Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / Episode 22: Joey Gonzalez, CEO Barry's Bootcamp

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Episode 22: Joey Gonzalez, CEO Barry's Bootcamp · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:02
Speaker 1: Hey, what's up? Hello, Emily, A body here? With episode
0:06
Speaker 1: twenty two of Hurdle. It really is crazy. The higher
0:11
Speaker 1: these numbers get, you know, we're we're approaching almost a
0:14
Speaker 1: full year of podcasting and the adventures this thing have
0:18
Speaker 1: taken me on. It makes me hopeful for all the
0:20
Speaker 1: good stuff to come before we get into it. With
0:23
Speaker 1: today's guest, Joey Gonzalez, the CEO of Barry's boot Camp.
0:27
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1:09
Speaker 1: It makes me laugh a little bit when you go
1:10
Speaker 1: to the website. It's like Tim Ferriss and me. Okay,
1:15
Speaker 1: back to it. Last week I was chatting with Flywell's
1:18
Speaker 1: Ruth Zuckerman, and this week we're continuing the theme of
1:21
Speaker 1: fitness industry powerhouses with Joey Gonzalez. I've got to admit
1:26
Speaker 1: I've met Joey before, but I was definitely fangrolling a
1:28
Speaker 1: little bit throughout this episode that we recorded in his
1:31
Speaker 1: office in West Hollywood. And I guess that's because more
1:34
Speaker 1: so since I'm living in a major city. Barry's is
1:37
Speaker 1: a major workout establishment, and this week actually the company
1:41
Speaker 1: is celebrating their twenty year anniversary. In today's episode, Gonzalez
1:45
Speaker 1: talks about how he was scared and kind of intimidated
1:48
Speaker 1: to go to his first Barry's class almost nineteen years ago.
1:52
Speaker 1: He talks about how we transitioned from customer to instructor,
1:55
Speaker 1: from instructor to manager, from manager to upper level management,
1:59
Speaker 1: and well, you see where this is going.
2:01
Speaker 2: You know, he sits in the CEO seat right now.
2:04
Speaker 1: We have a really great conversation and this tidbit I
2:06
Speaker 1: actually really adored was this idea that you don't have
2:09
Speaker 1: to be the hero. There's a lot of things in
2:12
Speaker 1: life that make us scared or anxious or all of
2:14
Speaker 1: those feelings that go along with being a total newbie
2:17
Speaker 1: and sometimes just doing your best.
2:19
Speaker 2: You know, that's that's good enough. A few housekeeping things.
2:23
Speaker 1: If you're in the New York City area, come to
2:25
Speaker 1: Hurdle Live tomorrow night, October ninth, at seven pm. I'll
2:28
Speaker 1: be chatting with past guests Michael Chernow restaurant tour Extraordinary,
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Speaker 1: doctor Jason worseland creator of Their Gun, and Dan Churchill,
2:37
Speaker 1: the chef for under Armour and the man behind Charlie Street,
2:40
Speaker 1: a new cafe in New Leda. How cool is it
2:43
Speaker 1: that I get hang out with these great guys. For
2:45
Speaker 1: all the details, head on over to Hurdle dot us
2:48
Speaker 1: and snag your ticket. Chernow, Churchill and I are all
2:51
Speaker 1: running this year's New York City Marathon. It's crazy that
2:54
Speaker 1: it's only a few weeks away and chre Now is
2:56
Speaker 1: running it for New York City's largest food rescue organization, City.
3:00
Speaker 1: They help feed more than one point two million New
3:03
Speaker 1: Yorkers who are struggling to put meals on the table,
3:05
Speaker 1: and so all of the proceeds from this Hurdle Live
3:08
Speaker 1: installment will go directly to City Harvest. Again, Grab a friend,
3:13
Speaker 1: grab a ticket. Let's have some fun.
3:15
Speaker 2: As always.
3:16
Speaker 1: Connect with the podcast on social at Hurdle Podcast Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.
3:21
Speaker 2: And let's keep those screen grabs coming. Guys.
3:23
Speaker 1: There's nothing better than going about my day and getting
3:26
Speaker 1: tagged in someone's Instagram story telling me that these amazing
3:29
Speaker 1: people who are sharing their stories with us on the
3:31
Speaker 1: regular are keeping them motivated and helping.
3:33
Speaker 2: Them get through some stuff. I think that's it.
3:35
Speaker 1: If you have any questions, you need anything, you know
3:37
Speaker 1: how to reach me Emily at Hurdle dot us.
3:41
Speaker 2: Let's get to hurdling today.
3:47
Speaker 1: I am sitting here with Joey Gonzalez. He is the
3:50
Speaker 1: CEO of Barry's boot Camp. This feels like a mega
3:54
Speaker 1: opportunity today. Thanks for sitting down with me, joe of.
3:59
Speaker 3: Course, thank you.
4:00
Speaker 1: I would be remiss if I didn't say that Berry's
4:02
Speaker 1: boot Camp is definitely my favorite workout. Oh really, I
4:06
Speaker 1: know I didn't tell you that before you saved it
4:09
Speaker 1: The good stuff saved the gem for the first minute
4:11
Speaker 1: of the podcast, you know what it is, and I'll
4:14
Speaker 1: let you explain to the audience like what happens inside
4:16
Speaker 1: of a Berri's boot Camp class. But for me, I
4:19
Speaker 1: just feel like I get the best of everything that
4:22
Speaker 1: I like to do in this session. Like I love running,
4:26
Speaker 1: I love strength training, and I feel like the energy
4:29
Speaker 1: in that room, like it's just a trifecta of all
4:32
Speaker 1: the things I look for in a good workout. So
4:34
Speaker 1: why don't you explain a little bit about what happens
4:37
Speaker 1: inside of a Berri's boot Camp studio.
4:39
Speaker 3: Sure, so the work I'll start in the red room,
4:42
Speaker 3: which is what we call our studio, and that's the
4:46
Speaker 3: experience of BERRIES that hasn't changed in the last twenty years.
4:49
Speaker 3: And what we do there is we split cardiovascular in
4:53
Speaker 3: interval cardiovascular with true strength training thirty minutes each BERRIES
4:58
Speaker 3: is always prioritized cardio and strength training to be equally
5:02
Speaker 3: as important. So I think that's why what you get
5:05
Speaker 3: is efficiency results a true fat burning, you know, lean
5:11
Speaker 3: muscle tissue building workout. It has been an instructor led
5:16
Speaker 3: organization since the very beginning. It was founded by Barry
5:19
Speaker 3: himself who came up with the concept and has run
5:22
Speaker 3: today by me, a CEO who is previously an instructor.
5:25
Speaker 3: So our core competency is delivering a product that works.
5:30
Speaker 3: Our priority is always focusing on what's happening in that
5:34
Speaker 3: red room, making sure that we stay, you know, true
5:37
Speaker 3: to who we are, making sure that the workout is
5:40
Speaker 3: effective and the instructors are happy and people experience continuing education.
5:45
Speaker 1: So what's the uh, what's the mentality behind the Red Room?
5:49
Speaker 1: Like why is it red?
