We were lucky to catch up with Joseph Herrera recently and have shared our conversation below.
Joseph, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?
I have learned to be effective by starting off small in my career. The personal training & group fitness field was not very popular when I first started NXTLVL. So I sort of let my business grow with the times. I started NXTLVL 2004 when the internet was gaining momentum and trainers were not on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. Yelp was not the place to learn about reviews on trainers yet. Gaining new clients was done by flyers, mailers, and word of mouth. When the internet and social media marketing came along, I made it a point to try out and learn these new ways to get my business marketed. It was difficult at first, but I just stayed patient and learned from my mistakes when I made them. I just had to understand that I was in uncharted territory when social media gained more and more popularity especially with the clientele that I wanted to reach which were the ones looking for fitness.
These days, almost all marketing is done online and rarely on flyers or the phonebook. If you are looking for a personal trainer, fitness bootcamp, or CrossFit gym, you simply Google or Yelp them. I was fortunate enough to have the patience to have my business on almost all platforms of marketing online.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My name is Joseph Herrera and I grew up in Orange County, California. I have been a in the fitness business as a personal trainer and gym owner for over 2 decades. I own a gym with my friend and business partner Conway Ai, called NXTLVL Sport and Fitness in La Habra, California. We have been open since 2004 and will have our 20 year anniversary next year in 2024. Our gym is a hybrid gym that has group fitness classes, personal training, and also rent space to over 20 private coaches that use our gym to train their own private clients. It has been so awesome to see my business grow over the past 20 years. I first started off in a small 700 square foot facility and since then have 12x the size I first started off at. But having my business change from just me training in the small space with maybe 12 to 15 personal training clients to now having over 500 members combined with my coaches come into my gym is so awesome! It gives me so much please to change so many thousands of lives throughout my training career.
One day I was even talking with my wife Heather and I told that NXTLVL is bigger than me. Meaning, I have so many other awesome coaches and trainers inside my gym that make up NXTLVL. Coaches of mine have their businesses thriving and clients that love coming into my gym that NXTLVL runs itself. Before, I would be the one to open and close the business, but now its nice that I don’t have to be there all the time to make sure it is taken care of because I have coaches like Chow, Frank, Simeon, Stephen, Jack, Asher, Ziad, Lily, Neil, David, Daniel, Emerald, Abraham, and Greg that will take care of the gym without me or Conway there.
Conway and I hope that NXTLVL will be something my kids will be proud to come to when they are older and if they want, continue the legacy that we built. Plans for the future are to hopefully open up another location and continue to change people lives.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three most important qualities, skills, and knowledge that I feel one needs to go through my journey are patience, sales skills, and true grit. You have to be patient when you own your own business. There are going to be ups and downs, but if you understand that it is normal to hit speed bumps and have slow months in the fitness field like the summer and holiday, you will be fine. When there is a slow period in my business, I tend to make sure I learn better skills in marketing or sales that help me be prepared for when opportunities come my way.
The art of sales is very important in my journey of having my own business. A trainer can look the part, and have the best training program around, but having the skill of selling to the client is how the trainer gets paid. If they are weak in sales, then the client might look for another trainer. I was lucky enough to have learned a lot of sales skills from my days at La Fitness working for Bedros Keuilian, who is now a multi millionaire that still coaches business men and women to this day. I also have a habit of listening to motivational sales videos on Youtube on my 10 min drive to work almost every morning at 5am.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I would love to collaborate with folks that want to start their own NXTLVL for themselves. I am now to the point where I would love to coach the next successful gym business owner to help them build from the ground up. I have over 2 decades of knowledge and have a lot of things I can teach the next generation. I have been asked to open up locations out of state or even at my birth country Philippines. But I would be more interested in mentoring or coaching the next Joe Herrera to become successful.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nxtlvlsport.com
- Instagram: nxtlvlsportandfitness
- Facebook: Joseph Herrera
- Linkedin: Joseph Herrera
- Twitter: nxtlvljoe
- Youtube: nxtlvljoe
- Yelp: nxtlvl sport and fitness
Image Credits
NXTLVL members, My beautiful wife Heather and kids Logan, Jasmin, Ava, and Troy. My mom Vivian and brother Giz.
