DAVID GUNTHER: We started using an online scheduling and payment management system for our clinical Pilates studio about 17 years ago. Since then, there have been a lot of changes in the online management space, as well as in the Pilates industry. Up until earlier this year, we'd been using a very popular scheduling and payment management system for about seven years. 

We thought that system had all the features we needed. However, during and after COVID, we realised there was a very important feature missing:

they just didn't care. 

We heard what they said, but we watched what they did, and they failed us. They failed to fix features. In particular, there was a broken feature that had worked for the previous five years, and it was only after about two years that they finally did get to fixing it. The fix was very easy and swift, but for those two years, we had to make do with a 15-step work around because they just didn't care. 

Then, earlier this year, they wanted to dictate a change from our integrated payment management system to their own choice of payment management system. We had used our payment management system for 17 years without a problem, and they wanted to tell us, "No, we're going to change that. Bad luck."

So, it was then that we drew our line in the sand and started looking at other options that would deliver all the features we wanted, with the most important being that they cared. 

That was a big job on its own, to sort the pretenders from the real deal. 

At last, we found one that we thought would fulfill our requirements and make the task of changing systems worthwhile. The work involved in this could not be underestimated. 

So, we did our due diligence, made out decision to change, and held our breath as we drove away from the clutches of the previous system and into the new much friendlier waters, all the while looking out for potential sharks in the form of problems with the new system that would make us regret our big decision. 

I'm excited to say that we have been very happy with our change, and so glad we made it before the old system could claim more control over our small clinical Pilates business by controlling our payment platform, as well as the scheduling. 

Now, this sort of change still causes work and stress, but because of the skills of our staff and the fact that our new system cares, all that inevitable stress of the change has been minimised. 

Who is this new scheduling system? 

Well, listen on and find out in this episode as we talk to their co-founder and CEO, who, as well as being a business owner, is also a mother of two children and someone who I can confidently say brings added value to any conversation about business because she cares.  

Emily Smart is the co-founder and CEO of Clubworx, a scheduling and payment management system that cares and has looked after our clinical Pilates business for around six months now. Apart from being a mother of two primary-age children, whom she cares for deeply, Emily is also a caring CEO who is taking her valuable time to join us on The Pilates Business Podcast to connect with her clientele. Emily promises to help all of her clients to be more profitable and save up to 10 hours a week by easily automating admin tasks with the Clubworx highly personalised, accurate scheduling and payment management system. 

Welcome to The Pilates Business Podcast. We have a new series and it's called Eureka: A Scheduling System That Cares, and we're lucky to have Emily Smart, the CEO of Clubworx, with us today to talk about why they care and how they care, and how that aligns with our values at Pilates Can, our values with the Pilates Business Podcast, and our values in our niche industry of clinical Pilates studios around the world. So, a really big welcome, Emily.

EMILY SMART: Thank you for having me.

DAVID: It's really a pleasure.

We're going to jump right in now to the hard-hitting questions about caring, and Clubworx, and about yourself. Let's start with the theme of the episode: Eureka: A Scheduling System That Cares. What does the word "Eureka" mean to you in the context of Clubworx, Emily? 

EMILY: I think if I was going to say what it means to me, the best way to describe that would be the way that we produce or develop Clubworx. Every time we map out a feature or a product, we do that alongside, or with, and listening to our customers. We're able to put that feature into our customer's hands and see them using it, and it's actually when we're talking to our customers, once that's all in place and they're the ones saying to us, 'that's working' and that's changing how they're doing their business. So, I think that's probably what "Eureka" is at Clubworx.

My seven-year-old asked me what "Eureka" means, so that's just really weird, it's a cry for like, "We’ve got it!"

DAVID: The story of the Eureka moment is that, Archimedes, a scientist, who was requested by the king to find out whether the king's crown had as much gold in it as what the goldsmith claimed. Archimedes worked that out using displacement theory. He was in his bath thinking about the problem and working out how he could define whether the crown was actually all gold or part gold and part silver. 

He was so excited about his revelation that he jumped out of the bath and ran down the street. Now, I'm not sure in what state, but he ran down the street shouting, "Eureka! Eureka! I've got it!" as he rushed to explain his discovery to the king. 

