July 21, 2025 • 30 mins
What happens when you blend psychology, creativity, and fitness expertise into one dynamic space? Danielle Kireyczyk, founder of REsistance Fitness Studio in Vero Beach, joins us to share her remarkable journey from Massachusetts fitness instructor to Florida studio owner.
Remember that intimidating feeling of walking into a fitness class for the first time? Danielle has built her entire business around eliminating that barrier. "My goal is to make that room look different," she explains, rejecting the stereotype of identical-looking participants in favor of genuine diversity in age, background, and ability. The darkened spin room, personalized outreach, and focus on connection before correction create an environment where newcomers can truly thrive.
Danielle's path wasn't always clear. From trying countless sports as a youth without finding her niche, to discovering her love for fitness instruction, to an unexpected email termination that became the catalyst for starting her own studio, her story demonstrates how setbacks often lead to our greatest opportunities. "I wouldn't have been in such a good place if I didn't have such a support system around," she reflects, highlighting the importance of community in entrepreneurial journeys.
What truly sets REsistance apart is Danielle's philosophy that mental wellness trumps physical appearance. "I don't need you to walk around with six packs, knowing you have depression. I'd rather you have happiness and a belly full of yummy food and hard work." This refreshing approach permeates everything from instructor training to class structure to the studio's welcoming atmosphere.
Ready to experience fitness in a whole new way? Visit REsistance at 725 8th Street in Vero Beach for a free introductory class, where you'll discover that the most important resistance isn't on the bike, it's pushing back against fitness stereotypes that don't serve our well-being.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brian (00:00):
Hey, welcome back to the Vero Beach Podcast.
I'm Brian and I'm Shawna, andtoday we are sitting here at
Resistance with Danielle.
Now, danielle, I have no ideahow to say your last name, it's
like Kyrie X-Y-Z something likethat, but.
I'm going to let you share.
How do you say?
Danielle (00:14):
your last name.
It is Karazic.
And fun fact in middle schoolmy AIM screen name, if we
remember those days, was KarazyChick, so that's pretty much
what you can call me, but a lotof people here in VO just call
me Danielle and I go by it andit's totally cool.
Shawna (00:33):
I want to try to remember that, though Karazic.
Danielle (00:36):
It's kind of like the phone number rhythm.
You have to have a rhythmspelling it.
So it's K-I-R-E-, y-c-z-y-k.
Shawna (00:44):
It's just like a social security number.
Danielle (00:46):
It is, it's phone number.
Rhythm oh that's hilarious.
Brian (00:50):
I mean, you could use your last name as a password.
Man, that's pretty strong.
Shawna (00:53):
Totally.
Nobody would ever, ever guessit.
Brian (00:59):
But she doesn't for all you hackers out there.
Yeah, she doesn't do that.
Yes, we're so glad to be ableto have you on the podcast.
We've been looking forward tothis.
Right now, we're sitting atyour location, right here.
What's the address at your?
Danielle (01:09):
location.
This is 725 8th Street.
It's right next to Domino'sPizza a perfect location for
anything fitness.
But technically I have units 15, 725, and 735.
But our front door is 725.
Brian (01:23):
Nice, yeah, I think when we came here we did a free class
, which I know we're going totalk about that too a little bit
later but I noticed, like I waslike is this the door?
Danielle (01:33):
I'm like no, it's like there's an arrow that points
down.
Let's just keep following thearrows.
We'll get there, yep, you willget here.
Brian (01:36):
I promise, danielle, tell us, take about 30 seconds to
tell us a little bit aboutyourself.
Danielle (01:39):
I'm originally from Massachusetts, not Boston.
There is more to Massachusettsthan Boston.
I am on the New York side ofthe house of Massachusetts, so
it's called Westfield, rightoutside of Springfield.
I am a Western Mass kid, livedthere for 33 years so moved down
here about four and a halfyears ago.
So you cannot shake the NewEngland out of me.
(02:01):
I talk fast.
Right now I'm holding my handstogether because I usually talk
with my hands, but I am a NewEngland girl.
Go Patriots, go Celtics, go RedSox.
Got to say that for my dad.
But yeah, now I'm a Vero kindof native.
I got stung by my firstjellyfish this weekend, so I
feel like a Floridian now You'rein.
Yeah, yep, but yeah, I am NewEngland through and through.
Shawna (02:23):
I love that and let the hands fly.
We're fine with that.
You won't hurt anything.
These are strong.
Brian (02:33):
Okay, I guess we'll go ahead and talk about.
We had the opportunity, whichjust doesn't usually happen.
Normally we got to come and sitin a free class first, before
the interview.
Shawna (02:38):
I would not call it sitting in.
It wasn't sitting in at all.
Brian (02:41):
I wasn't expecting it to be so intense, but it felt great
afterwards.
Shawna (02:45):
I was expecting it to be that intense and I was just
glad I didn't pass out or throwup.
I just wanted to tell you like Iappreciated so much, first of
all, like encouragementbeforehand, and you know the
staff knew who we were as soonas we walked in, which I can
only imagine is intentional whenyou have someone new coming in
and a little gift bag on thebike, and you helped us get set
up because I had no idea what todo.
(03:05):
But I think what I appreciatedthe very most was during the
actual class.
I, number one, never saw youactually look straight at me,
but it's got to be an art, rightyou?
Danielle (03:15):
know what's happening.
You kind of it's like thatquote you picture everybody
naked, so you're just lookingthrough them.
However, you can have thosemagic moments where you're
looking at somebody and having aconnection, but I know the
majority of people that takefitness classes do not want to
be called out.
They don't want that eyecontact.
It's really scary.
They do like it when theinstructor compliments, though,
like they're like, oh my God,she's looking at me.
(03:36):
But overall it's just you kindof like look through at the
person's soul and not at theirface.
Oh that's beautiful.
Shawna (03:42):
Yeah, yeah, it was.
It was definitely the rightapproach to take with me because
, as my first spin class everand not working out a whole lot,
I knew it was going to be hardon me and I was scared.
But I was like I'm going to godo this thing.
And then it was super hard forme, Sure, and like I loved how
you gave so many options Like ifyou can't do this, do this.
If you can't do this, do this.
(04:02):
That was really helpful for me.
It takes the shame out of youknow, making it your own workout
.
Right in the middle of it, Ithought to myself I'll
definitely never do this again.
As soon as it was over, I waslike, yeah, I would do that
again.
Yep, yeah.
Brian (04:15):
Actually, you are doing it again.
Shawna (04:16):
I am doing it again tomorrow I wanted to tell all of
that in such detail, becauseI'm sure that it's an
intimidating thing for someoneto come for the first time to
something they've never donebefore and spin, I think, from
movies and things like that getlike this reputation of like
mean girls and they're, you know, all super fit, which I mean
they were super fit, but theyweren't mean girls, right?
(04:38):
So it was just an.
It felt nice when we came in.
It felt like nobody was lookingat us like oh, you don't belong
.
We didn't get any of that.
You know, we didn't have likecool workout clothes or anything
like that.
It doesn't even matter, right?
It?
Danielle (04:49):
doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
My goal is to make that roomlook different.
I don't want everybody to lookthe same.
I don't want everybody in thesame age.
I don't want people to like thesame music.
I want there to be such avariety.
If everybody was the same Iwould be bored, I would
literally be over it and okay, Ifeel like I'm seeing the same
type of person every single day.
I don't want that at all.
I always remind people that Iwas not born on a spin bike.
