April 1, 2025 • 43 mins
Ty McMath scaled and sold his first fitness company before building The Union Fit Hub—Atlanta’s first gym designed for fitness entrepreneurs. In this episode of Butternomics, he breaks down how he made it happen and why betting on trainers was the smartest move he ever made.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You could be building a brand but not making any money.
You can be all types of things like that. You
got to find out whatever that victory is for you
and then kind of stay on that path and give
yourself a chance to succeed. There's so many people that
kind of start and then they switch over because they
feel like, ah, this isn't working, and so they're not
(00:21):
consistent and they're not kind of committed to the commitment
of business and of the repetitions of business, and of
like just the grind and the ugliness. You know, this
is not pretty.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Butter. I'm your host,
Brandon Butler. Found the CEO of Butter atl And Today
we got a special guest. Then we got the mayor
of Fitness up in here. Yes, we got the founder
and CEO of the fit Hub here in Atlanta holding
it down.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Got Tomic math t. How you doing, baby, man, I'm great,
I'm great. It's good to be here. Thank you so much.
I've been waiting on this one.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Hey man, wait you to pull up in here. Man,
you know what I'm saying. You just as busy as me.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Well, that's that's a fact. That's a fact. That's a fact.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
But yeah, it's been awesome just watching the episodes. You know,
you've been having some heavy hitters on here. Learned a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Hey, man, appreciate appreciate it, you know, man, you send me
a couple of screenshots, you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
It's good to have you in it. It's like a
full circle moment.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
You know what I'm saying. It is it is.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
And I think when we first met, you came over
not to work out at the Union, but to kind
of party.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I came over there for a party. That was right
for a little event, you know what I'm saying. Came
over to cookies and everybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I was like, all right, we got to get you
over here to actually work out. Normally, normally people come
to party after the workout of the workout, but you
skipped that part.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Man, I like to like to do I like to
do my own thing, you know what I'm saying. But nah, man,
it's good for those of don't know time just tell them, man,
what is what is the Union?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So the Union is a I truly wanted to create
a space that I felt like fitness entrepreneurs wellness entrepreneurs, trainers,
all this talent we have in Atlanta, they needed a
place where they felt like they can truly build and
scale their business, whether that's online or whether that's in person.
(02:19):
I wanted to create that, and I felt like, what
better place to do it than on the belt line
where you have millions of people coming by, the traffic,
just the energy of the city.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
It's just felt right.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So the Union is a fitness hub created to help
wellness entrepreneurs and fitness entrepreneurs build their business.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
At the end of the.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Day, now look, man, the belt line where y'all are at. Man,
that's some prime real estate. Bro Oh boy, do I
know some how did that come together? How'd you find
that location? How did that come together?
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Oh? Man, that's a great question.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
So in my previous business, I was basically working with developers.
So in my previous business, we worked with apartments, multifamily, hotels,
and things of that nature. And so I've been I
was an early person on the beltline, So I was
walking around when it was no belt line and when
(03:13):
it was gravel. And I remember at one of my
buildings that we had, we basically activated, we created these
micro gyms right and one of the places that we
had was a place that was right adjacent to the beltline,
and in this young lady's back office, it had the
map of what the beltline was going to be. So
(03:35):
I had a very early view on like, wow, this
is all this traffic is going to be at the
beltline and all these things. So I had an early
view on it, and that was around two thousand, I
wanted to say, twelve twenty thirteen when I first started
kind of noticing it, And so I always knew that
if I had a actual location, I wanted it in
(03:59):
what I felt like was the heart of the belt line.
And then once I started meeting people like Clyde his
and and the folks from the belt Line and really
understanding like the purpose, I felt like that was where
we needed.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
The most entrepreneurs to participate.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
The real estate, as you said, is so high it's
hard for a solo entpreneur to be able to build
a business there, so you kind of have to do
it in a shared economy type of way. But they
have so many people there that want to participate in
whether that's pilates or yoga or zoomba. So that's that's
kind of why I built it there. But it was
(04:39):
just walks with different people that have real estate on
the belt line talking to them about the vision because
you don't get in a place like that without knowing somebody.
And we actually had to convince them to allow us
to basically break down walls because where we're at that
was four different units, so we had to get one unit,
(05:02):
wait a couple of months, then get another unit, wait
a couple months, then get the final unit, and then
kind of smash these all together. So it was a
process of real estate, getting the drawings, architects, you know,
license all those things. But we made it happen, and
(05:23):
it took us around two years to actually build and
lay out and create with you know as a Union
fit hub right now.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, man is an amazing space too.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I mean, like even when you look at it, it's
interesting to know because I didn't know that part of
the story that like y'all to kind of do it
in increments like that, yes, and now how it's all
come together. It was just the architecture's beautiful, is very
nicely laid out, like all the stuff, like there was
a lot of intentionality within all that.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, we were I knew that we needed a space
at least ten thousand because you want to have different disciplines.
You want to have like a yoga room, you want
to have a podcast, you want to especially nowadays, you
want to have a place where somebody can Really we
have a cafe area, we have a recovery room area.
(06:10):
You need place where people can build and grow. So
we needed at least ten thousand square feet. But it's
hard to find that on the Beltline that's actually open,
especially where we're located right next to two Our Lakes
and Pola City Market. Normally you have to kind of
fit into a small little spot. And so luckily the
(06:33):
Aaron Goldman, who is the owner of Perennial Properties, he
probably doesn't want me to tell him his name, but
he's an awesome guy.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Luckily he believed in the vision. Yeah, and he.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Allowed us, really allowed us to be creative with his space.
And we just waited it out, you know, we were patient.
So we took one space and then just waited it
out and got all of them.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yes, so what we call land and expand for there
you go, then get in there, getting there, get you
a spot set up and then you can kind of
spread out. Now when it comes to the fitness entrepreneurs,
like why did you think that was an Like why
did you think that was an important element in general?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Right?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Like are there other spaces like that or is this
kind of something that has been a brain child of
yours for a while that you know, creative and well
fitness entrepreneurs and people that are kind of in that
space need a place they can also kind of help
build their businesses, not just a traditional gym by all senses.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Mean honestly, it was kind of like my why it
was it was in my heart. So as a fitness entrepreneur,
I remember the difficulties of scaling, right, being a trainer
that woke up early in the morning trained somebody from
six am to six pm. It's hard because you know
(07:47):
you're trading your time for money, right, So it's hard
to scale those type of businesses. And I was fortunate
enough to be able to scale my company. My previous company,
we scaled to like twenty six different states, and we
ran five hundred different unities, and we built all these
micro gyms, so we had a lot of fitness professionals
as actually was contracted that worked with our company. And
(08:07):
so I saw the pain points. Whether I was in Austin, Texas,
or in Denver, Colorado, or in la or in New York,
a lot of the pain points were very similar. Like
they didn't have any place where they can truly build
a business. They might have had gyms where they can
rent out space, but they didn't have a place where
they can truly build a business and build their avatar,
(08:31):
you know, find out where they can actually raise capital,
do the research, all these type of things. And in
other industries they were already creating that. So and you
know in the hair industry they have like salon suites,
and in the food industry that have ghost kitchens. And
we have places like Cross Street Market or election on Krog,
(08:52):
and we have amazing places like the Gathering Spot, Rice
Wrestle Centers. But in the wellness industry, they had ever
been a place that was built with us in mind
and with the Union.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
We say we created the union with you and mind.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
We were the first actual fitness space to be created
for the actual entrepreneur. Most places are created for the members.
And so that was the difference, and it was just
years of watching talent, like years of watching how talent
had outpaced the market. There were so many entrepreneurs that
(09:30):
they were They wasn't necessarily trainers. They were really marketing agents,
and they were you know, they were psychiatrists, they were
like all these other other disciplines and they just happened
to train and and there was companies that were starting,
like wearable companies and they were starting technology companies and
they were starting at leisure were companies, and they didn't
(09:51):
have anywhere that they can place their items. Always thought
about it, like when I was watching like celebrities like
Kevin Hard or Gabrielle Union launched their apps, my mind
was going to where would they launch that they were
back in the day when they were doing their books
or their apps, they would go to places like Barns
and Nobles and bookstores and maybe hotels, but those aren't native.
