Laurie Ames* has been a certified personal training and business owner for over 13 years. Due to life events, she had to kick her business into high gear. Hear the ups and downs of running a fitness business. Bonus! Get tips to start the New Year right. *Full disclosure, Laurie is my very awesome cousin.
Originally published Jan 1, 2019
Transcript link (uncorrected machine translation)
Laurie Ames* has been a certified personal training and business owner for over 13 years. Due to life events, she had to kick her business into high gear. Hear the ups and downs of running a fitness business. Bonus! Get tips to start the New Year right.
*Full disclosure, Laurie is my very awesome cousin.
[00:00:10] Welcome back to the I Am Virago podcast, where we get real about the struggle, drop the occasional F-bomb, and hear how amazing Virago women imperfectly navigate the world around them.
[00:00:20] To kick off 2019. Right. We're talking to Laurie Ames, a certified personal trainer
and owner of her own garage. Jim aims to be fit near Kenmore, Washington. Hear how
she made a mid career move to fitness 13 years ago and after her recent divorce, how
she repositioned and grew her business to help bridge the income gap. Also get great
advice for kicking off your own New Year's fitness goals. Hint slow and easy wins the
race. So grab that cup of ambition and let's get started.
[00:00:54] My name is Laurie Ames.
[00:00:56] And to pay the bills, I own a garage gym called Ames to be fit and I am a
certified personal trainer.
[00:01:05] And what are you passionate about?
[00:01:07] I am passionate about people, health and fitness.
[00:01:13] You said you have a garage gym. What does that mean?
[00:01:18] A garage gym really means just that.
[00:01:21] It is my garage. I have converted it into a little studio gym. It's not fancy, but it
gets the job done.
[00:01:32] And to your certified personal trainer. Yes. OK. And so what does your
business look like?
[00:01:39] Well, I provide one on one personal session. I provide small group personal
sessions.
[00:01:47] And then I have added bootcamps, which is anywhere from four to 10
people.
[00:01:56] It just depends on the day. And then that's something I've recently added has
been a great addition to my business.
[00:02:03] Who is your typical client? It really varies.
[00:02:08] I would say most of the people that come to me are people that walk into a
gym and have no idea what to do. That's my typical client, somebody that is coming to
me and I get to be the teacher. They're changing the term personal trainer to personal
teacher now. And if I have succeeded in my job, I have taught somebody how to sort of
spread their wings and fly. Go to the gym on your own time and do the work we do here
together. If I've done my job well, people can do that.
[00:02:39] Interesting. That's always my goal. Personal trainers are expensive, so
people can't afford to see me. You know, everyday they need to know what to do on
their own. So I teach them. And some people don't like to go to the gym.
[00:02:51] They like to be in the privacy of my Grosh gym. And there aren't a lot of
mirrors. A lot of people like that, too.
[00:03:00] A lot of my clients are our moms.
[00:03:02] I do have a broad range of clients from early 20s to my oldest is seventy five.
[00:03:08] Seventy five. And I have men and women, if it's a broad range. And I have I
have trained a few youth too, but I'm not a lot.
[00:03:18] And how do you find most of your clients?
[00:03:21] Well, I have never paid for advertising. My when I first started out 13 years
ago, I used Craigslist and that was pretty effective.
[00:03:32] Facebook. Facebook.
[00:03:33] The biggie. Somebody will put out to a Bockl or Canmore chat. You know,
looking for a personal trainer. And one of my former clients or current clients will say
aims to be fit. And that's really been incredible for my business.
[00:03:48] So word of mouth sounds like it's been very strong.
[00:03:52] Word of mouth is. It's been amazing. Yes. And, you know, I know you provide
incentives for people to refer somebody, you know, so that my existing clients and
social media.
[00:04:03] So you just said you've been doing this for 13 years, 13 years.
[00:04:09] What is the biggest lesson for them that you've learned over 13 years of
having this business?
[00:04:15] I think afflictions are that you can be a mom and you can own a business.
[00:04:22] And as hard as it can be to juggle it all under one roof.
[00:04:26] That's also the blessing of it. Being a personal trainer and working from my
home has been one of the best gifts ever. It did come with some struggles. When I
started the business, I was married. And so some of the lessons have really been
taught to me in the last two to three years. And that is, how do you go from taking a
business that was supplemental income and taking that supplemental income and trying
to make it a full time bread winning? You pay all the bills job, which isn't easy to do for a
personal trainer. We have a lot of dead hours in the middle of the day. So being
creative, trying to find ways to tap into a different market right now, I kind of have my
eye on the senior population of that population. Tends to like exercise around noon,
1:00, 2:00 in the afternoon.
