Welcome to the Fitbridge, a podcast connecting you to conversations that help bridge you to success in the health and fitness industry. Well, hello friends. I am so glad that you're back for another episode of the Fitbridge podcast. I'm your host, RC Hawn. And our guest today is known for his strategic systems, elevated employee development methods and his ability to consistently and repeatedly build success across brands. I'm speaking of Israel Allen, who is currently the director of fitness for workout anytime, where he supports over 200 locations. His 23 year industry career from personal trainer to now national executive is filled with wisdom and takeaways you do not want to skip. During this conversation, we are going to discuss how we can better equip both employees and operators towards achieving their performance goals in a quickly evolving industry and society. Now, my favorite part about this discussion is Israel's teaching style and his ability to provide simple yet effective action items that you can put into place immediately to begin moving the needle in your personal professional and business development. So enough with the introduction tease. Let's jump into this episode so you also can begin applying these takeaways and winning big. Good afternoon, Israel. Thank you so much for taking the time to be on our podcast today. How's your day going so far? It's going so great. Thanks for having. Good. Of course, want to hop in by saying I love a story like yours, a journey that I think inspires any fit pros, you know, working as trainers right now that might resonate with. I want to start by looking at that, right? You went from being a personal trainer working on the floor with clients to now holding a senior position, you know, helping support over 200 locations with your brand. What were some, you know, pivotal moments or some mindset shifts that you had to embody to help you move, you know, up those those rings in the latter. You learn a lot more from the games that you didn't win versus the ones that you did. And so a lot of reps, a lot of trial and error, a lot of tough days, long hours, and eventually you come away with some replicable wins that you try to teach others and. You know, I'm kind of a byproduct of that 23 years later in the industry. So. That's awesome. I'm hearing words that come to mind. I'm thinking like perseverance perseverance resilience right big picture that you were saying you know 23 years. This didn't happen overnight. You just didn't jump from trainer to you know senior exact it was a process. It's a journey. And taking those moments that were more lessons really as a skill. And a necessary is that kind of correct got to roll with those punches and keep on going. For sure, absolutely a little bit of grit, which I learned a lot from my mama, anything good I learned from my mama anything else is probably my decisions bad decisions and you know learnings a long way. And I thought that yeah, shout out to mama Allen if you're listening here giving your call out there. You know, let's let's chat that because I think there are a lot of opportunities in our industry as a whole. How can our industry better equip both the fitness professionals right to be able to elevate their careers as well as operators. So we have kind of those those two buckets right so walk us through in your opinion. And we need to do as an industry for to support the fitness professionals and to support the operators so that they're ready for what's to come in the future right that they can be successful not just today but you know tomorrow and onward as we continue to evolve. Yeah, so great question. So I think there's a couple of things. So one as an organization want to create a career pathway sometimes this tends to be a very J.O.B. Just over broke. And that's kind of where I started is like I did it until I figured out like what I wanted to do and I just kind of stuck with it and learn a long way and said, hey, I think I can make a run at this. And so I think it's it's up to every organization to create a clear pathway from front desk all the way up to CEO and everything in between that way our team knows kind of the steps that are needed and what things that they're going to need to do to get to the next level and the next level. I think that's the first thing the second is I think is an organization you want to instill in the training the learning the onboarding the key elements for not just success in the role that they're in whether it's personal trainer or fitness manager or general manager or multi unit. But the role that you want them to be in and then have a ton of intention and documentation to support that we use a process called an IDP and individual development plan where if we see a high power high potential person in their current role. Well, now we can start taking some 90 day steps and action items to support them in their growth work alongside them to get them from where they are to where they want to be. And the best way possible and then it's up to them to put in the work I love that why we're on kind of the operators bucket here you mentioned some strategies like the hype oh making sure you have clear direction and pathways are there other infrastructures that are important to have in place you know maybe specific learning systems element. You know I've heard you speak about speaking in their learning language or their path right