Corporate Career to Business Ownership and Hiring First Employee

After climbing the corporate ladder into Executive leadership roles in Quality and Regulatory Affairs Rachel Kitzan has decided to venture down the entrepreneurship path. Rachel and her husband are opening a Rumble Boxing studio in Wisconsin later this summer, Rachel joins me to talk about the journey so far.

Contact –

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-kitzan-486182165/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/rachel.kitzan

E-mail - rkitzan@ompimail.com

Leighann Lovely  00:20

HR professionals, business owners and operations at all levels are struggling to figure out what needs to change. Our system has been shocked practices have been questioned, and conversations are finally happening. We all know there has been a huge shift in what people want. inclusion and diversity are common phrases. But often misunderstood generations are coming together more than ever on what's important. Mental health has been brought to the forefront of everyone's mind. Let's humanize these conversations. Let's talk about what's important for employees to be successful in life and at their job and how companies can create an environment to allow them to do both because successful people will make up a successful workforce. I'm Leighann lovely. Let's get this conversation started.  Upon graduating from university, Rachel Kitzan built a career as a regulatory authority and leader in the dietary supplement industry. She has traveled the world auditing over 85 facilities ensuring only the highest quality raw materials were being sourced. Upon reaching the height of her career, Rachel was able to serve on the executive leadership team as the Director of Quality and Regulatory Affairs for the last eight years overseeing 45 employees and managing a multi million dollar internal innovation testing laboratory. Throughout her 25 year career she gained a desire for an entrepreneurial venture and stepped away from her corporate career in 2022. Rachel and her husband, Jason Teggatz, found Rumble Boxing and after trying this boxing inspired a workout for the first time they were hooked. They're planning to open the first Rumble Boxing studio in Wisconsin later this summer. Rachel is a wife, mother, sister and daughter to an amazing supportive family that has been by her side during her transition from the corporate world to small business ownership. She couldn't do this without them and the incredible outpouring of support from the small business community. Rachel, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm really excited to have this conversation.

 

Rachel Kitzan  02:59

It is such a pleasure Lian to be invited to be on your podcast today, and I'm excited to talk about HR and our experiences with it.

 

Leighann Lovely  03:10

Excellent. Why don't you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself?

 

Rachel Kitzan  03:15

Sure. Um, so I was born and raised in North Dakota, the southwest corner and my family moved to Wisconsin when I was a freshman so I am more of a Wisconsin night than a North Dakota person. I went to Kettle Moraine High School absolutely love the school district and actually my son who is 16 goes to the same school that I did, which is very, very exciting. Other than that, I graduated from college with a biology and chemistry degree moved into the world of laboratory doing testing on different varieties of foods, creating their nutritional labels. So Susie's cheesecakes, I'd figure out how much fat and fiber was in there. And so we would make sure that was on the label accurately for the consumers. I also had the opportunity to work in the thermal processing and canning industry. And in making Wolfgang Puck soup, San Amy's organic soup and Delmonte corn. So just a really interesting adventure for five years in that area before I stepped foot into the dietary supplement industry. And in my 1617 years, just the the last few years here in corporate. I worked for a company right in Elmira standard process for eight and a half years and had the opportunity to travel The world's auditing different facilities, making sure that there were high quality ingredients being sourced. And then also just that the facilities were, you know, holding up the dietary supplement standards for manufacturing. And then the last eight years of my career was really the highlight of my career, I was brought in as a senior executive on the team for in I was representing the quality side for Director of Quality and Regulatory Affairs and really became an authority figure on dietary supplement regulations and partnering with different industry leader groups, and also had the privilege to lead 45 people in a couple of different divisions within that that area. Both of my the companies I worked for only worked in the healthcare practitioner channel. So our supplements were not sold in the retail space, and very specific, very different philosophies, but both very great companies. And the last one I worked for was orthomolecular products, and their manufacturing site is in Stevens Point.

 

Leighann Lovely  06:18

Interesting.

 

Rachel Kitzan  06:20

That was kind of my career and my journey.

 

Leighann Lovely  06:23

So I've got first of all, this is this is a completely off the wall and it probably funny question up, how exactly do you figure out how much fat is in food like a cheesecake? Like how? I know you're laughing at me, but I'm like, I'm wildly interested by this, like, how do you figure out? How do you create those labels? And be like, Yep, this is got X amount of fat, grams of fat and grams of sugar. How does that work?

