From Real Estate To Health Tech

Transcript

From Hospitality To Real Estate

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back everyone. I'm Anthony Emin, and today we have another great episode for all of you today. So without further ado, let's walk into the show, Brian Jonas. Brian, it's a pleasure to have you on.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Thank you. Pleasure to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

I'm excited to do this, talk a little more about someone else who was sick in the head and went from real estate into the health and fitness world.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

So take us back a little. I know we were talking a little pre-show. You went to school for hospitality management.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

I did.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

And then stumbled into the real estate developing world. And then stumbled into owning a Dexafit and now Prefusion Health.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

So take us back. Origin story. So I um so when I was in uh undergrad, I went to a school for hospitality, a hotel school at uh Cornell. It was um at the time, I thought I wanted to go into the service industry. What was big graduating from college was finance, specifically real estate. It was taking off like wildfire. You had um, I don't know if you remember the concepts, but there were things called condo hotels that I was really into, the concept of building a building that contained both condos and hotels. That was a really popular um uh real estate product that I gravitated towards, and I worked for developers that were building these products. I worked in the city for several years.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

As an employee in the city?

The 2008 Crash And Layoffs

SPEAKER_00 1:15

As an employee, yeah. I was I was I was just went in went all into real estate finance. Um I was always into health and fitness. My my both my parents were in the health field, and I grew up very like health focused. I played soccer all my life throughout college, and so I was always into health and fitness, but I, you know, went into finance as everybody did almost that I graduated with in college. And so I was in the finance world for probably four, two or three years actually, post-graduation, and uh the real estate boom uh was taking place until it burst. Um it was nuts being in the city working in finance and just seeing this like you're like, what the fuck just happened? Like you're you're learning about these CMBS loans blowing up and the financial crisis, banks you know, unable to support, you know, um, support themselves and needing bailouts. So obviously, like any low-level employee, adios. So, first development job I had, they walk us into the conference room, bunch of like you know, associates, and they're like, we're letting you all go. I was like, what? Getting laid off? Like, what the hell?

SPEAKER_01 2:28

How many people at once were laid off?

Small Deals And Scrappy Leasing

Why Open A CrossFit Gym

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Well, it was a it was a small development company. There was probably 10 of us in the room, boom, out. Did you have any sign walking into that meeting that you were being laid off? I so the company I worked for, they were they were like defaulting on some of their um construction loans. They were they were defaulting, and so the writing was on the wall. You knew they were over-levered, they were on big projects. You kind of saw the writing on the wall, but you were so young, you were just like, you know, you were just working your ass off and and doing the job. And when shit started to hit the fan, I think Lehman was first, from what I remember. And once like that shit happened, you know, they knew they were in trouble, and that's when they let everybody go. That was like the first, you know, move of like essentially liquidating all their assets or defaulting on all their assets, and the company doesn't even exist anymore. So at that point, I I pivoted for a while, um, stayed in the real estate industry, stuck it out till about 20, like 2014, 2015. I worked for various developers, similar roles, kind of um, you know, helping on development of projects and things like that. In 2015, I just kind of like, it was like, I'm so tired of this grind. Let me see if I could start buying some small assets on Long Island. I was, you know, the real estate was still affordable for like um, you know, in that like, you know, small redevelopment kind of um opportunity. So I left. Um, I bought a uh REO, which is like a bank-owned building. How did you get the finances to buy that foreclosure? Yeah, so I I had a partner who uh some of the capital was my capital, some of it was theirs. Um and uh we bought this REO pretty cheap. It was a real REO. It had a lot of issues that we ran into once we bought it. Um, we ended up um getting a construction loan to do some of the um redevelopment, and then we refinanced it once we tenanted it. Took me a while to tenant it. I literally went around like a broker to every office in the area with a card saying, hey, we have this new building. I got lucky and found a uh uh tenant who was willing to do a lot of the build out. I got really lucky. I got really lucky on that project. Um, so we ended up kind of coming out of that alive. I parlayed that into buying another small asset that was like a real estate strip center. And at that point, like any equity I had was tied up. I was pretty much tapped and I was bored and I needed something to do. So I uh ended up going and getting into the fitness world. Um, I owned uh a CrossFit gym for a while. Where about in Syaset.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Um and why CrossFit first? So in my days of training, I never really could, I because I played soccer, I was always very competitive. And I never really could see myself like just going to the gym and lifting. You know, I always was like, I I could lift, but I need something that's gonna like that, I need a goal. Yeah. And when I started doing CrossFit, it was like, oh, I could train my ass off like I used to do for soccer and still see physical change. And seeing the change, I was like, I drank the Kool-Aid basically. I was like, this is the greatest thing in the world. I'm seeing change. How do I transfer this to other people so they could also see the benefits I saw? Yeah. I always felt like if I if I got the benefit of something, I want to give it to everybody else. Um, but I didn't realize how much work it would take.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Did you start that crossover from scratch or did you buy out an existing one? Scratch. Scratch. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

