AUTO-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT

Brianna Battles  00:01

Welcome to the Practice brave podcast. I am the host, Brianna Battles, founder of Pregnancy and Postpartum Athleticism, and CEO of Everyday Battles. I’m a career strength and conditioning coach, entrepreneur, mom of two wild little boys, and a lifelong athlete. I believe that athleticism does not end when motherhood begins, and this podcast is dedicated to coaching you by providing meaningful conversations, insights, and interview topics related to fitness, mindset, parenting, and of course all the nuances of pregnancy and postpartum, from expert interviews to engaging conversations and reflections. This podcast is your trustworthy, relatable resource for learning how to practice brave through every season in your life. Everyone, welcome back to the Practice Brave podcast. Today, I’m here with Jessica Hamel, and she is a longtime PNPA coach, truly an OG from like eight years ago, when she first became a P and PA coach, went on to open a gym, be in a lot of different coaching environments, and now works for Push Press, and I feel like she really understands every side of what it looks like to be in the fitness industry as a mom, as a coach, and you know, helping support other coaches and businesses, so Jessica, thanks for being here.

Jessica Hamel  01:23

Yeah, it’s awesome to be here, and it has been a long run, so it’s excited to have this conversation.

Brianna Battles  01:28

Yeah, full circle moment. So, tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

Jessica Hamel  01:33

Yeah, so I actually, I guess I’ll start with being a military spouse. I’m actually a former teacher, I was an educator for 10 years with a dream to be a principal. My handsome husband quickly derailed that, being active duty, and then soon after, all we, you know, we started moving around and wanted to start a family, and had my daughter in 2012 Quickly found myself as a stay-at-home military spouse, kind of figuring out what that looks like in a new body, and you know, very quickly found a workout group that I absolutely loved, and I treated it almost like my job, that I needed to show up every day. The community aspect was obviously huge. I’m sure we’ll touch more about that, but that’s when I kind of fell in love with learning more about my body as a mom, my new body as a mom, and trying to understand, like, where I was at now. I grew up being a competitive cheerleader, rode horses, as well as played softball, and just found myself in a new space with movement and exercise, being a mom, so showed up to an exercise group called Slam. They’re still around, sweat like a mother, and fell in love with it. Fell in love with learning about it very quickly. Decided I wanted to coach and get involved and kind of pivot, but keep my teaching background and love for helping people. So that was in 2012 to get started, Mommy, keep going and add it all in real quick.

Brianna Battles  03:06

Yeah,

Jessica Hamel  03:07

in a nutshell, as military families do, they move, and so about a year and a half later I had to leave my beloved Slam Savannah group, and it was pretty heartbreaking. It was, it was really tough to leave the community behind, but I knew it wasn’t something that I wanted to stop, and I knew it was something that more moms needed, especially postpartum, and finding themselves in a new space. And so I moved to New Jersey to be closer to family, and at that point we thought we were exiting the army, and very quickly we begged Alexa Smith, who is the owner and founder of Slam. It’s a franchise at that point. She had not, so I’d said, like, “Hey, is it okay if I open something similar? And so I did, and had a great run for about two years, welcomed my second-born son during that time, coached before and after, developed a community there, loved it, and again had to move during that time. I had really explored not only the fitness portion of it, but also, like, how do I run a business, right? Like, do I need a website? How do I let people pay me? So all of this was happening, learning how to be a mom exploring, you know, how to coach moms, as well as trying to run and develop a professional business, while knowing that a move is imminent, coming up, and so in that journey continued, we did move, and that location was was given to someone else, and so at that point Slam was having affiliates two years later, and I knew I wanted to get back into the community aspect of owners. I actually asked my husband to preference an army location that didn’t already have a slam, and so we. Ended up going to El Paso, and at that point there was a lot more talk on social media about coaching moms, and that is when Slam found you, and so very quickly there was only a small group of us. We all became very eager to learn. Right at that point, was there anything supporting coaches? No, no. And so I think there was this movement, and obviously you took, you know, took full charge, saying I’m a mom, I’m in a new body, I’m in a new space, I know how to coach, but now, like, how do I coach moms? How do I coach myself, you know, how do I safely move forward in fitness and still be an athlete, but do it safely?

