Do Great Things Episodes

"The pandemic either will make you stronger, or will force you to get out of the way for new technology and new ideas. But I think a lot has been the same. Connecting with members in a deeper way is a big part of this. . . A huge portion of the value of a membership is the social experience. I can't see that ever really changing," states long time industry veteran, Rich Novelli. Pete and Rich touch on the many differences between High Volume Low Price (HVLP) business models versus a premium bran...

When asked about the digital "hybridization" of the industry, long time industry veteran Bill McBride states, "It's going to be like a swimming pool. Not all your members are going to use it, but when you sell a membership, everyone wants it! So you must have a strong virtual, digital program available, now more so then ever." This wide ranging discussion touches on the effects the pandemic had in our sector, the stronger footing we must gain in Washington to effect real change, the need for lic...

"One thing campus recruiters, athletes, and professionals don't have a lot of is time," states The Athlete Book Founder, Ryan Drummond. In this update, Ryan takes us through their new point-based system focused around consuming content and creation of a leaderboard which puts coaches on the map of an athlete's career path and development. "Nobody wants to be on the bottom," he says. Among many other advantages, this also provides the employer the opportunity to tell the story of what they're loo...

Marcus Johnson is a modern Renaissance Man! He's an independent Billboard-ranked musician and NAACP Image Award-nominated jazz keyboardist and pianist. Also the CEO and Founder of FLO ("For The Love Of") Brands, and more recently FLO Wine, he states, "My life motto is DEEPER: "Dream, Engage, Environment. Plan. Execute. Reflect. Entrepreneurs are very good at execution, but bad at reflection because reflection calls for vulnerability." This wide ranging discussion touches on points business owner...

With a background in planning, promoting and executing C-level, multinational conferences in the gas and oil sector, Singapore based, Ross Campbell went on to found The Fit Summit. "We started as a community business and built live events and thought leadership on top of that." He continues, "The HALO sector is such an amazing investment opportunity, however it doesn't get the airtime here in Asia and in more immature markets, but it's coming." He goes on to discuss the importance of ongoing bus...

"I put it away and then I went back to doing my thing. I didn't realize it was going to be useful!" laughs Dr. Jason Wersland, Founder of the Theragun when asked how he got started early on. (Like most great ideas, it was born of a personal frustration.) Five different versions later (created between 2008 - 2015) Jason met experienced angel investor Ben Nazarian, now the CEO. Learn more about what an investor mulls over when thinking about whether to back someone, the evolution of the product, w...

Asked how Prospr began and what her initial pain points were, Erika laughs, "I thought I must just be a bad people manager! It wasn't until I started meeting others across different verticals that I realized, 'No, I don't stink at managing people! People are just really hard to manage . . . but specifically shift and hourly based work force!'" She discusses the ups and downs of developing software (as a non-coder!), how her (very simple but powerful) program helps increase productivity, employee...

"Before you become this fancy Swiss Army knife, are you even a decent pocket knife first? Do you do one thing really well yet? People will cancel memberships, they're less likely to cancel relationships," states Stu Brauer, host of the WTF Gym Talk podcast and owner of Urban MVMNT. Since 2015 he's focused on the "microgym" industry which came out of his years of experience with CrossFit and bigger box facilities. Stu discusses his thoughts on how to make it out the other side of COVID, retaining...

"I work closely with the Founders to align their vision with my understanding so I can go and create appropriate milestones," states Jeff Kazmucha when discussing part of his process working with clients. A fitness industry veteran, Jeff also talks about the critical importance of being an Evangelist for the companies he works with, thought processes behind scaling sensibly and properly, common mistakes most Founders make when coming to market, the relationship between brick and mortar and tech ...

Matthew and Michael Rosenberg both come from banking and finance. They saw an opening in the market that wasn't being addressed and started Solin Fitness. Initially, their model was partnering with trainers who only had large followings, but they ended up pivoting to a white label product. Matt states, "We're only as successful as our Partners are. Ultimately, they're the ones making the impact on the consumer. If we're really successful, nobody ever knows who Solin is." They go on to discuss th...

"There's this race to the bottom, which is doing everyone a disservice. If your value proposition has to be driven by the fact that you can give the cheapest access to your solution, I have to question . . . do you even deserve to be in this business!? I could replace you with equipment from Amazon," states 25+ year industry veteran Jason Stowell. This pull-no-punches podcast discusses everything from selling solutions versus 'packages,' the fact that you're never going to outsell sincerity and ...

Dr. Elizabeth Stanley earned her B.A. from Yale, her M.B.A. from MIT, and her Ph.D from Harvard. She's a former Army Intelligence office and author of the recently published (and very timely) Widen The Window: Training Your Brain and Body To Thrive During Stress and Recover From Trauma. "In our culture, we spend so much time turning stress on, and never turning it off," she states. This broad discussion touches how the nervous system can be trained, the negative implications of too much technolo...

