GOING into lockdown just one day after signing the lease on premises for a new venture could prompt many people to think twice about their plans.
But Ryan and Elly Hodgson, who had just added the health club at The Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel to their business portfolio, remained typically upbeat.
‘A lot of people thought it was bad timing but it actually gave us the opportunity to gut the space and refurbish it. Originally, we thought that we would have four weeks in which to carry out our plans but then lockdown stretched into 12 weeks so our grand opening was a little later than we had expected but at least when facilities were allowed to open again, we were ready to go,’ said Ryan.
And, although the period of enforced closure may have seen the couple’s usual training sessions suspended, they were far from idle during the three months.
‘Lockdown was a worrying time, not just for us but for so many small-business owners who didn’t know how they were going to pay their bills,’ he added. ‘However, we quickly adjusted our model, offering free online workouts and maintaining a presence on the platforms our target audience was using. By doing this, our clients remained loyal to us and, as soon as we were able to resume in-person training sessions, they came back.’
But while, to an outsider, the health club at The Radisson may look like a ‘regular’ gym, and the bootcamp sessions may appear to revolve purely around physical fitness, Ryan and Elly’s ethos extends far beyond that, as demonstrated through the business’s recent rebrand.
‘When we first launched the business, it was called Hodgson Fitness but we found that the name put a lot of people off, as it sounded as though we were focused solely on physical workouts,’ explained Ryan. ‘In 2016, we changed the name to Hodgson Health, which reflected our more holistic approach and then, following lockdown, we rebranded as Team HH, with the initials representing health and happiness. These are the foundations of our business, as we would argue that if you are healthy and happy, everything else will fall into place.’
Although the rebrand took place only recently, the couple’s shift in focus from physical training to overall health began soon after the birth of their first daughter eight years ago.
‘Growing up, I was always quite low in confidence and when I started setting myself life goals – both in terms of my physical wellbeing and my career – I realised that my lack of confidence was holding me back and that I needed to step outside my comfort zone,’ explained Elly. ‘As I started to tell other people what I was doing, I found that many of them related to my experiences and so, just after Aoife-Mae was born, I changed career and became a personal trainer so that I could help people.’
And it was during those early personal-training sessions that Elly realised the importance of a more holistic approach.
‘Ryan and I are both qualified personal trainers and, when we were working with clients under the Hodgson Fitness brand, we soon realised that a person’s workout was a very small part of their life,’ she reflected.
‘They may have been coming to us for 30 minutes a day, two or three times a week, but what they were doing in the other 23.5 hours each day was having a far greater impact on their overall wellbeing than that workout. As a result, we knew that, if we were going to help people to change their lives and achieve their goals, we needed to provide a more holistic approach.’
That approach saw the couple develop what they call ‘the four Bs – body, brain, business (which covers career and finance aspirations) and besties, which encompasses relationships.
‘It is important to understand that focusing on one area of your life affects every other area,’ said Ryan. ‘For example, if you set yourself body goals in January, and one of those goals revolves around losing weight, that is likely to affect your social life which can, in turn, impact your relationships. By setting goals in all four areas, we make progress in a more balanced way.
‘You also see a link between the four Bs because, if you work on improving your physical shape, you are likely to gain confidence, and that can boost your career aspirations which, in turn, can enhance your financial situation,’ added Elly. ‘As your mood and confidence improve further, you might start dating and your overall mindset and happiness goes up again.’
While many of the Team HH approaches are rooted in physical fitness, the couple admit that, as they juggle running the three strands of their business with being parents to eight-year-old Aoife-May and three-year-old Niamh, finding time to work out is not always easy.
‘Even though we have our own gym, we struggle to find time to work out,’ laughed Elly. ‘But these time pressures help us to understand other people’s struggles as well. While some people may want to work out every day, other people are just looking for simple ways to increase their activity while juggling their own family and work commitments. As a result, we spend time getting to know each of our clients and to understand their lifestyles and aspirations so that we can provide a bespoke programme for their needs.’
The demands on their time, combined with the growth of the Team HH brand, have also prompted Ryan and Elly to restructure their business.
‘We now have a team of five full-time members of staff, all of whom embody the Team HH brand and vision,’ said Ryan. ‘Having initially worked with us part-time, husband and wife James and Carla Jones have now completed their personal training qualifications and joined the business full-time, while Fay Cooper – who is Carla’s sister – is our fifth member of the team.’
Acknowledging the role that James, Carla and Fay play in the business, Ryan and Elly have recently made each of them a shareholder.
‘Having been with us since the beginning, they have not only seen the business transform and grow but have been part of that process so it is only right that they should be rewarded accordingly and given the opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial skills,’ said Ryan. ‘Since extending the business last year, they have taken on extra responsibility for delivering the boot camps, enabling Elly and I to focus more on the health club.’
And it is the last two words of that sentence on which Elly seizes.
‘Having this physical space is something that I had always envisaged for the business but it isn’t just a gym,’ she said. ‘A lot of people feel that they can’t go to a gym because they aren’t confident enough or they are worried about their body shape. We cater for people of all sizes and abilities and have a consultation room where we can discuss people’s needs confidentially. This is not just a gym where people come for personal training sessions. It is a health club about all aspects of health.’
As well as welcoming people to their health club and boot camps, Ryan and Elly have recently developed a programme for businesses to offer their employees.
‘We did some corporate work during lockdown and are really keen to build on this, as wellbeing is still something of a grey area in many businesses,’ said Ryan. ‘We see that a number of people are overworked and struggling with their emotional wellbeing, and we want to help employers and employees to address this. At the moment, a lot of employers see wellbeing as a cost rather than an investment and a lot of corporate wellbeing packages comprise a gym membership and a weekly fruit basket in the office.
‘However, if we can work with staff on a more personal level and take a more holistic approach to mindset, nutrition, lifestyle and activity, we can help to boost both their physical and emotional wellbeing and, through an approach of prevention is better than cure, we can show employers why focusing on health can actually reduce costs in the long-term.’