Brianna Battles  05:46

Yeah,

Jessica Hamel  05:47

and part of my coaching, you know, we all go through like imposter syndrome, right? Am I telling moms to just listen to their body? I didn’t believe that, you know, and a lot of coaches just said that what are we listening for, what was our body going to tell us, and so immediately when the opportunity arose, and the very first version of Pregnant Postpartum Athlete came out, there was a handful of us that were all in, yeah,

Brianna Battles  06:18

yeah, and I was so grateful, because back then I mean, you know, the landscape of like pregnancy and postpartum fitness, like there was just not a lot of talk about anything to do with how to adjust exercise during pregnancy, the mental health component of like an athletic mindset, there was nothing about diastasis or pelvic health or anything like that, and so we saw actually very similar to what we’re seeing now in terms of like the glorification culture around how much can be done during pregnancy and how fast can you get back postpartum, and that comparison culture was what was breeding on social media until that group of glorification culture moms got on the other side of postpartum, and then they were like, wait a minute, why didn’t anyone tell me, wait a minute, I’m going to these boot camp type classes, and I’m peeing myself, or I’m coaching these classes, and all of these ladies have issues, maybe there’s something to this, and like it just this conversation was created around why did anyone tell me, and also what can be done, and why I no one understands what to do or how to help, and then coaches were saying we weren’t taught this, this was not in any of our certifications or any of these programs that were focused on coaching moms, and we’ve come a long way, but that’s the very short history of what we’re talking about here,

Jessica Hamel  07:49

right? Yeah, thinking, thinking back to that, I mean, it feels like forever ago, but we’ve really just begun, and I’ve dropped into gym still, you know, and I always put an ear out. There’s always a pregnant mom in the class, or you know, and I’ll hear, “Just listen to your body, and I’m like, “Well, hold on. Yeah, you know, so there isn’t, you know, you can open different affiliates and have requirements for certifications. I would, you know, anyone who coaches female athletes specific to postpartum should be required to have the credentials to say I also can coach you postpartum, not just, you know, you as a small man or you as a body. Yeah, so it’s still so, you know, so many people have gotten bored, but it’s just the tip of the ice work, really, of where it needs to go,

Brianna Battles  08:42

yeah. And I was so grateful that Slam jumped on board so much, as a, you know, for those who aren’t familiar, more of like a mommy boot camp, mommy-based boot camp for people, and there’s a lot of other franchises, things out there, but I felt like you guys really took control of, like, we want our coaches to be educated, because we are working with moms. This is what we are seeing, and as much as I feel like the pregnancy and postpartum athleticism, that movement started with, like, a lot of the CrossFitters, because they were the ones who identified as athletes. What we were seeing is these military spouses, these moms, like, they are training athletically in these boot camps, they’re experiencing symptoms. The conversation is actually the same, it’s just a different avatar of athlete, and so I was really grateful when the conversation started expanding beyond like the CrossFitters, beyond just the Power Lifters, and started going into more of the mom-based fitness environments, and that’s really where I feel we started to to make some more waves within the pregnancy and postpartum fitness space.

Jessica Hamel  09:44

Yeah, and if you, if you talk with a lot of the slam owners there, it’s such a group of, you know, I was an athlete, but I was never a coach before, and I didn’t do CrossFit prior, and then you have ones who would never go to a stroller class because they were a CrossFit. Or you know, and so you know, or the person who never worked out a day in their life, but just really wanted some friends, and all of a sudden became this like major mom athlete, because they were, you know, they loved it, and so it was a really cool group to put everybody together, but in the same respect, you know, realizing as a coach, like some people only came for a little bit of time with the goal to get back into a CrossFit, and we were all for it, you know, like, hey, whatever your goal is, we’re going to support you during this, like, very, you know, smaller window is of time, but making sure the recovery, and really leading up to giving birth, they were, they were taken care of, but even, you know, looking back at myself, I wish I could have been my own coach for my first two.

Brianna Battles  10:44

Yeah,

Jessica Hamel  10:44

you know, I didn’t have a knowledgeable coach until really after my third, you know, was there were so many things. I looked back and was thinking, like, oh, that felt fine, right? Like, that was fine, it felt fine. I was in, but I probably would have done it a little bit differently.

Brianna Battles  10:59

Yeah, and I think that there’s a lot of that, like hindsight, and it all comes back to what we’re still saying all of these years later. You know, I was saying this in 2017 but it’s like we’re not fragile and we’re also not invincible. So, like, how can we use coaching as a way to help, you know, women just be more adaptable mentally and physically with their training during these seasons, because, like, that’s ultimately what the heck is. It’s what are you willing to pause? What are you waiting to slowly progress? Like, what are you willing to do to improve your outcomes and experiences? And so much of that has to come back to, like, are you willing to be adaptable in what you believe and what you think and in what you do. And if you are, then you’re probably going to be in a much better place, but it’s those of us, myself included, that are like I’m going to try to hold on, and I’m going to try to just maintain, and I’m going to try to like ignore all of the changes that have happened in my life, and my body, and my brain, and just ignore all that, and just try to keep maintaining this identity, and this ability, and all of that, and that lasts a little while until it doesn’t,

Jessica Hamel  12:03

yeah, yeah, yep, that’s true. And looking back now, I know you just celebrated a big milestone birthday. Welcome to the fourth floor.

