How ITS Fitness Grew From 9 Clients to 377 in About 10 Years: A Gym Business Coaching Case Study

This gym business coaching case study is for independent training-gym owners who want to see what real growth looks like over years, not weeks.

You'll see where Levi started, what he chose to fix, what changed and when, what didn't work, and what you can borrow for your own gym.

I'll also show you the Case Result Check™ we use to judge any gym growth case study, including this one.

Where did the gym start: revenue, profit and owner workload?

Levi started as a one-man gym with fewer than 10 committed clients, about $2,600 to $2,800 a month in revenue, roughly $2,000 a month in expenses, and a 60-hour work week. He was a great coach with no business system.

Levi came out of college strength and conditioning.

He loved the weight room.

He didn't love the college strength coach job, so he started his own business.

He started part-time, training athletes and adults in a small leased space in Texas.

He'd had the gym about six months when we started working together.

He had a wife and two boys, and he wasn't making any money.

Then his wife got laid off.

In his words: "Six months in we're still not really making any money."

He found me almost by accident.

He came to one of my events to hear Eric Cressey speak about coaching.

Before he signed up, he cold-called a couple of my clients to ask what working with me was really like.

Years later he told me: "If we hadn't made that move six months in, within a year we'd have been out of business."

In his own words, years later: "I knew how to coach but not how to run a business."

That's most of the owners I meet.

Here's what his starting point looked like on paper.

In February 2013 he filled out an intake survey for one of my programs.

He'd been in business about a year.

He leased 2,500 square feet for $1,200 a month.

His three most recent months of revenue were $9,701, $2,651 and $2,835.

That first month was a one-time spike from a challenge.

The other two are the real baseline.

Expenses ran "right at $2,000" a month.

No employees.

No staff meetings.

He said he had a lead-tracking system "but it's unorganized."

And he was working 60 hours a week.

Let's run that through the Owner's Rate™, the number I use to show an owner what they really earn per hour.

That's not a typo.

About three bucks an hour.

He wasn't lazy.

He wasn't a bad coach.

He just had a job with a lease.

And he wanted more than that.

His 90-day goals were 55 adult clients and at least one $8,000 month.

His 12-month goals were to add a strength coach, add 1,250 square feet next door, and have a $12,000 month.

And his reason was simple: he wanted his wife to be able to stay home.

I get it.

That's the same reason a lot of us started.

What problem did the owner choose to solve first?

Levi chose to fix consistency first: getting organized, building a client base that stayed, and building revenue that didn't swing with seasons and promotions. He said it plainly in 2013: "Organization will be a huge step."

He had plenty he could have chased.

More ads.

More challenges.

A bigger building.

But look at his own numbers.

He was generating 32 to 39 leads a month.

He was only turning 2 to 7 of them into clients.

Lead flow wasn't the bottleneck.

Conversion and consistency were.

He also named an obstacle every small-market owner knows: "There are LOTS of fitness businesses in our small town."

And a second one: members "who won't make serious commitment."

So the problem wasn't "how do I get noticed?"

It was "how do I get the right people to commit, and keep them?"

That reminds me of my own first gym.

I opened it in 2004 in a middle-class town of about 23,000 people that I'd never set foot in before I moved there.

I'd bet fewer than 30 people in that town were paying for personal training that fall.

The norm then was 60-minute sessions sold in 12- or 24-session packages.

I did the opposite.

Subscription billing, 6- or 12-month programs, and more than 85% of clients on 12 months.

Clients accrued instead of walking through a revolving door.

That's how we got to 420 active clients 18 months after opening.

Levi's problem was the same one I had.

Not attention.

Commitment.

What did the owner and team change?

Levi changed six things over more than a decade: who he served, how he followed up, how he built referrals and client experience, how he built and kept a team, how he tracked and planned with weekly accountability, and how he grew profit once the gym was full. He installed them one at a time.

Here's the important part.

He didn't do all of it in month one.

When he joined a marketing install program in August 2023, I told him it was "basically installing or optimizing 1 thing at a time."

That's how it worked the whole way through.

You don't teach a pitcher a changeup before he can throw strikes.

