Getting Raw Ep #26 Dan Henderson Australian Institute of Kettlebells

Welcome to Getting Raw. It's Richard Mark Toutounji and today I'm with Dan Henderson. Welcome along.

Thanks, Richard.

For those who don't know Dan Henderson already, he's a leader in the industry. He's got a few different businesses but I think his core business and his strength in the industry is the succession and the growth of kettlebells in Australia. Business is called Australian Institute of Kettlebells. You're targeting, you know, you're in gyms, you're doing, you're always on the road, Melbourne, Brisbane, whenever I speak to you, you're always doing events for trainers, events for personal trainers. And I really want to know today, I want to know, I want to get really straight to the guts of it. I want to understand You know, kettlebells has, I guess, come a pretty long way in the last couple years, and it's really a full business now for you guys. You're giving courses out, when a couple years ago we never had such things. So we did, but they weren't really mainstream to personal trainers. Now you see kettlebells in Fitness First, you'll see them in mainstream gyms. Before, they weren't around. And I know that you've had challenges as well of getting these kettlebells... Approved, and your sessions to the audiences. So tell me a bit more about the whole kettlebells and where it came from and why you're so passionate about them.

Yeah, excellent. Thanks, Richard. I guess where it started for me was 3 years ago, the journey. And we— I was using kettlebells a lot in my own training. Yep. Business partner was doing the same, and we just loved the kettlebells. We were getting great results in our own training. We were implementing them in our own personal training, and clients loved them. And more importantly, they were getting great results. And so I began a search of other resources. I wanted to see what resources were out there for me to get better at teaching these kettlebells. Right. And when I looked at the local market, kettlebells were so new right then. People— we were getting strange looks all the time when we're heaving these big balls of steel. And so there wasn't anything out there.

So there was no education out there for trainers?

There was very, very little education out there. Next to none. It was all coming from overseas. There was resources from people like Pavel Tsoussaline and Steve Cotter and pioneers in the West, but they were American.

Right.

And so we got our hands on as much information as possible, and we wanted to learn as much as possible. And so what we did is we decided to look at who the best was in the world with kettlebells and teaching kettlebells. And we came across a guy called Vasilij Ginko, a Latvian guy, 7-time world champion. And we flew him out here for 4 intensive days to really learn under his tutelage and learn everything that we could and just immerse ourselves in his knowledge. And then from that, we decided to create a course where we can really have trainers better skilled in not only demonstrating and doing the kettlebell skills themselves, but better teaching those skills and translating those skills into their clients. Yeah, so we've got a lot of people that come to the course. And so yeah, I guess our philosophy, our motto is about making trainers better at using kettlebells, so then that translates into their clients.

Right, and I guess, you know, this has come about the last couple years. I mean, when did Australians Do Kettlebells start?

So we started off as Sydney Kettlebells 3 years ago. We had a brand— So it was

Sydney Kettlebells?

It was Sydney Kettlebells, and then we had a restructuring. We were getting demand from not just people located in Sydney, but we were getting demand from all over Australia. And so in January last year, so 2011, January last year, we restructured the business, we rebranded the business, we brought some important people on board, and we are now the Australian Institute of Kerbels.

I like it, I like the name, makes sense. Obviously people in Perth Probably be hard to book into a Sydney Kettlebells session, I guess.

Yeah, so it's just about opening it up. And it's just about sharing what we do with more people, and that rebranding enabled that to happen. I guess we talk about turning points in the business. For us, it came in April 2011, and that was when, after some time speaking to Fitness Australia and lobbying Fitness Australia and providing proposing to Fitness Australia. We had our course approved, and that was a, that was a real turning point for us.

So you got CECs for the course?

We got CECs.

And before this, there were no CECs?

No. So trainers were doing it as a labor of love. We were doing it as a labor of love, but our numbers were low and the opportunities weren't, weren't as many as they are now.

And so on that date there, then everything sort of switched for you guys?

Yeah, it was. That was a critical turning point. Every business has a critical turning point. That was ours. That was when things really just turned upside down and it was incredible. It was fantastic. From that day, the demand for our courses has just grown tenfold and it's just been a terrific journey in the last 12 to kind of 15 months now coming up.

