Creating A New Path From A Great Idea with Lauren Demarest
In this episode of Good Enough for Now, Lauren Demarest shares her leap-of-faith business idea that came to fruition and is thriving. She wanted to book exercise classes while on vacation in Greece and couldn’t find an easy way to do that. So she created it.
Lauren shares how she manages her inner critic as someone who doesn’t speak the language where she runs her business and how being aware of her limits has helped her grow personally and professionally. She’s even built a sister business through the process. Our conversation touches on trusting our gut instincts, defining our own version of success, creating inclusive spaces and community for all, and being the first to discover a unique niche.
Listen in to hear more and get inspired to put your own internal nay-sayer to rest.
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what we cover in this episode:
Taking a leap of faith from frustration, identifying the need, and taking risks to begin a company.
Struggling with your inner critic and mental health challenges while building a business and finding the coping mechanisms to help.
Going on a journey of self-discovery and redefining success along the way.
Building a community in the wellness industry and making fitness more inclusive and welcoming to everyone.
Why trusting your gut instinct is so important.
Resources
Follow Sweat Vacay on Instagram
Follow Sweat Vacay on Facebook
Connect with Sweat Vacay on LinkedIn
Plan for Success, Run Your Own Race with Cate Luzio
What Good Enough For Now Means To Lauren Demarest
Good Enough for Now says to me exactly what I am, where I am, and what my life is right now. I feel like I have to accept that this is good enough for now. And I feel like, every day, I am trying to get closer to building something to find what I deemed successful, and to do it with my friends and my family and all of the fabulous people who have been supporting me and this business in this brand.
ABOUT Lauren Demarest
Lauren Demarest’s professional background is in advertising. She earned her MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design and worked as a creative at McCann New York for 8 years before starting her companies and making the move to Mykonos.
Sweat Vacay launched its Mykonos, Greece locations in 2019 with yoga, Pilates, and spin classes taught by elite global trainers. Each class is set in a tranquil outdoor setting so guests can take in the natural beauty. It has now grown into a luxury retreat and wellness facility consulting business with retreats throughout Greece, Italy, Austria, France, England, and Costa Rica.
In 2020 Lauren launched Sweat Booker - making it free to list a gym, studio, class or wellness experience online; giving fit-pros in emerging markets tools they otherwise might not be able to afford. Designed as a competitor to ClassPass and MINDBODY, Sweat Booker is a wellness discovery, booking, and payment processing platform that is inclusive and supports small businesses and individuals.
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Stephanie Kruse 0:05
Welcome to Good Enough For Now. A podcast aimed at dismantling perfectionism one conversation at a time. I'm Stephanie Kruse and along with my guests on the show, we share stories of false starts unexpected you turns in moments of reinvention that happen as we move through life. Thanks for joining me. My hope is that our conversations will help you stay grounded. Feel a little less alone and a little bit more together.
Stephanie Kruse 0:36
Hey, everyone, I am excited to bring you this conversation with Lauren Demarest today. We talked a lot about how she just took absolutely put faith in creating her company. After she visited Mykonos in Greece. On a vacation she realized that there was an opportunity to create a bookable workout class of a variety of types, whether it was Pilates or a massage, any kind of wellness and your cycling classes, similar to when she was using ClassPass. Here in the United States. I don't know if many of you know that. But it ClassPass was a subscription. I think it may still exist, where you could opt in to classes for studios that might have openings in the town where you lived. And so Lauren really felt like on vacation people do sometimes want to continue to work out so she created sweat vacay on Mykonos, didn't know the language, didn't know anything about the culture, went over and did it and she is a Firefall it was such an enjoyable conversation. You can tell how passionate she is about creating this. And she is branching out she's learning to trust herself. And she was really candid about some of the mental health challenges that she's had along the way. Let me tell you about Lauren.
Stephanie Kruse 1:51
Lauren Demarest's professional background is in advertising. She earned her MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design and worked as a creative at McCann New York for eight years before starting her companies and making the move to make Noce sweat vacay launched in Mykonos, Greece in 2019. Each class is set in a tranquil outdoor setting so guests can take in the natural beauty. It has now grown into a luxury retreat and wellness facility consulting business with retreats through Greece, Italy, Austria, France, England and Costa Rica. In 2020. Lauren launched sweat Booker, making it free to list a gym studio class or wellness experience online. Designed as a competitor to class paths in mind body sweat Booker is a wellness discovery, booking and payment processing platform that is inclusive and supports small businesses and individuals. Lauren, thank you so much for joining me today. It is so good to see you.
Lauren Demarest 2:48
Thank you, Stephanie. I'm excited to be here.
