S2 Ep 33: How COVID Changed The Fitness Industry Forever & How You Can Ride The Wave W/ Mel Tempest
In this Marketing Muscle Up podcast episode, host Richard Toutounji interviews veteran Australian gym owner and business coach Mel Tempest. Mel recounts her unconventional entry into fitness after a career in real estate and personal caregiving, describing how she built her first club in a church hall in 2003, launched Australia’s first men‑only gym, and later expanded into a 1,500 m² facility with multiple boutique zones. She explains the shift from “old‑school” club mindsets—characterized by low‑price, high‑volume, intimidating environments and outdated marketing—to “new‑school” approaches that emphasize inclusive, non‑intimidating cultures, diversified boutique models, and targeted messaging for softer, broader consumer segments. The conversation covers how COVID‑19 forced rapid pivots: implementing vaccine‑passport policies, creating on‑demand digital classes, and leveraging hybrid online/offline services. Mel details the two‑year council battle to add a 280 m² functional training zone, the equipment and programming innovations within it, and the concept of a mobile functional space that doubles as a group‑fitness studio. She stresses the financial advantage of owning the freehold and all club assets, using direct‑debits as the true valuation metric, and how this asset ownership enabled her to retain staff, refurbish during lockdown, and emerge stronger. The interview also critiques the fitness industry’s lack of genuine collaboration, calling out siloed associations and the over‑use of buzzwords like “collaboration” and “pivot.” Finally, Mel predicts heightened competition in 2022 and urges owners to walk their facilities, understand their demographics, and prepare proactively.
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Welcome back to the Marketing Muscle Up Podcast Show. I'm your host, Richard Turtungi, and today we've got a really special guest. I've brought in a guest on the show where She has a lot of opinions about a lot of things and always leading the way and pushing the agenda forward to help businesses rise to the top. I've got no other than Mel Tempest. Mel, welcome to the show.
Thank you, Richard. And thank you very much for having me.
Oh, thank you. Now I've got your bio in front of me and I was just skimming through that before. I just want to talk about a couple of things in here. Number one, Mel Tempest has a global reputation for being unapologetically passionate, high innovative, and extremely generous in her knowledge sharing. And in fact, Thomas Plummer says, and I'll quote, many people would think she'd be the worst business coach ever since most of the help she gives is free. There are many talented women in this industry today, but a few with longevity and the experience of Mel Tempest. She's dedicated her life to the fitness industry and wood around her is better because her dedication and love for the business and people in it. Good to have you on the show, Mel. That's a great rap from Thomas Plummer there.
He's absolutely an amazing friend and a mentor. I have a mentor, as many of us do. And I just absolutely love Thomas, like the rest of the fitness industry.
Yeah. Well, Mel, this is the first time we've really jammed a little bit on any of the stuff I've done. And I've seen you really focusing around the industry, especially you're a very successful owner of a gym, which I want to talk about later. And you're a business coach. You've got a podcast show. You're out there basically sharing what you feel is the right message to a lot of people. We work in content marketing, work a lot with studio owners and personal trainers, and you're on the other side working with gym owners. And I've been sitting on the side listening to how, you know, you get yourself out there. And I think we talked about before, you've matured in some of your— what's the word— you've matured in a lot of your messages on social media. And I really feel that This is a Mel 3.0 we're seeing today. And this is why I'm really excited to have you on because there's a lot of changes that have happened in the industry over the last 2 years, as we know, through COVID. And you are based in Ballarat in Victoria, as we know, closed down, I think it's 7 times. Is that correct, Mel? Locked down 7 times?
Yeah, 8 actually.
8, close to one— I think it's over 365 days in closures. Yeah. And you've been, like a lot of other business owners in Victoria, you've been leading the way, serving your community. And I think over 2 years, you've got a few new concepts of how you do things and things that you also haven't liked seeing as well. And that's what I want to deep dive into today. I'm really excited for today, Mel. Mel, I'm going to be careful of my question asking for you because if anybody knows Mel, Mel could talk all day and we could jam here all hours. So I'm going to be quite short with my questions so I can get the best out of Mel today. Is that okay?
Absolutely.