(05:12):
It took me months to get whereI am and me being on that podium
is just to be a goal for you tosee where you can get.
And I hope also you notice thefront row.
Some of them are really good.
They've been with me for yearsnow at this point and it just
shows that okay, not just theinstructor is dynamic, the
people taking the class.
(05:34):
They're like.
It makes you feel like it'sreachable, absolutely.
And my first spin class was inUpper East Side in New York,
surrounded by Broadway dancers,rockettes, like talk about the
most fit rhythmatic people.
I've never clipped in on a bikebefore.
I was clipped in, locked in,and the bikes.
I could feel the person's armnext to me, like I mean, if
(05:56):
you're renting space in New York, you're using every single inch
.
So that was my first experience.
I couldn't clip out.
I was just sitting there aroundthese beautiful dancers with
their feet up in the air andthey're like just clip out,
you're fine.
I'm like am I?
I don't know what I'm doing.
So I have been there.
I have the empathy forfirst-time riders.
I don't want people to everfeel stressed, so we always have
(06:18):
options.
I always tell people save yourstress for the outside world.
Nobody should be stressed inhere.
And the excitement that you'redescribing before class, that
nervous kind of bulge in yourstomach I just describe it as
like it's like you're waiting inline for a new roller coaster,
a new ride or even a doctor'sappointment.
Sometimes I have that feelingin the waiting room like oh God,
(06:39):
what's?
Brian (06:40):
today's going to be like.
Danielle (06:42):
So that feeling like if you didn't have it then you
don't care.
I mean, if you were justsitting out here like I guess
I'm ready and just had nofeeling, then I don't know if
I'd want you in class, so youcalled it clicking out.
Brian (06:53):
is that what you?
Danielle (06:53):
said yes.
Brian (06:54):
So I remember when we showed up and you told us that
you're going to click us in, Iwas like what?
What do you mean click us in?
Because I knew it said that youguys had shoes for us to wear
for the cycling.
So when I found out you had toclick us in, I'm like, oh man,
this is kind of scary.
Danielle (07:07):
Yeah, you ain't never leaving.
Brian (07:09):
That's what I told Shauna .
I was like this is a good wayto make sure people stay and
they can't leave until theyunclick you.
But then later Shauna and mewere talking about it she goes
it's probably a good thing.
Could you imagine if you weredoing that and you weren't
clicked in?
Correct?
I was like, yeah, that'sprobably a good thing to point
out.
Shawna (07:23):
Yeah, and, by the way, I never would have gotten clicked
out except the writer next tome helped me.
Danielle (07:28):
Yes.
So clipping out or clicking out, either way that you say it,
because they are clips, but wecall them click or clip, it
Doesn't matter Either way.
If the worst thing that happensduring class is you click out,
it just forces you to learn howto clip back in.
But some people at the end ofclass can't even clip back out
and they're like I'm stuck.
So that's when we tell peoplejust unvelcro your shoes, Don't
worry about it, it gets easier.
(07:49):
It's almost like a trust factorof your ankle that you want to
just click really quick to theright and the left side.
But as far as I know, I'm theonly studio in the area that
requires to be attached to thebike.
My pedals have the SPD cleats,which is what you guys use.
That's what our rental shoeshave and that's what most spin
and outdoor riders use.
(08:09):
But on the other side of thepedal it's called the Delta
cleat and that became verypopular when Peloton came out
and other studios up north.
So both sides of our pedals areable to have shoes attached.
It's just two different cleats.
But either way you're attachedto the bike, it's definitely
more friendly for your ankles soyou're not coming out of these
(08:29):
cages and feeling it get looserand looser, you definitely have
more of a power of a push andpull sense.
Once people do kind of havethat Cinderella moment of riding
with spin shoes and feelingattached to the bike, they
always say like wow, I felt muchstronger because I could give
myself more.
Brian (08:45):
So, Danielle, tell me what got you started into
fitness.
Danielle (08:49):
Yeah, it is a very interesting journey.
I was always an athlete but Inever really found anything that
I loved, so I was the expensivekid.
My brother found hockey,baseball, golf, and was hooked.
I did dance, I did karate, Idid gymnastics, I did softball,
I did basketball, I tried golfJust could not find my niche.
(09:10):
Finally I fell in love withbasketball and softball.
I played through high schoolall the way to my junior year
but then decided I'd ratherstart making some money.
Our basketball sorry Westfield,but our basketball program
wasn't that good.
It wasn't worth not startingthat journey of making some
money.
But I also was able to keepathletics in my time.
(09:30):
I did the book for baseball inhigh school.
So I still felt like I was partof a team but I was also able
to make some money.
So kind of graduating highschool.
I knew in college like I wouldmaybe do some club sports or
intramurals, but I never feltlike I was ever called an
athlete.
My brother was so good ateverything like pick up any
equipment and he made varsityand probably was the captain,
whereas me I didn't experiencethat.
(09:51):
But where I did excel was Iloved working out and I loved
moving my body for physicalbenefits and mental benefits.
Luckily, my friends in highschool liked working out.
My college roommate likedworking out so we would go to
the gym all the time.
And then, once I graduatedundergrad, fitness still just
kind of stayed for me.
I had a really awesome gym athome, started doing group
fitness, had these two mentorsthat had been teaching since the
(10:16):
80s, so they've definitely seenthe group fitness world evolve.
And finally I kind of just tookthe leap.
They approached me and saidyou'd be a really good
instructor.
Have you ever thought of it?
I didn't know the process, sowhen I found out it was a
weekend cert to get certified inone of the programs I was going
to teach, I was like, all right, let's do it.
I was in grad school, wasn'tmaking a ton of money at the
(10:40):
time and it was a really easy,light thing I could add to my
schedule of school.
So I started teaching at mylocal YMCA, which YMCA's are all
different, but ours was verybasic.
We didn't have any like fancyequipment, we didn't have many
mainstream classes, and while Istarted that journey, a new gym
had opened up and it was calledRoots.
I'll probably talk about Rootsthroughout this next hour
because it is still part of mylife.
I have a ring with Roots on it.
That is my home gym, which Inow call, since it's still in
(11:02):
Massachusetts, but they wereopening up.
My mentors actually made theshift and started teaching over
there and they told the ownersabout me.
So I started teaching therepart time.
But naturally, I am more intobusiness.
I love being creative.
So, just as an instructor atRoots, I started, you know,
suggesting these ideas ofprogramming and corny names of
(11:22):
classes and getting peopleinvolved with challenges.
And when the general managerdecided to step down, that boss
approached me and said okay, weknow you're currently, you know
you just finished grad school,you're working in higher
education.
That was my ultimate goal wasto work with students outside of
the classroom.
What would it take you to workfor us full time?
And I said health insurance,that's it.
(11:44):
So not much.
But I was hired in 2017 astheir fitness manager.
From there, I was already toldour goal is to open up an indoor
spin studio in the next year,and it was very foreign to me.
I had only taken spin at like alocal gym.
We call that kind of like gymspin.
It's still kind of what wascreated back in the 80s, but I
(12:04):
never took this arithmetic baseddark room class.
So that's when we startedspending a lot of time in New
York City.
I traveled to California to seestudios.
I saw studios in Texas kind ofall over and, having lived and
growing up in Western Mass, it'svery different than Boston 90
miles away, but we were able totake some rides 90 miles away
and see what their studios wereall about in Boston.
(12:26):
Creating this indoor space ofboutique fitness for Western
Mass was a haul.
It was a learning curve for alot of people.
They didn't understand why arewe paying per class?