And tell me about the journey. I mean, I know that we're in your studio. So you've got a private studio here in Coogee.

Yep, correct.

So we're in this studio here where you've got group training and training and that sort of Totally separate business. So you're a bit of a, you'd call yourself an entrepreneur, a business, you know, a person that likes a few different things on the go. Is that where you've come and created this Institute of Kettlebells from?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I like to create. It's in my nature to create. I love the fitness.

I think all trainers love to create. We're creating beasts, I think. I mean, people I know, we always like to keep creating.

Yeah, well, I love this industry and I see great opportunities for people to further themselves, whether it's a trainer furthering themselves in their education, whether it's a corporation furthering their workforce by getting them healthier, whether it's an individual that just wants to get healthier, lose some body fat and just change their lives. There's great opportunities out there. We're in a terrifically rewarding industry and for me it's just about identifying those. How can I help These different people in these different areas and creating a business or a product or a service around it.

Well, this is getting raw and I'd like to know, I'd like to know, I guess, struggles of running businesses as well and then we can talk about the success as well. One of the struggles you said was April when you didn't have CECs accredited. Was that, I guess, how long would you have gone without CECs being accredited? Would you continue to go through that journey?

It was getting tougher and tougher, to be perfectly honest. I love teaching people a number of different kettlebell skills and going through that process, but it was— we were losing money at that point in time. We weren't making any money. It was tough. It was a labor of

love.

Yeah. Most definitely a labor of love. And so, yeah, I think—

Tell me some numbers that— sorry, I'm flicking everywhere here. So when you were at that before, that pre-CEC stage, what sort of numbers were you doing at a seminar?

We were getting anywhere from kind of 4 to 10 if we were lucky. 4 to 10? Yeah. So 10 was kind of what we were maxing out on. That was as good as it got for us.

Right. And then now, what sort of numbers are you getting at these events?

Oh, look, in the last few weeks alone, we've sold out Brisbane and Sydney at over close to 30 participants. So that's where we've capped it.

Huge. Huge, huge shift.

Huge shift, absolutely massive. We were, yeah, our numbers have increased 7 or 8-fold from what we were getting, and that's consistent across the country. So we have our strongest cities, but those numbers have consistently increased. And I mean, we go to Canberra, we've got 20+ trainers. We go to Newcastle, we've got 20+ trainers. We go across to Perth, we've got 20+ trainers. So yeah.

So how do you do your marketing to get these trainers to I'm a bit interested in that. I've seen your website, it's pretty good. I mean, are you getting through websites? Are you getting through industry bodies? Where are people finding you?

Yeah, look, it's multifaceted. We just don't have one approach. I guess the way I think about marketing is you've got to have a number of different lines in the ocean. And it's the same ocean, we're targeting trainers, but you're going to get different trainers are going to bite different lines. And so you've got to have different pieces of bait out there as well. And so we use a lot of social media. We have a fantastic Facebook page. We've got over 2,000 people on that.

Yeah.

It's really interactive and we put a lot of free content up there. That's one of our big things. We've professionally filmed over 20 videos that we give for free. We have an email that we send out to our database every 2 weeks with a really scientific article attached to that. And so we've got, you know, a couple of thousand people reading that. I think we're up to about 3,000 people now on our email list. Great. We've done our search engine optimisation, so we're making sure that when people type in kettlebell courses that they're finding us. And we're also, you know, leveraging Fitness Australia and, you know, reaching their database by going through some of their advertising options as well. And also, it's word of mouth. Word of mouth is really driving our business. We've had over 700 people do our course in the last 12 months and people are talking and we're getting a lot of people that work at the same gyms now doing our courses as well.

It's getting around, word's getting around, which is good. And this is where I guess you're seeing the industry shift before it actually happens. And that's where I guess I want— that's what Getting Raw is all about, is to find the industry leaders that are seeing the shift And they create a kettlebell business. Well, they're creating another totally business that is happening once the shift is coming, which is you. You started and the shift came.

