I get a team, your bloody champions. Hope you're great. So your project Russell and Tara Jarrett from at Pilates and Kayabram and all over the world. They're entrepreneurs there, they're adventurers. They're lifelong, not lifelong grown up life friends of my lifelong friends of mine, high kids. How are you? Oh, I lovely mate, how are you look? I'm I'm going to be honest. I was going to say I'm fucking amazing, and I am. I'm generally fucking amazing, and emotionally and
mentally I'm fucking amazing. But it's four oh seven that I did a workshop this morning, as I was telling you off air, and the people that were there were beautiful, Hello are you beautiful people that were there? But I pretty much spent about five and a half hours, six hours just talking and even after about three hours, I
hate myself. So I don't know how they cope. But it's do you know when you do something and when you're doing it, you're in the zone and you don't realize how fatigued you are, But then when you stop, like seven minute, it's lady, you're completely fucked and you just want to lie in a bean bag and have a bit of a meltdown. That was me. That was me, But you guys are doing a version of that, but extrapolated over about two years, building this fucking empire of yours.
Before we get into that, Tara, how are you?
I'm good? How are you? I don't seen?
Yeah, I know. I look at me, Look at me? How good do I look? How good do I look? In my fake you project studio that no one can see except you?
I know, it's very impressive. I did have to start wonder where you were.
Yes, well, this is the this is a virtual version of the actual studio nover that I'm too lazy to go into. I can't be fuck because I'm lazy. Well you know. And but they are. They are awesome in there. And Rusty Jarrett excise physiologist, man about town, husband of one.
Yeah, I'm good man. I'm hanging on, hanging on for the ride as well, just like you are, you know, just getting the work done and then collapsing at the end of the day, but waking up and going again. It's good. Now we're having a good time with it, We really are.
Who's the boss? Don't bullshit me?
Oh, Tara well and truly the boss now absolutely, absolutely, and I am more than but she's always like she's always by default being the boss. We both know that, right.
I think that's the unwritten rule in all relationships. So we're not here to do an ad for at pilates, but we are going to. I like talking to people who are in the middle of building good things and you know, turning ideas into reality. Most people who listen to this show on some level want to create some kind of positive shift on planet them. Speaking of gym's nothing, you know, but you're in the fitness well in the space. Did you see where Brad and Carly from the fit
shop there Jim burnt to the ground. Did you see that?
Yeah? I did see that, And I was trying to follow the resurrection of that gym because it looked like they enlisted the help of you know, friends, family and members. It just looked like there was like an episode of renovation Rescue or something like that. Is that how it all went down?
Yeah, Well they last Sunday we got together, so seven days ago we got together young Tiff. As everyone knows who's going to be editing this episode. Tiff and Joel Sardi, a good friend of mine, and doctor Jody Richardson and myself. We all got together and had a bit of a chat. We did a workshop. We did an afternoon workshop for people who all paid a few bucks to be there, not for us, but to support the reinvention, the fucking
genesis of the new center. And yeah, it was amazing, but you're right, they did a working be rusty, So the joint burnt down on a Sunday. This is fucking amazing, really, and they found a new premises three doors down. Oh and they wheeled and dealed right, So it's literally in the same court. It's not even a very big court. And I don't know if it was. The next might have been fourteen let's see Friday, thirteen days later. So on the not the next weekend, but the one after,
they had somewhere around one hundred people. Picture that, a hundred like imagine a hundred people that love you and care about you enough to come and volunteer their time. So lots of tradees, lots of mums and dads and kids. That they had the best part of one hundred people there and some of them were there for fourteen hours two days in a row. Well, so they took this joint from a messy, stinky shell to a gym in about forty eight hours. And they're still they're still getting
some equipment. But like I said, I was there last week, so last Sunday was fifty days since the fire, Rusty. I'm not just saying this because we're on a podcast. It is hands down the best PT center slash group training center like Harper's Brighton in the day was pretty fucking impressive because it was nearly ten thousand square feet. I hate to say it, this is better. Well i'd say it kills me, but it's better. Fucking amazing. They've done such a great job. And yeah, it's amazing when
people collaborate and care and come together. I hate to say it, but I reckon if my gym burned down, I'm not getting one hundred people. I'm getting you two and Mary. Mary'll be bacon scones.
And this is a lot about them people.
Yeah, it's amazing. Well I think you know one of that. You two know. I mean, for those who don't know, Russ and Tara and I work together. We had a gym together in Corefield than they into Callabrum and set up a beautiful gym up there and their sense doing different things which will unpack, but you know, part of owning a gym is building a culture and building as Brad calls it, a third place, right, a place where people want to be and you know, to build that
space that people love to go to. Apart from having good equipment and a nice space and good resources, like trying to create a culture and an environment where people love to go to. That's not as easy as it sounds, no.
And it's hugely important. It's one thing that's a huge part of what we do too. We always talk about you've got to build your community within your within your center, within your space. People have got to want to be there, they've got to love being there.
So you too, you two are building an organization called at Pilates so for people who don't and again this is no sales pitch everyone, this is just it's just kind of an update on where these guys are at. But what is what is that Pilarates Tara.
Basically our polarties where the first we were the only twenty four hour franchise for reformer polarts in Australia. So we're the first first studio that actually offers reformer polarties
twenty four to seven. We're a hybrid studio, so we do have we have staff for approximately twelve hours, but participants can come whenever they want, and we've developed a platform that has over two hundred classes where people can access any time, any type of class they want to do, anytime that they want to do it in a beautiful environment and still have that, as.
