Building Confidence, One Risk At A Time

What does it really take to back yourself when nothing is certain and the stakes are personal? We sit down with Adam Wright, who took his savings at 26 and opened a gym in a farm barn between two villages—then faced COVID closures, delayed launches, and the kind of pressure that tests your resolve. Five years later he’s running five gyms across Cambridge and Ireland, not because he waited to feel ready, but because he built confidence through action, focus, and evidence.

Adam breaks down the moments that shaped him: risking everything he’d saved, hearing well‑meaning voices say “don’t do it,” and choosing to move anyway. He explains how pressure can be healthy when it sits on what you can control, and why stress balloons when direction is unclear. We unpack his decision to strip the business to one core product, align the entire team behind it, and make scale repeatable. The result is a masterclass in simplicity over complexity, process over bravado, and culture over heroics.

We also explore the softer edges that matter just as much: patience as a strategic tool, expectation management for clients who crave instant perfection, and the practical steps that turn early‑stage nerves into earned confidence. Adam shares how trust in people powers expansion, including the leap to Ireland with a long‑time friend and operator. Along the way, we chart how his confidence matured from narrow professional drive to a balanced, holistic steadiness—where cancelled memberships don’t derail him and rough nights are part of the game, not signs to quit.

If you’re building a business, leading a team, or starting your first fitness journey, you’ll find concrete tactics: embrace pressure without tipping into burnout, choose focus over feature creep, and let repetition build proof. Hit follow, share this with someone stuck waiting for perfect, and leave a review telling us the one imperfect action you’ll take today.

Transcript

Adam’s Leap: Savings To Startup

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome back to Let's Talk About Confidence. I'm John Emoj, and today we're doing something different. Instead of me talking about confidence, you're going to hear it in action. My guest today is Adam Wright. In 2020, at 26 years old, Adam took his savings and opened the Balm gym in Cambridgeshire. Five years later, he's 31 with five gyms, four across Cambridge and one in Ireland. What I love about Adam's story is that it's not about overnight success and natural born confidence. It's about building it, testing it, and sometimes losing it, which is exactly what the podcast is about. Adam, welcome.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Thank you very much, John.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

So could you take me back to 2020? What were you doing before the barn, Jim?

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Yeah, so before setting up the barn, uh I'd worked in fitness for the majority of my adult life. Uh, and really, you know, starting back in kind of commercial gyms and uh even you know, from actually leaving college, it was kind of the the interest of going into fitness some way, some form, somehow. Uh, not really knowing what that path would lead to at that point. I don't think you ever would know in in future site, but um I think having various kind of different roles and uh jobs, position locations as well has been very much kind of a learning curve and it's kind of accumulated over the years to get me to the position where you know in 2020 we could start to think about opening a barn and opening a gym and and doing that. Um on the the site of where we've built the first barn, that was always kind of a well, it was my family farm, so family home. Yeah. Um and there was always that kind of it would be very cool to do a gym there, you know, that'd be very like amazing to do, but you wouldn't have the the knowledge, the confidence, the the resources to be able to do that at that age. And I think over the years you kind of compound your skill set, knowledge, and understanding of things to then I suppose be in the position where you can do that. So yeah, that's kind of what got us to to that point.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

What made you think? What point did you go? I could run a gym, I could do this.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

So I think I'd done various management positions previously through leisure management, through managing my own personal training business, yes, uh, as like a self-employed personal trainer. Um, and then actually, you know, moving to London and then a latter Australia, where I was managing a team of personal trainers for quite a big uh operation. And I think that gives you that sort of confidence to say, okay, well, I understand how the business operates, I understand how to manage a team, and you get naturally that to that sort of position where you think, actually, I could give it a go. And you know, it's it's an opportunity and an itch that you want to scratch.

Backing Yourself Amid Risk

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Yeah, I get that. You build up to it, and I guess this is the part where I know when we spoke about before, it was like you use your own savings to set this up. You know, you've been saving hard. What was going through your head? Were you confident? Were you terrified? The minute when you go up and take my own money and I'm going to invest it in this, what was the story?

