Entrepreneurial Survival Stories

Gary Heavin

The brink: Gary Heavin's fitness club, Women鈥檚 World of Fitness, was so successful that within six years, he and his brother had opened 14 locations and Heavin became a millionaire. Soon after, they hit a wall. Their overhead expenses were too high, and they weren鈥檛 generating enough memberships to keep up. In 1986, the business went bankrupt, and Heavin lost everything--his house, his jet and even his marriage.The gutsy move that brought him back: Four years later, Heavin married Diane Piller and the two developed a plan for a new women鈥檚 fitness center. The center would offer a limited set of equipment for circuit training and provide a 30-minute express-style workout, thus minimizing startup costs while offering a revolutionary new approach to women鈥檚 fitness.
Lesson learned: If at first you don't succeed, rethink your concept and try again.

Related Links
entrepreneur , success story