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He Opened a Gym at 50: Turning Uncertainty into a Fitness Business with Purpose
33 Plays3 days ago
After 25 years in corporate America, Bill McKenzie turned a layoff into an opportunity—pursuing a franchise dream he'd harbored since age 17.
In this episode, host Matt Rhine talks with the Alloy Personal Training (Towson) franchise owner about why he chose a relationship-focused gym model with a 95%+ member retention rate, the $350K-$500K investment required, and how he balances running a business while maintaining his corporate career.
From the importance of strength training after 40 to navigating franchise selection and commercial real estate, Bill shares candid insights on taking calculated risks, building community, and fulfilling lifelong entrepreneurial dreams. Whether you're considering franchise ownership or seeking the right fitness approach, this conversation delivers practical wisdom on saying "yes" to new opportunities.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:02
Speaker
This episode is sponsored by First Home Mortgage.
00:00:08
Speaker
Even if I knew I was going to 100% die at a certain age, there's nothing I can do that's going to make that any longer. If I knew i could smoke six packs a day, it doesn't matter. Nothing I can do is going to make me live a day longer.
00:00:20
Speaker
I'd still do it. And I think I want the quality of life, not just the years. And I want to feel in control of the time I have. And I want to, you know, I think I'm youthful for my age. And I want to stay that as I progress through the decade. Yeah, I mean, that's the total quality time left, right? You want to make sure that you can do the things you want to do for as long as you want to do them.
Podcast Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:48
Speaker
Hello everybody, my name is Matt Rhine on All Roads Lead to Real Estate. And so today I have a guest and it's ah it's a different guest for me because to be honest, I have not had anyone in this field that I've ever spoken to. So feel honored because you should be because I i am honored to have you. Well, I'm honored then. And so, um what I wanted to do is highlight someone. So, if you're in this Baltimore County area, I think it might be interesting to to learn about your particular business. And so, you are a recent franchise owner of the gym that I go to. I'd like to say, I think i think you guys call it a founding member. You are a founding member. so i'm a founding member. I'm one of the first. As soon as I saw your sign go up, I immediately put my name in. and ah and so I'll tell you all about that, but your your particular business that you are franchise owner of is Alloy Personal Training. and it's Your location that you have currently is in Towson, Maryland.
00:01:47
Speaker
and so I have so many questions, Bill. so This is Bill McKenzie. Once again, welcome to the podcast, and thank you for joining me. Thank you for
Bill McKenzie's Background and Entrepreneurial Journey
00:01:55
Speaker
having me. I'm excited to be here. yeah so so Obviously, I just want to start off by giving you an idea as to why I wanted you here in the first place, because you are ah you're a business owner that that I found to be a little bit interesting in the sense that you have a traditional job right You have a career, and you work a lot of hours. You just got done telling me you work 50-plus hours a week on your day job.
00:02:18
Speaker
and You are crazy enough to join in us in the entrepreneurship world, and you went down this path of personal training in Alloy. It's ah it's a very successful brand. and so i did a little homework on you.
00:02:34
Speaker
don't talk too much about it yet, but I had a recent guest on franchises, and he's helped thousands of people with franchises. He knows everything about Alloy. He's helped lots of people get into that brand, and so he had nothing but great things. Otherwise, I would not mention it. But he had wonderful things to say about Alloy. so um I just wanted to start and just i give give everybody a little bit of ah a general background as to who you are, and then we're going to work up a little bit into why you're crazy enough to start ah this franchise, this gym, and and get into this space. Sounds great. so You're not from Maryland originally, correct? Correct. Yeah, I grew up in New Jersey.
00:03:12
Speaker
i lived there until I was about... Well, I went through high school there. came to Johns Hopkins and um managed to meet my wife just as I was about to graduate and ah started to think about moving back home to New Jersey, but kept getting pulled back here to spend time with her and then eventually made the decision to live here. and We've been together and we'll be married 25 years in June. Wow. 25 years. Yeah. That's something.
00:03:39
Speaker
It It's impressive. Thank you. Yeah. I hope to get there one day. We're quite- really impressive for her putting up with me more than it is impressive for me. It's more impressive, i can say, now the longer I'm married. It's just impressive just because of how much you go through. For sure. It is not something when you're a newlywed, you fully understand. 100%.
00:03:57
Speaker
under hunter so Okay, so good news there. so um
Choosing a Franchise: Motivations and Decisions
00:04:01
Speaker
so you You had the Hopkins experience. What what have you been doing recently, let's say in the last five or 10 years for a career? Yes. You were in corporate America, right? so Traditionally called ah revenue operations or sales operations, I started my career in sales, um much like you did. so When you were in the pharmaceutical industry and worked in farm sales, they would have probably had something called sales ops. It's evolved over the years to revenue operations. but
00:04:28
Speaker
I started my career in sales and sort of worked in every type of sales job. I was a sales manager, or sales trainer, ah every type of ah sales job you can have, and eventually found that where I really enjoy is that intersection between sales and operations where I look at things like, how do we make our reps to be more successful through changing and optimizing their sales systems tools and processes. so Everything from their compensation plan to how many reps do we put into a marketplace to how big is their territory ah to what CRM system do we use, how do we configure it to optimize our reps' performance. and so in How many years in total have you been doing that?
00:05:11
Speaker
o Probably close to 30. Wow. Well, I shouldn't say that. I've been in the same industry, and ah you know that includes all the sales time.
00:05:22
Speaker
ah Probably in sales operations, revenue operations, probably about 15 years. and so What I'm always most interested in, and one of the reasons I had someone recently on, like I mentioned, that that went through in great detail why people get into the franchise world. and so I'm an entrepreneur. I started in my early 20s. You start with just me. right I'm a small business owner. It was just me. I'm my worst employee. I make a joke, but it's true. i am i I work my tail off, but I am also my worst employee. ah I allow myself sometimes way too much latitude and forgiveness. than I always say specifically on the CEO level. Because when you work by yourself, you're the janitor, you're the receptionist, you're the salesperson and the CEO. You're all the things. That's right. And so you wear different hats. And so I wear some hats better than others. Sales is is my gift. That's what I'm good at. And the rest is I'm learning and trying to grow. So when I see that you've had longevity and a career path, I'm always interested to find out why would you be crazy and or brave enough to try to seek something outside of that. so You didn't give up the job, but you added to it.
00:06:32
Speaker
So, what kind of happened there was um I worked for the same company you know minus two years for about 25 years, which is kind of rare these days. And then I got laid off. Yeah. And um that was a pivotal moment. And you stop and think, well, how do I change this from something that happened to me to something that happened for me? How do I make this, you know look back on
Why the Gym and Personal Training Space?
00:06:54
Speaker
it and go, wow, I'm so glad that happened versus, oh my God, I can't believe that happened. Yeah. and so really stopped and said, okay, what what do I want to do? And I kind of took parallel paths. I looked at both, you know should i go into a corporate job again and search for that? And then I also was looking at franchises at the same time. Eventually i decided on, let's do both. um
00:07:17
Speaker
you know I really do enjoy my corporate job. I i find it very challenging and exciting, and ah so i I love that piece of it, and it's intellectually stimulating. But at the same time, I also had always had a dream to start my own business. um I read my first franchise book when I was 17 years old. Wow. So it's been on my mind for a long time. And you know i think for a lot of people, it's true, you think, I'd really like to start a business, but I'm not sure what I want to do. like What business would that be?" and so That little bit of time gave me a chance to really dig into that question and and go very deep in trying to... and I worked with a franchise consultant, like it sounds like your friend i was. um
00:07:57
Speaker
and I dug into that to really understand like what would be interesting to me, what would ah be useful and helpful to the community, but also that I would enjoy. Yeah, and that's, I think, a challenge. in what you know What I hear there is that it sounds like you might have chosen the stability and you leveraged your experience to continue The income right and the stability, is that part of it in addition to something that's completely new? is that is that because When I went into real estate, I lived in real estate since I was 21, but I never had the courage to go full-time because I wanted the stability of a corporate job.
