Equinox Cofounder Lavinia Errico on Practical Woo and Mourning a Success

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3:15If you're running a small business or a side hustle, you're going to do a lot of things. You're going to incorporate the business. You're going to give it a name. You're probably going to give it a website or a handle on social media. But are you going to give it an astrological birth chart? According to Lavinia Errico, co-founder of Equinox, you should. I see a lot of influencers talking on social media about spirituality, but far, far fewer entrepreneurs talking about it. So today, Lavinia and I are going to talk about where what I'm calling practical woo should come in. And if you're on the fence about all of this, don't worry, because I can be skeptical too, so you'll definitely hear your voice in this conversation.

3:51We talk about the early days of scaling Equinox, what it was like for Lavinia to be pregnant during the launch of the company, and what she thinks of the business now. Lavinia is also building a new business, Movejoy. So we talk about what it's like to have a second business baby after the huge success of your first. Here's Lavin.

4:12Lavinia, welcome to Money Rehab. Finally. I'll go with you anywhere, darling. Anywhere. Any rehab. That's true. When was the first time we met? You remember the story much better than I met when we were doing that event. I was around women empowerment. It was at the BMW, the Beverly Hills BMW. There was some part of it that, and right now, especially with pregnancy brain. There was a Spanx part of the story that I remember you sat down and it was in the morning and you were, it was a prep meeting or something. No, no, you said it from the panel. I never expected to be at eight o 'clock in the morning, standing here with Spanx and Louboutins in the middle of a dealership.

5:10It's like, wow, we're going to keep it real today. we're going to be friends and we were and we stayed instant but we've done a bunch of panels since then yeah we have there was one time we did a panel with other female founders and you really like meeting beforehand i do i love that and we did dinners with like the founder of sugar fino which was super nice so great and page page from page denim she was a doll she was awesome And then we did another panel with some other female founders. And I was hosting that whole day and I was really stressed out. And I remember you came and I was like, Levin is here.

5:50And you saw it. Like you felt my vibe. You were like, I'm off. And we went into a closet or a little hallway and we just started breathing and changing. I'm like, we got to shift the energy. We can't go on that stage with you like that. We got to shift the energy. And we went into this little closet and just started bouncing. It was so kind of you to see me in that moment. And then we went and just did our little thing and then went on stage. And are you naturally good at managing stress in those situations? How have you evolved to know when to? First of all, for me, movement always changes my energy.

6:29And that's why I'm such a believer in movement, right? Because it just shifts the energy. I have a tendency to have a little bit of anxiety. I mean, I had it as a child. So over the years, I just use a lot of different things. So breathing, dancing, like if you're going on panels or you're anxious or stressed, what would you? Usually on my way there, like I'm in my car, I put on certain music that lifts me up. And I even do the breath work a little bit when I'm driving, even though my breath coach would say, Don't do it when you're driving, but I do. Because it almost makes you high, right? It makes you high.

7:07So when you get that rush, you feel so good. I know when I was on, I used to put a little band, a little elastic band. And if I felt myself like in a place where I couldn't excuse myself, I would just take the band and hit the band. And as soon as it hit, it would be like, come back. You're good. That was a DBT thing that I learned in dialectical behavioral therapy, like to put the band or Sometimes I put my nail and it shifts or it makes you feel like I'm alive. I feel pain. I do this. Yeah. But now I just like if something happens right between here, I just squeeze it in with my nail. And all of a sudden it just brings me back.

7:45It's something to just stay calm. You've gone through all the woo. A lot of woo-woo. All of it. And I'm so not. I'm really this Italian Jersey girl. From Jersey. Who's so grounded, who can grit through it, grind through it, shovel it out. But I also like that. I enjoy some of it like I do. And I'm like, not sure I believe it all. But what I know is it feels good. So once it feels good, I'm like, OK, I might not drink all that Kool-Aid over there, but I got something out of it. I feel like almost everything I do, there's always one pearl that I can walk away from. And the truth of it is, that's the way I like to spend my time.

8:31I'm not the woman that loves to go shopping. And I like personal development. I like spiritual development. That's my happy place. When I go to your house, which is also your happy place, there is a lot of woo representation. Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of crystals. There's a lot of like you have the biggest supplement display outside of one of the vitamins. stores that I've ever seen. There's Buddhas and you go through a lot of it and in different colors that you gravitate toward and like, and all the astrology and the Kabbalah. But what I think of you as this practical woo, you will call bullshit.

