Welcome to Fix Your Gym, a podcast dedicated to bringing you expert knowledge from fitness industry leaders, salespeople, gym owners, tech experts, and other fitness enthusiasts, where you'll learn about the latest industry trends, innovative technologies, new and current products on the market, and health and fitness news from experts across the nation. And now, here's your host, Adam Niffin.

So yeah, welcome to the Fix Your Gym podcast. We have Mikhail Velez here from fitness repair tech out in Delaware, Ohio. I'm super excited to have, uh, have a conversation with you, man. I know we've, we've talked. a little bit in the past. And I know you're a real guy and you're out there grinding and doing some cool stuff. And so I appreciate you coming on and taking the time on Saturday morning to chat with me for a little bit and hopefully get into some good conversation. So yeah, thanks for coming on, man. And if you want to just start out by know, just just giving a brief introduction, who you are, what what you're up to, you know, and kind of how you got in the industry and and things like that.

Adam Niffen

So yeah, well, thank you for having me on the show, Adam. I'm a big fan. I've I know you had the podcast for quite some time now, but I never took the time to actually listen in. And then I'm on these road trips, and I'm like, man, I need a new podcast to listen to. And I remember you had your podcast, so I just click on it. And I really love what you're doing for the industry. I feel like it's very impactful. It's kind of bringing us guys together and helping each other kind of grow. You know what I mean? just thank you for that. But yeah, kind of how I got started. I got, um, I've been in the fitness industry since 2010. And, uh, I started off working. Huh? Same. 2010 is when I started too.

Mikhail Velez

Yeah. Yeah.

I was this young kid, 19 years old. And, um, You know, I always really liked fitness. Didn't know anything about it. Most of anything I did fitness was through sports, calisthenics. I boxed when I was younger. But yeah, I got an opportunity to work at this warehouse for this company called Fitness Equipment Depot Worldwide. I did really good managing the warehouse. They moved me up into procurement. So I got to learn how to, you know, search for equipment. I got to learn all the individual equipment manufacturers and develop relationships with all different people. So I kind of got my networking skills from there. And then some time went by, you know, not everybody in this industry is an honest person. Things happen, places get closed down, people get sued, and it just... Sorry, man.

No, all good, all good. I can barely even hear. Not a big deal at all.

And yeah, so left that, left the fitness industry. That was about after four years. And then some of the guys that I worked with at Fitness Equipment Depot Worldwide started up their own company called Pro Gym Supply. Really good guys, big company out in the East Coast. And that's where I stepped into the world of installations and service. When I first got into the company, They didn't have that department developed. I didn't know a lick about service or installations. You know what I mean? All I really knew is I was good with production. I was good with operations. And I needed to fit into this company. You know, they had no room for me, but they wanted me there. So I'm like, all right, let's figure this thing out. So, you know, installations are something that kind of roll in slowly. You got to have somebody that knows somebody in the industry, because that's just how it is here. And yeah, we did really good. Things took off. Being very young, a lot of people felt like I wasn't ready for certain roles. So a lot of micromanaging happened. It was at a time where I needed to get custody of my daughter as well. And I wasn't making that much money, but I knew I wanted to do, you know, I knew I wanted to get custody of my daughter. I was bodybuilding as well, heavy into bodybuilding competitions. Um, I was just really motivated and determined. And we sold a lot of remanufactured gym equipment, but we didn't service any of it. So we had a laundry list of clients with complaints and not one technician who would go out there and deal with any of these issues. So I am a people person and I always like to learn. I've always liked to tinker. I started watching my grandfather fix cars and that's kind of how I learned to just start taking things apart and putting them back together because there was literally nothing to do in Puerto Rico besides like being in the backyard and just watching your grandparents work on something. So, um, I jumped into, into the production line, man. And, uh, I just started learning. I started taking machines apart, putting them back together, asking questions. And then I got out there, I got out there in the field. I made a calendar, uh, started getting with the customers trying to, you know, cool things down, um, deal with the warranty issues, deal with non-warranty issues. And, um, kind of show the company that I was able to make money for them so that I can get a bigger paycheck. Cause that's what it was all about. It was really about survival for me at that point. I didn't really, um, think about the company as a whole. I was still thinking about myself individually, but I was still trying to make a, you know, set a footprint for myself within that company. Um, so it really good. The first month, uh, I think it was made about, $8,000 in non-warranties. Then we kept rolling after that, and then that 8,000 turned into 80 and so forth. But then now there came a thing where I really wanted to take on more individual non-warranty stuff and more projects. They just didn't seem interested, but they weren't paying me more. I'm a very loyal person. Out of the respect for the individuals there and the people that brought me in, taught me all the things that they taught me, instead of, doing something wrong, I kind of just left the industry and I got into biomedical equipment. So I started working for a company called Medical Arts Support Corporation out there in New York. And I had already opened up the LLC for Fitness Repair Tech in 2019. Kind of like just as a, why not? You know what I mean? Let's see what happens to it. So I got a website made, terrible website. SEO wasn't built behind it. It was completely trash. But you know, you learn, you get better.

