June 17, 2024 • 45 mins
Welcome to the Gym Owners Fitness Business Podcast, proudly supported by Ignite Fitness Business Events and their sponsors, such as MyZone, CommMarketing, and AUSactive. In this episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Roman Brady, founder and CEO of Air Locker Training, whose tagline is "where every breath fuels your transformation."
Roman shares the inspiring story behind Air Locker Training, a unique fitness franchise that uses simulated altitude training to enhance physical performance and foster a strong sense of community. From the brand’s inception in Newcastle, New South Wales, to its rapid growth, Roman discusses the challenges and successes he faced.
We delve into the essence of Air Locker's workouts, which combine cardio, weights, and boxing in an environment with reduced oxygen levels to simulate high altitude. Roman also highlights the importance of vulnerability, connection, and storytelling in building a successful fitness brand.
Tune in to learn about Roman's vision for Air Locker, the type of franchisees they seek, and the valuable lessons he has learned on his entrepreneurial journey. Discover how Air Locker aims to create a global movement towards superior health and well-being and the role storytelling plays in achieving that mission.
Don't miss this insightful conversation with Roman Brady as he shares his passion, vision, and the transformative power of Air Locker Training.
Get in touch with Roman Brady
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/roman-brady-6b71b952/
Email roman@airlockertraining.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Well, welcome to the Gym Owners Fitness Business Podcast, proudly supported
by Ignite Fitness Business Events and their sponsors, such as MyZone,
CommMarketing, and of course, Oz Active.
Today, I'm speaking to Roman Brady, founder and CEO of Air Locker Training.
(00:25):
Training, their tagline, where every breath fuels your transformation.
I absolutely love that one. Good afternoon, Roman.
Oh, Mel, how are you doing? I'm so excited to be here.
I'm doing really, really well. And geez, who would think it's nearly been 12
months since we caught up in person. So it's great to get on the podcast today.
(00:48):
It's great. You're a phenomenal Phenomenal person, human being.
Really loved our time together.
You've always added value to just the stuff you said to me when we were at Singapore
and really love just your company and love to be on your beautiful platform. Thank you.
You're welcome. And we do love to have a quick dance together, don't we?
(01:10):
And a sing. And a sing. And a sing. And a sing. And a sing.
So let's get down to business because that's why our listeners are here today.
So let's just kick it off with the most basic
question describe air locker what
is air locker uh air locker
is what i'd like to call more and and i think for human beings it's it's important
(01:36):
to understand the essence of what we're trying to do so we're we're trying to
create something that whatever you do in there like you said with the tagline
every single breath you make Like.
Can fuel your transformation, right? So that concept of more,
what's more mean to people?
For us, life's so precious that whatever we do, we want to make it count.
(02:00):
You know, one of our things we have in every one of our studios is make today count.
So, you know, powered by the simulated altitude training, which is quite unique,
that's our USP, whatever you do in our studios, you're going to get a better
result for it for the same effort.
It so airlocker represents more it's
a franchise model and you know
(02:21):
we're a big community as well and and as you know mel i'm i'm pretty raw i am
who i am and i think you know when we show that vulnerability we show who we
are as people you know the good the bad the ugly the funny if you kind of think
about your true connections that's they're the best ones you know when you
know all those sides of people and then and you know theirs
(02:43):
and and so airlocker with the community aspect we
want to kind of really endorse vulnerability and and open
people up to to show all sides of themselves to have really strong connections
and it's a big part of our business is creating really good connections of community
plus we want to represent that concept of more and and you know we believe in
(03:04):
people and even if they don't believe in themselves and because of
the airlock of the mountains, we're all on a journey.
And one day we want to think that our members and our franchise partners can
wake up and go, you know what? I'm doing it. I'm there.
You know, that's the journey we're on. So we're very proud of what the brand
stands for. It's really important and special to me.
(03:25):
It's an incredible brand. And, you know, we both know that allowing yourself
to be vulnerable allows opportunities and opportunities lead to success.
And not just in business, but also for our clients that do come along to our facilities.
Let's talk about when you first opened your very first airlocker,
(03:48):
where was it and why? Yes.
Yeah, good question. I opened up in Newcastle, New South Wales, the motherland.
Now, don't tell too many people what this place is. It's out of the secret.
I opened it up in August 2019, so we're close to five years.
Prior to that, Mel, I was in an executive role with a mining company,
(04:12):
and prior to that, I was a bit of an entrepreneur from a young age.
Training was the thing that gave me stability.
In a really kind of hectic lifestyle right i was a very young ceo of a mining company,
lots going on a lot of pressure and i guess you know flying here there had a young family,
(04:33):
and so you know i missed the family i
i was i was out of my routine a lot and i found
my foundations through training and
wherever i went depending on
where i was working whatever the closest gym was
I'd go to it you know and I started to experiment with
group training classes and that's what really ignited my passion for the industry
(04:58):
really is the fact that it kept me really sane it gave me so much and then the
group part of it I absolutely love that community aspect to it didn't have to
think but I guess in the in the period of two or three years,
I thought, you know what, I'd love to do something in this space and I wanted
(05:18):
to do it differently because I'm a bit different.
But, you know, and I guess that thought process led me to altitude,
right, simulated altitude.
And I could not believe after I did my research why I wasn't everywhere.
You know, I just thought it was a huge, huge opportunity to be the first.
(05:40):
And it just so happens that the
mechanics that sit around the actual engineering that creates
the altitude we used it all the time mining right so
nitrogen gas systems are really important in mining
because you can't have oxygen on the ground you have to use nitrogen air
to fill up the mining tires so i guess you
know the dots all kind of aligned and i thought it would
(06:01):
be a great product if i could you know work
with a few great people and create a unit that could
allow us to have a whole room the size
of you know the boutiques that are on the market at altitude and you
know probably year and a half in in the making we kind of
came up with concepts and yeah moved ahead
and did the first one in Newcastle so I guess a bit of a mix of love the industry
(06:24):
uh the engineering part the different part and you know kind of like a yearning
to create a product that stood for was something really deep and meaningful
for me and that's why I started it.
So you've come from this strong corporate CEO position.
You've shifted into the fitness industry. Go you, Roman, for doing that.
(06:46):
Oh, let's go. Going from your corporate CEO where it's safe,
jumping into the hot frying pan of the fitness business industry.
Go you. You've opened up your own studio.
You're on your way. what type of people started to train at the studio?
Yeah, when I first launched, you may be surprised, I didn't actually do a pre-sale.
(07:14):
The opening, I was working full-time as it was starting to get built out.
Every mistake he could have made, we made because we just didn't know,
right? We just, I didn't know.
And so finding a site, we didn't do a rent-free, we didn't do any landlord contribution.
Distribution, the rental paying is crazy for the area.
(07:36):
So a lot of mistakes, even the pre-sale, we didn't do a pre-sale at all,
didn't even know what that was.
At the time, I just started using social media.
So I suppose when we opened, we didn't even have a CRM system.
So we didn't have a Mindbody or a Glovox or nothing like that.
(07:56):
I thought people just paid, tapped their card.
Right so I guess two weeks out I was fortunate enough to run into someone with
experience and they were like wow this is not how you do it you need to move
on this right so I thought initially.
We created a product that was a bit less wear and tear on the body, right?
(08:20):
Because we could get away with that from the environment, in fact,
to make it quite effective without putting too much pressure and wear and tear on the body.
So I actually thought that our clientele would be a really wide range of people.
And I thought that it would really attract a lot of the athletes that were looking
for that extra 5% because of the connotation implementation with sporting athletes
(08:43):
using Altitude Trainer.
So I kind of felt that our first site base was going to be quite hybrid.
And it was, you know, when we opened up, we had a lot of people that were time
poor that wanted to get more out of their training in terms of their results for the time they put in.
So we had a lot of the business sector around Newcastle come in.
Really grateful that a local legend, Mark Hughes, who's now a business partner,
(09:06):
he came in, he was getting ready to do a trek in Kilimanjaro for his charity.
And he brought all of his mates in, which is a key learning if we get back to that.
And that's a key learning for business owners listening to this podcast.
And that learning is that concept of leverage, right?
