Scaling a NYC Fitness Studio to 2 locations and 9 trainers with Victor Del Valle

Alan Li (00:01) Welcome to opening soon, a podcast where we interview retail founders about how they started and run their brick and mortar businesses. I'm your host, Alan Li, I run Signs and Mirrors where we make beautiful signs and furniture for retail stores. I also help run FotoLab a self-portrait studio with locations in New York city and Houston.

Alan Li (00:25) Today's guest, Victor Valle is the founder of Aesthetic Lab, a personal training studio based in Soho and Tribeca, New York. Victor studied biochemistry and was on a pre-dentistry track before falling in love with fitness and spending seven years competing in bodybuilding. On the side, Victor was a personal fitness trainer, helping people with their workouts, nutrition, and recovery. However, when the pandemic hit, Victor realized that this was his chance to finally start his fitness studio that he had always dreamed about. He turned his one-bedroom apartment into a one-on-one studio

booking out 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and also ran Zoom classes for corporate teams. He used that traction and savings to bootstrap and open his first Soho space for $250,000 and then later his larger Tribeca location for $500,000, all self-funded. Today, he leads a growing team of nine trainers and has many exciting plans on the roadmap. In this episode, we dive into how Victor validated demand before signing a lease, work 16-hour days,

and the hiring and delegation lessons that help them go from working in the business to on the business. This is a great episode for anyone interested in looking to open a brick and mortar fitness space and how to do it on your own terms.

Alan Li (01:39) Victor, thanks so much for joining the Opening Soon podcast.

Victor (01:43) Thank you for having me.

Alan Li (01:44) Awesome. Well, I'm really excited to dive into aesthetic lab and what you've built there. But before we jump in, could you give the audience a quick overview of your background?

Victor (01:54) Sure. So my background, I'm originally from Ecuador. I'm ⁓ half Latino, Ecuadorian, and half Chinese. I grew up in Ecuador, and then I moved to New York City for go to college. So I graduated at Hunter College as a biochemist. I was pursuing to become a dentist, so I went to the medical program.

You know, and then life make a 180 turn and then I fall in love with bodybuilding. The physical activity was my real passion. I became a personal trainer and then I started competing as an MPC bodybuilder for seven years. And then things happened. The pandemic hits. Then I was like, all right, I think it's time to move chapters all over again.

and then I pursue my own business. And here we are having a great time.

Alan Li (02:59) Okay.

Wow. That's exciting. ⁓ how was your time in bodybuilding?

Victor (03:06) fantastic. ⁓ that was really mentally and physically challenging, but at the same time, giving the strength to continue to pursue what I do right now. You know, so, competing obviously, ⁓ among other bodybuilders, mass monsters, people who are bigger than you, maybe genetic genetically better than you. So that pushed you to,

you know, push boundaries, you know, so like I knew I couldn't be able to go super, get super big. So I decided to go more for the look, the aesthetics, the definition, the cut. And obviously in order to do that, you have to push your diet, train harder, sleep, you know, stay away from the obvious. drink, quit drinking, quit, you know, bad influences and just basically do, you know, fall in love with what you do.

Alan Li (03:49) ⁓

Yeah.

Victor (04:06) So yeah, that's dedication.

Alan Li (04:11) I'm curious for bodybuilding. Did you have a trainer or multiple trainers to guide you throughout that journey?

Victor (04:20) So that's the interesting part. wish if I go back, I wish I can rely on people with vast experience in bodybuilding. Actually, I was doing everything on my own. just watching YouTube videos, checking bodybuilders from the past, you know, from 10, 20, even 30 years from the past and just watching what they were doing. ⁓

Alan Li (04:32) wow.

Victor (04:45) checking their diets, whatever they record and basically trying to do it on my own. And then I discovered obviously during the training, the process, like, ⁓ this doesn't work for me. I'd rather do this better. And then, you know, obviously over time, you see what works better for you, you know, because everybody has a different body type, something that I wasn't aware of. I decide to just basically copy and paste what others were doing and without realizing.

Alan Li (04:59) Mm-hmm.

Victor (05:14) that wasn't affecting me in a good way. ⁓ those things you discover over time. So obviously if I was doing this all over again, then I have to obviously do it much better and rely on proper coaching instead of just guesswork in the beginning. And the beginning was just a passion and the driven to do something different, change.

Alan Li (05:23) Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Victor (05:43) your lifestyle and you know just learning during the process. ⁓ If I was getting a better and more professional advice probably I will be still competing you know.

Alan Li (05:57) Hmm. I see.

And what was the toughest part about bodybuilding for you? Was it the discipline of doing everything the same over an extended period of time or was there something else?

Victor (06:10) The hardest part was basically, yeah, timing. Being in New York City, ⁓ the dedication, the expenses. It's an extremely expensive career, know, the sport. It's really expensive because basically you're required to eat a huge amount of food, sleep, and basically, you know, train. And that's about it.

