Habits and Hustle - Episode 159: Payal Kadakia – Founder of ClassPass and Author of LifePass

Episode Date: March 22, 2022

Payal Kadakia is the founder of ClassPass and author of LifePass. You simply have to hear every single part of her story. There’s a wealth of knowledge in every piece of Payal’s life. From her traditional Indian dancing as a child into an impressive dance career as a young adult that was just a hobby, working in marketing and quitting to start a company getting $10,000 from the boss she was leaving to do this! The failure of her company, pivoting into her new idea, and really, every other instance of perseverance and tact Payal has exhibited. Need extremely straightforward advice on how to set goals or form habits? She’s got you covered. Interested in hearing how she raised over 1 million dollars in a year based on previous good work ethic and strong relationships? Yes. Yes, you do. She’s seriously amazing! You won’t want to miss this one. Youtube Link to This Episode Payal’s Website Payal’s Instagram ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Did you learn something from tuning in today? Please pay it forward and write us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. 📧If you have feedback for the show, please email [e-mail]  📙Get yourself a copy of Jennifer Cohen’s newest book from Habit Nest, Badass Body Goals Journal. ℹ️Habits & Hustle Website 📚Habit Nest Website 📱Follow Jennifer – Instagram – Facebook – Twitter – Jennifer’s Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits in Hustle. Fresh it. Tony Robbins, you're listening to Habitson Hussle, fresh it. [♪ Music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background of class pass, which is the leading fitness and wellness membership service platform in the world. It was acquired by MindBody in October of 2021. Prior to this acquisition, class pass had been valued at over $1 billion,

and members logging more than 100 million hours of workouts across 30,000 partner studios in over 30 countries. She's also the founder and artistic director of the Saad Dance Company, which was founded in 2009 with this mission to increase awareness of Indian dance and make it more mainstream. Pyle wrote her first book recently called Life Pass,

which is all about her her methodology of goal setting. And on the podcast, we talk about it, we talk about when she started to drop the, what she should be doing, and taking the pressure off of herself to achieve in the more traditional ways. That's when she really shined and created success beyond pretty much any anybody's wildest dreams. She, like I said, she is extraordinary, what she accomplished is extraordinary and we talk about resilience, talking about failing and getting right back up and just persevering. This was a really, really interesting conversation. Pile gives tons of stories about the evolution of her career

where she came from, what she started to do, and how she built this. I hope you enjoy this conversation. I really, really enjoyed having it. So we have a really special guest for me on the podcast today. We have Payelle Cadakia. Yes, they said correctly. Yes, he did. Who is a founder of ClassPass? And for me, being from the fitness world, I mean, you're like a legend, seriously. But you're also like a dancer

and artist. You're super, super talented. And if it wasn't going to be class-fed, like I said two seconds before, you were going to find a way, you're going to be successful anyway. So it's amazing to have you on this podcast, and I'm really, really excited to speak to you. So thanks for coming. I really appreciate that. And the word success is an interesting word in general, and I do talk about this in my book. I think it's really about fulfillment. And I think I've always really spent my life thinking about what matters to me and doing that,

which is at the end of the day, I think happiness looks the best, looks like the best kind of success. Well, I love that you say this. I should also say yes, you're the author of a new book called Life Pass. And I told you, I read the book from like page to every page. And it was amazing. You give some great stories and just a lot of tips on my goal

setting and success. And what you just said, like the difference is between success, fulfillment, having a rich life. It's not all just having money and having a nice car. And we're going to get all into that. I want to start from the beginning, because like I said, you're background. You weren't a fitness person, right? Then you disrupted the entire fitness space, obviously.

But you were no dummy. You went to MIT. You got your degree in science. Is it science? Management science. Management science. Then you went to Bain, and you went to Warner, and you kind of did what was supposedly, it seems,

like you were supposed to do, it's me. It's me. It's me. Right? Because you come from a background similar to me, you're Indian, right? Like, yeah. And so I guess my first question to you,

and you talk about this in your book, is you kind of built all those like experiences gave you the ability to even go into this and try this even though even it come from the space. So talk about your background like you always love dance. And what dance taught you to do this? So, you know, I think this conversation really start with my youth. And the fact that I always had parts of me that I didn't always fit together.

So one thing that was very prominent was I was Indian and I was American, which made me never feel like I was going to fit in. I had different communities for both. And you know, it's really interesting. You said I had all these different parts to me. I didn't always feel confident in those. And I think it's important to address that because I think a lot of us have different parts of who we are, but we aren't always comfortable in those threads. But the output of actually when they finally all came together was this beautiful company that was created.

And I think that's just important to really state. But you know, when I really think back to like the different parts of who I am, I mean, dance was this place for me. That gave me a place to belong. It didn't feel like a place where I had to be multiple people. I could be who I really wanted to be, truly who I wanted to be. I felt like I was growing, learning, connecting to my identity. And really, I think my life journey was about fighting the dance. And when I realized I could bring that fight to other people for whatever passion it was in their life, it just happened to be fitness. Right. I could bring that fight to other people for whatever passion it was in their life. It just happened to be fitness. I could transform something

because I never really approached this problem, like let me transform the fitness industry. It was truly, how do I connect people to what I always had in dance? And that's what I was always fighting for because I knew what it did for me, right? And it gave me a place to belong, right? I'm sure you feel like that with fitness.

It's this place that rejuvenates you in an hour a day, whatever it might be. Finding that time makes something happen in your mind, in your body, right, in your emotions. That's so liberating. And I think once I knew that, and I, you know, did the whole corporate ladder thing, I did the whole making my parents proud. And I think along the way, I met so many peers that were just kind of going through the motions

and like living for a promotion at work or to get married and have kids. And by any, by no means is that wrong. It's just, I know society does that too a lot. Right. And here I was this girl when I was you know, 22, I would have a dance show on the weekend, right? And I would be waking up on Saturday mornings after like long client meetings, all of that waking up to dance from 8 to 12 on a Saturday morning or Sunday morning. Like that I committed my life to it, right? And I missed traveling. I missed brunch.

I missed going out, but I was so fulfilled by what I was doing. And I literally feel like that was really the part of me that knew I had to solve this problem for other people because I felt that it gave me so much. So why wouldn't I want to build something that would give people so much of that same magic? Right. Now that makes sense. I mean, when you start dancing, you are really, really small. Yeah. And it's interesting, like, there were different parts of dance in my life. So when I was three, I started doing Indian folk dance. So that was more of my dance teacher who was my mom's best friend getting together, a

bunch of little girls. And we would practice in basements because there really was no formal Indian dance academy, right? It wasn't the same as ballet. And we would do dance competitions at like local schools in the area. There was even like, as we got older, some national dance competitions that emerged in the US.

You were three when you did that. No, it was like three to 17. Oh, so you were, how long were you with this woman? So you talk about her in the book. I mean, I'm still with her. Like she's a, somebody, and any day we have this concept of a Guruji, which is someone who bestows knowledge upon you. Right.

And I consider her, of course, she's a dance teacher, but she taught me how to show up to life, honestly. That's really what the whole concept of the Guruji really comes from. I mean, we talk about that in yoga, right? Like a guru, it really comes from the sense of someone who is giving you knowledge, right? And knowledge in India, we talk about it very much

as something that's so sacred. So when you have someone in your life like that, you the utmost respect you have is for that teacher. Right. And so, yeah, she taught me Indian folk dances. And this is a really important part of my identity because being an Indian girl who was growing up in the town literally who was the only Indian girl there, I needed a place to know where I came from. Right.

And yes, like my parents took me back to India every once in a while, but not enough. Like I didn't know how to immerse and how to learn more about that part of me. And this is something I talk about in the book. I think sometimes when we struggle with parts of who we are, I want to hide them. Sometimes we want to, we want to totally erase it, right? And I kind of realized by doing the opposite,

which was learning about my heritage of Indian women I descended from. Also made me find the beauty in who I was. And once I found that, that's really what I feel like that form of dance it for me. There was another part of Indian dance, which was more like the Bollywood scene. That was the difference.

