Dana Milkie - Smart Strength and AI: EGYM's North American Strategy

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[00:03:17] All right, we are live. Dana, welcome to the Future of Fitness. Thank you, Eric. Yeah. Excited to be here. It's always a pleasure. I enjoy our conversations often, and I always learn something from me, man. Well, I'm happy that I can contribute to that. I always think back like, was that good for him, or did he just see right through all the bullshit I was giving, or what's going on? So I'm glad you also educate me, so that feels pretty good that it's two-way street.

[00:03:43] Yeah. Well, either way, we're going to have a lot of fun right now. I'm excited for the topics. We'll get into your career trajectory. I was looking over some of your LinkedIn history. I'm like, okay, this guy's been around the industry for a little while. He's seen some things, a lot of experience.

[00:03:59] And you're leading the charge for the North American efforts for eGym. And every time I seem to turn around eGym's in the news or something, whether it's raising a bunch of money to fueling a new concept like Fred Fitness to artificial intelligence to winning awards, right? There's always something you guys are doing as most innovative or just making moves, and it's cool. It's really fun to watch. I think it's great for the industry.

[00:04:23] You oversee, like I said, the North American efforts. And I think there's a lot of, you know, with having such a strong foothold in Europe, I think there's still a lot of insights that people can glean about what eGym is exactly. Not just the brand and the technology you guys have, but the side of WellPass, the AI component of Genius, the open ecosystem you guys have. And I'm excited to talk about, excited is the wrong word. I'm interested to get your insights on tariffs. Because I think this year, an unwanted buzzword across the industry is going to be tariffs.

[00:04:52] So with all that being said, Dana, if you don't mind, just give us a little bit of your background on how did you get to be the general manager of eGym? Yeah, so I stumbled into fitness by accident. I had previously been in manufacturing, you know, head of a division, doing some M&A work and literally was gone for 46 to 52 weeks. And, you know, it was exhausting. And at the end of it, luckily, I was able to transition. And I was, you know, home for a week.

[00:05:20] And a buddy of mine who was a headhunter called me up and said, hey, are you ever going to get off your butt and get back to work? And I'm like, let me catch my breath, Rick. And he's like, well, I have this opportunity. It's weird. Probably won't listen, but let me just die. And he's like, this Gold's Gym group. Oh, I'm like, okay, I worked out, you know, fitness. And he goes, just meet him. And so I ended up meeting John Hamilton, who was the head of the Gold's Gym group that I eventually joined.

[00:05:44] It was clear when I met him that how we fit together was really good. It's my strengths. And they were looking to grow at the time. So I came on board. It was really community-based because we had, you know, locations right in the communities that I was in and, you know, where I lived. And so that felt really good as a differentiator. And then over time, you know, we grew to another location. And then that long-term expected growth kind of didn't materialize.

[00:06:09] Well, one of the things that I did while I was there was bring ABC Financial on, for ABC Fitness Now, but it's financial back then, on as our MMS provider. And created a great relationship with those guys and with Paul Schaller, I was CEO then. And Paul and I had some conversations about joining ABC. So, you know, things came together and I went over there as a senior vice president of client management, which was a fantastic job.

[00:06:35] Because I got to see so many different fitness facilities and everything from the biggest to the smallest. Operators were doing amazing things. Operators were just serving their community in different ways. And it was a super cool job and we had a great team and a ton of fun. And I left there to move back to Seattle because I moved from Seattle a little around Arkansas and back to Seattle. Helped a friend for a two-year stint, bring his business back from bankruptcy and that kind of stuff.

[00:07:01] And then I had an opportunity to become the CEO of InTouch Technology, which was pioneering CRM in the fitness space, back into fitness. Led that for a while. And then John Ford and I, we lived very close to each other in Seattle. Started having these lunches, lunch and learns maybe from each other. And, you know, John kept planting the seed, planting the seed. And eventually he's like, hey, you should come aboard. Have some things I want to do and become a chief product officer, which he is now at Free Gym.

