Latest / SOTA Personal Training Podcast / How a Broken Spine Saved My Life: The SOTA Backstory (Ep. 25)

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How a Broken Spine Saved My Life: The SOTA Backstory (Ep. 25) · SOTA Personal Training Podcast

0:03
I'm here joined by Phil, owner of Soda Personal Fitness in
0:07
Minnetonka. Thanks for coming.
0:09
Yeah, thanks for having me. Well, tell us a little bit about
0:12
Soda personal fitness and your location and just a little bit
0:15
about kind of the background and when you started and then we'll
0:18
learn all about Phil and what what drives you.
0:20
Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
0:22
We, we started 2017 officially with our brick and mortar
0:26
location and we're in, yeah, Minnetonka on like the east side
0:30
with like a 3500 square foot space.
0:32
We generally help, you know, we work with everybody.
0:36
We have some kids, some people in their 80s, but generally our
0:39
target demographic is busy adults, you know, parents, the
0:42
40 plus population. It's me.
0:44
Yep, Yep. Just help people get stronger.
0:47
We focus on the strength training, longevity, all the
0:50
stuff people don't know how to do or won't do on their own.
0:53
Try to make it simple. I think a lot of people know
0:57
what they should do, but the motivation falls off so quickly,
1:03
right? And and it takes how long to
1:04
develop a habit, like 21 days? That's.
1:06
What they say. To develop a habit.
1:08
I mean I I heard this one story, I don't want to have too much
1:11
here, but one story where about a guy he'd live 2 hours away
1:13
from a gym. He was open way northern
1:15
Minnesota and every day he drove two hours, was at the gym for 5
1:20
minutes and drove home and they said you can't get fit in 5
1:25
minutes, why would you do that? And he said I was building the
1:27
habit of going there for 21 days or 30 days, and then he started
1:32
staying in 1/2 hour each time in an hour.
1:35
So he just needed the habit of going.
1:37
That's like James clears book Tomic habits right?
1:40
It's like 1. Of the strategies.
1:41
Just like just step in the gym and then you could just you just
1:43
go the parking lot 1st and then eventually it becomes more
1:47
routine and you just do these bite sized pieces.
1:49
That's yes, 100%. So motivation and discipline
1:53
both for business owners and like everybody in life.
1:57
So how do you get people caught walking in the door?
2:00
What is your process? What is your onboarding?
2:02
What is your like normal like, OK, let's do this to figure out.
2:06
Yep, Yep. Math equation, if you will.
2:08
And I love this question because a lot of people have a
2:11
preconceived notion about what gyms are like.
2:13
And they imagine it's, I don't know, LA Fitness or Lifetime
2:16
Fitness, great facilities. But you know, they go in and
2:19
they, you know, the big parking lot, they come in, no one owns
2:22
their name. There's, you know, 20 high
2:24
school kids and those Stringer tank tops.
2:26
And it's just not the right vibe, right?
2:29
Yoga pants. Yeah, lots of mirrors.
2:32
Like people? On the Stairmasters, sweating,
2:35
watching everyone. It's just not like a focused
2:37
environment. There's a lot of distractions.
2:39
So like our process is like, you know, just tell us you're
2:43
interested. We'll do a phone call.
2:44
We'll see if we're even a good fit because it's not like we
2:47
work with everybody. You know, there's definitely a
2:50
certain criteria that that we're more qualified to help or not.
2:52
And we're honest with that. So if you know, do a short, you
2:56
know, phone or Zoom call. If it does seem like a good fit,
2:58
people come in, we do what's called a starting point session,
3:01
get a tour of the gym, check out the vibe.
3:03
We do a, you know, a goals and needs assessment, do some
3:07
movement screening. And then yeah, if they feels
3:10
like a good fit, then we get their schedule set up and start
3:13
getting them results. I love it.
3:15
So what is the vibe at Soda Personal Fitness?
3:18
Like what is that vibe that you guys portray 'cause there is a
3:21
lot. I mean, there's a lot of gyms
3:23
out there and a lot of places that people pay every month and
3:26
never show up past the first week, right, Right.
3:28
That's like, I think that's the definition of a gym now.
3:31
There are obviously there's big one, big box and small box.
3:33
So what's your vibe? Yeah, no, that's, that's another
3:36
really good question. We are in a kind of place that's
3:40
like, hey, you know, if you're not going to pay for it, we're
3:42
we're just say, hey, let's just take a break.
3:44
When can we meet back up and make this work?
3:46
But we, you know, every quarter we do team meetings, we just
3:50
review our, our, you know, culture, our core value, so to
3:53
speak. And one of them we adjust the
3:55
one where we call good vibes and high fives, right?
3:58
So when people come in, we want it to feel like a home
4:00
environment. We have a rule.
4:02
We got to greet them by name within 10 seconds.
4:04
That's like a non negotiable, doesn't matter if you're
4:06
cleaning the toilet, working with a client, we look give more
4:09
attention. It's kind of like that, you
4:12
know, the store, the buckle. There's like a buckle challenge.
4:14
If you could go to the back of the store and go to the front
4:17
door again without them saying your name like you won because
4:21
you can't do it. It's it's kind of like what?
4:23
We do. It's like a welcome home
4:25
atmosphere. You know, I got a couple clients
4:28
who come in and Coach Blake will just start doing the skull chant
4:32
and then all of a sudden, like, you know, people are doing it.
4:35
Some of the newbies are like, what?
4:36
What's going on here? But that's our vibe.
4:39
It's, it's a personal thing. We, we don't focus on, you know,
4:42
having 500 members that pay nothing and never show up.
4:45
We have, you know, about 200 members right now and they come
4:49
in two to three days a week regularly.
4:50
They, they, they have a, a group, so to speak.
4:55
And so that's what I'd say, is that people come to do certain
4:58
things like lose weight and get healthier, but they stay for
5:01
reasons completely unrelated. That is so I love, I love that
5:05
people show up for what they think is the reason and then
5:08
they stay for a different reason.
5:09
Yeah, that's really. Yeah, that's good.
