Amber Martinez - Scaling Culture: The 21% Profit Strategy Most Fitness Brands Miss

Hey friends, welcome to the Future of Fitness, a top-rated fitness and wellness industry podcast for over five years and running. I'm your host, Eric Malzone, and I have the honor of talking to entrepreneurs, innovators, and cutting-edge technology experts within the extremely fast-paced industries of fitness, wellness, and health sciences. If you like the show, we'd love it if you took three minutes of your day to leave us a nice supporter review wherever you consume your podcasts. If you're interested in staying up to date with the future of fitness, go to futurofitness.co to subscribe and get weekly summaries dropped into your inbox. Now onto the show. Spanning over 4,000 clients in 40 plus countries, Team Up has a vast global network with its roots right here in North America. Whether it's AI, new features, new partnerships, and new markets, TeamUp's sites are set on raising the bar of the industry to enable their customers to perform and operate at the highest level locally, nationally, and overseas. Power by the most reliable APIs in the market, you can deliver premium customer experiences and scale your fitness enterprise with the strongest technological infrastructure our industry has to offer. Empower your staff, engage your members, and unlock your next chapter of growth with software designed for you. For a limited time, get a very generous 50% off your first month. To redeem the offer, simply contact the TeamUp sales team and use the promo code THEFUTURTEROFFFITS. Head to goteemup.com. That is G-O-T-E-A-M-U-P.com. Hey friends, this is Eric Balzone, and this episode of The Future of Fitness is brought to you by the Podcast Collective. Since our inception in 2023, we have emerged as the fitness, health, and wellness industry's premier podcast placement agency. We're honored to work with many of the industry's most prominent technologists, thought leaders, startup founders, and business executives. Why? Because they recognize that being on podcasts is the most effective way to authentically connect with their specific target audiences and rapidly grow a lucrative professional network. From podcast placements to speaking engagements, go-to-market strategies to investor relations, and media kits to press releases, the podcast collective brings a level of professionalism and deep industry expertise that can only be achieved by spending decades in the trenches. If you are a startup founder, business executive, emerging thought leader, or simply a savvy operator that understands the power of authentic media, learn more at podcastcollective.io and feel free to book a 30-minute strategy session with yours truly. Traditional media is dying on the vine. Podcasts are rising quickly to fill the void. Do not miss the boat. That's podcastcollective.io. All right, we are live. Amber Martinez, welcome to the future of fitness.

Thank you. It's so great to be here. It's been a while, so I'm happy that we're making this happen.

Yeah, me too. And uh, you know, I love these doing these recordings on Fridays because I'm always in a good mood. It's just a great way to kind of learn something going into the weekend and uh and hang out with cool people, smart people, and learn stuff. And it's it's it's a great perk of the job here. But let's start with this, Amber. As always, uh, if you don't mind, give us, well, actually, before we do that, let me set the table here. So we're gonna talk a lot today about people, right? People within organizations, how they really are the most important resource we have as business owners and operators and executives, because without them, it's really hard to be successful. So, how do you find great ones? How do you keep great ones? How do you improve the great ones that you have and continue to make sure that they're growing and staying happy and being fulfilled within the role? And that's a lot of art, a little bit of science, I'm sure, but that's something that you really have honed in on and specialized on, uh, specialized in within gym wellness brands. And uh, we're gonna pick your brain here a little bit. So that's the table set. Amber, if you don't mind, just give us a little bit of your background and then we'll we'll take it from there.

