July 25, 2016

Meet East Hollywood Fitness Trainer: Justin Schollard

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Schollard. Below you’ll find edited excerpts of our interview with Justin.

Justin, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?

I’ve been a trainer in LA since 2005. Around 2011 I found myself at a crossroads I life where I either had to get serious about my career as a trainer or move on. I choose to get serious. I began by starting a blog (www.justin-training.com) where I wrote about everything from healthy eating to what exercises produces the maximum results. I also started a boot camp a few times a week which became popular and within a year I was booked solid and the phone kept ringing.

Although I was enjoying my new found success I knew I had to do something bigger than a few classes a week and private training so I convinced a good friend and fellow trainer to open a gym with me. He was a little reluctant but we had a great opportunity to get into a space for very little money and flexible usage. We signed the lease in late 2012 and officially opened StrengthRx in March 2013. By the end 2013 we were already outgrowing out 800 square foot studio and made the move to the space we’re in now which was right across the street. That’s when shit got real. The last 3 years has been a crash course in small business development but I’m happy to say we made it through the infancy stage and are in it for the long run now. Once we dialed in our message, invested in our facility and nurtured our community StrengthRx took off into a life form of its own.

We offer the best unlimited rate in town as well as an amazing schedule of classes, workshops and community events every month. Our team of coaches and managers are passionate about what they do and bring their A-game to every class. Without the amenities of a high end facility and in a saturated market we’ve still experienced amazing growth over the past 3 1/2 years because we decided from the beginning that our mission to deliver an amazing experience to our members.

Has it been a smooth road?

It depends on how you look at it. On the one hand, we’ve never had to borrow money or been unable to pay our bills so in that sense we’ve been fortunate compared to a lot of gyms out there. On the other hand, I’ve had many sleepless nights wracking my brain on how to create the best systems to relieve me of all the ins and outs of daily operations. There was point were I was working 60 hours a week because I was trying to do everything myself. After reading some amazing books and taking a few online business development courses, I realized that I had to start scaling the workload by hiring a manager and front desk or I was going to burn out real soon. It’s a hard to let go but if you don’t your business suffers along with you. Hiring a manager was the best decision we made and now I’m free to think bigger.

What are your plans for the future?

First, my plans are to perfect our current location. I’m currently working with some of the most respected business coaches in the fitness industry to help us create the best consumer experience possible. Once that happens, we will begin looking for a larger space. A lot of people have asked me, “Why change locations if this one is working?” My answer is always “my job is to bring fitness to the greatest number of people possible and the only way we can do that is through continued growth.” After that, we would love to add additional locations throughout LA.

Also, I just finished writing the first draft of a book called “The Performance Code.” I’m hoping to have it completely finished by the end of the year. It’s about how busy adults can achieve the highest level of fitness genetically possible in 3.5 hours a week. I’m very excited about it. I believe it will bring a lot of value to people who are stuck in a rut, routine, or think that you need to do 2 a days in the gym 6 days a week to look great and be healthy. I lay out an argument to the contrary.

Let’s dig a little deeper into your story. What was the hardest time you’ve had?

The hardest time in my life was in 2010. I’d been in LA working on acting for 5 years and despite my efforts, I wasn’t working enough to make a living. I felt lost. I’d always maintained a small clientele of personal training clients to pay the bills but that was dwindling down to a frightening amount. I think there were a few months where I made less than $800. I was basically living off of credit cards and that wasn’t exactly the dream I had imagined.

It was then that I decided to let go of acting. I put all of my attention toward personal training. I began devouring every research article on fitness that I could get my hands on. I started a weekly blog, created a website and a Yelp page where all my current clients left a review. Within 8 months, I was completely booked and earning more than 12k a month. It was amazing. I was 26 and for the first time, I felt successful. In my opinion, the downside of that situation was I was working 50+ hours a week. I began to feel that the work/life balance was suffering. It was then I realized I needed to implement an exit strategy from one on one training and I began to put together a business plan for StrengthRx. Now, instead of reading articles on the body so that I could be the best personal trainer I could be, I was reading articles and attending seminars on how to be an entrepreneur. It was and is the most challenging yet fascinating experience of my life.

After meeting with venture capitalists, banks, private investors, friends and family we decided to go at it alone and start small, honestly because no one would give us a dime. We got a small 800 sq.ft. space in a questionable part of town and I literally put $20,000 on a credit card to get us up and running. We had no clue what we were doing ha-ha. Luckily, our now head trainer and key employee found us on the CrossFit directory the day we opened and emailed us for a job. We told him that we currently had zero members and if he could work for free he was hired. He accepted.

Months later, I couldn’t stand not paying him and decided to pay him out of my personal checking account until the business could afford it. We opened our original location in March of 2013 and by that October a much larger corner unit became available right across the street. It was the perfect opportunity to make a move even though our revenues didn’t really support that idea. The first, last and security payment drained every penny we had but we knew we had to take the leap. We finally got the keys to the new space in December 2013. The rest of the team already had plans to visit their families during the holiday break so I spent 2 weeks in the space painting it inside and out, demoing all the old junk from the previous tenants and assembling the equipment. Once our head coach Mike Anderson got back, he helped me with the finishing details although we couldn’t pay him for his time. He has been more than generous and continues to spend many long days at the gym with me and Ethan Wolf getting it up and running to our standards. We’re very thankful.

Do you ever just stop and think WOW – I’ve made it?

By Jan 15th, 2014 our new facility was up and running. Our new visibility and growing online presence got people to take notice. We’ve been experiencing a steady growth in members ever since. When we moved into the new space we were happily serving 30 members. Today, we have over 150 satisfied members. To know that we’ve created a well-respected and top notch facility in a crowded market against all odds is an amazing feeling. I contribute it to our obsession over the SRX community experience . . . from the second they click on our website, to the moment they walk through our doors, and every stage thereafter.

SRX is headed into its 4th year of business and I can finally say we’re out of startup mode. Our thinking has shifted from “how to we pay the bills?” to “how do make this place perfect?”

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