Ep 9: Scared of starting a business in allied health? do it anyway!

Michael Dermansky

Hi everyone and welcome to the show that explores with allied health business owners and managers what’s important about being in the allied health business today. I have a special guest with me today, Michelle Rosenberg. Welcome to the show, Michelle.

Michelle

Hi Michael, thank you so much for having me. This is very exciting. I’m excited.

Michael Dermansky

Well, I love your story, what you’ve been doing for the last few years. So thought it’s a really important one to share. So I guess the topic today is launching a product in the physio industry. let’s go back a few years. Well, not that just a couple of years ago, we had an idea of changing the way you approached Pilates and physiotherapy. Let’s talk about what was the idea? What was the process? did it come to tell us about the story?

Michelle

Yeah, okay. Well, I guess for a little bit of quick background of me, that classic story of I was a dancer first for 10 years. Then I got injured or started getting chronic pain. From there, became a Pilates instructor, found Pilates, that old chestnut. Body responded really well to it. So I continued that, loved that. Then after being an instructor for another, I’ve been teaching for about 12 years now, then that led me to physiotherapy. And then from there, I think my true love was more the movement side of things. And in the particular setting that I was working as a physio, I was a lot more hands on and not so much like the wonderful things you do at MD Health, looked a little bit different. So I wanted to go back to more, you know, using the body, empowering patients and clients. to do the work themselves. And so I was teaching at that time a lot of mat Pilates just for my back, specifically low back pain patients. And they loved it. I was doing that for quite a few years, got a little bit of a following there. And ultimately, because they loved it and they stuck with it, they got better, but they wanted to keep going. So I thought, all right, now’s the time. I’m just going to go out on my own, a studio. However, the demographic of my clients, I really didn’t see them transitioning from Matt to Reformer. So I needed to do something different. And they loved the Matt because it was so functional for them. wanting to practice getting up from the floor or sitting or anything you know they’re not lying down on a on a moving carriage so I just yeah anywhere from maybe the majority at that stage was 50s plus and I love teaching that that demographic

Michael Dermansky

So what was your demographic? So you said your demographic, who were they? Yep. Yep. Yep.

Michelle

And I just didn’t see them that already sort of sussed out feel that how do you what do you think about the reform and they’re like, no, it’s not for me. I really like the mat and I have a lot more control and I’ve got balance issues, blah, blah. So I thought, okay, reform is not going to work. However, if I open in today’s Pilates landscape, just a mat studio, I need something more. So that into the springboard. So I ended up where exactly 12 months now, I opened a springboard studio in Caulfield, which is really exciting. And first I should say the springboard exists. I am not the inventor of the springboard. most people, lot of people, Pilates instructors, physios never even heard of a springboard. I guess it’s a little bit similar to the Cadillac, the trapeze table. Some people, it looks like a tower, a tower Pilates as well. But it’s generally used in a clinical setting. You don’t see it in your group fitness sort of space. So. I really liked it because it gives you the option of adding resistance to your classic sort of Matt Polati’s repertoire. It’s a great space saver as well. So if my studio wanted to introduce yoga or other types of functional fitness, we’ve got the space to do so. But the only thing is the ones that are available right now, they look a little medieval and, you know, I just I needed some kind of competitive edge and I wanted to make them a bit more aesthetically pleasing. Also the ones that you currently get they usually have the eyelets like you attach your springs from the front of the board and then you lose all that sort of surface too if you wanted your clients to have their back against it and do exercises supported like that. you know just starting I started to think about how I might change things to make it more functional and more accessible to people. So Yeah, in a nutshell, that’s how it started and my partner and I designed and manufactured our own springboards. They’re the ones that you see in the studio that clients are using, which is very cool. And then now 12 months in, we’re sort of at the stage where we’re thinking about future iterations of the board, what that would look like, because we’ve had inquiries, which is really exciting. And ultimately, I’d love to sell them on or lease them out to other studios as well.

