Crunch Fitness President Chequan Lewis On Leadership and Being Legendary
In today’s fast-paced world, leadership requires more than a title or position—it demands authenticity, vision, and a willingness to embrace challenges. Few leaders embody these qualities better than Chequan Lewis, President of Crunch Fitness, whose inspiring journey and actionable insights are a masterclass in modern leadership.
From his roots in Texas to leading a rapidly expanding fitness franchise, Chequan’s story is packed with lessons for aspiring leaders, entrepreneurs, and anyone striving to make a difference. Here are the key takeaways from his journey and philosophy shared in a recent interview.
Watch The Conversation
1. Authenticity, Intentionality, and Humility: The Pillars of Leadership
For Chequan, great leadership begins with three core principles:
Authenticity: True leadership requires showing up as your genuine self. Chequan learned to embrace his unique identity and lead in a way that encouraged others to do the same.
Intentionality: Purposeful actions and decisions foster trust and collaboration. Whether aligning with franchisees or empowering his team, Chequan operates with clear communication and shared goals.
Humility: Leadership is about listening, learning, and recognizing when to make space for others to shine. Chequan believes humility strengthens teams and creates lasting impact.
These principles guide his professional decisions and influence his personal relationships and his role as a father.
2. Every Moment Is a “Moment of Truth”
One of Chequan’s standout philosophies is treating every interaction—whether with customers, team members, or franchisees—as a “moment of truth.”
At Crunch Fitness, this means ensuring every member feels valued, every club exceeds cleanliness and friendliness expectations, and every franchisee sees a meaningful return on their investment. “We dignify the dollars our members spend,” he explains, emphasizing the importance of delivering legendary experiences that set Crunch apart from competitors.
3. The Meaning of Being Legendary
Chequan’s mantra of being “legendary” is a cornerstone of his leadership approach. But what does it mean?
Doing your best: Giving your absolute best effort in every moment.
Using available resources: Leveraging what you have today instead of waiting for ideal conditions.
Creating life-changing results: Striving to make a tangible, positive impact on others.
This philosophy isn’t limited to business; it’s a mindset anyone can adopt to elevate their performance and impact.
4. Leadership Lessons from Franchising and Fitness
Chequan’s career path—from practicing law to leading operations at Pizza Hut and now Crunch Fitness—has given him a unique perspective on leading in diverse industries. Two lessons stand out:
The Power of Hospitality: Whether serving a pizza or welcoming a gym member, exceptional service builds loyalty and trust.
Consistency Is Key: Repeatable processes and clear standards create scalable success across franchises.
By combining these lessons with his passion for inclusivity and service, Chequan has helped Crunch grow to over 460 locations, with plans for 600 by 2025.
5. Balancing Work, Family, and Purpose
Chequan’s leadership doesn’t stop at the boardroom. As a husband and father, he’s learned to prioritize commitments and recognize the difference between “glass” and “rubber” balls.
“Glass balls—like family—will break if dropped. Rubber balls—like some work tasks—will bounce back,” he shares. This mindset allows him to honor his professional and personal roles without compromising his values.
6. Advice for Aspiring Leaders
For those feeling stuck or unfulfilled, Chequan offers a thought-provoking question:
“How do I want the world to be different because I was here?”
He encourages people to reflect on their goals, identify the gaps between their current path and their desired impact, and then move toward that tension. It’s not about immediate change but about taking intentional steps to align your work with your purpose.
Conclusion
Chequan Lewis’s journey is a testament to the power of authenticity, service, and visionary leadership. His work at Crunch Fitness showcases how focusing on people—whether members, franchisees, or team members—creates legendary results.
Whether you’re leading a team, starting a new career, or simply navigating life, Chequan’s insights provide a roadmap for success. Take his advice: Do your best with what you have, and strive to create life-changing results for those around you.
Stay connected with Chequan Lewis and Crunch Fitness:
Follow Chequan on X: @ChequanLewis
Find a Crunch Fitness near you: crunch.com
Transcript
Chequan Lewis
(0:00) First of all, be prepared to have your whatever your pathway is disrupted before you ask this next question of yourself. (0:09) How do I want the world to be different because I was here? (0:14) So when you begin with an answer like that, then I start to ask people, okay, can I neatly or at least indirectly map how you spent the last however many years to your theory of how the world should be different because you're here?
(0:28) And a lot of times you can't. (0:30) And when you can't, then I'm like, that's your tension. (0:32) And so move to the tension and move it to the tension can look a couple of different ways.
Julian Hayes II
(0:41) Chequan, how's it going today? (0:43) Thank you so much for joining me. (0:45) I want to start this off by, I was looking at your bio and you said you're proud to be a Texan.
(0:50) So I was wondering what are you most proud of about being a Texan? (0:54) And I hope it's not the Cowboys.
Chequan Lewis
(0:58) I am a diehard Cowboys fan. (1:01) It's not my greatest source of pride, but look, fan is fan, right? (1:06) Like I've been down since 88.
(1:07) So it is what it is. (1:08) I'm going to stand 10 toes on that. (1:11) I would say what I'm proud about about Texas is I love our independence period.
(1:16) Obviously when you grew up in Texas and you take Texas history, you learn about stories like the Alamo and San Jacinto and all these sorts of things. (1:24) But I'll just tell you, as I've grown from like a boy in Texas to a man raising children in Texas now, I love to see that fiercely independent streak come out in them. (1:33) But I also love the ways in which you, when you double click in communities in Texas, people really take care of each other.
(1:39) Like we take seriously the idea of being somebody's neighbor, take seriously the idea of being in community and folks don't see that that are outside of here. (1:48) So that's someone that lives here and experiences that in Dallas. (1:51) That's my favorite thing about being a Texan.
Julian Hayes II
(1:53) Yeah, I can, I can relate to that. (1:54) I'm from Tennessee and I think that's, that goes along with the whole Southern hospitality. (1:58) The only thing I said about the Cowboys was because I'm an Eagles fan.
Chequan Lewis
(2:02) You've got your own problems right now.
Julian Hayes II
(2:04) I do. (2:05) And the thing was, the funny thing is people were like, how'd you become a Philly fan? (2:08) I'm Philly in all sports and Nashville originally didn't have any pro teams.
Chequan Lewis
(2:13) Right.
Julian Hayes II
(2:13) So I just adopted the city of Philadelphia as my sports team. (2:16) And some of my athletes came from there. (2:18) So another thing is that we're, this is the start of, we're recording this at pretty much the start of Q4.
(2:26) And I'm always curious about as we go through this year, things we learned. (2:30) So we're three-fourths of the way through the year. (2:32) And I'm curious, what are maybe one or two big revelations that you've had this year?
(2:37) And this could be any, any area of life.
Chequan Lewis
(2:40) Yeah. (2:43) It's good. (2:43) So, I mean, for me, obviously I switched jobs this year.
