How a "Parking Lot Gym" Hit $725M in Sales with Devan Kline

0:01Light that spark fire nation JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Success Story Podcast. Today, we'll be breaking down how a parking lot gym hit$725 million in sales. To drop these value bonds, I are brought to Devin Klein and to EO Fire Studios. Devin, a former San Francisco Giants player turned co-founder and visionary of Burn Bootcamp and Burn Media Co., has turned Burn into one of the fastest growing franchises in the US. And today, we'll be talking about eating dirt, about how the product is a differentiator.

0:38We'll be talking about never giving up and keep on moving and so much more, Fire Nation. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Devin and our sponsors. The Hustle Daily Show, hosted by Juliet Bennett-Ryla, Rob Litters, Ben Berkley, and Mark Dent, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Hustle Daily Show brings you a healthy dose of irreverent, offbeat, informative takes on business and tech news, like a recent episode on Hackers vs. Casinos, where the hosts talk about MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment and the devastating potential of cyberattacks.

1:14Listen to The Hustle Daily wherever you get your podcasts. Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world, and four-time TEDx speaker Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor's free training, where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions. Devin, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What's up, Fire Nation? Listen, I'm a huge fan. Thank you, first of all.

1:51And when I think about the answer to this question, my mind goes to the following that wealthy people keep equity. Now it's counterintuitive for a lot of entrepreneurs because, you know, the nature of a business oftentimes is to build the business, to sell the business. And, uh, I just have a different experience from my perspective. And I believe that a long-term outlook is if you can hold out during those tough years, the long-term outlook on doing something that you love, that you're passionate about pays dividends and wealthy people usually are, they're buyers, they're not sellers. Fire Nation, you can tell we've already started the show off with a bang.

2:31And I know a lot of you are saying, wait a second, what are we talking about here today? A parking lot gym hit$725 ,000, not thousands, but million dollars in sales. And that's kind of where I want to start, Devin, because people love the origin story. They love understanding how somebody got there. and you were able to turn Burn Bootcamp and Burn Media Co. into one of the fastest growing franchises in the US. Tell us that story. Well, it starts when I was a kid, growing up in Battle Creek, Michigan. My mom left, took me from Battle Creek, Michigan. I traveled the West Coast, living out of a car, living out of apartment with her.

3:10We eventually come back to Battle Creek, Michigan after a five-year run at that. My mom and dad get back together. Well, they're like a firecracker inside of a bucket when they get together. It is chaos. And just to give the listeners an example, just so they can add context, right? It's by the time I was 18 years old, at my house at 84 Pleasant Avenue in Battle Creek, Michigan, we had 50 plus domestic violence charges, criminal charges rather, consisting of domestic violence and child abuse and just pretty much like a hell on earth environment. And so at 12 years old, Uh, I had a deep run in with my father where I was ended up, uh, that was the impetus of a child abuse charge.

3:52And, you know, I ended up being the brunt of that being 12 years old and realizing your superhero is no longer your superhero is, was a tough realization. But, you know, that made me a man that day, uh, when that happened. And, you know, I took life into my own hands. I remember distinctly sitting on my porch as the police officers were handcuffing my father and taking him in the back of a cop car. And I had woken up from being in an unconscious state that, you know, it was me, myself and God. And I truly took ownership of my life as a man, as an adult, as somebody who, you know, in the subsequent years up until I was 18, really found my entrepreneur spirit in Michigan, shoveling driveways.

4:35We called it 20 minute snow removal. Contracting my buddies to get out there and shovel driveways for 20 bucks. I'd be knocking on doors. Trust me, I wasn't shoveling any driveways. I knew the game even back then and split that 20 bucks right down the middle with them. And that was my first foray into business. You know, and this is all, these are all the makings, the DNA that leads me to where we're at today. And, you know, the second thing just quickly that I got into in my teenage years, I found eBay and we can, we all know the eBay arbitrage game was strong. I, before I even knew at the Art Ward Arbitrage Met.

5:09I was buying cars on eBay, emailing 500 people to get them to pay a few hundred bucks more, flipping cars, and ended up getting a baseball scholarship following in my dad's footsteps. He's a great athlete. Got a baseball scholarship to Central Michigan University. The Chippewas, am I right? The Chippewas, yeah, yeah. Fire up chips for any Chippewas out there. And shout out to my roommate, my college teammate, Jake Sable. He's now the head coach there, man, chasing his dreams too. So yeah, then ended up getting picked up by the San Francisco Giants and playing a few years with the Giants and got released and was like, what am I going to do with my life now?

