Leaving corporate America behind to become a fitness entrepreneur, Katie Daniel has never been afraid to take on a challenge. Her studio, Ambition Fitness, focuses specifically on strength training for women. In this episode, Katie talks about creating the perfect member journey that has made her franchise ready in less than 12 months.
Transcript
Kevin:How’s it going everyone? Welcome to The Fitness Founders Podcast. I’m Kevin Mannion, VP Marketing here at Glofox. This week we talk to Katie Daniel founder of Ambition Fitness, a group strength training studio for women in Louisville, Kentucky. Katie has made the journey from corporate America to fitness entrepreneurship. She talks about how she has created the perfect member journey that has helped her grow a franchise ready studio in less than twelve months. Let’s get started.
Hey, Katie, welcome to the podcast.
Katie:Hi Kevin, thanks for having me.
Kevin:Well, yes, thank you for coming and I really appreciate you making the time to chat to us. So Katie, you’ve got a fitness studio, one about to be more than one fitness studios, Ambition Fitness in Louisville, Kentucky. We spoke a little bit before we started recording, and today, we lead this two journey that we are interested in. One is your journey from corporate America to becoming a fitness entrepreneur and the other is the journey you create for your members from when they hear about you first to being lifelong members. So before we dive into that, maybe just give us a little bit of background about you and your business in Kentucky.
Katie:Yeah, sure. So, I opened the studio just over a year ago, December 1st 2018, so we just celebrated our one-year anniversary. And before that I was mainly in medical sales for 5-6 years of my most recent career, so I’ve always had a very competitive personality kind of like seeking that adrenaline rush, that chase, and so sales was a really good fit for me. Also, over in Ireland I’m sure that you heard that we over in America have ridiculous tuition, and I have high student loans and I was looking for something that financially would help me with my loans and my personal life, and medical sales was a great route to do that. And it is very competitive but if you do well it can be very profitable, so I ended that for 5-6 years. And I really enjoyed it although definitely it was a constant challenge but after a while because there is potential in the medical world not only for individuals to do well as medical sales reps but also companies who do that as well and so the field became very, very saturated with more reps, more products. I worked for a stem cell company and I had a pretty prestigious product that we would treat patients, and surgery, and wounds and what not. Now I’m going to the medical side of it but it started off very exciting and the more that the field just became more saturated I just had lost the drive for that chase.
So the way that Ambition happened from transitioning from medical sales to the studio is that I did not grow up an athlete and I think that I am very much my own target audience because as a woman we have been told our entire lives that we have to do a ton of cardio, and we have to eat lettuce, and we have to be skinny, and that’s how we find body confidence and body positivity. And really they might get you there but it’s not sustainable, it’s not easy and if you. You know, no one has told you how to achieve your fitness or physique goals up until recently with the fitness industry really taking off the past I’ve say 10-15 years. So I had never found something as a woman that I felt good doing. I did some running but I am not naturally a good runner and it was hard for me to get into and that I can never sustain it, that never really gave me body confidence. So I thought myself how to do weights probably about 5 years ago when I was in medical sales and I would just hit the gym right afterwards every day. And weights not only, I mean I think that we had mentioned it a few weeks ago, but men have known forever how great weights are. I mean, not only does it gives you body confidence, and gives you a physique but also it’s such a great tool to melt fast, and to get your metabolism going, and to make your body goals more sustainable long term but women have, you know, a lot of them don’t have introduction to it and it makes them intimidated. And I think more and more women are learning, and are more aware now that weights will not make us bulky so I fell in love with weights and it is really the only thing that I found that I could stick with that gave me the results that I was looking for and that also it allows you to track your progress. You know, as you grow heavier, you are setting goals for yourself, you are doing different moves, so for me it was the trifecta of everything I was looking for and as I was getting burned out with medical sales, you know, all of my friends would be like, “Hey, can you train me on this? Can you show me what to do?” And I would have my friends work out with me and I just started thinking like two years ago I was like there’s really no group fitness for women that I know of that has really taken off in like a big way besides crossfit and a lot of women are intimidated by crossfit. So I looked at the fitness studio industry, and of course, there is going to be studios that focus on weights. We are not unique in that aspect because specifically weights for women, to do it in a way that’s not intimidating for them to design an aesthetic studio where it is something that they want to go to, that they think it is pretty and pleasing, and it’s aesthetic and it doesn’t even look like the traditional weight room that they want to go to. And then also the main thing that I think of with weights as like group fitness is I think of boot camps, and those are very common. But for me with being a personal trainer I didn’t want to do a different workout every day. I wanted to see progressive overload. When you do a different workout every day it really increases your risk for injury and if you are not training specific body parts and whatnot. Our studio we rate monthly program so the schedule stays the same for the week whether they want to take a lower body class or an upper full body but they know once they take that class that month that those are the moves that they are going to be working on for the next four weeks.
