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A new Mentoring Program from Lift Brands Australia & New Zealand has been created to help people with the right skills and experience to own a fitness franchise by steering them towards the financial backing needed to take the first step to club ownership.

Lift Brands Chief Executive Ty Menzies set out to develop a program targetting the more than 1200 passionate and talented trainers and operators across the group's Snap Fitness and 9Round franchises.

Menzies explains "we have so many fantastic people across our Snap Fitness and 9Round brands who are passionate about what they do and live and breathe the brand every day.

"However, for many of these trainers or managers, club ownership is only something they can dream of, so myself and Lift Brands’ COO Andy Peat initiated the program.

“Over the years of working with our network, we know the best franchisees are those who have a passion for fitness, a love of their local community and a never say never attitude.”

“Earlier this year, we announced to our network we were on the hunt for keen operators and trainers who had proved their value and wanted to take the next step into club ownership – to realise their dream of owning their own business.”

Moving on from its creation in July, the Mentoring Program has seen Brownie To’o - after more than 10 years with Snap Fitness in Australia and New Zealand - become the new owner of 9Round Redbank in Brisbane’s south-west.

With three years of Snap Fitness club management in New Zealand, Brownie moved to Australia in 2014. Over the next six years Brownie worked his way to Area Manager in Sydney, where he managed Maroubra and helped open Minto, Merrylands and Mascot.

Commenting on the program, To’o stated "after successfully building Maroubra to become the top membership club in New South Wales as well as helping open three new clubs, I’d been running clubs for other people for the best part of 10 years. I knew it was time to do something for myself.

“I was introduced to a 9Round workout at the Lift Brands annual conference, Lift Brands APAC Annual Summit, I knew instantly its concept of owner and trainer was a perfect fit for me. My biggest challenge was how was I going to get the financial support to purchase my first club?”

“The Lift Brand Mentoring Program has given me a once in a lifetime opportunity to take the step to ownership – I’m now so proud to call 9Round Redbank my business.”

“For trainers and managers, the Mentoring Program helps keep the fire alive and give them the opportunity to make a career out of fitness. My advice is ‘go with your gut’ and when you have the opportunity, go for it!

“Every effort I put into the business is rewarding, knowing it’s all my doing - I honestly can’t wipe the smile off my face.”

Since taking ownership of 9Round Redbank on 1st September, Brownie has grown club numbers by more than 30%, well above average monthly targets for the boutique fitness model. Brownie’s goal is to more than double his current members by the start of 2020 and commence growing his own network of 9Round clubs.

Menzies said the Mentoring Program is focused on rewarding great people who want to make a career out of what they love doing and Brownie is a leading example, adding "many businesses promote from within, but what the Mentoring Program is doing for us is not only rewarding great people but helping us grow a fantastic new wave of motivated franchisees. We are thrilled to see Brownie take ownership of 9Round Redbank and can’t wait to find our next Mentoree.”

With a network now exceeding 270 clubs across Australia and New Zealand, Snap Fitness was one of the first 24/7 fitness franchises in the Australian market and will celebrate 10 years of operations later this year.

Founded by world champion kickboxer Shannon Hudson, 9Round offers rolling circuits of 30-minute functional training sessions focused on elements of boxing and kick-boxing, with a new round starting every three minutes.

The global franchise launched in Australia and New Zealand in 2015.

Image: 9Round Redbank franchisee Brownie To’o with Lift Brands Australian and New Zealand Chief Executive Ty Menzies.

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