⁓ So the more that you rest, the better for you, but you know, have to the bills. So you have to continue to move around and continue to burn calories working, you know, so that's extremely hard because you have, and then you have to go home and cook, cook your meals, you know, prepping for the week, ⁓ sleeping, you have to require to sleep optimum eight to nine hours per night, you know, so like it's a, it's a hard one.

Alan Li (06:40) Yeah.

Wow.

Okay, how much would you eat per day?

Victor (07:09) It depends. ⁓ During bulking season, we call it when you actually want to retain as much ⁓ muscle as possible. It depends on your body type, but in my type was up to 4,000 to 5,000 calories a day. Every day. And you do that for like six months. And then you have to sleep as much as you can because the following day it requires to pick up big numbers.

like your compound movements, for example, which I really love, but you have to, you know, pick up 300, 400, 500 pounds in order to maximize your body, your strength and retain muscle. So it's a process that takes time, you know? So, and then in contrast, after the six months, you do the cutting season, you know, getting ready for a competition. That's the time when you actually start

Alan Li (07:55) Okay. Okay.

Victor (08:06) burning fat and retain lean muscle. And then that's another different type of diet, different type of training, but you have to keep sleeping as much as you can. Then you need to incorporate cardio, you know, to get a better cardio-vascularity. And then your diet, your supplementation, everything change. So it's a beautiful journey, don't make me wrong, but it's not for everybody. Yeah.

Alan Li (08:20) I see.

Yeah.

Even when I was in college, my friends and I would try to bulk a bit and try to cut a bit and even just being disciplined about drinking the protein or getting the macros in was quite tough for me. Yeah, well, it was, that was even tough for me, but I could only imagine how hard it was for you. So ⁓ really cool. So yeah, that's, that's crazy.

Victor (08:40) Yeah.

That's the easiest part. Yeah, I did. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, imagine that times 100.

Alan Li (09:00) ⁓ So tell me about the transition during COVID when you realized, hey, maybe ⁓ bodybuilding is something I want to leave behind and now I want to start my own business. ⁓ Tell me about that journey.

Victor (09:15) That's a great question. ⁓ So I realized that competing, obviously I love the training. I love the program, diet. I love to be traveling and be on stage and present my hard work to judges and the people who love bodybuilding. But obviously, ⁓ like I said, I was an average tapas athlete. I was always, always top five.

I won maybe two competitions and then the rest was third place, fifth place, back to fourth place, back to third place. And I was always like that. Never the top. Never number one and you know, and all those competitions. Like I said, I won maybe two, but the other ones, it was like, you know, the top five, which really frustrating. And I knew that because I wasn't obviously the top athlete that was getting into the ⁓

Alan Li (09:48) Mm-hmm.

Victor (10:13) The overall diet and supplementations require, you know, enhancements. So I don't want to say that I'm against enhancements, but ⁓ I really love my body and I want to love to live longer. So obviously reading articles, seeing friends who used to, you know, train and rely on enhancements, they have a better result, obviously, but because my background in school and, you know,

I know the lifespan of an individual who overused those things, your lifespan short by 15 to 20 years. So that's, yeah, so that's, it really scares. It really scares me. So like, obviously you have to be committed and you know, understand what you're getting into. So ⁓ yeah, for me, like, all right, I love this. I would love to look like that, but.

Alan Li (10:51) 15 to 20 years.

Victor (11:10) It's against my principle, let's put it that way. You know? So I was trying my best to be at the best physique, competition mode, competition, you know, rank, but I couldn't put the last notch to be at that category, you know? Even though I really wanted, ⁓ I was like always pushing back, like it wasn't the right thing for me. You know, so...

Alan Li (11:39) Yeah.

Victor (11:39) judges, they always give me the advice like you have to do it. You really want to continue and look at the best thing. I don't know. My dream was to be not to win a Mr. Olympia, but it was just to be there and just be part of that even though I was on the last place, but to be on that stage with, you all the it's like the bodybuilders dream, right? But I never, I never got that far because I was always scared of the consequences.

So that was something that it put me to that limit. So ⁓ I knew as I was getting older and getting tired to be at the same place and the diets and everything, was like, all right, the chapter in my life have to be, have to, from all the stuff that I learned during competition and diet and training constantly,

⁓ I knew I have to move on and start my own business, right? So obviously I was a personal trainer at the same time, but I was working for the big companies. So I know in order to succeed in this business, you have to have your own practice. So I know that since day one. If I really want to succeed, I want to my own practice, my own rules, my own fitness program, my own diet.

Plus I have the background and the knowledge to do that, you know, in terms of like dying and, you know, nutritional advice, the experience as a personal trainer and program accordingly, I already have that. But I never had the opportunity to have my own physical space and just do it on your own, right? So the pandemic was the right hit for me. For some people it was a disaster, for other people was a bless.