Brianna Battles  12:12

Yeah, you

Jessica Hamel  12:12

know, it’s crazy, you know, but looking at now, like the populations you’re coaching can be anywhere from like a 20 year range, right? So of moms, and I think the same group that is was spearheading, like, we want change for this is now heading into new phases of life too, but you know, wanting so much more for, you know, I have a 13 year old daughter, and even seeing her training as an athlete for hours and hours, and holding her breath, and like doing certain things, I’m already, you know, like, well, you could do this, and realizing that this education really could span, you know, so much younger too, you know, not just so that it’s like when you’re leading up and having the conversations, it’s not just all brand new, and our generation, after, you know, wanting to start families and, and giving birth, we’re all like, why didn’t anyone tell us?

Brianna Battles  13:05

Yeah, I mean, it really is that lifetime of athleticism, like what you can learn through these seasons is so transferable to then what we go on and teach the younger generation, the youth female athletes, teenage female athletes, our collegiate athletes, and then on the other side of, like, into perimenopause, menopause, and our aging populations, of, you know, maybe symptoms that come up, or, you know, things that they can do as their bodies change throughout all different seasons,

Jessica Hamel  13:34

for sure. Yeah, so dipping back into, because I wanted to definitely take a break, I know my story is kind of long, but you know, going back to El Paso, you know, my husband deployed within 48 hours of me landing with three children, one being five weeks old, and already, you know, signing the paperwork to open Slam El Paso, which is still an awesome community, so I’m really happy to see it continue to grow and change, but knowing, like, I was on such a mission for myself, it was, it was for myself just as much as it was for all the other, you know, women who were in that, in that space, but looking back, you know, studying, I would be driving like across El Paso, doing my modules of the PMPA, and it was like so doable, you know, to be able to just continue like hitting play in my ear, which I appreciated so much. And then being able to kind of go back to the slides, or wait, what did she just say? Real quick, someone just asked me for a snack, you know. And then, doing it, just, you know, so many people ask, like, when you describe the program for me, it was there was many things that you can read, and they explain why they’ll constantly tell you, like, why you should do things, but what I loved so much about. Program was it gave me the how and all of these resources, it wasn’t just you, like, well, I know everything, you brought in the rest of the best, Maestro, like, still love listening to her, and you know, there’s just so many good people that were Carrie Pagliano, obviously has had a huge influence on the Slam community as well, with with our love for running and running across states and Ragnars, so that was fabulous. And then you know, pivoting into the business side of it, you know, so many of us as coaches are so focused on, like, I’m such a great coach, and that you forget that you have to also be a business owner, right? Yeah, and that’s rarely intuitive for coaches, yeah, and we find that, you know, people who, who have the passion to be the coaches oftentimes can can have the learning and coaching to be great owners, but it does definitely take time and systems, and that was kind of where Enter Push Press came into my life, when I came, when I initially started my own business, I was able to choose my own software, and I interviewed a couple of different businesses, and when I had a meeting with Push Press, I felt like they generally wanted to help me, and so I remember telling my husband, he’s like, “Which one are you going to go with? and I said, “I’m going to go with Push Press, and he said, “Why? said they are generally going to help me, and he laughed. He was like, “Yeah, okay, like they’re selling you the product.

Brianna Battles  16:32

Yeah,

Jessica Hamel  16:32

but I have to say, like, after working, you know, that was by far the best choice. It gave my business what it needed, and for me, the confidence that I truly was running a business wasn’t just a mom with some boot camp program, or like, had a few people, I truly had, you know, a business front. Yeah, I had a professional app that people could book their first class with me, so all of that.

Brianna Battles  16:58

And what year was that? Because obviously it’s changed a lot too since then, yeah,

Jessica Hamel  17:02

that was even before pregnant postpartum, so that was 2015 okay, and so when I joined back up with Slam with El Paso in the midst of, you know, doing the pregnant postpartum certification, and you know, we were given kind of all the information we needed, which was fabulous, so much better than opening your own business, like, here’s your email, it was wonderful, but we were also signed up with a software, and I felt completely lost, like I was in there, and I was so used to the simplicity of push press and the support of push press, and then after about five or six months of me feeling like I couldn’t just quickly, I needed to do my work in car line, you know, I needed to do my work while I was breastfeeding at two in the morning, you know, at that point single parenting needs something easy, and so you know, I had asked, was like, can I go rogue and use my own software, and so that’s when you know I chose to kind of go my own way, and brought all the other slams with me as they started, be like, what’s just doing over there, like she’s sharing free trial links and booking people on an app, so that was really fun, and that’s when I started, you know, coaching everyone else, kind of in the slam community on how to do a little bit more of, you know, free trials, advertising, social media was becoming huge, so having a quick way in the door.