Absolutely. And I love that table setting. Happy to be at your table on this Friday with you, Eric. And I love to talk about people because I've built this incredible career that I'm really proud of, just really focused on people. And my career started many years ago, we'll say over two decades ago, when I started working at the front desk in fitness. And that I found fitness because of my own personal journey. I had gained a lot of weight as a teenager. Those main developmental years for a woman are tough as they as they come, right? And so to gain over a hundred pounds from 14 to 17 was really challenging, but also incredibly rewarding because it shaped my life and who I am today. So at about 17 years old, I decided I just didn't want to live that way anymore. I didn't want to give my life away. And now when I look back in reflection, I'm so proud of that young woman who made that decision. Uh so I started working the front desk at the gym. I think they hired me because they were like, wow, you have a lot of enthusiasm. We want people to feel the way about the gym you do. And I really had no idea because I wasn't aware of my strengths or my purpose or my passion at that time. But it's it came to me very quickly. Uh, so I worked the front desk. I was the best towel folder, the best greeter. Uh, I took that job very seriously because I was so proud to be a part of something that I always knew was meaningful. And from that role as a front desk person, people would come in at night when there weren't any salespeople and they would ask, uh, you know, what does it take to get started? And because I'd cast this vision of how incredible it was at the gym and how it was going to change their lives, they just started giving me their credit card numbers. And so the sales team would come in in the morning with credit card slips that had about a hundred dollars on them because I figured I'd overheard. It was about that much to get started. And shortly thereafter, you can imagine the regional and VP team came down and had a meeting with me. I thought I was in trouble. And they just said you shouldn't be at the front desk, you should be in sales. And I said, Ew, no way. I don't want to do sales. That's gross. I just like talking to people and they said, that's awesome. We just want you to do that, but we're gonna teach you some things, we're gonna develop some skills and you're gonna make more money. And I said, okay, I'll try it out. But uh if I decide I want to go back to the front desk, I can do that, right? And they said, Absolutely, you can do that. And that's where it all started, right? So from front desk to sales, sales management, general manager. My first job as a general manager uh was taking over the most underperforming gym in the West region. And I remember asking, like, you know, I thought you guys like me. I thought I was doing a good job. Why would you give me that gym? And they said, because if you can't fix it, we're not sure anyone can. And that's all you had to tell me at that point, right? So moved over and within six months of being a new general manager, turned the club around. It was profitable. Team was humming and uh the company was excited. So I kind of found my role as a fixer. So Crunch moved me around, had me hold all the kind of fixer roles moving in, developing teams, improving the business. And, you know, I didn't really know how I did it. I just did it. Uh, I did it through people and experiences. And then I realized early on I had to uh kind of had to figure out. Actually, a mentor told me if you want to grow in your career, you have to know exactly what it is that you're doing so you can scale it and teach others. So I spent a good amount of time figuring out what it is that I do, and it's all people, all experience, some systems and some process, right? And then, of course, measuring the success metrics to make sure that what we're doing is working and driving the business. But that always came last because if you do the right things, then the profit usually comes. So then that was, you know, the role they offered me a sole facilitator role. I onboarded all new hires with enthusiasm and taught them the values and the reason why they wanted to be a part of Crunch, created new training and onboarding. And I did that for many years, over a decade. And then uh, and then I was offered a vice president role. Mr. Jim Rowley came in and said, I think you're ready for a new opportunity. And they offered me a vice president role. And so I became a VP at four stores. Those stores turned into 12 and then turned into 35. Uh, then that became a big exit for us and did very well with the Yoga Works brand. Um, and then they brought me back to Crunch. And I worked at Crunch, created a department, Culture and Engagement, uh, repositioned the company and the brand where we're at, worked really closely with HR marketing and some subject matter experts at Crunch. I was really proud of that role as well. A lot of the initiatives still exist today. And then in 2018, I joined the franchise side of the house and started as a director of operations. Uh, then I moved into vice president of sales, which was a role that they created for me based on uh my impact on the business. And it was interesting because I think about how I started, I said, ew, sales no. And then becoming the very first vice president of sales for Crunch franchise, pretty full circle moment, and really honored and uh held that role for a couple of years, got us through COVID. And then decided to go and support some of my friends over with a different brand. I was a chief operating officer at Pound for a while. Uh, and then I talked to Jim Rowling, my mentor, and he said, I think it's time for you to come back and I have some great guys for you to meet. And he introduced me to the team at Gem. And that was almost three years ago, where I am now the brand president and operating partner at Gem Wellness Brands, overseeing the one and only best brand in fitness, Crunch Fitness. So that's my story. I don't know how long that took, but I really tried to capture it all in the shortest amount of time without seaming up my glasses because I get very passionate. Yeah. And yeah, that happens. It's real.

So that was excellent. That was roughly, and you know, I pay attention to these things because obviously I do a lot of podcasts, but I train a lot of executives on podcasts. And that was about five minutes, right? And that was a that was a well orchestrated origin story, people. If if you want to know how a good one example, and that was excellent. And I want to go back on some of these things. And by the way, whenever I do this stuff on the other end, when I'm talking that much, I get out of breath. Like, I don't know if you do, but I get out of breath like a lot. I was doing a webinar the other day and I was like, dang.

Um it's workout. I don't think people realize.

I thought I was in good shape, dude.

And uh hit up talking about something that you're passionate about, or do you know that's the thing I do. I don't think I take a breath. And I also the enthusiasm and passion just comes out of me and fogs up my glasses. And but you know what? You just gotta roll with it.

Uh you know, I want to go back to some of the stuff that you mentioned in your story and get into that. The uh you became a fixer, right? What are the things if you're gonna take like I know each case is different, but if you're gonna take a wide swath and look at like in operating health clubs and gyms, when fixing comes into the picture, what are the most common things that need to get fixed?

