This N.B. Fitness Business Just Had Its Best Month Ever
MONCTON – Ally Santos and Daniel Burguez have had to close their gym, 3rd Degree Training, in Moncton and Saint John multiple times. But they’ve been able to stay afloat and keep members engaged thanks to remote private training sessions and virtual classes.
They maintained 90 percent of clients during the latest closure when Moncton returned to red phase for a few weeks, said Burguez.
“With the experience we gained so far in remote sessions, our new challenge now is to keep sales going for those remote private training sessions,” he said.
When the gym can open, personal training has also helped the business stay afloat. 3rd Degree has a studio in its space dedicated to that.
Offering private training for small corporate groups also helped. The offering allows a company to book the space a few times a week just for their staff to work out.
“We tried to understand the market and invested a lot in promoting personal training and small group classes, and also our private studio,” said Burguez. “It worked well and we got lots of good reviews from our clients. It’s a much higher price service than group classes, so we’ve been growing recently. We never reached what we need because most of our existence was during Covid times, but with the personal training sales we had our best month to date in January.”
The pair went into business just a few months before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. During the latest closure, Burguez and Santos used the time to renovate both the Moncton and Saint John private training areas. They’ve also enrolled in a business mentorship program at the University of Moncton to help develop their marketing efforts.
“We are really excited about what is coming next, but we know we need to be patient now, and still be there when Covid is out of the way. It will take time and a ton of work,” said Burguez.
Still, Burguez said it’s “shocking” the lack of help for startups like 3rd Degree Training.
“All the government support is based on loss of revenue. We had just started when Covid hit, so we are in this situation where we obviously grew during this period, from nothing, but never enough. And still not eligible for any help,” he said.
Adapting to Covid-19
Though they’ve been able to reopen each time, business is often slower because some people are still afraid to return to gyms, even if all Public Health rules are followed.
The space in Moncton is meant to fit 40 people at once. Now, it can only hold a maximum of 18. That puts stress on the business, but Santos sees a positive side. Small classes mean they’d have more one-on-one time with members, ensuring they get more guidance, she said.
“I think [small classes] is the direction of the new market,” she said, noting that the fitness market is changing.
They’ve added new time slots for online and in-person classes and did live online workouts multiple times a day. They also encouraged members to share what they were doing for their health, had cooking sessions online, and shared recipes.
“We’re always trying to engage everyone…if not, everybody will just forget about it and not do the workout. [We’re] constantly posting videos, posts, and plus whenever anyone wanted to do a Zoom [to work out together], we were available for that too,” Burguez said. “All those ideas to make the community feel part of something…that feeling of belonging to something was good. It kept people engaged.”
While they have some part-time staff helping them, it’s mostly Santos and Burguez working. “It’s a challenge for us,” Burguez said. But their members’ support helped them survive the storms of Covid-19.
“We have awesome members and we are extremely proud of them, they help us when we ask, if you can, to keep your membership rolling and join the workouts with us online and the ones that could they did it. So, they are very amazing people,” said Santos.
The gym is their first venture in Canada, with both of them being originally from Brazil. Starting a business at any time is risky, but doing so in a different culture, and then having a pandemic hit when still on startup mode? It’s “crazy,” Burguez said.
“We had a lot of challenges, it’s a big space, it’s a lot of cost, it was a bit scary – the heating, the rent…There were so many situations where it was like, ‘what now?'” he said.
“I don’t know if it’s because we’re too naive to give up or it’s ’cause we’re just stubborn, but we are still here,” Santos said.
Santos and Burguez knew they would be good business partners after working together as engineers. Burguez’s background is in electrical and civil engineering and Santos in software engineering. For Santos, that career had taken her around the world. But both wanted to do something more meaningful.
They decided to leave their jobs and pursue the business full-time, inspired by their own health journeys over the last decade. Both said a decision to change their diets and lifestyle made them feel much better.
Burguez said he wants to show people that other lifestyles are possible. The changes helped improve both his physical and mental health.
“I started slow. It was a progressive change over years, simply reading labels and ingredients of products, getting more interested in trying to improve myself. It’s just feeling good every day, less feeling sick and headaches,” Burguez said.
“You are what you eat, you are what you do, you are what you feel about you,” Santos said. “So if you can help people to feel good about themselves, they would just feel happier, and everybody wants that. That was something that I thought, ‘that’s so cool, I can help people to do that’.”
At 3rd Degree Training, the pair, who have since become certified private trainers, motivate and coach members. Burguez said people can easily exercise at home, but having their training plan set for them at the gym, and a community and coaches to motivate them to boost their discipline.
Santos said they’re more concerned about helping members feel good than just achieve physical fitness.
“When you walk in the door, I want you to feel good about yourself, no matter your size, no matter what you can do. You walk in here, you are out of the couch, you are moving, you’re going to feel good.”
They also offer nutrition consultation and meal planning, encouraging a whole food diet.
“Eating real food, knowing the source of the food, supporting local, trying to buy stuff from the farmers market, to cook and enjoy the meal you’re cooking, and share that with your family, that’s a whole experience right there,” Santos said. “We believe in it and we do that [in our lives].”
They initially planned to turn the kitchen on-site at their Moncton gym into a commercial one so they can sell natural pre-packaged foods as a grab-and-go service. That plan’s been halted for now because of the pandemic. But their passion for wellness is alive.
“We reopen again and we are still here. We’re still trying,” Santos said.