"The Confess Project is America's first mental health barbershop movement. Currently in 14 cities, it is a grassroots movement committed to building a culture of mental health, particularly for young men of color," states Founder Lorenzo Lewis. Lorenzo was clinically diagnosed with depression and, having grown up in his aunt's beauty salon, he knew he "needed to reach people where they already were." Barbers receive training to become Mental Heath Advocates and learn skills to engage properly in...

Scott Welle is a #1 international best selling author, speaker and founder of Outperform The Norm, a leading program for business leaders and athletes looking raise their game and perform at the highest level. His one common goal is to help people improve and to be better today than they were yesterday. He states, "You learn your greatest lessons when you're going through some amount of adversity. Instead of asking--why me--ask yourself--why this?" This wide ranging discussion touches on everyth...

Originally from the finance and wealth management world, Physique 57 Founder Jennifer Maanavi states, "I always wanted to get into the business world, and I was always a dancer growing up . . . I never thought I could combine both!" After purchasing the well known Lottie Berk Method studio on the Upper East Side, Jennifer brought things to another level. She discusses their (very careful) expansion, the early days of the brand, the difficult question of "whose client it is" (teacher or the brand...

"Many entrepreneurs--especially returning entrepreneurs--want investors focused on what's best for the company, not what's best for the VC's portfolio . . .they don't want the goat rodeo, as I call it," states Geoff Schneider, Founder of Cava Capital. As an investor and operator for the past 30 years in the HALO sector, Geoff is also the Founder of Lymbr and investor in Fit Lab. Cava is currently raising a $40m pooled early stage capital fund. Pete and Geoff chat about the direction of fund, wha...

"The first time I went to an Orange Theory, it was amazing! It was really inspiring!" says Mike Lewis. Mike and his son Jake own the Tuckahoe Area Developer license and are currently searching for their second location in Yonkers. With an impressive history of sports running through the Lewis family, Jake and his Dad discuss why they decided move forward with a smaller studio versus a big box facility, how Jake worked in two other OTF's prior to them opening their own studios (and the significan...

After 20 years serving as a Fortune 500 executive in various public companies, Joe Burton founded Whil, the leading enterprise digital solution for training mindfulness, stress resilience, well being, sleep and performance. "I didn't build this company to flip it, I built it to help people . . . What if someone found out I was meditating? That wouldn't go down well with a Board back then!" he states. "Fast forward 10 years . . . mindfulness is now in the conversation." Whil has deals with CVS, M...

Denise founded Muscle Mixes in 1988 and was selling cassettes back then. "We were pioneers because nobody was doing it legally at the time!" she jokes. This is an extremely timely discussion considering what's been going on with Peloton and as more fit pros use music for online workouts. It's critical to know what "royalty free music" is, how it's used, the differences in license types, the needed convergence of fitness and the music industry, what the easiest and most cost effective ways are to...

"Most people back their way into the insurance business . . . but I got into it on purpose," jokes Lester Morales, Founder of Next Impact. Lester's family was one of the 67% of bankruptcies caused by healthcare expenses. "We were a normal, middle class, family. We were there. This shouldn't have happened. It's absolutely a broken system and I played at the highest levels," he continues. In this wide ranging discussion on the "misalignment of incentives" that pervades the industry, Lester talks a...

ReWire is a full neuro-performance solution that's not just for professional athletes, but definitely for amateurs as well . . .a hardware/software combo that allows you to workout while layering on additional mental load," states Co-Founder, Sun Sachs. Along with his fellow Co-Founder (and Scientific Advisor) Walter Staiano, this next generation technology is currently seeing impressive results with Division 2 and 3 Italian soccer players, Olympic badminton athletes from the Danish Olympic team...

"It's not about the Men's Health, 'be jacked' model as much anymore . . . it's more about community, it's more about the social hour. . .but doing it in a healthy way . . . it's the accountability and engagement that's going to last long term," says Anthony Vennare, Co-Founder of Fitt Insider when asked about how fitness has evolved. A former Marine, Anthony returned to Pittsburgh, opened a gym, and with his brother launched Made in Pittsburgh, a portal for local, health and fitness lifestyle ev...

"Ours is truly a unique, and patented system . . . and that's really been our main selling point," says Founder Floery Mahoney. After rebranding the DaVinci Board (which began 6 years ago) into Board30 Global, Floery's group now has 6 studios open, another 10 coming, and are launching the mini-board in Korea with ActiveTV. Floery chats about her pivot into the boutique studio model, selling as a licensee versus a franchise, gives insight into the sales cycle for launching new products and servic...

"SoulCycle really helped me own my voice. . . it allowed me to connect people that would have never met each other," says Jaidus Mondesir who also calls himself the "Non-Influencer." As a formally trained actor, dancer, and singer--after a 9 month lead role in a Las Vegas show--he started with SoulCycle and has touched the lives of thousands ever since--including HALO Talks host & Integrity Square Founder Pete Moore! Jadius offers valuable thoughts into their training process, the delicate balan...