Advertise on podcast: HALO Talks

Mohammed Iqbal is the Founder & CEO of SweatWorks . . . the company quietly behind the tech of a lot of larger companies you're no doubt familiar with--CrossFit, Spartan Race, and many more. They are, "The leading digital agency in fitness design and technology to create meaningful wellness journeys for everyone." Iqbal spent 7 years at Sharp and, while there, worked on the iPhone with Apple's team which strongly impacted him in many ways. Originally from Dubai, he moved to NJ in 1991. "I dove all in to Jersey culture . . .funnel cakes, the whole bit!" he laughs. "But I got out of shape and started my fitness journey. It changed my life and I asked myself 'Why didn't people get it?'" He started SweatWorks in 2012, around the same time FitBit began, and has been in business for 10 years. The HALO sector though has never been big spenders on, well, anything, and Iqbal chats about how they were able to break through that initial hurdle. He discusses how to reduce churn, (hint: it's not 'set it and forget it!'), how the industry needs to respond to the hybridization model "which is here to stay," and a lot more. A key takeaway on where we're going: "AI and machine learning need to be complementary, not the strategy itself. You need to have a human element. People know when you're talking to a machine versus when you're getting the personal touch."  The HALO sector has come a long way, and SweatWorks is positioned perfectly to ensure brands keep up with the times and bring their members along for the ride! Listen now to learn more.  Click here to download transcript. 

Carolyn and her husband Paul owned three private training facilities in Orange County, CA which catered mostly to higher level athletes. Nutrition was (obviously!) a significant part of that, and in 2013 they founded Balanced Habits™ as a way to bring scalable, personalized nutrition programming to the fitness industry. "It became something we were known for. It carried us through the financial crisis and really is what put us on the map . . . Fitness and nutrition go hand in hand, and for whatever reason, the industry wasn't embracing that and were kind of farming out nutrition somewhere else," Fetters states.   She discusses how facilities around the country use their program to generate revenue, ways the program is being sold/implemented, tips on bringing nutrition into your club, how their program is managed, the necessity of proper messaging, and much more. The fact is, "more people need to lose weight, than want to go to the gym," says Fetters and she's spot on. This is not something the industry can afford to ignore anymore or just 'hope' that members find something to do on their own. Reach out now to the team at Balanced Habits to learn more about implementing this proven program at your facility.  Click here to download transcript. 

Becky initially began her career in ocean conservation focusing on coral reefs. "I wanted to save the world and see the world. . . and when I found Joyride, I found this authentic community and wanted to be a part of it!"  After moving full time into the HALO sector, she quickly realized there were no cycling studios in the San Antonio / south Texas region. She saw a need, jumped in, and become the first cycling studio to open in the area. Now, as the Founder of her newly launched, Amp Studio and President of Consumer Brands at GoSaga (working with Geoff Schneider, a prior HALO Talks guest) Cerroni discusses her plans for Amp, market differentiators, the importance YPO plays in her development as a business owner, and more! Click here to download transcript. 

"Culture can never be something where you just check the box. Once you've built that culture, you're not done! It takes every single day," states Joel Goldberg, speaker, broadcaster and author of Small Ball, Big Results.   The parallels between sports and business are undeniable, and Goldberg shares some 'in the trenches' stories with Pete on everything from recruiting, finding the right roles for employees (athletes) and more! He also provides some real life examples (involving athletes you probably heard of!) of on-field behavior, how it was handled, and applicability for business.  Joel has spent more than a quarter century on television, relying on relationship building to tell athletes’ stories. His unique access enables him to share lessons learned from the baseball field to the board room as a motivational speaker and to homes everywhere through his business podcast. Joel was very difficult to book as a guest due to his busy schedule, and we're grateful to him and his team for making it happen. This is a must listen for anyone in the HALO sector.  Click here to download transcript. 

Wellness 4 Every 1 aims to increase awareness of the inequalities in the wellness industry and provide opportunities for diverse communities to have access to quality arts and wellness programming, as well as a space for social and emotional well-being. Their programs are currently in 100 public schools nationwide, with 150 classes weekly (new programs are added all the time) and impacting over 10,000 students! How do they know it's working? Among other things, "Every year the schools expand their programming!" states Alison Rootberg, Founder. "The initial frustration was we saw a huge need for improvement in Chicago public schools. But now we work with New York, New Jersey, and others. The school systems do not have funding for these programs! So students are not receiving art, music, dance theater . . . and physical education was the most underserved, least funded programming!" she states. The programs are very affordable for districts as well. $4 provides a 1 hour class to a child.  "We're particularly proud of the way we empower kids to love movement. It's not just about burning calories or getting moving, it's about inspiring them to continue to do it," echoes Steve Feinberg, Director of Partnerships and long time industry veteran.  Alison and Steve go on to discuss the challenges around fundraising and applying for grants, their plans for expansion (since there's clearly a lot of need!) onboarding instructors to maintain quality across the network, and more. The ideas here are so "simple," and easily implemented that host Pete Moore strongly urges, "Anyone who listens to this podcast should immediately listen to it again to get some ideas and make them happen!"   Wellness 4 Every 1 is quietly (but quickly!) making waves and affecting kids in so many positive ways. Reach out to them directly to get your school involved (or as a fitness professional to learn how you can participate.)  Click here to download transcript. 

