Amanda Freeman, Founder of SLT NYC, on Entrepreneurship in the Age of Covid-19
We can't think of a better role model for entrepreneurs than Amanda Freeman. She is far in a way the hardest working woman that we know. In this inaugural interview for The Seam Podcast, our founder, Amy Cohen Epstein, sits down with Amanda to talk business, fitness, and survival in the age of Covid-19.
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Amy: So, Amanda, I'm lucky enough to know you, but most of our readers don't. So just give me the two-minute version of your career history, and don’t you dare leave out Little Dino’s.
Amanda: [Laughs] Yes. Near the start of my career, Little Dino’s was one of the three jobs I had during college. I manned the phones and ended up delivering sub sandwiches to Duke students in apartments or dorms, and they had a famous honey mustard sandwich that I still think about until today…
It was while at Duke that I found my first career. I was reading a magazine article about this emerging career that they were calling cool-hunters or trend-forecasters. And I read about four firms that did market research, and then, based on their understanding of consumers, consulted with companies and told them what products to make or services to offer or marketing messages to appeal to the young consumers. When I read the article, I was like, "This is what I do naturally. I would love to get paid for it," because I was always interested in the trends and paid attention. So I reached out to all the firms mentioned in the article and got an interview with at least one, and hit it off with the founder. I just really clicked with her and got a job doing this amazing work.
So I did that for three years. I specialized in generation X and generation Y, who now I would call the millennials' consumer insights, and I helped companies like ESPN and Coca-Cola and magazines like Cosmopolitan and brands like L'Oreal figure out their consumer and what products and messaging to deliver to them. I loved it. I did take a break from it to go to business school, because I knew I wanted to get a well-rounded exposure to different aspects of business. So I went to Harvard business school. And then I ended up actually going back to my firm, The Intelligence Group, which had been bought by CAA, the talent agency in L.A. and New York. So I went and worked with CAA for another three years, doing similar to what I had done prior, but at an elevated level.
It was more interesting because we were working with entertainment properties and entertainment brands, but I left because I knew I needed to start something. The business that I ended up leaving my job to pursue was called Vital Juice.
As I reached the age of 30, I was increasingly interested in wellness and what should be my snack between lunch and dinner, or what ingredients should be and what I put on my face. I didn't feel like there was a go-to resource for it. So a friend from college, Lisa Blau, and I, started Vital Juice together. We said it was daily candy without the cavities and delivered the latest of fitness, nutrition, beauty, and wellness to your inbox.That was what got me really into health, fitness, and wellness, and it was an amazing job. At the same time, I loved the idea of what places like SoulCycle and other bar studios at the time were delivering, but I wanted the Pilates results. I wanted the experience of a group class in a boutique studio that was dedicated to one class, but I wanted it to be a different workout and different results. I wanted long, lean muscle. So a friend in L.A. told me I had to try the studio that at the time was called Pilates Plus.
The minute I stepped on the megaformer, which is the name of the machine, I knew it was the answer to my prayers and couldn't understand why it wasn't in New York. It took me a little time to figure out that I was going to open a studio. I actually brought the idea to two other friends who were already in the health and wellness space, and they were interested, but ended up passing. So eventually I said, "You know what, I'm going to kick myself if I don't do this because someone else is going to do it." So I brought the megaformer to New York and for the last, almost nine years or nine years plus, I've been growing the business. There are currently 26 studios in seven or eight different states, and it's been a great long journey.
Amy: The amazing thing about you is that you're obviously highly educated and you're incredibly driven, but not everybody takes a Pilates class and then, next thing you know, has studios all over the Tristate Area. Can you just give a little bit of an idea of what the steps were that you took, and what part of your background you really leaned on to make that happen?
Amanda Freeman: Yeah. I mean, I think what is important is I actually pursue the things that I can't stop thinking about… But I think it's the passion, it's the conviction, and then it's the follow-through. There's a certain point that you can play out an idea, and then there comes a point where you have to commit.
For Stretch*d, I remember it was when I actually signed the lease for our Flatiron space. It wasn't happening until I did that. So there's a certain point where you're not turning back, and the hard part is do you raise money before you sign a lease, or do you sign a lease and then raise money? There's a chicken and egg thing. But I think it takes passion, and then you've got to be willing to work on it a lot and know that you're not making any money on it for a very long time. You may work on it a bunch and then you don't even pursue it, and you just have to have that diligence and willingness.
