Today we have our first co-founders on the podcast. It was so fun and enlightening to talk to Danielle and Wendy from sweatconnected. We hear from their backgrounds and how it led them to starting a fitness company in the middle of the pandemic (talk about being bold!). They even get me emotional discussing how the first class was cathartic and ignited them to bring their clients and colleagues together. I get an overview of what sweatconnected offers, their biggest hurdles (I feel SO many of these), and how the support of their friends and family (especially each other) helped them through. Finally, they talk about the emotional shifts of being an entrepreneur, what they bring to their clients now that they are in charge, and how ownership is empowering and terrifying!
I hope you all enjoy this episode as much as I did. Make sure to check out their website, app, Instagram and Facebook.
Apple Podcast | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Radio | Google Podcast
Full episode transcript
Dana: Are you at the thought of missing a single one of your baby’s first, but no idea how to give up the security that your 9-5 brings? My names Dana Graham and I had no idea how to escape that viscous 40 hour work week, until I did! As a wife of a traveling husband and a mom to two tiny humans, I made the terrifying and totally bizarre leap from health insurance broker to successful newborn and family photographer. All with the amazing craziness of a two year old and the newborn in two. But I’m not the only one. I’m so glad you’re joining me as I chat with other moms who took the leap into entrepreneurship and created the ultimate best of both worlds life doing it all Amidst the Chaos.
Okay, hi everybody and welcome to another episode of Amidst the Chaos, I’m Dana Graham, your host and today I have two really exciting guests. This is actually our first double interview with a kind of Co-business owner situation going on so I would love to welcome Wendy and Danielle from sweatconnected today. So, Wendy, Danielle, thank you for being here.
Danielle and Wendy: Hi. Hi,
Wendy: Thanks for having us. Yeah, thanks for having us.
Dana: So I’m going to let each of you kind of tell your story a little bit independently and then how you guys came together so Wendy, why do you want to kick us off, give us an idea of where you were, how you became a fitness instructor, and then how you and Danielle kind of got together and how this took off.
Wendy: Sure. Well, I’ve been in the fitness industry for about 10 years now it’s actually a second career for me. I started off after graduating college, in the event industry and was doing event planning, corporate event planning for years, and then had my daughter, who is almost 16 now so that’s sort of when I started to make a shift I was a stay at home mom for a bit. And that was fabulous and probably you know, the most important and best job that I’ve ever had, And then had my son a few years later, and, you know, always wanted to have movement and fitness as a part of my career. And to be honest, back when I was working as an event planner, it didn’t really exist. There was personal training, and you know group fitness but it sort of wasn’t what I was looking for, and at the time when I had my son group fitness, boutique fitness really started to be a thing it was really just at the starting point. And, you know, having kids, and wanting to spend more time with them I sort of shifted gears a little bit I got certified and started teaching and you know it was early mornings and kind of crazy schedules but it allowed me to be home with my kids and pick them up from school and work from home and it was really the best of both worlds. And the boutique fitness industry, specifically here in New York is what led me to Danielle. I met her, about 10 years ago she actually hired me at the studio that we used to work at. And we became close friends, and that’s how we sort of connected.
Dana: You know, your point about fitting in your instruction points in the early morning and after school and still being able to pick up your kids, that’s what so many people are looking for – to have that flexibility to kind of have the best of both worlds and do both things. It doesn’t make you any less tired though. So Danielle let’s, let’s hear your backstory now.
Danielle: Yeah sure, so I grew up thinking group fitness was just like what you do. My mom actually owned a studio group fitness studio, like step aerobics, the whole thing, back in the 90s. And I used to take her class when I was a kid, and I just, I’ve always loved group fitness, it’s just in my blood and my dad is a jazz musician so music and fitness have always been something that I grew up with. I did figure skating and dance growing up and went to school for college, for theater and realized like, while I was in college that I wanted nothing to do with that. Im type A and I like schedules and I like to plan so, I started teaching spin and it was ‘07–’08, like right before boutique fitness became a big thing and a colleague of mine where I was teaching at crunch, which is a big box gym referred me to flywheel (which I’d never heard of) which was, you know, brand new competitor to SoulCycle and somehow I got hired there. I was shocked that I got a job because I had no idea what I was doing. And while I was there, you know, I went from teaching to being more on the corporate side of the business and helping oversee, talent development. That’s where Wendy, and really worked together on that end of it, and I was there for 10 years then made the decision after the birth of my second son, that it was just time for me to move on. I kind of had done what I wanted to do there and then I started my own personal training business and got a really great job, the week before COVID hit, and that was that. So yeah so that brought us to you know to the birth of so I connected..
