Unmasking Greatness
Join Fitness/LifeStyle Expert & Mentor Chris Kakouras talk about maximizing your health, business, mindset, and overall life! Let's get better together as I bring on amazing guest to interview and learn from!
Unmasking Greatness
Flipping Gym Equipment to Building Community at Carolina Iron Gym
At just 22 years old, AJ Brault created Carolina Iron Gym, a bodybuilding paradise in Greenville, South Carolina, with equipment worth more than all other local gyms combined. This passionate young entrepreneur shares his journey from flipping rare gym equipment to building a thriving fitness community.
• Started as a baseball player who got interested in bodybuilding after heartbreak
• Became obsessed with finding and acquiring the best biomechanically-designed gym equipment
• Drove across the country in Penske trucks, sometimes sleeping in them to acquire rare pieces
• Owns an AFS horizontal leg press worth $20,000-$35,000 that was Jay Cutler's favorite piece
• Opened Carolina Iron Gym to give people access to equipment they couldn't find elsewhere
• Built the gym without business experience, learning through trial and error
• Partnered with DeVito, his loyal right-hand man who manages the gym's daily operations
• Created a community of serious trainers who appreciate the equipment quality
• Reinvested six figures into the gym during its first year of operation
• Celebrates one-year anniversary on June 14th with contests, vendor booths, and no sign-up fee
Carolina Iron Gym is hosting their one-year anniversary celebration on June 14th from 10am-2pm with deadlift and strict curl contests, prizes including free memberships, and open gym for anyone wanting to try the facility.
Follow the Aj Brault Journey:
https://www.instagram.com/carolinairon/
https://www.carolinairongym.com/
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Welcome to Unmasking Greatness. I'm your host, chris Kikoris, a lifestyle fitness coach and mentor. This podcast is about unmasking your greatest potential, finding your purpose and crafting a life worth living. Health and fitness has been the gateway drug to all of my success. My continuous drive to keep learning and surround myself with other high achievers forces me to level up, which has developed my mind to something I never thought was possible. This podcast is here to share what I've learned and continue to learn with all of you. This is your sign to take back control of your health, mindset and personal environment. Strap in as we are recharged and always find value in the show. Please subscribe and share, as we can all get better together. Let's go. What's up, guys?
Speaker 1:Welcome to another episode of Undamasked Greatness. I'm your host, chris Kikoris, and I have a really cool guest on today. If you guys don't know and I mean well, if you've been listening to my episodes you've known through the process that I had a recording studio at my house and then I decided to get another location outside of my house to really focus on media content, podcast and everything that is involved in my fitness business, and I ended up finding a location at Carolina Iron Gym in Greenville, south Carolina, a gym that opened up roughly a year ago, and things just kind of fell into place and throughout that time that I've been here, I've gotten to talk to the owner of Caroline Iron, who is with me today, aj Brault. What's?
Speaker 2:up guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's really exciting. I think you guys are going to be truly inspired in this whole conversation because not only is AJ the owner, he's also very young to me he's 22 years old and has this amazing facility with amazing equipment that have a whole storyline behind. So I really want to dig into the mind of AJ how you got here, what you've been doing so let's kind of reel it back and got you into, or what got you into fitness and bodybuilding in general. When did you notice that?
Speaker 2:I mean fitness, you know, like any other teenage kid uh, kind of like, get your heart broke or something. And it was like, oh, I'm gonna pick up the weights. And, um, I was a baseball player, so we were always lifting weights, but it was never anything serious, it was just squat, bench, deadlift, compound movements. But then when I really started like, okay, I want to improve my physique, you learn more and more. And then I found dieting fascinating and being able to manipulate your body based on, like, what you eat, how you work out being able to manipulate your body based on like what you eat, how you work out. And then I got into TikTok rabbit hole and you can look up AJ Bro on TikTok and you'll see me reviewing pre-workouts and all that. Yeah, that's kind of how I got into it. I became like a TikTok kid. Yeah, that was the error I mean.
Speaker 1:so I mean you were. You were an athlete, I guess, in high school and then kind of leading into it. You were an athlete, I guess, in high school and then kind of leading into it, you just kind of went down the rabbit hole. Were you a personal trainer too? At one time I was a personal trainer at Max Fitness for a year.
Speaker 2:Okay, so that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I had to give it up once like equipment fully took over and I had to. You know I'd be in the middle of a session and I'd be on Facebook marketplace. I'd be like I'm sorry, I got to go right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I mean, look, you're already that's. That's part of this conversation, so let's kind of let's roll into that. Because you went into, you did personal training for about a year, how did you get into actually almost having this passion for equipment and kind of explain to these people like you're not talking about just general equipment, your pieces are very unique.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Basically, you know TikTok kid I took all these influencers logic right it's you want to be as stable as possible, doing a biomechanically sound movement to maximize the output and the muscle that you're trying to target. So I see all these exercises that these influencers are, you know, talking about and like the lines of forces don't match because you're applying it to a crunch or you're applying it to golds, where you know the best option you might have is a cable. So I kind of took their logic and I was like okay, so you want to be on machines because that's where you're able to maximize everything and then you can do it safely, not having to worry about dumbo dismounts or whatever, and kind of went from there.