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Yeah, I think you know, naturally, there's there's risk with anything, you know, and uh you know, there's a lot of money to be done when you're setting anything up or building in our case. Um, and you know, the the savings that I had were very much kind of my life's work to that day, right? So it's kind of a this is everything that's been accumulated over a certain period of time, and at that point it's like, okay, well, it is a risk, however, it's a risk that I'm gonna back myself to do. And if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna go all in and just give it the best go that I've got. And if it goes tits up, essentially, if it goes tits up, yeah, that's okay because I I've at least tried and I've at least sort of said, okay, well, the absolute worst thing that happens is I move in back at home and I, you know, go and PT in a local gym. But yeah, and I've started zero again. But I think it takes that kind of uh I suppose just backing yourself sort of confidence to say, you know what, screw it, if it costs money, if it costs time, if it costs effort, yeah, it's worth it if you believe in it.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Yeah. Did you did anybody try and talk you out of it?

Pushing Against Doubt And Advice

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Yeah. Yeah. Um I think people do, you know, because there's that quite obvious financial risk. I think there's the obvious of you know giving up maybe what you've accumulated. You know, I was in a very good position at the age of 25, 26, or whatever it was at that point in my life. And the idea of kind of throwing it all in to set up the barn as it was, that's a relatively unproven concept in a very you know uh rural area at the time. Yeah. It's kind of like, oh, why would you do that? But yeah, uh I think ultimately you have to just say, okay, well, if that's what I want to do, yeah, you know, ultimately the buck stops me at everything at that point. It's not down to me to listen to others who maybe haven't got the same life experiences or uh point of view that I would. So you have to be willing to kind of go against the grain sometimes, I think.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

That takes a bit of courage at times then to to to do that. And I think it's for me, um for those that have described the gym uh as in a farm building, it's very, very nice. But it's the farm building, and it is in the middle of the country, it's between two villages, really. And I'm often reminded of the uh movie Field of Dreams. If you build it, they will come. And I get and there's just something I think in your story that that felt like you you believed in it so much that it would come and and you know, to your credit, it is a success. It has worked so much so that you could open others. So I think that that whole five years of building a business, uh life isn't all about roses, is it? What when was your confidence lost? What was what happened that you went, shin?

Vision, Uncertainty And Dips

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Um I think there's there's definitely different points, you know, it is a very kind of ebbs and flows and cycles. I think your confidence can dip when you're not sure on the direction that you're going in. And I think when you've got that kind of certainty of where you want to go, you don't necessarily need to have the perfect picture of what that destination is. But when you have kind of a passion for the vision and the the kind of project that you want to aim towards, you're I think your confidence will be super high. And equally, you know, the other side of that is when you're not too sure on what the next steps are and how you're gonna get there. To me, that's probably when I'm not necessarily l always lower in confidence, but maybe a bit more like frustrated and uh I suppose like agitated because it's like okay, how do we do this? So it's like a challenge to overcome, and I think uh I see when there is low confidence, it's more of a challenge to understand like why do you maybe feel not as confident in a particular area, and then what are those barriers to overcome? Yeah, I'm quite logical as a person, so I I prefer to see those things as less emotional in terms of confidence and more logical outcomes where I can.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Is it there was something you said that was just circling back to that not having a full picture? Because I think tell me if this is your experience, but a lot of folks will think they've got to have the perfect picture, all the parts in place before they'll do something. But that you know, in your experience, obviously that wasn't the case. But do you see that in some of the clients that you maybe have that they they they're trying to wait for perfect?