5:51
Speaker 3: Right? So, originally, when it was founded in nineteen ninety eight,
5:55
Speaker 3: the idea was, so this workout is really hard. I mean,
5:58
Speaker 3: let's just say it out loud. If you want an
6:00
Speaker 3: easy workout, you're not going to go to berries. How
6:02
Speaker 3: do we make it fun and sexy and cool? And
6:05
Speaker 3: so the red lighting was supposed to mimic what you'd
6:08
Speaker 3: experience in a nightclub, so people felt like it was
6:11
Speaker 3: a party atmosphere. They'd show up, they'd be red lighting,
6:16
Speaker 3: the music was pumping, and it didn't hurt that. One
6:19
Speaker 3: of the side effects was that it was extremely flattering
6:22
Speaker 3: to the human body. So oftentimes shirts come off. I
6:26
Speaker 3: mean it's like, you know, it's a whole thing.
6:28
Speaker 1: Wait, so I have to ask this question now, we're
6:31
Speaker 1: evaluating all of my personal experiences inside. I'm like, you know,
6:37
Speaker 1: I always thought there were super flattering mirrors and berries,
6:40
Speaker 1: but now I'm like, is there. It's not only like
6:42
Speaker 1: a flattering mirror, but then there's like good lighting.
6:45
Speaker 3: Man, the mirrors are true, you are You're not flattering mirrors,
6:50
Speaker 3: They're just regular mirrors.
6:51
Speaker 1: I feel pretty good about myself today. Okay, all right,
6:53
Speaker 1: I'm into that. So you go into a BERRIES. You
6:56
Speaker 1: have this experience that combines treadmills and sprinting and the
7:00
Speaker 1: strength training, and then throughout the week there are different
7:02
Speaker 1: days focused on different body parts.
7:04
Speaker 3: So how does that work exactly? So we work opposite
7:08
Speaker 3: muscle groups. So on a Monday, you'll do arms, you'll
7:10
Speaker 3: do biceps and trisips, and we phone a little bit
7:12
Speaker 3: of ads. On a Tuesday, you'll do button legs. On
7:14
Speaker 3: a Wednesday you'll do chest and back. On a Thursday
7:17
Speaker 3: you'll do abdominalis and on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday
7:20
Speaker 3: you do full body. So you're pretty much doing all
7:22
Speaker 3: of the above.
7:23
Speaker 1: What I'd love to do is jump a little bit
7:25
Speaker 1: into your background before we do that, though, I think
7:28
Speaker 1: it's important to say that there are forty three we
7:32
Speaker 1: counted different various locations across the world. Berries is now
7:37
Speaker 1: in the US, Canada, Norway, Sweden, the UK, Italy, UAE, and.
7:43
Speaker 2: Soon to come some other places.
7:45
Speaker 1: So this didn't happen overnight, no, And you weren't sitting
7:50
Speaker 1: at this desk, you know, overnight either.
7:51
Speaker 2: So why don't you tell me a little bit about.
7:53
Speaker 1: Your background and how your time with Berries really began.
7:58
Speaker 3: So my sea story is a Cinderella CEO story because
8:03
Speaker 3: I've done everything from clean the toilets to check people
8:06
Speaker 3: into answer phones to I began first actually as a customer,
8:10
Speaker 3: and I came to Berry's at a crossroads in my
8:13
Speaker 3: life where I was sort of wrapping up my previous
8:17
Speaker 3: life as an actor slash in the performing arts, trying
8:21
Speaker 3: to figure out in which direction I was going to head,
8:24
Speaker 3: and landed myself at Barry's. Became completely obsessed by it
8:29
Speaker 3: was taking like two classes a day, and just fell
8:32
Speaker 3: in love with the concept, with the culture, with the community,
8:37
Speaker 3: and became close friends with Barry. And he asked me
8:41
Speaker 3: if I wanted to be an instructor, And so I
8:43
Speaker 3: hadn't really considered fitness as a vocation prior to that,
8:48
Speaker 3: but once he asked, it all just seemed to make
8:50
Speaker 3: sense because at Barry's and then you know, in boutique
8:54
Speaker 3: fitness in general, you are a bit of an entertainer
8:56
Speaker 3: and a bit of a trainer, so they're both pieces, definitely.
8:59
Speaker 2: And where were you living at the.
9:00
Speaker 3: Time here in La Yeah, I had come out here
9:03
Speaker 3: to go to USC Okay, and so I started first
9:07
Speaker 3: as an instructor. I then became a manager for the
9:10
Speaker 3: LA locations, and I expressed an interest to the partners
9:16
Speaker 3: of wanting to invest and become a partner myself, and
9:19
Speaker 3: so we worked together first for four years to do
9:21
Speaker 3: a very long sniff test and make sert that I
9:25
Speaker 3: was the right partner for them, which I totally respect.
9:29
Speaker 3: And then in two thousand and eight I moved down
9:32
Speaker 3: to San Diego to open our first studio outside of
9:34
Speaker 3: LA which was San Diego. Then soon after, in twenty ten,
9:39
Speaker 3: I moved to New York to open our first New
9:40
Speaker 3: York City studio, and so I just sort of became
9:43
Speaker 3: the guy that moved around and proved portability in the
9:45
Speaker 3: scalability of the concept.
9:47
Speaker 1: Were you excited to be that guy?
9:50
Speaker 3: Oh?
9:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I love travel.
9:52
Speaker 3: I still travel a lot to today, and it's just
9:54
Speaker 3: something I find invigorating and I love seeing new things
9:57
Speaker 3: and meeting new people. So it was definitely a challenge,
10:01
Speaker 3: but very very fun.
10:02
Speaker 1: I'm interested to know because you still teach today. And
10:05
Speaker 1: I actually sat down the other day with Ruth Zuckerman
10:08
Speaker 1: from Flywheel, and she still teaches as well. A lot
10:11
Speaker 1: of people ask her why are you teaching? Like why
10:15
Speaker 1: do you still teach? Like don't you have enough going on?
10:17
Speaker 2: Aren't you traveling? Aren't you doing this and that?
10:20
Speaker 1: So what is it that keeps you going back into
10:23
Speaker 1: the red room day in and day out and teaching
10:25
Speaker 1: and connecting with your clientele on that sort of level.
10:28
Speaker 3: So I mentioned earlier that Barrie's has always been an
10:31
Speaker 3: instructor led organization, and it's just really important for me
10:35
Speaker 3: to stay connected to my roots, like I was an instructor,
10:38
Speaker 3: right and so I think being an instructor gave me
10:42
Speaker 3: so many insights to what could make this business more powerful,
10:46
Speaker 3: more compelling, just an all around better experience for people,
10:49
Speaker 3: And so that's something I would never give up. It's
10:52
Speaker 3: also just fun for me to get in that room
10:55
Speaker 3: and let it all go and put my mic on
10:57
Speaker 3: and play great music and put together what I hope
10:59
Speaker 3: is a fun class for people. There is a type
11:01
Speaker 3: of immediate gratification you get from that. The instructors are
11:05
Speaker 3: the stars, right, and it's like you've changed my life.
11:08
Speaker 3: Your classic it's you know, everyone loves it. You know,
11:11
Speaker 3: from life.
11:12
Speaker 2: Change, you get a life change. Everyone gets a life change. Yeah,
11:15
Speaker 2: I can totally identify with that.
11:17
Speaker 1: What uh you said you were at kind of a
11:19
Speaker 1: crossroads in your life before you started teaching at Berries
11:23
Speaker 1: and when you were, you know, going for the first time.
11:26
Speaker 1: What were you doing for fitness before you found Berries?
11:29
Speaker 3: Before Barries? I was the very I was like a
11:31
Speaker 3: typical had a membership at La Fitness or some gym,
11:36
Speaker 3: big box gym. Yeah, would bring my you know, Men's
11:39
Speaker 3: Fitness or Men's Health magazine there and open up, you know,
11:44
Speaker 3: the workout and do whatever program they had written, which
11:47
Speaker 3: was great fun. Like I actually became fairly self educated
11:51
Speaker 3: doing that. But I didn't have any experience prior to
11:55
Speaker 3: Berries with group fitness outside of the gym, of course,
11:59
Speaker 3: or one on one personal training.
