ONEXTRA: Frankie and Shiv

Frankie Kiarie, 27, and Shiverenje ‘Shiv’ Simani, 28, have beaten the odds and have made a name for themselves on all-matters fitness and nutrition, including the online space, since founding their company. They talk to Buzz

When did you start Just Gym It?

Shiv: In 2015, officially. That’s when we got registered.

Was it a plan you initially had?

Frankie: I have always been interested in personal training. When I came back to Kenya (I studied abroad) I told Shiv about the vision I had. Many people were doing it in the United Kingdom yet not many were doing it here. So I sold him the dream.

Shiv: I was working at the time but I really did not enjoy it. I was looking to move away from what I was doing so this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

How was the transition of jobs for you?

Shiv: I was in the hospitality industry. Transitioning wasn’t as easy because I was moving from a stable job, not with the best pay of course, but I was assured pay at the end of the month. Moving to an unknown territory was therefore a really tough decision, but it was for the best.

Frankie: I never had a job before this. But I’m a risk taker. It was not really tough for me. At first, I would split everything with Shiv, just to make sure that we were both striving for something better in the end.

Who came up with the name Just Gym It? And why?

Shiv: At the time, I was doing something to do with garbage collection and I wanted to name it Simply Bin It.

Frankie: When playing around with names trying to find one, I suggested Just Gym It.

How long have you known each other?

Frankie: We have been neighbours ever since I was 11.

What does your job involve?

Shiv: There is the training part of it, we are personal trainers. We train clients one-on-one. There is online training as well which can be done for anyone around the world. We provide work out plans, meal plans and check in with you. We are also social media influencers.

Frankie: We also do nutrition as part of the personal training and offer consultations.

How is your schedule like?

Frankie: It’s not as hectic anymore. It’s structured. We had to apply some rules for it to be beneficial to us, our clients and our families.

Shiv: Training is time consuming. Some of our rules include not training past 4 pm and taking one day of the week to focus on the business.

Frankie: We meet most of our clients in the morning then have meetings in the evening. Saturday is half-day work for us and we don’t work on Sundays.

Shiv: On normal days, training starts at 5 am. After work, we have family time, checking on e-mails as well as working on our social media platforms.

Frankie: One needs to put time aside for social media because it is content creation in itself.

What are your goals career wise?

Frankie: At the moment we want to be recognised across East Africa as the leading fitness and nutrition consultants. We want to grow to a level where one does not need to research Just Gym It to find out what we are all about.

Shiv: To also bring the fitness and nutrition culture to a level where it is respected by most people, as compared to us being called ‘msee wa gym’ or something. Fitness is a whole lot more than just showing one how to lift a bicep curl.

What challenges do you face?

Shiv: As I said, people do not see the value of what we do.

Frankie: Someone can spend up to Sh10,000 a night on alcohol, but would not spend any on fitness. Their value of it needs to change.

Shiv: A meal plan costs the same as one meal at a restaurant. This plan gives one knowledge for a lifetime. We basically try to show people the value of what we do.

What are some of the highlights of your career?

Shiv: We get to meet and work with different kinds of people, some whom you thought you would never meet. Also, inspiring people to do what we do, or to be better versions of themselves pushes us and really motivates us.

Frankie: We also get to work with different companies on the job. The fact that we get to work on our hours is also cool. We get to spend time with our families. It is also something we love doing. Going to the gym is not a task.

What would you say sets you apart from other trainers?

Frankie: We have a lot of knowledge on nutrition. People do not understand that it is a very important aspect in fitness. We are also more of life coaches. We share lifestyles. This is why we get approached by companies that have nothing to do with fitness.

Shiv: We think outside the box.

What lessons have you learnt from working together?

Shiv: You always have to understand the other person. You may not always agree on things. Prioritising on important things is also key. We have to make decisions together; how we want the company to move and remind ourselves of the vision.

Frankie: You have to compromise. You have to look at company goals instead of individual goals. The business is like a baby: you have to take up roles and make each other accountable.

Shiv: If we have disagreements, we have learnt to bounce back from them. We are good at it. We do not stay angry at each other. We bring in people who are self-employed to act as mediators so as to have a different perspective as well.

What corporate endorsements do you have?

Shiv: We are currently working for the upcoming Standard Chartered Marathon. We are pushing a lifestyle and training others for this marathon.

Frankie: We have also worked with Mall for Africa, Safaricom, Samsung, and Brookside.

Shiv: And we have also worked with a whisky brand.

At what point did you start your YouTube channel? And why?

Frankie: The beginning of 2016.

Shiv: We started it to show people our lifestyle; that what we do to achieve a fitness goal is not out of the ordinary.

Frankie: We got a lot of people asking us about our workouts as well, so we figured it was an easy way to share it without one having to pay for it.

What drives you?

Shiv: I absolutely love what I do and want to see us be the best in East Africa and go overseas as well. I also want to show that it’s possible to achieve something from nothing.

Frankie: Fear of failure. Having a family pushes me 10 times harder. Also, the need to be the best.