That's how you start, man. That's how you start. Your website looks good now too, by the way.

I appreciate you, man. It actually launched two days ago and I'm really happy with the marketing team that I have now. Yeah, man. Again, I got into this company where I just didn't feel like they cared much about people. And the thing about living in Long Island, New York, you work and you die. You know what I mean? It's like, there's no room. There's no time for anything else. Really. There is none. You can have a family and you're sitting in traffic two hours of your morning just to get to a site and you're going back home and you're sitting in traffic for two hours of your day. So you literally get home by the time, you know, you're ready to eat a plate and go to bed. Yeah, exactly. Um, and, and, and this industry, this is a, you know, this is a go getter industry where it's like, You got to be the first one in and the last one out. You know what I mean? And there's just no time for any room or anything else. And I kind of you start to make sacrifices as an individual. And, you know, we talk about getting deep where. building a company isn't the easiest thing. There's so many other personal sacrifices that come with that wanting to create something and make an impact in this, in somewhere, you know, you're trying to fit in. Um, and then the people around you kind of start to get lost, you know, um, But then that's when your leadership skills start to come in hand. You know, you start to develop those things and you really start to develop your own personal self and who you want to be and who, what's the impact that you want to leave and who do you want to touch? Who, what's your network going to be like? And, uh, how can you expand that? So, yeah, I know I kind of went off on a tandem there, but no, it's good.

That's real. It's it is, it is. It's like that, man. And, uh, Yeah, it's not an easy path and most people around you are not... When you're kind of tasked with being the leader, whether it's of your family or of a business or even of a team, the whole point of a leader is to help people to keep from getting lost or to get back on the right path if they do or to kind of go out and explore a new path, you know what I'm saying? And then be like, all right guys, this is safe to go this way, you know what I mean? And that's a sacrifice, you know what I mean? That a lot of people don't understand the pressure when you genuinely care about people and the people that you're taking care of. like the amount of pressure and stress that comes with that is, is, you know, and then just keeping yourself in shape, keeping yourself, you know, ready to take on that, that task and, and, you know, and so no, I get it. And so, yeah, so, okay, so you were doing this medical stuff and kind of like starting to create on the back end or whatever the case is.