You said, sense of community and staff.
There to help them when they want. And people are just loving it.
So in the twelve hours where they are not staff, I come in and how do I do a class? Because there's no one there to bloody show me.
So each each reformer or each piece of equipment has a dedicated screen that moves around that reformer carriage, and they wear noise canceling headphones and they access their class via a screen that's dedicated to that particular carriage. So you could be doing a beginner's class and put your headphones on and you can only hear what's on the screen.
You're not just disturbing anyone else, and the person besides you might be doing you a backcare class or an advanced class, and so you've got a whole group of people doing different classes at the same time, and they're real time classes instructed with.
Highly qualified instructors.
We've got a whole team of instructors from around Australia and we're building that team all the time, and they've all.
Got specialties in different areas of pilates.
And yeah, you can come and do a fantastic class from eight minutes to fifty six minutes, depending on how much time you've got and the type of class you want to do.
So I started in the fitness industry in nineteen eighty two working, which is forty two years ago. Fucking a way. Well, I mean what we do know even since you two started, you know, not that long. I mean a while after that, but not long after that, probably thirty years ago, thirty plus years ago, Like the fitness industry has been in
a constant state of evolution and development and reinvention. And remember when I mean Tara, you you owned a business called High Energy Network, which is now called Australian Fitness Academy.
That's what's called, isn't it yep? And you know you and I intersected because I was doing this thing called personal training, and everyone was going, that's not a thing, and you recognize that it was a thing, and not only was it a thing, we probably should have I mean, I don't know, some kind of qualification and course, and you being the academic, I was about as academic as a fucking moccason at that stage. So with the IQ
of a wombat. So you took me under your wing and said, I know you're not an academic, but can we can we put together some kind of qualification and do you want to be involved in that? And I went sure. And then we've spoken about before on the podcast the quality of the notes that I gave you,
which was with crayon on butcher paper. But it's interesting, like because when we started back in the day when I firstly, when I started personal training, there weren't really maybe there were others, but I didn't know any, and there certainly were no other personal training or commercial personal training centers. And when you started developing and designing the first accreditation for personal trainers, it was very much like the ugly stepchild of the fitness industry. Right. It's like
nobody thought it was going to happen. Everybody. That's a terrible thing. To say Craig, like, nobody thought it would catch fire, and even me, like I had family friends, older people would go, you know, basically, surf that wave while it's happening, because it's going to peter out, and you know, but it's good that you're doing it and you're making a good But people are going to catch on pretty soon and figure out why the fuck would I pay one hundred dollars a week, which doesn't seem
much now but back then was a fortune. Why would I do that when I can join a gym for three or four hundred dollars a year. But it's it doesn't stop changing and adapting our industry does it.
It's it's probably a blessing and a disguise. I mean, the fitness industry is unique in that regard because it sometimes changes too quickly, and it sometimes changes without necessarily the need to. And for that reason, I think what the fitness industry has created without really wanting to do so, is this almost this desire for people to expect continuous change, continuous evolution, and there's got to be something new that the consumer needs to be able to have offered to
them every six to twelve months. You know that's that's great because it keeps us thinking, it keeps us stimulated. But sometimes I think the consumer moves on too quickly, and their attention span or their ability to focus on one specific program or style of exercise is sometimes incredibly short. So yeah, it's a blessing and a disguise. I think, yeah, it's.
It's funny because I mean, movement's movement, right, And it's sometimes one of the kids in the gym goes to me, what do you think of that black pa pa squad? And I'm like what And they look at me like, oh, he doesn't know what that is? And I go, what will show me? And I go that's Assumo spot or that's this or that's that, or or like I go, well,
where the fuck did you get that name? And they got it off some YouTuber right, and it's like, well, hip flexion is hip flexion and the extension is the extension, and you know what, and they'll go, you know. It's like somebody said to me the other day, what's the best bicep exercise? And I said, well, they are all the same thing. They're all elbow flexion underload, and they're like, what do you mean and I go, well, a bicep curl from an anatomical point of view is also known
as elbowflexion. And you can use a dumb bell, a barbell, a machine, a cable, a fucking kettle bell, bloke holding a towel. It's all the same movement underload. And yes, you can pronate or superinnate your hand or have it in a neutral position or do full reps or harp reps or And they're like ah, because they don't actually like a lot of God bless their little socks, a lot of trainers don't actually know fucking functional anatomy. No, like the amount of trainers who don't actually know anatomy
and physiology and biomechanics, And it's like terrifying. And they're the people. By the way, everyone, there are some fucking great trainers, but just like any trade or industry, there are some dog shit ones. So you know you need to the best way to find a good trainer. I find, or I tell people is by recommendation. You know, the whole trial and error thing probably not great.
That was a premise behind us even doing this, because we've worked in the industry for so long. We had a gym, you know, forever we'd been involved in group X and PT and pilates and other forms of group exercise, finding instructors and finding good instructors was impossible and getting
increasingly more difficult. And we just found, especially in areas we were in the country, finding great instructors in the country was almost impossible, especially in an area like for example, pilarates, which is quite special specialty, you just couldn't find them. And then you could find them, they either wanted to be paid a four tune, couldn't instruct the times you wanted to instruct, they'd move on to another another gym,
want to be paid more. And that's the reason why a lot of we're finding a lot of Flighty studios now are actually changing to our particular type of model because it takes that staff headache away because we're providing the classes for them.