So for me, I took the pandemic as an opportunity to do something you always dream and never let it go. ⁓

Alan Li (13:46) Yeah. And

⁓ when you say you were doing personal training, was this while you were doing the bodybuilding or was this after bodybuilding? You started doing personal training at some of the bigger gyms.

Victor (13:55) No,

during competition I was always working for big chain gyms.

Alan Li (14:03) okay. ⁓

and then you realize, Hey, ⁓ if I actually want to make it in the space, I need to do it on my own. need to get my own space. need to start it from scratch. ⁓ tell me, ⁓ how you go from, you know, the big companies, which provides a sense of security to then taking on a five year, 10 year commercial lease, renovating a space, all that, all that jazz. know the pandemic.

Victor (14:13) Yes.

All

that fun stuff.

Alan Li (14:31) Yeah, I know

the pandemic was the catalyst, but that's still a big leap. ⁓ Tell me about that journey. Yeah.

Victor (14:35) Yes. absolutely.

But the first thing was, you're right. For people out there who listen to this conversation, I just want to let them know that if you already have a dream and you really want to pursue it, you have to do it no matter what people think or the consequences, because it's only one shot. You got to give it a try. Right. So during the pandemic, like I said, before the pandemic, I always was thinking

and writing in my diary, all right, this is what I'm gonna do if I wanna open a ⁓ gym, I need to have a retail space and maybe in the basement, maybe the ground floor, blah, blah, demographic, the rent, dealing with the landlord, stuff like that. Always what's thinking like, all right, let me get into this, let me study it, let me check my budget and let me see if I can be able to do this or not. Do I need to get a loan, things like that. ⁓ But then...

During the pandemic, realized here in New York City, the rent dropped up to 50%, especially commercial space. Also, ⁓ the security to having your own job, like working for a gym and they give you your salary and whatever. Obviously, was okay salary. Yeah, you make your living and everything, but I wasn't content because obviously I always drink more.

bigger, right? So I know I have to leave, but obviously you just care like, oh, this is my solid income. And now I'm going to jump into something. They don't have a salary, especially when you are a business owner. You don't have a salary. You just pay your bills and stuff like that. So you get, you get scared of that. But the pandemic for me was the opportunity to grab it and let's see what happens. You know, so here in New York city,

Alan Li (16:02) Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I know.

Victor (16:30) Mandatory, everything was shut down, including gyms, gyms, restaurants, everything was shut down. And they were expecting that people don't do anything, be in their apartments and just wait for the news to see like, oh, now you can go and have a cup of coffee, but wear your mask. It was horrible. So I was basically confined to my apartment for like, I guess a year and a half or so. I was, the first, when everything shuts down,

I took it as an opportunity to sleep the first two weeks. I took it as a vacation. I remember I bought a PlayStation 4 and I was like, all right, I'm gonna buy this. I'm gonna get a video game. I'm gonna have the much fun as I can because I know this is gonna be temporarily. And then I have to get back to work and compete again, right? So two weeks turning into a month and then I got...

I of the game. would start eating, you know, bad, really, really bad for like a month. And I was like, okay, what I'm doing here? I'm bored. I need to train. I feel horrible being in my apartment right now too much. So was like, you know what? Let's start looking for something to do. So I remember I started calling all my clients, probably from my roster in my old iPhone.

I reached out to like probably 300 people over the course of years. And I was like, Hey, where you guys are? Like, you in the city? You want to train? You can come in the park and train with me. You know, I wear a mask and you know, let's see what happens. So, ⁓ out of 300 people, maybe 25 people respond. Yeah, I'm here in the city. I can't wait to train. I'm really bored. I was like, bingo, let's do this.

Alan Li (17:59) Wow.

Victor (18:24) So I was training at a park in the beginning near my apartment and it was really cold because it was during the winter. So I was like, you know what, this is painful. I don't like this. And it is super limited to have a monkey bar in basically head. So ⁓ I, you know, I'm really friendly to everybody. I called the manager, the ex manager of the gym that I was working on and obviously it's shut down.

But I call him and I say, hey, listen, I have my stuff in my locker. And, you know, we're talking about dumbbells, elastic bands, boxing, all bunch of stuff. And I say, I need to get back to my locker and pick up my stuff. And then he say, well, I have to be to this gym once a week to check everything is, you know, safe. But yes, I can drop, you're not allowed to get in, but I can drop, pick up all your stuff from your locker and bring it to you outside the street. say, perfect. That's the only thing that I need.

So I have dumbbells, you know, my personal stuff that I used to train with. ⁓ then I went to my apartment, which is a one bedroom apartment, and I turned it into a little personal training studio. I took all the furniture out, all the furniture out. ⁓ And then I said to my clients, now we have a gym. It's in my apartment.

Alan Li (19:38) Mmm.

