S2 E4: Why the Mayweather Boxing Franchise Is Landing Punches
David Weis has made one mistake in his franchise journey. He won’t make it again. Find out how the Mayweather Boxing franchise has found its place in LA.
After working in the fitness industry for decades as a trainer, David launched his own chain of gyms in the Boston area. Beacon Hill Athletic Club is still hugely successful, and now David has turned his attention to a franchise with a powerful boxing name attached.
Daniel and David launch straight into how David missed out on an Orange Theory franchise opportunity but jumped straight in as the first owner of Mayweather Boxing in 2018.
You’ll hear why boxing training is the workout with long-term stay-ability, the power of a name, and how customer service is the biggest differentiator.
David also shares his plans to build 5 other sites in Los Angeles and his ambitions to expand into Boston, Tokyo, and Tel Aviv.
And if you’ve enjoyed listening to Franchise Empires, I’d be so grateful if you could drop me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast. Thank you so much!
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LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/david-ilan-weis-a5009062
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Episode Transcription
David Weis:
What’s the only thing besides our name that they can’t replicate? You know what the answer is?
The Wolf of Franchises:
Customer service.
David Weis:
My staff? Yeah. What can’t they copy? There’s only one thing they can’t copy, and that’s, I say, that’s you. They can’t have you because I have you <laugh>. If I have you, they can’t have you. Yeah, right. That’s the only thing. So it’s my staff that make the difference, and that’s the only value added that I have. The only competitive advantage I have over everybody else is my staff, and that’s what makes the whole difference.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Welcome to Franchise Empires, where aspiring entrepreneurs learn exactly what it takes to become a successful franchise owner from one location to 10 and beyond. I’m the Wolf of franchises.
Hey everyone, it’s The Wolf. Today in the show we have David Weiss, the first franchisee for an emerging brand called Mayweather Boxing. David already owned six gyms of his own on the East coast before becoming the first franchisee in the Los Angeles market, and he tells us why he did that. He also explains the power of the Mayweather brand and what it means for this boxing franchise and why customer service has been his biggest differentiator in business for the last three decades. And coincidentally how that customer service of his staff helped him find his wife. I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Narrator:
The Wolf of Franchises is the CEO of Wolf Pack franchising as well as a creator at Workweek Media. All opinions expressed by the Wolf and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Pack franchising or workweek. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. The Wolf Workweek and Wolf Pack franchising may maintain physicians in the franchises discussed on this podcast.
The Wolf of Franchises:
David, I think a good place to start just be when did you first enter into The Mayweather system?
David Weis:
Started with the Mayweather system when the franchise concept was just announced, which was the summer of 2018.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Okay, so you, were you the first franchisee?
David Weis:
I was ground floor. Yeah, I was at the I have a t-shirt that says like inaugural Discovery Day.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Oh, beautiful. Wow. Okay.
David Weis:
August of 18. So it was just announced and my GM of the clubs back in Boston heard about it and turns out it was LA based. I was already in la, I was living here. One of my partners from Boston flew out. We checked it out, kind of liked what we saw and started my due diligence at that time.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Sweet. I’ve obviously heard of the brand, but I just think a question on everyone’s mind’s going to be, is Floyd Mayweather involved at all in this, or is it just they kind of licensing his name? Have you met him since being there, or,
David Weis:
Yeah, I mean, that was one of my, that’s what everybody’s first question is, is it a license? This is a boxing concept, but what’s, what people don’t immediately realize is that this is the first time he’s ever put his name on anything, right? There’s no Mayweather Juice drink. There’s no Mayweather vodka, and he is legitimately interested in this. This is what he wants to be his legacy. So he was very much involved. It’s not a coincidence that the first thing he put his name on is something to do with boxing. I mean, he could have made a lot of money. Mayweather Cognac would’ve been a big seller, really big in the black community, what have you. But this is the real deal. I mean, he’s very much interested in this being around for 20 years.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Okay, that’s cool. No, I mean, it’s a natural fit. Mean obviously, basically statistically the best boxer ever, and there’s a proliferation of boutique fitness concepts and boxing specific ones are kind of an umbrella unto themselves. So
David Weis:
I mean, unless Muhammad Ali comes back from the dead, this is about pretty much the man, right? Mike
The Wolf of Franchises:
Tyson’s still around you. I mean, I don’t know if he’s got, yeah,
David Weis:
<laugh> true. I mean, Tyson’s a great personality, but he’s not the technical boxer that if you want to learn boxing, you’re not really going to learn boxing from Tyson.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah.