5:11
So I mean, 3500 square feet, that's not a small gym.
5:13
That's that's like lots of people.
5:14
Can they just come and work out on their own or you all do just
5:18
small group sessions or personal training sessions?
5:20
What's the? Yeah, we, we used to be like
5:23
one-on-one and in large group only.
5:25
And we found out there's like a big gap in the middle.
5:27
Like one-on-one is the bigger investment.
5:29
It's more of a finer scope of coaching.
5:31
It's more involved more. Expensive.
5:33
It is and that's a big barrier to do it more mid to long term
5:36
for sure. And then large group was great,
5:38
but it's the same workout and it wasn't specific enough for most
5:42
people. And it's less accountable
5:44
because they're just kind of signing up when they want to.
5:47
Yep. So it relies too much on
5:48
motivation. So the small group piece we
5:50
started doing when we kind of did our renovation last year,
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which is a big deal. It's, you know, 1 coach, up to
5:57
six clients, the sweet spots, like four or five, everyone gets
6:00
their own program. They're doing things
6:02
independently, but like still as a group.
6:05
So it's a really sweet spot of like value and and so it's.
6:10
Yeah, it's, it's reasonable fair so that they can feel like, hey,
6:13
I can do this a few times a week.
6:15
I'm not going to go broke. Yeah.
6:17
And I can ultimately hit my goals, which is, you know,
6:20
whether it be losing weight, being stronger, even
6:22
flexibility, mobility, whatever that whatever that looks like
6:25
for everybody. So different.
6:26
Yeah. And and, you know, yeah, we have
6:28
an open gym format. We just started doing that
6:30
'cause we're like, we do have capacity for a few people to do
6:32
their own thing because optimally we want to have people
6:35
doing stuff three times a week with us, but it could be more
6:38
like on their own. So we could people plan, they
6:40
come and do it and that works out really well.
6:43
And we still have our one-on-one.
6:44
We still have a large group format, but that's that that
6:47
middle ground, that small group is quickly becoming like the the
6:50
place to be. OK, so how many push ups can you
6:53
do it one time I. Don't know.
6:55
Should we find out? Yeah, he's good.
6:56
Go go on this table. We don't have a pull up bar.
6:58
I don't have a pull up bar but I was like how many push ups?
7:00
I don't know. I haven't just.
7:02
I haven't banged out a set to see where I'm at in a long.
7:04
Time I, I think we need to know, I think, you know, maybe we'll
7:07
have to need to know that at some point.
7:10
A competition. Well, I don't think that's fair,
7:13
but maybe give us like starter and come back and see, I know I
7:16
started it. You're right, right?
7:18
Like. Well, the other thing is you see
7:20
people do like push up contests and they'll go like halfway down
7:23
and so there's so. What's your Murph time?
7:25
You know what? I haven't.
7:26
I've only done the Murph once, and I didn't do it like the RX
7:29
version. OK.
7:30
So I could even tell you that was probably four years ago.
7:32
OK. Well, I think that's that's
7:34
probably what we should focus on.
7:35
I. Think you'd probably beat me at
7:37
the Murph potentially. I don't.
7:38
Know that was a big deal for me for a long time.
7:40
It's kind of falling on on the wayside, but I think I need to
7:43
get back up into it a little bit and we can fall back with this
7:46
with our our, our future move. Time we'll see you back.
7:48
'Cause that's what. Right?
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That's that's 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 squats.
7:52
Yep, and a mile run on both sides of that.
7:54
Correct With a 20 LB weight vest.
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That's right. To do it correct, Yeah.
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To do it correct. To do it correct.
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To make it. And if you wanna know what
8:01
torture feels like and like absolutely the worst thing in
8:05
the world, yeah, I'd do one of those.
8:06
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
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So your thing's a little bit different.
8:09
You're you're actually somewhere where people want to come back.
8:11
To yes, correct all right. Yeah.
8:13
So tell me Phil, like when you came from like what's your
8:17
background? Like why did you decide, hey,
8:19
you know what, let's start a personal training fitness center
8:23
in Minnetonka. You know, like were you at AW29
8:28
to five job at one point? Was it always an entrepreneurial
8:31
type of person? I think when I was like a kid, I
8:36
like started AI, started a business with my friends where I
8:39
would trade these crazy bones or I'd pay my friends and crazy
8:42
bones which were like these little plastic toys that don't
8:46
exist anymore. I think I and I I called it
8:48
like. Kids, stickers, they don't exist
8:50
anymore. And I would trade those things,
8:51
yeah. I still have a bag just in case
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they take back off, you know, like Beanie Babies.
8:56
They they won't like cryptocurrency.
8:58
They won't pretty much the previous of the cryptocurrency.
9:01
Yeah, my dad saved me a bag and we were moving recently.
9:04
So I had all these bins in my stuff like what is this garbage?
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And like plastic Ziploc bag, you've all these crazy bones.
9:09
I'm like it's small enough. I'll just keep them just for the
9:11
memory, just for the memory. So I think I always had that
9:14
entrepreneurial like kind of hear it, but you know, and then
9:17
went through school, you know, didn't know, didn't know what I
9:19
was going to do. I had a back injury.
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So I had two different car accidents.
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So one when I was first one was in high school, it was like 17
9:29
driving with my friends and we were in a Jeep Grand, sorry
9:32
Wrangler with like the soft top and a drunk lady like we rented
9:36
us going like 60 miles an hour and we were stopped.
9:38
Oh my gosh. So like the whole back tire got
9:40
like pushed into the car. It was like a miracle something
9:43
worse didn't happen. Well, that tire probably helped
9:45
a lot, actually. Yeah, well, the back seat my
9:48
friends did not have like a headrest.
9:50
It's like a Jeep. It's like.
9:51
An Yeah, I know the we have a Wrangler.
9:53
You do? Yeah, I have a Wrangler.
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My wife. Likes it.
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They're not. I mean they're they're great car
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we were OK, but like my friend Chuck next to me, his seat like
10:01
unbolted from the from the. Bottom so my.