Brianna Battles  18:33

Yeah, so what did your business look like back then, for those who aren’t totally familiar? Like, where did you have a brick and mortar, were you hosting your classes outside like what that that whole like lead to client to participation look like,

Jessica Hamel  18:48

yeah. So in New Jersey, because of the client, the climate I was outside probably half the year, and then I rented from an indoor all-star cheer all-star facility, which was actually my coaches growing up, I’d reached out to them, and they didn’t, you know, I was thinking, think of places that are empty during the day, that’s what I always went on, so I rented from them half the year, and so with Slam, it’s a free trial, so more or less sharing links by QR code, putting it huge on social media, asking people to, you know, use a referral link, so that you know, once you click on it or scan it, it’s just email, you know, they sign up, they can see what your class offerings are, select the very, you know, the one they want to come to, and then they’re prompted to download our member app, and at that point, I always knew when moms were super interested, because they’d have a profile picture in their member app before, like, they even showed up, but it was good. We could circle back and check on, you know, and reach out to them. I’d always send them a text message prior to having, like, an official CRM, just to make sure that they felt comfortable, or press space, and see, like, what their goals were through that process. I also did, like, the athlete intake form to. Ask them, so that I knew, like, who you know, if they’re postpartum, pregnant, where are they at to understand, like, where they are as an athlete, and possibly have a conversation even before the first class, so that they could feel comfortable. I would give them the attention that they needed, and so I was able to, you know, do all of that ahead of time, and then at that point they’d come to their first class, and then ideally they’d sign up, right, but I would do it all at the parks, or you know, on an off site, so I would do almost everything from my phone or an iPad. Yeah,

Brianna Battles  20:29

yeah, and I think there’s a lot of P and PA coaches that come into it who are not running their gym, right, but they’re like, but I do want to do something really part-time, like I’m a mom, but I want to coach two or three classes a week, and I’d like to start my own six week postpartum series, or I’d like to coach a boot camp class three days a week for moms, and I think that there’s sometimes a disconnect in, well, what do I need to do that, because I’m not going full in on a business just yet, or maybe they don’t have interest in that at all, but still knowing that you do need some systems in place to make your life actually a lot easier, but I think there’s an intimidation factor there.

Jessica Hamel  21:10

Yeah, I would always say, like, anyone you know, don’t be scared, don’t don’t worry, like, if you’re that passionate about coaching moms, like, go after it. We have strong mom projects, also here on back in Yardley, and in Pennsylvania, and that’s a huge.. Krista is also a pregnant postpartum athleticism coach, and she has taken it. Now she has a real location, which is awesome, and kudos to her.

Brianna Battles  21:33

Opened up a second one too. Yeah,

Brianna Battles  21:35

great. Yeah,

Jessica Hamel  21:36

so you know, is it going to be work? Absolutely, but yes, the systems, to your point, you know, have things like I said that you can do during not a nine to five, right? Like you might be a stay-at-home mom, you might already have a full-time job, or you might be kind of in and out with both things, already coaching. So, you know, I think getting working with your community, you know, thinking of people who already, you know, maybe you’re going to offer six weeks program, like you said, at a local CrossFit, reach out, the owners are always so fabulous, right? And they may not have someone on staff, maybe they’re looking for someone you know. So I would say don’t assume anything, you know, be confident in what you offer, go after the things that would work with your schedule, and so you know, slam is 939 30 is slam o’clock, we always say, or 9o’clock and so it’s one hour, most of them are five days a week at this point, but they usually start two or three days a week, and so having that offering, getting other people to bring a friend is huge, I think, especially the mom community, right, like if someone likes a dentist and you tell a mom like that. Dentist now has 400 new clients,

Brianna Battles  22:44

totally. You

Jessica Hamel  22:44

know, it’s kind of like moms, moms definitely have a huge weight, and so I don’t think it’s it’s ever overnight success, but it’s something that if you keep showing up, they will too. But yeah, having those systems in play were definitely major for me and made a big difference.

Brianna Battles  23:00

Yeah, because I mean, I remember back back then it was more of like, well, I guess I’ll just try to get this person’s email or their phone number, or we’ll do programming in an Excel spreadsheet, or you’re writing things down, or the worst one is when you’re having to like ask somebody to pay you where they’re coming, and you’re like, “Hey, can you send over your February payment, because you didn’t do that yet, and now you’re in class, and it’s like just this awkward thing, and like, we’ve come a really long way in the fitness industry to treating this as more of a business, but I do think there’s still some people who aren’t taking it as seriously yet, because it almost feels like, well, once I cross over into using something like push press, then it’s then it’s real, then it’s official, then I’m like actually doing this, and I need to make it worth it, and you know, like there’s that little bit of that like commitment of we’re doing this, but ultimately you can keep it really small and intimate, or you can scale it and make it what you want it to be, like having basic business practice in place will serve all levels of business.