Speaker 2:And I was like, okay, what are the best machines? And when I first started I thought it was Hammerstrike. But you know and you learn and you talk to more and more people and you know I kind of had like a breakthrough purchase in the equipment world and it was like I got a loan from the owner of max fitness when I was a trainer so I had to pay him back with Miami is trainer, so to get a nice little pull down. And when I bought that piece, people kind of realized I was serious in this and started to talk to me a little more. And then I followed the right people on instagram and in the equipment world. That's where everyone really talks. And then you know, okay, this is a good piece. Why is it a good piece? And then you go up and down the east coast and the east coast has a lot of phenomenal gyms trying out the equipment. Do I actually like it or is it just hyped up for some reason?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's wild, as you know. Obviously, as I've been here, I've seen tons of equipment come in the front door and leave within the same week. So that was kind of the first part where I was like, ok, what is he doing? You know, and I know you kind of mentioned it, but there was there's one story, story that kind of stuck with me that I want you to share because you know I was like, how do you find these pieces, these like rare pieces or these pieces that don't make? And you told me one. That was you speaking about TikTok. You saw some kid working out in his garage and he had a piece in the background that you just happened to see and you messaged him. Is that right?
Speaker 2:So, like Thanksgiving break, I'm back home sitting on my couch and for some reason why, like a 14-year-old TikTok video popped up on my For you page and I'm not looking at the kid he's doing some bench.
Speaker 2:He's in a gym in Florida and in the background there's a flex pull down, a leverage pull down and a flex leverage chest press, and both of those combined. Nowadays it's probably $15,000 for those two pieces. That's a lot of money for two pieces of gym equipment, but they're known as some of the best and, um, I love them. So so I mess. I messaged a kid in the comments because the video only had like 20 views and he immediately responds. It's like landa lakes, fit, family fitness and um.
Speaker 2:After that, like, wanted to google maps, looked it up, got the gym's phone number, called the guy. It was like, yeah, I have this, you know, and I would send him like trade month after month and eventually I'm going to pick up all the iron grips that are in the leg room. Um, because I didn't have any plates at the time. Um, and those were in like davenport, florida, so about an hour and a half, two hours from this gym. As I'm on my way back from another deal and that was a hell of a week I bought a Hammer Strength chest press just in case he'd consider selling the chest press to me, or trading the chest press to me, because it seemed like he actually was willing to do the pull down, not the press, so I buy it, just in case.
Speaker 1:I was like okay, I could probably sell it maybe lose $200, whatever it may be.
Speaker 2:And as I'm on my way down, I'm like texting this guy, texting this guy, and I get him on the phone and he's like, yeah, so the pull-down, we actually use it as a hyper-extension pull-down, so can you get us just a hyperextension? I'm like, okay, Just like the bodyweight ones.
Speaker 2:Yes, just a bodyweight one. So then, as I'm driving down, I take a detour to this gym. I'm looking on Facebook Maps, find one where I'm able to pick it up on the way down in my massive Penske. So I pick that up and then he's like and then can I get a lat pullover machine? And I'm like and then can I get a lat pullover machine? And I'm like okay, so I keep on sending him pullovers. And he's like no, we already have that one. I'm like what do you mean? You want a pullover? No, I want a plate low lat pulldown.
Speaker 2:Okay so then I was sending him and then I send him a hammer strength just like another piece of crap a front pulldown chest press combo machine. And I sent him that and he was like, oh yeah, that would be great, and I was picking that up from the guy that had the iron grips. So I just got the deal locked down for him for the pull-down. So I get there to pick up the iron grips, I end up selling him a pullover that I had in the back of my truck and then drive probably an hour west, pass out, sleep in the Penske truck front for about two hours and then I'm like you ran no sleep. Go to the gym and the guy's an old police officer so he was watching me on the camera.
Speaker 2:I was at like 4 am and I'm just playing with the chest press looking at the chest press, and so he comes in and like we're ready to get the pull down load up, and he's like you're really looking at that chest press, you really want that thing. I was like yeah, he spotted you, I want that thing and as we're like unloading the stuff for the pull down trade, his members like see all the Hammer Strength stuff in there and they're like oh, hammer Strength, that's really good.
Speaker 2:That big corporate gym has that stuff, that stuff's really good. And he was gym has that stuff, that stuff's really good. And, um, he's like you know what, I'll do the trade with you. I'll do the hammer shrink for the flex chest press. But you got to come back here and get me a set of dumbbells five to a hundred. So he just let me take the piece then. So I got the pull down and the chest press my babies, and then about two months later I came back and dropped off um five to hundred and dumbbells.
Speaker 1:So dude, that's wild. Yeah, that's. I mean you got a thing. I mean I'm telling you what your age, dude, to be able to do that. Hustle it, sleep in a truck. I did that a lot. I mean, the passion is definitely there for something like that, so what's I mean? Give us another. Or let me ask you this Out of all the equipment in the gym currently, what is the number one piece that you really like, or which one is valued the highest? I think I know which one.
Speaker 2:It is, though, valued the highest and I mean one I really like. It's the AFS. Yeah, I mean like when you first get into the equipment world, there are a few pieces that everyone talks about and, you know, at some point I thought I'd see one for sale.
Speaker 1:Never seen one for sale, yeah.
