Episode #1 – Conversation with THE sales guru of the health & fitness industry, Hensley Ellefritz

All right, hey there everybody and welcome to the first full length episode of the society pod. When I was starting out thinking about doing this project, I asked a number of people for advice and one of the most common pieces of advice that I got about starting a podcast or just starting down this journey was to pick a first guest that you could talk to for hours and would be an easy guest to talk to. So this first guest, I did the math and I think we are at about 400 Zoom calls, webinars, conference calls co -hosted together. And that number seems ludicrous, but the math, maths. So I think

hensley (00:55.66)
I was gonna say, that almost seems low in comparison to like the amount of time we’ve spent in person as well. So.

Jessica Yarmey (01:03.102)
Maybe, yeah. So let’s say between 400 and 500 conversations co -hosted on Zoom or whatever, pick your digital format. So my guest today, she is a sales savant. She’s an operational guru. She is a new entrepreneur, a dog mom, and a overall force to be reckoned with. So welcome to the show.

hensley (01:07.244)
NOOOO

Jessica Yarmey (01:32.134)
Hensley Ellefritz.

hensley (01:33.932)
Hi, thank you. I’m just like staring at the screen fangirling. Like I’m, first of all, didn’t know until today that I was the first guest. And second of all, have been waiting for the moment that you create a podcast, because there’s no one better suited to do this. So I’m honored and excited to be here.

Jessica Yarmey (01:50.214)
Well, thank you for the vote of confidence and thank you for being the first guest and being that air quotes easy guest for me. We need this. We need this good start. So actually let’s start today with you just providing a little bit of your background, a little bit of your bio. Generally, like when I introduce you, I say you are the best in the business at what you do, but how do you introduce yourself?

hensley (02:13.42)
Um, not the best in the business, but it’s something to strive for, I guess. I have been, I’ve only ever known fitness. So my, I guess, most recent corporate endeavor where Jess and I met was I was the VP of sales at Club Pilates. And then during COVID was looking out at our industry. And at the time, one out of three studios was closing. And I was like, why is no one doing this for independent studio owners? And so I started Reboot a little over three years ago, and it was just my goal to consult with small business owners. And here we are three years and hundreds of clients later, and that’s what we do. So we really make sales organic and sustainable. And I would say, I don’t want to say easy, but integrated into your business so that whatever your passion project is, it is a sustainably profitable model for as long as you want to operate it.

Jessica Yarmey (03:13.19)
And what was the year count again? Is it three years now that you’ve been doing reboot?

hensley (03:17.516)
a little over three years.

Jessica Yarmey (03:19.91)
Wow, that’s crazy. It seems at some point that maybe entrepreneurship will feel less new, but do you still feel like you’re a new entrepreneur?

hensley (03:21.29)
Yeah.

hensley (03:31.41)
Yeah, you know, I, I struggled to even identify as an entrepreneur. I just, I like to say I work for myself, I run a small business, but I grew up watching my mom work for herself as a graphic designer for Apple at the time. And then she kind of did similar to what I did recognized a larger need. And I was like, Hey, I could do that one day. So I think the entrepreneurial mindset is that you always have ideas, and your business is always evolving because we get bored very quickly and our attention span is very short. So it always feels like I’m tinkering with my business. And in that way, it does feel very entrepreneurial even three years later. But yeah, I’ve fallen into a little groove. But yeah, I would still consider myself a newer business owner.

Jessica Yarmey (04:21.766)
I love that you say fallen into a groove when it’s very much orchestrated and intentional and thoughtful and planned out meticulously because that is who you are and how you operate. So we worked together at Club Pilates and we were doing that full -time nine to five thing. I mean, let’s call it like more hours than nine to five for sure. But now almost like in a parallel timeline, you and I both kind of took that jump and jumped into entrepreneurship or business ownership or working for yourself, however you want to say it. So as you look at nine to five world and as you look at entrepreneurship, like what did you like about nine to five and what are you really liking about owning your own business?

hensley (05:08.812)
Yeah, I mean, I think entrepreneurship is a blessing and a curse. I actually loved the routine and consistency and accountability of a nine to five. So I missed that piece. I definitely missed the consistent paycheck. I missed the health insurance right there. So many things that you sacrifice when you go out on your own. And I also feel very blessed to have worked with leaders who gave me a long leash. So I love a lot of the entrepreneurial things that I do now, I feel like I was able to do even in a nine to five setting. So as counterintuitive as it sounds, I actually feel like I have much less work -life balance and you probably feel the same. Like your brain is always on. It’s very difficult to like leave work at work and shut your brain off. But I’m very lucky that I get to spend my day working towards something I created and stand behind and the results are so much more gratifying. And I definitely think I’m serving a market that needs me way more than corporate America ever did. So it’s very, very rewarding.

Jessica Yarmey (06:20.198)
So you mentioned not ever really seeing yourself as being an entrepreneur. How do you feel about that now? And do you ever see yourself going back to a corporate environment? Like how do you envision the next few years or maybe the next step going?

hensley (06:39.212)
Oh gosh, loaded question, multifaceted question. Never say never. I always hate the question of like, where do you see yourself in two years or five years? Because it has never been even close to accurate anytime I’ve given an answer that is broader and better than I ever thought it would be. So I don’t know. I think, I don’t know if I would ever go back. I think if the right opportunity presented itself, again, never say never, but I am a very purpose driven person. I’m not following a paycheck in the same way that I was maybe prior. And so it would have to be something that I wake up and believe in and get energized by and feel like I’m making a difference in people’s lives to the same degree that I feel today.

Jessica Yarmey (07:32.294)
I love that evolution in you and I’ve been honored to witness that live. And it just brings joy to my heart to just see you in this lane doing what you do best and doing it for other small business owners, you know, and paying it forward in that regard. Like that’s something that I’m proud of you for. Like as you look at your last three years, like what are the things that…

hensley (07:52.748)
Yeah.

Jessica Yarmey (08:01.158)
that you are most proud of and how you’ve evolved or grown as a leader, as an entrepreneur, or just as a person in general.

hensley (08:09.292)
Yeah, I think over archingly what I’m probably most proud of is I don’t want to say selling people on sales, but selling business owners or convincing them that profitability has to be first. That has to be the lens you look at everything because otherwise all of us as entrepreneurs will look at it emotionally and make decisions that we might not otherwise. And so, you know, I just got off a call with a studio owner and we were calculating her margins and she was like, this is what I’ve needed for the last four years and it’s stuff that I just take for granted. I know it and assume others do too. So I think that, opening their eyes up to how to make their business even better and it’s not necessarily as difficult or hard to wrap their arms around as maybe they expected. And I think my ability to just pivot and stay in line with my mission. Two years ago, we were five times bigger and I knew you then too. So I really spent this last year taking inventory on why I started Reboot in the first place and what really energizes me personally. And admittedly, it required me to really consolidate my team and pivot my business model and admittedly take a really drastic pay cut. Again, just living in line with my true mission and where I see the need has been maybe what I’m most proud of instead of just chasing the higher paycheck, which is why a lot of people start their businesses is for the money component. And from what I’ve seen, that doesn’t always work.

Jessica Yarmey (09:54.566)
Yeah, and it seems like as you and I were working at Club Pilates where we were both in consistent communication with these franchise owners who are their own version of small business owners, now you’re having these conversations with small business owners from a business owner seat. And it feels like you have a lot of ability to now really know where they’re coming from on things and relate to them in a way. And when you have to have those you know, a psychiatrist kind of moments, you know exactly why. And there’s like empathy that you can bring to those discussions because you are, you’re there at that same time.

hensley (10:36.588)
Yeah, yeah, 100%. I definitely don’t feel like I’m in this ivory tower recommending things that I’ve been told to recommend. And, you know, I just bought a house and it’s a fixer upper. And I’m in a very different financial state than I was even as a business owner three years ago. And so I can absolutely relate when people want to take the most cost most cost effective approach or can’t necessarily bring on a full time manager or can’t invest in marketing. I think it’s required myself to be scrappier in my recommendations, but it’s also come more naturally because I’m in that seat with them.

Jessica Yarmey (11:16.262)
I also can appreciate the approach that you take because I think initially you labeled yourself as a consultant. But to me, when I’ve seen you coach with people, it’s so like hands on and prescriptive and it’s not like cookie cutter, set it and forget it and walk away. It’s like here’s homework and it has to be done and like let’s reconnect next week. And it seems like you’re really like in it with them. So do you identify with the term consultant or if you don’t, like how do you see, how do you describe yourself to your clients?

hensley (11:57.228)
really, and it’s not something that I have called myself, but I’ve been called it by clients as a partner in the business. And really, that’s how I feel. When I do partner with my clients, I am by no means saying, you know, this is what you should be doing, or this is what better performing studios are doing. So I think that would be the role of a consultant, right? Here’s what has worked in the past, here’s how to do it. Good luck, we’ll check in in two weeks.

And coming from a franchise background where any recommendation was always paired with the tools on how to do it and the exact directions on how to implement and the coaching on here’s exactly how to fish so that you can do this sustainably without my being there. That’s the model that I really have embraced instead and have seen to be more successful because listen, I don’t want to work with you forever. I get bored, you get bored. That’s a big investment for you already.