[00:07:27] And that gave him the opportunity to join and take over leadership of North America. So that's how I got here in March. And the start of COVID is my fifth year anniversary with EGIM. It's an interesting anniversary gift. Yeah, isn't it? Yeah. Because I will always remember it. Yeah, right. Wow. Well, you guys have a great team. You know, I really enjoy what you guys are doing. Very, very smart. Fun to talk to. You know, I always enjoy like running into the EGIM folks at an event. It's great. So let's start with this.

[00:07:54] First on the docket, I want to talk about WellPass and how EGIM and WellPass are one in the same, but different. Maybe you can shed some light to those of us from North America. Like how does that whole thing work? What is that relationship? So I kind of, this is my description. I probably, you know, Philip and others might have better descriptions, but WellPass really for me is match.com for companies and fitness facilities.

[00:08:23] And so what WellPass has done incredibly successfully over in Europe is build a network of companies that where their employees can plug into the WellPass network from an operator perspective. So two really big part sides of that, of the match.com theory, corporations and companies to fitness facilities, right? And essentially it allows companies to offer a benefit to their employees that if they join

[00:08:52] the WellPass network, they get access to the clubs that are in the WellPass network. And so companies are incentivized to offer those to particular employees, right? And create a real benefit for them that the employees then can choose which different locations and the operators get paid for those visits. So it benefits the operators because they're getting new employees or new members, right?

[00:09:20] Or new traffic and new revenue stream. And it benefits companies because it creates this benefit that their employees love and take advantage of. So that's how I see it. I think from an operator perspective, it's a great way to drive new traffic into your clubs and drive new revenue streams. So I think that's a huge benefit of it. That's just a general basic. That's how it works. The stronger than...

[00:09:49] And it's throughout Germany or the Dock region for us, France, the UK. And now we've started to bring WellPass here in North America, in Denver, which is where our North American headquarters are. And out of curiosity, when you look at the market, it's competition, you could call it that. And it would be probably ClassPass, right? Something along those lines or a Well Hub or one of those. How do you guys differentiate in that arena?

[00:10:16] Well, I think ClassPass is more B2C, right? So they're offering to consumers the ability to go to different locations. So I think they're a different model than we are. Well Hub is similar. I think the thing from an op... As a former operator, the thing that I was always looking for was the ability to get more new members or new traffic and new revenue streams into my club, right?

[00:10:44] And so I think that's what WellPass does very, very well. And they do it by building this large network of companies that can drive their employees in there, right? So I think when you think about Well Hub, they're probably the most similar competitor. But I think there are some things that we do differently, you know, building really strong networks on both sides, driving real value for the clubs, right?

[00:11:10] So we deliver based on, you know, either visits or one-time visits, real value that doesn't cannibalize the revenue that people have for members, but it builds on that. So I think there are some differences for sure, but that would be the closest competitor. And Dana, like what is the relationship to eGym? Is it that eGym technology and the data flows seamlessly to Well? Like how does that partnership work?

[00:11:39] Well, I think it's evolving, right? And I think we are starting to see ways for us, for the two businesses to work together. But clearly one of the things that we do, because we know that members are using our gym technology or technology group are creating greater outcomes. So one of the things that we're trying to do is marry the two of them so that WellPass members

[00:12:04] understand what clubs have gym pass, because then they can be driving their technology and they have the hyper-personalization of the data collection and the outcomes and all the benefits that our technology drives to individual members. But then also we were able to show operators that are using the technology or technology products, how we can bring members to them. Right. Right. So, so we're working, starting to continue to work more and more closely together to leverage

[00:12:34] both sides of the business. One to drive new revenue and new members through the door, WellPass members through the door for the operators. But then also making sure that the WellPass members are exposed and benefit from the technology that's within clubs that have our product. When you talk about the technology, the open ecosystem, this, this always kind of surprises me, you know, this, this move that you guys make is that if I'm getting this right, and

