Conscious Growth the FIT4MOM Way with Lisa Druxman

SPEAKER_2 (0:04)

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 (0:18)

Well, welcome back to the show, everyone. I'm Stephen Sakach here again with my co-host Tullio Siragusa, and we've got a special guest returning to the show. Last on here, two years to the date, and we'll introduce her in a moment.

Growth is one of the most celebrated words in business. We talk about growing revenue, growing teams, growing reach, impact, but growth can also test the very things that made a business special in the first place. As companies scale, culture can become diluted, leaders can become stretched, teams overwhelmed, and the people the business was created to serve can start to feel farther away. Today, we're exploring conscious growth, scaling without sacrificing culture, and Tullio introduce our friend of the show, I guess now as you are as a returning guest.

Tullio Siragusa (1:17)

My pleasure. Our guest today is Lisa Druxman. She is the founder of FIT4MOM. She's also a speaker, author, and entrepreneur. This is a special return conversation for us because Lisa joined The Bliss Business Podcast on August 29th, 2024 So almost two years on the dot, almost.

For an episode on building community and connection in business, where we explored how our business grew into a powerful community supporting women through fitness, motherhood, connection, and belonging. FIT4MOM's mission is to help moms make strides in fitness, motherhood, and life. And today the brand offers pre and postnatal health, wellness, and fitness programs for every stage of motherhood.

We loved hosting Lisa then, and we're excited to keep learning from her now. So especially about what it takes to scale consciously without sacrificing culture, trust, or wellbeing. Lisa, welcome back to The Bliss Business Podcast.

Lisa Druxman (2:21)

Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.

Tullio Siragusa (2:23)

By the way, I think we need to start FIT4DADS because I'm really jealous about what we're creating for moms.

Lisa Druxman (2:28)

We got lots of dads coming to classes. We have a lot of dad-er-day classes. Awesome.

Tullio Siragusa (2:33)

Saturdays. All right.

Stephen Sakach (2:36)

So Lisa, when we last spoke, as Tullio mentioned, we talked about community and connection, and now we really want to talk about that conscious growth aspect. What does conscious growth mean to you at this stage in your journey?

Lisa Druxman (2:52)

Well, it's funny. This month is actually our 25-year anniversary for FIT4MOM, and I'm feeling very reflective, and I feel like our definition of growth has evolved a lot. Earlier on, growth meant more, right? It's more locations, more franchises, more programs. Today, I feel like it is more about getting stronger as it grows and healthier as it grows, and so really looking at, are we serving the moms better? Are our franchisees building healthier businesses? Is my team healthy? Are we really protecting the culture and the things that make FIT4MOM so special?

I think sometimes conscious growth means accelerating, so I'm not saying that it's not ever about that, but I think that right now, we're really focusing on strengthening the foundation before we're adding something new, and I don't think that growth is automatically a good thing. I think healthy growth is really what we're looking for now.

Tullio Siragusa (4:03)

Now, FIT4MOM began really from your own desire to care for yourself while staying connected to your baby, and it grew into a national community for mothers. How has that origin story shaped the way you think about scale?

Lisa Druxman (4:20)

Yeah, I mean, I was not looking to start a business. I was looking to meet some new moms, and apparently, I was not the only one looking for that. When I decided to turn it into a business and decided to franchise, I really wanted to be a present mom. But, you know, I still needed to grow the business. And when I was looking at what to do, like, I didn't want to choose between taking care of myself and taking care of my baby. And that is literally still the heart of the company. We have a whole program called Mom Business Academy, where we teach our franchisees how to win in life and how to win in the business. Like, I don't feel like it should be choosing one over another. So as far as FIT4MOM goes, we always believe that moms don't just need a workout, that they need connection and community, which we talked about on our last podcast together. They need a mom who understand what they're going through. As we scale the business, I keep coming back to how do we make sure these moms feel seen and appreciated and valued?