The Power of Collaboration - Mel Tempest

Hey everybody, welcome to the Future of Fitness, where we talk with entrepreneurs, researchers, and practitioners in fitness, wellness, and the health sciences. I'd like to give a big thanks to our sponsors, Level Five Mentors, helping entrepreneurs achieve the highest levels of freedom in time, money, relationships, health, and purpose. Also, Certified Course Creation, helping entrepreneurs create accredited online certifications that are not only lucrative but highly scalable. Go to level5mentors.com or certifiedcoursecreation.com and learn more. I am your host, Eric Malzone. And once again, welcome to the future of fitness. Boom. We're live. Mel Tempest, welcome to the show, my friend. It's great to have you.

Eric, thank you so much for having me. And I'm so excited to be on the show. I set the alarm clock super, super early this morning just for you.

Oh, thank you, Mel. I appreciate it. And it's uh it's great to finally get you on. I know we've gone back and forth, and you know, your name just keeps coming up, you know, in conversations. And I see, you know, your name on social media, I see it in a lot of different places as a presenter and obviously your podcast. So it's it's great that we connected. And if you'd like, I think a great place to start with all the guests is you could give us a little bit of your backstory and kind of how you got into this crazy world of fitness and you know, tell us about your journey.

Wow, the crazy world of fitness, it's certainly that. Hey, you know, back in 2003, I opened up a club, and pretty much I opened up the club because somebody had told me in a previous job that I couldn't teach a new style of dance class that was coming out into the market, which was body jam. And I've only been in the industry for about 18 months, fell into the industry accidentally, became a circuit instructor because I've been looking after a sick relative. They passed on. I didn't want to go back into my former career, which is working in real estate. So joined the gym on the $21, you know, docket deal, and six months into it, had to make a decision about would I go back to work or would I not? And I said, Hey, you know what, I'm gonna go off and be a fitness instructor. So 18 months into that journey, I wanted to teach a body jam class, Eric, and you know, the health coordinator said, No, you're never gonna teach that class here. And it was right at that moment because you're in your mid-30s, and it was right at that moment I said to myself, how can somebody that I aspire to be like say that I can't do something? Because you know, the role of your mentor in this industry is to encourage you to be the best that you can be. And here I had someone that I aspire to be like saying, No, you can't teach a body jam class. So I went home and I said to my husband, you know, in my mid-30s, I want to open up a gym. Had no idea what I was doing. I was only a circuit instructor, I wasn't a personal trainer, and you know, 18 months later, we did open up our first facility, and I was actually blackbanned in my community for teaching classes because I had this, you know, aspiration to be more than a circuit instructor, and so therefore, local clubs wouldn't hire me because I was going to be opening up my own gym. So in 2003, we opened up in a church hall, 450 square meters. We didn't even have toilets because we only opened up the aerobics room first. We had to run across to the church car park to use the toilets there. Opened up just a little group fitness room of about, you know, 90, 100 square meters, had lots of classes, and on that day, I realized that there was a really big need in the community for something different, and it really didn't cement in until about four weeks later when we opened up the whole church hall, which included a gym area, and there was a queue out the front of our little church hall club. All of these people coming in, you know, and the one thing that they all had in common was they kept saying to me, we're looking for a non-intimidating environment, and that day, that day I changed my business model. And I've been changing my business model for the last 17 years to meet the demographic in my community, and it hasn't been easy. Um, but you know, there was a time when I had $3.60 in the bank and I had to pay the wages. So to say it's it's been an easy road, it certainly hasn't. But here we are 17 years later, we're in a bigger facility, it's 1,800 square meters. We own our building, lucky enough to own everything in it, and really still very passionate about changing people's lives.

Awesome, great story. And there's one thing I love to expand on in that story. Well, there's a lot of things, but you mentioned that you noticed that people were looking for a non-intimity, you were told actually that people are looking for a non-intimidating environment and that you you shifted the way you did business to fit that demographic. Expand on that if you can.

