Inspiring Conversations with John Renzi of Kansas City Strength & Conditioning

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Renzi.

Hi John, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
In 2013, I began training a small group of middle school softball players that were on my niece’s softball team.

At first, it was purely a side gig a few times a week. Exercise was my weekly hobby and it had always been my passion, but I wasn’t thinking I could make a career out of it. Within a few months that small group of families started sending their older kids and more teammates to me. Within 18 months, with encouragement from family and friends, I made the frightening decision to quit my day job (in a completely different industry) and make a commitment to training full-time.

In 2015, my business partner Matt Hinkley and I met thru our friend Karl Carswell, who is a hitting guru in Kansas City. If you knew Matt and me, you’d be surprised that we decided to go into business without really knowing each other, but our conversations early on made it clear that we had the same feelings about the state of youth fitness and the potential growth in the sports performance market. Within a year we started KCSC.

KCSC quickly grasped on to the large amount of baseball talent that was in the KC area, and we were suddenly training dozens of college kids and a few local professional athletes. Because we found a niche in training baseball players, and with our knowledge of how strength training and throwing a baseball are related, we knew that we wanted to have our own throwing program that went hand-in-hand with our strength training knowledge. For a few years, we intentionally kept a low public profile while we established relationships with local coaches, sports agents, scouts, and orthopedic clinicians.

That led us to find quality interns that turned into current employees and be introduced to a young but talented pitching coach that we now employ. We now have 4 strength coaches and a throwing coordinator that serve 150 personal training clients and operate out of Homefield Olathe, which is an amazing facility full of talented clients and employees.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Without a doubt, 2020 and being forced to close for 2 months was our biggest obstacle, but luckily we work with the youth and young adult demographics, so when we were allowed to re-open, our clients all came back. I have to give credit to our local political leaders for not creating too many restrictions and staying out of our way. I can’t imagine being a gym or restaurant owner in other parts of the country where they weren’t allowed to open for nearly a year.

Currently, we’re very fortunate to be in a position of not having enough hours in the day to get all of our tasks done. It’s not a smooth road, but I don’t consider it struggling. Understanding my employees and learning how to make them become better at their jobs is important to me at this moment.

On one hand, I want them to know that I want some things done in certain ways. On the other hand, I don’t want them to be afraid of trying things and coming to me with ideas or feedback on what the company can be better at. Training is as relationship-based as any kind of business, and I want clients coming to KCSC because of my employees.

My employees are drained at the end of each day because we are handling 300+ training and throwing sessions each week. We go to bed thinking about all the things that need to be done, which is much better than wishing we were busier.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
KCSC focuses on making teenagers into better, healthier athletes. Sometimes that means helping a kid make his high school team, or it can mean helping a family pay for college through scholarship money. I like to think we have a part in helping kids become more well-rounded young adults. Strength training and throwing are what we’re known for and it’s what we love to do, but it’s only half of what we provide.

We take pride in knowing we’re doing more than making kids stronger and faster in the short term. I like to think that we’re teaching wellness skills and contributing to social skills that kids will carry on for the rest of their lives. We like being the place that kids rush to after school. I can’t pinpoint what you would call it, but there’s definitely a unique culture inside our gym that is contagious to most of the kids that come in. They’re getting more out of this than just making their bodies healthier.

I see a lot of articles from any number of media outlets about how our country’s youth is struggling with less activity and that isolation and teen depression from the pandemic is a serious concern. In a way, gyms like KCSC are an extension of school and a safe social outlet for teenagers. It’s fun to see and hear the reactions of a high school ballplayer after he is asked to play catch with a professional baseball player (one part excited, one part terrified), or a kid who just realized they’re exercising next to an NFL cheerleader. And an overlooked part of it is the kids realize quickly that those people are not a whole lot different from them.

In terms of what clients actually pay us for, a service we just added at the beginning of 2022 is a full-time physical therapist. That allows us to integrate a clinical-based model into our training programs. We had turned down a few opportunities to hire other therapists, and luckily, one of the few people we wanted to hire for years came to us in 2021 and said “what if I quit my job and work for you?” Matt and I said yes before he could even finish his thought.

Our throwing coordinator and strength coaches can literally walk 10 feet over to the clinician to get advice for a client who is having a hard time with an exercise or position, or is experiencing pain. And we can be proactive and adjust in a matter of minutes with our clients’ training programs before movement dysfunction or minor pain turns into something more serious. It’s invaluable because it keeps athletes on the practice and playing field.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Generally speaking, I find myself extracting advice from my clients’ parents that are business owners. Whether they’re in finance or manufacturing, they usually have solid advice if you pay attention to what they’re saying and know how to make it relevant to building a loyal clientele.

For someone wanting to get started as a fitness professional, it’s no different than any other job. There is no such thing as an overnight success. Don’t burn bridges, it’s a small world. It’s okay to see things differently than others and not agree, but you never know when you’ll have an opportunity to work with or collaborate with someone down the road.

Establish relationships with both new and established physical therapists. If you’re just out of college, get an internship at a college or private gym. Maybe two internships. Maybe three!

Hire an accountant sooner than later.

Don’t become dogmatic about what you think you know about fitness. The answers to fitness or nutrition questions often fall in the “it depends” category. And if you don’t know the answer to something, don’t be afraid to say so. We’re not miracle workers.

If you’re young and have no sales experience, don’t undervalue the ability to know how to ask for business and understand the Xs and Os of keeping clients. It’s not just about exercise selection.

Pricing:

• $250-$400/month training
• $60-$120/hour therapy
• $100-$150 athletic assessments

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.kcstrengthandconditioning.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kc_strength_and_conditioning/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kcstrengthandconditioning
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kcscworks