Brian: 0:11

All right, well, welcome back to the Vero Beach Podcast. We're here with Danielle and today we're gonna be talking about the behind the scenes here, what it's like to run the business here at Resistance. Now first, danielle I wanna kinda dive into. During the last episode you were talking about the creative side, how you really enjoy that and for those of you that are coming here in July, I've already noticed the whole place is transforming right now so maybe so I see your creativity already happening, so maybe share with people what you're doing right now.

Danielle: 0:39

Yeah. So, if you didn't know, christmas in July is real. I actually am looking really forward to celebrating Christmas in July because the hustle and bustle is non-existent, nobody is stressing over Christmas dinner. It's kind of like a month of make-believe, but highlighting the fun of Christmas. So, starting July 1st, we'll be kicking it off and our tagline is Merry Fit Mass, because we're going to be working on the booty. So our strength program we focus on month-long programs every single month. So there's a lot of gyms that will offer these four-week programs to work on your lower body or your upper body or a four-week shred, whatever it is. We are constantly having four-week programs here, so you can never really plateau and you're just going to keep learning. So we had decided as a team that our strength program now you are going to be working out other muscle groups as well, but every workout will be glute focused.

Danielle: 1:38

So, you will be leaving class feeling like you've worked that backside and also it's fun with the name and we're playing with people. We're saying like we saw your Christmas list. We know that you're asking for a nice butt for Christmas.

Brian: 1:50

Let's start it five months early.

Danielle: 1:53

I also think people just kind of need a break from the outside world. What happened too? That kind of really, really solidified it is we're having a charity ride on July 18th for Little Birthday Angels, which is a nonprofit that celebrates homeless kids' birthdays in Indian River County. They had said that their July mission is to put Christmas trees in businesses with little tags of wish lists from little boys and girls, and that's when I said, okay, we're definitely doing Christmas in July, because now it won't look so odd having a Christmas tree in our lobby For spin. We're having themed rides. So don't panic, You're not going to be spinning to Christmas music all month long. We're using just the holiday of Christmas to make some funny themes. So tomorrow night I'm doing Ho Ho, ho and a Bottle of Wine. We'll have Kevin McAllister's favorite playlist, which is Songs of 1991. I know Leilani has, oh Holy Sweat planned. You're probably going to see either from Kenzie or Brooke. We wish you a merry swiftness. Taylor Swift ride, all the good, fun things.

Danielle: 3:02

With strength, we have the same exact strength program that we've been doing the past month. So if you are a member and you're kind of wondering, where did Tabata burnout go on Thursdays, now we're just calling it Fa La La Tabata. So it's just fun Christmas names. Same bone structures of thes. Now we're just calling it Fa La La Tabata. So it's just fun Christmas names. Same bone structures of the classes. But we're throwing in the Christmas spirit a little bit early. July 25th will be a little Christmas party Stay tuned for more but we will be doing a cookie swap. We will be doing ugly, christmas sweater or tank top competitions. We're going to have a lot of fun this month and we just want people to feel good and happy these next few weeks.

Brian: 3:41

Oh, that's cool, that is so fun. Okay, so I love that you're talking about you're going to have Christmas like you guys are going to have a cookie swap. Earlier, you kind of touched on this a little bit during episode one when we were talking about like the mental side of it. That was actually something me and Shauna were just driving down the road I think it was a couple of days ago after doing Tabata, and we had just left where we were. We were out somewhere having dinner. Oh, we went to Indian River Distillery. There's a musician out there that we like, his name's Pippin. So we went to go hear him, had some tacos and had a drink, and when we left there that night I remember telling Shauna Something along the lines of feeling guilty about like having drinks, having tacos.

Shawna: 4:21

This is something I really resonate with you, because you posted something that said like there's nothing better than cookies, than feeling strong while you're eating cookies Heck, yeah, yes, that's not what all fitness instructors or fitness business owners talk like. That's not what all fitness instructors or fitness business owners talk like, and you know I hear people say stuff like you know, nothing tastes as good as being fit, feels I'm like you must not have had really good food then, because that's just not true. If you love food you know, some people don't love food.