Um, well, the first thing I did was I said to all my staff, we don't wear crop tops anymore when we're teaching classes or walking around the gym. Crop tops and our bands. So that was the first thing that I did. I then realized that the graphics that were out there in the media didn't marry up with the people that were coming into my club. So what I did was I started to use pictures of my own members and put those onto social media and into the newspaper. So back in the day when I started, newspaper was still very, very popular and local radio was still very popular. So I used my own people to sell the message about my club.

That's fantastic. Yeah, and it's interesting when people look at like, well, I want to serve a specific demographic. Sometimes they're kind of missing the mark, right? It's like, well, I'll change the the color scheme on my website, or you know, I'll um, I don't know, I'll change the name, you know, which which are helpful things. But those those noticeings that you had about, okay, well, no crop tops, we're gonna go, you know, regular shirts, we're really gonna embody that non-intimidating vibe. It's there's it's the little things, right? It's the little things that count in that matter.

Oh, absolutely. I mean, imagine being a larger person, regardless of whether you're male or female, walking into a club and looking around, and the first thing you see is, you know, half the staff wearing crop tops and and the males wearing tank tops. Now, I don't have a phobia about those those items because I used to do it myself. So I don't have a phobia about it. What I knew was I had to create an environment that was comfortable for those people that wanted to join my gym, and they weren't comfortable with walking into a club and seeing that. And I've held that business model for 17 years, and that tells me that it works. And you're right, it's just the little things, you know, knowing people's names on the front desk, just all those little things that make a difference. Saying goodbye when somebody walks out the door, even if you don't know their name. Uh it's just the little things in it that make a really big impact on people's days. And what we have to understand is for some people, coming to the club is the best part of their day. They hate their job, and in some experiences, they don't want to go home. Coming to the club is the best part of their day. Mixing with people that hold no judgment, saying hello and goodbye to the people that come to the classes, they all have the same common theme, that's to be healthy. For some people, coming to your club, my club, is the best part of their day. And it's our responsibility to make that environment safe for them.

Yeah, I love I really like that message. So you've seen success as a health club owner, uh, as a gym owner. You you do a lot more in the industry too. You kind of you play at a higher level. I mean, you speak, you do events and things like that. Tell us, tell me about kind of like that second tier of your career as well. What are the things you do outside of your gym that help, you know, push the industry forward?

I sort of halfway through the journey of owning a club, I realized that I had something that a skill that I could teach other people, and that was running a business and how to run that successfully by some of the things that I've just told you. And I was really finding it hard to get a place in the Australian fitness industry to speak up and pass on that knowledge. And a really good friend of mine, Thomas Plummer, pulled me aside one day and said, Mel, you know what? It might not happen for you here. So, what we're gonna do is we're gonna start up a podcast, and you're gonna interview me, and that's gonna be your launching place for your podcast. And so that's what I did, Eric. I started up a podcast, and I'm a very animated person, as you know. So for me to sit in a seat and interview people and not have an audience and be using my arms and my hands was really, really difficult. But I've really enjoyed that experience, and that experience then led me to go, right? You know what? If I can't get a gig in my own country, I'm gonna create my own event. So we started creating our own events pretty much around November, December of 2018, and we launched our first one just over 12 months ago. And so we're doing very boutique style events, we've run mixed events, meaning boy, girl, and we've ran women's only events. And what we're doing is we're running round tables in those events. So we get, so let's say for example, we've got six round tables, we get six hosts uh who are skilled in certain areas. So, you know, we had legal people, we've had analytics on, you know, data from direct debit companies, and so we have all these different people sitting on the roundtables, and the attendees come along and they spend 20 to 25 minutes sitting on the round table, the bell rings, and then they move on to the next round table. So during the day, they're absorbing a lot of knowledge and education, and they're able to take that education back into their club and to implement some skills that are going to help them build a bigger business. Last year, we also launched like a TEDx style talk. So they got up, we had people apply to present, and they got up and spoke for five minutes and they had a PowerPoint presentation going on in the background, and they couldn't control that. It was one slide, you know, every 15 seconds. So that was pretty cool too. We then went on to launch our women's event, and that was really, really successful. Uh, we had over 60 women come together on the day. Again, the round table format, but then we introduced guest speakers. We just had our last event just last Friday, Erica, we had around about 74 people rock up to the event. It was a mixed event, and we had some really cool speakers there from pre-corps, from local businesses uh here in Australia, and again we ran the round tables. And because people are buying their tickets and coming to the events, we know that there's an absolute need in the marketplace for it. And what we did last Friday that we hadn't done before was we actually filmed the speakers and then we dropped them onto our platform. So you can now watch the speakers live or you can actually download it as a podcast.

