Transcript

How I Built Resilience: Live with Sadie Lincoln

Hey everyone and welcome to How I Built This Resilience Edition. This is where we've been talking with entrepreneurs about how to think creatively during this really disruptive moment. And one of the hardest hit industries in recent months has been fitness. Thousands of gym and studios around the country are trying to figure out new and creative ways to serve their customers. That's also happening with Bar 3, it's a studio exercise program that blends ballet with Pilates and yoga. The company has around 160 studios across the United States, most of which are still closed. Sadie Lincoln is the founder of Bar Three. We told her story on the podcast back in 2017. And we called her up this week to hear about how the company's been able to shift. to a virtual platform.

So, Sadie, um, first of all, your family I is okay. I know you're in Portland and your your company is based in Portland and I'm a I'm assuming you've been all your team's been tele kind of teleworking and Zoom calls and things like that. Yeah. Yeah. Almost Every single studio was closed for a long time. We have about thirty percent ish starting to slowly open. Um, but other than that, we've been

We've been on Zoom. Um we did a whole week on the restaurant industry, which is Kind of a canary in the coal mine,'cause it was the first industry to really Get hit hard. And

the fitness industry o obviously also really hit hard. As you know yesterday, I think it was yesterday, twenty four hour fitness um filed for bankruptcy protection. They're gonna shut down I think a hundred and thirty of their locations over the next few years. You actually work there for eleven years and left to launch bar three. Tell me about

The situation with Bar, about thirty percent of your locations are open, but Seventy percent are still. Still shut, I imagine. This is not an easy moment for the for the company.

No, on so many levels. This is one of the most hard. Profound. Important moments of our History at R three. Um, and I we're not alone.

That's one comfort, I suppose. Um, all business is going through this right now and It's surreal for me to hear about Twenty Four Fitness going bankrupt because when I was there our tagline was bigger, better, stronger, and we were unstoppable. We were growing at a rapid speed. And

It's also interesting because we've really tested bar three. has really tested our like crisis resistance, um Muscle. Ah, during this whole Covid um quarantine and and

We shut a hundred percent of our studios and within twenty four hours we got on a call. crying with our franchise advisory board and our leadership team and all of us just deeply saddened about and fearful of the unknown and within twenty four hours we came out and we said, You know what, we are not closed, we're opening a virtual studio. And we opened

live stream classes in our living rooms. with babies and cats and dog slamming and you know let go of sort of the precious nature of our premium brand that way, but so dedicated to staying connected with our community and Luckily, um Some of our studios have remained amazingly ninety percent pre-Covid revenue.

because of the loyalty of their community really having an emotional connection with them. And knowing the owner. personally on a personal Basis I I'm thankful.

And this moment that we franchised Um that we've grown an empowered model that way because I think our communities have really stepped up to support. Our owners and our owners have worked their tails off. Work so hard. Um so

I think community is is key. Uh overall just to be clear we're at Our studio business is probably around fifty five percent pre COVID. Um just to be clear, I mean, your locations are these are franchise o owned and operated Do they have autonomy obviously given the the r restrictions in their states. um how they wanna proceed. Like if they're in a state where

you know, businesses can open, can the franchise owner make that decision on on on her own? Yes. Yeah, every single owner it's truly her business. We have we're uh hundred percent female led led right now. Um, it's her business and uh legal legally her choice and that's the empowered franchise model. And at the same time, what's been really powerful to see if uh

collective wisdom amongst all of our owners coming together uh regularly to share best practices and the latest knowledge that we we're all gathering in our different geographies. About how to Be as safe. And um attentive as we possibly can while really innovating and creating a new way for people to work out at home.

All you know, kinda all in one. Yeah. I'm I'm interested in in w in this idea that you said like within days we kind of pivoted to a a virtual model. Um and you mentioned I mean Bar three is a premium brand. There's a you know, they're beautiful studios for those who haven't been. Um they you you offer child care at at many of the locations, I think if not all the locations. Um it's a very kind of peaceful

beautiful clean space um It sounds like going to a virtual model was a little bit There was a little bit uh of sort of uncertainty about whether you would be able to match the premiumness that you offer, but it sounds like you just said you know what?

We're you know, we're in a crisis moment. We gotta do this. We just gotta go. Well, yeah, and not only our studio was a premium experience, our online streaming workouts were are premium. We've been We have beautiful set production. We have trained instructors who have who have trained for years to be in front of the camera.

