Sweating Smarter: How Infrared Technology and Micro-Footprints are Redefining the Future of Franchising with Stephen P. Smith

0:02John Lee Dumas:Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here, and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today, we'll be breaking down Sweating Smarter, how infrared technology and micro footprints are redefining the future of franchising. And to drop these value bombs, I brought Stephen P. Smith into EO Fire Studios. Stephen is the founder and CEO of Hutworks, one of the fastest growing fitness franchises in the world, with more than 850 locations worldwide. He's an entrepreneur, inventor, and best-selling author with nearly 40 years of experience in the fitness industry.

0:33John Lee Dumas:And today we'll talk about the micro studio advantage, why traditional gyms are falling behind, automating the experience, and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Steven and our sponsors. Sleep impacts everything. Your energy, focus, and performance. FitNexus Somnipods 3 are ultra-comfortable sleep airbags that block distractions, track your sleep, and deliver personalized insights to help you rest and recover. If better sleep is a priority for you, visit fitnexa.com and use code EOFire10 to save $10 on Somnipods 3 today. Stop duct taping your business together.

1:08John Lee Dumas:High Level runs your website, your funnels, email, automation, scheduling, payments, and memberships all in one place. And when you sign up at highlevelfire.com, you get a 30-day free trial plus my exclusive bonus stack that includes weekly office hours with me and much more. Visit highlevelfire.com. highlevelfire.com. Stephen, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. First of all, what's up Fire Nation? A lot of people would agree, but they just don't do it. When you decide to do something, you have to stick with it all the way.

1:48And you don't just stop. You don't change your mind. You You don't change directions. You don't change industries. You know, if you believe in something, you just have to keep doing it. You know, I think, you know, most people, they don't believe in what they decide to do hard enough.

2:13John Lee Dumas:And Fire Nation, that's why we're talking about Sweating Smarter, how infrared technology and micro footprints are redefining the future of franchising because Stephen tried hard enough. And I want to talk about the micro studio advantage because you believe massive square footage is a liability, not an asset. Why exactly is the micro studio model so powerful, Stephen? And how does Huttworks maximize profit per square foot? Starts with a belief that no square inch should be wasted whatsoever. When we opened the first Hopworks, I was adamant that we're not going to have an office. You know, we have very little storage.

2:58Everything that you sell in terms of the retail aspect of what we do in the boutique fitness studio should be on the shelf. You know, you shouldn't waste space with unnecessary storage. and why would you need an office in today's world? You know, there's no need for an office. So there's a savings of like maybe a couple hundred square feet right there. But you're so right. Every square inch matters and should be producing income for you.

3:32John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, it's critical that you realize where are your strengths and where are maybe the competitors' weaknesses. and that's why I think what Steven has done better than most. So I want to kind of keep down this train by talking about why traditional gyms are falling behind. Like what are their weaknesses? And frankly, consumer demand has shifted towards wellness, towards recovery, towards longevity. So how has that change left so many traditional fitness operators scrambling to catch up? Yeah, I think you're right. And you know, the old adage, bigger is better in the gym business. Not necessarily the case anymore.

4:08and I will take a moment to turn the conversation into one of time as well. Not only should every square foot matter every moment has to matter that's why our motto for Hot Works is more workout less time because we believe if you can use the right tools and use the right exercise, the right workouts with those tools, then you can get more in a workout in less time than you can at the competition.

4:46John Lee Dumas:Now, can you give us an example of somebody that's going to, for instance, a hot works and how are they getting a better experience there overall? We have all types of folks from every age range. You know, we do have a core demographic in the gym business that all important 25 to 40 year old female core base of customers. Our business is about 85 % female. So that's the core demographic. But if you're focused on the right, building the right culture for your business and you're targeting within that demographic and your messaging is correct and you do it frequently enough and it will be like a giant boulder falling into a calm body of water.

