Fitness Business Podcast: Leadership, Innovation, and Profit

With over 20 years of experience in the fitness industry (UK, US), Dr. Frances H. Mikuriya is the founder of Body Machine Performance Studio™ and SpinAddikts™, the first private indoor cycling group in London. Frances holds 4 degrees in architecture - PhD, AA School of Architecture London; MSc, Columbia University New York; MSc, University College London, and a Bachelor of Architecture, University of Texas Austin. She has also taught and lectured for 7 years in academia before opening Body Machine Performance Studio in Kensington in 2019. In addition to her training in architecture, Frances' fitness career started in the US in the 90's where she was one of the leading group exercise instructors in exclusive clubs including Equinox (NY) and the Sports Club/LA (San Francisco).

Derek turns task-driven managers and owners into people-focused leaders. More specifically, he helps busy managers discover who they are, decide where they're going, and design how they'll get there, so that they can more effectively lead others. Derek's core philosophy: Intentional Self-Leadership + Inspirational Team Leadership = An Invigorating Culture. After a career of working in basketball operations at the collegiate and professional levels, he empowers others both as the director of people at a fitness club and as a leadership professor at a university. Derek founded Move Results to impact the lives of individuals, organizations, and communities. Today, he loves to inspire and influence others as a speaker and writer. Derek is the author of SHIFT: Move from Frustrated to Fulfilled.

Sherri McMillan, M.Sc. has been inspiring the world to adopt a fitness lifestyle for 30 years and has received numerous industry awards including 2010 CanFitPro International Fitness Presenter of the Year, 2006 IDEA Fitness Director of the Year, 1998 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year & 1998 CanFitPro Fitness Presenter of the Year. She is an international fitness presenter, a personal trainer, fitness columnist for various magazines and newspapers including the Columbian, author of five books and manuals including "Go For Fit - the Winning Way to Fat Loss", "Fit over Forty" & "The Successful Trainers Guide to Marketing", and featured presenter in various fitness DVDs. She is the owner of NW Personal Training and Why Racing Events in Vancouver WA.

Sara Kooperman, CEO of SCW Fitness Education and WATERinMOTION®, is a visionary leader that has transformed the fitness education community. A successful business owner and advisor, she is a keynote speaker, published author, podcast presenter and sought-after industry trail-blazer. Sara has a unique ability to share her passion and devotion towards fitness education through her humor, enthusiasm and her effervescent no-nonsense personality. She serves on the Gold's Gym ThinkTank, was on the Women in Fitness Association Board of Directors and is a proud inductee into the National Fitness Hall ofFame. Sara has left an indelible mark on the fitness industry as a whole.

The Value Proposition is where Sarah Pellegrino chats with an industry supplier to find out the value they bring to their customers and the industry. You will not only hear about the features of the product or service - which you can read on their websites or brochures - you will hear about the deep value and return of investment for you! As the world leader in vibration technology, people of all ages and physical abilities trust Power Plate to bring their bodies into harmony with optimal health and wellness. Along with delivering great performance for individuals and fitness facilities, medical professionals in over 100 countries use Power Plate to help their patients live life to the fullest. During August host Sarah Pellegrino spoke with the team at Power Plate US and UK (part of Performance Health Systems LLC worldwide) to learn how whether you are new to exercise, are challenged by regular movement for health reasons, or you are a recreational or professional athlete, you can use vibration technology to achieve your health or performance goals. You will hear about the medical and movement science behind vibration technology, the partnership offerings and opportunities for health clubs, and the on-going education that makes that this health-first partnership so valuable.

Mark has owned Fitness businesses since 2004 and he loves all things fitness and all things business. Sure, he has made plenty of mistakes, but he also has had many successes. He is passionate about continued learning and development. His current business, Tribe Social Fitness is the culmination of everything Mark believes in: fun, teamwork, positive culture, and continued development. Mark, focus is building outstanding Teams, being proactive with effective marketing and exploring new ways to retain members and has found this through cultivating a team fitness challenge.