Oh, that's great. What uh what's the name of the events? Like, where do people find information on those? I know we'll we'll talk about it towards the end too.

Yeah, Ignite Fitness Business Events, and you can just drop over the mail tempest.net for those, and you just click on the the tab up the top and you can just register your details and we'll keep you up to date with everything that's going on.

Awesome. And you know, I'm always curious when I hear people talk about their origin story of how they started their podcast, right? There's a lot of people out there with podcasts now, you know, 100%. But everyone starts it for different reasons. Some people don't even know why. When you when you set out and Thomas Plummer told you, hey, I think you should start a podcast, I'll be your first guest. What was the what was the intention? What was the expectation that you you wanted for your podcast?

I just wanted to be able to interview people that I thought that the business industry needed to hear from that were gonna pass on tools to other club owners in a really simple manner. So the problem with the fitness industry is that we're so busy marketing to middle level, high-level achievers that we forget about the low-level entry people who need our help. And that was my my target audience. So that could be someone that was new starting up their own business, Eric, or it could have been somebody that'd been in the industry 10 or 15 years but was still frightened of technology, um, you know, frightened of all these functional fitness training studios open up. So my objective was to help those people that were too frightened to put up their hand and ask for help. And then the the next step obviously was getting the right speakers on the show. And so far it we've been really, really lucky with it. Um, we've had over, I think I looked last night, it was like 860,000 hits. And as we all know, um hits and downloads, though we can speak big numbers, as you will agree, downloads don't necessarily mean that people do listen to our podcast, it just means that it's filtered through down onto their to their phone as a download. But we're really happy with it. Um I know that we're sharing the right knowledge because I get constant feedback that says, wow, what you just said then has helped me in my business. I actually had someone the other day say, you know what? I just started my first Snapchat and I've just started my first Instagram account because now I understand what it's all about.

Ah, that's great. Yeah, I think one of the most fulfilling things I get is when I hear from a listener. And, you know, usually it's an episode that involves something personal. You know, like we had an episode on burnout and anxiety. I heard from a handful of people on that. And it just it feels good, you know, because sometimes you're just talking into a microphone. Well, a lot of times that's what exactly what you're doing. You're talking into a microphone with someone from across the other side of the planet, and you're putting up this recording, you don't know if it's really what it's doing until you hear from people. And that's when it all comes back. So if people are listening, hey, we'd love to hear from you, Mel and I. You know, it goes a long way. It really brightens our days and it gives us, you know, uh critical feedback on on how we can make things more valuable. Because, hey, you know, maybe I'll strike another piece of honesty here is that we don't get paid to do our podcast. I don't know about you, Mel. In fact, I pay to do my podcast.

No, no, no. We do not get paid to do podcasting, people. Even when you hear us say this episode is sponsored by so-and-so, 99.9% of the time, we're helping out a fellow fitness, business, industry person just like us. And no, we don't get paid. If anything, we open up and we pay other people to edit our podcast and do all the pretty stuff. So, no, Eric, we don't get paid.

Yeah, yeah. It's uh just just being transparent, folks. You know, that's one of the big things. And you know, Mel, I um my general sense from you, I've never met you in person, is that you tend to be someone who will go against the green. You know, when a lot of people go right, you'll go left. And, you know, for I don't like this term because it's thrown out so often, but disruptive, you know, in some ways. And I know you have a vision for the the fitness industry that is a very constructive, very forward-thinking, and you kind of want to break the mold, right, of what it has been so we can come up with something really new and innovative in the future. You know, let's let's touch on that topic. You know, how how do you feel that the state of the industry is now?