Why is it so much moreexpensive?
They had no idea what anamphitheater spin studio was
going to be like.
So, fast forward to 2018, I'mstill teaching at the fitness
center.
(12:46):
I'm now working with members.
We overhauled our softwareprogram.
That was a huge ontake and thenwe opened up Root Cycle in 2018
.
So she is still thriving.
She just celebrated her seventhbirthday.
I still get to teach there whenI go home, which is super fun.
It's like now I have a teenagerthat I don't have to check in
with anymore.
Now I have this baby, butfitness kind of came at me just
(13:10):
in a weird way.
If you asked me 10 years ago, Iwould have told you I was going
to be working for a universityor a college in their student
activity center or somethingthat would let me get my
creative outlet out and also mykind of psychological side,
because college students aregoing through a lot every single
day, but people are too and wesometimes forget that it
(13:32):
continues.
Shawna (13:33):
Yes.
Danielle (13:33):
And I know for me, like fitness, was a huge
psychological outlet.
My parents divorced when I was18.
So continuing to work out andjust kind of let that energy out
was really, really helpful.
So fast forward now.
I kind of wanted to take mytriage of skill, which is
creativity, psychologicalstrength and business, and to me
(13:54):
that's opening up a boutiquestudio.
I know everyone that opens thedoors to come in.
They're either having a goodday or a bad day, and you don't
know which, but hopefully in 45minutes we're going to change it
to a good day.
I also know that not everybodyknows how to work out unless
you've taken trainings to workin the fitness industry or
you've paid a lot of money for apersonal trainer.
(14:16):
But to be honest, I've been atrainer and sometimes my clients
couldn't fully focus the entiresession.
So even with that, they didn'tnecessarily fully learn how to
properly work out on their own,because I was also like their
therapist, which is where thesite comes from, and you know us
doing events all the time andwanting to keep people engaged
throughout their time here.
(14:38):
That's where that creativitycomes in.
Happens Also making playlists.
You have to get creative.
There's some music I don'tnecessarily enjoy, but if I put
my spin on it, I will absolutelyenjoy it.
So before I opened this, I feltlike I had a good toolbox.
I still definitely need tolearn more, but I have this
toolbox of managing a fitnesscenter working with all age
(15:00):
people, with or without children, male, female, divorced,
married, single, retired,whatever.
I had four years in college inthe programming board and then I
had my master's in psych.
It all kind of came togetherand I took the leap and here we
are today.
Shawna (15:18):
I think that's so smart of you to put together so many
different passions of yoursbecause you know, I think
sometimes when you tie yourselfdown to something, then when it
starts to fade the excitement,or when you start to get bored
or it's stale, you have likedifferent places you can tap in
that you already know you love.
It's a really smart way to doit.
Danielle (15:37):
Yeah, and I also like still being able to learn from
all three of those levels.
With the business side, I mean,I have mentors, I do webinars,
I'm still learning aboutfinancing and balancing books
and all of that stuff.
With fitness, I mean we have tokeep our CEUs active, so every
two years we're having to submitthose.
But whenever I travel I'mpopping into studios, I'm seeing
(16:01):
what they're doing.
What are their members cravingthat maybe mine will start to
crave in a year or two, whoknows?
And then with the psychology,mental illness is being talked
about every single day andthere's new things happening.
I am huge on that.
Here I'm more focused onpeople's mental health than
their physical health.
I don't need you to walk aroundwith six packs knowing you have
(16:22):
depression.
I'd rather you have happinessand a belly full of yummy food
and hard work.
Obviously, the physical issuper important.
That's going to keep you out ofthe hospitals, it's going to
let you play with your grandkids.
But if I see that you're nothappy, then we need to scale
back and talk about somethingelse.
Brian (16:39):
When you point out about the dark room.
That was one of the things thatI really thought was really
encouraging.
When we started the cyclingclass, you said you know you
might be sitting around thinkingthat people are looking at you,
but nobody's looking at youbecause everybody's trying to
focus on what they're doing.
Correct, it helped put me atpeace.
I'm like that's so true.
A lot of other people areprobably thinking those same
things, like I don't want tocome to the fitness studio
(17:02):
because I'm going to be aroundall these people.
They're all going to bewatching me.
Shawna (17:05):
I'm going to look, stupid.
I'm going to look stupid.
Brian (17:07):
Yeah, a lot of people are probably going to be afraid of
that.
Danielle (17:14):
So what are some ways that you are kind of educating
people before they even come in?
Well, we, as you guys know, wecall once somebody even just
creates an account with us, sowe try to introduce ourselves,
(17:44):
no-transcript, that free class.
Then we're calling them again24 hours before for confirmation
.
We're asking them their shoesize If they're doing a spin
class.
We're letting them know aboutour strength room.
Bring your water bottle in, butit's cell phone free.
Try to change your shoes out inthe lobby, get into your
workout shoes and that's reallyjust to protect our floor and
parking lots are gross.
(18:04):
There's water from the nightbefore you don't know, like
who's spitting in there.
Brian (18:09):
Yeah, like just protect your shoes, protect our floor.
Danielle (18:13):
So we like to just really touch base and create
that relationship, even from adistance, and then when you walk
in, hopefully some anxiety hasalready been eased.
I have taught thousands offitness classes and I can't tell
you enough that nobody's evenlooking at me.
They're maybe glancing, but atthe end of the day if there's a
mirror in front of them, they'relooking at the mirror.
Shawna (18:32):
Yeah, I liked that feeling like, okay, I can just
focus on what I'm doing, I don'thave to think about anyone If
they're looking at me.
You know it's so dark.
I like that, yep, yep.
And there's so many fun thingshappening, like the lights and
the music, and you're dancing onthe platform.
Danielle (18:46):
Yeah, there's a lot.
Shawna (18:48):
I told Brian when we got home and listeners take this
with a grain of salt, but I madethe joke.
When we got home I saidDanielle was so good that I was
laughing, even when I was inintense pain.
Yes, I love that, and I meanintense pain, not really, but it
felt like that in the moment.
Danielle (19:04):
Sure, yeah, no, we want to keep it engaged in that
room.
I teach a lot off the bikebecause right now I'm just
teaching a lot of classes.
So I'm being really smart withmy body, really intentional.
But I've also been doing it along time.
So my younger instructors,they're not going to teach off
the bike as much.
I remember when I first startedteaching I was like I need to
(19:30):
stay on this bike the whole time.
I can't let it go.
But they will get there.
I know they will.
I've seen it happen with myother instructors at Roots.
But me at this point I know howmuch I'm teaching and I need to
just kind of get off that bikeand boogie and teach that way.
But it's only because I know Ihave two more classes tomorrow
or whatnot.
So not all of our instructorsdo it like that.
They're getting there and I'mlooking so forward to when they
are there, but right now they'rejust in their first year
(19:52):
journey, which I remember thosedays a while back.
Shawna (19:56):
So are a lot of your instructors brand new yes and no
.
Danielle (20:01):
So one of my spin instructors.
She taught spin back inColorado for a very well-known
franchise but she hadn't taughtin six years.
So it was really rebuilding hertrust in herself that she
hasn't lost it, because I thinkonce you're an instructor you
don't lose that juicer power.
And then two of my girls theystarted with me back in, I think
November shout out to Brookeand Kenzie never having taught
(20:24):
anything.
And we started in my garage, inmy backyard, with Christmas
lights.
We call it the Christmas lightand mosquito studio.
That's what it was.
Brian (20:34):
Well, now you know what you're cycling from, you're
trying to get away frommosquitoes, yes.