are there other kind of minutia to that that we can laser in on when we look at creating a pathway for them checklist systems anything you know in that realm you want to call out. Yeah, so I think from the I'll speak in two ways from an organizational perspective we want to create a roadmap right a strategic roadmap to say here's the key initiatives that we want to accomplish quarter over quarter for the year and we have this at work out anytime just to make sure that we can execute and not just have aspirational goals. So I think that's the first thing and then communication has to get pushed down deep into the organization I think the second thing is so does trust trust and empowerment has to get pushed down deep in the organization it said that you can have control or you can have growth but you can't have both. And I think a lot of times organizations bottleneck because they're scared of giving too much autonomy or trust and what that does is it stifles high performing but it also stifles learning to be able to actually get good at a thing and so it stifles the ability to grow organic talent so that would be from an organizational responsibility. From people person or a personal trainer kind of speaking at that level I would say to remain a constant student a constant learner and not just on the science but the business acumen right how do I gain clients how do I yes train clients but how do I retain clients how do I continue to set financial goals for myself and then work backwards on. The set show clothes the marketing strategies how am I going to do this and then hold myself personally accountable to the business side that's why we have an 80% attrition rate in the PT industry and that hasn't moved much is trainers are really hyped up on the science and the passion but they don't necessarily understand the business behind personal training and the service behind the sale it's not just hey I got your money now let's rock and roll and do pull ups right it is so much more to the human being. To earn the right for two three four five years of trust for a client and so I think if we can instill those principles and trainers to set the right expectation. Well have a lot of personal trainers that grow into future leaders and a lot of future leaders that end up being executives and multi unit operators I love that reminder you know for this fit pros listening I think they get into it with that intention right every trainer wants to you know change lives and inspire and. Help clients reach their goals but you have to learn the business side and all of these other pillars that coincide with that success and then in turn when you're kind of making sure you're continuously learning and all of those different metrics that make a. Fit pro successful you kind of naturally will be given those opportunities for more growth you spoke about being a continuous learner and i'm going to bookmark that are there other attributes as well that in your experience you've also seen really stand out. Outside of you know being a continuous learner that you know you feel a fitness professional needs to really embody and keep front of mind if they are looking to accelerate their career yeah and again i'm always i'm wearing two hats at all time from the fit pro for the twenty. Three year fit pro that i'll never let that part of me die off to the operator side from a fit pro we have to understand that people learn differently both the fit pro themselves as well as clients and sometimes when we're coaching clients were you know speaking maybe in one dimension right from an audible perspective we have to remember that people learn in the brain works in three different ways right audio. Visual in kinesthetic that's why there's a lot of people that would listen to this podcast there's also others that may not listen but would definitely watch as long as there was video with audio and then there's a lot of trainers that just need to learn with their hands right most trainers in organization or kinesthetic learners so. You know my my response to that would be learn in a multi sensory environment where audio visual and kinesthetic but also for owner operators to facilitate that way like you mentioned the importance of having an LMS you need a learning management system so that you can replicate success you're not having to. Retech and retech retech right so you have that as a foundational element but you may also have to start a podcast because there's a lot of audio learners out there and that can be a great way to cast a large net on your brand and maybe even a recruiting tool for trainers and an opportunity for trainers to contribute on those podcasts to. Add into a cultural element of what you do and then lastly I think it's a it's an expense right that's whenever we do live workshops or bring in content experts. But it's really an investment and so I think from an owner operator perspective do they see an investment in their team as an expense or do they see it as something that they're willing to do because they know there's an ROI it's like the old ZIGZ alert quote that you know what happens if I train them and they lead. And it's what happens if you don't and they stay okay we're getting deep real fast out the gate here is real love it yeah and I want to stay here on this topic about you know continuous learning and having that growth mindset and providing resources. From whether you