(10:14):
So we needed a place where they could launch and
that was native. And so I kind of noticed that
for years in the industry, and I just felt like
it was a perfect time to create a space where
entrepreneurs can really grow.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's one of my favorite things.
Or you know, when I see people do stuff or
I even think about all the time, right. I always say,
like when there's a gold rush, there's lots of ways
to make money, right, Like you go look for gold,
or you can kind of.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Go sell picks and shovels.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And I kind of feel like that's really kind of
what the union is, right, it's the picks and shovels
for the people that do want to go and build
a fitness business, and all of a sudden, you have
a space, you have resources, you have access to equipment,
and so you're kind of giving them all those things
they don't necessarily to invest in themselves so they can
focus on kind of having the best business. And you
had to notice that Sleep to your point, you've been
(11:02):
an entrepreneur in the fitness space, you've seen people in
the fitness space. You kind of knew this was a
pain point, you know, when it was all built and
said and done, Like you, when did.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
It first start working? Oh? Man said, when did it
first start working? I think it's still we're still in
that process. Okay, but I'll tell you an early victory.
An early victory was watching it was a young lady
she worked for a pretty popular chain. She probably taught
(11:33):
over five thousand classes, and she was a traveling trainer
and she came to the Union and did probably two classes.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
She rented out the space and did two classes.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And after renting out the space and doing her two classes,
she literally came up to us and was like, I've
never had a space where I felt home that I
didn't have to kind of down my brand. I didn't
have to like, hey, not put up the tripod or
maybe sneak the tripod in and record some content like
(12:10):
she was like, it was almost like you ever give
somebody some stuff and be like, no, it's yours.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
This is actually for you. You're like you sure.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
That's how the fitness professional was Actually was really kind
of coming in and this physness professional was like, I've
never seen anything like that where we didn't do anything
necessarily special for her. We just allowed her the space
to create, and by doing that, she was so grateful
(12:40):
just for the actual space. We're not even talking about
the technology. We're not even talking about the cameras, the
video production, all those things. She was just like wowed
by We're actually invited in this space and that had
not been done for fitness entrepreneurs. So for her to
feel like this was home was a victory for us
(13:03):
because she was our avatar, Like she was the type
of person that we want to be able to give
that opportunity to. And and now she's able to create
her own content. She's able to do her own functions
and have a space to do them, and take that content,
take that concept and then possibly go raise capital to
(13:25):
go get her own facility, or she can go raise
capital to go create her own online You know, that's
really special.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
So it's kind of cool to see that.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
But I still think we're learning because we're first, and
so we're still learning, like what what is it?
Speaker 4 (13:45):
You know, what what are.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
The things that some of the fitness entrepreneurs need and
and how can we get better to serve the community.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
How did you get your first you know customers.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I mean you kind of mention that you've been in
the space, so I'm guessing that you also knew a
lot of fitness professionals. But then you also also have
members too that come in. And I think again, for
a lot of people when they build businesses, they don't
think about, Okay, how I'm gonna get my first couple
of customers in the door. Right, So when you kind
of take it back to that step, how did you
get the first you know, again, fitness professionals, customers actually
start coming.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
In and really believing in what y'all are doing and
being a part of it.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Like so I've always believed like like, I don't need
a place to start selling, you know, like right, It
wasn't like I was like gonna wait till weak when
this is done, then got a star. Now I'm gonna
go out there and go get a client. So I
was selling the concept and the thought, and we started
(14:51):
doing deals with with big brands like Lou Lennon and
and Rebok and deador before our doors was even open, okay,
because we knew there was a need. There was a
need from a brand, there was a need from a
fitness professional and a talent. It was almost like matchmaking.
There was matchmaking. So the first thing that I did
(15:11):
was go find brands that needed an audience. They wanted
to talk to these creators. They wanted to find these creators.
So I kind of went that route. So I kind
of did the hardest thing first, you know, and convinced
those brands that we will be a good partner. So
before we actually had the space open, we were doing events,
and we were doing events on the Beltline. We were
(15:34):
doing events outside building community. We were building community, like
literally starting from the community. We were doing events with
Pond City Market. We were hosting Super Bowl parties and
things like that. Before we had anybody on a treadmill
or anybody doing any yoga or anything like that. So
we kind of created a buzz before and so when
(15:54):
we finally opened the doors, the members actually came in first,
even though we didn't created for just like you to
come in and just get on the treadmill or work out,
but the members just started coming in because it felt
like it was convenient the location. Obviously we're twenty four
to seven and you have all these things to play with.
But I think the buzz made them come in because
(16:16):
we were truly serving the community and we were doing
so many things within the community, so they kind of
just start coming in.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Now you've kind of mentioned a few times before you
were doing this, you were also an entrepreneur another space.
You were building gyms, Like, tell us a little bit
about that business. What was that business?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, So that was my that was a company called
Torch Fitness and Nutrition, and so I built that with
my wife.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
We basically found a gap in the market. Again.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
So back in I don't know, two thousand and nine,
there was huge opportunities with all these apartments that was
being built where they had a lot of underactivated spaces,
and we basically went in and created micro gyms. So
think about it, like when you go to a resort
or you go to a hotel and they have restaurants
(17:04):
and you know, Bobby flays this and you know, yeah, yeah,
So like an airport has all these different restaurants, they're
activating the spaces, and so we basically did that in
the fitness industry. So we created micro gyms so we
would have multiple classes and multiple activations with hotels, apartments,
(17:25):
corporate things like that, and we activated those spaces and
we just found a true niche that had not been
done before. And so we worked with developers to build
this amenity space and we built that and we end
up actually exiting that company around twenty twenty one to
a company called Valet Living. So that was a really
(17:47):
cool kind of ten year journey of activating these spaces,
meeting so many different entrepreneurs, fitness entrepreneurs and building kind
of creating a hub where we were able to kind
of grow and then scale and then exit. So you know,
it was kind of a really cool story.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
You make it sound so easy, man, like we were
just working with developers and building these gyms out. Like,
how do you even get those kind of relationships? Y'all
have a background in that space. Is that something that
you have experienced with or is it just kind of
again like organically meeting people and asking questions and building
relationships and like figuring out what you got to do
to make it happen.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
The latter, No, I had no industry, Like, I had
no experience. When I went into an apartment. I didn't
know the manager, I didn't know the a developer, I
didn't know an owner operated. I didn't know any of
that stuff. I mean, it's very organic how things happened.
I have a I basically interned at the Rich Carleton
(18:46):
and Bucket, and so from working at the Rich Carlton,
you learn.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
How to kind of meet people, You introduce.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Your hospitality, you go there, you go, and so is
that part is ingrained in you?
Speaker 4 (19:02):
So you kind of take that skill.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I took that skill, and I knew that I wanted
to do something in wellness and fitness.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
I just didn't know what it was.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
So as I was going around trying to figure it out,
I actually just met somebody that was in the apartment industry,
and I knew that there was an opportunity because when
I would go to visit my friends at these apartments,
I never saw anybody in the gyms, like it would just.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Be like dead space.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
But these were beautiful apartments and beautiful gems that just
didn't have anything going on. So when I met somebody
that actually worked at an apartment, I told them about
my thought. It was literally just speaking it into existence.
I was like, hey, yeah, you know, I want to
build this and this is how I think it can
be built. And that next day she introduced me to
(19:57):
a manager at an apartment apartment. It was actually Enzo
on glenn Wood and it was before as they were
building that glen Wood area, and so I just so
happened to go in there after the introduction and they
allowed me to try this model out with them, and
(20:18):
I got to know everybody in that building, from the
genitor to the front desk to the owner. Of the building,
and I just asked questions just every day, like, okay,
so what would make you want to come to this classy, Okay,
if you had another building, would you take this class
with you? Because I've always thought kind of like within
(20:40):
goal in mind when I'm doing anything, So I didn't
just think about it like, man, this is awesome, I'm
getting paid. I don't have any overhead, you know, Like,
I didn't just stop there.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
I just kept asking questions. And it just so happened
that at that.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Building, the owner built more communities, so he took us
with The manager ended up starting her own company, so
she took us with her. The other assistant manager ended
up being the president of the apartment association, so she
took us with her. There was like all these things.
(21:16):
Another young lady that had just graduated from Georgia State.