And you're exactly right, because you can't find them.
And think about the think about the number of personal training centers over the last thirty years in just Melbourne group training, personal training or similar f forty five you know, blah blah blah that have come and gone. Yeah, I mean, you know, and I'm not trying to throw anyone under the bus because Harpers also came and went I got out of that, you know, we got out of that,
and there's everything has a use by date. But I think one of the challenges is that, I mean, within reason, anyone can get a personal training qualification in a relatively short time yep, which is good and bad. It's good for the people who want to be qualified quickly. It's not so great for the industry from a credibility point
of view. It's not so great for the clients from a safety and an exercise science point of view, because you've got, you know, somebody who perhaps you know needs a lot more knowledge and a lot more runs on the board and a lot more skill development. And that's not being critical because there was a time when Craig Arper was fucking terrible. I'm still terrible at some things. But you know, I would not wanted to have trained with me in the first twelve months of my career
because I was an idiot, you know. And I would say I was in the industry for five, six seven years before I wasn't terrible, you know. But you can only be what you can be, and I didn't even do an exercise science degree till I was in my thirties, So I'm not saying that I'm the high watermark. But the truth is that you think about what a responsible job it is to go, oh, here's my body, here's this irreplaceable gift that I can't get a new one of. Tell me what I should do with it. Oh yeah, sure,
I've done a twelve week course. This is what we're doing. Fuck andll it's a little bit terrifying in some ways, right, yeah.
Yeah, it's it's it's one of those it's a largely unregulated industry. It's it at times has a low barrier to entry. Okay, so that allows a lot of good people to be involved in the industry. But when you've got you know, basically an open an open door to access to work in that space, you're gonna, as you say, you're going to have some good and some bad. So
it's I think it's to reemphasize your point. If you're a consumer listening to this and you're thinking about being involved with PT or choosing a gym, or choosing a studio, or choosing someone to manage your health, you should pay particular attention to what the background of that person is because they ask questions and find out a little bit about them.
And then also, lets let's go off at a tangent and let's go so let's say we find somebody who even they've got a master's degree like you, Rusty, and they know they're anatomy and physiology and biomechanics and nutrition and they can write programs, but they're really fucking boring to be around. It's like you don't want to go back. I mean I know that that shouldn't matter, but it
does matter. Like if you are going to see a trainer three times a week or two times a week, Yeah, you want you want science and knowledge and you want good advice. But also fuck if I'm going to hang out with Brian Monday, Wednesday and Friday, fuck, And I hope he can hold a conversation. Also, I hope he gives a shit about me. Also, I hope he's a
good human. I mean, he doesn't have to be the DEALI lama, But if I'm just a meal ticket, then Brian, even with all your knowledge, Yeah, it's a multitude of variables that come. Like you think about the people that you know that worked for you guys that were fucking special. I mean it was a bit about their caals and their knowledge, but often it was caals and knowledge matter,
which we've established. But then like that, people that are really great at whether or not it's teaching pilates or being a doctor, or being an exercise physiologist or a personal trainer, a lot of that is really about just their personality, their people's skills, and maybe their empathy.
You know, yeah, yeah, there's a skill. And I think the skill is I think it's diminishing a little bit, and that is the human ability to connect with someone very quickly and in a way that keeps that person mentally, emotionally and I guess yeah, mentally and emotionally engaged with you. And I think because my belief is that connection is more important than ever, but we're worse at it than
we've ever been. So the ability for someone to work with a client and actually have that client enjoy the process as well as be consistent in the process is a real skill. It's hard, it's not easy to do.
We have owners come to us constantly and you know, what should I look for in a you know, on a staff member, what's the most important thing I should be looking for, you know, in someone that works in my studio and constantly I talk to them about it.
It's finding someone that can can connect. It's finding someone that can be with your members and your members love being around and can communicate and have fun and just enjoy the space and make people feel like they're having a fantastic experience in your studio.
That's the most important part.
The rest you can teach, but they've got to be communicators, So that, to me, that's the number one thing that they've got to look for.
And you know, what's a really interesting thing around this connection piece and sociology and psychology and having people that give a fuck about you. I mean, really, you know, we now know I mean we've kind of known, but now we're getting real clarity around the fact that the way that people socialize has a direct impact on their
immune system, their health, their longevity, their health span. And we know that people who and there are more and more people becoming socially isolated and disconnected and in some ways, you know, I guess the Internet and social media is a problem. In some ways it can be a blessing. I guess for people who live in remote areas. But you know, of course we talk about xcis. Of course we talk about food. Of course we talk about sleep.
Of course we talk about lifestyle. But more and more I'm talking to people about, Hey, you know, lots and lots of time on your own probably not great for your mental or emotional physical health, you know, being socially isolated, you know, not talking to people, you know, living vicariously through your phone. It's probably not optimal. And I know I sound like an old fuck when I say that, but you know, just just that being able to and I know not everybody has a choice in this, so
I'm not trying to be uncaring. And that's you know, I was talking to someone today. I told you I ran a workshop this morning. And I won't say who, obviously, but someone who ticked all of those boxes. They're really lonely. They live by themselves. They haven't had a meaningful relationship for over a decade, and I could just hear that
the despair. And I know that for that person, and I only met them today for the first time, I know that that's making them physically unwell, you know, just and it's not because their diet's bad or their lifestyle is bad or they're not exercising, it's because they are lonely and disconnected, and that that emotional and psychological and sociological reality has a physical consequence.