9:11Like you are very, you're BS star. And I don't know if this is a Jersey thing or like people from Jersey, but you'll be in like the yoga or the breath and this and that, and you'll try all the things. But every once in a while they're like, No. And like the Jersey girl comes out. Yeah. Because that's who I am. Like that's really at the root. Like I said, I don't buy into it all, but I enjoy it. I know when I'm being a tourist, I'm being a tourist in something. And I know when I'm walking my walk of spirituality and of personal development, like I know my core values. These are my core values. And then everything else is enjoyment and pleasure and recreation and just something to do to be in community with like-minded people that are also engaging in more conscious things, right?

10:02I'd rather do that than just constantly talking about, I don't know, things that sometimes - So superficial. Every place they traveled and where they ate and the ritzy, bougie hotels they stayed at. That's fun. And I have that in my life too. But I can't stay in that energy for too long. I feel like I have ants crawling on my back after a while. It's like, get out of here. I need something a little deeper. Can we swim in deeper water a little bit? I love swimming in deeper waters with you because you're really tapped into your intuition in a way I haven't seen before. Or it's like not a platitude or trite when people are like, just follow your gut.

10:41If I want to know what you think about somebody, you will for sure tell me. And like you feel it. And because you've done so much work on yourself. Thank you. I do think that at this stage of my life, it's become a little bit of a super power. But it's taken you a while. It's a girl. Sister. I'm in the sixth decade of life. Like if I don't have it by now. And by the way, I still remain a student. I always hear you doing some other adventure, like some breath workshops, manifestation shop, some other energy thing. You've gone through a lot of it and you've also used some of it in business, like the astrology stuff and the...

11:22But I've been doing this, I mean, to be truthful, I've been doing this since I'm very young. This isn't new. Like I've had an interest in astrology as a kid to... I remember doing my first sweat lodge, all my friends, like a bunch of people were going to Florida for spring break. And I was going up to Never Sink, New York to do an Indian sweat lodge at 17 or 18 years old. And people were like, what are you doing? I'm like, I don't even know, but it sounded amazing. And I think I was the only one in that tent or teepee that was under 45. And I loved it. I never felt so alive, so connected. And that was probably the beginning of knowing that's my lane.

12:10Like I felt this feeling of that's my lane. And you didn't at that point, I'm sure you didn't know how that was going to apply to business life. You worked a corporate job first when you and your brothers started Equinox. And you were doing both for the same time. My first real job, I worked for Lancome and I got into kind of like their executive program and moved up with them. And I learned so much. Like that's a big part of why I know every young person wants to be in a startup. In a startup, they want to be an entrepreneur. But the training in those corporate situations are unbelievable. and the training I had first in sales.

12:54And I always say, every single person needs to know how to sell. If you're a doctor, some of the doctors that I see, the ones that are doing so well are the ones that are comfortable selling. Where the other ones that are not comfortable, their practices aren't doing as well. So I don't care what you're doing. Everybody should be comfortable talking about what they do and asking for the sale, right? I did that and worked with them creatively and so many levels. And then from there, the controller left. I'll never forget when she called me. I didn't even know who she was. And she's like, Lavinia?

13:32She left a message on my, we had answering machines in those days. ah yes do you remember that she says her name i'm the controller in long home i want to talk to you can we meet for breakfast and i was like sure and she's like i've been at long home now i'm leaving and i'm going to fred hayman 273 and so he had originally founded georgio beverly hills and he was starting a new fragrance he sold that fragrance i think to avon i was creating a new friends. She goes, and I'm tip one name with me. We never met. And I'm like, and she goes, and it's your name. I'm like, why did you take me though? Like, why?

14:08She goes, because every six months you're the vice president and the regional coming in here telling us we had to give you a raise and why we had to give you a raise. And now I want to hire you. And she knew how much I was making. And she doubled my salary. How much was it? I think I was making like$35 ,000. So she's I'm going to give you$70 ,000 plus bonus potential and you'll be able to make$110 ,000. And it was like, that's a lot of money. Yeah. You know, like. You were 20 something. I was 26, I think. And then I started with that. And that was a whole other because again, it was a startup.

