He bought his first gym at 21 with money a member fronted. At 24, he became franchisor himself and inherited a near-legal mess with unhappy franchisees.

Sam Waller, CEO of Stepz Fitness, joins Joel to give an honest account of the franchisee-to-franchisor jump and the decade-long turnaround that followed.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why the people who miss out on a territory become your loudest critics, and how to handle franchisor envy

• The franchisee Sam should have moved on day one, and what keeping him too long cost the network

• Why he stopped running conferences for years, and why that was a mistake

• How he deals with negativity head on now instead of letting it fester

• The hybrid model that undercut F45 at $30 a week while staying sustainable long term

• Why he sells gyms to his own managers, and how that built his best long-term owners

• Why he is back on every first sales call after a year away from them

• The pricing decision he calls one of the worst the business ever made

• His plan to reach 100 locations by 2035 without cannibalising existing franchisees

Timestamps:

0:00 The model change that fixed the business

0:42 Meet Sam Waller, CEO of Steps Fitness

1:59 Starting as a franchisee at 21

4:42 Taking over a troubled business at 24

6:49 The marketing fixes that worked

7:43 Building the hybrid gym model

10:03 Teaching franchisees to spend on marketing

11:44 The on-brand video debate

16:36 Why franchisee posts drive enquiries

19:52 Too much disclosure scares prospects

20:49 Brand vs the personality behind it

21:30 Changing culture over 10 years

30:02 Handling negativity head on

31:49 The hybrid model explained

34:52 The website pricing mistake

37:37 Back on every first sales call

39:23 The founder-led marketing advantage

43:00 The plan for 100 gyms by 2035

45:36 Recruitment leads and spend

49:10 Filming video with franchisees

51:54 Going public and building a personal brand

55:15 Why content solves everything