Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Hile.
Hi Melissa, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
There are two parts of this story that led me here today. The first is the career part where I went to school for Psychology to become a Clinical Art Therapist, which I did not end up pursuing, but instead got caught in the restaurant industry for almost a decade, then took a break to consider a Masters, but ended up a nanny for almost a decade also. It was only when I was planning my wedding and feeling very unsure of what my purpose in life was, when I considered the next big move. I had already fallen in love with triathlon training, HIIT training at TruHit Fitness Airpark and had a health coach encouraging me to start helping others with their meal plan, but who quits their job while planning their wedding? On a memorable date night, my then fiancé asked me what makes me happy and my off the cuff answer changed everything. I told him I was happy with my fitness friends. He smiled and told me to do that. I asked if he thought I should be a HIIT trainer, but he was already thinking bigger. He encouraged me to ask about the franchise opportunity, which at the time I could only think, “Who buys a gym? That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard!”
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nope. We took over a year, 18 Letters of Intent on properties that didn’t pass muster with fire code or parking or price or demographics. My original plan was to be in Uptown but the age of the properties, lack of parking and mixed demographics left us wondering if the area could support another boutique fitness studio. It was my broker who encouraged us to look at the 32nd & Shea area! I live 1 mile from here and once I did the math, we were over 5 miles away from our other nearby locations so we said yes! The space was neglected, the roof was caving in, the metal back door was paper thin with holes from the years of water damage, the air conditioning ducts had live and dead animals, the space was covered in bugs and feathers. It took a real vision and the unfortunate realization we needed to double our construction budget once demo was complete. We filled a 40 yard dumpster with every inch of wiring we pulled out of the nearly 5000 square feet. It was long, I was then pregnant and managing a construction project. It was a blur honestly of architect meetings, city inspections, change orders and when it was time to hire a team with a 4-month-old on my hip, I was so in awe of being at the finish line. We opened on the Monday after my first Mother’s Day and I taught over 30 HIIT classes a week while breastfeeding around the clock. We built a community of like-minded people, encouraging each other to believe we could do hard things. It almost broke my heart and our finances to lose 40% revenue 6 weeks before our profitability target was on track to be reached. The pandemic made us pivot, offer new services, create more custom solutions for our clients and rethink our price point. I’m absolutely determined to be still standing through the recovery.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
TruHit Fitness is a boutique HIIT studio with 5 Valley locations plus 1 in Idaho. We are a growing franchise of fitness-minded people who love the benefits of HIIT training. Each of the TruHit owners has a separate but adjoining nutrition club. Mine is called Deserving Nutrition and serves yummy post-workout smoothies, energy teas and acai bowls. Our clients enjoy that our high intensity interval training classes are always different yet follow a training schedule of muscle groups on certain days. Some clients need more than just unlimited classes, so we partner with them to give them an accountability coach, meal plan to follow and when necessary, supplements to get them results faster. Helping people smash their goals, feel like they belong, believe they can do hard things and love their bodies is my dream come true. I have a servant’s heart so I love pouring out myself in service to others.
What were you like growing up?
Ha! I’m a quintessential middle child! I’m the peacekeeper, the negotiator and the hard worker. I was student council president, student liaison to our school’s disciplinary advisory committee, graduated early and had been to France before I was 13, alone, to visit family. I danced, did gymnastics, girl scouts and loved having two brothers. My mom is one of 6 and my dad is one of 7 so growing up in Chicagoland we had plenty of family to-do’s that kept our weekends filled as well. I’m glad a lifetime of joining activities, being surrounded by a big family and stepping into leadership roles prepared me for my current circumstances. Hindsight is truly 20/20 — or do we never speak of 2020 again?!
Pricing:
- $39 a week Unlimited Classes
- $25 a week 2 Classes
- $1499 Unlimited Year Paid in Full
- $20 per Drop In Class
- $5 per child per class Childcare
Contact Info:
- Email: paradisevalley@truhitfitness.com
- Website: https://www.truhitfitness.com/paradisevalley
- Instagram: @truhitfitnesspv
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruHitPV
Image Credits
Professional Christmas photo by River and Ry Photography