We all want we all want human connection. We're pack animals. We need a pack. So you know, we're not used to We're not built.
To be completely isolated on our own. But as you said, so many people just live twelve hours on their phone chick by and they don't actually physically see anyone. They're typing, they're texting, they're messaging, but they're not actually in front of someone physically communicating, touching, having conversations, you know, out
of their home environment. So going to somewhere like a gym, a pt center, or you know, some form of venue where they can actually be part of a community, I think is a massive part of people actually, you know, being able to find an experience that works for them.
It's so important.
Yeah, you know, I was in Brisbane during the week we're recording this Sunday. I was in Brisbane on the Wednesday night and Thursday, and I walked up I've got a snap membership, snapped the chain of gyms and and I'm my card lets me train in any snap, anywhere. And I went to this gym that I've never been to, and you know, you can just walk in with your card, and you know, it wasn't bad. It was you know,
it wasn't amazing, but it wasn't bad. But I was in the different areas, but I was in this one area, which was kind of the main strength area. I counted the people. There were thirteen people including me, so twelve and me, I was the only one without headphones. I was the only one that wasn't constantly or semi regularly looking at his or her phone. And I'm not saying they're bad, and I'm not saying any of that. I'm like, if you had have said to me, and again, fucking
old man alert, I get it. But it's funny because there's like thirteen people in this room, not acknowledging each other, not talking, not aware of how much noise they're making when they're dropping their fucking weights because they've got noise canceling headphones and ac DC or fucking whoever blaring Taylor Swift. And I'm like, oh, this used to be a really social, beautiful environment where you'd meet people, you'd have chats, you'd do your weights, there'd be a bit of connection and
a few and it's just not that. I mean, I know some gyms are like the Fit Shop with Brad and Carley. It's a different vibe, but there's a lot of these kind of chains and again, old man alert, it doesn't matter. I mean, the reason that they exist is to make money, and they make money, so it's not an amoral or a bad thing. But as a user, as a client, as a member, I just look around.
I go, it's kind of sad. It's kind of sad, and I'm fine, I can do my own thing, but I'm like, it's kind of sad that we humans, like we're literally fucking three feet from each other and no one's acknowledging anyone or looking or smiling or I'm like, wock, imagine what it's going to be like when we get fucking VR goggles. We're just going to navigate the world with our head in a bucket.
Yeah.
So you're in the gym and you just see people with tripods and ring lights and they're chatting that they're animated when they're talking into their phone. But as soon as they're not talking into their phone. As you said, they're not talking to anyone who's physically around them. It's the most bizarre.
Well, and that's like my listeners who don't go to the gym would not know what you're talking about. But a lot of people now, especially insta you know, superstars what they call influences. Now. Back in my day, we have the newspaper and the whiteboard, the blackboard. But anyway, yeah, so people are taking tripods into the gym now and they're filming themselves. And I'm not talking about the odd one. I'm talking about every time you go in the gym now,
someone's doing it. And they have their ring lights, so they're being they're making sure their face and their body are getting the right type and amount of light. There's this whole fucking setup. And yeah, it's it's a show.
It's anyway, did you use did you did you look on with interest when Tony Dorty's banned that and his at Dorty's gym, no more social media filming?
Did you see that?
I saw that and shout out to Tony for doing that. Is like I know, it's like they're a I would love to open a gym where and the probably go broke, but I'd love to open a gym with no phones. I just go leave your phone at reception. It's an hour of your life. It'll be there when you get back, you know, and music whatever music you want, like interaction, you know, verbal intercourse. There we go, let's try that. All right, let's take a left turn. I want to
ask you about the business. So Tar, when did you because I think it was your idea, not Rusties and RUSSI just fucking jumped on board like he does. I mean, farcnold you. When did you conceptualize a pilates studio that doesn't have to have or doesn't have set class times or three dimensional instructors in the room with them with you. When did you come up with that idea?
Look, it was probably started thinking about it even as far back as say twenty seventeen eighteen. I had a beautiful studio in our gym.
It had, you know, tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment that sat idle for eighty percent of the day because I could only get instructors all myself to instruct certain hours of the day. So the rest of the time I just sat there and I'm like, this is crazy.
This is the most.
Beautiful part of our entire gym space. It's one of the most expensive parts that's grossly underutilized. And so started recording classes because I know personally I had a lot of intellectual property and thought, okay, well I'm going to start recording classes and then start dabbling with a little bit of virtual instructing and played around with it for a while, and then COVID came in twenty twenty, as we all know, and that was the real instigator for us.
So for me then it was that opportunity to go things are going to be different once we actually do open up again, and we could see, well, I could see that polarates was there's always that next thing. As we're talking about before, what's the next thing, what's the growth theory? What are people moving away from and into it? At the moment with the fitness industry, and we were looking at reformer plarts was starting to become mainstream, and so I knew that that was something that was.
Really important to develop.
