I went to a CrossFit around the corner from me in Twickenham, and they were using TeamUp so I signed up using TeamUp and I was like, this is so easy I need to bring this into Bootcamp. So that's where I went. And if I'm honest, it was probably the best decision just to keep the business alive, really.
My name is James and basically, I set up The Fitness Game back in two 2013, so a while ago now, but at the time when I set it up, it was just kind of, it was just an idea. I was working at a local health club and I sort of just had it as a little side project while working as a full-time trainer at the local gym. I then, basically, when was it 2017, I basically just decided being in the gym and I wanted to venture out and do my own thing after just a long time doing the gym hours, doing the normal classes for the health club, gym maintenance, all that kind of thing. And you know how it is you do it for many years and then you feel like it's time to try something else. So 2017 I bought, no 2016, I put a little white van. It didn't even have any branding it was just a white VW Caddy. And I basically just filled it up with equipment and set up a Bootcamp at a local park.
Then I started just building that up. And then it was 2017 where I was like, there's an idea here. Um, maybe I should look at getting a van that I can actually fold out into more of a gym so I could put like a rig on the top with pull up bars and hang TRXs and rings all of this sort of stuff off the van. I didn't realize the impact was actually going to bring, if I'm honest, when I first set it up, I just got a bigger van and some more, uh, some more ideas to bring to the training because obviously in the park you are restricted because it's just you in the outside. So then I started filling it up with kettlebells. I was filling it up with a couple of squat racks that had barbells and it just started growing really. And that's where I am today.
So it was literally just a small van into then a second van and now we're running fifteen classes a week all outside. It's just me at the moment and no one else there's no one else involved. I have a couple of freelance yoga teachers that come down and they do yoga classes for our members. But part of that it's just me. I used to just pull up at the park and I had a small book that I used to sign people in and I had a small box. And people would turn up and pay their drop-in fee and we trained. And then it started getting to the point where it was it wasn't manageable to keep on top of everyone's session.
Some started to say, is there a way that we can do a membership? I started thinking to myself, how can I do a membership and make sure that everyone's doing that, for example, like a pack of ten, how can I keep on top of like twenty-five people and know when they come in and when they haven't trained. I went to a CrossFit around the corner from me in Twickenham, and they were using TeamUp so I signed up using TeamUp and I was like, this is so easy I need to bring this into Bootcamp. So that's where I went. And if I'm honest, it was probably the best decision just to keep the business alive, really.
And so as soon as COVID, I thought right I got to get a little gym so I cleared this little shed out and I converted this into like a small studio. So it's now actually like a little gym. It used to be full of junk. So I was like, right, let me clear this shed out. I've matted the floor. I've thrown a few bits of kit. I've got my camera set up. And then I was like, right, how does this work with TeamUp. And then TeamUp then sent through a lot of information about how it's going to be integrated with Zoom, um, which if I'm honest, the way it works when people book in they get an email sent through with the link and then I've just got to be waiting in my set up, let everyone into the meeting.
It was such a smooth transition. I didn't ever find I had many teething problems with it. It was amazing how easy it was for customers just to basically carry on doing what they were doing, but just getting a different way of entering into this into the session. My best pal, he's got a coaching company and he was like, how do I do my booking? So I told him all about TeamUp and now he's actually set up with you guys, I think it must have been about six months ago now. So he's now running all of his bookings through you guys. So yeah, I would recommend TeamUp definitely.
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