Shawna: 4:54

I mean good for them, but I'm not one of them. So I was just telling Brian like it's so important your mindset even of having that balance. So don't feel guilty when you treat yourself to something. If you're, you know, in moderation and you're not going crazy. You know your body responds to how you're even thinking about that thing. So, yeah, and like that's why I think I love how you talk about things so much, because balance is so important.

Danielle: 5:15

Balance is so important, but it's also just not black and white. I always like to think about what else. So you go out for drinks, you see a musician that you like and you have some tacos you might have just made that musician's day for showing up as fans and you got to enjoy music that you like that you can't really hear on the radio. It's a non-recording artist that's just playing at a local place and, heck, you're enjoying a drink or two. That isn't going to derail you from the hard work you're putting in. I also know that depression comes in all shapes and sizes, and people that are in the best shape of their life are not immune to depression. So, yeah, I mean, I'd rather you live this fun, balanced life of creating memories, enjoying the damn cookie, but also like then showing up the next day for class. But my biggest thing, too, and what I tell a lot of people is, there needs to be more when it comes to fitness.

Danielle: 6:10

Like, why are you moving your body? Is it because you have grandkids and you want to be able to go upstairs and see their bedroom, or get on the floor with them and play blocks? Like, what is the why If the only reason is because you want to burn what you're eating, then your mental health needs to get checked. There needs to be a bigger reason to move your body and you only have one of them and it shouldn't be punished. And that comes too with balance. Are you eating cookies every day? That's punishment. That is punishment for your physical health. It's not good. And I even hate the word reward. It's the only R that starts with R-E that I don't like in that sentence. But don't look at you know a drink or tacos as a reward because you worked out five days in a row. It should just be kind of part of your life and it shouldn't feel like such a black and white thing.

Shawna: 7:02

I wonder if part of it comes down to if you have, like, flexibility with yourself as far as your schedule. I mean, I feel like these days we want to be in control of everything. So then when one little thing goes not according to plan, then we start to spiral and then there's all the things that come with it guilt and everything. So I wonder if that's it too, if we can learn to be more flexible with our schedules and with ourselves.

Danielle: 7:27

A million percent. Things are going to happen. Your sleep is going to be off frequently or once in a while, but you don't necessarily have that control. You can't just go to bed and say I'm going to sleep eight hours, perfectly Like. It just doesn't happen.

Danielle: 7:41

And it's hard with social media. Social media is a really good tool, but it's also a very bad tool because you're seeing all these influencers and suggested things of like, you know, take these supplements, drink enough water, eat enough food, da, da, da, da, da da. And you know, even right now I'll be straight up, honest with you I haven't been home since this morning and I only packed enough to really fuel me for a couple hours. I totally forgot my day was going to run like this. But am I going to be like? Oh my God, I, you know, shame on me. No, it just it happens, life happens and I just think it's so important not to restrict yourself from joy. And if that means going to somebody's birthday party and having a piece of cake, even being able to say no, if that brings joy to you to restrain yourself, cool, but do I want you to be in that restriction every day, all day? No.

Shawna: 8:32

Okay, I wanted to ask you if you could only describe resistance in three words. Which three would you choose?

Danielle: 8:39

Oh, I would say, boutique connection rewarding.

Brian: 8:46

Why did you choose those three words?

Danielle: 8:48

Boutique. I will always explain to people I'm a boutique studio. A lot of people ask me like what's boutique? And I just tell them you have to experience it to know what it is. We have towels ready for you, our lobby smells good when you walk in, we know your name, we talk to you about your best options, our bathrooms are clean. We have all the things that you would possibly need. So that's boutique. I would say connection there's somebody that's going to connect with somebody in this room. There's always constant connection. And then I would say rewarding, because it's not only rewarding for me that I'm helping people in their fitness and mental journey, but I know people are feeling the reward of coming here. It's either you know they experienced their first class, able to clip in or clip out. It's adding more weight factor or just being better in form with an exercise in strength, or it's really just them being welcomed by their first name or us celebrating their birthday.

