The Show Up Fitness Podcast

From Equinox to 10k per Month - Tyrus the life of an independent Personal Trainer

• Chris Hitchko, CEO Show Up Fitness • Season 3 • Episode 271

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Ever wonder why top trainers walk away from big-name gyms even when the pay looks great on paper? We sit down with Tyrus to unpack his leap from Equinox to independent training, the fears that came with it, and the unexpected relief of having space, time, and creative control. He shares how he retained his core clients, why micromanagement pushed him to the edge, and what actually sustains a long-term book: trust, outcomes, and a coaching style that trains the human, not a rigid plan.

We get into the unglamorous but critical parts of going solo—budgeting for front-loaded income, setting airtight policies, and structuring smaller packages for steadier monthly cash flow. Tyrus explains his daily readiness approach and why he prioritizes movement patterns and client context over exhaustive programming reports. If you’ve felt the summer slump, been pressured into floor shifts you don’t need, or questioned the value of endless documentation, this conversation offers both validation and a roadmap.

For leaders inside big box gyms, we outline a retention playbook: distribute leads with an eye on lifetime value, shield seasoned trainers during seasonal dips, and replace fear-based selling with real continuing education. For independent coaches, we share referral scripts, seminar-sponsorship ideas, and content tactics that turn client wins into organic growth. The goal is a career with more autonomy, deeper client relationships, and clear steps to scale—whether you plan to mentor others or eventually open your own space.

If this resonates, follow along, share it with a coach who needs it, and leave a review. Your feedback helps us reach more trainers ready to build a career with freedom and integrity.

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SPEAKER_00:

Howdy y'all, welcome back to the show of this podcast. Today we have Mr. Tyrus. Congratulations on your move. We went from tires to working at one of the best gyms in Texas, Equinox. And now we are an independent contractor. You took that leap of faith, you left the gym, and now you're doing it as an independent contractor. So congratulations, my man.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

How long were you at Equinox for?

SPEAKER_01:

I was at Equinox three years.

SPEAKER_00:

It's kind of interesting because when you do compare and contrast, you had this fear in the beginning of leaving your tire shop to starting your career in fitness. There was that angst of transitioning into a full-time career with training, and then you probably experienced something similar. You had a full book of business, and then you're like, you know what? I want to go and do this by myself. So you left Equinox, and now look where you're at. How long have you been training by yourself? And let's talk about that transition phase.

SPEAKER_01:

So I've been training by myself. This is actually my first month. Um, my first month basically leaving Equinox and going coming over to my own. So it's only been like a month in. So I haven't got any new clients, just the clients that I retained from Equinox. Um, but the transition phase is really the unknown. It's like you each each time is always the unknown. Like when I was leaving discount tire and going into Equinox, it was like, how I'm gonna make money, how I'm gonna be able to survive, and you don't know. So it's like the unknown, and it and it puts that fear in you, like, I don't want to make that move because I'm comfortable here. And then when I got to Equinox, like I had it in my mindset that I didn't want to like already like be corporate environment anymore. I was always the like, it was a bridge to get to like get the experience, gain the knowledge, you know, work with different clientele, see what I like, see what I don't like, and things like that. It was never like I wanted to be the manager. I never had that mentality there, even when I went in. So um that probably slowed my progress up there a little bit, made me well I did, you know, progress faster like others did. Um, but I just had that mentality that I was eventually gonna be on my own. And then I was three years in. I asked myself, like, are you gonna do another two years? Are you gonna do another year? Like, what's your gonna be your move? You're gonna do it now, you're not gonna do it. So I was like, let's just do it and see what happens, you know. And so far, like it's been like a relief. Like, it's been a relief. So I've been able to like, it's just been like freedom. Um, I have a it's a bigger space that I'm in now, way bigger. Like, it's a lot bigger, um, not as crowded, like it's no, like it's it's almost empty, it's crazy how big it is, and not nobody there. So I can feel more creativity coming and things like that. Um, I could feel that I could be more creative with the with the training. Um I just feel a lot of good things are coming. I just gotta feel a lot of good things are coming.

SPEAKER_00:

And the cool thing about that is your clients are loyal to you, and they're not necessarily the ones who are saying, you gotta leave, you gotta leave, but there's there's a lot of micromanagement, there's a lot of ins and out in that corporate environment. And I wanted to talk a little bit about your thoughts on how the trainer is treated and overall your perspective in that regard, because this is a very common occurrence. Trainers go to a great gym like that, but then why aren't we sticking around for five or 10 years? What could have Equinox done to keep you around? Because how many sessions a month were you doing?

SPEAKER_01:

I was doing anywhere between 100 to 110 a month, and that's huge.

SPEAKER_00:

And you're charging what 140 to 150.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and really it was the same clientele base for like two years, like with not really a lot of add-ons or anything like that. It was pretty much the same clientele base.

