. It was mainly about me saying “I want to have some employees” and then the franchise thing came way down the track.’
‘Relinquishing control, especially from a sole trader set up, was massive for me’, explains Andrew. ‘Especially when you’re a control freak ‘D-type’ in the DISC behavior style.’
‘I did it only by relying on the systems. I really had to trust they would work and even today I still have to trust they will work. In order to be able to create leverage but still maintain control you need robust systems. So people, literally, cannot fail.’
‘As a result, the people who work for you have to go through a process and they can’t get to different stages without going through those processes successfully.’
And it was the success of those systems that led to the franchising of Vision Personal Training.
‘A common challenge for personal trainers and studio owners is if you don’t provide your trainers with the opportunity to grow then they will leave, and probably take your clients with them. I think that’s the biggest challenge PT business owners face. I realised that if I wanted Vision Personal Training Caringbah to grow, I needed my trainers to have the opportunity to grow themselves (i.e. have their own businesses). Then, they knew if they hung around for a couple of years I would show them how they could have their own business. And that was how it all came about. If I didn’t provide that, then they’d most likely have left after two or so years.’
‘I see it today,’ Andrew says. ‘People come through the system getting qualified as PTs and they have a dream that in X period of time they want to run their own PT business.’
In order to successfully create your own fitness business Andrew recommends the following:
‘Focus on your people. It depends on what level you’re at, but at the end of the day you are nothing without your people. And that might be your clients or your staff. You have to get massive results for your clients, but if you are going to become an employer then your most important clients become your trainers. People are everything. You have to take care of them. In order of priority it’s: people, process, clients. Get the right people. Train them to learn the right processes. And then they will take care of the clients.’
‘Secondly, you need to work harder on yourself than you do your job. A business will never outpace its leader. If you want to grow your business you have to become a better leader. That’s been an interesting challenge for me over time. Sometimes you have to become softer and sometimes harder. It’s only now really that I am getting my head around franchising and all that it requires. I don’t let things affect me so personally anymore, it’s all about leadership and being open to learning more.’
So what’s the biggest challenge that fitness business owners face today? According to Andrew it’s work ethic and the hours required for success.
‘When we started, we got into this industry because we wanted to help people and we loved doing so,’ he says. ‘But now, a lot of people are sold on the concept of making easy money from PT, just from doing a quick course. In some ways they’re sold the dream but the reality is that it’s just not like that. The early mornings and the late nights can be really challenging. You have to love that lifestyle. I say this all the time, but I honestly don’t feel like I have been to work since 1992 because I love what I do so much!’
‘And that’s’ the key for success. The number one thing is choose something you love and you will never feel like you work again. Choose a career that you enjoy and you won’t ever suffer from Monday-itis; there’s no such thing as Hump Days or TGIF. You just get in and love every day.’
Andrew believes his life today sees him as living out two dreams simultaneously:
- He gets to help and see people change their lives, and change their body.
- He gets to help people have amazing careers.
Interestingly, Andrew believes that in order to be successful, a balanced life is not something you should strive for. ‘I don’t think any successful people really have balance. In order to be successful in any part of your life, if you’re going to be really good at something then you’re not a balanced person. I think the work/life balance thing is a myth; I’m not sure it’s possible to lead a balanced life if you want to be successful at something. Life is all about opportunity cost. In order to be really successful at something you have to forgo things. As I see it, that’s reality.’
Find out more about Vision Personal Training and Andrew Simmons at www.visionpt.com.au
Article written by Analee Matthews for What’s New In Fitness Magazine – Spring 2013 edition.