00:08:32
Speaker
and It wasn't until about seven or eight years in that I had the courage to switch. Is that something you're considering? Maybe one day as you continue to grow potentially the franchise business, would you ever consider giving up the day job?
00:08:45
Speaker
i don't I don't think so. um you know i I think that they provide and fulfill me in two different ways. um so you know it's At the corporate job, i spend a lot of time really on very you know unique problems at scale.
00:09:03
Speaker
right We're talking about 500 sales reps. How do I you know make optimize their performance? Whereas, you know when we're talking about the gym, we have four employees. Yeah. Right? And so, it's really about developing those employees, helping them, um you know doing things that I maybe never did before, like payroll or something like that. So, there's new challenges, to your point. You're always learning. um But it's a very different feel. So, I like the combination of both. Right.
00:09:31
Speaker
Well, that's it i mean that's encouraging and refreshing. It can beat you down. I'll tell you, the hardest part of my job, especially as an entrepreneur and
Alloy's Training Model and Community Impact
00:09:41
Speaker
a small business owner, it's people.
00:09:43
Speaker
It's the management of others. It's the recruiting of talent. It's the ability to keep them, motivate them, train them. it's like That's the biggest challenge for me. and um And maybe it'll be, hopefully, not as daunting, but it's challenging. And I will give you credit, because I'm one of your customers, that ah the folks that you've had there are good. You have not had a dud yet. and so There's been a few, like you said, I think you had four employees. and ah and so I know how challenging it must be in general, and so especially in that space. so I'm curious about, ultimately, why... It sounds like I have an idea now as to why you chose to get into
00:10:23
Speaker
franchising and keep your day job, so it wasn't just the stability. That was my gut instinct there. so But why did you choose ultimately the gym space and personal training space? Because there are so many other options. Yeah.
00:10:35
Speaker
And in fact, it's kind of funny. When I worked with my franchise consultant, I said, anything but food and gyms. yeah Those are the only two things I said I didn't want. yeah um That's interesting. why would do I know food makes sense. Those would have a fail rate of 70%. It's just horrible it's talk terrible. Yeah. But what about... I don't know if the gym space... To me, that sounds potentially like a safer space. Yeah. It wasn't even that. It was just the transactional nature of it. Okay. right It was very... In yeah yeah ah in my head, a Jim was kind of somebody who... you know They make money when you don't show up.
00:11:11
Speaker
Right. right and then You have eight thread mills for 700 members. Yeah. and What we really you know were looking for was something that was very relationship based. Alloy, we typically try to limit our member count to about 150, give or take. right um Which sounds crazy when you think about a business model that says, don't go above 150-ish. You're like, why would you do that? um But that's at a level where we can maintain relationships with all of those people and and really get to know everybody and really help them achieve their goals. and What what changed turned me around was when the franchise consultants started to talk about the retention numbers. um As a franchise, I think we have 95%, 96% retention, and our goals are higher than that.
00:11:55
Speaker
Higher than 95%? That's our goal. We're not quite there yet, but we're we're on our way. And you know when we think about that all the time. That's the problem we're constantly thinking about. How do we make sure that you know we give the members incredible value, help them achieve their goals and get there um so that we don't lose people? And it takes a little while to find your tribe and you know build it up. but Ultimately, that's what attracted me because I understood once I saw that retention number, I said, okay, that has to be relationship-based. That has to be the kind of business I want to be in. and
00:12:27
Speaker
um you know and It's doing a good thing for the community. That's the other big piece of it. right you You want to do something that feels good. right like How can I help other people? um you know and This feels really good. You you were really ah had some great success stories in in helping people to achieve their fitness goals.
00:12:44
Speaker
Well, and so that one of the purposes here of this podcast is, yes, I'm very interested in the business aspect, as I'll pepper you with questions, because that's how my mind works. But I also want to highlight the actual business in which you run, because like I said, I'm a member of it. And I used to be a member of one of your competitors. It's called Fitness Together. So I certainly won't bash them, but I was a member there for several years. And so I'm sure you're, are you familiar? Did you research? yeah there so So, for those that don't know, Fitness Together or FT is another option, and that that was one-on-one training.
00:13:18
Speaker
And so, for someone like myself, i I think I started with them when I was in my early 30s. And for me, I did it specifically because I needed the accountability. i have a million things to do. I'm busy. I i really don't want to work out. i don't I don't, but I want the effects. I love it when I'm done. right i just don't want to go.
00:13:37
Speaker
and If I had a traditional gym membership, I wouldn't go anywhere near like I should. I'm not consistent. and so This was my avenue. Fitness together is much more expensive. For those that don't know, it's one-on-one.
00:13:48
Speaker
Whereas what you're offering, Alloy, allows you to have groups of... One average is between four and six people during my class. so You still have one trainer for a small group. and they still come over to you, they still make sure you're not you know going crazy. I find, this is one of the things I wanted to mention to you, and i I'm sure you know this, but I like the competitive nature of it. I like to see someone else over there that's doing their eighth set, and I want to do it. and I can tell you, i I don't stop for an hour straight. If I went to the gym tomorrow, there's no way I'd work out for an hour straight without taking breaks. right I'd be on my phone, I'd be doing this, I'd be doing the other thing. I think it's such a value um for that reason, for me to show up, and the cost is way less than personal training. It's a fraction.
00:14:35
Speaker
so For me, it's all of that. and i and I have to say, for those, I'm i'm over 40 now. That's the target market i I would imagine. This is not for you know the muscle heads. i mean I know you think I'm jacked. I'm not. um yeah but That's a joke, people. i have like If you were in this room, you would know that's a joke. I am definitely not ripped. But um it's definitely for those that want to live and have mobility. and and I want functionality in life.
00:15:01
Speaker
That's what I see for it. i'm not you know I just don't want to be embarrassed take off my shirt, not not necessarily be ripped like I wanted to be in high school. so is that i mean What's your target demo that you see? I mean, you nailed it, right? It's people over 40 that are looking for you know that accountability. They're looking for the coaching, how to do something safely. Yeah. Right? um And the variety. Every day is a different workout.
00:15:25
Speaker
um One thing I noticed that's very different, i I was pretty good about being disciplined about my working out, but I did what I like to do. right So, think bench press, curls, you know that kind of thing. And then, when I work out at Alloy, they have me doing full body workouts that I really need, to your point, for functional fitness over the rest of my life. So, I can do the things I want to do for as long as I want to them. You sixth consecutive bicep day?
