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Speaker 3: Welcome back everyone. This is Mine the Business Small Business
Speaker 3: Success Stories, a podcast brought to you by INTWD QuickBooks
Speaker 3: and Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia. I'm Jinny's Torres.
Speaker 2: And I'm Austin Hankwitz.
Speaker 3: Today we're coming to you from True Form Fitness Studio
Speaker 3: in Nashville, Tennessee, and we're going to talk to another
Speaker 3: incredible business owner and get the insights that we need
Speaker 3: to maneuver through this crazy world.
Speaker 2: I'm really excited about this episode, Genius, because we're going
Speaker 2: to be talking about a specific topic that is one
Speaker 2: of our favorites.
Speaker 3: Is it money.
Speaker 1: It is money?
Speaker 2: Yes, the kind of money that you raise outside of
Speaker 2: your traditional revenue stream to inject capital into an already
Speaker 2: established business, and the variety of reasons why this might
Speaker 2: be helpful.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, when I started thinking about scaling my business,
Speaker 3: I realized I didn't want to just have to continuously
Speaker 3: empty out my bank account when I wanted to achieve
Speaker 3: that next business goal. So for me, funding has come
Speaker 3: primarily from business credit. I utilize some business credit cards.
Speaker 3: I basically pay all my business expenses with credit cards,
Speaker 3: and so I get a chance to not only build
Speaker 3: my business credit, but also take advantage of cool rewards too,
Speaker 3: which are built into some of these products.
Speaker 2: I'm right there with you. I also love my business
Speaker 2: credit cards and the different rewards that come with them.
Speaker 2: And I think kind of going back to what Brandon
Speaker 2: was talking about in our last episode, you know, using
Speaker 2: a venture of sorts and seeing how that now becomes
Speaker 2: so successful that you can then take the cash from
Speaker 2: that the extra profits and reinvest that into this next
Speaker 2: big idea or project you have as a small business owner.
Speaker 2: And that is why I'm so excited for us to
Speaker 2: talk with Kenzi Wesp, the owner of Trueform Fitness.
Speaker 3: Absolutely and this conversation is going to be a great
Speaker 3: reminder why you should be using a platform like into
Speaker 3: It QuickBooks to cut through the clutter and simplify your
Speaker 3: business so you can strategize acquiring more capital. But enough
Speaker 3: about us, let's introduce our guests. Kensy wesp is a
Speaker 3: Nashville local who has owned and operated Trueform Fitness since
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two. After a knee injury ended her dancing career,
Speaker 3: Kensey became interested in the Lagree method of low impact,
Speaker 3: high intensity exercise. She was working at a fitness studio
Speaker 3: and nanning on the side when an incredible opportunity came
Speaker 3: from seemingly nowhere and she was able to buy the
Speaker 3: studio with an investor and become the owner and operator.
Speaker 3: Before this, Kenzie didn't know anything about running a business, and,
Speaker 3: as she puts it, couldn't even write a check. But
Speaker 3: after diving in headfirst and clearing all the initial hurdles,
Speaker 3: she rebranded and steered True Form Fitness into such a
Speaker 3: success that she was able to launch a second studio herself. Currently,
Speaker 3: she runs studios in Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee, where clients
Speaker 3: can study fitness via the Degree method and live true
Speaker 3: to themselves.
Speaker 2: Kenzie, thank you so much for joining us on this
Speaker 2: episode of Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories. Really
Speaker 2: excited we're hearing your studio beautiful beautiful by the way,
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for coming on in.
Speaker 3: Let's start off with your origin story. Tell us how
Speaker 3: you started the business.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so my start is so unique. I am not
Speaker 1: going to sit here and say that I started it
Speaker 1: from the ground up, because that's actually not how this
Speaker 1: came to be. I was twenty one and had just
Speaker 1: graduated college at Belmont University in Nashville, and had fallen
Speaker 1: in love with this specific workout, more so because it
Speaker 1: had helped me heal an injury that I had had
Speaker 1: from college. It had helped me mentally physically. I was
Speaker 1: growing so much stronger, And then I just started becoming
Speaker 1: obsessed with it. So I became certified in the Agree
Speaker 1: method in early twenty twenty one. Over the next six months,
Speaker 1: while I was still a senior in college, I began
Speaker 1: just instructing, becoming a part of a studio down the street,
Speaker 1: and yeah, fell in love with it. One thing led
Speaker 1: to another, and whenever I got certified. I then became
Speaker 1: super super infiltrated into the community at both locations, so
Speaker 1: that pre existing studio was in Nashville as well as
Speaker 1: in Franklin. I'm from Franklin, Tennessee. So I started seeing
Speaker 1: friends of friends and you know, mom friends that my
Speaker 1: mom had had, and one thing led to another. I
Speaker 1: got a call from the owner of that studio saying
Speaker 1: that they were wanting to ultimately sell their Franklin location
Speaker 1: and asked if I would want to, and I said no,
Speaker 1: because I was twenty one years old, and who has
Speaker 1: any sort of cash to be able to do that
Speaker 1: or an understanding of even how that's supposed to happen.