So that was our niche and I hadn’t found something that offered that. Yeah, so that’s how Ambition became to be. We went for it and I’m grateful to say that we’ve had a really good first year.
Kevin:Yeah, awesome. And obviously you may be felt burned out in the corporate job. What was the trigger that maybe gave you the confidence to just go for it?
Katie:That’s a good question. To be honest I think, I could not stop thinking about the studio and I knew that I had field skills and I knew that I could sell it. My main inhibitor was, okay how do I make this idea a tangible reality. Like what are the next steps from the like taking it from the idea and then what do I do then, what are the very first like breadcrumbs that I start to follow along this trail. So one of my good friend actually owned the Anytime Fitness franchise that I was always going to, and I was like, “Hey, I want to sit down with you”, and like what does this entail? And at that point I wasn’t even thinking franchise wise. I was thinking of like the ground efforts of opening a business, of having a brick and mortar. And so we met on a Friday morning, and there’ somethings that happened along this journey that I was like, okay it’s too crazy the timing of everything that like it’s meant. So we met on a Friday morning to talk about this and she had said, “Hey, you need to look into an SBA loan.” And at that point I had heard that term but I didn’t really know what it was, and I really jumped on Google and I typed in SBA loan, and the Small Business Administration of Louisville had popped up. It was their ad and their SEO and they popped up and they the very next day on Saturday and the following weekend, two Saturdays in a row, they had a Business Plan 101 writing workshop. And I was like, oh my god, I got to get into that, like that’s tomorrow, and so I reached out to them. I was like, oh my god, are you still seeking registrants? I would love to get in on this. And they were able to get me in and the very next day is when the whole process just totally started rolling out. So I think I just got tired thinking about it for two years and finally I was like, “Okay, I’m sick and tired of hearing myself say, I’m sick and tired of not doing it.” So really just that workshop gave me the first structure of how to make an idea into something real.
Kevin:Got it, got it. Okay. Like obviously looking at your website now does look like you got a pretty cool setup. You know, so how long was it from that first business plan session until you were fully up and running, had the gear, and were ready to go.
Katie:It was really quick. And it is funny that you ask like that question is for the timeline because the past few weeks have actually started going back and thinking of a different milestones that have happened in the past year and a half of like when I met with my friend and when that workshop happened and then when we approached to a lender, and then when we started looking at spaces. And so it’s been cool to see how that transitioned, I would say I think that that meeting was I want to say early May or mid-May of 2018 and we opened that December. So overall I had the idea for probably a year and a half, two years, but the execution of it took about 6-7 months.
Kevin:Right, okay. I suppose it’s a bit of time but it is pretty fast going. You obviously have to really commit once you’ve made the decision.
Katie:Yeah, so I held on to my job as long as I could and then it just got to a point where, and you know, everyone tells you don’t put your day job and there was no way for me to do both. I had to resign. I had to give my notice, and it definitely… I mean you are working constantly. It’s not even like a 100-hour week job. It is just pure constant all the times. There was no room for anything else.