00:15:48
Speaker
Correct, exactly, or or my favorite, Chess Day. right so um you know I think that's another big differentiator, and I agree with you. I love working out in a small group, and and you're still getting that coaching, but I love the little bit of, for me, the competitiveness comes out as well. And and then I think for a lot of people, it's the community. they build some friendships, they develop relationships, and now I want to show up not just because you know i paid for it and I have an appointment, but because i can't wait to see my friends and yeah and get in there with them. and that
00:16:20
Speaker
That drives people to show up because ultimately we're the inverse of a gym where they make more money when you don't show up. We only make money when you show up yeah right So we are obsessed with making sure that people are accountable and that they're coming to the gym and that they're achieving their goals because that's how we make our long-term money, which is that high retention rate. Well, and it's funny that you say the mention the community and the friendship part because I can see that that's kind of forming with me as well and I i enjoy it and it it's every walk of life.
00:16:49
Speaker
and it's all We all represent different pockets of the community. and We have people in healthcare. have an attorney that I always work out with in the morning. and These are people I would never normally hang out with. right We're all busy. like We all have families. like there' There would be no reason for us probably to ever see each other.
00:17:06
Speaker
And yet, you make these relationships because you're put in an interesting situation where you're sweating and going... you know you're you know I'm there at 5.55 in the morning. yeahp So, it's it's just it's an unusual setting. and um And I'll just, as a side note to that, it's just you see all the craziness online and how everybody hates each other, and it's all one side against the other. It's really interesting.
00:17:28
Speaker
We talk about weird things when you're working out with people. And everyone's politically different. Everyone's so different, yet when you're in that environment, everyone's so supportive. I just thought I'd mention that. You're going through something together, right? It's not easy. We're talking about the headlines. We're talking about what we just read. Trust me, we would not all vote the same way. Yet, we have civilized conversations working out. I think that's interesting that if people were just on social media, people would be doing nasty, snarky comments. But face-to-face, when you're together in that setting, it's totally different. Yeah, and I think there's always something to going through tough times together. It bonds people together and everybody's working out safely, but it's a tough workout.
00:18:15
Speaker
individualized enough that it's going to be tough for everybody there, right? No matter where you are at your in your fitness journey, it's going to be hard for you. Right. No, they make it hard on me, so they add it to it. I like it because I'm in my early 40s, so I'm like the young buck, and so they they put it to me. So, I kind of like that. I've never been the the top of the class in the physique department, so it makes me feel pretty good. There you go. I love it. There we go. so um all right so I want to get back a little bit to the business side of this. so i i mean What other options had you considered before you went down this path? Were there other franchises? because I'm keenly interested in this because I have people that come to me to invest their money.
00:18:53
Speaker
Sure. and so You could have easily have met me but prior to this and say, Matt, I have some capital. I want to deploy it and get residual income. Because that's essentially what this is, right? You're not a owner operator. Right. so This is not completely hands off, but you know more hands off than an owner operator. Correct. Yes. What made you go to this route? i mean Are there a couple others that you were considering? We looked at a lot. I mean i looked at probably... you know Research at a high level, probably 40 to 50, and then probably deep dive on eight to 10 and seriously considered two or three. um
00:19:31
Speaker
The one I was probably most excited about and looked at a lot was ah around you know um testosterone and and um It was kind of a male clinic, a male health clinic that dealt with GLP-1s, testosterone. so It was in the health space. um There is something right in Timonium that would be your competitor yeah there, right? Yeah. LifeMed Institute is very similar in that regard. That would have been a big competitor to us in that regard. ah but
00:20:05
Speaker
It just wasn't the the right fit. you know A lot of this came down to good conversations with my wife. We would take long walks and talk about things, and you know she just didn't feel good about that. That wasn't you know something... and And she works full time at the gym, ah so you probably run into her occasionally, although she's not there at the 6 a.m. slot. Yeah, I don't see her in the morning. Yeah. She comes in a little bit later than that. but um Yeah, she wasn't feeling that at all. and the more we just looked at it, just didn't feel like us. right and and Again, we really wanted something that was going to be relationship-based in the community. um
00:20:42
Speaker
you know We've been here a pretty long time. She grew up here. um She went to Towson High School and then there's so many great connections. you know um One of our members was her next door neighbor growing up.
00:20:54
Speaker
right So it's all these little tiny connections and I love that. I love the small to more feel. I love talking to people and realizing like, oh, you know our kids went to this together or they did this or we know similar people. it's That's the great thing about living here. right People don't leave. They stay forever. and It's weird like that. Yes. Yeah, yeah it's great. so you know and and In that community, you want to make sure you're doing something that you feel really good about, right? Because you know everybody and you want to make sure that you know they there you you're representing yourself and your family the best you can and you want to make sure that you feel good, that what you're delivering to the marketplace is something that people will take advantage of, but also feel really good. Yeah.
Fitness and Mental Health Benefits
00:21:39
Speaker
Well, I mean, we don't sign up with the intention of not improving ourselves. Right. And so, that to me helps. I think that i <unk> still can't believe your 95% or better retention rate, but I think it's because you get to know people and you feel obligated to go.
00:21:55
Speaker
That's why I sign up. Yeah. I want to feel obligated, and I've never missed. Not a single time. of i Well, I think one time. I was in Disney World. Outside of that, I've never missed. right so and I don't want to always get up, but I do it in the morning. for This is a gym hack for those that don't know this. I do it first thing because you have no excuses that early. I set my alarm for this purpose, therefore, I must leave. yeah so That's my hack.
00:22:18
Speaker
If I do it in the afternoon, I have 50 things that I could do that's not that, and I won't go. Yeah, and things come up that are urgent and that you feel like you have to, but at 6 a.m., there's probably not that many... And yeah I feel like I win. i don't know I think there's a book out there, at least there's enough clips of it out there in terms of this general mentality. It's like, you want to start the day off with a win. yeah That's one of the reasons you're supposed to make your bed in the morning, right yeah because that's one thing you can check off the list I've accomplished for the day so far. yeah And so, for me, getting there, it's one it's one thing. Yeah, and a big thing.
00:22:48
Speaker
It's a big thing. Now, the clientele that you're attracting, of course, is 40 and older, and mobility is real, and weight resistance is exceptionally important. I married a dietitian who is a distance runner. She's a crazy runner. Actually, next door to you is Charm City Run, and she works there part-time. She loves it. It's not a very lucrative part-time job, but she does because she loves it. That's her community. Right. she is incorporating...
00:23:14
Speaker
and and so but she is incorporating you know resistance training now, because especially for women, not just men, but ah women need this, especially as they get older. I mean, we all need it, but I think specifically my wife is always trying to get into it because she needs to balance out all these miles she's running.
00:23:33
Speaker
That's right. and yeah And the investment we make today pays off over the next 10 years and even more, right? And so, you know if you think back, right, when probably the generation before us, when they thought about strength training, they thought of bodybuilders and athletes. yeah And that was it.
00:23:50
Speaker
So, my parents, my grandparents would have never thought, oh, I need to go strength train. right That wasn't something they thought about, but it was it's so incredibly important. you know And then you think about your parents, your grandparents, and maybe they struggled to get out of a chair. And they had needed help up or you can't sit in that one, it's too low. and And now we understand the value of strength training and and how that can make those later years so much more enjoyable and and just make it easier. My my wife's mother, um my mother-in-law, my wife's mother um works out with us. And she's 80. She just turned 80 over the weekend and she's doing so much better and she's so much stronger and she's able to walk better and and that empowers her to do more travel and things like that. Yeah, it's not purely longevity. I think that might have been to how... it is I think that's how I thought of of living a longer life. It's not necessarily the number of years. i've ah I've thought about why I have always been consistent working out. and i don't think Even if I knew I was going to 100% die at a certain age, there's nothing I can do that's going to make that any longer, whatever age that is.
