For thirty five years, Cindy Stumpo has been a female homebuilder with a passion for design, a mastery of detail, and a commitment to her crack. With daughter Samantha Stumpo by her side.
I don't need my whole family on a date with me. That's a good note.
It's God him weird. See. Stumpo Development is the only second generation female construction company in the country.
You're crazy, You're a wacko. You're insane.
I mean, it just doesn't end together.
Cindy and Samantha welcome guests to explore the world of construction, real estate, development, design and more. You're unpredictable. Every time I think I know what you want, you switch it out. But that's what makes your house is all your They discuss anything that happens between the roof and the foundation. Nothing is off limits. I you truly do care about everybody. She can yell at, you can scream, but when you get her alone, she's the best person on the planet.
Cindy Stumpo is tough as nails.
They are welcome to Cindy Stampo to nails on for WVZ and we're here tonight with my daughter dat b mutne, I can't really something snap? Okay, that's good. And then we have another name that ends na vowel here in the first thoughts of leek all I guess names in the vowels that we and we're here with whom.
My name is Nico Verano. I'm very gratefully you guys had me on.
Today, Okay? And who is Niko.
Ran nco Rano? First off, is the son of Nick and Michelle Van That's what I always start off with.
Let me hold you down. Why do you always say that Nick is my dad?
Because my greatest achievement in life will be being their son. We're making them proud. Yeah, one hundred percent. The name of my company actually is MMFP. The holding companies MMFP make make my.
Father proud, Make my father proud.
Yeah, my mom will be proud as long as I'm a good person. But my dad takes a little bit more.
I must be the mom and dad in this family takes a little more. Okay, I just say I'm your daughter. I don't really mention dad. Okay. So, but it's a boy that wants to make his father proud, right, that's it. Tell my listeners why that is and then we'll get into what you do.
Because you know, my dad, I think had a much different upbringing than the one he gave me. You know, he quit school in the ninth great to basically support himself, uh and made a name for himself. And in my opinion, you know, he's the best business owner I've ever seen. Period. I've been in rooms with you know, fortune five hundred CEOs, guys that have started a billion dollar companies, and I've never been more impressed by them than I have been by my dad.
So here's your hero.
Yeah, no doubt about it.
So is there anything that makes you ever feel insecure about trying to fill those shoes?
Well they're massive shoes, absolutely massive shoes to fill. Not as big as his pants were to fill.
Yes, you don't have that problem. You know, issues go ahead and you must like your mom.
But uh but yeah, big shoes to fill. And you know, now he's basically carved a path for me. So the pressure I feel sometimes is like am I doing enough to head down that path and be successful? But it's a pressure that you know, he reminds me of, Like, you know, you don't have to just try to make me happy, but It's one of those things that you know, if I try every day and have a little bit of success, I think we'll be happy.
Is it amazing? How old? You know?
Thirty? Just turn thirty?
Just ten thirty? And when did you get in your head that you wanted to make your parents proud?
Probably probably at a pretty young age, like probably around like ten or twelve.
At that young of age, Huh, you knew that you wanted to make them proud.
Yeah, because I saw the journey my dad took of basically just you know, taking a leap of faith opening up a fifty person restaurant in the North End that sort of the same Italian food that everybody else served in the North End and becoming successful doing that just by treating people differently and making sure everybody had a great time. And he created a name for himself from nothing.
So if he's given me the platform by you know, moving us from Rivera to Lindfield for a better school system and then give.
They did that to me too, Yeah, and then from there from West peb to Newton, Like would you send me there for stop giving these culture sharks? You people like what's want? My parents?
Yeah?
But they you know, they did that, and uh then he gave me the opportunity to go to college. So I was the first one in my family to go to college. So you know, what's the other option other than make them proud?
Is the first generation Chian?
He is first generation. His parents came over when they were pregnant with him, so born here, went back every summer. But he was born in Boston.
I like that.
No, yeah, dad was born. You know. Dad was an oops.
Yeah, but he was born here.
Yes, who isn't an oops though nowadays?
Now I was planned.
She was definitely planned. At the moment to the moment, I was an oops. I was a big oops oops chowers oops too, oops happens. Oops, so that happens, Okay, oops are good things to them. They'd all the oldest.
I'm the oldest. So I have one younger sister. Her name is Marina. She lives out in La She's awesome.
I hear she's selling real estate.
She is selling real estate out there, trying to She has one really big listening right now that she's very excited about.
So good for her.
Yeah.
So there's two of you, two of us.
That's it. Age gap two and a half.
Years how much closer. Yeah, so nephews and you both wanted. Does she have the same thing of making dad proud like you or more you?