SPEAKER_00:

So, from the business perspective, I'm I'm curious to see how can these big box gyms do a better job of serving and retaining their clients because the clients being you, because so many trainers leave. Why do you think that is?

SPEAKER_01:

So I have two views of it. Um, one view was I enjoyed the freedom that it gave me. Um, once but you the you only get that freedom when you hit the number of sessions. So once you're hitting the number of sessions and you're holding that session count, like you could come in and out of the gym as you please. You don't have to do a lot of meetings. You they kind of leave you alone. Um, but then no matter how long you're there, once that session count goes down, they hound you and they and they start micromanaging you, even if you're telling them, like just say for instance, a summer break. You know, you have especially a gym like Equinox, these clients don't train, these clients don't leave for a weekend to come back for the next like nah. When they say I'm gone for the summer, that means I'm gonna leave May 31st and I'll be back September 1st. Like they they gone and they're they're out the country. There is it's things like that. So it's like that's out of your control, you know. But as long as you know your business is like they're gonna be gone for this long, and you prepared yourself as far as financially you save you because you're gonna have those uptime, downtimes because travel, holidays, and things like that, and you prepare yourself for those moments until your clients, especially if you got good retention. Like if you if you have been having the same clientele base for two years, you got a you got a relationship there. It's so much, it's so much more than just training there, you know. So once like if they're gone and your account goes down, now they're hounding you, you gotta do extra shifts, extra floor shifts, and things like that. And you're doing these floor shifts, and you're really not trying to gain more clientele because you already you have the you have it, you're just waiting on it to come back, you know, and they hound you like that. So, and that can start making a lot of trainers uncomfortable, especially ones that's been there for a while and they know the ropes of the game. And and it's like when you've when you hound your experienced trainers and you start pushing them out, I look at it like you have a you have a a top trainer. Um he's easy 100, 120 sessions a month. And he just so happened this this summer, he have out of 15 clients he have, seven of them go out of vacation. So now he's down to 60 sessions a month. So now, but he know in in a month and a half, all my clients will be right back. Like he knows that 100% sure because they still have they still have purchase sessions and everything. He knows, he knows his business. He's been there years, and he just had one summer where he's down. So now you're hounding them about his business. You're telling them, oh, you're not doing this, you're not doing that, you're not doing this. Well, you got to realize, like, he's been there all year doing everything he can, and he has a summer month where he's down. That could give him time to recharge, you know. But instead of him recharging, you're hounding him to, hey, we need you on the floor, we need you to do three floorships. And I'm like, and they're like, why do I gotta do this much? And I don't, there's no need for it. So I think sometimes, like with the corporate environment, they focus on more on on trying to gil, gil, gil, gill, and sometimes in that like focusing on the trainer because burnout is real. Like when you when you're pushing sessions, like burnout can get real because especially in a gym like that, and if you're not just say 10 minutes from the gym, say I me personally, I 30 minutes from the gym. So, and that's no traffic. So, what if I gotta come back in the afternoon? That's an hour drive back to the gym for two clients, you know, and that's two times a week. So I'm training from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., going home, relaxing, fighting traffic to get back for two more clients that's 5, 6 p.m. Eventually that's gonna burn you up. Like you're human. The driving back, and it's really the drive, not even just the the clients, it's the drive. So when you put all in the totality and you get a time where you're like, I don't have to do that right now. It's like, let me just get this moment where I don't have to, and you explain it to them, and they still hound you. So it's like, do y'all really want me here?

SPEAKER_00:

I think you brought up a good point talking about the human part because especially today, people are looking for that work-life balance and it's never going to come to fruition, especially if you want to become an entrepreneur, but you have to respect the fact that these are humans, and a lot of these corporate gyms, they look at us more like a cog in the system. They're not looking at tyrus, they're looking at the numbers that they need to hit. So, right now we're down 30%. We need this trainer to go out there and fill in these spots, and what are they doing in exchange? The easy side would be well, we're giving you opportunities with clients, but they're not providing continued education, they're not allowing for you to level up. I mean, were you waking up every day excited to go to work? And if you weren't, why do you think that is or was? And what could they have done to keep that excitement?

SPEAKER_01:

I was excited until they until that sum I hit that summer break, and my clients went down and my sessions went down, and then they started hounding me, and then they started micromanaging me. And my personality type, those are two things that I know I can't tolerate. And I also saw management change, and I saw what the management was going to be as far as micromanaging people now, and I knew the managers was going to be there. Do I want to adjust what I'm doing to be that style? Or is it just time to get on your own?

