Brendon Levenson, founder of the Jetts Fitness franchise, has been named Ernst & Young Emerging Australian Entrepreneur of the Year.
Jetts has grown more than 200 percent year-on-year, to include a network of more than 190 Jetts clubs across Australia and New Zealand, servicing 200,000 members.
The 33-year-old Queenslander and his wife Cristy launched the Jetts 24/7, contract free, low cost gym membership structure in 2007, with just $40,000 in capital and a bank overdraft.
Levenson then franchised the business in 2008 with the dream of opening a club within eight minutes of 80 percent of Australians.
He said his core drive is shaping the business around the customer, giving them the freedom of choice to work out on their terms.
“Customers have voted with their feet and the number of 24/7 gyms to follow Jetts’ lead is a testament to the success of this insight,” Levenson said.
How it all started
Levenson was raised by a single mother and followed the path of many entrepreneurs when he decided to drop out of university and start his own business in his early 20s.
After convincing his grandmother to lend him some money, he started a personal training business, purchased a gym and began developing the blueprint of what is today a business forecasted to turnover $120 million in revenue this financial year.
“If you create and maintain an outstanding value proposition for your customer, which also works commercially, then you have the foundations for a great company,” he said.
There is further international expansion planned for 2013. “I could never have imaged in 2007 we would be taking the business internationally in just six years time,” Levenson said.
“As entrepreneurs, our ideas remain as only ideas without the ongoing efforts of a great team.”
Four top tips
Levenson has some advice for budding entrepreneurs:
- Have a bold vision to makes a real dent in the world
- Maintain a relentless hunger to see your vision through
- Focus on fanatical discipline in everything you do
- Make sure there is a real purpose behind your brand, as a brand without purpose is not a brand for long.