And with our clientele of our gym, we basically asked them, what are the things you don't like about group exercise and what frustrates you with, you know, not being able to get a class you want at the time you want, and use them as our sounding board and we came up with basically the business plan that we've got now and tried to eliminate all the reasons why people didn't like going to group exercise or appointment based training and the reasons that they were frustrated with it. So twenty
twenty we played around with the model. Then we did it through COVID Believe it or not, spoke to a COVID hotline and the police and said, I've got this idea, and we did it as a one on one virtual where people actually went in and they used their phone to enter and could access the classes via the screen, and then the next person had come and go.
And it really people loved it.
And then once covid was over, we expanded the model and we opened five studios to test it, so one after another just to see how it.
Is this really a thing? Have we developed something that people like?
And it just kept growing and people were still, you know, wanting to be part of it, and it just took off from there and it's just developed so much in terms of I guess the platform in terms of what that needs to be and what our members want it to be. The business concept in terms of even everything from the CRM, the booking structure, the security, the staffing, just the entire business model, and the studios themselves, what people want them to look like, smell like.
You know, so we probably should mention that that you've created a franchise business. We didn't really say that, and so and again everyone, this is not a sales pitch, but it's just a I just love watching people come up with an idea and then make the idea a real thing, so it goes from a reality in their head to a reality that everyone else can experience. So I don't know the answer to this, so I'm not
kind of trying to open a particular door. But if I was to go to a regulation, run of the mill PT and there are some Pilarates I should say Pilarti studio, and there's some beautiful ones. By the way, this is it's not like Russ and Tara's model is the only good model. There are lots of beautiful pilarate studios and amazing instructors. But if I was going to go to one and I was going to go to the you know, the six am class tomorrow and I just want to do a casual what would that cost me? About?
That would that would cost you about twenty five dollars if you were just if you just wanted a one off class at a typical studio. At at a studio, it will cost you about twenty five dollars at least.
Yeah, I thought it was.
More, but anyway, yeah.
Yeah, well it depends on it will depend on the studios. But yeah, it'll cost you about twenty five dollars to do a casual class.
Yeah, right, as you can be up to forty forty five dollars a session. So it's that I always we're not in the you know, like you said, there's so many studios that do amazing classes. We do amazing classes, but so do you know fifty other studios that I could mention that do fantastic classes.
So we're not just in the in the business of plarties.
We're in the business of convenience and affordability and flexibility.
That's that's what we offer.
That's different.
So it's being able to allow people to access it at a price that they can afford at a time that they want to do it within a type of class they want to do an instructor they like.
So that's the main When you started, did you just think you would you would kind of virtualize for one of better term your your place in Kiabrum and then maybe open another one or two or early days you think, oh, maybe we could turn this into a franchise model based enterprise or when did you think about Because I don't know about you, but if I had friends and chose something, I'd be fused. I've got no idea where to start.
I wouldn't know who to. I'd talk to YouTube, I'd talk to you too, That's where I'd start.
But yeah, there was that was That probably was most of twenty twenty one. So most of twenty twenty one was all about us opening more studios ourselves and understanding firstly,
is this something that the market wants? And secondly, is this going to be something that we're going to just manage ourselves as a company and just open up studios where we think they're going to work and as we can afford to, or are we going to make this a larger entity, which then required the ability to franchise, and it took us, I reckon, nearly twelve months to work out whether or not we wanted to go down
the corporate owned or the franchise route. Late twenty one we decided yes, this is going to be a franchisable concept. And then it took us another year. So all of twenty twenty two was spent working backwards and forwards with our legal team to get the to get everything right in terms of process, procedure, documentation, legals. Everything had to be done through this legal team to become registered as a franchise in Australia. That took us nearly twelve months.
So once we made the once we made the decision in late twenty twenty one, it took us another year before November twenty two was when we got our registration as a franchise company.
It's a balls and old decision.
I bet that was a cheap process.
I mean yeah, I literally remember the day. I remember the day, I remember where I was, and I literally had to make the decision whether or not are we happy with you know, as I said, we did five studios because we thought, well let's just see if this works, and we could have just stayed with those five studios and you know they were doing really well, and you know that's that's a great you know outcome to have five really successful studios or do we go, as I said,
balls and all and really try and make this into something. But to make that decision, it's putting everything on the line. It's it's dollars and it's everything we had, plus trying to find more and every every hour for the next two years, literally of our lives to invest into it. And once you make that decision, you've got to you've got to go with it. But we did truly believe
in it. Probably the hardest thing for me was I was fifty and I'm like, I want to do this and fifty I want to do this again.
Have I got another business in me?
And it's like, yep, I got one more so and this one is the culmination crago of the last thirty years. This has got elements of every single business both Russ and I have touched in the last thirty years, all of our learnings, all of our I think, just everything is in this business and that's why it's working too.
I think that's I think that's the thing I've learned the most. When you think about, as you said, taking something from a concept to a reality, it literally takes not just not just courage, but it takes thirty years of intellectual property. So there's parts of our business are inspired by what we learned at Harper's.
Yeah, totally. Like we do.
We do staff education and franchise the education and we teach them things that you used to talk about in our staff meetings. Right. So there's stuff we learned from Harper's. There's stuff we learned from High Energy. There's stuff in there that I learned from my own twenty four hour gym. There's stuff in there that I've learned from my essence. See, there's stuff in there that Tara learned from her business
called Rouge. So this business is taking all of our learnings from thirty years and basically putting it into this brand new model that doesn't exist or existed.