And that was, yeah. With the medical stuff, I got the salary to be able to go for custody of my daughter. So I did win custody. So now that I was, that was out of the way, I was kind of like, spearheaded, ready to do it, ready to do it all, you know, and then COVID happened. Um, yeah. And, um, I, uh, I, my daughter, you know, it hit the kids really hard. Um, my daughter had a mental breakdown and, um, she ended up getting hospitalized. So I was taking half days off just to be able to be there for her. And when you're in the biomedical industry and you're dealing with surgeons, like. They need you there tomorrow. Yeah, you know, um, so I just couldn't, I couldn't keep up and, uh, I ended up getting canned. Um, but there was fitness repair tech and, you know, I said to myself, why not? You know what I mean? If there's anything else right now where I need to be is at home. And, um, I can figure this out. I mean, I have enough contacts. I've been around for such a long time, you know. And I did. I picked up the phone. I called Mike from Body Tech in Amagansett. And I was like, hey, man, I'm kind of just doing this thing on my own. You know what I mean? Do you have any people that you can recommend? And he was like, actually, some of my equipment is down right now. You can come fix this stuff. So I kind of started to borrow in there. And literally, I had not even a paycheck because my paycheck was withheld for some time. All I had was my truck and some tools. And we took off from there. And that first two weeks, I was I was without a job. I made about my salary, you know, for the month. And then I was like, shit, you know, I can, I can do this. Let's start marketing. You know what I mean? Let's figure out the website. Let's, how can we get better? And, um, this was like during COVID or a little after, or this was during COVID during COVID. Yeah. This was during COVID. And, you know, you know how the market just turned over. It was like, It went from commercial-sized gyms to everybody wants a residential gym. Everybody wants something personal. Everybody wants to rent equipment. So, like, if you were some huge company that was focused on commercial equipment, like, a lot of those guys I know didn't survive. You know what I mean? A lot of those guys didn't just have the ability to kind of flex become flexible and mold themselves into something new. And luckily for myself, you know, I kind of rode the wave on the residential stuff and made a name and created a brand off of it. And we really tailor ourself off of customer service. Like if you leave an impact, when I go into a customer's home, you know what I mean? And I go, I have my uniform, you know, I have my tools, they're all organized. And on top of that, you know, I'm a black individual going into all these homes, you know what I mean? Like people look at you a lot different. I got long hair, I got earrings, you know what I mean? So like, I already know that I have to work harder. So I always made sure I did, you know, and off of one person, I get another referral. And that's how we grew. But it got to the point where I really wanted to kind of see my dreams through. And I got into gym design after some time. I think it was maybe after a year and a half after COVID. I got into gym design. So I started designing some garage gyms, did really good. And a buddy of mine was expanding his gym. So he gave me the opportunity to do the finished carpentry in the gym. So we worked with this company called Creative Solutions. And they supplied a lot of the carpentry and stuff. We kind of had to put it together. And we did all the flooring and all the turf, installed all the equipment. And that was kind of like my big gig, like one of the biggest gigs I've gotten. But then off of that, I got the opportunity to go to California for six months. And this is the part where I really love the industry that we're in, because I would have never thought that What I was doing today would take me to the places that I have been. And it's opened so many doors for me and for my family as well. So I ended up in Cali from New York, and I helped build these four gyms to fitness franchise. spent about six months over there. Absolutely hated it. I thought that what I wanted to do turned out to not be what I wanted to do. You know what I mean? I was away from family for a very long time. It impacted a lot of people. And as much money as I made, it's as much as I spent, you know what I mean? Because it's like, you have to think about the time you're spending out there, the, you know, the laborers, you know, whether it's your carpenter, you know, all your other, all the other guys that you have on your team. And these guys are there with you and big projects like that, commercial projects like that, there's always something that happens. There's always some pushback. a lot of politics and, uh, things just get dragged out. So I just, it wasn't for me anymore, but I took that opportunity, man. And I left New York, you know, I took the entire company and I said, I'm going to start this over. I thought about changing the brand, the, the, the name of the, the company. And, uh, this is something that, um, you and Scott Jennings were talking about in a previous podcast about how the name Fitness Repair kind of affects you in this industry. And me knowing that, I kind of wanted to push against the grain. And I like what I've created with Fitness Repair Tech, just the branding and everything itself and what we really focus and centralize on. It's people and how can we make it better and more efficient for people to say, I want my technicians to motivate somebody when they go into into their home to fix their equipment, you know, motivate them to work out, motivate them to care about their health, you know. And you leave that everlasting impression like, hey, man, you should really be treating your equipment like your car. You know what I mean? You should be treating it like your house, like this is an investment that you made. It's not some $100 piece that you just brought. And don't get me wrong, there's people that purchase those $300 pieces. And honestly, I don't know why technicians waste their time doing that kind of stuff, because it's honestly a headache. And you're not winning like that. But yeah, man, that's kind of how I started. We're here now in 2025. And you're in Ohio now, right? In Ohio. We're in Ohio. We're doing very good.

Dude, we hired you guys for that extraction a few weeks back, and I was super impressed, man. I really was. The way that you handled it from the communication to the text messages I got throughout the process. I didn't really get to see your team in action. You know what I mean? Like like there, but the guys that I was working with there that I got the equipment from were impressed as well. And like and they were like, man, I hope you don't send somebody who doesn't know what the hell they're doing. And and yeah, so so, you know, I know you're I know you're doing. I don't know. I can tell that when you have a purpose, like when you have that drive, when your back's against the wall and when you when you start a business like that and you're in the whole foundation has a purpose. I can tell those guys that type of business, you know what I'm saying? It's totally different and there's meaning behind it and you can see it in the creativity and just the brand. Doesn't matter really about the name, you know what I mean? Like Repair Tech, you can take that. It's about you, you know what I'm saying? And so, so yeah, no, it's, it's cool, man. Um, to have been watching you and I, you know, I got to meet your, your wife and, uh, and we were talking about maybe doing some things together and stuff like that. And I just think you guys are, you guys are cool people and, um, good, good people to have in the industry doing, doing what you're doing, man. Um, yeah, for sure. Um, so, okay. Um, where does. You said you were a bodybuilder and things like that, and I see your Facebook, and I watch what you do, and you're out on runs, and you're working out, and you're doing things with your family. Where does self-care and where does personal development play a factor in your business?