When you open up a gym, I didn't know it at the time, but if you go back and
(09:29):
actually look at the success that Newcastle had was because within a very short period of time,
people seen it as something quite different and effective and intriguing.
It really attracted some people that were really respected and trusted in my
local area, like the Mark Hughes's of the world.
And so once those people started coming in, you know, I let Mark and his team
(09:53):
train for free up until they trekked because I wanted to support,
you know, the Mark Hughes Foundation in my little way.
And I guess that show of appreciation made our connection a lot more, you know, closer.
Mark started promoting our brand and that brought in other people.
All of a sudden, the fitness influencers were coming in because it was the hype place.
(10:15):
And, you know, I absolutely loved the product. So I was a great promoter for
the product. I believed in it so much.
All you see me do is talk about airlock. It was my favorite subject to talk
about. So, you know, in a very quick period of time, we had so many different
people come into Airlocker.
And for me personally, I had created a platform that allowed me not only contribute
(10:37):
to the community inside the walls.
But it gave me a platform to be able to contribute to the wider community,
like being a local mayor.
So I was going to schools, getting school kids in on special sessions.
I was going out to nursing homes, bringing the elderly in. I called that program
the Silver Sneakers program.
(10:58):
You know, I just seen it as an opportunity to get everyone in and enjoying this
really efficient way of training and obviously the community part.
But so we had people from different ages, different shapes and sizes.
I guess the barrier for a lot of people early was, am I going to die in there? Can I breathe? Right.
But because we did such a good job in promoting the brand on social media,
(11:21):
people were seeing people that look like them and different fitness like them.
They go, well, if they can do it, I can come in.
And it just really astronomically grew from that point.
So describe a typical airlocker workout. out
yeah an airlocker workout is basically
you come in we do a pre-screen overview to make
sure you know you understand it we've got some different tech
(11:45):
that we want to hit whilst we're in there but the experience is
you go into the airlocker the environmental shift
is from 21 oxygen at terrestrial air to
14 oxygen in our airlockers right so
that simulates an altitude of about 3500 meters you
won't feel it as you walk in like
your breathing will adjust a little bit you'll breathe a
(12:07):
little bit more air in your mouth might get a bit dry but when you start to
train right you your oxygen is used to refuel your working body so you've got
less of that so you'll start to find that you'll get out of breath a lot quicker
and you know things are a little bit bit more challenging, which a lot of people love.
(12:27):
But after 10 to 15 minutes, your body will start to adapt to it and you'll feel like.
You're okay in there, right? That's generally the feedback we get.
Now, the training regime is a mix of cardio, mix of weights,
mix of boxing, and it's fun.
You know, it's on the clock. It's open timer.
(12:50):
It's just a hybrid of products that, you know, I've researched on the market
and different ways, different training programs do different things.
And I thought I'd just bring all the best of the bits and pieces that i felt
and bring it into the into the training modality so you'll train,
and then after it we'll do a stretch and then
(13:12):
because one of the key objectives of
airlocker was to create really good connection so what
we do at the end of every workout is after our
stretch we get everyone to lie down on the ground we turn
the lights off we put kind of meditation music
on it and we get them we get our coaches
to get everyone to focus in on their breath to
(13:34):
bring their state back down to you know a nice resting
state so the recovery process can start so we do that through parasympathetic
breathing for a better minute or so and then we try to bring some gratitude
in their heart through mindfulness we might ask questions like you know think
of somebody that you love and you're grateful for and now i want you to picture
in your mind them them achieving something great.
(13:56):
You know, it could be your child graduating from school. It could be them achieving something.
So we're trying to bring love and gratitude in your heart. And they sit there
for about 30, 40 seconds with that thought.
We bring them back out and then we thank them for the time and everyone leaves.
Now, here's the key part of our experience.
(14:18):
When you walk out of the airlocker,
and you go into normal air, what's happening?
You're breathing in 21% oxygen now versus 14%. It is just rushing through your
body, and your fingers were shaped.
It is this euphoric high, probably described like a runner's vibe,
but times that by a million, and it's just like this addictive rush of just
(14:43):
serotonin and dopamine,
and it just sets you up for the day or for the night, and that's the experience.
Experience wow it sounds incredible that's
the best i love it it actually sounds
really quite amazing just listening to you
then and seeing the the passion on your face i mean it's obvious to me that
(15:05):
you know the business model is acceptable for all ages and all fitness levels
because you're not competing with anybody else but yourself but at the same
time i look at the business model and go So, wow,
wouldn't it be great if every sporting club across the nation had an airlocker?
I mean, how incredible would that be? That would improve the performance of the athlete.
(15:28):
Yeah, I mean, we could go deep into this, but I'll probably spend two seconds
on it and pull me it up before I lose. I will.
You know what I'm like. I'll go on my tangents.
But when you look at sporting teams, they train,
they prepare, pair they go out and compete now that's
(15:48):
a very stressful and and precious system
they want to win right and similar
to our lives like we've got a lot of pressure and stress that we deal with all
the time you know more and more and more i see that adversity and stress and
that pressure bubble really eat people up it's something that is very um something
(16:09):
that's actually dear to me as well because it's impacted my family.
But when you think about that concept of sports and concept of winning at life,
There's a lot of pressure that comes with that. So there's this concept of how
do you deal with stress and adversity?
Now, airlocker is a great way to train yourself to do that because amongst all
(16:36):
the physical benefits and increasing your VO2 max,
increasing your time to fatigue, great stuff for sports, they've still got to get the right mindset.
They've got to be able to have the right mindset and be able to deal with adversity
to be an elite athlete or be great at their sport, same as in life.
(16:56):
So what we do at Airlocker, we use what everyone would agree is the number one
need in every one of our lives to survive is oxygen.
There's nothing more important than oxygen for survival. So we use that.
We reduce it by a third, which could seem very nasty.
(17:18):
But what that does it creates a
a form of stress which is
a good stress and stress is good right if you
think about in terms of putting stress on your muscles and bones for them to
grow if you didn't have stress on your muscles and bones and break so we can
understand that stress in in a good form is good so we put a good form of stress
(17:38):
on you at a cell level so your body will go into a primal response, fight or flight.
Now, when you're in those two phases, which is that sympathetic nervous system,
we teach you a skill to be able to deal with that, which is through our breath, right?
We want to calm you down through your breath.
(17:59):
So once you learn that skill of being able to handle your, you know,
we go into a pressure system, fight or flight, like, all right,
go back to my breath, just breathe.
All right, I'm back into my composure. I can see it clearly.
I can make the decision. So apart from the physiological kind of benefits of
(18:20):
getting fitter, faster, stronger, and all that stuff, it's great to train that
focus and that ability to overcome adversity and stress as well, which again,
from a sporting athlete, it's really important.
And just on what you've said, we've got a number of facilities for the sporting
teams that have got the air lockers there.
So it's been good to see sporting teams really take that on board as well.
(18:42):
Now, Roman, I need a really quick answer on the next question so that I can
move on to some of the storytelling that I really want you to tell.
So real quickly, do tell me, typical franchisee of an air locker,
is it passive income for somebody?
(19:04):
Are they personal trainers? Tell me. Thank you.
All right, I'm going to make this as quick as I can because I could go into
this as well. You know what I'm like.
For me, somebody that's ready to build their personal brand because airlocker
has to stand for something to them.
And so what I look for in recruiting franchisees is, okay, we're about to create
(19:27):
a great product. It's a community product.
Are you ready to build your personal brand?
And are you ready to build a great community? So if you were to look at those two processes,
we're probably looking at somebody that wants to really invest themselves into the product, right?
(19:49):
Rather than an investor that's going to let staff run the studio.
That's kind of what I'd be looking at. I guess in terms of a passive investor,
like, you know, I've got, I've
got air lockers and I don't operate in the studio, but I love the brand.
I love the community aspect to it. And, you know, I really want to invest myself
(20:13):
in building that community.
So I'm an active, passive investor, if that makes sense.
So, you know, depending on that person, that profile, but definitely somebody
that's willing to build their own personal brand and build a great community
is, is the people we're looking for.
I mean, airlocker sounds like the right business model for an up-and-coming
(20:34):
athlete. Build the perfect...
Also, the business acumen part of it's important.
It's really important because the array of different demographics,
Mel, like there's so many different people.
