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The biggest shifts in a business often come from decisions no one else sees.
Future Proof is a show for business owners facing the pressure to grow and the weight of legacy, often at the same time.
Hosted by Scott Eckart, each episode features honest conversations with leaders who’ve made bold moves, stepped into succession, or redefined success altogether. You’ll hear what they were up against, what they chose, and what they’d do differently now.
If you're thinking about what's next and want to build a business that lasts, this is the show for you.
Scott Eckart (00:01):
I am Scott Eckart, and this is Future Proof, A show for building something that lasts. Let's get into it. In this episode, my guest is Mark Moreland, the owner and general manager of Body Outfitters. Body Outfitters is a personal training studio with a unique focus on movement and a holistic approach to wellness.
Mark Moreland (00:22):
At our core, we are a movement company. We're not a looks company. In fact, I would say we're even more of a Feels company than we are a looks company. So when you come into the studio, we actually have a piece of paper that has three categories of goals, and it is move, feel. Look. So we would say, Scott, why are you here?
Scott Eckart (00:45):
Mark and I will talk about his entrepreneurial journey from an individual trainer to owning and running three locations and the many lessons he has learned along the way.
Mark Moreland (00:56):
You've been trying to work on your business while you're working for and in your business right now. Put that down. You're going to disappoint a lot of people. You're going to disappoint clients as you pass them off to other people, but you're going to do a good job and they'll be fine.
Scott Eckart (01:15):
Welcome to Future Proof. I am very excited to introduce my guest today. Mark Moreland, the founder and owner of Body Outfitters. Hello, mark. Hello. Thank you so much for being with us today. You and I have had a rare opportunity to really experience a journey of decades now. We're going to get into that in a little bit, but tell us about who Body Outfitters is, what you are, what you do.
Mark Moreland (01:40):
Body Outfitters is a personal training only studio. Instead of being a membership location where people come in and work out on their own, we work exclusively one-on-one, one-on two small groups, and we do it in a small studio format. We have three studios, Zionsville's the biggest studio with 13 trainers. Then Carmel has five Keystone, the Crossing, which just opened up, has room for seven. If we were to break this down and say, what do we offer? It's knowledge intensity and accountability intensity is what do you need? Not necessarily the highest intensity. It's not 10 out of 10 all the time. The accountability is are you going to be consistent and at your appointments? Because consistency is the number one driver of results. But if I circle back to what you were talking about is the knowledge. We have a lot of reps with people, we have a lot of education, and we also are looking for the people to have the drive, the employees, the trainers who have the drive to want to positively influence and not just caddy a client around and say, okay, here's the next thing and here's the weight.
(02:47):
Kind of like handing somebody a golf club, there needs to be rationale. In fact, one of our core values mentions that a trainer should have a rationale for what they are choosing at any point in time in a workout. And on that it could be because this is exclusively essential for your results or it could be because this person really likes to do triceps. Both are cool.
Scott Eckart (03:09):
Great. When did the first studio open?
Mark Moreland (03:12):
2010. When it was a bad idea to be opening a small business. That's when we did it.
Scott Eckart (03:18):
Yeah. We were merging out of a lot of things, but so the reason that you're here though is you're a business owner, dad, husband, all that, but I would describe you as the most earnest person I know. Where does it come from? Where does this source of energy come from?
Mark Moreland (03:37):
Well, I think there's some things that I can't explain where it comes from. There's a part of my hard wiring that drives me toward a thing. I went to college to go to college. I didn't actually know what I was going to study, but I said, what can I study that'll get me a degree? Because nobody in my family in history ever had a college degree.
Scott Eckart (03:55):
Okay, but was that pressure though to get a college degree, to be that guy?
Mark Moreland (04:00):
No, it was never a parent thing, a dad thing, anybody.
Scott Eckart (04:03):
It was a Mark thing.
Mark Moreland (04:03):
And it also wasn't necessarily to get rich. It is to produce something. I come from long line of farmers and two things that farmers understand is you play the long game. You work a field, you plant seeds, you spend your money and your time doing that, and then hopefully you get a harvest. You actually have something that you can go that's viable that you can sell. So there is inherent risk even in that game. The other part that is tied to that is a stewardship idea. I don't have anything that's mine. Everything has been gifted to me, whether it's wisdom, whether it's expertise, whether it's this body. I didn't do anything to get my physical form, and so what am I going to do with it? What is ultimately your legacy going to be? I also had that fission early where I said, I am made to produce. What am I going to produce? I didn't know it was going to be a company.