Speaker 1: And so honestly called my parents is more so of
Speaker 1: like a haha moment. How funny is this that somebody
Speaker 1: thought I could take over their company? And they were like, kids,
Speaker 1: you could totally do that. We see a work ethic
Speaker 1: and a drive in you that really could excel in this.
Speaker 1: And so conversation after conversations started happening, and there had
Speaker 1: been a moment in my family history that was going
Speaker 1: to allow for that to be kind of like a
Speaker 1: family buy in to this specific company, And so took
Speaker 1: over that location and bought the business in April twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, had absolutely no clue what I was doing,
Speaker 1: and six months later figured out a little bit more
Speaker 1: of what I was doing, rebranded it to what you're
Speaker 1: now sitting in in True Form, and then over a
Speaker 1: year later, I opened up this location in the city
Speaker 1: of Nashville, and yeah, we're on a growth path from here.
Speaker 3: That's incredible. Can you tell the audience about the formatting
Speaker 3: case they're not familiar with what you guys do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's a little side journey that we're super
Speaker 1: excited about. I know, we'll get into the specifics on
Speaker 1: financing and everything like that. But an opportunity presented itself
Speaker 1: for me to kind of have an out. We love
Speaker 1: the Lagree method and we love True Form, and we
Speaker 1: love what we're building here, but we're not able to
Speaker 1: scale it at the level that I feel led to
Speaker 1: grow it at. And so woke up one night and
Speaker 1: had a dream and a vision to start my own method.
Speaker 1: And so we are cultivating and creating an experience that's
Speaker 1: going to be called the Format Fitness, which will be
Speaker 1: heated plates on a mat, so it'll be sculpt it'll
Speaker 1: be strength, it'll be we're calling it sweat as well
Speaker 1: as stretch. So four different classes that will take place
Speaker 1: in an alternate studio and the goal with that is
Speaker 1: to grow it to more of a franchise model, more
Speaker 1: of a corporate endeavor there and then keep true form
Speaker 1: very boutique and what you're experiencing here today very cool.
Speaker 2: I'm sweating just hearing all these different formats. Oh my goodness,
Speaker 2: all the things.
Speaker 3: So when I walked into your studio, I'm looking around
Speaker 3: and it reminded me of Pilates, But Lagree is actually different.
Speaker 3: So can you tell us a little bit about what
Speaker 3: those differences are.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Lagree Fitness specifically, Sebastian Lagree, the creator of the method,
Speaker 1: took the best parts of pulates so that rehabilitative journey
Speaker 1: that plates can take you on, as well as bodybuilding
Speaker 1: and strength, muscular endurance and muscular strength. Took those two
Speaker 1: aspects and created a workout that is allowing you to
Speaker 1: resistance train, but in a way that is low impact.
Speaker 1: So it's a high intensity workout meets that low impact
Speaker 1: aspect of pilates to create what is now known as
Speaker 1: the Megaformer similar and looks like a pilates reformer, but
Speaker 1: is a little more unique. Got it.
Speaker 3: Okay, so you are presented this unique opportunity to take
Speaker 3: on a business. What are the emotions that come along
Speaker 3: with that? Tell us kind of what your thought process was. Yeah,
Speaker 3: take us behind the scenes of the decision.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, I was laughing with my husband before this because
Speaker 1: I was like, if you would have put me in
Speaker 1: a room and said, hey, in two years you're going
Speaker 1: to be talking about the questions that we're about to
Speaker 1: talk about, I would have laughed in your face because
Speaker 1: I was the one on podcast and on the internet
Speaker 1: being like, how do you do this? On everything?
Speaker 2: How to start a company?
Speaker 1: Literally, how did you actually run a company? Because you
Speaker 1: have it now? And was honestly just such. I mean,
Speaker 1: I was a deer in headlights for a long time,
Speaker 1: which has made me into the business owner that I
Speaker 1: am today and ultimately the entrepreneur that I want to be.
Speaker 1: The emotions there, I was so excited. I was honored
Speaker 1: that I would have been considered. I know that the
Speaker 1: people that saw something in me like actually saw something
Speaker 1: that I didn't see in myself, because you know, no
Speaker 1: twenty one year old is going to just naturally think
Speaker 1: that that's an opportunity that can be presented to them.