Speaker 2:Like and and now you know, people are reproducing it and the reproduction cost of that piece alone is like eight thousand dollars just to make it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's because it was built so well back then. But and tell people what it is, so it's a horizontal leg press kind of a press, but the foot plate moves with you so it actually kind of stays level throughout the movement and it's just this kind of cube-looking piece. But you know, it's like we posted that video. I found a clip of Jay Cutler saying that was his favorite piece of equipment ever and you know I tell everyone that thing's worth more than my truck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of history. Are you allowed to say Can you say how much you could sell it for? Let's say that, how much could you sell it for?
Speaker 2:To sell it in a week, I could probably get $20,000. That's a fast sell For fast sell. If I were to actually sell that thing, the only number I'd consider now would be like 30 to 35. That's what.
Speaker 2:I consider because it's so hard to find one, and the only way I'd do that is if I had one already lined up. Had one already lined up. So if I got like you know 25 to 30, but I had one lined up already and the guy's like, if you give me 15, you know what you can have it, then simple business transaction.
Speaker 2:You know I end up winning and we get the same piece. But I don't think I'll ever get rid of it because you know, worked hard on that one for months talking to this guy and then the work me and DeVito had to do to just get it out of this tiny gym, and that leg press was worth more than everything in the gym combined.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's wild.
Speaker 1:I think everybody was super excited when you got that in here.
Speaker 1:You know, I tell a lot of people because you know, when I tell people that I'm here, especially those that aren't like bodybuilders or serious lifters they can feel a little intimidated, you know, or they don't think that they know what they're doing. But honestly, in my opinion, if they were to come in here and try the equipment that you have, I think it is safer and better on their joints because you can really start to cater to. You know the angles that you're hitting and the tension and where you want you know the load to be on. A lot, especially a lot of these like machines that you have out here, like the Strive equipment that you have. If you're not familiar with that, the Strive equipment that he has, there's three places where you can load the plate so you can really decide where do you want most of the tension? Do you want it like in the hole or at the top of the movement? So you can really start to give you know a good range of where you want to focus on, or your weak areas, for that matter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I mean they were brilliant, like when they came out with this equipment and thinking about more than just biomechanics, but strength curves as well.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I think you know people have figured out that you kind of want the weight heavier in the beginning, drop off at the end on most movements so you can finish the contraction. But yeah, we've talked about this in the past. You know I market this gym as a bodybuilding gym because bodybuilders know what this is. But I'd say 99% of people are better off training in here than anywhere else If you stick to the equipment it's you know this stuff is really good for your joints. One leg press might hurt your knee like crap.
Speaker 2:The next leg press might hurt your knee like crap. Maybe this hack squat hurts your knee like crap. Well, we got another one, and then we got another one. There's something in here for everyone where you won't put stress on your joints, because everyone's limbs are different lengths and you know that's why, we have so many different variations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can attest to that for sure. I mean, there's a lot of pieces in here that you know, especially hack squats. In general I don't do well with hack squats, it always hurts my knees. But you have a few in here that I can do and and I can load it and it's smooth and I don't have any issues. So that is. I mean, you've got a whole room, nothing but leg equipment. So you know, if you're trying to hit some legs like, let's get after it, but so okay, so you're getting into. You know flipping equipment, you know, obviously, trying to profit pocket money, you know, do the thing. When did you decide well, I kind of want to open a gym now. Was that always kind of long-term goal? That was always.
Speaker 2:It was kind of like a very impulsive thing. Okay, I've said this before, I was invited to go to this gym because I was reviewing this guy's pre-workout and he realized I was in Maryland. So I was like, okay, you want to come get a workout with me at this gym in Baltimore? And you know, when I went in there it was just a holy fuck moment. I couldn't.
Speaker 2:It was so cool and like talking to the owners and just seeing what this place was. It was I've never been to a gym before like commercial gyms, college gyms, high school gyms, whatever. This was what a gym is supposed to be. It was passion, people training their asses off. It wasn't about the color of the equipment, it was what it did. Um, and you could just see like all the time and effort put into this place, um, and seeing that place. And then you know, I didn't understand how it worked. But I, every single time I'd go home to maryland, I would drive an hour just to go train there. Yeah, and talking to the owners one time I was like, so how did you get started? And it was well, we collected equipment. Eventually we had enough to open up the gym. So fair enough, you know, a week later I bought my first piece of commercial equipment and realized how expensive it was. Yeah, but the goal was to open up a gym, collect enough and then be able to find a space. You learn as you go too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. I mean that was pretty inspiring to myself too, as far as you venturing off and figuring things out as you go. That is business. You're always trying to pivot, you're trying to be creative, but you've got to have like a passion right. You've got to have a passion for what you do. And I see it in here when you're in here, because everything that you put in, you bring in, it's always for your clientele. You know it's for the gym members and they see it and they appreciate it as well. And so you know you starting the gym, starting the gym. Now, unfortunately, mr DeVito is supposed to be here with us today but he couldn't make it.
Speaker 1:But DeVito is kind of your right-hand man really helping you run the front end and help do the back end stuff as well. Was he always the person you wanted to kind of do this little venture with together? Or did you start and then say, hey, buddy, you want to like?