David Weis:
As you know what I mean? If you really want to learn the sport, you want to learn Floyd’s method of
The Wolf of Franchises:
Boxing. Yeah, that’s great. So that’s cool to know. And yeah, it does make sense that he’d be pretty involved in that. So I guess, so before summer 2018, before you had bought Mayweather what were you doing professionally?
David Weis:
Well, I’ve been involved in fitness since well before you were born, <laugh> the eighties. I’ve been in this a long time. I used to be a trainer before there was certification in my day. If you knew what you were doing, dunno if you remember Nautilus. Remember Nautilus? Nope. Okay. That shows the older people listening. Remember something called Nautilus, which was the first kind of selector weight training machines. And if you knew how to use it, you were called a Nautilus trainer, and you would work in a gym and you’d teach people how to use Nautilus machines. And then after that, trainers became certified and Ace and Nam and all these other companies got involved in certifying trainers. And then I worked as a trainer in Boston and New York City basically as a way to get a free membership because that’s what people did, couldn’t afford to get a gym membership. You worked as a trainer. And that’s what I did. And then in the mid eighties, my brother started a company that designed equipment. There was a machine called the Lap Pull down where you would just pull something down with neck, but in the old days it didn’t have a seat, so you would ask people to hold you down. Oh, no
The Wolf of Franchises:
Way. Wow.
David Weis:
Course on your shoulders. So he made up a seat that was called the Hold Me Down Safety seat, and now it’s on every piece of equipment in the world. But he actually invented that seat and I went around the country selling it. So we were involved in designing fitness equipment and I would sell it and designing gyms. And from there in 89 we opened our first, a different part, my partner and I from Newton, Massachusetts opened our first health club in Boston, so we called it the Beacon Hall Athletic Club, and that was our first very small, 4,500 square foot gym. This is back when health clubs were a fad. Aerobics was just coming out. Yeah. Was that
The Wolf of Franchises:
A boxing focus or was it, or it just
David Weis:
No, no, just basically a square box, little aerobics room and ized equipment, like a one rack of dumbbells. We bought a treadmill with my MasterCard back then was called MasterCard, and we opened in October and we were really profitable by the end of the year. And then we opened another one a couple years later and we had six within three or four years.
And it’s been open for 33 years nonstop except for Covid, same ownership, just my partner. I own it. We own it with some staff. We’ve had staff buy into little pieces and we’ve given staff some equity in it. We are the first company to have staff members become owners with us, which is kind of cool. Keep some around. We’ve had one of our employees with us for over 25 years, which is, we’re kind of proud of. He’s actually a partner, full partner going forward. And we are the first company to have our own in-house charity and a couple of firsts that we’re kind of proud of, but we’re most proud of the fact that we’ve been around for so long in an industry that’s had its ups and downs and survived a lot of tumble.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah, I mean, for sure. That’s super impressive, man.
David Weis:
Yeah, we have a kind of family feeling at the clubs. We had one time, I think had nine at one time, had a few leases we didn’t renew. Now we have seven. One of ’em is the sort of a combination mixed martial arts on one floor. Oh, cool.