Dana: So one quick question before we talk about when COVID hit so when you said you you landed a job. Are you talking about a personal training client?
Danielle: No, so I kept personal training clients through my last like year or two at our at flywheel where we previously were and I landed a job at Equinox actually like a corporate job and talent development which is really what I love to do, you know, teaching always but also just having a hand in mentoring and developing instructors. But obviously, yeah week later, like, locked down started and that was it.
Dana: oh my gosh. Wow. So tell me a little bit about what happened in New York right when COVID hit in your industry, like how exactly was it impacted?
Wendy: Oh, it was completely shut down. I mean, there was so much talk about, you know, restaurants and theater, and schools // teachers being out of work, and it was the exact same thing for fitness. I mean the majority of what fitness instructors do is in person. You know yes there’s a whole online component to it and I think that was a small piece of the puzzle. But yeah, it sort of made everybody really have to shift and pivot and pretty quickly.
Dana: So the two of you were obviously friends at this point and how long did it take before COVID hit before you two got connected and we’re like, Hey, we need to make something happen, we’ve got to do something.
Danielle: Well, I started teaching online and brought my personal training clients online immediately like the next day. I started teaching, spin — a former client of mine suggested it and I thought it sounded like a terrible idea, just because if you’re like a group fitness person like we live and breathe being with a group of people and that it’s not just, it’s not, it’s, it’s not something that you get that endorphin rush from just doing it alone in your house that’s not why we do it. You know, if we did that if that’s what we wanted to do we would just jump rope in the basement. It’s the feeling of being a part of a community and being around other people so this was suggested that I do it and I did it. Wendy was there in this first class like 30 something people and because it was on zoom, which was the only option that, it was two way and so we all finally like we saw each other, a lot of us for the first time since, you know, the pandemic started. I mean, since lockdown, this was only three weeks into it, so it was pretty early on but it’s still like we’re people who do this every single day. When you don’t have your fitness family for a few weeks it’s a loss. So, this was a bit cathartic, I would say, to be together again. And really soon after that, I launched 12 classes a week — I was like okay well here we go. And then very soon Wendy started to teach as well and then from there we knew that we were going to create something bigger.
Dana: Wow. That is crazy and I’m sure you all felt backed into a corner. I mean, at that point, but it is nice that there was kind of a way for you to pivot and I’m just so impressed that you did it so quickly. So, what was the idea behind the actual business you are going to build? Obviously you would start doing these classes but what made you think “okay, so let’s get together and make this into something even bigger” and have, you know, kind of a full time pivoted business.
Wendy: I just think we saw it as an opportunity, and I have to say that that first class Danielle taught, it was emotional. I mean she said cathartic and that’s the perfect word for it but it was emotional, it was, you know, that that feeling that you would have never expected to get over zoom, and it was sort of that moment where we were like you know what this could work. You know bring connection but also bring our colleagues and, our work family together, and we can we can build something where we’re all still doing what we love to do and getting paid for it. It was just this epiphany where we said, you know, this is an opportunity where we’re not bound by a brand and a method where we can really take our extremely talented friends and colleagues and let them showcase themselves in their own creative way. And that was so empowering and I think it’s still empowering for them and for us to be able to have such talents doing what they do and doing it at such a level that it just comes right across the screen every single class.
Dana: Yeah and as you say it, I mean Im getting choked up listen to you talk about it because just remembering how lonely those first even six weeks were to be able to see somebody people that are so excited to do something with you and together. I’m so happy for y’all, I’m glad that you were able to pivot and give people that opportunity because I don’t think a lot of people had it. And I’m thrilled that it’s still going on to this day so give me a little bit of an overview of what your business actually does like top to bottom.