Speaker 2:So he wasn't Okay start and then say, hey, buddy, like you want to like, so he wasn't okay. Um, at first it was um because me and devito had completely different training styles. Obviously we were both trainers at max fitness, different train styles, and you know I was more the bodybuilding, the machines like. When I was a trainer max fitness I was buying machines and max fitness was my first storage unit, the cave anyone's ever trained, and Max Fitness was my first storage unit the cave, If anyone's ever trained in the cave that was my first
Speaker 2:storage unit. I kept on buying more and more pieces and I had a buddy of mine, zane Chen, because I always wanted to be in the background of the gym. I didn't want to be the face of it. Because I always wanted to be in the background of the gym. I didn't want to be the face of it. That was like the most outgoing personality, like just the funnest character ever and the dude's jacked. This is the dude that I want to be like, the hype man, the front man for the gym, and I even like offered him the manager position. And this was before DeVito was there, helped me every single day. Um and Zane decided to join the Marines and.
Speaker 2:I mean dude's killing it, like I'm not surprised. And the slightest got first in his class like, yeah, he's, he's that just a stud. But as time went on, and you know, know, I'm doing these trips and who do I call DeVito, who's there every single time. Devito, who never lets me down. Devito yeah, you know, loyalty is a big thing and I trust no one more and couldn't be happier that DeVito's the manager. I mean, he's just there every step of the way. Like this guy is in the middle of his prep. He's, you know, he's like four weeks out. He's dying. It's a natural prep and it's his first prep. And what's he doing?
Speaker 2:He's just painting the ceiling with me in here he's busting his balls in here with me Like dude grinded and it sucked that. You know it took a long time for the gyms to be. I mean, even when I hired DeVito I couldn't afford him. Took like eight months. I wanted to have him from the jump but it just wasn't possible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, but I think DeVito saw the vision that you were trying to do and he believed in it and I can attest to. You know I talked to DeVito a lot, you know cause he's here. He's here all the time and you would think it's his own like he treats it just like it's his own gym, which is rare to find. It's rare to find somebody that cares like that, that's willing to go above and beyond, do whatever it takes. You know even the simplest things. You know I would tell him I was like dude, I've been to a lot of gyms and it's funny because I told him this one time I went down to Florida. I know you know a lot of gyms, but we went to Iron Religion when I was down there in Orlando. And then there's also is it called? Kissimmee Muscle.
Speaker 1:I love that gym and so Kissimmee's, like you want to talk about bodybuilders gym, like I'm telling you, I went in there, I told the video.
Speaker 1:I was like I went in that gym, bro, and it's in this little, it's in the shopping complex or whatever. You walk in and immediately you start seeing signs of like no cell phones. You can't be filming. You know it is one of the rawest. Like you go there to train and I remember I went up there to go pay for the day pass and if I remember right, I want to say that day pass was 60 bucks when I was down there. It was unusually high and I don't know if there was an event going on as well. Did you go Olympia Week? No, it wasn't Olympia Week. I went down there for like a conference.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know they're. At least last time I went, I think I paid $30 for a day pass.
Speaker 1:No, it was definitely more. When I went, maybe it was like $45 or $50. Either way, it was higher than I even thought. But I will say I was already there so I didn't care. I was going to pay for it because I wanted to try out the gym. But there was like an older lady that was working that front desk and she was the nicest person I ever talked to. But just having that conversation with her and she being so nice, it just made that workout and me be there and that experience so much better.
Speaker 1:Now I went to Iron Religion too and I like Iron Religion gym. I mean it's big, I mean it's definitely like a bodybuilder's gym as well. But when I went in there to pay my day pass, like I was the only one at that counter and that young girl was there and she was just texting on her phone, didn't say nothing to me. I was like, uh, I just want to work out, can I just pay you? And she was like, oh yeah, you know it's what five, 10 bucks or whatever it is. I'm like, all right. No, like have a great day or have a good workout, or hey, where are you from? Do you want to sign up. None of that. None of that was there. Dude, you can have the best gym in the world, but the way a person comes in and has an experience can change everything. And DeVito is very like knows people by name, welcomes them, talks to them. That goes really really far, you know, in my opinion. So kudos to you, devito.
Speaker 2:I know you're not here, but we're going to hype you up right now. He's much better than me. It's like uh, all the members will remember like when I used to work every single hour of the day here. I would just be on the couch, I'd be like, smiling. Wait, is that what? That?
Speaker 1:was part of. Like, what are you doing, dude, just hanging out yeah, just chilling yeah yeah, yeah, no, but it's super cool. So you know, he helped you kind of, I guess, build this gym up and he stuck with you. So you know, now you guys it's coming up to a year you know that you guys have been open in business. I came and signed up with you pretty much when you guys opened.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the grand opening.
Speaker 1:The grand opening. I came here and I, yeah, the grand opening that you want to go. Man, I have a membership by crunch and dude. I hate it. I mean, the only reason I have that gym membership is because I have a daycare and that's. And really I should only sign up for the summer because my son's not in school in summer, so like that'd be the only time we really use it, but like just the equipment's always broke. You know they have all the amenities, but they're always broke too. So it's like what do you? But what do you complain about? Right, you're only're only paying, you know, 10, 20, 30 bucks a month.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and people don't understand how much a single membership actually costs and like there's you know a lot of different things that go into a gym membership and like crunches, like they're a volume business yeah, they are. It's like they don't. They just want as many people as possible. Yeah, like that's, and they want as many people not to show up as possible.
