Who is Mark Fisher?

As our audience of gym owners grows, I wanted to answer a few pressing questions about your friendly author.

Such as:

Who the f is this guy?
What’s he done?
Why should I listen to him?

Pour a mug of joe and come sit on Papa Fisher’s knee, while I tell you a true tale of an unlikely gym owner consultant investor guy…

The first thing you need to know is I’m a former professional actor. And in 2012, I opened up a gym in NYC called Mark Fisher Fitness.

MFF’s tagline is “Ridiculous Humans, Serious Fitness.”

Speaking first to the second part: I really am, unicorns aside, serious about fitness.

My background is nerdy strength and conditioning. In parallel to my career as an actor, I spent my 20s obsessively studying training. My biggest influences include but are not limited to Mike Boyle, Dan John, Gray Cook, Charlie Weingroff, and John Berardi.

Eventually I developed a reputation as the go-to-trainer for the Broadway community.

In 2011, one of my childhood besties — and now/BFU business partner Michael Keeler ~~manipulated~~ persuaded me to have a go at a “real business.”

And as we said in our TEDx talk on culture…

We accidentally started a gym.

But it wasn’t a “normal” gym. Because we made it for our pals.

So instead of calling our members “clients,” we called them Ninjas.

Instead of a “gym,” we named our home The Enchanted Ninja Clubhouse of Glory and Dreams.

And our spiritual mascot was the humble but majestic unicorn.

Crazy-ass branding aside, we were fortunate to have a lot of success.

We got covered by media outfits like The New York Times, The Wall St Journal, Forbes, The NY Post, Details, Fox 5, CBS News, and more.

We were featured in all the major fitness magazines and named one of Men’s Health’s Top 20 Gyms in America.

We were even ranked as one of the fastest growing companies in America on the Inc 500.

And during my tenure as owner, MFF grossed nearly $34 million dollars.

(Real talk: this feels kinda gross and braggy. And you-know-what measuring. But I think it’s important context for where I’m coming from.)

Because of our, *ahem,* colorful brand and financial results, I started getting asked to give talks. People in the industry wanted to know just what the hell was going on over there.

And lo… Business for Unicorns was born!

Over the past few years, I’ve given keynotes and talks at fitness events all over the world like Perform Better, IDEA, FILEX (Australia), Anytime Fitness Australia, The Fitness Business Summit, Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, and a ton more.

I’ve also been a speaker, mentor, and/or consultant for businesses and events outside the fitness industry, including SONY Music, Security Scorecard, Two12, Red Door by Elizabeth Arden, Novus Surgical, and others.

Recently, Keeler and I sold Mark Fisher Fitness to a former trainer and long-time coaching client.

Now, don’t you worry, I’m still in the game. As a franchisee of Alloy Personal Training, I still co-own a gym in NJ.

But these days, the focus for Keeler, our team, and yours truly is one thing and one thing only:

Helping gym and fitness studio owners build a business — and a life — you love.

We do that by focusing on three things:

More Income – So you’re happy with the money you’re making, excited to look at your bank account, and building wealth for your family

More Impact – So you take pride in consistently changing the lives of your clients AND supporting your team’s growth and dreams

More Freedom – So you’re not chained to your gym, you can take days off, and mentally unplug while drinking margaritas by the pool in Mexico

I’m happy to tell you more if you’re ever interested. You can set up a quickie call HERE.

But for now I’ll just say…

Thanks for reading this far!

To complete our friendshipping, you should also know:

I still live in NYC with my Broadway actress wife Shina, our toddler Celestia, and our dog Gizmo. My wife has been in 10 Broadway shows. She’s legit AF!

I’m a voracious reader. Find some of my faves, broken down by topic, HERE.

Although I’ve settled down a bit, I’ve been known in some circles for aiding and abetting, shall we say… shenanigans. And I’m still on the lookout for the next great Martini.

I travel a lot for work AND pleasure. Some fave spots include London, Tokyo, Las Vegas, and Burning Man. I’ll hit all those except Tokyo this coming year. I’ll also visit South Africa, Sydney, and Tuscany.