So the goal here is that we’re doing this together, but slowly I’m going to push you out of the nest. And at that point, you should be able to carry this out on your own. And better yet, it should feel genuine and empowering and confidence inducing because you’ve shown yourself that you can do things like carry out a daily task list and empower your team to pitch membership and follow up with leads that didn’t necessarily join. And you don’t necessarily need me as a crotch.

So I guess it’s somewhere in between a consultant and a coach, but I truly do see myself now as a partner after having been called it so many times.

Jessica Yarmey (13:37.83)
Yeah, I love that term and I see you working in that way, which I think is great. And I think it’s also, I don’t, is it draining from an energy perspective where you have, like you are a partner in their business and then you have multiple clients. So you’re a partner in multiple businesses. So if it, so how do you, how do you balance that for yourself or like, how do you, do you have an outlet?

Do you have a partner or a coach that you talk to so that you can stay balanced in your world?

hensley (14:15.18)
Totally. I think if I had not come from the franchise that I did, Club Pilates, where there were 600 studios, and coming into that role, I remember asking my boss, like, how am I going to do this? How am I going to be a partner in their business 500 times over? And you learn who really needs coddling and accountability during that time and who you can afford to maybe pull back on or you know, you get into someone of a rhythm where some of your kids are growing up and they’re a little bit more self, you know, starting and so forth. And then some that are just starting out that really need to be guided and bolstered and encouraged and so forth. So certainly there’s a max, right? We can’t take every single client. There are times of the year where we are waitlisted and that’s to protect my relationship with my clients, I never want to show up and be like, what did we talk about last call? Or what were our goals? Or what was your homework? Like, I always want to be the one that’s spearheading that conversation and holding them accountable versus them reminding me. But yeah, it’s a balancing act. But I will say when you really love it, you don’t I don’t forget to check in on studios that just open and ask them how their grand opening went. I don’t forget to ask like, Hey, did you hit your membership goal that we had set for the end of February. Like it really comes from a place of genuine interest and love. And so to me, it doesn’t feel like as much work as maybe it does to someone brand new entering a business like this.

Jessica Yarmey (15:54.726)
Yeah, because it’s how you breathe and function as an individual, maybe. So as you have all of these different clients, largely in the health and fitness and wellness space, do you see common threads on mistakes that are made across the organizations that you partner with?

hensley (16:20.044)
100%. And I think they fall into kind of two major categories. The first is by and large, most clients that I work with lack a sustainable sales process. And I don’t mean one that’s entirely effective because there are plenty of sales processes that are entirely effective for a certain organization, but one that you and your team can carry out consistently and genuinely. And that is trackable. So scripts don’t work if they don’t fit your voice and attitude. A follow -up call with every new client doesn’t work if you don’t have the manpower to carry it out. So I’m really passionate about helping clients build a sales structure that fits their brand, culture, and voice and overhead, and that still allows them to remove themselves from the business for a week without seeing their profit completely plummet. But I think the biggest blind spot, myself included is neglecting to see the leads that we’re actively sitting on. You know, we were talking about your podcast even to start and I said, do you have, do you have Jess? And you’re like, yeah, I mean, I have a network of thousands of people at this point and you do and the same goes with many clients that I talked to. There’s so much emphasis on bringing in new leads with catchy campaigns, but then we’re neglecting to actually cultivate a relationship with them once they do reach out. So to me, that’s like having the football be passed to you and then like immediately throwing it on the ground. Like you have so much underneath you and within your current mind, body or marionette attack or wall up, whatever booking software you’re using, those leads have expressed interest at some point or another, they are warm enough and there is something that warrants reaching back out to them and reengaging them with your brand. So I think that’s my again, unsolicited advice and also like most common blind spot I see.

Jessica Yarmey (18:23.642)
Yeah. And I think when we worked together, we had a good cadence of you had the sense that like, we know we need to reach back out. And you would say to me from a marketing function, like we need something to reach back out with. And even if it’s the exact same offer, but we just say it in a different way, just to have a reason to.

hensley (18:43.466)
Yeah.

