Dee Thomas: Fit & Bougie
Fit & Bougie by the numbers
$10,000
Funding secured from family investor
23 years
Experience as a fitness trainer
10+ years
In business serving her community
Background
Dee Thomas is the owner of Fit & Bougie, LLC, a group fitness and personal training business specializing in weight loss for women, particularly in the Black and brown communities of Mobile, Alabama.
Dee knew she wanted to be a trainer from the young age of four after her mom brought her to classes at the local YMCA. To pursue her life-long dream, she went to school for physical education and set out on a mission to bridge the gap between fitness and wellness with women and children.
Growing up in Alabama, which has one of the nation’s highest obesity rates, Dee became deeply concerned about the health disparities in her community. She realized that the Black community was underserved in the fitness market and could use fitness services that focused on building confidence. For the past 23 years, she's managed brick-and-mortar gyms, offered virtual and in-person training, and even opened cafes in Redondo Beach, California, and locally in Mobile. But, that wasn’t enough. She wanted to open her own studio.
“The profit loss, the financial projections—that was the thing that was killing me the most because I really didn't understand it as much as I did the vision I had—how I wanted to help the community.”
Dee Thomas
Fit & Bougie
Problem
When Dee told her mom she wanted to open a group fitness studio, her mom asked how much money she needed. Dee gave her a big, arbitrary number, and her mom's response was simple: "I need a plan." That’s when Dee realized a number written on paper wouldn't be enough—she needed an exact business plan.
Dee turned to local SBA resources and organizations supporting women-owned businesses, but creating the plan by hand was a nightmare. The financial projections and profit-loss statements were "killing her". She didn't understand them nearly as much as she understood her vision for serving the community. As a self-described visionary who believes anything will work if she thinks of it, Dee struggled to translate her passion into realistic numbers and stay disciplined with pricing instead of discounting services to serve more people.
Solution
Dee discovered LivePlan in 2014 through a Google search while looking for pitch deck tools. Her immediate reaction: "This is really easy."
LivePlan allowed her to focus on what she was good at—programming workouts, creating the vision, and enrolling the community—instead of stressing about numbers. She could plug in conservative numbers and instantly see projections to show investors and determine if the business would be profitable. When Dee returned to LivePlan to create another business plan in April 2025 through a business development cohort at the University of South Alabama, the AI features became her absolute favorite. She remembered having to manually write and edit everything before. Now, the AI helped her craft mission statements and clarify her thoughts, letting her balance the creative vision with realistic financial planning.
Outcome
With her LivePlan business plan, Dee convinced her mom—who loved her but needed to see a clear plan—to invest from her retirement. Her mom initially gave her $5,000 for permits, licenses, paint, and emergencies. When she saw Dee's diligence with that money, she invested another $5,000, totaling $10,000 to open her group fitness gym for women.
Since then, Dee has helped clients lose 100s of pounds and witnessed health transformations pass down through three to four generations. She’s seen children learn healthy habits from their parents and pass them to their own children. She is now planning her next venture: an expansive wellness suite space that will bring the community together for wellness and community-focused events.
Dee is so confident in LivePlan that she tells everyone about it. She recently recommended it to a therapist client opening her own practice: "Use LivePlan. Because it's going to get it outta your brain and put it on paper and you're gonna be fine."
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