Radio Front Desk

Bootstrapping a PT business in a fiercely competitive market | Dr. Kellen Scantlebury of Fit Club NY

• Jane.app • Episode 1

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Bootstrapping a business in New York City — famously known as one of the toughest and most competitive places in the world to succeed — is no small feat.

In this episode, we hear from Dr. Kellen Scantlebury — a physical therapist who’s built his practice, Fit Club New York, from the ground up. Kellen shares how he developed his unique brand philosophy, the things he does to set himself apart in a saturated market, and what he’s learned in scaling his practice.

To check out more stories like Kellen's, head to jane.app/frontdesk.

Dr. Kellen Scantlebury received his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Stony Brook University. He received his Bachelor's of Science degree from Long Island University Post, where he also was a four-year starter on the men's basketball team. Upon graduating from LIU, Kellen's passion for fitness and desire to help others inspired him to pursue a personal training certification from the American College of Sports Medicine. It was in these years that the foundation for Fit Club was established.

Kellen started Fit Club Physical Therapy in 2017 with the mission of elevating the physical therapy experience for the active individual in New York. Since embarking on this journey he has helped thousands of people and opened four clinics in the New York area. Kellen has given presentations at Fortune 500 companies with regards to the latest evidence-based practice on prevention of injury for the runner and ergonomic set up. In his free time, Kellen stays active playing intramural basketball, weightlifting, and running. He also enjoys spending time with his family, friends and traveling.

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Dr. Kels on Instagram

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This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional medical, legal, or financial advice.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast host or its affiliates.

Kellen:

What I feel like is the hardest city in the world to do what we've done, to be bootstrapped, to not have gotten a single cent from an investor and to be able to grow in seven years to have four brick-and-mortar clinics. It's unheard of, especially in a city like New York, where salaries are so high, rent is so high, cost of living is so high and it's just so much competition. You throw a rock and you're going to find another physical therapy office.

Denzil:

Bootstrapping a business in New York City famously known as one of the toughest and most competitive places in the world to succeed is no small feat. In this episode of Radio Front Desk, we hear from Dr Kellen Scantleberry, a physical therapist who's built his practice, fit Club New York, from the ground up, with 18 staff spread across four locations. You'll hear what it's taken to set himself apart as a business owner in a saturated market and how he's redefining the physical therapy experience for an active population. Welcome to Radio Front Desk, a show that surfaces what real people in real clinics are doing to open, run and grow successful health and wellness businesses. I'm your host, denzel Ford, editor-in-chief of Front Desk Magazine by Jane App.

Denzil:

Here we have powerful conversations with health and wellness professionals on the business side of clinic life. We hear their stories and discover what works and how to do it, and we also talk about what doesn't work. If you want to check out more stories like this, head to janeapp forward slash front desk. Can you dig into that moment a little bit, or maybe a set of moments where you go from I'm a physical therapist and I know how to help people get better to now I need to become a business person and I am willing to take that leap. Can you talk about that? How you go through a thought process like that, where you're like okay, I've got this thing, that I know how to do, but now I need to level it up.

Kellen:

Yeah, I think honestly that started in PT school.

Kellen:

Through my clinical internships I had some great CIs who I was very open with and shared with them like what I was looking to get out of this career path and a lot of them exposed me to the other side of things, the business side, as opposed to just the clinical side.

Kellen:

So I was getting exposed to that in year two in PT school, year three in PT school, and I was asking probing in year two in PT school, year three in PT school, and I was asking probing with these questions and again I wasn't afraid to like work hard. Everyone wants to show up at nine and leave at four and think that that's what cuts it Literally. That's just a start right. So I was putting in the time after and again meeting people, networking, and it was through that avenue. It was not through a course, it wasn't through a teacher in school, it was through all of the outside of school and work avenues where I was able to actually learn more of that business acumen that has helped me create this practice. And what I feel like is the hardest city in the world do what we've done to be bootstrapped, to not have gotten a single cent from an investor and to be able to grow in seven years to have four brick and mortar clinics.

