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C.I. - Please describe some of the challenges of working in a family business. Conversely, what have been some of the opportunities/hidden gems? BB - Working in a family business was, I think, a surprise to all of us; it was never planned. I think one of the hardest things about running a family business is to try and keep the club business out of family interactions and keep spouses feeling included. Working with Bill and Ellen over these many years has been a pleasure and allowed me the opportunity to cut back slowly and start enjoying more down time.


The Modern Times of Club Fit


An Interview With Bill Beck, President of Club Fit


CLUB INSIDER (C.I.) - Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school, and what did you study? Bill Beck (BB) - I grew up right here by the clubs in a town called Yorktown in Westchester County. Our two clubs are both in Westchester County, and I grew up in-between them. I tell everybody, ‘I haven’t made it too far in life’ (laughing). I went to public school through high school, graduated and went off to a small college called Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. I studied Sports Medicine there and played lacrosse.


C.I. - When did you join Club Fit and in what role? What were your sub- sequent roles? BB - I’ve essentially worked in the clubs since I was about 12 years old. My mother had gotten involved in the club business, so she would bring me to the club to keep an eye on me. I would end up doing odd jobs around the club. I think my  rst job was literally pulling nails out of the tennis lines. Then, through high school, I


Beth Beck


did maintenance, lifeguarding and those kinds of things. That really carried me through college.


When I left college, I came here to


work in  tness and sell memberships in our Briarcliff club. That was in the early ‘90s, which as you know from being an industry insider, was around the time personal training was taking off. I recognized pretty quickly that I was not great at selling club memberships, but for some reason, I was really good at selling personal training. Those  rst four or  ve years were so much fun. We took a team of four or  ve of us and really grew personal training from just about nothing to half a million dollars a year. It was a lot of fun. It was back in the ‘90s, so nobody knew where it was taking us or why.


That experience led me to other jobs. I eventually moved up into a Fitness Director role and then into a GM role. Somewhere in the middle there, I got married, started a family and decided to go back to school to get my MBA at Pace University in Manhattan. So, there were a couple of years where I was the GM of our Jefferson Valley location and also going to school  nishing up the MBA. That turned out to be a really good decision for me because I learned a lot and interacted with


Club Fit - Briarcliff Manor


people who were not club people. Some were involved in very big businesses, others in small businesses, but they were different thinkers than we were. The timing was good, because at that point, I was ready to be in school again, so it worked out well. I  nished my MBA, and that was about the time my father was suffering from complications with colon cancer, and as a result, my mother was  nding herself pulled away from the business to help care for him. In the mid- to late- 2000s, she began to move away from the business, and I began to take on some of her responsibilities. She had always been the President and ran operations, so that’s when our transition from her to me began, driven by two factors: (1) my taking the business seriously and (2) her having some outside in uences making her feel like it was okay to enjoy her time away from work.


C.I. - In addition to your mother, Beth, having been deeply involved with the business, your sister, Ellen, has been as well. Please describe some of the challenges growing up and working in a family business has presented. Conversely, what have been some of the opportunities/ hidden gems?


BB - For years, we’ve had the luxury of long-term staff being around. My sister got into the business a little bit differently than I did. She came from Lafayette College and was an economics major. She has always held important roles and is now our Vice President of Marketing. She also takes an advisory role for group  tness classes and construction projects.


When you work with your family,


there is a ying and a yang. When I tell people I work with my family, I get one of two responses: ‘Oh, that must be really cool.’ Or, ‘Oh, I can’t imagine!’ When you get down to it, both are true, really. When you work with your family, there is an intimacy that makes the business work in some ways. You can say things plainly, messages may not have to be as tempered and there is a natural familiarity that can make things work well. On the  ip side of that, you might spend an uncomfortable holiday together because the meeting you had just before didn’t go as well as you wanted it to be.


One of the biggest challenges in a small, family business is succession planning. My mother and David Swope, who cofounded Club Fit with my mother, have been incredibly thoughtful and sensitive to this. They have always tried not to hover over my sister and me as we’ve taken on leadership roles. I can’t thank them enough for all their advice and support over the years. Their ability to work through really dif cult succession issues with my sister and me, as well as the other managers in the club, made our transition much easier than it could have been.


Club Fit - Jefferson Valley Bill Beck


C.I. - Now, as Club Fit’s President, please describe how your previous roles prepared you for your position today. What were some of the challenges you did not expect? BB - I love the people aspect of our business. And, I mean all of them: the members, the staff, the management team, etc. (See Club Fit Page 14)


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