Franchise QB

Episode 66: Julie Cartwright- President, Pvolve

• Mike Halpern • Season 1 • Episode 66

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In this episode of the Franchise QB Podcast, host Mike Halpern speaks with Julie Cartwright, President of Pvolve, about her journey in the fitness industry and the unique approach of Pvolve. 

They discuss the importance of franchising for growth, maintaining brand integrity, and the impact of clinical studies on the business. Julie shares insights on the qualities sought in franchise owners and the multi-revenue stream model that supports franchisee success. 

The conversation also highlights the partnership with Jennifer Aniston and the significance of doing what you love in entrepreneurship.

Takeaways

-Julie Cartwright's diverse background in fitness and media shaped her leadership at Pvolve
-Pvolve's method combines functional movement with resistance training for optimal results
-The company has achieved significant milestones since its inception in 2017
-Franchising has been a crucial strategy for Pvolve's growth and community building
-Clinical studies provide a competitive edge and validate Pvolve's effectiveness
-Jennifer Aniston's partnership has significantly boosted Pvolve's visibility and credibility
-Successful franchise owners need passion, business acumen, and community involvement

https://pvolvefranchise.com/

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Mike Halpern, CAFC
mike@franchiseqb.com

This is the Franchise QB Podcast, where we empower entrepreneurs to win big in franchising. We huddle up weekly to educate our audience about the most successful small business model ever created. Franchise it! Welcome to the Franchise QB podcast. I'm your host, Mike Halpern, a 20 year industry veteran and entrepreneur. My mission is for listeners to achieve their American dreams of creating wealth and independence through franchise ownership. Every week we speak with franchisees, franchisors or vendors that support the industry. Thank you for joining us and let's get started. Joining us in the huddle today is Julie Cartwright, President of Pvolve. Welcome to the show, Julie. Thanks so much for having me, Mike. Happy to be here. Great to have you. So as the president of Pvolve, your responsibilities include spearheading the brand's overall vision and growth strategy, financial objectives, and investment priorities. You also oversee operations, marketing, all sales functions. franchise development, as well as new biz dev for Pvolve's global business ventures. That is a lot of responsibilities. Before we discuss Pvolve, tell us a little bit about your background and why you decided to join Pvolve back in 2017. Yeah, I don't know that it was a deliberate choice that I was like seeking something different, but I had about 18 years of really product development in the entertainment space. I worked for Stars and then Stars was purchased by Lionsgate. And I managed a portfolio of anywhere from 30 to 40 films a month that were being released, marketed to niche audiences, sold to big bucks retail. So, you know, I certainly understood how to position a product for a particular audience. However, I was also the GM, the general manager for our fitness division. So I was in fitness since, gosh, 20 to 2000. I've just been in fitness. I worked with personalities like Tracy Anderson. I mean, I'm gonna really age myself, but back in the VHS days, I worked with Donna Richardson, Crunch, Weight Watchers, all sorts of brands really taking their content, producing that content, and then packaging it on VHS, then DVD. than digital over those 18 years. So that's really my background. So fitness is definitely a part of my career since day one. And then there was a founder, a young founder, Rachel Katzman, who had an amazing idea. We can talk about that in a second. And she was looking for somebody to really start the company. And my name came up and the rest is history. We can talk a little bit about that too. That's great. And it's kind of cool that your background combines media and fitness. think that really tees you up to be a great leader at this organization. tell us a little bit. You mentioned Rachel. How did Pvolve get started and what is your current role in its growth? Rachel Katzman, she was a young woman about 23 years old living in New York City. She grew up as an entrepreneur's daughter. So she sat around the kitchen table talking about what she was gonna do one day, the businesses that she was gonna build. So she's definitely had that mindset, really ambitious. And she was bouncing around from boutique fitness to boutique fitness when she was 23. And she couldn't even recognize herself when she looked in the mirror. She was definitely seeking more of an aesthetic, like a lifted butt, really toned core, defined arms. but she was really powering through the pain. She had a lot of back pain. She was not wanting to show up for workouts because they would deplete her. And she was introduced to functional movement, which functional movement is basically more mimicking the way that you move in your everyday life. And she was introduced to that. And all of a sudden she not only got the body that she was looking for, but she felt better than she'd ever felt. She had more energy. her back pain started to really go away. She was diagnosed with