Why These Franchisees See Tremendous Growth Ahead for Boutique Fitness

Free Agent Podcast with Meg Schmitz – Guests: Sarah Buie, Head of Franchise Development at JETSET Pilates, and Andrea & Carlos Ponce, Multi-Brand Franchise Owners and Top Performers in the JETSET Network

Meg Schmitz: 
Well, hello everyone and welcome to or welcome back to the Free Agent Podcast. My name is Meg Schmitz, your lovely hostess, and the discussion here is all about free agency and taking control over your future. The mission of my show is to share inspiring conversations with real people who took the leap into self-employment, business ownership, franchising, and freedom — from corporate refugees and executives tired of the desk job to entrepreneurs and investors looking to share camaraderie and inspiration through their own business journey.

My podcast aims a spotlight on real people who stepped into the unknown, took control over their destiny, and became their own boss. And today I have the pleasure of — this is going to be really multidimensional and very interesting. We’ve got Sarah Buie from Jet Set Pilates, and then we’ve got Andrea and Carlos Ponce, who are franchise owners. But they’re not just single-unit franchise owners — they’re actually multiple-concept franchise owners who recently signed on with Jet Set Pilates to open multiple locations in Florida. Thank you all three of you for being with me today so we can have a conversation about franchising and hopefully financial freedom.

Sarah:
Thanks for having us, Meg, really appreciate the time.

Meg:
Well, Sarah, it’s always good to see you at our conference with FranChoice twice a year now, and then for you to bring Bertis and be able to get to know Jet Set Pilates from the corporate overview and leadership. So let me just start with you quickly. Sure. One of my favorite questions for franchise development people: why are you with this brand right now given your history in the world of franchising?

Sarah:
Yeah, yeah. Well, and one of the things I always share with you guys is I don’t actually come from franchising. So my background is in boutique fitness. And so I’ve been with the boutique fitness industry for 12 years at this point. And so I have really seen a lot of brands rise up — some, you know, make it, some not. But I’ve always had my eye on Jet Set, and I think that’s the case for several of the people in our leadership team.

When the opportunity came up to start franchising with Jet Set in 2022, we just leaped at that opportunity. It’s a really solid brand. It’s high end, it’s luxury. It is kind of that in-between of the traditional method, but it’s going to intensify it. So the brand itself is strong. But then you’ve got this really seasoned team of our senior leadership that came together with experience in franchising and experience in the boutique fitness industry.

For me personally, it was like this dream team to come together. And what I’ve been pleasantly surprised by is people like Andrea and Carlos — the brand is really attracting these very high-performing individuals, people that, Meg, frankly like you work with, that are just in this position to take, whether they’re diversifying their portfolio, whether this is going to be a complete career switch — they’re in a position in their careers where they want to take that to the next level. So it’s just been a really incredible few years getting Jet Set started.

Meg:
And so, Carlos and Andrea, what attracted you, given your history in franchising and your experience with it? Looked like more residential service brands — now you’ve got brick and mortar. You’ve got more of a luxury brand. You’re in Florida, I’m in Wisconsin. What was your attraction to this particular brand, given your experience in franchising?

Andrea:
So I will take that one. I was a Jet Set customer already. Jet Set Pilates is actually the first workout that I’ve actually committed to and stuck to on a long-term and consistent basis. It was just after my second daughter was born, I was in a fitness rut, and Jet Set Pilates — I loved the fact that they had so many options and the workout itself is just very comprehensive and challenging. So I was just a regular customer.

One day they made an announcement at the studio that i was in, that they were going to start franchising. Honestly, just out of pure curiosity, I decided to reach out. It just so happened that the founder of Jet Set was at the studio at that time. I told her I would like to know more information — I own other franchises. It was just pure curiosity. I wasn’t necessarily looking for another franchise at the moment. I purely enjoyed the workout at the studio, and I knew it was a proven business model.