Jessica Hamel  24:05

Yeah, absolutely. And I think, I mean, most, that’s where I was at, like growing and scaling, you know. I wanted to start something, and, like, cost, a lot of people are really worried about, like, how much money am I going to be, you know? I just bought this, and, you know, and ideally it’s going to come back and pay for itself, but you know, in the beginning it’s scary, and so having something that’s either low cost, you know, or and dependable. I know for me, I was, we were lucky, Push Press came out with the free platform, I guess about a year and a half after I started using it, and Nick reached out and was like, you know, would you guys like to pilot free, and I thought, like, we have to pay for that anymore. Like, I happily paid for that. Like, I had a nice app, I had, I knew who was coming, like you said, I didn’t have to ask anyone to pay their bill. It was a, you know, I knew what my MRR was. I had a very specific cancelation process, like everything was taken care of. For me, and so when they said, “Do you want to pilot free? It’s like, this is amazing, you know. And that’s something I share with people all the time, like there is a free platform that is geared towards that, like helping people grow. And then, you know, once I got to about, you know, 40 members, 40-five members, that’s when it made sense for me to flip over to like the paid version, and then you get a little more bells and whistles, but realistically, like, I just needed a place to sign up, collect payment in the beginning, and, like, you said, like, not make anything awkward. I think in the gym space, in general, people who own a gym want to make a difference in people’s lives, so they don’t necessarily want to ask for their credit card all the time, even though it’s like the reality of it is, it’s a business, right. And then you put moms into that space, you know, and it’s almost like it’s even worse, where you know, for some reason, you know, you have a price, but you’re not expecting people to pay it, and it’s real, the people that spend time, you know, you spend time to get certified, you spend money to get certified, you, you know, may sacrifice late nights and early mornings to do it. And so I was encourage people, like, run it, is a business. Yeah, you treat it like a business. Other people do too. Exactly, for sure.

Brianna Battles  26:17

So, for those who aren’t as familiar with Push Press, and they’re like, “What are you guys talking about? Like, I get systems, I get that, you know, coaches need to treat their businesses like it’s a business, no matter what the size is. What is push press, and who is it perfect for?

Jessica Hamel  26:33

Yeah, push press is.. gosh, I could go on forever, but it’s computer software, and our, you know, our main client now, it’s growing, but a perfect client is, is this group is a small, you know, small to large class or appointment-based gym, so anything from somebody who has two clients and wants to give them training and sign them up and grow to, you know, we have, we serve people with hundreds of clients that come in, sign up, pay their bills, book their classes. So we have four products. We have Core, which is your everyone has to have Core, so it’s it’s your calendar, it’s your payments, it’s we work with Stripe, so that’s where we’re going to have your intake of payment, recurring payments, punch cards, all that good stuff. And then we also have tiers of that, so we talked about free, so there is a free one where there’s no monthly payment. What you’re basically paying is a percentage of the processing fee, so similar to going to a restaurant, you use your credit card, the restaurant plays the processing fees, and then we also have Pro and Max. Pro is most of our client base, so that’s, you know, it’s a monthly subscription cost with no contract. And then we have Max, which is for our much larger gyms, and so the main difference between them, there are some features I could call it out, like for pro, we have flex fee, where you can have your members cover their fees, which is great for larger gyms, and then the different processing rates. So, obviously, up to max you have a little bit lower processing rate, so depending on how many people you have, it makes sense to kind of move up, and then we

Brianna Battles  28:19

think from like, it pays you, it charges them, it shows them when classes are, they can book a class in advance, it’s like your client management, but it’s also like your operations in there too. And full transparency, this is what we’re using for Battles Jiu Jitsu, the gym we opened up in January, and it has made a really big difference, in like, it’s been interesting, I think, because I come from an online business world that’s a very, very different business model of all things P and PA, and for that to exist, there are so many moving pieces and people and tools and systems within P and PA, and then when we went to Open Battles Jiu Jitsu, and we’re like looking at some stuff, and I was talking with Dan, and I was talking to Greg, and I was like, you’re saying that all of this is just like in one place, and like we don’t have to have all these different integrations and systems, and I’m gonna have to hire somebody to like run this or do that, like it’s pretty like it kind of takes all of the hard aspects of business and puts it in one place, that’s a lot of like done for you already, instead of in my world of P and PA, there’s a lot of, we have to do the thing, we have to make the thing, we have to reiterate the thing, push press, it’s all very systematized, and just like done for you, you just have to plug stuff in and make it work for your business, and I was like, “Wait, this is so much easier. Like, I don’t think I have to be that involved. You’re just going to learn how to do all of this. I actually don’t want to do much with this, because I don’t right there, all under one roof, which is such an easier way to manage a business than. You know, just again, the model that I have in the online PMPA space.

