Growth
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When Mickael and his wife left their comfortable life in Italy to open a gym in Panama, they thought they were chasing a dream.
The reality? It was a lot harder than they expected.
Mickael was a great trainer. Really great. He poured everything into his craft perfecting his programming, staying current with certifications, showing up early and staying late for his clients.
He believed that excellence would be enough. That marketing was something sleazy people did when they weren't good at their job.
"I thought if I was just good enough at what I did, people would come"
They didn't.
While he focused on being the best trainer he could be, his gym was struggling in ways he hadn't anticipated.
The reality of running a gym hit hard and fast.
Mickael was doing everything himself. Training clients. Managing schedules. Cleaning equipment. Handling bookkeeping. Sales.
The burnout was real.
His wife, who had given up her own career in Italy for this adventure, took on a corporate job during the day to help stabilize their finances. Then she'd come to the gym at night to help him close up and clean.
There were nights when Mickael genuinely wondered: We gave up our good life for this?
The gym wasn't profitable. They were both burning out. And Mickael was stuck in a cycle of working harder and harder while getting further and further behind.
Eventually, Mickael hit a breaking point.
He couldn't keep going the way he was going. Something had to change.
He had to get over his beliefs about what it meant to be a "real" trainer. He had to accept that running a successful gym required more than just being good at fitness. It required being good at business.
That meant learning things he'd actively avoided. How to sell without feeling sleazy. How to run ads that actually work. How to track the numbers that matter. How to build systems instead of doing everything himself. How to create offers people actually want to buy.
When Mickael started working with Gym Launch, everything shifted.
Not because of some magic trick or secret formula. But because he finally had a real strategy.
He learned how to run ads that brought in qualified leads consistently. He learned to track his numbers so he knew exactly what was working and what wasn't. He learned to price his services properly based on value, not fear. He learned to build offers that made sales conversations easy. And he learned to create systems that didn't require him to do everything.
Mickael went from making $30,000 a month to hitting six-figure months. His team is now paid well. His wife doesn't have to work two jobs anymore. And for the first time since opening, Mickael actually has time to step back and think about what's next—instead of just surviving today.
Here's the hard truth that most gym owners don't want to hear: You can be the best trainer in your city and still struggle.
You can have the most knowledge, the best programming, the most certifications, the biggest heart for helping people, and still watch your gym barely break even.
Mickael learned this the hard way. But once he did, everything changed.
Today, Mickael runs a thriving gym that doesn't require him to work 80-hour weeks.
He runs ads, and he's not ashamed of it. He tracks every number because that's what real owners do. He has a team that's paid well and systems that work.
Most importantly? He's not burnt out anymore.
That's what becomes possible when you stop trying to do everything yourself. When you get over the idea that asking for help or learning business skills somehow makes you less of a "real" trainer.
The truth is, it makes you more of a real business owner.
