Box gym trainer to gym owner

I get asked a lot how I got into personal training and how I was able to build a business doing it, so I thought I would share my journey with you today.

If you’ve read my other blog entries, you know that I got into fitness in High School. I loved playing all sports, Golf was my main, but I was athletic and good at everything I tried. I can genuinely say I know I have a gifted ability to be good at anything I set my mind to. I’m also wildly competitive. I don’t like to lose and if something is important to me, I will give it my all.

I think that’s why I fell in love with lifting weights because it gives me an opportunity to be competitive with myself. Growing up I didn’t enjoy team sports as much because I didn’t like that we could lose the game because Becky in left field was chasing butterflies. That’s also probably why I picked Golf as my sport. Win or lose, it’s up to you.

Getting strong in the gym gives me the same feeling of accomplishment, and the bar is always rising (pun). I love setting a strength and performance goal for myself. Performance based goals are motivating to me. Training for strength is the closest form of “instant gratification” that exists in the training world. I feel stronger every workout, and with each goal I hit, my confidence builds, and the only limits are the ones I place on myself.

Finding this passion for building physical strength quite literally saved my life in many ways, and that is when I realized this is how I wanted to help people. Helping them find movement to create positive shifts in their lives became my focus.

I graduated from Montana State University with a degree in Kinesiology. Soon after, my mom and I took a weekend shopping trip to Seattle, like we had many times before. While we were walking downtown, we walked by a Gold’s Gym. I told my mom that I was just going to go inquire about a personal training job. I walked out with an interview scheduled for the next day.

I remember how nervous I was. In a city I always loved and wanted to be in but knew nothing about. Since I was little I remember always wanting to live here, and now I was sitting down for a job interview that could change my life forever. 

I got the job.

I walked in as a no name, small town Montana girl, and I walked out, still as a no name, but with a personal training job that started in one month and no clue where I was going to live or how I would make a move happen that fast. That part didn't matter to me. I would figure it out. I took the leap, and I felt like my whole world had opened up with possibility… scary, unknowing, exciting, all powerful possibility.

 Gold’s Gym might not seem like a big deal, but to me at that time, it was everything. When I very started working out it was in a Gold’s Gym, and it seemed like a full circle moment to start my new journey at a place that meant so much to me from the start.

While there were several issues working for a “box gym,” (underpaid, overworked, bad ownership, etc.) there was so much I loved about that place. Mostly the people. Gold’s was the perfect stepping stone to meeting people, making connections, and building friendships. There are still people I met back then in 2016 that I have remained in contact with.

I also feel that it was important for my growth as a trainer. It allowed me to see how gyms function, how to do consultations, what liability forms looked like, pricing, scheduling, and cold calling (yikes). It also challenged my ability to adapt on the spot. I would come to work with people in my calendar I had never met, and I would have to come up with something of quality on the spot. Also, the variety of clientele was so spread out that it forced me to pivot, modify, and build programs for absolutely any type of person. It was stressful, challenging, and I loved it.

Box gyms get a bad wrap for a lot of reasons, but as a new trainer, it was the best place I could have learned in. There was enough built-in structure already in place for me, a given clientele, and enough freedom to train how I wanted. There was so much to learn on the back end of things that I never would have thought of if it were it not for starting at Gold’s Gym. It gave me an invaluable skill set that, at the time, I didn’t realize would be absolutely necessary for my future as a gym owner. Running my business today would literally not be possible if I didn’t have this experience and foundation of knowledge.

After about 6 months of working there, I was exhausted, underpaid, and feeling antsy for the next thing. I started my search up north and found a local personal training studio in Lynnwood. I was done with the box gym setting, as it eventually became abundantly clear that money far outweighed the care for and health of people. I thought that working at a small training studio would be a better use of my time.

The Lynnwood gym was the next important stepping stone, but as with most things, I had no idea just how important it would be. Like at Gold’s, I met great people there. I was able to create more connections, friendships, and grow my knowledge as a trainer. The downside to this place was not only the pay, but we were expected to take the clients through the owner’s programming only. Before each session he would come up to me and tell me exactly what I was to do, and if I wavered from it, it was met with a head shake of frustration. 

