Joe Rouse (00:06.702)
All right, welcome to the Brotherhood Beyond Business podcast. This is a space where we are building more than just businesses. We like to talk to guys who own businesses, but they care about their health, their families, their discipline, their faith, and that legacy that they're creating. Today I got Dwayne July on here. He's the owner of Fit by July. More importantly, Dwayne just had his first daughter, which is probably one of the most life-changing things that can happen that I can relate to.

Dwayne (00:34.176)
Yep.

Joe Rouse (00:35.598)
Dwayne's an entrepreneur. He's built something that goes beyond just workouts, but he's an owner. He's created something where he's the CEO of his life. And we want to dive into some of that stuff today, but today is hopefully going to get into more like what is Dwayne as a man, how he thinks as an entrepreneur and what he's learned along the way. So Dwayne, I appreciate you taking the time today, man. Thank you.

Dwayne (00:58.94)
Absolutely, man. I appreciate you having me on

Joe Rouse (01:02.036)
So I've known Dwayne for, it's probably been close to 10 years now that we've known each other. And you're in Connecticut, right?

Dwayne (01:09.383)
Yeah. Yeah, we probably, yeah, probably a little bit more than 10 because my wife and I have been married for 10. So I was with FR when I met my wife. So it has to be more than 10.

Joe Rouse (01:22.124)
Yeah, and we met, it the first event we met at, was that in South Carolina at Vaughan's Place?

Dwayne (01:25.597)
It was at Vaughan's place, yeah.

Joe Rouse (01:28.172)
Yeah, we used to have some good times. Yeah, I've slept in a bed beside Dwayne in a hotel. All kinds of stuff. So, Dwayne, what's let's let we'll dive right into it, man. My main focus is I just want to learn the coolest thing about this. I did the same thing with Trevor.

Dwayne (01:30.633)
We had some good times.

Right. I've snored beside you. All kinds of stuff, man.

Dwayne (01:48.171)
store.

Joe Rouse (01:54.122)
I've done this with other people that I know. And the most fun part of it for me is that I end up learning things about people I've known for 10 years that I didn't know. So that's exciting for me. So, I mean, let's go to the beginning. Let's say you're not a business owner yet, or you don't own Fit by July yet. So first, I know your last name is July, but how did you come up with the name Fit by July? And we talked about this and it's been a while since we talked about this, but.

Dwayne (02:01.759)
Right, right, right.

Dwayne (02:13.469)
Okay.

Dwayne (02:21.631)
Man, yeah, so I was in the shower. I was in the shower one day and I was just like trying to throw names around. And I was like.

You know, every time someone would say that my last name is unique, they've never heard it before. So I was like, I got to play something on that. And then, you know, most people want to get fit by the summertime. So I was just like, yeah, this it just it just fits. It just fits. So fit by July. I was in the I was in the shower and just came to me and I was like, that's it. I like that is it. Yeah, man.

Joe Rouse (02:42.734)
Mm-hmm.

Joe Rouse (02:46.616)
That's it.

Joe Rouse (02:52.302)
Get good ideas in the shower,

So, before you... What were you doing before you opened Fit by July?

Dwayne (03:02.987)
So I was working at a big box. So up here, it's a New York sports club. like, they have a, it was a franchise of Boston, New York, Philly and Washington. But I was in Connecticut in one of the franchise locations in the New York sports club. And I was just like, you know, doing training.

Joe Rouse (03:06.743)
Okay.

Dwayne (03:29.939)
And I didn't see myself going much further than where I was. was already top the top level as to where we can go in the company for training for training at least. And then I was just like, you know, do I make a lateral move and go to a different big box or do I go on my own? And then I started doing the numbers and I was just like, you know, if I take this amount of clients or this amount of clients come with me, you know, would I be able to start to pay rent and like take care of my overhead?

with expenses and I started crunching those numbers and I was like, I could probably do this. And you know, as an entrepreneur, know, the sky's really the limit once you're working for yourself. It kind of all depends on how hard you're willing to work to make it thrive. So yeah, that's where I was. And I didn't wanna be trading, you know.

my hours anymore. as an entrepreneur, my model is a little bit different than just personal training. So we're semi private. So we're six to one. So it gives me the ability to train more people in the same, you know, one, well, it was one hour block, but now we're going 45 minute blocks. So yeah, that's just been, it's just been great.

Joe Rouse (04:34.926)
Mm-hmm.

Joe Rouse (04:44.174)
Good deal.

Do you remember back then, so this would have been a while ago now, but do you remember, you didn't have kids at this point before you had Fit by July or you did?

Dwayne (04:57.663)
Now I had my oldest son, so my oldest son is in college now. He's about to be a senior in college, is crazy. Yeah, so I think like when I had my son, I had him when I was still in college. So I was like working, was bouncing at night. I was working in clubs and you know.

Joe Rouse (05:02.05)
Yeah. In a while.