Victor (19:50) It's a one-on-one personal training studio, one client per hour. And after that, I'm not gonna lie, I was busy from six in the morning until seven p.m. every single day, seven days a week. Yes.

Alan Li (19:54) Wow.

No way. So you had you had almost

12-13 clients per day?

Victor (20:12) per hour, yes.

Alan Li (20:13) per hour per day. Wow.

Victor (20:15) Yes, and then I was like, I think I'm getting into something here. So and then I went to Home Depot. I built my own that lift platform. So I got I again on YouTube, everything do it yourself. I got all the materials I went to from again. Remember, this is the pandemic. So I took my my bicycle.

went to Brooklyn to home depot wearing a mask and everything that's I need to build a platform. So I got a whole bunch of materials and then I took a huge van, bring everything to my apartment and build a platform from scratch. Then I went to, you know, one of those big gym equipment websites and then I got my first squad rock.

Alan Li (21:06) I see. And Victor, yeah, and Victor, how much were you charging per session for this?

Victor (21:07) So everything happens in weeks.

But then, ⁓ was like, ⁓ it's so funny, it was like hundred bucks per hour.

Alan Li (21:21) Oh wow, okay. That's a pretty good deal.

Victor (21:23) So it

was a really good deal and I was like cash on Venmo or cash? And also it was really funny.

Alan Li (21:29) Okay. And then

for, for just for the audience so that they know now, so what would you be charging, you know, present day for an hour session?

Victor (21:38) my God, these days is, well, now that we have two gems and the response was really well, these days is 180.

Alan Li (21:48) Nice, that's great.

Victor (21:48) You know,

and obviously that was just me. You know, that was only like a one man show. Now we are nine trainers. You know, we, create a team of nine trainers and everybody's pulling to the same direction. You know, we want all my clients to achieve their fitness goals. And obviously we evolved from since day one, just by myself, but I already have that vision.

Alan Li (22:16) Yeah.

Victor (22:16) I already

know what I want and obviously I want to give the best service with the least amount of transaction. I just want to make it fun, make it cool, but at the same time with the highest, the latest technologies possible, the best equipment and you know, yeah, it was a beautiful transition since I know what I was looking for and...

Again, it starts from one client and then from one client to two clients and then like, right, now I don't have no time to get more clients. I guess I need help, you know? So that's how it starts. Yeah.

Alan Li (22:55) Yeah. Yeah. So, ⁓

I mean, that's really cool because, ⁓ you started very scrappy, just literally in your apartment, ⁓ seeing clients and getting essentially full. And, know, if you're doing 13 clients a day at a hundred dollars, that's 13, 12, 1200, $1,300 a day. So I imagine at some point you realize, okay, there's something here. Let me actually go look for a space outside my apartment. Is that right?

Victor (23:06) Yes.

Yeah.

Correct.

Yeah. Yes. And not only, and then it wasn't not only the one on one people who coming in, it was also, I don't, I don't even know what zoom was like the, you know, I'm a personal trainer. don't, I don't meet people online. So I remember this, this client came to me and she said, you should train people on zoom from California. have a lot of girlfriends from California and they will love to train with you. And I'm like, zoom, what the hell is that?

Alan Li (23:38) ⁓

Victor (23:52) She started laughing and she said, everybody use Zoom in the office. And I'm like, I don't have an office. I train people. So what the hell is that? So we downloaded together and then she said, listen, we're going to train me and my girlfriends and everybody together. So she organized maybe like 30 girls from all over the world, but the majority was from LA.

And I have all these girls and like, all right, we train, we have fun. And then she said, okay, how much we own you? And I'm like, holy shit, I don't even know. I just have fun training you girls. This is fantastic. We can do this every day. And then she said, yeah, we have to do it every day, but give me a price. And I'm like, all right, we can discuss that. And like, yeah, we came up with an agreement, monthly, no, weekly payments from all the girls, pull the money and then send me a big chunk by the end of the week.

And then after that, ⁓ everything started connecting dots. And then one of the girls turns out works at eBay from the Department of Marketing. And then she loved the class and she said, you know what, Victor? I want to talk to my boss about you. I think we need this class in my company. So eBay hired me for two and a half years to train their employees on Zoom.

you know, links every single day, Monday through Friday. And that was another solid income that I used to have back then until recently, you know, the last person dropped and I was like, all right, I guess it's over because, you know, everything is back to normal. But that was another source that I didn't realize. So I...

Alan Li (25:21) Wow.

Yeah.

So Victor,

how much were you able to make per month during this period?

Victor (25:47) Oh my God, now during the pandemic, a month, that was easily, well, I don't want to speculate, but let me give you, you know, maybe like 20 to 30. Yeah, 20 to 30K.

Alan Li (25:58) a range.

That's great. Just doing personal and then virtual.

