Bryce Henson - Fit Body Bootcamp & Lessons In Leadership

Hey everybody, welcome to the Future of Fitness, a top-rated fitness industry podcast for over three years and running. I am your host, Eric Malzone, and I have the absolute pleasure of talking to entrepreneurs, innovators, and cutting-edge technology experts within the extremely fast-paced industries of fitness, wellness, and health sciences. Please stop by at futurefitness.co to subscribe and learn more. I've worked with more business softwares than I can remember. The common theme is that they are overcomplicated, difficult to set up, far too many features to navigate, and most of all, expensive. But Pocket Suite is different. If you are a business professional or gym owner that needs clients to book time with you and want a seamless billing solution, then look no further. Pocket Suite has you covered. On average, fitness business professionals that sign up for this app see a 30% boost in income. That's because it's simple and has everything you need and nothing you don't. You can easily sell packages and subscriptions. Control your billing in one place. No need for Venmo, PayPal, or any other merchant solutions. Set up automations to cut down on admin time, like client renewal reminders, seamless client onboarding, contracts, intake forms, et cetera, et cetera. Look, I know this because I use it myself. It took me less than 10 minutes to get set up and fire off my first client invoice. If you're looking for a time-saving, simple application that allows you to combine three softwares in one with a clean, professional look for clients and prospects, then you have to check out Pocket Suite. Go to pocketsuite.io. That's S-G-I-T-E. Check out the Apple App Store or Google Play to learn more and give it a free test run. You can also click in the link in the show notes for my special referral offer. That is PocketSweep.io. When you do what you love, running, racing, or simply enjoying the great outdoors, you want to do it for life. Insight Tracker can help. Insight Tracker was founded in 2009 by leading scientists in aging, genetics, and biometrics. Using their patented algorithm, Insight Tracker analyzes your body's data to provide you with a clear picture of what's going on inside you while offering highly personalized, science-backed recommendations for positive diet and lifestyle changes. Okay, time for straight talk. It's time that each single one of us takes responsibility for our own health. Personally, given the results of my Insight Tracker DNA and blood tests, I now have a clear and simple game plan to lower my cholesterol and stave off my family's genetic history of heart disease. The best part is that the plan doesn't include any kind of pharmaceuticals, just personalized nutrition and natural supplementation. Possibly my favorite feature of Insight Tracker is the inner age score, a singular metric that shows me how my biological age compares to my chronological age. They just gamify longevity. It's crazy cool. For a limited time, you can get 25% off the entire Insight Tracker store. Just go to InsightTracker.com forward slash future. But wait, there is more. If you're a coach, trainer, registered dietitian, or any other health and wellness practitioner, you can now leverage Inside Tracker services to help your clients perform better than they ever have, and you can offer them discounts while you earn revenue. InsightTracker Pro is your gateway to offering your clients Insight Tracker, a science-backed, ultra-personalized performance platform trusted by elite athletes and top coaches. Just go to InsightTracker.com forward slash future to get more information and enjoy deep, deep discounts. That is insight tracker.com forward slash future. Look, friends, the fitness industry is changing faster than ever. The intersection of technology with fitness and health is growing bigger and more dynamic by the minute. Gyms are exploding figuratively, and their constituent parts are ending up at home, outdoors, on your wrist, or in entirely new places with brilliantly new concepts. Investors are pumping astronomical amounts of money into the market like we've never seen before. The FitTech Club believes that collaboration is the advantage to these times of change. That's why the club aims to bring thought leaders together to inspire them by making the right contacts at the right time and giving insights to the industry's most relevant and current trends. Here's what Melanie Lauer, CEO of Kettler and TriSports, says about the FitTech Club.

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If you're interested in the fitness technology game and looking to accelerate your growth, I highly suggest you check out fittechsummit.com forward slash club to learn more. You can join the highly valuable newsletter, apply for the Fit Tech Club itself, or simply learn more or connect with people like me. That's fittechsummit.com forward slash club. Bryce Henson, welcome to the future of fitness. Thanks for having me, Eric. Excited to be on your show. Yeah, I'm I'm thrilled. You know, I I've been familiar with the Fitbody boot camp brand and name, but I actually haven't dove into too much of the history and of course um you know your leadership now uh at the helm of it. So it's it's great to get some representation on the podcast and um you know just knowing from our conversation and reading some of your PR sheet that you know you truly are a fitness guy, man. You started as a trainer, like you you're not someone who's kind of come from outside industries in um in recent years, but you've been living and breathing it for a long time. So uh it's great to see uh you know, people have kind of started at every level and worked all the way up um to being a CEO. So it's it's really cool. I appreciate it. And I think the best place to always start, Bryce, is maybe just give us your little bit of your background, um, how you got to be the CEO of Fitbody Boot Camp, and then uh we'll go from there.