Stephanie Kruse 2:50
Yeah and for for listeners who have heard my episode with Kate Luzio, the founder of luminary, which is the hub for women and women and career and supporting entrepreneurs. That is how you and I met. So this is like a full circle moment. I'm so excited.
Lauren Demarest 3:07
I know luminary has been such a big part of the journey of building this business. I was actually one of the very first members ever of luminary. A month after they opened, Yes.
Stephanie Kruse 3:18
Fantastic. Well, this is what it's all about. So, Lauren, I want to get into it with you about your life and your business and your story to share with listeners. So tell me where you are in your life right now.
Lauren Demarest 3:31
Sorry, I'm in my life is very complicated. Stephanie. I am trying to grow the two businesses that I've started. Both are based in Greece, sweat vacay and sweat Booker. And because I'm still trying to grow them, I'm also picking up some freelance work on the side. So my career before I became an entrepreneur was as a creative director. I spent about eight years at McCann, New York. And so I'm a copywriter by trade. So I've, I've got a commercial that I'm shooting for Coca Cola and AMC coming up. So it's actually going to be a really fun production. But it's also going to make me a little bit late to my season in Mykonos this year. So I'm trying to juggle, you know, packing the bags, seeing friends and family getting this commercial shot and then getting to Greece in time for this season.
Stephanie Kruse 4:24
So I guess it's true just because you're an entrepreneur, you don't necessarily get to quit your day job.
Lauren Demarest 4:30
No, I tried. I really, really tried. I totally walked away from advertising for about two years. But at that time, I also had investor money. So you know, my business was supported. And I felt good about it. But you know, as years go on, and it gets less and less he realized, okay, I either need to do a raise round, which I didn't really want to do, or I need to support this myself. So yeah, I started to pick up freelance gigs and I've worked for, you know, some of the best brands around the globe. And so I actually felt really comfortable building this brand because I had spent so long working on brands like L'Oreal Paris and Coca Cola and General Mills and, and things with like, really wide reach. And so I was like, Okay, it's time for me to build my own brand.
Stephanie Kruse 5:19
So let's talk about your own brand. I am so intrigued with sweat Booker and sweat vacay and the grease connection. So how did you come to this idea? Tell me your origin story and how that's gone since you started?
Lauren Demarest 5:34
Yeah, I mean, I think depending on who you ask, some people would say it's going really well. And some people would say it's a total shit show. So that's life, right? honest answer is, this is just a little snapshot of life I am, you know, I really loved my, my work and my job at at McCann, and I was really good at it. And, you know, I never in a million years would have dreamt of leaving. But, you know, it's actually pretty hard and advertising. To get time off, I mean, of course, you have time off is just actually taking those days is really difficult. And finally, in 2017, I decided I'm going to take a vacation, it was like my first vacation. And I went to Greece with a friend. And, you know, working a desk job, even a creative desk job, here. And now you're you feel like your body is slowly dying. And it was around the time that like ClassPass kind of popped. And we're doing it and it just, it was such a good idea. So I joined and after work, I would go to the gym, or to the ballet studio or to yoga or pilates. And I would, you know, use class paths to explore different places and really loved that model. But when I went to Greece, I wanted to just like pick up some classes, because it's what I'd been doing every day for, you know, a few years. And it seems like, you know, it was the time when people were first starting to talk about, like, Thailand, and, and to lose, like, there were some places that were really popping. And they were places that you couldn't walk, you know, 20 feet down the beach without tripping over some yogi, right? Like, these places were just lousy with outdoor fitness. And so I mistakenly assumed that the grease would be the same, right? This gorgeous vacation destination surrounded by all this beautiful water, surely, you know, you must be tripping over BTO ease left and right. And, you know, I thought, oh, let's let's take a beach yoga class. And my friend was like, yes, let's do it. And then we couldn't find anything. And it seemed so ludicrous. And I thought, you know, maybe it's because we don't have a VPN. Like, it's, we're not able to find it because it's something else. And you know, there's a reason it's something's broken, and she's like, I'll call my assistant, she'll find it. She'll book us a class, don't worry, the assistant calls and she's like, I'm so sorry. Like, there's literally nothing that's like easy to find easy to book, there's just what you're thinking of, it doesn't exist. And I was like, that's not vegan. It's a global vacation destination. I'm not the first person to walk up on this island and think, Oh, I wish I could take a spin class or a Pilates class or yoga class. She's like, well, there's, you know, a retreat. I'm like, we're not going to be here that long. Oh, well, there's, you know, there were things that they weren't nothing. And it just seems so ridiculous. And I thought, okay, there's a reason, right? There's a reason this doesn't exist, because it's too good of an idea to just not for it not to be real. And it bugged me. So I started to think about it. And I started to research, I started to work on it. And I went back and started to ask questions. Where do you work out? How do you work out? You know, what options are there here? Can you just get on your phone? And book it like online? No, no one has a phone. Like at that point, it was still very much Greece was a flip phone culture. So like your work, there were no apps like they don't even have an Apple store in Greece. So like,
Stephanie Kruse 9:03
this was 2017.
