We were lucky to catch up with Irene Pluim Mentz recently and have shared our conversation below.
Irene, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
As a physical therapist owning my own practice, my husband and I were doing pretty well. I was working with my clients, at times teaching at a local college for the physical therapy assistant program, and I was teaching water exercise classes at the local community college. Life was good. But there was always a feeling of wanting to do more, reach more people with the message to keep healthy, to stay active, and to exercise. And that feeling was strongest during the water exercise classes at the community college, where the general population would come in to exercise. Many of them were part of the aging population, because the specific properties of water helped with the exercises and staying injury free. I felt there should be a way to make that available to everyone, without the boring repetition of just swimming laps, and without it costing an arm and a leg to get all sorts of equipment. I wanted one simple piece of equipment that would be easy to use, that could be used for any body part, small to pack along, affordable, fun, durable, and could serve any level of exercise and ability. Yeah, I wanted the impossible. And for years that is what I thought it was; impossible.
Until one day teaching a water exercise class, an idea popped in my head. So coming home I told my “do-it-yourself” husband to make me a prototype. He did, I tested it, he changed it, and the idea grew from there. Even our teenage son jumped in to bring ideas along. So the idea was there, but what now? My husband made fifteen prototypes that I could take to my college water exercise class. And then the question came from students; “Where can we get one of these?”. When telling the students there was no such thing on the market to buy, and how these fifteen came about, one students even came up with a catchy name, “The Aqua-Ohm” (resistance in the water).
Well, that pushed me over the hump. I had to bring this on the market. So with me diving into the process of obtaining a patent on the idea, my husband put in his time to figure out how to get the Aqua-Ohm manufactured. Knowing that marketing was going to be a time and money consuming effort, we wanted to keep the production cost at bay. So instead of out-sourcing the production to a large manufacturer, which would have cost a good chunk just to get the first Aqua-Ohm to roll of the conveyer belt, we decided to set up a small production center close to home. Which my husband manages, next to his regular work.
As for me, I had to make a huge mental shift. From receiving referrals for clients and working one on one or with small groups, I suddenly had to go out and make myself and my product known. Jump on social media; not for fun, but for marketing. Traveling to conventions and trade shows, trying to make a name in an industry that in many ways is still in the infancy stages, the world of water fitness and aquatic therapy.
At the moment of writing this risk is still very much there. The initial investment for the production, the ongoing investment in marketing, the many long hours and days, will take a more steady flow of sales to eliminate the risk. But I see many people turning to the Aqua-Ohm with enthusiasm. It will just be a matter of moving forward, and eventually the goals will be reached. That the Aqua-Ohm will be as common of a pool item as the foam noodle, available in every pool in the USA, and then the world. I am in it for the long haul!
Irene, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I have always had a desire to be of service to people, to help people, especially with their health needs. And since so much of health hinges on the ability to stay active and exercise, it was an easy choice to become a physical therapist. With the emphasis on pediatrics. If we teach at a young age the importance of exercise and staying active, combined with a healthy and complete physical development, I felt the world could be a better place. And I still love to work in the pediatric setting. But I also see there is a need for physical fitness in every age group. So in 1997, after working in several practices owned by other people, I decided to step out and start for myself. Well, kind of by myself. My husband is also a physical therapist, so we took the plunge together, and started One Step Beyond, Inc. The name came from a friend of ours, who said that my husband and I always went “one step beyond” to truly serve our clients. And that is still our goal, even though the outside world seems to throw more and more restrictions on us. But we don’t want to just get by for ourselves. No, we want to make an impact.
Having been an active water enthusiast all my life, and feeling the benefit of aqua fitness for my own physical ànd mental well-being, I also became a certified aquatic fitness instructor as well as a certified aquatic therapist. I started providing aquatic therapy and swimming lessons to many of our patients.
So after many years of running our practice, serving mostly the pediatric and developmentally delayed population, but also teaching classes, and helping out anyone we could with our skills, we have now expanded into producing and selling a specific product for water exercise and aquatic therapy, the Aqua-Ohm. Our goal is still to go “one step beyond”, and we hope to touch many lives with our product.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
We all have our comfort range. And so did I. I was very comfortable running my practice, seeing my clients, teaching classes, helping people. IIt was very much my character to not place myself in any type of spotlight. I was working to place others in the spotlight in their progress. And that position fit me well. I wasn’t comfortable being in the spotlight anyway. So jumping forward to where I was becoming the marketing force behind the Aqua-Ohm, I initially use sketched puppets (made from pictures of my husband), to show the exercise possible with the Aqua-Ohm. But we soon found out that was not sufficient. We needed exercise GIFs on the website, and exercise videos. People who had purchased the Aqua-Ohm started asking me for full length exercise videos. Now, I could of course have volunteered my husband. But he only is enjoying water when it is with either a tank on his back going sixty feet under, or above the water sailing or kayaking. He really is not enjoying the splashing right at the surface.
Additionally, several aquatic fitness, exercise, and therapy organizations started asking me to do some presentations. Now I know that teaching a class at a community college placed me in front of a group, but this was presenting to and for people who I looked up to.
So I had to change. I had to find comfort with myself on video, be comfortable with placing myself in the spotlight, or being placed in the spotlight by others. I makes me aware that I am very self-conscious. Which, if I want to set an example for people to put on that bathing suit and hop in the pool to get moving, I will need to overcome. Easy? No! Worth it? Yes!
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
I think Winston Churchill said it right when he said: “Never, never, never give up!”. In any field of endeavor we tend to give up way too soon. If we read the stories of those who succeeded, more often then not it was a small portion of luck, and a huge portion of persistence. As an acquaintance of my husband once said: “Life is like a series of problems, sometimes interrupted by a crisis”. How many people give up when problems arise? And then how many of those remaining, give up when a crisis comes by? Persist! If you believe that your idea truly has a place in the market, a good chance to succeed, make it happen. Never, never, never give up!!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.aqua-ohm.com
- Instagram: @aquaohm
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aquaohm
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@aquaohm5726