INTERVIEW: STEVE TYLER

HAVING been a key cog in the

workings of a well-established

family aerospace firm, Stuart

Martin is no stranger to the

intricacies of running his own business.

During two decades of service at the

Wolverhampton company he runs with

his father and brother, Stuart has become

well-acquainted with the ups and downs

of the engineering industry.

But when his father began to plan for

retirement, the entrepreneur decided

that the time was right to exercise his

commercial talents in a completely

new sector.

“The company has served us well, but

engineering is getting tougher and we

decided we should have something else

in our lives which provided some kind of

income or pension fund,” explained Stuart.

“We looked at starting our own business

again, but my father remembered how

painful it was starting from scratch. We

figured a franchise sounded like a good

idea and we set out to find a ready-made

solution that would fit our requirements.”

Stuart’s mission to source a new

business led him to a BFA (British

Franchise Association) exhibition in

Birmingham where he encountered the

usual host of high-street food chains as

well as opportunities in other sectors.

After a day of trawling the various stands

looked like it would fail to provide any

inspiration, an encounter with a member

of the franchise recruitment team from

Anytime Fitness set Stuart onto a very

successful new path.

He said: “When we went to the

exhibition, we spoke to everybody –

McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, a fish-and-chip

shop chain, care for the elderly – but it felt

very much like it was on their terms and

there was no flexibility.

“Eventually we found Anytime Fitness

and we immediately liked their attitude

and the way they approached the

situation. We got the impression that they

wanted to work with us rather than us

working for them.”

ALL SYSTEMS GOWith his interest piqued, Stuart visited

a couple of existing Anytime Fitness

clubs, checked that the finances stacked

Franchise’s flying startWhen an aerospace entrepreneur swapped engineering for an Anytime Fitness franchise, not even he could have predicted the swiftness of his new venture’s success...

FAST FACTS:ANYTIME FITNESS TELFORD

SIZE OF CLUB9,000 sq ft

STAFF

Two full-time, two part-time

FIRST MONTH OF PROFIT

Month eight

MEMBERS

1,600

PRE-SALES

370

MAXIMUM MEMBERS

Membership-driven, but will be

capped once club starts to feel busy

AnytimeFitnessUKAnytimeFitnessUKAnytimeFitUKwww.anytimefitness.co.ukjointhefamily@anytimefitness.co.uk 0800 033 7773

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>

Fitness family: Stuart

Martin has formed a close

bond with the full- and

part-time staff who work at

Anytime Fitness Telford

up and soon committed to becoming a

franchisee.

That set in motion a rollercoaster period

in which Stuart went from signing on the

dotted line to opening Anytime Fitness

Telford in just 13 months.

Although he was able to call upon a

wealth of knowledge through his business

background, Stuart said the support from

Anytime Fitness throughout the planning

and fitting-out process was second-to-none.

He even called upon the club opening

services of fellow franchisee Russell Valler

to help get the Telford facility up-to-speed

as quickly as possible, a relationship he

says is a great example of the friendly

nature of the franchise community.

“The club opening service gave me the

support in getting open and made sure

that I didn’t make any obvious mistakes,”

he said. “I felt it worked very well.

“We also had the design guide from

head office and help from the equipment

suppliers with our layout. I’m not from the

fitness industry and so had to put my faith

in them, but it has worked out perfectly.

“There are about 50 clubs open now

and there’s a great shared wealth of

knowledge which is good for all of us.”

SOUND INVESTMENTThe practical success of Stuart’s first

foray into the fitness industry has

been matched by a fantastic financial

performance.

Facebook advertising attracted 70 new

members before sales staff had even

started working, while the club opened

with 370 pre-sales already on its books.

The popularity of his 9,000 sq ft club,

which is slightly larger than the normal

5,000 sq ft Anytime model, allowed the

business to achieve its first profit after

just eight months of operation and has

helped membership swell to a current

level of 1,600.

With business booming, Stuart has

been able to dedicate time to the family’s

aerospace company, with his franchise

only requiring one or two visits per week.

The Anytime Fitness Telford boss

explained that a suite of remote-access

tools – along with solid support from the

franchise itself – made being an absentee

owner a truly viable option.

Speaking from his engineering company,

Stuart said: “Right now I can see that we

have had two new members today just by

looking at the software.

“I can see what hours the staff are

working and view the cameras on my

laptop, iPad or mobile phone.

“I’ve had holidays for a couple of weeks

where I’ve been able to keep track of

what’s going on.

“I try to go to the club physically once

or twice a week, but to be honest after

year one I think you can be a 99 per cent

absentee owner if you wish.

“If there are any problems, I have found

the support to be as good now as it was

in the beginning. I haven’t had much

go wrong, but if I have had issues with

systems or a member with a complaint I

haven’t come across before, I can send

a quick email or make a phone call to

Anytime Fitness’ Watford headquarters

and almost instantly I get a call back from

an experienced Franchise consultant with

an answer.”

With his initial aim to find a profitable

new business more than accomplished,

Stuart is already making plans to extend

his relationship with Anytime Fitness.

He has followed up on his success in

Telford by purchasing the rights to open

a club in Rugby and ultimately hopes

to have a chain of facilities serving the

West Midlands.

And although he is clearly a convert to

Anytime Fitness’ financial and lifestyle

benefits, Stuart believes the franchise’s

“family feel” is just as important a factor in

its success.

“I have been running a business for a

long time now, but at the engineering

firm it has always been a case of having

employees rather than friends,” he

explained.

“With Anytime Fitness, you are

encouraged to be engaged with your staff

and the small team we have in Telford

feels like a new family.

“We have been lucky with the people we

have employed and we enjoy socialising

together. We communicate well, operate

closely as a team and it always feels like

we are working for the same cause.” ▲

Eventually we found Anytime Fitness and we immediately liked their attitude and the way they approached the situation. We got the impression that they wanted to work with us rather than us working for themStuart Martin, Anytime Fitness Telford

“”

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Classy club:

Anytime Fitness

Telford reached

profit after just

eight months