[00:13:02] please clarify for me, it's like, you can have whatever kind of equipment you want in your gym, or at least whatever's in your partner's sphere, but you can still leverage e-gym technology. Is that right? Like you don't have to have e-gym equipment necessarily, or you can have one component or a piece of it, or it all kind of blends together. Like what am I missing there? Clarify that for me. How's the ecosystem? So, well, we'll, we'll probably, this all probably lead into the discussion around genius

[00:13:31] and what we're doing there and how they, for sure. And how they pull it all together. But I think, and this is one of the things that I think Philip and, you know, the folks early on in e-gym did an amazing job of recognizing that we, what we do better than anybody else, we feel like is first of all, the smart strength technology, right? We didn't, they didn't try to become, you know, another provider of cardio manufacturing, right?

[00:14:00] Another cardio piece. They didn't try to become wearables. Like they didn't, they didn't, they said, look, this is what we want to be. And now what we want to do is go out and partner with best of breed and let the operators. And sometimes in the case of wearables, for example, that the members decide what they think is the best wearable, right? Like I wear an Apple watch, but other people like Strava and Garmin. And so the approach is let operators and members use what they want to use, what they believe

[00:14:30] is best of breed for them, our best of class, and then say, we want to partner with them. We will partner with, you know, the Lifes and the Precores and the Core and Matrix and all the other manufacturers who do, who do what they do so well. And ultimately we want to build up as an ecosystem that allows operators to choose who they use for certain solutions, but then allow members to benefit from those choices and their own

[00:14:55] choices by pulling in data from wearables and things like that and create a best of class ecosystem that allows all of those to work together. Core of it is the EGM ecosystem and our fitness hub and our smart strength equipment, but then it connects to other, we have over 200 plus partners. So connect to other, and you know, we're connected in with the membership management software system. So we can, you know, through our APIs, push data back and forth.

[00:15:25] So there's lots that we can do with the open ecosystem that that's powerful. At the end of the day, operators tend to have preferences on who they like to work with. Some people like to work with life. Great. That's a partner of ours. Matrix, Precores, MyZone, et cetera. All those people, we, we, we let them make their choice and then we integrate into the ecosystem. Maybe pay me a picture, Dan, like when, when this whole thing works out the way that you

[00:15:49] guys want, like the vision that you guys have for genius AI and this, this ecosystem from the consumer member standpoint, what does that experience like? Like what's it going to be like when this whole thing is implemented the way you want? So I think the notion of creating these partnerships and this open platform is really the foundation that would allow us to come to genius, right? And the fact that we, while we are known as a manufacturer of the smart strength equipment,

[00:16:17] what we really are is a technology provider, right? We provide software and technology. And I think that's really important to how we got to where we're at, right? I'm, I'm a user of genius because we have a, you know, 4,200 square foot boutique studio in downtown Denver. It's two blocks from my place. And I come in in the morning and I work out using genius. So I, I'll describe my experience as a member, right?

[00:16:45] We, we have loaded all of the inventory and it's only 4,200 square feet. So it's not like every piece of equipment that you possibly could, but we load in, when we go to a gym, we load in all the inventory, that gym, whatever they have, whether it be select your eyes, free weights, barbells, whatever they have. And then based on questions that we ask, like, what is your workout experience and level? What are you trying to achieve?

[00:17:12] Like, are you trying to lose weight, trying to gain muscle, whatever that is. So the old par cue questions that us old timers talk about, we kind of ask those, right? We ask, you know, what do you like to do? What do you don't like to do? I have bad hips and knees. And if I run too much on a treadmill, it's hard to get up in the morning and walk around. So I exclude that. So we're asking these kinds of questions to get all the way down to the individual member's preference.

[00:17:40] Once we get that, then we're using the eGym equipment to test your strengths, to measure your metabolic rate, create a bio-age for you, right? Metabolic, strength, cardio, flexibility. And once we gather all that data on an individual member and they give us preferences, then we push start on Genius. And Genius goes out and creates a training plan for you based on what you want to do that is specific to you as an individual.

