Episode #592: Jody Merrill's Journey from Speech Therapy to Building btone Pilates Franchise

0:01 This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks. We are having a fun Monday hair day with our good friend Jody Merrill from the Boston area. Say what? Say what? We're on audio and we're also on video. So check it out now, because it's not gonna be the same tomorrow, now is it? So Jody and I have been friends for a long time. She is in the pilates space with BTone up in Boston. She is growing like a wildfire, and we are helping her out on the growth trajectory. So, Jodi, welcome to your first Halo Talks. Thank you, Pete. Be gentle. Okay, no problem. So let's talk about how you got into this crazy industry and how we've roped you in for a career and how things kind of started off and then, you know, getting through Covid and now coming out the other side. Yeah. So I know you were just in San Diego. That is kind of where this all started for me. My husband and I like to make life altering decisions at all times. And right after we got married, his company was like, oh, maybe we'll go to San Diego. And I was like, we volunteer. We had just bought a house, just got married. We're like, let's sell the house. Let's go out there, start over. I was a speech therapist at the time. Loved that career.

1:20 Still love to dabble in it a little bit. And I was training for triathlons and marathons and was basically always injured, so I was raising money for the team in training. I lost my mom at 50, so this was like, right after. And she had multiple myeloma. And I just kind of in grief state, just found running as a therapy, even though I avoided it like the plague my whole life, playing soccer and, like, thumbing rides instead of having to do long runs. So I was out there, and my coaches were like, what's harder than endurance training is doing it injured. And I knew that for a fact, but it really was like, absolutely. Probably the biggest life change for me, changed the direction big time.

2:07 Like, life could have gone a very different direction during that time. I was 23, like, young and impressionable. And I found a class like that, and it was Pilates class. Coach said, why don't you go work on your core? I'm like, how much more could I be doing? I just done a half ironman, and that took me like nine hours. I was like, I'm in the best shape of my life yet. Wow. This. This workout, like, absolutely clicked right away. Like, I was like, this is what they mean when they're saying to work Your core. Okay, I get it. But I hated it. It was so hard for me. It was really challenging, but I kept at it. I went twice a week. I was doing like 2 a days training with my team in the morning, going to class at night, vice versa.

2:52 And it really was the first time that, like, I went for a long period of time without, like throwing my back out and pain and starting out a fit. A start line, like without an injury was like, wow, this is amazing. How many days a week were you doing the workout? I really did it twice a week. And I still. That's really still kind of my sweet spot because then I still have time to do other things that I like. So it's more like a routine that I do so that I can feel it in the other aspects of my life. Right. Instead of like going every day, it really was never something that you should be doing every day because you're working to muscle failure. And you. And you actually met. You actually met Sebastian at the time.

3:34 Yeah. So there was at the time that was like, it was mega forms. It was a pro forma that I was on, like their very first version and they weren't on the east coast yet. And I just went and sat with the. The couple that owned the studio that I went to. It was like, what do I need to do this? Because we were thinking about moving back. And I was like, I want to do something really different. My grandparent, my mom, her parents had left me a little money. I took care of them while they were still alive. And when they passed, they left me a little bit of money. And to me, it was like life changing. Like, what am I going to do? It was 250,000. I'm like, what am I going to do with 250,000? We could get a house. But like, that's so boring. Let's just like, let it ride. I loved the craps table. I'm like, I want to do this. I just started running numbers and just put a pen to paper and asked them like, what do I need? And they were like, you just need a set of balls. I was like, I got that. That's easy. Let's do this.

4:29 How hard could this be? And like six months later, I was open with my first location back in outside of Boston. And then when did the name come about and where did it come from? So at the time, everybody was naming these Pilates plus, like where you were. I didn't know where I was going to end up. So I was Boston Pilates plus for, like, the first year and a half or so, okay, I got a lot of. It was very. It was a very confusing time. This was 2010, so there were no boutique gyms around, some yoga studios, a couple Pilates studios, but really, it just wasn't a thing. So. So you're educating people on what this is.

5:09 And I had a really hard time trying to educate people on what something was by saying what it wasn't. And we were trained. Like, it's not polite. It's not poliz. Well, then why is it in the name? I'm like, that's such a good question. And actually, when we were looking for a second location, it just kind of took off. And I had met, at the time, like, the only person I knew that had, like, multiple locations was this woman, Lynn Bajir. She was still. Still a mentor to me, who owned a number of yoga studios. And she was in. She's like, I love this workout, but, like, I don't want to come to Lexington. You got to come to the city. And, you know, my landlord has a space available. So that's kind of how I fell into my space on Newbury street, where we still are. And I just. That, to me, there was a Boston body Pilates, and that would be confusing. I'm like, wait, we're going to be, like, on the same street? I can already tell this is, like, contentious with the traditional Pilates world. Like, let's just name our own thing. I was going to actually be Bostone. And there was a pizza place, though, on Newbury street, which now, in retrospect, I'm like, great. Because I didn't really foresee being outside of Boston.