Kellen:

It's unheard of, especially in a city like New York where salaries are so high, rent is so high, cost of living is so high and it's just so much competition, you throw a rock and they're going to find another physical therapy office. So it was all of those outside of your typical nine to five, eight to four hours that I was, you know, talking to again former CIs researching online. It's just so much that you don't know, that you don't get exposed to in school, that you need to know in order to be successful as a entrepreneur and as a clinic owner, and those opportunities you have to actively search out because they're not just going to fall into your lap.

Denzil:

Yeah, so take me back to the early days of when you were opening your first clinic. What were some of the most important things that you were doing at that time that led to that becoming a reality and not just an idea that you wanted to think about?

Kellen:

I think it starts with exceptional care. You have to be good at what you do, right, and the power of word of mouth referrals right. So I literally the people who I was treating, I was looking to provide them with such an above average experience that, literally, again, I'm a very competitive person. So I took it personal. If I saw another physical therapist I was like game on, let's go with so much more attention and attention to detail and answer your questions and in such a caring and thoughtful way that you leave no matter if you spent 50 bucks or 200 bucks you felt like the value that you got at that session far exceeded the price that you paid for that session. And I just kept and I honestly, I still have that mentality today session and I just kept and I honestly, I still have that mentality today. Even if someone sees someone that I work with or who we employ, it's like it's not in a bad way, but I want them to leave that session Like wow, like I got to work with Dr Kells today and like that was an awesome experience. So that was what I was really priding myself in and that honestly, spread like wildfire, like as vast of a city as New York is when people find someone good, they want to share that. They want to share that experience and for so many people for so long, physical therapy was looked at as the oh man, I got to go to PT today. Yeah, I, you know it was a drag versus when people were coming to see me they were like excited, like can't wait to go to PT. What am I going to learn today? What are we going to do today? We keep it engaging.

Kellen:

So those are some of the things in the beginning and honestly still today that I really like pride myself in doing and providing to our community, because I want people to look forward to going to physical therapy Like I want them to be super engaged in here. I want them to look forward to going to physical therapy Like I want them to be super engaged in here. I want them to have a great time and share that with their friends and family. That, to me, is the special socks in what we do, and I get the e-vows from people who go to other clinics and feel the exact opposite way. So again, I take that as like a little personal challenge to make sure that you know when they're speaking about physical therapy or PT doesn't work for me, it's that version of PT doesn't work for you. Well, let me show you this new school updated version that we provide here at Fit Club, and let's see what you feel about that.

Denzil:

Right, right. So if you have this experiential approach that you're really leaning into and you're making word of mouth happen, what are what would you say? Some like maybe like the top five things be like when you're first starting out, if you've, like, just opened a clinic and you have, like you have a space and you have a mechanism to make that business go. What would be like some like three to five things that we really focus into when you have the foundation of of the experience going in locked in.

Kellen:

I would say again. Number one it starts with exceptional care, hands down, point blank period. Number two follow-ups. You have to follow up with people. A lot of people are in our old head. Oh, should I follow up? I already sent an email. Should I send another one? I'm just like send it, send it, send it, send it, send it.

Kellen:

Just because again the city that we live in, everyone's super busy, everyone's coming, going, coming going. I know for myself even, like, if someone, if I don't get back to something or someone and they send me like, hey, just wanted to like bring this up. I really appreciate that because there's so many things going on in life. It's not that I'm intentionally not getting back to you. So that's. Number two is just making sure that you're following up, you're not in your own head about that. Number three like know your worth. Patients are always going to look Patients, clients. However you want to refer to them, you know some of them are always going to look for, like, a discount on services. Well, can you give me a break if I do this or that? And discount on services Well, can you give me a break if I do this or that? And sometimes it's worth your while to do that and other times it's not. So knowing your worth is number three. Number four just, you know who's your audience, right, our audience is the active population here in New York City. For someone else that might be, you know, women over 50. For someone else that might be, you know, kittens, some cerebral palsy. So know your audience, be very authentic and try to speak directly to them. Um and and.

