The Myth of Success with Eliza Shirazi

People see the highlight reel.

The sold-out classes. The media appearances. The growing brand.

What they don't see is the years of uncertainty, reinvention, hard decisions, and quiet work behind the scenes.

In this conversation, I sit down with Eliza Shirazi, founder of Kick It by Eliza, to talk about entrepreneurship, community building, movement, leadership, and what success really looks like when you're the one responsible for creating it.

We talk about:

•  Building a fitness brand from a college side project 
•  Why accessibility matters in wellness 
•  The difference between virality and sustainability 
•  Teaching teachers and protecting quality 
•  Social media, comparison, and follower counts 
•  What success means when your definition evolves 

If you've ever wondered whether you're behind, doing enough, or building the right thing, this episode is for you. 

About Eliza: 

Eliza Shirazi is an award-winning entrepreneur, and community builder in the fitness space. With a focus on creating welcoming and fun environments for women, Eliza has built what many know today as Kick It and The Fempire®.

With 15 years of experience, Eliza promotes a realistic, feel-good approach to health and wellness through her virtual fitness platform, instructor certification program, speaking engagements, guest coaching spots, and events. In 2025, Kick It was named Best Virtual Workout by Boston Business Women- a recognition that highlights the heart, impact, and consistency behind her work.

What once began as a passion-fueled project has evolved into a well-respected brand that has certified over 400 instructors, collaborated with partners like POPSUGAR and New Balance, and been featured on the TODAY Show as well as major publications including Glamour and Teen Vogue.

Connect: 

https://www.kickitbyeliza.com/

https://www.instagram.com/kickitbyeliza/

Further Forward: Honest Conversations on the Art of Becoming, is hosted by Ashley Mitchell. 

📩 Subscribe to Ashley’s newsletter, Mind & Motion: https://blackgirlmagicmama.substack.com/

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 🌱 Support this work and share it with a friend who’s ready to move further forward.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Eliza Shirazi, welcome to the Further Forward Podcast. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited. This is, I didn't even, I don't even know. I you're just someone who is on everyone's radar, rightfully so, for such a long time. Like I knew you before I knew you. So this is a wonderful moment for me to get to have a conversation with you because I only ever see you in passing or something like that. So this is one of those moments where it's a selfish, oh my gosh, I get to talk to Eliza and everyone else gets to listen to it.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Yeah, I was saying before we hit record that I feel like we're we'll be able to talk for days and days about all of these topics. It's just like so much alignment and I just feel like we could yap forever. So I'm excited to do that today. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

We'll just we'll just pre-plan a second episode now. Like let's just manifest it. Um, so this podcast starts the same way every time. Who are you and how are you?

SPEAKER_00 1:18

I am many things. I'll start with how I am today. I'm great today. The sun is shining, I'm feeling good. Um, and I think it's a really great question to start with. Who are you? Because everybody wears so many different hats. And I think the hat that most people see me wearing is the kick it hat. Maybe like literally or just directly. Um, but I would say underneath all of that, I'm just someone who's so passionate about community and bringing people together in a low pressure, authentic, healthy way. And that has just been manifested through fitness, group fitness, movement, and my business. So that's who I think I I really feel who I am at the core.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yeah, I feel that. And I what really resonates with me is this the the world might label us in many different things, but in in some ways, like as fitness instructor. And it's so incomplete and so, you know, it's like a a tiny portion of of what we actually do. And I so to hear you talk about the aspects of it, it's like this embodiment that uses movement. Yeah, but that is not all you are, which I love.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

I I usually say that kick it's just like the vehicle for doing what I love. It's just like the engine I use for it. Um and I really get a kick out of trying to explain my work to people because they do say, oh, so you're a group fitness instructor or you work out for a living. And um, I just don't, I don't even know where to go at that dead end. I'm like, yep.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Yeah, that if that's what you said. That's all. Yep, work out for a living. You got it.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Yep, yep. There's just so there are so many layers. And even for people who do um teach group fitness as like their side quest or like their passion, there's still so much work that goes into quote unquote just being a fitness instructor. Um so it's yeah, it's funny talking to people sometimes because I'm like, how much time do you have and how much energy energy do I have to unpack the layers? Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

