WIN 6 - Taking Charge of your Future and Protecting Your Assets with Lauren Foundos and Britany Geautreau

Welcome to win the Women Investing Network, the podcast where you can learn from successful entrepreneurs, business leaders and real estate investors who are winning in business and life. Learning from others is the fastest way to grow your skills, gain knowledge and avoid pitfalls so you can win. Join our hosts, Elizabeth Embry and Jason Hartman. Elizabeth is a seasoned real estate investor, experienced corporate executive and skilled mentor. Jason is a self made multimillionaire investor, entrepreneur and highly acclaimed thought leader. Together with their successful guests, you'll get the tools you'll need to win.

Welcome to another exciting episode of WIN the Women Investing Network where we help women win in investing and in life. This is episode number six and I'm so excited that you're here today. If you haven't already taken a moment, please go back and rate, review and subscribe to the podcast. I'd hate for you to miss any of the amazing speakers that we've had so far or that we plan to have in upcoming episodes. Today we actually have two guests on the podcast. Brittany Gotrow has a financial advising firm and she is moving into not only doing traditional stocks and mutual funds but but she's also expanding into alternative types of investing such as real estate, real estate fund companies and other tech angel investor type investings. And it's really interesting and exciting to see how she's evolved. She's anticipated the changes in the market and she's evolving to, you know, a new area where people can put their hard earned dollars into things that they know will work for them. And Lauren Fundus is the CEO and founder of Forte and she's got a really interesting story as well because she started out as a Treasury bond trader on Wall street and then evolved to going to her first love of exercise and being able to provide the boutique experience of a great workout. But anywhere in the world, anywhere in the US So even if you're in, you know, you're traveling or you are someplace in the Midwest where they may not have a really cool New York sty boutique place or what have you, you can access that workout anywhere. Both of these women really anticipated changes in the market, went to things that they were passionate about, that they had knowledge of and really built those experiences for others to enjoy. So I am sure you're going to enjoy our guests today.

Thank you. Today I have Brittany Gautreau and she.

Has a financial advising firm. The reason why we have her on the podcast, several people have asked me already like exactly what is a cfa? What is the cfp?

When should I get a financial advisor involved?

What should I do outside of real estate? What's the difference between E Trade and having an advisor? And honestly, I don't know the answers to those questions, and that's why I've.

Asked my friend Brittany here to join us. So, Brittany, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much. I'm glad to be here.

So, Brittany, can you give us a little bit about your background, who you are, and give the listeners context of your area of expertise?

I am a Seattle native that took a hiatus to California for a season, and I'm back in the Seattle area, Bellevue specifically. And I'm really just trying to open an office as a financial advisory firm called Clarity Capital Partners. I've been in the industry in various roles since I was 17 years old and love it. I'm super passionate about it. I came into it from some family struggles with finances and wanting to encourage and enlighten women on how to take care of their finances.

Very cool. Very cool. So then, can you answer those basic.

Questions that people have been asking me? What's a cfa? What's a cfp?

So the CFP and the CFA are what we call in our industry a designation. It's similar in schooling and time that an MBA would be to most people. So it's letters after your name and it's credibility on extensive education in these various areas. So CFP stands for Certified Financial Planner, and then the CFA stands for Chartered Financial Analyst. The analysts tend to be more the folks that are helping us choose which investments are smart and when we should be investing. They're the ones that are living and breathing by the stock market, the bond market, various areas. And then the CFP are the folks that are going to be putting financial plans together and really helping somebody figure out what their future looks like, what their legacy is, and where their money is and where it's going.

So.

So those two are huge designations. And I would encourage anyone that is looking for a financial advisor to have someone on that team that has one of those designations. And I think something that might be applicable to this particular group is the designation I'm pursuing is called the kaya, which is the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. And that is someone that specializes and knows a little bit about real estate as well as private equity and private placements. Different ways of investing than the traditional stocks, bonds, mutual funds.

All right, you're speaking my language. You're speaking my language. So are you a real estate investor?

I actually am starting out, yes. I have inherited a little bit of land and a home from my dad, and I've also am building out my first rental property right now. So I'm hoping to get things going. And the goal is for my husband and I to get, I believe it's two or three doors a year over the next five years.