Kory Angelin has been in the HALO sector for over 10 years. He began as a trainer and worked his way up with organizations like 24 Hour Fitness, Lifetime, Equinox, F45, and is currently the COO of Volofit. "I think I've been in every position along the way," he jokes.  On the culture of an organization, he says, "A business is made or broken starting with the owner or ownership group. You're setting the tone at the top . . . the relationship between you and the customer, even before they become a client, has to be genuine and honest." He and Pete go on to discuss sales, sales training, marketing, the power of not discounting because it devalues the brand. (Apple never discounts, but they provide a gift card!) and more.  Angelin stands firm in his belief that the industry-especially now post-COVID-needs to think very hard about doing things differently. He quotes Simon Sinek, "People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it."   Angelin believes everyone is a salesperson, and it's important to work hard to lose the dogma / stigma some hold around that term, how roleplaying (a favorite tool of his) can help facilitate that, and more. At the end of the day, "People want to talk about their goals, they don't want to be sold," he says. Angelin has been in the trenches and many of the tips and techniques he lays out here make this a must listen for those in the HALO sector. Click here to download transcript. 

Katie Webb was in digital partnerships for 11 years while also working as a fitness trainer and group exercise instructor. She ending up spending a lot of time at GNC and slowly started to learn the supplement industry. "I couldn't really find any formulas that were leveraging food ingredients over ingredients I've never heard of (never mind the 300 grams of caffine!) and a lot of my female clients felt the same."  That frustration eventually led to her starting Aila, the Scottish/Gaelic word meaning "from the strong place." She's raised a small pre-seed and is now moving to their next stage.  She and Pete discuss the (lack of!) quality control around the (mostly) unregulated supplement industry,  which was one of the key reasons Aila is all plant-based, They also supply all their ingredients directly from the US and do multiple rounds of third party testing. "We're doing everything we can to rebuild across the stigma this industry has. There are only 8 ingredients in all of our formulas, and everything is something you recognize, so we're doing our part in trying to make things a little more transparent," Webb states.  Aila is 85-95% female and women make up about 70% of supplement sales, so she is most certainly in the right place, with the right product, at the right time. This is most definitely a brand to keep your eye on!  Click here to download transcript. 

Rachel Raymond served as COO for five years at Indigo Ag--one of the fastest growing companies in the space--and it was there where she found inspiration to start Purpose, "A mental wellness company that leverages the science of the microbiome to help us improve our mood." One of their biggest goals is to help the consumer gain visibility into their mental wellbeing in a way that best serves them.  "What you eat impacts how you feel. That's intuitive," she states. "But one of the many reasons for that that may not be intuitive to your listeners, is because the microbes in what you eat interact with all the other systems in your body." Mental wellness is as important to manage as your physical health-- perhaps even more so--and Raymond goes on to discuss the relationship between mental wellness and stress, how the two interact, and why (a little bit) of stress could be highly beneficial.  An experienced entrepreneur with a great track record, she also touches on uses of capital, creating value to the consumer quickly, scaling properly in a multi-billion dollar industry, balancing the science with the need to get out a minimum viable product (MVP) as soon as possible, and more!  Click here to download transcript. 

A computer scientist by training, Ross Lauder, Founder of Single Focus Talent, went through an IPO with Hubspot and has ". . . worked the roles I hire for!" he states. Single Focus is a boutique executive search & career specialist for the SaaS / computer software & technology driven industries, with a focus on sales, operations and leadership roles across the EU and USA. Lauder also hosts the Global Tech Leaders podcast.  "You've got to go inches wide, and miles deep . . . and there's way too many generalists out there, they're not actually getting people the roles in the space." He and Pete discuss the current state of hiring ("there's an absolute war on talent right now!"), how he thinks about candidates, the landscape of executive search, thoughts on what to look for in new hires, a few "do's and don'ts" for interviewing, and more!  Click here to download transcript. 