Lauren Demarest 9:05
Yeah.
Stephanie Kruse 9:06
Wow.
Lauren Demarest 9:07
Yeah. And, you know, I just thought, okay, so you can't book classes online, but let's at least get some outdoor classes. So, you know, I basically quit my job, moved to Greece. Got funding, I bought 17 stages C three bikes to set up a spin studio. I bought 100 custom yoga mats, and like 200 blocks, I bought all these things. I found all these partners and started to create these almost like pop up studios just for the season. And this is what became sweat vacay I do not and did not speak Greek. I didn't know anyone. I just it just seemed like too good of an opportunity to walk away from even though I had no real fitness experience, no real business experience. I'm a copywriter. I write commercials. What business? Do I have starting a studio in Greece about something I know nothing about. But I, you know, it's okay. I think it's going well. And actually, I wanted to create something where it was like a tiny class pass, where no matter where you were on the island, there was a different class, taught by a different instructor at a different time, in a different location. So there was something for you, no matter where you were, it was the kind of thing where I want people to be able to go onto the website and just be like, Oh, hey, there's like a bunch of stuff. Do you wanna do sunset or morning? Do you want to do Pilates or spin like this one? Let's do both. And I wanted to just be easy Bukit show up like you would in any other market in the world? Right? It turns out, it takes a lot of education, you know, like, it's tourists that are using it, because we're used to class paths and mind body and this process is like, find a good show up, where it wasn't a thing there. And, you know, you would think that you could say, well, I mean, this model exists in America, and in every major city, in Europe, it's all throughout Southeast Asia with guavapass. This is the business model, literally in every other market, it still people didn't really get it. So during 2020, you know, the pandemic meant a lot of different things for a lot of different people. And it was actually pretty great for what we were doing, which doesn't make sense, because, you know, group fitness became illegal as did travel. So if you're at the nexus of travel, and group fitness, and you read pretty much out of business, but it gave me an opportunity to create sweat Booker, which is the booking tool. And it's meant to be a competitor to like class paths, and mind body, which aren't available in that region at all. So even if I wanted to put my sweat vacay classes onto mind body for people to book or onto ClassPass, I can't, because those businesses do not exist in those markets. And they will not support my offering anyone else's. So if you have a studio, or you're a yogi, or a dance teacher, or masoorie, or you teach kickboxing, if you wanted to put your offering online, you kind of can't. And I thought that's crazy. It's a It's pandemic, everyone's in lockdown. And all of these trainers that I've been meeting all of these studio owners, all of these gyms, they're going to be losing their livelihood during this pandemic, if they don't have an online solution. And so that was really a driving force. Not only did I need an online booking solution for my business in Greece, by that so does the rest of the country. I've been using these tools, and I've seen how they've transformed the way America works out, then, you know, surely they can transform this market as well. And in 2020, in Greece, you weren't allowed to leave your house to get food or see your grandma or pick up a prescription or really do anything without government permission. And the mechanism to get that permission was through a government app. So all of the sudden, in 2020, we went from a flip phone market to a smartphone market. Yeah, an entire country became digitally literate overnight, because they had to if they wanted to, like get bread, or medicine, or see their family.
Stephanie Kruse 13:16
Which is huge. I mean, community wise there. I know, multigenerational community is very important to that culture. So really activator.
Lauren Demarest 13:27
Absolutely. And just all of a sudden, everybody had this technology, and people all of the sudden needed digital touchless solutions. So sweat boogers a way for people to basically build like a profile that's not unlike a LinkedIn profile or a Facebook profile, but for either themselves or their business or their studio or whatever. It's for all kinds of wellness practitioners. If you're a nutritionist, if you're a mental health doctor, if you do nails it, you know, it's it's really meant to be for absolutely all kinds of wellness. And if there's like a schedule, like a studio, people can put their schedule, if it's more like availability, with a nutritionist, you would put your availability at logos and photos, and it's free. I decided that it was important that this be affordable for this market. I mean, Greece is on the up and up, but it's still a you know, it's been a depressed economy for over a decade. So you know, it's important that these tools be accessible and available. So something like mind body, even if it were available, which it's not, it's still like 250 to 75 just Yeah, yeah. And maybe people aren't even using it. It's just to even have it at all. So sweat Booker has no monthly fees, no annual fees, it's it's just like a small booking fee, so sweat Booker's only making money if the vendor is making money. That makes sense. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So in that way, I was able to send 2020 focusing on this other business that I felt was really important. And then in 2021, I was able to get right back into sweat vacay and try as best I could just sort of like bring it back, despite the fact that there weren't that many people traveling in 2021. And 2022, we hired some really amazing new talent that really changed the offering. And it sort of went from being all about these outdoor studios in these classes into a little bit more of actually the the retreat model, which initially I wasn't really interested in. But I've started to really understand and see the value in putting together these really beautiful experiences and vacations for people. So this year, we're launching our corporate retreats, which is kind of fun. Yeah, we're doing a lot of bespoke retreats, and we have some packages that are up and we're excited. We've only done maybe like three or four last year that we really loved. And it's shifted, it's changed. And I've had to learn a lot because I came into this knowing absolutely nothing.