 

Rachel Kitzan  06:56

Nutrition, like nutrition, labeling regulations are complicated. So it is really interesting, when you walk up to your Cheerios box, and you see fat and fiber, there's a percent plus minus because everything's got a little bit of a different aspect to it. But the testing itself is old school testing soxhlet, you think of the glasses, and you're, you know, some experiment is happening, the, you know, behind glass and things like that. And it's just simple distillation, getting the fat out of the content and knowing the weights. It's a calculation. It is really interesting. But that's kind of the behind the scenes aspect, which was really my first step into regulation. But I didn't even at that time, I was actually just behind the regulation of labeling, Right.  That's the CFR that,

 

Leighann Lovely  07:55

I find that and this is the geek and me coming out, you know, but I find that completely and totally fascinating, because, for me, I just want to go and eat everything in my kitchen. But the reality is, is that of course, we're all for some reason, we all seem to want to eat all the fat items in our kitchen first. Like, okay, yeah, then I'll eat some vegetables. But okay, so then you go from you go from as you progress in your career to actually being, you know, very, you know, high up in, in creating the regulations is that, am I understanding that or, or being part of a team that created some of those regulations, I'm

 

Rachel Kitzan  08:39

really trying to interpret and understand the regulation and apply it appropriately to the industry. And okay, and regulation is really interesting, ultimately, in the US with FDA regulation. And I was very lucky, I was able to actually learn a lot about Canadian regulations EU, Australia, which is the Therapeutic Goods Association, so I really was able to work with multiple different countries. And the US is really intriguing because dietary supplements in the US can be launched. So there can be a vitamin D K, two product and everybody should be taking their vitamin D even in the summer, so just take your vitamin D. But in multiple other countries, it's very similar to drug type of situation where you actually have to pre register your dossier and get a licensing number before you launch a product for your consumer. However, the FDA is a little bit opposite. They do post market surveillance, meaning they're there. They're really looking at kind of the After Effects. Are there things that happen that they start to see trends with or they'll come into facilities and inspect I mean, just make sure they're complying with the regulations. So almost look at it a little bit more trust, but they're very good at making sure that the, their priority, their number one goal is consumer safety. That's it. So when we look at that, when you look at the complexity and the ability to apply different regulations in different countries, it is very, it's varied, and kind of a vast arena. And that's why you have experts in different areas, and you collaborate with other regulators.

 

Leighann Lovely  10:34

Interesting. So. Okay, so that being said, what do you is there a country that you would that you think, Well, this one's doing it better than the other? Or is it just different,

 

Rachel Kitzan  10:51

it's just different. But what I will say is, Australia, the European Union, Canada, the way that they monitor things really suppresses diversity for a business. So in the US, there is a lot more freedom to trial, diverse type of products. Not that they're unsafe. But because there's a such such a specific regulation, if you have somebody that you have a limit of maybe your vitamin D, I use that you can have. And they need something more like a higher dosage or a higher amount, we we have that ability to provide that to the general public, not necessarily, you know, through a doctor or something like that. Whereas a different country might actually look at that as more of a prescription level. Interesting. Not that it's not available, but it's just a different model and how you would obtain, right, that type of of information. And so I don't think anyone's better or different. I think some of them are less complicated than others. Right?

 

Leighann Lovely  12:08

Well, and when I think when I think of the US healthcare system, it's just ridiculously complicated in every way. But we're talking about supplements that are not necessarily prescription, they're rather over the counter.

 

Rachel Kitzan  12:27

Yes, I love that. You say that. Because my the last several years, my passion really has transformed from traditional medicine to functional medicine. So instead of being reactive, the US healthcare system is extremely reactive. Very great, you, you tear your ACL, you are very thankful, you can get that replacement. And we have surgeons, and we have an amazing healthcare system. But from a proactive approach, doctors are spending five minutes with patients and all they want to know is what ails you. And here's the fix, here's the quick fix. And rightfully so a lot of people just want that. So it's training and transforming really the practice of medicine in people having a vested interest in their own health and being proactive with it, right researching what they need, because every single person is different. There is not a cookie cutter system, right. And that is really an interesting aspect. When you talk about how the health care system works, and how it can align. Even with dietary supplements, for example, if somebody is taking a statin drug, that conversation doesn't talk about what your body's being depleted of, which would be your co q 10. So your supplementation would be a dietary supplement or CO q 10. If you have to be on that pharmaceutical medication. So it's really an interesting piece. And

 