I wasn’t necessarily looking for another franchise at the moment. I just really purely enjoyed the workout. I would go to the studio, the classes were always full, so I knew it was a proven business model. I came home, I told Carlos, I’m like, Carlos, what do you think about investing? And Jetset Pilates, he, he thought, no, it’s like, you’re crazy. What are we going to be doing in a Pilates franchise? You know, it just sounds so, you know, fluffy and, you know, could this really work?

Long story short, we went through Discovery Day phase. We met with the amazing team. You know, one of the things that really sold us was having experience with other franchises. Of course, we weren’t sure what to expect. We thought, okay, there’s a brand new franchise. Maybe they’re, we’re going to be like a guinea pig. They’re going to try to figure things out with us. But no, we met with the executive team. Like Sarah said, you know, it’s a team of very seasoned professionals, specifically from Boutique Fitness. So they have years of experience between the team that initially started. And it really impressed us the knowledge that they had the processes that they already had in place.

So they really did their due diligence before announcing, okay, we’re ready to franchise and expand. And that’s honestly what sold us. You know, having that support, having that leadership, having that expand experience that we would, you know, not being related to fitness at all, that we would have that support to successfully launch our first studio.

Carlos:
And this was probably two or three weeks after we originally expressed Interest. So this, this will happen very quickly. And our other franchises have 20 plus years in the, in the industry or in the franchise world. So there were, there were a lot of very specific questions that we had with regards to franchise and marketing and operations and support that, that are, that are the typical franchise model. So we were pleasantly surprised to hear how well the entire team handled all these questions and, and the specific plans that they had in place. So that Discovery Day, we, we came home and we were very impressed with how, how developed and advanced the jetset was in, in the whole franchise. You know, preparing space. And we were only the second or third franchise.

Andrea:
We were the second franchise to sign. Yes.

Sarah:
Yeah.

Meg:
That’s amazing and very exciting. Carlos. What. What with such quick turnaround on that, what were the specific, were there two or three specific things? Because I get this with men where they’re going into boutique fitness and they’re like, oh, it’s. This is really a female oriented brand. And so were there a couple of things that pushed you over the edge of comfort that made you say yes?

Carlos:
Well, I’m very, very hesitant and a lot more cautious with everything. And really a lot of what we do is because of Andrea. She’s the one that pushes me to get uncomfortable and then I figure it out. I find a way and I figure it out.

So it was really, I think what allowed me to make the decision was the fact that I had first hand experience into how sticky the, the brand was as a product, how Andrea had started doing this, started committing to us, started seeing results and really enjoyed it. So I took a few classes and I understood the product a little bit better.

So with me in particular, I like to do things and I learned by doing so. The fact that I saw it firsthand with Andrea, I did it myself, it helped me understand it. It doesn’t mean that I will necessarily love it and that I necessarily do Pilates every single time. I love it as a product, I love it as a concept. And as long as I can understand it and see how it works and have the confidence that the systems, the structure and everything is there to support that product, that’s what helped me make the decision on moving forward with this investment.

Meg:
Got it. I’m working with a husband and wife in the Chicago area and they how they also have Pilates experience with a different brand doing what you’re doing. They’re now going to diversify. The husband had never had a spray tan and so he had one. And that was a similar kind of experience for them. Being a man in a, in a more female dominated now two different brands that are female dominated consumer base.

But it is that experience of trying it and, and then also seeing the results with your wife. Just like this other couple, the level of discernment that you come to franchising with, I’m sure put you at a huge advantage not only with your Meet the Team or Discovery Day because I imagine your questions were far more pointed towards the financials and marketing than someone who’s never done this before.

I know that you said already that, that the leadership team was very impressive for you. Again, a couple of things that really highlighted Jet Set and did you compare Jet Set to anything else while you’re doing this or were you pretty much off and running and brick and mortar? This was going to be your first experience without comparing it to something else.

Carlos:
I think that we made this decision without comparing this to anything else. We took the opportunity at kind of like at face value. Right? What is it now? What do I have in front of me and do I like it or do I not like it? So that we don’t get into a comparison because there’s very few instances in which, in which businesses are very comparable.

There’s always differences between them or usually there tend to be a lot of differences between them. So that whole comparison probably wasn’t going to work. And we were, we felt that it was the right moment, the right time.

