Meet Barrie
When Barrie started working with FBDA in 2019, there were parts of his business that were working — but some of the financial decisions he had made weren’t quite right.
He was also putting an enormous amount of time into running the business.
Days could stretch to 16 or 18 hours, and work didn’t stop when the weekend arrived. Saturdays and Sundays could be consumed by the business too.
For Barrie, building a better business ultimately became about more than simply improving the numbers.
He wanted a business that could give him a better life outside of work too.
The Challenge
Barrie recognised that he needed a better understanding of the financial side of his business.
Learning how to use the numbers correctly gave him a clearer way to work backwards from the business and lifestyle he wanted to create.
Rather than simply continuing to work harder, he could start planning with an end goal in mind.
“Learning about the numbers and how important they are when they're used correctly has enabled me to reverse engineer my business backwards to the point where I wanted it to be.”
That shift helped Barrie move towards something that had previously felt like a “dream lifestyle” — until eventually, that lifestyle became his normal.
What Changed
Working with FBDA gave Barrie a clearer understanding of his numbers and a more structured way to think about where the business was heading.
One of the tools he highlights is the Optic Sheets.
Barrie compares using them to creating a good training programme for a client: first decide where you want to get to, then plan the journey required to reach it.
For the business, that means looking ahead, planning for the future and reducing the likelihood of unexpected issues disrupting the journey.
“Use them to predict kind of where you want to be in the future so that you can plan your journey.”
Bringing the Team Into the Vision
The changes weren’t limited to Barrie’s own understanding of the business.
For a long time, Barrie had attended the coaching sessions himself and was responsible for taking what he learned back into the business.
He recognised that he probably wasn’t always sharing that information effectively.
That changed when Josh became involved in the coaching.
Having Nicky coaching alongside them helped Josh develop a better understanding of the business, while Barrie began sharing the vision and planning tools more effectively.
“When I started sharing the vision that was in there with Josh, the shared optic sheets, the shared vision for the business, it was a game changer a few years ago for my business.”
For Barrie, getting key people aligned around the same vision was a significant turning point.
The Results
The biggest result for Barrie can be seen in what his working life looks like today.
Through better financial understanding, planning and a shared vision for the business, Barrie describes:
- Moving away from routinely working 16–18-hour days.
- No longer spending every Saturday and Sunday working all day.
- Working primarily during the week rather than being tied to the business seven days a week.
- Being able to take his children to school in the morning and pick them up afterwards.
- Spending significantly more time with his wife and children.
- Developing a clearer understanding of the business numbers.
- Using forward planning to work towards defined future goals.
- Creating a shared vision with Josh and improving his understanding of the business.
Perhaps the clearest measure of success is Barrie’s own description of the change:
“Dream lifestyle became the normal lifestyle, and then we reassessed and reset new goals.”
Building a Business Around the Life You Want
Barrie’s experience highlights why understanding the numbers isn’t only about increasing revenue or profit.
For him, greater financial understanding helped create the foundations for a different way of running the business.
Instead of the business requiring his attention virtually 24/7, he has been able to create more space for his family and establish clearer boundaries around his working week.
And once the lifestyle he had originally been working towards became normal, he could reassess and set new goals.
What This Means for Other Fitness Business Owners
Barrie’s story is particularly relevant to fitness business owners who have built something they’re proud of but still feel permanently tied to it.
Working longer hours isn’t necessarily the only route to improving a business.
For Barrie, understanding the numbers, knowing where he wanted the business to go and creating a structured plan to get there helped him work towards something equally important: more freedom from the business he had built.
His advice to another fitness business owner in the position he was in back in 2019 is to get clarity on where the business is now, where they want it to be in the future and what needs to happen between those two points.
Find Out More About FBDA
Experience a Complimentary FBDA Coaching Session. We don’t want to sell you into a coaching programme that isn’t right for you. Instead, we’d love you to experience how FBDA coaching actually works before you make any decisions.
We’ll take the time to understand your business, where you want to go, and what might be holding you back. You’ll experience real FBDA coaching, leave with greater clarity on your next steps, and get a feel for how we could help move your business forward.
Then we can both decide if working together feels like the right fit.
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