We recently connected with Katie Santos and have shared our conversation below.

Katie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

My highest goal is to share the value and importance of movement with as many people as I can. After 20 years as a studio owner with two partners, we made the decision to close our business. I now focus full-time on HR and business consulting. While I don’t run a studio anymore, I’m loving helping our industry become more relevant and profitable.

Until 2020, I owned a large studio with two partners and ran a team of up to 17 employees. We went into an employee model for two reasons. The first was that independent contractors were not completely legal and more importantly, we wanted to be able to control how the services in our studio were offered. Through years of trial and sometimes error, we landed on a successful recipe for team engagement and productivity that served us well.

Running a team and complying with employment laws (and their ever-changing rules) is tricky. The wellness industry is special and it takes someone with knowledge of our industry to help studio owners navigate all the rules and regulations they encounter as employers.

But it’s not just that…

My approach involves digging into a business’s soul to uncover the unique features that help them find the right team members for their studio. When a business can drill down and express who they are at the core, they can make sure the people they bring on fit with the values and vision they espouse.

When you bring in the right people in the first place, running that team takes less effort and allows the owners to focus on nurturing and growing the business.

Katie, 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 grew up on a ranch (complete with cowboys) and moved into the restaurant business as an adult. During the last 40 years, working in the fitness business has been my real love. All of this has served to teach me the many sides of staffing and running teams.

In 2018, because of changes in California employment classification laws, I decided the studio consulting work I was doing should focus primarily on HR services. The experience I had in all the industries I had worked in, gave me a deep well of knowledge to help the fitness industry navigate the changes they needed to make.

When my partners and I made the decision to close our business, I knew my focus would shift full-time to HR and business consulting.

I knew from hiring HR consultants for my business that fitness needed special attention. We work differently, our schedules are unique and our team members are running their own businesses within our business. How we work with our employees needs to be approached more as a partnership than a boss/employee relationship. Helping owners learn to think less “us versus them” and more as a cohesive team is something I relish.

Our industry has not been seen as “professional” and I aim to change that.

I work with businesses to encourage professionalism in their teams, and to help even the part-time trainer understand they should think of themselves as a respected professional whose put time, effort, and money into their careers.

Any advice for managing a team?

My team always knew that first and foremost, I always had their backs. While I pushed them to understand that they should see themselves as respected professionals, I never let them feel that they couldn’t come to me with just about anything.

If a client was unkind or harassing, I gave them the tools to navigate the challenge.

If there was some procedure or policy they struggled with, I listened to their feedback and either coached them through it or changed it if I needed to.

We held our team to a high standard but we gave them a secure and well-run business to work for in exchange.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

My first boss was a tyrant, he always got results. I thought I should do the same and that his method would work for me.

When I was promoted overnight from cocktail waitress to assistant restaurant manager, I thought I’d know exactly how to act, like a tyrant.

My first week consisted of giving orders and demanding that things be done “my way”. I didn’t listen when my team tried to explain why they were doing what they were doing, I thought I knew better.

On the fifth day of my new role, a dishwasher got brave. He caught me rounding the corner from the kitchen and simply said ‘Santos, you’re a bitch, they don’t listen to you cause you’re mean”.

Whoa, that brought me up short. He was right. I’ll never forget it. His statement taught me the importance of listening.

And that I’m not always right!

Contact Info:

• Website: fitnesshr.com
• Instagram: @fitnesshr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fitnesshrkatiesantos
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-santos/
• Twitter: nope