[00:05:16] So that's something I'm kind of tapping into just to fill the void.
[00:05:21] You work mornings and we were eating.
[00:05:23] Yeah. You're having to reassess the makeup of your clientele in order to fill
those mostly. And listeners may be hearing a little bit of a stutter and a delay. We are in
a windstorm here up in the Pacific Northwest. And so our Internet is a little bit slow
today. So apologies if you're having a few delays.
[00:05:45] So tell me about a recent professional or personal win that you're excited
about the very.
[00:05:53] Isolated case, but it is something that happens a lot. You you get a client who
comes to you and they have sort of self diagnosed, what's wrong with them? In this
particular instance, it was a at the time 73 year old client that came to me. She's now
seventy five. But she diagnosed herself as having hit problem. And so I took her at that
word. So when she told me that at certain exercises hurt, we really didn't continue with
those specific exercises. So we didn't find ourselves as making a lot of progress. I'm not
typically going to have a 70, 75 year old client pushing through pain like I might have
you push through pain. It's a little different. And so we went on like this for a year with
really no progress at all. And so I told this particular client that she needed to go to the
doctor. So she had self diagnosed. She had never had a doctor tell her that her hip was
bad. And I told her she had to go to the doctor. And I said, in the meantime, for this next
month, all we're gonna do for your two, 10 week, 30 minute sessions is stretch.
[00:07:01] That's it. We're not going to strength train. We're not going to do anything
else but stretch one week in. She had no hip pain. And of course, she thought I was just
a miracle worker. And we all know the power of stretching. When you have a 30 minute
session, you have somebody that isn't a real fast mover. There's not a lot of time to get
stuff done. So we didn't spend more than five minutes stretching each a procession and
taking that from five minutes a session to 30 minutes was a game changer. And it's
been six months and she's had no hip pain. I've got her in her own stretching routine
now, and it seems really obvious looking back on it now. And I should have really dug in
more to who said you had this hip pain. How do you know that kind of thing? But I know
a lot of seniors with hip pain, and I just took it for what it was. She goes to the doctor
about a month after she finally got in and the doctor said, you've nothing wrong with
your hip.
[00:07:58] Your your trainer was perfectly right. You should be stretching. And so there
we go.
[00:08:02] That was a huge win for it for me, but mostly for her. It was amazing. Just to
see her walk around with no pain is amazing, Stretch. People say it starts. All right.
[00:08:16] Tell me.
[00:08:17] Tell me about a recent professional or personal struggle that you've been
dealing with other than not being able to do an unassisted pull up?
[00:08:29] I have to say, probably taking this business and making it a full time job.
Yeah. Business that is paying the bills. And it's it's a struggle because, you know, it's it's
closely tied to the economy. This is not a necessary expense for people. This is an
added expense. It's expensive. And, you know, it's not easy to work 40 hours a week
when you're a trainer. So just it's really easy to panic, say, December, not the busiest of
months. Is that a school? Parents don't have care for them. It really slows down and
planning for that and not freaking out. It's really easy to freak out when you have a slow
week or a slow month. Oh, my gosh, is it over? And I just have to learn to ride the wave.
Yeah. And I know it just ebbs and flows. It's going to die down and it's going to pick up.
And I have to roll with it. So really just taking it and getting it to a solid business that I
can rely on financially. That's that's been the hardest part.
[00:09:36] What advice would you have for someone starting out in this personal
teaching business tend to not be afraid to try something different?
[00:09:51] I have never enjoyed being in front of a crowd. I don't like to be the center of
attention. Therefore, I never top classes, ever group classes terrified me. And I have a
lot of peers that will say, you know, group trainings where the money is. If you can train
for more people at one, you know, you're gonna make more money than one on one
time.
[00:10:11] And quite honestly, there's only one of me and, you know, eight to 10 hours
in the day. I can only get so much done in a day. So I really avoided teaching multiple
people at once. And my current partner really he encouraged me to do boot camps.
[00:10:29] And it's been one of the best add ons to my business really ever if I get a lot
of joy from it. That community that has been built has been incredible.
[00:10:40] And know I'm disappointed that I avoided that for so long. Out of fear.
[00:10:46] And what. What really helped you get over that fear?
[00:10:51] I, I just did it.
[00:10:53] I did it and I got really kind of high from it. It was a need energy and, you
know, I like my one and one's a lot, too.
[00:11:03] But the bootcamps just have a different feel and they're not really bootcamps.
They're really like circuit classes. And I think boot camp scares people, but it's what
we've all just called it.
[00:11:14] I just did it. I'm just kind of worked out.