1. He picked one client and built the gym around them

Early on, Levi trained athletes as well as adults.

Sports performance followed the athletes' seasons and schedules, which made consistency hard.

So he switched to training adults only.

Today his follow-up messages speak to "busy adults over 40 with stressful lives" who want to feel better and move better "without extreme workouts or boring cardio."

One client.

One message.

That made everything else easier.

2. He built follow-up that doesn't depend on his memory

In 2013 he was making about 5 calls, 10 emails and 25 texts a month to people outside their sessions.

By 2025, ITS Fitness had a written follow-up series.

Call, email and text right away, from Levi by name.

Then a planned sequence of calls, texts and emails over the next 14 days.

The goal is written at the top: get a reply, book a 14-day free trial, and aim for 30% to 40% of leads to book.

In WGO terms, that's the Follow-Up Formula™: reply fast, from a named person, by call, text and email, then keep going until they answer.

3. He grew mostly from referrals and the client experience

On my podcast, Levi said his growth to about 380 clients came mainly through referrals and a strong client experience.

He was already asking for referrals back in 2013.

His answer to "How do you actively get referrals?" was two words: "Ask for them."

What changed is that the experience got good enough that members wanted to bring people.

That's the heart of our Retention Roadmap™ and Client Experience Cadence™.

4. He built a team that stays

In 2013 Levi had no employees and wanted to hire one coach.

Later he said the gym feels "like a family here," with good coaches and "very very low staff turnover."

He credits culture first: "It absolutely starts with the culture of your gym."

And here's the payoff.

By 2022 he said, "I coach about 12 hours a week now because I want to."

From 60 hours a week to 12 hours on the floor.

That's what a team makes possible.

5. He tracked his numbers and showed up

Levi has been part of our mastermind and coaching groups for years, and he's been in our Boardroom group since it started in 2021.

Every month we ask for revenue.

Every check-in starts with the same three questions: what did you do to grow this week, what are your top three actions for next week, and what's in your way.

In 2018 I asked him what mattered most.

He listed, in order: the mastermind meetings, being able to reach me directly, and getting good answers in the group from people who'd dealt with the same issue.

Notice what's not on that list.

Another course.

Another login.

It was the meetings, the access and the people.

Instruction is a call.

Coaching is a plan and a check-in.

6. He grew profit, not just headcount, once the gym was full

By about 2018, ITS Fitness had 360-some clients and about $45,000 a month in gross revenue.

Levi had two full-time coaches, a third about to go full-time, and an admin handling the office work.

In the year before that, gross revenue had grown by almost $10,000 a month and the gym had added about 65 clients.

Then he hit a ceiling.

In his words: "We were kind of capped out as far as how many clients we could take."

His first instinct was a competitive one.

More people, more money, a bigger facility.

He was even thinking about a second location.

So I asked him what his ideal business and his ideal life looked like.

If he wanted more time with his boys, a second location wasn't the answer.

He said later that it "totally kind of changed my thinking."

Instead of chasing more clients, he went after more revenue and profit from the clients he could serve well.

He went from about $45,000 to $47,000 a month to "consistently doing $60,000 months," with only about 10 more clients.

He hired two more coaches along the way.

And in recent years he's been working less while profit kept going up.

The business serves his life, not the other way around.

What changed, over what period, and how was it measured?

Over about ten years, Levi went from fewer than 10 committed clients and about $2,700 a month to 377 clients and about $55K to $60K a month, measured by his own monthly revenue reports and client counts. His reported profit then rose about $35K in 2023 and about $42K in 2024.

Here's the timeline, using only numbers Levi reported himself.

A few things jump out.

First, the line from Jan 2022.

He did more revenue with about 20 fewer clients than two years earlier.

That's growth in value per client, not just client count.

Rough math from his own September 2022 numbers: $55K to $60K a month across 377 clients is about $146 to $159 per client per month.

And 35% to 40% net on that revenue is roughly $19K to $24K a month left after expenses.

Compare that to about $700 a month in 2013.

Second, the profit numbers.

Up about $35K in 2023.

Up about $42K more in 2024.

That's not a top-line story.

It's a bottom-line story.

