The Business of Fitness

Thanks to listeners + thanks to all the incredible guests!  Believe in yourself and your business—and be passionate about it Doing anything well takes time or money, usually both, especially at the outset Don’t be intimidated by the business details - but don’t ignore them Ask for help—biggest mistake people made was trying to do it alone Failures aren’t a bad thing, they’re just stepping sto...

Tina Singh couldn't find a helmet to fit her kids when they started riding bikes. As an Occupational Therapist, working in the area of head and brain injury, she knew how important the use of helmets is. After trying many makeshift solutions, she took it upon herself to create a product that worked for kids like hers. Bold Helmets has created the first safety certified multisport helmet for Sikh k...

On this episode we will cover: The origin story of Basecamp Outdoor How Ali & Jenna became business partners  Their strategy on how they make big decisions and move their business forward together Their best advice for outdoor industry job seekers, other than subscribing to the newsletter How to actually catch a company’s interest with your resumé and cover letter Follow their socials: ht...

As we approach the end of 2023, Molly breaks down her favorite tips for personal & business goal setting for a new year: Good, Better, Best - Love this for races, but works well for a higher level look at business as well—what went well, what could have been better, what do you need to be at your best? Social media, marketing, P&L statements, taxes—gahhh Defining success - slow growth vs f...

Born in central Mexico, Martha Y Diaz has translated her Mexican cooking roots into the outdoor industry's first Latin cuisine dehydrated meals brand! The traditional meals are freeze dried to be able to carry, pack, and eat on the move! Her brand is a celebration of diversity on the trails, something that she infuses into Itacate's  nonprofit partners and programming. Learn more about Itacat...

“Entrepreneurship,” says Feisty Media CEO Sara Gross, “is like a bike race. Some days you’re just grinding it out and sitting in the pack, but you’re also waiting for those moments when you need to gear up and just go for it. Recognizing those moments,” she says, “can be the difference between winning and losing.”In a crossover with Feisty Media’s Women's Performance Podcast, Sara Gross shares her...

Brittany Coleman started selling ToughCutie merino wool technical, performance socks in 2022. Six months into selling, ToughCutie had contracts with REI, Public Lands, Title Nine and more retailers. Coleman belongs to a small community, an estimated 1% of founders in the outdoor industry who identify as a person of color. ToughCutie is the first and only outdoor sock brand with a majority women-ow...

Nicole Loher is an NY-based climate communicator, communications researcher, and adjunct professor at NYU. She received her Master's from Columbia University's Climate School with a focus on climate science communications + is currently working on a co-funded climate communications research project, is the in-house writer and lead strategist at Ideas On Purpose, and teaches at NYU. She’s also a ru...

Molly and her first author at Strong Girl Publishing Mackenzie Myatt are talking all about the writing process, inspiration versus just sitting down and getting to work, and how to market a book when you don’t have a huge budget behind you. Her first book of poetry, In Defense of Big Dreams, launched last week and she’ll be traveling around the US and Canada doing some book talks and promotion whi...

Molly takes the mic for a solo episode all about ending the year strong! What do you need to do now for holiday rush? What can you work on more during your racing offseason (for the endurance athletes) My refresh of Todoist + task overload  Mini-afternoon reset power Not freaking out about AI- Working on improving what we have already, i.e video episodes Sonya Looney podcast RE Venn diagram /...

Thousand Helmets founder Gloria Hwang joins us to talk about all things product-based business, from how to develop an idea to getting your prototypes made, to the hiring process once you can’t do everything yourself… and why it’s still important to take breaks, even when you’re the boss!  Learn more at: https://www.explorethousand.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @business.of.fitness @feisty_med...

This week we talk with Bivo water bottle founder Carina Hamel about going from consulting on product design to designing your own product and making it a reality, starting with no investors + staying scrappy, and how to market IRL and online.  Learn more on their website: https://drinkbivo.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @business.of.fitness @feisty_media @mollyjhurford Feisty Media Website: htt...