Jessica Yarmey (18:52.76)
reconnect with everybody, like top to bottom in your lead list. I think that’s such an amazingly obvious thing, but it gets lost. And you probably are on so many different clubs lists, just to receive things either because you were a client or because you just wanted to see what their flow was. And honestly, the group that I get the most consistent outreach from both text and phone call with unique messages is Orange Theory. And it’s interesting because it’s like they’re one of the best in the boutique space. And then you see them doing things that are like best practice for sales and marketing communications to leads. It’s so obvious it’s painful, but they’re doing the work and therefore are getting the results. So I don’t know, like, are there things that you encourage people to do to like fix that immediate mistake? Like I know it’s definitely like within processes, but it seems like day one, there’s probably things that you say to people that are like huge unlocks. And so maybe share some of those like fast flips that you give people where you’re like, do this tomorrow and it’s going to like kind of change your flow.

hensley (20:27.436)
Yeah, yeah. So, you know, we look at your sales funnel and let’s say you have 10 leads that come in and you convert two out of those 10 leads. You could get 20 leads, pay for 20 leads now and get four conversions now. Or you can just convert four out of those 10. So nothing changed marketing wise. You still spend the same amount of money, but you sold four out of those 10 instead of two out of those 10.

That’s what we’re, that’s the example I’m speaking to right now. And the difference comes from qualifying your lead and doing that homework and spending the 10 minutes to look them up on Instagram, Google them, look them up on LinkedIn, identify who are you talking about? What makes them tick? Are they gonna fit in with your culture? It’s like you’re preparing for a first date and the goal is not to sell them.

The goal is to figure out are we a good fit for you and are you a good fit for us? And the more confident you can be in whether that even exists and what you are going to recommend once they walk through the door, the easier that becomes. So instead of what that then leads to is instead of looking at 2000 leads that you’re like, I have no idea. I don’t know about these people at all. You can start segmenting those leads into moms under 25, you know, coming from Orange Theory so that when you do bring out a new class format or you do a specific workshop or there’s reason that warrants reaching back out to them, you have a very specific audience that you can tap into. So the example that I always use is if you’ve been broken up with and you’re just begging that ex to take you back, but nothing has changed, he or she is not gonna take you back, right? They’re like, I know the deal. But.

Jessica Yarmey (22:14.054)
Right.

hensley (22:15.486)
you can say, hey, we’ve changed here specifically what we’re offering that is going to better suit suit your needs. They’re willing to come back within your four walls. And that’s where you really get the chance to engage with them and then sell them. The second piece of that is when you do reach out, no selling no like, hey, now we’re doing a five pack for this. Okay, three weeks later, hey, now we’re doing a 10 pack for this. It is a cry wolf scenario where your lead just becomes conditioned to waiting for the better discount, and you never get a chance to bring them back through your doors. So look for a really low barrier offer, something that is free or low cost that hits the nerve that they’re looking for, right, and allows them to come back into your environment, then actually cultivate the relationship correctly this time. And that’s where you’re going to see the sale happen.

Jessica Yarmey (23:08.23)
Yeah. And the whole buzz around community and our community is better than anybody’s. You have to start that community building in those initial conversations. That sets the tone for what kind of community or relationship am I walking into? Like you can’t approach somebody with the, you know, the five pack class offers and have it be so transactional. And then once they’re in your doors, oh, we actually want to like have you as part of our family. We actually want to get, get to know you. We actually care about you. And it seems again, like a, like a no brainer thing, but it’s, it, I think people don’t do it because it’s high effort on the front end. But when you have that high effort on the front end, it just leads to a higher value, but perception of what you’re offering.

hensley (24:08.172)
Yeah, yeah. And I know the question that might be going through people’s heads as you’re listening to this is like, well, what do it what does that script sound like? What do I ask? And the fact of the matter is there is no perfect script because your brand is different than, hopefully than your competitors. But when you approach a lead with genuine curiosity and care for helping them make their wellness better, it starts to become really easy. You start to ask things like, hey Jess, it’s been a few months, what are you currently doing to work out? Or I saw you tried, you know, X, Y bar class, would love to invite you in for your Pilates class if that’s still part of your regimen, right? So when you can approach it with curiosity instead of an intent to sell, that’s when the gears start turning and you start realizing, okay, these are the questions that I need to know so that I can best curate something that she’s gonna latch onto.

Jessica Yarmey (25:03.366)
Okay. So then if that’s true and there’s no script, there’s no one way to approach a lead correctly, where are you landing on all of the AI tools and the sales funnels that are out there in a big way and, and trying to get a sales process streamlined, especially on the front end.

hensley (25:29.292)

Goodness, another loaded question. The reason that your consumer is choosing you as a small business, I hate to break it to you, it’s not because of your workout, and it’s not because of your community, and it’s not even because of your culture or your location or your price point. There is something between you and them where they trust you as a business owner and they want to support you versus supporting a corporation or working out at 24 hour fitness or you know, something that is more anonymous. And so where you when we implement something like a marketing campaign, like a drip email marketing campaign, or a drip tax campaign, you are eroding that customer trust. Whenever that whenever the consumer, like can see, okay, this didn’t come from a human. So absolutely, there is a place for automation, I always recommend it for those leads who have not responded in more than 90 days. Those people you’ve reached out at least 10 times at this point, let’s just have something that reminds them that you guys exist. And at some point, maybe we hit a nerve and they come back. But for those that you’ve interfaced with recently, I would say in the last three months, those are people that you have paid for that have witnessed hopefully been within your doors. And that’s where I would put an actual human on the end of the line if I wanted to see conversion happen.