But also name me another career path that is not doctor or nurse or something like that. Like, name me an everyday career path that the person interacting with the clients might be in one second talking to a neurosurgeon, and another second talking to a teacher, and another second talking to a stay-at-home mom. I find that what makes it so special is that we connect with so many different types of people under one umbrella philosophy. And I'm like, just a fitness instructor, like, bitch, you could never, you could never do what we do. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

It is so much emotional intelligence, and it's so much catering to all, but making it feel personal. It's really such, it's like not just counting down. It's much more than that. Um, and I think that that comes through a lot in my world because, and we'll definitely get into this, but I've been certifying instructors to teach kick it since 2016. And I think the biggest misconception is that instructors are just timers and they're just demonstrators. It's like we're not robots. Like we're gonna, you gotta create a skill set that's so much deeper and that you really can't complete with just like a multiple choice thing. It's so much deeper, but it goes into the same lane of trying to tell people who really are it's just so foreign to them, this field of work. Um, it's a lot of like debunking the myths and misconceptions.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

For sure. I'm like, just get yourself in the room, and that's how you're gonna start to know the difference, right? You just have to feel it.

unknown 6:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

You do. It is a feeling thing. It is a feeling thing. And it's like that's the thing about I'll I'll speak on just like group fitness in specific, but people don't remember the reps. They remember how they feel at the end of class. And maybe it's because of like the amount of reps they completed, but they're they're stuck on the feeling of it. Like it's it really is a feeling, and you have to just experience it, which is so hard to convey sometimes, you know, in in any kind of forum, like social media or emails. It's like you just have to come and feel it for yourself.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Please just come. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

So true. So we're, I mean, we're talking about kick it, but for people who don't know, what is it?

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Kick It as a format is a shadow boxing style class. It's to the beat of the music. Um back in the day, I used to say it's sweat-inducing, music driven, and all of these like interesting adjectives that I actually wouldn't use today to explain it. People, people would sometimes think, like, is it is it a dance kind of format? And it's not. We're moving to the to the beat, but it's not, we're not like shimmying or you know, doing dance steps. But my roots are come from dance. So that's why it is to the beat of the music, and the music really drives the experience. Um, so that's the format. And the coming back to the idea of being um accessible or inclusive, that's a really big part of kick it, and it always has been. It's a space where you can take the class and you can go 150% and do all the jumping and all the combinations at their fullest expression. Or you're gonna notice when you take a class, there are so many options. If you don't want to be jumping around, if you want to keep it low impact, if your range of motion isn't where it used to be, or you're recovering from injury pre-postpartum, there are all these ways to insert yourself into the class and feel like this is for me. And that's really intentional. That's that's on purpose. And even though kick it as a format has shifted over the many, many years I've been teaching, that kind of like philosophy and idea of being inclusive to most, because again, you can't please everybody, but to most has has been really important to the actual format of the class. And aside from that, there are so many different branches to kick it as a business. And like I mentioned, there's a certification, so people can get certified to teach kick it and bring it to their communities. There are corporate partnerships, there's merch, there's our virtual membership, there's all of these different kinds of angles to the business that some oftentimes people don't realize, which they don't have to realize, but I think that's another uh kind of like irks me when people are like, so you're a group fitness instructor, like sort of you're an entrepreneur, you're a founder.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Yeah, yeah. It's so much. I think it it can be it can be whatever you intend for it to be. That's right. Right. Like I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who just want to go teach a class and count down and listen to music, and then there are people like you who are changing the way that we view movement or what movement could be, or specifically inclusive, accessible movement. You use the word low pressure. I have to write that down because that that's a huge glaring low pressure and fitness. I know, right? It's such a group pressure. Like, say more.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Yeah, I uh I I got into it, I think it extends from like why I got and got into group fitness. So growing up, I danced and the like my high school career danced competitively.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

That's not to say that I was good, but just to say that your own horn, Eliza. Like you can tell people you were the shit. It's okay. Like, we're with you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