Leighann Lovely  14:05

I love what you just said that the US is there reactive 100% reactive that and in order for us to be more on the you know, the side of it. And last year, last year, I I, I decided for my personal health, I said this is going to be the year of me taking care of myself, this is going to be the year where I go to a chiropractor where I make sure that I have you know my mental health under control, which has been for a long time but just you know, again, it's just one of those things. I put it on the list of things that I need to do for me when it comes to my own personal whole, whole well being right. And if you're not your own advocates, doctors are not and I'm not I'm not trying to take a shot at doctors at all because they're so overwhelmed and so overworked that unless you go in there and you say, No, I need you to help me with this, you know, so last year, I got a chiropractor, I went and got a CPAP. I thought, I thought my husband was the one with sleep apnea. And it's not he doesn't have it, I have it. And it was like, Oh,

 

Rachel Kitzan  15:22

you're not keeping me awake.

 

Leighann Lovely  15:26

She's, but it was very eye opening, when I finally was an advocate for myself and started saying, look, here's the problem. And I need you to not just brush me off, I need you to actually pay attention and listen to what I'm saying. Because there have been times where, you know, the doctors like, oh, yeah, that's because of this, just take some allergy medication, like, well, I can't breathe out of my nose at all, take some allergy medication, you'll be fine. Okay, well, that's not fixing the problem. And then I ignore it. And I ignored it for five years. And it was like, okay, unless I go in and be my own advocate, and that's, that, unfortunately, is a symptom of the US healthcare system, is that they don't have time to sit down. And, like, actually dig in. And if you have, if you are a person that, you know, unfortunately, like what my husband and I just went through, he got a new job, I just stepped into entrepreneurship. So his insurance changed. And now I have to change all my doctors, because his insurance doesn't. So now all of the history that I have with this doctor on all of my background, I now have to go and talk to a new doctor and be like, Well, I have had this and I've had this and I've had that. They don't have time to sit and go through my entire history. So when I bring up oh, I've got, you know, a problem with my ear. That's the same problem I've had for 10 years. They just assume it's an immediate problem. Yeah. And they don't look at the 10 years of the exact same issue. That could be a part of a bigger issue, right?

 

Rachel Kitzan  17:01

Yeah. And it is, it's so amazing. You're going through that journey.

 

Leighann Lovely  17:05

Right? It's you have to be an advocate for yourself. And you have to be unfortunately, you have to be the squeaky wheel. Yes,

 

Rachel Kitzan  17:13

yes. I, I agree and when not to step in, but I loved what you said about, you know, MDS, these people are highly intelligent, they go into this field to care for people right? In, they spend a lot of money, time effort, they're dedicated. And it's incredible to me, that in their 468 years of studies, and internships and all every residencies and everything they have to do, they get less than a week of training on nutrition, less than a week, that's all that stuff. They can cure all these things. And they, they're they're so but they don't have that. And when they get into actual practice, it's a numbers game. That's how they're paid. They're paid by pharmaceutical drugs, right? That is how they make money. Making money in a private practice. And spending an hour and a half with somebody doesn't make them money unless they're dedicated to functional medicine, right? Or that's they're transitioning that practice. But our healthcare system is based on everyone getting paid through insurance. So what's interesting from an HR perspective, my team 45 people, all different age brackets, what I found so alarming in the last several years is when I would have students come out of college come into my laboratory, they're still under their parent's insurance till they're 2526. And all of a sudden, they gotta pay for a high deductible plan. And they're like, well, this thing's terrible. And I'm like, Well, you have to educate yourself. Right? And you know, what, what is interesting? I have known nothing but corporate. I had to turn 47 years old to figure out I could actually advocate for my own health care plan. And what made sense for us, so being able to learn from other small business partners to say, Rachel, what are you rate? What are you and Jason going to do for your employees? And I said, I want to empower them to have the ability to create a concierge kind of benefit plan. Right corporate benefits is great, fine, however you look at it, but I cannot believe the amount of money I was spending and never using it. I actually would pay more money because I was going to my functional medicine doctor certainly didn't have a cover that right? So I just sat there. I'm like, Why do I even have this insurance? Like why? Why am I paying all this money for this? When I could have had a whole different plan. What I found is when the younger population, it steps into corporate. And for me, I didn't know anything else you always got your insurance from where you worked in this is how it is because that's your benefits. That's what they offer you take the benefits, right, right. And now being able to empower and have conversations to say, there's a lot of options for you, this might not be the right option, you're single you're, or whatever it might be, right, you may look at this direct primary care, that's only going to cost you 59 bucks a month, and it is really going to cover everything you need right now. Right? Or in maybe you want to add this in, if there's something major that would happen, but it's still only $300 a month, right? versus $1,500. And I care and dental care. And like, you know, so what I have found from an HR perspective is that whole conversation about benefits is very different. And it was super eye opening to me when I walked away, and I had to be my own advocate and figure out what's right for us.