I'm really big on that. I used to be a slob when I was younger. Like, bad, bad, bad. I still fight with it a little bit. You know, you know, you know, you have your days, man. We all do. But I, I used to get really sick and used to get really, really bad migraines, man. And I used to just feel like crap. And when I started to box, everything stopped hurting, you know.

So interesting you would think that you would start boxing and everything would start hurting but Right what people don't understand about fitness is like, oh my god, you run marathons like doesn't that just destroy? It's like no, that's how I feel better Yes, it hurts through the process but yeah, yeah and I had a

Even with boxing, boxing is very stressful. It requires a lot of sacrifice, a lot of dedication. You're running eight miles sometimes, tired, you're not eating, sometimes you're overeating. It's very much like bodybuilding. You have to cut weight and stuff like that? Yeah, yeah. Um, I ended up having a heart attack at 26. And I was, yeah, man. And I was probably in the best shape of my life, like ripped abs. I was in the hospital and, and the nurses were coming in and they're like, we don't understand why this guy had a heart attack. Like he looks how he looks, he's in perfect shape. EKG, everything came back normal. You know what I mean? Literally everything came back normal. It was stress. It was stressful. But back then, I never did anything to really, besides work out, to really focus on my mental health. So now, you know, we journal, we meditate. And when I say we meditate, like, even when I'm on the road, The road time is my meditation time sometimes. You know, whether I'm putting on a podcast, whether I'm putting on a prayer.

Yeah, a lot of people think meditating is like silencing the mind, which that is a form of meditating, but like meditating by definition is thinking over something, you know, like critically thinking about something as a form of it anyways, as well. Like, yeah, no, I get, I get what you're saying.

Most of my creativity happens on the road. You know, I'm sitting there, you know, you're driving three hours, two hours sometimes to get to a site. Like nine hours when you did that job for me the other day. Right. You know, you have nothing else to do but to think. You're in your head a lot of time, you know, a majority of the time. Yeah. And I've always felt like that was really important. I'm going to be honest with you. Supplementation, herbal remedies are a big factor now. And I'm a huge fan, and I know you haven't spoke about this in your podcast. I'm a huge fan of psilocybin and psychedelics and microdosing. I feel like that.

I've done a lot of that in my day, but not in a healthy way. I mean, I'm sure there's a healthy way to do it. You know what?

And a lot of people haven't. It just opens doors to other things and it really helps you. I have ADHD so it's kind of hard for me to focus so I don't take anything like pills or Ritalin or Adderall or anything like that. I microdose.

Are you tripping shrooms right now? No, no. Like, damn, he's very like collected if he's tripping right now. No, no, no. Microdosing though. Yeah, no.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So, you know, just that your mental health is everything and you really have to cater to that because if you're not, if you're not waking up, and at least doing something to ease your mind, to get all those thoughts, all those things that have collected inside of your head throughout the week, you know what I mean? Especially as a business owner. And you're not putting that on paper, you're not speaking to somebody, whether it's a therapist or whether you have a mentor or somebody that you can actually like. just collectively get it together and get it out, you know, make something of it. I feel like that's when dreams kind of die, you know, and as a business owner. you, you, you can't let those things die. Cause you have to continuously evolve for your team, for yourself, for your family. Um, and just to be able to keep doing it every day, you know, working out, I know you yourself, you're a runner, you're practicing for a marathon right now. Right. You're getting ready.

I mean, we, we run a marathon the same time, like every year. Uh, I mean, just kind of like, I'm not like the type of marathoner that's like always training for a run. We do this one that's in our town every year and it just kind of keeps us on track like through the summer and just, you know what I'm saying? I'm not like a crazy like ultra runner, but I, yeah, I like, I like running. It makes me feel good. I get out in the sun and get vitamin, you know, and get all the different benefits of it. And I lift weights too. Um, but like just a couple of times a week, but I like running. Yeah, that's, that's my thing.