So, there you have it, a golden moment with "Eureka", and "Eureka" is what you say when you find a scheduling and payment system that works for clinical Pilates studios.

So, tell us the story of how Clubworx was founded and whether there was a Eureka moment that sparked its creation.

EMILY: The story of Clubworx is, in a previous life, I worked in a payments company with the other co-owner of Clubworx. Our role was processing payments, for the large part within the fitness industry. They were our customers and we integrated into other club management software.

Basically, from that position, we were able to get an understanding of what was available on the market for fitness businesses, in terms of club and studio management software, particularly in Australia. When that business was sold, Matt and I basically looked at our experience to date.

We'd worked largely within the fitness industry, had a really good understanding of some of the pain points and problems, and who those customers were. I guess we thought we could have a go at building some club software, and we thought we might be able to even do it better.

There were a lot of products that we could see: lower-cost, off-the-shelf products. There was some high cost, highly customisable products. We were looking to find that middle ground. That was the initial leap, and that's where we thought we could fit into the landscape.

DAVID: Excellent. I can recall, over 20 years ago, when we were using a hairdresser's book to take bookings. Crossing them out when people would cancel, and looking through the pages to find September the 15th, and how we were going to book that next client in or book all of their sessions in to get continuity.

We realised at that point, this was a perfect scenario for that new thing on the block to help us, which was the internet.

DAVID: Where these things could be done in real time, by having a really smart — play on your second name there, Emily — a really smart system, and these things could help underpin, for us, an excellent exercise habit that then has become an excellent Pilates exercise habit. 

There are quite a number of different systems now, of course, 24 years later, and AI coming in as well, but it's interesting that you already had that experience. It must have been a little bit scary to make that jump.

What were some of the challenges early on there with making that jump and creating a business like Clubworx?

EMILY: I guess I had never run a business prior. However, there's something in my personality that lets me think I can do that. So, I did, and I really enjoy that still today, nearly 9 to 10 years later. I'm still learning things as I go, but obviously you're getting all that experience over that time, and it is surprising what you can look back and see that you have learned. 

For me, I'm a non-technical CEO. I'm someone who really enjoys speaking to my customers. I really enjoy finding out what they need, how we can deliver that product.

So, one of the big hurdles in that initial stage was communicating with developers, getting those first few building blocks off the ground, and getting that first customer.

There are a lot of moving parts in those first stages, but a lot of what I have always done is just move through that next stage.  We always celebrated whenever we got our milestone. Whether it was our first customer, our 10th customer, our 100th customer, just appreciating what they were and now it's time for the next milestone.

DAVID: That is really relatable to our industry, to our owners of clinical Pilates studios around the world, who have had to take those very same steps that you've just described, Emily. 

It's not easy. It is challenging. There is an element of fear. There's an element of "I don’t really know what I’m doing because I haven’t done it before". I've not ever had my hundredth customer, or I've never had my first customer, and "What systems do I really need?"

It's very comforting for us to know that you've been in the industry that long. The payments part of the scenario, of the formula, is really important. That's what I saw 20 years ago when we went with an organisation that was called EZFacility.

We found that integrating how the payments worked with how the scheduling worked was really important because, as clinical Pilates studios, we actually have to take part in building the excellent Pilates exercise habit.

We have to take some of the risk that the client takes in coming on board with us as a business, because we don't have sleepers. We don't have people that are just members paying insurance not to exercise. If our clients stop exercising with us, stop doing Pilates, then they stop paying us, essentially, because it's a personalised service.

That brings us back to caring, and I'd like to ask you a bit more about your personal journey, Emily. What personal experiences have shaped your vision for leading the company? It's not your entire focus—caring. Obviously, you're a business that has to make money. It has to survive in the marketplace, but part of that strategy is to care about your customer. What has shaped your vision for leading the company in that way, Emily?

EMILY: I think that's a great question. I personally do think that if you are caring for your staff and you are caring about your clients and your customers, you're always going to be on the right path. Obviously, there's a balance there. 

As a business, our product doesn't exist without your customers and if it's not hitting the mark and actually facilitating the types of business processes and usability that customers care about, then it's not going to be successful. 

