Laura Munkholm:
Hello. Hello, everyone. Thank you for being early on time. Really appreciate you being here today. Uh, we will wait about another minute before we kick off. So grab your tea, grab your coffee, grab your water, close all your tabs, and get ready to pay attention and enjoy yourself.

Barry Kostabi:
Yeah. This is gonna be a fun one today.

Laura Munkholm:
Yes. Awesome.

Barry Kostabi:
Alright.

Laura Munkholm:
Hey, guys. Hey, Chantal, Justin. How's it going? Hi, Val. Um, actually, as you guys are getting settled in, um, for those of you that haven't been in, uh, one of our webinars before in the SQL platform, you'll be able to chat on kind of your right panel. You'll see a little chat box. So if you want to click that now, please pop into the chat and introduce yourself, the name of your studio, and, uh, name of your studio and where you're located. Um, just get familiar with the chat because we will be very interactive today, and it's gonna help a lot if you know what you're doing, where you're going. Alright. Awesome. Hi, Taylor. Uh, alright. Cool. Well, in the interest of keeping this on time and making sure we respect everybody's schedules today, we will get started. Welcome to our WALLA webinar series. Uh, today we have a very exciting session. It's all about why you're not selling out classes and what to do about it. So, I imagine those of you that are here today are interested in learning more about how to fill your room, build more community, and keep your clients coming back. Um, I feel like we kind of have a celebrity in our midst today. Barry Costabi is here with us. He and his wife, Shay, have the fitness career mastery, um, platform. And they really are experienced designers in the fitness industry. So they Barry helps you bring the people in, and Shay helps you keep them. So this really is going to be a two part webinar series. We'll be doing the second half of it with Shay down early fall. And we are we're really excited to work with them because this is not only, um, um, I think we've worked with a lot of people who have worked more technically behind the scenes. This is bigger picture, looking at your brand as a whole, how you present yourself to the world, and how you can really curate an experience that keeps people interested in coming back. Um, oh, hi, Lori. Hi, Sarah. Um, all right. So I am going to be facilitating today and helping kind of guide the conversation back and forth. So when there are questions that Barry asks, please do dive into the chat and share your thoughts, share your questions, and then I will relay that, and we can keep going. And I'm I'm just gonna tease this out. We are going to have a kind of live selection and work with one of you and kind of workshop and experience through your website today. So if that gets you excited, definitely volunteer when we get to that point. Um, but, yeah, Barry, I'll let you take it from

Barry Kostabi:
here. Awesome. Laura, thank you so much. That was an awesome intro. So nice to meet everyone. Uh, we got people from all over the country. I love seeing you pop up in the chat. Today's gonna be a lot of fun, and it's gonna be about three things. Number one, showing you how incredibly unique you are. I know you have exceptional value that no one else can provide in the way that you do it, and I'm gonna help you learn how to leverage your uniqueness into a really strong brand strategy. Number two, it's gonna be about illuminating how to confidently and easily attract more of your dream clients, and I'm gonna show you how to strategically step into your uniqueness and properly leverage your value. And it's also gonna be about ensuring that you never again see metrics like this when you log in to Walla. No new leads. No new clients.

Laura Munkholm:
We don't love that.

Barry Kostabi:
No. Not many first time visitors, low return rate, we don't want any of that. My superpower is being able to draw your uniqueness and value out of you and show it to you, and more importantly, show you how to communicate it to your dream clients in the form of a brand strategy. And I'm gonna prove that to you in real time on this call because today, one of you is gonna walk away with a brand new brand strategy.

Laura Munkholm:
Love it.

Barry Kostabi:
So as Laura mentioned, my name is Barry, and ever since I was young, I've been obsessed with the power of storytelling. Huge Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings fan over here. But couple that with a degree in psychology and years of experience internationally as a group fitness instructor, master trainer, and consultant. It's no wonder that I'd become a fitness brand strategist, which is really just a fancy way of saying that I help you determine the most compelling story about how you and your business can make your dream clients' life better in a way that showcases so much value, it makes them feel like it'd be they'd be crazy not to sign up for your intro offer. So whether you're branding yourself as a single studio owner or a multi location franchise, fitness brands struggle with attracting more of their dream clients and clearly communicating their value because they build their brand strategy around the wrong thing entirely. And the funny thing is that someone who turned out to be extremely successful made the same mistake when they first started out, but when they made the correct shift, everything changed. And that person was none other than Steve Jobs. In the late 1970s, Apple Computers was a really young company. The computer that they launched the company with, the Apple I, gave them enough money to make the Apple II. And in order to help boost sales, Steve Jobs ran a series of ads for the Apple two, and you can see one of them right here. Now this ad spoke about how amazing this computer was and all the amazing things it could do, like it could plug into your TV. You could play Pong on it. It had incredible graphics in 15 colors, a familiar typewriter style keyboard, a huge list of impressive specifications, stuff I don't know much about, like RAM and stuff like that. Right? And the fact that you could use it if you had no previous experience with a computer. And these ads bombed. The fact that it's a super sexist ad probably didn't help very much either.

Laura Munkholm:
I I was spying that girl in the background, like, ugh.

