Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony Saddy.
Hi Tony, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born and raised on the south side of Chicago! How did I end up here??? I was an HR Director in my past life prior to the personal training world. My counterpart was based here in the southeast and we met over Football-Ut Vols Football.
I started coming down to the area regularly in the late ’90s through the early 2000s. My plan was sort of “hatched” back then! Around 2012, my planning and execution all came together when I was down in the area on a motorcycle trip with friends. I found a potential first location to open a facility, it was really a matter of wrapping things up in Chicago! In December 2012, I packed it all up and relocated my life to east TN! Fast forward to October 2016… We moved into our new home at 911 East Broadway in Maryville.
We started with zero clients in January 2013 and grew to a now 5400 square foot facility that we now own (started out renting the first nine months). We now have three coaches and are fairly well known in Blount County for our adult and student-athlete training!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
As an entrepreneur, there are ALWAYS ups and downs. As others in my field have said as well as my family, make your mistakes as SMALL as you can… you can always overcome and learn from them. The BIG mistakes can hurt!
Thankfully, I affiliated myself with the best Chamber of Commerce I’ve ever worked with. The Blount Chamber has been instrumental in me ingratiating myself and my company into the community. Through this fine organization, I’ve been able to meet MANY new businesses and people within the community to increase our exposure dramatically!
Obviously, like many new businesses, sales/marketing is key! The challenges were getting in front of the RIGHT clients for our business! Relationships are the key.
As you know, we’re big fans of Get Fit Maryville. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Get Fit Maryville is a Personal Training facility located at 911 East Broadway. Our site is getfitmaryville.com. We specialize in POSITIVE LIFE CHANGE! We’re not just personal training… we are changing lives one at a time!
We have the location and over 40 years’ worth of experience in the personal training world under our belts! I am most proud of how the community has recognized us as the “place to go” for your health and wellness needs, including winning the Bright Future award for the “Best of Blount” in 2015.
If you’re really looking to make positive changes in your overall wellness, we are the place to start and plan through! Structure, accountability, program development, and much more await!
Who else deserves credit in your story?
We could not have built into what we are without our clients. They put their trust in us with their health and we have been able to support this process! A couple of mentors from Chicago have really helped with continuing education as well as how to market effectively.
The Blount Chamber of Commerce as well as a couple of local networking groups in Blount County have also been instrumental in marketing our brand.
Contact Info:
- Email: tony@getfitmaryville.com
- Website: getfitmaryville.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/getfitmaryville
- Facebook: facebook.com/getfitmaryville
- Twitter: twitter.com/getfitmaryville
- Youtube: youtube.com/getfitmaryville
