Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Mekki.
Jay, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Growing up, and well into my early twenties, I’ve always had an up and down relationship with my health and weight. When I was a football player, I was fit and (what I thought was) “healthy.” As I entered my late twenties and worked at a desk job, I started to notice my metabolism starting to slow down and you can see it with the few extra lbs. So, I decided to get a physical and was shocked by what the Doctor discovered. I was basically on my path to high blood pressure and diabetes, everything that I didn’t want to struggle with after seeing close family members battling with the same health issues. So I decided not to only get into better shape, but to also learn how the body moves and the type of nutrition needed to maintain energy and endurance. I applied everything I learned through a Kinesiology and nutrition course and started to see major results in my health and body shape. After going through my own personal wellness transformation, I realized what I had done for my own health and well-being could help others too. I have a strong belief that whatever knowledge and learned experience I possess have no value if it isn’t shared. So I decided to pay it forward and help others by getting certified as a personal fitness trainer. I was a trainer at the Sherman Oaks Equinox for over three years. I loved working with my clients and seeing their progress towards their fitness goals and health journey by using the same best practices I applied in my own transformation.
As I was fine-tuning my methods for individualized training, while trying to build my business as a personal trainer, I noticed two large voids in the fitness space. There wasn’t a gym designed for one-to-one functional fitness training that was warm and inviting. And the second void was a lack of opportunity and space for trainers to have the freedom and flexibility to grow their businesses without having to work within the confines of a corporate structure. As soon as these two observations came together, I instantly knew that I needed to fill this gap, not only for myself but for other trainers. I am fortunate to have a roaster of clients who trust me with their fitness and wellness goals and it turned out that there was one client in particular who also saw the void and understood my vision. He became the co-founder and business partner for WRK Fitness and together we opened one of the first boutique gym studios in the valley, without a pretentious vibe.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
As any small business owner knows, there is no such thing as a smooth road to success. The first year of opening the gym was a whole learning process, with every day embedded with new twists and turns. You start out with the hopes and dreams of success with an “if you build it they will come” mentality, but reality sets in pretty quickly and you soon realize that building the space is just phase one. As a start-up owner, you quickly get used to wearing many hats. I was juggling with training my clients while marketing and building a client base. You learn to be scrappy and make quick decisions on the fly, but I would always keep in mind the core values of the business and why I started this journey in the first place. It’s always been people first and building a trusted relationship one by one, which doesn’t come easy or fast.
However, over time, all the hard work and patience began to pay off and resonated with the community. Going into year three of the business, we had a handful of trainers calling WRK Fitness their home and built a solid client base. It seemed like everything was falling into place and then Covid-19 hit. If it wasn’t for the solid relationships that I built from the beginning with both clients and trainers, the studio may have not survived the shutdown. We could have easily been one of the businesses that shuttered during the pandemic, but we prevailed. As we emerged from the shutdown, we somehow became a stronger community than going into the pandemic. I took that as a sign and opportunity to double down on the authentic vibe that we created and decided to expand the space by opening a second studio next door. We decided to not only focus on personalized fitness but also focus on your wellness holistically.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about WRK Fitness Studio?
I like to think of WRK Fitness studio as a unique gym designed by trainers for trainers, giving them the ability to call this space their home and a place to grow. Every trainer and client that comes through these doors add a little something to the vibe and culture of the studio— a special feeling that you just don’t get from a typical gym environment. It’s been amazing to see how it’s developed over time and the compliments we get about it every day. And this is exactly what I wanted to create for my clients. I just want them to feel they’re entering a safe space without judgment and are supported. We are all here just trying to become our best selves and my hope is that they leave here feeling better than when they walked in, both physically and mentally. We just crossed our five-year anniversary and what I’m most proud of is the community we’ve built here which is a true testament to why I wanted to build this space in the first place. I’m especially excited about the future, as we move into the total wellness approach by providing our clients with nutrition counseling, red light therapy, and vitamin injections.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Serving others. I got into the fitness industry because I was fortunate enough to have someone point me in the right direction when I was looking for answers when it came to my health. That act of guidance probably saved my life. Now, I am able to pay it forward, by not only helping my clients but helping other trainers thrive so they can better serve their clients. I am the most fulfilled when I see my clients become more confident after learning and succeeding in a new skill or goal, even though they never thought in their wildest of dreams they could ever end up doing so. Watching them feel truly more comfortable in their own skin — that’s everything to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: Wrkfitnessstudio.com
- Instagram: @so_wrkfitstudio