Perfection Traps And Expectations

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Absolutely. You know, our our clients are I think every human nature is to want perfection and to want it instantly. And I think the sooner that people come to be able to manage expectations in various forms, the more satisfied I think people will become, because you're not kind of chasing the unattainable at that point, but they're not chasing kind of this. I should have this or I should be doing this. It's more of or I I could be doing that. It's like maybe if you want to do it, then understand that you know what's a realistic time frame to do things, or what's the steps to achieve that. And I think if you've got a good management of your emotions and a good management of your expectations, more often than not things can happen a lot more efficiently, but you'll probably enjoy the journey a lot more because you're not putting so much. I think you do need pressure, you do need that kind of pressure to be like, I need it to be done and I need it to progress to a certain way, somehow, some form. But equally you have to be mindful of the journey that you're on to be able to do that, otherwise you'd just kind of be a bit blind to the the real kind of path.

Pressure Versus Stress

SPEAKER_00 9:05

And how do you define that pressure? Because I think a lot of folks get scared by the word pressure, they might maybe sometimes confuse it with stress versus pressure. What you know, for you what does pressure mean?

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Um I think pressure comes when there are things that you can control and you want those to be performing as best as you can. So uh, you know, pressure when we open a new gym, that's my busiest time, and I'm I am stressed, you know, and I am like extremely busy working with the team that we've got. Um however, I'm fully aware of that pressure, and I want that pressure, like I chase it because I love it because I I feel more fulfilled when we've got a project, and I feel that my team are getting better at their job and they're like under pressure. And um, you know, I think there's there's a fine balance of that between like you don't want to be just completely stressed all the time, you don't want to be running people to the red zone at all all cost, but um pressure to progress is a a good thing, and you should be seeking that, I think, to improve and make you know developments for where you want to get to.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

I guess it didn't start like that, does it? You don't say I suppose when you started your first job you went seeking the pressure perhaps maybe that's that's wrong with me. I suppose what you were seeking was the improvement, but the pressure do you think the pressure because I know you know with the fifth gym opening, you're probably getting used to it.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Um so so I mean they all have their own challenges, yeah. Um, you know, we've got a way of doing an opening now, but it can always be better for sure. Um and you know, I think for anyone in any job, position, career, whichever, you know, I think you have to have a level of wanting to do better at what you're doing. And whether that's someone that's just come off their personal training course and has no idea what an exercise is to someone who's been doing it for 10-15 years, yeah. The kind of will and want should be the same if you're gonna, you know, make progress. It's just the things that are relevant to you at that particular time in your journey are very different, potentially. And what you have to embrace is the compound effect of learning and progressing, and it's not gonna be perfect, but it should be progressive.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Yeah. Again, it's back to that not looking for perfect, it's looking for what's the next step sort of thing, into it. Which is it? Um I mean, one of the things that fascinated me because I see the big sign in the barn that says 2020 and opening during COVID.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

So we built during COVID and then we were due to open uh the first week of Jan. And then we loads of pre-sale and everything was already spent on setting the gym up.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Boris shuts the doors and says we can't open till March, and I'm like, oh fuck. So yeah, the um yeah, that was a bit nervy. That was probably one of the scarier times, I think. Um, but yeah, kind of built in COVID and then uh and yeah, just got something after.

Finding Focus And Scaling One Offer

SPEAKER_00 12:19

That what point did you go? Let's this is working, so let's expand, let's do it, do more.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

What kind of I think we were operating really well um for the first year and a half, year, year and a half, and we kind of found our feet. Um I think the struggle was just finding the right space, yeah, finding a model that's like really sc scalable. So we made a few changes to the business that allowed us to just sell one product essentially, yeah. Just it allowed the whole team, culture, everything just to focus on like one thing, which you know, business is hard, you know, let alone trying to do multiple different products and things in business. So um, if you can just get everyone pulling in the same direction on one thing, it makes your life a lot easier. And then you say, Okay, well, how do we help more people? You know, and we've gone from one gym that maybe helps sort of 150 to 200 people at a time to now five that probably does you know 750 or so across the across the group. So um I think it's that kind of if you want to do more, you need to figure out how you do it, and then there's challenges that come with scale naturally. So your point there of saying ah, going from five to six is like potentially a bit easier now. Going from five to six from a central operation is now good uh going from five to six as a central operation, it's gonna be a little bit trickier because there's gonna be more central demands than there would be at four or five.