So listen, I want to have just a big broad one. You sent me through an autobiography, which is an outstanding piece of work. And I think, well, I think everybody should have their own autobiography. So I think that's a good piece. Anybody wants to dive into that, I'm sure they can find that on Mel's website. But my first question to you is, I want to touch on the concept of you being a fitness business owner, especially a gym business owner, and you've been very successful at that, I think over 20 years in that space. Can you just tell me, I always like the question of how did you start off in the industry? Because that serves a lot of clues for what is happening today in the marketplace. So can you give me a bit of a quick rundown on the Mel, why you went into the fitness industry, specifically for? And what does it look like now?
So I joined the fitness industry because I'd been out of work for about 18 months and I'd been taking care of my grandfather who was dying from cancer. And my career before that was in the real estate industry. So I had to leave the real estate industry, take care of my grandfather.
And what year was that, Mel?
Sorry?
What year was that?
That was back in 1987. That's right. 1987. Yeah, absolutely. And had a successful, uh, career. And the short of it is, Richard, uh, he passed on, had some time on my hand. A girlfriend said, let's join the gym. I said, what's it— what's a gym? I was in my mid-30s. Uh, truthfully, that is it. And she had a Shopper Docket deal, 21 days for $21. So off I went and joined Melton Waves, and I was probably there about 6 months, and my husband said to me, look, probably a really good time now for you to go back to work, start connecting with people. And I said, I don't want to go back into the real estate industry. I'm going to become an aerobics instructor. And off I went to TAFE. Yep. And obviously, you've read the autobiography. I left school at 14. So think about the tools that I had to go to TAFE. Went to TAFE and on the first day, I said, no, I'm not staying. I'm leaving. First subject was anatomy and physiology. Walked down the stairs, got in my car. My little daughter was playing in the playground at the crèche across the road from TAFE. And I thought, who was I to take her away from something that she was enjoying because I was having an I can't do this moment? Put on my big girly pants, walked up the stairs, and the rest is history.
Wow. Love that. And yes, TAFE is where it was at, especially in that period. I definitely went to TAFE too. And What a great, I guess, intro on knowing your why and putting, as you said, put the pants on and make it happen. So right now, tell me at the moment, let's talk about your club at the moment that you have and what that looks like.
So we opened in 2003 in a church hall that was around about 430, 440 square meters. And then 18 months later, we opened Australia's first men's only fitness facility. And about 12 months—
As you do. As you do.
As you do. As you do. And about 12 months after that, a building in Ballarat came up for rent. It was a playground, a kids' indoor playground. And so I said to my husband, the lease is up on this one and the lease is nearly up on that one. Let's put both together and move into this building. We went down there, it was still a children's playground. The lady had got up and walked out through the middle of the day. We had to renovate that building over a 12-week period with the playground equipment still in it because the receivers had to sell everything off to pay her outstanding rent. We were able to achieve that on our own between 9 PM at night and like 5 o'clock in the morning. So we were running the gym and going there after it closed. We then moved all of our equipment into this, into this new building. And we've been in this building now roughly about 14, maybe 15 years. It's now— it was an 1,100, 1,200 square metre building. It's now a 1,500 square metre building. Around about 4 years ago, we built a 280 square metre functional training zone on the back of that building.
Hmm.
So, Richard, probably what makes us different to other club owners is that we have boutique models within our club. We just don't say, here's the roof and here's the gym underneath. We have boutique models within the club, and each of those boutiques has a different demographic. So therefore, each of those boutiques has a different style of marketing that goes out there into the marketplace. And we're very proud of what we've built. It's a non-intimidating fitness environment. We banned crop tops, meaning our staff couldn't wear crop tops when we opened the facility in 2003. And that's why we have such a non-intimidating culture.
Wow. Hey, just quickly tell me about the men's only gym. I mean, we have women's only gym, men's only gym. I've got a lot to get through, but I'm really interested in that quick story.
So very quick story was, it was a 300, 350 square meter facility opposite Fernwood here in Ballarat. We opened the first men's
only facility.
in Australia. We got recognition from the Human Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunity Board that's now in writing and is taught at universities across Australia. Why did we do it? We felt that men deserved to have their own place. We felt that men also felt intimidated in mixed environments.
Yeah.
