Passion for Building a Culture of Community Fuels This WORKOUT ANYTIME Franchisee

The average WORKOUT ANYTIME* gym is around 6,000 square feet—much smaller than many other low-cost gym franchises in the industry. For John Heifner, that means getting to know his members personally is something he is able to do on a daily basis as an owner and operator of three WORKOUT ANYTIME locations in Powell and Knoxville, Tennessee. It was also one of the top reasons why he decided to join the team six years ago.

When Heifner was considering buying a fitness franchise, he did a lot of research. He looked at other gyms including Planet Fitness, Snap Fitness and Anytime Fitness. In the end, the overall business model of WORKOUT ANYTIME came out on top.

“WORKOUT ANYTIME is not a huge conglomerate of rooms where people get lost. This gives me the opportunity to get to know the members in the club. You can’t hide in there! It has the feel of a private, personal training studio instead of an intimidating, large gym,” said Heifner.

WORKOUT ANYTIME also requires a much smaller initial investment and cash on hand than other gym franchises, which gave Heifner the opportunity to open the door to his first location after cashing out his 401K and taking out a loan. With his background in healthcare and his hobby as a personal trainer, passion is what ultimately led Heifner into franchising and what keeps him so involved in the day-to-day operations of running his WORKOUT ANYTIME locations.

“I wasn’t interested in franchising, I just followed my passion. As a healthcare provider, you can only do so much, and it is mostly reactive medicine. With a health club, you can be on the proactive end of things, helping people become healthy, which is more rewarding to me. You can help them create a healthy lifestyle and not just provide symptom management,” said Heifner.

And he would know from firsthand experience. Heifner has been a registered nurse for 18 years and was working on the administrative side of things at a hospital in Knoxville before quitting to become his own boss at WORKOUT ANYTIME. In addition, 15 years of personal training experience as a hobby has taught him how rewarding results and preventative medicine can be for his customers.

Now it’s six years later and Heifer has three clubs open. His Powell, Tennessee location has provided him with a few of his most proud moments with the brand. While the average club has 1,800 members, this location has had around 3,000 members for four years now, with very low attrition in an area with a small population size.

Heifner explains, “Being able to be the leading franchise in the system in terms of volume for three years straight and then maintaining that for several years is a huge testament to those that I hired to help me run the club and the type of environment we created. That’s a huge milestone.”

Compared to six years ago, when Heifner was the ninth owner in the franchise system, the WORKOUT ANYTIME franchise system offers much more to customers than it used to. Coming on board with a newer franchise gave him the opportunity to be on the front end of growth and allowed him to be involved in testing out new things including personal training services and new equipment that fits with current trends such as CrossFit and weight lifting.

“They were a relatively new franchise when we came on board, so there was a lot of autonomy. It allowed me to do some things that they hadn’t yet made part of their franchise system. That was a fun stage to be a part of--to help develop what the franchise would become. They have made changes that allow for more versatility in workouts and for a more diverse culture. Seniors can work out as well as a body builder at WORKOUT ANYTIME because of what we offer,” said Heifner.

As a very involved franchise owner and operator, Heifner could be managing payroll, buying new equipment, meeting members or even cleaning the toilets as he says on any given day. His day can vary tremendously, but he loves being involved and building a culture of community and trust within each of his locations.

“You have to lead in front of people. I’m not better than you are, so if the toilet is dirty, I can do it to. There’s a fine line between managing and doing stuff for people. If I walk past garbage on the floor, then I’m telling my staff that I don’t respect this place. You have to build a culture for your staff to have a successful business,” said Heifner.