00:24:56
Speaker
Would I still want to work out between now and then? If I knew if i knew i could smoke six packs a day, it doesn't matter. Nothing I could do is going to make me live a day longer. I'd still do it. and I think I want the quality of life, not just the years. and I want to feel in control of the time I have. and i want to you know I think I'm youthful for my age, and I want to stay that as I progress through the decades. That's right. Exactly.
00:25:21
Speaker
Yeah. i mean That's the total quality time left. right You want to make sure that you can... Do the things you want to do for as long as you want to do them. And then I also think you know one thing that hit me when you were talking about that is just how much the mental health aspect of it hits me all the time. like yeah you know I do work a lot of crazy hours and corporate life can be stressful, and yeah and this is my T-stress time. you know This you know definitely has a big impact on my mental health and relieving stress, and and I think that's a big win for it as well. like you know Why would you do it even if you knew you had a set lifespan?
00:25:57
Speaker
That would be the two reasons. One, quality of life, and then secondly, like just the impact it has on your your stress levels and your enjoyment of everyday life. Well, I
Business Operations and Marketing Strategies
00:26:06
Speaker
think it's a way I feel a little bit more in control.
00:26:09
Speaker
i feel um i don't know I feel I'm doing something that could better myself. I also work like a crazy human. I think you mentioned I i don't have other hobbies, right so my work is my hobby. and i think ah being you know active like i really dislike running, but I still do that. ah and Really, I owe that to my wife. but um i just I want to be physically active. and I think we're becoming more aware of it. I don't know if your gym would have done well 30 years ago. I don't know if it was that if it was that... Like you said, it was mostly you go there to get huge. right you're like
00:26:45
Speaker
Yeah, and we actually did... The franchise started in 1992, but I think it evolved a lot over those years to you know kind of figure out the right you know customer avatar and and figure that out. so But to your point, yeah, they probably had ah a different clientele as they first started. 65 or 75 nowadays a lot different? What you what you feel a 70-year-old can do and act and sound like is very different than I think when I was a child thinking of a 70-year-old. That might as well have been 150. Well, and also as I get closer to it, it seems that much younger. Isn't that funny how that works? Yeah, yeah. Now that I'm 53, 60's very young. 60's young, but it kind of is these days. Yes, that's true. And there's a lot of hacks. I mean, um they're one of the supplements I had just started taking this year is creatine. Yes. And I assume that was for crazy weightlifters, and then you do some more research and realize that supplement is actually very safe. It's one of the most studied supplements ever.
00:27:40
Speaker
and Now I'm on to just to standard you know if five was a five grams a day, one scoop, ye and do green drink. I do a whole assortment of things. you knowm I'm attempting, but is that one of the supplements? I wanted to ask you what type of supplementation that you recommend based on your research. I imagine it sounds like you've done some research on this. Yeah, we definitely ah believe in creatine, to your point. It is very well studied and and is a great choice. The biggest thing probably- Cognitive benefits as well.
00:28:09
Speaker
Yeah, the the one we focus on probably more than anything is the protein. okay What we're finding is that just you know within our population, people probably don't get enough protein, right? And we're trying to build muscle, right? So as you know, one of the things that we do is in-body analysis where we each of our members, we look at... you know We have a very, very fancy scale that understands exactly what your fat percentage is, your muscle mass is, your water weight.
00:28:36
Speaker
and We're looking at that so that we have a baseline and we can measure improvement. and so We're looking to build that muscle mass and reduce the fat. and so Part of that is making sure that people get enough protein. um That's usually the biggest gap. so making sure that Either they can get it through their natural diet or whether it's protein bars or supplements with you know ah protein shakes, but that's where you know we find a lot of people are falling short is not getting enough protein. Well, and one of the questions I had for you is, i i definitely agree there, and I have actually purchased, I think, what' the war what's the world of that? I'm trying to think of the name of it. It's Transparent Labs, I believe, is the brand that someone on your staff recommended to me. and ah
00:29:21
Speaker
and so I've enjoyed that so far. but One thing about your gym is you don't have any cardio equipment, I realized. is that simply Are there cardio equipment in any of these Alloy Fitness gyms, or is this where you have a very set mission and it's not like you need to do that elsewhere?
00:29:36
Speaker
um We do have the two attack bikes, so we kind of have a little bit of cardio, right? Because we'll do that in you know ah little increments, right? Those are like burst. We yeah incorporate that into- That's right. Yes. um and so yeah Do you get cardio from it? Yes, because of the format right where you're doing the supersets, and like you said, you're always moving. You should mention the supersets, because that is a unique... I think that's very unique, the way you do it.
00:30:01
Speaker
so Let's lead us into that real quick, and then let's go back to the cardio. um Yeah, so a superset means that you're going to work two exercises back to back, and usually you can do them complimentary or or you know the opposite. We tend to do different ones. um So what's happening is when you finish you know a set of, let's say for example, you might be doing a um shoulder press.
00:30:27
Speaker
then we might move you into a ah lunge. Yeah. Right? And so the shoulder press is working your shoulders, and now while your shoulders are resting, we're still keeping you moving because now you're doing the lunge. Yeah. And then you go back and do the shoulder, and and we put some other rest periods in there, but that's getting that heart rate up during the workout, so we're really ah working on efficiency, right? We work out for about 50 to 55 minutes typically, so we want to pack that 50 to 55 minutes because our our... Customers are like you. They're very busy. They've got to fit this in. They want to come in. They want to get in shape. They want to have a good time, but they don't have a ton of time. And so we need to be very, very efficient in our programming to make sure that they're going to optimize their results in the shortest amount of time period. i mean I think that's really interesting. I had not experienced the way you format it through this business, which is just like you said, it's a superset. You you go and you coach to this is the two superset you know activities you need to do. You demonstrate them, and if there's limitations for that particular person, for whatever reason, they had shoulder surgery or whatever it is, You make personal recommendations based on that need, and then you let us roll, and then they go to the next person and make sure... they Because they there's three sets of these happening simultaneously, and you rotate. When you do your, let's say, four sets of whatever that superset is, you go to the next station, and then you do that, and that's how you cycle through.
00:31:53
Speaker
That's right. and You basically have a partner. Yeah. so you get You get paired off, and that's sometimes you switch partners, and that's how you get to know people, because it's you and that person fighting through that exercise. Yeah, and what's amazing is their ability, the trainer's ability to do what they would call a progression or a regression.
00:32:10
Speaker
If you're somebody like you that's been working out and is doing a really good job, they're going make it harder. They do. They're going to progress. And then the crazy thing is when you partner with somebody, lot of times they're similar to you, but not always. Just depends on the clientele that day. But they can be working out right beside you and doing something that's similar but different, and it's regressed for them to meet them where they are.
00:32:32
Speaker
um So while the workout looks somewhat similar, they could be doing a completely different workout than you at the same time um based on where they are and and what that trainer's adjusting for them. Right. Yeah, I call it like a judgment-free zone. It's very different than a traditional... you know I will say my father-in-law's in his 80s, and he's worked out virtually every day of his entire adult life. He's in phenomenal shape, better shape than I am. and He can still do the... ah the i like Not the Iron Man, but what's that thing they do at the at the box? ah The MRF.
