Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and fitness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Brad Linder, founder of Get You In Shape, located in Coppell, TX, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Get You In Shape is a health and fitness coaching program. Simply put, we help people look and feel ten years younger. Since 1998, Brad Linder and Get You In Shape Fitness have helped over 3,869 people look and feel ten years younger. The 90-Day Lifestyle Makeover Coaching Program has been proven to help anyone jump-start their way towards long-term lifestyle changes.

The coaching program is specific to anyone ready to make some health and fitness changes in their life and who needs the motivation, tools, accountability, and support to make it happen.

We all know that resistance and strength training is very important. This program is designed so that each client gets a customized fitness program, a nutrition system for a lifestyle change, and an Accountability Coach to help support them through their journey. With over 800 YouTube Testimonies alone, the Get You In Shape Program has a proven plan to help motivate, encourage and inspire people to change their lives. Get You In Shape was featured on The Doctor’s TV show with Julian Micheals as being one of the Top Fitness Companies in Texas.

Tell us about yourself

It’s always great looking back and seeing the path that I was led to for me to finally start Get You In Shape in 2006. There are many different paths from 1975 (when I was born) to 1999, but let me begin with the latter to spare you some of the unexciting details. In 1999, I got my master’s degree in Health and Kinesiology, teacher certification, and received my Personal Trainer Certification soon after.

In 2000, I was given a chance to play professional basketball in Ireland for a year and also got to tour Western Europe for a month while being over there (the all by yourself, backpack, hostel, find your way around the type of travel). For the next 5-6 years, I was able to get some incredible experience in the “game of life” and learn a lot of things that proved to help in the formation of Get You In Shape.

Looking back at all the things I experienced, the things I did, the different steps I took, and the various roles I played, they were all just pieces of the puzzle that helped put everything together for me to start Get You In Shape in 2006. In 2006, two doors opened that would eventually prove to be WHY I chose to quit everything and pursue my career in health and fitness once and for all.

The first door that opened was getting my first Onsite Corporate Fitness Program at the University of Dallas. I had already done group training with the CCA basketball team of athletes in Carrollton, but this was just bringing what I was doing with one on one training to a group session. The University of Dallas group personal training program solidified to me that I had been given gifts to be used in group fitness and that this is something that I WANTED to do. The program was a success, and I had a blast coaching in a group atmosphere.

The second door that opened is HOW the name GET YOU IN SHAPE started. A friend of mine worked at a television and production station and approached me with the idea of having a television show that would start with an interview and end with a fitness segment. This would also be a Fitness DVD with the interviews included and five different workout segments.

The ball was in my court to come up with the entire programming, including the fitness portion and finding the people to Interview. I was able to call and get interviews with some of the most well-known people in their fields in the Dallas area. Some of the interviews were the late Coach Joe Avezzano, Sidney Stohs M.D. (Professor, Pharmacology, and Toxicology), Lance Walker (Global Director of Performance at Michael Johnson Performance), Everett Aaberg (Owner of Telos Fitness Center), Ken Goldberg M.D. (Founder of the Male Health Center) Meredan Zerner (Registered Dietitian @ Cooper Aerobics), and Collete Cole (has led Cooper’s Female Focus Program since 2006). These are a few of the incredible list of folks I was able to interview and learn from.

All that being said, I spent a long time trying to come up with a name for the television show. I also wanted to make sure that the URL (website) was available and the business name was not taken. From this, Get You In Shape was BORN!

In 2006, Get You In Shape was formed, and the rest is history. The short end of the story was that the television show never panned out. But I do have the experience of producing the Get You In Shape Fitness DVD, which has a great tool for many people to help get in shape over the years. Once the doors opened to use my gifts to help people look better, feel better, and become better versions of themselves.

In 2007, I pioneered a high-intensity group personal training program called the Get You In Shape Fitness program in Coppell, which received rave reviews, including a feature in The Obama Diaries, by Laura Ingraham.

From the start, I wanted to make giving back to charities a big part of our business and something people we would be known for. We started doing charity workouts and started the Get You In Shape 5k for Coppell Special Olympics. This has been one of the most rewarding aspects of what Get You In Shape is all about. One of our tag lines is “Get Fit, Have Fun and Make a Difference,” so we try to live that out every day.

To date, Get You In Shape has raised more than $175,000 for various charities, which is something I feel blessed to have been a part of. Get You In Shape has worked all over the DFW area doing onsite corporate wellness and fitness. Get You In Shape’s fitness program, though, is in Coppell, TX. Since starting, Get You In Shape has been able to help thousands of people get in the best shape of their lives.

I have been a best-selling author twice and featured as a fitness expert in numerous newspapers and media appearances, including The Doctor’s, ABC News Channel 8, and CNN. I started Get You In Shape as a single man. I got married to my wife, Cynthia, in 2007. In 2011 we had our first child Elliott, and we now have Mary (9), Faith (7), Skyler (5) and Noelle (4), Luke (1), and blessing #7 due soon.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Giving $175,000 to various charities over the years. This is something I feel blessed to have been a part of.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

The hardest thing that comes with being a small business owner is wearing all the hats. You have the be the service provider, IT person, salesperson, marketing, and CFO. Over time you learn to delegate and spend time on the things you do best at.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Don't sweat the small stuff. Looking back at so many "problems" that have happened over the years, many of them I can't remember.
  2. Find your purpose and use your gifts. I think most of our business successes have come from being able to use my gifts and being passionate about them.
  3. Finding others who want to be a part of the mission. Our core value is to help motivate, encourage and inspire people to live the best version of themselves. Attracting people that have that same vision has been a try blessing.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.getyouinshape.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GetYouInShape
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getyouinshape/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GetYouInShape
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/getyouinshape-com-llc

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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