I think also, people like somebody said to me the other day, firstly, I'm not taking on new clients, one on one clients. But somebody said if I was going to do a session with you, how much would it cost? And I told them and they're like, that's a lot for an hour. I said, you're not paying for an hour, you're paying for forty two years that led up to the hour. Okay, you're paying for four decades. You're not
paying for the hour. We're just I'm disseminating to you all the shit that I've learned or my study or my research, or my experience or my knowledge. And by the way, I'm not twisting anyone's arm to sit down with me. But if all you want is a cheap coach, there's a lot of them.
Yeah, you know what I'm it's confidence too great. We know because of that thirty years. I just know, we know this business backwards. You could ask me anything and I can find the solution. I know, I know the answer before you've asked the question type thing, because we've experienced it, we've done it, and we know what the outcome will be based on, you know, the experience that.
We've had in the past.
So it's interesting when you watch a lot of new people in the industry that will say I've got this great idea and you said, think back, and you go, yeah, we did that fifteen years ago. But it's it's it's having the confidence here to be confident that everything that we think, we you know, the decisions we're making other right decisions.
Okay, So I want to ask you a question. Either of you can answer it, all right. So you're at a point in your evolution where you've got five gyms or five pilates studios. You own them all. They're not franchises, they're yours. They're all making dough. You're not trillionaires. But it's comfortable and it's nice, and you've got a pretty good income and you've turned the idea in your head into a real world reality of five different centers studios.
What's the emotional and psychological stuff that you're weighing up when you go, do we pull the trigger and turn this into a fucking goliath? Ye? Because there's you could have lost the five senses. You could have pulled the trigger and ended up with fuck all and been cleaning the bogs at Fernwood, right, Shout out to fern What I'm doing a gig at Fernwood on Wednesday. Love the Fernwood ladies. Right. But you know, you pulled the trigger and I'm not surprised that it worked. And it's working.
But because it's not just a financial and a commercial decision, it's an emotional, psychological, sociological, and as you said, you're both as old as fark. I'm surprised you're still alive. I mean, there's a lot that goes into that, right.
Augh, hugely.
And you know, our family, our kids were at that critical stage of their education and so our life was really busy. We had kids doing year eleven and twelve. We had one at university. So you've got to take into account their life as well, and you know they're sitting back and watching how hard we're working. And to make that decision was it was a huge was a huge decision. Yeah, I'm laughing now because I'm so don't want to go through that again.
I don't blame you so Russ. I'll ask you this, Rusty, because I think you're probably newer to oh maybe you both did at the same time. But tell me about the pros and cons of franchising. Like to me, there seems like a fair bit of upside potentially, But it's not all fucking you know, disban bloody.
Yeah, no, you're right, it's not all roses and rainbows, no doubt. Oh that's a that's a long answer, but I'll give you the brief. The brief is if you get it right, if you get it right and you do your legals right, and you understand the model right, and you're prepared to do the work to create an entire structure for someone to follow, and that's a massive undertaking.
The pro is that you can grow much quicker. That's the pro you can you can ask other people to buy into your vision and establish studios on the ground much faster than what you can because they're actually doing it themselves. They're paying for that set up themselves, and what I'm supplying them with or what we're supplying them with is the knowledge to know how the process of the procedures and the model to allow them to do that.
So that's the pro is that you can grow much quicker and people will put the studios on the ground throughout Australia for you. The con is that if you don't have everything right, the processes, the procedures, the model, the infrastructure, the admin and the legals. If you don't have that right, you can destroy your brand in a very short space of time and you can lose a great deal of money yourself and on behalf of the other franchisees.
It has to work for everyone.
So you've got to be absolutely right. You've got to know exactly what you're doing or be able to find out what is going on, because if you get it wrong, a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money and that's not a nice feeling. So you know you're taking on a massive amount of responsibility. But as Tara said, we had complete belief in what we had and the ability to pull it off because I didn't prior to one, I did not know the front
side from the backside of a franchise franchise model. I didn't know how it worked really, But it's just learning. It's just work, reading, learning, questioning, and it's like it's like you, you know, undertaking a PhD. You you didn't know the first thing about what it was going to take, but you just it was one step at a time and that's what we did. It was just like, right, what do we need to learn today?
Eating the elephant?
What's the so, what's the status report? Tara at the moment where how many centers? How many are in the pipeline? Without without giving away your p and L, what's your kind of what's your prediction We're about to.
Open up our seventeenth studios, So where where that's amazing.
I just laughed. I didn't I thought it was. I thought you're up to like a dozen. I just laughed.
Everyone.
That's that's funny, and that's fucking okay, congrats, Well that's amazing. Okay, you're about to open your seventeenth. So you're both rich as fuck. All right, carry on.
And Queensland, you know, is our heaviest state is people just love it, love it in Queensland. But what I was saying before is they they do they've got to work for everyone because they work so well for the franchise e. They literally are selling themselves. So we open a studio and as soon as we open a studio, we get three people from that studio who then want to open one, you know, an hour away from that studio.
And basically, now, as soon as we open an area that area it then expands and then it expands into another area. So and like you were saying before, you know with the gym that you know that their gym was better than you remember harp as being. It's for the first time I've walked into studios and gone, shit, this is better than anything I've ever opened.
They're amazing.
So, you know, franchisees are opening beautiful, beautiful at Pilaratei Studios, and you know they're opening with one hundred plus members and you know, some of them are well over two hundred members and maintaining and holding those members. We've got, you know, studios that are nearly three years old now that are still holding really high memberships. And that's really pleasing because the last thing you want is for something to work.