I'm like an insane person, basically. I I don't predict the pain that lies ahead. I just think the end result without thinking of the amount of pain that's gonna come to get there. We're in the same boat. You're fine. Yeah. I like, I I sometimes I say to myself, how did I become this person that doesn't look ahead and just like does? You know, not realizing I even to the point where I was like, I remember the day I opened the gym. I was like, wait, I gotta open at 6 a.m. and I gotta stay till 9 p.m. and I gotta mop the floors. Like, fuck, I forgot all this shit, you know. So it was a little insanity of like just thinking, like, I you know what, I'll open it, I'll run it, I'll make it successful, and then other people will run it, and I'll be able to just collect income. That was like the business model, right? It wasn't like super intricate. It was just like build enough, get enough people, build a good brand, other people can run it. I didn't realize how fucking hard the service business is when you're an owner and an operator to get to that point where you could potentially have other people.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

What's the biggest lesson you learned from the CrossFit gym days?

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Um, honestly, like calculate your risk better.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Can you explain that a little more?

The Grind Of Service Businesses

SPEAKER_00 7:29

You have to know, like, you have to know the business model you're buying into. CrossFit. I didn't realize that CrossFit really did have a peak in a valley, you know, and the peak was probably by the time I bought into the product, which was in 2016, 2017. Like that was probably the peak, maybe even the plateau, right? It started to kind of come down after that. I think I I was in on the peak, so it was a super saturated market. I was told myself, you know, just if you deliver a better product, if you really talk about form and technique and you have good equipment and you're personable, you know, you'll you'll stand out amongst the crowd. But it's pretty fucking crowded of CrossFit owners. So, you know, I I opened, I thought I had a pretty good product. I um I pretty much like was phasing out of real estate at that point because I didn't realize that the gym literally like sucked me in, like in terms of the amount of energy it took. Because I I I just when I get into something, I'm like this. You know, I just like I'll just focus on like I gotta make it successful. So I I really worked my ass off on that. I ended up bringing a partner on in 2019, which was one of the best decisions I made. He was, you know, he he he balanced a lot of the the needs I had to make the gym successful. It honestly was successful, and then COVID hit. You know, we were we were like hitting a nice stride, COVID hit. When COVID hit, a lot of my you know, outlook changed. Obviously, the business of of CrossFit became a lot harder. Um members left. The members we kept were great, but they you know, they weren't enough. And in 2021, 2022, I myself found my found I was moving away from CrossFit and getting more into strength training and less, you know, taxing on the body. And I remember I was at I signed up for my own membership at Equinox Gym, and I was looking on the camera at my CrossFit gym and I'm like, what the fuck am I doing? I'm training at another gym, and I own something that I really believed in, and here I am. You know, it was like a very contradictive moment for me in that I was like, what am I how you know, this this gym needs me to be successful, and I'm here. I don't think this is really what I want to do anymore. And I really started to lose my you know passion for it.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Were you making enough income off the gym? Because I don't know if you know the stats off the gym industry.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Are you familiar with the general? I'm familiar with my stats, and they were rough.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Well, here's some generalization stats for fitness industry. We talked a little pre-show, it's one of the hardest industries to do. 82% of gyms go out in the first year, 95% go out in the first five years. Average income of a gym owner is$40,000 a year.

