Humans are meant to move. Physical activity and good diets keep our bodies working as finely tuned machines. Not doing so, has unhealthy conseqences. Modern society has allowed for increasing inactivity in most people. Health and wellness clubs in communities play a vital role in helping their members remain motivated to pursue personal fitness goals that fit their lifestyle and share ideas on workouts, diets, and overall healthy living.
Imagine being Justin and Brittany growing up in New Mexico, playing in the outdoors there and becoming committed to healthy living. They also had a dream of moving north to Colorado when they could find the right opportunity to own an athletic club. Reality came to pass when they purchased San Luis Valley Health and Wellness in 2015, an existing club, but in need of many repairs, from a leaky roof to fixing the swimming pool, to updating 30 year old equipment.
Their vision also included bringing in new high tech bikes and treadmills to allow members to ‘go places’ where they have not ridden or run before via virtual reality screens in front of them. Ultimately the upgrades would help members create good gym habits while maintaining a regular routine in a busy world. Success in owning a gym would also require a need to change business practices to meet the needs of existing and new members.
The San Luis Valley SBDC helped them in several ways even before purchasing the club. The SBDC, according to Justin, “helped give us a feel for the business environment in Alamosa. We wanted to know how well we would be supported by other business members in the community and also get a better feel for the demographics here. After purchasing the club, they helped us find the right contacts for all the information we needed whether locally, or around the state to set up our gym properly with business licenses and Federal ID number.”
One critical thing they helped us do was to get a social media intern from Adams State which worked out well for setting up our Twitter Page and Facebook. Our cost was minimal for our return.”