Dude, bodybuilding, as much as I miss bodybuilding, man, you gotta choose. You know what I mean? There comes a time where you just gotta choose. Totally different things, yeah. I could have went pro. I worked really hard. I looked great, you know what I mean? And I was really dedicated. I spent maybe four to six hours a day in the gym at different times of the day. I'm eating six, seven meals a day. My heaviest was 270 pounds.

Damn.

Oh yeah. I was a pretty big guy. Um, but it, it, again, it's the sacrifice. You know, what do you want to look like when you're 50? You know, am I going to be able to like hang out with my son? Am I going to get another heart attack? Like, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, what can happen? But for sure, this is, this is way better. Um, I just opened up, I finally, incorporated another company. So, you know, we're kind of expanding on fitness repair tech, and we're going to be doing some more things out here in Ohio. And, you know, Ohio is very much a community-centered state, and there is a lot of momentum when a community can get together. So, like, we're just really looking forward to the future and what's going on with the NAFTA

Um, you know, unity is the most powerful thing that you can, you can have, man. Um, it really is. Uh, and so, um, yeah, that's a very important stuff. So, um, yeah, there's a lot of cool things going on in our industry and, um, It's gonna be interesting to see kind of where it goes and, uh, you know, and, and everything like that. Um, so what kind of cool things you got, what you got going on, you're talking about?

Um, well, you know, we're, we're, we're, we're moving into a new warehouse. We're looking to get into some distribution. Um, definitely more than just installations. And, um, I really want to. I'm developing something for my customers kind of to keep things interactive and to keep them focused on their health and fitness. And just to make the preventative maintenance contracts run a lot smoother. I know that you're getting into the whole AI thing yourself. AI is definitely gonna change our industry. you know, we're going to be focusing a lot on that. And just the new equipment itself with technology. Yeah. If you're not running on an AI database, like you're probably going to be missing out on a lot of good things. Yeah. So, yeah, we just kind of want to build off of that. And that's what that's what the company is going to be focused on 360.

So are you, are you, I see some stuff on your website about like new equipment and things like that. Are you moving down that road or what? Yeah.

Yeah. We, we, we are looking to move down that road. Um, I'm looking to get into some Pilates and, um, some sauna rooms and, um, just kind of have that, that brand out there for our customers as well as some, uh, residential equipment available. I see Technogym on there. Are you doing Technogym? We are doing some Technogym. We're doing Life Fitness, everybody else. Everything that's out there that we can dabble in, we're doing. I really like to focus on the on the customizations. That's still my thing to do for fun. Once in a while, I get into that. I pick a project and we go for it.

I think Technogym is an interesting company to watch with the new technology coming out and seeming to be leading up that. Especially in the commercial side, even in the residential space, they're doing some crazy stuff like my AI adjustable dumbbells, AI powered adjustable dumbbells. They just dropped some stuff like that. It's, uh, that's interesting to see, you know, what they're doing.

Yeah. I'm interested to see what happens. Uh, in the personal training industry with all this AI and all this advancements coming out. But then again, it's a good opportunity to kind of reinvent the wheel on what a personal trainer looks like and more of, you know, just what is that gonna evolve into? Because there won't really be a need for a personal trainer. Yeah. When you think about it, you know, if you can get your, your, your, your specs off of a machine on a daily basis, you know, what, what's the need, you know, besides being a motivator besides being a mentor, you know? Yeah.

So there is that aspect, man, that, that people there's, There's something that happens when two people get together in the same room and use their energy to accomplish a common goal. And I will never be able to get away from, unless there is an advancement there and the technology that can actually produce the energy, which could be interesting. It could be a whole other thing, but, um, but, but yeah, so no, I 100%, but I, I wonder how much people will get lost down that road, which will create another way for you to have a competitive advantage. You know what I mean? By kind of sticking to that old school way of doing things, but still utilizing the technology for what it is, you know? Um, It's a tool. Yeah. It's a tool for sure. It's a tool. It's a dangerous tool, but a very powerful tool at the same time, my, in my opinion. Um, and I think all business owners, like you said, need to be, they need to be learning up on AI. Um, and, uh, and figuring out how to, how to apply it in their business. Um, you know, so yeah, it's, it's interesting stuff, man. Um, yeah. Um, I usually keep it around 30 minutes, but I feel like we could keep going. Um, but I know you said you have family in town and everything like that. Um, but, uh, one other, one other last question.

Sure. Um, I mean, I'm here alone. Nobody's here right now.