She was a marketing director for a competitor. So she
goes over there. She takes us with her. So we
started kind of scaling because we were good to the
people at.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
That one building.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Now we didn't know that all this would happen, that
all these people would.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Move up and go here.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
We were just I was just asking questions and we
just was serving the need, and we were focused on
that building, and we made that building the best experience
that we possibly could, and through that, we just kept
meeting more and more people. So when I went to
the next when I got to Tampa, when I got
to Nashville, I started meeting the people in Nashville, and
(22:00):
I started asking more questions, and we just scaled and
scaled and scaled from there. But it was really like
simplify and repeating the same thing. It wasn't really rocket
scized what we were doing. We were going into apartments,
we were activating under utilized space, we were charging the
apartments to do it. In my mind, that's not like,
(22:21):
oh wow, what's the secret sauce. It was really the
secret sauce was that they trusted us to be in
their building. They trusted us with their residents, They trusted
us to kind of take care of their people. And
because you took care of their people, they trust you
with more buildings. Well, if you can take care of
them in Charlotte, you can probably take care of them
in Denver too. And if you can find trainers or
(22:44):
fitness professionals in Tampa, you can probably find fitness professionals
in Nashville, and so we just kind of continued to
scale from there, and we stayed very focused niche So
as we grew, other people will come in like, man,
you should sell products and then you should open your
(23:05):
own gym, and and I was very focused, like, nope,
I know my avatar, I know my customer that is
in multifamily. I'm speaking to them. And it wasn't a
popularity contest. Like we just made sure we took care
of our avatar, which was in multi family and hotels
(23:26):
and in corporate settings, and we just focused.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
And niched down on them and we were able to scale.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yeah, Like I've heard people say, like it's it's simple,
not easy. Yes, And again I don't say that, like
in a disrespectful way, right, Like to your point, it
wasn't like y'all were out here, you know, coming up
with a new formula for some new you know, medical
vaccine or something like that. Like, like the idea was
a pretty straightforward idea, but it's not easy in the
implementation of it, the scale and of it, the understanding.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
But like, and that's where I think a lot of
people misunderstand. A lot of businesses are kind of that way.
You know, like the concept my quote unquote simple. You know,
it's not hard. You know, again you don't need a
PhD to do it, but it's definitely not easy to
do it. And that's where the dedication and just kind
of sticking through comes in. What was the model? Exactly
(24:22):
the model was to your point, it was y'all were
doing these classes and training, but then y'all started going
into building actual gym.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Yes, yes, yes, that's a great cause.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
So once you're in there and you're trusted right with
occupying the space or activating the space as we would say,
then like you're the subject matter expert. So once you're
the subject matter expert, they they're going to ask you, Okay,
should I have a peloton or should I have a mirror?
Or what type of treadmills? And what type of strength
(24:52):
equipment should we have? So at that point we become
a really like a consultant to these buildings. And this
is how I start to build with the developers, because
we were getting to buildings before anybody even knew they
were coming. So you know, we were in the plans
(25:12):
as they were drawing it out, and you know, normally
when they're having these meetings, there's a person that's that's
taken care of, like the big the money guy, and
then there's another person that's like the architect, and then
there's another person that's like talking about how many doors
is going to be in there, and then there was
like me, a fitness guy that that that wasn't necessarily
(25:35):
you know, as important, I would say, as these other
groups of individuals. But our value and and and how
we made the process feel was made us be become
like a part of that conversation. So as they were
thinking about building a building, like I remember Pont City
(25:57):
Market before it was Pont City Market City Hall East, Yes, there,
So we were in the conversations before they even built
Pond City Market, and so we were talking to them
about their two little fitness centers they have in there,
and the type of equipment they were going to put
in there, and then how we were going to activate
Pond City Market and do all these classes. We even
(26:19):
came up with the name pons or Sizers, which is
actually like if you go to Pond City Market, they
still have a sign up from a concept that we
kind of helped create. And this is all coming from
just doing a couple of yoga classes and zoomer classes.
Now we're in the actual conception and the strategy, but
(26:40):
that I think that just comes from just adding value.
So we then started outfitting the space, and then we
started like really talking about all right, what do we
want this resident experience to be when they come in
and when they're leaving. And so it's just kind of
continued to stack wins and add value on to the
point where nobody really looked at us as just a
(27:02):
brand that's just doing fitness classes.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
No, that's yeah, I mean that's how these things evolved.
And again y'all built this to a pretty deeseent sized business. Again,
like you know, you had an exit, you sold a
private equity. I mean, yeah, it was for more than
a couple of dollars, which was good. You know, that
was a good experience. Just what was it like going
through that whole process of actually selling a business to
private equity?
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, you know, and at that time, for me personally,
I didn't know a lot of fitness companies or a
lot of fitness entrepreneurs that had sold to a private
equity company. So when I was going through it, it
felt like a very isolated process because I didn't know
a lot of people that I can go to them
(27:41):
and talk about like hey, what what was your multiple
when you sold or what were they looking at? So
it was truly very organic, similar to how I started
the company. When I started thinking about an exit, it
was because we had skilled and we had built such
(28:03):
a huge pipeline that my wife and I we were
be in Italy doing like working and we would be like,
you know, like it was non stop and we loved
what we were doing. But I felt like it was
a point where I was like, all right, we have
so much work, We're creating almost competition in these different
(28:24):
areas that I felt like we needed either a partner or.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
We needed some type of exit. Now. I didn't go
get my NBA.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I had only watched Shark Tank like I was that
type of person. So when I first thought about an exit,
I just called friends. I literally called a couple of
people and said, hey, I'm thinking about this, what do
you think? And so I had breakfast, had a couple
of conversations that led to another just literally conversation. I
(28:59):
didn't go oh, I wasn't working on like a deck.
There was not like a sales deck. It was a conversation.
Then that person introduced me to another person that I
met in Nashville that worked for this private equity firm,
and I just asked him like a list of questions
to the point this was our first time really meeting
(29:22):
in person. The conversation led to me staying at the
gentleman's house overnight because we hit it off so much.
And so after that conversation, between that time, in about
eight weeks, we had exited our company. And it was
(29:42):
pretty unique because I think that the one thing we
did right during the whole process of building our company,
we kind of kept the main thing, the main thing.
So when it went to our books, when it went
to our business, it was I mean, thank God for
(30:03):
my wife. Yeah, it was so clean, it was very simple.
We had contracts, we had a certain amount of a
year contract or you know, thirty day outs. Our books
were very clean. So when we went to talk to
this private equity company, we understood our ebada, you know,
(30:23):
we understood what we were making. We understood like, okay,
in a five year projections, this looked like where we're
going to be, you know. So because we we without
knowing we were doing all the blocking and tackling and
the and all the little things that sometimes you don't
want to do. We were up to date with everything.
(30:45):
So when they were like, hey, all right, well we
need you to go get this, this and this, We're
in the meeting and my wife was like, okay, let
me get my laptop.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Well think yeah. I mean I think a lot of
people don't understand.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Like a lot of people they see Shark Tank and
they think, oh, I get an investment and that's it.
A lot of people don't know, even from a Shark
Tanks standpoint, like over fifty percent of those deals on
shark Tank don't even get done because to your point,
people don't have their books together. A lot of people
use shark Tank to just negotiate. Yes, people don't know
this kind of stuff, right, but again like having been
in situations where I've seen exits and been parts of
(31:15):
that too. Right Like again like yeah, you got to
have your house has got to be in order, because
deals can fall apart because you don't have your paperwork together.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yes, yes, yes, And you don't know everything's an interview
right from the start.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
Everything's an interview. How you go get your paperwork. You know.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
I think one of the things we did was we
were always very transparent on where we never fabricated every
single one of our buildings, paid us. We didn't do
anything for free, We didn't do it complimentary, you know,
we had just business very transactional, you know, and that
(31:53):
made the process just better for us. And then like
I didn't go in there trying to shark. We were
fortunately like when I built Torch, I didn't have any investors,
we didn't have any debt, we didn't you know, we
just built it truly from the ground up. Like when
I started that company, I was like on Marta, like
(32:15):
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
So when I started making ten k.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
A month, it was like, oh my gosh, this is
more than enough to put back in the business and survive.