Dr. Michelle Segar is author of the forthcoming The Joy Choice-How to Finally Achieve Lasting Changes in Eating and Exercise which will be released April 26, 2022. Her extensive academic research (and time "in the trenches" as a health coach) focuses on creating and maintaining sustainable "self-care" behaviors such as exercise, eating well, getting enough sleep, etc. Anyone who is in any way connected to the HALO sector needs to read this (heavily cited, well-researched & extensively documented) book. It is that powerful. Her advice is something our industry must heed if we are (finally!) going to be able to reach that 80% of the population who do not exercise or have a health club membership.  "This is a time of reckoning for the fitness industry," she states. "We need to step out with new messaging that will help that 80% rethink, relearn, and reexperience physical activity." She provides some easy, immediately actionable tips for clubs to consider implementing quickly.  Segar goes on to discuss her four TRAP's (Temptation, Rebellion, Accommodation, and Perfection) which serve as drivers (or disrupters) for certain behaviors. Take the free quiz on her website now to learn more.  An example: "In theory, people would call joining a gym to lose weight a "driver," but it actually winds up being a huge disrupter to their daily decisions to actually make it to the gym and exercise," she says. It is critical that individuals understand what their disrupters are, and that communication coming from our industry reflects that accordingly. She also briefly dives into her "POP" decision tool. (Pause - Open Up - Play - Pick the Joy Choice!) which can help us learn how to make better choices while not beating ourselves up either.  Dr. Segar's voice is a most welcome, (and critical!) one that we must all heed if we hope to actually effect real changes in our space rather than going back to "the way things have always been." The timing of this work couldn't be more fortuitous.  Order before April 26th and you'll also receive access to her live book club and some other fun bonuses!  Click here to download transcript. 

Formerly in finance at investment banks and a hedge fund, Paul O-Reilly-Hyland is currently the CEO and Founder of ZEAMO. Zeamo, "simplifies and enhances the relationship between fitness partners and fitness consumers with a digital-first approach that meets the evolving needs of the fitness industry while staying true industry partners." Currently in 2,000+ clubs, they conducted a test with McKinsey in 2018/early 2019. Currently with 100 employers on the platform (some with 40-50K employees!), an integration with Virgin Plus, and slightly over 1,000 studios on the platform, Zeamo is on track to meet Paul's goal 5,000 by the spring. "Platforms like us weren't necessarily popular. We were thought of as a discounter, and we're definitely not. We're out there to solve a problem for an employer, but it wasn't easy to do . . . We make it easy for a company to subsidize employees healthcare. We pay the clubs in usage and allow employees to actually join, and reward employees every time they go to the gym." Hyland discusses the challenges of creating and managing a marketplace (they count Echelon, Les Mills, and others as partners), how they use gamification, growth plans for the next 3-6 months, the lessons he's learned from actually running a business versus being on the banker side, and more!  Click here to download transcript. 

We're pleased to announce the recent merger of The Athlete Book into GamePlan!  "This is a huge strategic initiative for us," states Max Wessell, Chairman of the Board.  The industry leader in the space, GamePlan was founded nearly 14 years ago with the idea of helping athletes get jobs. Currently with 300+ athletic departments, over 100,000 athletes averaging ~1,400+ e-learning courses a day, GamePlan counts the NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL and others as partners. "We help an athlete move through their entire journey experiencing campus," states McCaffrey. "What better place is there than the HALO sector for an athlete to land?"  "We are Mission aligned, with Ryan" says Wessell. "We're trying to improve the student athlete experience, and a big part of that means a better outcome after college, and having employers value their athletic experience in college."  Ryan Drummond, Founder of the Athlete Book, has appeared on HALO Talks twice previously (interviews here and here) and is now part of the GP team. He touches on the (very substantial) number of benefits recruiting college athletes, "According to the National Association of College of Employers, over 80% surveyed said the number one trait they want in candidates is the ability to work in a team!" The challenge has always been, how employer brands could find their way to get in front of these prized candidates. "It's far more than just a transactional, job board approach," he continues. "It's building the relationships with the right employers who see the benefit of a proactive, long term, pipeline strategy to bring athletes into their organization and educate them at the same time."  To that end, in the summer 2022, GamePlan will launch GamePlan Academy focused on career development skills with two courses--the first on B2B sales, and the second on management training with more already in development.  There is nobody else in the market doing what GamePlan is doing and no better opportunity for HALO sector brands to tap into this incredibly driven talent pool from the beginning of their college years and beyond.  Contact Ryan Drummond now ([email protected]) for more information and to explore all available options.  Click here to download transcript.