Speaker 2:You know, that's, that's how those gyms survive. You know you don't come and it's like, okay, fantastic, you're paying the bills, like I don't remember what the actual number is, but I know planet is like 10 actually show up. I'm gross, I'm guessing, since, like crunch, just like a 10 000 member gym, maybe 30, yeah, but it's still like you know what you pay for.
Speaker 2:There's reason why it's cheap you know, yeah, uh, the machines are terrible um yeah the upkeep isn't there, and then like they got to have a massive staff just to like handle the volume.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So when you started your gym, what was your thoughts? Because, just like any business, anybody starts. You're not the only one. So how did you want to differentiate yourself from? You know, the planets, the golds, you know, like all the gyms that are in the local area? How did you want to separate yourself to get people to come here?
Speaker 2:I mean you probably already know there's the equipment. Like when I first started, there was no thought about community. I never ran a gym. It was. You know we're're gonna have the bodybuilders. I know they're gonna come because they flock to equipment. Everyone's gonna find the bodybuilding gym, um. So it was okay, we're gonna have those people and then we're gonna have people follow them. Um, and that's kind of how I thought of it, because I knew the equipment was just like compared to the Greenville area and the upstate in general. Like I looked around and like I know what gyms have what pieces in South Carolina.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you do All of them. I'm sure you do. I can tell you where X, Y and.
Speaker 2:Z is because I probably tried to buy it, but it's like I just knew we'd be able to get people because of the equipment. And then I also try to create an atmosphere too. You know, when I walked into that gym in Baltimore it was rock, right, it was just rock, rock, rock. And like when you walk through the front doors and you like hear like some hardcore music going on, like I don't know, because I like rock that's it also helped but like it got me fired up so we were gonna do an old-school rock.
Speaker 2:I mean, the equipment doesn't need to be the same color, it's what it does, and then you know it doesn't have to be fully old school. Not everything needs to be white in here.
Speaker 1:So I paint everything black.
Speaker 2:I got my favorite artists come in here and do some murals and kind of go from there.
Speaker 1:No, you definitely got some cool, cool murals up. You also have a great posing room. You know, have a designated, because you know athletes they want to look at themselves, right, so you got to have some big mirrors. You got to be able to have a place where you feel there's a designated area that they can, you know, take their shirts off and, you know, look at themselves. So you're not just running around half naked, workingaked working out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the thing that not everyone fully understands about the no-shirts rule we have in the gym is as soon as that rule is gone, it's anarchy. We don't need people working out with their shirts off in here. That causes problems. That causes people to be uncomfortable. It's a sanity issue. That's why you have a posing room, not just for posing, because if you go to a gym and there's no place to take your shirts off and it's a bodybuilding gym, people aren't going to be happy about that. It's kind of awkward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's weird.
Speaker 2:People aren't going to be happy about that. It's kind of awkward. Yeah, it's weird, and that's when you get tons of videos taken over the gym. But yeah, we needed that to have that bodybuilding posing practice aspect and still keep the gym floor Like we're here to train, we're here to get work done. Yeah, and I think it's worked out for the most part so far.
Speaker 1:No, I think it's done. I think it's done really well, to be honest with you. I mean we've had that conversation, yeah, but I like to. I want everybody else to know you know what's what the real deal is with that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:So you know, you guys have been in business now leading up to a year. We're, you know, throughout this year process. Obviously this is new to you. There's a lot of like learning curves, probably some things that you had to shift and figure things out. You know what were some of the things that you ran into that you're like, oh damn, I didn't expect that. Or some setbacks that were like I didn't see that coming.
Speaker 2:You know, I didn't go to class as much, so, um, so it turns out the electric bill is a thing. Um, that's crazy. Um, you know toiletries? It's like we spend over a thousand dollars a month on wipes and toilet paper alone. Like, are you kidding me? You guys bring your own toilet paper, like are you?
Speaker 1:kidding me. So let me ask you this, because everybody that gets into business, they do it out of passion typically. But the whole idea of gaining members, gaining clients, did you ever, did you have a strategy to do that, or was it mostly word of mouth in the beginning?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I just talked to other gym owners. Take their members. No, like you know the gyms that I knew we're not talking like commercial gyms and how they do things. It's like a small oh, we're going to take our time, make sure the equipment's there for a reason, like those type of gyms, and some of them it was no marketing at all, all just word of mouth. Others it was no marketing at all, all just word of mouth. Others it was just Instagram. And then, you know, I tried Facebook ad and I realized how expensive it was for the views and I was like, okay, never mind, we're just sticking to Instagram and that's pretty much. It's been Instagram word of mouth and you know all the members here are so great, the amount of tags we get on a day where it's like people are happy to be here, want to be part of this.
Speaker 2:People see that and that's definitely helped a lot too.
Speaker 1:Big time with culture. That is one thing I noticed way early on. You know, of course everybody's got social media, so they'll come to work out, they tag the gym and you always repost it. Everybody's like repost, repost, and I think, as even like myself getting reposted, it's kind of like, oh cool, like I'm on their page, so people continue to do that and then you get just in front of their people that they know. So it just kind of like trickles down. But you know, of course, like we've had conversations too as far as like you having a brick and mortar location. You've also done events here with other local businesses that are you know. You know you have clean eats here, which I had carly on the podcast before jacob at tns.