scoliosis and she's like, oh my gosh, this is life-changing. I've got to really lean in on this type of movement and bring it to a much bigger global audience. That's just the way she thinks. And she was young and she knew that she needed a partner. My name had come up, fitness is a pretty small. like overall industry and I was lucky that my name came up and I kind of dodged that for maybe a year because I was really happily employed. But then I met her in person after a red eye from LA and I just heard her story and it was really at the end of sort of CrossFit era where a lot of people were getting injured. My husband, I was 40 at the time, my husband had just had shoulder surgery, even though he had lived a really actively inclined life, but he had had a lot of like jarring physical movement to his shoulder. I knew the importance of looking good and feeling confident, but also really more importantly, feeling good in your everyday. And I just couldn't say no to her. So I decided to do a side hustle with her for a year and we started P-PAL. That's awesome. So I want to kind of tap into the method because you mentioned Rachel had tried a bunch of things and she was able to kind of put together a program that was really unique. So tell us a little bit about the Pvolve method and how it's unique compared to other fitness modalities. Yeah. So Pvolve is functional movement and resistance based training together. That's really important because we've got a lot of clinical studies around results and it's always involves functional movement, is really moving in three planes of motion, really focusing on your flexibility and mobility. I always move around when I'm sort of talking about this because it's just so incredible. instead of just going in a forward and backward, you sort of movement, you're moving in all three planes of motion. It's really training you for your like everyday activities. And then we pair that with our resistance space. patented pieces of equipment, small portable pieces of equipment that are pretty mighty. And that functional movement and the resistance-based training together really gives you these unbelievable results. So everything you would expect, again, the lifted butt, the toned core. but so much more and we've got clinical studies to prove it. Everything from balance to actually improve strength and development of lean muscle mass, especially in women 40 plus, quality of life function of your body. So Mike, if you're like a downhill skier and as we age, it's like you're trying to protect yourself from injury. you know, really building that strength in your joints is, critically important for you to live the life that you deserve to live as you age. Yeah, that's great. And I see there's a huge market for that. And there's lots of people, 40 plus that are looking for exactly that. They want to live their life and they want to be healthy and they want to be mobile. And it sounds like this method enables that, which is really cool. So tell us a little bit. you mentioned 2017 when you joined, can you share some key milestones in the evolution of the Pvolve system? yeah. Wow, there was a lot of them. loved how you pointed out all the things that I do for the company. But back then I also plunged the toilet, found the real estate. You just do it all when you're starting a company. And I'm really proud of those days and the grit that we had. I think some of the milestones, mean, certainly November of 2017, hustling and really starting the e-commerce site and the digital streaming service. Because what our business model is, We obviously franchise, we've got in-person studio locations, we've got an entire global digital subscription service so you can access our content anywhere that you're at. And then we've also got patented pieces of resistance equipment that go hand in hand with the method. So when you're an in-person studio member, you actually have full access to the digital. membership, which we believe is fundamental for retention and this ability that you don't have to have disruption, whether my kid is sleeping and I can't get out or there's four feet of snow or I'm traveling and I can still have my practice. So I think some of the milestones is, mean, November 7th of 2017, we started the company officially and like ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, know, these orders from all over the world. We certainly knew that we had. interest in what it is that we were building and that was the fact that you deserve to look good, but you absolutely deserve to live well and have your body feel good both when you wake up and when you go to bed. And then we've, you know, we've launched other patented pieces of equipment over the years, which really rounds out our system. We've gotten into clinical studies in 2019. We've been in three clinical studies with profound results. We built an entire clinical board. We've got four doctors and prestigious doctors that sit on our board that work with our highly certified trainers. We started franchising in 2019. I you know, Mike, it's been like, I can't believe it. Jennifer Aniston joined the company as an owner. mean, there's just been a lot crazy. I want to get into all that stuff. It all sounds really, really interesting. You guys have done a lot in eight years, that's for sure. So let's start with the franchising