Starting 2025 Strong: New Year’s Resolutions and Entrepreneurial Journeys
In this episode of the Marketing Mad Men, Nick Constantino chats with Evan and Lisa Benson of Pause East Cobb about New Year’s resolutions, personal journeys, and starting their first franchise in Georgia. Learn about the benefits of contrast therapy, the role of technology in modern franchises, and the importance of community engagement. Discover practical tips for health optimization and entrepreneurial success.
Key Takeaways:
- Importance of due diligence in starting a franchise.
- Benefits of contrast therapy and proactive wellness.
- Role of community connection in business success.
- Differentiating professional wellness services from DIY solutions.
- Practical recommendations for health and mental clarity.
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Discover New Year’s resolutions, contrast therapy benefits, and entrepreneurial insights with Pause East Cobb on the Marketing Mad Men podcast. #Wellness #Entrepreneurship
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Summary
Happy Saturday! Today on the Marketing Mad Men podcast, Nick Constantino is joined by Evan and Lisa Benson of Pause, which is the first Pause location on the East Coast and in Georgia. They’re discussing New Year’s resolutions, personal journeys, and prospecting for opportunities.
- Evan and Lisa express excitement about being on the show and share holiday wishes.
- Nick comments on the long shopping season and how capitalism affects holidays.
- The conversation shifts to the stress of setting New Year’s goals and the over-reliance on technology for health and life advice.
- Nick introduces the concept of contrast theory, emphasizing body control and breathing control, recommending starting with a cold shower.
- Lisa shares her background in nonprofit work, helping people figure out their careers, and the challenge of dealing with too much information.
- They discuss the importance of personalizing one’s path rather than following rigid protocols.
- Nick shares a story about his daughter and the importance of recognizing individual strengths and weaknesses.
- Evan talks about his background as a CPA, his experience in real estate, and how Pause is their first brick-and-mortar venture, focusing on community connection, personal interest, and financial opportunity.
- They touch on the misconceptions about accounting firms, specifically that they only handle taxes.
The conversation continues with a focus on the roles and responsibilities of accounting firms, emphasizing their importance in public good by auditing big firms to prevent financial crises. They also discuss the misconception that accounting firms only handle taxes and highlight the significant risk management involved.
- The partners at accounting firms are essentially risk managers, and there’s a lot of responsibility involved in ensuring accurate audits to avoid fraud and financial mishaps.
- Nick mentions the historical switch in political party appeals and the importance of understanding psychological and biological responses in marketing.
- They talk about the dangers of social media and gambling due to their exploitation of dopamine responses, comparing them to biological instincts like seeking food.
- Nick hints at the next segment, which will discuss practical ways to manage dopamine and stress, such as cold baths and saunas.
In the next segment, Nick, Evan, and Lisa delve into the process of starting their own business, Pause.
- They emphasize the importance of due diligence and not rushing into decisions.
- Lisa shares how personal experiences with psoriasis and Alzheimer’s in the family led them to explore the benefits of cold plunge therapy.
- They spent about a year researching various franchise opportunities, having conversations, and understanding challenges and opportunities.
- They eventually chose Pause, initially as a “throwaway” option, but it turned out to be the best fit due to its low-pressure sales approach.
- Evan explains the process of selecting the location, negotiations, and matching demographics to their business goals.
The conversation continues with a discussion on the role of technology in modern franchises and how Pause, despite being new, had made significant strides in the industry.
- Evan and Lisa talk about how California is ahead of the curve in the holistic space and how trends often start there before moving east.
- They discuss their process of choosing Pause, which included meeting the leadership team in California, visiting sites, and working with a local broker to find the right location in East Cobb, Georgia.
- Evan shares his personal connection to the area, having grown up there and attended local schools.
- The importance of community connection, redevelopment of the area, and suitable demographics were key factors in choosing their location.
- Lisa adds her perspective, emphasizing the importance of feeling right about the space and using all senses to determine suitability.
- They also discuss the differences between areas like Buckhead and East Cobb, noting that newer money areas like East Cobb are more open to trying new things.
- Evan highlights the importance of being in a location with complementary brands, ample parking, and a supportive landlord.
- Nick shares an example of his positive experience with a Stretch Lab franchise, emphasizing the importance of the people and the transformative impact of the services.
- Once the location was found, they implemented a grassroots campaign, engaging with the community through events and partnerships for 3-4 months prior to opening.
- Their efforts included building an email and contact list, resulting in a strong community connection by the time they opened.
- They navigated the challenging construction and permitting process, achieving health department approval for their cold plunges and float tanks.
- This approval provided a competitive advantage and reassured customers about their stringent hygiene protocols.
Regarding staffing:
- The franchise provided guidelines on the type of staff needed, focusing on candidates with hospitality experience from places like Four Seasons and Chick-fil-A.
- They emphasized the importance of empowering staff to provide excellent customer service and address individual customer needs.
- The interview process involved multiple stages, ensuring they found the right people who aligned with their vision and values.
Nick highlights the importance of empowerment in hospitality, sharing that the best companies allow employees to make decisions and address customer needs effectively.
Finally, the conversation shifts to the services offered at Pause, starting with contrast therapy:
- Contrast therapy involves alternating between cold plunges and saunas.
- Benefits include improved circulation, reduced inflammation, enhanced recovery, and stress relief.
- It’s recommended for various individuals, including athletes, those seeking stress relief, and people wanting to improve sleep and overall well-being.
Evan and Lisa elaborate on the concept of contrast therapy as part of Pause’s offerings. They emphasize that contrast therapy, rotating between a hot sauna and a cold plunge, is a highly beneficial practice that can be tailored to individual preferences. They highlight the importance of being proactive with health and well-being, rather than reactive.
- Contrast Therapy: This involves alternating between a hot sauna (typically 150°F or above) and a cold plunge (between 48-50°F). Benefits include improved circulation, reduced inflammation, enhanced recovery, and stress relief.
- People can adjust the duration and sequence based on what feels best for them.
- Even short durations in the cold plunge can be beneficial.
- Science suggests that 11 minutes per week in the cold plunge is optimal, and more frequent sauna sessions provide greater benefits.