 

Leighann Lovely  21:11

So speaking of that, let's let's shift this conversation. So you have this, you know, you have years and years in corporate America, years of an amazing background of Yes, absolutely. And unclearly in a background that really, really has, I guess paved the way for the business that you are now launching this this summer? Correct?

 

Rachel Kitzan  21:42

This summer this summer? So

 

Leighann Lovely  21:46

what was it? What was the trigger in your head? What was the moment when you went? This is what we this is what I'm going to do? You and your husband made this decision together? Is that Is that right? Or was it one of you that went then then that is is absolutely amazing. So tell me about your business. Tell me about the journey to deciding and making that decision to open up your own business.

 

Rachel Kitzan  22:14

I love this. Because what I have found in meeting so many amazing people in the last six, seven months transitioning my life my day from corporate into a small business owner, I have learned an immense amount of information. But what I have found really interesting is the parallel backgrounds of people that either transition from corporate to entrepreneurial ship. For us, my husband actually was a hot guy, electrical engineer, worked for Rockwell Collins for about a year and a half and decided that was not for him. So he worked for AC T the college testing companies and IT procurement manager for 20 some years. And eventually I started to see this shift in him of slowly kind of dying corporate was killing the poor guy. So his passion is mountain biking. He's a long distance mountain biker. He's done many, many different events, several Leadville 100, mountain biking events, at the highest elevation, there's no oxygen up there. I don't know these, these people are insane, but they do it and they love it. So he's always had a passion. He's always worked part time at a bike shop. So he actually switched. Based on my career in where we were at, we were able to sit just say why don't you stop step away from corporate. And he started working for the bicycle doctor and Dousman and head loves it just loves it.

 

Leighann Lovely  23:50

So that's, that's, you know, when you get to a point where you just in? Okay, I was watching a comedy show yesterday, and I it and I'll be brief, but I was watching a comedy show yesterday, and a guy gets on stage and he starts cracking jokes about how he's works at at Olive Garden. And you know, I would never say to anybody who works at Olive Garden, oh, did I mention I work at Olive Garden and he's going and then as he rolls up his side and he goes, You know, so I left my my career at Olive Garden. And now I'm a chemist. And, you know, at the end, they do this interview and they're like, wait a second, how do you go from being a server at Olive Garden to being a chemist and he goes, Well, I have my degree in biology and chemistry and blah, blah, blah. I love when people when people you know, highly brilliant people make the choice. And it's because it just goes to show that there is no joy up out there that anybody should be ashamed of that there is there. It all depends on the person, my girlfriend, and I promise this because the guy he wasn't, he wasn't embarrassed that he worked at Olive Garden. He was pretending in this comedy show. But he was a wildly brilliant human being with a with a bachelor's degree that shows for most of his life to be a server instead of be a chemist. Yeah. And that, and that, to me speaks volumes to people's. Yeah, I went to school, it was interesting. Now, why did you decide to now go back into your field of study? Well, because I decided I wanted my nights and weekends to myself again. So I just decided to become a chemist, well, you don't just decide to become a chemist, you have to be really intelligent. And it's, it shows that when somebody corporate America, you know, I got burned out, I'm just gonna go and work at a bike shop. Great if that's your passion. And I think everybody should be able to follow their passion. Again, my girlfriend always joke, she's like, Oh, I'm just a server. And I'm like, You're not just a server. And you know what? You don't you make a ton of money. Like, yeah, yeah, you make bank. So don't tell me that you're just a server people come in, and they pay her a ton of money in tips, because she's really good at the art of what she does, serving people serving people. That that is there, that there is an art in that. It doesn't matter what people do for a living. It matters if they have passion for what they do for a living. Because no matter what it is, if you're really, really good at your skill, you're really good and passionate about what you do. You can you can become the master at that, and people will notice.

 

Rachel Kitzan  27:06

Absolutely. It is really interesting. I'm going to borrow a statistic from Sarah Deacon. And she had mentioned the other day that research has showed 73% of people that graduate from college never work in their field, correct. In their area of study, that's I was floored by that statistic. And yet, I'm like that I don't know why that surprises me is really true.