Michael Dermansky

Let’s go back a step as well. So, you know, you’ve been using it for 12 months in your studio now too. But as you said, you wanted to, you liked the springboard. was a space saver, but a lot of resistance at same time as well for the people doing matte based polities as well. Yep. Yep. From the saying that I want to, I want this to be more theoretically pleasing to, I got to build this thing as well. Where did that go?

Michelle

Yep. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I got no idea. Like this whole thing, I was just like, I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’ll figure it out along the way. So that looked like after a busy sort of day of treating patients, coming home, glass of wine with my partner, doing really crude sketches, like what the board might look like. And essentially, it’s not too, like I’m not reinventing the wheel here, but I just wanted to get the dimensions right, allow for different bodies to really interact with the board safely and a lot of that was just us, my partner and I heading down to Bunnings and grabbing some material, hammering stuff in the back garden and just testing things out and that was where we started to what you see that polished product in the studio which was really cool.

Michael Dermansky

So what did you do with that prototype? I did you go, I want to, we now need to manufacture this thing.

Michelle

Yeah, so first of all, in terms of trying to save some money, I thought, we’ll just get it done in China, as a lot of people do. But then we ended up doing everything in Australia, which is really cool. We source different types of, we used wood. Some people just use like a frame for springboard, but it looked a little, I want it to have this kind of like warm. almost furniture looking quality about it. So looking at different types of wood, we ended up sourcing using a company in Melbourne. And then my partner has a very close family friend who has a steel company in Canberra. So we got the frames done there and then we kind of mushed them together. That’s a very professional word, mushed. And then, yeah, we just kind of went with it. And because we had time constraints when we had to open the studio I was sweating bullets in terms of like we’ve got to get this prototype and everything done and and everything made and in the end you know I could have made a few more tweaks and changes But for what it was, we had the basic board up there and that was probably the best thing because then we could see real bodies interact with it for 12 months. It’s kind of like when you move house and you’re going to set up the room, like you kind of need to live in it a little bit to see how it functions before you do any changes. now I’ve got a better understanding of what the board should do and how it should help people. So that’s where we’re at.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah. I mean it’s interesting as you said, they could have made a few tweaks before you launched it as well but I mean if you have ever, if you have a quote by Reid Hoffman who started LinkedIn and was a PayPal guy who said, if you’re not embarrassed by your first iteration, your first prototype that you launch, you launch too late. You should have done it earlier. So you should be embarrassed by the first one and then that’s, because otherwise you can’t get interaction with it too. I mean, we did the same thing with some of our software that we built as well. you know, the first one, there was a point in time where like we have to launch it. I know it’s not complete. It’s going to have errors and I have all the stuff complaining to me for a while, but it means that we can go fix up with those errors are because there’s only so much we can do in the testing lab before we have to launch and make this thing happen.

Michelle

Mm-hmm. Exactly. well, thank you, Michael. That makes me feel better. And for one thing, like these things, one of the things we’re changing is the boards are heavy. So one big expenditure cost for the fit out was just reinforcing the walls. Nope.

Michael Dermansky

You See this, I you wouldn’t have thought it before you launched the bell.

Michelle

Nope! So that was one huge expense because we’ve got 18 boards so it’s a big studio and yeah so that was that’s one thing that we’re we’re looking at changing.

Michael Dermansky

So just talk about that, so the boards you made them to be available for people, so people can be in the middle of it too, you can put the springs on the sides to change the resistance as well, and then putting them up like, it needs to be reinforced steel at the back of these as well. So that’s unintended expense that someone would have if they’re building things as well.

Michelle

Mm-hmm. Absolutely, absolutely. But now we’re looking at things that are a lot lighter. And eventually, who knows, like I might want to do a home version. So I don’t know, this is just my creative juices flowing. Let’s see what happens. But yeah, that’s just one of the things that. I was so focused on the actual design and what it looked like and the moving parts but then didn’t even think about the weight. I’m like, oh, actually, well, people are going to be hanging their body weight off it. What do I need to do to make sure the studio doesn’t fall down when people exercise?