And it's just a fine line, right?
We don't want to position ourselves as four athletes.
(20:57):
And I think, you know, we've done that in the past where we've really been top
heavy on our branding and marketing around athletes. but really the true member
is the person that just wants more and what's connection.
It's not the athlete, if that makes sense. So I think people that are just really
invested in being vulnerable,
(21:17):
people that are really invested in wanting to develop themselves and learn and
grow as business people, as entrepreneurs,
people that want personal growth.
I think the personal growth sector, people that are personal growth and they're
coachable, that would be the perfect profile of, you know, somebody that wants
(21:41):
to take a product like Airlocker to their community.
Awesome. Okay, so let's talk about business.
Let's talk about ego, going off on tangents and really then finding out,
man, that was not a good idea. So what are the most painful learnings that you
have had in your journey of building Airlocker?
(22:03):
Oh, okay. So look, it's all learning, isn't it?
Life is learning. But how can I frame this? I'm going to frame this up like this.
I think it's very common in not only our industry, in the health and fitness
industry, but also other industries,
that a franchise model like Airlocker has got phases of growth.
(22:29):
So phase one was what we spoke about before.
Okay, does this work? Do I think there's a place in the market for Airlocker?
What's our USP? p all right it all you know all that free opening analysis and
research that's phase one and when you feel like you've got a good idea and
you think it's going to be profitable and you think is it serves the the market
(22:52):
you want to serve well that's the first phase and and we did that right.
Secondly we launched our first studio uh in newcastle does it work proof of
concept does Does the studio work?
With all the mislearnings at the start, we got to profitability very quick and
(23:13):
the sustainability of that, obviously five years in now,
it's definitely proven that the concept worked and people loved it and we served a good market.
Then phase three was because COVID hit after being open for only seven months,
that was really the shift to franchising.
(23:35):
It was like, okay, well, we had a lot of interest from our membership group,
Mel, that wanted to do an airlocker.
And also it was pulling in people. We weren't marketing for franchise owners,
but it was pulling people in, just making progress.
So it was like, all right, well, phase three was,
can we create a franchise system that can support
a franchise which i'm not doing the
(23:57):
running of the classes and the and the coaching and the
sales can we support someone else get to success
and yeah we did that you know we did that
within you know pretty quick time frame so now this
is the tricky part you go into phase four
which is can you create a
repeatable successful model right and before i go into that in detail you've
(24:25):
got the next phase after that which is what i call blue sky phase which is all
this awesomeness that could look like opening up in different countries it could look like.
Creating a pivot in your business so it serves other industries it could be
diversifying it It could be whatever. It's just whatever you can think.
(24:46):
So, you know, I guess, you know, to be quite raw, where I've realized is that
we went from phase three, can we support a franchise to success? Yeah, good green tick.
But as we started to build and open up more studios, that asset portfolio,
which is basically that you're operating franchises, we weren't getting the
(25:08):
repeatable success across the network, right?
But at the time that we were building more units on board, I was investing and
focusing on blue sky phase, which included, you know, opening up the US,
opening up Canada, opening up different countries.
We were heavily invested in a project of research around the science behind,
(25:31):
you know, hypoxic therapy.
We're going through the FDA process and the TGA process.
Says currently there's been a huge amount of investment and
time spent on that which again that's great
for our franchise network to open up additional revenue streams
in terms of treatment therapeutic use for chronic illness but that takes time
and money right so i guess the the the thing that i realized is that we need
(25:58):
to really centralize our focus and this is pretty raw raw, right? It's a pretty raw.
Cause you've got to remember we've got, you know, we've got franchisees that are open, right.
And, and I love them and I, and I, and, and, you know, they're like family.
So we kind of, we kind of need to really look at optimizing that repeatable success.
(26:18):
And I don't buy into the story that a lot of people, and this might sound controversial,
but everyone's in a, in the market that we're at, we can talk about inflation.
We could talk about macroeconomics. We can talk about it's hard to find the right people.
We could talk about resources and capitals. It's hard to find now, but everyone's in that.
(26:40):
We need to solve that problem.
I guess that's the hardest one, to be completely honest and raw with you, is the fact that.
We kind of were investing in blue sky phase where we needed to be hyper-focused on scale.
And it's not to say that we weren't either.
(27:00):
You know, I'm not softening the blow here. We've done everything we can with
what we could to make that repeatable model, but that's the toughest learning about this industry.
And can I say one more? I know I'm late. Go for it.
I'm going to say one more. And hopefully this adds value to,
(27:21):
you know, the people listening, you know, like depending on who you are and your journey,
a lot of us, a lot of us grow up and we do our best and we realize that to,
you know, to make people proud of us, we do things by ourselves.
So you know we might achieve something and you know
(27:44):
but we put it on on our on our all on
our own shoulders right and and when we achieve it you
know we get that love or that appreciation from yeah
it might be mom and dad it might be whoever and and so
what that builds and what built in me was this self-reliance
right self-reliance and so one
of the biggest lessons that i've learned only recently is
(28:07):
we need help you know we need we
need people around us that can give us
the war stories of their success and if you
look at success and you listen to the successful people whether it be spiritual
success emotional success financial success business success whatever there's
scars that they've gone through they're the scars they've got from the learnings
(28:29):
they've got but they'll teach you right so one thing i've learned and one of
the mistakes I probably made was,
you know, learning that art of leverage through just asking for help and also the ability to say no.
They're the two things that I think a lot of entrepreneurs make.
And so for me, opening myself up, being quite vulnerable, you know,
(28:50):
going out and seeking some of the people that walk this path has been a great revelation of life.
But reflecting on that, trying to be self-reliant, you know,
that's probably one of the mistakes that I think I made and a lot of other people make as well.
Roman, where is the gap in our industry that stops people like you and I asking for help?
(29:14):
Well, for me personally, I think in Singularity,
we look at people that we would classify as successful and they give you this
strength through imagery of getting stuff done.
And I don't think I've seen too much vulnerability around people saying,
(29:38):
hey, you know, I got this help from this person.
And how I wasn't, I was striving, but all of a sudden this, I guess maybe that's
something that we see strength as in singularity and people just moving forward, maybe.
And I think it's internal as well. I think it really, it is internal.
It's maybe our cultural thing that we want to get stuff done.
(30:03):
And if we get people to help us, we don't really get the credibility we think
that we should because we didn't do it all ourselves.
I would assume it's an internal thing and
also you know what we see but again
if you're around the right people and and
who lean into vulnerability like i have been lately i'm very grateful for that
(30:23):
you start to see vulnerability as a strength you start to see help as a strength
you start to see these things as great things so i think it's the group that
you're with it's the the content that you consume,
and also probably internally from maybe when you're younger,
trying to be self-reliant to impress dad or mom, whatever that might look like.
(30:45):
Before I go back to ask you a little bit more about franchising and all of that
type of stuff, what is one thing that you would like to improve in our industry?
What's one thing that's missing?
I honestly think that.
Again, this is just my thought process, right?
(31:05):
I think our industry and a lot of other industries focus way too much on the
what, what they do, right?
So let's just talk about Airlocker.
Airlocker is simulated altitude training. We do group classes.
We, you know, we're efficient because of science.
(31:28):
That's the what. but we need to shift that
to the true purpose behind why we
do things right we need to we need to
give it narrative and stories around why we
do this and so if i
were to shift that back to and say airlocker exists
because i believe in people i believe we're all on a journey and i believe that
(31:52):
life is so precious that everything we do we want to get more out of it and
i also believe that if If we just strip away our ego and we show our true selves,
we'll be able to build great connections that build great communities.
So I've developed a program and a product that uses the power of simulated altitude
(32:15):
training to support that so everyone can achieve more.
And it just so happens we do a group training.
If you you just reverse that
process is from
what we do to how we do
(32:37):
it to why to why we do it to how because because we certainly do and that's
where i want to transition our brand now on the other part of it too if you
look at what we would assume has been the assets right so every business
has assets from a franchise model,
(33:00):
our assets are our studio,
right?
So franchise sales, and then you go into the recurring revenue as you build your network.
But the asset value, as you get more studios, you start to increase your asset, right?
(33:20):
Which is great because you fix costs to run them, can be stagnated and in kind
of state pretty firm because they're doing more process, scale systems, lots of more.
