Meet Joseph Herrera | Gym Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joseph Herrera and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joseph, what role has risk played in your life or career?
It take a lot of balls to take risks. A lot of people are scared to take the risk because they do not want to fail. But starting a business, you have to take risks to not only survive, but to become successful.

When I decided to open up my gym, I had a lot of people that had doubts. When I started NXTLVL, private gyms were not popular. We I started out 18 years ago, the big box commercial gyms like 24 hour Fitness, LA Fitness, or Golds Gym was the place to go to. But I was confident in my training skills and clientele that I knew that my risks of starting my own business made sense.

Since opening up my gym, I have taken risks that helped my gym grow over the years. The biggest risk that I had to take was
to open my gym up after being shut down 3 months during the quarantine of 2020. I not only had members that couldn’t workout, but I had trainers that couldn’t train their clients. But after doing my homework and research of the health and safety protocols being implemented by gyms that were open in other parts of the country, I took the risk and opened up my doors June 1 2020. This proved to be a success for my business since we were the only private gym open in our area.

What should our readers know about your business?
I often get asked what sets NXTLVL apart from other gyms. My answer is always we are a community of awesome coaches & clients that love fitness. We have coaches that practice what they preach and love coaching and training clients. There is nothing worse than seeing a trainer just clocks in and clocks out. They are uninspiring and not motivating. They can be a cancer to the gym and is not what we have here at NXTLVL.

NXTLVL first started off with just myself and my business partner and long time friend Conway Ai. We taught all the classes and still trained our own private clients. Before we grew bigger, coaching classes and training clients was easy to manage. But as we grew bigger and bigger, I found that we needed help. But it was hard to give the responsibility to another coach who taught different that what we were used to. But hiring other coaches to teach our classes gave us more time to work “ON” the business ,instead of working “IN” the business. I found that not only did this help NXTLVL grow more, but it gave me more time to spend with my family. Now Conway and I only coach a handful of classes and have given more coaching to our awesome coaches Stephen, Chow, and Frank.

So the lesson I learned is to trust others to help. I learned that I cannot do everything by myself. I learned that in order to grow your business, you need to work “ON” your business and pull away from working “IN” your business.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If a friend was to visit me in La Habra for a week, here is what I would do with them. First of all, fitness is first for me so they would have to come and workout with me or take one of NXTLVL’s early morning workout classes. We have classes as early as 5:30am or even 9:00am. After a hard workout, we would have to eat at La Habra Heights Cafe. They offer breakfast and lunch and have unlimited supply of coffee. I would definitely recommend their pancakes, breakfast burritos, or new to their menu and inspired by me, Loco Moco with hamburger steak or even Spam!
Then after some grub, I would have my buddy go get cleaned up with my barber Irving that has a secret location in Brea. This is a private and location that is by invitation only. Irving is the best barber in the business and will give you top notch service from water, energy drinks, or even a nice cold beer.
Since we are so close, next I would definitely take my friend to the beach. My favorite beach to go to is Newport Beach, but Huntington Beach is close by also. Here we could relax and hit the waves with some body surfing or boogie boarding. Close by in Newport Beach is a diner that my family loves to go to called Woody’s Diner in Lido. This place is rarely busy and has my favorite the Beef Eater sandwich with is with ortega chili’s, thin sliced beef, cheese, and grilled onions. Of course we would have to order a milkshake that we can work off the calories the next workout.
After hours we could hit up the many restaurants close by for a drink. I would take them to Javier’s that isn’t too far away. There is still some great food to eat but their drinks are fire! Plus its just a cool place to hang out and people watch. We might see some celebrities there.
So if any friends wanna come down and visit, let me know!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would love to give a special Shoutout Bedros Keullian who started by career back in 2004. I was a new college graduate that got a degree in Health Science in 2001. But I had my mind set that I was going in the termite business and maybe later open up my own termite company. My life changed when Bedros and I were at a party at our friends house when he asked me what I am going to do with my new college degree. I told him I was pursuing a career in termites. I did not know that at that time Bedros was the manager for personal trainers at LA Fitness in La Habra. He told me to try a job there as an assistant manager since they made as much as I was making as a termite inspector.
So I tried out as a personal trainer and found out that I loved it. I then developed a passion for fitness and a passion for coaching fitness. After a few years as a trainer, In 2004 , I decided to open up my own small training studio Next Level Training which is now what is known as NXTLVL Sport and Fitness.

Website: www.nxtlvlsport.com

Instagram: nxtlvljoe

Twitter: nxtlvljoe

Facebook: joseph herrera

Image Credits
Image credits to Nick Watanaese for the photo. Clients of the gym Shelley Yoo and Tina Jones.