14:44Like 273 was a startup and you learn a lot in that place and how crazy it was. And they just throw you out there. And I didn't have a lot of the background that I really needed for that job because I was more like sales out there with the creating, doing these video makeovers and getting out and more on the sales side of it, running the team, you know, and things like that. And so now I had to do both. You just put on your big girl boots and you do it. And that two years was probably the best training that I could have gone into to prepare me for Equinox. And you were on another one of our network's shows, our friend Nellie's show, you were talking about this idea that you felt like you and your brothers who started Equinox with didn't make any mistakes.

15:34Why do you think that? It's weird because when we opened up our first gym, which by the way, wasn't an Equinox, it was like our proof of concept outside of Equinox. Like when I look back now and I look at that, what we did. Like we did it right. It's kind of like weird. Girl, own it. Yeah. It's weird. Everything from maybe the only mistake we did is that we didn't fill the pool in because there was a pool. It was an existing gym. We did a major renovation. We got it the whole thing. The only thing we did was we kept the pool. And I think that might've been the only mistake we did. We should have just covered that pool up and got rid of it because that pool was such a nightmare.

16:16the women, the old women would come out and they would be like, the pool's too cold today. And it was just like every day was something. And I never realized that every day is a science project with a pool because for whatever reason, all of a sudden you walk in and the pool's green. You're like, what do you mean the pool's green? Like, why is the pool green? I don't know. There's maybe somebody peed in it. The pool was our biggest nightmare. But other than that, Even the way we built it out and the way my brother Vito, especially the way he designed it. And like we put in the best floor, like it was a Neo shock floor, which I mean, nobody had even put in floors like that.

16:55And how he even found that sometimes I'm like, it was just the best, like the equipment was amazing. Everything was just amazing. Well, you went into it like low pressure. You didn't go into it thinking it was a billion dollar business. You're like, let's do this proof of concept with cool floor and cool stuff. And like, why not? Just for creating a gym that we wanted. And I think that, well, first of all, we were all very active. I was a dancer growing up. My brothers were athletes. My parents turned our basement into a gym. I think we had one of the first universal equipments in a home. I don't even think it was designed for a home in those days.

17:35I think it was designed to be in a gym. And my father bought it. I guess we wanted it. My brothers wanted it. And that became the place we all hung out at after school. And I went to dance school when I come back. That was like the way we hung out with each other was in the basement who was working out. Somebody was hitting the drums. Like I was practicing dance. Like it was just this. We were six kids. And your twin brother. Yeah, my twin brother. And your other brother. So all three of you started it. And then how long did you get pregnant with Zach? Zach? I got pregnant with Zach. Let's see.

18:14We started, I believe Westchester was around 89 and I got pregnant in 93. Unexpectedly. Unexpectedly. Yeah. And what was your time like? I mean, just startup mode, but on steroids. Oh yeah. When I got pregnant, it was a shocker, but I knew I felt it was so right. I knew it was God. And, you know, look, it was a little dicey. It was like, huh? Your third partner? Like, pregnant? Are you kidding? Are you really going to be able to carry your weight as a pregnant woman? Like being pregnant and having a baby? Maybe you should think this through. Maybe this might not be the best time to be having a baby.

18:54And maybe it was even a little bit more forceful than I, but I don't want to think about that. So it was definitely talk about life and transition and And what are you going to do? That's why for women, we so have to know who we are. Like we have to know who we are because I look back now. And if that would have been 10 years before and that would have shown up like that, I wouldn't have kept my child because I wouldn't have had the confidence to do it. And every day I have to admit, I say, thank God I did it. Thank God I did it. because it wasn't so hard. It was really hard. And not because of me, but because I also had a partner that did not believe that I could carry my weight as a third partner and be a mom.

19:46Not your partner as in like your son's dad. No, no, no, my brothers. But I want you to understand something.

19:54Hold onto your wallets. Money Rehab will be right back. and now for some more money rehab

20:06but i want you to understand something to have that conversation in those days wasn't today it would be awful it would be mean and horrible but in those days that's how they looked at women it wasn't like he was a bad person for thinking like that and i know that Even though it was painful for me, so painful, but I don't, I'm not, there's no animosity about it because I understand where it was. We were opening up. We already signed 895 Broadway, which was our second, the really big gym and the really big club. And so it was a lot. It was, but I don't know why. Nicole, I don't know why. I was so confident.