I we we were actually pretty bad. But okay, good for good for just like general purposes. Took it seriously, you know, didn't play other sports because like dance was my life. So was really committed to the bit. And when I got to college, I went to UMass Amherst before my freshman year. I was like, I'm gonna try out for the dance team the summer before my freshman year because obviously that's what I'm gonna do. Like that's the path. So I tried out for the dance team and I didn't make it. And I kind of not kind of, I definitely panicked and thought, oh my god, what what the hell am I gonna do when I get to college? Like, how am I gonna find my friends? How am I gonna find my creative outlet? What am I gonna do? So, and I think like any kind of athlete or someone who has a long trajectory with something, it's when you kind of like cut it cold turkey, that's really awful. It's really hard. Um, so I thought, you know what? I'm going to try out again like first semester when I get there because I knew they were hosting two auditions, and the second time didn't make it either. I was like, already figure this out. So I was really determined to find some sort of movement that could replace this really big hole in my life. And I took a steparobics class and I just thought this is really fun. This is like kind of close to that community feel, and it's to the beat of the music and it's coordination, and it's so many things. This is like a very common pipeline now of like dance to fitness. Um, but at the time it was like very I didn't know people did that. I didn't know people who were in like the dance world found fitness in this way. So that's when I was like, let me find joy in group fitness. And so I started teaching my freshman year. Um, I really didn't give it much time. Like I didn't wallow and I didn't really sit there and pout about it. I was like, let's just figure out the next thing. And kick it was called kick it, literally my freshman year of college when I started teaching. Yeah. So it's it's been true to its roots in so many ways since the beginning. And uh the the low pressure was like, I just wanted to have fun. Like I just wanted to feel free to move my body and like come up with these combinations and seeing other people in my class, I was really experimenting. I had no business teaching group fitness, really. I uh say, I always think the the group fitness director at the time who hired me because, you know, she very easily could have been like, you don't, I hadn't done my general group fitness certification yet. I really didn't have any certificate to show for it, but she really gave me the opportunity to figure it out. And all of these students on this big campus, they were like my guinea pigs. And the positive, the positive uh response was just kind of reinforcement to keep like trying and figuring it out and playing with what does this format look like? And it was just so well received. I I never felt called to teach another method or like get certified in a certain method because people were really enjoying this evolution of kick it. And it's so funny. I just I just remember like the early days, I would write out every single combination and I would burn my CDs to bring to the gym to play. It was like, oh God, it feels so vintage now. But a part of a part of that moment in time was UMass opened up a brand new rec center, my second semester freshman year. So when I was starting this kind of like experiment with Kick It, the whole campus was interested in fitness because this new gym was opening. So it was really good timing. Like I a lot of that was luck with timing of what the interest on this campus was. So even though I didn't really have a clue as to what I was doing, I always wanted that low pressure feeling because dance, even though I did it competitively in the last four years of my dance career, it always did feel low pressure-ish. Um, it wasn't a team that was, it was it was a new team to this studio. So I think there was like a lot of figuring out what competition team looked like at this studio. Um, and that I'm grateful for that because it really never tainted my experience with dance. I know people who were on teams, or if like you're an athlete and you're a part of teams that are just so hardcore, you lose the love for what you're doing because it feels so intense. And so I'm grateful for that time, a part of that team, because it kept it low pressure enough for me where I still really loved it. So I wanted to bring all of that energy to my classes, and especially in a space where everyone's so concerned about the freshman 15. And, you know, your body is definitely changing at that point in time. And it's really it's a vulnerable, weird time as a woman or a young adult or a girl, however you want to classify that age group. It's just a very vulnerable time where you're figuring out who you are and your body changing and evolving, and there's just so much change in that period. Um, so yeah, that's that's been true in different chapters and different seasons, even now, keeping it low pressure for people, no matter the season of life that they're in.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Wow. I mean, why boxing of all of the things that you could have done? Why not?

SPEAKER_00 16:18

I took um a Les Mills group fitness class in my hometown when I was in high school. I took many of their like formats. The the the gym, you know, only had les mills. Like it's like body combat and pump or power or whatever. And the one that just stuck out to me the most was that I can't remember if it was called body combat, but something like that. And I just loved the format. I thought it was so fun to be punching the air. I loved it. And what's really funny is I think I might be incorrect with this, but I think at the time, it could have been like the marketing from Les Mills, or we did it in class. The instructor would actually wrap their hands with boxing wraps, even though we weren't hitting a bag. So when I got to UMass and I started teaching, I would wrap my hands and wait, it gets better. I went as far as I would sell hand wraps to students in the back closet before class started, because that's just what I thought you did. Like that's just that was just like my experience. And again, I can't remember if it was just like the marketing of that Les Mills world or if the instructor actually did it. But it was enough for me to be like, this is what we do. So we're wrapping our hands and we're doing the whole bit. And uh, you know, the older I got and the more experience I got. I'm like, why the hell were you You know?