Joe Rouse (05:13.548)
Mm-hmm.

Dwayne (05:17.469)
some enforcement stuff had happened like within the same weekend at both the jobs that I was working at. And I was just like, yeah, this is just God's sign telling me this ain't the place for you. So I got out of that and then I was like, you know, let me get into training. And I was finishing up my senior year and then I had an opportunity to go try out for some teams like California and Canada. And I wanted to work out.

Joe Rouse (05:27.159)
Okay.

Joe Rouse (05:42.424)
Okay.

Dwayne (05:45.515)
And I didn't have the funds to work out because I had a kid at this point. So I was just like, let me go work at the gym. I know how to work out. I've always been strong. So I was like, let me go work at the gym and started that. And that's kind of how it all started.

Joe Rouse (06:00.332)
How long did you do that? How long were you just a personal trainer?

Dwayne (06:04.427)
Oh man, started in 2005, which is the start of my senior year, right after my son was born. My son was born August 4th. So right after my son was born, I started working as a trainer and then I went out on my own in 2011. Yeah, so about six years.

Joe Rouse (06:27.726)
Okay. you fit fit by just so you, you're in the shower. So you know, you want to go out on your own. You crunch the numbers and you're in a shower one day. You got your name now. Um, what, how many of those, did you, did you start it with enough clients to like break even? Did you like coming with you from New York sports club or whatever, you know, I mean, did that happen or did you go into it?

Dwayne (06:36.714)
Yeah.

Joe Rouse (06:56.03)
not sure exactly like how long it was going to take you to do that.

Dwayne (07:00.019)
All right, so this part you probably don't know. So I had a really good client of mine and she took a liking to me and she came to me one day and I was doing her at home. So outside of the gym, I was kind of going to her house and training her. And she came to me one day, she was like, Dwayne, she was really the reason why it even popped into my head.

because I was, I'd been thinking about going to another gym because another gym was open. It was newer than the club that I was at. So I was like, I'm thinking about going. She was like, why are you doing that? And so I started thinking about doing it on my own. And then when I made the decision, she was like, Hey, I'm going to gift you $50,000. So yeah, yeah. So, so, so, yeah. So she, she gifted me 50,000. So when I came in, I got,

Joe Rouse (07:30.68)
Mm-hmm.

Joe Rouse (07:47.365)
my gosh. my gosh.

Dwayne (07:55.283)
I've never had to rent equipment. I've never had to lease equipment. I've always had all the equipment I have. I own it straight out. So I had a little bit of a cushion when I started, but I also had enough clients that came over with me to maintain itself. Right. So it.

It was scary, but it wasn't as scary as most people would feel going into it with nothing. Like I had a really good client of mine that said, I believe in you and this is not alone. I want to give it to you. So that was, yeah.

Joe Rouse (08:35.778)
Man, that's awesome. I think that's how lot of businesses start though. Like people, people have other people that believe in them and those people are at a position in their life where they want to give back or they want to mentor or they want to help somebody else because that's where their fulfillment comes from at that point in life. You you read about it, right? Like certain decades, like your priorities change and that's, that's a cool story though. Either that or maybe she just had a really big tax deduction issue that she needed. She needed to rid of some money, but.

Dwayne (08:46.272)
Yeah.

Dwayne (08:52.479)
Yeah, and you know...

Dwayne (09:05.035)
I mean...

Joe Rouse (09:05.292)
But gift, mean, that's cool, man. So hold on, you gotta walk me through this. Are you in her house training her one-on-one? And then does she wait till like the end of the session or are you like, all right, we got, you're on number eight, let's keep going, nine, 10. And she's like, I want to give you $50,000.

Dwayne (09:11.231)
Yes, I'm in her house training her one on one.

Dwayne (09:22.411)
She's on the bike. She's on the bike. cooling her. She's cooling down and I'm sitting beside her on a bench and we're just kind of just talking, you know? And, you know, she was well off. She was well off. Yeah, she was well off. like $50,000 to her was probably like 50 cents to us, you know? But yeah, so she was very well off. Her husband wasn't...

Joe Rouse (09:24.417)
Okay.

Yeah.

Joe Rouse (09:35.718)
Yeah, clearly, yeah.

Dwayne (09:48.891)
He was a partner at a hedge fund, so they were well off. And so she was just like, you know, I see what you're doing. I like how you train. I like your professionalism. You don't ever miss. You don't ever show up late. You always treat me with respect. So she was like, when I see that, I appreciate it. And I think you should go out on your own. And she's just like, and I want to help.

She spit out number to me and I sat back for a second because I was like, this is crazy. And what's even crazier was, so she would pay me at the end of the week, right? So I would train her four days in a week and then she would pay me at the end of the week. And so that Friday when I go to her house, that was like, this is probably like maybe a Tuesday. That Friday when I go to her house, she hands me a check. She says, hey, I'm going to give you half now and then half in about three weeks.