Stephanie Kruse 15:49
So let's unpack that for a second. Because one of the things that you talked about was, you had a great idea, which that's a common theme we see a lot, right in new businesses and entrepreneur journey journeys is a new idea. And I would say a lot of times, even if the idea is there, often when I've heard people talk about lacking the skill set or the experience, it takes a minute, maybe, you know that entrepreneur got stuck, or something else happened in their career, and they stayed in it. You talked about being you know, you're a copywriter, by trade, you had this good solid career at McCann, and then fast forward, you're moving to make notes and starting this business. So what what is it about you or where you were in your life, or how you think about new adventures that you think helped you to take that jump when you did?
Lauren Demarest 16:45
You know, I, I did love my job, and I did love my life. But I could also see that growth trajectory. You know, it's like, associate creative director, Creative Director, executive, Korean director, Group Director, Vice President, Creative Director, and then maybe chief creative officer in partner by the time I'm like, 60. Not that that wouldn't be great. But after you sort of get to a certain point, you're not really doing your own creative, right, you're meant to foster other talent, give feedback, help other teams look at other creative, just approve, or not approve, you know, and I didn't want to come to work every day, even if it was for the biggest and best and most exciting brands in the world. But if I'm not doing the creative, and where's the fun in that, right, I don't want to look at other people's work, I don't want to tell other people what to do. I know what to do, I want to do it. And at a certain point, that's no longer your job. And I never really wanted to get to the point where that wasn't my job, I always want to be the one in charge of creative. And with this, I am in charge of the brand, I take all the photographs, I create all the videos, I used to write all the music to to avoid any, any issues with music rights, I used to just write all the music and then I realized that even though it was super fun and very fulfilling, it was also very time consuming and not very efficient. So I'm you know, definitely doing all of the down and dirty stuff. I'm you know, photo editing, and I'm putting together reels and stories and stuff like that every day. And it's really fun. And I'm enjoying that. But you know, I kind of thought I'm not getting any younger, I kind of know where this life is going. And even though I like it, and it would, you know, still be fulfilling and fun. I felt like I had enough experience to try something new and starting my own brand wasn't necessarily out of my wheelhouse. It was just in it was just in a sector that maybe I you know, only had love for you know, I, since then I've gotten my training in spinning and bar and you know, I've taken a lot of the training so that I'm able to now, you know, teach the yoga classes and you know, I still hire experts and bring in I've got a really robust guest instructor program where we bring in talented people from all over the globe every year to come stay in our group house and make notes and teach our classes with us. But you know, if someone's sick or someone doesn't feel good, if you know there's a week or two where someone's not on the schedule, then you know, I can teach all these classes I teach the spin classes anyway.
Stephanie Kruse 19:24
And so you did have skills and I think your answer is so key because even though on its face here, you were a director, you know, our director, Creative Director at at McCann, you had all the skill set to actually start create and develop and bring to life a brand. Tell me about the other side. What have you heard from your partners and from people who have experienced the classes? What vacay who's using this and how how are they feeling what what are they getting from what you're able to provide?
Lauren Demarest 19:58
It's so funny because In the end, our consumer isn't necessarily who I thought it would be. I, I really thought because Mykonos has such a vibrant gay community. And spending is basically like a party on a bike. I never thought that it would just be like so many classes full of fabulous game in. And actually, it's been a lot of couples, it's been a lot of just like hetero dudes, which is kind of surprising, I guess. And yeah, and then a lot of solo travelers as well, in terms of the makeup of the classes from, from where they're, they're coming each summer, it's amazing. We probably get between 16 and 19 different countries represented in our classes globally. And from absolutely everywhere, that demographic and where they were coming from definitely changed during pandemic, because the year that we started, it was like Aziz, Aziz Aziz, everyone's in Ozzy. And then of course, Australia got locked down. So severely, all of a sudden, there was zero, Aziz. And you know, it means I have to rethink my my target market strategy, too. Because if I'm sending, you know, specific targeted messages to Israel in June, because I know that that's when all the cruise ships come from, from Israel. And I'm sending all of the messaging to Italians in August, because I know all the Italians are coming in August, you know, like, it's only true if Italy isn't locked down for COVID. So like, I found that all the learnings that I got my first year that I was like, I know, when everyone's coming, I feel really prepared. I feel really smart. The next year was like, Oh, do you want to that? None of that's true anymore. So it's changing.