Yeah, I mean, there was like folk dance. Like it's like ballet versus like hip hop, right? It's just like different forms. And Bollywood is obviously more mainstreaming and commercial. The Indian folk dance and classical stuff I was doing is just more like the classics and the classical arts, right? We have the same thing, like ballet versus what we see on TV. Right, right.

So it's very similar and I honestly was doing both. And so I also saw the commercial side and once again, growing up, I didn't see anyone who looked like me on TV, but when I would watch these ballad movies, I would see these incredible actresses who danced and literally like lit up the screen. And they made me feel like I could be a magical woman too, you know, because I didn't know exactly where to fit in. And because I was training and I loved dance and more than all of that, even, I would

say, there was something that I knew I had when I danced, which was this expression and emotion. So Indian dance has three main components to it. There's one part of it that's called Abhinaya, which is all about facial expressions and storytelling. And for some reason, when I was like five years old, I was exceptional at it. And I don't even know why. Like it was almost like a gift I just had. Like I literally, my parents would just ask me to perform at someone's house. And every single parent like Auntie there would come and watch me dance

because they were like, you just light up. Like it was almost as if something was like channeling through my body. And I had all these expressions. And I was a little girl. I was five years old, but I was like literally emulating a 25 30 year old woman. And I learned this sort of by watching these Bollywood movies,

and it's a very critical part of actually Indian classical dance and all Indian forms of dance. And so that was actually something where when I was that expressive, I found a place to really let myself free, right? When you can find a place to really express yourself, whatever, I mean, some people have that impotry, some people haven't already, and if you're working out as similar, that's really when I remember feeling that nothing in the world could compare to that feeling. There was just something so magical about that part of my life. And once again,

it tied me back to, how do I help other people find this in their life? And honestly, throughout my MIT life and throughout my Bane life, I kept dancing my life, right? And that's really interesting because most of the times when people have, you know, a college that's that intense and even a career, that's that, you know, it's just intense. Intense, yeah, exactly. It's hard to find time to do anything else, but I was, that person I talked about a lot of those stories from a book of randomly going to performances and needing to miss client

meetings. Well, yeah, but like to me, that's what's amazing because like you, to your point, like you're not, you're not like at some like state school, right? Like you're at like MIT and you're still, that's how important it was to you. But like talk about, could you say it a lot? Like you're, the tools that, that Dan's taught you taught you to be successful in life, like professionally and personally, like discipline, all those things. Discipline, yeah, 100%.

I mean, I'm a very self-motivated person and I will 100% say that for anyone who has a dream, you need to be self-motivated. I mean, I can give you advice every person in the world can help you out and give you some sort of, you know, Card to help you, but at the end of the day, you need to be the person who was motivated enough to break through those doors Yeah, totally true. And I think I always had that and I learned that self-motivation Because of dance, right? It was it was my dance teacher saying you like I've taught you a dance today You better know it next Saturday. I mean, I could have showed up next Saturday

and not known it and that's fine. I was very young, like, what was she gonna do? But I, you know, and she taught me that construct of, we, I don't know it, how do I practice? How do I work hard to get better at it? So by next Saturday, I could do it. Absolutely. That was just that process to learn

that we are capable of internalizing something, getting better at something, performing something at our best, was a really important thing I learned at a really young age. And she also, you know, I talk about this a lot too. It's this, she, of course, like, wanted me to do well in my, and there was a difference between perfect and doing things well, right? And I think in my life, and I talk about expectations a lot, I think when expectations translate to perfection, right? In that sense, it feels perfect because it's perfect to other people, not to myself. Right.

When I'm doing something at my best, I will know. And to me, that is perfect. Right. And that's the that's the construct that I think a lot of people don't think about is perfection is other people. Absolutely. That's such a great point. And I love how you talk about the whole thing. I've always said, I may I talk about fitness, how for me, yeah, you know, that it taught me the same thing. That's what really kind of resonated. It taught me, you know, how to not just this discipline for sure, but work ethic, hard work,

progression, like that's how you build confidence, right? We'll see yourself going from here to here, to here, and that gives you, that propels you to feel like you can like conquer anything, right? Absolutely. And that's why I think teams, I think when kids are small, they should be doing even team sports to learn how to be a team player.

Yes. And to learn that when you make a commitment to go somewhere and be at a place in a certain time, how important that is. Right. So people that don't sometimes don't kind of connect the dots like that, right? I agree with that. I mean, and I think going back to what you were just saying about progress and the human journey, for me, and you know, I'm 39 years old, and I know I've done a lot of things in my life. People with a care of 15, I know. Thank you.

But, sure. I'm going to check your license. Yeah. The only thing I'll say is to do the things I've done in my life at this age, it's required me to pivot and progress, right? Right. And a lot of times, if you don't reflect on if you are moving forward and if you get comfortable, I've just never wanted to be comfortable in my life.

Right. And that doesn't mean just my career. That means in anything in my life, that means about growth in my mind, like growth in my body. If I never want to feel like I'm stagnating, and I think fitness, and I think, you know, going to classes, doing all these things,, gives us a way to feel that progress, especially when our lives can be like, I'm going to work every day and doing the same exact thing.

Absolutely. And doing the same exact thing. You need to add that spice to your life where things feel fall into a routine. So how do you do that? When you give, what do you suggest people do? I think a lot of times people get stuck in good enough, and in this comfortable like

day-to-day monotony right of like paying bills and having to like do all of that and you have to do those things I mean those are those are non-negotiables. Negotiables. We have to do them. So like you know when people and I and you do a very good job in your in your book talking about this when people talk about this like follow your dream follow your passion like sometimes like you When people talk about this, like follow your dream, follow your passion, like sometimes like it's not about just like doing it willy-nilly, there has to be a plan. A plan. 100%.

And like risk consideration. This is actually one of the biggest reasons I wrote the book. Actually, my husband and I always talk about this because he sees people messaging me all the time being, like I'm gonna quit my job. He's just like you inspire me to quit my job and he's always reminding me to tell them the rest being like, I'm gonna quit my job. You inspire me to quit my job and he's always reminding me

to tell them the rest of it, the story, which is having a financial plan, making sure you have a right experience and skills. The way I've cultivated my network before I took that leap. And I think that is a really important point to tell people, here's the thing, you should never feel trapped by any of those things, right? Especially money, I think money is the one

that traps us the most. It is acknowledged where and what money is to you in your life, right, how much do you have, how much are you making, where can you find the freedom in it, right, and it might not be something that's going to allow you to go for your dream today, but maybe in three years, it's the right time, but if you don't start that process today, you're going to constantly feel like you can't move, right?

Yes. And that's one of the biggest things I think why people feel stagnated and don't want to try is because they don't see the hope on the other side. They don't see the fact that they can maneuver their life, make money work for you. You don't work for money, right?

That's something I talk about a lot. Yeah. Really, honestly, and I'll be, you know, I'm one of those people that I grew up, my parents didn't have that much money. Like they came from India with a few dollars in their hand. Yes. I grew up in a way where it was not a luxury, right?

To have money and to do things. And so I valued every dollar. Yeah. And as I got older, I valued it even more. And I talk a lot about this too, but I think we have to also realize, like, there's a trade-off between money and time. As we get older too, we want to make more and more money. We forget to realize time is the most important thing. And look, that's a luxury conversation to be able to have at some point in

your life. But we should realize, like, when are we making enough money where we're giving up on our dreams, right, or giving up on the things that the way we want to spend our time. One of my favorite things is when people tell me, especially with class house, I'd have people say, you know, I'm busy. And I'm like, you're not busy. And it's really this idea when you're talking about the bills and all of that. Yeah, we all have to do it. Plan it out, do it, check it off, do it efficiently.

Don't stress about it. Don't make it something that takes five hours of your mind, but one hour of your time. Exactly. Well, that's what people do though. They overthink, overthink, but they don't execute. They don't execute. Yeah, all about my calendar. My life is all about execution and time management.