Today, today, it's a lot better than it was this time last year. Okay. I'm known as being a disruptor and someone that challenges the status quo, but I do it for the good of the industry and I don't deliberately go out and vilify people. I do hold people accountable because we're all accountable, whether it's to our husband, wife, to our kids, to our employer, you know, to the tax department. Every single one of us is accountable. If we're taking money from people and I'm asking you what you're doing with my money, you should be able to answer my questions and not say she's been disruptive, she's a troublemaker. And I've done that a few times in the industry and people haven't liked it. And that's just bad luck. Just bad luck. Because as a club owner, I have to answer to my members every single day on the quality of the classes, the quality of the equipment. So why don't other fitness influencers, why shouldn't they be accountable to me and to everybody else when we say, hey, you need to answer that question. I don't understand what the problem is with that. We have got a lot better, you know, in the last, I have to say, in the last 12 months. And I think that's because people like myself and other uh leaders in the industry are really pushing for collaboration. There is there's no reason for us to fear our peers. We need to be sharing what we've got with everybody because everybody has the same agenda. We get into the industry because we're passionate and we want to change lives, but we're also got to make money, profit, and pay our bills. So it's so much easier to reach that by working together. There'll be some people that won't want to work with you, Eric. And usually those people that don't want to work with you are people that fear the skill that you have because they don't have that skill. And I feel sorry for them for being that way. Because really, if they were just to say, hold on a moment, she does that really well, and I do that really poorly, but I really want to learn from her, and there might be something that I can teach her. Why not do that? As opposed to going, I'm not letting you in the door in my business, you're not speaking at my event. Absolutely no way. Those things only happen when people have got things to hide. And so hence why I went off and started my own events, and they're run in collaboration with so many experts in the industry, and a whole bunch of competitors all walk into the same room, attend those events, they network, they've all got the same agenda, they're all learning something new, and then going back to their business and doing what they got to do. That's how the industry should be. The stuff, the old school stuff that's gone. People aren't interested in that stuff anymore. It's just total bullshit. People aren't interested in backslapping and looking after each other so that they can last a little bit longer in the industry. These people need to say, you know what? There's a new era coming through, and I am responsible and accountable to those people to mentor them because one day I'm gonna retire. So I want to know that someone's gonna feel my shoes and do an awesome, if not better, job. So old school people need to actually wake up to themselves and say, I've got a responsibility to this new era coming through. You and I have a responsibility to train us, young trainers coming through our club. You know, I'm not gonna say, I'm not gonna give you the 530 time slot because you're better than me. I want to keep it. If you've got an instructor that's better than you, put them in the time slot. You've got a receptionist that's better than you, put them on the front desk. You've got a speaker that can add content to your events and make more people walk through the door and you're gonna profit from bringing that person to the stage, then do it.

Yeah, well said, Mel. And I think if we can tap into, you know, what the underlying the issue that causes the symptoms is something that I've noticing. As when I was in a gym owner, I was very guilty of this, right? Is having a scarcity mindset of you know everybody's competition. If I could go back and I could tell Eric of 2015 when he was running his gym and everything was going really well, you know, I would have said be more collaborative with the other facilities in the area. They're not competition because, you know, yeah, we we tend to kind of compete over the same 20% of the population, right? But there's there's ways, if you look at it, how, you know, hey, you can be an expert in this area. I'll be an expert in this area. Let's say one person does fat loss, the other one does performance, right? It's no problem with just referring back and forth. And when you do that, you hit A, it's a lot more fun, right, to work in a collaborative mindset than it is to work in a scarcity mindset. And that's that's a that's a key thing. And I think now one of the things I've taken in on over the past few years is I look for collaboration everywhere. One of the reasons you and I are on this podcast is I don't see, I do business coaching, I do mentoring, right? I don't see you as competition. I see you as you know, somebody who has the same, you know, better interests in mind for the industry. And that's that's great. This feels better than me just saying, you know, well, I can't, I can't have Mel on my my podcast because, you know, she does something kind of similar to what I do. Maybe someone will think she's better than me. Like, no, that's just that's fear, that's scarcity, that's that's an ugly emotion that really doesn't have any room as the as this industry evolves into what it's gonna be, which is gonna be amazing. It's gonna be very, it's gonna be very um interconnected, it's gonna be tech heavy, it's gonna be experiential, it's gonna be relationship-based. It's an exciting time for the fitness industry because we are evolving. And if you can't see that and look at all the opportunities and possibilities for it, then you know it's time to get out of the way, right? I mean, that's that's the whole point.