The people, you know, and this is what I will tell you. It is not going to be, and you talk about the art and the science, and yeah, I'm a lot of art, but I'm also a little science. You know, it's rarely the four wall, and it's the people in the mindset. It is the training and development to identify who we are, what are we doing, why are we doing it, and getting everybody rowing in the same direction, right? And rowing in the direction because they understand it, they believe in it, and they're contributing to it. And then it's the experience. What's the experience we're creating for our internal customers, our team, and what's the external experience we're creating for our members and our community? Those are two things, and then obviously systems and process. And some people will say systems run a business. I believe people run the business and the systems support the people in running a great business. So those are the three things that I have found consistently over my long and rewarding career taking over many underperforming businesses. It was never really anything that anyone could do it. You just have to go in with the right lens and not overcomplicate it. Right? So it's people, experiences, and process. I created an acronym actually, because I created uh training manuals for Crunch when I was in my culture and engagement role. And I created the onboarding with uh obviously other team members, kind of led it with other team members. And part of the onboarding, we broke it down, and I found an acronym and it was reps. And I was very excited about that, Eric.

Yeah, I like it. All fitness people like that.

And it was relationships, which is the people piece I'm talking about, internal and external experiences, processes, and success metrics. I had to heighten that one, but it worked, and that that's really the formula. You get in and you focus on those things, you do them well and you do them right and you stay consistent. Nine times out of ten, you can turn it around.

Yeah. Let's come back to that in a minute. And the So I in your career, you you seem to have oscillated between like operations and sales, which to most people you would look at if you've been in business or if you've gone through like business school, they're like, no, that's different people. You can't do that. You can't have an operations and be like engineering and sales would be even worse, right? But like when you look at operating, like what is that true? Like when you look at an operations role and then you look at a sales role, are they two different things? Are they more similar than people think? Are they treated, you know, differently unfairly? Like what what do you think the relationship is between those two things?

Yeah, I think when you separate those two things, I think you compromise your success because your salespeople can't just think about sale. Because what happens after you bring the member, the customer, the client in? You must serve them through exceptional operations. So you have to care about both. And when you care about one, I can train you how to care about the other. And the reality is when you get the right people in the right roles trained properly, like our team, we have an all-in mindset. There's no such thing as not my job. So I just have to find the right people with the right mindset and then give them the right tools and training and the right vision. And then they understand how the whole business functions, and then they care about the whole business, and then we drive far better results because we're not stuck in a lane or a silo that's thinking, oh, these two things are separate. The reality is they're not. Everybody's selling, everybody's serving. And we have to be focused on those two things because they're equally as important.

If you, when you look at an org chart, I do with like the finger quotes, right? Like I've always found that to be an interesting thing because it feels like uh just by looking at it, by definition, you're putting people in silos, right? Do you do you look at a traditional org chart? Do you use org charts or is that thing that's maybe a little antiquated? I I don't know.

No, I use an org chart, I do, because I think it's important for people to understand the roles and responsibilities that are within our organization and they have to know who to go to for what. So it's important that we define that, right? Having that clarity is really important for the team. That goes along with having the vision. Uh, but what I I have a vice president of operations and they're responsible for the full four walls of the business from how we perform in our KPIs, our sales, the training and development, the team members, the onboarding, the culture, the member experience, the facilities, you know, all of it. They're responsible for all of it. And that's I want that person. It's more of a it's interesting because as growing up, it's like, oh, you're either going to be a specialist or a generalist. And I didn't like either of those because I'd ever want to be put in a box. And so what I look for in my business is really a generalist that if I had to identify, it's like you have to understand the full business. And then you obviously can have skills that maybe are weighted heavier in one area, but then I give you the support and the tools and the direction. And we also support you with other team members, right? That now we all elevate each other, but we have to all understand the full business. I'll give you an example. Right now, my VP of I do have a VP of personal training, but personal training is pretty right. It's it's unique. And we I need somebody that really understands and can get into that business. But he's out in the Milwaukee market today with my personal training leaders and my general managers, and they're in the same training, learning the same content, and it's all the business. It's who we are, it's culture, it's attributes, and then it's breaking down service and how to build value and overcome objections. And so they're all in this room right now as we speak, all learning together, because I don't want them learning separately. I want them to take full ownership and understand how it all works together.

Awesome. Awesome. Let's get into one of the big topics that you and I had discussed in preparation for this podcast, which I'm really excited about because so many people that I know, especially in the franchise space, who get a couple locations going and then they want to, they have, you know, their eyes get big and they want to get to 100, 200. They want, they want to franchise or they want to scale corporately, or they want to do whatever a licensing model, whatever it is, whatever the model is, they they see the path to scaling. The hardest thing I when I talk to these types of people, when they go from like two to three to 10 and more, is the culture, like and the quality, right? The experience. And that's a really hard thing to scale. And that's something that you've been focusing on for, you know, numerous years within your different roles. So, you know, to make ticket a really big question and leave it open to you is how do you scale good culture? How do you scale that up as you grow?