Exactly, exactly. And I think the biggest thing is, in the goal setting method that I do, I do it quarterly. I don't do it annually. So the quarterly goal setting process that I do, I do it quarterly. I don't do it annually. So the quarterly goal setting process that I do enables me every three months to sort of rewrite a new set of dreams for myself. Which is great.

Why would I ever want to feel like I am committed to something for a year and honestly, whoever sticks with anything that they commit to. They do it every year. Placing deals, boundless options. It's Hot Grill Summer at Whole Foods Market from June 14th through July 4. Fire up the grill with quality cuts at the best prices.

We're talking animal welfare certified meat. Check out the sales on Bone-In-Rib-I, Beef Cabobs, and New York Strip Steak. Round out your barbecue with plant-based proteins, slice cheese, soft buns, and all the condiments. Plus, sales on fresh strawberries, peaches, and more. Don't forget to pie, either. Get grilling at Whole Foods Market Terms Apply. 100 years. USAA, get a quote today. Did you have brought it up? Because I was going to bring up that later later on. Yeah. Talk about that. Some of the ways people can goal set, some of those good skills and strategies. We just set it right here. Yeah, absolutely. You can go through the whole process.

It's in the book. First step is always reflecting, which is getting a sense of where you are. Then I have a dream session, which I do, and I anchor it in words, not achievements. So it's literally, how do I want to feel in a year, which is another big step that I think a lot of people miss? Yeah. Before you even goal set, and this is really what the book is set up to do, is to get you in the mindset and get you into the self-awareness to know where you're going to set those goals from.

Because usually if you set goals, I can write down a list of goals. Like, that, like, what people want me to do. But how do I make sure that those goals are from my heart, right? And they're aligned with, you know, not fears, right? They're aligned to something I truly want to do. And that's really where people go, go wrong. So that's why I've set up the methods. So the first three steps are actually about figuring out, like, where you're going to goal set before we even do. Even go set before you do it. Exactly, before you even do it.

And that once you go set, I mean, yes, then it's all about making measurable goals, making sure they're actionable, that you're starting with step one, not step 30 in the process. Right? Because a lot of times people don't know where to start and then they don't realize that even signing up for something or researching something is actually

a good goal versus actually doing it. And you need to know where to start. And I think a lot of times people get lost in that. So I break down all of this stuff, but I think it's an important thing for everyone to think about. And you said this earlier, which I think this is an important part of it, is gain the confidence in yourself. So going to class, getting better at something, setting a goal, checking it off, doing it, feeling like you accomplished it, will make you just set a bigger goal next time.

Totally. That feeling of accomplishment is so underrated. Exactly. People don't understand like, when I like make it, make it a point like, I need to work out in the morning. And like people like, oh, how, you need to work out. But it. And people like, oh, how you need to work out. But it's part of my day that's so important, like work. It's part of my work.

Yes, I'm not going to be an entrepreneur. It's not negotiable in my calendar. It's not negotiable. Because if I don't trust me, you don't want to be around me. Yeah, I'm just cranky all day. I'm like, and then I feel like I'm waiting to work out all day. And I'm like figuring out when I'm going to do it. And also, it's like that feeling,

that feeling of accomplishment that I can check that off my list, gives me the power to do so many other things way more effectively. The same exactly. Right? Way more efficiently. It's not about just working out to get a nice ass. It's not about that at all. It's all about what it does for your mental,

mental ability. And people need to do it to actually know what we're talking about. Absolutely. And, you know, even at a more professional level, I always really believe class pass was only birthed because I was able to have a few successful dance shows in New York City.

And my first show was 100 people. But if that didn't go well, I don't know if I would have done a show for 1,000 people the next time, but not exactly. But it literally, so I, you, so I've said this before, I feel like class was started with that 100% dance show. That as a 20, like four-year-old,

the middle of Manhattan decided to get a studio and I was able to get 100. And that was your first company, right? Yeah, it was my class class. Class class was actually not your first company. Right. It's called Saw. Saw dance.

So that was your first. So can you tell us okay, so besides going through all the like actual like step by step goal setting, what you did. So like you were working at like so you left Bane because you know your boss thought you were you know it's too difficult for you to find like, like, Dancin. Yeah, exactly. It was not that I knew if I stayed at Bane and stayed at Business School route, Bain stuff, I would have, I'd be saying no to dance at that point in my life. I kind of knew that I wasn't ready to give this up.

I mean, I'd been fighting for it now since I was three years old, why? You know what I'm saying? And I decided to find a way to make, I wrote my life happy, which was take a job in like corporate America, basically have a nine to five that I knew was more predictable. I could go to a class at six o'clock, not have to worry about it. I can dance in the evenings.

I can make performances and also make a salary, right? So I look, some people would be like, oh, why don't you trust yourself at that time to do it? I still think I needed to. Yeah, like to me, this was the baby steps I took that felt comfortable for me in the moment. I still, like I said, I wanted to make sure that, you know, my parents sacrificed a lot for me and my sister. I wasn't ready to just throw that away and I knew Bane was great. So going into, you know, and this was in the entertainment industry because I went into the music industry, which felt more aligned with my creative side, decided to do that. I was there for three years. And literally, in my first month of working there, I decided to get

together a bunch of girls that I had been dancing with in New York and on sort of the East Coast. And we just started playing around with some choreography. And that's where Saw started my dance company. And we got asked to perform at this huge festival downtown in Manhattan. And we ended up on the cover of the art section of the New York Times. And this was within nine months. I even have a website up for the company. But I knew we did good work, right? I think that's another thing that I'd want to stress is, whenever I did something, I did it well, and that reputation followed me from MIT to Bane to dance, even though I may have never really loved being and doing some of those things, I still always did good work.

So people always wanted to like recommend me or tell people, oh, you should work with her, which I think is an important point, which is sometimes not always talking about. It's a very big point. That's why I think it's a very big point because you set yourself up for success your whole life. Exactly.

And I couldn't tell you how many times in my life people have come out to me and like, oh, I spoke with this person who worked with you here and then became an investor to me because they were like that person spoke highly of you. Right, so that follows you. But side point, so then I was, Not a side point, good point.

Good point, your reputation follows you. Your reputation follows you. So make sure you're doing, you know, you're doing right by what the people are, you work for them. Whatever you say yes to, do it well. It's not say no. Exactly, and do it well. If not, say no. Exactly.

And do it well. Yeah. Don't just phone it in with anything. Right. Because that is all like, going to fall. It's going to fall, yeah. Absolutely.

So I was at Warner and I was working, I was dancing on the side. Saw was, you know, from a dance company's standpoint, it was doing really well. I mean, and especially within my community, the Indian community, I was getting like celebrities and people like Miranaya who is one of the most incredible filmmakers in the world. She's an Indian-American filmmaker. And she literally saw, saw, saw, performing one weekend at some festival that we went to. And she came up to me, which was unbelievable.

And I remember she sent me an email the next day, and the subject line was, you're exquisite work, and to get that from someone who is just so deeply creative and artist. And by the way, one thing I will also tell you is I always struggled with calling myself an artist because my background is in business and all of that.

So it was one of those things for me to, all these were signs from the universe that were telling me, you gotta go do something else. And I don't know if it was one of those things for me to, all these were signs from the universe that were telling me, you gotta go do something else. And I don't know if it was in dance or whatever it might be, but I just felt like all of the world was telling me to go on my own path. And I knew that my day job right now,

which was fine, paying the bills, wasn't energizing me. And three years basically into that job, I got to another point, I felt like I was living two lives, right? Here I was in the evenings and weekends, like being this incredible performer, selling out shows, and then I would go back and be a monkey at work, and I felt like no one understood me.

And by the way, these situations are sometimes our own faults, right? Like I had put myself there, and I realized I needed to get myself out of that. And so I started thinking about something new to do. I luckily enough went on a trip to San Francisco during this time, which is something I never did because I was always so focused on dancing and work because I didn't have any other time. Right.