For a short period of time. It's got to work long term.
It's got to be able to create income for people for you know, a long period of time, and members to want to be part of for a long period of time. So it's growing fast and that's probably our biggest thing at the moment. We're at that next stage. We'll be probably between twenty five and thirty studios by the end of the year. But to do that, our
infrastructure had to grow. So we've for the first time brought on full time staff to help us in our HQ, our head office, you know, in terms of helping our operations, our compliance, our education and platform, our marketing, our filming. So we've just done we've now moved into a head office in South Melbourne which has our filming studio and corporate offices down there. And we've got our own studio opening in August, so we're doing a flagship studio in
South Melbourne which will be absolutely beautiful. So I'm in the process of training that at the moment. Yeah, so that's exciting.
I'm a little bit offended. I haven't been asked to come in and do some filming for any of the but I'll just keep an eye on the letterbox. I'll just keep it. I'll just keep an eye on the mail I mean a public holiday tomorrow, so I'll check Tuesday. Maybe I'll just see if there's an invite for Fatty Harps to come in and do some power pilates on the Reformer. But no offense taken. Do you have like just for me? Like all the business stuff is good,
let's talk about the life stuff. So let's zoom back out of the micro of the business and into the macro of just your lives as a couple. And you know three awesome boys, one of whom is my godson, My god son, Mitchie, shout out to you, son. And what about the long term do you have an exit strategy. I know you don't want to probably give away state secrets, but are you going to do this for another year?
Two years, ten years? And I'm sure there's a bit of gray and it's not all black and white, but have you got an exit strategy?
It changes all the time. The main reason Mitchell's actually started working with us now, so he's just finished his law degree and he's actually come on board and helping us with sort of compliance and that whole franchising legal side of it, and very heavily involved in franchisees and sales. And he came to me one day and he goes, right, Mum, you know I need about two more years. I'm going to go out and do this, this, this and pass the bar and go work out and I'm going to
become come back and be the CEO. Going okay, that's a great plan. So you know, we we we jokingly talk about that, but it's sort of it's only a half joke because I actually think, you know, having someone in the not too distant future that you know, understands how to run a business bigger.
Than what we can, so it'll outgrow us.
Yeah, I think I think that's I think that's the most important part. I think we we we're keeping all options on the table at the moment because it's very difficult with these with these companies sometime to see too far in the future. Although you've got to have one eye on the future, you've got to have another. I firmly planted on the present, because it's the day to
day that people need you to be present on. I think what's going to happen is the we're working on bringing people into our company and our organization that are obviously younger than us, but have skills that we don't have, and so we're looking we're trying to actively replace ourselves
and build on our skill set with other people. And I think in the years to come, whether or not we exit, or whether or not we just step aside and still let everything keep functioning just as it does, but with different people in the chair, I think that's probably what's going to likely happen.
We're not even at the not even at the tip, like there's so much growth still, we're constantly now getting inquiries from overseas, and that's you know, we will We'll be in New Zealand and Singapore before either the end of this year or very early into next year. But it's there's steps that we want to take at the right time. We don't want to say yes to everything. We've got to make sure that we're saying yes to the right things at the right time with the right people.
Yeah. So that's a very.
Different landscape than it was, you know when we first started talking to about you know, I've got this idea. So now it's gone to that next that next level, and it's really done that probably in the last three to four months, and I can see the next twelve months will be a you know, a really big growth phase.
Do you know who's done you know, same industry, different product, Dive Williams from Fernwood.
Yeah.
So she's done a great job. And I've worked for her, Like I said, I'm working for them on Wednesday, and yeah, she's really figured out a way. I don't know her well, but just the kind of the brief moments that I've had with her and the conversations I've had with her and the like, I think I wouldn't even be rude enough to guess how old she is, but she's older than us. She's older than me, and she's old, well and truly older than you two, but she's still in
the business. They still love her. She's the matriarch. She's a straight up killer. But I think she's just really she's really created a great model that and they have a fucking brilliant culture. You know. They're either the best actors in the world, all those Fernwood ladies, or they actually love the fucking organization. And I've been to a bunch of their stuff. They love it. Yeah, they love it.
And I mean that's it's a tribute to her that she's built an organization that's you know, national and commercially viable. And but also that she's built again, like we were talking, a culture that people really want to be part of,
you know. So yeah, I think there's and also I think you know what I think honestly knowing you two, I mean not you know, if somebody I know this ain't the case, but if somebody walked up tomorrow and went here's twenty million, fuck off and don't work anymore, you guys would be great for about three weeks and then you'd go nuts. You'd be like, oh, buck, yeah, we've got twenty million, we're gonna and then you'd go nuts because you'd you would, you'd hate it. Yeah, yeah,
you think you'd love retirement. Like my mom said to me last night, I went and saw Ron and Mary, right because I go see Ron on Saturdays and I'd take his raggedy old ass to the gym and try and fucking get some muscle on his bony frame. And my mum said to me last night, you know, what are you thinking about retirement? And I'm like what, I'm like what. I don't even know. It's not an unreasonable question because I'm sixty, but I don't even I don't know. I do not even think about it. And it's not
because I'm a worklcoholic. It's just because work, like all the shit that I do, Like right now, this show is sponsored, right now, this show is making money. This is part of my job. But there's no sense that I'm working.