Hence why we opened it. We joined both facilities together because, like many club owners, We were having a bit of an issue with staff. Mel couldn't be in the same place at the same time, meaning both venues. And so when the lease was coming up on one and nearly coming up on the other, we said, right, let's not commit to both leases. Let's just join both together. We've got non-intimidating cultures in both environments. They should be able to come together as one. And they did successfully.
Amazing. Now, I think you're ahead of your time because You know, now men's suicide is at an all-time high. Men is a huge problem there. And I like the thinking behind that concept. You know, now there's— everybody's trying to get men together and men's shed programs. And I think it's a great, great initiative, but obviously it's a huge problem still. And, you know, the thinking back then, definitely, I think, on the right path. Mel, I want to— I've got kind of 3 or 4 things I really want to Engage with you and have a have a bit of a jam together. First up, let's talk about it. Let's talk about the I guess let's talk about this. I mean, you've been in the industry for a long time, and as I said, you're you're a consultant to other gym owners. You you know you send your message very clearly because again, in your words, you don't you're not you don't have an agenda. It's like the agenda of you know. successful business owner is like, you know, what's the best for our concept? But I want to talk about this thing around the old school, the old school club owners that have been around for a long time, probably before any industry body or, you know, they've done their time and they're doing it their way still. And over, I guess, you know, they're a bit old school thinking. old school fashion. And you probably can, you know, if you're listening to this, you can probably think about, you know, what's that old school gym that is always around, probably a bit dirty, probably doing it their way, not connecting probably to a new Fitness First or a nice and fancy club. Tell me about this, Mel, this old school mentality and what your thoughts are on this.
Yeah. Look, I sort of thought it was behind us until COVID hit, Richard. And then it was quite eye-opening to see that there are so many club owners still thinking back '70s and '80s and even the '90s era. And I truly do believe that, and I respect the fact that they opened a club was because they were passionate about what they were doing and that they wanted to change lives. But imagine how many more lives they could change if they change the way that they think and then they change it, change their business models. We need to understand that Consumers now are more softer. And when I say that, it's not like back in the '70s and the '80s where, you know, you had the mullet and, you know, everybody walked around with, with tattoos and, you know, biceps and a tinny in your hand. We're a much more softer human being now. And therefore, our marketing needs to be marketed towards that, that type of person. And unfortunately, because the old-school mentality won't change the way their businesses are, they're actually missing out. And when they miss out, what happens is their profits drop off. And what happens is they end up either locking up shop, giving away their business when it's time to sell, and walking away with nothing. And I think if they just— if they chose to change the way that they think, change their business model, opened up their minds to listening to other people, that their business— businesses could become more profitable, which means that the lifespan of them staying in their business would be longer. And the old-school way of thinking is— comes back to what they put out on social media, even if they have a social media platform, the types of equipment they have in the club. Is the club clean? What are the posters and the pics on the wall saying about themselves? How do they speak when they're on social media? Because Because all of that becomes a representation of our industry. And that's when COVID hit. That's what, what government did was said, okay, wow, what's this thing, the fitness industry? Let's get on social media and have a look at what the fitness industry is. And old school did represent us as so did the new school. But I feel in some ways that old school overpowered the new school.
And why do you think old school is overpowering the new school?
Um, because I just think that as an industry, we haven't represented ourselves very well.
Yep.
I think that in a way, we are to blame for how government has perceived us, just in the way that we throw out our marketing. We're so busy selling the message of sexy and new and young.
Yes.
And that's how government perceived us, when we should really be selling ourselves as it's okay for obese people to come to our club. It's okay for people with chronic illness to come to our club. It's okay to wear daggy tracksuit pants and oversized t-shirts. This is okay. This is acceptable. These people do come to our clubs, and we haven't projected that in our marketing. We're always selling sexy because we think everybody wants to feel sexy. But in, in, in the real world, people just want to feel healthy, and they want to feel healthy. heart-wise, physically mobile, and mentally healthy as well. And you don't have to look sexy to be that way.
Well, I agree with that comment. I mean, we know that in the members of gyms and fitness studios, it's something like under 15% in Australia is connected to these facilities. And do you think that's the problem then, Mel, is that we have really just done a poor job of that marketing, as you say? Like, is it, you know, let's say you got the old school and then you got the new school. Is it everybody must get along? Like, how are we going to get these guys to move along? Or is it just a time thing?