SPEAKER_00:

A trainer sent me the other day from Equinox the the new protocol with programming and how they have to go in there, update every single client, what you're doing. And that's just unfortunate because it tells you a lot about the brand, in my opinion, that your quality of trainers aren't nearly what you expect. Because if you're on my team, T, I know you're a great trainer. I don't need to go through your programming. Why are you doing this exercise? Why are you doing that? We can have a conversation, we can have monthly meetups, and we can say, bring in case examples, let's review opportunities to further the success of your clients, getting them better results. Sure, that's fun. And you can go over new protocols and new systems, but what I'm never gonna do is want you to report to me on a weekly, hella fucking daily basis on what your programming looks like. That's just tedious and it's almost disrespectful because it's kind of saying, like, oh, we don't trust what you're doing. Well, maybe you got to take a step back and look at the onboarding process. Are you really bringing on qualified trainers? And that goes back to the entry standards. You know, the system goes, you have a couple trainers, they get their simple text, they go gain some experience, and they go over there, and that they're not that great. And it's just a crazy world. It's definitely a crazy world.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and that and that like I'm gonna say that's one of the things like that they try to hit on over there is a lot of programming. I'm like, like, why y'all so like people don't know what they're doing? Like, like, are they struggling with like is it really like and they be like put it in it? Like, I'd be like, I can't because I don't train the program, I train the client. So, like, like, like I get it from you. Like, the first things that every client will ask you, they would tell you the first three things I ask them every morning, how do you feel? Good, and then they'd be like, What's the name? They tell me how they feel, how do you sleep? I slept good. I went to sleep, okay. And like, you know, like any so any pains and aches, nah, I don't have nothing. I'm ready to go. Then we just get to it. And then as the session going on, I see how they're going. I might be like, Oh, I think we could do some stuff today, you know, or they could just I I train the client, like I based it off the CCA, you know, the and I don't focus on exercise, I focus on the movements, the horizontal, vertical, I focus on straight movements, um, and that's and that's how we work out, and and based on their goals. You know, I might throw a little game in at the end for them to do, but it's just it's not that hard. It's not that hard because you you're training people, you're not training the program. So if you if you focus on the program, you're gonna lose the fact that the person in front of you what they're really going through. You know, because sometimes you might have a client that's like they're they're 15 minutes late, they're tired, but they showed up. We got 45 minutes. We're gonna do something kind of light, but also get your body going. That way, whenever you leave here, you're gonna be good. Like I tell it's like they'd be like, Man, I I'm happy I say it's not is you will never be mad for ever showing up. You would be mad for not showing up. Like, I never had nobody leave the gym and say, Dang, I hated I came to the gym. I have never ever heard it out of all the sessions I have done. Over three years, I have never heard nobody say, Man, I wish I would have stayed home. It'd be more like, man, I wish I would have came in Monday, but I'm here now. Like, I never hear I wish I wouldn't have came in the gym. Have you?

SPEAKER_00:

No, never, and that's an attestment to you because you're a great trainer. And I've been training for 20 years, and I've never designed a program in its entirety, but I will make them for YouTube and stuff because newer trainers think that's what you need to do. But you do have just a perfect example right there. We don't train the program, we train the individual. It's not like there's no thought that goes into it. The foundation and the energy that we put into the months and years of learning how to program overload and the systems, understanding the science behind this. And so when a client comes in and they say that they're a little wonky or whatever, well, that month we may be focusing on more of a hinge with the hip thrust and a push on a bench press, a pull, pull-ups. Well, we may modify them to do other exercises or the volumes that come down. It's not like I'm not helping or thinking at all. I know exactly what I'm doing. It's just it doesn't need to be written out, it doesn't need to be put into a system because it's just wasting time. It's almost questioning your integrity and your smarts as the trainer. And it's like, no, I know, I know what I'm doing. Get off my back. So, what are some things that you think they could have done to keep you around? Whether if it was incentives, is it you know, parties, is it continue education? What are some things if you were the manager and you had a bunch of tiruses who are kicking ass, but you want them to feel a part of something, a part of a culture and a team, what would be some of those things? Maybe it's financial, is it personal? What would you do to keep people around?

SPEAKER_01:

So financially, Eaglinox pays good as far as like if you're gonna go to a gym, corporate gym, and like I think they probably have one of the better pay structures. So um, I'm not gonna say nothing about that. Um I I would say more of a helping environment. Um, so like SafeFest is like really the only way to like to maintain your clientele base at Equinox is be good with membership, the membership advisors, you know, because that's who signs the clients up, and they they they if they know they got a high lead, they gonna message or text a certain trainer, and then you get that high lead, so you and then everybody else get the you know, get the fish of what's was was left over. So I think if they had like a better system as far as disputing, you know, like you had somebody this time, you get it goes like that, and give everybody an opportunity. I um I think that would keep more trainers around a little bit longer because they that would give everybody a chance to get some kind of book of business. And um to me, it's like because somebody can sell a package off the first time, but they retain it, their retention is horrible. I don't think you should always feed that person just because they could they could close a sale, but it doesn't transition into the training because they once they close the sale, they don't keep the client at all. Once the client finishes that package, it's like there's no retention there. So I think it's some because that's one of the big things at Equinox is retention. Like people pay a lot of money for training. And for them to pay, you have to, to me, I you have to over-deliver, you know, and sometimes you you tell people this or you fear monger them into training, and then it's hard to like live up to that status. So like the fear monger, I don't like that at all. Um, the force on how to program it, I didn't like that at all. So like they're using the FMS, like like they force you to use the FMS, but I never seen a trainer reassess with the FMS, you know. But they use it to tell you you got upper cross syndrome, you got lower cross syndrome, um, you need to do this before you're able to squat up. Like, no, you don't. Like, and then tell like asking me why I'm not doing this, I'm like, shoot, because they can do it. Like, look, it's a video. I got a video of it. I record my clients, and because they asked me to record them, and I'm not gonna record them doing something crazy, and they gotta post that, and it's it's it's a reflection of me. Like, no, so like I'm gonna make sure whatever they're doing, it looks good when they're doing it, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

