Prestige Personalised Training, a private personal training studio based in Bundall on the Gold Coast, was built on a story its founder rarely tells in full — one that starts with losing almost everything, and ends with a rethink of what it actually takes to run a business.
Founder and Managing Director Shawn Maftounian moved to Australia in 2012 with, in his words, little more than ambition. He studied Sport Management at Griffith University, working night shifts and training clients during the day to build the foundations of a career in fitness. His early belief was simple: if he wanted to help people get results, he had to out-work everyone else.
That mindset carried him for years — until 2017, when he invested his life savings into a CrossFit and martial arts gym without proper legal agreements in place. The venture collapsed, and with it went his savings. For a period, Maftounian had nowhere to live and slept in his 1988 Toyota Camry, uncertain how he'd rebuild.
"I believed that if I simply worked harder than everyone else, success would eventually take care of itself," Maftounian said of that period.
He did rebuild — but the deeper lesson didn't come from the financial loss itself. It came from a pattern he didn't recognise until years later: he was doing every job in the business himself. Trainer, salesperson, receptionist, cleaner, marketer, accountant — if something needed doing, he did it, convinced no one else would care as much as he did.
That habit was tested hardest during COVID. Rather than close when commercial gyms shut down, Maftounian trained clients in a 4x4 metre tent outside his home for almost two years, in all weather. Clients kept showing up because they trusted the coaching — but the experience reinforced a dangerous instinct: whenever a problem appeared, the answer was always to work longer hours.
"I wasn't building an organisation, I was building a job that happened to own me," he said. "If I took a day off, everything slowed down. If I got sick, the business suffered."
That realisation changed how Maftounian approached leadership entirely. Instead of asking how he could do more, he began asking how the business could operate better without him doing everything. Processes were documented instead of held in his memory. Coaching systems were standardised so every client received the same standard of care regardless of who was training them. He invested in and trusted the coaches who now make up the Prestige Personalised Training team, rather than expecting people to figure things out on their own. Client journeys and communication became structured and measurable.
Culture, he says, turned out to be a system too — not something that happens by accident, but something that has to be built and reinforced deliberately, every day, by the whole team.
Today, Maftounian spends far less time coaching on the gym floor than he once did. His role has shifted to coaching the coaches, refining systems, and protecting the culture that defines Prestige Personalised Training — a shift he now sees as one of the most important parts of running the business, not a step back from it.
"Success isn't about becoming indispensable," Maftounian said. "It's about creating something that continues to deliver value long after you've stepped away from doing everything yourself."
Prestige Personalised Training now operates from a private studio in Bundall, offering personalised training, group classes, body composition scanning and recovery facilities to Gold Coast clients, including busy professionals, high achievers and parents balancing demanding schedules — the same standard of coaching Maftounian set out to build when he started.
Business details:
Prestige Personalised Training
5/116-118 Bundall Road, Bundall, QLD 4217
Phone: 07 5620 4420
Website: prestigept.com.au | Meet the team
Shawn's full story was originally featured by Dynamic Business as part of their Founder Friday series.