Fred DeVito and Elisabeth Halfpapp – Co-Founders of CoreBarreFit

Kara Goldin  00:00

Hi everyone, it’s Kara Goldin from the Kara Goldin Show. And I’m so excited to have my friends and people that I so admire what they have built over the years, Fred DeVito and Elizabeth Halfpapp. If you do not know, Fred and Elizabeth, I’m going to share a little bit about them. They are the co-founders of core bar fit. But I knew them years ago when I was lucky enough to be out in the Hamptons for a summer a few summers actually. And they had this amazing studio that I used to go to, to do the core. That was the first time that I had ever seen core. And I remember dragging my husband to one and sharing a little bit more about Fred and Elizabeth. And I think it was like the first time that he really thought about working out and then and then he would only do classes when Fred was doing it. That was the other thing I remember that he just adored Fred on a lot of levels. But anyway, so Fred and Elizabeth are also partners married and Elizabeth began her bar fitness journey as an associate in dance education at the School of heart for ballet. But prior to that, she was a classically trained ballerina and saw the future and bar training super early on to just bring it to lots of people who might not have been fortunate enough to do what Elizabeth was doing in her early years. And Fred also created a series of videos of bar videos and co-authored the bar fitness book. But he’s also in addition to being just an incredibly great business person and had followed his passion around dance as well and accomplished jazz, the double bass player. I understand I have not heard the side of you, which I can’t wait and uses his talents to inspire the playlists used in many of the core Parfitt classes. So welcome. We’re going to learn more about your experience, probably things that I didn’t even know. But very excited to have you on the show. So can you tell us a little bit about your journey, something that maybe I didn’t mention, and some of your background?

Elisabeth Halfpapp  02:33

Thank you, Kara. Thank you for having us. We’re so excited to be here with you and share our journey. Actually, not many people know this about us. But we actually go way back to high school. I was Fred’s senior prom date,

Kara Goldin  02:48

really, I did not know this very fun.

Elisabeth Halfpapp  02:52

And we just ended up being partners starting from our senior prom evening. Then stayed together through high school through college. I was dancing federalist Health and Physical Education, teacher and major. And we sort of had this passion for movement all our lives. I think that’s what attracted us.

Fred DeVito  03:17

I played football. She was the head cheerleader. So that brought us together like a magnet. And that’s where it started. I love this man. She went to school for dance, and I went to school, physical education, I played sports, and you know, did all the athletic training things. And she was learning dance education. And so we had parallel careers, but totally in different areas of fitness. And then we had an opportunity to bring it all together.

Elisabeth Halfpapp  03:46

So moving on from my dad’s presto dancing a little bit. In fact, I still dance every year in the Nutcracker in New York City as an adult in the party scene. But of course,

Kara Goldin  03:56

oh my gosh, that’s so beautiful. A

Elisabeth Halfpapp  03:58

a lot of the retirement dances are in that act. But I discovered an ad in the New York Times in 1984. a studio is requesting teachers who have a background in ballet. And at that point, there was a lot of aerobics going on in the early 80s and some gymnastic classes weren’t much going on in the fitness world except a few boutique studios. And I thought, hmm, sounds very interesting to be a part-time job as I’m still auditioning in New York for dance and ballet. I answered the ad I went to go take my first class on June 21, 1980. On the fourth floor at 23 East 67th Street was all skeps brownstone. It was the mecca bar, the first boutique bar studio ever in the United States, called the Lottie Burke method. I fell in love with I thought I was in the best shape ever. I was wobbling down the steps couldn’t get out of bed the next morning. And I got a phone call that, hey, yes, we’d love for you to come back and we love to hire you. And I was so excited. I think I fell out of bed because I really wanted to teach this technique just resounded so well, with my ballet background and training, working on the position and the alignment and the strengthening. And the flexibility component is you know, car the balance of the two are so important. And I started teaching 1980 and three years when I was still dating at the time, and that was when Lottie Burke was for women only bar fitness started, you know, just for women. I wasn’t even allowed to come into the building I

Fred DeVito  05:45

couldn’t even come in the building was just for women.