Joanna Rawbone is a lifelong learner filled with curiosity, the prospect of possibility, and gratitude. She is the founder of Scintillo Ltd., where her trainings and coaching enables people to set themselves free from their limiting beliefs, own their natural talents and optimize possibilities. More recently she established Flourishing Introverts to address the extraversion bias that exists in organizations. With over half of the world's population identifying as introverts, Joanna took it upon herself to explore and expose the costly challenges that introverts face on a regular basis.

What the new sales process should look like and what skills will salespeople need to adapt to this new process? Business operations: a) How to complete a needs analysis b) How to tour when social distancing c) How will we price present when social distancing Five actions to maximise sales

Shelley Melville, owner of Anytime Fitness in Australia, seems to have found the secret sauce to getting her members to engage in her social media posts. In this episode, she will share with you the ingredients to get your members to engage with what you are posting. Shelley explains that with consistency and a variety of posts, your club can use social media platforms as a strong tool for retention. Recruit your team to help with posts and to find the inspirational stories, within your club, so your members can see that you are real, human and that everyone has a story. Don't miss this special episode. I guarantee that you will find a few new tidbits to improve what you are posting.

Jarron Aizen is the Founder and CEO of OneFitStop. Jarron is an entrepreneur immersed in the health and fitness industry with a passion to leverage technology to create efficiencies and experiences. OneFitStop – Frictionless membership management perfect for studios, gyms and multi-location operations. Their ecosystem enables core membership management, scheduling, payment facilitation and reporting alongside marketing automation and prospect management tools, digital content management including on-demand and live streaming all presented to members in a unified beautifully branded "one-app" mobile experience.

Luke Carlson is the founder and CEO of Discover Strength based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Discover Strength's five personal training studios are among the highest volume and revenue training facilities in North America. Luke speaks around the world on leadership, management, and evidence-based exercise. Luke is an American College of Sports Medicine Certified Exercise Physiologist and has a BS and MS in Kinesiology from the University of Minnesota and graduated from the Executive Leadership, Strategy and Innovation program at Stanford University. He received an Honorary PhD from Solent University in Southhampton, England.

In 2007, having finished his Marketing Degree at the University of Hawaii, Peter Thew was moved to Bali to take on the regional Marketing Manager Role for Global Youth lifestyle brand, Billabong. Seemingly taking on the dream job for any Australian brought up around Sun, Surf, and Sand, he was quickly schooled on the flavour and diversity of working in the most exciting region for growth on the planet... Asia. A few years in, he was promoted to the Regional Brand Management role for Billabong, overseeing branded solutions for existing markets, and helping establish game plans for entry into new markets throughout the region. In 2012, his now wife Alicia Pan, floated the idea of opening a lifestyle concept, centred around Yoga. Bringing his passion for branding and a desire to address the existing position of Yoga in the Singapore market, they created Yoga Movement. The YM Brand now has 6 established locations across the Lion City, that boast complimentary Academy, Retail, and F&B offerings. Peter currently holds down the Managing Director role at Yoga Movement.

CEO of REX Roundtables, Eddie Tock joins host Sarah Pellegrino with 3 REX Members to discuss the value of this most unique business coaching program. A REX Roundtable is your personal, advisory board composed of 15-18 smart and successful CEOs who meet regularly to help each other improve the performance of their business and the quality of their personal lives. REX carefully crafts the chemistry of each Roundtable so there are no competitors, strong similarities, yet a broad range of complementary expertise among the members

Ingrid Knight-Cohee has over 25 years of experience in the fitness industry and is a sought-after presenter and consultant. She contributes to individual, business and community health by way of advisory committees, presenting fitness workshops and writing articles for various publications, and volunteering to speak/coach at schools and for sports associations. Ingrid specializes in inspiring clients and communities to optimal health and performance through research-based, cutting-edge programming. Ingrid holds degrees in Human Kinetics (BHK) and Exercise & Health Psychology (MSc.).

Adrian Antigua is the GM and sales manager for Gainesville Health & Fitness, which includes a 75,000-square-foot club with more than 28,000 members. GHF was recently recognized as one of the best small companies in America by Forbes Magazine. After graduating from the University of Florida, he discovered his passion for fitness, the power of company culture and the customer experience.

