This is an extension to a piece I wrote back in April 2021 (HERE) inspired by the company Pacaso selling fractional ownership in second homes. This co-op concept resurfaced this past couple of months as we’ve thought more about how we can really help wellness professionals build sustainable careers.
- Goal: provide structure for group wellness professionals to work together to fill their classes and provide the best experience to end clients. $200/mo Maverick pass that gets end clients access to every wellness pro at the facility - in person & digitally (the amount doesn’t have to be $200 - i.e., Maverick’s own ClassPass). Instructors must feel like they have actual ownership - ownership meaning that the harder they work or the better they do, the more they get paid (both in the short-term with $ but also possibly in the long-term with equity)
- Needs to be a win-win-win
- Maverick win: booking out more space while spending little marketing to the end customer (or customer service time)
- Wellness pro win: more clients, happier existing clients while making more $ (w/ unlimited upside)
- End customer win: variety of expert coaches and disciplines, consistency of classes, fun experience, all-you-can-eat option, and easy-to-feel/see progression. Need to make sure the experience for the end customer is frictionless - easy to book, no time at the front desk
- Element of being able to tailor holistic programs to the end client - access to multiple disciplines depending on your goal
- Question to answer…
- Excellent group instructors are not consistently filling up classes as they should. Is it because:
- Is Playa Vista not an ideal location?
- Is our studio not nice enough / not branded well enough? (ex: it doesn’t quite have the Soul Cycle or Equinox experience as we only spent three weeks and $200K turning it over from an old YogaWorks location)
- Group instructors don’t want to run their own business - they want to be the talent. Their personality is driving their success, not their business skills.
- There are too many friction points with the end client experience, and there is not enough consistency/not enough classes?
- see above with the “end customer win” points
- Maverick must avoid these things.
- Becoming a globo gym where we are just paying salaries to top instructors
- We’re currently only focused on the wellness professional, creating a friction-heavy situation for the end client. Maverick pass makes things easier for the end client, but we have to do it in a way that doesn’t put Maverick front and center - the wellness professional must remain front and center and feel like an owner.
- Falling into the ClassPass trap of not paying enough to brands and only servicing discount customers
- ClassPass is like this necessary evil in the industry. People dislike ClassPass, but everyone uses it.
- What other brands have done this?
- Compass - every real estate is running their own business but using compass tech and tools to get leads and help with marketing. And the end clients know compass to be this fantastic brand involved in selling the best homes.
- https://substack.com - every writer is running their own business but using substack as the operational backbone of their business
- Food Halls
- This idea will work very well if we can get instructors to want to work together and help each other. How can we do this?
- Position this as a co-op gym. All instructors are owners of each facility.
- We set up a pricing model that makes it fair and enticing. Ex: if you (wellness professional) bring someone in, then you get a % lifetime for the customer. Then, the amount of money going to each instructor depends on where each end client spends their time taking classes.
- Ex: Ashley brings in Jessica to the $200/mo pass. Ashley gets a 10% of the month pass, and all instructors get $200 divided by the number of classes Jessica takes (with a minor cut going to Maverick). If Jessica only takes two classes this month, then the windfall goes to the instructors and Maverick to split. Similar to “smart contract” thinking in the Web3 world.
- How do we start this immediately?
- Arketa builds this out for us, and we encourage all instructors to start using Arketa
- Lots of manual work with distributing payments to instructors at the end of each month, but it would be worth it if it resulted in instructors becoming busier and booking more space
- Long term goals
- Think of this as a fintech play - Costco model - instructors paying monthly subscription fees and we cover rent and make money via fintech play
- Local omnichannel cohort focus that is personalized on the digital side. Instead of trying to get instructors clients from all over the world, build a structure that allows them to focus on local clients and get those local clients to keep each other accountable
- Giving the end customer the best of all worlds - the ability to take various disciplines from the best wellness pros who are building a sustainable business simultaneously (in-person + at home).
- Building a structure to offer custom workout + wellness plans per client using the instructors Maverick.
- Instructors from across the world can collaborate and create memberships together.
- Implementing ownership for the instructors. Ex: set aside % equity pool, and it is vested/earned as instructors stay. Real circular growth - everyone working together.
- Maverick powers your (wellness professionals) business - build out everything for wellness pros as we believe the big brands in the future are not Orange Theory or Equinox or Soul Cycle but individuals.
- Space (real estate), equipment, cleaning service, production equipment for filming, connecting to brands/sponsors, community/network with other wellness professionals, co-working space, marketing (social media content creation & editing + posting assistance - real human white-glove support), audience management (customer service and sales to keep existing customers happy and coming back, and close new customers), etc
- Challenge to think through on the digital side
- An instructor comes to Maverick with already 100 of her own clients making thousands a month - how do we get that instructor to want to join and be excited about it. Maybe the instructors keep a considerable % of their existing clients.
- Instructors can still sell their classes and content directly to their clients while also being a part of the Maverick pass.
- Pricing change up questions
- Go to a straight revenue split instead of charging instructors for space —> ex: 30% of all revenue goes to Maverick (similar to a food hall). Maybe after $x in revenue, then maverick drops our % take.
- Can we pay instructors the second they are done with their class to give immediate satisfaction?
Read next Thought "My first Misogi - a brief story on risk-taking and adventure”
Read previous Thought “Disruptive Innovation by Clayton Christensen”