At a glance: Brenda Oxford opened her studio in Portland, regional Victoria in 2015 as Brenda’s Functional Fitness — now BFF Studios. When COVID hit, members “dropped off and went into hiding” and she cut memberships in half to survive. She started with a low-cost challenge program, grew from around 12 members to around 20, then jumped on board fully — and added 42 new members in her first three months, as stated in the filmed interview below.
The numbers, as stated in the filmed interview
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| New members, first three months | 42 — as stated in the filmed interview by the interviewer, and not disputed by Brenda |
| Members when COVID hit | Around 12 (“I think I had 12 members”) |
| After the initial challenge program | Around 20 — “in a very short space of time” |
| Surviving lockdown one | Cut all memberships in half; moved sessions online |
| How she started | A low-cost “start a challenge” program, then the Remote 91 challenge |
| The goal now | 100 members — “definitely on track” |
| What’s next | Possibly a second BFF in a nearby regional town; online members already joining from surrounding areas |
Watch Brenda tell it herself
A note on the era: this campaign was delivered by the LeadsNow team under its fitness brand, More Gym Members, and the video was filmed in 2020. It predates the AI sales agents LeadsNow runs today — what you see here is the team’s earlier high-ticket fitness work: lead generation and the systems to handle it, exactly as described on camera.
Where Brenda was: a little regional studio, and then COVID
BFF Studios sits in Portland, in regional Victoria, Australia — a long way from the capital-city fitness market. Brenda had been building it for five years before the pandemic arrived.
“Well, BFF Studios started as Brenda’s Functional Fitness back in 2015 and we were just a little studio in regional Victoria. So as COVID started to hit, members just dropped off and went into hiding, I think.”
— Brenda Oxford, owner, BFF Studios (Portland, Victoria)
She doesn’t dress up what that period did to her. Asked how it left her personally, her answer is blunt:
“Oh look, I was devastated. I was in tears. I was trying to cancel all sorts of things so I could just cut my expenses so that I could try and see if I could get through. I cut all the memberships back in half to try and keep as many members as I could.”
— Brenda Oxford, owner, BFF Studios
She started running a few sessions online — which, by her own account, was “a huge learning curve” for someone comfortable in front of a class but not in front of technology.
The first step: a low-cost challenge, and 12 members becomes 20
Brenda kept seeing Riley’s ads — “it’s all about getting in your face, I think,” she says — and took the smallest possible first step: a low-cost program that taught her how to run a member-getting challenge in her own studio.
“So I did that and it worked. Like I went from, I think I had 12 members to I don’t know, 20 or something anyway and in a very short space of time. So I decided to jump on board and see if I could do more than that and obviously that’s come about now.”
— Brenda Oxford, owner, BFF Studios
From there she joined what the interviewer names as the Remote 91 challenge — the program that, in his words, “got the ball rolling”. Brenda is candid about where she started on the sales side:
“Oh look, it was great. I learnt so much and as far as sales, I sucked. It’s okay, I sucked to start with. I’m getting much better with those … it was astronomical value. … We had group calls and help from everybody and just to help us get our businesses going again.”
— Brenda Oxford, owner, BFF Studios
Her mindset going in was all-or-nothing. She’d said as much to the team on day one:
“I said to him, this is either gonna make me or break me. I’m going in, I’m just gonna give it my all and go for it. So that was my way of looking at it. And well, it certainly hasn’t broken me.”
— Brenda Oxford, owner, BFF Studios
The result: 42 new members in three months — and a very different second lockdown
Three months in, the interviewer opens the video with the headline figure: 42 new members added to the business in her first three months, with more in the pipeline — a business he describes as having “nearly quadrupled” from under 20 members. Those are his words on camera, not Brenda’s, and she doesn’t dispute them. What Brenda talks about instead is the thing the numbers bought her: confidence when Victoria’s second lockdown arrived.
“Going into Lockdown a second time I knew I had a business — I was confident, I knew what to do.”
— Brenda Oxford (approved client quote)
In the interview itself, she puts it this way:
“Going into this lockdown, since it’s our second lockdown, I thought, thank goodness I went down the path I went because I wouldn’t have had a business … I’m being honest. And I felt I’m in a much better position. I knew what I had to do. I set up my online stuff again and I felt much more comfortable thinking that I could still build even in this sort of environment.”
— Brenda Oxford, owner, BFF Studios
The first lockdown began with her in tears — and then, once she got on board, she says it “just went like that because I was so busy.” That’s the real before-and-after in this story.
What’s next: 100 members, and maybe a second BFF
Asked about the long-term plan, Brenda doesn’t hedge:
“Well, we’re aiming for 100 members, which we’re definitely on track for that. And then I wanna try and step back a little bit from that business and put someone in to do more of the day-to-day stuff so that I can step back and do more of the sales.”
— Brenda Oxford, owner, BFF Studios
And because the online side of the studio now reaches beyond Portland itself, she’s thinking bigger than one town:
“Thinking about whether I could actually open another BFF in another regional town close by. Because … I’ve had quite a few people actually from the surrounding area that have joined because it’s online.”
— Brenda Oxford, owner, BFF Studios
Her advice for anyone watching who’s hesitant about reaching out is the shortest quote in the whole interview: “Simple as that, just get on and do it.”
Frequently asked questions
Are these results typical?
No — and anyone who guarantees a specific number is being loose with the truth. It’s also worth being precise about the sourcing here: the 42-new-members-in-three-months figure is stated by the interviewer in the filmed video (Brenda doesn’t dispute it), while the numbers Brenda states herself are the climb from around 12 members to around 20 with her first challenge, and the 100-member goal she says she’s “definitely on track” for. Her story is a COVID-comeback story — a regional studio owner who cut memberships in half to survive, then rebuilt through two Victorian lockdowns by backing the process and, in her own words, giving it her all.
Can a fitness studio in a regional town really grow like this?
The market is bigger than most regional owners assume. IBISWorld’s Gym & Fitness Centre Operation in Australia report puts the industry’s market size at $3.7 billion in 2026, up 2.8% in the year — and demand isn’t confined to the capital cities. Brenda’s experience backs that up: because BFF Studios ran online sessions, people from the surrounding areas joined too, to the point where she’s considering opening a second BFF in a nearby regional town. Portland, Victoria has a fraction of a capital city’s population, and the studio still added 42 new members in three months, as stated in the filmed interview.
What did the campaign involve — and does LeadsNow still work with fitness businesses?
This campaign ran in 2020 under LeadsNow’s fitness brand More Gym Members: Brenda started with a low-cost challenge program, then joined the Remote 91 challenge — lead generation plus coaching on the sales side, with group calls and hands-on help, exactly as she describes on camera. It predates the AI sales agents LeadsNow runs today. The same team now works with high-ticket coaching and fitness businesses in Australia on a pay-per-result basis — with 50,769+ AI-booked sales appointments since 2017 and 1M+ leads generated across the brand.
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