Joe Rouse (10:19.374)
as well.

Dwayne (10:43.421)
So she hands me the $25,000 check and she hands me my payment for that week. And I was like, this is crazy. So even though she was giving me that, eventually 50,000, she was still paying me to train her. Yeah, yeah, so it was really dope. It was really dope.

Joe Rouse (10:48.269)
huh.

Joe Rouse (10:54.157)
Yeah.

Joe Rouse (11:01.218)
Yeah, paying you for your services too.

Joe Rouse (11:07.49)
Man, what a sign to just get on and go for it, man. Like, and have somebody believe in you that much.

Dwayne (11:11.179)
Yeah, once I had that $25,000 check, now I can't back out, right? Now I can't be just talking to you, but now I gotta just do it.

Joe Rouse (11:17.324)
No, no, no, you got to do it. Nah, cause it takes extra work just to get that to go in the bank. They'll hold it and all that stuff.

Dwayne (11:23.721)
Yeah, yeah, so to hold it and to be, and to actually be like responsible with it, right? Cause to have like a big lump sum of that, like that you know you don't have to pay back that nothing's gonna come out. Like it was, it was definitely something that made me say, right, like this is definitely a sign. Like I've got to do, I got to do what I set out, what I've been talking about doing for so long, you know? So yeah.

Joe Rouse (11:49.069)
Man, I can relate somewhat. My grandfather really gave me my start. He probably helped me to that level, just not by like over the years. He didn't give me a check, but he gave me a spot rent free for three months. And then my rent wasn't, but like 500 bucks a month in that little spot after that for a while. And he helped me buy some equipment to start with. We bought a squat rack from somebody's garage.

Dwayne (11:59.989)
Yep.

Joe Rouse (12:16.718)
It's just having somebody in your corner like that, man, when you're starting a business. I'm sure you do. I hope to be able to do something like that for somebody one day. You know what I mean? Maybe the thought is, OK, my kids are all doing great. Now I want to pay this forward to somebody else that I believe in that I think can do this.

Dwayne (12:27.083)
Absolutely,

Dwayne (12:39.403)
Yep, yep. And you know, like, as much as they may think, or you may thank them enough, you know, you don't ever feel like you've repaid it enough, right? Because, yeah, like, she's, I have a little corner in our gym for her still, you know, even like...

Joe Rouse (12:52.29)
Yeah.

Joe Rouse (12:58.36)
That's where I was gonna go next. So that would have been over 10 years. How long has Fit by July been open?

Dwayne (13:05.483)
Yeah, so we're 15 years now. We're 15 years now. So we opened up, incorporated, we incorporated November of 2010 and we opened in 2011. Yeah.

Joe Rouse (13:08.759)
Okay.

Joe Rouse (13:22.72)
Okay, so and she still comes to your gym where it's at now.

Dwayne (13:26.699)
No, no, so she's they moved to Italy. They're in Italy now. Yeah, they're they're they're no longer here, but we still keep in contact. Yeah, we still keep in contact. Her daughter was like this is like. Like real deep ties like her daughter, I remember her daughter when her daughter was like nine, I just saw her daughter jump in the Olympics this year like our last year. Yeah, like it's it's it's it's it's been deep. It's been deep. Yeah, it's lifelong, so.

Joe Rouse (13:29.921)
Okay, of course.

Joe Rouse (13:49.404)
wow.

Joe Rouse (13:53.134)
It's lifelong now. It's like family almost.

Dwayne (13:56.425)
Yeah, yeah, like we they should bring us out to to the Hamptons on the weekends like it's just really good people really good people that just wanted to like just help someone else because they've been fortunate enough to to you know be in a position that they were in so yeah it's just been it's just yeah I'll never forget her I'll never forget her

Joe Rouse (14:16.119)
Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rouse (14:21.55)
All right, so Fit by July is going, let's say it's been a few years, like was there a time early on where, like maybe it's a few more kids in, or was there a time early on where you were doubting your decision at all, or you had like a significant hurdle to overcome?

Dwayne (14:25.28)
Yep.

Dwayne (14:42.539)
Not really early on because I you know, just head down I think early on it was just it was just the the issues of being a one-man shop, know So having to be there all the time or you know wanted to go network and not being able to go network the way you wanted to Go into events like we were like we were at you know Not being able to do that because you were one man shop. You couldn't have your place covered like

Another story that you probably don't know is like my dad died on a Friday night and my dad got hit by a train. So I don't know if you guys know that. My dad got hit by a train and like I had to go to work on Saturday, you know? like, yeah. So like stuff like that, you know what mean? So it just,

Joe Rouse (15:25.707)
Didn't know that.