Yeah, so um appreciate uh the intro. And really um I grew up uh I like to say from the Midwest, but my early days were actually in the South, Atlanta, Georgia. And um for first world standards, I had a very challenging uh upbringing. My father was a drug addict, he was just addicted to gambling and alcohol, uh, not necessarily conducive for uh a good family upbringing, but um, you know, went through some trials and tribulations, finally got to a breaking point where my mom, um, you know, the the uh the verbal abuse had turned physical and escaped uh with her life and her three kids, and um, you know, spent the latter half of my childhood in in Michigan and you know, gained a lot of value and insight. Michigan was where she was really originally from. Um, you know, seeing her struggle and seeing her, you know, kind of own up to the situation and and do whatever she could to make ends meet really instilled in me a lot of work ethic and drive. And, you know, if I'm also being honest with you, it was a blessing disguised as a tragedy. Um, but going through you know traumatic events, which Eric, I know you've you've been, you know, through many, it's just the nature of the beast as well as your audience. Um, you can look at it two ways. You can look at it from the poor me mentality, um, or you can look at it uh from the perspective that uh the challenge will actually make you better. And fortunately, instinctually, I just always kind of took that mindset. Um, and I developed a very strong work ethic, put myself through school, donated blood plasma, um, just always hustling. I think I had 17 jobs within you know six-year clip between high school and college. Um but um that all said, uh that kind of uh teed me up to to my uh I guess early adult years. I graduated from Michigan State and um I was afforded a job opportunity. Actually, I was an internship in Los Angeles that turned into a full-time gig, um which ultimately got me out uh out to California. And I'm happy to kind of pick up the from there, but uh that's kind of what put me in a position then to explore the fitness industry.

Yeah, right on, man. So, what what was your initial role within the fitness industry? Let's start there.

Well, yeah, and actually I'll kind of take a step back and kind of tell you how I got fit because that's that was really my my entry point. So um there I was, 21 years old, excited to be in Los Angeles, California, the palm trees, the blue skies, the beaches, LA, um, but also the plastic capital of the world. And I'm 21 years old, 3,000 miles from home, without my family or friends, and uh with a very little professional skill set. Um, and I wasn't fit. So as much as I had you know many positive um, I guess, memories of my early days in LA, if if Eric, if I'm being honest with you, I had way more dark days, way more challenging days, especially acclimating, especially without the confidence, the energy, enthusiasm, and my level of fitness. And I wasn't an obese guy, but I was 20 pounds overweight, had very little muscle uh on my body and uh more body fat than I wanted to admit. And uh fortuitous situation happened to me about a year and a half after you know moving to California. And one of my buddies, uh, who's a close friend who had ended up becoming a roommate of mine uh from college, moved to Southern California, actually to Orange County, and I moved from LA to Orange County, which is only about 40 miles away, but very big difference in culture and lifestyle. Um, so we lived together, and it it was probably three months before I finally mustered up enough courage to ask him, Hey Adam, can you show me how to get fit? Because Adam, he wasn't on the cover of men's health, but he could have been. He had the six-pack abs, you know, the confidence, the energy, the fitness, the enthusiasm. All the girls loved him, and I certainly looked up to that. Um, so finally, after a few months of living together, I said, Hey, Adam, would you you show me a thing or two? And he turned to me, he said, Bryce, I will. Um, however, I need your commitment that you're gonna do whatever I ask of you over the next 90 days. And after that 90 days, you can you can quit, you can you know, shift gears, like most of our friends have done before. But I want you to give a fair shake at this. And uh, Eric, I am thankful he set the expectation, which was really the first interest or the first touching uh touch point I had within the coaching industry. Because what happened was um he introduced me to lifting weights, he introduced me to circuit training to clean eating, nutrition, but most importantly, accountability. Uh, because if I'm being honest with you, I can't look you in the eye and say that I would have been successful because those first you know few months I uh I wanted to quit every day, but stuck with it and absolutely, you know, within a six-month clip, transformed my body, dropped 20 pounds of body fat, you know, replaced that with muscle. But you know, as you and all your audience knows, uh fitness from an aesthetic perspective can help, but it really does way more than that. It changes your life. And that and that was really the big aha moment, which really uh led to you know a more business uh and professional suit within the fitness industry.