00:33:06
Speaker
Oh, right. Yeah, for CrossFit. CrossFit workouts. He's in his 80s doing CrossFit, so he can still do it. um It's pretty crazy, but ah it's every walk of life, in every so it's not a judgment zone. like he goes The reason I mentioned him is he still goes to the old school gym because he loves that crazy, very, I would say, judgmental, where they have huge heavy weights lined up and they're throwing the barbells down. yeah I feel uncomfortable because I can't lift 120-pound bench press i like you know on each hand. I can't do all that. He loves it. He still gets a rise out of that. But in this situation, totally different. And I think for people that are on the fence, I think this is a model.
00:33:48
Speaker
You could start tomorrow and be out of shape as all can be, having worked out in 30 years. You could still get started. and it's not you know I think that's unique, and it's going to probably prompt you to actually show up and do it.
00:34:00
Speaker
Yeah, and i think the other key to that is is doing it safely. right I've been lifting weights since high school, you know played sports in high school and college, and then you know later in life you know probably took some time off that I should have never taken off, but I did, and then came back to it.
00:34:15
Speaker
And so I've been at this for a really long time and I can't tell you how many times one of the trainers will correct something that I've been doing wrong for years. yeah Years. And I'm like, wait, no. And they're like, yeah, that's completely wrong. Do it this way. Yeah. And that's how you can hurt yourself. and Yeah. I will say, i I didn't want to bash fitness together earlier, but I will bash the CrossFit. I did that for a while. That is the craziest... ah My sister loves it, so I don't want to bash it too hard. She does love it, and she loves her group, but they don't teach anything about fitness. At least my group didn't. They just they let you go wild out there, and I was injured twice in six months. Because you do kipping, you don't even do proper pull-ups, for example. Everything is backwards. of It's speed. yes
00:34:58
Speaker
And so you go as fast as you can to accomplish these things. You're racing. So I don't know. I know there's lots of people that love it, so I don't want to hate on it if you're out there loving it. But dude, you do you. can just tell you, for me, I felt like it was too risky for me. Yeah. yeah
Franchise Expansion Challenges
00:35:12
Speaker
i'm like That's a big difference, right? I've done CrossFit. I liked it. I actually probably had a similar story where I wound up... ah i i I officially snapped my first Achilles tendon playing rugby, but ultimately I felt it start to get wonky at CrossFit previously. and i was like, oh, it feels a little weird, and I should have paid more attention, then I went and played rugby over the weekend. it'll do it There it went.
00:35:35
Speaker
That'll do it. Interesting. I want to get back to the business side of things, because I know that you know your numbers. One of the things, as was doing my homework here, that's unique, in my opinion, to this, most gym... franchises are going to try to get as many members as possible. That's the scalability. What's the one that's $10 a month or $20 a month? Like Planet Fitness. Like Planet Fitness. You have 10,000 members for 12 treadmills. Right. Right. That's not your model. What was interesting that the gentleman who was giving me the information about your franchise, They have a very smaller footprint they want you to identify. Square footage is very much... They don't want it too large, and they don't want it tiny, but it to be the right size that you can control and maintain and have the correct margin. You can't have too many people. They won't allow you to have 500 members. That's right. Even if you're a greedy business owner and want to maximize it, sorry, that won't work.
00:36:34
Speaker
and i was just your it's They have a formula, it sounds like they figured out, and I think that's maybe why you chose a franchise, is because they've done the they know the the model. That's right. And you just implement.
00:36:46
Speaker
Is that more or less correct? Yes, I think so. Although, um yeah, i mean everything you just said is exactly right. As far as the only thing i i think about a little bit that's interesting is they are really good about giving us a little bit of freedom. Because I think the interesting thing in franchising that I learned from my consultant, and she actually had me do a personality test.
00:37:07
Speaker
to see which would be the right franchises for me. and What I needed was enough structure, but a little bit of freedom to do try things and change things. and and They're really good about giving us just a little bit of room to do things. um you know i'm i wearing you know a shirt today with you know Baltimore with the Alloy logo. you know they They allow us to do things like that, whereas you know some franchises would be very, very strict to say, like you have to have full approval to use our logo anywhere. so That's kind of the example. But when it comes to to your point, to the programming, yeah the way we build our business, the fact that you know we're going to limit our number of members to build relationships, the way we ah do everything, ah that that's all.
00:37:51
Speaker
Exactly like you said. They've been doing it since 1992. They have it down. They kind of really invented this concept. yeah um and so you know We do our best to listen to them and and do exactly what they tell us. and so From a business perspective, I'm looking around at the gym. I'm like, you you don't have all the cardio equipment that a traditional gym would have. you have all Everything you have, it's brand new. right so Everything's beautiful and new, but it's a limited floor space. so I'm looking at the hard costs associated with this.
00:38:22
Speaker
It's fixed, and you can amortize it over a certain amount of time. and You have a lease, which stinks. heard you when you we were doing a pre-interview, you were describing ah your experience with a commercial lease. Welcome to real estate. yes It's not exactly ah joyous. and i have Matt, I have ah a place, a commercial space, right next to yours in the building adjacent to yours. Same company. I know all ah about who you're dealing with over there.
00:38:46
Speaker
um but Still, that's a challenge. but i just I thought it was fascinating because you have very ah fixed cost. and Your model, the way it was described, is designed by the time you open your doors, you are already profitable.
00:39:01
Speaker
Is that ah an fair assessment? Yes, although, um as you know, we did ah the one thing that puts a little wrinkle into that at first is you know we did offer a pretty substantial discount to our founding members. It's sad I have no idea what I pay.
00:39:18
Speaker
Yeah, I don't even know that. Yeah, so we did do a founding member's discount because somebody's got to take a chance on you, right? like You didn't know what you were getting yourself into, right? like and And we're telling you what it's going to be, but you didn't get a chance to experience it really yourself until you know we opened our doors. So, you know to account for that, we gave nice discount on that. We were about break-even to start. Okay. um So, yeah, right where you know they kind of said we would be. Okay. um give or take, you know here and there each month you know as you you know spend more to do this or change something. but
00:39:53
Speaker
um and we We've tried a lot of different things you know to see how we can optimize. you know We're constantly thinking about those things, but yeah i mean ah generally speaking, it's Exactly how they laid it out, and they gave us the instructions, and we had to co-execute. It seems like your variable costs, it's really your employees, right which is very fixed. you can't have It's not big enough. You can't have three employees at once. so im just i don't know I enjoyed the idea of the model. As a business person, I just thought that was a really interesting approach.
00:40:27
Speaker
The big cost is in the marketing. right That's the big variable. Now, my guy that was discussing this said you're very upfront. like A lot of marketing goes on the beginning couple months, yes but then it kind of trails off. that right? Eventually, yeah. so Once you hit 150 members, since that's the cap, you certainly don't need to be spending a ton on marketing at that point. and When you think about a 95% retention on members, you're replacing... you know what, seven members, five, seven members a month? and Eventually you have a waiting list. Yeah, you don't need to overspend in marketing. But to get to that first 150, that's where you're going to make a substantial investment in marketing. So yeah, the big variable costs, right? so you've got the you know the real estate, some fixed costs, but that's a high number for us. The the cost of our employees, um we do bonuses. so um
00:41:15
Speaker
so Ultimately, that that is a slightly variable cost, but kind of you know what you're in for there. um The big one is the the marketing. you know um Continue to make Meta and Google more rich than they was going to say, where do you find success in marketing?