A bigger number with no profit is just a bigger job, and Levi didn't build a bigger job.

Third, the life numbers.

Evenings off by 2018.

About 12 hours of coaching a week by 2022.

Debt-free by 2025.

Today he's over $60K a month with about 375 clients.

He built a home and paid it off.

He coaches his kids' sports teams and never misses a game.

When I wrote up his story in October 2025 and asked him to fix anything that wasn't accurate, he replied: "Looks good, buddy!"

And the part he's proudest of isn't the money.

It's the time off, coaching his kids, and being there for the moments that matter.

Back in December 2019 I invited him to a late Zoom to plan the next year.

He said he'd be a little late.

He was coaching his son's basketball team.

That's the whole point.

How we measure a case study: the Case Result Check™

One gym is an anecdote.

A hundred gyms is a pattern.

So before you trust any gym growth case study, including ours, run it through four questions.

If a case study can't answer all four, it's a screenshot, not a case study.

What did not work, and what else affected the result?

Not everything worked, and not everything was in Levi's control. Challenge-driven spikes, seasonal sports training and an expensive incentive all taught him something, and outside events like the pandemic and a nearby studio closing affected the numbers too.

I want to be straight about this part.

Most case studies skip it.

Spikes that didn't stick

In early 2013, one month brought in $9,701.

The next two brought in $2,651 and $2,835.

The big month was a challenge.

A spike feels great.

But it doesn't pay the rent in month three.

What pays the rent is recurring members who stay.

Programs that fought the calendar

Training athletes meant working around seasons and schedules.

That made consistent revenue hard.

Levi chose to stop, and focus on adults.

That's a hard call when you love coaching athletes.

It was the right one for his business.

A tactic that worked but cost a lot

When a franchise studio near Levi closed, he went after those members.

He ran Facebook ads asking if people were looking for a new place to work out, posted similar content organically, and asked members who knew people from that studio to share it.

He also paid trial members $5 every time they checked in at his gym on Facebook.

In his words, that "ended up being pretty expensive."

It also brought in a lot of trials.

He reported about 15 new clients over a couple of months, and about 8 to 10 more over the following 3 to 4 months.

So it worked.

But it's a one-time opportunity, not a system.

Things outside his control

In March 2020 Levi's biggest worry was that clients would lose jobs and cut the gym first.

That was a real fear for every owner that spring.

Across our coaching clients, only one of more than 400 active clients closed during the pandemic.

Levi kept going, and by January 2022 his monthly revenue was higher than it had been before the pandemic.

Other factors helped him too, and I'd be leaving things out if I didn't name them:

• He was an excellent coach before he was a business owner. Systems multiply good coaching. They don't replace it.
• He gave it time. This is a ten-year story, not a 90-day story.
• His market. He's in Crowley, Texas, south of Fort Worth in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and market growth may have helped. We haven't measured that.
• Self-reported numbers. Every figure here is what Levi reported to us. We didn't audit his books.

What can another gym owner apply?

You can apply Levi's order of operations: pick one client, fix follow-up before buying more leads, build referrals through the client experience, hire and keep coaches, and track your numbers weekly with someone holding you to it. You don't need his town or his building to use the pattern.

This is coached, not copied.

Levi's gym won't look exactly like yours.

But the pattern travels.

Step 1: Calculate your Owner's Rate™ this week

Use this formula:

Owner's Rate™ = (owner's monthly pay + monthly profit) x 12 ÷ hours worked per year

If it's below what you pay your head coach per hour, you're being paid last.

Levi's was about $2.70 an hour in 2013.

Knowing that number is what makes you willing to change.

Step 2: Check conversion before you buy traffic

Levi had 32 to 39 leads a month and was converting a handful.

More leads wouldn't have fixed that.

Score your gym on six lines, 1 to 5 each: speed, follow-up, offer, first 30 days, price and owner hours.

Under 18 out of 30, don't spend another dollar on ads.

Fix the lowest line first.

Over 24, you've earned more traffic.

Step 3: Write your follow-up down

If your follow-up lives in your head, it doesn't exist on your busiest day.

Write it down.

First contact within minutes, from a named person, by call, text and email.

