Jemma Thomas, 38, is the founder of Jemma’s Health Hub, an online fitness community focussing on helping women feel supported and mentally stronger through regular fitness workouts. There is a real community feel where women can take part in four work-outs each week alongside other hubbers, with three live at 6.30am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. They are encouraged to post their sweaty selfie afterwards and post their messages of support to one another throughout the week! Jemma has recently experienced a 50% rise in new and returning members when compared with this time last year because so many women are searching for a fun and supportive work-out to do at home during lockdown.

Jemma started the company in 2015 after a career in advertising in London. Rather than a lifelong fitness person like many personal trainers, she came up with the idea after giving birth to her first son, Jude. She struggled mentally and found that it was exercise that really pulled her through and with The Hub she wanted to promote the benefits of exercise to anyone who needed it.

What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal?

I wanted to share the message that exercise doesn’t have to be about punishment and the idea of going hard or going home. It can be about taking care of yourself and making it a consistent part of your week that helps you, rather than something that you dread.

My aim is to keep growing the online group and to help as many women as possible. It’s very female-centric where 90% of the women have children so find it hard to fit exercise into their daily life. I just want to keep the community spirit alive and keep the company going so we help more and more women each year through the power of exercise.

How do you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?

Unlike a lot of personal trainers, I don’t talk about how doing The Hub will change your body. We don’t talk about weight or physical measurements. It’s more focused on how this is going to help you mentally – how this half an hour work-out at 6.30am will be your insurance policy for later in the day and give you the confidence to go ahead and enjoy your day.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as an entrepreneur?

I think the biggest lesson I learnt is that things take time.You can’t expect to do things overnight. 

Building up a membership product like The Hub takes a lot of nurturing and much of this is around word of mouth and women having a fantastic experience. You have to make a good product so that you gain that member loyalty and be willing to alter things to suit their needs.

I’m not a massive business so I’ve got the agility to change things around or adapt stuff if I need to which is a real bonus.

What are your thoughts on failure?

Failure is a good thing; it helps you realise ways that you can do things differently in the future, that you always learn from. I’m happy to try things out and fail rather than not try at all.

Do you have a morning routine or ritual to get your day started on the right foot?

I get up early at 5.30am and have a coffee. I journal. This won’t be coherent sentences but will be whatever’s in my head that day – maybe my worries, my goals or even whatever I was dreaming about! It helps to clear my head. I learnt that if you try to be formulaic about it, it makes things harder as it’s just for you to read and release your thoughts and get out what’s in your head and has been brilliant for me.

I’ll then have a glass of water and read over the workout that I’ve written for The Hub that takes place on Facebook Live at 6.30am three days a week. Once that’s complete, I’ll make sure the tech stuff is fine, upload the video and my sweaty selfie that I encourage everyone to do and have a little chat with my members.

And then I’ll do a five minute work out on Instagram at 8am, called Got 5 Live, for my followers who aren’t in The Hub.

Then, it’s all about sorting the kids out. I have two boys – Buddy who’s four and Jude’s who’s eight. I get them up, sort their breakfast and take them to school. I organise my work around my family.

If you could be in a room with 4 entrepreneurs, who would they be and why?

The Rock – Dwayne Johnson. I always listen to his inspirational speeches on and love him! 

Sarah Blakely, the lady who set up Spanks – I think she’s a very good business woman and entrepreneur.

Also, Michelle Mone who set up Wonderbra; I like her attitude and determination and not taking no for an answer. She just kept on going and wasn’t willing to conform.

And finally, Sarah Akwisombe who is a friend of mine and gives really positive advice, helping women to make money. She’s got a huge online presence and does courses centred around growth and business, she has a new book out soon too – ‘The Money is Coming’.

What are your top tips for entrepreneurs wanting to get their business out there?

Work out your brand values and your target audience first. Don’t assume that it’ll suit everyone. Sometimes the more niche the better so that you can really focus on your market and make it perfect for them.

The Hub, for example, is for a certain type of person – usually a women in her 30s or 40s who is keen to fit in some exercise around a busy family life. Narrow your market down and tailor the product in a really specific way so that it appeals to them.

Don’t be afraid to test out your product first and don’t go spending lots of money before doing so. Try to do as much free stuff as possible. There are lots of free marketing tools out there, such as Wix for website building and Instagram for social media. You can do this all yourself at the start.

How did you conquer those moments of doubt that so often affect entrepreneurs or stop many with great ideas – what pushes you through?

I let them have their moment for a minute as sometimes I do have self-doubt and that’s important I think. I then look back at some of the messages from people who are doing The Hub or who have worked with me and that makes me realise it’s a really beneficial product that people love. You have to let those moments pass and look at your successes to help bolster you in those moments of doubt.

How do you believe the evolution of tech will affect your industry over the next 10 years?

I started The Hub two years ago as a subscription based fitness model and since then there’s been a big rise in this type of platform and product so it’s got quite competitive.

I think it will get easier for me to operate in time and there will be even more platforms for me to use.

And with more and more people working from home I believe that people are going to be looking for more ways to do online work-outs so I am sure that tech will only progress further to meet with the demand.

Any moments where you thought you’ve bitten off more than you can chew?

Yes - I have hosted a few live events that included a lot of different elements which were out of my comfort zone so I have found the tech and finance side a bit challenging. Whenever I make changes to www.jemmashealthhub.com, I do it all myself which can be tricky sometimes but I just break it all down and learn how to do it at my pace and it’s fine.