One thing I could say just to that previous question — what was some of the hurdles that we had to overcome, was, when we went to market we were a little bit head-sure, and we thought "that's it, we're a fitness business platform and we're for everyone. Anyone can use us, so why wouldn't they?" We weren't getting traction with that. We accidentally ended up speaking individually with some pretty successful martial arts instructors, for example. 

So, having those conversations and striking up a conversation with someone who thought, "oh yeah, this person's listening," and I thought, "this person's really willing to work with us." We were able to build out these really nice specific tools within the software for them, and that has been something that's driven a lot of growth within one vertical, within that martial arts space. Because we really focused in on that, we have managed to serve, say, martial arts really well, but if you take a broader look at that, what we were doing was building out a really nice system. 

A system that really serves class-based family management, all of the bells and whistles that come with popular classes, and all of that. It was something that bolstered us on and let us grow, but it also let us build that feature set to serve all these other industry types in that way as well.  I think you're right. Having that really deep understanding of the importance of payments and how that actually has to work really nicely with memberships and membership management, has been something that's been a foundational part of Clubworx, just in terms of the product. 

What sort of drives the value set of being a caring company or leading as a caring CEO, for me personally, that's come from experience, in some cases, being led by less caring companies and seeing the impact that has on a company and ultimately, the way it can operate and serve its customers. Personally, I don't believe that you have to be cutthroat, for example, to be a good leader. 

I think, if we look at the very traditional male leadership values, sometimes there is, in my work experience in the past, there have been a lot of, I would say subtle reference to the idea that you do need to be quite an aggressive and almost cutthroat leader to be successful, and I've just always rejected that idea because it doesn't sit well with me.

I think caring is just another word that encompasses listening, helping, being a positive impact on someone else. I have a background in sales, and I remember going to an interview when I was about twenties, or mid-twenties, I'll say, and the sales manager asked me, "Why do you like sales? Why do you want to be in sales?" I surprised myself, I think, but the answer was, "...because I like helping people." 

So, even from a sales perspective, I thoroughly enjoy sales because, to me, I'm helping someone solve a problem. I only sell things that I can get behind. 

To me, that's actually what being in a business is. It's helping people. Now that we're a business that has a really great team that's growing around me, I can see how important it is to make sure that they're getting the same level of satisfaction, self-determination, and progression from work as well.

DAVID: There was so much there to unpack, Emily. That was terrific because, full disclosure here, Pilates Can, our business in Canberra, we've recently switched over to Clubworx from another platform that we had been with for seven years. A lot of the things that you just described there were the reasons why we changed over.

We could see from things that happened. We heard what people said, but we watched what they did. It's very important to us to see the actions and watch what these companies do, and we found that they weren't really caring, and if they were caring, it wasn't for us or businesses like us.

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Everything that you said there, that's the sort of approach that has led us to make that change, because it's not an easy transition. There's standard operating procedures, we'll talk about those later in the series, that need to be changed as a result. We have a lot of standard operating procedures that relate directly to the other platform, because it is a central part of our business for scheduling and management of sessions and the money. 

I'll just circle back to a couple of things, if you don't mind, because they were really, really good. You mentioned about caring for the customer, and sometimes there's a saying that I don't really like, which is, "The customer is always right." 

I think that's correct if you're talking about your whole group of customers, but if you've got one customer who really shouldn't be a customer, who really is a customer that wants something different, very different to what you can provide as a business, then it's a good lesson. 

I'm assuming that you might agree, for businesses like ours in Pilates, we have an avatar of clientele that we look after, and they really enjoy our services. They really get value out of it what we can do with them and for them. 

That's good, but when we get, let's say one client who might be a little bit selfish or want something very special, sometimes we can help them. Sometimes we can step out of our procedures to assist, and then that's a win, and they become an even better client.

But, sometimes it's also good to just stand up and say, "oh, I'm sorry, we can't help you in this circumstance. We can't provide for your particular needs because we've got to look after our staff. We've got to look after our business and the rest of our clientele, and this is how we do that." Any thoughts on that one, Emily?

EMILY: Yes, definitely, and I think at different stages of a business, you're going to flex that muscle differently, or be flexible in different ways. In the very beginnings of Clubworx, there will have been times where we may have extended out of our wheelhouse more than I would now.  