5:38You'll get a massive impact where you want it to go, but then you also will get that ginormous ripple effect. And by the ripple effect, I mean, well, maybe you have Sue coming in because she saw an ad and she fits right into that demographic that you're targeting. But if you make the place a spot where she loves and becomes a raving fanatic, you know, because it was built for her, and you start from building the customer culture in that way, then she will bring into your business her entire orbit. That's what I call the ripple effect. And that orbit is her mom, her husband, her daughter, her cousin, everybody in her Instagram, everybody in her Facebook, Everybody on TikTok that she hangs out with, her entire orbit, will come in because she is a fanatic about your business.

6:37And she's a fanatic about your business because you have presented the messaging that she likes over and over. And then she comes in, and what she sees and what she experiences is exactly what you told her she was going to get. If that happens, then you've just created a raving fan and that will create that ripple effect for you that I'm talking about that will bring in that 18 to 80-year-old female and everybody in between and some guys as well.

7:07John Lee Dumas:So let's talk about automating the experience, Stephen, because that's something that I think you've done incredibly well that kind of builds upon everything you're sharing here. Because one of the biggest challenges in fitness is the training turnover, the labor costs, this churn is just so painful. It's so brutal. So how have you specifically used virtual instruction to create a more scalable business model? It begins with understanding that the hub of your business begins with the consumer app. Our app in the beginning began with the fundamentals of allowing customers to get into the studio and then to book their workout appointment and to track their calorie burn as it's integrated, the app and the workouts, everything we do with their fitness device, mainly Apple Watch or Fitbit, but other devices can be used as well.

8:11So you begin with that, and then we produce and we release every month new workout videos. We have 12 different types of workouts. in two categories. Nine of the workouts are some version of an isometric routine, like hot yoga, hot Pilates, et cetera. And then three are HIIT training. The isometric routines are 30-minute workouts. The HIIT training are 15-minute workouts. HIIT training consists of cycling of a total body trainer that is a upper body leveraging bar. And then you have cycling for the lower body. And then we have a rowing machine we call Hot Thunder. And we have a patent on that machine as well.

9:04But those are the three different types of HIIT training that we provide. All of this inside of infrared sauna on average about 125 degrees of radiant heat.

9:15John Lee Dumas:So Steven, we're going to talk about the 15-minute lever, building for results, not trends, and the franchise opportunity when we get back from thanking our sponsors. One thing I've been dialing in for over a decade now is sleep. Not only am I in bed every night by 9 p.m., but I've really perfected my sleep environments. And one thing that's helped me do that is Fitnexa. Fitnexa is a pair of comfortable sleep earbuds designed specifically for a great night's rest. They're built to minimize pressure on your ears, even if you're a side sleeper like me, and their active noise cancellation helps block out the distractions that can keep you from falling or staying asleep.

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12:13John Lee Dumas:Stop piecing tools together. Start building momentum. Visit highlevelfire.com and start building your something today. Steven, we're back. And as I kind of tease before the break, I wanted to talk about the 15-minute lever because most people assume that longer workouts actually create better results or like, oh, I was in the gym for three hours today. How did shortening workouts to 15 minutes actually increase retention, increase engagement and increase customer lifetime value? First, let's start with what is important is it increases the number of calories that you burn. So you're processing energy at a faster rate.

12:54You're getting more of a workout in less time in that way, right? And then you're absorbing infrared radiation that goes into your skin up to an inch and a half and triggers all kinds of good things happening inside of your cells, inside of the mitochondria to accelerate your metabolism and to do things like increase your blood flow and bring more oxygen and nutrients to your entire body. so you're definitely getting more workout in less time because of that um i think that beyond that you if you're going to use an infrared sauna as a training environment then you also have to recognize that there are certain types of exercises that are more conducive to environment like that like for example yoga pilates anything isometric is going to work very well outside of an infrared sauna.

13:51It's not an environment that's made for ballistic training. You know, it's just not. You're better off doing isometrics on a HIIT training machine so that you can remain sort of stationary in that environment.

14:09John Lee Dumas:Let's talk about building for results, not trends. Because fitness trends come and go, let's be honest. But how did you build a franchise ecosystem that serves both the end customer and the franchise owner for the long haul. I think you have to remember the fundamentals of what we're here to do. We're here to help people work out and get results. You know, that's why health club exists in my opinion. That's why it should be there is because people want to have a great workout. They want to get solid results. Now, I come from an athletic background. I've trained in many different environments, many different ways, just about every workout you can imagine.

