Vladimir didn’t choose a gym access control system because it looked cool on a feature list.
He chose it because he’d already lived through the kind of chaos most independent gym owners don’t talk about until it’s too late: unstable training locations, landlord problems, unpredictable overhead, and the constant risk of letting clients down.
When it came time to pick gym management software, he had one hard rule:
“The software in the market was offering services that would require a third party… I don’t want these broken phones with the 2–3–5 companies.”
For Vladimir, the real problem wasn’t the door hardware.
It was the support loop. Multiple vendors. Multiple “not us” answers. One gym owner stuck in the middle.
This is the story of how he opened a private training gym in Brooklyn, NY, and why he chose Wellyx to run gym membership management, payments, and 24/7 gym access control without adding extra complexity.
From Moldova to Brooklyn (and why discipline mattered more than “fitness hype”)
Vladimir was born in Moldova. He got pulled into sports young, and by around 12, he was already trying to get into the gym, even when money was tight. He tried martial arts, wrestling, a bit of everything, then came back to training seriously in his early twenties.
But the motivation wasn’t just aesthetics.
He talks about childhood fears, doubt, and needing a source of strength that didn’t depend on anyone else.
“I really needed something that would be a source of inner strength. To me, it was fitness.”
In 2013, he moved to the U.S. alone. New country, new pressure, no safety net.
Fitness became his anchor. The “load device” that kept him steady when life got heavy.
That mindset, to do the work, don’t wait for conditions to be perfect, shows up in everything he built later.
The first pivot: leaving bartending for coaching
Before the gym existed, Vladimir worked nights as a bartender in Brooklyn. People saw his physique and asked if he trained others. He started taking a few clients during the day.
Then the contrast became impossible to ignore.
At the bar: loud nights, drunk crowds, no clear path to grow.
In training: real conversations, measurable progress, and work that actually mattered.
So he made the jump. Bartending out. Full-time training in.
One early client became a turning point: a woman who wasn’t comfortable training with a male coach at first, but committed fully once she started. She changed her habits, lost weight, got stronger, and hit a milestone that sounds small until you’ve lived it.
She told him she could finally wear taller boots because her calves weren’t too big to fit.
Not a “before and after.” A life win.
And for Vladimir, proof: he could build outcomes for other people, not just himself.
The push that forced his hand: when the gym kept disappearing under him
Vladimir didn’t open his own place because it was trendy.
He opened it because his business kept getting blocked by instability he couldn’t control.
He was freelancing inside private gyms (bringing clients, paying a fee) until the environment turned unpredictable. In one place, he describes jealousy from an owner. In another, management collapsed, and landlord problems piled up: flooding, power issues, basic conditions that made it embarrassing, and risky to keep bringing paying clients through the door.
You can have clients. You can have results.
But if you don’t have a reliable space, you don’t have a business.
That was the moment he decided: no more borrowing stability from someone else.
He needed his own location.
The hardest year: maxed credit cards and his brother’s house money
Opening a gym in New York doesn’t give you room for mistakes.
Vladimir says the costs were bigger than he ever expected. He took a loan for equipment, maxed out three or four credit cards, and still needed more cash to get the doors open.
Then his brother stepped in.
His brother was shopping for a house in Boston, wife, child, down payment saved, and lent Vladimir the money with a signed agreement to repay it fast.
That kind of pressure changes how you work.
“That kept me awake at night… I was working like a dog.”
In year one, Vladimir trained roughly 9–11 clients a day with almost no time off.
He paid it all back. The gym stayed open. The business stabilised.
The make-or-break operational problem: 24/7 gym access control without vendor sprawl
Once a gym is running, access control stops being a “nice-to-have.”
It becomes a daily operational reality.
- Who gets in at 6:00 a.m.?
- What happens when someone’s membership expires?
- How do you keep entry consistent without staff manually policing it?
Most of the industry answers this with a stack: gym software + access control partner + installer + separate hardware support.
Vladimir wanted none of it.
“I don’t want these broken phones with the 2–3–5 companies.”
That’s the contrarian truth most access-control content skips.
Door access isn’t the hard part. Vendor sprawl is.
Why Vladimir chose Wellyx: memberships, payments, and door access in one system
When Vladimir compared options, he wasn’t shopping for “everything.”
He was shopping for the essentials.
“I just need the membership… I need a payment… I need access control, and this is it.”
He chose Wellyx because it matched how he runs his gym: keep the core tight, keep the workflow predictable, and keep the moving parts to a minimum.
With Wellyx, he can keep:
- Membership management tied to member status and renewals
- Payments connected to that status (so rules stay consistent)
- Access control aligned with membership activity, so entry follows the rules automatically
And he liked one thing in particular: he could deal with one company, not a relay race of third parties.
The hard signals that matter in real life
Vladimir didn’t build his gym on “nice ideas.” He built it on what holds up on a random Tuesday morning.
Here’s what makes the access setup practical:
A clear hardware cost: Wellyx Pro+ Reader ($399)
Wellyx’s Pro+ Reader supports NFC + BLE and is built for real-world installation with an IP56 rating, with a one-time hardware cost of $399.
Offline capability, so the door keeps working
Wellyx’s access control system includes offline capability so members aren’t locked out during connectivity issues, logging the access event and syncing once connectivity returns.
That’s not a “feature.” That’s the difference between a small hiccup and a morning meltdown.
What changed after Wellyx: calmer operations now, confidence to scale next
Vladimir is candid: he’s busy. He’s running a private gym, supporting trainers, coaching clients, and his priorities have shifted since becoming a father. He doesn’t want software that demands constant attention.
He wants the system to quietly do its job.
That’s what Wellyx gives him day to day:
- Membership and billing stay connected to access rules
- Entry stays consistent without staff having to “judge” situations
- Access events are logged, so disputes don’t turn into guesswork
- Support doesn’t turn into a blame chain across multiple vendors
He also didn’t bounce between platforms first.
He started with Wellyx from day one, and expects to keep using it as he grows into the next location.
The quiet philosophy behind the whole build
One detail from Vladimir’s story says everything about how he thinks. His gym emblem puts a green apple first (health and nutrition), and the dumbbell second (training).
“The order is for a reason.”
He runs operations the same way. Fundamentals first. No noise. No extra vendors. No broken phone calls with 2–3–5 companies.
That’s the same mindset behind Wellyx. One system that connects the whole gym journey, from the first lead and follow-up, to sales and member communication, to billing, scheduling, and the front door.
Book a demo and see what it looks like when your marketing, CRM, payments, memberships, and access control all work together, so you spend less time juggling tools and more time running the gym.