10:05
Leg came out well we were all OK but I did so I like had AI
10:11
fractured my my thoracic spine so OK broke part of my spine
10:15
and. Was that like your C?
10:17
What? Think it was like.
10:18
Think it was like my teeth T5 or T4.
10:21
Yeah, thoracic spines between so.
10:23
T Yep, OK the higher up. Yep, Yep, exactly.
10:27
So that, you know, I didn't get like checked out or anything.
10:30
And maybe I should have, but but yeah, that caused me issues for
10:34
a long time. And then I have another car
10:36
accident with another drunk driver where they ran a red
10:39
light and I hit them and then I messed up my shoulder and, you
10:43
know, both cars totaled both times.
10:45
So my mother was just so ecstatic when I bought a
10:48
motorcycle, right? A few years later, she's like
10:50
you. Don't have a good rule of
10:51
threes, Phil? Yeah, rule of three.
10:54
Ever happened? I don't have a motorcycle
10:55
anymore. Probably good.
10:57
Yeah. But so that this really stems
11:00
from a big history of, like, pain.
11:02
Like, I worked in orthodontic office for a long time from,
11:05
like, I was 16. I helped make dental appliances,
11:08
spending, you know, time hunched over a desk doing stuff all day.
11:12
And my back would be so bad. I'd have to like lay in the
11:14
floor in the break room just like let things calm down
11:17
because my back would be spasming.
11:20
And we could make this podcast about back pain right now.
11:22
Like there's so many people. Like I personally, I know what
11:25
you're talking about. Like I'd have to lay on the
11:27
ground. I'd have a stem machine like at
11:30
home stem machine have like the heat in the ice pack bottles of
11:33
Advil stick in there all the time.
11:35
Yep. Like exactly.
11:37
Like, yeah, I'm with you. I'm right there, right there.
11:39
I'm right. Like when you say this stuff,
11:41
I'm right there with you. And I think a lot of people.
11:42
Are but. OK.
11:44
So yeah, people would come in the break room and they would
11:47
like, not know who's there. They'd be heating up some lunch
11:49
like Oh my God. I'd.
11:51
Be like laying there like, you know, so, so that was a big
11:55
issue for a long time. And it only got worse when I got
11:57
into like this more sedentary lifestyle.
11:59
You know, there was school, I was just sitting, sitting and
12:02
activity went down. I wasn't playing soccer anymore.
12:04
This is a very common narrative for a lot of people when they
12:06
get their first job and then they get kids and it's just
12:09
like, it's so hard to fit it in. So they don't do it.
12:12
And then we get weaker. This just happened to me earlier
12:15
and was precipitated by that car accident or both of them.
12:19
And so I, I got a gym membership and I kind of, I was going
12:23
through PT, you know, physical therapy.
12:25
It wasn't working well for me. I wasn't doing exercises because
12:29
it just wasn't a motivating environment.
12:30
No, see him once every two weeks you get a piece of paper, right?
12:34
And do this, it's like, OK, so I'd go in and I'm like, I'm
12:37
doing my exercises. And I wasn't, he's like, no,
12:39
you're not like, well, this sucks.
12:42
Such a chiropractic. All this.
12:43
And it wasn't until I started lifting some weights that like I
12:47
started feeling better both acutely.
12:48
And then over time, it was just, I just wasn't strong enough,
12:53
right, to like hold my head up. And that happens.
12:55
We start losing muscle around the age of 30 and it just Father
12:59
time just strips it, you know, until we do something to reverse
13:02
it. Well, some people are very
13:04
strong in certain areas of their body, but not in other and it's
13:07
compensating. And when you actually get like
13:09
better and it's like the smaller muscle groups, it's like, wow,
13:12
what a difference this made. And I, I felt like I was strong,
13:15
but I did one exercise different and it changed everything.
13:18
Right. So that's interesting background
13:20
that you start. So you you decided I'm going to
13:24
start a gym. Not not until after I failed
13:27
getting into PT school. Got it.
13:28
OK. Because when I went through
13:29
that. I was like, I like this.
13:31
I always wanted to help people. I was a psych major, but I was
13:34
like, I want to change how this PT thing is done.
13:37
So I, I was a little late to the game.
13:40
I got one interview in Stockton, CA, which is they're known for.
13:44
They got a school and they have a prison.
13:46
And it's not, it's not the ocean.
13:47
It's not California like you think.
13:49
Yeah, you just drive inland. It's just like, so I didn't get
13:53
in. I got the interview, botched it.
13:54
And as I was kind of going through my, you know, I was
13:58
going to reapply, I was convinced I had to go to PT
14:00
school. I started working at a gym not
14:03
too far from where are now and all of a sudden it was just
14:06
like, I don't mind getting up for this at, you know, 5:00 AM.
14:10
I'm, I'm good at it naturally. And it just, it just kind of
14:15
clicked. So that's just where it started.
14:18
Worked there for a year and then the it's called the management.
14:22
The gym owner was just ethically not in line with what I was
14:25
looking for. So I left, had a few few people
14:29
follow me and yeah, went to freedom gyms, needed a brick and
14:33
mortar location so we didn't have to rely on someone else's
14:36
ability to manage a space. So that's when we got our our
14:40
current space about 8 years ago, just over that.
14:42
Wow. Yeah.
14:44
That's really cool. It's been a fun journey.
14:46
So what tell us about business owner Phil?
14:49
Oh yeah. Like what, what is your process?
14:51
I know, like we were talking a little bit before that something
14:54
I've I've actually kind of cool that you and your wife do what
14:56
like every so often. Oh yeah.
14:59
So yeah, just as far as getting stuff done.
15:00
We have two young kids, right? Just turned 3 and 6, so quiet
15:05
time is far and few between. It's especially because.
15:09
Nonexistent. Yes, well, who am I kidding?
15:11
We go to work for a quiet time. Yes, yes, we do.
15:14
Sometimes Monday's like, oh, all right, daycare, love our kids,
15:17
but yeah, I mean, yeah, we all need breaks here and there.
15:20
Monday's my favorite day of the week.
15:21
Yep. Yeah, exactly.