Speaker 1:so you do a good job with those people as well because you know I feel like you probably learn a lot from them as well, just because they've been in business a little bit longer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've definitely learned a lot from Jacob. You know I didn't know anything about running a business. I still would say I don't know anything about running a business. It's always changing. But learning from them, them figuring out mistakes you make along the way and how to like prevent them in the future. Um, learn a lot from jacob especially yeah and that dude's a wizard with technology, so yeah, yeah, we talk a lot.
Speaker 1:I think sometimes we get down rabbit holes we shouldn't, especially when it gets to like content and equipment. I'm like dude, what are we doing? Like we need to focus on what we do. Good, yeah.
Speaker 2:But yeah.
Speaker 1:Jacob.
Speaker 1:Jacob is, he's a super cool dude man. I mean, we talk on a regular as well. But yeah, that's social like networking is super big and you guys are, and I think that's the cool thing about you that you guys are you're trying different things and you guys are, and I think that's the cool thing about you, that you guys are you're trying different things. Right, because same thing for me. You were talking about ads.
Speaker 1:I tried to run ads back two years ago almost, and I in my head I was like I shouldn't mess with that, I'll just hire somebody to do it. And you know, give them the money to run the ads. And you know, in the beginning, if anybody understands like business and ads, you got to have money to lose in the front end because you're testing, you're testing markets, you're trying to test demographics and you know it works sometimes and it doesn't work sometimes. But I paid this agency and in three months I lost 20 grand and it was like no return and I was like turn it off, I'm done, you guys are done. Y'all don't know what you're doing.
Speaker 1:And that was a massive hit and learning curve for myself, because I was like this was you know, they're promising oh, you can get three, four, x return. You know, every dollar you spend we're gonna get you three, $4. Well, from a math, mathematical standpoint, that's great If it works. You know, and it does. I mean there's, I know, a lot of people that do really well and have a lot of success with ads. But you know, if you don't know what you're doing, you don't know what you're testing, your copy's not right. I mean there's a lot of things that go into it to make an ad actually be successful. And so we pivoted as well, kind of like you, and pushed more organic style and you know a lot of kind of similar what you're doing now like a lot of networking, a lot of collaboration, work, and then, yeah, we'll spend a little bit here and there, but I think in business you really need to kind of have all, all of it going at once.
Speaker 2:You can't just do one or the other. So I mean we'll get better at collaborating with other businesses. I think that's something me and DeVito want to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But you know again, it's still our first year.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, we're still a new business somehow, but You're still here, You're still open, so you're doing fine. Yeah, and I don't know if I told you this. You know, like we came from the restaurant business too Most people that start restaurants you're not profitable until like the third year. I mean, you're just like recouping money that you've invested, I mean. So sometimes there's a little bit of a you know, a longevity play in business and in profit. But you guys have your one-year anniversary coming up, which is June 14th. 14th, 10 to 2. 10 to 2.
Speaker 2:So that's Saturday, I guess. So what do you plan on doing that day? Well, you know. I want people to see the gym. A lot of people, like even now, are just signing up and it's because they came to our grand opening. But I put six figures into the gym this year on reinvestments since when we opened, which is pretty much unheard of for a first-year gym. It's very different, you know, like posing room's different. We have a turf in the leg room, some little things around the gym and a lot of new equipment.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I think it's important to say, too, that you know your gym flipping. You know business is separate from the gym business, and you're taking money out of your own passion in your other business and feeding it to make this one better. Is that accurate?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean when I hired DeVito I touched on this earlier I could not afford him. Hired to veto I touched on this earlier I could not afford them. Yeah, like I, the gym would have been losing money with me taking a zero salary, nothing. Yeah, when I hired to veto. But in hiring him and you know, certain things worked out. I was able to spend more time flipping equipment and that worked out. I was able to spend more time flipping equipment and that worked out in a massive way, worked out in a humongous way, with all the stuff we were able to add right after January.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because that's what I noticed.
Speaker 2:We added a lot in a very short period of time and we were able to reinvest. And then we add Ari to the team and that we got to the point where, okay, I can't afford employees yeah and you know I'm still able to take home a salary from gym equipment. Now, yeah, the I don't, but if gym equipment is doing well, I'm not complaining. Yeah yeah. And then long term. Hopefully this place continues to grow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think your team is like you're starting to get good people on your team because everybody's kind of good at their thing. Because if you hire a team and everybody's good at the same thing, nobody can work on any weak areas, you know, yes, and so everybody kind of has their pocket where they are really hyper-focused on and do really well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's like when I hired DeVito, devito kind of took on the role that I had but was more organized in doing it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And a better front desk worker too. Yeah, you know, as we touched on earlier, and then, you know, ari kind of came in and had a background in working at gyms and I was like, wait guys, you guys are doing nothing. I was like, and it kind of dawned on us. It was like, you know, I was so focused on gym equipment at that time and all my friends were graduating so my head like wasn't fully in it and DeVito was doing what his job was. And now you know he's evolved in outreach and, you know, just marketing in general for the gym, instead of taking care of the place alone. It's trying to grow it. So we've definitely stepped up in the past two months.