I barely traveled, but I took out, I went to go see my friend for her birthday. I ended up meeting a ton of entrepreneurs in San Francisco. And this is 2010, right? Entrepreneurship is not the buzzword. 100% now it is. Especially in New York City, this was, you know, Siliconurship is not the buzzword. 100% now it is. Especially in New York City, this was, you know, Silicon Valley didn't even exist.

Totally. And so it was Silicon Valley, right? And everyone there is building apps, cool ideas, and I remember asking people, you do this full time. Like it just was not even a career path I was thinking about. And they were like, yeah, and it just got my mind spiraling to say, what could I come up with? Maybe this is something I could do. It was not even like a huge thing I was investing in, but I started thinking about how could I change this? How could I change

this? And 36 hours later, and you know, after work every day, I went to a ballet class to take on that Tuesday, I got back. I decided to try a new class. And I get on to, you know, my computer, I'm looking for a class and it's so frustrating to see the thousands of tabs open and that's when I decided to say let me build an open table for classes. And that's really when the idea started. Right. Of course, it's morphed in concept and consumer value propositions since then, but the seat of it started on that day when I was frustrated by that search for a ballet class

that I couldn't find. And I talk about that because people, I don't think even not everyone knows, you've had a few different iterations of class pass. What you see today isn't what it started out to be. So then you thought it was gonna be like the open table of fitness. Yeah, that'd be a search engine. And so, exactly, that's what you thought.

But on that, you were able to get tech stars and all these other things. Yeah. So now you have this idea, then what happens? So I started doing some market research. So using my background that I did up from Vayne and MIT, I started figuring out how big of a business are open tables in my comps, like ZockDock and CNSweb, which were out there. So I did some analysis on them to just understand their business strategy. I also did like market sizing and research. So I did a survey with my friends to be like, one was last time you went to a haircut class.

Like, what class do you wanna try? Where do you find them? I needed to do my own market research. And you did this on your own. Yeah, I did this one. You did with Bain, anyway. Exactly, I was doing this all the time. I just did this to solve my own problem.

Exactly, talk about transferable skills. Yeah, exactly. You already had all this ability. So I knew how to do a survey and all the end, by the way, for anyone, you can just get on survey monkey and do a survey. It's actually not that hard. It's very user friendly.

And so once I started doing that, I also started telling my friends about it. A lot of them, which I was in shock by started thinking about investing, right? They, like, I remember being at brunch with one of my first investors now. He was, we were meeting his friends, and he's like, hey, I'm running you a 10k check.

I'm like, what? And it was like one of those things for me, where, I mean, I still had a full-time job. I hadn't quit Warner Music Group, and people wanted to write me checks already for this idea, which I was kind of in shock by. But once again, I will tell you this. A lot of those people had seen me work and do and my work at SAW, and obviously know and I went to MIT and Bane, and they trusted

me, right? Like even seeing that show of a hundred people that I talked about, people could see how I created and new experience, how I branded something, how I brought people together and executed something that was in my head into something that was really compelling in real life. And that's honestly, it's different because it's of course a tech company, but that stuff really helped them give them that sense of, I trust Pyle and I have confidence in her ability. Not to mention, you even said one of your big investors, I can't remember his name, saw

what it, what, like saw your video of dancing, and he gave you money based on how you can see the passion of how good you did it. He is actually the one who led my $40 million series B. So, yeah, and that story, it's really interesting. So his name is Adam Valkin, worked at General Catalyst, our work set, General Catalyst, and he had come to a few of my shows,

and he'd also seen videos of me dancing. And I remember him just saying to me, and he had played tennis, right? It Harvard, his whole life. So he could see that skills were transferable. And if you could be that, could that means you have what we were talking about earlier, that discipline, that way to work hard.

Okay, I can't figure it out. Let me go try other way. So, you do in tennis. So, he knew that in order to be that good in dance, I had to have been able to figure something out. So, once again, all those things were helping. So, yeah, so raising money was the next thing in it. I didn't really think about text stars and stuff yet,

and that kind of just miraculously happened, which I'll tell you guys a little bit about that. But I think the other big thing was team, was thinking about who I wanted to build this with. I think it's hard to start a company by yourself. And I luckily enough had a good friend of mine who was really energized by the idea of class pass too. And he just was like, I really wanna do this with you.

And we just decided to co-found it. What was he doing before? He was a banker. He was a banker. Yeah, again, okay. So again, so you have like, so, but like, you have like something that most people don't have starting, right?

You have the, you have the transferable skills you have are super practical and, and, and, But you know what? I like you did. Yes, right? Agreed. It helped me think through it, but you know what? And I, yes, yes, right? Agreed, it helped me think through it, but do I think that someone else couldn't ask those same questions? No, I mean, it's like a lot of this is asking your friends

what they think about an idea. That's not something, and by the way, I asked people what they thought of the idea and everyone said they would use it and then no one did, but. And then that's a whole other story we'll get into. Yeah, so, and honestly, my Margarita was wrong, clearly. Clearly, but today, we're on the do-it.

I mean, I was able to do it. And the only other thing I remember starting to work on at that time was website design and stuff, but that was something that you can find a designer. You can find these things. If you're just a resourceful and just ask for help. Yes, you have to be so resourceful. That's what you need. You need to be resourceful. I mean, my first designer was one of my dancers and saw.

Really? Yeah. She literally designed the entire class bus. She was literally there for like seven years. She stayed there. Wow. Okay, so that way, to get this guy who's, or this partner who you grew up with, who's also a banker, he did, did he leave his job full time?

So he did, in like six months after that. He left his job full time. More from our guest, but first a few words from our sponsor. So you're winding down with the podcast. Sounds like you have no plans to leave the couch tonight. Nope, you just want to unzip your jeans, slip on a pair of fuzzy slippers, and rip open a bag of skinny pop popcorn. Because the only place you're going tonight

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Because those things should not stunt career development or growth. Instead, they should enhance it as we show up on our own terms. And members are even putting what's most important to them in their job titles with things like podcast host slash activist slash mom. Of course, that would be mine. Professional is ours to define, and our authentic self is our professional self. So if you're LinkedIn,

doesn't reflect who you really are, update your job title. Post your truth, show the world the authentic professional you, and join the conversations, redefining professional on LinkedIn. LinkedIn, welcome professionals. And then you put together a business plan, right?

I did put together a business plan because that's the thing that you're supposed to do. Right. But do I really believe in them anymore? No. Right. And then I wanted to, I want to talk to you about that. So then you take this business plan

and what do you do now? You're still, did you quit Warner? Yeah. Okay, so this, yeah. So this was a transformative time. Okay. So I have the idea in the summer of 2010. Okay.

So I'm spending the next few months, like I'm at work and I'm feeling like I'm now at a point where I'm like, I hate my job. I had come off of a huge dance show that we had that sold out in the middle of New York City with a thousand people. Like I was at like the height of that, but I literally was like, I don't know what to do next

with that, especially knowing that I have this job. I knew I was at a crossroads, right? And this is why I went out to ASAP. I have this idea on doing research. It seems compelling. People want to invest in it. People want to help me with it. The market research saying that everyone would use a product like this. And I decide that I remember it was Thanksgiving, right? So now about three or four months later, and I'm home for, for Thanksgiving break. I'm talking to my mom and I'm just telling her how depressed I was to go back to work the next day, right? It was Sunday after Thanksgiving. I had a great time with my family. I didn't want to go back to work. And she just looked at me and she goes, well, then quit. And by the way, this is a very big thing for my mom, who, and, you know, my dad was obviously

around too, for her to say, especially after the life she's lived, right? And everything I was just talking about, totally. To see expectations, she's had on me and obviously wanted me to be secure and succeed in everything that I was going to do. And so for her to say that, and I think it came from the fact that,

I mean, I had now been working for six years after going to MIT. They had seen people talking about SAW and the people who've come to my shows and what I was able to literally accomplish. And I was 25 years old. I think that they literally were, they needed to set me free.

