Inspiring Conversations with Danielle Segelhorst of Burn Boot Camp Worthington

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Segelhorst.

Hi Danielle, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2018, a friend of mine sent me a link for a free 30-day trial at a gym that would soon be opening. As a fitness enthusiast, I jumped on the chance for a free month!! After what felt like an incredibly long wait, I saw a preschool mom friend of mine had commented on a social media post for Burn Boot Camp Worthington and the first workout they were hosting prior to opening their space and it happened to be perfect timing immediately following preschool drop off. I headed to the workout and immediately LOVED it! After day 1, I knew I was going to work there. I followed up with the manager, who put me in touch with the owner who lived out of state and before I knew it, I was hired to work in the child watch area which was perfect for my 3.5-year-old daughter who had pretty severe separation anxiety. Right when the gym was about to open, the owner asked me to work at the front desk instead of in the child watch area, so that transition occurred almost immediately – although I did spend some transition time in child watch first. The small community feels inside the gym with the members who attended and the team at the gym was incredible! I had known since I was in high school that I would eventually be a trainer and gym owner at some point in my life, so I felt as though Burn had just fallen into my lap and the stars had aligned. Not more than 6 months after the gym opened, I obtained my personal training certification and began as a trainer! With time and with lots of change, I began training more and more, and then COVID hit, and things got even crazier and a lot more change occurred. Post-COVID, when we were able to re-open, I found myself to be the only trainer and one of the few team members who returned to the gym.

Discussions of owning a Burn, which is a franchise, had begun within the first year of Burn Worthington having opened its doors so that door, so to speak, was already open. The events that followed after the COVID shutdown and my purchasing of Burn Worthington threw me for a loop! Things started to get rocky with many aspects of the gym and I was struggling to find the enjoyment I had once had at the beginning, due to the functionality within the team and gym. I made one of the toughest decisions I have had to make, and I put my notice in that I would be parting ways with the business, but it turned out to be the best decision I could have ever made! Once I resigned, I started moving toward opening a new franchise location, but I realized that I really wanted to take over as the franchise partner (owner) of the gym that I had started with and had put so much energy, love, sweat, etc. in to and had been with from the very beginning! What felt like an eternity later but was only actually a little over 2 months later, I would find myself to be the proud new owner of what I would consider my baby. I can honestly say that I could not have ever imagined the amount of joy and fulfillment being a small business owner brings me, but more specifically being a Burn Boot Camp owner.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been an entirely smooth road. As previously mentioned, I was in a really tight spot from the perspective of resigning and feeling entirely lost for a bit of time, but also the time prior to having resigned was incredibly difficult and very emotionally draining. Coming into the purchase of a small business that is already up and running is no small feat either. It is like boarding a moving train! I’ve never been the owner of a business.

I didn’t have the opportunity prior to open my business, to learn about the dos and don’ts of it and I certainly didn’t have the opportunity to start things the way I would have preferred. I’m almost a year into ownership, but I am still learning things every day! There has been a lot of growth along the way and a huge learning curve, but I am very fortunate in that I have one incredible team and an even more amazingly supportive family!

As you know, we’re big fans of Burn Boot Camp Worthington. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Burn Boot Camp is a fitness facility in which we pride ourselves on being more than just a gym. We are a tight-knit community and our members, as well as our team, are very close with one another. Most of the time, if you stick around in between camps (workouts) as we call them, you’ll find members either sitting around chit-chatting while stretching/foam rolling, or you’ll find them hanging around talking with the team! It really is quite a special place.

Our workouts are tough. They are designed to be quick and effective, and I don’t think you’ll find a member who would say they are anything shy of those two things. We offer 45-minute camps designed to keep you moving the entire time. Our trainers are top-notch, and we ensure this by requiring a strength and conditioning test to be completed annually, but also through continuous education through our franchisor/headquarters. We offer group-style fitness, but also personal training in a group setting. While our trainers do run the workouts and give instructions, they do not complete the workout with members. Instead, our trainers meet members where they are, so to speak, and they challenge them relatively to where they are at that very moment. This ensures that each person is challenged to the best of their ability at each camp.

Our trainers also correct form and provide modifications for injuries and different fitness levels which makes Burn appropriate for anyone at any point in their life. We have members who range from 13 years old to 67 years old! We have marathon runners and iron men/women as members, but we also have members who are brand new to fitness. The best part of our gym is the camaraderie between our members though – it is hands down, the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen! As mentioned above, we have fitness levels all across the board, but you can rest assured that no matter where you are on your fitness journey, the people you are working out with rooting for and cheering you on every step of the way! It is not uncommon to hear shouts from across the room from one member during camp to another just cheering for them and whatever it is that they are doing! We are also one of very few boutique fitness facilities that offer child watch as an INCLUDED value with membership; additionally, we offer 1:1 focus meetings with our trainers to discuss goals and focal points so we can best assist members throughout their fitness journey. Neither of these is an additional cost, but our memberships are also universal. If you’re on vacation in Panama City Beach, no problem, you can still get your workout in at the location there in PCB and with more than 300 locations nationwide, you can often find a location to hit up while traveling. COVID also taught us that we can not only be the best inside our gyms, but we can also provide an online version of our camps for anyone who isn’t able to make it into the gym or maybe who does a decent amount of traveling and needs that as a backup option in the event a burn isn’t nearby! We offer a phenomenal fitness product!

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
This is a tough one to answer. I would say a lot of things make me happy, but if I’m sticking to things in relation to my business, seeing the camaraderie across burn nation is at the top of my list! Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to our headquarters location in Lake Norman, North Carolina to help make a burn trainer competition happen. I volunteered to be a counter for an athlete who had made it to the Burn Athlete Games finals.

There is nothing like seeing competitors leave it all out there on the floor for all to see and then not even skip a beat when they finish their event they are physically exhausted, mentally exhausted, and in physical pain from the workout, but make their way right over to another competitor to cheer them on! It is truly a site to see, and it makes me so incredibly proud to be a part of burn nation! That is Burn Boot Camp. That is why we are more than just a gym. These things happen on a daily right here at Burn Boot Camp Worthington as well and it just makes me realize every day that this decision was the right decision.

Pricing:

• 12 month term – $159/month
• 18 month term – $149/month
• Month to Month – $192/month
• Complimentary 7-day trial

Contact Info:

• Website: https://burnbootcamp.com/locations/worthington-oh/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/burnbootcampworthington/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BurnBootCampWorthington/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHUhA3C3vgTnyXHtAfsivgw