So we started our build out… what is really interesting when I think of like the end of the process when things, when the wheels really started spinning is that we started our build out, let’s see, I think right at the beginning of October and we opened December 1st. So our build out for the very first time that we started knocking down walls and putting down flooring and equipments started delivering that was a 2-month process which was insanely quick and so stressful. I never want to do that again. But we literally, the December 1st was like our big open house and that week we were in that studio until 2-3 in the morning every single night setting stuff up. So, it happened quickly.
Kevin: Okay. That is I think a good flavor for your top process behind getting started. What we might do is just jump forward a little bit now and talk about obviously you’ve learned some things along the way. But one thing that’s I think striking about your business is it seems to be really ran well from a business perspective. You know, it is more than just a passion project. So what I’d really like to do is maybe walkthrough what a user journey is for one of your customers from when they may be walked past the studio or read an ad about your guys to then becoming a long term member. Let’s break down those steps and maybe you could tell me how you bring people to that process.
Katie:Yeah, sure, so from the very beginning of how I reached my target audience is the first thing that I think of and I feel like I’m in the fortunate position that I am my target audience that I know where to reach myself. I know where I’m at on my phone. I know what I’m looking for. I know what is aesthetics to complete it, I know which type of ads and messages that I would want to click on because I am a young adult female that wants to do weights and I want it to do in a group fitness setting and I want something different that other studios haven’t appealed to me personally with. So the first thing that I think of is where I am going to find my consumer. Like where I am going to find myself and for me that is 100% social media. So we have never put out a Google ad. It is all social media presence and now that we are on social media content creation is huge. Instagram has developed so much that you cannot put out subpar quality images. You can’t put out hard messages or like blurry videos. It’s just the consumer has learned to expect more so you have to get professional photography. You have to be direct. You have to be confident. I mean like you have to get their attention, so not only does that take professional quality content and imagery but the beauty. And also the tough aspect of Instagram is the you can put out as much content as you can and as you want, and if you don’t put out constant content… It is like a reality television show. I mean, someone else is going to be having content out there that all set. You know if you are not staying in front of your consumer they are going to move unto something else very quickly. So it’s great that we can connect with our audience that way and that often but if you don’t stay up with it then it can eat you live as well.
Kevin:Do you find that there is in your area enough women out there who are already sold on weight training or do you find some of your content has to be around educating them of the benefits of weight training.
Katie:You know, that’s a great question. It’s always a good reminder for me and social media is so great too because we can interact with our audience directly so immediate and get an immediate feedback. And so on our Instagram stories every now and then will be like we’ll put out a poll or like a question where they can type in a question and we’re like, “Hey, what questions do you guys have for us?” Like talk to us. Let us answer some of your question and every single time as much as I think that there is so much information out there already that women aren’t going to get bulky from weights. Every time we do this we get feedback of like, “Hey, I’m a beginner and I’m just still really nervous that I’m going to bulk up. Can you talk about that?”
Kevin:Yeah.
Katie:It is a good reminder that we can never assume that they know already what we we’re thinking. It’s tricky because you don’t want to talk too much about it where people are like, “Yeah, yeah, I know”, and they get bored. But you also have to cater to an advanced person and also to a beginner.
Kevin:Yeah, yeah. Got it. Okay, cool.
Katie:So I would say social is a first step for us, and then content creation, and then also messaging behind that content. And so now I’m thinking specifically of messaging of an ad. You know, the fitness industry has become so saturated that there is a different fitness studio at every corner and within the first year as of my business opened we had five other ones with big names come to market. And I was like, “Oh my lord.” I was like, you guys could have given me like a year, come on. Now, luckily, we’ve held our ground but that means that the consumer knows that they have more to choose from.
