AMPLIFTS
BY KERRY ANDERSON
2018 is a big year for Brendan Murphy. Just 18 years of age and living in the tiny town of Allanson in southwest Western Australia, Brendan is midway through Year 12 at nearby Collie Senior High School … and he’s launched his first business!
When the school bell rings Brendan is the first one out the door to catch the bus home. But instead of sitting and watching television or playing the video games that he used to be addicted to, he is rushing home to work on his online fitness program and coaching business at AMPLIFTS.com
In collaboration with Adam Peeler, another young fitness fanatic in the United States, Brendan has capitalised on modern technology to create a passive income before he has even left school. I’m impressed when I check out the website. The technology is good, the copyright snappy, and both Brendan and Adam present themselves extremely professionally.
‘It has been hard to find the time to work on the business,’ Brendan admits ‘but I made a lot of progress during the school holidays.’
But how did he learn how to do all this I wonder?
‘The content is based on maximising my own results,’ explains Brendan. ‘I got involved in fitness, bodybuilding and powerlifting and really studied the science behind it.’ Adam, who has a major in exercise science, became one of Brendan’s trusted sources as he scoured the internet for articles and tutorials.
After messaging Adam via a Facebook community, the two hit it off immediately and a business partnership was formed. ‘Adam was already a big name in the industry over in the United States so it was good to have his endorsement and for him to be part of the business. A lot of people claim to know everything but can’t back up what they say with facts,’ says Brendan. ‘What we follow is the science behind training and nutrition and strive to apply that when we create programs for natural lifters that aren’t on steroids.’
With the business still in its infancy they are only just starting to make money and have an agreed 40/60 split of the profits with the majority going to Brendan who looks after the website. With the benefits of digital technology, they converse daily via Facebook messenger having worked out the time differences between Collie, Western Australia and Utah in the United States.
In essence, Brendan and Adam provide their own testimonials that obviously would most appeal to their primary audience, young men. Both talk about how they transitioned from insecure young men into confident ones through their fitness regimes and they aren’t afraid of sharing positive stories about self-esteem and mental health via social media and You Tube. They’ve also showcased the incredible results their clients have achieved through the use of their programs on the website.
When it came to establishing a website Brendan did what every good business person should do. He invested in Squarespace, a well-known software platform and customised it so it had a totally fresh look. He also checked out competitor websites. ‘I took what they do and did it better. It was important for my website to be user friendly because some are just too confusing.’ Having an interest in web development and coding – self taught of course – he found it an easy task to undertake.
As an online business AMPLIFTS’s customers can be located anywhere in the world. Capitalising on their social media presence, marketing so far has been via Facebook and Instagram plus some Google advertisements. ‘We’ve been getting three to five percent click through on our ads but the challenge is to convert them into sales,’ Brendan says.
Recently AMPLIFTS received a welcome boost when Adam stayed with a popular You Tuber in the United States who has over 100,000 followers. ‘We received a few sales out of that,’ Brendan notes gratefully.
When time permits Brendan is looking forward to developing an app so that their customers can access their programs offline and track their progress.
In the meantime, there is school, I remind him cheerfully. ‘Yeah’ Brendan acknowledges dolefully. When asked why he is doing Year 12 he admits that it is to get an ATAR score, and, I assume, to meet university admission requirements. However, Brendan is quick to assure me that university is not his intended future.
‘I will be working AMPLIFTS full time and hopefully collaborating with Adam in person over in the United States,’ he says with much more enthusiasm.
Now that’s an exciting plan for a young man and one full of possibilities!
When you can't wait to get home
to work on your business!
2020 update:
Sadly, Brendan’s long term plans for AMPLIFTS didn’t come to fruition. He and Adam discontinued their partnership with Brendan retaining only a few clients to coach. Instead he has been working with a few clients on graphic and web design. Helpfully he oversaw my web upgrade in 2019. Recently he has been delving into digital art as a hobby.
Chatting with Brendan, there is no doubt his heart is still set on building a business around his passion.
‘I have a powerlifting competition in 3 months, where I am aiming to be the best in Australia this year for my age and weight class,’ he told me. He is also training twice a week with the Hands of Steel Arm Wrestling Club in Bunbury.
‘If I can gain a bigger name in the powerlifting world my goal is to open a new business purely focused on training strength athletes online. Perhaps I will own a gym, too, and a supplement company,’ he muses.
Wisely Brendan is hedging his bets. ‘I plan to spend more time learning about the Foreign Exchange market and pursue that professionally, too.’
Whatever he ends up doing he is continuing to learn some valuable business skills along the way.
KERRY ANDERSON: Founder of the Operation Next Gen program and author of ‘Entrepreneurship: It’s Everybody’s Business,’ Kerry works with small businesses and rural communities to help them embrace new opportunities. READ MORE