Oh, terrific. Congratulations.

Thank you.

When somebody comes from a corporate background, they're using a 401k and they're able to just select a set number of potential mutual funds and maybe they get their stock once they get out of their corporate role or change a corporate role, then they move their money into iris. And it seems like that's when people really start paying attention to what they could be investing in and what they should be investing in. But they're faced with the challenge of, well, should I just use an E trade online service type thing or should I, you know, go with a financial advisor?

Can you tease that a little apart.

A little bit for me? Why should somebody go with a financial advisory firm versus just doing it themselves online?

And that is actually a question that I get a lot, and it's completely understandable. A lot of the times you're hearing in the news and from experience of 2007 to 2009 that people in finance are bad people, it's expensive. We don't have your best interests in mind. Various things of that nature. And the first thing is I want to put your mind at ease that we are held to a very high standard, called a fiduciary standard, where our responsibility is to put the best interests of our clients first and foremost in everything. And if we don't, we lose not only our licenses, but we can lose our companies and we can lose our entire careers. So it's a really big risk for us to not be doing things properly.

Politics aside, all of the conversation around whether people have your best interest at heart and they are legally held to it, it sounds like financially they're held to it regardless.

Yes, absolutely. And folks are definitely going to abuse it, sadly. But the goal and the hope is always that you have your best interest for the client at heart in everything that you're doing for investing. And back to the E situation, or question, rather that question I get asked a lot as well. And I guess it would boil it down to what I like to call the kit, which is if you have the knowledge, the interest, and the time to spend on investing for yourself, then absolutely go for it. There's no reason for you not to. But if it's an area you've never really dabbled in that you're kind of uncomfortable with, you don't really have the time to spend to do it, and you're really not interested in it at that point, it makes sense for you to hire someone on to be your financial advisor to help you in that process and to bring it kind of back to real estate. If you have real estate properties all over the US for example, and you want to invest in them, typically you're going to pay a management company to manage things for you. And it's a similar type thing. We're kind of managing your money, if you will.

For me, I think that there's a.

Lot of things that people can do, but there isn't always a lot of things that people should do without some additional support and guidance. For me, I'd been investing in the stock market since I was 21, but I've had a financial advisor helping me along the way after I got more than a couple of dollars in those accounts. And I like what you were saying. It's like if you have the interest, if you've got the time, if you've got the knowledge, go for it. But there's a lot that people don't know. And for real estate, for instance, I spent time, my husband and I spent time four years before we actually started investing, building our skills, reading books, listening to podcasts. And then at that, you know, about 2011, that's when we really started kicking in the going to a lot of seminars, listening to a lot of podcasts, and really taking the time. But I don't think that people realize that even though, you know, somebody like I can do real estate, in essence, in my part time, I was still, I mean, this was a very strong part of our social life. This was a very strong part of our active skill set time. And so I completely hear what you're saying. It's like you've got to invest the time and effort or the results will show, but will be reflective on that time and effort, I would suspect.

Exactly, absolutely.

So let's talk a little bit about.

The additional direction that you're going where you're also looking at alternative types of investments. Tell us more about that. That sounds really interesting.

Absolutely. So our firm is a boutique smaller wealth management firm and we specialize in working with business owners, entrepreneurs, those type of people that are somewhat type A and really want a workout partner that is going to help them go the extra mile. And with that, most people that typically are entrepreneurs want alternatives outside of, oh, I've got Amazon stock and Apple stock and maybe I'll buy some Microsoft because I Live in Seattle. And I also like Starbucks. So they're looking at things where they can be an angel investor potentially in a up and coming company, they can help invest in a private equity deal where a company might be floundering a little bit, but is wanting to turn around or wanting to do something in real estate and not really understanding what the ramifications are and the time that's involved in doing something like that. So finding maybe a real estate fund or being an investor that just provides cash to someone to build real estate, various options, I mean, it's kind of endless, which is the wonderful part about it. So we specialize in a lot of alternatives and kind of vetting those out for our clients. And that kind of makes us a little bit different than the standard financial advisory firm that you might go to. So we're looking for things that are outside of the box because our business owner clients are typically outside of the box thinkers.