Kellen:

Number five is what can I say? Number five is I when you're on your own, you're forced to do everything, so don't don't worry about balance. I think a lot of people also are you, you know burnt out or work-life balance, and if you're setting off on this extreme, the most difficult thing to do is be a business owner or an entrepreneur in life. You know, and you're expecting this immense balance. I think you're just setting yourself up for failure. So have realistic expectations of you. Know what you're signing up for, so that when the work comes, it's not a surprise for you. You're expecting that because it's going to be the hardest thing that anyone has ever done, and if anyone tells you otherwise, they're lying.

Denzil:

And if you're not ready for that, if you're not ready mentally, physically, for that.

Kellen:

if you're not working out, eating well, getting good sleep, you know, speaking to people, having a network of people that you can share, you know your deepest, darkest secrets with, then again it's really tough, it's really lowly being an entrepreneur. It's not like you know the Instagram and the TikTok ads. That's a far cry from reality.

Denzil:

Well, it's actually a nice transition moment, quite honestly, because I wanted to move into your clinic that you created and the vision that you came up with, because it's different than what you might kind of typically think of, and I'm inspired by that because I do think that the world in general is kind of moving to a different state and we want new experiences and we want freshness to our lives and I think that you're on the way to providing that to people. So what can you tell us about the clinics that you created, the vision and how you approached kind of pulling all of those things together?

Kellen:

Yeah, totally so. I believe Thick Web is the future of physical therapy. We were founded on the idea of providing the active population here in New York City with active results. For too long, it was ice heat stem, three sets of 10 on a table, heaviest weights in the gym were 10 pounds, and there was never again. The athlete, the active person, was far from being satisfied with their physical therapy experience as well as their physical therapy outcomes, and I believe we live in the best city in the world and I want to be able to provide those active individuals with the best physical therapy experience in the world.

Kellen:

Thus, fit Club was created to sort of bridge the gap between rehab and performance, also adding in pieces of recovery and mindfulness as well, and we've grown to continue to add those into our fabric as an organization and we're really proud of it and our community is really proud of it. And I know that through surveys, through feedback surveys and through our Google reviews, we have close to 1,000 five-star reviews online, and the amount of people who we evaluate, who are like oh my God, like this is such a different experience than where I went prior is astonishing, and my goal, my mission right now is to not be that second person in line, but it's to make sure that Fit Club is that first person in line, that people are coming and seeing us first before going to the mills that are out there. Because, again, it's very competitive here. There's a few venture-backed practices in the neighborhood as well, a lot of big hospital systems in the neighborhood as well, so a lot of competition. But we need to beat our chest even more proudly to be able to give the care that we give and share the results, because they speak for themselves.

Kellen:

So that's why Fit Club was created and that's the population that we treat. I've coined you know I'm not, we're not your grandma's physical therapy and it's like there's nothing against working with grandmas, and you know we have, you know, medicare and older elderly patients come in, but we also treat them like athletes. Right, we push them, we want to increase their strength, their independence, their endurance and make sure that they're also having a fun time in here as well. So we really feel like we have a special sauce here, and now it's just broadcasting that out to the public at mass scale.

Denzil:

Yeah, I don't know if we're reading each other's minds or what, but literally one of the questions I have for you is what do you think your special sauce is? I have my own opinion. It's sort of definitely a recipe of multiple components, but I wonder what you would say it is.

Kellen:

Yeah, I mean our ability to identify where someone is, identify where they want to be and give them a progressive, all-encompassing experience that not only entails physical therapy but personal training, aspects of Pilates, aspects of yoga, going through nutrition, going through sleep, going through what recovery looks like, and touching on all of those points while engaging them and empowering on their own individual health journey. That's our special sauce and that's what we want to, you know, be known for and hopefully go down in history for.

Denzil:

Are there things that you're doing in the clinic to make that happen? And I'm thinking of, like, do you have to educate your practitioners on how to work together? And then also, sometimes I wonder if patients come in and they just think they want one kind of treatment because that's all they know. But then how do you educate that person as well?

Kellen:

Yeah, there's definitely a lot of time spent with our not just our clinicians but our coordinators as well. It starts with the coordinators. They have to be able to identify that mission and identify you know why we would be the best practice for that patient over the fall. You know that's. That's the first date and then we want to get to date number two, which is going to be with our clinicians. And the same thing.