Amy: I would describe you as a ball of energy, a true hustler. You hustle until it gets done. Where does that come from in you?
Amanda Freeman: People say, "Are you a born entrepreneur, or is it something you can learn?" Personally, I think I was born this way with a proclivity for ideas. I get really excited about them, and I'm willing to work hard. I like having the structure and the purpose.
My dad did a lot of venture financing, so he wasn't the entrepreneur himself, but he did entrepreneurial funding. He took risks. I think that's the other part of it, it's very risky and you have to be willing to take risks.
Amy: That makes sense. So right now, obviously we're in the middle of a horrific pandemic in New York, and the tri-state area's been hit the hardest where it's the heart of your business. So one, literally, how are you coping? Not just business-wise, but every day. And then two, as a serial entrepreneur, are you at this point trying to see the light at the end and strategize ways to find success in what's going to be this new normal going forward? Or is it too early for that?
Amanda Freeman: Well, to answer the first question, how I'm coping, I would say not very well. I've gone in waves. I would say right when everything went down mid-March, it was awful, an awful 10 day period where I was personally coming to terms with the fact that I shut, amongst both businesses, 28 locations. A lot of decisions had to be made really quickly, especially on employees or independent contractor relationships. So those 10 days were awful when I had to lay off hundreds of people. It was so brutal. And then I felt like things normalized a little bit, and I'm now going through another wave of dealing with the landlords.
It's a little different for SLT and Stretch*d, because SLT had a much bigger corporate structure and a lot more expenses that needed to be cut pretty instantly in order to conserve cash to get through this time period. So there's only nine of us left at SLT, so I'm doing all the nitty-gritty. So everyone's approach to this has to be first, you have to survive, and then you need to figure out how to thrive, right? And as the leaders, we're supposed to be dealing with both, but if the surviving is taking too much attention, it's hard to focus on the thriving. Stretch*d, we were able to keep our corporate team at reduced rates, but we have all the corporate people. So that one's easier for me to stay out of the weeds on right now.
Amy: I guess thank God you have all this background that you can actually do the nitty-gritty yourself, right?
Amanda Freeman: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't mind it. I think the bad part of it is — I've always loved doing my expense report oddly — but it's just I don't have the time to do both and that's the problem. It's the moments when I go for a walk or something that I'm able to get more out of the weeds, but there's a lot of calls. As I think everyone is right now, it's like Zoom call central right now just to stay in touch with everybody…
Amy: Great. What are you most proud of at this point?
Amanda Freeman: I think I am most proud of so far the way that the businesses that I have going on now, Stretch*d, and SLT, are working hard to weather this storm of being closed for however long we are. It's very impressive. I've had people take on other jobs that they didn't have before. I've had people who were reporting in to someone. Now, they're managing their department. I'm making a lot of mistakes and there's a lot more management I could probably do, but while being a leader and a manager at the same time, it can be hard. I'm proud that we're functioning as well as we are.
I'm also proud of my family. I have two cute — sometimes, most of the time — kids. I think what I'm most proud of, honestly, is that I'm able to balance things. I feel like I do spend a good amount of time with my children, I'm devoted to my work, and I make time for my friends and other things that are important to me.
Amy: Do you see any little bits of entrepreneurial spirit in either of your kids at this point? They're so little, but I feel like ... I could see your daughter baking cookies and wanting to sell them for an obscene amount of money.
Amanda Freeman: Yeah. I mean, she definitely wants to bake. She definitely doesn't spend a lot of money, so she should be either a very successful entrepreneur or go into finance. I see a lot of creativity in my daughter, and so I think that is a trait that is important to entrepreneurship. I hope I raised my children to be hardworking and have that grit that you really need, the passion plus hardworking nature. I hope I raised them, but I also think it's hard in our world, because you want to give your kids everything that they want, but you can't, or they won't develop the grit. So it's hard. I don't know what life circumstances they'll have, but we'll see. Some days I wouldn't wish this on anybody.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity. To listen to the full version, please visit The Seam Podcast.