Here’s my story…

I guess if I were going to sum it up in 5 words, those would be the five. But I’m going to share a little more in hopes that my journey can be of a little help to you in your own.

Entrepreneur. Coach. Family Man. Business Builder.If I had to sum myself up in five words, those would be them. 

I’m a husband, dad, and lifelong coach who’s built a career around one core idea: work should enrich your life & the lives of others, not become your life. 

My wife Holly and our two boys keep me grounded — and they’re the reason I’ve spent two decades figuring out how to build businesses that create freedom, not just revenue.

Over the past two decades, I’ve built more than two-dozen businesses as CEO and co-owner, with eight becoming million or multi-million-dollar ventures. Two of those brands — Athletic Revolution and Fitness Revolution — were ranked #1 in their markets in Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500. 

Another company, Fitness Consulting Group, was a multiple-time Inc. 5000 honoree, ranking as high as #580 on the list of fastest-growing companies in the U.S.

I’ve been a 14-time Best-Selling Author, authored or co-authored 22 books, presented at the Global Entrepreneurship Initiative at the United Nations, and been featured in Entrepreneur, USA Today, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Shape, and countless others.

I’ve served as a coach or consultant to some of the most respected names in the industry — Eric Cressey, Perform Better, Precision Nutrition, Mike Robertson, Vince Gabriele, Luka Hocevar, and Coach Catalyst — as well as thousands of independent gym owners and coaches who’ve built some of the most profitable businesses in their markets.

Most recently, I’ve consolidated all of my gym business coaching work under Wealthy Gym Owners — the platform I built with Doug Spurling to help independent gym owners build profitable, scalable businesses. 

And alongside Doug and Graham Wilkerson, I co-launched Athletes Acceleration — a franchise built around one of the most respected names in speed and athletic development — and sold our first franchise in May 2026.

How I get here…

I grew up in Portsmouth, Ohio not really interested in being an Entrepreneur…no, I wanted to be a Major League Baseball Player.

As I grew up and recognized that making the Major Leagues wasn’t in my future (though I did have one very inauspicious season playing professional baseball), I set my sights on coaching.

At 23, I became one of the youngest head college baseball coaches in the country. The program had a long road ahead of it — and so did I. While this may sound mildly impressive, I pretty much got the job because the program was in shambles and there weren’t many people interested in the position.

Over the next 6 years I built this program into a nationally competitive one, setting dozens of record and even finishing 5th at the World Series in 2000.

All this would lead you to think that things were rosy, but they weren’t. There was a great deal of friction between myself and an administrator that led to my resignation and a complete change of direction shortly before I turned 30.

At the time I referred to it as an early mid-life crisis, but being unemployed briefly gave me some time to decide what I wanted to do professionally with the rest of my life. My first ‘career’ as a baseball coach was rewarding and taught me many of the lessons I use today, but working in a corporate, bureaucratic environment just wasn’t for me.

I knew that I wanted to own my own business, but in spite of growing up working as a janitor in my dad’s small auto repair business, I really didn’t know the first thing about being an entrepreneur.

Within a month I took a position as a general manager at a baseball and performance training facility and did some personal training in the mornings to try to make ends meet. I started to study business, sales and marketing…the beginnings of my professional education. The baseball facility was sold and I moved to a role running the personal training in one gym, then later for all of the Gold’s Gyms in Kentucky.

Going into business…

My home base for this position was Lexington, KY. There, not only did I meet my lovely wife Holly, but I also met a future business partner as I moved away from being an employee to being an entrepreneur.

Soon after, we first opened a personal training business in Elizabethtown, KY, then a health club in Owensboro, KY. We didn’t have any money to get these businesses off the ground and at age 33 I found myself along with my wife and my then 3 year old stepson living in the basement of a home that we shared with that business partner and another roommate.

Before long we started to have some real success (yes, even moving out of the basement), and looking to expand. We began sharing what had worked in our own businesses with other fitness entrepreneurs. After attending an industry event that focused on online businesses, we focused more of our expansion in that direction and shelved the idea of adding more of our own gyms.

Over the next few years what started as a small personal training business grew to a network of businesses ranging from franchises and certification companies to info-marketing businesses and real estate.

These days I’ve found my true professional calling – coaching and consulting with entrepreneurs who want more clients, more profits and more freedom to enjoy life. I’ve personally been able to build my ‘ideal business’ that so much is written about and I’ve done at a time in my life when I had a family, a mortgage and many of the responsibilities that hold people back from pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams.

So if you want to build your ideal business…regardless of where you’re at today…this is the place where you’ll find the blueprint to get you there.

What PatRigsby.com Is About Today

This site is home to two things I’m focused on right now.

The Winning Coach is my podcast for sports-minded entrepreneurs, coaches, and high performers who want to win where it matters — in sport, business, and life. 

Some episodes are solo. 

Some are conversations with owners, coaches, and leaders who’ve figured out how to build something great. 

All of it is practical.

Private Coaching & Consulting is for coaches and entrepreneurs who want a trusted partner to help them think through the big decisions, build the right systems, and get to the next level — without losing what made building it worthwhile in the first place.

If you own a gym and want a full business and marketing system: that’s Wealthy Gym Owners.

If you’re in athlete development and want to build something bigger: that’s Athletes Acceleration.

If you want to work directly with me: start on the Work With Me page.

That’s my story. Let’s get to work on yours.