And I love that. Now, just to play the devil's advocate, you could be Harvey, the CEO, listening to this right now, and I guarantee you they have systems in play with equal distribution. But what they don't realize with top-down management, what happens is your manager has a quota of a hundred percent, let's just say round round numbers, a hundred thousand dollars that they need to hit. Now, if they equally distribute those leads that come in and three people don't close and they don't hit that quota, that manager is now hounded by his managers and her managers, and it goes up to the top. So he would wanted to be equal and distribute equally, but for the fact that those newer trainers, the green ones or whoever, they didn't close. They're now looked at like, oh shit, if I don't want to get in trouble next month, I need to just feed these top three trainers. But like you're saying, that lifetime value of the client is a huge metric that a lot of trainers cannot do. They can't keep their trainers around. It's it blows my mind when I hear a trainer like, yeah, you know, I lost four clients this month, it's so hard to find new ones. I can't like I have three clients I've had for over five years, and that's all I trained. I don't need more than that, and that makes me more than enough. Great trainers keep their clients for a long time, and the pushback could be well, well, don't you want them to do it by themselves? Yeah, sure, but your clients don't. Your clients want the trainer, they want to be pushed. My client today, I asked her, I always will throw some stuff in there like, would you rather do bench press or incline dumbbells a day? She's like, I don't care, just choose. That's what you're here for. That's what she pays me for to take away that thought. So clients show up because they don't want to have to think about should I do a Bulgarian, should I do a lunge, how much weight should I use? Should I do unilateral? How long should I rest? Should I do this or that? No, that's what we are for. Just like if you had an accountant, I don't want to know all the fucking things that you have to do, cross-checking this line versus that line. I don't want to pay a lot of taxes. Fucking figure it out. That's why you paid the professional.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's but now it that's the corporate environment. And and that's that's the game that I knew you had to play. And that's the game I wasn't gonna play. Like I wasn't gonna do it when I if I feel if I gotta do it that hard, I'm gonna just do it on my own. Like, because that's the same thing with discount tie. They just, I don't care when you're in the corporate environment, it's a corporate game. Um, and you have to have your mindset to know that you're gonna play this game. So, like one of the instances like with Equinox is they hire a bunch of trainers. Like, you might have 30 trainers on the staff. You'd be like, why and only 10 trainers busy? You know, but you be like, why? I'd be like, so just say for instance, if you was a gym, you have a 6 a.m. and a 7 a.m., and you know that's a super busy hour, but you only had 10 people that could train at that hour, how much business sense would that make? I'm gonna go ahead and get 20 more people that I can get just to have bodies to train at this hour and make more money at this hour, even though everybody might not get a full schedule, but we can it's it's a turn and burn game. You know, some might survive, some might figure it out. It depends how long they last, but we have like like you say, you got to hit numbers, you know, you got to get your sessions count, you got to get your closing. And then when it comes to like the the the handing clients out. Um, that's the thing. Like, if I got five people that I know gonna close a show, I'm gonna send them to them. You know, if they don't retire, I know it's gonna, I know they're gonna close a deal. I know they're gonna close it instead of somebody. I'm like, ah, they're not gonna close them. I they like so it's a numbers game, you gotta make profit. Like it's it's what it is. So you have to be able to play those numbers games and things like that. But sometimes I I feel when people get into those numbers games, they get too much more into micromanaging. And then when they lose and mic, when they start micromanaging, they stop focusing on their their employees and their people and focus on what they're doing and the numbers. And sometimes it can be like a uh ego, like an ego thing, like I want to I want to show I can do this, I want to prove I could do better than the next person, or something like that. And I think at times people can lose lose their way in in that kind of factors by you know focusing on one thing instead of the people that's in front of them.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm a small business and you know, we're growing, but I'm always thinking about what I could have done better. And I know that there's been trainers at a workforce or instructors, and you know, it was great at the time, but then later on it didn't pan out. But how can I be a better leader? And it's it's from that leader asking the the right questions. And it was really kind of stuck in my mind. I remember with Megan here, and we did a podcast in person, and she said once she got full time, the really the brand didn't really care about her, and that kind of made her feel bad. And and I think that there are some, I know that there are some people that are motivated by money, so it's like, as you said, Equinox pays you pretty well within reason. You have to remember that this is a multi, multi-million dollar facility, and they're paying you a premium rate, even if it's half that amount. That's still pretty legit for industry standards. But I think what happens is the person, the human, stops feeling like they're wanted or appreciated, and you don't have those real conversations with people saying, you know what, T, summer's coming up. Looks like your book's gonna be a little low. Let's talk about you. I'm gonna take you to lunch and let's just talk about your mindset, where you're at. What are you currently working on physically, financially, spiritually? Where's your mindset at? What can I do as your leader to help you become a better person? And then if you constantly interview people like that, you can provide a better solution for that morale. But I think what the big box gyms do is they focus just on, well, we pay our trainers a lot, but then you take away that human aspect. And there are some people that may be motivated by power. Yeah, you know, I've I've had some someone said to me one time, I was like, Oh shit, I never thought about that, but that's interesting. We're all unique. And so for that person who wants power, it could be, hey, how would you like to start teaching these calls? So you could potentially be in a position of power, providing information for other trainers. If that person's motivated by competition, well, look what lifetime does I know that's pretty cool. They've adopted and they're getting into the lifetime games, and there's competition there. So if Equinox had something like that, you send those trainers over there. If someone wants the opportunity to lead, okay, you can go. And I know that Equinox does have those opportunities, but I think they need to do a better job of having that connection where the trainer feels like they're constantly moving the needle, not just financially. So, how much did Equinox provide continuing education? I'm not talking about the online because the EPTI, I've heard mixed reviews on, not the best. What do they do to help level your career up as a trainer?

