“It wasn’t until I began my coaching journey that I fully understood how powerful values are. They impact choices, opinions, relationships, and even occupations. They shape the way you live your life.” These words from my very first blog How do Values Show up in your Life (May 2018) still read true today.
Since publishing these thoughts, I’ve become better at recognizing when my own values are in play. I am equally intrigued when I notice other people speaking or living their values. Here’s a recent example that got my attention.
Imagine this. You’ve worked in the same industry for over 20 years, taken on a number of different roles and progressed your career to the C-suite.
As the industry matured, and customer preferences evolved, you paid attention, close attention to what was working, and what wasn’t. After some time, you realized you were seeing things differently than some of your industry peers and the decision makers you worked with.
What do you do?
You’re not ready to give up what you love doing or the industry you’re doing it in. Instead, you connect with a former colleague, and together you make the brave decision to do what you do an entirely different way. That’s the story of how Andrea Kloegman, and her business partner, Emre Ozgur created Safe Sweat, a boutique fitness studio in the lower mainland of British Columbia.
Here is where the values piece comes in. For Andrea and Emre, at the core of Safe Sweat’s business model is a value: doing the right thing for their customer, no matter what. A unique approach? Not entirely, except that these two really mean it.
With Safe Sweat, they’ve created a highly personalized fitness experience where customers have full control of their workout environment – lights, sounds, and activity in a private space - a fully equipped, and Kloegman adds, beautifully appointed room of their own. Her customer’s needs are varied – they may be managing social anxiety, restarting, or developing a healthier lifestyle or simply improving their fitness level so they can play with their kids longer. Is that for everyone? No, yet it’s working for their customers. Safe Sweat has an industry leading customer retention rate.
I became intrigued with the Safe Sweat story when I learned that Emre and Andrea had appeared on Dragon’s Den. I am connected with Andrea on LinkedIn and her post about that experience led me to reach out to learn more. They were looking for help from the Dragons to grow the business globally. Andrea shared it was an exciting 90 minutes in the Den that concluded with receiving an offer – one they graciously declined.
I had questions!
How did Andrea and Emre maintain their focus, and the commitment to their shared vision in a high-pressure situation? I learned that the Dragon’s offer was not the first they’ve received – that one came before the doors at Safe Sweat were even open – and that experience provided even more clarity on what it was they were building. In prior roles, Andrea had witnessed decisions being made where a long-term vision was set aside for ‘a short-sighted deal’ that inevitably failed to live up to its potential. She was familiar with the trap and said they were able to avoid it because of their commitment to what they created and seeing how it is actually helping change people’s lives. Her lived experience had shown her the value of sticking to the plan.
How do you and Emre bring your values to life at Safe Sweat?
At present they have a small team, and Andrea shared they are very choosy about who they bring on – values have to align. Experience has taught them that some personal trainers don’t like the sales portion of their role and no surprise here, some fitness club members don’t enjoy working out in an upsell environment. So, they created a no commission business model that allows their trainers to focus their time and attention on what they do best - help their customers set and reach their fitness goals. Did you catch the value in action there?
Andrea and Emre’s story shows us what’s possible when you take the time to articulate and gain clarity on your values and then let them guide your decisions - even when faced with the thrill of a quick win.
Now, back to the Den
Andrea says she and Emre have an ‘unwavering commitment’ to what they’ve created with Safe Sweat, and compromise was not an option. In her words “Emre and I have poured every ounce of our determination and effort into the creation of Safe Sweat. We embarked on this journey despite the numerous skeptics and critics who insisted it would never succeed, doubting the very concept we passionately believed in.”
An easy decision to step away. Not at all. One that was fully aligned with their values. Absolutely.