yourself as the fit pro are you know taking initiative to continue to learn or your operator you know providing those opportunities or do you have some favorites I mean you have a lot of experience right or they're like some favorite go to. Podcasts or books that you can recommend or learning platforms you know just from I guess both pillars since we're bouncing back and forth from fit pros and operators. Suggestions that you would throw out there that we should write down so he's coming with some suggestions guys get your pins and papers ready I will so keep in mind I am 44 years young and so I still read paper books I know for the you know that the Gen Z's that's a little like whoa dude and so. Yes we most just aged our self because I prefer a paper book as well here do continue on yeah I do but because I travel so much I tend to gravitate towards audible as well so again depending on person their learning style but also the efficiency of in practicality of what you're learning I think that's an important thing to note but as far as books you know there's so many good ones out there on leadership anything from John Maxwell is gold. Right now we have our team reading excellence when from excellence wins from horse shults and who is the CEO and founder of ritz Carlton or it talks about the things that premium brands need to accomplish and then they work operationally to strive to those things and ritz Carlton is such a good example of that from a execution standpoint I love a cubbies book on four disciplines of execution. There are ways to make things effective ways to make you know unengaged teams more engaged but ways to get crap done in a way that really doesn't feel top down it feels very bottom up where the team is collaborating there's a competitive scoreboard and then lastly I say the speed of trust I think we discount the human element of what we do AI is super important but it will never replace human beings being human beings right we're not robots and so I think that's what I think is the most important thing to do is to get a good example of what we do. And so I think if we understand the importance of how we build trust through credibility and through character modeling integrity and through consistently showing up for our teams I think that's what yields the culture that everybody wants the secret sauce but it doesn't happen overnight and it doesn't happen by accident so those would be a few of my I would say favorite kind of page turner books and easy easy reads from a podcast perspective I personally love the fiber podcast. Shout out. You was one paid to say that disclaimer. But I will also say you know Matthew with the escape podcast has had some really interesting people. And I think that's a good one to listen to as well there's just there's so many out there. I have a couple of red couple I have it so I'm adding those to my list to tackle as well and I want to highlight a few things and you're speaking there one comment has been brought up now twice which I think is important to highlight was you spoke about you know earlier making sure it starts from the top and goes down deep into the team. And again in that reference of flipping it to make the team feel like they were inspired right I think that's a big point to drive home is how important that is that from front desk to every piece moving part inside of your org has to be running in the same direction they have to know the why they have to be inspired and need to know what they're doing why it matters and you know everything behind it in between. And I think that and would you say that plays a part in retention as well because we spoke about that you know 80% attrition still being unfortunately standing in our industry. Do you think that that plays a piece and when the team from frontline and above all are on the same page like have you seen that more so now the effort. I think it's around 67% of the workforce in our industries Gen Z and one of the top things noted in many research reviews is what they want in a workplace and one of the top things is purpose I need to know that the work that I'm doing matters I need to know that I'm heading somewhere you know and I need to know that I'm making a difference in the world and I think. You take that and you you dovetail that in with training and being a personal trainer like that's definitely a passion and purpose role but all people need that purpose but I think now more than ever people are looking for an organization that will help them find that in a world that really struggles with focus is layered with confusion and ambiguity and a lot of I would say misinformation where people just kind of feel naturally distrusting and jaded. For owners and operators to lean into that and speak the language of the people that they're hiring and then walk that walk with them in how they communicate and how they attract talent how they you know coach and support I think continuously focusing on the why and we have a way of communicating this that's a little different it's called the triple why which is basically why is it important for you or the what's in it for them the WIFM. Why is it important for the member so helping them to see the connection that they may to how it resonates with the member and why is it important for the business to let them know like we're not a nonprofit but we are for profit so you need to know that you matter the member matters