And to answer your other question with regards to the specific thing that really sold us, I mean the financials, I think they’re important in the sense of the potential performance that a business can have. And if there’s a track record of that, that’s very important. There’s other businesses, if there’s a pro forma that can show your potential profits, that’s great.

But the other thing with franchising and with business ownership in general is that there’s different, different owners can have very different financial results with the exact same business. Right. And we saw that with our, we saw that with our, with our other franchises.

There’s, there’s, there’s peers that we have in very similar geographical territories that run the same business that probably open around the same time as we did, that are the same maturity levels that we are in right now. And, and there’s significant financial and operational performance metrics.

So we know for a fact that it really comes down to the individual owner, how much effort you put into it, how much work you put into it, how much you understand the product and, and how much you use the resources available to you. Right. How much are you following the business model? How much are you reaching out to your franchise team for support to your peers to understand what they’re doing, that you could learn. That you could learn as well.

So we felt that that was within our control. And as long as we control that and we use all those tools available to us, then we will be successful.

Andrea:
Yeah. And just to add that, you know, just like our other franchises, Jet Set is a service business. So like Carlos says, it’s not just the owners, it’s the people you hire. So we can have a competitor right next door. And we actually do have a competitor right next door across the street. And, you know, people still gravitate to it.

Was it concerning to me? Yes. But, you know, I made sure that we hired the right people, we hired the right team. We make our space welcoming. So I think if we compare it to other franchises. No, because we. I truly already enjoyed the workout and I said we can do this and we can make this successful on our own if we have the right people. If we create a studio that’s welcoming, that people feel, you know, you’re going to a studio to feel good, to work out, to get better.

So you want to make sure it’s like a place of comfort. And as long as you always. We. We always strive on offering the highest quality in any service that we provide. As long as your focus is on that and your resources are on that, I think that will. That’s the secret sauce to a successful. For the service business.

Meg:
Absolutely. Hands down. Agree. My own background was with Great Clips and I don’t know how to cut hair. I never wanted to cut hair. But from an engagement standpoint, I love being with my employees.

We had a couple key situations that if. If anyone is listening and has listened for a while. I. I’ve told this story before. I made so many mistakes in my first location and then units two through five, it was much more like a flywheel. It just became very easy. Do you have the one location open now and how many are you planning in the future?

Andrea:
One location open now. We’re in the process of opening our second one and we are discussing more expansion in Florida in the near future.

Meg:
Excellent. I’m sure that makes Sarah happy as well as the team. From your point of view, and you’re talking to candidates all the time, what is it that you see in Andrea and Carlos that when you’re talking, say to my candidate or anyone else from Franchoice, you can easily say they fit or this is not the right.

So talk about what you. What, the avatar that you’re looking for and some of the impressions that you’ve got now that you’ve got great owners that you can compare against.

Sarah:
Yeah, yeah, It’s a great question. And I think just on a really high level, there’s really two main things that I’m looking for. First is that either it’s like Andrea, that you have a passion for this product, that you are, you know, wanting to really sink your teeth into the modern Pilates and bringing what Jet Set offers and then. Or you have, you know, Carlos’s perspective, which is like, hey, I can really appreciate this product. Am I doing it every day? No. But I definitely understand the value. Right.

And so I’m looking for some combination of that, because it’s going to be product first and then it’s, you know, are you willing to sink your teeth into our financial model, into our systems and, you know, being able to execute? Right. Because to their point, if you have all of this support structure, but you’re not actually executing, it doesn’t work.

So those are the two main obvious things. Right? I think that the more intangible thing that Andrea and Carlos really just exude is that human connection and that we were actually talking earlier, that is really the essence of what makes Jet Set special, is that people truly, deeply care about building out their community.

These guys are just really excellent examples of. They have fabulous relationships with their team. Their team feels super appreciated. I think I remember our last conference, they were talking about every single person on their team, when it’s their birthday, they get a little birthday celebration. I mean, how cool is that, right?