Oh, I like it. I like it. That really resonates. So if I'm a typical corporate earner, W2 person, and I'm now at the point where I really need to get some financial advice, what are some of the questions? The first question that I often hear is who should I go to? And then how do I know that they're good? So what are some of the types of ways that people should be doing to research which type of financial firm is right for them? And then what are some of the questions that they may be asking when they're vetting these financial firms to figure out is it a good fit for them?

Great question. I would say the first thing is when you are looking for someone, it might be somewhat uncomfortable, but ask your trusted friends and ask your family members who they use or who they would suggest, because they are experiencing the same types of ups and downs most likely that you are, and they want to have someone by their side to help them in protecting their assets and having a future with them. So asking around is a huge thing. The second thing is vet out the team that you're working with and understand who they are, who they work with, and kind of how they work. There's going to be financial advisors that touch you, or that's what we say in industry, but will reach out to you on an annualized basis.

Not actually touching. That would be sexual harassment, the communication touch.

Okay, got it, got it.

Right, right. They're reaching out to you on an annual basis. And it's kind of plain vanilla, very standard investment side of things, if that's what you're comfortable with, then that's the type of person you need to find. But the questions I would ask once you've been introduced to someone is, who's your firm? How long have you been established? How long have you been in the industry? And what does your team do differently than Joe Schmoe down the street? And then the last question is, you know, find somebody on the team that has one of those or several of those designations, because that person is really going to lead the team of advisors in a great way and just be aware of ethical standards and fiduciary standards over and above the general ones for the industry. That's where I would start. And then I also would say go with your gut. If you feel like somebody isn't the right fit, they make you feel uncomfortable, they're not asking you questions about your life, they're more talking at you, then that's kind of a red flag. You need to be with somebody that really wants to understand who you are, why you are, where you're going, what you want to do, and be a accountability partner with you to make those goals a reality.

I completely agree with what you're saying. It's such a strange relationship because, you know, your financial person really kind of needs to function as your guide and mentor, but they're also a service provider to you. And so there's this give and take that you have to have. And I know for. For me, the financial advisor that I had, you know, I had a relationship with that person for, you know, over 20 years. So it's not like you're just gonna build that quick relationship and then forget about it and you're never gonna see them again. This person's gonna be, you know, going through all of your life changes. You know, if you find somebody that's.

The right fit, right? And you need to be, I would say, as transparent as you are comfortable with, with that financial advisor. So if something comes up in your life, you get married, you're moving to a different state, you buy a rental home, or, you know, you buy a vacation home in Whistler or you have a child, all of these things, life changes, job changes, notify your financial advisor of that, Communicate with them so that they can be aware of those changes and how that might impact where we're investing right now. And then the same goes for us as financial advisors. We should be reaching out to you on a regular basis, saying, hey, we noticed that the market's a little tumultuous the last couple of days. Don't fret. We've got our eye on it. These are our thoughts on it and where we're at. And, you know, we're just going to sit tight and ride out the wave or we're going to start selling or this is an opportunity to buy. That's our job.

Yeah. No, I like that. So, speaking of the market.

Yes.

What are your predictions? Do you have predictions?

What are your thoughts on what's been going on and what is going on?

I mean, with our typical environment, we can't predict anything and we can't guarantee anything, of course, either. But I would say, you know, good or bad? Bad. And I don't want to go political here, but the market since our presidential election has reached all new highs. And, you know, things are pretty steady. And we were a little uneasy, to be honest, when the election was going on, on where the market would end up. So we've been a little bit, I guess, how would you say it, Skeptically optimistic that the market is going to still be strong for a little while. However, we really feel like the writing's on the wall that there has to be a correction at some point.

So that makes sense.

Exactly. You know, and at this point, we have cash kind of on the side for investing when things go on sale. We're not buying in a whole lot right now just because we do feel that the market is kind of a little bit uneasy, and we are waiting for that correction to kind of show itself.