[00:18:10] So what it usually does for me is first thing I come in the morning, it's having me do stretches, you know? A little older than a lot of people, tend to be more inflexible. So it's like, you know, we got to get you to do a couple of stretches to get this thing started. So we'll do that and then it'll start to mix in. Like if I do, I'm currently, so I changed this around, but I currently am doing a full body workout. So I did it three times a week. And so it'll walk me through, I might do an eGym piece of equipment.

[00:18:39] Then I might go over and do, you know, the barbell bicep curl. And so it'll move me around and use not only the eGym equipment, but all the other pieces, potentially the other pieces in the facility that address the workout that you're trying to do. So I'll come in, do some movements and stretching, and I'll start down my string. And I'll use both eGym equipment and selector eyes and dumbbells and barbells to do the workout.

[00:19:06] It also will do, so one of the things that I come in and I say, I have about 45 minutes in the morning to do a workout. It gives me 45 minutes of exercise because it'll show me a timer and all that. Mixed is in cardio, right? So if the particular day they'll give me 10 minutes cardio on electrical, whatever. So it is basically my workout that I follow three times a week. What's super cool about it more than anything is it learns. So I went from being able to do that.

[00:19:35] I had major shoulder surgery and I had to go into rehab mode. Nothing below, I can do all the leg exercises and core and all that. I wanted to, but anything with my shoulders, I had to change. I went into rehab. So it knows that and has changed what it prescribes me based on the areas that I have to protect, like my shoulder. So, and it just learns, it gets better. One of the things that is so cool about the ecosystem, my perspective, is what we call the reassessments.

[00:20:05] So you get assessed upfront, it creates plans, and then it reassesses you so that you're constantly progressing. And ultimately then, because it's AI and it's learning so fast, as we all know, the hyper-personalization to me as a member, I love it. And that's the power of OpenEcosystem, 200 plus partners, plus genius on top of it, leveraging AI. It's amazing. I love it.

[00:20:32] You mentioned too, Dana, that wearable data. So is that being fed in and then used like for contextual programming? Like, yeah, how's that working to the equation? So you get, it feeds in and it will support the bio-age. So from cardio, you know, if I do cardio, it'll eventually feed into my bio-age. So it looks at what I'm doing.

[00:20:56] Because AI is so powerful, let's say that your plan, I mean, these are some of the things that we're bringing to the table. Not quite there yet, but let's say your plan is half hour cardio and you rode your bike and it was 20 minutes, right? If you pull in from Apple Health or Garmin or any of those, eventually you'll get credit for that. And then it'll adjust and it'll be 10 minutes instead of 30. And those kinds of things that we can do because we're attached in the ecosystem. Right.

[00:21:25] Because we're just sharing data over very strong APIs within our ecosystem that benefits, that we learn from, that ecosystem learns from, and then pushes back education and hyper-personalization to the members on their workouts. Is it all done through an app? Like, how is it actually delivered? Yeah. So within, so we have, yes. So we have our brand of member app, right? We have a trainer app.

[00:21:52] So we have two ways that we do this from our app perspective, right? And so there's clubs that use our brand of member app and there's clubs that don't. And we're all, we also have ways that we can feed genius back into their apps as well. So yeah, it, but most people kind of live in their phone. And so we know that. And so we're utilizing apps to communicate the workouts. It's so wild how fast AI has become ubiquitous, right? Like what, three years? Really?

[00:22:21] When did, when did chat GPT launch? Was it two years ago? Two plus, right? Two plus. Between two and three years ago, but yeah. Yeah. Ish. It doesn't matter. Like that, that acceleration through, we keep calling it, like we call it, like we talk about genius AI, we're like it. And it's at some point, it's just going to become a who, which is really bizarre to me. Maybe I read too many Jack Carr novels. It's like, it's going to have a voice. It's going to have an image. It's going to be a female or a male. It's just going to be a friend of ours.