Victor (26:04) virtual personal and you know writing diets and then and then some trainers realized what I was doing and then they want to rent my my apartment train their clients and I say this is really funny because you can do this yourself you know that right you know I'm not pressuring you to do it but this is what I did that thing you should do it yourself but I guess

It's all about personalities. People don't see the whole picture. They just want to see it and rent it out. And I say, you can do it yourself. know that, right? I don't want to jeopardize my apartment. Or they come out with excuses. And I'm like, all right. So OK, here's my apartment. You can use it during my days off. And that was another something that I realized. Not everybody has the driven to try something new or just be willing to sacrifice things.

So you have to be a little bit edgy to achieve big things. So I realized that over the course of this time, not that many people can be able to do that, what I did, you know.

Alan Li (27:08) Yeah. Yeah.

Hmm.

And Victor, um, just so you give me a sense of the timeline, um, and jumping forward a little bit, um, you were doing the virtual sessions and the sessions at home in 2020, 2021. When did you sign your first location in, um, so

Victor (27:37) So obviously I was saving every single penny ⁓ because I knew that I was getting into something serious. People were actually like what I was doing. And obviously I want my apartment back. So I want to have a better living situation. So I realized I was getting into something big and then I started looking for a commercial space. So I saved enough money to hire a lawyer.

Alan Li (27:53) Yeah, of course.

Victor (28:06) a real estate broker and an architect. So that was the first thing that I managed to put three professionals in on my, like a group. And that's basically what I said to the broker. I'm looking for a commercial space. This is what I'm looking for. This is my space, my dream space. This is a location that I have in mind. Can you please work on something else?

Alan Li (28:10) you

Victor (28:35) And obviously we talk about budget and you know.

as a business and I'm like, well, I don't have background business. So it's okay, you need to work this out. like, or maybe you need a co-signer. So you need to find, get a co-signer, a friend, maybe your relatives or family willing to, you know, trust you and put their name on, you know, the list of your commercial space. Which that was the hardest part because obviously I don't have ⁓ a business background. So.

real estate and landlords doesn't just take whatever random person with no business background. they were like, who the fuck are you? So that was the hardest part, the first one. So I have to, you know, I went to so many places and everybody just basically closed the door in front of me because they didn't, I show my bank statements or like what I do, but they were like, no, we don't need you.

Alan Li (29:25) Yeah, yeah.

Victor (29:43) that's okay. They never reply me back. Until one day, I saw this space, this current space, and then basically, ⁓ the landlord doesn't even live here, lives in Florida. you know, I say to the broker, his broker, can I please just, I need a minute to talk to him. I really want to share my experience and what I'm doing right now. And I just need an opportunity.

Alan Li (30:04) Yeah.

Victor (30:11) So, he okay, let me see. This is before Thanksgiving 2020, I forgot 2021. Anyway, so he said, you have one minute. So I called him immediately and I explained. He came from the bottom of my heart. So I told him, this is what I do. This is what I need. I will pay you rent. Just give me the contract. And you will never hear from me bad news about me. This is what I do for living.

This is my clients. This is I just need the opportunity. So he said, OK, I like that you serious and passionate of what you do. So I will give you the opportunity. But please. I want my, you know, the rent always on time. No loud music, no nothing, you know, just do your thing. But, you know, respect your neighbors and don't make loud noises or whatever. So that was excellent. So.

Alan Li (31:06) Yeah.

Victor (31:09) The rest was, you know, ⁓ buying equipment, restoring the space. ⁓ The floor, ceiling, everything was like chaos for the next five months.

Alan Li (31:21) So.

Yeah.

So Victor, how much ⁓ was, you how long of a lease did you sign and how much rent was it and how much did you ⁓ have to spend to renovate everything to get it ready?

Victor (31:38) So the real, you know, the normal commercial rent in New York City, the basic is five to 10 years. And then you have the, with the chance of renovated for another five to 10 years. And then obviously the rent goes up accordingly of the market, current market, you know, negotiation obviously can occur, but usually it's like that. So that's what I got this lawyer because

I don't know nothing about the law or commercial laws. So the lawyer helped me to like get this through, get all this knowledge. And the architect was the person involved of restoring the entire space. So I spent maybe like 250 K in my first location. Yeah. Again, no.

Alan Li (32:29) Wow.

Wow. And is

that all personal money too? You didn't raise any funding?

Victor (32:36) yeah, everything.

Nothing. Nothing. you know, that's it. Something that people make the mistake is rely on banks, rely on loans, rely on ⁓ partners or invisible partners, angels, you name it. don't, don't, I don't, especially when you start in your own business, you have to do it yourself. Don't rely on everybody else because

Alan Li (32:41) Great.

Victor (33:06) this is going to become a burden eventually because all those people, what they want is money. know, every single day they're to call you like, where's my money? Where's my money? You pay me back. Blah, blah, And I, I, that's what I noticed. So I've been, again, I've been watching this and have clients that work in finance and you know, they do a bunch of stuff and that's what they do. So, um,

I just absorb information. read articles. I read about, you know, what's going on and how to operate a business. And, you know, that's what I realized. Like, I don't want to have to report what I'm doing at my business because you lend me money or you want to be part owner or do something. No, no, no. I just like do it yourself. You know, yes, say money, say your money and open yourself. Do you believe in what you do?