and that this matters to the business and helping us grow and scale and provide more opportunities for team members. Yeah, that's great love that the three wise and also when I call out I'm not sure if you intentionally met I caught it you said we use the word we when you were speaking about one of the books that you provided reference to I'm not sure I mean it maybe just went over other people's has but I think that's a piece to call out as well like with your teams who's who's the we I guess in that reference you made is that just upper management is that your whole organization are we doing having fitness managers say hey read a book. A month with your coaching team right I think that's something I want to highlight how are you guys rolling out that continued learning with the book reference you mentioned and we. Yeah specific with that we have a book of the quarter and every single one of our club leaders gets that book and then we talk about it we collaborate about we talk about their takeaways but also we want the club leader to them bring that push that down into the team with a monthly meeting collaboration to where you know they may not necessarily. Have to give that book dollar their team but they can take the highlights from that book and they can have a round table they can get some thoughts from their team they can have that is is kind of a piece of content for that team meeting that month and so I again it goes back to you know it starts at the top that you got to push the stuff deep into the organization and you got to make. You know it was a fifteen dollar book times twenty three clubs in our corporate stores now it's not a whole lot but if that catches fire with only a handful of people and they deepen that into their team and their team becomes future leaders and all of these things matter and so it's it's a nominal investment. In the team but it also says a lot without saying a lot because companies that don't care about their team don't do things like that and so for a team that's looking for purpose a team that's looking to be led doing a small act like that it shows that you care and it shows that you expect more from them in their career path. Absolutely I mean to the target exactly why I wanted to call that out because I think it seems so simple and we just flew past it but in the reality I think some of those implementations are being missed right you're saying this is not a drastic financial investment in comparison to other learning initiatives you can roll out. It provides that why on all different fronts invested in team since you're given away the secret sauce on these simple efficient action items for other operators can put in place I'm curious you know how you're holding accountable those you know twenty three leaders that receive the book is this like a weekly zoom that they hop on and you do like a book club is it email kind of paint that picture for us on how you're actually executing on that that learning play. I think we have to always pick and choose like what become top down initiatives because if everything is important and nothing is important and so that's right and so everything can't be a call to action or a zoom meeting or things like that where people feel like they have to we want to invite them into the conversation but I think there's ways to follow up and and you know check what you expect and weave that into conversation so I would say strategically we'll bring it up and you know a one on one like how you join the book what are some of your takeaways and you'll get a minute. Take away is and you'll get a mix you'll make it like things for the reminder I forgot to start that and then others will surprise you they're like oh my gosh it's so good I've been meaning to talk to you about this like I'm so glad you brought this up I shared it with this person in this person so I think it's dependent on what the action item is right at you're spending thousands of dollars on investment it might be a little bit more reporting structure who actually took the course who actually did it if it's LMS for sure but I think with this approach you know we we're going to be able to do that. You know we want to we're trying to instill the habit behavior with them in a non-authorative way and very much a bottom up organic like we want you to be this leader but we'll kind of. Nudge along the way and hey how did that go. I like that a lot especially it kind of gives them that empowered feeling right it's like hey I provided you with that I open the door and if you want to walk through we want you to walk through I want you to walk through I think you want to walk through the door it's there but again it to each individual it's there. individual, it's their own season and choice of how much they want to pour in. And you also mentioned, you know, if you had 23 and only a handful really embody it and then start implementing it down and trickling through their teams. That's still a pretty large impact, whether if it's the whole group or not from from the reach that they have as that leader over the clubs that they have. So I agree with, I like that approach a lot. I want to talk about another principle that I've heard you mentioned, you know, in some of our conversations that you apply, you call it the 108010 principle. Can you share with us, you know, what what that is for those who aren't familiar and then what metrics it might play