It’s called Combat Sports Boston. And it’s a health club on the other floor. One of ’em, we tried our hand at a hit studio didn’t go as well as we thought, and that’s back to being a regular health club, but it was much different when we started started, it was a fad that no one ever thought would work. And then we were basically printing money because we are the only club around. And then it became incredibly competitive and now it’s back to there was tons of competition, then we did a few people out and now we’re building it back. So it’s been a interesting three decade
The Wolf of Franchises:
Ride. Yeah, that’s insane. I would imagine it’s been pretty tough. Just that’s like a private, independent fitness outlet, right? Because I mean just especially I feel like in the last 10 years you mentioned you tried to hit studio. I mean the orange theories, the F 45 s of the world, I mean, exponential Fitness owns 10 different brands and they got studio for every type of exercise, whether it’s treadmills, rowing based Pilate, everything is covered. And so it’s just like there’s a lot out there.
David Weis:
One of the biggest mistakes that we made is we had an opportunity to be the Orange Theory of the Boston area. And at that point, this is me admitting some mistakes. We all make them right. And it was a great area. <inaudible> was just coming up north and we thought, you know what? This is such a simple concept, it’s just a hit studio. Why should we pay them all this money to do it so we we could do it ourselves? So we came up with this great concept. We designed a website. We came up with a color scheme and a logo and a name. The name was Zone five, which I thought was a great name. We had great logo and colors and we used a little bit different heart rate monitors and stuff. And it didn’t work, even though we thought it was a better concept and why it didn’t work, because we didn’t spend the money that you need to spend to launch it.
And when you do a franchise, you have to spend the launch money and the marketing dollars and we cheaped out and that’s, it would’ve been great. It would’ve been really successful. But in a franchise, you have to follow the rules because they know what works. And even though we’d been around for 20 years, 25 years, and we knew what would’ve made it work, we didn’t follow the discipline and we blew it. And that’s the lesson for even experienced operators. We still could have learned from newer operators that new business, even though they weren’t savvy, as we work, as we’d been around, we could have learned from them from the business aspect. So I always keep that in mind. You can always learn from someone who’s even newer than you are.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah, no, definitely. I mean, they’ve been a wildly impressive brand. I mean, just the growth. And
David Weis:
So we didn’t do it. We did our own thing. And I don’t know how successful they are in Boston. I know it’s been a great wildly successful brand. That was definitely an error on our part. We’ve looked at tons of franchises over the years. A lot of people have come to us to say, Hey, look at this, look at that. Because we’ve been in the area for so long, even longer than anybody. I think we’re the only, well, not the only, but one of the larger privately held fitness companies in Boston certainly have the most clubs. I think we have seven. So if somebody wants to launch a franchise in Boston, they’re going to come to us and say, take a look at this, take a look at that. And we still haven’t done one.
The Wolf of Franchises:
That’s interesting. So what do you see beyond, obviously there’s major, let’s just state the obvious, the brand recognition of Mayweather. What kind of pushed you over the line? We’re like, this is the first time I’m going to buy a franchise.
David Weis:
That’s a good question. Back in probably the early nineties, my main partner at Back East is a guy that I grew up with. Met him actually in 1966 at his fifth birthday party.
The Wolf of Franchises:
<laugh>, no way. That’s awesome.
David Weis:
We had just moved to Newton. My mom dragged me down the street, you got to meet the new kid. I was like, I’m not going anywhere. Yeah. And known him like 50 something years, 60, probably 55 years. Anyway, so we were reading the industry papers and everything. This is before internet and websites and everything. And there was this thing about that boxing was becoming popular around the country. So we got on a plane and we flew around, we went to LA and think Dallas, a few other cities to see who was doing this boxing stuff. And back then it was called executive boxing and white color boxing and all this. And there were a couple guys just doing this one-off stuff where it was boxing without the fight, and it was mostly moms and stuff. And because boxers have always been in great shape, no surprise, but nobody one really wants to get hit.
