Working Hard (or Hardly Working?) at Anytime Fitness in Dapto with the Awesome Manager their Kym. She is always happy, on the job, very kind and the inspiration for this article of praise. They Rock!
I think it may have been more than 2 years now since I have been a member of Anytime Fitness. They are amazing, they weren’t around a few years ago – and THEY ARE EVERYWHERE NOW across New South Wales (and I am sure the rest of Australia).
Be it smaller suburbs across Sydney Metro, or Regional NSW – it’s generally not hard finding one of them. There is a reason for that – they are one of the best gyms I have even been too and I have maybe been to about 5 different outlets with the staff being awesome.
I am quite passionate about going to the gym. Firstly, in my line of work you have too especially with the public speaking side of things (if you aren’t in good shape people tend not to listen as deeply to you), secondly I enjoy it and thirdly it’s my “Me Time” to reflect, recharge and smile.
When I first arrived in Sydney, I went to “Fitness First”. At the time, they really dominated the landscape and to their credit they were the first ones into the market (in at least such a prominent presence such as this). Arriving in Sydney was quite hard for me and at the time I had fond memories of them. I originally went to the gym at North Ryde (say a 20 minute drive from Sydney CBD) and got a wonderful fitness trainer that got me on the right track. He was awesome and I remember that after I finished up with him, I felt quite a lot on my own.
I had no friends, didn’t know anyone and I would go to Fitness First over and over again. The staff were “Okay” at the start but I found over other Fitness First gyms they weren’t the nicest of people.
Moving the dial forwards, my attendance wasn’t the best and a few years later I just noticed Fitness First just didn’t want me there. Was it because I wasn’t “Buff?”, “I wasn’t from Sydney” or perhaps I wasn’t “Cool Enough” in their book? Either way having these thoughts of insecurity cross my mind got me thinking. The staff would always grunt back when I would say hello, the Fitness Trainers were “Muscle Men” that would always try and stare me down and it wasn’t the awesome experience I once enjoyed.
One day they went too far! During their trouble they shut down my local Fitness First and I WAS DONE. I was tired of living my life to their schedule and went straight to the Anytime Fitness website.
It had this amazing video that basically said “We are the gym for normal people”. My first visit was to my local Anytime Fitness Ashfield and THEY WERE LOVELY.
In fact, they were so kind, nice, with no hard-selling and friendly – I thought there was something “Wrong”. I told them all about my Fitness First experience and she laughed with me on this one basically saying “Yes, Edward – I get a few like you every week”. I was instantly taken in and I gladly signed up for a 2 year membership which over time I worked out they:
Believe in “Being Nice to their Customers”
I am not being satirical or anything too. Fitness First at times were downright mean to me and of all the Anytime Gyms I have been too, their staff say hello, are very kind and if I have a problem / question they are help me out. Also, they are a “24 Hour Gym” so you don’t have to live your life around them like I did with that “other gym”.
These days I generally work out at Anytime Fitness in Ashfield when I am in Sydney Metro and when I am down in Wollongong (a Beachside Regional City about a 90 minute drive South of Sydney) I attend Anytime Fitness Dapto. Kim who runs the place is totally lovely there and the inspiration of this post. She is always happy, says hello and even though I haven’t had any problems / questions there – if I did I know she would fix them and take care of things.
Talking beyond the gym too and bringing it back to a more Business / Entrepreneurial Viewpoint, being in business is just hard at times. You need great people supporting you during the lows and highs and what 2014 taught me was to be very careful who I surrounded myself by. Most people have been wonderful, however I found myself spending time with people who didn’t have any respect for me and were hardly reciprocating the kindness I was showing them.
My advice and learnings? Don’t hang out with (let alone give money) to people that aren’t out for your better interests. This was exactly the case with Fitness First and becoming part of Anytime Fitness was something I wished I just have done way earlier.
It doesn’t surprise me at all that Fitness First with their attitude closed down many of their gyms and Anytime Fitness seem to be everywhere like Maccers these days!
Thank you for the read, thank you Kim from Anytime Fitness and have a great day / night everyone!
About the Gym Going Author:
Edward Zia is a Marketing Mentor & 4Networking Regional Leader based in Inner West Sydney. He loves helping his clients get more high value profitable clients through his Private Mentoring, Workshops and Online Products. He also thinks you are wonderful for reading his blog.
Feel free to contact him or even check out his Premium Online Course “The Awesome Marketing Vault” Right Here >>
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