Lisa Simone Richards is a publicist for fitness business owners who want to build their authority to grow their business. Lisa Simone helps her client get free exposure using PR to get in front of their ideal client, and build the awareness, buzz and credibility that gets clients running TO you. When she's not shooting national TV segments or working with editors on magazine features, you can find her swinging a kettlebell, getting her zen on at hot yoga, or shopping at her local farmer's market.

Simon Flint is CEO of Evolution Wellness, which owns and operates Asia's largest network of wholly-owned fitness clubs. A 27-year veteran in the Asia health and fitness industry, Simon oversees Evolution Wellness's growth strategy and expansion, and performance of its portfolio brands in six SEA markets. Simon holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree and is also a Certified Master Performance Coach, a certification awarded by the International Coaching Federation.

Robbie Kellman Baxter is a bestselling author, speaker, and consultant with more than twenty years of experience providing strategic business advice to major organizations including Netflix, Consumer Reports and LinkedIn, as well as leaders in industries including Software-as-a-Service, Media, Retail, Consumer Products, Healthcare, Financial Services and Hardware.

David Meerman Scott spotted the real-time marketing revolution in its infancy and wrote five books about it including The New Rules of Marketing and PR, with more than 400,000 copies sold in English and available in 29 languages from Albanian to Vietnamese. Now David says the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of superficial online communications. Tech-weary and bot-wary people are hungry for true human connection. Organizations have learned to win by developing what David calls a "Fanocracy" - (the subject of his Wall Street Journal bestseller) - tapping into the mindset that relationships with customers are more important than the products they sell to them.

In January of 2014, David Vobora, a 5-year veteran of the NFL, met US Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills, a quadruple amputee. David opened up his personal gym to Travis, offering his training expertise. The pair started working out together, customizing and adapting to the unique challenges posed by Travis' injuries. Through working with Travis and engaging the veteran community, David developed a passion for helping those with life-altering injuries find life-fulfilling adaptive performance training

In part one of today's episode you will hear from Jose Teixeira, the Head of Customer Experience at SC Fitness in Portugal, then in part two, we speak with Kristen Davis, the co-owner and co-founder of Illuminate Sweat, a boutique fitness studio based in Houston, TX.

In part one of today's episode you will hear from Rich Hutson, the Business Development Manager for Evolution Wellness and Rich joins us to share 5 Tips for Leading through challenging times. Then in part two we speak with Christina Sjahli, On-Demand CFO and Cash Flow Catalyst, and Christina shares 3 financial tips that club owners can do during the COVID-19 crisis.

This is the second edition of our COVID19 Mastermind panel. In this broadcast, our expert panel covers: 1. An update about the COVID19 landscape in their territory USA, Canada, Asia, UK and Australia. 2. Top three pieces of advice based on their area of expertise, those focus areas are Business, Marketing, Customer experience and retention, people and leadership.

In part one of today's episode you will hear from Kari Saitowitz, the Founder + CEO of Fhitting Room in New York City. Kari shares what it is like to own a fitness club in the epicenter of COVID-19 and what actions her club has taken to keep New Yorkers moving during the crisis. Then in part two we speak with Drew Campbell, the General Manager of ISSN (International Society of Sports Nutrition) based in Shanghai, China. Drew shares his insights on the state of the fitness industry and life overall in Asia during COVID-19.

In part one of today's episode you will hear from Matt Wright, he is the Vice President of Personal Training and Programming at City Fitness and he joins us to talk about their online app THRIVE and their new City Fitness LIVE product. Then in part two, we are joined by Lindsay Bollinger, the General Manager of Brick Bodies Fitness Services, who talks about how she is communicating and training her staff during the COVID-19 crisis.

In part one of today's episode you will hear from Jason Stowell, he is the fitness and membership consultant to JCC's of America and has created a 3 step guide to running effective team meetings online. Then in part two, our guest is Terry Hawkins, Founder, and CEO of Progress Retail. In the interview, Terry shares advice for owners, managers and employees that have been affected by the circumstances of covid 19. She helps us understand what we need to do, to get out of the Pit and Flip the switch.

