All F45 franchise owners have their own stories to tell. Our F45 family has a diverse group of people that come from all different backgrounds and walks of life. Today, we are pleased to feature Gavin McConnon, a multi-studio owner in Ireland.
Growing up in Dublin, Ireland, I never had a huge interest in sports or fitness. While I was a great swimmer and played on the water polo team for a short time, I was much more interested in technology and business.
A little bit of background on me: I founded my first internet company in 1995, followed by a mobile ringtone business in the early 2000s. The company was an instant success and we quickly scaled operations into every English language market in the world. I then went on to launch and invest in a number of other technology-based businesses over the following years. In the mid-2000s, I set up a technology hub in Sydney, which brought me to Australia and also ignited my interest in health and fitness.
A few years later, living back in Ireland, my husband Brendan and I took a 3-month honeymoon-style trip around Asia and Australia. It was on this trip that we came across F45 in Bondi Beach. We trained at the Bondi studio every day for a few weeks, and from day one, we absolutely loved the energy and vibe in the studio. We were just hooked from the first class.
When we got back to Ireland, we realised there was nothing like it around us, and quickly decided we should open a F45 in Dublin. We initially agreed to open three studios, but later increased that to 6 and then to 10 locations. We have 5 studios open right now and hope to get the next 5 open within the next 18 months.
Apart from the incredible workout, I could see that F45 was also a scalable business model and this was a major attraction for us. I knew that if we built a great back-office team of sales, support, and tech, we would be able to open multiple studios in a short amount of time. It’s been a fantastic journey so far—it’s wonderful to be in a business that is actually changing people’s lives. It’s an incredibly positive environment to work in, and I’m so proud that we can be a part of this positive change in members’ lives.
Of course, the journey to 5 studios was not all smooth sailing. Finding the right properties is the most challenging, yet rewarding, aspect of growing our network. Planning, approvals and contractors—it all has its challenges and no two studio builds are ever the same experience.
Like so many others, COVID-19 has obviously been incredibly difficult for us. We were able to quickly pivot to the online workouts F45 HQ rolled out. Being part of a global community of like-minded F45 entrepreneurs allowed us studio owners to share experiences and find a path forward that has worked for us right through to today, in our third lockdown.
I’m hopeful this will be our last lockdown, and my team and I are excited to (when we can finally have our studios back open) build our community back up. We will shortly get to a point of having our 10 studios in Ireland, and we are already looking at how we can expand this further, with so many opportunities in Europe and the UK, or even the US. I would like to see us operating 50+ studios within a few years.”
If Gavin has inspired you to learn more about owning your own F45 Training studio, please do not hesitate to reach out to us today. Our team is ready to assist you and discuss this exciting opportunity with you!
A Story of Expansion in Ireland by Gavin McConnon
BackThis could be a life changing opportunity.