Yeah, and it's about identifying those shifts as well. So we're evolving. We're not just a kettlebell business anymore. You know, last year we had— we got our power bag course accredited. So we got the first ever power bag course accredited in Australia. Yep. This year we got our battling ropes We now have the first ever battling ropes course accredited in Australia. So it's about moving where the industry is moving, and it's about identifying what trainers can use to get great results, to make their sessions dynamic, fun, but also get great results for their clients, and then creating a course around that piece of equipment. So we've identified the kettlebells initially, now the power bags and the battling ropes. So we're evolving. We're the education behind the equipment.

Education behind the equipment. Awesome. I like it. That's very, it's very cool. Um, you've got a couple of other businesses too. Let's quickly touch on those. Yes. I know that you're about to go into a bit of a training filming session. So what's your other businesses? I mean, you're at the studio here now. Um, tell me a bit about that and your other corporate wellness company you have too.

Yeah, absolutely. So Coastal Bodies and Coogee is This is my first fitness business. So I started it 3 and a half years ago, and it's just a little, little PT studio in Coogee, and it's a terrific area. We've got 7 trainers that work from here.

Yep.

You know, we do anywhere up to about 100 sessions per week out of here, and it's just a terrific environment. And yeah, very, very fortunate to have a great team where we just, you know, and a great number We've got a number of fantastic clients as well. So that's our PT studio business. I guess what we do is very, very attentive, high-level personal training as well. So we do a lot of education as well.

It's very boutique in here as well, isn't

it? It is, it is. It's— we really wanted to get away from the bigger gym model and people that don't feel comfortable in that environment. We wanted to create a small community environment. And that's what we have. A lot of our clients live locally, and so we've got a nice little local community here. And then, yeah, the corporate health— Corporate Health Results was started over 12 months ago, and that really came about from some of the requests I was getting from local businesses and some of the success we had after implementing programs with those local businesses.

So you've implemented programs based in Coastal Waters, where we are now. 2 corporate companies, and then you said, okay, I think there's a need in the market here, let's go create a business out of it. Is that sort of how it happened?

Absolutely, yeah. So I saw that, I saw that we were doing a lot of terrific things, that we were getting terrific results for the participants, and it was great as workplaces were having a terrific culture around health and fitness. Individuals were getting great results, the rapport amongst workforces increased, and that was really encouraging. And we had a great model, we created a model, and so I'm now replicating that model across Australia. And we've had the great fortune of being able to implement that into government organisations, both at a national level, at a local level, to private corporations in Brisbane and Melbourne. We've got one in Adelaide coming up, another one on the Gold Coast.

You seem busy to me.

Yeah, absolutely.

How do you manage it all?

What's the trick? Trick? A very understanding wife.

Yeah.

It would be one of the first, and supportive wife. A terrific team around me. So I've got a couple of administrators, terrific presenters, terrific trainers, and just a lot of terrific practitioners.

So happy wife, happy life, and then a good team of trainers around you.

Absolutely. And I guess Also, the understanding that you need to let go as well. So really, this has been a big learning for me, is, you know, everyone says delegate, most people abdicate. So they just give it away, but it's actually educating the person as to being very, very clear on what needs to be done, supporting them in that, and then actually delegating that work to them.

Pulling away.

Pulling away.

Very good tip. Delegating and actually pulling away, not just giving— not saying giving the keys, giving the keys and the keyring to them and actually let them do the work.

Absolutely.

Instead of holding on a little bit, eh?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that's been a challenge and it's something that I'm still getting used to.

Well, it's always going to be a continuous challenge when you're a business owner. It's hard just to give the keys away and trust those people and Yeah, that's right.

So to evolve and grow, you have to do it. Yep. You know, people, a lot of people talk about systems, but it is, you know, people that preach systems are right on the money. You have to have good systems in place. You need to have clear procedures in place as well that people follow. And you can't leave anything gray. Everything's got to be black and white.

I like it. No gray, black and white.

All black and white.

Awesome. Thanks for your time. I know you've got to rush. I know you've got to do your kettlebells training to your team. Yeah, that's right. So I'll let you go. And I really look forward to seeing the success of the kettlebell industry and where the next educational boom is about to take place. And I'm sure you'll be right there at the forefront of it.

Fantastic.

Thanks, mate.

Thanks.