- Other Services at Pause:
- Sauna
- Cold Plunge
- Floatation Therapy
- LED Light Therapy
- Compression Therapy
- IV Drips and Vitamin Shots (medical arm)
- Cryotherapy
- Proactive Wellness: By offering a variety of scientifically-backed services, Pause allows individuals to proactively manage their health and well-being. This approach encourages regular use of services to maintain overall wellness rather than waiting for specific issues to arise.
In the next segment, they discuss practical scenarios and recommendations for different individuals:
- Scenario 1: For someone who indulged over the holidays and wants to detoxify and feel better quickly in January:
- Recommendation: Start with the sauna to detox from the excesses of December, like alcohol and sugar, to quickly start feeling better.
The conversation further explores the services and benefits offered at Pause, with emphasis on tailoring recommendations to individual needs.
- Contrast Therapy: Recommended for detoxification and starting the new year fresh. Consistent use of the sauna helps with detoxification, while the cold plunge provides mental clarity.
- Cosmetic Approach: For someone preparing for an important interview with skin issues:
- Light Therapy: Recommended for its detoxification benefits and effectiveness in treating acne, wrinkles, and wound healing.
- Sauna: Suggested for detoxifying the skin and reducing inflammation.
- Differentiating Professional Services from DIY Solutions: They discuss the challenges of competing with cheaper, less effective products available online, emphasizing the superior quality and effectiveness of professional equipment used at Pause.
- Mental Clarity for Non-Public Facing Roles: For individuals needing mental clarity and focus:
- Floatation Therapy: Recommended for its unique benefits in reducing sensory input, promoting relaxation, and achieving mental clarity. The experience involves floating in water with a high concentration of Epsom salts, providing weightlessness and decompression.
Finally, they discuss how to find Pause East Cobb on social media and their website, inviting listeners to reach out and experience their services.
The conversation wraps up with an appreciation for the insights shared and an invitation for listeners to tune in next week.
Transcript
Happy Saturday and welcome to the Marketing Mad Men, Nick Constantino here, and I’m with Evan and Lisa Benson of Pause. The first pause on the East Coast, the first pause in Georgia, always happy about that. Always happy when Georgia gets things first and is is is one of. Early adopters. You know, and it’s also not the first time I’ve heard of a comparison between California and. Maybe the movie industry, but we’re going to have a really fun conversation. We’re going to talk about New Year’s resolutions, those dirty words of resolutions. Going to talk about. Pretty real journeys and we’re going to talk about a lot of prospecting, looking for the right opportunity. So evidently, how you guys doing?
Doing great. Thanks so much for for having us in. Super excited to be here. Happy holidays to everybody and hope everybody’s got all their gifts at least. For for this year.
Yeah. Yeah, let’s. Hope. The shopping season so freaking long you have to, I mean. The sales start in like October. They almost destroyed Christmas. My kids are little. And like you start Halloween on September 1st, the decor Halloween. Christmas is all up and people wonder by the time it actually comes, everyone’s like, OK. You know, that’s the fun. So it’s amazing how they find a way that capitalism sucks some fun out of everything. Anyway, how about you least how you doing?
I am good and I’m just more again grateful for being here but wishing people are feeling good right now instead of feeling depleted. Feeling now, the stress of having to set New Year’s goals as. Were talking about.
Yeah. So I want to get to your guys background, but I think that’s a really good place to start. Find it fascinating that we’re in a world where you have every bit of information on your. You can literally say here’s my body weight. Here’s my family history here, where I’m from in the world, go into AI and say what should I do? And it will spit out something that is better for you and more accurate that anything a doctor would prescribe. Yet we’re unhealthier and Dumber than we’ve ever been in the history of this civilization. We over rely on these things. We’re too worried about dopamine. We’re not thinking of the whole thing, so I just I I think it’s a good conversation to have. Have of why New Year’s resolutions fail? What’s wrong and how people have to start forming habits and doing things the right? And you know, one of the things I love and again, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The concept of contrast theory is more about body control and breathing control, and it’s about. Overcoming those things because once you can do something like that, like in look, don’t start jumping into an ice plunge bath like start with a cold shower right after you work out the morning I work and wake up at 5:30 in the morning. I work out and. First thing I do is an ice cold shower. It’s. Terrible the first five times you do it and then it gets easier every time after that, so. We got ahead of ourselves, as I usually do, so let’s start briefly. Has been an entrepreneurial journey. You both have different stories of how you. To. Point, Lisa, why don’t we start with? Because you came a little less orthodox around as far as business. So talk about previous roles and how you get to got to here and what made you finally realize that it’s time to go out on my own.
Yeah. So I started my entire career has been focused on nonprofit. Either in service of children or. And so I started locally and then I worked for a national organization. And so a lot of my role just out was career support. As my career progressed, turn more and more into helping others figure out what they want to do.
OK, OK.
And so that’s. My background.
In your experience and in your honest opinion, and again throw another cardball what is the biggest? What blocks does this country put in the way that makes it so hard for these people to get the services or to get the direction that they need to figure out what they want to do? What is making it? So hard I.
Think there’s too much information and everybody thinks that they have to follow a specific and this is literally for all of life, doesn’t matter what realm they think they have to follow a very specific protocol. Going to fall off and be unsuccessful instead of feeling what is right for them uniquely and without.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Anybody. So I think that is the huge roadblock. Too much information and then thinking that you have to follow that. Versus just feel your way through for what’s right for you.
Yeah. And I think as I said, like one of the things I was asked for is I never asked for. Times are good. Like, hey, tell me when you overcame adversity and the only way you have adversity. To set yourself up to. Fail at it and learn from it, and we are not allowing ourselves to fail. Is so perfection based? My daughter’s seven in a private school. Hate. I was a public school kid in New York, but my wife has her own regiment where if. Getting straight as I’m like. What if she’s not good at English? We’re writing. Who? She’s great at math. Are. Why it doesn’t have to be everything? These kids, they’re. Let them figure out now what they’re good. Bad at right? Not. She’s doing the work. She’s smart. The teacher actually gave us a report. It said like she can’t read. She goes, but she comprehends beautifully. I go. Wait a second. So you’re telling me that she can’t put the words together, but she comprehends? And the teacher is like, oh, kind of like you caught me like, that’s not possible. So I. I agree with you. What kind of advice did you give these? Because I’m sure this is going to help with your customer service and in the future, that’s a that’s not a, that’s a thankless job that you are always in a role where you’re giving no matter what. Parents are probably ***** about it. Like so tell me about the role and what the interaction was like with the kids and the parents.