Expanding To Ireland With Trust

SPEAKER_00 13:54

So I know what you mean. Ireland, that was a surprise to me when you shared that one. You were moving because I get I could get the round Cambridge because it's all kind of within your control. Was there anything about that that you were a bit slightly worried about?

SPEAKER_01 14:08

No, I mean that's um I mean it's different operationally because you're going into a completely different area, but um I'm very fortunate that I get to do that with one of my best mates. Um, you know, that's uh a really cool experience actually because you know business is hard, it can be stressful, but if you get to do it with the right people, it's pretty amazing. So, you know, my the team that we have is amazing, and I love being able to go into the gyms and chatting to the guys that we have each and every day. Um, and you know, I think with Ireland that's really exciting because you know Kev and I have known each other for the best part of eight to ten years now, whichever it is. So we know how each other works and operates and what makes us tick. And yeah, I'm I'm really excited for that. I think that's gonna be a really big project in uh the next five to ten years for where we're gonna take that. So yeah, it's very cool.

Leading Teams And Carrying Risk

SPEAKER_00 15:04

What does that do to your confidence? The fact that you've now you you had it under, I guess under I don't want to use the control because you're not like that, but you had it under uh an area where you could visit and see and get on top of it, whereas all of a sudden you've got to get in a plane, you've got to go somewhere else. What does that do to your confidence?

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Um, I think the people that we have in the business give me confidence. Right. Yeah. So I don't think it's necessarily about my it is about my confidence in the business and the operation, but I think equally I have to have confidence that people have got the culture and they've got the skill set to be able to do what's required for everyone's interests. So I would rather empower my team to learn, be better, become and become the best operators they can be by upskilling. And then that gives me confidence that as a collective we're going to grow the business and we're going to be, you know, going into new markets and we're going to be going into working with thousands of people instead of just hundreds. And you know, I'm very realistic that it's absolutely not and has never really been a one-man show. Yeah, it's a collective effort, and that is what gives me confidence is that we've got a really good group of people that believe that and want that and they want their own careers to develop because otherwise I don't think it works.

Shifting What Keeps You Up

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Yeah, no, it's fascinating. What about the speaking to the staff? How do you handle the pressure of now, you know, going from you opening your own gym to being responsible for staff, for members, for for the locations? How do you how do you kind of handle that pressure?

SPEAKER_01 16:46

Yeah, I think it's um there's various times where that would be more stressful than others for sure. You know, I think we're very fortunate again that we don't have too many staffing concerns, we don't have too many member issues because of I suppose how specific we are as well with our marketing efforts and our culture. Um but you know, there's always pressure, you know. Ultimately, you're the one that's the buck stops, you've got to pay salaries at the end of the month, you've got to keep the lights on, you've you're the one that's essentially taking all the risk um in the hope that it works and people love it. So, you know, I think they do, yeah. You know, there's probably been I don't know, three or four sleep sleep-deprived nights where like I've been a bit stressed about various things as we've grown and expanded. Because, you know, for context, we've gone from you know one gym in the first four years to now five gyms in the fifth year. So it's like there's a lot of growth in a very short amount of time. So you know, there's naturally stressful things, and there's naturally things where you're like, oh, am I doing too much too soon? So there is that kind of question, but naturally I think if you've got a good gut and you've got that kind of like test of fear and confidence with it, it'll be alright. You just gotta work through it.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

But it's good to hear because you know, ultimately you've got yourself where you are a confident person. It's good to hear that you know, five years in you you get those nights that because I think sometimes folks think you get to this level of confidence where that's it, it's all good. And in the introduction I was saying about rebuilding it and losing it, and and we get that now and again, which is it's great to hear because it's normal, it's natural.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Absolutely, and I think the the other side of that as well is the things that I may be stressed about three years ago, yeah, I wouldn't even give the time of day now. Like I wouldn't be bothered about it at all.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Could you give it an example?