15:23
Because you have how many kids? I have 4 yes.
15:26
I mean, that's. When you talk, when you talk
15:29
about sedentary lifestyles, thank goodness my kids, I coach
15:32
my kids. Because otherwise you sit in the
15:34
bleachers, you sit at the, the baseball field, right?
15:37
You're sitting at work, you're sitting in the car, you go at
15:40
home, you watch Netflix, you're sitting on the couch.
15:42
Like we're just, it's the new smoking, right, sedentary piece.
15:46
Yeah, it's, it's crazy. So I said with the kids, you
15:50
know, and you're going to be up there pretty quick, like whether
15:52
it be dancing or whatever they hockey or whatever they started
15:55
to do, you gotta keep moving. Like, that's so, so true.
15:59
So that that that part. Yeah.
16:00
But OK, go keep going with what you.
16:02
Yeah. Yeah, no, Do I have to?
16:03
That's good. So yeah, we, we run the gym
16:05
together and we all, we both wear several different hats, all
16:10
the stuff that's kind of like the unsung, you know, not
16:13
heroes, but just all the things that require a good solid
16:16
working, you know, environment organization.
16:19
So I do a lot of like the management handle consultations.
16:23
I have a couple of people that I work with and I saw this needed
16:26
for the the team. And then Katie does like almost
16:30
everything back end. So she helps with this, the
16:32
software, she keeps things running smoothly.
16:35
Newsletters. Yeah, right.
16:37
Yeah, cuz you do YouTube stuff right or, well, you do some type
16:40
of newsletter. We do, yeah.
16:43
But you going back, you had so. But in order to think, yes,
16:46
right, you need time apart or you need time by yourself.
16:49
As a business owner, I can relate to that.
16:51
And some of us get like, I get mine on my runs, right.
16:54
And I decided joke like that's where I come with these
16:55
brilliant ideas that the next day I think aren't really that
16:58
brilliant. But there's like one out of 10
16:59
that's like, wow, this is really good.
17:01
But you, what do you guys do? Once in a while, yeah, we'll
17:04
just book the other the other party, a hotel room close by the
17:09
space. We usually use some points so
17:11
it's not cost prohibitive just to have like a night of
17:15
uninterrupted sleep where we can just do whatever we want with
17:17
that time. And often times we'll both spend
17:20
time just catching up on work, but that feels good.
17:22
And that feels like a restorative use of that time
17:25
because some of like my ideas are big enough that I can't do
17:29
it in 30 minute chunks. I need to like sit and absorb
17:32
and it goes through a process. So there's a lot of three M
17:37
sticky notes. Oh.
17:38
Plenty as we were talking. You know things are getting bad
17:41
when I've got a pile of 30 different colored crumpled,
17:44
sticky. Notes.
17:45
And like my cup holder, my car, Yeah, because I can't not write
17:48
it down. No, Every business owner has
17:49
that process. OK, good.
17:51
Every business owner. So you're in your car and you or
17:53
I'm on a run or whatever and you come up with it or you're in
17:55
real estate or you're selling widgets, right?
17:58
You have this brilliant idea. Everybody has a process, right?
18:01
So do you stop and take a note in your car?
18:04
Like I put it on my phone or I take an audio note or I even
18:07
record a video of me saying it? Yeah.
18:09
When it just kind of strucks you.
18:11
Can you go back later and you're like, was that a good idea or
18:13
not? Yeah, usually it starts on the
18:15
sticky note and then if it makes it makes the cut, it'll go to
18:17
another notebook that sits in my laptop bag.
18:20
It's in there right now, along with probably 30 sticky notes.
18:24
So it's, yeah, I just collect them and try to organize them.
18:28
It's hard because I want to do so many things.
18:30
I want to like, like everything I do now is about system
18:32
optimization for our team, for our clients and for our business
18:37
as well as like our family, because there's a lot of overlap
18:40
in business ownership and management.
18:42
Managing a family like core values, processes, schedules,
18:46
it's almost identical we've found and so I I want to do so
18:51
many things all the time, but you can really only do a few.
18:54
So it's it's it's tricky. So how did?
18:57
You, you're right, it, it being a business owner is unbelievably
19:01
tricky. And then you, like you said, you
19:03
both wear a ton of hats. But when you started, like if,
19:06
if someone dislikes you started this all over again, what
19:09
mistakes did you make or what did you do that worked really
19:12
well right out of the gates? Like you, the number one thing,
19:15
get clients, get clients, get clients, get clients, get
19:18
clients, right? Some people will, I'm going to
19:20
buy business cards, I'm going to buy my my worksheet.
19:24
I'm going to buy all these things.
19:25
And so I'm ready when my clients show up.
19:27
And the best businesses I find work in reverse of that.
19:31
They go find clients and get too many clients and then out of
19:34
necessity, they solve the biggest problem that comes to
19:36
them, right. So the most business don't start
19:39
that way, though. So we'll talk us through like
19:40
some of the things that you kind of failed at or some of the
19:43
things that went really well out of the gate.
19:45
Totally, yes, I, I joke with our team a lot.
19:48
It's like it's taken us eight years to get to this point.
19:51
And I think if I could start fresh now, I could probably do
19:54
it in one to two years, right? Because it's like way faster.
19:58
Won't do that again, won't do this again.
20:00
A lot of it comes down to I was always passionate about what I
20:03
do and a huge roadblock or barrier was like trusting it to
20:08
other people. So I forgot who said this, I
20:10
think he wrote maybe it's Dan Martel.
20:12
Buy Back Your Time is a book that he has.
20:15
That's like if you can get someone else to do it 80% as
20:17
good as you, that is an A+. Yep.
20:19
So you gotta be OK with that buffer and be like that's
20:22
plenty. That's actually best case
20:23
scenario. But that that's really hard as
20:26
business owners because I'll just do it.
20:27
I'll just do it. I'm better.
20:28
I'll just do it. I.
20:29
Still do that stuff. We can't help it.
20:31
It's it's how we're ingrained, right?
20:33
It's like a business is like a it's a little child, right?