[00:11:18] I would have won a day or more if I could. I had the people I would add and
add an add there. There are a lot of fun.
[00:11:25] Well, and you mentioned that your partner has been encouraging you. So it
sounds like you have a good support system to help grow your business.
[00:11:34] Absolutely. Well, I mean, the support system, not only is it is it my partner,
but it's my clients. I mean, they're they're so supportive, but my partner really pushes
me. He's kind of an idea guy, and he's almost overwhelming with the idea sometimes.
And I and I just shut down.
[00:11:51] You just have to give me one thing at a time and let me guess, you want it for
a second. But, you know, he's like, well, let's do sports camps and let's do you know, all
these all these things that your daughter does. Crew let's do a crew boot camp and it's
all great.
[00:12:03] But I, I'm having a hard time finding how to organize all of that. I don't have a
business where people can flow in and out all day. It's not an open gym. This is my
home. And so I have to be like, I can't just say we're open at 5:00 a.m. come when you
can or or we have a class at 6:00 a.m. show.
[00:12:23] You can I need to know if there's gonna be people. And so that that's a
challenge that sort of puts a roadblock for me as far as adding on other things, you
know, with you. You have to be working with the parents, too. You have to figure out a
way to get the kids there back because they canceled drive. So lots of little obstacles
like that that I really would like to work through.
[00:12:46] Ok, so what what is your plan for 2019 on the business front?
[00:12:52] First and foremost, is getting a certification in the senior population. Oh, wow.
I feel like it's really important to have a little more education there with the senior
population. Medicine comes into play. Dizziness. You know, that kind of thing. So just to
be more educated on on that end, I think that filling my daytime hours from noon to
three with that would be really amazing. I would I would very much enjoy that. So that is
one thing. And then know my my daughter is 14 and she does crew.
[00:13:32] And I think it would be kind of fun to tap into that a little bit. So I haven't
explored that too much. I would like to work with the coach a little bit where that could
take me and then I wouldn't mind adding a few more bootcamps or group AB labs.
Those are my three top goals, tapping into the crew, the senior, and then adding more
boots.
[00:13:52] All right. Well, since this is a New Year's, we're going to this podcast will air
close to the New Year. What advice do you have for those people who may be doing
that New Year's resolution and saying this year, 2013 is the year I'm going to get
healthy? What advice do you have for them?
[00:14:13] My first piece of advice would be to not bite off more than you can chew. I
see a lot of people will reach out to me for their first time and say, I want to see you
three times a week and I want to work out three times on my own. And they're usually
the ones that don't quite succeed. Just start small. You know, I think that location is
everything. If you're going to see a trainer, you're gonna go to the gym. It needs to be
close. It needs to be convenient.
[00:14:42] Take out all the obstacles and then, you know, working out with a friend.
Having that accountability. Having a trainer that, you know, is standing there waiting for
you to walk in the door. That makes a big difference. It really does. I enjoy that
accountability personally of saying, hey, hey, Tim, we're working out at 10:00 today. And
I have to do it. So accountability is everything. And get one thing in place. If if it's food,
you know, dial it in. If you need that exercise in your life, add it small and do what you
love.
[00:15:14] Don't do something you don't enjoy doing. Life is too short for that. Exercise
should be fun and enjoyable.
[00:15:21] I've heard that.
[00:15:22] I've heard that it might hurt a little bit. It should be fun. And you should want
to come back.
[00:15:29] Excellent. Excellent. Thank you. So part of this podcast. You know, it's the I
Am Virago podcast. What makes you a virago?
[00:15:39] I think it's being a whinney. I think it would come by me down to my grandma,
Nellie Winnie. She was a virago to the core. I believe just a total bad ass. Nothing got in
her way. She was the boss. She was a family person. She. I just have so much respect
for that woman or what she created. And I think, you know, when I run into people that
know, you know, my family, they will pick up right away that I'm a Winnie. It's just
something that's there. Yeah.
[00:16:16] Well, full disclosure to our listeners and I am also Annie Laurie is my my
cousin and grandma, Grandma Winnie. She was a firecracker for sure.
[00:16:29] Yeah. I mean, you you've got it in you, that's for sure.
[00:16:33] When we just had dinner the other night, we were driving home and and my
dad and step mom are saying, boy, that Janice, she is something now that it was in a
good way with all in a good way, just this strong.
[00:16:47] Just just do it, get it done and be confident and kind of just the older I get, it's
that life is just too short to not be doing what you don't want to do.
[00:16:57] A man. A man. And we had we had some good, good examples, I think, in
our family. Sure. For sure. So we're getting towards the end of the podcast. And what
question do you wish you would have asked to that?