Elisabeth Halfpapp  05:48

Then I had the opportunity to open up a Lottie Burke method in Los Angeles. And we looked at each other

Fred DeVito  05:56

and said, Hey, now we can get married. It made sense for us because we live in two different cities. I was in Central New Jersey, I was laying my base and teaching physical education in the public school system. Liz was in New York City doing the Lottie Burke method. And we had no reason to change our paths. Everything was working until this offered to go to LA. So I left my jobs and moved out west we got married, I started to play music in the LA scene, which is a good area to play music. And Elizabeth teaching Lottie Burke method out there. And that happened for about a year. And then in 84, we came back to New York City by request from the owners of the Lottie Burke method. And that’s when I joined the company in 1984. And right around the end of 84, I started to teach as the first male bar teacher in the world interesting, until this time is only for women. So when I got in there, I brought a lot of my athletic training, weight training planks, push-ups made it a little more gender-neutral, and crossover. And we started to have classes just for men to see how they would respond to this kind of exercise. And they took to it like a duck to water. They just loved it.

Elisabeth Halfpapp  07:08

But an interesting fact, I hired Fred, she hired me I was she trained me I trained Fred and First, we did his first class in New York car, and then we jumped in the car and drove out here to

Fred DeVito  07:23

move I was so my muscles were so frozen, and the door fell out. But I thought I was in good shape. At 23 years old, I was an athlete who really took care of my body. And when I started to do these exercises, I realized what I was missing. And so that intrigued me it didn’t turn me off. It turned me on because I wanted to work on the things that, you know, one quote that I have a trademark for the car is if it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you. Yeah, I have the trademark for that quote. And I think it started back then, that that was an ultimate challenge for me. And it did change me, put me in the best shape of my life.

Kara Goldin  08:02

Well, I remember taking your class. And it was the first place that I really heard this whole concept of the core. And it’s one thing to have, you know, the core as the name of the class. I mean, originally, like you said it was all about the bar, but it was really about core and forcing you to be in touch with that and feel that and I think that anytime I’ve had a situation, whether it’s my back or my neck, I start my go back to my core. Yeah. And figure out am I sitting right in my, you know, it what is exactly going on with my alignment or whatever, as I sit here and slope over. But again, I think I go back to I remember you all fondly. So how did when you first brought this up? So you’re you mentioned Bridgehampton. So did you leave Lottie Burke at this point and then go out to start your own in or was there a few years in Bridgehampton before.

Elisabeth Halfpapp  09:01

So there are quite a number of years before we started, exhale. Again, going back for a moment to our first classes we both knew, at that point this there’s something in this technique of the balance of position alignment, strength, and flexibility. The core work because was based around the lobby’s degenerated discs in her spine, she did a lot of core stabilization, right, holding the poor keeping the transverse abdominus which is best abdominal wall muscle or deep internal mu,scale and moving the arms and legs around that. So Lottie Burke was the first studio out here in the Hamptons because obviously was Upper East Side New York City back in the 70s and 80s. And where did everyone go? Mostly back then out here still do. So we would go back and forth every summer. Even offseason, we come out here. It was on an Amazing potato barn that the Lahti Burg owner, converted into a studio looking over at amazing fields, cornfields, potatoes every year it would change. So, friend, I knew they were working together and we did everything. We taught six classes a day, six days a week, we manage and train all the teachers, we clean the studios, you know, coming back to, you know, your book, or you just, you do what needs to be done. You love what you’re doing it. Of course, it was work at times, but it really did not feel like work because we believe in it so much.

Fred DeVito  10:37

That 20 years, we did this Pilates method. We tried two years, we ran the business and taught most of the classes. We learned how to train teachers, we learned the art of teaching bar and core and so towards the end of our stay at Lottie Burke method, we have the opportunity to grow this into a worldwide company. And that intrigued us to move on were a lot of Burke Lydia Bach, Lottie Burke, they wanted to stay small business to studios and not grow it. And listen, I was getting very antsy to grow it because we knew we had something very special. So exhale, the owner, the founder, approached us to join her. And we did back in 2000 2000,

