In today’s fast-moving world, it is very difficult to give time to our fitness. Many people have this misconception that to be fit, one must hit the gym regularly with full pledge and devotion. Being fit not only means physical health but emotional and mental health as well. Fitness portrays a vital role in today’s lives because if a person is mentally and physically fit, he/she will be less prone to medical conditions. While health and fitness is gaining more and more attraction by millennials in today’s society, there have been countless health trends that foster natural wellness.
These trends also bring many independent fitness trainers or instructors to train people. Many fitness professionals want to make fitness a lifelong career and work as an independent contractor or personal trainer. Even, numerous personal trainers rent space at a gym to train their clients. For such independent fitpros, several companies are working with a large number of gyms and studios, providing option to fitpros to rent fitness space according to their schedule.
GymLynx is an online marketplace where fitness trainers and instructors can browse, compare and rent fitness space by the hour, from gyms and studios throughout the USA, for personal training or group classes. GymLynx is not a gym, and it doesn’t own any gyms or studios. The company has over 900 participating gyms and studios throughout the USA that makes it feasible for fitpros to conduct their business and make to living. The company removes lopsided revenue shares and long-term contracts. For gyms, it provides the opportunity to increase drop-in revenue by renting to independent fitpros during slow periods. There is no conflict with existing staff since the fitpros bring in their own clients.
A Leader with Eventful History
Matthew Feldman, President and Chief Executive Officer, founded GymLynx in 2014. He has been weightlifting in gyms since 8th grade and played college football. He has a long career as a successful entrepreneur, visionary and executive. Prior to GymLynx, Matthew founded and ran Versaly Entertainment from 2000-2013, a global mobile media and entertainment company. He sourced and executed major business development deals with Paramount Pictures, SONY, Warner Bros, Sprint, Verizon and the list goes on, surpassing 100 major deals during his tenure. Prior to Versaly, he founded, managed and successfully sold two tech companies to publicly-traded organizations. Matthew holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and an M.S. in Computer Science from Stevens Institute of Technology.
Delivering Assistance to Fitpros to Maintain Clients’ Health
GymLynx helps new fitpros get started! After a new fitness professional gets certified, they may not have a regular place to train their clients. But GymLynx allows them to help their clients maintain their health anywhere in the USA. They can travel closer to their clients and can keep workouts interesting by varying location and equipment. They can manage their own schedule and can earn more money. Even they can conduct classes outside their normal fitness job. Fitpros are no longer at the mercy of the gym and fitness space cancellations, construction and closures may no longer affect them.
Pursuing the Success Journey
A combination of a lifetime gym member and an entrepreneur who enjoys solving problems in various industries changed Matthew. He says fitpros were getting mistreated by gyms and gyms were struggling to earn more money. So, GymLynx helps both sides.
“We want to help gyms break out the status quo and rent their unused space to independent fitpros and earn additional drop-in revenue,” Matthew Said. Working with fitness certification companies, like Beachbody, NFPT, FiTOUR, MedFit Network, and Amp’d Strong helped GymLynx to spread the word about the company’s benefits to fitpros.
Winning over Challenges
For Matthew, the biggest challenge was figuring out how to handle insurance – general liability and professional liability insurance. While gyms wanted to be protected, fitpros seemed to not understand the importance. So, he spoke with many insurance companies and researched similar “shared resource” companies. Then Matthew decided to provide a way to upload insurance certificates so a gym can see them, however, GymLynx doesn’t offer insurance.
Future of Fitness – The Way Forward
According to Matthew, Fitness, Health, and Wellness is a requirement for human happiness. You do not need to be obsessed with fitness, but being fit helps make all other aspects of life better. There is no magic pill. Fitpros can help us all improve our health. That will never change. How fitpros help us stay healthy will always evolve; including new techniques and new group classes.
Advice to Business Leaders
Matthew advises emerging business leaders to go for it! Be confident. Be motivated. Make smart decisions. Just have a safety net below you. Decisions can be either revenue-based or strategic-based. Both help a company move forward.