00:41:29
Speaker
because i I write all those checks too, and but in real estate is obviously different than yours. so where do you find i mean Do they give you a playbook and say, this is what works? like try They probably give you the exact ads to probably run, I would imagine. well Yeah, and they've worked with a lot of different ad agencies. so We have an ad agency that ah they hooked us up with. um My background does lean into that stuff. right so The companies I've worked for sell marketing to small businesses, so they have you know I've had a reasonable sense of it. What we're trying to do is supplement and complement the things that we do online with things that we do locally.
00:42:04
Speaker
right So, my wife and our our GM will oftentimes be at the Towson Farmers Market. We had a great time at Towson Town Festival, yeah right and we're trying to be involved in the community. We've sponsored a lot of stuff with the local schools. Anything like that, yeah that's complimentary because again, we're we're so community based and those things feel good when we can do something that helps the community and gets our name out there at the same time. So, we're trying to compliment the online marketing that you kind of have to do at this point um with the local stuff that you know is is better for everybody. Well, what I'd like to suggest, and I thought i I'd corner you on this podcast, is that someone like myself who i already believes in the concept, I'd love to be able to offer an introductory session or two sessions or something to the people that I think I know, because I get to know these people probably too much. I'm ah i'm that kind of guy. I get to know all the things. yeah But there's certain people, I'm like, that would be a neat thing for me to offer them. And the only the ones who will take me up on it will do it. yeah I'm like, that would be a neat way to say, i already believe in it.
00:43:05
Speaker
It's local. It's here. yes Come and check it out. You get the first one or two on me kind of thing. And then if you have a decent retention rate, i mean, do you have success doing that? Or is that, you know, people just do it for free sort of thing, and they don't convert at that level. Or is it better to spend that time and energy on Facebook?
00:43:23
Speaker
No, we definitely would do something like that. Yeah, we love that kind of thing. you know We've got different partners. and We've done a little bit with Charm City Run. and you know We've done some stuff with the local massage place and and you know things that are complimentary to what we do. um
Personal Values and Entrepreneurship Motivation
00:43:37
Speaker
But yeah, we love that kind of partnership stuff. um I think that goes a long way for everybody. you know and um you know We've partnered with ah you know companies like I was looking at for that do you know testosterone and other supplements like that um you know because it can be helpful for certain people in certain situations. so
00:43:58
Speaker
you know We partner with them and then they're sending ah people to us as they need places to work out. and you know Because you can't just do one without the other. like a really good... you know and i'll I'll say this as my PSA for the day. as GLP-1s continue to be more and more popular, right, you know so is MPEC and that kind of thing, right, for people that don't know what a GLP-1 is.
00:44:18
Speaker
um The biggest thing you have to do with those, there's nothing wrong with it It's a great thing. It's a great tool, but you must strength train sure because when you lose substantial amounts of weight, it's going to take muscle mass out yeah and that it's just inevitable.
00:44:34
Speaker
You can't lose a ton of weight and not lose some muscle mass, but you want to keep that to the bare minimum possible because that muscle mass is the metabolic engine that's going to keep the weight off. and so is so incredibly important. No matter where you do it, you have to strength train if you're going to be on a GLP-1. It's so important. That is like something we talk to a lot of different people about because the thought is, well, I could just go on this and I'll lose the weight and you will. That's great. But you're probably not going to feel very good and you're not going to be able to keep it off unless you have that muscle mass. Right. No, i like I said, my wife's a dietitian. I've heard all about it. So she has the cautionary tale. she thinks that I think that initial wave of it's right for everybody, everyone should be on it. I think we might have passed that maybe initial thought process where some people are a little more cautious because guess what? You have to be on it for life.
00:45:26
Speaker
and so For some people, it does make sense. It'll change your life. It's exactly what you need, but she thinks it's been over-prescribed. She's very cautious in her recommendations for people to consider it, because she yeah deals with this all day. People are in some version of that journey when she's with them. That makes sense. She is very cautious in her recommendation. so I know some people... I even had a client who I sold a home to. She is a nurse practitioner, and she writes hundreds of scripts of that. That's all she does.
00:45:57
Speaker
It's just a cash cow. and She's writing it as fast as they walk in the door. yep and She told me all about it. She can do a pop-up clinic. and write scripts to everybody, and they get the refill business." and I go, whoa, I used to do so. I used to push drugs. right i used to i write I worked in the in the pharmaceutical world. I'm like, wow, that sounds wild. and She's like, they on it for life. I get all those refills, and I go back to that same pop-up. and I'm like, boy, this sounds maybe potentially over-prescribed. and Then you look at the income. I should have stayed with Lilly. You know there's stock nowadays. Holy lease smokes, that's who I used to work for. i used to sell ah well
00:46:34
Speaker
axeron So, I actually used to sell testosterone. So, I used to have these conversations with some people. And very different. It's a lot easier to talk about real estate. Probably more fun, too.
00:46:45
Speaker
For me, it's my personality. I get to talk about the numbers, which as you can tell, that's what I enjoy. but um But either way, so getting back to Alway, I just am so fascinated about what is the typical budget you have to prepare for someone wanted to invest in this somewhere else in the country? Do they give you an idea as to your initial amount you need to put Yeah, all franchises are required to do what they call an FDD, and then there's different sections in there. And one of the sections very clear to say, this is what your expected investment should be. Now, it's a wide range, because to your point, it really depends, right? The build out and everything else. Yeah, the build out's going to be very different, right? So if you start with cold dark shell versus something that was pretty close, does it have bathrooms already? So that's going drive a lot of the different costs. The other thing is that we start our employees before we even open, well in advance of opening. So there's some cost structure there, and then buying the equipment and all the things you need to be successful, signs. Everything's expensive, more than you think. Yeah, everything.
00:47:48
Speaker
so um So, is this one of the more affordable options? like I've looked at Saladworks, and I've looked at some of these others, and they seem to be about $75 to $150. Those are the ones I looked at, and then some were wildly more expensive than that, but you you have all this equipment. Do they give you a general ballpark? Normally, on their website, they tell you. Yeah, I think the general ballpark's between $350 to $500. We were on the upper end of that. Wow.
00:48:12
Speaker
That's so much more than a lot of these franchises. Yeah. I mean, it's not the equipment per se. I think it's... you know A lot of it's the build out. Wow. Right? you know The cost. They didn't do some kind of sweetheart deal if you sign a 10-year lease, or did you not send sign that long of a lease? Ours is five, but yeah. no and i mean I thought it was fair, and we worked through it and all that. it's the um so i No complaints about that, but you know it's all balancing act right with commercial, right? What are you going to pay
Future of Work and Personal Goals
00:48:42
Speaker
per month? What are you going to get for your build out? And then- you also have an amazing location. yeah You are straight on the corner of a busy road. yes like you Visibility with bright yellow alloy, it's yeah you couldn't be more visible. yeah so Let me tell you the funny story since real estate's kind of your world that happened with that. so
00:49:01
Speaker
Before I even signed up for the franchise, about a day and a half before, I saw that space and said, I want it. This is it. I know it. This is what I want. I knew enough about Alloy to to know that was the right one. and so My broker said, great, I'll reach out to them.