[00:22:50] And it's, it's really, it's really interesting. And if you're going to say with your team, like how much. Man power and energy do you guys have going towards AI? Like it's, it's happening so fast, right? It's accelerating so quickly. Like if you're going to put your R and D department, like what percentage do you think is attributed to AI, to artificial intelligence? So this is a, this is specifically a question for our CPO. Okay. Product officer, John Ford. He could tell you the percentage.

[00:23:17] What I will tell you is that we invest more in R and D than any other company in the industry. It's like we just do right. 30 million plus big focus for us. I don't know percentage, but I can tell you a big focus for us is how AI can help us deliver really prescriptive and hyper-personalized workouts either through trainers or through staff at a facility or two members directly.

[00:23:47] A big piece of our brain power goes towards how we continue to evolve AI and our ability to really get hyper-personalized down to the operator and the member. Percentage-wise, I'd have to, I'd have to see if John would share that with me, but I can tell you from the conversations that we have as a company, it's a big part of the power that we're committing right now. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's substantial.

[00:24:14] And to me, that's the big promise of artificial intelligence within our, our sphere, right? It specifically is very inexpensive hyper-personalization of health and fitness, like in wellness overall, whatever you want to call it. Like that's, that's the obvious path that we're going towards. And it feels like it's just a race to get there. Yeah. And I mean, if we go back to what I said is that, you know, I think of us as a technology company, right? WellPass is a technology provider that matches, you know, two sides of an important equation.

[00:24:42] Jim, our technology group for the fitness side is a technology company that can push updates and upgrades and new things like genius quickly and continue to evolve and all that. So as a technology and software driven company, I think AI is going to, I mean, AI is where's that? I mean, honestly. And what's interesting of course, is that AI scares people just saying AI scares people,

[00:25:09] but I don't think it has to be because really what you were saying before about how it can help and how it can be, it can accelerate the impact that we as fitness professionals can have on individuals and their outcomes. Why wouldn't we use it to accelerate our ability to impact and deliver better results on what we do and what we want, the outcomes we want. So I think it's going to be huge to see how it, what it does over the next year, two, three years. It'd be amazing.

[00:25:39] It's a wild time to be alive. Yeah, it really is. Like this is all, it's all happening so fast. And, you know, it's all stuff that when I was a child, I would, I would just dream that we'd be talking to robots and I'd be, you know, my, my research assistant would be $30 a month and have more knowledge that I could possibly dream of and be faster than ever, right? Ever imagined. It's, it's bananas. Yes. There's this weird, I think, and I always forget the name of it, but there's this weird

[00:26:04] movie that Tom Cruise was in, you know, where he was, he would up in front of him in his face, he'd pull up something and he'd just be moving stuff with his fingers. And, you know, and then he'd jump in this, you know, car and be minority report. And I, when I saw that, I'm like, that's super cool. I'll be a long gone before anything like that's even possible. You know, someday and children, great grandchildren, great, great grandchildren, that's probably the

[00:26:33] world they'll live in and 3000 and whatever. And I'm not so sure it's that far away because some of the stuff that we're able to do now and AI's positive impact is happening now. Yeah. It's wild. I mean, there's an existential threat. We don't have to talk about that here. You know, that's for a different type of podcast, but it's something we have to be aware of and realize that with any great opportunity for progress and, you know, just general opportunity

[00:27:02] to push humanity forward, there's going to be risk and we don't have to get on that today. But one of the things I want to ask you about, maybe this is a question for Philip, but you can glean some insights. When investors look at you guys, because you guys just had a huge round that you closed three months ago, four months ago, did they look at you guys as a fitness company or did they look at you as a technology platform? Like I would imagine the latter. The latter. Yeah. Is much more beneficial for investor dollars, right? Yeah. And that's, I mean, I think again, that's what makes eGym so special.

[00:27:32] I think it's not. Certainly we leverage technology to drive fitness solutions, right? And drive fitness outcomes. No question. But I think when they look, they see a technology platform, open platform system that's going to drive data, right? So data is part of what we do, but definitely a technology platform. And I think that's what we've embraced internally.