Speaker 1:I think you have to evolve fairly quickly, even for yourself, because not only are you now a newly business owner, you also have to be a team leader, you have to create a good culture, you have to guide your employees and your team to make sure that you're all successful. Because I remember when I started hiring trainers and coaches under me, I had extra pressure because I didn't want to let them down. I wanted to make sure that they could make money. They were getting clients. We were going in a good direction because I didn't want to let them down. I wanted to make sure that they could make money. They were getting clients. We were going in a good direction because I felt like if I couldn't continue to get new clients and give them clients for them to make money, I felt like I wasn't doing a good job. So it really kind of put extra load on me to make sure that I was doing what I needed to do to make sure I could take care of them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's probably the biggest thing that sets on me. It's like it's not just okay, AJ, you can go flip a piece of equipment, You're cool.
Speaker 1:You're chilling.
Speaker 2:It's not that anymore. It's okay. The gym needs to be successful so that my manager, who fucking works his ass off, can not only get a salary, but then the gym grows, he can get a raise and I can afford to pay him from the gym alone. Yeah, and then the gym's got to pay me at some point too. Yeah, like it really needs to. It can't just be flipping equipment. That covers everything.
Speaker 1:You could do that without the gym.
Speaker 2:Do that without?
Speaker 1:the gym yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean the equipment here is worth more than it is in every single gym in Greenville combined, so the equipment's fine. The business needs to continue to grow and then that will give us options in the future. We want to cap the gym which I hope that we're able to do at some point and just continue to make the gym better and better for our members, for their experience, because I mean I wanted to open up a gym to give people access to this equipment. That was why I did it. I wanted to give people access to it because you know everyone can find food everywhere, a coach or whatnot, and you know there are different types and whatever. But being able to find this equipment, you can't find that anywhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, like there are very few places to where you have everything in one spot.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like South Carolina's got this. Max Fitness has done a phenomenal job, uflex in Charleston, but that's three in South Carolina. Like there are states that have no gyms like that. In South Carolina, there are states that have no gyms like that, so it's just give people access to something that they couldn't otherwise have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that makes sense. So what do you use? Let me ask you this Is there anything that you do currently to help educate yourself or work on your personal development and mindset, to be a better leader or be a better marketer or strategist? Do you have a mentor in the background to kind of coach you through things? Or are you just coasting it right now until you figure that out, until you get somebody, or do you even want anybody?
Speaker 2:I mean, I've been coasting. I haven't really had a coach. I've had people I've talked to, but everything's a business transaction. You know, I give you one thing, you give me something else in return. Yeah, but you know, when you're young you don't really get much in return. Yeah, so I've kind of just been hanging out. You know, really it's been. I've really just been just been like kind of enjoying my senior year because, uh, junior year of college it was like, uh, I'm on the road every day. Yeah, I didn't have time to spend with my friends because I was working just day after day, you know, spending weeks on the road just buying all this shit. And then it's like, okay, we're opening this place and then, sure enough, the gym's open, all my friends are gone for the summer. I'm like I just missed out like a whole year of school and I'm like, yeah, I get that.
Speaker 1:But I think also, you know you're doing something that is setting your future up. There's a lot of people that are going. They're just partying or, you know, having their summer break and coming back to nothing. You know, and you're building something pretty cool here that you know, obviously, is going to get to a point where it's paying you back, paying you some good money. You enjoy being at your work. I think that's a big, big satisfaction when you enjoy what you're doing. And I think that's a big satisfaction when you enjoy what you're doing Because I think I don't know if you felt like this, because I talked to tons of people that want to get into, you know, coaching or whatever business. They're like I'm tired of working for somebody else, I don't want to do a 9 to 5 anymore, and I'm like great, you're not going to do 9 to 5., you're going to do 5 to 9. You know, like I feel like your brain never turns off. You're constantly thinking, trying to come up with different strategies or keep afloat.
Speaker 2:I mean the first like from when we opened until I hired DeVito, like there was never a break. Never, you're like because I'd be gone from here, here, but then I'm stressed about something happening or someone sneaking into the gym, and then and then it's like every other minute I'm getting a new dm. And it's like, oh, I got something from the fridge or whatever, and like I'm extremely thankful for all that, but it was tough because I never had a break yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then it's like, okay, what can I do next to the gym? What can I do next? Because up until recently, I was not satisfied with the equipment in the slightest.
Speaker 2:Like I mean, from the beginning I was satisfied with the chest equipment and then everyone said the leg room was great. I didn't think it was great. And then I had a few more chest equipment and then everyone said the leg room was great. I didn't think it was great. And then I had a few more pieces and now I think it's great. And then the back section I was like it's just not good. It's like we had everything in. There was a phenomenal piece, but there wasn't much.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's like, okay, I want this, this, this, this this. And we added four back pieces since January and we have another one coming in a month.
Speaker 1:So that changed.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I think, I mean, even coming here, you had I mean, I knew that you wanted more stuff and I think you had a little checklist of like these are the next pieces I'm searching for or I'm waiting for, because I already ordered it. You know that kind of thing. So that is definitely a personal standard of yours that you want to achieve. Because, like to an everyday person like myself and trust me, like I've been in gyms a long time and I love training, I don't think that far I'm like, is my workout good?
