Kicking the suit goodbye

by

Businesses

Even as a kid who practiced martial arts, Daryl Lewis never imagined he would one day open his own kickboxing studio. 

“This is something that was totally unexpected,” Lewis said.    

After spending the first 12 years of his professional career at Wells Fargo, first in sales and then in home preservation, Lewis was content with the direction of his future. 

“I hate to say it, but working in corporate America, you start rising up the food chain and stuff like that, you start getting a little comfortable. I just kind of envisioned myself working in corporate America for the rest of my life,” he said.

But all of that changed in August 2014, when Lewis and a slew of other workers at the Birmingham Wells Fargo branch were laid off. 

“I guess we worked ourselves out of a job. As the economy started to get better, there were fewer and fewer reasons to have huge sites full of home preservation activities,” Lewis said.

And so the journey to find a new career began. 

Open to a variety of ideas, Lewis considered an extensive array of options, ranging from franchising a McDonald’s to opening a gas station. Regardless of the path he chose, one thing was certain: he would be his own boss.

“When we wind up getting laid off, it just kind of puts you in a situation where you just never want to find yourself in that situation again,” he said. 

Determined to take control of his own destiny, Lewis quickly identified a key element to guide his business search. 

“What really helped me narrow down my selection was just that fun factor,” Lewis said. “I was like, ‘what do you want do for the rest of your life?’ It really came down to I want to have fun. I want to cut loose and just have a good time.”

And that’s when he discovered iLoveKickboxing.com, a chain of kickboxing fitness studios with 102 locations in the United States, Canada and worldwide. 

But, as Lewis quickly found out, there was not a single location in Alabama.

Finding a business that not only met his personal search criteria but also filled a market need, Lewis was sold. And, as fate would have it, he opened the state’s first iLoveKickboxing.com franchise in the Vestavia Hills City Center on Aug. 17, nearly a year to the date after he lost his job at Wells Fargo.

“I tried to find something that was unique, something that I was personally interested in and just something that there was really no bad aspect of it. You come in, you have fun, you lose weight and you feel great,” Lewis said. 

Currently, Lewis’ studio offers two hour-long group classes per day Monday-Saturday, with future plans of expanding the daily schedule to six classes. Each 60-minute session is broken down into three parts – warm-up, bag drills and partner drills – and incorporates a fresh mix of cardio, resistance and circuit training that changes on a daily basis. 

What sets iLoveKickboxing.com apart, however, is the personalized attention each participant receives. Each class is led by two to five trained and energetic instructors who provide technical guidance along with shouts of motivation and encouragement.  

The studio’s staff, which currently consists of six part-time employees excluding Lewis, is engaging and bubbling with enthusiasm, dedicated to helping participants reach their fitness goals. 

 “We’re not like a typical gym that just kind of takes your money and could care less if you’re there,” Lewis said. “We want you here.”

The people have taken notice.

Over 100 members have already joined, registering for either a six-month payment plan (eight-month membership with two months free) or 11-month payment plan (13-month membership with two months free), and hundreds more are pre-registered for a trial class. 

“We’ve gotten an overwhelming positive response,” Lewis said.

For those wanting to experience what the new business has to offer, three-class and five-class trial memberships are available for $19.99 and $29.99, respectively, and include a free pair of boxing gloves. 

Vestavia Hills resident Lindy McCullers attended her first ever kickboxing class on Aug. 31 and was immediately sold. She signed up for a membership at the class’ conclusion. 

“I was looking for a niche that I could find and get myself into with working out,” McCullers said. 

McCalla resident Chandrel Wright-Richardson echoed McCullers’ sentiment. After working out for a year both on her own and with a personal trainer, Wright-Richardson was getting bored with the same old routine. And then she heard about iLoveKickboxing.com. 

“I love it. I come three to four days a week, every week now,” she said. “This was the amp that I needed to get me reenergized and into the workout routine. I won’t miss a class.”

iLoveKickboxing.com