There was such little variation in client’s programming that clients would come in and already know what we were doing. SNOOZE-FEST. The owner was definitely not open to any sort of change, and as an aspiring strength coach, this didn’t sit well with me. In my mind, change is how we grow, how we help people further, and how we get better.

There was one moment there that changed the course of my life. I had been working long days, Monday-Saturday, and barely making enough money to live. I sat down with him and asked him for a raise. He looked me straight in the face and said, “No. You’re too young. You haven’t paid your dues.” 

I left that meeting not deflated, but on fire with determination. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it, but I was going to get out of there, and do something better for myself.

That next week, a client I had been working with for many months and became friends with, invited me to go to a Sounders soccer game with him and his partner. On the drive there, they told me that I needed to get out of that gym and start my own training business. 

I believe I laughed and said, “yeah, sounds great but super unrealistic right now.”

Them: “What are you afraid of? What’s holding you back?”

Me: “Um, money, in that I don’t have any, or a place to train, or any clientele of my own.”

Them: “We know someone who is looking for an independent contractor in Everett, and you do have clients, you have us.”

The two of them paid for a year's worth of personal training sessions to give me the capital to start my own business.

I owe so much to those special humans. At that point in time I was drowning, and I felt like they threw me a liferaft. There was hope. 

Now, I would like to tell you that it was smooth sailing from there, but it was only calm before the next storm.

The gym I first worked in as an independent contractor didn’t last very long. The owner was in a lot of debt that I didn’t know about, and was in over their head. About three months into my new self-employed life, I came into the gym on a Monday and half the equipment was gone. I was told that the gym went under and I had until Friday to find a new place to work.

Luckily, there was a similar style gym nearby that that owner told me about and I immediately went over to talk to the person who ran it. It was a cool space, with a lot more room, and more of the kind of equipment I like to train with. This was also the day I met a very special friend who would be by my side until this day. Brooke. I saw her in the corner training someone and I made my way over to her.

I believe I said, “Hey! Do you like training here?”

Brooke: looking at me with a confused face, “Um, yes! I like it here.”

Me: “Cool. See you soon.”

Looking back on that conversation, Brooke probably thought I was a murderer or something. I definitely could have been more tactful, but your girl was stressed and had no time to lose! Brooke, thank you for accepting me as your friend even after I aggressively approached you. 😂

Seeing Brooke gave me the confirmation I needed at the time, and I started training there that same week. 

I would like to tell you that I was there for many years and everything was “gucci” as the kids say, but sadly it wasn’t. It was a really cool space, but the issue, yet again, was poor management. I was sensing similar red flags that I ignored at the last gym I was just at, so I pulled Brooke aside and expressed my concerns.

She told me of someone she knew who just recently opened a spot and was looking for contractors. After some conversation with him, it seemed like a great fit and we moved our businesses over there.

Two weeks later, that previous gym we were at went under. Leaving me proof to always trust my gut from that moment forward.

I trained at that gym for three years with some awesome people. It felt like a family to some degree, which is what I had always been wanting in a work environment. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have grown in a stable and welcoming space for so long.

Naturally, we all grow as people. And after three years, it was time for that gym owner to take his gym elsewhere and grow it to fit his vision for his own business and future. It just wasn’t a part of my vision for my future.

At this point, I had been talking about starting my own gym with a few people, and while the opportunity came unexpectedly and abruptly, it was time for me to take a massive step towards making that a reality.

The process of finding a space for the gym was much harder than I had anticipated, and commercial real estate was something I was not familiar with. Coming out of the pandemic there were a lot of spaces available, but we had a really hard time getting the agents to take us seriously.

When they would find out that women were trying to open a strength gym, we would suddenly get counter offers that were even higher than was originally posted. This happened several times over the course of six months, continuing to make it clear to us that they thought we would fail.

