IN 1994, Dallas Rosekelly started a "little" gym called Planet Fitness in Lambton with lots of weights and group classes.
Three years later, Rosekelly was the strength coach for the Newcastle Knights, who trained at length in his gym.
Within another few years, Rosekelly hopped on a computer to discover there was another business with the same name in America.
"It came as a shock to know I wasn't the only Planet Fitness. I had trademarked our brand in Australia and that was the smartest decision in business I made back then," he says.
Fast forward again and Rosekelly has entered a multimillion-dollar joint venture with a trio of franchisees from the US-based Planet Fitness, which has almost 2000 gyms.
Rosekelly has gyms in Lambton, Gosford, Casula (southwest Sydney), Belmont and Charlestown. The new deal will see between 30 and 40 Planet Fitness gyms built on the east coast, each to the tune of $3.5 million.
"We'll grow the brand here. This is an amalgamation of my knowledge of gyms and legalities here, and their know-how as very successful operators," he says.
Rosekelly is company director, board member and consultant to Planet Fitness' Australian operations, while his daughter Montana is director of operations for the Hunter and Newcastle clubs.
The joint venture is rewarding considering Rosekelly got into the fitness industry after losing buckets of money in the late 80s in a property deal gone wrong.
"When the bank at the time said, 'We're square', in other words I had no money, I remembered the age-old saying, follow your passion," he says. "As corny as it sounds, at the time I'd worked for five years for nothing trying to save the development, but the stress relief of going to the gym saved my life, so I decided to somehow open one."
Rosekelly says Planet Fitness' success comes down to it offering an affordable option in a "judgment free, non-intimidating space".
"The fitness industry is insanely overpriced. We are bringing the change without cutting corners - they are five-star facilities," he says.
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