[00:17:12] I didn't maybe, you know, what would I be doing if if I wasn't a personal
trainer?
[00:17:20] Well, Laurie, what would you be doing if you weren't a personal trainer?
[00:17:26] Oh, you know, I have to say my dream job would be like a pencil popper.
Excuse me. A pimple popper, like a dermatologist that focuses on extraction or no
growth.
[00:17:43] Right.
[00:17:46] I. Wow. I'm sort of afraid to go further. But what draws you to that?
[00:17:53] I don't know. Been that way my whole life, I. My whole family is always saying
I should have the. I picked the wrong career. Yeah. I'm one of those that can't rub
somebodies back without stopping on that one little bump and, you know, making seen
what it is.
[00:18:11] Oh my gosh. OK, well, I've known you for a long time and I've learned
something new. Exactly.
[00:18:19] There was something I wanted to mention that I didn't say earlier, and that is
that, you know, I didn't become a personal trainer and tell 14 years ago and before that,
you know, I was in the corporate world and never in a million years did I think I would be
a personal trainer. And I just think, you know, as my daughter, she's 14 and she's
thinking about college. And it's such a high expectation, too, on these kids to figure out
what they want to do before they even go to college. Yeah. And I guess what I'm trying
to say is you don't have to pick right away so many different professions. I mean, for
me, Granth accounting to, you know, some merchandise analysts at Nordstrom, that
kind of thing, all brought me to this place. And the reason I bought this place is because
where I was working, they did a reorg and my position was eliminated and it was a
blessing in disguise because I really got to sit back and go, what do I really want to do?
And granted, I had that opportunity while I was married and it wasn't a single income
situation. So I was blessed to have the chance to figure out what it was I wanted to do.
And, you know, looking back, I sometimes I forget that I've created this business and it's
a beautiful thing. But net 20, 30 years ago, I would have never guessed that this is
where I would be sitting, talking to my cool cousin. So what about my business?
Whatever hearing you say is, is to stay open, say open me up, just roll with it. You just
never know. And did I want to be doing Granth Accounting or mercantilists? No, it didn't
excite me at all. And I also wasn't sitting there going, what do I want to do? And it wasn't
until I was presented with this situation. We're like, oh, I don't have a job that I really
started thinking about it some dough.
[00:20:08] You know, sometimes it's those critical moments of, you know, we have to
make decisions because we don't have any other choice.
[00:20:15] Right. Exactly. And, you know, this business started with one person, one
client, you know, and you just have to grow it and build it and nurture it.
[00:20:26] And, you know, one of the other things that I wanted to mention, I have I
have attended your boot camps in. They're so much fun. And what I. Really low about
how you train and how I've seen your clients is. These are not fashion models, you
know, doing runway work. These are real people just trying to get healthy and strong. I
love that you don't emphasize how people look. It's really how people feel. And that
does that that, I think is such a bonus. I lived in L.A. for a while and of course, I was in
L.A., so I had to have a personal trainer and we did our assessment and all that. And
then she said to me, well, when you lose all the weight you want, if you still have that
pooch, you can get plastic surgery. And I was like, what? I just words. So I really
appreciate that. It's about how you feel.
[00:21:24] Right. And that ties back to who my client is that you asked earlier. You
know, my client is the average person for sure. You know, I'm I'm right in there. I've I've
got 10 pounds. I'd love to shave. I've got 10 pounds that I've carried for the last 10
years. But I've never been stronger.
[00:21:41] I just had a very big birthday. And it's made me sort of hyper aware of how
important strength is. And, you know, when I look at my seventy five year old clients and
they get up out of a chair and they have to grab full force with their hands to assist
them. That's not what I want to be. I don't really care about those extra 10 pounds
anymore when I look at that education. I want to stand up unassisted. Yeah.
[00:22:05] Yeah. Oh that. That's my goal. So things things change. Your goals change
as you get older. For sure. And it no longer is about as accurate. So much. I mean what
I like Michelle Obama arms. I really just want to be strong.
[00:22:21] Yeah. Well from where I sit you really are.
[00:22:25] Thank you.
[00:22:27] Thank you so much for doing this podcast. I know this was this made you a
bit nervous and you are amazing. And I am so proud of you and what you have
achieved. And I'm proud to call you Cousin Dedeaux Girl.
[00:22:42] Thank you so much for having me.
[00:22:46] Thank you, my Viragos, for listening to the I Am Virago podcast. Check out new episodes every Tuesday. If you have ideas or suggestions of whom you'd like to hear from on this podcast, go to IAmVirago.com and leave a message. And remember, you are Virago.