20:47It was God. It was, I was so confident. I got this. It's not going to be easy. I don't know if I realized how hard it was going to be though. How hard was it? It was hard. Number one, being pregnant. And my pregnancy was relatively easy. I did have a little hiccup in the beginning. I couldn't work out for like three weeks. I had a little tear in the placenta in about my 14th week. Hold on. Like when somebody says I couldn't work out for three weeks, that sounds like delightful for me. But for you, can you explain how significant that was? No, I mean, I worked out every single day of my life. Because you were addicted to working out.

21:25Yeah, I was over the top. Because, you know, I was a dancer. And at 12, I made this professional group. And I heard one of the girls say, too bad she has her body more like a soccer player than a dancer. I was a dancer, too. They always say stuff like that, and it stays with you. Yeah, because in those days, you had to be emaciated. Like your arm had to look like it was coming out of the socket. You had to be so skinny. I had more of an athletic body. I remember asking my older cousin, like, what does that mean? I heard one of the girls say, have a body like a soccer player. And she said, just ignore it.

22:01She's just saying that you're more muscular. But I knew I was muscular. Like I was 12. I wasn't this small petite girl. But that began the beginning of my issue around my body. and just trying to work it out so hard that I had a body like somebody else. So yeah, part of that was overtraining, overworking out. Thankfully, I was always good with my food though. Thankfully, because I watched a lot of dancers become when a rexic with the food and then they had no nutrients. And today I know women who are in the hospital paralyzed because they, for years and years and years, just ate lettuce and their bodies literally.

22:46So I'm like, I always ate. I ate my protein. I ate my chicken. Years ago, we didn't always put fat on it. It was like, I'll have a salad with no oil. I'll have chicken with no skin. So you didn't have a lot of fat, but you ate hamburger and you ate food. But you were working out like multiple times a day in the middle of the night. Always twice a day. Before we opened Equinox, and I still had it in my apartment, I had a stationary bicycle. And if I would come in out from dinner, and if I felt like I ate too much, I would get on that bike for an hour, an hour and a half in a rubber suit to just sweat it out.

23:23Yeah, it was part of my journey. In those days, I felt like my currency was my body. I felt like my currency was my beauty. Like I'm really like, that's why I do what I do today because that is not our currency as women. That's not our currency. It's not our beauty. It's not being a size two. That doesn't bring us wisdom. That doesn't bring us our knowledge. That doesn't bring us how frigging fabulous we are. It has nothing to do with the size of that. And it sounds like the pregnancy journey helped in that growth. It did too. For sure. Because I helped with my growth around my body image as well.

23:59Yeah. You just have to. You have to. And so did you slow down while you were after the placenta thing? I never slowed down work-wise. But you felt like you had a chip on your shoulder too. You were like - I had to prove my worth. I had to prove that I can do this. So I was definitely grinding it out, have to prove that I can be a mom. I can work through this pregnancy. I've got more energy than anybody. And it was nonstop. And thankfully, I have a lot of energy. Like I just am that person. And that's probably why I felt like I could do it because I never get sick. I'm never homesick. I'm very lucky.

24:36I have a very strong constitution. So when you delivered, you were back at work right away? I had a C-section and... Trying to get under those abs? Yeah, yeah. I remember my doctor and they're pulling because they pull up. And the doctor said that the assisting physician surgeon said, oh, my God, I've never done a C-section this difficult. And my doctor, who knows me well, said, Lavinia, Lavinia, everything's fine. It's just that you have a ridiculous amount of muscle mass on your abs and we have to literally pull it all apart. Everything's fine. So the baby comes down and super healthy and everything's amazing.

25:20but the healing of that c-section because of what they had to do and all the fashion all the stuff was brutal and I couldn't walk for the week even though I would be trying but yeah so I had Zach on a Monday left the hospital on Thursday and had my first marketing meeting on Monday at nine o 'clock and then never stopped working. I just kept going, working, working. And I'm not proud of it. It's not something I say. It's just, that's what I had to do. Until you guys had your big exit and sold. And in Boss Bitch, I think you have a story about the aftermath of that, where you were forced to slow down, but you also went through some serious depression during that time.