So we came up with a program of our own and we called it, we actually made up the name Cardio Boxing, and we were the first to use that word, and we coined it and we trademarked it and we owned the word, actually, the lawyer kind of screwed up and I think he only trademarked it locally or state, so we don’t own it federally or whatever. We never enforced it, but we were the first to use that name. And we made up a class where it was an hour long class and you got in the room and we had a timer, a three minute on, one minute off timer. And we did did MIT work and crunches and all that kind of stuff. And the end, I put on all this body armor and let people whack me. And it was a great club. We got all kinds of coverage.
We were in all the local news, we were in Vogue, Cosmo, all this. We got tremendous coverage and it was great. I didn’t have the sense at that time to franchise it or to market it nationally because had I done so, we wouldn’t be having this talk because I’d be on my yacht in the meds where sipping christol and eating caviar and it kind of fizzled because we did, I dunno what happened. It just, and most things, if you don’t keep renovating, it kind of fizzles. But it was a lot of fun and it was a great concept. People loved it. I don’t know why we let it fade, but we did. But it was cardio boxing and boxing has always been one of the great workouts. That’s not really boring. And besides being a great workout for the whole body, you actually get a chance to hit something, which does give you something beyond physical.
It gives you some sort of a mental or spiritual release after a long day or even before day, you get something out, which is part of almost the martial arts type of spirituality where there’s a release of energy where if you’re mad at something or just pent up, you can hit a bag and kind of transfer some of the angst that we have in society and transfer that to the bag, which you don’t get from Orange Theory or Railhouse or F 45, whatever else. You just don’t get that feeling, you know, hit a bag. You feel something that’s really feels good. And besides that, you also learn a skill. You also learn how to protect yourself. It’s also empowering. Maybe you’re not a fighter if you’re not big, if you’re, can I say female if you’re not used to protecting yourself? Boxing is an empowering exercise,
The Wolf of Franchises:
Definitely.
David Weis:
It gives you a sense of, so the workout of a fighter is a very powerful, very enlightening workout. If you’re going to spend two, three hours in the gym a week, there’s nothing better you can do for your body, for your overall persona than this workout. So not to dis my competitors, but if you were to compare it to the other players in the boutique space, this is a really great way to spend your time because you’re not only doing your whole body, they say that the best workouts are cross country skiing and swimming. They get the whole body, all your muscles, you get some flexibility, you get cardio, okay. But if you look at those workouts, which one of those between boxing and cross-country, skiing and swimming or whatever, which ones can you do in a group with loud music where it’s in a community environment and it’s uplifting and you can give people high fives and you know, can learn a skill? Well, there’s only really one, you look at Floyd, he’s what, 40, what is he? 44, 45 years old. Dude can still fight. He’s in great shape. And I’ll boxers many people in that, to me, that old in that kind of shape from this workout, because this is the workout that he does. That’s why we do it. It’s a testament to the workout, and if you’re going to spend a couple hours a week staying in shape, you really can’t do better.
The Wolf of Franchises:
I haven’t shared this really on Twitter and the podcast or anything, but I played soccer in college, was a division one athlete, and so I was able to run a lot. I was in pretty good shape, and I remember trying to do some cross training and I took some boxing workouts from just online from what I Googled, and holy crap man, those things, oh yeah, they’re tough. It’s just minute of pushups, minute of crunches, minute of jump roping, and then 32nd break, and then you’re back out and you just do it for an hour. I was like, this is impossible.
David Weis:
We get people that are in crazy shape in some sport, whatever it may be, and they come in and they’re like, damn, I thought I was in shape. We hear the lot. We hear like, oh, I thought I was in shape. And that’s what you hear. Because you know, look at boxing mean. A boxer does everything a boxer does, weight training, they run, they jump rope, whatever it is, it’s the whole body, upper lower core, tons of core, everything. So you’re giving a really long, long answer to your short question, which is why this concept from a physical standpoint, from exercise physiology concept, there’s no better workout essentially. Some people argue that there’s things that are as good, but for the whole body, physically, mentally, spiritually, there’s nothing better than the workout of a boxer.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah. I guess that it’s starting to make sense, right? You’ve been in the fitness industry for a long time. You were a trainer. This podcast doesn’t get released on YouTube, so no one’s going to necessarily see what you look like. But folks, he looks like he still hits the gym, I can tell you that. So he’s in shape.