12:02
Speaker 1: Right.
12:02
Speaker 3: And actually, at the time, because it was so long ago,
12:05
Speaker 3: boutique didn't exist, you know, the industry boutique fitness didn't exist.
12:09
Speaker 3: Berries was really one of the first. So when I
12:13
Speaker 3: tried Berries for some I had to like actually learn
12:15
Speaker 3: about how it worked. I was like, wait, what's the membership? Wait?
12:18
Speaker 3: I just pay for one class. There was a process,
12:21
Speaker 3: an educational process that our front desk had to take on.
12:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so when you got into working out, like
12:28
Speaker 1: on the scale that you would accomplish at Berries, did
12:31
Speaker 1: working out kind of take on a new meaning to you?
12:34
Speaker 1: Like did it feel totally different than before? And in
12:37
Speaker 1: what way?
12:40
Speaker 3: Many different ways, But I think the most impactful way
12:42
Speaker 3: was that I learned that I was capable of doing
12:47
Speaker 3: things I never thought it was. Because most people will
12:50
Speaker 3: say when they take a class at Berries, they are pushed,
12:54
Speaker 3: not necessarily singled out, but they are pushed because they're
12:58
Speaker 3: incentivized and motivated by the people around them and the
13:00
Speaker 3: instructors to go beyond their normal thresholds. And so I
13:04
Speaker 3: ran and I lifted in a way that I would
13:07
Speaker 3: never do on my own.
13:10
Speaker 1: And so that really translated to other aspects of your life.
13:13
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure coming in there and like coming
13:15
Speaker 1: down from this road of acting to then be in
13:19
Speaker 1: this class experience and then think like, is this what
13:22
Speaker 1: I'm going to do now?
13:23
Speaker 2: That must have been a bit of a trip.
13:25
Speaker 3: Well it helped rebuild I think what had been demolished. Yeah,
13:28
Speaker 3: which was like, oh I failed right at this career
13:31
Speaker 3: that I've spent a decade working on, and you know
13:36
Speaker 3: feeling when you're an actor or performer, you generally are
13:40
Speaker 3: pretty familiar with rejection, And so I started, do you
13:44
Speaker 3: just get down on yourself? And so all of a
13:46
Speaker 3: sudden I was in this environment where I was being
13:48
Speaker 3: built up by the people around me, by the instructors,
13:51
Speaker 3: and frankly like by myself the way I looked at
13:54
Speaker 3: myself in the mirror.
13:55
Speaker 1: What do you when you are looking to hire an instructor, Barries?
14:00
Speaker 1: What is something that you look for when you're bringing
14:03
Speaker 1: someone down to your team.
14:05
Speaker 3: So there are definitely a lot of boxes that our
14:08
Speaker 3: talent needs to check, but I would say the most
14:11
Speaker 3: meaningful one to me is buying to the brand and
14:14
Speaker 3: the workout, which is why whenever someone expresses an interest
14:19
Speaker 3: in teaching it Barries, who hasn't previously been an instructor,
14:22
Speaker 3: the first thing we do is given the opportunity to
14:24
Speaker 3: take as many classes as they want. And we track it,
14:27
Speaker 3: and if it's something that sticks with him or her
14:30
Speaker 3: and we see them going a lot and they start
14:32
Speaker 3: to just love the experience, the likelihood of them being
14:35
Speaker 3: put in the training program is much higher. It's also
14:39
Speaker 3: really important for us to find people that are aligned
14:42
Speaker 3: in terms of our brand values, because we've had situations
14:46
Speaker 3: in past where they aren't and despite their level of success,
14:50
Speaker 3: it just doesn't end up working out.
14:53
Speaker 1: That's so interesting, and I also find it interesting that
14:55
Speaker 1: you identify them from the get go as talent. Let's
14:59
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about that. I mean, I think
15:02
Speaker 1: in the scheme of like fitness right now, someone actually
15:06
Speaker 1: asked me. I was on somebody Else's podcast a few
15:08
Speaker 1: weeks back, and they asked me the guys from the
15:12
Speaker 1: Recover Studio. They have a podcast in New York City,
15:15
Speaker 1: and they asked me what I thought one of the
15:17
Speaker 1: biggest flaws in fitness is right now? And I answered
15:22
Speaker 1: that it makes me really nervous that people that might
15:25
Speaker 1: not have the education that I hope that they should
15:27
Speaker 1: have to distribute and disseminate this type of information are
15:31
Speaker 1: just going out there and now they have this huge
15:32
Speaker 1: platform and millions of people following them and they're like,
15:35
Speaker 1: you should.
15:36
Speaker 2: Do this right, and so what do you do to
15:40
Speaker 2: kind of.
15:41
Speaker 1: Safeguard your consumer when it comes to the people that
15:43
Speaker 1: you're bringing in, Because I think that's really important not
15:46
Speaker 1: just to have you know, good people in there, like
15:49
Speaker 1: good hearted people, but also people that can talk with
15:51
Speaker 1: authority to the type of programming that you guys are
15:54
Speaker 1: putting out there.
15:56
Speaker 3: I would say for them on the whole varies. Constructors
16:00
Speaker 3: have certifications that reach beyond what you'd see in a
16:03
Speaker 3: typical boutique studio. Most of our instructors all have their
16:07
Speaker 3: PT and beyond. There are a select few that only
16:12
Speaker 3: have their group fitness certification. But one of the safety
16:16
Speaker 3: that's around that is our own proprietary training, which provides
16:21
Speaker 3: guardrails for our talent to make sure that they provide
16:25
Speaker 3: a safe environment for all of the individuals who are
16:27
Speaker 3: taking their class. There is a certain amount of accountability
16:31
Speaker 3: you need to accept as a participant, and this is
16:34
Speaker 3: something you actually learn when you're getting certified that, like
16:37
Speaker 3: boutique Fitness, group fitness is not the same level of
16:41
Speaker 3: safety as a one on one personal trainer. Right, So
16:43
Speaker 3: if safety is absolutely your top priority and your goal
16:48
Speaker 3: might not be the right place for you. But if
16:50
Speaker 3: you're someone who has a ton of experience, which tends
16:52
Speaker 3: to be more our customer, you're going to be fine.
16:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, definitely, I totally agree with that. I think
16:59
Speaker 1: what's always saying about barries. I will say that I
17:04
Speaker 1: have friends that live in areas where there are no berries,
17:06
Speaker 1: but there is what they would compare to berries, and
17:10
Speaker 1: maybe they would bring up they're like, well, I go
17:11
Speaker 1: to orange theory. And I always say to them, like,
17:14
Speaker 1: make sure if you have questions, you're asking someone, because
17:17
Speaker 1: you go into a studio environment like that and there's
17:20
Speaker 1: a TV on the wall and it's just a video
17:22
Speaker 1: of someone executing a movement, and like, if you're not
17:25
Speaker 1: the kind of person that's willing to ask for help
17:27
Speaker 1: in that environment, it's so scary of what you could
17:29
Speaker 1: do to your body if you're not taking the time
17:32
Speaker 1: to really perfect and learn the movement.
17:35
Speaker 2: And I think that's really intimidating for some people.