6:16 I didn't have this big picture in my mind at the time. And my last name was Bonomo. I wanted to hang on to bees. My mother was Betty Lou. My dog was Belle. My husband was Brian. I'm, like, hanging on to be. Let's just go B town. That's great. And that's when we made the change. Yeah, this is Pete Moore. I want to 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 want to do is build a rewards program that lasts, that people value, and that doesn't discount your own products and services.

7:00 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 going to get those answers, you're going to be able to target those members, and you're going to 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 vaults your answer. Trust me, this is real. What are some of the things that you've been most excited about that have happened since you took this leap?

7:45 Yeah, I mean, I never ever envisioned my life to be like this, ever. I joke. I go back to where I went to college of Providence College in a couple of weeks and like, speaking to their business department, and I'm like, you have no idea what a screw up I was in college, right? Like, I took one so honest. You so blatantly honest all the time. Is there any other way to be? Like, I went into the dean and I was like, I got to drop this class. And they're like, why? I'm like, I am never going to need this shit in my life. Like, like, I'm gonna be working in schools, I work with kids. This is what I'm gonna do. Like, I just don't see it. And the first thing I did that day in San Diego, and I say say the story all the time, the first thing I did was call my friend from that class that I was supposed to be writing a business plan with. And I was like, can you send me the business plan that we were supposed to do? Send it to me now. So now just kind of like the template.

8:41 Yeah, that is what I used. I still go back to it, like, to this day, but just kind of being in that position of a place I never financially thought I'd be physically, you know, in the role I'm in. It's really cool. It's been real, like, to me, building the team around me and see, it was never really never needed to be about me. I wanted to take that out as much as possible. So really now, like, having built a company that like, stands on its own and like, I'll be traveling and I'll see some random person with a B tone shirt on. I'm like, holy. And I'll stop peppering them with questions like, pretend I'm just like, someone who goes there. And then I'm like, oh, I'm actually the founder. And they're like, holy. So it's really, it's just, it's, it's crazy. It's crazy to me. Yeah. So when you look back to your younger self, you know, the speech pathologist, do you say like, hey, I kind of be whatever I want to be? Yeah. I mean to me, when I ever thought of like success, it was just like being happy at what you were doing and doing it like the best you could do it. So I was like always this kind of like jack of all trades, master of none. I wanted to learn a little bit of everything and just dabble and understand how things worked. But ultimately I was like a communicator and a people person. And as long as you can connect with people,

10:11 that's really what we're in the business of doing. And then I joke because I'm like, you know, I spent 10 years in like special ed basically and there I am teaching a class with like 12 different people of different levels and I'm like, you're all in IEPs, you just don't know about it. You have different long term goals, but like, if you can follow like a clear, concise, single step direction, you can get through this class, I promise you. So we still like. I just love being able to kind of take everything of behavioral modification and using it in the general day to day and helping people shape a different part of their life. Awesome. So when did you know it was time to open up a second corporate location and when did franchising kind of dovetail into that timeline?

10:56 Yeah, I went and got a loan with the money that I had and just not knowing like people prepared me, like just be prepared. Everybody told me not to do it like that. I was absolutely crazy. I was like doing it right after like kind of in the middle of the recession. And to me I was like, I'll just whatever. Like I didn't have this money before and I'm just gonna let it ride and figure it out. I did always want to have a couple locations. I didn't know if I'd be in the city first or suburb first, but I wanted to have like both experiences. Even when I was in schools, I like to be at different schools and different places that kind of bop around and I didn't have to touch my loan money. So that was really what led me. I thought in my head like I always had this number, when I get to like 150,000 saved, I'm going to go and open another location. So that was really kind of what I had. And then when that it just sort of it was probably, like, about nine months later. My team wanted to grow. That was huge. There's only, like, X amount of hours in the day that you can do these classes. Right. How far. How far away we had.