Think there’s just so much stress in life? It doesn’t matter in what realm and so it’s about taking things and kind of like digesting them for what works for you. Again, this kind of theme, the hard work no one wants to do, no one wants to get to know themselves. One wants to know what is hard for me and then how can I dissect that to make it easier. And so when we Don? That we avoid and evade everything else because, Oh well, you know. I’m turn around because I’m being distracted by here’s how to write a perfect resume. Here is how you Ace interview. Here is what your career is supposed to be.
And it’s a normal defence.
Know, yeah.
It’s not like it’s an unheard of thing in the people who respond the best in those situations are usually the most. Maybe what you should have done is kept doing what you were doing so that you could have referred the people under all the stress. That would have been that would have been the ultimate sales role.
Yeah.
Evan, what about you, brother?
Yeah, so my background is CPA by trade. I worked for a couple of the major public accounting firms. I’ve had a couple of industry roles from an entrepreneurial perspective. I’ve done a lot in the real estate space, but pause is is our first move into kind of a brick and mortar setup and enfranchisement. And so we’ve considered, you know, a lot of different business endeavors over the years. But we’re really looking for something that really check three boxes.
Sure.
We wanted a community connection, personal interest and a financial opportunity. And pause was the first one that could check all of those boxes. And so when we established that we were very quick to try to move forward and and try to execute on.
That, yeah, I love it. I think 1 the CPA background, right, whenever you’re talking numbers. Yep, there’s a lot of the. The personal taken out of it, right this is. And what’s the ultimate thing when you work for a company, you don’t be a. Well, you live in the world of numbers, so you have the raw hard data like this is stuff and you know that balance between creativity and and being analytical is huge in the world right now. But for a long time, you were either the guy with the creat.
Yeah.
Guy in the corner come up with the ideas or the guy crunching the numbers to say how bad. Ideas were. So you have the side of all right, well. These numbers don’t. Let’s look at the broad numbers. And you have decided, hold on. The. And here’s the everybody goes through stuff side of the business.
Yeah.
Any kind of opportunity benefited from that. You know, no offense, but two CPA starting a business together is going to run a very different kind of business so. So I think so backgrounds are set so you both come from different world. I will ask you about that, that part of the world. Do you think is most must? Everyone here is arts and young and KPMG and Deloitte and all these big guys and they have such weird perspectives of what they do and what they do is so varied. Their consultants. Their accountants, their auditors. What do you think people most get wrong about the industry in which you are in and and did it affect your desire to kind of get out and and get? Do stuff on your own.
Yeah, I think you know, anytime somebody hears about a accounting firm, they think it’s just a tax practice. Because that’s how people relate to it.
So how do I cheat on my taxes? I’m. We’re getting that time.
Of year. Yeah, there be a different show, but.
Also. That’s where my LLC comes into play.
Exactly. Yeah. But I think people automatically go to taxes because that’s how they familiarize ourselves with accounting is they think of taxes. But you think about these big firms and, you know, it’s changing by the day in terms of. The.
Yeah.
But there’s a very important public good that’s done by these public accounting firms by going in and auditing some of these big firms, making sure that they’re reporting numbers the, the the proper way and that we are not going to have another major. Financial crisis as a result of of a big fraud or a big company that gets taken.
Yeah.
So I think that’s the best misconception is that these firms do a lot more than just tax and.
The firms are held liable. I mean, if you make a mistake and they read the books wrong or they don’t catch a certain amount of fraud.
Oh.
Yeah.
It’s happened, I mean within this building, 1 of the family members of. Got into a. Turned out to be a complete fraud that they didn’t lose the. Ernst and Young, who audited and approved and stamped those books, were the ones who ate that money. There’s a lot of risk in there. It’s. It is not just a hey we’re running. It is, if we’re not triple, quadruple octopus. Checking this thing and the mistake is wrong. That’s that’s on us also. Think people don’t understand how much responsibility. Not just like a. Good job, but here’s a check.
Mm.
It’s like I’m taking on personal responsibility. Fiduciary responsibility here.
Yeah, I mean that the partners at these firms are a risk managers. For. And to your point about the consequences, you know, there’s a firm. That used to be called Arthur. Yeah, that’s no longer around because they, you know, had some bad audits. So it is definitely more of it is all about risk management. I think at the partner level. But I think that’s one of the big misconceptions with the firms is they do. Lot more than just taxes.
Yeah. And I think risk management is a huge part of psychology and there’s there’s so much that goes into it and. For at its core. Like look, we’ve this country is going through has gone through times, but these are all things we’ve been through before. Love to look forward to think about now, but no one looks back. You know, the Republican and Democrats have they switched who they’ve been appealing to, right? The Democrats were working with people and that’s what Trump took.
Yeah.
Took working class people, so we switched so much that if you look back to history, you probably find similar. Scenarios and ways to go and psychology doesn’t change that much because interest in what they’re trying to achieve. The only thing I think that has changed and I think this will be a good part of the marketing conversation, is we understand more about psychology now. So we’re bringing more about the biological responses into things like marketing, right? Everyone’s trying to rush you with dopamine and hook you on dopamine because that’s the addiction. That’s what social media does. That’s what gambling does, and I’m going to the casino tomorrow. If anyones curious, so we’ll test that out. I’m going up to Harris Cherokee. Those guys but. They’ve brought that into the mainstream and that’s what I think makes things like social media so dangerous is that they’ve learned so much now about our responses. Ironically, the responses haven’t changed much. A dopamine.
Mm.
All it is is a reward for your body to go seek out something that like it’s food. You smell food. Rush means go eat dummy like there’s no higher thought. Haven’t changed that much. Right, they’re just. The difference is you used to be able to find the serotonin. Said. You got enough now.
Mm.