I think I have it more. She'd probably get mad that I I think she has it too, But she sees the world the same way that they gave us an opportunity, so now we had to capitalize on that.
Do you think there's a difference between first generation kids, whether the Italian with South America whatever, of a different upbringing than me being a second or third generation American.
Here, I don't think so. I think if if you have parents that instill certain qualities in you, you're going to want to work no matter if your first, second, third, fourth, fifth generation. It really just depends on sort of how you're raised. And sometimes on the opposite side of the spectrum, you're not raised that way and you still want to raise your family one day a different way. So you're going to work to provide a much different upbringing than you had.
So I'll tell you why you will be success successful. It's on my opinion, and you already on that road, is because, like you, I want to make my dad proud to right, that was the goal I want him to say, now, that's my daughter. The biggest compliment you can get on thousand percent. I knew that by probably eighteen. Seventeen eighteen is when I started to know that, Okay, we both have that in common. I think a lot of people, a lot of kids, no matter what generation,
if we have respect, we get love. We love our parents, but there's a different way we love them. Sometimes we don't like them. We always love them. Sometimes you don't like them. We don't like rules, we don't like regulations. But I think brought up in the right environment, that hustle is just in you. And then they just kind of flick the lighter. That's a torch that they know. A parent knows when their kids got that bit of that.
I can do this and trigger you know what I'm saying to you know what I'm saying on this, well, like the big lighter, because there was fuel to light. He saw that in you. Whether you saw that in you or not, I don't know.
No, he definitely saw it. I remember vividly. It was an end of freshman year. I was just finished my freshman at Miami, and I had worked to transfer into BC because that was his dream school for me. In that summer, I had an internship. It was only like two days week, and I never forget. He came in on like a Tuesday, middle of the summer and I was just home with some friends and he lit me up. He said, you know you got to be working five
days a week, sixties week, seven days a week. He goes, you know, you're gonna end up just like any other bust out.
So he lit you up, and my son says, I tune him up. Is that the same thing?
Yeah, same thing.
So as he's lighting you up at that moment, what are you saying in your head.
I'm saying, well, I just worked so hard to transfer to BC, like, can I get a little bit of a break. But I didn't realize at the time was that he was trying to show me that the hard work never stops. You just got to keep going and keep going and keep going.
And did you understand that at the time, or are you going, what the heck's going on? Yeah, I'm now in BC. That's still not making you happy.
Yeah, that day, I didn't understand it at all. But I always reflect back on that day and remember vividly. Maybe because he was four hundred pounds and yawn at me. But I remember that very vividly to this day, and I think you know, I ultimately thanked him for it, because you know, from that day on, the mindset changed in some ways.
Yeah, that's what would you generation? Is all the times mindset I use. I don't know, like I never heard that word, so I went on social audio. I would say, where's your brain? Why aren't you using your brain?
I mean you kind of said something similar to me with me, like it was my freshman year of college. You came back and you were like, I'm going to take away your car unless you get a job. And you were like, you have to apply everywhere because if you don't have a job, I'm literally taking away your car.
And I believe to you and now look at you guys, but you have to put Look as far as I'm concerned, I know this. I was never afraid of my father, but he and still the enough fear. I knew he never hurt me, he would never put his hands on me, but he just had to give me that one eyebrow and I went stage left. But that respect is gone now, especially kids your age I had thirty years older. I everybody's a kid. You're not. We're talk in Boston, right,
you could be eighty years old. My mother's talking about her friends. The only kid that we went to school with. Mom. I think the kids growing up and maybe has died by now, like right, but this is most kids. But I think that if you give those kids that little bit of fear, like your dad used to say, you what he's gonna do?
What to you if you don't, oh run me over, chot my fingers off? One or the other. Never happened, thank god.
Never happened. Absolutely, but it was like the thought was put in your head, like you gonna shot my fingers? Is he gonna run me over? We know that's not really going to happen, but everybody hold that thought. We're going to break. I'm Sidy Stumbling. You listen to Toughest Nails on w b Z and we'll be right.
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Good and welcome back to Toughest Nails on WBZ and we're here with who Wake up? Get off your phone there, Sammy, I'm Smantha. Who are you? I'm Cindy? Are you? I don't know I'm changing my name. I'm becoming Coela. You didn't actually like that name? We want to drink, Maybe you should name yourself. I was born to frank and then they changed it to Si.
How'd that happen?
Because my mother looked at me and she goes, Bobby, this is one ugly baby, and we are not giving her a boy's name because, oh my god, she's got these long arms, long legs, jet black here and she is the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Nate give her a girl's name right away. My father's like, she's not ugly. No, she's ugly. They switched from the hospital. She's really not mine.
