By Her - January Discussion Recap

By: Katie Upton / February 12, 2020

The first By Her meeting is in the books (no pun intended)! Thank you to all the awesome ladies who joined us and contributed so thoughtfully to the discussion. As a reminder, we listened to 3 podcasts on fitness founders:

1) How I Built This - Soul Cycle: Julie Rice & Elizabeth Cutler

2) Glambition Radio with Ali Brown - Jennifer Maanavi, CEO + Co-Founder of Physique 57

3) Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell - How to build buzz for your business with 305 Fitness's Sadie Kurzban

Then, this past Sunday we all gathered around some comfy couches with sparkling water, chips and guac to chat about the podcasts. I was blown away by some of the insights the attendees shared (obviously knew these girls were super smart, but dang!) Here are some key takeaways of mine:

Partnership

All of us emphasized the importance of alignment on work ethic, goals and vision when co-founding a business after hearing the Soul Cycle story, where one of the three founders broke off from the company to start FlyWheel. As Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler remarked, “The struggle shouldn’t be internal.” We praised their use of an executive coach to ensure communication and alignment between the remaining founders after the incident.

Marketing

You have to think out of the box when creating buzz! Some creative marketing ideas we liked in the podcasts included risking a parking ticket to advertise with a rickshaw on the street or turning instructors / clients into talking billboards.

Funding

We talked a lot about how it’s about more than just the actual money. While funding is necessary to expand, it also provides so much more. Both Soul Cycle and 305 founders cited funding as a huge source of confidence and validation for their businesses. Members also called out that investors provide outside insight and resources...and of course, the money doesn’t hurt either!

Growth

A company can expand in so many ways! We thought it was so cool that whether it’s licensing instructors in other cities, selling digital content through an app or providing consulting services, there’s so many unique ways for a company to grow other than growing locations one by one.

Pricing

All of us agreed - people value what they pay for! By making clients pay for each class, they recommit and provide the studio unspoken feedback by coming back for each class. This also puts more importance on the instructor’s performance, as each time the instructor has to teach well enough to keep the client coming back.

Positioning

One member summed up the boutique fitness phenomenon beautifully: “Specificity implies expertise.” If we think about boutique studios versus gyms, these studios typically pick one type of workout whereas traditional gyms have a wide variety. That leads us to think that the hot yoga studio must be great at, well, hot yoga! No matter the workout, a boutique studio’s narrow focus leads clients to the conclusion that the classes must be better than the ones at the gym.

Community

Communities of women around the world are a powerful thing (not a hot take for us members of Aspire to Her)! We were inspired by Physique 57 because once Saudi Arabia finally allowed women to work out in licensed gyms, Physique jumped at the chance to empower women through community. Since 2013, Saudi women had been traveling to and trying Physique classes in Dubai, bringing the classes back to their home country to practice in their own homes. Now, Physique 57 offers women-only classes in Riyadh where women can come, take control of their bodies and build female communities!

Even though we spent the bulk of the time diving into the podcasts, even girls who showed up not having listened were able to participate (obviously we would love for everyone to read / listen, but don’t feel like you have to cancel if you don’t get to it). We hope you’ll join us for our next gathering on Sunday, February 23rd from 12:30-2 PM to discuss Part 1 of Brave, Not Perfect (RSVP here).