Danielle: Yeah, so sweatconnected offers a variety of classes; spin classes which we call RIDE, power classes which are high intensity classes or boot camp or strength based classes and bare classes. The idea is that each instructor brings their signature method and the best of what they do to our community, and all of our classes are two way, meaning we see you and you see us, and you can see the group if you wish. And there’s interaction both ways as little or as much as the participant wants. You can, you know, be in one place, on our platform and get a well rounded workout with instructors that really care about you, which I think is a big differentiator.
Dana: Well, and I am interested too because in doing some prep for this conversation, I don’t see any places that offer this two way interaction on the level that you all do. So to me, that’s a huge differentiator in your business versus a lot of other things that we have going on, obviously, you guys are very plugged into the fitness community. And I am not so much with you with my you know chick fil a several days a week but from what I’ve seen on the back end, to me is a huge standout reason to join a program like yours because I don’t, I don’t see it going both ways anywhere else. Are there anything before you that had done something like this that made you think hey we can make that happen or was it kind of like, Oh, this is a perfect niche spot in the market that we can kind of overtake.
Wendy: I think we sort of fell into it. I think it just, it was, it was from us just doing it on our own and saying, okay, we just have to have to go with this because this is working and let’s see where it goes. I think it was correct me if I’m wrong Danielle but I think it was non existent before before any of us know for sure. Yeah, I mean we have extremely talented, you know colleagues in our fitness world that are that are also teaching on zoom and other instructors have done it as well. And, you know, it’s definitely something that I have no understanding of existing before. COVID.
Dana: Yeah, and I and I feel like, you know, back at the beginning this might have been something that was like oh well this will work for now but once people go back to real life. I don’t know that people are like everybody’s gonna feel comfortable going back to real life in gyms and in group fitness classes, anytime soon. I mean even still almost a year later I, I would be nervous, I would be a little nervous. And so, it’s amazing what you guys have done so. Other than that are there what is what what’s kind of the main obstacle that you guys have had to overcome in starting sweat connected.
Wendy: I think the one one main thing is, is just wearing all of the hats and finding and figuring out as we navigate, you know how to do everything and learn everything as we go, and also how to navigate the space and time when we need to step away. Yes, very much so you know didn’t Danielle and I, you know, obviously we were teaching, and we both held corporate positions at flywheel. So, you know, we knew aspects of the business, but we didn’t run the business. So, you know, this has been a huge, you know, sort of a curveball for us. And it’s just sort of, you know, jump right in and learn as you go and do all of the things and still, you know, be a mom and a wife and a friend and a sister and, you know, all of the other things that you know all working moms have to balance.
Dana: Yeah, and I think that multiple hat mentality is so hard and COVID made it even harder, but it’s something that everybody has I mean like you said working moms if you’re working for a corporation as an employee or running your own business, I mean there is always that level of crazy juggling that’s going on, but what’s going on with your kids right now with COVID Are they all home are they in school like what’s happening. How does your day to day working life look with your family in tow?
Wendy: My kids are working in their bedrooms or random positions around the house depending on where they are and what they want to do, except when I’m teaching. So, my setup is sort of in our living room. And if you’ve ever been to a group fitness class instructors are allowed. You know, I’m screaming for you know 45 minutes twice a day, and they are sitting on zoom praying that their teacher doesn’t call on them while I’m instructing they can hear me out so yeah they sort of cringe for a couple hours during the day but, you know, we’ve made it work and they understand so that’s that’s my situation.
Danielle: The cool, the coolest mom on zoom. My, so I have, I have little kids I have a four and a half year old and a 19 month old two boys and so we actually moved out of the city, in, in June, so we spent the first, you know they were in a daycare and not shut down in March, and since then we moved out of Brooklyn spent a few months, my parents have a little place up in the Catskills so we were up there my husband took a few months off of work, so that I could work, and then we just we moved in September to North North Jersey. And so once we moved here in September, they went back to my little ones in a daycare and an older ones in pre k. So, I have this now knowing what the other side is of, you know, eight months or whatever with no childcare, like the luxury of having some normalcy during the week where I have blocks of time where I can actually do stuff.