Kellen:

You know a lot of our patients, our clients, pain isn't the key barometer for them. You know some of these people are in pain, right, they, they, they may be lacking strength, they may be lacking endurance, they may be lacking stability. We need to identify what their weak points are and speak to that, because if you just focus on pain, you're going to miss the mark. With a lot of individuals, especially here in New York, where people just are used to dealing with pain, people will literally live with pain for seven, eight, nothing, 10 years and you hear it all the time Like I have a high pain threshold. I have a high pain threshold.

Kellen:

So let's identify other areas that we can improve. And that's a shift for a lot of physical therapists. But you know when I'm looking in, hiring and bringing on new people to the team. I'm looking for, you know, athletes. I'm looking for people who are not just DPTs but also come from like a strength training or a personal training background, because they get it more especially for the type of PT and experience that we're looking to provide to our community.

Kellen:

So that's that special sauce to the patient in a way that they want to hear it.

Denzil:

Right, and I believe that several clinics that I'm aware of that have this like multiple type of treatment or wellness opportunities within the same four walls, that they offer things like packages and memberships. Do you have anything like that set up on that side of it?

Kellen:

Yeah, so physical therapy is like a portion of what we provide. We have gym memberships where people can just come and work out. You have personal training packages, you have massage packages, you have nutrition consultations, you have recovery services. I'm even looking to do more with the local kids in the area and have you know more like youth athletics and youth wellness courses and classes.

Kellen:

So physical therapy is the tip of the iceberg and that's something that you know, a lot of people may know us for, but we provide oh, we're like a physical therapy clinic on steroids.

Denzil:

You know, that's how I would describe us to you know, the general public.

Kellen:

It's so much more than physical therapy and, honestly, like physical therapy isn't fun to talk about. It's not something that's exciting to hear, often right but fitness and improved strength and improved endurance and the ability to run pain free and the ability to run faster or lift heavier. That's what excites people, so again our community.

Kellen:

We want to talk to them in a way that excites them, and physical therapy can just come across as mundane and boring and they might not need physical. They might, they might need physical therapy, but they don't want it right? So you have to talk to them in ways that and figure out what they want and serve it to them and it from an outside of looking in. It may look like physical therapy, but the words and the terminology that we're using to describe it to them may be something different.

Denzil:

Yeah, I can even see that in your name, Fit Club. You're really framing it as like what is the value that you're providing to people that they themselves see? And so then that gets them kind of in the I don't know if it's in the door, but like into your ecosystem that you've created, and then there's the opportunity to build that relationship with them by the experiential services that you're talking about and the deep competitiveness that you bring, and I'm sure everyone that works in one of your clinics has a sense of that.

Kellen:

Yeah, it runs real deep. Yeah, it runs real deep.

Denzil:

Yeah Well, let's switch gears a little bit to what I think is a topic you like to talk about, if I'm understanding correctly, marketing. So I'm wondering how you bring this into the world in a strategic way. Some of the things we've already talked about to me are a version of marketing like offering a service that's so astounding that it fuels word-of-mouth growth. That is definitely a form of marketing. But let's talk about some of the more you know tactical ways that you've chosen to do marketing, and I'd love to hear, like what worked and also what hasn't worked, things that you've tried, that you kind of had to change or move away from.

Kellen:

Yeah, I mean, I love marketing. I think that media marketing is the. That's what runs the world. Honestly, basically, every decision, whether it's Burger King, mcdonald's, checkers, starbucks versus, you know, dunkin', it's just all marketing. Even milk versus almond milk all marketing. So I think, at the end of the day, it's what runs the world and we've done every and all types you know, from event marketing to email marketing, to social media marketing, to going out and being present in our local communities and going to schools and hosting, helping out gym coaches with classes and talking to, you know, students about physical therapy, experiential marketing, bringing in influencers and having influencer-led workouts and things like that in the clinic.