Then a planned sequence until they answer.

Step 4: Make referrals a by-product of the experience

Levi grew mostly through referrals.

That started with asking.

It scaled because members had an experience worth talking about.

Ask every month, and make the first 30 days so good that asking feels easy.

Step 5: Set targets and review them every week

In my first gym, we kept monthly targets for consults set, delivered and closed, cash collected and recurring revenue added on a dry-erase board in the office.

We reviewed them every Wednesday morning at our staff meeting.

We worked backward with a simple rule I called 3-2-1: three consults set, two show, one buys.

If we needed 20 new clients a month, we needed 60 sets and 40 shows.

Levi did his own version: monthly revenue reported, weekly actions, and someone asking him what's in his way.

Here's a quick way to start:

Step 6: Install one thing at a time

This is the one most owners skip.

They buy leads before follow-up can handle them.

They hire before margins can carry payroll.

They try to fix retention while revenue is still unpredictable.

Levi didn't.

He installed or optimized one thing at a time, for years.

Inside our programs, that order is laid out in the Wealthy Gym Owner Operating System™: Demand, Convert, Delivery and Retention, Team and Delegation, then Owner Control and Wealth.

Doug tests it in his own gyms.

We've watched it work across thousands.

Then we adapt it to your market.

Frequently asked questions

What is a gym business coaching case study?

A gym business coaching case study shows how one gym changed after working with a coach. A useful one gives the starting point, the town, the timeframe and the specific systems that changed. Without those four, it's just a testimonial.

How long did it take ITS Fitness to grow?

Levi started working with me in 2012 with fewer than 10 clients and reported 377 clients in September 2022, so about ten years. Some changes showed up faster: by August 2018 he had over 360 members and his evenings back. Profit kept growing after that, up about $35K in 2023 and about $42K in 2024.

Did Levi grow mainly with paid ads?

No. On my podcast he said his growth came mainly from referrals and a strong client experience. He has used Facebook ads for specific opportunities, like when a nearby studio closed, and in September 2026 he started with GymCMO, our done-for-you marketing service.

How did Levi keep growing once the gym was full?

He stopped chasing headcount. Once ITS Fitness was capped out at about 360 clients and $45K a month, Levi focused on revenue and profit per client instead of opening a second location. He now reports consistent $60K months with only about 10 more clients, two more coaches, and fewer hours for himself.

How do I judge a gym growth case study?

Use the Case Result Check™: baseline, town size, timeframe and what changed. Ask whether the numbers are revenue or profit, and whether the owner reported them directly. Be careful with any result that has no starting point.

Can a small-town gym get results like this?

Levi described his town in 2013 as small and crowded with fitness businesses. The pattern he followed, one client, strong follow-up, referrals, a stable team and weekly tracking, works in small and midsize markets because it doesn't depend on big ad budgets. Your numbers will depend on your market, your offer and how consistently you install the systems.

What should a gym owner fix first?

Usually follow-up and conversion, before more marketing. If you're getting leads and not converting them, more leads only add work. Score your gym on the six lines above and fix the lowest one first.

How much does gym business coaching with WGO cost?

Accelerator is $299 a month and Project 500 is $599 a month, both month to month. Boardroom, for more established owners, is $1,000 a month, month to month. We'll help you figure out which, if any, fits on a Game Plan call.

Is this result typical?

No single result is typical, and Levi put in more than a decade of work. What is common is the pattern: owners who install systems in the right order and get weekly accountability tend to grow profit, not just revenue. Your results depend on your starting point, your market and your follow-through.

The bottom line…

Levi didn't win because he found a secret.

He won because he knew how to coach, admitted he didn't know how to run a business, and then installed the business one system at a time.

Fewer than 10 clients to 377.

About $2,700 a month to about $60K.

60 hours a week to about 12 hours of coaching, by choice.

That's what a gym business coaching case study should show you: where someone started, what they changed, and how long it took.

If you'd like help mapping your own starting point and your next step, book a Game Plan call at wealthygymowners.com/gameplan.

We'll look at your numbers, your town and your goals, and tell you honestly what we'd fix first.

Dedicated to Your Success,

Pat