Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Drake.
Hi Joe, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I fell in love with fitness at an early age as a husky kid (yes, that used to be a clothing size, lol) and athlete. I was a decent athlete, but training is where I found my competitive and mental edge in life, and along the way, I realized I could actually help other people achieve the same thing.
Fast forwards and I have been a Personal Trainer and working with clients in the fitness industry for over 15 years and made my way to South Florida in 2010 to work for Florida Atlantic University. I was doing my Master’s in Exercise Science and running the gym on Campus, but always knew I was destined to do my own thing.
So I started to build up my personal brand and clientele outside of my 9-5 until I was able and ready to make the jump. I sold my car and all of my major possessions and spent all of my money and time on going to conferences, studying the industry, and connecting with the biggest names in training.
The stars aligned and I left my full-time salaried position at FAU to build up my training business with my girlfriend at the time (now wife) and less than a year later opened up a high-end boutique training studio with my business partner in East Boca.
I had also fallen in love with teaching and mentoring other trainers while I was at FAU, so around the same time we opened the gym in 2015, I also started working as an instructor for a local fitness education company.
I was teaching certification courses and helping others get started, but making next to no money off of it for years. It was a small-scale passion project in the beginning because all of my energy and time was consumed with building up our gym business, but it started to open up a lot of other doors in the fitness industry.
From 2015-2019 our gym, Gravity + Oxygen Fitness grew rapidly as a business and became a pillar in the community and a destination training location. I had the opportunity during that time to start to speak around the country and internationally at fitness industry events and conferences, write for publications, and work on projects with major industry brands like Technogym and the NSCA.
All of it solidified in my heart that although I absolutely loved (and love) training clients my purpose was to have an impact on the education and success path of other personal trainers getting started in the industry. I saw so many people with the heart and desire to help others through fitness, but the path to getting started and finding success has historically been broken, so knew I needed to be a part of creating the solution.
So in 2019, I sold my share of the gym to my partner and set out to focus on growing the Axiom Fitness Academy where my energy and time have been spent since. We are one of only a handful of places in the country where aspiring fitness professionals can take part in live hands-on courses with expert guidance during the process of getting certified.
We have been able to help more than 450+ students get started since 2015 and we are just getting started. The fitness industry can be tough when you’re getting your feet wet, but I believe so much of it has to do with how you go about getting started and who you’re surrounded by.
I was fortunate to get in early and surround myself with all of the right people and it’s allowed me and my wife to build a life and a family around something that we wake up every day excited to go do. More people deserve that life.
I met my wife in the gym. I have some of my best friends in life from this industry. I look forward to Mondays and I can’t imagine ever wanting to retire and not continue to do what I am doing now.
I am lucky to have found my life’s work and I just want others to be able to experience the same level of fulfillment, love, and financial success that I have been able to find in the fitness industry.
So that’s the mission I am on.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not! Haha! I still remember the immediate anxiety and stress when we signed the lease for our location and were on the hook for $10k a month just to keep the lights on.
Building our gym and business in the first few years took working 7 days a week, often 14-16 hours a day to get to the level of success we were having – not to mention managing people and building a team.
It was a lot. It tested my relationship, strained friendships, and more.
But looking back it was all 100% worth it and taught me an immense amount about people, what motivates them, and where I needed to grow as a person.
I have always put myself out there and take more risks than the people around me, but that also led me into getting stretched too thin. There was a point in time when I was trying to run the gym, train clients, write for the industry, travel to conferences and speak, and grow the fitness education company.
It became obvious that I was saying yes to far too many things, and doing none of them to my full potential. I was scared that I would miss out on an opportunity. It was a mentality that taught me a lot but absolutely held me back from growing any of the businesses faster early on.
Leaving the gym and selling to my partner was absolutely one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I loved and love the members there and it had become my wife and I’s community, friends, and home. Thankfully, she has always expressed unwavering support for my drive to build something special, so we both knew the only way that Axiom would ever thrive is if it became the main focus and priority.
So we did it, and it was a rough transition but absolutely the best decision I could have made. I realize now that when I find myself in those gut-wrenching and stressful situations that there is probably something amazing on the other side.
So I lean into it and embrace making the tough decision to follow through and take action. Now, I focus more than anything on saying no to more things that come my way and realize that the further you go in any industry the more opportunities that will continue to come your way.
As you know, we’re big fans of Axiom Fitness Academy. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
The Axiom Fitness Academy helps new and aspiring fitness professionals achieve long-lasting and lucrative careers through hands-on training and expert guidance.
We’ve partnered with the National Academy of Sports Medicine to provide the best hands-on personal training certification course in the industry. After decades of experience in the industry, we have built a course that teaches trainers the strategies and skills they need to succeed as certified personal trainers in just eight weeks.
Unlike most study-at-home options, all of our courses are taught by industry professionals and include the continual guidance and mentorship needed to navigate a career in fitness. Our students have higher exam passing rates, get better jobs, and learn how to avoid costly mistakes so many trainers make along the way.
Many of our students not only have long-time and successful books of clientele, but own their own facilities, and even serve as mentors now for others in the industry! We have an amazing and rapidly growing community of trainers that want to see one another succeed.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Books: – Just about anything by the Heath Brothers (Switch, Made to Stick, The Power of Moments) because of their focus on social psychology and the soft skills needed in the fitness industry.
– Ego is the Enemy, Ryan Holiday
– 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
– To Sell is Human, Daniel Pink
Podcasts: The School of Greatness, Lewis Howes
Contact Info:
- Website: www.axiomfitnessacademy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachjoedrake/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AxiomFitnessAcademy
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrcVbWs9v5ju0N7NAprvyxg