And I was very like conservative and so like when
we go into those meetings, we were very like upfront
and honest. And I remember one of the questions they
asked me, They were like, all right, well, what would
you want to sell it for? It was it was
(32:39):
kind of like that that moment on TV, you know,
like you know, everybody wants you to give me an
so you know, I remember that part, and in my mind,
I was like, well, I mean, if I'm going to
shoot my shot, yeah, I'm going to shoot my shot.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
I'm gonna go all the way right.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And I remember telling him the number and he was like,
all right, Ty, we can't take this to the board,
but thank you. You know. But I think even that
lays a groundwork of how we're going to our intentions.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
I was always very open about my intention is this
I want to exit because I would like to see
this scale to this, I would want to I want
to do this with this.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
My wife wants to do that.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
So I always led with my intention so you don't
we're not confused on why I'm here.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
And what you need. And it just made the relationship
and the and the exit that much easier, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, And again like you've you've learned a lot, You've
been through a lot of experiences. Again, we've kind of
talked about, you know, it's not a thing to give
away the game because a lot of times too it
still comes down to execution, right, Like, but at the
end of the day, like for people that are listening
in general, when it comes to business, like, what is
one thing that you kind of see because you work
a lot of fitness influence. I'm sure you know a
lot of other entrepreneurs. Just like, what's one thing you
(34:03):
see that people could do in general, or a couple
of things they can do in general, just to just
kind of go to the next level, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yeah, I think, especially right now, it's such a information overload.
And when I was building Torch and I was building
my other companies, I didn't have the pressure I think
young entrepreneurs have right now, which is online and trying
to keep up and trying to almost be perfect. There's
(34:34):
like this perfection And so I see a lot of
entrepreneurs go to like conference after conference after conference after
conference after conference, they go to networking event after networking
event after networking event, and it's almost like they're getting
these little highs, these little dopamine pushes, but they're never
really making any real traction. And so I always tell
(34:57):
an entrepreneur has to start with a a transaction of sale. Actually,
like work, Like you can work on your digital assets,
and you can work on your Instagram page, and you
can work on your logo, and you can go to
fifty thousand people about your plan, but at the end
of the day, you actually have to have a sale
(35:18):
or something to have a business. So like, actually go
and do like real work, and real work to me
is actually going to go ask for a sale or
going to go actually put a product in the market,
and that would be my first thing. Like, so making
the business a little bit simple. Don't be so distracted
(35:41):
with other businesses that might look similar to yours, because
you never know. And then I think that the other
thing that I see a lot of entrepreneurs do is
kind of like nowadays, victories come in many forms because
you can have an emotional victory that doesn't necessarily mean money,
(36:01):
or you can have any emotional high because people think
that your company is doing this or that, and so like,
because the victories don't necessarily come in exchange of money.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
We're back in the you know, I'll keep on saying.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Back in the day, I'm forty three, so but you know,
businesses was kind of more black and white. Now they're
a little bit different. You could be building a brand
but not making any money. You can be all types
of things like that. You got to find out whatever
that victory is for you and then kind of stay
on that path and give yourself a chance to succeed.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
There's so many people.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
That kind of start and then they switch over because
they feel like, ah, this isn't working, and so they're
not consistent and they're not kind of committed to the
commitment of business and of the repetitions of business, and
of like just the grind and the ugliness. You know,
this is not pretty and it's very very it's a
(37:02):
volatile sport. When I talk about an exit, it's a
full context. It's a full you know, people like man,
I want to scale an exit. Do you know how
many people we had to compete against to scale? You
compete it every day. Nobody just led us into Nashville,
like to get into Texas. The market of Texas is
(37:25):
a very like local place. They have local fitness professionals there.
They have people that can do my same job. So
I have to go into Texas and convince them that
this Atlanta company can serve the Texas market. That's competitive.
You can't be afraid of competing, and that means sometimes winning,
(37:47):
and if you win, that means somebody has to lose.
And it might be like that happens all the time.
But I think sometimes we are afraid to compete and
afraid to do the things that it takes to compete.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
You know.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Look, you're transparent about the winds. You're also transparent about
the work. Like when people hear this conversation again, like
budding entrepreneurs or people that are even running businesses, whether
whatever wherever they're at in their entrepreneurial journey, whether they're
thinking about starting a business, you know, they call those
people you know or you know, getting caught up and
going to conferences all the time. I got a friendly
calls some entrepreneurs, you know, a nice way, but like
(38:26):
I said, at a certain point, you actually got to
start making it happen. Right, So, whether they're on one
end of the spectrum or they're you know, working and
kind of trying to figure out where to go or
how to scale. Like what what do you want them
to take away from this conversation in your journey?
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Man, I want them to understand that like fell fast,
Like we failed when we built Torch. It was not
just like oh we built it, we got into an apartment,
we scaled, we we were in twenty six different states,
and then we sold to a private equity company and
we went to go cash in. It was so many failures,
(39:00):
and it was embarrassing when I failed, Like people knew
when I failed, you know, Like I remember my dad
not even really understanding what I did for a living
because I wasn't a trainer and I didn't have a gym,
you know, and it was very weird to say, yeah,
I do fitness at an apartment. That doesn't make any
(39:23):
sense to a normal person that don't really understand mante family.
They don't even understand how they equate that money or
the math on that. So I would tell anybody that
like paying attention, like really trust your your gut, not
what you see, kind of like trust your gut and
(39:44):
like be okay with like bailing fast and then like pivoting,
And that doesn't mean like a pivot doesn't mean like rebrand.
A pivot can just mean like Okay, I was charging this,
now I have to charge this, or I was going
after this market, now I'm going after another the market,
Like that's okay. And that embarrassment that we all feel,
(40:07):
and that imposter syndrome that we all feel, and that
that feeling of loneliness sometimes as entrepreneurs, we all feel
it at every level, whether you've made one hundred million
or done a billion or whatever it is, we all
feel it. The people that make it through are the
ones that can take that feeling remember, bottle it up,
(40:31):
use it as like muscle memory. Okay, I did that,
don't want to touch that stuff again. And then they
keep going. Yeah, that's the literally the only difference between
the people that's successful and the people.
Speaker 4 (40:42):
That keep on trying. And as you said, the entrepreneurs absolutely.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Man, before we get out of here, one question don't
if they ask everybody, is if there was a tomic
math billboard somewhere in Atlanta, you can put anything you
want to put on it, any any message, any statement.
I mean it could you could be a promo for
the union, whatever. What would you put on this? What
message would you put on this to share with the
people that will see it?
Speaker 4 (41:06):
Do the math? Do the math?
Speaker 1 (41:10):
And I think for me, we make things so hard
in a marriage and a relationship and anything.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
Just do the math.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Think about it like your path can be. It's going
to be hard, as you said, right, that's just life.
But I would think, like, do the math, think about
truly what you want out of this, Think about what
you can give out of this and be very transparent
upfront on that and then kind of step into it
(41:44):
after you do that due diligence. Don't just jump, you know,
do the math, think about it, and then kind of go.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
So that's what I think, do the math.
Speaker 3 (41:54):
I love man.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
Look, before we get out of here, please tell the
folks how they can find you, how they can support
the union, you know, wherever they're at Little.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Yes, Yes, So the Union fit Hub it is literally
the Union fit Hub on Instagram and all that good stuff.
That's where you can find all the exciting things. Mine
is do the math. God, but you're just going to
see kids and babies and things like that. But the
Union Fit Hub right now where we're all over the place.
(42:22):
Were actually have a five K with Grove Park April
twenty six, So if you want to kind of feel
that in person, please come out. We want to support
the Grove Park community and everything that they're doing.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
But the Union Fit Hub is located on the belt Line.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
We do many activations all over as I said before,
like what we're doing with Grove Park. We might even
have a nice little four or four day fit fit
Fit time over there too, getting ready and so yeah,
so you can find this at.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
The Union fit Hub for sure.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Man, well look t appreciate this long time coming. I'm
glad we got a chance to make this happen. Thank
you and making congrats on everything and wish y'all much
continued success.
Speaker 4 (43:03):
Appreciate you, my brother, thank you absolutely.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
And with that said, y'all we out.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
That's the pod you've been listening to Button Nomics and
im your host Brandon Butler.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
Got comments, feedback? Want to be on the show.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Send us an email today at Hello at butteronomics dot com.