They don’t want you to get the serotonin, they just want to keep flooding the. And then we wonder why we have so many drug addicts, and we have so many problems because you bring in this neuroscience into this, and now it’s very addicting. So that being said, in the next segment, we’re going to talk about how to shut your phone. Jump into an ice cold bath and then jump into a sauna and see how you would regulate your temperatures and your dopamine that way. So you’ve been listening to the marketing madman on extra 106 three and we will be right back. Welcome back to the marketing Mad Men on Extra 106.3. Constantino here with Evan and Lisa Benson. And we’ve gotten to it. Going to talk about pause now. You guys both. Had backgrounds that for whatever reason and you think you set the reasons really well, decided it was time to let’s go do something different. Go out on our own. Let’s go figure this. OK, most people, when they do that, think that all of the work is done because they made that hard decision and they kind of half **** it and kind of just go in and they kind of like let’s do this, OK. But it seems like there’s much more due diligence involved in this process. So before we get to the front of the location, what’s going on now? About some of that process, and let’s go into this under. Of people who are in this position now that feel like they want to leave what they’re doing and start on their own, how much time it actually takes to get this right. So, Lisa, why don’t we start with you? Talk a little bit about what you went through and what the work was to just find this and how nerve wracking it is to just find what the right opportunity is.
Yeah. I mean, I think first you started with like every, every time you’re getting right ads I said. As soon as we decided this is something we want to do and it actually came from a very personal place, I had psoriasis from my daughter that I got during Covic. My dad just was diagnosed with Alzheimer, sadly. Then Evan started. You know accountants and Cpa’s and that industry very type A stressed out all the time.
Yeah.
Started learning about the benefits of cold plunge and so. That brought us to, like you know what? This is something we should pursue immediately. I just call it Big Brother. We started getting ads. The time about franchise franchise and so.
Yeah.
From that process that became #1. Looked cool. What looked like it aligned with what we wanted to be true for ourselves. Then it was. Phone. Phone call reading conversations with so many people, I would say that was like a year long process just right like. Talking.
At least a couple, yeah, 6 or so months, yeah.
And again, this is our journey ’cause I know a lot of. We’ve spoken to a lot of other owners who are like, yeah, I thought it was cool and went for it. Took the time to learn about different brands and have conversations and have conversations with franchisees that belong to them. And so that was just a very long process of notes and then discovering themes and understanding what challenges they face. But what opportunities they saw for the future. And then we came to learn about pause and pause, honestly.
Yeah.
What we consider was a throwaway we like. Just going. Go look for our due diligence, but that is not, that’s not going to be, yeah.
Usually have it usually. It usually happens that way and and the reason I think is because. Because. Especially when you go through a process of when you’re constantly being sold, the one that sells the least hard is the one you go towards. You know. Look, whether you guys first of all, you around kids all day that were probably BS and you into what’s wrong with them, right?
Thanks.
Were in the CPA. So you learned to see through the fake numbers and look at the things, so. Sales people don’t have to sell something if there’s a good product. Like you guys see this building and most of my sales pictures, it starts with, hey, you see that big Atlanta bee over there. Atlanta Braves I go they trust. That’s a pretty good indication you should. That’s the whole sales process and I’m not trying to be that guy, but I’m like, that’s the most prominent team probably in the country. And they’ve been with me for 15. There’s probably a reason that’s happening so, but that’s the opposite of the really hard handed. We should go now. That’s the opposite. When someone gives that a lot of times you’ve already been through the ringer from everybody else. Overselling that. Wait a second. These guys aren’t selling it hard. Thought this was going to be a meeting but this. One of the most potential so. All right, so we got to pause. Evan, why don’t you pick it up? What was the process? So they’re reaching out to you. Lot of negotiations. They’re probably giving you demographics. You’re trying to match it up with what you know about Atlanta. Talk about how you found the location and how that all got set up.
Yeah. So you know, to Lisa’s point. We looked at pretty much every. Franchise brand in the space and then we.
At that time.
There’s not the. I know how many are there.
There’s probably about 10:10 that are.
- And all I imagine in the past couple of years are all relatively.
They’ve all been. They’re all relatively new, and even before we got to franchise, we kind of said, hey, do we? To do this. We just want to create our own brand and we felt like speed the market.
Yeah.
You know, was pretty important.
Yeah.
And then.
We imagine technology will probably have that conversation. Every one of these modern franchises. Is centered around a piece of technology that would be. Either exponentially expensive, that’s right. Own. Or would be such an adaptive process. It would take years to get the right way, yeah?
The thing I was excited about pause was, you know, they were punching, you know, way ahead of their weight class. You know, they’re only in California, but we would be talking to people here that had been to pause, had heard of pause.
But let’s talk for a.
Into.
How far ahead of the Curve California is in the holistic space? OK. So I lived out there for a little while. Had an ex-girlfriend. Whose mother was, like, making like an alchemist and she was like, making like this is 20 years ago, 25 years ago. I mean, they were doing colonics. Was Bikram. They were so far ahead of the curve I didn’t hear about any of that stuff here till almost recently. It was 25 years. I was in California, so just the general vibe over there is so different for this stuff.
That’s right.
And again I. Imagine. The the film industry and people might coming over here helped the adoption come over here, but I think it’s important to say California and Lana are very different places. Difference very different in Wellness and what people do and what people look at and how people. People manage. It’s also different, like most people are seeing a therapist there and like you did, the whole world is so. So I just think it’s important for listeners to understand like these are not like we ran down the street and it’s just like from Birmingham to Atlanta and we’re in the same place. These are totally different places. That’s right.
That’s right.
Sorry for the interruption.
Yeah. But that’s a good point, ’cause. You know what you see is a lot of trends starting California and then they make their way. East. And so I think you’ve seen a lot in this health and Wellness space that the same thing has happened with two of the major franchise brands, you know have started in California and they’ve they’ve kind of made their way out. I think that’s a good a good point that you brought up. But in terms of our process, so once we had decided. On pause, you know, we went out. Flew to. We met with the leadership team. We kind of went through. We visited sites out there. They had some really good relationships here locally from a real estate perspective. So they connected us with a with a local broker and then it was a process of of going to the sites, getting the sites. We were very, very strict with our real estate requirements. Because we want to be where our customers are and we think Ave. East Cobb, it is where our customers are. That particular location. Was also attractive to us because that’s where I grew up.
I went.
There you go. He asked that question. OK.
I went to Pope High School. I was an. I played Division One football at at UConn, so I got AI, got a lot of connections to to that particular space in that particular community.