So our main goal as a fitness studio is getting people into the studio to try our workouts, to see the difference, to meet our trainers, to have the experience that we deliver and we can’t do that unless we get them in there. So a lot of our ads are we always run a free first class at the standard. But every now and then like depending on what time of the year it is we’ll offer a free week. So the way we setup our ads is depending on whether we use imagery or videos but a lot of times it is just. And you guys know at Glofox with that lead capturing and getting them into the system so you can start scheduling them for their first class where they can do it. You know, it goes directly to the schedule, builds them a profile where you don’t even have to reach out to them and they can do it themselves. Because let’s be honest, they’ll have questions but they don’t want you calling them all the time. They want everything at their fingertips. They want a schedule and they would show up on their terms, on their schedule, and we are okay with that because that gets them into us.
Kevin:Right, so goal number one for you then is a first visit either a free class, maybe a free week, but getting somebody through your door is the goal of all these social media efforts.
Katie:Correct. Yup.
Kevin:Okay.
Katie:So, you know, if you think of a long term strategy with social media is that you have to build a following. And whether or not those followers are people that come into your studio, the beauty of social media is well is that you can track your inside. You can see exactly who watches your story. You can see who most engages with you. When we put a story up and those go away within 24 hours that’s a definition of like watching reality television because once on screen, and you can see from our perspective. I’ll watch to see who our first 25 viewers are and usually it’s the same people. And that means that even if they are not a member they are interest and we have their attention. So whether or not they are still getting into the studio that day you still have them and you don’t want to lose them for the future, you know, coming on New Year, New Me for January. You have to think immediately getting them in and then also continuously growing your audience.
Kevin:Yup, okay. Got it. Okay, so now we’ve got them in say, they come to your door. What happens next?
Katie:So the first thing that we do, and I think this is pretty standard for any fitness studio welcoming a new person, is that the first thing always stand up at the front desk. Always make them feel welcome. Make them feel valued and acknowledged. We show them the check in desk, we walk them back and give them a little tour of the studio, where to put their things, where the bathrooms are. But the main thing that we want them to do is that weights are so new to a lot of women that we prepare them before they go into that class. Our class structure is also very unique as far as the flow and the logistics of the 45 minutes that we do, so we prep everyone to be like, “Hey, first of all, if you are new to weights.” The beauty of weights is that you can always go lighter and we can always go down to body weights. We don’t want people to feel like they are spinning out in our class, we want them to feel control. And then also because it’s a fast pace and we put a lot into 45 minutes we kind of go into the flow of things and what to expect. And I think a lot of trying a new studio and trying a new workout it’s intimidating just because you don’t know what to expect. So I think giving some tips before they go in can really help alleviate some of that so for example like we acknowledge and be like, “Hey, like the first two minutes of this class not only are taking a new program but ours is a different format.” So everyone in their first two minutes when that timer goes is kind of like, “Whoa, where do I go? What am I doing?” So our trainers are here to help you. And so we just want to alleviate that. We want them to feel acknowledged that they are not supposed to know what they are doing the first time and it is okay to ask our trainers for help. So that’s been a huge part of making women feel comfortable especially because they are already coming in intimidated to weights and then you put them into an entire new workout. So that is huge for us.
Kevin:And is that a first class of first timers or do you mix them in?
Katie:No. Not close off to the idea of a first timer’s class. The vast majority of women do very well in the first class if we put them and help them. And you know, that’s our job. If they don’t feel like they have a good experience or they felt lost that’s on us. That means that we haven’t board that new person enough. And we have brought up a few times like should we have a beginner’s class because some people have mentioned it but we have seen with giving them enough preparation and really hand holding them on the first one afterwards they are like, “Okay, that was tough but I could do it and now I know what to expect.” So I think as long as we can get people into that first experience and kind of give them some insight of what it will feel like and give them that confidence that they can do it. We’ve been able to not have a beginner’s class but it might be something that we’ll consider for the future.
Kevin:Sure, yeah. Okay. So they’ve been into the class 45 minutes, they go have a shower, they get change, they are on their way out at the door. What happens next?
