How a Personal Trainer Built a Business From One Client Conversation with Ben Poss of Gummy Gainz

What does it take to build a career that lasts in the fitness industry?
In the first-ever guest episode of Smittyville, Chris Smith sits down with longtime trainer and Gummy Gainz co-founder Ben Poss.

After more than two decades in the fitness industry, Ben still trains several of the same clients he started with over 20 years ago. In this conversation, he shares lessons on building relationships, creating opportunities, developing a strong work ethic, and why some trainers create lasting careers while others leave the industry.

Ben also shares how a simple conversation with a client led to the creation of Gummy Gainz and the entrepreneurial journey that followed.
Whether you're a new trainer, an experienced coach, or looking to grow your own business, this episode is packed with practical lessons from someone who has done it for more than two decades.

#personaltrainer #personaltraining #fitnesscareers 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

If you have a thought, a dream, an idea, and you think it's a good one, go after it. No matter where you are or what the idea is, that if you want to make change or you want to shift or you want to actually build on what you have, it's it's possible.

SPEAKER_04 0:14

You just rolled into the smartest small town of fitness. Welcome to Smittyville, where the trainers level up. Big raps, big vision. Yeah, we're building it up. Smartest, small town of fitness. Pull up lean in with Merrick Chris Smith and Christy Vang. A podcast for personal trainers.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

Let's get to work. All right, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome today's episode of Smittyville, hosted by none other than the mayor himself, uh, Mr. Chris Smith. Uh today I've got a special guest with me, new friend of mine. Uh has a great business that we partnered with in my clubs uh called Gummy Gains. And so we're gonna talk about that today with Mr. Ben Posse. So, Ben, welcome to Smittyville. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. What do you think of Smittyville so far?

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 1:10

We're all doing the same thing, trying to make people better and change lives.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Trying. Trying.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

Yeah, we're working.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Yeah, you can only do so much.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

For the audience out there, why don't you tell them a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_02 1:20

I'm a personal trainer. I've run my own personal training business for about 22, 23 years. I've been in the fitness industry for God, 25 plus years. Uh used to box when I was younger. Kind of how I first got into training. I started uh coaching boxing and then got into kind of private one-on-one training. Small world, I used to box at this gym called Main Street Boxing about 25 years ago. And this guy, George, that I used to box with, he actually ran this program with his brother called Boxer Fit. And it was out of the original Fitness Worlds. I think he was at Fitness World Davy that he used to run some classes. And uh he was the first guy that kind of gave me that thought of, you know, you could take boxing or that skill and you could put it into kind of group training and uh individual one-on-one training and make some money off it.

SPEAKER_03 2:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

That kind of bridged myself into uh kind of figuring out what I wanted to do with life. So I thought about firefighting. So I ended up at uh uh taking a course in college kind of on uh kinetics and uh and human uh biomechanics. And then that kind of got me into personal training and uh started working in a gym and uh the rest is history. The rest is uh long history 23 years.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

Yeah, successful career thus far. You're obviously still working at it and getting after it. Um, and then you know, that led you to at some point saying, hey, I think there's an opportunity or a gap that can be filled here around, you know, a product, if you will, or a supplement or a need. And so how did that lead you to the business venture, you know, specifically with gummy gains?

SPEAKER_02 2:43

When you're training, fitness uh it's not just fitness, but you get you come up into how to improve life, your lifestyle, how to improve nutrition, how to eat better, how to live better. Um, so always get into the conversation of of nutrition. But my client at the time, Mark, we was training pretty hard. So nutrition came up, kind of how do I eat better? Kind of what should I be eating? And protein always comes back to protein. Are you getting enough protein in your diet? What sources of protein? What kind of food are you eating? So he started trying to eat better, didn't really like eggs, didn't really like beef. So started eating chicken. He he kind of got sick of eating chicken, that was kind of his main source of protein at the time. So he came into the gym once and kind of how's how's your diet going? And he said, you know, is there any way that you could put protein in a gummy? Because if you could put protein in a gummy, I would eat that shit every day. That was like kind of a big light ball moment. And uh I knew there wasn't anything on the market, anything like it. Had a kind of an idea about creatine gummies before they even existed, but I didn't think there would be a big enough market for it. Never even thought about a protein option. But uh after he said it, I kind of thought, you know, that's a pretty great idea. I don't think there's anything out there like it. So I started sniffing around, started looking at different proteins because there was nothing on the market that was even close to that. So just doing a little research, and this is just kind of Google investigation. I found a company that was doing um, it was the first time I had ever seen and it had just come out, but Clearway. So Clearway is a like I'm not sure if you know, but an ultra-filtered um whey protein isolate, but they strip the lactose out of it. So it's the lactose that kind of gives it that milky composition. So you get the kind of cookies and cream or vanilla or chocolate is the traditional flavors. But once they were able to ultra-filter it and get it down to this clearway, kind of unflavored un with no lactose, they were able to add fruit flavors to it. So then I saw that there were a few different companies that were doing these pretty cool flavors, different flavors. So I thought if they could do fruit-flavored whey protein, then there should be some way that we could figure out how to put those in a gummy. And you did. And we did.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