That's what they thought. That's what she thought around. Okay, so the name Frankie would have fixed me fit me perfectly, I don't think so what would.
Have I don't know. There's just something about when someone says Cindy stump Frankie Stumpo doesn't actually sound as intimidating.
You say Cindy Stumpo nowadays.
It's Cindy's such a like it reminds you of the Brady Bunch with the girl that wore the pigtails. I don't know. Cindy's just Cindy.
Maybe you put a different meaning meaning to the name Cindy's like a boss statusy okay.
So imagine if it was Frankie Stumpo, then they would all, you know what. Back then, they would have assumed I was a guy because they all thought, see Stumpo was a guy. Right. Remember we didn't have Google back then. It was like and then they meet me and they go like, you don't look like a builder. Oh, what's the build to look like? I'm sorry, like, should I put that in the dictionary? What's the build to look like?
But no, I think to see your generation and we're going to get into everything you do in a minute. But be this hard working at thirty years old. I hate to tell you, but you are now the not norm. This was norm for my generation. Gold and push that rock up the mountain. Have that burning desire to be successful. We wanted it. We wanted to get out of the house at eighteen and go live our lives like love your mom and dad, but we got to go figure
stuff out for ourselves. Right, Your generations like boomerangs boom your home, you come back, you leave, you come back. So you have the phenom now not the norm.
It's funny because a lot of the time I enjoy hearing the stories like my dad and his friends will tell. So like sitting in a room with my dad, Frankie d and a lot of those older business owners like those are not my favorite moments because the learnings you get from you know, Frankied was working at the age of like fourteen outside.
Of he d He's gonna be the due man in heaven. Okay, yeah he is, So he's got better stories than anybody, right, And then you put those two together in the room and you're just laughing because it's the greatest like hour you can spend.
And then you hear stories from like guys like Anthony Rossi, who at my age was doing one hundred different things. So like it's just I learn a lot from my dad's friends that it's you know, the greatest blessing.
In life is Yeah, but Ross, you gotta get this. Hey, do you get the new ap Hey? Do you get the new Really? Hey? I got the new Betley? Hey, I got the new Roles Hey. Hey, hey hey, I remember what the first thing he said was, I should have left you well.
Half of the stuff he mentions me, I don't even know what it is. I just go along like, well that sounds unbelievable. Ie those but no, he's he's I.
Just bought a four thoughts. I bought a pocketbook twenty thousand dollars my wife, it's worth one hundred and twenty.
Okay, somebody calls and he says your name like it's a panic see me? Yeah, what's going on?
Oh?
Can you just send me this?
Yeah?
I got a good deal. He's like, I hit your phone every time you call me.
That's one thing about him. He answers every single time.
Every time you call him with a two seconds fault pone draft, phone drops and then and I'm like, where are you kids?
Talk to you anymore?
If you look at my phone, He's yelling at me, say, I answer your phone call every time? And do you stick me a voicemail? I need you to answer a question for me. Dude, I'm on a zoom meeting I just get and I was on a face zoom meeting so I couldn't text. I'm like, you can't make this up. But yeah, I mean it's definitely grew up with a cast of characters, right.
Oh, cast of characters. I say it all the time. I feel like I'm one of very few people that can sit in a room with business execs on a Tuesday night and have dinner with them, and then on a Wednesday night have dinner with some guys that have maybe spent more than half their life in jail and have a good time with both both crowds and learn from both crowds.
Isn't amazing? So you vicariously do live through other people.
I take lessons from everybody.
So that makes you a genius.
Now I don't know about that.
No, it does. You know the same, and let me hopefully I get it right with my brain right now, tom, People make the same mistake over and over again, expecting a different result. A smile person makes a mistake, no, no, no, makes a mistake, but then makes a new mistake, doesn't make the same mistake. And a genius just lives through everybody else's mistakes. And I live through everybody else's.
I hope I can get to that level. I'm not there yet, but I hope so.
But you will, you will. I don't think I was there at thirty either, but I got there. So now now that we understand Nico's background and what are you doing?
So right now we're opening up a bunch of sweathouse studios which are contrast therapy studios, So infrared sauna, cold plunged, Vitamin C private suite all over Massachusetts.
Okay, what made you stop this? And then we'll go get into what that actually is because some people that are listening don't really understand this whole new cold plungings, sauna, red, red infra red. I call it red by therapy for some reason, my brain infrared. And then what's the vitamin C show? We do?
So the Vitamin C shower is really good. We'll get into this. But when you sweat, your pores open up. So when you go into the Vitamin Sea shower, it adds that low grade vitamin C into the water, which kills all the bacteria in limes seal on the pipes and then basically freshens the water so that you get very very clean water. And it adds a little bit of vitamin C back into your skin.