SPEAKER_01:

Nothing.

SPEAKER_00:

Cricket, that's not good.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, and and truthfully, and the truthful reason why is because the things that they were hounding on. If it wasn't like it, I'm gonna say show up kind of messed it up for them. Like, because I went in knowing so much information and the stuff that they were trying to teach. I'm like, what? Like, nah, nah, that's not like so. I really couldn't adapt to the things that they were teaching because I'm like, I'm not a fearmonger person. I know you got these high clientele, and you could kind of scare them into because they always sitting at desk. You could kind of scare them into training and things like that, but that was never my route. So it's like I would take some things from them, but it was like I couldn't like the stuff that they were teaching, it they couldn't justify it for me. You couldn't show me no facts, you couldn't show me this is this. It was like, nah. And then I'm seeing the way that y'all claim y'all clients, and you're trying to mm mm, nah, my clients are doing 300 pound hip thrust, and your clients are doing 25-pound kettlebell formal carries. Like, no, you can't tell me, you know, so and but as far as like Equinox itself, only time like I think they really give you some kind of training is like when you're trying to go to the next level. So when you're going each tier, you know, they have a program where you got to do each tier, but I asked everybody about it, and they'd be like, like now I get more information from show up. Like, so I like I've been part of show up for how long? So I'm always watching, I can't hop on every video and everything like I want to because I get busy and the times not online anymore. But I watch the videos, I stay intact, I listen to the podcast, I catch a YouTube video. I just it's like show up and then where you guide me, and then I start looking up my researching on my own, the things that I want to know. So it's just really like nah, I don't really nah. They didn't, I didn't really gain too much knowledge or I don't think they even offer. Like even when I hear old trainers say they used to do a lot, they don't do what they used to do.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they used to do all the time stuff, but they don't do that anymore.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they used to do a lot of stuff back then from what I used to hear from a lot of old trainers that came and gone. It's a lot that they didn't do after COVID. They went away with old it like so. I heard there's a it's a lot of it's been a lot of change there, but like I said, I just I think they just focus on trying to like I don't and then there's the growth part to me. That's another thing that I I figured too. I'm like, I don't see this gym growing another gym in Houston, and so if another gym, if it can't grow in Houston, like you know, like eventually people get tired of going to this gym, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

That's interesting. I think it's really interesting because I think if you compare Equinox to Lifetime, and I've done podcasts on it, obviously they're they're great companies, it's like looking at the best in the East versus the best in the West. And if you have an opportunity to go to an Equinox and they want to hire you, it's a great opportunity within reason. But what you're saying, I've heard so many times, trainers will go through our program, and it's like you're you come on board and it's like they're teaching you kindergarten first grade stuff where you're a qualified, smart trainer who is ready for high school, college stuff. And so when you're going through these modules, you're like, well, this is boring. And again, that's it's interesting because they have to do that, which shows you the quality of trainers that they're getting because so many trainers, that stuff is valuable. They're like, Oh, I didn't know this, and you're like, Holy shit, what is the market like? So I think it's exciting, and it's not knocking equinox, I think the equinox is good, but I I do definitely see a downturn in the quality. There is something sexy about that word equinox. People think like equinox is the best, but when you talk to members who've worked with trainers there, there's definitely more pushback. Like, you know, I thought the quality would be a little higher, and that's interesting to me because you see all these other gyms coming up.