Shawna: 9:44

You mentioned the bathroom and that was something that really struck me when I walked in there because I was trying to pinpoint why it made me feel the way I felt. Because I just looked around and I thought hair ties I forget my hair tie constantly. Deodorant I also often forget deodorant. I was thinking about it and it makes you feel, seen, like we got you. We got you, don't worry, the dry bar, where there's a hair dryer and there's dry shampoo. I need dry shampoo all the time and it makes you feel really held comforted, like, don't worry, we're not going to send you out into the world smelling bad. Right, right, right right. It's a great feeling.

Brian: 10:23

And there's very unique quotes in there, but we're not going to say what those are. You're going to have to come and check them out for yourself.

Danielle: 10:28

Yes, please come see them, try a different bathroom every time.

Brian: 10:34

And I love how you're trying to help that boutique side of it. You're going to have to come and see it for yourself. But what I love is that you offer a free class for your first time.

Danielle: 10:40

There's still a million people in this area that don't know me. I used to train and teach in front of a small percentage of residents of Indian River County. There's also some people that might have just been sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting and finally that sign hits them to come to a class. The free class is a good carrot, but I always tell people it's really going to take you two to three classes to feel a little bit more confident and to be sold on us and I hate that word sold. We're never trying to sell people immediately, but we do have a next step approach which is very comforting to a lot of people that are still kind of figuring out their schedule or seeing if they're going to like us, whatever. So it's a five class intro offer. They get to do it one time and it lasts two weeks. So it's $75, bringing it down to $15 a class, and it's good for any spin classes or strength classes. Obviously, if they, you know, need an extra day of extension because they want to use their fifth class, if it's case by case they got hurt, they were sick, whatever I'm super happy to work with them because I want their experience to be easy and light. By then, having six classes under their belt, they should really kind of say, okay, I think I'm ready to be a member, coming here two, three times a week.

Danielle: 11:54

Or maybe they're just a seasonal drop-in type of person, or maybe they have another membership at another studio somewhere, which is totally normal. That's kind of more common than anything these days. So maybe they buy a credit package here, but we want them to experience us a few times with a discounted rate before they really kind of dive in. But the discounts don't stop. Our annual membership comes with two free guest passes a month so they can constantly keep bringing in their spouse, their best friend, coworkers, whoever. They get 10% off of payroll all the time and they get early signups. And then we also have you know, we have free events all the time, like tomorrow night the complimentary wine tasting. They don't have to pay a thing. We have a pelvic floor workshop going on twice this month totally free of charge. I've done product pop-ups before, so the drink that we now sell in our lobby we had free cases for members to try out first.

Brian: 12:47

So there's always complimentary things.

Danielle: 12:50

There's always discounts available. There's sales running Christmas in July. Every weekend we're going to be holding a sale. So yeah, we like to make it approachable for people to dive in.

Brian: 13:01

So, danielle, how do you plan for people in different seasons of their workout? So you have beginners and then you also have seasoned athletes, probably. So how do you plan for some of your routines and stuff to be for both of those? Sure?

Danielle: 13:54

Well, with spin, I mean it's a bike that goes nowhere and the rider really is in charge of the tension, and resistance and height and weight do definitely matter. So I teach, and my instructors teach, in a very umbrella format. We give suggestions on how much resistance, we describe what you should be feeling, but if somebody is like 6'3" they're going to need a little bit more to the right to feel something, compared to me who's 5'4". So that is a factor, but we're constantly coaching that With strength. The reason we like our new people to come 10, 15 minutes before their first class is we get to size them up. We get to see okay, yep, you've been seasoned, you've been doing this. We also like to ask any injuries, anything we should know about that we can't physically see. So for women, we like to know if they're in their first trimester. We won't share, we won't tell, but we need to know that stuff so we can give options.

