Today on The Owner Seat Podcast, host Albert Ramos

breaks down the truth about what’s coming next in fitness,

wellness, and franchising — and why AI isn’t a feature…

it’s a business model shift.

My guest is Garrett Marshall — CEO & Founder of

Wellbuilt Ventures and former President of Xponential+.

Garrett has 22+ years across fitness + tech + SaaS growth,

with real operator outcomes (including two IPOs).

This episode is for boutique studio owners, franchisees,

and franchisors who want to win in 2026 without drowning

in tools, hype, or “AI theater.”

1. buying tech that doesn’t improve retention or margin
2. running 20–30 disconnected tools with no real ROI
3. hearing “personalization” but seeing zero behavior change
4. feeling behind without knowing what actually matters
5. security fear narratives with no actionable plan

1. AI as a margin event
2. How intelligence changes cost structure, speed, and profit.
3. Personalization at scale (what actually breaks)
4. Why most AI “personalization” fails in real operations —
5. and what use cases actually move retention.
6. The “one app for everything” trap
7. What to build instead: connected ecosystems that don’t
8. break your workflows.
9. The 2026 stack: systems of record + integrations
10. Where most operators fail (and how to rationalize tool
11. sprawl without disrupting the business).
12. Agents + security: what’s real
13. What browser-native agents make possible, and what
14. leaders should do now to reduce risk without paranoia.

Franchisors:

Build a defensible tech + data standard across the network,

reduce variability, and protect the brand experience.

Franchisees / Multi-site operators:

Stop bleeding margin through tool bloat, identify the first

workflows to AI-assist, and drive measurable ROI.

Boutique owners:

Get a clear filter for what matters, what’s noise, and how to

build a simpler operating system that improves retention.

📊 Work with Albert —...

Today on The Owner Seat Podcast, host Albert Ramos goes straight at the reason most boutique fitness studios and online coaching businesses feel “successful” but still feel broke: profit leaks + payroll drift + zero cash visibility — not a “more leads” problem.

Paul Roch, CPA helps online fitness coaches and boutique studio owners translate confusing financials into operator language, tighten processes, and build cash flow clarity that lets you pay yourself without crossing your fingers. He’s also a real operator inside complex systems — currently serving as Executive Director of Academic Affairs and Business Operations at the University of Houston’s Conrad N. Hilton College of Global Hospitality Leadership, with years overseeing budgets, HR, and large-scale reporting.

This episode is for operators who are tired of:

1. making decisions off the bank balance
2. thinking “revenue is up” while profit is missing
3. watching payroll creep month after month
4. getting surprised by “small” expenses that compound into chaos
5. not knowing if they can pay themselves consistently

In this episode, we unpack:

1. What a “profit leak” actually is in simple operator terms
2. The most common leaks in boutique fitness (software stack sprawl, contractors, marketing creep, processing fees, payroll waste, etc.)
3. A fast, non-overwhelming way to audit the last 60–90 days of expenses
4. How to cut costs without nuking operations or culture
5. The “small” leak that’s the most dangerous because it compounds

1. How payroll drifts to insane levels without anyone noticing
2. What “healthy” payroll ranges look like (and what changes the range)
3. The levers that reduce payroll % without destroying morale (schedule design, class utilization, comp models)
4. How to handle comp conversations when you know you’ve waited too long
5. The minimum KPI dashboard to catch drift early

1. The operator-grade metrics that expose reality (not vanity):
2. revenue, profit margin, retention, average revenue per client, owner pay consistency
3. The ONE metric that creates the biggest “truth moment” in the next 30 days
4. What to do operationally when

Today on The Owner Seat Podcast, host Albert Ramos goes straight at the real reason most fitness and wellness businesses stall out: execution drift — not a “marketing problem,” not a “more leads” problem.

Ben Ludwig is a fitness industry leadership, sales, and strategy operator who’s trained teams across 60+ countries, helped support nearly 2,000 F45 studios globally, and served in executive leadership scaling an F45 franchise group from 4 to 12 locations with 200+ staff and real operational infrastructure. He’s now the President of Colossians 3:23-24 Fitness Holdings and the host of Revenue Machines Podcast (DXFactor) — focused on the systems, onboarding, and accountability that actually move retention and revenue. pasted

This episode is for operators who are tired of:

1. “busy” teams that still miss goals
2. onboarding that feels like “handbook + hope”
3. dashboards nobody uses
4. seasonality whiplash (Black Friday → holidays → January)
5. and owners who can’t explain their true unit economics

Execution & operator-grade systems

1. What “efficiency” and “simplicity” really mean on the floor (not in a slide deck)
2. Where operators confuse activity with productivity
3. The biggest lie the industry tells itself about growth

Data in the hands of the front line

1. Why dashboards fail (even when the data is “right”)
2. What data matters daily for GMs and department heads
3. How real-time visibility changes retention behavior immediately

Onboarding as apprenticeship (or culture leak)

1. “Unmet expectations should never be a surprise” — what great onboarding looks like
2. The 3 things every new hire must SEE and FEEL in week one
3. How to scale onboarding across locations without losing culture

Member onboarding & seasonality

1. Why Black Friday onboarding determines end-of-year success (or stress)
2. How to prevent holiday freezes/cancels from becoming churn
3. The minimum accountability stack members can actually follow

Pricing, margins, retention

1. Why copying competitor pricing quietly kills profitability
2. The weekly KPI Ben would force every operator to review