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From gymnastics to owning the Gym-Nest
by Gregory R. Norfleet · Sports · August 17, 2012
Yes, Brian and Paige Roth purchased the Iowa Gym-Nest from Jim and Jill Schlott, but when you hear them tell it, the Jan. 3 exchange sounds more like a bestowment.
The Schlotts purchased the company themselves in the 1970s and brought it out of bankruptcy, nurturing and building the children’s gymnastics business.
Paige worked since 1990 for the Schlotts, at first coaching athletes part-time. She went full-time in 1993 and was asked to manage the Coralville location when it opened in 1996. The Schlotts liked how she ran the place, and for years talked about wanting her to take it over. In the last five years, she had been given more and more responsibility.
“I look at it more like a succession,” she said.
She and Jim had coached the older players, which meant long car rides to competitions, and long conversations about the business. One time, Jim announced that when his oldest daughter graduated, he and Jill planned to retire.
In July 2011, the Schlotts invited the Roths over for dinner, and announced they would retire. They told them they felt they were passing the Iowa Gym-Nest into capable hands.
Brian and Paige went through the usual steps, pouring over the numbers and looking at their own finances. The Roths agreed to buy the company, and the Schlotts phased themselves out of teaching in August 2011, though they said they would be willing to serve as substitute teachers if available.
Paige had already been doing so much for the company that when they took it over, she didn’t feel any different about the responsibility in the office.
“But now there’s a great big giant debt hanging over our heads,” she laughed.
The Iowa Gym-Nest is “a very successful business,” she said.
“Even if we didn’t grow, we would be OK,” she said.
The company is doing well, she said, with a combined enrollment of about 1,200 between the Coralville and Iowa City locations.
Paige, a competitive gymnast in her youth, started helping her mother, Sue Hughes, a gymnastics teacher in Sioux City, when Paige was 12 years old. Her father, Del, had coached wrestling, football and track.
“I’m a competitive person,” Paige said. “I don’t do things half way. I want to make it bigger and grow it more.”
Paige will serve as the primary, hands-on owner of the business. Brian kept his full-time job at Pearson as an accountant, but the CPA dabbles in computer/Web programming and doubles as the Gym-Nest’s chief financial officer.
Brian’s experience with programming upgraded the company Web site to try to make it more customer-friendly with online registration and payment capabilities. They can even manage much of the business side from home, tapping into their network remotely.
Paige’s college degree is in math, and she also has a teaching certificate.
“I’m thankful to get to go to a job that I truly enjoy every day,” she said. “And I know we do make a difference in kids’ lives.”
She said former students still come up to her years later and thank her for their experiences.
“It makes it all worthwhile,” she said. “And Brian gets to come along for the ride.”
Brian agrees, saying they are glad to keep the Iowa Gym-Nest a family business.
“The focus is customer service,” Brian said. “I’m very big on customer service, and we stress that big with our staff. That makes or breaks a company.”
While running the business day to day came relatively easily to Paige, she said she was surprised by how many checks and verifications were necessary just switching the utilities over.
“We are blessed to have a great full-time staff,” she said. “But I have to learn that I don’t have the time to teach as much, so I have to learn to delegate more.”
The Gym-Nest has about 60 total staff — seven full-time and the rest part-time. Many of their instructors are former students, including their son, Justin. Their daughter, Jayden, is not a paid instructor, but when the opportunity arises, she likes to help out with the younger pupils, just like Paige did with her mother. Jayden is also on the competitive team.
The Roths have made some changes — some practical, some “fun,” she said. They cut a hole in the office wall to make a customer counter, painted, added televisions and offer free WiFi to waiting parents.
Half-day kindergarten at Iowa City schools grew to full-time, and more families with both parents working means more children in day care — both took customers away, Paige said. So now the Iowa Gym-Nest is marketing to day cares, either bringing children to their locations, or sending instructors to the day cares.
They also are working with schools, offering to teach a “balance and motion” unit to second-grade pupils.
They offer Tae Kwon Do on their second floor.
“We want to be the best,” Paige said.
The Roths, despite having just purchased the business, already have their eyes on their own retirement.
“We have a 20-year plan,” Paige said. “We are going to retire at 60. We already have two (employees) who said ‘When you retire, we want it.’”
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