It took a very long time. Well, the business is obviously going decently well. Yeah. Uh we're proud to carry your products and certainly enjoy them. And uh I am not necessarily a connoisseur myself, but my wife eats them every single day. That's excellent. Every day. I love it. And I think even from a trainer perspective, back to your background, my background, I think we both understand the science behind how important protein intake is, particularly after you know, exercise and again even strength training. So I think it definitely is filling a void and it just makes it anything we can do to make it easier, right? Or less friction. And so that's what I look at it as a void of like, yeah, there's a lot of people that the texture, the constant chewing of this, that, whatever different protein sources, and the ability to just have another kind of venue to take it in, I think is pretty incredible. So congratulations. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

I really appreciate that. It's a very unique product. So, yes, a lot of the protein out there, it's mostly powders, drinks. Uh, you get donuts, but it's a lot of what I find is a lot of heaviness, right? The the bars seem heavy, the cookies seem pretty heavy, the donuts. So, this was kind of the first product, and we didn't even know how it would turn out. But this the protein isolate that we use is so fine that it gives it that kind of fluffy marshmallow. So, just even the texture of it is just so unique that it's one of those things you have to try it first to understand the texture, but also the flavor.

SPEAKER_03 6:02

I've tried them, don't get me wrong. Yeah, I've tried but 11 grams of protein, I'm like, I gotta eat four bags of these.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

Well, that's it.

SPEAKER_03 6:08

Well, I'm a big guy, so it takes a lot of a lot of protein to get me going.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

So, definitely not meant to be a replacement for anything, but it's uh yeah, it's a really convenient and uh and obviously it's a it's a nice treat to just kind of bump up the protein for the day.

SPEAKER_03 6:21

Well, what would you just say, 23 years in the industry? Like, what does it tie you? What's the big life lesson that you would tell to the audience say, Man, if I've learned anything, like this is what I've learned.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Well, I've been pretty fortunate in this industry. I um I've I've worked really hard, but I've uh I've still have clients that I started with. Um I've got a few clients, I think I've got five clients that I've trained for this will be our 22nd year together. Wow. Which which is crazy for me to think the amount of time that we spent together and kind of the relationship we've been able to build. But even the other clients I train, they're all kind of five, 10, 15-year clients. So I've I'm very observant. I I listen, I I've built incredible relationships with these people. As you know, in this industry, it's it's it's a very raw kind of experience when you're with somebody and you're in a gym. But I've got executives, I've got business owners, I've got pretty successful people, but when they're in the gym, they're they're stripped down a bit into kind of just their normalcy, right? They're they don't have to put on any kind of facade or character, they're just kind of at their rost as well. So you get you get very unique conversations, very honest conversations. Um, what I've learned is is not that I didn't have it, but work ethic. A lot of the people I train are driven. Like anybody in a gym is wanting to make change. Anyone that hires a trainer wants to make changes, or even even more so wants to dedicate themselves to make those changes. And I think people that stay consistent with that, and even in their 50s, 60s, 70s, I train a couple of people in their 80s, these people are still trying and and maybe not making as much improvement, but they're maintaining as best they can. So I think really it's it's uh uh perseverance, you never give up. As far as business goes, it's I think the most important thing is if you have a thought, a dream, an idea, and and you think it's a good one, is go after it. No matter where you are or what the idea is, that if you want to make change or you want to shift or you want to actually build on what you have, it's it's possible.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

Yeah, I appreciate you shar sharing that idea too, because one of the questions I wanted to maybe talk a little bit about is you know, we we often talk to people and it's like two feet, you know, one canoe, if you will, where you got to kind of be there. But you there are times where you might put one foot in two separate canoes, but you can't do that forever, or the adductors are gonna give out. So obviously you're juggling a couple of different things, right, at this point in your life. So when you think about the time management, how you allocate time to each of the businesses and the things you do, how how do you think about that? Or what advice would you give for somebody else when you're talking about?

SPEAKER_02 8:52

Don't uh yeah, don't ask me about that right now. So right now I'm juggling multiple. I'm married with two kids, so I've got a 10 and 12 year old that are incredibly active. So trying to make sure I spend enough time with my family, but I need to dedicate enough time to my business and obviously the pursuit of this new business. Yeah. So it's been incredibly challenging, but uh I think I'm fairly organized. You try to break the day down into increments. I've uh I've followed you know people I've mentored after. It's kind of breaking the day down into segments. So right now I feel pretty lucky, but I'm able to train for about the first four or five hours of the day. Usually train from about six till eleven. And then eleven on is kind of the gummy business until the afternoon. And then I'm dad for uh several hours until after dinner and the kids are in bed, and then I go back to work and work for a couple hours before uh before I've got to get to bed. And I get up so early in the morning that uh yeah, I can't I can't push that too much. But yeah, I usually work until probably 10, 10, 30 at night just trying to catch up with stuff or or prepare again for the next day.

SPEAKER_03 9:55

Yeah, you're in the grind.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Oh, I am in the grind years.

SPEAKER_03 9:58

Call it adulting.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Yeah, you're adulting. You only have the energy for so long and you only have the opportunity for so long. So you've got to take uh take advantage of it and make the most of it.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

Well, I'll give you a quick tidbit or a piece of advice for me then from the mayor of Smittyville. So I have five kids, right? And uh my old my youngest son turns 20 actually here in a few days. And so my daughter, oldest daughter's 31 down to 20 years old. So, what I tell you is again, a busy life, always working on growing my career, and so what I really focused on was never missing anything crucial. So just never miss a school play, a dance recital, a this, a that, daddy, daughter, this or the you know, as long as you're the you know, because there are sacrifices you will make and there were calls and decisions that you'll make if again entrepreneurship and growing a career as as as big as possible are kind of what you aspire to do from a personal accomplishment standpoint. I do think there's a way to do both, which is high personal and professional level achievement and not miss anything with your kids where they know that man, my dad really loved me and cared about me, was always there, especially when I needed him or wanted him to be there, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:58

Yeah, well, I'm sure too with five that you're even busier. But I think too, if your kids can see you working towards something or trying to improve yourself, which in turn improves your family situation and just improves everything, I think that's been one of the coolest things for me is my my kids know that I run my own business, they know that I have my own gym, but to see me kind of come up with an idea and turn that idea into an actual product and that product be in stores that I I hope they understand. They're old enough to kind of realize, and it'll probably be years before they truly understand kind of why I'm doing it and and and hopefully how that trickles down into their success. But I think it's it's been very cool for me to, even though I've had to sacrifice some time, it's it's in the pursuit of something that they've watched right from the beginning. And uh really cool for them too to kind of like their friends are all gummy gains maniacs. So it's it's very cool. They're they're they're they're over it already. But uh yeah, it's it's it's very cool to watch.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

If you're thinking about again 23 years training clients, something you've had for 20 years, as you mentioned. Yeah. So for those people that have been trainers for two or three years, and especially in this generation, we hear a lot about I'm capped out, I'm tapped out, I'm burned out, or whatever, what would you say to them?

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Oh, it's tough. It's hard to tell somebody how much busier life's gonna get as you get older and get deeper into whether it's business, family, professional obligations, but uh it it's again, it's time management. I think for anybody that's in the business and in their earlier years, stick with it. If it's something you truly love, I love working out. I've worked out since I was 12. I don't know of of anything else I would do. Even this gummy biz, it will overlap health and wellness and fitness and kind of the same lifestyle I've lived my entire life. But uh, I would just tell anybody early in the business that feels maybe they've already plateaued or or kind of questioning what they're doing. If you really, if you really love what you do and you love being in the gym and being in the environment, the sky's the limit. If you've got great interpersonal, this is the thing. You you you wouldn't get into the business if you didn't have interpersonal skills to start with and have the ability. And if you can just keep building on that, build relationships, those relationships will open up doors. Working in a place like this, I'm I'm guaranteed there's opportunity to move up into different positions, whether your your thoughts are management or group training, or kind of maybe diversifying into whether that be a physio or sort of massage or Cairo, whatever you want to bridge that into next. Or like me, I really realize that I love training. I love being with people and I love working out. And uh there's a lot of satisfaction in that. I think a lot of people chase kind of the monetary wealth and and looking like I have to get here, but as you get older, and and you probably know more than I do, you look back and and it's it's just building life experiences, but building wealth with what you have. And I feel incredibly fortunate with the clients I have of I feel very wealthy. So monetarily, I do all right. Uh my wife and I are we're we're we do all right, but I feel very I I've got a wealth of friends, I've got a wealth of mentors. Health is wealth. Health is wealth, and being in this industry too, you're yeah, you're you're constantly trying to just kind of to improve yourself or at least maintain what you have. And yeah, health as you get older too, and this is a thing for people early in the business, you you don't appreciate that stuff until later in life.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