So it's more for the system less for the body.
It's fifty to fifty. It kills all the limestone bacteria, which is great, but it also adds a little bit of low grade vitamin C into your skin as well.
And how many times can I if I want to go into the saun like what I heard when I was there, after going the sauna, go in the cold plunge, back on the sauna, going the cold plunge. Is that true?
You can do. The beautiful thing about sweatoes is you're in your own suite for sixty minutes by yourself, and you can go any which way you want. So most people will do twenty minutes in the sauna, a five minute vitamin sea shower, a five minute cold plunge, and then repeat that one more time so they fulfill the hour. Some groups of people will do a forty five minute sauna followed a five minute shower, follow by a five
minute plunge, followed by five minutes to get ready. So the whole thing is you want to go from hot to cold to cold to hot, because that's what's going to cause it therm, a regulatory reaction in your body. Explain that all right, So when your body goes from hot to cold to cold to hot, your body is activating a lot of things you don't typically activate. So what that activation does is it kills a lot of the inflammation around your muscles and bones and allows you
to prevent things like sicknesses. It improves your mental health and improves brain clarity. But more than anything, just makes you feel better. Like the simplest way I explain this to people such as my dad's friends is coming to sweathouse just makes you feel better both internally and externally. You just feel amazing.
Okay, So some people that can't use that. So for me, when I'm home and I'm taking a steam, I'm taking a son in my own house. At some point I run low blood pressure, right, so I gotta I feel lightheaded, yep, and I gotta crawl out of the steam like sometimes I literally have crawled out of my own steam, right, Can you help me? Like I think I'm fainting. So if you have low blood pressure, does that because my
dog said, Okay, you run low blood pressure, Cindy. So if you're gonna take a steam, just take a don't go the full time, yep, make it shorter.
What I would say is, I think you'd do much better in our infrared saunas because they heat you from the inside out, so it's a much more heat. It's a heat that you can withstand a lot longer. So that's why you can sit in there for forty five minutes. You wouldn't sit in a traditional steam or a traditional
sauna for that long. But you can sit in an infrared sauna, maybe do thirty minutes and see how you feel, and then go cool off with a cool shower and then go in the cold plunge, and I don't think your low blood pressure would ever even come into the mix.
Is this the same infrared that they're using on people's faces that put them on their faces and they here to make their hear grown their skin. So that's red light therapy, Okay, so it is.
It is different. Infrared and red light therapy are a little bit different. There's some of the same dynamics behind it, but they are two different things.
Track record, you went off of this before you opened up your first one.
Yeah, I learned all the science. Funny enough, I got into sweathouse through a former job that I had where I met the founder of Sweathouse and I told him I want to be a first franchise e. I really believe in this concept. But the reason I fell in love with it was I was training for a charity boxing match called Haymakers for Hope. So I use Sweathouse as part of my training regimen right before the fight,
and I was like, this is business. Is a no brainer from a trend standpoint, from an economic standpoint, this is the future. And this was about two and a half years ago now.
So you use this how many times a week? Personally?
Personally twice? I'd like to be using it a lot more. Too busy working, too busy working, yeah, which is no excuse.
Okay, but wait, yeah, it is an excuse. It's called reality. Right. Unfortunately, married, you have a wife, you have a business, and then there's no time for you. Welcome to the real world, right, Welcome to becoming an adult. When you don't do it, you feel like you're going through withdrawal like you need it.
Oh one hundred percent, You wake up foggy, you feel like crap, and you just don't have that same pop because when you go into the cold plunge, you get that dopamine hit, and that dopamine hit. I mean we say it's sweat house, We literally sell dopamine. If you come into sweat House, we are selling you the best form of dopamine.
You can get okay, don't pay attention to him. He's just the producer. He comes in, Hendy flashes the clock in front of me, and that means I got to go to break and I told him, don't come into the last twenty seconds. Now, I got five seconds to get out to break. And you listen to Cindy stump On Chuff his Nails on WBZ and be right.
Back, sponsored by Pellow Windows of Boston, Next Day Molding and Kennedy Carr.
Check It, Sea Hungry, Welcome Back the Toughest Nails City Stumpo on WBZ. And I'm here. I'm just gonna introduce I Ray. Let's say me Nikki Nico. So let me ask you this question, Nico, why is it I need something for you. I need you to do this for me.
Yeah.
I tried this in my own house, right, okay, because I went and checked out your location, I said, okay, I couldn't get in. Sammy went in, chat I went in, no problem. The minute I put my feet in, I can't get past my feet. So I went home. I took my own ultra, my own tub that has ear bubbles, and I put the ear bubbles on and I tried it again, so I said to Ray, get me plastic bags, and I'm gonna wrap my feet in plastic bags because if I get past the feet pot, you're I'm good.