That's such a good question. I'm so glad that you asked me that. And I have found in my career, either working with my own individual teams or working with colleagues or supporting franchisees in the franchise network, because that was my role at you know, Crunch as the vice president of sales. I got in, I helped franchisees build their business. I found that business leaders have a strategy for growth and for scale and how to drive year-over-year performance growth. And we think about people, of course, but it too often fails to make the full strategy. And so people and culture as a strategy is my recommendation. And there is science behind this. And a lot of people talk about culture and strat uh culture and people being intangible. And the reality is it's actually measurable. There is no data that supports what I've been preaching for many years. I think it's about 21%, 21% stronger profitability in companies that are dedicated to people and culture. So take that and tell me that's not tangible, right? And so what's that?

Say that again.

21% stronger profitability within companies who focus on people and culture. It is no longer intangible. You can direct, there have been there's studies and research that have taken companies and looked at companies that are dedicated to people, and people and culture make their strategy, right? They incorporate it into their strategy. Those businesses on average see about 21% more profitability than companies that do not. There are a lot of other stats I can talk about this too. I have to have that. You know, I can't just come in with all the sparkle and enthusiasm and belief in people and that city is contagious, and people do, and people want to feel the way that I feel about business. But it's important to be able to go in and say, let me show you the data. Let me show you the graphs, how we're impacting the business month over month. Let me show you what my training plan is. Let me talk about what my expectations will be. Then let's track that now for the next three months and let me prove that out. And so that's where businesses need to go. You can't just talk about being people focused, culture driven. You must be about it consistently and you cannot abandon it. And that's, I see a lot of it gets exciting and you have the rewards and you have the contests and you go out and you talk about your business and how much you care about people. But it tends to be the first thing that business leaders let go of because you might worry or there's stress or pressure, and you're looking at your KPIs, and then your decision making doesn't you don't pump the brakes to stop and think, how is this going to impact our does it align with our strategy and the commitment that we've made? Does it align with our business attributes and the standards that we've set? And if you just take that moment, because I know we're moving fast and we don't want to miss a beat and we got to grow. But if you take that moment and you make sure that you stay true to who you said you wanted to be, you're going to go further faster. And so you have to build the culture and the people into your strategy and their tactics to do that, right? And we can talk about that if you want to go down that road today to talk about specifics.

Yes.

But you also have to find business leaders who live it, agree with it, and believe in it, because you need a driver on that bus, right?

Yeah. I I want to get into all the tactics. I mean, it's uh when you do like a business model, right? You model out a business, you're like, okay, we can this looks good, we can scale this, this is you know, profitable, it's scalable, all those things. You rarely on those spreadsheets do you have people. And even if you did, it would just be like, I would just say people and culture. And it would be like, well, that what what does that mean? That's rather ubiquitous, right? Like, or rather vain. Like, how do you how do you bring that in? Like strategically, tactically, what questions do you ask yourself? What systems do you put in place to make sure that the culture is consistent, that you're pumping the brakes, like you said, at the right times to ask those questions? And what are the questions that you ask at those moments? So, yeah, tactically, how do you how do you keep this going? Today's episode of The Future of Fitness is proudly brought to you by EGIM, a vertically integrated market leader in the fitness and health industry with an incredible vision, transforming healthcare from repair to prevention. I've been a huge fan of E-Gym's team and technology for years now, and I can tell you that their commitment to innovation is unparalleled within our industry. Here's what makes EGM so special. They partner with companies to improve employee health by providing access to fitness and health facilities. Then they equip those facilities with cutting-edge smart gym equipment and digital solutions. The benefits are clear. Companies see reduced healthcare costs and increased productivity, while fitness facilities benefit from a growing engaged membership base. What really excites me is EGM's smart fitness ecosystem. By combining their strength equipment with AI-powered software and their corporate wellness platform Wellpass, they are leading the shift to proactive preventative health. This isn't just AI for show. This is the real deal. If you're interested in learning more about eGim and how they're transforming healthcare through exercise, visit eGym.com. That is EGYM.com.