Katie:So let’s talk the sales process here and a little bit of the psychology of sales. You don’t want to ask them with a yes or no question because then that’s a close end question. You want them to speak. You want to engage them. And also, when you allow someone to speak, which sometimes I’m like Katie you got to stop talking, you got to let them talk. But once you get them going first of all that makes them at the very most basic level. It makes them feel acknowledge and valued, that you care about what they have to say and their experience in your studio. So instead of being like, “Hey, you want to sign up for a membership?” or anything about memberships. You know it is a tough 45 minutes so I kind of loosen them up a little bit. I’m like, “Hey, so you survived. What do you think?” I kind of tease them a little bit and get them smiling and laughing. And then when you ask them, “What did you think?” It gives you an immediate, they are either going to go on a positive way that you can continue driving that conversation towards the next class or it’s going to be like, “Hey, I really struggled with this” or “That was really tough”, and that allows you to address objections right then and there in a very natural way and helpful way versus a pressuring way. So I always ask them the first question, “How did it go?” And then from there, I as a consumer, I don’t want to be tied into a year-long membership. A boutique fitness is expensive and I acknowledge that especially for women that aren’t making a lot of money. I mean it is a financial commitment that they have to want to be at your studio. They don’t want to be there. They are not going to pay $150 a month. It is not going to happen. I don’t think it is necessarily realistic for us especially with the amount of competition on the market. I’m not going to try someone into membership that day. So what I do is that, you know, it also makes it so much less pressure on our consumers is I say… When people like their first class instead of just pushing you directly into a membership, what we really suggest is that we have a 2-week trial called the 2-Week Dip and it is only a yeah, yeah, price for 14 days and it allows you to try other classes, other trainers. And more times than not they will always try to choose that. And so that, not only are they not going to walk out and then you’ve lost them if you don’t sign the membership. It keeps them coming back so you got to engage them even more, so that’s been huge for us.
Kevin:Got it, got it. And over the 2-weeks, do you have a particular goal you that you want to see them a certain of times, or you want to have certain number of conversations, or how do you think about those 2-weeks?
Katie:You know that’s a great question. I think that that’s something that we could be definitely be more strategic about and start to develop even more, what are the next steps of that sales process within the 2-weeks, how do we convert them to memberships. That’s a great question. We don’t have one right now but that makes me think that we need to start looking at what classes are they taking. Are they gravitating towards specific instructors? Are they a morning or are they an evening person because, you know, sometimes easing people can bounce around between different times. But if they are there at 6am and that’s what they are scheduling that means that that is their time to workout and that’s it. Like the morning people, they get there. That means that we need to talk to our coaches and our instructors to be like, “Hey, this person keeps coming at 6am to your classes. Engage them, talk about memberships, talk about their goals.” Like what they want to accomplish? So we can definitely start developing that more from a studio and in a sales perspective.
Kevin:Okay, but after the two weeks they are on to a membership?
Katie:Yup.
Kevin:So you are obviously at the end of the two weeks having that conversation.
Katie:Yeah, and so you are saying like what is that look like?
Kevin:Yeah, what does sound like it?
Katie:You know I’m trying to think about conversations naturally and organically slow. The majority of times when they are talking to us the 2-Week Dip, I know that they are going to sign up for a membership by the amount that they are coming. And also, if they are coming a lot and they are excited and they are talking to us. It is like, yeah, no brainer. Like this person is falling in love with the studio. This is the ideal situation of how we want the trial to go. So no, I feel like you just kind of organically like watch it happen. But that’s also too like what we are saying that we could develop that a little bit more systematically and intentionally on our end.
Kevin:Right, okay. I think what you are saying to me is if the two weeks is going well it is a bit of a no brainer there, the easy conversations, and likewise the two weeks is going great then it is kind of obvious where that’s going to go as well.
Katie:Yeah, and you know, people are going to do what they want to do.
Kevin:Yeah.
Katie:I’m very realistic that our studio is not going to be for everybody. And they may not like the high intensity of it. They may not like weights. They may be so scared of being bulky and to them it might be the reason why it might not be for them. But you can immediately see if someone does a two weeks dips and they come like on a Monday and then having scheduling I think and then maybe they are coming on a Thursday and then it just trails off. So you get tell by their activity with booking. How that’s going for them internally on their end.