with as well as how one can can apply that that 108010 concept. Absolutely, and I think you'll hear it dozens of times like there are no original thoughts like everything is plagiarized, everything is replicated, especially when you read books. And so that was actually borrowed from John Maxwell, who I'm sure borrowed it from 10 other people. But basically the principle is, you know, how do I as a manager or as an operator, how do I delegate with trust, but inspect what I expect. And also how do I make sure that I can manage my time efficiently because I don't have all day to hand hold, but nor probably should I on some things. And so what the first 10% if you think about it like bookends, the first 10% is getting clear concise direction. Which also might be a part of okay, we learned a new thing. Let's do what's called a tell show do review. So I'm going to tell you the purpose of it. I'm going to show you I'm going to demonstrate what great looks like. Right, then I'm going to have you do it to make sure you got it. And then we're going to review that maybe scale of one to 10, how confidently you feel on that specific item that we just learned. You're good. Awesome. So now go make those calls using that script that we talked about. That's the 80%. So maybe it took me 30 minutes to do the first 10% then I let that team member make calls or do a front desk or four polls or whatever the activity is. But I never stop and move on to something else before coming back into the last 10% and saying, hey, let's review. How did it go? How many people did you talk to? How did that feel? How did that work for you? What would you have done different? Right. So being able to review and pressure test that to ensure that coaching needs that person at every level. And we're building that conscious competence along the way. And that way we can build on that. Otherwise, it feels like a squat that somebody didn't do well. And we're just adding more weights. It's like, oh, your squat was a hot mess. But let's go and put another 45 on this is Jones right and you can use that same analogy for any operational execution. Right. If I'm rolling out a pilot or I'm doing a new test or a new system. If we're not constantly, you know, testing, assessing and then progressing from there, well, then we may be too moving too fast. We may be crippling a lot of our teams in the process. Yeah, that's fantastic. And the visual reference there wanted it traumatized me from the early days as a trainer. You see people doing that. You just want to run up and like scream at that trainer. Be like stop loading on plates to Mrs. Jones whose knees are cave again. Like no foundations here people foundations. I'm going to go and go off on a quick tangent. We're going to come back. Okay. Hang with us here people. But I would you say I mean with that since we're just on the topic or I got us on the topic. Do you think the trainers maybe sometimes run too fast in and in a niche and they want to be like the specialist and expert and have all these credentials and something are like our. What's your viewpoint on that? You know, because I have my opinions. I'd love to hear yours on, you know, if we're really talking about the common theme of where this episode is going. Right. How do you get to the top? How do we create success in your career? How do you make this a lucrative career in the fit professional seat? Do you think you need to go out and get all these surge? Do you need to get great at the basics? Like what's your viewpoint on that? Yeah, and it's I'm a quote guy. So it's kind of the old adage. You know, you don't have to be great to start. But you have to start to be great. And so a lot of times we get paralysis by analysis. Right. The trainer wants to read every book every science. Hey, I've got to be an expert. And a lot of that's a fear, right. They're driving that from fear because they don't want to fail. And so they think that by getting more degrees and certifications, although that may build them, you know, build their self esteem up and then maybe learn along the way. The practical application of trying something cautiously, taking calculated risks and doing it repetitiously is how we learn as people. I mean, there's a 10,000 hour rule for a reason. And so I think that the balance between, you know, hey, I want to get good enough to where I feel comfortable with a B and C activity. Maybe it's approaching members on the floor, like approaching a stranger on the floor. That's a really important skill set because you're in the people business. And so if you're not good within our personal skills, I would probably start with that. Secondly is, you know, I would really learn basic assessments, right. Basic assessments for a trainer because if I don't know how your body is moving, well, then how am I really choosing the exercise that you're doing. If they are actually pushing you further away from your goal unintentionally. And then lastly is, you know, I think just making sure that they're constantly reviewing and getting feedback because the customer will tell you if they're happy or not. As long as the question is a good question, if you say, hey, how are we doing they might say good, but if you say, hey, on a scale of one to 10, one being, you know, poor 10 being excellent. You know, where did I deliver my services on that last session. And if I was maybe a seven or eight, what's one to two things