side. you did decide at some point, you said 2019, so two years in to adopt a franchising model. How has that kind of contributed to the growth of the company? Oh my gosh, that is Rachel and my favorite part of the company. First of all, we started more digitally native, which is a little bit different than other boutique fitness offerings. But we talked very early on in 2018 that we needed to have a in-person community. We fundamentally believe that that was the way that we were going to spread awareness that this method not only works, but it's something you should be doing. So I talked to Rachel very early on. were, Rachel and I were very focused on building the brand, creating efficacy behind it, getting in clinical studies, having a visual identity. And we felt that watching ourselves as entrepreneurs build the early stages of this company that we women entrepreneurs to really be running these brick and mortar small businesses in local communities that they're really invested in. It was a little crazy for us to bring up to our investor that, know, like, let's, let's do, let's do franchising when we were running a really highly profitable digital only business, but we've never looked back. We've awarded 65 locations. have about 18 open and, we're on our way and it's done exactly what we thought it would do. And that is created communities that are flag flyers, like these women that go to these studios are just. there are our greatest marketing asset. Yeah. And I noticed that just last year in 2024, you opened 11 new studios, awarded 27 additional franchise licenses. So clearly that's a ton of growth. It shows that the market's strong and there's a lot of demand. So with all this growth, how do you guys maintain quality control and the integrity of the brand as you scale? I know that's a concern. With anyone that is looking at a franchise model, it's like, how can we keep that consistency and make sure that that kind of essence of what makes P evolve special, you know, evolves throughout the growth? Yeah, I'll tell you, I think we're a bit maniacal about that. We care about this method and how it's delivered and the ability to get. you know, real results and the clinically backed. I say that all the time, but like that's very important. You know, we're clinically backed and we want to make sure that we don't dilute the method first and foremost, whether it's delivered in person or digitally. So we have QA visits. We've got a pretty robust training program with, with our lead trainers in these various audiences. And you know, one thing I'm most proud of, and I don't know if your audience, you don't know is exactly what an NPS score is and that promoter score, but like our, our NPS scores in our studios are in the 90s. And so that's that's across all our studios. So that kind of goes to show you that there is a level of excellence. Our our model, you know, is is really what's built into that is these QA this this training. because we are a larger company than you would think, you know, for only having about 18 locations open because we have a robust direct to consumer business too, and a team that is here like sort of shepherding the brand itself. So I think this is one thing that I think as we grow, you know, especially this year is a tremendous growth year. We're very careful. We're not just like looking to sell, sell, sell, sell open as fast as you can because we are trying to manage the overall brand and make sure that our growth is is really deliberate. So that's like incredibly important to us. It sounds like you're really keeping your eye on the ball to make sure that what you've done is preserved through the growth efforts. So tell us a little bit about 2025 and beyond. Franchising seems to be a pretty important piece. Are there any specific markets or demographics that seem to be a great fit for the brand? Yeah. So right now we're in North America. We're actually in Canada and the U.S. I would tell you that franchising is the most important part of our growth in 2025 and 2026. I think it's critically important that our owners are profitable, that they are validators for the system, that they're feeling like they're heard because we're still somewhat of a new studio network. We really are, and we're aware of that and okay with that. And so we need to be listening to our owners. So it's incredibly important. I spend more than 50 % of my time, sometimes more than 75 % of my time on the franchising side of the business. So that's like critically important. I would tell you that we're both in suburban and urban markets. We're in Canada and the US that we were always learning about, you know, what owners are really like the right makeup for our future success. You know, really what types of markets really work. But right now, I think that we're focused on large DMAs. And the benefit for us, I will tell you, is that through our mapping software, we're able to load in where we have density of our digital members already. so we're able to kind of see like, all right, Houston, Texas is an unbelievable market because we have 20 % of our overall digital members in that market already. And a lot of our digital members become the founding members of our studios. And that's what we're to do. think that's, yeah, that's really cool. And it is really unique to your model because like I've seen businesses