Danielle (20:39):
So when we finally had access to this room, it was
great.
At the end of the day, I canteach anybody to teach spin.
As long as you love music, youwant to learn more than just
spin.
So, yeah, it's thatpsychological connection, it's
the lights, it's the volume,it's everything.
And it's honestly easier for meto teach people how to teach
spin with no prior knowledgebecause it's not like trying to
(21:00):
take out old words or habits andcreating something new.
And then for strength, I dorequire all of my strength
coaches to have personaltraining or group fitness
certifications.
They're continuing ed becausewe're working with people's
bodies in different modalitiesin that room at the same time.
So it's really important for usto eye something that needs to
be fixed hop over, fix theirform or drop their weight factor
(21:22):
or add weight factor.
Sometimes someone's lifting toolight, so that instructor is
doing more walking around andcoaching.
I call that strength room themost affordable personal
training.
Brian (21:33):
What was the moment like when you decided okay, I want to
launch my own studio.
Danielle (21:37):
So I've been dreaming of this idea for Probably when I
first moved here in 2020.
It was right after Christmas2020.
I knew I was going to missRoots, I was going to miss that
boutique vibe.
I was also going to miss beinga manager, having that hat on.
But I was also new to Vero so Iknew it was really important
for me to build a name and areputation for myself and it did
(21:59):
kind of feel good not to havethat managerial hat, especially
we just went through COVID.
So we were keeping our studio,our fitness center, afloat for
the last six months InMassachusetts.
We didn't reopen anything untilJuly, so we were shut down for
a very long time.
So I knew I had to kind of divein.
I didn't even know if I wantedto continue working in fitness.
I didn't know where it wouldlead me.
(22:20):
So, you know, got a few yearsunder my belt as a personal
trainer here in Vero, taughtclasses.
Once I saw that my classes werehaving a line out the door 30
minutes before class began, acouple of my friends at the gym
I worked at were like Danielle,just do it, open that studio
again.
You already know what you cando.
Also, my best friend, jackie upnorth, who I used to work with
(22:43):
at Roots.
She built my website forresistance, so if you love our
website, thanks, jackie, yeahit's really nice.
Yeah, she was like okay, clearlyyou're not moving home anytime
soon, like I'm closing the dooron you on Roots, like I always
say, Roots will take you back.
She's like just open your ownstudio.
I would say, probably June2024,.
I just started doodling innotebooks Like I I didn't cancel
(23:07):
on any of my clients, it didn'taffect my employment, I was
showing up for work.
I didn't really talk to anybodyabout it.
I just wanted to check myselfand see do you really have this
in your mind and body and soul?
Cause I know it's a huge takeon.
I would go to the library andjust kind of sit in one of those
desks and have no distractions.
I do it without this logoactually in our Indian River
(23:29):
County library here in Vero.
Shout out to them and it justkind of rolled into what it is
now.
I got a mentor from FIT intheir women's program called
WeVenture.
It's completely free andsponsored by them.
So I had a mentor, named Sunday, that I could reach out to if I
had any questions.
We would have kind of bi-weeklycheck-ins through Zoom.
(23:50):
I started taking webinarsthrough Score just to learn,
like what is it like asking fora loan?
Through it all I learned.
It's really, really hard tostart a small business and the
world is against you.
First of all, to get financingyou have to be in business for
two years.
That doesn't make sense becauseyou're trying to start a
(24:13):
business.
Also, same thing with, likeloans and grants you kind of
have to prove yourself and showthese previous months in order
to even apply.
So you know, I was just kind ofnoodling it in the summer.
I knew I had a huge investmentfrom my grandparents and it was
originally, you know, to help mepay for college, put a down
payment on my house.
Luckily my dad paid for mycollege.
I had a ton of scholarshipsthat helped.
And then my boyfriend and Ibought our house from the
(24:35):
previous owners.
So they're kind of playing bankand we didn't have to put this
huge chunk of money down.
So I had this big pot of moneyjust kind of sitting there and
I'm like you know what, if worsecomes to worse, maybe I can tap
into it and get this projectoff the ground.
I went through the summer, justyou know, again, just
teeter-tottering on the idea.
I think, looking back, I neededthat push because I was always
(24:59):
thinking like, well, what aboutall my clients and everybody
that's loved my classes.
I don't want to, you know, pullthe rug out from under them.
Remix rug got pulled out underme.
I was home from my usual falltrip to New England and received
an email of termination from myemployer and they had heard I
eventually wanted to work formyself, which is fine.
(25:20):
I would have appreciated ameeting in person, but it was
funny.
I got the email and I was in aspin studio lobby in Rhode
Island and class was about tostart and I just strapped on my
shoes, took class with Jackie.
The instructor was soentertaining that for 45 minutes
I just sweat and wrote.
And again this brings me backto the psychological importance
of working out.
(25:40):
If I wasn't just about to workout, I could have been like
really mad or shaking or crying,and I didn't and I just took
the class, listened to someawesome music, had strangers
around me moving their body withme, and after class I looked at
Jackie and I was like well,you're a girl, unemployed, let's
go.
Luckily, too, I still use myaccountant in Western Mass.
(26:02):
So I called Julie and I saidhey, julie, I'm in town for
another few days.
Do you have any time to meetwith me.
I'm interested in pulling myinvestments and starting my own
business.
And she said, yep, come on intomorrow.
Oh, that's awesome.
So when I got back to Florida,it was just like the wheels were
on the ground.
Brian (26:19):
First, I want to say that's such an inspiring story,
especially for those that mightbe listening that have bigger
dreams and something similarlike that might happen.
First off, to get an email tolet you know you're gone.
That just shows that wasn't theright place for you because not
to value to actually sit downwith you and have a conversation
.
It just shows a lack of valueand they were scared, which also
is a sign that, hey, they knowyou're going to do really good
(26:41):
at that.
So, even though it doesn't looklike a blessing, even like that
email didn't look like ablessing to you, but look what
it's turned into.
Danielle (26:47):
Yes, absolutely.
And I think I needed that pushbecause, honestly, when you work
in fitness, you obviously lovepeople.
And I just kept thinking like,okay, when I do finally make
that leap, though, I feel so badfor my clients, like I've been
training some of them for threetires it's a connection that
can't really be replaced and Ijust kept thinking about them
and then it finally just made mesay you know what?
Nope, be selfish, take this andrun with it, and if they want
(27:11):
to see me again, they'll be back, absolutely.
So I think I wouldn't have beenin such a good place if I
didn't have such a supportsystem around.
Brian (27:20):
Well, my last question as we get ready to wrap up this
episode is there a story behindthat name?
Danielle (27:25):
So resistance is what we use in spin.
So that red knob, that's partof the bike.
When it adds to the right, it'sadding resistance, and when it
peels to the left, it's takingresistance off.
Also, the most generic term ofstrength training is resistance
training.
You're either resisting gravityor you're resisting a band or a
dumbbell or your own bodyweight.
(27:45):
You're resisting it fromfalling.
You're pushing through thefloor with certain exercises.
So I felt like that name waskind of perfect and I don't.
I wish I kept a diary, but Idon't remember the day where I
was like, oh my God, there's somany RE words.
But I remember at one point myboyfriend and I were at the pool
down in Hard Rock Hollywood, atthe casino, and I just busted
(28:07):
out my notepad on my phone andjust started writing words of RE
.
And I do specifically rememberthe day in Rhode Island we had
gone out after class like for adrink and we cheers and I was
like two rebellion women.