(2:46) So switching jobs and switching industries has been a big revelation for me. (2:51) And one thing that's really struck me. (2:52) So when I was at Pizza Hut, when I was chief operating officer, very quickly, I realized that like all the esoteric nonsense aside, you drill it down and it's a moment of truth between a person and the pizza on the make table.
(3:06) Like that's the essence of the business and how repeatedly can you be consistent in delivering that to customers. (3:11) And in this context, I've been really, it's been a revelation to experience that's very similar. (3:15) Like we talked about the member experience here at Crunch.
(3:19) And I have this mantra, I say, every check-in is a moment of truth. (3:22) And it really is. (3:24) Can you be the cleanest?
(3:25) Can you be the friendliest? (3:25) Club on the block. (3:26) And it's all about these little moments of people on our front lines serving our members or serving our guests.
(3:32) And so seeing that as being the same across these different industries has been really revelatory. (3:38) On one hand, it's like humbling because you never lose sight of what it really means to serve people in that moment of impact and who you depend on to really serve them on impact. (3:48) And on the other hand, it's really encouraging because I feel like even though I've been in a different context for the last several months, it's very familiar to me to be in a brand that at its essence is about service.
(3:59) So that's the first sort of big revelation. (4:02) And then I think the second one is just how fast time is flying right now. (4:06) So I joined Crunch in February and all of a sudden here, we sit here September 30th, I feel a little bit more like a tested veteran.
(4:14) I don't know how that happened in seven months. (4:17) And then I look and then my daughter just turned five next week and I'm used to carrying her around like a football. (4:21) So everything is zooming by, man.
Julian Hayes II
(4:24) Yeah. (4:25) What's it been like when you're switching industries, switching roles to a certain extent? (4:32) And I guess what's been the biggest adjustment you've had to make?
Chequan Lewis
(4:36) The biggest adjustment, I'll tell you, I think that the biggest adjustment has just been, I've been at YUM for eight years, right? (4:45) So eight years in the world's largest restaurant company, growing from a lawyer into a business person, like so much of my professional identity was tied to that place. (4:57) And for me, the transition has been not so much rejecting that and leaving it in my past, but how do I take the man that I became as a professional there and put it in a new context and pour my heart and soul into a brand in a different way, right?
(5:10) And so for me, it's just been really connecting about what matters. (5:15) And that's why I talk so much with our franchise system and with our teams at corporate is about being legendary, delivering a legendary experience to every member, a legendary experience, every team member, a legendary experience, every franchisee. (5:28) And so having that as my sort of cultural and professional and personal North star in this moment has made that transition feel a lot more like home and become really excited, to be honest.
Julian Hayes II
(5:39) I'm curious, and I saw that as I was doing a little research to be legendary, I saw it everywhere. (5:44) What's the origin of that and what does being legendary mean to you?
Chequan Lewis
(5:47) Yeah. (5:48) So being legendary, there's a definition that I share with our system is this, it's doing the very best you can with the resources you have available to you right now to deliver life-changing results. (6:01) That's what legends do.
(6:01) So like the very best you can, if you're just hearing me for a second, obviously if you double click on that, we all know when we're going hard, kind of hard, or we're giving it all that we got, right? (6:11) So the first piece of the legendary formula or recipe, if you will, is to do the very best that you can. (6:17) And that's ultimately an analysis between you and the man, the woman in the mirror.
(6:21) I know if I'm all the way on the gas pedal, if I'm chilling, right? (6:24) So that's the first piece. (6:25) The second one is with the resources that you have available to you.
(6:29) And this one's important, Julian, because all of us wish that we had more something, more staff, more time, more resources to throw at all of our problems. (6:38) But the legendary calling is different. (6:40) It's doing the very best you can with what's in your hand at this moment, right?
(6:44) And the reason why the right now piece is so critical is that tomorrow's too late, especially in our context. (6:50) Like at Crunch, I fundamentally believe the world should be different because Crunch opens its doors. (6:55) So we can't wait until tomorrow to deliver legendary experience to our members.
(6:59) That actually is demanded of us today. (7:02) And then that life changing results piece is what brings it home, right? (7:05) So there's good, there's great, there's excellent, but legendary is like the results or the lives change.
(7:11) I've been at Crunch, what, seven months. (7:13) I've already dropped like 18 pounds just by working with my trainer and changing my life. (7:18) So it's like a very small scale example of what it is that we're doing, but the transformative potential that we have for people and for communities is really real.
(7:26) So that's why I challenge us to be legendary, to put all those things together in that moment and make sure that we live that moment after moment after moment, club after club, community after community.
Julian Hayes II
(7:35) And so this philosophy and this kind of mindset, was this instilled to you throughout the, you know, as a little boy, as a teenager growing up?
Chequan Lewis
(7:44) I think so. (7:46) I'm sorry.
Julian Hayes II
(7:46) Or I was gonna say, did you have to kind of like forge a new type of mindset or was it just instilled in you?
Chequan Lewis
(7:52) Yeah. (7:53) I mean, I'll take a moment here to shout out my parents and my grandparents. (7:56) So, you know, I grew up in Texas, but where I really come from is the Mississippi mud.
(8:01) So my mom and my dad grew up from very humble beginnings in Mississippi, out in the country. (8:07) And I connect everything that I am, everything that I stand for to their sacrifices, then also the sacrifices of my grandparents. (8:15) You know, one of my grandfathers was a sharecropper who had to leave school in the third grade to take care of his family.
(8:20) My other grandfather who was in the 101st Airborne, even though he had a fear of heights, he was willing to jump out of planes for this country to stand up for us and for the things that he believed in. (8:29) So, you know, from my perspective, that piece is in my DNA and I'm chasing the ghosts. (8:35) Most I'm chasing the ghost of what it means to honor their legacy, right?
(8:40) Now, what I would say about my parents is I didn't have this legendary language, right? (8:45) But my dad, who was a grizzled Navy vet, and my mom, who one of the most sacrificial, loving people I've ever been around, they certainly created an environment for me where all I had to do was focus on being the very best I could be in a given moment. (9:00) And the way that I wanted to show my gratitude to my parents was to actually go and extend and live in the opportunities that they provided me.
(9:07) So what that found in me was a desire to do the best I could with everything that they had given me right in that immediate moment to try to change my life and change the lives of people around me. (9:18) So that's kind of the story. (9:19) I didn't have the packaging growing up.
(9:21) Yeah.
Julian Hayes II
(9:22) But I actually see now the clues kind of add up now of why public service and just being of service is so important to you after hearing that. (9:28) Because, you know, as once again, when I was just reading through you and seeing a lot of stuff you did, a lot of it revolved around service and just being of value to people. (9:39) And now that makes perfect sense to kind of see that trail of ultimately that influence you had.
(9:46) And so you went to Howard. (9:49) Yeah. (9:50) And then I'm curious, what made you attracted to law school?
Chequan Lewis
(9:55) Yeah. (9:55) I hope you come back and ask me about Howard too. (9:57) But here's the law school answer.
(10:01) You know, it's funny. (10:03) At a certain point, people were like, oh, you know, when you're a kid, they're like, you argue really well, you have a lot to say, or you your elocution is on point, you should go to law school. (10:13) There was a piece of that when I was younger.
(10:16) But the thing that made me want to go to law school, as opposed to believe I should go to law school, or I should say that they made me believe I should as opposed to just want to was this idea of using my voice to advocate for people that didn't have one for themselves. (10:32) And so when I looked at the opportunities I've been afforded, the difference between my story and the stories of people very close to me, some of whom share the same bloodline, what I often saw was missing was a connection between opportunity and access to opportunity. (10:49) And what you saw missing a lot of those communities that I come from was a strong and powerful advocate, steadying the gap for people, ensuring resources were directed equitably, ensuring problems were solved for the benefit of all people.
(11:01) So I viewed law school as an opportunity for me to go and serve in a certain way. (11:06) The other piece is like most of the men in my family were in the military. (11:11) Between issues with respiratory system and my cardiovascular system wasn't able to serve in that same way.
(11:18) And so I was like, how can I be a part of the legacy that my father and my grandfathers have set? (11:23) And so using my voice to advocate for people that didn't have one felt like the way that I could step into that lineage as well.
Julian Hayes II
(11:30) And so did any of them go to Howard? (11:32) What was the choice about Howard?
Chequan Lewis
(11:34) No, just me went to Howard actually. (11:37) I'm proud to say that I come from a family that's got a long legacy of attending HBCUs in Mississippi in particular, because we're Mississippi folk, even though I grew up in Texas. (11:48) Howard for me was, that was kind of my black sheep moment growing up though.
(11:52) So it was important to me to go to a historically black college or university. (11:56) But I also have become really connected to the idea of public service, especially through the lens of the federal government. (12:02) And so DC became a really attractive option for me.
(12:06) So when you have the intersection of wanting to go to an HBCU, wanting to go to school in DC, and then being blessed to have a full scholarship, which would alleviate the financial burden for my parents. (12:17) The rest was, that was in the books at that point. (12:20) It's like, how do I get a flight?
(12:21) Who's going to be my roommate? (12:22) Let's go do it.
Julian Hayes II
(12:24) What was one of your most memorable moments there?
Chequan Lewis
(12:27) I would say, I'm going to give you one, but what I should say is when people really want to understand me and they want to double click on who I am, you obviously begin with my faith, you begin with my family. (12:40) But the critical inflection point for me was Howard. (12:42) Howard was everything to me.
(12:44) I'm excited to go give a lecture back home at Howard here next month, kind of talking to this a little bit more. (12:51) But it was the place where I got to really step into the fullness of my blackness and understood that it was totally okay to be the kid that liked Tupac and Plato at the same time, that I was going to be into James Baldwin and also maybe listening to Three 6 Mafia and UGK. (13:08) You can hold all those things together.
(13:10) And in the environment that I grew up in, it wasn't like that. (13:14) I stuck it like a sore thumb. (13:15) I was always the only, but at Howard, all that dissipated and I got to be the best version of me.
(13:20) I would say the most memorable moment of Howard is probably a tie between I was fortunate enough to be crowned Mr. Howard in 2003, 2004, which was a really proud moment because I got a chance to have a platform that I got to work on. (13:38) But maybe the most memorable moment was crossing beta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. (13:44) Obviously, the number of brothers and mentors and folks who've walked with me in my story since then, I wouldn't trade that for the world.
(13:52) So it's got to be probably one of those two things for me.
Julian Hayes II
(13:54) I can relate to that to be, and it's almost like you're existing in two worlds, right? (13:57) And you really stick out because I have an affinity for old standards, classical music. (14:02) I even like a little country music.
(14:04) I am from Nashville after all. (14:05) And like also, I love my Marvin Gaye and all that type of music. (14:09) And so for me, my transformative moment came in grad school when I went to New York.
(14:14) And then I got to see, and you get that influx as well, and you're like, wow, okay. (14:18) So there's way more people like that. (14:20) And so it's a transformative moment.
(14:22) And so I definitely can relate to that. (14:25) So you go from a business litigator, right? (14:28) To Pizza Hut.
(14:29) Is that the move? (14:30) That's right. (14:31) Yeah.
(14:31) And what was the impetus, the inspiration to do that?
Chequan Lewis
(14:37) Yeah. (14:38) So just a quick backstory. (14:40) So between Howard and Harvard Law, I worked for four years at this company called McMaster Car Supply Company.
(14:47) So I was fortunate because even though they primarily hired MBAs and people that had burned out on banks or consulting, they also hired into their management team, a track of kids that were liberal arts majors from undergrad who didn't know anything about business or willing to come in and question everything and problem solve. (15:05) I was one of those kids. (15:07) And so I took that job just to have an experience between undergrad and thinking I was going to immediately go to law school and it blossomed into a career for me.
(15:16) So by the time I get back to Baker Botts and start practicing as a litigator, I'm learning, I'm growing, I'm thriving. (15:22) But the business bug had bit me from those four years I spent between Howard and Harvard at McMaster Car. (15:28) So I left the law firm in search of a way to not be a, and this is no disrespect to law firm lawyers, right?
(15:35) But in my lived experience, I wanted to go from being kind of a junior lawyer in a corner to a critical business decision maker, a stakeholder right in the heart of the action. (15:46) I want the ball when the clock is running down and I want to take the shot. (15:49) And so when I left and went and did that and went to Pizza Hut, it was still a legal job, but Pizza Hut is a franchisor.
(15:56) So when I left being a business litigator and switched my practice and became a franchise lawyer at Pizza Hut, all of a sudden, I was a lawyer right at the heart of the business. (16:05) And that's when absolutely everything changed in my professional career from there.
Julian Hayes II
(16:09) So chief equity officer, you were the first one there at Pizza Hut. (16:13) How did that position even come to be formed?
Chequan Lewis
(16:16) Yeah. (16:17) I mean, if you look at, um, I say it's the intersection of opportunity and intent, right? (16:24) So, um, what was the intent?
(16:27) Yum had been, in my experience, um, Yum had been a place that believed in all people and believed in opening doors and increasing access to opportunity for people of all walks of life. (16:39) So that was in the Yum DNA. (16:41) And then the opportunistic piece of this was in 2020.
(16:46) Um, you know, at the time I was running Pizza Hut Express, which is our non-traditional business, the world is falling apart. (16:52) We see, you know, many of us knew what had been going on a long time with, uh, you know, we saw the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and you know, the names continue to go on. (17:02) Right.
(17:03) And what you saw at Yum, like you saw in a lot of moments, a lot of businesses in that moment in culture said, Hey, we want to institutionalize our response to create a more equitable world for our customers and for the people that work at our company. (17:17) And if you get it right for the communities that we operate in as well. (17:21) So when those two things came together, they put that in front of me and I was excited to take it for two reasons.
(17:26) One, um, it was made clear to me that I could do it my way, that I could do it with the intent to operate at the heart of the business and ensure that our culture reflected appropriately to intersect with that. (17:38) And then the other piece of it was that, um, it was, it was viewed as a critical part of my growth path. (17:45) Right.
(17:45) So as a, as a black man in a, in a, at the world's largest restaurant company, you don't want to take a job. (17:51) You don't want to take a diversity job and get off your path. (17:54) Right.
(17:54) And I give Yum a ton of credit because they're like, this isn't off the path. (17:58) This is a part of your path. (17:59) And so when those two things came together that way, I decided to take the challenge in conjunction with our team at Yum, with our franchisees and our frontline teams and try to affect some change in that role.
(18:10) So I had that, I was the first one to have that job. (18:12) It was hard because that's hard work to do. (18:15) But, um, it was another one of those moments in my career where I was like, man, I'm better and different because I took this challenge.
Julian Hayes II
(18:21) Absolutely. (18:22) And so, and then that leads you presently to what you're doing now as president of Crunch Fitness. (18:27) And what was it that attracted you to Crunch?
Chequan Lewis
(18:31) Yeah. (18:31) So when I, when I left that chief equity officer role, became the chief operating officer of Pizza Hut. (18:36) And so it was really leading our operations for a large system, probably 7,000 restaurants between our traditional, non-traditional business.
(18:44) And I wasn't looking at the time because I was very happy with what I was doing. (18:48) I've been given tons of opportunity to grow, had great leadership at Yum. (18:52) But when I got the call about Crunch, initially I was like, wait, is that the thing with the fist?
(18:56) The one that I got on right now? (18:58) I was like, I think I recognize that. (19:00) Um, and then I got on the phone with Jim Rowley, who's our global CEO.
(19:04) And he and I got to talk about a vision for this role and a vision for Crunch and the ambition for what Crunch can mean in this world, not just in the U S in this world. (19:13) And I started to get really excited about connecting something about which I'm personally passionate with my professional expertise in franchising with a platform that was ready to go and grow and accelerate and a partner in gym who I knew I wanted to work with. (19:27) So I was not expecting, I didn't seek it, but it crescendoed so quickly because it was such a right fit.
Julian Hayes II
(19:33) What is it that you enjoy about franchising and being involved in that?
Chequan Lewis
(19:37) I love that you asked me that because a lot of people don't ask me that. (19:40) Um, let me first say, franchising is not for the faint of heart. (19:44) Yeah.
(19:46) It's like the beautiful things you get to grow with other people's capital. (19:50) Um, but you have to grow with other people's capital and there's like a, there are two sides to that. (19:55) But what excites me about franchising is, um, it's this idea that when you really get something right, you've developed a brand that you can deliver to a partner and they can go and replicate it in their community.
(20:08) And they can by definition go further, faster in concert with you than either of you could go together. (20:14) I think it's like a very powerful meditation on the way that human communities get a chance to work. (20:19) And so I take very seriously being a fair, accountable, firm, but future looking franchisor because it lifts opportunity for so many people.
(20:29) The next thing I would say is, you know, sometimes your franchisees are large PE backed groups. (20:34) Sometimes your franchisees are, I got one franchisee whose parents helped him get into one club, right? (20:40) It runs the full gamut.
(20:42) And whether, you know, it's a PE group that's got a report to a growth fund and an investment committee, I take pride in helping them hit their marks. (20:50) If it's a small group who want to do something and create some generational wealth for their family and change the community they operate in, I get excited about that. (20:57) So there are very few spaces outside of franchising where you get to engage the full spectrum of people who come to business.
(21:05) And if you get it right in partnership with them, you can do incredibly special things through franchising that I would argue is really unique to the franchising concept.
Julian Hayes II
(21:15) Yeah. (21:15) I was going to also bring up that when, you know, and I'm glad you brought up the different examples of the type of people that would be involved in this because, and I think this is applicable to leaders, that you're dealing with all sorts of people in different demographics, different ethnic culture, all that. (21:30) And so I imagine with you, you're very good with people now, even if you, I mean, you'd like yours better.
(21:36) I mean, you were probably good initially, but you've become really, really good with people because, and knowing what motivates this person compared to what motivates this person and how do I get the best out of them and all of that. (21:47) And so for leaders out there, what do you think are a couple of recommendations in terms of working on this important thing as the world becomes more diverse and everything in the workplace?
Chequan Lewis
(21:59) To make sure I'm following, working on how to work with people or franchising in particular, just to make sure I meet.
Julian Hayes II
(22:05) Let's say working with people, my fault, working with people.
Chequan Lewis
(22:08) Yeah. (22:09) Look, I have, I have three guiding principles that have served me well in franchising. (22:14) And I would say to be, to be totally transparent, I have articulated them more in my franchising experience has made me a better husband, father, neighbor, son, community member.
(22:28) It's authenticity, intentionality, and humility. (22:32) Like those have been my three things. (22:33) So what's the, what's the authenticity piece.
(22:36) There came a point in my career where I just stopped faking it, where I stopped trying to show up in keeping with some archetype that I felt had been dictated to me or for me and showed up as who I was. (22:51) And what I found that was powerful about that was not just the permission it gave to people of color in my past place, but the permission it gave to people who I perceive to live within the margins of power, because this idea is everybody wants to be the best version of themselves, but that hinges on the capacity to be yourself. (23:07) So I've always prided myself on leading with that and showing up with that and leading through that as a, you know, as a leader with formal power, because I think it offers people a chance to be transformative.
(23:19) So that's the first piece. (23:21) Intentionality is the next piece. (23:23) I just got off of a call with some really critical franchise partners.
(23:26) And I, you know, we weren't seeing something exactly the same way, but I said to them, what I take great pride in saying to all my partners is, look, I hear you, I see you, and I'm for you. (23:38) I want to find a way through this. (23:40) And what I owe you is my transparent point of view in the event we see things a little bit differently.
(23:45) We can work it together, but my intentionality is high towards you and the things that are right for you and right for the business that we share. (23:52) You can translate that home. (23:54) You can translate that to your next door neighbor.
(23:56) You can translate that to your faith community or wherever your tradition is. (23:59) It's been another transformative principle to guide for me. (24:04) And then the last piece is humility.
(24:06) That's been the hardest one for me, if I'm being really honest with you. (24:09) There was a time in my life where I would have told you that I was humble, and nobody would have been more humble than me, which is obviously not humble, right? (24:16) But humility, as I have matured and become more seasoned, looks a lot more like listening more than I talk, being comfortable not having all the answers, owning when I'm lost or confused, and most importantly, looking to see who are those people that don't get a chance to speak up because maybe I take up too much space.
(24:36) And in my lived experience, it's been really important to make sure that I'm making space for women leaders, making space for other people of color as leaders, and people who just don't necessarily have the personality to be out in front, right? (24:49) So I try to lead with authenticity, intentionality, and humility, and I don't always get it right, but it gives me a framework to try to move myself forward and be open to the additional changes that are going to be necessary for me to continue to be who I feel like I'm called to be.
Julian Hayes II
(25:05) And you mentioned brand earlier, and I'm always curious to hear this. (25:09) What does a good brand look like to you?
Chequan Lewis
(25:12) What does a good brand look like?
Julian Hayes II
(25:14) Yeah. (25:14) Yeah.
Chequan Lewis
(25:15) I think a good brand... (25:17) I love that. (25:18) That's a really good question.
(25:20) I would say a good brand resonates because of what it stands for and what it offers. (25:27) So let me unpack that. (25:33) There are a lot of ways to resonate.
(25:36) You can resonate because you are culturally dissonant. (25:39) You can resonate just because you're interesting. (25:41) You can resonate just because you are different.
(25:44) But when you resonate based upon your value proposition and what you stand for and what you have to offer, I'm trying to bring those things together. (25:52) So the best way I can talk about it is talk about it in crunch, right? (25:55) So at Crunch, we talk a ton about positivity, inclusivity, fun, making serious fitness fun, right?
(26:04) What those things crescendo to for us is what I believe we're doing is we're reimagining the relationship between price and value. (26:12) So we obviously play in the high value, low price space. (26:15) The reason why I think our brand is good is because we resonate at the top line.
(26:21) We offer an accessible on-ramp to a fantastic member experience for people at a price that's very accessible today. (26:29) But then the way that we do it and what we offer it when it comes in is highly dignifying of the dollar that you spent. (26:36) It's highly inclusive of the people who you might not be in community with in other spaces, but you become and be on the same equal foot in your crunch.
(26:45) So it's like you resonate because of your value proposition and what it is that you offer and those two things connecting together.
Julian Hayes II
(26:52) Now, I was going to mention that I noticed a lot of fitness franchises haven't been doing as well, and you guys have continually kept growing throughout the years and everything. (27:05) Because I think I saw this year, I think I have it here, I think you guys have 460 sites and then 500 that you're aiming for by the end of the year and then 600 by the end of 2025. (27:17) And so I'm curious, what do you think is, and this maybe is a little bit of a broad question, but what do you think are some of those factors that are attributing to this continual growth when a lot of other fitness franchises have not been as growing like this?
Chequan Lewis
(27:32) Yeah, I think every other brand has their own story. (27:36) And I won't purport to speak for them, but I can tell you the crunch stories, I understand it. (27:42) And it really is, I'm not trying to give you my talking points, but I really, I took a step back, and I studied and I thought about why I wanted to come here.
(27:52) And then when I came here, I was like, what is it that's true? (27:55) And how do I distill it down to its essence, so I can share this vision of how we go forward with our franchisees. (28:00) And it really is this idea of we deliver legendary experiences to those three stakeholder groups, team members, members, and franchisees.
(28:10) Let me tell you why I think it's critically important. (28:12) So what you'll also see in our numbers is we're rapidly approaching 3 million members worldwide. (28:19) The reason why that number is growing and not decreasing over time is because we treat every check-in as a moment of truth.
(28:27) Whether you don't need to have to spend $250, $400 a month for your membership to feel at home where you go and work out. (28:36) We take very personally this idea that we're going to dignify the dollars that you spend with us by delivering you a legendary experience. (28:44) I think other folks will have to look themselves in the mirror and ask themselves, are they treating every check-in in that same way?
(28:50) If they're not, they may be getting different results. (28:53) In the middle, and I talk about them in the middle for a reason, we take very seriously this idea of delivering legendary experiences for our team members. (29:01) There's an old adage in the restaurant space where I come from where we say your customer experience is never going to exceed that of your team member's experience.
(29:11) And the insight there is, look, if you want to have happy customers, have happy team members. (29:16) If you want your customers to be pissed off, piss off your team members. (29:19) What sits at the heart of what we're doing is, man, I wake up thinking about not just the 3 million members, I wake up thinking about that young woman at the front desk that I talked to this morning in Plano.
(29:31) The woman that I talked to who's a personal trainer in Fairfield. (29:35) My team in the clubs that we still own that are out there selling memberships at great value to people in New York day after day. (29:43) Their experience has to be central to who we are and how we are and when we get that right, it gives us the permission to deliver the member experience that I talked about.
(29:52) And then that crescendos to the franchisees. (29:55) And that's how you get to these numbers, right? (29:56) I can't snap my fingers and get to that 500 club number.
(30:01) No, I got to depend on franchise partners. (30:03) They've got to believe in my concept. (30:05) They've got to believe that I'm giving them something that allows them to make money.
(30:09) Because we talked about it. (30:10) Some folks are in this to grow their enterprise. (30:13) Other folks are in this to grow generational wealth.
(30:15) Wherever it is, this has to work for them. (30:17) And what it requires is for me to be clear-headed about our brand, clear-headed about our operating model, intentional about our partnership, and humble enough to calibrate when we need to, to make sure this remains an investable proposition for them. (30:31) And so when you get it right for all these three folks, that's why you see us keep going up and to the right.
(30:36) Because we're honoring all of our stakeholders in these deep moments. (30:39) And it affects how I think. (30:41) It affects how I sleep.
(30:42) It affects what I talk about in meetings with our team. (30:44) And by putting those folks at the center, not just abstract ideas and numbers, I think that's a big part of our secret sauce, honestly.
Julian Hayes II
(30:52) Now, I'm curious, what is something from the restaurant industry that you think is necessary and highly beneficial that can be transferred over to the fitness industry?
Chequan Lewis
(31:04) Yeah, probably, probably two things. (31:08) One, and I will say already our best franchisees look a lot like my best franchisees at Pizza Hut. (31:15) Like, that's no shock.
(31:16) There's no substitute for hospitality. (31:18) There's just no substitute for friendliness and cleanliness. (31:20) Those things pour over perfectly.
(31:23) And if I lean in on the friendliness piece, it makes great sense. (31:27) Like, just take a second and think if you watched the news last night or this morning, or if you watch it tonight, what was the vibe, right? (31:37) Like, what are you seeing?
(31:39) And what are you seeing with Hurricane Helena? (31:44) What are you seeing with wars popping up all over this country and so many real lives on the other side of it? (31:50) What are you seeing with, you know, the challenges that people face domestically for a lot of different reasons here in the United States?
(31:57) Nobody needs to come to your restaurant or to your club and not be told good morning. (32:02) How you doing? (32:03) What are you working on?
(32:04) Called by name, right? (32:06) Like, there's just a fundamental lack of seeing each other in that way in the world today. (32:12) And so what we learned in the restaurant space, you can actually break through by just being really, really intentional about that piece.
(32:20) And so that's the thing that ports over, right? (32:22) The other thing I would just say is like, your best restaurants are really good at having highly repeatable processes. (32:28) You can't imagine how many pizzas we would have made in a given day across 7,000 outlets at Pizza Hut, right?
(32:35) And largely speaking, the reason why you can believe it can happen is because you've articulated the process that a PhD all the way to someone who's also still in school as a teenager in high school can repeat and execute on. (32:49) The same things necessary for us as well. (32:52) So repeatability, consistency, and just a deep intention around the person that you serve are things that we bring over.
(33:00) And again, it's no shock to see that people who are excelling in both industries already share a lot of the same sort of fundamental tenets in common.
Julian Hayes II
(33:09) And a lot of that has to do with leadership. (33:10) And speaking on leadership, what do you think are maybe one to two of maybe the biggest misnomers about leadership in today's world?
Chequan Lewis
(33:20) That it's top down is the first one. (33:23) That you lead by executive fiat or you lead by dictating outcomes and answers to people. (33:30) I think that's probably a big one.
(33:32) And I think the other one is that, I don't know how to word it in the form of a misnomer, but I don't know that people always appreciate the cost of leadership. (33:43) Like it is not free. (33:45) It does come at a cost.
(33:47) And there's a lot to be said about balancing and making space with things that matter, but driving accountability, even while being highly collaborative. (33:57) I try to be highly collaborative and drive high accountability. (34:00) It comes at cost.
(34:01) There can be a personal cost to certain days. (34:05) There can be interpersonal costs. (34:08) We need to make difficult decisions about people, sometimes people that you care about.
(34:13) And then certainly that piece, like I said at the beginning, which is like the idea that the way I lead is go do this, go do that. (34:22) I've never seen that be sustainably the path to excellent results for an enterprise as opposed to an individual.
Julian Hayes II
(34:30) You mentioned balance, and I'm always curious about this work, because balance is going to be different things to us. (34:36) But with you, you've got a lot of things going on. (34:38) You have this going on.
(34:39) You have a lot of different partners that you deal with. (34:41) You mentioned your family earlier, and then you also mentioned your personal health earlier. (34:45) So how do you go about making all these things work to the best of their ability?
Chequan Lewis
(34:49) Yeah. (34:50) You know what? (34:50) You said it more artfully than me, because I think there's a lot to say about the word balance.
(34:57) I just want to set it to the side, because saying there is or isn't balance, I don't think does justice to the nuance of the conversation. (35:04) It's back to use the brave I statement. (35:06) I am a husband first, I'm a father, and I'm an executive.
(35:12) I'm also a son and a neighbor, a parishioner, all these things. (35:16) There's no word that I can lay on top of my lived experience and make it make sense. (35:22) So how do you try to make it work?
(35:25) Many of the best learnings that I've gotten in business and life have come from moms who've had to work. (35:33) The working mom is almost like a soothsayer or like a medium for me. (35:39) And there's one mom that exposed me to this idea of the rubber and glass balls.
(35:44) And it's like, you're always juggling multiple balls. (35:47) And the question in your life is to figure out what is a glass ball and what's a rubber ball and when, because you can drop a rubber ball and it'll bounce back up, but if you drop a glass ball, it's going to break. (35:59) And so what I've had to focus on is, especially as I've, you know, I've got, my wife was my classmate in law school.
(36:07) Her career is, is crescendoing right now, right? (36:11) I can't look myself in the mirror if I feel like what I'm doing at Crunch stands in the way of her being the best version of herself at work as well, right? (36:20) So I've really got to try to engage this exercise.
(36:23) And what I would say is I have focused a lot more on making sure that work is not always the glass ball. (36:33) There are some times where, you know what the glass ball needs to be. (36:37) I'm canceling this market trip this week because my wife's got to go close a deal in New York.
(36:43) Sometimes the glass ball has to be, this happened last week and I'm glad to be in a system with franchisees understandings, but I'd made a commitment to my daughter that would be home to tuck her in because I'd been gone for weeks, right? (36:55) More or less weeks. (36:57) And the only way I could get home was to give this meeting over to my team.
(37:02) And it was one of the most important meetings that I have. (37:04) So I wrote my franchisees. (37:05) I was like, look, I need to honor this commitment to my daughter.
(37:07) I didn't have that type of maturity candidly when I was a younger man. (37:12) And so for me now, it's like recognizing that and knowing that it feels impossible to feel in perfect equipoise at any given time. (37:21) And I don't seek it.
(37:22) What I seek to figure out is like, how can I honor deeply all the roles that I need to play to the very best of my ability and then give myself grace to live with what it looks like when I feel like I've tried to deeply honor all the things I'm supposed to be. (37:37) Does that make sense?
Julian Hayes II
(37:38) Absolutely. (37:39) Man, I hear, I hear trust. (37:42) And then there's a, there's a part, there's a couple of things that stick out there and I'll (37:44) get to, but the first one is I hear trust, especially when you're honoring that commitment (37:51) and it's a big meeting that you have to do and you're trusting your team (37:56) and you're not worried about it in that situation, at least maybe, at least maybe (38:01) not as much compared to the other, the other commitment that you had. (38:05) Is that something that just has to happen from experience to where you get to that level? (38:11) Because I'm thinking someone who's an up and comer, ambitious, they want to get after it, or even they, they already might be an executive, but maybe haven't had as many years of experience yet.
(38:23) How do you get to that point of being able and comfortable to let go like that?
Chequan Lewis
(38:29) Well, it's about how you invest your time. (38:32) So I tried to, I have really tried to focus on investing my time and I, this is something that changed in me as a leader, in particular around the time I became COO at Pizza Hut, where in that role, look, I knew what I was responsible for, the buck stopped with me on so many things, but my focus shifted to like my media team of three or four, probably four direct, maybe five direct reports. (38:58) How can I make sure that each one of them can function without me?
(39:02) How do I make sure that I use my time to help them find the highest and best use for themselves? (39:09) And how am I holding them accountable to what they're capable of? (39:14) And when I did that, I found that like, it's not like the jobs become not stressful, but you are trusting that you have the right people in place and you're trusting that you poured into them that, which you can't, or they need to pour back at you sometimes as well.
(39:28) Like as a young leader, you're consistently managing people who are more seasoned than you, right? (39:33) So in this space right now, my trust comes from making sure that, you get through the stage of making difficult decisions about people. (39:43) You've got the people in seats that you believe in.
(39:46) And when you engage with them, you engage with them, not in a dictatorial manner so that you have to question whether or not they can go think and function when you're gone because you've just dictated to them by fiat. (39:57) No, like you partner with them, you coach them, you let them affect you, you let them coach you as well. (40:02) And so when they go and have these meetings in your absence, you understand that the highest order is going to be because you're synced on what good looks like, you're synced on where we're trying to go.
(40:12) And those types of synergies do give you some permission to let people go, let people grow, let people breathe. (40:17) So that's kind of, that's been my working philosophy and it continues to hold true as I've gotten older.
Julian Hayes II
(40:23) And the second part of that, you mentioned you and your wife meeting all the way back in school. (40:28) And so throughout the course of time, that's years. (40:31) And throughout those years, you are going to grow, you're going to evolve.
(40:37) And a lot of times when people meet younger, they grow apart. (40:41) So I'm curious what has been some of your secrets, if you want to call it that, to continue to grow on this journey together and keep the bond together?
Chequan Lewis
(40:51) Sure. (40:51) Thank you for asking that. (40:55) I was, you know, one of my younger frat brothers, I was telling him this very similar story about what to be looking for.
(41:01) So I would say you know, part of what makes it work for Whitney and me is, and she has led with this. (41:10) I give her credit for this. (41:11) I'm not going to sit up and cap like this was all me.
(41:15) A deep recognition that grace should be freely given and received in this house. (41:20) And that's been radically important. (41:23) Like, it's something I can easily talk about.
(41:27) It is much harder to live. (41:28) And I'm grateful for a partner that has shown that to me. (41:34) She has moved to me with such a dispensation of grace in my career that it's shaped my heart differently towards her.
(41:43) So like I take pleasure in times I can make sacrifices that make it easier for her, but she moved towards me with a preemptive strike of grace in that way. (41:52) So that's been a big piece. (41:54) The other piece I would say is, again, using the brave I statement, part of the secret, if you will, has just been me confronting my own mess.
(42:05) Like, I've had to grow up and I've had to become less selfish. (42:09) I was raised in a male-dominated society as well where things revolve around me and my whims. (42:14) And I've had to ask myself what type of environment do I want to create for my son and for my daughter, and so there's been some soul-searching along the way and some refining and, again, a ton of imperfection still on my behalf, but her grace and my desire to be a better version of myself have been the things I think have been at least reasonable deposits into what it is that we have.
Julian Hayes II
(42:40) Well, thank you for sharing that. (42:41) I'm always curious to learn those things as I'm a little bit behind on that journey, but definitely learning and definitely can relate to the soul-searching and learning about yourself and some of your habits and everything. (42:52) So I appreciate that.
Chequan Lewis
(42:53) Absolutely.
Julian Hayes II
(42:54) Yeah. (42:55) And so as we look into the future, what are some of the things that you're excited about, maybe two to three of the things that you're most excited about in terms of where Crunch is going and some of the initiatives that you're working on that you can give away? (43:07) I know some of the things have got to be kept under wraps.
Chequan Lewis
(43:09) Yeah, sure. (43:11) I'll say like without naming what this is called here very soon this year, you're going to see a new model for Crunch launch. (43:21) You'll know when you see it.
(43:23) And so I'm really excited about that. (43:24) So when you see it here later this year, you'll know what I'm talking about. (43:29) So that's one thing that's exciting.
(43:30) I'm excited about growth and I'm not excited about growth just because of what the numbers represent. (43:35) But every time we open a Crunch, you know, that's another several thousand people whose lives get to change by being on this journey with us. (43:43) Another set of jobs in the community with great opportunities for people.
(43:47) I fundamentally believe that we need a world with more Crunch. (43:52) And when I see clubs open here and then I believe there's a really exciting path for us outside the United States as well, that stuff gets me pretty fired up. (44:01) And then I'm excited just to continue to evolve the journey of our member experience.
(44:05) We've got an experience team that's really focused on things like, okay, was this the best possible group fitness class that we could offer somebody? (44:14) Was this something that could get only here at Crunch? (44:16) When they went and do high intensity interval training in our proprietary hit zone, did that meet the moment for someone who's a beginner and someone who's a badass already, right?
(44:25) There is just a deep meditation on you, the member, right? (44:30) That gets me excited because I'm not lost about what the business is built on. (44:34) So, yeah, man, our growth, our intentionality towards our members are big things, that new experience that's coming soon.
(44:42) And I'm excited to just continue telling our story all around the globe and planting more flags.
Julian Hayes II
(44:46) And then you personally, what are you most excited about in the future?
Chequan Lewis
(44:49) Yeah. (44:52) That's a good question. (44:53) Those aren't questions I get asked very often either.
(44:57) You know, like, I've talked a lot about Whitney, obviously, with your question. (45:03) You know, it is very hard for me now to think about my personal aspirations without tying them directly to my kids. (45:11) And so I've got a seven-year-old son.
(45:14) I've got a daughter who'll be five on Friday. (45:18) And man, just watching them grow. (45:20) Like, they're in sports now.
(45:22) You know, they've got home. (45:24) My son's starting to have homework. (45:26) Like, my daughter loves to read.
(45:28) Like, watching them become sort of talking, living, breathing versions of, like, what we dreamt about when we were in law school about having kids is exciting. (45:38) So every day, it's not easy, right? (45:40) Because, like, you know, little kids can be taxing.
(45:44) I know parents know what I'm saying there. (45:45) But the idea of being blessed to, like, guide them on the journey and having been given the chance to be their father, their dad, that's probably the thing that's got me most excited, personally.
Julian Hayes II
(45:57) What do you think it is about kids that changed you, I guess, just as a man in general?
Chequan Lewis
(46:03) Yeah. (46:05) Look, I'm going to give you my truth on it for a second. (46:10) Because it does connect with my faith tradition, to be honest with you.
(46:14) The deepest revelatory piece of being a father was, like, you know, I always grew up being told Sunday after Sunday that there was this God that loved me unconditionally. (46:26) And I know me. (46:28) I know my mess.
(46:29) And I'm like, how could you love me unconditionally? (46:31) I've just messed up yesterday. (46:32) I'm about to cuss as soon as I leave here, right?
(46:35) Like, there's no way I can be loved unconditionally. (46:38) And then Carter came. (46:40) And I saw him for the first time.
(46:43) And then it reframed my understanding of what type of love was possible for me because of how I knew unimpeachably that I loved this boy and then this girl when they came. (46:55) And so, it was really transformative for me because it helped me understand the human condition more deeply, my capacity for love more deeply. (47:04) And it made me accept that I can be loved so completely because I knew without trying, it didn't matter what they did.
(47:13) My son pooped on me the second I touched him. (47:15) But like, it didn't even matter, right? (47:18) I was like, there's nothing that didn't make me stop loving you.
(47:20) And that has given me some permission to walk with a little more boldness in my day-to-day life because if I can feel that way about him and her, maybe someone feels that way about me too.
Julian Hayes II
(47:30) Yeah, that's really good. (47:32) That's really powerful. (47:34) And a lot of good lessons there.
(47:35) I really like that answer. (47:38) What would you tell, I'm curious, what would you tell your younger self? (47:42) Let's say age, let's pick age 15.
Chequan Lewis
(47:45) Yeah. (47:48) Okay, so the truth of the matter was, if you go talk to anybody who knew me at 15, all I was talking about was I'm going to be the President of the United States in 2024, period. (48:04) It was the only goal I wrote on my door as a teenager that has not been checked off yet.
(48:10) Everything else I checked off because I was just like, that's what I'm going to do. (48:14) That's my avenue of change. (48:15) Boom.
(48:16) And like, to this day, when somebody I grew up with just emailed me or just text messaged me was like, Petty, I just voted early from Thailand. (48:25) I'm going to write your name in again this year. (48:27) I was like, don't write my name and do something smart.
(48:28) But I would say to my 15 year old self, leave space in your imagination for a different theory of your desire for impact. (48:44) So you couldn't have convinced me that I'd be President of a fitness company back then. (48:53) Shoot, you couldn't have convinced me that a year ago, probably.
(48:58) But man, I'm doing exactly what I feel called to do right now. (49:04) And I have an opportunity to impact the real lives on the other side of this work. (49:10) And if I had known that at 15, that I may have made some choices that were just more in keeping with that theory of impact, as opposed to the, well, if you want to be President, you must go to school here.
(49:24) You must get this degree. (49:25) You must have this internship. (49:27) And then you must work on this campaign.
(49:29) You must do that. (49:30) And I'm grateful to say I learned from all those processes, but I was so focused on the thing as opposed to how and what are you going to change the world that I may have missed some other opportunities along the way.
Julian Hayes II
(49:44) That's interesting. (49:45) Well, the good news is it's not too late to be President. (49:48) You got time for that.
Chequan Lewis
(49:50) I got my hands full as the President of Crunch right now.
Julian Hayes II
(49:53) Well, the good thing is a lot of times Presidents are either ex-military, but you have a military background, so that's going to help with your family and everything. (50:03) And then secondly, they come from business because that's another form of having a lot of leadership experience. (50:08) Most Presidents have one of those two things.
(50:10) So I think you're still lined up for it. (50:13) Maybe we'll give you, what, 20 more years, you want to say?
Chequan Lewis
(50:15) We'll see how it goes, man. (50:18) Like I said, at 15, you have to stay open to theories of impact. (50:22) But no, I'm dialed in on what we're doing at Crunch right now.
Julian Hayes II
(50:26) Yeah. (50:26) But you mentioned something there, and you can just feel the passion, and then you're doing exactly what you want to do right now. (50:33) And there's an ease to it.
(50:35) Not saying the job and the responsibilities are easy, but getting yourself up every morning, having the mini calls, it's easy to do that. (50:45) And so I'm sure you do a lot of mentoring. (50:47) I'm sure a lot of people come to you and talk to you, ask you different things, and you pour into people.
(50:51) And a lot of times, one of the common things people are going to have is, man, I feel stuck, or I just feel lost. (50:57) I'm not really getting a lot of passion and fulfillment out of what I'm doing. (51:00) What are some things that you kind of recommend in that situation to kind of get them heading in the right direction, heading in a different direction?
Chequan Lewis
(51:07) Yeah. (51:07) I say to people, first of all, be prepared to have whatever your pathway is disrupted before you ask this next question of yourself. (51:18) How do I want the world to be different because I was here?
(51:23) So when you begin with an answer like that, then I start to ask people, okay, can I neatly or at least indirectly map how you spent the last however many years to your theory of how the world should be different because you're here? (51:38) And a lot of times you can't. (51:39) And when you can't, then I'm like, that's your tension.
(51:42) And so move to the tension. (51:44) And moving to the tension can look a couple different ways. (51:47) It can look like honoring that, hey, I need what I'm doing right now because it plays a critical role in my life.
(51:53) And I never tell people to go up in their lives and be silly. (51:57) That's not something they can afford to do. (51:59) Other times it says, you know what?
(52:01) Like, yeah, this is what I'm doing. (52:04) And I need to try to find an avenue to create some additional psychic income for myself. (52:08) Like one of my, I have a mentor named Randy who introduced me to that term in 2012.
(52:13) And I've always been like, the goal one day is to have my job give me psychic income and not just actual income. (52:21) Because it used to be all my psychic income had to come from my side hustles and my nights and my weekends or whatever. (52:27) And like, I'm so grateful to say that now, like, it feeds my soul and my brain with the work that we do here at Crunch, right?
(52:34) So when I ask people to chart that course for themselves and then diagram the delta, then I say, hey, if it'd be useful, let me be a partner that helps you think about what it looks like to diagram a pathway different, right? (52:46) How might you chart a different course? (52:49) Appreciating that it doesn't happen overnight.
(52:50) Like when, you know, I was at the law firm, again, I'm grateful for that opportunity. (52:56) I was at the law firm when I realized I had to diagram a different course. (52:59) And it took me a long time to get to, you know, it took me a relatively long time, at least from my experience, to get to where I was.
(53:09) And that was okay. (53:10) I had a partner who helped me think through that. (53:12) And I tried to offer that to people as well.
(53:15) But if you ask that question of yourself and are willing to confront the answer, there can be a path. (53:20) And the willingness and the bravery is in the willingness to engage that.
Julian Hayes II
(53:26) Well, yeah, I really appreciate that question. (53:27) And I love the work that you guys are doing. (53:30) And I think before we even talked, I think I saw there was some news today, right?
(53:34) You know, as we're recording this, that you got in. (53:37) I couldn't remember the number that you got placed at. (53:39) What was that?
Chequan Lewis
(53:40) Yeah, we were number 79. (53:43) So we jumped in the Franchise Times just released their top 400 franchisors list. (53:49) And we came in at number 79.
(53:51) And if I'm not mistaken, that's up 37 spots for the last time that they did that. (53:56) And they noted our growth and all the things that you and I've been talking about. (54:00) So that story is not about me, even though, you know, they talk to me about it, but it's a story about nearly 3 million members.
(54:08) The story about almost 500 clubs and the story of scores of franchisees all pushing together to deliver legendary experiences for this brand.
Julian Hayes II
(54:16) Awesome to hear. (54:17) And the last question here is someone walks up to you in a coffee shop and they're going to ask, and they ask you, what are three things I can do today to start becoming legendary? (54:28) What would you tell them?
Chequan Lewis
(54:30) Yeah, I would, I would tell them, ask yourself, are you doing the very best you can with what you've been assigned to do? (54:37) Are you doing it with the resource that you have available to you right now? (54:41) Are you waiting for something?
(54:42) Are you doing it right now? (54:44) Or are you waiting? (54:46) And do you have as an end game, the desire to create life changing results for not just yourself, but for people around you?
(54:53) You can overlay that on anything, I think.
Julian Hayes II
(54:56) That's a fantastic way to wrap up the conversation. (54:59) I really, really appreciate this conversation. (55:01) Highly, highly enjoyed it.
(55:03) Where can we keep up with you or connect with you if you want, or keep up with what Crunch is doing?
Chequan Lewis
(55:10) Yeah, absolutely. (55:10) So I'm on Twitter. (55:13) So I'm at Chequan Lewis, C-H-E-Q-U-A-N-L-E-W-I-S.
(55:18) And then you can look at crunch.com, right? (55:21) Like, I'm encouraging people that are listening who are in need of a gym home. (55:25) I sound like a church boy, man.
(55:27) Church home, gym home. (55:29) You're looking for a place to have a legendary experience as you transform your body and your mind and soul. (55:34) Go to crunch.com and figure out where we are closest to you. (55:38) Come check us out. (55:39) And if we're not close to you yet, chances are we will be soon.
Julian Hayes II
(55:42) Awesome to hear. (55:43) And I will have all that in the show notes. (55:45) And to the listeners out there, stay awesome, be limitless.
(55:48) And I'm going to change it today in honor of my guest and go be legendary. (55:52) Peace.