Yeah, it's funny because I think about now how many board decks have I created, and it's like the people piece. And you know, you're like, okay, let's go, let's elaborate. What does it mean? Let's get tactical. Let's create projects. So it's it's just like any other overarching strategy. You walk in, you're closing out a year, you're planning for the year ahead, you're looking at your business, you're looking at your financials, you're looking at your people. Do you have your people reports? You're looking at your attrition, you're looking at your internal promotions. And then you're, you know, what have I developed this year that has fed or fueled the people and culture component of what we do. And you're analyzing that just as much as you are your new member units, just as much as you are your PTEFT growth, just as much as you are your lead growth, your marketing plan. You're looking at that and you're dedicating time just as you would any other core area of your business. And to me, I start with what we're doing with people first, because if I don't have that figured out, then I don't have anything figured out. So people are at the core of everything that I do. And so I look and I look at my leaders, my people, my again, internal promotions, my attrition level. And I've dug into that all year long to understand the why, the what, the who, the how. And then as I'm business planning for the year ahead, I am looking and saying, okay, what really worked for us this year? What did people really gravitate towards? What people on my team have really succeeded? Now let me go and get with them and talk about what it is that you're doing. I learn from my general managers. When I look at the reports and I see really strong performance, really strong closing, execution of the systems, very high iPad utilization, right? They're bought in, they're executing. Strong crunch one kickoffs booked at point of sale, you know, leading the network. Then I'm going, hey guys, talk to me about what you're doing now. Because I want to scale that because you've proven that it could be done at your level as a general manager. Now let me hear from you what you're doing tactically. And then I'm going to build that into my plan. And what my plan consists of is training and development, rewards and recognition, internal promotions, coaching and accountability. So it's basic fundamental things. And I can share with you just to take one step back and give you a couple of examples of things that we've implemented over the last year that have been phenomenal. Is most companies get off track when they have not defined who they are, what they stand for, what's important to them, what is their differentiator. And even in a franchise organization, yes, you represent this incredible brand that you get to be a part of. And there's all these wonderful things that come along with that. But your group must stand for something that you all can get behind and believe in. At GEM, that is 100% our commitment. And that makes me so proud. So we went in, we had we formed a committee, and it was a people project. And then we realized like the people isn't really a project. It's an ongoing thing where we run different projects to fuel and support the people. But what we did was we identified attributes at a core level, at a leader level. So core level, individual contributor, leader level, leader of others, executive level, leader of leaders. And we defined the attributes at each of these levels because what we can do is very easy. I can talk to you, Eric, and I can very easily say, oh, go find people that match our DNA. Oh, when you're interviewing, find people that are aligned with our values. What does this mean?

Yeah, it's a thing. Like, I don't know what that means.

And hey, what Eric, you're like, really, I really don't know, Amber.

No, I really don't. Yeah.

So we know that as business leaders, it's our responsibility to tell them what that means, to show them what that means. So we designed our attributes at every level, and then we designed training to support that. So that when we say, hey, business leaders at the club level, you're gonna go out and you're gonna find the future of Gem. And this is how you're gonna do it. And this is what that means. And this is the scorecard for the interview process. These are the questions you're gonna ask. And so that really, I mean, it changed the game from the level of confidence our managers have, their commitment to Gem and who we are, and then their ability to attract and select the future of Gem has really shifted over the last year. And it's been incredibly rewarding. We also, you know, established standards. And there's just three of them because we don't want to make it too difficult. But is what do we stand for? And these are three things that we can teach everyone, and then they can uphold them. And then when you're coaching and holding people accountable, you can just re refer back to who we are, the behaviors we expect, the standards we've set that we all commit to. And it becomes a lot easier to grow and scale because everyone understands who we are, what we're doing, why we do it, and how they contribute to it.

What would be a like an example of a set of standards that you would implement or establish?

Yeah, no, uh, of course, company standards. You know, what do we tolerate? Jim really mentor and incredible individual and business leader, which I'm many people know.

I think he's awesome.

He would always say, it's not what you preach, it's what you tolerate. And you have to, as an organization, have non-negotiables. We can talk about things and there's things that, you know, there's there's area for people to get creative and feel absolutely empowered in their role and bring their uniqueness. But then there's this foundation, fundamentals of non-negotiables. And if we have established these things, these standards, then everyone knows. And these are things that we must all commit to at every level. So simple things like what does professionalism mean to us? Simple. I'm telling you, it is not literally, I'm not a rocket scientist. Hello, anybody that thought so. It's such basic stuff, but we assume people know that. And especially today in the evolving business landscape, we have a lot of different generations all working together. And professionalism can look and sound very different. And so we have to establish what professionalism looks like here to us. And this is a set standard that is a non-negotiable. We hire to that, we onboard to that, we coach on that, we hold people accountable to that, and we promote to that. Another standard could be something like accountability. A lot of people talk about accountability, but what does that actually mean? How am I holding you accountable? What's the process? Coaching conversations. Oh, you got to coach your people. I am a business leader that does not allow my team to make hiring decisions and then just decide someone's not the right fit. If you have chosen somebody, I kind of got this from Mark Cuban, I think. If you choose someone on your team and they fail, it is your fault. So I have my team has a responsibility around accountability. So as a standard, I we have said, what does accountability look like for us? What is the coaching process? How do we hold ourselves and each other accountable? And I've mapped that out with training and resources so they all understand. It's very simple standards. You know, you can have a communication standard. What does communication look like? How do we speak to each other? Do we avoid tough conversations? Or do we face them head on? You know, how do you speak with you can say, oh, you know what, you can be direct but kind. And then you hear a conversation, you're thinking, that wasn't so kind. So setting those simple, basic standards as fundamental non-negotiables that you don't only talk about, but that you train to can be a game changer in your business.

Awesome. But from a tactic perspective, do you use or believe in like any of the personality tests like a Meyer Briggs or anything like that? Is that something that you've toyed with?