Speaker 1: So I was super honored, and at the same time,
Speaker 1: I was really afraid. I was ultimately really nervous about
Speaker 1: what was going to be perceived by the client base
Speaker 1: that was already there. I mean, I was a college
Speaker 1: student that taught them fitness classes and now I'm about
Speaker 1: to be the owner of their studio. It was definitely
Speaker 1: super intimidating, but I think alongside that, I also felt
Speaker 1: really interested in how I could do the best that
Speaker 1: I could possibly do and ultimately take it and run
Speaker 1: with it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I can imagine there's sort of a pressure to
Speaker 3: either keep it going or like exceed client's expectations because
Speaker 3: now they're looking at you like, hey, what are you
Speaker 3: going to do to our studio?
Speaker 1: And we laugh. Now clients will laugh and be like, yeah, Kinzie,
Speaker 1: we thought that this was going to be a crash
Speaker 1: and burn, And I said, I know, I saw it
Speaker 1: in y'all's eyes. I told you. So it's been a
Speaker 1: cool experience to now ultimately hopefully prove to them that
Speaker 1: I can do it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, You've made a believer out of them. That's awesome.
Speaker 2: I want to dig in a little bit further into
Speaker 2: going from the first studio to where we are today
Speaker 2: to you're opening a third studio as well. One, when
Speaker 2: did you know you were ready to grow?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And then two what was the funding process around the growth?
Speaker 2: Sometimes that means taking out a loan or getting outside
Speaker 2: investors or you know, reinvesting profits, things like that. So
Speaker 2: walk our listeners through how you were able to go
Speaker 2: from the first studio now to the second one, and
Speaker 2: now to this third one in a matter of call
Speaker 2: it less than three years.
Speaker 1: The process starts right after our rebrand. I had had
Speaker 1: the idea of wanting to get to Nashville because I
Speaker 1: was seeing that such a large percentage of our clients
Speaker 1: were driving from Nashville. We're in Franklin, up the road
Speaker 1: twenty two minutes on a good day, thirty minutes with
Speaker 1: traffic more than that these days. And I was just noticing, Okay, Wow,
Speaker 1: if we have such a large client base it's willing
Speaker 1: to drive to us, we should bring it to them.
Speaker 1: We're only able to operate a small group of people
Speaker 1: in each class. We only have ten machines, and so
Speaker 1: what I was noticing was, wow, okay, we can't add
Speaker 1: any more class times to the schedule, so we need
Speaker 1: to open up a second location. So there was the
Speaker 1: need before there was really the desire to want to
Speaker 1: do it. And it took literally a year to kind
Speaker 1: of the thought and the conception of the idea of
Speaker 1: wanting a second studio before opportunities even kind of were
Speaker 1: able to present themselves. Now, within this year, I met
Speaker 1: my husband, and I was no longer a single, twenty
Speaker 1: two year old. I was a little bit more appealing
Speaker 1: to landlords when it came time for them to want
Speaker 1: me to sign a lease. And so when I met
Speaker 1: my husband, that was ultimately a very good opportunity for
Speaker 1: me to kind of bring him in and show, you know,
Speaker 1: I have a husband and you can trust me. I
Speaker 1: had known that financing was going to be a conversation. Now,
Speaker 1: I had reinvested nearly everything over the past year, and
Speaker 1: not every small business owner does it this way, but
Speaker 1: I personally chose to live on my means, and then,
Speaker 1: you know, just reinvested and reinvested and reinvested because I
Speaker 1: knew that I wanted to open up another location. And
Speaker 1: so it was around that time in October that I
Speaker 1: had to sit back and be like Okay, what is
Speaker 1: this budget? What is this going to be? Like? Do
Speaker 1: I want to take over a second generation space or
Speaker 1: do I want to do a ground a ceiling build out,
Speaker 1: because that is going to be drastically different in what
Speaker 1: the financing looks like for that. On top of the
Speaker 1: fact that I have to put up one hundred thousand
Speaker 1: dollars in machines, and so I knew that machinery I
Speaker 1: was going to be able to cover without any sort
Speaker 1: of outside loan or outside source per se. So ultimately
Speaker 1: decided to go to a bank to upfront the cost
Speaker 1: of the build out. But as for the business itself,
Speaker 1: we did not have to take out money, and we
Speaker 1: reinvested what Studio Number one was able to give us.