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Or is it um is it too does it does it reveal too much? No, I don't know. It could be stuff like when a member cancels and I take it to heart. And I still do, yeah, but if I did take it to heart every single time, yeah, it's like I've got also got you know 750 other people that need to be looking after them and caring for them. So if I'm like annoyed, pissed off, stressed, whichever, because of this one person, yeah, it doesn't help anyone else. So there's and then equally then you're like, right, what about the money we're spending on marketing or the people that we're hiring, or like the the responsibility I'm giving to certain people. So like there's all these different like things that you know, if I went back a few years back, I'd be like, oh my god, that seems ridiculous. Like, how would you ever manage that? And like you're thrown into those positions and you just have to do it, figure it out, and more often than not, it all works out with time. Um and I'm sure in the next five years there'll be stuff that comes up, and I'm like, that's ridiculous. And you know, at this point, yeah, I think you have to be.

Holistic Confidence At 31

SPEAKER_00 19:54

You have to be kind of challenged and tested to I think that's part of what I've learned from talking to you before is about the growth you've gone through that you're continually grown, so you're always going to be tested, which is I think again that's important to realise is even no matter how confident you are, you still get tested, didn't you? You still get it. Um just think I'm uh if I can take you back, you're 31 now. How's your confidence different from when you were 26 and just those five years ago before you opened it? What's what would you say is the difference in your confidence?

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Um, I would say the difference in my confidence is I'm a lot more self-assured. And I don't mean that in an arrogant way, I just mean like I'm extremely happy, confident with me as a person and what I do, not just in work, because I think that at the time would have been you know, how do I build my career? And that would have been my like soul focus. Like now I've got a very good work-life balance between friendships, relationships, all of that sort of stuff, and I think naturally that gives you like an all-rounded confidence away from like solely just I'm getting good at work. It's like actually, no, I've got a pretty good holistic approach to how I go about day-to-day life, and it's good.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

That's interesting. Is not not just because again, I think a lot of people focus on, and we we talked about this in some earlier episodes, about the dimensions of confidence where it may be I'm confident at work, I'm confident in my relationships, I'm confident in finance, whatever. But it's but it's rare that we get someone who's confident in all areas, you kind of gotta work at it, I guess, haven't you?

SPEAKER_01 21:35

I think naturally, with any anything new or different or thing that's just a bit challenging. I think when we are not either educated or we don't have a good knowledge base on particular topics, there's always gonna be a lack of confidence initially.

unknown 21:51

Yeah.

Skill, Reps And Normalising Nerves

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Um, and I think as long as you're aware of that, of like it would be like me stepping on a stage and trying to play the piano. I Cannot I bought a keyboard once in COVID. I'd played it once and I said, I'm not doing this, send it back. So, like you put me on stage to play the keyboard, yeah, or piano, whatever. I'm gonna be really unconfident and go, What the fuck am I doing there? But if I had 10 years of experience in that industry and I'd practice it each day and I'd had my reps and done the hours, I'd be a lot more confident by the time I did step on stage. So I think you have to be, you know, understanding of where you're starting from with things, and it kind of comes back to that expectation setting and be like, okay, you may be unconfident, but that's probably pretty normal. And actually, what you need is like skill acquisition and repetition and then the experiences to learn from that to then get more confident. Yeah, that's fair.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

That's exactly it. It doesn't just happen, does it? Sadly not. You're not born with it. No, you gotta work with it.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

I think some for some people, there's probably the natural charisma of things that maybe overshadows that. Um, you know, I I'm relatively charismatic and you could throw me stuff and I'll give it a go. Internally, it doesn't always mean that I'm like super confident of things, it might just be the persona that I'll show for that to work my way through it.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Um like when you're stepping up to take a drive on the golf range?

SPEAKER_01 23:22

No, I know that's going right. I know that's gonna be a shank, so that's fine. Um but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

So what would you say? What's something that you know about building confidence that you wish you'd known five years ago? Something you've learned.