Elly Blue is co-owner and vice president of Microcosm Publishing as well as an author and anthology specialist who writes all about the intersection of bikes and feminism (and sometimes science fiction!). We’re talking all things publishing, from how niche is too niche to the best ways to seek out a publisher and at what point in the process you should. A must listen for anyone who’s considering w...

The best parts (and hardest moments) of starting a business are amplified when you do it with a friend. We talked with dietitians Tiffani Ricci and Kendra Miller of Fueling Life about how they got into business together, building a remote business, and balancing business partnership with their own personal life.  Find out more about Fueling Life Nutrition at http://www.fuelinglifenutrition.co...

Olympic Development UCI Virginia's Blue Ridge Team Twenty 24 Women's Pro Cycling & eSports Team founder + general manager Nicola Cranmer joined us to chat about the ups and downs of running a women’s cycling team, from keeping track of rider schedules and social media to dealing with team budgets to bringing on new sponsors. Oh, and how she’s coming to terms with finding some semblance of bala...

In this episode, Zwift’s Kate Veronneau and Molly are talking about the upcoming second Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, what it means for women’s sport, how more companies are entering the world of women’s sponsorship, and how you can use this to your advantage! Why does this matter? Because a rising tide lifts all boats, and the better supported women’s pro racing is, the more women we’ll see c...

In this solo episode, Molly is talking through a bunch of her recent learnings in launching Strong Girl Publishing, a small publishing company focused on creating content for young girls about sport, by young women athletes. This episode covers everything from the esoteric ‘know your why’ to the practical ‘check what licensing you need.’ Follow us on Instagram: @business.of.fitness @feisty_media @...

Feisty Media founder Sara Gross joins us to talk about the ins and outs of creating an ecourse, from how to pick the right topic, the best way to build your course, how to launch, continuing to market, social media versus newsletters, and how to run your first group through your course—plus what to do next. Check out Fueled + sign up for the summer session: https://www.womensperformance.com/fueled...

Kelli Samuelson, AKA Kelli Sam, is the founder and owner of the badass pro women’s cycling team, LA Sweat. In this episode, we chat about all things women’s cycling, but also get into how to run a successful team, how to stand out with your marketing and social on a limited budget, how to keep your shit organized when there are a ton of moving parts to your business, and how to keep things creativ...

Theresa Roden launched i-tri to bring more girls into endurance sport back in 2010. The original pilot program consisted of 8 middle school girls at Springs School in East Hampton, NY. By 2023, Theresa’s vision has grown to serve over 1,200 girls from 13 school districts and continues to guide us as we prepare for a National Expansion! In this episode, we talk all about the ins and outs of creatin...

Meridith Cass,  Nix Biosensors founder and CEO Nix is a startup company that is changing the way humans manage health by empowering consumers to access health information. Their first consumer product is a sweat patch that provides athletes with hydration data in real-time, helping them optimize safety and performance. Founder Meridith Cass is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, where she receiv...

Kelly Brush Foundation (KBF) Executive Director Edie Perkins was hit by a driver while riding her bike and sustained a spinal cord injury that left her paralyzed. With a lot of help -- medical and social -- she was fortunate to find her to handcycling. In this episode, we talk about her path to working with KBF, navigating the field of fundraising, and how coaches and others in the fitness busines...

Pat Spencer is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW). She’s a therapist with a private practice in central New Jersey and a worldwide mental skills coach for female and LGBTQIA+ cyclists and endurance athletes. In this episode, we talk all about getting started in a new business, marketing to a new audience, and finding your groove in the business of fitness. https://www.gettingyourmindingear.c...

Cassondra Spring is Liv's global marketing manager, so she spends her time working on dozens of different projects throughout each season. In this episode, we talk about cultivating a team of women that inspire one another and lead with their strengths (and switching over to a task management system like Monday without throwing your computer out the window). We also talk about Liv’s investment in...

Kate Arsenault is the founder of rnnr, a running brand that focuses primarily on making the perfect running caps (but also some other fun stuff!). In this episode, we talk about everything from how to take a great idea (that she thought of during a race) and turn it into first, a small business, and then, scale it to be a bigger business than just her—while keeping the ethos that running and the b...