Inc: This Single Mom Got Fired, Started a Gym and Is on Track to a Billion in Revenue

With 900 studios open, Orangetheory Fitness is a household name. But that wasn’t always the case—as a recent Inc. video points out, the brand was started out of co-founder Ellen Latham’s house. She started the concept after being fired as a single mother, and grew the concept to the point where it was making about $300,000 in revenue every year. Now, the franchise is on pace to end 2018 with close to $1 billion in revenue.

So, how did Orangetheory achieve this level of success? When asked what her biggest fear in starting Orangethroey fitness was, Latham told Inc., “That people wouldn’t understand how intense the sciences of it—which was so important to me as a physiologist.”

Latham also told Inc. that she isn’t afraid of growing too fast and having to shut down centers. She said, “Unless the human body changes how it responds to exercise, everything we’ve got in this workout is going to last you a lifetime.”