When Jake Poblocki started his business degree in Aberdeen he always knew he was destined to be his own boss.
He just didn’t realise it would be during his studies at Robert Gordon University.
Now seven years later the 29-year-old is preparing to open his newly-expanded private members gym in the city.
Jake, originally from Devon, has self-financed Hush Private Gym over the years.
Currently based in Bridge House, on Riverside Drive, the move will see Jake more than double the gym space by opening in the Hardgate.
‘I’d always wanted to be my own boss’
It was while studying a honours degree in business management at RGU that Jake was presented with an opportunity to open his own gym.
He said: “In fourth year an opportunity came up and I thought let’s try it.
“It was really hard but I’d always wanted to be my own boss.
“When I moved to Aberdeen from down south you have this stereotype of the city with the oil but living here and seeing it is a bit different.
“I always had an interest in health and fitness. So when you mix that with the business degree it worked out the way it has.”
Hush Private Gym self financed business
Jake, who is married to Meagan, has invested a five-figure sum of his own cash in Hush throughout the years.
He said: “It’s all been self financed. At university I would work every weekend to save money.
“We are talking thousands of pounds from my own pocket.
“What we are doing now costs a fortune but having no bank loan or debt is something I’m proud of.”
Jake currently employs three personal trainers and has scores of clients on his books.
He said: “When I started the business my trainers would be freelance or self-employed.
“But during Covid I changed that to employ my staff to give them more protection.
“I think that’s very important and I believe we are one of the only gyms to do that.”
Potential for other gyms across the north-east
The gym will be spread over two floors with the capped membership gym and then two large personal training studios upstairs.
The former Securitas site has been vacant since 2020.
Jake said: “We’ve wanted to do this for years but in Aberdeen the hardest bit is finding good property.
“We found a nice site but it took seven months of tackling the council for planning permission and other issues to get where we are today.”
The entrepreneur hasn’t ruled out opening other gyms across Aberdeenshire in the future.
He said: “We are going to wait and see how it goes. The industry can dip a little before Christmas and then it will boom in January.
“That’s something we want to take advantage of.”
“What we are doing here looks better than I could’ve envisaged. We are hoping it goes really well and the plan is to open smaller gyms around especially the shire where there isn’t many.”
Hush Private Gym, which has won a number of awards over the years, opens on November 11.
Conversation