This was especially stressful during this time because the clock was ticking. I had until the end of August to find a spot for the gym or else I didn’t have a place to work at all, as the gym I contracted out of was moving that next month.

Month after month I was disappointed. Getting my hopes up about a potential space only for it to fall through yet again. 

I’ve tried hard to put into words how hard this process was. I felt as though my fate was dictated by these people who didn’t even know me. My vision for the success of this business was so clear in my head, but I was so frustrated that no one could see it. No one would give it a chance and I would be lying if I said I always knew it would work out. I had no idea. I knew that I wanted this so bad, but the constant rejection I felt was a sign that maybe I had it wrong. That I wasn’t meant to have something to call my own.

I was right that there was a reason these deals kept falling through but I misread the signs. It wasn’t that I wasn’t meant to have a gym, it’s that the places I was looking at were not good enough for the special place we were about to create.

When I very first started my search to lease a space, the very first place I was called to look at happened to be where our gym sits today. This was March 2021 and at the time, I was working with an agent that was recommended to me and I asked him to look into it for me. After some conversation with the leasing agent, he told me that they would not separate the two empty units that were currently vacant next to each other. It was just too expensive so I passed. 

Fast forward to middle August 2021. Another space had fallen through and I felt almost defeated. I had 3 weeks remaining before I had no place to work. I was driving up Everett Mall Way on my midday break like I had been doing for months looking for other potential sites. That’s when I saw that the original building I loved back in February had a new leasing agent sign on the building. 

This time I took matters into my own hands and called them myself. I left a message explaining who I was and the property I was interested in and they called me back within minutes and we scheduled a tour. The agents who met me there were so kind. The polar opposite to what I had experienced over the last few months, and the second I stepped through the doors I knew this space was meant for us. The leasing team made our deal happen in 2 weeks. My last day at the other gym was August 31st and I got the keys to our space September 1st.

With the help of our friends…and YouTube, we did our build-out in 3 weeks. Working every day from early morning to late at night. We put our heart and soul into bringing this dream to life. All that time of trying to get people to see this business for the magic I knew it was going to be is now a physical form that is undeniably special to anyone who walks in.

We are coming up on our two year business anniversary this fall, with a waitlist growing by the day of people wanting our services. I look around at how it’s grown, the wonderful people it’s attracted, and the ways we serve people every day and I can’t help but smile.

If you haven’t experienced Vibe Tribe Fitness in any capacity, one might think it’s just another strength and personal training gym. But to me, it’s the physical representation of what happens when you never quit on a dream. It’s my version of making the world a safer and better place, and I hope everyone feels that when they walk through our doors.

When I think back on the story of how the gym came to be, I always think of timing. How important timing is. Knowing what I know now, even though this was the space that was right for us, it was the management company that would have been a nightmare to deal with. Only time provided the opportunity and team that aligned with who we are and what we wanted to build.

Do I believe in “meant to be’s”? Kind of. But I think we have more control over it than most people believe. I think when you fix your mind on something you want to achieve, you create a pulse between you and that future achievement, and every hard day you put into getting there strengthens that pulse and physical opportunities start to come your way that are in alignment with your goal. 

I believe the second you decide to do something there’s something that happens energetically that starts forming for you to bring it into existence.

So far, that energetic pulse has brought me the most incredible opportunities, people, and circumstances. When I look back on all the hard times, I wouldn’t change it. Sure, there are things I could have done better, acted better, chose better for myself. But I think you can spend a whole lifetime in the should’ve, would’ve, could’ve-s. I believe the best thing we can do for ourselves is to reflect, forgive (ourselves and others), learn from it, make necessary corrections, and then try our best to contribute positively to others and ourselves.

I encourage everyone who reads this to set your sights high, create the pulse, and feed it every day. As long as you keep at it, you can create whatever you want. The path might not look the way you thought, but I hope that journey is everything you need it to be.

Cheers,

B

Baby Bergen after getting her first personal training job.