Episode 62
Jennifer Maanavi Is Proving That Flubs, Flops, and Pivots Are the Secret Sauce for Lasting Success
Have you ever felt the exhilarating rush of taking a leap into the unknown? Jennifer Maanavi certainly has. In the latest episode of The Uplifters Podcast, the CEO and founder of Physique 57 takes us on her entrepreneurial journey - from the serendipitous discovery of a life-changing exercise method to the bold decision to start her own business with zero experience.
With refreshing candor, Jennifer shares the twists, turns, and "oh crap" moments that have defined her path, reminding us that even the most successful ventures are paved with missteps and course corrections. From the demise of the DVD empire to the disruption of ClassPass, Jennifer's ability to embrace change and find opportunities in adversity is a lesson in resilience.
But it's her admission that she still messes things up - like accidentally taking down her company's entire cloud system just last week - that makes Jennifer a role model for aspiring entrepreneurs everywhere. Because true leaders don't pretend to have all the answers; they lead by example, with humility, hard work, and a willingness to learn through doing.
5 Uplifting Lessons from Jennifer:
1. The power of "Why not you?" When you believe in yourself and your vision, age and inexperience become irrelevant.
2. A sense of urgency trumps overthinking. Sometimes you just have to take the leap and figure it out as you go.
3. Mistakes are inevitable; a growth mindset is essential. Embracing setbacks as learning opportunities is the path to resilience.
4. Work-life balance is a myth; strive for "work-life flow" instead. Prioritize what matters most in each season.
5. Stay humble and attuned to your market. When the winds shift, adapt promptly rather than forcing your original plan.
With candor, humor, and a refreshing lack of ego, Jennifer Maanavi reminds us that purposeful work and fulfilling lives aren't about having all the answers, but about showing up wholeheartedly every day as our imperfect, ever-evolving selves.
You can always listen right here in your email, where you’ll also receive full transcripts (edited and condensed for clarity). But please also subscribe directly to The Uplifters on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Just click one of those links to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Keep up with Jennifer
Jennifer Maanavi is the CEO and cofounder of Physique 57, a global barre fitness and media company founded in 2006 offering a specialized fitness experience in boutique studios worldwide and through numerous digital platforms. Jennifer is a connection, impact, and purpose focused leader. Serving as Strategic Advisor to several companies in the wellness space, she has a passion for high growth B2C health and wellness companies whose mission is to improve the wellbeing of their communities. You can follow Jennifer here and Physique 57 here.
Transcript
Welcome to the Uplifters podcast. I'm Aranza Savvas and today I'm joined by Jennifer Manovee, who is the CEO and founder of Physique 57, a global bar, fitness and media company that hopefully everybody's tried already. Jennifer, thank you so much for being here today.
Jennifer Maanavi (:My pleasure, thank you for having me. I'm so glad we met.
Aransas Savas (:Me too. So Jennifer, tell me, how did your journey to founding and leading Physique 57 even start?
Jennifer Maanavi (:, it started with this epiphany, which I think we know now, but we didn't really know then, that exercise leads to better mental health. And I didn't know that. And I don't even think we use the word mental health back then. So I don't even think I called it mental health. I think I just realized like, wow, when you work out, you really feel good.
, and that was like, that was: Aransas Savas (:When was this? Wow.
Jennifer Maanavi (:That was 2000 when there was gyms and there was some yoga studios and a little bit of like private kind of high-end Pilates, but, it wasn't in the day-to-day for everybody. It was for a lot of people, but not for everyone. And you know, it was like kind of popular. I'll just put it that way. And I lived in New York City and I specifically remember I was, I had just finished school and I said to a friend,
So like, what do people do when they don't have homework? Like I kind of forgot what to do with my time. Like I leave work around seven, 7.30. Like, what do you do after that? She said, well, I think people exercise. and she mentioned a studio that she had been to that she did not like, but she thought that I might like. I had danced growing up, which she knew. And she said, I didn't like it, but...
