What Managing a Gym at 19 Taught Me About Leadership

At 19 years old, I managed Womack's Gym in Keller, Texas. The owner, Ken Womack, gave me the keys. I had the alarm code. He trusted me.

It was my first taste of authority and leadership, and it was wild. It taught me a lot about what leadership is.

Ken gave me the keys

I was in college. I worked as the night manager from 3 to 11pm, five days a week, after class. Sometimes I ran the gym on weekends too.

Ken didn't have to trust a 19-year-old with his business. He did anyway. Having the keys and the alarm code meant the building was mine to open, run and close.

Looking back, that trust was the first leadership lesson. People rise to the level of responsibility you give them. Ken gave me a lot, and I wanted to earn it.

I ran it all

Womack's was more than a room full of weights. We had onsite childcare. We had tanning beds. We had a smoothie bar. I ran all of it.

On a normal night I gave tours to people thinking about joining, in between making strawberry banana protein smoothies. Then I'd check on the front desk, the childcare room and the floor.

Nobody hands you a manual for that at 19. You learn by doing it every night and fixing what breaks.

Last to leave

I was always the last one out. Before I set the alarm, I made sure the weights were back in order, the bathrooms were clean and the smoothie bar was ready for the next day.

None of that was glamorous. The morning crew walked into a gym that was ready to go, and most members never knew who got it that way.

That's a lot of what leadership is. You take care of the things nobody sees so everyone else can do their best work. I still think about that when I work with founders today.

Where value really comes from

My pay that year taught me something I've carried ever since. I made $12,000 in salary and $20,000 in commission.

The salary paid me for showing up. The commission paid me for creating value, every tour that turned into a new member.

For a part-time college job, that split was eye-opening. It showed me early that the biggest returns come from the work that grows the business.

It's the same thing I look for in companies now. I wrote more about it in is every hire a builder or a grower and a full calendar isn't progress.

What that job taught me about leadership

I didn't have words for any of this at 19. I do now.

• Trust comes first. Ken trusted me before I'd proven much. That trust made me work harder.
• Own the whole thing. Childcare, tanning, smoothies, tours, the floor. If it was in the building, it was my job.
• Do the work nobody sees. Clean bathrooms and racked weights are how the next shift starts strong.
• Get paid for value. Commission taught me to focus on what grows a business.
• Leadership shows up early. You can see it in people long before they have a title.

You see leadership in people early

Managing a gym at 19 was crazy for my age. I didn't know it then, but it was where I started leading people.

Now when I meet young founders and early employees, I look for the same thing Ken must have seen. The person who wants the keys, and who will be the last one out making sure things are ready for tomorrow.

If you're running a company, look around for that person. Give them more responsibility than feels comfortable. That's how I got my start, and it's how I try to grow people today. More on that on the Leadership & Legacy page and in my story.

Why early responsibility matters

Most people get their first real responsibility much later than I did. Research from Gallup keeps finding that people are more engaged when they feel trusted and know what's expected of them. That's what Ken gave me with the keys and the alarm code.

I see the same thing in founders today. The ones who were trusted early tend to trust their own teams early. I wrote about who ends up leading in why not everyone can be a CEO, and about how ownership changes behavior in the power dynamics behind partnership language.

If you're building something ambitious, let's connect on LinkedIn.