I could get better at the next session. I think that shows a profound amount of humility. It allows the power of feedback and then feedback moves you forward as a trainer. If you're doing too many arms because that's what you do and your workouts, the client in the right setting in delivered in the right way will tell you, hey, I've got 40 pounds to lose. Are you sure the arms are maybe the best thing like I like you. I like working out with you, but I don't know that that's the best thing. But I think that would be one of the biggest learnings for young trainers early on is constantly be looking for feedback. Because feedback is going to move you forward in the right way and almost always as long as you're approaching it the right way, customers will tell you what they'll buy and customers will tell you what they'll buy from you and why if you're listening. So just being a really good listener with that feedback and then instantly delivering that you can't ask the question they tell you, hey, I want more abs. And then the next seven workouts are nothing that calves and forearms right in the squat rack. You know, it's just and again, I'm joking there. But again, the ability to listen and instantly act is one of the fastest ways to build trust with customers. That another, I'm going to add another book recommendation here. I'm going to add ego is the enemy, right to be able to receive feedback like that. You got to put the pride aside. If you want to be better, you have to be have an open mind. And I mentioned that just because our industry not knocking it is a pretty egocentric place to a whole bunch of fit people that think they're the best or what they do. So and ego is the enemy in there and you are speaking my language. I'm so happy you brought that up about the intentionality of how you're asking for feedback and really narrating those questions more specifically right where that's a ranging scale of one to 10 or really being trying to get a specific response right because general feedback doesn't help or general feedback might steer someone into giving feedback. And I think you want to hear, but that's not how we grow right we need honest, honest feedback and then that that second piece, of course, run with that at the end of the day within reason, your clients right they're the one paying you know. And what works for you in your body trainers, probably not going to work for Mrs. Jones, because she's an entirely different human being who has different goals and her body mechanically works different. And just listening, hearing and adapting, I think is a great, great attribute to add there. Taking a stab at it if I can provide another book recommendation you mentioned the 10,000 hours, is that from the slight edge. It's not it's just I remember that research study and it's stuff with me. Because I'm a little bit of a geek and research some neuroscience stuff there's some there's some neuroscience and heavy and learning and things like that that help with understanding like it takes a lot of reps and it takes you know some emotions sprinkled in with some emotion in order to make those habits stay. Those people either don't have the discipline or grit to be consistent or they get bored or 80 D and just move on, but the challenge with that is it doesn't become you know permanent doesn't become habit. So yeah, it tends to play out pretty well. And also, yeah, I just remember my first exposure to that concept was in the slight edge of readings there, but I think it's a really nice full circle. Right, the 10,000 hours from how we originally opened up this episode of applying and the 23 years right of execution to get there and to learn and to receive feedback and to grow and to pivot. And stick with it if it's it maybe it's not fitness maybe you're listening to this and you're not a trainer, you can be an entirely different career or seat or maybe just a hobby or thing you enjoy or just applying and continuously putting trying to get those 10,000 you know hours there you'll ultimately get there. So I'm going to jump into our fiber foundations, segments, I'm really curious to hear what three words you've provided for those who aren't familiar, maybe it's your first time listening to the Fitbridge podcast. This is our segment where Israel has selected three words, those three words are kind of like our metaphorical bricks to or links to build this bridge of where you are to where you'd like to be. And to all episodes in here collectively all of the words, but share with us what three words you're bringing to the table for the fiber foundations, the mic is yours again. Yeah, as as an educator, I like acronyms because they tend to be a little sticky and so one that my team knows very well is B F E E and it stands for focus effort and execution and all unpack each one of those so you know it said we're focus goes energy flows and we have a society. Right now that is three to second you know six second goldfish attention span it's sound bites of Instagram and so it's very hard to hold focus and then you layer that in with a litany of other things that are competing for focus on more things things and marketing that ever before and so when you're committing to something that discipline and focus is so incredibly important to kind of stay the course and not always you know kind of get distracted by shiny objects and that's the way to do it. And that's a shiny objects