Kevin:Okay, so then let’s say the two weeks finishes they go on to the membership. What are you doing for your full time members to hold on to them, to make sure they are getting the results? What are the system have you created around that?
Katie:Yeah, so I would say there is two main categories of how I could look at that. First of all is in the workout and second of all is outside the workout. So the beauty of our studio is doing monthly programs is that as a personal trainer and as you’re teaching a class you get to see the same people, doing the same moves over and over again every week. So not only that they are feeling progress but as an instructor and as from a studio perspective, you can see their strides and their advancement. So much of it in the very beginning is helping people with form and learning their teams, and when you are on the microphone it is so important for instructors to not just be talking to and calling out by name the regular. And you know, they are going to feel like they are not part of the community if you are not acknowledging them too. Especially in the beginning really motivating and connecting with them during the workout is huge and especially because there are so many women that are learning weights. Very naturally we are helping and interacting with them on form and what to do and correcting so that is a really great way to connect with their people and then also you see them picking up heavier. You see them going longer and it is a really easy way to acknowledge and see that progress where you can help point it out to them. And I think outside of the workout on the other side this is what I call the fluff, so the fluff is everything outside of that 45 minutes that continues to bring your consumer’s membership value so we have a [unclear – 26:39] We recently put a [unclear – 26:41] in the studio and for barely $200 this has been the biggest hit. Yeah, it is just a little extra perk words like, “Hey, get your coffee and this cute little cup. Go to the work in the mornings.” And what’s great that we have notice even just in three weeks of having it our members are standing around and they are talking to each other more so it is helping build community. And, you know, by the fluff I mean like events like who are you going to have on the studio on Saturdays in January. I mean, it is your busiest time and so are you going to have a smoothie shop and they are giving samples. So things that make your consumers and your clients excited to be like, “Oh, okay, like on Saturday we’re doing this”, and something that gets them excited and builds community that’s outside of the 45 minutes is also very important. And it’s not even that it’s important. It’s that every single boutique fitness studio is doing something so it has become the norm and it has become the standard so you have to be doing it or else your consumers are going to notice it.
Kevin:Do you have somebody working for you kind of in charge of the fluff or is that your job or how does it work?
Katie:I have someone helped with the fluff. What’s great is that all of our trainers are super hands on and we always with their feedback and ideas that they have and I have one trainer who she was a marketing major and she is fresh out of school as of, I want to say the past year or so, and so she has got a ton of great ideas for implementation, for help executing them, and just the marketing. It’s been really helpful. So I have learned very quickly that if you want all of those extras as a business owner from my perspective I cannot do it all, and that’s something that we are being able to have, a helping hand on deck or like even just delegating stuff of like, I need you to pick up champagne for Saturday mimosas or just having that team to help you execute everything is huge.
Kevin:And what… because it seems from listening to you that’s very hard to separate the team and the trainers from the growth of their retention so how had you gone about hiring a team that delivers on that?
Katie:So that has been a learning curve in itself. Right of the bat I realized extremely quickly that that 45 minutes is my entire business. It’s every fitness studio’s bread and butter so the trainer is what dictates if your target audience enjoys your business or not. They dictate if you get memberships. It is where it all starts. And yeah, you could have great music and you could have a great workout, but man, like the trainers really define that aspect. So we have three core trainers right now, we are looking to add one more, but they were not our first three core trainers. We have found not only a specific personality but the flow of our class is it is so much to manage and it is truly unlike any other fitness workout I’ve done. And so not only, I mean, I tell them I’m like, you guys are the conductors, you guys are the boss. You got to look at the timer. You got to run the class. You could have ten people doing ten different moves at once so you got to correct their form, you got to motivate, you got to do the volume. I mean, it is a lot of 45 minutes and not everyone can handle that and deliver the experience that we want. So retaining those people and really making them feel that you are part of a team is very, very important for the success of your business.
