How a Personal Trainer Built a Multi-Site Practice Across London

From PT to Self-Employed: How Dan Houchen Built a Rehabilitation Practice Across London

Dan Houchen spent years working as a personal trainer in London's premium fitness spaces. He was good at what he did. Clients trusted him. He built a reputation. But he also knew he was building someone else's business.

"I've always been someone who works hard at what I love to do," Dan says. "But especially with PT, it's not something that you always get immediate results back. So what you put in is not always what you get back if you're working with someone else."

That tension between effort and reward is something most practitioners understand. You pour everything into your clients, your skills, your reputation, and the upside goes mostly to the company you work for. Dan wanted something different.

"When you work for yourself, everything you do comes back to you."

So he made the jump. Dan left his role at Third Space Canary Wharf and went self-employed, setting up as a rehabilitation exercise specialist through UNTIL's Liverpool Street club.  He works with men and women returning to exercise after injury, helping them build programs and sustainable habits that let them keep working towards their goals during recovery.

It was his first time being self-employed. And rather than seeing that as a risk, he saw UNTIL as the right environment to figure it out.

"Until has been a really, really good tool for me to be able to start developing skills I know I'm gonna be needing in the future," he says. "I wanna build my own space. I wanna have my own community, but this has been a beautiful framework to kind of work out what I want that to look like."

Why multi-club changed everything

One of the biggest shifts for Dan's business came when he started working across more than one UNTIL location. Instead of being locked to a single postcode, he could meet clients wherever made sense for them.

"Having the freedom to be able to work wherever over London means I'm not confined to a specific demographic of people," Dan explains. "Until has allowed me to work across multiple clubs, which has been incredible for my business. It's allowed me to work with a much wider demographic, which normally I was confined to a very specific pool of people."

That flexibility isn't just convenient. It's commercially meaningful. Before going multi-site, referrals from the wrong part of the city were referrals he couldn't take. Now, when enquiries come in from different postcodes, Dan can say yes to all of them.

"I get referrals and people on Instagram reaching out and they're all from different locations and without the opportunity to work in different places, I have to turn that down. And that's not good for business."

Working across Liverpool Street and Soho gave him proof that the model works. Now, with UNTIL's Canary Wharf club on the horizon, he's planning his next move.

Canary Wharf: going back to where it started

Dan knows the Canary Wharf market well. He spent years working with corporate clients in the area and understands what they need.

"These type of people, they have very little time, and being on their doorstep is gonna change the game," he says. It's a demographic that values health but struggles to prioritise it. Having a rehabilitation specialist inside a premium space, steps from their office, removes the biggest barrier: time.

He's also excited about being part of something from the start. "To be on the forefront of a new club and create a community from the ground up is gonna be awesome."

The bigger picture

For Dan, UNTIL isn't just a space to work from. It's where his business is taking shape.

"If I was to sum up until in one word, I'd probably say it's progression. It's my next step. It's the stepping stones where I want to go."

He's building the skills, the client base, and the business model here. UNTIL gives him the infrastructure, the quality, and the reach to keep growing on his own terms.

"The natural progression of any person who is in working within our industry who is passionate and is competent should be looking to go self-employed," Dan says. "It's the natural progression."

For practitioners thinking about making that move, Dan's advice is clear: the framework is there. You just have to step into it.

Ready to build your practice on your terms? See available rooms or book a tour at UNTIL.