Tim Frey - "From Intern To Athletic Trainer And Business Owner Making A Six-Figure Income!"
BUSINESS NAME: Helix Sports Performance
LOCATION: Wanneroo, Perth, W.A.
BUSINESS MODEL: Strength and conditioning coaching, online programming, performance testing
NPE STATUS: ACADEMY™ Program
Tim grew up with teachers consistently telling his parents that he wouldn’t become anything.
He comes from German heritage and grew up in a family where his parents couldn’t speak English. He was failing primary school, but pushed through and eventually came out of high school with a scholarship for soccer. He got into university by portfolio entry and started studying sports science.
“I had a dream to train athletes and people said I wouldn’t get anywhere with it, but I wanted to prove them wrong.”
Tim started personal training while he was getting his degree, and once he finished, he was accepted into a master’s program for strength and conditioning. But he realized he didn’t have any practical experience working with athletes, so he applied for over 200 internships in the U.S. and decided to attend the University of Arizona.
On the first day of his internship, the head coach asked him to do an abdominal circuit with a guy who Tim later found out was Matt Grevers, who has won four Olympic gold medals and two silver medals in swimming.
“I thought, ‘All right, I’m actually coaching athletes – now I’ve made it.’”
After finishing his internship, Tim had an opportunity to train athletes at another D1 school, but he turned it down because he always knew his passion was to open his own gym. He returned to Perth and started working in a commercial gym, but knew he would outgrow it quickly.
Shortly after, Tim saw an NPE ad on Facebook and decided to reach out and learn more. But he felt he couldn’t afford it – Tim was only 24-years-old and had just returned from the U.S. where he was earning $4.90 per hour as a bartender when he wasn’t working at his internship.
Despite his hesitation, he knew it was the step he needed to take in his business and joined the ACCELERATOR™ program.
Tim had blogged about his internship while he was in the states, and when he returned to Australia, he announced on Facebook that he was opening his own place. Football player Scott Neville, who Tim attended high school with, asked Tim to help him train through his off season. Soon he had other football players contacting him.
Although Tim loved the satisfaction of getting results for his clients and athletes, he knew nothing about business. He struggled with his worth and his pricing, and he didn’t know his numbers. Tim had no idea how many sessions he was doing per week, how much he was making, and he charged everyone differently.
Plus he had staffing issues – he was struggling to let go of coaching responsibilities because he just wanted to coach 50 – 60 hours per week.
But with the help of NPE, he hired two interns to take over some of the responsibilities, and he now has systems in place to continue growing his business.
In the first month of using ACCELERATOR™, Tim had a sales explosion of $7,842 and made more than his initial investment in the program back. Tim also launched a “Facebook Likers Campaign” after his NPE coach pointed out that he wasn’t do anything with people who liked his Facebook page. He started reaching out to those people to see if he could help, which resulted in $8,160 worth of new sales within the first three months.
During the second month of using ACCELERATOR™, Tim’s monthly income increased 200% from $3,948 to $7,982, and he switched over more to semi-private classes to spend his time more efficiently.
He also launched a 21-day girl’s squat challenge on Facebook using an NPE template and got a massive response – he got 17 inquiries in just one hour and had to shut it down because he only had 5 spots available.
A month later, Tim hit his initial goal of generating a six-figure income by the end of the year.
“It was a complete stress release. I had all the systems and tactics that I needed to go forward. I was wasting a lot of time doing things that weren’t growing my business and ACCELERATOR™ helped me realize that.”
Now Tim also has time to work on the business rather than in the business. He is planning to open a new facility and is starting to launch an online business so he can help more athletes and clients.
But it’s not just all about professional success for Tim – joining NPE, getting systems in place, and growing a team has allowed him to start enjoying his life again.
“I can comfortably say that I’ve been on more holidays in the last six months than I have in the last five years.”