Kellen:

That, to me, is the most fun part about like running the show is trying to think outside the box, especially because of who our community is, and trying to identify and talk to them in the settings in which they are. You know, they're in the CrossFit boxes, they're at the track meets, they're at the marathons, they're at the 5Ks, they're at the track meets, they're at the marathons, they're at the 5Ks, they're at the basketball court, at the tennis courts, so we have to be there as well, right, If that's the community that we want to serve, which is daunting because it is a lot of that stuff happens outside of your you know standard, you know work hours, so there's, uh, there's I don't want to say pressure, but there is um, there's there's increased ask to do things outside of work, sometimes for not only myself but some of our staff, um, and it's because we want to speak to that population. Um, and some, for some people that's great and amazing because they're like so passionate about it. For others, it can again that work-life balance can start to come in. And that's where me and our managerial team have to really think and make sure that we're putting people in positions that they're passionate about, but, at the same time, not like putting too much on people's plates as well.

Kellen:

You talked about like what hasn't worked. I remember I mean Facebook ads. For me, so many people are like, oh, facebook ads, facebook ads, facebook ads and they were just like so low quality and it takes a lot of time to like follow up with them. So that's something that like was you learn as you go, right, you don't really know what you don't know until you find out, you don't know it and you know, for some people they scream up and down all day about Facebook ads, and that just wasn't something that was beneficial for us.

Kellen:

But, the more that we're in front of people, speaking to people in their environment and helping them understand the value that we bring to them. That has been super successful and again, what we're trying to double, triple, quadruple down on is spend more time, money, resources doing those things.

Denzil:

Yeah, do you think that is something unique to New York City or do you think that that's like something kind of more widespread that other people could think about as well?

Kellen:

I don't think it's New York City, I just think what we do it translates so well in person. Even virtual therapy. I love virtual therapy. It's great, very honest, like you're going to get 80% of what we do, right. There's another 20% again, that special sauce in person that you're going to be able to get. And you know hands-on techniques, manual therapy, things like that you know as great as you know, technology is bringing us closer together, as you know people and the nature of being a physical therapist.

Kellen:

I just feel like in its essence and core is a very in-person sort of experience and service. So I feel like people are able to get the most out of it. In that sort of setting you can scale right we look at, but that's hard to scale right. So, again, it really comes down to like what you're looking for. If you're just looking for mass scale, then yeah, you want to do as much stuff online as possible because that's easiest to do at scale. But if you're like, hey, this is my community and these are the people who I want to talk to and you're like hyper-focused on that, I think experiences really can help with that.

Denzil:

Yeah, Okay. So let's talk about you're talking about scale and experiences. Let's talk about how you scaled these experiences to more and more people by creating more locations for your clinic. I think that's a really unique story in the sense that it takes some boldness to be willing to even open your own clinic and keep that going, but then to start and start opening more locations. So bring me into that moment in your life where you're like okay, I think it's time to now open a second clinic and let's start there. But then I want to point out, too, that you did that a third and a fourth time as well. So help me understand that you have already a little bit with your competitive nature, but these are not minor decisions that you're making. So help me understand how you got there and what that was like.

Kellen:

Yeah, great question For me. At the end of the day, when, like you know, life is all said and done. I just want to be looked at as having tremendous impact on you know people, and for me to be able to do that, I needed to have more than one space, and let me just give a little bit more context to that, like unique opportunities that were presented and came up that I like decided like, hey, let's take advantage of this.

Kellen:

Right. For some people they're very like numbers driven. I have to be seeing this many patients a week for this many weeks to feel confident and comfortable to do it and that's, that's great again for some people. But it's just, it's not organically like my experience. My experience was, you know, we did great work and this unique opportunity presented itself and let's jump on this and you know we're going to trigger it out. We're going to trigger it out as we go Right and that's just sort of been like our MO and it's it's, it's worked for us, it's worked for us and hopefully, as we continue to grow and continue to grow, maybe we'll bring on, you know, some people who supplement the numbers portion and who can help with more of those projections and things like that. But everything has been more of a CEO organic.

Kellen:

Hey, this opportunity is presenting itself and you know this, this might be worth it to take that leap of faith, um, and we've been fortunate enough to, you know, be in the black, to to take advantage of those opportunities as they come, as they come along when you start a new clinic, does it, does it feel like like a brand new, like starting from scratch.