Joe Rouse (15:35.288)
That's a hard, yeah, that would be something hard to go through. I can't even imagine,

Dwayne (15:38.301)
Right. So, yeah, so it's just like when you're a one man shop, you can't you can't you can't have any off days, right? When you have like, like now I have staff I can be on this podcast with you now. Yeah, I have staff I don't have to worry about it. My guys are super reliable. So I don't have to worry about that. So I can be on here. But like early days being a one man shop trying to

sift through all the people who are going to apply to the position and then having to sift through those people who aren't going to actually pan out them, you know, getting into or getting getting starting relationships with clients, not like not like sexually or anything like that. But like, does the clients get to know them and building bonds and then them bouncing, you know, like those things were hard. But then nothing really. think the first

The first real hurdle we are questioned, is this going to last with COVID? But that was nine years in. That was nine years in. yeah.

Joe Rouse (16:39.276)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

What got business coaching with FR? Did you work with anybody before that? how, I mean, that would have been a few years into the business. like, what led to that happening?

Dwayne (17:00.049)
Joe Rouse (17:01.55)
Like, did something happen? Did you meet somebody? Did you just click on a link? Like, I always tell them, my story is like, I did a 30 day trial and if you didn't cancel before the end of the 30 day trial, you were locked into 12 months. And of course I didn't cancel before the end of the 30 day trial, cause I forgot, cause I was younger and not paying attention. And from then on, it was like, all right, you gotta do what we gotta do now. All right, is there live meetings? How do I do this? How do I get the most out of this?

Dwayne (17:07.208)
I just clicked on links.

Dwayne (17:14.571)
Mm-hmm.

Yup.

Dwayne (17:30.474)
Yep.

Joe Rouse (17:31.692)
Like how did you get into business coaching or having a business coach, getting the accountability that you provided for your clients, like getting that for your business and why?

Dwayne (17:40.245)
Well, I, well, when I, me being a one man shop, knew that that wasn't where I wanted to be. I knew I wanted to have staff. knew I wanted to have like a viable business. So, wanted to make sure that I started taking the steps to start building that business, right?

Joe Rouse (17:48.483)
Mm-hmm.

Dwayne (18:06.953)
And know I didn't know enough to be able to do that on my own. So I started getting these e-books and these courses online through FR, through PAT. And yeah, I started consuming those. And I was like, yeah, let me see what this is about. And then they had an event in Louisville. And I went, and I was like,

That's where I met like seven figure Sam back back in back in the day. Bay drills was there the first time I went. It's like some of these big names in fitness. And I was like, yeah, I went there thinking I was making $100,000 a year and I was like, I'm big shit. And then I see what people are actually making. I was like, I know we're close. So that's when I was like, I got to I got to get somebody to help me get there.

Joe Rouse (19:05.206)
Yeah, man. And then how long were you with, so you were with FR, you were getting business coaching, like one-on-one coaching, and then maybe you went to some meetings, but how long was it before you got into a group, like a specific group of other business owners? Or like what led to that?

Dwayne (19:22.283)
believe us.

I believe it was like three years before. think we started, I think we started our group in like 2014, maybe 13, 14. Yeah.

Joe Rouse (19:29.07)
Mm-hmm.

Joe Rouse (19:41.774)
See, I opened in 13, I think. Yeah, I opened in 13, so it was probably like 14 to 15, somewhere in there.

Dwayne (19:49.163)
It was like 14, yeah. was the end of 14, early 15 that we started. Yeah, and that's when I went into FR's, the mentorship program.

Joe Rouse (20:03.256)
Yeah, into the mat. once you got into a group of, I mean, we just happened to be a group of guys for the most part at that time and that was just by chance. But once you got into that group, do you feel like anything changed for you? What were some, why was that a good thing for your business? Or for you, for you and the business, I guess.

Dwayne (20:05.812)
It's a mass of my head.

Dwayne (20:11.594)
Yep.

Dwayne (20:26.039)
from, for me personally, just seeing other guys, you know, trying to strive to do what I was also trying to do or, or having someone, a few people that were already where I wanted to be, and still trying to be better, you know, I think that was, that was more motivating to me than anything. and then, and then when you, when you really sit back and look,

at it, was just like, you know, just having another level of accountability. Because when you're a one man shop, you're the only person holding yourself accountable to anything. you know, having a group of other guys like, hey, are you getting yourself done? Are you doing these things? I think those were the biggest benefits to me. There was there were some things that I felt we could have done better at in our F.R. But, you know.

Joe Rouse (21:20.846)
Mm-hmm.

What were some things, what was something that was like missing? What was something that you think would have helped you back then that maybe you didn't have?

Dwayne (21:31.819)
So I think like when, so you know that I'm currently with another coach and coaching. I'm with Jim Lodge here. So the one thing, yeah, all right, cool. So what I found with Jim Lodge is that Jim Lodge gives you the answers. They're like, hey, here's a play, go run it. Where I felt like at first they were like, so what do you think you're gonna do with this? How do you feel you should go about it? And I was just like,

Joe Rouse (21:39.17)
Yeah, yeah, you were with Jim Launch now, right? Yeah. We can talk about everything, man. I'm not worried about it. Yeah.

