Redefining Wellness: The barre3 CEO’s Guide

Speaker 1: [Music] our vision and our mission is every time we teach a class to teach people to be balanced and body and empowered from within and that's what we set out to do with our very first studio and here we are realizing our vision we have 185 Studios they are all owned and operated by women we have a beautiful streaming business on a premium platform reaching people in over 100 countries hi I'm Melanie bar welcome back to the Sheil it podcast your Goto place to empower you to live the life and business that you crave I'm here to talk about everything from Having the courage to make life and career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively create successful teams Implement strategies for growth and Infuse Tech Innovation I'm here to celebrate your wins and navigate through your challenges I live in the city now but I grew up in a town of a thousand people I've navigated major life leaps a senior level corporate career worked in professional sports and now as a successful entrepreneur who loves business technology family and making meaningful connections with you and the sheb built it Community I also love a good workout and dose of self-care magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so turn up the audio open your favorite Notes app grab your favorite drink and here we go welcome back to the Sheila podcast thank you for joining us stie you are the founder of bar 3 a fitness and wellness company focused on teaching people to be balanced in body and empowered from within you have grown bar 3 to include more than 185 franchise Studios powered by female entrepreneurs plus an online workout streaming subscriber base in 100 plus countries share with us the story behind creating your business and what inspired you to start it what inspired me I had previously been in the fitness industry for about a decade it was 24-Hour Fitness I I went there right out of grad school and stayed there for 10 years and helped grow the company from 25 gems to over 430 so I really learned the business more importantly as an entrepreneur I learned what was missing started to investigate why don't I feel great in this gym environment Fitness isn't wrong it's not broken it's working for so many people that for me I felt the weight of body image ideals in the industry as building this quiet shame in my body I was pushing myself too hard I had chronic pain and I was hoping to merge my love of yoga with Fitness a mindfulness approach to Fitness so that was the heart and the seed of bar three and that combined with my husband wanting to Branch out and do his own thing as well we wanted to build a company around our core values a company that are two little kids at the time they were two and three and a half would be proud to be a part of I had the business Acumen growing Fitness I had the purpose and so we took a leap of faith moved to Portland Oregon from Oakland California and started our first birth Studio 15 years ago I love that and you're right we all want to work out but we want to work out in different ways and in different environments and it's not a one place fits all people yeah exactly and back then there wasn't a lot of Fitness for Women it was more of a masculine product which works for a lot of women there was more emphasis on like sport performance and general fitness for weight loss Fitness for Success all these outer external measures was the dominant narrative in the industry and I would argue it still is and for me I needed to experience Fitness in a way that honored my inner landscape my emotions my energy levels my confidence my feeling of being strong that made me feel really good and motivated me when I exercised with that kind of mindset I got better results and I learned all that when I was pregnant with my first child because that's when I started to move in my body as I did Fitness and I would modify based on my Ever Changing body in the present moment and that was very different than moving to try to get my body to a shape that I imagined in the future to lose weight to be more ripped to look a certain way instead I started to move just to be in my body and be honest in my body and everything shifted that's so interesting I'm a mom of twins and you're right you become so much more self-aware because you have to be careful with how you move yeah self-aware body aware and delighted right it's like you're surprised like every day is such a curiosity because when you become a mother for the first time it's all new I taught this morning and I mentioned this in class I said even if you've taken your 3,000th class which there was a client I just signed a card for her 3, 600th class I said even if it's your 3000 class pretend it's your very first one because today is a new day and be curious about your body I love that it's such a fun Outlook it is it makes it more fun I always say it's only bar three it's not that serious let's have fun here building a business like you have takes Vision tell us about your vision for bar 3 and how has it evolved our vision was to be owned and operated by women for everybody but that would be our Target to redefine success and fitness from an external measure of success to an internal measure of success because I knew for myself that was a healing approach so that was a big part of our vision and our mission is every time we teach a class to teach people to be balanced and body and empowered from within and that's what we set out to do with our very first studio and here we are realizing our vision we have 185 Studios they are all owned and operated by women we have a beautiful streaming business on a premium platform reaching people in over 100 countries now which just absolutely blows my mind and now looking forward I think we've done a beautiful job and truly made an impact when it comes to body positivity and body diversity if you look at our online instructors we are all different shapes and we're all confident and strong in our bodies and ages I'm really proud of that part we have to grow is in diversity equity