00:49:15
Speaker
We reached out. They said, we don't want you. and You're not the tenant we want? Yeah, because everybody thinks, gym, lots of parking, you're going to need a lot of parking, you're going to you know it's a lot of noise, it's it's people coming and going. and and so Their impression of a gym just said, no, you're not the right fit for us. right And so we looked and looked and looked, him and I kept bugging my ah broker, who's a good friend of ours. i was like, can you call them again? Try and not get through. And then finally, we were able to get a meeting to say like, hey, we're not like everybody else. This isn't your typical gym. We limit to six people per session, so we're not using a lot of parking. where you know It's quiet. We're not blasting music. Nobody's on a microphone. We're doing personal training here.
00:50:00
Speaker
And um so they finally took the meeting. We brought you know a consultant from our franchise you know to to help who could speak to, hey, here's what other tenants and or other landlords have found and all that kind of thing. and Eventually, ah they were like, okay, we'll give you a shot. We finally got the space. um but yeah I was really thankful because that was the only space I found that I really, really loved. i' I think it's a perfect location for visibility to get that first set of memberships, I think. yeah i mean i I saw you instantly, granted I work next door, but still, I think everybody... i have a little teeny sign. You should see my sign. I have one next to you. But mine's like the little teeny baby sign, and you get the big sign. yeah But still people see my little sign, so it's a very busy spot. Yes. It certainly probably, i think, works out well. um and so I'm glad i'm glad you found the spot um in general. so i mean Are you considering other options now that you have one and now you're a veteran of the process? Yeah, we ah we have the license for Ellicott City as well, um so we are looking for space down there. um
00:51:05
Speaker
Market's very tight you know from retail perspective. you know If you need office space, you know there's a lot available, but in terms of retail at our our footprint, we're just having trouble finding something that would work for us. and you know To your point, I feel like we got really lucky. Our space here very well lit, lot of windows. It's wide open. I go in there early in the morning yeah with you know everybody else, you feel totally safe. and you because that Safety is a key consideration because you have wide hours. Yeah, that's true.
00:51:35
Speaker
so so um Yeah, we feel great about it. so Now, we're still looking for number two. That's that's a little bit harder. ah Well, Ellicott City is a great market. That's where I'm from. i'm from that Howard County area, and so I think you'll do quite well out there. and I would imagine your demographic for the folks that are interested in personal training, we already discussed 40 and older. I mean, do you have a breakdown as the typical... I would imagine.
00:51:59
Speaker
Everyone that I work out with is relatively successful, and they're health conscious. ah Do you have a demo that you guys typically say that you attract? Yeah, you nailed it. Effectively, you know um it's an investment, so it's not you know not everybody's going to be able to afford that. so you have to you know Usually, to your point, it's going to be somebody over 40, somebody who's ah you know usually been pretty successful. and um you know And then ah wants to be healthier. Yeah. Right?
00:52:29
Speaker
So you nailed it. Yeah. So i I think it's interesting. So I mean, is this going to be the only franchise now that you understand franchises? Are you going to keep your eyes open for other avenues or or parallels, or are you going to stick to this for now? Yeah.
00:52:43
Speaker
yeah I mean, unless something you know tragic happened in my corporate job, yeah then I would have to consider it. But otherwise, no. This is it. It keeps us busy. Yeah.
00:52:55
Speaker
I joke around that this is my hobby now, right? Because you know this is when you know I'm working a ton of hours at my corporate job, but then you know on weekends or something I'll help out here. and you know Sometimes it's nine o'clock at night and I'm going to the gym to mop it. yeah um you know And my wife's doing the same thing. She's there full time. And you know we ah believe from a leadership perspective to you know not ask anybody to do anything you wouldn't do yourself. So we're the ones cleaning the bathroom, mopping the floors, you know and and our trainers help too. But yeah you know we we chip in on all that stuff.
00:53:27
Speaker
That's awesome. Yeah, no, actually, I heard about that, that you were cleaning the floors and doing all the things. So, it does get around. So, that's to your point. um But I do have people if you need some help. I do have to prep listings for a living. So, if you ever need a pinch, you got me now. So, I have ah i can help you. Oh, good. Yeah. yeah if We did ah finally hire a cleaning company that comes in on the weekends, but they're not living up yet to my wife's standard. Oh, I have some wonderful That gym is super clean. i It is shockingly clean. and be I'm like crawling on it in the morning, so I would know. and that's my Even just the mats are just really clean, like everything. Because you'd know, everyone who's been to a gym knows how disgusting they can be.
00:54:05
Speaker
yeah no we're it's it is We're sanitizing between, i mean um and my wife's pretty ah obsessive about keeping it really clean to the point where, as you know, all the towels are perfectly in a pyramid with the line of the towel all lined up on each of them. I put one backward you know way backwards once. She'll let you know about it. Yeah. We got that fixed.
00:54:25
Speaker
and Excellent. so in that so I always want to go and kind of wrap it up a little bit in the financial thing, because when folks come to me, usually they have a job. They have a corporate job. They're successful. Oftentimes, they have money, and it's sitting in a brokerage account earning, which which is shocking, but maybe not to everybody, but most people I speak to could have substantial investments in brokerage accounts that earn very little.
00:54:48
Speaker
Some are only earning zero. I've seen clients that have millions of dollars in inter their checking account. I don't want to point out exactly who, but there's someone in one of the directions adjacent to this home that I've sold in this neighborhood that is in the millions and they're checking. I know because they bought a home in cash and I was like, why do you have that in your checking account? right I don't know where to put it. I'm like, oh my God. So why did you choose this route rather than just putting it into another investment vehicle?
00:55:16
Speaker
Is it purely because... Because part of it has to be monetary, I would imagine. It's not just we want to improve the community, right? You want to to return, you're a business person. Or like I would just want to get into your mind a little bit because that's what people ask me. They come and that's why I wanted to talk to someone who does a franchise. Some people have a dream of a franchise, but they don't know where to start.
00:55:35
Speaker
That's why you said a franchise consultant might be where you can start. Yes. But I have a podcast on that. Listen to that one, folks. So from your perspective, Why didn't you just give the money to somebody and say, give me 10% or whatever the number is? Is it it's more attractive in terms of returns this way? no Or is it- I think it's easier. right i could ah i mean If that money had just sat where it was, it would have been fine. We would have made great returns. um No, i I think this fulfilled a dream.
00:56:06
Speaker
fulfilled a dream right like you know and and ah you know i think there's a time where you just have to say, i wanted to do this, yeah and I'm going to give it a shot, and I'm going take my chance, take my shot. right like i you know I've been working with small business owners almost my entire career, helping them and and always thinking like, wow, I would love to do that. And you know finally, it was like, all right, this is my chance to take that shot. and
00:56:37
Speaker
you know Because I've worked hard over a long career, you know i was in a position to be able to to do it and afford the franchise fee and all those things. and um But you know i really think more than anything it was, i always wanted this. and I needed to to give it that shot and and just see. and Yeah, it would have been probably easier and may someday prove out... I don't know how it'll prove out economically, which one will be better. It'll take a few more years to figure that out. but yeah and Then there's one other piece to it.
00:57:10
Speaker
Right. um The CEO of my corporate company always says, you know if yeah and gets it from Brian Tracy, I believe, if you help enough people get what they want, you get what you want. Sure. Right? And i think there's an opportunity for me to do things for you know my employees and help them to get what they want. And I'd love to be in a position where eventually they become owners. Right. Right? And you know whether that's i sell a small portion to them, whether I sell the whole thing to them someday, you know whatever that looks like. um you know Because the path forward for a trainer is really tough. It's tough. It's not easy. and And many of them dream of becoming owners, but it's hard to get there.