Butter Nomics is produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by
Ksey Pegram, with marketing support from Queen and Nikki.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
Music provided by mister Hanky.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
If you haven't already, hit that subscribe button and never
missed an episode, and be sure to follow us on
all our social platforms at butter dot atl Listen to
better Nomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
You could be building a brand but not making any money.
You can be all types of things like that. You
got to find out whatever that victory is for you
and then kind of stay on that path and give
yourself a chance to succeed. There's so many people that
kind of start and then they switch over because they
feel like, ah, this isn't working, and so they're not
(00:21):
consistent and they're not kind of committed to the commitment
of business and of the repetitions of business, and of
like just the grind and the ugliness. You know, this
is not pretty.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Butter. I'm your host,
Brandon Butler. Found the CEO of Butter atl And Today
we got a special guest. Then we got the mayor
of Fitness up in here. Yes, we got the founder
and CEO of the fit Hub here in Atlanta holding
it down.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Got Tomic math t. How you doing, baby, man, I'm great,
I'm great. It's good to be here. Thank you so much.
I've been waiting on this one.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Hey man, wait you to pull up in here. Man,
you know what I'm saying. You just as busy as me.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Well, that's that's a fact. That's a fact. That's a fact.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
But yeah, it's been awesome just watching the episodes. You know,
you've been having some heavy hitters on here. Learned a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Hey, man, appreciate appreciate it, you know, man, you send me
a couple of screenshots, you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
It's good to have you in it. It's like a
full circle moment.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
You know what I'm saying. It is it is.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
And I think when we first met, you came over
not to work out at the Union, but to kind
of party.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I came over there for a party. That was right
for a little event, you know what I'm saying. Came
over to cookies and everybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I was like, all right, we got to get you
over here to actually work out. Normally, normally people come
to party after the workout of the workout, but you
skipped that part.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Man, I like to like to do I like to
do my own thing, you know what I'm saying. But nah, man,
it's good for those of don't know time just tell them, man,
what is what is the Union?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So the Union is a I truly wanted to create
a space that I felt like fitness entrepreneurs wellness entrepreneurs, trainers,
all this talent we have in Atlanta, they needed a
place where they felt like they can truly build and
scale their business, whether that's online or whether that's in person.
(02:19):
I wanted to create that, and I felt like, what
better place to do it than on the belt line
where you have millions of people coming by, the traffic,
just the energy of the city.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
It's just felt right.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So the Union is a fitness hub created to help
wellness entrepreneurs and fitness entrepreneurs build their business.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
At the end of the.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Day, now look, man, the belt line where y'all are at. Man,
that's some prime real estate. Bro Oh boy, do I
know some how did that come together? How'd you find
that location? How did that come together?
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Oh? Man, that's a great question.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
So in my previous business, I was basically working with developers.
So in my previous business, we worked with apartments, multifamily, hotels,
and things of that nature. And so I've been I
was an early person on the beltline, So I was
walking around when it was no belt line and when
(03:13):
it was gravel. And I remember at one of my
buildings that we had, we basically activated, we created these
micro gyms right and one of the places that we
had was a place that was right adjacent to the beltline,
and in this young lady's back office, it had the
map of what the beltline was going to be. So
(03:35):
I had a very early view on like, wow, this
is all this traffic is going to be at the
beltline and all these things. So I had an early
view on it, and that was around two thousand, I
wanted to say, twelve twenty thirteen when I first started
kind of noticing it, And so I always knew that
if I had a actual location, I wanted it in
(03:59):
what I felt like was the heart of the belt line.
And then once I started meeting people like Clyde his
and and the folks from the belt Line and really
understanding like the purpose, I felt like that was where
we needed.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
The most entrepreneurs to participate.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
The real estate, as you said, is so high it's
hard for a solo entpreneur to be able to build
a business there, so you kind of have to do
it in a shared economy type of way. But they
have so many people there that want to participate in
whether that's pilates or yoga or zoomba. So that's that's
kind of why I built it there. But it was
(04:39):
just walks with different people that have real estate on
the belt line talking to them about the vision because
you don't get in a place like that without knowing somebody.
And we actually had to convince them to allow us
to basically break down walls because where we're at that
was four different units, so we had to get one unit,
(05:02):
wait a couple of months, then get another unit, wait
a couple months, then get the final unit, and then
kind of smash these all together. So it was a
process of real estate, getting the drawings, architects, you know,
license all those things. But we made it happen, and
(05:23):
it took us around two years to actually build and
lay out and create with you know as a Union
fit hub right now.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, man is an amazing space too.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I mean, like even when you look at it, it's
interesting to know because I didn't know that part of
the story that like y'all to kind of do it
in increments like that, yes, and now how it's all
come together. It was just the architecture's beautiful, is very
nicely laid out, like all the stuff, like there was
a lot of intentionality within all that.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, we were I knew that we needed a space
at least ten thousand because you want to have different disciplines.
You want to have like a yoga room, you want
to have a podcast, you want to especially nowadays, you
want to have a place where somebody can Really we
have a cafe area, we have a recovery room area.
(06:10):
You need place where people can build and grow. So
we needed at least ten thousand square feet. But it's
hard to find that on the Beltline that's actually open,
especially where we're located right next to two Our Lakes
and Pola City Market. Normally you have to kind of
fit into a small little spot. And so luckily the
(06:33):
Aaron Goldman, who is the owner of Perennial Properties, he
probably doesn't want me to tell him his name, but
he's an awesome guy.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Luckily he believed in the vision. Yeah, and he.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Allowed us, really allowed us to be creative with his space.
And we just waited it out, you know, we were patient.
So we took one space and then just waited it
out and got all of them.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yes, so what we call land and expand for there
you go, then get in there, getting there, get you
a spot set up and then you can kind of
spread out. Now when it comes to the fitness entrepreneurs,
like why did you think that was an Like why
did you think that was an important element in general?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Right?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Like are there other spaces like that or is this
kind of something that has been a brain child of
yours for a while that you know, creative and well
fitness entrepreneurs and people that are kind of in that
space need a place they can also kind of help
build their businesses, not just a traditional gym by all senses.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Mean honestly, it was kind of like my why it
was it was in my heart. So as a fitness entrepreneur,
I remember the difficulties of scaling, right, being a trainer
that woke up early in the morning trained somebody from
six am to six pm. It's hard because you know
(07:47):
you're trading your time for money, right, So it's hard
to scale those type of businesses. And I was fortunate
enough to be able to scale my company. My previous company,
we scaled to like twenty six different states, and we
ran five hundred different unities, and we built all these
micro gyms, so we had a lot of fitness professionals
as actually was contracted that worked with our company. And
(08:07):
so I saw the pain points. Whether I was in Austin, Texas,
or in Denver, Colorado, or in la or in New York,
a lot of the pain points were very similar. Like
they didn't have any place where they can truly build
a business. They might have had gyms where they can
rent out space, but they didn't have a place where
they can truly build a business and build their avatar,
(08:31):
you know, find out where they can actually raise capital,
do the research, all these type of things. And in
other industries they were already creating that. So and you
know in the hair industry they have like salon suites,
and in the food industry that have ghost kitchens. And
we have places like Cross Street Market or election on Krog,
(08:52):
and we have amazing places like the Gathering Spot, Rice
Wrestle Centers. But in the wellness industry, they had ever
been a place that was built with us in mind
and with the Union.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
We say we created the union with you and mind.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
We were the first actual fitness space to be created
for the actual entrepreneur. Most places are created for the members.
And so that was the difference, and it was just
years of watching talent, like years of watching how talent
had outpaced the market. There were so many entrepreneurs that
(09:30):
they were They wasn't necessarily trainers. They were really marketing agents,
and they were you know, they were psychiatrists, they were
like all these other other disciplines and they just happened
to train and and there was companies that were starting,
like wearable companies and they were starting technology companies and
they were starting at leisure were companies, and they didn't
(09:51):
have anywhere that they can place their items. Always thought
about it, like when I was watching like celebrities like
Kevin Hard or Gabrielle Union launched their apps, my mind
was going to where would they launch that they were
back in the day when they were doing their books
or their apps, they would go to places like Barns
and Nobles and bookstores and maybe hotels, but those aren't native.
(10:14):
So we needed a place where they could launch and
that was native. And so I kind of noticed that
for years in the industry, and I just felt like
it was a perfect time to create a space where
entrepreneurs can really grow.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's one of my favorite things.