Elisabeth Halfpapp  11:23

to 2000 discussion 2000 beginning of 2001. And as Fred was saying, We, the owner was an absentee owner of Lottie Burke method. So we were in the, you know, we were in the fields every day and really, you know, seeing this interaction, seeing how bodies were changing and seeing how people were shifting their lives back then. And, you know, this type of exercise wasn’t even in any magazines, back then it was, you know, pretty much under the radar. It was, you know, you do this, you do that. But, you know, this type of exercise came for through Vogue magazine back then self magazine, obviously, but New York Times New York Magazine, no one ever had written about the movement back then. And it really educated what we were doing. We were which we love and still do today is we’re educating people how to move properly and thinking of a longevity type of movement that stays with you, with whatever activity you go forth doing, whether you stay with our classes or move to different activities. So we just wanted to give more teachers you just want to give and we How can we spread this more. And, and Beth Eschbach, the creator of the exhale, name or brainchild behind it was one of our students at Lottie Burke method. And one January evening, dead of the winter 530. At night she came into

Fred DeVito  12:55

town and she approached me about I have this idea and I want to start this company that she was a spa operator. And she wanted to blend the worlds of spa and fitness under one roof was unique because that model did not exist. And we called it a mind-body studio. That term didn’t exist back then. We were into creating an opportunity for people to improve their well-being through wellness. That concept didn’t really wasn’t really popular back in 2002 2003. So we opened up our first location on Madison Avenue. But wait prior

Elisabeth Halfpapp  13:34

to that, we were This is a funny story. We were cooking in the kitchen out here. You’re living here full-time that year. And we actually the owners of the big Grimm franchise out here, they had a little space in Bridgehampton shopping center, when we just rent a space per hour. So the carpet was a little wet.

Fred DeVito  13:59

Yeah, there is a very moist environment,

Elisabeth Halfpapp  14:01

but people can. And we felt so No, it was very scary for us. We chose to leave lots of birds. And we were both choosing to leave in the same profession. We had really?

Kara Goldin  14:18

No, so you had feared? Like you for sure. Yeah. And

Fred DeVito  14:23

you know, we’re jumping from one branch to another together. It’s not like somebody can hold down the fort with the economics. And the other one would love to explore a new career. We were exploring it together.

Elisabeth Halfpapp  14:33

And we just did it. We thought about it. Yes. But you know, I like to say a phrase in my head when I teach you to know, your heart and your core right, your coordinate will area. It’s your instinct, right? You put your hands here. Let usually your decisions are made from those two points, your heart, and your core. And then the brain gets in the way right then the brain starts to think

Kara Goldin  14:57

yeah

Fred DeVito  15:00

overthink it, right? But the least we cooked in the kitchen in Bridgehampton for one whole summer. And we created this class that you’ve come to know as called core fusion. And it was a hybrid blend of Barre exercises from Lottie Burton’s method, core exercises that were pretty standard. And we just brought this whole world together to create core fusion, which is a fusion of disciplines based around the core, a core-centric class, we taught that at exhale, we did a dozen DVDs under that name, core fusion for exhaling. We wrote our book, we wrote our book called bar fitness, which, can I send you a copy?

Kara Goldin  15:41

No, but I will buy it for sure. But I, I think just for people who don’t understand too, it was the first time that I’ve ever seen a waitlist on a class. I mean, the lineup, and I remember it was just it was the race and people wanted, they couldn’t get enough of you guys and your classes. And it was just, I mean, you definitely you gained this following, but I’m sure you also got this, like you said, personally, this amazing feedback from day one on how you’re changing people’s lives. And obviously, you had been a lottery Burke for over 20 years. So you had that there as a teacher but as a business owner? I mean, when did you really know that you were successful? I guess was I mean it When did you get to a point where you weren’t afraid? Right, where you were? I feel like all along the way, you kept challenging the system and you kept growing and doing DVDs and doing that right? You were constantly trying to learn. So where was the point where you really thought, Okay, we got this, we’re kind of doing it?

Fred DeVito  16:51

Well, I think when we when we went to Boston because exhale was X-ray was New York City. Now think 2020 City bridge near City area? Yeah. for 22 years, we’re teaching these people, women, and men who looked like they were 20 years younger than they actually were. So we knew that the technique work, we see these women come in, they’re in their 50s. And the 60s, they look like they’re in their 30s and 40s. They have kids, they bounce right back, they got the same body, their kids now start to take the class with us, the husbands come husband’s

Elisabeth Halfpapp  17:25

tennis improves injuries, we get all the

Fred DeVito  17:27

accolades and all of the confirmation of people doing better at their sport, less injury, more energy, better sex life, better body better everything. And so we knew we had something. And it gave us the confidence to take this now to another community. So our first

Elisabeth Halfpapp  17:44

was Boston. And for sure our investors were looking at us to make sure we could scale really my eyes to the next level because we were projected to do 26 locations within

Fred DeVito  17:56

five years.

Kara Goldin  17:57

I remember when that point came up for you guys. I mean, I remember that. And it’s and so had you had investors up until like, when did you have your first investors outside of you know, sort of friends and family? Well,

Elisabeth Halfpapp  18:11

exhale,

Fred DeVito  18:13

really company backed us. And we went to Boston and it was fearful because we didn’t know if it was going to work their whole base of clientele, a whole new group of teachers that we had to train, we had to micromanage. We spent a lot of time on the Amtrak going back and forth to Boston. And once Boston took off, and we saw it took a good six to eight months. And once that community started to gel, that’s when we felt Alright, we got something here that we can scale. And that gave us confidence.

Kara Goldin  18:47

And then you moved from you came to the west coast, right?

Fred DeVito  18:51

Yep. model or Boston, Chicago, Dallas, eventually Santa Monica, Miami, three properties. Connecticut, Atlanta. We had our hands on I guess at our peak, we had 128 locations, 28 locations with exhale,

Elisabeth Halfpapp  19:09

Bermuda and Turks and Caicos as well.

Fred DeVito  19:12

We were seeing all of the teacher training. We were traveling. Each of us was traveling to a different city a couple of weeks out of the month, you know, you’re probably your hot wheels on your suitcase, too. So we did a lot of traveling, we did a lot of teacher training, we were overseeing quality control, because with this kind of exercise in the world now the bar is an industry within itself. Now listen, I started we created this industry. And we really,

Elisabeth Halfpapp  19:41

we were the first generation I mean, Lottie Berg, and we started this whole bar fitness genre. You had your yoga Pilates, and I think besides that point of opening up in Boston and investors saying okay, they can do this And it was really mostly dependent on our and on the mind-body, the fitness component, you know, the spa was easy, right? operate, it always has its challenges. But what I really thought another point where I thought we were successful two points is that we’re also pivotal points were that for four years, five, five years after we started, we started to branch out core fusion Barre core fusion, yoga, core fusion, or remember those core fusion. And I thought at that point, we have to, you know, name, each class put core fusion front, and I put out the word bar, ba, or E, now, there was bar method that was Ba, R, but the bar was the correct French term from, you know, my ballet days of what we really use in class and seeing that word, come out. And five years later, having an industry explode. In bar fitness, stemming a lot of those teachers came out of our training and ran studios for us, or were lead teachers that lobby burger exhale. That was another moment that we built something that was just at this little place, you know, little niche call place at 23 67th. Street to now internationally, bar fitness is out there as its own fitness genre.

Kara Goldin  21:34

And what do you think were the biggest challenges there? And in terms of watching this, and frankly, I mean, probably some of these different outfits, some related to you some not, right? That we’re doing it wrong, wrong is a

Fred DeVito  21:49

is a very loose term. You know, it’s like, how do you do a push-up, and there’s a lot of ways to do a push-up. So, but we did a lot of teacher training in 10 years of exhaling, we trained only teachers for exhaling. And then 10-year mark, we saw a void in the industry, where if you weren’t part of a franchise, if you weren’t barred method franchise, or pure bar franchise, or daily method franchise, where are you going to get your training, franchises took care of training their groups, there was a void in the industry to do bar teacher training to the masses. So we created a bar teacher training program, through exhale, that was a 200-hour program, well, 40 hours for the masses. And we would have public sessions, that people would fly in from all over the world to take our teacher training. And they would go back to their communities and start bar studios.

Elisabeth Halfpapp  22:51

And then the other point about that, which was another interesting moment, and you probably know, this car from being around the bar industry is no one train teachers outside of their, their own studio, want to share the secrets. But we always knew as teachers and business owners, the only way to grow a business are when you give some of that power away, and encourage and support other teachers and other teachers who want to start a business and bar, you need to share and give it away at some point still have control and still have, you know, the quality and the, you know, some regulations. But overall, the only way to grow is let’s grow this thing together. And when we opened up this teacher training to outside the exhale was a lot of other bar studios looking at what are they doing?

Fred DeVito  23:52

Why are you doing that? Why are you giving more you’re giving your goal? Well, and

Kara Goldin  23:56

it totally makes sense, because you’re teaching and also you’re teaching the next generation, right, but you also want it done correctly. So I think that is the right way to way to do things for sure. What do you feel was the biggest challenge for you going from? First, you’re the step into entrepreneurism and then growing it and scaling it. I mean, you’re involved in a giant company. I think so often people feel it gets too big. It’s not fun anymore. I mean, it’s it what do you think was kind of the biggest learnings that you take away from that

Fred DeVito  24:30

we got there, we got to that point, because our company grew and as listed giving the power away, we have 26 properties, teaching our system, put a point person and I’m sure you have point people located all over the country also, we put a point person in the place and that’s the person in charge of that program. To make sure the quality is there. The teachers are doing the right thing. And they are connected to us so we can trickle down all the changes all the innovation All of the, you know, things that we’ve done to enhance the program, we want to make sure we’re all connected. And the people that we trained who teach in Germany, in China, Saudi Arabia, in South America and Mexico, in Canada, and Switzerland, Iceland, we have teachers from all over the world who are teaching our system, we gave it to them to teach. Now, what they did with it when they got home, we have no clue we weren’t in it. But we do know now when we’re in this situation or pandemic, and we’re only connecting up through live stream. We are international students in our classes, a lot of these teachers and former trainees are now taking classical goes just to reconnect, and to be part of our system again. So that validates to me, what we did was correct, because these people are still connected to us.

Elisabeth Halfpapp  25:54

But I think the challenge is coming back to your question, what was one of our biggest challenges is, you know, really, we were in front of the curve, even we had a really interesting position within exhale. Right? We four of us founded exhale, as you know, two women and Beth another woman, they were the spa component, our CEO and COO and then Fred and I, before of oneness, and they weren’t really fun of curd, we were front of current seeing the day to day we were connecting with the people, we were actually bringing revenues into the company, right? by teaching. Right? And I think sometimes it’s hard to translate what you’re doing front of curtain how to bring that back into corporate and have corporate sometimes understand that dynamic. We had that moment where, okay, the numbers are dropping, which happens, your businesses go up and down, as you know, what are you doing wrong? You know, what do you do? Fix it right away? You can’t fix those things right away sometimes if it’s an industry situation,

Kara Goldin  27:05

right. And also competition, I mean, not just competition in terms of what you know, close to what you do. But obviously, there are other things that come up that people are doing, it doesn’t mean that they’re not going to come back to what you’re doing. So, but I totally agree when you’re, you have that relationship with the consumer. And I think that that’s that that’s sometimes hard. And it’s hard in big companies, it’s hard. In private equity-backed companies, frankly, it’s a different mindset.

Fred DeVito  27:39

Yeah, there came a moment we’re actually it was purchased by Hyatt, which was a

Kara Goldin  27:43

another, I did not know that. Well, that was 720 17.

Elisabeth Halfpapp  27:45

Yeah, hi, it was purchased at higher purchase, exhale, which was a good very good thing. You know, we were, it was a good direction, you know, to put in some more capital growth, investment. And, you know, they wanted it like a lot of hotel companies wanted to well be a component to their portfolio. They also bought mirrorball as well. And, you know, I worked a lot with Marvel and exhale at that point. But coming back another big challenge for us now, we’re in the fitness industry. And a lot of challenges. Another big challenge that came to us is their old, you know, there were the young people. And you can’t really say it’s age discrimination. And yes, I understand it. And, you know, there was a point where we were sort of put aside a little bit with younger people moving into our roles, which is great, that change has to happen. And people have to this has happened after high implied exhale, that you need to give the opportunity to the next generation. But there still needs to be a collaboration between old and new, because some things, there’s always that bottom sort of thread, that’s a really strong core, to the program that needs to be continually held, with every generation that goes beyond us. So things got

Fred DeVito  29:19

a little murky. And we stayed with it as long as we could. But then we saw that this isn’t the direction we necessarily want to move forward. And we were just at the point where we were thinking about what else can we do when the pandemic sort of came around prior to that?

Elisabeth Halfpapp  29:41

Yes, a really low time. Yeah, challenging time. car for was two years into the purchase of exhaling from Hyatt. And again, I’m not that no one’s bad. No one’s indifferent. It’s business, you know?

Kara Goldin  29:55

Yeah.

