Why We Picked the Name, "Heroes Fitness"
Once upon a time, a 20 year-old meathead decided he wanted to become a personal trainer. He worked out all the time, and was even able to help friends and family members reach some of their fitness goals, too. He was sick of working his overnight job at Amazon, where he opened up boxes, and put its contents into another box, and decided to chase his passion: helping people.
And so, the meathead became an architect, building the blueprints for what would become Valrico's favorite gym for personal training, weight loss, strength training, and most importantly, a place where people can workout in private, without intimidation.
That meathead was me, Connor, and I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. I briefly worked at an Anytime Fitness, but felt like certain factors limited me from expressing my creativity in fitness, so I decided I would go out on my own.
Fortunately, I had supportive parents who allowed me to use a spare bedroom in our house as a mini-gym. Now that I'm in my 30's, I appreciate that even more. How weird would it be to have strangers walking in your house before you've had breakfast? But they believed in my drive.
Drew, the first client I ever signed up, advised me to start an LLC to add a layer of protection to myself. I took his advice seriously, as he had become one of my mentors. I go over to sunbiz.gov, and the first line reads "Business Name." Oh boy. I didn't think this far ahead!
I paused the application, because I needed to think this through. I had created a Facebook page called "CJB Fitness," which are my initials + fitness. How original.
I knew this wasn't my business name, but I needed something to direct people to for the time being. I didn't figure out the business name until a 5 minute conversation with my brother.
For some context, I had barely been a personal trainer for 6 months, and I knew I wanted to open a gym. That's just how I always have been; when I am passionate about something, I want to dive in head first, whether it was playing soccer in high school, or playing beer pong in someone's shed when their grandma went out of town, I wanted to be the best. Needless to say, it's a gift and a curse.
My point is, my family knew that my goal was to open a gym, and my brother, Zach, said I should name it "Hero Gym," and have it themed around super heroes. At the time, Marvel was growing in popularity by the day, and wasn't nearly as corny as it is now. I didn't like the idea of the themed gym concept, as I envisioned myself training an older, more mature crowd, but I LOVED the name, and it meant something to me.
Heroes Fitness, LLC (later changed to Heroes Fitness INC.) was born that day on sunbiz.gov. See, what always motivated me was watching people totally transform their lives through fitness. I would watch YouTube videos about people who were obese, and go through years of training and nutrition to achieve a healthy physique. The comments on these videos would tell the poster how they were inspired to put down a can of soda or go to the gym to start their membership.
By example, people become Heroes to others. When you posted on Facebook that you lost 15 pounds by exercising, or cut out bread, or reduced alcohol intake, someone may have seen that and followed your foot steps, even if you never knew it. My mission was, and still is, to help people transform their lives, so they can inspire others to follow their footsteps to fight back against the obesity crisis in America.
And that is exactly why it is Heroes Fitness, not Hero's Fitness. The "apostrophe s" says "I'm the Hero, and this is my gym." But "Heroes Fitness" is the gym where the Heroes workout, and improve so they can inspire.
The meathead had much to learn (and he still does), but that is the birthplace of our name. My mission is to inspire my community, and provide a safe place where they can work towards their mission, and create a snowball effect of inspiration.
See you in the gym.
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