So we can keep going, man. We got a good conversation going here. So if you want to keep rolling, we can keep rolling for a little bit. We can go to like, We go like, uh, we can go like all these long form guys. We do like a four hour podcast.

Like, uh, you know, give me one second though. Cause all right. All right. All right.

All right.

I don't know if I got solicitators or something like that, but it's a busy Saturday.

Yeah. They're out there knocking doors, man. Sure, man.

You know, knocking doors is something you gotta be doing, man. And I've been so focused on, doing everything just based on my computer, man, like literally, um, there's certain things that you must do that are just old school that are, that just work, right. You know, and, uh, for those guys that really want to grow, you know, you could sit behind a computer all day, but If you're not knocking on doors, if you're not out there, you know, that's how you really stay, you know, in business where you are, you know, where you are. So yeah, let's keep this conversation rolling.

Yeah. So what's your thoughts on, on the whole NAFTA thing? Like, I know you, you mentioned that and it's been an interesting, um, I, you know, I've been participating in it as well. Um, but like, where do you see this? Where do you see this all going?

That's a good question. Um, you know, I really think that depends on the manufacturers and how much influence the guys over at NAFTA can have. Um, I, you know, things have been the same for years, uh, which, which I don't understand. Um, you know, over and over we see, uh, commercial gyms failing because of the obvious reason their fit, their equipment starts to suck. Members no longer get interested. They're not doing anything different. You know, the staff there sucks as well. Um, and nothing's being done, you know. I stopped reaching out to commercial brands like LA Fitness and Synergy, because, you know, they obviously have their inside techs that, again, they're reactive, not proactive. And that really just kind of ruins it for everybody.

What do you mean by that? What do you mean by they're reactive, not proactive? Will you kind of explain what you mean there?

The equipment breaks. They're not doing anything to prevent the equipment from breaking. They're not doing anything to make sure that the facility is up to standard and specifications. Literally, you can tell when a machine starts to kind of go, when it starts to act up, even a strength machine.

Yeah, we had this situation the other day where we do some big clubs for Technogym, and I'm just gonna call it how it is, is what it is, but Technogym sells biannual preventative maintenance packages, which is better than a lot of these manufacturers. A lot of these manufacturers aren't even selling any preventative maintenance packages. But we know the service manuals, the technical service guides for this equipment, I mean, a lot of them, all of them say two week, every two weeks do this, you know, clean, um, lubricate the step shafts or whatever the case is on the, on the step mills. It's not every two weeks on that one, but I'm just giving an example. Like it's more than twice a year. You know what I'm saying? This club's huge. And like all of a sudden everything, you know, it's two years old now, three years old. And I mean, this club is so packed all the time. I mean, it's, it's, It's crazy, right? There's people on the treadmills all day, every day. And so like everything starts breaking down. The customer, like every time that, okay, we get these PMs and the PM takes 60 hours to complete. Right. And so. Every time we go in to complete a PM, I can't send my whole crew out on a PM. It's usually one or two guys. And he's got to work there for three or four or five days, six days a week to get this PM done. But when he gets there, there's 10 machines broken down. And so the PMs aren't getting done because every time we get there, we got to do repairs. You know what I'm saying? And so like, yeah, and then I'll send two guys out on a Saturday to try to get caught up and the customers are getting frustrated. And it's like, And then, you know, they get frustrated at us, like, dude, I just had a technician out there Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then sent two out on Saturday to help. Did something just happen?

I don't know. It kind of like flipped over.

That's weird. Um, but anyways, and so yeah, it's, it's hard to get caught up. It's like, well, you got, you got to get more than biannual maintenance. This is, this is starting to pile up here. You know what I'm saying?

So like, um, yeah, it should be, you know, it should, there should be tears to preventative maintenance, you know, like how, how many members do you have? Like these, this is information, like what's the foot traffic, um, When was the last time you even got these machines maintained? You know what I mean? Because that might play a factor, you know, we might have to do a complete overhaul of all this equipment and see what needs to get replaced so that we can operate effectively. When you sign the contract, you know, usually customers, I don't sign any sort of contract with them until we do all the repairs in the facility. We're not signing maintenance contract because you know, it's going to be a headache. And it always turns out to a headache, you know, because now you have equipment under your preventative maintenance contract that should be operating, but it's not operating because, you know, the owners never focused on getting the equipment fixed beforehand. So I don't even dabble in contracts until that work is done first. I don't, we don't do any individual preventive maintenance contracts for Technogen. It's more so like onesie, twosie installations. But there should be some sort of incentives to even be in a preventative maintenance contract. so that it can encourage the customers to actually want to be in a preventive maintenance contract, you know? Because they're expensive, you know?