Elisabeth Halfpapp  29:56

Some people look at the numbers, what’s working, what’s not working. We got to go That move that around, get it. budget cuts start to happen. And last year, in October 2019, my position was eliminated exhale. And as hard as it was for me now remember Fred and I was Fred was still there. I decided, yeah. Okay, it’s time. Yeah,

Kara Goldin  30:23

absolutely. I’m surprised. I mean, it’s rare that founders actually stay with acquisitions, as long as you did. Right? Right, you get this bug inside of you that says, I’ve got to go back and create, and oftentimes, in the process, no matter what industry in the process of actually having that acquisition, they don’t want innovation, right? It’s the problem with large companies as a whole. They there, they basically buy something, and then they just want to do the same thing every single day, right? And they want to stick it into a nice, easy model that continues. And it’s not until and then oftentimes when it’s not working, they don’t innovate. They just shut it down. It’s what happens. And it’s not just the exercise industry or spa industry, it’s every industry, it’s you know it, I mean, Coca Cola, they’ll, they’ll buy products for billions of dollars, and then they’ll be like, oh, nobody wants it anymore. Just shut it down. Right. And I mean, it’s shocking, right on so many levels, but it happens all the time. So not anything you should take personally at all. It was time. And but sometimes that’s hard, right? Not feeling wanted. Right. And I mean, that’s a tough thing. But it’s also I, I always talk and I know you believe this, it’s your journey. Right? And it’s, it’s what happened, and sometimes when you’re in challenging times, and then you got to, it’s you got to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and go do the next thing. So you do this. Yeah. And then the pandemic hits and

Fred DeVito  32:04

was fine for way. Less, I love it. But she’s finding her way. And I think her biggest disappointment was that we weren’t working together. Because we work together all of our adult lives. We were partners, and we’re a brand. And they separate that. And now I’m with exhale, she’s floating and trying to recreate and she had four or five coals in the fire and lots of opportunities. Sure. And I’m with exhale thinking, Okay, I’m here, I’m going to make the best of it. But it didn’t feel the same. He was a little weird. And I’m thinking about myself that maybe I need to be moving on. And just as I’m like, sort of floating and not knowing what to do, the pandemic was getting worse. And then all of a sudden, we were shut down and sent home mid-March, exhale, closed all their properties. I’m working from home, we decided to leave New York City because it was getting so bad. We moved out to our home here in Bridgehampton, where we stayed. And Liz is working now teaching privates and doing little groups on zoom through another private company of personal trainers. And I’m watching her do this, and I’m thinking, maybe we should teach a class together. So we put a class up on Eventbrite on April 6. And we just announced that she and I are going to be teaching a bar class. We hadn’t

Elisabeth Halfpapp  33:27

done that for over a year.

Fred DeVito  33:30

And then within 100, people signed up within 20 minutes, and then we opened it up to 300 people with a half-hour that was sold out. And we thought, wow, people really want us. So we taught the class and we told them, if you want more of this, let us know. They did. We created a little schedule. We started to teach together a couple of classes a week, it was going really well. You were still at that sale, I’m still with exhale on half salary half schedule, because of the pandemic, we were really closing everything down. Most teachers were on furlough, I was lucky to still have a job. But it got to the point where I wanted to work with Liz in core bar fit our business was growing. So we took the leap of faith. On one day, I went into New York City and I closed our apartment and paid the penalty for cutting the lease. We moved out here, I resigned from exhaling, and we don’t have to have an apartment in New York City. We don’t need to be working at exhale anymore. So

Kara Goldin  34:32

that was it. And how’s it going?

Fred DeVito  34:34

I mean, it sounds like it’s going great. Here we are. We’re gonna grow our own business now. And we brought up we brought a buddy in who’s a really good marketer, who does all of our marketing and all of our business administration. So we can stay in front of the curtain and a lot of back of curtain Business Administration, three, four hours a day, but it’s, but we had a chance to be together team-teach and we’re growing As our virtual business now what is it eight months now we’re doing this since April, I just like yesterday, every month, we’re getting a little bigger every month we’re doing more, but a lot of our colleagues have also gone off into live streaming. They’re competing with us for people. But I think where we have an advantage is the international crowd, you know, the people leave. And that stems back to that teacher training that we did back in those days, that exhale, really, where we had this audience now, we’ve done a lot of conferences and a lot of workshops and things. So we’re pooling from our sometimes our classes, we have five or six different countries in them. And so you can do that on the live stream. So that’s a great thing.

