Diego Lorenzo is a personal trainer in Chelsea, London. A PT for five years, he has coached City CEOs, to new mums and teenagers in the heart of west London. 18 months ago Diego opened his own studio on the Fulham Road specialising in lifestyle improvement and mindset change, fat loss and pre- and post- natal programming.
He has 25 clients to look after, hands-on, 7 days a week, each following individual programmes led in the studio or remotely when his clients are on vacation or away on corporate travel.
In the beginning, managing his business by himself on his smartphone (scheduling and bank payments) and his laptop (notes and Excel for programming) felt messy and disorganised very quickly, as Diego explains.
“Within two months of running the studio, I thought: “There must be an easier way of managing my fitness business online in a way that works for me and for my clients needs”. You know from the most simple stuff, like booking, scheduling and payments, to keeping their profiles on record, and creating online programming.
“One of the most demanding things about being a personal trainer, is an ability to swap emotional connections between every single client for every single session. Every client needs to be “pushed” in a different way. I have to adjust to them.
“As a business owner I wanted to focus on my clients and their development and I needed a business system that would work better for me, to take out some of the day-to-day administrative operations that frankly was slowing me down and eating up my valuable time.
“I found Fisikal thanks to a recommendation from a friend. Almost instantly it was like having a new employee manage my bookings, reconcile what sessions my clients had left, take cardless payments… I had found an application that could work FOR me.
“One real feature that I am thankful for might sound so simple, but having all of my client’s information stored safely and privately, and up to to date takes a lot of responsibility off my shoulders. From signed PARQs to direct debit details and safe payments — I kinda enjoy not having that pressure these days!
“Simplified reporting is pretty cool too; in one click I can have all my accounting information run and available for my accounting and tax submissions without needing to get out a calculator or to worry about it.
“The beauty is, with their own client version of the app on their smartphone, my clients find it more convenient too. Right now I’m working to upload new content to the app to raise the game for these guys and add greater value to my service. With the video and content upload feature on the platform, I’ll be adding workout video programmes specific to each type of client, to support them across long summer and family holidays and through the demands of corporate travel — from beach workouts to hotel bedroom HIIT session — so that I can continue to provide them a personalised service that only they have access to, whatever life throws at them.
“It’s good to have companies out there that genuinely care about not only making your life easier, but also making the world a better place; Fisikal’s concept of making the world of fitness paperless through their company — which is one part of their main mission — from an environmental standpoint to me is exceptional, and I am proud to support that.”
Diego is now on Instagram @nmotionlondon.