SPEAKER_01 18:00

I applaud you for collecting your coins though, like selling wraps for no reason. Come on.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

I was really a little entrepreneur from the jump. So yeah, it was something about like the free I loved the the classes with the weights and all that too, but I think it was something about the freedom of not being tied down to weights um and being able to choreograph kind of similar to a dance routine that made it feel like it just was a nice fit. Um, but once again, I wasn't certified at anything. I was really just taking little bits and pieces of my experience and things that I loved and started to put it together. And the that the older that I got, the format has certainly evolved and it's gotten smarter. Um, but I still love the shadow boxing aspect to it. I just think it's very empowering when you can get over the fact that you're punching the air, you know, like when you have more of an intention behind the method. Um, it's just it's a fun kind of like confidence booster, let your energy out sort of format.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Yeah. Oh my gosh, I love that. I was always so curious of like where the boxing came from.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Because I was like, I don't think she's a boxer. Like I've never seen her. Has that been? I'm just gonna like segue quickly to something that might be more difficult as an entrepreneur. What about the haters? What about people saying she's not a boxer, she doesn't know what she's doing? Has there been any jabs, pun intended, around what you do, how you do it, what you've created, any of those sorts of things that you've had to overcome?

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Well, I was hardest on myself first, which is interesting. So when I graduated and I moved to Boston, I was working at the Brigham and I was just teaching wherever I could, really wherever would have me. And it wasn't until I graduated UMass 2013. It was, and I was teaching like, you know, at any kind of studio that would take me, backyards, this and that, the other thing. It wasn't until I think it was 2015, maybe 16, um, George Foreman from formerly known as the club messaged me on Facebook and said, Hey, I see you teaching this kicket class around the city. Would you come teach it at my gym? And at the time, I think like the fanciest gym I was at at the time was Equinox. So like I was I was starting to gain a little bit of street cred, you know, through like these more powerful big dogs in terms of gyms and like luxury wellness experiences. And so I felt I felt confident in what I was teaching. But when he asked me to teach at that gym, I said to him, I'm not teaching at your gym unless I'm formally trained in boxing. Because do you like you got rings in your gym?

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Like people are gonna like feel they're gonna, they're gonna know.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Like I felt fraudulent, even though at that point I had been teaching years. I was like, I if you can have someone sharpen my technique, I will teach at the gym. Because really, other than that, I was like, I'm not stepping foot in that place. Like I just feel like I feel weird. And so he trained me himself. Wow, okay. And that was like a masterclass, as you can imagine, in boxing. And I taught at the club for years, and I gained so much good experience in the ring, but also outside of the ring. And it was really not only a masterclass in boxing and technique, but learning from George was a masterclass in business because that dude is a businessman first. And he knew exactly what he was doing by bringing me into the club. He knew I had a demographic that they wanted in the gym, and that I was a low pressure segue into the club, which was intimidating to maybe that female millennial at the time. So it was a win win because for me, I was. Really learning the true fashion and the sweet science behind boxing. And he had someone who was getting in a demographic that would flourish at the club, which they did. Um, and I didn't like I was the only one doing that, but I was one of the people where I knew he was like, this girl can bring the people that we want into our space. So it was a win-win. And that's that's when I think I started thinking more about kick it as what it could be as a business. And before I get into that piece, I'll say I never knock it at this point. I was gonna say knock on wood, but it is, it is what it is at this point. I never had people doubt what I was doing. Or if they did, I didn't hear about it and fine by me because I kept going, you know, it could have like totally taken the wind out of my sails. There were a couple of competitive kind of vibes and feelings, but to me, I was always like, there is so much space in this industry. Like it like you can be at the top with a million different people. It doesn't have to be so cutthroat. So I more so experienced that versus people doubting my abilities. Um, and I part of that I think is when I moved to Boston, so many people from UMass moved to Boston. So I had a lot of people rooting me on. I don't know that I would have continued teaching if people weren't asking me, where are you gonna teach? Like it really was just kind of like the support from people that moved to the city alongside me that were like, you're gonna keep teaching, right? And I was like, I guess, I guess so. So I kind of did it out of like, people want it, so I'll do it. It wasn't really me moving into Boston and like, you know, pounding my chest like, here I am. Yeah, it was just kind of like serving up what people were asking for. So I think that approach probably had something to do with it. Um, and listen, I am sure people had things to say. But again, I'm just grateful that it never affected me or like what I was hearing wasn't so hurtful or potent that I was like, I'm gonna stop. Um and it's it kind of like it's a kind of a little bit of a nod to that phrase of like, it's nobody else's, it's it or it's not my business, like what anyone else thinks about me, sort of thing. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I'm sure people were chirping away. I just kind of like minded my own business. For you.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