Oh, absolutely. I mean, how can you be in an industry that is the inspiring, that is inspiring consumers to be the best that they can be? And I know that those words are thrown around a lot, but that's the reality of it. How can you be in that industry and deliver that message, but behind closed doors, you're the opposite? How how how can you be that way? I don't understand that mentality. I wouldn't even hire a business coach or a speaker that I thought was like that. You can't go out there and tell people, yeah, yeah, come join my gym or come and do this, come and do this. But as soon as somebody comes a piece of competition to you, whether it's another club or another speaker, how you can be like that is beyond me. I just don't get it. I think people that are like that are falsifying who they are. And I think that that's probably why for so many decades we've had that old school mentality. It's not really about inspiring people in the industry and getting people fit and healthy. It just comes back to the bank account. And that that's not how it should be at all.

Yeah, yeah, it's not about the money. And you know, it to me it comes down to understanding what I call a unique ability. Um, other people call it a zone of genius, whatever, whatever you want to call it, whatever name you want to call it, right? Is that if you understand what you're really, really good at and you embrace it fully, it leaves a lot of room for collaboration because there's a lot of people who don't have what you have, but they have things that you value that you hate doing or you're just not that good at. And that's the beauty of collaboration. That's how you scale, really. That that's the key to scaling is collaboration. How do you, Mel, in your day-to-day work? Because obviously, you know, you pull people together. You're someone who I can sense just brings people together, right? Um, how do you how do you look for collaboration in a very intentional way? How do you do that?

Look, seriously, Eric, I look for people that can offer what I can't offer the industry. Perfect. That's what I do. I'm not gonna falsify who I am and what I can deliver. That means I go into a business and do some business coaching and do it half-heartedly and pretend I know stuff when I don't know stuff. I mean, I want to build a reputation that way. If I can't do something, I'll get somebody else that's really good at it. And that's what we do, to be honest with you, that's what we do at the events. And you know, I've got some great women leaders who speak really well on mindfulness and self-care. I don't speak well on those two topics because it's just not in my genetics to speak on those. So I grab these women and I say, can you speak at my event? Because you're really cool at this. And there's so many women out there that really need to hear your message and are going to take it on board. So just look for people who can do stuff that you can't do well. That's what collaboration is about.

That's it. It's that simple.

I don't understand why the industry has complicated it. We are in the fitness industry, we are in the health and wellness industry. We are responsible at creating positive mental health for millions of people globally. Not just people that come to our clubs, Eric, but also in our peers. And when we don't treat them with respect, we can actually be creating negative mental impact towards those people. And they get up in the morning and they feel that they're not valued in the industry as a speaker or as a coach. And that is wrong. We are responsible for the mental well-being of not just consumers who work out in our club, but for our peers and for our teams. And that's a big responsibility. And that's a responsibility that the industry has to be accountable for.

Yeah, that's great. So, you know, we don't have to name names or vilify anybody, but I would like to do is recognize people who are doing it right. Is is there anybody who comes to mind who you think are, you know, great voices? For the industry, people who are leading, you know, into the future, what this could be. Who would you like to give praise to?

I'd love to give some praise to some ladies at YMCA here in Victoria, actually, Eric. Fiona, Nadine, and Katie. They have created within the YMCA community here a really caring factor amongst their teams. And this is something that a lot of other companies can learn from. So if you're a company that feels that having trouble getting that love factor happening within your team, those girls do an amazing job at getting their teams to thrive. So if I go to the States, and I am going to do a little bit of a plug here, FIBO USA are doing a really great job at creating collaboration within the industry. They're really opening up the doors for you know new fitness business speakers and even suppliers that haven't been given a fair go. They're doing a lot in the fitness industry over there. Um in the UK market, I have to say, gosh, in the UK market, it comes back down to people like Keat Me, who are being really creative with innovation. You know, the MySone guys are doing a lot of stuff and getting people moving. And for them, it's always been about just selling belts and creating a difference. And yeah, and then there's people like yourself who picked up the phone and said, Mel, you know what, you've got a message to share. You do different stuff to me. Let's get on the podcast together. And that's what it's all about, just sharing what we all know and learning from each other.