 

Leighann Lovely  27:35

The only reason that that number is not 100% is because we're taking into account doctors, accountants, engineers, and you have to go to school to become those. And usually, if you're going to go the long haul to be a doctor and go to school for that you're going to be a doctor, or an engineer or an accountant. So if you eliminated the doctors, the engineers, the accountants from that equation, you would probably have that number be 95%. Yeah. Because any other I mean, I suppose I went to school for you know, I got my bachelor's degree in business with an emphasis in human resources. Human Resource Management. I'm not in corporate HR. That's what that degree was supposed to set me up for. I spent very little time in corporate HR, I wanted to blow my head off. It was nobody liked me. Everybody hated me. And yeah, given I entered into that, you know, corporate HR in 2006. Yeah, of course, nobody was going to like me, because the whole world was shutting down. And I was part of, you know, helping lay everybody off. And then I was getting laid off. No, of course, nobody likes me. But the right. I mean,

 

Rachel Kitzan  28:56

Yeah, well, in that's no different than me getting a biology chemistry, I actually wanted to be a vet mad or you know, how life transition. So get the degree and who knew that I would be in the field that I was. And you know, it's interesting, because we talk about kind of preemptively my husband transitioning. And that's when it kind of dawned on me as much as I was at the height of my career, one of two women on the executive team. I was working 16 hour days traveling all the time. And during that transition, 2019 2020 things just changed. Things changed. So I made the decision to go to UW Whitewater in start getting my MBA online. And I loved it. Loved it. And that's when the spark happened about two things. One, we need an exit strategy because I can't keep this up. I'm never home I missing 50% of my son In my husband's life, and I love them both, and I liked them. They're cool people, so I want to be with them. We needed to figure something out. We didn't know what that vision was. But I knew it had to be something where we had the control to do it. And so that's really what occurred in the last couple of years. And in that I was able to really go through a major health journey just like you, functional medicine, lost 55 pounds, found my passion, again, for working out in different types of ways to move and be fit in Cairo and massage and other therapies and mental spiritual, all that thing that really put me in a place to have clarity that what we wanted to do was something with health and wellness because I want to care about people. Dietary Supplements transformed the practice of medicine, it's health, it's wellness, it's having that power to you know, make sure you're getting the nutrients that you need. I really felt in the health and wellness industry is where we needed to be in when we started to present options to each other and bounce ideas off. Cycling kept coming up in so we are members at cyclebar in Lake Country, Natalie Rick's owns that studio and she's amazing. She has an amazing community. Love the look the feel the energy of everything that that type of exercise does, but I do hot yoga, I do pure barre, I do CrossFit. I do you know all these other things. And then we began the conversation rumble boxing is a franchise and it is under the same franchise umbrella as exponential as the Franchise Group. But a lot of people will be familiar with cyclebar Pure bar club Pilates yoga six row house, Rumble is kind of a newest concept that just launched its it started in 2017. But launched as an actual boutique fitness studio at the beginning of last year. Okay, it's absolutely new in that was the vision for us. I'm like, That's it. When I started talking to nap, she's like rumble so awesome. People are gonna love it here. We have nothing like this in the Midwest.

 

Leighann Lovely  32:29

So tell me explain to the best of your ability. What is this?

 

Rachel Kitzan  32:35

So rumble boxing is a boxing inspired workout 45 minute group fitness classes. And it's not an open gym. So it really is a community of people coming together, we can host 48 people in one class at a time. In there's two different sides of the workout. So 50% of your workout is doing boxing punches, classic punch, boxing punches, Boxer sit ups, and you're hitting a water filled punching bag, it's 190 pounds, it's very gentle on your joints, but you're still have traditional wraps, you still have traditional gloves. Then the other 50% of your workout is custom benches and weights and Knuckles for your strength training and your hit training. And what we do in that 45 minutes is our trainer is going to go through the fundamentals in the beginning. But then we have three minute rounds where you're doing a specific either set of punchy routine or your your strength training, and then you will swap sides, three rounds in so you even out your workout. So when you go to sign up, you're going to go to your app, a beautiful, beautiful app and you're going to be like I want to start on bags 17 today, and so that's where you'll start your workout. So our studio, the traditional aspect will have about 30 classes offered a week mostly kind of those classic timeframes early morning, maybe at the noon hour and then your evening classes as well. So we'll have you know just it's it's a it's a boxing inspired workout in a studio in the concept really is like when you walk into our studio, it's like walking into a New York nightclub. That's all high energy, lots of lights.

