Case studies: EnergyWise Health and Fitness Consultants

EnergyWise Health and Fitness Consultants
Fiona Brown
Holyrood Business Park
146 Duddingston Road West
Edinburgh
EH16 4AP.

Tel: 0131 661 2636
Fax: 0131 652 1115

Email:info@energywisefitness.co.uk

Background

Shortly after Fiona Brown’s third son was born she had started to attend exercise classes and found herself looking at the teacher and thinking "I could do that" – she has now been in the fitness industry for eighteen years.

Fiona went down to London and trained with Moves Fitness - a successful exercise to Music Company with a franchise type set up. Initially she worked around her husband’s career, going off to teach classes when he came home from work in the evening to look after their children.

Fiona says, “All the help I needed was provided by Moves Fitness and to this day I am eternally glad that I chose them above the others that were on offer at the time. As the years have gone by I have found myself reflecting on how well the initial training had set me on the road I have now travelled so far.”

Learning by example

Fiona had learned from her ex-boss Private Dentist, Michael Ramage, just how important customer care was and she vowed to carry on with that same level of service where possible.

As her husband’s job moved the family around the country a great deal, Fiona needed to be prepared to set up a class wherever they ended up.

She says, “I found I had a real skill in getting classes off the ground and became famous amongst my peers for saying 'All I need is a cleared wooden floor'."

Seeing an opportunity

When the STEP workout phenomenon came on the scene Fiona knew she had to act fast. She approached a private squash club in Broughty Ferry, Dundee and put a proposal to them that if they tidied out their cupboard to enable her to store the steps, she would pay them a set fee each month and also bring potential new members through their doors.

Fiona recalls, “As soon as they agreed I made an appointment with my bank manager and somehow convinced him that he should lend me £2000 to buy the steps that were going to make me rich. To my surprise he agreed, despite the fact that he knew nothing of the fitness industry, far less how STEP was taking the country by storm.”

“All this was done by sheer enthusiasm and the ability to sell my idea without so much as a Business Plan and I had certainly never heard of a cash flow projection! This was in 1991 and I was an Aerobics Instructor who could count up to four and back down again.”

The next step for Fiona was to hire and train a team of teachers who would either hire the steps or work on commission and so the Caledonian Fitness Team were born. When Fiona left Dundee to return to Edinburgh in 1993 she sold the business to one of the team for £3000 – enough to buy a new set of steps and set up again in Edinburgh.

All the while Fiona had been building a portfolio of Fitness Qualifications and had regularly attended workshops, courses and conventions. Whilst at the Winter Gardens, World Aerobics & Fitness Conference in Blackpool, Fiona decided that the only way she was going back the following year was to be on the stage taking one of the Masterclasses. Fiona taught a Step Masterclass called 'Different Class' and delivered a lecture on setting up new classes, finding the best hall, printing fliers and promoting yourself, and was asked back the following year.

Proud

Six years ago on the weekend of her 40th birthday, Fiona decided it was time to use the Personal Training Qualification she had studied for.

She says, “As I enter my 19th year in the Fitness Industry I am the proud owner of a company which is unique in the way it delivers Personal Fitness Training to the 50+ market and a company which has developed the concept of Pilates which is relevant to our times.”

“Along the way I have had fantastic support from my husband (and sons) and have never been afraid to ask for help wherever I can find it. I can’t speak highly enough of Alasdair Kerr my current Business Gateway adviser and my mentor Pat Denzler for her support and advice.”

Help from Scottish Enterprise

Fiona found the help on offer from Scottish Enterprise valuable and over the years has attended the Personal Enterprise Show, her local Microcredit Group, the Business Investment for Growth Programme, Women Into Business and mentoring.

“The biggest challenge has never been lack of vision or running out of steam but quite definitely a classic example of running a business with Bootstrap Finance. If all I had wanted was a salary and a profit I could have traipsed round clients houses with a few bits of equipment or taken them for a walk round the park…. but then I would only have had a job and not a business.”

“Franchising is most probably the next stage and plans are already in place to achieve this within two years.”

And Fiona’s top tip for other businesswomen?

“Being an entrepreneur is all very well but if you have no other skills you need to find others who have and welcome them into your company with open arms - and a well written contract!”