So why don't they make these booties that we can put on our feet if I could just slide in and hit my butt first, it's the feet problem.
The funny thing is I'm the opposite once my feet and I'm fine.
So they do sell toe caps, so is that your toes are your whole feet? All right? So people have done that. You can wear a certain type of sock into the tub and it basically acts as a placebo to protect your foot.
So I'm not the one that has the problem the feet part.
No, A lot of people wear the toe caps because it's their toes up both of them the most. So it literally looks like little like toe caps. So I can give you a pair of those, or I give you a pair of these special socks so next time you come in you'll have no issue.
So I'm so I'm not cuckle crazy. No something people the feet thing, I mean, maybe, but not about that. Okay, I'm cuckoo crazy all you people? Maybe cuckle crazy in thirty seven years and construction has done a number to me. But go ahead.
So some people who come in and actually lower themselves all the way in and keep their feet out of the plunge.
I try, I couldn't slide down. Come on, fuddy, I'm not thirty years old anymore, right, I'm trying to figure out. Like two, I'm like this, I'm sliding in. I got my feet up. I'm like, this ain't working. It's actually funny, but I figured this out. If I get my feet I gotta find something. Because when I put the plastic
bags on my feet, you were good. It was good to go okay, And that's sometingly like this in my own tub, and rais dump and ice in it, right, and we got it to the coldest that could get it, nothing as cold as you as obviously, And I'm like, okay, I got this all right. Samuel lasted what twenty seconds? How long did you last? And Nicoes probably maybe maybe not even that.
We're gonna build that up though. It's all mental. It literally is all mental. And you making that decision I'm going to stay in this tub. Also activate stuff in your brain to help you think a lot clear. It helps with clarity for like the rest of it.
It has to and it has to help with inflammation reduces everything. I don't care what anybody says. Ninety percent of why we feel like crap is inflammation. Okay, when you need start to hurt and this starts to hurt, you leg start to feel it's inflammation.
But there's a huge stagistic going around that the more you infret, the more you cold plunge, the more it increases years of your life. It reduces heart attacks, reduces all these things that everyone's afraid of.
Yeah, you can't open up Instagram nowadays without seeing something about saunas where whether it's Gary Huberman. I mean, they're all talking about it.
Yeah I'm lucky. I get the Tenex Gary Brickham direct line.
Yeah you got the direct phone.
I got the direct But you know what, I don't listen. That's my problem, you know what I mean, Like, I don't listen why though, Because if something doesn't make sense to me and I can't wrap my arms around it, just don't like change. No, it's not about that. I think certain things are for gazy, Like I promise it's for real. No, this is not for gazy. This I know because this is real. This is real, and I've done my homework on this, right, so we're not I'm not new at this game. And that's why I love
getting behind you on this one. Because inflammation is the killer, and then brain fog is a second. Especially for women in menopause. Okay, go do this. I'm telling you. It works, It really works. And for men, you just need it.
Men need it sometimes, I would say even more than women, because well because I think women do a better job of balancing themselves in a way, not just one, whereas men sometimes like they don't take time to do a self care day, they don't take time to you know, do something out of the normal. So you know, we definitely are here for both men and women. But there's different types of benefits. I think every person should be
coming to sweathouse. But I've convinced people off the street that are maybe working a construction job and have never taken a mental health day ever for themselves to come into sweathouse. And now there are most loyal customers, most loyal client.
Our mental health day. We came in at seven o'clock at night. That's my mental health.
Yeah, got to start a little bit later.
Yes, yeah, but last he's like every time we talked to him, I'm at sweathouse, like he's.
The only person that has service there because none of us do.
Yeah, I don't know, he's good service. I'm at sweathouts. I'm like, okay, call me when you get done. No, I could talk to you. I'm like, I'm not going to talk to you while you're sitting in this He did.
Three minutes that way, and if someone were to call you and distract you, you can stay in there longer.
Well, that's why I know they have TVs in there.
Yeah, And we get a lot of couples that come in. A lot of couples are replacing the typical date night at Mastro's with a date night at sweathouse.
It's better, it's healthier. Yeah, and then you're not drinking and you're not eating crazy food you know that.
Feel like unbelievable, And you're doing something that at first it's out of the norm, and and then you're building it into your rotation. Now it's becoming a habit. And as soon as you make it a habit, you're gonna start feeling healthier. Every single day.
We get the outa there.
Yes, he's been in a few times. He doesn't come as much as I would like him to go in. He likes the cold plunge, but it's tough to get him to sit anywhere for an hour.