Dwayne (22:01.503)
I'm not paying for me to answer the questions. Like, I don't know the answers to questions why it's why I want a mentorship program. And I feel like, I feel like not looking back at it, the mastermind group for FR probably got launched prematurely, probably got launched a little early and

Joe Rouse (22:04.142)
Mm-hmm.

Dwayne (22:25.695)
They didn't really know how to go about it because it was a lot of us asking ourselves questions or asking each other questions who were.

Also trying to figure out what what the plan was that for their business to go to go versus like now coming into gym launch It's like they're like, hey, here's how you here's the play. Here's how you run ads We're gonna run we're actually gonna run ads for you. Here's how you nurture that lead. Here's how you bring them in the door here's how you sell here's how you sell this program to them and Yeah, that's That's much different. They do everything they do everything for us so

Joe Rouse (23:00.194)
Yeah, yeah.

think back then we all thought we were a bigger deal than we were. For sure, you know what mean? Like we just didn't know what we didn't know. But there wasn't as much of it happening back. You know, there wasn't as much of it happening back then either. It's interesting to have, go ahead.

Dwayne (23:06.027)
Absolutely, absolutely. We didn't know, right? You don't know what you don't know.

Dwayne (23:19.115)
What's actually funny is, would see Jim Lodge ads. I was like, are clowns. There was actually one point at time, bro, that I reached out to I reached out to Pat and I was like, yo, this Jim Lodge place keeps reaching out to me, man. I don't know. What do you think of it? He was like, they're a scam.

Joe Rouse (23:30.051)
Yes.

Joe Rouse (23:45.836)
Yeah

Dwayne (23:46.345)
You think? Yeah, I have an email. I probably can find it. I have an email. was like, yeah, they're a scam. Dope, dope. And I was just like, I wrote them off for like years. yeah, like, I don't know. Maybe I ended with FR during COVID or right after. Like, yeah, I ended with FR during COVID because I was stressing. I was stressing and I was just like.

Joe Rouse (23:51.864)
Yeah.

Joe Rouse (24:12.12)
Yeah.

Dwayne (24:14.367)
Bro, yeah, y'all aren't giving me the answers that I need like I can't keep doing this. I can't keep talking about like What what I can't keep asking these questions without having the answers cuz I didn't know the answers I didn't like I guess nobody did Nobody knew the answer at that point. You know I'm saying so

Joe Rouse (24:31.18)
Yeah, at that point I don't think.

Yeah, we were definitely figuring it out during COVID.

Dwayne (24:36.703)
We're figuring it out. you know, and then and then again like Jim launch popped up again and they were just like, hey, we're running this hybrid model where people train from home. And I was like.

I never thought about that, but I was like, that makes sense. If people are home, why are we not training people from home? And yeah, it was just like, just a lot of things that just kind of aligned. And then Danny, I saw an ad with Danny from Gym Lawns and I was like, I hit Danny, but I was like, hey Danny, what do you really think about this place? And he was like, yeah, did a real deal. And yeah, I was sold after that.

Joe Rouse (24:51.246)
Mm-hmm.

Joe Rouse (25:03.373)
Mm-hmm.

Joe Rouse (25:14.616)
How long have you been working with GymLaunch?

Dwayne (25:17.327)
I'm starting my third year. I'm starting my third year now. Yes, so they are

Joe Rouse (25:19.438)
Okay. How is business these days? So are you doing things significantly different now that you work with a different company? we don't even have to be specific to a company. just what's post-COVID, what's business like these days?

Dwayne (25:37.801)
Man, so, so it's been amazing, bro. It's been amazing. I've had, which I never thought I've had $50,000 a month in my business, you know? Yeah, you know, so that's been, that's been crazy, right? I had four, I have four people that work for me now. I'm, I go into sell, but really nothing else really.

Joe Rouse (25:50.409)
Yeah.

Dwayne (26:06.431)
Like I'll do like little things like we have this soccer team that we that we train and that I do that because I just enjoy working with the kids. Yeah, man, it's it's there's a structure. There's a structure and there's a rhythm to how business should look and how business should be run that I have now where I didn't have before.

And with GymLaunch, what I find is that they're always trying to innovate. I'm doing something now with them where we're trying to play with how the nurture goes, how we nurture our clients. Because they're always trying different things. They're always trying different things. So it just makes life easy. It makes life easy working with them.

Joe Rouse (26:51.694)
So what's life like now?

more successful in the business, what about, how old are you now? 42, so, I'll be, yeah, I'll be 41 in March. What are you thinking about? I mean, you just had a daughter. What are you thinking about these days? What's changed inside DeWayne's head? Are your priorities any different?

Dwayne (26:59.787)
42. I'm gonna be 42 this year. I'm gonna be 42. Yep.

Dwayne (27:12.233)
Mm-hmm.

Alright.