Danielle: 14:44

I have members who suffer from vertigo so they can't lay on their back, but we have the training and the tools to think quick and to make something optional and we always empower them. Telling them like an option isn't weakness, an option is being smart. You'd rather be smart than hurt yourself, right, and anybody can start anywhere. All of these people that seem seasoned they were a newbie at one point, and the beauty of it is when people are a little bit nervous of like well, it's my first time come in the beginning of the month because that's our new program. It is always the first week of the month. There's going to be seasoned members that have been here since opening and we're going to show them new things and they're going to be learning right next to you.

Brian: 15:27

I will have to say, though, I absolutely love your follow up because, just like you mentioned earlier, when someone first starts showing some interest and they make that connection, creating the account, you guys are reaching out, and I told Shauna that I was like they are amazing at their follow up. Just trying to help you feel comfortable, the app that you guys have is amazing. I absolutely love the app. I'm a big digital guy. I do marketing, so I work with companies with that, so I'm always about like connection and follow up is key, and you guys do an amazing job at it, so probably the best I've seen.

Brian: 15:59

So all right. So, daniel, what makes resistance different from a typical gym or like a chain?

Danielle: 16:06

So I've taken multiple classes at chain fitness studios we call them franchises and they're good. There is a risk with everything that there's a good instructor and a bad instructor. You might have just a weird experience. Somebody might be off that day and that's okay. As I have traveled and have visited studios, I can't help but notice the ones that are built from the ground up of a sole entrepreneur. There's just a little bit more specialty than a franchise. Sometimes franchises they use their professional photos of their master instructors or trainers.

Danielle: 16:42

The color palette and the design is the same at every single location. They're sometimes so scripted that it feels scripted, whereas even like my signage that's hanging up in our lobby, that came from my voice. You can read my humor in it. You can read my seriousness voice in regards to some etiquette that we do require. But you can truly see that this place has been thought of each detail to Resistance Bureau Beach. Now, that's not saying like if we were to franchise. Maybe a different location looks and smells and feels a little bit different, but for me, having lived here the last three and a half years, you know the color yellow of our lobby. That makes me think of Vero. I come from New England where I think more like green. I just it makes me think of it. So it really did come from my heart and my soul.

Danielle: 17:30

And I would say those ones that are owned by solo entrepreneurs. There shouldn't be confusion of who the owner is and what their personality is and their design. It also gives a lot of freedom. With a franchise, you know you do have to follow their marketing guidelines and their schedule of things. For us, because we're doing Christmas in July this year, it doesn't mean we have to do it next year. It could be something totally different. If you're coming into a small business, you have to know that person is also doing the payroll, doing the hiring. There is no corporate person above me. The only person above me are my thoughts. Every element is going through me. So we don't have this board of directors. It's me, myself and I. But yeah, it's all preference too. Nothing against franchises, it's all preference. But if you like my personality, I guarantee you like the studio.

Shawna: 18:24

Yeah, I love the personal touches everywhere. Can you tell us about the quote in the cycle?

Danielle: 18:28

room. Yes, so the quote says your mental strength is your power. My mom still lives in Massachusetts and she texted me that the day I was released from my former employer and once I read that I was like, wow, more people just need to read that. And I don't even tell everybody that that is from my mom and why she's texted it to me, because I think a lot of people resonate with it when they are in a spin class Because, honestly, most of spin is mental.

Danielle: 18:56

There's times where you might want to just quit or stop or slow down and it's that mental strength that gets you through it. It is my mom's handwriting, so if you are ever in the spin studio, it really is hers. I don't see her every day. I don't even talk to her every day. We have a great relationship but we're one of those relationships that we can talk every three days and it's fine, yeah, but seeing her handwriting up there is just like it's like a hug every day and it's such an awesome quote. So your mental strength is your power, which I want people to use when signing up for their first class, because it's mental. It takes that mental piece to click reserve.

Brian: 19:32

Well, I think that's the best way to end this episode. So, all right. Well you guys. Thank you guys for tuning in. If you've enjoyed this episode, make sure you click review. We can't wait to get into part three now to talk about Vero and what you love about Vero.

Shawna: 19:45

Make sure you come back, neighbor.