How A School Teacher Broke Even In 2 Months
Meet Phil & Skye
After 20 years teaching English, Phil Barry swapped the classroom for a gym floor. What drew him to gym ownership was the same thing that kept him teaching: helping people. His favourite saying, "a sound mind in a sound body", became the philosophy behind the club. Fitness for the body and the mind, together.
He runs Stepz Fitness Burnside on the Sunshine Coast with his wife Skye and their family. Seven months after signing, the doors opened. Two months after that, the club was breaking even.
Their Goal
Phil and Skye weren't chasing a job. They wanted to own something in their own community, build it around their family, and do work that meant something at the end of the day.
They looked at the options and chose Stepz for the people behind it.
How he Did It
Step 1 - Discovery Meeting
Phil and Skye enquired with Stepz and met the team to walk through the brand and the hybrid model: a 24/7 gym and a functional group training studio under one roof, two revenue streams instead of one.
Step 2 - Site and Territory Selection
They secured their territory, then worked through the Stepz site selection criteria to find the right building. It took longer than they expected, and the team told them to hold out for the right one.
Step 3- Finance
With the site locked in, the Stepz team helped Phil and Skye build their financial model and business plan and put them in front of the Stepz broker network to fund the build.
Step 4 - Sign Agreements
Phil and Skye signed on 9 October 2025, with the lease negotiated by the Stepz leasing team.
Step 5 - Building and Design
Stepz architects designed the facility, and Stepz builders delivered it on budget.
Step 6 - Pre-Opening & Marketing
The Stepz marketing team ran the presale campaign: 279 leads for $1,198 in ad spend, at $4.29 a lead. By the time the doors opened, there were 150 paying members on the books, so the club had recurring revenue from day one.
Then came a soft opening weekend, and Phil and Skye kept the momentum going themselves.
“I've become part of a new family."
"The feeling I get from Stepz is that I've, in a way, become part of a new family. Something that I did not expect going into this as a business. I did not expect to have such a warm and welcoming group of people around me. So I absolutely get that sense of belonging as being part of the Stepz team, and I know that going forward that's just going to get stronger and stronger."
— Phil, Stepz Fitness Burnside
The Results
Phil and Skye opened Stepz Fitness Burnside in May 2026 with 150 members already paying. The club broke even in month two and turned over $27,000 in month three. It now has 333 active members, 70 of them on group fitness.
Their story proves you don't need a fitness industry background to build a successful Stepz club. You need the right site, the presale playbook, and a genuine desire to build something in your community. The model does the rest.