Jennifer Maanavi (:Maybe you want to try this, but it's called the Lottie Burke method. Use a ballet bar. It's very much of a strength training class. Focus on the core. Focus on alignment. Great for posture. I found it to be too hard, but if you want to try it, go right ahead. I said, okay. So I went pretty soon thereafter. I tried it and within, and I'm not exaggerating, within 10 minutes.
Aransas Savas (:Ah
Jennifer Maanavi (:I knew that I would do this method for the rest of my life. It just had everything that I thought a safe and effective exercise method should incorporate. And the instruction was terrific, the exercises were terrific, the pace was perfect, it was hard, but it wasn't like maniacal like some other boot campy things were. And I thought this is perfect for women's bodies. This is just great. So lo and behold, I did do that form of exercise for about five years.
Aransas Savas (:Wow.
Jennifer Maanavi (:And then I was working at Morgan Stanley. And one day I went to that same studio that I had been going to all those years and they told me that they were closing down. And to make a long story short, what else could I do but start a new one? And that's really what I did. And it took me just like two or three days to determine that. Like once it really sunk in that they were closing down and I went through.
Aransas Savas (:Mm.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:Wow!
Jennifer Maanavi (:like what that meant for me and what that meant for the community there. I thought if anyone's going to start it, like it might as well be me. Like I don't know that anyone else is going to do it. And to go back to the original question about mental health and people feeling good, what I had found from working out at this, but this particular method and probably with other methods too, that I just felt more confident. I felt happier. I felt stronger. this was really kind of how I stayed, um, kind of strong and positive and empowered at a time when I was in my late twenties and I was working on wall street, not many women, not, you know, it, you're not naturally uplifted to use your favorite word by women around you. So you had to do it yourself. And I felt that.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:feeling strong and flexible and in control of your body really helped me do all of those things in a work environment also. So when I started it, it wasn't like, hey, I just want everyone to have amazing biceps. It was more about, I want women to have a place where they can go and feel comfortable, safe, welcomed, adored by the staff while they're getting stronger and fitter and healthier and feeling better.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm. Wow. How beautiful. And it sounds like it was really born out of your own personal need and your own personal experience, which the best things usually are.
Jennifer Maanavi (:So true.
Aransas Savas (:And yet, though you had worked at Morgan Stanley, you had experience in the business world, doesn't sound like you've had any experience starting a business.
Jennifer Maanavi (:None. Zero. So I had no experience, but what I did have was the confidence to start it. I felt like, and that's why I use this phrase sometimes and even with the maybe some younger people that I work with or get to know, it's like, why not you?, I was 33. I had a one-year-old. I had a good education. I had
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Mmmm
Jennifer Maanavi (:like 10 years of business experience. That's not a lot by the way, but it's something I had worked with and been with very smart people for a very long time. I was like, well, if we were to find someone else to start a bar studio, like is there someone remarkably better out there? who would that be even? Cause it was such a new category. So it wasn't even like there was the perfect resume. This is before boutique fitness was even a name.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:So if you're starting something brand new, there's no assumption of what that skill set should be other than good common sense, some patience, matched with a supreme sense of urgency, the willingness to roll up your sleeves and figure things out, a love for the product, and a love for other people. Like, well, I have that, so I think I could get this done. So I just did it.
Aransas Savas (:Hmmm
Aransas Savas (:Wow. I mean, I think the urgency component is really interesting. Why do you highlight that specifically?
Jennifer Maanavi (:, I don't believe you need to have a sense of urgency to be successful at all. I'm not saying that. I think if you want to like bravely enter a space that you're not familiar with, you have to just go. And I'll just give you an example. And I hope this is not sounding at all condescending or judgmental in any way. But. I went to Columbia Business School and they had some great groups for, like entrepreneur groups. This is when entrepreneurship wasn't such a popular thing as it is now. So they would have these special groups for women to start businesses. And what I found is like, let's say we met every month. I think we met every month. Some people never showed progress. Like they would come in January and then in February they were still.