Barry Kostabi:
Not good. But as a result of these ads performing so poorly, the company was also not performing well financially. And Steve Jobs wound up leaving Apple. I don't know if you knew that, but he left Apple to help build Pixar. And you know Pixar as the company that's so good at storytelling. They manage to make so many of us cry every time they make, uh, they have us watch one of their movies like Wall E, Inside Out, Finding Nemo, right? Toy Story. Oh my god, the first ten minutes of Up? Anybody?

Laura Munkholm:
Yes.

Barry Kostabi:
And of course they've won all the Oscars and Grammys and Golden Globes because of their stories. But it was through working with them that Steve Jobs realized the power of storytelling. And a few years later, when he returned to Apple, he started running a new ad campaign. He tore up the huge Apple two style spread and boiled everything down to just two words. Think different. I'm sure many of you have seen these ads before in which Steve Jobs famously says, the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who actually do. And these commercials and ads featured images of people who have shaped our world, like Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr, Albert Einstein, Pablo Caso, and more. You guys remember these ads? Yeah. Type to think different in the comments if you've heard that quote before from Steve Jobs and remember these ads. But customer loyalty and sales just skyrocketed ever since. So let's break this down. What happened here and why these commercials are so iconic? I mean, who quotes a commercial, anyway? Right? Was that Steve realized that people weren't buying a computer. He realized people were buying what they believed about how owning an Apple could shape their current or desired identity. What they believed they were buying was their dream for their lives, not the computer itself. And this didn't happen by accident. Apple completely shifted their focus to demonstrate their core belief that those who think differently can do great things with their passion and may even go on to change the world. They told a story that communicated that buying an apple means you're one of those people. Steve Jobs always said, you always have to be a little different to buy an apple, And their customers deeply resonated with this. They believed they were purchasing a Mac that they could use to accomplish great things because they too identified as people that thought differently. And Steve Jobs built his whole brand strategy around this, showing his customers how buying his computers fit into the story of their life and what they aspired to be. He appealed to their identity on an emotional level, and it was on this foundation that Apple became the company that it is today. Type feeling it in the comments if you feel that from Apple too. But this is exactly why a brand strategy is so important, especially in our industry. Very little fitness branding and marketing demonstrates a deep understanding of people's emotions, needs, motivation, and psychology. When Steve Jobs first started out, he was focused on the wrong thing. He was trying to sell people a computer by talking about the computer itself and all of its features. And if you think about it, it's the exact same way most fitness businesses try to sell people Reformer Pilates because it's low impact and will tone your body from head to toe, or indoor cycling because you'll burn x number of calories in an hour, or you'll be part of a great community. In doing so, you're trying to sell a product and its features. And as Steve Jobs eventually came to understand, products and features aren't the main drivers behind why people make decisions, but particularly buying decisions. There's a lot of correlation between that Apple two ad and what we talk about in fitness on this slide. Right? Something I say all the time is the reason people exercise has nothing to do with exercise.

Laura Munkholm:
If you think

Barry Kostabi:
about it, that's true. People want to feel more confident. They want to go through their day with more energy. They want to participate fully in their life without fear of getting injured. They wanna be able to play with their grandkids, and they wanna feel attractive and capable in their bodies. But if you sell them exercise as if what they're seeking is the exercise itself, when really you should be selling your dream clients what they could experience, could achieve, or who they could become as a result of doing your exercise. Right? It's the same reason you get on an airplane. That reason has nothing to do with the airplane at all. This is crazy, but could you imagine if airline companies talked about how their planes have state of the art flaps that help generate the most lift? Nobody cares. You want to know that the plane can take you to your dream vacation destination to see your friends and family, or, like one of my favorite Expedia ads, give you the ability to let your child experience the ocean for the first time in your home country. Now that's not to say that the vehicle to getting those results isn't important. Steve Jobs is also famous for doing everything he could to create the perfect product, and you should too. You want to create the perfect vehicle for getting people to the results that you're promising, But that's another training with my wife, Shay, and cofounder. So stay tuned for that one. I don't know about you. I've heard so many stories from my clients about their members sharing how a class gave them the confidence to ask for a promotion, to leave a toxic relationship, to feel like themselves again, finally run that marathon. So many more. Oh, Rebecca's seen that Expedia ad. Yeah. Chef's kiss. So good. I had a client come up to me once and tell me that they wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my classes. I mean, why else are we here? Right? And that's exactly why I help fitness businesses like you draw out and clearly communicate their value through a strong brand strategy. So you wanna think of a brand strategy as a road map for your business's identity. It's not about having a catchy logo or a nice website website or hot trainers, state of the art equipment, or a beautiful studio build out. It's about deciding who your business is and how you want your people to see it. If you imagine your brand as a person, what values does it have? How does it talk to people, and what makes it stand out? Having clear brand strategies like giving your business a personality that resonates with your dream clients. It helps you be consistent in your messaging and your actions, which helps build more trust with your people. And when people trust your brand, they're more likely to choose you over others. It's all about making a really good impression and building a strong relationship with your audience as the guide they need to help them past their struggles to their dream outcome. Developing a brand strategy is a matter of giving your business a strong and appealing identity that sticks in people's minds and is perceived as highly valuable in terms of how it can make their life better. And building a strong brand strategy is exactly why my client Lucinda of Peakflow in Rochester was able to quit her full time job and work solely on her business as a yoga and mindfulness coach for athletes. And she attracted so many of her dream clients that she quickly sold out all of her availability each season. And the University of Buffalo women's soccer team, one of her dream clients, considered her so instrumental in their championship win that they even gave her a ring. And a strong brand strategy is why another one of my clients, Cody, of Cure Studio in Salt Lake City, said, Barry's expertise in understanding our business and guiding us toward towards a clear vision was exactly what we needed. Our brand values and vision have never been clear, and our marketing efforts are more targeted and effective than ever before. And it's also when my client, Q The Core, in San Rafael was able to launch their studio and immediately become triple wait listed in every class. So if you want me to show you how your brand strategy could be improved live on this call, type pick me in the comments, and Laura's gonna help me out. What I want you to do is type pick me and also drop the URL to your website in the chat. Laura's gonna go through them while I keep going and pick one of you, and I'm gonna take one of you through that process in just a few minutes. Alright? Suzanne said pick me. Who else we got?