But here's the thing, right? Is the asset owners who tries to realize that.
(33:42):
The question was, what do I see the problem from an industry perspective?
I feel like if we start with our true purpose, that needs to be known.
Now, if you're like me and you sell territories and people open up an airlocker
in that territory, there's a community there, right?
So that community has to understand and realize and really connect with the
(34:05):
true purpose on the brand. And the way that gets told is through the storytelling
of the owner and the staff, right?
So I think if we can be better at storytelling and connect with our true purpose,
why we do it and what it represents to the marketplace,
we're going to start to ignite a more of an emotional response to our brand.
(34:27):
And that could be any brand, no matter what you do. We all have a story and a purpose, right?
So I think if we do that better, I think we're going to really ignite the passion
and the purpose behind people wanting to come.
So I think that's going to help a lot in terms of customer acquisition and also customer retention.
And then secondly, from a franchisor perspective, we've got to start looking
(34:51):
at our true asset portfolio.
It's not the franchises we've got, the people that sit in behind it.
And we need to start to invest in building their personal brand,
their confidence and their ability to tell stories and then obviously execute
on the business plan but I see the industry being really well aided if we can take that focus and.
(35:16):
What a beautiful kind of shift we can make.
And again, from a corporate perspective, I think from a corporate perspective,
we should never lose focus of why we do what we do.
And we have to do it with the best integrity we can.
And I think leverage is a really important thing as well.
Not just from a HQ perspective, getting the right people around us,
(35:39):
but I definitely think from the
industry it would be interesting to have
some data and say okay well the studios that
are really successful in our in our industry you know
any brand any brand does the franchise
owner have the ability to leverage
the right people in their communities right so
(36:00):
for me what i did with airlocker when we first launched not
knowingly it wasn't a strategy but some of
the really trusted and known people in my area were
training and loving our brand so you know
i would sit down have coffees with these people and these people would
you know tell me some beautiful things around the area and you know so maybe
(36:20):
if we had a strategy around leverage and we were to go out to our marketplace
and probably write down who are the people that are in this community that people
trust whether it be sporting and team coaches whether it be business owners whether it be whoever.
Let's go out and meet them and ask for help, right? And I think those few strategies
could really make a huge impact in our industry.
(36:42):
I totally agree with you on all of that.
I mean, that's what our business is about, isn't it? It's about people.
It's about transforming their lives.
It's about impact. It's about making a difference, whether they're the member
or whether they're the business owner.
Roman, you know, tell me as we come to the end of our podcast,
First of all, what is your vision for AirLocker?
(37:05):
Are you seeking investors?
Yeah, so we're seeking partners that understand the vision.
And our vision is, like it means something to me too, Mel.
We could probably tell stories around this vision, but my vision really is that
I see a world and I want to create a movement to superior health.
(37:28):
Right, superior health. So my vision for Airlocker is that we create a huge movement
to achieve global superior health
superior confidence superior joy and
and you know we're going to use the the the power
and the unparalleled benefits like for me the benefits around simulated altitude
(37:49):
training so amazing to get the job done and we're going to make it accessible
and enjoyable for everyone so that's our vision and for us you know we're looking
for the right people to to to take us to the next phase you know really get us through that phase
of scale, experienced operators with really good networks, good mentors for
(38:09):
myself and the team, and also from a, I guess, a franchised growth perspective.
We just want good people that really believe in that vision and want to make
a massive impact in their communities and really be ready to step up and build
their own personal profile and understand that storytelling is the key aspect
(38:29):
to what's going to get it done.
And I guess that's our vision and that's who we're looking for and we'll keep going.
We'll keep doing what we're doing. I love the storytelling.
Everybody's got a story, you know, and everybody can learn from each other's
story. I want to dig it out.
I want to dig it out, Mel. I want, like, you and I now, we're having a fantastic
(38:51):
conversation, right? This could go on for other hours.
I love it. I love the rawness of what sits inside people.
I actually believe that the graveyard, a lot of people say this,
how much money and business ideas, what about the stories? What about the lessons?
What about the things that dive people?
(39:12):
Because they first and foremost just didn't have a platform.
They didn't know how to do it. Even if they wanted to do it,
they didn't know how to make it happen.
And I think, you know, I just think Airlock is going to be that conduit for
storytelling in the future because it's so important and somebody's story can
really help somebody else.
So I'm looking forward to the future and I'm looking forward to,
(39:35):
you know, storytelling.
You are going to leave an incredible legacy for your children.
Be proud of that. Can I just tell you something on that, Mel?
Absolutely. Let me tell you something, right?
This is the first podcast I've done in years.
(39:55):
And I went into the shadows a bit because the pressure, I guess,
of building, you know, scouting airlocker, and there's a lot that comes to it, right?
But someone said to me a while ago about, you know, a coach I've got at mine
said, mate, Ryan, you know, what does your kids think of you?
And I said, well, I know that they look up to me and especially they look at me like a hero, right?
(40:22):
I've got the best relationship with my kids.
God forbid something happens to you tomorrow.
What can they look at to remind them of what that was?
What's out there? You know, where's the content that they're going to see?
Like, what's out there now?
And it hit me so hard, Mel, like to the core. I was like, wow.
(40:44):
So when you are telling your story and you're being who you want to be,
we have a beautiful thing called social media.
We've got a beautiful thing called a video that can capture it,
Ron, because one day your hero thought, like your kids looking at you as a hero,
you'll live on forever if you capture it.
(41:05):
That rocked me. And that's the truth about storytelling.
Because don't think about new storytelling for your brand or for whatever you
want to achieve in terms of business.
Think about these things when you're if you know worst case scenario one day we're not here,
what's the loved ones going to look at if they had that video
of dad getting up there and doing and talking about this
(41:26):
and man what a beautiful thing to think about and
you know like i've had my brother pass away committed suicide when i was 33
i don't have anything in video form of him i've got photos and that's it i've
got loved ones that are around me that have you know friends that pass away
and they have voice messages that they listen to all the time.
(41:49):
So there's a deeper meaning around storytelling and capturing it that really
echoes through eternity for your loved ones.
And so that brings a really good base of why we're doing what we're doing and why it's so important.
So perhaps one thing that everybody could do today that walks away from listening
to the podcast is to create a digital treasure chest for their family.
(42:13):
Exactly. Exactly. And it just, it just brings something more to it than just creative content.
You know, it's, it's something more to it. And again, going back to purpose
and why you've just got to understand, like for me, my big wise and have my
family and freedom, they're the two things I'm working hardcore.
(42:33):
And I think it's pretty similar to other people.
So family's a big asset of my two beautiful kids.
You know, what are you doing on a daily basis to make sure that that wise is is really.
Like you're focusing your time on that. So you're on deep, Mel. We always do this.
Oh, I'm deep. This is just like, hey, I hope everyone's still hanging out there.
(42:55):
But it has been great to chat today.
So I'm going to ask you a quick question and I'm putting you on the 15-second
clock for this, all right?
If you could meet anyone for 15 minutes in the fitness industry to pitch airlocker to, who would it be?
(43:16):
Um the clock is counting,
can i say not from the industry oh absolutely,
uh okay for me that person is stephen marks he's the founder of guzman and gomez
i love what he's about i love what he's done with the brand currently he's he's
(43:37):
he's about to uh float his His business on IPO,
Guzman and Gomez, done a fantastic job.
But in terms of pitching it as an investor and being a partner,
Stevie Marks, the New Yorker, would be the guy we wanted to be in front of.
And there's just one that's opened up in Ballarat, and the queue was massive, absolutely massive.
(43:58):
And, Ryman, favourite charity? Mark Hughes Foundation.
So, thanks for Brain Cancer. cancer mark's currently
gearing up for his his nrl
round beanies can be bought at the moment
iga stores we just did a bit of a
campaign for mark throughout the network he's done a phenomenal job mark you
(44:20):
know struck down for brain cancer you know in his 30s he's fighting strong now
he's doing a great job he's done a fantastic job with that charity and being
i work with mark you know it's something that i'm really proud of him and and
the whole team at marcus foundation what they to do.
Thanks, Roman. Yes, big fan of Mark Hughes and all the work that he does.