Yeah, I can imagine. With the politics that are happening in Britain, in France, in Germany, in Turkey. Oh, my gosh. In Turkey and, you know, just. And Russia, too. Right. I mean, all of those things impact our global economy, but also our. Even our local economy, depending on who our trading partners are and such.

Exactly. And who are, you know, the companies here work for and partner with worldwide. It has a tremendous effect on the economies.

Jason and I were joking the other day on his Creating wealth podcast because he knows I'm not a Trump supporter, and he's not necessarily a Trump supporter, but he was certainly not a Hillary fan. And so he was saying. So, Elizabeth, since things are going well, you know, are you now softening your stance on Trump? And I said, well, I think that.

Obama created a great Runway for the guy.

That's awesome. Oh, good job.

But, you know, I. You're.

You're absolutely right.

I think that we're in a. We'll see. I mean, it's certainly having, you know, you and I both having gone through, you know, market corrections in 2000 and, you know, in 2004 and going through those, those ebbs and flows. When things look this good, there's always something around the corner. But who knows how long the corner will take to turn and who knows how long the it looks this good is?

And we also know it always tends.

To come back too. They are cyclical, that things go up, things come down. And I like what you were saying about keeping some money in reserve for when things go on sale. That makes a lot of sense.

Absolutely. And you know, with that right now we don't. We feel like nothing's really on sale because we are at all time highs, which is great. Right? That's what you want to experience. But the one maybe piece of advice that I would give folks is in this type of environment, don't be greedy. If you have this mentality like, oh, I can't lose on ABC 1, 2, 3, stock, because it's just going and going and it's never going to fail. Well, remember companies like AOL and various others from back in the day.

Yes.

That could not fail. So don't put all your eggs in one basket, I beg of you. Make sure you diversify and protect your assets and just have those reflector type things where you go, okay, am I buying too much of this? Should I maybe reconsider investing this elsewhere or just sitting in cash for a time? Because I'm not exactly sure what I should do.

Yeah, no, that.

I really like that. Great. Words of caution. And you have to understand history in order not to repeat it. Right?

Exactly, exactly.

So speaking of history, our podcast is relatively new.

We have very little history with it.

But have you had a chance to.

Listen to any of podcasts that we have out there yet?

I have, and I am loving what I'm hearing thus far. You guys are doing a great job. You're fun to listen to and very, very cool and definitely needed for women. Oh my gosh.

Terrific.

Thank you.

Yeah, that's really the target that we're going for, is really helping women to get empowered, whether they're focusing on their entrepreneurial roles, responsibilities, and skill sets that they need there, or killing it as a CEO in a large corporation, building those skills in life and in health. We've got some great folks that are focused on the health industry that just have some amazing tips, you know, longevity. And so I'm really excited about the queue of amazing speakers that we've got, including you. So, Brittany, thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Elizabeth, for thinking of me and best of luck with this. I hope it just goes international. And you really empower women to really step into this space because it is so such a great space to be a part of.

Terrific. Thank you.

Thank you.

It's my pleasure to introduce Lauren Fundos. She's the founder and chief officer of Forte. Lauren, welcome to the show and thanks so much for being here.

Thank you.

Do you mind telling our listeners a little bit about yourself and a little bit about your company, Forte?

I grew up in Long Island. I played sports my whole life growing up. So fitness has always been a huge part of my life. I ended up playing in college at the University of Maryland. I played field hockey. After that I graduated and spent the last 10 years working on Wall street trading U.S. treasury bonds and loving that at the same time. Still keeping my workout passion kind of alive and going to studios and working out. And that's sort of where the catalyst for Forte was born. And so I ended up, you know, seeing an opportunity in the fitness market that I just was very passionate about and started to see, you know, if people were interested in doing the idea that I thought would be great. And before I knew it, I was doing two at once and ultimately ended up leaving Wall street to build Forte and Forte. Basically what we do is we build hardware and software that we install in boutique fitness studios. So Exhale, for instance, we put install our cameras there and it's fully automated. So they teach their classes as they regularly would, and now they're live broadcasting to the world. So people from anywhere in the world can now take those classes and kind of, you know, giving them the ability to leverage technology to reach a much bigger audience.