Let's head to the trainer circuit. Real questions, real situations. Chris shows up, listens, and mentors from experience.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

So, anyway, Brian, I think what we're trying to show people today, instead of a normal go beat me up workout, get stronger, we're trying to demonstrate that recovery is part of the process. But why do you think so many trainers in general struggle, particularly with like stuff mile faster released or helping clients move better? I feel like a lot of trainers struggle with like the application of these tools and devices. Well, what's your theory behind that?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

I think in a lot of ways there's a lack of understanding of how this stuff actually can help a client and integrate into it. And honestly, I think it's either a combination of being, I guess, lacking of the knowledge or to a degree laziness. Then you want to get right into training of the session. But if I'm training in a session and you don't have the capability to do something, then it's really difficult to push you in capacity. So this stuff should be helping the client to be able to perform well. If I can't get you to do, say, a regular squat and I want you to squat heavy to get stronger, to say, work on weight loss, like that's really difficult. You know, I think there's a misunderstanding of how much this stuff is actually meant for our clients to help them make our lives easier as trainers to push them a lot harder. Trainers do it, but I don't think they treat it the same way. It's like, how can I apply this in the same way I progressively overload a program? You know, where does it integrate exercise selection, exercise order? Um, these components are kind of what's missing from that behavioral side of things.

SPEAKER_03 16:06

Yeah, and then again, I think even a lot of just people that maybe are a little unfamiliar or still learning about this type of work is again, we're we're doing my quads right now to help my back. Yeah. Right? So a lot of people are like, wait, what? Yeah, we're doing my quads to help my back, because again, we're allowing then my pelvis to move in its normal range of motion versus being pulled forward, right, in terms of interior pelvic tilt and all the rest of the things that go with it. So yeah, yeah, it's knowing what to do, when to do it, why to do it, how long to do it, all of it, right? It's a bit of a formula.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Things too. I think a lot of people who try to use these tools, they only focus on one lens, like only muscle. But you know, we're using it in conjunction with understanding how the muscle's working and how it affects your joint motion. And that's the key, it's not just about muscle, and that's the one thing I really love about what we do is like we're looking at life holistically. It's like fine, how well can you train in the gym? But it should make your life better outside of the gym. Um, you know, being able to play with your kids, whatever, go on a playground, all those little things uh are probably more important in the long run, but you know, it's hard to conceptualize.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

So we're getting people now, which is exciting, they're liking, they're following, they're sharing our content, which if you haven't, please do. Um, but besides that, like we we obviously are partnered together in a personal training school. So if someone is saying, you know what, I want to make your career change, I want to be a trainer, or I want differentiated education and learn from some different people, how do people find you? How do they reach out? How do they find Brian?

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Yeah, so uh I'm easy to find. I'm on uh Instagram under BCPTI, but we also have contact information. Uh my email is easy to find. It's info at bcpti.ca. And that allows for me to be able to help you uh decide on the career path. Because I think one of the best things about fitness is the barrier to entry is low enough that anyone can get into it, and then it's up to us to be able to help develop the service, the science, the sales, and really help people to be successful once they're done, right? Anyone can be a trainer, but it takes another type of situation for people to become successful as trainers.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Before we wrap, we'll leave you with a smithism, a lesson Chris has picked up along the way.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

So here in Smithyville, you know, I'm often asked to provide kind of a smithism, if you will. Yeah. So this would be uh a benism or a possession, however you want to say it. So what would be like a quote or a mantra or something that like you think about that you live by? It's something you think about when you wake up, it's something you think about or you talk about with your kids, your clients, like it's really kind of core of like your ethos or who you are. What would be a benism?

SPEAKER_02 18:40

This might sound funny, but I saw this tattoo on this girl years ago.

SPEAKER_03 18:44

And it comes from a tattoo. I just wanna say that.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

But it always stuck with me, and it's something that is really kind of my life mantra, but it's train hard, be strong, and live better. That's kind of who I am. I've always trained hard, I've always tried to push myself, I've always tried to maintain strength, whether that's physical strength, emotional strength, or just overall strength. And uh, I've always strived and encouraged people I train the for the same to try to live better, be a better person, treat people better, and and good things will happen.

SPEAKER_03 19:15

Well, very good. So thanks for being here today. And again, if people want to find you, LinkedIn, Instagram, you're you're everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Yeah, got gummy gains on Instagram, gummygains.ca. All right. Well, thanks a lot for taking the time. Thanks for being here. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

That's today's Smithism. Chris Smith is the mayor of Smittyville, and I'm Chrissy Van, your town correspondent. This is the smartest small town in fitness. We'll see you back here every other week.