You’re in the wrong sport or you in the wrong. At UConn basketball.
Well.
We did OK. We did OK, we did OK. But but I think that was that was important, that Community connection, but also, you know, the avenue they’ve gone through a whole redevelopment. And so we thought that was super exciting. So we looked at a lot of spaces when we thought the avenue was really the best fit. And then once we had, you know the the the site, then there’s a whole another negotiation process with the landlord of trying to negotiate the lease. And you had to have attorneys involved in going through all of that.
Yeah, you’re trying to tell the landlord. Look, we’re drawing people into, right? This is everybody because this we have a constant flow. We’re busy. The. So we’re trying to bring people in. What is the value to the other people around? It’s a negotiation and before we get to at least, are you from here also?
No, I’m not. I’m from Connecticut. From Connecticut. OK, yeah.
So, you know, I think.
If I can just add one thing just because again very different perspectives, I’m coming like a deer in headlight is how I describe my journey.
Please.
Yeah, wearing Connecticut, by the way, are we talking New York City, Connecticut? Are we talking Connecticut? OK.
While I was born in New York. And then we moved when I was 10 in Brooklyn.
Like hard for where?
Yeah. And then we moved when I was about 10. Connecticut to New York Metro area, Connecticut. Danbury.
Connecticut changes very quickly when you leave and you go up and.
So. Close. Close enough. Yes, this is true. Absolutely right. If you can, as a cow, you know, Danbury.
Yes. Is not, so I I so I was a Queens kid that moved to Long Island. The Queens Long Island is the same thing as Brooklyn to.
So then he.
You go a little further and you’re doing a little bit more roundabout way.
Yeah.
But really, we probably waving at each other across the Long Island sound at the time.
I was.
So OK, keep on going.
I was just going to add to as I’ve been saying, when you’re going to these different sites. So for me. You know, not having any of this experience, it definitely was a feeling. You go into a space and you look. Have to use all of your senses to kind of like determine whether this is right. Something feels off. Stuff doesn’t feel off, and then talk it through. Depending on your communication style. For me, it was totally talking it through because like, something was not right. And what was it? And so just really paying attention to what’s around you and not being, you know, because some people layout the red carpet. And so it’s very easy to be like, wow, they’re so nice. But really you have.
I I think.
Look more at that map.
Feel is the word and from my feel for Atlanta, the difference between cause the natural reaction is probably Buckhead or Brookhaven or something like that or done.
Mm.
But what I found is the roswells, the east Cobbs. Those tend to be newer money and they are more open to doing things with their money than the old bucket. People who are rich and cheap. So I I don’t know a nicer way to say that, so I’m just going to come out with it. I have found and I we this radio station has 180 clients in a given month. I talked to a lot of people. And everybody that is in an experimental space that tries to go in and bully the way into Brookhaven or Buckhead fails much quicker than the people who are going to the Roswell’s of the world, the East Cobb, the Woodstock, those areas where people are more open to. The. Stuff and families and things along those. So I think it was a I think it was a smart move. Us a little bit about what drew to that. Obviously the landlords giving you a bunch of demographics of who the people are, what are the other stores in there? Was it that really caught your attention? It was.
It was all the. I mean so so Ave. right now has made a huge investment in the community by redeveloping. The avenue to, you know, really a world class destination. So that was exciting for us in the. With that also, there’s a lot of what we like to call accelerator brands.
There are. You know, I I. Talked about, you know, wanting to be where our customer. So there’s a lot of brands there that we feel our customers like to frequent in that space. So that was also a very important parking. Is very tricky with some of these places you know, maybe a great location, but there’s no parking, so there’s there’s a lot of parking at the Ave.
Yes.
And then similar to how we vetted the leadership team at pause, we also vetted the leadership team at at the Ave. And they’ve got a world class team there that’s that’s their support tenants. We have a great working relationship with them, so it was really all of the above. The the demographics are. You know the incomes are wonderful. There is just a busy place. We get a lot of foot traffic, so all of those things I think contributed to us wanting to move forward at that space.
Yeah, I think the point is here is like there’s so much that goes into this. And I think that everyone always sees the tip of the iceberg and like, oh, they just started so.
Oh yeah.
I do want to take the time because there’s a stretch lab as an example of a newer franchise and I’ve gone for a year now and there’s a guy there named Xavi and he’ll get this. Send it over to him. I the establishment is a franchise was fine, but I found the guy that was right and I mean. He. He was an XT1 athlete and just stretching and putting that hour a week to myself to go do those things has been completely transformative. So and you know, it’s annoying. The tech doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to sometimes. But I’m OK with that stuff. But it’s also still about the people, and I’m not going because of the app. The app makes it convenient to cancel and book, and it really was the thing for the first two or three.
Mm.
Times. But the people that you have greeting those fundamentals will never change. So talk about we found the location. Now we got to start staffing this puppy in an industry that neither of you have been in talk about the staffing and then I promise we’re going to get. The fun stuff and talk about what they actually do. Yeah, so.
Once we found the location, you know, pause has a really. Good playbook for how to open locations. So before we even get to. Through hiring, you know we have a very aggressive grassroots campaign that we do within the community. So probably for about 3 to four months prior to our opening, we were out in the Community we were tabling.
Were doing. Events where we would bring in complimentary services to do cold plunges to yeah. How we would be partnering with, with, with other businesses?
It’s.
And they probably have a geographic area that they give you. Hey, the likelihood of someone coming in from 1430 miles away is not it. Here’s your geographic area that most people come.
From very targeted with. Being rooted in the.
Yeah.
So we did that for about 3 or 4 months and we probably did probably nearly 100 events. Build up a pretty significant. E-mail list, contact list and so by the time you get to opening, you’ve already got a lot of people that that know we’re coming that are interested.
Yeah. And that’s why word of mouth advertising by far the strongest form of it.
That’s right.
The strongest excruciating exhaust. Thing so tiring if it’s like on the problem that people you feel like out of each individual interaction, you didn’t get enough. But when you look at them cumulatively, you’re like, OK, this was worth it.
So tiring.
Feels.