17:37
Speaker 1: Definitely, when you were named CEO in twenty fifteen, did
17:41
Speaker 1: you ever have a point where you felt a little
17:45
Speaker 1: bit of imposter syndrome.
17:47
Speaker 3: There's a very uncomfortable transition from entrepreneur to CEO. I
17:53
Speaker 3: didn't necessarily feel like an impostor because I wasn't an
17:56
Speaker 3: instructor moving into a CEO position, right, COO moving into
18:01
Speaker 3: a CEO C and my responsibilities, to be honest, didn't
18:05
Speaker 3: change that drastically.
18:06
Speaker 4: Right.
18:07
Speaker 3: Most of what I was handling I continued to handle.
18:11
Speaker 3: Where I really struggled was building a robust infrastructure that
18:16
Speaker 3: we have today. Minimizing touch points, which has been like,
18:20
Speaker 3: absolutely how I talked to everyone all the time, That's
18:22
Speaker 3: how I've grown this business, So minimizing that was really
18:26
Speaker 3: a challenge. Yeah, and then with not necessarily enough time,
18:32
Speaker 3: having to make so many key hires, which like I
18:35
Speaker 3: definitely got it wrong a few times and then fixed
18:37
Speaker 3: it and got it right, and now we have just
18:39
Speaker 3: the most incredible executive team.
18:41
Speaker 1: Right, And you're saying that building this team is a
18:44
Speaker 1: little bit of a challenge. When you reflect on the
18:48
Speaker 1: other challenges that you may have faced, whether it has
18:51
Speaker 1: been as CEO or even prior to that as an instructor,
18:55
Speaker 1: what do you reflect on to be some of the
18:57
Speaker 1: biggest hurdles that you've had to jump over, or maybe
19:00
Speaker 1: just one of the biggest hurdles that you've had to
19:02
Speaker 1: jump over so far in your time at Berries.
19:06
Speaker 3: I think my biggest and when you look back at life,
19:10
Speaker 3: it's like ups and downs and ebbs and flows, right,
19:13
Speaker 3: And the one thing I noticed that's a common denominator
19:16
Speaker 3: is that the worst times in my life were times
19:18
Speaker 3: where I was run by fear and it wasn't actually
19:21
Speaker 3: what was happening at the moment. It was projecting into
19:24
Speaker 3: the future what I thought that moment meant, which never
19:27
Speaker 3: ended up being the case. And so I always say,
19:30
Speaker 3: if I could advise myself back then today, I would say,
19:35
Speaker 3: you know, transfer your fear into focus. And that's what
19:38
Speaker 3: I do today. When I start to feel those feelings
19:41
Speaker 3: of fear and intimidation, I am able to just like
19:44
Speaker 3: hit reset and think about why am I scared right now?
19:47
Speaker 3: What do I think is going to happen? And then
19:48
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, I say it out loud and
19:50
Speaker 3: I almost laugh because it's so ridiculous. Right, Oh, this
19:53
Speaker 3: is happening, and that's happening, So all berries are going
19:56
Speaker 3: to close around the world, Like, come on, get it together.
19:58
Speaker 3: That's not happening, right. Do I focus and overcome this hurdle?
20:02
Speaker 3: And how do I make sure that like I'm doing
20:05
Speaker 3: everything possible to do what it is we do.
20:08
Speaker 1: Best right, and so I feel like in that you're
20:11
Speaker 1: also always pushing your comfort zone, and that can be
20:16
Speaker 1: super intimidating and super challenging as a leader in your company.
20:22
Speaker 1: What do you feel like is one of the most
20:24
Speaker 1: you keep going back to this like singular piece of
20:27
Speaker 1: advice for your employees. I feel like for me, for instance,
20:31
Speaker 1: that is one of the biggest pieces of advice I
20:33
Speaker 1: give to my friends when they look to me for
20:35
Speaker 1: advice as someone who is a freelancer and a bit
20:37
Speaker 1: of an entrepreneur, it's like, how do you do it?
20:40
Speaker 1: And I say, I'm just willing to push my comfort zone,
20:43
Speaker 1: and so getting comfortable with that level of discomfort goes
20:48
Speaker 1: hand in hand with what I feel like has been
20:50
Speaker 1: arguably the amount of success that I've seen so far
20:53
Speaker 1: with only you know, years and years and experiences to come.
20:56
Speaker 1: So what do you kind of offer your team as
20:59
Speaker 1: a concert push point of advice?
21:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's similar to what you're talking about.
21:05
Speaker 3: I just phrase it differently and don't be afraid to
21:07
Speaker 3: continue to innovate. Because the reason why Berries has been
21:11
Speaker 3: a success for two decades now is because we've never
21:14
Speaker 3: stopped changing, and we will never look at ourselves in
21:18
Speaker 3: the mirrors and say it's enough. Right. We always know
21:21
Speaker 3: we can do better and we could do more. And
21:23
Speaker 3: as far as exercise and nutrition is concerned, it is
21:26
Speaker 3: literally collective knowledge is doubling every year, right, And how
21:29
Speaker 3: can we not pivot and how can we not make changes?
21:32
Speaker 3: And so, whether it's marketing or development or HR or retail,
21:38
Speaker 3: all we try to do is reinvent who we are
21:40
Speaker 3: and make sure our offering is the best fitness offering
21:44
Speaker 3: out there. Right.
21:45
Speaker 1: I think it's really interesting. Obviously we're recording this in
21:49
Speaker 1: the tail end of July. Last month was obviously Pride month,
21:52
Speaker 1: and I think, I mean, for the last few years
21:54
Speaker 1: Pride has been like such a special time at Berries,
21:58
Speaker 1: but I feel like this year, specifically, it's just been
22:01
Speaker 1: on another level. I know that you were definitely like
22:04
Speaker 1: pretty vocal. I felt like this year on your social
22:07
Speaker 1: media about like just like standing up for equality. And
22:11
Speaker 1: I also know that you met your partner at Barry's. Yeah,
22:13
Speaker 1: so why don't you tell me a little bit about that?
22:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, So we were set up blindly because a friend
22:19
Speaker 3: wanted to set me up and said I have the
22:21
Speaker 3: perfect guy for you, and he said the same thing
22:23
Speaker 3: to Jonathan and we were both like no, thanks. Then
22:26
Speaker 3: Barry approached me and said, hey, you know a friend
22:30
Speaker 3: that I've known for a long time just moved back
22:32
Speaker 3: to LA and I really think he's great for you.
22:33
Speaker 3: I want to set you up. I said no again.
22:35
Speaker 3: I was twenty seven, like, I did not need a
22:37
Speaker 3: blind day. I was just having a good time of
22:39
Speaker 3: my life, so that was all good. So then randomly
22:43
Speaker 3: this first friend who tried to set us up brought
22:45
Speaker 3: Jonathan to class. Well that's sneaky, got totally sneaky, and
22:49
Speaker 3: it was like after that moment, it was done, like
22:51
Speaker 3: we it was love at first sight. We then started dating.
22:55
Speaker 3: Barry freaked out because he's like, that's exactly who I
22:57
Speaker 3: was going to set you up with. So it was
22:59
Speaker 3: really just like I meant to be.
23:00
Speaker 2: Oh they didn't know.
23:01
Speaker 1: No, Oh, well that's ironic, really weird.
23:05
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think when you meet us both those separately,
23:08
Speaker 3: it's not hard to think like, oh, I feel like
23:11
Speaker 3: those two would be a great that works.
23:13
Speaker 2: And what does he do?
23:14
Speaker 1: He owns restaurants. Okay, yeah, it's called Green Leaf.