 

Leighann Lovely  34:39

I just, I just feel like for somebody like me, that would be like the perfect like, I don't feel like I'm working out I feel like I'm going to release all of the stress and anger. Not really anger, but like all of the stress and frustrations of you know my my five year old who never stops talking. You know, I'll be too trying to do something I'll try and do make a phone call and she's just never never, that frustration of oh my gosh, can just stop talking for two minutes, she's at that age where it's just like non stop in the house where things are exploding, my dog is chewing something up and it feels like I'd be able to go into this place and just be like, Alright, I'm just gonna beat all that stress out of, you know, out of me and get a really solid workout in and then be able to go home and finally, relax. And at the same time know that I'm, I'm working all of my body, right? I mean, this sounds like it's a full blown physical body, Wonderful.

 

Rachel Kitzan  35:40

Yes. And you're spot on, all levels can do this workout in what I love about rumble I used to in the ring box, just as training, right? Not not I didn't wasn't competitive, but that any workout you think about, no matter where it is to step in, in that door can be intimidating, a little bit, right. And it's so nice when you can walk in and you have a community of people that are all there just to enjoy that 45 minutes, right? They're either stepped away from their job, they're, you know, the kids are dropped off. And they they that's their time. Our job as owners and our studio, what we are, an extension of us is our values, which is I'm not necessarily selling memberships, I am selling an experience, I'm selling a safe place for people to come no matter where they are in their fitness journey. No matter what's happening in their day, we are going to be there to look them in the eye and let them know that they matter. And that whatever happens in their workout, that day is just fine. If they just sit under that punching bag and just sit and drink water, it's fine, it doesn't matter. Do what you want to do that day, if you feel like you're just super full of energy, and you came on the air just dripping sweat and had an amazing, that's great, you know, and not every day is going to be the same. But providing a community and a place for people to put their phones away for 45 minutes, be part of a group in honestly, nobody's watching each other. Everybody's focused on what makes sense to them. And that's what's really important to Jason and I because as we open our Brookfield location, our plan in what we're committed to is actually opening to more studios in the area. So we want to make sure that that experience somebody has the first time the 50th time, the 200th time they feel the energy, they feel that warm hug when they come into that studio. And that is what is really important to us.

 

Leighann Lovely  38:00

So you hired your first employee. Correct?

 

Rachel Kitzan  38:04

Super close. Okay, so in the middle of we're in the middle of interviewing right now. So this is great. And this is our most critical hire.

 

Leighann Lovely  38:15

So and what position is this is this for is this for a trainer is this for? Right?

 

Rachel Kitzan  38:23

This is for our general manager. So this is our, our direct extension of us as owners, and you know what that General Manager will be doing, we will partner to hire our sales associates and our trainers and everything. But this position also is something that's long term, somebody who can help us grow ours, our team, our staff, and see something in people and say they're really engaged. They really love this they want to learn they want I think they might be a great trainer, let's let's get them certified for personal training, and can see that to help us grow within our team so that when we open the second studio, somebody might be ready to be an assistant, GM, right, somebody might be ready to take some of those leadership paths and then also have that same ability to grow and lead a team and inspire a team as well. So what has been really intriguing, we've used classic, you know, we have everything else job description, classic pathway post everything. But one of out of the candidates that we have, there is only one that really has applied independently, how I have been introduced to the best candidates that we have at this point. One approached us directly and was a great is a great candidate into You have been referrals from other small business owners. And that is a new way. And what I like about that is those business owners know me, they know Jason, they know the type of character in the person that we're looking for. I just don't want somebody that can sell stuff or has been part of a gym or anything like that I I'm really looking for somebody who can grow, that we connect with that there's that trust and respect in and we know our role. And we want them to shine in their role in it is different nowadays, because it is more about character, I don't really care where somebody went to school, that I look at resumes very differently. It takes me 20 seconds to look at a resume to see if I'm engaged. And usually I'll go to their extracurricular activities, what do they care about? Is that shows who they are. And I really like to look, and then it's the conversation about really understanding their character,

 

