Sumit Seth comes from a very humble background and worked in the hospital healthcare space, and did work for Henry Ford's Hospitals, UnitedHealth Group, and did his Masters degree in hospital healthcare administration. A few years later he realized fitness is true healthcare. A trainer Seth had - Jake Freeman - changed his life, and made him want to change and impact the lives of others, and feels blessed through this. So, he started working towards establishing Naamly. 

Do you see the fitness industry coming more aligned with - and even becoming - the health and wellness industry? How do you see what is currently happening with Covid-19 and the pandemic and this huge rush towards health? How do you see the industry rising up? 

• Seth believes that Covid-19 has accelerated a lot of things, and acts as a catalyst for what is almost an eventuality. 
• There are some trends in play when it comes to an ageing population and the rise of obesity and chronic disease, which are things we already knew about and were already becoming mainstream healthcare. 
• There is a “health is wealth” mentality, and people have realized that as you live longer, the quality of life matters and the quality of life can only be reached when you have mental and physical health.
• Covid-19 is helping individuals realize the importance of health. Seth speculates that there will be a rise in people going to the gyms and a move within the digital space of fitness and health. 
• Seth believes there will be a merge between fitness and health. 

How did your company start? How did you come up with the concept? 

• Seth had a background both in healthcare and running a staffing firm, however, it was all about the people for him, the people make the biggest difference. 
• They wanted to create something where they could recognise and celebrate people, initially causing them to target both yoga fitness and massage, but soon decided on the fitness space. 
• Seth and his partner Jake decided to contribute here, and they started to focus on the trainer, which morphed into focusing on the gym owner - because it is also about celebrating entrepreneurs. 
• They decided to dedicate their foreseeable future to focus on celebrating entrepreneurs and helping them succeed, which in turn creates healthier communities. 

What are the benefits of Naamly? You serve gym owners, right? 

• Naamly serves gym owners and helps train gyms in engaging their members, empowering their staff, and whatever success means to them - whether it is leading a fulfilling life, or making more money - that is our model. 

What does the service entail? How does it work? 

• Naamly focuses on three broad value propositions; engage members, staff empowerment, and centralized communication tools. 
• Engaging members lead to better connectivity, which in turn leads to members trusting you and returning. 
• Staff empowerment leads to staff wanting to take action and puts their hearts in the right place. 
• Centralized communication tools help the gym owner in building connections and deeper relationships with their members. Naamly brings email, phone and text under one shared inbox, so trainers or staff members can see what goes on. 

How many people is Naamly serving? What is the trajectory of the business looking like? 

• Naamly is going very well, despite all the self-limiting beliefs Seth had in the past that he had to work through. 
• Seth says that Naamly has made its fair share of mistakes, but they learned from them, and have been very fortunate in getting things right.  
• Naamly serves thousands of members now, and consider themselves very fortunate to be seen as a worthwhile partner. 

What has been one of the biggest personal challenges you have had working in Naamly? 

• Seth says one of the biggest challenges for him was work/life balance, as an entrepreneur, you work very hard for something and you see it manifest, you want to continue tending to it. 
• The last company Seth worked at, the factor that drove him away was when his child did not understand why he was there and not working, this caused him to leave that job in search of balance. 
• Seth admits that the lines of balance are blurred when one works from home, and you are enjoying your work more.

What are some of the biggest takeaways for you from working with Ken? 

• Ken taught Seth to take time for himself, and in doing so the world won’t crash and burn, and work will still be there when he gets back. 
• Ken also taught Seth how to go outside of his comfort zone and embrace new and fresh ideas, which led Seth to a lot of personal growth. 

If you get started at 4 a.m, what time does your day finish? 

• Seth finishes his day at around 10-11 p.m at night. 

What is the biggest challenge you are facing within your business right now?

• Externally the biggest problem Seth faces is about wanting to help more gym owners and make an impact on their life. 
• Naamely is also facing scalability challenges and morphing their own processes because they are getting new personas in and they all have nuanced needs. 
• Basically their core problems are how to scale internally, and how to continue spreading the word. 

Resources: 

Sumit Seth: [email protected] 

Website: Naamly.com