Building Community and Connection in Business with Michael Browning

**SPEAKER_2** (0:03)
The Bliss Business Podcast, the show about empathy, connection, and consciousness in business. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Company, your paid search, social media, and programmatic ad experts.

**Stephen Sakach** (0:17)
Welcome back to the show, everyone. I'm Stephen Sakach here with my co-host Tullio Siragusa and our special guest today who we'll introduce in a moment. So studies on youth enrichment and after school programs show that when young people participate in organized activities, they strengthen their sense of belonging, build social skills, and see improvements in both well-being and academic outcomes. And at the same time, new research warns that many young people today lack in-person community connections, which can reduce their engagement and even their long-term civic participation. So for businesses that serve kids and families, this raises an important question. How do you design experiences that are fun and profitable? Well, also building real connection in the communities you serve. And today, we're exploring what it looks like to build businesses that help kids learn, play, and grow. Well, creating spaces where families feel like they truly belong. Tullio, introduce our special guest today.

**Tullio Siragusa** (1:15)
Absolutely. Today our guest is Michael Browning Jr. He is the CEO and founder of Unleashed Brands, which is a platform company that houses the trust of brands that help kids learn, play, and grow. Unleashed Brands was launched in 2021 to give parents a resource for youth enrichment experiences. And today its concepts include Urban Air Adventure Park, The Little Gym, Sylvan Learning, Snubology, Class 101, Premier Martial Arts, and Water Wing Swimming School. Michael's first launched Urban Air Adventure Park in 2011, and has since helped grow it into a leading family indoor adventure park brand, serving millions of kids each year. Along the way, he has built a reputation for designing brands that put family connection, joy and growth at the center. Michael, welcome to The Bliss Business Podcast.

**Michael Browning Jr.** (2:15)
Hey, thanks for having me. It's an honor to be here. Yeah, I love what you guys are doing. Community is fuel, and I've seen it play out millions of times. We serve around 20 million kids a year, and my life work has been creating these environments where kids can escape, celebrate and connect. And like you said, it all started with one trampoline park in South Lake Texas in 2011
And it just really is all about the belonging and the confidence and the growth that these kids see when they're in these environments, because they don't really need like more entertainment. They need community and belonging. And that's the mission that we're on at Unleashed Brands.

**Stephen Sakach** (3:01)
You know, Michael, when we talk about like building community and connection in business, how is it reflected in the way Unleashed Brands designs your experiences for kids and families?

**Michael Browning Jr.** (3:10)
It's not, community is not a hashtag. It's not a slogan, right?
It's like, I was talking about like the check-in process, the greeting, the welcome, like knowing a kid's name when they show up, like partnering with parents and knowing that this business is a lighthouse in the community and that kids feel like they belong when they walk in and creating trust. And trust is built through repetition, right? Knowing we're going to go here and my kid's going to be seen and they're going to walk out taller than when they walked in. And so for us, it's about these experiences and the experiences are about our people. It's about our lighting, our sound, our curriculum, our attractions, how we interact. It's not about transactions. It's not about... I'm a huge Simon Sinek fan. It's not about the what, it's about the why. And when you really focus there, like we don't sell classes, camps, one-time events, celebrations or leagues. That's just the what. The why is confidence, courage, self-discipline, respecting others that don't look and sound like them. These virtues, these values, these skills, that's what keeps people coming back and that's what builds the sense of community and our locations.

**Stephen Sakach** (4:27)
I love it. I know even my kids have attended some of your franchises, and both neurodivergent too, and so it was like they're coming in as they are and participating as they can in their different ways. But yeah, there was this sense of community and belonging in there. And when we've gone through some of those programs with our kids, you end up as a parent too, we've made some of our lifelong friends in that same process. So it's even just beyond the children, right?

**Michael Browning Jr.** (5:01)
Totally, right? So even we had started Urban Air back in 2011, my family and I, but while we were starting that, my wife and I had our first child. And where we went with that first child was the little gym. And we didn't own it, we were just customers. And in that little gym where we as first time parents, met other first time parents, where Nick and Stephanie, who are and continue to be the franchisees there, they came around us and said, hey, like, we don't necessarily have all the answers for you, but what we will do, our commitment to you is that we will walk alongside you on your journey and be for you, be there for you every step of the way.