I think how are we going to get them to move along? I think you and I, for starters, can start the ball rolling, but with the marketing that we throw out there. Suppliers, you know, suppliers that sell equipment. Look at all of those big brands. Let's all pick up a magazine of the latest suppliers going in.
I've never seen somebody in a baggy t-shirt, Mel, in a magazine. That's exactly right.
That's exactly— but those people, they don't want to always be a size 8, 10, or 12. They're comfortable being a 14 and 16. And there's more of those people out there than there is a size 8 or 10. And there's more of the 14s and 16s that can sell the latest innovative treadmill and exercise bike. So let's start using them in our marketing. Let's start using them in the message that we're selling. Yeah. And we need to be doing that. And people just need to be braver and stop fearing that, oh geez, you know, if I go out there and do that, does that mean my competition is going to sell more treadmills because he's got a sexy 21 or 22-year-old on the treadmill or a sexy 25-year-old young guy? lifting the latest dumbbells. Come on, where's the money at? The money is at where? The 35 to 40 market. So let's get these people in our marketing.
Very good. Mel, while we're on this subject of old school thinking, let's talk about COVID You're in a state, worst lockdown in the world, Victoria, 8 lockdowns. Things are changing now as we're recording this to the end of 2021. And We're all hopefully not going to be locked down again because we've got a high vaccine rate, one of the highest in the world at the moment. What are your thoughts on this? There has been a lot of, you know, my Facebook's blowing up, I'm sure yours is blowing up with people that have different opinions on vaccines and should they open up and are they opening up without it? In these, you know, what are your thoughts on this? Should we just say, yep, that's just the way we're going to open our business, or should we stand up and say, We, you know, if someone doesn't believe that way and they're going to carry it to the club, just take me through a quick thought on the, the right way to, to manage in the future with, you know, vaccines and obviously allowing people in if they're not vaccinated or vice versa. I've seen a lot of people saying we're judgment-free. However, that could be— I've seen that a lot in Queensland where that hasn't been yet. apply. But obviously, if you're in Victoria, these laws already happening. What are your thoughts on this whole passport for gyms?
Oh, look, you know, I totally believe everybody's entitled to their own opinion. You and I do that every single day, irrespective of what the, the subject is about. But this is the reality of it. I have a business, and it's a business that says only vaccinated people can come to it. I'm not going to try and challenge government on that. I opened a business to change lives, and so therefore I follow what I have to do, and that is I have to be vaccinated, so do my staff, and so do my members. Am I being weak doing that? Absolutely not, because there are other ways that I can help unvaccinated people. It doesn't eliminate me from doing that. What I'm saying is I'm a business person who has a business. I need to open the doors. I need to keep my staff employed so they can have food on the table and pay their bills. And I have a whole generation of people out there who who are vaccinated, who want to stay healthy. You know, if you don't want to get vaccinated, that's totally cool. That's up to you. It's your body. You do what you want with it. I can still meet your needs by providing you with online fitness if you're an unvaccinated person. People that have opened clubs and say, hey, let's just open the doors to everybody. I don't care what the Victorian state government says. Well, if you want to be that person and you want to send that message out there, That's totally up to you, but you need to remind yourself why you entered the industry. Did you enter the industry to change lives or to, to create noise? Which, you know, as I've noticed over the last couple of weeks, is starting to diminish. People really aren't jumping on that bandwagon anymore. People are getting on with business, whether it's a cafe, whether it's a gym, whether it's a retail shop. People are now understanding this is how it is. And this is what we need to do. You can't travel without a passport. You can't travel to some countries without a visa. And you can't travel to some countries without getting a jab in the arm. So let's just all wake up to ourselves and just say, if we want to get on with why we entered the industry, this is the way it needs to be. Either follow it or shut up shop and let those who want to do it the way it's supposed to be done do what they need to do.