23:17
Speaker 3: Okay, it's definitely on brand because it's very healthy.
23:21
Speaker 1: This is going to work for us because what you
23:23
Speaker 1: do is on brand for what I do.
23:25
Speaker 3: This marriage can work.
23:27
Speaker 2: That's going to be good.
23:27
Speaker 1: And you have two kids, yes, what are their names?
23:30
Speaker 3: Francesca she's two and a half and Jake is just
23:33
Speaker 3: over one.
23:34
Speaker 1: So you've got two little kids, very little. How has
23:37
Speaker 1: it been being the CEO of this bustling brand and
23:41
Speaker 1: also keeping up with two pine sized kiddos at home.
23:45
Speaker 3: I think the best part about it has been when
23:49
Speaker 3: you have children. I was never good at balancing work
23:52
Speaker 3: and play. I just worked twenty hours a day, and
23:56
Speaker 3: now having a family, like I'm there every morning for
23:59
Speaker 3: the first you know, two hours of their life, and
24:01
Speaker 3: I'm there every night for the last hour and a half.
24:04
Speaker 3: I do the bath time, the dinner like every single day, breakfast,
24:07
Speaker 3: all of it. And so I have something that I
24:12
Speaker 3: have to turn off for for the first time ever.
24:14
Speaker 3: So I think it's actually helped me in a way
24:17
Speaker 3: unplug when I need to. Yeah, even though, to be
24:20
Speaker 3: totally honest with you, that stuff's way more stressful.
24:24
Speaker 1: It's enjoyable, but it's very stressful.
24:26
Speaker 2: Yeah.
24:26
Speaker 1: I think a good follow up to that is, what
24:30
Speaker 1: kind of life do you hope that your kids live?
24:33
Speaker 1: Because I think in today's wellness world that we live in, like,
24:37
Speaker 1: there are so many things that like, so many people
24:40
Speaker 1: have so many opinions. So like you have an opinion
24:42
Speaker 1: on how you like to live your life. I'm sure
24:44
Speaker 1: your partner has an opinion on how he likes to
24:46
Speaker 1: execute wellness in his life.
24:47
Speaker 2: Obviously eats super healthy.
24:49
Speaker 1: So what types of lessons do you hope to pass
24:52
Speaker 1: on to them about wellness? And like how they you know,
24:57
Speaker 1: develop as they get older.
24:59
Speaker 3: So much my daughter comes to Berries every Saturday when
25:02
Speaker 3: I teach. She literally sees the chevron and goes Berry's
25:05
Speaker 3: book gamp. I mean she knows exactly she's been indoctrinated.
25:07
Speaker 3: She's like going to be a customer in only three years.
25:12
Speaker 2: A little frightening age at age like five.
25:15
Speaker 3: My nephew who's nine, did a double like a few
25:17
Speaker 3: months ago. This is crazy, but.
25:21
Speaker 1: I just needs to like focus on this. Her second
25:23
Speaker 1: so like was there treadmilling or like was there oh
25:27
Speaker 1: so like treadmill floor, treadmill floor, treadmill floor, treadmill floor.
25:31
Speaker 2: Okay, same page.
25:32
Speaker 1: I don't think like some adult humans could do an
25:35
Speaker 1: elite Okay.
25:37
Speaker 3: High school athlete. He's not in high school, he's in junior.
25:42
Speaker 3: So I think it is going to be virtually impossible
25:45
Speaker 3: for my son or my daughter to not have fitness
25:48
Speaker 3: and wellness in their lives.
25:50
Speaker 4: Right.
25:51
Speaker 3: They're just they're learning about it. It's their regular practice.
25:55
Speaker 3: For me, I grew up in an environment where it
25:59
Speaker 3: was really about halfness. So that's what I talk about
26:02
Speaker 3: with them is I just want my kids to be happy.
26:05
Speaker 3: And part of my happiness has been like finding a
26:08
Speaker 3: career that I loved, right, So that if I could
26:10
Speaker 3: wish anything for my children, it's that they find a
26:13
Speaker 3: job and find work that they love.
26:15
Speaker 2: I love that.
26:16
Speaker 1: I think that's I think that's really special because that's
26:18
Speaker 1: a definite different take on wellness than a lot of
26:21
Speaker 1: people think of. I think a lot of people think
26:24
Speaker 1: wellness and they immediately think fitness and activity. But what
26:28
Speaker 1: we lose sight of is kind of like the mental
26:30
Speaker 1: health and happiness aspect. What are some ways that you
26:35
Speaker 1: give back to yourself from like I guess a self
26:37
Speaker 1: care perspective, like what.
26:39
Speaker 3: Do you do for you? Yeah? So I'm on the
26:42
Speaker 3: well and Good council, Yeah, and just spoke about what
26:46
Speaker 3: you just said, Like I literally word for word and
26:49
Speaker 3: talked about how, like my biggest breakthrough last year was
26:51
Speaker 3: learning how important mental health is. And I don't mean
26:58
Speaker 3: like if you're suffering from just in general, like everybody's
27:01
Speaker 3: own mental health. Yeah, taking responsibility for it and doing
27:05
Speaker 3: things that can put you in a better headspace. I
27:09
Speaker 3: meditate every day. I do five to ten minutes of meditation,
27:12
Speaker 3: and it is definitely something that it seemed really cliche
27:17
Speaker 3: to me. And until you have that power of a
27:21
Speaker 3: moment where you connect why the meditation can be so
27:25
Speaker 3: helpful for your everyday life, it probably won't resonate, but
27:29
Speaker 3: when you get there and you start practicing it, it
27:32
Speaker 3: really makes a difference.
27:33
Speaker 1: When did you start doing that.
27:36
Speaker 3: Just a few months ago, and was there.
27:39
Speaker 1: Like a specific moment or occurrence that happened that triggered
27:42
Speaker 1: you to start meditating, or were you like everybody's doing this,
27:45
Speaker 1: I should probably get into it.
27:46
Speaker 3: So we started working with an executive coach about eight
27:50
Speaker 3: months ago, which has been life changing, and every group
27:55
Speaker 3: meeting we have starts with a meditation. So all we
27:59
Speaker 3: really need to do was collectively understand like why that
28:03
Speaker 3: was so powerful and what it would end, you know,
28:06
Speaker 3: in the five to ten minutes was over, he would
28:07
Speaker 3: talk about like how it impacted each person and had
28:11
Speaker 3: everybody go around the room saying, you know, what they
28:14
Speaker 3: went through and what and you just it's it's a
28:16
Speaker 3: complete journey.
28:17
Speaker 1: Yeah. And when you say executive coach, you mean like
28:20
Speaker 1: for the people that work for Barri's Corporate.
28:22
Speaker 3: So for all of us on the executive team, we
28:26
Speaker 3: work one on one with this guy and we sit
28:28
Speaker 3: down and you know, the whole first four to six
28:32
Speaker 3: weeks for me was literally like feet on the couch.
28:35
Speaker 3: What happened when you were there at five years old? Yeah,
28:38
Speaker 3: mommy daddy, you know, just like the whole thing, right,
28:41
Speaker 3: combination of like how to be an executive leader with
28:44
Speaker 3: like psychotherapy basically. And so then he sort of approached
28:49
Speaker 3: each executive member individually, learn more about them as a personality,
28:53
Speaker 3: what makes them tick, what they've learned, you know, which
28:57
Speaker 3: hasn't helped them along the way, or what they've learned
28:59
Speaker 3: that has. And it's really changed the dynamic around here.