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
Speaker 3: So you mentioned that your initial investors were your family,
Speaker 3: So tell us about that and how that was a
Speaker 3: benefit to you to have that influx of capital so
Speaker 3: that you could start reinvesting from day one.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I am so grateful for my family, and it's
Speaker 1: one of those things that not everybody gets that kind
Speaker 1: of boos under them. I am so thankful to have
Speaker 1: been able to set up a structure in which you know,
Speaker 1: I'm no longer in debt to them, which is such
Speaker 1: a blessing because I just value them and I value
Speaker 1: that initial investment that they were able to give me,
Speaker 1: and I'm so thankful to want to give it back
Speaker 1: and you know, make sure that all the eyes and
Speaker 1: teaser dotted so that as we continue growth, we're able
Speaker 1: to do it in other ways, just because I would
Speaker 1: never want to overuse the kindness of my family, and
Speaker 1: so it really did give me some leverage and I'm
Speaker 1: so so thankful for that. And then I'm also thankful
Speaker 1: for now the experience to be able to go to
Speaker 1: a lender and do it that way and see the
Speaker 1: good and the bad and the pros and the cons
Speaker 1: of both ventures. Now, ultimately the goal is to continue
Speaker 1: to reinvest and keep it within ourselves. But you know,
Speaker 1: we don't know what growth is going to look like
Speaker 1: from this point forward. But for the format specifically, we're
Speaker 1: able to not have to take out a secondary loan.
Speaker 3: That's great. Shout out to your family, Shout out, they're amazing.
Speaker 3: So you get this cash infusion from a family, and
Speaker 3: then you've realized to really scale and bring the business
Speaker 3: to the next level, you have to go to a bank,
Speaker 3: you're taking on interest. Now you're taking on you know,
Speaker 3: this serious money. Yeah, so can you talk about the
Speaker 3: pros and cons of each approach?
Speaker 1: Of course? Yeah. One thing about me and I think
Speaker 1: this has helped me so much. I have no fear,
Speaker 1: So fear is not something I experience now. I am
Speaker 1: very grateful for a husband and a family that is
Speaker 1: able to look at me and say, is this something
Speaker 1: you really want to do? Because do you know what
Speaker 1: interest is? And those conversations were super beneficial. I am
Speaker 1: so thankful for I have the best lender, and he's
Speaker 1: amazing and so encouraging. And I think, you know, in
Speaker 1: all reality, being twenty four now and at the time
Speaker 1: being twenty two and twenty three, I needed a lot
Speaker 1: of that boost from people that I trusted and looked
Speaker 1: up to, whether that a lender, whether that a businessman
Speaker 1: tour to say, no, Candi, your books look great, like
Speaker 1: your profit and law statements, those look amazing. We are
Speaker 1: really proud of you, and we think that this risk
Speaker 1: is something that you can take. And so yeah, at
Speaker 1: those moments and making that decision, it was ultimately that
Speaker 1: push of like, hey, you're good the interest that you're
Speaker 1: going to be paying on. This is ultimately going to
Speaker 1: help you grow and scale a company so that you
Speaker 1: don't have to bring in a legitimate investor and give
Speaker 1: up royalties or whatever you may be having to sacrifice
Speaker 1: now pros and cons. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with
Speaker 1: the lender that I have and having this be my reality,
Speaker 1: just because it does feel a little more professional to me,
Speaker 1: and I think it is the next step in my
Speaker 1: career to understand the different implications of what alone is
Speaker 1: and ultimately utilize this to again scale and grow what
Speaker 1: my dreams are.
Speaker 3: All Right, So you mentioned that your books were good,
Speaker 3: and so we know the importance of having your finances
Speaker 3: in order, especially when you're approaching a bank and asking
Speaker 3: for money. So can you talk about the strategies that
Speaker 3: you've used with into it quick books in order to
Speaker 3: make sure that you are organized and your numbers are
Speaker 3: timely so that you have all the information that you
Speaker 3: need to get the money that you need.
Speaker 1: At twenty one years old, I quick hired a bookkeeper
Speaker 1: who is amazing and she loves QuickBooks. We had the
Speaker 1: conversation of what was going to be the best route
Speaker 1: for us when it came to organization of our finances,
Speaker 1: and she had worked with QuickBooks and just loved it.
Speaker 1: So we've worked with that and I, you know, personally,
Speaker 1: from being able to see it from a bird's eye
Speaker 1: view and able to understand and just digest the numbers,
Speaker 1: we've loved it.
Speaker 2: So linger on a little bit further though about looking
Speaker 2: at these books and having that bird's eye view and understanding, Okay,
Speaker 2: how much of these profits should we reinvest as it
Speaker 2: relates to maybe newer equipment, or you know, how much
Speaker 2: of this do we take to expand the business.