Very good. Definitely, if you don't, it's like the saying, do you want to die on that hill? It's a pretty big hill if you want to die on that one, and it will probably take you out of the why and bring you in a whole bunch of frustration. Good strategies there. So we talked about the old school, we talked about what the thoughts are with COVID and what we should be doing here moving forward. So I like what you say, if you don't Want to participate in this, shut the shop, find something else to do, move to another planet or universe. I don't know where that exists. And otherwise, focus on the why and get people healthier, happier, more motivated in their lives. I think that's a good scenario there. Let's continue this with the question of— I mean, I like this, gyms. We worked a lot with independent studio owners and And franchise studio owners, and the market has shifted a lot. When we look at an F45 that came on the the landscape probably a decade ago, there's a lot of boutique places opening up. Then we've got our gyms that old school gyms, you know, charging a very low, low, low membership, you know, volume based. We we always focus on you know the value of what someone's going to get. that's going to make them feel. You said that you've put a new area in your gym, 250+ square meters of boutique space, um, and you had a, uh, functional space, I should say. You had a group exercise room, and that's when I started off doing the, um, the aerobics, the grapevines and things like that. And Raining Man— Raining Man was my first, uh, intro at TAFE. That's how I learned as well. Didn't love the old aerobics, but did it just to tick off the the exams. That's for sure. But you're opening up a functional space. Tell me about that. You know, a lot of gyms are still in that mentality that they got the right way. You've merged into a bit of functional space inside a gym, which I love because we teach a lot of our gym owners to do that. Tell me about that concept, and you know, is it applicable? To old school gyms. Is it applicable to larger facilities?
Anybody can put the functional training zone into their club. They just want to— they want to want to do it. That's the first thing. We put ours into our club. It was a 2-year fight with the council. So we started the journey about 4 years ago. We had a small area in our club and the size of the people attending the classes within the club itself was starting to get too big to keep it running. But we also had group fitness running in another room and, and our cycle classes in another room. So we went to council and we said we want to build a 280 square meter room onto the back. Fought with the council for 2 years, finally got approval with that. And it's a pretty Mickey Mouse piece of work, I have to say. It's not, you know, your green piece of carpet or your blue piece of carpet with battle ropes and kettlebells and that's it. We've got some really cool equipment in there, uh, and each class that's running there, Richard, has a different theme about it. So it's not like somebody rocks up and it's a different instructor, but they're still going to use the same kettlebells, the same battle ropes. You know, we've got boxing in there, and we've just recently put in Aqua Bags. 12 months ago, we put in Aqua Bags. We've got Box Masters in there. We've got standing freestanding boxing bags. But then we've got the HIIT mill, which is a very— we've got 4 of those. That's a very unique piece of equipment. We've got the air bikes, we've got the CrossFit platforms, we've got Synergy units. So this is a very unique functional training zone. And we got Gavin Aquilina in 4 years ago to train our staff up on how to deliver HIIT classes that were going to result in the members getting results. And that zone has just gone totally off. And what we're actually doing now, and you're first to hear about this, is—
Yep.
Our group fitness room is also around about 260 square meters. So, we're actually going to have 2 zones in our club. And this is going to be— our group fitness room is going to be the mobile functional zone, meaning that the equipment can be picked up and moved to the sides so that our normal group fitness programming can be run. And this is going to include, which is already in there, and we're sort of already half running these classes. We've got Spark trainers, we've got water rowers coming in a couple of weeks, we've got FitBenches coming in a couple of weeks. We're already utilising Escape Steps in there, and we're already utilising other bits and pieces of equipment. And when that equipment is put away, we run our wellbeing classes, Richard, with the barre, you know, the bars along the wall for the Barre programs and wellbeing yoga and Pilates. And then of course, we've got group fitness programming and we run steel programs and we run a lot of freestyle programs in our club. And we've been innovative in the way that we do things. We see the marketplace changing and And we know in order to keep our foot traffic coming through the door, we have to change with it. So therefore, I've spoken to you before about this, we have several different boutique models within our club.
And they're different price points as well?
So in our club, we have a one-stop shop. So when you come and join us, you only pay one price and everything is included. And there is a reason that we're able to do that. We can discuss that later in the show. But when I talk to other club owners about building functional training zones, I do say to them that you do need to upsell that within your club. Though we don't do that in my club, I do recommend to other club owners to do that because we are in a very unique position.