testing or something and then they would come March they were thinking Testing, you know go doing pros and cons like people like I already started my business Sometimes you just have to go and I tell some people that I mentor if you go to a cocktail party Once and you tell someone that you're gonna start a business If you run into them again, you better have made significant progress if you run into that person and you say
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:While I'm still thinking about it, you are completely instantly disregarded. And that's just how it goes. Like that's, and like, I don't know what else to tell you. Like that's the truth. If you don't, if you want to start a business and you're going to go public with that concept and that dialogue, you got to go, or otherwise they just think. You don't really want to start that business. So you got to start it.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah, and I think it comes from a really good place. People want to do things well. They want to be successful. They want to feel like they have it all figured out. And I think what your story tells us, but it certainly very much jives with my own life experience and the work I do with clients, it's about learning through doing.
Jennifer Maanavi (:100%. One, I mean, I mess things up all the time. I've been doing this 18 years and I just really messed something up on Friday and it got fixed a couple hours later. 18 years, I'm really messing things up. I mean, I, imagine how much I messed up 18 years ago. I mean, it, like, you know, the dropdown menu, I clicked the wrong thing and yada, yada. I basically took down one drive for my whole company. Like, it happened.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Jennifer Maanavi (:Sorry, it just happens. And I'm totally human and my staff is human and we're all just human. And every mistake can be fixed. And some may be a little more expensive to fix, but it's all fixable. And the mistakes you make, and let's not even call them mistakes. It's just like the learning experiences. I didn't even have a company name and I was hiring people
Aransas Savas (:a human.
Jennifer Maanavi (:who's to say that was a good idea? Like who's to say any of this was a good idea, but it worked. And I'm really, you know, and I just give people a lot of, I understand wanting to figure things out and not rush, but there is that fine line. There really is that fine line. And sometimes you just have to move at a pace, maybe faster than you're comfortable with, but you'll learn it. You'll learn how to work at a faster pace.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:and you'll find support, right? Like by saying, I don't know what the name is, you were able to have lots of great conversations with people who had ideas about this name and to probably find a much better name than you might have found hold up in your basement alone pondering names.
Jennifer Maanavi (:Yeah!
Jennifer Maanavi (:100% right. Yeah, totally. So I think that's a great point. As you're going and you are trying to figure things out and if you have a nice support team, or even strangers half the time, sometimes they'll just give you good suggestions, good advice. So it's never about knowing everything. It's just having a good sense of what direction you wanna go in. I think what's probably better is to know what you definitely don't wanna do, especially.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:Mmmm
Jennifer Maanavi (:morally, ethically, et cetera. But it doesn't mean you have to know exactly what you want to do.
So this idea of learning by doing sounds like it made you uniquely well-suited for entrepreneurship. Because again, there are people who are just extremely uncomfortable with that and get analysis paralysis and find it very difficult to move forward.
Jennifer Maanavi (:Great.
Aransas Savas (:What are some of the other hurdles you've seen entrepreneurs face over the years or that are qualities that you feel like made you sort of uniquely well suited?
Jennifer Maanavi (:Thank you for asking that. I think that's a really important question. I started Physique 57, which is a boutique fitness studio, a long time ago. And as I was saying before, like before boutique fitness was a term, it was more just like, there's a place where these people go do things. That was pretty much the category we were in. And then in, so we started our first class in 2006, and then by like 2011, 12,
is when you had just more of this boutique studio where you would pay a class price and you would take a class and you would leave and it wasn't a gym membership. And so that concept was really new. And the reason why I just wanna back up to that is when the trend took off, a lot of people benefited. Like even if you, it was one of those, it was a time when there was so much demand that the supply didn't have to necessarily be perfect.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:And there was maybe like 20 studios in New York opening every year at a minimum. It was just like everyone was opening a boutique fitness studio. And, I'm proud of my team and I'm proud of the brand for withstanding it and for still being here, because a lot of those brands are not here anymore. And I look back to some of the reasons why, and I know all those founders very well, but I think some people expanded too quickly.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:and they think that they have a special sauce and that they're just awesome and that anything they touch is gonna be perfect because they did it once, I'll probably be able to do it again. And then they raise a lot of money and then they get a big ego and then they start treating their teams poorly. And then they think they're famous and then they think they're all a whole bunch of things and they're really just not all those things. And what I would say in a more positive light.
is every day is a new day. Like every day that I come to work, whether I'm at the studio or just in my office, I think our whole company just is very humble. And the idea is like whatever we knew yesterday that might've been successful, who knows if it's successful today? We have to just be smarter and better and client focused every single day and not rest on our laurels. And I think that really...
