Ever thought of owning your own fitness club? Meet Mountainside Fitness owner, Tom Hatten. Tom gives advice on how you can achieve any aspect of your fitness career goals.
Tom Hatten is matter of fact when he says: “One of the problems we are having today is that we’re running out of trainers for the amount of inventory of clients that want to be trained. We would love to be a feeder for all the Bryan grads looking to get into the field.”
The humble beginnings of Mountainside Fitness trace back to 1992 when a young college graduate named Tom Hatten had $2,000 and a dream. Fast forward to present day 2018 where we met with Tom at his corporate headquarters off Washington Street in Tempe, Arizona. A tremendous amount of hard work and dedication went into creating the Mountainside fitness brand, which now extends to 16 locations across Arizona.
As Tom sits down in front of the camera, you can still see the spark of that young college grad who was about to embark on an incredible journey. Except these days, the journey is continuing to grow the Mountainside brand and fulfill the demand for fitness and personal training services. “I’ve always loved fitness, even when I was playing college baseball, fitness was a passion of mine. When we opened our first club in Ahwatukee in ‘92, I was very fortunate to be able to realize my dream.”
And dream he has. Each Mountainside Fitness location stands as a tribute to Tom and his team’s success. A success he attributes to hard work and his college education. “I learned what I don’t know.” He smiles. “I think when you’re young, like some of the students at Bryan University, you can make up for what you don’t know with pure energy.”
Tom might not be as young as he once was, but what he may lack in youth he makes up for in vibrant energy. Mountainside has several clubs across Arizona and he tries to get out to one each day. He looks for quality control when he visits – are the towels clean? Does the front desk greet guests as they come in? What’s the music volume? Aside from quality control, Tom is there working for the club manager. He is not above doing anything he can to help. No job is too small.
When asked about what types of skills he looks for when hiring at Mountainside, he states: “I’m going to look at their personality first, along with their fitness skills.” Also at the top of Tom’s list was communication skills, listening skills, and the “it” factor as the most important characteristics his team looks for in new hires at his clubs.
So, if you are a Bryan University student studying personal training and fitness, keep hitting the books, going to class and continue to work hard. At the end of the road you might find yourself working with Tom at one of his locations, or even opening a club of your own. As Tom Hatten has proved – hard work, dedication and education are the keys to long-lasting success.
If you are not a student, but are thinking of a career in personal training and fitness, what are you waiting for? Contact us and set up a time to speak with one of our admissions representatives. Or, check out program options at Bryan University:
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