That would be me too, Yeah, because our brains are moving fast than our body is twenty four to seven. That's just how we It's just that's just how we are.
It like instantly makes me sleep better, like into a deeper ram.
And so you're all into yoga and all that you're but I like to beat. I feel myself. I did download Yuga as it's called. What's that? Oh, I'm scanning everything? Do you know? Deodrant is zero to one hundred means it's the worst.
Yeah, that's the spray deodorant. We even have it in the studio and we're taking it out. But spray that Yeah, I.
Won't say the name, but that's the Geordan I use. I've never used spray. Well, it doesn't matter. So now I'm scanning everything in my house but my cocon and everything with three six five from Whole Foods scans at one hundred one hundred. You know, my water one hundred one hundred because it's out of the glass bottle. Okay, I'm lily, you could and everything.
Can you skin a person?
No?
But see how you're doing that, say away, that's the shift I think we're seeing now and we'll probably continue to see for the next way.
See that's great for your generation. My generation missed the boat on that one. Okay, about what you crew and everything.
Just taking on more like a healthier lifestyle, checking everything that's going into or on our bodies. I think our generation, where we may lack in the work ethic, we're making up with in the we want to take care of ourselves.
Yeah, we'll get back in the work ethic, okay, because we need work is healthy.
I feel like that pendulum swings the people that like overly take care of themselves and the people that don't it all in our generation, I.
Know one thing, I'm running from the inside out.
So I either see everybody that's like overly wants to be doing fitness or the total opposite, And I'm like, no, that like gives me the ick. If we don't want to take care of again, go to the gym, Like, why don't go the gym?
I did that for thirty years, right, like twenty five years hardcore and then I just got and then I went on TV. Started when I went to a GTV was my fall down on working out, right, and I've never really got back into it on a consistent space, right, So I just go like this, ask I'm old. Now I don't care, right. But then there's a whole gym in my house, right, so it makes me go down
there and use it more. But to get back on treadmills and the ways to go on stem masters and step aerobics, and I just don't want to do that anymore, Like I don't. It really doesn't that maybe the year I'll change my mind.
And that's what so cool about a lot of the fitness places you go to, like the Handlebar Hotbox, because they provide a very different type of workoud and you can get in a home gym or big box gym, and then you add in sweathouse to it, and now you can go Monday through Friday, even on the weekends, do your Handlebar hot Box and sweat house. And after you do it for a few weeks, you feel like a different person.
That's as your hours look great. So someone that works like a full day, they still can come late at night and still happen.
They can't. They can't say, Okay, what are your locations?
All right? So right now, as of October twenty twenty four, we have Assembly Row, Burlington and Chestnut Hill open.
Yeah, that's why we're in there now, because he's in Cheslan Hill.
Yes, right down the street. I drive by your office every single day.
Do you do just pick her up?
No?
I shouldn't. I always think about swinging in right on the corner of frozen Coffee.
Okay, I just need somebody with me when I'm in there.
You got three locations, three studios open now. Hopefully South Boston opens this Friday.
We're manifesting.
We're manifesting it.
Does that mean it's on its way to being open? So you people with these words like to.
Me meaning he's doing everything he can to open it, and he keeps getting blood.
It's done. We're just waiting for the City of Boston.
Isn't really great how the inspectual service works in the building department.
The construction I've I've really struggled with.
Yeah, welcome to my room.
Yes, But now having friends like you and Anthony, I can ask you guys like Hey, what do you think of this situation? But yeah, construction has been a little bit of challenge. And then after South Boston, at the end of this month, we'll be opening up Hingham as well down on the shipyard.
So you just go you're going deep.
Yeah, yeah, just you know all out, anybody.
Going this deep would never think that this is a trend. You think this is to stay.
I think I think a lot of fitness trends and wellness trends have a life of ten years. That's kind of my philosophy. I think we're not even in the real beginning of year one right now. I think we're in maybe the top of the first inning when it comes to sweathouse.
So you just worked at one of these places and decided to ask the guy can I find know? So what was your first job?
By the way, So my first job after BC was I was in investment banking at Bank of America Mary Lane.
All right, everybody, hold that thought, got it, hold it, hold it, you got it? Okay, This is Citdy Stubblechuppers, Nails and WPZ will be right.
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Body the way.
It's not in the way you said.
I'm back to tap As Nails on WBZ and I'm here with Nico, I'm here with Sammy by crumbling. Okay, but let me explain something that is such an Italian thing to do. Never go into anybody's home empty handed.
You can't do it. Like you can't show up somewhere empty handed.
I've never done that, never mind.
