College grad takes over Anytime Fitness | Sampson Independent

Anytime Fitness in Clinton has a new owner — and he’s fresh out of college starting big with his first investment.

Cody Wagner, who is originally from Texas but went to college at Liberty University in West Virgina, has made his first roots in Clinton by taking over the Anytime Fitness franchise on North Boulevard. But Wagner admitted that he wasn’t too interested in weightlifting and going to the gym until he started at Liberty University.

“I was never really too interested in weightlifting growing up and through high school. And then I went to college in the fall of 2021,” Wagner said behind the desk of his cramped office inside of Anytime Fitness. “And then I got some good friends there and they kind of got me into the gym. And then it just kind of took off. I just started wanting to learn more about it, get more science behind it, get more in-depth about what I’m doing, why I’m doing it.”

He paused for a moment before continuing his story.

“It really took off from there. So, I found myself in the gym for pretty much five days a week. And that evolved into me getting a job at the gym at Liberty.”

It was working at the gym that made him appreciate keeping the gym clean and up to date and making sure all the equipment is functional for the people using it. And that gave him the idea to keep working in a gym.

“And so, it kind of hit me like, yeah, I would like to do this full-time, even after I graduate,” Wagner stressed.

The idea would eventually lead him to Anytime Fitness.

Anytime Fitness is a gym company that has franchises in 23 states and two in Central America. But when the previous owners for the Anytime Fitness gym in Clinton had not been able to continue putting their time into the franchise, they decided to transfer ownership to someone else.

And when Wagner saw the listing for the gym, he talked it over with his dad and decided to apply.

“We both agreed that it’d be a good way to get my foot in the door with a gym franchise,” Wagner admitted.

Terri Harof, the director of franchise sales for Anytime Fitness, said they were looking for an owner that was passionate about what they were doing, and that’s exactly what they saw in Wagner.

“One of the things that we really want is we want people who are not just looking for an investment opportunity, but who are looking for an opportunity that they’re passionate about and that’s exactly what we saw in Cody,” Harof said.

Harof went on to say that Anytime Fitness was impressed with Wagner not only because of his previous experience inside a gym, but also because of his understanding of hospitality and customer service due to working with his dad, who is a franchise owner for CiCi’s Pizza.

“He worked for his dad over the years growing up as well, so he understands hospitality and customer service, and so we really were very impressed with the combination and the fact that he did have gym experience and had worked at this very large gym on campus for quite a while was great,” she said.

Wagner and his dad were able to take over the business in February, but Wagner said e only started working there full-time after his graduation in May.

“So we took over Feb. 1, but I’ve only been doing the gym full time since May 12, May 13… something like that. So about a month, a little over a month,” Wagner said.

Taking over, Wagner admitted, was stressful for the recent college graduate.

“As soon as we took it over in February, I mean, it was honestly… it was like one problem after another. So it put a lot of stress on us as a team to fix everything, get everything back working,” Wagner explained with slight exasperation.

But the longer he’s worked at the gym, the more comfortable in his position he’s gotten.

And while Wagner admitted to not knowing what the future would look like in five years, he did say e could see himself sticking around for a couple of years and maybe branching out.

“There’s no telling where I’ll be in the next five years, honestly. But I could definitely see myself sticking around for a few years,” Wagner said. “I mean, the goal would be to branch out, maybe. I know there’s not any [Anytime Fitness] on the East Coast anywhere like eastern North Carolina, Wilmington and all that. I mean, maybe looking somewhere towards there could be a potential goal in the future.”

Right now, Wagner said he’s happy where he is.

“It’s a nice place. And I’m getting more comfortable with the town and the people and the gym, itself, really,” he said. “Not too far from the beach too. And [my family] goes to Myrtle Beach every year for our family vacation. So, I knew I’d get to see my family. It allows me to have a place of my own and I can go back home whenever I need to.”