In part one of today's episode you will hear from the owner of Field and Function, Chris Lilley about how they are providing live virtual classes and hiring out gym equipment. Then in part two, I'm joined by Lachlan Creighton, the owner of 3 Anytime Fitness Clubs who shares how he is staying connected with their members and with the community.

Joe De Sena Founder and CEO of Spartan, the world's largest obstacle race and endurance brand – has demonstrated his entrepreneurial drive since his pre-teens. After building a multimillion-dollar pool and construction business in college, and creating a Wall Street trading firm, De Sena set his sights on ripping 100 million people off their couches by creating the Spartan lifestyle.

The Mastermind Panel Solving The Covid-19 Challenges You Are Facing. Our panel of experts understand the pain you are currently in with compulsory closures, members suspending, grappling with virtual or on-line programming, members cancelling and the numerous staff issues. They'll share their top idea for where you are currently. They want to help you maximise this 'quiet' time with strategies, plans and actions for post COVID-19.

Darren Jacobson is the Senior Vice President of Instructor Programming for Zumba Fitness LLC based in Miami. He holds a bachelors degree in Human Movement Science and is a featured writer for numerous fitness industry publications. In addition, Darren sits on the IDEA Program Directors Committee, and is an IHRSA industry expert in the field of Personal training. Darren was previously with the Virgin Active Group in South Africa as the Head of Product for their chain of 100 plus Health clubs. Darren is a recognised speaker at most major international fitness conventions including IHRSA, IDEA, CAN-FIT-PRO and FILEX and has presented at conventions across South Africa, Canada the USA and Asia.

Dennis Yu is the Chief Executive Officer of BlitzMetrics, a digital marketing company which partners with schools to train young adults. Dennis's program centers around mentorship, helping students grow their expertise to manage social campaigns for enterprise clients like the Golden State Warriors, Nike, and Rosetta Stone. He's an internationally recognized lecturer in Facebook Marketing and has spoken in 17 countries, spanning 5 continents, including keynotes at L2E, Gultaggen, and Marketo Summit.

Scott Stratten, is the President of Un-Marketing. Scott is a Disruptive and UN-traditional Sales, Marketing, Branding & Relationship Expert. As the president of Un-Marketing, he has transformed how corporations, like PepsiCo, Century 21, Fidelity and Microsoft do business, with radical insights on how to engage better with customers through social and viral marketing. Named a top 5 social media power influencer by Forbes.com, Scott elevates the conversation by putting the focus back on what matters most to current and potential buyers. Values like trust, authenticity, relationships and service. In 2018, Scott was inducted into the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame.

Jason Stowell is the Health & Wellness Consultant to JCC's of America. With over twenty-four years of experience, Jason has sold over 18,000 individual fitness agreements making him one of the top sales performers in the health and wellness industry.

Bill Flynn has more than thirty years of experience working for, and advising, hundreds of companies, including startups, where he has a long track record of success. He's had five successful outcomes, two IPOs, and seven acquisitions, including a turnaround during the 2008 financial crisis. He is a sought-after speaker for Vistage, YPO, and well-known business conferences. Bill is also a multi-certified growth coach, is Certified with Distinction in the Foundations of NeuroLeadership and is a Certified Predictive Index Partner. His upcoming book Further, Faster - The Vital Few Steps that Take the Guesswork out of Growth is due out in March 2020.

Ben Midgley is the Chief Executive Officer & Founding Partner Crunch Franchising, Ben is a 27 year veteran of the fitness industry and the only person in the industry to serve as the CEO and President of the 2 largest and fastest growing full size high value low price franchisees. Ben has led the growth of Crunch Franchising from concept to one of the largest and fastest growing companies in the industry and is regularly featured in prominent business publications and programming. He co-Authored - with his father - the book, Golden Circle Secrets, and on release it reached the #1 ranking on Amazon.com for Sales Management and Customer Service books. He is also a contributing writer to Forbes.com.

