Episode #545: The Future of Fitness Professionals-Insights from Coach 360's Kathleen Ferguson

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1:03 This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks NYC. I have the the pleasure of having Kathleen Ferguson with some awesome new speakerphones that has been joining us from Coach three sixty news. We're gonna talk about health coaching. We're gonna talk about how we're gonna make people better and how she is the launching pad for success. So, Kathleen, welcome to the show. Oh, thank you so much for having me, Pete. Awesome. So let's start off. You know, you've been in the industry, doing things on the business development and on partnerships for fifteen years. So talk about this new venture, what you got excited about it, and, you know, how it's going in its early stages.

1:45 Yeah. You know, I am really excited about it. I don't know if you know this, but I started as a fitness coach, fitness trainer seventeen years ago, ended up leaving my corporate job and, really wanted to dive into something that, where I could make a difference and help people on their paths to health and wellness, and you know from there I ended up, to your point, working in fitness media sales, doing business development, leading sales teams, and always just kind of felt in the back of my mind, gosh, you know, there are a lot of, outlets out there that really serve kind of the executive, the CEO, of the brands, but there really isn't any type of platform that, really kind of takes the hand and guides the health, fitness, and wellness coach to a career, an actual career as opposed to just a role within a club and studio, or just, you know, a quick, you know, jaunt in our industry. So really excited, to create something to help the health, fitness, and wellness coach build a sustainable and a meaningful and impactful career, to do what they love to do, which is to transform lives, to save lives ultimately, and really be kind of that frontline individual in our industry that is, you know, helping at the front lines of the obesity epidemic and chronic disease that's preventable.

3:03 So I'm excited to be doing that and, this idea came about, while I was working over at my last media endeavor at Appletech News, which I'm sure a lot of your listeners know about, and I thought about you know, my mind always goes back to these coaches and, you know, how who's helping the coaches? We've got this massive issue going on right now where, it's kind of this perfect storm. You know, one of the biggest challenges that we're hearing about right now from the club and studio perspective is this incredibly high turnover rate of employees. And right now, our sources tell us that that turnover rate is actually a %. So clubs and studios are replacing their entire staff every single year on average, which, which is incredible to me to to think about that.

3:47 You know, it's incredibly expensive. It's incredibly time consuming, and I think what's contributing to this problem is the fact that health fitness and wellness coaches are churning out on average 80% within two years. So this comes directly from all the certification organizations. They know the coaches are leaving because they don't understand how to create a career in the industry that has sustainability and longevity. So, I think that this mass trainer and coach churn is the biggest issue contributing to what what is happening with these clubs and studios. So I thought to myself, how do we support these people? How do we bring them together and connect the dots into this immersive ecosystem through media, through staffing resources, and career resources. Yeah. I think a lot of it probably, you know, is on the onset of, of the pandemic. You know, a lot of these people kinda got jettisoned off of any kind of payroll, and, you know, basically said, okay. Do I own the member relationship? Does the club or studio own the member relationship? And, basically, it was like feast or famine. I felt like even as an individual, where I was getting, you know, emails and I was getting text messages from places that I had memberships that I might have froze. And I was supposed to get reached out to by some of the instructors saying, like, hey. I got this thing going on on Facebook Live or I've got, you know, something going on where you can join my Zoom. And I feel like there was, like, dislocation of where my relationship, you know, like, was was Mhmm. Who held my relationship. And a lot of

5:17 trainers said, hey. Look. I'm just gonna go and kinda create my own brand. And that's a lot of work in content production. And, also, it's not like they had, you know, an administrative assistant. They're basically running their own business. And, you know, post post, you know, people going back to the club, I feel like a lot of the group exercise classes never really got back to normal. And I think a lot of clubs ended up, you know, disbanding or or greatly reducing the hours that they, were allocated to their to GroupX calendars. And now going forward, I feel like there's trainers who maybe have lost their identity or, you know, not really sure where they fit the ecosystem, you know, looking at it from from afar. So what kind of programs and what kind of support are you looking to give them? You know, there's obviously a lot of health coaches out there that are supporting, you know, CEOs and management teams in different industries.