[00:27:58] Like that's what we see is kind of the leadership team, both with Philip and his, you know, the C-suite and, you know, guys like me that are, you know, next level down. I think we see ourselves as a technology company and I believe that it's reflected in the investment that we're getting. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. When you talk about like your, your entry point into North America, like we stated before, like in Europe, eGym is very solid, right? A leader in the market. What's, what's unique and different about North America?

[00:28:27] Like what are some of the challenges that maybe you didn't see in Europe that you're facing any company? What does they enter the North America? Yeah. I mean, so I, one of the big things I think is that this notion of, you know, smart, electronic strength equipment, you know, that's been around in Germany. Like that's consistently been there. And so I think the European continent embraces it a little bit more because it's more of a familiar thing.

[00:28:54] In North America, there was a pretty big gap before Philip brought eGym over. Cause if you remember way back, life had a similar type, not quite the same product and, but they had a similar concept. And then, you know, that kind of went away. Cause maybe it was a little bit before it's time. And then there was a gap and then in comes eGym to reintroduce it and really drive it. So I think there's been an education component to it. Like, what is this?

[00:29:22] I always say, you know, what is eGym? What's it about? What, what, what's smart strength? There's, there's a, still was that one, you know, but I think we're kind of to the point now where it's more, why, why would I do this? Why, why will, right. Why is it going to be good for me now? Why will it differentiate me? I think we're in way more into that and those conversations. And we're moving into the how. So I know what it is.

[00:29:51] I know why I should do it in a lot of cases. Now it's like, okay, how can I do it? How can I apply it to my business? How can I apply it to my operating model? And how will the ecosystem support and help me grow and all that? I think we had to do some of the what first. And now we're kind of in the line. I think that's the, that was the challenge at the beginning. Yeah. Well, you know, you look at what you guys are doing at Fred Fitness, which is really interesting. And maybe you can talk about that.

[00:30:18] I think that's, that's super Alex Alamonisano was, we just did a quarterly report not too long ago and he was just visiting when he was in LA and he was very impressed. He was like, very cool. So maybe tell us about that, what, what that means and kind of this model that you guys are creating with that particular brand as a partnership. Yeah. Yeah. What's interesting is that the Genesis for Fred was actually kind of started in Germany. So Fred is the owner of Cleverfit, right? Which is a franchise group over there.

[00:30:47] He and Phillip, as they, as we've grown with business over in Docky and Phillip obviously got to know each other really well. And they started thinking about, okay, what, what would be it? What would a brand look like? It was built all around eGEM. And so that's, they started that conversation. And then Fred really wanted to come to North America. He really wanted to build up a brand in North America. And so the notion that it would be an eGEM ecosystem only, that's how it started.

[00:31:16] And then they came over and started looking at places where it would make sense. LA, Santa Monica, you know, the cool new stuff, you know, technology driven, data driven, kind of was a natural fit. And they found an amazing location. And if you've seen any of the pictures or anything that they've shown on TV, it's a beautiful location. So the idea is really to provide people with an incredible upfront assessment, get them engaged in the eGEM ecosystem.

[00:31:44] We partnered with Matrix on the cardio there and really leverage the full power of the eGEM ecosystem to drive outcomes. And, and they have it built so that you can do assessments and reassessments and constantly find ways to push people forward. Cause you know, fitness and parents and health and all that is an important part of the LA market. Obviously we all know that as Americans.

[00:32:09] And so I think they found a great location, found a great concept and we're excited to see how it grows in other markets and how it has a major impact on members. So it's super cool what they're doing. They're a great partner and they're super, they're as enthusiastic as we are about them. They're as enthusiastic about eGEM and our ecosystem or what we can deliver. What a great way to like kind of show a forward facing model. Right.