Michael Dermansky

Yeah. Well, let’s go back to the 12 month sounds because you’re about to be have your first birthday for your studio. There’s a concept of the idea of the springboard. You want to make more resistance and matte based pilates as well. You built this prototype as well. You’ve had a guys review steps to manufacture as well. You’ve got a imperfect version that you’re about to launch as well. But now you’re to make it into a business. Where does that go? Because that’s a very different, they’re going make money off it.

Michelle

Yeah, yeah. Again, like I don’t think I have, I’m very business savvy, so it’s all just learning on my feet. And I thought one of the big challenges would be how do I convert people, Pilates lovers who are going to ultimately be the ones that walk through my door, who are used to using reformer, like fall in love with the springboard. And I was so fixated on that. In reality, that wasn’t the main challenge. They actually loved the, I think the success in the springboard is its simplicity. and they just really responded very favourably to it. But the biggest thing has been marketing for sure. know, yeah, with everything, right?

Michael Dermansky

Well, well, Yeah. I mean, this is the, this is the big thing. The biggest thing to realize when they first start business as well is that it’s not the product or the thing. It’s marketing sales. Like you have to do marketing sales a lot earlier and a lot more than what you think you’re going to do. That is the biggest killer or small business. you, if you don’t, if you’re not prepared to marketing sales, you’re you’re, you’re dead in the water before the start. That’s going to be your biggest time expenditure at the very start.

Michelle

100%. Yeah. And that’s huge, like before you open, you yeah, you’re saying that marketing phase starts way before then. Knowing what I do now, like most, I think studios have a really kind of strong pre-launch marketing strategy. I didn’t, I just thought, I’ll build it and they will come. No, it didn’t happen like that. It didn’t really happen like that. Now we’re getting a lot of traction because of word of mouth and with, you know, it’s warmer weather and people are more coming out of their shell and wanting to try new things that, but yeah, and the other thing is our studio, because I wanted to bring my small mat following to this new studio, they all live in that sort of core field area. And if you’re not aware, core field, reckon is like the Mecca of the Pilates world in Melbourne. We’re on Glen Huntly Road. There’s every single chain franchise, any kind of Pilates studio is already there. So how do you stand out against all that noise, which is something that we had to consider. And I think at the start I tried to emulate what a lot of the other studios were doing which was just completely the wrong strategy because we’re not like other studios. Firstly we don’t even use the same apparatus but I thought I’ll get lost in looking at all the Instagram feeds of everyone else and all their content so curated and they’ve got all these photo shoots and I don’t have like the the coin right now to do that but then I was like no I’m just gonna stay true to our values and and you know I’m not trying to be a one of the big chains where you just go in and you’re maybe a number and you just smash yourself with pulses and you know, there definitely is a market for that. I kind of see myself in terms of the Pilates spectrum where you’ve got clinical Pilates at one end and then group fitness all the way at the other. We’re sort of in the middle. So you can come and if you have injuries, our springs are actually really supportive. they can help with knee pain, hip pain. We can get into that later as well. And we also do class notes for everyone, for everyone, even though there’s 18 people in a class. we really help to track our clients’ progress. So you’re sort of getting like a clinical experience for a group fitness price point, which is, yeah. So that’s sort of our niche. And then the other thing back to the content is just, once I started just doing it lot more raw, and just getting out my iPhone and doing little snippets of classes. I just wanted the clients to come into the studio and feel like, what I see on socials is exactly what I’m gonna walk into the studio because it can be very scary for people to walk into someplace new and people don’t talk and it’s really awkward while you’re waiting for your class. But here, our instructors will try and know okay, we’ve already had a conversation with this new person, they love running, cycling, Sue over there does that, I’m gonna put her next to Sue and then try and get them to strike up a conversation and then that really helps in terms of building that community and building that loyal base of clientele.