Stephanie Kruse 21:46
That's amazing. It's you've got this ability to have, you know, a common ground built on health practice. What did you expect to find in terms of what the health you know, the health and wellness industry, being a member of it would feel like, and what did you find is true? What's different?
Lauren Demarest 22:06
I really wanted it to be, I guess, maybe more like inclusive and welcoming in that like, especially when I started sweat Booker, it wasn't just my tool, it was a tool that I wanted everyone to be able to use. And so I wanted to get to know, every one that like owned a gym and economics, I wanted to be able to go to all of these studios in Athens, like I wanted to tell as many people as possible that this tool is available to you for free, enjoy. And, you know, I really wanted so very badly for everyone to see this as a building a community, rather than it being like competition, because it's like, you know, we're on this small island, or in this small country, there's only so much room and it's like not really, I mean, everyone brings something different to the table, it's so much richer, when we can all you know, collaborate and share experiences and help each other out. Sometimes I feel like that's true. And sometimes I feel like, I'm just naive, and like you get out of here. But it's helped so much this year that my one of my newer employees is Greek speaking. And I realized pretty quickly that it was just going to be an easier process to have someone on my team who could really speak Greek. And it's not that I'm not trying, but it is a totally different alphabet. And there are sounds that I'm not sure how to make, like I'm like, where do I need like a real teacher probably. But at this point, I have made some really lovely friends. There are some some great, great, great people that have really taken me under their wing, given me a chance to shine, believe in what I'm building and our you know, my number one fans, and it's been so nice to develop some of these relationships and get to know people and really feel part of the community. I mean, being a foreigner and an outsider and being able to walk through Mykonos Town and on every block, he'll be like, hey, hey, how's it going? Yes. It's like, oh, I belong.
Stephanie Kruse 24:14
You found a whole nother community to belong to your you're a person of the world, that lightness just even talking to you. I can feel that energy that it gives you. And I'm guessing I'm I may be wrong, but you didn't code sweat. Booker yourself, you hired people to build that for you. Correct. The technical back end.
Lauren Demarest 24:35
I wanted to be able to build these platforms myself, actually. So when I started, I had experience building building websites. And so I built the first sort of minimum viable product. And I liked it a lot. It worked. And it was good. But, you know, my partner at the time, said why don't we try to work with you know, something really professional and hire someone and I'm like Well, I mean, this site works. And I think it's pretty and it's like, they just really wanted us to to hire someone. So in the end, we found a really lovely woman that has helped us. And then this past year, I hired someone to help me with sweat Booker, but initially, you know, I'm someone that coming from advertising. I'm sure this is true in many industries, but it's important for me to triple bid. Every job, of course. Yeah, yeah. So just to make sure I'm like really getting the right person for the job at the right price point and everything. So for every job, I would you no interview three people, and really try to determine if that's in Greece, and in the US. So it was just, it took a long time to build this because there was a lot of interviewing a lot of people, but really making sure that I was able to assemble a dream team. And like I said before, it's really only really come together. Now. I went through so many expensive, incapable dev shops, I've learned with so many expensive, sad mistakes, about who to hire and who to trust. And it's like, Oh, I really thought I did my due diligence, I read reviews, I interviewed this person I, you know, like, I really, really tried and sometimes, you know, you're just wrong. And that's okay, I'm learning that it's okay.
Stephanie Kruse 26:21
I feel your pain. I have been there a few times myself. And, oh, that's a tough one. Because it's all you both the positive and negative side of that same coin. Right? And how do you brush off deal with manage your inner critic, if you have one, when those things happen?