But that's the difference. That's the difference. It's just what you do.
So whether or not it's called work or not, we all saying the same thing. It's you know, we actually this is just what we do. It's not work.
It's just we.
Get up and this is what we do in our day and it just happens to be work.
You're the same. We're really lucky from that aspect, you know.
I did, as I said, I did a thing this morning. I did a workshop and we were talking about one of the things I talk about briefly in gigs is work life balance or what people used to call work life balance. You to have heard me talk about this, but like the idea of work life balances that you work this much and you don't work that much, and it's almost like this numerical scale and if you balance the working hours with not a working hour and you get the equation right, then you're ticking the box.
It's grew.
But what that doesn't factor in is what if you work in twenty hours a week of something that you fucking hate and it gives you anxiety and you can't sleep and you don't want to get out of bed to go and do the thing that you hate. Versus on Planet Harps, where nearly everything that I do it's somewhere between enjoyment and joy you know, like it's it's like the thing that I did this morning, because I spoke for pretty much five straight hours. It's tiring, but it's fucking awesome.
Like, yeah, we'll be doing stuff and the boys are going I'm stop working, and I go, but I'm actually doing this.
I actually like doing it. I don't find it work.
It's just right my last one. So, Tara, I feel like you're very creative, and I feel like Rusty is more the pragmatist, pragmatic process driven. Like you both got big engines, you both work really hard. I could be wrong on that assessment, so correct me. But how are you too different? And how do your strengths individually contribute to the whole?
Yeah, good question.
Yeah, right, when we we've always known that we have a good ability to work together. Otherwise we wouldn't have done all of these businesses together. You know, we know what our own strengths and weaknesses are. But I must say with this business, right from the outset, we were very careful to make sure that we didn't stand on each other's toes because and I was and I also said to Tara, I go, there has to be a leader, and it's not me, it's you. This is your idea,
this is your this is your company. So when push comes to shove, you need to make that final decision. And also I think that it's very important for the brand of the business to be successful that everyone understands clearly that there is one leader and that's Tara. So so we we definitely have our own strengths and responsibilities, but we've defined them probably better than we ever have.
And I also think that it's really important that there is one person that you know is defined as that person that it takes full responsibility because at the end of the day, you know, it's her concept and she knows what's in her brain better than anyone else.
Now, what, Rusty, Rusty, you just made all the women listening to this show fucking love you. That's the most emotionally evolved you've ever been. I'm so proud of you.
Yeah, looka, it's taken a bit longer than what you would have hoped. I reckon, Craigo, because.
I reckon.
I remember many conversations where you said, mate, I love you. You're good at what you do, but you're an emotional spastic.
Yeah we can't say that, but anyway, Yeah, and I remember like Rusty's kind of a model for talking to staff, or his protocol for talking to stuff that were getting shit wrong. It wasn't the warmest you reckon, I'm intimidating fucking hell. I'm like Humphrey Beck and beared to what he was. That was hilarious he was, but he didn't like he was just direct. I mean what he said was true, but he's got all warm and Fuzzyara, what's your what's your take on that question?
I was just I was remembering back to when we were starting, and Russ was like, what am I going to do? Because you know, I really was taken off with this, and I said, I've got this idea and I'm going to do this, this, this, this, this, And I actually said to us, it's crazy you going and doing something. Come work with me, you know, work work with me. And I remember literally him going, yes, yes, I should. And he hadn't actually thought of that before.
He hadn't actually thought that this was something that could grow that big and we could do together. But we've got our definite roles. And I couldn't do what Russ does in a heartbeat. I just would drive me and drive me nuts, and but he's so good at it and he'll just trust whatever I tangent I want to go off into, or what the next idea is or concept and he'll run with it and trust me, and yeah it works really well. So we're lucky from that respect.
A lot of people say, how do you live and work together?
Well?
And also if you put aside the fact that he's your husband and you just go, well, what does he bring to the table, you go, well, he's been a successful business owner, he's an elite strength and conditioning coach, he's worked at the AIS, he's got a master's degree in exercise exercise physiology. It's like, that's not the worst person to have as my partner in a fitness based business,
you know, So all right, give it a plug. How do people how do people learn more about the business rus franchise, whether or not they want to, I don't know, think about having a look at a franchise, or they just want to come and do a class at a center.
Yeah, this is the best place to go. Is is our website. So it's at pilarates dot Studio at Polarates spelled at Pilaratees dot studio, not the at symbol. If you go to a website, you can you can find a studio near you to train at. You can find out all the information you need about franchising, you can make direct contact with myself or Tara. So the website's
the place to go. Obviously we're on social media as well, but you know the best place to start is the website and then you'll you'll know exactly what you need to do from there.
Bibbody, Bobby Boot, are you going out for dinner tonight? You too? It's eight minutes past five on a Sunday. Or you just sit at home and have a bloody toasted cheese sandwich and watch the news.
Now I've got one.
I've got one child from Melbourne here looking for a free feed, and my gorgeous eighty six year.
Old mum is coming over for dinner, so she'll come.
Yeah, she'll actually come and jump on the reformer before she actually has dinner.
She's a superstar. And then yeah, it'd be a nice night. You have a good night.
I appreciate you too. We'll say goodbye, affair, but for the moment, Rusty Tara, thank you.
You're welcome.
Thank you so here mate, Bye honey,