David Weis:
Well, I’m going to be 62 in November, and I got an 11 year old, so I didn’t want to be that father that couldn’t kick my son’s ass when he was 15. You know what I mean? You owe it to your kids to be able to play tennis with ’em or go skiing with ’em when they’re 15, 16, 7, whatever. It’s just that’s my responsibility as a dad. So I got to be in shape. And I knew that my whole life, my dad was that way as best he could, right? Well, he got very ill at 59 and 60 from a disease, but if you have the option to be in shape and you believe in family, then you got to do it. So I had both hips replaced and I’m going to probably have to have my knees replaced, but I’m going to do that because I want to be able to ski with my kids when I’m 70 or 75 or 80 or whatever. I’m going to do that and have fun with my family.
The Wolf of Franchises:
I love that. Yeah. I mean, it’s a great commitment to staying active, staying healthy, and
David Weis:
Plus otherwise I go out of my mind personally. Yeah, that’s so crazy.
The Wolf of Franchises:
So you clearly have a passion for just fitness and health in general, but I guess beyond that, I mean, naturally the economics of a business take a priority, even if it’s a passion project. So what did you see about Mayweather that I guess because I, you’re the number one franchisee, so a lot of people listening to this are probably thinking, I would never be the first franchisee because half the reason I’m buying a franchise is because it’s proven out via 50, a hundred, 200, however many locations. Whereas you’re the guy you jumped in basically after they had one location in Los Angeles. So yeah, I guess what did you see where you’re like, I can get a return on this investment?
David Weis:
Good question. The concept is good. I mean, boxing, right? Can’t go wrong with it. There’s no better exercise. You got Floyd’s name,
The Wolf of Franchises:
Okay, that’s a big hype man for the brand.
David Weis:
I’m not a franchise expert, but what’s Floyd’s name worth? Is it worth a couple of percent? Is it worth 10%? Is it worth 5%? Who knows? But it’s worth a lot of money. It’s worth a lot of money. So you’re paying six, 7% a year, whatever it is now, and you’re getting Floyd’s name in a shit ton of everything else. Tons of support. The company’s run by a really smart guy with a law degree and a master’s from Wharton and years at Bain and a whole bunch of 30 people, third whatever under him. So you’re getting real estate expertise and financial and marketing and retail, a whole company. You’re getting a whole company, basically all this stuff for us, reasonable franchise fee and a reasonable annual royalty, Ann Floyd’s name for well under 10% a year. So it was a great deal, great deal. That’s why franchising is so popular.
You can go in there with knowing nothing and you can be successful. No, I know more than nothing about fitness, so it made sense to me. But for anybody, it’s a really good deal. It’s a really good deal from a financial perspective. So you got boxing, you got the Mayweather name, and you got a really good support team, really smart people that from all parts of Orange Theory and UFC and all these other companies that are working at Mayweather. And so a really great team, and I spent a lot of time not knowing anything about franchising. When I came in, I’d heard a lot of horror stories about the franchisor competing with franchisees and making money at the expense of franchisees. And I won’t mention names because that’s probably not cool, but I knew of one company in fitness that actually had put franchisees out of business by opening stores right next to them.
And I was like, how can I get away with that? Mayweather makes money when the franchisees make money, they’re very franchisee forward and totally trust them, totally get what their mission is. They’re totally into supporting the franchisee. They don’t put franchisees next to each other. There’s the whole world available and it’s very ground floor and the whole concept makes sense there. Every question I asked was answered the right way. I remember once I said to James Williams, who is the ceo, who is the kind of guy I can see having a long future with because we really agree with one another. He’s just an honest, smart, hardworking guy. And I remember one of the first things I said is, James, you got a law degree, you got an B from Wharton, you worked at Bain, which from Boston, I know a lot about Bain, Bain’s like the pinnacle.