Michael Dermansky

I mean, interesting what you say right now too, because we’ve learned that as well, without our business as well, that facilitating that sense of community is enormous. So, You know, you don’t always appreciate it at the start. Realize how important that actually is. It important to building community having is it Sue talk to Joe over there who also likes running and then suddenly they have a conversation and suddenly, you know, you can hear noise. Now, I mean, behind me at the moment too, there’s a wall and I’ve got noise reduction on this. You can hear it, but I can hear the chatter behind me of the clients and the staff just talking and having the interaction.

Michelle Mm-hmm. Yeah, stuff like that.

Michael Dermansky

you you come into a busy buzzing place and people are talking and enjoying themselves. People want to be part of that. It’s an enormous part of marketing that’s intangible but super important to build.

Michelle

Well, you helped with that because you helped me. So for the listeners at home, if you don’t know how Michael and I know each other, can I say anyway? Yeah. So, so Michael and I know each other because when I was a physiotherapy student, I did a placement at MD health. It was the best placement by like hands down. And then since then we’ve kept in touch and you really were really supportive and helpful when I was getting the studio up and running. And even you were giving

Michael Dermansky

Yeah, sure.

Michelle me books like what’s his name the restaurant one yeah yeah yeah

Michael Dermansky

Either Denny Meyer or Wilbur Darius book. Denny Meyer book, yeah.

Michelle

That was helpful, like even though it was just all about a different industry, but it’s all service. And then I took a lot of nuggets from that book and I was like, okay, this is how I want the client to feel when they walk in. And that’s carried through with all my training with my staff. And so thank you, Michael.

Michael Dermansky

no. I mean, that’s the beautiful part about reading what other people do in other industries. That’s so powerful. Like you’re talking about setting the table by Denny Meyer and he talks about his journey. I mean, he’s gone to restaurant in the world, second best restaurant in the world, both at the same time. And just their approach to service was just impeccable. And what I meant by service, like setting a table, making people feel like they’ve got a special experience and making people like they belong, even though they’ll hide in restaurants. The fact that people felt so intimate in those situations. He talked about connecting the dots and knowing a little bit more about your customers so that they just feel like, that I feel heard listen to, that I’m a person that belongs rather than just a number through the door. You just want to break that mold to make sure they feel like they belong.

Michelle

That’s it. That’s 100 % it. you know, if we’ve got 18 people in a class, it gets pretty busy and you could get lost in the crowd. But we do this thing. The staff will once a week do what we call back to back. So my studios call back to back love letters. So for example, this week we’ve had one lady who’s been coming to us and she was really getting back into exercise. Motivation was there, but there was a bit of fear there as well and it’s really important that we also even though it’s just a group fitness class we want to know their personal goals and things and for whatever reason she was like I’ve never been able to do a plank I just want to be able to do a full plank and you know even a half plank at the start she wasn’t quite there yet but this week she smashed it one minute plank full plank and our staff send a little email to her hey you know Sue, just want to say it was a busy class but I really clocked that amazing plank of yours. I know this has been your goal since you started here. Congratulations, can’t wait to keep… seeing what you’re capable of and that like makes their day, their week and they’re so proud. So it’s just a nice way also to keep the instructors really tight knit and know the goings on with the motivations behind each client and that all, I think that all really, really helps. So yeah, just another little nugget from that book and from you. which has been quite integral about keeping the spirit of what we do at Back to Back.

Michael Dermansky

Well, mean, if you, if we have to bring it back now to in terms of like, okay, well the idea 12 months ago was to launch a studio in order to be able to, you know, have a platform for this springboard idea going back now forward 12 months now, what’s the real value of back to back studio and the springboard that you see now compared to what you thought it was 12 months ago.

Michelle

cool question. I know, I think my vision is… pretty much stayed true because I knew that going in, I wanted a community feel. Like for example, all my clients, we did a lot of math classes in COVID online, Zoom, and before each class, they would all talk about what books they were reading and then they would start to get to know each other through the screen because they were craving that sort of social interaction. And then I was like, okay, when my studio opens, we’re having a community bookshelf in reception because I want them to continue to connect over books and all those kinds of things. knew that that was going to be almost at the forefront of what we do and almost the pull out is second. So I think that’s carried through. And the other thing I just loved the springboard because myself I have a history of chronic pain and autoimmune issues which you’ve also helped me with me as a client and I really believed in the springboard how it could

Michael Dermansky

Yes.