12:05 How far are the two locations? They were. They're probably, like, you know, like, 20 minutes. So that's perfect for a standpoint. That's usually my, like, rule of thumb. Yeah. Yeah. Getting more hours and more exposure. We were going up to, like, a second floor, so I knew it was gonna, like, take a little longer, be a little harder. And now I'm, like, going into the city where I'm gonna be playing with, you know, the bigger names. But that was really, like. To me, I kind of listened to people of, where are they coming from? Where are my staff coming from? Where do people. Where am I? Kind of feeling pulled from, but I fell into a lot of the spaces. I had, like, a. A contractor I used who was, like, walking by my North End location and saw it and called me, like, what do you think about North End? I'm like, I don't know. Let me come down and see. So I really got roped into that kind of, like, real estate aspect of it pretty quickly. Of realizing, like, that was key.

12:59 That keeps, like, so many people from opening another location is just that roadblock of finding it. Getting the landlord, I mean, I ended up in Lexington, was supposed to be somewhere else, and the landlord just freaked out last minute and was, like, scared that I was, like, a first timer. And he's like, no, I'm not giving you the space. I'm like, I got equipment coming in, like, a month. What do you mean you had a sign? We were like. I had the lawyers all done. We were going to sign that lease. I had already ordered equipment, like, everything. And, yeah, they. They got cold feet. So it was like I. I got to have, like, my Julia Roberts moment years later when they called on a space, and I'm like, oh, do you not remember me? Like, you were trying to. Huge. Yeah. They're trying to get me another space, and I'm like, well, that ship has sailed. Well, there's no. There's really no substitute for. For walking a location.

13:54 There were these guys that I used to work with in the health club industry, this guy named Paul and Mark. And they would sit on a street corner with those little pedometers, you know, like the ticker. And it would just sit there for, like, a week and decide if that was a good health club or not based on the foot traffic. Years before. It's amazing how it's. You don't make mistakes when you actually sit there for like a week or two. And that, that is like when you ask, why did I do franchising? Well, essentially I got all my territory sold out from under me when I was working with a prior. Right, right, right. Company. So I was like, well, this doesn't work. Like, I just need the equipment, so I need to go get my. I can't let another company tell me where I can grow, what I can do.

14:42 Like, that makes no sense to me. Business to me needed to be a little more black and white. It was feeling really gray. And I'm like, this does not work for me. My mantra is like, it's kind of simple. It's like, don't be a dick. You can say that. Get away on Halo talks. Don't be a dick. Yeah, I mean, don't. Just don't be a dick. That's it. And then I just started looking around at like, what were the options? My husband last. Because I'm like, I take a bath almost like every night and he just like, the way he found out about all this was he comes home and I'm in the bathtub and I'm reading a book. He's like, what are you reading? I was reading Franchising for Dummies. Like I just went and got books and it was like those yellow books. I'm like, this sounds like it could be the option for me. So it was like I could either go the licensing route or the franchising route. At the time, you know, there were a lot of other franchises that was all that was coming in. The Pure Bars, the Club Pilates, the Cycle Studios.

15:39 So I'm like, we are going up against really big companies with a lot of money backing them. How are we going to do this? And I wanted people to have a connection where they were opening. Like, there's something about the owner being involved in there when you're starting a business. Like, people get really invested. They wanted to see me succeed. Right. So like a lot of that success comes from like all the people around you and having that like community connection is you need it, you need it. And like when Covid hit, like we needed it big time as well as those like relationships with landlords. So to me now it's like that location is everything. Yeah. You know, the one thing that, the one thing that you did have versus some of these other like well backed franchise operators was you have unit economics. That actually makes sense. Yeah.

16:32 And some of These other concepts, I think franchise way too early, you know, without having, like, an actual playbook. I was shocked. I would go to franchise meetings and people would be there talking about their franchise, but they had. It was a concept. I'm like, you're selling these as. How do you do that? I was really, like. I had basically done around seven locations myself, so everyone was asking me, oh, are you a franchise? And I was like, why are they asking me this? I don't get it. I'm not McDonald's. Like, that was the connection. I'm like, what do they think of Dunkin Donuts? And then I started thinking about. And then people coming to me. Like, one of the first calls was, like, personal. Some of them are from Dubai. Like, I was in. I'm in Boston all summer. I want to open one of these in Dubai.

17:14 And I'm like, how the heck would we do that? It wouldn't make sense to go and spend X amount of money on this license, and then you have to spend it on this equipment, and then you're going to pay me because this is going to be expensive for me to set this all up and then support you and create all that. But I had the playbook, so that was really what. I kept getting pulled back into that franchising piece. And my. I sold, like, five right away to instructors of ours. And, like, still to this day, like, 80% of our franchisees were instructors who were clients first. So, like, we have this kind of. I've never, you know, been out on the site. We've never done any ad dollars to this. Nothing. It's just kind of been that right person, right time. Like, the benefit. The. The benefit of that is if you think about franchisors that fail typically have, like, their first 10 locations. There's like, two or three that are just, like, cancerous and. And it tanks the whole system. So if you could have your instructors or members who are loyal not just to the brand, but to you personally. Right.