So is it a subscription based or how do people actually access these awesome workouts?

We're streaming all these various studios from around the world to one hub, sort of like a Netflix style hub. Then you have a subscription to Forte and that gives you access to all these classes. So these classes will stream live and after they're live, they then go on demand. And so we're really excited to be able to kind of bring the best from all over the place and really put it together in one in one hub here.

You know, that's a really cool concept because I know when I go to classes, they're great, but, you know, sometimes you just want to work out at home or you want to work out by yourself at the gym, but you want to get different experiences or learn different techniques.

You know, I live in New York City, it's a different world here. But people, a lot of people don't have access to this stuff. And they just won't for a long time. They'll just have a gym. So it's awesome to be able to, you know, connect those people to this awesome stuff as well. You know, as this boutique sector grows so fast within the gym industry, you know, it's not an accident. It's because it's great. And it's really getting a lot of people on board that really couldn't find their groove before. So it's exciting to be able to bring it to those people in addition to, you know, expats and people traveling and all the kind of more obvious user bases for this product.

Yeah.

So it sounds like, you know, you're hitting on the types of people that can actually really leverage this the most. Surely people that travel travel on a regular basis. But I like the fact that you're calling out, you know, if somebody lives in the Midwest or, you know, in a place that doesn't have the local cool studio. What's your target audience for the consumers.

Of your exercise classes?

Sort of everybody. You know, we're not trying to just get the at home, DVD type workout person. You know, we want that person as well. But we also imagine, you know, you go to the gym, you put your phone on the treadmill, you have your headphones plug in. Whether I exist or not, every single person does that. So instead of staring at the wall, now you're taking ripped, you know, and they're talking to you, and you're a part of this live class. So I think kind of just changing the way we think about working out where, you know, mobile devices are everywhere. So whether you're in a hotel gy your phone by yourself, on a treadmill, at home, wherever you are, you shouldn't have to be guessing. You should be fully motivated and immersed in one of these classes. And I think we're trying to really go pretty broad here. You know, we are doing some deals to also be in big box gyms. The ideal use case really is on a tv. It's like a game changer on a tv. It's awesome. My TV at home is big, and I literally feel like I'm standing in the class and it's. That's the best use case. So, you know, having it in places like that or in apartment complexes that have big empty gyms with a big tv, like, you can go in there and use all that equipment and have an awesome experience.

Now, that really ties into this trend.

That I've been personally seeing.

I'm in Seattle, and so we're a relatively Decent sized city. More no New York by any stretch of the imagination. But there's a lot of work from home people, people that are actually in their apartment building going to a WeWork type space. You know, they're really like living in that space. But yeah, they've got a fitness room, but like, you know, there's four pieces of equipment, right?

Yep.

Yeah. So I can imagine.

Yeah. Like these hotels that have some of those gyms that are kind of spooky, you know, now this brings the whole place to life. The equipment's there, you know, you can really, you know, they're even starting to schedule classes into it. So, like saying spin is at this time, you know, because it's sometimes you people need other people around to feel like it's not weird to do that stuff. So they're doing stuff like that as well. And then I think just, you know, there's going to be something for everybody too, which is exciting. So, you know, we're bringing the best places. The thing with our partners is they already have a secret Sauce. Exhale has 29 locations. They have been around forever. They have loyal users. And as we have launched it now, I knew that Exhale users would understand the product because they go there every day. But it was really a test to see that people that had never been to a studio, that didn't even know what that meant were now thinking the same things. They were liking the same trainers, the same classes, like, the same things that the in studio people love. They're saying the same things. And so it's been really exciting to see that evolution, to see that work the same way once we translated it, you know, through streaming.

And so for those of us who aren't familiar with Exhale, what is that?