Robert Jackson is a Bay Area native, Founder and CEO of Forma Gym, a Club Industry top 100 club, and is the creator of Fitness BI. Serving more than 1800 health club locations in the US and Canada, Fitness BI is the Business Intelligence platform of choice for top brands including, Crunch Fitness, Retro Fitness, Golds Gym, Planet Fitness, Chuze, EOS Fitness and many more. Recently named one of the Bay Area's 40 people under the age of 40, Jackson personally works with many top operators to uncover hidden insights and bring to life stories found within millions of rows of data.

J.P Richard is the CEO of TRIBE Team Training USA. Since launching TRIBE Team Training® in North America back in 2014, J.P. has grown the company to help over 80 facilities and over 1000 Certified TRIBE Coaches who are changing lives every day. JP pride's himself in the fact that all of TRIBE member clubs are earning more money and are more profitable than ever by using the TRIBE Team Training system and education platforms and continuing support. Prior to TRIBE Team Training, J.P. was a successful VP of Sales for a Montreal based commercial relocation company where he handled some of the largest relocations in the Montreal market. J.P. has a business degree from the University of Alabama and was captain and earned All-American status for their Swim Team.

Emma Barry consults to the fastest-growing segments in the sector: boutique studios, budget clubs, digital workouts and fit-tech start-ups and Tracy Minnoch -Nuku has grown up in the fitness industry, from starting as an 18-year old "aerobics" teacher through to managing personal training and group training teams in New Zealand. In this episode they join us to discuss 3 key metrics we should improve around customer service, Action steps to achieve the result for each metric, Tips to remain focused on your New Years customer service resolution

Ken Weichert, better known as "SGT Ken" is an award-winning international speaker, six-time US Army Soldier of the Year, Master Fitness Trainer, Master Resilience Trainer, Counterintelligence Agent and decorated combat veteran. Ken is a Certified Speaking Professional, a member of the National Speakers Association, and a graduate of the John C. Maxwell Coach, Teacher, Trainer and Speaker Course. He is a multi award winner including IDEA WORLD 2016 Fitness Instructor of the Year and CanFitPro 2017 International Presenter of the Year amongst his many recognitions.

Jaquie Scammell is Australia's leading customer service expert, helping create a service mindset to those seeking growth in their organisations and themselves. In 2013 she launched her own business following a diverse career with over 20 years of leadership experience in public, private and not for profit sectors. Jaquie has worked with the McDonalds franchise system as well as major sports and entertainment venues such as Wembley National Stadium (UK), Emirates Stadium (UK) and the Australian Open Grand Slam. She authored the book, Creating a Customer Service Mindset and is a regular blogger, offering practical tools, resources and a set of Mindsets to help leaders transform their own behaviours and service habits to help them teach others.

Dr Paul Bedford has over 20 years experience working in the fitness industry, including roles as a gym instructor, personal trainer, fitness manager and club manager. He has a master's degree in exercise and health behaviours, and a PhD from the London Sports Institute. The aim of his PhD research was to identify interventions in a gym environment to increase adherence. The study increased average participation from 6 months to 13 months. He then went onto develop a training programme to assist retention that has now been delivered to 25 operators, involving nearly 93 facilities.

Verne Harnish is founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), with over 14,000 members worldwide, and chaired for fifteen years EO's premiere CEO program, the "Birthing of Giants" held at MIT, a program in which he still teaches today. Founder and CEO of Scaling Up, a global executive education and coaching company with over 180 partners on six continents, Verne has spent the past three decades helping companies scaleup.

Jose Teixeira is the Head of Customer Experience at SC Fitness in Portugal. Jose was a professional athlete in beach volleyball and studied a degree in Sports and Physical Education, before joining Solinca in 2004. He worked as a sales consultant, club manager, area manager, operations director and now head of customer experience for the group, overseeing the Fitness Project, innovation and data. Jose is an amazing expert in the area of customer experience and incredibly passionate about sharing his knowledge to help others, if you are heading to IHRSA 2020, then go along to his session called - Creating Loyal Customers.