and inclusion and we're making a conscious intentional approach to that to representing more people of color we're in more of the early stages of that but it's already starting to happen which is really exciting rounding out the client Journey when we first opened our doors 15 years ago we didn't call ourselves a fitness company because I wanted to redefine Fitness and not be anchored and an old idea of what Fitness is today we're proudly a fitness company because we've redefined it but also a wellness company and so I think you'll see in the future more and more rounded out client Journeys beyond our studio walls for people who come to us and you're so right because we can look good but it's just as important that we also feel good on the inside and it's so great that you're giving women and people the business and entrepreneurial opportunity yeah my own Journey around body image I got into fitness because I wanted to look the part I was like wow if I can make Fitness my career this is when I was 20 that's how long ago I started I'm like I'll have to work out I'll have to be winning I'll have to be successful this is my ticket to success is being in shape and I had a vision of what that looked like in my head I worked out that way but I all that happened was I ended up body shame went up and pain went up my I was pushing my body too hard and for the wrong reasons I wasn't really compassionate in my body or loving in my body and even though I might have lost weight I probably got stronger I was really unhappy and it was a silent unhappy and that's really lonely to have that secret feeling of I'm not good in here in so many women specifically men too but so many women I meet share threads of that story and we're all tired of it we want to take back feeling good in our bodies however they are in that day in that moment leadership is as challenging as it is rewarding what do you think is the most important element of leadership when growing and scaling a business be self-aware where your inherent natural authentic superpowers lie be really clear on that on honest in that and where they don't and where you can respectfully hire other people who are different than you when I started my company and this is a real common tendency I hired a bunch of people that were mirrors of me and we weren't diverse as a leadership team and there wasn't as much Innovation there wasn't as much growth and it wasn't really healthy healthy leaders know to build their teams based on what they don't have inside of themselves in their natural skill set and then really respect that and that takes training that takes time we as a leadership team have brought in different Consultants we've done lots of different strength finders like core values index was the latest one we did which was great by the way to really understand our differences so we can debate things in a safe environment and question things together that's probably been the biggest unlock for me as a leader thank you for sharing that because it can be hard to look at ourselves at times and with that critical thinking and I am always so inspired by the women and the leaders that come on the show that say they've taken a hard look at themselves to say what am I good at who do I need to hire around me that might be better than I am in some areas so that's great advice yeah and you can do it quietly on your own as a leader especially if you're a very visible leader I certainly am and I found it really helpful to have a coach and to read books have an entrepreneur group outside of my company so I met with a group from entrepreneur organization a forum for eight years the same group of eight people they all owned their own business and we would sit together for half a day once a month and vulnerably share the significant part of growing as a leader and a big part of that is seeing the Shadow of Yourself the side you don't want to admit and to face it work through it and then not take that on on the team or your partner at home yeah I love that because you can't always talk to team members or your family so it's such good advice to have that outside group it's so important I remember going through that training and you meet with these people to talk about this significant 3% of your life that you can't share with a friend a family member a partner or a colleague things like great success my friends might not want to hear how I'm crushing it necessarily and then my colleagues probably don't want to hear how I'm feeling like a loser today and it is that roller coaster for sure yeah yeah that was one of the most valuable things I've done as a leader for sure the fitness industry is competitive and constantly evolving how do you stay Innovative by hiring team members who question and are curious and are natural innovators and who feel safe to question and innovate and fail so being intentional around that I love the same fail fast but you can't fail fast unless you have an environment where people can really try things I think we've done really well with that my leadership team was phenomenal they made me uncomfortable I wasn't super excited about launching new class types for example during covid when all our Studios were closed but they gave me the confidence and pushed the envelope there and ended up innovating three incredible new class types that we now offer in our Studios and online and it's because I pulled back I wasn't around the table I knew when I would be prohibitive of that kind of investigation and then another big part of innovation is creating systems and process around it a real clear research and development program we're going to move forward or we're not having those systems in place thoughtful strategic ways really important as well and that can be hard because we can think I don't know if I want to take the time to implement this system because it takes time but ultimately it usually ends up the best thing to take the time to do it yeah and it saves time in the long run because I think people confuse I know I'm very entrepreneurial so I'm like squirrel you look at new things