When I started my fitness company, I was very skinny and couldn’t afford a bus

WHEN the course forced this personal trainer out into the cold, he came up with a business idea that kept him going.

Guido Basola, 30, founded Eylsium in 2020, which lets you book any gym in an hour.

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This means you’re not tied to a consistent gym usage but can still use all the high-tech equipment in a luxury gym.

Guido is working as a personal trainer before creating Elysium in 2020.

One day, one of his clients rented a room for training, which spawned the idea behind Elysium and thus his business was born.

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Born and raised in South Africa Guido currently lives in North London with his partner.

He explained that 2020 was a bleak year as he was forced to run his PT sessions outdoors in parks and maintain social distancing.

Talk to Metro, he said he was very wet and cold in 2020.

“I don’t know what the answer is, but I know I’m very unhappy.

Well, I became a PT but that doesn’t mean I’m going to make money off of the way gyms work.

I was paying £300 a week to rent out the gym and it was horrible – I made no money.

I’m really bad at ‘selling’, which a lot of PTs do in gyms, like when they target girls who take off equipment and a pretty sleazy suit, that’s not is my job.

I just want to help people like my PT helped me.

My partner motivated me because she did so much to support us.

I wake up at 4am every day, come home at 10pm.

I only have this hope.

About six months later, I was about to send my notice because I thought I couldn’t do it anymore and I just wanted to get back to hospitality, but that same week, six people I’ve been helping for months but have never been sold to – that’s the greatest luck – they all come up to me and say: ‘I have a goal and want to do this with you, we can do two or three sessions a week in a few months okay?’.

They all paid me three months in advance and I was able to get my phone back and pay off some debt.

I was so tired I had to walk into central London every day because I couldn’t afford a bus.

It was a sign after all that trouble that I meant to do this.

Then I became the busiest PT in the gym.

It’s so rewarding to see people actually achieving their goals.

I don’t like to use the word ‘transition’ because it suggests some kind of body change.

The best thing about work is that you get to see people truly happy within themselves.

You don’t always get a six pack, sometimes you can just do a little bit so you can run further than you’ve run before or lift weights you never thought possible. can be lifted before.

It’s a positive impact on someone’s life. Being a PT is like training, it’s about being there for the people.

Sometimes, apart from the person’s family and co-workers, you are the person they spend the most time with and you really get to know them.

You just want to see people succeed and make it happen for themselves.

The biggest problem in the fitness industry is its perception versus reality.

I think a lot of people think you can sit in a coffee shop and train whenever you want, but many PTs burn out pretty quickly because you’re so stressed out about making money and building a business – and no one to guide you. you throughout this process.

It’s a real sinking or swimming industry. It will literally eat you up and spit you out, and very few people can make a successful long-term career out of it.

I was so tired I had to walk into central London every day because I couldn’t afford a bus.

The ads sell it like: ‘You can make £100,000’, and, while that’s possible, the reality is that you lose money before you make it.

To get there, you feel tired all the time and lack the usual social stereotypes.

This is an important reason why I started my own company, to give PTs a platform to start their businesses.

Through the ups and downs of watching my mother run the business, I have seen her contribute, from working with local rape centers in South Africa to cooking for school children. economic hardship – despite our money problems – because she believes we should always take care of our community.

One day it will come back. You must learn to give in order to receive.

When I told her about my current business, the first thing she said was, ‘What would you do to give back?’

Sarah Everard’s death really stays with me and I think the woman’s way of life is unacceptable.

In South Africa, the weather is quite severe, nothing is too late.

London is a city that’s open 24/7 – there’s always something opening up somewhere.

But even with all these people, there is no support structure when people need it.

So that’s when I thought, what if our studios had SOS functionality for people to use at night in times of crisis?

If they use our locations and are near a branch, they can access a secure space that, if used, will then automatically trigger a call to emergency services, showing on CCTV and notify me someone is inside and needs help.

In 10 years I hope to have 10 Elysium gym locations across London and if I can help just one in the meantime, the job is done. “

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