Today we’d like to introduce you to Shaun and Liana Bezuidenhout.
Shaun and Liana, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
It was 2011 when my wife and I decided that opening a restaurant might be a good idea. It was a good way to spend our days together and make tons of money. What the hell were we thinking? In retrospect, for us, owning a restaurant was a terrible idea. We were in love with the concept of helping others while earning a living together but not in love with the life that comes with owning a restaurant. Don’t get me wrong, we’re both hard workers and if you’re in love with that life, you have my respect, for us the juice is just not worth the squeeze.
Two storefronts down from our little Italian cafe in the Cape Town city bowl were the very first EMS studio opened in South Africa. We went over to introduce ourselves and see what was going on. After a brief explanation of the technology, we signed up for a free session and couldn’t wait to try it out. We were hooked, both of us signed up for a year’s membership and hit it hard. My wife lost her baby-weight from baby number two in half the time this go around. I cut extra fat and built some good muscle and my strength gains were incredible, with just one 20-minute session a week! It was great to finally have the time for fitness, as I had three businesses and two kids. My family and time are very valuable.
Both of us are sporty, fitness types; Liana is a runner, ex-gymnast and I am a cyclist/mountain biker, golfer. Although we are certainly amateurs, we love to stay active. When we both saw performance gains, we began to wonder if owning an EMS studio would be better than the restaurant.
I was six months into my MBA at the University of Stellenbosch Business School when we came across an opportunity to immigrate to America. At the time we owned the restaurant, I was the vice-president of sales at my father’s appliance wholesale company, I was doing my MBA at night and on weekends while also running our property development company. Let me be clear, it was only in 2018 after reading Gary Keller’s the one thing, that I realized multitasking is a complete myth. A sure way to stress yourself out, make bad decisions and not achieve complete success or fulfillment. Read the book, it’ll change your life.
We soon found ourselves in beautiful Boulder, Colorado where I bought a struggling hardwood flooring company. After settling in for the first year we decided that we needed to get back to EMS training. Through much research, we found that there weren’t any EMS studios in Colorado and only a few around the US. I remember thinking, Wow, this is crazy, why would the biggest, most progressive country in the world not have EMS?
So, I pioneered a way to get the EMS machinery into the US and opened our first studio in 2016. This project turned out to be tougher than we thought. Again, another story for another time. We immediately had a great response from the local community and the business was growing month-to-month. Making mistakes along the way, we soon figured out the best practices and developed a sound business model.
The Birth of FITtec® To the present day, I am now the CEO and co-founder, with my wife, Liana, of FITtec®, America’s premier EMS fitness franchise. Just 3 1/2 years later, we sit here today with a fully-formed franchise business model that has taken us to the edge to develop. It is a system we are very proud of and are ready for the journey.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
We spent every ounce of money we had saved to build the studio and instead of building out the second location in Denver, we decided through much research, consulting and deliberation that franchising would be a better bet. We’re ready to go now but in some ways, we also believe that opening our second studio wouldn’t have been the worst idea. Starting a new business is hard, especially in a highly competitive industry with technology no-one has heard about.
We worked 12-14 hrs days on every aspect of the business, in the studio, on the road and at home, all while I ran our flooring business, Liana ran the household and we both pushed to provided enough nourishment and attention for our two kids. Our other challenge was building a business on a new technology that we believed and knew worked but the public had never seen before. We had to convince Joe/Jane public that this was, in fact, an amazing fitness modality that even though it wasn’t invented in the USA has been proven in 60 countries with over 300,000 training sessions per day over the last two decades, changing people’s lives across the world.
Tell us more about the business.
FITtec.® EMS studios are the premier EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation) franchise in the USA that brings cutting-edge Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) technology to the $80-billion health and fitness industry. The FITtec.® EMS workout experience is a personalized, Bio-Hacking, whole-body strength and fitness solution that allows your clients to experience the results and benefits of hours of conventional workouts, in just 20 minutes.
At FITtec.® EMS we are a business with a purpose, focusing on three things, results for our members, results for our franchisees and giving back. By creating a sustainable, profitable and supportive model at the franchisee and franchisor level, that delivers solid and sustainable fitness results for our members, so we can give back in ways we can only dream of, for now.
FITtec.® is a personalized, full-body workout that allows you to live your best life. No matter your goal, your fitness level or current limitations, FITtec.® provides a cutting-edge, science-backed workout experience resulting in faster results and less time in the gym, allowing you to spend more time doing what you love.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck plays a part in all our lives. However we believe that we don’t wait for it or hope for it, we make our luck and opportunities by working as hard and as smart as we can. Continuing to self development through seminars, mentors, reading, masterminds, and podcasts allowing us to level up each year as we push into unknown territory.
Pricing:
- $135,000 – $385,000 for a turn-key boutique EMS fitness studio
- Personalized EMS training at the studio for $499 per month
Contact Info:
- Address: 3151 Walnut Street, Boulder Co, 80301
- Website: www.fittecfitness.com
- Phone: 3034493084
- Email: shaun@fittecfranchise.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fittec_boulderco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FITtecBoulder/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/FITtecBoulderCo
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