3 min readEnhancewell
If you’re hoping for the “silver bullet” that will magically take your brand from one location to one in every major city, we hate to disappoint you. Scaling your business requires a combination of a great idea, smart financial moves, thoughtful real estate moves, and stellar management.
At DISRUPT 2024, Founder & CEO of Athletech News, Edward Hertzman, moderated a conversation on successfully scaling fitness and wellness concepts with Anne Mahlum, founder of [solidcore] and Back on My Feet, and Jay Siano, CEO & co-founder of SABRE. These two know a thing or two about scaling. Anne sold [solidcore] in 2023 for over $100 million, and Jay’s commercial real estate prowess has helped brands like Starbucks and Chipotle expand their footprint. Today, we’ll share their advice to help you grow your fitness or wellness brand to increase your impact and income.
How important is real estate?
If you operate a brick-and-mortar shop, real estate can make or break your business. Is all of your square footage making money? Or is it just there to create a “vibe”? Thoughtful space planning can create a positive experience for your customers while making a lucrative impact on your bottom line.
Jay Siano has two big pieces of advice for business owners:
- Hire best-in-class advisors: Sure, you could save a few bucks by using your cousin’s real estate broker best friend, but if they don’t know what they’re doing, it’ll cost you big time to clean up the mess.
- Never fall in love with the deal: Know when to walk away. Don’t get so caught up in location, structure, or price that you can’t walk away if it isn’t the right fit.
Are you making good branding decisions?
When starting your business, it’s easy to get caught up in just getting it off the ground. But your branding decisions can affect your ability to grow, scale, and eventually sell your brand. Anne Mahlum reminded viewers that the company can’t work without you if your face is all over the marketing and branding. Instead, it’s your job to build a brand you can let go of by empowering and pulling back.
What’s holding you back?
Mahlum shared that when she was building [solidcore], the machines became a roadblock to the business’ growth. They weren’t the quality she wanted, took too long to manufacture, and were too expensive. The solution? [solidcore] created proprietary machines and, as Mahlum said, “as soon as we made our own machines it was off to the races.”
Multitasking + delegation
It’s possible to get so focused on what you think is the next step toward growth that you miss other prospects. As Anne Mahlum said, “if you want to go out and catch 20 fish, you better not just have one line in the water. You better have multiple people with multiple fishing rods.” Remain open to alternative paths, and be sure you have a good team in place to help you move forward on any opportunities that arise.
Looking for your next step in scaling? The team at Enhancewell Consulting is your partner for growth in the fitness industry. Contact us today for a free 30-minute discovery call to see how we can help you build your brand into something with exponential growth potential.