COVID Hits And Priorities Shift

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Yeah, yeah. I mean, and I didn't get into it for that. I got into it as passive, passive income. So now it's not passive income. I'm putting money in or I'm breaking even if I'm lucky. And it was just like, I this just doesn't fucking make sense. I don't know at what point I'm actually gonna be above water and not feel the stress of like a coach calling me, I'm not gonna make it in today, or a member complaining about this, or you know, being squeezed financially, um, and having to kind of keep putting energy into it to make it to what I was hoping it would be. So yeah, it was it was it was really hard. That's why I have so much respect for what you've created, you know, and that you're expanding. I'm like, wow, this this guy figured out what you know I had trouble doing is like scaling and making it profitable and making it make sense as a business owner. As an operator, if I wanted to really sink my teeth into it, be there, you know, you know, 10, 12 hours a day, do all the programming, deal with all the shit, create more value through, you know, different, you know, methodologies I could bring in there, personal training, um, you know, nutrition, um, subleasing some of the space, like really work it. I could, but it's uh it would be a lot of work for who knows what. That's kind of how I was looking at it. Like, is this is the juice worth of the squeeze?

SPEAKER_01 11:45

You know I mean you look at the industry as a whole, and this is what people always explain. If I own most businesses, they run a nine to five Monday to Friday. So, worst case, I'm working 40, 50 hours a week running my business. The gym world's seven days a week, 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. most days, and it's just dollar per hour, you make nothing.

Money Reality And Industry Stats

SPEAKER_00 12:04

You know what it is? I I maybe it's my own fault. I'm very like, I get very controlling about what I what the product is. I would literally program every every day, every class, I would program. So I would sit on Sunday when you finally could maybe rest, and I'd have my laptop on my lap with my maybe my my daughter my daughter was born in in 2018. So that was you know, that created a whole new complexity to my life is having kids and running this business. But you know, I'm sitting there with my laptop and I'm like changing the programming 30 million times. Like if you mentioned programming in my house, I think my wife will like run into the room, close the door, and and have like PTSD from like the amount of programming I would sit and just labor over. Yeah. Um, and then you go in and someone would be like, you you you walk them through the workout and you're like, You like the workout? And then someone would be like, Yeah, there's a lot of wall balls and cleans, man, you know, like my arms hurt, or like my shoulder hurts, and you're like, fuck. You're like, no, it's you're just you're you just gotta get over it, you know. You take it personally. So, you know, it was it was a challenging business, you know, and and I I learned a lot from it. I think some of the decisions I make today maybe are influenced by a lot of mistakes I made in that world. Um, but truth be told, like the journey continues of learning and evolving in the business I'm in now.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

You you mentioned mistakes a lot going through it. Is there anything in particular that stands out? It's just for advice for people listening, like, hey, don't do this.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Um like I said, I think I think when it comes to the service business and being an entrepreneur of a service-oriented company, I think you have to know the amount of you have to be willing to understand that it's seven days a week, 24-7. Like it is. You wake up, the first emails you see could be problems, could be good things, could be bad things. You have to know that you're submerging yourself in something that is literally around the clock. Like, yes, you can mentally check out, and that's a really good thing as an entrepreneur to be able to check out, but it's a struggle. You know, you're you you it takes a lot of like mental fortitude to be like, all right, I'm gonna be present in whatever I'm doing that has nothing to do with my business. Because your business is your life. So I think separating yourself in a like you're going out to dinner with friends. I would go out to dinner with friends, like I probably wasn't present. I was thinking about Sunday, you know, who's opening the gym? Are they gonna be on time? Is the workout up? You know, bullshit, you know, that you just can't separate yourself from.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

How did that affect your personal life? Um with your wife and your you'd say you had a daughter at that point?

