membership<\/a>, which usually costs between $59 and $99 a month.<\/p>\n\u201cI think part of it was because we were in the pandemic and it was just a place to go,\u201d Jones says. \u201cI can get out of my house and be safe. So I started going.\u201d<\/p>\n
A second lease on life<\/h2>\n
Weeks after her first chemo treatment, Jones went in for her second dose. The doctor told her that something unusual had happened: Her lab work was better than it was before, and it was supposed to be worse. They expected her body to deteriorate, but the lab work showed that it was doing the reverse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The doctor ordered an emergency scan. When Jones first came to the hospital, she had three large tumors in her liver. Because her cancer was so aggressive, she should have had at least six or more tumors at that point. Instead, the doctor said that of the three original tumors, one was gone and the other two had shrunk.\u00a0There were no additional tumors. <\/p>\n
The doctor told her to continue with what she was doing and keep coming back for additional chemotherapy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the time Jones came in for her sixth chemotherapy treatment, she was hopeful. The doctor finally sat her down and told her what she longed to hear: that \u201cnot a trace of cancer\u201d was in her body. Subsequent follow-up appointments showed that the cancer remained gone months and years after Jones finished chemotherapy.<\/p>\n
With this second lease on life, Jones was ready to start a franchise. She called Hotworx and said, \u201cGive me my license, let\u2019s roll.\u201d<\/p>\n
She opened the doors to her studio in downtown Chicago on January 23, 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Funding her own franchise<\/h2>\n
Jones, 67, did not take out a conventional bank loan to open her Hotworx location. Instead, she drew on the retirement savings she had accumulated during nearly four decades in corporate America.<\/p>\n
Before opening a franchise, Jones spent 30 years at PepsiCo and another eight years at GT Data Services. She began contributing to a 401(k) when she was 25 years old after receiving formative advice from a boss: Whenever she got a raise, she should put half of it into her retirement account.<\/p>\n
That early lesson shaped her financial life. By age 30, Jones says she had accumulated about $40,000 in her retirement account. She used a 401(k) loan to help cover the down payment on a downtown Chicago condo, then continued saving as her income rose. Later, she says, she used retirement-account loans for other major life expenses, including her wedding and a home purchase.<\/p>\n
\u201cMajor things, borrow money from yourself,\u201d Jones says. \u201cBecause you\u2019re getting raises all along the way too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over time, the account grew substantially. By the end of her career, Jones says her 401(k) balance had reached approximately $1.2 million. She ultimately invested close to $600,000 in the studio.<\/p>\n
\u201cChicago was a lot because it\u2019s expensive,\u201d Jones says. \u201cI did it in the most expensive neighborhood in Chicago. I did it in River North, downtown Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first two years were difficult, she says. The third year was when she really started making money.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jones says the business generated more than $500,000 in annual revenue last year, though she stressed that figure did not account for expenses. On a monthly basis, she estimates that the studio produces roughly $20,000 to $30,000 in profit during stronger periods.<\/p>\n
Why she chose to open a franchise<\/h2>\n
Jones says she chose a franchise rather than attempting to build an independent fitness business because she wanted the systems, vendors, marketing support and operating playbook that came with an established brand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what I\u2019m doing,\u201d she says. \u201cUnder franchise, you have a marketing team, you have all the systems that they use, and they have all the vendors that you partner with.\u201d<\/p>\n
That support includes marketing assistance, payroll vendors, equipment support, IT resources and a network of other franchise owners. Jones says she would have struggled to navigate all of those functions independently during the earliest months of ownership.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I was doing this myself, I would have failed the first six months,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s no way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones says the franchise community itself has become one of the most valuable parts of ownership. She opened when Hotworx had roughly 323 studios; the chain has since grown to about 900 locations, she discloses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Jones, that support system also makes the business more transferable than a fitness studio built around a single trainer\u2019s personal brand. Her daughter has joined her as a franchisee co-owner, and the pair are exploring a second location.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy business can run without me,\u201d Jones says. \u201cPlus, I can easily transfer this over to my daughter if something happened to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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