00:57:50
Speaker
But if you were running one already yeah and you're already successful and you know you're taking over, that that's a different conversation with ah somebody trying to finance it. so right I think there's an opportunity there as well.
00:58:03
Speaker
well and I think this this theme of fulfillment is going to be more valuable if you want to believe what's going to happen to money and to the scale of the economics of the future. so I'm big into AI. You don't know my nerdiness quite yet, but i I look in the future, in the looking glass, if you will, in the next 10 to 20 years, you know what Elon says about money in 20 years? It's irrelevant.
00:58:29
Speaker
So, if you want that's the extreme example. yeah right So, that's the that's the money doesn't matter, don't even save. like Literally, he said that. And people say, that's easy to say when you're the richest person in the world. But also, um that's the extreme example that money will have less value when goods and services and energy eventually goes close to zero.
00:58:48
Speaker
And so, when you have more bots than you do people, I believe the fundamental... And now, by the way, what I just said eventually will be a version of truth. Now, it may not be 20 years. But at some point, a version of that will come true, where work won't be anything like what it is now.
00:59:05
Speaker
We have language models today. That's the easiest. Real world is going to be next. That's when your trainer you hire, you can have a trainer per person that's a bot that's inexpensive, that will watch you and has... So, what's going to happen in 10 years, who knows? yeah But I think fulfillment is the first thing that we're going to all lose, because I am fulfilled by my occupation. That's why I don't need a hobby, is because I actually love what I do. I almost think it's a game in a weird way. like I gamify it. I think I'm excellent at it, so I get fulfillment personally, because I think I'm really good at it. And so, it's not ah it's not I don't dread it. right And so, it's not the same to me.
00:59:45
Speaker
and But if I didn't, like if that was taken away from me, what the hell do I do? like That's a real concern, and I think it's really intelligent that you're fulfilling a a dream and a passion. because i think ah you know i don't know what like A lot of people have never had the courage to do it. and um I give you all the kudos to say that you actually stepped out there and did it, because there's so many people that think about it and never take the first step.
01:00:10
Speaker
and I think it's remarkable. I think we should celebrate people that take chances and celebrate. Everybody thinks you're greedy. If you become successful at this, then you're going to be hated. Isn't that a weird way? But that is almost true.
01:00:21
Speaker
That's interesting. I didn't think about that. I hope not. It's weird. With success comes certain levels of resentment, and the people that are your champion as you're growing will no longer be your champions upon success.
01:00:35
Speaker
And I've seen it with some other people that have been successful in my little world, and it's really fascinating. yeah um But i am' very i I did not expect you to say what you said, so in terms of fulfillment being the main driving factor.
01:00:49
Speaker
Yeah. i mean
Conclusion and Future Plans
01:00:50
Speaker
i think you know um
01:00:53
Speaker
There's a lot of you know thought process of around just saying yes sometimes. and you know I'm not a big risk taker, that's the funniest part. like I'm very risk averse. yeah um i have a hard time with risk. This was a big move for me.
01:01:08
Speaker
um but you know and In some ways, maybe that's a there's a hedge, right? like God forbid anything ever happened in my corporate job, I have this other thing that I do, right? and so There's a little bit of a hedge of risk when you think of it that way. but Ultimately, yeah, no, normally I'm not a a big risk taker, but you know you say, okay, I really have wanted to do this. Like I said, I read a franchise book when I was 17 and sort of said it's been in the back of my mind. An interesting exercise. um I've actually done this with a couple of my sales teams where you write down 101 wishes and the first 20, 30 come to you really, really quickly. um But the more you get into it deep and the whole ah thought exercise in it is to do it like ridiculous. Like, I want to go to the moon, right which sounds completely unfathomable at the moment. But then sometimes you look at it and you go, oh, well, I sort of achieved that just in a way I never thought of before right or something like that. right um But I've done that with a couple sales teams. and um
01:02:06
Speaker
The crazy part was, in one case, the guy wrote down, I really want to own a donut shop. So he quit working with me, opened a donut shop down in North Carolina, and he's doing great. It's called Wake and Bake down in North Carolina. and no geez. Does he sell everything? Yeah.
01:02:20
Speaker
um And he was a great rep. but um And then another guy said, you know, I really want to perform in front of an audience. And at a sales kickoff kind of event, he performed. And now he ah goes around all over Baltimore County performing. His name's Jamie Bishop. You can find him- McGoobee's?
01:02:38
Speaker
What's that? McGoobee's Joke House, possibly? No, no, I'm sorry, performing music. Oh, I thought he might be a comedian, okay. No, so you'll find him at like Mucho Gusto but and Looney's and places like that. Oh, neat, neat. Yeah, I mean, it was a big dream of his that came out of writing that down. So, on my list, one of the things was, you know... um own a business. And so when I have a chance to achieve those things that were on the list or do something like that, i try to say yes. And sometimes i don't even remember I wrote it down, but just the act of writing it down often propels me to do something and I'll be like, I just feel like I gotta do that. And then yeah I look back at the list, I'm like, oh my god, yeah, Well, I don't think a lot of people, at least that I guess I should speak for myself, I never would have thought a franchise, when I think of owning a business, to me, it's like i grew up on a dairy farm, and my father and mother owned and operated their own business. They had a little you know milk shipping company. And he would have a Mack truck and I would get, I remember as a kid, get in there and he'd run the routes first thing in the morning, and pick up all the milk. So, I grew up in an environment where that was normal. right And we never worked for anyone. And I felt like a piece of my soul got kicked in when I took a job and reported to somebody. I don't know how to describe it other than I felt, if my dad was around, I think he'd be disappointed.
01:03:55
Speaker
And it always ate at me yeah and so, I was very eager to get out of the corporate environment, because I did not grow up in that. and I always say, I know all of my expenses for the next three to six months. I have no idea what my income will be. right so i salivate over to a franchise model where there's a path and there's recurring income streams in certain level of... There's no such thing as certainty, but certain level of it. and ah so i I think you might be risk adverse, but you did a very i think sound investment, one that has some legs to it.
01:04:26
Speaker
Yeah, I think if you're going to start a business, it's probably the safest way to do it. Of course. And there's a lot of things I didn't have to figure out. I didn't have to go searching for ad agencies. They gave me two or three, said interview these two or three, you know meet them, find out what they're all about.
01:04:42
Speaker
um So you know there's a lot of shortcuts to... you know They've already figured it out. You don't have to go figure that portion out. Yeah, well that's incredible. So I don't want to take you up any more of your time. We already chatted for an hour, look at this. Oh wow. My goodness, time flies. So I just want to thank you once again for joining me and anybody that's listening, make sure you check out the gym. You can work out with me if you feel like getting up that early, but Alloy Fitness has been, ah i don't know, I think it's a great addition for me. I i have no intention of switching anymore, so I'm grateful that that you managed to pop something up so close ah to where I live and work, so I appreciate it. And hopefully you can find that Ellicott City location Any other spots after that you're eyeing up? We'll have to see after that. Yeah. We'll see. We'll pump the brakes. So maybe Ellicott City, guys, you might have another opportunity. So thanks, Bill, for joining me. And I wish you all the success. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
01:05:34
Speaker
It was my pleasure. Thanks.
01:05:37
Speaker
And big thank you to our sponsor, First Home Mortgage. You can check them out at firsthome.com.