Yeah, especially Techno's, but it's, I mean, it's, it's really, it's valuable though. Like, but in a club like that, you know what I mean? So they're all about, it's a luxury club. Like they, you know, that's their brand, that's their, that's their model. So like you need to make sure stuff is clean and serviced. Like that's, that's a huge part of it.

How do we find the value in a preventive maintenance contract though, you know? How do you attract a customer to say, you know, I want to get my equipment fixed and I want to make sure that it's running up to specification all the time, you know, and I don't have anything down. So I don't know what, you know, what models you have, but we do have certain models where it's like if the customer is close enough, we don't even charge them to go diagnose the equipment. If they're on a maintenance contract, you know, in the time there, you know, because When you've been doing this for so long, you can get on the machine and I can tell, you know, there's something wrong with the sprocket or there's something wrong with the motor, or, you know, I don't really have to open this up to really diagnose this. Um, and sometimes people hate that because, you know, when they get the price, you know, they're not really paying for the price. They're paying for the experience. Um, and a preventative maintenance plan has to be an experience for the customer. Um, and a good one at that because they're losing money, but they're going to make money anyway as long as their equipment is running.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's, you know, that's, and we went through this whole process with this, you know, really high end customer with them. And like I, and I told technology, I mean, they're like, they're, they're, they're calling me like, Hey, you know, like, well, what, why is this custom, you know, what's happening here? Like what? And I told him and I, I, I pulled out all the technical service guys and I wrote a report of all the information from their technical service guys. And I said, Hey, look, this is the preventative maintenance that, that your engineers, that your, you know, your people wrote in this technical service guide. that needs to be getting done on this equipment, you can't be coming at me because everything is going, you know, breaking down and we can't keep up. Like, you have to sell them more preventative maintenance. And it worked, and they upped their preventative maintenance to three times a year. I was like, okay, well it had some impact, you know, okay, you know, but you know, that's kind of, And it's, especially when it comes to new equipment, the sales team has to be educated on service. They have to know the importance of service. You know what I mean? I think that's the biggest pain point for customers is these customers, these big ones, and even at home people. You know what I mean?

Yeah, for sure. It's the same. You know what I mean? It's the same. And for us as service providers, that adds up. That adds up, whether it's residential, whether it's commercial. And back to NAFTA, the importance has to be on service, on making sure that the communication with the manufacturer and the service provider is down to the T. They have to make sure that the expectations are realistic as well. A lot of these manufacturers have unrealistic expectations, I would say it. iFit, as much as I love them as a brand, they have some of the most ridiculous expectations.

I just quit working for iFit, unfortunately. And I like Tabitha and I really like a lot of the people on the team there. You know, they were there for me when I was building my business, just me running around. But I can't do it anymore. I can't do a service call for a flat rate, you know what I mean? And I end up getting stuck there for four hours on this machine, you know what I mean? And I had to drive, you know, two hours or whatever out in the middle of nowhere. I'm working in some barn, you know what I mean? Like on a Nordatrack treadmill and getting paid 115 bucks, like, and it used to be a lot less than that. You know what I mean? So no, yeah, 100%. There's gotta be some changes made there, but how, because here's been my approach to this thus far, is that the responsibility is on me. Because when you go to these manufacturers, that's what they're gonna say, is that you're not completing jobs this amount of time. You're not first time fix rate. They're looking at numbers, you know what I mean? Unless you can talk to the people who speak your language as a business owner, which you're not gonna talk to them, because they're usually some sort of executive position or on the board or whatever, you're talking to people who don't understand how to run a business. So you're not speaking the same language. They're looking at numbers. And there's something we can learn from that. You know what I'm saying? There's something that we can learn from that. And so my approach has been, okay, you're right. we have to get better, you know what I mean? I have to, and I use that as much as I hate it, as much as I hate these guys, and I've developed a good relationship with Technogym in particular, they call me all the time, dude, almost every day, like, hey, how come you're not at this job? And I hated that for a long time, and I still do sometimes, but I use it as pissed off as it makes me, I use it as fuel to get better, because I can use that to get better and better.