And it's very different to teach a class to a camera than it is to a group of people. very different skill set needed and also a whole set of um, fear and insecurity, as soon as you turn the camera on, there's just a whole nother level of like shutdown that happens and not really coming across real. So um

Yeah, we had to let go of that beautiful production and and and I I remember distinctly the team just kind we kind of asked ourselves, What are we afraid of? Like go. Try. Let's do this, you know? And when we gave all of our owners and ourselves that permission to be messy, um to fail And then you know pick ourselves back up and ultimately triumph. Um

That's probably been my favorite, um silver lining of this whole experience is to see that happen and And to really acknowledge that we are an empower company that way and you know, we've had this beautiful online streaming service and we have subscribers in ninety eight countries. It's a really strong and now it's done, you know, significantly better.

Um because so many people are working out at home, they're subscribing to that, but What we learned is that our studio clients don't care. Like they don't really want that. They want their instructor that they know. They want their owner that they have an emotional connection with. And they don't care if she's in her house with dog hair on her yoga pants. Like Actually I I would Venture to say like that better. I think there's an intimacy that we've all felt through this experience that's that's pulled us together.

In a really powerful way. Basically you have had a a premium streaming model where it's basically instructors doing it via Zoom or Instagram Live or or however they're doing it. I mean it sounds like y you've seen a real spike in people kind of signing up for the virtual classes. Oh yeah.

I mean overnight it was so interesting watching like I started to watch the Today Show'cause I was home. And the commercials even like Uber or major brands were acknowledging this era and in those commercials they were usually featuring people working out at home. Like That was the main dialogue. People taking care of themselves at home. There was a massive like campaign.

Um within days of quarantine about the power of working out at home, which You know, drove our online subscribers. subscription business significantly. Um which Thank goodness we have, you know, that's really helped us sustain and be strong right now. And helped us all move and be happy. Uh more probably more importantly.

I was talking to a friend of mine who's a fitness instructor and just kinda talking about what this means for the future. I mean Is the future of fitness virtual or kind of a hybrid virtual and in person? Well What I know is that humans crave connection.

and being together. It's a basic human need. And we know this. This is data based, right? Loneliness. is Taking us down.

It it is an illness. In fact, lowliness is as much A predictor of our longevity as smokiness now. We need to come together in community and when you come together in a group with music and alignment and in a sense with this empowering

physical experience that fights lonely. So I don't think the in person experience is going away. And the digital model is here to stay. So many of us.

Have learned that Oh my gosh. I don't need to drive. Across Cafe.

um, you know, for a forty five minute class. That takes me forty five minutes to get there. I can press play during nap time and get my workout in right here. And that's that's really liberating, right? um really meeting um people where they are and where they need to be. And also some people don't feel comfortable being in public. I know on my more introverted days. You know, I'd rather be literally and figuratively at home in my body.

uh and have more permission to make it my own and honor what's right for me in that moment and I think We're we've all literally everybody in the world has learned that. In the last two months.

I I love that you're reminding us, every anyone watching, that you are an introvert because You are also such a public face of Bar three and And anyone who knows Bar, um And Barthere knows Sadie. Um and and and have you also been leading exercise classes, fitness classes? Yeah, I continue to. I've done uh well, I did a bunch of live stream ones on Instagram. Honestly, those are my favorite classes I've ever taught ever.

Um they were because I was so raw and real. in in my living room with Um my son's who's fourteen was the camera guy Um My my daughter and my dog were the like back up dancers, you know, Chris would jump in every once in a while and

Um, you know, I just taught what was present for me in my heart. I didn't choreograph anything. I just was like Literally gave everybody the same experience I needed and there was just this sense of like Togetherness that felt so good for me and honestly being in my home as an introvert felt really good too. Um

Yeah, and I'll I just taught our first class. We just opened Cedar Mill and We're testing opening theater mill here in Portland, Oregon. It's our biggest studio and we have a garage door that opens and a Um I had four people in class. It felt like two thousand eight when I first opened. I kept seeing it over and over again. Um I r I really feel like I'm opening again for the first time with a

Whole lot of list done. Um, but it really feels like the beginning again. It really is A new start for For me and All of us here at Bar three. It's pretty amazing.

When we come back in just a moment, we'll hear from Sadie about some of the changes coming to bar three and how her approach to leadership has evolved in quarantine. Stay with us, I'm Guy Raz, and you're listening to How I Built This Resilience Edition. From NPR. Hey, welcome back to how I built this resilience edition. So if you haven't heard the episode we did on Bar 3 back in 2017, it's well worth checking out. Back then, Sadie told us the story of how she kind of had a personal crisis in 2008 that led her to launch Bar 3. I mean it r it reminds me of the podcast episode that we did with you back in twenty seventeen. I remember you you were describing just like being f mentally and physically just broken. You know, I think you're you said something like fitness is failing me. You were you were a fitness instructor, you were working at

Um, you were working in marketing and and and for uh twenty four hour fitness, and you and Chris left. You left the Bay Area, you moved to Oregon. And you start it again and I think the thing you you talked about at the time was how that personal crisis for you actually fostered innovation. That's really when you were

All your engines of creativity were on fire. I wonder if there's a parallel to to this moment. I mean it Do you sometimes feel that same kind of creative energy on your best days right now? One hundred percent. You just Now that.

