HALO Talks: Elevating Wellness

Swerve Fitness (which initially began as a successful brick and mortar space with three locations) now offers a, "Live streaming, groundbreaking fitness experience to gyms around the world, all built on the power of team sports." Eric Posner and his team have come up with a great "hybrid" that helps facilities fill in studio dead time, doesn't influence their existing staff placements, provides unlimited classes in a boutique experience with some of the best instructors available . . . and on and on. It's a unique twist and it's going very well.

Posner states, "We initially came up with the idea for Swerve, which was the world's first team inspired indoor cycling studio. We pitched our clients on this and they said, 'Look, we love it, but you got to quit your job. You got to put up your own money and then we'll back you.' So that's what we did. We quit our jobs, we put up our life savings and they helped us raise the rest of the money to open up our first location in Flatiron. Fast forward, we had three locations in the city, we had a pop-up out in Montauk and things were going quite well. And then the pandemic hit."

How Posner and his team managed to successfully pivot is a fantastic study in teamwork, belief in the company Mission, and belief in each other. Once they firmed everything up, they approached Crunch for a test--which went great--and they were off. They gameify the classes, do multiple live classes on the hour, do not canibalize the existing cycling instructors at the facilities that pipe in their offerings . . . and multiple other benefits.

This is a substantial cost savings for the gym which has proven to drive more revenue, and it's a win for members because it's all included in their dues. They can take unlimited classes per month if they wanted which gives them a boutique-level/live experience in the club they're already a part of. With a retention rate of 88% and bookings continuing to rise, Posner's team seems to have found the sweet spot in a space that still continues being carved out post-pandemic.

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Alex Dzierbicki has held a variety of positions in the hospitality and HALO sectors. At one point, he owned three gyms, worked in private equity, moved on to the franchise space, and now works for the highly regarded Cultivate Advisors, where all advisors must possess a minimum of at least 10+ years of business ownership.

When asked about the importance of perspective, he states, "The broader that is, the better you will be able to form commonality and pattern recognition skills. So saying, 'Hey, I've seen how the big boys play. I've seen how the little ones play. I've seen how the winners, losers, various intention have walked these notions out. I can say, Oh A, B and C, are common factors . . . so this is what I think is likely.' What are we doing to address these problems? How can we peak around these corners?"

It's critical to ground businesses in data--to take something from the more "etherial" to the more concrete. He discusses how an engagement works with Cultivate, what the process entails (the need for 2 years+ of operating data being the starting point), and more.

"One of the big differentiators from the larger consulting companies, is we do our proposals and contracts based on scope of work, not on time. Because we don't want to say, 'Hey, this task took me 45 extra minutes, that'll be $200.' We want to figure out what's needed, put a price tag on it, and then do the work. We are implementers."

Cultivate has clients on 4 continents, is industry agnostic, and has just over 60 advisors. He strongly urges Founders to consider their personal views and long term interests on brands and franchise systems, when thinking about expansion. ("Franchising is only sexy from the outside.")

Any business owner can always use a fresh set of eyes from time to time--and you may want to consider reaching out to Alex and Cultivate at some point down the road.

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Brandon Cullen is a former professional hockey player and one of the Founder's of MADabolic. (Fun fact: MAD stands for Momentum Anaerobic Durability.) Along with his partner Kirk Dewaele, "The duo founded MADabolic after noticing a hole in the fitness market. There were no high-quality group fitness training systems for people who prioritize strength, value structure, and demand results…everyday people, and people past their sport looking to age athletically…people, it turned out, like them."

The MADabolic brand has been quietly, but slowly and surely expanding. . .but doing so mindfully and cautiously. He chats with Pete about their trials and tribulations of becoming a franchisor early on, managing franchisees (and marketing to find the right franchisors.) Their goal is to get to "200 successful units" in the next 5 years.

He says, "We just started noticing that different people were coming in the doors. We removed the scoreboard, we removed the barbell, we started play playing around with a lot more work-to-rest ratios versus chasing reps [in the CrossFit model.] That a-ha moment became when we actually funded a second location and put this experimentation into a full program."

Cullen goes on about their plans for expansion in certain key markets ("going deep instead of wide"), challenges of educating the uneducated consumer, what they feel is their brand's special sauce, and more! This is one group you'll be hearing a lot more about down the road.