Speaker 1: That was one thing after every month when I sat
Speaker 1: down and looked at it, you know, my biggest Google
Speaker 1: question was like how can I grow this? How can
Speaker 1: I scale this? Wire supplies this this month? So I
Speaker 1: would say that having those really honest conversations with myself
Speaker 1: with business mentors, that is one thing I brought in
Speaker 1: very early that I would recommend any small business owner,
Speaker 1: especially in the financing stage of things, is to bring
Speaker 1: in someone who's done it before you and who's been
Speaker 1: very successful. Thankfully, I've had so many people be able
Speaker 1: to step into that with me and show me again
Speaker 1: that bird's eye view of like Hickins it looks like
Speaker 1: this could be leveraged more, or it looks like you
Speaker 1: can kind of scale back on this a little bit,
Speaker 1: and so being able to see those numbers and then
Speaker 1: ultimately make those decisions with the help of other people
Speaker 1: as well as with you know what, I personally had
Speaker 1: peace on of like, hey, you know, I'm willing and
Speaker 1: ready to take this risk in this area. Having those
Speaker 1: business mentors as well as having quick books just to
Speaker 1: organize it was super.
Speaker 2: Helpful coming up on mind the Business small business success stories.
Speaker 1: I think being resourceful can be How can I pull
Speaker 1: from my own gifts and talents, you know, maybe I
Speaker 1: do something that's a little bit smaller scale that is
Speaker 1: more Internet based, because we're seeing that in the fitness
Speaker 1: industry specifically that is incredible. You can make an insane
Speaker 1: amount of money.
Speaker 2: We'll be right back, welcome back to Mind the Business.
Speaker 2: Has there been a time when you guys are just
Speaker 2: beginning to now look for that outside funding. Did you
Speaker 2: go directly to this person up first or maybe did
Speaker 2: it come with a couple nose before you got that funding?
Speaker 1: So the funding, our numbers kind of spoke for themselves,
Speaker 1: so we were able to get everything that we needed. Now.
Speaker 1: The only thing that we you know, getting into the
Speaker 1: nitty gritty that we did have to do was my
Speaker 1: husband and I had to put up a little bit
Speaker 1: of a line of credit for this new lease that
Speaker 1: we're doing on the nose. It's funny because all my
Speaker 1: nose came before I was ever even able to go
Speaker 1: to a bank. From October of twenty two to October
Speaker 1: of twenty three, I was so excited to open up
Speaker 1: my second studio. However, every landlord I went to was like, sorry, no,
Speaker 1: your twenty three. They didn't have my P and L,
Speaker 1: they didn't have my numbers, they didn't have any understanding.
Speaker 1: And I ultimately kind of viewed that as protection because
Speaker 1: I think if you would have taken me to a bank,
Speaker 1: you would have taken me to a lender from twenty
Speaker 1: two to twenty three, I would not have had the numbers,
Speaker 1: nor would I've had the business plan to show. So
Speaker 1: in that year I was able to mature and kind
Speaker 1: of before I was told no by a bank, by
Speaker 1: a lender, by an outside resource, Hey, this is actually
Speaker 1: you know, I'm able to give it to you now.
Speaker 1: So my nose came in a different form.
Speaker 2: It makes a lot of sense. Let's talk a little
Speaker 2: bit more about the business plan, because I think a
Speaker 2: lot of people listening right now are you know, sort
Speaker 2: of in that spot where maybe they're ready for growth
Speaker 2: and they need tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands
Speaker 2: and business funding, and so they need a business plan.
Speaker 2: Do you have any tips or tricks to share with
Speaker 2: those people as to how you know you successfully crafted
Speaker 2: your own business plan to go get so much in funding.
Speaker 1: Two things, So obviously I would always recommend because I
Speaker 1: do consult calls with other small business owners that are
Speaker 1: specifically catering their careers towards fitness, and so mine's very
Speaker 1: biased towards fitness. However, when I get these calls, I
Speaker 1: always tell them, you know, I want you to get branding.
Speaker 1: That's going to set you apart, you know, and branding
Speaker 1: is more than a logo and more than a name, right,
Speaker 1: It's what you want people to feel and experience, and
Speaker 1: all of those things are going to be so important
Speaker 1: because that is going to set you apart from everything
Speaker 1: else that you're trying to go and get funding for now,
Speaker 1: the second thing that I always recommend is at a
Speaker 1: very solid competitive analysis going of every other studio around you,
Speaker 1: whether it be you know, say you're wanting to open
Speaker 1: up all the gree studio, Look at pilates, look at yoga,
Speaker 1: look at cycling. What are typical membership prices? How many
Speaker 1: people are they putting in a room? Okay, what's the
Speaker 1: media and membership price? So once you're kind of able
Speaker 1: to see what your competitors are estimated to bring in monthly,
Speaker 1: I then always encourage Okay, well, then let's look at
Speaker 1: what your monthly costs are going to be and your
Speaker 1: fixed costs as well as you know what might differ
Speaker 1: month to month, and then kind of actually give concrete numbers,
Speaker 1: because whenever you're opening up a new concept, similar to
Speaker 1: what I'm doing with the format, I don't necessarily have
Speaker 1: numbers of myself to show. But how can I look
Speaker 1: at my competitors or in my case, look at my
Speaker 1: other business and be able to show a little bit
Speaker 1: more solidarity in my business plan so that I am
Speaker 1: taken a little bit more seriously and people are able
Speaker 1: to see where my information, knowledge and backing is coming from.