Kevin:And do you think it is having a good brand that attracts these stuff or what it is that attracts good people?
Katie:It is a good question. I think just like anyone else everyone is always going to be attracted to a new and exciting thing. So we do have that benefit in our corner of very quickly growing local presence where we’re going to franchise, “Whoa, that is this.” I want to be a part of that or at least see what that is to see if I wanted to be part of that. So that helps us but we’ve had to build that momentum. You know, I mean, not everyone wants to go workout on a fitness studio where like last December when not a single person knew who we are. It takes a lot of work to get there. I think the momentum helps in having a growing name but for us it is so much of the community as well. So first of all, with us being a women only studio it is really is like our clubhouse like when new girls come in we welcome them, and we get feedback all the time of, “You guys are so great, and so nice and so welcome.” And I have to attribute that to our trainers and our members, so I think it is a lot of the community. And then also, two, our goal as a studio is to truly empower women with weights, with confidence, with teaching them new skills. I think a lot of that ripples into the trainers because I want them on the mic and I want them to be the boss. I want them to be pushing, and driving, and encouraging, and we want personality, and really letting them be themselves and just kind of let lose. It is very empowering feeling when I’m on the mic as well. So I think it is the combination of community and name that people want to be a part of, and also just really letting them do their thing and not micromanaging them. Not everyone is a good fit for that. You have to find the trainers that can run, that have the independence, and they have the confidence to do it in their own way. Finding a good talent and retaining good talents it is a hard question.
Kevin:Yeah, I think it is a podcast itself.
Katie:Yeah.
Kevin:Okay, I have a couple of wrapping up questions. But first, you know, this has been very useful I think, in my own mind I think. I’ve been looking forward to digging in to this on this podcast because I can see that you are seeing a lot of success and a lot of growth and to me is sounds like it’s down to like a very clear mission, you know, a good sales process and then really focusing on that 45 minutes that experience so this has been great. My last question on the business is what’s the biggest mistake you’ve made so far and what did you learn from it?
Katie:So the biggest mistake that I’ve made and I won’t really call it a mistake but I would call it a financial loss where in hindsight I don’t think that I would have done it if I’ve known how much it cost. Being a new studio you got to build, you got to build, you got to drive momentum, what are you doing next? How are you catching your next new audience? So we did what’s called an Ambition Fit Camp where we ran a morning of huge bootcamps. There is a local park here with this huge hill so we had a bunch of vendors, and everything at the top of the hill, and we bootcamps at the bottom, and we are running them all morning and it was a really successful day for us as far as attendance, the PR we got. I mean it was a big, big day and in hindsight I consider it a PR expense because I did not realize how much it was going to cost us. It was a few thousand bucks that we paid to do that event. So if we do anything like that in the future we’ll have to make sure to do it in a way where that funding is always going to be coming from something whether it’s from people that we invite to be there, and help me to pay for license and permits on being public property, whether… You know, If we are going to do t-shirts as far as the package like how our consumers are going to be paying for that in their tickets so we are not taking all the overheads. So that was an expensive event for us.
Kevin:Yeah, yeah, every penny counts sometimes, so yeah, I get it. Okay, well listen, thanks very much, Katie. Before we go just tell us kind of what’s next for Ambition Fitness? Yeah, so what’s next is that at my studio’s local level my goal is to double the current members that we have and we are already working on exactly how we get to that doubling that number next year. So we are already working on that strategy that we are going to roll out in January, and then we are franchising. So we have found that while we’re still experiencing our own growth we have a niche and it’s been so well received by our market and we really haven’t found anything that is similar so we are going to franchise and it’s going to take four months. And then, so we’ll see what happens throughout next year it will be exciting.
Kevin:Cool, and how do people get in touch if they want to talk to you?
Katie:They can reach out through our social media. We have emails on our website. We are pretty easy to find.
Kevin:Okay. Katie Daniels for Ambition Fitness thank you very much.
Katie:Yeah. Thanks, Kevin.