Laura Munkholm:
Love it. I know. Keep them coming in, guys.

Barry Kostabi:
I'll keep them coming.

Laura Munkholm:
Diving in. Don't be shy. Barry's really nice. He's not gonna he's not gonna embarrass you on on live TV.

Barry Kostabi:
Definitely not.

Laura Munkholm:
Alright. I'll I'll start looking.

Barry Kostabi:
You you go. So while you guys are racing to the comments, I want to share with you three really big problems that your business runs into when you lack a strong brand strategy and only focus on selling the type of class that you offer. And the first one is you limit your ability to reach more of the people you're trying to serve. When you market and sell only the kind of workout that you offer, you severely limit the number of people you can reach with your offer. On average, this is really interesting, studies have shown that you reach about 3% of your available market. Take a look at this graph. What happens when you market and sell the type of class you offer is that inherently you're speaking to the top 3%. These are the people who already know the value that your classes bring to their life, and they're looking for where they can take one. The majority of these people are already into fitness. Many of them are already fit. Maybe there are some in there who, through their research, have come to believe they'll enjoy your type of class or it'll help them achieve what they want. But at very best, you're leaving 80 to 97% of your available market on the table because you're speaking to a very specific type of person, and you're likely not having as deep an impact in changing as many lives as you hope because you're mostly speaking to people who already love to exercise. Another crazy stat is in our entire history as an industry, we've never gotten more than 25% of the population moving. I think it's because we're telling the wrong story. Reason number two is you're making marketing way harder than it needs to be. When you build your brand strategy around your classes, you put yourself in a position where you have a lot of potential objections to overcome. When you frame your value around the type of workout you offer, you leave it up to your potential new members to color what you offer with their own perceptions, preconceived notions, and their beliefs. And I know I don't have to tell you this, but they will color it with their past experiences with fitness, what they've heard, seen, or perceived about your type of workout, what the media has told them, their friend's bad experience. They'll color it with what they believe they're capable of. They'll color it with how hard they think it will be, the times they've failed in the past. You're giving away nearly all of the power you have to frame your value in a way that will address their concerns, show them why what you offer is the best solution to the problem they're looking to solve, and inspire them to sign up. I'm gonna drop two links in the chat right now for you to save and watch after this, but SNL recently created a skit on Pilates where they likened it to a horror movie. Anyone see this?

Laura Munkholm:
It's absolutely hysterical if you haven't watched it.

Barry Kostabi:
It's hysterical. It's objectively funny, but there are also going to be a lot of people who watch that and say, no way in hell I'm going to do a Pilates class. And they are going to pay your studio no mind every time they drive by it. Yes. They they really nailed it. But the second link is interesting because it's like the behind the scenes, and they're talking with the writers and the actors, and they're talking about what it feels like to go into a fitness studio, what they perceive about fitness instructors. It's not good, you guys. It's not good. Alright. Let's keep going, though. Number three is you get lost in the noise. The third problem with building your brand strategy around what type of classes you offer is that you're forced to compete with everyone else who offers your type of workout in your city and online. And this is called commoditizing your business, and you're forced to compete with them on the level of price, the level of features, and it's constantly a race to hype yourself up more than the other studios. Right? Have you looked at the websites of most fitness businesses? I have. They all say the same thing. A high energy workout for all ability levels that will leave you dripping in sweat in a supportive community so you can meet all your fitness goals. It's the same thing you experience when you go to Target to buy a new blender. You go to the blender aisle. Most of them pretty much look the same. So what do you do? You look at which ones have the features you want, uh, the price point you want to pay, and you make a decision based on that. In your fitness business, like I said, this puts you in a position where you're constantly having to keep up with and hype yourself up more than your competitors, and often, it's a race to the bottom on price. Let alone compete with some giant companies that have marketing budgets larger than your annual revenue. It's not a good situation to be in. If you don't want to be in this position, type not me in the comments because I'm about to show you how you can revise your copy and start attracting your dream clients the instant they discover you, just like to the core who went from saying sweat, shake, and lagree on their home page and high intensity, low impact, full body workouts that will strengthen, tighten, and tone your muscles quickly and safely, which doesn't really mean anything and sounds the same as what literally every other fitness business claims they can do, to survival mode, to beast mode. You've got ambition and a fire in your heart that keeps you moving towards it, but lately, it feels like it might die out. We're here to show you how to make it burn bright again with classes that inspire greatness in you. Or like Cure that went from just featuring the name of their studio along with fitness community and connection, which again doesn't tell their dream clients anything about how they can make their lives better, to revive your life with the power of movement and music. Boost your confidence, energy, and focus with our unique approach to movement and fitness that focuses on your mind and spirit, not just your body. All right, it is time. I want to show you, is it hard Lauren? Did you find somebody?

