And me training at a 1:1 Nautilus facility in Geelong, Australia Nautilus Fitness, Strength and Personal Training, Geelong. when I lived there Nautilus Compound Row

@Dan Deadman No probs. I met Mark in 1982 when we all went to watch the Mr. Olympia in London. Sugar drove and me, Mark and his wife were passengers. We trained together between 1984 and 1987, played American Football together and also worked side by side as doormen many times over the same period - we even started to set up our own security company but it never really got off the ground. I visited him at his flat when he was injured on the job and he visited me when I got hurt (tough job). This all goes back a l-o-n-g way. Very few people could train like Mark does in that youtube clip. He was a talented sportsman and even played county cricket with Gary Lineker (yes - the same one).

@Lawrence Neal Landed on me head... fortunately! 😁

@Lawrence Neal Yeah. Fantastic!

It's good!

Me and James go back more than twenty-five years. I have some old footage of me training at his place from about 5 years ago (if I can find it)

Thanks Lawrence. There's so much more to this. I'd be taking time to define what my brand image was. HIT is a brand but what does each facility see as their own brand image? This is part of the USP. E.g. Would the brand be one of friendly guidance in a private environment, local, effective and time efficient? Etc. Many private HIT facilities and even the franchises all seem to cluster under these broad groups. They're not differentiated enough really. It's like plane manufacturers all saying our planes will get you there safely and quickly. There's a lot of competition. E.g. What would drive me to buy a Boeing Jet over a Gulfstream Jet? I wouldn't waste time on a Vision and / or Mission statement. They're typically devised with a lot of effort and good intent but usually become fairly irrelevant and meaningless quite quickly. My fundamental question would be "What makes my business really different?" Once I had all this is place I would look at very clearly devising a 3 part strategy to move forward. The strategy would consist of looking at the short, medium and longer term steps I would need to take every day to achieve my business goals and - most importantly - how I would take them. Finally I'd make sure I was aware of potential emergent strategies driven by market conditions. How would I react if someone else set up a similar facility on my door step? What is the contingency for a financial downturn? And so on... The thing is if you're running a small gym basically as a hobby - then none of this really makes any difference but if you want to use the business to keep food on the table and pay the mortgage then it becomes a key part of having a successful model. I thought Tom put a great comment in the chat yesterday. To paraphrase he said you have to be willing to sacrifice to make it work. I would use the phrase I used at the Strength Forum. You have to be "comfortable being uncomfortable." I might trademark that! 😂 Hope all this helps people in some way