Elisabeth Halfpapp  35:45

And always something new, right? Don’t be daunted right, by technology. Right?

Kara Goldin  35:52

And you just go figure it out? Well, I’m that’s the thing that I always say that it’s, it’s people like you that have, you’ve grown things, you go back to the beginning and learning these things. I mean, there are definitely people in the exercise industry that have basically, they’re having a pity party for themselves, right. And they’re not, they’re not doing anything, and they are trying to figure out, maybe I should go into a different career, maybe I should do something else. But it’s the people that innovate and actually figure out what can you do, right, are the ones that are going to survive, but they’re also going to be successful. And I’m not surprised to hear that you’ve got hundreds of people signing up for these classes, because you have built a brand. And I think that that’s the most challenging thing for these new people who want to come in. It’s, it’s really, do you think you’ll ever open a live studio,

Fred DeVito  36:46

you know, as we’re talking, because we’re thinking now, we’re in the first quarter of 2021, we’re thinking second quarter, when people are vaccinated, and people may be a little bit more, they won’t all be vaccinated by then. But people will be maybe venturing out again, we’re entertaining. We taught outdoors last summer. And we have a couple of places here vineyard topping rose and Wolfer vineyard where they allow scrape side. And so we were doing that once or sometimes two, three times a week, and we’re getting our local people to come there to us, and then still doing virtual for the International crowd, people who can’t be with us live. So that’s the big guest’s pivot right now is whether or not we’re going to do anything with bricks and mortar, I tend to not want to at this moment, don’t strap ourselves down with any type of a lease obligation. I’m sort of enjoying my life the way it is.

Kara Goldin  37:44

And you don’t have to either, but I think I was on an interview with somebody who’s done a lot of live events yesterday. And she was she’s, you know, do what you all have done and gone to virtual and, and she was saying she would like to go back to live events at some point, she doesn’t know she’ll still do as many. Right? It may be and it may be kind of the same model at but she said, Now if there is another pandemic, right, she’s able to survive and her and know that she can actually operate her business in multiple ways. And I think that that’s something that you’ve learned during this time, and not to stop

Elisabeth Halfpapp  38:27

and never look back. You know, Carl can never doubt yourself, once you’ve made the decision. You just have to go with it. And your brain will want to take you there sometimes, but often nobleness we have to keep going forward, we, you know, we we have it’s just a deep passion inside of us, especially

Fred DeVito  38:46

preaching to the choir. I know,

Elisabeth Halfpapp  38:48

especially during the pandemic, you know, there’s such a lot of tragedy happening, you know, lives being lost, and people we knew on the screen people alone, and to have this virtual component. It brings community

Kara Goldin  39:05

right and I think what you’re doing is absolutely what people I think it’s just getting people to know how to find it. Right. And I think that that is the that’s the biggest thing because I think a lot of people just don’t know that these things exist. And how do we figure out how to get more and more people.

Fred DeVito  39:27

So all your book endorsement from Greg Renfrew.

Kara Goldin  39:32

Yeah, who is amazing,

Fred DeVito  39:33

is a really dear friend of ours, and she’s in class a lot. And she’s helping us connect to the beauty counter consultant base with

Kara Goldin  39:42

our class. Oh, that’s terrific.

Fred DeVito  39:44

Well, we’re sure we’re offering discounts to those to them and we do classes for them a couple of times a month. That’s free and Greg joins and, and they come on and they’re getting we’re getting a lot of carryover effect of Beautycounter consultant Now becoming a part of our program through Greg. She’s been wonderful. That’s, that’s amazing. Well,

Kara Goldin  40:05

that’s it. That’s a great idea. I mean, I think there are so many companies too, that is really looking at how do we support our employees, and especially when, in many, many places, I’m in Northern California, none of the gyms are open. And I know I know, I believe me. I’m thinking about it right now. So I’m,

Fred DeVito  40:29

and you invite your whole community to join us?

Kara Goldin  40:31

Yeah, no, definitely. And I think that that’s, you know, it’s, it’s such a Do you have to have a bar? How do you deal with that? Well, we

Fred DeVito  40:39

deal with we have this little bar back here, do you see it? Okay. It’s called a booty kicker. Their business is going through the roof because we promote this piece of equipment,

Elisabeth Halfpapp  40:50

but also we just use squares.