Alan Li (33:55) He liked the control.

Victor (34:02) That's another thing. I was 100 % believing in what I was doing. I was scared. Hell yeah. I was super scared and frightening about like I was doing the right thing. But I show passion of what I do and my clients see it. And obviously I show them results. That's another thing. And then obviously everything becomes, you know, by nature, it comes easily. So ⁓ yeah, I just...

Alan Li (34:22) Yeah.

Yeah.

Victor (34:32) put all my savings and put it on one shot and then I got the space renovated space got brand new equipment and just basically without any inauguration or party or whatever I just like call my clients like the place is ready come and drink instead of going to my apartment come over here we have a bigger space I remember my first client okay

Alan Li (34:52) Yeah. Well, you had it very,

yeah. I mean, you had, you had the, well, you've already proven out the model. mean, people were even willing to come into your apartment. They're definitely willing to come into a Soho space. ⁓ so I, that completely makes sense to me. ⁓ when did you have to make additional hires for trainers when you realized, Hey, ⁓ this is too much for just me.

Victor (35:02) Yeah.

Yes.

Ha ha!

I was losing a lot of hair and I love having long hair. I was working 13 to 15 hours a day in my space. Clients, know, remember this is still the pandemic. So I still have to have the windows wide open, blast the heat, but make sure the air is flowing.

Alan Li (35:23) Yeah, I can see.

Wow.

Victor (35:49) bought a bunch of air filters throughout the space in order to people feel safe. You know, I was still doing the one-on-one for a client per hour. So I realized one day I sat at six in the morning and I left this place at nine PM, nonstop. You know, and I was like, okay, I think this is enough. ⁓ I need help. I think I ⁓ can do this by myself, you know. ⁓

My first thing was being responsible with rent. ⁓ making numbers and ⁓ I realized, okay, I think everything is covered right now. I can be able now to afford to hire a trainer and giving those my clients to this new trainer and basically ⁓ unload the work on the responsibility of training people.

too many people you know for hours. So I still was here all day but I was making sure this person was doing the right thing you know. ⁓ It was training properly, it was following my program obviously you know ⁓ working previously at the big chain gyms I can always talking to you know the

Alan Li (36:56) Hmm.

Victor (37:11) Personal training managers, gym managers, know membership advisors always absorb their information So I was trying to copy that here You know without giving the trainer Be on top of him or like being bragging on now you're my employee, you know, I was like never like that So I was like always like do you think as soon as you're doing the right thing? I'm not gonna bother nobody. I'm not gonna bother you. So just do it, you know

Alan Li (37:20) I see.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Victor (37:40) And obviously

I made mistakes, you know, like everybody else, hiring the wrong people, maybe wasn't the right ⁓ chemistry. So ⁓ trainers come and go until like you find the right one and like, all right, you can be able to do this on my terms, but I'm not gonna bother you, just do your job.

Alan Li (38:00) Yeah, that makes sense. And how many trainer, I think you mentioned earlier, but how many trainers do you have in the first location right now?

Victor (38:02) Yeah.

So this location, because it's the first one, it's not that big. We only have five trainers. Yeah.

Alan Li (38:16) Five trainers. Okay. And,

⁓ for the five trainers, ⁓ approximately, you know, how many sessions are they doing per day?

Victor (38:26) Okay, so that's interesting because obviously everything is by season. know, so summer, for example, everybody's gone. You know, the majority of our clients are in Europe for like two, three months. Then you get ⁓ other clients, basically, you know, Long Island, they live for a month. So everything's slowed down, right? And then ⁓ fall, winter, that's when everything gets crazy.

Alan Li (38:34) Mmm.

Victor (38:54) That's when, especially during the winter, you get like a humongous wave of the clients coming back and they feel bad and ugly. Like people say me, Victor saved my life. Look at me. All right, welcome back. Let's do this all over again. So during that time, uh, trainers, they're up to, you know, obviously they want to, but I don't rush them, but a good trainer can be able to make up to 10 sessions, 10 hours.

Alan Li (38:54) ⁓

Yeah.

10 sessions

per day.

Victor (39:23) per day, Monday through Friday. Yes. So you get five in the morning, five in the afternoon. And that's a normal. Yeah. And with five, like, yeah, like up to 50 sessions, I guess a day. Right. Yeah. And this is one location. So obviously, yeah. And we now have a great roster of clients. Obviously, we still building, you know, because it's always room to improve and

Alan Li (39:25) Wow.

Ash.

50 sessions a day. Yeah.

