Owning A Business is a Dream Come True for Clint Watson in Athens, Ga.

1. Name of business… Tribe Fitness
2. What does your business do?  We help people make positive, permanent changes to their exercise and nutrition habits.  We help people develop exercise and nutrition plans that make sense for their situation (career, family) with their goals in mind.
3. How long have you been doing this?  Personally, I have been helping people achieve fitness goals since 2006.  I have been in business for myself since January 2009.  In May of 2012 we rebranded/renamed our business from Redefined Fitness to Tribe Fitness.
4. Why are you doing this in Athens?  I’m from Athens and I LOVE my hometown so doing business in Athens is a dream for me!  Athens has a big need for our type of business.  We strive to provide an over-the-top experience that is necessary in order to actually change someone’s life for the better.  Unfortunately, gym memberships, crash diets, and trendy exercise fads are terribly insufficient when attempting to make significant changes in one’s health and well-being.
5. What are the advantages of owning a small business?  The biggest benefit is the ability to change things on a dime.  We are a business that puts our customers first and foremost (especially above ourselves), so when I realize an opportunity to better serve my customer, I have the freedom (and the duty) to make that change immediately!
6. If you could change one thing about owning a small business, what would that be?  I really wouldn’t change much about owning a small business because I really enjoy it!  If I could change one thing, I would cut down on the number of things you have to consider every day.  There is so much to do that it can sometimes be overwhelming!
7. Do you have employees? Are they temporary, part-time, full-time, new or long term?  We have 17 trainers at Tribe and 1 childcare worker.  Most of our people are part time, however we do have several full timers.
8. Do you own the place where you do business, or do you move around (like maybe a dog trainer would do) or rent space (to store your equipment)?  We currently rent but would love to find something more permanent eventually.
9. Is anyone else in town doing what you do?  I believe that Athens Personal Fitness is the one business in Athens that is most similar to ours.  They have been in Athens for many years and have been able to build a good reputation.  The biggest difference between Tribe and APF is likely the methodology that we promote.

10. Do you like what you do?  I LOVE what I do!  I could never see myself doing anything differently.  Helping others is my passion and fitness is my hobby so this business is the perfect combination for me!

11. Do you have a story to share about how your started your business. (“I realized one day that, yes, I could actually design websites myself. So I started doing this and never looked back.”)  I actually never dreamed of owning my own business.  I was a really GREAT employee and I just accepted the corporate idea of getting hired by a company, working hard, earning promotions, and one day retiring.  One day a colleague of mine approached me about joining with him and working for ourselves rather than working for “the man.”  It was such a radical idea to me that it took him several months to persuade me to go for it!  I will forever be thankful to him that he helped me realize my talent and passion for entrepreneurship. 

12. What are you plans for the future (regarding your business), the future being the next five years?  We are working on developing processes for our business so that we can make what we do more “repeatable”.  Until we complete that task, expansion will be difficult.  We are excited about the future of our business and hope to help many more people realize new levels of health and fitness over the next 5 years!