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Yeah, I think, you know, I I'm lucky. I have a really supportive wife. Um, you know, I'm I I try to be there for as much of my kids as I possibly can. Um you know, I I think personally, I did I have like family dynamics that are really challenging. I have a kid with special needs. So I think that has it was a big shift for me with CrossFit. Is like I had to be even more present with that journey. Um so may I never thought of that leaving CrossFit as that a contributing factor. Like I have to be, you know, I can't be in a 24-7 job. That's I have to be there. I never thought of that as, but maybe it was part of my, you know, phase out of that. It was like knowing I have different dynamics that I have to deal with now family-wise.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

And what about the income coming in? Because you said at that point you liquidated all your real estate, and I I mean you said you were feeding money into it.

Burnout, Family, And Boundaries

SPEAKER_00 15:41

Yeah, I have debt. I have debt right now, you know. I have I have loans, I I'm working through them methodically in terms of building my business now, but I am definitely an entrepreneur through and through that like, you know, is uh dealing with the ups and downs, you know, shortfalls and surpluses. You know, some days I some some months are really good, some months are lean, you know, and that's you know, that's that's a challenge. You know, I I have you know some financial support that I've leaned into early on in the in my days with family, but it's it's hard. Yeah, it's definitely hard as an entrepreneur. You have to know, you have to be able to know you're gonna punch through at some point.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

And then you ended up ultimately closing the crossway gym in 21?

SPEAKER_00 16:23

I I I closed it. I someone bought it. Um, I was gonna close it, and they kind of came in. I was gonna totally liquidate it, and they were like, you know, members love this place. You know, um, I didn't look to sell it. I was just gonna shut the doors, and a member, um, a member came came over to me and she was like, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna buy the equipment, I'm gonna take over the lease. I was like, okay, let me help you do that, you know, and there was there were some challenges to that. Like uh, I think another, I think, you know, at the time another gym was trying to steal the members. Um, and so, you know, luckily she was really well liked, and people believed in her ability to keep it going, and so you know, I really facilitated that process. Um, and she took it over. The name lives on. It actually changed hands a third time, and I think it's doing really well.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

What's the name of it?

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Peak 180. Peak 180, all right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's all. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

So your your struggle at that point, she bought out the equipment for you're still barely holding water. Then you go, and that's the point you went and bought DEXA?

SPEAKER_00 17:32

Well, I had Dexa. So I had DEXA, I opened DEXA in 2018.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Okay.