Lauren Demarest 26:44
My inner critic is so mean. So hard. And, you know, I really, I wasn't dealing with it. And I really wasn't coping with it. And it was actually a pretty intense struggle. And I think I would have continued to struggle. But you know, I realized that I really want very badly to work, you know, seamlessly and joyfully, with all of the people on my team, and if I'm frustrated, if I'm overworked, if I'm upset, and then I'm not thinking clearly, then everything's going to be bad instead of good. So this year, I really did a lot of work on myself. And it took, you know, it's taken since 2019. When I moved to Greece and started this company, officially with our first sort of real year, it's taken since then, for me to understand what my limits are, what I am capable of, and where I need to, you know, slow down and be good to myself. So actually, this year, the three big things that I did for myself, to get my inner critic to just shut up was, I downloaded the Chopra app. Oh, meditation, you know, I'm like, everyone tells me Lauren, you really, really, really need to relax. And everyone keeps saying meditation is how you do this. And I've heard it over and over, and I keep thinking, Gosh, I don't think I can sit on a pillow for an hour and feel existentially fulfilled, I'm so sorry, that's not gonna happen. Because the second, it's quiet, my brain tells me to make lists and stop sitting on the pillow and get to work. Because why am I sitting here doing nothing when I could be doing something. And so it's taken me a really long time to quiet that. And it's not that I'm all of a sudden a master meditator because I'm not. But I'm trying. And I feel like a big part of what these meditations are attempting to teach me is that trying is a big part of it like that. You can't expect so much of yourself all at once, and I'm an impatient person by nature. The second thing that I've done is I joined BetterHelp, which is talk therapy. So because it's like, I needed someone that spoke English, and we're in between time zones, I ended up going for a therapist in the UK. She's amazing. It probably took me maybe like five sessions to really feel like, I like this woman. I'm going to keep doing this because I'm like, Oh, I'm gonna try we'll see. I don't know, you know, I just wanted to feel it out first to see if this was really for me. Or if this was just a big waste of time and money or if this was really helping, and I knew that it would take time, there weren't enough results. I wasn't gonna be like, Wow, I'm cured. I'm such a nice person now. But I've been working now with my therapist since I guess maybe October and I really like it my once a week 45 minute session or whatever. I feel like grounds me senators me if I want to cry or complain or bitch and moan I can and I know that she's an objective person. And you know, letting all those feelings out to like a business partner can be detrimental to my A mom, it's gonna make her sad. But to this third party who has no skin in the game, yeah, it's really great to have that kind of feedback also from like a professional, your, you know, your friends can do so much your loved ones can do so much. But at the end, you know, their perspective is a little bit skewed or, you know, tainted or whatever. They're as close to the situation as you are sometimes. Yeah. And then the third measure I've taken is, I've actually started an antidepressant. And I was really on the fence. For years, I thought about taking an antidepressant for absolutely years. And I kept thinking, well, Lauren, you're not your brains not chemically depressed. You're just trying to grow a business in a really tough economy.
Stephanie Kruse 30:37
Sure. Yeah. I mean, I can understand that, right? I can make you feel all kinds of anxiety and sadness, and worry, and all the things. Yeah.
Lauren Demarest 30:46
And I'm just telling myself, you know, this is situational. This isn't chemical, you know, it's just life is hard. There's nothing that like a pill is going to do to fix your life. Only you can fix your life, you know, you're in charge of it. So you fix it, Lauren? And then I thought, Well, I mean, that could be true. But also, why not just try it and see if it helps, because what's the worst that happens? It doesn't. And I stopped taking it. Okay, okay. No harm, right, lady, it feels amazing. And I'm like, Wow, good idea. I should have been taking this the whole time. Great. So I've started that as well. So those are the three things I did for myself this year to try to sort of get myself on an even keel and feel like I could really approach everything from a place of calm rather than panic.
Stephanie Kruse 31:33
Yeah, you know, and kudos to you for having the self awareness to do that for yourself. Because I, I hear in your story, you know, you've been on a transition bus for quite a while, you know, it's been one thing after another, and all for good reasons. Now that you've sort of started this journey, and it is a progression, right? Like you said, you don't just like snap your fingers. And now you're, you know, meditating every single day, and everything's perfect. But now that you're on this progression, what are you seeing in terms of how to incorporate that into the work that you're doing? Or how is it affecting the resources you're using, or the people you're working with?
Lauren Demarest 32:15
It's so tightly interconnected, it's crazy. While I was on this process of self discovery, and learning all of these wonderful techniques, talk therapy meditation, we've also concurrently started to parallel path with the business. Right now, we have a lot of really wonderful resources at our fingertips. But in terms of like, sweat, vacay owned and operated properties, there's still a lot of work to be done and a lot of growth to be had. So for the places that we haven't reached yet, we work with other partners. So for example, like when our some of our private clients really need to detox, reset, we take them to Baden Baden in, in Switzerland, and they're, you know, for kind of a lot of money you have, you know, all your blood work done, and the doctor will work with the nutritionist and the personal trainer to develop, you know, things that are going to do toxify your level or, or boost your hormones, or you know, whatever it is that your body is deficient in or needs. They're going to supplement that with, you know, IVs, nutritious food, exercise and really curate and customize a program that's designed for you based on your body and what it needs. And, you know, we we really love the doctors there. We love the facilities there. We've got, you know, really fabulous teams really all over the world that are helping us to learn a lot more about the medical facet of the wellness experience. And so we're trying to integrate this more and more. So basically, in our retreats, we're offering so many new things we're offering Wim Hof breathing exercises and ice baths. We're starting to offer these custom blended IVs with one of our doctor partners on the island. One of our newer facilities that we just became a partner with this year, we help them to build out a sports performance gym. That is it's shared. It's part of rock estates, but it's a sweat vacay gym and spa. So there we have a home mom and a sauna. So we're starting to integrate a lot more like health and wellness aspects into our offering. And then looking forward, there's a lot of opportunity in this medical wellness space. And we're I sent my my newest hire, Panos. He's lovely. I sent him to Bahrain at the end of the season, to learn from Dr. Michael hog, all about peptides and, you know, the role that they play in, you know, anti aging and male sexuality and all of these kinds of things that our clients are coming to us with questions about And if we really want to be experts in the space, and we really want to evolve and grow our offering and our knowledge, then it's really great for us to be collecting, you know, some of the best doctors from around the world, to be licensing their protocols and then to be integrating those into the work ahead. So, in about two weeks, Panos and I are going to be taking a meeting in Costa Rica.
