About Andrew Wallis
I help independent gym and studio owners get and keep more members, where great coaching meets smart marketing, with the clarity that comes from having run fitness businesses myself.
I've spent more than 25 years in fitness. I started on the gym floor in 1999, became a personal trainer, built Manx Boot Camps to six locations on the Isle of Man and grew WA Boot Camps for Women to six more in Perth. Since 2012 I've coached fitness business owners, including leading NPE Fitness's UK and European coaching team. Put simply, I love this industry, and I love what happens when a great coach finally has a business that's full.
Most of all, I love watching an owner go from doing everything themselves, late at night, to running a business that gives them their time back. That's what I mean by Find Your Freedom, and the rest of this page is how I got here.
What I stand for
Most owners approach growth the way a new member approaches their first week in the gym. They try every machine, copy whatever the person next to them is doing, and sign up for every challenge going. Then they wonder why they're exhausted and nothing seems to stick.
Find Your Freedom is the opposite of that.
It means every campaign you run, every system you set up and every hour you put in should give something back: more members, more time, more of the business you set out to build. Not a copy of the gym down the road. Not this month's trend. Yours.
It's the test I apply to everything I do. Whether it's a Growth Notes email, a playbook inside The Growth Hub, an Access Andrew call or ninety days of Get Members, the question is always the same: will this give you more freedom?
When your marketing has a purpose, the business gets simpler. When it's simpler, it fills up. And when it's full and running without you every hour of the day, you get your time back: to coach, to train, to travel, to live.
That's the whole point.
The road so far
I've spent my whole working life in fitness. What I do now is the result of more than 25 years of training people, building businesses, coaching owners and learning, sometimes the hard way, what actually fills a gym. Here's how it unfolded.
Where it started
After losing weight myself, I became a Nautilus-qualified induction instructor at the Isle of Man gym where I trained, showing members how to use the equipment safely. That's where I first saw what keeps a member coming back: someone who notices them and helps them get a result.
My first PT business
People kept asking how I'd got in shape, so I qualified as a personal trainer and launched workoutSMARTER, building a mobile PT clientele on the island. Most of it came from word of mouth, which taught me early that happy clients are the best marketing there is.
From one park to six
In summer 2006 I launched Manx Boot Camps in Nobles Park, Douglas, then opened in my hometown of Ramsey, followed by Peel, Laxey and Gansey, plus a camp for staff at the Isle of Man College of Further Education: six locations in all. Growing it location by location taught me how to fill a session, keep people coming and watch the numbers behind it.
The big move
In December 2011 I emigrated to Perth to join Fit for Profit as Boot Camp Manager, running WA Boot Camps for Women and growing it to six locations. In 2012 I moved into the Business Success Coach role, helping Fit for Profit's owners guide their members through the NPE Fitness coursework, and became NPE's sole Business Success Coach in Australia.
Leading the team
NPE's CEO, Sean Greeley, asked me to return to the UK and build its coaching team. As Lead Coach until 2016, I helped build NPE's UK and European operation, recruiting and leading a team of six Business Success Coaches who supported hundreds of fitness businesses. I also worked with the North American team and taught NPE's growth methods on stage at its conferences in Australia and the UK.
Treading my own path
In 2016 I left NPE Fitness to tread my own path and set up Lifestyle 180 with my business partner, Nicky Sehgal: a coaching and consultancy business helping fitness professionals build a solid foundation for growth. Our members had an online community, quarterly masterminds and a monthly printed newsletter, which ran from August 2016 to February 2018. We also worked on site with gyms, including two days in Ennis, Ireland.
Finding my freedom
We both love to travel, so Sheena suggested we become TrustedHouseSitters, and I became a digital nomad. I set up my office in the homes we sit or in independent coffee shops around the world, which, as a lover of a great flat white, gives me the chance to try coffee everywhere we go. It's the freedom I now help owners build for themselves.
Back to print
I brought the newsletter back for clients as the Fitness Marketing Blueprints newsletter, the forerunner of The Growth Brief.
Where I am now
This is the heart of what I do. Get Members is where I work hands-on with owners. The Growth Hub is what I'm building with the most care: a community of independent gym owners growing together, with The Growth Brief landing on their desks every month. That's the job, and I love it.
Today
The centre of everything I do is The Growth Hub. Around it, I work hands-on with owners through Get Members, take one-off Access Andrew calls, write Growth Notes every week and make videos for YouTube. I also write for Strength Matters and Cricket Matters and their business clients, using the same They Ask, You Answer approach I teach. Here's how it fits together.