Roman Brady from the Air Locker is who I have chatted to today.
(44:44):
And as I said at the start, I just need to thank our sponsors once again.
So everybody who is involved with the Ignite Fitness Business Event in Melbourne in August.
Roman, thank you so much for your time today. We had a great time.
Thank you, Mel. Love you lots.
Thank you for the opportunity. love you lots too it's
been great now anybody wants to catch up with
roman he is on linkedin so please do throw him
(45:07):
a inbox on linkedin and i don't doubt that in the next 14 days he'll be setting
up a very strong social profile on facebook and i'll be looking out for it and
i'll be looking out for the roman brady website thank you for your time today roman.
Music.
Well, welcome to the Gym Owners Fitness Business Podcast, proudly supported
by Ignite Fitness Business Events and their sponsors, such as MyZone,
CommMarketing, and of course, Oz Active.
Today, I'm speaking to Roman Brady, founder and CEO of Air Locker Training.
(00:25):
Training, their tagline, where every breath fuels your transformation.
I absolutely love that one. Good afternoon, Roman.
Oh, Mel, how are you doing? I'm so excited to be here.
I'm doing really, really well. And geez, who would think it's nearly been 12
months since we caught up in person. So it's great to get on the podcast today.
(00:48):
It's great. You're a phenomenal Phenomenal person, human being.
Really loved our time together.
You've always added value to just the stuff you said to me when we were at Singapore
and really love just your company and love to be on your beautiful platform. Thank you.
You're welcome. And we do love to have a quick dance together, don't we?
(01:10):
And a sing. And a sing. And a sing. And a sing. And a sing.
So let's get down to business because that's why our listeners are here today.
So let's just kick it off with the most basic
question describe air locker what
is air locker uh air locker
is what i'd like to call more and and i think for human beings it's it's important
(01:36):
to understand the essence of what we're trying to do so we're we're trying to
create something that whatever you do in there like you said with the tagline
every single breath you make Like.
Can fuel your transformation, right? So that concept of more,
what's more mean to people?
For us, life's so precious that whatever we do, we want to make it count.
(02:00):
You know, one of our things we have in every one of our studios is make today count.
So, you know, powered by the simulated altitude training, which is quite unique,
that's our USP, whatever you do in our studios, you're going to get a better
result for it for the same effort.
It so airlocker represents more it's
a franchise model and you know
(02:21):
we're a big community as well and and as you know mel i'm i'm pretty raw i am
who i am and i think you know when we show that vulnerability we show who we
are as people you know the good the bad the ugly the funny if you kind of think
about your true connections that's they're the best ones you know when you
know all those sides of people and then and you know theirs
(02:43):
and and so airlocker with the community aspect we
want to kind of really endorse vulnerability and and open
people up to to show all sides of themselves to have really strong connections
and it's a big part of our business is creating really good connections of community
plus we want to represent that concept of more and and you know we believe in
(03:04):
people and even if they don't believe in themselves and because of
the airlock of the mountains, we're all on a journey.
And one day we want to think that our members and our franchise partners can
wake up and go, you know what? I'm doing it. I'm there.
You know, that's the journey we're on. So we're very proud of what the brand
stands for. It's really important and special to me.
(03:25):
It's an incredible brand. And, you know, we both know that allowing yourself
to be vulnerable allows opportunities and opportunities lead to success.
And not just in business, but also for our clients that do come along to our facilities.
Let's talk about when you first opened your very first airlocker,
(03:48):
where was it and why? Yes.
Yeah, good question. I opened up in Newcastle, New South Wales, the motherland.
Now, don't tell too many people what this place is. It's out of the secret.
I opened it up in August 2019, so we're close to five years.
Prior to that, Mel, I was in an executive role with a mining company,
(04:12):
and prior to that, I was a bit of an entrepreneur from a young age.
Training was the thing that gave me stability.
In a really kind of hectic lifestyle right i was a very young ceo of a mining company,
lots going on a lot of pressure and i guess you know flying here there had a young family,
(04:33):
and so you know i missed the family i
i was i was out of my routine a lot and i found
my foundations through training and
wherever i went depending on
where i was working whatever the closest gym was
I'd go to it you know and I started to experiment with
group training classes and that's what really ignited my passion for the industry
(04:58):
really is the fact that it kept me really sane it gave me so much and then the
group part of it I absolutely love that community aspect to it didn't have to
think but I guess in the in the period of two or three years,
I thought, you know what, I'd love to do something in this space and I wanted
(05:18):
to do it differently because I'm a bit different.
But, you know, and I guess that thought process led me to altitude,
right, simulated altitude.
And I could not believe after I did my research why I wasn't everywhere.
You know, I just thought it was a huge, huge opportunity to be the first.
(05:40):
And it just so happens that the
mechanics that sit around the actual engineering that creates
the altitude we used it all the time mining right so
nitrogen gas systems are really important in mining
because you can't have oxygen on the ground you have to use nitrogen air
to fill up the mining tires so i guess you
know the dots all kind of aligned and i thought it would
(06:01):
be a great product if i could you know work
with a few great people and create a unit that could
allow us to have a whole room the size
of you know the boutiques that are on the market at altitude and you
know probably year and a half in in the making we kind of
came up with concepts and yeah moved ahead
and did the first one in Newcastle so I guess a bit of a mix of love the industry
(06:24):
uh the engineering part the different part and you know kind of like a yearning
to create a product that stood for was something really deep and meaningful
for me and that's why I started it.
So you've come from this strong corporate CEO position.
You've shifted into the fitness industry. Go you, Roman, for doing that.
(06:46):
Oh, let's go. Going from your corporate CEO where it's safe,
jumping into the hot frying pan of the fitness business industry.
Go you. You've opened up your own studio.
You're on your way. what type of people started to train at the studio?
Yeah, when I first launched, you may be surprised, I didn't actually do a pre-sale.
(07:14):
The opening, I was working full-time as it was starting to get built out.
Every mistake he could have made, we made because we just didn't know,
right? We just, I didn't know.
And so finding a site, we didn't do a rent-free, we didn't do any landlord contribution.
Distribution, the rental paying is crazy for the area.
(07:36):
So a lot of mistakes, even the pre-sale, we didn't do a pre-sale at all,
didn't even know what that was.
At the time, I just started using social media.
So I suppose when we opened, we didn't even have a CRM system.
So we didn't have a Mindbody or a Glovox or nothing like that.
(07:56):
I thought people just paid, tapped their card.
Right so I guess two weeks out I was fortunate enough to run into someone with
experience and they were like wow this is not how you do it you need to move
on this right so I thought initially.
We created a product that was a bit less wear and tear on the body, right?
(08:20):
Because we could get away with that from the environment, in fact,
to make it quite effective without putting too much pressure and wear and tear on the body.
So I actually thought that our clientele would be a really wide range of people.
And I thought that it would really attract a lot of the athletes that were looking
for that extra 5% because of the connotation implementation with sporting athletes
(08:43):
using Altitude Trainer.
So I kind of felt that our first site base was going to be quite hybrid.
And it was, you know, when we opened up, we had a lot of people that were time
poor that wanted to get more out of their training in terms of their results for the time they put in.
So we had a lot of the business sector around Newcastle come in.
Really grateful that a local legend, Mark Hughes, who's now a business partner,
(09:06):
he came in, he was getting ready to do a trek in Kilimanjaro for his charity.
And he brought all of his mates in, which is a key learning if we get back to that.
And that's a key learning for business owners listening to this podcast.
And that learning is that concept of leverage, right?
When you open up a gym, I didn't know it at the time, but if you go back and
(09:29):
actually look at the success that Newcastle had was because within a very short period of time,
people seen it as something quite different and effective and intriguing.
It really attracted some people that were really respected and trusted in my
local area, like the Mark Hughes's of the world.
And so once those people started coming in, you know, I let Mark and his team
(09:53):
train for free up until they trekked because I wanted to support,
you know, the Mark Hughes Foundation in my little way.
And I guess that show of appreciation made our connection a lot more, you know, closer.
Mark started promoting our brand and that brought in other people.
All of a sudden, the fitness influencers were coming in because it was the hype place.
(10:15):
And, you know, I absolutely loved the product. So I was a great promoter for
the product. I believed in it so much.