Dwayne (27:21.163)
I mean, my priority has always been about like being able to make sure my kids are good. So some moves that I've been able to make coming out of COVID, because during COVID there was not gonna be a move to be made. So I remember us talking about.

Joe Rouse (27:35.789)
Mm-hmm.

Dwayne (27:40.235)
back before COVID that we're that my brother and I were trying to buy a building in Baltimore. Do you remember that? All right. So we actually we actually got the building. So right now, yes, we got the building, which is we have nine we have nine commercial storefronts and then we have 24 residential apartments upstairs. So that's that's been cranking. Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rouse (27:45.474)
I remember. Yep.

Yes.

Joe Rouse (28:01.518)
That's work, dude. That's a lot of people that, I mean, that's, you got all 24 of them rented out up top and then you got nine stores off.

Dwayne (28:08.03)
So all 24 aren't rented yet We have 21 rented and then we've been doing renovations on on all the apartments the apartments weren't weren't weren't in great shape, but now now they are So we have that and then recently we just bought it We just bought another building which was a it was a it was a furniture store

Joe Rouse (28:14.871)
Okay.

Joe Rouse (28:27.682)
Mm-hmm.

Dwayne (28:28.059)
old furniture store and it's four levels each level has like 6,400 square feet which is crazy so we just got that we haven't started renovating that yet but we're looking to get to turn that into bottom floor we're looking to do a dispensary on there and then we don't know what we're to do upstairs yet but yeah so we bought we bought two buildings since since we last

Joe Rouse (28:51.512)
So how do you guys get into that? What led you to that? Are you guys equal partners? Do you get investors? And now that, well, I'll have another question after, but yeah, we'll start there.

Dwayne (29:02.357)
So.

Yeah, so on the first building, on the first building, I'm a 20 % owner. We had other investors come in to help us because it was a big buy. It was a 2.2 million. It was a 2.2 million dollar. It was 2.2 million. So it was a 2.2 million.

Joe Rouse (29:14.414)
It's a big building. How much was it? Okay. Man, that's not bad though for 2.2 million. I mean, I guess it just depends on where you're buying and what the market, because that was a little while back.

Dwayne (29:25.563)
It was oh, so we bought we've had the building off like 221 maybe and so the reason why we bought the building like so and I kind of explained this to you back in the day but not in great detail, but basically

Every city, every state has these things called opportunity zones. In the first Trump-like administration, they basically said, we want to start building up these distressed areas and neighborhoods. So the building that we bought is an opportunity zone. I mean, the

Joe Rouse (29:47.143)
yeah, yeah.

Joe Rouse (30:01.071)
What makes it, does that give you like, is it just a better tax benefit or something? Like what? Okay.

Dwayne (30:04.555)
Yeah, so you don't get taxed on capital gains, right? So yeah, so we bought it at 2.2. We bought it at 2.2. The projection for us, and we're already ahead of like our rent, our rent roll is already ahead of schedule. But when we played the...

the long game out with, you know, projections. We're projecting it out to be in like a $10 million building eventually. Right. Yeah. And it. Yeah, no, no. And it will. It will. But let's say you buy it. We bought it at two point two. We make it ten. That's point eight. We don't get taxed on. Ever that those capital gains. Yeah, those capital gains.

Joe Rouse (30:32.128)
sure with that many apartments and

Joe Rouse (30:45.536)
ever. That's delightful. Yeah, that's what I thought. That was the main thing I thought about that. That was what made it like an opportunity zone. that's wonderful.

Dwayne (30:55.657)
Yep. Psych, the thing about the thing about it is in our area, like so we have the University of Maryland by they just built a biopark. Maybe you can see it from our building. It's a block away. University of Maryland is buying up all the property around us. So they're building up. They're building up the community, And then Johns Hopkins is building up on the other side. So it's the neighborhood is getting built up, which is why the long game will be.

Joe Rouse (31:11.885)
Okay.

Dwayne (31:24.329)
that the building will be worth what we anticipate it being worth.

Joe Rouse (31:27.694)
Do you guys, do you think one of the, is there interest if one of those universities comes in wanting to buy it before?

Dwayne (31:33.661)
That was that actually was that was that actually was the plan before and then when trump said hey Opportunity zones it was even more incentive to do it You know, so yeah It's a yeah, so we

Joe Rouse (31:37.528)
Yeah.

Joe Rouse (31:42.338)
Yep. Yep.

That's a whole other business in and of itself, man, with that many apartments and are all the business spaces rented out to the storefronts?

Dwayne (31:53.597)
Yeah, we're going to have a satellite location. But in that location is going to be a little bit different than what I initially anticipated. So it's going to be a 24-hour fitness type of model where they have access to, they have a key card that they can go in and they can just do the workout and then leave. Versus it being where a coach has to be there.

Joe Rouse (32:22.062)
Yeah, yeah. So, but it'll still be called Fit by July. You're do a different name, different business, or is it gonna all be under one thing?