Jessica Yarmey (27:02.15)
What it sounds like you’re saying, and maybe you can dig in more like what the next layer of it is, but it sounds like if you’re getting 200 leads a month, you’re in a prioritization kind of head space. And so talk about how you are maybe allocating resources to, or how you recommend someone allocates resources to a even like a 200 lead kind of month.

hensley (27:29.804)
Yeah, yeah. And if you are getting 200 leads a month, that’s amazing. Great job. I think

Jessica Yarmey (27:35.174)
They have amazing marketing, I’ve heard.

hensley (27:37.996)
Okay, yeah, you’re working with you. I think. So there are multiple parts of any sales process, right? So you get a lead that someone that raises their hand and says, I’d be interested in more information, then ideally, they book into a class or a trial. Ideally, they show up for the trial. Maybe they join, maybe they don’t. But if I’m looking at that sales process, the closer they get to buying meaning they’ve shown up or they booked but haven’t yet shown up.

Jessica Yarmey (27:40.518)
Yeah, I’m sure.

hensley (28:05.804)
Those are the people I want to prioritize because it’s like you already have the dominoes falling in that direction versus someone who just inquired, you know, or inquired three months ago and hasn’t yet responded to you. The other piece is you must research your leads. There is not a single lead that I’ve gotten on the phone with for reboot that I haven’t looked up. Sorry, if you guys are listening, your LinkedIn, your Instagram, your studios, Instagram done my research on your business, seen where you went to school, see where you live now, where you have lived. I’m looking for any sort of connecting link that can get that conversation started. And during that qualification process, I’m also figuring out, is this someone that I want to invest my time in or not? Not in a negative or positive way, but is this someone that can be serviced by us? Or is this someone who needs something else? And that’s the same way that you can qualify your 200 leads into buckets of, okay, this really looks like someone that could be our member. I’m going to make sure my best salesperson is there or that I reach out personally as a business owner versus this looks like Hensley’s mom that’s visiting from out of town and is just here for two days. That’s not someone I’m going to invest as much energy in. But unless you do that work, it’s going to feel like a lot because you will be investing the same amount of energy into everyone and that’s not sustainable 200 times over.

Jessica Yarmey (29:32.07)
Has there been a person or a company that has reached out to you where you’ve been like very impressed with either the research that they did or how they took a cold outreach and kind of made it like really warm?

hensley (29:50.764)
Yes. Um, and it wasn’t a company. It was a person on LinkedIn and he was starting his own company and was kind of wondering if we had maybe positions open, but was also looking for guidance. But the time that it had clearly taken him to research me research reboot, um, you know, find my email and compose this very clearly not copy and pasted email, I was like, let, I will get on the phone and help you for free. Like that’s amazing, right? And that’s where, again, our consumer is willing to trust those that are going out of their way and taking the time, but they’re blind to the clear copy and paste mass produced emails and texts. So yeah, that’s the one that stands out at least most recently.

Jessica Yarmey (30:44.326)
That’s awesome. And I feel like it’s, it is so, you get so many messages, even get so many texts these days that are like outreach, either from brands or from, from individuals. And it really becomes impossible to respond to all. And so having a researched email outreach that like comes to you personally does end up really standing out and cutting through the clutter.

hensley (31:12.492)
Yeah, and I think there’s a reluctance to do that stocking, which is, you what it is in lamest terms, because you don’t want them to think that you’ve stocked them. And I will say they do want you to think they’ve stocked him. They do. They want to know you’ve done research. Someone who has requested me on LinkedIn, you know, follows just newly followed reboot.

Jessica Yarmey (31:27.206)
Right. Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

hensley (31:35.596)
That’s someone that I’m listening to a lot more acutely than someone who’s just booking a call and has no information to disclose to me, you know?

Jessica Yarmey (31:45.542)
Yeah. And it is that little like ego stroke also. I had actually in launching this podcast, I posted online that I was looking for someone to help me edit and distribute the podcast because I don’t want to put like all my time into this. I want to put like partial time. And the woman connected with me and then proceeded over the next five days, spaced out, liked and commented on

hensley (31:50.686)
Yeah!

hensley (32:05.228)
Yeah.

