Do Great Things Episodes

"The industry is now embracing and accepting the space between medicine and fitness," states Lisa Dougherty, Founder of the MedFit network and--clearly--a woman on a mission! Like many of the best businesses, MedFit Network evolved organically from (an extremely important!) need that had yet to be met. It is now the largest directory of fitness professionals on the Internet who work with special populations. Last year, Lisa took this on the road and started the Medical Fitness Tour and was ackno...

"I wanted to become the greatest we could become in one town and through influence, be able to affect the world," says Joe Cirulli. . .and he's done exactly that. Everyone in the HALO sector knows Joe's name. He's been a trusted Mentor, adviser and friend to many of the top people in the industry and is highly respected across the board. He worked for 6 clubs that all went bankrupt before borrowing $1,700 to get his start. Gainesville is now ~80,000 sq feet with over 28,000 members and 500 emplo...

Chuze Fitness currently has 25 locations with 8 under construction and is one of the foremost brands in the San Diego area. Started by two families, Nick and Cory's parents were business partners in the hospitality space who parlayed that into the HVLP sector. This highly experienced team only decided to take on private equity on their 14th location. They operate off the maxim, "We want to be the best, we don't want to be the biggest." Learn more about this great brand has firmly secured their p...

Club Insider has become the "gatekeeper of the industry's history," says President Justin Cates. . . and anyone who truly knows the HALO space knows he's not exaggerating! If you haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting Justin's Dad, Norm. . .perhaps you haven't been around long enough and you're missing out! Industry icon, Norm Cates, is one of the Founders of IHRSA with 44 years under his belt and began Club Insider in 1993 from the ground up. Justin spent the past 11 years working with his Dad...

"Selling fitness has always been incredibly intangible, you're kind of buying it on faith. . .we made it tangible. You can see the vision of your future self," says Daron Allen, CEO of Visual Fitness Planner. Selling memberships used to be "incredibly unprofessional" and has changed significantly from what it was 10 years ago. VFP has been at the forefront of this, with everything now being "API first." It's not uncommon for a facility to have a tech stack of 6-10 companies! Listen to learn more...

Sean has been in the HALO sector for over 15 years. He (along with inventor Don Brown) was instrumental in launching the Ab Roller which went on to earn over 1 billion dollars. Flash to the 2007 IHRSA where, with only two prototypes in hand, he debuted the Ab Coaster, which also went on to huge success! The Abs Company never took outside funds and--in this wide ranging discussion--Sean discusses everything from inventory management, media spend, infomercials, thoughts on business partners, and m...

Josh McCarter's background goes back to when a T1 line cost "thousands" to install and when AOL was first scaling their dial up service! And through it all he's been adamant that, "Education across the board is super important." MINDBODY became a leader in the online booking field by--among other things--constantly driving this point home. And as far as scaling a successful SaaS model, "It doesn't take a ton of money to create your own buzz and your own authority." Listen now to learn more about...

Jersey Strong used to be called WoW (Work Out World.) The club (which was started by Stephen's Mom) eventually morphed into one of the most well known independent health club chains in New Jersey. Stephen Roma, Jr. began from the ground up and was instrumental in helping the club stay on the cutting edge of sales & marketing strategies. Learn how this family continues to remain on top, how they went through a major rebrand, how they make decisions as a team, advice for those just entering the fi...

With 20 years in the fitness industry and a former Danish national karate team member, Rasmus Ingerslev is a pioneer in helping to spread (and change the perception of fitness) in Denmark and other European countries. In 1999, his first venture became the largest club group in the country. Fresh Fitness, his next project, now has 75,000 members. He started the Danish Fitness Organization and helped remove the stigma of fitness as something "just the beautiful people did" to one a lot more approa...

"The best ideas are the ones people struggled with themselves, and suddenly had that epiphany of a great solution. If they had this problems, probably someone else did as well!" states Randy Hetrick. A 14 year veteran of the Navy SEALS, TRX (which--fun fact--was initially called Travel Fit) was born out of necessity while deployed. Randy's invention is now part of the DNA of the HALO sector. Learn more about how he got started, the origin of the name, staying true to your brand, what happens whe...

"My motivation is to change the way people look at and experience life," states UFC Gyms President Adam Sedlack. A long time industry veteran, Adam moved 20 times in his career with 24 Hour Fitness. He jokes, "Initially, I thought UFC Gyms was a terrible idea!" Only after seeing a fight camp and the incredible number of people involved in making a fighter "the best version of himself" did he realize this could be fantastic for the layperson as well. In this wide ranging discussion on everything ...