He worked with Beyonce and he had an interesting career. What’s the deal with this? I mean, if this thing goes south, you’re screwed. Floyd, he’s a material cat. Everybody knows him, but not everybody likes him. I mean, everybody respects him as a boxer, but he’s had a checkered pass. And I said, if I’m getting into bed with this guy, did you ever have some of the same questions that I might have? What if something goes wrong? What if he does something that’s not really cool? And he said, look, I had the same issues when I first met the guy, but you got to understand that this is a guy who grew up in a shit hole. Mother was on drugs and dad was this, and he had no support. He did not grow up. You and I grew up, did not grow up caring, supportive household basically.
Is it okay for us to throw stones? I mean, maybe we should admire what he did with his life. And he basically vouched for fully. He said, look, I know him. He’s a family guy. He’s come up through that’s in the past. And he said, he’s a new person. He’s not that way. He’s a kind, philanthropic, sincere, generous person and he believes this concept and we’re going to make this right. And that made a big impact on me. I met him, I’ve heard him speak, and decided to make a major investment and buy the West LA territory.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Awesome. And then how many locations does that entail?
David Weis:
I can build six.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Six. Wow. All right. Yeah,
David Weis:
And then I’ve been offered other pieces too, like Redondo Beach, which is going to be my next one isn’t really the west side, officially, it’s more of a beach city. But yeah, I’m going to do that. That’s next. And then we have Culver City Open now, and then Redondo Beach will be second, then Brentwood, then we’re going to do Santa Monica, marina, Beverly Hills. And then I’m going to look at Boston and I’ve told James I’d really love to do two cities that I love, or Tel Aviv in Tokyo. I’d love to spend some time there.
The Wolf of Franchises:
That would be cool. I have never been to Tel Aviv, but heard a lot of good things. It’s like a Mediterranean, similar to San Diego type weather, right?
David Weis:
What they say about Tel Aviv is like if you go to any city in the world, you can kind of watch the world go by. But in Tel Aviv, the world goes through you. Right. That’s really a way to describe Israel because so much happens in a heartbeat in 10 minutes there. <laugh>. It’s a really good way to explain Tel Aviv. There’s so much going on at one time, the all the world’s religions in one square mile and just so much going on.
The Wolf of Franchises:
I got to get off Twitter and experience the world <laugh> a little bit more.
David Weis:
Love to and it’s so American there. I mean, you know, could put three Mayweathers in Tel Aviv easily. They’ll spend 200 bucks a month on fitness there. It’s almost, I mean the culture isn’t largely, we have here the spending patterns we have here. And Tokyo would, it’s just, I dunno if you’ve ever been there, but it’s just
The Wolf of Franchises:
No, I haven’t. I want to visit Asia though.
David Weis:
It’s insane. It’s like New York on steroids, but clean, but clean and no crime. Tokyo’s like amazing. Great place. Yeah, crazy place. That’s my longer term after Boston. The Boston next, and got to clone myself.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah. Well, so when was your first location open? Was it during Covid that it opened up for the first time?
David Weis:
No, it would’ve been before Covid. Mayweather started and then basically stopped when it started. In fact, my friend Sarah opened, she has Chicago and she opened and then Covid came and shut her down and then she reopened and then that same night got broken in and robbed from the George Floyd riots. So I mean, for some people the time was horrendous. I feel so bad for her. But for me, we were going to open and then Covid hit, then we got delayed like six months, and then we opened Culver City and basically the day we opened, county eased the mask order. Beautiful. So we opened literally last days of March this year with no masks. You do knock on some wood somewhere. Killed me in Boston. I didn’t get a paycheck for two years. My partner and I, we paid our staff, borrowed money, paid our staff, but we didn’t draw a check forever. But here, I can’t say Covid has been good because that’s like saying Happy Memorial Day, it’d been okay here. We just opened, we worked two months and it’s been going well. No complaints. As long as Kobe stays that they will be great.