Yeah, right on, man. Give us some insights into uh you know how you got started with uh Fit Body Bootcamp, maybe the the history around it, like how how did you know it then when you got involved, and then how has it you know evolved since since you've been with them?

Oh, totally. Well, it's definitely evolved, and uh I could probably talk to you for a few hours about that, but I'll give you the cliff notes. Um in any case, uh I kind of picked up where I got fit. I then thought to myself, you know, while I was um I soon to be successful in my sales career because when I started the story, I was the least performing sales rep in the company, but because of my transformation with fitness, I became the the highest um you know producing sales rep in my company. And I thought to myself, though, like, shoot, you know, I I want to help some people, I want to be able to give back. And it that really thought occurred to me when I was at the gym and someone asked me how I eat, how I lift weights, etc. So I did the most logical thing I could do, which was enroll and pass uh a national certification, which just so happened to be National Academy at Sports Medicine. And I think when I did that, I updated my Facebook profile to certified personal trainer. And uh with shortly thereafter, um, I started receiving ads from this gentleman named Bedros Coollian, who is now a dear friend of mine, uh mentor, business partner. He's the founder of Fitbody Bootcamp. And this was back in early 2010. Um, and I ended up taking a sabbatical, ended up traveling the world, lived in South America for a couple of years. And when I came back, um, while I was on Bedros's email list learning about how to start a personal training business and how to, you know, close clients and get them better results, um, he was started talking about this little concept, which you really alluded to called Fitbody Bootcamp, which he started as a licensing program, I think back in 2009. And in 2012 is really where the entry point of this story is, um, it's it was just actually reclassified as a franchise. So I started kind of paying attention a little bit more to the emails, you know, the branding, kind of what this opportunity looked like. And uh in May of 2012, after you know, talking to, I think we had 15, 20 owners within the brand at the time, um, doing as much diligence and research as possible, ended up making the decision to become a Fitbody Bootcamp owner and signed my first franchise agreement and opened my first location in Gorbilinda, California, which is just uh in Orange County, just you know, very close to Disneyland. And that was actually the entry point of Fitbody and you know, kind of uh big picture. That's actually when the the year the brand got started.

So tell me about um the Fitbody Bootcamp model. Like what what is it, you know, um from you know, if I'm a new franchise potential franchisee, right? What am I looking at? Like what what makes the model unique? Um, what kind of footprint do I need? Um you know, yeah, give me give me some insights into the actual business side of Fitbody.

Totally. Well, our niche in the industry, I mean, we're a coaching program, so you know, different than a big box gym where it's like, hey, here are your access to your weights, good luck, have fun. Um, and then the other side is personal training one-on-one, which gives you a lot of value and and results, but it certainly can be very pricey. So we're kind of in this middle niche, this boutique space that we were talking offline. And uh, you know, we are a coaching program. The three pillars of our program are fitness, nutrition, accountability. And um, you know, our secret sauce is uh one, our 30-minute sessions. So we do full-body high-intensity interval training. We have three modalities of training uh from resistance training, uh, metabolic conditioning, otherwise known as cardio, or classic uh programming, which is basically a blend of both. And uh, you know, we basically get our clients incredible results three to four times a week, 30-minute sessions, high-intensity interval training with that coach to be able to not only plan the workout, uh demonstrate, you know, uh the workout, but also be able to coach you, motivate you. And then of course you have the group setting. Uh so I think really that's where our niche in the in the business is that boutique space, um, incredible results, uh, personal training and a group setting for a fraction of the price. And then we're able to provide nutrition coaching, which those three uh elements really um are the big results drivers for our clients and our community worldwide. Right on, man.

Yeah, it's it's been an interesting, you know, you said you got involved around 2012. So over that decade uh the boutique world has changed. I mean, there's there's a lot going on in that boutique category. I guess let me ask you this. How how do you classify boutique? Like if you were someone, yeah, someone off the streets is like, hey, it's boutique fitness, how would you describe that to them?

Yeah, it's a great question. And and Eric, you're so right. It's so, I mean, the last decade um things have changed, the world has changed, and certainly our industry has changed. And the way I look at boutique, I mean, is just very um different than the big box concept where it's like, hey, you know, big uh warehouse brick and mortar, uh, you know, 10,000 square feet, um they charge, you know, anywhere from $50 or less, or you know, maybe some nicer gyms, a little bit more than that, but really they're depending on less than 5% of their actually members to actually come to their gym because if they had more than that, they'd have a big problem in terms of spacing. So the boutique is the opposite of that. You know, typically smaller studios, um, you know, in-person coaching now with COVID, uh many you know, concept have either completely pivoted or at least have a hybrid model, which we've done the same here at Fitbody. Um, but it's that small kind of you know boutique kind of feeling studio where um there's hands-on coaching, relationship, community, and typically the price point isn't what a personal training um experience would be, um, but you know, uh much more than or at least um uh considerably more than what you know a one-on-one or a a big box gym would be. So it's that niche in the middle, but it's really affordable people for people uh from a results perspective, and that's usually typically how it uh uh classified the boutique space.