And I was stressed out because I was coming from like the Chestnutill area here and I was like, oh my god, where can I start. I can't stop in modern pastry. That's not on the way, it sounds like. So I looked up.
I was like, crumbled on the way here for you where to go? You know? We all went back to like Revera for our pastry, like we ran back to the North pastry, like we don't buy pastry around here.
No, I couldn't stop anywhere else.
So we literally and I will drive to Broadway Limberto's It's the best, the best.
No, the best is that Rossi and Ray had a Canoli off to see who was better. Rossi was wrong and he picked the yes.
So Rossi got his down in the North. Then we went to Limberto's.
And he was like, I can tell the difference, and he picked.
Them three times. ROSSI lost that one.
I mean, amazing, it is it is.
I love them in there. But anyways, what we'll go back. We're gonna jump all over here because we have another segment here and I want to get everything in. So how do you know, Like Sam when we just went out to break, says said, she knows when I'm in a good mood or bad so with Dad, and I know that you hold him in. That's your idol, right, And how do you know when the conversation's starting off good or bad?
So if I get a text from him before nine am, that just says the two words, high pal, I know something somewhere I either grewed up or something's about to pop off, and you know it's going to be a bad day. So that's how I know, high pal, those two words. You get that before nine am? Just I know I mess something.
And what's a good how's a good text?
Not he'll call me or I'll call him. I mean I call him seven hundred times a day. I call my mom about four hundred because obviously I hold my mom in a very high standard as well. But yeah, my dad, if I get that high pal text, it's watch out.
So that's the one that you go.
Yeah, no, it happened one time I was on when my last job. I was on the phone on a zoom with the uh the CEO, and I was his chief of staff at the time. So We're having a weekly you know, morning meeting, and I get a text from my dad. Also it was high pal. So my boss sees me on zoom. My face goes white because now I'm trying to think, all right, where did I screw up? I screwed up somewhere in the past few days where I just got a high pal text, Like
you start going through the bank of memories. So I'm like, where have I been? What did I do? Ended up being nothing? But that's that's the text.
Okay. So if we don't get a high pal, let me just get what.
No call me be like what's up? What's up today? He likes, So what's up today? He likes knowing like what is my plan today? Because you know, he knows I went from having a very structured job to now just do what.
Was your structured job?
So when I graduated BC, I was in investment banking at Bank American Merylinch in New York. I did that for two and a half years, Oh thank you. And then I went into private equity with the local firm here in Boston. And then after that I joined one of their portfolio companies as the chief of staff to the CEO. So he that CEO, Ken Murphy, one of my best friends, taught me how a business should be
run and all. In the meanwhile, I was still working with my dad to help in the background on the restaurants. And then in September of twenty twenty two, I made the decision, you know one, I want to start my own thing. And that's how Sweathouse came about.
Okay, so this sweat house name is owned by somebody else. You've now kind of made a deal together with.
The students, so it's it's a franchise. So I was the first franchisee.
Yeah.
So they owned thirteen corporate studios at the time I bought in UH. So I acquired the Assembly Row studio from Corporate UH in January twenty twenty three, and also the rights to open up across Massachusetts New Hampshire.
But why did you start your own your own name. What was the reason to buy into the franchise?
So I really I really liked the franchise or I had a good bond with them where it was so good that they actually added me to the board of the company as well. So uh, And I also believe in the Sweathouse brand. I think they have a great team. I think they have the right marketing in place.
Now. Uh.
And I think you know.
You felt it was it was laying out that mind buy into a franchise. Yes, because because you could have opened up your own name, I could.
Have opened up Nico's Sweathouse Nico Sweatshop. Probably wouldn't done well with that name sweatshop, but yes, go ahead. Yeah. So I also believed that if if you're one of the first franchises in a system, right, and you have forty other franchises that are going to open up studios across the country, if you get yours open and you ride the wave, you should be able to eventually one day have a really profitable, successful business. You can one day exit.
Okay, now, if they sell theers. Let's say some company comes along, a BC guy comes along, whatever they want to buy out. Are you part of that? Would you be? Or these franchise owners don't get to be part of that.
No, my studios and my studios I pay my royalties. I paid them for my license. But if they decide to sell the company, all that changes is who I'm writing the royalty check to my studios, stay in my studios. Got it so, and hopefully hopefully that happens one day for them, because that'd be a great exit for the original founder as well as the original investors, who are my former bosses at the private equity firm.
But they can't sell franchises too close to what's the mile No.
So I when I came into that was my biggest thing. I didn't want to compete with anybody. I didn't want other people opening up in different territories that were close to me. So I have Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and you know, I'm looking at New York City, no shirt. You know, there's no certainty that will sign on the dotted line, but I believe this concept would do really well there as well. Probably construction. It will be challenging in New York City.