So we use the RE for that.
So there's so many fun words.
So we use the R-E for that.
So there's so many fun words.
Even every Friday I send outseven positive things to all my
(28:29):
staff that we did in a week andat the bottom of it I put a
definition of a word thatstarted with R-E.
So this past Friday wasreignite, so yeah, so now my
studio is able to brand the R-E.
Some people can just call meR-E instead of resistance.
I don't really care, but yeah,there's a lot of magical words
that start with Ari, and nowyou'll probably notice.
Shawna (28:48):
Yeah, exactly I love that.
That's.
Awesome.
Brian (28:51):
Well, this has been a great first episode.
So thank you, danielle.
Thank you, I'm really excitedabout getting into part two.
We're going to talk about theday-to-day and what that looks
like.
So if you guys have
Hey, welcome back to the Vero Beach Podcast.
I'm Brian and I'm Shawna, andtoday we are sitting here at
Resistance with Danielle.
Now, danielle, I have no ideahow to say your last name, it's
like Kyrie X-Y-Z something likethat, but.
I'm going to let you share.
How do you say?
Danielle (00:14):
your last name.
It is Karazic.
And fun fact in middle schoolmy AIM screen name, if we
remember those days, was KarazyChick, so that's pretty much
what you can call me, but a lotof people here in VO just call
me Danielle and I go by it andit's totally cool.
Shawna (00:33):
I want to try to remember that, though Karazic.
Danielle (00:36):
It's kind of like the phone number rhythm.
You have to have a rhythmspelling it.
So it's K-I-R-E-, y-c-z-y-k.
Shawna (00:44):
It's just like a social security number.
Danielle (00:46):
It is, it's phone number.
Rhythm oh that's hilarious.
Brian (00:50):
I mean, you could use your last name as a password.
Man, that's pretty strong.
Shawna (00:53):
Totally.
Nobody would ever, ever guessit.
Brian (00:59):
But she doesn't for all you hackers out there.
Yeah, she doesn't do that.
Yes, we're so glad to be ableto have you on the podcast.
We've been looking forward tothis.
Right now, we're sitting atyour location, right here.
What's the address at your?
Danielle (01:09):
location.
This is 725 8th Street.
It's right next to Domino'sPizza a perfect location for
anything fitness.
But technically I have units 15, 725, and 735.
But our front door is 725.
Brian (01:23):
Nice, yeah, I think when we came here we did a free class
, which I know we're going totalk about that too a little bit
later but I noticed, like I waslike is this the door?
Danielle (01:33):
I'm like no, it's like there's an arrow that points
down.
Let's just keep following thearrows.
We'll get there, yep, you willget here.
Brian (01:36):
I promise, danielle, tell us, take about 30 seconds to
tell us a little bit aboutyourself.
Danielle (01:39):
I'm originally from Massachusetts, not Boston.
There is more to Massachusettsthan Boston.
I am on the New York side ofthe house of Massachusetts, so
it's called Westfield, rightoutside of Springfield.
I am a Western Mass kid, livedthere for 33 years so moved down
here about four and a halfyears ago.
So you cannot shake the NewEngland out of me.
(02:01):
I talk fast.
Right now I'm holding my handstogether because I usually talk
with my hands, but I am a NewEngland girl.
Go Patriots, go Celtics, go RedSox.
Got to say that for my dad.
But yeah, now I'm a Vero kindof native.
I got stung by my firstjellyfish this weekend, so I
feel like a Floridian now You'rein.
Yeah, yep, but yeah, I am NewEngland through and through.
Shawna (02:23):
I love that and let the hands fly.
We're fine with that.
You won't hurt anything.
These are strong.
Brian (02:33):
Okay, I guess we'll go ahead and talk about.
We had the opportunity, whichjust doesn't usually happen.
Normally we got to come and sitin a free class first, before
the interview.
Shawna (02:38):
I would not call it sitting in.
It wasn't sitting in at all.
Brian (02:41):
I wasn't expecting it to be so intense, but it felt great
afterwards.
Shawna (02:45):
I was expecting it to be that intense and I was just
glad I didn't pass out or throwup.
I just wanted to tell you like Iappreciated so much, first of
all, like encouragementbeforehand, and you know the
staff knew who we were as soonas we walked in, which I can
only imagine is intentional whenyou have someone new coming in
and a little gift bag on thebike, and you helped us get set
up because I had no idea what todo.
(03:05):
But I think what I appreciatedthe very most was during the
actual class.
I, number one, never saw youactually look straight at me,
but it's got to be an art, rightyou?
Danielle (03:15):
know what's happening.
You kind of it's like thatquote you picture everybody
naked, so you're just lookingthrough them.
However, you can have thosemagic moments where you're
looking at somebody and having aconnection, but I know the
majority of people that takefitness classes do not want to
be called out.
They don't want that eyecontact.
It's really scary.
They do like it when theinstructor compliments, though,
like they're like, oh my God,she's looking at me.
(03:36):
But overall it's just you kindof like look through at the
person's soul and not at theirface.
Oh that's beautiful.
Shawna (03:42):
Yeah, yeah, it was.
It was definitely the rightapproach to take with me because
, as my first spin class everand not working out a whole lot,
I knew it was going to be hardon me and I was scared.
But I was like I'm going to godo this thing.
And then it was super hard forme, Sure, and like I loved how
you gave so many options Like ifyou can't do this, do this.
If you can't do this, do this.
(04:02):
That was really helpful for me.
It takes the shame out of youknow, making it your own workout
.
Right in the middle of it, Ithought to myself I'll
definitely never do this again.
As soon as it was over, I waslike, yeah, I would do that
again.
Yep, yeah.
Brian (04:15):
Actually, you are doing it again.
Shawna (04:16):
I am doing it again tomorrow I wanted to tell all of
that in such detail, becauseI'm sure that it's an
intimidating thing for someoneto come for the first time to
something they've never donebefore and spin, I think, from
movies and things like that getlike this reputation of like
mean girls and they're, you know, all super fit, which I mean
they were super fit, but theyweren't mean girls, right?
(04:38):
So it was just an.
It felt nice when we came in.
It felt like nobody was lookingat us like oh, you don't belong
.
We didn't get any of that.
You know, we didn't have likecool workout clothes or anything
like that.
It doesn't even matter, right?
It?
Danielle (04:49):
doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
My goal is to make that roomlook different.
I don't want everybody to lookthe same.
I don't want everybody in thesame age.
I don't want people to like thesame music.
I want there to be such avariety.
If everybody was the same Iwould be bored, I would
literally be over it and okay, Ifeel like I'm seeing the same
type of person every single day.
I don't want that at all.
I always remind people that Iwas not born on a spin bike.
(05:12):
It took me months to get whereI am and me being on that podium
is just to be a goal for you tosee where you can get.
And I hope also you notice thefront row.
Some of them are really good.
They've been with me for yearsnow at this point and it just
shows that okay, not just theinstructor is dynamic, the
people taking the class.
(05:34):
They're like.
It makes you feel like it'sreachable, absolutely.
And my first spin class was inUpper East Side in New York,
surrounded by Broadway dancers,rockettes, like talk about the
most fit rhythmatic people.
I've never clipped in on a bikebefore.
I was clipped in, locked in,and the bikes.
I could feel the person's armnext to me, like I mean, if
(05:56):
you're renting space in New York, you're using every single inch
.
So that was my first experience.
I couldn't clip out.
I was just sitting there aroundthese beautiful dancers with
their feet up in the air andthey're like just clip out,
you're fine.