Fred DeVito  40:53

For a wall and countertop

Elisabeth Halfpapp  40:55

was very adaptable, what we do, you know, as we don’t need much space,

Fred DeVito  40:59

why wait? A mat and something to hold on to, and you can get a good class.

Kara Goldin  41:05

I love it. Well, I love your energy, I love that you are doing it together that you have different skill sets. And that is the Dream Team. And just closing it out. What is the biggest piece of advice for anyone looking to just disrupt an industry in general, follow your passion?

Fred DeVito  41:28

Follow him be relentless. And don’t let anything get in the way. I mean, you’re going to have bumps, like you said, you’ll have ups and downs, don’t get too high, don’t get too low, but stay focused on your vision. Because if you stay positive, it’s all about the energy. Because the things you can really control in your life, especially now, or your attitude, and your energy. And if you stay positive, and you just shield away anything that’s trying to get in your way, I’m quoting you from your book, and he’s saying it from what your vision is, you just let it roll off your back and stay focused on what you’re doing. And if you believe in yourself, and you send positive energy into the universe, you’re going to attract that like energy back into your life. And you’re going to see a manifestation of your business. And, and one thing you said that that resounds with me, the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make is they move too fast, too much too fast. And when I watch our business grow, it’s growing. And sometimes we get impatient, we want it to grow faster. And then I pull back. And I think you know what, as long as there’s a flow, we have income coming in, we have a plan, we have a direction and a course and a vision, we’re going to grow this thing, and this is going to take off. I don’t know how long it’s gonna take.

Elisabeth Halfpapp  42:49

But I think also you have to really listen to your heart and your core.

Kara Goldin  42:53

Now, definitely. And I always say something, something that you said, you know, never look back. Sometimes I I think that if you do look back and you trust that you built something great, which obviously you too did. There are lessons along the way, right, that are part of your journey, that you you’re not going there anymore. Right? There’s there are things that you learned about yourself and learned and, and opinions, right about your own journey. Part of the reason why I wanted to write this book was it’s my journey. It’s what I’ve learned. So you know, in the book, I talked about getting kicked out of Starbucks, it was 40% of our overall business. That’s why I cared because it was 40%. And now when I look at something that is too much, they have too much control, if it goes away tomorrow, and I say this to our sales team, you know, it’s teetering at, like, 35 I’m like, Ah, it makes me very nervous. And, and that’s because I have this journey. And I’m sure you all have those moments. And sometimes they’re hard to articulate. But you also, when you’ve dealt with a pandemic, you can then sit here and say, that’s just another moment. We’re gonna get through this, we’re gonna do these things. Because we’ve been through challenging times, we’ve learned a lot and we trust ourselves, which I think is the is the moat and you trust each other as partners, you gotta trust and the biggest thing

Elisabeth Halfpapp  44:27

too is, you know, you have to remember your darkest moments, your deepest setbacks. Really there always is a light at the end of the tunnel. And those are your biggest, biggest learning experiences for you to help yourself catapult to where you need to be the universe, the higher whatever that may be. sets us up.

Kara Goldin  44:51

I love it. We’ll never hurt you. But I love it. That’s so great. So where do people find you too and So core bar fit?

Fred DeVito  45:02

So core bar fit calm, okay? We’re in the classes and look at a class or connect with us info at core bar fit comm where we can answer your questions or give you insights on what it is you’re trying to solve for. Instagram, you know, we have, I mean, I have Instagram, Liz’s Instagram four-bar fittest Instagram, I’ll send you all that information, you can add those tags to the people who are listening to this. But Liz and I are here, and we’re teachers, and we’ll always be teachers, and we want to help people lead better lives, and healthier that’s always been our mission. And that’s why we feel that we’ll be successful. Because if there is a higher and that higher is guiding how things are moving. He’s going to help people who are helping others. And that’s all we do is we know that better lives and that’s, that brings us joy, you know, that really brings us the satisfaction,

Kara Goldin  45:56

joy, joy, and health. So I’d love it. I just have to say this has been a great time chatting with both of you. And if you all liked this episode, please like it and share it and let everybody know about core bar fit and also Fred and Elizabeth because they’re so awesome and come back to the karat gold and show so every Monday and Wednesday. So thanks, everyone.

46:20

Thank you, Kara