18:23 That. That's. They just get it. You know, they get it. You don't have to, like, train them. Right. Because they've already been trained. Right, right. It's that, like, now there's so many concepts out there. So it's like, well, why a B tone? Like, that is the first thing I ask people when they call me, like, why? And a lot of them are calling from areas where there are four, five, six other concepts. I'm like, why B tone? And they get it. You know, like, we. We really never, like, pushed our, like, Purpose, mission statement, vision out there. Because I'm like, we don't need to right. Our people know what we're doing right. And like, back in the day, it was. We were different. I didn't want to be this, like, only the hardest thing. Like, it was like this traditional. We started to see more of the traditional approach and this, like, megaformer and solidcore approach. And we weren't that.

19:13 We. We were there before a lot of them, though. So it's like we kind of always landed in this perfect, like, little funnel where I'm like, the majority of people, people out there, you know, haven't accessed this yet. Now a lot of people have, and it's amazing. And they still come in and they're more comfortable, quicker. But for the most part, like, we typically get people who have never been on a reformer, period. They don't know why we're different than Pilates. They don't know why. So it's just like, what's the experience happening when they're there and how do we keep them coming back? This is Pete Moore. Here's the last tip for you of the podcast. We are partnered up with a company called higher dose.

19:53 Higherdose.com they are the leader in workout recovery products. Infrared technology, LED light masks, neck enhancers, and other products such as PMF mats and sauna blankets. If you have not gotten on the workout recovery train yet, your time and your stop is now. You got to 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 bucks 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.

20:57 So being a franchisor, you have to say no a lot of the time, right? To people that want to do something else inside the studio or they want to change the pricing or they want to. They want to buy a territory and you're not comfortable with them. So how have you gotten used to saying no and like, how. How is your funnel kind of tightened over time? Yeah, I mean, like, at least we just came off kind of like a freeze every so often. Probably once a year, I freeze Everything. I'm like, we're good, we. Because I don't want to be like sold, not open. I. It just doesn't, that's never. I'm like, we gotta, we can't just be focused on like the number.

21:38 While it's exciting, I don't really give a what how many studios we have. Like. Well, it also creates a lot of know you're supported. Yeah. It also has a lot of anxiety like when just to get open. I'm like, I have no idea. You know, you talk to investors, you know, it takes about a year from the first time I talk to people, to them opening, it's like nine months to a year. And so to me it's like that when I start speaking to people, I need to know their patient, that they can jump when they're ready to jump if the right spot comes. But they also have to be really patient because a lot is going to happen within that cycle of actually getting open. But it's just like the, the right people. Again, most of them come from inside, so we know them and they know us. Yeah, you know, I have a lot of like the tests I'll give after, but it's really just kind of a vibe we get them in. You know, they're talking to other team members, but I just want to know that they, you know, it's like a lot of people just love it and think I'm gonna open one of these. And they don't think of all the other stuff.

22:38 So you kind of have to, you know, put it all out there to people without making them feel discouraged. I'm like, listen, you gotta, you gotta. I, I was in the same boat. Everybody told me not to do this. You have to at some point make your own decision and go with it and go for it. But you do need to be aware of like of the worst case scenarios. People always yell at me like, you really downplay, you know, the numbers are this and that. And I'm like, our fdd, we list every single location. There is no hiding. I'm like, I want you to see what could, what the potential is, but also like what the reality is sometimes. And you have to be prepared for it so that you're not in a position where you have to close in a year or two. So we've been talking about this for several months about selling area developer rights and having multi unit operators. So, you know, Club Pilates is basically when it started out, just have, you know, locations, you know, one owner at a time. Chick Fil A Has, you know, one owner at a time. When you think about having a larger player to, let's say, take over like all of Chicago, all of South Florida, you know, how do you think about that? What kind of lens do you look through? And knowing that it takes a year or, you know, six months to find a location, some franchisors are so wed to like, you gotta hit this milestone. You gotta open. It's like, well, not open unless it's the right location. So you might be like a softer, kinder, gentler franchisor. Cause you actually operate it

24:09 and not just selling franchise sell. Right? Yeah. I mean, this concept was introduced to me so many years ago of like area development. We had a studio out in California and she had owned a Massage Envy European wax center. And so she would pick my brain about things. And you know, I was really of the mindset and still am. Like, let's walk before we run. Right. And because a lot of the franchisees that we work with are, have not been in business before. 80% of them do now have multiple locations. So it's like, this is great where they're, they're learning how to become their own CEOs and structure this out and, and it makes sense and the economics of it all work. But there is got to, there's something to, you know, people who do this for a living and really know how to do it and do it well. It's just got to be the right fit. And now we're at that point where it's like, yes, we could. We know once we go somewhere, it's a natural kind of like spreading that happens just because of how we've done it.

