Send me a Trainer to take home fitness to next level

Bary El-Yacoubi (CEO) and Muhssin El-Yacoubi (CFO) are the Co-Founders of this fitness app called ‘Send me a Trainer‘, which helps you connect with certified trainers from the comfort of your homes. They promise to save your time and effort to stay fit, by having the certified trainer help you meet your fitness goals. Send me a Trainer is all set to take home fitness to next level with their advanced technology, tools and trainers.

1. How did you enter in the franchise business?

We actually did not start off thinking of growing through franchising. As it turns out, we have become pioneers in bringing Silicon Valley to the Franchising World.

After running the business for over a decade, we built proprietary technology that gave our clients and trainers an amazing on-demand tech experience. We now had a mobile app driven customer and trainer experience, plus all the automation to run the nitty gritty operational tasks that used to slow us down. Talk about a GAME CHANGER.

After we beta launched our tech platform, we started to get lots of press coverage in both local and national publications which led to many people asking us if we were in other cities, to which our standard reply was “coming soon”. We then started to get numerous inquiries of people saying, “what if we franchised you here”? We had not initially thought about franchising, as our plan was to continue to operate the business and grow it ourselves just like other rideshare tech companies were doing. How do you even franchise an on-demand tech business?

Well, that’s when we thought about it more and the next chapter in our story was in the making.

As we thought about franchising, what we discovered more about our business model, is that it’s a personal service where the relationship between our clients and trainers is warm. Unlike that of a ride sharing service, where the driver and passenger don’t really establish a relationship.

Having a local franchise owner to build a strong relationship with a group of trainers and clients really helps to ensure quality and maintain a personal touch. Also, a local franchise owner can be more effective at local grassroots marketing than we would ever be able to do remotely.

This resonated well with us and having a local franchise owner in each area would suit us well at scale and we decided to pivot and launch our franchise model.

As we started to launch our franchise model and promote it, we did a ton of research on franchise concepts and the industry. What we discovered was that the franchising world and concepts were very archaic and not up to date with what the new modern tech savvy business owner would want. The industry is full of concepts that are brick and mortar that include fitness clubs, restaurants and many van-based businesses. While these concepts were exciting to earlier generations, it certainly was not attractive to the new wave of tech savvy entrepreneurs that we had been interacting with.

When we launched our franchise model, we quickly found out that we were a breath of fresh air and were redefining how people think of what a franchise is. We disrupted the franchising industry by bringing technology and Silicon Valley to the franchising world. You can now franchise a technology driven on demand business. That’s how we became the Franchise from the Future!

As a franchisor, you do not need to invest in any physical location, expensive equipment and you can work from anywhere. Our proprietary technology runs the day-to-day operations for you.

This is the lifestyle that the modern business owner is looking for.

2. Where and how did the idea of your concept come from?

This story starts in 2007 when Bary El-Yacoubi was a personal trainer at one of those large “big box” gyms in the Washington DC metro area.  Within the first two months, he sold the most amount of personal training programs out of all of the company’s east coast locations. But oftentimes clients cancelled their personal training sessions at the last minute. The reasons varied from “I was stuck at work” to “traffic was just too bad” and everything in between. Bary knew these were people serious about becoming healthy and losing weight, but getting to their appointments on a regular basis proved difficult with their busy schedules.

Bary offered to come to them and suddenly everything fell into place. The convenience of in-home personal training allowed them to be consistent and ultimately achieve their results sooner.

At about this time, Muhssin El-Yacoubi was completing his MBA at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University with a specialization in entrepreneurship. Seeing the momentum that Bary was having with in-home training, Muhssin decided to work on a business plan as part of a class project.

At that point in 2007, the first version of our business was born, called Bounce Fitness.

3. What inspired the brand name?

Once we were ready to launch the beta of our new technology product, we wanted to ensure we had the right branding and name. When we would tell our clients “Bounce Fitness”, we would always hear the question “oh, where is your gym located?” We would constantly reply with, “we are not a gym”. We felt that with the launch of our mobile apps, it was an appropriate time to adopt a more impactful brand that represented what we actually did and Send Me a Trainer was born.

4. What is the story behind the brand’s logo?

The running person icon represents a trainer coming to you. Clients love it and know exactly what we do when they see our logo.

5. What makes your brand different from your competitors?

Starting a Send Me a Trainer franchise is simple because it doesn’t require a physical location, expensive equipment, or any construction.

Franchisees are attracted to our technology driven, home based business model with low overhead and no physical location required. The modern business owner can now own a technology enabled on-demand business as a franchise.

With proprietary technology, low startup costs, and the ability to work from home, Send Me a Trainer offers franchise partners a unique opportunity and the flexible lifestyle they are looking for.

Our technology automates operations of the business, so franchise owners don’t get caught up in tedious things like payroll. It’s changing the entire concept of business ownership in the franchise world.

TOP REASONS TO OWN:

Strong Track Record: Over 13 years of experience in the industry having managed over 1,000 trainers and completed over 100,000 in-home personal training sessions.

Home Based & Low Overhead Costs: No gym. No office. No commute. Complete flexibility over your working life. Get started with under $50k and very low ongoing overhead.

Online and Automated with Proprietary Technology: The business is managed by a cloud based network and mobile apps and is fully automated. Simple and easy to operate with little demand on time resources.

Scalable Business Model: Start the business at your pace and grow from there. Choose to work full time, part time or around another job. Continue to scale by expanding to multiple locations and different fitness service categories.

Huge Lucrative Market: With COVID-19, in-home and online training has become increasingly popular. We operate in a high growth and lucrative market.

6. What are the essential qualities that you look for in a franchisee?

Franchisees do not need to deliver personal training sessions, so no fitness background required. Your focus is on sales and marketing of the business. Strong sales, marketing, and communications skills are helpful.

7.What is your best achievement?

Awards:

-Cover of Entrepreneur Magazine

-Franchise Gator Ranked 2nd in Emerging Brands

-Top 100 Fitness Franchises by Franchise Connect Magazine

-Disruptors in the Fitness Industry by Authority Magazine

8. How does your business day start?

Morning workout followed by prioritizing the most important decisions and tasks that need to be completed that day.

9. What was your best moment throughout your franchise career?

When we first started to franchise, everyone was telling us that it would take 6 months to a year to get our first franchise. We had our first franchisee in 3 weeks. This was a highlight for us because it was indicative of the growth to come.

10. Where do you see your brand in the next 5 years?

Bary:

Honestly…we would like to continue to expand our international reach. We already expanded into the United Kingdom. We want to grow our market until we’re a household name in home fitness.

Most of us have an old piece of exercise equipment somewhere, something bought with a New Year’s resolution that’s collecting dust in a basement. But even if you don’t have the equipment you still have the tools. Frankly, what you need is someone to show you how to exercise for the most impact and hold you accountable. This is a global problem.

Muhssin:

That’s why this isn’t just a service. It’s a vision we really feel strongly about. This is something we’re doing because it makes a difference in people’s lives.

11. Any tips you want to impart to our readers who want to be in the franchise industry?

Be in business for yourself, but never by yourself. Franchising allows you to lean on experts who have been there and done it before. It’s a great way to start a business.