Jessica Yarmey (32:13.798)
five of my most recent posts and I’m just seeing her like comment, comment, comment, like, like, like, and I’m like, okay, like she, she cares. She likes me and we’ll put that same effort into her work for me. So it is that, like, it just establishes the fact that this isn’t just going to be a transactional relationship. Like this will be like a community or like a true partnership, I guess, in a way.

hensley (32:45.004)
Yeah, yeah. And that’s why, you know, engaging with your members and even your leads on social, so many are like, oh, that feels so uncomfortable to me. And it’s like, if I’m posting something on Instagram or on LinkedIn, and I’m public, I’m inviting you to engage with that content. And maybe that’s a sales specific way to see it. I don’t think you lose anything from being the one brand that they’ve reached out to that then follows them and, you comments genuinely on their last relevant post.

Jessica Yarmey (33:18.022)
Yeah, 1000%. I think it high effort never is cringy. And unfortunately, how does this, maybe this reputation at this point that high effort is desperation and it really isn’t, especially when you’re connecting with leads and actually showing that you care and you’re gonna be with them on their journey. Like high effort is never.

hensley (33:23.34)
Yeah.

Jessica Yarmey (33:45.286)
I don’t know, it’s never going to be the wrong way to approach someone.

hensley (33:49.036)
And if it is like they’re they weren’t your member to begin with, right? But if they’re interested in your brand, and they’ve inquired, and they booked a class, you doing that is not they’re not going to rescind their invitation to be like, Oh, now I’m not like that. It’s just like dating, right? There’s not that’s not going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. And if that is someone that is already excited and looking forward to their workout with you tomorrow, and you engage with them, you’ve just increased their likelihood of showing up and being that much more willing to join afterwards.

Jessica Yarmey (34:20.23)
Yeah, 1 ,000%. I think it’s a big part of, again, establishing that community really early on. This is a little left turn, but I want your opinion on it because I hear from so many people in the fitness space, hiring is so difficult, staffing is so difficult. It’s so hard to find good people. And I know you touch so many brands. Talk about what you’re seeing from a hiring and staffing perspective. And if you end up having advice that you share with some of your clients? Like what are some of the top one or two things that you recommend business owners do?

hensley (34:58.252)
Yeah, I will say of the hundreds of clients that I’ve worked with, those that have no issues or very little issues with hiring and retaining staff are those who are very clear about their mission, their value and their directions with their team. And they’re willing to be transparent about what’s working and what’s not, maybe not financially, right? But the true reason that they wake up, don’t take a paycheck yet and do this every single day.

and they’re leaning into their instructors strengths and truly seeing them as brand ambassadors and allowing them to maybe not teach a class that’s completely off brand, but maybe do a workshop that really speaks to something that they’re behind or help spearhead a social campaign for a cause that really resonates with them. So they’re bringing their employees into the brand and making them kind of the faces of it versus seeing their employees as disposable. And I think if you can’t even get there yet, even just being present in your business, it’s that same idea of like, your employees aren’t going to do something that you wouldn’t do yourself. If you don’t, if you’re not behind the front desk, if you’re not teaching or taking regular classes, if you’re not out there doing grassroots marketing and sitting at a table, they’re not going to do it either. So I think it’s being willing to be humble enough to be where they are and thereby earn brownie points and have them actually listen and feel like they can empathize with you. I wanna work harder.

Jessica Yarmey (36:36.71)
1000%. Yeah. I mean, I think we’ll have to do a whole separate episode on leadership and team building maybe on culture, because I think it’s such a undervalued skill and sitting in the fitness space where we have the ability to connect to passion, you know, we have the ability to like help people live out their mission. We shouldn’t have staffing problems, right? Like we should be magnets for people who love health and are passionate about working out and things like that. So I think we’re still, as an industry, we’re still missing the mark in terms of how we hire and then cultivate talent as business leaders.

hensley (37:22.668)
million percent and if you think about it in the lamest stance like I could teach a class for 25 to 50 bucks or I could do two hours at McDonald’s for the same rate why am I willing to put in that same effort more so right planning my playlist choreographing getting there early getting to know the actual individuals I’m not doing it for the money so those owners that are trying to like out pay what their competitors do. That’s not why your employees are interested in working with you. They want to be able to live out their mission and feel like they’re running in the same direction and if anything, helping you spread your message versus doing it for the money. You’re in the wrong industry if that’s the type of people that you’re.