Laura Munkholm:
I, well I did, but it's I'm having to do eenie meenie minie moe because I want to pick everybody.

Barry Kostabi:
All right, I wish I could do everybody. I know. Um, but I wanna show you in real time how you can avoid these pitfalls and realize how powerful it can be when you begin to revise your brand strategy. So, Laura

Laura Munkholm:
You ready?

Barry Kostabi:
Are we bringing up on stage?

Laura Munkholm:
We are gonna bring up Anna Alcorn from Kelp Pilates.

Barry Kostabi:
Okay. Would you mind dropping her website URL in the chat? Anna, welcome up on stage.

Laura Munkholm:
Hold on. Give me a second, Anna. I have to add you to the stage, which I told Barry I this is my first time actually adding somebody on stage mid event. So give me a a thumbs up in the chat if you get a little invite, and, hopefully, we'll see you on there in a second. Yay.

Barry Kostabi:
Oh, awesome.

Laura Munkholm:
Okay. Okay. And we are going to have

Barry Kostabi:
So while all this is happening, I want to invite everyone else who's not on stage to grab your phone or grab a pen and paper, laptop, whatever you want. I want you to follow along, try to answer some of the questions for yourself that I'm asking Anna right here. Um, Anna, thank you so much for coming on stage.

Laura Munkholm:
Yeah. Thanks for being here.

Speaker 2:
Hi. Awesome. Oh my gosh. You guys, I'm so sorry. You're not gonna believe this. I'm actually at the airport. Hi. Can you hear me?

Barry Kostabi:
I can hear you.

Speaker 2:
Okay. Okay.

Laura Munkholm:
Do you do you want us to go with someone else, or do you wanna actually go through with that?

Speaker 2:
No. I would really love to go through with this. But it's it's a yeah. It was a sudden family funeral thing. So

Barry Kostabi:
Oh, I'm so sorry.

Speaker 2:
No. It's all good. It's a great reunion. So

Barry Kostabi:
Okay.

Speaker 2:
What an opportunity. Thank you. Mhmm. Of

Barry Kostabi:
course. Okay. So a lot of the questions I'm gonna ask you are gonna be deep questions about yourself, your philosophy, why you start your business, and and things like that. So, um, you run KELT Pilates. Why don't you just talk to us real really briefly what it is that you offer? Obviously, Pilates, but what what type of Pilates?

Speaker 2:
Yes. So, um, I I've been training ballerinas for many years, and, um, I fell into Pilates because I experienced severe pain myself after childbirth and a career as a dancer forever. I just destroyed my own body. And so being in a lot of pain, I found Pilates. Okay. I was like, oh my god. I wanna heal everybody. So I've focused on, um, supporting dancers to become better, and I've sent a bunch of dancers off into the world to become professional ballerinas. Wow. And, um, you can't do do Pilates without, you know, addressing regular old people stuff. Not old people, but regular people issues. So, um, healing back pain, supporting my son's water polo team, and teaching them exercises to support their shoulders and and geriatric work. I mean, it kind of exploded to the point where I realized I can't just be doing this piece work anymore. I need to open my own studio.

Barry Kostabi:
So Amazing.

Speaker 2:
I don't even have the doors open yet, but I've been working for years to bring this to be. So I'm I'm so excited.

Barry Kostabi:
Well, congratulations. That's so exciting. Thank you. Okay. So we already have a lot to dig into here. I'm Yeah. So curious. You said you were experiencing severe pain, especially after childbirth. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? And, specifically, I wanna know how did that make you feel? What was the impact that it had on your life?

Speaker 2:
Um, so childbirth does weird things to your body. And after the birth of my third child, uh, she was born with special needs, so I was more concerned about her care rather than my care. So I didn't you have a a window of time where your tendons and ligaments are still really loose, and I missed that window to heal myself. So, you know, we're talking two, three years later, I'm still in sciatic pain and hip pain and back pain and stuff that was just, like, required a lot of ice packs to drive around in the car.

Barry Kostabi:
Wow.

Speaker 2:
Restricting my dancing made it really painful for me to dance. My chiropractor's like, look. You this is not gonna work. You're gonna try something new. You should try take a Pilates class.

Barry Kostabi:
Okay.

Speaker 2:
And I'm not a very obedient student. Um, I was a high school teacher and an oceanographer, which is where the kelp came from. But, um, I'm not obedient, and I decided I'm not gonna take a class. I'm just gonna get certified. And instantly, within a couple within, like, two classes, I was feeling so much better in my body. So I was like, oh, hallelujah. I'm gonna heal the world here.

Barry Kostabi:
Yeah. Do have you tried anything else before going to the chiropractor or trying Pilates?