Victor (39:53) time and space to grow. So this place is amazing because prime location, people love that's another thing that I was like another thing that I noticed was the basement gyms is the worst thing ever. Never open a gym in the basement is depressing, you know. So I realized when I was looking for a space, never ever ever go to a basement, you know.

Alan Li (40:14) Yeah.

Victor (40:22) It's cheap, yes, but for a reason. It's cheap for a reason because it's dark, you have to bring the light. But what about when it's super nice outside, nice and bright, like today, for example, and you want to try and work out, that's fantastic. But if you're still in the basement, you're confined to this place. that's something that I realized, it has to be, you know, the right space has to be.

main floor or second floor or the rooftop but they have to be ton of natural light. You know, that was part of my terms,

Alan Li (40:55) Yeah, that makes sense.

Okay. Well, I mean, Victor, seems like the first space is going quite well. ⁓ well, especially in the, in the fall and winter months. ⁓ and I know we're, running up on time a bit, but can you talk briefly a bit about how you got your second space, ⁓ and the decision around that?

Victor (41:16) That happened because obviously the overflow of clients here in Soho, was sometimes, during the winter it's a madhouse. Sometimes we have no room for nobody else. So ⁓ I realized, all right, now it's time to expand and have another better location, bigger, wider, higher ceilings in order to release the amount of clients coming here, especially people who live in Soho, Tribeca area.

So I came up with the idea to start looking for a location over there and I found it. Same layout. Took me like a year to find it, to found it and obviously renovated. Same thing, start from scratch, get the same criteria and hire the right people to do it. The broker, the architect and the lawyer. So that's what I did.

Alan Li (42:12) Yeah.

And Victor, was this space also around 250,000 that you had to put in or was it a bit more because the space is bigger?

Victor (42:20) No,

obviously because it's bigger and because obviously times change, know, that was double the price.

Alan Li (42:29) wow, so this was $500,000 for renovation and opening. Okay. And how many trainers can this, ⁓ this new location fit?

Victor (42:31) Yes, yes.

That one can hold eight. Eight, but I have over there four.

Alan Li (42:41) Eight, okay.

Okay. And when was this new one opened?

Victor (42:50) Five months ago.

Alan Li (42:52) Okay, exciting.

Victor (42:53) Yes.

And the same thing, everything is brand new, same vision, same amenities, you know, with the same passion. But obviously, ⁓ now I oversee things, especially over there. I like now to see things from a different perspective because I really want to grow the business, but without losing the essence. So now the trainers that I hire have to be like passionate as I am.

Not necessarily have to have a ton of experience, willing to learn from my mistakes and from what I believe is right. I've been doing this for 12 years. obviously I have a vast experience to say, you know what, I recommend you to do this instead of that. And this is the reason why. So you can put your personal input, but you have to tell me. And obviously if we agree, you're good to go. ⁓

Alan Li (43:49) Yeah. Victor, tell

me a little bit about that transition from, you know, working in the business, training clients to working on the business.

Victor (43:59) That's a hard transition because I don't want to say I'm a perfectionist, but I want to be on top of everything, you know, and that was a mistake because I was spending time on, you know, nonsense. So ⁓ by experience talking to other business owners, basically everybody was telling me the same thing. think, you know, they were saying,

Alan Li (44:06) Yeah.

Victor (44:30) Delegating was something that I ⁓ need to learn and that's what I was doing. yes, delegating was a major thing that I started doing and then obviously, ⁓ want to hear instead of like checking on clients, ⁓ I hear feedback from my clients. So now they call, if something is wrong, they reach out to me. That's the best thing.

It's something you don't like, something that you want me to change, please let me know. Instead of being watching, you know, one client per hour or like checking the cameras, security systems. Now they just reach out to me like, all right, fantastic trainer. I love it. I just want to, you know, maybe the floor needs to be dry before using the cold punch or something like that. You know what? All right. I can do that instead of like being there all the

Alan Li (45:22) Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And Victor, what do you think is the, ⁓ the biggest hurdle for you next, ⁓ to, grow the business or, ⁓ to improve the business? What is, ⁓ the biggest thing that you need to overcome?

Victor (45:45) I think I need to... ⁓ There's so many. The first one I believe is branding. Branding, exposure. And I need to, I guess, treat myself more like a brand. You know, that is something that I realize. ⁓ Be more exposed in front of the camera. Explain to people what I do, you know, on social media and expand.

spread the message throughout all different sources because I can just rely now on just one stream like Instagram, for example, or by texting. Now I need to rely on other things, you know, so that's, that's what I need to do the most because now we're getting more competitive seeing, you know, things are getting more normal. Maybe other people want to open more places and they want to do something, you know, different. So I need to always.

obviously be on the known as well.

Alan Li (46:47) Yeah, because I can imagine ⁓ marketing is, as you mentioned, something that's really important because the fitness space is very competitive. And how do you think about competitors?