Nice. Yeah, I think that's pretty accurate. Um everybody I ask has a different answer, but it's always kind of the same spirit of it, right? Uh what so over that span of of 10 years now that you've been in the boutique business, what what do you think uh what have been some of the major shifts? I mean, is it just increased competition? Do you think the consumers are more open to it? What have you what have you personally noticed? People age at different speeds, and the date on your license may not represent your inner biological age at all. If you're looking for ways to extend your health span and slow down the aging process, the keys to health and longevity run in your blood. That's why Inside Tracker provides you with a personalized plan to boost your metabolism, reduce stress, improve sleep, and optimize your health for the long haul. Created by leading scientists in aging, genetics, and biometrics, Insight Tracker analyzes your blood, DNA, and fitness tracking data to identify where you're optimized and more importantly, where you're not. You'll get a daily action plan with personalized guidance on the right exercise, nutrition, and supplementation for your body. Add interage 2.0 to any plan for a definitive calculation of your true biological age to see how you're aging from the inside out. I was proud to find out I'm a few years younger than I thought I was. For a limited time, you can get 20% off the entire inside tracker store. Just go to insight tracker.com forward slash future to check it out, learn more, and get your own. It's insight tracker.com forward slash future. On to the show.

Yeah, that's that's a great and also loaded question because there's a lot of elements at play. And I remember when I first uh opened my uh first location, which I just referenced in 2012, like the concept of boutique and and our niche was was really um not very common. Like I had typically had to explain the model quite a bit, um, justify our pricing, especially if someone was coming from the the big box space and there wasn't a lot of competition, which was actually the the the benefit. Um so from the consumer perspective, it was just kind of like this unchartered territory, um, which was that was a challenge in of itself, um, but the the competition hadn't really caught up. Where now the industry has evolved where you know there's a lot of niches, there's a lot of boutiques. I mean, you can go to a running studio, let alone yoga and bar and you know, high-intensity interval training, circuit training, now strength training. I mean, there's there's a niche for for many types of uh spaces within the industry, which is needed. Uh, and you know, when you take a step back and you look at really the biggest pandemic statistically, and we're shooting this at the beginning of 2022, 21, or excuse me, 22, which is interesting to continue to say that. But most people, if I say, hey, what's the biggest pandemic we're going through, you're gonna say COVID-19, but statistically that's just not the case. It's the obesity pandemic. It's nearly affecting 50% of our population and you know, complicating COVID, complicating other, you know, diseases. So there's definitely a space for it, but on the flip side, to really answer your question from a business perspective, you know, the the market has matured. Um, there's a lot more moving parts and players in industry. So, really, you know, gyms and brands like Fitbody Bootcamp or any gym or brand for that matter is really having to differentiate themselves and really identify their avatar and over-deliver and exceed expectations to that avatar. Otherwise, you're gonna get lost in the shuffle. Yeah, right on.

Um and we can expand on that, but first I want to get a little background too on like but you're now the chief executive officer for FitBody Bootcamp. When first of all, congratulations. When did that happen? How did that happen? Thank you.

Um, so it happened in June of 2021. And uh so, you know, relatively recent in the grand scheme of things. And how it went down, well, that's uh a lot of uh successes, a lot of failures, um, a lot of trials and tribulations, as you would imagine. But when I to provide a little bit of backstory, when I joined the brand in 2012, as I mentioned, I you know hit the ground running and very strongly, um, ended up within uh first year scale to my second location, ended up bringing my family, my sister, eventually my brother and my mom, my wife in the mix. Um so it's been kind of a family affair, which has really been exciting. And uh ended up scaling to eventually four locations at by the time of 2018. And I'm kind of giving you the highlights, of course. There was a lot of lowlights and learning lessons, leadership, you know, team elements. Um, you know, there's a lot of challenge in business, like you know, your audience and and you are fully aware of. Um, but was able to really just lean in, take action, and then lean on the support of the franchise. Then also to Pedros, uh, we call B for short, so leaning on B uh for his mentorship, his guidance. And I think within those first five years, developed a really strong you know relationship with him and the brand. And uh in 2018, when our brand was really just hockey sticking, adding hundreds of locations, um, B knew that he needed, you know, a strong leader who's who had um institutional knowledge within our business, within our concept relationships with the different owners. So he offered me this position to be his right-hand guy, his vice president, and ended up taking that and uh you know, started working from the franchise or perspective in 2018 and over a period of three years, um, you know, created our coaching and profitability team, brought in seven of the most successful owners in our brand to be able to coach other owners, um, added elite trainings and masterminds, and really added a lot of infrastructure with the help and support of my team. And uh, you know, that that kind of fast forward led us, led us to early 2021 when Pedros' empire is growing and he has other interests as well. And while he's still the visionary and still provides me marketing uh coaching and guidance, um, decided that in June of 2021 to release the daily operations, appoint me as CEO. And you know, that's uh that's the high-level look, and it's been a sprint ever since. Yeah, I bet.