6:17 What's the business model, and what's what's the support, layers that that Coach three sixty, you know, hopes to to provide? Sure. Yeah. And you just touched on something that, I think is really important is that today's health and fitness professional is no longer just a fitness professional or instructor. Right? We're seeing the rise in health coach, you know, which is one of the reasons, you know, we're named coach three sixty because today's coach is taking a holistic view to how they they work with their clients. Their clients want to address, you know, not just, you know, their their aesthetics, right, and their strength necessarily. It's like, how do how how do I wanna feel, throughout my life? Longevity is great, but I also want to feel great, you know, during, during my life, this health span concept, that we're all hearing about. So, in terms of guiding and supporting the entire kind of community of health, fitness, and wellness coaches, What we started with was our media platform, and that went live in May. We launched a newsletter that goes out weekly, and the content in that newsletter is surrounding all things that are relevant to the business of coaching. We talk about fitness. We talk about trends in, health, nutrition, and wellness. We talk about trends in longevity. We talk about tech and innovation, and then the big one is surrounding the business of coaching. To your point, coaches are very the business is very much so fragmented, you know, with, you know, some of these coaches not understanding, you know, how to potentially launch an independent business venture but they would really like to or perhaps they want to, you know, have

7:51 the hybridization of their profession where they are, you know, able to kind of experience that community and the energy of training a group or training one to one within a facility, but also being able to launch the independent venture. So we like to kind of guide them with, subject matter experts that we bring in, with content surrounding the business of coaching. So that's one of the things that we do. That newsletter drops weekly, on coach three sixty news dot com. We also have digital reports. We have a pretty vibrant digital ecosystem. Within these reports, we launch programs. For example, last year, we did, top 24 most impactful coaches, and I was I was brand new, and I thought we'd get, like, 30 applications. We had 250 coaches apply to tell us their why, why they were in the industry, how they're making an impact from 10 different countries. So they've been waiting for something like this to come together and share stories and have a place that's kind of just for them. And then, you know, the other way that we support, of course, is we connect them to roles within facilities. Right now, we have about a thousand, club and studio locations that have onboarded jobs, throughout The United States. So we're we're starting to connect the dots for these people. I have coaches reaching out to my personal LinkedIn saying, you know, who's hiring in New Jersey? And, I mean, it's just it's a really, really neat community that's, that's coming forth, with Coach three sixty, and, you know, just excited to support, their entire career growth because I want to see them thrive. That's my passion is how do we see these coaches thrive and succeed? Well, there's definitely a huge need for,

9:23 a a location based hiring platform because a lot of the, you know, we used to work with a couple of our theory operators, and they would literally go through a thousand, Indeed, applicants. And you don't really know who these people were. You know, you know, you couldn't see what they look like if they look like they can put an an Orangetheory shirt on. You know, it it was tough to bring people on. As you look at, as you look at some of the you know, let's put some in two. But if I'm a health coach or I'm a personal trainer, mostly your clients are looking for answers on everything related to their health and longevity.

10:06 You either have to become a subject expert. You might have to go get some kind of certification, or maybe you could kinda go into the field of Coach three sixty and and partner with someone to help answer those questions or kind of round out, you know, your you being the authority on what your member is looking for. How do you how how do you kind of how's the network evolving to kinda support each other and maybe create revenue opportunities? Excuse me. Yeah. So, you know, just one kind of point of clarification. So we we actually don't have any advanced education offerings within Coach three sixty. We're working with all of the organizations. Right. Right. And I would say that's one of, to your point, that's one of the ways that I've seen our industry really evolve on the education side is that, you know, they're not, they're not being so competitive, all of these different organizations, to say, well, I'm not working with you because so and so is working with you. We're actually all coming together for the greater purpose of Right. How can we help the coaches within our network, become more successful? And in helping them become more successful, we wanna guide them to the resources that Coach three sixty provides, which includes informational and educational content resources as well as career and staffing services. So they understand by guiding them to to us that their coaches will ultimately become more successful and stay within their educational organization for their advanced education. They're gonna keep coming back for more because none of us want the coaches to churn out. And, the more that the longer that we can keep them in, the more advanced specializations that we can continue to

11:38 present to these coaches such as, you know, how do you train someone that's, on GLP ones? How do you train, you know, for VOT max? I mean, there's all these different, types of kind of personalization and customization style coaching, avenues that they can learn about, and we need to keep these coaches evolving. And the only way that we can do that is for all of us to come together and, you know, really kind of support the coaches in their growth no matter what organization they're working with. This is Pete Moore. I wanna let you in on a little secret. There's this company called Promotion Vault, and what they do is they give out rewards from retailers that allow you to incentivize your members without having to do zero down and one month free or giving away shakes or giving away T shirts. What you wanna do is build a rewards program that lasts, that people value, and that doesn't discount your own products and services.