Or you know, when I see people do stuff or
I even think about all the time, right. I always say,
like when there's a gold rush, there's lots of ways
to make money, right, Like you go look for gold,
or you can kind of.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Go sell picks and shovels.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And I kind of feel like that's really kind of
what the union is, right, it's the picks and shovels
for the people that do want to go and build
a fitness business, and all of a sudden, you have
a space, you have resources, you have access to equipment,
and so you're kind of giving them all those things
they don't necessarily to invest in themselves so they can
focus on kind of having the best business. And you
had to notice that Sleep to your point, you've been
(11:02):
an entrepreneur in the fitness space, you've seen people in
the fitness space. You kind of knew this was a
pain point, you know, when it was all built and
said and done, Like you, when did.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
It first start working? Oh? Man said, when did it
first start working? I think it's still we're still in
that process. Okay, but I'll tell you an early victory.
An early victory was watching it was a young lady
she worked for a pretty popular chain. She probably taught
(11:33):
over five thousand classes, and she was a traveling trainer
and she came to the Union and did probably two classes.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
She rented out the space and did two classes.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And after renting out the space and doing her two classes,
she literally came up to us and was like, I've
never had a space where I felt home that I
didn't have to kind of down my brand. I didn't
have to like, hey, not put up the tripod or
maybe sneak the tripod in and record some content like
(12:10):
she was like, it was almost like you ever give
somebody some stuff and be like, no, it's yours.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
This is actually for you. You're like you sure.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
That's how the fitness professional was Actually was really kind
of coming in and this physness professional was like, I've
never seen anything like that where we didn't do anything
necessarily special for her. We just allowed her the space
to create, and by doing that, she was so grateful
(12:40):
just for the actual space. We're not even talking about
the technology. We're not even talking about the cameras, the
video production, all those things. She was just like wowed
by We're actually invited in this space and that had
not been done for fitness entrepreneurs. So for her to
feel like this was home was a victory for us
(13:03):
because she was our avatar, Like she was the type
of person that we want to be able to give
that opportunity to. And and now she's able to create
her own content. She's able to do her own functions
and have a space to do them, and take that content,
take that concept and then possibly go raise capital to
(13:25):
go get her own facility, or she can go raise
capital to go create her own online You know, that's
really special.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
So it's kind of cool to see that.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
But I still think we're learning because we're first, and
so we're still learning, like what what is it?
Speaker 4 (13:45):
You know, what what are.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
The things that some of the fitness entrepreneurs need and
and how can we get better to serve the community.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
How did you get your first you know customers.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I mean you kind of mention that you've been in
the space, so I'm guessing that you also knew a
lot of fitness professionals. But then you also also have
members too that come in. And I think again, for
a lot of people when they build businesses, they don't
think about, Okay, how I'm gonna get my first couple
of customers in the door. Right, So when you kind
of take it back to that step, how did you
get the first you know, again, fitness professionals, customers actually
start coming.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
In and really believing in what y'all are doing and
being a part of it.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Like so I've always believed like like, I don't need
a place to start selling, you know, like right, It
wasn't like I was like gonna wait till weak when
this is done, then got a star. Now I'm gonna
go out there and go get a client. So I
was selling the concept and the thought, and we started
(14:51):
doing deals with with big brands like Lou Lennon and
and Rebok and deador before our doors was even open, okay,
because we knew there was a need. There was a
need from a brand, there was a need from a
fitness professional and a talent. It was almost like matchmaking.
There was matchmaking. So the first thing that I did
(15:11):
was go find brands that needed an audience. They wanted
to talk to these creators. They wanted to find these creators.
So I kind of went that route. So I kind
of did the hardest thing first, you know, and convinced
those brands that we will be a good partner. So
before we actually had the space open, we were doing events,
and we were doing events on the Beltline. We were
(15:34):
doing events outside building community. We were building community, like
literally starting from the community. We were doing events with
Pond City Market. We were hosting Super Bowl parties and
things like that. Before we had anybody on a treadmill
or anybody doing any yoga or anything like that. So
we kind of created a buzz before and so when
(15:54):
we finally opened the doors, the members actually came in first,
even though we didn't created for just like you to
come in and just get on the treadmill or work out,
but the members just started coming in because it felt
like it was convenient the location. Obviously we're twenty four
to seven and you have all these things to play with.
But I think the buzz made them come in because
(16:16):
we were truly serving the community and we were doing
so many things within the community, so they kind of
just start coming in.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Now you've kind of mentioned a few times before you
were doing this, you were also an entrepreneur another space.
You were building gyms, Like, tell us a little bit
about that business. What was that business?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, So that was my that was a company called
Torch Fitness and Nutrition, and so I built that with
my wife.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
We basically found a gap in the market. Again.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
So back in I don't know, two thousand and nine,
there was huge opportunities with all these apartments that was
being built where they had a lot of underactivated spaces,
and we basically went in and created micro gyms. So
think about it, like when you go to a resort
or you go to a hotel and they have restaurants
(17:04):
and you know, Bobby flays this and you know, yeah, yeah,
So like an airport has all these different restaurants, they're
activating the spaces, and so we basically did that in
the fitness industry. So we created micro gyms so we
would have multiple classes and multiple activations with hotels, apartments,
(17:25):
corporate things like that, and we activated those spaces and
we just found a true niche that had not been
done before. And so we worked with developers to build
this amenity space and we built that and we end
up actually exiting that company around twenty twenty one to
a company called Valet Living. So that was a really
(17:47):
cool kind of ten year journey of activating these spaces,
meeting so many different entrepreneurs, fitness entrepreneurs and building kind
of creating a hub where we were able to kind
of grow and then scale and then exit. So you know,
it was kind of a really cool story.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
You make it sound so easy, man, like we were
just working with developers and building these gyms out. Like,
how do you even get those kind of relationships? Y'all
have a background in that space. Is that something that
you have experienced with or is it just kind of
again like organically meeting people and asking questions and building
relationships and like figuring out what you got to do
to make it happen.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
The latter, No, I had no industry, Like, I had
no experience. When I went into an apartment. I didn't
know the manager, I didn't know the a developer, I
didn't know an owner operated. I didn't know any of
that stuff. I mean, it's very organic how things happened.
I have a I basically interned at the Rich Carleton
(18:46):
and Bucket, and so from working at the Rich Carlton,
you learn.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
How to kind of meet people, You introduce.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Your hospitality, you go there, you go, and so is
that part is ingrained in you?
Speaker 4 (19:02):
So you kind of take that skill.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I took that skill, and I knew that I wanted
to do something in wellness and fitness.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
I just didn't know what it was.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
So as I was going around trying to figure it out,
I actually just met somebody that was in the apartment industry,
and I knew that there was an opportunity because when
I would go to visit my friends at these apartments,
I never saw anybody in the gyms, like it would just.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Be like dead space.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
But these were beautiful apartments and beautiful gems that just
didn't have anything going on. So when I met somebody
that actually worked at an apartment, I told them about
my thought. It was literally just speaking it into existence.
I was like, hey, yeah, you know, I want to
build this and this is how I think it can
be built. And that next day she introduced me to
(19:57):
a manager at an apartment apartment. It was actually Enzo
on glenn Wood and it was before as they were
building that glen Wood area, and so I just so
happened to go in there after the introduction and they
allowed me to try this model out with them, and
(20:18):
I got to know everybody in that building, from the
genitor to the front desk to the owner. Of the building,
and I just asked questions just every day, like, okay,
so what would make you want to come to this classy, Okay,
if you had another building, would you take this class
with you? Because I've always thought kind of like within
(20:40):
goal in mind when I'm doing anything, So I didn't
just think about it like, man, this is awesome, I'm
getting paid. I don't have any overhead, you know, Like,
I didn't just stop there.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
I just kept asking questions. And it just so happened
that at that.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Building, the owner built more communities, so he took us
with The manager ended up starting her own company, so
she took us with her. The other assistant manager ended
up being the president of the apartment association, so she
took us with her. There was like all these things.
(21:16):
Another young lady that had just graduated from Georgia State.
