When a Stawell personal trainer decided to build his own business in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Damien Smith didn't expect the success he would go onto to see.
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Less than five years into his journey, Mr Smith had built his Elite Contender brand to operate seven gyms in six Wimmera locations, employing about 10 staff members and subcontracting several more to support the businesses 1800 to 2000 members.
"I started as a personal trainer," said Mr Smith.
"I took over one of the previous gyms in town, and I had the ambition to basically make my own brand.
"It took probably over a year of planning to get everything ready and then we started moving my PT business into the gym scene, that's how we set up here and we've progressed since then."
In addition to its original Stawell location at 2-8 Layzell Street, and the organisations martial arts gym, also in Stawell, Elite Contender has a presence in Nhill, Warracknabeal, Dimboola, Ararat and Donald.
"The business has actually grown really fast," Mr Smith said.
Within 18 months of launching, Mr Smith had opened Elite Contender gyms in Nhill and Warracknabeal.
"I set the goal to basically try and grow the business as much as I can," Mr Smith said.
"I didn't think that it would probably grow to this size, having seven gyms.
"It's been pretty full on for the last few years."
Operating in a market with plenty of competition from large scale fitness brands with national recognition, it is Elite Contender's 'country vibe' that Mr Smith says sets his gym apart.
"We try and make the vibe that pretty relaxed country sort of vibe, small town vibe still," he said.
"I think that works really well for us, we get a lot of good feedback for that."
For now, further expansion is not at the forefront of Mr Smith's plan.
"The biggest thing with growing so fast is you've got to make sure that you can still put the same effort into each of the gyms," he said.
"That is probably the most challenging part... [You need to be] able to pinch yourself and pull yourself back and say hang on we still need to to make sure that we're doing the best we can at these other gyms."
For now, Mr Smith says one more gym is a possibility.
"I basically have a full gym in storage that I can set up somewhere," he said.
But he is not in any hurry to go ahead with a new location, instead choosing to focus on the smooth sailing of his business as it is.