Handing Off The Gym

Building DexaFit Lean

Beyond Testing: Prefusion Health

SPEAKER_00 17:37

So in 201, when I owned the gym, I I basically wanted a way to measure people's body composition. I was like, there needs to be, I didn't want to do calipers. I did calipers in college. When we came back from off-season, they would measure us with calipers and they'd, you know, they test our body fat to see if we weren't fucking up in off-season. Um, we come back and I'm like, this, this, so this doesn't seem this is invasive. I'm not gonna bring people into my office and do skinfold. Um, I knew there was hydrostatic weighing, I knew there was impedance, I was looking for a better technology. And I found DEXA and I said, you know what, let me bring this to New York. There's nothing like this. I'll open it nearby. I rented space maybe five minutes away from the gym. I was like, I could run it part-time, supplemental income while I deal with this beast of a CrossFit gym. And um, I opened it in 2018 and ran it really bare bones. Like I had one tech in there, one front desk person, and just um, you know, doctor uh like a doctor delivering some of the reports and like some you know exercise background people doing the reports, and I was happy making you know decent, decent money with it. That became profitable right away? Yeah, because I was it was lean. Like it was it was it was scaled appropriately. You know, the the the overhead was not like you know, not like CrossFit or even my business today. It was it was completely different. Um, so it was it was profitable, it was putting money in my pocket. Um, but you know, as an owner, and I'm sure you can relate, like we always look bigger. You know, I always I never once once I phased out of the CrossFit business and really put all my eggs into this business, I was looking to what I can make it beyond the scope of just testing. So when I when COVID hit, prior to COVID, I always said to myself, these people are gonna get this piece of paper that's gonna tell them their metrics, their body fat, their visceral fat, their bone density. And I see them in the parking lot and they're just like looking at it. And I'm like, I they don't know what the fuck to do with it. Like they need to come to a place like this and have someone tell them how to build muscle. But they're just looking at it, being like, I don't know if it's gonna, they're gonna look at it, they're gonna look at it, and then it's gonna sit on somewhere in a stack of papers, and they're never gonna change their lives, they're never gonna change their their health, right? Their their numbers. So I was always like, I wish I had something I could help them with, you know? And so coming out of COVID, there was a dietitian that I worked closely with prior. She was feeding me, you know, a decent amount of clients. She believed in the the metrics, which is really cool. When when businesses, owners, trainers, dietitians believe they want to throw somebody on a DEXA scan and use that data, they're very confident in their product. That's always been my perspective. So dietitians sending me business, she's obviously confident what she's doing, that she's willing to put somebody on the world's most accurate way of measuring body comp. So I contacted her coming out of COVID, and I was like, what if we created like a product that was nutrition, you know, DEXA, bookended, so beginning end, and your service is in between. And so that led to, you know, eventually what is now Prefusion Health. That was like the starting of Prefusion Health, which is taking the DEXA beyond the DEXA and utilizing the data to provide some service, in this case, nutrition. So DEXA really started in 2018 after I closed the gym, or as I knew I was closing the gym, I started to really push into DEXA and Prefusion Health. I opened that, I opened Prefusion Health while I still own the gym. And I said to myself, I think this is a better use of my focus. I'm gonna really, this is where I'm gonna be. And that was also part of the journey of phasing out of the gym, is knowing that I was gonna go, you know, hard into developing Dexafit and Prefusion Health.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

How was your mental shift from the moment you decided alright, I'm done with the CrossFit, I'm moving full into this? Did you feel a shift inside of yourself at all?

Operator To Builder: Mindset Change

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Um I felt a lot of relief because of how much I struggled with knowing that CrossFit was you know. I I don't want to say not successful, but like was a struggle for me. I think it was nice to, you know, relieve myself of like the the the mental load that it brought upon me. I think the shift was different because you're going from like, you know, providing fitness service and coaching. I coached a lot of classes to now having to build like a service business that isn't, you're not coaching people. You're you have to build a business that is based on, you know, a service that's not fitness, but more testing. You have to bring staff in to interpret the testing, and you have to build a service that goes beyond the testing that is also gonna get results. So, you know, we're we're you know, because we're in health, we're in a results-oriented business. So we're, you know, with with like real estate, it was a little bit more calculated. It's like build up build a building with space, make sure it's in a good market, make sure it has good parking, and you know, find the tenant and then work the economics out in the lease to make an eventual profit. And you could play a long game with that because eventually you're gonna make money. You know, eventually rents are gonna go up, eventually the space is gonna fill. They don't go up that much on Long Island, but they go up. And it's so it's a little bit more, you know, there's a the it seems like the risk profile is a little easier to control, just the equity is much higher, the investment is much higher.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

I think that's what most people get wrong in health and fitness.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Yeah, well, yes, I get it, I can attest to that.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Uh being personal, somebody who knew absolutely nothing about getting involved in the health and fitness world before he jumped into it, kind of like you just I want to help people. That's what we all do. That's the mistake.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

And then we get to a point where one of two things happens. We burn out, yes, right, because it's super taxing on us, or we go, oh fuck, this doesn't work. I need to think differently.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Yeah. So I would say, like, this the most successful people probably in the fitness industry go into it as a business owner. You're probably you're right. I mean, it is a big because you have to treat it like a business, and you can't treat it like a personal asset because it needs to be treated like a business.