Yeah, Exhale is a bar studio. They have been around for a long time. They're kind of one of the early studios in this boutique Y type of space. They have 29 locations here in the US and so that's like a great partner for us. We're super excited about them. And then we are, you know, we're kind of picking one from each sector. So we're, you know, kind of vetting out each city and trying to have, you know, kind of a footprint in each city as well. I think the most exciting part is that, you know, for our users that are watching these classes, that they can actually go to New York or go to Salt Lake City where one of our other partners is, and show up in that studio that they're watching every day and be a Part of it and see the class in action and the lady that's there on Tuesday will be there and just, you know, that's a whole other level of connection that, you know, versus an old school DVD where, you know, you can't call up Richard Simmons and, you know, hang out with them. Whereas here you could show up to this place that you fall in love with or this community that you fall in love with and actually be there. And so I think that's really where this takes this like, human connection level to a whole other level.

I like where you're going. It's the concept of virtualization, but yet that concept of community as well.

Yeah, people want to be a part of something. The other thing is like, you know, just like Netflix now, people are go to the movies less and that's real, you know, in the box office numbers. And I think technology enables it to be a pretty darn good experience at home. And so I think, I don't think ever anything replaces an in studio experience. But for the people that, you know, I think people are gravitating towards doing some things like this at home, just like watching movies. And I think this will kind of follow a similar pattern in that space. And so, you know, I think this is really giving them an opportunity to be a part of this, which is pretty cool.

Yeah.

The Netflix concept of original content really has kind of created a cult following of several of their shows. Do you have, you know, forte, you know, original content that's being built, or are you leveraging all of the great stuff that's already out there that not everybody has access to?

Yeah, mostly we're leveraging the studios that people don't have access to. But we do have three kind of what we call like Lab 240, these sort of X labs where we bring in instructors from all over that are great. You know, I think the one thing that we want to do is like, make this a platform kind of for the people. So who am I to decide what people are going to like? I know what I like, you know, but I think for us, we want to be able to bring in people and kind of test it and see what people like and, you know, rather than telling people what they have to like. And so we are like, very open to people write us every day for partnerships and to come test it out. And so, you know, if it's getting watched, then we'll definitely make a role for that person or studio on the platform.

Do you have a concept of like a personal trainer that advises on which types of classes that people should be targeting. I can imagine that once you're getting enough content, I know, like, every time I go to Netflix, it's like, holy guacamole, there's just a ton of stuff out there. How do I know which class is going to be the right one for me or the most interesting one for me?

Yeah, so we actually removed hardware from a couple studios just because we realized pretty quickly that having a thousand yoga studios is just confusing. So we're trying to keep it more curated so it doesn't get too overwhelming. And ultimately, like Netflix's algorithm works, as you use it more, it gets smarter for its suggestions. That will work the same way. The next kind of V2 will have you put in what you like and then the technology will start to get smarter and request stuff. I think we definitely need to make sure we're curating it good for people because we don't want them to feel overwhelmed. And so I think that's kind of the next step of our development for users, as well as sort of just scheduling, because we know what we need to build. Obviously it's all a function of time and bandwidth at this point, but just scheduling, just like if you want to go to a student studio, you had planned to go there in your calendar. Right. You'd have to block that time. And so if there's an upcoming live class, being able to block that time and stuff like that. So I think those features are high on our to do list.

Yeah, no, that makes sense. I love the fact that you've, you know, had this passion all your life around fitness and you're being. You're able to shift your focus into this fitness domain, but before that you were in a Treasury broker. So let's talk a little bit about that because. Because the Women Investing Network, it's really about helping women to leverage, building skills within themselves, also taking advantage of their financial assets so that they can plan for their future, grow their personal wealth. And it sounds like you've really kind of been walking in both worlds. So I'm really curious about that time when you were a Treasury's broker.

I actually love my job. I really wasn't trying to leave it. I sort of saw this opening in this space and really spoke to the studios to see if they were interested, and they were. So before I knew it, they were ready to start. But I was like, whoa, I didn't really know this was gonna happen kind of thing. So I was really focused. Actually, prior to this, you know, I had diversified My own investments. I had bought a place, I had invested in the market. I'm a little bit more of a risk taker than most people. I think everyone has to know their tolerance or, you know, maybe if you have children or whatever, you know, you have to obviously be, you know, according to whatever risk you can take. But I ended up trying to invest actually in some the of my competitors and some other cool startups in this space. I was looking into that at first initially because I had invested in the market and real estate and was my next thing was sort of this stuff because it would be fun. And so as I saw this opportunity was sort of how this kind of, you know, fell into place. I think coming from a financial background, going into the startup world has actually been pretty helpful. You know, I think the only other thing that would be helpful for me is if I knew how to code. Those are the two things that you know, which I don't.