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:that really helped us to be successful because even though, I mean, there was a time even when we started our DVD business, believe it or not, we had a DVD business, we got, yes, a long time ago, I know that, that's like 2008, we got a call from QVC, we were on QVC, even when we launched the DVDs, we sold in all 50 states in 30 days. We had a lot of success really early in a lot of
Aransas Savas (:When we started our DVD business. That's a time capsule.
Jennifer Maanavi (:And we had four big studios in New York. We had LA. I have a handful of studios internationally, Dubai, Bangkok, and India. But we never said like, wow, we're so good, let's have a hundred studios. Or let's just have 200 because we have the special sauce. Like I just don't know what that special sauce is that people sometimes think they have. Cause like every market is different. Every group of employees is different. not everything is repeatable.
Not everything can scale. A lot of things can and that's awesome, but not everything can. And I think you have to think about like, what is making your business so successful? And maybe just doubling down on that and improving profit margins, including increasing revenue of just what you have could be a better choice than trying to replicate yourself all over the place. And that can very much be eco-driven. I don't think that's so much P&L driven. And I think...
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Mm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:We have very much focused on having profitable studios, but not that many. Right now I have 12, and at one point we had 15 or 16. That's fine. That to me was totally fine, and I never wanted to quote unquote blow it out. Blowing it out is okay, but a lot of those studios have unblown themselves, have reduced themselves over time.
Aransas Savas (:when you think back to some of the big pivots or shifts that you made along the way because you found that what was working was no longer right for the moment, what were some of the scariest moments there where it felt like there was a U-turn or a big shift that impacted how you did business?
Jennifer Maanavi (:Yeah.
Yeah, I've had a few. We don't need to have a 10-hour podcast, but I've had a few.
Aransas Savas (:Yay. Yeah. It's great though, isn't it, to be able to say I've had a few and here I am. Yeah.
Jennifer Maanavi (:Yeah, I've had like one I think the first one which is hard for probably most of your younger audience to know is There was a time when DVDs like blockbuster like was a big thing like you have these DVDs and you use them and that business was a seven-figure business and it like instantly went to like nothing because people weren't buying DVDs anymore and Just to take a second on this one of the problems with that is you already own physically
Aransas Savas (:Mm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:these DVDs and you have them in a warehouse in Michigan, for example. So you have a whole set up and supply chain for these things that no one wants anymore. And, um, oof, I know. So it's one thing to say, yes, we transitioned from DVD to online, which was awesome, which we did in 2012. Um, but what, you know, part of the story that's not told is this inventory story.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Oof.
Jennifer Maanavi (:but I had to figure out how to unload all of these DVDs. And you can't sell them in all different countries because there's different specifications. So that was a fun and funny story for another day, but we had to figure out what to do with 10,000 DVDs. So that was one thing, that business dried up. And then...
ing English? And this is like: Aransas Savas (:Hmm
Jennifer Maanavi (:It took me a couple months to even understand what she was talking about, and this is a long time ago. And I mean, this just to give you some reference, even when we opened in 2006, people were not comfortable making reservations for class online. If that's when people didn't wanna put their credit card into websites. I mean, we've gone so far, but let's not forget that some people were like, I'm not giving my, I'm not putting my credit card in a laptop. So, it's cakey. Everyone's gonna steal it.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm. Right.
Aransas Savas (:That's crazy talk.
Jennifer Maanavi (:So a couple years later, there's this concept of watching things on TV that live in the cloud, in space, and you're like, what are you talking about? So, but finally I was like, okay, I don't really understand what you're talking about, but I'll do it. And then we took those DVDs, that content from the DVDs, and we put it on our website, and then you have this paywall, this new concept, and then we did really well. So now we've had.
Aransas Savas (:What?
Jennifer Maanavi (:So the video on demand platform that we have, in addition to the studios, has been around for 12 years. So it's not a product of the pandemic, it's something we did for a long time. I would not have done that, obviously, had DVDs not gone away. So I was happy for that change. And then the second big one was ClassPass, which some of your viewers know, which is this aggregator of class inventory. And now I think it's going into restaurants and spas as well.
Aransas Savas (:Wow.
Aransas Savas (:Mmm, mm-hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:And that was a complete, took like maybe 16, 17 months, but that destroyed the boutique fitness business. So what you earned from maybe 30 or 40% of your clientele was now half, and half. And, you know, consumers don't always understand that and that's okay, they don't need to, it's really the business's responsibility to adapt. And...
Aransas Savas (:Wow.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-mm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:Yeah, so my profit margins really, really got squeezed. And the relationship with Class Fasten Studios was always acrimonious. It was always, and still is, not great. So that was a huge shift, and that's when a lot of things on your P&L had to be disrupted, and that was tough. And then of course there's the pandemic when all my studios closed. There's that.
Aransas Savas (:That little thing. Heard of it?
Jennifer Maanavi (:little thing. Yes, and we lost 90% of our revenue in one day. Yes, so that and that you know, everyone's got a pandemic story. I'm not suggesting mine were several was healthy, like, you know, on the family side, but that was certainly a big change to us. And I had to fire like 95 people in one day, close my studios permanently. And now we've rebuilt from there.
Aransas Savas (:Ugh.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:And who are you now as a brand that is different than who you were pre-pandemic?
Jennifer Maanavi (:Yeah, that's a great question. So we were, we had just started selling franchises. I wouldn't say we were a national brand because it's still a niche business. So was not a household name. But if you liked bar fitness, you kind of knew there was this place in LA and New York that did it really well. We had these big studios, two classes going on all the time, day and night. We had these international studios So the difference, so then I decided just to become, and I don't say just, because it's still an endeavor and it's still a big job, is to become a more regional brand. And so we left LA and stopped franchising, so now, which is working out really well, we are in Philadelphia, Hoboken, Brooklyn, New York, two studios here, and another license in New Jersey.
Aransas Savas (:Mmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:and just staying tight to this region. And it just saves on marketing and saves on so many things.. We're doing really well being a tightly run, well-run New York City regional brand. And I still have the international studios. But it's just become more efficient.
to stay local and grow the business smartly here.
Aransas Savas (:Mm.
Aransas Savas (:Interesting. How is that different?
Jennifer Maanavi (:when you have studios on different coasts or entertain the idea to have studios in other parts of the country, it's fun It's ambitious. And it makes you feel like you have a bigger brand and a larger target market.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:when we decided to just stay regional, it means that you don't really have to do a lot of things. I'm happy if we are in Vogue or US Weekly online, but that's still good. But I don't really have to do it anymore. Like, I'm not trying to get Los Angeles celebrities anymore. You just sort of give up some of your aspirations, which can...
be disappointing, but there's so many aspirations you can have just right here. I mean, New York City is humongous. So it's not like I'm saying I'm going to go be in some small town. Like we're just going to try to nail New York City and the surrounding area. Yeah, exactly. So it's, um, it's just become, it's just become, um, it's more defined growth strategy than like we could go anywhere. Like I used to travel to Dallas. I would go to Miami. I would check this out. And I was just sort of checking things out all the time.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:There's a few people who live here. Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:Mmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:And it was fun and it was worth it when I was doing it. And then I realized it's not worth it.
Aransas Savas (:I think one of the scariest things about the type of journey you're describing here, which is life in general, is that it has lots of big twists and turns. And that requires making lots of big strategic decisions. So what informs the big decisions that you make?
Jennifer Maanavi (:I'm here.
Jennifer Maanavi (:Yeah, thank you. I think what is really important is to be very, very quiet and really, really think about the true demand for your product. And so, for example, during the pandemic, we did very, very well selling digital content to partners, even China. We sent, which was
Aransas Savas (:Hmm
Jennifer Maanavi (:probably one of my hardest endeavors because no one spoke English and I don't speak Chinese, but These corporate wellness entities were interested, Fitfit was interested. So if you wanted female-oriented content, fitness content, like we were on the short list of phone calls. So that is demand based on...
I was like a macro situation going on in the world. And we were ready to roll, because we had been doing video on demand for so long. So we had all this content, packaged it up, sent it out. And then around the world, when people started...
quote unquote, going back to the gym or going back to the office, et cetera. Those big companies that were buying content, understandably, didn't need as much. Also, what was becoming more popular and still is, is breathing, yoga, meditation. And so it was like, well, we're not gonna do fitness, but we're partnering with XYZ to do meditation. And you can resist that and like go down
screaming like, no, I'm going to sell this content to everyone in the world and hire people to sell all this stuff. Or you can say like, Like that is the way the world's changing. I was in Saudi Arabia for a conference and a company that two years ago would have definitely purchased my content, definitely would have been a great meeting. Like, you know, 90% sure that would have all gone really well.
This time, it was like five minutes long, and they said, no, we don't do fitness anymore. You know, like that's like, okay, you know, I got it., so if you take away your ego, and you take away how great your brand is, and you take away how great your product is.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:and you just sit with the fact that those phone calls aren't coming in anymore, you have to say like, okay, okay guys, like that's just not gonna be if this is for us. And the revenue is going to evaporate. Don't be hopeful, be realistic, it's just gone. And then you say, okay, so what next? So then I opened a new studio, I went back to Bricks and Mortar, I moved one, da da, so then you say like, let's just agree that revenue stream.
Aransas Savas (:Why?
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:is diminished. So now what?
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:what's working and what's not working and lean into what's working in the moment.
Jennifer Maanavi (:the sad thing is you have to change roles. You have, like, you know, there's, there is a collateral damage to doing that. But, you know, you got to do that. There's a, what other, you know, what some people could do is say, we're going to try another market. We're going to make better videos. We're going to put more money into advertising. Like, you could totally do that and maybe that would work. But you can also just say, what's next?
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:Yep.
Aransas Savas (:. Whether it's in relationships or running corporations, we have a tendency to bear down and hope we can force things to be the way we want them to be. And one of the things I have observed in Uplifters is that over and over again, what you hear is people who...
Jennifer Maanavi (:and put money there.
Jennifer Maanavi (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:are willing to ride the waves of change.
Aransas Savas (:and to find some peace and some opportunity in what is instead of trying to force what they want to be.
Jennifer Maanavi (:I have three children. You cannot force anyone to do anything, even if they're your own children. And even yourself, exactly. You really can't force it. And what I'll also say just from a business perspective, in order to be able to ride the wave, I just wanna give some advice. You do need to have.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah. Even yourself, you can't force.
Jennifer Maanavi (:a cushion like cash on the side because...
Jennifer Maanavi (:And you can call it rainy day or you can call it like, this is for when I get the heads up that I need to do something different. I guess that is a rainy day. Because if you're relying on that revenue so much that it's actually paying the payroll or something, that's just as if it's scary. So I would just say, if you're running a business and you expect twists and turns, which you should,
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Jennifer Maanavi (:like just having that extra money, it's sort of the same because when all the signs were coming in that either like the studios aren't, well, this pandemic was different because we like basically had no money except for the government money. But other times when we've had to make these shifts, it was like, whew, like at least we can, like when the DVD money went away, at least we had studio money saved.
that we could put into the online business to let that go. So you just want to put yourself in a situation in your business where you can ride these waves and not panic or obviously go out of business.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Right. And not backing yourself into a corner where you don't have choice. And yeah, such a great point. So you're a mom of three. You lead this big company that is facing all of its own twists and turns. How do you find or create any sort of balance or personal well-being along the way?
Jennifer Maanavi (:Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:it is, it is a challenge, but it's not such a challenge. Like I think that, um, there's something called work life flow. I'm not even sure it's a balance. It's just like, um, someone once said to me when I was working at Morgan Stanley and she was a very successful managing director or something, and she had four kids.
Aransas Savas (:Mmm... Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:And I think I was just pregnant at the time. I asked her the same question. Like, how do you do this? And she said, everyone gets my attention, just not all at the same time. And I thought that was so good. And so there are times, I kind of look back and I almost feel bad. Like during the pandemic, I actually worked more than I've ever worked. Meanwhile, my kids are home, but they have a dad and they have aunts and uncles. Like it was like, let's all just, everyone help everyone.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:Mmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:But like this mama right here has to make sure we don't completely go bankrupt. Like I got things to do. So I worked every day, sometimes like 12, 15, 16 hours a day. So I'm working in like an empty, dirty fitness studio during the pandemic. But.
Like that was actually fulfilling to me. Like I have to save this business. Like we just lost everything. And then it was like alert, three kids at home. Can somebody help? So I hired an adorable babysitter, a musical theater, 20 year old who was like, let's put on a show. So she, so you just had like.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
Aransas Savas (:That was my mom in my case. Every night I would walk out of my office and there would be a performance of Hamilton starring my mother and my two daughters. It was great.
Jennifer Maanavi (:Oh, that is awesome. Perfect, it's awesome. so under that concept of everyone gets my attention not all at the same time, you can then like sort of fill it in with other people. Like I went on care.com, found some adorable musical theater person. I was like, I have to go work for like two years straight. If you could just do fun stuff with my kids for two years, that would be awesome. And that's kinda how that went down. And so, but.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Jennifer Maanavi (:I wake up early, I do a lot of exercise or just, I mean, even like administrative things in the morning, like, you know, permission slips, things like that. I get a lot done before everyone wakes up and I actually find that relaxing. I don't find that to be a burden. It's like, you know, I'm up at 5.30 and it's quiet. And so I just try to find quiet time and I exercise almost every day and I get energy from people. Then I also like to be alone sometimes. And I don't know, just it all.
Aransas Savas (:Mm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:It all kind of works out, but I'm very cognizant of the flow. Like I definitely know like, you know, when I have to go take a break
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:I think that awareness is really important, but I also hear in you an appreciation, right? That these are things that you get to do, that you want to do, instead of feeling obligated or forced to do them, which would create a sense of resistance.
Jennifer Maanavi (:Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:Yes, yeah, I really everything I do, there's a lot of things, there's volunteering, there's some other stuff and I really love it all. Like I don't find that I'm doing many things that I, like I don't like going to the grocery store, like that I can't stand.. So I'm pretty aware of like my boundaries, like what I will and will not do and it's worked out. And with technology, I mean it's amazing.
how much we can do, like walking down the street, like you can just get stuff done. So thank goodness for that.
Aransas Savas (:Yes, in some ways it's made our lives so much simpler and in some ways it's so much more complicated. Well Jennifer, I am so excited to talk to you and to hear how you have grown your life and your business along the way. For folks who want to check out Physique 57, where do you send them?
Jennifer Maanavi (:I know. I know, I know.
Jennifer Maanavi (:Well, thank you. So we have studios in and around New York and surrounding areas. And then what is the most easily accessed is the On Demand platform. So if you just went to Physique 57 or Google Physique 57 bar, it shows up and then you can just try out and it will be 14 days free. You can try out any of those videos. And I'm on LinkedIn under Jennifer Manovee. We have website. Physique has Instagram.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
Jennifer Maanavi (:I know we haven't talked too much about like mentoring and helping other women, that, that is really what I love to do, even, even outside of physique, you know, helping other entrepreneurs realize their dreams and like get things off the ground. And I just hope that someone was inspired by this conversation, because I think we all have so many pent up plans and thoughts, and we just, just give it a try.
thank you so much, Jennifer.
Jennifer Maanavi (:Yes. Well, thank you. Thank you for having me. It was so great to talk to you. And thank you so much.