Uh so getting back to that, how you know, as the increased competition in the boutique space, I mean uh this morning interviewed, you know, one of the presidents of an exponential brand, them alone, right? Like the 300-pound gorilla. Um yeah, you know, with all these major players in the F 45s, and you we keep going on and on and on. Um how how have you guys adjusted? Have you or have you adjusted at all? Or have you just kind of kept to the path that you guys have been on and and kept the formula the same? But how how have you adapted or worked with uh new competition in the markets?

Yeah, well, I think the thing that's worked really well for us. I mean, we definitely are very creative. We adapt, we create, you know, faster than others can copy is kind of our tagline here within our HQ team. Um, but I would say, Eric, to your point, we've actually just gotten more specific, more narrow, more focused, more dialed in to our avatar, to Mrs. Jones, as you refer to her to, you know, who's 40 pounds or who's gonna be 40 years old, um, you know, 40 to 50 pounds overweight, has a couple kids, not a fitness athlete. Um, you know, it's not in her DNA, but she knows that she needs to get fit, healthy, gain more confidence. Her husband doesn't look at her the same anymore. So we've really just gotten more narrow and more focused on serving our dream clientele, which we call our avatar, or Mrs. Jones, and then to that point, been able to innovate uh and provide more structure to the coaching program, to the trainings, to the nutrition element. Um, so all within the same kind of focal point, getting really narrow there, but expanding the way we can actually serve and support Mrs. Jones, our final consumer, um, but ultimately our franchisees, uh, with the continued training and coaching that we've been able to provide. So I think really high level, that's how we've been able to distinguish ourselves and you know, continue to thrive even after a very challenging two years of 2022 uh 2020 and then 2021 in the fitness industry and in the global business industry in general.

Yeah, interesting, man. So when you talk about Mrs. Jones as an avatar, uh when you look at how you've crafted the client experience, what what are some of the, you know, people are listening like, I, you know, I want to, you know, I want to better serve my avatar. I kind of know who it is. But when you look at that and what you guys have done, what are some of the details of the client experience that serves specifically Mrs. Jones above maybe some other you know different types of people who may come in the door?

Yeah. Well, for us, I mean, the the Mrs. Jones is looking for a result. So really our whole focus is how can we get Mrs. Jones uh a better fitness and fat loss result? And that you know is definitely within the coaching program, that's definitely the workouts, that's definitely the the fitness coaching aspect. But you know, as you and your audience know and certainly can be reminded, uh your your nutrition is actually the biggest change in body composition. So over the course of the years, we've really, really dialed dialed in that nutrition and coaching support. And we're actually still innovating as you know, we continue to speak. We're actually uh testing two different pilot programs with a nutrition app and you know a couple other things to really get kind of late laser focus. So results is definitely the first pillar of focus for our clientele, which then ultimately you know uh impacts our franchisees as well. And the second aspect is just really developing strong community relationships and really uh empowering and training our young people in the organization because especially in fitness coaching, it can be a very young person's game. So, really just focusing in not only the client result, but specifically the replication or the training element for our young uh fitness coaches across the brand. So that way they can build deep relationships, they can support uh Mrs. Jones at a higher level and also um be able to create strong community, which is another factor for specifically our clientele, which really um we always like to say they come for the results. Mrs. Jones specifically, she comes for the results and then she stays for the community.