that operate brick and mortar, not in the fitness space. And what they'll do is open like in a salon suite in a temporary space. So they can kind of test the market before they build that big half a million dollar brick and mortar store. And you guys have the ability to look at your data and say, look, this is where we have density. People love us here. That's where we need to a store. That's pretty cool. It's awesome. It is awesome. It's one of our superpowers for sure. Yeah, I agree with that. So you have this really unique hybrid model. Like a lot of brands don't have that. How does that like address consumer trends? Is that kind of tying into geography and location or is it more than that? gosh. mean, consumer trends right now. is really this ability of flexibility in how you consume your wellness. I think we've got a benefit in that the workout in studio is the same as the workout at home versus, and I've got mad respect for other concepts, versus like a Barry's that has a digital component, but it's a totally different experience than what is in studios because of their huge pieces of equipment. So what we found is that we found that the members at studios that consume both in studio classes, but also engage in digital content, whether they're traveling, whether their busy schedule gets out of hand one day, that they are like almost like double the lifetime value for that studio. So. That is a growing, it's a growing cohort. think you're either an at home workout person or you're either a studio, but there's this growing cohort of people that consume both. And that's really what we're trying to build. Yeah, that's really, really unique. So another differentiator, as you already mentioned, was the clinical studies. Why are they so important to Pvolve and what results to date have been really impactful for the business? I mean, We feel like clinical efficacy, everything from our doctors board, you know, our board of doctors and how we engage with our doctors to the types of programming that we put together. But our clinical studies, we just feel like number one, it's a moat of defense around competition. think number one, I think number two is, that luckily consumers are becoming much more savvy in sort of, and I hope you don't mind me saying this, but like, just not not minding the BS that's out in the market about claims. And our claims are backed by gold standard clinical studies that took a lot of investment, but also took years. So you're going to see us continue down that path. We're actually entering what I think is probably one of our most groundbreaking on February 1st. And I'm really excited about that as we're able to start to talk about it. But some of the outcomes, I mean, have been profound. We were in a clinical study in 2019 and 2020 around chronic lower back pain. And that's a huge total addressable market in the world. And by practicing Pvolve, which is the functional movement and the resistance-based equipment, we were able to significantly reduce your chronic lower back pain, which... enables you to get back to life, a better quality of life, less pain, and that was done through MRIs. The biggest clinical study that we've been in is really the healthy aging clinical study at the University of Exeter. entered that in probably late 2019, 2020, and that is a gold standard clinical study, and it was really only on women, 40 plus, and it was really about how practicing Pvolve for a 12 week period, could help you to age better. And the outcomes were double digits in knee strength, hip strength balance, which one in four women fall after the age of 50. But most profound and I think most relevant in the market is that we were able to significantly increase your lean muscle mass, which muscle is your key to longevity, but it's also something that as women, we biologically just lose as we're in our 40s and 50s. And it can totally debilitate you as you age. And so these are the types of outcomes. And that was done through muscle biopsies. just again, this wasn't just like taking a survey. And so that's really big and we did it only on women and less than 6 % of sports and science is done on women because of our hormones. So we think it's pretty groundbreaking. I mean, you made a big investment in those studies and like you mentioned, it provides a defensive competitive mode against competition because you guys are doing it with your methods and other brands can't say that. So that's really, I think, important and powerful, especially for franchise owners making the investment. You mentioned you teased Jennifer Aniston a little bit ago. So how did that partnership come about? Oh my gosh, Mike. I still want to pinch myself. And if you're on any of the podcasts, always say that my face turns red. Like, I don't know. Like it's just the most magical thing that's ever happened to us. Basically we got like a DM, you know, from Jennifer Aniston's team. We definitely thought we were getting punked. We were. training her for like we we had some personal trainings with her. We sent one of our top trainers to her home. Again, we were just like, God, I hope you come back, you know, because we weren't sure that it was definitely her but her team. And they DMed us on a Thursday night, we got on the phone with them on Monday sort of, you know, thinking like, God, this is gonna be a joke. And then you