Jessica Yarmey (38:10.086)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Like you have to kind of be connected to that, to that overall why. As you’re looking at the fitness industry as a whole, I see talent and like talent development as Greenfield and a big opportunity. What are some of the other things that you’re looking at where the fitness industry as a whole needs to step up our game?

hensley (38:17.354)
Yeah.

hensley (38:34.028)
Yeah, I think there’s so much focus on how to capitalize on this or that trend. But I’ve witnessed that if a business owner isn’t truly passionate about the trend and their clientele doesn’t have the genuine desire to adopt it, it typically flops. So when clients instead want to expand their business or add another workout under their roof, we really work on defining how that new offering is going to underscore their core values or complement their existing service so that they can maintain a really clear cohesive value proposition. And the reason I say that is that consumers have gravitated from trusting businesses to trusting people behind them. So where I think our industry, our greatest industry growth is going to come from are those trustworthy small business owners who expand their reach either through additional locations or additional offerings because they do have a clear mission, a clear following, and they capitalize on that momentum to kind of keep their empire growing. That’s my stance.

Jessica Yarmey (39:50.15)
And, and being part of the brand and being a person within the brand or like having a personal brand attached to the business brand. And I see you doing that with, with reboot. And I obviously lean into that a lot as well. Do you feel like that’s something that you’re seeing business owners miss on? And if they’re missing on it. Why? Is it because they’re not comfortable doing it or because they don’t realize it’s important? Or what are you seeing in terms of owners being involved or connected to their brands?

hensley (40:34.824)
I think businesses are meant to evolve because we evolve as people and consumers evolve and our industry evolves and our economy evolves. And where I see owners become less involved in their business, it’s almost because of like a boredom or they find someone who is maybe more excited about it than they are now to run those classes or manage the studio. I don’t know of a more successful business than one who the business owner is the most excited about it. I think that your business is going to be more successful if you’re the one that’s most excited about it, empowering that and really acting as the heart and soul of the business. And so that’s where I really encourage business owners to constantly take inventory of, yes, statistics like utilization and sales and trends and so forth, but also be pulling your clients on what they want and what they need out of your brand because we went through an evolution of reboot these past three months that I’ve been working on this past year, which was, hey, here’s where what our clientele wants. Here’s what we’re offering. And we’re missing this whole clientele because our 12 week program isn’t a sustainable monthly option in the same way that we’re offering now. And the root and core of what we do is still the exact same, but it’s just delivered in a different way. And that’s always what I work on with business owners who are like, I think I want to do XYZ now. It’s like, okay, well, why don’t we go back to what you’re really, really good at and what you really love doing? And yes, we can change the way that it’s delivered or alter and evolve it into a better than today version. But I think, you know, stagnancy happens when business owners get ignorant.

or they get negligent of really evolving and growing their business to meet what they want to be doing and what their clientele needs from that.

Jessica Yarmey (42:41.446)
all of that, and I think if you’re a business owner, rewind those last 30 seconds, because I think that’s huge and the ability to take personal inventory and pivot where you need to. I’m going to pivot a little bit and go into, I talk a lot about comeback season and just how you operate when you’re in the mud, when you’re in the trenches, when you’ve been knocked down. So talk to me about a time when you were at a low, where were you?
Why were you in that low? What did you do to course correct out of that low? And like, what did you learn through that process?

hensley (43:19.244)
Yeah, I think, you know, in speaking with more than a few millennial girl bosses, I think many of us have hit a burnout in these past few years, we went through COVID and a recession and now a much less powerful dollar than 10 years ago and retired, right? Like a lot of the things that we were doing successfully, no longer work. And admittedly, I’ve been one of those women and then I’ve this past year emptied my savings to buy a house and got into my first relationship in six years and decided to pivot my business and to say I was at a complete 180 from where I was three years ago would be an understatement. So I’ve through this learned that my relationships with my friends and family and certainly my clients are more important to me than my business will ever be. But I think being at that bottom point where you almost feel like you’re making over the entire business again, but with a quarter of the resources financially that you had the first time around, that’s really scary, especially when you have other priorities on your plate that you didn’t the first time around. So it’s what I’m most proud of is to kind of be over the hump and be more excited and energized and ready to take on my business than I have ever been before. And also having gone through those learnings and feel like I’m doing it a lot more balancedly? In a lot more balanced way than I was three years ago coming out of the gates super super strong.