5:46Morgan, my wife and I, we met when we were 12 years old. She was with me through all those chaotic, turbulent years growing up. And she was obviously the first person I called when I got released from the Giants and my childhood dreams kind of flew out the window. And I said, what are we doing here? Like my biggest fear was going backwards, right? Going backward, back to welfare, back to poverty, back to where my parents picking up where they left off. And she said, Devin, you just got to keep moving. Like, look how far you've come. And so we did that together. We ended up starting burn bootcamp in a parking lot here in North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, shout out Queen City, North Charlotte, actually Lake Norman area.

6:21Back in 2012, we had 600 bucks and no one would give us a lease. So we started in a parking lot and you know, we can, we can talk about the rest of the story, but that was kind of leading up until that point. The parking lot days definitely were the formidable days. And we grew to five parking lot gyms very quickly, had a thousand members. I'm 26, 27 years old. I looked down at my bank account. I got a million dollars in cash sitting in my bank account and I'm scared. I'm like, what do I do with this money? Like, I have no idea. I didn't expect that. And so what we did is we turned those five gyms into brick and mortars.

7:03We sold two licenses to people that came to us and wanted Burn Bootcamp to be a bigger part of their life. And going into 2015, we had seven gyms, seven gyms, five that we owned, two licensees. We ended up flipping three of the five that we own for cash transactions to help us stand up the business. And then fast forward from there, 2015, we launched nationally, Burn Boot Camp in all 50 states. We do 200. We sold 200. We like to say awarded these locations within the first 18 months and, you know, ended up being one of the fastest growing fitness franchises in the planet. So it's fast forward till now through the pandemic.

7:44We can go into all that. But fast forward to now we have 350 gyms open and operating today. And Morgan, myself, my team, our VPs, we own the company outright, and we're just having so much fun doing it. I love that fun aspect of the whole process. And Fire Nation loves the journey. They love the story. And as you know, Devin, our listeners are entrepreneurs, small business owners, sidepreneurs, side hustlers, making things happen. And one thing that you've embraced is the dirt, specifically the saying, eat dirt. I want to get detailed. What does this phrase mean to you? This phrase means to me that you have to be willing to make, and I use this word intentionally, the short-term sacrifices because anyone that is an entrepreneur, a true entrepreneur will tell you that is what it is.

8:38It is sacrifice. It's sacrifice on your time, on your leisure, on the activities that, you know, you might want to do as a 24, 25, 26 year old guy. You know, we punted our 20s, man. Like, honestly, we didn't go out. We didn't drink. We didn't party. We were focused. And we knew that, you know, we wanted to keep equity and equity in the long run. Going back to the start of this podcast was what was going to ultimately create that story where, you know, I go from poverty to then saving thousands and thousands and thousands of kids eventually that are going through poverty or at least helping at the very least, essentially working my whole life to build equity wealth to give it away.

9:19And so the dirt is a metaphor for all of the punches in the mouth that you have to take as an entrepreneur, the beans and rice that you have to eat as your business is at a couple million dollars top line. But what people don't realize is that you're plowing every feasible dollar back into the business because your ambition is so big. And you know that the resources and the capabilities and the skills and knowledge and abilities that you can acquire using money are going to be the thing that helps set you apart as an organization and as an entrepreneur. And my baseball dreams got ripped from me, JLD.

10:00And maybe there was some of my control in that, but I just wasn't good enough. Right. But I at least had an opportunity. I at least had an opportunity to be the Cy Young Award winner. The San Francisco Giants saw that in me. They gave me an opportunity and I didn't take advantage of it like I could have. And so there was no way that I was going to go into an arena that, A, I didn't have at least the opportunity to be world class or be the top of my class in. Not necessarily the best, just in the conversation, top of the class. But then also, you know, do something that helped cement a legacy for my children, right?

10:37Because I love my parents. I forgive them for all the things they did and they didn't do for me, you know, growing up. And that's how you move on, right? And that's how you come to terms with, you know, it, that the fact that it wasn't actually you and your character as a human being, as you're placed into these environments. And I want my kids to know, you know, that dad went through hell, that mom helped dad go through hell and our outcome, our purpose, our legacy is so that you and other kids like you, you know, can have leadership in their life, mentorship in their life, and ultimately, you know, be able to know principles early on.

11:12Like I wish I would have early on. So yeah, eat dirt, make the sacrifice, it's the classic short-term sacrifices for long-term satisfaction. And I couldn't be a bigger believer in that. Eat dirt, baby. And you actually used the phrase that you punted your twenties. I don't agree. I think you invested in your twenties. I think most people punt their twenties by partying, by going out, by drinking, by not spending time doing the things that are going to set them up the rest of their life. So they spend their 30s, 40s, and 50s doing things they don't want to do because of the wasted time that they have.