Speaker 2: So it seems like leaning on people who have a
Speaker 2: little bit more experience than you, and it's a lot though, too,
Speaker 2: to kind of be resourceful. I think entrepreneurship is all
Speaker 2: about resourcefulness and not just having the people to move
Speaker 2: you in the right direction, but have that kind of
Speaker 2: fire inside of you to want to do those things
Speaker 2: yourself one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: I think I like to live by the the idea
Speaker 1: that the people before me were doing things because of
Speaker 1: the people before them. So the most successful entrepreneurs that
Speaker 1: we see today, well, they were looking at the people
Speaker 1: ahead of them, and they were learning, and they ultimately said,
Speaker 1: how can I make this better? That's what's been super
Speaker 1: cool in entrepreneurship is taking the advice of the business
Speaker 1: mentors ahead of me, taking it though, but then also
Speaker 1: not limiting it to myself. My business mentor said, do
Speaker 1: not open a brand new studio concept six months after
Speaker 1: this concept. You should just keep going with what you're
Speaker 1: already doing. Well, my fire back to him was, why
Speaker 1: would I keep doing what I'm doing when I have
Speaker 1: to put up the entire cost of a build out
Speaker 1: for my new studio concept into machines If I wanted
Speaker 1: to continue growing what I currently have, it doesn't make
Speaker 1: sense for me financially. Now I can see how you
Speaker 1: do understand that because you come from a different franchise
Speaker 1: model than I do, And so it's taking what the
Speaker 1: business mentors and the people ahead of you are doing,
Speaker 1: but then also having your own unique flare and being
Speaker 1: able to take it and ultimately process what is best
Speaker 1: for you and what you at peace with for your
Speaker 1: own company.
Speaker 3: Speaking of being resourceful, so we've talked about bank loans,
Speaker 3: We've talked about investors. Those are just two ways that
Speaker 3: you can get capital for your business. What would you
Speaker 3: do in the instance that you need to raise some
Speaker 3: money and maybe those just aren't options. What advice would
Speaker 3: you give to other entrepreneurs?
Speaker 1: Yeah, honestly, great question. I just had a conversation with
Speaker 1: a girl wanting to open up her own studio, and
Speaker 1: she said, I have the absolute best job. I am
Speaker 1: crushing it. I am making six figures, and I want
Speaker 1: to quit it all and open up a studio, but
Speaker 1: I have no money. And I said, what do you
Speaker 1: mean you have no money? You're making six figures. Why
Speaker 1: would you not keep this job that you have and
Speaker 1: begin to invest it in ways that you're then able
Speaker 1: to use what you just came from and invest that
Speaker 1: into a company and start smaller. If you started smaller.
Speaker 1: What if instead of doing an entire fitness studio, you
Speaker 1: started with an online platform that costs you twenty nine
Speaker 1: ninety nine dollars a month to operate an app and
Speaker 1: get people into you that way. So I think being
Speaker 1: resourceful can be How can I pull from my own
Speaker 1: gifts and talents, you know, maybe I do something that's
Speaker 1: a little bit smaller scale, that is more Internet based,
Speaker 1: because we're seeing that in the fitness industry specifically that
Speaker 1: is incredible. You can make an insane amount of money
Speaker 1: on there. Thankfully, it's been such a cool process for
Speaker 1: those individuals that are doing it that way. I would
Speaker 1: say that it doesn't necessarily even have to start so big.
Speaker 1: You don't need a brick and mortar. Maybe you start
Speaker 1: smaller and use what you have in the past, or
Speaker 1: move forward into a different model.
Speaker 3: I always called my paycheck my angel investor when I
Speaker 3: was doing my business on the side, because you know,
Speaker 3: that's typically where you're going to have the most steady
Speaker 3: cash flow, and it takes time to build up your
Speaker 3: P and L and your business data to just get
Speaker 3: anybody to give you money. So do not neglect the
Speaker 3: power of the paycheck.
