Meet the entrepreneur connecting the fitness community across the UK

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Three reasons you should be watching this company:

VITAL STATISTICS

THE NEED-TO-KNOW

What motivated you to found FIT FCK? 

I have been hugely passionate about fitness for many years and after competing professionally in body fitness competitions, I experienced how detrimental a commitment to fitness can be on your social life.

Competing professionally means you can’t go out to bars and clubs, you can’t eat out due to your strict diet and you have to be asleep early every night; making it extremely difficult to meet anyone.

I couldn’t train with any friends because they didn’t train at the same intensity as me, and it made me think, ‘there has got to be a way for people to meet likeminded partners to date and train with’. This lightbulb moment led to the launch of FIT FCK.

What problem are you trying to solve? 

Our goal with the business is to create a genuine fitness community in what can be an extremely social isolating industry and lifestyle. The app is designed to facilitate relationships across the fitness community- whether that be love, friendship or just someone to train with.

What change do you think you can make to the industry? 

Whilst we recognise the hard work, dedication and commitment that goes into fitness; we feel that we can add a social aspect to this. It is evident how hard people in fitness push themselves on a day to day basis, so why not share this experience with someone or have them push you every step of the way. Whether it be in the form of a relationship, training partner or fitness friend; we believe that fitness can be a whole load more beneficial if it is shared as a fitness community.

How do you make money? 

At the moment, the service is free of charge for users as we are focusing primarily on building our network. The more people using FIT FCK, the more diversity we have on our books and as a result, the higher the quality of matches for our users.

How many people currently use the app?

Since launching we’ve attracted over 50,000 users on the app. The reaction from the fitness community has been overwhelming. I think people are genuinely excited to have a networking app that helps rather than hinders their fitness focus. We’ve had some well-known fitness enthusiasts organically endorse the app for this reason.

What’s the next step? 

Our focus is to continually grow the app across the UK fitness community, followed by a specific European campaign launching this October. We will then be launching in the USA in Spring 2018. The next targets after this are South Africa and Australia.

Where do you see the company in five years’ time? 

I truly see FIT FCK having a global presence and helping connect the fitness community across the world.

What do you think the major trends currently shaping the fitness industry are? 

One major trend shaping the fitness industry is influencer engagement. Fitness on social platforms, such as Instagram, is huge and it is something that we are fortunately in the thick of.

Celebs, TV personalities, Bloggers and Vloggers (Video bloggers) have mastered the art of engaging with audiences based on their passions and there are a great number of huge fitness influencers on platforms like Instagram.

When we work with influencers, we can grasp how successful it will be based on how relatable that influencer is to their audience. Whilst dedication to fitness is important, personality is key in sustaining growth.

Successful influencers know how to engage with their audience, based on their dedication to fitness and using their personalities to communicate effectively. This is something that we have also tapped into at FIT FCK, with 25,000 followers on Instagram.

What distinguishes FIT FCK from its competitors? 

Our biggest USP is the relationship we have with our audience and how we leverage that through social media. Our development road map for the FITFCK app focuses very clearly on building a social fitness community.

Towards the end of this year and going forward, we will be introducing more and more features to help fitness enthusiasts, professionals and other like-minded individuals; connect with one another and share their experiences, expertise and day-to-day progress. Our focus is very much targeted on bringing the fitness community together and helping busy individuals connect.

What is your business mantra?

Consistency is key. For me, being an entrepreneur is non-stop business. You can never sit back and stop; it’s an all-day everyday situation.

My top piece of advice would be to be as consistent as you can, every day and keep your daily actions aligned with your long-term goals.

I also think it’s important to take advice, whilst staying true to your own vision. It’s always good to absorb other’s experience whilst trusting your own instinct.