In this interview, Kent Pumpa, founder of Bootcamps Australia, discusses the company’s rapid expansion to over 60 locations and the underlying philosophy that fuels its growth. He emphasizes the importance of passion, community, and trainer support, describing how personal trainers are integrated into commercial gyms to create a one‑stop fitness shop. Pumpa outlines the education and mentorship programs he provides for trainers, the in‑house training and retention systems, and the operational processes that keep the business scalable. Marketing tactics such as consistent branding, community outreach, flyers, and strategic use of “big‑deal” sites are explored, along with the role of a dedicated graphic designer and a newly relaunched website. The conversation also covers the revenue model that prioritizes high‑volume sessions over individual client time, and Pumpa’s vision for future growth beyond 60 locations, hinting at global ambitions. Throughout, he stresses the need for long hours, commitment, and a genuine desire to make a difference in the fitness industry.
Chapters
Well, that's what we're saying, for Power to Bootcamp, you've got to be passionate. It's all about passion, passion, passion. And the trainers that are aboard with you now, financially for them, do they find it easier to now run their business, their PT business they had or the gym?
Yeah, they're just drawing different streams of leads and, you know, different people are coming into their client base and then they can start all these different products and programs that we've got. So they're getting big cash injections and just keep on adding and adding. We're turning the place into a one-stop shop. I've got commercial gyms coming on board because they haven't got time to train their trainers and they don't even want to know what their trainers are doing half the time anyway. But those people will keep your attention. They keep your attention in your business. That's what personal trainers were for in commercial gyms so that clients have more human contact. And so that's where I've come from. I've done the commercial gym thing. I've done the numbers game. And, you know, 50 phone calls a day from the estate manager or whatever trying to, you know, push more sales and bums on seats. But, you know, what's wrong with pushing names and who the person is and their results?
I can, you know, and I guess I've seen you evolve as well for the last few years. I understand, I'm understanding more and more about your business at the time. And interesting point you said is you go to commercial gyms and commercial gyms are now saying, can't I get a Bootcamps Australia here? Purely because they can actually have interaction with their members again. You know what I mean? They can still have, they don't see They don't see it as a negative, they see it as a positive. Not like you're going to take over our business, you're going to actually help the business.
Yes, and that's, mate, like my biggest thing is, I guess where I started, everyone wants to be a part of the cause, but no one wants to be a part of the cure. You know, we're all here to make money and stuff, but how about we make a difference while we do it? Whether it's helping the industry, helping personal trainers. I've seen some fantastic personal trainers just be churned and burned and not succeed in this industry because they just didn't have the education, the support, the community, the growth. You know, like there's so much work out there for everyone. I don't really care if the gym opened up next door to me or whatever. I do what I do, they can do what they do. There's enough clients out there for everybody. But if you're going to take me on, you just better be more passionate and be ready to work some long hours because I go from 5 till 9, 7 days a week. At least I'm out there making a difference.
Yeah, making a difference. And I think that's the whole industry. The whole industry wants to make a difference, and a lot of people are making a difference. But I think that's the important thing is, wouldn't it be nice if the single personal trainer It's great to have a community of 60 different people around them and sharing their ideas and putting their knowledge in. Everybody's being heard and, you know, got their 2 cents worth as well.
Yeah, and that's that whole roundtable thing and stuff like that. You know, like, you know, I've been in the industry for a fairly long time now and I've started creating myself a good network of really good people that, you know, they're willing to help other people. And, you know, I'm still involved with, you know, I'm involved with the Australian Institute of Personal Training. I'm running short courses for them. I've taken on campuses so that I can get involved with training trainers that don't even work for my own business. And I'm teaching them everything that I know, you know. Like, I'm more than happy to give up everything that I know. I'm not saying I'm the best or I'm good, but, you know, I'm committed.
You're keeping your hands in there.
Yeah.
One thing I want to talk about before we go is marketing. And, you know, you recently opened the old Fernwood Fitness, was it?
Headquarters. Used to be, I think.
Used to be ages ago. Parramatta Road. Yep. What area was it?
Haberfield.
Haberfield. Okay, so those who know Sydney, Parramatta Road, it's the big boot camps. You got the signs there yet? Yeah, yeah, we've got a couple of big signs.
signs up and it's about to be fully branded in the next couple of weeks.
When you see Ken running up the road, peek out of traffic, come to my place, come to my place.
I got caned yesterday by one of my trainers from Brisbane. I flew him up and I had to do hot laps up Parramatta Road doing kettlebell class and stuff. And yeah, he tortured me, but yeah, everyone was getting a good laugh at me.
So I guess people are talking about Parramatta Road when they're stuck in traffic. So anyway, you opened this place up and you had a pretty successful first week, month. I know you put a lot of big campaigns out and I think it was I just want to quickly speak about that. How are you getting these locations up? That's good. You got the locations up. Big deal. But now we need the numbers and the bums on the seats. How are you getting the bums on the seats so fast? Because people are struggling to get bums on the seats in one boot camp. How are we doing it for 60 boot camps?