And they felt less. I think she could tell I was unhappy. And I don't think any parent wants to see their child unhappy. So she literally saw that. And that was the moment that I finally got the courage to quit. So then I decided to quit a month later. And this is also a really interesting story

because I go to quit. It's like the scariest moment of anyone's life. And it's because you're throwing away your salary, you have no idea what structure you're going to have. Security. Yeah, security, all of it. I'm so nervous. I go and I tell my boss and then I write an email out to some of the people I worked with at the company, something you do to say bye and say, I just said I was going to work on

something entrepreneurial. And the vice chairman of Warner Music Group calls me to his office. And by the way, I met him two or three times my lifetime. And by the way, another connection to what we were talking about for he was a bany, right? So he also, just because we were in the same network of where we had worked, right, was just had more an affinity to say, let me help you. And I remember seeing him a few times and he knew I was from Bain. So he would be nice to me, but like, I'd never really had a formal conversation with him. So I go up to his office, we start talking, he's like, tell me about what you're building,

and I was talking about the, I want to build this open table for classes, with Yadayadayada, and he's like, great, I want to invest, I want to give you $10,000, and I'm going to introduce you to David Tish, who's the founding member or managing director of tech stars. And he wrote me a recommendation, and David Tish actually always tells me,

he's like, the recommendation you got was the best recommendation we've ever had. Like we could not say no to you. And they had 1500 applicants and they only accept at 13 companies. So back to recommendations and all of that networking, how important it was, because I don't ever actually believe in applying to something and sort of not having somebody who can give you a good recommendation. The chance of you getting into anything like that is very close to zero.

Right, so you kind of use your network and your connections. So that what happens? Yeah, so then, I get this money and... 10,000 is not gonna get you anywhere. Yeah, of course not. And so at this point, I had friends and family, I had people who were...

How much did you get into friends and family? I, the total first round that we did was around 1.2 million, but it happened over a year. So it was like in different tranches, it was a convertible note that we did and it happened over different tranches. But at that point, I think it was like 3,400 K. And then we were kind of, as we were talking to people,

more people were putting some more money in as we were making progress. And so the first thing we started doing, and this is gonna say, this is actually a mistake, we started trying to get all the information of the schedules, right? Because think about the industry, right? The schedule data needs to change every day. So we were trying to figure out how are we going to keep the schedule information most

up to date. And we started literally building a directory of classes. That's literally what we were doing, like in Excel. It was this crazy thing. And you know, Holy New York, did you, like, it was only in New York. To scale it with every city.

It was just New York in the beginning. To get to every city, it's like, like remarkable. Yeah, it was, it was, this was just New York, right? Made in New York, it's like so many places. So yeah, so we, and we luckily actually found, so MindBody, which is actually the company that acquired class as recently, they actually were working with a lot of the studios

at the time. So we worked with them to get a lot of the information so it could be more real time because class data is changing constantly. Constantly. And so that was a big thing from a technical perspective what we were gonna figure out is how are we gonna keep the information live. And then we started building like a UI UX to look with it, what we were going to figure out is how we're going to keep the information live.

And then we started building like a UI UX to like look what was the design of the page and all of that to make things easy. We spent, I mean, I can go into it. We just found way too much time doing it. Like we spent a year doing this and in the middle of it, we got into tech stars. I hired some tech people that didn't work out. I had to rebuild my site a few times. Like, this is sort of that first year of lots of making mistakes, figuring out what you're going

to, but keeping on moving forward. Right? Yeah, yeah. Then we get at the end of that year. So this is the first year I started the company. We get into tech stars, which is great. We're so excited. 2012 starts.

We're going to tech stars. Really great time. For the company where we think we're making progress and we decide we're going to launch on demo day, which is the last day of Techstars. So this is when the open table for glass is going to go live. We're so excited. We have a ton of press. All the investors are coming in the room to see the pitch. Do it, turn on the site, wait for the reservations, thinking like thousands are going to be flooding in, nothing's going on. I'm kinda like, tech eye, hey, what's going on is a sign up.

And it is up, no one's been going to class, no one goes to class, a week goes by, we've maybe had like three reservations. It was all that for us. It was devastating. And all that, we just had the product wrong, you know? And it was a really hard time, you know, to internalize that after all of that.

And, you know, I consider those things now fall signals of success, things like fundraising, press, you know, all these things that I thought meant that I was going to just succeed. And I was banking on them, but, you know, the only thing that mattered was getting someone to class, right? Actually only thing that mattered.

Or I was literally doing nothing for the industry for the customer or the business. Exactly. And also talk about that false. I think that that's what people get. That happens to a lot of people, right? Because they are focusing on the wrong things to make them successful.

Totally. I mean, it's followers, right? It's fundraising, press. It's things that having a nice product UI and brand. All that, even like, you know, like, I mean, doing some of the legal stuff is important, but all that stuff, it's like, worry about those things when it's when you have to, you know.

What do you call, you call it something in your book, also, Shampoom. Champagne problems, yeah. What is that? Yeah, so it's a problem that comes up when things have gone well. Yeah. And like you literally should be, you know, clicking the champagne.

Yeah. And you know, for example, when sites are, sites go down because you have too much traffic. Woohoo! Like, you know, sometimes I remember the beginning we would over build. We'd be like, okay, like, we don't want the site to go down. So we're gonna like over build.

Why do that? Do that after? First, see if a customer ever wants to buy your product and we don't want the site to go down. So we're gonna like over build, why do that? Do that after. First, see if a customer even wants to buy your product and we'll come to your site. Exactly, because people forget that the hardest thing to get people to do is change their behavior. And that's what I really realized in any of this. And fitness is one of the hardest because there is so much fear.

I mean, we should go into all of that. There's just, you know, and that's what went wrong with the first product is that I literally was like, here are people. And honestly, everyone was like, great, this is not a utility, meaning this is not I have to eat every day, right? This was, oh, I need to go and do something I'm scared about and spend money. And am I, am I even free?

It was too many important decisions for someone to make all in one moment. So that's why the search engine didn't work. And I realized we needed to build a new platform and a new, a new value proposition. But the industry hadn't really seen. And that's when we honestly became entrepreneurs. When we finally had this inside of, let's try something new. And so our second product that was in the market, it was this product called the Passport. I don't know if anyone listening in the finish issue, maybe was a user. I mean, we only have, I think, less than 1000 customers, but it was, it was gaining traction really well. And it was a 30 day pass where you could go and try different classes if you

were a first time client, right? So a lot of studios have a first time, you know, complimentary class that they get we're giving because they want to new people in the door, right? And we decided to pack those up. And look, we had, we had now built a lot of some of the integrations and stuff on the pack end because of the first iteration that we had that. So it was just like cheap, I remember.

Like it was $49. Yeah. We were literally paying zero to the studios for this because it was the first time free class. So we did it as $49. People had a month, they loved it. They loved going spinning on Monday to like pull down and glass on Tuesday.

It was so popular. I mean, no part. It was so popular, but there was a problem. Our entire proposition was that you would go from discovery down to like finding a package out of studio and converting. And so therefore you would stay long-term with them and say long-term in the ecosystem of what we were building.

We didn't see enough conversion, right? So a lot of times people were just buying the product and then falling off. But we did start seeing though. Some people were trying to buy that password product over and over again with different email addresses. Now that was this crazy insight for us, right? Because at first our reaction was, we need to shut that down, right? That's like, they're doing the wrong thing. But we saw so many people doing that that we started realizing, wait, maybe people wanna do this monthly. So we sent out a survey asking people,

is this something that you would do, if you could do it on a monthly, month to month basis, and 95% of people were interested in it. Yeah. And that's then we knew that we had to pivot to a subscription. Once again, we still had the other products in the market, and that's when we actually, like in June of 2013, was the first time, and we were so called

classivity at the time, so it wasn't even class-pass. It was called classivity. Oh, I get it. That's it. And so we launched the membership model of it in June of 2013. And then it really just took off, and it went viral And we've made changes to the product over the years too. But that was really the inception of Class Vast. I mean, and the thing is, well, but at the same time what was interesting is

like everyone thought, okay, like people who are interested in fitness because then they can try lots of things that they would normally not. But how did you guys get the, I guess, you know, the people who are not fitness people to even, because they still have to overcome the habit of not working out. Now, they still have to be intimidated by going to a new place over and over again. And they still did it.