Dwayne (32:23.241)
Yeah, so it's more of a 24-hour model.

Mm-hmm. Nope. It'll still be under Fit by July.

Joe Rouse (32:32.268)
How far away is that building from where you're at now? Roughly. Okay.

Dwayne (32:36.829)
it's like three hours which is why it has to be key entry.

Joe Rouse (32:45.474)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So are you thinking you could almost have like a property manager, essentially? I mean like.

Dwayne (32:53.695)
Yeah, we have one already. Yeah, we have somebody on staff already.

Joe Rouse (32:58.572)
like to take care of the gym there. You know what mean? Like they could come in and wipe down or make sure equipment gets cleaned, make sure everything's put away. If it's not getting put away, mean, obviously you could put in cameras and stuff, but.

Dwayne (33:01.706)
Yeah.

Yup.

Dwayne (33:08.715)
Yeah, you we have to put in cameras right we have we're have to put in cameras We're probably gonna have to have a cleaner staff. So right now we're doing a renovation on the space We're putting a new new HVAC in the space now because the HVAC was terrible So that's what we're doing right now But I would anticipate like us making a move on that like being in by the end of 26 maybe early 27 Yep

Joe Rouse (33:21.132)
Mm-hmm.

Joe Rouse (33:33.954)
Yeah. What's, what's, have you guys looked into the market? Like what's, how long do you think it would take you? mean, obviously you can, you got, guess you got to pay whatever, whatever market rate rent is to an extent, right? To the, whatever the LLC that owns the building or whatever it might be. do you have an idea of when you think you would be profitable just specifically from the gym business with that 24 hour?

Dwayne (33:51.904)
Yup.

Joe Rouse (34:02.19)
I mean, it's generally a cheaper model, right? Like it's going to take some volume for sure. I mean, have you, there's gotta be somebody in Gym Launch it like has done that.

Dwayne (34:02.729)
Man, it's a cheaper model. Yeah. But we also...

Yeah, well, I haven't brought that to my coach yet, just because like he's going to keep me focused on what we're doing right now, since that's not even like done yet. But.

But I would say this, I would say that we have a head start with 24 apartments upstairs. People wanna have convenience. And the way that the block is being built up, it's being built up as a destination spot. So there's an art studio beside us. There's a gentleman's lounge. There is some other stuff that's going around, like a yoga studio. There's a bunch of stuff that people are be coming to the block.

Joe Rouse (34:28.492)
Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rouse (34:42.894)
Mm-hmm.

Dwayne (34:50.624)
to do. you know, hopefully this would just be another thing that people come to the block to do.

Joe Rouse (34:58.254)
That's vision I've always been interested in is owning some property like that and then having the control to dictate what goes in there, hoping there's enough demand where you can control that, right? Like you're not just having to get renters in there, but like curating an experience within like a space, it would be, so that'd be such an interesting thing to do.

Dwayne (35:02.666)
Mm-hmm.

Dwayne (35:06.719)
Yep.

Dwayne (35:20.553)
I'll tell you man, and Baltimore is a very underappreciated city. It's beautiful. They did the waterfront, the Baltimore waterfront, which is phenomenal. Baltimore's food is great. Baltimore is very underrated. It's very underrated.

Dwayne (36:00.061)
with with the so so

Joe Rouse (36:01.197)
like with having this building and being a 20 % owner of 24 people. Like, I mean, do you have somebody who's a majority owner who does more of the, is responsible for most of it or is everybody 20 or?

Dwayne (36:10.055)
Yeah. So. No, no, no. So my brother is my brother is 70 percent. So he lives in Baltimore. So he's there. He lives like a few blocks away. So he's like there. He's the one that's really hands on the fight. Like I just came in financially. Right. So right now I'm financially 20 percent. And we have another guy that he gave about five percent to. But.

Joe Rouse (36:17.473)
Okay.

Dwayne (36:36.361)
And then we had other investors who we then paid out and they got out. Right. Once we got up and rolling, they got paid out and they're out. we. He's basically the guy who's like. Doing the day, the day in, day out stuff. I'm just kind of sitting back and like collecting, collecting. Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rouse (36:52.046)
Mm-hmm.

Joe Rouse (36:55.468)
Yeah, that's ideal, man, that's ideal. And it's with a family member that you trust. You know, yeah.

Dwayne (37:01.705)
Yeah, yeah, my brother's my best friend. So my brother's my best friend. So like it's not something where it's not something where I have to worry about it, you know, and he has a daughter now too. like the batteries in his back to make sure that this gets off the ground. Right. So yeah, man, it's it's it's exciting times, but it's all it was all it was also stressful for a while because like, you know,

Joe Rouse (37:08.942)
Mm-hmm.

Joe Rouse (37:17.66)
yeah.

Dwayne (37:27.241)
The thing with having rental properties, like you may have a tenant that decided that they don't want to pay rent. You may have those nasty things that come up. But I mean, we've made it through those storms as well. And now it's just time. We're very profitable now. But, you know, we have to all we've been using that money to.