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April Berg is the Co-Founder & Customer Experience Director of the Aruna Project, an incredible organization which empowers women through employment. The Project, "Creates lifelong freedom marked by holistic care for victims of human trafficking. Products are crafted in freedom by skilled Artisans who are finding their voice, experiencing independence and growing with a sisterhood of others who have overcome."

They've employed over 120 women since they began in 2015 (products launched in 2018) with 60 women currently employed, and they look to bring on 3 new women per month. Their training center serves over 3,000 in the redlight area in India which they started from. "Will never employ a woman unless we can fully sustain her ongoing," states Berg.

She continues, "Everything that we create . . . was made by women who we've helped set free and have overcome quite awful situations. We provide sustainable employment through holistic care so they're fully sustained. And then our products are sold and marketed here in the USA."

Her life was forever changed when her and her husband on a trip to India--witnessed a two square mile area with over 15,000 sex slaves existing in tiny corridor and awful living situations. She and her whole family returned, embedded in the area and spent months researching mission, vision, values of other organizations before they launched.

She discusses how they fund the business, how they train the women to not only live their life after they get out of the brothel, but then to get them into work, how they compete with other, larger athleisure brands, plans for working with the HALO sector, and more.

Be sure to reach out to April to inquire about donating, or if your organization would consider reselling their items. Lots of possibilities here for brick and mortar facilities of all sizes!

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"My purpose is to help others," states Roger Harvey succinctly. This long time, highly-seasoned HALO executive served as the COO of Crunch for 13 years (from 3 studios to 27 in 1993-2006), as a COO and CEO in the boutique space, a consultant to a good number of brands, and most recently as the CEO of New York Sports Clubs. He was charged with the "minor" task of taking a 50 year organization (from 186 gyms going in, to 68) out of bankruptcy--while in the middle of the pandemic--pre vaccines! "I walked into a full on crisis," he states.

This was an utterly Herculean task on every level with literally 2 days notice, but as anyone who has met Roger knows, this sort of thing doesn't phase him. He continues, "I opened [the interview with NYSC] with the fact that my purpose is to help others, and it would make me really bad at fulfilling my purpose if somebody asked for my help, they then explain what they need help with, but I say no, because I think it's too difficult!"

He has honed what he calls his Level 4or Awareness Training over the years. "It helps you practice living by learning to go more slowly, so that you can recognize options, and then choose the way that's best for you. It's built on six steps: Love, learn, appreciate, forgive, teach, serve. The next stage is the process of understanding expectations. Five words: Organize, communicate, educate, evaluate, modify, and then repeat."

There is much, much more to this. These are not pie in the sky platitudes. Roger walks his walk and applies all of these principles to the very real, nuts-and-bolts world of managing and running brick and mortar companies of all shapes and sizes--and those people and companies who have had Roger involved in some way, shape, or form . . . always come out better for it.

This HALO Talks is filled with a tremendous number of valuable takeaways that you should absolutely consider applying to your business immediately. If you want to work with Roger personally, reach out to him on LinkedIn at the link above.

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Matt Spielman is Founder of Inflection Point Partners and author of the newly released book, Inflection Points-How To Work and Live With Purpose. (Check out a quick one sheeter here as well.)

Matt notes, "I transitioned from Executive to Executive Coach . . . and the part that really drew me in was seeing the people on the team grow, develop, thrive, giving them stretch opportunities, the promotion discussions and . . . just giving feedback in a constructive way. That was the stuff that really drew me in."

He discusees his own (rather inspirational!) career journey, what he went through himself at 44, finding sources and drains of energy, some of the concepts behind what he calls the Game Plan System ("you can't goal set your way out of an emotional rut"), and more.

He goes on to chat about the effect COVID has had (in both positive and negative ways) on people's lives and career paths, and how he built his own coaching practice from scratch. (It was a slow, steady climb, and now Spielman counts executives like Alex Rodriguez and Bill Owens, Executive Producer for 60 Minutes, as some of his clients.)

Matt received his MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA from Columbia University, where he earned national honors as a varsity baseball player. Matt has been a friend of Integrity Square for many, many years and we wish him all the best on the launch of his book and the continued growth of Inflection Point Partners!

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Brian Chappon, CEO of CENTRED, is a self-described "recovering Wall Street guy." Along with CMO Sarah Gallo (also founder of The Five Foot Traveler and an OG in the travel space!) and the rest of the team, have been able to put together something literally nobody else has been able to do in the HALO sector previously--although many have tried! 