Yeah. So, so here's the beauty of this product. First of all, our number one job was for that market, right? Right. There was already the people who knew how to go to berries, knew how to go to economics, like that world already existed. Right. And it was just trying something new for us. A super high price point too, right? So we knew we needed to get people in the door in an accessible way to get them to try things.

Now one thing that was really interesting, this is more of like a psychology, like a behavioral thing, is that because people paid on like day one, the app became opportunity to them. Going to that yoga class now felt like something that they already had paid for, and all of that brain tax I was saying about that first product,

and they were questioning the price and the time. This became, and I always akin this to a candy store. You literally are like, I can do all of this, versus saying I'm scared to do all of this. We just flipped it because they already paid. So now they open the app, and they're like, wow, it was almost like, it was all yours. Yeah.

Because it was all yours. So you just had to actually decide which one you wanted to do. Yeah. And as people started doing that and obviously like, and we know this because we're a defens, the feeling right after you go to go to two, three classes, especially different ones and you realize that progress emotionally, mentally, physically, I mean, you fall in love. So I always say this, like the brands people, I was like, how did you guys build such a great brand?

I'm like, the product did it. We literally were giving people adrenaline and happiness through what they were doing and the progress they had on the product. Right. And then everyone started telling their friends about it, right? So it was one of those products where after two weeks of doing it,

you'd be like, I gotta tell this person. And so we had every average person telling five people about product. Oh my God, that's amazing. So we barely had to do any marketing. We literally were, I remember we had to hire people because we needed more inventory and more studios because we were literally growing so fast and everyone wanted to try the product. And and we knew it was, it was one of those times as a startup where you just, you know, you just start like all hands on tech. It was amazing. I mean, a couple of things I remember, though, was like if someone found a class that they liked,

they couldn't go back to that class. Remember, like, Well, so that was in the password product. And we used to have a cap of, you could only go three times in a month. Exactly. That was a thing. We got rid of that, obviously, over time.

Right. But then the price point of the past, or whatever, the membership became more expensive. Yeah, exactly. And then you change it to the membership became more expensive. Yeah, exactly. And then you change it to credit to all that. Yeah, exactly. So how did the peak, how did the, I never even, I never really kind of like looked into this, but how did the studios make money?

Did you split with it like a split? Like what did you do with that? Yeah, so we would always pay them a portion like in the beginning, it was a rate that we didn't go shade with them. Yeah, I remember that. You know, off of their like their pack rate. Over time, it's, it's definitely evolved because we didn't go shit with them. Yeah, I remember that. You know, off of their pack rate, over time, it's definitely evolved. Because now we have like an algorithm.

So it's literally actually all like optimized pricing. So they actually get paid different prices for every class based on peak, like how much demand there is and all of that. So it's actually like so much more complicated now that I can't tell you the exact part of it anymore because it's run by so many different parts of it. But it started with trying to come up with a simple model,

but we always paid them for every class that someone went to. And then because every day a new gym is opening up or a new fitness place, how did you keep up with all of that? I mean, what was really interesting is once, you know, in the beginning, when we were launching every city, we would go in, we would do our research to be like, okay, what 40 studios do we need to launch, right? And we want to make sure we had like the top studios on there.

And so that was something we did in the beginning. At some point, it flipped like everyone wanted to be on class pass. So a lot of people would use us to launch their studios. And so the conversation flipped where then a lot of it was just inbound. So usually after we launched in a market with the top 40, we would easily get the rest of the studios on board

because they would want to be a part of the team. They would be private. But also I found interesting that no one's's kind of and you talk about this in your book a little bit how Competition like you know about it's all about the execution like other people were like kind of copycatting trying But you did that thing where you hired a bunch of sales Yeah, we went for it. So amazing talk. I love that story So you know in let's see this was I'm always like into the dates because it's such an important part. Right.

The chronological order is so poor and free too. It is. Yeah, you know, in 2015. Yes, it must have been, it was 2014 the end of the year. And we had raised our series A. So I'd raised a $12 million series A that summer. It was announced in September. And the second that was announced, there was literally a copycat that opened up in every city in America.

So every day I would get to the office and one of my like team members would send me another email to be like, you know, this here's like fit pass. And here's like this thing. And it was just, I came in one by the way. I don't know one.

Yeah, well at the time there was a lot, you know? And at first my reaction was, we're gonna stay the course, like, keep looking forward, we have a plan, let's do it. And then I remember going home, and you know, this is a very, you know, a female moment for me in the sense of, I remember thinking about like fashion designers,

and I'm, you know, people like ripping off their bags. Yeah. And I was like, this is my product, like I literally, and I, and there's, it's, it's not even like, anyone could say it's not because anyone can know the amount of iterations we went to have told around this magic. Like I have it.

It was one of those things where I'm like, we literally invented and created this. This is not fair, right? This is literally knockoffs, right? I don't even, I mean, we call it copycats. It's definitely something in the business world that people think is just more normal, but it's a knockoff, right? And I was like,, I mean, we call it copycats. It's definitely something in the business world that people think is just more normal, but it's a knockoff, right?

And I was like, if this was Kate's bait or Tory, what would they be doing? And that's when I was like, that's it. I'm gonna go. I remember having that conversation in my head and saying, I know how to get stuff done. We just need to step on the gas. We had a plan to launch eight cities that year.

We decided that we were gonna launch 20, which meant I think another, I can't remember the exact numbers right now, but like, literally we had to do 10 plus cities in a matter of three weeks or three to six weeks. It was insane. It was crazy about, yeah. And we did it. So, and we called it Operation 2015, and it was to be in 20 cities by January 1st, 2015, and we were. And I hired 60 people on one weekend to go out. We literally did a Craigslist ad We made them call us and we would say call us to schedule your interview Because we wanted to see how they would do on the phone and if they were like good and personable all that and Then we'd literally hired so many people they came in Monday

We like trained them we flew them out Tuesday and we went Into all these cities. That's like it's unbelievable. Yeah, I mean, it's unbelievable. And like I said, I don't even know anybody, like these copy cats, they probably do it. Do they exist now? Are there anybody? I mean, so we, they're like one of the big ones that we used to be called FitMot,

but like they were all in different regions, you know, and we acquired them. So a lot of them, we've, we've either now joined together, we've mostly joined together or they've died off. Yeah, I mean, because I can't think of any. Yeah, at all. This was like, like I said, in 2014-15,

when the model was new, there was a lot more. But now, I think Class-1 says establish itself enough where people don't compete with the model. And it's actually really bad when there's two big ones. Like, we've seen it, like Uber Lift, right? There was, I mean, I feel like this has happened in other industries too, is you end up fighting more than you care about the customer.

Yeah. And, or, I mean, yes, the customer sometimes benefits if people like price discount, but then the businesses end up being, you know, your VCs and everyone end up being like really, really taking advantage of with their money and all of that. So competitions like Wallets Good and it should spur innovation, it shouldn't spur, you know, bad business decisions, and that's what it usually does.

So, why did that make sense? So, how important was A having a mentor, I know you say that, it was pretty important. How did people find a mentor? Did it really kind of, because it seems like through your path, you've had a lot of people who kind of like knew of you being like a superstar, so to speak, you were.

Thank you. Well, I mean, that doesn't take a rocket scientist Thank you. Well, I mean, that's a take a rocket scientist to figure it out. I mean, that's true. So did you really need one, even? Like, if you found out you were a chorus, I mean, here's the thing. Because of this relationship I have with Ushanti,

who's my dance teacher, I think in my world, I always knew that I could keep growing. Never, even right now, I mean, I- Do you have a mentor now? Do I have a- Yeah, I have tons of even right now, I mean, I have a mentor now. Do I have tons of mentors right now? I have people who constantly inspire me to do more and be more. And I think, we have to remember what a mentor is.