She was a marketing director for a competitor. So she
goes over there. She takes us with her. So we
started kind of scaling because we were good to the
people at.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
That one building.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Now we didn't know that all this would happen, that
all these people would.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Move up and go here.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
We were just I was just asking questions and we
just was serving the need, and we were focused on
that building, and we made that building the best experience
that we possibly could, and through that, we just kept
meeting more and more people. So when I went to
the next when I got to Tampa, when I got
to Nashville, I started meeting the people in Nashville, and
(22:00):
I started asking more questions, and we just scaled and
scaled and scaled from there. But it was really like
simplify and repeating the same thing. It wasn't really rocket
scized what we were doing. We were going into apartments,
we were activating under utilized space, we were charging the
apartments to do it. In my mind, that's not like,
(22:21):
oh wow, what's the secret sauce. It was really the
secret sauce was that they trusted us to be in
their building. They trusted us with their residents, They trusted
us to kind of take care of their people. And
because you took care of their people, they trust you
with more buildings. Well, if you can take care of
them in Charlotte, you can probably take care of them
in Denver too. And if you can find trainers or
(22:44):
fitness professionals in Tampa, you can probably find fitness professionals
in Nashville, and so we just kind of continued to
scale from there, and we stayed very focused niche So
as we grew, other people will come in like, man,
you should sell products and then you should open your
(23:05):
own gym, and and I was very focused, like, nope,
I know my avatar, I know my customer that is
in multifamily. I'm speaking to them. And it wasn't a
popularity contest. Like we just made sure we took care
of our avatar, which was in multi family and hotels
(23:26):
and in corporate settings, and we just focused.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
And niched down on them and we were able to scale.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yeah, Like I've heard people say, like it's it's simple,
not easy. Yes, And again I don't say that, like
in a disrespectful way, right, Like to your point, it
wasn't like y'all were out here, you know, coming up
with a new formula for some new you know, medical
vaccine or something like that. Like, like the idea was
a pretty straightforward idea, but it's not easy in the
implementation of it, the scale and of it, the understanding.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
But like, and that's where I think a lot of
people misunderstand. A lot of businesses are kind of that way.
You know, like the concept my quote unquote simple. You know,
it's not hard. You know, again you don't need a
PhD to do it, but it's definitely not easy to
do it. And that's where the dedication and just kind
of sticking through comes in. What was the model? Exactly
(24:22):
the model was to your point, it was y'all were
doing these classes and training, but then y'all started going
into building actual gym.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Yes, yes, yes, that's a great cause.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
So once you're in there and you're trusted right with
occupying the space or activating the space as we would say,
then like you're the subject matter expert. So once you're
the subject matter expert, they they're going to ask you, Okay,
should I have a peloton or should I have a mirror?
Or what type of treadmills? And what type of strength
(24:52):
equipment should we have? So at that point we become
a really like a consultant to these buildings. And this
is how I start to build with the developers, because
we were getting to buildings before anybody even knew they
were coming. So you know, we were in the plans
(25:12):
as they were drawing it out, and you know, normally
when they're having these meetings, there's a person that's that's
taken care of, like the big the money guy, and
then there's another person that's like the architect, and then
there's another person that's like talking about how many doors
is going to be in there, and then there was
like me, a fitness guy that that that wasn't necessarily
(25:35):
you know, as important, I would say, as these other
groups of individuals. But our value and and and how
we made the process feel was made us be become
like a part of that conversation. So as they were
thinking about building a building, like I remember Pont City
(25:57):
Market before it was Pont City Market City Hall East, Yes, there,
So we were in the conversations before they even built
Pond City Market, and so we were talking to them
about their two little fitness centers they have in there,
and the type of equipment they were going to put
in there, and then how we were going to activate
Pond City Market and do all these classes. We even
(26:19):
came up with the name pons or Sizers, which is
actually like if you go to Pond City Market, they
still have a sign up from a concept that we
kind of helped create. And this is all coming from
just doing a couple of yoga classes and zoomer classes.
Now we're in the actual conception and the strategy, but
(26:40):
that I think that just comes from just adding value.
So we then started outfitting the space, and then we
started like really talking about all right, what do we
want this resident experience to be when they come in
and when they're leaving. And so it's just kind of
continued to stack wins and add value on to the
point where nobody really looked at us as just a
(27:02):
brand that's just doing fitness classes.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
No, that's yeah, I mean that's how these things evolved.
And again y'all built this to a pretty deeseent sized business. Again,
like you know, you had an exit, you sold a
private equity. I mean, yeah, it was for more than
a couple of dollars, which was good. You know, that
was a good experience. Just what was it like going
through that whole process of actually selling a business to
private equity?
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, you know, and at that time, for me personally,
I didn't know a lot of fitness companies or a
lot of fitness entrepreneurs that had sold to a private
equity company. So when I was going through it, it
felt like a very isolated process because I didn't know
a lot of people that I can go to them
(27:41):
and talk about like hey, what what was your multiple
when you sold or what were they looking at? So
it was truly very organic, similar to how I started
the company. When I started thinking about an exit, it
was because we had skilled and we had built such
(28:03):
a huge pipeline that my wife and I we were
be in Italy doing like working and we would be like,
you know, like it was non stop and we loved
what we were doing. But I felt like it was
a point where I was like, all right, we have
so much work, We're creating almost competition in these different
(28:24):
areas that I felt like we needed either a partner or.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
We needed some type of exit. Now. I didn't go
get my NBA.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I had only watched Shark Tank like I was that
type of person. So when I first thought about an exit,
I just called friends. I literally called a couple of
people and said, hey, I'm thinking about this, what do
you think? And so I had breakfast, had a couple
of conversations that led to another just literally conversation. I
(28:59):
didn't go oh, I wasn't working on like a deck.
There was not like a sales deck. It was a conversation.
Then that person introduced me to another person that I
met in Nashville that worked for this private equity firm,
and I just asked him like a list of questions
to the point this was our first time really meeting
(29:22):
in person. The conversation led to me staying at the
gentleman's house overnight because we hit it off so much.
And so after that conversation, between that time, in about
eight weeks, we had exited our company. And it was
(29:42):
pretty unique because I think that the one thing we
did right during the whole process of building our company,
we kind of kept the main thing, the main thing.
So when it went to our books, when it went
to our business, it was I mean, thank God for
(30:03):
my wife. Yeah, it was so clean, it was very simple.
We had contracts, we had a certain amount of a
year contract or you know, thirty day outs. Our books
were very clean. So when we went to talk to
this private equity company, we understood our ebada, you know,
(30:23):
we understood what we were making. We understood like, okay,
in a five year projections, this looked like where we're
going to be, you know. So because we we without
knowing we were doing all the blocking and tackling and
the and all the little things that sometimes you don't
want to do. We were up to date with everything.
(30:45):
So when they were like, hey, all right, well we
need you to go get this, this and this, We're
in the meeting and my wife was like, okay, let
me get my laptop.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Well think yeah. I mean I think a lot of
people don't understand.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Like a lot of people they see Shark Tank and
they think, oh, I get an investment and that's it.
A lot of people don't know, even from a Shark
Tanks standpoint, like over fifty percent of those deals on
shark Tank don't even get done because to your point,
people don't have their books together. A lot of people
use shark Tank to just negotiate. Yes, people don't know
this kind of stuff, right, but again like having been
in situations where I've seen exits and been parts of
(31:15):
that too. Right Like again like yeah, you got to
have your house has got to be in order, because
deals can fall apart because you don't have your paperwork together.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yes, yes, yes, And you don't know everything's an interview
right from the start.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
Everything's an interview. How you go get your paperwork. You know.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
I think one of the things we did was we
were always very transparent on where we never fabricated every
single one of our buildings, paid us. We didn't do
anything for free, We didn't do it complimentary, you know,
we had just business very transactional, you know, and that
(31:53):
made the process just better for us. And then like
I didn't go in there trying to shark. We were
fortunately like when I built Torch, I didn't have any investors,
we didn't have any debt, we didn't you know, we
just built it truly from the ground up. Like when
I started that company, I was like on Marta, like
(32:15):
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
So when I started making ten k.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
A month, it was like, oh my gosh, this is
more than enough to put back in the business and survive.