Speaker 2:
No. I mean, just, you know, anecdotal stuff that adjustments, acupuncture, chiropractor, that kind of thing that that didn't just wasn't hitting it for me.

Barry Kostabi:
Yeah. So it sounds like this had a severe impact on your life. I mean, driving around with ice packs

Speaker 2:
Ice packs.

Barry Kostabi:
In a car is crazy.

Speaker 2:
Yeah. Yeah.

Barry Kostabi:
Um, and then not being able to dance. How did that make you feel?

Speaker 2:
When I found Pilates?

Barry Kostabi:
No. When you were experiencing all of that pain and not being able to do the things that you love.

Speaker 2:
Um, uh, angry that I was so prevented from doing what I love. Really frustrated that it was, like, you know, why can't I just do this the fun stuff that I enjoy?

Barry Kostabi:
Yeah. Did you feel anything like, oh my god. It's gonna be this way forever, or Yeah.

Laura Munkholm:
There's gonna

Speaker 2:
be no way out of this.

Barry Kostabi:
Did you experience any hopelessness in that sense?

Speaker 2:
Um, probably to some extent. This was, like, twelve years ago. So I think it was

Barry Kostabi:
yard tree member.

Speaker 2:
Yeah. But, I mean, it it it was deep. You know, it was a deep feeling of, yeah, of yeah. Like, oh, crap. I'm never gonna perform again. I'm never gonna dance on pointe. I'm never gonna be able to do all the things that I did. Yeah. I definitely Okay. I can I can relate to that hopeless feeling of, oh, my life is gonna be very different now? And I guess this is another big thing. My family is like, oh, yeah. Well, we have back bad back in the families. So Oh. Like, no.

Barry Kostabi:
Mhmm. Okay. Um, so now talk to me I just wanna reiterate. I hope everyone else is kind of answering these own questions for themselves in their own way. Talk to me about when you took you said within two classes, you were feeling better in your body. So what is it about Pilates as opposed to other things you could do, like a chiropractor or a physical therapist or yoga or other options that are available. What is it about Pilates that makes it the best possible solution to eliminate pain?

Speaker 2:
It taught me to use muscles that I didn't realize I I needed to activate. And it sounds really funny because I was a performing dancer. Like, how do you not use your core? But I didn't. I was relying on other muscles and stressing out tendons, and I had torn muscles so many times because I I was relying on other big muscles to support my back and support my body rather than understanding what the core was. And I'll never forget in my one of my first classes, I could not even do the most basic exercise. And I'm like, well, I'm really strong. If I can't do this, how could anybody do this? So it was really I remember, like because I was, you know, I was a really strong dancer, but I had really damaged my body by using other muscles. So it was a a huge eye opening moment to realize, like, oh, wow. There are muscles I didn't even realize existed, um, that I can use.

Barry Kostabi:
So what you're saying is that Pilates helps you develop a new relationship with your body, helps you identify Yes. Why you might be causing yourself to experience pain or injury, and it teaches you how to strengthen those activate and strengthen those other muscles that will help eliminate your pain.

Speaker 2:
Eliminate your pain so you can do what you want. Yes. Absolutely.

Barry Kostabi:
What does it feel like when you can do what you want?

Speaker 2:
Young. I feel youthful. I feel unlimited Oh. Obviously. Um, that, you know, whatever my limits are, those are self imposed mental limits that it's not a it's not a physical limit anymore. Anytime even now, you know, in in starting a studio or in running a studio, we sometimes neglect taking care of our own selves. But as soon as something twinges or something doesn't feel right, I'm like, oh, we gotta get back to the self care so that I can keep doing all these amazing things. So that unlimited feeling of of, oh, no. I just need to, you know, take care of myself so that I can keep doing all this amazing stuff.

Barry Kostabi:
Got goosebumps. Anyone else?

Laura Munkholm:
That was such an amazing description.

Barry Kostabi:
Wow. Anna, thank you so much. I I've got what I was looking for. So what I'm gonna do now is I'm going to echo back to you everything that you shared with me in the form of a story, which is what I believe your brand strategy.

Speaker 2:
Okay. Wait. I have one question.

Barry Kostabi:
Yes. Go ahead.

Speaker 2:
Is somebody recording this? Because I can't really write it down. Yes.

Laura Munkholm:
Don't worry. This is totally worth recording.

Barry Kostabi:
It. You'll get there recording later.

Speaker 2:
Of course. That. Thank you. Okay. Carry on. Sorry.

Barry Kostabi:
Okay. Are you ready to become limitless again? Life happens, and sometimes we find ourselves in in a position where we don't feel at home in our body anymore, and we're experiencing a lot of pain. That can come from childbirth. That can come from an accidental injury. It could come from a car accident. It can come from just stress and strain from doing the thing you love to do for a really, really long time. And it can absolutely wreck your life. Suddenly, you find yourself driving around with ice packs in the car or driving around with the heat the seat warmers on in the car, not to keep you warm, but just to try to mediate the pain. Right? And it's so hard to feel restricted from doing all of the things that you love to do the most in your life. It makes you feel angry. It makes you feel frustrated. It can make you feel really hopeless. You have so much life left to live, and you find yourself wondering if you're ever going to feel like yourself again. And you can go to the doctor and go to the chiropractor and go to the physical therapist, and they're gonna tell you you need surgery. You need to, um, take it easy. This is just how it's going to be now. And I'm here to tell you, and I'm speaking from your perspective, that within two days or two hours of your time, I can help you feeling feel more at home and alive in your body again. Yeah. When you take our Pilates classes, They're not intimidating like you'll see on SNL. All you have to do is recognize through the method of Pilates how to use muscles that you haven't realized that you're not using and by not using those muscles it's causing you to become injured. And relying on the same muscles over and over again is what's causing your body to wear down. I was a dancer. I had a really strong body, and I still didn't know how to activate every part of my body, and I found myself in debilitating pain. Within two classes, I promise you're going to be experiencing less pain so you can finally start doing what you want again. If you're ready to feel young, if you're ready to feel youthful again, if you're ready to feel unlimited, if you're ready to recognize that any limits you feel, any limits you perceive are just mental limits, come join your first class at Kelp today.

Speaker 2:
Yes. Fire. I've got, like amazing. Like, big music going on in the background here in my in my when I'm listening to this, I'm like, Star Wars theme of, like, entering into the hall. That's beautiful. Yeah. So that's

Barry Kostabi:
what we want people to feel. Right? That's how you get people to sign up for your class. That's what gets them excited to book your intro offer. If you say Awesome. If you just say, come take a Pilates class, what does that what does that mean? You gotta put it

Speaker 2:
in

Barry Kostabi:
context with how it's gonna transform their life. But here's the thing, Anna.

Speaker 2:
100%. Tell me.

Barry Kostabi:
I wanna show you something. So if we go look at your website, the first thing I see is classes start July 15.

Speaker 2:
Yeah.

Barry Kostabi:
We're dedicated delivering exceptional Pilates instruction tailored to individual needs. I see that on every fitness website. Building strong and flexible spines and minds. What does that mean? Right? I want to see become limitless again or something like that. Yes! Okay,

Speaker 2:
I get it, I totally see where you're coming from.

Barry Kostabi:
Right? Right? And I want to see you not talk about what you do and what you're all about. I want to see you center the story around them. I want to see you Yeah. Telling a story around your dream clients and who they are.

Speaker 2:
I I loved when you said that at the very beginning, you're like, tell them what they well, tell them the end result. And I'm laughing because I'm I'm getting on a plane. They don't talk about, like, oh, look at our fancy whatever. It's what about, like, connect with your family. So that really resonated with me when you're like, talk about

Barry Kostabi:
Right.

Speaker 2:
The end result. Like, what do they want? Feel young. More confidence. Fit into your plans.

Barry Kostabi:
Right. I don't know what's going on. Businesses position themselves as the wrong character in the story. We're not the hero of the story. State general boarding conference So stop talking about yourself.

Speaker 2:
Service center

Barry Kostabi:
Your dream clients are the hero of the story.

Speaker 2:
Yeah. We're the vehicle.

Barry Kostabi:
You're the vehicle. You're the guide. Right? You're the person that says, I know what you're going through. I've been there before. Take my hand. I'm gonna help you not experience that anymore. Yes. I

Speaker 2:
love it. I totally love it. I am just I just have to apologize for standing here holding my phone and having this conversation. It's jiggly. So I'm sorry for that if it gave anybody, like, nausea or if it's loud. But, oh my gosh, I am so excited. Thank you.

Barry Kostabi:
You're so welcome. Thank you. You're so welcome. Have a great studio launch, and have a great flight.

Laura Munkholm:
Alright. Thank you for being with us.

Speaker 2:
Oh my gosh. So grateful. Thank you.

Barry Kostabi:
You're so welcome. Okay. So there you have it, everybody. I hope this showed you the power of a really strong brand strategy and how easy it can be to well, again, this is my superpower, to draw out the necessary pieces of the story so that you can share it with your dream clients. Right?

Laura Munkholm:
But just watching the words pour out of her mouth when you ask those questions are I mean, she had the words. She had the stories. She had all of everything that you all need is inside of you because you've you've lived it. You've heard the stories from your clients. You know the transformative power of what you do.

Barry Kostabi:
Exactly. Exactly. Lord, thank you. It is living inside of you, but what I like to say is you can't read the label from inside the bottle. It's hard to be really objective towards yourself and what you believe in your business. But, um, to wrap things up, what I want to share is if you're thinking, oh, great. Another thing I need to work on because we're really busy busy running our businesses. You might be surprised to find that a really strong brand strategy is transformative for businesses of any size because it naturally helps with your efforts in a lot of different areas of your business. It helps you build more recognition. You're gonna better stick in the minds of your dream clients when they come across your brand because you're speaking to the outcome and the results that you're gonna get them. You're gonna establish trust, especially in the fitness industry. There's a lot of mistrust to overcome from past experiences. Like I said, what they've seen in the media, their own perceptions of the workout you offer. And also something I like to say is, you know, when you want to go buy a pair of shoes, you don't have to, like, get into special clothes and pump yourself up and, you know, overcome your insecurities and all of these things. It's it's a lot of work to get someone into one of our classes. So we have to show them that empathy and that authority in terms of how we can get them to where they want to go. You're also going to differentiate yourself from competitors a lot better. There are a lot of businesses locally, online, and again really big players who do what you do, but your superpower is that you can stand apart from them by leaning into your unique perspective, beliefs, and values. You can have a Pilates studio and have the exact same classes as Anna, But if you package it differently, if you infuse your values and beliefs around Pilates, I I shared, uh, one of my clients a little bit earlier on. She believes Pilates is a way to really challenge yourself so you can unlock beast mode inside yourself. Right? So it really comes down to who you are. You're gonna facilitate more customer loyalty. Something we talk about a lot with our clients is ensuring you're providing a consistent experience they can count on. Imagine going to a restaurant and every time you order the hamburger, it's completely different. Right? A strong brand strategy informs what that experience is and helps guarantee the results that you're promising, and that's what facilitates loyalty. A lot of fitness businesses think as long as they're running a Pilates studio, running a cycling studio, and they offer cycling classes or they offer Pilates classes, then they they've checked that box. Right? But now we start to think about, okay. How does this class experience ensure that I'm delivering on this promise that I'm trying to make? And that makes a huge, huge difference. You're gonna level up your marketing efforts. It's gonna pack a much stronger punch. Instead of talking about what you do, you're gonna start talking about the impact that what you do has and how you do it has on people's lives. You're gonna create a culture, a brand around what you believe and what you do. And as you learned from the Steve Jobs story, that's marketing that people respond to. You're also gonna find it a lot easier to attract talent. Compelling brand story will resonate with the right staff members and instructors, and that's gonna foster a much stronger team and a much stronger workplace culture. What are we all working towards here? It's not just to offer a great class. It's what that class provides for people. You're gonna be able to set your focus around that specific outcome you want for your clients rather than merely offering classes. You're gonna enhance your perceived value. A strong brand can command higher prices because consumers associate well established brands with higher quality and higher reliability. And you're gonna be able to navigate challenges better. I mean, god forbid another pandemic rolls around. But if something like that were to happen, when you have a strong brand strategy, it's so much easier to pivot and think of other ways that you can accomplish your brand promise. So in essence, a robust brand strategy is an investment that pays off by creating positive, enduring perception that benefits your business across all of your operations. So it's time to move brand strategy to the top of your to do list. Like I said, the problem is it's hard to read the label from inside the bottle, which means it's very challenging to be objective towards yourself, and we struggle with this too. We have a coach to help us with this. And that's exactly why I want to offer the first 12 of you who follow the link on this screen, which is also the link I'm gonna be dropping in the chat right now, the opportunity to go through the same experience that Anna did with me and develop your brand strategy. Your call is gonna go very similarly similarly to Anna's. I'm gonna start out by asking you some questions to understand you and your business better and get a better sense of what your challenges are, and that's gonna be put me in a position to reveal where I believe that problem is stemming from and why. And I'm gonna then ask you more specific questions about your beliefs. That helps me reveal your ideal brand strategy, and I'll learn how to best communicate your value. I'll then reveal that story of your brand strategy to you on the call and talk to you more about how you can implement it into your business. And what I tell you can help you reach more people and tap into that, remember, 97% of the market that you're not reaching right now. And then if it feels like we'd be a good fit to work together, I'd invite I'd like to invite you to work one on one with me in my coaching program that's called the one or in my group coaching program called the brand strategy lab. And when you work with me, you're gonna walk away with everything that you need to implement your new brand strategy. You're going to get that complete brand strategy in PDF form, and I'm gonna coach you on how to implement it with your staff, with your instructors, with your marketing team. Oh my god. I hear all the time. I've hired a marketing person, and I've gotten nothing from it. It's because they don't know how to talk about your brand. And when you empower them with that, everything changes. You will be able to share this with your social media manager, etcetera. You're also gonna walk away with a new marketing strategy based on your brand strategy. You're gonna get a complete guide on how to bring your brand strategy to life through your website copy. You'll also get a complete guide on how to revise your social media marketing strategy to best reflect your brand strategy and actually attract new clients. And if you book your call with me before this call is over, I'd also like to give you access to my ebook, why you're not selling out your classes and what to do it, the audiobook version because I know you're busy, and you can listen to it in the car or in the grocery store or between classes, and a free mini course that takes you into greater depth and helps you implement what you learn. And all that has a 499 value, and I'm giving that away to you for free. So book your call with me so we can get your brand new brand strategy rolling. Now's the perfect time. We're moving into summer. Things are slowing down a little bit. I want to get this established with you so you can go into the fall really, really strong.

Laura Munkholm:
Yeah. That's that's a huge part of why I wanted you with us now. I think from a timing perspective, it's just so powerful to think about going into your busiest time of the year feeling incredibly confident with what you're presenting to the world. And marketing does take time, you guys. It's not something that you flip on and see instant results. So when you craft this, when you spend the time on it, you can hit go, and then you'll have the time before the busiest moments of the year to have this established.

Barry Kostabi:
Exactly. Exactly. And thank you for having me on now, Laura. I really appreciate that. Oh. Suzanne signed up. Sarah signed up. Yay. Alright. Amazing. I'd like to open it up for any questions. Um, if we have a few minutes left, Laura.