12:32 So here's the deal. There's something called rewards vault. The rewards vault is going to allow a member to set up their own profile. They are going to answer questions. You are gonna get those answers. You're gonna be able to target those members, and you're gonna reward them inside your club, inside your spa, and outside of the club and outside of the spa to get them to become loyal, to get them to pay their monthly dues, and to be rewarded properly for the actions. A lot of companies are cutting back on rewards. You shouldn't be. Promotion Vault's your answer. Trust me. This is real. And how does it work to, be onboarded onto Coach three sixty? Is a monthly subscription that the coach pays for? Are there other, you know, areas or or bricks and mortar locations paying to actually pick up, you you know, team members? Yeah. So, we actually we have subscription model for the, club and studio. That is not activated yet. So right now, we're actually doing everything entirely free for these clubs and studios, and we're giving them white glove service. So, my cofounder and I are actually personally onboarding all of their locations for them, and we take it a step further, Pete, because what I think is really important to avoid this churn that's happening is that these coaches need to understand what they're getting into when they're applying for a job. Why should I, as a coach, go work for Orangetheory Fitness? What are the top three benefits of working with an Orangetheory Fitness? Does this align with what I desire in my company culture,

14:04 my expertise level, and my location, or am I a better fit for crunch, for example? So we actually enable them to tell their stories, and because their story is more than just a job post, and we can push that out through our media channels and effectively, you know, really kind of connect the dots for everybody to ensure that there's a proper alignment of expertise and expectations. So if you kind of were were just to make an analogy of different platforms that are out there, would you say you are kind of like a private label, LinkedIn meets Indeed, meets, like, ZipRecruiter meets, Wikipedia or or some what what what are kind of like the best analogies of different companies that you're kind of pulling together here? Yeah. So I guess I would consider us kind of the Upwork and Indeed of the health fitness and wellness industry in the in the sense that we can invite coaches and there's an invitation component to it. I'd also say too, if you look at, you know, some of these other niche staffing platforms, I mean, niche staffing is blowing up right now in terms of, you know, its growth. We're seeing companies like Snap Nurse, which is now SnapCare, and Handshake. People want a more, kind of niche talent pool to, find, you know, their next hire. That's just right in line with kind of what's going on right now when you look at personalization trends in AI.

15:36 You know, people want, that more customized experience. They don't wanna just go fishing in a pond and hope that maybe they'll find a coach. So, yes. So, I mean, I'd I'd say that maybe we're, you know, we're that Indeed slash Upwork, but with that niche platform side to it. Did you are you seeing examples of people, you know, maybe wanting to sign up at at a location, but not necessarily, you know, becoming a full time employee. Yeah. I kinda like in, you know, hiring, for for instructors. Maybe it should be almost be like a sports season. You know, like, hey. You're part of my 2025, you know, team, and I got a certain amount of players. And, you know, we're gonna play this season out. And then if you wanna stay here, like, we'll it's almost like we'll renegotiate or, like, we're building Yeah. A professional football team or soccer team.

16:27 Are you seeing the desire to say, hey. As a trainer, you know, I've got I wanna kinda, like, maintain my independence. I also, at times, wanna toggle between my commitments in the bricks and water mortar world to, you know, maintaining my own brand and my own identity. Yeah. I am seeing, you know, really kind of this hybrid fitness professional, on the rise. And, you know, ultimately, it's it comes down to, you know, a lot of them are able to, you know, makes very, very good they have very good revenue models from their online businesses. And what I'm seeing more of is that the brick and mortar studio locations are actually encouraging this and saying, listen. You're a rock star instructor. I know that if you're doing macro counting coach groups with, a community of women, in the city, that you're gonna bring them in to work out here.

17:18 Right. So a lot of people are recognizing that actually these rock star coaches are a big draw to bringing in additional client, clients to the organization. So we're definitely seeing, more of that, whereas you still definitely have that old school mind, that old school thinking of, well, I don't want them to do anything outside of this job. I want them to only do this job. And I think that that mindset is changing. We're seeing a shift. But, yeah, I I'd say to your point, we're seeing more of that hybrid professional. Absolutely. I feel like, if you look at, like, the music industry, you know, where someone has, I don't know. I've never been to a Mariah Carey concert. But I do know that, you know, she had, like, a, you know, residency there for a period of time, as well as, like, some DJs where they're like, yo, I you know, I'm at the, you know, at the, at the MGM or something. They're, like, there for a year or two, and they kinda move on and, you know, go back on tour. I feel like the the best instructors, you know, can either kinda bounce around as musicians could do on tour if they're properly marketed prior? Right. And then and then the studio, you know, maybe the studio is kinda need to think about themselves as almost like an arena or like a venue, like Madison Square Garden. You know, what do you have going on there? I got, like, 30 things going on here. You know? I might have, like, a a rodeo. I got a hockey team. I got a, a basketball team. I got indoor soccer. I got musicians coming through here. And maybe the studio should start to think of themselves as, like, we bring the best talent from