and that's at every level from an operator level to a trainer level the second is effort right like you have to show up you have to be consistent you've got to put everything you have the line even if you don't feel that you're there yet you got to give a hundred percent of what you're bringing that day. And the last is execution like you have to do what you say you're going to do when you say you're going to do it and if you can do that you'll probably beat 90% of the competition just by you know the execution perspective and the discipline of that execution. And so yeah the three words focus effort and execution by the way I see what you did there that was clever. I see where the play on the word fee if you do all three of those are going to pay the fees that one didn't go over my head that was clever that was a good one. Thank you for that and also equally as curious to hear I mean with all of the experience that we've spoken about wearing so many different hats playing so many different you know puzzle pieces within your roles in your journey to where you are now. I know that comes with a lot of experience and lessons and share with us one wisdom take away. If you could go back let's call it let's let's say 20 years ago what is one piece of advice that you wish you would have had known heard earlier on that you know now that you can share us so that we have that cheat code and don't have to look back and wish we knew it. the answer and it's probably not what you expect. But if I rewind 20 years ago as a young Israel, Alan, you know, a trainer just hyped up on pure passion and trying to make my way. And I had a lot of really cool success along the way. I was able to go to three different Olympics and work with athletes there and 08 2010 and 12. I was able to help the season 8 winner on biggest loser and help her actually win that. She lost, you know, a lot of weight. And so I think the first thing that I would say is like staying humble and through all that because it's very easy, you know, like ego is the enemy. It's very easy to let that affect how you think about yourself. And again, just full transparency as a believer in a follow-up prize. Like that humility, it comes through and you don't have to try. People can tell like you genuinely have good intent. You genuinely are more patient. You genuinely, even though you have this pedestal and you could take it around with it, you don't always, you don't act like that. You know, and that's that's going to facilitate trust and it's really going to help in a lot of levels. So that would be the first thing is, you know, having some sense of faith and humility and whatever you do so that you don't get too smart for your big riches. The second is surround yourself with the people that you want to become. And luckily, I had a lot of really good mentors along the way. I've been a part of several really good brands and worked with really, really solid operators along the way at a lot of levels. And I was really intentional in picking their brain because I knew they knew something that I didn't. And I wanted to know what that thing was to take it and make it my own. And, you know, the old adage like you can go fast alone or you can go far together. That's not just about investment in your team and investment and, you know, the Wii versus me. But it's, it's being very thoughtful and mindful of partnering with people that know things that you don't know. And Napoleon, you know, Hill and thinking grow, thinking grow rich, you know, talk about this with the mastermind principle, right? And just being able to learn things and different strengths from people, I think that's one of the biggest things that you can do as a young fitness professional surround yourself with people that know things that you don't and being humble enough to learn and not think that you know everything. So there you go. I think both of those, you know, tie in, you have to, whatever your foundation is, you know, for us, it might be our faith in having that. But you have to know, know your why and your route there and what keeps you going when you do hit those road bumps. And I agree, nothing will stop you and your tracks of success faster than thinking you know it all. That's the one that thinks they know it all knows the least. And always having that mindset and like you said, I mean, it can be hard. Sometimes there's those quotes around you. The top is lonely or you know, you're trying to go in these directions where everyone else might not understand, you know, what it is you're trying to build and do. But that's that's for you as an individual to decide, right? That means stepping into new groups. That means maybe separating yourself respectfully from people that aren't embodying the mindset and moving forward to the direction that you aspire to be and being uncomfortable. You know, I know when I kind of tried to run that, no play and still continue to, you know, run that play of putting yourself in a room and audience with people that know a lot more than you do and can teach you a lot. It can be uncomfortable. And nobody wants to put themselves in uncomfortable situations where they feel lesser maybe from a from a mindset standpoint or you're not able to keep up with the conversation or intimidated. Maybe it might be a word somebody thinks about and they think about, okay, thanks for the advice man. But like, I'm not going to put myself in