Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryan Jones
Hi Bryan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started with just a couple of med balls and resistance bands and didn’t know anyone in the Lowcountry. With that we had a website and instagram/facebook page with minimal followers. To keep myself afloat, I took a job working front desk at Dataw Island and leveraged that opportunity to create personal training clientele. During that process, I went to every single high school and handed out brochures to everyone and anyone. After 3 months, I got an email from the Director of Sports and Recreation at Spring Island whom saw my website. Asking if I would be open for an interview to train out of their Sports Complex. I took the interview and next thing is I became an Exercise Physiologist at Spring Island along with working front desk and training out of Dataw Island. This is where the dominoes started falling. My website started to get more attention, I started getting speed training clients from Beaufort Academy, Beaufort High School, and Battery Creek High School. At the 6 month mark, everything broke through. I got a voicemail from the Athletic Director at Bluffton High School inquiring about a Strength and Conditioning position that they had available. I did the interview got the job and then reality hit me. I can’t train out of two private islands and also run the Strength program for a High School at the same time, I am only one person. That’s when I started hiring trainers through indeed to do training for the clients that I built up at the private islands. That freed up my time to just focus on Spring Island and Bluffton High School while also keeping the clientele I already built. Once I got the high school it was time to build my social media presence. We would post reels of our athletes doing lifts or speed drills and explain the reason why. That allowed us to grow from a couple hundred to over 26k followers on instagram in 2 years. What came with that is other opportunities like being the speed coach for Lowcountry Rush Lacrosse and H2 Basketball. Also graduates of college exercise science programs start messaging me asking to intern or work for me when I don’t even have a gym. Lastly, I was able to develop an app with all of the exercises we have accumulated throughout the years to give athletes sport specific speed and strength training programs to add variance to their workouts. End all be all you do not need your own gym to start your own fitness business!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I left a PhD program while I was in the dissertation phase to start this business. When you embark on an entrepreneurial dream it takes sacrifice and belief. Throughout that 6 month time period when I went to every high school handing out brochures. Every day when I didn’t get a call I always thought to myself “was I wrong?” “Did I just leave everything I have been working on for the past couple of years for nothing?” These are common thoughts, but if you want to pursue an entrepreneurial journey you need to stay true to yourself and your beliefs. Same goes for social media posts. You may have a post that you think is amazing only get a couple likes or views. Keep at it and learn and you can go viral like I did and have a post with over 20 million views.
As you know, we’re big fans of Efficiency Strength Training, LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We contract personal training and sports performance services to private islands, county disability/special needs, high schools, and rec/travel sports teams. What differentiates us is our education/experience. I have 10+ years experience as a college/high school strength coach. Additionally, we specialize in speed training which is not offered at a high clip. We also have our own app where an athlete can input their sport, skill level, and strength/speed goals and get programs instantly on their phone.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Getting drafted in the Ontario Hockey League. Hockey was my life and is a major reason why I went down the sports performance path
Pricing:
- App: Sports Performance Optimizer: $4.99/month
- App: Generalized Programs: $9.99/month
- App: Specific Programs (1 on 1 training): $29.99/month
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.efficiencystrengthtraining.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trainefficiency
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trainefficiency
- Other: https://www.efficiencystrength.com