Yeah. Yeah, I think it's great. You know, let's let's look at let's look a little bit in the future. What are some of the biggest opportunities in the fitness industry moving forward? I mean, if you look at like obviously the title of my podcast is The Future of Fitness. I'm very forward-oriented. I want people skating to where the puck is going, you know, not where it is today or worse yesterday. Where are some key areas where you see advancement in the fitness industry? If you're a fitness professional or gym owner, what would you recommend that people are taking a look at?

For gym owners, you really need to step up your game with technology. There's some really cool products coming out that are going to run your front desk for you, and you need to keep your eye on those. And if you don't do that, you're going to get left behind by competition because these are really cool products. I think another area that gym owners need to tap into is the 45 plus market. These guys have got a lot of money to spend. They're looking at doing small group training. They want to do one-on-one. They want people to help them with nutrition. They are tech-savvy, don't ignore them, don't treat them like idiots. They're on social media to keep in touch with their families and their grandchildren. They know what they're doing. So you need to be tapping into that aging market. Group programming. The thing I'm seeing in my club is that, and this will probably sound a little bit odd to some people, but that 21 to 36 year age bracket, they're different than my era. So they walk into a club and they don't know their left and they don't know their right and they don't want to do choreograph programs. I'm really sorry, but they don't want to do choreograph programs. They want to do circuit style programs, and it doesn't have to be hit classes, it can be low-intensity interval training. Club owners need to be looking at more 30-minute express classes and then chopping it up with a 15 or 20-minute wellness class that follows into it. So, you know, example, a 30-minute cycle followed with 15 minutes of yoga or some other type of recovery. So hybrid classes are where group programming is going to go. We've had these classes in our own club, Eric, you know, for at least five years, hence why we're still successful. People keep walking through the door. So, you know, technology to implement with your group programming. Look at your 45 plus market, don't ignore them. They've got money and they want that one-on-one. They want nutrition, they want to know how to live long, healthy lives and have a look at how long uh people are living for. Somebody popped up a post the other day celebrating their grandmother's 108th birthday. Um, look at your pro you know, look at your programming. Don't be frightened to try something else different. If you're not sure where to try it differently, go to your timetable, put the classes in your off-shoulder peak slot. So, you know, your 4:30s or your five o'clock. Public holiday, put a different class on there that you want to test it, test your market with. Christmas timetables, the perfect place to be putting on different classes. So I think the industry is changing and it's changing rapidly. Don't be scared of your boutiques. I know every day we jump on the internet and someone's saying, The boutiques are coming, the boutiques are coming. It's like, whoa my god, everyone, hold back. But the reality is, the reality is every single gym has four business models under their roof. Their group fitness programming is the first one. Technology is the second business model. The gym, where the equipment is, is the third business model, and their fourth business model is their front desk. They already have boutiques within their business. So when you go out and do your marketing, don't always market your club as a whole. Market your club as your individual business model. That's some advice that I would give to people that are listening. We are changing really quick. Get to events, get to different events, listen to podcasts, do some you know, online learning. If you're not sure about how to do something, get on the YouTube and just Google how do I start at Historian How? What is business manager on Facebook? Get on there and learn these things just to stay ahead so that you can lengthen your career in the fitness industry.

Yeah. That's it's it's really interesting hearing you come because I come from a boutique. You know, I came from CrossFit. That was the gyms that I was involved in, and it was, you know, obviously heavily community driven, heavy boutique style. I think maybe it's kind of where the term where the whole boutique movement came from. I don't want to give it credit for that, but it could be. And then you come from a health club background, which is a little different, right? But one of the things that seems unique, you know, seems universal across the board is that a strong sense of community and uh and customer service is is critical. And, you know, I always wonder the health clubs you work in. I guess here's a here's an interesting question. I don't know if anyone's actually asked this on the show. What's the difference between a boutique and a health club?

