A Gold Coast gym is preparing to expand across the city and eventually the globe, marking the latest step forward for a local entrepreneur whose career foundations were built through his first job as a bricklayer.
Casper Turner opened Hype Health Club in Currumbin in 2017, and has now signed a lease for a new gym at Pimpama, to be launched at the end of this year or the start of 2021. Additionally, Mr Turner is working with franchise consultants and hopes to offer franchise opportunities from the middle of this year.
Within five years, he plans to have set up Hype branches offshore, and is targeting the Americas, Europe and Asia/Japan.
In a further boost, Mr Turner has been awarded a Transformer Scholarship through Bond University, where he will this year be completing an MBA.
Two of the scholarships are given out annually, halving the recipient’s tuition costs, and providing entry to the university’s free Transformer entrepreneurship program.
Mr Turner said he was thrilled to receive the scholarship.
“I find it amazing that I can go from being a brickie to achieving a scholarship at Bond University, it blows me away.”
Mr Turner began his working life as a bricklayer before becoming an electrical tradesman for several years, and eventually moving into the health and fitness business.
Hailing from Bowen, North Queensland, business has been in Mr Turner’s blood from an early age, growing up around his parents’ tomato farm.
“I saw a bit of discipline and I saw a bit of what not to do as well, obviously farming is a massive gamble, you can have the best year of your life and the next year might be the worst year of your life, I saw how to handle a lot of downtime, there were three or four years in a row where they were not breaking even, they were going backwards a lot, and I remember seeing how they operated and the resilience that dad and mum showed to get through it all.”
Through the process of setting up Hype, Mr Turner conducted his own market research and business plans. Now, he’s looking forward to tapping into the mentorship opportunities presented by Transformer.
He’s also keen to pass on the lessons he’s learnt from his business experience so far.
“If someone’s starting out and don’t really know what to do, I’d love to be able to have a chat with them and let them know how I’ve done it. It might not work for them, but I can just tell them how I did it.”
Following the launch of the Pimpama gym, Mr Turner will look to expand his company offshore.
“I’ve always had a bit of a thing where I wanted to succeed early, not be 50 and feel like I’ve made it.
“I definitely want to be overseas within five years, even if it’s just New Zealand. I’d like to get to 150 – 10 gyms in 15 countries.”