Leighann Lovely  41:04

right? I think that way too many businesses put too much stock in a resume. A resume is a sheet of paper that somebody wrote up, and you cannot judge somebody based on a sheet of paper anymore. I think that I think that too many companies will look at a resume and automatically say, Yep, I'm not going to meet with this person. Base based on the skills that they say that they have, I think that we need to stop hiring based on skills, we need to start hiring based on character and personalities, and all of that, and then train on skill. It's it, I'm sorry, either you are going to fit into the culture of an organization or you're not, and you need to hire based on whether or not that person is going to fit into the values, the goals, the and then if you have a great person who's going to fit your organization, you can train on skill. And I think that way too many corporate America, businesses are trained or and are hiring on skill, and then thinking that they can make that person fit into their culture. And the small, the small businesses like you that are just starting up, kind of have the upper hand when it comes to getting those great referrals, where, where unfortunately, they struggle is matching those high bloated salaries in that corporate America worlds or those rich huge benefit plans, or the four weeks of vacation, and all of those other benefits. However, a business like yours, you haven't created the culture, yet you are the culture. So you get to pick and choose who is aligned with you and your husband, who is going to align with your values. And that's going to determine from this point on if that person comes in and is aligned with your values, it's going to begin building the culture that you create at your business. And you're going to have to make sure that you're continuing to monitor that and hone in on that and really keep your you know, keep an active be actively intentional to create and monitor that so that as you grow as you open it up or up another branch that that branch also has that happy positive culture. And that's where again, the smaller companies and again I'm not advocating there are people who love corporate America that they love they love you know, everything that I'm I've been in corporate America but that's where right now you you know you've got the entire world you know, for the taking, because you you're just at the threshold of beginning all of it. And as long as you do it right the first time. You're not going to be in the boat that half of Americans in when they're saying oh gosh, we have a really shitty culture nobody wants to work here. Yeah, and fixing it is horrible. Creating it right? won't necessarily it's I shouldn't say it's easy but a hell of a lot easier than fixing it when it's wrong.

 

Rachel Kitzan  44:41

Exactly. And that is it you are spot on with that. You know, I've got a when I was in corporate a few of the last people that I hired I really did something that was like, totally against like the mold so you think of quality the part workmen, four year degree, they have to be, you know, that has to happen. And I finally got to a point and I'm like, you know, hiring some of these people and they're not all what they're cracked up to be, if that's my first criteria, I'm failing, because I'm giving up these 10 Other resumes that I could have just had a conversation with. And if they're diligent, hard working, willing to learn, those values align more than some of these people, just because they don't have a degree doesn't make sense to me. So Alas, of our of the couple hires did not fall in that mold. And I, I really had to fight for that from an executive outlook. And they're like, you're, it's on you, if it doesn't work out. And let me tell you, those worked out beautifully, compared to a couple of the other aspects. So I think, I love that it's the character, it's the value to and we were talking, you know, with our values, we, you have to reiterate them, you have to live by them. We have to show up on time. We have to motivate we have to listen to our employees and find out why, while they're engaged, how do we keep them engaged? Right, Gallup and all this, you know, how do we keep those highly engaged, because they're excited to be there. But me giving them a month free workouts isn't there like I can work out here anytime. Or maybe they want a gas card, maybe they just want some clothes, because we got access to all these amazing vendors Lululemon and they just want fun stuff, right? But listening to them, because every one of them is going to have a different motivational factor that is a benefit in their eyes. And I get that opportunity. I feel very, very lucky to have that opportunity as a small business owner to do that. Right, right. There's not all this extra stuff. And we can really customize what makes sense for you as an employee, because we want to take care of you. If you're showing up, you're diligent and you're you're really taking care of our customers, we're gonna reward you for that.

 

Leighann Lovely  47:15

Well, and you already you've already hit it on the head, not by anything that any offering that you said all you all you said that was perfect was listening to what the employee wants. Simple as that. If one employee says, I don't care about gas card, but I would really love $50 To Lululemon. Okay, that's easy enough. If your next employee says, Well, man, I'm driving all the way from, you know, Watertown to Brookfield gas card would be awesome. Yeah. I mean, okay.

 

