Whether you are the owner of a single gym or the director of a national chain of clubs, if you collaborate with Hussle then at some point you will cross paths with our Head of Operations, Angie Tang.

Angie, as a veteran of marketplace businesses such as JustEat and Laundrapp, what led you to the fitness industry?

“Having grown-up around the hospitality industry it was a pretty natural move for me to join JustEat in a sales role early in my career. I’ve always been fascinated by how technology can be used to create efficient new sales channels and JustEat was revolutionary in the takeaway market at the time I joined. I loved that role and I stayed there right through to the IPO.”

“Laundrapp presented me with the opportunity to move into a start-up in a completely different sector where I was just the second hire. I spent five-years in the business, where my focus was less on sales and more on how to support the goals and growth of our laundry partners, which I really enjoyed.”

“But I have always been most passionate about health and fitness! I am known amongst my friends as a complete fitness fanatic. They refer to me as ‘Coach Tang’ after I spent the first lockdown mapping out workout plans for all my friends! I find exercise very rewarding, and it also justifies the amount I eat and drink!”

Was it that passion for fitness that ultimately led you to Hussle?

“I first heard about Hussle before the rebrand, when the business was known as PayAsUGym. I had just moved to London from Scotland and Hussle was a perfect fit to help me find new gyms in and around where I was living and working.”

“As well as the ability to search easily for gyms, I also loved the flexibility and variety the service gave me. So as a customer, I completely understood the value of the service in helping people find the right gym for their needs.”

“After my previous roles at JustEat and Laundrapp I wanted to continue to work for a marketing / technology business and having seen first-hand the effectiveness of those companies at bringing new customers into the sector, I could see the opportunity within fitness to do something similar.”

“I’m especially excited about the potential of some of our new features, such as the Membership Conversion Service, which helps gym operators win new members. I completely under-stand the importance of supporting the growth of our partners’ core business and I can’t wait to get more gyms into the pilot stage of this service.”

Tell us a bit about your role and how you use your time at Hussle?

“So, I am the Head of Operations at Hussle, which covers two main areas. The first is to lead our Account Management team, where our remit is to provide support to our gym operator partners in growing their business. My team and I are the first point of contact for anything they need.”

“The second part of my role is to lead the Customer Services team, which deals with anything the gym user customers need.”

“The two roles bring great variety to my week and there is quite a lot of overlap between what gym users are looking for and what our gym partners need. I see my role as being the ‘bridge’ between these two user groups on either side of the marketplace Hussle provides.”

How has Covid-19 and the lockdowns affected you?

“I haven’t been able to physically see my friends and family back in Scotland, so that has been sad but, in a way, I communicate a lot more with them than I would have pre-COVID because Zoom is just the norm now. But it has made me much more appreciative of family and friends.”

What do you think the future holds for health clubs and gyms? Do you think more people will look to exercise as a result of Covid?

“I’m concerned that more people have been more sedentary during the pandemic because of work-from-home limitations and repeated lockdowns. When you work in the fitness industry it is easy to get stuck in an ‘echo chamber’ where you only really hear about how active people have been and the success stories.”

“So, as we hopefully now emerge from the period of repeated lockdowns, I’m keen that, as a sector, we do even more to try and increase participation in fitness. That means using new marketing channels to reach people in different ways and I hope Hussle can help in that respect.”

Thanks for your time Angie!

If you would like to speak to Angie and learn more about the services that Hussle provides you can contact her on:

angie@hussle.com