Scott Eckart (05:04):
So you didn't wake up thinking, I'm going to be an entrepreneur.
Mark Moreland (05:08):
No way.
Scott Eckart (05:09):
Okay.
Mark Moreland (05:10):
I went to school not knowing what I wanted to do, said I'm shooting for the stars, I'm going pre-med and got whacked. It was a very clear, no, this isn't the direction. So tuck my tail, run back home, go to local commuter school, IU D now was I-E-P-U-I and was just going to land there for a hot moment to regroup, take some of the general degree requirements, take some self-inventory classes,
(05:36):
And took a self-inventory class with I think Ms. Peterson, this is a long time ago. You're taking all kinds of personality tests, drive tests, you're filling out fake resumes, but you're building this thing work. We get to the end of this self-inventory and literally, I remember she sits down and she says, you're a really interesting case, and I think say this to all the people, but she said, you're on two sides of the spectrum when it comes to what you need in your environment. In one way you have to be physical. You in a cubicle would rot. Okay? Right. On the other side, you're naturally an educator. You consume knowledge, but you're already teaching people in the class how to do things. But that's how I learned. for somebody to actually lay it out and display it in front of you, it went, you literally just said physical education. It says it right there, physical education.
Scott Eckart (06:26):
Interesting.
Mark Moreland (06:27):
I left that meeting and walked to the School of Physical Education and I said, I think I'm supposed to be here. Basically, what do you got?
Scott Eckart (06:34):
If you are 18, 20, 25 and you're listening to this and you're a little bit confused, you're not really sure college for you, not education, what are you saying to them about how do I find a direction?
Mark Moreland (06:48):
Number one, you're not going to find it by holding static. You have to move forward. Moving forward, whether it's success or failure, you're going to learn something. You're going to learn either hard, yes, that's what I want to do. I feel really validated in that direction. Or you could go, man, I could be successful there, but that's just not, that's expensive for me. And that could be from an energy standpoint, from a spirit standpoint where you're like, man, this is just heavy work. And I've had jobs like that as well. Financially…
Scott Eckart (07:13):
You can raise tuition.
Mark Moreland (07:15):
The other part, there are such good tools out there, there's so much wisdom that people have already gone through. Who in your world do you trust? There you go. Who in your world knows you that you can say, you know me? What do you see as my strengths? What do you see as maybe areas that might be blind spots? For me, I love the phrase blind spot because sometimes we don't see it. So I was told by one of my professors, he said, do you know interrupt people? Oh, and I worked on that. That's a crossroads. It's pivot. It's pivot. You could be insulted and go, oh, that guy doesn't know me. He doesn't know what he is talking about. I would say self-awareness and the ability to take criticism work on being able to do that because that allows you to absorb wisdom.
Scott Eckart (08:04):
So then you completed your degree exercise physiology, and you were very serious about wanting to use that. And you took a position at a company called Fitness by Design, which is a trainer only company, I believe. Yes. You couldn't walk in there without that and hit the ground running, and you were very serious about creating a relationship with your clients and seeing them achieve their goals. And you got a lot of satisfaction from that, watching people achieve that when you had very high retention. Is that a fair statement?
Mark Moreland (08:37):
Yeah. Starting there as a baby in March in 99, watched really great, highly skilled trainers, but what they had more than their skill was their interest in the progress of their customers. It was unmatched. David Davis, Jeff Morgan, Rob Hudson, the guys that ran that place, Rob Hudson's the owner. There was not a session they didn't have control over, but also a vision for
(09:05):
Where this individual is going to get amazing training and they're also going to have a great customer experience. And I said, I'm going to do it like they do it. And then I was still in my education at the time, so I could bring that education into it, use it right away in these sessions to benefit my clients, but then also connect with them outside of sessions. So it was phone calls, it was coffees, it was, Hey, go golf with them. And what was really great is when you are super focused in your session to offer a product and your value then can carry outside of a session into long lasting friendships. Something I'd highlight to my trainers regularly and probably maybe not often enough, is thinking your world, who do you get to spend an hour a week with?
(09:52):
That is every single one of my clients. Everyone else who falls in that category is probably family. So you think about the opportunity to really impact influence these people and for them to influence impact you is really high. What's going to happen when people get together and to be able to honor that relationship. And some of my best mentors were clients that then I learned from Bruce dufour who passed away a couple of years ago. He was one of those guys, longtime client, him and his wife. And man, that guy walked in a room and it wasn't that everybody knew him, it was that he made everyone around him feel special without really doing anything special. He just saw people, he made eye contact, he greeted people. Just basic human stuff that never goes out of a date. And you go, what can I pull from that?
Scott Eckart (10:44):
Is it fair to say that the time there was an incubator for you to think about what it might look like?
Mark Moreland (10:50):
There were at least three points on the calendar while I was there in those 11 years that started directing me towards wanting to start my own place. And one of them was at about the five or six year mark when the company was having a specific pain. The place was awesome. The intensity was awesome. The camaraderie and the culture was good. When a trainer would go on vacation, a lot of their clients would not come in to get covered or have a substitute trainer. If you then zoom out to what's going on there, you have customers not continuing with their program for maybe a week. You have that revenue from a business standpoint not coming in. And so we said if we had more consistent standards, could we have more confidence in the trenches for when Mark goes out on vacation to advocate for Scott to come in and work with a trainer? So I pitched an idea to Rob and it was for the position of director of training and I was asking for a bunch of money. I was asking for a bunch of influence. And so we took his good training program and made it a little more robust, but ultimately just applied it consistently and it worked. And that's when I started getting a vision for, okay, now what? Now what do we do with this? I asked my wife, I said, do you remember the times we talked about me opening a studio?
(12:12):
And she said there were two one of 'em when we had our first baby. And that was scary. So that was a no go. And then the next time was when we were expecting our third. And that's where the wisdom of my father-in-law Bill, who is a great man who's led people as well, he said relative to having kids, if you wait until you're ready, you'll never do it. How can you be prepared for that? You don't know what being a parent is like until they arrive. And this is also the same thing where you specifically said you don't know what it's like to be in the club until you're in the club.
(12:47):
And guess what? There's only one way to get in the club. That's right. And you close that door, that's step one, and then you open the other one. But you have to do both. And so many people, I was afraid to close the door behind me. I had three little people and I had a hard conversation. I had a non-compete, but I also had a very respectful relationship with that individual. And we even entertained briefly me opening one of his. I was already set though. Then the next step was to leave. Well, fear is a great motivator, but that wasn't what was motivating me.
Scott Eckart (13:21):
No, you had and have a community around you. And I think this is important for people to hear too, that if you have a vision and you can articulate the vision, people will go with you. One of the things that you and I talked about was you said, Scott, I need money. Where do I go to get money? And I'm like, well, this is with no track record. It's going to be very difficult. No bank will talk to you. And you said, okay, fine. I will find it. And this community, and you were the original Kickstarter or crowdsourcing, whatever cool term we call it today. And they came around you and they said, we believe in the vision and you created a fund. And off we went.
Mark Moreland (14:02):
I hated that paperwork. You and other people say, you have to apply to three banks. You have to put your business plan together, which is essential. Everybody listening, they got to do a business plan, take your business plan, and you got to walk through the hoops of the banks just to know you're going to get turned down. But the strength in that is doing that due diligence teach you about the process. And also when you go to your angel investors, when you go to those people, ultimately what the plan was is to go to special people and say, here's the vision do you want in ground level? And showing them that we did the bank thing, I think was an important part of the process to show that I was really serious about this. And it was because they asked me if they should go with you. Well, I didn't even know that part. They're like, Mark's going to do this thing, Scott, you're in charge of our money. Should we do?
Scott Eckart (14:51):
Yeah, and talk about awkward. I love you and I represent them. And so I said, trust your instincts. And of course they did. So the first studio is up and running and it's a beautiful day, but we're just getting started. Yeah. Now we got to bring people in and now you have to multiply Mark Moreland because you can only train so many people.
Mark Moreland (15:15):
So we knew the vision was never to be the one off. That was never the vision. We got more space planning on that. We got more equipment planning on that or we said, we are going to fill my book and then we're going to fill the book of five other trainers over this much time. And so hiring something I had never done before, I'd been a part of hiring outside sales because up to that point it was referrals a hundred percent. Now the company I worked for was also doing marketing. So I knew there was benefit there and I had a lot of respect for that, but yet the game changed a lot. I remember opening on my first day and having five appointments, which was five more than I thought I was going to have. So that was great. So that was that Monday and then Tuesday rolls around and I have none appointments. And then on Wednesday some of those people come back that were my Mondays and then Thursday I have none appointments. So on a none day where you are in square footage that you're paying for, you have decisions to make.
Scott Eckart (16:14):
Yes.
Mark Moreland (16:14):
And one of my mantras is R-G-A-R-G-A stands for revenue generating activity. So what is the thing I can do right now that either puts money in the bank or positions me to do that and none of it is by sitting in this chair. Got it. Get up out of the chair and do something and you have to throw a lot of spaghetti up at the cabinet, see what sticks. Because those first days and weeks are now our go-to process. When we hire a new trainer, when we open a new studio, we have a do this, then this, and to one of your points, they're weighted, certain things have different weight. So you lean toward the ones that have the heaviest weight. And one of those things is when you get a break, you spend a few minutes, you contact all the people that were in yesterday and you say, how was your workout? 50% of them will never engage with that text. That's not what's important. What's important is I'm thinking about you outside of the session and that costs me three minutes to hit 40 people and then I'm off to the next day. So you have to keep moving forward and try stuff.
Scott Eckart (17:21):
So you are entrepreneur guy, you are a trainer guy, but now you're the leader you've hired. You've had to let go. You've had to have very, very difficult conversations. How have you learned how to spot talent and then cultivate talent as mark the leader?
Mark Moreland (17:37):
Oh, that's a big chewy question. Every business is people and our business is hiring people to take care of people. So you have levels of that. So the predictive index is still one that is part of our hiring process. Before you come into the onsite interview, we get a snapshot of where you get your confidence in the workspace. And now we've been doing this long enough where we know this is a hard wiring thing. This is not a personality test. We've seen now enough people succeed and fail that we can even start to predict are we in a position to support you to success? Do they need a lot of verbal feedback? Do they need a slower ramp up, an onboarding process to build their success? Once I have that tool, it's my responsibility to use it because they could be successful, they're going to be successful somewhere. But it could be my style, it could be my process where I have to look at them and own my responsibility rather than say, well, let's give it a try. You make it, you make it. We are not that kind of culture.
Scott Eckart (18:42):
But there are times when maybe you've cared more about their success than they do.
Mark Moreland (18:49):
That's true. And that's probably a very me thing too though. Our fifth core value is employee development because that is who I am as a person. I learn things in order to share things with other people because that's what people have done for me forever. It resonates with me. So I will look at an individual and always try on first, did I give them what they need? Was the process that I've built and the onboarding, the education enough for them to succeed. And there's been some tools recently that have helped me to go, is this a person or a process problem? As long as I'm with that company and in charge of that company, I will think that everyone that comes on should and will be better for working with me.
Scott Eckart (19:31):
But sometimes it's okay to have alumni, right? Because yeah, they learned and they moved on and that's okay too. Continuing along, what was it like when you guys made it to critical mass and you thought, okay, we have a business. What was that like to walk through the studio? You're not training nearly as much people are there. The studio is full, there's energy. I mean, I've been there. I know. What is that like for you to come in and see it full?
Mark Moreland (19:59):
It's humbling. You could say validating at some levels to walk in and see clients. Being cared for by trainers that I didn't onboard is so satisfying. You're looking at your vision every half hour, and I'm a bad reflector when it comes to success. I work because I like to work. So it is people in my life that will say, stop, turn, look. But there are also some moments where I've gotten out of the car and just stopped and looked at the outside of the building. People trusting us to take care of their bodies is such a responsibility that is so satisfying, and I have to trust that I did it well as a trainer, and then I taught other people how to do it well, and now they're teaching other people how to do it. Well, it's discipleship.
Scott Eckart (20:54):
And multiplication.
Mark Moreland (20:55):
Yes, it is. To be able to multiply where I go, okay, if this is true of being blessed, then what's next?
Scott Eckart (21:03):
Yeah, second studio. Was that harder to do the second than the first?
Mark Moreland (21:06):
It was.
Scott Eckart (21:07):
Yeah.
Mark Moreland (21:07):
Every time your role changes, your job description changes, however you want to say it, you can expect to have a clunky phase, and that could be short or long, and I could tell you maybe a couple cheats to get through it faster, but…
Scott Eckart (21:20):
Sure, go ahead.
Mark Moreland (21:21):
Man. Number one, just accept that you're going to be clunky at it and get feedback. Because there isn't a CEO, there isn't a site manager that didn't grow into that position from somewhere in my business, a trainer becomes a manager. They were good at training, but they might not know how to manage. But we're saying we like you and we want more of your influence. So therefore we actually have management training because I went and got management training. How do you take care of these people that are going to take care of these people? But not everybody can manage. That's true. But one of the chicos we kind of have in our businesses, we watch people manage people.
Scott Eckart (22:00):
So your true partner, Kristina. I say all the time as a business owner that I'm not here without my wife and you're not where you are without Kristina. Tell us about Kristina.
Mark Moreland (22:13):
Kristina is, she is a force and there is no way for me to not get emotional. I hope every man gets to be supported in their life by a woman like her. She is lovely. She is ambitious. She has a care gear that I don't have. She expects nothing in return. She has this unbridled force where she does what she wants, but what she wants to do is take care of other people.
Scott Eckart (22:44):
That's right. Between the two of you, you have made this happen. You have grown this thing, you have made it work, but you are good at taking counsel, relying on others. You are not lone wolfs either one of you, which is what I really love about you, as consultative as you are. I think that's one of the keys to your success as an outsider looking in. There are others that have been very helpful along the way. Let's talk about some of those people, some of your mentors.
Mark Moreland (23:10):
Yeah, I've mentioned a few of them. Bruce before, again, when I think about him, I think about how he took care of his employees, seeing them as people just basic good human skills from a special person. Again, watching him being a beneficiary of him taking care of us because he really connected with me, and especially when our kids were young, he also understood when I opened the new business, he counseled me on what I should and shouldn't be spending my time doing
(23:41):
To the point where in the middle of a snowstorm, we're not supposed to be out. This man drives down my street. And we're like, what are you doing? And he pulls out a snowblower and he gives it to me and he goes, I just picked this up. He goes, you are a dad, a husband and a small business owner. You need tools to do those things, not be out here shoveling your driveway. Wow. It's like talk about somebody who puts their principles into action and then he left. We're like, what just happened? What just happened to me?
Scott Eckart (24:13):
Yeah.
Mark Moreland (24:14):
Rob Hudson, a fitness by design is such a driven man. And watching him and hearing his legacy of starting a thing that wasn't a thing.
Scott Eckart (24:25):
It wasn't.
Mark Moreland (24:24):
He was a personal trainer, I believe at the Indianapolis Athletic Club. Yeah, athletic club.
Scott Eckart (24:28):
I see.
Mark Moreland (24:28):
And that was before. That was cool. And then he had a vision for opening his own place and then growing trainers and he did it. He would save rays like I want to grow multiple locations. And he had two locations. And then again, watching him take care of people very well, and then also watching him try some stuff that didn't work and maybe help him clean up some things as well. Not being afraid to try stuff. Watching him and his wife Lisa, work together. That was part of those things like, we're going to do that. And then Kristina and I found out really close, we couldn't do that. Jim Haslip is lifetime best friend of mine. And when your best friend is also highly skilled at staff management skills, at leadership development skills and wicked smart, wow. I mean, that's a cheat sheet because you don't have to work through the trust aspect. It's already there. And then to go him to go, you need to use these tools. And I go, okay. And I will go use those tools and then I can come back and go, that worked or that didn't work. Was I using the tool? Right? What a blessing to have great people. Speaking of people you trust, my mom, Becky Morlan, CFO, we've worked together since the beginning and one of the first questions I asked my mom, and man, I know my mom loves me.
Scott Eckart (25:43):
Yeah, she does.
Mark Moreland (25:44):
Is I said, will you let my business fail? And she said, yes, or else we wouldn't have worked together. I know if it came down to Mark Lin's success or the success of the business, she’d…
Scott Eckart (25:57):
She'd sell a kidney for you.
Mark Moreland (25:59):
Battle for that. And I needed to know that we have to do this the right way, which also means leveraging relationships and energy and skills the right way. We if go back to stewardship, this also means that people that I work for, the people that I work with, the people that I serve, the people that work for me, I have to take care of them. So we've worked together for 15 years in business. The more you can stay in your sweet spot and deliver your best energy, find and hire the people to do the things that are painful for you so that you can drive that energy there. Becky has always been, mom has always been the finances. And what was great in the first days were, I love to work. And we had nothing to lose and everything to prove. So our sales meetings, I would walk in her office and just say, we good, which is, is there enough money? Are we on track? I knew we weren't in the black, but are we good? And she'd give me a thumbs up and if I got a thumbs up, I'd go back to work. If I got a, I'd go back to work. If I got a thumbs down, I'd say, what do we need? And she'd say, we need X. And I'd go back to work. It was so easy. There was a part of me that misses those days because it was so easy.
Scott Eckart (27:25):
As we think about what comes next, how are you guys navigating that? I mean, we don't have mirrors in the studio, which I think is really super cool. But as you think about living in this overly body conscious world and your role, you guys are really thinking about wellness. What is your particular take on this crazy world we live in now with all of that and where you guys fit in and how do you strike a balance with just good health and thoughts there?
Mark Moreland (27:54):
At our core, we are a movement company. We're not a looks company. In fact, I would say we're even more of a feels company than we are a looks company. So when you come into the studio, we actually have a piece of paper that has three categories of goals, and it is move, feel, look. So we would say, Scott, the key question is why are you here? We approach look goals by getting you moving, well first getting you feeling better. And that could be a actual physical feeling better or maybe your confidence needs to go up and guess what your look goals can actually change.
Scott Eckart (28:30):
Interesting.
Mark Moreland (28:30):
Relative to those things. So the vanity industry is a failing system because there's a threshold to it. Without getting too conceptual about this is do you care how you look if you hurt when you walk, there's a teeter-totter there where nobody wants to look bad and people have proven that they will put up with pain in order to look a certain way. That's across the board. But there's a threshold to that. Or you could say, Hey, if you approach your movement first and build that foundation of strength, of neuromuscular, of joints, metabolism, then that's like the bottom layer of your retaining wall. And then you can start stacking things on top of that should you care how you look. I believe so. But there's a continuum there. We also know that on that continuum, the two ends are costly. It is very costly for you from a time and energy and pain and money standpoint to be uber fit. We also know that there is a cost time pain to being unhealthy. And then when we have some clarity on those two things and we get our look under control, then we actually can gain a little perspective. And as things come flying to us, we can actually categorize 'em a little bit better.
Scott Eckart (29:52):
So being proactive, I really like that because otherwise you're just almost kind of setting yourself up to be let the outside forces tell you how you should think or feel about yourself if you don't have something ready to go.
Mark Moreland (30:05):
And guess what some of the things out there in the market, again, without too much trainer hat, it's not a hard no, it's how is it right for me and what's the real cost to it? And that could be financially or whatever. So I love the word how and why. Let's be intentional as these things come to you. And I want our trainers to be able to navigate those conversations. We just developed a brief thing. We said, Hey guys, let's talk about ozempic. Let's talk about what was the one GLP one wegovy or the things that are out there, right? Because it's not white noise, it is loud, it's in your face. If you have any social media platform, you're getting bombed with it.
Scott Eckart (30:40):
So you're helping clients navigate what they're seeing on their own feeds.
Mark Moreland (30:44):
Yes. So people will come to me and go, “Hey, this is what's going on here”. And I can advocate, I have two people specifically where I say, based on your muscle care over time and based on your mindset and what your goals are, this could be a tool that could get you over this hump, but we also need in that time to put the behaviors in place for you to maintain this. And here are the risks. So let's do these things to try to negate the risks of it. But again, like a business, we have a start and we have a stop strategy to some of these things. How is it going to serve me?
Scott Eckart (31:17):
Excellent, excellent. So here on Future Proof, one of the things that we like to connect with our listeners as well as our guests who are business owners, entrepreneurs, is the idea of pivots. Mark, and I know you've been through several pivots, we've talked about them throughout the years that have been some major, some minor, some seemingly subtle that had larger consequences. Do you have a couple in mind that you would be willing to share with the listeners?
Mark Moreland (31:49):
Yeah, the dining room table. Those were the pivots because it was sticking the flag in the ground and going, we're going to do this.
(31:57):
And when I say I had all the doors opening, but I needed Kristina to give her blessing. Yes, because we are, we're a team. And the timing was terrible on paper to be working through a non-compete the day after your third child is born, literally left the hospital to have that meeting. And it's a bad time to do that. But also the drive to do it, I was like, man, if this is the drive, then you have to answer opening the first studio for sure, opening any studio. Because when you open it and then you realize what does work, what doesn't work, then you start making those notes for when you're going to open the next one and you make those notes for the next one. I already know different things I'll do with number four. And as soon as I open number four, I'll have plans for number five.
(32:49):
It's not the expectation of perfect, it's that progress. You could say the COVID was especially in the fitness world, but COVID was never a fear. Jim Hassel gets credit for this one as well. It was fall of 2019. So it was probably good timing for that one where I had a major thing at work happened and I thought we were doomed, like disaster. And he said, mark, what's your opportunity in this? Interesting, okay. And I said, what are you talking about? I'm mad. I don't see it like that. And he said it again, and Jim has a super calm voice, mark, what's your opportunity here? You're missing it. So take some time, say this event it happened. What does it allow you to do? So I was like, okay. So I kind of rattled a couple things. He goes, there you go. He goes, you're going to find it. When COVID hit, it was what's our opportunity in this?
(33:45):
And you know what our opportunity was? It was to take care of our people to prove that we had their backs because all of our people at W2, the world took that independent contractor in the fitness world and closed doors on it.
Scott Eckart (33:57):
Yes it did. My gym closed right around the corner.
Mark Moreland (34:00):
There was no loyalty in that industry. That's right. And man, we kept everybody and it was expensive and it was worth it because then on the backside what happens? What's that number two goal feel? People felt bad and we had a surge of people and nobody could hire because fitness professionals left the industry because they got burned and they needed more stability. And your people couldn't wait to come back. They could not wait to come back as soon as we could. And again, we could talk about the growth out of that, but that was that. What's your opportunity here? Because every threat has one. Yes. And every opportunity has a threat. Let me do one more. A, a advisor Leadership academy is something that Jim Hassler told me to do four years and I believe in timing and I finally did it. And it was nine months and money and time and gold every month was a new topic, but there was a project you were supposed to do. That was the culmination of the whole thing. And I thought my project was going to be opening the third studio. So the whole time I'm working on that, working on that, working on that.
Scott Eckart (35:11):
So your foregone conclusion, you're like, of course, this is it.
Mark Moreland (35:14):
I get almost to my presentation and I realize my project's been me. And what that means is my project title switch from opening the third location to me stepping down as site manager at Zionsville, turning my baby over to someone else,
Scott Eckart (35:32):
Which by the way is the number one challenge that I face with my clients is getting them to put the baby down.
Mark Moreland (35:41):
It is so hard. It's still hard.
Scott Eckart (35:43):
Because they don't trust. They think nobody can do it as well as me. And until that happens, mark, they cannot do any of the other planning that we want to get
Mark Moreland (35:52):
Done. So that's what it allowed me is this actual time and actual brain space to go, you've been trying to work on your business while you're working for and in your business. Now put that down. You're going to disappoint a lot of people. You're going to disappoint clients as you pass them off to other people, but you're going to do a good job and they'll be fine. And you will get the space to actually move into, literally move into a new hat, which is that GM hat and that class and that time allowed that transition to happen, or else we could still have opened the third location I could still be working in, but do I trust the second person to run theirs, the third person to run theirs? You have to let go.
Scott Eckart (36:37):
Because remember, you and I had talked about the brand Body Outfitters as you and you are the brand, and until we can separate those, then growth will be limited. And so this is the thing in terms of moving from lifestyle to the next level. So that is really fantastic. What else might you leave behind that you would say to a budding entrepreneur or someone that is maybe wanting to open locations or is in a succession planning right now? So there's three things, right? Continuity, which we've taken care of with you. You're talking succession right now because moving into the full GM role, we have an exit plan ready to go if we need to, but really what we're talking about here is succession, which is critical, which can be bumpy or you can steer into it, you can celebrate it. What entrepreneurs or business owners don't realize is that unless they hear about the succession plan, they don't want to come in because they think, man, if something happens to that guy, that whole business is going up in flames.
(37:36):
And it's actually a sign of strength if you can look at and tell your stakeholders, we had a plan. When I talk to my clients about that, then they get very excited. Then they're like, Hey, this isn't some big secret. This is actually our marketing plan. And then they get really excited about sharing it because it's a great story. It says, Hey, we are successful and we're telling the story in a way of growth because now you've been able to replicate yourself, but you don't need to have many Marks. They can be Bill and Susie and these new leaders, and that's very exciting.
Mark Moreland (38:14):
It is fun. And you don't necessarily know the role you play on their trajectory as well,
Scott Eckart (38:20):
Correct.
Mark Moreland (38:20):
Because they could have a vision to look at what you're doing and go, I want to do that. Maybe that's under your brain, but maybe they're going to launch and do their own thing. And you can play a part in helping them do that, whatever that looks like. Because opportunity and threat, if one of your main people wants to go out on their own just like you did, there's an opportunity there. There is a threat. But what I have found is with a willingness to work, a willingness to gather your best troops and counsel, we've only grown when I thought there was a threat.
Scott Eckart (38:56):
Okay. But I also know you and I know that you would create an environment for them to thrive and not have to leave you.
Mark Moreland (39:03):
It happens. And part of our core values also says in employee development is to also part ways however you can with goodwill.
(39:14):
And I think, again, the relationships will transcend the brand. It will. So that is something that, man, I would love to have a vision for people coming to body officers, working through our team lead program from trainer to manage the facility, just the nuts and bolts in the brooms to then manage the training and then, oh, manage the sales and then run the whole studio and then maybe open their own studio and then maybe have a T tranch of studios. That's a really fun thing to play. And again, I'm going to keep working toward that because I think then if I could pass off GM to someone, what does that mean?
Scott Eckart (39:53):
Yeah, I mean that's a whole other…
Mark Moreland (39:55):
What does that free me up to do?
Scott Eckart (39:57):
That's right. To maybe write, teach, speak, be an advocate for the industry now. And that's the abundance mentality, right? That's one of the things that I wish that I had learned earlier in my career to not be threatened by others who I thought would take away my little piece of cheese. That there's this ginormous opportunity that I will never get to and to be more abundant minded. And I think that you possess that ability too, to really embrace abundance versus scarcity. And for me anyway, the market that I serve is people like you is underserved, horribly underserved in the closely held business market that I don't need to worry about it, that I can be abundant minded because there's so much more opportunity than I will ever get to. And if you're abundant mind, you don't need to worry about people ticking things or leaving or doing whatever, because that is always going to come back to us in wonderful ways. We just don't know how.
Mark Moreland (40:55):
I agree with you. I think you asked me too, what would I tell somebody? Are we at that?
(41:01):
I think there's been some things throughout this, but I just was thinking back going, I have three locations in 15 years, and I know it's the right timeline, but I would roll things out faster because version 1.0 is the hardest launching version 1.0. You spend the time, the due diligence building the thing, then you plan your rollout, right? And you're trying to nail it, man, sometimes you get that version 1.0 and you roll it out there. That way you know fast. If you got something or you don't, you can always tweak it. You can always pull it back. You can always kill it or you could double down on it. But there's a gut piece of this too that you could say, go with your gut, but your gut is part of your wins and losses up to this point. It's not just intuition. I think it is also your body of experience and exposure.
(41:52):
The phrase that was pushed to me was, what evidence does Mark Moreland need before he'll take that step? And I started building those lists, be like, Hey, I got to do, and this was something that I had to commit to myself. As I said, I need to see this. Now, here's your promise. Once you see those things, you have to go. You can't add something to the list. Oh, well, we didn't consider this. That's when it's fear. So at this point, that started to matter because now we had things that we had proven and things to lose. That's why it was so simple at the beginning, because we had nothing to lose and everything to prove. Well, we had proven we had this thing, and so that starts to make you hold back a little bit.
Scott Eckart (42:33):
Very well said. What a great conversation today, Mark. I just love watching your success and having to be a small part of that.
Mark Moreland (42:43):
Thank you, Scott, and thank you to the listeners. Hopefully you can extract something out of this and it will help you and blessings to your journey.
Scott Eckart (42:52):
Our conversation really speaks to what this show is all about, the moments that reshape your business, the action and the mindset it takes to keep moving forward. So here are three things that stood out for my conversation with Mark as we look at how to futureproof your business. Number one, know your why. So for Mark, at the very beginning, he knew why he wanted to do, and that really kept him going, especially through the hardest times of keeping the studio open, especially during COVID. Number two, start before you're ready. There were a lot of things that he just didn't know the answer to. The wise, wheres, and most importantly, what was the next big move? So he started before he was ready, and he had great people around him that coached him and kept him going. Number three, what I call the field of dreams. If you build it, they will come. He had to crowdsource not doing traditional financing, and he had the vision, he got people around and he explained it to them. The money came in. He had the field of dreams, and he built it. And sure enough, the people came head to the description of this episode to find links to connect with Mark. The future is bright. I'll see you on the next episode.
(44:10):
Thank you for listening today. If you like what you've heard, please join us in the Velocity Network and sign up@www.velocoaches.com, which is a gathering of entrepreneurs, business owners, and people who desire to learn more about running and owning a business. Also, you can subscribe to future proof on Spotify, apple, YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts.