"I was never comfortable walking into a gym," says Renee Bolz owner of Total Body Image, Inc. (TBI) in Independence and Mentor.  So she used her sales and marketing skills to open a cozy facility for woman only in 1998.  While her clients took off inches, Bolz dished up large portions of ingenuity and tenacity to make her business take off.  But the results didn't come without effort.

Four years after her husband Rick was killed in a tragic car accident, Bolz returned to the classroom for continued education and certification to open her own business.  She used her own possessions to secure a collateral bank loan.  After establishing credit, she leased $40,000 in gym equipment and opened TBI in Parma.  The company featured preventive health-related services such as massage therapy and personal training.  Two years later, Bolz opened a second location in Mentor after successfully introducing Endermologie to her clients, an FDA-approved treatment that assists with the problems of unwanted cellulite.

She jump-started both locations through contacts with local print and broadcast media.  She even bartered for her first website with a female graphic designer she met at Shooters one evening worth $2,500.  "I always make an opportunity happen at any given moment," she explains.  "You just never know who you will meet or how they can help you."

Crain's Cleveland Business

Special Advertising Section - May 6, 2002

NAWBO of Cleveland