Jessica Yarmey (44:57.542)
Yeah, and I can see a little bit of your competitive athlete brain coming through. Like you have like a hard charger, a constant improvement kind of approach. And I can see where you just go, go, go. And then it takes like one of those big life changes that you referenced to really like reset, do this inventory, wait, I’m miles from where I want to be but I also see you having a resilience to how you operate as an entrepreneur. And I feel like some of that comes from being in a super competitive space for most of your life. Do you feel like that the athlete brain like kick in in certain moments?

hensley (45:48.332)
Yeah, you know, and we were talking about it before the podcast that you have to as an entrepreneur in order to be successful, have a certain amount of delusion and have a certain amount of eternal optimism. And I’ve always been that way. And I’ve always been like, no decision is the wrong decision. Right? This is what we’re going to do. We’re going to choose it. And if it doesn’t work out, that’s what the universe intended. And we’re going to pivot and make another decision. And so I’ve never seen anything I’ve done as permanent or, um, you know, unmalleable. It’s just, this is where my heart and intuition and gut is taking me and I’m going to lean in entirely, whether that’s, you know, playing on the junior national badminton team and thinking I’m going to play for the Olympics to getting a bad injury and then becoming the best salesperson at Equinox and then running sales for Club Pilates and then starting a business. Like I’ve always been I don’t want to say one dimensional or single minded, but there was never any option that it wasn’t going to work. And that’s worked in my favor because it’s allowed me to really plow through and do so with endurance and hope and optimism and excitement and vigor for what I do.

Jessica Yarmey (47:04.038)
And you also have that single athlete sport element coming through of like, like it took us a bit to get to a place of trust. Cause it’s like, you, you trust yourself and you don’t necessarily like to lean on others or feel like others will be at your, your level. So I feel like this, I’m going to end every podcast with a similar kind of question, like a similar lane? Like, what are you working on right now? And if what do you need help on? And if somebody was out there listening to this podcast episode and like you had a magic wand, like if I could have this help from this type of person, like what would you what do you what do you need in this moment?

hensley (47:54.188)
Ooh, that’s a great question. Cause I feel like that’s how I kick off every question with my clients. It’s like, what’s keeping you up at night? What’s bogging you down? Like, let’s look at your day to day and how much of it is just bogged down with admin stuff. And as someone who, yes, admittedly is very perfectionistic and wants my hands on everything. I think someone who, I need help with that admin piece and I need help with the minutia that goes behind having a really successful call, but then you know, sending them homework and checking them checking in and continuing to cultivate that relationship outside of just Hensley. And for a while, I think we were doing that almost to a degree where I felt too removed from the business. But yeah, with my hands back in it entirely, I think that’s where I could use the most help. I also love someone who’s going to poke holes in my business and show me what I’m doing wrong. And I always say like, I want a reboot for reboot like that what I feel like I do for clients every day. I want someone that’s going to do that for me. And I’ve spoken with business coaches and other consultants and I’ve yet to find someone who’s providing the same structure and reassurance and smart quantifiable goal setting that I feel like we do. So yeah, I think those are the two things is a reboot of my own and you know, I’ve been helped.

Jessica Yarmey (49:19.302)
and a personal assistant or an admin. Yeah. Okay. Well, if anyone’s out there.

hensley (49:20.716)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Both are doable, but you know, that’s my wish list. 2024 wish.

Jessica Yarmey (49:28.102)
Yeah, I think that wish list is very doable and hopefully we’ll make some good connections here for you. Final parting thoughts, anything we didn’t touch on that you think is important that’s kind of like top of mind right now or any advice you would give to an aspiring or new entrepreneur.

hensley (49:47.724)
Yeah, I actually had this conversation with a mentee. Is that what you call mentee someone that you mentor a mentee yesterday. Think about if you’re starting a business, don’t think about who you want to serve or what you want to be what you want your business to look like. But the true function you want to play in it how you want you to spend your day as a business owner every single day because you’re going to be doing a lot of it. Um,

Jessica Yarmey (49:54.022)
Yes?

hensley (50:15.734)
That has been my anchor this past year reminding myself of what I want to be doing. It helps fend off the imposter syndrome and delegate where I can. And I also get to show up and be present for clients in a way that I haven’t been prior because I have been able to move things off of my plate and reformat our business so that I can be doing what I love and doing a lot of it. So that’s my two cents. Think about what you would want your day to day look like to look like as a business owner before you start.

Jessica Yarmey (50:47.75)
I love that it is spot on. I would expect no less from you. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, for sharing specifics for how small business owners can hold themselves accountable in their day. Thank you for everything you’re doing for the fitness industry. I think people like you need bigger platforms because there’s so much effort that goes into the sales side in the fitness world. And I think you approach it in a way that will shine a positive light on the positive side of the fitness industry and how it can be life -changing for people. So I think the work you’re doing is important and obviously the highest of high quality, the best in the business. So Hensley, thank you so much for being with us today.

hensley (51:38.604)
Thank you for having me.

Jessica Yarmey (51:40.836)
All right, peep the show notes for all of Hensley’s socials and then all of Reboot’s socials and anything else we find relevant, we’ll like throw it in the show notes section. Thank you guys so much for listening in on this episode of The Society Pod.

hensley (51:54.868)
Love you all.