May 15, 2017

Meet Patrick Smith of Lifted Fitness in South Boston

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Smith.

Patrick, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
It’s been quite the journey to get to where we are today. We’ve caught more than a few lucky breaks, and we will forever be grateful to all the family and friends who have helped us along the way. No chance we could have made it to this point without them.

Mo and I have been boys since middle school, and the plan from day one was to move to Boston with a bunch of friends post-college. Fast forward to the age of 23, and we were both working as personal trainers up here after graduating with degrees in exercise science. I trained the owner of the gym a couple times per week, and he eventually suggested that we start our own studio. Owning a business had never even crossed our minds, but the more we talked about it, and the more my boss convinced us that two clowns like us could be successful, the more the pieces began to fall into place.

To further push the dream closer to a reality, our boy Tim was in the process of getting his MBA from Boston University and one of his assignments was to write a detailed business plan. Instead of using a made-up business for the project like the rest of his classmates, Tim hooked it up and crafted a plan for our future training studio. We sold our cars, shared a bedroom at the age of 26, and aggressively saved money in preparation for the sizable chunk of change it would cost to open our own spot.

After months of searching for a large enough space where we could actually afford the rent, which was no easy task in Southie, we finally found the perfect building. It was an open second-floor industrial space with huge windows, tons of natural light and a high ceiling – we couldn’t have drawn up a better gym environment if we tried. Negotiations on lease terms were agreed upon after a few weeks, but long story short, the landlords pulled out citing handicap accessibility concerns…. on the day we were scheduled to meet them and sign it. You cannot make this stuff up. It was crushing, and all of a sudden we were back to square one.

At this point, having been on the verge of working for ourselves before the lease was pulled at the last second, we had no desire to stay at our current jobs. We knew it’d be easier to find a smaller space for personal training sessions than a larger space that could handle group classes, so we modified our real estate search criteria. It didn’t take long to find a spot in the North End that could fit a squat rack, treadmill, and dumbbells, and Lifted Fitness was open for business within weeks.

Looking back, the landlords pulling the lease on the original space was the absolute best thing that could have happened to us. No chance we were ready to run an operation of that size right off the bat. Besides the fact that we wouldn’t have had enough money in the bank to outfit an entire gym and then swing rent, the two and a half years of running a personal training studio provided us with invaluable experience as we learned the ins and outs of owning and operating a business. By the time we finally opened our dream strength and conditioning facility, we felt prepared. And we couldn’t be any more grateful for the way things have unfolded since.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It hasn’t been the smoothest road and sometimes it felt like we’d never make it to this point, but I think that’s what makes us appreciate everything so much. As previously mentioned, finding space in a good location that we could actually afford was brutal. We thought we had a few spots locked up that ended up falling through. That search definitely became frustrating at times, but at the same time we knew we couldn’t rush into anything and settle for a less than ideal space. We knew that location and cost of rent could make or break a new business.

Another struggle was saving enough money to get the gym up and running. Between equipment, lawyer fees, build-out, etc., the cost to open shop added up quickly. Nowadays it’s damn near impossible for a new business to get a substantial loan, and we really didn’t want give up equity by bringing in an investor. It was such a blessing in disguise that we were forced to start with a small personal training studio – it gave us an additional two and a half years to save for the larger, and much more expensive, strength and conditioning facility.

Lifted Fitness – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
First and foremost, people see results when they join our gym – we know what we’re doing when it comes to designing safe and effective exercise programs. Mo and I both come from a sports performance strength and conditioning background, and we really try to take our knowledge in that field and apply it to the general population. Between all the bootcamps, barre, and spin studios, there aren’t many gyms that provide true strength training in a group setting. We designed our facility like those built to train athletes.

The environment here is another game-changer. Its high energy and welcoming. People are excited to see each other in class. We’re lucky that so many wonderful people work out here, and it gives the gym a really positive vibe. It sounds corny, but we’re most proud of the community that exists here at Lifted.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success, for me, comes down to three things. One, you need be doing something that you enjoy and that you’re passionate about. We definitely get a big charge from what we do, and it’d be tough to consider yourself successful if you dread going into work every day.

Two, the work you’re doing should have a positive impact on others. We’re very lucky to have jobs where we can hopefully make a little bit of a difference in people’s lives. There is nothing better than when we get cards or emails or texts from members saying how much better they feel since they started working out here or how happy they are to have found our gym. It never gets old.

And three, you need to be able to experience some personal and financial freedom. If you’re making a ton of money but putting in so many hours that you don’t get to spend time with friends and family and enjoy life, what’s the point? At the same time, you don’t want to be stressing every month about paying the bills. I like the term lifestyle entrepreneur – it’s not all about profits but more about the lifestyle you create for yourself.

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