I actually got asked that last Friday when I was sitting on the boutique panel. It's true. There were four of us on the panel, and everybody had a different answer. So one of the answers was it's the experience. Um, the second one was it's community. And then, you know, I sort of come in and said, we all have boutiques within our business. We all it's about community, whether it's on a large scale or it's on a small scale. Community is not something new to the fitness industry. Community is not something new in our personal lives. What do you do when you go to a wedding? It's a community that all have the same interest, the people that are getting married. When you when you have a Christmas lunch at your house, you create a community. Everybody comes over with the same interest, don't they? And that's exactly what boutique fitness and owning a club is about. It's about community and it's about meeting the needs of that community. Sure, boutique is smaller scale, you know, 15 to 20 people paying more to have that experience. But why can't club owners create that, Eric?

Yeah, there's no good reason. I mean, it's I I ask these questions because a lot of times people talk about it. It's like one of my favorite questions I ask people is, you know, what does it mean to have a brand? Because I'll I'll ask brand specialists this question. Not to get too off topic, but like, hey, you know, I really like what you're doing, your personal brand. Oh, yeah? Define it. And they can't. And I think a lot of people talk about, well, the difference between a health club and a boutique, but no one's actually taken the time to define it. Like what's what's the differentiating factors of it? It's hard to talk about a thing if you can't define a thing. And when I when I think about it, now I'm asking myself this question what is the difference between a boutique and a health club? And I think boutiques are mostly generally can be seen as owner-operator or much more owner-involved in the day-to-day operations.

But I can't come up with a-that Eric. I would sorry for cutting you off. I would argue because you've just said you see boutiques as more about being owner-operator. But what about all of these franchises? What about all of these people that are pulling money out of their superannuation funds, buying into a boutique and then they put a manager in? So, I mean, defining boutique, look at look at it from this point of view. All right. We talk about boutique as being, you know, a small group of people coming together, getting a real big wow factor. Well, every club owner should be delivering that anyway. But what about when you've got a really large club and only 10 people turn up to the cycle class, or only 10 people turn up to the barbell class? So do you then are you then not a large commercial club and you become a boutique because there's 10 people in your class?

No.

So see the difference. It's about community and and irrespective of how many people are in that room or how many bums are sitting on the cycle seats, community and experience. Every club should already be delivering that. And if you look back over the last 10 or 15 years, remember when hydraulic circuit equipment came out and there was like 20 stations? I mean, that was my first ever circuit class. Is that not is that not boutique within the club?

Yeah, yeah, it is. It is, it can be.

Yeah, and how many club owners when when CrossFit you know became well known, everybody was going, the CrossFitters are coming, the CrossFitters are coming. How many club owners went out and put platforms in their club and created that style of workout on the gym floor? Yeah. Does that mean, isn't that boutique within the commercial club?

Yeah, no, I agree. And it's it's a hard thing to define. And it's like when you talk about community, right? Um, what does that mean to people? How do you put intention behind creating community? And it's just those, you know, once again, it comes back to how we started this whole show was, you know, the the little things, knowing someone's name, saying, you know, goodbye when they leave the gym, right? Celebrating a birthday, you know, having those extra events that you don't charge for, but they're important. You know, it's it's those little things that that people recognize. And that was um really where I doubled down in my business was really making sure the community felt supported and that you were a leader of the community and you encouraged it. And that's I think that's key. And it's not, it's not the easiest thing to do at times. It can take a lot of energy, right? Especially for someone like me who's naturally introverted, right? But it's key and it has to be done. And that's that's a huge differentiator. And as soon as I didn't focus on community, that's when my business hurt. And then I had to get back on the saddle again and make sure that I was encouraging that. And I'd be curious too, besides those little things, is there any other like major ways that you push the gelling of a community within a health club or a gym?