11:48So if you're listening right now and you're like, you know, wait a second, like I have this time on my hands. I can invest that now. I can eat dirt now. Then I can live this life on my terms. And as you heard Devin say at the beginning, he's having fun. This guy's having fun and he's doing what he loves doing because he invested in himself, in his ideas, in his work ethic, in his 20s. And we have a lot to talk about around this topic, Fire Nation, when we get back from thanking our sponsors. The fourth quarter is here. It's time to hit your revenue targets, finish strong, and win the quarter. But before you can win Q4, you have to close deals.

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14:51Join Taylor to learn exactly what TEDx organizers are looking for in their speakers, how to write a talk that goes viral once it goes online, and more. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor for this free training and get your message out of your head, out of your heart, and out into the world where it belongs. That's thought-leader.com slash fire. Devin, we're back. And one thing that I've realized about you is that you believe the product is the differentiator. What do you mean by this? And let's talk about a real world example. Yeah, so we always have said from day one here at Burn Brands and Burn Boot Camp specifically, which got us started, is that the product, your product is always the differentiator.

15:39And you can see this manifest in Tesla. I think Tesla is a great contemporary example everybody can really be familiar with, right? Tesla, I mean, I don't even think to this day they've ran a single television commercial, right? Because that R &D is spent on the product. When you get in a Tesla, whether you're a Tesla person or not, you've got to appreciate the craftsmanship, the feel. It's such a solid vehicle. The screen is just curated perfectly, the perfect size with its own technology. The first to bring the self-driving concept to the market. And you have the slick look, simple design. And people that like Teslas, they feel just great about the product that they have.

16:22They think it's a superior product. And so they're going to be a raving fan that, you know, they know them, they like them, they like Tesla, they trust Tesla and they're going to pay and they're going to stay and they're going to refer their friends. And so, you know, you get this word of mouth cult, you know, root word of culture, by the way, this cult like following with Tesla. And my theory is that it's because the product for the people that the product is for is just so darn good. And so, you know, I think they're getting a little pressure now from from the markets to be able to step their game up and advertising a little bit, but more so to create awareness around how cheap an excellent product can actually be.

16:59So we believed in this before I knew what Tesla was. And what I thought is that as the fitness engineer, somebody who is a personal trainer at heart. But JLD, dude, I didn't even know what entrepreneurship – I didn't even hear the word entrepreneur until I was 25 and already became one. I didn't even know what it meant. So for me, it was all about the craft of training, personal training, inspiring, empowering, transforming people's lives from the inside out, delivering them more value than anybody else could in my sector. And at the end of the day, I haven't stopped that trajectory. The way that we originally scaled Burn Bootcamp was through what we call the 65-point checklist.

17:41We have a process for everything that's documented. It's followed by all. This was our first process called the 65-point trainer checklist. And that was a culmination of all the experiences that I had as a trainer, and I put that on paper then to scale. And since the time when I put it on paper to scale back in 2012, it's been every week, almost every day, I could argue, I've had the mindset to evolve the product, to be so damn good that we cannot be ignored in terms of our product. So the fitness product at Burn Bootcamp is everything to us. In fact, today I was in a 90-minute meeting as the fitness engineer with now my big fitness team full of really incredible, talented trainers and business professionals around me now to really help this.

18:33But we're focused on it every day, and we're going to make every little nuance of our product really important. And we're going to make sure that even the most insignificant, minute details are magnified and that we care about those small things just as much as we care about the KPIs of the brand and our month over month record setting mentality. I love this. And Fire Nation, I want you to ask yourself a question and be honest with yourself. Is your product a differentiator or does it just kind of blend in? Does your product actually stand out? Is your product honestly the number one solution to a real problem in this world?

19:13If you can't look in the mirror and honestly say yes to that question, you're going to struggle. But if you can honestly say yes to that question, then guess what? People will beat a path to the doorstep for the number one solution to a real problem that they have. People beat a path to Tesla's doorstep because they were a differentiator, period, end of story. Now, you also believe, Devin, that whatever we do, we must keep moving and we must never give up. Get specific here. What does this mindset mean? Well, the mindset really means it's from an emotional perspective, right? Emotion creates motion.

19:53Tony Robbins told us this a long time ago. Emotion creates motion. And so if I'm talking about how to create motion, then I need to learn strategies in order to control my emotion and to use that emotion, not bury it, not get rid of it, but use it as power, as fuel, as motivation, as drive to get ourselves to the next level. Um, what really comes to mind when I think of my sources of motivation, uh, it's, it's my, my children, my three kids, Cameron, my seven-year-old daughter, my three, my five-year-old son, Maxwell, and my three-year-old son, Ryan. And my motivation is not only in where I want my family and those three kids, what I want them to say about me when I'm 80 years old and rocking them and I'm retired.