[00:32:37] And I think with this North American market too, you know, it's my words, not yours, but you know, eGEM is obviously the future of what strength training and the health club experience will be. It's just, it's inevitable, right? This is where technology going, artificial intelligence, you guys are out there. I think our market tends to be a little slow to adopt for fear of being the first one out. Once again, my words, not yours, but I tend to see that right after 16, 17 years in the

[00:33:04] industry that, you know, once someone kind of big adopts and another one adopts and everyone's on board. So it's like, I feel like it's going to go all of a sudden things are going to break loose for you guys and it's going to be extremely busy in this market. Yeah. I mean, we, we think so. I've been on podcasts and panels and I've made, I've made known how I see, I think the North American market is slow to adopt technology and new things. And so, and I think that's true.

[00:33:32] And I think that's one of the things that we're trying to find a way to break through. I also think Fred Fitness is a great example of the original problem that was being solved by Egypt, right? Was beginners, people returning to fitness, the decondition, an amazing product, solve that problem so well, right? But then the recognition is that there's all kinds of members, right? So we say fitness for everyone, but that's only a portion of the members.

[00:33:59] And so what we've been able to do, and again, led by John and his team, is really begin to expand the ecosystem, the capabilities, the functionality we're able to do to really now, not only still solve problems for beginners and people who have never done strength training, they may be fit, but strength training is something they've never done to get them on board and get them strength training because everyone should be doing it. And it's a great thing for everyone.

[00:34:25] Probably won't get a chance to talk about GLP-1, but solving that problem, making sure that strength training is part of that solution is critical. But now we're out, we're out and we're impacting athletes. You know, we have partnerships with the University of Colorado, the Washington Commanders. We're impacting fit people. So we are now truly, and Fred's a great example of this, able to deliver solutions and outcomes to a full range of people that are in gyms with operators.

[00:34:55] Awesome. One question, I guess I have to bring it up because we talked about in the beginning, but tariffs, dude. It's, we're recording right now on Q1 of 2025 and new administration in the White House, things are dynamic, I guess you could say, fluid, maybe. Fluid. You know, good way to describe it. But what is your mindset going into what is going on with the potential tariff wars and how EGIM is going to, like, how are you positioning this? How are you guys doing? Yeah.

[00:35:25] When you asked me this question earlier, I thought I should just tell them no, I don't want to talk about it. What? We're in now. Because I think, you know, I don't think anybody really knows. Right. They don't. Oh, Jason Bridges is our chief manufacturing officer, was here a couple of weeks ago. And I asked him this question because, you know, him and his group are really responsible for driving all this stuff. Right. And, you know, he's, he's like preaching patience and making sure that we're doing the

[00:35:54] right things as a general fundamental approach. Right. So fundamentally we're looking at planning one, two, and three years out. And so if you're doing a really good job of that, some of this may will come out in the wash. The other thing is don't panic. I think that was the first thing he said to me. He goes, well, whatever it is, don't panic. Like, because I don't think like chasing yesterday and today's news is really going to get a strategy that's going to work right now. And so I think it's don't panic, continue to plan really, really well.

[00:36:24] Yes. Be very, very on top of it and aware of what's happening, but it's almost like this too shall pass in some ways that, and there's no way to really know what's going to happen. I mean, what is said today will be changed tomorrow. Six months from now could look totally different. So be really fundamentally sound is how we approach things. We approached that during COVID and when we came out of COVID, one of the best things that we were able to do is we were able to deliver our products on time because we did the right fundamental things.

[00:36:54] We had the right amount of inventory. We were about to continue to build quickly. We look at this the same way. Be fundamentally sound, constantly be looking at ways to not only improve your inventory position and your cost position, but also continue to look at your products to find other ways that we could evolve the product, simplify it, whatever we need to do to continue to control cost and improve our position of that.

[00:37:22] So I don't think there's one answer to the tariff craziness, but don't panic. I thought when Jason said that, I kind of chuckled and thought, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, an announcement happens from the White House, then things go into enactment and then there was a response. And like, by the time all of these things happen, there's a long tail effect. We have no idea what's actually going to happen at the end of that. Right. So I think you're right. That's all you can do is just don't panic.