The centre · The Growth Hub
Where the deepest work happens: playbooks for attracting, converting and keeping members, live sessions with me, a community of owners helping each other, and The Growth Brief in the post every month. If you want to see how I think about growing a gym, this is where you see it first-hand.
Explore The Growth HubDone for you · 90 days
For owners who want it done properly, with me inside the business. Ninety days aimed at more paying members: finding where they're being lost, fixing it, and building it to keep working after we're done.
See how it works1-on-1 help
Sometimes you don't need a membership or a project. You need an hour with someone who's been there. Sixty-minute calls, one-off or in bundles of three or five.
Book a callFree content
Videos on getting and keeping members, and one practical idea in your inbox every week. The easiest way to see how I think before we ever talk.
Watch the tutorialsThe work
I work with independent gym owners because I've been one. I like working with studios, boot camps and small gyms. I like working with owners who love what they do and want a business that fits their life, not the other way round.
The work I find least rewarding is chasing quick fixes for owners who aren't ready to change anything. The work I find most rewarding is helping an owner who knows the gym they want to build put the marketing and systems in place to fill it.
What I love most is watching an owner get their time back. I've seen coaches go from doing everything themselves, late at night, to running a business that's full and growing without them in every session. Being part of that is the best part of this work.
A side note
Manx Boot Camps started with one group in Nobles Park and grew to six locations across the Isle of Man. In Perth I did it again, growing WA Boot Camps for Women to six locations. So when I talk about getting and keeping members, it isn't theory. It's what I did myself.
I share this not to brag but because it's a useful counter-narrative. You don't need a big budget, a famous name or a huge following to fill a fitness business. You need a service people want to recommend, a fast and friendly way to follow up everyone who gets in touch, and the patience to look after the members you already have.
I teach this approach inside The Growth Hub and build it with owners in Get Members. It's one of the most contrarian things I share, and one of the things I'm proudest of.
Where I used to be
For years my coaching sat inside other people's businesses: Fit for Profit and NPE Fitness. Running boot camps, coaching owners, leading a team of coaches, teaching on stage. That's where I learned what works, across hundreds of fitness businesses, and it's where my expertise was built.
In 2016 I left to tread my own path, setting up Lifestyle 180 with Nicky Sehgal, and I've spent a lot of time in the room since. In Ennis, in Ireland, Nicky and I spent the first day just shadowing to see how the business really ran, and the second working with the manager and team on efficiency and processes. In Southampton, I worked with the owner on a plan to bring in more ideal leads. Chelmsford, Tarporley, Nottingham, Cardiff, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Vancouver, Toronto, Denver and more followed.
Now everything I've learned lives in one place, built around the way I believe owners should grow: start with the numbers, fix one thing at a time, and build it so it runs without you. The Growth Hub is where most owners start. Get Members is for those who want me alongside them.
If you want to work together hands-on, Get Members is the place to start that conversation.
How I've helped owners, then and now
On site wherever it helps: UK and Ireland, Australia and North America.
Outside the office
I'm a proud Manxman, born on the Isle of Man, whose motto is Quocunque jeceris stabit: whichever way you throw it, it will stand. Sheena and I have been together since 1994, and since 2018, at Sheena's suggestion, we've been TrustedHouseSitters, spending time each year in London, Denver and back home on the island. I'm the digital nomad of the two of us: my office is wherever we're sitting, or an independent coffee shop with a good flat white. Most days you'll find me outside with a kettlebell and a jump rope, something loud from the 70s to the 00s in my ears, and a good coffee waiting afterwards.
Find Your Freedom isn't a slogan I borrowed. It's how Sheena and I live.
By the numbers
The short version of my story, in numbers.
Industry experience
Built its UK and European coaching team, and taught its growth methods on stage in Australia and the UK.
In print
Lifestyle 180 from 2016 to 2018, Fitness Marketing Blueprints in 2024, and now The Growth Brief.
Work together
The way you work with me depends on what you're trying to do. Here's the breakdown.
Option 1 · The membership
The best place to start for most owners. Playbooks, live sessions, a community of owners, direct access to me and The Growth Brief in the post. If you want to see how I think about growing a gym, this is the place.
Explore The Growth HubOption 2 · Free
The free way to see what I do. Practical videos on getting and keeping members. Subscribe if any of it lands.
Subscribe on YouTubeOption 3 · Specific help
You have a specific challenge and want focused help. Sixty-minute calls, one-off or in bundles of three or five.
Book a callOption 4 · Done for you
You want me inside the business with you for 90 days to get more paying members. Tell me about your gym and we'll start a conversation.
Tell me about your gym