Denzil:

Everything has to be done all over again, or is there anything that carries over? And I literally have no idea. Like do you need a new business license every single time, and I would imagine you'd need a new lease every time, and then you have to hire staff again? Like is that what it feels like is is starting from scratch all over again? But you have like the, the concept and the vision in place. Is that kind of what it feels like is is starting from scratch all over again? But you have like the, the concept and the vision in place. Is that kind of what it's like?

Kellen:

I would say that's exactly what it's like. You know there's certain pieces that you're definitely going to need, like net, new uh a few of those you mentioned, and you know, new employees, lease uh, new insurance, recover the space, new equipment, new bills, con Ed heat.

Denzil:

You know so a bunch of that stuff.

Kellen:

But there's also certain sauce and part of the sauce that you're like hey, like you know, we don't need, you know, all new documents.

Kellen:

we don't need all new like systems, right, like we're going to carry over the same systems that we're working in our, in our other clinics, and and now implement those, um, and each time you're able to implement them with a little bit more speed, and which is which is helpful, um, and you know you're able to train people with a little bit more efficiencies, which is helpful, um, and yeah, the the goal is to again for us to continue to grow.

Kellen:

Right now, we're we're okay with the amount of clinics we have. We're looking to just grow within what we have right now, uh, but you know, a year from now, it might be a different story, right? So I'm very open and I try to be very present with, like, hey, this is where we are right now. I'm not even going to think, you know, two years, three years, like, let's focus here in the right now and then in the two years and three years, as different things become available, like we can, we can explore those opportunities, uh, but everything isn't that new, which is which is nice, um, and certain things you want to change based on the setup, based on the geography, based on the layout of the clinic.

Denzil:

So there's little nuances that you're going to take into account as well, I mean, I'm not sure how different the different boroughs are, but would you say that even just within one location, in these different places, do you have to serve a different clientele?

Kellen:

Is it that different across locations? Yeah, I mean it totally depends on the community that you're in. We're very fortunate to be in the communities that we're in Williamsburg, chelsea, astoria, dumbo but yeah, it's very. You could be in another portion of Queens and just be serving a totally different clientele, type of clientele. So that stuff definitely matters. It's a small geographical area but you know, 20 blocks east of us is going to be totally different than you know 20 blocks west of us, and that's the beauty and that is New York.

Denzil:

Yeah, love that. So in the last seven years, what would you say has been your biggest challenge, and is there something that you would have done differently out of that challenge?

Kellen:

seem to be, you know, top two are decreasing reimbursements and like in staff, like management, and I would say for us, for me personally, it falls into the same thing. Right, I really try to empower my staff and like lift them up, but for some people that might seem like too much, you know. So it's trying to find that balance of, you know, empowering, giving people, you know, putting them in positions to succeed and be independent, but then also knowing, like, when they need some help. And, and that's a two-way street, you know, I try to make sure that my doors are always open. If anyone has questions, they can always bring them to me. If anyone has feedback, they can always bring them to me. If anyone has feedback, they can always bring them to me. But some people just inherently are they look at the boss as like, oh well, I can't say this to him, but that's not the relationship that I want, you know, like it's for me again goes back to like yeah sports.

Kellen:

If I wanted more playing time and I wasn't getting it, I want to go up to my coach and say like, hey, what do I need to do to play? Like let's have a conversation. And I think it's just very natural for me to live in that world and I don't think it's very natural for others to live in that world. And I'm trying to do my best to implore that sort of open dialogue and communication with our team, cause I just feel like that's going to. It helps with managing staff and just communicating more and more frequently and more honestly helps everyone.

Kellen:

And then, yeah, across the board, like reimbursements like no other. Like rent always goes up right. Groceries always go up right, always go up right. Like there's nothing from a financial standpoint over the last like 20 years that we're paying out of pocket for Insurance premiums always go up. So why? The amount of schooling for physical therapists goes up, level of education goes up. So, like, for insurance payments to go down literally makes no sense. It makes no sense. It puts a squeeze on the whole system and that's, that's something I think everyone feels right, from ownership to mid-level management to, you know, entry level, um, ppas, like everyone feels that. So, um, those are the two biggest challenges for me, and you know, one is fully within my control I'm working on every single day to continue to improve for myself and my organization and one is completely out of my control. So, honestly, I don't spend a lot of time worrying about the insurance piece, I'm just like help more people, impact more lives. Help more people, impact more lives.