25:14 But we need to do, we do need to do it a little faster in. The biggest hurdle for people is funding. It's getting more and more and more difficult. So now it's like even ourselves, we're thinking, you know, how are ways we could structure this? Because you need to have like right now I still run three studios up in Boston, so I have a GM and an assistant gm. Like I need people who are going to be like thinking like the owner. So we've been kind of doing it on our own too, to really like work out the. I like to do things myself first. Like I had a business partner for a little while. I'm like, let's figure it out. Because there's going to be some of these franchisees that are going to want us to have a business partner. And I used to be able to speak to that. I sold two of my locations to franchisees. Like, I need to understand what a trade and a transfer looks like. So this is kind of another piece of it where now that I've met enough people in the industry to know like it isn't something to be scared of. There's a lot of people that do this and do it well because you get. I personally get worried of a company coming in, kind of running it to the ground right like that you don't want that.

26:22 You don't want to be like the cautionary tale. So just kind of being doing it that we're still staying true to who we are. So that's why, that's why you're here. It's like, let's introduce me to some of these people that you know, do it really well so that there's so much open market now. Like we are really concentrated in New England and have just started to kind of spread outside. So to me I'm like, this is the time. It's going to be easier to work with one person that has the ability to open 10 than to work with 10 different people. Yep, agreed. Awesome. So imparting here, what's a phrase, a jodyism that people internally hear you say all the time or what? What.

27:05 What's something. There's probably a few of them, a lot of them probably have swears of them. So I'll leave those ones out because I know my dad will probably listen to this. Don't be a dick is one of them. That said a lot. That one is first and foremost, I try to get that out in my first conversation with people. My husband works for a really large company, really large service security company. I hear things and one of the best phrases that I heard that CEO say in that listen, totally different scale. But what got us here won't get us there. And I always have to think about that because like just kind of where we are, how we've done things. You can't just think your way is the only way. And same with franchise. I'm like, we have to kind of constantly be looking at how did we get here, what have we done?

27:57 What can we look at differently to kind of get us to the next level? Whether it's bringing in, you know, people and the human capital piece of it, but like really looking at the systems of what are we doing? I want my franchisees to stay happy. And then honestly, just within the teacher training aspect of it, it's really difficult. Like it's really hard. This is a hard position to be in. Right. You Gotta like, you might be having the most shit day ever, and then you go in front of a. A class and you have to put it on and be everything for everybody, and you're not everybody's cup of tea at all times. And, you know, we have lots of feedback and you have to just constantly be getting comfortable with feedback. And oftentimes I just have to share with people. I'm like, just because someone says it doesn't make it true. Right. You know who you are, you know, like what you're committing. You're not going to nail it every time. But just because someone says something, it doesn't make it true.

28:55 Got it. Love it. Tell that to a lot of kids with social media, too. I like that. I like that. Good. Yeah, yeah, Importantly. All right, well, look, we look forward to working with you on building out the platform. We love what you've done. We think it's been very methodical and thoughtful. Thanks for telling us about your franchising for dummies in the bath. I'm glad that was part of your curriculum. And the business plan for Providence College is now the real deal. Yeah. And it's not a pizza joint. I'm molding the mines. No, it is not. And they. They weren't. You know, I think they were closed before we ever even opened. I was like, ah, son of a gun. Well, Boston doesn't play in certain cities, so it's probably better off that. That it's exactly it. It may it in retrospect, it worked out, especially in the trademark area. Well, welcome to the Halo Center. Thanks, everybody.

29:48 It's great spending time with you and go B town. Awesome. Thanks, everybody. All right, co you too. Bye. This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks. Your captain speaking. I am the founder and managing partner at Integrity Square. We've been around now for 15 and 1/2 years. We have been helping people like yourselves get capital, do mergers and acquisitions, consulting strategic strategic advice in the health, active lifestyle and outdoor halo sector. Trying to help as many entrepreneurs as possible get to the next level, take that inflection point and be the force behind your growth.

30:33 We are helping companies that have at least $3 million of EBITDA, around $10 million of revenue. And we are positioned to help get institutional growth capital or to negotiate deals with strategic partners. If you go to integrity.com isq, you can see our capabilities. Deck, happy to set up a consultation at any time that is free of charge and we look forward to you helping solve obesity, loneliness, and diabetes. Go Halo. Sam,