SPEAKER_01:

One one thing I have though, I have seen like some trainers that didn't know nothing and just like follow some of the stuff, they did learn a little bit of something, you know. So it's just like I said, I think it was just like I just had show up so much uh show up information into me and the knowledge that I gained from even where you led me to, research this, look at this, find out about all this. It was like when I got there, like I was like, I know all this. Like, I'm like, this is like I don't want to learn, like this is like like the anatomy portion. Like, you start talking anatomy, you like you be like everybody looking around the room, like that's this, this, this, this. You know, you can just name it off the top of your head easy, and other struggle. I'm like, like, huh? Like, it makes so and then they talk about programming. Like, we we trying to teach programming. I'm like, like, why are we doing this? Like, this is like Entry level, like why am I talking about basic programming? Like, like little things like that, and that's and that's the thing that they focus on was so much about programming, programming, programming. I'm like, I don't want to talk about programming, like talk about something else. Like, you know, it was really never no much anatomy, they didn't really talk about anatomy a lot at all, but they wanted to act like we were physical therapists, and that was weird. Like, you don't dwell on anatomy as much, but you talk physical therapists and pain, like then, but you talk programming to fix the pain and the movements, it just didn't, but no anatomy was really really discussed a lot.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, ultimately, there's an opportunity you gained three years of of good information, and now you're doing your own thing. And so, what are some of the pros that you've experienced so far in your first 30 days as being an independent contractor?

SPEAKER_01:

Freedom. Um lot of more money. I would just say, fans, I made over 10k this month, and that's take home too. Yeah, that's that's that, but like that, but I only think that's funny too, though. So this is something I learned. You you get a lot more money up front, but it's up front. So you have to learn how to budget. So you at Equinox, one thing I loved is every two weeks I know I was gonna make this amount if I hit this session. You know, what I'm learning now is it's like, yeah, you make this amount here, but now you gotta render the sessions, you know. You gotta you gotta hold your policies, you gotta, you know, stay strong with things like that. But um, so that's one of the adjustments that I normally have to get used to. Because like I say, I made 10K, but that was really because everybody transitioned over, you know. So when you get the transition over, that's the first month. So now you know you got some clients that bought big packages, some that bought smaller packages, you know. So the bigger ones are gonna last a little bit longer before you see something from them again. You know, the smaller ones might reback up a little bit quicker. So you got that adjustment, but really and truly, besides that, like it's the freedom. Um, the new gym I'm at is bigger, a lot more open space. Um, I could be more creative with the training. Um, I don't have to clock in no more. Um uh just like I just feel like nice things and great things are coming. Um, I know I gotta I gotta, it's gonna be all on me now. Everything that I do is on me. Like I can't be like, oh, it's somebody else's fault I didn't get this. Like, no, it's your fault you didn't get it because you didn't do it. You know, so I know everything's on me, but to me, it's like if I was at Equinox, it's the same thing anyway. You know, if I if I if I didn't get clients that was in the gym, I would have to take Equinox brand and go into Lululemon and try to get people to sign up at Equinox and then come train with me. So it'll be the same thing if I was doing it on my own. You know, I have a nice gym, you know, within within a nice area, and like I could just market myself around that area. So that's the that's my next step and goal is like I have what I have now, it's just now it's continuously growing, you know, because that's the stage that I know I'm at in life now.

SPEAKER_00:

And when you compare the two, when you're at a big box gym, the technical skills are more important because you need to retain your clients, and that's exactly what you just said. So you need to be a good trainer to get results, and then they'll stick with you. Now, when you go independent, you got to really put on that people hat because your people skills are gonna showcase. You need to get better at asking for referrals. A lot of trainers at Equinox just say, hey, if you only want to train with me, send them on over. Now it's gonna be all right, I gotta take my client to dinner. I need to wine and dine them, I need to ask better questions because I need three clients in the next 30 days. Here are the time slots that are open. I'm gonna be increasing my pricing in 2026 because I took this soft tissue certification. I went to Dallas for the seminar or Orange County. We're gonna be in Sacramento this weekend. But you let your clients know you're leveling up your skills and you're gonna be charging more. But if they send you a client now at those new prices, you can keep them there. One of the things that I adopted was I went lower in sessions, I didn't change my pricing. So, like at Equinox, it's gonna be 130 for 12 and then 123 or whatever the new pricing is for you know 48 and so forth. I just do 10 to 12 sessions and that's it. Because exactly what you're saying, you're gonna have a constant hit per month. So if you have those clients that are doing three to four times, you can adjust it to do like 12 to 16 sessions, but then the clients who are doing one to two or two to three, on average, that's about 10 sessions. So then I like to have that constant flow because I'm human. When I have a client that pays me 12 grand and you're like, oh shit, you know, there's a basketball game on tonight. I might bet a couple grand on that one. Well, it's like you know, I'm gonna pay off that credit card and that credit card's off, but you're like, oh shit, I don't have any money for the next month. So you have to be a lot more diligent. And so if you if you have smaller packages, and I'm not talking about adjusting your pricing, just keep it the same. I am 125 per hour every six months. I'm gonna go up five bucks. I want to be really clear with you. If you send me a client within the next six months, I'll keep you at this rate. I'm also doing continue education. You can sponsor me if you'd like. I want to go to this seminar over here, I want to go to Miami, I want to go wherever. If you sponsor one of my seminars, then I won't up your pricing. We have a really cool story right now. One of the students in here going through the two months, you know, it's$2,400 to do this. And the two months in person is significantly better than just online, but you know, we we have to play with the market. But what he did is he he was a trainer at YMCA and he had like an auction almost, and members of the gym donated money. So he was able to raise like five grand to come out here for two months. They paid for everything, and that was all because he asked for it. If you ask your clients, they will invest into you. Hell, do a charity event and donate 50% of it, and the other 50% is for your continue education. There's so many creative things you can do, but now you got to put that creative hat on and think about how I can get more clients. Hell, maybe I can get enough clients where I got to bring out another trainer. And if I bring out another trainer, what's my system gonna be like? Is it gonna be like Equinox where I'm gonna have them do the FMS and do a bunch of you know overhead squat stuff? Or am I gonna have a system that's gonna be like I train and how I want to grow? And so those are all the things that you have to start pondering because it's fun.