With Strong, clear constraints. A clear problem. Combined with purpose. And I would say an empowered team.

Innovation happens. Creativity happens. And When I started Bar three.

And really grew into bar three. I would say when I grew into bar three. around maybe two thousand twelve, I realized oh my gosh, we are so conditioned To exercise. Because we are manipulated. Right.

Along years and yars and years of conditioning and manipulation. around the fact that we should buy fitness so that we can change our body. Change the shape of our body. To fit into an ideal. that's imagined in the future that's not us.

Who is gonna succeed in that model? So Bye. I That's what's happening right now for me.

with the Black Lives Matter. Mm-hmm. I'm going to just Skip to the punchline that I do b and my optimism around I do believe we're going to innovate. I do believe we're gonna change. I do believe that greatness will come out of us.

And we are in the dark right now. We are in the hard stuff. as similar to reckoning with that I was feeling not enough and shame around my own body and not living up to the ideal. I I've got I'm going through a lot of the same feelings. being very self aware that I am a white woman in leadership with immense privilege.

and confronting my own like bias around that. That has led to me unconsciously building A company Um Leaders who look a lot like me.

And realizing that systemic racism is real and just even understanding that. And that we have been conditioned for hundreds of years. Around systemic racism. And

that very much like fitness, it's a practice and fitness to be empowered in our bodies and alive and honest in our bodies as they are. It is a practice to fight racism. It's Hard work. It's an inside out job, you have to, you know, look inside and see that and and have teachers around you just like in our studios like you need a teacher you need a guide

And then ultimately our philosophy is, yeah, you need a guide, but you're you have your own agency. The job your job is to be empowered from within and then listen your body and to take shape and to move with purpose. Based on alignment of what you need. And that's very much how I feel as a leader right now. I need teachers. I need equity, diversity, and inclusion. Teachers around me, I need I need to hear the hard conversations from the Bipop community. Um, hard real conversations and hold space for that. So that I can learn and then take steps forward. And all of us here at R three can learn and take steps forward in a purposeful way.

To answer your question in a really long roundabout way. So many parallels to two thousand eight for me. And that's what I mean by we're gonna reboot with a whole lot of new wisdom. And purpose and um Just like the early days were probably gonna mess up along the way and just pick ourselves up and try to

Be better. City, I'm I mean, jumping on on on that idea talking about racial justice and injustice, um you've come to the last two High Belt the summits and you facilitated a leadership circle, which this is something that you do as a leader with your leadership team. You bring them together and you guys have these very deep and meaningful and candid and raw conversations. And this is part of your whole approach as a leader A are you able to do that um in the same way now virtually and B

Have you started to convene those conversations around around race, around your industry and race, um, and around ideas that that you you wanna kinda bring out and uncomfortable conversations you wanna have Starting with your team. Yes.

And I'm thankful that we have practiced this idea of circle in our organization for twelve years because we're primed in a way for this moment of holding space. And what I mean by that, just to go back to circle leadership, the the role of circle leadership, me as a leader, if I'm holding a circle, if I I'm and you can just think about sitting around a dining room table or around your boardroom table or right now in Zoom. So yes, we're doing it through Zoom. Um the job your job is to listen. And to hold space so everybody is seen and heard.

and not afraid to fail. Not afraid. To speak their truth. That builds community, it builds trust, it builds debate, it builds innovation. it ultimately builds culture because people on the team know know in real practice that they're seen and they're heard. Everybody wants to be seen.

and heard and know they matter and that they're contributing. And right from the quarantine moments, that's what we did. We circled up on Zoom and we allowed the tears to flow, the anger, the frustration. and the certainty of that connection. So we we made a concerted effort to meet on Zoom in small groups, large groups. Consistently.

Flash forward to right now in this moment. Like I can't all of a sudden be an expert and have a plan, right? My job as a leader right now is really learning and understanding and listening. um to the BIPOC community and specifically our our our clients who have reached out and team members. So I think it's the most important thing we can do right now is hold the conversation, hold the space for

All that. I remember um in in your episode you told a story about how you once Like met Howard Schultz Um at at an event and He was like, Yeah, email me and you actually did email him and then consulted with him just for leadership advice and he's widely considered to be

A really great. leader of a business. Um It sounds to me like your Your leadership growth. has sort of been on uh kind of like

in this hyperdrive mode, like you've you've grown as a leader more in the last three months than pr maybe in the previous five years. Thousand percent. Mm. Headline for me is It's not about me.

