B (4:26)

Well, thank you for having me on your podcast today and I'm super excited to share with the audience about my journey, my journey as an entrepreneur and you know, as really now female entrepreneur in a franchising industry. Franchising is an extremely mature industry, not Pilates, so we can talk about both. But it's a great question. I mean Pilates was not a straight shoot for me. It was a roundabout way for me to really find what I love doing and how I love to spend my time. And I actually last holiday season I had a multi unit franchisee that now has close to 14 units that they have with Jetset. Bring me like a poster, do what you love and the money will come. And that's what I've told them, I swear to you. And you know, she was a successful entrepreneur and still is, you know, and works for Accenture Consulting industry. But that's really was my path. I came to America really poor in 1989. My family is Jewish. They left former Soviet Union. So my first path was how do I go into the best university that was University of Pennsylvania from public school and how can I make as much money as possible regardless whether I'm miserable or not. And that was going into technology and I got a Job working for somebody who graduated from Wharton, created a technology company that was acquired by Reuters. And I paid off my school loans in two years. But I hated every day of it. You know, I just did not like the job. Then I knew I had entrepreneurial spirit and I went into commercial real estate because that's really. You create your own book, you service clients, and you can create your own schedule. And I worked for them in New York City. I worked on really big leases. I've gained a lot of experience negotiating Lois and leases, which helped me tremendously was jet set in getting all these prime locations. Because that's a challenge. Number one for franchisees today is real estate. And then I got married and I moved to London, Continued working in commercial real estate, became actually a partner for Cushman and Wakefield. But when I gave birth to my first daughter in London, it was cold, it was dark, and I didn't have any friends. It was a new country. And I gained 60 pounds and I've never felt that way. I was really depressed. And I found a tiny Pilates studio in Kensington. Yeah, I lived in Kensington right off the street.

A (6:45)

I think I know which one it might have been too.

B (6:48)

Really? It was called Hardcore.

A (6:50)

Yes. Okay. Yeah, I know them well.

B (6:53)

Okay. Yeah, I think that was the very first location I swear to go. I was client number two. I was wondering, I saw something in the basement. I popped in. I'm like, oh, what's that? And they're like, that's a reformer. We're opening soon. And I would walk by every day. I open, I open. I want to try. And I got hooked. And within, I combined. That was just walking through Hyde park to my work. A simple walk with Pilates not only helped me shred wet, shred all the weight, but it really did transform my body. And the most important thing is I wasn't, you know, after the birth of my first child, I was really not all, you know, that happy, I think, you know, plus whatever you call it today. But I really helped me with really zoning out during the class. And it was that 50 minutes of my day, and I loved it. And then we moved to Miami. I really didn't have to work for a living. And sitting on the beach like, I'm like, well, there's going to be pilates 2010 Miami, I kid you not. I started jumping around Miami, Miami Beach, North Miami, Aventura, Sunny Isles, all the way to West Palm Beach. And I couldn't find what I was looking for. I mean, you had like the old style Pilates Report, which are great, but you lay on the machine, out of 15 minutes, you may be working out for 25, God bless them, you know, stretching. And I didn't have what I was looking for. I didn't have the. I wanted something different. And here I was, you know, I lived south to fifth. I knew commercial real estate. I found a very small spot and that studio exists today. And even though it's been there for like, whatever, years and I don't have to have it every time, like, well, I'm not going to renew the lease. The client, like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We have to have it in the neighborhood. So I opened it. I opened the first location, just really for me. And this is the time. But nobody knew what Pilates was, so there's had to be a lot of explaining today. I would say between the TikTok, I mean, you would ask, like, I could ask my significant other. He knows. And he, you know, there's no way guys knew what Pilates was with. So I had everybody talking me out of taking that lease. They said I was crazy. There's a gym in the building. What is Pilates? And it, you know, kind of a slow boat to China. Getting. Getting it going. And within the first few months, once the initial group of people tried it, I got a lot of word of mouth. You call it today. Viral marketing, social media. Back then, it was just a mom calling another mom, another mom. And then it kind of became a spot. And that was my beginning.

A (9:23)

That's awesome. And that was also early in the day of boutique fitness in general. You know, that was. We, you know, we had started to see, you know, the big names of the. Of boutique fitness beginning. Exactly. That was early days even. Even for them, that was early days. So it wasn't even just about Pilates in that. In that. In that kind of world back then. It was also about this idea of, hey, I have a gym membership, but I. There's also boutique fitness that I have to pay every class. And it's a. It was a. It was a different kind of business model and a different offer that a lot of folks. It was a transition for. From how people really approach fitness at that time as well, you know, obviously.

B (10:03)

Right.

A (10:04)

You know, it was. It was a different world to the world we're in today.

B (10:07)

So very, very different. I do think that one thing remained the same is that what sets boutique fitness apart is the community. There's no way you're going to walk into Equinox or Lifetime fitness with thousands of people and turn to your neighbor and start a conversation. That definitely happens in a reformer. And I've seen with my own eyes and I have happened to me the friends that people make when they go to this classes. It's incredible. I'd be like, how do you guys know each other? Oh, we met at your studio. We met a jet set. And I've heard it over and over and I think that's what attracts people. There's an extension beyond the four walls, right?

A (10:40)

Correct, There is. And it's that it's about shared experiences and people who are like minded, generally drawn to similar types of movement practice. Right. And everyone has a different, I think, you know, people are looking for different things out of their movement practice and that's why we have so many different offerings available that all are doing very, very well. When you know, you have, you know who you're targeting and you're going to, and then bring in the right kind of people and they're going to be kind of like mind in their approach to movement and then you already have that in common and then you're working out alongside each other and having this shared experience which only deepens that bond and connection. So yeah, it's so powerful and I think just so needed in the world today, right?

B (11:21)

Yeah. Oh my God, yeah. Especially with the phones and the big demographic for us has been teenagers too. I mean we've seen an influx of them starting from 14, 15. My daughter, her friends, they love, they come and then, you know, they love the music. And we're going to talk about that because we have a curated, you know, we have a dj, we pay him quite a lot to curate our playlists. They said, oh my God, the music is so great. Can you give. We can't give a playlist. It's an MP3 file. So they like the experience and I think that's kind of what sets Jetset apart. And people always ask me what's inside the jee and your logo. I always wanted to create an experience and not just a Pilates class or workout. I wanted the whole like nitty gritty of it. The whole journey. Come out of the class feeling challenged, but also like was a pleasant experience and I knew the touch points I wanted in my life and music was a big part of it always.

A (12:14)

Yeah, and I love that, you know, it's, it's a great, I think that's a great approach because you, I think in the, in the, the environment that we are in, in this industry right now, the experience is what makes or breaks Any studio. And so when you can curate a really unique experience for your clients that you can replicate in multiple different places, in multiple different locations, you know, then you're in the. You have the true ability to scale, right? And that's what you've done. So tell me a little bit about how you moved from having that one location to then having, I presume you had added other locations. When did that happen? And how did you know that it was time to add other locations?

B (13:00)

So really great question. When you have a great product, the time comes pretty much within six months, I had people coming to the studio. Can you open here? Can you open there? And what happened to me when I opened Jetset, I opened the doors and two weeks later I got pregnant with my second child. So here I was a little bit overwhelmed because, you know, I was really teaching a lot of classes and I was teaching through seven months pregnant. But it was really the buzz from clients. Can you open? Can you open? I started opening locations. The first location was 2010. The second came in in 2000, opened its doors in 2013, and actually was a client of Jetset who came in and became an operating partner in these locations, who said, well, I'll help you open them. You know, you had the vision. She first suggested Washington D.C. i said, no. And actually now we have opening a franchise in Washington D.C. and I wanted to thank you. We went into Coral Gables, it was of the charts, and we started opening locations. And that was all throughout up to the Pandemic and maybe in 2018. At the time, I had a believe seven or eight locations. I said, I want to. I want to. I have a different vision. I don't want to do corporate. I want to create what I've done and transfer the same knowledge to other entrepreneurs and let them do the same thing. How can I do this? And I started going to conferences and I started like literally buzzing into people's ears. How do you franchise? What do you do with franchising? I. There's a book here written by Mark siebert. He's the CEO of iFranchise Group. I literally like contacted him on LinkedIn and I contacted the then VP of actually had a franchise development or Orange Theory. I've, you know, I did not sit back and like waited for things to come. I started to learn. And one things I realized, well, first of all, Pandemic happened. So while I had all this interest, I kind of like, oh my God, what, what just what just happened? And it was really crazy time for me because I got divorced in 2018. And a little like facts that at it was a very friendly divorce, but the mediator said either you keep the business or you're going to get alimony, but you can't, you can't have both. And I had such belief and to judge said that I gave it up completely, any support to keep the brand 100%. And then like two years later, pandemic. So it was really, really tough time for me, but I really did a lot of soul searching about what it means to have grit and persevere. Because I think I would say 99% of people that would have been in my situation supporting two kids being shut down. A pandemic, no income would've probably be like, screw this, what can I do to get out? But I was like, this is the time that you have to like literally reboot your engines. I think something is gonna happen. And that's what I did. And I realized this is the way to do franchising is really to bring in partners versus per se employees that really believe in your brand. And I had, you know, I was fortunate to finally, after a lot of digging, after a lot of putting a lot of, you know, pillars out to meet people like that who had some franchise experience, a business experience, and bring them into the fold. And that's how I created the company called Jetset Franchising. They're the founding partners, operating partners of Jetset Franchising. And you know, with that we've brought all our core expertise and talents, my vision for the brand and their experience and, you know, putting all the bells and whistles into the back end and operating systems to really roll it out and roll it out consistently and quickly, scale it quickly.

A (16:31)

And that's what you've done, you know, 2022, right. We're now in, you know, end of 2024, you know, 70 locations. That's pretty quick, right, for franchise growth.

B (16:42)

Yeah, we actually, since you got that information, we're close to 80. So we close to 80 locations. We, you know, they're in development. 14 are going to be open by the end of the year. So as you sell units, right, the idea is to sell multi units. And when you're a young franchise, you start with one, when two, and then as franchisees see their success, they ask for more. And I think that's really what happened, which Jet said that organic validation, which has been incredible, you know, success breeds success. And I think I. It was just, there's never luck. I think being at the right time with Pilates for me Was lucky. But yeah, don't forget that I didn't just create the brand. When pilates became hot, I did so much groundwork for 12 years leading up to it.

A (17:29)

Yeah.

B (17:30)

Building a brand in Miami, which is transient place, it's more challenging to keep employees here than, let's say, West Boca. We open a franchise there that's doing incredible and it's more, you know, it's more stable market, family oriented. But Miami to me was. My vision was how do you build a big brand that people hear? And I met the founder of Ultra Music Festival. As I explained to you, I like music and his name was Adam. He's Adam. And said, look, I, I build the brand in Miami, but I, the money we make is outside of Miami. We go to these festivals. And I'm like, well, that's like franchising and, and that's really what I focused on. Just keeping the cluster really tight. So when people came in a pandemic and we have a CRM system, you can literally pull the address of a person and when we pull that map with the CRM, it's like, oh my God, they're from all over the country. And that really helped us launch. When we send that first email, we are franchising. We had a lot of hand raisers.

A (18:30)

Yeah, right. That makes a lot of sense. Very interesting. Very interesting. And so tell us a little bit about the process of franchising. So you had your core group of partners that you started that arm of your business, right?

B (18:45)

Yeah. Their name is Nat Burton. Charlie. Really fantastic, smart. They all like one is like an operations AI person. Really?

A (18:55)

Yeah. Great. And it's, and it's, you know, like you said, you. It's always helpful to have experts. Right. I think doing this without educating yourself and then doing it alone, I think is slower and harder. And so bringing in others who already know how to do this and then combining that with your talents and your vision. Right. Is how you've been able to really get a lot of momentum early on with your franchise operations, which is really fantastic. But how does it, how do you kind of seek out. How do you think about your franchise growth and how do you think about where is the next and how, you know, how. Where is the next franchisee coming from?

B (19:39)

It's really, really good question. We've definitely learned over the last two years where. And that's why it's called franchise development at this point. When we started, obviously the immediate thing was South Florida and you live in Delray. You know, we are rocking it here. We've got it really great after the pandemic. So it was really natural market to expand into. So here I am sitting here today. We're sold out of South Florida, so we're done with that and all the way to Orlando and things. And then as we sold out of South Florida, we started to think we want to be in key markets. Right. So you want to hit all the big cities. So now we're in Dallas, Atlanta Rally, New York City, Washington D.C. utah, California. So we started to think about where we want to be. And part of franchising is digital marketing. I mean, obviously we already had a sticky brand. We partnered with a great company and we started to market. And what's unique, I think about Jet Set and that speaks about the strength of Pilates. And our brand is that a lot of franchisees do work with franchise consultants and that's great. I mean they grow really, really fast with franchise consultants. We've been really fortunate, I think us. And there's another brand I think I've heard, Purebar. Is that so majority of our growth so far has been organic, meaning that people have heard about Jetset or they've seen an ad and they don't. We're not sold so much by. We do work with consultants, of course, we love them. But I think so much of our existing growth is organic and but we, we, we definitely going to go into New York City before we're going to go into Stamford, Connecticut. So does that make the mapping makes sense. Right. So we just open a unit in soho. Gramercy park is coming next, Brooklyn. Then we're going to New Jersey. So there's strategy with clusters, right. You go out where people are going to hear about us most and then that helps the rest of the network and building out the franchise network and those clusters.