I'm like am I?
I don't know what I'm doing.
So I have been there.
I have the empathy forfirst-time riders.
I don't want people to everfeel stressed, so we always have
(06:18):
options.
I always tell people save yourstress for the outside world.
Nobody should be stressed inhere.
And the excitement that you'redescribing before class, that
nervous kind of bulge in yourstomach I just describe it as
like it's like you're waiting inline for a new roller coaster,
a new ride or even a doctor'sappointment.
Sometimes I have that feelingin the waiting room like oh God,
(06:39):
what's?
Brian (06:40):
today's going to be like.
Danielle (06:42):
So that feeling like if you didn't have it then you
don't care.
I mean, if you were justsitting out here like I guess
I'm ready and just had nofeeling, then I don't know if
I'd want you in class, so youcalled it clicking out.
Brian (06:53):
is that what you?
Danielle (06:53):
said yes.
Brian (06:54):
So I remember when we showed up and you told us that
you're going to click us in, Iwas like what?
What do you mean click us in?
Because I knew it said that youguys had shoes for us to wear
for the cycling.
So when I found out you had toclick us in, I'm like, oh man,
this is kind of scary.
Danielle (07:07):
Yeah, you ain't never leaving.
Brian (07:09):
That's what I told Shauna .
I was like this is a good wayto make sure people stay and
they can't leave until theyunclick you.
But then later Shauna and mewere talking about it she goes
it's probably a good thing.
Could you imagine if you weredoing that and you weren't
clicked in?
Correct?
I was like, yeah, that'sprobably a good thing to point
out.
Shawna (07:23):
Yeah, and, by the way, I never would have gotten clicked
out except the writer next tome helped me.
Danielle (07:28):
Yes.
So clipping out or clicking out, either way that you say it,
because they are clips, but wecall them click or clip, it
Doesn't matter Either way.
If the worst thing that happensduring class is you click out,
it just forces you to learn howto clip back in.
But some people at the end ofclass can't even clip back out
and they're like I'm stuck.
So that's when we tell peoplejust unvelcro your shoes, Don't
worry about it, it gets easier.
(07:49):
It's almost like a trust factorof your ankle that you want to
just click really quick to theright and the left side.
But as far as I know, I'm theonly studio in the area that
requires to be attached to thebike.
My pedals have the SPD cleats,which is what you guys use.
That's what our rental shoeshave and that's what most spin
and outdoor riders use.
(08:09):
But on the other side of thepedal it's called the Delta
cleat and that became verypopular when Peloton came out
and other studios up north.
So both sides of our pedals areable to have shoes attached.
It's just two different cleats.
But either way you're attachedto the bike, it's definitely
more friendly for your ankles soyou're not coming out of these
(08:29):
cages and feeling it get looserand looser, you definitely have
more of a power of a push andpull sense.
Once people do kind of havethat Cinderella moment of riding
with spin shoes and feelingattached to the bike, they
always say like wow, I felt muchstronger because I could give
myself more.
Brian (08:45):
So, Danielle, tell me what got you started into
fitness.
Danielle (08:49):
Yeah, it is a very interesting journey.
I was always an athlete but Inever really found anything that
I loved, so I was the expensivekid.
My brother found hockey,baseball, golf, and was hooked.
I did dance, I did karate, Idid gymnastics, I did softball,
I did basketball, I tried golfJust could not find my niche.
(09:10):
Finally I fell in love withbasketball and softball.
I played through high schoolall the way to my junior year
but then decided I'd ratherstart making some money.
Our basketball sorry Westfield,but our basketball program
wasn't that good.
It wasn't worth not startingthat journey of making some
money.
But I also was able to keepathletics in my time.
(09:30):
I did the book for baseball inhigh school.
So I still felt like I was partof a team but I was also able
to make some money.
So kind of graduating highschool.
I knew in college like I wouldmaybe do some club sports or
intramurals, but I never feltlike I was ever called an
athlete.
My brother was so good ateverything like pick up any
equipment and he made varsityand probably was the captain,
whereas me I didn't experiencethat.
(09:51):
But where I did excel was Iloved working out and I loved
moving my body for physicalbenefits and mental benefits.
Luckily, my friends in highschool liked working out.
My college roommate likedworking out so we would go to
the gym all the time.
And then, once I graduatedundergrad, fitness still just
kind of stayed for me.
I had a really awesome gym athome, started doing group
fitness, had these two mentorsthat had been teaching since the
(10:16):
80s, so they've definitely seenthe group fitness world evolve.
And finally I kind of just tookthe leap.
They approached me and saidyou'd be a really good
instructor.
Have you ever thought of it?
I didn't know the process, sowhen I found out it was a
weekend cert to get certified inone of the programs I was going
to teach, I was like, all right, let's do it.
I was in grad school, wasn'tmaking a ton of money at the
(10:40):
time and it was a really easy,light thing I could add to my
schedule of school.
So I started teaching at mylocal YMCA, which YMCA's are all
different, but ours was verybasic.
We didn't have any like fancyequipment, we didn't have many
mainstream classes, and while Istarted that journey, a new gym
had opened up and it was calledRoots.
I'll probably talk about Rootsthroughout this next hour
because it is still part of mylife.
I have a ring with Roots on it.
That is my home gym, which Inow call, since it's still in
(11:02):
Massachusetts, but they wereopening up.
My mentors actually made theshift and started teaching over
there and they told the ownersabout me.
So I started teaching therepart time.
But naturally, I am more intobusiness.
I love being creative.
So, just as an instructor atRoots, I started, you know,
suggesting these ideas ofprogramming and corny names of
(11:22):
classes and getting peopleinvolved with challenges.
And when the general managerdecided to step down, that boss
approached me and said okay, weknow you're currently, you know
you just finished grad school,you're working in higher
education.
That was my ultimate goal wasto work with students outside of
the classroom.
What would it take you to workfor us full time?
And I said health insurance,that's it.
(11:44):
So not much.
But I was hired in 2017 astheir fitness manager.
From there, I was already toldour goal is to open up an indoor
spin studio in the next year,and it was very foreign to me.
I had only taken spin at like alocal gym.
We call that kind of like gymspin.
It's still kind of what wascreated back in the 80s, but I
(12:04):
never took this arithmetic baseddark room class.
So that's when we startedspending a lot of time in New
York City.
I traveled to California to seestudios.
I saw studios in Texas kind ofall over and, having lived and
growing up in Western Mass, it'svery different than Boston 90
miles away, but we were able totake some rides 90 miles away
and see what their studios wereall about in Boston.
(12:26):
Creating this indoor space ofboutique fitness for Western
Mass was a haul.
It was a learning curve for alot of people.
They didn't understand why arewe paying per class?
Why is it so much moreexpensive?
They had no idea what anamphitheater spin studio was
going to be like.
So, fast forward to 2018, I'mstill teaching at the fitness
center.
(12:46):
I'm now working with members.
We overhauled our softwareprogram.
That was a huge ontake and thenwe opened up Root Cycle in 2018
.
So she is still thriving.
She just celebrated her seventhbirthday.
I still get to teach there whenI go home, which is super fun.
It's like now I have a teenagerthat I don't have to check in
with anymore.
Now I have this baby, butfitness kind of came at me just
(13:10):
in a weird way.
If you asked me 10 years ago, Iwould have told you I was going
to be working for a universityor a college in their student
activity center or somethingthat would let me get my
creative outlet out and also mykind of psychological side,
because college students aregoing through a lot every single
day, but people are too and wesometimes forget that it
(13:32):
continues.
Shawna (13:33):
Yes.
Danielle (13:33):
And I know for me, like fitness, was a huge
psychological outlet.
My parents divorced when I was18.
So continuing to work out andjust kind of let that energy out
was really, really helpful.
So fast forward now.
I kind of wanted to take mytriage of skill, which is
creativity, psychologicalstrength and business, and to me
(13:54):
that's opening up a boutiquestudio.
I know everyone that opens thedoors to come in.
They're either having a goodday or a bad day, and you don't
know which, but hopefully in 45minutes we're going to change it
to a good day.
I also know that not everybodyknows how to work out unless
you've taken trainings to workin the fitness industry or
you've paid a lot of money for apersonal trainer.
(14:16):
But to be honest, I've been atrainer and sometimes my clients
couldn't fully focus the entiresession.
So even with that, they didn'tnecessarily fully learn how to
properly work out on their own,because I was also like their
therapist, which is where thesite comes from, and you know us
doing events all the time andwanting to keep people engaged
throughout their time here.
(14:38):
That's where that creativitycomes in.
Happens Also making playlists.
You have to get creative.
There's some music I don'tnecessarily enjoy, but if I put
my spin on it, I will absolutelyenjoy it.
So before I opened this, I feltlike I had a good toolbox.
I still definitely need tolearn more, but I have this
toolbox of managing a fitnesscenter working with all age
(15:00):
people, with or without children, male, female, divorced,
married, single, retired,whatever.
I had four years in college inthe programming board and then I
had my master's in psych.
It all kind of came togetherand I took the leap and here we
are today.
Shawna (15:18):
I think that's so smart of you to put together so many
different passions of yoursbecause you know, I think
sometimes when you tie yourselfdown to something, then when it
starts to fade the excitement,or when you start to get bored
or it's stale, you have likedifferent places you can tap in
that you already know you love.
It's a really smart way to doit.
Danielle (15:37):
Yeah, and I also like still being able to learn from
all three of those levels.
With the business side, I mean,I have mentors, I do webinars,
I'm still learning aboutfinancing and balancing books
and all of that stuff.
With fitness, I mean we have tokeep our CEUs active, so every
two years we're having to submitthose.
But whenever I travel I'mpopping into studios, I'm seeing
(16:01):
what they're doing.
What are their members cravingthat maybe mine will start to
crave in a year or two, whoknows?
And then with the psychology,mental illness is being talked
about every single day andthere's new things happening.
I am huge on that.
Here I'm more focused onpeople's mental health than
their physical health.
I don't need you to walk aroundwith six packs knowing you have
(16:22):
depression.
I'd rather you have happinessand a belly full of yummy food
and hard work.
Obviously, the physical issuper important.
That's going to keep you out ofthe hospitals, it's going to
let you play with your grandkids.
But if I see that you're nothappy, then we need to scale
back and talk about somethingelse.
Brian (16:39):
When you point out about the dark room.
That was one of the things thatI really thought was really
encouraging.
When we started the cyclingclass, you said you know you
might be sitting around thinkingthat people are looking at you,
but nobody's looking at youbecause everybody's trying to
focus on what they're doing.
Correct, it helped put me atpeace.
I'm like that's so true.
A lot of other people areprobably thinking those same
things, like I don't want tocome to the fitness studio
(17:02):
because I'm going to be aroundall these people.
They're all going to bewatching me.
Shawna (17:05):
I'm going to look, stupid.
I'm going to look stupid.
Brian (17:07):
Yeah, a lot of people are probably going to be afraid of
that.
Danielle (17:14):
So what are some ways that you are kind of educating
people before they even come in?
Well, we, as you guys know, wecall once somebody even just
creates an account with us, sowe try to introduce ourselves,
(17:44):
no-transcript, that free class.
Then we're calling them again24 hours before for confirmation
.
We're asking them their shoesize If they're doing a spin
class.
We're letting them know aboutour strength room.
Bring your water bottle in, butit's cell phone free.
Try to change your shoes out inthe lobby, get into your
workout shoes and that's reallyjust to protect our floor and
parking lots are gross.
(18:04):
There's water from the nightbefore you don't know, like
who's spitting in there.
Brian (18:09):
Yeah, like just protect your shoes, protect our floor.
Danielle (18:13):
So we like to just really touch base and create
that relationship, even from adistance, and then when you walk
in, hopefully some anxiety hasalready been eased.
I have taught thousands offitness classes and I can't tell
you enough that nobody's evenlooking at me.
They're maybe glancing, but atthe end of the day if there's a
mirror in front of them, they'relooking at the mirror.
Shawna (18:32):
Yeah, I liked that feeling like, okay, I can just
focus on what I'm doing, I don'thave to think about anyone If
they're looking at me.
You know it's so dark.
I like that, yep, yep.
And there's so many fun thingshappening, like the lights and
the music, and you're dancing onthe platform.
Danielle (18:46):
Yeah, there's a lot.
Shawna (18:48):
I told Brian when we got home and listeners take this
with a grain of salt, but I madethe joke.
When we got home I saidDanielle was so good that I was
laughing, even when I was inintense pain.
Yes, I love that, and I meanintense pain, not really, but it
felt like that in the moment.
Danielle (19:04):
Sure, yeah, no, we want to keep it engaged in that
room.
I teach a lot off the bikebecause right now I'm just
teaching a lot of classes.
So I'm being really smart withmy body, really intentional.
But I've also been doing it along time.
So my younger instructors,they're not going to teach off
the bike as much.
I remember when I first startedteaching I was like I need to
(19:30):
stay on this bike the whole time.
I can't let it go.
But they will get there.
I know they will.
I've seen it happen with myother instructors at Roots.
But me at this point I know howmuch I'm teaching and I need to
just kind of get off that bikeand boogie and teach that way.
But it's only because I know Ihave two more classes tomorrow
or whatnot.
So not all of our instructorsdo it like that.
They're getting there and I'mlooking so forward to when they
are there, but right now they'rejust in their first year
(19:52):
journey, which I remember thosedays a while back.
Shawna (19:56):
So are a lot of your instructors brand new yes and no
.
Danielle (20:01):
So one of my spin instructors.
She taught spin back inColorado for a very well-known
franchise but she hadn't taughtin six years.
So it was really rebuilding hertrust in herself that she
hasn't lost it, because I thinkonce you're an instructor you
don't lose that juicer power.
And then two of my girls theystarted with me back in, I think
November shout out to Brookeand Kenzie never having taught
(20:24):
anything.
And we started in my garage, inmy backyard, with Christmas
lights.
We call it the Christmas lightand mosquito studio.
That's what it was.
Brian (20:34):
Well, now you know what you're cycling from, you're
trying to get away frommosquitoes, yes.
Danielle (20:39):
So when we finally had access to this room, it was
great.
At the end of the day, I canteach anybody to teach spin.
As long as you love music, youwant to learn more than just
spin.
So, yeah, it's thatpsychological connection, it's
the lights, it's the volume,it's everything.
And it's honestly easier for meto teach people how to teach
spin with no prior knowledgebecause it's not like trying to
(21:00):
take out old words or habits andcreating something new.
And then for strength, I dorequire all of my strength
coaches to have personaltraining or group fitness
certifications.
They're continuing ed becausewe're working with people's
bodies in different modalitiesin that room at the same time.
So it's really important for usto eye something that needs to
be fixed hop over, fix theirform or drop their weight factor
(21:22):
or add weight factor.
Sometimes someone's lifting toolight, so that instructor is
doing more walking around andcoaching.
I call that strength room themost affordable personal
training.
Brian (21:33):
What was the moment like when you decided okay, I want to
launch my own studio.
Danielle (21:37):
So I've been dreaming of this idea for Probably when I
first moved here in 2020.
It was right after Christmas2020.
I knew I was going to missRoots, I was going to miss that
boutique vibe.
I was also going to miss beinga manager, having that hat on.
But I was also new to Vero so Iknew it was really important
for me to build a name and areputation for myself and it did
(21:59):
kind of feel good not to havethat managerial hat, especially
we just went through COVID.
So we were keeping our studio,our fitness center, afloat for
the last six months InMassachusetts.
We didn't reopen anything untilJuly, so we were shut down for
a very long time.
So I knew I had to kind of divein.
I didn't even know if I wantedto continue working in fitness.
I didn't know where it wouldlead me.
(22:20):
So, you know, got a few yearsunder my belt as a personal
trainer here in Vero, taughtclasses.
Once I saw that my classes werehaving a line out the door 30
minutes before class began, acouple of my friends at the gym
I worked at were like Danielle,just do it, open that studio
again.
You already know what you cando.
Also, my best friend, jackie upnorth, who I used to work with
(22:43):
at Roots.
She built my website forresistance, so if you love our
website, thanks, jackie, yeahit's really nice.
Yeah, she was like okay, clearlyyou're not moving home anytime
soon, like I'm closing the dooron you on Roots, like I always
say, Roots will take you back.
She's like just open your ownstudio.
I would say, probably June2024,.
I just started doodling innotebooks Like I I didn't cancel
(23:07):
on any of my clients, it didn'taffect my employment, I was
showing up for work.
I didn't really talk to anybodyabout it.
I just wanted to check myselfand see do you really have this
in your mind and body and soul?
Cause I know it's a huge takeon.
I would go to the library andjust kind of sit in one of those
desks and have no distractions.
I do it without this logoactually in our Indian River
(23:29):
County library here in Vero.
Shout out to them and it justkind of rolled into what it is
now.
I got a mentor from FIT intheir women's program called
WeVenture.
It's completely free andsponsored by them.
So I had a mentor, named Sunday, that I could reach out to if I
had any questions.
We would have kind of bi-weeklycheck-ins through Zoom.
(23:50):
I started taking webinarsthrough Score just to learn,
like what is it like asking fora loan?
Through it all I learned.
It's really, really hard tostart a small business and the
world is against you.
First of all, to get financingyou have to be in business for
two years.
That doesn't make sense becauseyou're trying to start a
(24:13):
business.
Also, same thing with, likeloans and grants you kind of
have to prove yourself and showthese previous months in order
to even apply.
So you know, I was just kind ofnoodling it in the summer.
I knew I had a huge investmentfrom my grandparents and it was
originally, you know, to help mepay for college, put a down
payment on my house.
Luckily my dad paid for mycollege.
I had a ton of scholarshipsthat helped.
And then my boyfriend and Ibought our house from the
(24:35):
previous owners.
So they're kind of playing bankand we didn't have to put this
huge chunk of money down.
So I had this big pot of moneyjust kind of sitting there and
I'm like you know what, if worsecomes to worse, maybe I can tap
into it and get this projectoff the ground.
I went through the summer, justyou know, again, just
teeter-tottering on the idea.
I think, looking back, I neededthat push because I was always
(24:59):
thinking like, well, what aboutall my clients and everybody
that's loved my classes.
I don't want to, you know, pullthe rug out from under them.
Remix rug got pulled out underme.
I was home from my usual falltrip to New England and received
an email of termination from myemployer and they had heard I
eventually wanted to work formyself, which is fine.
(25:20):
I would have appreciated ameeting in person, but it was
funny.
I got the email and I was in aspin studio lobby in Rhode
Island and class was about tostart and I just strapped on my
shoes, took class with Jackie.
The instructor was soentertaining that for 45 minutes
I just sweat and wrote.
And again this brings me backto the psychological importance
of working out.
(25:40):
If I wasn't just about to workout, I could have been like
really mad or shaking or crying,and I didn't and I just took
the class, listened to someawesome music, had strangers
around me moving their body withme, and after class I looked at
Jackie and I was like well,you're a girl, unemployed, let's
go.
Luckily, too, I still use myaccountant in Western Mass.
(26:02):
So I called Julie and I saidhey, julie, I'm in town for
another few days.
Do you have any time to meetwith me.
I'm interested in pulling myinvestments and starting my own
business.
And she said, yep, come on intomorrow.
Oh, that's awesome.
So when I got back to Florida,it was just like the wheels were
on the ground.
Brian (26:19):
First, I want to say that's such an inspiring story,
especially for those that mightbe listening that have bigger
dreams and something similarlike that might happen.
First off, to get an email tolet you know you're gone.
That just shows that wasn't theright place for you because not
to value to actually sit downwith you and have a conversation
.
It just shows a lack of valueand they were scared, which also
is a sign that, hey, they knowyou're going to do really good
(26:41):
at that.
So, even though it doesn't looklike a blessing, even like that
email didn't look like ablessing to you, but look what
it's turned into.
Danielle (26:47):
Yes, absolutely.
And I think I needed that pushbecause, honestly, when you work
in fitness, you obviously lovepeople.
And I just kept thinking like,okay, when I do finally make
that leap, though, I feel so badfor my clients, like I've been
training some of them for threetires it's a connection that
can't really be replaced and Ijust kept thinking about them
and then it finally just made mesay you know what?
Nope, be selfish, take this andrun with it, and if they want
(27:11):
to see me again, they'll be back, absolutely.
So I think I wouldn't have beenin such a good place if I
didn't have such a supportsystem around.
Brian (27:20):
Well, my last question as we get ready to wrap up this
episode is there a story behindthat name?
Danielle (27:25):
So resistance is what we use in spin.
So that red knob, that's partof the bike.
When it adds to the right, it'sadding resistance, and when it
peels to the left, it's takingresistance off.
Also, the most generic term ofstrength training is resistance
training.
You're either resisting gravityor you're resisting a band or a
dumbbell or your own bodyweight.
(27:45):
You're resisting it fromfalling.
You're pushing through thefloor with certain exercises.
So I felt like that name waskind of perfect and I don't.
I wish I kept a diary, but Idon't remember the day where I
was like, oh my God, there's somany RE words.
But I remember at one point myboyfriend and I were at the pool
down in Hard Rock Hollywood, atthe casino, and I just busted
(28:07):
out my notepad on my phone andjust started writing words of RE
.
And I do specifically rememberthe day in Rhode Island we had
gone out after class like for adrink and we cheers and I was
like two rebellion women.
So we use the RE for that.
So there's so many fun words.
So we use the R-E for that.
So there's so many fun words.
Even every Friday I send outseven positive things to all my
(28:29):
staff that we did in a week andat the bottom of it I put a
definition of a word thatstarted with R-E.
So this past Friday wasreignite, so yeah, so now my
studio is able to brand the R-E.
Some people can just call meR-E instead of resistance.
I don't really care, but yeah,there's a lot of magical words
that start with Ari, and nowyou'll probably notice.
Shawna (28:48):
Yeah, exactly I love that.
That's.
Awesome.
Brian (28:51):
Well, this has been a great first episode.
So thank you, danielle.
Thank you, I'm really excitedabout getting into part two.
We're going to talk about theday-to-day and what that looks
like.
So if you guys have
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