An unconvetional start to a career in Health…
Growing up I was always a clumsy kid, I was never great at sport but always willing to have a go. At the age of 13, I decided that I wanted to play Rugby. I’d always played soccer and was usually the goalie (I was pretty slow and unco-ordinated on my feet). At the time My dad said to me “you’re going to have to get fit if you want to play contact sport.”
So, at my parent’s insistence I joined the local PT studio (Peak Health) under the guidance of Rob.
I still clearly remember to this day, going in for my first fitness test with Rob and not being able to do a single push up!
That was a real turning point for me in my life. I realised that I needed to improve and with some great guidance from Rob, support from my parents and the Peak Health trainers over the next 5–6 years I eventually achieved the goal id set (which didn’t seem very realistic at the time) way back when I started of playing for NSW Country in Rugby and had the great experience of touring Argentina and Uruguay with the u/18s.
Most importantly though, I’d gained self-confidence and self-esteem. I’d learnt that with hard work, some expert guidance and (eventually) some self-belief that you really can achieve things that seemed a little audacious at the outset.
After finishing school and realising that the ultimate dream (which still lingers today) of being a wallaby wasn’t very realistic I had to decide what was next…
The plan was always to go to Sydney, study economics and try my hand at Rugby. Once I realised sport was probably off the table I very quickly decided that Sydney wasn’t for me (country boy at heart).
So — my dad suggested — “Why don’t you buy the gym?”
**mind blown**
I was just finished high school and wasn’t even a qualified trainer. Let alone a business person.
To cut a long story short — I called Rob (who was probably as surprised as I was) to ask if he was willing to sell, then went on tour to Argentina/Uruguay (Rugby) through December of 2008, then finalised the deal and as of 2nd February 2009 (just 3 ½ months after finishing high school) I owned Peak Health personal training studio/gym (and a lot of debt to my parents).
I may not have had any idea of what I was doing business wise, but I had a real passion to pass on the self-confidence and self-esteem transformation I’d been through with my trainers to other people, kids and families!
The first few years were tough from a business point of view, I spent a lot of time learning (the hard way) on how to work with clients, manage a team and run a business.
I eventually got a business coach (NPE with Sean, Ric and Andre — who I know work with) and finally had some financial success (after losing plenty of mum and dads money) and through the business coach met my now business partner, Marc Seymour of Optimum Health. He helped me with the allied health side of things once I realised that the best way to help clients in our area was to focus on people who wouldn’t usually come to a gym… those with injuries, weren’t overly confident in themselves and certainly didn’t see themselves as gym goers (usually those of earlier vintages (45+) or kids/teens).
After struggling with running allied health for a while, we eventually partnered and haven’t looked back.
Marc brought considerable experience in allied health, professional sports (he worked with the Houston Rockets in the NBA and with the Brian brothers and Andy Roddick in professional tennis) and business that has helped us in 2 and a bit years grow the team to 14 physiotherapists, exercise physiologists, exercise scientists and dietitians with a couple of clinics.
Although what we do and how we do it has changed a lot… the vision has always remained the same…
Help people, families and kids finally make the lifestyle changes they need to overcome injuries, build self-confidence and self-esteem and live a happy and healthy life… just like I did!
Our mission is and has always been to enable people to live life to the fullest!
If you’re a teen, parent of a teen or just somone who would like some help… I’d love to hear from you. You can direct message me or email me at dane@opt.net.au
NB: I owe more than I care to admit to my parents, for the opportunity and encouragement to learn the hard way and the support the countless times I wanted to quit, especially in the early days! If you’ve finally figured out how to use the internet and are reading this — THANK YOU!