Joe Rouse (37:33.646)
Mm.

Dwayne (37:50.505)
to renovate the rest of the building because we want to get the building done. So we have three more apartments that we have to finish. But then Dennis is on and going.

Joe Rouse (38:00.089)
Are you ever thinking there's a point where you may be more interested in that than running a fitness business?

Joe Rouse (38:08.876)
or more of that, like not necessarily just that one property.

Dwayne (38:12.809)
So I definitely want to have more properties eventually. But I don't know. think at some point in time I was thinking about, once I can cover my salary through that, I'll be good. But.

I want to do what I'm doing. And to also show my kids, hard work does pay off. So I think that was a hoop dream before I had really sat down and thought about it. But now thinking about it, I think there is still a level of appreciation that you can have and show your kids through the hard work that you have, even though you may not necessarily need it per se, but you're still doing it.

Dwayne (39:08.787)
He wants to go into broadcasting. He wants to go into broadcasting. So, yeah, so he's wrestling right now. So he's a wrestler in college. Yeah, no, he's doing well. He's doing well. He's at SUNY Cortland. Their football team just won this national championship like two years ago. So it's legit. It's legit.

Joe Rouse (39:10.937)
that's cool.

Joe Rouse (39:16.672)
Mm-hmm. I've seen I've seen some of their like videos and stuff

Dwayne (39:33.769)
like athletic school and like his wrestling team is pretty up there. So we'll see how the season ends this year. It's been going pretty well. We'll see. We'll see though.

Joe Rouse (39:42.158)
Mm-hmm.

Joe Rouse (39:46.05)
That's man, there's nothing more exciting watching your kids compete. That's the best. That's the best.

Dwayne (39:48.991)
Yeah, you know, didn't rest. I didn't wrestle at all. But you know, I've always said like, I'm not gonna live by carries to my kids. So he wanted to rest like he had played football in high school. And he wrestled and he chose wrestling. So I was like, all right, cool. You know,

Joe Rouse (39:57.294)
Mm-hmm.

Joe Rouse (40:04.386)
Hey, he chose something. He chose something that's gonna make him stronger. He's gonna be able to protect himself for rest of his life. Like, ain't nothing wrong with wrestling. Like, I never wrestled either, but I would absolutely let my kids do it.

Dwayne (40:09.043)
Right, right, right.

Yeah, so his little brothers now because they're watching him and they see him, they're eventually gonna wrestle too. So that's the plan, that's the plan. Yeah, man.

Joe Rouse (40:19.437)
Mm-hmm.

Joe Rouse (40:23.904)
Yeah, dude. That's a blessing. So. don't know what's next, man, you just you got you got specific goals for Fit by July. Like, what do you what do you what do you think about these days when you're looking at like what's coming up in the future?

Dwayne (40:32.565)
Peace.

.

Dwayne (40:42.057)
I went to, so Jim Con, Gym Launch had their conference like two years ago and I actually just opened up, they had us write a letter to ourselves, right? And so I wrote my and I got it like maybe like six months ago, seven months ago. And I just looked at it last night.

Joe Rouse (40:48.622)
Mm-hmm.

Dwayne (41:02.677)
where was like, you're gonna have a million dollar business in the next five years. So that's the goal. That's the goal. It's just to, yeah, get to a million dollars a year and see where it goes from there.

Joe Rouse (41:06.348)
Yeah, that's the goal.

Joe Rouse (41:15.884)
Yeah. Cool, man. Well, Dwayne, I appreciate you taking the time today, dude. It's been about an hour or so. I did learn some things about you that I didn't know. I mean, I think I knew you bought that building, but I didn't know exactly what was in the building. I knew you were doing it with your brother. I knew you had had a daughter, but we just hadn't had a chance to talk about it. And that was before we got on the podcast.

Dwayne (41:25.151)
Yo.

Dwayne (41:30.547)
Yep. Yep.

Dwayne (41:36.639)
Yeah, yeah, we spoke about that while I was getting crushed in our fantasy. That was terrible, man.

Joe Rouse (41:44.926)
Yeah. Oh, dude. I actually I played in three leagues this year and I did all right in all three. I actually won one of them and that money like it's cool to win because it's like extra money. You know what mean? Like you take that like my wife and I went on a cruise and I was like, there's our there's our alcohol, whatever, whatever money covers all that. Right. Yeah, man. Well, doing is good talking to you, dude. I appreciate you hop on the podcast and look forward to.

Dwayne (41:52.51)
that's dope.

Dwayne (41:56.329)
Yeah.

Dwayne (42:01.685)
That's, I like it, I like it. That's awesome.

Joe Rouse (42:10.562)
seen you hit that million bucks, dude.

Dwayne (42:12.179)
Hey Joe, I'm gonna keep in contact. Thanks,

Joe Rouse (42:14.158)
All right.