know, they were like, Have you ever considered having somebody like Jennifer Aniston join the company? She's obsessed. with what it is that you guys are doing. She's been practicing the method for years. She was introduced through a friend of hers that had profound results. And I was like, yeah, maybe we've thought about that trying to be cool. And then we publicly kind of came together. We announced our real partnership in June of 2023. company is definitely through the roof in terms of growth ever since because she fundamentally just helped us to break through the clutter to educate and to add credibility to sort of our new method and market. So we're incredibly grateful. She trains with us three times a week. She's never looked better. She's such an advocate. Her lines in press are just so authentic. We don't feed her those lines. Those are the That's how she feels about the method. And she just wants more people to try this because it's been life changing for her. I love it. That's such a cool story. And I'm glad it worked out and had a happy ending. So I know that she has a routine and you've kind of created a challenge around it called the strength redefined challenge. Tell us about that and how it aligns with Pvolve's mission. Yeah, it's really exciting. This is really the second challenge that we've launched both in studio and through our digital subscription. And it really mimics the way that Jen trains with her trainer, Danny Coleman, her Pvolve trainer, Danny Coleman. And really it was about introducing the fact that progressive weight training, lifting heavier weights is not only important, it's actually foundational to living better longer. So a lot of it was around that, just trying to encourage accountability to show up. for numerous workouts within a six week time period and really achieving that and feeling great at the end of it. So Jen was awesome in sort of announcing that publicly and in a press day, really announcing it through her Instagram, which has quite the following. And it's been our most successful challenge to date and really challenges that are all about just creating A way for people to get engaged and feel accountable about moving forward. That's awesome. Very cool. Yeah. It keeps it fresh and interesting and gives people a reason to show up and compete and try their hardest and, kind of, and just like you said, show up like that's the biggest thing to do in fitness. So, um, let's, let's switch gears a little bit and talk a little bit about the franchise owner. So what qualities. or characteristics are you looking for in new franchise owners with P-Ball? Yes. So I wish I could say I just look for passion because we've got web. That is we've got a lot of passion and you need to be passionate because it helps for sure. It's not and it's not like you just open up the doors and then you can just like sit back and throw your legs, you know, throw and just and just like sit back and chill. You it's hard work. It is. And I'm not afraid to say that. you know, to owners. And so I think in addition to passion, because passion really translates in the sales process to their community, I think you've got to also know how to lead a high performance team, have business acumen, you know, know the importance of managing a P and L. So we do look for somebody that is business minded that has, you know, previously led high performance teams. That in addition to passion, think is critically important. I think the third thing, at least at our stage right now, is we definitely want you to be in the community that you're open. We think that's important. It may not always be important, but it's important at this stage. Not at this So let's take a step back. Franchising overall as a path for entrepreneurs, how can Pvolve be a catalyst for achieving that American dream? Is there something that, you know, is unique about Pvole that makes it kind of interesting for entrepreneurs to kind of make their investment? They get to choose one, at least for their first franchise. Why people? think there's a lot of reasons. I think number one is because we're on the cusp of really hyper, hyper profitable growth. We've, we've, we've put in the work. to really make sure that the product is incredibly sound, but it's more relevant than it's ever been before, you know, with women's health and longevity and efficacy. So it's, we're not a trend. We're here to stay. And I think you'll hear that from any franchise owner of ours. I think also we hear this from a lot of our owners. And again, we've awarded 65 locations. I think it's about the support that we're able to offer perhaps because of the stage that our overall business is at, I think is something that is sort of nicely shocking for some of our franchise owners, especially franchise owners that own other franchise concepts as franchisees. They're like, wow, we're really blown away by the support. Those are two of the reasons, but I can't discount the fact that The reason I get up in the morning is because I'm doing something that's so positive in people's lives. And I think a lot of our owners are ready to sort of leave corporate America where they don't feel like they're impacting people's lives in a super positive way. And they have like a why. And I'm telling you, you start to hear some of our members' stories and it's just incredibly rewarding. There's