Oh, it's a lot of commitment, brother. I do— I've got an in-house graphic designer, a young girl called Tessa, and she's just fantastic. I probably couldn't have done a lot of the stuff that I've done without her artwork and stuff that— like, I give her the ideas, but she's just coming up with some really sharp stuff and sharp colors and just simple. Like, I keep marketing simple, but I'm consistent. Like, consistency is the key with any type of marketing. It doesn't matter what you do. You know, I give myself a budget and, you know, I push for that. But, you know, I do a lot of national stuff. But just getting involved. Like, mate, I could start a location and not spend a cent on marketing just by the way that I market myself.
Yeah.
You know, it's about getting into your community and helping the community. If you get into your community and just, you know, work with them and get them out there. And a lot of people just don't get out there, you know. They sit their gym waiting for people to walk in the door. You know, get your staff— like, if my sales guys aren't out on the street or out and about, you know, talking to people or companies or corporates or, you know, just schools or anything, you know, like, I tell them, what are you doing? You know, get out. You know, I make all my sales guys and all my managers train together.
Yep.
You know, so the team trains together and make them a part of a team. Not everyone's just in there for their own benefit.
So you're getting these flyers and information out to the public, you know, the cafes, the local businesses? Everything. And the word of mouth is really working.
Yep, it still does, mate. You know, like, I guess, but just even the way that we teach our guys, it's about the education. You know, like, there's— look at the health standard of Australia at the moment. It's on the rise. You know, from the age of 5 now, we're looking at type 2 diabetes and heart attacks and heart disease and all this stuff. And it's just about getting out there and just letting people know that, you know, hey, get off the couch, get in the game, look after yourself, whether it's walking for an hour a day or just getting off the couch. And
you're doing that, you're getting into the community. You've relaunched your website. Is that helping?
Yeah, yep. Our website's fantastic. So it's very simple, clear-cut, but you know, we're putting up online shops soon. We've got some pretty fantastic stuff coming up very soon.
And I know you've done a big push in these big deal sites. What do you reckon, they work or not work?
Yeah, it's like a 50/50 thing. You're sort of damned if you do, damned if you don't. And you know, it drives numbers in, but it's about the quality that you can deliver and being able to manage those big numbers. numbers and stuff coming through your door. And, you know, we can manage it because our systems that are in place, we know how to keep people. We've got the retention, how to do it. And, you know, same as, you know, I've got the same systems as what a commercial gym would have. It's just that we put a lot more customer service and customer care into it because it's run by personal trainers. It's not run by, you know, it's not run by a group instructor or, you know, whatever, you know. And these guys are trained rigorously and repetition is the mother of all skills. So, you know, our in-house education, I train my guys twice a week together. Sales and business, and then trainer training. And then on the next day, it's staff meeting and trainer training again. So they even train and we do all the different factors of our business so that they understand what our clients are going through and they're fit and physically, you know, being able to sell, you know, practice what we preach.
And I guess also the last thing too is then, you know, you go into a new affiliate, a new location, boot camp starts, and they have a gym. Well, you're actually getting all the clients from the gym. That's probably a big—
Yeah, I think it's like a double whammy, you know, like I guess a lot of gyms and stuff put boot camps on just to be like an offcut because that's, you know, what everyone else is doing or whatever. I still treat it the same respect as what I treat my gym or my studios or whatever. I treat it with the same respect and it can grow, you know. It's a numbers game. It always has been, you know. I'm talking about, you know, you can do your 60 PT sessions a week if you want and earn $2,500. I'd rather do 12 hours and have 200 people, you know, and earn the same amount of money in 12 hours than what an average guy touches.
Touch more people, eh?
Touch more people. And not just that, just create a better state And then obviously your PT business on top of that, if you're doing everything right and just putting your energy into the right areas. Like PT is a very time-poor, you know, so—
Very much. I think you've got something there, definitely. You've got 60 of them there. And, you know, we could talk all day, but that's more editing for Getting Raw. And this is supposed to be Getting Raw, so we don't want much editing. So I think that'll do for today. Maybe we'll do a part 2 later on. But it's been a pleasure. I guess you're always— another thing we've got to mention too, Kent's also a guy You want to talk to him, he'll get back to you. You can find him on Facebook, Bootcamps Australia. You've got heaps of Facebook pages. Your website's bootcampsaustralia.com. Not .com.au, just .com.
Globally, not locally.
Globally, he's thinking big. Big plans. I haven't even asked him what happens after 100 yet. That's part 2 episode. We'll get to 100 and have another interview. And then obviously, you'll meet your personal trainer. And again, just by going to all those locations, go to his Facebook, go to the website, go to meet your personal trainer, And the one thing you can see is what Ken talked about, his passion. He's got videos everywhere, he's updating his stuff, he's always in the community, he's doing courses, he's doing this, he's doing heaps of different things. At the end of the day, you can't miss it. You can't miss the logo, it's always there. You know what I mean? So thanks heaps, Ken.
Thanks, mate.
And look forward to catching maybe part 2 up in a couple of months.