I like part of the reason why I ask is because I'm now that I'm, you know, bringing myself into the Pilates world, I'm seeing like so much chirping. And people have so much to say about that. And and I think it's true for, you know, people have a lot to say about yoga and strength as well. I think that there are that there are grifters and in every aspect of of wellness and and stuff like that. But I don't think I've seen this, like, like in the strength world, it's kind of like, uh, these people are idiots. In the yoga world, it's like, please stop whitewashing our practices. But in Pilates, it's like it's intense. It's so intense. And I'm just like, what is happen like I and I get it now that I'm in it, like I understand when you spend thousands of dollars and hours being certified, which includes observation and practice, and like it is intense to be excellent at what you do in ways that other modalities are not.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

And I'm like, you're shaming people and intimidating people to sort of like remove themselves from something that's already difficult to attain.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

And so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

So it it almost became so desirable to teach the format that I think people started to question like, is this person even qualified? And like, what does like being a Pilates princess even mean? Yeah. And I think like the real ones are like, there's so much depth to this method and this training. And like it, I don't, I I hate that it almost like cast a shadow over the really well-intended instructors who were like doing the work and the investment of it all. It just it got trendy, and with that comes a lot of criticism, right? Which is so interesting. But there are like so many talented people like yourself who are so educated in the wellness and movement space to begin with, like baseline.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

And I feel like it, it's just like you gotta be able to decipher like who's doing it for the likes and who's doing it because of like the actual education and betterment of people and classes. I think that's like the cloudiness of it.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

I yeah, I fully agree. And it's it's definitely, I think, like because and and I mean, I asked you also for several reasons, but because like when something resonates with you and you want to teach it and you want to sort of pour yourself and your joy into it in order to then give it back to people, I think there's something special about that. And I think that yes, you want people to be certified, right? Like, I don't want someone, I don't know, doing a kidney transplant if they've never been to med school. Like I and it's not as cut and dry as get a certification now you're qualified to be in front of people, because sometimes that piece of paper doesn't necessarily mean that you should be leading classes in and of itself.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

Yeah, you're a hundred percent right. And I've actually found that with my training over the last several years of making it so accessible, but it actually got to the point where I was like, this is too accessible. Like I'm almost certifying people too quickly or not having enough parameters around them completing the process. And the more boundaries I set within the certification, some people got pissed. They were like, Well, what do you mean I'm not certified? Like they were like, why isn't this so easy? And it was such a good mirror for me of the way I market the certification, the way I set up the systems. Last year I did like a whole um kind of like a um not a rebrand, a refresh of the program of the certification. And in that, I made things harder because there were, yeah, there were just moments where I was like, I certified this person, they're not ready to teach. Like that's my fault. Yes, girl. Yeah, it just it was such a good reflection. I think a part of that had to do with like, I've been doing this for a decade. So things, you know, get lost in the sauce. And some of the programming or the structure, it has to evolve over time. And when I when I had experiences where I was like, this person is not ready, but they're out there teaching, I was like, I need to recalibrate because it's not a good reflection for them, of them as an instructor or for kick it, you know? So I think like, just back to the the Pilates piece of it, or like the teaching of it all, it's so much deeper than people realize. It's just so much more work and it's a vulnerable thing. Like you said, when you're doing something that's so passion filled, you want to give it back to people, it's such a vulnerable thing. So when there is that chatter, it's just like, ugh, it doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