Patience And Self‑Awareness

SPEAKER_01 23:39

Uh something I've learned. I would say yeah, patience with things. Be a bit patient, then I like I I would be extra I and I probably still am to be honest, but like I want stuff done quickly. I want it to be progressive, I want to push it. To build your confidence up and to not get stressed and burnt out, and actually to learn to do things better, and then you naturally will have more confidence because of that. You do need to be a bit patient, especially if you're being you know, growth-minded, you know, whether that's with people, whether it's with money, whether it's with business expansion, whether it's with relationships, you know. I think patience and self-awareness is probably a key thing. Yeah. Um to then hopefully make better decisions and then ultimately in the long term become more confident in the relevant areas.

What Confident Members Do Differently

SPEAKER_00 24:35

Excellent, thank you. You work with hundreds of gym members. What patterns do you see in the people who build lasting confidence in the gym versus those who don't?

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Uh I think for the people that see significant progress with their confidence, which in turn would then be the their bodies, their minds, and um hopefully the health kind of overall. But I think it's the willingness to make changes and interventions when needed. You know, and I think sometimes that can be a slow burn and it can take a bit of you know support to do so. Um but I think there has to be that willingness to make a bit of a change to somehow, some way, you know, if people are stubborn and want to keep doing the same thing and expect change, nothing will ever change and be different. Um I can't remember what the quote is, but it's like if you do the same thing over and over and expect something different, it's insanity or or something like that. So I think it's like a an openness and willingness to change is kind of the key for people building their confidence and again just test trial and error because it's okay to be a bit shit. It's okay to be a bit a bit shit and stuff, and um if you can build that up over time, yeah, you know, you'll be in a much better place than when you were not.

Quick Fire Confidence Lessons

Where To Find The Barn Gym

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Yeah, and you can see people coming to the gym for the first time and being a bit lost, I suppose, and following the instructions and with some of the other members that have been there a while, just get they they listen to the instruction for that section, but then they got on with it, and that's quite funny. But then three months later or something, you see those same people confident and walk into the bit where they're meant to be, and you know, they still listen to the instruction, but they they got on with it, so it's it's interesting. So here's some quick quick fire ones I've got for you. So just off the top of your head, I'm gonna throw some just quick ones at you. So if you finish off, what comes to mind? So number one, confidence is controllable. The biggest myth about confidence is needs to be perfect. When I feel doubt creeping in, I think logically. And the bravest thing I've done in business is and the what, sorry? The bravest thing you've done in business. Um set the first gym up. Wow. Get worse than especially that time at that time. I guess we didn't know it was around the corner, but all of a sudden you're faced with one of the biggest issues we've had in our modern times. And it's been brilliant. It's been great. Just finding out what's been going on. And before we finish, where can people find the Barn Gym? If they're in Cambridge area or Ireland, where should they look?

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Yeah, uh, so either visit our website which is www.thebarngyms.co.uk and or the barn gym underscore on Instagram. Um, yeah, we predominantly work with those that are in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who are potentially lacking confidence, who want to improve the way they look and feel, uh, specifically around sort of their maybe day-to-day aches and pains, and generally just to be in a good environment that people are there to support you. So yeah, that's very much kind of where you can find us, what we do, um, and hopefully in new areas and markets soon.

Closing Takeaways On Confidence

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Yeah, it's brilliant. So exciting for you. What I love about Adam's story is it proves what we've been talking about in the series. Confidence isn't something you have or you don't have, it's something you build, something you test, something you lose. Sometimes you've got to rebuild it. Adam didn't wait until he felt ready. He took action. He learned from what happened and built his confidence through evidence. Five gems worth of evidence. The next episode we'll be back with team confidence when everybody needs to execute under pressure. That's what we're going to be looking at. And until then, remember, confidence isn't an absence of doubt. It's an action in the presence of doubt. Adam, thank you so much for your time up to you.