Stephanie Kruse 35:23
Can I come? That sounds amazing.
Lauren Demarest 35:26
It does sound amazing. One of our private clients, his agent is friends with a nice young man whose family owns an awful lot of property down there. And he expressed interest in building, you know, a hotel, and this mutual friend of ours said, Well, you could, or, you know, I can introduce you to these people, and you could build a wellness hotel and have something that really sort of stands out from, you know, the, the competition down there is something with a unique offering. So, like, I, like I was saying, you know, panels came on and has really grown the offering. So he's helped us grow into the retreat space, as well as sort of the consultation space. So he came to us from Soho House group, where he built out all of this sort of like, beautiful gym and wellness spaces, and was in charge of programming and staffing and all of those things and, you know, built an award winning gym for them in Barcelona, and he did the one in Rome and in Tel Aviv, and has all these really gorgeous spaces under his belt. And so he's like, you know, we could be helping people to also create these really unique, beautiful wellness spaces. And I was like, Yes, why not? If we're going to be fitness and wellness experts ensure so then this summer, we built five private gyms, oh my gosh, one for five star hotel and four for private villa residences. And so now that we've, you know, started offering this consultation piece, we're really excited to go down to Costa Rica, and potentially be major partners in this wellness Hotel. So if it does become a sweat vacay wellness hotel, then this is going to be one more really beautiful location that we can, you know, add to our cadre of beautiful locations, you know, right now, Mykonos is still our base. But we've added really beautiful locations in Paris and Lefkada in Athens. And so we're all the time looking at really beautiful, exciting places, and we have really lovely partners in the Dolomites. In Italy. We just found a new partner in Paris. So there's so many really beautiful places that we're excited about, but Costa Rica is, is coming up fast. So we're really excited to see it's a it's a beachfront property. And it sounds really lovely. So we're excited to meet the architect and start to talk turkey about building a wellness hotel in Costa Rica.
Stephanie Kruse 37:47
This is a far cry from you know, getting to your 60s and being a partner. So how do you how do you define success for yourself? I'm curious about that one.
Lauren Demarest 38:04
I kind of wish I had more firm definitions in this space, because I just know that I feel like I haven't attained it yet. I understand that it sounds ridiculous. Because you know, saying like, Oh, I live between Mykonos in Manhattan, and I'm flying to Costa Rica for a meeting like it sounds pretty successful on the outside, but my brain demon tells me I'm dumb. I'm never gonna make it. So I don't know. It's hard. I want so much to be like, Yes, I am living my best life. I have no worries. And everything's perfect. But I do think that one of those measures of success for me is is acquisition. I want to run sweat, vacate, forever, I really do. But like sweat Booker is something that has the potential to be so much bigger than me. I've been built this with the ambition of, you know, Mind Body buying it, you know, they've started with, you know, class paths at the top, in these top markets, and they're slowly working their way down. So like if I can start from the bottom. All these Mediterranean markets because the tool works globally. I mean, of course, in there, if you want to pay in South African rand, right?
Stephanie Kruse 39:21
It's a currency setting is basically all you have to do. Right? That's different.
Lauren Demarest 39:26
Exactly. And when I initially when I had my initial calls with ClassPass, in 2018, or 19, they said, Well, you know, we're not going to be in that market for another four or five years and I thought that I have four or five years to build something that they want to buy, then Mind Body bought class. It's literally a monopoly. There's only one company in the whole world. And it's so
Stephanie Kruse 39:50
And you and Sweat Booker, let's not forget.