Yeah, right on, man. Um, you know, a slight shift here, but I mean it isn't really because everything we've been talking about here is leadership, but I know that's something that you get invited to speak uh on leadership. You kind of have a, you know, through your experience and working with people like Pedros and and others, I'm sure you've created a little bit of a formula or a little bit of a um philosophy around leadership, right? Uh I love to hear that. It's a favorite topic of mine, I think, with all the entrepreneurs that I talk to or work with or you know, executives and things like that. Leadership's hard, man. Um, you know, even when I first started my my first brick and mortar business, I I didn't know anything about leadership. I mean, I knew some in sport, right? Um, from being a captain at various levels, but translating it into a business setting, same but different, right? Um, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it, man. When you kind of, because then you distilled it down a little bit. Give us give us some of the highlights of your thoughts on leadership and how people can be better leaders in their their business.

Yeah, no, totally. Um, I have my four pillar equation, uh, which I call the four C's of leadership, and and I'll touch upon that in a second, but I want to take a step back and really my philosophy around leadership is it's a skill. It's a learnable skill, just like riding a bike, just like brushing your teeth. And certainly, um, from my perspective and viewpoint, uh the best leaders in the world, they've developed an identity around it, just like someone who maybe is not fit, but then all of a sudden starts becoming fit, kind of like myself. You know, prior to 2007, I would never classify classify myself as a fit guy. Um, but as you continue to take one foot in front of the other and to develop a level of fitness, and it's not immediate. But you know, one day I woke up, maybe two or three years later, and was like, holy smokes, who is this guy in the mirror? Like, I am a fit guy, my identity has changed. So I think there's some definitely something to be said about leadership can be an identity that someone draws into and and and and uh grows into. But when you when you dumb it down to its basic building blocks, it's it's just a skill. And but it's an important skill at that, because really from that skill, you're able to create leverage. And you know, Patrick Le Scioni, who's an author who wrote the five dysfunctions of leader or of a team, which I actually just taught about, and I forget his exact quote, but the essence is if you can get the people on your organization all focused in, dialed in, rowing it the same direction towards a result, like no competition is ever going to stop you in any industry, you know, throughout the world. And really, when you when you when you dumb that down, it all comes down to leadership. So can you get an army of people rowing in the same direction towards a common mission against an opponent? Um, for us, uh, our common mission is to inspire fitness and change lives every day, for a common opponent, which is to fight the obesity pandemic, can you get everyone dialed in towards that cause? And if you can, um that's a leadership skill that's going to really just be a game changer in your organization. But most importantly, in our case, for the franchise system, for the franchisees, and ultimately the clients that are the benefactor. Um, so I would like to start there, but really the the four um C's of leadership, which I you know like to categorize, uh, number one is courage. And you know, it's hard being a leader because essentially, by default, when you are leading a team, an organization, or even yourself, you're typically going against the grain. Uh, and you're putting yourself out there vulnerable and exposed. And many times people are not going to agree with you or not see things in your light. And you have to have enough, you know, wherewithal, confidence, and really courage to be able to step in front of the criticism, step in front of the, you know, or I guess I should say go against the grain in order to execute your mission or your vision. So it starts for me with courage, which is the first C. Um, the second C is connection. And I feel blessed. I'm a people guy. I love people. I mean, Eric's just chatting with you right now, feeling your energy, feeling your vibe. It lights me up. So I feel, you know, I have a strategic advantage because I love creating connection. I love, you know, creating relationships and I care for people. And that's something for me that's just kind of wired in my DNA. But that connection point is everything. And uh, for your audience, I'm sure uh is aware of this gentleman named John Maxwell. If not, definitely look him up. But uh, you know, one of the best authors uh of all time initially was a pastor, uh pastor in a church, but decided to start writing books on leadership. And really that's where his following has ensued, actually in the business community. But he talks about the five levels of leadership and really the relationship perspective being the foundation. So for me, that connection is the second pillar. Um the third is communication. And any strong leader or someone who's acquired leadership ability can communicate, whether it's oral, whether it's verbal, verbal, whether it's you know in front of a stage, it's on video, whether it's written. Um typically when you're leading a team of people, you're leading an organization, you have to be able to communicate with clarity your vision, your mission, your values. And you know, people on your team who are the leverage on your team need to understand exactly what's expected of them, exactly what a win looks like, and also too, on the flip side, what a loss looks like. So, you know, communication is just an absolutely uh foundational principle uh to leadership, which is you know, my third C. And then the last C, the fourth C for my formula and my framework on leadership is consistency. And, you know, we know a consistent person when we see them, we look up to them, we admire them. And really, what you know, consistency for me means, it comes down to trust. Um, when you're consistent and your team sees that, they feel the consistency, what you do is you create a level of trust with your team. And when you have trust, which is foundational in leadership, you're able to again channel um your people, your uh your organization towards that common goal. Um so you know, uh from uh from that perspective, you know, that's why consistency for me is just a foundation to leadership. So high level, I know that was a lot, but that's really the framework that I you know lead by and really what I teach, you know, for our franchisees and our brand.