Speaker 2: I agree I totally agree with you here, but I
Speaker 2: think a lot of small business owners make the mistake
Speaker 2: of one to jump head first into maybe a ton
Speaker 2: of debt or you know, getting in over the head
Speaker 2: on all the money they might need to start a
Speaker 2: business with. In actuality, you can start a business with
Speaker 2: your cell phone and maybe a couple other items around
Speaker 2: you that allow you to begin making your first one
Speaker 2: or two dollars, and that scales and overtime.
Speaker 1: I agree. I put up a TikTok on like how
Speaker 1: we took out a loan how we had to use
Speaker 1: a private investor initially, because I get asked all the
Speaker 1: time on social media how did you do what you do?
Speaker 1: And I had someone respond back to my thing and
Speaker 1: was like, hey, can do I actually operate workouts out
Speaker 1: of my own house because I don't have the cash
Speaker 1: to open up my own studio, but that's something I
Speaker 1: want to do one day. And she just was encouraging
Speaker 1: her followers as well as mine, like, hey, doesn't have
Speaker 1: to look like this. It can also look much smaller
Speaker 1: and still give you a great start to your career.
Speaker 2: One percent, you're obviously a very experienced entrepreneur and small
Speaker 2: business owner, so what are your biggest dos and donts
Speaker 2: about raising money, finding funding, things of that nature.
Speaker 1: Amongst every business decision that I have made that looks
Speaker 1: great on paper, I've always taken it back and been like,
Speaker 1: is this something that I want to say yes to?
Speaker 1: This is a big do for me. Is bringing it
Speaker 1: to the people that love me and that serve me
Speaker 1: and that see me on a day to day basis,
Speaker 1: and that know what's best for me. And then I
Speaker 1: would say that don'ts is We are so limited, especially
Speaker 1: as entrepreneurs and as future entrepreneurs, with fear of what
Speaker 1: if I don't know what to do or what if
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is my best yes? And
Speaker 1: the one thing I like to do is to not
Speaker 1: limit myself. I think it's really important that you're bringing
Speaker 1: in people that you trust when it comes to all
Speaker 1: of these, you know, investor situations or lender situations. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: there have been people that have come before me to
Speaker 1: tell me, hey, this was my experience. I stepped into
Speaker 1: this with a lender that did not have my best interest.
Speaker 1: I stepped into this with an investor that I did
Speaker 1: not ask good questions to, And those have been really
Speaker 1: learning experiences from their bad experiences that have helped me
Speaker 1: not make the same mistakes. I would say another huge
Speaker 1: thing when it comes to all of this is just
Speaker 1: making sure that we're utilizing our resources. What you are
Speaker 1: offering here, these conversations, these are resources that entrepreneurs need
Speaker 1: to listen to. And I think it's so easy as entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1: I kind of talked about pride earlier, like you think
Speaker 1: you have it all figured out, You think you know
Speaker 1: exactly what to do. You think that your way is
Speaker 1: the highway. One thing I've tried to draw myself back
Speaker 1: to is people do it a lot of different ways,
Speaker 1: and they do it a lot of amazing ways, and
Speaker 1: so how can I learn from them? So using the
Speaker 1: resources we have, whether it be podcasts, whether it be books,
Speaker 1: whether it again be business mentors. But using resources is
Speaker 1: a big do for me.
Speaker 2: So just to linger on this idea though, of finding
Speaker 2: people that you trust, I think that's really important. How
Speaker 2: did someone go about finding a mentor that they can trust?
Speaker 1: Yeah, first thing I would always recommend a mentor because
Speaker 1: this is my experience, to come from someone else you trust.
Speaker 1: I believe that if you trust somebody and they trust somebody,
Speaker 1: It's just a long line of trust. Things that I
Speaker 1: practically look for in a mentor or in setting people
Speaker 1: up with mentors, because that's one of my favorite things
Speaker 1: to do. Is not that we need to look at
Speaker 1: cashcifically as success, but you know what is their company
Speaker 1: and where did they start from and how has their
Speaker 1: growth been. If they're going to encourage you into growth,
Speaker 1: well you want to see what they've come from and
Speaker 1: what they've done. So I would say personal career, personal growth,
Speaker 1: personal experience is huge when looking for a mentor, and
Speaker 1: then ultimately I think the charisma and the way that
Speaker 1: you work with somebody. I've gone to coffee with people
Speaker 1: that are so incredibly knowledgeable about the things that I
Speaker 1: love and that I want to get to, but that
Speaker 1: ultimately I didn't feel safe speaking with them. I didn't
Speaker 1: feel like they saw me, I didn't feel like they
Speaker 1: understood me, and those conversations I left feeling more defeated
Speaker 1: than encouraged. And that's not something I want to do weekly.