The Wolf of Franchises:
How does it, and we don’t have to talk specifics, but I’m curious, I know a lot of, we had an F 45 franchisee on this podcast, and I think you mentioned before we started recording that you listened to that episode. They have, their whole model basically revolves around once you get a certain number of members on the monthly plan, like your break even, and then after that it starts becoming profitable. I can’t remember the number for F 45, but is that similar to how Mayweather works? Just monthly memberships,
David Weis:
There is a certain amount of revenue that you get from drop-ins and guests and all that kind of stuff, and retail or personal training or water or whatever it is. But for sure your bread and butter is your EF ft, which is a factor of your monthly membership. And that’s absolutely the case with us and where we are. I mean, Mayweather model, and I think this probably goes with all boutiques, is your membership dues really need to be in line with your rent. So there is probably Mayweathers around the country where the unlimited class, which is the higher end, is probably like 1 29 a month, but their rent is probably maybe six or seven grand a month. Where I am in Culver City, my rent is probably closer to 20,000 a month, but my dues will be when we’re fully going, it’ll be in between 202 50 a month.
And that’s largely a factor of the rent in Brentwood. You know, can imagine what the rents are in Brentwood or Beverly Hills. It’s the highest in the country when you’re paying the dues in Culver City, for example, which I mean, I’m in the lobby of the new HBO o Discovery Warner headquarters, which is a fairly exclusive part of the city. So parking downstairs is $18. So when you come to my gym, the parking’s included. So you’re paying that in your dues. So when you’re paying your $200 a month or whatever it is, you’re getting parking or eight or 10 times a month expected. So you have to consider the whole idea of being able to come to a studio, be able to park, come in, get your workout in, and be out of there in an hour. It’s not just the workout, it’s the experience.
And that’s really what we’re offering is we’re offering an experience to break out of your day, go to a place where you, you’re, you’re going to be known, you’re going to be welcomed, you’re going to have a phenomenal workout, you’re going to be treated the way you know want to be treated. It’s not like going to planet again, nothing against planet. Yeah. But it’s an entirely different experience and an hour later you’re out of there on your way to work, a completely transformed person. And what’s that worth? Is that worth, you could make a pretty good argument that that’s worth a couple hundred bucks a month.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Yeah. Oh definitely. No, for sure. And I mean, I think prices naturally, this should fluctuate based on the standard of living in the market. I mean,
David Weis:
Of course that’s the boutique model right there. Yeah.
I mean, that’s it. My clubs in Boston, people are walking to them, they’re getting a workout, but it’s not, it’s a whole different, I mean, you’re not buying like the old saying, you don’t buy a Chevy at a Cadillac dealer. This is when Cadillac was a fancy car than it is now. But it’s a level of expectation that you have to make sure people are getting, and this is what I tell my stuff all the time. Everybody that walks in the door, you have to change this hour you have with them. You’ve got to change their life for that hour. They have to leave a different person than when they came in. And that’s really, that’s the whole mantra of the boutique experience. But I’ve always felt, this is what I’ve been preaching the staff at our gyms in Boston, which are non boutique, but still, we’re still hoping to change people’s day and change their lives. They’re giving you money to come to your place of business. It’s still all about customer service. We’re in the fitness business, but it’s hospitality. That’s what it’s
The Wolf of Franchises:
Definitely No, I love that. I think, I mean, it’s kind of crazy, but a lot of businesses at the end of the day do just come down. I mean, there’s so much that goes into it to get ’em in the door and you have to provide some type of product or service that makes it worth it. But once you add and layer in a top notch customer service experience on top of it, it’s like, wow, like killer business right there.
David Weis:
That gets down to what we do differently. And the one thing I always told everybody who works with me is that there’s really only one thing that we can do that’s different from what everyone else can do. I mean, rumble or Nine Round or Title, whoever it is, they can move in right next to me and they can put in the same square footage that they can buy the same equipment, they can get the same music, they can get the same equipment, TVs, flooring. And I ask, this is what I usually ask an interview. I say, what’s the only thing besides our name that they can’t replicate? And you know what the answer is,
The Wolf of Franchises:
Customer service.