20:32And maybe I probably will never retire, but, um, we're regardless where, you know, what their grandkids are asking me versus, versus that's one motivation. But the other motivation is the push motivation from behind, you know, what I don't want to become, what I want to try to run from as fast as I possibly can. And so, you know, really what I found is if you have two motivations, if you have this vision and all entrepreneurs need a vision, right? We're not actually entrepreneurs. If we don't have the vision, we're the ones that were relied upon to look at a vacant lot and then to be able to envision a giant building, you know, with detail.

21:06Like that's our job is to paint the picture for other people and show them what the possibilities of the future are. And I've just found that, you know, a lot of people can look forward. A lot of entrepreneurs can look forward and maybe have that vision. But what really motivates them isn't the vision of the future, but it's where you don't want to go. And especially for the underdogs in the world that come from maybe a similar background. We all go through our trauma, right? We all go through our different stories and, you know, the emotion that I'm talking about is, uh, you know, it's, it's a decision.

21:38That's the conversation we're trying to have right now is like, what decision are you going to make as to what emotions you felt? What do the, what does that mean? Like, what does it mean for me to be a 12 year old kid, you know, and, uh, be on my own? Is it my fault? Does nobody love me? Do I, am I not wanted? Am I not contributing to my family? Or, you know, is it a different reason? Is it on someone else? and you have to use your memory, right, to go backwards and retroactively think about these things and emotions come forward. And it's like, be aware, be self-aware of the emotions that come forward, grab onto those things and, you know, use your emotions as fuel to create positive emotion rather than negative.

22:15Devin, take us home, brother. What is the one thing you really wanna make sure Fire Nation gets from our conversation today? Listen, I've been listening since you started pretty much and I've learned a lot from you. So again, thank you. Secondly, you know, being the reason I say that is because being a self-starter, a self-learner, somebody that I never had mentors. You know, my father, as I mentioned, struggled with addiction and abuse and was in and out of jail and prison. And my uncles were the same. And, you know, my little brother ended up, you know, following in their footsteps. And, you know, there's two things that I would want to say is number one, when you have no resources, no mentors, no people you can lean on books, everyday conversations, being curious, asking the right questions, reaching out to people that you think can teach you something, going on the offense and going to seek that mentorship.

23:08You know, we can't sit back and just wait for success to find us. We got to go find it And when you when you couple that hunger that attitude of i'm going to do whatever it takes No matter what my life circumstances were you take that attitude and you apply that into a business My second point I'd want to leave people with would be a business That not only can make you money Because that's part of it But that has a positive impact on the world that you can feel great about I always wanted to make money and I always knew I could go into finance or go, you know, into legal and go make money doing those things.

23:46But those things weren't what I was passionate about. I was passionate about personal training because I had to gain 25 pounds of muscle to make it to the ranks of the San Francisco Giants like I did. And without that passion, I would have never gotten there. And so it continues today. And don't look too hard for your passion. let it find you. What would you wake up every morning and do for free if money wasn't a limitation or a circumstance? And so whatever that is, go after that and find people in your life, even if you don't have them, find people in your life that can teach you a lesson and then listen to them.

24:23Because unless you got a million, unless you got 5 million or 10 million in sales and you're turning profit, you have a lot to learn. And then when you get there, you're still going to have a lot to learn. But humility is baked into all of that. And And yeah, hopefully that sparks somebody out there to take action now. Devin, thank you for the kind words. They are well-received, brother. And let Fire Nation know how they can learn more about you, connect with you, your business. What is your final call to action? Just go to DevinKlein on Instagram. You can follow me there. I'm on all the platforms, but that's the one where I interact with everyone most.

24:59I answer my DMs for about an hour a day. So if anybody wants to elaborate, ask any more questions, listen, I want to have influence. That's the goal, but not necessarily hiding things behind a paywall. I want to make sure that all the lessons that I've learned and all the experiences that I have to share that are they're free, whether it be encouragement or business advice or just to say what's up, Devin.Klein on Instagram would be the best place. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with DK and JLD today, so keep up that heat.

25:33Head over to eofire.com, type Devin, D-E-V-A-N, in the search bar. The show notes page will pop up with links to everything we chatted about. And Devin, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, brother, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. All right, everyone, keep moving. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors. and Devin for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, are you ready to rock your very own podcast? Check out our free podcasting course where I will teach you how to create and launch your podcast for free, freepodcastcourse.com.