I've always been on the fence. I have. You know, listen, there are a lot of people that believe in those tools and they've developed great teams using those tools. And I'm here for whatever works for you in your organization. And I think that's the whole message is find what's authentic to you as a business leader and lean in hard and commit to that. But also don't be so rigid that if you find a team member that doesn't fit into the mold that you think that you need, there is some level of instinct, right? And, you know, emotional intelligence has to play a big role when you're a business leader leading people. And when I have found that using those types of tools can sometimes skew judgment and you can pass up really great candidates, or maybe even choose people that aren't the perfect fit. But because the test said so, you either hire them or don't. And for me, that's never been something that I have relied on personally. I'd rather create those internally based on exactly what we think and what we feel, and then using that. I want my leaders to feel empowered to select their team. Uh, and I don't want them to feel restrained by a test. So I'd rather just pave that path for them and help them understand what that looks like for us. But again, I think those tools can be great for other business leaders.

You know, as I uh I listen to you talk and I I I see the value in everything, right? And as a you know, a business owner a couple times over, all small, all small businesses, but I've always had teams, right? And I feel like that's been a really challenge for me is doing this type of work. And I think I'm gonna use this quote, I can't remember where I got it. Maybe it was Chris Williamson, but uh, I don't probably butcher it, but like type A people tend to be uh people who have chronic anxiety disorder that's geared towards productivity, right? Just really funny if you stop and think about it. It's like it doesn't, it's not that glamorous, right? When you see type A people, but a lot of that is like the executives or the founders, right? And a lot of times this sounds like it's non-productive.

Absolutely.

This sounds like a non-productive way of using time. So when you're, you know, essentially selling internally to other executives or you know, operators and things like that within the organizations you work in, how do you present this to them in a way be like, no, this is actually worth your time? And you mentioned a great stat, but even then they're like, well, I don't see the tie to revenue, right? Or I don't see the direct, you know, I don't see a direct correlation or causation of the goal that I want at the end of the month or the quarter. So how do you sell this internally?

You know, I think, and that's funny that you ask, you know, I'm I'm in private equity now, right? So I had to, I had to do that a bit. And I and I still do. Luckily, uh our group is very people and culture focused, which is wonderful. But there's a lot of talk around productivity and you know, labor management and where are we spending our time and the ROI. And those conversations are healthy and important, and you have to have those. But the reality is I don't, I refuse to sell my approach to the business. Luckily for me, and listen, I'm gonna do this in two parts because I have a long history, proven history. And so it's a little different for me because most people that want me on their team choose me because they know what I've been able to do for a business. So I have that benefit. And luckily early on in my career, people saw that in me and were willing to invest in that and trust. That gave me the space to build that kind of measurable career where you're saying, hey, I was the fixer and how did I do it? Let me, let me tell you, let me show you. And so I had the ability to prove it out. And then again, having been in the industry for so long, that's what I'd become known for. So people go, Oh, you don't bring Amber in to have, you know, you bring Amber in to do her people thing. That's what you have her do, right? And I will say, even knowing that, coming into an environment where this was a different industry, I didn't know these guys, I was referred to them by a legend. So of course they're gonna say, hey, if if Jim believes in her, we're gonna give her a shot, we believe in her. But I still had to be able to articulate what it is that we do, why it's important. And part of that conversation was, you have to trust me because that's the truth of it. And I have to have a plan and a strategy to show you what I'm doing with my time. I have to show you how it's going to impact the team, what the measurable outcomes will be. And then if we don't get there, what's the pivot plan so that I can continue maximizing this time that we've spent investing in our people? A good practice for individuals wanting to champion this and wanting to gain belief in this area is there's a lot, like I said, of statistics. You can Google, you can chat GPT it. There's a lot of information out there that does show the impact of high attrition on a company, the way that that directly impacts the customer or member experience, the way that directly impacts revenue, the way that directly impacts profitability. That is out there now. You need to come in and you need to have your plan and have every layer of it. High level going into the vision, right? Why are we going to do this? Why is it important to us? Tie it to your vision, mission, and values. Second is what is it gonna measurably do for the business? Then back it up with some statistics of companies that have done this and operated this way and have proven out their results. I also lean into we test a lot of different things. We can't be afraid to fail, fail fast and learn and grow, right? If we're comfortable doing that with different promos, different systems, different technology, why would we we not be comfortable doing that with our people? So I tell anyone I talk to about a role, if I'm considering joining an organization or they're exploring me as a partner or, you know, a leader, I'm always very transparent about how I operate. And because you can't put me in a room and say, hey, we're gonna hire Amber to create spreadsheets and tell us about data all day because I'm not the girl for you. I'm that's not me. And so if you want me on your team, this is what you're gonna get, but this is how I have to go about it. And it doesn't mean that other people can't do it better than me. But what I am gonna tell you is if you care about culture, you care about people, you want it to be palpable, you're serving customers, you want them to feel the difference, you want them to feel like they're a part of something that matters. Guess what? The more they come back, the more they invest, the more money we make. It's all connected. And so if you want that, then you gotta let me go do my thing so that I could show you what we're capable of. And also when you have culture and people as a strategy, it's sustainable and it's scalable. Where other people that may come in and do it a little bit differently, I see a little bit more of an ebb and a flow, right? Because when things get out of hand or things start to regress and you don't have the buy-in of the people, you don't have the championship team on the field, it makes it that much harder to turn things around. Is that answering your question?