20:35
And it's the first time you give it to the babysitter.
20:37
You're like, you're gonna be OK. They call me, you know, it's
20:40
like. How's it going?
20:42
So out of necessity, like now we have, you know, we have a team
20:45
of soon to be I think 9 coaches and like everyone has some other
20:48
things they're delegated to. We still need more of them
20:51
delegated. But like, we sold our house last
20:54
week. We had to get all our stuff out
20:56
of the house. We were right on that fringe of
20:58
needing to hire it out to move. So we did it ourselves for the
21:00
most part with some family, and we barely got anything done last
21:07
week. We didn't check our e-mail.
21:09
It was like, my God, I'm leaving this on the table.
21:12
Katie struggled because we had our meeting yesterday.
21:15
She's like, was everything OK last week?
21:16
And they're like, yeah, like we got it.
21:19
So once you're able to do that, like then you're able to equip
21:22
them with, you know, the confidence that, yeah, it's
21:25
they've got it. They've got it down.
21:27
We can do stuff like that and not sweat it.
21:30
And I knew the whole time, like, it's fine if there's a fire,
21:32
we'll put it out, but it takes a while to get there.
21:36
So back to like your original question.
21:38
It's like, that's a good, that's a really good point.
21:39
It's that's one of the things I think I struggled with was
21:42
trying to like micromanage and do it exactly this way.
21:45
And we found a really good balance.
21:46
Now, if this is the framework we use, but as a coach, you're
21:49
independent, you, these are the goals.
21:51
This is how we approach it generally, but we want your own
21:54
individual, you know, touch on that.
21:57
So it feels not forced. I think other than that, like
22:02
some of it, just like you have to struggle in order to learn
22:05
those things. You can't, like you can do a
22:08
little franchise model of a business, but like then you're
22:10
not going to learn the skills the right way.
22:13
You need to make the mistakes because that's where you, that's
22:17
where you learn the best way. Failure is such a positive word
22:21
in my like my vocabulary. Yeah.
22:24
Someone said, oh, I, I failed. I didn't do it like I sucked at
22:27
it. It's like you learned so much in
22:30
that period of time that you that now you're going to make
22:33
your business better. And you what you just talked
22:36
about is and releasing and letting some stuff go and give
22:40
it to other people. If you got the right people in
22:41
there, you get watch them, give it to them and watch them what
22:45
happens, right? And sometimes you're just
22:47
unbelievably amazed. But I bet that felt really good
22:50
last week that you could kind of take a step back.
22:52
And you're like, oh it. Didn't burn to the ground.
22:55
Yes, it never has, and it probably never will.
22:57
Yeah, it never burned to the. Ground it is fantastic yeah and
23:00
it's the right people and that is that's the hardest part is is
23:04
the people are the they're everything as far as the team I
23:10
know for a fact there's several instances where I hired someone
23:12
it wasn't a good fit and I was too afraid to say this isn't a
23:15
fit I'm like it'll be all right they'll get better and like I
23:19
knew. How long did you put up with it?
23:20
Far too long. Like how long we're talking?
23:23
The last time this happened, it was like within a week, it was
23:25
like. OK, but that was the first time
23:27
this happened. But but.
23:28
It was like, it might have gone. No, you could say some were
23:32
maybe years and like it was just on that fringe, just kind of
23:35
like a spectrum. It's like like here's the line
23:38
and you're like, you know, this is acceptable.
23:40
You're like, right? Here I can change it, I can make
23:42
it better. I'm I can do something.
23:45
And you kind of put yourself in that shoes and it just doesn't
23:47
get better. And then you're like, wow, yeah,
23:49
I should have done it. But if you get the right people.
23:51
Yes. It's a it's amazing what they
23:53
can do. Yeah, I'm super conflict of
23:54
Wayne. So there's something going on.
23:56
I, I, I still struggle with like, hey, we got to talk about
23:58
this, but I've found a way to do it that feels really good and
24:02
still feels positively framed. Like our policies are coaches
24:05
that you can't, you can't mess up.
24:07
All we can do is like, we're just going to talk through why,
24:10
why we do something differently. But it's a very supportive
24:13
environment because we want our coaches to stay forever to
24:15
succeed, have opportunities for growth.
24:17
And if they, if everyone's on board with that, everyone will
24:21
do better. You know, like a rising tide
24:23
lifts all ships sort of thing. So that has been the biggest
24:27
challenge. It's not the systems, it's, it's
24:29
nothing else. It's finding like the A players
24:32
and over the last year or two we've really got a good, a good
24:37
Groupon and we've seen that shift like happen very
24:40
positively and have an effect on everything else in the business.
24:44
So it's, it's really good. So find the right people.
24:48
You know, if it's not the right fit, you know, have a good
24:50
strong set of core values. That's all.
24:52
That's the guiding principles of everything we do is guided by
24:56
6/6 principles that they need to embody.
25:01
And then it takes it off of you as like the owner because it's
25:05
like, this is what we do. It's not I don't like you.
25:08
It's these are what we need to see.
25:12
And we review that every quarter with everyone.
25:14
How long did it take you to come up with those 6?
25:16
They constantly revision, you know, like stole someone else's.
25:19
And then over time you're like, Nah, yes, no.
25:22
And. Ride the coattails it's been
25:24
Someone else has been there before and did it.
25:25
Yeah. And the revision gets smaller
25:27
and smaller because, like, it's really ingrained and it's taking
25:30
this long, but I'm like, this is a good set.
25:32
This, this feels right. And and then again, that's yeah,
25:37
as demonstrated by and the people we have and what they
25:40
embody too, so. So how did you get because it
25:44
usually when any business, right, the first you have to get
25:46
clients or you have to create the widget.
25:48
You have to whatever you have to go find someone, you have to
25:50
sell it. And then after you, you do that
25:52
and you you reach your capacity like Phil can't do anymore.
25:55
Matt just can't do anymore. No matter how much we think we
25:58
can or how much we want to, something's going to break,
26:01
right? Whether it's health wise,
26:03
whether it's the family, some some ball drops or you stay
26:07
ahead of it a little bit or learn the hard lesson, right.