Kellen:

And that's what I want to focus on, like the things that are actually in my control.

Denzil:

Yeah, I love that. So I think we've talked about the secret sauce a lot and I want to tell you what I think your secret sauce is and see if you like my answer. Is that okay?

Kellen:

I'm open to it. Let's go, baby.

Denzil:

All right. So what I think it is is, at least in part, like you have a grit to you that is just so undeniable, and I I've loved learning your story because, uh, just it it's. It's a little rare to find people with the kind of grit that you have, where you will not be taken down almost, and I I love meeting people like that, and so you have that. You also have an intelligence about what you're doing, like you're very analytical about every decision you make, and I love how you talked about you know opening new locations, how it's actually quite like a feely vibe kind of thing for you. But I would argue that there's also a lot of maybe it's not spreadsheet analysis, but like you're very analytical of the world around you and like you know people.

Denzil:

And I just think that's really one of the secret sauce piece. One of the ingredients to your secret sauce is that you're analytical, but you're analytical about people. So you're reading people and you're trying to understand them, and I think you're understanding your customer, your client, your patient, whatever you're going to call them, and then you're also understanding the people that you hire. And then there's another piece here that I think you understand yourself, so you understand that competitive nature of yourself and that you're like I got to do this thing in the world. So that's my take. What do you think?

Kellen:

Um, so that's my, my take. What do you think? I love it? Um, I love all of that I.

Denzil:

I beat myself up more than I like. Lift myself up again.

Kellen:

That's just uh, that's just me being me. And again, something that I'm working on is, um, again, just acknowledging what, uh, what we've done, what I've been able to do. I hate talking about, like, what I've done. I've done what I've been able to do. I hate talking about what I've done I've done, because if I said it was just me, I would just be lying right. It's literally been my team, the people around me, my family, my upbringing, the instructors around me. It is so much more than Dr Kells. I am the face and like I want to be the bus driver, uh, but I would be remiss to not mention the amazing people that I have who work with our organization, to like have brought us to where we are today. Um, those are some amazing individuals. Um and yeah, um and yeah, that's that's um. It's very humbling to hear, um, those amazing kind words and I believe a lot of them to be true Uh, I just I don't. I'm not someone who like feels myself.

Kellen:

You know, I'm always, I'm always trying to say like I haven't done anything yet, you know, and not in a bad way, like beating myself down, but I just I know that I'm capable of even more than where we are right now.

Kellen:

And that's where, like my North Star is always like looking towards, and sometimes I don't acknowledge the wins along the way and I'm again trying to be better at that, and I'm again trying to be better at that. But this mission of Fit Club and providing the active population with active care in a way that they want to give them those active results, I personally I feel like this is something that would crush in every single city and like I want to be the person who helps us drive it to that point, you know. So I'm, I feel very fortunate to have done what we've been able to do, but I'm so far from satisfied and that is what keeps me waking up and, you know, super excited. Like I literally can't sleep at night. Like I woke up this morning. It was like 2am and my brain is just like do this, do that, do that, do this, do that? Got to make sure this is done yeah, it's a gift and a curse.

Kellen:

It's a gift and a curse to some people. They they might complain about that, but for me it's like, it feels like a superpower and I just want to execute on that um and live out my life's mission because, um, yeah's, that's what I care about and again, it's impact, impact, impact.

Denzil:

Yeah, I love it so exciting. Well, I think your story is so inspirational and I think there's so many things that we can pull out of it that will help other people. So I think you're just even coming here and talking to me today, you're also helping people, and I really appreciate your time and your openness and your honesty. So, thank you so much and, yeah, it's been a great one. Thank you.

Kellen:

Thank you, Denzel. You've been amazing as well. Sky's the limit for all of us. No one's going to hand it to us. We're going to have to go out there and get it and let's make it happen.