and you want to try them that is not Innovation that is not strategic making sure that whatever you're designing into the next evolution of what you're creating is very strategic with your growth goals and not going to be a distraction and not just going to be a shiny thing and when you do that then your time is spent so much more wisely building a strong Community is often a key element of success how have you fostered a sense of community within your business Community is the foundation of bar three when my husband and I set out to start bar 3 one of the key things we wanted to solve was feeling lonely New York Times recently called Boutique Fitness the new church because our society has become so fragmented we are alone more than ever and having a reason to come together in person in group is essential for our health and we've been doing this since 2008 one of our sayings is relationships matter more than exercise and so we Foster Community even within our lobby we have a play Lounge area where new parents can bring their babies we Foster connections and Community there I see moms all the time finding their play groups connecting going out afterwards how we relate to clients how we get to know them is part of who we are our DNA we train on that just as much as we do how to teach a solid class and that whole idea of community goes right into our headquarters and how we treat each other matters to us it's truly part of our DNA the reason we decided to be owner operated and franchise with women investors so far is we wanted it to be about her studio and her community and the relationships she authentically was forging with her book club her play groups her just to start her business that fostering that kind of community while making a living was hugely important to us and also why we were so resilient during Co because those relationships that our women owners forged with their clients lasted even when they shut their doors their clients continue to pay them because of that strong connection and that's great that you're building that kind of Sy sustainable company culture if I can go somewhere and work out be in a community find friends and also feel good about myself in the inside and out that seems like the best win-win and it's interesting you're reminding me my daughter was taking a dance class where she'd go and do the class and that was fine but we ended up switching and at this class they start with by sharing something about themselves and they end by sharing with all the other classes and she lights up now when she goes so it just shows she could go and dance and be fine but adding that sense of community makes it so much more enjoyable for everyone it really does it's probably not why someone would sign up for a fitness class to make friends but if you do sign up for a fitness class you go there and you feel seen and heard and you feel like you belong and are a part of a community you will come back we know that's when people decide to come back and be a part of it and they really see themselves and more than just it being someplace where they can get fit how do you see your business growing and evolving in the next five years do you have any specific goals or projects in mind can make us better and that starts with our franchisees people interested in opening up their own studio and their community and lighting up bar three in an authentic way to them every time we open a studio with an owner we get better because we learn from her this was just magnified we acquired the barcode which is 22 Studios all run by women and we're innovating so much more right now because because we're learning so much from them as they convert to Bar three that is how we will continue to grow person by person authentic Connection by authentic connection from the client side of growing we're focusing on a depth strategy a deeper connection with clients we know we teach remarkable classes we know we build true authentic Connections in community where we really want to figure out is to get to know our clients even better and find out how else can we support you with the same philosophy of being well in the world for inner reasons energy hormone balance sleep nutrition nourishment coaching what are some other thoughtful ways we can support you all day long that that's in combination with this feeling of being strong and empowered in your body so those are things we're actively looking at International growth that's another one magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy what is one way that you make sure to find and live your joy from a bar three perspective I teach once a week it just fills my cup I taught this morning it is true Joy Flow State for me when I'm teaching it reminds me of my roots why I'm here and I'm a client just along with all my other clients I need it just as much as they do the other thing that brings me joy is taking time to be still and mindful and have a gratitude practice so I remember what truly brings me joy it's surprising because I think it might be standing on a stage with a bunch of people clapping but really it's snuggling with my dogs on the couch on a Wednesday afternoon as I keep track of my gratitude I know how to design my life around that versus what I think would or should bring me joy thank you for joining us today your journey to building bar 3 is truly inspiring and you've inspired me and I know everyone listening to go out and to think about how we feel from within as we are working out and to check out bar 3 can you please share with us how and where we can find you yes you can find me on Instagram s Lincoln Facebook and then same thing with bar three we're very active on social media so Instagram Facebook all of our Studios across the country our website bar3 b r re e3.com thank you for joining us today I'd love to hear from you reach out to me at hello Sheil it.com on our shetit website or at@ she builted on social thank you to my editor Rich draino who always makes us sound good until next time let nothing stop you from experiencing the life and business that you crave [Music]