29:03
Speaker 3: It's helped leadership practice what we call servant leadership, which
29:08
Speaker 3: is actually listening to the people that work for us
29:10
Speaker 3: and being of service to them. It's just been totally
29:13
Speaker 3: altering to the business.
29:15
Speaker 1: What do you think has been one of the biggest
29:16
Speaker 1: lessons you've learned along the way that helps you be
29:18
Speaker 1: a more impactful leader for your team.
29:23
Speaker 3: So one of the things we are asked to focus
29:27
Speaker 3: on is the difference between what's happening in reality and
29:34
Speaker 3: what's happening in our minds. And when you can make
29:37
Speaker 3: that distinction and call out behavioral patterns or things you
29:43
Speaker 3: might say or think before you actually say or think them,
29:47
Speaker 3: it's a game changer in terms of relationships and in
29:50
Speaker 3: terms of emotional intelligence and like being able to manage people.
29:56
Speaker 4: Right.
29:57
Speaker 3: It's just it's unbelievab. And then the second piece of
30:01
Speaker 3: that is what I said earlier, which is just like
30:02
Speaker 3: getting rid of fear, because he very much, our executive coach,
30:06
Speaker 3: very much believes that fear. Most of the bad things
30:10
Speaker 3: in the world are as a result of fear that
30:12
Speaker 3: we feel unrealistically as a result of like things that
30:16
Speaker 3: have happened to us earlier in life.
30:18
Speaker 2: I think it's interesting.
30:19
Speaker 1: I was having a conversation with a girlfriend yesterday and
30:22
Speaker 1: I had intentionally but shouldn't have given someone time they
30:27
Speaker 1: didn't ask for. So it's like you say, whether it's
30:31
Speaker 1: like an emotional situation, you have a friend or someone
30:34
Speaker 1: you want to do business with, and you are like, okay,
30:37
Speaker 1: like maybe, in my head, on Tuesday at five, I'm
30:41
Speaker 1: going to be swinging by the Barry's office, like maybe
30:44
Speaker 1: I can make it so me and Joey can have
30:46
Speaker 1: like thirty minutes. And it's like you didn't even approach
30:48
Speaker 1: them about this time. You just in your head were like,
30:50
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you this thirty minutes, and when
30:52
Speaker 1: it doesn't work out, you're mad at yourself for giving
30:56
Speaker 1: someone something they didn't ask for. Yeah, and that's been
30:59
Speaker 1: something that I'm working on as an entrepreneur.
31:01
Speaker 2: It's like, do.
31:03
Speaker 1: Smart things with the time that you have with the
31:05
Speaker 1: people that you care about and make it effective and impactful.
31:09
Speaker 1: And I think that's really smart what you're saying. Backing
31:13
Speaker 1: away from the fear as your motivator, it's like, I'm
31:16
Speaker 1: worried if I don't make this thirty minutes, or if
31:19
Speaker 1: I don't check all these boxes, or if I don't
31:21
Speaker 1: do this, then this will happen. But what do you
31:23
Speaker 1: do when you're like, okay, I am capable of X,
31:26
Speaker 1: Y Z.
31:27
Speaker 2: This is what I can control, Like focus on that.
31:30
Speaker 3: And every example you come up with is like something
31:35
Speaker 3: that we have learned about with Martin, where like for that,
31:38
Speaker 3: for example, for what the story you just told is
31:41
Speaker 3: all about clear communication and that could have been resolved
31:44
Speaker 3: so easily with clear and direct but respectful communication.
31:47
Speaker 2: Yeah.
31:47
Speaker 3: Right, And then there are other things we've learned to articulate,
31:50
Speaker 3: which is like we'll be sitting in a meeting and
31:52
Speaker 3: we'll be able to turn one another to one another
31:54
Speaker 3: and be like that just really triggered me, give.
31:56
Speaker 4: Me a second, right, or like I'm getting a hijacked,
31:58
Speaker 4: I'm getting So there's like this vocabulary now that we
32:02
Speaker 4: all share here which really takes it takes all of
32:06
Speaker 4: those really tense, awful moments out of the office and
32:09
Speaker 4: you can actually be really candid about what you're feeling
32:12
Speaker 4: and you can express it or articulate it like clearly, directly.
32:16
Speaker 1: With respect, and it's really productive instead of just being
32:19
Speaker 1: like super passive aggressive unintentionally. It's not like you want
32:22
Speaker 1: to hurt anybody's feelings. It's just like this makes me
32:25
Speaker 1: feel some kind of way.
32:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I need to work past this yeah, or
32:28
Speaker 3: I'm protecting myself so I'm getting mad at you.
32:30
Speaker 1: You know it's I bet this helps you at home too.
32:34
Speaker 3: Yeah.
32:34
Speaker 1: Do you guys communicate differently now that you've been working
32:36
Speaker 1: with it?
32:39
Speaker 2: Like we need another coach.
32:42
Speaker 3: I do my best.
32:50
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Speaker 2: Let's get back to it.
34:05
Speaker 1: I'm back here sitting with Joey Gonzalez. He is the
34:08
Speaker 1: CEO of Barry's Bootcamp. What do you think about when
34:11
Speaker 1: you think about five year goals for Berries? Because I
34:13
Speaker 1: think it's really special that you're talking about how important
34:16
Speaker 1: your people are and like investing in your people and
34:18
Speaker 1: that's a really good business goal. What else do you
34:21
Speaker 1: see in the next five years for the company?
34:24
Speaker 3: I think so I sort of see different goals. There
34:27
Speaker 3: are different ways to look. We're hoping to get to
34:30
Speaker 3: fifty US domestic studios by twenty twenty two, and we're
34:34
Speaker 3: about halfway there. Well, so that's the enterprise goal. Then
34:38
Speaker 3: there's the personal goal, which is as we expand, the
34:43
Speaker 3: most important thing to me is maintaining culture. Because Barries
34:47
Speaker 3: has always been It's so much more than a dollar
34:51
Speaker 3: value or a business that I wanted to scale. It's
34:55
Speaker 3: like a family.
34:56
Speaker 4: You know.
34:56
Speaker 3: We wear shirts that on the back say family at work.
35:00
Speaker 3: It is a very real thing. We did a survey
35:04
Speaker 3: across the organization to ask during our values project what
35:07
Speaker 3: makes very special to you, and one of the most
35:10
Speaker 3: common denominators was people feeling like they could be themselves here,
35:14
Speaker 3: People feeling wholly accepted by not only the internal family
35:20
Speaker 3: but also the external community. And so being able to
35:22
Speaker 3: maintain that for me is a top of the mind
35:27
Speaker 3: goal because I think it's one of the things that
35:29
Speaker 3: differentiates Varies from a lot of other places.
35:31
Speaker 1: In twenty seventeen, you told Forbes our community is a
35:35
Speaker 1: huge driver for bringing in new customers. Our clients become
35:38
Speaker 1: brand evangelists and want to share their experience with their
35:41
Speaker 1: own networks. Even celebrities willingly share by word of mouth
35:45
Speaker 1: and on social media. I think this brings to life
35:49
Speaker 1: something that we haven't quite touched on yet, which is
35:51
Speaker 1: this concept of social media and the growth of your
35:54
Speaker 1: brand and your instructors via social media. As such a
35:59
Speaker 1: big company, do you have like a certain lens or
36:02
Speaker 1: a certain way that you try to talk about the
36:05
Speaker 1: brand when it comes to these different platforms.
