Oct. 14, 2020

This paid piece is sponsored by the Minnehaha County Economic Development Association.

Matthew Beukelman was an aspiring business owner in search of a home when he found it in Dell Rapids.

Five years later, he’s the SBA’s young entrepreneur of the year for South Dakota’s district office.

Beukelman, who is 29, bought a gym in Dell Rapids in 2015 and renamed it Rapid Fitness. By 2019, he had outgrown it and moved to a new location at 601 N. Garfield Ave. in the town north of Sioux Falls. While this year has brought his biggest test in business yet, he has persevered and adapted.

We spoke with him about his entrepreneurial journey.

What led you to become a business owner?

I grew up in Mitchell and originally thought I’d go into banking and accounting. I went to SDSU and then to the Twin Cities for school, and when I finished, I came to Sioux Falls and got a job at a gym. I did personal training for 3.5 years and was really interested in buying out the gym I was in, but the owner and I couldn’t come to an agreement. So I looked at other options, and the closer I got to buying something out, the more I realized I didn’t want to work for a franchise. I wanted my own brand, and I wanted to be plugged into a community, and that was kind of tough in Sioux Falls. It’s growing, which is a good thing, but I wanted a community that really had a need.

So that led you to Dell Rapids. But why Dell Rapids?

I looked at Harrisburg and Brandon and Dell Rapids, and Dell Rapids had absolutely nothing when it came to what I offered for personal training. So I contacted an existing gym owner, Todd Tryon, and we came to an agreement on a buyout. And as I got planted in Dell Rapids, I was able to get plugged into Baltic and the schools in Dell Rapids, and things started to really grow. I have a lot of students who do internships with me and train with me, and it’s been really cool. The response has been quite positive. I’ve been able to get plugged in with schools and been able to fill a need with regard to personal training, and I even get a pull from communities like Trent and Flandreau and Colman and even some from Minnesota.

What differentiates your business model?

It has evolved over time. When I purchased the gym, it just was 24-hour gym membership, tanning, and I brought the personal training component. So over time, I’ve always wanted to diversify my income as much as possible. So we were able to add sauna, group classes, and this year we’ve added a lot of online components. So we have a mobile app now, and there’s a lot of nutrition manuals and exercise manuals and virtual classes that run through that, so the brand has really expanded from a 24-hour gym to being 24-hour sauna and tanning and nutritionist and the online platform as well.

What’s the best part for you about owning your business?

I wanted something I would be really passionate about, and although I enjoy numbers and accounting and do it with the business management side of things, I started to lift weights myself when I got to college and fell in love with that. And the more I studied it, the more I realized how transformative it can be in other people’s lives, going beyond a teenager trying to build some muscle. You’re talking about getting people off medication and getting different populations up and off the floor when they couldn’t. And those are massive quality-of-life type of activities, and that’s where my interest really picked up. I invested in it myself and saw how it could really apply to other people’s lives.

What has been your biggest surprise about entrepreneurship?

That’s a great question. I knew it would be really labor-intensive; I just didn’t know what the need exactly looked like. I knew there was one there, but I’ve been surprised by the people who come out of the woodwork who did need help, and sometimes you don’t know what that looks like. When you jump into something like this, there aren’t tons of things that surprise you because I was very much expecting anything. I’m kind of surprised by how far people will travel to get personal training. I still have people driving from Sioux Falls and Canton and Pipestone, and that’s pretty sweet. I feel a large responsibility to do a lot with my time because I’m wired a certain way a lot of people are not, but it’s a burden where I feel like I need to constantly be giving.

What did you think when you heard you were young entrepreneur of the year?

I didn’t realize how big of a deal it was. When I was nominated for it, I just had so many different things going, where I just provided all the information they requested of me and thought it sounded cool. But I didn’t realize what it really was and what a big deal it was because I was so focused on the tasks at hand. Every month, we were just growing — all the way up to February when the pandemic hit, and I was trying to take it all in stride. And once the pandemic did hit, it was trying to take it in stride with how I needed to adapt with the business.

How has that gone?

Not awesome, to be honest. I don’t think there are tons of physical brick-and-mortar gyms that are crushing it right now. The online component has been strong, where we’ve gotten people I’ve never met who joined the mobile app and website from Minnesota and Nebraska and different states, which is really cool. And we’re able to offer all my coaching materials through that online platform, so that’s been good. I try and shift my focus to the things that are good because there was awhile at the start of the pandemic when I really found myself losing that spark to get up in the morning. So I had to shift my focus to the things that were going well and those success stories of people making progress in their health because of what I was offering online. I expect coronavirus will change how business is done in the future, and I just have to embrace that. If I have a new member join, they get unlimited access to the app and website, so they instantly have access to coaching materials. It’s another perk of being a member but also equips me to grow online and hopefully work our way into other opportunities in the future.

What’s next for you and your business?

I think priority No. 1 has got to be embracing the change in the market where people will continue to work out from home and want our online services, so the online website and mobile app have climbed the ranks in priority for me. My goal is to get to specific numbers for how many paid users I want on the app and online, but eventually I’d like to work my way into corporate businesses and work with them in the future. The app allows me to store health markers like blood pressure and cholesterol, and it can sync to an Apple Watch or Fitbit, and I think there’s need for that. And it’s very practical to improve health and wellness, and it’s completely remote. I think that’s a need, especially for employers where people are at home. I have people working with me now on expanding that not only in South Dakota but outside South Dakota.

To find out more about Matthew Beukelman’s business, visit rapidfitnessonline.com.