Treat Fitness Like A Business

SPEAKER_01 24:07

And then you have to look at it from the lens where, you know, what's actually better for my clients? Me being burned out and not making any money and constantly worrying about stressing and being able to limit the capacity of people I can work with? Or am I better off trying to take a business, turn a profit, hire more people, hire more services, offer a better experience for people in the long run, and then expand and then ultimately help more and more people as we get more locations. So it's really, I guess the only harder metric that's out of real estate is just there's just more of them. You're you're looking at more metrics at a really finite level. And once you get a really good understanding of those metrics, it's a lot easier to just say, okay, I know we need to focus on this lever, this lever, and this level. Right, right. And get out of the, or at least learn how to balance, like take it from the head.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

Get out of the what you essentially don't see, right? It's like you so I guess in in essence, you've created transparency with your business model. You're not just like how many people are here, how many people are training, you're looking at the nitty-gritty and then putting your your energy into those things. So it's more specific energy.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Exactly. Yeah. I've like one lever is pricing. I can look at what I'm charging somebody. I need to make money. If I don't make money, we don't exist. And my employees don't have jobs, my clients can't come. So I'm gonna burn out, I'm gonna sell the business or leave. So I need to make money in order to be healthy, and I need to make enough to make sure I can support my family. That's right. Right? People don't see that side. You had a wife and a special needs daughter, like you need to make enough to support them. Yeah, they rely on you. So understanding, like, hey, I need to do something to get there is a big mental shift. And that was the same for me, is having my son was oh shit. Like, I don't, uh it's no longer about helping people like we need to make money. Right. I need to support my family so I can help people more. Right, yeah. So I have the capacity of helping more people.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

Yeah.

Metrics, Pricing, And Levers

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Like a lot of stuff that kind of resonates in the business world, and I think this is super interesting because there's two sides of this. Is when you get to a certain point, you hear the analogies, and I hate sometimes I hate these, but you're one you're maybe tomorrow was the day you would have made it. Like at that point, was it worth waiting an extra day or an extra week? So do you regret leaving and selling it because maybe you were a couple days out from doing it, or was that ultimately the right decision for you and your family at the time? And then take it a step further. How does somebody know when they're at that point? Because I've been there when I'm like, I'm done.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

So, like, how do you know, like, okay, now no, today's the day I need to stop?

Knowing When To Quit

SPEAKER_00 26:50

Yeah. Um, I think, well, I think my passion was drained. I think that that was a red flag for me. Like, I felt like I could never reinsert myself in the way I was in my first, like, you know, 2016, 2017, 2018, like I was there. It was like round the clock. I think once COVID hit and I dealt with all the shit during COVID of like trying to survive, coming out of it, having to wear masks right away for like an extended period of time, being like, how the fuck are you gonna do a CrossFit with a mask on? And and and then just like their CrossFit drama that I'm not that that I'm too old for at that point. Um, I think I I just was like, this this isn't for me anymore, you know. I think that as an entrepreneur and having worked for bosses and worked in a in a in tough environments, you know, work-wise in terms of demand and hours, I always wake up every day. Any day I have a massive challenge and I'm like, this fucking sucks. I always remind myself I never want to go back and work for someone else. Like this is this is what I want to do. So fucking do it. Cause you don't want to go backwards. Like, I like something I keep in my head is like, do you ever want to go back? No, you fucking don't. So figure it out, you know. Um, I think that you know that that's what I remind myself of instead of being like, this is really hard. Like, yeah, it's hard, but I'd rather this kind of hard than any other kind of hard, you know, because at least I control my own destiny. So I think leaving the gym knowing I was still on that path of entrepreneurship, it nothing changed. It just the business model changed and the service model changed and the business itself changed, but I'm still the entrepreneur that I was before. It's still the same challenges, still the same mental challenge, still the same financial challenge. Um, it's no different, it's just different business and hopefully more upside. That's why I left.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