Victor (46:56) Correct,

⁓ Well, some of them are doing a good job. Other ones are doing the same mistakes than others in the past and collapse. ⁓ So I try not to think about that because once you're doing the right thing, you know, you don't have to look back or what others are doing. But it's interesting to keep everything fresh, innovating without losing your essence. You know, so that is something that I

trying to work on.

Alan Li (47:32) Yeah, no, that's really exciting. And Victor, with both gyms combined now, would you be able to provide a range of how much revenue it's generating on a monthly basis?

Victor (47:52) I think it's like roughly well again depends upon the month because again look to a of the seasons summer fall winter You know, so this lowest one is maybe 100 120 the other ones is double bad. So look to it

Alan Li (48:15) Nice, wow. That's really impressive. ⁓ And Victor, for people that are maybe watching this who are interested in opening their own fitness studio or fitness space in another location, what sort of advice would you have for them?

Victor (48:36) ⁓ the first thing is don't go crazy in terms of like, of course you can drink big, but everything has a time and place to do it. So start small, especially if it's for one individual, you know, start, start from, start safe because you need to be, you you need to taste the waters. You need to make sure everything is the right, you know, face the right amount.

do not go overhead and start overspending. You just gotta go, you gotta go slow. Like in my case, I start, you know, without paying for example rent because I was using my apartment in the beginning. I was testing the situation and see if the people were like ⁓ responding well. Then I got the, you know, the commercial space. So ⁓ for people out there who wants to start something new,

You know, you gotta start from the bottom, start safe, make sure you're doing a good product, test it, retest it, and obviously if you're getting good response, you're getting good revenue, okay, now you can be able to jump into a bigger picture. But don't go drastic from zero to, you know, a rooftop, penthouse, whatever gym, and so on, or like, no, you're gonna go.

You gotta go bankrupt really quick, you know, because again, I've seen that before and people don't realize that they're making the same mistakes. They just want to go big without even putting the effort and like, all right, you know, it's a big overhead. And then you rely on others like bank loans or investors, private equities, know, like that's already business suicidal. I don't recommend that.

Alan Li (50:06) Yeah.

Yeah, I think that's really sound advice because I think the way entrepreneurship is sensationalized in social media is quit your job, put all your savings in, go big or go home. But there's so many different ways to test concepts and prove them out before you do sign a 10-year commercial lease or you do spend $200,000 or $500,000 on a space. So I think that's really important.

Victor (51:00) Yeah, it's a commitment. again, I think it's the safest way to do it, especially if it's, again, for entrepreneurs, for one individual to do start his own business, you know, it's better that way.

Alan Li (51:17) Yeah. And Victor, final question for me is, you know, looking back on your journey over the last four or five years, opening your own studio and even maybe longer having ⁓ done personal training even before then, is there anything you would have changed knowing what you know now?

Victor (51:26) Yes.

Another great question. ⁓

⁓ Yeah, I guess ⁓ in the beginning I was desperate for help, you know, and I was talking to many trainers to, you know, to be part of what I believe and everybody, you know, everybody said no, which I was lucky, you know. So just, yeah, believe in yourself. So I...

I guess next time if I try to do something else, just believe in my idea and my product and just continue to do it on your own without relying, trying to rely on others. The other part was ⁓ hiring the right candidate for trainers. In the beginning, I make that mistake to hire in whatever who just knock on the door and like, I'm a trainer and like, all right, I'm in. Because I have no time. I just was hiring people without, you know.

checking their backgrounds like are you a good trainer or a bad nothing I just was desperate to looking for people to work for me so that was a mistake I need to just take the time make the time to you know an interview and you know because that leads you to all the problems you know so that's something that I realized like ⁓ why did I hire this person when it's so bad now I need to fire him and you know yeah it was a

I did that a couple of times, it was really bad. everything is perfect. But obviously it took me some time to polish my mistakes and build a good trainer base.

Victor (53:33) It was really difficult to find people during that time because nobody was looking for work. So I was just basically ⁓ hiring anybody, you know, and that was a mistake. So I I polished that over time, you know.

Alan Li (53:51) Okay, cool.

Victor (53:52) Now everything

is more a transitional, natural way to do it.

Alan Li (53:55) Yeah, awesome. All right, well, yeah, Victor, thank you so much for taking the time. I'm really excited to see all the growth that's gonna happen with Aesthetic Lab. And hopefully I'll come by and do a session myself.

Victor (54:12) Thank you. Thank you for having me and definitely you can stop by anytime.

Alan Li (54:16) All right,

Victor (54:18) All right, cheers.

Alan Li (54:20) Thanks for listening. If you liked this episode, feel free to visit openingsoonpodcast.com for all of our episodes online. If you run a retail store and need updated furniture or signage, please feel free to visit www.signsandmirrors.com. Lastly, if you have any feedback or would to be a guest on the show, email me at alan, A-L-A-N, at signsandmirrors.com. I promise I'll respond. Thanks for listening.