Vince Gabriele

I moved from Philly to San Diego and got an internship at a gym called Fitness Quest 10. I worked my way up from intern to a sought-after trainer banging out 60+ sessions a week — working with everyone from soccer moms to NFL athletes. I peaked at $37K a year doing this job and realized that if I wanted to have a family, I needed to open my own gym. I had no clue what that would take. But ignorance is bliss.

I moved back to my home state of New Jersey with my new amazing wife, Vanessa — a Cali girl who was also in the fitness industry. Together we started our first training business in NJ — Gabriele Fitness & Performance — in 2007.

I told him about my struggles and honestly asked him what it would take for me to break into the finance industry — because I didn't think I was going to make it as a gym owner.

I expected him to give me the advice I needed to break into finance. Maybe even offer me some type of internship.

That's not what happened. Instead, he told me this:

“Vince, you've proved you're a great trainer. But that won't make you a successful businessman. You've spent the last 7 years learning how to train people. You haven't learned how to run a business. Before you quit, my advice is to learn everything you can about running a business and see if you can turn this around. After all, this is your first REAL business challenge. There are sure to be more. If you learn how to run a business but still fail, then we can talk about getting you into finance.”

This conversation changed my life.

I went all in on becoming better at business. I learned about marketing and sales, leadership, creating systems, money and finance, building a team, how to write, how to speak in public. If I wasn't training people or working in my gym, I was learning. All the training books became business books. All the certifications became business conferences. All the training mentors became business mentors.

This changed the game. Instead of being a trainer trying to run a gym, I became a real business owner who learned how to run a company — and acquired the business skills I needed to get the life I wanted.

My gym quickly grew to well over 7 figures. $1.6M, to be exact. But more importantly, I built the business in a way that gave me all the freedom I wanted while still making excellent money.

Life was going well. Vanessa and I were raising 3 young kids, and the gym enabled me to be a very present and engaged dad.

Then this happened.

We had just moved into our new 10,000-square-foot dream facility that I'd built out from scratch when I got the call that changed my life. My dad — the one who had given me the advice to learn about business — had a horrific stroke.

Dealing with this pulled me away from my gym for two months. I had zero ability to be physically or mentally present at my gym. But while I was gone supporting my mom and sisters, my gym continued to not just run, but grow. We recorded our most successful quarter in company history — in a quarter where we typically underperformed.

Looking back, it was one of my proudest moments as a business owner: the time I wasn't even there.

That was God, in the midst of a tragedy, telling me I needed to start teaching other gym owners how to have a successful business. Not just a business that makes money — but one that still runs and grows while they're not there.

I realized there are a lot of gym owners out there. But not a lot of them are successful at giving themselves both freedom and money.

So in the waiting room of NYU-Langone hospital, I started and finished my first book about how I did it. Twelve more have followed.

This launched my second career — as a business coach for gym owners.

I started by teaching about my own success. But over the past decade, I've now helped thousands of gym owners through my speaking, podcast, books, and coaching programs. Many of them credit me with transforming their business. Some even say I transformed their lives and their families' lives.

Their stories are in the testimonial section of this website. There's a lot — you can read them here.

So what does my story mean to you?

It means that wherever you are in your journey as a gym owner, it's likely I've lived it myself. I won't promise you any miracles — business success takes a lot of hard work. But I can say that between myself, my amazing team, and the amazing gym owners I coach each week, we have the keys to the vault. We have the answers you need to bring you from where you are right now to where you actually want to be.

From broke and stressed to profitable and confident. From working 60-plus hours a week to building a team and a business that runs without you chained to the floor. From wondering if you made a huge mistake opening a gym to being damn proud you did.

I've sat in that parking lot. I've had zero dollars in the account and a baby on the way. I've questioned everything.

So if you're reading this, here's what I want you to know:

You landed in the right place.

Not because I'm going to sell you some magic pill or promise you overnight riches — I won't, because that's not how this works. But because you're finally in front of someone who has actually done it. Someone who built the business, lost it, rebuilt it, and then spent the last decade helping thousands of other gym owners do the same.

You don't have to figure this out alone anymore. You don't have to learn every lesson the hard way like I did. That's the whole point of what we do here — to shortcut your path so you get your money, your freedom, and your life back faster than you ever could on your own.