Yeah, I love it, man. I mean, leadership is it's a tough thing. Um it's hard to grasp, it's kind of out there in the air, right? You just have to sometimes it's a feeling, right? Um but if you have a structure um that can help you learn the skill, because I I do agree, I mean it's a skill and you just get better at it. Sometimes you just have to learn through failing at it, really. You know, I look back at you know many times or I'm like, I could have done that a lot better if I knew what I knew now. Uh, but that's you know, that's part of learning a skill.

Oh, totally. And you know, while I teach on it, um, I'm also you know, uh very candid saying I'm also a student of it and I make mistakes every single day. And I look back at my young leadership. I mean, there's so many issue uh situations where I could have communicated better, I could have, you know, did this better. One time as an example, just kind of uh giving you visibility in some of the mistakes. We ended up running uh a summer uh program called the Little Back Dress Program, and there were two teammates who coaches that were not fully briefed on the program. So we had a bunch of people with orientation, and they're two of my teammates like didn't really understand the full game plan. And of course, that could create confusion and chaos. And I look back at myself and I'm like, Bryce, like, how was that not clearly communicated? That was a poor uh sense of leadership. But you know, to your point, you learn by doing, you make mistakes, you get up and you dust dust off and you reload.

Yeah, right on, man. Good stuff. So uh this show is aptly named the future of fitness. So I would love to kind of look forward and get your thoughts on. I mean, and I personally I think we talked about this before. I I'm I'm excited about 2022, the fitness industry. I know right now, like as we said in the recording, it's January 18th, 2022. Um, you know, we're going through a huge wave, some gyms are shutting down again. Um, but I think the common feeling is that this is kind of the final wave, right? And uh things are gonna start to, you know, back to normal. People have a new interest in their health. Um, you know, early numbers from a lot of different boutique chains I've talked to are very favorable as far as people coming back. Um so I guess I'm curious when you look at the next one to two years, and given the data that you're probably looking at, what are your predictions? How do you think it's gonna it's gonna it's gonna look?

Yeah, well, I I mean I definitely share in that sentiment, definitely very bullish. And there is uh uh from your terminology off the uh when we were chatting previously, but like a pent-up demand, and I definitely see that and feel that. And even from a very challenging 2020 year for our locations, our brand, also the fitness industry, the restaurant industry, many industries in general, um, just this past year, um, you know, we awarded uh six times the amount of uh franchise locations than we did in 2020. So that just kind of gives you some consumer confidence. And you know, what we're also seeing is every state's a little bit different. We're um 90% in the states, 10% in Canada, all in North America, um, but also certain provinces in Canada and also certain states are you know more restrictive, less free, more free-depending. So that also goes into effect in the equation. Um, but um, you know, we've learned a lot uh about you know COVID and and the effects, and you know, and I think you to your point, the population is kind of coming you know more aware of the fact that, like, hey, I actually have to focus on my health and fitness. It's not just an aesthetic, you know, uh situation where you know, from a vanity perspective, I want to lose 40 pounds. It's like, no, you actually need to exercise, you need to take care of yourself, you need to, you know, put in the reps, you know, make sure you have clean nutrition so that way if COVID-19 andor any virus, any pandemic, any you know, disease um, you know, comes at your door, you're able to fight that and be stronger for it. So um, yeah, it's definitely been a very challenging last 24 months, as we all know, but you know, from what we've seen towards the tail end of 2021, and then just even you know, the people, the the numbers at our gyms across you know our brand are increasing. We've had a really strong January to date. Um the leads coming in who are interested in becoming uh a franchise uh owner within our brand um are picking back up. We just actually brought on a second um you know support salesperson to kind of manage the influx. So we still have a lot of work uh ahead of us, but definitely all things that I'm seeing, feeling, and you know, talking with you and other fitness professionals, um I'm very bullish over the next 12 to 24 months.

Right on, ma'am. That's good to hear. Um I want to because time, but I also want to get into the technology question because you mentioned you guys have an app where you're launching an app. Um when you look at your ideal client or avatars, you um put it, you know, Mrs. Jones, how hungry for technology are they? Like, are is it is it a crowd that's like, okay, well, I have this wearable. Uh I don't know what it means. You know, I could use some coaching on that. Are they using nutrition apps or maybe let's start with your app? Let's start with what you guys are doing, and we can branch out from there.