Right. I think guides you through life, right? They're not here to, like, there's no point in my life or I would never want to be in a place where everyone's like, yeah, great, you're done. Like, you've done it all. I don't want to ever be there. So, you know, it's about what journey am I going on in my life?

And I think the right mentors truly can see that inspiration that's sparking you, your talent, and help you unleash it, especially when we sometimes have blocks, right? If whether it may be society's expectations or feeling incapable of doing something, I think the right mentor comes in. And there's a lot of times in this journey where I've thought to myself, can I do this, right? And I think the right mentor comes in. And there's a lot of times in this journey where

I've thought to myself, can I do this, right? And I think calling up those people, them reminding you of your why and reminding you of your capabilities is important to have. And I think one of the things that I think is really important is run towards people who you feel like you have this nice connection to. I think a lot of times we look for what their title is

and how important they are and their followers and all that stuff. But we forget that it's really about someone who has that gravitational pull towards you in vice versa. Because if it's not going to be meaningful to them too, they're not going to invest in you. I think the best things about my mentor relationships

is that we give to each other in a way. They know they've helped me so much in vice versa that it's one of those things where it's like any other friendship in your life or your marriage or whatever, you have to cultivate it. It's not something where you're like, let's meet every Monday at 2 p.m. you know, the exact way. Mentors in my life have come and go based on when I've needed them, right? There were like certain advisors I had in the beginning of class bus who were helping me with like product and operational stuff. And there's other ones I had when Classbest got bigger and it was more about strategy and scaling. In your life, I also believe that there's personal

boards of directors you have. Someone like Ushanti who is a dance teacher, when I'm looking for creative inspiration, I call her up. I think it's about surrounding yourself with different people from different industries Right. Not all in the same place because it's not going to round you out either I think that's a very good point because people the men the whole thing about making it very like meet me at two o'clock at this time It feels very like disingenuely. Yeah, it's not I don't feel like it's work exactly. Yeah, Yeah. It's hard to find mentors that you click with. What do you see the differences between a coach or teacher or a mentor?

Yeah. A coach is there to motivate you and help you through different blocks in your life. I think a teacher is there to give you something and actually bestow knowledge on you. Right. Teach you something. Yeah. Teach you something. And I think, I'm just a mentor too. I think it's different.

I don't think, I mean, I think teachers teach you an actual skill, right? Yeah, exactly. Or an actual learning. I think advisors could too. They can introduce you to people, whatever it might be. But I think their role is really to help guide you through the journey, which is a little bit different.

I think coaches motivate. They're like, keep going and keep doing it. And five more reps. That's true, exactly is a little bit different. I think coaches motivate. Like they're like, keep going, you know, and keep doing it and five more reps. That's true, exactly, like that, exactly. What, so this guy, I think you talk about him Fran, someone, he's a president now, in the Fritz, he's the president now, right? He's the president of, at my body, correct. He was the CEO of Cosmos.

And you were like, you had a lot of loyalty to him because he believed in you, and you had a thing. Yeah, absolutely. And by the way, being a 4-foot 11-handed woman in tech in 2013, and I mean, for instance, like this huge, like, six, five German guy, you know, it's like, it's so funny because I remember when we met, I didn't feel like he was judging me at all.

Right. And I think that's the important thing. I think people always ask me how, how did you survive as a woman in tech and all of that? I'm like, I surrounded myself with people who I knew didn't see me that way. Yeah. Right?

And I knew I was more than that. And I made sure that everyone around me always knew I was more than that too. Right. And I think that's really part of it is that I found great people like that who saw the dream. And they were like, this girl is going to, they saw the tiny butt mighty.

Yeah, they're doing it. They're doing it exactly. So was it hard to raise money? Like, at what point was it really hard? I mean, the beginning was really hard. And in hindsight, yes, it was probably harder because I was a woman raising money for an industry that was very women-specific.

So a lot of times I would go out. And I almost like in hindsight remember this because at the time I just didn't let it stop me. But almost every VC would say to me, hey, why don't you do this for personal training? Because that's what they wanted, right? As a man in tech, who obviously has a ton of money, that's like how they wanted to solve their problem,

because that's how, that's the problem they were encountering. That's so true. And by the way, isn't there a lot of those? Yeah, and that's great. But I'm like, I am trying to solve a problem for 99% of America, by the way, can't afford fitness right now.

And they don't even have access to it because they don't even know it's for them. How do we get that person because? And I think that's really the magic of class fest. And this stat is earlier on, but I think 70% of the people had never done boutique fitness before in that used class fest.

So think about that. Think about how many new people we added to the entire industry. Wow. In that way. Right. I mean, that's what I found to be just phenomenal about what you did because there were people in my life who would never think of exercising or working out. They would think it was not for them.

But because the variety that they didn't even know exists, you don't know what you don't know. And so when you go and say, oh, you could do a Zumba class, you could do a dance class, you could do this. It opened up the channels for so many people to then become more active. And this is better.

Fitness is fun. I think that's a big thing. A lot of people have told me, and that's when I knew is when people were just like, I am craving and I'm looking forward to the workout. It wasn't an obligation of get it done. It was truly, even for me, running is more my, okay, I'm gonna get it done.

But when I go to class, I'm looking forward to an experience. It's just a very different thing, and I love that. I love that other people in the world that we've given that to everyone. Totally, I totally get that. I mean, so tell us what you do every day. So before he started this, you were doing, and you talked with us, you were doing like five classes a day. Right. And then go into Hams class, then you're doing their dancing at night, and then

you were doing your work. Like the amount of energy, just a little tiny, but my little has is like, do you drink a ton of coffee? No, and I don't drink any coffee. I drink green tea. I'm drink green tea for the last 20 years of my life, and I swear by it. It's like, it's my therapy. Oh, Mike, can you walk me through now what your day is like? What do you do like minute to minute? Not minute to minute. Big, whole kind of hour hour hour. What time do you wake up? Have my classes do you get out? Yeah, I mean, so I have a kid now too, so that's changing. But you know, he's actually not a crazy early waker thing,

God, I don't like, I need eight hours to sleep. Like that's a very big thing of me. That doesn't always happen with the kid anymore, but. Okay, so start with your night routine. What do you do at night? To get into a good morning routine. Into, okay, so a few things I do, obviously, I mean, I'll just go into it, but obviously like,

take up my makeup, I do like a skincare routine. I always take care. I used to not actually do that, but I think over the last like three, four years and I just feel like that's a really important thing. You do have good skin now. I thank you, but I do. I mean, I have different products I use. I use like a serum.

I use it. I had them in C serum. I use a lot of honest products. My friend has a company called Ranava, which is great. It's like Indian, Ayurvedic stuff, which is amazing. So I just, now I have those products. Now I have those products. Yeah, I actually do. I used to use their stuff for my kids, forever, forever. Yeah, I do too, but I use them. I love some of our stuff actually for my skin.

Wow. She loves Jess, and obviously she's gifted me a lot, and then I just, I literally, I just really like it. So I use that, and so I do that. And then I just stopped and I literally, I just really like it. So I use that and so I do that. And then I listen to Gareth N. which is like an Indian spiritual. It's like, this is kind of like gospel, but it just suits me.

So I always listen to Gareth N. for 13 minutes. And then how long? 13. It's 13 minutes song that I listen to. Well, like, and I usually do that through my routine. Oh. Sort of like meditative. but I like doing that. I think it's important that we have a routine where we do that.

And then I usually fall asleep, depending on where and what time I am. But I listen to a five, six minute meditation thing, but I usually sleep by the end of it, which is amazing. That would be me too if I was doing that. Yeah, and so that's usually for me what I like me, what I like to do when I go to sleep, and then- Which time do you go to bed though? I usually try and sit with baby like around 11.