But as you grow as a business and you get really confident and comfortable with the service you provide and who your customer is, and you really know who your customer is, it just gets easier and easier to politely decline customers that are not really in that space. Because your success actually comes from attracting more and more of the correct customer. Where somebody is looking for something that is too far away from what you do, you're probably never going to satisfy their requirements. 

Another thing in line with caring is, caring about people's time, energy and effort. Switching products, like you mentioned earlier, it's not always trivial, and at first it's easy, at worst it's going to take a few steps and some change management.

Personally, I am not in the business of anyone moving onto Clubworx or launching in with Clubworx if we're not really going to be the right fit for them, and we're not going to be able to meet enough of their requirements, because ultimately, that wastes their time, and as a business, it's probably a waste of our time as well in some ways.

But, what I will say is, I'm really proud of our customer success team, and the people that we bring into that team are really thoughtful people and problem solvers.

I think sometimes my job has been to put up the stop sign and say, "look, I think this might not be something we can solve." Whereas, I think, there is an element of feeling like we might be able to solve that problem a lot of the time, which is great to explore every avenue, but there is a limit, isn't there?

DAVID: There certainly is, and you've reminded me of that situation that I'm sure you're used to or you have experienced, and that we've all experienced if you own a business and if you're in sales as such. You get that phone call, and the first thing they will say is, they won't say what their name is, introduce themselves or anything, but they'll say, "How much is your Pilates?" And, I'll say, "well, that depends. My name’s David, and I'm here to help you find out whether you need our services or you don't." 

I'd rather find out that they don't early, and save their time and certainly save my time as well. That's something that, in the early days, if you haven't done that very much, can be a bit abrupt. 

It can be a bit of a jolt, and perhaps a bit of a disappointment. But, after a while, you get to actually enjoy that and say; "oh, we avoided a problem there because it's not really going to work for them, and it's not really going to work for us."

Although, we have had discussions that have started like that, and then we've turned it around for them to find the value, and that we were actually what they were looking for. The cost is obviously important, but it wasn't just about the cost. 

EMILY: I think that's a really good point as well. Sometimes that conversation in saying no to that person. That 'no, we don't do that', we might get a business saying "I need to do something in this way," and our job is to peel that back and say, "okay, the system you're using right now is not working for you. Let's look at what you're trying to achieve, and can Clubworx get you to that end point in a better way or in a more efficient way." Sometimes it's exploring how some sort of changes in process can maybe be the change you're looking for and how we can support that. 

So, you're right. Sometimes it's an educational little journey for somebody looking to use the service, and we've had really great results with that as well with a lot of our customers.

DAVID: You mentioned sales, and we both have that background with what we do. I really agree with what you said there about helping people. It's just a really great feeling when you've got that connection with someone, and you've helped create that connection by getting the right message out in the first place. Perhaps with your marketing, and being available to have that discussion. Then, being able to say, "no, we don’t do this," and "yes, we do that", and "we do this really well, so we can really help you."

DAVID: When you then create that connection, as we have had and as you will have had too, clients stay with us for years and years, because they continue to get the value out of what we do. We continue to provide that value for them, and value their clientele, respect them, respect what they bring to the table, and so, they respect us as well. 

We've had some terrific support through COVID. You've probably experienced this sort of thing as well with clientele actually being aware that it's quite difficult for some businesses out there, especially in a retail environment like ours, which involves exercise. 

We've survived that as a small business. Many of the listeners to this podcast episode today will have survived that and are looking to thrive and grow further. Linking up with systems like the one you provide and other business assets and operating procedures, and different tools, is really important to be able to be profitable, and to be able to actually just survive in business to start with.

DAVID: So, an important question for our listeners is: what's the Clubworx ownership structure?

EMILY: It is a privately owned Australian business, so we are completely based out of Australia, in Brisbane.  We have a really tight-knit team within Clubworx as well. It is a lean team.

DAVID:  We're concluding this part one of the episodes with Emily and Clubworx here but we'll be back next week with part two, where Emily recalls how Clubworx reached out during that special time of COVID, and demonstrated their value of caring, which became vital to their relationship with their customer businesses in the fitness, wellbeing, and Pilates industries. Very similar to our experience as a Pilates business and our own clientele. 

Of course, we did this so everyone could survive and thrive through those challenges, and we'll share those stories next week, but until then, stay awesome.