Jessica Hamel  30:04

Yeah, yeah. When we onboard new clients, you know, we have like immersive onboarding wizard, so it is a lot more, and obviously AI has really changed the game, probably since you guys even came on, where it’s like, you know, where before you stuff to create your schedule, now it’s like upload like a screenshot of your schedule, and it throws it on the calendar for you. Yeah, and then same thing with, like, your plans list, you’re able to kind of, you know, input, and then we have AI where it’ll assume different plans based on your geographical location, what you should charge for it. So it’s come since, especially since I’ve started, so much has has come, and we try to do, you know, the goal is, and I go back to when I said I feel like Push Press wanted to help me. Dan, who is our CEO, his main mission is to not have people staring at the Push Press screen, other than when they have to, right? Like, set it up, go to your reporting, see where your MRR is going, what are your open invoices, you know, and now in the dashboard, like, call to action, like, who may be at risk, right? Like, who have you seen in a long time? I love that, especially from the lens of coaching me. It’s great for anyone, but as a busy mom, like, I might have felt like I just saw Jen yesterday. Well, I haven’t seen Jen at class for 10 days, you know. I saw her on Facebook, which is where I thought, you know, so like reaching out because of that message, like Jen hasn’t been to class in seven days, and you can reach out and see how they’re doing, and you know that plays into retention, which is huge, and I do remember a lot of things, and I am a thoughtful person, but I can’t remember everything, and so, like you said, having push press to tell me some of those things, to include, like, you know, we have the Commit Club, which I absolutely love. Members can open the app and see, you know, they’re five, they’re, they’re 10 more classes, they just start the month and they’re, you know, two more classes away or something to hitting the goal for the group. You can celebrate those Commit Club people in Slam. We have the Sweat Club, so when people hit 100 classes, you know, they get a tank top, and it’s a big deal. Everyone wears their tank top, that’s part of the club, you know. Then 250 then 500 then 1000 but we don’t have to keep track of that. We also have Grow, which is a CRM, and as my business grew, it was like time to get more systems in play, and that would send me, you know, people would check in, and I would get a message that was like, hey, you know, it’s Lisa’s 100th class, and so I could very quickly, you know, be like, everybody drop your weights, like we need to celebrate Lisa, so just having those small moments to celebrate people’s hard work, you know, it may seem simple when you’re looking at your group of 30 people ready to work out, but for me it was always like those 30 people may have lived a life before they got here.

Brianna Battles  32:48

Yeah,

Jessica Hamel  32:49

carp, wolf, drop off, snack, you know, pack snacks did this to make it to class, and so

Brianna Battles  32:55

those are the really helps make that community, and like we know that it’s not just the coaching that will keep clients, it is the culture that’s established, the community that they make, like that’s that’s the thing that will keep them coming back, not exactly the workout or even like how good your instruction is, and that’s obviously an important part, but it’s how they feel and where ways that we can help facilitate that, I think, like you said, like I think our brains as women and as mothers and being really high cheating, like I always tell Jared, like my brain is on loop all the time. I will be trying to go to sleep in that, and I’m like, I haven’t seen Jessica. I wonder where she’s been, and like, now then I’ll like write in my notes app, call Jessica tomorrow, send her a text tomorrow, but like Jared’s brain does not live in a loop, he’s just like living his best present life, I cannot actually relate to that, even a little bit. So, while my brain might naturally loop in on people, like, I haven’t seen that person in a while, or where is this person, or I know that one had surgery, or that one’s grandma’s been in the hospital, like I can do that, but a lot of brains can’t do that. And then there’s things that you know we frankly get very distracted, and life happens, and it’s been so nice to have the software that literally tells you, hey, Jessica hasn’t been here, like maybe send her a text, like check in on her here, see how she’s doing, and you can make different notes on people, and it just, it helps with letting the client success side of the business, as well as the operations side of the business, and then overall management from a jiu jitsu side, like, so I think this has been interesting too, is we’re using it as a belt tracking system, so there’s different elements of being able to use again this all-in-one software to make it fit your unique gym or business or coaching coaching offer, because we’re like, okay, yeah, it’s not just pay us and clock in on your attendance, so we know where you’re at. It’s also, where are you at? When did you get this belt? When did you get your last stripe? So, when we’re, we have more organization around each individual person.

Jessica Hamel  34:54

Yeah, that was such a, such a fun time when you know, push press decided to go. Go down the martial arts road, where, like, it’s so similar, but that was a huge component, was the belt tracking, and so when our team was able to produce that, and we got, like, it was, I just remember, like, getting the app and looking at it, and being like, wow, this is, this is incredible, you know, that people can open their app, you know, for going to a gym, you can see your check-ins, can also see your check-ins in martial art, but also see, you know where you’re at, and then to me that’s also part of like your goal setting, like I can’t wait until that is showing this belt on this app, so it’s more than just the computer software aspect,

Brianna Battles  35:33

and the martial arts world is like where like the fitness industry was like 15 years ago, like they’re still like it’s still pretty behind in a lot of like basic business practice and operations and systems and things like that, but I do think that this makes it very simple for all gyms, but really like the martial art gyms that it’s used to, like, well, I’m just doing what my professor did, it’s like, no, like, if you want to be out of that, yes, like a business, people are wanting more modernized ways to do this in more organized ways. Again, there’s more to it than just the coaching, it’s also the experience and the business and the overall organization of

Jessica Hamel  36:12

1. Yeah, I think you hit it like experience to me now is such a huge. I’ll probably derail the conversation, but you know, yesterday I’m always thinking of different, like, I’m in customer experience and push press. I probably didn’t mention that yet, and we can get into that, but always looking for, like, what was that experience like, and like, how would that transition into my role at Push Press, or can I share that with our engineer team? But our landscaping crew just went bankrupt, and they quit, and I had to find someone else. Well, got a recommendation. I had it, was AI. Loved it. Called it, asked me all the questions it needed. It said it was going to give me an estimate. No one showed up at my door, which was great. I had work to do. I got an estimate. I got this beautiful, like the whole onboarding experience. They already have my credit card, you know. And I’m so just thinking, like, so similar to, like, that’s what people want now. They don’t want the interrupted, you know, moms are generally the ones that are probably signing their kids up for jiu jitsu. You know, I see your master pack with those cuties, you know. And so they don’t want something that’s going to be difficult. They want something to fit in their life, you know, easy app, book the class, or you know, change out, let the coach know that they’re not coming, like, pull them out of the class, or reschedule their intro. See, I think experience is such a huge part, you know, and everyone’s kind of instant gratification now, with you can have anything in seconds, and so that’s what people expect, you know,

Jessica Hamel  37:37

as

Brianna Battles  37:37

P and PA coaches, like you’re wanting to work with moms where you are simplifying everything, because sometimes moms can be flaky, and like they’re not going to, like, they’re going to get sent the email, and then you’re like, “All right, we gotta like have a follow-up, but you can have automations there for that. How’s like your marketing in with operations, in with your client experience, or client success, whatever you want to call it? It’s all in one place in a way where you can have systems in place where it’s just, it makes all of it a lot easier, I find. You know, because you know you want those moms to have something that is not a complicated process. It cannot take them forever to sign up for that class. It can’t take them forever to become a client of yours in any capacity, but you also want it to be a good experience, and make it like collect all the information that you’re going to need, so then you can better support them.

Jessica Hamel  38:25

Yeah, that I mean, it is huge. If you can grasp, I mean, I know for us, like, the first thing we ask is their email, and then at least you have something to reach out to them. I know my personal experience, it took me almost four months to show up to my first class, and I was someone who wanted to go,

Brianna Battles  38:41

yeah,

Jessica Hamel  38:42

but my daughter was hungry every day at 9o’clock and so I may have just given up, but you know, having that constant, like, my name was in the hat,

Jessica Hamel  38:50

we’re

Jessica Hamel  38:51

able to be reached out, and I’ve had people too that said, like, I’ve been watching you on social media for six months,

Brianna Battles  38:57

oh yeah,

Jessica Hamel  38:57

I’m finally got the courage to come today, and so you know it’s not always talking to the person in front of you today, there’s always people watching, wanting to learn more, wanting to take the leap of faith, and wanting to believe in themselves that they can do it, and so you know, having the ability to follow up, remind them, invite them back without forgetting

Brianna Battles  39:21

that it’s like a really long sales cycle. When you work with a mom, it’s like maybe she’s not, maybe she gets you get on her radar when she’s postpartum, but she can’t make that series, and then she’s just in her survival mode for that first year. She’s not really training as much, but then she gets pregnant again, and she’s like, you know what, maybe I’m gonna like, I’m gonna do something a little bit different, and then they join in. So everything in coaching is actually a really long skills and customer journey for people that are on our radar, so being able to connect with them, not just like introduce yourself, but like get their information, you know, just learn more about them, all of that makes a big difference, and what you’re able to scale to as a coach.

Jessica Hamel  40:00

Much, yeah. No, it is. It’s definitely a tough industry, so having, having anything to help you, but really, you know, I would say now, like, there’s been enough people that have gone through it, like, don’t reinvent the wheel, you know? Find some, someone, usually someone successful, or like, love doing something, is more than willing to chat with you, you know, and then specifically, obviously, you’ve got it all in the course, yeah, you know, but, but reach out to people that have done the thing, you know, they’ll point you in the right direction, that is for sure,

Brianna Battles  40:32

absolutely,

Jessica Hamel  40:34

yeah, trying to think of what else we also have, like going back to the original question, I’m really good at derailing people from original questions, we also have a branded app, and we have Train, which is programming, so I know for me I jumped into using Trane very heavily during Covid because our community was big in person, but then like people would travel and be like, well, like, how am I going to work out? Are you going to send us anything? And so that’s when we started doing it. We also have challenges, so we have like slammed over, and so that’s like any way you can get movement in in the month of October, so all that can be tracked on the app too, which is really cool. And then our branded app, which is, which is super fun, if you want to, you know, really embellish your brand, and, and make it your own, and have your own app in the app store, you know, with your logos and your colors. So we do a lot with support businesses in any scale, whether they want to have one or all of our products, and where I sit is in support, so I started. Gosh, it’ll be a little over four and a half years. I did not get that custodian job, but it, you know, pushed for us with a startup, and knowing, you know, working with the people that supported me in my business, like I always thought, like, what can I do with them? Like, I just really enjoy working with their team and thinking about my husband’s retirement coming up and me making my way back to the classroom as a teacher, and I just wasn’t like, you know, I love coaching, I’d have to leave coaching completely behind to go back to be a teacher, almost. And so I did apply, and I’ve been.. I applied for a sales position, because it was the only thing that was open. I was like, I can sell, ironically, at the same time, it.. you know, they were looking for people in the support and onboarding side of the house, and so, yeah, with my teaching background and everything, we kind of got swooped over to that, and I’ve, I’ve loved it. I’ve been wearing the blue ever since, and simultaneously I was still, I was in Kansas when I started working. So Slam Leavenworth is still there, and a huge group, and I was coaching for them. My very good friend Wanda owns it, and still does. It’s a powerful group, and so I was doing that, and I kind of started doing it more part time to focus on push press, and then I thought it was done. I thought it was slam retired, and then when we retired to Pennsylvania, I told my husband, I was like, I think I can’t, I’m not done. He was like, you got to be kidding me, you know, he’s like, do it, you know, do it. So at that point you know there are still many employees at Push Press that own gyms or our coaches. Still, it’s just so much part of who we are, and I think what makes us special in being able to support other gym owners and say, like, yes, I know, you know, I use the software too, right? Or I’m digging alongside the trenches with you, or understand, or you know, in some ways some people like the last, because not just puts of support, but like, what would you do in the scenario, and they’re able to share.

Brianna Battles  43:47

Yeah, that’s what I really appreciated too, is that like personal, like, okay, like I feel I can get my answer, my questions answered, because you’ve also done this before, you’ve also opened a gym, or you’ve moved from this over to that, and like, just like that, individualized feedback, so you don’t feel like you’re just talking to, like, a random who does not understand the industry, they’re just, like, a tech bro, you know, like, you’re talking to tech pros that are also understanding the fitness industry, and that, I think, makes a big difference, and it’s modernized, because a lot of the, I think, there’s just a lot that hasn’t been as modernized, even though we’ve made so much progress with like AI and all the different capabilities. There’s still elements of like not fully understanding how fitness business works, or a gym, or that client experience again, where you have the different branches of business all being managed under one software, that again coming from a totally different type of business, where there’s many, many moving pieces into like more of a straightforward coaching business model, like, oh, wow, that has, that would be, that would have made such an easier start with being a coach and starting a business all those years ago. So, yeah, well, Jessica, thank you so much for sharing about, like, your coaching history, what. What you’re now doing within push press and just all of the different worlds and how they’ve combined. I think it’s so overwhelming. I think for coaches to know they want to do something impactful with this work, and it’s not just what you know and the inspiration you have, it’s how do I actually implement it? And that goes so far beyond programming, it’s also making sure you are putting your best foot out there and representing yourself well with the best kind of system in place to support that, so you can stay good at what you’re actually good at, which is coaching. So, we will have all information on Push Press in the show notes, but where can people follow along, or where can they learn more about you, and or what Push Press can offer them?

Jessica Hamel  45:40

Yeah, so Push press.com is a great place to jump into. We’re also on Instagram and the socials. We have such a fun social team, so we love, you know, and you know, you can write into us, DM the team. Everyone’s super responsive, and we also have, you want to reach out to the support team, [email protected] There’s a whole group of us that are willing to answer any questions. We can link you up with our sales team if you want to jump on board, but yeah, those are those are the multiple ways that you can, you can find us and check out what’s happening.

Brianna Battles  46:13

Awesome. Well, Jessica, thank you so much for being here.

Jessica Hamel  46:15

All right, thanks.

Brianna Battles  46:20

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Practice Brave podcast. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review and help us spread the work we are doing to improve the overall information and messaging in the fitness industry and beyond. Now, if you are pregnant and you are looking for a trustworthy exercise program to follow, I have you covered. The Pregnant Athlete Training Program is a well-rounded program for pregnancy with workouts for each week that are appropriate for your changing body. That’s 36 weeks of workouts, three to four workouts each week, and tons of guidance on exercise strategy. We also have an at-home version of that program if you are postpartum and you’re looking for an exercise program to follow, the eight week postpartum athlete training program would be a really great way to help bridge the gap between rehab and the fitness you actually want to do. From there, we have the practice brave fitness program, which is an ongoing strength conditioning program, where you get new workouts each week and have a lot of guidance from myself and my co-coach, Heather Osney. This is the only way that I’m really offering ongoing coaching at this point in time. If you have ever considered becoming a certified pregnancy and postpartum athleticism coach, I would love to have you join us. Pregnancy and postpartum athleticism is a self-paced online certification course that will up level your coaching skills and help connect the dots between pelvic health and long-term athletic performance, especially during pregnancy and postpartum. Become who you needed and become who your online and local community needs by becoming a certified pregnancy and postpartum athleticism coach. Thank you again for listening to the Practice Brave podcast, I appreciate you, and please help me continue spreading this messaging, this information, and this work.