Lauren Demarest 39:55
Sweat Booker and so what I really want is to be able to spend those next A few years really building up sweat Booker's user base. So that it is something that when mind body is ready to come into these Mediterranean markets, or some of these smaller markets, that this is what they want to buy, rather than start from scratch, they're like, we'll just buy this existing thing. I mean,
Stephanie Kruse 40:21
you're first you're on notice.
Lauren Demarest 40:25
Yeah. Something like sweat Booker, I would really love for a big wonderful acquisition from something like mind body at some point. I do want to run, you know, myself forever. But I mean, also, if someone wanted to acquire it, it's not like, I'd be like, I'm not taking any offers, you know, I would definitely hear them out for sure,
Stephanie Kruse 40:45
what you would need, you would need three different bids, just like hiring right, you would need at least three different buyers so that you could appropriately understand which is the best, right, so I have a feeling this will happen.
Lauren Demarest 41:00
So I'm excited. You know, as for something that started as just like an outdoor studio, where you could be on your mat and take in, you know, this beautiful view of the Aegean to hopefully something that's on the same playing field as maybe something like Lancer Hof or Canyon Ranch, like I really want to be able to combine this experience now with hospitality and wellness in the world of of, you know, medical as well, there's just so much out there. And there's so much to try and learn about and I'm excited to try and learn about all of it, and then curate all my favorite parts into one amazing experience. Amazing experience.
Stephanie Kruse 41:40
We need you doing that, keep doing that. So I want to get to this last question, the question that I ask all of my guests, and it's because you know, brand wise, my brand is good enough for now. Right? So trying to dismantle perfectionism. So when you hear that phrase good enough for now, what does that evoke for you?
Lauren Demarest 41:59
Oh, it just it says to me exactly what I am, where I am and what my life is right now. I feel like I have to accept that this is good enough for now. And I feel like, every day, I am trying to get closer to build something to find what I deemed successful, and to do it with my friends and my family and all of the fabulous people that have been supporting me and this business in this brand. But good enough for now, I think also really speaks to the fact that like, I'm trying so hard to build these two brands into these shiny, perfect babies. But like, I'm still doing freelance work to like, make sure that I can pay for like the house and make a note so that everyone has a car, make sure everyone's insurance is paid. You know, like I can only make so much money with this business model as it is right now. And now that we've added so many really interesting facets to this business, and so many new and exciting revenue streams. It's gonna be really fun this year to see what really takes what small fires really light, and ignite and what what takes off and what doesn't. Because really everything is about testing and iterating whether it's with a small ad online, or a class offering, or retreat, or consultation, or a global booking system, like everything is just testing and iterating lighting small fires and seeing what sparks and I'm trying every day to get a little closer. But you know, good enough for now means I'm going to be late to my season because I'm shooting this commercial.
Stephanie Kruse 43:38
That is fantastic way to wrap this one up. Thank you so so much. And you, you have definitely led some some great fires. I've got so many places you just mentioned that are now on my travel list. So thank you for that.
Lauren Demarest 43:52
Like me to organize any wellness travel for you, Stephanie, it would be my pleasure.
Stephanie Kruse 43:56
Perfect. I will get some friends together. Lauren, it's been such a pleasure. Where can people find you find your businesses and get themselves some rest and relaxation?
Lauren Demarest 44:08
Absolutely. I think we're most active on Instagram. I think also, it's probably some of the more interesting content. So for sweat vacay is just at sweat vacay S W E A T V A C A Y and sweat Booker is just how it sounds S W E A T B O O K E R, we also have Facebook pages and LinkedIn or both. But I think the LinkedIn content tends to be a little bit more serious. If you'd like to see a little bit about longer form video, we've got a YouTube page for sweat vacay where you can find videos to follow along with for yoga and pilates. Our sweat Booker YouTube is all tutorials about how to set up a class or how to buy a class, how to upload your logo basically how to use the interface. We're always looking For people to give us feedback, so we can make that user interface more friendly. Sign up, it's free. And if you've got any problems, let me know. Because I really want to be able to tell our developer to make this product the very best it can be. And then of course, our websites, sweat vacay.com highlights our classes or locations and our retreats, and then sweat Booker is where you can book all of the above.
Stephanie Kruse 45:24
Fantastic and I will put all of this in the show notes and tag it all in the actual episode. So thanks again, Lauren. And I wish you the best of luck.
Lauren Demarest 45:33
Thank you so much. I appreciate it, Stephanie.
Stephanie Kruse 45:38
Thank you so much for joining me. Please share the show with your friends by word of mouth, send them a text and maybe leave a rating and review. It really helps people find Good Enough For Now. Don't forget to also follow us on your favorite podcast player like Apple or Spotify. So you can get new shows automatically each time they're released. You'll find show notes at goodenoughfornowpod.com And you can connect on Instagram @ goodenoughfornowpod. See you next time.