And so that they definitely, I think, from just the ground up, are creating a really strong sense of community. And then, of course, when you’ve got your team in that position, every client that walks in your door is feeling that same sort of, like, appreciation and acceptance.

So it’s the people that feel invested in that. And then I think it just goes beyond their individual studios. And what we’re talking about earlier is the connection that they have with our other franchisees.

So when I’m looking to bring people in the network, I’m looking, are you going to be willing to connect with people like Andrea and Carlos and learn from them and help, you know, build out this network that is all about collaboration? We are, you know, pretty humble and saying, like, yes, we have a lot of experience, but also there’s always room to grow. We’re never going to be perfect.

And a lot of that is going to be based on the real time feedback that we get from our franchise partners. And if Andrea and Carlos are raising their hand and saying, hey, this isn’t working, then we need to be able to listen and adapt to that. But if we don’t have that kind of two way relationship where there’s a lot of trust that’s built up and then trust with the whole network, then it doesn’t work.

Meg:
How many franchisees do you have right now?

Sarah:
This is a big week for us, Meg. So I believe that we just crossed over 40 franchisees.

Meg:
Congratulations. That’s great. And then how many locations corporately or franchise locations are operational now?

Sarah:
Total locations? I wish I had one more set. We’re at 99, so we’re like one away from 100. We’ll be over 100 this week. That is including the four corporate locations.

Meg:
So these are all open and operational or those are licensed?

Sarah:
Those are total sold and then open and operational, we’re at 20.

Meg:
Excellent. Good. So you’re well on your way. How, how. Well corporate is in Florida, right? Miami corporate’s in Florida.

Sarah:
Yep. And our team is actually majority Florida, but we have a few people that are remote across the country.

Meg:
And what are some of your target markets? Because people who are listening are always wondering what are your target markets?

Sarah:
Definitely, yeah. So we’ve got a really strong presence in Florida. I think next up are going to be the Carolinas, so really starting to come up there. The Tri State area in the northeast and then going out west, of course, Texas. Just a huge amount of green space there.

Chicago, actually we have a few sold in Chicago, but I think, you know, developing that greater Chicagoland is going to be really exciting for us. And then going out into, you know, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado.

Meg:
Excellent. And Carlos and Andrea, you’re in Florida, so you have the, the benefit of a nice climate down there as you, as you look at your own expansion. Well, I guess, you know, we’ve talked a bit about your expansion already. You’ve got a second location that’s coming. What do you see in the — whether the real climate, economic climate as well. Are there any concerns that you have about your future expansion?

We’re in a period right now of some market volatility and some of my candidates are thinking really expand further. Should I be doing that right now? What are your thoughts about it?

Carlos:
That’s a tough question mostly because, I mean, I don’t think we’ve ever experienced. Well, there have been with the pandemic and I guess from when we started our businesses eight, nine years ago. We haven’t experienced like a significant downturn or something we should be too concerned about.

We look at it on, on a case by case basis. We, we look at the business and try to figure out what the, what the weakest points are and what could potentially happen that would affect us. But I think ultimately as well, if, if you’re going to invest in something, there’s, there’s never the perfect time. You can never time it perfectly so that you can, you know, ride the wave all the way up to the top and, or, or, and you can’t time a recession either, or economic uncertainty.

I think you can make the best decision while you have it in front of you. So the way we’ve always looked at investments is how can we, in, how can we invest something that, that won’t, that won’t financially break us if it doesn’t turn out exactly as we plan? But also what’s, what’s the worst that could happen in that sense?

So you map out, so you map out financially what you could potentially lose versus what you, you could potentially gain and then just figure out what the weakest links are so that you could try to control those as much as possible. But there’s never going to be perfect timing for anything.

And the other thing is that you, when between you, between the moment you make the decision and something is actually open and is operational, it’s a, it’s a very, it’s a very long timeline. A lot of the times, especially with investments like, like a Pilates studio, for example, we signed maybe two years ago and it took us six to eight months to find a location and then a few more months for the landlord to turn it over to us and then our own build out and then we were operational.

And that was almost two years later. A lot can happen in two years later in terms of the economy and the economic outlook of a country or an individual market. So trying to time it, I would say is a horrible idea. You just have to make the best decision that you can with the information that you have at the moment and then just work hard at making sure you mitigate all the risks that you identify.

Andrea:
And it’s the risk of being a business owner. You know, it’s, it’s risky, it’s never risk free. And one thing that Carlos and I always say and say to our employees, that we’re very flexible.

So if something needs to change, because economically, you know, whatever it may be, maybe there’s a hurricane coming, we need to close down, you know, we are in Florida. Natural disasters are very much a possibility as well. Then we’re very flexible and we can make changes.

You know, we’re not married to a certain process or a certain schedule or a certain price point. You know, we want to make the changes necessary when we have to, to continue running the business as best we can. And something that we’ve always told our team, adapting and pivoting when we need to.

Meg:
How long ago did you invest in your first franchise?

Andrea:
Eight years ago.

Meg:
So that would have been 2007.

Andrea:
Yeah. 2017. Yes.

Meg:
Okay. Yeah. It’s been pretty stable over the last. Over those years. And my husband and I are franchise owners. We’re entrepreneurs, angel investors, employers, and then I’m also a franchise consultant. So I really have our finger on the pulse of what’s going on.

I always find it fascinating when people say, oh, that was a terrible time. I would. We’re business owners, and the benefit of being with a franchise is you’ve got a system in place, you’ve got other owners to turn to, you’ve got the brain power, and not only at the corporate office, but other people who are in the trenches at the same time that you are.

Andrea:
Exactly. That’s how we survived the pandemic, honestly, you know, because of our other peers.

Carlos:
And the other thing is that if. If something really bad is going to happen, it’s going to happen for all of us. I don’t think any specific sector will be excluded from any economic downturn.

If you’re a business owner, you’ll be affected. If you’re an employee, you could be affected as well, because there’s layoffs that come with that. So it’s as certain as it can be, considering that we all depend on each other and we all depend on a country and the economic situation.

So, no, if. If the economy is in a downturn, everything’s going to be in a downturn, or most likely, everything is going to be downturned. There’s some industries that are a little bit more resilient than others, but in general, it would happen for everybody. So that’s not something that holds us back from making investment decisions.

Sarah:
And, Meg, could I just add to that?

Meg:
Yeah.

Sarah:
And I worked. I started in the boutique industry in 2013, and so I saw the pandemic years and how that impacted the business. I think that was a really scary time. And especially thinking about. Have been forced to shut down.

And I think what we saw over those years is that people were really craving a sense of community. And so in terms of like a pandemic. And, you know, we’ll have to do our best to pivot, as these guys said, and, you know, adapt to what’s happening. But I think that people are pretty resilient and want to get back into, you know, prioritizing health, wellness, getting back in a studio, getting back into class.

Actually that our booking system, MindBody, did a study that showed over the course of those pandemic years, the concepts that actually grew, the only two that grew were yoga and Pilates. I think it really just speaks to that individual attention that you get, that sense of community in a larger class.

I think that we also sit in a sector that is somewhat, I think, with mild recessions. And I never want to claim to be recession proof, of course, but I do think that we attract a demographic that for smaller, you know, ebbs and flows in the economy, it’s pretty resilient to that.

And so I think that when people get spooked with, like, market volatility, like we’re going through now, what I always tell people is like, look, that’s just not going to impact your studio, like you might think it would.

To, you know, Carlos’s point, like, if there’s a huge downturn, we’re all going to be impacted. Like, there’s probably things that we’re worried about, like, even beyond what’s going on. So, yeah, I do think that this is never risk free, but certainly a model that has been tested over the past 10 years and really come out on top.

Meg:
Well, and Andrea and Carlos, you have diversified very wisely with the different concepts that you’re invested in. People don’t want to clean their own homes. People don’t want to do some of those other home services. We saw so clearly during the pandemic how nicely we were able to adjust and adapt technology to make it much more people friendly.

But there’s nothing like Mother Nature. And I’m asking people about this today. Right now. I’m doing a webinar this afternoon on Franchising 101. How do I get started? And is now a good time? And you’re probably seeing it too, the different consumer trends that across your different businesses give you that confidence to go ahead and keep looking for your second location.

Andrea:
Yeah, yeah, we do, we do. We were seeing, like, even though the economic climate right now is uncertain, but from what we see in our business, we don’t see that impacting. But then again, it always lags a little bit. You know, it always lags a little bit after.

People like Carlos says last year there was, I think, more uncertainty that there is now in 2025, before the elections, a lot of layoffs, you know, the unemployment rate, et cetera. But 2025 is looking like a, like a better year. I think we’re good space. Yeah.

Meg:
I’m excited as a business owner and a franchise owner. Well, I think getting back to that word, resiliency, when, when you’re already in the pot of water and it’s. The temperature is getting warmer, you’re gonna figure out how to. That’s just the beautiful thing about being in a franchise.

And my husband will come upstairs and say, why would anyone get into business right now if it were to franchise? And he’s Mr. Entrepreneur. And this was much more so during the pandemic where it was just so rewarding to be part of a bigger group who are all going through this thing together.

Andrea:
It was.

Meg:
But it’s. Business owners are going to survive if they want to.

Andrea:
They want, right? Yes. That’s the secret ingredient. If you want to. If, if you adapt to the changes, adapt to whatever you know, your customers are asking for as well.

Who knows, maybe in the future, Jet Set Pilates might adapt to other services or other, you know, whatever changes that customers require. And that, that’s the key to success and to continue that legacy and make it really a long term business, you need to be able to adapt to the changes in the market.

Meg:
Yeah, well, and I certainly see it on my end, the, the top four people ask me all the time what’s hot in franchising. And I have 10 industries that I’ll just rattle off. But the first four, health, fitness, beauty and wellness.

Yes. Good times also impact some of these businesses. Expansions. Yeah. People have more money and so sometimes they become even more discerning. But when the times get tough, people will take care of themselves and women in particular.

That’s very clearly demonstrated over. I think we go back to World War I, there’s something called the lipstick factor. Have you heard about this?

Sarah:
Yeah.

Andrea:
Yeah.

Meg:
Sarah, why don’t you explain what you know about the lipstick factor? Because I think it’s so important.

Sarah:
Yeah, Well, I think it’s just prioritize. And I, and I actually have this conversation with people a lot is that especially for women who have kids or have careers, is that a lot of times there’s a pressure to prioritize everything else in your life. Right.

But the, what’s really important is prioritizing time for you. And that, that idea of investing in health and wellness, I think is this it’s not just an appearance anymore. And I think that has been a huge factor. It’s in how am I taking care of my body and how am I prioritizing the workouts that I have in Andrea, I think you’re a great example of that.

How am I getting into the studio and taking care of my body? Because that’s going to trickle into the rest of my life. Yeah, it’s a cool trend to see. And I think that what’s encouraging for us is also seeing a younger demographic prioritize that, because that’s our future customer and that we see these younger kids that are coming in, and I say kids in their 20s that may not have as much expendable income as our core demographic in their 30s and 40s and 50s. Right.

But they’re spending more on fitness now. And that, to us, is so encouraging.

Andrea:
Right.

Sarah:
They’re going to sacrifice going out, you know, on the weekends, and they’re going to prioritize coming into the studios. And so we see this future trend of people that are willing to spend on that, not just time, but they’re, I mean, you know, looking at where they’re. Where they’re putting their money, and it’s going into health and wellness.

Meg:
Yeah. Well, the lipstick factor goes inside our heads as well. There is some. It’s an external beautification product, but it is an internal enhancement to helping us as women adapt through whatever the challenge. And the difficulty is women will spend money on their external appearance because it makes us feel better internally as well. Andrea, you’re going to say something.

Sarah:
Yeah.

Andrea:
So one thing that I’ve noticed since we opened the Jet Set Pilates is the amount of young people that are coming to our studio and that want to work in our studio.

Well, we are. Our studio that’s cooperation is actually very close to university. So we get a lot of university students come in to take a class, but also that want to work at the studio. And for me, you know, when I was going through university, I never thought about working in a boutique fitness.

Like, what an amazing job that is. You get the flexibility of hours, you get to work out. But what I want to say is to a question that you asked previously about this uncertainty, I think what Sarah mentioned is so true, that now the fitness and the wellness is so ingrained at such a younger age than it was in our generation.

And I think of me, I have two daughters. One of the things that I love about Jet Set is the example that I’m giving them of not only owning a business that’s very women focused, but also the fact that they see their mom going to Pilates multiple times a week, taking care of their body, take making time for herself to feel better, to. To get better, to be stronger for them, and the discipline, and the discipline of being consistent with it.

Because I know that my daughters are probably going to start at a much younger age getting the fitness into their everyday life. And it’s a trend that you’re seeing. So I think some people ask me, do you think Pilates is going to be as strong in the next few years as it is now?

I mean, I don’t have a crystal ball, but I definitely do think it’s here to stay. Because there’s a lot more studies now about strength training and low impact. And that’s exactly what Pilates is. You can make it your own, you can modify, you can amplify it. So it’s not necessarily a trend. Yes, right now it’s trendy, but it’s. It’s a workout that is here. It’s here to stay. I’m convinced of that.

Meg:
It’s part of wellness. For anyone who doesn’t know about the history of Pilates, look it up. Joseph Pilates started this core training for men who are coming back from war, who were debilitated and needed to get back on their feet. Literally get back on their feet again, out of the bed and onto their feet.

So this is. It’s not as old as yoga, but for core strength, you think about your own activities as a human being without core strength. I am a firm Pilates believer and practitioner. I’ve got a reformer in my home. I live out in the country now because of the pandemic. So I brought the Pilates studio to my own home.

One thing I want to ask you about before we wrap up, Andrea and Carlos, is you’ve got such an active household, and I don’t know how old your daughters are, but how do you protect your marriage and your relationship? You’ve got a business relationship dynamic going on. You’ve got your marriage dynamic. So how do you protect what is clearly working so that it will continue to work into the future?

Andrea:
Yeah, we love working together. Honestly, we did our master’s together, and I think ever since then, we. We learn to work together. Carlos and I have very different ways of thinking, different experiences. So we do a very good job at distributing the workload.

You know, his strengths are more in operations. My strengths are more in the marketing and financial side of it. And we obviously, sometimes we can be working in the same room all day long, but don’t speak to each other at all.

But it’s nice that when you come home, you know, we have a lot of things that we can share and understand because we’re both living through it together. And one of the things that we love about being franchise owners is that we can adapt our schedule.

You know, I still like to be. My daughters are 4 and 7, so they’re still very young. And I like to participate in the PTA meetings, be a room mom, try to go to as many events in the school. And what do I do? I add it to my calendar. So I know that if there’s an event happening this Friday, a picnic, whatever it is, it’s on my calendar, it’s blocked off.

You know, I. You know, it’s focusing. I take them to ballet, take them to whatever extracurricular activities. And that’s one. That’s the most invaluable thing of being a franchise owner is being able to adapt your schedule to your needs.

And for us, what’s important for us right now is our daughters. Being there for them, of course, being there for each other. Carlos and I, I think we have a good separation on the weekends. You know, we spend time with our daughters, we go on date nights, we go to dinner out.

It’s. It’s just part of our lifestyle right now. We know that in the next five years, our life may look a lot different, but right now we’re embracing the chaos, the hectic schedule, and we love it.

Carlos:
And just to add to that, I think the most important part about making our relationship work in the business is staying in our lanes. Just making sure that we respect each other’s decisions with whatever our strengths and competences are.

So as long as we respect that, there’s no need for me to. To overriding a decision that she makes, or vice versa. We complement each other and we talk about the business, we share ideas, but we respect very much each other’s decisions, and that helps us be one more productive and just have a better relationship.

And I think the other aspect of that is. The other aspect of that is that we make sure to make it a priority to always recenter what our priorities are. And our priorities are always around our family.

So we make sure that we. That we manage, like Andrea was saying, that we manage our schedule accordingly. Right? That we always keep, keep, keep in mind what’s most important to us and that we’re making the time to spend the daughters, to, to communicate with each other and, and just build that, that dynamic because we know that our daughters very soon will have a life of their own with their friends and, and go off to middle school and high school and we won’t be as interesting as we are now. So we love that aspect of it.

Meg:
It’s so great to talk to parents who are business owners and juggling all these different priorities, but clearly making time for your children. My son is going to turn 35 this year and his dad and I separated when he was 7.

I had Eric during the week and then he was with his dad on the weekends. So I was very much all about the business. I was the homework mom and, and yet I had five Great Clips locations and one of the most lovely events that happened. And some of my listeners have heard this before.

But I’ll tell you, after he graduated from college, he said, mom, let’s get a really good bottle of tequila and I’ll tell you all the things that I did in college that you don’t know about. And I said, that’s a great idea. I’ll tell you all the things I did while you were in college that you don’t know about. I said, okay, maybe this isn’t such a great idea after all.

But it led to a really great conversation sitting outside, sipping our tequila. And he said, you know what, you were there when I got on the bus and you were there when I got off the bus. I didn’t know that you were a business owner and call me naive, but I just thought you were a single stay at home mom who didn’t do anything all day.

So when you, for listeners, you have to be able to prioritize and you got to leverage your network and the infrastructure that is there will allow you. But if you’re going to get sucked into the vortex, then you’re going to do that willingly.

But just know, having heard from this lovely couple how to do it, it can be done. You just need really the discipline to delegate and to transfer your skill sets in a way that allows your business to be financially viable. And that’s really what gives you the freedom to live the rest of your life.

Making money gives you options. 

Sarah:

Of course.

Meg:
Gives you options to continue to expand, gives you options to travel, do fun things.

Meg:
Sarah, is there anything else that you want to touch on here in the last couple of minutes that we’ve got? Whether that’s about world of franchising or Jet Set and its future?

Sarah:
Yeah, I guess the last thing I’ll leave with is actually something that Andrea and I were chatting about earlier. That we are growing quickly. Right. You hear those numbers of, you know, we’re gonna hit over 100 sold.

And I think that one of the questions that we get a lot. And Andrea was actually just, you know, chatting through, like, with our existing partners as well. Right. They want to make sure that the attention that they’ve gotten, the relationships they have with our team.

Andrea:
Right.

Sarah:
The support, support, the human support is going to stay consistent. And one of the things that I really appreciate that our senior leadership team has done is mapped out the next five years of growth and we’re hitting those targets.

But we already know the support structure that we need to add. And so we’ve doubled our corporate team in the past two months, and we’ll continue to add those roles before we hit those benchmarks.

So we’re able to forecast, you know, for every X amount of studios, we need to add another person to the franchise support team. So these guys just know that, you know, we’re going to have those people in place, early trained, ready to go, and then we’ll be able to execute on those additional studio openings.

So I think for the next couple of years, we’re going to see a tremendous amount of growth, and I think that these guys are going to be in good hands with our team.

Meg:
That is a great stamp of confidence, not only for me as a consultant bringing my. I have the skinniest little pipeline people with whom I am working. They’re all highly qualified, and typically they tend to be buyers.

So that really instills a lot of confidence. But then again, looking at your leadership team, I know exactly where it comes from. So, yeah, y’all are in a really good place. I do love Pilates, and I’ve so enjoyed meeting you today and hearing the different decision points and, you know, the reality of where we are in the growth curve.

It’s 2025. We’re at the middle of March. I’m with you that 2025 is looking to be a really strong growth year. So thank you for coming on and sharing your story with me today.

Andrea:
Thank you so much for having us.

Sarah:
Yeah, thanks.

Meg:
Always great to see you. Say hi hello to Burtis for me, will you?

Sarah:
I will.

Meg:
All right. Good to see you, too. Thanks, Meg.