Rachel Kitzan  47:51

Sure enough, I mean, we, it was interesting. In one of the conversations, I really shocked one of the people that I was having a conversation with, because they're like, Well, you know, this is membership based. So that's going to be really critical. And I said, What's critical is our culture and our values in the community we're creating, we are going to have some people that are not desirable in our studio. A, maybe they're telling jokes that are inappropriate and making people uncomfortable. Maybe they're spitting all over our floor, I don't know, whatever it might be. But I said, What I can tell you is, we're not we know how to have the conversation to ask them to go to a different place in a different community, right? I would rather than not be in my community, because I'm gonna gain five more people versus leaves 10 Because of this one, right? And in in, that is not who we are, that is really important. They just were floored. Well, that's really interesting. And I'm like, you don't take care of that in the moment. You you let us know. And we together side by side, are going to make sure that we follow through with that, because it's important that our team is taken care of, first of all, but then that community as well. So if there is somebody something occurs, and it is some however offensive, whatever it might be, or they're just not they skip classes every week, you know, I mean, something like that, you know, there's spots being taken up. And I said, that's where we come in. We're very apt, we're there. But we're not there to step on your toes, but we're always there. We will meet regularly, we will make sure that we're always talking about how are our values doing How's everybody doing? What does everyone need? And then are we meeting everyone's expectations from both sides, right. And that conversation is those stay conversations. You have to have them on all the time, very regularly, you can't just have one once a year, I love, oh, we do an annual review or whatever it might be. It's like you got to be talking to people all the time. Right?

 

Leighann Lovely  50:10

And Rachel, you hit it on the head, we are coming to time. But I want to just say something really quick this stay conversation that you just mentioned, if more employers were figured this out sooner, having say, conversations with employees having even just sitting down with them saying, Hey, we really love you, as an employee, we value you, more people would stay at their current employer and stop moving around. So for a brand new business owner, somebody who hasn't even opened up their first location, it sounds like you are way ahead of so many other companies out there. So I'm really excited to see what comes from you, you know, in the future and, and excited to see your, you know, your gym, would it be a gym community?

 

Rachel Kitzan  50:58

Well, yes, it is. Yes, yes. Thank you so much.

 

Leighann Lovely  51:04

I have the question of the season that I want to get to really quick. This may not apply, because you know, you're so new and what you're doing, but what would you change about your job or the practice that people have in your role in your job in your job role if you could

 

Rachel Kitzan  51:22

write being a very new owner, small business owner, president and understanding what that might mean? I'm the practices in in my role that I am definitely learning is the networking practice in it is very important. And I know there are seasons within the business, when we start construction or grand opening, I'm not going to be able to make those connections. But those connections have really changed, who I am in is developing who I'm going to be as a leader in that small business world. And I don't know that I was never, you know, necessarily change anything at this point. But just recognize that that has to be added into your your suite of time. And the other thing is, making sure you set that time aside. My husband told me the most hilarious thing about a week ago, two weeks ago, and I came home and I was like, wow, that was a really long, crazy day. I loved it. There was so much to tell him. But he looks at me and he's like, I just want to say this. You know, you're the one that makes your own schedule. And I just, I just started laughing I'm like, You're totally right. Um, yeah. Okay. But it's so rewarding. And I just learned so much, but that would be my my tip is connecting. I know it's it takes energy. It takes time. It takes coordination, but it is really, it's hilarious

 

Leighann Lovely  53:07

that you know, we as entrepreneurs think hamady becoming entrepreneurs so that I can have more time to myself, which never is what happens. Now all of a sudden you enjoy, you know, diving in. And there are times where I actually am like, I can't wait to get back to my desk. And the hell was wrong with Rachel, if somebody wanted to reach out to you get in touch with you. Or, you know, do you have a website for rumble yet that they can people can start you know, checking out or when it goes live that kind of stuff? How can people go ahead and get in touch with you?

 

Rachel Kitzan  53:51

Awesome. So me personally, my LinkedIn or my Facebook page is a great way to reach out to me, our rumble boxing. Brookfield sites are live. We already have members, we have members. So our founding membership is out there. We have our Facebook and Instagram which is at rumble boxing, Brookfield great way to go check us out, see what it's like we're posting there's some personal posts on there too. So just making sure to take a look at that in our website is live. So anything that you might have questions on just about the workout, what it might feel like in those emails, if you want to email through that website as well. That's a great way to reach out to us. But everything is live. We're all set to go and have really enjoyed everyone that has reached out to us so far.

 

Leighann Lovely  54:47

Awesome. Thank you again, this has been just in very educational conversation and I've really enjoyed talking with you today.

 

Rachel Kitzan  54:56

Oh, thank you so much for hosting me and I look forward Ready to having more conversations with you in the future?

 

Leighann Lovely  55:04

Thank you again for listening to Let's Talk HR. I appreciate your time and support without you the audience this would not be possible so don't forget that if you enjoyed this episode to follow us, like us or share us have a wonderful day.

 

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SUMMARY KEYWORDS

people, worked, workout, conversation, dietary supplement, rumble, regulations, doctors, corporate, rachel, studio, employee, hiring, interesting, husband, years, career, business, advocate, step