This week’s Q&A is with Rob from I Sell Fitness. He holds a B.S. in Engineering Science and started this company about 4.5 years ago out of a garage selling pre-owned equipment. Today, ISF is based out of New Jersey and offers a number of items for your gym like barbells, benches, bumper plates, squat racks, kettlebells, dumbbells, and just about anything you’d need. In the interview below, Rob talks about starting the company, some challenges, the future, and gives a little bit more detail as to what he sells.
Okay, let’s go!
You started in a garage selling pre-owned equipment, correct? How did you come up with that idea? Why did you even choose gym equipment?
Yup, that’s right. In mid-2014 I needed to get back into shape. Started buying some used workout gear and sometimes would get items I didn’t really need. After a while, I’d collected a decent amount of gear and decided to start selling items off. That’s what got me thinking about selling weights for a living. By late 2015, I quit my job and made selling pre-owned fitness equipment a full-time thing and I’ve been selling fitness equipment ever since.
Then, last summer, you broke into the new equipment market. What are a few of the main reasons you chose to do that?
Used gear can be very profitable, but the drawback becomes it’s very time consuming and there is a lack of supply. Have to keep casting a wider and wider net to find product. In 2017 I drove about 35,000 miles to find equipment. Decided I needed to try something different in order to take the company to the next level.
What’s been the most difficult thing as you expand nationally?
Being an unknown brand. I’ve had people email me to tell me they didn’t buy anything because they couldn’t find any reviews. At least on the local level, people get to come in, check the product, sort of see that ISF is the real deal. I’ve never had anyone come in who didn’t buy because they decided the value wasn’t there. I’m starting to get a decent number of people who come in and tell me that they heard about ISF from their friend. That’s a really cool feeling and very good for business. It means I’m doing something right. But trying to convince someone 500 miles away on the internet that they should buy from some company they’ve never heard of can be a little challenging especially with so many established brands already out there. Hopefully, people will continue leaving product reviews. I think that’s very significant in assisting others browsing the site.
What kind of career did you have before entering this business? Has that helped you so far at I Sell Fitness?
I worked in real estate and restaurant management. It was a small company and I basically got to learn every facet of running a small business. I was basically a jack of all trades, which is exactly what is required to be your own boss. I would say that if not for being able to have that experience for a good 15 years, I probably would not have been able to go out on my own. There’s a lot more risk going from counting on a paycheck every two weeks to running your own company and without the right understanding it can be a little daunting.
Your tagline is Pro Grade Budget Friendly™. What should that mean for customers?
First and foremost I tend to think like an engineer when it comes to products. I want to break them apart, figure out how they work, and then figure out how to make them better. My goal with this company in its present iteration is to produce low cost highly durable gear. Because the company is such an unknown and there’s so much competition out there, I think the value has to be there or no one will buy. Value to me means the gear has to be durable so it can hold up in both a home or commercial setting. But the price has to be right at the same time. So it’s got to be both Pro Grade and Budget Friendly for the customer to go for it. I want ISF to excel at both.
What’s a product or two of yours that more people need to know about?
Well, this October I’ll have new kettlebells. I think they are super cool, I wanted something different than the standard mold which seemed to be the weight on the back and logo on the front with no other information. So I added the weight to the back like everyone else, but then on the front, I also added on the weight in addition to the logo. I figure that’s more helpful to the user than walking up to the kettlebell rack and having to figure out what bell is what if they’re all facing forward.
Do you have any new products coming that excite you?
I’m always working on new products. As a small company, it’s hard to just get out there and be able to offer everything all at once. I try to R&D my gear to make sure it is durable. For example, I’ve been working on wall balls for several months. It took me a little while to come up with how to durability test them. I came up with busting them up to failure with a sledgehammer. Junk balls on the market go bad as fast as 23 minutes. Good balls on the market can go about 4 hours. When the ISF wall ball is finally released it’ll go around the 4-hour mark on sledgehammer testing but be priced very competitively.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Sure, with a little luck at some point they’ll be an ISF location out there in the vicinity of whoever is reading this. That’s my ultimate goal with this company, to be all over the USA offering durable work out gear at affordable pricing.
Lastly, a HUGE thank you to Rob for taking the time to do this! He’s a busy man and it’s greatly appreciated.
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