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So, you want to build a 7-figure gym?
Here’s what this gym owner did to dominate the industry...
John Franklin
December 13, 2024
What’s up Gym World?
19 years ago, Luka Hocevar opened Slovenia’s first small coaching gym. Then, he moved to the U.S. and had to start from scratch.
For the past 16 years, he’s been running Vigor Ground Fitness and Performance and dominating the industry:
🌟 A million followers across social
💪 Transformed over 8,000 clients
📰 Featured in Men’s Health, HBO, FOX, and USA Today
🎙️ Created the Vigor Ground Fitness and Business Summit, one of the industry’s most respected events for coaches and gym owners
🏀🏈 Coached thousands of athletes in the NBA, NFL, UFC, and MLB
📚 Hosted 80+ seminars, certifications, and conferences featuring top industry coaches and presenters
We brought Luka on the pod, and he shared his best tips on what he’d do to build a 7-figure business all over again.
Here’s what he said:
The early days
Luka is a former professional basketball player in the elite European leagues and the NBA Summer Pro League. Inspired by the impact his coaches had on him, he started coaching athletes in Slovenia 20 years ago to make a difference in their lives.
At the time, he noticed no one in Slovenia was offering athlete-focused training, and small coaching gyms didn’t exist either, which meant Luka had no examples to follow. But he dreamed of opening a gym, so he looked to gyms in the U.S. and became obsessed with studying their systems and processes.
Luka says he learned about marketing by reading tons of books and articles and focused on being a great coach to drive word of mouth and referrals.
In 2006, he opened Slovenia’s first small coaching gym and pioneered both athlete training and small gyms in the country.
VigorGround is still open and running today in a 2,200 sq ft space.
Shortly after, Luka moved to Seattle to join his fiancée and had to start from scratch. He began coaching at LA Fitness for just $6 an hour. It was tough, but he learned:
How to talk to people
Build relationships
Deliver results
Make sales
In another podcast, Luka said he even broke West Coast sales records while he was there.
By 2008, he left LA Fitness and launched Vigor Ground Fitness and Performance.
Today, the gym is 8,500 sq ft and offers:
Large group team training
Small group training
Semi-private training
Memberships start at $227 a month. They also have a 30-day trial for $197, which includes access to all services, nutrition guidance, and an injury performance assessment.
What it takes to build a 7-figure gym
Luka has spent 20 years building two gyms across two countries and becoming a leader in the industry by:
Gaining a million followers
Transforming 8,000+ lives
Getting featured in major publications
Coaching thousands of pro athletes
Creating one of the top summits for gym owners
He knows what works, so here’s what he’d do again and again to build a strong business: 👇
Surround yourself with the best
If you want to be a top gym owner, you need to understand how the best got there.
That’s what Luka has done from the start—studying and applying the systems and processes of top operators.
He suggests two things:
Collect Role Models
Since moving to the U.S., Luka’s attended 300+ events packed with industry leaders sharing their expertise. These events helped him:
Surround himself with the best minds
Identify role models
Connect with them
Ask the right questions
He recommends asking role models what they focused on in their first 5-10 years. Those early years are never easy, so they help paint a clearer picture of what it takes to succeed.
Hunt for Skill Sets
Like Andy McCloy, Luka thinks a big part of his success comes from great coaching. He looked to his role models, identified their skills, and worked on developing them himself:
Communication: Listening and asking questions
Problem-Solving: Helping people get results
Technical Skills: Understanding and applying science and metrics
Use reliable marketing channels
When Luka moved to Seattle, he didn’t know anything about marketing. But at LA Fitness, he accidentally found a way to leverage sales conversations to build connections.
If a prospect wasn’t ready to join, he’d ask for their email and share free resources like:
An 8-week training and nutrition plan (in a Word doc)
Educational articles he found online
He did this consistently for 1.5 years.
This worked because:
Luka became the go-to expert for fitness and nutrition.
He built a list of hundreds of leads for free.
When he opened his gym, he already had a big list of prospects.
Those prospects trusted him through the relationship he built.
Many signed up for the 2-week trial he offered.
Luka says email still works insanely well for him. He advises gym owners stick to 1-2 reliable marketing channels to get leads. Oskar Johed and Jack Wheeler, for example, have used only paid ads for 10 years.
Get in front of people
Top gym owners build awareness by:
Becoming a local expert
Delivering value through education, entertainment, or inspiration
Getting people to talk about them
Luka built his name by hosting nutrition seminars for the community at LA Fitness. He’d post a flyer with a topic and key takeaways, then spend an hour sharing his knowledge.
He got 9 people at his first seminar, and 3 signed up. At another, he signed up 20. Seminars weren’t allowed, but LA Fitness let him keep doing them once when they saw he was bringing in clients.
This gave Luka an edge because:
He was the only one doing it.
People in the gym and community saw him as an expert.
His clients’ results made others want to work with him.
If you want to become the go-to person in your area and attract clients to your gym, Luka suggests focusing on being “3-mile famous.”
Now, Luka shares his knowledge through the Vigor Ground Fitness and Business Summit and other exclusive seminars and conferences with industry leaders like Mark Fisher.
It’s a 3-day even for gym owners focused on building profitable businesses and celebrated its 10th anniversary this year.
Think outside the box
More companies are focusing on employee health and well-being, and Luka was ahead of the trend. In 2014, he reached out to local businesses and offered to teach employees about nutrition and healthy habits during lunch hours.
He charged up to $4k per business but says he probably could’ve charged more since they were willing to pay.
Sometimes, only 2 people showed up, but it was worth it because:
He gave away valuable insights.
He proved he could help.
He built goodwill.
He collected thousands of emails to follow up with later.
We’ve seen corporate wellness programs add thousands to a gym owner’s bottom line. Ben Fogel’s gym makes an extra $120k a year from them.
Focus on your service
Luka finds inspiration in how restaurants operate. His favorite book is Setting the Table by Danny Meyer, the founder of restaurants like Shake Shack.
In the book, Meyer highlights two skills he looks for when hiring staff:
Emotional (hospitality)
Technical (job-specific)
A great restaurant needs good food and even better staff. Meyer prioritizes hiring people who are 51% emotional because connecting with guests is central to great service. It’s also easier to teach technical skills than emotional ones.
Joey Welling built a 7-figure gym by focusing on a strong culture of hospitality.
Similarly, in gyms, coaches define the experience and shape the service. That’s why Luka hires as many 51%ers—people with these 5 emotional skills:
Optimistic Warmth – Genuine kindness and thoughtfulness
Intelligence – Curiosity and a love of learning
Work Ethic – A natural drive to do their best
Empathy – Understanding and connecting with others
Self-Awareness & Integrity – Taking responsibility and doing what’s right
Luka says people skills matter more to him than having every certification.
What you need to know 💡
Over 20 years, Luka has established himself as a respected name in the industry.
While he runs a 7-figure business now, it’s the smart things he did early on (and for a long time) that got him here:
He learned from the best in the industry.
He attended every conference he could.
He became a trusted expert in fitness and nutrition.
He used reliable marketing channels.
He focused on delivering high-quality service.
For aspiring gym owners, Luka’s advice is simple:
Set a clear goal.
Know what you want and why.
Surround yourself with people who’ve done it before.
Keep learning.
Be realistic about what it takes to succeed.
hope this helps,
j
📣 P.S. If you found this valuable, share it with a gym owner who could benefit.