In 2001, Annie Mello walked into a gym in California and set the course for her future, starting with the young man working at the front desk.

“I saw him, and I thought, ‘He’s cute. I should get a job here,’” she recalled.

Today, that man is her husband and business partner, Chris Mello.

“It’s kind of like the stereotypical thing where a cute girl walks into a gym, and she meets a trainer, and the trainer pursues her,” Chris joked. “It was completely the opposite. She pursued me.”

Having first met at a gym, it only made sense for the couple to one day open a gym of their own.

SISU Fit opened to the Sioux Falls community in the fall of 2024, creating a space where the Mellos could share with others their passion for health and fitness.

Recently, the couple joined an episode of our podcast, Common Cents on the Prairie™, to share their story and mission of making Sioux Falls the healthiest city per capita.

‘A very strong heart for Sioux Falls’

Annie and Chris discovered early in their marriage what their true calling would be: to open their own gym.

“When we first got married, he was working for an insurance business,” Annie said on the podcast, “and he just always had clients that he was training.”

She explained that Chris would sometimes train clients in the mornings and evenings, with a full eight- to nine-hour shift at work sandwiched in between.

“When we were on our honeymoon,” Annie continued, “he just said, ‘I don’t know if I can do this. I think that my passion and my calling is really to help people with their health, not their wealth.’”

Born and raised in Orange County, Chris was a California guy for his entire young life.

Although Annie and her mom moved to Los Angeles when she was only 3 years old, Annie had been born in Sioux Falls and spent summers here with her grandparents.

“I have a very strong heart for Sioux Falls,” Annie said.

Chris, however, had a specific perception of his wife’s hometown.

“People in California think South Dakota is North Dakota,” he said. “…So, you think it snows nine months out of the year — which, it feels like that sometimes, living here. But I was coming in completely blind to Sioux Falls.”

But Annie knew where they had to go to pursue their dream, and it required what she called “a leap of faith” on Chris’s part.

“I said, ‘Well, if we want to do this, I know a place that really takes care of small businesses.’ And I knew Sioux Falls was just such a strong community, medically.”

The evolution of SISU Fit

The couple moved to Sioux Falls in 2008, “and we started our first gym from scratch,” Chris said.

According to Chris, he sold his car, cashed in an IRA, and opened the gym with another partner and about $8,000.

“It was very Field of Dreams, very grassroots,” he said.

That first endeavor led the Mellos to CPMFITness, which they ran for 11 years and which led them then to SISU Fit.

“We wanted a new space, and we wanted a new message, and we wanted a new brand that could inspire and help more people in our community,” Annie said.

They describe SISU Fit as a boutique health and wellness facility geared toward working professionals.

Their model is reflective of gyms that you can find in bigger cities.

“We feel like most of our clientele are very stressed out,” Annie said. “They either have families, or they’re starting new jobs, or they’re transplants, and the stress just keeps getting more, and they keep putting [themselves] to the bottom of the list.”

United by a similar vision of improving the lifestyles of Sioux Falls residents, Annie and Chris partnered with the developers of Cherapa Place to bring SISU Fit’s concept to downtown.

“We wanted to create a healthy lifestyle for Sioux Falls, so everything in SISU is thoughtful for them,” Annie said.

The name SISU — which is a Finnish word meaning perseverance, resilience, and determination — attests to the thoughtfulness that the Mellos infused into every detail of their gym.

You could use the same word to describe the couple’s entrepreneurial journey.

“I used to always say, ‘We’re bouncing on a bed, but the ceiling’s too low,’” Annie said. “Like, I’m hitting a ceiling. And if I hadn’t realized that, or we hadn’t been honest with ourselves and kept trying to force, force, force something that we knew wasn’t going to work, I would’ve never had the opportunity for SISU.”

She added, “Don’t think that failures are the end. It might be the beginning.”

Watch the full episode of Common Cents on the Prairie below to learn more about Annie and Chris Mello’s story, including insight as to how they manage their business and finances as a couple.

If you want to build a healthier financial partnership with your spouse, send a note to our team. We would love to be part of your journey!

Any comments, insights, or strategies discussed in this article are intended to be general in nature and, therefore, may not be suitable for you and your situation, whatever that may be. Before acting on anything written here, please consult with your attorney, CPA, and/or your financial advisor.