A (21:43)

And how many of your franchisees have multi locations? Or is that the strategy that everybody does though?

B (21:50)

On an average. So on an average, we look at it as an average. So while we have a number of different franchise partners, on an average each bought two and a half units. But the way you could look at it that we have some that bought one and we have some that bought 14. Right. So obviously, you know, as we started we've had a number of single unit franchisees. They have to obviously qualify. There's financial qualifications. Absolutely. That's a starting point. And then they go through the franchise development process, which for us is pretty rigorous.

A (22:26)

And what does that entail?

B (22:28)

So before we even officially launched Chess at franchising, we started the company and we literally spent nine months behind the doors building out the systems. And that starts with the whole journey. Somebody raises their hand, they then meet with the. We have two people working in franchise development. They meet with Sarah or another person that works with her and then they're taking through a brand webinar that tells the potential of prospect about the brand, what we're looking for and seeing if there's a match. It's like speed dating. And then if it is and they qualify, then they go into the next stage, which is financial planning because obviously everybody wants to understand the numbers that the franchise industry is regulated. There's fdd, the disclosures, things like that. And then they come in and if they are very close in deciding that this is the right opportunity, they come to Miami, what's called confirmation day. And that's when they meet the rest of the team. We dive deeper into all of the support systems which is, it's pretty much from they take a class and then they spend six hours with us in the room going granular through all the systems they're going to get. From the moment they franchise, they sign a franchise agreement like their real estate search, build out, hiring, digital media, all of that. And then if they're still happy with this, they sign their franchise agreement and they're off to the races. So then it goes into our support systems and we have a whole team on the back end. So there's the front end and there's the back end and it's a really great team. And I think that's why we've been successful rolling them out and really supporting them. The team flies out two locations, helps them open. Training the instructors is a big thing for us. So it's a whole operation, it's now big operation than when I would have done corporate studios.

A (24:16)

Right, right. And tell me what does it look like for when in the commercial real estate market right now I know that obviously that's a big part of the early decisions that have to happen. You know, once someone signed that franchise agreement and how do you support and help your franchisees to find the right locations and to negotiate? Is that something that you're involved heavily?

B (24:39)

So I was super heavily involved with this for the first two years because we, you know, we had multitask. Right. Today I'm really happy to say that we have head of real estate and construction, a wonderful guy named Don, who comes with 30 years of franchise real estate and construction experience, own his brands, then did this father brands. It became a very intense, full time kind of thing working with real estate professionals. And now we have a whole process. So he is in charge of that process. We have selected a prop partner, a real estate partner. We work, going to work with them exclusively across, nationally, across the country looking for real estate. And then on the build out we have a required project manager. So as soon as the site is accepted, they do layout plans, things like that. So all this oversight happens on the corporate end to control all brand standards. But I'll tell you that the two years I was involved in commercial real estate, obviously I loved the fact that I could tap into my knowledge in South Florida and that was extremely helpful because we were able to get some of off market deals right. In very tight markets where you are in Delray. I mean there's very, very tough to find space. And we wanted to do the same thing in markets where, you know, I can recreate myself. And that's when we decided we need somebody who's in charge of real estate and construction, who has a good network of real estate professionals we trust as a company who are vetted. And that's really where we are today. We're at that stage of growth where now it's a process.

A (26:11)

Awesome. It sounds like you really have a really rigorous selection and onboarding process for your franchise, which I can only imagine just supports their success and your success long term.

B (26:24)

Yeah, I mean you would think that on one side as a growing franchise, you have, you, you feel like there's FOMO and you want to be the biggest. But I think for companies that just sign with anybody who has money, you know, you're, you're really going to feel issues and mistakes on the back end later on. Right. I mean there are brands out there that grew too fast. We don't want to be like Starbucks. Right. We're not going to have jet set on every corner. We're looking for a certain demographic. We want to go into certain neighborhoods and that's why we're selective with people who understand what we're trying to create and can support us in that. And we had had to turn a number of people down. But it's vice versa. You know, it's a mutual decision and it's okay because it's kind of like a relationship for the next ten years. Right, Right.

A (27:16)

Yeah. So I have one more question on, on this for you is that. Which is obviously there are, we are seeing a tremendous amount of studios opening across the country. There's a lot of. And then it's a growing number of franchises. How do you navigate that. And what's your kind of how you see the market evolving over the next two to three years in this space?