Again, that’s how people. We’re always thinking in the moment and in that moment, it’s like, oh, my God, three people came up. Going on. But those three people? They’re so not used to talking to people in. And seeing that that. Like but also like it takes banner ad 44 times for someone to say it have any impact. Get that impact immediately. And then you’re in the community and you can say that and like, oh, you know what? I saw those guys. Are part. The community not just saying like everybody else does. That’s right, yeah.
So you know we, you know, we viewed, you know, a lot of other bus. Is that just open the door and hope people come in? We took a very aggressive approach, 3:00 to 4:00. Out. Start building that community connection. Getting out there, networking with other businesses, and that’s been great for us as we as we open really strong. So that was really important leading up to getting to open. The construction process for brick and mortar is not. That everything I’m sure is fun. Meeting is challenging. You know, we are the only. Business in Cobb County that has health department approval for coal plungers in our float tanks. That was not easy to get.
But that’s a media barrier to entry because all of a sudden it’s making it harder for competitors.
Exactly. For other people to spill it.
Put the. So that’s that in itself. If it’s promoted the right way because you still have to get that message out there. It’s powerful. Barry to entry is one of the biggest parts of business. That is underscored of because if somebody just comes in and copies your exact thing, then you’re competing over the same bottom of the funnel activities and people searching on Google. It’s hard to market, but if you have a competitive advantage, you can start top of the funnel because you’re automatically.
Yourself. It’s a huge. People come in and they do. Now they come in, they look at the code punches. Is it? You know what are you guys? We’re like, look, we have very stringent hygiene protocols. This has been approved by the Health department. And it gives people some more comfort that, you know, we’re not just some place that popped up and threw some plungers into water. We.
So it’s not like when I was in Mexico and I got my tongue pierced and I was like a frozen Margarita. Anything. It’s not like that.
It’s not like that.
I just want to make sure I just want to make sure.
It’s not like that, yeah.
True story, by the way.
Yeah, so, so we so we so that process. You know, around permitting and construction that that was also part of it. But in terms of staffing ’cause, you asked about staffing once we got there again the, the the franchise was very helpful in terms of giving US guidelines on. How many people do we need?
Yeah, and these are modern companies with data, and this is probably where you get out because they probably came to you not with a hey, John, in, in, in, in. Our. Here’s this is where they’re coming in from. The kind of people that work best. Probably getting data that you like. This is helping me paint a much easier picture than going in blind.
Yeah. And you know, we we were looking for people with a lot of hospitality experience. And you worked at Four Seasons, Chick-fil-A places that are really, really high on.
Yeah.
I think you made a point earlier. It is a business, but we’re in the people business. We’re making people feel.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Look good. Live better and you got to have that.
Personal connect and I imagine so. One of the things for me when people talk about hospitality that they don’t understand is empowerment because you. Are now so invested in the business and there’s local owners you’re able to. People. Because The Four Seasons is The Four Seasons the Ritz Carlton Ritz car. Because each employee had like $1000 per se to always make something right for somebody. Everyone says that they want to be that they want to be good customer service, but they don’t empower their people to be able to make those things. Stuff happens.
And.
You’re talking about somebody who thinks what if they jump into a frozen cold plunge and then go into like they just not ready for? Jarring. Like so you got to be prepared, OK?
Mm.
Know look, I understand. Once you try this service, this might be a little bit more your speed. If those employees aren’t empowered to do that. Then that’s the problem. So I think one of the things that the best companies have done, a really good job of is that they put people in a position and empower them to succeed if something goes wrong just lying to yourself, saying nothing is going to go wrong. It’s just a F. Endeavor. That’s. This world, everything is something going to.
Go wrong in every customer that comes through our doors. One of the things that that our team is trained to ask is, you know, why are you here? How can we help you feel better? Because somebody may be coming in for a, you know, recovery and somebody may be coming in to, they want to sleep better. Somebody may be coming in because they.
Yeah.
You don’t want to relax, so we try to understand that and then direct them to the services that address that. So that’s really important for us as well.
But I’ll go into the the staffing part, which is again a question that that Nick? So I did a lot of like talking to a tremendous amount of people, whether it was through computer 1st and then it was through screen like computer, we did zoom and then we meet in person. And so it was I think we streamlined the process as we learned. And more about what we were looking for.
Yeah.
So yes, we totally got a lot of support around. The kind of person. But again, I’m gonna bring back to you feeling what was my feeling when I spoke to them. One of the strategies that I used to be. Absolutely transparent. This is what I’m looking. This is what we are going to build, not trying to build. This is we’re going to build and what we want to be true and if that’s not for you, that is okay. We do not want people who clock in and clock out.
Yeah, get it out of way early.
Getting a job that’s real life. Everybody needs to earn money and that’s why you’re here. Because you want the opportunity to earn money, but this is going to be more than that and you need to understand that. If that’s too much for you, then that’s completely fine. But if you’re entering, you need to.
Know that and that’s where a lot of the you know, there’s probably been, I would call it 3 or 4 generations of franchise. The last generation of franchisees, that’s where they broke it, right? Like the massage envy of the world. And those are the ones that got so. Everyone the owners were only 30 or 40 to make money and you cannot manage people if you’re only having 30 to 40, then the one person you put in charge of each location has no skin in the game. They’re not empowered to make decisions. You you saw it. And that was a difference. The only reason that I’m at this. This stretch lamp is because the same guy’s been there. He leaves. Out. I can’t make that clear. Do all the. They probably still don’t believe me, but so I think that that’s a really good point. All right, so we’ve lolly gagged about. We’ve talked under the iceberg, which again is not the fun stuff. Let’s talk about some services. So. I missed my. I’m gonna get up there to do a contrast, and it’s only because I believe in all of the benefits of it. I had a Finnish girlfriend who’s whose grandfather made saunas, and I know that they’ve been doing cold plunges into saunas for for thousands of years. So let. Start with that one. Talk about contrast therapy. About obviously. Are doing it. You see that? But talk about some of the benefits and talk about the kind of people that you would refer to go that route.
Yeah. So before I talk about contrast there, let me also just, you know pause is a one stop shop for health. Optimization and health. So contrast therapy is one of basically 7 services that we offer.
Sure.