Excellent. I love the innovation there, and already it's just, it's just pushing boundaries all the time. It's interesting changing the concept of having to do the same, but always innovating. I think this is something that's maybe new over the last 10 years-ish, and new is actually where it's at. Always keep updating, updating, updating. It's exhausting though for some business owners, Mel. I can understand the business owners that, hey, I opened up a studio, I opened up a gym, let it be. And, you know, we're finding that problem in studio owners, particularly in franchises where they've got a large competition in the area and they're struggling to get message through because there's other independents are doing a better job, they're working their brand better. And, you know, some of the franchises just putting their brand out and expecting all the business to flood in, but then sooner or later the retention sucks. Is that, is that where it's in today? Like— You know, you're an owner-operator. Do you have to be an owner-operator, do you think, in the future?
Oh, absolutely. You have to have your hands on your business every single day. That's, that's what makes your business tick over and become profitable. Um, I would have to say that independent club owners are in the perfect position right now to be more successful than large commercial franchise businesses, uh, because of the freedom that you have within your club. When you said just a moment ago, you know, the, the thought of I'll just let it be. I would say to you, please don't let it be because there's a lot of competition coming to Australia in the next 12 months. And if you're not moving forward and being progressive, the competition will take the members out of your club. There's absolutely no doubt about that. So if you're an independent club owner and you're working with Richard, I would strongly suggest that you guys all sit down and have a look what's happening globally. Have a look at the content that's happening inside these boutiques. Don't worry about the name, but look inside and look at the content and look at how you can replicate that content into your own business, but tweak it to suit your own demographic. And that alone is going to help you be successful. Don't wait for the next boutique to open up 3 doors down the road and then go, oh my God, they've got this and get that. I'm going to get on the phone to the supplier. I need this last week. Get on the internet. That's what it's there for. It's the most knowledgeable tool that you'll have. It's the best publication that you can flick through and have a look at what's going on globally. Then sit down with your business coach like Richard and discuss how you're going to turn your business around and make it more profitable.
Mel, random question, but talking about making it more profitable, just a quick one. Do you think You know, the studios, the gyms that did actually innovate through COVID. I know you've done a great job of that and putting in digital platform or putting in an on-demand platform or a Zoom live platform. Does that— is that going to have to continue, you believe? Or should we just, you know, for those who started, should we just close the door and think if it was 2021? Are we gonna have to hybrid our gym or studio up in the future with digital as well?
Oh, absolutely, absolutely. There's a whole audience out there that's, uh, unvaccinated. Why wouldn't you want to sell your business to them and make profit out of it? I just don't understand why you wouldn't do that. And it's not that hard to create a digital platform, Richard. You know, we flipped our business around within 48 hours, and we started off with just the Facebook Live classes happening, and then we progressed through that. Now we've got around about 1,000 classes. And, you know, there's a whole lot of our members who have chosen not to get vaccinated who are still there with us in that group, who are still paying a membership to do those classes. But, you know, if you don't mind me just expanding on that, having a digital platform is not just about classes. So let's all get over that. Yeah. Having a digital platform is also about coaching. Let's say you're the personal trainer, you're sitting down and having a visual conversation on video with somebody who has set up a home gym? Why can't Richard write a gym program for that person? Why can't Richard write a nutrition program for that person? There's so much more to it. And if Richard doesn't have the ability to write the nutrition program for them, let's get someone in that does that really well and let's collaborate with them and keep our client connecting with us instead of going off. and perhaps buying an app from somewhere else and doing something with someone else when they could be doing it with us. And maybe, just maybe down the path, they'll get vaccinated. And where are they going to come? They're going to come to Richard's club.
And I like the way you think about that. We're talking about unvaccinated people and when that will stop, we don't know. But you're saying that at the moment, there's a demand. In Australia, there's at least a 10%, 15%, 20% demand, whatever it's going to be, of those people. And I think that's a really great insight. It's a medium-term thinking concept, which is great. And I think a lot of people have gone, oh my gosh, thank you that we can open our doors again. And it's just all the way there. And I was thinking, you've got lockdowns or isolations. We don't know what the future is still holding. It's still very temperamental depending on what has to happen. One of our clients today just opened up in Melbourne and then they're in a lockdown as well for isolation. So good thinking. I like it. Mel, I want to kind of veer the conversation a little bit off. You mentioned before you got in Gab and Aquilina. You mentioned just then the collaboration concept. You've been shaking the industry up a little bit over the last probably 4, 5, 6 years. from my view. And I said to you at the start, I feel like you've matured in the way that you execute. And you've got a theory on this collaboration. And over the last probably 5, 6 years, the industry— we're talking about the fitness industry, maybe wellness industry— there's been a lot of discussions, there's been a lot of splits happening. There's been people that are pro-FA, against-FA. There's been people that have been, I'm an online trainer, I don't need to be in the industry. There's been the influencers out there that have got there are millions and millions in the platform and they've just stayed to themselves. Tell me about where you feel the industry is at the moment and where's it lacking to get to the stage that it does— that gets to the stage, I guess, that we do get higher rates in gyms, that we are signing up more people, um, that people are, you know, understanding the fitness industry is not what you said at the start, which is not the, the old school industry. What does this industry need to do? to raise the standard and to actually make more profit and to have longevity in the industry. What are your thoughts around that collaboration?