18:49 around the world or around The US as instructors to kinda hook in to to coach three sixty to almost, like, fill their talent calendar. Yes. Yeah. No. I love that. But from from a standpoint of the early days here, you said you've got hundreds of of studios that that are being onboarded. Are you replacing them going on these these job sites and trying to figure out, like, hey. Can I actually get somebody to to come work here, or, you know, can I stop asking my instructors if they have friends, to, to to get a job? You know, I think, eventually, we would love to be, you know, their solution for finding top talent in the industry. Right now, we're extremely new. This marketplace staffing piece just went live. Marketplace by Coach three sixty went live October. Okay. So we are, brand new in launching it. So right now, we're in kind of that proof of concept phase, and, you know, just trying to onboard as many users as possible to understand, what the experience is like. We're starting to see some matches, which, I mean, I I'm such a nerd. I get so excited when somebody finds a job and applies for a job. It's unreal. It's like one person. You know, anywhere in the country. I get so excited. It makes my whole day. Yeah. So just to see it work, you know, is really incredible. So, yeah, eventually, we would love to be that solution for people, and we would love to, you know, make sure that this solution, really decreases the turnover

20:20 for of of employees in these clubs and studios while also helping them to increase their profit margins because they need to keep these coaches and instructors working. I mean, because aside from the turnover, you have the whole issue of what happens when you don't have people on the floor selling sessions and being able to service these sessions. That's also an issue. This is Pete Moore. Here's the last tip for you of the podcast. We are partnered up with a company called Higher Dose, higher dose dot com. They are the leader in workout recovery products, infrared technology, LED light masks, neck enhancers, and other products such as PEMF mats and sauna blankets.

21:05 If you have not gotten on the workout recovery train yet, your time and your stop is now. You gotta get these products in there before these workout recovery and spas end up saturating your market, having your members walk out of the club and going into one of their locations for $200 per month where they're paying 39 to you. Let's become an expert in workout recovery if we are already an authority in workouts. Higher dose, check it out. There's a wholesale code, and we look forward to helping you augment your products and services to meet the demands of your members. And, hey, let's get people happy, healthy, and sweating, and the recovery should be just as good as the workout.

21:53 You know, as as you started up this business, you see you have one cofounder, with you right now, Al? Al Mendoza. Yes. Yeah. He was he actually was a client of mine. That's how we met. Gotcha. You know, as you look and kinda say, like, here's, like, you know, our our division of, like, power or division of, like, here's the things I need to do. Here's the things you need to do. Obviously, in an early stage company, you know, everyone's doing everything. But but how do you how do you think about, you know, the roles that you both have taken and how you kinda think about, you know, where your strengths are and weaknesses and, you know, how you build out the team? Because I think a lot of people see a finished product, but they don't necessarily understand, you know, how that's being done. And also, you know, with two people and outsourcing development, you know, you look much bigger than you actually are.

22:44 And and, you know, just, like, maybe take the top off of the entrepreneurial, you know, jar and tell us how how that's going and and how you keep success. Yeah. So, I mean, I think, we balance each other really well. I tend to be an idea person. I'm a visionary. So I I just I have thousands of ideas. They're not all good, and he helps to temper those ideas. He always calls himself the the chief of making shit happen in the company, so that's his and he does. He gets it all done. So I would say from, you know, kind of a division of labor, I do come up with a lot of the ideas. I do a lot of the business development because, my expertise in my past has been, in brand development and connecting brands to these various, personas that they're looking to reach within the industry. And Al has a ton of operational background, and also, he was the chief of, development and growth for Metabolic, for so many years. So he, you know, has that expertise on the franchise side, which has been invaluable in, you know, kind of onboarding, these multiunit franchisees and trying to understand what's really going to benefit them. And it also helps us to understand what are some of the costs that these people are spending on, you know, finding top talent, and they are spending a lot of money. Yeah. I know. It is extremely expensive. So I would say, you know, the division of labor is, like, he is very much so operational, and I am a visionary. And we come together, and we just, we make it happen. Yeah. Well, I got a thousand ideas a day, so, you know, you're not alone. So

24:16 I'm with you. Don't don't turn that off even if you could. Right? Right. They're not all great. And and in closing here, obviously, we'll have all the information online about how, you know, independent professionals could get on board with, with Coach three sixty. Do you have any quotes or sayings or, you know, Catholicism's that, that people know at your, your words? Yes. So we've been saying a lot, your story is more than your job listing. And I talked about that a little bit earlier, but Yep. I think every brand has a story that they wanna connect to the audience, and there's not a lot of of opportunity to do that in our industry. And we wanna provide that platform to be able to do that, and hear everyone's story, whether it's a coach, a club and studio.

25:03 You know, we just we wanna provide that area and platform for sharing. Awesome. Well, thanks for sharing the Coach three sixty story to you and Al. Wish you, success. We clearly know that there's a void in the industry for this. We've been hoping someone was gonna solve it. We tried to invest in something that was similar, that did turn out the way we thought it would. So, you've got our full raving fan support. And as you grow, please let us, know how we could help. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. You got it.