14:49I've probably done it. And I can tell you that consistency is the key. And proper training methods are important. You see a lot of weird things out there. And, you know, I am a proponent of, hey, a workout has to remain consistent, not just in terms of how often you use it and the frequency that you use it. But a workout needs to be consistent in terms of the flow of the exercises. Like, for example, yoga. I started doing yoga using Bikram way back in the day. And that's 26 postures in the same sequence every single time you come and do it. and it is a tremendous workout and I got incredible results from it.

15:38I learned a lot from that as well. I learned a lot from athletic training and football and bodybuilding about how important it is to know, well, did I do a plank better today than I did the day before? Because you have so many trainers out there that promote, I call it, schizophrenic training principles, meaning they want you to do the same workout completely different every time you come in the gym. I'd rather propose no cross-train in between consistent workout types, consistent workout types that you can measure your performance with. The variety needs to come from the cross-training in between different workout types, not the same workout type done a million different ways.

16:29John Lee Dumas:So I want to talk about the franchise opportunity specifically because How It Works was actually ranked the number one boutique fitness franchise by Entrepreneur Magazine. So, you know, we love Entrepreneur Magazine. It just highlights great entrepreneurs, businesses, franchises around the world. So congratulations for that. What makes this opportunity so attractive in your opinion, Stephen? And what do you look for in potential franchise partners? I'll start by saying that over 80 % of our franchise owners were customers first. So the growth that we have is organic. And we think that that says a lot about the experience that customers get when they come to Hotworks.

17:14You mentioned it earlier. We're in business to help people get spectacular results. Go back to the mantra that we have, more work out, less time. If we can continue giving customers more of what they want, which is results, and saving them time, that will never go out of style. You know, I will say that one of the reasons that the brand has taken off has been because of its differentiation in the marketplace, but not differentiation and uniqueness at the expense of fundamental fitness training principles.

18:00John Lee Dumas:So Steven, I want to end with a bang. For people that are listening right now and they're like, I love what Steven's talking about. I really understand the opportunity when it comes to wellness, recovery, longevity, 15 minute workouts, building for results, not trends. What is the next step for our listeners? What is your call to action for Fire Nation? Where can they go to learn more? Yeah, I mean, they can always go to hotworks.net and you know if they really want to dig into the the science behind it and some of the story of how it works too i wrote a book uh published in late 2020 i'm in the midst of revising that but it's on amazon it's called hot exercise there's a lot of information there if they like to take a look at that book you know i would say go to the website or get a copy of that book fire nation you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with you've been hanging out with SPS and JLD today.

18:55John Lee Dumas:So keep up that heat. And for links to everything we talked about, Stephen's book, his website, the opportunity, go to eofire.com, type Stephen, S-T-E-P-H-E-N in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. And Stephen, thank you for sharing your truth, knowledge and value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you so much, Fire Nation. It's been a pleasure. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Stephen for sponsoring today's episode. and Fire Nation. Are you an entrepreneur on fire who's looking to share your amazing message with the world?

19:26John Lee Dumas:If yes, we are now accepting applications for EO Fire. So to learn more about becoming a guest, visit EOfire.com slash guest and I'll catch you there or on the flip side. Sleep impacts everything. Your energy, focus and performance. FitNexus Somnipods 3 are ultra comfortable sleep air bugs that block distractions, track your sleep and deliver personalized insights to help you rest and recover. If better sleep is a priority for you, visit FitNexa.com and use code EOFire10 to save$10 on Somnipods 3 today. Stop duct taping your business together. High Level runs your website, your funnels, email, automation, scheduling, payments, and memberships all in one place.

20:04John Lee Dumas:And when you sign up at HighLevelFire.com, you get a 30-day free trial, plus my exclusive bonus stack that includes weekly office hours with me and much more. Visit HighLevelFire.com. HighLevelFire.com.

20:21Thank you.