[00:37:50] Well, and I think if you're in, if you've put, which we have not, and I think this is one of the benefits, this is one of the important things. If you put yourself in a position where the week to week back and forth in a trade war impacts you that much, then you probably were, you were in a bad position a year ago. Right. That's not how we're, how we approach it. Right. Trade war is going to be a trade war.

[00:38:19] How it ends up, we don't know, but I think we are careful enough and smart enough to plan far enough ahead that we're going to navigate it pretty well. Dana, as we wrap it up, you know, the question I always ask at the end is how can we help you? What I mean by that is as an industry, what do you need help with right now? If people are going to reach out to you, what would you like to hear from them about? Yeah. I think the how, going back to what I said, right? How, like how can WellPass help you? Right.

[00:38:46] How can WellPass help you with new revenue streams, with new WellPass members? Because I think that's really, like I remember as an operator every day, first thing in the morning, what do we talk about? Well, how many memberships did we sell? Who, how, what's our growth? What's our net for the month? Like, that's a really, really important, like that's the blood, right? You gotta, you gotta feed operators blood. And I think that's WellPass. So ask us about how WellPass can help us to help you do that and how, what we see and what our vision is for that.

[00:39:14] But then how can, how can our technology and our ecosystem really impact your operating operations to A, continue to drive improved performance, but then ultimately improve engagement with members. Right. Right. Right. And I, cause I think that's what, everybody wants better outcomes. Right. Right. And for the industry, we've talked 20 years out, you know, we're going to solve the health crisis. Well, the way to solve the health crisis is to make members healthier.

[00:39:43] And I think come talk to us about how we can help you do that while we're improving staff efficiency, while we're improving, you know, overall performance. I love to talk to operators. That was one of the best parts of my job at ABC going back when I mentioned that was seeing all the different operating models and then thinking about how now how EGYM can help utilize our ecosystem to drive real outcomes for the operators and the members. I love it. Come ask me how.

[00:40:12] I'd love to talk to you about it. Okay. And how, and how do people get ahold of you, Dana? Where would you like them to go? So come to HFA next week. We are booth 1203. We'd love to spend time with you there. We have, we're going to show genius and some of the other innovations that we do, which we innovate. That's one of the best parts about this company. We innovate ever all the time. So we are constantly looking at how we're making things better. So HFA booth 1203.

[00:40:38] Also Dana, D-A-N-A dot milkie, M-I-L-K-I-E at egym.com. Probably the two easiest ways to get ahold of me in the next week. And then after that, cell phone 206-601-8971. I like it. Yeah. The old cell phone delivery. Old school. This will probably be fair. This is probably published after HFA. I don't think I have time to see this one out there. Okay. But you guys are at all the major trade shows, FIBO, HFA, you name it. You guys, you guys are out there.

[00:41:08] And plus you have a showroom in Denver, right? So if people really want to get after it, they can show up there. Denver's my new hometown. We moved here, my wife and I, two years ago. We absolutely love it. I think it's a great city to visit and we'd love to host people here. Absolutely. Yeah. Awesome. Great. Awesome. Well, Dana, thank you. Thank you to the whole EGIM team. You know, Phillip, Sean, John, Emily, everybody who's helped make this interview a thing. So it's been a pleasure. And Dana Milkey.

[00:41:37] We, we, I can't leave without thanking you for the partnership because I think we've had a really good partnership and some of it's just, you know, shoot, you know, just shooting the shit and back and forth and talking, sharing industry stuff. Some of it's more formal like this, but, you know, I think I'll speak for everybody at EGIM when we really enjoy the partnership and the ability to continue to work back and forth. And, you know, hopefully I think us and you want to advance the industry.

[00:42:04] I think that's what, that's why our partnership is so good and so strong. I really appreciate that, man. I really do. And yeah, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, Dana Milkey. Ladies and gentlemen, Eric Malzone. Hey, wait, don't leave yet. This is your host, Eric Malzone. And I hope you enjoyed this episode of Future of Fitness. If you did, I'm going to 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.

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[00:43:01] 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.