26:10
And I think then it becomes at finding great people, right?
26:14
How to do that. So how did you guys start with
26:17
finding clients? And then how did you transition
26:19
into how do you find great people that's worked for you?
26:23
How have you done that? I was an independent trainer for
26:26
most of it all up until we found her space now, but that's before
26:30
I even met Katie because she started, she left her Medtronic
26:33
job to help us out. Yeah.
26:35
Like I think it's been, Oh my gosh, like 2 years or something.
26:38
And that was just going to be like, let's try it out.
26:40
Yeah. Medtronic was not doing well
26:42
with a work life balance. Yep.
26:44
For her it's doesn't work for her family.
26:45
So we're like, let's try it out for a few months and like it was
26:48
full time. She was great at it.
26:50
We're like, Oh my God, this is great.
26:51
Yeah, it was game changing, but when I was independent, I was
26:55
sacrificed a lot. It was up at, you know, leading
26:58
sessions as early as 5:00 AM, doing stuff on and off until,
27:01
you know, 8:00 PM most days. And then, yeah, I mean, as we
27:06
grew, the clientele grew, took care of people first, you know,
27:09
got the business cards, but just really focus on delivering
27:11
really good, like service and, you know, actually getting to
27:15
know my clients on a personal level, like just being really
27:18
invested into that process. And then it just grew kind of
27:21
naturally through referrals. So they would, they had a great
27:24
experience and then they told other people they had a great
27:26
experience and those people told great other people.
27:29
And that's, I mean, that's the best organic way to do it,
27:33
right? I'm sure there's a lot of ways
27:34
you could build a business like yours, but obviously organic is
27:37
the most powerful. And then how did you once you're
27:41
you got one And then did they go to three and then to 10 or was
27:45
it like 1111125? I think it was always a pretty
27:52
solid, like steady, steady growth.
27:54
I think God, it's so long ago now because I remember I trained
27:58
at a like this kind of dirty warehouse gym in Hopkins and it
28:02
was a great starting point. I love just had space.
28:05
I love it like. Great.
28:06
Just like starting your garage, right?
28:07
Just stuff. Was like breaking down and like
28:09
no one cared like that's what's funny.
28:11
And then they actually moved to another location that was in
28:12
Minnetonka and they ended up shutting the city, shut them
28:15
down because they weren't coded properly.
28:17
It was a whole mess. That's when I decided I had to
28:19
like find a space like I can't do this.
28:22
Like this is my whole living. But like it was I start with
28:26
three clients. That was it.
28:28
Still know the names they were, they were the the impetus for
28:31
everything else. Because there's like, hey.
28:33
Come and. Try this out.
28:34
Yeah. And so, yeah.
28:37
And then it was, you know, hey, my, my, my parents were maybe in
28:40
their 60s, like, you know, they had a slip on the ice and they
28:43
want to make sure they don't break a bone and things like
28:46
that. So it was just people doing it
28:48
for the right reasons. And as a, it's so hard to earn
28:52
people's trust as a business, you know, it's like, it's like,
28:56
I can tell you everything in the world, but if your neighbor
28:58
tells you or your loved one, it's, they're just, they're
29:01
bought in, they're there. They, you don't have to like you
29:05
don't have to not earn that much, but you don't have to like
29:07
do all this stuff to be like, look, you can trust me.
29:10
Like they have someone whose word is is good.
29:12
And so that helps me like jump to the important stuff.
29:16
That could that could be a whole another topic in itself.
29:20
You know, like you say, carbs are OK, Yeah, nothing wrong with
29:25
carbs, right? Fats, OK protein, you should be
29:27
about this range. And then they hear something
29:29
different on a podcast or they hear something different on the
29:32
news. And while Phil's wrong and until
29:35
you tell them, Oh no, Phil's right because you told me again,
29:38
you have to remind them like 7 times before they hear it once,
29:42
right? But being the news in any
29:43
business is the single most important thing, I think to
29:46
retaining and avoiding attrition, right?
29:48
So some of the things that you after established, I still want
29:53
to know if it was organic growth, it was just kind of 1-2,
29:57
then five, then 7. Was there ever a point where it
30:00
just like big jumped, like we went from 100 to 200 or we went
30:06
from 50 to 80? Right, you know, there were,
30:10
there were never any like really big ones other than if we did
30:12
some sort of like periodic challenge, we're like six weeks
30:15
of January, we'd see the, you know, the surge and you know,
30:18
some people would get every surge.
30:19
Everybody joins. I, I hate it.
30:22
But like we should, we should do it because that's where people's
30:24
heads are at. Like we still do one because
30:26
that's where people are there, but we kind of sneak them in
30:28
with the get quick results. But then we're like, let's
30:31
actually get permanent results once they're in and we have time
30:34
to do that. But you know, we do some like
30:37
paid advertising on Facebook, but it's we really try to lean
30:40
into like the organic referral growth because that's the best
30:44
word of mouth is the best it is. 80% of almost every business is
30:49
built through organic means. And some people try to do it
30:53
faster, right? By paying money to get leads, if
30:56
you will, or paying money to get up to that faster.
30:59
But the cost per person is so ridiculous that it's sometimes
31:03
not worth it. And then they don't stay because
31:06
they don't have that same, you know, referral source.
31:08
Yeah, and there's a lot less buy in because they might have just
31:11
like clicked a thing. Yeah, here's my name and then
31:13
you call me like I don't, I didn't fill out a form.
31:15
I'm like, well, OK, no big deal, but it's it's.
31:19
You did. It's hard, somebody.
31:20
I know I was like, well, you did, but you know, you wanted it
31:23
then. But OK, it's already gone.
31:25
That's fine. Like we don't do any like, I
31:28
don't know. We don't do any slimy sales
31:29
stuff. It's just, we only want to help
31:30
people who are like bought in. They're like, hey, no.
31:32
Oh yes, I do want help. And they have, they'll give me 5
31:36
minutes and it's like, cool, let's talk about it.