Speaker 2:Hell yeah, like let's keep it pushing, of course, like variety is nice, for sure, and never having like, because, as the gym continues to grow, people still aren't going to have to wait on equipment.
Speaker 1:Because there's just so much and it's all spread out too. Yeah, no, I mean, that's why I like this gym so much too, you know, and the people that come here, they come here, they're not paying you and just not showing up. You know they're coming. And I think that's also where that whole community comes into play, because everybody's super nice, super friendly.
Speaker 2:You see everyone at the same time, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think it's going to be, you know, continued on that way, if you guys continue going down the path and hopefully, if you guys are listening, you know, again, june 14th, the one-year anniversary I mean I'll be here, aj will be here, devito will be here, but you got a couple of vendors that are coming out as well. So you know, if you're in a place where you're looking for a new community to work out, or if you're trying to like figure out how to reach your goals, there's going to be people here that can help answer those questions for you or point you in the best direction. You know, maybe it's a coach, maybe it's a meal prep company. You know, maybe it's, you know, supplements. You know, whatever that is that angle that you need. This would be your opportunity to get all those answers to the questions that you guys have and check out the gym, of course, you know.
Speaker 2:I mean the amount of knowledge that floats around this place. Yeah, it's insane.
Speaker 1:It's insane. Are you doing any specials for people that work out? Sign up anything.
Speaker 2:I mean we'll obviously have like a no sign up fee that day, um. But you know we're having a couple contests. We're gonna have a deadlift contest, um okay, and we're having a strict curl contest and like. We'll release more details and specifics to those later. But you know, like a couple of prizes will be three month free memberships and then um a grand prize of a free membership which is, you know, that's a 840 value right there.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, better jump on it. Yeah. No, I think it's super cool, I'm excited for it. I mean, you guys did a good job last time, so I think this time it'll be a little bit better and uh, especially now that you have people that's been here and they can vouch for it as well, yeah, and that the gym's kind of established at the moment, yeah, um, compared to what it was.
Speaker 2:Obviously we still have a lot of plans to make this place even better, but yeah for one year. It's pretty cool to celebrate all the changes and the community Again. I didn't know that we were going to have such a community, and that's really what I want to celebrate. It's like we have a group of people that are like-minded, come here to work and are friendly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So what's one thing that you would like to see yourself accomplish in the next year for this place? You can't say more equipment, though. Don't say that no.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty good on that Equipment-wise. We're going to say clean it up. I want the gym to not look as grungy per se. I want all the pads to be navy on the equipment. I hate the yellow in here.
Speaker 1:I hate the yellow machines.
Speaker 2:They need to go. So swap those out. That's what I'd say on the floor. But I think year two will be more of an aesthetic thing for the gym.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:Maybe more mirrors, whatever, but just keep on growing the community. That's one thing that I really care about. That's one thing that I really care about. Just have it grow. Have more events, more get-togethers with members.
Speaker 1:I think that would be really cool if you did some events you know just like random ones, where you know even have you know some food, or you know just kind of hang out one day and have a DJ.
Speaker 2:I mean, we're in the South, let's flip some weights in the morning and watch some football in the afternoon. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:We just put a big screen up or one of those projectors come hang out. I think that'd be cool.
Speaker 2:Talk to the members. The morning crowd might not know anyone from the evening crowd because everyone comes at a certain time yeah.
Speaker 1:Like getting more like-minded people together yeah, no, for sure keeps us all motivated. I love it. So where can people find you, find more about you know the anniversary and everything about the gym?
Speaker 2:um, so we're gonna be having like a. We already have like announcement post up, but we'll have like announcement video post up soon and then, if you do plan on competing in the deadlift or strict curl contest, there will be a link there to sign up for that. But yeah, just come here June 14th, 10 am, so it'll be fun.
Speaker 1:Heck, yeah. So Carolina Iron Gym. That's the Instagram link correct. I'll put all the links actually in the comments below to where you guys can come to Instagram. Obviously, go to the website If you're thinking about signing up. You can actually do that on the site and you can just go ahead and knock all that stuff out so you can just come in and hit your workout, do all that good stuff. Are you doing? Free day pass for the um anniversary for the anniversary.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, open gym. You don't have to buy a day pass, just come here. Okay, sign a waiver so that I'm not screwed if something happens.
Speaker 1:And uh, go get a workout yeah, cool, so that'd be a great day for you guys. If you haven't been here, come check it out. Um, he said no sign-up fee. It's on camera, it's locked in. You can't go back. Shit, come hang out, talk to all of us. He'll be here. But, yeah, I would keep up. Honestly, now that we're talking about it, instagram, I feel like, is where you post more regularly. So as, leading up into June 14th, all those details will start to be released who's going to be here. You know timeframes of when things are going on, so make sure you give them a follow on there. Again, I'll leave the link below. So but, aj, I appreciate you man, you're, you're, you're a boss man. I'm, I'm inspired because you're young and I'm I'm excited to see what you do with this place, you and I'm excited to actually be here in here to kind of watch the expansion and see what y'all do.
Speaker 2:so don't, don't kick me out of this room, man, you know hey, jacob's got the word, but like I don't think he's kicking you out no, jacob, I think jacob will move in with me before he kicks me out.
Speaker 1:So I appreciate you, man. So let's, uh, let's, keep it going all right, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir.