Guest Piece by Karla Jo Helms
Disruption Interruption podcast host and veteran communications disruptor Karla Jo Helms interviews Laura Munkholm — President and Co-Founder of Walla — and discovers how business owners passionate about sharing fitness with their clients have been bogged down by inefficient technology and how the right solution can support client wellness by applying behavioral psychology.
(Tampa Bay, FL) Around one in five Americans have a gym membership, and the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics reports that only about 23% of the population between 18 and 65 achieve recommended fitness minimums every week. 1. Fitness is a growing industry, but as many as 81% of startups fail or close their doors within the first year. 2. Boutique fitness studio owners tend to be passionate about changing people’s lives but are challenged to attract and retain clients sustainably. Enter “curious” disruptor Laura Munkholm, President and Co-Founder of Walla, who explains to Karla Jo Helms, host of the Disruption Interruption podcast, that new behavioral psychology research combined with easy-to-use technology can transform boutique studios into accessible profit centers.
Laura was a yoga teacher, studio manager, and studio owner. One day, when her oldest daughter was two years old and she was seven months pregnant with her second child, she struggled for hours with her studio software to try and get the data she needed to make a few business decisions. She wanted to spend time with her daughter and could not believe any studio owner should have to toil for hours just to get basic data about their business. She said THAT’S IT — I’M DONE WITH THE STATUS QUO — and decided to create the software she needed. She partnered with an experienced tech expert who had built and scaled businesses before. They combined their expertise to create easy-to-use software that increases profitability and can help teachers and studios talk to individual students in a way that motivates them.
Laura explains:
The status quo in the fitness industry has been to lower prices to motivate people to join and retain their memberships. Many of these deals are not sustainable. In existing software platforms, it’s very hard to tell how much money the studio is making from each class, teacher, and individual, especially with a variety of membership levels and offers.
Few people realize how complicated boutique fitness businesses are. Clients can purchase different packages, from individual classes to annual memberships, and each delivers a different per-class revenue. Sometimes people pause their membership, adding to the complexity of the calculations.
Post-COVID, 60% of consumers want a hybrid approach. They want to pick and choose when they can go to classes, with the option of on-demand video. The old studio software systems are not designed to facilitate this, so studios are piecing together the tools to make that happen. It can be incredibly stressful for somebody who, for example, started out as a Pilates teacher and now is trying to run a business.
There is also a need to effectively motivate clients to continue to participate. About 20% of the population has a consistent workout practice of some sort. Low-price gyms did not significantly alter this number, so cost is not the most significant barrier.
Skillpower is a company that worked with leading researchers from MIT, Stanford, and Penn State to identify what it takes to build nutrition, fitness, and wellness habits and get people consistent. Their biggest contract was with the Military because about 20% of the Military is considered overweight from a BMI perspective.
Walla applied Skillpower’s personality profile assessment to the studio software. Clients take a survey and are identified as one of four personality types.
Each personality type is motivated differently. Both teachers and the studio can access this personality data to help correctly motivate and communicate with individuals.
Disruption Interruption is the podcast where you’ll hear from today’s biggest Industry Disruptors. Learn what motivated them to bring about change and how they overcome opposition to adoption.
Disruption Interruption can be listened to via the Podbean app and is available on Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
About Disruption Interruption:
Disruption is happening on an unprecedented scale, impacting all manner of industries — MedTech, Finance, IT, eCommerce, shipping and logistics, and more — and COVID has moved their timelines up a full decade or more. But WHO are these disruptors, and when did they say, “THAT’S IT! I’VE HAD IT!”? Time to Disrupt and Interrupt with host Karla Jo “KJ” Helms, veteran communications disruptor. KJ interviews badasses who are disrupting their industries and altering economic networks that have become antiquated with an establishment resistant to progress. She delves into uncovering secrets from industry rebels and quiet revolutionaries that uncover common traits — and not-so-common — that are changing our economic markets… and lives. Visit the world’s key pioneers that persist to success, despite arrows in their backs at www.disruptioninterruption.com.
About Karla Jo Helms:
Karla Jo Helms is the Chief Evangelist and Anti-PR(TM) Strategist for JOTO PR Disruptors(TM).
Karla Jo learned firsthand how unforgiving business can be when millions of dollars are on the line — and how the control of public opinion often determines whether one company is happily chosen or another is brutally rejected. Being an alumni of crisis management, Karla Jo has worked with litigation attorneys, private investigators, and the media to help restore companies of goodwill back into the good graces of public opinion — Karla Jo operates on the ethic of getting it right the first time, not relying on second chances and doing what it takes to excel. Helms speaks globally on public relations, how the PR industry itself has lost its way and how, in the right hands, corporations can harness the power of Anti-PR to drive markets and impact market perception.
About Walla:
Walla delivers state-of-the-art software designed by a studio owner to help fitness business owners do what they love, sans tech headaches. They use data and behavioral science to allow gyms to track the profitability of classes and teachers easily and to create loyal enthusiasts as clients.
Walla allows studio owners to focus on what they love by reducing the time, expense, and energy spent on tech-related issues. Walla provides intuitive, easy-to-use features to enroll students, schedule and lead classes, manage operations, and use behavioral psychology to execute campaigns designed to motivate clients, increase revenue, and improve retention.
Sources:
- Blackwell, Debra L. Ph.D.; Clarke, Tainya C. Ph.D., M.P.H.; “State Variation in Meeting the 2008 Federal Guidelines for Both Aerobic and Muscle-strengthening Activities Through Leisure-time Physical Activity Among Adults Aged 18–64: United States, 2010–2015”; June 28, 2018; National Health Statistics Reports; https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr112.pdf.
- Schmaltz, Jim; “Why Most Startup Fitness Studios Fail”; August 27, 2018; InTouch Technology; https://www.ihrsa.org/improve-your-club/why-most-startup-fitness-studios-fail.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
