Today we’d like to introduce you to Gary Deagle.
Hi Gary , please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started as a personal trainer at Golds Gym Newport News (now known as One Life Fitness) in December 2005 when I was 20 years old. After working as a personal trainer for 6 years myself and one other employee left and started a 24 hour gym. It was called Your Time Fitness and over 4 years we grew that to three locations in Coastal Virginia. But, I found myself not loving it. I noticed the same problems I saw when I was a personal trainer at One Life Fitness… Most people joined the gym and never used it more than a month and eventually cancelled within the year. Unless they had a trainer, which helped a lot by providing guidance, structure, and accountability. The problem with personal training though is it can be very expensive.
This lead me to selling my half of the 24 hour gym to leave and start a gym on my own in 2014 that I was passionate about. This was my current gym, Coastal Strength & Fitness, which is a group training gym. I built it with the decade of knowledge of seeing that most people did not find success with a regular gym, and set out to provide the guidance, structure, and accountability personal training could provide, but in a more affordable group setting.
Here we are 12 years later and going strong.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Nothing is ever smooth! Some struggles along the way were sticking to what I believed in as far as our exercise programming. Figuring out the business side of things to be successful from finances to marketing to operations.
When you are an independent local business the biggest challenge is that you are basically guessing with everything and only have one data point.
It can be quite scary!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a group training gym for men and women aged 40 and over. We help people have a clear plan, real coaching, and an environment that makes getting strong, healthy, and confident finally doable.
If someone has really struggled with being consistent and sticking with a fitness habit, we are the gym for them.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
From early on I hired coaches/mentors and it is an investment that was vital to my success. My advice is find someone that has done what you are trying to do.
Having them and a group of other like minded individuals to share experiences with is vital to success and preventing burn out.
Finding groups online of other gym owners along with a small network of local business owners as worked well for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.coastalfitnessva.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coastalfitnessva
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coastalfitnessVA/