Yeah. I I thank you for naming just like to the responsibility that it takes if you are going to teach teachers, it's a different thing than teaching just like the room clients, because everybody's coming for something different. So sometimes it's you know, sometimes people are really learning from you, and sometimes people just want to sweat and have somebody tell them what to do. And both are totally valid. Definitely. When you are teaching people who are going to go out in the world and teach your method that you created, it's also vulnerable to say, I need to recalibrate this. I need to make this more like not difficult, but for difficult sake, but because wellness is competitive, fitness is competitive, and you need to be excellent. And also our population, in a lot of ways, they're sicker, right? There's our environment, our food, our climate, all that stuff. So yeah, maybe I'm like, you know, going too deep, but I also look at it as a different responsibility now.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Absolutely. Yeah. I think like as anyone who's in any kind of leadership position, no matter what it is, you have to be willing to see the holes and the faults. You have to, or else you're just gonna sink, or else like the quality just deteriorates. And while I never want can I swear on this by the way? Have you met me?

unknown 32:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

Well, I well, I never want people talking shit about kick it. It's it's a reflection of like, well, what's going wrong? And not that people were talking shit about it, but there was internal chatter of like, I don't know if this person's ready, or like that person's class was like not so stable. So like that light shit talking was good for me to hear because you need to recalibrate 100%, 100%. And yeah, I feel like any anyone in a leadership has to just be willing to see that as a mirror for the opportunity to like evolve and and change.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

It's not easy.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

No, it's so hard. It's so hard.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Yeah, yeah. Do you have a team or are you doing all of this by yourself?

SPEAKER_00 33:08

I love this question because isn't social media so funny where like perception, it's like who's doing what? So it's just me doing majority of it all. But I really love to give credit to Leslie, who's our, I call her like the support coach. It's I don't even know if that title is fitting anymore because she's she has more than support. She's a mentor and all that. She helps me with some of admin stuff and engagement with the instructors and our members. But I'm the only one on payroll as an employee of my business. Um everybody else, it's, you know, if they're teaching here and there or less, who helps them with admin stuff. It's much lighter roles, I guess is the way to put it. Um, but when I was actually solidifying Kick It as a business in 2016-17, um, my brother, who was in business with my dad, they actually just sold their business this past year, which was like a really interesting, crazy time because it's been a family business for decades. Um he was like, Let me help you set up your business the right way. Because I had no idea what I was doing. Um, I'm a creative first and business and logistics second, maybe third. Um so he came on board and has a small amount of equity in Kick It and really acts as a sounding board and someone who advises and helps. And uh, you know, it's it's funny being, I guess, like in business with my brother. Uh he's he's 11 years older than I am, so I really do see him as like a mentor and someone who has so much more experience than than I do. And it's just nice to be able to tap on someone's, he would do this with or without equity. Like, I'll say that. But it's nice to tap on his shoulder and ask like those really hard business questions of do I register as an LLC? And then we eventually uh moved from an LLC to an S-corp and like taxes and insurance and like all of the really hard things for me that go along with running a business. So that was a really long-winded-winded way to say it's me, and then I have some bits of help here and there.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

Hmm, got you. I mean, like what is in terms of like, I guess I don't I'm I'm between the words growth and evolution, which is why I'm pausing because I'm just gonna say both. I was trying to choose one, but I'm like, no, it's it's both to me. What does it look like going forward? Or is this it? And just keep getting deeper instead of wider.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

Yeah, you nailed it. You nailed it. What I've been saying for the past couple years, honestly, when I have these conversations, is I I'm just trying to get really good at what we're doing right now. Like you literally nailed it. That was so beautiful to hear before I even said it. Deeper, not wider, deeper not wider. Um, I something that I've been thinking about also in therapy. I'm such a big advocate for therapy, by the way. Something I've been really exploring in like those sessions and over the course of the past four years, we'll call it, is there's been so much evolution with Kick It from UMass days, like 2009 when I was a freshman and figuring it out, to graduating and moving to Boston and not necessarily reinventing, but like evolving. And it's so exhausting to evolve so many times. So I think I hit a point where I found a pretty good structure to the business where I didn't feel like I need to keep like trying this or trying that or doing this or doing that. I could just like really hone in on what we were doing, which the main things are our virtual membership. That's like a main revenue driver for kick it. It's much harder post-COVID, but it's still very much alive and something I'm doubling down on this year, like reinvesting in. And the other thing are corporate partnerships. So one of the examples is we've been able to work with Omni Hotels in Boston and New York, both in-person classes and also creating virtual experiences for hotel guests as an amenity. So that's kind of like another thing. That's one of one example of many. Um, and just really doubling down on what's happening now. Um, because there is like, it's really hard to have longevity in any kind of career or industry, especially when you're a small business owner. You know, like I don't have investors. I'm, you know, I don't have all this capital that's coming in all the time from outside sources. So I just found like in the past few years, I just want to get really good at what we're doing because the evolving and trying to like one up myself over and over again, it's like, it's just not sustainable, you know?