36:08
Speaker 3: Yes, definitely, social media is like the new advertising, right
36:13
Speaker 3: because it's organic and it's real and people listen, and
36:17
Speaker 3: obviously I'm talking about organic and not paid, and so
36:20
Speaker 3: we definitely make an effort to educate our instructors and
36:25
Speaker 3: other employees on like how best practices, how to represent
36:29
Speaker 3: barries and stay on brand. But what I think is
36:32
Speaker 3: really interesting about what you brought up is that back
36:37
Speaker 3: in you know, two thousand and three, when I started
36:39
Speaker 3: at Berries, there was no social media. We used to
36:43
Speaker 3: collect people's email addresses and as instructors, we would email
36:47
Speaker 3: them our schedules. People and they came to class would
36:49
Speaker 3: sign up with a pen or pencil. I got a
36:52
Speaker 3: little you know, word and it just was like a
36:55
Speaker 3: totally different reality where the business grew from word of mouth. Yeah,
36:59
Speaker 3: And what I was able to see happen there is that,
37:03
Speaker 3: like the I think people's frequency is always higher when
37:07
Speaker 3: they go there with a friend and have a personal
37:09
Speaker 3: connection to it. And as a result, even now that
37:12
Speaker 3: we have a very sophisticated marketing department, our new client
37:16
Speaker 3: acquisition campaigns are almost always backed up by getting support
37:23
Speaker 3: from our current customer base, and so you'll see we'll
37:25
Speaker 3: launch like friends with Benefits.
37:27
Speaker 1: I did that this year.
37:28
Speaker 3: You did see it, and it's fun. Like our customers
37:30
Speaker 3: love it. They get a class, their friend gets a class.
37:32
Speaker 3: But it creates what it is that makes very special,
37:35
Speaker 3: which is like, let's talk about how heart that was.
37:37
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I never swept that much. And then
37:39
Speaker 3: you text each other in two days and you come
37:41
Speaker 3: back right. Because for us, it's always about getting frequency
37:44
Speaker 3: and repeat customers, and so we invest way more into
37:48
Speaker 3: those types of campaigns today, even than in you know,
37:52
Speaker 3: new client acquisition paid digital campaigns.
37:55
Speaker 1: Right as Barry's grows bigger, how is it that you
37:59
Speaker 1: hone in on this sense of community despite being bigger
38:03
Speaker 1: and bigger and bigger.
38:06
Speaker 3: One of the things we pay most attention to is
38:08
Speaker 3: local nuance. And that is something I'm really sensitive to
38:13
Speaker 3: because as the fourth partner who used to travel around
38:17
Speaker 3: to new cities and communicate back to the mothership like
38:21
Speaker 3: what that city needed. It was always like very helpful
38:25
Speaker 3: for me to have their support and never hear like, well, no,
38:28
Speaker 3: this is how we do things in that so we
38:30
Speaker 3: would always pivot and flax depending on where we were
38:32
Speaker 3: and what the community needed. And so as a CEO,
38:37
Speaker 3: as we've expanded and entered so many new US cities,
38:40
Speaker 3: it's really been a priority for me to continue that
38:43
Speaker 3: communication with our boots on the ground. And we have
38:46
Speaker 3: a whole community marketing team that they would liaise essentially
38:49
Speaker 3: between marketing and all the managers. They are in studios.
38:54
Speaker 3: They are delivering not only what we're doing, but why
38:57
Speaker 3: we're doing it. And it works both ways. Right, are
39:00
Speaker 3: going to Dallas and they're talking about this, you know,
39:02
Speaker 3: new client acquisition campaign and then they're getting feedback about
39:06
Speaker 3: how that sounds great, but what would really work here
39:08
Speaker 3: is ABC, right, and they're bringing it back to us
39:11
Speaker 3: and helping us learn about what works in their community.
39:13
Speaker 3: And then we have a new department that we've just
39:15
Speaker 3: invested into called Client Experience, which is wholly devoted to
39:20
Speaker 3: like making sure everybody feels special, making sure disgruntled customers
39:23
Speaker 3: are answered almost immediately, making sure if it's your you know,
39:28
Speaker 3: if you're pregnant, and your customer that comes a lot
39:30
Speaker 3: and we know you that there's you know, a pair
39:32
Speaker 3: of baby shoes with berries chevron waiting for you at
39:35
Speaker 3: the front desk. It's just surprise and delight and making
39:38
Speaker 3: sure our customers feel special.
39:39
Speaker 1: I love that term surprise and delay. Yeah, I feel
39:41
Speaker 1: like there should be more surprise and delight, like it's
39:43
Speaker 1: a regular human experience.
39:45
Speaker 3: I know.
39:47
Speaker 1: I would love that. I would love it. Also if
39:49
Speaker 1: for just a minute, you could put on your trainer hat.
39:52
Speaker 1: I come to you and I tell you, man, I'm
39:55
Speaker 1: having like a really hard time getting motivated, like I
39:59
Speaker 1: know I could lose a few pounds, Like I'm feeling
40:02
Speaker 1: just like a little lackluster lately. Like what should I do, Joey,
40:07
Speaker 1: what do you tell me.
40:09
Speaker 3: For me? The accountability is always what I've seen be
40:12
Speaker 3: the difference between success and failure. Yeah, and so making
40:15
Speaker 3: sure somebody has someone to lean on. So if you're
40:18
Speaker 3: my friend and you say that, I say, I'm not
40:20
Speaker 3: going to let you fail, Like let's do this together
40:22
Speaker 3: on Monday, or you text me what you ate and
40:25
Speaker 3: when you worked out on Monday, and if you didn't,
40:26
Speaker 3: we're going to have a conversation about why you didn't.
40:28
Speaker 3: Do you know what I'm saying. He totally really getting
40:31
Speaker 3: people to take accountability, to make the commitment and then
40:34
Speaker 3: to have to explain why they didn't.
40:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, you you have the opportunity to gift someone you
40:42
Speaker 1: care about a book.
40:44
Speaker 2: What book do you gift them?
40:46
Speaker 1: Start with why? Joey just pointed out his desk for
40:49
Speaker 1: everyone that's sitting at home listening to this, did you
40:51
Speaker 1: just get that book?
40:52
Speaker 3: No, as you can see it, read and rereadify and
40:56
Speaker 3: I note and stuff. But I've definitely like passed it on.
41:00
Speaker 1: What is so special about this book? I Simon Sinek.
41:04
Speaker 1: Did I say that wrong?
41:05
Speaker 3: No? That's right? Okay, It just it helps explain why
41:12
Speaker 3: some organizations have stood the test of time and why
41:16
Speaker 3: the most important thing to do isn't try to sell
41:20
Speaker 3: to try to sell a product, but to try to
41:22
Speaker 3: figure out why you're offering it in the first place,
41:25
Speaker 3: which is way harder than you'd think.
41:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, why do you think you're offering your product?
41:31
Speaker 3: So, I mean, the vision for Berries has always been
41:35
Speaker 3: to transform lives, and that vision started in West Hollywood
41:40
Speaker 3: and has now become a worldwide vision. And we do
41:45
Speaker 3: that through so many different ways. It's obviously physical. A
41:49
Speaker 3: lot of people see results within like three or four
41:53
Speaker 3: weeks at Berries where they just can't even believe people
41:55
Speaker 3: who are already fit are saying I have a six
41:57
Speaker 3: pack for the first time. They just can't believe the result. Right.