Yeah, but that's an easy enough skill to hire out. And one of the things I'm really curious about though is so many people talk about I'm going to start a new business or I'm going to be an entrepreneur. But you get so caught in your day to day W2 job where you're earning your paycheck and you're paying your bills and it's comfortable. It's really hard to push yourself into an entrepreneurial vein. How did you have the courage to do it? How did you make that opportunity?

Yeah, everyone was pretty horrified actually when I did this. They're like, you had the best job and the best life. Like, what are you thinking? I'm like, oh my God. I was expecting you to be a little more positive about this. I was like, I'm like, it was stressing me out. I didn't think much of it as I did it. You know, I think, you know, when I told myself that I was leaving, I wasn't leaving because I was, you know, drinking too much or my life was falling apart. I was leaving because I wanted to take a risk that was going to hopefully change a lot of people's lives. And if it didn't, and if it still doesn't, I have learned so much, much more than I could have ever learned in 20 more years doing what I was doing. So I feel like just being confident that if it doesn't work out, everything is going to be okay. It's not the end of the world. And so I left my job because I wanted to work 100 times harder. And so I Think it was just like knowing that that made me feel really comfortable. I. Ultimately, before I built the product, obviously, we built technology for a long time. I had gone to all our partners and studios to see that they were willing to do this. And so once they were willing at that point, then. And it kind of snowballed into, you know, I would be trading at work, and, you know, they'd be like, you bought 200 million twos? And I'm like, I'm in a meeting, and I would be on the phone, and slowly but surely, I was like, I think I got to get out of here, guys. You know, it just kind of worked itself out, you know, that it was moving quickly, and I just moved forward with it. I knew I had to take advantage of it. I think there's no perfect time. You know, I literally bought my place not expecting to make no money for the next two years. So that was definitely somewhat scary. But, you know, I think you always have to know that it's. There's never the perfect time to do anything. You know, it's. If I had to sell my place, then I could sell it. I think it's just the market was ready for streaming, and so right now, we're in the right place at the right time, which feels great. And it's because we didn't wait. And had I waited, you know, another year, this wouldn't be where we are today.

Yeah, I can imagine that. It's just really keeping your finger on the pulse of where the trends are going, where your passion is, and kind of of connecting those dots.

Yep.

And like you said, you have this amazing background of really understanding, you know, how dollars and cents work in a business.

Yep.

Your ability to take risk is really admirable, because I know a lot of people talk about the things that they want to do, but the fact that you just did it, it's pretty cool.

I just feel like, you know, everything is always going to be okay. I'm leaving to do a great thing. Ultimately, you know, it's not like I'm leaving to just go find myself or do nothing. You know, I think this has been definitely the hardest experience of my life. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I'm almost surprised at some of the people I know and love very much that are entrepreneurs that didn't say anything to me for stopping me. My life was very easy before the market closed. I went home and got a great check, and, you know, I planned my weekends to do fun things, and it's a very different life that I live right now, obviously, but for a long time, for two and a half years we're building and sort of, you don't, you know, the future, it almost seems like there's no end in sight, which definitely can be mentally challenging. But you know, now you get to launch and you have users writing these emails in and it's just incredible.

You really hit on a great point. I've heard other entrepreneurs describe it as well, but nobody's ever actually said how come they didn't tell me. But the fact that it is, it's very different mentally and physically. It's very different to be an entrepreneur than to work in a corporate setting.

I mean, if I don't go to work, the company doesn't get built. Right. If you work at Microsoft and you don't go to work, everything will be okay.

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, now we have clients and investors and users and you know, the magnitude of stress is just grows as it works more and more. You know, obviously it's just such a different beast, you know, then obviously trading specifically where it's very, you know, tied to just the hours of the market.

Right.

This is a non stop thing. And definitely a lot of highs and lows and mentally challenging. And also, you know, we're building a company that helps people and makes people healthy. So that feels great. I think I've definitely deteriorated my own health during this process. But you know, for users and stuff to be able to do stuff like that just is incredible.