SPEAKER_01 38:31

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

So that's where I'm at right now.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

What do you say to people who are they've like watched you uh, you know, teach it really cool things in different places, and you've been on TV, you've been on Good Morning Morga. And what do you tell people who think that you've arrived? Like you should be done, you should be rich and famous.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Virality and like these flashy things are how do I put it? I'm trying to just like provide a little like dimension because those aren't the revenue drivers in my business. Like, that's not what makes me profitable in my business. And also being a small business owner, some years are really wonderful and some years are extremely hard. It is, it is a roller coaster, you know. Nothing is ever promised. You know, you're responsible for bringing in your own revenue and figuring out, you know, what profit's gonna look like for the year. It's not a steady, uh, I was gonna say nine to five, just to kind of like for a lack of a better phrase, you know, steady paycheck. Um, so it's really hard. And those wins uh are so um far view between compared to the hardship. Like being a small business owner is harder, more it's harder more than it is like the the TV news segments or the magazines or this and that. Those are just kind of like bonus little wins that you should leverage for sure. But it's uh, it's it's a it's a really humbling journey. It really is. And I think what I try to do on social media is kind of whenever there's like a big moment like that, maybe it's on my stories that I'll do it, or maybe it is through a post. I'll try to show people the behind the scenes. Like, here are all the things that took to this moment. And also after this moment is over, it's back to work. It's like back to it. Um, and I think there's also a little bit of this obsession with going viral on social media, but it's really like, what are you gonna do after that happens? Like, how are you gonna leverage that moment? Because the moment alone is literally a moment. And then the next day people forget about it. So it's just it's like it's like less about the virality and more about like, what are you doing today so that when people find you, maybe through that viral moment, then they'll have some, you'll have something to show for it, you'll have a service to provide, you'll have the skills. Um so yeah, those things are definitely, you know, street cred, they're important, but they are not on the like highest priority list as a small business owner.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

That makes so much sense. Thank you for naming that because having something to show for the virality is the piece that I'm taking away. And in part, like I I hear that now and I take that away because when I went viral in 2020, it was so unexpected, yeah, and quite frankly, not wanted.

SPEAKER_00 41:59

And yeah, that's a good point.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

Right. And I didn't know what to do with it, and and I think I struggled for so long coming out of that because and well, in that particular case, like for DEI, it's like this is not what I want to talk about all the time. This is not totally anti-racism, it's not my whole personality, it's one piece. And then I then I started like, oh my god, does anyone want to hear anything else I have to say? Is anything valid? Can I be a whole person? Because now people followed for this one particular thing. Are they gonna unfollow because like I'm not going to be posting things that are shareable all the time? I was actually fine with like the 3,000 people who actually really loved me and cared about all of the aspects.

SPEAKER_00 42:47

That's the thing though, that's the thing too with followers. I remember being really anxious about not having enough followers and growing my following and this, that, and the other thing. And it is so different for me now. I would rather have a smaller amount of followers who are actually engaged versus like 500,000, a million followers who are random people who don't get what I'm doing. I also think like for the health of a business, that's important to clock to because kind of like these vanity metrics can be really confusing and flashy for people. But you're going to do more quality business and get more quality clients or leads or customers or however your business is set up, if you have the right people coming to you. So, like who, who cares about a million followers? Like, you know, I think about the OG um bloggers back in the day who got on Instagram, like when it very, you know, was starting and becoming really big. And I know for some of them, it's like they have a million or millions of followers, but they're engagement is so confusingly low because it's just there's a shift now in the way people use social media. And so it's I guess my point is it's so much more quality over quantity on social and it's confusing because those metrics can be really the the the millions and the hundreds of thousands of this and that can be so it's normal to crave that.