31:38
Doesn't mean you're in. I'm not going to ask you for
31:40
your credit card. We just want to talk.
31:42
Yeah, I just want to learn about you and and see where you're at.
31:45
So then once somebody joins, what are the ways that you as a
31:48
business owner stay in touch with your like the people that
31:52
you have at your gym? But then your network, right?
31:55
The, the network is your net worth.
31:56
Like do you guys do social? Do you, do I know you do
31:59
newsletters, but like, what kind of systems and processes have
32:02
you put in place now that you've reached a point of like right
32:05
scale? If you will, Yep, there's,
32:09
there's a lot of little process that we do and we have enough
32:12
members now that like it's, it's challenging to like have
32:16
personal relationships with all of our members from me.
32:19
So I, I tell our team a lot like my job is really take care of
32:22
you guys 'cause you're primarily the ones taking care of our
32:24
community and that's what's important to us.
32:27
And so, you know, every coach has like they're kind of
32:30
assigned, assigned members. So they're largely in in charge
32:34
of like the touch points, the check insurance, the the
32:36
fulfillment of what they're in for.
32:40
But we, Katie and I also do yes, we do newsletters.
32:43
We'll e-mail things out. We, we want to do more like the
32:46
educational piece. So maybe it's workshop seminars
32:48
periodically where we just we dive into something very focused
32:52
and invite everyone to come. But we do, yeah, number events
32:56
as far as like outside networking, we when we did a
33:00
renovation, we have a great like presentation space now got like
33:03
a projector. And we want to bring some other
33:05
people on that are maybe related to what we do, like physical
33:09
therapists, like psychologists, nutrition experts that can help
33:13
dive into those. Things or dietitians or
33:14
whatever. To help give them more value so
33:17
we can stay in our lane and which is getting people strong
33:20
and healthy. The things that are related to
33:23
that that are, you know, intertwined.
33:25
Well, a healthy lifestyle is so encompassing of so many
33:28
different variables, right? Tons.
33:31
So I could see trying to stay in your lane, but providing value
33:33
outside of that by bringing people in.
33:36
Yeah, that makes sense. We.
33:37
Want to do one thing? Well, there's Minnesota has some
33:39
of the most gyms per capita it might be in the country.
33:42
There's a lot of gyms. It's people are like, huh,
33:45
really? Maybe it's cold, I don't know.
33:46
But we are one of the healthiest states in the country too.
33:50
So correlation, causation, I don't know.
33:54
But we are active here, which is really good.
33:57
So there's a lot of competition. You have a lot of different
33:59
options. There's probably 7 gyms within 5
34:02
to 10 minutes of our location. So we got to we got to do
34:05
something different. They haven't seen or offers a
34:08
different value than what they've seen in the past.
34:12
That makes sense. Do you guys do much on like
34:14
e-mail marketing or what type of marketing is the biggest
34:19
positive impact? Is it the videos you send out?
34:22
Is it the newsletter? Is it like what?
34:24
What do you see the biggest positive from or comment from
34:28
your your members? Yeah, I think we do a lot of
34:32
different things. We survey every so often.
34:34
We ask these things, like what's most valuable.
34:37
We start doing our own podcast to like, just get this
34:40
information out. As you said, like people have to
34:42
be reminded the same things. So every week we have a list of
34:45
like 80 topics, but they all come back to like, you have to
34:48
get your, you have to get your sleep, you have to strengthen a
34:50
few days a week. You got to keep moving.
34:51
You got to, you know, eat reasonably well and have a plan.
34:54
It all comes back to like these basically these four or five
34:56
things. And we're like, that's OK
34:59
because we need to continue to tell people that.
35:01
Absolutely. And like, that's great.
35:04
We all want to be reminded of the same stuff, even if we've
35:06
heard it. It takes time.
35:08
There was a, and it's different for everything, but in real
35:10
estate there's a kind of a, a joke, but it's true like a
35:13
statistic. So if I, they did this thing
35:15
where they sent out like the number one realtor in all the
35:19
Twin Cities and, and they sent it out for like every week for
35:23
for 52 weeks. And they made this person up
35:27
wasn't even a real person. But at the end of the year they
35:28
went into these people's houses and like, who's the best realtor
35:31
in your area? And they all like with 80% said
35:34
this person that was made-up, that was made-up, but was, was
35:37
interesting. If they did it in different
35:39
markets, they did it like 7 times didn't work 12 times
35:43
didn't work. They they found that they had to
35:46
do it over 26 times before it stuck that they were the number
35:50
one realtor and the name was recognizable.
35:53
So I'm just thinking like in relates to other businesses,
35:56
they have to be reminded because it does even though it makes
35:59
sense to us that we've told them that it goes in one year out the
36:03
other six out of seven times. Everyone's busy.
36:06
Right, it's not a party, but when it is a priority, like if
36:09
something wrong with your health, you're back, you only
36:11
have one priority now it. Becomes very, very important
36:14
because it's. It's not like it's not like
36:17
necessarily the beach season. It's like it's I need to
36:20
maintain my bone density. I want to play with my grandkids
36:23
on the floor. I.
36:23
Want to be able to pick up I? Don't want to be in pain, you
36:25
know, or so. In pain.
36:27
And both vanity and the longevity and vitality, like
36:30
they're in the same boat. It's you can do both and we
36:32
don't shame. Hey, I just want to like look
36:34
better, you know, naked. That's fine, right?
36:36
Because you're going to do both at the same time.
36:39
Nothing wrong with that. If your whatever your motivation
36:43
to get you started, that can stem into the discipline of
36:45
continuing to do it. I don't care what that reason
36:48
is, and I know you don't care what that reason is.
36:50
Yeah, exactly. You know, just yeah, back to
36:53
like marketing stuff. I mean, we just try to put out
36:55
like lots of like free stuff. So I'll e-mail out, we put
36:57
guides together. We have a big like member fault
37:00
where we put all the resources and we just try to like get the
37:03
stuff that is actionable if they want to because the information
37:09
people either like information or implementation when they're
37:11
doing this stuff in a lot of ways, I'm sure in many
37:13
businesses and habits, yeah, information's easy.