also a lot of white space with us. We don't have much competition. in what it is that we're doing yet. So I think that there's a big white space for what it is that we're doing. So those are some of the, and then I think our business model, I think our business model is really interesting too, and in the fact that we are constantly looking to leverage our digital subscription member base and transition them over into studio members. That's our number one goal. I to talk about that for a minute. like the fact that you kind of led with franchisee profitability because at the end of the day, you have to make money to stay open and scale. So let's talk a little bit about that multi-revenue stream model that helps franchisees succeed. So they get to participate in some of the digital subscriptions. How does that all work for an owner? So right now, the way that it works is we actually are we as the corporate entity, the franchise or we fund the digital subscription business. And that's not a small feat, but we have 1400 workouts. released 250 digital workouts a year. We have the entire infrastructure to run a global streaming service. So in that, what we do is we provide that access to our franchise owners as a value for selling a membership to their... their studio members. So I hope that was clear, but like we're just trying to provide a lot more value for the memberships in order for them to be able to sell them at a really nice price and make a really great sale. We also, we have patented pieces of product and we're trying to build a hybrid member at the studio level. So the selling of our equipment in their studios is obviously a really great revenue stream apparel. And then we're actually constantly evolving. And so we're talking right now, you know, as a franchisor about other ways of really pulling in some of the overall revenue streams for franchise owners to participate in. More to come there, but I think we're making great inroads. Very cool. So how much does it cost to open a Pvolve? If somebody really loves the whole community driven aspect of it, they love the subscriptions, they think everything is just really great and unique, what's it cost to open the doors? What's item seven look like in the FDD? So item seven right now looks like between $392,000 and $892,000, but really our 2024 build outs were really between $500,000 and $700,000. I'll tell you. I think that's great because they've come down quite a bit, but we're really focused on unit economics and trying to figure out the right investment inside a studio, trying to flip rooms quicker, less resources needed, those types of things, Mike. So that's a big part of what my team is constantly focused on and making really great progress, but that's currently what the numbers look like. Yeah, it sounds like you've honed in that range after building all these studios. So any item 19 financial representations you can share with us today in regards to the unit economics? Yes, we're working on our FTD for 2025. But in 2024, we did in item 19, we have an average unit of around $85,000 a month. So that is what we disclose at the moment. That's mainly I don't know if I mentioned this, Mike, but we actually own three of the the studios because we wanted an incubator, a testing ground for programs that we could then roll out. wanted to be operators so that we could teach operators, you know, in. And so that's really what we do in our corporate studios. And then we'll be up. Julia, where are those corporate studios located? Yeah. So we've got one in Soho. One in the West Loop, which is really more of the franchise model in terms of square footage. And then we've got one in West Hollywood. So those are our three owned and operated. Really cool. Well, this has been great. Any advice you'd like to give to any entrepreneurs that are tuning in that are considering franchising, considering Pvolve? Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest advice and this is what I would always say is is do something you love. Life is short. And I jump out of bed every morning. I think you can see that authentically in my face. And I'm surrounded by people that don't like what they do. I'm just like, what torture would that be? And I just find a lot of reward from the lives that we impact. So I don't know, just do something you love. That's great advice. Well, this has been really really helpful meaningful. I've learned a lot Anything else Julie you want to add to the mix before we wrap up today? No, I think just if you're interested in, know people franchising Please just check us out at you know people calm on the franchising tab and it gives you a lot more information Super well if anyone listening would like to connect with Julie and her team to learn more about becoming a people franchise owner contact me at FranchiseQB.com or on x @QBFranchiseQB, I'll get you connected. Thank you so much, Julie, for taking the time to get in the huddle and discuss Pvolve with us today. Thanks so much, Mike. I really enjoyed it. in your new business. Follow us on Twitter @QBFranchiseQB and join us every week for a new episode. See you next time. Visit franchiseqb.com to take the next step of your journey towards wealth, independence and franchise ownership. And remember, when working for the man gets old, you must do something bold. Thank you for listening.