Laura Munkholm:
Yeah. Sure. If anybody's got something they're curious about, please jump into the chat. Or if you want to be live on stage asking, I can add you in, but Yeah. Feel free. Let's see. We might just be in a good place. Um, the other thing to to remember is we will be announcing, as I mentioned earlier, the second half of this with, uh, Shay, who is going to be talking about then how to keep people with incredible programming and experiences when they do walk through the door. Um, okay. Val's got a quick question. Thoughts on long brand stories that present the negative with a solution versus the positive from participating with us.

Barry Kostabi:
Um, I'm not exactly sure what you mean, Val. Could you maybe type an example in the chat? And I'm curious what you mean by negative. Yeah.

Laura Munkholm:
Because I'll bring you out in a second.

Barry Kostabi:
What you maybe I'll wait for your question first. What what I hear a lot is making the mistake and the difference between coming off as negative versus showing empathy. If you picture a mountain, a lot of fitness professionals like to dance up on top of the mountain. They say, woo, it's great up here. Look how great life can be. And they stay up on the mountain, and your dream clients are down the mountain. They're looking up. Well, that that does look great, but I'm all the way down here, and I don't know how to get all the way up there and can make them feel really powerless. And by showing empathy, which is not negative, you're coming down the mountain, you're saying, I know how hard this seems. There's a lot of boulders in the way, but I'm gonna guide you all the way up. I'm gonna help you not feel this way anymore, and you can dance up on the mountain with me

Speaker 2:
too. Um,

Barry Kostabi:
Um, meaning paid points first. Yeah. Feeling overwhelmed, tired, and scared to get started. Um, that's called showing empathy. Yeah. Um, that's not negative. Negative in my mind is you suck. Um, you I think a lot of the industry is very negative right now in the sense that you're not motivated enough, and that's why you're the way you are. You're not mentally strong enough. That's negative. Yeah. Empathy is saying, I know how hard it is. I know why it feels difficult to establish a routine because all these people are yelling at you telling you that you're not motivated enough. I'm here to help you establish

Laura Munkholm:
that. Yeah. I think a lot of what I see in our industry and what I think feels negative is, like, you need to be fixed.

Barry Kostabi:
Yes.

Laura Munkholm:
Rather than, hey. I understand that it's hard to feel the way you're feeling right now.

Barry Kostabi:
Right. And when we show empathy the right way, we're not placing blame on them for what they're experiencing. A lot of the time, we're placing blame on our culture. Right? Or, um, the lifestyle that most people are forced to live. I work with a lot of brands that work with parents, right, who are Laura, you can speak to this. Right? We're burnt out. We're tired. Our cup is not full. I often go through hours where I I can't have a thought of my own, so I need a place where I can fill up my own cup. Yeah. Right? Um, and showing empathy to the fact that I'm experiencing that has nothing to do with me necessarily. It has to do with the situation that I find myself in and I need help.

Laura Munkholm:
Interesting. Okay. Christine's question is more, like, part of what they do differently is they tailor the experience to whoever shows up. So Cool. Rather than a generic promise that you're going to do something, she's wondering how she can differentiate that as a potential selling point.

Barry Kostabi:
Yeah. Absolutely. That's a great question. So the amazing thing is that there are so many different types of people out there. Right? And when we start to differentiate ourselves away from what kind of class that we offer, we start to find the the different shades of people out there and the people that are meant for us. So, Christine, there's probably a group of people out there who are really frustrated with the fact that when they go to a class, it's just very cookie cutter and the instructor leads them through an experience. Some people thrive on that, and that's great. Right? But for some people, they crave a tailored experience. Right? So what's the pain point that that person is struggling with? What's the frustration that they have? And how can you frame tailored group fitness? Right? Yes. Tailored small groups as the solution that they're looking for to reach the dream outcome that they're looking for. Right?

Laura Munkholm:
Yeah. That's a great way to put it. People are tired of feeling like a number or, like, they, yeah,

Barry Kostabi:
they don't matter. Or they're not entirely sure if they're doing it right every time they go to a group fitness class. You can make the argument that group fitness instructor doesn't have enough time or ability to come around to address the needs of 60 people in a room at the same time, which is true. But, again, not a problem for some people, problem for some people.

Laura Munkholm:
Yep. Yeah. Cool. Well, we are just about at time. So I am so grateful for you being here, Barry, and thank you for the amazing walk through and and really just reframing of brand strategy because I think brand is often perceived as something that is, I don't know, a luxury, kind of like an icing on the cake thing when when you have some money to throw at it rather than the core fundamental part of the business that's gonna drive students through your door. So

Barry Kostabi:
It's everything.

Laura Munkholm:
I I appreciate the reframing. And for those of you that are interested in working with Barry, please follow the link, um, that he shared in the chat and keep your eyes out for our webinar series for July. And then when we will have your other half joining us this fall. Um, yes. Thank you, everyone. Please reach out if you have questions for those of you that are new to learning about WALLA. We have lots of information on our website here. Or if you'd like, you can reach out to us. There are plenty of opportunities to just click in and ask a question. We will see you next month. Have a great day, everyone.

Barry Kostabi:
Thank you, Laura. Thank you, everyone. And

Laura Munkholm:
there we go.

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