Okay, yeah, and then he wakes up at between 7 and 7.30. Okay, that's not terrible. Yeah, it's not. That's really good actually. Yeah, exactly. He's like, he's pretty good. I have a good sleeper, they got him in a knockout. Well, I know, that's not jinxed it.

Exactly. And before you had the baby, what time did you wake up in the morning? You know, I don't believe like in alarms. I know that's really weird. I wouldn't know. I would set alarms very, I just think they like mess up your sleep cycle completely.

And so I would only set alarms on days when I would have a really like important meeting. Yeah. But it probably around, I don't know, like eight o'clock, maybe eight, 30 at the latest. Okay. I'm not like one of those early,

not crazy like, no, I'm not. one of those early, not crazy. No, I'm not. But the first, so first thing I do, and then like, right now I can't, I spend time with my son the more. It's like my favorite time with him. So try not to check my phone. I really commit to being with him because I think it's an important part of my day with him.

I just like not even like checking my phone's emails and all that stuff. And so I'm usually with him until about nine when my, and then I have, I have a nanny who comes and then I go for my run. So usually right when she gets there, I do my run. 20 minutes still. I actually, I do 30 right now.

If I'm going to, I won't do it if I'm going to class. Although look, I've gone off of, like I go to class till like I love doing bar. It's just, it's harder right now with COVID and all of that. So I try and do two at least classes a week, so in there, I usually, yeah. Okay, you changed it a little bit. I know, yeah, I mean, right now it's been

a little bit more intense. So I know it's like, I feel like if you ask me pre-COVID and post, especially pre-COVID and pre-baby, my life was very different versus now, but I still work out and move a lot. And then what I'll do is like, so even if I work out and I usually do some sort of workout every day,

I'll spend some afternoon, depending on what is going on. Obviously, I have a ton of meetings that I have to do, whether it's book stuff, what other stuff going on. And then I sometimes try and block off time in the afternoon to choreograph and dance. And I will do that.

And so that's sort of, by the way, I have made my office, it's part dance studio part office. So that's like why is it? That's exactly what I have. Yeah so that's sort of my, by the way, I have made my office. It's part dance studio part office. So that's like why that's exactly what I have. Yeah, it's actually really nice. So I dance for like an hour or two. And you know, in some days I rehearsaled my dance company too. So I usually have that.

I try and, you know, get all the work stuff done and dance stuff done by around five. And then I spend five to like seven, 38 with my son. Like that's my time with him. We like, my husband and I, we love going on walks with him, going to the park and all of that. And then usually, and I mean, once again, COVID's been a little bit different. I like going out to dinners and stuff,

but I usually just like working, like I either work on like creative projects I'm working on or I'll like watch some TV. When you watch, I mean, let's see. I mean, I love Netflix and I like Balloon Films and any good series that you're watching. Oh, let's see. What did I just watch?

I mean, I've watched Squid Gaves and then I just started inventing Anna, which I feel like everyone's probably watching the same thing. I know, I'm not interested in watching it, but I know everyone's watching it. And then I just watched finished Ozark. My love was Ozark. Yeah.

I don't know. I mean, I feel like there's a bunch of random, I watched cheer, I mean, I cheerleader for 10 years. That's what I know. So in order to like, kind of like, fit in with the rest, you took your dancing ability to become a cheerleader. Exactly. So basically, you wake up, you go for your run,

you like, during the day, because now you're not officially involved with class passed. Right? So last October, when class is acquired, I decided to move forward. I since that moment have had the book. So I've literally been in like me innings interviews, podcasts, sharing this lovely book with everyone. So that's literally the same stories. I've been not I've been not me of you. I've been enjoying. And you know, and honestly, I think one of the things that, you know, to underscore here is,

I realize like my journey is representing my community. And it's an important one, right? Obviously, I'm an Indian girl, and not many people have told our stories. And that's why I mean, I do talk about a lot of cultural experiences in the book. And so it's important, important for me. And I realize that.

I think that's something that over time I realized is how important it is for us to see people succeed that look different, you know, because it makes other people really believe that they can be it too. And I didn't have many people who I could look up to that look like me growing up, you know. And I I realized the importance of that. And that's why I did feel like, and I knew that this book was something that was a responsibility, you know, for me, and I knew that this book was something that, was a responsibility for me to do, to give back to my community as well, because I know so much of my success also came from

the values and culture that they gave me when I was younger. So I wanted to take this moment to give back, and that's really how I thought about it. Well, I think anyone's gonna write a book about goal setting and success for that, you're like a perfect person, right? Because you've actually like walked the walk and you did it. Like you did everything. You did all the steps from what I mean, I don't know you, but from what it sounds like you did everything right

You put yourself in the position to win. Yeah, by doing all the right things beforehand And I think like that's why I was really excited to have you on the podcast. Thank you. I really appreciate it And you know the only other thing I want to say with that is, it comes from a place of heart, right? I think there's a lot of obviously type A people who want to just go, go, go. And I definitely am a go, go, go person. But I like to always re-anchor with my heart, which is why the goal setting stuff starts with emotions, right? And I think that's what is sometimes missing even in the business world, right? And people don't know how to go back to that heart. And I think that's what I always added to everything I did even with class was I just,

it was always came from such a deep, authentic way. And I really, truly feel like I try and live my life that way with that purposeful meaning in everything that I do, or I don't want to do it. And I think no one's really told us how to do that. They've taught us to go, go, go, go, go. Right. Or they'll teach us how to reflect a meditate, but how do you tie that to the execution?

Right. And that to me is really the combination of what I've always been able to do. And honestly, more than success, it's led me to fulfillment. Yeah. Which is really what we're all striving for. Vitamin water just dropped a new zero sugar flavor

called with love. Get the taste of raspberry and dark chocolate for the all warm, all fuzzy, all self-care, zero self doubt you. Grab a with love today. Vitamin water zero sugar, nourish every you. Vitamin water is a registered trademark of glass O. Well that was a glad that you said that, because one of the things I wanted to ask you,

which is, like, what do you think of the key is for rich life? Because you do talk about that difference between just success we said in the beginning of the podcast. So what do you think is the key for rich life? Living your purpose, right? And it's really spending time knowing what that is and then prioritizing your purpose. Right.

And it's by the way, your purpose is different than mine and every other person. So you shouldn't be looking at what other people are doing. You should be looking at what inside you view and then going for it. And to your point where you said earlier, no one else can give you that purpose. You have to figure it out on your own. It's yours. And it's already inside you. It is.

But you need to let, you need to have the self-awareness to let it out. To hear it, right? Absolutely. Yeah. Well, wow, this has been a, I'm really glad that you came on this podcast. Thank you, thanks for having me. No, you're lovely.

You're awesome. Thank you. The book is true. No, it's true. And the book is called Life Pass. And it really, I'm my kidding, I read the whole thing, I really, really liked it. I really liked it.

Yeah, so thank you. So, where do people find, I mean, you can just, what you know. Yeah, I'm on Instagram at pile P.A.Y.L. and you can also go to lifepassbook.com to get a copy of the book and the goal setting workshop. Right. Which is very good. We talked about that a little bit also, but there's so much in it. So you have to like get the book and you have to see it and you're going to do it. You got to get paper out. You've got to down. Do it. It's not, do the work. It's not passive, you need to actually do the work.

Yeah, right? So thanks for coming on. Thank you for having me, John. You're welcome. Bye. I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm not I hope you enjoyed this episode. I'm Heather Monahan, host of Creating Confidence, a part of the YAP Media Network, the number one business and self-improvement podcast network. Okay, so I want to tell you a little bit about my show. We are all about elevating your confidence to its highest level ever and taking your business right

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I recommend it to anyone looking to elevate their confidence and reach that next level. Thank you! I recently got to hear Heather at a live podcast taping with her and Tracy Hayes and I immediately subscribe to this podcast. It has not disappointed and I cannot wait to listen to as many as I can, as quick as I can. Thank you Heather for helping us build confidence and bring so much value to the space.

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