SPEAKER_01:

You are an independent entrepreneur, and that's the beauty of life is there's all these different curveballs that you get, you know, and that's one of the things too is like I I create the show up for so much, especially early, because I was in with Katie, Josh, when everybody was still on in classes, so and then when you go see them owning their own gyms to doing everything on their own, it's like, and then when you watching, when you consistently watching the show of calls, joining the classes, and you involved, and you just hearing all the creativity things that you say, you know, like how you can bring in this, you could do this. So it's like it's so many ways to make money and income in this if you apply yourself to to the to the to the things that you learn. And it's like to me, it's sometimes when you're in a big box gym, you limit yourself, you know, and because you only can do what they will allow you to do, you know. So you limit your creativity, so then it starts dwelling in the way, and then you're like, ah, this just feels like a job now, instead of feeling like something I had a passion for and I wanted to do. So that, and that's a lot of reasons you get into the field is because you love to do it, but you don't never grasp one day you're going to have to get the business part of it and in order to really love what you're doing. Uh, you might not like the business side of it, but it's just a part of it. Like, you know, you gotta make a you gotta make an income doing what you love to do. You know, it just makes it easier on you. And then sometimes when you start becoming a job, it's like I can't do this. Like, so you lose your creativity, and that's and that's like and that's one of the things that I feel that I'm gonna be able to adapt into is the creativity part of what what everything is, the thinking of ways to make more money, so the thinking of ways to help people, even because you're helping, like, why not get paid for helping people? Like, you know, doctors get paid for helping people, lawyers get paid for helping people, you know, then they get a lot of money, you know. And you're changing people's lives more than you really think you are, you know, and and to me, like, why not get paid for it? You know, but just well, don't get paid for it and be lousy at it, gain as much knowledge, get as better as you can as a person yourself. So when you're helping others, you feel good about what you're doing because you're bettering yourself at the same time. Don't just try to get paid for it and not better yourself at the same time, it just don't make sense.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's a huge thing I want to hit on right now because people haven't seen your story as I have. When in the beginning, you were investing a lot of time learning this stuff. You were on the calls, you were asking questions. I could tell you had, as I talk about in my book, that helped Nick acronym, you were hungry for this. Where the average trainer, they're distracted by that shiny symbol and they want, oh, I want to make money as fast as I can. I just got to get certified. But then, as you were saying, they come in and they don't know how to retain their clients. They don't know anatomy, they don't know the business side of it. And so they're out there getting business, maybe if they're lucky, but then they try to start learning at that moment. And so it's like a of a rushing to learn, which they should have spent in the beginning with the foundation. And if you start out right as you did, then you can grow significantly up, whereas most trainers come in and they want the quick buck. And if you take that approach, that's why so many trainers quit. Yeah, I'm sure you saw a boatload of trainers quit at Econox and you were there.

SPEAKER_01:

In three years, I've seen probably 25 trainers leave and go.

SPEAKER_00:

Would you say it's fair to 90% of trainers quit within the first year?