And I love that, by the way, like 7 is the. It’s like look, we could add more, but then we’re starting to get to the stuff that isn’t going to really help you. Right. You see these menus and a spa in a hotel is a great example. How do you? 74 services like pick six that you’re really good at and just stop. But that’s at 7 is like. That’s the number to me 10 a dozen is you’re starting to get too high, your flexibility maybe one or two come about. Can add one or two, but you’re not at a level where it’s intimidating. You’re not level trying to be something not. Right.
Science. That’s the whole point.
Exactly. So. So the seven that that we have are all signs. So sauna cold plunge. We offer float, floatation therapy, LED light therapy, compression. We have a medical arm that does. Ivs and drips and vitamin shop. And we also offer cryotherapy. And that’s one of the unique things about pause is you know our design is to allow you to be able to basically address your whole self, your whole well-being and not just one thing. You do have some of our competitors that may do just. Sauna or just cryotherapy, or just? Four, we try to be a one stop shop for folks, so they come into our place and we can address a whole variety of different issues or challenges that you may be having.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think it also allows you to be proactive with Wellness, not reactive, right?
That’s correct.
You go to cryotherapy in certain situations. But now you’re being. So if you go in a week and you’re not having X problem, then maybe you try. Something else because it will help with. So again, we’re we’ve become too reactive as a country for. We are not being proactive enough, so being that way you’re not just saying here’s the one you have to come in and use it when this happens. You’re being proactive. Is how this could help you overall so you don’t have to use all these services.
Yep, that’s right.
Important I.
I think to answer your quest to get to contrast therapy because that’s that is our most popular. That’s one people see all over social media and all the excitement there. You said who do I recommend it to everybody it it is.
Yeah.
You’re really missing out if if you are not. If you haven’t experienced contrast therapy. You talked about people always seeking dopamine, which is true.
Yeah.
But look, you can come into our place and get in the cold plunge for three minutes, and when you get out, your dopamine is going to be up.
But you’re also not interested. Other parts of the chemical other nephrons going up. The problem with dopamine is that you see, dopamine is just so dopamine pretty much is like. Out of the pool. It’s freezing. My body doesn’t like it. So your dopamine is what, saying like, you get out. But you fight that so then all of a sudden your body relaxes, and then you have all the endorphins and all those other things coming. You have problems when we talk only dopamine when people are flooding, only that dopamine receptor, because that is the anticipation thing. So I.
Correct.
To make sure dopamine is not a bad. Yeah, we’ve psychologically linked our brains to only seek after. There’s no answer to. And that’s when you’re Harding. That feedback loop of where addicts come from. That’s right, completely. But that being said, we talked ourselves to this entire segment. So we’re going to come. We’re going to go into, we’re going to go into cry there, going to go into all this stuff. You been listening to. Amendment on extra 106 three and we’ll be right back. Welcome back to the marketing Mad Men on Extra 106 thirty. We have flown through this guys. I appreciate it. We covered a lot. Bobbin and weaving like we always are. So let let’s finish. And why don’t you finish about the contrast therapy and then what we’re going to do is we’re going to create some scenarios of various people that might come in, in certain circumstances. And I’m making these up. I promise there’s nothing written. And let’s give some. So give it people idea of where their brains going. If you know what I think of it that way. So finish on contrast. Every is your most. It is the one I think is the most appealing, but finish up on that one.
And we’ll, yeah. And just so so folks understand what contrast therapy is. Is essentially rotating between, you know, a sauna which is hot and a cold plunge which is cold, which is where the term contrasting.
Yeah. And we’re not talking tepid. We’re talking 104° in a sauna.
Yeah. You know, yeah, our sauna in, you know, we allow people to to be able to set the temperature where they want it. You know 150 or above is typically. Where people like to have that.
And about 4240 ish for. Cold point.
Something like that is typically between 48 and 50°. So.
Cold and. Well, that’s that’s not going warm and kind of chilly. Is that cold and hot? That’s right.
And we give people, you know, a base protocol to to follow. We typically tell people. To follow what feels good to you. So for me that may be 8 minutes in the sauna, 2 minutes in the plunge and just continue in that cycle.
Yeah.
Some people may want to do 40 minutes in the sauna just in with cold. We typically like to tell people, figure out what works best for you, and what you get the best reaction from.
Also, there’s no win if you go in there for 30 seconds.
Yeah.
Know. Good for you. You’ve gotten the benefit because it is.
Yeah.
Cold, right? Shock therapy. Exactly.
Is 1st every seconds because the next time you do it, it will be easier and then do it for a minute. One’s saying go in there. Look, LeBron James.
But everybody. They fail, but they think they fail if they haven’t made the two-minute mark. If they didn’t weren’t there for a minute. And so we just need to dispel that as well.
I’m. I’m gonna guess I’m not a scientist, but I’m gonna guess. Cause of what I know about. It is better to stay in the sauna for longer. The longer you’re in the sauna, the sweat that comes out of. Things the detoxification is more important.
Default.
The even 30 seconds in the cold pool, especially after being hot, is probably good for your body dilation and stuff. That so?
Absolute.
And I think that’s important. The science that goes.
Into this, the science on cold is 11 minutes a week. Is is about your target of what you want to. Now you can get there by doing. You know, 11 sessions of a minute. You could do, you know, spread it out how you want. But 11 minutes of cold it is where the science typically says you’re getting all the benefits. Of cold and with sauna, sauna is a bit different. The more you sauna, the more benefits you get. There’s not necessarily a time frame, but the more. Before you do it, the higher the benefit.
So I would come in and the second I go in the cold sauna, I would have blaring heavy metal. The loudest music you’ve ever seen, because that’s how I would regulate and I would breathe through it because that’s what I work out hard and then I’d go to. Like classical or jazz in the sauna and just chill me out.
Yeah.
That’s that’s how I would do it personally. That is not based on science. All right, so let’s let’s do this. I’m going to. Set up a couple of scenarios of different people with different things, and I’m going to have the two of you make some recommendations as to what a good starting point would be. So let’s start with the most obvious one, okay. Start January, February completely clean without. I cut a lot of stuff out of my diet and it’s awesome. By December, it all goes to crap because I just destroy my body. Of. I do for a living. So I’m going to start in January. I will be 5 lbs heavier than I should be, but I will cut everything out quickly. Cut coffee. I’ll cut booze out and I want something supplemental that will speed. Up the recovery process, so I start feeling better quicker. Go.
