This gym owner grew from 3 clients to $700K+ a year

What’s up Gym World,

Mateo was in Toronto last weekend and met up with Tim Concannon from Nothing Stronger Gym and Sports Medicine. Tim runs the 1,500 sq ft gym with his wife, offering small group personal training for both athletes and adults.

But back in 2020, he was training clients 1-on-1 out of a client’s 200 sq ft basement. He expanded twice, changed the programming three times, and didn’t pay rent for two years. Now, he has nearly 150 members and is running at a 45% profit margin.

So, Mateo brought him on the pod to hear how it all happened—and what the business looks like today.

Here’s what Tim told him: 👇

The origin story

Tim met his wife back in 2000. They were best friends in college and would always talk about how cool it’d be to own a gym one day. Even back then, Tim would write down ideas and map out his dream gym, including:

• the look and feel of the space

• the colors he wanted to use

• a logo he had in mind

In 2013, Tim decided to run a personal training business while still working at a health club. He rented a racquetball court for $200 a month and started training clients 1-on-1.

Tim thought he knew how to run a business, but admits he really didn’t. He wasn’t growing, and his uncle—an entrepreneur—told him to stick with the health club and build his client base. So he shut down TC Training that same year and spent the next 7 years doing just that.

About six months before COVID, one of Tim’s longtime clients was raising money for the special needs camp he’d volunteered at for 17 years. As a thank you for everything he’d done, she gave him $1,000, and Tim used it to buy her a heart monitor and a TRX system.

Afterward, she kept asking Tim where to get small gym equipment. When he asked why, she said she wanted to build a home gym in her 200 sq ft basement. Tim offered to help set it up, and they outfitted the space with:

• Dumbbells

• Kettlebells

• A squat rack

• Turf

When COVID hit, the health club shut down and Tim lost his job. He still had the dream of running his own gym and thought about asking his longtime client if he could train people out of her basement—but he was too nervous to bring it up.

Funny enough, she beat him to it and pitched the idea herself. And to make it less weird, they agreed to tell people she was Tim’s aunt.

So in March 2020, Tim texted a bunch of people in his network and began training clients 1-on-1 for $30 a session.

Expanding the gym

Within a few months, Tim was getting more clients and switched to 2-on-1 and later 3-on-1 training to keep up with demand. By November 2020, the gym was packed, and he started thinking about moving into a bigger space.

But instead, his longtime client offered to expand Nothing Stronger into an unfinished storage area. So they shut the gym down for a week and:

• took down a wall

• raised the HVAC

• added AC

• doubled the square footage

Tim stayed in the basement gym for two more years. He grew to 69 members and was getting tons of referrals, but didn’t have the space to take everyone in.

So in November 2022, he moved into a bigger facility, where Nothing Stronger still is today.

What Nothing Stronger looks like today

Nothing Stronger is a 1,500 sq ft facility with:

• 1,000 sq ft of open training space (laid out in a square)

• Two handicap-accessible washrooms

• 300 sq ft for Tim’s wife’s sports medicine practice

Tim keeps the business model simple. He offers two programs:

1. Small group personal training (up to 6 people) for adults

2. Sports performance (also up to 6 people) for youth athletes

One coach runs both programs at the same time, and adults and athletes train together in the same group of six. (This is explained during a phone call with each prospect.)

Tim’s passionate about helping people with special needs, injuries, or serious health issues. His time at the health club and special needs camp gave him the experience to support them in the gym.

Today, there are 143 members at Nothing Stronger, and they can train either:

• 2x a week for $90/week, or

• 3x a week for $120/week

He runs 48 sessions a week with an 85% utilization rate.

Tim gets people in the door through:

• Referrals

• Google reviews

• His gym website

He doesn’t get many leads from Instagram, but when someone new follows him, he uses a sell by chat strategy to start the conversation.

He also uses a gym marketing tool called Gym Lead Machine to automate lead follow-up and simplify the sales process:

• A prospect fills out a form on the website with their name, email, and phone number

• They instantly get a text: “Hey [name]! Thanks for checking in. How’d you hear about us?”

• If they reply, Tim or a coach keeps the conversation going

• They get a phone call to talk about goals, pricing, what training looks like, and to collect credit card info (not charged yet)

• They come in for a free trial week to build rapport

• At the end, they can choose a membership or opt out

Tim has four staff, including:

• 1 full-time coach

• 1 part-time coach

• 1 member experience manager

• 1 Doctor of Athletic Training (Tim’s wife)

And yes—this time around, he’s actually paying rent.

Your itty-bitty summary

Tim dreamed of opening a gym for years. And after 7 years of building his client base, he finally launched one in a longtime client’s 200 sq ft basement in 2020.

From there, he expanded twice—and believes that early momentum came from people who believed in his brand and mission. He credits his success to:

• An intimate setting with small group training

• A space that felt exclusive, unique, and honestly… pretty cool

• Great coaching and consistent customer service

• Personal follow-up through texts, calls, emails, and 1-on-1 time

Now, Nothing Stronger runs out of a 1,500 sq ft space with 143 members and a 45% profit margin.

When Mateo asked what’s next, Tim said he has three main goals:

• Niche down and serve more clients with special needs by making the program more accessible

• Drive more revenue through the sports medicine side of the biz

• Reach 150 members

For more insights, be sure to watch or listen to Tim’s full interview on Gym World—and don’t forget to subscribe for future episodes.

adios,

j

📣 P.S. If you found this interesting, share it with another gym owner who’d think so too.