Dana: For now, where your family’s supportive of you guys kind of branching off and starting your own projects.
Danielle: Yeah, I mean, so, so for me like I left, I left, where I was at flywheel like and then was at a job that was so not right for me and then, you know, all while I was personal training and loving that but that was not enough to sustain me and I, and you know I started with this Equinox gig which I was super excited about and then you know it’s not like we had such a choice but on the other side like just full disclosure like I make three times what my husband makes like I couldn’t mess around with this so I had to make it work and I had to I had to figure out a way to do it and I’ve always, you know, always felt like the long term goal career wise I just figured it would happen. A number of years from now would be to be a business owner. So, you know, in some ways, that it forced our hands is, is kind of great And so yeah, my husband was was super supportive and he works in retail actually and has been like, very helpful in helping with merge and because he’s, he’s done some management like he’s helped with, you know, payroll stuff so it’s it’s an Wendy can speak to her whole family’s involved into but it’s really been an all hands on deck. Everybody in the pot, kind of, kind of situation.
Dana: Yeah, and that I mean that’s important to have from your husband, but the rest of your family as well as so critical. I feel like, you know, everybody I’ve talked to had these interviews with so far it’s been like, yes, my husband was totally on board. Yes, they were. My family was in, they were good to go and I I don’t know that I would have been able to do it, or stuck it out without that so i you know i think it’s I think it’s important to if they’re not on board to get them on board if that’s what you’re going to do because you need that you need that support so Wendy, Wendy, tell me about. Tell me about your family.
Wendy: Same I mean, we full support from, from my husband to my kids to to my mother, you know, we were, Danielle and I were, you know, testing out logos and and you know trying out names and my mom would give us her opinion on it. My husband is actually handling our legal so he’s you know fully jumped on the the sweatconnected team. You know, my kids think it’s great. I think being in the situation where, I’ve found and so many other people found themselves suddenly out of work, and then taking that and shifting it to a new business. I mean, it’s just, you know, it’s, it’s exciting, for my kids to see something happened where it can really be a negative and really sort of stop you in your tracks and then your ability to say, okay, you know, listen, life goes on, I have to shift this and And now’s the time to get creative. So I think if they’ve thought it’s pretty cool how this whole thing has sort of come to be so.
Dana: The examples that people are setting for their kids and even the moms who are working from home in corporate jobs, your kids don’t see work normally ever like ever in their whole life they really they know you go to work okay mommy leaves and I go to school or wherever they go. But they don’t actually see you doing the work and I think just having that I mean obviously it can be annoying with little kids because they just want your attention but I feel like, you know, for your age children with the old on the older spectrum I feel like this is just something that’s going to be set them up so well for the rest of their life and it’s a huge positive of of this whole pandemic and everything that’s happened for everyone. And especially you guys since you’ve started your own thing. So, that being said, Give me a little bit of, of how you have all dealt with the emotions of starting a new business because something that I have kind of worked with as I’ve grown into this is like you really realize okay like the buck stops here, like we are the last, you know, the last kind of line of defense. In terms of getting stuff done I would love for each of you to kind of tell me a little bit of how you’ve handled it emotionally moving into, the CEO role, but then also the fact that you have each other and how you feel as a team. So, Wendy, why don’t you start us off.
Wendy: I mean I couldn’t do this without Danielle. it’s been a real gift to number one, work with somebody that I respect so much and love so much. You know, as I said, Daniel hired me at flywheel and we had the opportunity to work together there and we became very close friends. We were neighbors, our families, love each other and, taking it to this next level with her has been nothing but amazing. You know, it has its highs, it has its lows, we both feel them. And, you know, I think having a partnership like that makes it, it’s so much easier or not, maybe not easier but better to navigate with, because you know you’re not alone, you know you’re like the other person is feeling the same thing that you are. We have to remind each other constantly like, okay, we’re not going to email anymore tonight like this is it, it’s 1030, what are you doing, let’s put this down, and you know. or let’s not talk about work and let’s like talk about, you know, real stuff our family, what shows we’re watching, what music we found, you know stuff that friends do. It’s been great, but it’s, you know, owning your own business and sort of having it just sort of develop organically has its challenges as, you know, we talked about earlier but it’s caused a lot of growth. I think the emotions on that shift, maybe, I don’t know, minute to minute.