You hit on a really, a really great point. The more stressed you are, the more you have to make time for the exercise. Otherwise you know, your body and your.

Brain just stop working.

That's been my saving grace, you know, my whole life. That's really how I actually started going to studios. When I worked on Wall Street, I used to have to be at work super early. So I was working out before work and I was waking up at like 4:30 in the morning. Yeah, I was like, this is too early. So I started going after work, but I had client dinners. So they, my clients would say like, where are you going? I'm like, we gotta go work out. I'm losing like my sense of self. I gotta go work out. So they started coming with me and I started working out with my clients. And that's how I got really into it, just like finding new places for us to work out. And that was actually how I got really into the studio scene. And so working out for me has always been instrumental in my life. And I really hope that other people see it that way too. Like, I don't talk about weight loss. I never want to talk about weight loss. I just want to talk about, you should do this every day. You will feel better and it will work. And I think ultimately, you know, as we integrate some of the wearables and some of that stuff to show people, like, who cares if you didn't lose weight or look different, like your heart is working more efficiently. And this is doing really good things for you behind the scenes. And you really should be doing it and making it fun.

You give a whole new meaning to the word happy hour.

Yeah, exactly.

I mean, you know, instead of going for drinks with your clients, you're taking them to go do some totally painful, kick ass. Wonderful class. That's really cool.

I mean, it was awesome. They loved it. I was like, I mean, it's fun. I think that's the whole thing is, you know, this sector boutique stuff takes over 25% of the fitness industry now. And it's just growing. Like there's definitely something to the camaraderie of these places and the communities, I think that is lost in a regular gym. And so I think now, you know, it's shifting. I think people are, if you say you don't work out, it's like, whoa, you know, that's not good.

Yeah.

With that whole trend of, you know, if you're not standing, you know, like sitting is the new smoking and the bar keeps going up and up. And I know personally, when I've worked in corporations like Expedia or Amazon, there's a huge, a serious fitness bent to it. In fact, the group that I worked with at Expedia, we actually hiked Mount St. Helens together.

Oh, wow. Yeah.

I mean, it's just, it's so cool when you've got that fitness exposure in the socialization that you have, it does create a sense of community. And I can imagine when you're doing these really awesome online classes, you know, you're having that great experience as well. How can our listeners get a hold of your content? How can they learn more about Forte?

Yeah, they can go to Forte Fit. So instead of dot com, it's Forte Fit is our site. And then you can reach out to us at laurenorte Fit or conciergeorte Fit. And my handle is Elfundos Fundos on Twitter. Feel free to reach out anytime. We obviously, we really appreciate anybody's feedback and stuff like that. We're trying to iterate and learn from users. So if anybody's using the product. We would love, love to hear what you think. We're super open to. You know, if you find studios or trainers or things that you think are amazing, we definitely want to know about them. So please feel free to share that kind of information with us. For sure.

Is there anything that we haven't talked about that you wanted to cover today?

No, I think just my main point is really that I think people should be confident to just take the risk and do stuff and to really trust themselves and ultimately diversify yourself and believe in yourself and be able to take that risk and be confident that if it doesn't work out that. That everything really is always gonna be okay. Otherwise, you know, you're just waiting for the perfect opportunity, which I don't know really what that means. So I think it's just important to realize that you can do this and if it doesn't work out, then you'll course correct. But to take those risks and just be confident in yourself and to be true to yourself because it's super exciting to be doing something that I'm really passionate about. I went to these studios every day before I built this company. So when I talk to them, I'm like, I loved you guys before I even had this idea in my brain, which feels really exciting.

I just love the idea.

Making something that's like really exclusive to a location and making it accessible to everybody.

It's super exciting. It's been fun to watch the users, you know, just get into it like just as the regular people of the studio are and I think just connecting people and sort of creating communities that are real and also breaking away from these choreographed, perfect things that for some reason has always been the case is. Is going to be really exciting.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, Lauren Fundos, founder and CEO of Forte, thanks so much for joining us today.

Thank you.

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