Yeah, oh god, please, yeah, don't even get me going about that. No, no, no, And we were union for a long time, right, yeah, I had my concrete being turned around on me. Don't even ask like that was all craziness. Okay, So what was the question we were talking about before? Sammy? By the way, Yes, what's that? How do I text you that you know you got trouble coming?
You don't ask a question, it's already like you've already assumed something. And it depends on the time of day. So none of her guys have understood this that if she need they need something from her where they've screwed up. You can't ask her that before five o'clock. Anything post five pm, it's a different response. So lately they all to me to go to you, so because they think
I can take the heat. Like the other day, your lawyer literally said, I'm afraid of Cindy, so I need to make sure I'm there or we need to make the plan around me.
So but that's cool, right, Like you guys work in to you. That's so cool.
It's there's nothing to be afraid of me. If I hear that like ten times a day, I am the nicest person in the world. Now, I agree, you do me jourdey.
No, it's how they approach it is that's the problem.
So they approach me the wrong way and then they get the other Cindy.
Which they should. They deserve that.
But the difference is if they just said, first thing, hey, I screwed up, then the dancer response is different than the other way. So at the beginning I used to always say, instead of asking the stupid question, I used to say, this may be a stupid question, and her level of like anxiety would be like, okay, fine, you can ask me the question now, or just me just saying something.
I say that there's no such thing as a stupid question, so ask me the question. But then if she's asked me a stupid question, I'd say, wou'd you come up with a stupid question?
Right? My dad's the same exact way, same exact way.
This is just how we are. This is don't if you say to me, Mom, this might sound stupid, can answer this question. The first thing My reaction is gonna be, there's no such thing as a stupid.
Question until you get asked the stupid question.
But you're gonna but you're gonna keep you cool on the stupid question. Because they've already warned you. Right, But when you ask me the stupid question and I don't see it coming, then I go, what do you lose your brain? Like, we don't say did you lose your mindset?
Okay?
I generation right.
So but it's funny because if she's answer the phone, they all come to me anyway. So I'm just like this telephone path and I'm like you, none of you know how to do this by now.
You're the first wall of defense. That's what I call it, your first wall defense.
So it's a big thing with me is called accountability. Just hold yourself accountable. You screwed up, said, hey, listen, we're gonna screw up on the field. This is what I did wrong. I'm on my way, buddy, beach. When you talk your way out and you keep doing that, like you keep making all these excuses why you did what you did and oh then you play victim, right, that's a big one for me. Don't stop those cury eyes now, like, no, no, you start this now, don't you.
You don't have the right to cry. Okay, So everybody's afraid of me. That's going on my headstone. I tell his nails gone yeah, it's afraid of me.
But as a kid, you told me, if I told the truth, even if it was really bad, I wouldn't get in trouble. So I just applied that to everything else.
You didn't get punished them if you told the truth. Why am I going to punish you. There's nothing punished about My father did that to me. I said, so you tell me if I go murder somebody like, you're not gonna punish me.
That's how you build trust, and that's it. That's why you guys have such a close relationship. That's why I have a close relationship with my parents.
Don't lie, no matter how big the problem is, no matter how bad it is, just come to us with the truth.
Even when I was throwing parties in Dad's house.
Yeah, yeah, why not?
It cleans up too good and puts the boots in the wrong place.
Yes, at least you tried. At least you tried.
And okay, so let's go back to sweat house here. So we were waiting for the Boston start to open up.
We're manifesting this for him.
So right now, Nico, how has businessmen on all the locations they do in the numbers that you need them to do.
Yes, so far so good. Knock On would be very blessed to build our membership base up which helps build the recurring revenue every month that we depend on, and then we also sell packed introspea.
I thought I got to go to break Compson this company. Listen topes nails with WZ like down also and welcome back to Cindy Stumpo top his nails on WBZ Nico. How do people find you?
So if you want to find us and you want to find sweat House, you can check out any of our studios in Chestnut Hill, Hingham, South Boston, Assembly Ro and Burlington. Hopefully a few more after that. Come on by. You're going to have the best sixty minutes of your life in a contrast therapy Sweet You're going to feel unbelievable. And you can book your first session at a discount intro right on our app, the Sweathouse app, or you can go right online. So it's a sweathouse app, YEP SWTC And.
Is there a website or anything? It just sweathouse app.
Nope.
You can come in at sweathouse dot com as well or follow us on Instagram at sweathouse.
Perfect, Sammy, We're booked four tomorrow night. I think right, we're going together. Okay, perfect. Everybody, have a great, safe weekend, and we'll see you next week. This is Cindy Stumbo Toughest Nails on WBZ.