Rich Hutson is the CEO CHi Fitness, he is a career "lifer" in the fitness industry starting as a personal trainer in Canada. He moved to Australia and spent 10 years working with the biggest brands including Healthlands and Fitness First. In 2001 he was given the opportunity to be part of the senior exececutive team that took Fitness First across 6 Asian countries and to over 100 clubs. He also spent 6 years as the Sales Director for Fitness First Europe overseeing 6 countries and 210 clubs. In 2016 he left FF to open Fire Fitness, the first boutique fitness clubs in Malaysia. 2017 saw him take his biggest challenge, the CEO role at CHi Fitness, where he was instrumental in turning the business around and taking it to sale in less than 15 months. Rich starts a new role in 2020 as the business development Manager for Evolution Wellness and will leading their brand new Low cost high value brand called GoFit.

Mark Miller is the Chief Operating Officer of Merritt Clubs with over 25 years of experience at the Senior Management level; Mark joined the Merritt Team in 2000 as Regional Fitness Director responsible for all Fitness, Programming and Operations. Since that time he has moved into the strategic role of COO. In this capacity Mark is responsible for all the day to day management and operations of all 9 clubs, the Merritt consulting arm – MCM as well as its new Wellness division. He has a broad range of expertise including, club management, sales, revenue generation, personal training, programming, budgeting, and Cultural and service design in multi company environments.

Paul Roetzer is founder and CEO of PR 20/20 and Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute; author of The Marketing Performance Blueprint (Wiley, 2014) and The Marketing Agency Blueprint (Wiley, 2012); and the creator of the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference (MAICON). As a speaker, he's focused on making artificial intelligence approachable and actionable, and helping change agents drive transformation through marketing talent, technology and strategy.

Wellness Entrepreneur Tony De Leede has been in the industry for over 35 years, he brought the Fitness First chain to Australia, launched FitnFast clubs and YogaBar brands, created Move and Mind 123 digital content brands and most recently launched his latest business Wellness Solutions – these are just a few highlights from a long list of his accomplishments

Sophie Lawler is at the helm of Total Fitness as CEO, she is one of the youngest CEO's in the industry. With 20 years' fitness experience, Sophie has previously transformed Fitness First, overseeing strategic growth, and the development of new products and propositions in the UK and overseas. Sophie applies her passion, unique leadership culture and vast experience to Total Fitness, where the power of people has grown the membership base by 10% this year to date.

This weeks guest is our very own host - Chantal Brodrick! Chantal worked for 15 years in senior sales and marketing roles in the media industry before transitioning careers. In 2008 she became a qualified Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor. Soon after she combined her corporate background with her love of fitness and became a Fitness Business Coach. In 2015 Chantal became the host of the The Fitness Business Podcast. Chantal has interviewed over 300 fitness industry leaders, coaches, consultants and authors including Jim Worthington, Rick Caro, Bill McBride, Brent Darden, Derek Gallup, Allison Flatley, Mo Hagan, Carrie Kepple, Emma Barry, Ryan Holiday, Jeb Blount, Michelle Segar and hundreds more. In 2019 Chantal was recognised as 1 of 20 'Women Who Inspire' by IHRSA's Club Business International Magazine and this year she is a featured speaker and MC at industry events across the world including, IHRSA, FILEX, IDEA, Athletic Business Show and FITEX.

Ashley Selman is the Owner of Thrive Studio Coaching & Evolution Trainers. Ashley is an international presenter and business consultant who is passionate about coaching fitness studio owners across the country to run more successful, profitable and THRIVING studio businesses. As the founder of Evolution Trainers - a 14,000 square foot private personal training and wellness studio with a world-class team of 45 expert health and fitness professionals serving over 500 clients - she has seen it all and has many lessons to share to help other owners reach higher levels of success faster. She serves on the advisory committee for the Idea World Club and Studio Summit, and has spoken at many industry leading events such as IDEA World, IDEA PTI East and West, IHRSA, The Mindbody BOLD Conference and the Nor Cal Fitness Summit.