All you see me do is talk about airlock. It was my favorite subject to talk
about. So, you know, in a very quick period of time, we had so many different
people come into Airlocker.
And for me personally, I had created a platform that allowed me not only contribute
(10:37):
to the community inside the walls.
But it gave me a platform to be able to contribute to the wider community,
like being a local mayor.
So I was going to schools, getting school kids in on special sessions.
I was going out to nursing homes, bringing the elderly in. I called that program
the Silver Sneakers program.
(10:58):
You know, I just seen it as an opportunity to get everyone in and enjoying this
really efficient way of training and obviously the community part.
But so we had people from different ages, different shapes and sizes.
I guess the barrier for a lot of people early was, am I going to die in there? Can I breathe? Right.
But because we did such a good job in promoting the brand on social media,
(11:21):
people were seeing people that look like them and different fitness like them.
They go, well, if they can do it, I can come in.
And it just really astronomically grew from that point.
So describe a typical airlocker workout. out
yeah an airlocker workout is basically
you come in we do a pre-screen overview to make
sure you know you understand it we've got some different tech
(11:45):
that we want to hit whilst we're in there but the experience is
you go into the airlocker the environmental shift
is from 21 oxygen at terrestrial air to
14 oxygen in our airlockers right so
that simulates an altitude of about 3500 meters you
won't feel it as you walk in like
your breathing will adjust a little bit you'll breathe a
(12:07):
little bit more air in your mouth might get a bit dry but when you start to
train right you your oxygen is used to refuel your working body so you've got
less of that so you'll start to find that you'll get out of breath a lot quicker
and you know things are a little bit bit more challenging, which a lot of people love.
(12:27):
But after 10 to 15 minutes, your body will start to adapt to it and you'll feel like.
You're okay in there, right? That's generally the feedback we get.
Now, the training regime is a mix of cardio, mix of weights,
mix of boxing, and it's fun.
You know, it's on the clock. It's open timer.
(12:50):
It's just a hybrid of products that, you know, I've researched on the market
and different ways, different training programs do different things.
And I thought I'd just bring all the best of the bits and pieces that i felt
and bring it into the into the training modality so you'll train,
and then after it we'll do a stretch and then
(13:12):
because one of the key objectives of
airlocker was to create really good connection so what
we do at the end of every workout is after our
stretch we get everyone to lie down on the ground we turn
the lights off we put kind of meditation music
on it and we get them we get our coaches
to get everyone to focus in on their breath to
(13:34):
bring their state back down to you know a nice resting
state so the recovery process can start so we do that through parasympathetic
breathing for a better minute or so and then we try to bring some gratitude
in their heart through mindfulness we might ask questions like you know think
of somebody that you love and you're grateful for and now i want you to picture
in your mind them them achieving something great.
(13:56):
You know, it could be your child graduating from school. It could be them achieving something.
So we're trying to bring love and gratitude in your heart. And they sit there
for about 30, 40 seconds with that thought.
We bring them back out and then we thank them for the time and everyone leaves.
Now, here's the key part of our experience.
(14:18):
When you walk out of the airlocker,
and you go into normal air, what's happening?
You're breathing in 21% oxygen now versus 14%. It is just rushing through your
body, and your fingers were shaped.
It is this euphoric high, probably described like a runner's vibe,
but times that by a million, and it's just like this addictive rush of just
(14:43):
serotonin and dopamine,
and it just sets you up for the day or for the night, and that's the experience.
Experience wow it sounds incredible that's
the best i love it it actually sounds
really quite amazing just listening to you
then and seeing the the passion on your face i mean it's obvious to me that
(15:05):
you know the business model is acceptable for all ages and all fitness levels
because you're not competing with anybody else but yourself but at the same
time i look at the business model and go So, wow,
wouldn't it be great if every sporting club across the nation had an airlocker?
I mean, how incredible would that be? That would improve the performance of the athlete.
(15:28):
Yeah, I mean, we could go deep into this, but I'll probably spend two seconds
on it and pull me it up before I lose. I will.
You know what I'm like. I'll go on my tangents.
But when you look at sporting teams, they train,
they prepare, pair they go out and compete now that's
(15:48):
a very stressful and and precious system
they want to win right and similar
to our lives like we've got a lot of pressure and stress that we deal with all
the time you know more and more and more i see that adversity and stress and
that pressure bubble really eat people up it's something that is very um something
(16:09):
that's actually dear to me as well because it's impacted my family.
But when you think about that concept of sports and concept of winning at life,
There's a lot of pressure that comes with that. So there's this concept of how
do you deal with stress and adversity?
Now, airlocker is a great way to train yourself to do that because amongst all
(16:36):
the physical benefits and increasing your VO2 max,
increasing your time to fatigue, great stuff for sports, they've still got to get the right mindset.
They've got to be able to have the right mindset and be able to deal with adversity
to be an elite athlete or be great at their sport, same as in life.
(16:56):
So what we do at Airlocker, we use what everyone would agree is the number one
need in every one of our lives to survive is oxygen.
There's nothing more important than oxygen for survival. So we use that.
We reduce it by a third, which could seem very nasty.
(17:18):
But what that does it creates a
a form of stress which is
a good stress and stress is good right if you
think about in terms of putting stress on your muscles and bones for them to
grow if you didn't have stress on your muscles and bones and break so we can
understand that stress in in a good form is good so we put a good form of stress
(17:38):
on you at a cell level so your body will go into a primal response, fight or flight.
Now, when you're in those two phases, which is that sympathetic nervous system,
we teach you a skill to be able to deal with that, which is through our breath, right?
We want to calm you down through your breath.
(17:59):
So once you learn that skill of being able to handle your, you know,
we go into a pressure system, fight or flight, like, all right,
go back to my breath, just breathe.
All right, I'm back into my composure. I can see it clearly.
I can make the decision. So apart from the physiological kind of benefits of
(18:20):
getting fitter, faster, stronger, and all that stuff, it's great to train that
focus and that ability to overcome adversity and stress as well, which again,
from a sporting athlete, it's really important.
And just on what you've said, we've got a number of facilities for the sporting
teams that have got the air lockers there.
So it's been good to see sporting teams really take that on board as well.
(18:42):
Now, Roman, I need a really quick answer on the next question so that I can
move on to some of the storytelling that I really want you to tell.
So real quickly, do tell me, typical franchisee of an air locker,
is it passive income for somebody?
(19:04):
Are they personal trainers? Tell me. Thank you.
All right, I'm going to make this as quick as I can because I could go into
this as well. You know what I'm like.
For me, somebody that's ready to build their personal brand because airlocker
has to stand for something to them.
And so what I look for in recruiting franchisees is, okay, we're about to create
(19:27):
a great product. It's a community product.
Are you ready to build your personal brand?
And are you ready to build a great community? So if you were to look at those two processes,
we're probably looking at somebody that wants to really invest themselves into the product, right?
(19:49):
Rather than an investor that's going to let staff run the studio.
That's kind of what I'd be looking at. I guess in terms of a passive investor,
like, you know, I've got, I've
got air lockers and I don't operate in the studio, but I love the brand.
I love the community aspect to it. And, you know, I really want to invest myself
(20:13):
in building that community.
So I'm an active, passive investor, if that makes sense.
So, you know, depending on that person, that profile, but definitely somebody
that's willing to build their own personal brand and build a great community
is, is the people we're looking for.
I mean, airlocker sounds like the right business model for an up-and-coming
(20:34):
athlete. Build the perfect...
Also, the business acumen part of it's important.
It's really important because the array of different demographics,
Mel, like there's so many different people.
And it's just a fine line, right?
We don't want to position ourselves as four athletes.
(20:57):
And I think, you know, we've done that in the past where we've really been top
heavy on our branding and marketing around athletes. but really the true member
is the person that just wants more and what's connection.
It's not the athlete, if that makes sense. So I think people that are just really
invested in being vulnerable,
(21:17):
people that are really invested in wanting to develop themselves and learn and
grow as business people, as entrepreneurs,
people that want personal growth.
I think the personal growth sector, people that are personal growth and they're
coachable, that would be the perfect profile of, you know, somebody that wants
(21:41):
to take a product like Airlocker to their community.
Awesome. Okay, so let's talk about business.