CENTRED can be described as a "global wellness-focused travel platform that re-writes the blueprint for travel, fitness, tele-health, and beauty/lifestyle to make the traveler’s experience safe and healthy, all with the convenience of using just one app." It's a kind of "ClassPass meets Priority Pass for the next generation traveler" and shortly, an AI concierge will be available to help HALO-conscience travelers find events and put "butts in seats" for brands in the CENTRED ecosystem.  

"We're raising capital now, but I think what we're most proud of when we talk to investors, is . . .'Look at what we're able to do with hardly any capital! It's incredible!' That's for sure . . . Getting people to buy into your vision is one thing, but getting people to execute over a long period of time, that's another," states Chappon. 

As the world continues to open up post-pandemic, the spotlight on taking responsibility for your health and fitness is brighter than it's ever been . . . and brands need to meet that demand.

CENTRED is the app that is going to lead the charge by continuing to bring those worlds together and make it all seamless. They've been able to accomplish a tremendous amount thus far on (more or less) a shoestring. Reach out to the team now if you're interested in investing and if you're a HALO brand looking to get on their platform. 

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Struct Club brings structure to music-inspired fitness instruction. By providing software for gyms, studios, and their instructors, Struct Club's simple app & unrivaled programming database streamline the entire process of delivering impeccable group exercise classes. In 2018, Amira incorporated Struct Club out of Harvard Business School, where she both got her MBA and began teaching indoor cycling classes at their gym. Coming from a prior career in enterprise software, she found that instructors lacked a modern tool to 'hit play & go' with facility-standard workout plans, playlists, and coaching scripts. "There should be an app for this," she thought. Class intelligence should be shared, and even predictive of individual styles based on personal preferences. Pollack continued, "Everybody deserves a great experience. That's what we want to provide as an industry. Losing 60% of our clients in one week, for example? That's just a disastrous business problem." Today, Struct Club's app is known by thousands of instructors in over 60 countries as their "karaoke machine" for class. But under the hood, Struct Club has a killer data engine that can fully automate a SoulCycle-esque DJ-ing & choreography process for a gym, studio, or club according to their own unique method, brand style, & rules. Check out Struct Club's quick Overview Deck for owners, franchisors, &/or decision-making operators.

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"Red light therapy has been around for 60 years but 'more' isn't always better," states Perry Kamel, the CEO of DNA Vibe, the innovative new company revolutionizing red light therapy and the way its administered. "More" was the direction the industry went down (and arguably is still going down) once people realized the modality had positive effects. "It's absolutely about precision, not power . . . and too much could be harmful," Kamel continues.

With some recent coverage on the Today Show and over one hundred professional and Olympic athletes using the DNA Vibe technology, the company is growing exponentially both on the business to consumer, and the business to business sides.

Better still? The company is veteran owned, 100% of the product is constructed in Colorado, and they've managed to do so at a cost (and quality) that beat everything they found when (initally) looking abroad.

This is a highly engineered, very technically advanced product that is challenging the way red light therapy has traditionally been administered. They continue to receive stories monthly from all ages and all performance levels.

If you have ever had an interest in seeing what red light therapy can do for you, definitely have a look at DNA Vibe and consider trying their product. The group also offers a "Good Vibes" guarantee so there's nothing to lose!

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Virginia Carnesale is the founder of Shop Stage. Her story of surviving breast cancer is incredibly inspirational for others going through what she did, and was the push needed for starting Shop Stage. Her inspiration was based on her experiences as a patient, and her life long background in retail.

While the company is only about five months old as of this podcast (Sept 2022), she and her team are doing incredible work helping other women take the guess work out of their cancer treatments, have non-profit partnerships with three organizations, and have 60 brands on their platform.

"You really do need community to support you to get through this. And it's not just friends, family and loved ones--of course, they're hugely critical--but if you don't have anybody in your inner circle that's been through this before, it's hard for them to know how to relate or how to support you."

"There really is no substitution for connecting with other survivors. I was so fortunate to get connected with other women who had gone through this before to impart helpful tips and advice on what to expect each step of the journey," she states.

Virginia discusses her business model, plans for future growth, how people can get involved, and more. It is perhaps not a coincidence that one of her favorite quotes is from Tony Robbins, "Every problem is a gift, and without problems, we won't grow."

Listen now to learn more and definitely spread the word about this fantastic company!

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