David Weis:
My staff. Yeah.
What can’t they copy? There’s only one thing they can’t copy. And that’s, I say, that’s you. They can’t have you because I have you <laugh>, if I have you, they can’t have you. Yeah, right. That’s the only thing. So it’s my staff that make the difference, and that’s the only value added that I have. The only competitive advantage I have over everybody else is my staff. And that’s what makes the whole difference. And that’s why I invest so heavily in my staff and treat them like family. And most of my time is spent on, I don’t want to say staff training, but staff acknowledgement, staff appreciation staff, family building. I guess I do things that I don’t think anybody else does to build a sense of cohesiveness. Certain things I probably don’t want to tell, but there are things that I do to make sure my staff feels really close to one another. And that’s why in Boston, for example, over 32 years, my main guy’s been there, 25, other guys have been there for 20, 18, 14 because of the way that we run it. I think
The Wolf of Franchises:
The retention, yeah, it’s such a over time can be a really validating.
David Weis:
I’ll tell you one story. Okay, this is a good story. I think it’s a good story. There was a young lady named Claire who was a member of my Newton Jim, let’s go back. This is probably in the late nineties. And she wasn’t using the gym much, so she went in to cancel. And I had a manager at the time named Mike Morin. Mike is no longer working for us because he left and started his own gym company in Rhode Allen. He’s been pretty successful. But at the time, Mike said, Claire, I can’t let you quit. We love having you around. Let me buy you coffee and maybe put you on free. So make a long story short, he goes out and he buys her a cup of coffee. I mean, just leaves the desk, goes next door, buys a cup of coffee, convinces her to stay. So she stays. He just wouldn’t let her quit. Give her a few reasons why she shouldn’t quit. It was winner or whatever it was. She decides to stay and three months later I meet her at the gym and I ended up marrying her.
The Wolf of Franchises:
No way.
David Weis:
It was my wife
The Wolf of Franchises:
Close. I did not see that coming.
David Weis:
So it’s a true story. We’ve been married 19 years, and it just shows you that had Mike not been such a great customer service and retention based manager, Claire would would’ve quit. We would’ve lost a member. And the funny thing is, I still have somewhere framed her member contract. Back then we used paper ones and we have it somewhere. So it shows you the importance and the serendipity of not letting a member leave without doing your best. I mean, you went out and bought a cup of coffee and that was enough to get her to stay.
The Wolf of Franchises:
That’s amazing. So
David Weis:
Isn’t that a funny story? Yeah.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Holy crap. I mean,
David Weis:
True. Very true. You never know. Don’t let people leave unless you do your best keeping there. Yeah.
The Wolf of Franchises:
That’s hilarious. I love that. Well, that’s a good note that we can end off on. So yeah, look man David, thanks a lot for coming on. Hey,
David Weis:
It’s my
The Wolf of Franchises:
Pleasure. Is there anywhere online if people want to follow along Mayweather or your journey like LinkedIn or Twitter that
David Weis:
We’re on Instagram at Mayweather, Culver City, we’re on Facebook, Mayweather Fit, Culver City, obviously the website, the same thing. Mayweather Fit Desk, Culver City. I’m always happy to help fellow business owners. I get a lot of calls from people who are thinking about doing a franchise and I’m always happy to I first want to say I have a lot to learn, but I’m always happy to share what I do. Now I have an obligation to share my experience, but whatever expertise I do have with anyone I can help, I’d be happy to.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Beautiful. Yeah, we’ll link to those handles in the show notes so people can check ’em out. Happy to. And yeah, thanks again, David.
David Weis:
Thanks. It’s my pleasure. It’s great to meet you guys.
The Wolf of Franchises:
Thanks for listening to Franchise Empires. We’re coming to you soon with actionable insights to take the next step on your franchise journey. So make sure to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen.