"Doing well in business means being smart, resourceful, and working hard to make customers happy in a close-knit community."
Welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview with Shaun Grove, the dynamic President of Rumble Boxing, a fitness concept that brings serious results in a fun, high-energy setting.
In this engaging conversation, Shaun takes us on a journey through his remarkable career, from his diverse experiences with a European football league and the FBI to his pivotal roles in shaping the success of fitness brands like LA Boxing and Club Pilates.
As an industry leader, Shaun sheds light on Rumble Boxing’s exceptional achievements in the past year, celebrating the opening of over 75 locations and the dedication of their franchise partners.
The interview delves into the pressing challenges of the business landscape, touching on the evolving nature of workplace trends and the importance of employee happiness.
Shaun also shares insights into the innovative strategies employed by Rumble Boxing to capitalize on the digital wave, emphasizing the fusion of physical and digital experiences in the fitness industry.
Join us for an insightful conversation as Shaun Grove shares his wisdom, experiences, and vision for the future, offering a glimpse into the thriving world of Rumble Boxing.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Shaun Grove: I’m Shaun Grove, the president of Rumble Boxing, a boxing-inspired fitness concept designed for all levels. We like to say Rumble delivers serious results in a fun, high-energy setting.
I joined Rumble in 2021 to replicate the tremendous growth I helped drive as president of Club Pilates, another Xponential Fitness brand. Under my leadership, we grew Club Pilates from a handful to more than 700 locations.
After trying out different hats earlier in my career, which included stints with a European football league and the FBI, I entered the boutique fitness space. I became general counsel for LA Boxing, which was owned by Anthony Geisler, who is now the CEO of Xponential.
While still serving in my legal capacity, I opened a franchise location, which became the network’s top-performing gym, and went on to become a multi-unit franchisee. When Anthony left after LA was acquired by UFC, I followed him to Club Pilates, where we enjoyed remarkable success. Now I’m excited to have found my way back to boxing with Rumble.
In the past year, what is the greatest business achievement you’d like to celebrate with your team? Please share the details of that success.
Shaun Grove: Rumble’s greatest achievement of the past year was undoubtedly opening 75+ Rumble locations and supporting our incredible network of franchise partners to achieve this and drive studio performance.
There’s a lot of work that goes into the opening of a single location, from selling the franchise territory to finding the real estate.
That’s an impressive feat when you consider Rumble only began franchising two years ago. It’s a testament to our hard-working franchise partners and passionate team members.
Quiet quitting, The Great Resignation, are an ongoing trend causing many businesses to struggle to keep talent engaged and motivated. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued, and misunderstood in the workplace. In your experience, what keeps employees happy? And how are you adapting to the current shift we see?
Shaun Grove: We’ve seen a post-Covid employment paradigm shift where the younger workforce values culture and purpose more than their older counterparts. For this reason, it’s crucial to build a strong culture where initiative and collaboration are valued and incentivized.
I bring this to life at Rumble by giving teams autonomy to run their departments and move the ball forward while I serve as a safety net rather than micro-manager. My goal is to provide encouragement and create a positive work environment so everyone is engaged and can do their best.
Online business keeps on surging higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for the year to come and how are you capitalizing on the tidal wave?
Shaun Grove: I expect digital and physical worlds to continue to merge and complement each other in new and exciting ways in the fitness industry. That’s why we’re fortunate to be supported by Xponential’s dedicated team that comes up with innovative digital solutions for Rumble.
Earlier this year, the new XPASS app was launched, the cross-brand subscription service with access to Rumble and Xponential’s other boutique fitness studios. The app gamifies fitness in a really fun and motivational way. For example, users can achieve streaks by walking 5,000 steps a day or visiting a studio, which can earn physical rewards.
More recently, Xponential launched a virtual reality app for the Meta headset, offering virtual- and mixed-reality fitness content for Rumble and a few other studios.
Through these innovations, Rumble and all the other brands gain exposure to new customers and together we’re delivering on Xponential’s mission to make health and wellness accessible to all.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Shaun Grove: In the fitness industry, the most significant challenge is ensuring your concept stands out in the vast sea of options. There are endless new workouts emerging daily, each one clamoring for market share. The key is to create programming and exciting workouts that keep your customers engaged.
As soon as you step foot in Rumble, it’s clear our main differentiator is the high-energy experience. We’re constantly innovating around the class experience in all sorts of ways to keep it fresh and new, such as playing only the latest music and incorporating celebrity-driven workouts.
We even project workout instructions on the wall so instructors don’t have to deliver them and can focus on bringing the energy and being lively motivators. All this creates an experience that keeps Rumblers gloving up for more.
The past years threw a lot of curve balls into businesses on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past years, how can businesses thrive in 2024? What lessons have you learned and what advice would you share?
Shaun Grove: The last few years have created a lot of opportunities for people who are willing to take risks and work hard, especially in the fitness industry. During the lockdown phases of the pandemic, many mom-and-pop fitness centers had to close, which was sad to see as no one likes to see small businesses suffer.
But suddenly, all their displaced customers needed to find homes for their fitness needs. Those consumers, combined with all the people who became newly interested in fitness during the pandemic, created a tremendous opportunity in the industry.
The main lesson I take away from all this is that if you’re scrappy and resourceful in this industry, and willing to do the work to attract customers and create the community they need, you can thrive.
What does “success” in 2024 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Shaun Grove: I measure success in terms of the level of contentment and happiness of those around me, both personally and professionally.
If my teams and colleagues are content, then that means we’ve hit our goals for the year and the business is thriving.
Similarly, if my family members and friends are happy, then things are successful on the home front.
From a growth standpoint, Rumble will continue to focus on successfully launching studios and supporting our franchise partners to reach new heights in their businesses and communities, along with welcoming more franchisees across the country into our brand.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Shaun Grove for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Shaun Grove or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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