It's not about me. If people are upset right now. directly at me, I I am here to hold that space. And to not take it personal because Racism isn't about me.

Right. That's more important than My image. Ah protecting myself, feeling sorry for my self. And same with the team, letting it go, listening, learning from our owners. I mean I have a hundred and twenty

Invested owners. who are teaching me right now, actively teaching me right now how to innovate, how to lead, how to Be resilient. It's Always a job to be a student as a leader. Yeah. Which I think is a really important lesson'cause there's a perception that

You know, the person at the top has all the answers, but as you have made very clear, the the person at the top needs help learning how to lead. Constantly. Constantly. And how do you How to simultaneously learn be a student while making executive decisions.

While moving the business forward. I mean we need to get out of this hole. We need to get We need to move, we need to create strategy and and plans and You know, so there is a little bit of switch tasking there of

At this. desire to to take more time and to really investigate and grow and learn and read every book I can get my hands on. And an urgency to do it now. I've had to check myself quite a bit on that front and really I mean back to the Black Lives Matter movement and everything that's happening in that space'cause that's just what's present.

For me. Right. In this moment is This woman that I follow now, Andrea Renee, I believe her name is. gave me a new turn that I think's really important. Performative.

Activism. Performative activism is rooted in a motivation. to show up like on Instagram let's say to preserve Or protect your image.

versus doing something that's super thought and and based on truth. And I've had to really, really check myself on that front. And ask myself before I post anything, before I f Am I doing this because I feel like I have to? Or I should, or they won't like me if I don't.

Or am I doing this because it's something that's true and about our commitment to sustain change and growth. I think that's tricky for us. I think we all want to move to go right now without without doing the work first, without being thoughtful first. And we need to be thoughtful first. Otherwise

This movement will not be sustainable. The headline will go away. The protests will go away. All of us need to right now set our foundation and there's so many of us that are beginners at this, unfortunately, the vast majority of us, my leaders in privilege are new at this. We need to set a foundation of practice. So it's sustainable. So that we

Practice over the long haul. How to look inside. learn and then proceed with purpose so that we change The system we change the model, which is gonna take time. Peace.

gonna take time and commitment. say the in five years from now, when you look back What do you wanna what do you wanna take from this moment that will make what you do better and make your team better and make your company better and make your value stronger. I'm gonna quote Glenn and Doyle, We can do hard things.

We can do hard things. Just because it's hard. and can feel scary, it doesn't mean we have to be frozen or retreat back to comfort. We have an opportunity for greatness right now. And

I believe in bar three so much and I believe in so many companies right now and I feel this complete like sisterhood and family of other businesses that are going through the exact same thing we're going through at bar three and I I hope we can look back someday and say, Thank goodness we went through that. My favorite quote, I probably said this in the last podcast because I always talk about this, but Is it's the sand in the oyster.

That makes the pearl. The sand, the rub, the discomfort. Within a shell, a contained health space. creates a gem. And we are all really uncomfortable right now.

And I think that's good. We can do hard things and we can create. A new future for my kids, for your kids, for their grandkids and It's already happening in our classes. It's happening real time in our organization

I'll give you an example. Um The dominant conversation on our social media right now under Black Lives Matter is around access. And we were we just had our studio design team meeting and we came in with greater urgency around lowering our costs so that With the lens of Let's open our doors wider.

And do they need to be so precious? Do we need to have it be that expensive to build out? Or could we figure out a different way of doing things so that more people can come in? And move with us. That's cool. To me, that's really exciting. You know, that feels like innovation to me in a positive direction that will also help business and we all need the business to thrive.

I hope we look back someday and we're we're we think ourselves like wow I'm so glad we went through that because if we we didn't go through that. we wouldn't have been able to extend our reach like we have. Sadie Lincoln, co founder of Bar Three. Sadie, thank you so much. It's my sincere pleasure. That's an excerpt from my conversation with Sadie Lincoln, the founder of Bar 3. To see our full interview, you can go to Facebook.com slash how I built this. And if you want to see all of our past live interviews, you can find them there or at youth.com slash NPR.

If you want to find out more about the How I Built This Resilience series or other virtual NPR events, you can go to nprpresents.org. This episode was produced by Candice Lim with help from John Isabella, Julia Carney, Gianna Cappadona, Neva Grant, and Jeff Rogers. Thanks for listening, stay safe, and I'll see you in a few days. I'm Guy Raz, and you've been listening to how I built this. from NTR.