Absolutely. You can use that to get better. What numbers are you looking at, though? You get what I'm saying? Like, you're looking at numbers. You're not providing hands-on training. You know what I mean? Like, you're not teaching technicians how to use a multimeter properly. You're not updating technicians constantly and providing more available training dates, you know what I mean? You have one or two training dates a year. You have so much equipment, so much technology coming out. There are no, what do your certifications even mean? Is it valuable for us to even get a certification anymore? Can these skills, what skills, skills don't carry over from a PDF. You get what I'm saying? Yeah, for sure. So I'm hoping that NAFTA can improve these things and make it worth my while to say, as an individual business owner, I'm going to get my guy certified for this company. Because I think it'll be valuable, not only for my company, but it will be valuable life skills for them. And I know it'll make us better. You know what I mean? I know it'll make us better in the future. I know that our service call rates will be better. And now you can look at your numbers and really say, hey, you know, you're not performing. Because how are you expecting me to perform when you're not giving us enough to put more technicians in the field. Yeah, this should be in one or two service calls here and there. Yeah, this should be something that is, you know, you can get a degree off of almost, you can get some sort of actual certification and licensing that Yeah. It really matters.

Buddy and I just opened up a trade school in Houston. They're about to open up another one in Atlanta. And so we're developing a technician training program. Well, you're gonna launch it through Fix Your Gym, and he was the one, he's the one doing all my marketing stuff. You may have seen him before, he's on Instagram, Brother Ben X, but you haven't seen any of his stuff, but.

I think so, I think, didn't you have him on your podcast, he was the first episode?

No, no, no, that was somebody else, I don't remember who that was, but yeah, so, but anyways. So I'm hoping to team up with him and get in this trade school. And it's a real trade school, accredited, you're gonna go there and you're gonna get college credits and things like that.

And that's what we need. And I would definitely invest, and even myself go in there, with all the experience that I have, just to be able to get that certification.

I'm afraid going to the manufacturers isn't gonna get it done, man. I mean, you like, until you're ready to go to them with, like, they don't have another choice. You know what I'm saying?

If it's not recognized by them, then what does it mean? You know what I mean? You have trade schools for BMW, you know, the best automotive manufacturers in the world, and that actually means something. You know what I mean? These guys clocking hours to be able to be recognized to work for these places, you know? My fitness technicians don't do that. They get hired. You know, technical gyms technicians don't do that. They get hired. We don't do that. We go out there and find a work and get hired. Yeah. You can figure it out. Yeah, exactly. So, um, they want more of us, but we should be expecting more from them at the same time. And we can definitely deliver, but they have to do more and they have to be involved and they have to want to be involved. And you know what, this, this, this, it creates more jobs, you know, and I don't, I don't, And this drives the economy of what we're doing. Yeah.

So, yeah, no, I think it's, I think it's great. I think whatever effort, you know, we're putting out, we'll get it, we'll get it figured out, you know, and because there's, there's a need there. And There's a bunch of business owners that are putting their minds to figuring out how to solve the need. And so therefore, there will be some sort of changes in impact. You know what I'm saying? In my opinion. Yeah. Interesting stuff, man. It's war.

It's war. It is. It is. Service technician versus engineer and manufacturer.

You know? Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's war with yourself too, man. Yeah. That's, that's the war that I need to, that I need to focus on is because I'm my own worst enemy, man. That's, that's when it comes down to it. Like, um, if I can, if I can conquer that enemy inside myself, um, that It tells me that, you know, I can, I can slack a little bit, or maybe I don't need to do this. That's going to help me or, or whatever the case is. Um, if I can get that one, that one figured out, then maybe I have a chance against the ones out there that are a little bit bigger, you know? Um, uh, so, so, so yeah, man, um, interesting stuff. Um, I think that's, uh, you know, I think we've covered kind of a lot of the things I really want to talk about as far as. Um, that is concerned. Um, I mean, I could keep going for sure, but my, uh, partner's calling me and I probably ought to, uh, I think we actually have some, I might be, I might've spaced out something where I'm supposed to be right now. Like, Oh crap. What, what am I missing right now? So I better, I better, I better wrap it up here. We're going to be going about an hour.

But yeah, I want to get this thing on here, brother.

Yeah, absolutely, man. And I appreciate, you know, all your insight and what you're doing. And I think that, you know, people should pay attention to what you're doing. I think what you're doing is cool and you're making a you're making some interesting moves. And yeah, I'm glad we glad we connected and everything like that. So let's Let's keep moving. Thanks, man. For sure. Looking forward to working with you again. All right, brother.