You know, well, right. I think the second biggest takeaway off that question for people when they get to the point of ending is when you go into your second business or your third business, the level you achieved at your first one is so much easier to get to the second time around. And then again, the next level is even easier. It's like you that knowledge and that time span it took you, that ignorance tax that you paid for the first business and the second business is paid already. So I can open up a new business and get two million bucks way quicker than it took me the first time around.

Lessons On Hiring And Firing

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Yeah, I think it's like reminding you, like when you have a decision to make, it's maybe leaning into, you know, did I have a similar decision and did I make the right decision in the past? So, you know, like one of the things that, you know, I struggle with a lot when I own the CrossFit Gym was employees. Like I'd be like, this fucking employee, like I can't keep this employee. How do I, you know, they don't show up for work, they're late for work, they don't run good classes, they're not personable, they're not doing sales. What's the value? And I would struggle and struggle and struggle because I never wanted to let somebody go. You know, that's a hard thing to do because it when you let someone go, you're like, number one, you have to fill the spot, and most of the time you're the one that's gonna do it. So now you have to take yourself out of building the business and reinsert yourself in operations. So I think, you know, one lesson for me was like, you know, I had to deal with it recently, like employees. Like, you gotta sometimes just know like these small businesses, there's employee turnover, and you just make you gotta make decisions as an owner because you have to have your business be successful and it's successful with its employees. So I learned a lot, you know, from that CrossFit model that I do bring into this one. Maybe that's just one example of many, but yeah, I guess your your failures do provide a lot of value for future endeavors.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Yeah, I guess that's the final question to kind of wrap this up. We didn't get to talk about the other stuff I wanted to, but that'll I guess next time. Yeah. What's the what's the future hold and what's something that you're the most excited for going forward in the next five, 10 years?

The Future: Data, VO2, And AI

SPEAKER_00 30:51

Yeah, I mean, I you know, the business I'm building now is is is very much aligned with the push you see in the health world. You know, there's everybody wants longevity, everybody wants to feel the best version of themselves. So I'm very invested in like leveraging this data to help you, you know, achieve that result. I think, you know, the the thing I love most about what I do is seeing real data. You know, that was like, you know, seeing real data produced via the VO2 Max, blood work, DEXA, whatever it is, it's like you see it, you see their baseline and you see their next result, and then you ask them, what'd you do? And you're getting so much information, so much real information about how they changed their physiology, how they improve their lab work, how do they feel? And so you're seeing a lot of different things to get them to that point. So it's like it's a it's amazing to see that. I'm I'm privileged to be in the situation where I'm getting real data and kind of farming it. So for me, the next phase is like taking this data and getting into leveraging AI to give people, you know, these results through AI that we kind of feed with what we've learned through DEXA and blood work and things like that. So I think this world, as you know, with the aura ring and and all this, all the analytics that we now have, like it could be detrimental, but it could also be beneficial. So I want to help people make it make it usable versus overwhelming. You know, I don't want you to be like, I gotta do this, I gotta do that, I gotta do that. All right, here's what I've seen be successful. It hasn't been like pulling on 30 different levers at once, like a business owner would, right? It's like, let's keep it simple. This is what's gonna get you in you know better in the next 90 days, and then you know, so you know, I think, I think um, you know, that's my focus right now is is knowing where I'm at and seeing how I could give it to people in a in a in a way that makes it effective, knowing that we've seen a lot of people be effective with uh baseline testing and retesting.

Keep It Simple And Retest

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Brian, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you guys for watching this week's episode of the Anthony Aimon show. Please don't forget like, subscribe, share. It's how we grow, how we get more amazing guests on, and see you next time.