42:00
Speaker 3: But on the flip side, we have people who have
42:03
Speaker 3: like totally like emotional, spiritual, like they are going through
42:11
Speaker 3: a hard time in life, they're suffering from cancer, or
42:13
Speaker 3: they're going through a divorce, and all of a sudden,
42:15
Speaker 3: they like find this work out that challenges their mind,
42:19
Speaker 3: this community that supports and loves them. And so the
42:22
Speaker 3: way that we transform lives is totally case by case dependent,
42:27
Speaker 3: but it is an absolute and it's something that you
42:29
Speaker 3: know is seen in every person that comes.
42:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you think about your extensive journey with berries,
42:37
Speaker 1: aside from you know, meeting your partner, what do you
42:41
Speaker 1: think is one of the most beautiful ways that this
42:43
Speaker 1: business has transformed your life? Oh, the eyes widened. It
42:49
Speaker 1: was like a deep breath situation.
42:52
Speaker 3: I mean, taking it back to the beginning, just learning
42:57
Speaker 3: again after being broken down, that I'm capable of so much,
43:01
Speaker 3: building my self confidence up again, facing myself, continually facing myself,
43:08
Speaker 3: looking at myself in the mirror, and not necessarily only
43:11
Speaker 3: thinking about can I get to twelve five for my sprint,
43:14
Speaker 3: but also thinking about what happened today and ways that
43:18
Speaker 3: I reacted, the ways that I could have been better.
43:20
Speaker 3: Barries challenges me on all of those levels, and every
43:24
Speaker 3: time I'm in that red room, it is just a
43:26
Speaker 3: cathartic experience where I'm evaluating my life and myself and
43:33
Speaker 3: trying to figure out, you know, how I'm doing.
43:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, aside from that piece of advice to like reach
43:40
Speaker 1: out to someone for accountability, someone who doesn't have the
43:43
Speaker 1: opportunity to visit a berries themselves, maybe living in one
43:47
Speaker 1: of those, you know, more rural areas. What is a
43:51
Speaker 1: piece of advice you would give to them when maybe
43:55
Speaker 1: they come to terms with this idea that they do
43:57
Speaker 1: need to face themselves, that they do need to show up.
43:59
Speaker 1: How to someone start when they haven't really been able
44:02
Speaker 1: to do that before.
44:03
Speaker 3: It's so easy now, I mean I told you back
44:05
Speaker 3: in the day, I used to have to buy magazine
44:07
Speaker 3: and bring it with me. Yea. Now there are apps,
44:11
Speaker 3: there is YouTube, there are there's so many resources. I
44:15
Speaker 3: think the most important thing is finding something that you enjoy,
44:19
Speaker 3: because if you don't enjoy it, you're not going to
44:20
Speaker 3: repeat it. Yeah, and that's what really counts.
44:23
Speaker 1: What do you think has been one of the best
44:25
Speaker 1: pieces of advice that you've been given in your career.
44:33
Speaker 3: You have to trust the people you hired to do
44:35
Speaker 3: their jobs.
44:38
Speaker 1: I love that You're like Mike Drop, we're done. You
44:41
Speaker 1: can either want why why that one?
44:45
Speaker 3: H You know, it came at the perfect time. I
44:47
Speaker 3: had just moved to New York. It was actually my
44:50
Speaker 3: roommate Nicole, who I was living with her father as
44:54
Speaker 3: a famous entrepreneur, and she said to me one day,
44:59
Speaker 3: you know the best piece of advice my dad said
45:01
Speaker 3: he ever got was that phrase right there, and it
45:04
Speaker 3: changed his trajectory and it just landed on me, and
45:08
Speaker 3: I thought, kind of, that is so true. I had
45:11
Speaker 3: come from an environment like in La where I was
45:14
Speaker 3: so immersed in the day to day that I was
45:17
Speaker 3: probably micromanaging and doing things that I could have done better.
45:22
Speaker 3: And from that moment on, I really made an effort
45:24
Speaker 3: to just trust the people I hire.
45:27
Speaker 1: When you think about your leadership style as a CEO,
45:32
Speaker 1: how would you describe that?
45:36
Speaker 3: M my leadership style as a CEO? It's hard because
45:45
Speaker 3: I don't know if the way you think of yourself
45:47
Speaker 3: as what others think. I mean I'm asking you about
45:49
Speaker 3: I would imagine I would imagine out of the box, casual, innovative, disciplined.
45:58
Speaker 1: My concluding question to you, sir, if you have a
46:04
Speaker 1: piece of advice that you would offer to the Joey
46:08
Speaker 1: who's walking in to Barrie's for the first time, you know,
46:12
Speaker 1: at that point in his life where he's at this
46:14
Speaker 1: pivotal crossroads, what is it that you say to him?
46:18
Speaker 3: Looking back on it now, So it's actually something that
46:21
Speaker 3: we say to customers a lot. It's like a scripted
46:24
Speaker 3: Berries thing, which is don't be a hero. And those
46:29
Speaker 3: are really important first words, I think because most people
46:32
Speaker 3: like me it took me a year and a half
46:33
Speaker 3: to go to Berries, are scared. Can I swear? Bleepless?
46:39
Speaker 3: And so they walk into this studio and you know,
46:43
Speaker 3: it's very comforting to just hear from a friendly face like,
46:45
Speaker 3: don't be a hero, just do your best. And I
46:48
Speaker 3: think that would have helped me a lot, because I
46:50
Speaker 3: was scared walking in, I was scared during, and I
46:52
Speaker 3: was a little bit scared after when it was done.
46:56
Speaker 3: And as I said earlier, I think fear is a
46:58
Speaker 3: real powerful thing. So being able to disarm people immediately
47:01
Speaker 3: with that, I think is a good thing.
47:02
Speaker 1: Awesome, Joey, thanks so much for sitting down with me today,
47:05
Speaker 1: and you're in our beautiful little place here in West Hollywood?
47:09
Speaker 2: Is that where we are for sure?
47:11
Speaker 1: So it's the New Yorker who can't find our way
47:12
Speaker 1: around Sandelis. Please take a moment to leave a quick
47:16
Speaker 1: review by clicking the link with the description to this episode.
47:20
Speaker 1: We all face multiple hurdles in life. I want to
47:22
Speaker 1: hear about yours. Reach Out to me at Emily at
47:25
Speaker 1: Hurdle dot us. Connect with the podcast on Instagram and
47:28
Speaker 1: Twitter at Hurdle Podcast. Joey, Where do they find you?
47:32
Speaker 1: Where do they find berries? Give me all the social rundown,
47:34
Speaker 1: the website rundown, and maybe even some scheduling tips.
47:37
Speaker 3: Our websites berries, bootcamp dot com. Our Instagram handle is
47:41
Speaker 3: Berri's boot Camp and my Instagram handle is Joey Gonzalez.
47:45
Speaker 1: And where do you teach you?
47:46
Speaker 3: I teach in Venice Saturday mornings, eight thirty am.
47:49
Speaker 1: I heard it's great.
47:50
Speaker 3: Oh good? My girlfriend old man still got it?
47:52
Speaker 1: My girlfriend that just dropped me off here I told
47:54
Speaker 1: me she goes every Saturday.
47:55
Speaker 3: Great really yeah.
47:56
Speaker 2: Her name's Alissa Klude.
47:57
Speaker 3: Oh I love that.
47:58
Speaker 1: Tell her to say hi, I will cool awesome. I
48:01
Speaker 1: am at emily a body. I'm excited to keep learning
48:04
Speaker 1: and growing with you guys. Another hurdle conquered. Catch you
48:07
Speaker 1: guys next time.