Yeah, cut the umbilical cords with members that don't fit in with your vision and your values. And I've done that. So I've I've I've asked members to leave my club and just said this is not the club for you. And I do it in a nice way, and you know, more than happy to recommend them to a place that does suit their style of training or their attitude. Because I just won't have disruptive people come into my business that are gonna uh intimidate other people or make people feel like they're being judged. Um, because the one thing that you can't change in life is people's perception, because it's very rarely that we're actually given that privilege to know another person's perception. So I think it's important that the best way is to just cut the umbilical cord, and not just with your members, Eric, though, also with your staff. If your staff don't fit in with your values, then you have to move them on because it all comes back to perception and not knowing, you know, maybe why a member leaves, maybe a member left because they felt every time they walked into a club, you know, one of your staff may have been throwing off bad vibes, or maybe there was another member in the club that made them feel uncomfortable. And I've been in that situation where I've had to ask a member to leave, leave my club because they were making a couple of other members feel uncomfortable. So being brave enough to cut the umbilical core with anything that doesn't meet your values and and your mission.

Yeah, that's a great message. And it can be scary. I've done it too. You know, it can be scary. But what I've always noticed is I see a surge after, you know, surge of growth, a surge of energy. Um so it's it's it's important to cut out the toxicity. I I 100% agree. Here's kind of the final question I have for you today, Mel. If we're speaking right now to, you know, a fitness professional who's innovative, got some great ideas, but finding it difficult to get the word out, right? Or maybe not finding ways to get seen and be heard and be visible. But you have a lot to offer and you know you do. You're confident in that. What do you tell this person? How do you go out there and how do you you start making a name and start getting the word out?

So, Eric, like you, I'm actually an introvert until I get on the stage and then I'm a and then I'm an extrovert. So I know how hard it is to walk into a networking event and be expected to go and speak to people. It's not something that I enjoy doing because, like you, as I said, I'm a little bit introverted when it comes to that. Just be brave enough to know that you are good enough to go out there and put yourself out there. Tap someone on the shoulder and go, Can you help me? I'm really passionate about this and I really think that this is gonna work. I'm a little bit scared. Can you help me get my name out there or point me in the right direction? A good person will do that freely and not say to you, let me sign you up for six months as your business coach. A good person that wants to see another person succeed will do that freely. So I say to every new fitness business professional out there, you know that you're good at something. Get your message out there just by tapping someone on the shoulder and saying, Can you help me out? And if you can't, can you point me in the right direction? Because if someone hadn't given me an opportunity, Eric, then I wouldn't be where I am today.

That's awesome. That's awesome. And and I'm sure, Mel, you're available to help. I'm always available to help. And I just enjoy doing that, that exact thing. So it's it's a lot of uh fun to see people move forward and you know get the spotlight on fresh thought, fresh ideas. And uh it's really important. You know, it's critical actually to the advancement of the industry, and that's both what you and I want. So, Mel, I know you have an event coming up, you know, hopefully this gets released by that time, but give us a little insights on what you got coming up.

Super excited, Eric, that we're just about to announce our women's Ignite Fitness Business event, and that's gonna be held on August the 14th in Melbourne. And so we're gonna be looking for presenters, and there's lots of opportunities. Perhaps you're a supplier new to the industry and you'd like to set up a you know small uh booth area or a table. There's lots of opportunities for everybody. So that's our Ignite women's fitness business event, and that'll be held in Melbourne on August the 14th.

Right on. Awesome. Mel, thank you for coming on the show. I'm glad we finally connected. It was a lot of fun, and I appreciate everything you're doing. I have no doubt that you will not stop. So keep it up.

Thanks, Eric, and thank you for having me on the show. I was like I said, I set my alarm clock super early just for you this morning. Oh, thank you. You're welcome, and you're doing a fantastic job. And I hope that people take away some of the stuff that we've talked about today. They give it some thought and they implement it into their business because the industry is big enough for us all. We've just got to collaborate, tap people on the shoulder, and say, hey, my name's such and such, and I want to work with you.

You're here, right on. Ladies and gentlemen, Mel Tempest. Hey, it's your host, Eric Malzone. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Future of Fitness. If you enjoyed it, please do me a huge favor by going to the website and signing up for our newsletter. The website is futureoffitness.do. Again, that's futureoffitness.co. We've got some big, big announcements coming down the pipe, and we want you to make sure that you are on top of it. Thank you again. Signing off