Speaker 1: And so finding somebody that you really mesh and jel
Speaker 1: well with, it's able to encourage you, able to challenge you,
Speaker 1: you know, able to call you out when you know
Speaker 1: you're not doing something right, but that ultimately you work
Speaker 1: really well with That's a great answer.
Speaker 3: You got to make sure the vibes are there. Yes,
Speaker 3: what do you think is the most impactful thing that
Speaker 3: you've done with a loan or an investment? And how
Speaker 3: has that thing set you up for success and for
Speaker 3: your business to thrive?
Speaker 1: Well, you are sitting and we are podcasting in the
Speaker 1: result of that risk, taking the loan and moving forward
Speaker 1: with that avenue of funding is what has allowed us
Speaker 1: to be in here today. We took a big risk
Speaker 1: in the space that we did. This was gravel and
Speaker 1: there was no HVAC, mechanical, electrical plumbing, absolutely nothing of
Speaker 1: that sort. And so that risk of taking out that
Speaker 1: loan ultimately has allowed me to live the dreams of
Speaker 1: you know, a dream studio. It's very rare that I'm
Speaker 1: able to say that, you know, every Pincher's board design
Speaker 1: I had was able to come to life. And so,
Speaker 1: you know, I credit that obviously to the risk taken,
Speaker 1: as well as the people that were able to step
Speaker 1: into this and help us build it as cost effectively
Speaker 1: as possible.
Speaker 3: I would argue that the most impactful thing you've done
Speaker 3: is believe in yourself because it takes some guts to
Speaker 3: do what you've done, and you have a very inspirational
Speaker 3: story that I know so many people are going to
Speaker 3: listen to and they're going to be like, she can
Speaker 3: do it. I can do it too, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what's been so fun about this
Speaker 1: is just being able to say yes, if I can
Speaker 1: do it, I promise you can do it. He asked
Speaker 1: me earlier. What I studied in college. I was studying
Speaker 1: social justice and psychology, which has helped me in ways,
Speaker 1: but I had no understanding. I didn't know how to
Speaker 1: write a freaking check, and so it is really cool
Speaker 1: to see what has ultimately occurred through one little yes
Speaker 1: and from people trusting in me.
Speaker 3: Kensey, thank you so much for sharing your story with us.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Denise. I had such a great time talking
Speaker 2: with Kenzie. What was your biggest takeaway from our conversation.
Speaker 3: I really liked that she was very clear on her
Speaker 3: vision and was okay not taking investor money in exchange
Speaker 3: for ownership in the business. Now, I think some of
Speaker 3: us can become enthralled with the idea of, you know,
Speaker 3: the big TV shows that We pitch our businesses too
Speaker 3: when you get your you know, million dollar deal, But
Speaker 3: I don't think that's always the best approach, depending on
Speaker 3: just where you are in your business and how ready
Speaker 3: you are to relinquish that control. So just the fact
Speaker 3: that there are different funding sources that exist that don't
Speaker 3: always require that of you. I think it's important for
Speaker 3: business owners to know, at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: not all money is the right money for you.
Speaker 2: Not all money is the right money for you. I
Speaker 2: couldn't agree more. I'm going to go a tattoo with
Speaker 2: that on my poduct one day.
Speaker 3: What was your biggest takeaway Austin, I think for.
Speaker 2: Me it was Kensy's resourcefulness. A lot of small business owners,
Speaker 2: including myself, feel as if we are starting from scratch,
Speaker 2: and that comes with going to Google and typing in
Speaker 2: how to start a business or how to apply for this,
Speaker 2: or you know, how to make a business plan and
Speaker 2: do these different things. And Kensey was talking about how
Speaker 2: when I'm making my business plan, what are the competing
Speaker 2: fitness studios around me, what are they charging for their prices,
Speaker 2: how many machines do they have, what's the foot traffic like?
Speaker 2: So just like thinking outside the box a little bit
Speaker 2: into really kind of putting this puzzle together of Okay,
Speaker 2: here's what my what competitors are doing, which should sort
Speaker 2: of benchmark my own progress and success. How can I
Speaker 2: now begin to trend toward that myself? And I think
Speaker 2: just having that resourceful attitude and mentality when it comes
Speaker 2: to running a small business is very, very important.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, there's so much mindset work that you don't even
Speaker 3: know you're signing up for when you start a small business.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you training that nine to five for the twenty
Speaker 2: four seven.
Speaker 3: Well, this was a great episode and I cannot wait
Speaker 3: for the next one. You can find me on social
Speaker 3: media at Jokeroo podcast.
Speaker 2: And you can find me at Austin Hankwitz. You can
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Speaker 2: your business, head to QuickBooks dot com today.
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