that room in these big hitters and like get shut down when I ask them a question because it's a stupid question, you know, like you got to be bold and brave to just do it and go for it and try it and like what's the worst that happens, right? You ask that mentor for some advice. Maybe they're a jerk and they don't help you, but 99% of the time they probably are happy to help right and to support you and nurture that journey in your career goals. So I really, really love that reminder. Thank you for that share. That was a great one. I'm speaking of, you know, nurturing talents. You've used fiber services before. How do you feel like that has played a role in all the things that we spoke about? Could you just kind of share some feedback on your experience with using fiber recruiting and integrating into the play that you guys run? Yeah, yeah. So I would say like, you know, with our brand, we are fast growing brand. We have got almost 200 stores nationwide. We're heavily based in kind of the South-Easton States, Home Office, and Atlanta, Alive and Dallas. So it reminds a little bit of travel, but I would say having a strategic partner from a recruiting and staffing perspective that, you know, can really drill down in each market has been very beneficial, especially since a lot of our markets are rural markets. You know, they're not, you know, Houston or Dallas or New York or LA. They're markets that have, you know, lower pop density because we are a community brand. We are a family brand. And so community brands do community things, but from a talent perspective, that can be hard. Sometimes when you're looking for a fitness director or you're looking for a really good personal trainer. And so I think fiber has been fantastic at, you know, saving time, saving energy and focus and all those things from our team, but also vetting a lot of the candidates before they actually make it to the interview so that you don't have someone that, again, no knock on Waffle House, but someone that their first job was only Waffle House. And now they're applying for a general manager position at one of our clubs. And you're sifting through all of those leads that probably aren't great leads. Fiber has been fantastic. Being able to curate the right leads, ask the right questions, and then give us the highest potential candidates to bring into our organization. So it's really been a fantastic partnership. Okay, I'm so happy to hear that. And thank you for that public review. They are no surprise because after this conversation of us just diving, you know, more in-depth, it just affirms that the walkstep right that we have from a mindset, from an understanding on, you know, what that looks and feels like, and what, you know, the talent in our industry, you know, really, really in body. So we always love working with you, uh, a pleasure, really enjoying our partnership, and speaking of enjoying this conversation, enjoyed it thoroughly. Thank you so much for, for stepping away from your busy schedule. Um, and all you have going on to just share your wisdom and experience with us. Before we log off, anything that's front of mind that you want to put out there before we close it out and get back to our date. No, I would just say, uh, thank you so much for having me on. And I'm so proud to be at working any time and what we're accomplishing and I'm proud of this partnership. I'm looking forward to just amazing things in 2026 for this entire industry. No, we're serving a really big need out there. And sometimes it gets competitive. No, where it's, you know, hey, you're taking my lead or you're taking my, but at the end of the day, I mean, we're all serving the same purpose. We're trying to, um, serve the, you know, 85% of population that doesn't even go to a gym, um, but also we're trying to be preventative, and proactive, and healthcare as opposed to reactive. And I think we all need to align in that vision and that mission and we need to lock arms together to be able to serve that purpose. Um, and I think if you take that approach and mindset, the job is a lot more fun. Life's a lot more fun and you're usually a little bit more effective. All you do. So thanks again for having me on. So they, what an incredible ending statement there. Congrats to all the success that we're got anytime's having and happily we will stay and lockstep and arm and arm and, and help reach those people and change some lives and try and make us just healthier and happier as a whole, but appreciate your time. And I know what you're talking to. Awesome. Thanks, Reagan. Thank you. Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed something from today's conversation, let us know by giving this episode a like, leaving a comment and sharing with others. We always love to hear from you. So give us a shout via email at
[email protected] and connect with us on Instagram at the Fitbridge podcast for even more content. A special shout out of thank you to our friends at Solstice Ridge Partners for all things marketing and post production. And on behalf of the entire team here at fiber, it has been my absolute pleasure helping bridge community to opportunity and serving our industry as the number one staffing and recruiting solution. Until next time, make sure to click that subscribe button for more episodes and go download the fiber app for all of your industry needs.
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