Richard, I think the word collaboration is a little bit like the word pivot. We heard a lot of that throughout COVID. It's just an overused word that people really don't understand. Everybody talks about collaboration, but I'm yet to still see it. in the industry. I mean, COVID was a perfect opportunity for us all to come together and say, we've got a job to do. And our job is to keep gym owners' doors open. Yep. Our job is to keep our consumers fit. And I really don't think that that happened. If it had have happened, and let's be honest about this, if it had have happened, perhaps there would have been less lockdowns. If it had happened, there'd be more people working out in clubs at the moment because we haven't seen, you know, a great big vast majority of our members return to clubs. So I think collaboration is an overused word, like pivot was throughout COVID. I think all of our associations have the same agenda. All of our associations have their own niche. And I don't see any of those niches crossing over. I think it would be great to see everyone come together and just say, this is the job that we need to do. We need to keep our industry open, and we need to get consumers back in the doors of gyms and create a campaign that really does see us working together. I followed all of the associations throughout COVID. Every single— every single association did the best possible job that they could do with the tools and resources that they had. All of the associations, it was so hard for everybody to get a bum on the table when they were speaking to state government. It was just so, so difficult because they didn't take us serious to start with, and that's because of the projected image that they had of us prior to COVID. So let's work together and change that image. Let's, let's change the image by changing the marketing. Let's change the education that goes out there to those that are now coming through the ranks that are going to be educating the consumers. Let's move sideways a little bit and let's say to the younger generation, you do a great job at ABC. I reckon you should speak at the next event. I think you should be on my podcast. I think you should do a webinar series. Let me help you do that. And we don't do that because we fear, we fear other people might be better than us.
Hmm.
And therefore, what we do is we falsify what we're good at in order to keep people coming to us when really we should be handballing them. As I said to you, I don't want a coach to ring me up and say, Mel, can you come in and write a sales system for my team? And train them. I'm going to be the first person that says, I'm no good at that. How about I handball you to Richard, or I handball you to Steve? I would prefer to do that as opposed to saying, yeah, I'm really amazing at that, here's my charge, and this is what I'm going to charge you, and then do a really poor job at it. And that doesn't help the club owner at all. So let's collaborate and understand that some of us are good at some stuff. some of us are bad at it, and that it's more mature to handball it to someone else as opposed to falsifying our identity in the industry.
Good insights. There's one more question, Mel. It's been super interesting in going, uh, kind of midway a lot of topics. This is, uh, you know, really valuable, I feel, especially in this time at the moment. My last question to you, Mel, is that the industry has had a beating over the last 2 years. We know that a whole bunch of gyms and studios and industry experts that have been working in the industry have disappeared out of the industry. We have a job shortage at the moment, and there's a, there's a reason for that. And I, I feel that people get in the fitness industry— yes, they're, you know, like me and you, we got in quite young, and you've got to find the way that you can have longevity in the industry. But there's a lot of people that are just looking at their members and going, how many members do I have? That's the revenue. And there's very little left at the end of the day after you pay your rent, especially in a shopping center, high rental. You pay your staff, you pay your taxes, all those kind of things. There's very, very little left, Mel. You've had a very good strategy, which I'm super interested in, which is starting to build up assets inside your club. I think this is something that a lot of people should start to really think about. Can you just tell me Your thoughts on this and what you actually did to have longevity in the industry.
Richard, we purchased the freehold that our business is in.
Okay?