Michelle

assist and offload saw joints and instead of knowing needing to know what springs when when you’re getting tired and you want to keep going but you don’t interrupt the instructor like what what spring setting do I change you just come forward and everything’s a lot easier coming back and things are a lot tougher so I really appreciated that about the springboard when people started trying the classes, they found it like with all their kind of issues, just really kind of, springboard makes it very user friendly to get a really supportive workout without overcooking your body. So yeah, I just kind of. I think I’m going off tangent here, but I feel like everything that I wanted is starting to come out. Yeah. So I guess I’m quite lucky in that my vision for the studio has carried through.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, it’s interesting because I mean, what you’ve learned as well is that how important marketing is at the start and through it, like marketing isn’t very underestimated in importance. I think we work on building community as well and making yourself different as everyone else as well. And like at the start it was hard to say, how are we going to make it so I’ll stand out. But it’s all these competitors actually where somewhere between the group classes and the clinical end as well. There’s no, there’s a space in between that’s not being serviced. And that’s really where we stand. and,

Michelle

yeah.Yeah.

Michael Dermansky

and then you made raw videos in terms of your Instagram and your socials as well. like, okay, I don’t need to polish stuff. I want people to see what’s there and actually feel exactly what they’re seeing on the socials as well. It sounds like that’s what the business package is gonna look like now.

Michelle

Yeah, that’s right. That’s exactly it. And also that kind of raw footage as well. helps to show people, these are the kind of people that are walking through the door. They’re everyday people. You don’t sexy active wear. There’s not a certain look. One of the great things about the springboard, I think it’s starting to bring in more blokes, which is my favourite thing. I love men doing polities.

Michael Dermansky

Whatever you want.

Michelle

And because one of the things is the feedback from our male clients is when they’ve gone to reformer and they’re a big bloke, they have to cram themselves onto the reformer. But here they can sprawl out on the mat and they’ve got a lot more freedom of movement. So that’s really resonated well with them. So. Yeah, it’s just slowly doing its thing and finding our ideal client and it’s been good. One other challenge that’s just come to mind though that I’m struggling with, which a lot of Pilates studio owners are and physios is just staffing. Staffing is one huge thing that’s been a challenge for me. Not only to find staff, because I don’t know where they are. There’s so many Pilates courses. but I don’t know where all the new grads are going. But. because we have a different apparatus, it’s hard to find staff that are good staff, but they also wanna learn a new skill. But the ones that I have found have been gems, they’ve been amazing, and they’ve found that they now have a lot more understanding of Pilates teaching different equipment. their reformer skills transferred to the springboard and vice versa and that they found makes them a better instructor as well which is great but if there’s any Polites instructors out there that are looking for work hit me up.

Michael Dermansky

As we can always. Well, I mean, can take you or us as well. can pass your details on as well. It’s not a drama. Um, it’s interesting because then that’s what comes with scale as well as you get bigger and you, and particularly a service based business, you need more staff. And then that’s, that’s been the challenge for, I think a lot of service based businesses, especially in the last few years. I mean, we’re starting to get more staff now too, but we know last 12 months before that, we was really struggling to find staff, um, because people just weren’t applying for work. And then there was very hard, very hard to find people to do that too. I mean, you were student with us as well. But that’s one of our major One of our major things we do is we take a lot of students on because we’re looking for the one or two gems that would be the right fit for our company as well. So, um, I mean, we’ll have to know you before they go to apply for a job. Otherwise you, you’re just a name amongst everyone else in the internet, just like you were with a client. How do you stand out with potential employee, please, please. This is someone they want to work. It’s not an easy answer either to say marketing describes, but just different target market.