37:16
You can go online, you can do whatever and find like a plan.
37:19
You can have ChatGPT put together a meal plan.
37:21
For you, you work a plan, so it's probably programmed better
37:24
than a plan together. Put a yes Iron Man plan together
37:27
yes. How do I gain 20 lbs of muscle?
37:28
Like you can do anything. It'll tell you it's exactly to
37:31
do with within a reasonably accurate.
37:34
Yeah, yeah, the the missing link and the same thing.
37:37
Why Peloton and and all all this stuff doesn't work is who's
37:40
going to call you and you don't do countability?
37:42
Who's it's that's everything. So you got a the the willpower
37:47
piece is always limiting factor because like kids get sick, you
37:49
have a bad night's sleep, your knee hurts a little bit and
37:51
you're like tomorrow, right? And so it's.
37:55
It's a dangerous word. That's our job.
37:56
I know that's our job is say like, oh, your knee hurts like
37:59
we'll do upper body today. You didn't sleep well.
38:02
We'll, you know, we'll go 5 out of 10 intensity today, like
38:04
we're just going to keep you moving because you don't want to
38:07
break the chain. It's the most important piece
38:09
and the underlying theme of success with just fitness,
38:12
health and many things is consistency over time.
38:16
Just like learning a language, you just, you have to keep doing
38:19
it or you will lose it. It gets harder to to relearn.
38:23
It's unbelievably, yes. The I I actually can I that
38:28
little story is I worked out 40 and four 440 days in a row.
38:33
Yeah, right. Let's go.
38:34
That's crazy. And I started and my wifes like,
38:36
do you think maybe like it's actually harder for you not to
38:39
work out? I was like, yeah, you're
38:40
probably right. So like, you know what, I'll try
38:42
it. I'm just going to try and take a
38:43
break from working out just to see where my mind said I'm not
38:46
even kidding, dude. I took like a week off.
38:48
It was so hard to get back into the gym.
38:50
Yep. The only things.
38:51
It went that fast. After that amount of time it
38:54
still. Got tough after that fast, went
38:56
away. Now granted, then, you know, and
38:59
slowly the age crept up and there's other things, other
39:02
factors too that were involved with that.
39:04
But this is a lifelong thing, health, right?
39:09
So as soon as you, yeah, as long as if you have health problem,
39:11
you have one problem. So I'm glad that you're out
39:13
there doing that, helping them out.
39:15
Embrace that it's going to be tough like anything else that's
39:17
good in life. So where's the future of SODA
39:21
Personal training? Like where?
39:22
Where are you guys headed? Yeah.
39:24
So we have our current space and honestly that space is bigger
39:27
than what we probably would do moving.
39:29
Because you did a renovation. So what does that renovation
39:31
mean? It was new equipment or what?
39:33
We did everything. We got new equipment, we painted
39:36
every wall. We took a wall down at a
39:38
bathroom, at an office. I mean, it was a giant facelift.
39:42
Wow. We never, when I first started,
39:44
it was like, I didn't qualify for anything from banks.
39:47
They're you can have like a line of credit for five grand.
39:49
I was like, oh God. So I did that at two different
39:51
banks thinking. Like 100 LB weights.
39:53
Yeah, I mean, so I had like a couple bikes and some dumbbells.
39:56
We just threw them on the floor and but now we have a gym full
40:00
of equipment that we don't have room for more.
40:04
So now, you know, we're working on, you know, paying off this
40:07
this renovation loan. And then we this year we'll
40:10
probably hit like our membership cap the space we have now.
40:13
That's the goal. And coming back on like those
40:16
interpersonal relationships. Have you heard of Dumbar's
40:19
number? No.
40:20
So it was a, a, a researcher who I think it was studying like
40:23
primates. He looked at their social
40:24
circles and he extrapolated that like humans, we can have like
40:28
100 and 15130 like close relationships before we start to
40:33
lose important details. OK.
40:35
And I felt that in our gym where like I sometimes I'll see like a
40:39
member I've known for like 7 years and all of a sudden for 10
40:42
seconds I'm like, forget their name.
40:43
Oh my God, what's their name? Because like, there's, there's
40:45
new people and I, I don't like losing that touch.
40:47
That's really important to us. Yeah.
40:49
And there's a workaround because we have our our coaches, right,
40:53
They have their subcircles. They're never going to have more
40:55
than like 100 assigned clients. But moving forward, we look for
40:58
a smaller space. So the goal is this year we have
41:01
good systems continue to grow and then we will look at other
41:04
locations and the Sky's the limit.
41:06
I mean, one of our goals is again, 10 gyms in 10 years.
41:09
As far as the big hairy audacious goal.
41:12
That's great, man. Yeah, that's.
41:14
Good. We have those.
41:15
We just want to keep helping people and help navigate and
41:18
take the guesswork out. This stuff is hard.
41:20
And we want to, you know, be the ambassador to, so to speak, to
41:24
help your life and unlock, you know, all they want to do in
41:28
life for as long as possible. That's really good, yeah.
41:31
Do you think you can be in Maple Grove?
41:34
It's that's, that's one of the targets that I would have.
41:36
I think, well you'll have a client all sorts of there you
41:38
go, there you go, we can finally end that push up contest.
41:42
Yeah, we can kind of live up to the push up, pull up exactly
41:45
time contest. Exactly.
41:46
Yeah. So if somebody wanted to get in
41:49
touch with you, 'cause you're not at capacity yet, you're
41:51
close, Yeah. What would they, what would best
41:54
course of action go? Or we can put it on the the
41:56
screen too, but. Yeah, if it's in learning more
41:58
and seeing what we do, you just go to sodafitness.com.
42:01
You know our, our name is now Soda personal training, but so
42:04
fitness.com and talk to a trainer, it'll get in contact
42:07
with me and I'll reach out just to schedule a discovery call and
42:10
we'll go from there. Perfect.
42:12
Yeah. Well, thanks.
42:13
Thanks for being here. I really appreciate it.