B (27:37)

Well, I think Pilates is really at still at early stages. You know, there is such a huge, still untapped market of people. I mean if you just think of people who've tried yoga but never tried Pilates and they will eventually try Pilates. And also, you know, our footprint is changing a bit. We started smaller, believe it or not. We're going now to 14, even to 18 reformers a studio. Even though we started like 10, 12, now our minimum is 12 because the demand is high and we're keenly aware of the competition and we are in spots where literally are across from some competition and we're killing it. And I think when people say what's the power of the brand? And you know, there are diamond dozen Chanel stores in the, you know, in the world, but there are millions of stores that sell purses and, and you only know about a few. And I think when you create a brand, you create something that people trust. Right. To give it the first, the first try. Right. If you are competitive in your pricing to other Pilates concepts, but you're offering them more value, that's where, that's where we're going after. Why do we offer more value? Beautiful build out, very aesthetic, best instructors, incredible music, lighting, it's all packaged together and I think that's why people, they're gonna try, but I think ultimately all things equal, they want to go for the best. And I'm confident that we are the best Pilates experience. There are people who've tried to use Reforma to create boot camps and that's not what we are. You know, our training is so comprehensive. We take some of like harder elements of what people do on the Pilates, on the Reformer, but we really try to create Pilates class. No screaming, no yelling, things like that.

A (29:22)

Yeah, I mean you clearly, you have built a fabulous brand and you know, your commitment and perseverance and passion just really shines through. And so as we kind of come to the end of this conversation, I have a bazillion other questions I'd love to ask you.

B (29:39)

You can always call me and we.

A (29:40)

Talk about, we can just talk, we can just chat.

B (29:42)

Yeah.

A (29:43)

But I want to know, you know, you're also a mom, right? You've got, you've got kids and you've built this alongside raising children. And so tell me, you know, for. Because there are many, many other women out there who are also doing the Same thing. Tell me how you balance and how you prioritize, you know, your time and what you kind of set perhaps or you kind of put into into action that helps you to make sure that you are doing what you and spending time where you really want to spend time.

B (30:15)

Yeah. So I am guilty of not balancing. When I was building the brand, I was obsessed with building it, then surviving the pandemic, then building the franchising. It was not balanced. I could tell you that I worked very long hours, weekends. I am balancing now and I really, I did it for my girls. I really wanted to create a bit of legacy for them. And my older one started working for Jet Set when she was 14. She was VIP customer care. She would log into CRM when she would come home, finish her homework and I would actually pay her and she would answer clients, help them book into classes. But I do think if, if you didn't do what I did, I was running the studios, I was setting up the franchise business with my partners. If you really just an operator of. When I was only doing Pilates studios, I was in early days, it was amazing. You know, once you have the studio up and running, you have a great manager, you go and take classes. So that was truly a great experience that I wanted to recreate. And now I'm reaching the point where I'm also able to balance as the company grows, we're hiring people to do things that I was tapping into and now I'm truly just focused on being the brand president and not being a brand president and doing real estate and other things and gazillion of other things. So I'm back the full cycle. Right. So I think to operate a multi channel Pilates studios I think is a great way for people to make a living and enjoy doing, you know, things that give them flexibility and that's what we're seeing. When people come interested in franchise and.

A (31:45)

Empowering women to have control over their income and career and so on, it's really fabulous.

B (31:51)

I do think women should have control over things.

A (31:55)

Yes, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing all of your insights and all about what you have built and the journey along the way. I'd love for you to share about how if people want to learn a bit more about Jet Set Pilates, where they should go and where they should connect with you.

B (32:14)

Absolutely. So jetsetpilates.com we have an area that shows all the studios that are opening around the country and Australia and if they're interested in franchising there's a little place on the website and franchising. They can fill it out and somebody will get back to them within 24 hours.

A (32:34)

Fabulous. Well, thank you. I'm going to link to all of that in the show notes so you can always find all the links there as well. But thank you so much Tamara for sharing everything and being so open and honest. It's been really a pleasure.

B (32:44)

Thank you so much.

A (32:46)

Well, thank you all for listening in and I hope this was helpful and insightful to you as you go about building your boutique fitness studio business. And if you enjoyed what you heard, please go to wherever you're listening to this and rate and this podcast. And while you're there, just tap on that follow button so you always get the latest episodes. Did you love this episode and want more? Head to spring3.com and check out my free resources that will help you run a profitable and fulfilling studio business. And before you go, one last reminder. There is no one way to do all what you do, only your way. So whatever it is that you want to do, create or offer, you've got this. Thanks again for joining me today and have a wonderful rest of your day.