He was already running a successful e-commerce business when he decided to buy a struggling gym. Eight years later, Troy Barnum was operating two locations with more than 3,000 members—and the strategy had surprisingly little to do with how he personally liked to work out.

Troy Barnum didn’t set out to become a gym owner.

In S2E3 of The Gym Owner’s Podcast, Troy explains how basic business principles helped transform that struggling operation into Total Fitness and eventually led to a second location and more than 3,000 members.

Rather than building a gym around his own preferred workout style, Troy focused on what his market actually wanted: a clean, friendly and affordable facility, dependable equipment, strong customer service, diverse training options and 24-ho ...