SPEAKER_01 44:28

Right. Right. I'm I'm struggling to remember where I've heard this. But when people talk about money and they're like money is just energy. Money only has its value because we've all agreed that this means this and this means that and I think of that with social media too which is we're just all in agreement that this is important. So it will continue for as long as we forget all of the energy that we're giving it because then the moment that something else becomes more important than that, we'll all move on from it.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

You know it's true. Well money too that that's like that's kind of adjacent to followers the like the money and like you know it's it's all kind of connected and that's also success like the meaning of that has really shifted for me over the years like what it means to me. And I think back in the day I was thinking like I I want to be rich monetarily and like have a lot of followers and you know I just think like my frontal lobe wasn't developed I just think I didn't have enough life experience you know and I'm sure my relationship with it will continue to evolve over time but now like truly I think of success as like having freedom in my life to yeah to do what I want when I want for the most part and I feel very fortunate that my work has a lot of purpose for me and like passion. That's also that makes me feel really rich in life. You know I see it's just kind of like the classic idea of money I'll see on social media like people flaunting like their big ass house or their really expensive cars. And like I really am happy for them if like that brings them joy. I just think my personal relationship with what being rich or successful means it's it's so different now. It's so, so different. So yeah I just hope anyone listening to this who is like stuck maybe in the comparison trap on social media like comparing your life or your followers or whatever it is um happiness can be found in a much different way. Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 46:50

There are so many ways to I think make a living feel fulfilled all of those things and and you don't learn that from social media. You cannot totally listen to your inner self if you're always looking at what other people are doing.

SPEAKER_00 47:06

And it's it's the same thing with instructors being like I need packed classes and sold-out classes because that's what I see on social media and I'm like dude I've been doing this for so long and I just taught a a class to like 10 people and it was great. You know like those those I know I guess that's a whole other rabbit hole but I guess from like a business standpoint I understand why like maybe a studio owner would want you know packed classes and sold out classes for the health of the business 100%. I think though like there's just this it's just like kind of like these smoky mirrors around hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

And it drives me crazy and there's so many factors that go into having a packed room right sometimes it's just right time right place. Like that simple you know like sometimes there's a Red Sox game and no one comes to your class and it's not because you're terrible exactly the sun is shining and people want to go have a beer and watch a game you know and you're just you're totally right you're totally right and it's really hard to not uh attach your worth and value to class size when you're constantly comparing you know metrics of sorts. Yeah and both studios I work for you get paid per person. Yeah like you know it's it's a base pay plus a plus a per person. And so you're also incentivized to have more people so it's harder to detach because I'm like well I want to make money too right but but also I'm like I don't know where these bitches are at but I'm still a good instructor absolutely is I'm still good but like where yeah yeah and I think that's why I'm like from like a the the health of a business perspective and you know like I I really get it.

SPEAKER_00 49:06

I really do. And I think like to your point it's usually not a personal thing if usually not people are not coming up.

SPEAKER_01 49:15

It's usually convenience time all of that all the things okay well I have to say and I'm gonna I'm like putting you on the spot because I'm not editing this out will you do a part two because we have a lot of things. We haven't even did some of the things we knew this would happen.

SPEAKER_00 49:38

I literally should have just blocked two hours with you honestly I mean it may be five parts I don't know it's a saga so I I would love to keep chatting about this I think it's such a fun and fresh interesting angle because you have so much depth and experience in this space that I feel like we just like connect.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

Yes yes okay so I'm going to pause here because there are like y'all we have to talk about body image and wellness for women and I want to know more about kick it and I want to know more about you and all the things haven't even gotten into like who you were as a little girl we just have so many other things we can talk about that are meaningful to me. But I still want you to plug your handles and where everybody can find you.

SPEAKER_00 50:30

Yeah everything is at kick it by Eliza I actually this week oh my gosh it's been such a fun long process but new website is coming out very soon. Yeah it's kickitbyliza.com and it it really speaks to like all of these branches of kick it that people don't know about I needed to reinvest in a website so people know about all of the things so we could totally dive into that too for the next episode it's kick it by Eliza on Instagram Facebook website all that love it.

SPEAKER_01 51:04

Eliza thank you so much for an incredible part one I'm part two yes I'm so grateful and so excited that we just get to keep going we both had a feeling this would happen and it's happening.

SPEAKER_00 51:20

So thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 51:22

Yeah of course all right everybody listen to this first one follow Eliza follow kick it and also don't just be a lurker be a community member if you've learned nothing from this episode and we will catch you in part two