Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Hairston Simmons.
Hi Emily, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Dallas. I grew up in a very athletic family, having 3 siblings and both parents who played college sports. I enrolled at SMU in 2009, where I played for the soccer team for 2 seasons. After 2 years of the college athletics grind, I decided I wanted to focus on my studies. It was a very difficult decision, but I was falling out of love with the sport I had dedicated 15+ years of my life to. I transferred to Alabama, where I continued my Kinesiology major. Through my degree program, I was introduced to the strength & conditioning industry. I was given an opportunity to briefly volunteer for women’s golf, softball, and rowing. I loved how I was able to pass along my experiences as an athlete to connect with current athletes.
My brief volunteer duties quickly ended because I was given the opportunity to try out for a semi-professional soccer team in Dallas the summer of 2012. Being home all summer and playing soccer made me realize I was really missing being a part of a team, and I owed it to myself to capitalize on the opportunity of returning to play for a college. So, I made a the decision to transfer back home in the spring of 2013 to University of North Texas and play my final college soccer season that fall. After a long grueling summer of strength training every morning and soccer volunteer practices, we were finally at our reporting date. Unfortunately, after my orthopedic checkup, I did not clear the ACL protocol. Long story short, it ended my chance to play my final season. I was unbelievably upset but turned that frustration to my studies. After graduating college, I was able to secure an internship at Texas Tech, where my brother was playing baseball. I was there for a year and a half working as a very little-paid intern and soaking up as much as I could. There were many early mornings and late nights assisting with the soccer, baseball, basketball, tennis, and softball teams. After Texas Tech, I was hired on as a graduate assistant at Louisiana State University. I was the Head Men’s Tennis Strength and Conditioning coach as well as assisting women’s tennis, men’s & women’s basketball, football, softball, and men’s golf teams. I am proud of coaching two softball teams that made back-to-back appearances in the Women’s College World Series.
I graduated August 2017 and headed back to Dallas with a wealth of knowledge and experience. I didn’t have a job-in-waiting because I didn’t want to commit to a position since I was getting married in October and had a planned 10-day honeymoon! So, I had two part-time jobs and bounced between assisting SMU men’s and women’s swim and dive teams, football, and working for my dad’s business.
I quickly learned this was a very difficult industry to find a stable position. After getting married in October 2017, my husband and I decided it would be best to find a full-time position. That’s when I began to pave my way to the private side. I took a job at Equinox on Oak Lawn, where I gave private personal training sessions. I really enjoyed connecting with the many clients I had and thought I had the ability to do it on my own. Soon after starting my private training journey at equinox, I found out I was pregnant and this was the moment that pushed me to start exploring other options. I began crafting a business plan for how I could start my own gym. After several months of looking at spaces and concepts, I came across Alpha. I had been to the gym in the past and caught wind that the prior owner sold it, and the existing owner had an interest in selling. I reached out to the owner, where we had several back and forths on the structure of a deal. We came to an agreement in late July, and I officially purchased the gym on August 1st, 2018…, and the rest is history. Yes, FIVE months pregnant, I bought a gym. Why not have more than one major life change!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Owning Alpha has come with some of the biggest blessings and challenges of my life. After buying the gym, I had to find it in me to create a businesswoman persona. My background was S&C, not running a business. I bought Alpha with about 22 active members. My first priority was to create meaningful relationships with the existing clientele, as well as marketing to new members, and improving the workout programs. I was very lucky to have such welcoming people give me a chance to earn their confidence and business. A few months in, I really felt like we were starting to gain momentum. We had very little attrition to the existing membership, and
I was able to pick up several new members by either existing relationships or word of mouth. Eventually, members were starting to refer their friends and family, and after a few months our memberships to about 35-40 active memberships. I knew as a mother-to-be, I wouldn’t be able to run a million miles a minute like I had been getting the gym off the ground. I shifted my focus to building out a coaching staff that shared the same S&C philosophies, education, and experience as I did. I was lucky enough to be introduced to Evan Perez in the spring of 2019. Evan had an extensive strength and conditioning background, having coached at Syracuse and LSU. Evan took a chance on me and moved to Dallas to work with me. He has been a tremendous asset by improving our programming, marketing and really holding down the fort behind the scenes. We were humming along until, of course, March 2020. Not to mention I was 6 months pregnant with baby number 2! Our doors were shuttered with no end in sight. A handful of members started dropping off the monthly membership. We had to think hard and fast on how we could emulate a similar product offered in person but via zoom. I was lucky enough to have a good majority of the members stick by our side and give virtual training a chance. We eventually weathered the storm and welcomed everyone back with open arms in late May 2020. When our doors opened back up over the next couple months, we were hit with an unexpected influx of people who wanted to become part of Alpha. Talk about a BLESSING! Our membership swelled in the last year to about 80-85 active members. Word of mouth has been the our biggest marketing tool.
I really believe our members bought into why we do what we do. We were very fortunate to have so many people come back. Our secret sauce at Alpha is all about making strength training simple. We care most about our members knowing that they are getting the best training which will promote health and longevity. We stress proper techniques on fundamental movements and mobility which reduces the risk of injury. About 80% of our membership have been active members for the past year, and roughly 50% have been with us since before the pandemic.
We have continued growing and have hired 2 new coaches, Trent Haynes and Caleb Ake. Trent and Caleb fit in perfectly. They offer different coaching styles while maintaining a high level of knowledge and expertise. We have doubled in physical size by knocking out the wall between us and the vacant retail space next door. We have the ability to provide group training and personal training at the same time. The past 4 years have been so eye-opening. I never thought I would be where I am today. A business owner? No way. But I am proud of the road we have traveled, the ups and downs, and most importantly the relationships we’ve made along the way.
What are your plans for the future?
I have plans to expand and launch my pregnancy and postpartum groups soon. I would love to reach out to all the mommas who are interested in learning more about exercise while pregnant and returning to exercise after having a baby. I will also be looking to increase our athletic performance; I am currently the strength coach for Highland Park Girls Soccer 2022-2023 school year. We train many high school athletes across all sports and plan to continue to gain traction. A second location? Maybe sometime in the future, but as of right now, we are going to focus on the location we have and continue to serve our community!
Contact Info:
- Website: alphaprojectdallas.com
- Instagram: alphastrength_conditioning
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlphaPersonalTrainingDallas
