We recently connected with Jenni McNamee and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jenni, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

Employee support matters more than anything else. I have worked in the dance and fitness industry for the majority of my adult life. This industry is competitive, and can be ruthless. Studio and gym owners can get swept up in image and dollar signs, neglecting their employees needs along the way. The atmosphere among staff members can become toxic, and the idea of team gets lost. I have unfortunately had the experience of working for people who tried putting me in a box, and showed zero support even during some really dark times. It made the experience of working for them anxiety ridden and would show through in the work I presented. On the other side I have had the wonderful experience of working for studio owners we put my needs first and supported every step of my journey working for them. I learned from those owners how important it is to take care of your staff and make sure that their needs are met, they feel loved and supported, and are respected. When your staff feels this support it creates a real team atmosphere and you grow together, not only as individuals. My staff at RAD Fit means the absolute world to me and I made a promise to myself to always take care of them no matter what.

Jenni, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

On top of working in the dance and fitness world I am also a certified Youth Prevention Specialist and spent many years working with children of all ages who’s families were battling substance dependency. This career was soul crushing and on a daily basis I would leave my office with stomach in knots and my heart broken. The only place I was able to release my stress and emotions was at the gym or on a spin bike with my fitness community. I learned very quickly that movement was my medicine. It gave me a release that made me feel incredible, and helped me release tension I didn’t even realize I was holding. In my classes I met so many people experiencing so much heartache. One day I met a man named Bob who had recently lost his fiancée, and her sister. It was tragic and he was experiencing so much pain but he was showing up every single day for my classes and working through his heart ache right along side me. My husband was newly sober from alcohol and we were struggling to find balance and to work through our marriage. He started attending classes and day by day he moved into his sobriety stronger and stronger. Every day I met more people with stories of pain and heart ache. We were all there together, working through our pain together. My words on the microphone resinated with them, the movement helped them get lost in the moment and find peace, and when we walked out we felt better than we did walking in. That was when I knew my calling- take my counseling experience and fitness experience and create an experience that helps you strengthen the body, the heart, and the mind. That is how RAD Fit, or a we call is “Rise Above Doubt” came to life.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media is the driving force behind so much in current day and I learned very quickly that I needed to beef up my social presence. Personally I do not use social media in my personal life much so this was a struggle at first. Our social media is still very small and growing, but we are still a very new company. The number one thing we did to expand our social media was hire a young 24 year old woman to take over management of our social. From creating IG reels and posts, to our local advertising she does it all. She creates content weekly and has it stored and ready to run with. Constantly taking photos and videos of our members in action, and having routine photoshoots with our staff. She is continuously mixing up our content to stay on trend but not loose our voice. I highly recommend if you can, hire someone who is tech savvy, passionate, and creative to help you along the way.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Word of mouth is always the number one source for new clients. When people are happy with what you do they want to share it with those they love. Our members bring friends and family often and typically those new people stay! We also host events that encourage our current members to bring a friend, we recently did a “Valentines Partner Workout” where members were able to bring a friend for free to workout with. From that event we had multiple new sign ups. Social Media and our MINDBODY app (which is the app we use for class bookings) has been a huge help as well. We have done social media give aways from more engagement, post daily about upcoming classes and events, and share what’s happening in the studio every day. Keeping your face relevant is so importnant.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://radfitstudios.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_rad_fit/

Image Credits
All photos taken by McKenzie Finnerty, RAD Fit Studio/Media Manager