The Ledger
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Barre3 intentionally paused franchising to halt growth and hold steady
“In terms of growing bigger, I'm actually not focused on growing bigger anymore with the company. We've paused franchising for now. We're just holding. We're being still”
Lincoln: Hiring skilled skeptics yields better retention than hiring brand superfans
“I think for a while there I was trending towards hiring people because they were so endeared to the brand. And in the long view, that didn't really serve them. You know, finding people who had the skill, who maybe questioned what we were doing, and wanted to m…”
Lincoln: Teams feel empowered to create magic when founders skip meetings
“One thing I would add to that, that we've found really helpful is for me not to be in the room all the time. When I'm not there I mean, I don't know, but I have a hunch that's when a lot of magic happens because our team is empowered with this idea as well, an…”
Lincoln: Structured circles prevent dominant employee demographics from silencing others
“Often when we get around a table in a work setting, there are few people that have a voice, and usually the same kind of people who don't, and it's a way for everybody to have a voice in a structured way.”
Lincoln: Unconscious bias led to building a Barre3 leadership team resembling herself
“Confronting my own white bias around that, that has led to me unconsciously building a company of leaders who look a lot like me, and realizing that systemic racism is real, and just even understanding that, and that we have been conditioned for hundreds of ye…”
Lincoln: Virtual fitness clients prefer local instructor intimacy over high production value
“What we learned is that our studio clients don't care. Like, they don't really want that. They want their instructor that they know. They want their owner that they have an emotional connection with, and they don't care if she's in her house with dog hair on h…”
Barre3 intentionally paused franchising and stopped chasing growth
“In terms of growing bigger, I'm actually not focused on growing bigger anymore with the company. We've paused franchising for now.”
Barre3 chose a franchise model to avoid raising institutional capital
“We didn't want to be beholden to institutional money. Instead, I was really excited about, I still am excited about the idea of being beholden into other people just like me, who had a dream and wanted to open their own business and have their own skin in the …”
Barre3 requires all its franchise studios to be strictly owner-operated
“Unlike some franchises, our franchise is owner operated. So if you're going to franchise with us, you're really going to live and breathe the product. You're going to teach and manage and, you know, be the face of it.”
Barre3 rejected institutional capital to franchise with individual owner-operators
“We didn't want to be beholden to institutional money. Instead, I was really excited about, I still am excited about the idea of being beholden into other people just like me, who had a dream and wanted to open their own business and have their own skin in the …”
Lincoln: Visionary founders need analytical partners to build stakeholder trust
“In the early days, I had a really hard time building trust with people because I go right to my heart, to vision, and what's possible in the future. And people who are literal and need data and analytics and proof You know, had a hard time listening to me and …”
Lincoln retained complete ownership of barre3 rather than raising outside capital
“I'm the founder. I have complete ownership of Bar Three.”
Lincoln: Barre3 lost 60% of its revenue overnight during the pandemic
“Around the chaotic climate we're in, you know, losing 60% of our revenue overnight.”
Lincoln took a sabbatical during the pandemic to focus on mental health
“About a year ago, I took a sabbatical, which is kind of counterintuitive, but I just knew I needed to step away and take a deep breath and learn about Black Lives Matter and myself.”
Lincoln: Some Barre3 studios retained 90% of pre-COVID revenue during lockdowns
“Some of our studios have remained amazingly, 90% pre-COVID revenue because of the loyalty of their community, really having an emotional connection with them and knowing the owner personally on a personal basis.”
Lincoln: Barre3 is lowering studio buildout costs to increase class accessibility
“We just had our studio design team meeting and we came in with greater urgency around lowering our costs so that with the lens of let's open our doors wider and do they need to be so precious? Do we need to have it be that expensive to build out or could we fi…”
Lincoln: Barre3's overall studio revenue is around 55% of pre-COVID levels
“Overall, just to be clear, we're at, our studio business is probably around 55% pre-COVID.”
Mark Mastrov invested under $200,000 to help launch Barre3
“So he gave us a small investment. I want to say like under 200,000 and then our house, which so we probably had maybe three or 400,000 and that was with a cushion, a little cushion, life savings.”
Most Barre3 franchisees are clients running owner-operated studios
“Most of our franchise partners are Were, or are clients. So they came to bar three, loved bar three, knew bar three, were owner operated. So unlike some franchises, our franchise is owner operated. So if you're going to franchise with us, you're really going t…”
WeWork co-founder Miguel McKelvey and Barre3 founder Sadie Lincoln are siblings
“By the way, if her childhood story sounded somewhat familiar, it's probably because you heard her brother Miguel's version on a previous episode of this show. He's Miguel McKelvey, founder of the multi-billion dollar company WeWork. Miguel also grew up in that…”
Barre3 operates six corporate locations and 124 franchises
“We own six locations, and then we have a 124 franchises.”
Lincoln: Mark Mastrov is Barre3's sole outside investor
“So our only investor to this day is Mark Mastroff.”
Barre3 launched with under $200k from 24 Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrov
“So he gave us a small investment. I want to say like under 200,000 and then our house, which so we probably had maybe three or 400,000 and that was with a cushion, a little cushion, life savings.”
Raz: barre3 has almost 200 fitness and wellness studios nationwide
“It's the fitness and wellness company with almost 200 studios across the country.”
Lincoln: Asking franchisees how to adapt drove barre3's rapid growth
“And those kinds of questions, I think for one thing, the burden was lifted from my shoulders of having all the answers, but also it ignited a culture of collaboration. And ownership, literally and figuratively, and I think that's why you know, we were able to …”
Lincoln: About 30% of barre3 studios are starting to reopen
“Almost every single studio was closed for a long time. We have about 30 percent-ish starting to slowly open.”
Lincoln: Barre3 has online streaming subscribers in 98 countries
“We have subscribers in 98 countries.”
Lincoln sold her house and invested life savings to found Barre3
“So that idea morphed into, let's sell the house, and let's put every single penny into a dream job, That might fail, but we don't care. Let's just try to build a life for ourselves that will feel like dropping out, that will feel free. And that was the spark t…”