Yeah.

Okay, good. Yeah. And, you know, I when I when I think about it too, it's like at the executive level of, you know, once you get to a certain size of company, I feel like people will get to be the executive of those size companies. So I'm talking about larger companies. They start to understand the value of culture and people, right? But as you're at kind of like the single location, two location, or even regional type, you know, we're just talking about uh gym operators now, like maybe you don't see it yet. And maybe you have to actually sell yourself as the owner more than other people on your team. And I think that's what I'm kind of getting at selfishly is like, how would I sell myself as I grow my own business on the importance of culture? Like, I love my team, right? Awesome. My business partner, Shane, Kim, Amanda, you know, kudos to all you people. I love it, but I'm like, how could I be doing it better? How could I be providing them all the tools I need? They need, you know, from a cultural perspective and clear, like, you know, like you said, values and and things that we tolerate or that we we glorify and appreciate, like all that stuff. It's it's something you have to sell yourself on to take the time to do the exercise.

Yeah, you know, I agree. And I I think I am very transparent with my team and I am very humble. And I know that I'm gonna learn a lot from them. And I want to be learning as long as I'm here. And I ask them what they need from me. I ask them what inspires them. I ask them what type of community they want to be a part of. I ask them what their future looks like, not in a way of like design your five-year plan for me or your 10th. Let's just have a conversation and talk to me about what's important, what moves you, what's inspired, what inspires you. And I take that anecdotal data and I think about that and I think about the ways that I can best serve them. And I also get to know my team on a very individual level. I still, you know, I'm going into my 10th club by the end of the year, we'll be at about 16. By the end of next year, we'll be about 25. We're growing rapidly. And every club has between, you know, 50 and 80 team members. And I want to know my team. I I read recently that the CEO of Chanel knows the name of every person on her team. I think she's like 3,000 team members. And I was like, wow, I like your style, lady. So I I still text and communicate directly with my team. I also create uh cohorts uh in my team. I identify people that will lift each other up and inspire each other and I bring them together. And I either just do it in a very, you know, unofficial way of, hey, I want you guys to get to know each other. I want you to build a relationship because the stronger the relationships are, it's not just about me. And it can't be just about me, and it can't just be about you, Eric, and it can't just be about the business leader. When you show up and you know who you are and you know where you're going and you know why you do it and you know what's important to you, and you do all the things that we've already talked about, you're naturally going to attract people that already like what you're showing, how you're showing up in the world. They're already gonna want to be a part of it. The the people that want to be a part of it are gonna see that. They're gonna feel it. Then you get them on the team and it's what do you do every day that demonstrates you being the example and showing how much you care? And that's transparency, that's authenticity, that's real relationships, that's listening, that's adjusting based on what they tell you. Not just asking them to say, Oh, I checked a box and asked my team because I heard in a podcast that teams really need to feel heard. They feel heard when they see action because you know what? They know that they have a voice. And I say, you have a voice and you have a seat at my table. And do you know how valuable that is? And now it's your responsibility to use that voice. I tell everyone at every level, everyone on my team is important. And so those are little things, again, that just kind of tactically, if you want to even call it that, that I do. And then what happens is that this incredible, like cyclical thing, like I put it out, it comes back to me. And then it just keeps growing. And then it grows beyond me because then they're living and being the example. And they have this belief system. I like to think of myself like Ted Lasso. Yes, I do, sir. We sent that Ted Lasso believe gift out, probably more than anything else. But there's this strong sense of belief and purpose. And I know those and trust, and I know those words are used very often because it sounds nice, but the reality is the actions that bring those words to life are so are invaluable because everybody wants to feel like they're a part of something meaningful where they matter, where they can make an impact, and where you can actually show them that they can grow and become bigger and more successful than they ever thought possible. And that happens all the time in my world. And it is what I show up for now every single day is if I can take people that saw themselves or put barriers on themselves or a ceiling or didn't believe or couldn't even see it, maybe. And I can cast all that away and with my leadership team help. guide them to greatness. I mean, what a privilege, really.