And everybody says, oh, wow, you must've had a great deposit and da, da, da, da. No, we borrowed 100%. We borrowed 100% to purchase the freehold. Yes, I was lucky. I had a real estate background. And did that play a role in me getting a great freehold at a great price? Oh, absolutely. But my thought was, why do I want to pay rent? Why do I want to build somebody else's superannuation fund when I should be building my own? And the problem with club owners is, I'm not saying all club owners, but they think that, well, I've built this business up for 10, 15, 20 years and it's worth $800,000 and that's what I should get for it. Well, I've got news for you. It's highly unlikely you're going to get what you think you should get for it. Yes. First of all, your business is pretty much worth your direct debit. So forget about the cash upfront you've got because that's gone. It's worth the direct debits. So go in— if you're in a situation where you can buy the freehold or perhaps buy another building, uh, and that plays a role in your superannuation, I definitely suggest and highly recommend you do that. Then I recommend that you starve yourself from cash and gold. Go cold turkey. I had to do it. You know, when I opened the club, it was cash, cash, cash, cash, cash. Cash is king. Well, you know, direct debits are going to get you across the line when it comes to selling your business.
Direct debits are the new king. Yes.
Are the new king. Starve yourself from cash and get all your direct debits up. It's going to take a while and you're going to be— yeah, look, Excuse the way I say this, but your ass cheeks are going to sweat for a while.
But
that's okay because you're going to get there. Because if you get someone in that's going to help you build your direct debits, that's going to help you get there. Own the assets inside the club. We've never leased anything at all. Absolutely. If we wanted to buy a new treadmill, we waited till the money was in the bank and then we purchased the treadmill outright. And people go, but you need to do this. No, you don't. You can buy your freehold and you can own your assets and there is nothing wrong with that at the end of the day. Because when COVID hit, Richard, I had the luxury of saying to my team, you can stay, you can stay, and you can stay, because they were my casual people that were there 20, 25 hours a week, and I'm going to pay your wages. Yes, I had JobKeeper, but I still had to have the money in the bank to pay the wages until I got reimbursed with, with JobKeeper. And whilst we were in lockdown, I was able to refurbish my club. New toilets, new showers, I reupholstered, I put the new floor in the group fitness room, I purchased new equipment, and I did a whole lot of other stuff. And then when I was able to open my doors, I was able to relaunch my club. Wow, look at me! Wow. New club, new floor, new equipment, new group fitness studio, new models. My staff stayed with me. I didn't have to worry about recruitment. I had online classes happening and I was able to pay my staff to teach those online classes. And that was from being smart and not paying somebody else's superannuation. It was by paying my own building. And you know what, Richard? That building has tripled in the value since I purchased it.
Outstanding. I love the last point. And if you're still at this podcast, it means that you've got a lot of value from that. I'm just a big, big believer in staying in this industry long term. And, and it doesn't mean that you have to do something else in the industry. You can do the thing that you'd love to do. You've got to do it the right way, and you've got to change the thinking around this. So, Mel, thank you so much for today's insights. Um, super interesting. And, um, final quick question: what is your number one prediction as a gym owner or fitness professional in Let's say a studio, like a studio or gym owner. What's your number one prediction that you're going to have to do in 2022?
Competition is coming, people. So I want you all to get up off the chair and walk your business, walk your gym floor, walk your studio floor, understand your demographic and community, and start preparing now because competition is coming.
Awesome. Thank you so much, guys. If you've enjoyed listening to Mel Tempest, All you have to do is Google, do a Google search, meltempest.net. That is her website. All the information there. Follow her on socials. And it's been a pleasure, Mel. And I've really enjoyed jamming the first time with you on this podcast.
Thanks, Richard. And I look to bigger, bolder business in 2022 for both of us.
Amazing. Certainly. Guys, if you enjoyed this podcast, all you have to do is share it with a friend. That's the best way to actually impact. And as Mel says, start Collaborating. Take the episode, copy and paste it, text it to your best friend who or competition as you call it, or somebody that you know in the fitness industry. Say, "Hey, this in this episode's super interesting. You should listen to it," and tell them when they should listen to it from. That's the best way to impact somebody and to help somebody out that may be going through a really challenging time. I'm Richard Turtungi. Be sure to subscribe to the next episode. Thanks so much for tuning in.
