Jo Ann Burns’ workday begins at 4:30 a.m. She may be able to take a break after 1 p.m. some days, but often she’s back in business late in the afternoon and sometimes is still seeing clients at 7 or 8 p.m.

Burns knew that she would have a crazy schedule when she sat down with her husband to hammer out a business plan for her personal training enterprise, DCS Fitness, just a year ago. But she admits that she didn’t realize that it would be so crazy, so quickly, after starting the business on Sept. 24, 2008.

“When I started, my thought was that if I had between 15 and 20 hours a week filled by January 1, then I would be doing great,” Burns says. “But by the first of the year, I was already at 50 hours a week. And by March, I had a waiting list.”

Successful start-ups are few and far between in the midst of the current economic downturn. Even existing businesses are struggling; many are facing declining numbers instead of experience growth. But Burns’s personal training and nutrition counseling business is actually growing too fast right now. “I’m over-maxxed,” she admits. “That’s a great problem to have, I guess.”

Right now Burns, a certified fitness instructor, personal trainer and sports nutritionist, has more than 30 strength training clients with whom she meets individually anywhere from one to six times a week. She also has 15 nutrition clients who she counsels regularly. On top of that, she leads three boot camp fitness sessions each week for as many as 31 people at a time.

Barn Beginnings

Burns credits her ability to keep us with such a frenetic schedule partly to her own healthy lifestyle — “I couldn’t do this if I didn’t eat well myself,” she says — and partly to the fact that she grew up on a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin. She got up at dawn to help with the chores and often worked the rest of the day as well. “You work until the work is done,” she says. “There are no breaks and the days are long. I think that a lot of that is still ingrained in me. It’s who I am.”

But she is also driven by success — and not necessarily her own. The fact that her clients have collectively lost hundreds of pounds and inches inspires her. The fact that some have been able to go off of high blood pressure and cholesterol medications, as well as antidepressants, tells her she’s doing something right. The fact that she has had at least one client stick with her for an entire year when the average time spent with a personal trainer is between eight and 12 weeks — that’s encouraging

“I have been so lucky,” she says. “I have unbelievably long-term clients, which isn’t the norm. But I think they have seen outstanding results and they don’t want to lose that. For them, it is money wisely spent because it is making them happier and healthier.”

That’s exactly why Pam Larson continues to work out with Burns. Since late March, she has lost at least 50 pounds and has gone off of her antidepressants, as well as other prescriptions. “Being able to have my life back, you can’t put a dollar sign on that,” she says. “It is so worth it to me. I was at the point that all I wanted to do was lay in bed all day. Now I go running with my kids after work. It’s amazing.”