And I was very like conservative and so like when
we go into those meetings, we were very like upfront
and honest. And I remember one of the questions they
asked me, They were like, all right, well, what would
you want to sell it for? It was it was
(32:39):
kind of like that that moment on TV, you know,
like you know, everybody wants you to give me an
so you know, I remember that part, and in my mind,
I was like, well, I mean, if I'm going to
shoot my shot, yeah, I'm going to shoot my shot.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
I'm gonna go all the way right.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And I remember telling him the number and he was like,
all right, Ty, we can't take this to the board,
but thank you. You know. But I think even that
lays a groundwork of how we're going to our intentions.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
I was always very open about my intention is this
I want to exit because I would like to see
this scale to this, I would want to I want
to do this with this.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
My wife wants to do that.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
So I always led with my intention so you don't
we're not confused on why I'm here.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
And what you need. And it just made the relationship
and the and the exit that much easier, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, And again like you've you've learned a lot, You've
been through a lot of experiences. Again, we've kind of
talked about, you know, it's not a thing to give
away the game because a lot of times too it
still comes down to execution, right, Like, but at the
end of the day, like for people that are listening
in general, when it comes to business, like, what is
one thing that you kind of see because you work
a lot of fitness influence. I'm sure you know a
lot of other entrepreneurs. Just like, what's one thing you
(34:03):
see that people could do in general, or a couple
of things they can do in general, just to just
kind of go to the next level, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yeah, I think, especially right now, it's such a information overload.
And when I was building Torch and I was building
my other companies, I didn't have the pressure I think
young entrepreneurs have right now, which is online and trying
to keep up and trying to almost be perfect. There's
(34:34):
like this perfection And so I see a lot of
entrepreneurs go to like conference after conference after conference after
conference after conference, they go to networking event after networking
event after networking event, and it's almost like they're getting
these little highs, these little dopamine pushes, but they're never
really making any real traction. And so I always tell
(34:57):
an entrepreneur has to start with a a transaction of sale. Actually,
like work, Like you can work on your digital assets,
and you can work on your Instagram page, and you
can work on your logo, and you can go to
fifty thousand people about your plan, but at the end
of the day, you actually have to have a sale
(35:18):
or something to have a business. So like, actually go
and do like real work, and real work to me
is actually going to go ask for a sale or
going to go actually put a product in the market,
and that would be my first thing. Like, so making
the business a little bit simple. Don't be so distracted
(35:41):
with other businesses that might look similar to yours, because
you never know. And then I think that the other
thing that I see a lot of entrepreneurs do is
kind of like nowadays, victories come in many forms because
you can have an emotional victory that doesn't necessarily mean money,
(36:01):
or you can have any emotional high because people think
that your company is doing this or that, and so like,
because the victories don't necessarily come in exchange of money.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
We're back in the you know, I'll keep on saying.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Back in the day, I'm forty three, so but you know,
businesses was kind of more black and white. Now they're
a little bit different. You could be building a brand
but not making any money. You can be all types
of things like that. You got to find out whatever
that victory is for you and then kind of stay
on that path and give yourself a chance to succeed.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
There's so many people.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
That kind of start and then they switch over because
they feel like, ah, this isn't working, and so they're
not consistent and they're not kind of committed to the
commitment of business and of the repetitions of business, and
of like just the grind and the ugliness. You know,
this is not pretty and it's very very it's a
(37:02):
volatile sport. When I talk about an exit, it's a
full context. It's a full you know, people like man,
I want to scale an exit. Do you know how
many people we had to compete against to scale? You
compete it every day. Nobody just led us into Nashville,
like to get into Texas. The market of Texas is
(37:25):
a very like local place. They have local fitness professionals there.
They have people that can do my same job. So
I have to go into Texas and convince them that
this Atlanta company can serve the Texas market. That's competitive.
You can't be afraid of competing, and that means sometimes winning,
(37:47):
and if you win, that means somebody has to lose.
And it might be like that happens all the time.
But I think sometimes we are afraid to compete and
afraid to do the things that it takes to compete.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
You know.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Look, you're transparent about the winds. You're also transparent about
the work. Like when people hear this conversation again, like
budding entrepreneurs or people that are even running businesses, whether
whatever wherever they're at in their entrepreneurial journey, whether they're
thinking about starting a business, you know, they call those
people you know or you know, getting caught up and
going to conferences all the time. I got a friendly
calls some entrepreneurs, you know, a nice way, but like
(38:26):
I said, at a certain point, you actually got to
start making it happen. Right, So, whether they're on one
end of the spectrum or they're you know, working and
kind of trying to figure out where to go or
how to scale. Like what what do you want them
to take away from this conversation in your journey?
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Man, I want them to understand that like fell fast,
Like we failed when we built Torch. It was not
just like oh we built it, we got into an apartment,
we scaled, we we were in twenty six different states,
and then we sold to a private equity company and
we went to go cash in. It was so many failures,
(39:00):
and it was embarrassing when I failed, Like people knew
when I failed, you know, Like I remember my dad
not even really understanding what I did for a living
because I wasn't a trainer and I didn't have a gym,
you know, and it was very weird to say, yeah,
I do fitness at an apartment. That doesn't make any
(39:23):
sense to a normal person that don't really understand mante family.
They don't even understand how they equate that money or
the math on that. So I would tell anybody that
like paying attention, like really trust your your gut, not
what you see, kind of like trust your gut and
(39:44):
like be okay with like bailing fast and then like pivoting,
And that doesn't mean like a pivot doesn't mean like rebrand.
A pivot can just mean like Okay, I was charging this,
now I have to charge this, or I was going
after this market, now I'm going after another the market,
Like that's okay. And that embarrassment that we all feel,
(40:07):
and that imposter syndrome that we all feel, and that
that feeling of loneliness sometimes as entrepreneurs, we all feel
it at every level, whether you've made one hundred million
or done a billion or whatever it is, we all
feel it. The people that make it through are the
ones that can take that feeling remember, bottle it up,
(40:31):
use it as like muscle memory. Okay, I did that,
don't want to touch that stuff again. And then they
keep going. Yeah, that's the literally the only difference between
the people that's successful and the people.
Speaker 4 (40:42):
That keep on trying. And as you said, the entrepreneurs absolutely.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Man, before we get out of here, one question don't
if they ask everybody, is if there was a tomic
math billboard somewhere in Atlanta, you can put anything you
want to put on it, any any message, any statement.
I mean it could you could be a promo for
the union, whatever. What would you put on this? What
message would you put on this to share with the
people that will see it?
Speaker 4 (41:06):
Do the math? Do the math?
Speaker 1 (41:10):
And I think for me, we make things so hard
in a marriage and a relationship and anything.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
Just do the math.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Think about it like your path can be. It's going
to be hard, as you said, right, that's just life.
But I would think, like, do the math, think about
truly what you want out of this, Think about what
you can give out of this and be very transparent
upfront on that and then kind of step into it
(41:44):
after you do that due diligence. Don't just jump, you know,
do the math, think about it, and then kind of go.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
So that's what I think, do the math.
Speaker 3 (41:54):
I love man.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
Look, before we get out of here, please tell the
folks how they can find you, how they can support
the union, you know, wherever they're at Little.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Yes, Yes, So the Union fit Hub it is literally
the Union fit Hub on Instagram and all that good stuff.
That's where you can find all the exciting things. Mine
is do the math. God, but you're just going to
see kids and babies and things like that. But the
Union Fit Hub right now where we're all over the place.
(42:22):
Were actually have a five K with Grove Park April
twenty six, So if you want to kind of feel
that in person, please come out. We want to support
the Grove Park community and everything that they're doing.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
But the Union Fit Hub is located on the belt Line.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
We do many activations all over as I said before,
like what we're doing with Grove Park. We might even
have a nice little four or four day fit fit
Fit time over there too, getting ready and so yeah,
so you can find this at.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
The Union fit Hub for sure.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Man, well look t appreciate this long time coming. I'm
glad we got a chance to make this happen. Thank
you and making congrats on everything and wish y'all much
continued success.
Speaker 4 (43:03):
Appreciate you, my brother, thank you absolutely.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
And with that said, y'all we out.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
That's the pod you've been listening to Button Nomics and
im your host Brandon Butler.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
Got comments, feedback? Want to be on the show.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Send us an email today at Hello at butteronomics dot com.
Butter Nomics is produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by
Ksey Pegram, with marketing support from Queen and Nikki.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
Music provided by mister Hanky.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
If you haven't already, hit that subscribe button and never
missed an episode, and be sure to follow us on
all our social platforms at butter dot atl Listen to
better Nomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Host
Brandon Butler
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