Danielle: Oh boy, yeah I mean, she said it all but like to have somebody that you have zero doubts about as a partner and that you trust with everything and you know that you have each other’s backs makes everything easier than I think if, if one of us was doing this where we would just doubt everything we were doing. Because if one of us has a doubt we just ask each other and we go check it and that’s such a gift to have. And in terms of the challenge and the emotion, it’s just endless like you can’t ever be done for a day. You’re never like ‘I crossed everything off the list’. When I go get my kids, my mind will just be there, that’s my biggest struggle – it’s like well if I cross over everything off the list there’s next week’s list I could just bump up like why would I stop? So, thank goodness we have each other and then the other thing with this partnership with the emotional piece is like, I’ve found that, you know, if I’m having a tough day and I’m feeling really anxious or, like, upset about something, you know, Wendy and I talk constantly but we’ll just be like having some sort of like check in and and one of us will say something and we’ll just be like hysterically laughing and it’s like I’m here, like it’s just when you know what — that’s the beauty of this partnership and what makes you know the rest of it, it just gut checks us when when we get carried away by,, you know, the lists of to dues or whatever it is.
Dana: You know, there isn’t somebody that’s there to help catch you if you’re about falling you have to figure out ways to kind of cope and deal with that and I love that your coping mechanism is to have each other because I think, you know, a lot of women don’t have that and they have to find their own community. But what’s even cooler about you guys is that you have each other but then you also have your whole fitness community I mean I’m sure there’s not a, you know, and obviously I don’t know this for a fact but I’m sure there’s not a class that you get on that you don’t share some sort of personal detail about how you’re feeling or how you know how your day is going or your life at that point and you have people that are staring there, you know, back at you in your class that are there with you so I think that that community you guys have formed is really pretty amazing.
Danielle: Yeah, for sure.
Dana: So on that note, what who have you found your kind of main demographic to be throughout all this as of right now,
Wendy: I think for us, at least in the beginning, it was a lot of our former clients and still is, our former clients, and it continues to grow word of mouth has been amazing and we have our incredible community of clients to thank for that and we are so grateful for it every day. And, yeah, it’s sort of this whole, you know, classes on zoom has given us an opportunity not only for them to sort of see like inside our homes but we get to see inside their homes and I think for the people who, you know, listen to, Danielle and I’ve known some of our clients for you know about 10 years now and yeah we knew them well but now seeing them in their home with their kids and their dogs or like, you know, the doorbell rings. You know all this stuff it’s almost given us like a new insight to them, and it feels a little bit closer because it’s a little bit more intimate as strange as that may sound so, yeah, even, even for people who we have just met. Due to this platform, the rate of which these friendships in this community grew is sort of mind blowing.
Dana: Yeah and you know I think it’s funny that you’ve met all these people through what you’ve done before, but you’ve now created this whole new vision of each of them and version of what you you see them as because you’re getting a whole deep dive into their daily life. So, with you guys, starting this obviously you are kind of leaders regardless I mean if you have to lead a group fitness class there is some leadership bone in your body that’s already existed for sure because I don’t know that I could have done that before. I started a business that’s putting myself out there pretty far in my book but what kind of shifted with you all going from, you know, leading a group fitness class and also being employees of different companies to then, you know, being the CEO and boss of all of your whole entire operation. So was there something that, you know, was surprising to you about that change or were you kind of prepared for going into that new role.
Danielle: I think we were prepared because you know in both of our former lives, our roles were in leadership in not only like mentoring other instructors but but managing people and managing instructors, which is a whole separate thing, because we come off, we meaning instructors as like super confident but we’re all extremely sensitive human beings. So, the emotional the EQ is is really important and Wendy has that in spades. So I think, you know, the only difference I would say in having this in being in charge of our own business versus part of a bigger organization is it’s just that much more important that people are treated well, because it’s on us, and that’s the most important thing is that the people that work for us, and with us and our clients, all feel like they’re treated with respect and, and wonderfully and so I think when it’s your own business, you just feel, you know that much more invested in making sure that, that, that holds,
Dana: Which you know is, so great and I didn’t pose it this way but that really is advice for anybody that’s thinking about starting their own business and that’s something that anybody can do you don’t have to have crazy extra personal, I guess interpersonal skills, but you don’t have to have any sort of crazy extroverted. Just to be able to treat your clients with kindness and the respect that they deserve. I feel like that’s something that as a leader is just easy to do, no matter what type of personality you have and people say oh I’m not a leader I can’t start a business, I could never run my own company and be my own boss but there’s so many basic things that you don’t even realize are the most valuable as a business owner and I think that’s absolutely one of them and I can tell just by everything I’ve seen from you guys that you clearly take that to heart big time. So, Wendy What about she was there any major shift in moving from employee to business woman that you want to share
Wendy: Business woman, ha! Um, I think you know the ownership of the whole thing, it’s, empowering and it’s terrifying all at the same time. And as I said earlier, you know, there’s a shift minute to minute. You know, things come up and you feel like you’re on a roll for a day and then something, you know, new comes along and takes you, you know, totally out of, the lane that you were in, and it’s just I think really learning to roll with it all. Knowing when to to ask for help, which I’m so thankful that Danielle is there for and, you know, as we said earlier like having each other has been huge. So, yeah, I think just, you know, number one, treating everybody as, Danielle said, you know, our clients and and our community who teach on sweat connected as our, our equals, as our peers, you know, with respect with kindness. And also, you know, balancing, this is an actual business. So it’s sort of you know that that pendulum of keeping that balance it’s, it’s eye opening let’s just put it that way.
Dana: Yes, it certainly is so I feel like you guys have given us a lot to think about in terms of balancing your personal life and your professional life and I appreciate your candidness because I think just seeing that everybody else kind of has the same struggle is really important because it makes a lot of business owners feel a lot less alone when they realize that everybody’s dealing with it.
Danielle: Yeah, totally.
Dana: So, just before we get done here I just want to kind of talk to you guys quickly about your day to day quality of life, pre business owner, versus business owner,
Wendy: Well it’s, I think we have to just address the lives of any fitness instructor. There is this whole sort of saying I think it came a few years ago that it’s not nine to five, it’s five to nine, and that is the truth when it comes to fitness. If you think about it, you know, when people want to do their personal training or get their classes in it’s either before work or after work so we are the ones who are waking up that much earlier to give these people what they need to kick start their day, or to wind down from their day. So, you know, as I said earlier, it’s great because especially you know, where Danielle is and having little ones which is where I was when I first started in the fitness industry. I was up early anyway so it was like, Okay, well you know, make some time while my husband’s home, so I can go and teach a bunch of classes, be home you know for pickup and all this and that. So, you know, that was, the first sort of career shift for me but now you know COVID really switching everything and then, the sweatconnected sort of emerging from that. It’s a little more even. And I think, at least for me, my quality of life is so much better right now, I’m actually getting a full solid night’s sleep, which I don’t think I ever got because Danielle and I were teaching anywhere from 10 to 12 classes a week, doing our corporate position, and picking up the kids from school and making dinner and doing all that our days ended so so late and then we were waking up so early. That’s been removed and this is sort of given it a little bit more of an evenness. Also, you know, being in control of our own days and knowing what our max has sort of been a nice leveling Danielle.
Danielle: I’m even happier. So you know so for me, this is fantastic because of all the reasons when he said but yeah like I just love this work, like I love teaching, I always have loved teaching that’s been the one constant but all of this other stuff on the side like, even when it’s really hard like it’s hard on our terms, right and you own it, and we own we. It’s like, it’s hard but we own the hard. And it’s very satisfying to me. I mean, I was running ragged all over the city. I have always hated the subway so that life of the subway getting stuck and you’re like am I gonna make it my, you know anxiety was always through the roof from running around and so not commuting has been really really good for my mental health. And then in terms of seeing my kids, they’re like five minutes away I get my car and I drive to get them and I know exactly when I’m going to get there and I see them earlier. I see them in the morning, I see them right before I teach, even if I teach at eight o’clock like I would usually leave my house at 630 in the morning, because you never know what’s going to happen there, and you want to be there 30 minutes early to check your sound and to see you’re not running and you’re prepared. And so you know one class is really like three hours of work. So, including preparation and everything, this morning I taught at eight so I woke up at breakfast, got my kids ready, made them breakfast, hung out with them and then 15 minutes before class I just went downstairs. So, the time that I’m getting back with them, especially in this little kid phase where I felt like I was missing a lot is has been invaluable.
Dana: Yeah, I think that’s so great and what you said about yes there’s just as much stress, but the fact that you own the stress is so much different and something that you want to be doing and something that you believe in. So I think that’s also been an underlying concepts and starting this podcast is that, yeah, your life is still stressful I mean I didn’t, my life is still stressful 100% but I’m passionate about what I’m doing and it makes me feel so much more fulfilled going to bed, even if I had a stressful day than it would have if I was working for something that wasn’t really my own right. Yeah, so quick one off question that I just thought about as you guys were talking, have you seen the time of day, that people want to be working out shift. Since, COVID.
Danielle: Yes.
Dana: Yeah? So what is it, what does it really look like now timewise.
Danielle: Well, the people that were taking classes it pre COVID at like 830/ 930, they’re still consistent, for the most part, but the people that were taking class pre work are like hell no. So people are just having a lot more trouble getting up and getting in working out but they also don’t necessarily have to if they’re working from home and can be more flexible. So big shifts to early mornings, used to be a very prime time for fitness. It was like you know the 6/7am were a prime time slot and so it was like 530 / 6:30pm, at least in, you know, New York City. And so we’ve seen a real change from that that early morning diehard exerciser
Dana: Agreed and are they working out during the day now are they working out on their lunch or are they moving kind of into that evening slot I
Danielle: Think more than mid mornings.
Wendy: Yeah, I think everything is sort of shifted to that, that mid morning I think, early you know I mean, we used to have 545 and 6am classes at flywheel and I think those have sort of shifted to seven 8am, and I think people who, you know, and then there are people who are still working out midday but I think they’ve sort of shifted it down to I mean there’s also, you know, the ability to when you’re home and doing this from home it’s like, you can jump right in your own shower and it’s I mean it’s sort of made everything so much more efficient so you know those morning workouts I think became a little bit more doable, and especially if you don’t have to wake up at, you know, 545 and we were waiting for them.
Dana: Right, right. I think it’s funny all the little things that get affected that you don’t really think about, you know that if and who knows when things are ever going to go back to how they used to be. I think everybody’s just getting used to this. This new normal that we’re having right so well. Danielle, Wendy thank you guys so so much for coming on I’m legitimately honored and it was so nice to be able to talk to you guys and get a fresh perspective, especially for, you know, someone in a partnership and starting out, I think this has just been really exciting for, I think it’s gonna be exciting for everybody to hear so where can can we find you online? it’s going to be in the show notes for anybody that’s a visual learner, like me or if you just want to be able to click a link but tell us where we can find you
Danielle: Sure! First, thanks for having us. We have our website, sweatconnected.com, so pretty simple. We have an app, which we’re thrilled about, so if you go into the app store, you can just look up sweatconnected and from that app you can book and see our schedule. And then we’re on Instagram at sweat.connected.
Dana: So awesome. Okay, well thank you guys so much again and I am looking forward to hearing everybody’s feedback from this episode so again check them out online and give us a rating and review if you haven’t already and we’d love to hear any of the feedback that any of our listeners have so thanks guys, so much again and we will talk to you soon.
Wendy: Thanks Dana!
Danielle: Thanks!
Dana: I’m so honored you spent any minutes of your day listening to me babble about living this entrepreneurial life amidst the chaos of any mom’s normal day to day. If you love what you’ve heard and need more snippets of knowledge about this mom boss life, head over to our website at amidst the chaos podcast, calm for show notes and links to anything mentioned in today’s episode, if you’re really feeling inspired, it would mean the world to me and my family if you take the time to read them with you. Thanks for joining me, amidst the chaos.
leave a comment!