Yeah. So that was an amazing mic drop moment, but I'm going to ruin it by asking you one more question. So I I rarely get off of these uh without talking about artificial intelligence. And I I I was thinking as you're talking, because you mentioned GPT and you know it undoubtedly AI is going to have effects on company cultures. And we it's probably too early to say like what exactly that's going to be, but like had someone on this podcast uh who you know recently brought their development team down by almost 70%. Right. So it's only senior developers on the team. It's a tech company if you haven't guessed. But you know, have you are you starting to see AI's effect within cultures of companies yet? And if not, do you have any predictions or things that you would start to prepare for moving into the next three years because it's it's it's gonna right. It's absolutely gonna we just don't know what's going to be yet.

Absolutely can't be afraid of it. You have to embrace it because it's here and it's coming. So you have to be prepared and you have to learn and you have to look at your business and you have to see how can this help elevate my business, streamline my business, make me more efficient while not losing the people, the heart and the soul of my business. And you know labor may come down and there may be jobs that aren't required. And that's the reality and that's been the reality for decades now. Technology is real, you know, in computers cell phones, you know, and then it was computers and then we're looking in the computers we're going, you know, everybody was I remember Y2K and everybody in a panic and it's like we're all still here and we're all still thriving for the most part. And we have to look at AI as the next iteration, you know, and how do we incorporate AI into our business while we're still leaning into people I have not seen technology impact culture in my space yet we are already integrating AI to help the team evolve because if these tools are available to you, why not move faster further? Why not learn more? Why not do more? But for me, how I'm looking at technology is how do I take the team that I have today, layer in technology that can support us, make us more efficient, and then refocus their time and effort to drive more impact, more engagement, to elevate the business, to increase revenues by spending our time doing more meaningful, impactful work that now they don't have to do because I have technology doing that part. So I'm really looking to balance it and say, hey, if I can increase my revenue because my team is now able to work more closely with members to involve them in personal training or get them into group fitness programming or drive referrals or engage my community through corporate efforts and elevating local businesses with PERC partnerships and popping up the community, I'll get more business. So my business is benefiting. I don't have to compromise my people and the busy work that my team doesn't now have to do now they see that as a benefit. So I that's how I'm approaching it. That's how we're approaching it. And again as AI becomes more readily available, becomes more prevalent, becomes more of a part of the strategy and we're working with new partners out there v Engage, v Attract we have a lot of partners out there that we've integrated into our business that we're really excited about because they've helped us be better. And now it's over the next two, three years looking at how do I continue to learn? How do I develop my team so they understand and then what does my org chart of the future look like to where I have where I can maintain the the most important impactful roles not diminish my team or our impact or our culture but really find ways to refine my business to be more efficient and effective.

Awesome. Well last question for you I'm not ready yet.

Didn't you book us for two hours?

You know, if people what do you need help with and I ask that in the spirit of you know if people listen to this and they want to reach out to you like what would you like to hear from people about what's you what's important to you right now and then how would you where would you want them to go?

Hey networking is so important. And I have a lot of friends who went to incredible colleges and you know Harvard grads and they say you know of course the education was great but the network is invaluable the people that I now have in you know that are in my phone I can call and and that's the reality we have a responsibility to each other in this business to build our network. And so my door is always open. You can find me on LinkedIn Amber Martinez Gem Wellness brands and if you have stories, if you have struggles, if you have systems that are working for you, if you just want to work together to inspire each other to share best practices so that we can all be better. I don't mine my knowledge. I don't mine my experience it's available and out there for anybody that wants to use it, wants to learn because hey, listen, we're all in the people business. We're all here to make an impact on the world. Far too many people are still ill and not taking care of themselves. And although it's shifting it's shifting slowly and if we work together we can elevate each other. So again my door is open I want to continue building my network I want to support individuals out there, business leaders. And I also want to learn and grow in areas that maybe I'm not my best. And so I'm you know just growing the network being here for each other and making a bigger deeper impact in this industry that we're all so passionate about. That's what I'm interested in.

Awesome. Awesome. Well thank you Amber for joining me this has been uh this has been really insightful. You know I've enjoyed it and kind of opened my eyes to things I can do differently as a business owner and uh I'm sure it did for a lot more people. So really enjoyed it. Ladies and gentlemen, Amber Martinez.

Thanks Eric Hey wait don't leave yet this is your host Eric Malzone and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Future of Minace. If you did I'm gonna ask you to do three simple things it takes under five minutes and it goes such a long way we really appreciate it. Number one, please subscribe to our show wherever you listen to it iTunes Spotify Castbox whatever it may be number two please leave us a favorable review. Number three share put on social media talk about it to your friends send it in a text message whatever it may be please share this episode because we put a lot of work into and we want to make sure that as many people are getting value out of it as possible. Lastly if you'd like to learn more or get in touch with me simply go to the futurofitness dot co. You can subscribe to our newsletter there or you can simply get in touch with me as I love to hear from our listeners. So thank you so much. This is Eric Malzone and this is the future of fitness have a great day