Yeah, well, I think technology is just so important. And barring any cataclysmic event in our world that takes us back to the dark ages, which um, you know, isn't so likely, but not, I guess, technically off the table. Technology is going to continue to increase, and you know, we're gonna adopt it, and it's just getting faster and faster. So you either have two options as a brand or as a company. You can either try to avoid it or you can embrace it and be a better factor for it. And we've been fortunate to always take that you know, second, that latter um approach. So we've always embraced change, we've always embraced technology, and it's been a really um big reason why we've been able to scale to hundreds of locations within the grand scheme of things a short period of time. Um, so for us that all said though, for us specifically, um, our clientele um are not native to technology. Typically, our clients are in their late 30s, 40s, and 50s. So they're they're they're more uh they've learned technology in their later years, uh, which is okay. So I guess what I'm trying to say is our type of clientele are not the first adopters typically. Um, you know, but but that said, they are getting more savvy. Uh apps are expected. Um, you know, basic understanding of technology and on how it can service them uh is definitely needed. And you know, we have a coaching app that we're you know testing specifically to nutrition. Uh we pivoted to online coaching and and leveraged a technology app for that. And then we've built a custom CRM and a PRS system. We partner with a company called Fit for a Tracker to go ahead and do that. And actually, our client check-in app just just got launched today um after you know a nice uh six-month build. So, all this to say to answer your direct question, Eric, while our specific client Avatar Dream Client um isn't the most technologically savvy in the sense of early adopters, they are adopting technology at a very quick rate, and you either have two choices. You can either um not focus on it, not embrace it and suffer, or you can do the opposite, and that's what we've uh have always done and will continue to do. Very cool, man.

Um I guess looking at just outside of FitBody W Camp Price, right, as a fitness expert. Um when you look at the technology landscape, this is one of my favorite questions, by the way. Um, what what has you most excited? I mean, we we talked about a few, right? There's VR AR, there's the the fitness metaverse that people are talking about, there's all the wearable technologies, there's um I it's all over the place, right? Yeah. Um is there anything that kind of like gets you fired up that you're following that you're excited about?

Well, I'm an excited guy to begin with. Um, you know, so uh I I've seen what technology's done for our you know uh business and my life and and all that. Uh to your point, from a personal perspective, um I'm a huge, I'm very bullish on technology. To your point, I'm actually not going to answer the question you asked, especially since you you put metaverse in my in my idea, but uh there's still a question mark on that for me. And and the reason I say this is definitely we're gravitating to that world. But the question mark is okay, if we're just totally synced up in this virtual world, um, where is the connection, the community? And at the end of the day, life is still going to happen outside that that virtual world. Um, so for me, that interestingly enough, uh there is a little bit of question mark on that piece of technology, but you know, we'll see. Um, and I'm I'm also very bullish. Uh, um, Elon Musk is a huge idol of mine. I know sometimes he has controversy, but you know, the guy being able to, you know, create Tesla and um, you know, obviously all the stuff he's done with SpaceX and all that, it's just uh it's exciting to watch. And specifically, I like to watch him on the AI and all the things he's doing. I uh he started a company called OpenAI a handful of years ago. So typically when I look to technology, I'm usually just kind of you know following what Elon Musk is doing, in addition to Zuckerberg and all the other guys, but uh that's actually where my most interested is versus the virtual world. Interesting, man.

Very cool. Well, um, man, you we we packed in the value here in you know about 40 minutes or so. Um if people want to, I guess, find out more or get a hold of you, Bryce, or uh yeah, where would you like people to go online?

Yeah, no, I appreciate that. So uh all my social handles and actually my website is real Bryce Henson, and my website's real BryceHenson.com. Uh, not to be confused with fake Bryce Henson. So um, that's where you can find me across all social and across uh my website as well. And if you're a client listening to this needing help with some fitness coaching, nutrition coaching, when you go to my site, just click on uh fitness coaching, the tab up top. Um, or if you're interested in potentially becoming you know a fit body owner and you know getting into the industry and riding a wave that's uh uh going to continue on, um, just click on the business coaching. Um but long story short, that's where you can find me, and I'd love to connect with you and uh your audience as well.

Cool. Right on, man. Well, I appreciate you coming on. Uh, I know you're a busy guy. There's a lot of stuff going on, especially in the new year. So uh yeah, it's been an absolute pleasure. Ladies and gentlemen, Bryce Henson. Eric, thanks so much for having me on. Hey, wait, don't leave yet. This is your host, Eric Malzone, and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Future of Finis. 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 it 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 it. 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, get in touch with me, simply go to the futureoffitness.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.