SPEAKER_01:

Quit a gym, yeah. I don't know if they quit training, but they quit a gym, yeah. Yeah, yeah. But um, like I say, I would tell any trainer though, like I don't care who you are, um, unless you're good at having business without nothing, I would tell anybody, join the gym, you know, get a gym, get experience, learn people, you know, because that's that's what you're gonna be doing. And the only way you're gonna, you're not gonna get no volume of people than you would be at a gym. Like you can walk around door to door, it's not gonna be as fast. So you can accelerate your learning by going to a gym, you know. Um, but also while you're at the gym, continue learning. It if the gym teaching you something, learn from them. If you have um a program or something that you like learning from, learn from that. But whatever you do, continue and continue trying to find knowledge or gaining knowledge to make yourself better. And your clients will start seeing as you grow, they will like like dang, they start learning that, oh, he's getting different, oh, he's learning this. He's they'll they'll start seeing it without you even have to say it. You know, so I would say, like, I'd tell anybody, join a gym, um, you know, get get cut get accustomed to personal training, making sure it's something that you want to do. But also when you join a gym, know kind of have a vision for what you want. Um, do you want to be a gym manager or do you want to own a gym? Do you want to stay in a corporate environment and things like that? Because if you're in the corporate environment, like you really don't get a lot of vacation, pay vacation, things like that, unless you go management and get on salary and things like that. But then now you're limiting yourself because now you're salary and they control you. You know, so it's like you have to know what you really want, and then you can't lose sight. Because one thing I did, I got comfortable at Equinox. Um, and I think that's why some things happen for a reason to wake you up, to make you figure out what you want to do. So, like at Equinox, when I say pay, I was getting paid very good, you know, especially during that amount of sessions at times. But when that pay drops, and um the pay drops, and then you start getting hounded, it's like, hold on, like, so it can happen this fast, you know, and it's like and all this goes into this, it's like, like, what's your next move now? Like, what are you gonna do? Like, you don't like this is like you're gonna do this or you're gonna do this, and it makes you reflect on everything that's been going on, and you'll be like, you've been doing this for three years, and you done had clients with you for two to three years. So your next level is to go out there and find clients on your own because once you get them, you know you can keep them. So that's not a worry in your mind because you just proved it to yourself that you just kept clients this long, not paying$20 a session. They were paying money six times that a session, you know, and without batting the eye. Go out there and see what you can do on your own, and you know, if if all else fails, I can go back to a gym.

SPEAKER_00:

What does Mr. T see in the future for himself? What are some of your beehive goals?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, so currently, right now, um I'm in the crosshairs of do I want to own my own gym one day? But the thing about it is, is like I wouldn't just want to be training out of gym. I want to own the gym and I just let teach trainers just like I show up is, you know, teach them a system, make sure they qualify trainers, and bless somebody else with the opportunity that I once had, looking looking to be in the field. And if they eventually move on, I'm gonna push for them to move on and teach them what I could teach them. You know, I'll be there mentor them, you know, because to me, I'm gonna feel like like I don't want you, unless you want to be up under me, you can, but hey, if you want to spread your wings, I'm here for you and I'll teach you what it is. There's no competition, it's enough people out here for us hours to save, you know. So I I I estimate on on if I want to get to that level yet or just you know be independent and things like that. Uh, I've also been learning the stock market too, so learning how to trade too. So I left the sport gambling alone. I went to the stock market.

SPEAKER_00:

I like it. It's probably definitely a little safer within reason, but I like that. Who knows? Maybe we'll have a show up in in Houston soon.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so like yeah, something like that. I want to I think about wanting to help others and things like that. So, like what I say, I want to now I know I gotta gain as much knowledge as I can being out here on my own and and be very smart, build up a network, a lot of stuff like that. But like all in all, I don't regret the move. I don't regret the move, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, my man. Well, this was awesome. Where can people find you?

SPEAKER_01:

Um I'm in Houston, Texas right now. Um, you want to come train with me? I'd be a fan club. Um, but besides that, like I'm in Houston, like you can always reach out to me. My Instagram is my name, Tyrus Sumlin. My Facebook is my name, Tyrus Sumlin. So if you if you have questions, anything you want to know, anything you want to know about my journey, please reach out. I'm glad to help and tell you about it.

SPEAKER_00:

Maybe we'll see you in person at that Dallas seminar the 21st and 22nd, my man.

SPEAKER_01:

I was just looking at that. I'm thinking I might make it November 21st to 22nd. Uh, is it the same? Where's it gonna be? The lifetime, yeah. Lifetime in Mansfield. And that's the same one we did last time, huh?

SPEAKER_00:

No, that was a different one. That one was uh Covina, Las Covina or something.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

This one will be a little south, new spot. We'll uh have a good group. It's actually I've said this every time. I feel like I'm just uh broken record, but this will actually be our biggest one. There's they already they capped it at 30 and we hit it within like a week, and then they opened it back up. Now we're at 40, and we should get a good 10 or plus show up uh followers and people who want to level up. So it's gonna be between like 50 to 60 people, so it's gonna be a great one.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna try to make it. I'm gonna try to make it. I made the last one. I'm gonna try to make it.

SPEAKER_00:

No, let me know. I'll take care of your your your hotel and everything. So I always appreciate you, my man.

SPEAKER_01:

As long as they're in Texas, I try to make them, but I'm gonna let you know. I'm gonna let you know probably this weekend.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, okay. All right, everybody. Have a great rest of the day and keep showing up.