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Will Slota knows what it takes to make a business successful. Having worked as the head of finance or operations for several small-to-mid-sized companies, he&rsquo;s all too familiar with the 70-to-80-hour work weeks that can come with putting a business on the right path. So, when that tiring schedule began to wear on him, Slota decided to pursue business ownership opportunities. But, because he didn&rsquo;t want to go it alone, he turned to franchising.

&ldquo;For me, the appeal of joining a franchise system and using an established business model was having that roadmap of what it takes to be successful as a small business owner. There are a lot of benefits that come with joining a proven system&mdash;franchises come with reach, branding and marketing built in. Essentially, you&rsquo;re automatically ahead in every sort of competitive situation,&rdquo; said Slota.

With thousands of franchise brands competing in the marketplace, finding the best franchise opportunity for your specific situation can be a daunting task. But when Slota set out on his due diligence process, there was a set of criteria that he needed filled. And according to Slota, he <a href="https://www.anytimefitnessfranchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=low-failure-rate-and-ability-to-make-a-difference-inspires-first-time-franchisee-to-invest-in-anytime-fitness-2706196" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">didn&rsquo;t find a franchise that matched all of his specs until considering Anytime Fitness</a>.

He said, &ldquo;I was looking at a lot of different kinds of franchises across a bunch of different categories when I first started this process. I researched everything from in-home senior care to fitness. What really drew me to Anytime Fitness was that it checked all of the boxes that I had been looking for. The startup cost is well under $1 million, there&rsquo;s a really low failure rate and its business model enables franchisees to better their local communities. That ability to make a difference was a huge draw to me&mdash;I&rsquo;m not just creating a pile of trash from fast food. There&rsquo;s an element to Anytime Fitness&rsquo;s business model that allows me to improve people&rsquo;s lives.&rdquo;

In addition to gaining access to a platform that enables him to change people&rsquo;s lives for the better, Slota was drawn to <a href="https://anytimefitness.1851franchise.com/?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=low-failure-rate-and-ability-to-make-a-difference-inspires-first-time-franchisee-to-invest-in-anytime-fitness-2706196" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Anytime Fitness because of its overall environment</a>. He was able to get a feel for the brand during discovery day, and immediately knew that he found the right business ownership opportunity.

&ldquo;One thing that Anytime Fitness does really well is discovery day. When I went&mdash;during winter in Minnesota&mdash;bad weather caused the other people who were supposed to be there with me to cancel. So, I was the only person there, which is something that rarely happens given that the franchise is scaled to open several hundred locations every year. But it ended up being a really cool opportunity. I had the chance to sit down with Dave (Mortensen, Co-Founder and President of Anytime Fitness) one-on-one, and he treated me like family. He wasn&rsquo;t afraid to answer the tough questions or share his vision for the company, either. That&rsquo;s not something that you find with other franchises. Sure, you might get to shake an executive&rsquo;s hand. But it&rsquo;s not often that you get invited into their office to talk shop for an hour unscripted,&rdquo; said Slota. &ldquo;The experience that I had on discovery day definitely played a major role in my decision to invest with Anytime Fitness. The whole team went above and beyond, and it really made a difference for me.&rdquo;

Following his discovery day experience, Slota signed an agreement to open up three Anytime Fitness clubs in the Los Angeles area&mdash;from Santa Monica to Hollywood&mdash;over the course of the next two to three years. Since closing his franchise ownership deal in January of 2018, he&rsquo;s hit the ground running in order to achieve his goal of opening the first gym in the fourth quarter of the year. The first big step was attending Anytime Fitness&rsquo; new franchisee training program.

&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty impressed with the training program. There are three full weeks of mandatory training. So far, I&rsquo;ve done two back in Woodbury, Minnesota. Then, after that initial training, there&rsquo;s operations and consumer and pre-sale training &ndash; in addition to training for personal trainers and coaches. Each of those run for about a week and, if the two weeks of training that I&rsquo;ve already attend are any indication, they&rsquo;re going to be helpful. What I&rsquo;ve experienced so far demonstrates how much help you get through this franchise model and how many resources are made available to you,&rdquo; said Slota.

Right now, Slota is moving forward with his plans to launch his first Anytime Fitness club before the year ends. He&rsquo;s at the stage where he&rsquo;s evaluated a number of different locations, and now needs to finalize a lease. Slota says that the process is similar to finding the right franchise to invest in. &nbsp;You have to do a lot of work up front in order to find the best deal&mdash;and opportunity&mdash;possible.

&ldquo;For anyone else considering Anytime Fitness&rsquo;s business ownership opportunity, my top piece of advice is to not be afraid to ask as many questions as you want. I found that the more I got past my fear of asking tough questions, the more compelling answers there were&mdash;all I needed to do was ask,&rdquo; said Slota.

Low Failure Rate and Ability to Make a Difference Inspires First Time Franchisee to Invest in Anytime Fitness

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Will Slota inked an agreement to open three Anytime Fitness gyms in the Los Angeles area over the course of the next few years.

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Low Failure Rate and Ability to Make a Difference Inspires First Time Franchisee to Invest in Anytime Fitness

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