Mike opened his Paramus, NJ location in 1992. As a former finance executive, he and his partner Art mused, "There was just something about bringing the California mystique to New Jersey that made us check out Gold's." Instead of going "out" however, the team decided to go "in." As opposed to growing for growth's sake, 26 years later Gold's Paramus is an integral fixture in the community. "We found the gym to be the perfect vehicle to give back and make an actual difference in people's lives." Li...

With 30+ years in the beauty & skin care industry, Denise knows how to build and scale massive consumer brands from the ground up. How do you take a concept from PowerPoint to something on the shelf? "Success is a little bit of magic, a lot of discipline, and a lot of hard work. Everything begins with an idea, inspiration, or concept," she states. In an industry with very low barriers to entry, what can you do? How do you build a moat around your product? How do you deal with the 600lb gorilla i...

Formerly with World Bank and now at Bain since 2011, Chris discusses a (fairly) new type of instrument private equity firms are using these days--an Impact Fund. "We're not pretending our investment of 10-15 million per business will change the obesity epidemic or solve global warming. However, what we can do is help fund scalable models which can be one of the hopefully many things to eventually get to that point," he states. Bain is already invested in game changing brands like by CHLOE and ot...

As a Portfolio Manager in Emerging Markets at Blackrock for over 8 years, Nicholas effectively created his own "HALO portal" within the massive organization. Certainly not an easy feat in a company with over 14,000 employees! How he did it, and how he went about navigating the twists and turns politically is incredibly useful advice for anyone facing similar challenges within their corporate culture. For anyone who thinks, "Something like this could never be done where I work!" this episode is t...

"We launched for a very simple reason: It was way too hard to find a great pair of workout shorts!" laughs Keith Nowack, Founder of Ten Thousand. They're now growing at a fantastic clip and Keith and team team remain, "Focused on profitability and not just raising capital every 12 months!" A former pro soccer player and seasoned entrepreneur & investor, Keith highlights the highs and lows that come with starting & growing a business and offers some tips on how to endure! "Being an entrepreneur, ...

"How we're accessing fitness has evolved. In the past, 2% of gym members were buying other fitness experiences. Now it's over 25%," says Founder and 20+ year fitness veteran and marketing & media executive Joanna Stahl. "I'm going to be in Houston tomorrow, what cycling class should I go to?" It was questions like these she'd get from friends that were never easily answered. Go2Practice was born out of that and now--with 100,000+ gyms on the site--it makes it simple for consumers to search, book...

First Credit is a leading company in the Accounts Receivable space with an impressive, 25 year history. They work with over 4,000 clubs and have integrations with all the main point of sale providers. "This is usually only a $100-$200 bill. It just needs a talk. We're a non-threatening, consultative, member engagement retention model with a soft approach. We never threaten legal issues. We're against arguments!" states CEO Raj Chhabria. With a refreshing difference in an industry that (may) not ...

"Why wouldn't you give free sessions? It doesn't cost you anything!" is an incorrect and unfortunately, all-too-common refrain that 22+ year industry veteran Zach Lucas hears often. "We've seen studies that show people prefer incentives 3 to 1 over discounts!" The results that Promotion Vault customers are seeing clearly bear that out. Zach is very passionate about educating the industry about the multi-billion dollar incentive world. Promotion Vault works with all the major chains, integrates w...

86% of athletes recruited into their first jobs are promoted within 18 months. However, 64% are graduating without a job in hand. 97% are not receiving a job through relationships with the Athletic Department either. The Athlete Book is going to change all of this & will connect athletes to employers in a way that's never been done before. It's the brainchild of Ryan Drummond, former captain of his lacrosse team at the University of Delaware and veteran in the recruiting world. Amazon, GE, Under...

Dr. Jaime Schehr is one of a small number of people who is both a Registered Dietitian and Naturopathic Physician. After serving as a clinician in Mount Sinai for 12 years, she began her own practice in addition to starting Xfit Lab which has worked with companies like Soul Cycle and Peleton. Dr. Schehr "married medicine and fitness" and because of her broad background in both fields, is able to assess analyze and assess data in unique (and actionable) ways. In one of our more scientifically ori...

"You have to have sat on the operating side of the table if you want to be really effective in this space," states Leigh Randall, Managing Partner of Topspin Partners, a leading private equity firm in the HALO sector & consumer products and services space since 2000. "We hear over and over from small business owners that there's a complete lack of appreciation for what they've accomplished!" What is private equity exactly? What can PE firms bring to the table for entrepreneurs? What should entre...

"I'm naturally scrappy, I love a good challenge. . . I don't need to be a hero and do it alone!" says Jackie Stauffer, CEO & Founder of the innovative company, RECESS. A former college athlete, Estee' Lauder & Equinox Fitness marketing executive, RECESS was born (like many companies) from a personal frustration. "I was starting to not work out because of the whole 'waiting in line to shower!' thing. I thought there definitely had to be a better way!" states Stauffer. RECESS came out of that with...