So I’m going to put you in the sauna because let’s detox all of the junk that you put in.
So many toxins.
December, the drinking the sugar.
Yeah.
Let’s put you in the sauna and get you in there on a consistent basis. You get the the detox detoxification going for for your body. Think that would be #1 and then. I think obviously because of starting a new year, I think the middle class that comes with the cold plunge would also be great. I would highly recommend contrast therapy.
So we’re talking functional stuff. That’s those are the functional things. All right, listen, I’m going to go to you, so. I similar story, except I got the biggest interview of my life in March and my skin’s now oily and I got pimples because I’ve not been taking care of myself. And now let’s talk more of a cosmetic approach. What advice would you give there?
I do have to tell you not to be long winded. I would first ask you like tell me more about what you’re looking for, because. Obvious answer would be light therapy. Let’s. Therapy, that is the dentist form of detoxification and it really helps you with wound and obviously acne. Superficial wrinkles, all those things. It works beautifully.
Yeah, so let’s the. Is. I don’t want to try hard and do any. The other stuff. I want you to miraculously fit me.
Listen, anything is because it takes. Takes work so.
At least if you’re honest.
But it’s also. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Every everything.
Me, I appreciate it. Just be honest with me.
It’s not about. That’s again because I don’t want people to miss what it is, right?
Yeah, that’s true.
So no, that is not the. It is nice and it’s I’m surprisingly so relaxing. That’s what I found personally through like therapy. What those benefits that?
I say acupuncture once it was actually relaxing.
Yeah.
Not as everyone, like, oh, my God, you’re gonna be pinched.
Yeah.
Like yeah, like.
Now you barely feel. Yeah. No, but red light is obviously going to be something that I would recommend, but I would also say sauna to detoxify your skin, because all of that is because your clogs and inflammation, right? Of these things stem from the. And so you are helping your body heal itself, right?
But I don’t want to take personal. I’m American and I want you to fix my issues without taking any personal.
Yeah.
And all this. So I do have a couple more, but I have a question for. For you, the problem with these things is 1. Science proves them. Then Amazon goes nuts from China and everything. Light. So how do you differentiate your red light therapy, which is based on science and a mask from XI Jing Province in China that’s coming over with Covic attached to it? How do we differentiate these? They’re coming like you. Just China. Like red light therapy and they just put a red light.
Well, they’re here. They’re here. Yeah.
How do you fight? How do you fight the people who are like? I can just buy that on Amazon.
Yeah. Well, I would first of all ask them to look at the very specific information on their. You’re funny my sister, literally. My sister literally did that. So she’s like, well, I’m just gonna have one to have one at home. And I said. So what work have you done other than the name red light, right?
Northeastern’s love a discount?
So yeah, exactly. Yeah, yes.
There’s not a prevalent there, but up. My God, if you see the Marshalls up there here, they’re like sporadically thrown all over the place. Is like the the you can’t even park at a Marco’s. They love deals up there.
Yeah.
Keep going.
Sorry, but I would just say what distinguishes us is obviously. The strength of the light and the spectrums of light. We have. And now the slope in my. Infrared and what is in the red light near infrared and and infrared, yes.
Yes, red. Fired red.
There you go. And so you have those two lights working at the same time, and the strength that it gives you and the small amount of time in addition to it is full body. Is not just targeting your face, but it is helping you to reduce inflammation as a whole and repair. Like we said, room repair, skin pigmentation, all of those things.
Yeah. And let me just add to that.
Please.
So that’s a good question, because we do get that a lot. We have the best health tech in the world, period. And so, yeah, you do see on on Amazon where you can go and get an LED mask or something for 50 bucks. The efficacy of that LED light number. Is it the right frequency to penetrate your skin?
The answer is no. I can tell you automatically.
Is it? What’s the strength? It cannot. Isn’t even here yet.
Is it even the right kind of life? Even the right wavelength.
He’s right thing.
There’s no comparison to an $80,000, you know led bed, which you might see in a pause.
Yeah, yeah.
There’s really just no comparison, and so I think people should be really, really thoughtful about.
Yeah, that’s your problem with Tiktok.
You know.
You put one influencer who’s being paid by the Chinese to import these things in and put it out there, and they’re promising all this stuff, so.
That’s right.
Look. Please read when institutions are how much work you guys went into setting this up. Those stories in China not doing any of that stuff. Plugging into Amazon and shipping it with with no ramifications for anything. A good. All right, so let me set up. Last one before we. So same question, except now I am not in a public facing role as like a salesman or something. A nerd and I’m just trying to get. Software. So I need mental. So what would I do for mental clarity? My appearance is not as important, so I need a mental. I need to the brain fog that I have right now to dissipate and need to be ready.
Clarity.
I’m going to tell you. Come in. Come in in flow. I’m coming in flow.
Yeah.
I will say flow is of all of our services, the one that’s a little bit wonky because some people will love it immediately and some people’s going to take time. How many times I, you know, are you completely? Deprived of your senses.
I have two little children.
Hi.
0 right.
Right. But even without children, you’re not going to find that because there’s constantly noise, light, something taking away from you. And so this allows you to take, you know, has 1200 lbs of absence. So it’s going to help you #1.
Wow. So that’s like floating in like the Black Sea, the Dead Sea.
Absolutely. And so it decompresses your.
Yeah, that’s cool.
So you’re going to get that weightlessness and then also help you with the mental clarity because that’s the first time your brain is going to be allowed to enter Theta state, where that allows the magic to happen. Going to feel much better. You’re going to have the, you know.
That’s going to be harder for me than the cryo because my own brain just goes to to shut that off.
Yes.
That’s absolutely right.
All right. So we’re going to leave it on that note and I am now changing what I’m going to try and I’m going to try that and I will come back with my results.
Is the. Sometimes it take a little bit more time, yeah.
When this show launches, I’ll come back with those results. Evan Lisa, this has been awesome. Appreciate. Check out. How do they find you on social?
How do they find you posies, Cobb on Instagram. Pausestudio.com/E Cobb on the Internet. We’d love to have you please reach out.
Awesome. You’ve been listening to the marketing madman on Extra 106 three and we will catch you next week.