Let's talk about ego, going off on tangents and really then finding out,
man, that was not a good idea. So what are the most painful learnings that you
have had in your journey of building Airlocker?
(22:03):
Oh, okay. So look, it's all learning, isn't it?
Life is learning. But how can I frame this? I'm going to frame this up like this.
I think it's very common in not only our industry, in the health and fitness
industry, but also other industries,
that a franchise model like Airlocker has got phases of growth.
(22:29):
So phase one was what we spoke about before.
Okay, does this work? Do I think there's a place in the market for Airlocker?
What's our USP? p all right it all you know all that free opening analysis and
research that's phase one and when you feel like you've got a good idea and
you think it's going to be profitable and you think is it serves the the market
(22:52):
you want to serve well that's the first phase and and we did that right.
Secondly we launched our first studio uh in newcastle does it work proof of
concept does Does the studio work?
With all the mislearnings at the start, we got to profitability very quick and
(23:13):
the sustainability of that, obviously five years in now,
it's definitely proven that the concept worked and people loved it and we served a good market.
Then phase three was because COVID hit after being open for only seven months,
that was really the shift to franchising.
(23:35):
It was like, okay, well, we had a lot of interest from our membership group,
Mel, that wanted to do an airlocker.
And also it was pulling in people. We weren't marketing for franchise owners,
but it was pulling people in, just making progress.
So it was like, all right, well, phase three was,
can we create a franchise system that can support
a franchise which i'm not doing the
(23:57):
running of the classes and the and the coaching and the
sales can we support someone else get to success
and yeah we did that you know we did that
within you know pretty quick time frame so now this
is the tricky part you go into phase four
which is can you create a
repeatable successful model right and before i go into that in detail you've
(24:25):
got the next phase after that which is what i call blue sky phase which is all
this awesomeness that could look like opening up in different countries it could look like.
Creating a pivot in your business so it serves other industries it could be
diversifying it It could be whatever. It's just whatever you can think.
(24:46):
So, you know, I guess, you know, to be quite raw, where I've realized is that
we went from phase three, can we support a franchise to success? Yeah, good green tick.
But as we started to build and open up more studios, that asset portfolio,
which is basically that you're operating franchises, we weren't getting the
(25:08):
repeatable success across the network, right?
But at the time that we were building more units on board, I was investing and
focusing on blue sky phase, which included, you know, opening up the US,
opening up Canada, opening up different countries.
We were heavily invested in a project of research around the science behind,
(25:31):
you know, hypoxic therapy.
We're going through the FDA process and the TGA process.
Says currently there's been a huge amount of investment and
time spent on that which again that's great
for our franchise network to open up additional revenue streams
in terms of treatment therapeutic use for chronic illness but that takes time
and money right so i guess the the the thing that i realized is that we need
(25:58):
to really centralize our focus and this is pretty raw raw, right? It's a pretty raw.
Cause you've got to remember we've got, you know, we've got franchisees that are open, right.
And, and I love them and I, and I, and, and, you know, they're like family.
So we kind of, we kind of need to really look at optimizing that repeatable success.
(26:18):
And I don't buy into the story that a lot of people, and this might sound controversial,
but everyone's in a, in the market that we're at, we can talk about inflation.
We could talk about macroeconomics. We can talk about it's hard to find the right people.
We could talk about resources and capitals. It's hard to find now, but everyone's in that.
(26:40):
We need to solve that problem.
I guess that's the hardest one, to be completely honest and raw with you, is the fact that.
We kind of were investing in blue sky phase where we needed to be hyper-focused on scale.
And it's not to say that we weren't either.
(27:00):
You know, I'm not softening the blow here. We've done everything we can with
what we could to make that repeatable model, but that's the toughest learning about this industry.
And can I say one more? I know I'm late. Go for it.
I'm going to say one more. And hopefully this adds value to,
(27:21):
you know, the people listening, you know, like depending on who you are and your journey,
a lot of us, a lot of us grow up and we do our best and we realize that to,
you know, to make people proud of us, we do things by ourselves.
So you know we might achieve something and you know
(27:44):
but we put it on on our on our all on
our own shoulders right and and when we achieve it you
know we get that love or that appreciation from yeah
it might be mom and dad it might be whoever and and so
what that builds and what built in me was this self-reliance
right self-reliance and so one
of the biggest lessons that i've learned only recently is
(28:07):
we need help you know we need we
need people around us that can give us
the war stories of their success and if you
look at success and you listen to the successful people whether it be spiritual
success emotional success financial success business success whatever there's
scars that they've gone through they're the scars they've got from the learnings
(28:29):
they've got but they'll teach you right so one thing i've learned and one of
the mistakes I probably made was,
you know, learning that art of leverage through just asking for help and also the ability to say no.
They're the two things that I think a lot of entrepreneurs make.
And so for me, opening myself up, being quite vulnerable, you know,
(28:50):
going out and seeking some of the people that walk this path has been a great revelation of life.
But reflecting on that, trying to be self-reliant, you know,
that's probably one of the mistakes that I think I made and a lot of other people make as well.
Roman, where is the gap in our industry that stops people like you and I asking for help?
(29:14):
Well, for me personally, I think in Singularity,
we look at people that we would classify as successful and they give you this
strength through imagery of getting stuff done.
And I don't think I've seen too much vulnerability around people saying,
(29:38):
hey, you know, I got this help from this person.
And how I wasn't, I was striving, but all of a sudden this, I guess maybe that's
something that we see strength as in singularity and people just moving forward, maybe.
And I think it's internal as well. I think it really, it is internal.
It's maybe our cultural thing that we want to get stuff done.
(30:03):
And if we get people to help us, we don't really get the credibility we think
that we should because we didn't do it all ourselves.
I would assume it's an internal thing and
also you know what we see but again
if you're around the right people and and
who lean into vulnerability like i have been lately i'm very grateful for that
(30:23):
you start to see vulnerability as a strength you start to see help as a strength
you start to see these things as great things so i think it's the group that
you're with it's the the content that you consume,
and also probably internally from maybe when you're younger,
trying to be self-reliant to impress dad or mom, whatever that might look like.
(30:45):
Before I go back to ask you a little bit more about franchising and all of that
type of stuff, what is one thing that you would like to improve in our industry?
What's one thing that's missing?
I honestly think that.
Again, this is just my thought process, right?
(31:05):
I think our industry and a lot of other industries focus way too much on the
what, what they do, right?
So let's just talk about Airlocker.
Airlocker is simulated altitude training. We do group classes.
We, you know, we're efficient because of science.
(31:28):
That's the what. but we need to shift that
to the true purpose behind why we
do things right we need to we need to
give it narrative and stories around why we
do this and so if i
were to shift that back to and say airlocker exists
because i believe in people i believe we're all on a journey and i believe that
(31:52):
life is so precious that everything we do we want to get more out of it and
i also believe that if If we just strip away our ego and we show our true selves,
we'll be able to build great connections that build great communities.
So I've developed a program and a product that uses the power of simulated altitude
(32:15):
training to support that so everyone can achieve more.
And it just so happens we do a group training.
If you you just reverse that
process is from
what we do to how we do
(32:37):
it to why to why we do it to how because because we certainly do and that's
where i want to transition our brand now on the other part of it too if you
look at what we would assume has been the assets right so every business
has assets from a franchise model,
(33:00):
our assets are our studio,
right?
So franchise sales, and then you go into the recurring revenue as you build your network.
But the asset value, as you get more studios, you start to increase your asset, right?
(33:20):
Which is great because you fix costs to run them, can be stagnated and in kind
of state pretty firm because they're doing more process, scale systems, lots of more.
But here's the thing, right? Is the asset owners who tries to realize that.
(33:42):
The question was, what do I see the problem from an industry perspective?
I feel like if we start with our true purpose, that needs to be known.
Now, if you're like me and you sell territories and people open up an airlocker
in that territory, there's a community there, right?
So that community has to understand and realize and really connect with the
(34:05):
true purpose on the brand. And the way that gets told is through the storytelling
of the owner and the staff, right?
So I think if we can be better at storytelling and connect with our true purpose,
why we do it and what it represents to the marketplace,
we're going to start to ignite a more of an emotional response to our brand.
(34:27):
And that could be any brand, no matter what you do. We all have a story and a purpose, right?
So I think if we do that better, I think we're going to really ignite the passion
and the purpose behind people wanting to come.
So I think that's going to help a lot in terms of customer acquisition and also customer retention.
And then secondly, from a franchisor perspective, we've got to start looking
(34:51):
at our true asset portfolio.
It's not the franchises we've got, the people that sit in behind it.
And we need to start to invest in building their personal brand,
their confidence and their ability to tell stories and then obviously execute
on the business plan but I see the industry being really well aided if we can take that focus and.
(35:16):
What a beautiful kind of shift we can make.
And again, from a corporate perspective, I think from a corporate perspective,
we should never lose focus of why we do what we do.
And we have to do it with the best integrity we can.
And I think leverage is a really important thing as well.
Not just from a HQ perspective, getting the right people around us,
(35:39):
but I definitely think from the
industry it would be interesting to have
some data and say okay well the studios that
are really successful in our in our industry you know
any brand any brand does the franchise
owner have the ability to leverage
the right people in their communities right so
(36:00):
for me what i did with airlocker when we first launched not
knowingly it wasn't a strategy but some of
the really trusted and known people in my area were
training and loving our brand so you know
i would sit down have coffees with these people and these people would
you know tell me some beautiful things around the area and you know so maybe
(36:20):
if we had a strategy around leverage and we were to go out to our marketplace
and probably write down who are the people that are in this community that people
trust whether it be sporting and team coaches whether it be business owners whether it be whoever.
Let's go out and meet them and ask for help, right? And I think those few strategies
could really make a huge impact in our industry.
(36:42):
I totally agree with you on all of that.
I mean, that's what our business is about, isn't it? It's about people.
It's about transforming their lives.
It's about impact. It's about making a difference, whether they're the member
or whether they're the business owner.
Roman, you know, tell me as we come to the end of our podcast,
First of all, what is your vision for AirLocker?
(37:05):
Are you seeking investors?
Yeah, so we're seeking partners that understand the vision.
And our vision is, like it means something to me too, Mel.
We could probably tell stories around this vision, but my vision really is that
I see a world and I want to create a movement to superior health.
(37:28):
Right, superior health. So my vision for Airlocker is that we create a huge movement
to achieve global superior health
superior confidence superior joy and
and you know we're going to use the the the power
and the unparalleled benefits like for me the benefits around simulated altitude
(37:49):
training so amazing to get the job done and we're going to make it accessible
and enjoyable for everyone so that's our vision and for us you know we're looking
for the right people to to to take us to the next phase you know really get us through that phase
of scale, experienced operators with really good networks, good mentors for
(38:09):
myself and the team, and also from a, I guess, a franchised growth perspective.
We just want good people that really believe in that vision and want to make
a massive impact in their communities and really be ready to step up and build
their own personal profile and understand that storytelling is the key aspect
(38:29):
to what's going to get it done.
And I guess that's our vision and that's who we're looking for and we'll keep going.
We'll keep doing what we're doing. I love the storytelling.
Everybody's got a story, you know, and everybody can learn from each other's
story. I want to dig it out.
I want to dig it out, Mel. I want, like, you and I now, we're having a fantastic
(38:51):
conversation, right? This could go on for other hours.
I love it. I love the rawness of what sits inside people.
I actually believe that the graveyard, a lot of people say this,
how much money and business ideas, what about the stories? What about the lessons?
What about the things that dive people?
(39:12):
Because they first and foremost just didn't have a platform.
They didn't know how to do it. Even if they wanted to do it,
they didn't know how to make it happen.
And I think, you know, I just think Airlock is going to be that conduit for
storytelling in the future because it's so important and somebody's story can
really help somebody else.
So I'm looking forward to the future and I'm looking forward to,
(39:35):
you know, storytelling.
You are going to leave an incredible legacy for your children.
Be proud of that. Can I just tell you something on that, Mel?
Absolutely. Let me tell you something, right?
This is the first podcast I've done in years.
(39:55):
And I went into the shadows a bit because the pressure, I guess,
of building, you know, scouting airlocker, and there's a lot that comes to it, right?
But someone said to me a while ago about, you know, a coach I've got at mine
said, mate, Ryan, you know, what does your kids think of you?
And I said, well, I know that they look up to me and especially they look at me like a hero, right?
(40:22):
I've got the best relationship with my kids.
God forbid something happens to you tomorrow.
What can they look at to remind them of what that was?
What's out there? You know, where's the content that they're going to see?
Like, what's out there now?
And it hit me so hard, Mel, like to the core. I was like, wow.
(40:44):
So when you are telling your story and you're being who you want to be,
we have a beautiful thing called social media.
We've got a beautiful thing called a video that can capture it,
Ron, because one day your hero thought, like your kids looking at you as a hero,
you'll live on forever if you capture it.
(41:05):
That rocked me. And that's the truth about storytelling.
Because don't think about new storytelling for your brand or for whatever you
want to achieve in terms of business.
Think about these things when you're if you know worst case scenario one day we're not here,
what's the loved ones going to look at if they had that video
of dad getting up there and doing and talking about this
(41:26):
and man what a beautiful thing to think about and
you know like i've had my brother pass away committed suicide when i was 33
i don't have anything in video form of him i've got photos and that's it i've
got loved ones that are around me that have you know friends that pass away
and they have voice messages that they listen to all the time.
(41:49):
So there's a deeper meaning around storytelling and capturing it that really
echoes through eternity for your loved ones.
And so that brings a really good base of why we're doing what we're doing and why it's so important.
So perhaps one thing that everybody could do today that walks away from listening
to the podcast is to create a digital treasure chest for their family.
(42:13):
Exactly. Exactly. And it just, it just brings something more to it than just creative content.
You know, it's, it's something more to it. And again, going back to purpose
and why you've just got to understand, like for me, my big wise and have my
family and freedom, they're the two things I'm working hardcore.
(42:33):
And I think it's pretty similar to other people.
So family's a big asset of my two beautiful kids.
You know, what are you doing on a daily basis to make sure that that wise is is really.
Like you're focusing your time on that. So you're on deep, Mel. We always do this.
Oh, I'm deep. This is just like, hey, I hope everyone's still hanging out there.
(42:55):
But it has been great to chat today.
So I'm going to ask you a quick question and I'm putting you on the 15-second
clock for this, all right?
If you could meet anyone for 15 minutes in the fitness industry to pitch airlocker to, who would it be?
(43:16):
Um the clock is counting,
can i say not from the industry oh absolutely,
uh okay for me that person is stephen marks he's the founder of guzman and gomez
i love what he's about i love what he's done with the brand currently he's he's
(43:37):
he's about to uh float his His business on IPO,
Guzman and Gomez, done a fantastic job.
But in terms of pitching it as an investor and being a partner,
Stevie Marks, the New Yorker, would be the guy we wanted to be in front of.
And there's just one that's opened up in Ballarat, and the queue was massive, absolutely massive.
(43:58):
And, Ryman, favourite charity? Mark Hughes Foundation.
So, thanks for Brain Cancer. cancer mark's currently
gearing up for his his nrl
round beanies can be bought at the moment
iga stores we just did a bit of a
campaign for mark throughout the network he's done a phenomenal job mark you
(44:20):
know struck down for brain cancer you know in his 30s he's fighting strong now
he's doing a great job he's done a fantastic job with that charity and being
i work with mark you know it's something that i'm really proud of him and and
the whole team at marcus foundation what they to do.
Thanks, Roman. Yes, big fan of Mark Hughes and all the work that he does.
Roman Brady from the Air Locker is who I have chatted to today.
(44:44):
And as I said at the start, I just need to thank our sponsors once again.
So everybody who is involved with the Ignite Fitness Business Event in Melbourne in August.
Roman, thank you so much for your time today. We had a great time.
Thank you, Mel. Love you lots.
Thank you for the opportunity. love you lots too it's
been great now anybody wants to catch up with
roman he is on linkedin so please do throw him
(45:07):
a inbox on linkedin and i don't doubt that in the next 14 days he'll be setting
up a very strong social profile on facebook and i'll be looking out for it and
i'll be looking out for the roman brady website thank you for your time today roman.
Music.
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